SEATTLE SPORTS FAN

I don't know when hope stirred in my heart again. Could it have been the Huskies' win against Syracuse? Or the next day's unexpected blowout of the 49ers by the Hawks? Or was it the Storm winning one game, then two, then the WNBA Championships?
Or could it be Ichiro, whom I most admire.. again on track to make 200 hits albeit in a losing season for the Mariners? Or was it tonight when Felix Hernandez took the mound and lost his no-hitter in the eighth.. but still looked so dominating he just might win the Cy Young?
Oh.. the heart of the Seattle sports fan! So overworked and stressed with all the ups and downs of this season. You can not stop beating, because tomorrow there's another game to score.
Even if you've lost your favorites to other teams and other cities, you still root for them secretly or at least admire them from afar (yes, even A-Rod gives us something to shout about). They all started here after all, and were part of our growing up and growing old. There's no time to regret that we don't have them anymore: Holmgren, Wallace, Moyer, the Supersonics, Randy Johnson, Mora, Freddie Ljungberg, even Housh will be sorely missed! But we can only look to what's ahead and not behind.
So always hope, Seattle fan.
Someday the world will know we can be a daunting force in sports. Meanwhile, count the stats, keep on cheering for Couples and Moore. It's ok to channel surf as long as your heart can take the 14th inning tie here, or the last two minutes there.
It's ok, because we know, this is the year!

 

 

                      

THE OTHER TW

I've always been a sports fan, but lately my eyes are on golf. Not on anyone superfamous like you-know-who, but on the other "TW" - Tom Watson. He of the cool threads from Ralph Lauren, the easy smile, the all-American spirit, I have not watched someone play so gracefully and effortlessly in a sport that really fits gentlemen.

Someone who perseveres through the ages, a man who still wins against an unforgiving course or fortuitous events, must be like a solid rock. He stands firm in times of adversity and does not waver in the face of hardship. He does not apologize for his age, but is the first to admit the reality of his mortality. And yet he remains humble, as the sport continually humbles our spirit; he stays soft and yielding, like the land he has learned to respect.

Many a times, we have seen towering men diminished by the passing of years. Not Tom Watson. 

My admiration for the man, the golfer, the heart of gold, is like a ladder ascending - not to the castle where he is king, but to the little sun-lit clearing he wants to call his own.

                             
                                    * photos courtesy of www.tomwatson.com  *                                                        
                                          

CRUISIN' WITH GRUSIN

My daughter and I sat down to watch an old movie - my choice on Netflix - and we found ourselves watching Corey Haim as Lucas. I told her it was one of my most memorable movies (although frankly the details are fuzzy). But it was the music that jogged my memory.

Dave Grusin. His music is so unmistakable I would know it anywhere. There was a time in my life when although I was trained in classical piano, I had the opportunity to be in a jazz fusion band (Orleans) where I learned the intricacies and complexities (but also the satisfaction) of thinking outside the (classical music) box. Yes, jazz teaches you to break those walls. It somehow breaks you free.

An express biography of Dave Grusin can be read here.

And here's one of his most famous tunes, Mountain Dance, on YouTube:

THE MAGIC OF TRON

So we had Family  Night on Sunday, and we watched a movie with the kids instead of playing a game. My husband and I were intrigued by the trailer for the new Tron: Legacy, knowing that the first Tron became so much a part of our childhood. 

Enter Jeff Bridges. 

He, in my opinion, is one who ages gracefully, getting better as the years go by. The Jeff of 1982 was already a good actor. He had the guts to be in a groundbreaking movie - the first one that came from a major studio (Disney) to use extensive computer graphics. Watching it now I thought, wow, that looks pretty good even today. Back then, the movie must have been incredible. (I don't like to use the word awesome).

And so here we are after 28 years, my husband and I excited to see Tron: Legacy because of sentimental reasons. We just can't get enough of Jeff Bridges - especially after Iron Man's Obadiah and Crazy Heart's Bad Blake.

I'm no movie buff, but I know the real deal when I see one. He's cool.

Or maybe now I can use awesome.

* Picture/ poster above from this link. *

MY NENUCO MEMORIES

I was so excited to open my package today - oh-so-hard-to-find Nenuco cologne. Its fragrance brought me back to my teen years when I was in college in Manila, when everything was sweet and innocent.

Nenuco is made in Spain. It's probably mostly unheard of here in the States, but in the Philippines, it was a fad for us girls at that time. I remember even getting a liter-bottle just to make sure I would not run out. And it did last me for more than a year. By then, I had outgrown it - but not the memories.

Let's see how long this one will last...





 

THE ALLURE OF APOLO

     Speedskating is a sport not many people know about. As far as games go, it is just gaining recognition although historically it began as a sport around the 1500's.

     Speedskating can be broken down into three types: long track speed skating (or just "speed skating"); short track speed skating ("short track"); and marathon speed skating. In the Olympics, only speed skating and short track are events. And as for short track, it became an Olympic event only recently, in the 1992 Albertville, France games. Here's an interesting piece of trivia as an aside: 1992 was the last year the Olympic Games was held the same year as the Summer Games. Now they alternate every two years.

     Eric Heiden, an American speedskater and cyclist who is now a medical doctor, is considered one of the greatest speedskaters of all time. Apolo Anton Ohno, however, is the one who has made the sport more famous. 

     Recently competing in the Vancouver Olympics, Apolo has been the focus of much attention. He broke the record of long track speed skater Bonnie Blair for most number of speedskating medals ever by a Winter Olympian. This is not only an American record, but a world record of any speedskater. 

