July 2005

07.31.05, Sunday:

[10:00pm] Got back from retreat today, and just now...just now...I can finally rest...LWCC is AWESOME! It was great hanging out with them...our two churches, brought together as One Church, One Family! ^_^ Will blog more later, hee hee...^_^

I came home, and have not had a moment of rest until now...

Okay, enough rest. Now, I'm going to go sleep. I've had no more than 3 hours of sleep last night, and the night before, only periodic naps of one to two hours during the night. There's even a headache that's starting in the right corner of my parietal lobe, ha ha..I don't want to nap...time to sleep...at last...^_^

07.29.05, Friday:

[12:00pm] Happy Birthday Chris!!! He's one of the few, uncrazy BSR folks @ RCAC. =)

Lorie came out to Corona to play with me yesterday! Yay! We had lunch at the new Sidewalk Cafe and Juice-It-Up for dessert (ooo! I tried Passion Punch. I also like this, almost as much as the Just Peachy usual that I get!)...meandered at Old Navy...watched Racing Stripes (not so great a movie, by the way...3 out of 10, only because they had animals in the movie...)...and we made dinner for everyone! Mmm...We made the Firecracker Salmon Rolls that I had Monday at Cheesecake Factory...my own variation anyways. Like, the egg roll wrapper came out thicker and bubbly after it was fried, which was not expected. Isn't egg roll wrapper supposed to be thin and crispy??? It came out more like a chimichanga, ha ha...^_^ So next time, I'll look specifically for something that's NOT Dynasty Brand, or maybe even Lumpia Wrappers. =Þ

Also, I'll use fresh salmon instead of canned, keep the spinach inside, and increase the amount of wasabi that I put in the throw-together wasabi/mayo/soy sauce mix. ^_^

Other dinner items included the Triple Steamed Egg dish, a Black Pepper Beef dish with grilled onions and mushrooms, and fresh sliced cucumbers from the backyard. Yummy. =)

Later in the night, Shelton came by to drop off the drum-stuff for retreat tonight, and we got to read more Harry Potter. ^_^

Today - I still need to pack. Am getting to it...right now! =)

07.27.05, Wednesday:

[1:41pm] Yesterday was really nice. =) Cuz I got to spend it with Shelton! ^_^ After he got home from work, we went swimming at the pool, where I continued to perfect the whole swimming-at-the-bottom-of-the-pool thing. 'Twas fun, and I got to do some flips and somersaults too! I still can't sit and stay at the bottom of the pool, and this one guy in the pool was laying belly down at the bottom - another trick that I can't do, so those will be my next goals. =) After, we had dinner at Chipotle. Mmm!!! I love it there! Shelton found it be just as satisfying, telling me how effing wonderful LVMel kept saying it was (and it IS good, so she has good taste, of course!). After practicing songs for retreat, we got to start Harry Potter 6. Woo hoo! So far, so good. And again, a wonderful day yesterday was! =)

07.25.05, Monday:

[11:21pm] Happy 25th! ^_^ 9 is a good number to be, eh? =)

*gasp* I think it's Angela's birthday today too! Happy Birthday Angela!!! ^_^

What a fun day! Junko and I hung out and played in OC. =)

