November 2005
11.28.05, Monday:
[7:00pm] I took this on the way to Vegas this past weekend. It's my current desktop - it can be yours too! Heh heh! ^_^
Wednesday night, Kevin Ku and Khoi-Ahn came over! Finally got to meet KA - I like her. ^_^ Shelton and I went with them to Misato for dinner and to meander around The Crossings on their visit, before they headed off to the OC, heh heh.
Thursday morning, my parents, Shelton, and I headed to Vegas. The trip there can be summed up in a whole grip ol' probably-improperly-penned-haikus. You'll need to read them with some dramatic pausing and flair to get the full effects of these haikus, hee hee...^_^
I woke up late for our 6am departure on Thursday...
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Startled! Awake! I am late. |
Observing sights on the way to The City of Lights...
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Old terry cloth towel |
Crumbled litter
Scattered in the desert
An Indian cries.
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Yucca stalks |
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Red mountain
Layered cake
Delicious.
(Shelton's)
Dim Sum lunch at Chang's off Decatur. Awesome. The best dim sum I've had!!! Warm mini dan taats, crispy fresh fried shrimp balls and tofu, and well, just plain good stuff!
Little bits of heaven
Oh, how I love thee!
Dim sum.
Found some strange frozen fruit at 99 Ranch and Shun-Fat. Hmm. The website says it's not carried in the US...uh...I just saw it...heh heh...
O
Mangosteen
Mysterious and brown
Also round.
Cute Kae Lun (Qi-Lin in mandarin) statuette in an antique store...
Dragon head
Scaley butt
Guardian Kae Lun.
I forgot how we penned this, but they're my favorites in a cake...and represent something excellently delightful...^_^
Mangoes and strawberries
High and low
A perfect cake.
A lot of huge fruits at the Chinese grocery stores there inspired this:
Give me a boost!
Giant produce
Hormone-laden fruits.
Cantonese haiku, ha ha...
Gwui (tired)
May Anh (close eyes)
Fun fun gow (a little slumber).
I had this zit near my mouth, and at the same time, there were too many red beetles...
Slugbug!
Three red bugs
Mocking me: ha ha!
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Cuba Cafe...*drool* Salman al Mango,
y Ropas Viejas...con Morros y Cristianos!
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Crispy and buttery |
Crispy Celery!
Cabbage, Carrots, Cilantro!
Cole Slaw de Cuba!
The most heavenly flan...
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Creamy Vanilla |
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All the food we had in Vegas was incredible, ha ha...how come I don't have a places-to-eat page??? I'll make one tonight, ha ha...
Thanksgiving dinner was at Banana Leaf Cafe, a Malaysian style place that rocked all of our socks off. My dad especially, hee hee. =) There were giant Golden Fragrant Shrimp, Roti Canai, Satay Skewers, Poh Piah, Baby oyster omelets, Sarang Burong, Curry beef stew, Beef Bone Teh Soup, and a million things...my dad loved it all so much that we went back the next day for Char Kueh Teow and more noodles, ha ha...
Malaysian food didn't end there though! On Saturday, we went to my dad's Malaysian Get-Together (40 year high school reunion for those here in SoCal!) for more Malaysian food and memories, heh heh. It was nearby, in Chino Hills, and we met lots of fun people, and neat to see that these people used to play together as children, hundreds of miles away in rural Malaysia.
I even met a crazy-hyper girl that I found out I'm nearly related to, through marriage - she's my uncle's wife (auntie #5)'s younger sister's adopted daughter. She was crrrrazy...Boo-Ya'ing like mad, heh heh. =)
After, at 99 Ranch, we ran into an old friend from more than 15 years ago...she and her husband used to own a Pizza Parlor, and my bro and I used to play there, eat pizza and fried chicken, and played with their sons when we were all little. She's actually my grandpa's god-daughter, and we had lost touch with them after we moved out here from OC. So, we went to cook dumplings, eat dinner, and catch up. Hopefully, we'll see them again - I really liked them a lot when I was little. =)
My dad was the biggest winner for Black Friday shopping at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets, muah ha. And to think that he didn't even want to go shopping at first...! ^_^
King is engaged!!! Wow! Congrats! Woot woot! ^_^
11.23.05, Wednesday:
[6:38pm] Once you teach middle school, you can teach 'em all, so they say. But then again, Heidi is also extra powerful. ^_^
"OK, teaching high school is a breeze in comparison to middle school. There are some gangstas but I treat them the same way as in MS and they eat out of my hand – and most of the rest don’t get affected by the bad behavior. Of course I’m already bossing the principal around."
