August 2006

08.27.06, Sunday:

[10:09pm] It's my birthday today too! The stars were beautiful outside...gee, thanks God! ^_^ Thanks for everyone who sent their cards and well-wishes this way, hee hee...I got some fun gifts too, as an extra bonus! An early surprise party earlier this month, a giant ball ^_^, Alton Brown goodies!, a funky 30-second-"hour" glass that lights up, a personally made ceramic creation, post-its with my name on it, zipper pulls, a scented Snoopy fan from HK that works when you decapitate and yank off his head, ha ha...dinero de mis padres, unexpected phone calls and text messages, and even a feliz cumpleanos a ti vmail song, hee hee...and well, love from all my wonderful friends and families. I feel all warm and fuzzy. ^_^ You're all wonderful! =)

I made omurice last night. It was good! Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it. We just devoured it instead. =)

Goodbye, Mr. Kitty...! It's been many years...and thanks Gilbert, for letting me know!

Chinese Checkers: I am the champion!!! =)

Ants are attacking my bathroom. They seem to do this when the weather gets funky. You know, you simply can't be comfortable when you know there are little ants scurrying about every which way, possibly running into you and your clothes...and then end up biting you...and well, yeah...you get the picture. The bathroom no longer becomes that isolated haven from a hectic day. O_o

And now it's bedtime, cuz I better get up by 5am tomorrow, or else...!!! >_<

[08:01am] My uncle continues to get better! He's awake now, and can smile and respond well to things, see clearly, and they will be moving him to Brea next week to a different facility. Yay! =) My dad went to help them mow their lawn yesterday, and my aunt left us a bunch of bittermelon that they were growing from their backyard. Not my favorite veggie at all, but my parents like them, and it's the thought that counts. =)

So yesterday, Barnabas and Hoover got some new friends! Queen Esther is the graceful telescope eye goldfish (it looks like she's wearing eye shadow, as Shelton says), and joins Barnabas in his mutant abilities. Moses is an African Dwarf Frog, who, like Hoover, prefers to be antisocial. Actually, Hoover has become more sociable with the introduction of their new friends. ^_^

08.25.06, Thursday:

[07:45am] Uncle Update: I had talked to my aunt the other day, and they wouldn't let her leave the house - they were going to inspect the family and her home for TB. Through my Uncle #5's family email, my uncle's sedation was reduced yesterday, and he's responding more, which is a great comfort for all of us, as for many of the first days, there was no response. He also tested negative in all three TB tests, and will be at Hoag until the pneumonia clears up and he can be moved to another facility. Praise the Lord indeed! =) Keep on with the prayers - your simple action has meant a lot for us, just to know that the support and petition is out there. =) I'm eager to visit my uncle as soon as I can! =)

I got a traffic violation ticket in the mail from the Costa Mesa Police Department, saying I crossed an intersection during the red light last Tuesday. I don't remember any of this at all! In the photos provided, there was one up-close shot of my car's license plate. BUT none of the other pictures were of me or my car - the driver was some man in a baseball cap, and the car in violation, with the picture showing it ran the red light, wasn't even my car! So I color copied the pictures and in bold, red ink, and marked all over it, showing all the evidence that hey, what the heck? It wasn't even me! So don't bill me your $365 plus traffic school for all this! Heh heh. All I know is, the county does things where if you don't hear from them ever again, it's all cool. =P

Huyyyyy! Call me or I will spam you!!! Hee hee hee...^_^

Giang! Good luck on your mock boards!!! ^_^

The Guest List grows to 400. AY CARAMBA! So I don't think we can have it at New Life. Instead, we're gonna have to look around for another church...sigh...or else, as Shelton says, it's gonna be like a refugee camp, muah ha...=) And we're pretty much going to have to limit the banquet to family and close friends and such. But maybe we'll have a mini-reception so everyone can be fed and happy. =)

I have a letter of rec to write before I leave today for a former student who called me yesterday. She wants Honors Bio. I have no doubt she can do it well actually, but her math grade last year was a little on the "ouch" side. So I said I'd try and write her a letter and see if it works. And I need to do this before I change and get ready for work - lucky for me, all volunteers for Spirit Day doesn't have to show up till 9am! And I get fed for lunch! So that, plus with little to get ready, it's gonna be a good day for me, I hope! =)

08.23.06, Wednesday:

[07:25am] Never, ever, EVER give me coffee 9 hours prior to my sleeping...! My uncle gave me a cup of white coffee (actually really good! The few coffee drinks I actually liked!) and I couldn't sleep...not till 4am...! O_o I woke up at 7am this morning, cuz I need to go into to work. Good thing it's not an official work day - just the day before the official work day...>_<

