A new chapter...

Sounds like a Star Wars title doesn't it?
Sorry I have been gone a while. I am going through some changes in my life right now. I probably shouldn't blog about it, so I might have to take that part off line...maybe even publish it one day.

Where to begin: I will start with today and recent family updates as I promised some people that I would not put my feelings through a public forum.

My younger brother suffered a stroke a few months back. He just got married to his lovely bride, decided to move to Las Vegas as Southern California, I guess California in general, is getting way to expensive to live. He found a job at a Catholic school as theie P.E. coach and within a few weeks, found an apartment for his young family. Then literally the next day, BOOM. It hit him. We were all shocked. My whole family freaked out ofcourse. I was already planning to go out there and bring his things to the new apartment, but man this hit us bad. But, with a lot of faith, family, and love, he is getting better. That's when it reminded me what being a family was about. With the power of prayer, faith, and just being able to rally around the circumstances, hope finds a way to enter your life. I like to think our Catholic upbringing had a lot to do with that as well. Plus the outpouring of love, prayers, and support from family and friends, support from his new work (which is his new Las Vegas family) is just such a wonderful thing to see.

I don't know if the gofundme page my sister started is still up, but if you know my brother, or would just like to help him and his young family, click on the link below

https://www.gofundme.com/coach-lagmans-road-to-recovery

So today I took Nathan to Universal Studios. Needless to say it was a blast. Yaya came too as she has not been there in a long time. She does so much for us so bringing her with us to enjoy was a no brainer. We went to the usual spots: Tram Tour, Minions Ride, Harry Potter. It was all new to Yaya so she enjoyed. We all enjoyed the new Waterworld show. I don't know if kids nowadays even know it was a movie with Kevin Kostner, but it was still good.
It was a good break from all the bad vibes I have been getting lately.

Which brings me to the title of my blog, A New Chapter. It is definitely a new chapter for me. When you turn a page of a book when you are thrust into a deep story line that has you hooked then all of the sudden something you never see happen happens...well that's pretty much the description of the new chapter. Like I said I can't go into detail (as I might make this into a teleseria or something) but this is surely something new to me. But like my brother, as he fights and works on just getting back to normal and stronger, he has inspired me to become stronger, and hopefully a little better than normal. We'll just have to wait and see.

Good night eveerybody

I'm back

Sorry for being incognito. Where have I been? Good question. To be honest, I just got busy. It was easier when I just wrote in my journal ala Doogie Houser or Mr. Belvedere...and I think I just aged myself. haha.
But it has been a while. Many things have happened since I last blogged. Too many to catch up so I will just start a new slate. I can do that right? Start a new slate in July? It doesn't necessarily have to be in January when the year starts.I actually want to start a clean slate in July because it is my birthday month so yes, I will do it now.
So I went to the doctor recently and I definitely not as young as I was. I take more "candy" now so I can stay healthy, but I think my lack of exercise is a big reason that I am in this state. I am losing weight, but I'm losing muscle too. And I am feeling weaker. When I was younger I felt so invincible. Why did I have to grow up?
I am now watching what I eat...as I see it go from the plate to my mouth. But I am at least eating in smaller portions. So many food trucks and small brick and mortar places like The Nest, Belly Bombz, These places I actually heard from friends so thank you to them for helping my waistline get big.
But I have done a lot of volunteer work for my alma mater ever since my son got there. So now, being his senior year, I'm pretty sure we are going to do a lot.
Well, this is it for now. I will try to stay away from politics, religion, and all the other supposed taboo stuff, but we'll see. Good night yo.

What a week

My best friend Tony came out for a much needed vacation this past week. It great to see him. He also brought his girlfriend Rhea with him. He was showing her his old stomping grounds and taking in the much needed California sun that he has missed.
I remembered when I was younger when my cousins would visit during the summer, there was always this void that settled in. All the late night trips, laughs, games, and fun things that we did all summer, just disappeared when they all left. I felt that same void again when Tones and Rhea left. We only hung out a total of 3 days, but it felt like a summer of memories. The trips, the laughs, and the food. Oh the food. It was nice because my wife got some girl time. She misses it so and I feel it. I think my wife really misses my buddies girl. We will see each other soon.
Tomorrow is the first day at my new position. I think I'm more scared then excited, but we just have to keep moving forward right?
I better get some sleep. Good night

Happy New Year....