11.22.05, Tuesday:
[10:30pm] More errands today! Actually, errands can be fun. ^_^ Going to Target, Dry Cleaners (and using a coupon!), 99 cents store, buying things needed around the house, the gym, and cooking, cooking, cooking, and simply relaxing. Oh! And I got a pedicure for like $10. Hee hee. Grand Opening 40% off special. =)
I even fixed some links on the header menu above. Check it out. I especially like Cooking With Monkey. =) Just need to resize it a bit...will do later...=)
Food recently cooked (uh, warning. Huge pics. Need to resize - an ability that I lack much of, ha ha...they're too big for imageshack to load up...must be new camera. ^_^) include:
(1) Sushi appetizer, (2) Shrimp Salsa with Garlic Toast appetizer, and (3) Pan-Fried Salmon (we usually make this at home...but it was different because I added lemon on top of the garlic flavor, and cut up one leftover no-preservative-hot-dog that my parents got at Henry's, hee hee, and used it to garnish the salmon.).
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For baking, I baked some madeleine cookies. =) I didn't have the right pans though, so they came out like little baby cupcakes, ha ha...=)
11.21.05, Monday:
[10:21am] So many things went on the past few days! All of them good, ha ha. =)
Thursday night - Went down to RH, where Anna and I hit the gym and ate dinner at Quickly after, hee hee...spicy crispy chicken is mouthwatering good...it's probably a good thing they don't have these stores down here in Corona, or I'd attack it more than once a week. ^_^ Because I had no students the next day, we just lounged at her place and chatted up a storm until later than usual, ha ha...I love Anna!!! We have entirely too much fun! ^_^
Friday - With no students, us teachers went to work to turn in grades, clean, plan, and hang out. ^_^ Angela, Mercedes, Elissia and I met up with Victor, Jenny and little Bianca at IHOP for lunch. ^_^ Later at night, I made dinner, as well as blueberry muffins (Mmm. ^_^), and worked on ideas for Takako's wedding car. =) Shelton came over, and we went to Heidi's to watch WalMart: The Movie. OH MY GOODNESS...I must evangelize to all of you, ha ha ha, that:
<walmart rant>
Wal-Mart is EVIL!
After the watching...there's no way I can ever go again, after watching the video. Sigh. No more Totino's Pizza. In SoCal anyways - they still sell them in the Vegas Albertsons, so I hear. ^_^ But their practices are immoral, wrong, and just...evil and greedy! I mean, I understand efficient business practices. It's a good thing. But Wal-Mart is doing it to a degree where it has crossed the line of what is right. The whole monopoly thing about it pushing small businesses over is true, but at the same time, that also happens in every business, right? However, there should be some regulations. And overseas labor is also something that is common with other companies. Do I like it? No, not really. But the people there often choose to work there because they need the job; their own country cannot or will not provide the employment they need. Although, of course, I do think it's important that overseas labor should include decent working facilities, you know? If in China, a fan is like $1 U.S. Dollar, then Wal-Mart can afford more than one fan for a giant factory where it's sweltering hot, and people are there for hours and hours.
But what gets me the most is how Wal-Mart treats their own employees here in the U.S. Russian immigrants (or so their accent seemed) are locked in the building basically for the whole night - they are not allowed to exit anytime during their graveyard hours to get food or whatever, and cannot leave until the morning, no matter WHEN they finish their work. They offer health insurance to their workers at a cost that the workers can't afford, or have to pay the full amount for prescriptions ($70, $80 versus the $10 to $15 others would pay through their insurance). And yeah, you may say that the workers choose to work there at a minimum wage or whatever, and that's fine - BUT the problem is that often, managers will go into the computer and change their hours worked so that it doesn't reflect whatever overtime they put in; often employees are not paid for overtime when they do it, or are simply told they won't be paid, but need the help, and often, the workers mean well and are willing to put in an extra hour here and there. Even Chinese business (known to be extremely practical and cheap because we're Chinese, ha ha!) will pay their workers their overtime pay, though they often don't offer insurance. You get what you work for, right?
