Birthdays?

On Saturday, Leina went up to Marin County and helped plan, then celebrate, a big party for the two little boys, Yuto and Dominic. As was mentioned earlier, though the official birthdays for both unfortunately didn't coincide, that was conveniently ignored for this party. Leina helped Auntie Evelyn plan the big shindig. Leina parked a block away (even though we all know there is plenty of parking in Marin County) so that the other guests could park, oh, a car length closer.

Auntie Evelyn made sure there was lots of good food. There were lots of toys on the floor. There were balloons. The back patio had lots of bags and boxes of stuff that Leina and Liane had removed from Leina's house earlier. Of course Noriko and Jun were there. And Andy. So were a bunch of people from Auntie Evelyn's church, and Uncle Norihito. Charles came and didn't talk much. Joelle didn't make it, though.

The party was going fine until Angie and Tony and Erica arrived, crashing the party with friends Ben (who can be seen in the photo to the left--the fourth mystery person around Leina in the pink dress) and Caitlin and Chris. This was the first official meeting of Liane and Tony. They didn't get along very well, and nearly came to blows when Tony told her that she didn't know the first thing about parenting or working for an airline.

Leina then made the evening worse by insulting Tony by falsely accusing him of leaving his plate on top of the toys. But amends were eventually made, tempers cooled, and ice cream cake as well as Big Bird and Ernie strawberry birthday cake was consumed. No cupcakes were detected, though a thorough search was not conducted.

Almost another aiport shuttle

Leina was being a good friend to Joe the other day, because he needed a place to keep some boxes for a month while between apartments. Joe mentioned that his flight was leaving super early the next morning from Oakland, 6:30.

"How are you getting to the airport?"

"I'm staying at Tony and Erica's [in Berkeley], so it's not too far; I'll take BART"

"You'll take BART, at that hour? I can give you a ride."

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure you don't want a ride? It's no problem."

"Yes, I am sure I don't want a ride."

Leina capitulated on this argument, too. Tony and Erica wound up giving Joe a ride, which made much more sense than Leina doing so.

Lost DVD

Leina had borrowed The Wedding Crashers from Charles, who had borrowed it from his friend's sister. Tony knew of the first borrowing, but not the second, when he asked/bullied Leina into loaning it to him, which she did, because if you ever ask Leina for anything, she will give it to you. He wasn't going to keep it long, but then he left it in a cab on the way home. And no, Leina wasn't anywhere in sight when he took a cab because she never would have let him do that.

So Tony called and apologized (he was also sad because there was a toilet fill valve in the bag from the Korean market with the DVD), and he felt bad about it. Of course Leina also felt bad, because she had loaned it out and it wasn't hers. Tony had to be really assertive in maintaining that he would buy a new one, even though Leina wanted to buy a new one because she felt bad about re-lending the DVD herself. Against the odds, Tony prevailed. But it was close.

Sister's here

This is a big week for Leina. Liane is in from Detroit. Faithful readers may be aware that Liane has contributed to the 'comments' section consistently, including some notable remarks about Marin County.

But do not fear, Liane will most likely make it up to Marin. Leina and her have not had time to play, so far. They spent all day yesterday and most of Tuesday cleaning. They are saving some old plates for Tony. He is excited to get them. There will be a pseudo birthday party for Dominic and Yuto on Saturday--one had his birthday a week ago and the other's isn't for a few months. But for some reason they are having another one. Leina is already planning out the little toothpick flags for the cupcakes. Her working phrase is "Happy week late and two month early semi-birthday celebration!!!!" but that will require a lot of cupcakes, more than she wants to make. She may omit a few of the exclamation points in order to use fewer boxes of Duncan Hines cupcake mix.

