My Grandma's 90th Birthday

January 22, 2010 - My Grandmother, Rose Torrez, turned 90 years old. Everyone showed up at her house on Vernon Drive for a surprise party after the enthronement of the house. Our Catholic Priest came to bless our house after being remodeled after a fire that happened last year. Everyone was luckily out of the house, everyone was safe, but the house was damaged. Our Uncles of the family went ahead and remodeled the house and once again, the house is back in order and our priest came to bless it. What my Grandma didn't know was that we all got together not only for the enthronement and blessing of the house, but to celebrate the wonderful 90 years in her life!

The picture above shows my Grandmother's children -- my Mother, my aunts, and uncles. (Except for one that was not feeling so well.) Sitting next to my Grandma a family friend, Jim Ramsey. Top from left, Uncle William, my Mom, Annabelle; Jim Ramsey; My Grandma, Uncle Roberto, Aunt Alice, Aunt Sandra. Below on the bottom: Uncle Michael, Aunt Rose, Uncle Joe holding my Grandma's dog. We all gathered for many photo opportunities and it was a well planned day with great family, food, and a great time with all of us together in this wonderful house. We, did indeed, feel so blessed to have all the family together. My Grandma was very happy to see all of us and some old friends and lots of cousins of ours came down. It was nice to see all this. This is a picture of my cousins, and thus this is not all of my Grandma's grandkids, but here is myself and my other cousins in this photo.

There was my sister Christina, holding her son, my nephew, Jake M. Franks, and my Mom and Dad's grandson. There I am sitting next to my Grandma. There sitting next to our Grandma was my cousin Robert Daniel (R.D.) Rivera and the oldest Granddaughter Regina Torrez, my Uncle Roberto's daughter. On the floor is Michaele Kanczel - my Aunt Rose's daughter, and there is my cousin Ruben holding Rylie who is Ruben's niece and Sandra Rivera's granddaughter, and RD's daughter.

We all had a great time and it was filled with love, laughter, and memories. This opportunity to celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday will be a memory for the ages.

Happy Birthday Grandma! Love you so much!

On this day I gave my Grandma a poem in a frame as a gift, here is the poem for you all to enjoy:

Grandma, with a heart of gold that glitters in the golden sunlight of the desert;



A heart that is as immaculate and wonderful as anyone’s I have known in my life.



Each tiny rock that the golden sand across the Barstow desert shows



All things good;



And that makes things content and just right.







Grandma, with this beating heart has long endured the gifts of life and keeps on smiling



For her Family is all here today to celebrate a great milestone, and with this we are willing



To celebrate a special gift in our lives: You, Grandma, with your heart of gold –



The person you were yesterday, the person you are tomorrow, and the person you are today;



May it be a symbol of our family, may it be our sense of love always.







Your beauty so strong, your great dedication of all things young and old



Has proven that you are indeed a special woman, and it is told



By how many people surround you, in this beautiful house



The home that has long endured the growing pains of family, friends and love ones;



The Passing of a great one



And the new generation that will continue to live on in our lives, the family keeps growing.



May we all celebrate Your Life, Your Home, and with all this we keep on knowing



It’s the strength of your character that is our foundation of who we all are.



It’s all because of my Grandma and her Golden Heart.

The OC Fair - 2010

The Fair has returned to Orange County and the best thing about the Fair for us is that it's right around the corner! The Fair returned to Costa Mesa at the OC Fairgrounds and has set up dazzling displays of livestock, arts, carnival rides and of course so much food! As soon as I walked in the first thing I saw was the signs pointing out the various places to eat. The scents of deep fried and wonderful aromas of food everywhere has got my stomach growling at wanting to taste everything close by.

This was a great fair and I have been to the San Bernardino County Fair at Victorville and saw a few concerts, got on a few rides, and of course did some sight seeing. But nothing beats the OC Fair and it was such a spectacular time seeing Weird Al's Brain in 3-D (which the owl 'Norm' represents a familar guy named Dr. Norm Weinberger from UCI Lab) and it was well done very educational mind boggling experience (pardon the pun). Of course, I had to eat, and being so hungry and indecisive at the many places to get a party going in your taste buds -- I couldn't decide! Finally I settled on a 1/2 pound cheeseburger that was rather tasty! I could of gone for the 1 pounder! Thinking I needed to save room for a funnel cake (which I did at the end of the visit). Before eating my very first fried twinkie --- YUMMY! -- I enjoyed devouring some brisket and squirting down some nice cold lemonade in our souvenir cup.

