Paternal Privledge or Just Brat-like Behavior

Self,


Ok now that it's understood that my dad and grandmother are in the hospital, but recovering and doing well, I have to speak on the "craziness" my father caused.


Set the scene. So Friday I get a call mid-morning from my cousin telling me that my grandmother is back in the hospital, that my dad hasn't been released from his hospital visit and that surprise, she's here in California. She also informs me that she would be going to see our grandmother shortly and that she basically expected to see me that evening. Obviously, all this lets me know that I should go to my parents' house after work rather than just going home. Not too long after that I get a call from my mom telling me that she is going to pick up her car from the dealer after having visited both my dad and my grandmother and was trying to coordinate our arrivals at the house.

So after work I sit through rush hour traffic on the I-405 to get to my parents house. Everyone arrived at different times, so some time has passed before I found out how each of our patients were doing. However it is determined that there is enough time before visiting hours at both hospitals end that I can make a visit. They intentionally did not tell my dad that my cousin was in town so the plan was that she would go with me to surprise him then we would then go see our grandmother who would be surpised that my cousin was making a second visit and that I was able to come along.

As BigCuz and I gets ready to go, my mom gets up and rumages through a grocery bag and hands me a Orange flavored Hostess cupcakes package and says, "Here, your dad wanted a Zinger but I didn't go to the store and I'll just have to replace this for your brother later." Being a good wife, she remembers that there's a box of his favorite flavored Triscut crackers in the pantry, so she decides to sends that to him also and put both items in a small bag.


BigCuz and I ride Thunderbolt to the hospital where my dad is located. We make it to my dad's room. I walked in first and then my cousin and he is pleased to see us. We exchange greetings, I tell him that we on our way to also go see our grandma, so we won't be able to stay long. At some point I remember the bag of goodies, so I reach in it and pulls out the Cupcakes and tells him that mom sent it to him. He looks at it, kinda frowns and hands it back. "That's not what I asked for, I want the Zinger with the coconut flakes."


I take it back and return it to the bag and pulls out the crackers, and said, "Well, she sent this too."


"Nah, I don't want them neither." I just put the crackers back in the bag. We chat a bit more and then we say are farewells so that we have time to make it to see my grandmother.


BigCuz and I get down the hallway and she starts laughing, "Not only was the crackers not satisfactory, but neither was the cupcakes and your mom had stolen them at that." Of course, I start laughing with her. We go down the road a spell to another hospital to visit my grandma, afterwards, we stop at BevMo to get some libations for everyone at the house, then go back to my parents house. We all have a good laugh about my dad and the stolen cupcakes when I retell the story to my mom and aunt. I was ordered to stay the night due to the late hour and the cocktails.


Remember I went straight to my parents house right after work so I had no clothes but the funky one's I wore at work on Friday. I plan to make the drive home and back to continue hanging out with my cousin and to slip in another visit to the family patients. It's suggested that I instead go down the street to Target and buy some extra clothes rather than drive all the way back to Glendale. So BigCuz and I head out making a stop for her at the bank and then Target for me. Just as I park Thunderbolt in the lot at Target, I get a call from my brother asking me to get him something from Target and my mom wanting some sodas that are on sale there. Okay. So my cousin and I walk through the store, I find me some shorts, T-shirts, underwear, toothbrush and other toiletries. The we walk over to the grocery section to find the sodas. I put the four 12-packs on the cart and we start to walk towards the cashiers. What aisle do we start down, the one with all the snacks.

I think my cousin planned it, because out of her mouth comes, "[Pharaoh,] You should be a good son and find some Zingers for your sick pappy!" I start to argue, but I realize my arguement is based on being cheap and not wanting to spend more money than necessary. So I give in and look for the damn Zingers. So I search the shelf and don't find any coconut but they do have Zingers - vanilla. I buy them, its a box of 10-12. We return to the house to find out that my uncle, his girlfriend, their daughter (the youngest grandchild,) and the girlfriend's mother are there and are planning to go see my grandma in the hospital along with my grandfather and aunt. In order not to overwhelm the hospital with too many guests at once, my mom, my brother, my cousin and I decide to go visit my father first then go see my grandma. And yes the newly purchased Zingers are going with us too.

We get to the hospital find my dad out in the parking lot in a wheelchair smoking a cigar. Greetings are exchanged and I pull out the Zingers and hands them to my dad. He looks at the box, frowns and says, "No that not it, but hey leave them at the house and I'll eat them when I get home." I put the bax back in the bag and think to myself I knew I shouldn't have wasted money on them. We go inside because it's a little breezy and stop in one of the waiting areas to continue our visit. While we sitting there one of my dad's friends who was visiting his mother on a different floor walks over to us. He sits and visits for a while then my mom and dad decide to follow him upstairs to see the friend's mom. While they are upstairs, the three of us just chat a bit more. Eventually I decides to tear into the box of Zingers and take one out for myself. My brother asks for one. About that time, my parents come back and see we opened the Zingers. My mom wants one, but my dad refuses.

We decides it's about time to go so we can see my grandma, and my dad asks us to help get out of the wheelchair and back in to his bed, so we follow him back to his room. Just as we get him settled, my uncle, his girlfriend, their daughter (Lil-Bit,) and the girlfriend's mother come walking into the room. So Lil-Bit is being real talkative with my dad. That's when I remember the box of Zingers. I try to be respectful of the parent/child relationship so I make a point of asking Lil-Bit's mom on the sly, if it is ok with her if Lil-Bit has a Zinger. She says, "Sure it's ok, but I'm not sure if he likes them, but I do." I preceed to hand her one, then my uncle, that's when Lil-Bit turns and I had her one, and then I offer one to my uncle's quasi-mother-in-law. Then my dad asks for one for later and places it on the bedside table. Shortly after that we all say farewell to my dad and leave.

