Two Tonys

Leina only knows two Tonys. The author of this blog and a certain Tony who was also at Will's birthday.

Not so long ago, perhaps even the last time that photos were published in this space, Leina attempted to send the former Tony some photos. She went to her email address book, and saw Tony, and quickly sent off the photos and a quick note.

To her dismay, she then realized that she'd accidentally sent it to the other Tony, who at this point she had not spoken to in about three years. Most people, if that occurred, would send a quick follow up note apologizing, explaining that it was an accident, and inquiring about that person's goings-on, health, etc. Leina took a different approach, quickly composing a follow up note maintaining that she meant to send these random photos of her trying to waterski to the other Tony, because they'd been out of touch for so long, and she just wanted to say hi and that this was the best way to do it.

Working Socially

It was a long and storied two years, but Leina's term at the National Association of Social Workers expired earlier this year. She thought she was done debating the place of social work in society. She thought she would no longer be taking those quarterly trips to Washington DC to meet. She thought she was out, but they pulled her back in.

Leina recieved notice that she was nominated to be a member of NASW's National Committee on Women's Issues. It is a three-year term, and Leina hopes it does not involve quite as many flights to DC. Who was she to decline? On a related note, she is suffering from exhaustion, but declined Erica's suggestion to take it easy on herself and get away from everyone--relax in Calistoga or Yosemite. She has already promised the San Francisco Asian Pacific Islander Social Working Group that she would give them a 15-minute speech on Saturday morning.

Weekend Update

As usual, Leina had a very busy weekend. She kicked it off by picking up Miki and driving her to the Flower Mart, where they went shopping for wedding flowers. Then she spent a few hours working for Mr. Turner, because she doesn't have the heart to tell him that she now has a full time job and doesn't really need or want to continue working on Saturdays. Plus, she feels like she's helping him out, which she is.

That afternoon she and Charles picked up Miki and drove her out to Pittsburgh, where Miki made them some sort of dinner. But Leina started feeling sick. She has decided that it was stress-related. So she went home and went to bed and only had one more thing this morning, a brunch with Jennifer, who was up from L.A. She ate some scones which were good, and then went home and didn't do anything for the rest of the day, which she was really excited about.

Birthdays Report

Yesterday we learned that Leina was torn between her roommate's and her cousin's birthday. Leina made a semi-rational decision and called Erica yesterday evening to let her know she was bailing on Angie's birthday. Leina had to work late so she was downtown but she didn't have her car so she needed to go home, get her car, and buy a cake before anyone else arrived (because the host is supposed to have a cake).

(As suspected) Noriko's birthday was scheduled at Leina's place with little consultation with Leina herself. When asked why she didn't at least insist on it starting an hour later, she answered that she knew Noriko would be late and she didn't want the party starting at 9:00. One can speculate why she didn't insist on someone else getting a cake.

Erica offered to pick up a cake for her on her way into San Francisco if Leina would stop by, and astutely noted that since Noriko would be late, there was little reason for her to rush home, and Noriko could pick her up and give her a ride home as she came in from Burlinghame, her true home (not Millbrae or Foster City or San Mateo, as erroneously reported earlier).

So Leina went to Angie's party for a few minutes and noticed that there was an old friend of her and Erica's from high school. She told Erica and Erica went over to talk to her, but Leina hid outside for some reason. She managed to avoid this old friend for the 10 minutes that Erica chatted with her, but then Noriko came and Leina had the decision--should she leave without saying goodbye to Erica or should she blow her cover and quickly say hi to the old friend? she chose the latter, then slinked out.

Noriko's birthday was pretty good, except that Yuto had some sort of allergic reaction to the carrot cake and had to be taken home early, which Leina was secretly relieved about, since it let her get to be earlier.

Two birthdays

It's not that Leina didn't see it coming, but roommate Angie and Noriko have the same birthday today. Leina had promised Angie that she would make it for her birthday party at some bar in SoMa, but somehow it took until today for her to learn that she would be hosting an extended family get together to have some cake in celebration of Noriko. Noriko is exactly 10 years older than Angie, though occasionally one might guess it is the other way around.

Angie's shindig begins at 7:00, and Leina is expected to host everyone at 7:30. So instead of telling her family to come over an hour later and deal with it or sending her regrets to Angie, Leina will be appearing at some bar named after a probably fictional guy from 7:00-7:20, then hauling herself back to Miraloma to let in her Auntie, cousin, cousin's cousin, cousin's son and husband, and perhaps even the mysterious Uncle Norihiko.