The best part of the visit I believe was to see the ice sculptures which were very artistically done. A Mona Lisa replica in ice was amazing, but even more amazing was the sight of "the Thinker" in ice -- a full size replica in all it's icy form. It was expectantly not as cold as I thought it was going to be. Besides, it was hot outside and the welcome icy cold temps were a warm welcome. Continuing on to see some concerts around us, the music blasting loudly throughout the day was not too bad. Some bands were awesome, some were OK. Nevertheless it was great to walk around and see the animals at the livestock area. Little piglets were just born the other day and we saw them asleep next to their Mommy Pig. It was cute to see. There was also alot of sheep, lambs, and mainly alot of goats. The goats were very affectionate as we petted them. There were all kinds of nice animals to look at. Rabbits, mice, chicks, and of course this huge Oxen was standing so tall over us that it was an amazing sight to see an animal that huge.

As we continue to walk around towards the carnival, taking in all the sights of the rides and attractions and the barkers beckoning the people to shoot baskets win a stuffed toy or something of that nature. Alot of rides were huge and scary looking. It was such a beautiful day being outside walking around the carnival.

To me the best part was eating. Oh so much to eat, but so much to decide on! Funnel cake at the end of the day really topped it off. Ate alot of Funnel cake and stopped at the Disney section to do some karaokee for a free ice cream bar. Took that ice cream bar and walked off one of the best and most fun time I ever had at a fair. There was so much to see and do. Not to mention so much to eat -- deep fried and yummy and delicious. I don't think I have ever ate so much in my life and tremendously enjoyed every moment there. If you have not gone to the OC Fair, go! It'll be the best times ever!

Tornadoes in Southern California!

Dear Readers,

Constant readers of my blogs I hope you are all having a happy new year. I am beginning to enjoy the expressions of blogging. The expressive medium has allowed me to write just about anything I have pondering thoughts on. Usually it's about my events in my life, and how much I am enjoying life and all those other minimalists things that I touch bases on. I enjoy my job working as a Castmember at Disneyland. This indeed is the best job I have ever had and continue to have. I always think that I would never have thought I would end up working at the “happiest place on earth.” When I was little, my joys of childhood was going to Disneyland with my family. We would drive a long ways to the Park from Barstow, California and stay the whole day through the night at the park. Then we would journey back home, usually asleep in the back seat of the car. Now that I am older, and enjoy the park close by where I live now, and continue to work at Disneyland I feel such joys at working at making others happy and allowing others to have the same joys as I have as a child.

Now to the news: The Chronicles of Gilberto Garcia has brought about such eventful weather-wise events that has been happening lately. You know in Southern California, people always knew that we are the sunny side, good weather area to live in. Always sunny and warm, a perfect place to escape to. Well, we are not so sunny at all now. We just had a tornado hit us yesterday off the beaches of Huntington Beach and it hit Costa Mesa, and quickly move into Irvine. A tornado in Southern California! Who would of thought!? It was crazy yesterday while the rains and winds crashed against our home and rattled the windows a bit. Candice was at UCI, and it shook the buildings, and rattled the windows as well. The results were enormously surprising! Tree branches all over the streets. Signs and road markers were down as well. One person facebooked a message and noticed a branch on a white SUV in the parking lot at UCI. It was crazy weather, and it still continues right now. The rain has been pouring all day today and the news reports says that it will continue for awhile throughout the night. There are storm cells moving over OC and into the Inland Empire as well. Bracing for more wet weather.. but one thing I am happy about: I am off today, tomorrow and the next day! So I can stay indoors all dry, and hope that the tornadoes don't come back.

What was crazy was when the news flashed their warnings on the TV screens, I saw the words: tornado warning in OC areas, I was just shocked: “What!?” and it was just crazy to hear that there will be tornadoes in our area. It's California! You know what I mean? Anyway, just happy that everyone is safe, and there wasn't any serious damage to anything. Just for those who think that tornadoes are crazy and dangerous: as long as you are not a storm chaser like in the movie : “Twister” do not go out there outside when it hits. It's crazy! I was even crazy myself, trying to take some pictures of the storm. Nevertheless, it was something sort of adventurous, and I thought blogging about it would be an event that is recorded on these cyber pages of my blogs. After all, it is a sort of chronological event that I had to record. I will show you pictures on this blog and you can figure out for yourself how much rain we got and how freaky the whole thing was. I just couldn't believe it happened in the OC, in the sunny state of California!