When I finally leave my parents house taking my cousin back to LAX and then continuing to my place in Glendale, there were two Zingers left. I'm Not sure who will enjoy them. But sometime on Saturday after we left my father, my brother found the "Right" Zingers and they should but a smile on the old man's face.

Sincerely,
Pharaoh

Weekend Update

Self,

Well, with the not so good stuff so I can end on a positive note.

Friday morning I got a call while I was at work that my grandmother had been rushed to the Emergency Room for the second time this week. The first trip was thought to have been due to a stroke, and fortunately it wasn't. This second trip I'm afraid we still have not been told what ails my grandmother, but we do know what doesn't afflect her.

During this call I was also informed that my father had not been released from his hospital visit as had been expected. Although I don't want to seem as if I am making light of any hospital visit, as if it does not give cause to be worried or concerned. My dad's visit was planned he had elected to have a knee replacement surgery. We had thought that he was going to be home on Thursday but it turns out that they are keeping him a bit longer to rehabilitate his knee.

And they are in two different hospitals about a mile and a half apart.

The good note of these circumstance, is two-fold.
1 they both were last seen to be recovering and in good spirits.
2 The sudden scare with my grandmother brought my older cousin out from Phoenix and I had the chance to spend time with her this weekend.

Sincerely,
Pharaoh

Julie & Julia - and Pharaoh

Self,

I recently saw this film recently, on DVD. Meryl Streep was fantastic as Julia Child!

I think this film told and good story in an interesting way. it has inspired the cook in me. NO I am not going to duplicate Amy Adams' character, Julie Powell, and attempt to cook all of Child's recipes and blog about it. I mean how unoriginal would that make me? However I am inspired to enough to want to GLANCE at Child's book and recipes to see what was/is all the hype about it.

Hmm maybe I'll just have a dinner party, making one of Childs recipes the focus. Or better yet just make several courses of the meal from here recipes?


Sincerely,
Pharaoh

Nothing On You

Self,

Ok I been kind feeling this song, particularly the vocals for the chorus/hook more so than the rap verse, but hey it all comes together fairly well. But I didn't know who the artist on the song.

So for those who know me, they know I don't have cable and therefore, me seeing a music video is like....just short of a miracle!

I was rather suprise to have caught the end of this video one day while visiting my parents (they do have cable.) And I was able to find out the artist on the song. I'm sure those more "in the know" already know it's B.O.B featuring Bruno Mars. Knowing the names didn't really help since I saw two names and two guys in the video. I figured it out, Bruno is singing the chorus.

LOL all that to say is I don't know who Bruno Mars is or where he came from, ("but, if there's a snow storm tonight he's going on my tires,") becuse I think he is SO CUTE! I mean like adorable cute, not sexy hunk.

Check it.




Sincerely,
Pharaoh

March Madness

Self,

Well I apologize for the fact that I've been away for a minute or two. It's all been due to March Madness. No, I don't mean the basketball hoopla that so many folks get excited about. I'm talking about the fact that Double D chose to come spend his 40th birthday here in Los Angeles for the first week of March. In addition to Double D, Tazz and another friend of mine all stayed at my place. And it was Madness - just nonstop entertainment. Some of the highlights are:

We saw Jeniffer Lewis in her one woman show, "Hot Flash," that was a fund raiser for the Gay and Lesbian Center of Los Angeles. SHE IS A HOT MESS! Just to mix it up a bit I invited my girl, Miz Milah, to see the show as well. The five of us and the rest of the audience laughed to tears nearly the whole evening. Guess who was in the audience only a couple rows away, RuPaul, - not the drag diva but the man beneath the the wigs and mascara. I only mention it because Tazz had been playing episodes of RuPaul's show on his laptop almost since he walked through my door and then our first group outing we see RuPaul in the flesh. Double D managed to get a birthday picture with Ms. Lewis and he and Tazz took a picture together with RuPaul. After the show we ventured out to WeHo where Double D had arranged for use to meet and hang out with Wonder Man.

We also saw the last show of "The Color Purple" starring Fantasia. Yes, for those who were asking she showed up and performed her ass off. I think there was a lot of ad-libs by the cast in general since it was their last show together, but it made it bit more funny and entertaining for us in the audience.

We also went to spoken word performance showcase here in LA, called FlyPoets, that happens once a month, which this time featured Malcolm Jamal Warner - who is still sexy as hell!

The last big venture of the week was Vegas baby! We took a road trip to "Sin City." As luck would have it, a friend that lives there, was hosting a game night that the road crew and I were able to crash. we played Taboo (which I can't stand) and CatchPhrase which is like Taboo but I liked a little better. Also while in Vegas we saw one of the Cirque du Soleil shows, Zumanity. It was sexy! Don't you think?
Isn't there just something extremely sexy about a faun? Now truth be told I don't think THIS particular faun was the one we saw on stage, but the one on stage was snarling and growling and sliding across the stage....yummy!

To be honest the Madness wasn't all fun and roses, I think spending so much time together, all up in each other space, worked everyone's nerve to some extent, but we managed to survive. Although I did threaten to cut them "bitches" a couple times with my butcher knife.......umm jokingly!? All in all I think everyone had a great time.

Sincerely,
Pharaoh