Those that have worked there longer and fulfill their part of doing their job to achieve a higher paying position often are told they can't at the last minute. There was one black woman who asked if it was because she was black, or if it was because she was a woman, and the response was: "Two out of two's not bad!". Oy!!!!
And cities grant subsidies of hundreds of thousands of dollars to have Wal-Mart come into its community because it supposedly "gives back to the community". But it doesn't at all. Anyways, more stuff here.
I have the DVD here for a bit, borrowed from Heidi. Wanna watch? Let me know! I shall evangelize, ha ha! =)
</walmart rant>
Saturday - Takako and Wilkin's Wedding day, located at the beautiful St. Andrews down in Redondo Beach. ^_^ Lots of good pictures, lots of good times. =) Reception was great, and it was also Rosalyn's debut of the slideshow. Good Job Ros!!! ^_^ Dinner near the Queen Mary, at the Long Beach area. BEEEAUTIFUL area...took lots of silly pictures, and ate at the absolutely gorgeous Reef Restaurant.
Sunday - Church. Immense dish-washing (it was non-stop! After-Thanksgiving dishes, ha ha!). Finished Inuyasha, finally. 167 episodes, and the ending is...ARGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I won't spoil it for you though. ^_^ Ballroom dancing again - learned more of the Tango, some special side steps and box step swirl thing, and had lots of fun, hee hee. Went to eat at Ohana Grill with Derrick, Anna, and Shelton, but *ROAR* it was closed...so we went to Red Robin instead, where we played Black Magic, ate lots of steak fries, and chilled. ^_^
11.15.05, Tuesday:
[10:33pm] The Adventures of Soy Boy...or KoSoy (for Kosher Soy)...not sure what to name him just yet...but it stemmed from Sunday School one day, when we were talking about Judaism, some of the customs involved, and how they eat only kosher foods. Of which I started coming up with animals wearing yarmulkes. And then Soy Boy was born. Since then, he will probably be hosting most of my sermon notes. ^_^ (Soy Boy has lost his yarmulke in one of the pictures, and he's angry, ha ha...and the one with many Soy Boys...I was testing facial expressions on him. ^_^)
Oh yeah. Shawn McDonald. I like one of his songs currently on the radio: Take My Hand. ^_^ If you listen to it, you might like it too, hee hee. I do have gift certificates...maybe I should use them...=)
11.14.05, Monday:
[07:38pm] Uploaded: Entertainment for those at the BBQ. Note: may take a while to download. =Þ
Ping Pong Action (about 12 MB)
Chris's Concert (about 50 MB - 3 minutes long) (Lyrics here)
^_^
Also, another favorite radio station added into the my car, hee hee...check it out. ^_^
AND...I got my cake plate today! Woo hoo! $15 - $5 instant rebate - $2 coupon = $8. I like deals. And wanted a cake display for snacks and cookies and yes, cake too...I'm giddy like a fat boy loves cake...ready to use my vacation time next week to cook all sorts of yummy things. ^_^
[06:12am] A fun-filled 3 day weekend! ^_^
Friday - Went to Victor and Jenny's place and made them fried rice, hee hee. Besides hangin' out and chillin' with them, they gave me a bottle of wine! Heh heh...I actually am not grossed out by this one...because it tastes pretty much like grape juice, with just a tiny zing. ^_^ After that, Shelton and I headed out to Pho 79, the best Vietnamese place I know of, ha ha...eating Pho Dac Biet and Egg Rolls. I can NEVER get tired of it! Then we adventured off to pick up Takako's wedding gift, visited Albertson's and 99 Ranch, went back to his place to cook, cook, and eat dinner. ^_^ Thank you for feeding me so well! ^_^
Saturday - After cleaning, grading, and lesson planning at home, Shelton and I went to Derrick's BBQ! ^_^ So much fun! There was hangin' out, ping pong, mahjong on the computer, eating and eating again, cake & ice cream, presents, fruit salad, fruit salad, and did I say fruit salad??? ^_^And this year, Chris Hui was there, as well as Melody! ^_^
I'm having trouble adding pictures to the Gallery menu above, so for now, I'll just post them here:
Pictures from Karen and Phil's Wedding. =)
