Weblog Archive

.:February 2002 - April 2, 2002:.

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04.02.02, Tuesday
[06:55 pm]

Ah...today was the start of our Hot Wheels Challenge!!! ^_^ I only had periods 1, 2, and 3 today (due to Language Arts testing, our schedule is blocked for today and Thursday)...so 4 and 6 (5 is my conference period!) will have to wait till Thursday. So far though, it's going awesome! I give them only half of a manila folder, all the masking tape they need...and they must make their ramps! ^_^ There were a lot of really cool ramps, heh heh...on Friday, all the classes will be doing the Hot Wheels Race-Off, where we can all see everyone's ramp perform wonders to amplify the speed of their cars. ^_^ The rest of the week is done and planned out! Tomorrow, we'll be working on posters for the Three Laws of Motion...and Th and Fri, as you see, are taken care of. Ahhh...finally, some respite...! ^_^ And since Spring Break starts at 2:45pm on Friday, I will go see my friends in Irvine. Yay! I haven't seen them in sooooo long!!!! ^_^

Dang it...Buffy's a rerun tonight. =Þ

Monday

Isaac Newton's Three Laws of Motion...I demonstrated and taught them this with one of those giant poppers sitting on my overhead projector's top...they kids loved it...hee hee, not only was it educational and demonstrated all three laws, but they also got a kick out of seeing it pop into the ceiling, heh heh. Sometimes, it is so easy to please my kids! ^_^

Sunday

It's Easter! That amazing, awesome day! I wish people didn't just go to church on Easter. Like you know how an "extra effort" is made to go just cuz it's Easter. After all,  God didn't sacrifice His Son for us only on that day. We sacrifice Him every single day through our actions and mind...yeah, I know, the act of going to church doesn't mean anything. It's the heart that counts. And our hearts need to be on Him all the time. Not just on Easter should we remember what was done for us. ^_^

After church, we had the Youth Core Meeting...successfully chaired by Thomas, who did a professional job. The rest of the youth were pretty professional too...bringing in their papers, pens and pencils, ideas, suggestions...it was cool seeing them in action. I want to let them run it more and let them direct the path of YF. And it's cool cuz they're willing to take up the challenge! ^_^ After that...the gang and I went to watch Blade 2. Eeewww...horrendously disgusting movie!!! Hee hee...not quite SO scary as Resident Evil. It was more on the gross side. And you KNOW that I don't get grossed out easily! ^_^ 

After, Fred and David came over for dinner...and Fred made us his specialty, "Dun Dan"...it's like the egg custard, the part that is in those yummy Egg Tarts. Mmm...it was pretty good! Okay, I've had a weekend of lots of good eatin', can ya tell? ^_^

Saturday

Dim-Sum in the morning!!! Yummy yummy yummy! I haven't dim-summed in a while, hee hee...we went down to Monterey Park and ate lots of good food. ^_^ At night, Fred came over as he had nothing else to do (j/k) and we all had my mom's homemade bao's for dinner. Ooo, they were sooooo good...! I wanna learn!!! ^_^

Friday

End of another busy week at school...and went to the Good Friday Service at church after. Shelton came back from Vegas too, so he's back at home with us now. After, we all watched the much anticipated Fly Me to Polaris movie (it's a Chinese movie). 

Thursday

We took spring photos at school today. I got to take them too...and of course, as staff, they are free!!! ^_^ But it is too bad...school pictures never come out right, no matter if you're a student or not.

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03.27.02, Wednesday
[06:07am]

This has been a busy week too...I hope it slows down! Sorry all, for taking so long and being slow with IM's and emails. ^_^

Jason, da banner is tyte! ^_^ Lorie, I tried to call back, but the number didn't work at My's (maybe I had the wrong number?)...I couldn't go though, cuz I didn't get off from school and get your message until about 6pm.  However, I hope you're still gonna be hangin' around So Cal for a bit, and maybe we can do something. ^_^ ARG, I just realized right now that I could have paged you!!! Aiya! >_< I forgot about your pager...=Þ

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03.26.02, Tuesday
[07:30pm]

Pictures updated. ^_^

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03.25.02, Monday
[07:15pm]

Another week starting again...! Ay, I'm so ready for break, heh heh...especially after last week! But I have two more weeks...*sigh*

After church, Christie and Mike hitched me into their car and took me off to Christie's, where we, with Eym-Soon, Li-Yin, and Keen-Yong made her famous-oh-sooooooooo-delicious cookies that she brought to camp!!! Mmm...White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies...and Butterscotch Graham Cracker Cookies! ^_^ The batch I got to take home, they are...well...all gone now...^_^

Then, Gilbert went with me to Clara's bday dinner! Mmm, it was at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Duarte. Yum yum yum...one of my favorite places! I got the Potpourri, which had four sauces on it: White Clam Sauce, Meat Sauce, Mushroom Sauce, and the Browned Butter with Mizithra Cheese. I got this not because I was indecisive, heh heh, but as a way to get four flavors at once and compare them! ^_^ I usually get the White Clam Sauce...it's my favorite!...but I wanted to try something different...I've tried the tortellini before (good, but not gummy stylin' like the clam sauce!) and the fettucine (eh, okaaay), but I wanted to try more things. Ah, they make their marinara sauce too salty...therefore, the meat and mushroom sauce was not as good as it could have been...the browned butter with mizithra was actually pretty good and impressive, but I think that if I had too much of that (like a regular order), my whole mouth would be bathed in some creamy cheesy buttery sauce that would have been too overwhelming. Good, but only in smaller portions.  ^_^ The White Clam Sauce still rules over all the others! Deeeelectable! You can eat a whole lot of it and not be overwhelmed, it's not too salty, and it's as tasty as can be. ^_^

Besides all the good food, heh heh, I did get to see a bunch of old buddies again, people I haven't really seen (or if I have seen, it's like at meetings, so we didn't get to even TALK to too much) and hung out with in a long while. It was fun to see Takako, Eric, Rosalyn, Jeff, Jenn, Ivan, Regina, Julie, and a bunch of others as well. =)

Eric, I am sorry...but Spumoni Ice Cream??? It's got this weird flavor and aftertaste...and I most certainly remember it as pink, white and green...! Just plain ol' Vanilla is much more heavenly...you can add anything to it - fruit, nuts, syrup, candy - or just eat it plain, and it will always be melt-in-your-mouth-goodness! Ah, but it's alright...each to his own. ^_^

Heh heh...I started today and this week with new/revamped rules and classroom expectations...and the rules are pretty strict. I'll just have to be sure I enforce them real well...which is hard for me - I'm not a mean teacher, hee hee, and I get caught up in the discussions too, so I forget about handraising, etc...but nope. I am sticking to these rules, and even have helpers in the classroom to be sure I only call on those that raise their hands, or that I'm enforcing the rules too. The kids seem to like that, heh heh. And at the same time, I have secret CIA agents planted around the room who will give me info like at lunch or whenever on who was really doing what. ^_^ The CIA agents are all happy to accept the covert mission, hee hee. ^_^

Tomorrow at lunch, we have the Open House Raffle!!! Heh heh...I have candy and random toys (like goofy items I got at the 99cents store) that will be raffled away to those that showed up to Open House. It's silly, but they are still pretty pysched about it. ^_^

ARG, I gotta plan for my lessons tomorrow...darn physics...we are starting to tomorrow, only I really don't know exactly YET how to plan it out so it'll be an exciting start. I think I might do a thing where we can talk about what things in the real world ARE physics-y and ask how they think it actually works...and keep that page in the journal and go full circle at the end, where they can reflect and see how much they've actually learned. It would be neat, I think...only I need to plan it out...! So I should go do that now, huh? ^_^

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03.24.02, Sunday
[08:40am]

Disneyland was fun! ^_^ It was great to hang out with my buddies and just totally relax the whole day away. We went to see things that I've never seen before, though they've always been at the park, like the Enchanted Tiki Room. I don't know why I've never gone there, but it was neat...singing birds, flowers, and Tiki natives...and the same with the Alladin story telling section...it was one of those stories where the characters get the audience involved. For example, whenever the word JAFAR was said, we all had to *GASP*! I haven't seen one of those since I was in elementary school...I remember something about an evil villain with a black cape, but that was about it. ^_^ The Golden Horseshoe Stagehouse was also really cool - like they had some Hillbillies presenting. There were four of them, and they were amazing with their instruments!!! They played all kinds of string instruments and were absolutely professionals, singing and dancing and acting silly and playing all at once. There was this cello-ist who played SO fast that you couldn't even see his fingers touch the strings, and the wood on that part of the cello was all worn down from his playing. And there was this old guy who played all kinds too, and kept winking at all the girls. ^_^ I wonder how much they got paid??? They had true talent!!! ^_^

Going to all these things, especially to the shows that I wouldn't have gone on before, really made me realize how much I've changed. Not in terms of who I am, but like my attitude of when I was younger vs. now. Like let's go back to when I was 13 or 14...the age of my students, heh heh...I would truly have rolled my eyes and thought that the above said events were lame, immature and simply not worth my time. But now, I'm 23, and I love these things...not because of some "I don't want to grow up" attitude, but simply because they were so much fun, and I really appreciated their creativity and ability to get all these things put together into reality. It was so neat to see these people really enjoying themselves and having a great time with the audience and people there. I mean, of course I've changed - being 13 and 14 is a truly, TRULY unique age (not only was I that age, but I handle them every day, aiya! ^_^), but well, it was just something that I thought about. 

