Elijah with Chippy Now

Last Friday in bed, I received the sad news about the passing of Elijah from his mother Gail. It turns out that in the first week of our Shelter in Place, Elijah took a turn for the worse. After having been given a shot by the vet, he went to sleep while Gail was holding him in the car.

Elijah was a brother of Chippy's from the same litter. One day in May, 18 years ago, they were waiting together to be adopted on the staircase of  the Santa Cruz Main Post Office. My manager at the time, Dody, picked up Elijah for Gail, while I got Chippy. Two cats were so happy waiting for the end of our work day in our Cataloging Department office. Chippy was grooming constantly whereas Elijah was just meowing joyfully. I will never forget the time when he was so distraught to find his sister gone. Paul had come by earlier and took her home in a wooden breadbox I had just bought.

In the ensuing years, Dody, Gail, and I tried a couple of times to give them a reunion through their birthday parties, but Elijah was too shy to feel comfortable among strangers. Now, Elijah and Chippy are together again in a span of less than three months. They are truly special cats, giving our two families full and undivided attention and affection. In the 18 years they were with us, they shared our happy and difficult times. I feel somewhat comforted that Gail was with Elijah to the very end. It is my greatest regret that I was not with Chippy when she passed. I was trying to get a few hours' sleep for work on the morning of the last day of 2019.

As my niece said in her card to us, "We are sorry that Mrs. Chippy is no longer with us. She will be dearly missed," and so will Elijah. They lived apart, but are united now, with their Grandmother Jindi to look after them both.

Golden Era of Streaming Movies/TV

Since mid-March when Shelter in Place was enacted, streaming movies/TV have suddenly become ever more popular. Even hardcore DVD users are reluctantly, gradually converting and warming to Acorn, Amazon, Netflix, and many more streaming providers. My inkling is that the golden era is here for streaming movies and TV. I cannot help but feel sorry for the limited usage of eBooks and eAudios. For obvious reasons, publishers are more profit-driven.

The following is an ongoing working list by Paul and me, begun right before the lock-down. Some shows are superior while others, not so great. We enjoyed them wholeheartedly anyway.

Movie and TV shows watched (3/11/2020-)

Agatha Raisin (Acorn; season 3)

The art detectives (Acorn)

Blood (Acorn; season 2)

Blue rose (Acorn)

Bordertown (Netflix; season 3)

Bosch (Prime; season 4-6)

Clean break (Acorn)

Deadwater fell (Acorn)

Freud (Netflix)

Hidden (Acorn)

Hunters (Prime; 2 seasons)

An inspector calls (Prime)

Into to the night (Netflix)

The Irishman (Netflix)

Laundromat (Netflix)

Level (Acorn)

Liverpool 1 (Acorn; 2 seasons) 

The man in the high castle (Prime; 4 seasons)

Manhunt (Acorn)

Missing (Acorn)

The mire (Netflix)

The Oldenheim 12 (Acorn)

Outer Banks (Netflix)

Ozark (Netflix; 3 seasons)

The Pale horse (Prime)

The poison tree (Acorn)

Ragnarok (Netflix; 2 seasons)

Relative strangers (Acorn)

The Schouwendam 12 (Acorn)

Serenity (Prime)

The stranger (Netflix; season 1)

Tiger king (Netflix)

The Valhalla murders (Netflix)

Waco (Netflix)

Wreckers (Acorn)

Ozark: Another Alternate History

At Nick’s recommendation, Paul and I innocently embarked on Netflix's Ozark, “It is similar to Schitt’s Creek,” he promised us.

How wrong were my expectations, when I was waiting for a similar light humor and funny story as in Schitt’s Creek. The deja vu of the Man in the High Castle dawned on me. All of sudden, I understood why we tended to avoid watching those series in the last few years, when everything stayed normal.

Since we were sheltered in place to work from home since March 16, our whole life routine has been altered upside down; therefore, any shows or books with the genre of alternate history have become part of the new normal. They provide their audience perfectly with another self-contained universe to live in and observe. Unfortunately the altered world is no more pleasant or worse than our reality attacked by the pandemic of COVID-19: citizens in the Man in the High Castle are ruled by two Axis forces on two coasts, California as one of the Japanese Pacific States in the west, and in the east New York as Greater Nazi Reich, with the rest of the country as a vast neutral zone. Such a state is by no means stable or permanent; everywhere are senseless killings, upheavals, conflicts and wars between the conquerors, and resistance forces.

Before long, the foreign powers transform themselves from the ones who dictate their orders from Tokyo and Berlin to become the rulers on site, such as Crown Princess Michiko and Heinrich Himmler and his wife Margarete. They are changing the whole country according to their own interest and wishes, from people to landmarks. Strangely, the same is true of Omar Navarro, the mysterious client in the first two seasons of Ozark. In the third season, Navarro has transformed from a hidden figure to the forefront cartel boss, testing the royalty of his American employees Helen Pierce and Marty Byrde by torture, and letting them compete for the final selection of the fittest. He utilizes Americans to build casinos and hotels on the Lake of Ozark to launder his drug money, and buys a horse farm for the same nefarious purpose. He uses American faces to manipulate Missouri politics, and brings his cartel war on American soil by utilizing FBI forces to crush his cartel enemies. He is the real ruler.

If the Man in the High Castle attracts a certain strata of audience interested in history or sci-fi, Ozark has certainly cast a much wider net to capture an all but total Netflix audience. It has all the successful ingredients: authentic alternate history story, good acting, curiosity about cartels, fascination with money and high life, and disillusionment with politics and government. There is one more advantage for the latter: timing. With the order of shelter in place, we are all sitting ducks, eager for any distraction or means of escape, willingly seduced by a reasonably long and spicy show.

Last Country Music Concert (for the Time Being)

KPIG and Country Roots' An Evening with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder is the last concert we went to before the statewide sanction against COVID-19. To Paul's great delight, he won  tickets from KSQD to attend the show of Kentucky Thunder on March 11, 2020 at Felton Music Hall. I was invited to go along as his guest.

We had an early dinner and arrived promptly at the door at 7:00 pm. Fully aware of the social distancing, a long line of audience members kept a respectable distance from one another. Soon, the door was open, and people began to walk in. For some reason, Paul's name was not on the special will-call list. Apparently the sub-DJ at KSQD was too overwhelmed with radio procedures and calls during her shift that day. But the concert organizer admitted us in good faith and stamped our right hands.

We got two chairs in the third row which was shared by an elderly and unsteady couple. Before long, we realized that we needed to move to the center or, better still, to the front of the stage fully surrounded by Ricky Skaggs' fans. Many of them were not just standing, but swinging or dancing to the music. Moreover, the sound was far better here than in our seating area.

With our much improved sound and up-close view, I was impressed at how accomplished the whole band was. They gave the intimate audience the last and best performance before the sanctions would be lifted. They could play beautifully as a whole or individually, e.g., Ricky, Paul Brewster and Dennis Park (baritone vocals) sang in harmony or separately. Instrumentally, Mike Barnett played fiddle, Jake Workman, lead guitar, Paul Brewster, rhythm guitar, Russell Carson, banjo, Jeff Picker, bass, and Dennis Parker, rhythm guitar, mandolin, and fiddle.

As a lead singer, Ricky's voice was as smooth as old wine while his mandolin had a surprisingly wide range from gentle to white heat energetic. Perhaps fully aware that he would be away from his audience for a long time, he was reminiscent of his past concerts in Santa Cruz, his childhood and family songs, and his parental teaching about every cloud having a silver lining. When he first started to play mandolin, and it was out of tune, his father told him not to worry, "It will just sound like more people are playing."

The audience assembled was knowledgeably cognizant of Rick Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. They followed the performance closely and fondly. They were longing for more after the band ended at 8:40 pm. After two more encores, Kentucky Thunder left the stage.

So long, we will meet soon!

Entitlement and Punishment

When my colleague Liz gave me a copy of The Dutch House, I was not prepared for it to be another rendition of gold diggers.

Having encountered a real-life gold digger two years ago in 2018, I felt insufferably indignant about the unique injustice. As time is the best healer, I have begun to learn to live and enjoy our own life, which is the precise story line of Ann Patchett's new book entitled The Dutch House in 2019, the same year Donna Leon published her Unto Us a Son Is Given on the same subject.

The Dutch House is actually about the Conroys, a couple from Brooklyn. A self-made real-estate magnate, Cyril Conroy, was business-wise, but wife-foolish. He bought from the bank the grandiose Dutch House in Elkins Park, outside Philadelphia, to please his wife Elna, but ended up suffocating and frightening her away to India to help Mother Teresa with the poor. Divorced with two young kids, three-year-old son Danny, and ten-year-old daughter Maeve, he married again with Andrea, a much younger women who only adored the imposing house and everything inside, to boot.

Three years into the marriage, Cyril not only found his new wife bringing two young daughters from her previous life, but also found himself, in the end, collapsed and dead on the stairs of his new building. Before long, the newly widowed Andrea assumed complete control of the family estate and finances through her capable big-city lawyer, and ordered Marve and Danny to leave the house at a moment's notice, since Cyril failed to mention any provisions for his own children in his will. So departing together were the house-keeper and cook, two sisters hired by the first wife. Four of them crammed into Marve's small car and drove away to fend for themselves.

