A pretty mundane week really.

It was a pretty mundane week and believe you me, I’m perfectly fine with that. I went to the High School Musical which is a Disney sensation for the past year and got to see for myself what the whole hoopla was about. The musical definitely catered to kids and I mean kids – not even teenagers. I went on opening night and the amount of kids all decked out in High School Musical clothing was really cute and adorable. The musical itself was OK – not something I would see again. I actually had more fun watching two kids sitting in front of me. They were at the most five years old and by the last three songs, they were standing up, dancing, waving their hand and swirling without a care in the world. Needless to say the kids had a blast and I was indeed reminded of the innocence of a child.

On Thursday, I was invited to be on a panel to talk about immigration issues to the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute group. What might you ask is the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute? Well, it’s people who are groomed to be leaders in the greater DM area in the near future. Many of them hold high level positions in company and government. I recognized a number of them and overall it was a good discussion. I was invited by my lawyer who was the main speaker and she said she could not think of a better person to sit on the panel. There was an Iraqi lady whose husband worked for the UN back in Iraq and when the war broke out, they had to leave the country. They spent a number of years in Jordan and made it to Iowa just a couple of months ago. Hearing her story was just gut wrenching. A part of me did not feel like speaking on the panel because I wanted to hear more of her experience. When it came time for me to speak, I basically shared with the group my trial and tribulations in getting my green card over the years from a student visa to a work visa then finally a green card. It was interesting to hear what they thought of my immigration process. A number of them asked some pretty good questions and I did my best to answer their questions.

I got paid on Friday to watch a movie with the residents at the theater. The activity director is being investigated for verbal abuse and the Department of Inspection and Appeals are in the midst of their investigation which pretty much means we still do not have an activity director. On the activity calendar, the plan was for the residents to go to the movies. They all got to choose what movie they wanted to see. Most of them joined me in watching the movie “21” which was pretty good. One watched an action movie and two others watched a comedy. The thought that went through my head was the fact that I was indeed being paid to watch a movie. How weird is that? Oh, the things that comes with the job!

Sunday was the last time I was going to see three residents who will be moving out by the middle of the week. It’s really a bittersweet experience really because I’m happy that they will be moving out which shows that they are able to live independently and that has always been the goal, yet at the same time, I’ve gotten to know all three of them pretty well and one of them has been a regular Scrabble player. She by far has made the most positive change from a quiet and private person dealing with major depression to someone is definitely more outgoing and social. I’m very happy for her. She did comment that she’ll be back every Sunday to play Scrabble with us because it’s her goal to beat me in the game! How cute of her. I’ll definitely miss her the most. All good things must come to an end I guess.

Saturday was a very nice day. It was a very quiet day at the facility and after I left, I basically plopped myself down in my apartment and had a dvd watching extravaganza. It was fun. I had borrowed a number of movies from the library and have been waiting to find the time to watch them. The time came on Saturday. Let me just say that it was an extremely nice and relaxing evening for me. There was no agenda and I just got to chill in my apartment. It’s nice to be able to do that once in awhile.

Over and out for this week. The only thing going on this coming week is the DM Symphony performance on Saturday. It’s pretty amazing how my weeks differ from one to the next.

Holy Week and Easter.

Holy week really wasn’t the best this year and most of it had to do with the fact that I was down with a bad sore throat, fever and cold. I seriously thought that I was over the flu season, but there was an article in the papers that mentioned this year’s strain of bug is one pretty nasty one and it’s been hanging around longer than prior years. I knew something was up when my throat started feeling a little sore on Sunday night and that just does not normally happen to me unless I’m coming down with something. True enough, when I got up on Monday, my throat was amazingly sore and I had a fever. I called in to work and pretty much rested the whole day. I did the same on Tuesday also. I made it back to work on Wednesday, but my voice still wasn’t quite there. I actually left fifteen minutes earlier from work and just crashed in my apartment. I did not work at the facility that evening.