Eym-Soon and I gave Li-Yin quite a fright about Pirates of the Carribean...we said there were these two BIG 90 degree dips, heh heh...of course, there were only little ones, but you know how it's dark and people scream anyways? ...it scared the living daylights out of her for that first dip! But hey, we progressed her into Indiana Jones, then Big Thunder Mountain Railraod, and then even the Matterhorn! Not bad for a day's work. No Space Mountain though...she argued that she had been on it already, heh heh...^_^

"It's a small world" also made me think about diversity, the crossing of racial barriers, of how far we've come along in the world in just decades, and well...I'm sure it does that to everyone though! =) All the dolls look the same, except for some skin color and hair color and clothing...so we are all the same...and anyways, enough said. ^_^

Ooo!!! We saw the Truth Commercial airplanes in the sky while we were kayaking there!!! ^_^ So they really DO have them!!! That's neat! 

Yesterday was spent ALL day working on readjusting some rules and expectations for my classroom...it came about due to the principal's evaluation of me...*sigh*...I'm still perfecting classroom management...I thought that the class actually went really well, and hey, it did! But my principal had some helpful suggestions that were good ideas, and so I want to try them out and even better my classroom management skills. One kid had made a comment a while ago that in my class, they love to speak and so that's why they all like to say something, whereas in other classes, they are generally afraid to speak, so they don't say anything. Hmm, that's a good thing - I'm glad there's that positive, open environment in my classroom...but at the same time, I need to balance this with consistency of expectations. *sigh* 

It was also Maile's 3rd Birthday yesterday!! She's my cute cute cute cuuuuute niece!!! ^_^ Happy Birthday Maile! Smile Maile! ^_^ (hee hee...Maile is pronounced almost like "Smiley"). ^_^

David, Mark, Gilbert and I headed to PM at LACAC last night, to scope it out. And hey, I liiiike!!! It's a good place to go to, once a month, and so we will take the rest of our group next month (many are away on Spring Break anyways). Garrick talked about Forgiveness...how it really is the whole deal for Easter. He's right! And wow...it made me think more things (*okay, this just has been a weekend so far of a lot of reflecting, huh?). See, I'm a pretty easy going person - I don't get truly angry at people (okay, "huffy" is different Shelton!!! Hee hee, j/k!), and most of the time, if I do get mad, like even at my mom, it goes away pretty quickly and I'm back to happy-go-lucky-gail mode. ^_^ But I've truly felt wronged only a few times in my life, and one of the incident was the hardest one for me to get over. I was absolutely betrayed and lied to by a good friend of mine for many years, who used what I thought was a pretty lame excuse to explain herself out of the situation. And so I forgave her after we talked about it...and I truly did forgive her...but I couldn't forget it. She lost all the trust and belief in our friendship that I ever had, and so after that incident, I couldn't see her as who she was to me anymore. I couldn't trust her, didn't talk to her so much, and really detached myself from her and her doings. 

It wasn't until several years later that I felt absolutely compelled to talk to her again (hey, this was last year actually) and explain why I had just stopped being her friend after that. Anyways, long story...after that phone call though, I really tried to put all that behind. And now, it IS all behind us, though unfortunately, we're not back to what we used to be. It's unattainable, I have to admit, because many years had passed by, and we've grown apart and lead different lives and lifestyles. I still don't even see her as a good friend, but no longer do I have that awkward untrusty-like feelings anymore. It's a weird link, but see, I'm sure we've all wronged God in more ways than just that - we betray Him over and over again, and sacrifice Him on the cross daily, and yet look at it all...he can still find it in Him to forgive us completely and to FORGET, and to give us a truly clean slate despite our errors and betrayals. Wow, huh? And that's what Easter is truly about...not him "dying on a cross and rising again"...that is a huge part of it, but the core of why He did it, of why He was willing to be nailed into a cross, to bear all that physical anguish and humiliation and to die...was all for us...to forgive the dirty, rotten scoundrels that we are...

Ain't that just so awesome...??? ^_^

Ohhhh, after, we stopped by Monterey Park...$1.88 Won Ton Noodles!!! And they weren't skimpy on their stuff. Mmm...we also had a bunch of little things, also pretty cheap, like Deep Fried Tofu in XO Sauce (mmm, tofu is always sooo yummy! Except for that stinky one...), Deep Fried Crispy Milk, and Curry Fish Balls. 

I have new pictures ready and a new pictures webpage (or it's reformatted anyways)...only I have not uploaded it nor the pictures, and I have a feeling that at this rate, it'll be quite some time before it's all posted onto the webpage. =Þ Oh yeah...I have a Winter Retreat testimony to share at church today...yikes...am not ready...I have absolutely NOTHING written down yet...hmm...I go to church in like half an hour...er...maybe I should have written out an outline instead of blogging...? *scratch head* 

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03.22.02, Friday
[08:35am]

What a week!!! It's been insanely hectic...let's see...well, there was just a lot of school, school, school, meetings, meetings, meetings...a stupid highlighter incident with one student...Heidi being out most of the time...me staying at school till late (as usual, bleah!) when it was supposed to be a week when all certificated teachers were to leave exactly @ 3:15pm (we were supposed to stick to the contract and show our desire for our raise that we were supposed to get a while back, the one that was already signed and ratified!...but of course, there's no way I could only stay till 3:15 and still be a teacher, aiya!)...I got evaluated yesterday by my principal (yikes!), and Open House was also last night! 

Open House was pretty cool...after school, I had some students help me out with rearranging the room (and now, it's like a U-shaped forum type setting...I like...I will keep! Plus I also get a bigger teacher space, instead of my little corner, which is a nice bonus!) and decorating for Open House. I got the PowerPoint to go too, where there were pictures of my students, their work in class, etc...There were more people than I expected - like instead of 8 or so coming, as other teachers said, we had a bigger turn out this year. I think I had like more than 30 families, which is hey, pretty good for 8th graders at the end of the year! ^_^

Of course, after I got home last night, there was still lots to do...two of my students will be out for a while, so I had to get their work ready (and it's weird as we're going to be starting physics, which is brand new, and I have no idea how we're going to start it - by the way, this is my mission for the weekend: Physics! Ick! - and they want me to give them work??? So I just issued worksheets...which is something rare in my class...), as well as find this and that, make a new seating chart, etc...arg! But despite all the work, today is a well deserved day off to relax a bit. ^_^ I am going to accompany my homebodies Eymie and Li-Yin to...Disneyland!!! ^_^ It's not my favorite place in the world - the lines suck, it's expensive, and the rides aren't all THAT great, but it's the people you go with that matter, right? ^_^ And these two are worth it! ^_^ Bye bye, off I go!!! ^_^

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03.18.02, Monday
[06:25am]

Monday Off to school again...! ^_^ I got up early today so I decided to update my webpage a bit, heh heh. This is finals week for Fred, Ed, David, Shelton, Mark, Li-Yin, Eym-Soon, Giang, Dolly, and well...sooo many others...good luck everyone!!! Study hard! ^_^  

And goodbye Fred, Ed, Shelton...! See you three after break! 

For me, I have another week of Project ALERT...my goal? To finish it this week and start on Physics! I also have Open House this Thursday night. Hmm. I wonder how that will go??? 

In the meantime, Eric has claimed to solve the Egg Puzzle. Looks pretty good too, though I'll examine it more thoroughly later before I announce it the official solution. Mark says he's found another one as well (actually, it's Keen-Yong's) and it's on his webpage. I also hear that it's Clara's birthday next weekend, and that somehow, through Gilbert, I'm invited to go too. So I might go, if the Youth Core meeting on Sunday doesn't take too long (it shouldn't, as it's not like the long GB Meetings we have! Hee hee), and it'd be nice to see some good friends from that area again. ^_^

Sunday 

Happy Birthday Nick!