Sunday - Church, Annual Congregational Meeting, Governing Board Meeting, and the Adventures of Soy Boy (or KoSoy = Kosher Soy), muah ha...Soy Boy is my little character that I like to draw...I'll have to post pictures of him up soon. ^_^ Anna came back to my place, where we watched Chinese Acrobatics with my family while baking the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie, ha ha...and hey...we didn't have to add salt this time, because...well...shhhh! *wink*. ^_^ Gilbert, Derrick, and Melody came over, and off we went to Ballroom Dancing!!! We actually found it this time, because we followed Gilbert, ha ha...and learned how to Box Step (took a while...I'm uncoordinated!!! So is Shelton!), spin on the box step, do the Cuban Walk, and three parts of the Tango - the basic, the corte (knee punch, ha ha!!), and the funnest part - the promenade! After hanging out with Derrick and Anna afterwards (story time! pictures! hee hee...), Shelton and I had some soup and made spam musubi for dinner. ^_^
And woah! Only 4 days (Friday = no students, just as chillin'!) this week of work, and I'm off all next week for Thanksgiving! Woooooonderful! ^_^
11.10.05, Thursday:
[11:40pm] It's nice having three day weekends...I could stay up later than usual! ^_^ I even watched TV. Woah. I watched a movie actually: Advent Children. If you've ever seen it, my favorite part is the cell phone part, hee hee hee...and...I want a Moogle...if I get to go to Japan next year, then a Moogle I will search for! =)
I was even on AIM for a bit! My AIM was having problems, becoming paralyzed every now and then, but I think I got back to most of you lovely, wonderful people out there. How I've missed many dear old friends. ^_^
Taking mountains and tossing them out into the sea. God can do aaaaaanything! He's AWESOME! ^_^
King met William Hung! Neato! ^_^ (I hope it's okay to post this, heh heh...)
Some random pictures from my room. =) And one from Central Cali...a car got in the picture, but...it's still pretty. ^_^
And for your pure entertainment...(my bro made me do it! Heh heh!)
11.09.05, Wednesday:
[05:51pm] How awesome is that? I post this, and Craig likes it. ^_^
23 "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. 24 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you."
Mark 11:23-24
Nabbed from Neil: Eight-year-old physics genius enters university
Edwin "White Rice" Lai will be down here for Christmas and be at our parrrrrr-tay! Woot woot! ^_^ (Now Gilbert, don't go calling him that. It's not really his nickname. Just something funky I like to say for him, ha ha...)
Femi, have you had your sushi today??? ^_^ Muah ha. =)
Ah ha! The answer to yesterday's blog? TIFFANY!!! ^_^ It was great talking to you again homegirl! Heh heh, we hang out next time, ya? *wink* ^_^
Heidi's going to Africa again tomorrow! Thus, her MEEWT continues! ^_^
So I'm home early again. It's been a few days of coming home early - I even slept a full 8 hours last night! Aaaaamazing. Cuz the doctor recommended me that those funny eye spasms that nobody seems to see are probably due to stress and not getting enough sleep. I think I can do it for this week and next - get enough sleep that is - since this week's almost over, and next week, I only have to plan three days (cuz Thursday is a district science test, and Friday = no students, and the week after is completely off for Thanksgiving! Muah ha...Vegas again, perhaps?). And Kevin Yiee was scaring me with talks of a possible virus. He also mentioned a calcium deficiency, and the possible use of botox (on one side of my face? What?). The internet was scaring me of possible cancer. Oy. Giang thought it could be stress, or simply a nerve being pressed upon by a blood vessel. Either way, the doctor said the spasms weren't abnormal, and with rest, I found that it spazzed out less today. Woo hoo. More sleep for me tonight. ^_^
I went to Wal-Mart, that bastion of evil, to get my film canisters. Nearly a month ago, they had promised to save me the clear ones for a project - they had messed up, and apologized, so were REsaving them for me. Wrote my name down and everything. I went to get it today after work, and what did they say??? That uhhhhh...*looking really ashamed*...they had none...and look, there's one sitting here in the bag...JUST ONE...from near a month's work??? Okay. I'm determined. No more Wal-Mart for me, ever. They're just lazy. And bastardy. And I'm going to watch that movie at Heidi's with full passion! Heh heh. =)
11.08.05, Tuesday:
[06:53pm] It's been a long week and then some...eating a yummy kiwi right now...^_^
In short:
