Weblog Archive      

.:June 2002 to August 2002:.

08.30.02, Friday

[10:02pm] Today was fun...besides a read-around, I also let the students do a Scavenger Bingo...something I didn't think about until last night. They liked it, hee hee...! After school, Bryce and Mike A. visited (yesterday, Justin had visited) me. It's neat to be visited by old students. ^_^ Oh yeah, I also have Christian's sister in my class (and he had visited me during Spirit Day too)!

I came home as soon as I could, cuz I was simply tired. I watched some Pokemon and some Yu-Gi-Oh (dang it, I never make it home in time for Jackie Chan Adventures...they need to move their time slot up a notch or two...hee hee, or even play it at night! Muah ha ha...but it only benefits me and not the rest of the world. =Þ), and fell asleep sometime in there. When I woke up, Yu-Gi-Oh was already over, hee hee...I rarely ever fall asleep in front of the TV, so that was weird...and to continue that weirdness, I took a nap and woke up completely disoriented - it was all dark, I wasn't sure exactly what time or even day it was, and I heard the neighbor's dogs outside running about in their backyard. Then I realized that it was Friday, there was no school tomorrow, and that I missed dinner and was hungry. ^_^

Ah, a worthy book review here! Chinese Cinderella was good!!! I finished it in one night...it was sad...there were parts where I was like, Nooo....!!!! I couldn't put it down! To be honest, I didn't sleep at 11pm last night...I was sooo close to finishing it, so I slept at 11:30pm, hee hee. I usually am not too big of a fan for books by Chinese female authors, which I think, are mostly the ones that are out there, which is too bad. I mean, Maxine Hong Kingston doesn't dazzle me - she bores me to death, and maybe my mind is too simple to grasp the depth of her novels. They all seem so dark, dreary, and pessimistically complicated and use big, depressing words that are hard to understand. Really, it bugs and I don't like reading it and putting THAT much effort to analyze it when she's complicates it that much. But that is her style, and a lot of people like it. And then Any Tan - she's not bad, and I liked Joy Luck Club, but it wasn't like SPECTACULAR. I liked that one story where one of the characters makes up the story of the gods punishing the spoiled brat she had to marry in order to get out of that household, and that was funny...but that was the only one that I really really liked of all her stories in that novel. I heard the rest of her novels are about the same as Joy Luck Club - it was a good original idea, but then a bunch of people started doing the same type of stories (or so it seems. Maybe that format just got popularized by her?) too, besides herself. Adeline Yen Mah's book is sad, but it's not like Kingston's complexed depressivity (I'm making all these words up, but you gather what I mean, right? ^_^) and it's got this charm, even if it's mostly sad. It's a true story, and that's what makes it neat - it's like a story weaved from past experiences that was put together like a fairy tale almost, and knowing how I like fairy tales, I guess you can see how I would like it. =)

And now? My Friday night requires that I set up the gradebook for this year's set of students. =Þ

08.29.02, Thursday

[06:33pm] First day of school...with students, that is...=)...not bad at all! Even though I started getting nervous, and then was totally not in school-mode by the time 2nd period (I have Zero Period, and then First off, as that's my conference period) came around, I think I did quite alright. =) I had wanted to be stricter at this start...like not MEAN, but like, to be more...oh I don't know...tough??? But I couldn't help but smile, laugh and have fun with the kids as I kept seeing their shiny happy faces, hee hee. BUT, I wasn't like lax on things - if kids were acting out of line, or TRYING to act out of line, I did switch my tone of voice quickly (and I think I do this rather unconsciously by now) to tell them to knock it off, quiet down, or let them know that a detention is coming up...I think this fits my style better, cuz I LIKE to have fun with them, but still have control over what the class is supposed to do.

I have Mark's (yes, that loud-mouth one that I had mentioned...oh, several times...in this blog because of frustration over his behavior) sister...Eduardo's sister...Romen's brother...Nathannel's sister...and Sergio's brother. I wonder if there are more siblings of my former students in my classes...hee hee...

I assigned homework tonight, muah ha ha! ^_^ It was really just to revise something they wrote in class today, or to rewrite it in pen or type it up if they needed to. Hey, at least I'm setting up expectations for the class, right??? Right! =)

Being NOT in school-mode means that I didn't have that internal sense of when the class period should be about over, or how much time is left in the class. It will come back though, hee hee...and then once again, I wouldn't even have to look at the clock anymore, muah ha ha. =) But yeah...like I haven't worn my heeled loafers in a while. Actually, I haven't really worn heeled anything in a while (like my nice sandals, though they do make me somewhat taller, are not heeled. They're just elevated equally on all parts of the sole, hee hee...) so it was different to wear teacher clothes again. Even though yeah, I do sometimes wear these on Sundays, those are on weekends, and that's quite different than wearing them on a weekday...if that makes any sense whatsoever to you. ^_^

Sorry Mello...I gave up on reading Genome...hee hee...I'm not in bio mode just yet. =) I switched to the Mark Twain's Book for Bad Boys and Girls, and am also reading Chinese Cinderella, a book that they have for my students. It's good to model that I read books during Silent Reading too. Besides, I like to read, so I really don't mind. =)

08.28.02, Wednesday

[08:35pm] I had a staff development meeting all day today, for the Second Chance Literacy Program. Ugh. It was sooooooo boring...I was getting SO sleepy! Even a quesadilla lunch (shouldn't it be quesOdilla? After all, quesO, and not quesA, is cheese in Spanish...but anyways) didn't wake me up, nor did Mr. John Smith's mischievous plot of pushing against my car and setting off my alarm (see, the AVID teachers are my buddies too, and like the science department, we can be troublemakers and play a lot. Ah, it is too bad we don't have the same conference period anymore...we were planning on playing mah-jong for our free time, hee hee...maybe after school one day...^_^). I did get to know Anneeta better - she's the only other Chinese teacher on staff, hee hee, and not that much older than me. We've hung out a bit more lately, and I like her! She's pretty neat! =)

I had dinner at Benihana tonight! Mmmmm!! That place is sooo cool...it's going on my list of one of my favs, hee hee! The cooks were funny, and did all sorts of neat things with their cooking - twirling knives, butterflying shrimp super fast (and to THINK that I do this one by one!), making toys out of their food, beating out music with the salt and pepper shakers, and flipping food all over the place, hee hee. ^_^ THAT, and the food wasn't all too shabby either, hee hee. Thanks Tim and Susie! ^_^ Hee hee...Tim absolutely SPOILS me every birthday with good food...Thank you!!! =) Even if you are bitter that we got a Mexican chef called Jorge, who didn't seem to be AS cool as the Japanese chef that was on the grill next to us. =)

And oh yeah! So yesterday was my birthday...Twenty-Four! Woah. But like last year, it doesn't sound THAT old, hee hee...but I know...it will soon be one day...=) Thank you to EVERYONE who sent me bday wishes in one form or another, hee hee...I really do feel soooo loved and appreciated by everyone. You guys are all perfectly awesome, and I really don't take any of it for granted at all. Thank you thank you!!! =) My homeboy Binh from WAY back in da days even called up - I haven't heard from him in ages, and we used to cause havoc all over UCI for the fun of it...j/k, hee hee. =) I didn't do anything yesterday, except go to school, get ready for school, help out other teachers, do registration at school, and lesson plan for the first few days of school. Do you see a "school" theme going on here? =) But it was still a nice day! =)

Ah ha...another Epiphany...but this I can share...it's really general, hee hee, and really too simple. That whole Descartes thing of "I think, therefore I am"...yeah yeah, so we analyzed and picked it apart back in Humanities Core...but like the other day, I was just driving...and you know how sometimes when you drive, you don't think about it, or aren't even thinking about anything at all? And then suddenly, you wonder, am I even real? Like what if all this is just a dream, like the Matrix, or what if we weren't really here??? But see...dude...if we are able to THINK that, then of course we are. After all, reality is what we make it - reality is whatever is in our minds. If let's say there are two people, and they get into an argument or something. And in time (okay, sentences are not to be started with "And"...hee hee) they aren't arguing over whatever it was that they were arguing over anymore. Maybe to one person, everything is hunky dory, and thus, that is the reality to that person - everything is good and cool and fine. But then to the other, that person, let's say, holds a grudge or is NOT hunky dory. Reality for this individual is that the relationship with that person will always be awkward or false or hostile or whatever. See? Reality is what one chooses it to be, and it's our own individual attitudes and perceptions of things that happen around us that allows us to construct reality. It's a simple Epiphany, but one nonetheless. ^_^

Ack! School starts tomorrow morning! I need to make sure I have the layout of my whiteboard alllll planned out, hee hee. =) Heh heh...blogs will probably be a bit shorter and less frequent from now on, heh heh...^_^

08.26.02, Monday

Happy Birthday Joanna! ^_^

[08:30pm] My karazy niece is now 17. Woo hoo! Congrats! ^_^ Keep your head up girlie...! ^_^

I finished my syllabus today. Wow. It has extended from 2 pages last year to 3 this year, hee hee...I just have too much to say, do I? =) It was cool to head back to school (officially, that is), and see my buddies again, like Heidi and Danielle, and especially my Science Posse again...I'm so serious...our department simply rocks with the funniest, silliest people who like to play just as much as I do! =) Mrs. Hester is one with wild and poofy red hair, which matches her seemingly spontaneous (though she knows ALL the ropes and always has things planned well) and mischievous ideas...Dr. P, though still learning alot, has the heart to learn, and likes to blow things up...Frankie (okay, Mr. Franks. But it's Frankie for all of us!) has his height and shiny bald head to contribute to our department, as well as a good sense of humor and a quick witted mouth, and Hofer - well, we started seeing the funnier and krazier side of her last year, and expect to see more this year. And there is also me. Enough said, eh? =)

We also have a new addition to our Science Team - with Cherie's move up to Northern Cali (so sad...we will miss her...she was funky and insane like the rest of us, hee hee), we got Janice. Janice is new (though not a new teacher. She taught at a continuation high school, and has taught for 6 years), so we don't know TOO much about her, but so far, I like her!!! I hung out with her a lot today, and taught her all kinds of stuff for new teachers at the school. She seems pretty cheerful, which matches our Department well. =)

It was a vow I made to myself the past year that should we ever have a new teacher (in the Science Dept at least), that I would make sure she or he knows the ropes of things and not be quite so lost like I was last year. I mean, little things, like where the copy machine is, where to find bulletin paper, overhead sheets, the laminator, poster maker, art supplies, and general supplies, can be found, and what the school has and does NOT have...what to expect for the beginning of the year, how duties work, who to ask for what, internet connection, who NIS is, safety and emergency procedures, how to use the labroom, where the gas and water switches are, which part of the windows can have tape on it, and which part of the windows can not have tape on it because of the filming that is on it, and what to use instead of tape (putty), what kind of tape works for the walls in our classroom (ours in particular are constructed from bricks and not the usual stuff), fire hazard regulations, and even where the bathroom is for our wing (which really is not in our wing, but in the next wing, at the office). All these things, I mostly had to pick up on my own. And they're all little things...but really important! Thank goodness George is my mentor teacher, cuz he helped me a lot on these little details.  So I showed her a bunch of things, and it was cool that I was able to help her out like that, even if I am only a 2nd year teacher! =) I even shared a bunch of my new ideas with her and Frankie, and gave them copies of some handouts I made. Wow. I feel like a veteran teacher, hee hee...when really, I still have a lot to learn! ^_^

After, I dropped by the mall to run a quick errand, and who did I run into but Bryce??? Ah yes...that troublemaker from last year...j/k =) Yeah, he was a fella that distracted everyone like mad, and probably did plan to be kicked out of my classroom on purpose several times (I bet!) but I still liked him as a person, and he knew that, and liked me as his teacher. He's gone through a lot at home. But it was cool to see him and so he hung out with me and walked with me in the mall as I was going out. He had met some girls online, and went to see them in person, only when he walked by them, they turned out to be ugly (they had claimed to be cute), as he said, and he decided to not meet them anymore! They had asked him if he was Bryce (he had told them he had long hair), and he said NOPE. Hee hee...silly boy. He plans to tell them later that he WAS at the mall, and that he was wearing a bright yellow shirt and green shorts - and where were THEY? ^_^ These are the kids that I teach, and these are the things they are comfortable talking to me about, hee hee...this probably explains why I had to slowly filter out how many kids came into my room before and after school, and at lunch eh??? =) It's cool, but I've learned to set some limits this year.

Anyways, because he wasn't going to hang out with them, he was simply wandering the mall and on his way out too. It was cool to see him again though. For some strange reason, I had a feeling I'd see this boy today too. I didn't tell him that, but he had told me he thought he saw someone that was me, but wasn't, but then later ran into me!

I don't know if running into Bryce is a good omen for the beginning of the school year. And yet...thus the school year begins...

08.25.02, Sunday

[10:15pm] Mmm! I did get an extra special dessert yesterday - Fred made his dun-daan dessert, but he made the egg white only one, so it was white, chilled it, and then surrounded and topped it with peach slices and strawberries, and garnished with chocolate syrup. It was his new invention, and I got to guinea-pig it...if I didn't die, that meant everyone else could eat one like it too. It was a hit for all of us here last night! =)

Today was church...then Costco...and then my parents took me out for dinner! We went to Sam Woo, the nice Seafood one off Nogales. Wow...such a good meal...!!! We had the seafood-tofu soup (the "gung" kind, not the "tong" kind...if that makes sense to anyone out there, heh heh), stuffed fried crab claws, crab, shrimp on veggies, steamed fish, pei-pa chicken, and even a dish of abalone just for my mom to test out. Of course, there was also dessert, and I got the tapioca/taro one (we all got to choose from that, sweet green bean dessert, or sweet tofu "flower" (???). Wow huh?). Thank you Daddy and Mommy! ^_^

What's cool is that, in our family, our bdays are pretty spread out. My dad's at the end of January, my mom's in June, I'm in August, and Mark is in December (as well as my parents' anniversary). So like we get a fancy meal or something special at least four times a year, and it's all pretty evenly spread out, hee hee, which works out lovely! =)

Shoulders still a little pained. =( School starts tomorrow for me...no students till Thursday, though tomorrow is a full prep day. This may be the one day of the school year that I'd actually leave school right at 2:45pm. ^_^

08.24.02, Saturday

[03:43pm] Back from Newport Beach. Ouch. I don't get sunburnt, though I will get darker...but my shoulders aren't exposed enough to the sun I guess...and now they are sunburnt. Oy! =( It was fun though - playing in the sand, building freeways with overpasses, developing land for apartments, a soccer stadium, and fish aquarium...giving Mello fish shoes...burying Kevin in quite deeply (and sitting and walking on him) with Becky and Mark...walking around the little shops with Kevin and Mello (searching for a gift for Kevin's friend)...eating those Vietnamese sandwiches (I learned today that that meat thing is called "Jaa") and almond tofu dessert...learning that the Mandarin (or Beijing) equivalent of "Aiya!" is "Youk!", and simply playing a whole lot with my church people. =)

I need to head over to Albertson's and get some goods - Fred is going to make dessert for all of us tonight, and I get to taste a new creation! Mmm! ^_^

08.23.02, Friday

[12:02am - technically Saturday] I had such a good time today! I spent all morning working in my classroom...and Vanessa came to help me make letters and put them up later in the day. I have just Monday left to get it all together, which I think can be done, though there will need to be a lot of thinking this weekend. I don't think I'll have that much time this weekend for it though. Lots of things are planned! Well, actually, just the picnic tomorrow, and Nominating Committee stuff during worship on Sunday, that I know of so far! =) My room is looking much more cooler than last year, especially since I traded out a bunch of furniture I didn't want for some ones I did want, like a rolling cabinet, easel, and a bigger teacher desk! =)

Anyways, Vanessa and I stopped at Ross, where she used a gift certificate to go shopping a bit. Then, after arriving home (and after an incident of Mark being stranded at Magic Wok...ha ha ha! ^_^), Vanessa, Jenny, and I went to pick up Mello and Megan, and we took off to Main Place! We would have gotten there sooner, but I missed the exit, and we ended up taking this loooong detour on Garden Grove Blvd, stopping by Manmi Bakery for some of their cream puffs, and ending up way near the 605 because some stranger gave us the wrong directions...=Þ Either way, we finally got there, shopped and had fun, and had dinner at Olive Garden! Mmm! We were planning to go to this one place by Mello's, but ended up at Olive Garden cuz we were HUNGRY, and it was right there. =) We ate well, and took off with our leftovers and a giant stash of breadsticks. ^_^ I think we will be doing this "Girls Night Out" thing once every two months or so. Cuz Jenny says she can make really good cream puffs, and that she will even teach me how to make these most heavenly morsels, she claims...and that requires some investigation. =) I'm pooped. It's been a long day! ^_^

Suddenly, I'm getting a LOT of mail from Christian resources and stuff. I think it started after I bought some stuff from the Youth Specialties convention I went to many months ago. Spam exists everywhere huh??? =Þ

So I get this funny email forwarded from Heidi...as she's a Language Arts teacher, it's more of a play of words (typos) than religion:

<start funny email>

Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

1. Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

2. Announcement in a church bulletin for a national PRAYER & FASTING Conference: "The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer Conference includes meals."