It's my crack dealer's birthday today! *woops* I meant, my buddy Nick's bday? ^_^ j/k! We're all gonna take him out to Garden for dinner after everyone is done with finals and back from Spring Break. ^_^ We had CF at our house, accompanied with my mom's deeeelicious deep fried pork chops (sounds fatty and gross, but it's reeeeally good!), french toast, veggies and crinkle cut fries (from Winter Retreat!). CF was good...we talked again on our theme ("What is the Will of God for My Life?") and also did a new redistribution of tasks in our little group (okay, big now?). I'll be taking care of Prayer during the next three months! ^_^

Saturday I went with my mom in the morning/afternoon to RH, to go grocery shopping and what-not. Pretty much took all day...and then at night, I had YF, where we went to Harold's! We haven't seen him in a while, so it was nice to see him - he's been accepted into (so far) UCLA, UCSD, UCR, and UCSB. WOW, huh? Not rejected once just yet. He's waiting for Berkeley, heh heh. The lesson that night was on some of the visions of the prophet Zechariah...you know what? It was one of my drier lessons...rarely do I have these, but this time, I think it was that the topic was pretty abstract and way out there (it even got me while I was preparing it, but I thought I'd go through and teach it as it went well with our current theme...we're examining Isaiah 61:1-3, which is something like a big "To-Do" list that God has for us). And it just felt weird cuz it took a long time to break down the info for me, but it just wasn't a topic that the youth really clicked with. I was a little discouraged, as I was hoping a more abstract approach would appeal intellectually to them, but it just went over everyone's heads. Ah, back to trying things the old way? Or shall I have to figure out how to integrate my old ways with these new ways? Heh heh...but then again, we won't be back on visions like these karazy ones for a while. ^_^ 

Friday Out comes Resident Evil!!! So a gang of us went down to the Cinema Star to watch it. I liked it! It was a good scary movie, in terms of gross things popping out of nowhere all the time, hee hee. I expected most of them, but it still got me, and that means they must have set it all up pretty good, don't ya think? ^_^

Wednesday I tried Yoga at L.A. Fitness...hmm, very interesting...it's kinda fun, but at the same time, because it's soooooo slow paced, it's, well...slow paced...However, I do have to admit that a few days later, my muscles were a leeeetle sore, though in a good way. Hmm, I'm still waiting for Hip Hop!!! But in the meantime, Kickboxing is fun too!

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03.12.02, Tuesday
[06:50pm]

To Ms. Lau:

Thank you Ms. Lau for the notes you gave me. I am trying to get a A but I don't think I can get that far up but I won't give up until I succssed.

Word for word, that was his letter...spelling errors and all. And ya know what??? That makes teaching all worth it!!! ^_^ This boy, who is low-skilled (he is missing a lot of the basics), is working so hard to do well, and I've been working closely with him to make sure he turns in work, gets organized and well, learns more. Last trimester, he really put a lot of effort into his classwork so that he can do better than the first trimester (F), and though I have to admit he's not the brightest one in the class, it's very commendable that he is trying so hard and really putting a lot of effort into keeping his journal neater and organized, and concentrating hard in class. Besides all that, he's a kid who always wants to please, and is this cute little semi-chubby (in a cute way) who has long spikey-ish hair. It's these little things that make me love this job - it's so worth it to deal with 180 hormone-oly challenged 13, 14 year olds, heh heh...And they say 8th graders are the biggest challenge? Aiya, it must be the best grade to teach then, cuz it's pretty much the last chance you have to make an impact on their lives, and perhaps even direct a change for the better in them. ^_^

You can see the Comet Ikeya-Zhang now in the sky!!! ^_^ Use the really cool Interactive Sky Chart to locate it from where you are. It's pretty high tech...you can even change the date and time of when you'll be looking in the sky to find Comet I-Z. ^_^

By the way, since I'm teaching about drugs, alcohol and the such, you should check out those truth commercials, heh heh. *Knowledge is contagious. infect truth.

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03.12.02, Tuesday

[09:30pm] Update: Ooo...see singing chinese cartoons... (or copy and paste the addy onto browser: http://www.angelfire.com/emo/favq/shocks/kanguolai.swf) I like..! Thanks Alex, heh heh...will post up in the Fun Links section later! ^_^

[06:45pm] Hey Jason! I've finally gotten around to checking webpages! ^_^ I took that test thingy...I'm not an Orc like you...I'm BETTER!!! j/k! ^_^

I took the What Mythological Creature Are you? test !

No school today! Actually, yes there was...but I had a sub. It's another BTSA Effective Strategies Day, and so off I went to the meeting all day long. It was another cool day...Even though most of it's stuff from my credential classes, I do pick up something new every time, and it does help me reflect, which is something I feel is really important, though I don't always have enough time to do. AND I won something in the amazing door prize drawing! A clear scotch tape dispenser!!! ^_^ Heh heh...teaching is one of the rare professions that TREASURES office supplies, especially if it's free. We don't make enough to get all that we need for the classroom, budgets are getting low, and the BTSA people know that and do their best to help out in whatever way. =) They've actually gotten me a class set of color markers, scissors, plastic shoebox containers, packing tape, whiteboard markers, and spiral notebooks...sooo many things that may sound small and stupid, but does add up to be a LOT if I had to pay for it, as I have 180 of these kids in and out of my classroom all day long! I am surely thankful!!! ^_^ 

Monday Another lovely day at school, discussing smoking, drugs, and alcohol...!!

Sunday GB meeting...the usual. ^_^ In terms of the thing that's going on? Thanks Huy for listening to me for so long! ^_^ The decision is the same as was made Friday night, and I don't feel all bad about it. I have peace. (thanks God! Da Big G comes through, always!). ^_^

Saturday A pretty unproductive day...however, in the evening, most of the gang went over to Eym-Soon's place for some basketball and tennis. ^_^ Li-Yin also cooked us up a lovely dinner, and then the rest of the night was spent on karazy mindgames...! There was a cool turtle soup backwards story...kinda like how Memento was played out, and then there was that darn egg brainteaser. Can anyone figure it out??? Okay, you have 12 eggs and a scale to weigh things. The 12 eggs ALL weigh the same, EXCEPT for one. This one egg weighs EITHER higher or lower than the rest...you don't know which. Your goal? To find out which egg is the ONE, and in only three tries on the scale. You can weigh as many eggs as you want on the scale. Can you do it? Mark thought he got it (it's on his website right now if you like math and want to see x, y, and z's) but it doesn't work due to one tiny complication. If anyone can find the perfect solution, I'll...I'll send ya an ecard congratulating you. ^_^

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03.09.02, Saturday
[02:50am]

Ah, no students today...so I just went to school, bubbled in report cards and comments, and worked on my classroom more. ^_^ Danielle, Heidi and I went to to lunch at some Hong Kong Chinese Fast Food, which was actually pretty good...it is hard for me to approve of any chinese fast food, but this is an exception. =) Plus these are cantonese people cooking it, heh heh...REAL skillz!! ^_^ We even got dessert after, at hogi yogi...mmm...I got a ice cream that had Almond Joy and strawberries in it. Not bad. ^_^

Tonight, GILBERT LEE (sorry I forgot your name earlier homes!!!), Eym-Soon, Li-Yin, Fred, David, Mark, Shelton, and I went to Downtown Disney! Actually, we just kinda strolled through and loitered through the area. It's not THAT great, heh heh, but it was all free parking and free all the way, unless you wanted to buy something...so we went. =) After, we went to Denny's, where some of us ordered food, beverages, and some (ahem) went to get tacos as the Jack in the Box. By the time we got home, it was like 1:30am...

For those of you that know about what's going on, I had a talk...and well...you can email me if you want to know the details...but despite such happiness...it's not the right time, and so...it will be laid fully and completely onto God's hands...He will decide when the time is right and if it is to be...

Thursday I went to see my former students play in their band concert at SLMS Thursday night! Wow...the concert band, wind ensemble, and the jazz band were all on perfect beat and did excellent! I felt so high classed to be able to just sit there and indulge in their musical endeavors! ^_^ There was Alex, with his Jazz soli, Jesse, Kyoko, Milad, Kristen, Bahar, Auria, Sarah, Sara, Dylan, Koningisor, and Erik. And Morgan too!!! I saw Yuta, Yoshinori, Kenjii, Naoki, Stephen, Kaitlin, and so many others, as well as Nancy (my wonderful UA!), Bob (the VP) and Hector (campus supervisor). Going back to SLMS also made me realize just how much I've grown and changed from last year. I mean, at SLMS, the students are extremely tame compared to Sierra...I love my Sierra kids, but really, they are also SO different from the SL group. It's all based on area...Irvine - more expensive to live there, lots of parent involvement and support, extremely educated parents, and just the whole "Irvine" culture. I mean, there aren't any bums in Irvine - not ONE, and that's because they will ship them to neighboring Santa Ana (aka "Santana", in a mexican gangsta' dragged out dialect ^_^). All that versus the ghettolands of Riverside - drug dealing, kids pregnant in 7th grade, lack of parent support and involvement, lower parental education, major cussing as everyday language...It's very different! And yet despite these differences, I love both groups...because in essence, they are all just kids who want to learn and do well. Despite their different circumstances, they are still junior high kids who can still be molded in important ways before they head off to high school and life afterwards.