Uncle Update: He wasn't confirmed to have TB, but they're testing him because they suspect he has it. They have to run three tests - the first came out negative, and they did the second yesterday. [I went in yesterday after Anna and I got our microdermabrasions (trying to finish this promotional thing. Wow...they like...suck your face with a mini vacuum! Eek!) and had a good time catching up at Starbuck's (maybe cuz I had TWO coffee type drinks in one day???). Sigh. I love my Anna! ^_^] Anyways, at Hoag, my uncle's eyes were open! His eyes seemed unfocused, and I'm not sure if he can actually see, but he can respond to things that my aunt asks him to do. Like she told him I was there, and he recognized me, and to respond, he blinked. He had a fever, so I patted him down with a wet towel, and he would move slowly to let me pat more of his neck and shoulders and so on. He moved very slowly, and is very weak, but it is good to see response. I talked to him about how his room is the best (he is in ICU isolation, so to enter, we have to put on the respirator mask, the yellow cover-ups, and gloves) because it has the view of the boats off the coast, how I'm engaged, and how he's improving, and he would move a little, so I know that he heard me. The doctors are unsure as to how much of his brain may have been damaged, so they're going to do some tests today, I think. His lungs are improving and his vitals are good, so keep praying for improvement! ^_^

I also visited my Auntie #2 after Hoag, and that's where my Uncle gave me the coffee, ha ha ha...mixed it up and I was like, uh-oh...I don't drink it even...but I had some and ended up liking it and well...4am...anyways...My aunt, she had a bladder infection, as well as an infection possibly in her blood. For the blood infection, she's taking medication for a month to see how the cause of it (parasites/bacterial/virus/not sure?) reacts to it, and it has something to do with her having a lower estrogen level in her bloodstream. She has to see the optometrist later on as well, as there's glaucoma too. So she's physically drained as well, but at least she doesn't have to have the "pick"-line in her any longer. So do pray for her as well!

Oh yeah. While I was up and not sleeping, I did a bunch of wedding stuff - guest list, budget, etc. Woah. The guest list is getting so big...that it might be easier to just have everyone show up at the banquet and have the ceremony there and eat, as that's were the bulk of the budget is going to. Or we could just elope, hee hee hee...but then, I guess that takes the fun out of it for everyone. =) I also found that online, the reason why bridesmaids traditionally exist is because they were there to "thwart" the spirits and demons from causing mischief to the bride. Heh heh, so for those that go nuts on how it is crazy-evil to take part in Halloween and Harry Potter and even Christmas...they shouldn't go to and have weddings as well, eh? =)

Okay. Time to get ready to go to work. As long as I don't fall asleep in the middle of my classroom, I'll be fine. ^_^

08.21.06, Monday:

[07:57pm] Uncle Update: He was moved up to the 3rd floor today, but they found that he had TB, so they moved him back down to CVICU...I'm not sure if the pneumonia that they thought he had is now recognized to actually be TB, or that it's recently developed. If he had it before, maybe he had latent TB, possibly picking it up while traveling, but became active lately is part of why he developed "pneumonia" so quickly and why other things are going wrong. Or, because his immune system is already weak, he could have picked it up in the hospital somehow. I'll find out tomorrow when I can talk to my aunt and the doctor...

Wow...back to work today! And I got to play with my new toys: A tablet PC, LCD projector, and Document Camera! Woot woot! ^_^ I was only there for a few hours, but long enough to kinda figure out how to rearrange my room (every year, we come back and everything's in all the wrong place because they wax the floors, hee hee...) and catch up a little bit with fellow teachers and friends, like ANGELA!!! ^_^ I even saw Winnie, Diane's little daschund puppy, who greeted me with her Hello-bark and ran around me like crazy until she settled down for some petting. =)

After, my bro and I went to eat at his new favorite place, ha ha...location is a secret...^_^...and off he went to Oregon! He'll be there for a few weeks, representing his company at the Oregon State Fair. Him and a colleague are there to make the ticket machines work with the program they developed for the duration of the fair, and meanwhile, get to enjoy the good stuff going on there too. =)

My sunglasses broke early last week. =( Today, I found a new one, much cheaper, at Target. =)

When I came home...after doing some errands, I don't know what happened, but I ended up taking a nap. WOW. I've not napped in a while, and this was a lovely nap. Nap time is so needed nowadays! ^_^