3. The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight:"Searching for Jesus."

4. Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

 5. "Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands."

6. The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

7. Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.

8. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.

9. Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

10. Miss Charlene Mason sang "I Will Not Pass This Way Again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

11. For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

12. Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

13. Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.

14. During the absence of our Pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.

15. The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth into Joy."

16. Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

17. A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

18. At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

19. Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

20. Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles, and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

21. The Lutheran men's group will meet at 6 PM.  Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.

22. Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

23. Attend and you will hear an excellent speaker and heave a healthy lunch.

24. The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.

25. Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

26. The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

27. This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

28. Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done. The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

29. Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

30. The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The Congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

31. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

32. Mrs. Johnson will be entering the hospital this week for testes.

33. The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours."

34. Our next song is "Angels We Have Heard Get High."

</end funny email>

08.22.02, Thursday

[07:38am] Hmm. This Garfield comic seems to say it all. ^_^ My best so far is 6:30am, and I couldn't keep it for today. I got up fully a little after 6:30 today. I just stayed in bed and dozed back to sleep for a few minutes, would wake up, doze again, wake up again...and it wasn't like a fitful kind of going back and forth between sleeping and waking - it was actual all very peaceful and smooth transitioning back and forth, especially when it's gray and calm outside. =)

The dentist yesterday said I took good care of my teeth. Brushed nicely, no cavities, and they even thought I flossed (which, ahem, I started doing yesterday! hee hee...) Yay! Lorie is proud of me! ^_^ But again, my teeth are overcrowded, blah, blah, blah...and they want to take out all four of my wisdom teeth. I didn't even know I had wisdom teeth, hee hee (who actually bothers to count their own teeth? hee hee...I have all 32!). That's scary - I totally visualize them cutting into my gums and yanking out big teeth from way in the back of my mouth with these things that they don't call pliers, but basically are...blood and saliva spewing all over the place...and gaping holes in my gums where they once stood...*shudder* I'm not afraid of the pain all so much, but the thought of the PROCESS is pretty horrifying! And just for that, I think I'd have them knock me out, hee hee. But yeah, since I'm considering braces, they want to take out four MORE teeth! This is tooooo scary! I probably won't do any of this until next summer. The earliest I would even consider taking the wisdom teeth out would be Christmas break, and that's only if I'm doing nothing, muah ha...

Christina led step class last night. I was soooo happy to have her as the instructor again, instead of that lady (I almost said "floozy") from Monday night who couldn't lead. =) It was super fun again! ^_^

So lately, I've been doing a lot of counseling or stuff like that, and it's been pretty neat to see that God intends to keep me busy, hee hee...and because of all this counseling, I've come to several Epiphanies, hee hee. Ah, just what are they??? Well, I can't exactly share them here on a public site, cuz some are confidential, and/or require some good background knowledge of my views on certain issues. Hee hee...but I had to note it here, or else I might forget that I came to these Epiphanies when I'm 70 years old, hee hee. ^_^ Hey cool...I can show my grandkids my website, hee hee. ^_^

08.20.02, Tuesday

[11:00pm] What an awesome day! ^_^ I literally played all day, hee hee...I hung out with Dolly and Giang at South Coast in the morning, where we hunted for purses [I need to replace my current school-teacher-purse/bag (it's more of a bag. The word "purse" seems to imply ladylike-ness...which this is soooo very not, hee hee...)] and all kinds of stuff. Lunch was at Vie De France...mmm!!! Yummy baguette sandwiches of all kinds...a treat in itself! =) Later on, we had dinner at El Torito, for Taco Tuesday! Noel joined up with us, and so did Olive, Calvin and Christine. Hee hee...I must announce here that Jer, you are wrong...the tacos ain't 50 cents, though that would be nice, cuz they were big tacos! But I was wrong too...they were not 75 cents. They had raised it to 99 cents! Alas! But they were still good and quite worth it, and I only had one, cuz I was still full from lunch. Olive, Noel, Dolly, and I headed to B&N after, to simply read and pass the time away. I found the second book to Artemis Fowl, and read up to page 50, hee hee...next time I go there, I will continue on the perilous adventure once more! =) I even got a book - Mark Twain's Book for Bad Boys and Girls, which offered important advice, such as "You should never do anything wicked and then lay it on your brother, when it is just as convenient to lay it on another boy", and "You ought never to take anything that don't belong to you - if you can not carry it off." Muah ha ha...^_^

On the way home, I saw the full moon in all its splendor. Right before the Coal Canyon exit, you can see the moonlight illuminating the top of the dark mountains off the 91 freeway. That was pretty awesome. ^_^

Goodnight all! This is my new bedtime...11pm...bleah...>_<

08.19.02, Monday

[10:15pm] I have a strange life. Or it's just unique. I think everyone has their own unique life anyways, and even though we are all human, and we do go through the same type of things, it's still unique to each of us. ^_^ But anyways, randomness aside...

Saturday night was spent watching HK movies that Fred brought over for us - Hit Men, Chinese Odyssey 2002, and The Wesley Files. Sunday was church, filled with all sorts of things, including a "Girls Night Out" finally planned for this Friday with some of the YF homegirlz from da hood. ^_^ Fellowship was at our house, and besides getting extremely addicted to the Apples to Apples game that Gilbert brought for us, we had a bunch of really good discussions at the meeting, that, though it was supposed to be about motivation and love (from Ralm's message today) combined with Shelton's series on worldviews and such, it ended up being a lot about anger, self-control, and being the light of the world through example. One cool thing I picked up was that, for example...cussing...first of all, I don't like it, heh heh. But really, besides being disrespectful, it's a matter of acting whether or not you are in God's presence. And He is with us, all the time, and we should acknowledge it, whether or not we are angry, or whatever. After all, it's the responsibility and role that we take up as an imitator of Christ, and we need to show the world what it's all about, heh heh. It's not like it's BAD to be angry, but it should be a last resort...and must be carried to love. Ha ha...easier said then done sometimes, but it's something to strive for. Hee hee...too bad I can't tell my students this, about God's presence and all. =Þ The fact alone that it's disrespectful simply doesn't work with some of them...

This is basically my last week left to play...so I'm going to play, after getting school business taken care of in the mornings. That is, if I can get myself to actually wake up at the right time. =) I'm readjusting to school hours...waking up early...which means I should start sleeping earlier...which is quite a difficult thing to do, hee hee...and going to the gym in the evenings instead of the morning. I went just about an hour ago. The lady for this class...I couldn't get used to her...she doesn't lead very well. I like my  usual morning ones, Christina and Amy. These two are good!

And ha ha...so last night, I got this evite to go to my own bday dinner...that I wasn't supposed to know about. It's at Old Spaghetti Factory. Wow, I've been there SO many times this year, hee hee...White Clam Sauce for the Gumsta', woo hoo! =)

08.17.02, Saturday

[01:20pm]

"Worship the Creator, not the Creation."

I saw that today on a license plate holder. It's an obvious statement. But still...makes ya think, eh?

A mystery solved! ^_^ These karazy dogs next door woke me up at like 6:00 this morning. Seeing how I didn't get to sleep till 2am, I was pretty riled. I mean, it was good, cuz I wanted to wake up a bit early for the Teacher Appreciation stuff, but aiya...! So after lunch (and the whole morning, like other days, the dogs bark and whatever incessantly), I went straight over to Pete's (the neighbor) to find out just what was going on. As it turns out, Pete and Passia aren't even home - they're away in Italy. Pete's mom is taking care of the house by herself, as well as the dogs. She can't control the dogs because they are getting so big (these are growing labs), so it's not really her fault that they are barking and all insane-sounding. The dogs only go nuts when they are outside, because they are playing (it sounds and looks more like fighting, hoarding, and jealousy, but she says it's playing) over dirt clods; she can't keep them inside the whole time because she can't clean and take care of the house when they are inside. So I can see the dilemma. Anyways, Pete and Passia will be back next week. Hopefully. Pete's mom hasn't heard from them since before the floods over in Europe, and she's worried something could have happened. She's heard nothing from the Embassy nor them, they have no cell phone with them, and well, she's pretty worried about that as well. I think I might make something for her to eat, like a dessert or something, and take it over to her. She seems kinda lonely, by herself and all.

The Teacher Appreciation Day today was pretty neat. I went to Office Depot...scored myself a tote bag filled with all kinds of stuff, plus an extra 10% off whatever they had in the store. They gave us breakfast too, but I just got an orange juice. I was only thirsty. Besides the tote bag, I got a pen, a pencil, and really useful calendar, a sample Post-It pad, and was entered into some drawing for a laminator (though, as we know, Gummy's been making full usage of the one at school already...hee hee). Then I went to Staples, and got a goodie bag filled with more things - a plastic box, some pens/pencils, a highlighter, a scissor, some tape, a paper pad, and a folder. Woo hoo! So I bought some colorful Post-It notes and colorful pens there. I don't like to grade in red too much, and I can use the colorful Post-Its to comment on some student work at times. =) What other profession loves stationary this much? Hee hee...and colorful Post-It's really are that cool! ^_^

Yesterday was pretty grand, and filled with fun! =) In the morning, Mark and I played pool with my Uncle #2 and Aunt #2. These two are some slick sharks, hee hee...especially my uncle, with his power glove (okay, it's just that glove they use to play pool with, hee hee), and special pool stick. My aunt will keep saying, aw, I don't know about this...I can't make this...and then POW, she knocks them in, hee hee. ^_^

After we went to Disneyland with Joanna and Jonathan...fun fun! The free passes Cheryl hooked us up with let us go to both the parks. So we went to Disneyland, and did a bunch of things - Matterhorn, Innoventions, Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Indiana Jones, Clam Chowder in the Sourdough Bread Bowl (which, I have to admit, I just wanted the chowder. Hee hee...Claim Jumper's Clam Chowder is still the best so far...!), the Haunted Mansion, ate Mickey Sour Gummies, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and had just a whole lot of fun! I love hanging out with these two (and Mark too, of course, hee hee)! ^_^

After, we went over to California Adventures and checked it out. The Muppetvision 3D show was pretty neat, and we saw some cool people playing music on a  moving van, which was neat. I also made a cartoon strip

The Four Tops were also there, but we didn't see them (drats! =) "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch...You know that I love you!...I can't help myself...I love you and nobody else...! ^_^"), but we did successfully take Jonathan on the big roller coaster (California Screamin'), and that was, wow...one of THE neatest roller coasters I've been on. It was soooo smooth - not once did my head get knocked side to side, hee hee...and it was quite fast, and it wasn't a short ride either. =) When we rode it again, we could see the fireworks and the electric parade. It was funny..."Joanna! Look! I can see the paraaaa...ahhhhhhhhh (scream)!!!" Jonathan would not go on it again though (no problem. We got the proof that he was on this one. We all got a picture!)...he has this fear of heights, hee hee...when we got him to ride this one ride where you sit on a little shuttle and it basically just spins around a pole...he was absolutely frozen and would not move because it was so high up! hee hee...but he's okay. =) We rode on Mulholland Madness, which had a bunch of turns, but we couldn't get him to ride the neat Ferris Wheel (you can SWING and move the cage you are sitting in! Ooo!!!), nor the one that would shoot you straight up and yo-yo you down. But we also didn't have enough time...the park was closed by that time.

Yep. The whole day basically had a whole lot of yelling and screaming in it. Even at the most random times...just for kicks. =) We loitered a bit at Downtown Disney, and then decided to get food. Somehow, we ended up in Norwalk without knowing why (ahem)...Mark was driving and we got off Imperial Hwy...but in a few cities away from where we were supposed to be. So we passed La Mirada, and had dinner at Denny's in La Habra before finally arriving in Placentia. ^_^ Thus concluded a rather spiffy day! =)

This has been a long post. =) I think I'll do some more things here and there...and take a nap later. I need a bit more rest for today. I've been a little irritable today, and I think it was because of those barking dogs. ^_^

08.15.02, Thursday

[09:55am] Well, my internet connection isn't perfected just yet - it comes and goes. And then it only works on my computer for now, and not Mark's nor my parents. =Þ Hopefully it will resolve itself soon enough. =) This week has gone by slowly, but it's starting to pick up. Since I finished class on Tuesday, I've been just getting a bunch of stuff figured out for next year, making cool handouts like karazy, and having fun doing it! =)

I read and finished The Good Earth yesterday - thanks Dolly! =) I liked it. It was such an easy read, and yet, neat. Poor O-lan. Grr to Wang Lung, spoiled by his riches, creating the his own destruction of generations to come. It is sad how wealth and power can change things, and take away meaning in so many ways. =( I do have a lineup of books to read, hee hee. The next book,  Genome, Mello lent me...um...several months ago...it's been sitting on my shelf, heh heh. =) The front cover says: "GENOME...The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters". Get it? 23 chapters? 23 chromosomes for the human species? Hee hee...bio...okay...I'm a nerd...^_^

Summertime reading is the best. I can actually finish a book. During the school year...yeah, I have one silent reading class...but like I can actually get anything read in there??? It's rare, hee hee! I think I will be more consistent in reading them from a book once every two weeks, and even have some current events reading once a week, where we can even have discussions about them. I know that we are supposed to be reading silently for 20 minutes for that class, but it's good to also PROCESS the reading, right??? After all, reading without process is kinda pointless. And thus, something different, but meaningful, once a week or so would be nice, for the students and for me. =) Ah, this is but a glimmer of a whole bunch of new (or refined) ideas for next year I have brewing in this little head of mine...^_^

Disneyland tomorrow with Mark, Joanna and Jonathan! and I might even play pool with my uncle #2 in the morning. At every family reunion, he's like, when are you going to come play pool with me??? Hee hee...he's retired, and has a pool table. =) He's pretty spiffy! =) (and a pool shark!!! j/k! ^_^) I haven't had time though...but I think it can be arranged tomorrow! =)

08.13.02, Tuesday

[10:40pm] Ahhh...I have internet again...hee hee...All's well with the world...^_^ Hmm...quick recap of events:

Saturday - Nothing. Washed my car, did schoolwork, and finished my papers. Woo hoo! =)

Sunday - Last day housesitting...GB Meeting (wow, it only lasted 1 hour this time!)...loitered at the mall with my mom. I wanted to do something, even if it was a lot of nothing, simply cuz I was done with all my work for that time! =)

Monday - Went to Mercury Insurance, where I signed up for new insurance when AAA expires. Yay...I pay a whole lot less for auto insurance now! ^_^ Before AAA expires though, I need to stop by and get me more of them free maps...=) I then trekked around Riverside: Alin's Party Supplies for some colorful bulletin board paper, stopped by my classroom, visited Heidi and Selma! Selma is Heidi's dog...she looks like a super mini rottweiler, hee hee...she's not yappy either, which is kinda neat. It's like she's thinking about the stuff that's going on around her. She's pretty smart too! =) Then at night, Mark got restless, so after making dinner (mmm...I made deep fried vermicelli to make a bedding for some steak/mushroom/pepper dish...crunchy and tasty!), we went to the mall (again!) and loitered some more. He was still restless, so we went to the movies to watch Signs...only it was  playing way later than we thought it would...so we went to UV by UCR and watched Reign of Fire. There were so many previews that I forgot what movie I was there to watch! Hee hee....Reign of Fire...I thought it was supposed to be action-packed, hee hee...instead, there was a whole lot of talking and only 2 dragons that caused any action whatsoever. What the heck???