• I met Rocket, Junko's hyperactive Jack Russel Terrier. Ooo. I like him, and he likes me: he even flipped over on his belly for me, which she and Mike (I met him too! ^_^)  said, was something Rocket does for nooooooone, unless he completely trusts them. Yay! ^_^
• Irvine Spectrum (how I love that place! Again, I could be biased because I used to work there...)!
• Urban Outfitters! I saw Viola there! I was like, woah! It's Viola!!! ^_^ And her mom (my number 6 cousin-in-law) too - of course, I had to make a guess or two before I figured out she was #6. There are too many Lau's. ^_^ So that was neat, heh heh, as I've rarely seen other Lau's outside our natural habitats of family gatherings. =) At UO, I actually bought something this time: I got a shirt for $5! Woo hoo! I got another shirt that I thought was on sale for $9, but as it turned out, it was actually more. =( But, it was nice, so okay, I got it. =)
• Cheesecake Factory (another bias, since this is specifically where I worked in Irvine Spectrum, muah ha...) for Firecracker Salmon Rolls, Spicy Ahi Tempura Roll, and Herb-Crusted Salmon Salad. A very fishy lunch that we shared...but tasty nonetheless. ^_^
• Sawdust Art Festival - lots of neat art exhibits, from jewelry to paintings, pottery, textiles, and creative creations. =) We got to make linoleum prints too! Mine's has waves, an octopus, starfish, and a happy fish on it! =)
• Forest Ave. for chillin' in Laguna. We toured the little shops and boutiques on the area, and had dinner at a Coffee Pub Cafe. Where we sat at, a group of people were starting a small group Bible Study there, and started with singing songs. Neato! ^_^ We ventured down to PCH and walked through the stores along the beach. Found a romantic alley way that leads to a parking structure, ha ha...and another one near the Wyland Gallery. =) Niiiice. =)
• Laguna Beach is officially my favorite SoCal beach. ^_^ It was really cool to simply be on vacation and chill - no sense of hurry, time limits, and rush...just chill...relax...eat when you're hungry...shop when you feel like it....walk here and there...I liked it. =)

07.24.05, Sunday:

[10:40pm] Happy Birthday to Gilbert's Mom, and to Rex (up in Heaven!)! ^_^

Yesterday, my bro, Derrick, and I went to Shelton's to help him move to his new apartment! 'Twas a fun adventure, full of packing things in cars, some banana nut bread, Jamillah's (soul food for the chinese folk...??? Heh heh...) for lunch, meeting Shelton's new roommates for a bit, harvesting and "Yes, me lord!" 's and "Stop touching me!" 's, Febreeze®, my bro picking money out of the piggy bank, and even an adventure with the tow company! Lots of fun indeed, for most of it anyways. =)

Today was complete VBS-prepping Sunday. It looks like things will go great for VBS, and everyone was pitching in to help out! Mark and Marilyn were at the church too, from Henderson, NV. ^_^ After, my mom and I went to Rowland Heights (we wanted to head to San Gabriel...but we were short on time, since we were serving dinner at our house!) to grocery shop and meander around the little plaza at 99 Ranch Market. =) I got shaved ice to snack on, with sweetened condensed milk, pineapples, and longan...and though it was refreshing for the hot weather, it just wasn't Waiola's of Hawaii. Sigh...

It'd be really neat if I could just open up a Chinese Cafe type shop here, where there's good food, and tasty drinks, like boba, various teas, and shaved ice (as they do it @ Waiola's...with ice cream...mochi balls...azuki beans...flavors...and lots of other tasty options!). White people would dig it - healthier than a giant couple scoops of ice cream, refreshing in SoCal weather, a fun novelty thing, and something that's different from what's here in the Inland Empire. =) Besides coming up with the menu, it'd also be fun designing and decorating the place. I don't have the know-how...I'd probably waste a lot of money I don't have by trying things via trial and error...but besides teaching, I think that'd be the next funnest thing to do. =)

For dinner tonight, Simon, Gary, Shelton, and our family ate together...such a wonderful meal! Steamed fish with the whole oil/ginger/soy sauce/green onions flavoring...roast pork with super thick and crispy skin (uh, from Sam Woo's BBQ, actually)...bok choy veggies...fresh cucumber from the back yard...chicken braised in oyster sauce, with mushrooms and fungus...steamed triple-x eggs! (there were regular eggs, with a chopped preserved egg and a chopped salty egg in there. Mmmm!!!)...and of course, yummy steamed white rice! ^_^

I learned how to make the steamed triple-x egg dish...soooo love it...am going to test it later this week...muah ha ha...^_^

07.22.05, Friday:

[1:35pm] So I get this quick email from Heidi:

So, I have this looooong list of things to do, but guess what I'm doing
first?

Going to the Laundromat to wash my new sleeping bag (needs one of those
large not agitating washers) BECAUSE it's next to Tapioca Express!?And it's
all about the boba and fishballs!?:-)?

