two cents worth

I'm Back, after 3 year Hiatus

2010-06-01T23:31:00.003+08:00

Hello Ya'll.
I can't believe it. I logged on and found my blog! Thats pretty cool.
You know, I really never put down the computer or shud I say never stopped using it, I don't know why I stopped writing??

One thing I got to tell you, my blog works better on when on FireFox. I normally use IE but when I logged in I couldn't see all of my fotos of the California homes that I put up. So0n as I went to FireFox they came back.
Also, my music is all mostly gone. I think now that maybe its becos the link that I put them up with is no longer there. I probably shud have downloaded them to my own file and then put them back up on my blog. Instead I copied them directly from the source, from the band/singers blog. Its such a shame too, they were really classic chicano music from New Mexico.

In the last 3 years I haven't learned much more about blogging or the infrastructure/protocol of the internet or computer. I'll have to think hard about what I have learned in the last three years that I haven't been on here!

Well, its almost midnite here in Singapore. Today I went to AA meeting and tonite meditation. Yup, I'm still sober! July 11th will be 4 years. Last time I blogged I was fourteen months. I must admit, after I read all of the AA part of my last blog entry I found that I was very honest, I was very pleased with the story and I plan on using it sometime in my share at a meeting.
So I will close for now, I don't know who I'm writing to so I will use it as exercise.

CONTINUED

Hello. I'm back.
Went to AA meeting and then joined the boyz for kopi afterwards. Nice bunch in the group tonite. Long timers and one 1st timer, local bindge drinker. Looks like he had enuff but you never know.

On MGM tonite. Final Combination. Action movie about a serial rapist/murderer. A exboxer from the UK goes to San Francisco and kidnapes a woman, brings her to some motel, his place or hers then calls the phone sex places....while his victum is in the bathroom the phone call gets him enraged so when they come out the toilet he kills them then rapes them.
Quite gorey but no CSI tonite?? Oooh, killer got to the cops house and is beating him to a pulp! damn bloody!
Cop finally got the best of him thanks to the chick who was living in his house.

Many Years of Alcoholism

2007-07-17T14:48:00.000+08:00

Well Well Well, months and months later I came across my blog and decided to write something but didn't have a topic. I decided to write and tell you all that I have completed 14 months of sobriety.! Free from alcohol the AA way!
"God willing, we.....may never again have to deal with drinking, but we have to deal with sobriety every day." (big book,pp.553)

About my long long ordeal with alcoholism. Yup, been many years of pain and suffering not to mention all the pain and suffering caused to others! Pain, wreckage, CALAMITY!

My drinking started long time ago at the age of 15, after my dad and mom got divorced. I had my fist quart of 'home brewed beer'. I lived in Denver then and I was with the neighbor boy Johnny Ortiz and he knew a guy who made beer.
We ordered two quarts of home made beer and the rest is history.
I think I actually remember sipping dad's beer b4(dad and mom were not alcoholics) and I do remember getting a hold of some spiked punch at a cousins wedding another time when i was younger but really started drinking on a regular basis at 15.

Neither mom or dad were alcoholics, uncles and aunties too. My 2 grandfathers on both sides were. During prohibition dad's dad was bootlegging and had to use some ingenious methods to keep from being detected. Mom on the other hand claimed that taking away her father's booze was what killed him! She was only seven and missed her dad and was always angry with my grandma or whoever took away grandpa's whiskey. Maybe I grew up with the idea that if I quit drinking I would die??
When you are an alcoholic and you have to stop drinking or someone takes away your booze you think its the end of your life.

Yes, I felt my life was over 14 months ago as well but it was just the alcoholic me.... or just the life of living in the Pub, socializing strictly with other people who drank and only going to social events/functions where drinks were served or where I was allowed to bring my own.
Yah, thats right, I know what you are thinking right now. How could anyone live like that? Its as bad as it sounds....ONLY WORSE! What can I say, my story makes some stories in the AA Big Book look like fairy tales!

CONTINUED:
So, moved from Denver to Redwood City, Ca. (Story in this blog in: Discovering America) in 1964 just before school was starting around mid August 1964. We moved into our first apartment near the school, mom was prudent about this so we didn't have to walk far and also it was near her new job in a nursing home.
I wasn't drinking then, I guess it was the newness of California and the total adventure of it that I never thought of drinking and I guess maybe I wasn't an alcoholic then?? We had neighbors who drank and we would go to their house weekends and all of them were drunks. The fat lady named Mary would always get my head and put it or rub it between her huge titties! She would purposely get me alone in one room and attack me! This was traumatizing but nice for a boy 16.

My little sister and I started school in the same high school. She would be 2 years below me. The school was well known and the oldest most established high school in the Bay Area. It was difficult to make friends coming from the South West to California....kids were different and I was different.
I got a partime job in a laundry to help mom make ends meet and there I met some new people to hang around with. They were all in high school, Richard who was older than me and the others a grade below me and younger. Richard and I went to the same school and the other boys went to Menlo Atherton, the rich school.
We would become the best of buddies for some years until i dropped out of high school and some of them would be drafted into the army or go to college.

My mom met a man who drank alot and started to be his steady. I don't remember if I started drinking with him first or my new friends from work? But anyway I started drinking steady soon (3 or 4 months) after arriving in California. My Mom would marry this guy, he became a drinking buddy instead of a step-dad. We would remain drinking buddies for about 20 more years before are paths would separate by mom's divorce from him.

I only lasted a half year in high school, dropping out half way thru the 11th grade. My excuse was that I was working too many hours and I was too tired but was really uninterested becos i didn't make good friends in school, I was also getting to be good frens with some of the kids at work and would drink with them on the weekend. They would only drink on the weekends. I always had my step dad to drink with.

Riding my new motorcycle was also a priority and much more fun than going to school. Boys just wanna have fun uh huh uh huh! Dropping out of high school also gave me a chance to meet new ppl, other drop outs! They were great! Some of them didn't even work, just have fun, and drink. You see where I'm going?