Today - I finished Les Mis this morning! I certainly do feel accomplished! =) I'll start on The Good Earth after a short respite in book reading. ^_^ I had lunch with Dolly and her friend Thomas, at Pho Bac! Mmm...Pho...! ^_^ While we were there, I thought I saw someone that I knew...but wasn't sure it was her cuz she had these sunglasses on...and sure enough...it was Cecilia! ^_^ I had no idea she was down in Irvine, working and all. Neato! =) And another good thing about today...I talked to my professors, got all of next week's stuff taken care of...and I'm done for the MAT program today! =) I simply need to make sure some last minute stuff is taken care of, which I'll do tomorrow. I get a one week break before school starts again...well...somewhat of a break...I won't be in class, but I have to prepare for school! Part of that preparing starts on Saturday. There's a Teacher Appreciation Day at Staples and Office Depot early in the morning, where they are giving away free stuff and discounts to educators. I think Office Depot even has a continental breakfast. Food AND free stuff? ^_^

08.09.02, Friday

[08:55pm] Home again for another night! ^_^ It's always nice to be home...the rice is good, and the place is unspeakably comfy. ^_^ Mark and David visited me at Heidi's and brought me some food on Monday. Including some rice, yay! But dude, of course I couldn't finish it all in one sitting. And thus...I've learned...several days-old rice just ain't all that...>_<

I brought my car in to get the alarm installed...woah, the alarm is really sharp and LOUD...! If I was planning to steal the car...HECK NO!!! Cuz that sound is SO annoying! I guess it's a good thing though, hee hee...But I decided to check on what accessories it had. We got a bunch, but I don't remember them all, hee hee...Hmm...roof rack, sidestep, wheel-locks, pinstripes, splashguards, cargo tray, and...okay...I think that was it...it took my dad and I quite some time today to actually figure it all out. =) Honda only made like $200 profit from our purchase...the salesperson (my dad and I saw him today) told us so. Muah ha ha! Okay. I think I shall stop raving about my car. =)

Why is my tag-board being so un-loadable and silly? I hope they haven't discontinued freeeeeee service...*sigh*

On Wednesday evening, Eric visited me! We ate dinner and watched movies. Not one, but TWO! Woah! Hee hee...Return of the Jedi was watched to prove the point that those cute, fuzzy Ewoks were indeed good guys and not, ahem, "savage, bloodthirsty little beasties". Then we watched The Big Sleep...a Humphrey Bogart film. He was a private eye detective - that guy is cool. And smooth. He doesn't have to do a thing and all the chicks run wild straight for him, hee hee. That, and how he can say his lines so fast and not stumble once. ^_^

And then yesterday, I got to hang out with more people! =) I went to meet up with Stacy and Carina for lunch at CPK. After all, hanging out with each other outside of the MAT program, where we are all grumpy and tired is just so much neater! =) After, I went to pick up Giang, and we went to Barnes & Noble, where we met up with Dolly and Olive. The four of us intended on either reading or doing work...of which we...of course...ended up talking, as good friends can't help but do sometimes! =) But we DID do some work...I got several pages done for this last eportfolio (though there is still more to go!), and Olive and I helped Giang out with her med school personal statement. The statement is going along nicely! Olive is excellent when it comes to these things...and fifty thousand other things, of course. =)

Lambert - I have the Antigone book! Do you still need it??? ^_^ Gooooo Anteaters!!! ^_^

Okay...back to this horrid paper...if I finish the eportfolio TONIGHT, and edit another paper...then I will go to Chinatown tomorrow with my mom and her posse. Her posse includes a gang of ladies from the Women's Fellowship. Although they are quite, QUITE older than me, and can get chatty, they're still fun to hang out with once in a while...it can be fun when you know how to play with the cantonese language, hee hee. =)

08.07.02, Wednesday

[10:30am] I've not blogged in so long! Hee hee...or so it seems! ^_^ I've been away...since coming back from SD, I'm housesitting for Heidi in Riverside. I brought the laptop...but there is no Frontpage for Windows 98, so...no updating has been going on. Heidi's house is kinda cute - small and colorful with the features of the old style Riverside homes. My task includes helping her water plants every day, and helping her throw out a pile of old fencing along with the weekly trash.

Li-Yin and Eym-Soon are settled (almost!) in Oklahoma. Christie's back in school at Australia, and I think Takako is on her way, or already way over in New Jersey. Huy's starting year two at med school, and Lorie is in her last year at UOP. In fact, she saw an orofacial surgery thing yesterday where the surgeon played (okay, maybe it wasn't PLAYED exactly, hee hee) with a muscle and made his toes twitch. My how we've all grown. To think...as Stacy said yesterday..."When I was 21..." (we were talking about wisdom teeth. She had hers pulled out then. I don't think I HAVE any wisdom teeth...). Can you believe it? To actually be able to say..."Way back when I was 21..."???

Yesterday, I got to hang out with Olive and Dolly a bit at Barnes & Noble, where we theoretically read and did schoolwork...though we ended up talking most of the time, hee hee. It was nice to see them again. And to think...once school starts...in like a few weeks, I will hardly be able to hang out with my friends, or even simply go to B&N, grab a couch, and just read with them! *sigh* But I am ready to go back for another year...I wonder if my classroom floor is waxed yet? If it is...then I can start moving in and fixing stuff in there! Wow, another year! ^_^ Laura said it best in class yesterday, about our profession:

"Isn't it amazing? ...The DEPTH of our job???"

So insanely true! Not just academic content matter, but human development, different styles of learning and ways to teach it, psychology, dealing with parents, politics at times...all karazy foolio stuff, wrapped in one.

08.04.02, Sunday

[01:10am] Hee hee...so we went to Don-A-Vee this morning to look at the Suzuki XL-7, and actually test drive it. Oh dear. It was soooo small and squishy, even for someone like me! =( So I didn't go for it, and on the way home with my parents, was not really thinking about getting another car. However, my dad was like, let's stop at the Honda dealer by our house - they had this new one called a Pilot that we wanted to look at. We saw it, loved it, but DANG, it was waaaay too much. The salesman was like, why don't you take a look at our CR-V's? In my head, I was thinking...nyeah...the only reason I'd get a SUV is if it was at an insanely reasonable price, and it was ROOMY (unlike the XL-7, hee hee), and could match my Malibu and more. ^_^ And the CR-V did just that. I was impressed...and took it for a test drive...and woooo hoo...liked it...loved it. =) After a LOT of stressful haggling and bargaining, adamant demands for a lower price (seriously, it was like part of a soap opera...but it worked!), and such wonderful help from my parents...I got it! =) At an insanely reasonable price too, hee hee. ^_^ It's rather gummystylin' - silver, small on the outside but huge on the inside...could fit even TNT comfortably! Now THAT'S something! =)

After that, my dad and I rushed home to gobble up a late lunch and then we all took off to SD for Eddie and Canace's wedding! =) It was loooovely, and like Christian-themed throughout the whole event: Eddie had sung that Michael W. Smith song ("I will be there"???) and played his recording during the unity candle lighting...the reception was at Jasmine, a Lau favorite, and we were stuffed to the max with good food and lots of entertainment - pictures, people, the mc-ing of games on the blissful couple and all that good stuff. They've been together for 8 years, hee hee...so it's nice to see them be married. They are awesome people! ^_^

We got home around midnight...finally got to play with the CR-V a bit in the garage...and then took my shower...and here I am! I need to prepare for tomorrow though...I'm supposed to moderate and do the youth summer camp sharing tomorrow...hmm...and then start house-sitting for Heidi...but I have fellowship tomorrow night...and anyways...I'll figure it out somehow. =)

08.02.02, Friday

Happy Birthday Shelton!

[06:15pm] I am so tired of Fruit Loops® and chicken, hee hee. That was basically all I ate this past week in SD! ^_^ Soy Sauce Chicken Wings, those canned chicken salad things that my mom gave me...and the whole box of Fruit Loops® (which I did share!), were my main staple. Even when I missed rice and went to Panda Express to get some rice, I got the Mandarin Chicken Bowl, simply cuz I'm on a budget, heh heh, and it was the cheapest. =) It was still good, but it was chicken. I personally do like chicken (and Fruit Loops®) a lot. But in moderation only, as I learned this week. I did get a burger from Blueberry Hill one day for lunch (mmmm...they make 'em mighty good!), and we went to Seau's for dinner once, where I got some gooey, cheesy, deeelicious pasta dish, but that was about it in terms of variation, heh heh. ^_^ But other than the eats, SD was awesome!!!

I learned SO much from the AVID Institute, and feel totally revved up and ready to go for the upcoming school year. Woo hoo! ^_^ Mary Catherine Swanson was there, and she was the keynote speaker for Thursday's celebration breakfast (the only day they fed us). In a way, it was kinda freaky how everyone seemed to worship her. I mean, dude, she's human. Yeah, so she came up with AVID, and it IS a great program and it HAS changed the lives for many kids...but all the glory that she was getting and accepting just seemed...well, wrong. She is a good speaker though, and made some good points about how education is a form of power; for those that aren't given the opportunity to access this power, all too often, they turn to other forms of power: violence, hatred, and anger to those who were able to have this power, resulting in gangs, terrorism (she was linking this to 9-11).

The speaker for the opening ceremony, Richard Rothstein, is a "distinguished journalist from The New York Times". He did a lot of talk on the powers outside of our academic realm. Many economists blame bad education when the nation's economy is down...but then when there is a turnaround, the public education of America is not credited either. And sometimes these turnarounds occur within a few years. In reality, the economy really cannot be blamed on the public education...but anyways, he pushed for the need for educators to get into the public policy and political realm so that we can change things, and so on and so forth. He also had many other good points. He used a lot of math. Like you know how that math rule goes something along the lines of: "A small percent of a big number is bigger than a big percent of a small number"? His point was that, according to economical statistics, people that graduate from college now make more money than they did back in the past. However, not really.  It linked to something about supply and demand...that the supply of people that are able to do minimum wage jobs have gone down. As this really large pool of people increase by only a small percent, you simultaneously have a small pool of people that can work in jobs that pay much better, go up. Mathematically, the first group of people would still be a lot more than those that are paid more, and thus the gap between their payment is great because people will pay more for  a smaller work force that has the skills they want. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it all, but I got it when he was talking about it, hee hee. =) 

Other than that...Doubletree's Chocolate Chip Cookies were good! Ghiradelli's chocolate chips, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla...and always warm when they give it to us. Yummy! I got 5, hee hee. I didn't eat ALL of them. Just 2. ^_^ (there were FIVE days, mind you!) I went swimming one time with Lucia, and I lost like a $1 at the arcades, on pinball and Tekken 3. ^_^ I got to hang out with Haily and Ed one night, and we went to Tapioca Express to catch up, and drink boba, which is even MORE ridiculously priced down there on Convoy. Convoy Street is also where the Jasmine Restaurant is - we're going there tomorrow night for my cousin's wedding reception! ^_^

I hope we don't have chicken for dinner tonight. =)

07.29.02, Monday

[01:20am] Yay! Finally done packing. I didn't start till...well...an hour ago. But I'm done. Woo hoo! ^_^ I'll be off to SD tomorrow (okay...um...today). Even if I may have internet connection...I won't be able to blog...no Frontpage on my laptop (Windows 98...sigh...I can't upgrade it...this thing won't be able to take 2000 nor XP, hee hee...it's the school's laptop, so I don't plan on fancy-fying it with more RAM or whatever. ^_^). Maybe I'll just post on that tag board, hee hee, keeping it under 200 words of course! ^_^ AVID Institute...and Doubletree Hotel...here I come...! ^_^

As for yesterday (Sunday), we went Karaoke-ing for like 5 hours. Insane. I've never gone that long before, and now I know why, hee hee. After 3 hours, it's like...ooookaay...so when are we going to end...? But it was fun - all kinds of songs in all kinds of languages, and we all went to eat $1.88 wonton noodles after (or some of us anyways). Mmm. =) But yes...we'll miss Eym-Soon, Li-Yin, and Christie soooooooo much...them three are such tyte buddies of mine...! I know we'll keep in touch, hee hee, but it'll be a little different without them here. =(

07.27.02, Saturday

[11:58pm] And to end this unexpected day of of un-dullness...Fred came over, so him, Shelton, Mark and I played many good rounds of Mario Tennis and Super Smash Bros! ^_^ I did not spend a single second on my papers today at all...and well...I guess I'll just worry about it later. ^_^

[07:20pm] Expecting a rather dull day, I was given a surprise! ^_^ After lunch, my parent, Shelton, and I went down to South Coast. My dad saw a good sale at Robinson's May and wanted to get himself some shirts, plus he had a bunch of extra 15% coupons! On the way to the mall though, we stopped by the Corona Auto Mall...Hee hee...I'm not saying anything just yet, as I don't want to get some hopes up, but yes, we took a look around a bit...^_^...At the mall, I treated our little posse to Haagen Daaz. Mmmm...I looove the Irish Cream ice cream there, hee hee...! We helped my dad get a bunch of stuff at the department store; then we went by Nordstrom's for their Anniversary sale, and got some more things there. No no, definitely not a shopping spree, but there were some good deals, hee hee. ^_^

I learned more Cantonese phrases today! Hee hee...my MOM taught me them! *gasp* Hee hee...but this is what I do like about the language...some of THE karaziest things that can sound threatening, and yet funny..."Zam dou nay gow hute lum tau!", "sun toy mao see sun zun gwei eym!", and "daa dou nay lout fa low shui!". If you know what the heck I'm saying here, you know it's probably pretty bad. But these are phrases a gummy gangsta' needs to know, so she can bust 'em out in HK and get beat up probably. Shhh! Hee hee. Honestly, you'd probably really get a beatdown if you actually said them to someone that understands them. ^_^

07.26.02, Friday

[12:46pm] So Mark brings up this whole thing on divorce, and we've been having mini-debates on it all morning. Why is divorce a bad thing, if let's say, kids are not involved and thus "families" are not broken up (non-Christian viewpoint is requested for this, because we're trying to look at it from the world's eyes)? After all, it's a solution to a problem, right? I think this is for his speech class, heh heh...thus his need to ask questions and research stuff on it. I'm sure there are many logical arguments on it, and we all have our own thoughts on it. One thing I'd have to say though, is that yeah, so maybe it's a solution to a problem...but unfortunately, this "solution", if anything, is often abused. I mean, dude, drugs are good (hee hee, I'm actually talking about medicine, not crack. ^_^) but when abused? Sleeping pills could kill ya. I mean, in our country (or culture anyways), we're lucky enough to have a choice in who we marry. Given such a powerful ability, we should make wise decisions when it comes to something like a big commitment, and think carefully upon where one's choices and action would lead towards, and be ready and willing to face future obstacles. And yet the divorce rate is up to 57% in the USA.

