Us, December 25, 2021: Leo, Roy, Ondine, John, Shadow
Us, December 25, 2021: Leo, Roy, Ondine, John, Shadow
HAPPY OLD YEAR'S NIGHT! It's time for the annual Kuraoka family Year-in-Review, and we've had quite the year! Two words. Empty! Nest!
Leo completed his Diploma in Music Production and Sound Design at Point Blank Music School in L.A. He took an additional course afterwards, gaining an additional Certificate in Audio Engineering. He moved around quite a bit in 2022, from a pod at UPstART on Hobart Street near downtown L.A. to home to couch-surfing at his friend Max's to Artist Housing on South Flower Street in downtown L.A. (an adventure complete with a ranting former tenant living in the gated vestibule) to a shared living space pod on Curson Avenue, just down the street from the old Hobart Street digs, that so far has been the best of the co-living places. Weeks ago he moved out of that co-living place into an apartment he's sharing on North Lucerne, in the same area. Anyways, although he's home for the holidays, he's living in L.A. for the foreseeable future, because that's where the work is. The new place is in the midst of several recording studios.
Roy graduated from University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in May with a BS in Business Marketing, summa cum laude! He landed at home briefly, got a job as marketing coordinator for Resilient Roofing, then moved out to rent a room at a friend's house in Santee. Now he's gradually moving his stuff back into his room preparing to move in a room at Barbara's house next door. More on that later.
Ondine has been at Kaiser for six years! She has a new supervisor since her former boss retired this year. She once again won the Orange Frog award! She's been working on query letters for her first novel, as well as making some further revisions to it based on some feedback from agents and a query letter reviewer. And, she's at work on a second novel. She's also submitted some short stories. Earlier in the year, she was invited to read an excerpt from her short story for The Decameron Project at the central library downtown!
John graduated from San Diego City College with a Certificate in Archaeology (with highest honors) to go with his recent AA in Anthropology ('21). He's on call at four different cultural resource management/environmental companies as a field archaeologist: NWB Environmental Services, ASM Affiliates, Helix Environmental Planning Inc., and PanGIS. Between them, he's been basically working full-time hours since finishing school in May. And, from mid-July through November, he worked almost every workday on excavation projects, gaining hundreds of tons of digging experience. And, he just accepted another on-call archaeologist position at Michael Baker International, where he's starting this week. Wow, he's a for-real archaeologist!
Our travels included a trip to Colorado Springs for Roy's graduation! We took Barbara along, and that was an eye-opening experience; her dementia had progressed much farther than we'd thought. But, we had a good time together nonetheless, including a few really good meals. And, Danielle flew out to join Roy in celebrating his accomplishment! After spending a few days in Colorado Springs, John flew home to return to school and work, and Ondine and Barbara flew to Oregon, where they connected with Barbara's sisters there.
We also took several trips to L.A. following and helping Leo in his various peregrinations.
Frances continues to live at Arcadia Living, a senior living community in Arcadia. Unfortunately, the facility went into lockdown through the holidays because of COVID. Frances tested positive again, but again had no symptoms. She was just released from in-room quarantine.
Barbara has had caregiving services off and on through most of the year. Usually they wouldn't last more than a couple weeks before she'd fire them. But, she also started saying - between angry denials - that she thought it might be time for her to move into assisted living. Well, after months of work and visiting many communities, Ondine found a ground-floor unit at Sungarden Terrace. It has its own patio, and the facility will accept Sparky, Barbara's dog. These patio units are super desirable, and Barbara herself suggested we move fast to secure it for her. So, that move might actually happen in January!
It'll be nice for Barbara to not have people in her space for hours at a time, she can just go down the hall to socialize and then retreat to her room for peace and quiet. And, meals are all provided, as well as activities should she want to join.
In that case, Roy living temporarily at her house would be a way to keep the place occupied and help get it ready to rent out, which would help Barbara's cash flow. Assisted living places in San Diego are about two to three times more expensive than in L.A.
New acquisitions includes Ondine's new HP Victus laptop and Samsung S22 phone, John's new HP Victus laptop, and a mini trampoline. We also got a couple bluetooth speakers, a Solo Stove fire pit for the back yard, a lamp for the living room, a really nice hand-me-down loveseat and ottoman, sofa covers, and new glasses. John bought a bunch of stuff for work, including shovels, a new dig bag, and various tools.
Discards include several runs to the thrift store with bags of household goods, electronics, a stepper, and clothes. And, we also cleared out a big rolltop desk, actually paying to have it removed. At the same time, we had the neighbor's side area by our driveway cleared of stuff, including an old folding bed that had been there for over a year. And, we had the yard pruned, including the pomegranate, cherimoya, and loquat trees.
In intergalactic news, pioneering actress Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, died. Also, the James Webb Space Telescope fired up, producing discoveries including the most-distant galaxy ever photographed and several likely exoplanet candidates.
In international news, Queen Elizabeth II of England died, leading to the ascension of her son Charles, who is now Charles III. Other notable political deaths included former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated, former pope Benedict XVI, who overlooked accusations of sexual abuse by clergy members, and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who ushered in a short-lived period of optimistic "glastnost." This year, under a very different sort of leader, Russia invaded Ukraine in a land grab focused on energy-producing facilities, oil-producing regions, and industrial centers. In the middle east, as in the west, religious fundamentalists are calling the shots, leading to widespread restrictions on women, gays, and ethnic and religious minorities. And various viruses continue to run amok, including the Omicron variant of COVID-19, a more contagious but less deadly form, and monkeypox, now called mpox.
On the plus side, the Great Barrier Reef may be healing, several endangered species are repopulating, and more countries and corporations are taking climate change seriously, introducing legislation and policies designed to curb human-caused environmental damage. And, mRNA vaccines may be helpful against cancer.
Here in the U.S., the Supreme Court has now overturned Roe v Wade and upheld the rights of gun manufacturers, gun owners, and Christian nationalists. Racial equity continues to be knocked back by systematic and systemic racism. Inflation is a concern for many even as various states raise their minimum wages (in California, the minimum wage is set to rise to $15.50 on January 1, and in San Diego it'll rise to $16.30, both over twice the federal minimum wage.)
Locally, we will soon be able to recycle kitchen scraps, an effort to keep organics out of the landfills. And, a ballot measure passed that will have us paying for trash pickup in a couple years, after a study. On the opposite end to that, a San Diego restaurant, Addison's, became the first restaurant in Southern California to earn three Michelin stars. Passenger train service along the coastline route has been stopped due to erosion and ground stability problems. And, toward the end of the year, home prices fell for the first time in ages.
We got new neighbors across the street, at the Hanna's old house! And, the Golub house next door is now bustling with life. There are neighborhood kids again!
Neighborhood gas prices hit a record high over the summer of $6.59 per gallon, but have settled down to about $5.49 per gallon, about a dollar up from where they started at the beginning of the year.
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