sjamesho.v3

WOW! awesome! praise the Lord! within minutes of blogging the last post, i received a call from Baggage Services informing me that my big bag had arrived at Tampa (TPA). grateful to hear the great news, i inquired where it ended up. she told me that “well… it didn’t end up anywhere.” apparently my big bag was not loaded at San Jose (SJC) with my small bag and took the next flight to TPA. i feel a little sad that my two bags had to travel by their lonesome to TPA but i guess that is what reunions are for. there’s going to be a party all up in my room tonight!

okay… i think i’ve gone a little over to the weird but hey… i’m excited that my big bag is found. i’m wondering if i should peer out my window for the delivery and run towards it as it is coming. hehehe.

hmmm… i think there’s something in the good Book about lost items being found. Luke 15 has a series about it.

earlier this evening i was standing at the baggage carousel waiting for my two bags to greet me. one big, one small. as i was waiting i was looking forward to picking them up, getting into a taxi, checking into my hotel, and showering the travel “yuck” (what do they call that?) away. i stood in the middle of where the baggage appears from behind the wall and disappears and when i noticed my small bag being one of the first bags out i was delighted. it won’t be too long before the big one will follow… but it didn’t.

i realized that my small one was among the small bags and thought that maybe the big bag will be with the other big bags. makes sense, right? so i patiently waited till a series of big bags came and were taken by their respective owners. one by one they disappeared until the two doors of the carousel closed and the baggage track stopped. hmmm… maybe i missed it as it went around and one of the attendants placed it at the unclaimed baggage area. so i checked, hoping that it would be there… but it wasn’t.

i then went into Southwest Airlines Central Baggage Services counter to inform and inquire about my missing big bag. the service representative took the details and told me that it “should” eventually arrive at Tampa (TPA) later this evening… worse case scenario, by tomorrow morning… before my ship leaves port! in our conversation her words at times seemed to give a glimmer of hope that i will get it tonight… but it hasn’t.

the way that my big bag will eventually reunite with me will be revealed at the time and circumstances God sees fit for me to experience. the basic choices that i have currently is to either worry and stress over my big bag which has about 90% of my clothes and my ukulele. OR, i can relax, pray, and have faith that God is taking care of it… even to the worse of the worse case scenario should i never see my big bag and its contents again.

still it is quite the challenge to look at the time and NOT wonder, “why hasn’t Baggage Services called me yet?” faith… i have so much to learn.

the friday before Thanksgiving i started coughing. and then i coughed some more. and then more and more. even though i was coughing, i was determined and went Las Vegas where my cousin and aunts were spending Thanksgiving weekend. the friday after Thanksgiving i finally went to get my respiratory system checked out and learned that i had pneumonia.

this last sunday i finished my course of antibiotics and then on tuesday went to my primary physician for a follow up and learned that my lungs are now clear. i just have a residual and occasional cough which is slowly going away.

now i’m getting ready to go and will be leaving on a mission trip this weekend. maybe i’ll get in a post or two before i leave. now that i’m healthy again, i can get back into sharing with you all my adventures.

on November 2 i made my way to the Napa Valley to visit my cousin Carissa who is a first year student at Pacific Union College (PUC). PUC is also my alma mater and it has been three years since i’ve visited the area so it was nice to get back to the valley. Fall Fest was happening that day as well so i was looking forward to the festivities.

i picked up my cousin at her dorm and took her out for lunch at Guigni’s in St. Helena where i had frequented many times in my college duration.

but unlike those times, i did not carry a camera with me as often as i do now. so now you have the benefit of my amateur skills. and my skills loves to take pictures of food. here is my Guigni vegetarian sandwich.

after lunch we headed to Calistoga where i showed here where Boskos Trattoria was if she had a hankerin’ for some good Italian food. i stopped at the ATM to draw out some cash and then we went back to PUC to hang out at the gym where the Fall Fest was to take place. here are the tapioca pearls that were being prepped at the Asian Student Association booth.

