Weblog Archive

.:December 2002 to December 2003:.

12.31.03, Wednesday:

[11:15am] What a wonderful day! ^_^

Tuesday, we went to dim sum in San Gabriel, followed by some high rollin' - we got Legend of the Condor Heroes and Tian Long Ba Bu VCDs at the Chinese video store. =)
I got to hang out with Belinda, Jimmy, Takako and Rosalyn at the sleepover at Ros's. We watched a ton of movies, and got to chill. I love getting to hang out with them, as I don't get to much! ^_^ In the morning, Takako, Ros, and I went to eat at Original Pancake House. Mmm! ^_^
On my way home, I got myself a ticket. Sigh. I should have remembered that it is New Year's Eve, and that cops would be all over today [What I've learned for the day >_<]. I wasn't going THAT much faster...for a freeway anyways...I guess Imperial Highway isn't THAT much of a freeway, right? Hee hee...anyways...I'll be driving a little slower for the next 18 months...
Despite that, the day is still wonderful. =) I came home and found the Buffy Season Five DVDs sitting on the table for me! (Thank you...you are AWESOME! ^_^ You DO know that, right? ^_^) It's not so much the DVDs, but more of the thought that matters. And you certainly rock. ^_^ [Let me clarify: You are a wonderful person. ^_^]
My cousins also came over to drop off more Sunshine Buddies, and I got a call from Agatha, my old Sunday School teacher from when I was back in high school, inviting my brother and I out to a musical and dinner tomorrow night. =)
I still have to do schoolwork. But first, I need to call up the Femdogg. AKA the "Big Black Ghost"...the name my mom has given this friend of mine from way back in da days! =)
If any of you have nothing to do for New Year's Eve, you're more than welcomed to come over for late night movie watching (those old school chinese kung fu fighting VCD series...hours of nonstop shows, ha ha...). Come any time after dinner. We'll be watching into the new year, and should we get hungry, we have late night dim sum snacks. =)

12.29.03, Monday:

[01:57pm] I like this book I'm reading, The Best American Science Writing 2002 (Thanks Heidi! ^_^). It's a collection of a bunch of good science articles. Want to read the first one? I caution you...it's long...about 16 pages on the 'net, hee hee...but really good...about plastic surgery. And a doctor who wants to put wings on people. And about how such a thing could be playing God. Or is it? Read about this doctor's unusual ideas that one day...could be...as for now, he's dubbed as "Dr. Daedalus" (Do you know who Daedalus was? I forgot at first. So I looked it up. Remember that ancient Greek myth about Icarus? It was his father's name. I think most of us remember "Icarus", but not "Daedalus", heh heh...).

12.28.03, Sunday:

[10:29pm] Okay, so my thing is that I learn at least one thing every day. I just remembered something from today, hee hee...I think I shall post what I learn whenever I blog, because I will probably forget them if I don't. =) So here's two.

Instead of Jewelry Cleaner, just use toothpaste. =) It works just as well, hee hee...^_^
From the trip, one thing I realized was that that trip, as well as other road trips, has proven that most of America is not what we know it to be. We're used to the cities, the shopping centers, and the freeways, but amazingly, hee hee, most of America ain't so. It's much more beautiful (and when I get that picture gallery up, you'll see a few scenery pictures there), with wide open grass areas, trees, and a sky that's not covered with that slight haze. It's nice. =) I think that's why I always want to move here or there - every time I go somewhere, I see how beautiful it is along the way, hee hee...and I'd want to move there. Remember Arizona? And now Central California. And at times, other places intrigue me, like Australia, Norway (I saw pictures, ha ha...), Japan, and those high-rise, busy type places too. I think I just want to try living in different places for a bit, hee hee...^_^

[08:55pm] Ack, I'm getting horribly slack on birthdays...! >_<

Happy Birthday Calvin! (Dec. 22) ^_^
Happy Birthday Jenny! (Dec. 26) ^_^
On Friday, my family and DVD's went up to the central coast area of California! ^_^ We went up to Santa Barbara, Solvang, and San Simeon. On Saturday, we visited the grand Hearst Castle (the history is pretty cool!) where we ooo'ed and ahh'ed at all the neat stuff up there. =) I think I liked the pools the best, even though I suck at swimming. =)
After Hearst, we stopped in Cambria to eat, tour, eat some Olalliberry cheesecake, and visit Nit Wit Ridge. Nit Wit Ridge was pretty dang cool - I mean, the guy that built it had to be pretty good at it. It withstood the earthquake from last week, and it's mostly still in good shape. If any of you ever go up there, it's definitely worth going to! =) After, we detoured to downtown Paso Robles to check out the results from the earthquake, and then zoomed back to SoCal where we finally relished in good Chinese food at Sam Woo's. =)
That was our mini trip, in a nutshell. =) Pictures...erg...I've been getting lazy with them...but I will do some work tonight and get them up to show you all parts of the trip. ^_^
Another point of interest that we didn't hit, that might be of interest for anyone that might go up there, would be Pismo Beach's Butterfly Trees (this was a good time of the year, but we didn't get to it!).
This week is starting to get booked up with friends! Hee hee...fun fun...I hadn't seen many a while, so it's a grand treat! Yay! ^_^ I just have to force myself to do my schoolwork, so I can play without guilt. =)

12.26.03, Friday:

[07:22am] Happy Boxing Day! Hee hee...I couldn't resist just one short blog...you must read these two news articles. I learned what "balaclavas" are now. =) And you'll simply have to imagine the situation the seagulls were in for the second one. =)

12.25.03, Thursday:

[02:50pm] Merry Christmas everyone! ^_^ Thankful list for today:

No snow, but rain...lovely! ^_^
Left the house to go to Rowland Heights with the family, and saw a rainbow on the way out! =)
Our car skidded on the freeway, and we crossed several lanes...oily and slick roads with dips full of water...scary...but God kept up safe! Whew!
Ate a good lunch (only the chinese markets are open on Christmas, hee hee...and any other major holiday event out here. Don't ask me why. Business opportunities? ^_^) at the Dragon place - potstickers, little dragon buns, braised beef noodles, and leek/vermicelli crispy packet thingies. Mmm...^_^
Making Christmas dinner tonight!
Off to our mini trip tomorrow! ^_^
Today represents a Super Good Day...so Merry Christmas, to one and all, again! ^_^

12.24.03, Wednesday:

[01:20pm] News for the day:

Mad Cow Disease
Mad Cow Disease 2, heh heh...
Mad Cow Disease Could Reverse High Protein Diets (Yes! I don't agree with these...)
Beagle 2 Set to Land Tomorrow! =)
Childhood Diarrhea Affects IQ?
Effective SARS Treatment Found. Yay! ^_^

On the lighter side...^_^

12.23.03, Tuesday:

[10:50am] Wow...I just woke up not too long ago! This is my kind of sleeping in, hee hee...for my bro though, it's nothing. He was down till 2 or 3pm yesterday, heh heh...that was some time after we had all finished watching LOTR3. =) The movie was good - it brought everything to an end well. It was long, as expected, and everyone had to use the bathroom afterwards, hee hee...^_^ And the trailers were excellent! ^_^ Spiderman 2...The Butterfly Effect looks interesting...even Harry Potter! ^_^

My dad is about 99.9% better! ^_^ He was showing off yesterday, flexing his muscles to us with a great big smile, hee hee...on the other hand, my mom and bro are starting to get sick. =P So far, I've been lucky...hope it lasts, heh heh...^_^
After the movie, we all picnicked at the park, tried to get out of a huge...12 or 13 person human knot...and then chillaxed with rollerblading, tennis, basketball, biking, jungle gym-ing, and other fun stuff until it was time to go! After dropping of Amy and Nina, Andrew and Anthony and I had In-N-Out for dinner to stall some time from driving back in traffic, hee hee...all the seats were taken inside, and we were the only people eating outside. It was so cold! But we had tasty food....hee hee...^_^
Finally. I'm baking that Carrot Bread today (recipes have been posted!). Actually, in about half an hour. =) Other that that and paying bills, I have no other plans for today. I suppose I can grade some papers and lesson plan, hee hee...^_^

12.22.03, Monday:

[07:25am] Currently indulging myself on a giant cup that Heidi gave me, filled with Chocolate Raspberry Cocoa and one of those Almond Cookies from last night's dinner at Chen Ling in Riverside, hee hee...^_^ I do like good Almond Cookies. ^_^

Contemplating: Growing Up.

I haven't seen Jason in a while, and he's back from Berkeley on break right now. His comment to me later was that I seemed more grown up now, heh heh. Woah! Maybe it was my clothes - I dress up for church usually. Maybe because I wore heels with my pants today, instead of my boots. Maybe because my hair was down. But nope. He said it was something in me, like I've mentally matured or whatever, hee hee. Is this a good thing? Or a bad thing? Or something that inevitably happens to everyone? I'm sure it comes at different times for everyone - I mean, I'm sure it happens for many before they turn 25, and perhaps later for others. I'm sure being a teacher must be part of the reason too. I've seen myself grow for some time, but it was gradual. Am I grown up now? What accounts for that? hee hee...who knows...I still have my fun...I can talk to adults (and there were more than usual talking to me yesterday, but maybe that's cuz my parents weren't there, and everybody wanted to know why?)...but I like talking to kids too...I still feel inexperienced and young in many aspects of life...and yet I'm sure I've grown wiser in something, though I'm not sure exactly in what just yet. It's just an "in general" type of wiser...things that I'm sure others are aware too, that I wasn't aware of before. Maybe, just maybe, I'm babbling right now. =)

I'm getting EVEN braver rollerblading! I cruised our whole housing area, for about 4 or 5 times with my bro the other day. I wasn't even scared, except once when my blades got caught on a rock, hee hee...My dad is feeling much better, though he still needs to get to the doctor's! Thanks for the prayers! ^_^ I've also gotten to sleep in past 5:30am since break started...and yesterday's Chinese and English adult choir was AWESOME at church. Ed Lu played the piano - when he couldn't before! And they sang lovely, lovely songs! ^_^ I contributed only a little...I helped find all the pictures for the PowerPoint for their songs, hee hee...

Speaking of pictures, I haven't put any up for a while. Here's one for now:

This is a Chinchilla from the new Petco by my house. I'm quite sure that this is what Pikachu really is...! ^_^

If you plan on stalking me today, here's my plan, muah ha ha... (j/k...if you can't find me, I'm at one of these places. ^_^): Call up doctor's to make an appt for my dad...wrap up Huy's gift and get to the Post Office to finally mail this thing (sorry...you might get this after Christmas...but you'll get it homes! ^_^)...Call Discover to find out why they're charging me for some insurance thing that I told the saleslady that I didn't want last month...head off to watch LOTR3 with my crew from da 909! ^_^ We're off to watch the movie, picnic a late lunch at the park, and play games there. Hopefully the weather will be nice like yesterday. =) And tonight, I intend on baking that really yummy Carrot Cake that they serve at Mimi's Cafe! ^_^ I'll put up recipes for this and Butter Mochi later tonight...as well as archiving all these old entries. =)

12.20.03, Saturday:

[10:22pm] It's hard to see my dad so sick, and not being able to do much. =( Even if I was a doctor right now, there wouldn't be much, this very moment, of what I could do, other than take care of him the best I can. It might be kidney stones, because though he has a fever, he also has problems with peeing. =P He had them before, when I was still in elementary school. And he has the chills really bad. =( My dad is such a wonderful person who is always up and at it when it comes to taking care of us in every possible way...and it hurts to see him like this. =( Yeah, I suppose this would be a big prayer request right now - thanks...it does mean a lot. ^_^

Went to Yorba Linda for the annual party at my uncle's, minus my parents and with Andrew and Anthony. About 30 some of us people gathered together for the annual feasting, gathering, and white elephant gift exchange. =) The coolest thing there, of which we ended up with one, were these Perpetual Motion Sunshine Buddies, hee hee...they look kinda freaky...but they're strangely cute...and hypnotically soothing, hee hee...^_^

12.19.03, Friday:

[08:41pm] I'm on Christmas Break! Wow! Two weeks off...hee hee...fun fun...though I have a feeling it will probably zoom by really fast...!

My dad came home today, sick with probably the flu. =( He's fevered (up at 102 degrees!), tired, and uncomfortable, and has been sleeping the whole time...my poor dad...=(
School today was filled with Christmas gifts, candy, cards, greetings and learning...though it was the last day, we still did work, heh heh...no random, meaningless movie nor parties (though food was okay today. Sharing is good, hee hee...), but we still had fun. =)
Did you know you can email Santa Claus at [email protected]? ^_^ It's just for the city of North Pole in Alaska, but someone will probably reply as Santa. I was listening to KOST 103.5fm in the morning...the Christmas music has put me in the right mood, hee hee...(I have "Home for the Holidays" stuck in my head right now)...but they had this "Santa" talking to kids on the phone, and this "Santa" knew everything about them, from what they did in the morning or a few days before, to what they had for breakfast...this would be scary if I was the kid, you know? I mean, reeeally scary. I didn't believe in him though. Did any of you ever? Heh heh...
I did get Christmas wishes/cards/random things out to my people at school on time...this morning anyways. It was the last day to, right? =) But I guess I still have a little more Christmas shopping cheer to spread about this weekend, eh? ^_^ Maybe. If my dad is still really sick, I think I'll just kick it here at home.

12.17.03, Wednesday:

[09:17pm] Let's just say it's been an extra busy couple of days, and leave it at that, hee hee...and I do mean extra busy...staying up late to grade, cook, go out with people and such...But I finally have a little break right now...to at least blog, right?