After, I had a deeeelicious dinner at Cheesecake Factory...mmm, Chicken Madeira, Bistro Shrimp Pasta, Avocado Eggrolls, and an Iced Frozen Mango. Yummm...thanks (you know who you are! ^_^). It was honestly the best dinner I've had out, not one to be forgotten...

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03.05.02, Tuesday
[09:38pm]

I went kickboxing last night after I got out of school...they didn't have hip hop yet, but I thought it'd be fun to kick things around, hee hee. Aiyaaaaa, it was fun, but man, the lady leading us was like a robot! She didn't stop once! It was like, "Okay...and 1...and 2...and 3..." nonstop for the whole time! At first I thought it was fun...yay, I get to bounce around and kick and punch, hee hee...but then after a while, the fun wore off and it was just really strenuous. I didn't mind though...if I can get off early enough next week, I'll go again. =) Meanwhile, my muscles are pretty sore...bleah...

Oh yeah...during Sunday night's CF, something really got me, hee hee...Like you know the story of how Jesus is on the boat with fishermen, like Simon Peter, and after a full day of catching very little, Jesus tells them to let down their nets in a certain spot, and they do, and they get boatloads of fish? Well, one of the questions on our outlines for the study was: "What would Jesus have in mind if He asked you right now to launch out into the deep and let down your nets?". It was the answer for something I had been praying and asking about...hee hee...neato huh? Drop my worries and concerns, and trust in Him to take care of things...yup...^_^

No students this Friday! Last day of the trimester = teachers bubbling in scan sheets for report cards. I haven't had time this trimester to get ahead a little...we're starting on Health for the next few weeks, and that will take a lot of prep time, as I have never taught it before...(it's on drug use and abuse...etc...), plus I'm also doing their absolute last journal checks. *sigh* So not much time to rest this week. However, on Thursday after my BTSA meeting, I do plan on going to see some of my students from last year perform in their band concert...it should be pretty cool, and it'll be awesome to see them all again! ^_^

....................................

03.03.02, Sunday
[03:40pm]

Sunday Ah...I'm home for a few hours for now...but I'll be heading to fellowship tonight...! I went to church today...and I moderated...I keep forgetting that I'm the moderator on the first Sundays!!! Heh heh...but it's okay, my dad says I'm getting better at it, however unprepared I always feel. ^_^ The youth and I discussed our Winter Camp dilemma...though we can still go, with the help of SGVAC (Thanks Eric and Belinda! ^_^), we decided to not go this year, and instead, will take a hike, picnic, and Bible Study over at Forest Falls over our Spring Break to make up for it. =) And the money we saved from the fundraiser will simply be carried over for Summer Camp, when more people can make it. ^_^ Other than that...that's it for now! The day is not done yet though...perhaps there will be more to come???

Saturday The whole day was spent in the Monterey Park/Alhambra/Rosemead/Rowland Heights area...or should I just say, the San Gabriel Valley? ^_^ We went to Alhambra for Mr. Chan's memorial service, then participated in a long funeral procession to Rose Hills Cemetary in Whittier for the graveside service. Then we all went down to Rowland Heights for a late lunch (surprisingly good...!) at Ruby Palace. Fred and Ed must have stalked us, cuz they were right downstairs of us, at Life Plaza...so we hung out with them, and went to 99 for a bit, as my parent went grocery shopping. Wow...Cory is only 5, and during lunch, he was playing a game of chess on his dad's PDA! This boy is a genius!!! Hee hee...he says he's won about 14 or 15 games at his school, where he has beaten the elementary school age kids (up to 6th grade here...and this boy's in Kindergarten!!!). Later on, his mom (Bei) was going through spelling with him...and not only was just he plain spelling, he was also signing the letters at the same time...a big wow, for any 5 year old, but not for Cory...he learned how to sign when he was only 2. Did I mention that at 2, he knew all the bones of the body??? 

I also got to watch Toy Story 2! It's good! heh heh...I like the way the characters move around (waddling???). ^_^

Friday Woo hoo! We FINALLY got to go to Hunny's!!! ^_^ It's on the corner of 6th and Main...and though I've seen it a million times before, I've never gone there, but have always wanted to, because there's a cute big bear with a jar of honey on it's sign, and it has wooden bears on the outside, heh heh. David, Fred, Shelton, Mark and I went to eat dinner...unfortunately I got some teriyaki chicken that was all white meat...bleah...but I did get food from others, heh heh...I got some of Mark's salad with croutons, Fred's corn and a baby back rib, and David's fried shrimp. Oh, and one piece of salad with thousand island dressing on it from Shelton. Heh heh, but I did eat my own mashed potatoes, and I got a free pineapple sherbert from the nice waitress (she got a big tip). Their food is not bad...just no more white meat, heh heh...and WAY better than Denny's. ^_^

........................................

02.28.02, Thursday
[10:10pm]

Jason sent me a LONG article, heh heh...but it has a good point! He didn't know who wrote it though, so I'll just have to say that it is by an unknown author. It's not AS depressing as the title looks like...and its main point doesn't really become apparent until the end, but it's a neat read! ^_^

Like I learned from a summer camp counselor meeting one time...LOVE is not spelled L-O-V-E, it's spelled T-I-M-E. ^_^ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your soul...spend time with God...! ^_^

THE DEATH OF LOVE
(Dorm Presentation--February 1996)

I promised I would talk about something more important than anything I talk about in class. I'm going to keep promise. I'm going to talk about most important thing in the whole world. And what's that?

If I had asked question 30 years ago--or almost any other time in history--quick answer--I'd have gotten a quick answer from almost everyone. Almost everyone would have quickly said that love is the most important thing in the world.

"Love makes world go around."     --Gilbert and Sullivan

"The light of the whole life dies when love is done."     --Bourdillon

"Flower o' the broom, take away love and earth's a tomb."     --Browning

"All thoughts, all passions, all delights, whatever stirs this mortal frame, are but the ministers of love, and feed his sacred flame."     --Coleridge.

"All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love is love. Love is all you need."     --The Beatles

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love I am become as sounding brass, as a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give up my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."     --St. Paul

Now I suspect that most people today would still say that love is the most important thing of all. But the answer would be slow incoming. And we certainly do not live our lives as if love was the most important thing of all. As one looks around American society, it's apparent that love is dying, if it's not already dead.

The best example of this is break up of the family. Wide-spread divorce and failure to form marriages in first place is destroying some of the most fundamental of loving relationships--not just the relationship of husband and wife, but relationships between fathers and children, between mothers and children, and between brothers and sisters. Fewer and fewer people even have brothers and sisters. The reproduction rate is something like 1.7 per female. Now there can be plenty of love in a small family, but there's something strange going on here. People are making odd choices--at least, choices that to most societies would seem strange. For most of human history, the desire for children has been incredibly strong. Almost every culture has its stories about childless couples and their longings. You see it in everything from fairy stories (e.g., Tom Thumb) to the Bible. Notice, for instance, Abraham's refusal to believe that God can do much at all for a childless man, "What will you give me, seeing I have no son?"

Now where is that intense parental love for children today? In a lot of places, it's gone completely. Look at the incredibly cruel things parents do so often to children. And one of the cruelest of all: breaking apart a child's stable world by divorce. We have a neighbor, a little boy of four. Every time he plays with my children, he tells the same story--his Dad is going to take him to the zoo. But Dad is more than 1000 miles away, and isn't likely to even see him any time in the near future. A junior high friend of my daughter's is constantly waiting for a letter or a call from her dad. But the calls never come. The letters never come. It breaks your heart. 

Even Hollywood understands this one. Again and again, movies show the pain divorces bring into kids lives. And knowing how much pain such a divorce brings into a child's life, Hollywood parents, the actors, actresses, directors, producers are careful never, ever to bring such pain into the lives of their own children. Yeah. Right. 

There's something wrong here, something dreadfully wrong. Suppose for some reason I didn't much like my lovely wife any more and thought I'd be happier with someone else. But I've got kids, kids whom I say I love. How much love would there be in me if I were to divorce their mom, to cause them the same kind of pain I see in so many other children? Not much, right? Not so very long ago, people stayed together "for the kids sake"--and that really wasn't such a very bad reason. 
And it seems like young people are having a dreadful time establishing the right kind of loving relationships in the first place. They don't marry and sometimes their marriages fail astonishingly quickly. One of my great delights as a teacher has always been to see my students pairing off, to see them find that wonderful guy or girl they want to spend the rest of their lives with. But I don't take quite as much delight in watching these couples as I used to. The reason is that I keep seeing these relationships collapse--sometimes before they've really begun. 

