Queue Tips: Crazy Heart

Apparently, "Crazy Heart" is not the sequel to "Crazy Rich Asians".  Actually, I have never seen "Crazy Rich Asians", although I am Asian.  And yes, I am crazy.  But no, I'm not rich.  I think if I watched it, I would just be thinking the whole time, "I am not a crazy rich Asian.  They are crazy rich Asians, but I'm not."

Anyways, I might have a crazy heart myself, I guess.  But what does that mean?  I know I haven't exercised in a while, so yeah my heart is probably a little crazy these days.  

I first watched this movie many years ago when it first came out on DVD.  It begins with Jeff Bridges' character in a bowling alley.  It reminded me of "The Big Lebowski", the bowling movie.  I guess I kinda couldn't get over that so I couldn't really get into the movie at the time.

I watched it again today and actually enjoyed it.  At first, I really enjoyed the rapport between Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal's characters.  I liked their exchanges and liked how their relationship developed.  I wasn't too crazy about it though when it turned romantic.  He was just so much older than her.  I also hoped to watch something that didn't have to be about sex.  I kinda wanted them to be more of a platonic parent and child relationship.  Maybe they should have made her character a little older and closer to his age.  But at the same time I can see how she could actually fall for him despite the age difference.

Her character had a child, and his character grew fond of him.  You can kind of see it coming that something would get messed up at some point.  And it did, and that was the last he saw of him.  It's sad, but it happened and she did what was best for her child.

I really enjoyed the music.  I should buy the soundtrack.  Okay, maybe I will do it.  Early Christmas present for me.  You should do it, too.  Early Christmas present for you.  Unless you're reading this at a later time than when I am writing it.

I think I will reason to the soundtrack while I write the sequel, "Crazy Heart 2: My Crazy Heart Will Go On".  It's gonna have a big giant ship.  And it can't slow down or your heart will explode.  When you see it, you will say, "That's crazy!  How is that even possible?!"  And then when it becomes a huge hit, I will finally be a crazy rich Asian.

Queue Tips: Commando

Apparently, "Commando" isn't just about a guy walking around with no underwear.  It's some kind of action movie with Arnold Schwarzenneger.  

It starts off with him living in a cabin in the woods somewhere very remote.  I wonder whether he used to be some kind of a drug lord cooking up meth and had to get a new identity to get away from the bad guys or something.  But actually, no, he's not alone.  He is living with his daughter, Alyssa Milano.

There is then this montage of him and his child spending time together.  He even trains her to fight.  He teaches her to arm wrestle and find extra strength by turning his cap backwards.  Oh wait, that's a Sylvester Stallone movie.

In this movie, he has a daughter.  She was then kidnapped by the bad guy.  Or in other words, taken.  He then uses his set of skills to look for him, find him, and kill him.  (Spoiler alert!)

What is a commando anyway?  Is that Spanish for command?  Or is that how the British pronounce commander?  

When I was growing up, commando meant not wearing underwear.  And I did that a lot.  Me and my cousins never wore underwear until we were around ten years old.  One time I was talking to this young man, either an older relative or someone who worked for the family, and I think I said something like I need to wear underwear.  And he was like, "Why do you need that?  You're only a child."  Or something like that.  But the point is that like, that was just not expected for kids to wear, like it was a waste of money spending on that.  But yeah, I did wear briefs eventually at around nine or ten years old.  I'm not sure about my cousins though.  The boys cousins, that is.  I'm pretty sure the girls did wear them even at a younger age.

But back to the movie.  In the beginning, the bad guys just spray bullets towards Arnold and Alyssa and their bodyguards, basically not caring who and what they hit.  Somehow, they run though his rain of bullets and survive unscathed.  The two bodyguard soldiers die though.  They then kidnap Alyssa.  Not sure if that was planned, but again, they could have killed her moments ago, so what then?  And then a little later, they capture Arnold and hold him at gunpoint.  But they don't kill him.  Again, they basically didn't care if he lived or died moments ago, but now they keep him alive.  So then stuff happens and he ends up killing them.

Speaking of being a kid, I watched this a few times as a kid with my cousins.  I'm sure we liked it, but I didn't remember much about it.  When I moved to America, it was aired on Channel 9 at some point in the early nineties.  I watched a bit of it, but then channel surfed and I think forgot to put it back on.

It looks like they never made a sequel to this.  I wonder why not.  It seemed to have been a hit.  Alyssa became a big star later on in the nineties.  I wonder if they ever thought of reuniting the two together.  I wonder what the plot would be.  Maybe Arnold's character Matrix, has just been killing people in a simulation all along, and then he works as a housekeeper to provide a better life for his daughter and falls in love with his boss lady employer.

Queue TIps: How Did Bob Saget Become Your Father

I was watching "How I Met Your Mother" a while ago, and I just remembered that Bob Saget was the voice of the dad when he was older.  I remember not noticing that back when the show was still on the air.  And I was usually pretty good at recognizing voices.  I thought that was pretty cool.  He hadn't really been in a lot of stuff that I had seen other than "Full House".  There was that pretty good cameo in "Half Baked" I think.

I was wondering why I used to actually kind of like this show.  I think the main draw was really Neil Patrick Harris.  This was around the time he kind of revived his career, after he appeared on "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle".  I thought there were some pretty funny jokes.  I used to actually watch it every week.

Looking back at it now, though, it's kind of awkward that a dad is telling his teenage kids all about his sex life, as well as his friends' sex life.  And why was he talking through the TV and not in person?  And why at that age haven't they heard about how their parents met yet?  And why did the father go through so many random different stories first?

I don't know why I used to root for the main character either.  I think his name is Ted.  But it's hard to believe now that I used to think he had a point about making a big deal out of forcing things to be romantic.  I think he stole a trumpet or something because it was supposed to mean something.  Now I just find that stupid.  

And all the dumb reasons why he and Robin wouldn't get together even though they liked each other.  Like, just tell her you like her and if she doesn't like you back, move on.  I mean, I know it's a sitcom and so they create situations for comedic effect, but I now just find it all to be inane.

I already don't remember how the series ends.  I hope that's a good thing.  I remember watching it and like most everybody else, feeling incredibly disappointed.  Or, I should say disappoint-Ted.  Get it?

Also, if you search for this online, make sure you type it correctly and that you don't put "How I Wet Your Mother" instead.  That's a whole different thing entirely.

Queue Tips: Eden is Cheese

When I was growing up in the Philippines, Eden was cheese.  Not sure why they named it that.  I remember picking at it sometimes.  You weren't supposed to eat it without bread.  And you kind of saved it for special occasions.  It probably was not cheap.  Do they still make it?

In any case, I saw "East of Eden" recently.  It stars James Dean.  I don't think I've seen much of his films.  A lot of his acting in here involves hugging trees and playing with their leaves and groping walls for some reason.  And then he runs with his arms flailing about.  And being overly dramatic like a hormonal teenager even though he looked middle aged at this point.

This film was made in 1955, and I guess that's just how those movies were.  But I just couldn't get into the melodrama.  I prefer a little more subtlety, but I guess that's just how acting was back then.  At the same time, I also can't stand some of the acting nowadays.  

Apparently, east of Eden is where Cain went to live after he killed his brother Abel in the Bible.  This movie does have two brothers having a rivalry, but one doesn't kill the other.  Unless I missed it somehow.    Instead it involves a girl.  One has a girlfriend and the other I guess likes her, too.  I have two brothers, and I can't picture myself liking any of their girlfriends.

And then apparently they don't know who their mother is or something.  But then James Dean finds out who she is.  And he follows her around and for some reason instead of talking to her, he throws stones at her house.  And then later on when they actually finally meet, it's like they just basically acknowledge each other as mother and son.  Like after making a big whole deal about it, suddenly it's just like nothing.  Like taken for granted.

Kinda reminds me of stuff I went through as a kid.  There was a lot of drama with my mom and dad, and they eventually divorced around the time I was in college.  And drama with the in-laws.  My mom used to trade letters with my aunt.  That was probably actually the main reason why she kept picking up my grandma from her house.  So that she could drop off her letter when she got there.  And then when she dropped off my grandma back there, she would come back with a letter from my aunt in response.  At one time I got a glimpse of it but either didn't get a chance to fully read it or just didn't want to.  My mom kept it somewhere else after, and I never found it again.  Or never looked for it.

Anyways, many years later, with me already an adult, everybody kinds of makes up with each other.  And everything is nice nice.  Meanwhile, I was in the middle of all this as a child, and even now no one has acknowledged that.  And I never got close with my aunt or my uncle or my cousin after, and with me spending all those lonely days and nights in a tiny apartment and all those boring summers with nowhere to go and nothing do.  I mean, it would have been nice to be around some family.  But let's just forget all that now that we are all cool with each other again.