i went up to Rasmussen Art Gallery to check out the latest exhibition and then headed up to Grainger Hall where my fellow graphic design classmate, Jonny Halverson, is now the Associate Dean of Men. i was informed that he was at the gym helping to set the Grainger Booth so i headed back there.

i was able to find Jonny and had a short but great time catching up as he was busy assisting with the booth. here he is after receiving a pie in the face. at their booth, they had various faculty and/or staff being the target and a fee was taken from those who would wanted a chance to throw pie. when it was Jonny’s turn, those that manned the booth offered the privilege to walk up to him and apply said pie to his face for an extra buck. brilliant entrepreneurship thinking!

this little remote control truck advertised for the World Missions program, which is always a good cause.

ah… the front of the Asian Student Association booth where they sell asian food and Tapioca Express pearl tea or slushy. i believe the proper term is “pearl” not “boba” which is the Taiwanese/Chinese slang for nipple. and that is just crude.

i also wanted to support my friend’s booth which offered corn dogs and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. is that American or what?

i don’t know. but whatever it is, it certainly was popular. i think i may have waited 30 minutes in line for my corn dog. i thought about getting two just for the principle of the it all but i was allocating the rest of my money for other treats.

and doughnuts was not one of them. here is my friend Jaylene who tried to sell me one… or the box. but i had to decline since i didn’t want my hips to get any wider than it already is. haha!

soon thereafter i said goodbye to my cousin and headed home for there was work to be had the next day.

two Saturday’s ago (November 1) on a rainy night, my friends and i went to Fragrance Land vegetarian restaurant only to learn that they were closed for a private party so we went to Merit Vegetarian Restaurant instead. after that we went to Frozo’s Frozen Yogurt in Santa Clara for dessert.

i like to keep my frozen yogurt simple but this time i took a different approach by layering the yogurt and ingredients. i started with blueberry and added nuts, granola, raspberries, strawberries, mangoes half way. then served up a layer of chocolate with the same toppings. that way i have a relatively even distribution of yogurt and toppings from the top to the bottom.

here is Charity with a sampler cup in her hand. if i remember correctly, i think she got some of uncle Dave’s frozen yogurt too! by the look on her face… i think she’s liking it.

then Ruben came and put my frozen yogurt creation to shame. i mean look at this visual wonder! what with the gummy bears, chocolate chips and animal crackers going on.

how creative! using the animal cracker to scoop up the yogurt. observe Virgil’s concentration as he excavates it away.

there is no doubt that this boy is satisfied with the chilly treat. of course sugar had nothing to do with it… riiight.

Charity looked like she was having a good time… maybe it was too good, eh Charity?

at this point in the evening Virgil was giving me all sorts of funny faces which made it very easy for me to shoot off several frames.

not to be out done by her brother, Charity hams it up for me as well. hahaha… priceless!

obviously there were other and “older” people at the table besides Virgil and Charity. so i continued to practice with my new 50mm f/1.4 lens.

i like how these shots turned out… technically as well as the subject matters. of course, there will always be plenty of room for improvement in the technical part.

Andrea, who conveniently escaped my lens, took my camera and gave it a go. i like this sequence of Charity finishing up the frozen yogurt cup.

wow! look how she keeps her eyes on the lens as she spoons the yogurt into her mouth!

Charity is definitely not camera shy. she loves the camera, and the camera loves her.

here’s Coralyn on the opposite side and opposite end of the table from me. go Andrea!

Andrea handed my camera back but Coralyn was still making funny faces.

awww… the poor empty Frozo’s cup! it was soon thereafter that we left the establishment. some of us went to see the crazy 11:15p showing of Eagle Eye and the rest went home. i don’t know where Andrea went but i know she’s always has a plan. that basically ends the evening as well as this post.

click the play button to hear Andrea asking Charity to say “Frozo’s”.