07.31.04, Saturday:June - July 2004
07.31.04, Saturday:
[12:58am] I'm not inspired to sleep tonight either, heh heh...I have a bunch of things in my mind....plus I just ate some fried rice, since I realized I'm still hungry. I went to the Orange County Fair today with Rosalyn - she invited me to chill with her there with some of her people, heh heh. And I was curious about the deep fried Snickers bar. =)
All in all, we ate lots of oily things, like fried zucchini, funnel cake, and a bloomin' onion. And the Snickers. Actually, the Snickers was really, really good! It looked like a corn dog. So when you ate it, it was chewy (less corn-y, more sweet) dough with melted chocolate inside, twirled up with caramel and peanuts. It was strange, but sweet and tasty. =) I think Maria would have liked it, hee hee. =)
I guess all the oily food wasn't so bad, as we all shared it all. =) But it didn't cease to amaze me...that America is a country with big people! I don't mean tall either...I'm not being critical, but simply making an observation. I think that I'm going through a backwards culture shock, ha ha...like, I was surprised when I suddenly noticed that there wasn't anyone smoking at all while we were out in a crowded public area. Whereas in Beijing, it was simply expected. This is a good culture shock. The bad one is realizing that our country really is big! And at a fair, well, it's not like anyone's trying to watch what they eat. And though Beijing had a bunch of deep fried stuff too (like for breakfast! Bleah!), I think the constant exercise of simply walking around really did help. Again, I wished we could do that here - subway, bus, taxi, or even bicycle around. But we have way too much land, which is a nice thing - except we just have to drive almost anywhere. It's interesting how culture forms who we are. I forgot what book it was, but there was one that talked about the culture of America (I think Chris D. might have mentioned it), like how nowadays, the new homes have little lawns - which means, little time to spend outsidde, chill and talk to people...but instead, you drive right into your driveway, straight into your garage and mind your own little business...and how less and less people know their neighbors! It's not just the big America culture, but all the little subcultures too. And how some cultures and subcultures are mixed into one's own culture of who one is and becomes.
Like how I'm American but Chinese at the same time. And how, well, maybe you too are a product of one generation or another, or one culture mixed with another culture, or your own mish-mash blend of cultures.
07.29.04, Thursday:
[08:30pm] Despite my inability to get the desserts taken care of, dinner tonight was awesome! ^_^ The menu:
Sometime during the first week in Beijing, my nose got upset. It's doing the same thing here - slightly runny and sneezing a whole lot today. I have a slight headache too. I think that it's trying to adjust back to the pollution here. Both areas are polluted, though I think that it's actually way better here. We at least have mostly blue sky on a regular basis!
07.28.04, Wednesday:
[10:33pm] Aww...my desserts were all failures...my cake came out all flat. =( Buuuut, I do have really good Chocolate Ganache and some really good home-made Chocolate Creme...only I'm not sure how to use it. Ideas anyone? =)
The week is zipping by so fast...!
Saturday...VBS Festival at church...good times ahead! I suggested face painting and giving away goldfish to winners of a game. I'm so excited! If you ain't got nothin' planned for this Saturday, show up and help us out! We'll be there at 8am to set up, but 10am is when it officially gets going. =)
07.27.04, Tuesday:
[09:13pm] With all the free time, I did some fancy cooking today! ^_^ I made "Shrimp and Leeks in California Chardonnay Cream". It's from the recipe book I got from the cruise ride last year. Deeelicious! =)
Sometime this week (as I bought ingredients for them already), I'm making Swedish Almond Chocolate Cake and Profiteroles Suchard (Fancy Cream Puffs, hee hee...). I looove to cook! Not only is it fun, and that you can eat your work and decorate it, but it helps me relieves some stress. =)
[10:31am] It's Tuesday already? Woah.