Somehow we alcoholics manage though. I managed to hang around with some of the guys and girls that hadn't dropped out and even get a g/f that encouraged me to get my G.E.D. and then go to a Junior College that she was going to. I did go to school for a while but without very good results. I didn't notice it then but it was obvious that I had a one track mind, chicks and drinking!

While living in the Bay Area in 1968 I would marry a normal girl, have a kid and divorce within 2 years, all while drinking and drugging (marijuana) on a daily basis. It was the sixties, what do you expect?
While I was with this woman she watched me go from job to job and then finally quit them and become self employed. This gave me the chance to go to work when I wanted and drink when I wanted.
I NEVER THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ALCOHOL!

GEOGRAPHICAL
We stayed in the Bay Area while we were married, living in and around Redwood City. We lived in Emerald lake when rent was only $100 PM. and La Honda for only $80, where Ken Kesey lived on a farm with his merry pranksters! La Honda was a cool place to live, only 16 miles from the coast and 40 minutes to the city. And there was Apple Jack's .
I took the wife and kid to NM,USA to see if she would like to move there.....my first attempt at a "geographical". We stayed a month there traveling around the South Western USA but she would hate it. Maybe she was smart enough to know better than to leave her mom and dad and go out and suffer with me??? I brought her back and we lasted another year before I told her we were moving to NM. She told me to go alone that she wouldn't entertain my fancy to go traipsing around the country.
At the time I thought It was a great idea that I would go alone, after all, I wasn't abandoning her and the kid, they didn't want to go?? If they didn't want to follow the breadwinner (alcoholic as I was) they could just do as they liked.
I packed up, left her and my son a car but not much money and left on my own.

I moved to New Mexico in May 1971 and the divorce papers would follow behind me. I made a quick flight back to SF to beg her not to divorce me. She went thru with the divorce and I went back to NM.
I bought one acre that had an abandoned cabin on it dirt cheap! I tried to find work in NM but there just wasn't anything in the Valley. What work, didn't I realize they were all farmers? I didn't have a farm! I went to Denver to help my dad work on a house he was sprucing up to be sold. He said if I came to help him he could come and help me work on the cabin after that. I moved my dad to NM cabin from Denver soon after and he helped me to repair fences, clean and get the cabin in order. Dad planted pine and fruit trees and built a carport. When he moved there he came with one car and by the time he died he left me fourteen vehicles! Motor home, 3 jeeps, cars and trucks!
I would not stay long without work, as soon as the divorce was final, draft papers would come. I would be working for the US Army for the next two years.

ARMY
I was inducted to the US Army in 1972, end of the Vietnam War. I seriously considered dogging the draft but was convinced by my father that since so many before me would be in the Service of the United States it was only right that I take my place, stand up to what my country expected of me.
I went in in Sept. 1972 and was soon shipped off to Monterey, Ca. for my boot camp. Boot camp as I can remember was quite uneventful, almost all the guys were 18 years old. Kids that had not married or gone to college like I had and differed my duty. After our initial breaking in ie; haircuts, some marching and exercise routines, say about 2 weeks we were able to go off base or drink on base. I could buy beer in coin operated machines for twenty five cents! Yah, it was great! I was back at it!

I made many trips home to Redwood City during my 16 weeks of training. One time I got so drunk before I left base and hitch hiked home I got caught shoplifting in a small town of Boulder Creek . I stole a cassette with some music i fancied. The manager let me off with a good scolding so I made my way out of up the road to go visit acquaintances I had met on one of my previous trips home but they weren't home. Still drunk I broke a window to get in and steal all their marijuana I thought they had but couldn't find it!
Imagine if they were home and didn't like what I had done or just scared that I might be a killer, they would have been in their rights to shoot me! Yes, more degrading shit every time I drank. Debauchery at its best, many times never making it the 90 miles to my home, shacked up instead and drunk for the weekend till reporting back to base. Still other weekends going to the homes of other army buddies out of town, sometimes traveling 200 miles risking life and limb drinking and driving the whole trip in fog you could cut with a knife! And still got people who don't believe in a Higher Power.

GERMANY
Surviving the few months of Basic Training I was shipped off to Germany and attached to the 1st n 10th Artillery unit. I was Head Quarters company, in communications and we supported the guys who shot these guns, 155 Howitzer considered the "Cadillac of Guns".
I had never been out of the USA. I was looking forward to it, looking forward to an adventure! And it was just like camping , I really enjoyed it when we went on maneuvers out away from the base in Scheinfurt. One such place was called Graf or Grafenwohr. Graf was the place where we went 2 times a year for the gunners to practice shooting, me to roll out wire for communications for everybody in the battalion and enjoy for 2 weeks!

Soon after arriving in Schweinfurt Germany and at my post I was involved in an altercation while on guard duty. Drunk and high on German downers (Quaalude equivalent)I was charged and arrested. Dumber than being drunk, I pointed my M16 at a sergeant that was coming home after a good drunk himself, he took my weapon away from me and whacked me with it almost breaking my jaw! I was heavily fined and had to attend some classes on the dangers of drinking and pointing weapons at drunk ex Vietnam vets. I quit drinking for a few days. Is easy to stop drinking, its staying stopped that is difficult. I noticed that they didn't really check on us so I started drinking before and after my classes. I thought i could handle it after a brief dry period and was really trying but it was soooo boring, I just hated the army. I hated the fact that I was uprooted from my family (the family I abandoned)and friends in California. I hated the fact that I was not in control of my own life anymore, as if I was really in control of my life anymore since my first drink!
Germany was great, it was just like Colorado or New Mexico weather wise anyway. If only I had not taken to drinking as soon as I got there. I went on to do more things I'd be sorry for ie; stole jeep from motor pool and went out to a village to drink, another nite came home walking from the village and almost fell asleep in the snow we were so drunk and cuda froze!, left half a dozen weapons in tent while we were galavanting at village drinking, (lucky nobody stole them, then I would have been in jail for life), was busted for selling whiskey and cigarette's to the locals to make pocket money. I was not jailed but my pay was taken away for months and it goes on and on and on. Consequently I came out with the same rank as I went in with 2 years prior. Longest 2 years of my life. Did I learn anything? Not hardly! Came out of the Army and fell back into the old routine, hangin around same old slippery people and slippery places.
CONTINUED:

By the time I got back to the USA the wife and kid....ex wife, moved far away to the east near Yosemite National Park. I would see my kid only 2 or 3 times a year. Maybe he would stay with me in the summer sometimes. One time while he was in my care I took him to see the Godfather of all movies and he would have nightmares for weeks. It seems that the horse in the bed would not agree with him! I would not be allowed to take him anywhere for awhile. I wonder why?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2006-11-13T09:51:00.000+08:00

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL Continued:

2006-10-30T13:34:00.000+08:00

Ok, back from New Mexico,USA holiday now so I will continue with "America the Beautiful" story.