Time to do some work and preparation for the school year now. I think this year, I've not even TOUCHED schoolwork till the week of teachers starting - and this is late for me. It is not my fault though - it's cuz our summers are getting shorter and shorter. Whatever happened to the good ol' days, when school didn't start until after Labor Day, and ended in early/mid-June? O_o In France, they have the wonderful option of a paid vacation in the entire month of August. (I do wonder about how a nation functions if many take work off, but I'm sure there's an answer somewhere for that. People in France would probably know anyways, and it's not like their nation's crumbling.) We Americans again, need to remember the importance of nap time. ^_^

08.20.06, Sunday:

[11:00pm] More pictures from Vegas last week...^_^

(1) With Homer. =) (2) Shelton with his new friend! (3) At Kabob Palace...mmm...lamb kabobs and basmati rice...*drool*

(from 8/11/06) Hike up Mt. Charleston's Cathedral Rock:

(from 8/12/06) Bellagio, before "O". ^_^

[10:13pm] The days have been going much too fast, and the action is non-stop...!

Since around Thursday, my uncle has shown a little bit of improvement - my dad said that today, he was on medicated sleep, but his heart is doing well, and vitals have been looking good with no backsliding for the past few days. This is most EXCELLENT news! ^_^ Thank you for your prayers! Keep it up!!! ^_^ Still critical, but signs of improvement are evident, and the doctor is happy with his progress, which makes us all very happy too. We hope that he continues to keep it up. They did do the fiberoptic bronchoscopy and found where he was bleeding from in his lungs, and cleared that up. His organs are still funky, but well, they're watching all that. The thickened colon walls were not the colon after all - I think they said it was the swollen gallbladder, plus he had two bowel movements on Thursday, which is a good sign that his colon is still working. Another good sign. =)

The other day, my dad was taking a shower, and noticed that in their bathroom, they had ten light bulbs, sitting side by side, lighting up the whole bathroom. In his head, he thought...hey...10 light bulbs...10 siblings in my family! ^_^ But then he realized one of the bulbs were out. Uh oh. So when he got out of the shower, he went up and gave the darkened light bulb a gentle twist, and voile!...the light turned back on! It was on Tuesday night when this happened (see entry below as to what happened on Tuesday night), and he saw this as a sign from God. God has turned the light on for my uncle, and that he will heal and shine again with his brothers and sisters. ^_^

On Friday, my dad and I went to take care of the condo stuff. After 8 months, everything in the condo is now taken care of. Yay! ^_^ I didn't get back in time for the Olympic games, but my team won! Little ol' Amy scored a goal right over Simon's head! Woot woot! Team Wheaties, tied for 2nd place! Good job on the harvest, my fellow Wheaties! ^_^

Saturday morning, we went to church to finish the removal of the old tiles at the Fellowship Hall, and put in new tiles. A nice group of people was there - Mr. Sechang, the Lu's, Lau's, Ma's, Jonathan, and a few others. ^_^ Leah helped me put in the new tiles - they were like giant stickers that we were sticking onto the ground. Today, the Hall looked bright and shiny with its new tiles! ^_^

After, Femi and I went down to Long Beach to meet up with some old high school friends. Some miscommunication happened - roar...so instead, Femster and I had our Arnold Palmers, Firecracker Wings, Wasabi and Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and our Hawaiian Burger and Blue Crab Cake Hoagies. Deeelicious! We meandered throughout Long Beach and the pier, a bit of the Aquarium, and down Pike Street. =) Femi is super cool. And I got to ride in his mom's BMW. I've not been in a BMW before! ^_^

(1) Firecracker Wings (2) Femi and I! He's way taller...so...(3)...this is my perspective when I'm talking to him. Hee hee. ^_^

After church today, we had FoCus over at Pastor's. Besides the great discussion, Melody was there too! Yay! Another girl! Yes! ^_^ We made slighty-squishy angel hair pasta while chatting over the stove, and it was great finding out just what kind of flavors were in a box of chocolates with Theo, Leah, Asa, and Megan. ^_^ Dark chocolate rules!!! And so do fried eggs. ^_^

08.17.06, Thursday:

[09:15am] Note - if visiting Uncle #4, there's a new patient on the bed next to him now. So the nurses ask that we call before every visit, and only 2 people max (including Auntie #4) are allowed per visit.

[08:32am] Update on Uncle #4:

We almost lost him Tuesday night. He started coughing up blood, and it was a LOT of blood, blocking his airways and such...they were able to suction it out and calm him down. He's actually on paralytic meds now so that his body won't cough.