I'm feeling lazy today. I just emailed someone, and explained how I felt right now. I wish that I could be free of my responsibilities, and be like in China, where I was just a bum with some American cash in my wallet, ha ha...=) But once I got off that plane at LAX, everything came raining down on me so quickly - I was drenched with phone calls the next day, when all I wanted to do was sleep (jet-lagged), every three minutes - and at one point, the house phone and cell both rang at the same time, both for me! - by everyone it seemed, about the Beach Rally on Saturday afternoon, of which I really was too tired to even jump around and provide energy for everyone else. I love being a Youth Leader, but Saturday, I was too tired - and I felt like nobody has energy if I don't, and it seemed that way on Saturday. I know that enthusiasm is infectious, and I'm often expected to provide it and get it started for everyone else, and I usually don't mind because it comes naturally. But not on Saturday. That, or I'm just being too egotistical. =)
Sunday morning was worship, which wasn't so bad as I practiced singing in China. =) And then yesterday. Bleah, yesterday. But thank you for those of you that called me up, emailed me, or whatever to let me know that I really do matter. That I really do cause ripples out in this great big ocean we live in. I think I'm just feeling glum. Maybe I need a floppy popsicle. Only those were in Beijing. =P
But you know what? God is everywhere, so that actually works out. =)
07.26.04, Monday:
[04:55pm] Cleaned up the links a bit...took out all xanga, as they're all under my xanga subscriptions anyways. =) Just chillin' at home today, catching up on emails, waiting for steak to defrost so I can cook it for dinner tonight, did laundry...and just finished some strawberry ice cream in one of those crunchy classic cones. Mmm. =)
I think I will get this CD: Twelve Girls Band. I saw it in the newspaper today and listened to some clips - it's 12 Chinese girls, playing traditional instruments, playing some familiar tunes but with a twist. =)
Did I forget to mention the new word I learned in China? It's a Spanish word: "Ca-CHON-do!" It needs to be said forcefully, and it's even more effective when combined with a little one handed explosion gesture. =) What does it mean? Hee hee...it's the same as "Shuai" in mandarin...but I think "Cachondo" is more fun to say. =)
07.25.04, Sunday:
[11:45pm] I had the loveliest time in Beijing!!! ^_^ Adventures were all xanga'ed whenever I had internet access, hee hee...I loved how so many people from so many different cultures were all just mish-mashed together and tossed up into one big pot at BLCU. The experience was awesome, and completely irreplaceable! If I had just toured, it would have been not so fun - if I go somewhere, I want to learn something new, and I did! And I got to use it constantly, grow new neuronal connections in my brain, meet new friends, party and have too much fun (without getting drunk or what not, hee hee!) and grow as, well...as just me. =) I made such dear friends there...and was quite sad to leave them all, especially while waiting for the plane to take off from the airport...I couldn't help but be teary-eyed. I will especially miss the company of my 5 constant friends there - Tina, Maria, Mareike, Jin (Se Whan), and Kevin! ^_^ I do so hope that we all see each other some time in the future...it would be tragic not to, as we all have much too much fun together. Zen Meh Leh??? ^_^
The plane was 2 hours late, so I tried text messaging my bro to tell him, but of course, that didn't work, hee hee...the ride back was nice, as I met someone else that just finished at BLCU too! Her name was Melissa, from San Diego. =) It was nice to be home though, especially when I was greeted by not just my bro, but Shelton and DVD too! At home, I unpacked and we chilled...Saturday was the Beach Rally, which was a lot of fun, only I think I was so tired and jet-lagged still that I kept falling asleep (I felt like Kevin, sleeping all the time! ^_^) everywhere I went. It was fun to play a bit though, even if it was cold at Torrance Beach. =) This morning, we went to church where I was supposed to sing and lead worship with my bro and Shelton...so we did, and grabbed in Linda to sing with me and Josh to hit the drums up...and it went well!!! My bro and Shelton were playing so powerfully that they had difficulties with their picks...getting all torn up...hee hee...but their playing was good! Yay! =)
I also had fun chatting in mandarin with people at church that wanted to test my mandarin! I want to remember what I learned in China, so they better keep talking to me in Chinese. =)