This is just one of the many reasons why I say she's Asian to the core! ^_^

07.21.05, Thursday:

[11:38pm] Went to Shelton's today after he got off work, to play in the swimming pool! Guess what??? MORE snorkeling update - I can now make myself get to the bottom of the pool! Woo hoo! I can't stay there though, but I can swim around the bottom and stay there if I wanted to. Now, I just gotta work on the air...learning how to hold enough air and letting it go slowly...^_^ Shelton can float now too! Ole! ^_^ After that, we made dinner, watched some Trick and Inuyasha, and had a general wonderful all-around time, as it always is with him. He's the bestestestest! ^_^

Fun pictures from today: (1) After swimming, (2) Our dinner! Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches, pre-made salad that wasn't that good, curry fishballs, and sweet nectarines! Mmmmm!, and (3) We're either about to eat, or just ate, because we're that happy, ha ha! ^_^

(4) Curry Fishballs! (hmm. I wonder if I can make it crazy spicy, like Tapioca Express...??? Muah ha!), (5) Shelton's Jowler, (6) My almost-Jowler...I tried three times, and this was the third attempt...my head hurt after...=Þ

[1:49pm] And so it states: There is a Cantonese saying: "Any animal, whose back faces sky, can be eaten." (背脊向天，都可以食 or 背脊向天人可食)

It's cool, because this article pretty much covers what we eat and how we eat at home. Except that we do like spicy (not my mom AS much, as she's true Canto to the core!). And we don't usually kill our own animals to eat. (Umm...except those pigeons back in da day...)

[11:30am] I'm waiting for these Butter Rings I made cook in the oven, hee hee...the name sounds fatty (it probably is, as all good pastry items should be! Hee hee...) but it's actually like a pretzel. =) I love the summer, when I have time to cook, bake and test recipes. Mmm! ^_^

I made these "Crunchy Potato Balls", a recipe I picked up at the doctor's office yesterday, and I didn't like it. The "Butter Rings" are from the same magazine...I hope it's decent. It DOES smell quite nice so far, so that's a good sign. =)

Oh yes, I took my dad to the doctor's yesterday, where a nice doctor checked his knee. There's no fracture, so most likely, it's a muscle thing. After that, we ate at the New Trieu Chou (Chiu Chou food), a place that we loved to eat at back in the days. Unfortunately, their Chiu Chou noodles ("Chiu Chou Gwei Diao", for those that are Chiu Chou Chinese! You all know that I'm a mix of Chiu Chou (dad side) and Cantonese (mom side) Chinese, right? CCCC??? ^_^) are not so tasty any more. =( So sad...! It used to be extremely delicious, and crowded at all times. Sigh.

We did head to Lee's Sandwiches afterwards to pick something to eat later at home, and that was good, of course! =)

But yep, my dad's doing better, and was actually out in the garden before it got too hot, working on his veggies. =) We have all sorts of good stuff...like (1) Green Onions, (2) Tomatoes, (3) Zucchini, (4) Grapes, (5) Peas (these are the black kind), and even (6) flowers (Hibiscus!).

It's nice having all this time to relax at home. =) I mean, I'm still doing chores and errands, but it's still nice. I've been catching up on emails - it's awesome to use email for fun again, and not just for work-related stuff. WOW...amazing...! ^_^

Snorkeling News: I went snorkeling at the gym again yesterday, and yay! I can stay at the bottom for a few more milliseconds than before! Woo hoo! Progress...! ^_~

07.19.05, Tuesday:

[11:46am] My dad's knee was worse this morning! So, he stayed home. However, I did go get him some crutches and knee wrap thing, and with them, he can hobble a bit better. =) Thus today, I've just been bumbling about here at home, doing errands out in the city, and cooking good stuff for my dad to eat. I love to cook food, ha ha - it's all good!!! =) And perhaps tonight, I'll continue my self-snorkeling lessons at the gym, ha ha...I've never been a big swimmer, but at times like this, it'd be nice to have a pool eh? Though I'd have our garden any day over a pool. How awesome is it that we can just go back there, get some stuff to eat, and cook it up fresh right away??? =)