Queue Tips: The Lonely Dead

When I was working at the baseball network a few years ago, there was this play where someone from right field made a throw or something and they got somebody out at the plate.  So the producers wrote in their copy something like, "They got him dead to rights!"  And they had this lady hosting the highlights show, and she just would not say the line.  Instead she would say something like, "Dead at home plate" or something like that.  And the producers kept asking her to do the line again and again, every time she wouldn't say it.  I feel like she just did not get the expression.  They were frustrated with her, but they just let it go.  She never did say it correctly.  We all just wanted to go home in the end.  I keep thinking of that when I hear the word "dead".

A few years ago, I started watching "Dead To Me".  I don't remember why I checked it out.  I don't think I even knew Christina Applegate was in it.  I think it was a pleasant surprise when I saw her.  And then that girl from "Freaks and Geeks", too, who was also in some episodes of "Mad Men".

It was very interesting at first.  I really liked the premise.  It was about a widow dealing with the death of her husband, and she kind of had this attitude about grieving, like it was beyond her.  And then she meets this woman who befriends her.  She has lost somebody also, and they bond and overcome their loneliness together.  And then it turns out the protagonist had two kids.  As a father, it was interesting to me to see what kind of a hole his death would have left on that family.  The show started out great.

And then it kind of went downhill from there.  Spoiler alert.  There turned out to be a good twist right away, as the woman friend turned out to be the killer of the husband.  So then you're kinda hooked into wondering how they could possibly survive the friendship once the truth comes out.  And then the truth comes out and it just kind of becomes ridiculous at that point.  That's sort of what I don't like about watching a series, because then you are now invested and want to know how it turns out.

So how they resolved it is they then made the main character kill the friend's husband also.  So now they're even.  And it just kinda gets sillier from there.  They end up befriending the detectives working on the case, and they end up getting away with it because of that.  And it turns out the friend's husband had a twin brother.  Dun dun dun!  And the friend also helps to bury her husband.  It just turned out to be a soap opera at that point.

Somewhere along the line, they just forgot about the original dead guy.  Who he was to their kids and to the main character was just ignored.  The focus on the grieving disappeared, and it was just about how the living moved on with their lives and got away with their crimes.  Of course, they made you feel bad about the dead so that you kind of root for these women.  The performances were great though.  Christina and the "Freaks and Geeks" girl were amazing.  And Christina's mom from "Married... With Children" also appeared in some episodes, and she was good, too.  That was the redeeming factor.  But the writing overall was not so good.

Queue Tips: The Accidental Tourist

I watched "The Accidental Tourist" recently.  It's pretty sad.  It's about a man coping with the loss of his child.  I turned the movie on just after my wife and kids left for school and work, so I am sitting at home alone, just minutes after parting with them for the day.  I just can't fathom how it would be if I were to never see my family again.

I was still kinda sleepy so I lay down and closed my eyes.  I dozed off for a bit here and there.  If I didn't do that, I don't know how I could have handled this film.

There was a part in the movie where the man dreamed his child had called him, asking why he didn't pick him up.  It was very touching and sad.  I just really hope I would never be in a situation like that.  I hope my kids and my wife will be happy, healthy and safe for a long time.

At first, I thought it would be an interesting, quirky adventure type film.  It starts off giving advice on how to travel for business.  There's a scene in the beginning where the man sits on a plane next to a reader of his articles.  It made me think for a while that this would be like a "Trains, Planes and Automobiles" type flick.  But it wasn't.

I'm struggling right now to even write about it.  It's tough for me saying goodbye to my kids every day.  My younger one gives me a hug every morning when I drop him off at the bus stop.  And then he's off and ready to start his day.  Sometimes he waves at me from the bus, and sometimes he's preoccupied with talking to his friends or something.  

My older one hugs me everyday, too.  But that is more of a quick hug.  I try to kiss him on the cheek, but he's got a lot of hair.  His mom drives him to the light rail, and he commutes to school.  My wife and I used to take turns dropping him off all the way to school, but he has a friend who commutes also and he likes going on the light rail with him.  Sometimes they hang out at the mall for a bit before going home.  We have not had to drive him since the second half of the school year last year.  While I appreciate the time I have to stay home, I do miss being with him, even though he just slept the whole way until we got there.  If I got there early, I would just sit in the car quietly listening to the music and watching the people pass by, sometimes hearing him breathe in his sleep.  I don't even remember anymore what time I would wake him.  7:30 maybe?  But I would gently tap him on his knee and then he would stir and look around.  I would give him a hug and then he would get out, open the rear door and grab his backpack from the backseat.  

When my older one was still a toddler, his mom used to drop him off to day care, which was near her work.  When I would buckle him up in his car seat in the mornings, I would tell him, "Listen and learn, share and care, take turns."  Not sure how I came up with that.  It kinda rhymes, I guess.  And I still say it to him now that he's a sophomore in high school.  And I have been saying the same thing to my fourth grader.

It's interesting that the character's wife left him as their relationship had changed since their loss.  Definitely once you've had kids, things are not the same as before.  Our days are all about our kids' activities.  Our days are very much very full now.  We would of course be very lost without them.

The other interesting character in the story is the new love interest.  She was played by Geena Davis, and I don't know how realistic her character is, why she would put up with someone who seemed so hard to reach.  The film had somewhat of a happy ending, but I guess that's not how it always works in real life.

The Lantern Files Part 4

So on my walk, I follow a pathway by the river.  I start on the northern end going south.  There are gates on both ends.  It is about a mile and a half from end to end.  The walkway is beside three communities, and each has a pool area.  The third pool area is where most of the lanternflies hang out.  There is actually some space there as the path is turning from south to southwest direction.  When I get to the other end, I turn around and head back.  So there's kind of two phases to my walk, the forward and backward.

At this point, I had decided that it was ridiculous walking around with one shoe on and one off for smashing.  So before I left the house, I looked around for what I could use.  We did have extra slippers around.  We even had unmatched and mismatched ones that would have been perfect for smashing.  But I decided I didn't want to walk around holding a slipper either.  So the only thing I could find was a pair of new wooden chopsticks, the kind that Chinese restaurants give away for free.  They were still stuck together and wrapped in thin paper.  I grabbed one of them and put them in my pocket.  They turned out to be a pretty good tool and I killed a whole bunch using them.

There are gates by the community side of the fence, where residents come in and out of the walkway.  So on my way forward, after I passed the pool heading towards the southern gate, this older gentleman comes into the walkway through one of those gates, walking his dog.  I'm sure he must have noticed my indirect path, as I would try to spot and smash the little buggers.  But again, I don't know if people notice what exactly I was specifically doing.  He walked past me going towards where I came from as I continued on.

I got to the end as usual and checked my phone for emails, texts or slack.  I can't remember if there was anything pressing I had to attend to.  I put my phone away and headed back.  

Near the gate, where he came in, I saw the older gentleman again.  He must have been in his sixties.  He was Asian.  I assumed he was Filipino, but I wasn't sure and didn't ask.  He was wearing slippers.  As I got near him, he just uttered out, "A lot of them are in the trees."  And then I realized he must have known what I was doing.

He said that he kills them, too, and that he uses his slipper.  I showed him the chopsticks in my hand, and I said, "I just use these; they are pretty good."  He nodded his head in acknowledgement.  We chatted for a few minutes.  He said he used to live in Newport and that the lanternflies killed a bunch of plants in that area.  He said they are getting faster, and I agreed with him.  I told him it's those fast ones that will end up reproducing and they will just continue to get faster.

It was a nice exchange.  It wouldn't have happened if not for those lanternflies.  Typically, I would have been walking fast, working up a sweat and heading back right away to get to work.

The Lantern Files Part 3

So one Saturday, we were home most of the afternoon.  I told Dusty that we would be working on practicing his hockey shots later that day.  I was kinda feeling lazy mostly, which is why I didn't make him do it right away.  Well, I was lazy or tired or both.  I took a nap or tried to.  

Later, he came down and asked if he could go play with his friends.  I told him yes, but then I would come to get him.  Recently, he has been going to the playground with his friends.  Usually I would come out and go for a quick walk just to check on him and confirm that that was where he went.  Sometimes his friends would spot me and let him know, "Dusty, your dad's here."  Sometimes he would see me himself and wave.  And rarely, they would all be too occupied to notice me at all.  I would then go on my way and finish my walk.

So just like all those other days, I walked past and they saw me.  I told him I was going on my walk and when I came back, he would have to come home and do his shots.  He said, "Okay."

As usual recently, I kept on the lookout for lanternflies and kept track of how many I stomped on.  When I got to the pool area where most of them are, I noticed there were some on the trees as well, so I started inspecting them a bit more.  I got nearly close to two hundred this time.  I also spotted some hanging out on the ground next to the lampposts for some reason.  I got pretty busy and occupied, and again, I was walking around with one shoe on while hunting for those little buggers.

Well, it took me nearly a couple of hours until I realized how much time had passed.  Since I had no work that day, I didn't keep checking my phone for the time.  I think I started around four o'clock and it was almost six then.  I hurried back while still looking out for easy ones to spot.  I was hoping to actually get to two hundred.