Yuto's finger

Leina's nephew, or actually her cousin Noriko's boy Yuto, is very quiet. One of the quieter 2-year-olds around. The other day he got his finger smashed in the door. This hurt a lot, and he was not quiet for some time aftewards. Noriko took him to the hospital, where there were varying diagnoses, at least by the time they were reported back to Leina. First, she heard that his finger was broken. Or maybe there was some tendon damage. Then, it seemed that his tendon was badly bruised. The last thing Leina knew was that the bone was chipped. Whether broken or not, the treatment is generally the same: Ice and immobilization and patience while it heals.

So one day after work last week she drove down to visit Yuto and see how he was doing. He was very effusive with his thanks, letting her know how much he appreciated her taking the time out of her busy schedule to drive down to San Mateo or Millbrae or wherever he lives (a little help from the peanut gallery?) and check up on him. Or, more likely, he just looked at her quietly and happily, making no connection whatsoever between his squished finger and her presence.

Will's Birthday

Last weekend Leina went to Will's birthday party. They went out to dinner somewhere. There were about 15 people there including Amy's brother, who didn't really know anyone so Leina tried to talk to him and afterwards regretted not trying to talk to him more. Many of the usual suspects were there, though Leina left Charles at home. Gavin, Byron, Stephen Dodson, some guy who's name is also Tony, and various partners as well as other post-high school friends were in attendance. She said it was fun. This blog was discussed at length, as it usually is when Stephen and Leina are in the same room.

Putnam County

The other day Leina finally talked Charles into taking her to the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which has been playing in town for a little while. She generally doesn't go to many broadway shows, but she did see Rent back in the 1990s and probably has seen one or two more since. Her inspiration for wanting to see this particular show is unclear. It is alleged that Leina really liked Spellbound, and therefore decided that she would also like this, fictionalized version of a spelling bee. Plus, if she had to pick a genre of Broadway show, she would choose musical comedy.

She said the show was good. Leina didn't get the cheapest tickets, but she got more expensive tickets that were half price or so. She paid about $40 each (or more likely made Charles pay it). At one point there is audience interaction where they pick up a few spectators to participate in the bee, and they chose this one guy who was a really good speller and he correctly spelled the word that they meant for him to misspell, which made some of the cast members giggle and Leina caught that and thought it was funny, too.

Room 41, where are you?

Leina's job often has her running all over the city to unfamiliar neighborhoods. Sometimes, however, she finds herself checking in on a client at a place she knows quite well. Or so she thinks. Last week Leina needed to check in on a 21-year-old man who was attending her alma mater, Lowell. He was waiting in room 41. Schools can be complicated places, especially when the campus has at least 13 separate buildings and bungalows, and there are over 2500 students. It even has a long Wikipedia entry.

To make a long story short, it took Leina 45 minutes to find room 41 and her client.

Gassing up

Something different between California and, say, the upper Midwest, is the vast difference in gas prices. At the moment, in the city of San Francisco, gas can run from $3.34 (at the Shell on Divisidero) to $2.79 (cash only at the Arco on Market and Castro). One can look it up current prices here.

Why such a wide range of gas prices? This has something to do with location, location, location, but it is also related to the concept of brand-name gas. Shell, Exxon, or Chevron cost more than, say, Express Gas or Speedie Gas because they spend a lot of money on advertising and put in fancy detergents. Though many people swear by one brand or another, there is gasoline itself is all virtually the same.

Leina, being a thrifty and canny motorist, never fell for the hype that various expensive gas stations make. She fills up at ARCO whenever possible (there's one on the way to Auntie's house) and is always on the lookout for cheap gas.

However, her Subaru is making some funny noises. So she's decided she's going to switch to brand-name gas to see if that makes it better.

"Just Say..."

Leina went to the doctor again yesterday because of her poor belly. And though Leina has been avoiding spicy foods, alcohol, fried food, sugar, and almost every food that tastes good, she's still achy. So her doctor finally said to her that she thought there was a stress component to her discomfort. Prescribed treatment: Leina needs to say "No" more frequently. Perhaps faithful readers can write some potential questions to which Leina (if she reads this) can answer "No," in order to warm herself up for the rest of her life.

For example,

"Leina, could you pick me up in Walnut Creek and drive me to San Jose for my flight at 6:00 a.m. next Saturday?"

"Leina, do you think the earth is flat?"

NAPSA

Work this week has been okay so far. Today, there was a meeting in the Hyatt, some sort of conference that involved NAPSA, which is not the North Australian Pharmacy Students' Assocation, National Association of Prospective Student Advisors, the National Appliance Parts Suppliers Association, or the North American Power Sweepers Assocation. It was the National Adult Protective Services Association. It just so happens that their national conference is in San Francisco this week, so Leina attended today.