We still had to go to work. I went to work at Disneyland expecting the rain to continue over there. After the tornado hit, I would expect it to be slow and empty at the park. Indeed it was. We worked shorter shifts, and had nothing else to do really. A few people would come in and other of Disney's Clothiers store on the East Side of Main Street. It wasn't busy at all! So we got to come home earlier than expected from our shifts. But the weather outside was cold and cloudy. I knew it was going to be rainy pretty soon again. But I came home in good dry but cold weather. I came home and Candice told me all about the storm hitting UCI while she was in class. We then started to watch some prime time TV and all of a sudden we heard this loud noise outside, and indeed the rain started to fall hard! It was pouring so hard! The pool below us was splashing and we couldn't even see across from our patio to the next building over, because the sky was dark, and the rain was pouring so hard. Then all of a sudden it stopped! Just a flash of water as to warn us for the next storm for the next day.

Sure I would watch the news, and keep my eyes open for next tornado warning because it passed us and it was freaky! Sort of a thing that came to my mind when I think of the weather like this, and having a tornado in Southern California made me think of one thing: GLOBAL WARMING? Hmm.. something to think about because like in those movies about tornadoes hitting LA and causing some sort of apocalypse-ish feelings about our state of California. Hmm.. maybe its just time for some wet, wet weather in Southern California.

So wet in fact that our apartment area there was flooding:

Here are the warnings from  LA Times:

Los Angeles Times | Jan. 19, 2010 | 1:32 p.m.

The National Weather Service has canceled a tornado warning for Los Angeles County, but a warning remains in effect for Orange County.

The Los Angeles Police Department has called a tactical alert and is evacuating homes in San Pedro. The department has also shutdown an area between Pacific and Gaffey and 4th and 7th Streets hit by the worst of the flood. Officials say a lightning strike hit the Conoco refinery, causing a small fire.

In Huntington Beach, the beaches were mostly empty while waves surged, lightning struck and wind reached gusts of 52 mph. The gusts topped 72 mph in Newport Beach.

The storm was accompanied by rain, lightning, hail and high waves.

Officials are worried about mudslides in burn areas in L.A. and Orange counties as the new storm hits mountain areas.

And that my friends, is our Sunny Southern California! At least everyone is safe and fine. As long as we stay indoors away from windows when a tornado hits, then all will be fine and safe. Just be careful while driving out there in the rain. Until next time when I come back to share more events in the Chronicles of Gilberto.. Until Next time!

Happy New Year ! Welcome 2010. . .

Ah, it’s been awhile since I wrote in my blog and dear constant readers I am sorry to say I have a new toy and been neglecting to try to write a blog on it. Its the new Apple iPhone that I got last year and it’s been a great phone and a great mobile device to do everything I possibly can without the use of a computer! For instance: AIM, texting, emailing, twittering and blogging, and so much more! Indeed so much more. I am loving my iPhone a lot more than a PC. In that sense I think I am becoming more Apple-ish this year. I think I want to get a Mac (oh gosh here it comes the PC to the MAC fever!) But they are so expensive! Anyway, that’s one reason I haven’t kept up with the blogs. So here we go to a new year of 2010 and so far the Chronicles of Gilberto continues on a brand new year and I wish all of you a Happy New Year!

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On January 2, 2010, the Chavezes and I went to see a wonderful musical produced by Disney: Mary Poppins! It was a wonderful musical theatre and probably a first for the young ones we took with us. They had lots of fun and afterwards we all went to eat some Mexican and it was so delicious. We had a lot of fun doing stuff like that. The musical and then dinner afterwards was a beginning of a beautiful end of first week of 2010. Then Sunday, it was Candice’s birthday.. so Happy Birthday to the love of my life!

Once the year started, I begin to miss the year 2009, for this Christmas of December 2009 was wonderful. We had the kids over for the holidays and we had a lot of fun baking, making and creating so many Christmas Memories.

Also earlier in the month of December was the annual Holiday Cast Party. This time we took Monica along with us and it was so much fun. The Christmas time at Disneyland is always so wonderful to walk through. But for one thing we all were bundled up and ready for that freezing cold. Being bundled up to keep warm was not even enough – we had to get some hot chocolate and be warm. Even riding on the train as the cold air slaps your face was very unbearable, but the sights and sounds of Christmas time at Disneyland beat down the weather. It was so much fun to take a group picture in front of the tree. The gigantic Christmas Tree with it’s many decorations and lights make it a wonderful sight for the holidays.