The view is really nice by the river walkway.  But recently, I haven't really taken it all in.  I have been busy hunting and trying to spot those darn lanternflies.

When I got back to the playground, Dusty and his friends were no longer there.  There were other kids, and I looked but didn't find them.  So I headed home.

When I got back, Dusty asked what happened.  I said I got carried away hunting lanternflies.  So we ended up not doing his hockey shots.  He didn't really complain though.  He doesn't really want to practice unless I push him to.  Both of my kids are like that.  Even though once we go out there, they do get in the zone and get into it.  And mostly it is a lot of fun.  We listen to music together and share jokes and talk.

But that day, we didn't get to shoot.  Because of those darn lanternflies.

The Lantern Files Part 2

So for the next few days, I kept going for my walks.  Whenever I would pass by that pool area, I would take some time to stomp out the lanternflies.  That was kind of the highlight of my walk, even though it would slow me down and I knew I wasn't exerting as much if I were to just keep going on my way without stopping.  It was kind of fun and it did take my mind off things for a while.

There are homes on the opposite side of the path.  There is a fence on each side.  The fence by the homes is higher, maybe six feet high.  And the fence by the water is waist high.  

One day I noticed something by the fence next to the water.  On top of it was a lanternfly.  It was just sitting there.  So I took off my right shoe and smashed it.  I put my shoe back on and walked further on.  I got about ten feet ahead when I noticed another one just sitting there again.  So I took off my right shoe again.  And I smashed it again.  And then I put on my shoe and walked on.  And then about another ten feet later, there was another one.  

So this went on for a while.  I would take off my right shoe, crush a lanternfly, put my shoe back on, walk a bit, take off my right shoe again, smash it against the fence, put the shoe back on, and then walk some more.  While I was doing this, I did wonder whether there was someone looking out from their home at that moment watching me, wondering what I was doing.  The lanternfly would have been too small for them to see, so I wonder if they would know that I was killing an insect.  From far away, I probably looked like just a guy taking his right shoe off and putting it back on repeatedly, while hammering it against the fence in between.

After some time, I decided to just keep the shoe off altogether.  So I walked with my left shoe on my foot and the right one in my hand.  Why the right one?  I'm not exactly sure.  I had been stomping away with my right foot.  I figured since that was the shoe that did all the killing, that shoe should be the one to continue the job.  I guess that was my reasoning, but I didn't really think too much about it, really.  I just took off one shoe and stuck with the same one the next time.

So again, there I was with one shoe on and only a sock on the other.  Hunting for lanternflies.  And I did get a whole bunch.  After a while I started to count.  Actually, I may have started counting before I noticed them on the short fences.  I think that first day that I started tracking it, I only got a couple of dozen.  This time around I think I got close to a hundred but not quite.  I probably could have gotten to that figure but after a while, I decided I better head back and check on work.  

I could have stayed outside all day if I continued to let myself get carried away.  I think I was out for over an hour already at that point.  Usually, my walks would be around forty five minutes, if I remember correctly.  When my kids got home, I told him how much lanternflies I killed that day.

The Lantern Files Part 1

I have been trying to be more active lately so I decided to go for afternoon walks.  I still have my morning runs sometimes, but I have not been in the same shape as I used to be.  Actually, in the spring I had been able to run eight miles a day.  But life and other things got in the way and my routine got disrupted once again, so I ended up going down to three miles.  And then recently, I've just had a lack of energy and maybe more laziness, and I have struggled to just get to one mile.

So the walking has been either a good addition or supplement to the running.  I usually go around noontime.  Sometimes before I eat, sometimes after.  I would walk fast and work up a little sweat, checking my phone every now and then to make sure no issues come up at work.

One afternoon, I noticed a bunch of lanternflies just hanging out by the neighboring pool area.  This is on a walkway by the river, near the farthest end, where there is kind of an open area.  Just a whole bunch of them.  So the ones that were on the ground, I stomped on them.  The ones that were kind of higher up on the ledge by the fence, I would just kind of flick them with my finger.  I did this for a few days, I think.  Mostly I concentrated on finishing my walk and getting back home to check on work stuff.  

But then I noticed that flicking didn't kill them or even incapacitate them.  I looked it up later on and learned that that kind of force doesn't affect them very much.  Because science or something.

Anyways, the following day when I would find some lantern flies on the ledge, I would take off my right shoe and smack them with it.  I would just smash the shoe down hard.  Sometimes when it would be an awkward angle for a smash because of the fence or something else on the way, I would then flick them first and hope they land on a clear area and then stomp on them.

One weekend while the pool was still open - this was probably the last day - it was a hot, sunny day, and again I found a whole bunch of them there by that area.  So I proceeded to stomp and smash.  The walkway is on the outside of the pool area, as well as the houses, so I was on the other side of the fence.  There were all these people there swimming and relaxing, and I was wandering around stomping and smashing.  No one really reacted much, but I do wonder if they noticed and what they thought.  Did they figure out that I was killing lantern flies?  Did they not know and not really care?  Did they just think I was just some crazy dude because I probably looked it anyway?

Sports Entertainment

My eldest brother visited us in December of 1991 during Christmas break.  He left us on New Year's Eve and celebrated the new year on the plane.  He said that it was mostly empty.  I'm not sure if that would be possible now with how they run the air lines these days.  He turned eighteen the following month, which complicated my mother's ability to be able to petition her.  Basically, she couldn't.  

We later learned from some immigration lawyer that he should have just stayed in America while they worked on converting his tourist visa.  Or something like that.  I only overheard these things as a twelve year.  Nobody really took their time to explain things to me.  Even when it came to members of my own immediate family.  And this was one I would never see again for decades later.

Meanwhile, my parents worked on getting my second oldest brother, the middle child, to the United States.  My mom petitioned him, and by summer of 1993, he did arrive to live with us.

I did not have a lot of friends at this time.  No one close, anyway.  I had classmates who I associated with, but never really spend time with anyone outside of school.  So I thought it would be nice to have my brother come live with us and actually stay and not just visit.

Now, this brother and I were never really that close.  But still, he was my brother.  I thought I would finally have an ally in this foreign land.  At first, especially during summer, we kind of got along.  He would even sometimes put his arms around me, which I did really like, but was still kind of odd to me, especially after a couple of years of not seeing him.

But things kind of changed once school started.  I was in the eighth grade at this point.  I transferred from Catholic school to public school to save money.  He was a freshman in college, and my mom could only afford community college.  Now I don't know if he struggled with adjusting to life in the States, but he never let on about any troubles.  He did continue to hang on to a lot of his ways in the Philippines that he thought was really cool, and I just remember constantly thinking, no one knows you and no one cares about that here.

We just kind of drifted apart.  We had a few fights.  One of the main ones was on a Saturday afternoon.  For weeks, we had this routine of watching the same lineup every weekend.  I can't recall specifically now, but it was "The A-Team", "Three's Company", "Mr. Belvedere" and maybe a couple other shows and not necessarily in that order.  Anyway, that one day just before one of the shows was about to begin, he just decided he wanted to watch something else.  And it took me by surprise.  I had been looking forward to the show, especially since they would always show commercials.  I was pretty much shocked and the sudden change in behavior.  And we argued loudly about it.

We only had one TV at this point.  The other one was broken.  Also, the VCR was broken.  My brother thought he knew how to fix things, when he actually didn't.  He probably meant well, but one of his ways was banging on the side of the machine.  And then if that didn't work, bang it harder.  My mom wasn't happy with that, and he was upset with getting the blame for breaking things.

I got sick at some point in the springtime.  I was out of school for a few days, maybe even for a whole week or more.  Actually, it is also possible that I was sick around spring break, and that was why I was out of school so much.  I mentioned my brother previously because during these times when I was sick, I can't remember ever interacting with him.  He had a little room with a curtain, and he spent most of his time there by himself.

At some point, we got a membership at this video store around the corner.  They happened to have WWF video tapes and for a while I was renting different WrestleManias and Summer Slams and Royal Rumbles.  By the time I was sick, I was on the Survivor Series series.  When I got a little better that I could get out of bed but still not go to school, I would go to the video store and return the tapes and rent other ones.

Nowadays, when I'm just kind of sick but not really sick, well enough to walk but a little groggy, my nose a little stuffy, it makes me feel like watching the Survivor Series.

Sports

In the winter of 1991, my mom petitioned my eldest brother and he stayed with us for a couple of weeks.  He was seventeen, and the idea was that he should come to America while he was a minor.  We didn't know much about immigration law, but we somebody suggested that we should establish that he has come to the States and stayed with us before turning eighteen.  Something like that.  We turned out to be wrong because things became difficult once he became an adult.

Somehow somebody decided that it was more important for him to continue college in the Philippines.  He came to us during Christmas break in December.  We spent a lot of that time going to different friends and relatives.  It was kind of fun actually.  It seemed like we were at a different Christmas party every few days.  It was my first Christmas in America, and I thought it would be like that every year.  It wasn't.

