April 2006
04.30.06, Sunday:
[08:54am] My goodness! How many things can one do in one go? I'm sitting here, getting info about BLCU for a friend, uploading pictures from my camera, burning 6 CDs of pictures for church, printing up new letters of rec for another friend, getting my professional clear credential papers in order for human resources, finishing off my gradebook, lesson planning in my head, and checking email and blogging on here. Oy. As long as my computer doesn't suffer a sudden heart attack, I think it'll be okay. O_o
Did I mention that on Tuesday, Giang and I got to hang out again? It was a night of good Hawaiian BBQ food (did you know there's such a thing as katzu musubi??? Mmm!), yummy sorbet, and watching Fever Pitch (eh, an okay movie) in our fort! Yay! ^_^
My whole body is tired this morning though - there was simply too much fun and running about yesterday! Nina, ET, Amy and I went to the Plaza to watch Stick It and relish in Juice-It-Up and Airheads (Mmm...I learned a new way to eat them. Love it! Heh heh!)...then went to drill blisters into our feet ice skating. =) I think the last time I went was...maybe...7 years ago??? A long time ago. But it was still fun, and fortunately for me, I didn't even fall! Yay! =) And skating on new ice is pure...slickin'-goodness...^_^
After killing some time at the mall (Mmm. Melt. Gelato. Goooooood.), we arrived at Pastor's for the Cheung's Bon Voyage Party. Ivan and May are such awesome people, and have served at RCAC since they started coming here. Bianca and Benny were born here with us all. We'll miss you...and since you've got space, we're going to have to bring some SoCal Sunshine every now and then. ^_^
The whole gang of us RCAC'ers joined up at the park to play either bball or go crazy at the jungle gym playground. =) The rest of the night included:
04.27.06, Thursday:
[06:30am] This week is zooming by. =)
Caden Michael Brasser is here! Congrats Christie and Mike! ^_^
And yay! I'll get to see all the Brassers in the summer! I got my acceptance letter to BLCU yesterday in the mail. Beijing, here I come! And Gilbert, I'll try to get the Chinese hat again, muah ha ha...last time, by the time I looked for it, it was way too late. =( If anyone wants anything back from China, just let me know, ha ha ha...=) We all know Asia for pirated movies, but did you know that they make fake eggs too??? (That's nabbed from Calvin's xanga!)
I also got a Jury Summons for the end of May. I'm bringing books to read, and Sudoku to keep me company. =)
What are YOU doing this summer? Wanna go help out in New Orleans? Heidi went, and did a lot of good. =) You can too! Also let me know if you're interested in it!
And if you wanna see Wicked this summer, please do let me know! So far...there's like 10 of us so far, and adding on, muah ha ha...I do want to see it again: not only was it my favorite musical, but I missed the first 15 minutes or so of it because we were a tad late. I've already saved my money for it, yay! =)
It looks like House of Joy is going to have to be postponed until August. Nooooo...but all the weekends are pretty much booked till then...oy...O_o
Going to the district 3rd Trimester science test development meeting today. I was a little frustrated yesterday about it...see, our department head? She didn't tell us about it, and these meetings are a big deal, and she wasn't going to go even. At least send one of us if she can't go? But I think it happened like 3 times yesterday where she just didn't take charge and responsibility for various department things, as a head should do. And I chose to go, yes, but had to throw together a lesson for the sub last minute and all that...and I realized last night that today is panoramic picture day (which means the sub's gonna need help getting 6th period in order oy!) I like the lady and all, but she ain't doin' her job well, and it affects those around her. =P
Eh, venting done. Going to meeting today, so...I'm gonna get changed. =)
04.23.06, Sunday:
[10:23pm] I think I graded papers for...9 hours on Saturday. =P No fun. But all done. And had time to go to PetCo with Shelton and get some gravel and Gravel Vac for the tank. =) Picasso was so happy in the cleaned-up tank, and was exploring everywhere, fins up and swimming all over the place - even being friends with the missionary team (Paul and Barnabas, ha ha!). =)
Speaking of missions...Julia will be in China for one this summer! And Rosalyn will be in Thailand for a missions trip also! Pray for their hearts and minds to be ready as they prepare and train for it! ^_^ Heidi is also back from her mission in New Orleans, helping out with Habitat for Humanity for the area with her purple hardhat. Too cool! =)
Saturday was Mei-Chi's bday! Oh how I need to hang out with her again soon! Happy Birthday Mei-Chi!!! ^_^
Fellowship today was at DVD's, and it went really well. We even had an extra large group, since some youth joined us - ET, Nina, and Megan! =) Ah. Fellowship. How I do love it. Where else can you have fun, eat, and talk about the Word, and see how real it is to each of us? Ed L. also shared today at church, and mighty is the Word of God. AMEN BRUTHA'!!! ^_^ I think I had like 3 pages of notes, and was worried about running out!