1964 -1980
So we came back to Redwood City, California and would remain there for the next 15 years.
Redwood City, California....best wheather by government test! Yah, thats what they used to advertise in those days. I believe it too! Nice place, not too hot and not too cold.
If you get tired of the ocean you can drive 2-3 hours east to the snow country.

High School
Sequoia

Early Business Men
Simon Knights
Cliff May

HISTORIC REDWOOD CITY

Ranch Style Homes of Redwood City

Eichler Homes

Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream
(about Joseph Eichler)
By Paul Adamson & Marty Arbunich
Publisher: Gibbs Smith

"Joseph Eichler was a pioneering developer of residential suburbs whose socially conscious ethic, progressive planning, and elegant modern design for moderately priced housing in California still serves as a standard for housing developments today.
Defying conventional building industry wisdom by hiring a group of progressive architects to plan subdivisions and design reasonably priced homes, Eichler provided more than 11,000 residences that helped meet the dramatic need for post-World War II housing with extraordinary commodity and style".

HOMES, I think California has always been about homes. California, still cranking out the coolest homes in America. The Eichler, one of the coolest.
Try and buy an Eichler nowadays and see! Eichler homes are a cult, have protection groups to make sure they are not rennovated so as to take away any of the asthetics.
When i was living there in Silicone Valley Eichlers weren't that popular in fact I would never buy one and I bought and sold many homes in the bay area. They weren't popular becos of the flat roof construction that lead to lots of leaks when it rained but look what happend just a few years later!

Fairmeadows,Palo Alto,Ca.
Cool Yah?
One of Eichler's funkiest layouts

LIVING IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA IN THE 6O'S

Music of the Sixties

ACTORS OF THE SIXTIES

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

2006-07-29T14:45:00.000+08:00

Exploring the United States of America.
Most Americans have never been to all of the 50 states. America is too big and can take a lifetime to see every corner of the USA.

DENVER COLORADO:
I'll start with my home town and where i lived until summer 1964.
Denver, truly a Rockie Mountain High to quote the late John Denver.
Many childhood memories from Denver. Our family would go camping way up in the mountains outside the city limits in places like, Red Rocks, Central City, Black Hawk and Cripple Creek. My parents would sometimes allow a friend or two to come along, some of the neighbors didn't have cars so their parents couldn't leave the city. I remember my dad, dispite us not being rich, always had at least two cars. I thought we were the richest people in the neighborhood because we could always go to the lake swimming or camping.
Picnics and softball games with the many aunts, uncles and cousins of which i still have many living in Colorado and the numbers keep growing everyday were another way we spent summers.
For a few years we left Denver for a sleepy little town called Lafayette. After four years we moved to another colorful neighborhood in Denver across the river near the Denver Coliseum. When the circus or rodeo came to town we didn't worry about having money for expensive tickets to these shows because the folks that ran the shows would be glad to have us kids around to clean animal stalls and such for free entry passes! That was really cool. Nowadays got unions to protect kids from working for such things...wah! Whats a Circus ticket worth nowadays, $100,$200?

Another thing that just came to mind was 'cherry picking'! Yah, dad n mom would take us to a town called Morrison, west of Denver and we would pick cherries, half/half...half of the bushels would go to the orchard owner and the other half would come home with us, whatever us kids did not eat on the way home mom and dad packed/canned for our eating pleasure later! MMMMMM and they were yummy too. If it sounds fun to pick and can your own stuffs go here: Adobe Rose B n B

Denver, Nick named "Mile High City" becos of its elevation of some 5,280 ft. above sea level.

View of the Rockies from Denver HERE

AKA/Colorful Colorado not only for the beauty of its landscapes but also for its "Colorful People" ie;
1.Soapy Smith
2.Buffulo Bill
3.Doc Holiday
4.Louis Ballast

Famous Denver People
Charles Boettcher
Mayor Federico Peña
Clara Brown

More charactors from Denver!
HERE

BREAK TIME: George Harrison

Yo La Tengo

SAN FRANCISCO:
We would leave Denver on a long jouney to California in 1964.

Redwood City, would be home from 1964 till 1980 (later home of my friend GOOGLE!).
Traveling along with sister and mom in our 1957 Ford 2dr coupe, first down Santa Fe Dr. out of Denver and onto, what is now I-25 then hwy 85 south. South to New mexico then Arizona and West to California!
What an adventure we would have, stopping at diners all along the way, cheese burgers in one place, chile bowls in another and Chinese food, the way we used to eat it! History of Chinese food in America. Listen
Mc Donalds had already been introduced to Denver and the world but what we were really looking for was LOTTA BURGER!

In those days no such thing as by-passing a town either, U drove thru every town ie; Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Trinadad in Colorado then to Raton, Las Vegas, Santa Fe and Albuquerque in New Mexico. It was really cool. Since the introduction to the by-passes many old towns either dried up or stagnated so badly that everybody would move out. Maybe someone would come and call it a "ghost town" and sell tickets to see it! Madrid,NM then and NOW .