Of course, we had to show my brother the sights in New York City.  We went to Times Square.  I'm not sure if this is a memory or imagined or if it was when my brother was there, but I remember us parking our car on Broadway in the middle of all that traffic and crowd and having to pee and going on the side of the car with the door covering the view.  Again, I'm not sure if that's a real memory though.

I went up for my first and only time to the top of the World Trade Center.  It was pretty cool.  I remember going up in a very huge elevator, like freight size.  I don't remember exactly if we went to the Statue of Liberty, but I'm inclined to think we did go there, as well as Ellis Island.

At home one night, NBA on NBC was on.  I remember it was the Bulls vs. Trailblazers.  It never occurred to me to watch sports in those days.  One Sunday I was channel surfing and I saw the New York Giants game on CBS, and I was like, meh.  It was the same for baseball, and car racing and golf and other stuff.  I definitely do not recall ever seeing a hockey game or even a commercial for it on local TV in those days.

I think it was a Saturday night, and I was probably expecting to see "Perfect Strangers" or some other sitcom on ABC or something.  But my brother wanted to watch Michael Jordan.  I don't think he had ever seen a live game on broadcast TV before.  So he was pretty excited about it.  I had grown accustomed to my shows, but I actually liked and admired my eldest brother a lot, and I was happy to let him watch.  I don't think I even thought about recording my shows.  I was just glad to share the experience with him.

I can't remember if they were the home or away team, but I believe the Bulls may have been playing in Portland.  I would feel confident in thinking that Chicago probably won that game.  I can't remember what else my brother and I watched on TV during his brief stay with us.  After he left, I continued to watch basketball whenever the Bulls were on, which was rare because we didn't have cable.

In the springtime though, with the NBA playoffs happening, I did get to see the Bulls a lot.  It was fun watching the team and getting invested into it.  I did not care for the Knicks or the Nets, nor did I know much about any of the other teams.  I wasn't even aware of the existence of the Phoenix Suns.  I thought the name was weird.  How many suns are there?  Isn't there only one sun? 

In the mornings at school, my classmates and I would talk about the game from the previous night.  I drew the Bulls logo on my notebooks a lot.  I got very good at it.  It was great for me because it was something I could talk about with my classmates.  And the Bulls did eventually win the championship.  I'm not sure what we talked about after that.

The Rentals

When I first moved to America, my mom and I lived with my aunt and her family in Queens.  This aunt was not my mom's sister.  They were in-laws.  After just a few months, we wore out our welcome and moved to Jersey City around December.

In the following summer, my grandmother came to the States to visit my aunt.  My mom had a car at this point, and on the weekends, she would drive to Queens to pick her up and she would stay with us for the weekend.  I was glad to see my grandma.  We were never close in the Philippines, but I did miss her and it was nice to see a familiar face again.

I was curious though of why she would want to be with us.  That is, why would she want to spend her time in a one bedroom apartment.  We didn't even go anywhere.

My mom was kind to her.  One of the things she did for my grandma was help her with her bath.  My grandma liked having her back scrubbed, and my mom did that for her.  My mom made it seem like my aunt was not willing to do that.  And honestly, I'm not sure if my mom did all that just to make herself seem like the better person.

We didn't have cable, and The Filipino Channel definitely did not exist back then.  I'm not sure if my grandma asked or if it was just my mom's idea, but we found this Filipino video store across the street from the Philippine Bread House, which we sometimes would go to.  Or, it's possible we went there for bread and noticed the video store.  In any case, we signed up for a membership and rented videos.

Hm.  Actually, I'm not sure if they already had Filipino movies back then.  Because I'm trying to remember what Filipino movies we watched with my grandma, and I can't actually recall.  But I know the place eventually did turn into a Filipino owned store by the time I was in high school.

One of the movies I picked was "The Naked Gun 2 1/2".  Or was it 33 1/3?  I'm not sure, but it was one of them.  I also picked "Problem Child 2", and I remember watching that movie with my grandma.  I'm not sure if my mom watched with us.  I remember we closed the curtain and the sunlight would still seep through and give the room a yellowish tint.  I remember liking the movie, and I'm sure I laughed a lot.  I can't recall specifically if my grandma laughed, too, but she never complained.

I have about 25 cousins on both sides of my family.  No lie.  So when I was growing up in the Philippines, I didn't have much time alone with my grandma.  It was kinda nice to spend time with just me and her in America.  I was twelve years old.  She always had this reputation of being stern and mean, but at that time, she was nice to me.  I had gained some weight at that time and sometimes I would lie down down on the floor and suck my stomach in and show her and tell her I was skinny.  She would just matter-of-factly say, "You're sucking your stomach in".  We never had any big jokes or anything, and we were never huggy-huggy or lovey dovey, but it was still nice.

She went back to the Philippines at the end of the summer.  She didn't like winters in America.  I remember she was like a superstar whenever she would come back.  She would have goodies from the States and my cousins and I couldn't wait to see what she brought.  

Anyways, I never saw her again after that.  We didn't even talk on the phone and definitely did not write letters.  She died a few years later.

Video Cassette Recorder

When we were living in Queens, I think I only went to work once with my mom.  It was pretty far, in Brooklyn, and we had to take a couple of busses and then the subway.  I went on a Saturday before school started.

When we moved to Jersey City, her work was just as far, or actually maybe even farther.  And I can't recall ever going back to work with her.  One time though, I think in the summer, I think I did go with her but not to her work.  She had met up with either old friends or relatives, and they lived close to where she worked.

I can't always tell about the Filipino adults we were acquainted with when I was growing up whether we were related because we have this custom of calling every adult as Aunt or Uncle.  But my mom was kind of surprised to find Uncle Roi in the States.  She apparently had not known where he and his wife were living.

I didn't go to camps in the summer.  We weren't even aware of what camps were available in the city, or how much they cost.  And we definitely could not afford to go away to vacations.  So somehow, my mom had this idea that I could spend some time with my uncle.  I believe I was to go to their apartment and he was to teach me how to draw or something.

So one day I went there.  I'm not sure why he was home, whether he was off for the whole summer or he had the day off or worked night shifts, but I was under the impression that he spent the days, at least in the summer, in their apartment.  His wife wasn't home so I assume she herself was working.  And my mom left me there for the day, as she went off to work.

We kind of had a little chat at first, and then he asked if I wanted to watch TV.  I think he did give me some paper and pens, but I just basically sat there all day watching.  I remember getting a glimpse of "Mystery Science Theatre" before changing channels.  They had cable and had HBO.  

We actually didn't end up doing any art or drawing.  I ended up sitting there by myself in the living room the whole time while he disappeared elsewhere.  He didn't do anything bad to me or anything.  On the contrary, he was more disinterested if anything.  In retrospect, I feel like it was my mom kind of inviting herself or myself into their lives.

His wife seemed even more disinterested than my uncle.  They were both nice enough, but especially for my aunt, she seemed to have a bit of an air that they were above us.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like she wanted nothing to do with us, and if not for the fact that they had known each other in the Philippines, they may not have entertained us at all.

In any case, my uncle had a bunch of tapes of movies he had recorded off HBO.  He had labeled them all neatly and displayed them by the TV stand.  He either offered to lend us some tapes or my mom simply asked to borrow them.  We did end up taking one or two home.  One of them was "Batman", if I remember correctly.

Now, if you didn't know how VHS tapes work, there's a little tab that you are supposed to pop off in order to protect it from recording.  And if you wanted to record over the tape again, you would simply put tape over the hole where the tab used to be.  So on one of those tapes, my uncle never popped the tab off.  At some point, I mistakenly pressed the record button on the remote control.  The VCR stopped playing the movie, and it immediately showed whatever channel it was tuned into and began recording it.  I quickly pressed the stop button, but of course, there is that one or two seconds of disruption over the movie now.

I think this may have been at my friend Jackson's house.  I think I wanted to show him "Batman" and brought over the tape there.  Either that or I wanted to just watch or finish it and so I took it with me.  

I felt bad about that mistake.  I felt guilty about it for a long time, but I never said anything.  Later on, my mom returned the tape, and I hoped my uncle would never find out.  They never did say anything about it.  I would hope if they did see it, they simply looked up when the movie was showing again and taped it again.

I didn't see much of my uncle and his wife after that.  I'm not sure if it was related to the tape.  But they ended up moving across the country to Seattle or something.  And they never told us or anyone.  When we did find out, I believe my mom was still able to contact them by phone or something.  But I never did see them again.

Video Home System

I didn't have cable growing up, so I didn't have much choice of what to watch on TV.  However, I just realized I actually did have options of what to watch.  Mainly, these were video rentals.

My mom and I usually would walk a few blocks to go grocery shopping to this store called C-Town.  I believe one time we walked past this video store by Vroom Street.  It is no longer there.  But we went in there and got a membership.  I can't remember which videos my mom and I first rented.  And then for the rest of the summer, it was just me walking over there to return and rent VHS tapes.