Thursday was Holy Thursday and I was feeling better – at least better enough to make to church. The service was nice and it has got to be one of my most favorite services in the liturgical year. On Good Friday, Drake’s Men’s basketball team played their first round game in the NCAA tournament. The office staff got permission from Joel to watch the game in the conference room and it was kind of a luncheon. I was covering the phones up front during the first half but I knew what was going on at the game. I managed to watch the second half of the game which was a really good half especially since we managed to claw back from being sixteen points down to tie the game. The game went into overtime and at the last second, the other team drained a three pointer and all of us felt like a knife just pierced through our hearts. Take nothing away from the team, it was an amazing season and all of us are looking forward to next season as I’m sure there will be a number of new players who will step up to the plate and we have three starters who will be returning. All in all this year’s basketball season was one heck of a ride. So many of us are extremely proud to call ourselves Drake Bulldogs. I went to work at the facility for a short while before heading to St. Kate’s for Good Friday service. It was a solemn service and you could sense the piety of those of us present at the service. After the service, I went back to my apartment to rest before working my regular hours on Saturday.

I normally treat myself to a nice pre-Easter Vigil dinner, but because I was still recovering, I decided not to do anything special. Moreover, my taste buds were all awry and the last thing I wanted to do was to go out and have a nice meal and not be able to taste it. I ended up eating what was served at the facility which was goulash and it tasted fine. Easter Vigil service went very well. Members from the RCIA group are not full members of the Catholic Church. One guy got baptized and two others were confirmed. It was a very nice Rite of Initiation. Kind of makes you feel proud to be Catholic! After the service, I went back to my apartment and chilled.

My Easter Sunday ritual has always been to sing with the 2nd Sunday group, but this was the first year in ten years I did not sing with the group. My voice was slowly returning and the last thing I wanted to do was to lose it again. I felt kind of bummed about that, but there will be other Easter Sundays for me to sing. Since I did not make it to Easter Sunday service, I stayed in my apartment and watched the Liverpool vs. Man. United game. Oh, how disappointed I was when one of our players was sent off. I personally believe it was an extremely harsh decision. The game pretty much went downhill for Liverpool after the dismissal. The worst part about it was the fact that it was billed as a very exciting match with so much at stake. Oh, well. I made it in to the facility and it was a pretty quiet day overall. We made turkey for the residents and it turned out fine.

That was pretty much how Holy Week and Easter went.

All Systems Go.

Saturday had got to be one of the busiest/packed days ever. It was all systems go right from 6:30AM-2AM. The day started off with work which went well because all the residents were A OK and that always makes for an easy day at the facility. Right after that, I went to St. Kate's for our Lenten Discussion group. We've normally met on Thursday but there was a conflict so we ended up meeting at church on Saturday. Once that was done, I made it back to the apartment just in time to take a shower and change before heading to the Des Moines Golf and Country Club (DMGCC) for a birthday celebration. Betty who used to be the head of the Department of Elder Affairs celebrated her 80th birthday. She's now the executive director of the Iowa Area Agency on Aging and shares the same office space as Aging Resources. She's a really neat person. A number of us from the agency were invited to celebrate her birthday at DMGCC. All my years of living in DM, I've never made it to the club and have always wanted to just to see how different or similar it is to some of the country clubs in Malaysia. In some ways, it was similar yet some of the clubs that I've been to in Malaysia were far more outlandish. By the time I arrived there were a number of people from the agency and we all kind of stood around and chatted. Needless to say because of Betty's background, there were a number of politicians present but those who were there were really down to earth. Betty had a good number of family present too which made it all the more special. I had to leave a little earlier because I was headed to the Civic Center for the "Riverdance" performance. Some years ago, I remember watching the performance on DVD and was really impressed by it. When I knew they were going to make it to DM, I was not going to miss it and I'm glad I did not. It was a very enjoyable evening filled with lots of Irish music and dance. Some tap dancing and tango was also thrown into the mix. All in all it was a great way to spend the evening. The performance was packed as a lot of people who made it kind of looked at it as a preview to St. Patrick's Day which was today (Monday). After the performance, I drove to Brian's house for a St. Patrick's Day Party. He served corned beef and ham which is something I vaguely remember eating back in Malaysia but let's just say this was much better. I was downright tickled silly how good it was because Brian's not a cook but the food turned out pretty darn well. By the time I got back to my apartment it was close to 1:15AM and finally went to bed at around 2AM. Talk about a day that went non-stop. Once in a while those days are good, but not too often. It wipes me out.