Leina was set on getting a baby tent for one of these boys. When asked, "What's a baby tent?" she looked surprised that one wouldn't know. "A tent for a baby!" Apparently, though the premise is obvious, the actual product is hard to locate. Leina does not prefer to shop online, and though a internet search shows dozens of said tents, Leina burned some hydrocarbons motoring about San Francisco looking for a baby tent. She went to at least six stores before giving up and settling on a toy farm that makes animal noises when parts of the barn are touched.

For real, done this time

Leina is offically done with the thesis! She'd had misconceptions regarding how many different committees and important people at SFSU would need to review her thesis, make revisions, return it to her, and eventually sign. It was officially signed today and will be bound. Shortly, a copy can be found in the school library! Leina is still deciding whether to purchase a copy for herself, a steal at $25.

Leina briefly saw her blogographer on Mothers' Day. She had orally committed to visiting the Turners, but when their daughter and son-in-law decided to stop by Leina's place, she sheepishly called them back and admitted, no, her primary reason for visiting was not to wish Mrs. Turner a happy Mother's Day.

Leina had spent much of the morning creating a huge tray of cupcakes, and topped many of them with little hand-decorated flags that spelled out Happy Mothers Day! There was speculation about whether this was Leina's idea or the idea of someone else who was there that morning.

She drove to Marin with Angie that afternoon and Angie and Auntie Evelyn finally got a chance to talk. They talked for about 2 hours! There were hamburgers, rice balls, and corn on the cob. Auntie Evelyn made Angie taste a drink that tasted like melted strawberry sherbert. There were about 10 people there, but Noriko was the only mother. It didn't matter, though, for a good time was had by all. Uncle Norihiko was also there, because he lives there.

Almost there

Leina turned in her thesis again last week--and got it back this week, with more revisions to make. She is diligently working on said revisions, deciding whether the year citation is necessary in a footnote, and will turn it in again later this week. She can't wait. Leina was busy this weekend entertaining Yuiko from Japan and spending some time with Alice and David, visiting from England. Leina made fun of Alice for speaking with an English accent because she's not English.

On Saturday Leina was getting ready for a party in Alice's honor. Despite having purchased new Air Maxes, she did not wear them. She decided to go out wearing her old ones because, as she says, she wants "them to get all nasty and smelly before she gets rid of them." So that may be a paraphrased quote, but it captures the spirit.

At the party, Leina, completely out of character, played with a dog. Tentatively, she pet Jessica Goldberg's dog, which was some sort of a bulldog. After a few minutes of interacting with the dog Leina remembered that she was scared of dogs, so she retreated to the other side of the room and chatted with Joelle, and gave Joelle a hard time about skipping her birthday party in February. Joelle was defiant, and remorseless. "It started too late," she said.

Phone

If you have spent much time at Leina's house, you knew Leina's phone. You would be engaged in conversation, or lollygagging around in the dining room, when piercing electronic beep would jolt you to attention. This would be followed by subsequent amplified rings until Leina picked up the reciever of her telephone, which still had a cord connecting it to the main unit. Leina's old phone had large buttons and was, all agree, an old people's phone.

Her father had purchased it, and he was hard of hearing. But Leina's hearing, by most accounts, is excellent. She had been urged by multiple parties to abandon the old phone and get a new one. But she resisted, for over a year, until last week when she broke her answering machine by tripping over the cord--twice--while walking down the hall. She now has a very sleek modern model without a cord and with a normal ring volume.

Ice cream

Leina was excited yesterday. She had purchased Dreyer's Andes Mint Ice Cream. She was excited to eat it. She flew home without hassle, and it was a good weekend because she saw her sister and little nephew Dominic for a day in DC and didn't have to transport a stroller anywhere.

Last night Leina was at the airport. For someone who doesn't work there, she visits the airport awfully frequently. She picked up Alice's husband David and then they picked up Alice at the Oakland airport and they went to visit Tony and Erica. Leina almost fell asleep on the couch, but kept herself together until they left at 12:30. She was not wearing new Air Max's, though; she was wearing New Balance running shoes.

In other news she ate some of Angie's leftover spaghetti twice earlier this week.