Junko and I will have to check out the Laguna Art Festivals next week instead, though it should be fun! Fun things to try out and see, and we might also get to the Pageant of the Masters, which I've wanted to see for a long time! Very cool! I'm so excited!!! =)

An old friend from high school emailed me yesterday! Woah! I haven't heard from Stephen in a long time, so it was neat. =) As it turns out, I got an email from Kate about our upcoming 10 year reunion for next year. WOAH (again, though this is an even bigger "woah"!)!!! I can't believe that's it's already coming up and such...that's so karazy...and to think about all the different paths that everyone's lives have taken already. What lessons have been learned? Who's grown up, and who hasn't yet? Heh heh. Stuff like that. Someone could even write a book on something like this, though going over the lives of a graduating class of any public high school would make for a huge book, bigger than the new Harry Potter book! ^_^ Which would be nice to read, as Vanessa gave it raving reviews - that is, if she stayed up till 2am finishing it, it's got to be worth it. =)

07.18.05, Monday:

[05:22pm] Oh! I forgot to mention that I saw all these Jackalopes out in Arizona. *wink* ^_^

Craig (whose bday is today! Woo hoo!!! Happy Bday again!) might want to catch himself one of these "warrior wabbits"...^_^

So I get this "Notice of Illegal Parking" today in the mail. It says I parked illegally in the city of Woodland (where is that?), on 7/7/05...a day when I was pretty much in the city of C all day long. It says my car was a Ford, 4 door, and green. Though that description is so far from the truth, it DOES have my proper license number and VIN #, which concerns me a little. So, if anyone knows anything about this, let me know. =)

[11:01am] Since I figured out how to host pics for free, muah ha ha, I can show you what happened in the past few days...!

Wednesday through Saturday morning: Ralm, my bro and I went to visit Pinon, a Navajo Reservation town up in Arizona, near New Mexico and the Four Corners area. =) Since we're going to start the VBS program there next year, we went to scout out the area and see just what resources were available, an what we'd need to do.

Stops on the way, besides gas, included: Henderson, Nevada (to stay at the Chen's); Flagstaff, Arizona (ate at a Mandarin Buffet, which was only $5.99 for lunch! We stopped in this city twice, to and fro Pinon); Pinon, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation; Glendale, Arizona (to stay at the Duke's. They have FIVE kids! And they're all such good kids, and fun to hang out with! Zachary, Sarah, Rachel, Mariah, and little Joshua! I'd so love to see these ones again. ^_^).

Interesting points on the trip:

• We visited the top of a mesa on the reservation, where the Hopi Indians lived. WOW!!! The view up there is breathtaking, though there was a sign that we shouldn't take pictures unless we paid (so we took them on the way down, but not at the top). You're so close to the clouds and sky, and can see the entire reservation from up there. Very, very cool!!!
• Last time I went through AZ, I liked the Coconino County area. I still like it. =) It's where Flagstaff is at, and where the temperature is cooler, there's a lot of clouds, some summer T-storms with lightning, and some greenery dotting the fields of golden grasses. Nice. =)
• There's a lot we'll have to do at Pinon, including repainting, recarpeting, and a lot of general handiwork on the house behind the church. At least running water and electricity is not a problem. But there were lots and lots of insects - like at one point, our car was covered with gnats! Heh heh...fortunately, nobody got any bites from this trip (I was paranoid about mosquitoes...).
• I took a lot of cloud pictures. There were so many big and fluffy clouds out there! And less pollution!!! So it was pretty. I couldn't help it. =)
• My car battery died in Flagstaff, hee hee. Like, we parked and ate in downtown (and Racha Thai! Mmm!), and when we came back, the car didn't respond to my alarm remote. We thought the battery on the remote died, so after more than an hour of asking for a screwdriver and walking probably more than a mile or so into the actual city to get a new battery and come back, my car STILL didn't respond! So we were worried that something was wrong with the car itself, and after about six telephone calls (everyone kept referring...), we just got into the car, and nothing was on at all - no alarm, no emergency lights, no ignition start. We got a jump start, and find out later that everything's fine. My dad hypothesized that the rough driving of distance, altitude (we were up to 6,000 ft up. AZ is high country!) and temperature, could have easily drained it. At least it's okay now. =)

(1) Pinon Gospel Church. The pastor's name is Jackson, and he's actually blind! It was neat hanging out with him. Ralm has the pictures we took with him though, so they're not here. But yeah, I liked Jackson. =) (2) Sanctuary of the Church. Cool glass cross that goes through the wall! =) (3) Outside View. Lots of inside views, but not posting here. Will show to those that want to go next year. ^_^ If interested, please let me know!