Oh, I forgot to mention that on Thursday, Sr. Carola and I went to "The Producers" up in Ames. Fr. John was supposed to join me, but came down with a cold and had to back down at the last minute. Thank goodness Sr. Carola managed to make it. The one and only time I've ever seen it was when it came to DM and I loved it then. Both Carola and I agreed that this was a much better production and both leads did a spectacular job. The entire cast had the crowd in stitches a good part of the evening and that's really what "The Producers" is about. It's so outlandish you can't help but laugh out loud.

This week is Holy Week and also Spring Break which is kind of weird. I like Holy Week and all the different services that culminates on Easter Vigil. it's something I look forward to each year. I have three people in the RCIA program that will be welcomed into the church and they are most definitely looking forward to it. As the coordinator, I'm excited for them also.

I guess that's all the news from me.

Death Dream.

I had one of the most vivid and kind of scary dreams yesterday night. Most of the time, I do not remember my dreams which is all fine and dandy in my books, but yesterday the dream was so vivid it got me a little concerned. The part I remembered distinctly was the fact that I was hiding under a table and was shot by a revolver a number of times and died of blood loss. The nature of the event was pretty gruesome and the way I died was extremely vivid. The scary part regarding the dream was the fact that I knew I was dead, but I kind of had an out of body experience - hovering over my dead body. Mentally, I knew I was dead because of the gunshot, yet at the same time, here I was hovering on this earth. Another part of the dream that was really vivid was the fact that Fr. John was stunned when he heard the news to the point that he was speechless. He starting tearing up and had difficulty coming to grips with my death. Words soon spread and as people found out about my death, there was an extremely sombre mood surrounding everyone. I finally woke up at my Funeral Mass. It was a little too vivid for my comfort let me say that. At the same time, it was comforting knowing that people were at my funeral and they were saddened by my death.

A pretty fun and exciting weekend.

I must say that it was a pretty good weekend. Worked went well at the house. It was a very quiet weekend and everything turned out pretty darn well. Oh, I made this amazing baked chicken with different kinds of seasoning and all the residents and staff utterly loved it. It was very flavorful and the best part about it - the chicken was moist, not dry. It was served with Fettucine Alfredo and let's just say everyone had more than enough to eat. I know the dinner turned out well when my colleague commented that it was by far the best meal she's had in all the years she's worked at Westminster House. Oh, I ended up buying a cake from Costco because my team leader made the comment that it was International Women's Day on Saturday and kept going on and on about it. I read the papers and there was no mention of it whatsoever so I told her that if she could prove it to me, I'll bring a treat. Needless to say, I had to lick my wounds because I came back and surfed the web and lo and behold on the UN website there it was - International Women's Day March 8th. We had a great banter going on yesterday.

On Saturday, John and I went to the DM Symphony and I must say that it was probably one of the interesting symphony performances ever. Different sections of the symphony were located at different places in the Civic Center. The strings section were on the main floor while the percussions were on the right of the seating and the woodwinds were on the left. It gave the audience kind of a surround sound symphonic experience. Right up front behind the conductor was this guy who was synthesizing the different sounds that came from the audience and the symphony. His sounds were incorporated in the performance. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed it but I have a feeling a good number of traditionalist in the audience just did not get it.

Oh, the big news in and around DM is the fact that Drake's Basketball program won the Missouri Valley Championship yesterday by literally trashing Illinois State by 30 points. Drake's team this year has constantly defied every expectation in the books and just when you think they are going to lose, they somehow pull out a win. Drake's basketball team has become Des Moines basketball team and it's downright amazing how many people have come out to support Drake. It makes me extremely proud to be a Bulldog! This Sunday is selection Sunday and Drake will figure out what their ranking will be and who they will be paired with in the national tournament consisting of 64 teams. Let me just say it's extremely exciting times at Drake right now.