Though he coughed up a lot of blood (hemoptysis), his total blood volume was the same, so the doctor suspects he may have just coughed up a lot of old blood. It was still red blood cuz well, it's in the lungs, and it's completely exposed to oxygen. The respirator was back to full mode, but by the time I left yesterday, it was back down to 60%.

When he's stable enough, they wanted to send a camera down the lungs through the respirator to see where the bleeding is from - it may be from all over the place (diffuse bleeding) or from a certain area or a mass of some sort. There are risks, of course, in such a procedure, and they will stop immediately if they observe that he can't take it. He didn't get to that stability yesterday when I left last night, but maybe he did later.

My aunt and I will usually massage and move his arms and legs around once in a while, but they wouldn't let us yesterday, saying he could not tolerate the stimulation.

He's on TPN, which is basically food through the IV that bypasses the stomach and GI tract.

His fluids are still every which where - instead of going to where they should be, they're going under his skin and making him puffy...but this isn't unique to him, but still something that's happening.

His platelet count is low, so they added some more yesterday.

Besides knowing that the liver readings were abnormal, and that the gallbladder was inflamed, and that the stomach was distended too (the kidneys are working fine though!), the CT scan showed that a part of the colon was thickened. That could be because that part of the colon is inflamed also, or, that it's dying because it hadn't got enough blood. It can be "revived", so to say, with enough blood flow, but if it's dying, it can be fatal. If it's dying, they'd normally do surgery, but he most certainly cannot take the surgery right now.

One of the doctors said that improvement and recovery would take a long, long time, and he's still in a very critical condition, so they don't know how things will turn out. That, plus if he heals, he may be very, very weak. He seems to stabilize in the day time when I'm visiting each day, but after I leave, and come back the next morning, I'll hear that there was some kind of episode the night before.

So do continue to pray fervently, for my uncle, and my aunt too. I haven't had much time at home - I wake up, do what I need to do here, cook something for my aunt and go to the hospital, and at night, I get home around 8ish, so if I've not emailed or something, it's cuz I've not been here much (but you could call! I do get phone calls good there!). Before I sleep, I either figure out another piece of the wedding puzzle or chat with my parents/bro and relax, and then sleep. It's so good of the relatives to show her so much support - she gets food every day, hee hee, and we all visit whenever we can. The Laus are pretty much great people. =)

My bro and I watched ABCnews Medical Mysteries last night. WOW. I like it! It's every Wednesday at 10pm, and nerdy-fun to watch...they have a "You Be The Doctor" thing where you vote online as to what you think the person has during each episode, but they also have a bunch of other weird cases that they tell you about. Last night's episode had something about when Body Turns To Bone, People with Chimera DNA, and people who see taste different things when you say different words or see colors for certain numbers and letters, ha ha (I remember learning a little about this in Psychobio! Do you, Huy? ^_^) - that's called synesthesia, by the way. =)

08.16.06, Wednesday:

[09:49am] My uncle was doing better yesterday...instead of just stable, he actually improved! So thank you for your prayers! He's still in critical though, and of course, keep him in your prayers. But it was good to see my aunt's mood lift up a little bit more, eat a little bit more, and, I brought some knitting needles and yarn yesterday, so she (expert knitter that she is!) showed me how to knit and I'm starting on a giant stocking beanie, ha ha...=) It gives her something else to preoccupy her time with too. It was cute - she called me in the morning, all worried because she had told me she was going to bring the yarn, but she couldn't find it and had searched everywhere and was totally concerned that I'd have no yarn and so on, heh heh. =)

My uncle improved enough to be taken off the blood pressure medication and was stable enough to be transported and get a CT Scan of his abdominal section. See, on Tuesday morning, they found that his hemoglobin levels were low, so they did two bags of blood transfusion, and after a few hours, he had stabilized. They were worried about his kidneys, but as it turns out, the urine is normal. However, his stomach is distended for some unknown reason, his liver readings are abnormal, and his gallbladder seems inflamed. All this stuff...and the heart, lungs, and brain are still a concern...but yesterday, he looked better, opened his eyes a little a few time when people were talking to him (may have just been a reflex though), they lowered the level of sedatives, the blood transfusion helped with the blood pressure, and the respirator needed only to pump in about 40% Oxygen instead of the 80% that he had the day before. We're praying that it keeps on improving. ^_^ I'm eager to see how he's doing today. =)