Last year a ran into one of my former students. My first question to him was, "How's married life?" The dejected answer, "I'm not married anymore." This was just six months after his wedding! And as you look at our popular culture, you see that we really don't believe in love any more. Look at today's song lyrics, and contrast them with those of 30 years ago. Thirty years ago a typical pop song was "More." The lyrics:

More than the greatest love the world has known
This is the love I'll give to you alone 
More than the simple words I try to say
I only live to love you more each day

Another pop song:

My love is warmer than the warmest sunshine
Softer than a sigh,
My love is deeper than the deepest ocean
Wider than the sky
My love is brighter than the brightest star
That shines in the night above
And there is nothing in this world that can every change my love

Now can you imagine Snoop Doggy Dog singing songs like that? Madonna? It wouldn't happen. Not that we don't sing about love. But our love songs have gotten bitter, like the T. Rex song "Life's a Gas":

I could have loved you girl like a planet
I could have placed your love in the stars
But it really doesn't matter at all
It really doesn't matter at all
Life's a gas

It does matter. It matters more than anything. I've had the good fortune of being loved as much as anyone is ever loved in this world I've never had reason to doubt the love of my parents, my brothers, my sister, my wife, or my kids. I have teenage son who thinks I'm the greatest guy in the world, and a teenage daughter who clings to my arm everywhere we go. Even my students like me--a pretty incredible thing for a history teacher. 

But what makes me sad, what brings tears to my eyes, is to see that fewer and fewer people seem to be able to find this kind of love, that love is dying, and that fewer and fewer of my students will have anything like what I have had in my own life

Why? What's killing love?

To a certain extent, love has been killed by ideas--the ideas of men like Freud, Darwin and Nietzsche. For many modern thinkers, love is only an illusion, a product of evolutionary development. It is no wonder that love dies when we are constantly propagandized into believing that our only real desires are to survive and reproduce.

But the real problem is not one of ideas. The real problem is that we have deliberately kicked love out of our lives--or at least, out of many areas in our lives. We've kicked love out of the schools, for instance. In the 1960's and 70's, a series of Supreme Court decisions and bureaucratic rulings banned love from every classroom in America. Yes. That's right. Now some of you might say, "I don't know of any Supreme Court decisions banning love in the classroom." But you do.

You see, the courts and the bureaucracies have eliminated prayer, Bible reading, the things like the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Essentially, we have tried to ban God himself from our classrooms, and from most aspects of public life. But do you see what that does, automatically? The Bible tells us that God is love. And we get rid of God, we get rid of love--quite literally.
And what replaced God in the classrooms? To a large extent, we've replaced the old Christian philosophy of education with a "new" philosophy, the philosophy of John Dewey. Dewey was exceedingly influential, "the founder of modern American progressive education." The way children are taught today in public schools today owes more to Dewey than to any other individual--and no one is more to blame
for what's wrong with American education and even American society than John Dewey.

Christians often point out that Dewey himself was an atheist, and certainly he was no friend of religion. Dewey was one of the original signers of "The Humanist Manifesto," a document basically saying that the traditional religious approach to life should be abandoned. But Dewey has rejected far more than traditional religion. When one looks through Dewey's works, one discovers something exceedingly odd: there's never a mention of love. Look through the index of Dewey's Reconstruction in Philosophy. There are references to law, learning, licentiousness, life, literary culture, Locke, logic, logical system, and Lotze--but not love. Look through Dewey's "My Pedagogic Creed." Not a single mention of love. And look through the goals and objectives of our teacher education programs in America, look at the philosophy statements, the educational credos, the state and national standards for K-12 students. You won't find one mention of love.

There's something's wrong here--something dreadfully wrong. Jesus said the most important thing was to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. How can we love God with all our minds if 90% of the time we don't even think about Him? Is it any wonder that love is dying, when we abandon the source of love altogether?

But you know, all this isn't really as new a thing as I have made it sound. It isn't a new thing that love is dying. Love has died before. 

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand; and the bowed the knee before him, and mocked him saying, hail, King of the Jews. And the spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Love has been rejected before our day. Love has been mocked. Love has been spat upon. And love has died. But that death did not destroy love: instead, it showed us what love truly is--putting others first to the very last, sacrificing oneself for the beloved.

I told you earlier that I have been as much loved as anyone ever in this world. But you know, each one of you has been loved with a love equally great, and every one of you right now can enter into a love that truly is "more than the greatest love the world has known." For you see, it is not some romantic lover, some girl or guy who has a love for us that is warmer than sunshine, softer than sigh, deeper than the deepest ocean, wider than sky. That love, the love nothing can every change, comes from God Himself. And that love will never die.

"Now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three things: but the greatest of these is love."

......................................

02.26.02, Tuesday
[07:00pm]

It's been a karazy few days...! 

First of all, Huy, I got your card - thanks!!! ^_^ I hope you're having a good time in Chicago, heh heh...I'll write you back real soon...I have lots to tell you!

I got an email last night that changed a lot of things...I still am stuck on what to say or do, heh heh...but it's a good thing I think...^_^ I still have a lot of fears, but I know that God will take care of things, and whatever happens, I will let Him be the one to guide things, cuz He knows best, always! ^_^

FOUR fights broke out today at school...by the end of the day, I felt like the school was just gonna blow up or something! =Þ Three of them were my kids, aiya! At least all this happened NOT in my classroom. The first fight were not of my students, but the last three were. Terrence was already having a bad day - I had to send him out of my class earlier in the day. At lunch, some kid pushed the wrong buttons, so Terrence says calmly, "I got something for you"...walks casually over to the side and puts his backpack down nicely, then strolls over to the other kid, and then starts pounding him! Aiya...Then later on, Angelina somehow decides to get into a fight with the previous assaulted boy's girlfriend. And then right between 5th and 6th, Chris gets into an argument with another student, and as he walks away, he slightly pushes the other boy, who takes it the wrong way and swings one at him, which of course, provokes Chris to turn around and start hitting him. I have such violent students, aiya!!! I guess I won't be seeing these three for a few days...

I'm reading The Tao of Pooh...heh heh, it's a cute book! I'm not a Taoist, as you all know, heh heh...but it's a cute book cuz Pooh in it! j/k! ^_^

....................................

02.24.02, Sunday
[08:50pm]

Hi!!! I'm back from this weekend's adventures! ^_^ It was soooo much fun! On Friday, I went to UCI with my brother...and then met up with my students at Newport Beach. We were to meet at Davey's Locker Sportfishing for the whale watching field trip...only it took me forEVER to find my way around there (there was this weird construction thing going on...like at the intersection where I was supposed to make a left, I couldn't turn left NOR right...and there was this giant circle detour route...anyways....) and even longer to get a parking spot. When I did park, it was like 10am (which was when they were supposed to leave), so I ran as quick as I could down the few blocks to reach the boats...and I got on JUST when they were about to leave. Whew! But it was a fun day of looking for whales (we didn't see any, bleah), and seeing a lot of dolphins and sea lions. The dolphins were cool...they were smaller than I thought they'd be, and they were following and playing around our boat like in the movies. ^_^ We saw a single sea elephant that had its head sticking out of the ocean, and a single jellyfish floating nonchalantly around on the sea. There was a group of sea lions that we saw on a buoy. One of the sea lions had a fishing wire wrapped around its neck...=(...it was looking pretty bloody and bad...ay...pollution truly is a horrible thing!!! So of course, we had the kids pick up trash everywhere today, and they went with it. ^_^ After, we spent a few hours at Newport Beach, running amuck in the beach and running into to waves. Fun! ^_^

It was cool to meet many of the parents! It was neat to hear from them that their kids really enjoyed my class, or this or that. One student in particular, Danny, brought his mom along. Although he's not the best when it comes to turning in assignments and stuff, he is suuuuch a good person. He's one of my lunch regulars, and from hearing what he says, he does take really good care of his little sister. And whenever he does try, I do send him a note every now and then, whether it be in his mailbox, or through actual mail. His mom told me that he really enjoys me class, and whenever he gets those notes, or if I ever say anything to him, he always goes home to tell his mom that "Ms. Lau said...". She said that the encouragement I've given him does help him want to work a little harder in the class, even if he's not the best student in school, and that what I say does matter. Wow!!! Ain't that just grand??? ^_^ During the entire field trip, though his friends were there, Danny would stay with his mom most of the time so that she wouldn't be alone. You don't see much of that nowadays, especially in 8th grade when the kids all wanna act big and tough in front of their friends. 

Right after the field trip, I went to UCI and picked up Mark and Shelton...then off we went to get Melody and Megan...and then off we were to Big Bear! We were one hecka packed car...the trunk barely closed, and we were all in the car with a bunch of stuff on top of us! 