After school today, I served that yummy butter mochi - most of it was gone, yay! ^_^ It was good - worth staying up till midnight cooking it.
I dropped by Heidi's, picked up a bunch of greens (carrots, basil, oregano, some weird spinach, chili peppers, purple bell peppers, and a watermelon!) before heading out to Sabine's for a bit, and then going to Chris' Bridal Shower, where the sports-like cafe served us extra greasy (but tasty) onions and grilled sandwiches. I felt as if a heart attack was going to strike me soon afterwards...oyyy...last night, my stomach was also packed full from Chili's. =) My bro and I went to eat with Dorothy and Fred. Yum! ^_^ I'm finally going to say that I will probably grow fat at this rate, if I'm already eating good before break starts, hee hee...
I'll keep work things to those that talk to me personally. But let's just make it clear that that statement "Kids are too busy learning to be distracting" is not a true statement. You can have the best lesson plan out there, and there will always be that one or two (or three or four...or six or seven...for one of my classes that other teachers also have discipline issues with!) that that statement would really, REALLY not apply to. =Þ
On average, more of my kids passed the the science vocabulary/spelling tests that we've been preparing for than the rest of the kids that took the test at school. Yay! I'm so proud of them! ^_^ And it also helps give me evidence to prove that hey, I don't suck as a teacher. Ha! ^_^ (Take that, LD, hee hee...shhh...!).
It's so sad...Smallville finally spins out one really good episode...and then it's like they've run out of power. They're just rerunning now. =P
I got two Christmas cards in the mail yesterday! From Dolly and Huy! Thanks! ^_^ I have to get my cards out! I've at least bought them...that's a start, right? =)

12.15.03, Monday:

*update* Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday Edwin!!! ^_^ (extreme schoolwork almost made me forget!) ^_^

[11:45pm] Ack! What am I still doing up? The last of the grade reports are printing out...yeah...I think I'll go to sleep and leave the computer to print itself crazy...I've done work nonstop since 6pm...! Well...there was a break for dinner...a little chatting here and there (but I really didn't chat much! I resisted! ^_^)...but yeah...and tomorrow's going to be nonstop too! Wake up...go to school (--> Parent/Teacher meeting tomorrow...supervising ELO...handling a ton of middle schoolers and their respective issues...stopping by Kohl's to get Chris's bridal shower things...coming home to tutor my cousin in Chemistry...out to dinner with my homies...back home to cook Butter Mochi (ooo. Recipe coming up soon too. It's real yummy!) for Wednesday's staff meeting (dessert potluck)...and grade whatever I need to grade sometime during all this stuff...shower and sleep...Oy...>_< But no worries...next week is Christmas break. =) I'm quite eager to get a break, as it's been trying to get up on time with it being so dark in the morning now! ^_^

Oh yeah! I made those ultimate chocolate chip cookies (see my recipe section! Hee hee...) yesterday. My dad said they were the BEST cookies he's ever had! ^_^ Next time though, I'll make them giant sized...! ^_^

Good deal at Best Buy for the week - go get yourself 2 packs of ink (single/ twin HP or Lexmark) - and you get $10 off any DVD! That's how I got Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday. ^_^ We need to stock up on ink anyways, right? Why not go once a day? Muah ha ha...j/k...^_^

12.14.03, Sunday:

[05:15pm] Hee hee...so we drew names for the YF Gift Exchange today...and Vanessa kept asking me what I wanted. She knows who has me, muah ha ha...I'm quite sure she knows...and I have my guesses. =) First of all, I'm not sure what I want-want as a Christmas gift, you know? She mentioned things like cool gel pens and fun scissors, cool stationary things (She was like..."You're a teacher! You should like markers and stuff like that, right?" Oyyy! So stereotypical! But she's right, ha ha...! ^_^), and Lauren and I were talking about needing big hooded sweatshirts - those are all cool! ^_^ There are trinkets and such here and there (though I do need to stop collecting trinkets. It just happens though...), and I like almost anything, hee hee...I should be pickier, but oh well. =) As for things I wanted to buy one day (and most likely, not till a long time later. They're not things I need. Just for whenever it is that I get my own place, or have extra cash to toss around!), they are much too costly for a maximum $10 gift exchange, hee hee...like that super cool Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, that cool little talking robot coin bank from Sharper Image, a hardcover Chinese Cinderella, certain other books, a grandfather clock, that wok chair...and things like that. =) So I tried to describe those plastic squeeze bottles that I've been looking for, but nobody knew what I was talking about...^_^ They're good for filling up with some melted decorating chocolate, so I can squeeze 'em out to decorate cakes! ^_^ I wouldn't use them much, but when I do, it would be handy, like my little spinning cake holder for when I decorate. So. Here is a link to show you YF'ers what they look like, hee hee hee...^_^ NOW does it make sense? ^_^

As for my secret gift exchangee, I'm not sure what to get him, hee hee...so I'm thinking real hard...I have a few ideas already though, muah ha ha...^_^

I spent about 2 hours gift wrapping things for my mom, and for this weekend's family Christmas party. Christmas present-ing time is about to begin...I doubt I can do much shopping this week...it'll have to wait for the weekend and some parts of next week, before Christmas...right? =)

LOTR3 - YF'ers and some CCF'ers are going next Monday. We're going to picnic at the park, play games, have a little Bible study...either before or after the movie. If any of you out there want to join in, please do! Just let me know! Email to the rest of the people that weren't at church today will be sent out...probably tomorrow or Tuesday. ^_^

12.13.03, Saturday:

[11:20am] Lesson Plans ALREADY done! =) I just need to make them official, heh heh...thus, the reason why I got to play so much, even though the weekend's not over yet...^_^

I stopped by Sushi Kawa the other day...I was curious if they have that Tempura Roll...the ONLY sushi that I can say that I really reeeally like, hee hee...and ended up talking to the lady there - she's Chinese, ha ha...and so I ended up buying one of their specialties, a "Crunch Roll". Myyyy goodness...it's taaaasty! ^_^ It had like some crunchy stuff on the outside, so yeah..."crunch roll"...they have Tempura Rolls too, only I didn't get it...this time...Anyways...that's one Japanese place that I may go back to one day! ^_^
Stayed up late Friday night - my bro, Shelton and I watched Heroic Duo (I recommend! ^_^) and then StreetFighter, hee hee, which was on late last night/this morning. =) I wanted to see one of my favorite lines...but I had fallen asleep by then...>_<
Kicked it with my bro and Shelton - we went off to a music store to look at guitars and other musical toys...went to Ontario Mills for a lot of walking and browsing at neat places, like this Spy Store they have there, muah ha ha...and took care of my bro's car at the tire place, before coming home and zooming off to...
...DVD's for a yuuuummy turkey dinner. After dinner, my mom and Mrs. Wong chatted, my dad and Mr. Wong played a few games of Chinese Chess, and us 4 kiddos watched Internal Affairs...another highly recommended HK VCD movie, hee hee...^_^

12.10.03, Wednesday:

[07:59pm] Heh heh...not sure what to blog today...all kinds of stuff going on, hee hee. Everyone at school is sick with the flu too - teachers, students...kids are out like crazy...I should get a flu shot...oy...On the other hand...I do have some links for you all...^_^

Another crazy and fun link from Neil! =) (I should call these NeiLinks. But I think it only works as NeiLiz, ha ha...^_^) **MAJOR UPDATE: Hee hee...this is an original JayceLink, and not a NeiLink! ^_^ **
Powers of 10 (will use for my students, especially when we talk about scales and outer space!)
I Am poem #1 (we're going to do I Am poems for constellations...wouldn't that be neat? To show me they know the mythology for their constellation by putting themselves in its shoes? And of course, they have to draw out their constellation, label important stars, etc, etc...hee hee...scientific AND fun! Yep!)
I Am poem #2. Powerful poem on the atom bomb at the end.

Smallville tonight. I hope it's not a rerun! =)

12.09.03, Tuesday:

[05:05pm] Spent all day at the meeting - I can't believe we spent an entire day inside! Like, not once did we go outside...karazy...! I'll keep my comments to myself about what I thought of the meeting, as I heard such a thing can cause people to lose their jobs! Though it's no secret that it wasn't as productive as some would hope to be. =Þ

I'm munching on some Haw Flakes, and decided to google it up. Look what I found!

One person's first discovery of these yummy things...
Some claims that these fruity flakes has interesting health benefits.
Using these things to cheat parking meters, ha ha...

A good note - my sub didn't say anything bad about my classes. But then again, she did leave one line class reports: "Class was good" or "A little noisy". HOW noisy? I'm sure there are certain people in my 5th period that need to be reckoned with...but ah well...I called the sub up, but unless she calls me back, I won't really know. Oh well. The day is done and I'll be back tomorrow. =)

12.08.03, Monday:

[07:46pm] WOW! Andrew's getting me a Wilson Hyper Hammer 6.2 racket, heh heh. Very very cool - thanks cos'!!! About time too, since I've been saying I'd get a new racket for the past...uh...6 years? The one I have is too heavy, the wrong grip size (I'm like a 4 - are my hands THAT small? - but my current racket is a 4 3/8!), needs to be restrung, and well, yeah - I had no idea what were the important parts of a racket when I got that so long ago. I'm a bit more knowledgeable now, though I'm far from being anything of a pro. At least now I'll have an excuse to play more! ^_^

I went rollerblading a few times this weekend too! Fun fun! I'm getting better - I'm still staying within the safe confines of the cul-de-sac by my house, but I'm venturing down the very un-steep slope of the street a little faster than before. Weeee! ^_^

I should go buy some Christmas cards soon. I talked a little to Dolly and realized it's about time to be sending them out!

Okay, I'm really procrastinating from grading. =)

[06:48pm] Happy Happy Birthday to My Brother! ^_^ Hee hee...a whole 23 years...and he says that he's sooooo old now...although personally, I feel that if going upstairs caused some wheezing, then he must have gotten old a long time ago, hee hee...=) (j/k...^_^)

This is awesome! Instead of a final exam, I had my 8th graders tell ME what they learned during first trimester. After brainstorming in class, they each had to choose three and make a poster out of it, including important key words. My goodness, I got some awesome, AWESOME posters - I mean, you could tell they really enjoyed doing it, and relished in the fact that they had learned so much in just three little months! =) Ah...how I love teaching! ^_^

I'm out tomorrow for a Science/Literacy meeting...as if we didn't do enough literacy in our classrooms? Hee hee...but anyways...I hear that we can't even escape...we're going to be underground, in some boiler room (it was even built as a possible bomb shelter!) all day long, and for lunch, we have to be there, since our principal is providing a catered lunch to us. Hmm. I hear the boiler room is not as bad as the name would make one think, hee hee...and at least Dairy Queen's right outside. =)

12.07.03, Sunday:

[08:17am] Hey...thanks...got the msg...I feel much better...^_^

For dinner last night, we went to Diamond Palace. Mmm...one of my favorite places...and we drenched ourselves in good food - wintermelon soup, honey walnut creamy sshrimp, some big-headed fish that looked dead to me (apparently, they were still frozen, hee hee...it's funny cuz it looks like they're all dead in the tank, hee hee) but was yummy, peking duck, small cut of roast pig appetizer with rubber-banded jellyfish strings, deep fried crispy tofu, and a pigeon. A mouth-watering experience, heh heh...^_^

12.06.03, Saturday:

[02:35pm] Why am I suddenly getting so melancholy? I suppose I've been thinking about things that I've buried over for a long, looooong time, heh heh...and now feel it's safe to think about it. A time when I had to be detached and act like it didn't matter, when it killed me inside, to the point that even I became numb to it. Ha...only one person out there would even have the slightest hint of what I'm talking about, heh heh, and I doubt that person would still read this much, and I doubt that even if that person did know what I'm talking about, it may not matter to him/her anymore...But anyways...I figured out I can either be melancholy, completely detached, or just joyful of what I DO have and what I am undeservedly blessed with. I like the last option, hee hee...it's much less stressful and more enjoyable. Though it's a rare event for me to be so, I don't like relishing in it, and so I'm going to be unmelancholy, right now. =)

I'm going out to dinner, for the third day in a row, aiya! Tonight, it's for my bro's bday and for my parents' anniversary. Then later, I'm going to hang out with Giang and do some work - yay! =) As for now, I still have lots of work to do...so off I go! =)

12.05.03, Friday:

[10:37pm] I am so unworthy...

Thinking of all the good things I have, and even of things that I'd like, I realized just how unworthy I am...I mean, I'm not always doing my best in terms of helping out at home, because I get so caught up in my schoolwork, and my parents will do things for me, or things that I should be doing, without complaint. And though I'm usually very gummy-like, I'm sure I've offended a person or two sometime...and yet I am blessed with so many things continually - friendship, security, a home, food...

That's what's so amazing about God's love...that it's always going to be there and open to us. I mean, we ARE unworthy...all of us...and yet when we turn away, He's still there, ready to shower us with His love at any given time. He doesn't turn away, and doesn't disown us (though really, He should at times, if His love was logical and reasonable...but it's not...it's unconditional...SO unconditional...!) and forget about us and move on to someone else who is "better" or "more worthy"...That's the thing...though we are unworthy and don't deserve it, He still loves us. That's His grace. That's His love. =)

On a lighter note, I had dinner at Olive Garden with Gilbert, TNT, Shelton, Kathleen, Neil, DVD and my bro. On the way home, my bro and I were messing around in the car, and to every car that sped by us, he would yell out (don't worry, the windows were up, hee hee) things like "Don't mess with the fookin' dragons!", heh heh...me as Dragon Gummy (we changed DVD's D-Gummy to this...but what the Dragon part means, it's a long inside joke between my bro and I), and my bro as...(and if you get Canto, and know of my bro's "friends", you'll like this...!)...Fay-Zee-Loong! A gross rendition of Street Fighter's Fei-Lung, I guess, muah ha...So we're both dragons - or fookin' (Fukien, though we ain't Fukien people...okay...enough of this silly pun! hee hee...) dragons anyways. Self-proclaimed gangsta's. =)

Oh yeah! I got my first Christmas gift of the year - thanks Gilbert! =)

12.04.03, Thursday:

[08:10pm] Happy Birthday to Sally! ^_^

No students tomorrow. With my grades done, I get to lesson plan and fix up my classroom tomorrow. Plus, I get free lunch! The Math Department is treating us science folks to lunch...woo hoo! =)

Aw...I was going to hang out with Ros and Tako tonight...but things got cancelled. I feel bad - this is like the 2nd time I couldn't make it to do something with Ros - the sweets shop, and now tonight (though it seems we were all pretty busy tonight anyways). Oh wait. Counting this Saturday, it'd be 3 times! =P I have much to make up, heh heh! I'm horrible when it comes to play time once school sets in. I have yet to hang out with Mei-Chi! ^_^

Mango Mousse Cake, at your service. ^_^

12.02.03, Tuesday:

[09:58pm] Even better than Happy December would be: Happy Happy Birthday Wendy!!! ^_^ Yep yep. It's her birthday today! ^_^ And thus starts the mad season of December birthdays, hee hee...

Ah yes, Jason, you may talk to me if you wish. =) I hope you all realize that yesterday's rant was simply that - a rant. =) I'm not depressed, hee hee...I don't even think that I sounded depressed in that blog, but whatever - those were just thoughts floating in my mind that I wanted to get out...and since I was too tired to go on AIM, I decided to just blog about it. But yeah...blogs are still rather impersonal, less intimate, and only the superficial part of a person. So if you want to know more, as Jason says, you can always call or something, right? ^_^

I'm doing my grades now...hee hee...if I finish them now, that means on Friday, I have time to do other important things, like set up lessons and labs. =) I'm glad I closed my gradebook a week early this trimester. I shall do that every trimester from now on! ^_^

I have no students on Friday, because it's the end of the trimester. Friday night is the CCF dinner at Olive Garden. Mmm...I'm salivating already...hee hee...^_^ I've looked at the menu online. Don't know what I'm getting just yet, hee hee...^_^

12.01.03, Monday:

[09:30pm] Happy Happy December! ^_^ Already, it's the end of the year. What a year it was, eh?

<random rant> I was going to vent yesterday about something, and though I'm not really frazzled by it any more, I still think it's important to just say so. So the rant was about relationship stuff. Granted, I'm not in one right now, so it's not the type of rant you might think it to be. Instead, it's the other way around. Like my mom doesn't seem to get it - but then again, she IS a mom, hee hee...so it's expected, and I will take it as nicely as I can from now on. =) And like the adults that hung out with us this weekend, they meant nothing but the best when they ask me such questions. But things like obvious set-ups make me frustrated - it's not the target's fault, and he's a nice guy and I like him for the sake of him being a person and being who he is - but dude, people, don't push it. Is there no respect for some unspoken allotted time of peace???

Yesterday's sermon also included a story about some guy filling his girlfriend's apartment full of roses and such to set up some scene to ask her to marry him - and though I'm not a sappy type of a person, it is kinda nice, you know? To feel that much passion for someone? And it made me wonder - would I ever feel that way in the future? Has my heart been so closed up by past events to not be open to the possibility of such feelings? I have been quite happy, only once...and it's something I cannot have. So is that it? I know not so - God has plans that none of us can see, ever, it seems. He's a Smart One, hee hee, and thus, I'm not mopey about it. And that led me to another random thought, though it's all kinda about the same thing.