So to get on with the trip West, stopping at any wide spot on the road to rest or anyplace that got a pinball machine for me to play...wooo hoooo!
There would also be 100 miles between some towns and some folks could be mighty proud and not wanna give us water for our thirsty old car. In retrospect, what would posses a woman to leave a nice comfortable life to go on such a perilis journey (would it be that the 2 kids begged and pleaded to go)with two young kids? I'm talking about the
Mojave Desert Journey! God is Good and God is Great! Not even a flat tire! Just water for the car, thats all.
I really don't remember where we slept until the last day of the trip. We woke up in the morning outside a little town called Redwood City so we had breakfast there and then we headed for San Francisco where we were actually headed. Mom had been living there in the "40's" until after the war. She had told us all about it and we wanted to live there until.....now i remember....i got a ticket for running a red lite! So I was driving after all. Somewhere on Market Street, I would get my first ticket of my driving career.

Downtown San Francisco

Row Houses

Golden Gate Bridge

We looked around SF for a few hours seeing the sights, fisherman's warf, ride on the trolly and check out the crooked street and hilly ones too. "We don't want to live here" I said to mom and we would go back to the town we had breakfast in to settle down and make a home for many years.

CONTINUED

Earthship Community

2006-07-10T13:37:00.000+08:00

ALL MATERIAL COLLECTED in this post is from: The Greater World Earthship Community in Toas, New Mexico.

What is The Greater World Earthship Community?
"The Greater World project is designed to create an ideal condition from which a sustainable community can grow and flourish. Approximately 200 people will live in independent homes built using mostly recycled materials. These solar homes will be capable of growing food year round and will require little or no supplementary utilities. This sets the stage for a non-destructive existence that removes stress from the lives of people and the planet." says Mr.Michael Reynolds founder of Earthship Biotecture.
Approximate driving times and distances to Taos from surrounding towns and cities:

* Albuquerque, NM ~ 135 miles, 2:15
* Amarillo, TX ~ 302 miles, 4:30
* Austin, TX ~ 764 miles, 12:00
* Breckenridge, CO ~ 263 miles, 4:00
* Colorado Springs, CO ~ 230 miles, 3:45
* Dallas, TX ~ 682 miles, 10:30
* Denver, CO ~ 300 miles, 4:30
* Durango, CO ~ 208 miles, 3:15
* El Paso, TX ~ 400 miles 6:00
* Oklahoma City, OK ~ 558 miles, 8:15
* Phoenix, AZ ~ 568 miles, 8:30
* Purgatory, CO ~ 233 miles, 3:45
* Santa Fe, NM ~ 75 miles, 1:15
* Telluride, CO ~ 324 miles, 5:00
* Tuscon, AZ ~ 569 miles, 8:30
* Vail, CO ~ 276 miles, 4:30

Maybe your community can use an Earthship Community? To learn more CLICK HERE

THIS IS NOT AN ADVERTORIAL

A TASTE OF NEW MEXICO

2006-05-30T21:51:00.000+08:00

Video compliments of Bob Turner
AKA/Magneticbottle

Vive Nuevo Mexjico

Fondly known as the 'Land of Enchantment' New Mexico territory is one of the last in the USA to aquire 'State Hood' only becoming a state in 1912.

FIRST PEOPLES

Native American groups have inhabited the territory of New Mexico since shortly after the time of Christ. Their cliff dwellings and pit houses, ancient kivas, abandoned cities along ancient trade routes, and mysterious symbols etched in rock serve as strong reminders that New Mexico was home to native cultures several centuries before the Europeans reached the Americas. Evidence exists to this day in the structures at Chaco Canyon, Bandelier, Puye, Gila, Aztec, and Salmon.

EARLY DWELINGS

NAVAJO HOGAN

TAOS PUEBLO

ACOMA PUEBLO

EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS

Some 100 years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Spanish explorers made their way into present-day New Mexico. In 1532, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca led the first European expedition into the region. Other explorers quickly followed, inspired by rumors that he had discovered Seven Cities of Gold. Some historians believe that the golden glow of adobe pueblos, their mica-inflected clay inflamed by the setting sun, created an optical illusion that spawned the belief that such a place existed.

The states of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at "Four Corners" in the northwestern corner of New Mexico, my home is in the North Central part called Mora after the Mora Valley where its situated. Tall green pines mixed with aspen trees which make a beautiful sight in the fall.

Prior to Spanish conquest, the Mora area was Indian country. Although not an area of heavy Indian settlement by such tribes as the Pueblo Indians, the Mora valley was much used by nomadic tribes: the Utes, Navajos and Apache. Throughout the 19th century, Indian raids were common. The Mora Valley then became a travel-way for those Spanish explorers mentioned above and other families that came with explorers. Mora was not settled until the early part of the 19th century. The history of the settlement of Mora dates to 1817.

The then governor of 'New Mexico Territory' Albino Perez applied to Mexico for a land grant and was given land title for over 800,000 acres to some 25 families. Here are some of the first families to obtain land grants: Juan Lorenzo Alico,Carmen Arce
Jose Maestas Archuleta,Manuel Arguella,Felipe Arguello,Francisco Arguello,Miguel Arguello,Felipe Carbajal,Francisco Coven,Juan B. Cruz,Jose Maria Garcia,Juan Antonio Garcia,Miguel Garcia,Tomas Encarnacion Garcia,Ignacio Gonzalez,Francisco Lara,Gabriel Lujan,Jose Ignacio Madrid,Bernardo Martin,Geronimo Martin,Manuel Gregorio Martin,Miguel Mascarenas,Cruz Medina,Cecilio Montano,Jose Guadalupe Ortega,Manuel Paez,Miguel Paez,Ildefonso Pacheco,Jose Miguel Pacheco,Mateo Ringinel,Carlos Rinto,Carlos Salazar,Maria Dolores Sanches,Francisco Sandoval,Manuel Sanchez,Francisco Sena,Manuel Suazo,Jose Tapia,Antonio Alba Trujillo,Juan Cristobal Trujillo,Juan Trujillo,Esteban Valdez. These are most of the main families on record who were awarded 'Mexican Land Grants'in the Mora area. Im proud to say that many of the offspring from these families are still in Mora and still have the same names as their Great Grandparents too. Not so many Manuels as there used to be back then though.

THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862

In the late 1800s when the area was already a part of the United States my Great Grandfather and his oldest son Epipano were able to qualifiy for 'The Homestead Act'.
The Homestead Act of 1862 has been called one the most important pieces of Legislation in the history of the United States. Signed into law in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln after the secession of southern states, this Act turned over vast amounts of the public domain to private citizens. 270 millions acres, or 10% of the area of the United States was claimed and settled under this act. My Grandfather and Uncle both were able to get one section of land each, 640 acres. The homesteader would be required to improve the land ie; build a home and eventually fence his land. Money and supplies being in short supply the homesteaders would use anything including digging out the side of a hill to save on these supplies.

SOD HOUSE

In the heart of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Mora is centrally located in the state and only 1.5 hr drive to the Taos Ski Valley, 2 hrs to the capital, Santa Fe, NM and 3 hrs to Albuquerque International Airport. Backpacking , fishing, hunting and camping are the most popular things to do around Mora. After you've had a long day out on the trail you can relax in one of the many hot springs. SOOOO SOOOTHING!

VARIOUS HOT SPRINGS

In the 1960s Taos, Ojo Sarco, Ojo Caliente and Arroyo Secco were very popular for Communes and attracted many people from all over the USA. Some to dodge the draft, some to get back to nature and I suppose some drove thru the area and just couldn't leave the enchanting place.

Remember the cool vehicals of the times?

Mode of Transport 1960's

Many of those families are still around and took advantage of those times when land prices were cheap! Some even went on to become Holistic Healers, Doctors, Dentists and Midwife. Just a few that come to mind of the "La Sierra Gang" are, Dan and Maya, Midnite (a midwife), John the dentist, although John was always partial to Bali so dun know if he is still around. So many i can't remember them all. Some been there longer than me.

It would only a few months after buying my humble little cabin I was to be drafted into the Army, then after discharge i only stayed partime....didn't have the skills that it takes to live in that kind of country. Never appreciated the solitude not being the type to love reading alot and when winter comes! Wow, u may never see a soul for a while.... and my place is just on the highway, imagine the Sierra bunch. Made a worse cowboy......couldn't ride for SHEEEEEEE! 1978 got married once again in Califa and like my first wife she didn't take to NM. Just my luck.

All I can say now is.....

NINETYSIX TEARS

WHITE RABBIT

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2006-05-13T11:06:00.000+08:00

from Google:

History and Customs...

In the U.S. Mothers' Day is a holiday celebrated on second Sunday in May. It is a day when children honor their mothers with cards, gifts, and flowers. First observance in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1907, it is based on suggestions by Julia Ward Howe in 1872 and Anna Jarvis in 1907.

Although it wasn't celebrated in the U.S. until 1908, there were days honoring mothers even in the days of ancient Greece. In those days, however, it was Rhea, the Mother of the gods that was given honor.

Later, in the 1600's, in England there was an annual observance called "Mothering Sunday." It was celebrated during Lent, on the fourth Sunday. On Mothering Sunday, the servants, who generally lived with their employers, were encouraged to return home and honor their mothers. It was traditional for them to bring a special cake along to celebrate the occasion.

In the U.S., in 1908 Ana Jarvis, from Grafton, West Virginia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. Jarvis persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the anniversary of her mother's death. A memorial service was held there on May 10, 1908 and in Philadelphia the following year where Jarvis moved.

Jarvis and others began a letter-writing campaign to ministers, businessmen, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother's Day. They were successful. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother's Day a national observance that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.

Many other countries of the world celebrate their own Mother's Day at different times throughout the year.

DON'T FORGET TO BE EXTRA GOOD TO YOUR MOTHER TODAY!

Red Star Restaurant, Singapore

BRING MOM, SHE'LL LOVE IT!
Blk 54 Chin Swee Road
#07-23
Singapore 160054
Tel: 6532 5266 / 6532 5103 Fax: 6534 0993

I've had dim sum brunch(and lunch and dinner) at Red Star Restaurant many times since 1999 when i arrived here in Singapore...when you had to stand up next to a table where people were still eating in order to wait for your table. This was my first experience doing such thing but just to let you know this is not the process anymore at Red Star, now you just queque and are given a number to get ur table.

This is among my top choices for dim sum in Singapore. Dim sum is still served off push-carts in the traditional way. You have to chase after all those carts for the dim sum items you like, for chances are they either failed to pass by your table, or by the time the carts reach you, the items you want are all gone. This is where your Mom never lets you down...her expertise in tracking down just the cart with all of your favorites is amazing! I'm sure u all know what i mean.

Food is delicious, especially the steamed fish head with black bean sauce. Let down your hair and forget all your manners here at Red Star becose its a real down to earth but still family oriented full service restaurant that can host most functions or gatherings there.

They start serving dim sum as early as 7am, and is consistently crowded till after lunch, with the peak around 11am-12nn. The customer flow is fast, so you seldom have to wait for more than 15 minutes for a table. But even if you have to wait a little longer, it is well worth it. The best thing about this place is the value for the money it provides. Price is very reasonable and food quality is great! Red Star is still a 'family owned and opperated' business....one of the last ones!

KUCHING, EAST MALAYSIA

2006-05-09T15:14:00.000+08:00

Dave and me in Kuching,MY a year ago! wow how the time flies. Didn't see much there but the beach and cultural shows (see more)and of course all of the restaurants and shopping places too.

While we were there we stayed near the beach but too far from the city, next time i stay HERE, looks much more convenient.
A contractor invited us there to look as the homes he builds and boy are they cheap compared to singapore homes.....really cool one like Semi-d and terraces and also we saw his Bungalow...wow he has a big place with soooooooo many huge dogs! I go back to my photos and look for the ones with his dogs....come back soon!
cheers
david
CONTINUED:
Sorry no dog pics but the one of the bungaow will give you some idea how ex! it is in SG compared to outside. Boy would i love to live there and enjoy nice house too.

