waxing philosophical, although waning is just as fun

yesterday was a bit of an eye-opener in terms of how i see my father; because we had had a huge almost 15 year gap in our relationship, it's still awkward for me to relate to him in that adult-to-adult way even though i am 40 and he is...retired, or retarted...yes, retarTed, as my step-mom calls it. i assume it must be some allusion to my dad's obscure and obtuse humor, which i did inherit, or his tendency to release his gases inappropriately, which i did inherit as well. apparently these are not recessive traits. hm, that's all well and good and totally beside the point.

so last night i had the opportunity to spend time with my dad and step-mom at the home of one of their friends. the wife is a notary public and is handling some legal paperwork for our family; a story which will be related sometime in the course of this post. this was the first time i had met this particular couple and wasn't quite sure about how this evening would go down, like something gangsta was going to happen, right? anydriveby, we hit upon some great topics of discussion:

1) how much i love my iphone. yes, i am now a convert...don't judge! so i had my phone on the table and everyone wanted to know if it really was the greatest thing ever invented, which it is...well, it does rank right up there but chocolate is still numero uno, and i explained how it fits my lifestyle: using internet radio is so much more my style than being limited to what i have on the ipod, the bart and map apps save my life as a commuter, and that solitaire and tap tap revenge really save my life as a commuter. and as i'm explaining these cool things about my phone, the phone begins to tweet...which lead the conversation towards...

2) kids who think their parents should not join facebook and even more adamantly how they should stay away from twitter

this particular topic was interesting since my parents and their friends still are unclear on how their e-mail accounts work so facebook is just slightly above their heads yet they are willing to try if it really bugs the kids that much and that although they are not necessarily text savvy, they are willing to try twitter as their new call method to rally the seniors for their daily stroll around the mall.

well good luck! since i don't believe any of them has internet access on their cell phone plans. so if you happen to be at serramonte mall and see a bunch of senior filipino men hanging out, it will either be because of a small miracle or because someone's kid filled them in on the secret.

speaking of kids...

3) the grown-ups began talking about my younger siblings and how my brother and i inherited great genes from my dad since we can still get away with shaving at least ten years off of our ages...and i'm being literal. if i shave off my mustache and goatee (which by the way is the only shape facial hair grows on my face...couldn't grow a beard if my life depended on it) i easily look like i'm 12...okay, maybe 15...alright, 19...well, damnit, 25 is my lowest offer! but seriously, no facial hair makes me look like i'm still in my twenties...and i'm not specifying if it's early, mid or late!...which is my secret weapon for when i hit my forties...that's when i will start shaving again so i can look like i'm in my thirties! wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

anybotox, these people know my brother well but were only meeting me for the first time so the inevitable was asked..."so how old are you? 32? 33?"...um, you had me at 32, hello!? i chuckled. my brother is 31 and they only padded by a year or two because they knew i was older. they were slightly dumbfounded when i told them i was forty! did i mention that these are my new favorite friends of my parents?

anyicouldkeepgoingwiththisstorybutiwont, i enjoyed spending a few hours with the grownups...and don't think for one second that i won't always see these people as the "grownups", while i remain forever young...well, more like immature, but why quibble over the details, right?

now let me get on to something more serious and related to the story i mentioned earlier...

the woman who is a notary public is trying to make it easy for my parents to hide money in the philippines, erm, not really hide but just kinda not let the IRS know about it. apparently, my dad's older brother and his younger sister are in a financial dispute over a business and related properties we all have a stake in. sadly, if a sale goes through that would mean the end of my grandfather's lifelong dream and the confirmation that certain relatives are only about the money.

right now i am really disappointed in my aunt and uncle for not trying to keep the business going. of course, it's easy for me to point the finger since i haven't ever actively participated in the operations of the business but i do know how much this all meant to my grandfather and how hard he worked to create this for the family, for all of us to have something to be proud of...well, i suppose it is a small blessing that he doesn't have to witness the demise of 40-something years of his work. (r.i.p.)

so i am waffling between disappointment and anger, but mostly letting myself just be melancholy about the whole thing. there are moments though that i think about what the business and the property might be worth since there are quite a few of us to spread the wealth amongst: my uncle and his family are 9, my aunt and hers are 4 and my dad with us make 5. so there are 18 of us who stand to inherit from what i think will be a sizeable amount, but i don't want to build castles in the air like i believe others already are. i also wonder what illegitimate siblings may come out of the woodwork since it's no secret in the family that my grandfather had a hard time keeping it in his pants...er, well, you know what i mean.

anydangerousliaison, i am still hoping that even if the business has to sell, they will figure out a way to hold on to the property because it is in a prime commercial district with thriving businesses along a major transportation route. well, i suppose it all looks good on paper and then the reality of it could totally be crap.

there was actually another related topic to this albeit tangentially tethered by a hairstrand, but i'll save that for another day...it could be quite a controversial discussion and i just don't feel up to it right now. i suddenly started to feel the wave of melancholy wash over me as i was writing about this situation in the family. i still can't get over the idea that my grandfather would be crushed by how easily his hard work is going to be pissed away.

but before you leave, let me remind you...

"I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it."

-Rodney Dangerfield.

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