1st Corinthians 13: 4-12. Verses commonly read during marriage ceremonies...almost to the point of cliché, but because it is God's words, it's not cliché. Think about it - all these wise insights about what Love is. Not one of us, without this Book, would be able to figure out all these aspects of Love. Not just that mushy type of love, but a love that is patient and endures whatever the circumstances may be. A love that is kind - benevolence and sacrifice, of whether it is time, money, knowledge, or whatever, for the sake of another. A love that is not jealous, boastful and proud - a love that humbly chooses to lift someone else up, instead of ourselves. A love where one never feels as if one is above everyone else, and realizes that one does not have that need to be rude, self-centered, rash, nor judgmental. A love that will be shared during the good times, and a steadfast love that will be there during the bad times. To love in a way where one seeks to protect one from the harms of the world, yet trusts, hopes and remains constant and true despite what fears may be present. This is a beautiful, awesome Love that can spring only from its One Source...and with Christmastime coming, hopefully, it will remind those that forget, that it is His Love that He sent down, so that we might be embraced in and know such a wonderful thing as this. Better yet, it'd be nicer if us humans didn't need to be reminded twice a year by Christmas and Easter. Or is it thrice a year - with Thanksgiving just passing us by?

</random rant>

11.30.03, Sunday:

[09:48pm] I was going to vent about something, but it's all good now...2 hours of movie time took it away. =) I just finished watching My Tutor Friend. It's kinda like the My Sassy Girl movie (which I didn't like too much >_<)...just as strange, but a little more fun, because there's some good kung-fu, fun graphics, and digital cinematography in it, hee hee...^_^ It's a LONG movie though, and all these Korean girls cry/scream like the girl in Spirited Away. =Þ

My fish was chasing his tail around and around today, hee hee hee...^_^ I thought only dogs did that. =)

[05:05pm] Interesting...I googled up "Gummychild", and found some interesting links to my website, hee hee...most of them were from people I know, or my own website, hee hee, but one of them was from some scientific research society, and a professor in SF that taught at some UC Extension place linked an Intro Chem class website to the Solubility Rules song that I have, heh heh...karazy...to view it, click here. Woah...Gummychild is just a wee more far-reaching than I know! =) If I type in my real name, I don't find any links to it (well, I haven't really searched ALL the pages that Google turned up...but I did check the first ten, hee hee. =) ). Neither does anything seem to come up when I type in my "alias" from school (what the kids call me at school, that is. I won't type it here). This is a good thing - no need for students to read about my daily bumblings through life now, right? =)

11.29.03, Saturday:

[09:28am] I just got up...I need to NOT keep this up or else I won't be able to get up for school next week! ^_^ It's nice though, to have a few days off, full of festivities, you know? ^_^ Today will be a day of work though - clean up, schoolwork, and all that. No shopping for me this weekend, hee hee...though I might go out to get ink for my printer. =)

We played video games last night, using Picture in Picture again, hee hee...in other words, we had the PS2 AND the SNES on at the same time - see? Mariokart and some other game, hee hee. Besides video games, after dinner, some of us also broke up into study groups - from bio, to chem, to engineering, hee hee...interesting huh? Despite the noise from the players, we still got a lot done! ^_^

I'm playing around with the Pictures section, hee hee...it's neat...500MB...the possibilities! ^_^

11.28.03, Friday:

[05:27pm] I'm waiting for something to cool for a cake I'm helping my mom with, hee hee...it's that Mango Mousse Cake...mmm...! ^_^ Anyways, I bought this domain. It's all mine...another dream come true, like my beanbag! Hee hee...only about $5/year, with free hosting. And I get 500 MB free space! Expect lots of pictures, hee hee hee...^_^ I learned some php - so this page you're looking at is actually made up of 4 different pages, put together using php. It's neat stuff, and I have yet to learn more of it. Not all of it's done yet though, so you'll get some links that will be empty pages for now, or some of it that would still link to geocities. My bro made the banner with Shishiwakamaru on it, hee hee...

Speaking of Shishiwakamaru, I have seen him at times where he's not moving his fins, and just sitting there in water, resting. So I guess fish fins do get tired at times. =)
Kathleen and I went to Ralm's today to watch Season One Alias. WOW! It was so good!!! ^_^ We watched about 4 or 5 episodes. Why didn't I know about this show when it first came out? Oh yeah...I was hiding from TV after I started going to college, save for Buffy. ^_^
DVD's over here, playing bball with Mark and Shelton. It amazes me how everything with him is basketball - if he's not playing it, then it's bball video games, hee hee...it's funky how he can put so much energy into one thing, but then again, it's his passion. We all have a passion for something, right? So live it out, and God be the glory. =)
Ironically, I've been feeling a little detached about things that are going on lately. Nothing is going on, honestly, so it's not like there's something making me feel detached. I just am feeling it - did any of that make sense? ^_^ Have any of you ever felt like that? It's just weird.

11.27.03, Thursday:

[10:12pm] Happy Happy Thanksgiving! ^_^

Woke up, cleaned house, and went with Mark, Shelton, and Andrew on an almost 4 hour tour through horrible Thanksgiving traffic to Long Beach and back, hee hee...we went to pick up Kwan Po-Po. She's pretty dang cool - lots of good insights, and at the same time, never lacking compliments and a desire to hook up all the young people she's ever met, as is necessary for usual happy-go-lucky-elderly Chinese ladies. ^_^ She's known my mom for a long time and has seen her grow up - kinda like how Christine Zae-Zae is to me. =)
Had lunch around 3:30, because of the traffic, followed by some Romeo and Juliet - the modern version is pretty funky. Like it's a really bad movie, but funny because of the way they over do things and such. =) This was followed almost immediately with the big dinner, where we had a ton of people over for delicious food. =) Dinner ranged from pig ears to ham, curry chicken, mashed potatoes, shrimp salad, to tasty desserts, like the Mango Mousse Cake (which I now own the recipe to!) and bakery goods straight from San Francisco, brought by a family that was visiting here. =) Stuffed to the max, as we should be. =)
Just got out of shower and am now, finally, at rest. =)
God is good. Thanksgiving is a good reminder to us just how good He is, though it'd be nice if we didn't need to be reminded by special days like Christmas and Easter. =)
Last night, we had dinner at Banana Bay, for Graham. Besides Ralm playing Bugdom on his iMac (it's an addicting game, hee hee...you get to be a roly poly who kicks away bad insects and free ladybugs, hee hee...), we loitered at the restaurant for quite some time, but it was all good. =) Pictures will be uploaded sometime this weekend! ^_^
As promised, the cookie recipe! ^_^ I couldn't make it, as I wasn't able to pick up the ingredients, but here it is anyways. I should post up that Mango Mousse Cake, Butter Mochi, and Chocolate Lust as well sometime too. Those are two really good ones as well. =) Oh wait. I'll just make a recipe page. Done. Word of caution - it will be SLOWWWWLY updated. =)

11.25.03, Tuesday:

[10:15pm] I woke up this morning, completely disoriented as to what day it was, hee hee...I thought it was Monday at first, and then Sunday...and then realized later it was Tuesday, hee hee...I think it was cuz I went to sleep early last night! Either way...tomorrow, it will be like it's Friday. Ahhh. ^_^

Aw, I can't go with Rosalyn to the special cake/chocolate/goody store tomorrow night...=( I wanted to check out this place, as well as find some yummy chocolate for the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I have. My goodness, it's so yummy! My mentor teacher gave it to me - I will post it here next time so you can all try it too! =) I had to cancel, because I found out CCF will take Graham out to dinner, before he leaves. Oh, but no worries, Graham's cool too, hee hee, and we do hope that he can come back one day! =) But I will have to reserve a special day just to go to Buena Park with Ros! ^_^

I cheated and read A Child Called 'It' before the other books - I couldn't put it down. I recommend it! ^_^

I like this verse: "May the Lord smile on you..." (Numbers 6:25 [NLT]) ^_^

I haven't watched Buffy in a while...I'm sure it simply ain't the same...=(

11.23.03, Sunday:

[05:35pm] I've been up quite late the past few days...so I plan on napping early tonight, hee hee...^_^

We led worship at church today. I think it went well, mostly. =) There weren't complaints anyways, hee hee...Like, I know, "it's all the same, and God appreciates it, even if it does sound bad"...but at the same time, we're never really fully prepared and at full power, and I still get a little nervous. I'm not quite confident about singing up there - the shower is less intimidating, hee hee. But I know it's getting better each time, and I gain a wee bit ol' confidence each time. Despite what many people think, I'm not always comfortable in front of an audience. Teaching is different, heh heh. Moderating at church, I'm cool with. Teaching or talking to peers and those older than me on things I know about, I'm cool with too. But singing??? Hee hee...^_^
The cool thing was that we had more participation today, in terms of people coming up to sing with us. Fred brought in some ringers - Jason for the drums, and David to sing with us. =)
Thanksgiving luncheon today - mmm! No mashed potatoes. But still tasty. =)
Went to Rowland Heights with my mom afterwards, shopped for groceries and Chinese herbal things (it's amazing what all those dried things really are...hee hee...I see something new every time!), stopped by the tiny Puente Hills Mall (and I thought we were ghetto! Nope...Galleria at Riverside is pretty stylin'...it's been renovated though, so it has been better for a long time) to pass some time. I've started a wee bit of Christmas shopping - picked up two gifts. Actually, I did get some things a few weeks ago, so I guess technically, I've started. Kinda. I simply pick them up as I go, I guess. I did get some good gloves for cheap though - my current gloves are cool, but they get soaked through every time I play in the snow. =) These ones are also from Gap, but on sale, and they won't get soaked through. So I can use both and keep my hands warm no matter what! ^_^
I saw a cool book at B&N yesterday - another something I have my eye on, hee hee...: The Science Book

11.22.03, Saturday:

[11:45pm] Today, I...

...went to Mrs. Chan's funeral in LA. I remember back in da days, when she and Mr. Chan used to sit in that big ol' van the Ng's had, where Cheryl and her cousins, Mark and I, used to play in the back while the car was moving (probably not a good idea, but we had fun anyways, hee hee), and watch us, enjoying it all. They were always so cool and smiley...! ^_^ She joined Mr. Chan up in da Big House...and I betcha she's smilin', as she always has. =)
...had lunch with the rest down at Ruby Palace, and ate a MASSIVE amount of food...I haven't eaten since then (except for some yummy fries!), and I'm not hungry, heh heh...^_^
...went to study/lesson plan/work with Giang down at B&N, hee hee...I need to do this more. Time passes by, and you get lots of stuff done...and the computer is not around to distract me. =) Her buddy John came to study and hang out with us too, ha ha...!
...I got the book "A Boy Called It"...I started reading some of it, and it just gripped me...people have been telling me to read it, so I decided to try it out. Wow. =) It's hard to put down, but I have to postpone it - I have other things to finish reading first, as you can see on my book list. ^_^

[12:20am] I'm up for a long haul of work tonight...so I'm still up...! I think I've hit "work high", ha ha...plus...I have to sleep on the couch again probably...I wanted to wash my bed stuff, but my bro is hogging the washer and dryer, because he was attacked by ants as well. My parents' bathroom too! Everywhere but the kitchen, it seems. =P

Something cool Femi sent:

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

There would be:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans

52 would be female
48 would be male

70 would be non-white
30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would
be from the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly
apparent. The following is also something to ponder...

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the 1,000,000 who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are
aheadof 500,000,000 people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than 3,000,000,000 people in the
world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep... you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over 2,000,000,000 people inthe world that cannot read at all.

11.21.03, Friday:

[08:04pm] Some eye-candy...

Crazy toys and gizmos: AirZooka, Ambient Devices, Klein Bottles, Ornithopters, Stirling Engines, and a Soccer Bot!
Cancer in Dinosaurs...!
Neil has a funny bball (ghetto-ball?) picture! ^_^

...and my crazy week:

Stress over cheerleading: Tryouts yesterday was a mess - about 100 students out there to try out. That's about a third of the school! And they would have only performed for 2 bball games...! Anyways, it's cancelled until further notice - too much of a hassle, completely unexpected, and it was total Bedlam out there, heh heh...The school is hoping that someone from Park & Recs will pick it up, so I'm off the hook! ^_^ I feel bad, as it's neat that these two girls had the initiative to start it off, but at the same time, I didn't need that load of after school work that was dumped completely on me because no one else was going to help. I doubt I can handle 100 junior high (think hormonally crazy, competitive and over-anxious parents...especially when it comes to cheer parents...!) on my own! >_<
LD hasn't been around. Neither has a student that can be deemed my "instability parameter" in 2nd period. Woot woot, I guess!
A great week of labs and good learning going on. We've been talking about ionic bonds, as well as polar and nonpolar covalent bonds. We've related it from everything to capsaicin, laundry, and floods (uh, that went into saturation, solutions, and suspensions too, which is our next topic!). My students are so smart! ^_^
Next week consists only of three school days! ^_^
On our forums, there was a comment that Friendster is kinda like Pokemon, hee hee...where you collect pokemon creatures. Then one day, we can put them up against each other, hee hee..."I choose you!"
My bro and I kicked it at Starbucks for a few hours last night to work on school things. Grading for me, and studying for him, that is. I haven't gone out to study like that since school. I think I will need to do it more again, heh heh...though I prefer Barnes and Noble over Starbucks. Bigger tables and better light. ^_^
We ate at a chinese buffet tonight for dinner. Those type of buffets are popping up everywhere! Afterwards, I convinced my parents and bro to come with me to the Paws and Claws again, hee hee...I got to hold and pet this baby kitten that followed me around the store after I put it down, heh heh. =) I really didn't mean to go back there again this week. The lady there recognized me. I ain't stalking the pets nor the pet store! ^_^

11.19.03, Wednesday:

[09:20pm] Even though I missed the first 20 minutes of it, tonight's Smallville was really good! I think it's the first one where I can say I was on the edge of my seat...! ^_^ Ooo...how will I get that first 20 minutes...??? Anybody tape it? Or can give me a detailed summary of it? Or shall I have to wait for the recap to be posted? ^_^

[06:12pm] I shall blog, blog, blog...in order to pass the time from doing schoolwork...for now...^_^

Traffic is getting worse and worse in the IE. Maybe everyone's going away for Thanksgiving...a week early...every day after work...?

I got my Michelle Branch CD in the mail today. Yay! I can now return Tofu's CD, that I've had for months, sitting in my car. =) The next CD I'm considering? Outkast's new album, heh heh...^_^ (Christmas is coming upon us, ha ha...j/k...! ^_^)

I found a Paws and Claws petshop in Corona! It's an old one that used to be down where we lived before, but it had moved and disappeared...but it's now reappeared! So I visited after work yesterday - the place is cool! =) They have kittens all over the place. Crazy fish, like the porcupine puffer (another Nemo fish) that was ganging up on another fish, nipping its fins...geckos and lizards and snakes...rabbits and guinea pigs...=) But ohhhh...what they had that I adoooored...was this little charcoal colored Shar-Pei/Chow puppy...it was completely wrinkly and cute, sitting in the waiting spots, and I got to pet it...and it cuddled next to me, and stopped whimpering after I got there, heh heh...I doooo want a dog one day...heh heh...^_^

There is so much xanga-pressure going on, hee hee...Everyone is xanga-ing. Xanga has become a verb! I almost gave in, but then something neat came up. If I play my cards right...soon, I will be moving this website...^_^

I watched some Spongebob today...I've never seen it, though I've always thought that he is definitely a unique looking creature. As well as his sidekick, Patrick. My response: Woah! All the kids like him - no WONDER this generation of kids seem so dysfunctional! Heh heh...*sigh*

I was having a conversation with some friends the other day, and somehow, the conversation drifted to what kinda life we'd have in the future. One girl said she'd be completely happy being a homemaker - in fact, that was her ENTIRE ambition. To stay home, play with kids, bake cookies with them, and things like that. That's it??? I don't know when it happened, but I decided way back that I wanted to be someone that would go out there and make a difference. That I'd be using my mind, intellectually, and somehow benefit the rest of society. I'm not saying that my idea is right though - it IS important to stay at home, take care of kids...but I wouldn't be able to do that the REST of my life. I mean, it's important - but after that? I can't just stay at home. I'd need to do something. I've stayed home before, like when summer break gets too long (which actually doesn't happen when you start working-working, heh heh...), and trust me, I get restless...! But who is to say who is right? Shouldn't a women's life ambition be to take care of her family? When did society change that? Am I a product of a women-empowering culture, where the roles of male and females are switched here and there? Why did I ever choose that I NOT simply be a homemaker? Personally, I intend to strive for a balance. But again, who knows - is there such thing as a right or a wrong role for women?

