It is a scary time for me with the newly proposed cuts. I will need to engage in some creative budgeting in preparation for the worst.

I was at the Capitol today, there as a part of the Asian Pacific Islander Policy Summit, but we certainly were not the only ones there. The Assembly was hearing testimony regarding major cuts to health programs and services. Parents and children, able-bodied individuals and disabled individuals, advocates, and patients, all came and stood as one against the cuts. The United Healthcare Workers unions was present, also protesting the cuts.

I submitted written testimonial, addressing how the cuts would affect my five-person household, which has members that receive aid in the form of Medi-Cal, In Home Supportive Services, and Supplemental Security Income--all up for cuts. My emotions were overwhelming as I wrote my testimony, and as tears began to well up in my eyes, another individual came up and put their hand on my shoulder. The programs help our most needy individuals, and cutting them harms us all. We can not continue to cut programs that serve our most underserved populations.

Everyone at the Capitol understood that. The inspiration around and within the Capitol was contagious and inspirational.

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On May 25, 1925, the Supreme Court ruled in Toyota v. United States that Filipinos could not become U.S. citizens. The only exceptions were thsoe who served in the U.S. Navy for three years. This was during the time that the Philippines was a colony of the U.S. The case further reinforced that Filipinos were considered nationals of the U.S.

Dr. Dorothy Laigo Cordova, Executive Director of the Filipinos American National Historical Society (FANHS), has written a book, published by Arcadia Publishing, entitled Filipinos in Puget Sound and capturing this history in photographs. It joins about six other titles published by Arcadia Publishing about Filipino Americans, namely:

1. Filipinos in Chicago
2. Filipinos in Hollywood
3. Filipinos in Los Angeles
4. Filipinos in Stockton
5. Filipinos in the East Bay
6. Filipinos in Vallejo

Shopping for a used vehicle from a dealership is a complicated endeavor. Not only are there many different makes, models, features, classes, and specifications, people's credit scores, available cash, and current state of the economy get involved as well.

Some basic things that I realized today as I went from dealership to dealership was to be specific about desired features. I decided that I needed a reliable car with power locks, a power passenger mirror, air conditioning, and a cup holder. Everything else would be icing.

I found out that my bank would not issue an auto loan on a vehicle any more than five years old. Older than that, I would have to get a personal loan, which would have different interest rates.

Also, in determining my total payment, I confirmed that financed vehicles must have full coverage car insurance. This is a far cry from the liability insurance with a $1,000 deductible on my 1991 Nissan Pathfinder.

From all the talking that I did, I was able to surmise a couple guidelines: (1) An ideal down payment is one-third of the cost of the vehicle, (2) Monthly payments are about $250 for every $10,000 financed over five years. Whenever I mentioned that my goals were less than that, many sales representatives indicated how hard it would be.

I have become a victim of two adages: (1) When it rains it pours; and (2) Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way.

It all started when I lost the windshield mount to my Magellan 4250 GPS. I last saw it on May 10, 2009. Shortly after, I lost my Jawbone 2 Bluetooth device and my driver's license. As a form of identification, I began to carry my passport around, until my new license would arrive in the mail. This morning, I locked my passport in my glove box--along with my JVC stereo face plate, my iPod Mini, my iPhone charter, and my Magellan 4250 GPS--forgetting to take it out this morning and put it in my backpack.

Well, I parked my car--a burgundy 1991 Nissan Pathfinder XE-V6, license plate 3DJY495--this morning--around 7:15 a.m.--at the light rail station, a place I park every weekday. This afternoon--at 5:22 p.m.--I arrived back at the station to find that my car was missing. My car has been stolen, along with my passport, my lola's disabled placard, my Magellan 4250 GPS, my iPod Mini, and my iPhone charger.

As far as the worst possible time, I am supposed to go to a commencement tomorrow and celebrate the undergraduate degree of one friend and the graduate degrees of a coworker and a fraternity brother. Afterwards, I was going to volunteer and work on preparing materials for the Asian Pacific Islander Policy Summit. As it stands, I have to inconvenience one of the graduates and their family to attend the commencement and can not make it to the working meeting.

I think about all the different scenarios that could have prevented this occurence, and how much I played a part in it. Regardless of my negligence in leaving my items in my car, or if I left a door unlocked, there is no way that this justifies having my items stolen from me.

Most disconcerting, however, is the fact that the perpetrator or perpetrators that disrespected my property know my address, as it was on my passport and on the registration paperwork, and I can not help but think that these same perpetrators may get the idea that they can victimize me again.

Also bothersome is the idea that this possibly could have been avoided if people were not so economically desperate, or there were more funds to pay more patrol officers to protect private property left in public parking lots. To add insult to injury, when I reported my car stolen to the Sacramento Police Department, I learned that if found, the authorities would tow my car to a yard, and I would be charged for the service of towing and storing my vehicle.

I am a believer in karma, and part of me thinks of what I have done to solicit such a series of unfortunate events. Another part of me applies this karmic belief to reassure myself of the negative karma that will befall the perpetrator and any of their accomplices.

Fortunately, as far as I know, nobody was physically hurt, and the material items can be replaced, albeit inconvenient and expensive. My optimistic side also realizes that this gives me a very strong reason to purchase a vehicle and replace my eighteen year old sport utility vehicle.

I look at food differently ever since taking the Food in American Culture class, especially Filipino food and Filipino American food. While lumpia and pancit are the most recognized Filipino foods, they, along with other foods, are more than just delectable delights, with rich histories and deep meanings.

As a former colony, the Philippines endured 300 years under Spain and spent another 50 years under American rule. This blend of tastes and flavors has created a unique Philippine cuisine filled with pan de sal bread, chorizo sausages, and other breakfast foods.

The Philippine diaspora has also made significant contributions to the U.S. agriculture and economy. In the early 1900s, the manong generation tilled the asparagus fields of California and worked seasonally in the salmon fisheries of Alaska. Both asparagus and salmon were synonymous with Filipinos at the time, and the working seasons allowed many Filipinos to earn money to obtain a postsecondary education.

Cooking Filipino food in the U.S. is like cooking from memories of the homeland. Similar to Japanese American language, Filipino American cooking maintained its authenticity because the older generations in the U.S. preserved the traditional recipes. In contrast, the contemporary population in the Philippines has transformed the local cuisine into something different over the last half-century.

Despite the popularity of Filipino food, fine Filipino dining has not broken into the mainstream. When most Filipinos think of Filipino food, they think of it as homestyle or how their nanay or lola has prepared it. Also, most Filipino parents think of the restaurant business as being “blue collar” and do not encourage it as a career for their children.

Filipino food is more than just something to eat.

Along with the announcement of the failure of the budget propositions, I continue to hear a litany of services that are going to be cut, the pronouncements that public safety is going to be compromised, and the number of layoffs that are going to occur.

I truly believe that voters shot themselves in the foot today, just as they have done on numerous occassions, particularly during the 1970s. California public schools, which in the 1960s had been ranked among the best nationally in student achievement, have fallen to 48th in many surveys of student achievement. California's spending per pupil was the same as the national average until about 1985, when it began dropping.

The only way that we as a people can get out of this situation is for all of us to work on it in a manner fitting of the nation's name.