     For me, this is the allure of Apolo Ohno. He has tried to keep the sport pure by doing his best in every competition. He pursues excellence just as he pushes himself further, sharpening his focus in all aspects of life. He knows his struggles and faces his challenges squarely and with fierce determination. He is unafraid and knows the reality of the volatility of the sport. His aim to win embodies the Olympic creed created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. It reads,  


       "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is  not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."


       Apolo has fought well. And he is still fighting.

* Digital painting is by my husband, Bene Rullan *

THE MAGNIFICENT BAKERY NOUVEAU

If I were to imagine the perfect French pâtisserie - the pastel confections and butter-silk pastries that are a feast for my eyes; the smell of home-baked goodness and coffee so familiar like a hug and a kiss; the feel of chocolate so velvety, at once soft and yielding; and the taste of food that elicits memories of love and laughter even on a cold rainy night...

... all these "things" are embodied in a little piece of heaven called Bakery Nouveau. Tucked into a little nook on California Avenue in West Seattle, you are at once transported to a place you've only had in your dreams. In it you will find a long-lost friend, a kind word, an unforgettable moment, your own garden at Giverny. It is a special place and always a special time. It is a delicious secret you want to share with the whole world, a cause to pull someone's hand - even a stranger's! - from the din into its magical cocoon.


To me it was a coup de foudre, a thunderbolt, love at first sight (and smell, and taste). 


Oh, and it doesn't hurt that in 2009, Bakery Nouveau got a Zagat rating of 28 out of 30.

  *photograph from the website of Bakery Nouveau*

WHO DEFINES YOU

    
     Last week I was watching House M.D. and laughed at the scene where House arrives at the apartment, looking at the newly designed interior. He tells Wilson the style is not his, saying dryly, "Don't let anyone define you." He then turns, sees something covered with a sheet, peers inside and finds a Hammond organ. He looks at Wilson with something like awe and gets lost playing it.
     Oh but he'll be the first one to say he's not defined by anyone. Typical House!

POP-UP BOOKS AND OTHER CHILDHOOD FAVES

Again, this is a testament to my awesome childhood when it was filled with games and books and learning.
Favorite Dr. Seuss book: Are You My Mother?
Favorite board game: Scrabble (sorry, Monopoly)
Favorite interactive game: Operation
Favorite Sesame Street character: Grover
Favorite girly game: paper dolls
Favorite boy game: I dunno... running around until you're sweaty?
Favorite fairy tale: The Little Mermaid (the original version where she beceomes seafoam in the end. Maybe this is why I like sad stories and songs)
Favorite Disney story: The Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp (with the famous spaghetti kiss), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Favorite young adult story: Little Women/ Little Men
Favorite TV show: Bionic Woman
Favorite Japanese cartoon: Voltes V
Favorite thing to do when it's cold: have a bonfire with my cousins
Favorite thing to do when it's raining: eat champorado (chocolate rice) and read a book
Favorite thing to do in the summer: hike and have a picnic
Favorite video game: Pong and Galaxian
Favorite Game and Watch game: Octopus
Favorite Crayola color: cornflower blue
Favorite pop-up book: The Gingerbread Man

Here, by the way, is an awesome pop-up book:

JUST LIKE HOME

The city where I was born is a famous resort destination in the Philippines. It was built by Americans whose names are memorialized everywhere: Burnham Park, Kennon Road, Camp John Hay, Melvin Jones Grandstand, Governor Pack Road. The city of Baguio was meant as a rest and recreation (or R & R) area for American military personnel, but because of its year-long mild weather, it became a place everyone could enjoy, hence its designation as the Summer Capital of the Philippines.

I remember when I first came to Seattle, a mother with two kids in tow, not young or old by anyone's standards. I didn't know what to expect but I had that surreal feeling of "coming home". It could have been because my children and I were finally going to be reunited with my husband after many years. In my heart, additionally, I knew it was because Seattle was just like Baguio in many ways. Weather-wise the two could be described as cool, if not rainy. In temperament, they are absolute twins: green urban areas with a stubborn suburban feel, where "downtown" is never "uptown", filled with places and delicious memories from childhood. And the people? You couldn't find a larger concentration of the nicest, wisest, most loving ones on earth, as they are there and here. Maybe that's why as immigrants my family and I did not have any culture shock at all, but seamlessly and immediately blended into life just as our new-found friends welcomed us as their own.

Everyone knows it's hard to describe home. And really, home is not something bound by geographical territories or tied to certain people and races and points in time. It's not just a place of residence or abode, just as a house encloses physically, basically, necessarily.

Like a well-worn cliche, home is where the heart is. I miss my hometown terribly, but I am content knowing that although my heart yearns, and longs, to go back, I don't need to go because I never really left. Baguio may be a million miles away, but to me Baguio is here in Seattle, endlessly cherished and nurtured by my dreams.

I am so happy to be home.

A LITTLE RAIN

In the movie Sleepless in Seattle, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) says to his son Jonah, "Seattle? Why, it rains three-fourths of the year in Seattle!" Isn't it true that this is what we all (mistakenly) think, that it rains all the time except in the summer? But get this: "Rain City" gets less rain than Portland, Atlanta, Houston, Jacksonville, Mobile, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, and Washington D.C. It's hard to believe, but even Seattleites are resigned to the fact that grey skies hover over their beloved city and will not leave.

So what's a little rain? I guess enough for Jeff Foxworthy to joke, "What is the state flower of Washington?" Answer, mildew.