The beautiful sights of “A Small World” lighting up during the nighttime was a wonder to watch. It was a lot of fun to do the Holiday Party with love ones.

Even though it was so cold that night for the Holiday Cast Party, being with Candice made me warm, and having Monica along made our memories even bigger. It was a lot of fun and as the year 2009 came to an end, we look back at how fast the year went by so fast. My first years as a Cast Member just flew by. I enjoy working at the Disney stores and it is so much fun to meet all kind of people. I am sure in the year 2010 will be as memorable as 2009 has been. So many things to look forward to:

January – Candice’s and Jake’s Birthday!

February – Capitan EO will be back at Disneyland!

March – My Birthday and of course, Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” will be showing up same week as my birthday!

Another Summer in Costa Mesa, and I can’t wait to go swimming again in our pool. So many things that will be coming up.

For now who knows what adventures await in the Chronicles of Gilberto. I will try to keep up on the blog, if not, otherwise follow up on Twitter! Enjoy the year 2010 everyone! Once again, Happy New Year!

P.S. What Candice gave me for Christmas is the very chair I am sitting on to blog, and it’s a neat one and I am enjoying my gaming experience and music from it. Thanks Candice!

Happy New Year!

Wow, Time Flies by So Fast!

Hello to all of you!

Yesterday on September 27, 2009 I have been working for one year at Disneyland Resorts. I work at the Disneyland Park at the Main Street Stores, mainly the Emporium. I was just thinking back to one year ago when I first started the adventures of being a Cast Member at Disneyland and was realizing how much time has flown by so fast. It was even around this time I started my blogging experiences. I don't know if anyone out there reads them, but it's sort of like a journal writing experience for me to jot out little experiences in my life. Maybe one day I'll look back at these blogs and go, "Wow, I have done somewhat good." I enjoy what I do, working at Disneyland is a fun and workable experience. I like being the cashier, guest servicing and closing the store at nights. The perks are seeing the many changes at the park every season. Right now this is the first week that the park is decorated with Halloween themes: pumpkins everywhere, orange and black decorated all over Main Street. Even the huge Mickey Mouse face Jack O' Lantern is spotted right in the middle of Main Street rotunda.

Well, I just wanted to mentioned that it is my one year anniversary working for Disneyland and I am enjoying every minute of it. It'll be my second year to experience Halloween at Disneyland and the upcoming Christmas Season at the Park is always an enjoyable time. I can't wait for the snow covered main street and the fantastic fireworks at night during the Holidays. That is not so far away and that's why I say to myself: "Wow, Time Flies so Fast!" Mentioning the fireworks, you all have to go see the spectacular Halloween firework show that Disneyland has. It's brand new and you sure won't be disappointed! It's a neat show with music from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Also, be sure to see TNBC's Zero flying by over the castle! (Zero is Jack Skellington's dog) Have a fun time during Halloween!

Good Bye Old Friend - Nissan, Hello New Friend - Kia Soul and Other News in the Chronicles of Gilberto

Well, it was time to let my ol' car go. The Nissan has been a good ride for me, and it was time for a change. Candice and I got a new car and we are immensely enjoying it. We went to Kia Depot and got the Kia Soul 2010. It's an awesome ride and I love the Sirius Satellite Radio feature. I am enjoying my rides to work, and Candice is enjoying her rides to school/lab. Alot has been going on this month. Alot of things will happen this week. Let me elaborate:

This month of September 2009, my Mom celebrated her birthday yesterday on Labor Day. Happy Birthday to my Mom! I love her dearly. And this is the month of my one year anniversary with Disney. I am enjoying my job at Disneyland alot and it has come to show how time flies by so quickly. I am enjoying the end of summer for it was my first summer to work at Disneyland. It was crowded and busy, at some times it seemed slower than usually, but it picked up with the holidays. So Summer is coming to an end soon and I enjoyed this summer because of all the events that I had -- auditions at Deaf West Theatre, Working at Disneyland for a year, a new car, and most of all I am looking forward to the D23 Expo at Anaheim's Convention Center this week. Should be lots of fun. I am going on Thursday and that evening going to see the preview show at North Hollywood's Deaf West Theatre, "Children of a Lesser God." Should be an awesome show, and I hope all the cast breaks a leg (good luck in theatre speak), and it would've been me in there since I tried to audition. But nevertheless, it will all be a great show. Hope success for all the actors and Deaf West Theatre Company.