Though I felt like I ate so much there, I also realized that I had little junk food - few chips and soda (not that I drink it anyways). We had some good rice crackers and occasional shrimp chips...and oh wait, we did have a neverending supply of sweets...but the snacks we had there were so much different, and I think healthier (not their deep fried egg rolls for breakfast though!), than what we have here. And food was always everywhere and around, and they were always so good to eat! The constant walking (I had to throw away my tennis shoes at the end - they were flattened at the soles, torn up and giving me blisters!) helped I guess. But either way, I didn't gain nor lose weight, hee hee. I only wished KFC had Egg Tarts (Dan Taat!) here too...! ^_^
After church, DVD came over to hang out with Shelton and I. My bro was sleeping, as always. So we watched The Butterfly Effect. I don't know why people said it wasn't good - it was! I liked it...not completely, but quite original, and I liked it. So do I recommend it? But of course! ^_^
06.20.04, Saturday:
[09:25pm] Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!! ^_^
Summer Camp was OFF DA HOOK! ^_^ From Ri-ver-siiiiiiide (in that gangsta' shout out way, ha ha...), Summer Camp starred Thomas, Calvin, Melody (my three new counselors this year! Yay! You guys did AWESOME!), Amy, Anna, Megan, Andy, Ian, Jonathan, Johnny, Andrew, Jimmy, Jason, Theo, and I! Besides being physically exhausted (but in a good way, hee hee), it was great to see these youth get so into it! Some of it though, was too much - how MUCH did I really have to hear about Rock Star Garrick??? Ha ha...j/k girlies...^_~ Breakin' it down to some key events:
All future blogs until I'm back will be on xanga, if I do blog, heh heh...bye for now! ^_^
06.16.04, Wednesday:
[09:39pm] I finally got to see Ella Enchanted yesterday, with Ros and Tako after dinner. Oy...it was so cheesy, and different from the book! At the same time, had I not read it, I would have thought it was one of those cheesy-cute type films that were just alright, instead of it being so horrible. However, I still do think that Anne Hathaway did a good job. =) The book is way better, and I still do recommend you read the book! ^_^
The theater was interesting - it was only $5 for the ticket (evening price!) at an older theater. It was funny - there was only one guy there, and the movie was supposed to start at 6:30pm, but at 6:45pm, there was still no movie. So we had to go tell the guy to start it - he was fixing a chair, and was like, Oh?? Heh heh...Anyways...if you're ever down in the Fullerton area, and want to see movies for cheap, you'd just have to call (714) 808-0400 for showtimes! ^_^
Tonight, I got to chill with Giang at B&N, reading Tuesdays with Morrie. I like this book...I like Mitch Albom's writing, I think. =)
06.14.04, Monday:
[09:48am] The medical lady just drew my blood and I peed in a cup for them, ha ha...it was for my life insurance, heh heh...probably a good idea before I go to China and get SARS??? j/k! =) Saturday included a lot of driving around the 909, but overall, it was still a chillin' day, where my mom cut off about 5 inches of my hair (it's like shoulder length now, though some say it still looks the same, hee hee...), and ended with Edwin coming over to stay with us! ^_^ Fred came later in the night, and the boys had to make a pick up to help him bring things over here...I was sound asleep though, and missed the rest of Biker Boys...which was no lost to me, hee hee...it was a horrible movie! =P Sunday was a grand day of a hundred things...Church...Car Wash...last minute changes for Summer Camp...Edwin off to LAX (Bye! Come back!!!)...Fred's graduation (Congrats!)...Chili's for Buffalo Wings...Mario Party for all of us...and sleep at last...=) I need to recharge my camera battery, and so I don't have any pictures, but I know Calvin does! ^_^ So I'll have to wait for him to send them along...=)
06.12.04, Saturday:
[12:44pm] Fun fun...yesterday, Lorie came over and we got to play, play, play...! ^_^ It's always fun to play with Lorie! ^_^ We watched The Whole Nine Yards - I thought it was a football movie for soome reason (maybe the word "yards"?) but it was completely not, hee hee. =) She made us "dun lai" as well, hee hee...an interesting dessert...I shall say no more, since the wrong words kept coming out of my mouth. =)
Afterwards, she went home, and I went with my bro, Shelton, DVD, Calvin, Dorothy, and yes...Edwin!!!...to Newport Beach, hee hee...we got there pretty late, and bonfired away a bunch of hot dogs, some marshmallows, and even a roasted chicken, hee hee...we were there until about 11pm, partly due to us searching for these people that were at the same bonfire with us, but had taken off for a long walk and never came back. We didn't know what to do with their stuff, especially after they had kicked us off the beach when it closed. We ended up leaving it there - hopefully, they came back and found it!