(4) Cloud formation in AZ sky. (5) Hoover Dam.  (6) The road less traveled.

(7) View on the way down from the mesa - cloud shadows are cool! (8) Still going down the mesa! ^_^ (9) Beautiful Arizona!

(10) Cloud reaching down to earth... (11) More scenery ^_^ (12) No wonder they call it the Painted Desert...!

(13) My bro and Ralm, toughin' it out at the church. (14) Sitting on a propane tank that had a happy face Indian on it. =P (15) Our buddies on the road - Patrick and Toad! ^_^

Saturday Late Afternoon: Heidi's MEGA-P (Most Excellent Going Away Party for her MEEWT - Most Excellent Exotic World Tour!) !!! =)

07.12.05, Tuesday:

[09:05pm] What a day! Six hours at the doctor's office...and it wasn't even a nice doctor! In fact, he was rude, disrespectful, prideful, and didn't show any compassion or care to my mom. Jerk. =( It looked like he didn't like the fact that my mom had trouble with English, or that it took a while because I'd have to translate everything both ways. He would interrupt during my translations to either him or my mom and ignore questions that we asked, unless we asked them firmly, at least twice. And he treated me like a dorky little kid, and only showed a little more respect when he realized how old I was and that I was a teacher. What a jerk.

The appointment was at 8:30am, so we arrive 10 minutes earlier, as one would do at any appointment. Turns out that the office didn't open until 8:30, so after a short wait, someone opens the door and starts setting up the office, getting their blended iced coffee or something, chatting and putting on their shoes and make-up...we weren't seen until after 9...basically, we were there for 5 hours with either rude or apathetic medical staff. =( We were able to take a lunch break (Mimi's Cafe! ^_^) and come back for another hour so that an official translator (because I'm the daughter, I could be biased, right? Though my translation was perfect when he checked it. ^_^)

Only one person out all 5 or 6 staff members there showed any care and patience at all. He was this male nurse named Ramone (the same name as my very cool custodian at work!). At the end of the 6 hours, I was able to write a short note of thanks to him, of how he was appreciated, and we saw him before we left, where we got a hearty thank you and good wishes. What a cool dude. =)

Makes me appreciate the fact that this is the first (and hopefully only) time I've encountered a physician that doesn't seem to enjoy what he does, and more that wonderful people like my friends Giang and Huy are in medicine. These are certainly people that care. And sometimes, all patients need are someone that shows a bit of sympathy and care, right? Let's not forget Andrew either, of course! =)

Yesterday was my first real day of doing absolutely nothing...kinda. =) I did lots of errands at home, but did get to go to the gym. I snorkeled in the pool. I still can't stay under the water very long - my body just naturally wants to float to the top, hee hee...but I'm going to go try again soon. =)

07.10.05, Sunday:

[05:08pm] It's one of those nice and lazy Sunday afternoons, where I feel like I just might take a nap after this...^_^

A gang of us went to the Beach Rally yesterday! Our cars were filled with Ralm, Shelton, Timmy, Scotty, Gilbert, Melody, Anna, Megan, Amy, Nina, Vanessa, Jenny, and I! TNT joined us later at South Bay Alliance. ^_^ At Torrance Beach, we played in the water, jumping into and semi-riding the waves as they crashed into us, ha ha...so much fun! It's definitely not as nice as Hawaii, and I could certainly do no snorkeling there...but it was still fun nonetheless. =) After, at South Bay Alliance, we got to eat our dinner out on the lawn, chill, and relax with old and (meet) new friends. =) Wonderful people, like Julia, Sharon, Rick, Jeremy, Yvonne, Chris, Bryan, Sophia, Ashley, Christina, Ka Wai, Janice, Mindy, and simply a bunch of awesome people! =) Afterwards, we celebrated in praise and worship, and a message from our speaker Greg Mah, before breaking off for home. And home - yes...the car ride home...was...so much fun! Muah ha ha! But I won't say why...shhhh...for those of you that know...all that good stuff isn't public knowledge, so no one else can know what was said in the silver CRV, hee hee hee...^_^ It's great - I love my homegirls at RCAC! ^_^