"It was not until after World War II, when the occupying Japanese had left Kuching,Sarawak, that it was decided that the time for such 'White Rajah' empires had passed. Charles Vyner Brooke abdicated and Sarawak at long last became a 'proper' British Crown Colony, in 1946". read more HISTORY

"On two occasions I, along with my wife and friends, traveled the Mahakam River using local boats".ADVENTURES!
That just about concludes the trip to East Malaysia and I will leave you with one more place to go see many many aerial,river and cave photos of the GREAT Island of Borneo.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Kuching

BEATLES.....Revolution

2006-05-04T21:14:00.000+08:00

Revolution

I'M Down!

OLDIE BUT GOODIE

2006-04-28T10:14:00.000+08:00

IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW (Chicago)

Lyrics:

If you leave me now
you'll take away the biggest part of me
oooh no, baby please don't go

And If you leave me now
You'll take away the very heart of me
oooh no, baby please don't go
oooh girl, I just want you to stay

A love like ours is love that's hard to find
how could we let it slip away

We've come too far to leave it all behind
how could we end it all this way

When tomorrow comes and we both regret
the things we said today

A love like ours is love that's hard to find
how could we let it slip away

We've come too far to leave it all behind
how could we end it all this way

When tomorrow comes and we both regret
the things we said today

If you leave me now
you'll take away the biggest part of me
oooh no, baby please don't go

oooh girl, just got to have you by my side
oooh no, baby please don't go
oooh mama, just got to have your lovin

VIETNAM, APRIL 2006

2006-04-19T18:04:00.000+08:00

Greetings from Sunny Vietnam....
Lovely place too nice for words! Spent a whole five days there going up and down the place.....more traffic than Singapore but less congestion or should i say JAMS than... say Bangkok or Hong Kong(also less polluted too). Nothing can stop motorbikes from moving around.....neither one ways or red lites they can just keep moving and they do! Like soooo many aunts moving around each other and never getting anoyed with one another, at least thats the apearance from where I was standing??? who knows? So anyway getting around by taxi is not bad around $S5.00 for an average trip like from Holland V to DobyGaunt (8 or 10 kilometers)or something.

Personally I didn't care for the trip to Cu Chi tunnels.....just sooo much talk about the WAR(excelent link) and how they kicked our asses!!! "All we had was patriotism, which allowed us to suffer anything," said Col. Pham Tan Thanh
An extrodinary amount of US soldiers died, 2,637,100 people fought through the triumph and tragedy in the Vietnam War. Unfortunately 58,000 never returned home again. Some of the troops were named 'TUNNEL RATS'
from the 25th Infantry Division becos of their sole job was to enter the tunnels on search and destroy missions.

On the way back to Ho Chi Minh from Cu Chi we pass some cute little farms and small towns which always apeals to me to see how the people run there farms and all live in a small community like that. They grow lots of stuffs from fruit to corn to cashew nuts.

Only a 2hr+ trip from S'pore and I rate it one of the best places for the money and effort especially if u have a limited amount of time to spend on a short holiday. I wasn't able to look at properties and see what is selling and for how much on this trip but i will next time....got to go to Hanoi, READ THIS BLOG on my next trip and get me some tailor made clothes! Hoi An a town up north is known for having a tailor shop on every block of the town. Hoi An is a perfectly lovely little town, about twenty kilometers south of Danang, on the central coast of Vietnam.

Boy I came back to find that u all had plenty of rain?? Not bad, Vietnam will begin their rainy season soon...now its 35 cel. No mosquitos at anytime of the day or nite??? dun know, maybe becos no rain?

Happy Birthday to ME! Woo HOOOOO!

2006-03-25T22:11:00.000+08:00

Well, im getting there....celebrated with frens and familia at New Generation, you know the place?
Cool play to dance at the CBD.

These are pics from Bangkok, February trip with
the dance buddies doing lots of shopping unlike 2005 doing some serious drinking! and carousing... haaaaa , dun know why but this trip turn into 95% shopping and little else. All depends who joins you i suppose.

April 15 will be leaving to Vietnam, hope its a cool place....not expecting beaches and all that although i heard there are some but like to see some old old buildings and eat from street vendors...hopefully safe to eat all that street food! I wish i was game to eat the exotic meats and bugs but i dun wanna eat any puppies! yah heard they eat dogs like in Korea and Phils what! I would like rabbit or snake or fish but thats about it man.
Who has been there? What is good to go see? I dun know if my trip includes tour or free and easy.....as long as can take photos its ok with me.

HAPPY CNY/ GONG XI FA CAI

2006-02-06T12:17:00.000+08:00

hello and belated happy cny to all of you here in southeast asia.....
had a great party this 3rd day of cny and went out to a couple of good ones too.

just got back from Pataya,Th. and bangkok. not bad all in all, place still polluted with traffic and bad air too......still i wonder what the place will be like without the toot toots??? yah, they say they want to outlaw them becos of the danger they pose to the passengers! probally the danger to tourists, they dun care about there own ppl. didn't hear they want to ban the girly bars!! i went to a show and the same ole tricks, the darts the pingpong balls...... fucking ppl working all hours of the nite tooo! the poor working conditions for those slogging away 12++ hrs a day, they will put their little girls to sleep on the sidewalk at midnite with a cup next to her for spare change. I guess we shud all see this kind of place to realize how good we have it....what a cruel world we live in. shame shame on the governments of countries like this. im no mathmatician but i know if you spread around the wealth people dun have to live like this....shit,shit, shit!
what about human nature tooo, got ppl struggling away, down and out and then come alone tourists and barter and barter them down till u get an item next to nothing! whats with us? NO SHIT! im guilty of it too , i know. U see that the man or woman or even kids selling their wares are living in shit and still got ppl getting the price lower and lower. what if these ppl dun got any education and cannot tell when they go down too cheap and even lose more money???? Remember this next time! we all use the bullshit expression "its my rice bowl you know" .... we say this anytime ppl try to get us down too much. but what the hell, at least we know when too much is, that poor fellow over there may not be able to tell one. to be continued

23 Days into the new year already?? Wah! Where does the time fly??

2006-01-23T11:46:00.000+08:00

In case ur wondering, she is the maid
one as a young girl back home, one when she is a cop, and the other after living in SG for five years........ boy has she changed! wonder if she can adapt backhome!