Friday felt like a Saturday...out playing all day, out late and such, heh heh...today's much more relaxing...I slept till 9:30 (late for me, heh heh...)! With no lesson planning in dire need to be finished, I can play and relax today, heh heh...yay!!! ^_^
Pictures from the bonfire and Market Broiler last weekend are up on Calvin's Image Station! ^_^
06.09.04,Wednesday:
[10:28pm] Promotion was today! The 8th grade Promotion was nice, and so much fun! It was one of those completely feel-good events, where the kids came all decked out and cheered each other on and celebrated their day. =) Two kids in my class, Shah and Ray, were overly exuberant (as they usually are, heh heh...) and led on the others to cheer and yell. They stood and shouted out their trademark "We Love You Ms. Lau!!!" when I finished announcements for our class (and I heard a "Short People Rule!!!" from Brandi!), hee hee...and continued to yell out during the rest of the event. Afterwards, there were lots of handshakes and hugs, and even visits from students in the past, which is always extremely cool.
I ate well at our staff luncheon, where we celebrated Linda and Sue's retirement, as well as the early "retirement" of a few others, including Heidi. =( Next year...there will be a wave of new teachers here...and to think that three years ago, I was part of a new wave of teachers. And bleah, LD will still be here next year...=Þ
For a few hours afterwards, I cleaned and organized and chased a cockroach out of my classroom...then went over to meet up with Heidi and Chris, and headed to Market Night! I finally got Brody's Hawaiian BBQ, hee hee...yum yum...and we simply got to chill and do some meandering and shopping (I got strawberries too!) there. As my wallet was empty (I'm horrible with going to the ATM; this bad habit appeared with that whole grocery store strike...I used to go to the ATM across the street at Albertson's, but since then, I've been bad with keeping up to doing what I'm supposed to do! I was just there this morning too, to get a platter for the luncheon! But ignored the ATM machine...), I got a bunch of change and financial support from my two friends, hee hee...=)
Last day tomorrow, to pack and clean...I have very little left to do...and then I'm going to help Heidi out with some moving. =) Somehow, between then and 5pm (Anthony's graduation), I have to get Edwin. Or, I can get him after...??? Well, Edwin will be picked up, one way or another! =)
06.08.04,Tuesday:
[05:45pm] We went out on Saturday for my mom's bday, eating at the Golden Capital again, heh heh, followed by grocery shopping (fun, as always!) afterwards. We also went out on Sunday for the CCF graduation banquet. I seem to be eating out a lot lately...! At the banquet, since we were at Market Broiler, I had to get some kinda seafood...! I have decided their Clam Chowder is just alright, and their cheese potatoes good-ish...the flavor was too strong or something. I did have a Monkfish (oh woah! According to the link, it's known as an Anglerfish...which means...it was on Finding Nemo...! Hee hee...) for the first time, which the waiter told me is also known as the "Poor Man's Lobster", because it tastes like lobster! It's fishy still, but it does have the right texture, heh heh...Thank you Wongs, for treating us all out! ^_^
The last full day of school was today! Wow...a whole year already...swiffed right on by. And to think that in two weeks, I'll be off at Summer Camp, and then seamlessly jet on over to China for a month! I'm excited! Heh heh...School ended well, with everyone in good spirits and work all done. My classroom almost is completely cleaned up too, which makes it exciting for me, because that means I won't be there so late on Thursday.
There are so many things going on, all at once it seems! My cousin Anthony is graduating on Thursday from Santiago HS. Edwin will be here soon, and Heidi will be off in Washington DC. Lorie will be visiting, and on Sunday, there will be a car wash fundraiser for Youth Camp, followed by Harry Potter 3 and UCR graduations!
