Inpromptu mini-Family Reunion

Tonight my dad's cousin and his wife (thus, my uncle and aunt) from New Jersey were over for dinner ... They brought along two of their friends with whom they're staying with while in Toronto, a couple of people maybe 4-5 years older than myself, maybe less, I'm not really sure ... One of them, is this girl from the Philippines, apparently she graduated kumlaude (meaning the top in her class) from the University of the Philippines (the top school in the country) ... thus, she must be some genius ... anyhow a very well spoken girl, her Filipino accent is so faint, she could pass for a white person if you spoke to her over the phone ... meanwhile, her friend is this guy from Germany, a student, who goes for training/to train others (I can't remember which) all over the world, this past week he just decided to visit Toronto because he was in Indiana for one of his training sessions ... It's always nice meeting new and different people, with different perspectives on life ...

Anyhow, back to the Fam Reunion ... a side note, I'm actually A LOT closer to my father's cousins and second-cousins (thus making their kids my second and third cousins respectively), as opposed to my father's siblings and their kids ... I consider them to be more family than my first cousins on my father's side ... they're all so spread out, anywhere from Quebec, to here in the GTA, to New Jersey and all the way to California ... great for me, because I have places to stay should I go on vacation ... At dinner time, the topics of discussion ranged anywhere from American Politics (Hilary Clinton and Barrack Obama obviously), Canada vs. America (health care system, taxes, and of course I had to get my shots in regarding their dollar), Basketball, Boxing (Pacquiao baby!), Philippine politics (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's corruption and the dispair of the people under the current system), pop culture etc. ... Some points in the conversation expectedly shifted to what's going on with the "kids" (meaning myself, sis, and cousins Lax and Artist) ... With the other three absent, I took the full brunt of the jabs, there was no safe hiding place at all ... if you're Filipino, you can relate to getting these typical questions:

-"so what are you doing now?" (meaning school or work-wise)
-"when are you getting married?"
-"when do you plan to have kids?"

My parents let the cat out of the bag, announcing my intentions for leaving to Japan ... it also came up that my mother would like to become a grandmother ...

my response:
"hey if you want grandchildren, I could fix that right up ... but I ain't getting married and I can't guarantee that you'll like your grandkids' mother" ... LMFAO ...

my mother also commented on my lack of a significant other at this moment ... LOL, hahahaha ... she said told the table that I'd prefer to marry a Filipina or Latina ... gotta hand it to my mother to air out all my business, LOL ... my aunt was under the impression that there were a lot of Latinas up here in the GTA ... I informed her that wasn't the case, that they were a rarity up here ... She said she'd tell my cousin Lax to fix me up with some when I visit New Jersey, he apparently has a girl in Queens, NY, and she's got quite a few Latina friends ...

then conveniently my cousin Lax calls his mom on the cell phone at that moment ... she let him know that I would be down for the Labour Day weekend, I told him we should hang out ... him and Artist actually want me down there in the middle of the summer, so we can hit up some "beach" ... I let him know that I was going down to Phoenix, but he said to come to Jersey instead ... That's not a tough decision for me at all, Phoenix, no question ... Jersey and them Latina chicks can wait ... One thing I'd like to do in Jersey though, aside from White Castle, Labour Day shopping at Jersey Gardens, meeting Latina women and running ball is going to Six Flags Great Adventure and riding their roller coasters ... Last time I went was back in '01 so I already got to ride "Nitro", which is their equivalent to our new Wonderland coaster, The Behemoth, same drop height and similar track design ... but they've added two new coasters since then, "El Toro" (a prefabricated wooden coaster with a much higher and steeper drop than our Minebuster) and "Kingda Ka" (a steel coaster that instead of dropping you, launches you up 455 feet straight upwards at a top speed of 128mph) ... I'll be in both places (Phoenix and Jersey) this summer regardless, so I'll likely get to do everything I'm planning on ... The only thing Lax told me was to brush up on my salsa dancing ... I don't think too many people know that I trained in a whole bunch of Latin dances a few years back, everyone that's seen me perform said I killed it ... I'm in retirement mode right now, but meeting Latina women should be enough incentive to brush up on my skills ...

Can't wait to see my American cousins this summer: Zona, AVAD, Lax and Artist ... NYC, Phoenix, New Jersey and Las Vegas here I come ... Miami, I haven't forgotten about you, but I'm working on it ...

One,

- J -