One of the movies I remember renting was "Only the Lonely", starring John Candy.  And I think there was also "Mr. Saturday Night", starring Billy Crystal.  I can't recall much of the other movies I rented though.

My mom also bought some VHS cassettes, mostly the cheap ones at C.H. Martin.  One of them was "Topaz", which she told me as a good movie by a good director.  I can't remember watching it with her, but afterwards I remember seeing the tape in its case all the time but I never got interested in popping it in no matter how bored I was sitting at home alone.

At some point, my mom signed up with Columbia House or something.  We used to see their commercials all the time on TV.  I can't remember all the movies she bought at first because I think you can get like ten for one cent or something like that initially.  And I don't remember if it came from the club or it was bought at a store, but we also had "A Man Called Horse".  She was watching it one morning, but I didn't stay in the living room with her.  I think I went into the bedroom to watch something else.  I did walk by once in a while and I remember the scene where they were hanging the guy through a rope under the skin of his chest.  I didn't really feel like watching the rest of it.  I did check it out though many years later, and I thought the movie was all right.  

We also had a copy of "On Golden Pond".  It was another title that I kept seeing near the VCR but I never popped into the cassette player.  It just seemed like more of a grown up movie and not for me.

Another movie what we had was "Basic Instinct".  I never watched it with my mom, thank goodness.  I think I already knew it was something I wouldn't want to watch with her.  But when I was home alone by myself though, I did watch it a few times.  I was twelve years old.  It was definitely more of a grown up movie and not for me.

I can't believe I can't remember if I had asked her to buy me movies also through the club.  I'm fairly certain I did though.  I just can't remember the exact titles.  I was really into comedies back then so it must have been something funny.  

Summer Shows

Even though I wasn't too crazy about "Saved By The Bell", it had become part of my routine of shows to watch in the late afternoon.  However, in the spring of I think 1992, Channel 11 started airing ads for a new show in that time slot, 5pm weekdays.  It was called "Swans Crossing", and the characters were also teenagers.  I figured it would be kind of like a sitcom also, but it turned out to be like a soap opera.  I tried to watch a couple of shows but couldn't get into it.

And then if I remember correctly, they also replaced "Charles in Charge" at 5:30pm with "The Hogan Family".  I had seen glimpses of this show on some weekend on either the same or another channel.  I was really into WWF wrestling at the time, so when I saw the title, I thought it would have something to do with the wrestler.  I wasn't really much into change and didn't really get into this unfamiliar show, but I didn't really have much of an option, not having cable, so I think I did just leave this on.

I didn't go to summer camps or any vacations in the summer.  I stayed home in our one bedroom apartment while my mom went to work.  And I had TV as my company.

On weeknights at 7pm, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" came on on Channel 11.  It replaced "A Different World" and I can't remember whatever show followed it.  I did tune in to it.  I thought it was interesting enough.  From time to time, I would switch between this and "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" after it.  And then I think TNG also aired again at 11pm or something.  Can't remember exactly, but I remember staying up watching it while my mom was already asleep.  I wasn't really into it for the sci-fi stuff, but I did like the storylines and the characters.

During weekdays, there would be morning cartoons, of course.  Very early on, there would be "The Flintsones" and "The Jetsons".  Then "Ninja Turtles" and "G.I. Joe".  These were on Channel 11, WPIX.  But Channel 9, WWOR, also had cartoons, I believe.  I think one was "James Bond, Jr.".  Reruns of "Silver Spoons" and "Who's the Boss?" also came on on Channel 9 around 10am I think.  Around this time, they would air a brief "Community Calendar" of stuff going on.  This usually was just text over b-roll of shots of New Jersey scenes.

Channel 11 also started airing "Batman", the 1960s series.  Twelve year old me thought it was cool.  I realize now how campy it is, but back then I didn't find it corny or anything.  

In the afternoon, there was "Small Wonder" on Channel 5, the Fox channel.  I liked it at the time.  I thought the robot was cool, and I found the show funny.  Now, of course, I find it pretty cringey.

And then later on there would be cartoons again.  That was how I spend my days as a twelve year old in Jersey City in 1992.  I didn't have sports.  I didn't go to camps.  I didn't go on vacation.

Pay Per View Shows

When I was twelve, I was living in a one bedroom apartment with my mom in Jersey City.  We didn't have much of anything, and we didn't have cable.  But I still did watch a lot of TV.  Since my mom worked in Brooklyn, she would have to leave early and got home late.  I didn't have many friends so TV was my companion.

I think my mom used to give me some money.  Everyday after school, I would walk a few blocks over to Midtown Deli (I think that's what it was called), and I would buy a can of soda and a pint of Hershey's chocolate ice cream.  I remember the box was cube shaped.  I can't remember if I got Pepsi or Coke.  I would then walk home and sit on the couch, watch the Disney afternoon lineup and eat my ice cream and drink my soda.  That was almost everyday, and I didn't have a lot of activities.  So yeah, I did gain some weight.

Eventually, I used to bar WWF ice cream bars instead.  I got into wrestling at some point.  I used to even buy WWF Magazine, along with my favorite, Mad Magazine.  I had a collection in the early nineties, but now I don't know what I did with them.  This was around the time Bret Hart became champion.

I would watch "WWF Superstars" at noon on Saturdays, and then "WWF Wrestling Challenge" at noon on Sundays.  Both were on Channel 5.  Sometimes when we would have to go to church, I would record the latter show.  

And then eventually I found out that there were other shows on cable.  I was envious of my friend Jackson, who got to watch it but was never really into it.  Sometimes I would ask him what matches were on and who won and stuff.  It was kind of frustrating when he wouldn't really get into the details.  He would just kinda tell me quickly and move on.  And sometimes he didn't even tune in.  I wished we did have cable, but I was pretty sure we couldn't afford it and felt bad about even thinking of asking my mom.  I think at some point, I asked Jackson to record it for me but either he didn't know how or he didn't have a blank tape or he forgot.  Overall, he didn't really seem interested in it.

In the seventh grade, there was a new kid who transferred to my school.  He had a Spanish and Asian name, like Jose Chan.  I can't remember what nationalities he was though.  Me and my classmates would sometimes talk about wrestling.  I don't think my friends were into it so much as to pay for the PPV shows, but Jose's family either did or they somehow got it for free.

Jose was always friendly.  I remember he was some kind of traffic volunteer or something.  He had a badge and everything, and I was impressed.  I'm not exactly sure what it was for, but he was some kind of traffic guide or something.  I never saw him in action though.  Or he was making it all up.  Anyway, at some point, Jose mentioned he would be watching the next Pay Per View show and that he would record it for me.  I don't think I even asked.  And he did, and he gave me the tape the next day.  I believe most shows would be on a Sunday night, and he would give me the tape on Monday.  Our other classmates would borrow it, too, but I was always the first one to get it.  There were really only two or three more PPVs during that school year, but it was still pretty cool.

Cable Shows

The reason we moved to Jersey City was because my mom had a couple of childhood friends who lived there.  She was still working in Brooklyn, and she commuted for a couple of hours each way every day.  One of those friends was a teacher, and my mom enrolled me at the Catholic school where she taught.  The other friend was a nurse who had two kids.  The younger one was a girl, about five years old at the time, and the other was a boy, about ten or eleven when I was twelve.  My mom's two friends were sisters.

The boy and I were meant to be friends.  We did play together.  He had a lot of toys and action figures.  They were all kind of different collections of stuff, whereas my toys were generally a bunch of the same things.  I had a few ninja turtles figures and a lot of G.I. Joes.  I liked those G.I. Joes because they were very movable.  But my friend, who was called Jackson because his dad's name was Jack, his toys were all sort of different things, different sizes.  I guess it's hard to describe, but there was sort of no rhyme or reason for them, just randomness, I guess.  

We didn't have cable at home.  It was not in our budget, believe it or not.  I think it may have been thirty dollars a month for basic, but whatever it was, we still couldn't afford it.

I liked coming over to Jackson's house because they did have cable.  I can't really remember what shows I watched there but I liked having a lot more channels and a lot more choices.  I think mostly we watched Nickelodeon.

Some of the shows he liked were "Eureka's Castle".  I didn't really get it.  But he seemed to enjoy it.  I usually waited until commercials so we can see what else was on, or I would have to wait until the end of the show.  But I think I was successful in making him move on from it.

On weekend mornings, there would be a lineup of cartoons on USA Network.  I can't remember specifically what shows, but I think I was satisfied with what they had.  Let me see if I can googalize it.  

So based on the search results, I think "Mighty Mouse" was the only one I was pretty certain I got to watch.  Maybe also "Scooby Doo".  But in any case, I wasn't really there much on weekend mornings, but I do remember being happy that there were other cartoon options.