Each day I visit, I bring my aunt some lunch and snacks and we picnic in the CVICU waiting room. =) One day, it was Ying Yang Fried Rice...yesterday, a cha-siu sandwich, some fruits and peanuts...today...I made some majorly tasty curry rice noodles with bbq pork and fish balls, bok choy, green onions, and eggs. ^_^ Click and drool, please. Hee hee. =)

Wedding planning is...wow...crazy. I mean...there's a million things to do, and we didn't know where to start...but some things are starting to get figured out yet, like location, reception and banquet (it's Chinese-style...cuz you know Chinese food is scrumptiously exciting to the palate!). But I haven't had time to even think of colors (I like them all!!! Oy! O_o) or, I guess, more importantly, who would be my bridesmaids. Oh my goodness, if I could, I'd choose ALL my friends, guys and girls alike, to be bridesmaids!!! Heh heh. I want them all! ^_^ And I don't want anyone feeling left out...and...well...anyways, it's a lot of good stuff, and I'm getting some help here and there, and things are starting, sorta, to sink in. I think. =)

08.14.06, Monday:

[11:57pm] It's been a few days, eh? =)

There will be quite a few pictures, so I warn you first. ^_^ And I only have half of the - the other half are on Shelton's camera, so you'll have to wait till he uploads them till you see them. To start off with...you should know what this picture is of...right? Did you guess yet??? You'll find out below! ^_^

Much has happened...where do I even begin?

On Wednesday, Mrs. Wang showed me how to make Chinese Buns! ^_^ Man Tou, Bai Zi, and Hua Cheun! We made many and ate many, and I took many home, ha ha ha...before going home though, I hung out with Jenny at Baskin Robbins, catching up with each other over some ice cream. ^_^ After that, I went home to pack, pack, pack, and cook dinner, heh heh...=) It was off to Vegas for that night, and we got there around 11ish for some Totino's crisp crust pizza and rest. ^_^ I tried taking pictures, but they all came out blurry and funky cuz well...it's hard to take a picture at night in a moving car. =)

I even got some funky pictures of a worm under a microscope somehow!

Just kidding - they were of the moon. But blurry, again, cuz I was in a car. =)

Thursday was Errands Day. However, before Errands Day began, Shelton whipped up a quick smoked salmon omelette, whose aroma quickly got me out of the guest bed and down to the kitchen to see what was making such a wonderful smell...^_^

Then it was off to do errands at the condo and make sure all the repairs were taken care of, and a trip to Target, the grocery store, and the Chinese Herb store for some excellent Teet Dah Jow. =) Lunch was at Kabob Palace, where they had the softest and freshest pita breads I've ever had! And yummy, yummy basmati rice...*drool* ^_^ We picked up Shelton's mom at work, and while waiting for her to get off, Shelton won himself a gigantical Homer Simpson action figure, ha ha...the answer to the first silly picture of today's post. =) You can see how big it was compared to his mom below. ^_^ Dinner was at the Yuen's, where Kevin K came over to dine with us, and Uncle John and Carol showed up afterwards for fruits, drinks, and wonderful conversation. =)

A beautiful and blue sky-ed day was Friday, with big, fluffy, white clouds blanketing patches of sky - a perfect day for a hike up Mt. Charleson! ^_^ So off we went, armed with a bag each of food, drinks, and snacks for our mountain picnic. =) We hiked up Cathedral Rock, taking way too many pictures along the way, where there were lots of tree trunks up the mountain, rocky paths, walkways with many trees, a tiny waterfall sprinkle, heart shaped quaking aspen leaves, butterflies flying around us as we hiked, mountains in the shape of an old man's face, majestic trees, flies buzzing around us, clicking locusts, and tiny chipmunks. =) (Again, a million more pictures on Shelton's camera, hee hee...)

And of all things, when we reached the top of Cathedral Rock, after taking in the full glory of being almost at the top of the world, I was told to close my eyes...make a wish...and then suddenly..."Will you marry me?"...and well, there you have it...I'm engaged!!! Woah!