It really is amazing how the College/Career group has grown...at the retreat, there were 16 of us (besides Paul, our speaker, and his family): Eym-Soon, Li-Yin, Kevin, Keen-Yong, Fang-Ning, Christie, Mike, Fred, Ed, David, Gilbert, Mark, Shelton, Melody, Megan, and I. A lot huh??? We stayed in the Upper Moonridge area, which is right by Bear Mountain. The place was niiiiiice!!! More than enough space for us all to live in for the weekend. And it had this really nice deck in the back too! We spent Friday night unpacking, getting "registered" (or in other words, getting our nametags, our Tshirts, and our camp booklet), and intro-ing into the retreat and activities that were planned. Besides praise and worship, we had a lot of icebreaker games too. We were QUITE behind schedule...heh heh...but it's okay...we fellowshipped! ^_^ 

Hmm, Kevin and Fred thought it would be funny to trick me with some Gummy Vitamins they brought for me...aiya...! I do have to admit though...it was a pretty good trick...but I did have my revenge anyways, muah ha ha!! ^_^

Food was taken care of by each small group. For Saturday, we woke up to the first small group's breakfast...mmm...Fred, Mike, TNT, and Gilbert prepared waffles, super salty hash browns and eggs (hee hee), toast, Mike's special toast (it had a hole in it and a egg cooked in its middle, heh heh), sausage, bacon, and well, all kinds of things. Lunch was prepared by Fang-Ning, Melody, and I, and we served chicken noodle soup, grilled sandwiches, salad, crinkle cut fries, and pink lemonade. Dinner was Ruth, Christie, and Li-Yin, with cream of corn soup, rice, sauteed mushrooms and onions, chicken, and a shrimp salad. Today's breakfast was something yummy like yesterday's, prepared by David, Keen-Yong, and Eym-Soon, except that we also had some crepes! 

Paul shared some really informative messages on Revelations , and he gave us some good comparisons, historical background, and reasons for God's first and second coming. It was cool! At the same time, it also made me realize that I need to refresh myself on Revelations...I don't know it all too well...! Eymie, Shelton, DVD, Melody and I also provided a Snack Theater (definitely not dinner theater, as we had just chips and salsa for eats then) Murder Mystery...heh heh...it came out pretty well, seeing that we all just decided to do it about 15 minutes it was actually presented! Aiya, and people thought that I, the nurse, would have been the murderer??? ^_^

Mike sang a special number solo at the first session, and Shelton sang another special number at the second session. Props to both, for being so brave and doing a good job of it, heh heh! ^_^

We had a lot of activities...especially late night games, I guess you could say. We didn't really get to go out and hike...though I did get to find planets and constellations on that huge deck there. Perhaps next time. We meant to...heh heh...but because we were behind in schedule, and we were caught up in some games that ended up lasting for HOURS (the dice game, I heard, and also Cranium...with so many club craniums and people in one game...hee hee) so we just ended up trying to finish games that would never seem to end! ^_^

This is getting long...so I guess I'll end it...hee hee...The retreat was really good...as our group is getting larger, it really helped for us to get to know each other better, whether it be personally or spiritually. We also got to hear about how important Revelations is, and how much there is out there that we still need to learn. Spiritual food is mmm-mmm-good! ^_^

After, all of us, except for Christie and Mike, went to meander about in the Village...heh heh...Keen-Yong and Fang-Ning left early to go skiiing (arg, no snowboarding for me...next time...*sigh*). Besides playing in the shops, we saw the Big Bear that runs around and got to take a picture with him! ^_^ Eym-Soon, Li-Yin and Kevin headed back home as the rest of us went down to MoVal and eat at a Vietnamese shop...mmm, I hadn't had Pho in a long long time...! And spring rolls too!!! ^_^ We headed home afterwards, only Mark took a little, ahem, "detour" and ended up in Menifee Valley! I was sleeping, and so when I woke up, I was like...where are we?? We headed back in the right track and took Melody and Megan home, and then finally...we went home where we could take showers, clean up and get ready for tomorrow...which is what I need to do right now!!! ^_^ 

*update (9:20pm)...woops...a valid complaint, heh heh...sorry Shelton! ^_^

Good Evening Webmaster of "GummyChild: Land of Gummies"!

I would like to address the following complains =P 

I must say... your website is highly inaccurate!!!! It is quite misleading and provide incorrect information! I am writing in reguards to your entry on 02.24.02, Sunday [08:50pm] the sixth paragraph, it provides various information about the kitchen duty of the "big bear" retreat.  The breakfast prepared on the second day was in fact 4 persons.... from insider sources I happened to know, that a certain Mr. S  also participated in the food's preparations!!! Ah..... the poor fool.... waking up early in the day and slaving over the hot stove and dirty sink!! ahhh how sad....to be not documented in the historical account of the Gummychild!! ohhhh woe!!!

::end of complain::

............................................

02.20.02, Wednesday
[08:00pm]

Glorious Day! I got so much done today...!!! Well...of course, there was school. And then after that, we had our department meeting, where we took care of our lab, the CBL units we got several years ago, and a bunch of other things. Then I had TESA...this time, I won one of the trivia questions ("how big was the biggest snowcone that was ever made, in pounds?" I guessed 5,438 lbs...the answer was like 4,000 something!) and got a set of highlighters, hee hee. TESA is a lot more fun than BTSA, simply cuz we get food and prizes. ^_^

After school, I went to WalMart and got a little portable CD stereo thing. My principal said he'd pay for it!!! So I got one! Even though the only color they had left was this Groovy Grape color, it's okay...it was FREE! And I'm beginning to like it, heh heh...^_^ I've needed one, and wanted one, and here it is...for FREE! Did I say it was FREE??? ^_^

I also got a bathroom rug there...finally...we've needed one since we moved in!!! But since we just cleaned the bathroom...and I'd really like fluff under my feet after taking a shower, I decided to get one right then and there. 

Then as I was driving home, I drove right past a L.A. Fitness by my home. It had just opened, and I was like, ooo, I'll go see if they have hip hop classes for me! I've missed them...heh heh. So in I went, they gave me a grand tour, and yes, they will probably be having hip hop (as well as pilates, yoga, yoga beat, etc...) there...so I signed up! I might as well...it was 50% off the total price for me, cuz I'm a teacher! Woo hoo!!! ^_^ So yay...I can go play in all these classes, as well as exercise. They have raquetball too....*drool* ^_^

Besides all that, I laminated the nametags for this weekend's retreat, and I've taken care of Winter Camp stuff for youth and college/career. I have my lessons for tomorrow all planned out and done...the only thing left for me is to pack for Big Bear and figure out what foods we'll be cooking for lunch there. You can say that it's been a very fulfilling day for me! ^_^

Later on this week...on Friday, I'll be off to whale watching in Newport with my kids (field trip) and then off to Big Bear! I can't wait...! ^_^

....................................

02.18.02, Monday
[08:02pm]

Today

Ahh...my bathroom is CLEAN!!! SO clean that I dare not use it just yet. ^_^ That is pretty much what I did all day! I was planning to go up to Big Bear and scout out the area for our retreat this weekend...but there was a problem with the snow chains...=Þ So, I stayed home, cleaned up a very gross bathroom, did some lesson planning, and cooked dinner! Mmm...I made this yummy black fungus/lily root/mushroom/spicy gluten/marinaded beef dish...and a sauteed chicken on celery dish. Shelton added to dinner with a dish of scrambled, golden eggs with shrimp, garlic and green onions. Lovely food tonight! I think I'll finish it off with a ice cream popsicle later tonight. ^_^

I let Mushu go today...I have learned a lesson...to not keep things from the wild. Although she was doing alright, I did feel guilty after a while...I was unable to feed her all the time - only at random spurts of time. That just wasn't right...and up to the last minute when I let her go, she was still so nice and gentle, and let me hold her without having a hissy fit at all. Perhaps one day, I'll see her again in the backyard...^_^

This morning was chaotic...the Youth just fundraised for Winter Camp this year...and when I called today to VCC about camp, they told me the whole place was packed and maxed out...in other words, we are not going to winter camp this year...WOE....!!!! =( They had already turned away 2 other churches, aiya...so many people this year...so I guess we'll just put the money towards Summer Camp then? It's going to be disappointing for them...and we JUST fundraised...and I feel like it's so my fault...I mean, I have been really busy between youth and college/career, and then I got the letter a little late, so I didn't realize the due date of the security deposit was earlier than usual, plus I was waiting on one youth on whether or not she could really go (I should have just added her anyways and got a refund later), and though I had talked to VCC about how many were going, I had missed the due date, and realized it too late. Dang. I do feel like I've failed somehow...

I also woke up to the news that Mr. Chan at church had passed away...he was always such a jolly old man, full of energy, love, optimism, and always giving me random advices...This is the second person that we've actually lost that was a regular member of our church. Unlike Mr. Heng though, Mr. Chan was much older, and many knew that it was about time that he was going...it is still a sad loss, but I am confident that he is with God and in a much better place, able to do what he wants to up there, which is probably running around and having fun... 