I know it's late in the year, but never too late right? I have actually got a lot of things done already this year. Of course welcomed the new year in with my youngest son was great. Me and some friends participated in a Blazin challenge. If you don't know what that is, Buffalo Wild Wings has this challenge where if you can finish 12 of their hottest wings without ranch, drink, and wiping your mouth all under 6 minutes, you get a shirt and your photo posted on their wall of fame. It was a great experience. Out of our team of 3, I was the one that made the last cut. Five minutes 50 seconds to be exact. But man I was hurting the next day.
Then the next month it was my son's birthday. We postponed the first party because of rain. Then we were sad because it looked like it was going to rain on the other date we chose. But thank God it didn't. My parents and yaya worked hard to get the party ready and it was so worth it. We had lechon, taco lady, my mom's cooking. It was almost all gone when it was said and done.
It has already been such busy year. I can't believe it's already March.
This is about the time I start to reflect on my life. Where I am now. Where I am going. It's funny how perspective changes as you get older. How what was important to you then is minute now. How which friends who you thought were the greatest are now not so great and vice versa. How family is the strongest bond there is. And that a little boy's smile can make the most taxing day be the best day ever.

Sins of the Father...

Now before any of you start thinking thoughts, my father is a good man. I was thinking more in terms of my son. I love quotes and there was a quote that stated, "Live an honorable life so when you think back on how you lived, you can be proud." I would like to say that I had a good life. Sure, I didn't get to experience too much of the "wild" stuff, but if I never experienced it, how can I miss it?

I guess I never really knew what kind of adjustments I had to make personally in my life when Nathan came. I mean, I still see some of my friends that are married with kids, but they still club like no other. But that's them and another blog.

So now here I am, trying to be a good role model to my kids. It isn't easy being the good guy and I tell my kids that. That's why it's better to be the good guy. You get to see yourself in a proud light.

Just yesterday I noticed these two kids at the corner of my block. I had a feeling they were up to no good so I watched them. Sure enough, they hopped the fence to my kids school and what do they do? Start vandalizing the school. What did I do? I called the cops. Too many times I hear people complain about graffiti and how ugly it makes our neighborhood. Well, this time I did something about it. Luckily the cops caught the two kids who ended up tagging 4 buildings in the school. The cop said that it ill cost them over thousands of dollars to clean that up.

Where am I going with this? Were their dads like that growing up? Are they paying for the sins of their fathers?

I look at my children, especially my youngest one and wonder if I can prepare him for the world he is going to live in. I'm not saying I'm a saint, but I try to live an honorable life. And even though living a good moral, ethical life can be challenging sometimes, my hand will be there for my children to help guide them along this thing we call life.

Thoughts running through the night

Hello. Sorry it's been awhile. As I sit here in front of my computer, I can't help stop thinking about Friday night. No, not because that is the start of the weekend. It's because my old high school will play our arch rival. We, and I mean my old high school, will try to do what we have not been able to do in 20 years, beat them.
Yes, I know that is a long time, I just don't want it to be longer. I can't say I hate my arch rival school because my sister went there.
Me and my brother always teased her in not going to one of the sister schools. Then she gave me an answer that I will never forget. I asked her, "Why didn't you go to Rosary or Connelly?" Without blinking she responded, "Because they are not Servite." That just showed how smart my sister is.
So I took her answer and just smiled. I attended some games that she worked at, and she would come to our games and cheer us on. And of course she would cheer my brother when he was playing basketball at the time.
So in a nutshell, I hope we beat them, finally...so I can get some rest. hahaha

Made me think...

August. HOT day in the city. Just your typical Tuesday after work day. Got home from work, saying hi to the kids, having dinner, getting ready for the next day...typical.

So here we are in the living room. The kids and wifey on the sofa, me with the baby standing up, and were watching John & Kate plus 8. As we are getting into it, my cell phone rings. It's my dad. He wanted to know if we're watching TFC. I said no. He tells me to turn it there, so I did. It's the funeral of Cory Aquino. Martin Nievera and Regine Velasquez are singing The Prayer. I like Martin's version a lot and no, it's not because I am a fan. So we are watching the funeral as we listen to them sing. Then other singing stars like Ogie Alcasid and Jose Marie Chan are singing as well to pay tribute to the former president.

I hurriedly changed it back to John & Kate, but my wife wanted to watch the funeral. I was a little surprised because she doesn't really keep up with the goings-on in the Philippines. But in a sense I was glad she did...and this is why:

During the show, the daughter of the former president, Chris Aquino was being interviewed by the local news that was covering the event. She was very strong, carrying a good conversation, but, there was a time in the interview where realization set in. She said, "...now that the mass is over and we are processing to the burial site, it's more of a realization now and that we have to move on without her..." This hit me hard but I'm sure it hit my wife harder. You see, my wife lost her mom earlier this year. She lost her life to the same disease that Cory Aquino was battling, colon cancer. As Chris kept pouring out how she felt at her most vulnerable time, I sat next to my wife, for I knew what Chris was saying, is what my wife was feeling. There were a lot of similarities with my wife's mom and Pres. Aquino. I'm not saying that my mom-in-law was qualified to run a country, but she made sure her kids were taken cared of, when she was alive and now when she is at rest.

This made me think about my grandma, who's death anniversary of 1 year is coming up. It also made me realize how special these women were. I know we always say, "Treasure these moments fo you will not get them back..." So true.

Like I said life is experienced in stages. Enjoy each stage.

Weekend warrior

Hello everyone. This past weekend really tested my endurance somewhat. Friday was my cousin's wedding. We all welcomed "Lobo" into the family and he is a welcome addition. The mass was nice even though we showed up super late. The reception was really nice. There was an open bar which equals trouble in more ways than one, and a pianist (did I spell that right)?

We could only stay for a few minutes at the reception because me and my wife had to go to the airport. We had a flight that night to San Jose to visit her dad who had a stroke. It was a different mind set coming from a happy celebration to a somber mood. We dealt with a similar mood shift earlier this year, but we didn't know we would experience it again, and soon.

We got to San Jose late and boy let me tell you, whoever invented GPS, thank you. TomTom was great at getting us to where we needed to go. We were going to see her dad later that night, so we did the tourist thing and went to Fisherman's Wharf.

Now, we used to live up there and went to Pier 39 often, but for some reason it looked MUCH different. We did the whole tourist thing and got on the big red bus and man, has it changed. A lot of childhood memories came flooding back. I tried visiting the old neighborhood, but that will have to wait.

Her dad was doing fine. We found out that it wasn't a stroke. It was Bell's Palsy. It wasn't as major so we were relived. After that, we finished by having dinner at this place called Sino in Santa Row in an Jose. My wife's co-worker suggested this place. It's an Asian fusion restaurant. The food there was very good and the people, when they found out who suggested the place to us, were very accommodating. It also had a lounge area which was very nice.

The net day we visited one more relative who my wife had not seen in years. Her cousin just had a baby and is the Asian Michellin baby. Very cute. We made plans to see each other again.

As we flew back home and got the kids, we went to have dinner at my parents house and to our surprise our relatives were over. Just having our family over is like a big party already. Cousins, aunts and uncles hanging out, drinking, gambling, bar-b-qing. It was great.

What a weekend.

4th of July

Once again my yearly trek to Vegas during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has come. As you can tell from the heading of my blog, I am a huge poker fan. But please, don't confuse with me liking the game from being GOOD at the game. We will talk about my skills or lack there off at a different time.

From all the times that my little poker group has gone, we never took my brother. My brother is a much better player than I am, so I wanted to take him there to check it out. He did admit he was a little star struck in the beginning, but that all went away when we entered the poker playing area.

First we visited the Poker Palooza. It was more a convention than anything where vendors showed off what they had to offer to us poker players. One of these days I will buy that card shuffler!!!

Anyway, after that we went to the poker rooms or halls and just watched these poker players who invested $10,000 to play. I say good luck to them. Do I want to be there, of course. I thought I was ready too because I got to play in a cash game the night before with some professional players at the Luxor.

Well, needless to say my brother got to thinking that he's always wanted to play but he never thought he was ready. After this weekend, I think he's ready.

He wrote a very inspirational letter to all of us poker buddies of his, and I think, I THINK, we will be there very soon. Till next time.

Abra Kadabra

Today we treated my oldest son to his birthday lunch. We took him to the Magic Castle. Now, for those of you that don't know, it is literally a castle nestled in Hollywood where magic truly is the breathe that keeps this place alive. It took a little longer to get there because we decided to take the scenic route and saw the many flowers that were being placed on Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was amazing how many people were there visiting the star considering it reached the high nineties today. It was HOT! Anyway, my son took an interest in magic, asking me to record countless shows. He likes Chris Angel. I'm old school so of course David Copperfield gets my vote. But I still haven't seen Lance Burton and I heard he was good. So he thought that it was this place that had plaques and showed awards of magicians. He was happy to find out that there was going to be actual shows. We checked in with the hostess and she pointed us on where to go. Well, she pointed to a book case. She told the kids in order to pass, they had to say, "Open Sesame." They were reluctant at first, but when they got close to the bookcase and it didn't budge, they wondered. So they said out loud, "Open Sesame." Next thing you know, the bookcase opens. Nice. We made it to the 2nd floor of the castle and got our brunch buffet. It was very good. Then we started watching all the shows that was available to us. I would normally show you something from there today, but this castle would not allow photo taking. The Magic Castle is a members only club and have very strict rules that had to be followed. Not everyone can get into the Magic Castle so we were very lucky to have gotten in. If you can get in, take advantage of what this place has to offer, for who knows, we probably just watched the next David Copperfield today. Till next time.

Father's Day

As you guys know, I became a father earlier this year. I did not get to blog it because, well, I was getting to know my son. Even since Februaury, my life has changed dramatically. Not in a bad way by any means. I figured in life we go through stages.

Now, I know this is something not new. For me, I tend to hold on to the memories of the past because there were good times back then. You meet new friends, you party hard with them, get in trouble with them. hahaha. But now, the nights of toasting with beer and wive, are replaced with warming bottles and making formula. Different, yes. Dissapointed, HECK NO. Like I said our life goes through changes. Now the next stage of my life is kicking in and I love it.

Yesterday was Father's Day. For me, it was officially my Father's Day. I don't know if I'm bad posting this, but I didn't really know how different my feelings would be.

May 6, 2006, I promissed my heart to my wife and her 2 children, who of course I considered mine even before we got married. When Father's day rolled around then, I felt touched that they would handcraft gifts for me and say, "Happy Father's Day daddy," even though we all knew I wasn't the biological father. Then my son was born this year, and my older kids loved him so much. There was no jealousy whatsoever. This year, my older kids again gave me handcrafted gifts, but this time I appreciated the gifts, and them so much more. Something inside me really gave my a shove on how special it really was to be a father. I thank my parents for showing me what unconditional love really means and I can now pass it down and practice it with my family.

To all the father's out there...cherish your children and cherish your wife. They are unbelievable gifts.

Till next time.

So Sorry

Hello everybody. I'm sorry I've been away. It has been an emotional roller coaster since the last time I was here. It has been a cloudy and sunny experience. My mother-in-law passed away and then 5 days later, my son was born. I know things happen for a reason so I'm not even going to question God. In a way, I think God gave us our son early so that the pain would be more bearable.

Having a new baby is in many ways life changing. You can try to prepare as much as you can, but unless you have your baby, it's a whole new ballgame. I get teased by my friends about not getting enough sleep, mountains of diapers, and many spit-up towels by my bed. Well, let's just say they are not myths. I thought I could handle the no sleep part. I mean c'mon, Vegas on a weekend. But I quickly found out a weekend is much different than every night.

Although we are going through this "change" in lifestyle, now I understand what I mean by "labor of love". I am thankful that I have my son. I have my step kids that I consider my own and love very much, but with my newborn, I can appreciate all the sacrifice involved and it ways have brought me closer to them.

Last night I was able to take out my wife to reconnect. It's been a while since we had a date and it was something that we were both very much looking forward too.

We decided to go this restaurant called Roy's in the Anaheim Garden Walk. I heard about this place and about the fine gourmet dining. So off we went. Now you know being the eater that I am, I am picky about where to eat. My wife, through 6 degrees of separation, knew one of the chef at Roy's so it was more incentive for us to go. Now this place was very nice and the service was excellent. You can really feel the "aloha" spirit. We ordered and we just really reconnected. We were just talking about things that happened, life, friends, so many subjects. Then we got to meet the chef friend. Very nice guy and down to earth. I don't want to spoil the experience that anyone who wants to visit this restaurant, but the food is AMAZING. Our treat was the dessert. We ordered a chocolate lava flow type dessert. But when we got it, we got 4 desserts thanks to our chef. Really good stuff.

Enjoy the pics and till next time.

Good Morning...

For those of you who really know me, I would try my hardest to watch any or all of Martin Nievera's concerts or shows. So far the longest I have gone time wise was 4 hours away. Now that might not sound like a long distance to travel, but trust me, for me, it's like going half way around the world. He will be performing at Morongo Casino tonight with Brian McKnight, another great singer. Hopefully, next time, my family can watch him again sometime soon.

So today we will be going to Kanoa's first scrimmage. I thought we were supposed to have the uniforms passed out yesterday, but I guess we will be getting the uniforms today. He wants purple & gold. Me personally I wanted black, but what can you do?

So as I start this beautiful Sunday morning, I just think to myself, "How lucky am I?"

Just got back from a Christmas Party

Merry Christmas everyone. We just got back from my friend's Christmas party. As always it was the greatest. My friends are the best in the world. One of them got a promotion and is leaving for Chicago on December 29. Chicago...dang. I heard it gets cold over there. That is the place he grew up so I'm sure he'll be ok. Besides, now we have an excuse to go visit him.

A funny thing this thing called growing up. We're expecting a baby in February and even though in my mind I'm thinking it will be ok, I know that things will have to change. Sometimes change is good. Sometimes bad. It just really depends on how you look at it.

It looks so easy on "Friends". Sometimes I envy them. When I crisis comes up, either Chandler tells a funny joke, Phoebe starts cleansing your aura, or Joey, well, is just Joey. But I guess life isn't a sitcom so I shouldn't treat it like one.

Whatever happens, I love my friends. I love my buddy who is leaving us and I wish him the best. And I'm lucky to have the friends that I have right now.

Ok...me going to bed. There's my son's basketball scrimmage tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everyone

What do you do?

What do you do, if the person who hurts you the most, is also your best friend?

Geminis BIrthday Part I

I started the day meeting with some buddies to go play basketball. My buddy was teasing me about making breakfast before we go play. So I made rice, eggs, and corned beef. Not bad if I do say so myself. So I called him up and said to swing by. He didn't think I was going to cook. HA! Serves him right. So he swung by and we had our pre-grub game meal. Afterwards, we jetted to the park. It was at this community court. Really nice. We got everyone there and we started our games. It felt really nice playing again. It was obvious that most of us (including the guy typing this) was out of shape. But other than that it was really good. I liked it because one of my friends joined us that doesn't really come out. He got comfortable enough that the guys invited him to the bar later that night to join in the bar party. And he actually said yes. So we were looking forward to this. Side note: while we were playing, some hot chick came out and started sunbathing. I wasn't distracted at all.

WOOOOOO in Vegas

Ok. I know it was going to be a crazy weekend when my cousin, who DOESN'T drink, wanted to take shots at 3 in the morning. It was great. We are all faded and just meeting the rest of the people in his party.

So I went to Tuscany to enter the 4 am tourney. To my surprise, they didn't have one. The poker room was closed. I was really very disapointed so I went to Luxor. So let's just say I'm not liking poker right now. So after a 2 hour nap, we got some breakfast and we were getting ready for our basketball games. We ended up playing against other people. They were really nice. So after that we played more and now we are getting ready for....something. Going to hooters to watch the Laker game...then who knows what else guys do.

Talk to you later

Judgement is upon us

So I'm watching Ace of Cakes. Duff is good. I like how he runs his business. Very laid back and his friends are his co-workers. They have so much fun, screw around a lot, but they get their job done. It's awesome.

So my bro visits me and the bachelor party planning is almost done. What I didn't know is that some of the guys aren't arriving until night time on Friday. I thought they were going to be there Friday day. Some of the guys aren't even e-mailing back so I don't know what is going on. Well, we have a room, we have a plan, so that is what I can do. I hope everything works out.