There was a lot of basketball this weekend. Playoffs, I guess, is a big deal? ^_^ j/k j/k...^_^
Sunday Target Purchases:
Watched 2 episodes. Loved it! Very happy. ^_^ Would rank it juuuust under Buffy, and maybe right around Wonderfalls. (Target: $22.99. Great Investment!)
Andrew says that my funky eye twitching is normal, and nothing to be scared of. But recommended some Calcium (since I've been lazy with supplements and don't like to swallow pills, I got the chocolate chewy ones. Mmm. It's like a tootsie roll! Ha ha! ^_^ And I got the Target brand, which was way cheaper, and just as good, said the Pharmacist. ^_^) and Gatorade (for electrolytes. But without sugar since there's a lot in there. Is there such a thing as sugarless gatorade????)
And my sty is not so bad anymore. It's leaving! Yay! Prayers are working, hee hee hee...=) I learned my lesson: NO MORE RUBBING MY EYES!!! And to Purell often, muah ha ha...=P
04.21.06, Friday:
[05:27pm] Aghhh! I've got to stop rubbing my eyes...it's a bad habit...
So this school year was the first time I had a sty. Yesterday, my eye was feeling weird again, and I thought...uh-oh...and well...yep...today, I woke up and I had a sty. TWO STIES IN ONE SCHOOL YEAR! Either these kids are really, really dirty...or maybe it was the swimming from the night before...or maybe I just got lucky and picked up some Staph. bacteria along the way and rubbed it right into my eye. =(
So, I have sty-friends once more...
Speaking of friends, there's been a bunch of birthdays this week for some really wonderful people! ^_^
Tuesday: Happy Birthday Ralm! =)
Wednesday: Happy Birthday Elaine! =)
Thursday: Happy Birthday Viola! =)
Have any of you seen Veronica Mars? I'm reading about it...mostly because Anna and Viola both are telling me how good it is...and online, it says it's the wittiest thing since Buffy. And Buffy? I LOVE Buffy. So already, this is tempting enough. =)
On Wednesday, Anna, Jonathan and I went to the gym and swam in the pool! Actually, they swam. I snorkeled and cheated along with my flippers, since I'm not the biggest fan of swimming about. =) We met an older gentleman named Jorge, who was in the 1980 Olympics! Very cool. And he taught me a few things about swimming properly with my flippers - then let me race him with them on, and I'm pretty sure that he let me beat him, ha ha. =) For dinner, we had Red Tomato House. It was soooo yummy! I've not had good Omurice in a long time, and they had, well, incredible omurice! ^_^ We also had a spicy chicken stir-fried udon (good, but really greasy), and shaved ice for dessert. The shaved ice came with sweetened condensed milk, kiwi fruit, longan fruit (one of my favorites!), and apples. That's some good shaved ice!!! ^_^ So do I recommend this place? Indeed I do! ^_^ After filling up on food, we headed back to the gym for hip hop and for picking up Jonathan, ha ha. 'Twas a good night! ^_^
My sty makes me sleepy. Maybe I will take a nap...
04.17.06, Monday:
[06:25pm] It's been another one of those non-stop weekends...but I did get to take a powerfully-refreshing-twenty-minute nap on Sunday that energized me for the last stretch of the weekend! AND Shelton helped me with a million school things - bonus points for him! ^_^
Friday night: Went with Anna and Vanessa to Quickly's for some crazy-spicy chicken and boba, before heading to Hollywood, where we cruised through Thai Town, meandered on Hollywood Blvd and saw all kinds of interesting places (I saw the most racist sign, pictured below), ate a rather unimpressing, tiny plate of popcorn chicken at Popeye's (the chicken was good. But for $5, there was only a few small pieces, and a bunch of fries hidden underneath to make it look bigger!), and watched the Cats Musical.
(1) Racist marquee sign? (2) Carl's Jr. Jr.! (3) What $5 gave us...(j/k)
(4) Anna eating the last popcorn chicken! (5) Us three! (6) A new traditional picture, hee hee...
Cats was like...Caviar (in the words of Angela, hee hee)...
It's all something that everyone raves about, and when they have money to see it, do (good thing for us we got the four-musicals-special-deal, ha ha), and is appraised by so many elite people...