11.17.03, Monday:

[10:10pm] Sunday was crazy-busy...but good! ^_^ First was church...then it was our turn for kitchen duty (I feel like I do it all the time, hee hee...I do it with the youth, and then with the college/career group!)...and then we had praise practice - Jenny will sing with Kathleen and I next week. Woot woot! ^_^ After an hour's rest at home, we took off to CCF at the Pastor's place. CCF was fun, as always, and we had good food, a good Bible lesson, and good fellowship! ^_^ A neat thing happened at the end though...

The day before, I was moving some things around in the loft, and found a Bible I had. I actually had two of them - they were gifts for my cousins, but my aunt didn't want them using an English Bible, so instead, I just kept them. I had given away one earlier, but I still had one left - only I had completely forgotten about it! During fellowship, I noticed that the new guy, Grahm, didn't have a Bible - and I suddenly remembered my spare Bible again. I was going to ask him after if he had one, and if not, I was going to bring it...only I had completely forgotten about it over ice cream and listening to some of our fobby group (hey, I'm one of them, so I ain't mocking! ^_^) mock HKSA (Hong Kong Student Association, if you don't know what that is, hee hee...). On the way out, I heard the pastor tell David to get Grahm a Bible...I was like...heeeeeey...HOLD ON!! I have a spare Bible...!

Ain't that neat how God just worked all that out? Grahm won't be staying with us long, as he's moving up to Portland, but he's really found the joy of Christ again recently...it's neat! Plus, he promised me a Pavlova dessert (he was in a culinary arts institute, so he's got skills!) in return. I've never seen one, but it sounds extreeeemely tasty! ^_^ Anyone wanna come over if this yummy event occurs? =)

Today was more school...but fun. I love the learning that goes on in my class...it's neat to see that the kids love it too! They get excited when they see that they understand something new, or when they can explain it to someone else right. It's just plain cool...it's a big part of what teaching is all about. ^_^

11.16.03, Sunday:

[09:25am] Thoughts for the day!

I got my mom some funky socks a while back, hee hee...She likes them. =) So what did I do? I got my aunt one too, for her birthday! ^_^

Children's Ministry Conference out in Highlands was fun! I was reminded of some good ol' ideas, and I got to see some new ideas as well! ^_^ Besides that, I did schoolwork like mad yesterday! ^_^

Here's something interesting, that I never thought about, from my devotional for the next few weeks, The Purpose Driven Life. (I looked through my book for it, but I can't find it, so this is only a summary, and mixed with some of my own thoughts, heh heh...):

Our life here is but a mere temporary moment, where we are preparing for our eternal life in heaven. In the book, it makes an analogy between here and our eternal spiritual, to the life we had when were still in our mothers' wombs. I mean, yeah, we were alive then. The heart starts beating a little after a week after fertilization, right? (It's like that anti-abortion sticker: It's a Life, Not a Choice!") God had planned for us even before then - life has already existed, and yet, of course, none of us can remember any of it, even after the brain is developed inside the womb. It was a different stage of our lives, where our bodies were being prepared for life here. Likewise, our bodies are now here, and we should be preparing ourselves for our spiritual life after - and only through God's grace can we have what He has planned for us.

Anyways. Neat. ^_^ Off to church I go! ^_^

11.14.03, Friday:

[10:58pm] Ah. A chapter has ended in my short life. A year and a month and a day, heh heh...but it was good, mutual, God-driven, and not the least bad. It's weird. I feel calm. But yeah. Rubicon, backwards. You're still a homie. You know that, right? ^_^

[08:15pm] I'm so procrastinating...there was so much work the past couple of days, and so much more yet to grade tonight...arrrrrg...I really don't want to deal with it! >_< So I'm just here, passing the time, a little detached from the many things I should be thinking about right now. Perhaps I should shower now and get to work right after. ^_^

I have a little fay-zee on my gum. It bugs, but my bro says it's not that bad. When you get 30 or so of them, like him, hee hee. =Þ Eeeeewwww...!

School Site Council meeting today...my goodness...it was so long...it was a LD-fest, if anything...and not just that, but LD has been going insane the past week, evident from the many valid complaints that are going on from staff in the past few days...which I shall not elaborate here..

I got a Sharper Image catalog in the mail, for some reason. They have some pretty nifty things in there! This robot is totally cool! Though my bro says this one is cooler. I'd agree, if only it looked like R2D2. =)

11.13.03, Thursday:

[07:10pm] Might I add that my parents are no help to one of the things I'm stressing about? They don't even know what's going on, and maybe that's my fault, but I have no desire to vocalize it to them. Mostly because I haven't figured it all out myself yet.

Decisions aren't always as easy to make as it is to choose between hot chocolate and coffee. For me anyways. >_<

[06:10pm] Just got home...

Happy Birthday Li-Yin! ^_^
Congrats to Alison and Desmond! They're getting married this month, hee hee...Alison's one of my homegirls, out in Malaysia!
My principal came in AGAIN. Ha. But it was class as usual, and I was even doing a spin-off of RT. Hopefully, he liked. He seemed to approve, but who knows with him, right?
Ahhh! Giang! Come over Saturday evening instead! Hee hee...I forgot that on Saturday, I'm out all day in Highlands!
Mrs. Chan passed away last night...
I love talking to Lorie...even when we're on completely different ends of the spectrum, hee hee hee...! ^_^
Pray for me...=( Enough stress going on this week, on top of extra massive grading and failure notices (I thought they were due next Friday. Woops.)...

11.12.03, Wednesday:

[06:34pm] Work was sucky today. =P Actually, the kids were fine, and I didn't really have any problems all day with them. The whole day was bad because the presentations scheduled for today in one of the classes were honestly, really bad. They didn't have hardly any scientific info. The kids knew what I expected, but today, the groups were horrible. The last time we presented, they were good. Today, the kids watching the presenters even knew that it was bad. This type of stuff can happen when you teach. But that's not what made the day bad. The reason is because my principal, who was already angry (I heard later that he had left another teacher's room, and he wasn't happy about something she said to him), walked in my room, power swingin' the door open, and power seating himself in a chair, and well, watched really bad presentations. Of course, it has become my fault somehow. I've made my expectations clear - my students know the expectations, and the ones watching knew that this was not up to par. But nope. It's my fault. (Hmm. A teacher IS responsible for his/her students. But really, only up to a certain point, right?)

It's raining like mad out here, complete with thunder and lightning. I like it! =) Another good thing for today is that after school, our Science Department had our meeting with Jeano, who talked with us about vocabulary development and good, solid science teaching. Not language arts teaching...>_<

11.10.03, Monday:

[07:18pm] It gets so dark early now, heh heh...I seem to always comment about the weather somehow, without meaning to. Fall and winter weather is generally fun. =)

I was looking at a box of Q-tips for some reason, and guess what suddenly came to mind? Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin. Ah, the strange little things I remember from elementary school...^_^

Happy Birthday Dorothy! ^_^
We have a new friend at church, hee hee! An Australian by the name of Graham. I don't know if I spelled it right, but I can remember his name because...well...Graham Crackers, right? Heh heh! ^_^ Another person in the career group now!
The Career part of CCF is starting to grow, slowly. But it's growing. So far, consistent regulars would be me and Kathleen. My bro...uh, he's in limbo, hee hee, as he's still at Cal Poly. =)The rest are still in college. The rest of the career potentials are too busy to come to fellowship or hang out with us. Ralm has been coming a bit more, which is cool, cuz we like him, heh heh. =)
Our posse from the 9-0-9 watched Matrix Revolutions to celebrate Mello's bday - it was funny, at the ticket line, I bought two tickets for me and Vanessa...then I got a call from my bro, and before I got my ticket in hand, I asked for 10 more...and then I got another call, and had to buy another one...and then another call, to buy more...either way, I kept asking for more tickets and charging it on my credit card all in a few minutes...I felt bad for the confused sales clerk. =)
I liked the movie! I don't know why it got such bad reviews. The action was pretty much nonstop, and good. =) The storyline was there and made sense. I wouldn't say it was the BEST thing ever, but it wasn't the least BAD. Better than the second one anyways. Or maybe I just say that because I didn't like that one scene in the second one, ha ha...
Afterwards, we ate at China Star. =)
A day off tomorrow! Woo hoo! ^_^ My parents already have errands for me to do down at the 99 Ranch Market, heh heh...!

11.09.03, Sunday:

[09:00am] It was too cloudy to see the lunar eclipse last night...not that I was there watching...I was eating dinner and missed it completely, hee hee...

Unspeakable joy exists in my heart! Last night, I realized that three of the people I've been praying for (literally, for years...!), to see, acknowledge, and accept His love...well, they're not all there yet, but I've seen God slowly working in their hearts, and yeah...it's just awesome...and these three are three really good friends of mine. =)
I got to eat lunch with Giang yesterday! Yay! =) I haven't seen that girlie in ages! We did some photo altering last night, ha ha ha...
The new Best Buy is open by our house. Ooo...! ^_^ It's down where the new Target, World Market (that has that wok chair I like!), Petco, Marshall's, Chili's, Macaroni Grill, and Sportmart is at. Or in other words, where the Kohl's is at by my house. Crazy developers. Now if they put in a bookstore, Juice-It-Up, Diedrich's, and Daphne's Greek Cafe...Muah ha ha...

11.08.03, Saturday:

[06:20am] Hee hee...got up and couldn't get back to sleep...no one was up on AIM, except for Frank, who is up on irregular hours, so we got to chat for a wee bit, hee hee. =) I've been listening to music I got on iTunes. I got three songs - one by Outkast (The Way You Move), the Beyond the Sea song I was looking for (it's the song for the Finding Nemo credits, hee hee), and that old classic, The Way You Look Tonight. =) I feel so...legal...ha ha...^_^

My cough is not really a factor anymore. If anything, it's my crazy runny nose and slightly stuffed sinus cavities. =Þ

I've been reading news. =)

Possible Ebola Outbreak...time to read excerpts from Hot Zone to my students again! ^_^
Drisophila Melanogaster once again makes a mark in scientific history!
I woke up to see a lovely full moon. And guess what? Lunar Eclipse tonight! ^_^ This one happens to include the Leonid Meteor Showers on Nov. 19th. =)
Chess Master Kasparov will face off with another machine...!
Speaking of iTunes...there's now Napster that offers music online legally too, heh heh...
I saw a model of these mudskippers in a Chicago museum. I'd like to see one for reals, because when I was little, I didn't think they really existed, even if it was in my book of animals. =)

11.07.03, Friday:

[07:17pm] Man, I feel like I did nothing all day today, hee hee...I just slept, a LOT. And blowed my nose a lot too - my trash can is just one big fluffy mass of sticky tissue paper, hee hee...^_^ I woke up without a voice, and thought that I'd be okay by the time I get to school. In the car, I was getting more flushed, was coughing more, and hocked a few loogies, hee hee...by the time I got on campus, I realized I wouldn't make it through the entire day, so I called in a sub and set up my classroom.

I came home, and slept. I woke up for a few hours, watched some I Love Lucy, chatted a bit on AIM, ate lunch, and then went back to sleep. I got up, read a bit, and the next thing you know, I'm back asleep...till now! I just ate a yummy dinner. =) Not a very productive day...but I do feel a bit better, with less coughing, less flushy headaches, and maaaybe just a little bit less snot, heh heh. =) I think I'll shower now and then do some work. =)

11.06.03, Thursday:

[07:08pm] Oy...*cough*...I don't like this developing sickness...heh heh...though I AM happy about the weather, still. ^_^

Happy Birthday to Melody!!! Yay Mello! ^_^
Sunrise and Sunset were beeeautiful today! The horizon and sky were painted with this hazy- orange/lavender/fuchsia color. ^_^
I wasn't deathly sick, so I got to teach today and start our presentations. We're doing commercials for our elements, and the kids have come up with some really creative ones! ^_^
I had two helpers after school today help me grade journals. Yes! 3 hours worth of work taken care of in one hour...! ^_^ I have only a bit to grade tonight...
...which means I can sleep early! ^_^
Rain predicted for tomorrow!
Friday is tomorrow! ^_^
I'm looking for the Robbie Williams song, Beyond the Sea. I can't find it on iTunes - hey, I was actually going to legally purchase it, hee hee...only I can't find it...
Woah! Pirates of the Caribbean will be out on DVD in December! Another excellent movie! =)
I'm going to go wash my hair now and I shall be clean...! ^_^

11.05.03, Wednesday:

[08:55pm] It feels like so many days has gone by...and yet it's only Wednesday??? Heh heh...maybe it's cuz I'm starting to get sick. =( I started coughing a bit yesterday, and woke up today feeling a bit groggy...during the staff meeting, I felt flushed. Funny thing was, Franks had whatever I had too - he was feeling flushed and we were both groggy. =P I'm feeling a bit better now, but I'm being extra watchful of my throat, drinking warm liquids, whether it be the honey water this morning, or the funky kumquat stuff my mom made me, heh heh...and of course, orange juice. =) Other teachers have been getting this cough thing, as have students. I don't want to be sick! >_<

I did get Finding Nemo, and found out later that Walmart sells it for a few cents cheaper, so if you still are out to get it, check out Walmart! ^_^

Our principal is back to being the way he was last year, quite confirmed from other teachers' comments about his recent behavior/mood, and his response to our Science department really wanting to focus back on SCIENCE and not Language Arts, for our second results cycle. =Þ Why would he have our department meetfor an hour, when he already knows exactly what he wants us to do? Like he didn't like our plans, and told us exactly what he wanted us to do instead. Hmm. I know L.A. and Math are important. But our department supports all the other curriculums like mad, doing the best job we can, and by maintaining the most positive attitude possible...while the science standards get pushed into the backburner without so much as a sad thought by anyone, other than us and those teachers that know science skills matter too. Our dictator also told us basically that it was "okay to put aside science standards to teach language arts standards", and to take down irrelevant posters in our classroom - in other words, posters that DON'T deal with the writing. Even little things like posters DO matter, cuz if I was sitting in a classroom for an hour a day, chances are, I'd have looked around from time to time and read the walls a bit. I'd get nothing out of the same ol' posters of four squares, transitional words, and rubrics - I'd learn more things by seeing neat looking posters that have attractive pictures and cool information on it. Sigh.