I feel so...OLD...to be engaged...and wooooahhh, Shelton is my fiancé!!! I've gotten used to wearing a ring now, ha ha, but I still feel like the happy kid that I am, ha ha. =) It IS a very nice feeling though. ^_^ If you're curious, we're thinking of August 2007. BE THERE! ^_^

After staying up at the top for a little bit longer, we hiked back down to the stream where we assembled and ate our tuna salad croissant sandwiches, ate our noodles and snacks and drinks...and washed out one of the bags in the stream of super cool and clean mountain water. As it turns out, the box holding the tuna salad had cracked. It probably explains why there was constantly a fly following us around during the hike...^_^

We ate dinner with Auntie at Marché Bacchus. Oy. It's some fancy-schmancy wine place (we just had our free waters with lemon. So Asian! Heh heh...^_^) where the service was actually quite poor. I suppose they were busy with a party of people, but they still didn't listen to see if you finished your sentences for your request, and took a long time to bring us the bread and water. My dish of a Salmon Dijonnaise topped with GIGANTICAL Scallops, served with Potatoes Au Gratin on a bed of Spinach, was actually really good. =) The Veal Milanaise was good, but not out of this world...and the Crepes De La Mer was much too creamy, heavy, and overwhelming. It was decent and all, but...I don't think I'd go there again. =P

On Saturday, us three had dim sum at Orchid Gardens. WOW. WOW. WOW! The dim sum was tasty...so extremely yummy...my favorites were the Shiu Mai (the meat was so slippery and light and fluffy in its tasty little wrapper!) and the Zeen Dui (the outside layer of the mochi was juuust perfectly lightly crispy with a sesame coating, and the rest of the mochi was light, not heavy, with a perfect filling of red bean paste inside). ^_^ After dim sum and more errands, we all went home to rest for a few hours. To pass the time, we had a long game of Scrabble. I won. ^_^

At night, we went to the Bellagio to pick up my surprise tickets - Cirque Du Soleil's O!!! So fantastic! If you've never seen one...well...I hadn't before either...it was awesome...people doing crazy, unimaginable tricks and contortionists...flying and diving...aquatic acrobats...Totally worth seeing one day. =) We meandered around Bellagio, took pictures at their current conservatory display of landmarks in America, all made by plants, and then, as time was running out, we scarfed down some onion rings before getting into the theater. ^_^

08.08.06, Tuesday:

[10:58pm] Shelton and I met up with Mei-Chi for a light dinner at Genki Living. Mmmm!!! Their crepes were BIGGER THAN MY HEAD!!! And their shaved ice (mango with sweetened milk, and lychee jelly too!) was TWICE the size of my head! Ha ha ha...and the Okonomiyaki was hhhhhheavenly, even if the little fish flakes were a little scary, writhing about on top of the dish like little worms, as Monster Munching says. =) Everything eaten today was deeeelicous!

Afterwards, Shelton and I san-bou'ed (meandered about) at the center of Irvine - at Bill Barber Park. WOW...this is one crazy city park that's totally gone on steroids. It's very nice, and I'd love one nearby - it has lots of tennis courts, all nicely sectioned and lighted, a stadium and many baseball fields for games and for dogs to run about it and chase frisbees at, ha ha...many sectioned picnic areas so that many people can party without worrying about getting in another groups' territory...a daycare playground area, a "Tot Lot" playground, a fountain area, exquisite looking city park bathrooms, an inline skating rink (!!!), rabbits everywhere, and well, it's just plain humongous.

There was no basketball court! What?!? Shelton says without basketball courts, it wouldn't attract any "lower class" people - after all, doesn't Irvine send all its bums to Santa Ana? Or Saaaantaaaana, as I've known it back in the days, ha ha...=) I guess a basketball game only requires the ball, whereas tennis, baseball, inline skating, and other things require one to have a few other things to pay to play, eh? Interesting why there's no basketball court - when one of UCI's main sport is basketball.

Since there's no basketball courts, I guess the only thing we could do is start a Frisbee and Soccer frenzy, right? Oh, that's right - we're doing that for our Color Olympics at church already. ^_^ Though most of my injuries from last Friday's game is healing well, my biggest scab is not healing well - it's in the crease between the outside and inside of my elbow, so the scab will come off on its own before it's really ready. And this time, I've resisted picking it. O_o

I have quite a few emails to catch up on...I'll do my best, but not promises yet, ha ha...tomorrow is another exciting day of noodle making, visiting dear old friends, cooking, packing, and leaving for Vegas...! ^_^

[08:40am] The rest of Saturday - 1000 piece puzzle is completed! ^_^

Sunday - Shelton and I went with Gilbert to visit his Light & Power Sunday School class. WOW! I was so impressed! It's a class for disabled students where they fellowship and learn about the Bible. Besides the goodness of having snacks in the morning (Huckleberry Cream Cheese! Mmm...), the camaraderie amongst those in class was great, most were involved in the lesson, and participated with enthusiasm and zeal. It was great! ^_^

