Phillipe Randone

Two years ago my partner and I were amidst a real estate deal that fell through at the last second. Everyone in our city moves on September 1. We were off the moving schedule, so the immediate options for vacant apartments were scarce. The only thing we could find was a converted disused religious building within an outlying neighborhood that was approximately 90% Asian American. We loved the neighborhood, we loved the culture, and we were happy with our temporary spot. In this new neighborhood there was an abundance of massage parlors. In a one-mile radius of our home, there were at least 10 of these little massage parlors, possibly more.

New friends always welcome

We were tent campers until we had our 4th baby in 5 years. At that point, we had so much baby-baggage (baybbage) to bring with us that we couldn't find the tent under the high chairs, playpens, and bags of diapers. So we got our first pop-up, which allowed us to leave our camping gear in one place and always at the ready. When they were teenagers, we got a larger one to accommodate their heights. When they all got their own tents, we downsized to a smaller pop-up again.