I'm tenured this year, hee hee...if he doesn't like how I'm doing things, I'm going to welcome him into my 5th period to teach a lesson. I guess it's kinda like a dare, but professionally speaking, right? =) I doubt he'd last a few minutes with this group of kids who really don't care what his title is. I mean, dude, the guy only taught for three years, and then got out of it, because most likely, that's not what he wanted to do. That means, by the end of this year, I'd have taught just as much, if not more than him, since he taught smaller classes then too, and not classes packed with 35. It's interesting - there's a funny saying that most administrators (not all! There are good exceptions out there!) are those that sucked as teachers...and then get a job to tell teachers what to do. Weird cycle. =Þ

Okay, I've vented. =) Real people need to vent every now then, just to get it out, right? It's not like I'm personally angry at him. I'm just venting - I understand the politics of the role he plays, but at the same time, most administrators are removed from the students of their school, and as a result, detached from the whole day-to-day, REAL (not theoretical!) teaching and learning that go on in the classroom and that real relationship that is formed between the teacher, student, and classroom.

11.03.03, Monday:

[09:02pm] For our weekly Cool Science of the Week assignment, one of the questions my students have to answer is "Why is this important for the future?". I'm such a sucker. (Not that I usually am not one, heh heh...) One kid put down "This is important for my future because I want to be a science teacher like Ms. Lau." Hee hee...^_^

[06:33pm] Finding Nemo is coming out tomorrow! ^_^ The cheapest place I've found it for, so far, is at Target. Target, I'm coming to you tomorrow! ^_^ Oh yeah. I also need to go to Walmart to pick up my contacts. =)

Monkeys terrorizing India!
Girls beat down some freak who exposes himself. Go girls! =)
Dad goes crazy after his son claims he didn't get his treats on Halloween night. (How supportive of a parent do you have to be?) =Þ

I guess that wouldn't really be a thankful list, hee hee...but oh...I had another Ah-ha-Wow-I'm-really-getting-better-at-this-teaching-gig moment today. Awesome feeling. ^_^ We talked about fire today - perfect, as we're talking about chemical reactions, and with the fires going on last weekend. I KNOW kids learned. THAT'S what makes me feel so good! ^_^

11.02.03, Sunday:

[10:58pm] I got tricked by this!

11.01.03, Saturday:

[10:00pm] Happy Birthday to my Auntie Rosa! ^_^ We celebrated with a hot pot dinner, heh heh...cooler weather tends to lead to hot pots. =) No giant fishballs, but there were those enoki mushrooms and lamb today. =)

I love this weather! Again. =) It's so nice and fresh when it's cooler! ^_^ Soon, it will be time to break out the beanies! Heh heh...
Sniper helped me put a new grip on my tennis racket...yay! ^_^
He also gave me one of those pressureless tennis balls! Supposedly, they'll never go flat! ^_^ Not good for full on tennis games, but good for rallies and ball machines. Fun fun! I need to play more tennis!
Mello is interning at Hoag Memorial! Neato - I remember when I was there for the Open Airways program with American Lung, heh heh...it's a niiiiice hospital indeed! I'm glad she got the internship - yay Mello!!! ^_^
November is a short month - there's Veteran's Day Holiday, Thanksgiving Holiday, and it's only got 30 days! Hey, there were no breaks for October, heh heh...so November looks really good. =) And then December is coming up after this. Yay!
I'm tingly. Quite so! =)

10.31.03, Friday:

[07:50pm] Just a short few notes here...^_^

Betacam is up! See link at right! Sometimes, it won't be my fish, but my bro and I, ha ha ha...^_^ You'll need to resize it though...I don't know how to set up the webpage to open up to the right size for you, hee hee...
Happy Birthday to Femi! 25 yesterday! Hee hee...the snail has caught up to the mouse! ^_^
The weather today is AWESOME! ^_^
Aw...I read this on the forums today, about Koko the Gorilla and her kitten...! =(
Where are all the trick-or-treaters? Halloween today was fun at school - crazy costumes can lend for a day of all kinds of excitement and fun. =)
I got this voice mail on my phone today - it ended with a tiny, unexpected surprise that was, well, wow, nice. =) Did I hear what I think I heard??? (I listened to it three times to be certain, heh heh, buuuuuut maybe I still misheard it? ^_^)

10.29.03, Wednesday:

[09:45pm] Ack! I woke up this morning, and found bites down my back! SEVEN of them! Errrggghhh...I don't like insect bites...why bite me so many times? Once is not enough? Sigh. I also have found a resurgence of those little ants in my bathroom again. I thought I had destroyed them all a while back. Sigh. Again. >_< Last night, I banged my knee on a cabinet door...I now have a bruise right below my right kneecap. It makes my knee feel really weak. =( The ashes and hazy sky made me lethargic today too.

Hee hee...I feel like an old lady, like those that are always complaining about their health, hee hee...but there are good things too! ^_^

Neil is an official reader! Heh heh. Just confirming it, so that Gilbert doesn't forget about him. Again. ^_^ I was going to include Calvin too, but Gilbert already acknowledges Calvin's existence. Calvin, you're cool too! ^_^ Or as we like to say, sexy, because of your sexy hairstyle, hee hee. =)
Neil also taught me something today. SPAM comes from Salted Pork and Ham. I learn something new everyday, and this is one of today's tidbits. =)
The sun was weird yesterday, mostly because of all the fires going on around here, leaving smoke to cover to sky. It was a bright orange red, and I could see some sunspots on it!!!
I got to ride on a push cart today! Franks and I were moving workbooks to our classroom - on the way back, I jumped up on the cart and was given a ride back to the library. We saw our principal nearby, so I promptly jumped off...^_^
Though ashes still fall from the sky, it's not AS bad today. Though the kids still shouldn't be outside, if I had my say. The weather is cooler though, so that's a nice change. =)
I got ink for my printer today!
I need to find my Scrabble game, hee hee...
We're done with our first essay for the trimester, at school. Woo hoo! ^_^ You may just think it's one essay...but yeah...if you've heard me talk about it, you'd know why I'm so happy...I can full on teach science now, ha ha...

Oh! The fires have spread out to places like Silverwood Lake out in the San Berdoo Forests, where our church used to camp out at (and where I almost died falling off that hammock, hee hee...okay, I'm exaggerating...but I still don't know what it did to my back or kidneys, possibly, right?), and it's also posed threats for Pine Valley, where our youth summer camp is at every year. Oy. We should remember to pray for those whose lives have been affected by this fire...

I can't believe it's 9:40pm (I had blogged earlier, but not posted it till now). I was sitting in front of the TV (it was off!) after Smallville for 40 minutes, lesson planning? Hee hee...but I got a new idea for tomorrow's 7th grade lesson...like I changed my original plans to something better and more fun. =) We're starting the cell cycle...fun fun! ^_^

10.27.03, Monday:

[09:00pm] An awesome weekend! ^_^ Haven't been on a plane in years...the rumble, tumble and roar of the engines is more exciting in a small plane than a big one, hee hee...^_^ Anyways...get ready for a long post! ^_^

Chicago is neat! Many buildings are those old, brick-style high rises and fun, revolving doors everywhere! Oh, and you can take the Metra and buses to any place you want to go to! Kinda like HK, heh heh...but the buildings seem fancier.

We arrived in Chicago a bit before 7am, and we rode the Metra (passing by a place called Harlem, that would seem to boast of what all the other Harlems are like...hee hee...oy...) to downtown Chicago. Again, where all those revolving doors were at, hee hee...^_^

Alice and David, Eric's homies, took us to a tasty brunch at this little place called Toast. It was yummy! We had this giant french bread that was stuffed with gooey mascarpone and topped with cinnamon-y and sugary granola (oats?), powdered sugar, and fruits galore! With syrup, of course! ^_^ Oh, it had some yogurt on it too - I didn't find the yogurt too appealing, and the waitresses weren't really nice, it seemed, but the food was extra tasty. =)

The Lincoln Park Zoo (free admissions, so if any of you are ever there, you must go!) is full of happy looking animals! Though still confined in a space smaller than nature would provide, most of them appeared rather comfortable in their estates. The littlest one on the right though, isn't real. =)

There were all these Halloween festivities going on too, with candy being given away all over the place, a parade, and even Secretary of State Jesse White's Tumbling Team, which was very cool, as they jumped and tumbled tall enough for me to see, even when I was at the back, hee hee. I had no idea who Jesse White was. I still don't know too much, other than, well, Secretary of State. =)

Then we had the BEST pizza I've ever had in my entire lifetime, at Gino's East, hee hee...We had this deep dish pizza that was stuffed on the inside with a giant sausage patty. You know those sausage and egg McMuffins at McDonald's? It's like a sausage patty like that - but the size of the whole pizza! Heh heh...so tasty...!!! ^_^

After that, we were off to the wedding. It was a blend of a Christian and Jewish wedding, and really nice. The reception was full of good, old-school music! ^_^ Huy and Lan picked us up at the reception (where I got to walk under one of those fancy walkway canopies, hee hee!), took us to get my things, and off I went to Hillsdale to hang out with my dear friends in a night of conversation and Scrabble! ^_^ Huy is still full of Huy-goodness, and it was neat to be able to hang out with them again. =) The next day, he brought me back to David and Alice's, where we waited until Alice and Eric finally got out of that scary American Girl Store, heh heh...=)

Eric and I walked the streets of Chicago, finding the Metra to take us to the very neat Field Museum, which is one of the neatest museums I've seen in a while. =) It's where Sue, the T.Rex that has the most complete skeleton as of now, is found. We were escorted during most of the trip by a ton of other people heading in the same general direction, except that they were going to some Bears football game at Soldier Field. Football. Eh. ^_^

We also visited the Planetarium afterwards, where we watched a neat show about culture and astronomy, and played with the exhibitions inside there. We had some hot dogs for a late lunch, went around the Magnificent Mile, and then rested before we went off to O'Hare! Our flight was delayed because of all these fires in SoCal - when we finally got back, we could see the fires below, in patches here and there - it was rather scary! I came home hoping to sleep, and found instead a bunch of ashes all over my bathroom, because the Santa Ana Winds had blown it in, and a little bit in my room. Fortunately, my parents closed that off before it was too late, or else I'd have slept in ashes last night. >_< These fires are crazy...someone at church was not allowed back in his house, and I've heard stories at school already of so-and-so's friend/relative who were forced to evacuate. The air is bad, full of smoke and ashes, and kids were coughing and having a difficult time with it today. One kid had thrown up even, and had to be taken home in the middle of the day, and after school, he was still having a bunch of problems.

I also picked up a copy of Discover while I was at the airport. Ooo. A new science magazine that I like, hee hee...I'm hooked already...! ^_^ But not for now...I still have a ton of essays to grade. I've done some. But I have more to go onto...plus I want to shower and sleep comfortably in a timely manner. =) Peace out fo' now! ^_^

10.24.03, Friday:

[04:55pm] Thankful bullets, hee hee... ^_^

Happy Happy Birthday to Giang!!! ^_^ Her midterms are over too - yay!!! ^_^
Solar Geomagnetic Storm today. Supposedly, you could see the Northern Lights from as south as Illinois! Too bad I missed it (I don't know if anyone saw it though). I don't know if this is something to be thankful for. But oh well. =)
Chicago Chicago Chicago! ^_^
Spring Forward-ed...and now it's Fall Back! Daylight Savings ends this weekend! More sleep! ^_^
The girls asked me to cheerlead-advise again. I agreed for one day only. Let's see how this goes...heh heh...^_^
A certain boy in my classroom has shown some improvements in wanting to do well again. I can't go into details, really...but let's just say he comes to school hating it all the time, and turning in papers to me that says "I hate science" or "This sucks" on it. Instead, I got a good introduction and body paragraph from him today - he wanted to do well! This was AFTER I held him after school a few days ago and yelled the crap out of him, basically. Wow. It's another instance where, when I show tough-love, that it works. This is the 3rd time - 2 of them this year already, one during my first year. I hope it lasts - him putting in true effort, that is. He's worth it, and I hope he realizes it...!
Prayer works. =)

10.22.03, Wednesday:

[06:15pm] Ack! I'm on the straight and narrow now...ha ha...^_^ It's not bad...it's got online radio too, heh heh...I haven't purchased anything just yet. I'm still playing with it. But I suppose it helps with staying legit, right? ^_^

[05:10pm] Hee hee...I was going to do another thankful list, but if these were bullet points, they'd be majorly long, so I'm just going with paragraphs, heh heh...^_^

Some of the 7th grade girls asked me to be their cheerleading advisor! What an honor! I have no idea what to do, but they say they already know, but need a name and a person to just be there. However...I'm usually too busy after school, as there are people showing up here and there for help or meetings. So I told them to ask around a bit first; if they can't get anyone else, then I'll seriously consider it. I'm not a cheerleading person anyways, ha ha...but for these girls in my class? I'd be honored! ^_^

Two former students visited me today - Miguel and Daniel, two kids that always got in trouble. It's nice to know that they seem to have a better plan of what they want to do now, such as not being involved with gangs anymore or what not. They brought their boa pythons too, hee hee...they're cool! I want a snake one day too, ha ha...I know for SURE I can't get one now. I already have a fish! ^_^ And my mom is quite terrified of snakes, as I remember from when we had a little snake in the garage a long time ago. I had never seen her so scared!

My mom's been making me yummy sandwiches for lunch, just the way I like it...! ^_^ Like today, it was with a kaiser roll...filled with roast beef, mayo, sweet relish, provolone cheese, leafy lettuce...mmm...! ^_^ I love fresh roll sandwiches!!!

It was Crazy Day today at school. I wanted to put my hair through giant boba straws, hee hee...only I didn't wake up early enough to do it. I think last year, I wanted to do the same thing too, and it was the same reason why I didn't do it. =Þ

My 6th period learned about Carbohydrates, Proteins and Lipids during the past few days - they can now identify, pretty well, what kind of foods would have what. Not bad! ^_^ I also took the chance to talk about the Atkins/Sugar-Buster diets (It's bad! heh heh, cuz carbs are good for you, short term and long term!), good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, and how they really shouldn't even THINK about dieting at their age because they're at a growing point (unless their doctors really advise them to, of course). I love nutrition stuff, muah ha ha...At the end of class, I gave them chocolate chip cookies - I know, unhealthy, one would say, but I was also stressing that hey, it's all about portion. A cookie? Tasty goodness for you. 10 cookies? Not so good. We also talked about some basics of what was in it - Carbs (eg flour, etc), Lipids (chocolate chips, cocoa butter, etc), and Proteins (eggs). They ate and learned. ^_^

10.20.03, Monday:

[06:15pm] Ack! Somehow Jason, you've contagious-ized me, even from up north, heh heh...cuz...check this out!

Those mammoth fishballs we had on Saturday! ^_^ They started out regular sized (see the small fish/mushroom ones?), but expanded and soaked up all the spicy goodness from the soup, hee hee...^_^
I got my APLE Payment Notification today! They paid off $4000 for me from my school loans. Woo hoo! ^_^
Thought that was awesome? God paid off 100% of my debts - even more awesome! ^_^
Not falling on my blades again. (btw - now I know why skaters stick their butts out...!) Yet. =)
Lawrence's sermon yesterday on Peace. It was good! ^_^
Chicago this weekend - Hanging out with Eric and getting to see Huy again! ^_^ Going on a plane!!! ^_^
Ants seem to be gone...for now...!
Though it's still karazy hot out here in the IE, it's cooled down...maybe by like 1 degrees, hee hee...^_^
I'm done with grading for today, despite having kids in my classroom after school! ^_^
Oceanspray White Cranberry Juice...complete goodness...
My awesome family, my awesome friends and all you cool people out there! ^_^

10.19.03, Sunday:

[06:30pm] Don't the fins of a fish ever get tired? Heh heh...^_^

CCF got cancelled today...with midterms going on this week, the only people that could have made it were my bro and Shelton (who are teaching), Gilbert, and I. Gilbert's off selling his cutco knives, hee hee, so basically, we cancelled it. By the way...if anyone wants really nice knives and can lay down the bucks for it, let me know, and I'll him know, heh heh...