And then at some point, there was also another WWF show that came on, maybe around 10am.  I remember feeling like I missed out on so much action, not seeing those matches on the two weekend shows I watched on regular TV.  Eventually there would also be Monday night programming, and I think I may have asked Jackson to tape them for me, but he never did.

On weekday afternoons, I can't remember if we watched cable, but I remember Jackson liking the muppet babies on Fox.  I didn't like it and couldn't get into it and just remember feeling like I was missing out on the Disney afternoon, even though at that point I had probably seen most if not all of those episodes already.  He also liked "Woody Woodpecker", but I thought he was a troublemaker, unlike Bugs Bunny who generally minded his own business until someone else messed with him.  In the mornings there was also "Looney Tunes" on ABC.  I think it was called the "Bugs Bunny and Tweety Hour" or something like that.  That one we generally both liked, as well as his little sister.  I think there was another show on cable as well, but I'm not sure if it was on USA Network.

I think that was one reason why Jackson and I never really got close.  We were friendly enough, but most of the time, I preferred to stay home where I got to control what goes on the TV, even with limited options.  When I did come over, I liked to watch the shows I liked when he was distracted with playing with his toys or something else.  He may have been frustrated with me, too, because I think most of the time I looked forward to watching cable more than spending time with him.

Recorded Shows

When we first moved to America, I pretty much used to just watch whatever shows my mom liked.  It was stuff like "Full House" and other popular shows like "Who's The Boss?" and I don't remember what else.  On Sundays, it was "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "America's Funniest People".  I did like them, and I usually never cared to see what else was on.

When we were still in Queens, we shared a bedroom in my aunt and uncle's home.  We each had our own twin beds, and sometimes we would watch TV before going to sleep.  I usually had the remote because it was still kind of a fairly new thing for me, and I really liked it.  One Sunday night before going to sleep, instead of pressing the power button, I may have mistakenly changed the channel instead.  It went from Channel 7 to Channel 5, onto an episode of "Married... with Children".  I think it was the one where Al and Peggy were in some motel or something.  I can't remember the exact scene, but I remember thinking it was interesting, and the audience was laughing really hard.  I can't remember the joke, and I don't think my mom made a comment or anything.  I just kind of watched for a minute and then turned it off.

When we moved to Jersey City, we had a TV in the living room, and another one in the bedroom.  One Sunday night, we were watching "Funniest Home Videos" in the living room, and for some reason, I decided to go into the bedroom.  Either the TV was already on, or I turned it on.  It was tuned in to Fox, and "In Living Color" was on.  I thought it was pretty funny.  I didn't watch the whole show, only a few minutes.  I then returned to the living room.

That was kind of the moment when I decided to see if I can record shows.  I had been able to record on our VCR.  I remember my mom had asked me to record this documentary on Christoper Columbus's ships on PBS, so I had already figured out how to do it.  Other than that, I remember recording "G.I. Joe" in the mornings and then pausing it here and there.  I thought it was cool seeing the freeze frames and looking at all the characters in stillness for those moments.

I became curious to see if it was possible to record one channel on the VCR while the TV was tuned into a different one.  I was excited when I figured it out.  Of course, the next week, I then recorded "In Living Color" while we were watching ABC.  And then I recorded "Cheers" reruns at 11pm.  I recorded "WWF Wresting Channel" at noon on Sundays when we would go to church.  I also recorded "Dennis the Menace" and "Heathcliff", which came on at 2 and 2:30pm when I would still be in school.  I thought it was cool being able to watch these shows when I couldn't actually be around while they were airing.

Sometimes, my mom and I would go to C.H. Martin, and I would always grab a blank tape and put it in the basket.  I remember looking at them and choosing them based on the running times.  At first, I used to just record on standard mode, but then I played around with the other settings and learned that LP or EP gave me more hours on the tape.  I don't actually know which one our deck had, whether it was LP or EP, but I'm fairly sure we also had ELP, or extremely long play.

On weeknights and weekend afternoons, Channel 11 would air movies, and I would record the ones I liked.  I think one of the first ones I recorded was "Roxanne".  I remember holding the remote the whole time, ready to hit pause when a commercial aired.  I turned out to be pretty good at it.  Most of my recordings, I was able to have the broadcast movie with no commercials just by timing it right.  I figured out on my own the commercial breaks would be two minutes at a time, usually with 4 thirty-second ads.  Actually, sometimes the same movie would air on a weeknight and then get re-aired on a weekend afternoon.  Sometimes I did make a mistake, like pausing too late and having a snippet of a commercial, or mistakenly not unpausing and missing some of the movie.  When this did happen on a weeknight, I sometimes got to do a do-over and try again on the weekend.

One of the movies I recorded and watched over and over was "Problem Child 2".  There were some edits that would have been cool to see again because I remember watching them then that the scene kind of seemed odd at the time.  Like when Junior farts in the principal's office, I'm pretty sure they edited either a line or the sound of the flatulence.  But I remember just kind of seeing this and feeling like the scene seemed odd.

Another thing I used to watch over and over were "Seinfeld" episodes.  I had whole tapes of one episode after another.  It was the season where they had crazy Joe Davola.  

I wish I got to save those tapes, but unfortunately I don't have any of them anymore.  I can't remember exactly what I did with them.  Some of them, I taped over in desperation because I didn't have any more blanks.  Some of them just went bad and sticky and got eaten by the deck.  Some I just unemotionally got rid of once DVDs came around.  I think actually once I really got into sports and football, I taped over the movies with Chicago Bulls and New York Jets games.  But I'm not really sure actually.

Late Night Shows

When I was twelve and living with my aunt, uncle and cousin in Queens, I never really stayed up late.  I shared a bedroom with my mom, and she usually went to sleep early, around 8 o'clock at night.  On weekdays, she had to wake up very early to get to work in Brooklyn.  Some Saturdays, she would have to work also, and on Sundays, we would go to church.

After a few months, my mom and I moved to Jersey City.  It was kind of odd, but it seemed like we wore out our welcome.  I'm not too sure why.  First of all, when I was first coming to America, my expectation was that I would be living with my mom in her apartment in Brooklyn.  And then when I got to JFK Airport, my uncle picked us up and took us to their home, and there was. "Welcome Dave" sign in the living room.  

I mean, I didn't mind it.  It was a nice house in a nice quiet neighborhood.  And my aunt and uncle even gave us the big room.  My mom talked about how Brooklyn wasn't that safe.  And she dreamed about petitioning my dad and two brothers and that we would all live together in the basement.  I'm not sure if these plans were shared with my aunt and uncle.

I got there in August, and I never really got close with my aunt and uncle.  I got along with my little cousin at first, but then I found her to be a bit spoiled and annoying.  And then I pretty much kept to myself most of the time.  My uncle kind of sorta tried to get along with me at first, like offering me chocolate pudding and stuff, but I didn't like those new foreign things and eventually he just kind of stopped trying.

And then one night around November, I noticed him and my mom talking in the bedroom.  I couldn't quite hear what he was saying but it was something like his daughter was growing up and needed her own room and stuff.  And then after that, my mom told me we would be moving.  I always thought it was odd that they kind of welcomed us for just a few months and then expect us to be on our own just like that.

When we did move, I found myself alone a lot.  And TV was basically my company.  I was a quiet kid who didn't really know how to make friends.  At least, not in America.  In the Philippines, I was quite popular in school, and so the change was quite traumatizing, to be honest, although I didn't quite realize it at the time.

Mostly on Friday and Saturday nights, I began to stay up later and later and watch the news or whatever else was on at 10pm.  At the end of the news, Channel 11 would always say, "Cheers" is next.  And I ended up watching that.  Then "The Honeymooners" would follow it.  On Saturdays, I would watch "Saturday Night Live".  I had overheard a couple of older kids at school talk about it one time, so I got curious.  Also, I think the movie "Wayne's World" came out around this time.  

Usually around 1am, World Championship Wrestling would come on on Channel 2.  It was interesting.  I didn't know there was any other wrestling outside of WWF.  I thought WCW was a bit inferior though, but there was nothing else on at that time.  Also, a lot of their matches were the same formula.  I especially remember Brian Pillman and Steve Austin were tag teammates, and would always cheat and win.  

I ended up liking "Cheers".  I watched the new shows on NBC on Thursday nights, and then I recorded the 11pm reruns on weeknights.  I would then watch it in the mornings while getting ready for school.

Evening Shows

After the Disney afternoon lineup ended, the cartoon shows were over on weekdays.  I think from time to time, I did check out the other channels but found nothing I liked.  I think there were cartoons on Channel 5 also, but I didn't really like those Fox shows.  I think one of them was the muppet babies.  I just didn't get it, and I liked the shows on Channel 11 more.

Then at 5pm, there was "Saved by the Bell".  I thought it was interesting.  As a twelve year old who was new to the country, I watched it more for curiosity, wondering what high school kids in the States were like.  I think there were also commercials for it during the cartoon shows so I kind of decided to stay on the channel and check it out when it did come on.  I kinda thought it was funny, I guess.