Another big news from the weekend is the results of the general election that took place in Malaysia. I've not been following it too closely but it's a shocker to see how many states were lost to opposition and in the parliament there's no longer the majority but a simple majority. Needless to say, no one expected such a thumping defeat inflicted upon the ruling party. I guess the people are really wanting a change and those in leadership positions need to wake up. Such is politics. I'm just thankful that people did not take the winnings or losses to the streets. 1969 comes to people's mind whenever something as significant as those results happen.

That's all the news from me this week. This coming weekend will be a pretty busy weekend too but more on that next week. Oh, clocks have sprung forward and that's an FYI!

Overnight again.

Well, once again I was roped in to work the overnight on Saturday evening. Personally, working the overnight is not a bad deal, except for the fact that I need to figure out when to go to bed. On Sunday morning for example, I would have just gone right to bed after I got off my shift at 6:15AM. However, I needed to go to Mass because I was leading the RCIA discussion that morning. Technically, I could have gone to bed for three hours, wake up, go to Mass then after Mass go right back to bed. However, after I got back to my apartment, I realized that Liverpool was playing live on tv at 7:30AM which pretty much meant that I had to watch the game. So, I ended up staying up the entire time watching the game which was a very good game I must say, and they won convincingly. I made it to Mass, led the discussion and after that came back to my apartment and crashed. I ended up waking up at 5:15PM which meant I had a little more than five hours of sleep which is fine. The rest of the Sunday was spent watching a dvd and some television shows. I called it a night at 10PM. Amazingly, I did not have too much problem going to bed although my body did wake me up at 1AM and 4AM. Oh well. This morning (Monday), I sent an e mail to my supervisor asking her if I could change my work schedule and not work on Saturday but work from 3:45PM-10PM on Monday and Tuesday beginning in April. We’ll see what she has to say. I don’t think she’ll have a problem, but you’ll never know. If she says yes, that mean I’ll be able to have one day (Saturday) of no work whatsoever. Boy, that would be nice feeling to say the least. Also, I’ll be able to go to the Farmers’ Market once it gets going and we all know how much I like doing that on Saturday mornings. It just makes my day. Yesterday, the weather hit a high of close to 65 degrees which is pretty much spring-like weather, but by the evening, it dropped significantly AND this morning, we all work up to snow on the ground with the temperature of 19 degrees. That’s Iowa weather for you!

Last Wednesday, I participated in a webinar (web seminar) at the office. There were two staff members who participated and I personally think that’s the way to go when it comes to seminars. It saves a lot of time and money and the materials still gets to be presented to people. There will be an online conference in two weeks and I’ll be participating in that also. What’s neat about this is the fact that we get to project the webinar onto a screen in our conference room so however many staff are able to participate if they so desire. On Thursday, my friend, Anna and I went to the play, “Defending the Caveman” which was pretty funny and definitely brought some laughs to those of us who were there. It was an older audience who were present and I think there would have been more laughter if it was a younger crowd. All in all we had fun and a good laugh.

On Saturday, Sr. Carola, Fr. Tim and I went to a classical concert at the Art Center. The group that performed was the Ames Piano Quartet. Those who made up the quartet are music faculty at Iowa State University and believe it or not, there just aren’t that many piano quartets in the world and this is one of the better ones. They’ve done some pretty extensive traveling and have recorded a number of cds over the years. It was a very good program and all three of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

That’s pretty much the week that was. Nothing too exciting planned for this week except for the DM Symphony performance on Saturday. I’m really looking forward to it because it’s going to be a different kind of performance with some multimedia presentation and background sounds from the audience in attendance prior to the concert. Like I said, it’ll be a whole new and different kind of performance. Hopefully I’ll be able to explain it better after the performance. That’s the week ahead for me.