Okay. Back to my papers, hee hee. ^_^

[09:15am] Hee hee...my mom is still figuring out email...the event for this whole morning, and Mark, frustrated, is still helping her out with it. This is too funny. ^_^ She's trying to figure out how to copy and paste links and insert it into an email that she wants to send to a friend, or something like that. But my mom is pretty good with Word, and I'm quite impressed. ^_^

Other than that, I've been up all morning transferring important stuff (like my MAT program stuff...and even more important stuff, like Music, Winamp, and AIM, hee hee...) to my laptop for next week. I get to stay at Doubletree all next week. I even get complimentary chocolate chip cookies upon my arrival. That's  nice, hee hee...especially since I'm used to Motel 6's (oy...the STORIES I can tell about Motel 6's...) and Best Western (which is pretty nice, and my standard of judging other places...though I haven't had too much variety, hee hee.).

Last night was Takako's East Coast Swing Party! ^_^ It was her goodbye party (there are SO many people leaving SoCal this summer!)...filled with yummy food (they had this seasoned slice almonds thing in their salad...I wanna find me a big bag of those things to munch on!) (and salmon! mmm!), a bunch of happy people, and swing dancing, of course! They even had Christian swing music at one point - karazy, but it works. ^_^ I had a lot of fun - even if I'm not a pro at this type of dancing (okay, any partner dancing for that matter! Hee hee...backspinning and hip-hop requires just me. I can do that easily!). It was an excellent way to kick off ending my Wed/Th classes, don't you think? =)

07.25.02, Thursday

[03:40pm] Heh heh. I just spent TWO HOURS writing a two page and some Letter of Complaint to the MAT Program. A few of my friends wrote theirs and sent them too. We are hoping that if we flood their inboxes with written concerns, rather that just voiced in class...maybe...just maybe (though doubtful)...they will change things. It's not too late. As teachers, we change things midstream all the time, hee hee. ^_^ Wanna read it? Muah ha ha...just click here. It's scathing though. And long. But honest. And nothing that wasn't already said in their face in class. I don't know if writing it to them will make a difference...but hey...spending two hours on this instead of the paper was pretty good. ^_^ Ironically, I need to get back to those papers of mine...>_<

I had lunch today with Dolly and Phil! Well, more like Phil, cuz Dolly was saving her appetite for lunch with Noel later. ^_^ At Tapioca Express, I got the fried chicken...the spicy kind. Mmm. No boba for me today. Amazing huh? =)

07.24.02, Wednesday

[10:30pm]

Happy Birthday Stacy!!! ^_^

Another silly day at school. In the MAT program, besides having two girls in tears yesterday, another today declared that she is seriously considering dropping the program. Might as well - honestly, this degree is NOT going to be something I'm going to be proud of, cuz we didn't earn it the right way. =( I'm reconsidering walking the ceremony. I wouldn't want to, cuz again, I'm not proud of it...and yet I would still want to cuz dang it, they put us through this much stuff that I might as well walk it in my fancy robe and take that picture! Heh heh. What do you guys think? (and, ahem, I am not 4'7". Just for the record. ^_^)

[02:25pm] So I went to the BTSA office for a Science Curricula Meeting. Noone was there. We waited for half an hour. Hmm. So that was my one hour in Riverside today, heh heh. The only thing I got out of it was lunch - that McDonald's 39¢ cheeseburger deal, hee hee. Good stuff (just pull out the pickles, and it's pretty good, hee hee!).

Yesterday, class was just simply...oh...what's the word??? Heh heh...basically, the whole point of us getting our masters to be more enlightened professionals is gone. It's sad. There's a reason why we all are willing to do Masters level work (not Masters level busy work!) and challenge ourselves, but we can't do that if they keep making up silly assignments that are totally irrelevant, redundant, lacking thoughtful planning...and anyways...I already vented last night, so I'm okay for now. ^_^

Before class though, I did get to visit Shelley and Dolly for a little bit. Yay! ^_^

07.23.02, Tuesday

[11:20am]

I feel rather triumphant right now, hee hee! ^_^ I just got back from the gym...see, usually, I go to Step class. But on Tuesdays, they don't have it at a time that I can take it...but they do have Basic Aerobics. So I decided to try it. I hardly even broke a sweat! Hee hee...I had like two beads of sweat! ^_^ People around me mostly look tired, sweaty, exhausted, and I was like, What up wit' this?! ^_^ Hee hee...so yeah. I feel fit. Muah ha ha! ^_^

Yesterday was a slow day. Nothing too much to recount besides finishing the e-portfolio...I did laundry? Cooked some dinner? Dropped by school? Read some more of Les Mis (page 689 ^_^)? Watched Kung Fu Scholar? That was about it. Slow, because I think after I did my work, I didn't have anything specific to do (now what the heck am I going to do when I retire? I'd be bored to death! hee hee...), but still somewhat nice and relaxing...once in a blue moon type of day for me, hee hee. ^_^

I forgot to mention something important! On Sunday, we had a Reverend Paul Chiu guest-speak. Wow. That guy is good. No wonder he's the Assistant Director of the Chinese CMA association. ^_^ He took a simple tale - the story of the paralytic, whose four friends cut open a roof to get him to Jesus - and weaved it into an awesome message (one of the best I've heard!) about finding Opportunity in Danger (and not Danger in Opportunity), working together efficiently to put forth a unified effort as a church to bring people before God, and to realize that hey, there are sacrifices and a price that one must expect to pay as a servant of God (such as crossing your comfort zones, loss of time, etc...), and of course, behind-the-scenes Faith. It was neat. ^_^

07.22.02, Monday

[02:53pm] Hello-ello! ^_^ Glorious minute of the day...I've finished my e-portfolio for Ed 240! ^_^ I know...I haven't even read it over, so there will be a read over and editting later on...but I'm mostly done! For today. ^_^ (Just wait till tomorrow. I'll have more papers to write then!) Today, I dropped by Sierra MS to put some things I bought for my students (those $1 deals at Target, heh heh) in my classroom. At that time, it was break time during summer school. Woah. It felt weird to walk back on campus, and remind myself that yo, I'm a teacher! I think summer is getting to me - I still know that yeah, I'm a teacher, but not seeing 180 students a day can be spoiling. =)

07.20.02, Saturday

[11:03pm]

"My Qi will overcome your Sugar!"

(Jason K. to Vanessa, during a contest consisting of a lot of energy used to wave their hands at each other....for like an hour...!)

I love my youth! I'm really blessed to have such a karazy bunch of kids who love the Lord, serve Him wholeheartedly, want to learn as much as they can about Him, and yet have a great sense of humor and know how to have fun, without caring what people think about us karazy Riversideans. ^_^ There are few kids, instead of many, that need that extra-extra care, and so I really do feel blessed that God is willing to give me such cool conditions to work with and to let me grow as a Youth Leader. Cool huh? ^_^

The Beach Rally was fun today. I've forgotten just how salty ocean water can be though...eewww...hee hee...but we still had mad fun, running into the waves, catching hermit crabs (of which somehow, RCAC set a whole trend of kids from our sister churches to do that with us, hee hee), seeing old friends again and hanging out with them. ^_^ After, we left from Torrance Beach and went to SBCAC, where we had food, played a lot more (causing quite a commotion I think, hee hee...but we still had fun!), and had a message from a nice lady. The message...I don't know...it didn't really get to me. It was good, but it didn't appeal to me. She was a singer, and there were lots of her music being propaganda-ed, heh heh. But yeah. I think I'm just used to the usual Praise music (with words written somewhere, so everyone knows what to sing? hee hee...not everyone there was a Christian, and thus, these "familiar songs" are not familiar to some...That was my only peeve today) and message format, so it was nice to see a different way of presenting a message. Multiple perspectives...wider range and variety...addressing different learning styles...ay...that's my teacher-fu, as Eric would say. =)

07.19.02, Friday

[12:00pm] Hee hee...I fully awoke like an hour ago...heh heh...^_^ But oh oh...lookie here! A tag board on the right! ------>

You can leave comments and messages now, something I've been meaning to do for a long while! Hee hee...thanks Shelton, for giving me the resources for it! ^_^ Leave messages everyone! Help me test my message board, heh heh! ^_^

Oh yeah! Some new flash movies linked in the Fun Places to Visit Page. ^_^

07.18.02, Thursday

[09:15pm] A glorious day! ^_^ Today made up for all the boring-ness of this week, hee hee. ^_^ First, I went to Step class. Wow. Going to Step in the morning vs. at night is so different...I think I do better in the morning, hee hee. At night, I'm already bombarded with the day's events. I think I'll try to make morning (not TOO early, hee hee...6am? Way too early for me!) ones a bit more often. I then took off to Irvine and went with Huy to watch the Halloween: Resurrection movie. I didn't think it'd be too great, seeing that it got some pretty bad reviews. But YIKES. It was scaaaaaarry...and it wasn't THAT bad. It wasn't GREAT, but it did weave in stuff from the last movie well. But yes, scary...and we were the ONLY ones in theater, and with the surround sound, it kinda made it a little more scarier...! Huy brought a digi-cam, and wow! The picture we took is already available, hee hee...I need to get one one day...The picture on my computer looks slightly dark, but on my parent's computer, it looks brighter. So I think it may just be my monitor...which ain't all that in the first place. =Þ But yep, this is like the ONLY picture of us 2 since we've known each other for 6 long years, heh heh. ^_^

After, I still had an hour before class started, so Dolly, Phil and I hung out at Starbuck's for a while. Their Mocha Coconut Frappuccino is pretty tasty...I like the cocount shavings on it, hee hee...I'm not a big coffee fan, but this was good. It didn't even have that much of a coffee flavor in it. ^_^ And of course, it is always fun to hang out with Dolly...and I guess Phil too, hee hee. =)

And after class, Stacy drove me and Carina to our cars in her new...are you ready...??? Subaru WRX Hatchback (the hatchback is more fun...with a neat little spoiler, double exhaust and everything, hee hee...). Niiiiiiiiice...those cars were built just for racin'...hee hee...fun fun...Then Carina and her boyfriend, Diego, and I went to eat dinner at the Tustin Marketplace, in some Tandoori Indian place. Mmm. Interesting good stuff, though I still don't like Indian-style yogurt. Yoplait (strawberry flavored!) is good enough for me! ^_^

07.17.02, Wednesday

[11:19pm] Okay. More news on my funky, self-honking Malibu, hee hee...so as you know, it all honks by itself. We neutered it. Took out the fuse for the horn a while ago. It STILL honks! So I thought it'd be a circuit thing. And then last night, while driving home, my car starts clicking...like you know how you turn on the turn signal, and the noise that it makes? Yeah, that noise. ^_^ That was kinda scary, cuz I thought at first that maybe it was signaling by itself, hee hee. But it wasn't signaling - it was just making the clicking noise, and I didn't know where it was coming from! So today, I drive to school and all the way there, it clicked (and all the way back, in case you are wondering!). I did figure out the source though - I listened for it while I was on the freeway, and it sounded like it was coming from my emergency flasher. So I put my hand on it whenever it clicked and yep, I could feel it clicking! So every now and then (this is probably not a good thing to do while driving on the freeway!) I'd hit the emergency lights, and it would stop the clicking, for about 5 minutes...While I was driving home, I did the same thing, but before I exited the freeway, I hit it one more time, and this time, the car honked...! Since then their hasn't been much noise from my car, other than the radio, heh heh...though of course...come tomorrow, my car just might be just as schizo as it was today...

I guess my Malibu is just special. It has an irrepressible personality. ^_^

[10:51am] I figured it out! I know why I have been so lackluster when it comes to schoolwork the past few days. I need diversions, hee hee. Like before I go out to play, I always make sure my work is done first. But since there are not much play activites planned out this week (oh, but there are some! I'm going to the movies with Huy tomorrow, and Saturday's Beach Rally!)...or maybe I'm just burnt out from all this insane work. I need to force myself to get into work-mode and go do some mental focusing on schoolwork, instead of everything else. *Focus Focus Focus* >_< Hee hee...I feel like one of those supposed Attention Deficit kids...who "focus" on everything else except what you want them to... (Of which I do have to admit that I do feel a little guilty for being the kid that doesn't pay attention, draws pictures, and distracts her neighbors in class with random things...hee hee...seeing that I'm supposed to know how I should be behaving in class. ^_^)

07.16.02 Tuesday

[12:40am, 07.17.02] By joves, I forgot to actually upload this! So here it is...!

[11:50pm] A not-so-exciting day, hee hee...full of schoolwork, and renewed from class with another set of papers due next week. Joy. >_< For some reason, I've just been sleepy all day today. Not sleepy. Just not too enthusiastic about doing anything, except read Les Miserables, which is building up nicely and going along pretty well. I'm so tired of staring at the computer. working on some dreadful portfolio or another. =Þ So reading a book is more fun. ^_^

07.15.02, Monday

[06:45pm] This morning, I went to see Jason and his mom! The visit was pretty cool. ^_^ On the way home, Fred called me up, so I went by his apartment for a 10 minute pit-stop to try out some of the porridge he made. It was better than I thought it'd be, hee hee...j/k...it was pretty good, even if I didn't try a complete version of it (the meat wasn't in it yet). Then I went home, finally chose what to cook for Rex's birthday party...only to find out (just when I had the eggs boiling) that the party was cancelled - Rex wasn't feeling all too hot today. =( So I had 12 savory stuffed hard boiled eggs (24, as I cut them each in half), and saved them for dinner. Shelton made super-drenched-yummified garlic bread, hee hee, so that, with the eggs, along with some chicken, salad, fruit, and rice (which no one really ate...we were full...) made up tonight's impromptu dinner. ^_^

I should be doing some final schoolwork before tomorrow. I just don't feel like it. ^_^ But maybe I will. Later. =)

07.14.02, Sunday

[06:00 pm] Target has this Dollar Sale (I say to all of you, "Go!" ^_^), so I went looking for a bunch of things. Among my search were those Crayola Markers and Colored Pencils, $1 each (veeerrrrrry good deal...especially for a teacher...I got 12 boxes of each....I need them next year!), and regular things like toothpaste and contact solution. But...do you know how difficult it is to find the right toothbrush? I like to get the toothbrushes that are medium, in terms of the strength of the bristles, and compact, in terms of size. The regular ones are too big for my teeth, hee hee. They had  ton of soft-compact ones, and medium to firm regular ones, but no medium-compact ones at ALL. Do they even exist??? I'm sure they do, cuz that's what I usually get. But today, they were all gone...perhaps some strange person went to Target, knowing that I was going to get them, and bought them all! o_o But oh well. I got a medium-regular one.