At 5:30pm, there was "Charles In Charge".  I liked it, too.  I liked the theme song.  I think there were actually commercials for all these shows all afternoon.  I guess I thought it was funny.  Interestingly, at that age, I kind of already figured out the formula.  Every time there was a lesson that Charles wanted to teach the kids, it turns out the same lesson could be applied to himself.

Likewise, "Full House" kind of had that same formula sometimes.  Uncle Jessie would have something to teach his nieces, but the same thing could be applied to him.  This came on at 6pm.  I remember my little cousin really liked this show.  She really liked little Michelle.  There were definitely a lot of commercials for this show on WPIX.

Then at 6:30pm, there was "Growing Pains".  I didn't really understand what the title meant, or what the expression was.  It seemed like a typical show where the kids are trouble makers and get into trouble and stuff.  I guess I liked it, too.

At 7pm, there was "A Different World".  I remember the theme song kind of being stuck in my head.  I didn't really get into it.  Mostly, I never got to watch it in full.  I think this was around dinner time, not that we all ate dinner together or something.  Actually, that probably never happened.  But I think this was around the time my mom would get home, and I think I started getting ready for bed or something.  I think we went to sleep at 8pm.  

Also, I think my mom liked to watch "Jeopardy!", which also came on at 7pm on Channel 7.  My uncle used to like this show.  I think my mom encouraged me to watch this because it would make me smarter or something.  And then "Wheel of Fortune" came on at 7:30pm, which I liked better.  I think I used to be able to guess the clues fairly easily.

I think we watched some primetime shows after 8pm.  I think "Full House" came on during Tuesdays on ABC.  I think I also watched "Home Improvement".  I think my mom also liked "Who's The Boss?" but I never really got into it.  And sometimes we would watch whatever movie was on on Channel 11.  I think we rarely finished it though because we had to go to sleep.

Afternoon Shows

My little cousin had VHS tapes of Disney movies.  I think the first one we watched together was "The Little Mermaid".  She had most of the lines memorized, and she liked having someone to watch with.
I actually liked it, too.

She also had Davey and Goliath videos, and we watched those, too.  They were kind of odd, and I wasn't really into them.  They clay characters kind of had a weird way of moving.

I can't remember if we watched "Robin Hood", but it's possible we did.  For sure, we watched "The Jungle Book", and I really liked that, too.  I believe she also memorized most of the lines in that movie.

In the afternoons on weekdays, Channel 11 would have the Disney afternoon lineup.  The first one was "Duck Tales" at 3pm.  Then "Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers" at 3:30.  And then "Tale Spin" at 4.  I liked all of those shows, but I was especially excited to see the same characters from "The Jungle Book" in "Tale Spin".  I wasn't too familiar with the characters in the other two shows, but I knew Baloo and Shere Khan.  And then there were commercials for their newest show, "Darkwing Duck", which came on at 4:30, and I liked that one, too.

I remember watching them after school.  I was just at home by myself.  I don't know what my cousin was doing, but I mostly wanted my privacy away from her.  After two weeks, I kind of found her to be annoying.  So I stayed by myself.  I was either reading or drawing while watching TV.  I got some books from the Scholastic order form the school would give out.  One of them was Mad Libs, which I wasn't sure why I got because I wasn't sure what it was.  But anyway, I ended up doing Mad Libs by myself while watching TV alone.  So yeah, it was kind of pathetic.

But I watched that afternoon lineup for years.  When I moved to New Jersey, I came home early one time and got to see what was before those shows.  I believe "Dennis the Menace" came on at 2pm, followed by "Heathcliff" at 2:30.  I hadn't seen those shows before, and I wasn't too crazy about them, but I thought they were okay.

I actually showed "Duck Tales" to my older one many years ago when he was around seven.  Of course, he liked it.  But I liked watching him watch it.  I liked seeing him figuring out the mysteries and seeing his face light up when he realized why things were happening and who was the bad guy and who did what and stuff like that.  He also got to see the other Disney shows because my wife and I had collected their DVDs even before our kids were born.

And then when my younger one started school a couple of years ago, I would play those shows in the same order when he came home.  So after school, he would get to see the same lineup of cartoons I used to watch, just without the commercial.  Eventually, he figured out the order.  We would be watching the credits for "Rescue Rangers" and he would say, "I bet 'Tale Spin' is next".  So that was pretty cool.

Noontime Shows

When I was twelve and living at my aunt, uncle and cousin's house, my mom would sometimes work on Saturdays and I would stay home.  I can't recall doing much with my aunt's family.  We didn't go to the park or anything like that, as far as I can remember.

When I first got there, I think my mom and I went shopping with my Aunt.  I don't know where my uncle and cousin had gone to that day.  We went to this department store called Alexander's.  I remember my aunt was looking for the petite section because she was a small Asian lady.  I think I found a ninja turtles sweater that my mom bought for me.  She also got me a set of pajamas.  I think she may have sent me a pair, too, back in the Philippines but maybe I didn't bring them with me.  I did wear them then because I had them, but I didn't really wear pajamas to sleep most of my life.

That was like the one thing I did with my aunt.  As for my uncle, he took me and my little cousin to Sesame Street Live one time at Nassau Coliseum.  For some reason I thought we would be going to a taping of the actual show, like in the studio or something.  I didn't realize they produced shows like the one we would be going to.  It was okay.  I enjoyed it.  I wasn't really too familiar with Sesame Street, although I did buy a Grover book a few years before that I liked.  My little cousin's favorite was Elmo, which I didn't even know existed.  I knew about Big Bird and Bert and Ernie but not him.  This was in 1991, and I think he was still a new character then.

When we got to the arena, we were seated on the upper section.  On the stage below, I could sorta get a glimpse of things happening behind the curtain, and I wanted to check it out.  So during intermission I got up to go across to the other side to get a better look.  My uncle yelled at me and told me not to just get up and to that.  I didn't know how to explain myself.  I did understand and know how to speak English, but I wasn't too familiar in a conversational way and especially did not know how to speak up for myself.  His sudden reaction also caught me off guard so I just sat down quietly.

That was pretty much the one thing I did with my uncle.  Well, actually, I think on my first or second day in America, he took me and my little cousin to McDonald's to get a Happy Meal, which I didn't know existed.  He got upset that they didn't have a different toy or something and he kind of yelled at the workers there.  I didn't even realize I would be getting a toy.  I think it was a little mermaid toy.

Other than that, when I was home without my mom, we never really went anywhere.  I think I pretty much would do my homework.  The morning cartoon shows ended around 10am, and I think I couldn't find anything I like for the next couple of hours.  

And then at noon, WWF wrestling would come on and I would watch it.  I didn't really get to see much of it in the Philippines.  I was familiar with Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior but never really got to see any matches.  So noontime on Saturday sitting in our bedroom alone in Queens was the first time I got to see an actual wrestling match.  I think one of the memorable ones for me was when Bret Hart finished a match, and then the Mountie came and threw water at him and electrocuted him with his cattle prod thingy.  I kinda remember my uncle checking in on me or something or to ask me something, but again I wasn't very talkative.  It's possible they may have asked me to come eat and I might have said I wasn't hungry or something.  But I just remember preferring to stay there by myself instead of joining them.

After wrestling, there was American Gladiators, which was kind of interesting.  At some point when I would walk downstairs, I found my uncle sitting on the couch watch the New York Yankees game.  I didn't really understand baseball so I just walked past.  I probably didn't even say hello.  I don't think he liked how quiet I was.

Morning Shows

When I was twelve and living in Queens, my mom had to wake up early every weekday to get to her job in Brooklyn.  I remember waking up with her, and it was still dark.  I kinda stayed in bed while she was getting ready and I would come down with her.  She would leave through the kitchen back door, and I would hug and kiss her and watch her walk off to the street in the darkness.  

I think she made lunch for me before she left.  I didn't know what I wanted because in the Philippines I didn't have to think about that.  We got served a good hot lunch at school, or I would just go home to get something to eat.  So I just ended up with a cheese sandwich.

Anyway, I would then go upstairs and get myself ready for school.  I can't really recall if I watched TV in the mornings.  There was one time though that I turned in on around 5am, and the three stooges and "I Love Lucy" were on.

In the weekends, there would be Saturday morning cartoons.  One of them was "Garfield".  There was also ninja turtles, which was my favorite.  There were other shows, but I can't recall which ones they were.

My mom sometimes had to work on the weekends also.  I think my first weekend in the States, I came to work with her.  We took a bus down some Avenue and then got off.  We went to a Dunkin' Donuts or something, and then we went to a magazine store or something.  I got her to buy me a Mad Magazine.  My cousins in Manila had some of them, and I got to like them.  It felt nice having a magazine of my own.  I also got a Hershey bar, I think.  My mom liked the Crunch bars, and I think I eventually tried and liked them, too.