...and then when I was watching it, at a few points, I almost fell asleep!!! O_o There was very little plot, and if Vanessa hadn't explained it to me (she had seen the movie a long time ago), I would have had no idea exactly what was going on. They basically explained a few different cat characters here and there. I liked the one named Gus (short for Asparagus, hee hee), and I liked the Memory song, although that was really the only song that caught on during the whole time. The visual effects were neat, but because the plot made no sense (or wasn't really there), it didn't draw me in as much.
So yeah. Cats = Caviar. Or maybe Stinky Tofu to Asians? Ha ha ha...j/k...=)
Saturday morning, I was up and at the school to wash cars with my students. WOW. It was THE best car wash I've ever had! ^_^ I barely had to do anything! The kids were so good, and everything was organized well. Mercedes and Angela were priceless - they helped keep their sections in order and made sure things were okay, and before you knew it, the kids learned how to do a car wash well, had a good time, and the customers left happy because their cars were cleaned well and the wait was short. Mandy even brought me a Java Chip Frap, and later, a parent brought me a cheeseburger. ^_^ The kids snacked on all the drinks and snacks they brought to share for the day, so there wasn't anyone hungry, heh heh. Every piece of trash was taken care of, and they helped me clean up well. Mason even stayed longer so that we could get everything into my classroom and help with clean up (I couldn't imagine LD doing physical labor like this for me, ha ha), and I didn't have to take much stuff home except the towels to wash! The support of my fellow teachers and principal totally was awesome - I've never had such good support before, and trust me, it was tough without it. So yay to my peeps out at Sierra. =)
Saturday night was Gilbert's Bday Bash down in RH at Banana Bay. Tiffany was there! So was Karen! And Calvin, DVD, Derrick, Melan (Melody and Megan, hee hee), and Shelton and I. Chinese people and their Engrish though...I think I had three different types of fried rice until I finally got my Exotic Fried Rice, hee hee. =) Then off we were to karaoke the night away! The price was good, the music was good, and the chillin' was great. =)
(1) The birthday boy! (2) Shelton y Yo! (3) If you can read Chinese...this could almost be a sign for prostitute sisters, ha ha ha...
(4) Tiffany-rock-star-side-shot! (5) Bday boy karaoke star! (6)Shelton and Derrick!
(7) Karen, Calvin and DVD singing along! (5) Mello + Megan = Melan!
Easter morning came, and so Shelton and I went early to set up for the Early Morning Service. FoCus led the praise, and it was great to hear Wendy Y. and May share, and breakfast was fantastic! I love sausages...ha ha...and the jook (it had cilantro, shrimp, mushrooms...what else? It was so tasty!) that Mrs. Heng made was wooooonderful. ^_^ It was also Natalie's Birthday, so yay! Happy Birthday Natalie! ^_^
And then came our record breaking baptism of 10 people! It was exciting! Anna, Nina, Josh, Chris, Ian and Mike, Elaine's mom, Vickie, as well as Cindy and Tommy. Wow. =) All the testimonies were great to hear. And my goodness...I remember when Nina, Josh, and Chris were but wee little kindergarteners in my Sunday School class! Time flies...
On the east coast, Edwin got baptized!!! AWESOME! Congrats!!! =)
To top it off, Jonathan and Fred were there too, and Ralm showed off his new car. =)
All that, and Jesus resurrected from the dead as well! What a day! ^_^ That, and chocolate bunnies (courtesy of Edwin):
Today, I got to talk to Jenny, and she's gonna be back here for the summer. I didn't think I was going to see her again anytime soon. So yay! I'm so excited! ^_^
04.13.06, Thursday:
[09:30pm] Sorry Gilbert - I've been busy working, ha ha, and have not been able to update any earlier. As everyone must know...it is Gilbert's birthday!!! =) Happy Birthday Gilbert! ^_^
How I've missed hip hop! Heh heh...it's been two weeks since, ha ha...and it was fun to go back! Even if the new steps are kinda funky to get, it's still fun to work up a sweat groovin' to good music and jumpin' all about, ha ha...=)
I've been so tired this week, it seems. I'm not sure if it's just leftover-lack-of-sleep from last week's trip, or I'm just not getting enough sleep...and there's an action-packed weekend coming up too! Cats tomorrow evening, all the way up in Hollywood, followed by a Car Wash in the morning, and a Birthday Showdown later that night, followed by singing and moderating on Easter Sunday...and a bday party Sunday night that I would reeeeally like to make but don't think I can...! >_<
Although Paul and Barnabas still have voracious and unquenchable appetites, Picasso is getting his fill of food, and Hoover is also moving around a lot more, getting bigger and liking the yellow tube in the tank. He goes in there to suck on the walls quite often, heh heh...=) I guess it's more fun than just one fish...though RIP, Shishiwakamaru!