Before worship started today, I visited Becky at her work! I've missed that girlie, hee hee...but she is awesome, and just as strong, even if she has to work most Sunday mornings. ^_^ Church today started with the closing ceremony for VBS, and Melody, Thomas, Theo, and Vanessa had done an awesome job leading it this year! Props to you all! ^_^ Thomas even got a nice hug from one of his little students - now how cute is that??? ^_^ Then at lunch, I had a meeting with our YF Core, and then there was the GB meeting right after that. At least I'm free now. Free to...well...continue working on my e-portfolio...bleah...and maybe do some nothing-ness today, as it's after all, a Sunday afternoon...meant to be spent chillin'...

We were chilin' at da park...just waitin' for the sun to go down...it was me, shylo and the homies...(hee hee...Lighter Shade of Brown...a gangsta classic...yo...)

07.13.02, Saturday

[08:40pm] I went to the Champions on Ice Olympic Tour today at the Anaheim Pond with the Chiu's. WOW! It was so cool to see these people skate live! First of all...Michelle Kwan skates so incredibly beautifully!!! I mean, much more nicer than on TV by a million-kazillion-fold! ^_^ So I guess I now really get it why people like her so much! I mean, I liked her skating before, but it was way neater live. ^_^ Sarah Hughes did okay, and actually not as great as I thought she would, but still good...they were all pretty awesome though! It was neat, cuz they got really creative in their presentations - the choreography, the dancing while skating, the costumes, themes of each performance, the lighting on the ice skating rink...it was plain neat. A Irina Grigorian had this karazy thing going with a million silver hula hoops and a giant slinky, which was cool...the pair from Russia did this whole puppet ensemble...two guys did some really cool floor acrobatics (standing on each other and balancing with those ice skating shoes??? Ouch!)...and things from "Who Let the Dogs Out?" to well, everything else. I took some pictures...but we were sitting waaaaaay in the back section, so hopefully, they'll come out. =) After, we went out to RH for dinner and a bit of grocery shopping at the HK Supermarket. A lovely 7 hours for today, well spent. ^_^

[01:40am] Hee hee...I just got out of a really relaxing bubble bath! ^_^ As Lorie so aptly put it, it is a very Jello-ey feeling after taking a bubble bath. But was very relaxing and nice nonetheless!

About an hour ago, I got home from a long BBQ Party at Christie's. ^_^ Mike threw her a Bye Bye Party...she's going to go back to Australia, and pretty much be there till vacation time comes around. =( So we ate good food (oooo...I made the Sweet Sticky Rice with Mangoes and Strawberries! mmmm!), karaoke-ed like mad (with some authentic karaoke VCD's and some not-so-authentic ones where they had fake singers, wrong words, and strange backgrounds...hee hee...) to english and chinese songs, and played Pictionary. Of course, Christie and Sarah and I won...the girls ALWAYS win and we've proven it every single time, hee hee...^_^ But then we played In Pursuit (some modern form of Trivia Pursuit)...and that was tough...so we did not win...it was close though. ^_^

That was my Friday!

07.11.02, Thursday

[11:30pm] Hilo Hattie was an adventure indeed...I spent an hour amidst jungles of Hawaiian shirts...hee hee...but finally found a bright and karazy, yet fun, shirt for Rex. In addition, Rex will also be getting a birdfeeder thing that is made out of a coconut and shaped into two birds and a tray...he also got a tiki mug, hee hee, and a lei. ^_^ Hope he likes all this stuff on Monday - he has a good sense of humor and is a cool fella'. This dude was an actor back in da days, and he has a neat radio-announcer like voice - he used to read the Scripture Readings at church. ^_^

Since I came home, I've been working on this insane e-portfolio and taking many many much needed breaks. After all, most people can only pay attention for about 20 minutes, and then...well...need something to do or to keep you going, hee hee. I'm taking pedagogy that I've learned in teaching and applying it to myself. ^_^

While I'm talking about this e-portfolio...I just have to add...UCI's Teacher Credential program is great. I was so much more prepared than others I knew, and got all the good stuff on Backwards Design (UBD), Technology (even if I was past this stuff, hee hee), etc...but their Masters Program??? Oh dear, this one really sucks. =Þ We're just guinea pigs. In a few more years, then I'm sure it'll be great. But right now? Go try UCR (dang it, I got into their program, and they are closer too! Hee hee...but then I would have missed out on the Teacher Credential Program, which I learned a lot from nonetheless) or Long Beach/Fullerton. I still love my Anteater School *zot* but not this Masters Program. They had some good things in it, but not enough to outweigh the problems that come from it being quite so...unprofessional...no...I should say, inexperienced. I don't like being a guinea pig, being thrown in one thing and then another the next day. >_<

Back to my e-portfolio, heh heh...

[12:05pm] Taking a break...breaks are always nice diversions from schoolwork, hee hee...^_^

I got to go on a field trip yesterday. I went to have lunch with Eric at a very fancy King Taco and then toured around his work. It's a pretty spiffy place, with high-tech elevators, like in the movies. ^_^

Despite boring Ed 240, it was still a good day. =)

And today? What does today have in store for me? I have yet to find out...! I'm going to get Rex's present after class today, so maybe that in itself will be another adventure. In the meantime...off to destroy off an e-portfolio or two...

07.09.02, Tuesday

[10:10pm] I met up with Giang this morning at Crate and Barrel, hee hee...I had to pick up a wedding present for my cousin from there. Dang, they can be pricey. They do have neat things though, and after all, it's for a wedding. ^_^ After meandering around, Olive met up with us, and then Ming, and we had lunch at Ruby's, heh heh. ^_^ After, I had to go to school early, to buy the books for my classes and actually read the reading assignments...but when I got to the education section in the bookstore, right next to it was the literature section...such delight! ^_^ It was like being in a bookstore! They had the Romantic Fairy Tales coursebooks there (a class I wanted to take, but that they had cancelled for a while...I guess it's back again! Drats, it would have been pretty fun to take that class, hee hee!) and one of the books was this BIG colorful paperback - The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales! And according to the tag on the shelf, it was $9 only! I had saw this very book, in hardcover at B&N, for $20. So $9 here? UCI cheaper than B&N? I've never seen that happen, but hey maybe it was cheaper cuz it was paperback! A deal indeed. As I was buying a bunch of books for class anyways, $9 was nothing, so I decided to treat myself. =)

When I wrote out the check, I noticed it was higher than I expected, but I had though maybe it was due to one of the books for my classes, as schoolbooks are expensive. =( The guy was like, "These books are non-returnable, a'ight?" I said, "Sure, okay" and he stamped the red NON-RETURNABLE stamp on my receipt. On my way out, I decided to check the price of the books, and lo and behold, they charged me $18 for the Fairy Tales book! I was like, they can't do that!!!! I checked my Fairy Tales book, and indeed, it said $18.00 on it (now WHY didn't I check THAT earlier? I've learned, hee hee...). Underneath the price was a tiny bit of writing that said "Two Units". Meaning that cuz it was such a big book, the price was actually $9 x 2 = $18. Sigh. And I can't return it. It's a good book to have, but dang it, I got gipped...or is it jipped...? How do I spell such a word?

I guess God decided to have some sympathy on me. =) The last half of school today was just to work on our portfolios, and to revise it a bit, as the professor changed some of the question. The deadline was extended to Friday. So I went home instead - I'm done, but just need to change the questions that need to be changed, and yay! =) Being home a full 3 hours earlier is nice. =)

07.08.02, Monday

[07:00pm] I finished all my papers around 8:30pm Saturday...and since then, I've been completely relieved. ^_^ I watched a mah-jong movie on VCD (Fred's of course. He came by...to actually study? Can you belive it? hee hee! j/k. MCATs are coming up close for him, yikes! Shelton came back on Saturday too!) after all my work was done, sitting in my beanbag chair, heh heh. ^_^ Sunday was church, VBS decorating, and then off CCF at Ralm's. Mmm. Patrick C. made "Lou mei gai" (um...sticky rice with chicken?) and dumplings and veggies for us. Delicious! He's a cook ya know! hee hee...Good fellowship last night, with a lot of debating and involvement by all, hee hee. ^_^

I'm SO excited! The Chiu's are taking me with them to see Champions on Ice this Saturday (it ends before Harvest, so I'm okay, hee hee) at the Anaheim Pond. Michelle Kwan will be there! A bit o' Chinese support there...^_^

Today, we finished decorations for VBS. Wow. Our sanctuary looks really cool! A little cartoon-y, but also lots of work put into it, and it shows. We strung bees, butterflies and spiders throughout the top of the sanctuary, had big trees that covered the windows, one tree that stretched to the ceiling, an "old rugged cross", a painted sun and cloud and sunflower, and lots of other cool things. Woo hoo! ^_^ They're ready for tomorrow! =)

07.06.02, Saturday

[04:00am] This is utterly ridiculous. Since I last wrote, it's been...about 5 hours...of which I worked straight ond finished the last part of my e-portfolio. No procrastination whatsoever this time. I'm hungry now. So I'm gonna eat...and since I'm not tired, or either on a karazy high, I'm gonna stay up and go for that last paper. Might as well. I've been working on this stuff for the past 8 hours anyways, and tomorrow is Saturday. I can sleep in.

07.05.02, Friday

[11:30pm] What the heck? There were a bunch of grammar mistakes and unfinished sentences...I thought I had fixed it but apparently, didn't save it. So if any of you read this earlier, and it was all funny soundin'...you know why...But anyways. So. Since I last wrote, I finished another paper. 2 more toughies to go...and unfortunately for me, it has to be done by tomorrow night. *sigh* But oh! With the massive video gaming downstairs, Anthony, Andrew, Fred and David were playing soccer (it looks mighty real!) on the PS2, while Mark and I PIP'ed (Picture in Picture function on our TV, hee hee) the SNES for Street Fighter. It was fun playing two different video game systems at once, hee hee. =) But right now, I'm back to my papers, and they're just soccer-ing away! ^_^

[07:45pm] A grand day today...my parents, Mark, Auntie Rosa and I all went down to Irvine to get Mark a suit for the wedding in August. Dang! I didn't know that suits cost that much!! But...I guess it works for everything - weddings, funerals, interviews, work, church...hee hee...so one suit for a guy does seem to cover a lot of ground. ^_^ Then we had lunch at Pho Bac. Mmm. Besides spring rolls and the tri-color jelly drink, (and hey, getting appetizer and a special drink is a treat! I usually go and get water and the main food, hee hee) I got the meatball soup pho...classic goodness! ^_^ We stopped by South Coast and I got my earrings (hee hee...there was a 50% discount...plus an extra 20% off...not bad at all!)! I have a total of three pairs, hee hee...I'm too lazy when it comes to wearing them, and I really don't need that many anyways. Well, actually, it's a long story when it comes to Gummy and Earrings. Wanna hear? Sure, why not? ^_^

I had my ears pierced when I was in 8th grade. But of course, my ears are super picky, and got infected all the time by the fake stuff, and so I eventually got lazy, didn't bother with them, and they closed up. Eh, no biggie at all, I didn't really need holes in my ear anyways! But then many years later, as a really nice gift for graduating from UCI, my Auntie Rosa gave me a pair of really nice pearl earrings with a matching necklace. I could wear the necklace, noooo problem, but he earrings??? So I had to pierce my ears for them! Of course, the studs had like super fat poles that went through my ears, and I guess I had thick ears or something, cuz they were really uncomfortable. So after a bit, I took 'em out and put the pearl ones in, and had kept them in my ears basically every day. Too lazy to take them out. Plus I only have one pair (I don't count those studs, hee hee) and I didn't want my ears to close again or else one day, I'd probably have to poke them again.

Then one day, the backing disappeared from my ear and I had almost lost them...we got the backing replaced, but I'm really tentative on wearing them all the time now. Fortunately for me, Lorie gave me a pair of earrings as a gift...earrings that my picky ears could handle. ^_^ So I wore them instead. But the poles in these earrings were sooo tiny that I was afraid that my earholes would close up some, so every now and then, I'd switch back and forth between the two...but anyways, with the sale at Robinson's May, why not? ^_^

Long digression huh? ^_^

After that, we headed to see our Auntie and Uncle #4 in OC. ^_^ On the way there, we passed by some vendor selling a bunch of beanbag chairs! I was like, ooooo!!! So my dad, awesome as he is, U-turned and we went to investigate the chairs. My aunt bargained, using her notorious HK skills and got me a deal on the JUMBO beanbag chair...so yay! A life-long dream has come true...!!! I've wanted one since...since...I was an itty-bitty tyke...hee hee...I am now a very proud owner of a Jumbo Bean Bag Chair in the color of...a dark slate-ish blue color! ^_^ We hadn't seen the #4's in a while, so it was nice to see them, chat, catch up, and pick some of their white peaches from their tree, hee hee.

Tonight, Fred and David are here...I'm supposed to join them in a multiplayer PS2 game (don't know what just yet, hee hee) later on. In the meantime, I am still working on the last three papers. I've done 5. Woo hoo! But these last three are the killer ones. THESE are the ones that are the must huge-est and time consuming...the ones that I've been working on for the past four weeks...*sigh*

And yeah...I've been praying about what I talked about yesterday. Still really sad. =( But praying nonetheless...I don't doubt God's abilities, but my human nature makes it hard for me to just pray about it and do nothing else. But prayer is powerful.

07.04.02, Thursday

[10:35pm] So Mark and watched some TV tonight...something I haven't done in a while, heh heh...we saw the ending of Superman III, where he is flying around the Earth - now wouldn't his cape and suit just burn up in the atmosphere??? Hee hee...and then we watched the ending to WWF Smackdown. Woah. Okay, I will say this just once...wresting is...gay....In a way, it's almost funny, cuz like the guy will just kick the other on the head, and they looked almost like cartoons, and it was all so glamorized with the fancy lighting and all...but really...it's not for me...=Þ *But! Special note to homeboy Jun Jun - he'll always be da bomb at Woodbridge High Wresting! (and Football!) ^_^ There ya go - good luck in high school!! Then we watched Seinfeld. I love that show, hee hee...it's funny how everything always ends up full circle...^_^

[04:00pm] My heart is broken. There is nothing I can do...as a Youth Counselor, I do what I can, but sometimes, there is nothing I can do but pray. And I've prayed. So what if they are no longer my youth? And yet, today, I stumbled over something that just wrenched and ripped my heart out. How did this happen? It's been going on the past year or so I think, and I knew...I knew there was something going on...and I've tried...and asked others to help, who have...but to no avail...we couldn't reach them...one in particular...and...and...I don't think the ones I am concerned about even read this, but...but when I read what I read, it revealed to me how much can happen in a year. A year in which I tried, and yet, was not good enough. I had come to the resolution that I could only pray, and that God will take care of them, and that in life, maybe they will find their way...but I didn't know it was like that. The way that it is, the way that I read it to be. I didn't know what was going on...how could I...??? But how could someone so fervent for God turn his back on Him...just like that? I thought it was school - too much work, too involved with this or that...but this?

It hurts to be helpless. To find out all of a sudden, out of nowhere, that it was like that...

I know, I know...lift if up on prayer...leave your burdens with Him...and yet, I can't help but be so...so...I don't know the word for it...

Dang, and this day was going so nicely...weather is awesome out here today...another paper done, and halfway through another one...

...papers just dont' feel so important anymore...

PS- and if one of you ever reads this...you mentioned in your blog one day that you were reading other websites, to see if anyone even mentions you in their blogs...well here it is...