I haven't blogged in awhile, but I figured I let all of you know what's up in the Chronicles of Gilberto. So there you have it, life has been great, and I am enjoying all the good things to come. Especially the D23 Expo, will post more about it after my experiences. And especially my one year with Disneyland will be coming up soon in the next two weeks. Well, till next time, but be sure to check out the photos at the end of this blog for our new car! Until next time, wherever you may be, Thanks for reading my blogs!

Ah, Peak Season at Disney/Work

Hello everyone, been a busy summer for me so far. Sad news was I didn't get the part I wanted at Deaf West Theatre, but sincerely wish the one that received he role big success and everyone in the cast wonderful wishes for a big production. I can't wait to go see it myself when it opens up. So this meant, not more driving down to Hollywood (which is kind of a good thing because the drive was so long and tedious) Other than that, I will of course miss my acting program at Deaf West because it gave me some great experience, and met some great people. And of course it got me this audition which I succeeded with a callback and then didn't get the role. The experience is what counts the most, and I am happy I did what I had to do to pull it off. So now, all I can do is wait for more auditions to come up. So I am on the listserv for Deaf West for any posting for auditions. So I will keep my eyes out for those.

Still the summer started off with such fun times at Hollywood and continues to go into the middle of July. Sometimes I've been busy with work, but I managed to squeeze in some summer readings (Marlee Matlin's bio) and some exercise by swimming laps in the pool. Doing laps made me sore, but hey, it's exercise. Sometimes it gets me so tired before I go into work that night. So a long power nap does the trick, but nevertheless I am still so wiped out when I get home; I go straight to bed when I arrive home. Everything is going fine during this not so hot Costa Mesa Summer days. All of us are doing fine, just working to pay all those bills. So thank God for peak season at Disneyland, meaning more working hours.

Just the other day at my job, two nights ago on July 12, at the wee hours right before midnight, someone was waiting on a guest and I couldn't figure out his face. As a Deaf guy knowing every person in a band out there is hard to recall. But someone came up to this guest and asked for his autograph. I was like, "excuse me, why did they ask for your autograph? Who are you? And oh by the way 'Happy Birthday.'" when I noticed his birthday button on him with the name Ray. He nicely replied back to me, "I am a guitarist in the band 'My Chemical Romance." Then I was like, "I know that band." Not out loud of course, we have to treat anyone famous or infamous with the same equal amount of respect as anyone that walks into our store at Disneyland Emporium. So it was nice to see someone like that. It was his birthday and he was like almost the next to last guest in our store before closing hours. If no one knows who the band "My Chemical Romance" is or Ray Toro, check out this link: http://www.mychemicalromance4u.com/ray-toro/

Been so busy lately with the summer crowds showing up at Disneyland, and working at the Emporium makes it a challenge to walk through, weaving through the crowds of people to get to your destination . Whether it be clocking in for work or coming back from a break. The crowds are so much, but it makes the day go by faster, and the night completes quicker when it's busy. I love the atmosphere of the people, and the pace of the job. Once I had long lines of people, that I was constantly checking out the merchandise for the people, and working the registers at a non-stop motion that it felt like I had no time to catch my breath. But there are some slow hours, this is usually during the firework show. Everyone is out there to watch a dazzling light show with Disney music. But then right after, the swarms of people invade our store and we are nonstop at work till we close. It's fun, really. So fun, when you know that famous people can just show up any minute. Once I saw Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter and their kids dashing through from store to store before I came to clock in for work. And there was talk that Jennifer Lopez and her hubby, Marc Athony with their kids were there during the holiday weekend. Also George Lopez. So I have to keep my eyes open for these stars, but I can't do that when there is a long line of people and I am ringing up everyone when they are purchasing their merchandise. It's always fast paced, but fun.

Costa Mesa has been nice here, the weather is fabulous! Both for sitting outside, walking the dogs, and going out for a swim. It's nice weather. That's why I take advantage of the pool, and relaxing before the high peak season at Disneyland. Once I get to work and continue on till the end of the shift, I get so tired! But having some nice days off does the trick! I've been BBQing outside on our patio and it's nice to have a cold one in hand while bbqing meats, veggies, and other things that the aroma is so appealing that it makes me hungry! As a matter of fact, I will be BBQing soon -- some vegetables, chilies, onions and whatever else needs to be BBQed. So grilling time in the middle of this nice Summer July month. . . then to the Happiest place on Earth tonight!

Until then, next time!