04.10.06, Monday:
[09:35pm] What an exciting start of April! =) Let me blog as I sip my Lungching (Dragon Well) cup o' tea...(by the way, I found some cool tea stuff! Had I known such "tea etiquette" rules, I would have not been so crass in past afternoon teas, hee hee...)
...and since we're on the topic of tea goodies, my aunt had brought by some Nonni biscottis a few weeks ago. I tried one sometime after I got back from DC., and WOOWWWWW...I've never had biscotti before, but this thing was absolutely wonderful! It was a chocolate biscotti, with lovely and crunchy almonds, dipped in dark chocolate, softened to juuuuust-right-and-oh-so-still-crunchity-goodness when swirled in my milk tea. No better combination could have existed in a biscotti! Have you tried it? If no, oh, you must! ^_^
...and while we're talking about food...it's due time for a House of Joy fiesta...I was thinking, a Joy of Picnicking would be fun...only, would this weather be weird and rain on such a day?
...oh! And another good snack item...last time Giang and I hung out, she shared with me these little chocolate-strawberry triangles (shaped like the Apollo space shuttles...is that why it's called "Apollo"???), and they were oh-so-heavenly! While I was at 99 Ranch this weekend with my mom and Shelton, I found a whole box of them! I must consume them...slowly...and let them melt in my mouth, because they're just good like that. =)
...and I even had Cheesecake Factory this weekend! Rosalyn, Takako and I got to hang out and grub on a Luau Salad, Avocado Eggrolls, Calamari, and Chicken Pesto Pasta with Pine Nuts and such while we chatted and caught up on all that's been going on for the past few months. Always good to hang out with dear friends! =)
Shelton and I also finished Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion! YES!!! It started off pretty badly, but after 2/3rds of the way, some good stuff happened, and made me actually want to finish it. The ending was way better than Inuyasha, ha ha ha...^_^
Okay, so...DC! Five incredible days of adventure: April 2 - April 6, with Angela, Mercedes, and cool houses on the East Coast, hee hee...
April 2, Sunday: Shelton dropped me off at SMS around 4:30 in the morning...bright and early, ha ha, as students started showing up and packing into our bus to Ontario. Angela and I had no problems at the airport with our 9 kids (our group was separated into two flights and met up in DC) - and I can now say I've been to Houston! Hee hee...even if it's sorta cheating...from the short bit of moving from one terminal to another at Dallas-Fort Worth, all I can really say is that it's humid. And fun to ride a monorail bus to get from one terminal to the next. ^_^ We arrived at Reagan International around 6pm'ish, and took a long, couple of hours to get to Williamsburg, where we stayed at the Holiday Inn that had those awesome TEMPUR-PEDIC mattresses!!! No wonder they cost thousands of dollars...they're really, really, really, reeeeeally comfortable. I jumped on my bed, and was like, heeey, it doesn't bounce! And then I realized...Tempur-pedic! While sleeping, I just sank on in, and woke up in the same spot I went to sleep in, ha ha ha...but I had no kinks in my neck, and slept more then well that first night, even if it was only a few hours. ^_^ Before we went to sleep though, we had taken a Ghost Tour around Williamsburg, Virginia, and hearing legends about the Wythe House. It was getting dark, but we had fun figuring out rebuses and seeing all the cool places that George and Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry themselves used to live about.
April 3, Monday: More touring around Colonial Williamsburg, where we got to see blacksmiths, silvermiths, the barber and peruke maker all in action. We visited the jailer's home and jail cells, and even check out the jail bathrooms. After eating a pizza and spaghetti lunch at Sal's, we headed back for more at the Governor's Palace, where we got to see the room where Patrick Henry grabbed guns and swords at for the war, and the very House of Burgesses that we've all read about in our history books. =) We even re-enacted a trial of an Abigail someone - and thinking I was a student, the tour guide picked me to join the jury, ha ha...