Thank you Jenny, for the gift! I'll always have your back, as I know that you'll always have mine! ^_^

Thomas heading for Peru this Saturday for his short term missions trip. Good luck Thomas! I know that God's gonna use you in big ways there! ^_^ Jason is going too! Woo hoo! In the same way, God has big plans for this uber-enthusiastic brotha' of Christ! ^_^

Oy. I took a calendar check, and it's all packed for the rest of summer. I have a little more than a month left, can you believe it??? It's okay - at least it's all good stuff. =) Upcoming summer events include:

• Arizona Scouting trip, to check out the Navajo Reservation for next year's VBS program
• Heid's MEGA-P!!! (I can only stay for a short bit, as I'll have just gotten home from Arizona, and have to do the below at my house, but I'm still coming for you!!!) ^_^
• Fundraiser Luncheon cooking at my place this Saturday, 7pm. Come one, come all!
• Fundraiser Luncheon this Sunday, with Governing Board Meeting afterwards since it got postponed from this week (which I just realized that it means...I may not be able to go to Harvest Crusade with the rest of you! =( *sad*)
• Vegas for taking care of the condominium!
• Possible SF??? See Tina??? A big maybe right now...!
• Teaching VBS - one story only, and helping my bro with another.
• August Bday Bash on the 27th! =)
• My cousin's wedding plans!
• Conference starting in mid-August, with school starting soon thereafter...and the end of summer break...!

07.08.05, Friday:

[09:51am] Wednesday was great! Vanessa, Anna and I went down to the Beverly Center to eat at the Grand Lux Cafe (mmm!!!), and we stuffed ourselves with such yummy food that it must have been why we took so many pictures with it. =) After meandering at the mall, we got to the Pantages...a little late, but it wasn't too bad, as we had to watch the first 25 minutes or so on a little TV screen before they let us latecomers in. The rest of the musical was SPECTACULAR! =) I've never had such up-close seats, and the singing, dancing, choreography, story...was all so much fun! They did change it from the book a bit - I liked both versions though, so it's all good. =) I'm glad Vanessa and Anna had an excellent first musical experience - they're pros now, and I'm taking them to future musicals with me, muah ha! Woot woot!!! ^_^

Yesterday was great too! I ran a bunch of errands, pretty much chilled at home, cooking a lot, and at the end, Shelton came over and had me watch more Inuyasha. It's an addiction, I tell ya...! ^_^

07.06.05, Wednesday:

[09:58am] I finally posted on The Bear's Head Tavern:

I had a thought this morning. You know that phrase, "worthy of our praise"? And how God alone is worthy of our praise? Well...just a thought, ya know...what makes us think that we are so great, that He has to be worthy of our praise? Like...it's as if we're so good and great that finally, finally, we've found something that can exceed our greatness, and thus, He's worthy to be praised. But it ain't like that. Cuz we're just human, and technically, we're scum.

So sometimes, when that phrase is found in songs, it nags me, just a little. But not too much - it's the praising Him that I like, and not so much the words. It ain't worth it (that "worth" again!) to go nuts over one phrase and decide not to sing it or praise it out loud like a fat boy loves cake. (Or a skinny boy for that matter - cake is intrinsically good. ^_^)

God's worthy to be praised just cuz He is. He IS da bomb-diggety, tha's fo' sho'...^_^

07.05.05,  Tuesday:

[01:35pm] I'm back, finally! =) I feel like I've been away from home forever...though it's been fun, home is always the best, eh? =) It's been another one of those crazy productive mornings, and just now, I have a short lull, hee hee. =)