[11:40am]

Happy July 4th! ^_^

I did absolutely nothing yesterday but write my papers! Exciting stuff...ehhh...not really...but the end of the day, I finished a 17 page one and a 7 page one. That's two down...6 more to go...all due next Tuesday! *sigh*

I did go on a mini-break to the pool with my mom though. That was fun! But woah. Swimming is a sport that requires a whole lot of energy! I've forgotten about it, since the last time I really swam (and I don't mean floating around or doggy-paddling about, but actually swimming the length of a pool) was way back in freshman year in high school! Hee hee...I am not any good at it anyways. I'd rather be playing tennis. =)

Really exciting stuff is going on in the forums right now, hee hee. The whole kidnapping adventure has turned in to a RPG forum involving a little tofu man, a giant chicken, evil lairs, and all sorts of things. Sounds silly, but it's a lot of fun! ^_^

July 4th today - my parents are not going to Sequoia, so we are all home today pretty much to do stuff that needs to be taken care of. =) I didn't get the chance to pick up any fireworks this year, so it looks like there will be no sparklies to play with tonight!

But anyways... must get back to my papers...=Þ

07.03.02, Wednesday

[10:34am] Yesterday, I went down to OC early and met up with Dolly at South Coast, yay! It's always neat to hang out with my homegirls, hee hee...after lunch, we went to visit Olive! ^_^ After some more hanging out (...I really am not lazy with schoolwork! This was a promised hang-out day, heh heh! ^_^) we caravanned over to the Vogler's and spent some time with Shelley and E.W. Olive was finally brave enough to hold him, and she just wouldn't let go, hee hee (or maybe it was cuz she didn't know how to move E.W., hee hee). After, I went to the 6-hour class. Woo hoo. (notice: no exclamation point.)

I had no scary dreams that I know of last night! =) The thing is, see, if you wake up remembering the dream, you had dreamt it less than 5 minutes prior to waking up. If it was any more than 5 minutes, you would think that you didn't dream that night. It's a science fact I learned in Neuro (Now you know one more fact, if you didn't know it before! Neato! ^_^). So anyways. I do remember dreaming something, though honestly, I don't know what it was, but it wasn't scary, and thus, yay! No nightmare tonight! Heh heh, it was meaningful to meeee, hee hee. =)

Every day is an adventure. Even if nothing happens at all, hee hee. It's just how you look at it. As Paddington Bear often says, "Things are always happening to me". Have a nice day! ^_^

Or as it was so nicely put by Jason (who, yo, if you haven't check the forums, Mark and Ed have sent in 1000 chickens each, plus Shelton's 2, plus the 500 and so from before...am I a free kidnappee? Or are you too busy eating your chickens? hee hee!)...

sc q jayce (8:16:19 AM): But this is by far the best:
sc q jayce (8:16:27 AM): General Chesty Puller U.S.M.C. at Cho Zen Korea upon being informed that his Marines were surrounded by the enemy:   "Good, now I can attack in any direction I want."

07.02.02, Tuesday

[06:45am] Ugh. I woke up today from a nightmare or two...with adrenaline levels high, and serotonin levels looooow. I've been having some fearful dreams lately...=( Last night, I dreamt that it was the first day of school. And yeah, there were some new kids, but some old ones too...including...RODNEY! I'm like, what the heck??? For some reason, I didn't give them enough work to do, and like there was a corner of kids on the left that were causing problems, and I had to meanly send out two or three of them (one Rodney) to the office...and I don't know...all I know was that I woke up freaked out, and thinking of strategies for the first day of school already! Since I woke up almost an hour ago, I haven't been able to get back to sleep. Instead, I just kind of stared at the ceiling, thinking about it. This better not mirror Minority Report! I saw that yesterday! *shudder*

Hee hee...it's kinda funny...teacher nightmares...^_^ But I don't like waking up to nightmares. >_<

{ Woops...it's 7am now...I've spent some time randomly posting on the forums. Supposedly, I have been kidnapped by Jason...the ransom? 1000 twinkies (or you can sub chickens in if you want)!! *gasp* At least it is a worthy exchange? ^_^ }

Yesterday was neat! I spent the afternoon with Eric. We went to Paseo Colorado, a spiffy place in Pasadena, and had lunch at Border Grill. Mmm, I had some fanciful chicken tacos and fruit liquado thing. Yummy! And then at the Card Factory, I got another one of those Unique Media maps, but for San Francisco (since while I was up there, I didn't get a SF one. I got a World map. There ARE priority rankings in map-purchasing, heh heh ^_^). And if anyone wants one, you can get them there! They are about 45 cents cheaper than elsewhere, hee hee. =)

After, I went to pick up Lorie, and we went to see Minority Report. We both had a dull headache afterwards, but it wasn't cuz the movie wasn't good! Hee hee...the movie was quite cool! Bourne Identity though, if you like kung-fu action, had more of that in it. ^_^ We hung out at the Glendale Galleria, hunting for a dress for my cousin's wedding, and we found one! Yay! =) By the end of the day, we still had our headaches...did the movie have some type of subliminal headache-inducing-lighting going on??? It made me more tired though. So when I got home, I pretty much took my shower and slept...and had my nightmares...and am awake now...thus was my day and some so far. ^_^

07.01.02, Monday

[09:45am] Hee hee...finally...new pictures are up...be patient if you have slower connection...^_^

06.30.02, Sunday

[07:00pm] Wow! This morning, I found out that Shelley had her baby! So right after church, I met up with Giang, and we headed over to Saint Joseph's to see Emerson Walter (?!?) Vogler, born around 12:15am today. I just got back.

"Emerson" is a call-a-ble name, but WALTER? heh heh...so Giangy, Dolly, Olive, Andrea and I decided in the car to just call him  E.W. But E.W...well, that spells "Ewww". So, I guess a good nickname is pending, hee hee. ^_^ Although E.W. was the cutest, tiniest thing I've seen, and even though I got to hold him, it still was weeeeeeeeeird. Shelley's MY age! And she's married, has a kid...I mean, I'm still getting used to Shelley's last name (In fact, I'm now just used to "Ms. Lau"! heh heh!)! Well, I guess I'm not at that life stage just yet, heh heh. ^_^

Oh yeah...after Olive Garden, Tako and I went to see Mark at Best Buy. ^_^ He had this look on his face (while talking to his customer) that said "What the heck?!?" Hee hee. But we accomplished our goal. To embarrass him a bit. =)  Then last night, Fred came over again to play a bunch of Tekken Tag with us. The three of them had gone to play bball later with Keen-Yong and Eym-Soon. I didn't get to go. Gummy was stuck at home working on the essays that are due on Tuesday (but you'll all be happy to know that I'm DONE with those...after I took a nice nap! ^_^). But after, we had a delicious dinner of Salisbury Steak and canned corn and rice. Mmm. A Lau classic. ^_^

06.29.02, Saturday

[02:40pm] Mmmmm! Takako came over today, and we had lunch at...at...(are you ready???)...Olive Garden!!! Mmm! (again) Sooooo delicious, heh heh...and went to the fancy TWO story restaurant in Yorba Linda! ^_^ I've never been to a TWO story Olive Garden, hee hee...I guess it's not THAT much different, but the fact that it's two stories makes it pretty spiffy. ^_^ It was cool to hang out with her...she's going away in August...all the way to New Jersey...and I won't see her for a while, at least a year. So yep, it was cool to hang out with her! ^_^

I'm just trying to avoid writing my paper, heh heh...I have two papers due on Tuesday...most of it's done, but it does need some revision and addition to it...=Þ

06.28.02, Friday

[11:15pm] After hours and hours on my e-portfolio...I've edited 5 pages and have added 4 more pages of writing...no fun at all...I didn't take that many breaks today at all. So I made some tofu for dinner, and then went to step class to play a bit. After, we were going to go to Andrew's promotion...but alas! It was at 8:30 AM, not PM...so we had completely missed it! But still...Congrats Andrew!!! ^_^

Fred came over tonight, so all of us just kinda hung out. With some frozen concentrate juice cans that we found in our fridge (which is like...hmm..7 or 8 months old!!! heh heh...I hope it's still good!), we made some fusioned fruit juice with three different cans of juice: Pineapple, Apple, and Cranberry (only 1/3 of the can, heh heh). Actually...not bad. ^_^ Right now though, Mark and Shelton are playing Street Fighter while Fred is observing (napping on the couch?)...they wanna stay up to watch the World Cup at 3am, hee hee. Watch the game all! ^_^ I'm not into it that much, but I am impressed that these people can kick rather mightily and send that soccer ball 2/3rds of the way across the field! ^_^

Our church's parking lot is paved!!! Finally, hee hee. It's all part of the Mobile Unit Project. See, first, we expand and pave the parking lot - cover up the old cracks, etc...new cement, everything...and then we will add the Mobile Unit, which will help expand our church with a few more much needed classroom buildings! ^_^ Phase One is completed. Woo hoo! I can't wait to see it on Sunday! ^_^

[01:00pm] Ack! I woke up late today!!! Actually...I DID wake up on time as usual...but I was sooo tired from last night (I stayed up quite late reading...I know...nerd...hee hee) that I went back to sleep...and the next thing I knew, it was noon already! It's not normal for me, so I was shocked when I became fully awake. Aiya. That means I have a whole lot of work to do. I've missed out a few hours of much needed schoolwork time. All this for a fancy-schmancy hood. ^_^ (actually, becoming a more enlightened individual is my ultimate goal for even going for this Masters, heh heh...the stuff we're learning is actually pretty neat - more real than the credential classes. Or maybe I'm more mature now, heh heh. But the hood is also nice. ^_^)

But yesterday was fun. I mean, AFTER class. ^_^ I stopped by My's apartment, where Lorie was staying over for the night. They had been out for My's birthday the day before. So I got to catch up a bit Lorie, My, Judy, and Jenny! We ate some fried rice, fried chicken wings, and some rice dough pattie thing that they made all by themselves for dinner, and watched a bit of TV. I didn't stay too long, as I intended on going back home to get lots of work done...but that didn't really happen. =) I just stared at my e-portfolios...and that was it...spent the rest of the time checking email and IMing away. Much more fun than work. =) But it has to be done one way or another, cuz there's just so much of it, and I think I will have to cancel going on that fun trip to Sequoia with my parents over the July 4th weekend. =(

06.27.02, Thursday

[01:20pm] This unit and three sample lessons provide a forum for presenting evidence of my ability to design curriculum that conforms with the California Standards for the Teaching Profession: Domain 3: Understanding and organizing subject matter for student learning, Domain 4: Planning instruction and designing learning experiences for all students, and Domain 5: Assessing student learning. This unit design is based upon what I know about student development and cognition: knowledge, synthesis, and evaluation;  constructivist-compatible instructional practice which involves using cognitive terminology, encouraging and accepting student autonomy and initiative, and providing time for students to create metaphors and construct relationships and meaning in what they’ve learned; appropriate uses of computer technology for teaching and learning. Specifically the unit is based upon: “teaching for understanding”, an approach that involves “thinking like an assessor” and “backwards planning” from a unit “big idea”, or objective, and identifying the following “facets of understanding”: perspective, self-knowledge, and explanation; employing the appropriate assessments which include a performance-based task; meeting the following academic content standards: Standard 4a: Verify that galaxies are clusters of billions of stars, and may have different shapes, Standard 4b: Conclude that the sun is one of many stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, and that stars may differ in size, temperature and color, Standard 4c: Use astronomical units and light years as measures of distance between the sun, stars and Earth, Standard 4d: Infer that stars are the source of light for all bright objects in outer space, and that the moon and the planets shine by reflected sunlight, and not by their own light, Standard 4e: Discriminate between the appearance, general composition, relative position and size, and motion of objects in the solar system, Standard 12h: Choose the appropriate units to measure a physical quantity, Standard 12i: Interpret scale drawings and models, Standard 12s: Demonstrate the ability to work in groups, to share responsibility, and to keep a time line to complete a project, and Standard 12w: Recognize proper credit to authors and distinguish between researched information and own ideas. The unit is also based upon employing teaching strategies that are appropriate for ELL students and other students with “different kinds of minds”, for example...

I wanted to take a short break...and be so kind as to share with all you people a bit of what the heck I'm doing. That was just #1 of the Unit Design Case...PART of #1, mind you. It's not my style of writing, but based on a template Burge gave us (which I intend to modify later). We just changed some things to fit our own case study...but dang...16 pages of this?!? According to the grammar check, it's all grammatically okay, though it looks like it has rather long-winded ka-ra-zy-foo-lio sentences.

It's gonna be a long day. >_<

[09:55pm] 5 more minutes to go...and I'm off onto real Serious Business. School stuff, that is. But ohhhh. I checked out Commencement info...and for the M.A.T., I DO get a hood (lined blue and gold for UCI), with a light blue velvet band on it for the Department of Education (I think it's light blue anyways). I get the gown with slit sleeves and a black tassel. And I have some people here and some at the forums that say I should go - and people have already promised to be there if I walk! So I'm thinking...it's a once in a lifetime deal, so perhaps I shall go ahead and walk anyways. But first, I need to get my M.A.T. ^_^

06.26.02, Wednesday

[04:50pm] Fun day today! ^_^ Melody, Megan and I met up at Borders in Yorba Linda! We spent TWO hours at the book store...hee hee...that's what happens when you put me in one of those places. ^_^ Actually, we spent a long time talking, and THEN book-gazing for another loooong time. Megan is a book lover as well, and so she cherished every moment there as well, heh heh. After, we all went to KFC to get lunch - we all got the kid's meal. ^_^ It was fun to just hang out, play some of those toys that come with the meals (we got some Braille game..Braille is hard...so I'm glad I can see, heh heh...even if my vision is 1000x away from 20/20!)...we even took a picture with the Colonel, heh heh. ^_^

Now I gotta prepare for class tonight...*sigh*...

[10:40am] Look! A big fat poll! I made it for fun...muah ha ha...^_^ Back to my boring papers...=Þ

[07:30am] It's so bright right now! I kinda get up with the sun or sumthin', cuz it feels like it's around 9am right now...!

I got to hang out with Huy yesterday for lunch. We went to Pasta Bravo (mmm! Haven't been there in a while!) down at the Block, and just meandered about talking for a while. I probably won't see him again until...until...he's done with med school! That's about 6 years from now! (or at his wedding, heh heh) Woah, huh??? So sad! I mean, we don't see each other that much anyways, but it's kinda sad when ya think about it. But I know that he's gonna go out there and change the world, so I'll probably still hear about him on the news, hee hee. ^_^

The only other exciting event yesterday was that I had to hop a wall to get from my parked car to class at UCI, and that I finished a good portion (though of course, not all of the 16 pages we have to fill out) of one of the two e-portfolio. Woo hoo!

06.24.02, Monday

[09:30pm] Mark and I went down to City of Industry today...he wanted to go see the new Fry's there. Heh heh, I'm actually impressed! It's much more fun than the one in Anaheim. ^_^ Then we went to pick up Shelton in RH, so now Shelton is home! After Mark and I picked him up, Fred joined us and  we all went to eat dinner at Garden Cafe. I finished the first four essays today (woo hoo!), and I have some more questions to do for the e-portfolio tonight before I sleep. I think I'll take a shower first though. ^_^

[02:30pm] Nine hours of sleep last night...woke up...did some work...went back to sleep AGAIN till noon...I am well rested. ^_^ Remember how at Crystal's graduation, the mc had "Chu" as the last name, and was talking about a "chu chu train"? Heh heh, that was Thomas Chu, Joyce's brother, and he was at camp. I didn't even know till he had to dance to "I'm a little teapot" in front of everyone for his lost nametag. What a small world Southern Cali is! ^_^

The rest of today...well, I've been working on my papers, laundry, spending time with Emily, and tonight, we're picking up Shelton!