I think I only went with her to her work once.  It was pretty boring.  It was kind of an interesting adventure, I guess, just being out and riding the bus and the subway.  We got lunch at some random Chinese place, and I didn't know what to order.  I think my mom suggested lo mein, and I got it and put soy sauce on it.

The rest of the weekends when she would go to work, I can't recall what shows I watched in the morning.  But I'm pretty sure I must have turned the TV on.  I mostly watched CBS, I think, because they had the turtles, but it's possible I also checked out NBC and ABC.  Actually, I think I watched "Winnie the Pooh" at some point.  I was probably switching channels.  But there was something about the theme song of that show that touched me.  And watching the two friends sitting together during the end credits.  I didn't actually have friends at that time, and TV ended giving me company.

Shows in the States

When I first moved to America, my mom and I lived in Queens with my aunt, uncle and cousin.  I remember them picking us up from the airpot and me looking outside the car on the highway.  It was late August, and I feel like the leaves were already changing, but I could be wrong.  Anyways, I do remember the wide lanes on the roads and the trees alongside it.  

We got to the house in the suburbs and I remember being really excited about it.  I was kind of surprised because I had thought I would be living in an apartment in Brooklyn with my mom.  But this was a two bedroom house in Queens Village with a front and back yard.  I remember my uncle giving me a little tour, and when I was alone I made a little fist pump.  Probably the first time I've ever done it in my life, and I did it without thinking.

My little cousin was around six years old at the time, I think.  They had two cats, Tony and Angela.  They were named after characters from her favorite show, "Who's the Boss?"  She talked a little about it, but I couldn't really pay much attention.  She also quoted "Leggo my Eggo" from the commercial, and I didn't understand it.  I thought she was quoting some zen thing about the ego or something and I thought it was from the ninja turtles.

Anyways, I think she tried to show me the sitcom, but I don't think I really got into it.  I think we also watched "Full House" and I think I thought it was funny.  My uncle liked to watch "Jeopardy!", and I didn't understand it.  I couldn't comprehend the format or the questions, I mean, the answers.

One Friday night, "Perfect Strangers" came on, and I got excited to watch it.  I think I may have seen it in the Philippines, most likely in Manila.  I sat on my stomach on the carpet of the living room floor.  My little cousin saw my excitement and mimicked my posture.  Somehow I remember her hands under her chin.  I remember her looking to me and being as excited as me.

On Sundays we would watch "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "America's Funniest People" right after it.  My mom and I shared the bigger of the two bedrooms, and we each had a twin bed.  We would watch those shows in our beds before going to sleep.  The would start at seven and end at eight o'clock.  And then it was bed time.

I didn't really explore other channels much back then.  I kinda took the lead from the other family members.  I didn't even think about what else was on.

During week nights they would have movies on Channel 11, and we would watch it sometimes.  They would start at 8pm, and right after that would be the news.  I don't think we watched the movies much, nor stayed up that late.  My mom had to leave early to catch two buses and the train to her job in Brooklyn.

Shows in Korea

When I first moved to America in 1991, I flew on Korean Air Lines with a couple of my mom's friends.  They were on vacation in the Philippines, and my parents scheduled my flight to be with them so I had someone to accompany me on that long flight.  The flight attendants were Korean but we spoke English to each other, although they had pretty thick accents.

I didn't really think much about how much my life was about to change.  Or that I would not see my friends and cousins for many years.  Or that I will never see my comic book collection, my old photographs, my toys, and even my pet dog.  I just kind of thought about stuff like having a television with a remote control and a hundred channels.  I pictured myself sitting alone in front of a nice TV set in a living room in my mom's apartment in Brooklyn.

I didn't get to say goodbye to my friends and family.  My dad brought me to Manila to interview at the embassy.  It all kind of happened fast.  I was approved to be petitioned and then they planned the flight.  This was around June or July, and my mom's friend wasn't coming back to the States until the end of August.  However, it was hurricane season and we traveled by boat between to and from my province.  My parents decided that my dad would go back and get my clothes and other belongings, while I was to stay in Manila just in case the boat sank or something.  There had been at least one ship disaster already at that point and I think another hurricane was in the forecast.  I didn't argue.  I didn't think much about it.  I kinda liked the nice house in Manila and not having to go to school and kind of being spoiled by my aunt.

I'm pretty sure I asked my dad about my comic book collection but for some reason he didn't come back with them.  I'm not sure what his reasoning was.  Again I didn't argue.  By the time he got back after those many weeks, I was just kind of ready to move on.

I can't remember when we met up with my mom's friends.  It may have been just at the airport.  I can't remember much about it, about saying goodbye to my dad or my aunt or my cousins.  Kind of the next thing I remember was being on that plane, wearing a zip up sweater that I really liked and feeling really comfy in and watching "Kindergarten Cop" projected on the screen for our in flight movie.  I also remember sitting on the window seat and enjoying the view but the flight attendants asking me to close the window and me getting pretty mad about it but again not arguing.

We had a layover in South Korea.  At dinner, we were served salad first, and my aunt and her friend explained to me that all the kids in America ate salad.  I tried it but didn't like it.  I couldn't comprehend what they would like about it.  In retrospect, I don't believe there was any dressing.  I don't remember what I actually had for dinner.  Maybe a burger?

I shared a hotel room with my mom's friend.  She took a picture of me on the bed.  Of course my mom wouldn't see it until after it was processed, which was after I had arrived and everything.

Anyways, while she was in the bathroom or something, I remember turning on the TV.  There was a remote control and I was flipping through the channels.  Of course, everything was in Korean.  I didn't really know what to watch.  Nowadays, I would be curious and watch the shows even if I couldn't understand the language.  Back then, the only thing I could understand was a show that was on at the time on what must have been an American channel or something.  It was "Doogie Howser, M.D."  I remember back when my mom was still living with us in the Philippines, she mentioned something about the character, that he was a genius who was a child doctor.  I didn't really get what was happening in the show or cared about it.  I think I might have liked the theme song though.  Anyway, I didn't get to watch much of it.  I think my mom's friend came out after a while and said it was bed time.

Shows in Manila

Just before I moved to America, I stayed in Manila for a few months in my cousin's house.  They had pretty good signal on their TV, and I don't ever remember having to worry about fixing the antenna.  They had a lot more shows available that I never got to see back in my province.

I remember watching with my younger cousin after school.  She was a couple of years younger than me.  She had her favorite shows.  There was one from Japan about some kind of superhero who rode a motorcycle.  I can't remember the name but it looked pretty cool.  The other one that I remember was "Karate Kat".  I actually can't recall specifically anything much about the show or the character's traits and personalities, but I just mostly remember the title and that my cousin seemed to like it.  For some reason just right now I'm thinking we also watched "Inspector Gadget" but I'm not too sure.  But they were all these shows that I've never heard of before.  There just seemed to be a whole world of entertainment available to her that I wasn't exposed to.

Also, I think they had a remote control.  I can't remember using it much, but I'm pretty sure they did.  I thought it was pretty cool.

In the evenings there were shows from America, like "The Cosby Show".  My older cousin said it was her favorite show and would get excited when it would come on.  I don't think I got into it much.  It just seemed so different, being an English language show.  And my cousin would speak Taglish or full English from time to time.  I understood it enough and could speak it but I guess I just thought it was kind of showy or phony to speak it instead of Tagalog or our dialect.  

Hm, maybe that's kind of why I struggled to socialize when I finally came to America.  Maybe I still had that feeling in the back of my mind.  That's interesting.  I just thought of that now.

Anyways, I didn't know much about Bill Cosby back then but for some reason I somehow remember seeing him in commercials for Kodak with the song "True Colors" playing.  Was that him?  I think so.

But there were other shows that I got to watch there in Manila.  I think my favorite was "Buddy en Sol", about a couple of friends named Buddy and Sol.  I remember laughing so hard.  I think in every episode it would end with them in their beds talking to each other before they slept and they would tell jokes or something.  Somehow I remember I would be missing that show when I would leave for America.  I just searched YouTube, and it looks like the episodes are available to watch.  Somehow I don't think I would find it as funny now.

There was another show that was kinda funny to me, too.  I can't remember the exact name, but it was made up of numbers.  "Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen" or "Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen".  I didn't understand it at the time, but now I believe they referred to the ages of the girls in the show.  Let me try to googalize it.

No luck.  I think the search terms are too broad.  Anyways, if you can think of the show, please let me know.

One of the last things I remember was late at night right before programming would end.  There was some kind of infomercial or PSA or documentary type or something.  And at the end, it said it was sponsored by Hyundai.  Except they didn't pronounce it like they do in America, not like "hon-day".  The announcer pronounced it like "hyoon-die".  But I'm not sure I knew Hyundai made cars yet.  I don't think I knew anything about the company.  Interestingly, my flight to the United States had a layover in South Korea.  We got off the plane and rode a bus to a hotel.  On the roads there, all the cars were Hyundai.

Yeah, so I just watched a few minutes of the show, and it looks to be a "Perfect Strangers" rip off from the beginning.  Should I keep watching?