There's a movie night celebrating Ros's bday tonight...I was debating on whether or not to go when I found out CCF was cancelled. It'd be cool to go play, but it's been a long weekend, with school things, church things, ants, house things, and some getting ready for this coming weekend. So I think I will just kick it here at home tonight, heh heh...eat dinner with my family, do a bit of lesson planning ahead of time for next week, and watch Alias. Things like that. ^_^ But I still wish Ros the bestest, heh heh...=)

There's also another bday coming up this week...Giang's is on this Friday! ^_^ Jason L's this Friday too, and then Saturday is Becky's, and Sunday is Amy's! ^_^

[12:45am] Sunday already? The weekend is zipping by! I went to David's tonight (last night?), where had a yuuuummy hot pot. There were so many balls - fishballs, shrimpballs, cuttlefish balls, some fish and mushroom balls...and there were enoki mushrooms, spicy hot pot sauce, tofu...all that good stuff. There was shrimp, fish, beef, potatoes, radishes, napa lettuce, and all that good stuff too. Mmm...we feasted on ice cream as a dessert afterwards, while watching Running Out of Time. ^_^ Lau Ching Wan always picks good action films to star in. He's ALMOST as good as Jet Li, but well...nobody gets close to Jet Li in my book! Hee hee...^_^

It was a good time where Kathleen, David, my bro and I got to sit back, chillax, and chat about everything. From my bro's misconception (that he still believes in) that adult koalas are three feet tall (hee hee...Kathleen and I kept envisioning a large, almost human sized koala running with it's butt and tail wiggling, towards a tree and grabbing onto a tree trunk, heh heh...), to....who knows what? I'm still picturing that 3 feet tall koala bear, hee hee...^_^

So here are some facts on those "bears" out there in Australia...^_^ (Woah! I guess they CAN be almost 3 feet...they're THAT big?!?)

10.18.03, Saturday:

[04:55pm] Kids these days, hee hee hee...I remember these games. And Tetris was addicting. I used to play it in junior high, when I borrowed my friend's Gameboy for the weekend, heh heh. =)

10.17.03, Friday:

[09:35pm] Besides getting rid of ants and grading, tonight I'm also debating possible names for my beta fish. ^_^ I'd like a name that fits it feisty attitude. ^_^

1) Zako - in honor of those SD Gundam Zakos, hee hee...

2) Shishiwakamaru - fun name to say. Besides a name meaning "early/young death" for samurais to be, it's also translated into "youthful lion", with an emphasis on its deadliness...which would fit my carnivorous little fish. ^_^ Did I tell you that when it eats, I can hear it chomping on its food?

3) Gimli - my fish is reddish, like LOTR's dwarf with the red beard. And it's got a personality to match!

4) Flash - he's a quick fish, hee hee!

5) Thor - random Viking name.

6) Rufus - my bro randomly chose another possible name.

7) Captain Jean Luc Picard, or Worf. Both are cool, ha ha ha...^_^ Maybe I will get more fish and have a whole Star Fleet! Muah ha ha...^_^ It is too bad my fish cannot roar like Worf...=)

So far, I kinda like the long one, Shishiwakamaru, hee hee...one can translate it to cantonese for ease on my mom's tongue as "see-zee-zae", as "little lion", right? And it would fit him well. Any thoughts? Email or post it in the tagboard (for my three official readers, hee hee)! ^_^

As for school, there's this one kid that I'm sure comes to school high. He's fairly new, but already, he's gotten referrals and gotten into trouble everywhere. Today, we had the drug dogs come to school, to kick off Red Ribbon Week for next week - the dogs sniffed him out. They couldn't find anything on him, but later on in my class, he lit his lighter (he had it hidden in his socks). As it turns out, he already had two lighters taken away from him. He's only been here 2 weeks...and he was gone most of this week. =P I've tried talking to him, but he's all giggly most of the time (again, why I think he's high, as most normal kids realize seriousness when it happens). The same thing is going on with other teachers too.

Did I mention that I laid the smackdown on Monday, in class...in Spanish??? ^_^ One kid wasn't doing his work, after he was already in trouble with the sub on Friday. I had the class write me a statement at the start of class, where noone was allowed to talk, etc...He decided he'd goof off, or just not do it...and in 10 minutes time, he had 3 words (one of them was "a", so that doesn't really count). After telling him many times to get his work done, and after coming by many times and seeing nothing added to his paper, I called home in class. His parents only spoke Spanish, so I spoke in Spanish to them. The students were like, NO WAY! She speaks Spanish!!!! Yikes! Hee hee...^_^

I finished Loser tonight. It's a really good book! Jerry Spinelli is a good author, heh heh...^_^

10.16.03, Thursday:

[09:40pm] I jump into bed after my shower, hoping to finally do some reading, now that I'm done with my work early. To my dismay, what did I find? ANTS! They were juuuust starting to travel onto my pillow - enough to freak me out, have me run out, grab the vacuum cleaner and start sucking them all away in a whirling vortex, sending them into a black abyss immediately. There's no food in my room at all...they've already violated my bathroom and decided to leave after I gave them a few shots of Windex...and they've already invaded the pantry. My parents massacred them with ant spray after we found out they were all over our rice grains. Never attack a true Asian's stock of rice! ^_^

The weather has been making these critters insane...I wonder if my carnivorous little beta fish (No name yet...I've been calling it "fishie" and "beta" for now) would eat ants, hee hee hee...^_^ My fish continues to wiggle and follow me when I come near it and show that I'm giving it some attention, hee hee. I wonder if it has a longer memory span than a goldfish? I learned the strange little fact back at UCI that they only had a memory span of 3 seconds (no wonder you can overfeed them!)...but I'm sure betas are smarter...right? ^_^

You know when you drive, and how it's kinda automatic? It's strange. I was driving to work today (by the way...Inland Empire traffic has increased quite a bit...if I leave after 7:05, I'm stuck in traffic out east!) and realized how detached the driving experience is, hee hee. Like, you may have your radio on, you may be listening to the same songs that others are listening to, you may even be listening to the world news...and yet, in your car, as you drive off to work (and if you don't carpool, hee hee), it's like you're in your own little bubble world. You don't notice other cars too much unless you have to - like if something out of the the ordinary happens and disrupts the steady flow of traffic you are in, no matter at what speed it is, or if you have to change lanes. I know for me, I'm not constantly watching the other cars, as they tell us in driver's ed to do. I'm not staring at the road only either though - it's just, well, automatic-like. In a way, it's like many of our lives - it seems that people are always so detached from others, until they have to be aware of others. [Or maybe not our lives - maybe it's just this "American culture", hee hee, cuz I know that in the Cantonese style of things, there's no privacy, heh heh, as I can attest to by seeing my mom in action. =)] And in a way, though sad, it applies to many people and their relationship with Christ. It's funny, cuz sometimes, we might see a car make a dangerous move, and we can't really do anything to warn the other person - if we're quick enough, we might honk, though what that often does is only allow us to vent our frustration or worry, instead of really doing anything for the other person or car. Sometimes we see our friends make decisions we don't think are the best, and likewise, others see us doing the same thing. Anyways. It doesn't necessarily apply to any of us, all of the time, but I think it applies to all of us, some of the times. Does that make any sense at all? Hee hee...if not, blame the recent ant trauma. =)

I'm still wondering where I will sleep. I do despite insect bites. And insects like to bite me. >_<

10.15.03, Wednesday:

[09:15pm] Dang, I missed Smallville again. I thought it was on at 9pm. That's when it ended. =Þ

[07:50pm] Here's a riddle...muah ha ha...can anyone figure it out, without googling it?

When set loose
I fly away,
Never so cursed
As when I go astray.

10.13.03, Monday:

[07:40pm] So Eric's put up with me and my silly ways for a whole year now! Not bad! ^_^

I got me a beta fish today, hee hee...I was going to get a blue one, but everyone seems to have it...and then I saw this feisty maroon one...ah yes...I decided to get it after spending an hour driving to pet shops throughout Corona/Riverside, looking for Elodea. For some reason, they were all out, and I don't know why...everyone of them would say they'd get some more tomorrow or Wednesday. Finally, one said they had some - but I called this one, as I wasn't going to drive BACK to Riverside to get it. I can get it during conference or lunch tomorrow, as it's by my school, hee hee...^_^ So yeah...in the process of driving all over the place, I decided to get me a fish. I DID see some cool saltwater fish that were neat...a Domino Damsel, those Nemo Clownfish, and Black Neon Damsels.

Anyways, I haven't named it yet. I should give it a tough name, hee hee...^_^ I was thinking Brutus, for Brutus Maximus, heh heh...my dad suggested Terminator 4...any ideas? ^_^

It DOES come wiggle towards me whenever I stick my face by the little plastic container it's in. Either it's getting to know me, hee hee, or it's just waiting for me to feed it again. ^_^

10.12.03, Sunday:

[04:27pm] I want to take a nap...sigh...but nope...I'm up doing schoolwork...almost done...just need to figure out one more day's lesson for the 7th graders, hee hee...^_^

I've discovered one of my dad's passions, hee hee...it's these Zebra pens. He truly likes them, and he gave me one today! Wow! ^_^

Yesterday, CCF came over for a study session. It was neat, as everyone seemed to have their laptops with wireless internet, heh heh...and once my bro picked up the router and fixed everything, everyone had access to a computer. It felt almost like the ILC at the UCI SciLi, back in the days, except we had snacks and could talk to each other whenever we wanted, and would get up and move around or throw things at each other to keeps us entertained. I think it was more like me and Melody kept throwing random things down to David, in attempts to knock him out. Because he was making comments about girls being useless or something. Hee hee...^_^

I also got a Swedish friend from Lambert - it's a Moose, with Ikea colors splashed on its sweater! Yay Sweden! and Thanks to Lambert! ^_^

10.11.03, Saturday:

[10:12am] I've been driving all over a good portion of SoCal the past few days, hee hee...Thursday night, while heading to Tako's, a bunch of the freeway on-ramps in Corona were closed for some reason, so I had to drive down to the next one, and so forth, until I found an open one, hee hee...I spent a whole 30 minutes trying to get ON the freeway! When I was leaving the Convention on Friday, I got lost, hee hee...the whole Ocean Blvd./Shoreline thing in LB threw me on a long detour to get on the 710/405. And then after dinner, I didn't even see the 91 freeway, and ended up taking the 605 all the way up to the 210, making a huge loop to get home! Needless to say, when I got back in Corona, the first thing I did was feed my car! ^_^

Despite that, I had a good time! ^_^ The Convention didn't offer that many captivating or useful workshops, so during the hour of a single workshop, I would visit 2 or 3...stepping in until I realized I wasn't getting anything out of it, and that I wouldn't likely later on either. There was only one workshop later in the day where I stayed the entire time at, on open-ended labs. But the vendors and exhibits were cool, and I got two large bags of free stuff for school! ^_^ I also found Loose in the Lab, a company who has neat science stuff out, including books that I'd been looking all over for. =)

The best part would have to be the Keynote Speaker - it was absolutely amazing! The speaker was Jane Goodall, the famous lady would works with chimpanzees out in Africa! ^_^ She's like 70 years old, and right now, is the Ambassador of Peace for...oh drats...I forgot the name of this very important, world known organization, at this moment. Hee hee...but anyways, she had a book signing afterwards - I didn't get a chance to get her signature, though I was in line to buy the book...until I realized that people would be standing there for close to 2 hours just to pay for the book, and another hour and a half to just have her sign in...when I should be going to the workshops during that time. I'll get her book another day though - Reason for Hope. If it's anything like how she spoke (and she's rather funny too!), it'd be an awesome read! ^_^

After the convention, I went to the Long Beach Town Center, and met up with Ros and Takako to eat dinner and celebrate Ros's bday! ^_^ We had dinner at Lucille's Smokehouse...mmmmm...I had some yuuuummy baby backed ribs! ^_^ And some yummy vanilla cream and orange cream soda! ^_^ I saved the bottles, but decided to throw them away when I got home - I have too much of these trinkets in my loft, hee hee...^_^ My loft is also reorganized, again.

I have no internet access. While my mom and bro were moving things around in the loft, it somehow broke the router - there was smoke coming out of it, according to my bro, hee hee...but I'm posting anyways. Some people are coming over today to do a study session. I'm going to need more than just one study session...I have too much work already, having done nothing yesterday nor the night before, and I've not even started. Oy...>_< And I still want to wash my car...!

10.07.03, Wednesday:

[06:25pm] Woah! Arnold won for governor? I had no idea! I'm so out of the loop, oy...>_< What about the propositions? Did they pass? I hope not!

Ow, my ear! There's this kid yelling outside, maniacally, to a friend that he needs to ride his bike or something all the way down the street. I'm not sure what he means, or why he's saying it, but he's been yelling it for quite some time, hee hee...^_^

Long Beach on Friday! Woo hoo! ^_^ Science Teacher Conference...free goods, neat ideas to pick up, and all that good stuff. Nerdy fun for me! ^_^

Next week, I'm going to the pet store to get me some Anarchis leaves. They're Elodea - you can see the chloroplasts really well, and possibly even the vacuole, if you're good with the microscope. ^_^ I'm excited, cuz it's a science lab. And not writing another essay. *sigh*

My department head, who has been teaching for probably longer than I've been alive, says that all she does is grade papers, when she's home and such. An average of about 3 hours per night. Is this in store for my future too? I don't mind when I'm being productive and know that doing something worthwhile - and grading is usually worthwhile, despite the time used to do it. I like to keep busy; doing nothing would quickly bore me, and I rarely let myself be, well, task-less. But I don't want my LIFE to be taken over by grading - there are other important things too, so I hope that my future doesn't include it taking over my life. It's an important part of it, yes, but not taking over it is quite important too. That, or I have work ethics that are too strong, hee hee. ^_^ I think that most of the time though, there are days when I will be stuck with lots of work, and then there are days where I won't have THAT much, but I still do have work to do. I actually don't mind that - there has to be SOME adventure allowed somewhere, right? ^_^

10.07.03, Tuesday:

[06:37pm] I am a Professor. I missed two - arg! And they were so simple! Hee hee...what do YOU score on this Chemistry Quiz? ^_^

Oh, and here's that Ice Hotel up in Canada...!

10.06.03, Monday:

[11:13pm] I'm waiting for my hair to get a bit more dryer, hee hee...^_^

I went blading...for like 15 minutes...it was so scary! my bro and I went around the neighborhood. I fell on my butt. I can't stop properly, nor make the brakes work the way it's supposed to, hee hee. I can stop when I run myself into a curb, but that's probably not the best way. Our neighborhood has ups and downs...the down parts are mighty scary, cuz you keep going faster and faster and faster...and before you know it, it's a little frightening cuz you don't know if you can stop! Plus, I'm so tall with these blades on that's it's a little dizzying, hee hee...! I stopped by making myself run into grass, hee hee...but yeah...again...not a good idea...^_^

[06:25pm] As it says on my Away Message..."Crazy Work tonight...leave msg! ^_^"

Journals galore. Change in lesson plans. Meeting early tomorrow morning. I was hoping to blade...ah, oh well...another day...