06.23.02, Sunday

[07:55pm] My internet connection has been throwing hissy fits again...=Þ But anyways...on to more important things...what an AMAZING weekend...it was soooooooooooo awesome! I cannot emphasize the "so" part enough! ^_^ Thomas, Theo, Jason, Kimberly, Vanessa, and Nina represented RCAC...the experience being brand new for Kim and Nina. Some serious decision making and stuff went up on up there for some of them, and I pray that they'll be able to hold onto their decisions now that we are all back home, back into our busy lives. Up there, it's easy - the whole focus is on God, and there's just non-stop God talk all the time. But down here...it ain't all God talk. In fact, it's so different that we can be ensnared once again by the life that "everyone" seems to thrive on. =(

I guess there would be bonus points to camp, like the fun, my karazy cabin people, the rope swing, paintball, singing old and new songs, and spending some time with new and old friends. ^_^ I was in Cabin #20 - my co-cabin leader was Rosalyn, the CIT was Julie, and the campers included Kim, Dorothy, Joyce, and Angel. We had a tiny cabin, but it was a lot of fun! We made mailboxes, did a faith walk, had our sparkle party, and did some star-gazing. ^_^ I was asked to mc one of the sessions...heh heh...I wasn't exactly scared, but had no idea what to do...and found out last minute that I was supposed to open with a prayer. I'm not a public prayer person, heh heh...but I think it went okay. I pulled Julie up to join me too, hee hee. =)

I saw Haily there! And Chris Lau too! heh heh...there was some Navigators retreat going on at the same time. I haven't seen Haily in so long, so it was awesome to see her again! She was one of my buddies at UCI (only she's at SD right now). ^_^

The drive home was interesting - not a moment of silence in the car! First of all, TNT and Jason had written all kinds of messages on the dusty windows of the van -

This van belongs to Gail!

Pika!!! (with a picture of Pikachu next to it)

This is a very Christian Van (picture of a shiny cross with a smiley face on it)

A picture of a big fish with a gaping mouth which had CHRIST written it in, with a thought bubble of a doggie bone in it...right behind a little fish with legs and DARWIN in it. The little legged fish had a "Help!" on top of it.

Tare Panda lives here (tare panda's face)

Jesus Loves you but not Bin Laden

What does Thomas know? (Nothing important)

Eat @ Joe's house of pancakes

Insert Ad here. 1-800-Rent-A-Ad. Affordable Prices.

Watch World Cup, Channel 7, 34, ESPN (2)

Brought to you by the letters J and C

This Van has a top speed of 30 mph when dropped by a bomber (this last part didn't make too much sense to me...the van is slow enough on its own. ^_^)

We entertained a good amount of folks on our way home, and one speeding black Jetta even honked several times, with the passengers cheering and smiling. ^_^ We played the Animal Game, Black Magic, One Word Story (which somehow involved an orange jumping penguin named Joe-Bob?), What-what???, searched for food places (we missed our exit to our traditional Jack in the Box...so we found a new one later one, thanks to Theo's excellent eyes!) and a bunch of random things, and ended the last portion of our drive singing to praise songs all the way home.

I think I got a cold there. Or at least a stuffy, rather unhappy nose and a slight headache. =( I came back, tired and drained and completely exhausted. I intended on  napping after my shower, but it never happened! I only slept for about 1/2 an hour...and then my cell phone started ringing, several times in a row...and then our neighbors kept talking about furniture and disciplining their dog, which was whining...and a stuffy nose makes it difficult to sleep too. So maybe tonight, I'll be able to sleep. If not...I'll be forced to work on my papers, hee hee. Which I really need to do anyways. ^_^

Ya know what? God granted me one wish up there. And I didn't even know it until, as I was just laying in bed hoping to fall asleep, I thought about it. We had played the Skittles® game in our cabin, and the blue skittle, which I only had one of, was to tell everyone what one thing I would ask God to grant me. I had saved it till the last round, simply cuz I didn't know what I'd say. Then it hit me - of course - I wanted to be free of all my responsibilities for a day. I mean, totally free - no school, whether it be teaching related or MAT, no worries, etc. And He did. At Youth Camp. =) Yeah, I was a counselor. And yeah, I still had responsibilities. But there wasn't anything that was an extra burden at all. I mean, it was all good. I got to know some of my youth more, and it didn't take any extra effort. We just hung out and sat on a little rock. I mean, it usually doesn't require any effort at all to talk to them anyways, they're so much fun, hee hee, but I mean, I was praying that certain things would happen to them, and I had no idea what my place was in my request, or if I had any place at all in God's plan. Sometimes, I am not sure how much God can do through me, cuz I'm only one. All the other churches had so many counselors...and here we are at Riverside, with only me.  Only yea tall. Only yea big. I don't know it all. I can't do it all. (But we are more fortunate than OC...which doesn't seem to have any. It's cool though, how our compadres at OC have formed such a friendship with my RCAC kids!) And He can still use me, and that's pretty awesome. ^_^ And not once did I actually think or dwell upon things I was supposed to get done back here or that I was stressed about while I was up there - like all the insane assignments I already have to work on for class, GB stuff, VBS decorating, and just so many other things. So yeah. I ate the blue Skittle®.

06.21.02, Friday

[09:30am] Woo hoo! Summer Camp today!!! I'm so excited! ^_^ We'll be gone in a few hours, heh heh...meantime...this morning the electricity went out for about an hour. I was doing laundry (or more like, my faithful washing machine was) and it went out in the middle of it. I was like, nooooo...I need to have clothes to wear at camp!!! But it came back on, so now, they are drying. ^_^

In case you were curious about the never-ending saga...yes, there were more ants yesterday after I posted my blog...alas...woe to our little house...

But today? Not that I know of just yet! ^_^ So it's been good so far!

I forgot to mention...on Wednesday, I had stopped by the District Office for our church, and wow, the old lady there was soooo nice! ^_^ She gave me a Hershey's Nugget...mmm...it had almonds in it, and even if it was dark chocolate, the almonds made it sooo tasty! ^_^ Okay, that was totally out of nowhere, but yeah, the lady kept saying to come back and visit. I think that should I have the time, I actually would, for no reason at all, cuz she seemed to be, as Anne of Green Gables would say, a "kindred spirit". Other than that, I would have no reason to stop by there, except for district business. I just clicked with her instantly, she was a cool old lady! ^_^

I also forgot to mention (too much focusing on school and ants, heh heh) that at the graduation dinner on Saturday, 80% of the party were coupled off, either as gf/bf or married, including the parents. Ay. I'm fine with my status, hee hee - but it's kinda..kinda...what is the word for it??? I'm sure you all know what I mean. I'm not worried though (though my mom is quite the opposite! She expects me to be ideally married by 24, which I can tell ya, it just ain't gonna happen, heh heh! And I doubt it will happen by the time Fred graduates. I have two timelines that people have put on me, which neither will go according to their plans, hee hee), cuz I know that my God will take care of everything one way or another. ^_^ And I'm glad I have single friends (some???) still and friends that ARE couples but cool about it - not too wrapped up in their own little universe when we are all out playing! ^_^

I just got a phone call...Kimberly can make it down to camp with us on time! We do NOT need to take two separate cars anymore, heh heh...woo hoo! ^_^ Which reminds me...I should start packing...!

06.20.02, Thursday

[11:30pm] The first thing I did today was, believe it or not, NOT turn on my computer! ^_^ I actually got out my books for more reading (as if the 8 chapters last night weren't enough)...I'm gonna read on ahead a bit of these insane books, so I'll have more time to write out my papers...which, already by the second day of classes, are not so reflective anymore. *sigh* I won't have any time this weekend at camp to do any work, that's for sure!

Ants are like the current theme of my life, I guess. There were MORE ants today...I cleaned out a bunch from the pantry, sprayed Raid, emptied boxes, cleaned packages...my mom came home last night and finished the rest for me, as I had to go to school, but this morning...there's more!!! Our house must be on a giant, humoungous anthill...cuz they just keep on coming. And they're the same red and black ants...I hope they are not fire ants...I don't think they are. I did some browsing and believe they may be Alleghany Mound Ants...but those aren't likely to be in Southern Cali...but anyways...see what these ants are doing to me??? I am so good at looking for them now that I can hear them as they walk or munch/feel things with their little mandibles, and know where they are at. Maybe this is God's special way of teaching me a new skill. *sigh* (but then again, they are pretty loud creatures)

06.18.02, Tuesday

[10:30pm] Just got home from classes...it's only the first day...and we have SO much work to do already!!! Reading and writing papers are already on my agenda. *sigh* One good thing - most of the writing is reflective...hey, I write a lot for reflective writing, hee hee...and I can always check my old blogs if there is a specific significant incident that I want to look up! Comes in pret-ty handy eh? ^_^

Alas...When will these ants leave??? When will it end??? I did some more ant-attacking this morning, as said below, and my mom had to do some more when she came home (I heard they were even in the wok!)...and then when I just got home not too long ago, there were still some hanging around. Don't they get it that if a place smells of Raid, it's a bad place to be? Does anyone know how to successfully get rid of ants other than covering the house with a big blue tent or super fumigating (which we can't do at the moment) the place?

[12:33pm] There was this huge ant invasion in the kitchen yesterday...I had to clean it twice, and when  my mom came home, she had to do it three times! After running some errands this morning, I came back to find some more ants trying to start a new scouting range...this time, the Raid was already on the counter, so I used that. Yesterday, I grabbed the first available household cleaning stuff - baking soda (which is supposed to work on ants, only I just did it all rather quickly and didn't see if they actually popped) and some Resolve. ^_^ These ants aren't just the little black ones - these included a few bigger reddish/black ants. >_<

Our house isn't dirty, heh heh. =) Our kitchen is rather clean. It's just that's hot, and that's why they're all running in the house. In our old house, it was the bathroom that they would go to!

[08:44am] Finally "fixed" archives...bleah...I wanted to do something else, and that's why there was so many of the June blogs accumulating here...but it would take too much time, and I'll try it later, heh heh. =)

06.17.02, Monday

[11:07pm] Just got back from AMC...with my free admissions ticket, I went with Mark and Fred to watch The Bourne Identity! It was a good movie! I recommend it! ^_^ A typical spy movie, but with good stuff in it. I saw Spiderman yesterday (on VCD), and that was good too - two good movies in a row, woo hoo! ^_^

Today, Mark and I dropped off Shelton early in the morning...when we got there, it was early still, so we all just kinda ended up sleeping in the car, heh heh. In the afternoon, I went out to the Mills with Christie! I didn't find a dress, but I have all summer. It was nice just to hang out with her, as always! =)

Summer Camp on Friday! Woo hoo! And we worked out a ride situation where we will all, except for one that will come later, get there earlier than we had planned, all thanks to my awesome awesome parents! ^_^

06.16.02, Saturday

Congrats to Giang, Dolly, Shelley, Olive, Cheryl, and Yui! ^_^

[12:20am] What a day...woke up...went to REACh meeting for Youth Camp in Arcadia...then went straight on down to UCI for bio graduation. I met up with Mimi (Ly), and we went to UCI together to see Giang graduate. We also met up a bit with Mimi (Tran), Kevin, Howie, Rosie, and the rest for a short moment! ^_^After, Mimi and I went to South Coast for a lot of browsing, heh heh...although the Social Science graduation started at 5pm, we didn't leave the mall till like 6:30, cuz Soc Sci is so big...it would take fooooorever for just the initial talking part to be done! When we got there, we met up with Giang, found Shelley, Olive, Dolly and their families and our other friends, and took a million pictures. I went to find Fred, Gilbert, Shelton, Eym-Soon and Li-Yin, as well as Ed and Flo Ng, and we searched to Cheryl, but didn't find her before I had to leave to dinner with my friends! =(  So I had to call her (several times...the system was so busy cuz there were so many on cell phones then!) to congratulate her. =)

We went to Cafe Plaka, that neat Greek place, again! ^_^ The one with alright food but excellent entertainment - belly dancers (who got quite a lot of money from our group, ahem), karazy waiters that can dance, breakdance and drink alcohol on the job as part of their performance, the Greek DJ who sings and plays music all night long, and where they get all of us to get up and dance around the restaurant in chains. ^_^ We had over 30 people there...hmm..Shelley & Eric and parents, Giang & Andrew, Mai & Pete, Lucy & Phil, Dolly and her family, Olive and her parents, Andrea, Diana, John, Joann, Sam, and so many others...but it was all very fun! ^_^

06.14.02, Friday

[03:20pm] Yesterday, I went to school, where I cleaned and checked out of my classroom, and had a deeeelicious staff potluck! I brought yummy Almond Tofu. Only I think I might have scared some of these white people with it, cuz some actually thought it was tofu. Others WANTED to try it cuz they thought it WAS tofu, heh heh. Either way, there was so much food that there was a lot of leftover of all kinds of things. After, I helped Heidi move out of her house...of which somehow, I think I might have hurt my back again in the process. There was a sharp pain in which my back was yelling at me for a millisecond, so I stopped lifting boxes after that.

Right after that, I went home and straight to Mello's, where Melody, Vivi, Megan and I went to Crystal's graduation at Arrowhead Pond. Wow. It was a class of 800!!! It was, by far, one of the most creative commencement ceremonies that I've ever attended. The mc (emcee?) ran the whole program smoothly, with colorful metaphors (his last name was Chu, and he had this thing of a "chu chu train" symbolizing their high school career) and charm (booming out "Ladies and Gentlemen..!"). The two saludatorians did a fun dialogue of some sort with the audience for their speech, and their senior song was performed by two who sat on stools - one which played the guitar, and the other that sang "Time of Your Life". The whole class had practiced for 30 hours for their commencement! (I had said 5 earlier...it's fixed to 30!) The cool thing about this graduation was that it was really run by the students, and not so much by the staff/faculty/teachers. ^_^ After, we went to dinner at Ten Ten in Anaheim (mmm...honey walnut mayonnaise shrimp...), but it had closed 3 minutes before we got there! So we went to Norm's nearby, where it's said all over the restaurant "We Never Close!".

Tonight, we are going to Mello's graduation...off I go!!! ^_^

[after Mello's graduation] Fun fun! We cheered, we hollered and we screamed for her, heh heh. Before we went, we had dinner at Hometown Buffet. ^_^ Before we got to dinner though, we got a call from Shelton - my dad didn't pick him up...communication difficulties on the part of all of us...and so Mark and Fred went to go get him and bring him to the graduation. ^_^

06.12.02, Wednesday

[10:20pm] Woah, it's been one busy week! But nice! I've not had a break until now!

Jason's graduation was awesome! It was so neat to see everyone all super happy, hollerin' like mad from the stands, air horns going crazy, and enthusiastic people everywhere! There was close to 600 students...big huh??? Jason's valedictorian speech was pretty neat too - the whole thing was in iambic pentameter, and I didn't catch it till he said so near the end! After, we went to the Grand Buffet (Chinese Food) for dinner with Jason, his parents, his brothers (Vincent and Brian), his Kung Fu master person and wife, and my cousins Paul and Ruth and their kids (my nephews!) TNT. Mark was there too, heh heh!

I felt kinda old...wow...my own HS graduation was so long ago (6 years ago!) and I would not have imagined myself then to be where I am now. Karazy huh? And all these kids nowadays all seem to speak in that Dawson's Creek language, where big words and abstract ideas are thrown around all the time. At the same time, it's also neat to see that they ARE so smart and know how to use it correctly. ^_^

There was no graduation on Tuesday, but I still had fun! My homebuddy Eric came out to watch the Buffy Season Finale! Buffy is indeed quite worth the drive! ^_^ But it was nice that I didn't have to drive around anywhere, but got to stay home, eat good chicken (with that garlic paste!), and watch good TV.