Today got salmon, rice and veggie for lunch, my maid simply the best cook ever!
I must remember to reward her more often. when she came to me could only boil water and fry stuffs. now she has learned to cook chinese, western, malay, BLT C (bacon,lettuce,tomato and cheese) ...... she thinks one must always have cheese on any sandwich! you name it she can cook it!
she has been with me for 5 yrs now and hope she wun wanna go back soon.

Well i hope u are doing some good since the last time i wrote you. can't believe its been soo long oredie!
boy, time sure does fly when ur having fun yah? Im working hard as usual, traveling as much as I can and enjoying the hell out of Singapore as much as I can too. What can I say? Its paridize!
cheers for now

Big "2006" coming soon!!

2005-12-27T17:01:00.000+08:00

Another year has come and gone....
wow! I could have done sooooo much but always decide to vegitate...not good. Please dun do it in ur own lives.
Since i arrived in SG i could have had a degree and a half already if i had started school at that time!! Wah! Simply amazing how time flies when ur having fun....
Instead i chose the Zouks, Club street, Little India, all of those places that waste ur time.....If you are thinking of taking time off school this next year maybe you consider becos can turn into a lifetime. "Oh i think i'll travel n see the world before i settle down and go to school....must have some fun first". Big Mistake!
You want to see the world then attend a Uni out of the country and get with the program.

When i heard the news on CNN about the anniversary of the Tsunami i can't believe it was a year....I only blogged 3 times since the Tsunami.......Yah, i've been slacking on everything. Damn! How come li dat?

So what else is new? What u all been doing? If i dun go clicking from blog to blog i wun know whats happening..Nobody writes me.
What u think of the winners of the Blogger Awards? where u from? did anybody u like win? Nobody can win in SG except for Ms. Xiaxue...shes d queen of singapore bloggers.....no shit, nobody can touch her.
I'm not an expert but i hope she will consider sticking to " fashion" she is almost an expert and you know she is knowlegable in the area....yah? OH, i forget "Clubbing" orso expert on that too.....ppl shud stick to what they know, she dun know anything about toilets or travel and for sure about diplomacy, should not blogg on this. You see her last entry? The one about Banglas? Shit! One of these days she piss off the wrong Bangla got big trouble, not to mention if she piss off Banglah Gah men we gonna be cleaning our own streets, doing contruction and all that other good stuff. Sure aint too many SG man wanna do it. Please girl, leave the diplomacy to the experts, they are called Diplomats, they are professionals and suppossed to be trained to keep us from going to war and cooling down uproars around the country. I wonder if Xiaxue start trouble they bill her for the hours it takes to talk the Banglas from striking? Gonna cost a bomb.

I should blogg about toilets, no matter where i go i look at d toilet first! haaaaaaaa no shit, (actually lots of shit) its true. Maybe not me but somebody shud do a blogg about toilets, then we can go and read up on where any good and clean toilets are in SG b4 we go eat or do business there....some of my favorite coffee shops sooooooo damn dirty man. Can't see why they dun pay some poor slob (unemployed person)to be cleaning them especially around the coffee shops. Really a drag get ur cuffs of ur pants all full of it. stinking, not to mention the shoes (flip flops, sandles) eeewwww going and steping on all the piss. Why the fcuk can't the piss go into the urinal? Not that difficult to stand there and aim into the thing! NO wonder where ever i go got to remove shoes......LOL. I guess thats the main reason. Last time used to think it was a religious thing......becos they do it religiously to keep out the stinky stuffs we step in.....confuse only.

Im damn glad not too much chewing gum too. Even can't sell gum still step in gum! My one and only time was this month, yah, thought i was imagining, really, got gum on my shoe. I went home from where ever and imediately sent a letter off to Gah men to ask them please enforce the ban and make it stronger to include chewing gum ban as well. Some bugger must have bought outside and then dump it here where i can step in......thats shit! I left my land for better things not to continue in the sqwaller which is USA! Guns are ok but damn if i want to live with drugs, dirty toilets and chewing gum......orso i added about d smoking ban....why not? We are on a roll. Come home from Pub wife dun know...except for smell like smoke and low on cash and acting like a fool sometimes but if act normal and cannot smell smoke im safe.

Spain, London and Scottland

2005-12-08T16:19:00.000+08:00

Hello,
a village in Barcelona Spain!
Really the streets a just full of people, lots n lots of old ppl tooo
dun know where they all come from.....more pics coming up.
Ok, here are some....sorry, forgot how to upload...i practice now so mabye you can get an idea how it looks there.
Got castles tooo! wanna see? LOL for sure you do.....here they come! Sorry, i believe some of the last to be in London and Scottland........u get the idea, it was nice, cool wheather and a good experience! Pallea in Spain (rice ,sea food dish) was ok but i think i can make a better one myself....Steak Pie was to die for! aaahhhh the Hagus! well its not bad lah, if you like sheep intestines! but ok really. All in all not a bad trip, Brits can keep their pounds though....man o man are they "Pound Proud" (meaning that they give a shitty exchange for our poor little ol S$).

two cents worth

2005-12-08T16:11:00.000+08:00

hello all....sorry sooooo boring of me, dun know what to write about.
im really into reading ya alls nice and interesting bloggs.
so what with the "asian blog awards"? who do u like d most and who will u vote for? you heard about them right? yup coming up soon and you need to vote now.

just got back from london, spain and scottland and sure nice to be back too. nice and cool and green there but no place like home.
took many pics and dun mind putting some up for you to see if you like to know where i been ok?

whats new in singapore then? well wherever you are from can always relay back to me what you been up to.
i'm already back at work and must catch up with much workload as i neglected my bizz for over two weeks LOL
got many prospects to call back and laizzz with....should be good.
ok for nows.....take care and get back to me soon with any good news about your own life....
cheers

Seven to One!