We had a short stop at Jamestown, and because our time was limited, we didn't get to see the ships nor forts. We just saw some parts of the Indian settlement grounds, before we zoomed off to Gaithersburg, where we'd be staying at for the next couple of nights. The bus ride lasted several hours, and Lepale and I had a good time leading the kids in singing songs on the bus, hee hee...it all started with the Itsy-Bitsy-Spider, and before we knew it, John-Jacob-Jingle-Heimer-Schmidt, The Wheels on the Bus, The Green Grass Grew All Around, I'm a Little Piece of Tin, and all that good stuff was goin' like a fat boy loves cake. =)
April 4, Tuesday:
This was the start of us actually being in DC. We visited the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum (I couldn't find any "Lau" on the memorial, though some kids found their last names on there, heh heh...), followed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for a really short pass-through before going into the U.S. Holocaust Museum. It was a really good museum, quite worth going to, and was similar to the Museum of Tolerance in LA. Some of these kids didn't even know what the Holocaust was, so it was good to open their eyes and minds up to these crazy things that happened not so long ago...at the same time, I was able to enlighten some of them about things that are going on in Africa (think Hotel Rwanda), even things that are going on right now. Though we couldn't take pictures, I hope they remember what they saw: the hair that was shaved off from the prisoners, that endless abyss of shoes that seemed to have no bottom, and for me, what got me was when I first stepped into that room that had no ceiling - just two endless walls on both sides, filled with pictures of people that were persecuted by the Nazis. Pictures of people with their families, friends, loved ones, living their share of life on this world, before it was unjustly taken away...
We had lunch at the very cool Union Station. I was eating with a Brock, Jeff, Brianna and Jessica, and she kept coming over and rambling - the kids were very polite to her, but very wide-eyed to me, asking, "Ms. Laauuuuu...can we leave??? Please???" Before we could make a move, she came back, this time, talking about how Chinese people were bad, because we were buying everything and going to take over the world...hee hee...all this time, my kids are looking over at me, with even wider eyes, ha ha...and then the lady asks me not what I am, but instead, where my grandparents were from. I said I was Chinese, and she responded again about the evils of the Chinese race, but added briefly at the end - "...but some of them are good...". Thus, that became some kind of catch phrase for those of us that were there for the rest of the trip, hee hee hee...
After lunch, we headed over to Ford's Theater, where President Lincoln was assassinated, before going to the WWII Memorial, where we had our mini-wreath laying ceremony. =)
Then we went around the Reflecting Pool (we kept thinking of Forrest Gump, hee hee...), which was an awesome play time for my camera, before going on the memorial tour: the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the FDR Memorial, before turning in for the night.
April 5, Wednesday:
A slower-paced day, where we journeyed to Mount Vernon and checked out the very cool plantation that was George Washington's. 8000 acres! That's like...8000 football fields! And he's still there - him and Martha are buried in the mausoleum tomb on their property. Karazy. But beautiful and kept very well, and an awesome backyard view of the Potomac River!
The National Archives was cool. We got to see the Magna Carta, which is like...unspeakably wicked awesome! ^_^ The Constitution and Declaration of Independence were some special Rotunda area, where flash photography was, of course, not allowed. While viewing the Constitution, Lepale said some kid (not from our school) took a picture of it, and his flash went off - everyone there gasped...she expected the Constitution to just go up in flames! Heh heh...=) I didn't take much pictures inside - I was too short to get a good shot over everyone's heads, most of the time, hee hee, and the last half, I was watching over two sick students - one, who was really sick from some allergic reaction to something right before she came on the trip, and another who had had an asthma attack the night before. Then, of course, we did a drive-by of the White House. =)
We got to see the cherry trees! The blossoming was ending, but we still got to check them out around the Tidal Basin while we were at the lovely Jefferson Memorial. They were playing Chinese music. Interesting - weren't the cherry trees from Japan? Besides cherry trees, there were tulips all over DC. Two of my favorites all in one place! Add some orange blossoms, and I couldn't be happier! ^_^
We were supposed to go the Kennedy Center for a show, but with all the one way driving, we missed it. So instead, our bus driver let us play at a park that had a giant statue in it so she could eat her dinner. I couldn't help but make my students pose with it! ^_^
April 6, Thursday:
It was really hard to get up this last day...I know that Jackson, Lepale and I had pretty much no sleep at all...! We were all dead tired. The first place on our agenda was the Arlington National Cemetery. And guess what? Edwin came to visit me there! Yay! =) We got to see the graves and our tour guide in DC (Polly) told us what all the symbols on the graves meant, and why there were different tombstone styles at the site. We also got to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, as well as the changing of the guards. The Honor Guards are pretty neat, though I think I'd be terribly bored if that was my job. =P We also got to see Robert Kennedy's grave, as well as JFK's Eternal Flame.
We ended our trip by driving by the Supreme Court, Capitol Hill, and Library of Congress, and finally going to the Smithsonian Complex, visiting the American History Museum (wow! The Star Spangled Banner is...awe-inspiring...!), the Natural History Museum and the Air and Space Museum. After that...we were off Baltimore to fly back to LAX...and getting back to the parking lot by about 1:30am. Am I still tired? I think so. But you know what? We didn't lose a kid, and overall, had an awesome time, AND I got to see Edwin! 'Twas a blast! ^_^