Not to mention the Venus Transit that went on today! ^_^
I found a bug bite on my neck yesterday, and was paranoid that it might be hives. Especially when I found a few more on my body! But they're just some bug bites. That's one thing I will fear over in China, besides the squat-like toilets...mosquitoes...>_<
Remember the Penguin game? Here's all those "pingu" games...called Yeti Sports...play, play, play...I will have to link them on my Fun section. =)
The Crimson Room too. Try and get out! ^_^
06.05.04, Saturday:
[10:26am] Happy Birthday Mommy!!! ^_^
We're talking about Family Life in 7th grade and it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. I was kinda scared, hee hee...c'mon...wouldn't you be? To talk about sex to 7th graders??? Hee hee...but it wasn't so bad...true, we went over anatomy, and it was the part that I feared most, but it went well. One class is really inquisitive about it. The other is more squeamish. So it's different in both classes, but we learn nonetheless, and the questions they ask (written on their daily journals, so it's better than them asking openly, though there have been many that would start asking more questions now) are just as good as the others...from "What happens if two sperms fertilize an egg?" , "What is the percent of teenage mothers?", "Why are girls more complicated", "Why do miscarriages happen?", to questions about Evolution and Creationism again (based on the fact that developing embryos of different species look the same). Some though, are just strange: "Do boys eat more than girls?" Hee hee...^_^
There are a lot of those life lessons going on where I can talk pretty openly with them about it, and well, I can certainly do life lessons - they're like Bible study, or counseling-talk almost, hee hee...Right now, we're well into Pregnancy and Fetal Development, one of my most favorite things (remember how much I liked Dev. and Cell Bio??? Hee hee...), and we're learning a lot. The kids ask some really good questions which allows me to do some research here and there to get information for them. Besides getting to know the students and be a part of their lives, this is why teaching that is fun for me - a challenge at times, but where I can learn too. =) Amongst others, I got some information from this article - read it, it's neat. =)
8th Grade - Bottle Rockets. We launch next week, so that we're pretty much working (though it's more like fun than work, right? ^_^) till the last day. =) Of course, one of them mentioned and asked why me and Bowman are the only ones making us do ANY work now that school is almost over...muah ha ha...^_^
I took probably the longest nap I've ever had yesterday, hee hee...it was 11 hours, but very nice...I think much needed...besides all these things at school going on, there's also additional "drama" over this one student who turned in a book with numbers that were changed on it. Bleah - I won't blog about it. I probably won't forget about it, even when I'm 80. Neither than Marian (our librarian), I'm sure. =Þ
06.01.04, Tuesday:
[10:30pm] My aunt is going back to HK tonight...but not before I gave her one of my fake flowers, hee hee. She liked them, and was just as intrigued as I about the fake gel-water that was in the vase. I like her, because we have common taste and humor. ^_^ She gave me a beaded rabbit/mouse/creature thing, hee hee...I shall have to find some place for it...=)
After staying late at school today, I stopped by Staples to make cardstock copies of our bottle rocket fin and cone pattern. I wanted to use my $20 coupon thing for the whole $3, but as it turns out, I had to use the entire thing at once! So I shopped around - I spent a LOT of time trying to figure out what a transformer/voltage convertor/adaptor was and which to get (for China), only in the end, none of them seemed suited...so instead, I got a bunch of colorful whiteboard markers, a little package of purple pens (you get one Heidi! Even if you are moving away!), scotch tape, and a cool new bottle of white out. It's cool because it has this foam applicator thing, instead of the brush, muah ha ha...I borrowed it one day from Melissa, one of our cool secretaries, and I sooo like it. And my one white out pen is getting crusty and difficult at times, so it all worked out well to get another one. =)
Oh! Last night, we went to eat a this place called "Gum Doh"...I thought "Doh" was for "sword", but in fact, it's the "Doh" for Capitol. Heh heh...so we had dinner there, and the 13 of us engorged ourselves on a 100 course (okay, so I'm exaggerating...^_^) meal. =) I liked the creamy honey walnut shrimp - the shrimp was fried juuuust crispy right, hee hee, even though it was a little short on the mayo...and the soybean sprouts are always good...the dessert, this tapioca/coconut milk type thing, was heavenly sweet. =) And so many other good stuff! We all had some leftovers to take home, so I had a yummy lunch today. =)
As for the cake, it got decorated pretty badly...sigh...so I made some random snowman in the middle of it, hee hee...