Danny moved into his sister's tiny apartment and lived on her limited income from working for a vegetable refrigeration company. What enabled him to go to a private high school, Columbia, and its medical school was an almost forgotten educational trust Cyril had established to be shared by Danny and two step-daughters, minus Marve who had already started to work. But such a fortune was precarious and full of obstacles. His entry into medical school was met with fierce protests from Andrea who thought the trust only covered college education, not medical school whose expensive tuition would exhaust all funds for her daughters to enjoy, a typical entitlement of all gold diggers and leeches. Such is Pratchett's stock in trade: astute observations about human nature.

Just as their Brooklyn-born father, Danny and his sister worked hard to create from scratch their own fortune. Unmarried, Marve lived a fulfilled life, while Danny became a new real-estate magnate himself, even though he was a fully qualified doctor. But unlike their lonely father, the two siblings were surrounded with love from their families, friends, and former house staff. When Marve fell ill with heart attacks, their long missing mother Elna came back to their rescue.

There was always an unresolved issue with Marve and Danny: their lost Dutch House. They would often drive out of their way to stop by, wondering what was happening inside, but never mustering courage enough to go in until Elna accompanied them to pay an official visit. It turned out the gold digger did not fare better: Andrea had been suffering from late-stage Alzheimer's. One daughter never wanted to come back to the house while another daughter, a pediatric oncologist, as a result of Andrea's nagging about Danny's medical school, remained childless. As trained by Mother Teresa, Elna decided to stay on to help Andrea's daughter to care for the sick. Reduced to a less than childlike mental state, Andrea mistook Danny for Cyril, and died in the care of Elna two weeks later.

The Dutch House was at last rightfully returned to the Conroys. Danny purchased it back for his daughter. It seems that the former entitlement is not without it's ultimate due punishment. 

A Weekend of Blessing, Birthday and Bliss

It was busy few days last weekend for both Nick and us. He had to be on-call, so his visit had to be postponed to the following weekend. We will see him and Paulie soon!

We started to feel the heat of the weekend since Friday February 21, 2020. An invitation arrived for me to join the Recorded Books Advisory Board, and renewed book proposal from Cambridge Scholars.

Around noon, Saturday February 22, Father Milutin called to ask if he could come an hour earlier than planned to bless our home, and I had to say Yes, even though Paul just lied down to nurse his headache. After the phone call, Paul and I sprang to action to be ready for him.

Ten minutes later, Father arrived in his full length black robe and white collar. Without too much ado, he started blessing for all of us living and then the Dear Departed. He then sprinkled Holy Water around our living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms, and our mini-Costco of a garage, with me holding the water bowl and Paul reading from the Scripture. Once the interior was covered, he proceeded to the side-yard, backyard and front-yard where I asked him for a special blessing on our ailing lemon tree which had died many deaths over last two decades and more. He did and commented rightly that it at least bore fruits. He also blessed the '57 Chevy truck, RAV4, and Camry. Apparently the Chevy was his favorite. He had to leave right away, as he had a full schedule ahead of him.

For some reason, we both felt so happy and lightened after Father Milutin's visit. In that blissful milieu, we decided to give my paper on Eddy a final polishing. At three o'clock, we sent the draft paper to Prof. Buckland who responded with a long message three hours later while I was preparing fillings for dumplings.

The next day, Sunday, February 23, we spent almost all day outside, exercising at 24 Hour Fitness, going to church, walking along West Cliff, attending Alverda's 90th birthday party at St. Joseph, and watching the sunset at Moran Beach.

It was a blissful weekend to be with family and friends: FaceTime with Nick's family, talking to sister, and gathering together with church and library friends. Besides congratulating Alverda and meeting her twin daughters, sons-in-laws, and grandson, we Awesome Three,  Heidi, Pam and I, who used to staff the Reference desk and Telephone Reference for many years, with Donna being our lead, were now having a great time, covering all topics to catch up with each other.

Three Celestial Bodies + ISS

It was a busy Sunday yesterday, even though we skipped 24 Hour Fitness, as the strong winds knocked out the power at the gym.

After church, we went straight to Seabright Beach and walked for about an hour. It was so cheerful to see happy faces, bright sunshine, the endless expanse of shining ocean water, and the busy activities on the sand dunes and the Boardwalk. We returned home and finished a series of chores, such as trimming both persimmon and cherry trees, newly roping the clothes lines, and cleaning the house. Just minutes before the sunset, we arrived at Moran Beach to see the event. The sun was prematurely disappearing due to the heavy edge of the thick fog bank surrounding the horizon.