And today. What a day! This morning, we had the 8th grade Promotion at school! It was so exciting...the kids came all decked out for graduation, and some of them were dressed really nice - some of the guys came in suits and slicked their hair, others had ties, some girls had prom like dresses, and others had nice semi-formals on. We took pictures beforehand, and my 3rd period lined up perfectly well and behaved AWESOME-LY for the whole event. I got to call out their names and announce their diplomas and awards, hug a whole lot, shake a lot of hands, meet a lot of parents, and took even more pictures! I wasn't too sad during the day - just a little, as I won't be seeing them everyday, but also a little happy to know that summer is coming, and I can finally sleep in a bit, heh heh. I miss them already though - I'm used to seeing them, and I want to see them grow and continue growing! ^_^ Despite what some may think, I will miss each and every one, heh heh.

I didn't shed a tear today, until Danny Z. came up to me after he got his diploma/awards. He wanted to take a picture with me, and his mom was there snapping a few away. Before they left though, she told me how much I meant to Danny, and how I've been an inspiration for him, etc, etc...And it was really just touching - cuz Danny, well, he hadn't been acing my classes (it's more like he gets F's a lot...he doesn't do his work!), but the letters that I've written to him meant a lot (all that time that I've taken to write letters to my students has been quite worth it - it's building these personal bridges...that's what teaching is all about!) and he really does want to do well, though he is lazy about it! He's not the smartest kid in the class, but he is one of the kids with the sweetest hearts. I might have mentioned him before on a blog...about how I met his mom on the whale watching trip? how he takes good care of his lil' sis? how his bro was involved in an auto theft recently? yes? no?...Anyways, it was so nice to hear it from the mom, and to know that hey, what I do DOES matter. I'm quite sure it does, but it's always nice to actually hear it from someone when it's not just (though it's still nice) that I made science fun, or that they learned a lot (and though that's rather meaningful too), but that I've made a difference in their lives. I wasn't bawling, hee hee...right after they left, I couldn't help but let my eyes water up and be just a bit sentimental. It's nice to be a teacher. ^_^

After I left school, I picked up a gift for Cherie (she's leaving for Oakdale this summer...so she won't be back to teach with us! Her husband is done with dental school, so he's starting his practice up north with his dad), as she's not only been my department head, but has helped me through tough school-times and George, my awesome-fantastic mentor teacher! ^_^ When I got home, I had to change immediately, and my bro and I took off to pick up Jenny and get to Harold's graduation! That's right...Harold is now graduated! Wow! Another nice, happy event, included with a filling dinner at Applebee's with the Lee family!

Tomorrow, I still have one last day of school to check everything out, and then I'm heading to the Arrowhead Pond for Crystal's graduation. My poor Malibu has been going all over the place this week! ^_^

06.10.02, Monday

This weekend was soooo nice...not a bit to worry about in terms of schoolwork! I just relaxed and cleaned some more (I even dusted!)! Saturday night, Fred, Ed, Dorothy, David, Gilbert, Mark, and I went to watch Bad Company at the Drive-In! It was nice to go hang out at the Drive-In, where you can play ball outside and the food is cheap, but the movie itself was just Eh. Not too great, but not boring. The storyline and characters weren't as developed as they could have been. So Eh, it was just a movie to watch. On Sunday, I had a GB meeting, and after, I went shopping with my mom to find a dress for my cousin's wedding. Can you believe it??? I have to find ANOTHER dress??? See, the dress I found on Thursday was perfect! But when I got home, my mom was like, you need another one, one that is longer because...and then that's when I found out that Eddie was getting married to Canace finally! ^_^ They're cool. But dang it. It's an evening wedding, so my mom's like, you should get something nicer, and longer. She offered to pay for it, so yay! ^_^ I didn't find a dress though, but I have all summer to look for one.

Today was a nice day at school! ^_^ Most of it anyways. We had yearbook signing, the kids were writing their letters to the incoming 8th graders for next year (I might put them up for the first few days of school, hee hee), and just chilin'. 1st and 2nd period, we did all that, plus watch the video - we are almost done with October Sky. 1st period though, cuz they had the highest class average, was treated with Krispy Kreme donuts (fresh!) from me! I got 4 dozen in the morning, hee hee...I had two "buy one, get one original free" coupon. Then 3rd period, cuz we will be deprived of class time tomorrow in order to practice for promotion, we had our pizza party (they took care of everything for it. I just collected money, hee hee) and raffle/auction with the Lau Loots. 4th period, as they were too talkative again, was limited to just the letter writing, and later on, as they were better, I let them sign yearbooks. And 6th period - we worked on our letters first, and then went out to the quad to sign yearbooks with the rest of the school.

But at the END of the day, I had this one student who is failing my class come into my classroom. He had his mom with him, and his mom was ANGRY at ME that he was failing the class. Why me??? What did I do??? According to her, I didn't run off a copy of something that the child could have done to get a D- in my class, and now, cuz he's failing too many classes, he cannot be promoted to 9th grade. He had come in one day at lunch to pick up the copies (of a 12 point assignment), but as I was working with a bunch of students then, I asked him to wait a minute, and he disappeared and never again asked for the work. Not only that, he did not turn in the last major 25 point journal check (they are usually 5 points) that would have boosted his F significantly. And now, when the grades can no longer by changed, she is angry at ME for not doing that for him, when all year, I've been doing nothing BUT helping the boy. I didn't say too much to her though, cuz she was just all over the place and then she left in a huff. The boy came back though, to see if there was anything he could do at all, and I talked to him about what happened with his mother, and he understands it. He can't do anything all year and expect his mom to come in and get a D- for him so he can pass it. He didn't do the work. And he knew that. But still, I've never had a parent actually angry at me for any reason, so it kinda busted my happy day. However, I'm not too upset about it, because it's ridiculous for her to be angry at me, for not doing his work. >_<

Jason's graduation is tonight! How exciting! I'm waiting for Mark to be ready to go!

06.07.02, Friday

The 8th Grade Picnic and Field Trip was awesome!!! We had so much fun! Pharaoh's, though small, has a lot to offer - the waterpark, themepark, mini golf, arcades, midway games, and laser tag. I didn't intend on going swimming at all. The thought of running around in a bathing suit with the students that I teach didn't sound too appealing, and just plain weird (I mean, around hormonal 8th graders???). But when we got there, it was SO hot! And some of the other teachers were going swimming too! So I was like, hmmm...looks tempting...with the hot sun and smog of San Bernardino beating down on us...so me and Danielle (another teacher) took off across the street to WalMart and found ourselves swimsuits. Hee hee, mine's was like $12! ^_^ So I went back and we all got to swim and ride the "Nile River", and race on the giant water slides. Me, Chris, and Danielle almost flipped over on one of the slides - it was hecka scary!!!! But it was all awesome! And the kids don't really care that you are wearing a swimsuit, cuz to them, it's like you're the teacher, whatever. ^_^ It was nice to see the kids have so much fun, play with them a bit as they attacked us with water, and just also REALLY nice to not have them in a classroom. ^_^

I got to play Laser Tag with John Smith, Quijada, Schanz, Juan Carlos, Williams, and some of our students (Justyn, Ronnie, Joel, etc), which was a whole lot of fun! I didn't get to go on the go-karts...but I did play DDR. I'm not good at it, but I've had a little extra practice from before, with Fred's game, hee hee...so when I was playing it at the arcades, the kids were all impressed, heh heh. They were like, WOW, Ms. Lau, you're GOOD!!!!

Anyways, it was an overall lovely day. And today, when they came back to school, everyone was tired and sore from yesterday (me too!), so they were much more well behaved cuz they were too drained to cause too much trouble. ^_^

After Pharaoh's, I took off to Irvine to have dinner with Mimi! We went to Baguette Time...mmm...good tasty french baguette sandwiches...definitely a Gummy favorite type of food.^_^ Then we went to South Coast to look for a dress, hee hee...I needed to find a dress for promotion! And I got a lovely one! ^_^ So my mission was complete, and it was done rather quickly. We found the dress at the first place, and spent the rest of the time browsing around. ^_^

For today - school...last week!!!! Three more days to go!!!! ^_^ I'm starting to get just a wee sad...It's been one insane, but great and worth-it year! I have YF tonight at TNT's place. Besides a short lesson, we'll be working on making something for our graduates! Our original intent was to throw them a surprise party...but they can't make it. Bleah. So a surprise something else would work just as well! ^_^

06.05.02, Wednesday

Happy Birthday Mommy!

I was planning on heading out to the ESPN Sports Zone at Downtown Disney with my homegirls, but tonight is my mom's bday! So my brother and I treated her to a special special dinner at Misato! ^_^ Mmm...we had japanese food. Not that much meat. A lot of "seafood" meat, and though it was good...I still like Chinese food better. ^_^ I had a Nigisura (?) Bento, which had a steamed fish, tempura shrimp, some raw fish stuff that my parents said where good (but that I didn't like all too much...I'm not a fan of raw meat), octopus (this was, of course, good. One of the exceptions!), edamame, caviar (!!! Actually, I couldn't taste those beady dots too much. I liked the white blog things that it came with...it was kinda like coconut-ty...but maybe I don't WANT to know what it was!), and some more fish things. We had some "killer calimari" for appetizer...pretty tasty! My mom got a Sea Bass dish, my dad a chicken dish, and Mark got a beef sukiyaki dish. Expensive...but worth it - my mom didn't have to cook today! ^_^

There was a TV at Misato...eh, the game wasn't all too exciting...the big Lakers people basically just stuck their hand out and blocked any and all the shots that were attempted by the Nets...hee hee...I'm glad I don't play pro bball with the big guys...none of my shots would make it!

Tomorrow, I'll finally get to go to Irvine! After spending all day in the sun on the field trip, I can go down there to eat, shop (for a graduation dress of some sort. I need to look decent when I call out names of my students! ^_^) and maybe watch Spiderman, if it's not too late. ^_^ Yay!

06.04.02, Tuesday

 
Click here to take the test!

^_^

Dang it...our hot air balloons aren't working...=(...the tissue paper is too heavy for the small amount of space that the hot air can be contained in...*sigh* Maybe I'll just show October Sky. I love that movie, and it deals with some flight (rockets...close enough to hot air balloons?), heh heh. Well, we did a lesson today on WHY they didn't work after the whole planned crashed 15 minutes into class. *sigh* Not sure what to do yet, but hmmm...^_^ Meanwhile my evenings are mostly free this week! ^_^ I get to relax, sleep on time (early), clean some more/redecorate (I pulled down those big wall maps last night and put up my neat maps and long dragon poster, hee hee...), go to step class, get grad gifts, and all sorts of things. I got new shoes today! It was about time to replace my beloved K-Swiss's, which are really too worn out.

06.03.02, Monday

[08:38pm] Oh hey! I can have my book now??? Really? Thank you thank you! Oh happy day! ^_^

[08:03pm] Where was I this entire weekend??? Hee hee...read and relive below...! ^_^ It's all posted a little late, and the time isn't even on there - each one took a long time to do, as I'd do a little, come back, write some more, do something else, etc...^_^ [In the meantime...just one more week of school! Countdown begins...^_^]

06.02.2002, Sunday

"Never underestimate the power of a small church...especially in eating!" ~Ed Lu

It's our church's 11th year anniversary today! Wow, we had a whole lot of fun looking back on things. See, last year, for our 10th year anniversary, we had these big plans...that didn't happen...well, it did...but just a year later. ^_^ Many of us contributed articles for our 10th Anniversary Yearbook to celebrate the decade...and now...finally...the yearbook is out, a year later, with the articles mostly being a year and a half to two years old, hee hee. =) We also will soon (hopefully??? hee hee) be starting to break ground on our Mobile Unit Project (church expansion) which was also started more than a year ago. For today, CCF lead worship, Sam Wong had a neat slide show on powerpoint with old pictures that go from back in da' early days of RCAC to now, and we had sharing from Eym-Soon and David Fang, two new members of our church this year. After, we headed to Diamond  Palace at Diamond Bar, and stuffed ourselves silly! Mmm...one of our personal favorite places that we used to go to all the time, and they have good deals for lunch - we had 8 tables of about 10, and at our table, we had 10 dishes, and each paid about $6. Wow huh?

In the evening, we had fellowship at Paul and Ruth's, where we watched the Lakers game, ate more good food, played with Cookie (that dog can play basketball pretty well!), Melody and I play-boxed with the boxing gloves, and we all fellowshipped. The lesson was on self-control, and it was pretty good! One question that was asked was: "Did Jesus lose self-control when he thrashed the temple (where there were a bunch of, ahem, entrepreneurs making big money)?" After some long and hard thinking, I realized (though I could be wrong) that no, it wasn't...to lose self-control, Jesus could have killed them, or had God send lightning down and zap everyone, heh heh. I mean, he has the power to do so, right? Instead, it was a form of discipline. It was the only way that he could have had enough impact to a temple full of merchants. He couldn't go to each one and preach or talk to them nicely and say "Now now, we shouldn't be selling and making money to the extreme extent that you are," or "It's wrong to cheat your customers by selling pigeons to be sacrificed, and then having them secretly fly back to you," etc. It had to be a larger scale discipline in order to get to these greedy hearts that it was wrong and that He wasn't going to let them do such a think in God's temple. Hmm.

06.01.02, Saturday

I spent all day cleaning my room, cleaning my loft...and it's about clean now! Woo hoo! ^_^ In the afternoon, Mark and I visited our nephew, Jonathan (aka Wei-Wei to us). Wei-Wei is like 14 years old...he had been in the hospital for about a month! For still and unknown reason, his liver failed. Had he not gotten the transplant in time, he would have died (he had about two days left...). Currently, he is out of the hospital, and though in bed most of the time, he seems to be mostly well. Still weak and tired, still not enough white blood cells, and still having some difficulties, though initial concerns are not as bad anymore. It's so sad...he's only 14, and he has to go through so much already. We've been praying for him and the whole family, as there are other health concerns in that family too. Please pray for them...

For dinner, we went to Thai Paradise down in the Rosemead area (???) for my mom's bday dinner! ^_^ Her birthday is Wednesday. Fred and David decided to come along too. Mmm...it was a neat looking place, and the food was pretty good. Not a personal Gummy's Top Ten, but good nonetheless. It was neat to try something different, and mmm...spicy food is always yummy (and entertaining, to watch Mark's face get red and sweaty, hee hee...he has a rather interesting reaction to hot foods, though he loves it!).

Oh yeah...Friday was the Sleepover at church too...Ughh...I'm glad we didn't sleep over. We had a good time for our cooking competition. There were all sorts of food - crab rangoons, sausage, flavored rice, curry beef and veggies, steamed egg, spring rolls, and...if there were more, I don't remember, but I ate it. ^_^ We practiced late for worship...till like 12:30 or so, and before I could leave, I went into the kitchen to put away some food Cheryl had left outside. In the kitchen were TONS of cockroaches...I'm not exaggerating!!! They were big and ugly and scurrying about all over the place! Ick!!!! And I was wearing my flip flops!!! Aiya...a horrifying and rather unpleasant experience...I can deal with one, and even two...but that many? It was like one of those 1950's horror films...Frogs, Ants, or a little bit more modern and just as creepy, Arachnophobia. *shudder*

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