Friday - A nice regular day that ended with a late night/wee early morning showing of War of the Worlds with Simon, Anthony, Andrew, my bro, and I. I wasn't expecting too much from the movie, but I actually liked it! So do I recommend it? Yes! ^_^

Saturday - Went all over the place, from Derrick's hometown (Temple City) to Brea, for preparations of my cousin's wedding! It was a fun 12 hours, ha ha...^_^ She got her invitations, wedding favors, her dress, my dress (simple. Pink. Sigh. Not my favorite color, but oh well, it's her wedding, right? =)), and her mom's dress too! We didn't find shoes (all the sales for the weekends featured summer-type shoes, when we simply needed nice dress shoes, preferably white...), but we'll look again another time. We also ate good food at the Seafood Village in Temple City (way yummier than the one in Rowland Heights, next to T.S. Emporium!) and dinner at a Vietnamese place. =)

I'm the only bridesmaid! Woah! Hmm. How does that work???

Well, October 29th is her wedding, so it should be another fun Lau clan gathering! ^_^

Came home...showered quickly and left for Vegas with Shelton! =)

Sunday - Visited Uncle John, went to LWCC, ate...checked out Sports Authority with Shelton, KK and Lathan...Retreat Planning Meeting at Pastor James'...Giant Barbeque Party at the Yuen's that included a bunch of fun people, like Uncle John, LVMel, Mindy and Neil, Aunty Wanda, KK, his Mom, and KC. =) We played a crazy version of Mah-Jong that included reversing some of the rules (it wasn't intentional, hee hee...), Shelton slamming down MJ tiles like a pro (and everyone else ending up doing that), KK making buildings out of his tiles (which actually got me started because it was easy to figure out what I had too!), a Korean Mel yelling "Pung!" for everyone else and winning most of the games, Neil finally winning...twice!, and me not wanting to give up my tiles, and somehow falling out of my chair...heh heh...I think the only one that played normally was Mindy...! KC came to visit and played a bit too. =)

Monday - Woke up incredibly late (10am!), and tagged along with Shelton to visit his barber. =) Ate lunch with KK at Raymond's Mediterranean Cafe and Lounge (*hookah! aiya! No, we didn't!), and visited KK's place, where Coco licked my toes and legs and hands and arms (she's a friendly dog...^_^). We played a bit at Circus Circus before picking up Shelton's mom from work (Shelton won this giant, almost-Gummy-sized frog!), and then came home...where I watched a bunch of Inuyasha (ack! I'm addicted!!!) before we had a delicious dinner together. Shelton's mom can cook quite well too! From the pan-fried Chilean Sea Bass covered in green onions, garlic and soy sauce to the tofu with shrimp amongst other things...it was wonderful! So was dessert...red beans with sweetened condensed milk with broken ice ("Red Bean Ice", or "Azuki Bean Ice")...*drool*

After that, we drove home...and I got back around 2'ish this morning.

Coming Adventures for this week:

Wicked Musical! Woo hoo! =)

REACh Beach Rally this Saturday! ^_^

07.01.05,  Friday:

[02:15am] Woah! Happy July! ^_^

Sleep schedule...all whacked up...!

Extra note on Hawaii - "shoyu" = soy sauce! Took me the longest time to figure that out...!

Went to play with Shelton today (Thursday), since he didn't have to go in to work. =) We ate at Van's in Garden Grove, to eat that famous nad yummy Vietnamese Egg Taco thing (Bun Xe'O), which had some interesting effects...I won't say here, as it's not mine to share, hee hee...meandered at Target before resting at the apartment and energize up to head to Santa Monica Pier. =) The beach was overcast and very foggy, though the scene was quite...artistic. =) The pier arcade was in full swing, and some reggae concert packed up a huge audience by the time we left from Third Street Promenade. After a long drive, we arrived home to eat at BJ's. Their pizza (and sandwiches) really are quite good! Thus, to Shelton's satisfaction, I no longer will deem BJ's unworthy of a return visit. His mission, thus, has been accomplished. =)