When we walked towards Pleasure Point and The Hook, the full moon appeared. There were patches of clouds, but the moon was not intimidated. It popped through now and then, silvery and proud, living up to her reputation as a Snow Moon. It is also known as the Hunger Moon or Storm Moon by some Native American tribes. Just across from the full moon, Venus was shining in the sky. What celestial bodies we have greeted this evening!

On our way back, a group of four people were staring up into the sky, shouting ISS, ISS, ISS! Indeed the proud International Space Station passed directly overhead and and past us at that moment. It was more than nine minutes before it winked out of view at a distance of over 900 miles, a fitting encore to an already eventful celestial evening.

International Palindrome Day 02022020

Palindrome Paul told me that it is a special palindrome day today, for 02/02/2020 is the first true palindrome since 11/11/1111.

Unlike other palindromic dates, February 2, 2020 is a global palindrome because it is exactly the same written both in the DD/MM/YYYY format in Europe, and the MM/DD/YYYY format in U.S. It is even true in China, where the year comes first, 2020/02/02.

What a unique year we live in now!

MST 3000 in San Jose

Thursday evening, Paul and I set off to San Jose for our big event: we were going to attend "Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live", an encore for the performance after one in San Francisco. It was a special moment for MST3K fans in the Bay Areas, as it was Joel Hodgson's last live trip before his imminent retirement. It was a double excitement for Paul, for he has always wanted to see Joel performing alive. On more than one occasion, he was planning to go to Milwaukee for one of their very early shows, decades ago.

We had our dinner at In and Out, and happened to run into Rick and his son Michael. We then proceeded leisurely towards San Jose Center of Performing Arts. Our arrival was early, but there were already people waiting for the doors to open. People were casually dressed, some in MST3K themed outfits. You could feel the excitement and anticipation in the night air. 

We were finally admitted. There was a long line formed at the MST3K merchandise counter. We walked around different levels of walkways inside the hall, finding ourselves surrounded by crowds of fans everywhere, old and young, men and women. The theater was packed with thousands of devotees.

Soon, Joel and his quipping robot companions — Tom Servo, Crow, Gypsy, and Cambot— and crew came on stage with the darkening of the light. Mystery Science Theater 3000 was officially live on stage:

MST 3000 Live Opening scene.

Joe with his sarcastic robot companions.

Tom briefly acquired the body of a "beautiful butterfly."

The end: Joel Hodgson's whole ensemble.

Chippy Says Goodbye

In the early morning of 2019's last day, Chippy, the 18-year-old cat, fell into an eternal sleep. As considerate as ever, she left unobtrusively to let her loved ones celebrate a new year and a new decade.

Chippy was named after Mrs. Chippy, a cat owned by Harry "Chippy" McNish, a carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917. She was always as overly attentively as her namesake was with McNish. When barely a kitten herself, Chippy made sure the teenager Nick would get enough sleep, by trotting to lie at the foot of his bed every night. Whenever Grandma Jindi visited Santa Cruz, Chippy would follow her everywhere. The two of them spent many mornings together listening to exercise tapes, while Grandma was doing Tai Chi. She was truly worried when Grandma suffered from one of her Alzheimer's episodes and was stuck outside the door for hours. Chippy managed to get along with a team of caregivers when her adopted parents had to travel overseas or out of state to take care of the ailing Grandma many times a year.

Being pure white, Chippy lived a polite and peaceful indoor life. Unlike some Homo sapiens whose greed knows no bounds, she was the epitome of contentment with her daily provisions, water and wheat grass, Iams cat food, and Johnny Cat litter. If there was something else she wanted, she would wait for her turn, and meow back after the wait was acknowledged. As the only cat in the household, she spent her spare time grooming and creating games to play. Until she could no longer jump, she would play a relay game with her family members by taking a computer duster from the pen-holder on the desk, and depositing it somewhere to be discovered.

Being a feline, Chippy might be equipped with mouse-catching capability, but not with a killer's instinct. When the garage was visited by rodents, she was anxious to investigate, but at a loss as to what to do when she actually caught one in her paws. Although she was the runt of her litter, Chippy refused to be bullied. One Christmas, a family friend came to stay with his full-sized German shepherd Stella. For her safety, the 10-poound Chippy was separated to a different room. On the third day, she ventured out and walked step by step toward Stella, without losing eye contact, like a stalking lioness.

Chippy is survived by her litter brother Elijah of Scotts Valley, brother Nick (and family) of Pleasanton, and parents Paul and Hui-Lan Titangos of Santa Cruz. On behalf of Chippy, the family would like to express their gratitude to her caretakers, Dody Anderson, Tom Dilbeck, Tyler Caceres, Rick "Peanut" Rizzo, and Linda Lippy. They would also like to thank the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter and her veterinarian, Dr. Gary Roussopoulous, for his lifelong professional service and care.