They showed a video that was put together by the Boston chapter. It seemed informative, but their heavy Boston accents were super distracting to Leina and she didn't get what she could have out of it.

Going Public

Longtime readers might have noticed that a certain man who is not Tony gets mentioned quite frequently in this space. However, the author has judiciously avoided calling him anything other than Charles. Smart readers have likely put two and two together and realized that Charles is Leina's boyfriend. So why no mentions of this fact?

Leina didn't want everyone to know about her relationship before she had a chance to tell them. And in some instances, she took her sweet time in telling them. Leina and Charles started dating in February. She finally told one of her best freinds from high school, Alice, about him after lying to her, point blank, when Alice asked her in May if she was seeing anyone. Leina finally emailed Alice last week to tell her. It helps that Alice lives in England, or else she would have figured out something fishy was going on.

There is still one friend in So. Cal who doesn't know about Charles' existance, but Leina intends to tell her. Eventually.

Playing

Leina and Charles picked up Yuto yesterday from Noriko's and babysat him for a few hours. She took him to Berkeley, where he watched as she made grilled salami and cheese sandwiches and ate a lot of fruit salad at Tony and Erica's. Yuto didn't say a word the entire afternoon. But he smiled a lot and fortunately didn't cry when Tony had him on his shoulders and knocked his head against an overhanging eave.

Leina took him to a playground where she and Charles ran around on the jungle gym and encouraged him to do the same, but Yuto seemed more interested in playing with the gate and watching the other kids play. Then she made him watch her eat a root beer float before bringing him back to San Francisco, where Noriko picked him up.

Auntie's Car

Auntie bought a Benz a few months ago. She also flies a lot. This past Friday, Leina and Charles went to visit Auntie's car because Auntie was in Hawaii. Leina dropped off a lot of stuff from her basement that she'd been saving for the semi-annual Marin County Buddhist Church garage sale. Then she had Charles drive her car and she drove Auntie's Benz down to Noriko's place in Burlingame, which is close to the airport, so that when Auntie got back, her car would be easily accessible and she could drive it back to Marin.

Feeling Lucky

Leina, is not against an annual pilgrimage to Reno to play the slots. When Tony was there two weeks ago left him a message asking him to play a dollar slot for her, with specific instructions regarding finding one that looked lucky, turning around, and pulling the lever just so (it didn't hit). However, she is not one to gamble consistently.

Which is why it was out of character for her to play the lottery this weekend. She had good reason, however. First, a friend explained to her how he was eating Chinese food out and he recieved a chopsticks pouch that was sealed, but empty. He told her it was good luck, so he bought a lottery ticket. Leina didn't learn if he won anything. This past weekend, Leina was out to brunch with Charles, and she grabbed a mint, but this was a sealed wrapper without a mint! Good luck. Then, for extra good luck, she thought a bird pooped on her. So she ran out and bought a lotto ticket, a $3 scratch off. She didn't win. The luck might come with a week delay.

Working Woman

Now that Leina has a full time job, her communication has decreased, as have all the favors she had been doing for her friends and family. The questions has been asked, What is Leina doing at work? She is doing adult protective services, specializing in financial abuse. This involves situations where it is suspected that people who are weak or senile or mentally impaired are being taken advantage of by others, who steal, con, or swindle them out of their money. The perpetrators are usually not strangers, just unscrupulous relatives or friends.

So Leina has several clients whom she visits, and tries to make sure that this isn't happening or that it stops. Sometimes she keeps track of her clients for several months, sometimes she just visits once. She gets to drive a city vehicle that says S.F. Protective Services on it, so when she pulls up, everyone in the neighborhood thinks she's coming to take away a child. She had to go to Hunter's Point twice on Monday and was a little concerned that a little Japanese girl wouldn't be welcomed there, but it went okay. Her only uncomfortable situation so far happened when there was a scary wife who was suspected of taking advantage of her ill husband, but Leina handled the situation well and there was no yelling nor any confrontation.

Showered with Showers

Regular readers will probably remember Miki's shower, the one with all the cookies. Just this past week, Miki was thinking about wedding-related events and decided that the cookie shower was great and all, but it was co-ed, and what she really wants is a female-only shower. So, she decided she was going to have an all-girl barbecue way out in Concord in three weeks, that Leina and her bridesmades would throw for her. Leina was assigned to bring the charcoal, lighter fluid, and some wood. They will have some real bonding, without excess testosterone or children. And they will eat some meat. It is, however, possible that they will be grilling cookies.