I've had a really cranky two days...all these things going on all at once, not all necessary perfect-the-way-I'd-want-things-to-go type of things...it really is too much...going back and forth between youth and college/career...I'm still trying to find my balance, but in the meanwhile, it's exhausting. So thank you for those that put up with me yesterday and today, whether it be helping me out and lightening my load, or just putting up with me being so blah...I know I wasn't too much of my usual happy self...and I appreciate all the help in everything you all did...Thanks! ^_^ 

Sunday

A busy day this was!!! At church, the Youth and I totally prepped and cooked and made our Fundraiser happen. Mmm, there was SO much food, and SUCH good stuff too! We had Vietnamese Sandwiches, Lit'l Smokies, Pasta, Mini Tacos, Soup, Fried Rice, Salad, Green Beans in Cream of Mushroom topped with Fried Onions, Red Bean dessert, Almond Jello dessert...and many other tasty dishes. Mmmm....! And then after the fundraiser, and after cleaning up the kitchen, Li-Yin and I got to work on the nametags for this weekend's upcoming college/career Winter Retreat. Thank goodness we had help from Shelton, Mark and Eym-Soon...we have like 24 people going to the Retreat (WOW!!!) and so that's a lot of nametags...especially since we wanted to kinda personalize each one. ^_^ 

Once we got home, we were off again! To West Covina...for our annual RCAC Agape Feast. We went to Penang...mmm...and I got the Sarong Burong taro root bird's nest dish. Mmmmmmmmm! Then Fred, Ed (who was REALLY hyper tonight...the Malaysian food perhaps?), Dorothy, David, Gilbert, Shelton, Mark, and I went to Border's at Puente Hills Mall. Edwin had a $25 gift certificate...and we used that in conjunction with my 20% teacher discount, heh heh, to get Edwin his book (Tuesdays with Morrie) and Fred his new Study Bible. Then we went to Tapioca Express in Monterey Park for...um...for...BOBA... (Mmm...I got my Peach Snow Bubble...yummmm). The only thing I don't like about these places are that they are SO asiany-cliquey like...that is the only thing that really bugs me...but I still do like the snow bubbles, heh heh. ^_^ After much driving around looking for the place, we found a place for karaoke. But it was kinda expensive...we HAD to each buy a drink, blah blah...too many expectations, so we left and went home, tired as could be.

Saturday

We had a bunch of people over on Saturday for some weird reason, heh heh...and Mark, Fred, Ed, Shelton and David ended up playing Mah-Jong all night (well, David was on his PS2). I was out at Youth Fellowship at Linda and Michael's! We had a jolly good time cooking and preparing for our fundraiser...we took a hike to Stater Bros. to buy some last minute things, and cooked a storm in their kitchen! We made our Lit'l Smokies wrapped in cheese and little croissants, and Bell Pepper Pesto Pasta, and watched "Flash from the Past" and "The Grinch". Grinch was actually pretty good...better than I thought it would be...^_^ By the time we left, it was already 11:30pm. Wow, that WAS a whole night of cooking! 

Friday

Hmm. At night, Fred, Mark, Shelton and I went to Rowland Heights, and we ate at the Shanghai Garden Restaurant...which boasted of having the Best Soup in Heaven and Earth! Heh heh...not the BEST I've tasted, but good still, especially since it was only $3.95 a plate!!! ^_^ We also stopped by Arcade Infinity to check out some of the games (arg, that one robot shooting game wasn't there, heh heh...I like that one...it was kinda like TFC and CS, but with robots, and you had your picture on the game...and you would shoot the others down), and after watching some karazy mad freaks bust it out on DDR 5, we met a kung-fu master! Not really, hee hee...well, maybe he was...^_^ The security guard out there gave us all some business cards and was trying to convince us to joing his kung-fu class, hee hee. He was like, "Everyone knows karate...you know karate, you get your @$$ wooped by some kid nowadays! I teaching you things like kung-fu..." There were all kinds of martial arts on his business card...jue kuen do...aikido..tae kwan do...muay thai...thai kickboxing...all kinds! Hee hee...it'd be fun...and it might even be fun to have that security guard as an instructor! Hee hee...I think that was about it for my Friday, heh heh...

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02.14.02, Thursday
[05:05pm]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Much love to everyone out there!!! ^_^ Valentine's Day is so cute...hee hee...not when it comes to all that mushy stuff that goes on between girlfriends and boyfriends, heh heh...more like it's so cute when it comes to all the good stuff I get from my students! j/k! ^_^ Nah...but it's cute how students will remember to give a little something to their teacher, like candy, cards, stickers, flowers...I even got a loaf of homemade banana nut bread!!! Mmm...one of my favorite things in the entire world!!! The FIRST thing I did today when I got home was to cut off a huge slice, microwave it and dabble the perfect amount of fresh butter on it...sooo heavenly...! ^_^

I'm not greedy, hee hee...but it's nice to know that the kids see me as someone important in their lives, and that what I do matters to them. That's the gist of teaching...to touch their lives! ^_^

So love, love, love, love, love to everyone out there!!! *muah* ^_^

Today was our GEAR UP field trip at RCC...to basically prepare and show our 8th graders how important high school, and really, college is to their lives. So there were a few workshops, greasy pizza for lunch, and a bunch of raffle drawings for prizes. We got free t-shirts and pencil pouches afterwards...yay...free goods! ^_^ We got back in time for 6th period. At the end of my 6th period, I had passed out some candy for my students for Valentine's Day (I actually wanted to get them those "I am loved" buttons...! but in the midst of being sick, I forgot to order them...alas, next year then...). I asked Tyler to help me pass them out, but while passing them out, Tyler kept eating some, and in the end, there were some kids that were left without candy. Martin, in a fit of justified anger, yells out:

"You rapacious punk!!!"

Hee hee...I was like, VOCAB WORD!!! He was like, Oh yeah!!! ^_^ We've used it before in science when talking about greedy ions, and they've learned it in language arts...and wow, out of instinct, it just popped out of his mouth! It was funny, but more satisfying to know that he had incorporated and knew how to use the word. See, they're learning perfectly alright...! ^_^

I updated a little. Just a wee bit, not much really. ^_^ You'll need Comic Sans MS, Vivaldi, Karaoke Superstar BV and Jokerman to view things properly...

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02.13.02, Wednesday

I felt well enough to go to school yesterday and teach...so I went. But it was an exhausting day! We had our "O Starry Night" Star Party, and it was so cool!!! RAS showed us many things on their powerful telescopes...Jupiter (we could see the bands on Jupiter, the Great Red Storm, and the moons even!!!), Saturn (it looked like a little picture, with those beautiful little rings on it! But it was real...and that was the cool thing!), the Orion Nebulae (wow!!!), and various other things. I can easily point out where the planets are in the star now, and able to find Sirius too (that's the brightest STAR, though right now, the brightest thing up there is probably the planet Jupiter). It was awesome though, and definitely a cool thing, especially as we had our hot chocolate, blankets and lawn chairs, and meeting many of the parents and relatives. I left the event earlier though...spending such a long day at school, and being out in the night did make me cough a lot more...so I went home, energy fully spent, and went to sleep before 9...though I kept waking up several times for who knows why. >_< But...Happy Chinese New Year...! ^_^ Year of the Horse! ^_^

Needless to say, this morning, I was pretty tired already in the morning...on my way to school, I almost got into a car accident. Not really cuz I was tired though...more like some mean car in the next lane wouldn't let me move into the lane. But I'm okay...God took care of things. ^_^ But I could hardly talk loud enough...even though they were presenting today, you would think that I wouldn't have to talk as much...but of course not! These are 8th graders that we're talking about, hee hee...so you still have to settle them down, check on behavior when they mess around, stuff like that. But the presentations are off to a pretty good start! I just have to grade a few of them tonight...heh heh. Tomorrow, there's an 8th grade field trip to RCC, for a GEAR UP Leadership thing, with free T-shirts and lunch...yay! And of course, I do get to go! ^_^ Off to shower...wash my hair...grade some papers...get ready for more school...! Latas! ^_^

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02.11.02, Monday

I'm so glad today is a holiday...not because I can go out and play with my friends, but because I need this day to rest!!! I think I have something of a minor case of bronchitis...enough to give me a small fever, make me feel real nauseas like, and make me want to sleep in, drink water, and eat toasted sourdough bread and chicken noodle soup all day. The cough is not so bad anymore...I'm coughing up phlegm, which is a good thing, I hear. It's more of a fever and really crazy nose now.  

I hate being sick! I don't like feeling so decrepit and weak, infectious and gross, and well...so limited in what I can do! But in a way, being sick is a humbling experience. I mean, it makes me realize just how fragile we are, and just how much we need God to take care of us in every way possible. ^_^ I have an appointment at the doctor's later today...I hope it won't be TOO long of a wait...aiya...