Now, my bro is going to go to Hooters to watch the game tomorrow. We will follow after we drop off the kids to their grandparents. What was supposed to be our dinner night turned out to a sports night. I know my wife sacrifices a lot for me. I hope this is what she wants.

Well, I'm getting sleepy. Good night everyone.

Typical Tuesday before the Laker Game

So me and my brother are trying to finalize the hotel accommodations. I have pretty much got the lock on the gym and the strip club. I hope I'm not getting gypped on the strip club. I would be pissed off about that.

It was funny. Earlier today when I was picking up the kids from the Boys & Girls club, I was thinking of eating at the local all you can eat sushi bar near Knott's Berry Farm. I thought nothing of it. We got home, the kids took care of the dog droppings and I changed into house stuff. When my wife got home, she asked if I saw her text message. I said no. She said she wanted to go to the sushi place. WOW. It's been happening lately where me and my wife think of things at the same time. It's freaking me out, but I guess when you find your soul mate, you know. Needless to say we got the family in the car and ate like pigs. I will just go to the gym tomorrow.

As I'm doing laundry, I'm monitoring the e-mail for our contact in Vegas to let me know how it's going. I don't know which is more fun, setting up a bachelor party or being in it....BEING IN IT!!!! Well, I just finished my third load of laundry. No end in sight. Oh well. Comes with the territory. I need to upload my photos.

Anyway I'm starting 2 side businesses. I like them both so hopefully it won't seem like work. Please watch out for it. One is a travel site and one is a digital company. You know, DVDs of photos and movies. I want to see hoe much of a monster it's going to be. I know it might be tough, but hopefully the reward will be as great as the sacrifice. Besides, I saw my parents struggle to get me the best they could get, why can't I do the same? It is tough though, but we'll make it through.

Lakers better win tomorrow. I sent out an e-mail letting the people know that there will be Lakers and poker. Hopefully they come. If not, I can continue my laundry. Gotta love it.

Happy Mother's Day

So our day started out by getting ready to go meet with my in-laws. We all got ready and we traveled to the Knott's Berry Farm hotel. I dropped of my wife and kids as I looked for a parking spot. I felt kind of under dressed even though I thought I was in OK clothes. So I made my way to the lobby and I was thinking of going to the restaurant. There was a sign that was redirecting people who had reserved for the Mother's Day Brunch to go to the grotto. There I find my wife waiting for me. She guides me through the line and I see the rest of the family already there. We check in for the brunch and wait a little bit. While we were waiting, there was a gazebo that was decorated for a picture spot. We took several shots: All of us, our family, and the just the girls (Not including my daughter). These were taken by the hotel service people. We took our own personal shots around the waiting area. We really didn't wait long. When they called our party, to my surprise they didn't lead us to the restaurant but to the upstairs where all the ballrooms were. After my mom-in-law paid for our brunch (thank you very much), we were guided into the ballroom for our table. Wow! They had 3 different stations that provided different things. And that's not including the dessert table. They had their own section. What I didn't expect was that even though there was 6 of us, it was a table for 10 so anyone could join us. There was a couple who joined us. They were 2 elderly guys that seemed at first they were just going to be just to themselves, but they ended up being very friendly and talkative. We had some laughs, good conversation, and great food. Needless to say I was full. We took some more pictures and then went home to rest a bit.
Now we are on our way to my aunt's house in Orange. We get there and there is more food and other family members that have started to eat. I greeted my mom and I told her that I have a gift for her but sh needs to let me know when she is free. She doesn't know yet but I got her a manicure/pedicure session at Burke Williams. I can kind of afford it now so I want to spoil her a bit when I can. We were watching the Laker game at the same time too, but man, what a way to lose. In overtime. But it was tough. I hope they don't fold like they did last year. But we were there to have dessert, but of course we needed to eat a little bit. The other cousins are growing up so fast now. They were all playing the Wii. We were getting into it as well, but we had to go. So we went to the mall, got some home necessities, then treated my wifey and the family to some boba, then we went home. Well, almost went home. My son took down our house keys at my parent's house and left it there. Ay yay yay. Thank God we live close to my parents. So we went back to my parents, then finally made it home.
So now here I am, relaxing and just enjoying the day that just happened. God is good. Life is good.