in a minute..a second.

I'mma call this Super Family Week. So on Friday, felt like a Saturday or something, but the cousins and I went to the city. They waited for me while I did some business at State, and then we went to Haight street. But there was no parking, so Manong took us to Union Square, where traffic was a bitch, and parking was a nightmare. We ate lunch at Mel's. Good ass burger. The waitress was strange though...it was like...she was rude, yet entertaining and interesting? It was a weird experience. Like Daria...omg-did-she-just-say-that? That kinda person...yeah, then shopped a lil. Got some cool banners at Urban. Then we left...Manong drove while we all fell asleep, which musta sucked for him. And I guess it did...chilled at Tita's house for a bit, ate some dinner, whatever, and as punishment, Manong made me drive us to the movies....at SHORELINE. Superrrrrr. We saw The Skeleton Key. Strange movie. Interesting kinda...admittedly, our whole row watched with hands over our ears...hahaha..and I wore a hat to pull down over my eyes. So yeah. Then afterwards, I got us lost when we were drivin to La Vic's. Did you know there's one near Deep? On Santa Clara? I didn't know that. But it's not that popular.

Today we said bye bye to Austria. Feel kinda bad that we were kinda punks to her, but hey, in my family, that's how we roll.

The cousins and I went to our old Elementary School to play on the playground. Oh man...good times. I miss them days. And I look back, what a strange child I was. Children are such weirdos. But it's okay. Because they have that right.

In this past week, I think I have come to love my cousins more, and appreciate the times that we share, and the time that we have. In pictures, we have grown so much. In life and reality, we have grown so much. Maybe in time, they will look back as well, and see how far they've come and remember these times. Playing in playgrounds with older, stiffer, limbs, unable to do the things we used to. "Wanna race?" Can't anymore. My legs will only run so fast...not like they used to...

Yup. I never would have thought that I would be who I am today.

Because I remember when seeing Manong Stanley was a rare occassion, and he would only torture us. When he would tease us, and tickle us, and say things like I'm not part of the family.

And I remember when Gerald and I were best cousins and we used to do everything together. And I used to always be the sidekick to my daring younger cousin.

Or when we used to always make fun of Bryan and not include him in our games. And we used to make fun of Anthony and Kathleen, and they would run away and cry.

Or when my sister and I would dance around the house before mom and dad would come home...that was like five years ago hahaha...

Those thick glasses, that limited life, that thirst for knowledge, that naivete, that life, those cousins, those kids, those people...

These adults. These teenagers. These people with ambition and dreams.

Here we go, yo. Here we go, yo. I love my family.