I sure hope that I can go to school tomorrow though...I don't want to take another sick day, and plus, I want to prep them for the upcoming "O Starry Night" Star Party we are  having tomorrow! Though I haven't done much lesson planning at all...

update: 4:33pm  More drugs for Gummy...aiya...2 hour wait (hey, not as bad as 7 hours!) for a 3 minute visit from the PA. He advised that I take tomorrow and Wednesday off to recover...but noooo....!!! The Star Party is tomorrow night! Most of the kids going are from my class...what will I do??? I need to call my department head and ask...she knows everything! ^_^

update again! 11:50pm  Yay!!! I'm finally feeling better! My fever has decided to break a little, and I think I would be able to go to school tomorrow! ^_^ You know what? I really am thankful for my family...my whole family helped me out today. My bro came home from school for a bit, and so he took me to the doctor's, and my mom made me that "broken rice" thing (it's not my favorite but she makes it whenever we get sick, cuz it's light on the stomach), and she and my dad kept checking up on me all day, by giving me water, helping me with medicine, helping me get around the house, and well, just everything. Aren't they the best? ^_^ I feel really lucky...! I realize that there are others out there that don't have such love and support from their families... 

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02.09.02, Saturday

Wassup all! ^_^ Hee hee...I really do wonder how many people actually read my webpage...How many of you out there do??? Hee hee...maybe you can just email me and say, "Gummy, I sure do!!! What up?!?". ^_^

This morning was our Chinese New Year Celebration at church! Our CF group got there like at 8am...to practice and decorate the fellowship hall for lunch. The karazy part was on our way there...it was SOOO incredibly windy today that while driving, we were literally maneuvering pass many large, flying tumbleweeds, and even a tree that had fallen over! It was like something out of a video game!

Despite the bluster and pounding from the winds outside, the celebration in our little church was awesome. In fact, one of the best programs we've had for the New Year, according to my dad. There were instrumental music pieces from Christopher (flute) and Ian (piano) and Kimberly (who is SOOO awesome on the piano...her hands flow like liquid over the keys, and though she told me there were some errors later on, I certainly didn't really hear any! She played Rocky Tata, heh heh). The Women's Fellowship, of which my mom has really been getting involved in, sang a lovely song, and Tian Lizhen blessed us with her professional vocal cords again this year. ^_^

This was also our debut day..!!! We, the College/Career (just CF for now, hee hee) Fellowship, sang our chinese song..."The Flower of Life" (Sheng Ming Zi Hua). Wow!!! I couldn't really tell how we sounded like, but the congregation said we did awesome, and were impressed that we sang in chinese (something they most likely didn't expect from a group of mostly ABC's and cantonese speakers...we only have a few mandarin speakers. Of course, Mike and Christie are the white ones that speak chinese better than most at our church, hee hee). So yay..."Making of the Band, RCAC style"...paid off...! We had Eym-Soon on the chinese flute, Li-Yin on the Pei-Pa (that cool, old style chinese guitar), Fang-Ning on the piano, Thomas on the keyboard, and Theo on the Violin. Mike and I sand lead vocals, while Li-Yin and Marsha were the female backup singers, and Shelton, Fred, Jason, Keen-Yong, and Gilbert were the male backup singers. It was cool. ^_^ Christie was sick, so she didn't sing, but she was still there...and we still love her! ^_^

Our speaker was Zhang BoLi, a pastor from Hacienda Heights, but more well known as the one student that was never caught by China...he was one of the 21 leaders from the Tianamen Square incident. He told a LONG, though very touching and meaningful testimony for our event. He was funny, so even though his testimony was rather lengthy, it wasn't THAT bad...though it was still lengthy...heh heh. 

Nice way to start the weekend...! After all, I get a whole three days off this weekend...as well as NEXT weekend TOO!!! ^_^ The benefits of teaching in public school! ^_^

If any of you out there like Christian music, a good one (new to me, though maybe not to others, hee hee), is that one from Sonic Flood, Resonate. I like it! You should download it too! ^_^

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02.06.02, Wednesday

I think I got so sick cuz God was mocking me for my pride...for my insistence of how my immune system was soooo strong, hee hee...^_^ After all, I kept making fun of my bro when he was coughing and sniffly, and now...it's my turn...^_^ But I am starting to get better...thank you God! Hee hee...! ^_^ I still don't know about my back thing...though it IS getting better...whether or not it's medicine, I don't know. I am taking those super strong muscle relaxants and ibuprofen only about once a day the most...and the pain is a lot less. So...??? I still have to go get my follow up checkup though. Dang Kaiser...it takes so long to wait on the phone for someone to give me an appointment...but one day...^_^

Last night, because I was just so tired of waking up in the middle of the night coughing and having a super stuffed nose, I tried one of those Breathe Right Nasal Strips, hee hee. They worked to clear up my nose a bit... Let's just say right now that those nasal strips were NOT made for my nose...I have this nose that has no nose bridge, and the picture on the package was like, don't put it on too far up your nose bridge! And then when I put it in the right place, and of course, cuz I have this little nose, it is also a little wider at the end (okay, I don't have a pig nose, if that's what you're visualizing, hee hee...just a small nose...typical asian button nose...^_^ ) the strip was not quite long enough. But anyways! After sleeping for an hour, I woke up and my nasal strip had disappeared! heh heh...so I went back to sleep, and woke up at 5am this morning with my mouth all open and my throat SO incredibly dry. Yuck! What a night! But overall, I am feeling all better! Maybe it was cuz I finally finished the whole bottle of Pei Pa Gou...?

Some of you noticed that I took down a blog I put up a day ago...I hadn't thought of it on the spot, but thanks Eric, for mentioning to me about privacy/confidentiality issues when it came to my students. I mean, even though I didn't put up his name on my webpage, it still wasn't like it was something I wrote. It was written by another, one of my students, and it was something that was really sensitive and shouldn't be put on the web. I mean, let's say that one day, one of my students finds out that I'm actually the Gummychild. Then he or she decides to type that in Google or whatever...they could find this website!  Normal things that go on are fine, but things that should be confidential shouldn't be mention quite so openly...But for those of you concerned, he's doing fine...it was basically nothing, though we are all keeping an eye on him, cuz those words were pretty deep...so keep on praying! Thanks! ^_^

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02.03.02, Sunday

This whole practicing for the Chinese New Year is taking up so much time! But it's all for God, hee hee...and it's worth it! ^_^ It's coming along a little better each time. ^_^  Everyone's doing real well singing, except for me...this cough sucks...I feel like I'm burdening the group with my coughing, especially since I'm supposed to lead solo on parts of it. Arg. So...I guess, as my mom wants...more "Pei Pa Gou" for me...till this whole dang bottle is done. Hee hee, at least it tastes kinda good. ^_^  We were at church till 4pm...and then barely got home before heading out to fellowship for tonight. Eym-Soon led tonight...it was good! (such simple language I am using, hee hee)! As well as the food from Bobby...real sweet and sour pork, chicken veggie soup, pan fried dumplings, and even homemade french fries...mmm...!!!

Dangit, Rams lost to the Patriots...not only has Shelton's mom lost her bet...me and Shelton now have to cook Mark chicken noodle soup...^_^ 

Heh heh..."F.O.B.'s & C.O.B.'s", crew??? (inside joke, heh heh) F.O.B.'s, as we've established, is "Focus Oriented Buddy"...whereas C.O.B.'s would be "Christ Oriented Buddy"...It has good meaning, but I don't know if it sounds all that great for a name. ^_^ 

By the way...It's February...Valentine's Day is coming up...hee hee...just a reminder, to one of my buddies... *wink*

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02.02.02, Saturday

Congrats Shelley and Eric!!!

Shelley's wedding today! Mark, Shelton and I drove all the way down to San Pedro for the wedding. It was a cool drive! We drove down by the ports, saw the Exxon-Mobil Torch, seaside industrial areas and a cruise ship, and even got to go on a bridge...the Vincent-Thomas Bridge. At the wedding, I got to see Giang, Dolly, Lucy, Mimi, Caroline, Andrea, Olive...and of course, Shelley!!! ^_^ Wow...it's so weird to know now that Shelley is a "Mrs."! Especially since she's the same age as us. Woah...heh heh, I guess it'll be a long time till that happens to me. =) There was fun and dancing, and well, I actually got to see my brother dancing...in his funny, stepping kinda way, hee hee. ^_^ There WAS a lot of salsa music though, of which I had no idea how to dance to, heh heh. Giangy tried to teach me...but it was all in vain. ^_^ I did slow dance one song...heh heh...I've never slow danced before! Can you believe that? ^_^

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02.01.02, Friday

What a day! Mark and Terrence returned in my class today...so what did I do? I told these kiddos that the moment they said ONE word, they'd be kicked out of my class and sent to the office. Sure enough, they started complaining...so OUT they went. A nice day today...less time wasted in class, and as it worked in period 3, I did the same thing in the other classes, and well, I sent some kids to the office, but yup...a nice day where students got a LOT of work done! Woo hoo! 

Me and the boys went off to Irvine tonight! Actually, Fred (who took FOREVER!!!) and I went down to meet up with Mark and Shelton. We went to Crate & Barrel to get Shelley her wedding present, and then went to eat at O'Shine Cafe...as well as loiter there for a long long time. ^_^ After, we went to Champion's, where I got my dad some yummy pork jerky and mochi, for his birthday!!! Mmm...!!! ^_^

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