2005-10-30T21:58:00.000+08:00

How do you get into this position? Seven to one if you don't count the boy!
Mama mia! looks like a harem? Do they still have these in Asia? If you know where its legal please let me know. See the smile on his face too? LOL
Geeezz im jealous...haaaaaaaaa
Happy Devali/Ramadan
30/10/05

Bali, Indonesia "2002"

2005-02-10T21:13:00.000+08:00

Bali Indonesia, you betcha that i took this pic!
This pic can win me a first prize or maybe best of show!
i better look for some contest to join ehhh? Nah, just luck,
i was actually just making up excuses to my crazy driver
so i could get out the vehicle and relax from the scarey trip!
My driver passing on curves going in and out like anybody's business too.
I'm serious, all the drivers did the same thing so at any time
somebody will be coming directly at you just looking for head on collision.
I really missed out on some good pics (like the lady bathing in the ditch on the side of the road) because i was holding on for dear life!
Bali was lovely and I recommend that everybody go there at least once in a lifetime. Food great, people are lovely, place is reasonably priced too.

Malay House in Kajang, MY.

2005-01-18T10:07:00.000+08:00

Hello! I found this lovely Malay house in Kajang with typical Moped sitting in front of it. Surprised to find only one Moped though??? Usually a whole shrue of them because they are cheap and even the youngest of the kids can ride without much hassel from police! hahaha unlike singapore where u better look out if u plan to break the law........
Kajang is a nice little town not far from KL. Kajang is also know for its famous Satay eating houses.

two cents worth

2004-12-31T17:47:00.000+08:00

LETTER TO MY RELATIVES AND FRENS AROUND THE WORLD….WHEN I FINALLY LOOKED AT MY EMAIL IT WAS FULL OF MAILS OF PEOPLE ASKING ME IF WE WERE SAFE OR EFFECTED BY THE EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMIS

hello all,

thought u could get rid of me soooo easy by whipping up some tremors and big waves huh? well not even!

just wanted to let all of u know at one go ( they say that here a lot) that we who were in singapore are all safe after the terrible earth quake and then tsunamis. However, the singaporeans that were in the effected areas is a different story and so far they can't account for 299 of them.
many many Europeans are dead as Phuket Thailand is a favourite destination for them. Cheap stuffs and pristine beaches for swimming and diving are the main things that attracts hoards of tourists every year. Did i mention cheap hotels, spas and kickass food, HOT (spicy) food !

please tell all ur frens and families not to be afraid to come here....now we need all of the support we can get in the tourist industry....funny how these things affect the travel industry. after the bombing in Bali Indonesia in 2002 the Island almost dried up and blew away...nobody support us leh!
Sars! WAH! Singapore did dry up! But like I mention before we didn’t blow away cause not much wind leh.

lets not let that happen in this case ok? airfares will be less and hotels toooo so get out ur credit cards or spend some of the hard earned cash you have been saving for ur kids and if ur a kid spend some just in case a Tsunamis is on its way near you....haaaaaaaaaa
got cha!

all kidding aside lets all take a moment of silence (send money if u can) for the ones who perished and for those suffering the after effects........

thanks
your loving, brother, cousin, father, uncle, blogger, sugar daddy, EXs….....and what ever else I am to some of you.....LOL

UNFORGIVING TSUNAMIS

2004-12-27T17:09:00.000+08:00

damn! just when we thought it was safe to get into the water again.....or rather from singapore we thought it is safe to go to the southern areas of thailand!
my friend's kid was diving in the area of the huge tidal wave that hit Phuket, thailand on sunday. he managed by the grace of god to escape though....boy his mom was worried for the first few hours...no phone service u see.
he was quite a ways out to sea already and for some reason doesn't get the affects as on the beach????
for those of u who dun know this area in so.east asia, Phuket is the Gringo tourist capitol of the world, coming to swim, scuba and see the place where many movies are made including :the beach" remember it? maybe even more so than Bali which btw has just only began to get some tourists back after the bombings a cppl of years ago......
the worst part of it is that the earthquake started far far south and ppl can be warned if only there is a few electronic systems in place, "the earthquake started over 1000 km away" says the news man on CNN". 1000 kl away and not even a phone call to the northern partners or any kinda stuffs in place to give warning! SHIT, even yahoo chat news travels faster than that......and bloggs toooo!
fucking ppl just dun wanna spend a few bucks to save lives....too much lah.

two cents worth

2004-12-27T08:07:00.000+08:00

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all could use more calm in our lives. By following the simple advise I heard on a Dr. Phil show I have finally found inner peace.

Dr Phil proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. So I looked around my house to see things I started and hadn't finished.

Before leaving the house this morning I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of a Valium prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some saltines and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how fucking good I feel.

Please pass this on to those you feel are in need of inner peace.

this blog! its a bird, its a plane, NO, its a PAIN!

2004-12-17T14:04:00.000+08:00

Greetings from sunny singapore!
having lots of fun with my blog, already met some new folks from Japan too....yep a swell gal named Nikki.
Nikki was nice enuff to make a comment to me about the blog also said i should allow annonoymous comments but i still can't find the way to allow???? if anybody knows where to click the correct button let me know.....ty

i was playing yahoo pool when nikki contacted me on yahoo messenger. you heard of it? yup, its a great little toy for sending and receiving instant mess. from ur frens all over the world. even better if you have a cam attached... yah, really cool.

i started playing pool about a year ago and have played 5-6 thousand games. i tried to play Literati the word game but just dun like to think that much whn im trying to relax or have fun. don't know why, maybe just lazyness????

my wife and i are opperating a bed and breakfast here in singapore for those of you who wish to visit or who maybe getting a new job here or attending school.
we opened in Nov. '99' and have been doing well and are full most of the time but NO problem for we are also having many condominiums for rent and can accomodate anyone's budget.

i am american and my wife is malaysian. the hardest thing for me to get used to is the one season here, always hot season here.....heeeee otherwise singapore is fantastic.

don't forget, if one of you got the time do feel free to introduce urself and stop bye and relax. i hope i can answer all of you.......also i work on the annonoymous thingy tooo....
cheers
2 cents worth