We got back to RCAC in time for service, and afterwards, Nina and Megan helped me with finding paint colors for my room! ^_^ Yes, I'm a gonna paint it, but probably not till I'm back from Vegas. ^_^

The rest of Sunday was party, party, party down at Mike L's place. Wow! I have like, no pictures from there...because we were literally playing nonstop for hours. He's got a lovely pool and basketball court in his backyard (eep! fun!), so it was like we were at the park already. So we basketballed, we played in the pool, we had our Bible study, we chilled on the couches and sang songs to our hearts delight, we had a "surprise" birthday party and cake for me and Shelton (and Simon, who wasn't there), we had a surprise frosting fight, ha ha ha...there was excellent food from the BBQ, and Karaoke at night. Even Kawai came out to play with us! ^_^ Thank you to everyone who helped organize, plan, prepare and showed up at the party! ^_^

Monday - Ah, a Jonah day indeed. I woke up, bought some peaches and grapes, and intended to go visit my Auntie #2 at St. Jude's. She's sick (pray for her please!) and was taken to the hospital over the weekend. So armed with my gift and instructions from Yahoo, off I went to the OC. The only problem was, the directions were all wrong! =( I drove around, not able to find the streets after exiting from the freeway - I even circled the area thoroughly and couldn't find it. So I drove around (and was actually heading in the general right direction, but on a parallel, and wrong street), and even asked people when our cars were stopped at the intersection where it was, only nobody knew (it's a big hospital, but I was in the wrong city I guess?) at all.

I called 411, but they only had the number for the Children's Hospital, which I don't think was where my aunt was at, and so I asked for the Medical Center number. Only while driving, it's hard to write down the number, and it wouldn't transfer me, so I ended up turning on another street and driving around some more. I stopped at another Medical Center, thinking, hey...they must know...but they didn't either! One pharmacist was able to direct me to Harbor, one of the main roads, but the directions she gave me got me to Disneyland. =P Anyways, to make a long story short, it took about an hour and a half of me driving around Anaheim and Fullerton until I got there.

And when I got there, with major construction going on, and no sign of the hospital (there was only emergency parking, it seemed) itself, I found the medical center and parked there - only to find that I was on the wrong side of the street and had to cross over to the other side.

Off I walked, and finally got there...and...MY AUNT WASN'T THERE!!! They had taken her out for some X-Rays and she wasn't due back till way later.

Sigh.

I left the fruit there with a note, and went back to my car.

On that wonderful 91 freeway I went...and a few exits later, some big rig had hit a car...a sig alert was issued...and the freeway was entirely closed! I was able to detour to the 57 just in time...and with the nearby exits all jammed up, I ended up taking Imperial Highway. I pretty much took street roads from Fullerton back to Weir Canyon...and four/five hours later, I was home, at last. =P

But that wasn't the end of it. Let's just add a bottle of tiny beads that spilled all over the carpet...and call it day, eh? O_o

It's okay. Good stuff happened too! On Imperial Highway, I saw an Omar's! There's one closer by! =) But they don't have as many large birds as the one in Lake Forest, and the birds aren't AS friendly. My plane ticket to China was finally refunded and is now in my bank account. And all the while, I kept getting phone calls all day long. It was neat, to hear from old friends again. =) Only I kept getting distracted cuz I was lost most of the time. =P They didn't stop until my phone's battery died at night! It was good to hear from Romani, Jason K., Mei-Chi, Anna, Amy, Jenny, Rosalyn, and even my mom (but she seems to call every day at work anyways, hee hee). =)

And like Jason, today will be exciting! Nutmeg Doughnut Muffins, finding Shelton, and having dinner with Mei-Chi down in Irvine! ^_^

08.05.06, Saturday:

[09:49am] Woooow...the Little Women musical that Anna and I got to see was...enchanting...delightful...SO EXCELLENT! As they'd say in Britain, it was the dog's bullocks! Ha ha...but really, it was so good! It made me tear up and happy and sad and well...it just pulled me into the whole story. I especially liked Andrew Varela, who played the Professor, and he did a wonderful job, as did the guy who played Laurie. Maureen McGovern - wow, she can SING - and she sang some sad solos, which would just pull you into how she felt with great, desperate gravity. And well, the whole cast gave a fine performance indeed. ^_^

Last night was the first Color Olympics game! Team Yellow and Green played valiantly, and we won...err, in God's eyes, anyways...ha ha...^_~ But it was an excellent basketball game between all the teams! ^_^ Not without injuries, might I add. I got to fall at the beginning of our game (all cuz I was trying to block mi sobrino Paul, heh heh...and you know our size differences, right?) - one fall left me with six scrapes, cuts and bruises. =Þ Battle scars, right? ^_^