Oh yeah! We ate at Garden Cafe last night, and then swooped off to the free Jeremy Camp concert in Diamond Bar. We got there a wee late, so we sat in the coffeehouse, watching the event through a projector. It was like watching TV, hee hee...so it was weird to clap and whatever. Besides that, there was good music, some sharing, and the panel of kids asking Jeremy Camp the members of Telecast questions brought up some really good topics for discussion, such as evolution in schools and homosexuality. Homosexuality ain't any special kinda sin. It's just a sin, like everything else - from stealing cookies to lying about something. And just like any person, people who are homosexuals need to be shown God's love and grace just like any of us. I had thought of it as something like that, but I guess I hadn't really thought of it in that way before (or maybe it was just the way the interviewee had said it), so it was mind-opening for me. =) After, we kicked it in the parking lot with Mello and this giant box of donuts she had, hee hee...I have lots of weird pictures from that, hee hee. I'll post them up when I'm not crazy-busy. =P

My dad also taped Alias for me while I was away. Yay Daddy! ^_^

10.05.03, Sunday:

[08:44am] Happy Happy Birthday to Lorie!!! and Happy Happy Birthday to Rosalyn!!! ^_^ Today, 25 years ago, was a good day, to have two awesome people born into it to bless those around them in so many ways! ^_^

10.04.03, Saturday:

[11:36pm] Parasitology was one of my favorite classes back at UCI. It's still useful for me today! Hee hee...like during the Microscope Labs, I'd pick up random slides from our stockroom, and it'd be named like with things like "Ascaris", hee hee...and if I hadn't taken Parasitology, I'd probably never know to this day that it was a roundworm. The same goes for the other slides, from Trichenella and Ancylostoma, to Diphyllobothrium latum! I felt very educated telling my kids what these fancy scientifically named slides really were. ^_^

I had dinner out today! Went to Black Angus with Kathleen, where we met up with Fred and Rosa, James, and some other friends of Fred's. Just getting there was quite an ordeal - let's just say it's a long story involving my bro and my keys and the car alarm! Anyways. I used to think Black Angus was really really good. But you know what? This time, I think I only REALLY enjoyed the Honey Oat bread. I'd go just for that!

[11:20am] Ooo! This is mighty neat - Jason just sent it to me! How To Make Your Own UFO! ^_^

[08:43am] Ooo...check out these cute zoo pictures...Orangutans and Hippos! As for news:

Steal Your Own Car Back!
Why The Cookie Crumbles
Gecko Feet Facts
Chinese People Up in Space! (it's going to happen any day now...!)

To Do List for today: Grade, Grade, Grade // Lesson Plan // Make Handouts, Sub Plans // Clean up the bathroom and loft // Practice Shaolin Kung Fu // Laundry (my stuff and towels from school and the handwash stuff) // Wait for new tiles! IF I finish it all, then I can go to Chinese Fellowship down in Yorba Linda tonight, heh heh, and maybe convince the guys to let me ball with them! ^_^

10.02.03, Thursday:

[09:30pm] Just got back from Back-To-School Night! It went great! ^_^ I never really look forward to it, because I end up staying at school from, well, the morning till 8:30pm, but I always finish happy. =) It was a good day - after school, I met up with a few parents...ran into Justine, a former student...had fried zucchini and a grilled cheese sandwich (at last! ^_^ I've never had one, hee hee. I thought it'd be gooier. Hmm.) for dinner, ran into more former students during the night, which is always nice, and met with parents all night long! At the end, two parents from two different 7th graders that used to have me before The Big Schedule Change came back to me, truly wanting to change their kids back to my classes. They told me things that would swell a teacher's heart with honor - how their kid loved science, would talk about nothing but science, loved the class, caught on my enthusiasm for the class, was learning so much, etc, etc...and how they wanted to move their kids back. Just listening to the parents and kids talk about whatever impact I've made in a short month was like, well, Wow! These parents are like, "We're talking to the counselor about schedule changes tomorrow morning!", and so on...I know it most likely won't happen, as much as I would love to have some of my previous kids back! The schedule's packed as it is, and there already are lots of requests in the office about changes. It's not pride that I'm talking about, but honor. They're like two different things, hee hee. It's just the Wowness of being a teacher who loves what she is doing! ^_^

Tuesday was Juan's last day! =( He was our custodian, or one of them anyways. He was always doing such a good job, and always helpful, especially whenever I stayed late on campus. LD didn't even tell us at the staff meeting that he was leaving (it was budget; he's part-timing at Chemawa and Earheart now), and that our classrooms would only be cleaned out every other day. Custodians deserve every respect and honor that the school can bestow upon them, and LD simply didn't say anything. Oh, but he did kinda brag about how he was "second in place" for the prinicipalship at Ramona HS. Hmm. Interesting, because from what I remember, the staff there didn't like him, and would eat him alive. Maybe I'm being spiteful because he didn't give Juan a rightful goodbye acknowledgement, when he's been faithfully here for quite a while.

Needless to say, I ain't grading anything. Way too late to start the journals...I'll tell my students to turn them in again, hee hee...^_^ I'll just do them this weekend...I mean, what else have I got planned to do, right? Hee hee...j/k...this weekend actually is not as packed. Except for school stuff. =P

10.1.03, Wednesday:

[06:40pm] So tired...I just got home...ate dinner...and here I am...taking a 10 minute break before I get into gear to grade about 50 journals. Oy! And Smallville's tonight. Maybe I'll get to watch it! I doubt I'll have everything graded by then. Eric's right - I need to assign less work! Hee hee hee...he came over yesterday, and spent most of the time grading things for me. Wasn't that so nice? ^_^

Tomorrow's Back to School night...I have nothing prepared for it, really...I spent an hour after school today putting things up on the walls. I was going to stay at school later to grade journals...but I decided to go home instead, where I can take off my contacts, kick it in something comfy, eat (as I was huuungry!), and grade. At least do it in comfort, right?

Hee hee...who is this mysterious "e" posting on the tagboard? That means I have more than 2 readers - I have 3!!! Yay! ^_^

09.30.03, Tuesday:

[05:25am] Up early, to go to school early. Crazy. I know! ^_^

Yahoo News Photos - Happy little crabs! =) This sunrise would be awesome to see, and I wanna try walking in a bubble too! ^_^

09.29.03, Monday:

[05:27pm] I've quite decided that I like teaching 8th graders a thousand times better than 7th graders, heh heh. Like today was the day with the big schedule changes. My new class, the 7th graders...are completely...well...immature...and just so lost...My goodness, they aren't even well versed in the art of raising their hands and such. I suppose I can blame that on whoever their previous teacher was too. By the end of the class period though, most of them understood hand raising, hee hee. Either way...I had a good talk with them about how many of us, students and teachers, were used to the old schedule, and now many of us have to get used to the new schedules and teachers/students. Many understood it, and seem wanting to work through the transition. But the transition! The Transition! Of getting them used to how things are run in my class, or any class...will take a while. My first class of 7th graders took a while, but now they got things down really well. It's like hitting the Restart button for my new class. >_< So yeah. In general, I like 8th graders much more!

I have a lot of grading to do. But on my way home, I realized I left my whole "homework" box sitting on my desk in class. So instead, I'll be doing a bunch of other stuff for school. Either way, I know this is going to be an extremely busy week...with new classes and students, Journal Checks and Back To School Night going on. >_< (again)

I also just realized that Smallville's going to be on Wednesdays now, instead of Tuesdays. Why did WB do that? Aw...I was used to Tuesdays, heh heh...^_^

Disneyland also has a good deal going on, if any of you wants to go! Hee hee...it's a buy a one day pass for one park, and you get admission into the other park for free, if you go within 30 days or something like that. Not bad! I'm not a BIG fan of Disneyland - don't get me wrong, it's nice and all, and I like looking at the interior designs of the park, and it's always fun with the right people - but it IS a good deal for those that frequent the park, heh heh...^_^

09.28.03, Sunday:

[08:11pm] I love the grocery store. I went nuts with the coupons, and stocked up on all kinds of good things to snack on. Soy Crisps. Caramel Apple Chips. Kerns Mango Nectar. Mentos (2 for 1, so my bro got one). Yummy! ^_^

Alias Season Premiere today! Watch it! ^_^

[09:10am] Fun times yesterday! ^_^ Went with Eric down to Pasadena, where they had swing and salsa lessons in the center of a plaza! ^_^ It was like one of those "community bonding" type of events, hee hee...like the big chess game I saw in Seattle - I liked it! ^_^ I got to salsa a little...and hey! I didn't kill anyone this time, or knock anyone over! ^_^ We got to see Tako, Rachel, Stan, Bel, Julie, Will, John, Jeff, and Clara too, heh heh.

Hee hee...then I came home, and my bro and Shelton arrive with super spicy fishballs (mmm! I think I like the chicken better still though) from Boba Cafe...which is just like one of those million kazillion Tapioca Expresses out there. I like spicy. Even if your nose runs like crazy, you feel as if part of your face must be red and splotchy, and your tongue is on fire, it's simply so good! ^_^

I finished the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. It's totally like one of those conspiracy things, hee hee...I need to read it over again, now that I understand it a bit better, and link all these supposedly independent events together! Ack, I shoulda taken notes or something, hee hee hee...^_^

My mom is sick with the cold. =(

Off to RCAC - latas! ^_^

09.27.03, Saturday:

[03:12pm] Happy Happy Birthday to Kate!!! ^_^ I'm gonna call you up sometime soon! ^_^

I've been eating funny today, hee hee...like what did I eat today? Edamame...dumplings...some cranberry cocktail juice...and a tiny bit of banana nut bread my mom made (but I am planning to go back for more of that after I finish my work! ^_^).

So my teaching schedule is all out of whack, and we got like, no notice about it! While LD is out on some leadership meeting, we get this letter to pass out to our students during 6th period - something about us hiring a new teacher because we have too many students enrolled, and that there will be major schedule changes. What a day to send that out - when he's not around to take the questions that would inevitable surround him! Anyways, the next morning, one of the teachers that went to the meeting told me I totally was losing my 5th period...and it was true! My entire 5th is gone, and I'm getting another class of 7th grade science. It wasn't just me affected - another 7th grade teacher is getting another class because one is going to be moved to teach one more period of PE, while another 8th grade teacher loses his elective class and will now be teaching another period of 8th science. There are major changes in the history department too. Anyways, all this will start on Monday. So all day today, besides typing up this and that for my regular classes, I had to modify some old stuff for the new class I'm getting. Either way, there are bound to be schedule changes in my other classes too, so I'm going to school extra early and get things taken care of.

Aw, I'm sad...5th period was getting to be my favorite class too! They were sad too, and we all had our goodbyes at the end of class. They're prepared well to go into any class though. I've taught them well! Heh heh heh! ^_^

Last night, Eric and I went down to Diamond Bar, to Jon's church! We helped his youth group with games and stuff! For some reason, I thought we were doing some type of rummage sale - I was thinking that it'd be odd to have a sale at night, hee hee...! Anyways, if he wears his summer camp shirt more on campus, then my bro will be able to ID him on campus, ha ha ha...maybe my bro will wear his old camp shirts too! ^_^

I need to finish making the Matter Quiz...and then I'm off to play tonight! =)

09.26.03, Friday:

[05:57am] Hee hee...I thought I was done around 11:30 last night...I stayed up a little longer, reading nerdy science experiment books in bed, looking for a lab for next week...neeeerd...and maybe that's why I had wierd dreams. I don't remember them, but they involved lab things, like sitting at a table and working with other people, hee hee...^_^

09.25.03, Thursday:

[05:55pm] Happy (one day belated) Birthday to Jason! ^_^ Happy Birthday to Lauren! ^_^ and Happy (one day early) Birthday to Theo! ^_^

Though yesterday was nice, today...it's back to karazy work...no AIM nor email for me until I'm done with everything! ^_^

09.24.03, Wednesday:

[06:35am] I am so well-rested! ^_^ Yay! How wonderful sleep is! Even if I did have a weird dream - some people fed wolves after I said not to, and when we were leaving, they ran after us, so I got under a table and blockaded myself with chairs. It came after me, and bit my arm, but I held its face down with one of my elbows and gripped its forelimbs with my other hand. I doubt I can do that in real life, hee hee. =) Anyways, I'll entertain with more real stuff here, I guess. =)

So did you know for mad cow disease, it spread because people were mashing cow brains and feeding it to cows? Isn't that some form of cannibalism??? That whole thing brought forth the issue of agricultural terrorism - interesting stuff.

Did you know that the US also seems to have this trend to shoot down all of Africa's strong leaders? Keeping civil unrest over there allows us to exploit it more so...or as Heidi explained to me, using one example about someone named "da Toomba", or something like that. When I have time, I'll look up an article on it. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, but I AM agreeing that politics can be pretty shocking. >_<

Speaking of the zoo earlier this week, we also saw a giant rodent that time at LA Zoo. Maybe it was this crazy thing, hee hee. ^_^ (no, not really...they're all extinct...or maybe not!)

Is this one reason that one student would not eat the ice cream we made in class? Nor chew the bubble gum for the bubble gum lab? At least Oobleck is not edible, which is what we're doing today. She did say she was on some sort of diet. I think a sugar-busters type one though, since she vaguely mentioned sugars. 13 years old...still too young for diets, really. =(

Nutrition goods on the Food Triangle! ^_^

09.23.03, Tuesday:

[06:50pm] Oh yeah! I came home to see my bro watching SD Gundam on Cartoon Network. Ah. I like these "vertically challenged robots". ^_^

[06:12pm] I was setting up the Oobleck lab after school, and realized that spending time after school putting white powder in zip loc bags is probably not the best time to find me, hee hee. I was even wearing my lab coat - in a way, it was lab-like, but others may mistake the many bags to contain something else. Sigh. Where is Nick, my crack dealer? ^_^ j/k =) It was all corn starch, hee hee...

Do you know what two of my biggest, yet most silly, fears are? One, the toilet getting clogged up and flooding, and two, getting lock-jaw (where your jaws get stuck). Do any of you worry about such things??? Hee hee...^_^

09.22.03, Monday:

[08:15pm] Ack! I can read all your msgs Lorie! Hee hee...but you can't read mine...I don't know why...your computer is being very ma-fan...I even tried leaving you a msg on my away msg, but you can't read that either. I'm not using invisible font. ^_^ Aiyaaaa....Hee hee...okay...back to the Oobleck Lab. I'm almost done with the handout! ^_^

09.20.03, Saturday:

[04:30pm] Hilton Champagne Brunch (uh...OJ for me...hee hee...) was full of all kinds of food, heh heh. I've never been to one anyways, so now I can say I've been to one. ^_^ I really liked this one chocolate cake that was filled with this yummy choco-raspberry cream, hee hee...they had good shrimp and asparagus...funny crab filled siu mai's...and liver pate (which I didn't try - I thought you had to take the whole slice and just EAT it. Little did I realize you could spread it on bread, hee hee...). I got to see Judy, My, Robert, and Gina, people I've not really seen in a long time too, so that was neat! =) But oh! Here's a picture to click on! ^_^

YF Rock Climbing pictures from a long time ago are also fiiiiinally uploaded. =)

I saw these Capuchin monkeys at the LA Zoo a while ago, and now they're in an article in SciAm! ^_^ Something bigger in the news: F arewell to Galileo tomorrow!