The music class was afterwards. I know I'm an audio-learner for these type of things. I never learned the "real" rules of music, as I pretty much picked it up on my own when I learned to play the keyboard way back then. I'd know if I was in the right scale by ear, and eventually learned to play things like Phantom of the Opera, which were not easy, mind you! ^_^ But given a sheet of music, and told to explain how it sounds? I can do it, but I need quiet and a lot of thinking, and maybe a tiny bit of good encouragement. The only thing with the music class is that probably 85% of them are already musically inclined, so they're there in the class, shouting enthusiastically "Ohhhh, I know what this is!" within seconds of seeing the music, and then they all look at you, telling you it's so eeeeasy...staring and waiting for you to tell the that you know what it is too...and you just want them to stop and to let you quietly figure it out for at least a good many more minutes, but it doesn't happen...and my mind can't concentrate and everything starts spinning around and around (okay, not really, I'm exaggerating now)...

It was good, in that me, who usually is a big nerd, heh heh, now knows how it feels to feel like I know nothing, to be embarrassed and confused when everyone else around me seems to get it just fine, when I sorta get it and would just want a little more time to actually get it but don't seem to get it...it puts me in the place of where some of my students may be at times, and how frustrating it can be...and what I would have liked so that I get it better - and in turn, what my students would want in order to understand things better too. =) I can normally gauge when at least a third of my students don't get something, and would go back to re-teach or re-explain in that situation, but for when something like last night happens - when maybe only 5 or 6 students sit there quietly confused, internally embarrassed and frustrated...well, I know how it feels...and I'll be doing something about THAT. =)

That, and teaching music in the way of a big classroom with no instruments in front of us , with most people already knowing everything and understanding the secret language and jargon that musicians have engrained into their souls already, is not in any way conducive to me, but that's another story, and this ain't no private music lesson either - mostly a refresher-like-course than really teaching-and-understanding, and I know this probably has been a run-on sentence so I'll stop now. =)

No pictures for today's entry. My memory card decided to die, grrr. But no worries...found an excellent deal on a 2 GB SD Card, and it's sitting patiently in my camera, ready for action. =) I finished painting my bathroom this week too!!! Only taking pictures doesn't really show the finished details...it's a peach color for the walls, and the trim and window sill are a nice minty green color. It's looovely! ^_^ I was tempted to paint the door minty green...but decided that maybe, it'd be too glaring. And I replaced the old lighting fixture with another regular, simple but nicely updated fixture. I like my bathroom! And I think I would want to paint my room, if summer allows me to. ^_^ So Heidi...a visit to Corona is necessary one day, so you can see my bathroom!! =)

08.01.06, Tuesday:

[Actually, 12:48 am of Wednesday: Happy Birthday Shelton! ^_^]

(1&2) A new genus of Blueberry Goodness has been discovered! It features a crumbly sweet topping...mmm...^_^ (3) I also had visitor from a little friend today in the backyard...^_^

I visited Shelton later today. Upon arrival, I was hungry and he was hungry, so I made us a Tuna Patty Melt Sandwich. Mmmm. No picture of it unfortunately...it ended up in our stomachs in no time, ha ha ha! So trust me...it was more than tasty! ^_^ Before coming back to the apartment for a dinner of flavored rice, spam shnitzel musubi (we're trying to think of another name for it. Something fancy, like...Royal Spam Roll or something...^_^), Salmon sashimi and sushi, we went on a little adventure around Lake Forest, spending most of our time at Omar's. I love visiting Omar's! I can't ever leave a place where there are that many birds out for you pet, feed, hold, play with, and be friends with. =) (4) Another friend who loved to be scratched and pet - and would walk towards me when I tried to leave, or stare at me until I came back to pet him some more. ^_^ (5) Mini-Derrick's street down in Lake Forest! ^_^ (6) Being silly in the car. ^_^

Anna and I got our facials yesterday! They were coupons from my mom's mother's day gift - she didn't want the facial part, so I'm making Anna come with me. WOW...talk about unimaginable comfort and pampering!!! They massaged our face, neck and back while doing the facial, all in a comfy little bed and room with soft music and low lights. No wonder cats and dogs love to be pet and massaged! I've never gotten a facial before, so it was a new experience, and it was quite delightful! They even gave us tea - how good could it get??? ^_^