[08:22am] It's been so tiring this week! So I'm glad I got to wake up today, without an alarm clock demanding that I get up! ^_^ I'm going down to Universal today, to celebrate Lorie's "success in obtaining her dental degree this past June and passing the California board exams for licensure", as the invitation said. Yay Lorie!!! ^_^

Then I'm coming home to do grading. More grading, if I can get to some this morning. =)

09.18.03, Thursday:

[06:48pm] Oh yeah! I wonder how Edwin is faring over on the East Coast, with Hurricane Isabel going on? Hee hee...I heard a corny joke on KNX1070 the other day..."Hurricane Isabel Is-A-Bel-ligerent storm!" Ha ha ha...eh...okay... ^_^

[05:10pm] It's been such a long week. And so little sleep...>_< I came home early today, to do lots of grading. Again. Tonight, I intend to sleep earlier than I have been this week. Why? Cuz I say so? ^_^

Ice cream lab came out cool today! It gets better every year, and management gets better and better too. The only thing that was a problem today was that two kids' ice bags broke, so we had a lot of rock salt sitting on the pavement outside of my classroom. Too bad there was no snow! ^_^ But yeah, it's cool - I really AM getting better at teaching. Ain't that cool? It's neat when you can see yourself grow, hee hee...^_^

09.17.03, Wednesday:

[10:33pm] Book club meeting - lots of fun! =) Accompanied with mooncake, tea, fresh salsa and chips, garden picked watermelon, and excellent dialogue! Hee hee...we had some ideas, like taping our meetings and letting the kids see them in class (or parts of them anyways, hee hee...not ALL of it, muah ha ha...) as to see how a book discussion can be unstructured, yet still focused. OR, we can all write and contribute to this "Sierra Parables" novel, ha ha...where basically, we dog on what we need to dog on in our own publication unbeknownst to LD, hee hee...^_^

After clean up and checking out these crazy-cool, though undoubtedly nerdy, Star Trek art that some insane person one with WAY too much time on their hand (okay. I'm not a Trekkie, technically. But Star Trek is pretty cool and I will admit my loyalty to The Next Generation, hee hee. And my bro likes that hottie Janeway, that bald and sexy Picard and EVEN sexier Riker, hee hee hee...I will bring him unwanted shame through this very public medium! j/k...! Shhh! ^_^), I made a yummy sandwich for lunch tomorrow - some canned salmon mixed with whatever was around the house! ^_^ And now? More grading. Sigh. It will never end...but it's progressing pretty nicely, so sacrificing some time to watch Buffy last night was definitely worth it. ^_^

I know, It's always "Yo homegirl! Up for a night out in da streets wit' your crew?"...."Naw...sorry dogg...I gots tah grade..." I'm always grading...and it's not always fun...but it's okay. Cuz you know why? Cuz you really get to know these kids better through it - assessment is crazy-valuable! And I love my job! ^_^

Ice cream lab tomorrow! Or more scientifically, as I teach the kids to say..."Freezing Point Depression Lab". ^_^

09.15.03, Monday:

[06:25pm] In for a long haul of grading tonight. At least all the lesson plans are taken care of! ^_^

Contributed by Calvin, our Souperman of the forums:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

And Neil found this: rorrim elgoog a s'it

[06:10am] Sunday was neat - I was able to see how God was using me throughout the day! ^_^ You're gonna have to talk to me if you want more details, hee hee...it's neat though, cuz we don't always know or are able to see how He's using us. I got to see a glimpse of it yesterday, more than once! ^_^

I also got to hang out with Eric, and went out to Carson for him to do something at his work - but we took a adventurous detour home through Palos Verdes. It was neat! Exciting swirls of fog and mist, thinking I saw the beach (cuz it was dark, hee hee), passing a street actually called Anchovy, and even getting some cookies afterwards for dessert! ^_^

09.13.03, Saturday:

[10:33am] Watched Once Upon A Time in Mexico last night. I thought it'd be like this serious action/drama movie, but instead, it was funny, light-hearted though still serious, mythic and legend-like, and ridiculously violent, and I enjoyed it! ^_^

I also had this yummy Cheese Baguette Press at Father Nature's. Mmm! The last time I had one was back in da days at UCI, down at the Diplomat Cafe. They had this one garlic (I mean, whole garlic chunks!) and chicken in this yummy creamy sauce that I liked to get. Eric says a George Foreman Grill can make those baguette presses. I want me one, one day, hee hee! Baguette Presses for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! ^_^

Today, my agenda is to grade, and lesson plan. Nothing too glamorous. Oh, and to make dinner for my bro and I. Woo. Like he'd even be awake by then? All he does is sleep, hee hee. =) My parents are going to the Hollywood Bowl, to watch some Treasures of China thing. It sounds neat, and I'd actually want to go, but nobody invited me. =( But I think it was a Women's Fellowship thing, or something like that, anyways, hee hee...plus I need to grade. I should be grading right now. So I'll get back to it! ^_^

09.11.03, Thursday:

[5:25pm] I haven't blogged in like, foreeeever! Okay, okay...it's only been a few days, hee hee...but it seems like forever, cuz I've had a karazy busy week! But it's all good. =)

School's been hectic, but lovely! I'm getting to know the kids better (and vice-versa), ELO is working good (though I think I won't make EVERY assignment an ELO assignment...it's too much hassle!), and we're moving right along in science. =) I have many different circle of friends at SMS, like the AVID/PE group (Baldy Franks, Smith, Williams, and the gang), the book club people (who are coming over next Wednesday!), my science department (Ha ha...for "Norms" that our principal asked each dept. to develop, we said: "Be Respectful" and "Have an agenda ONLY if we need to bring materials for the meeting". Which covered the fifty thousand rules that somehow came up at last week's all staff meeting, hee hee), and well, all kinds, though Heidi (whose bday was yesterday! ^_^ I put it on my whiteboard, and kids would go to her room and tell her Happy Birthday! One class sang to her, even if they WERE off key, hee hee!) is still one of the closest. So yeah. Happy Birthday Heidi! ^_^

My principal came in to my 7th grade class today, and left with a thumbs up sign. He's been a lot nicer this year - back to how he was two years ago. Why? I have no idea. In a way, it's a little scary, cuz after last year, it's like, hmmm...I wonder what he's got planned??? But at the same time, our science department is totally taking advantage of it, ha ha - we're all going to a conference in October, and he will find ways to pay for our subs and the conference itself. No meals or mileage, but hey, better than nothing, like last year! And he's even offering to get us the computers we've been asking for our classrooms since before I even came here, since we may have some computers taken out of classrooms that don't use them. I've also put in a request with our department head for calculators, if she can get him to say yes, heh heh. AND he's actually letting us do different styles of writing - not just persuasive essays - for our results cycle this year. This is too good!

I got to eat at Hunny's earlier this week. Mmm. I felt a heart attack coming on, with that grilled sandwich I had. But it was yummy! ^_^

Today's also (besides 9/11. Moment of Silence.) the "15th day of the 8th month", or in other words, the "Mid-Autumn Moon Festival"! ^_^ I found out last night, heh heh...I knew it was around now, but didn't know the exact date. There's been a nice full moon out, and tonight commemorates it. So Happy Moon Festival to all! ^_^

On the way home, I had a thought, heh heh. Another one of those "Oh, that's so obvious...but it's still neat kind of thought". Like, we can be surrounded by people who show God's love and such, but it doesn't matter until a person is actually touched BY God. One has to experience His love firsthand, not through someone else, to really get it. Of course, that IS obvious. But like, as Christians, we always think of us showing God's love to others and such. I'm not saying it's not good to do that - it IS, or how else can others see what He has done for our lives, and know what is possible through Him? How else can they understand why we are the way we are, because we're transformed by His love? But we're still human, so we're not perfect, and we aren't the ones to instill in others how God's love feels like. We get agitated, angry, annoyed, frustrated, hot-tempered, stupid, and ignorant too. But we see that He cares just the same. And likewise, we care for others in that same way too. =)

09.08.03, Monday:

[7:00pm] What started out as a hectic morning transitioned into an awesome day! ^_^ It wasn't so bad, introducing the first essay and getting started on the pros/cons list. I really am doing better at teaching, hee hee...like the kids really listen to me. It's crazy. I know, it's still at the beginning of the year. But you can tell by a certain point how it's going to be, and from what I see already, it's all going to be pretty good. 2nd period is a little lower than the rest, probably cuz there's still way too many kids in there (41), and 6th is well, the 7th graders - and there's so much that I have to guide and train them in, heh heh. But they're gettin' it. =)

The hectic start was due to me being tired from this weekend, heh heh. Last night too - we were out late for CCF. The lesson went REALLY well, and we got to share a LOT of concerns that we all had. Honest talk and sharing...and after prayer (our lesson was about prayer too!), my soul felt refreshed, despite how tired I already was. We also picked up and dropped off Kevin, whose car has, well, no brakes. =P It was cool to have him there with us at CCF, cuz he's one of our homeboys!

Thomas came too, and had great things to say, despite being the newbie of the group. Mello, who wasn't going to come, came, and so I wasn't the only one teaching tonight, as I thought I would be for a short time - and might I add that she is so awesome when it comes to taking care of her sister? =) Anyways, it was a cool fellowship. I certainly felt God was there, guiding the discussion a certain way, giving hope to all of us in many, many ways. ^_^

09.07.03, Sunday:

[9:10am] I had a weird dream last night...I remember that the first one had something with me finding a stray horse that was the size of a very large dog. It was at our old house on Blossom Hill, and it ate the weeds and would sleep in front of the front door. I also had to pick up its poop. I wore gloves for that. While picking up poop, some random person came and tried to throw some at me, but since I was wearing gloves, I swatted away. Straaaaange!

In a second dream, I was on some weird (okay, everything's weird in all dreams, right? ^_^) trip at a resort that was called something like "The Incomprehensible Light of Attics" or what-not. Lorie was there, and I remember her being the one that would make sure I was caught up, as in the dream, I was rather feisty and would keep making remarks to the tram driver lady (who was really mean to everyone, but no one would say anything except for me), and the driver lady would try to ditch me at the stops.

Like when we were leaving the resort place, I had to go back to get my purse that I left in a desk (It was the same purse that Belinda has that I also have, that both of our respective cousins gave us, heh heh), but the tram lady would stop and said we had to go to the safety meeting. Me and Lorie and some others (there were two or three others with us, though I'm not sure who!) remarked WHY we were going to a safety meeting at the END of the tram ride, and not at the beginning, and that it didn't make sense. When we got to the meeting, our tram just left - the person running the meeting didn't show. So instead, we went on our tour of that resort area, a completely foreign but beautiful place.

The first place was a beach, where the water was really clear and blue (like a computer animated type sea), and people would be playing in the water...WITH dolphins! These dolphins were like the size of little whales - about 10 times the size of a human, dark steel gray with a dark green sheen to them, jumping in and out of the water all over the place. Our tram would go right next to the water, close enough for it to touch our toes! The tram drove down the road, which was like a long stretch into the waters (like how in Florida, I heard you can drive this long stretch of road to get to...uh...was it the Florida keys? The tip of Florida? Only it was more rocky and bigger.), and dolphins continued to jump up and down, except that there were no more beachgoers there. There was an archaic square thing with figures and illustrations etched into in (as if it was from the city of Atlantis or something), in the water, and four dolphins would jump from each side to get to the other side, simultaneously.

Next, we saw some dark, but not ominous, hills with golden grass. I was filled with a strange sense of complete peace, heh heh...and then soon, we hit tons and tons of really elaborate homes, mansions, and giant apartments, and they all had similar intricate swirls and convolutions built into their design. Our tram went back to our resort, where I ran down some pathway that was lined with a thin layer of running water, with Lorie following after me (though she was walking, and being more ladylike, hee hee). In the reflection of the resort building, I could see myself - for some reason, I was wearing that nice maroon dress I have, and didn't have shoes, hee hee...I ran past two of the other people we were traveling with, saying I was going back in to get my purse. So after talking to the person at the front desk, I got to go to our room (5001? 501? 510?), found my purse, put it in some big black carry-on bag that I suddenly had, and carried my regular purse instead while I held onto the carry-on.

Lorie and I went down the elevator. I scooted to the back of the elevator, and next thing I knew, everyone else in the elevator was no longer there...except for me and some random kid...and the elevator looked much smaller. I asked him what happened, and he said that the elevator divides up the very back portion from the rest, as the rest is for the adults and we're in the kid section. The divider comes down, I see Lorie again, and tell her about this strange device. She doesn't believe me, so she jumps to the kid side, and I see the divider go up, making a wall so that it seems as if the elevator was naturally like that. It opens back up, and she jumps back over, believing me now, heh heh. We get back on the train, saddened that the tram lady didn't tell us that we would have seen all those neat places, as we wanted to take pictures. We had thought we were just going to the safety meeting. The tram lady declares that we are all leaving now, and that it was tooooo bad that we didn't get pictures. Unless anyone wants to go back. Everyone was too intimidated to say anything, so I raised my hand and said we all wanted to go see things again. This time, she was really nice about it, and agreed.

So we went to where the dolphins were, and this time, we got to get off the tram, and take pictures. I got a picture of a dolphin with my digital camera, and one of the random people we were with on the trip posed to take a picture of him looking like a dolphin that was jumping just as another dolphin was jumping in the distance...but my camera was running out of batteries, so we all didn't take any pictures.

And that was my dream, hee hee. =) I thought I should record it down, before I forget it. =) It's long, I know.

The Rally was excellent last night. The message was completely good, and my kids connected well with it, I think! =) Every time we go to LACAC though, it's inevitable we get lost. I think part of it is that they move around, and choose these little hidden spots, heh heh...So we did get lost, as expected, even though I did all the mapping beforehand. But anyways, yeah, the message - it spoke of reality and truth, how one can't make those things conform to us, how we must be the ones that conform to it instead...lots of good stuff that I can elaborate later on, as I reeeeally need to get ready for church now! =)

09.06.03, Saturday:

[1:28pm] Happy Birthday David! Whether it's today or yesterday, whatever. Ha ha...he kept trying to trick us, that it was today. Either way, last night, he came over to ball with my bro, Shelton, Andrew and Anthony, while Mello and I worked on our CCF Lesson (with Tofu, via AIM). We ended up chatting over moon cakes and tea with my mom and Auntie Rosa, and then kickin' it in my bro's room (where he now has a bunk bed!) for a few hours...talking about random things like bedwetting, Shelton's red bucket, my bro's Michael Jackson phase when he was little...silly jokes (One of my students had asked me in an output assignment: "What did one math book say to the other math book?" "I have lots of problems!" ha ha...and so we modified on it...to physics books...to macro/microeconomics books...to chemistry books (I forgot the answer to that one)...to the "Jail Dilemma"/"my bro and David goes to weekend party and tries to bluff professor dilemma", and just stuff like that.

Before we knew it, it was about 2am...and I didn't get to sleep till about 3. Well, I was up reading Wicked after too, so...^_^ It's an interesting book - not at all like how I thought it'd be, but still really neat in the way the story is set up to get to the "We're not in Kansas anymore" stage. =)

Anyways, this weekend is David's weekend. Yesterday was bball. Tonight is some bonanza bbq event, but I won't be able to go, as I'll be at the Back2Reality Rally with my youth homies. And then tomorrow, CCF will be at the Wang's, and I'm sure there will be something going on then too, hee hee. =)

09.04.03, Thursday:

[10:40pm] School is going awesome! The kids are fun to work with, as always. This year's group of kids, behavior-wise, is even better than the year before...and academic-wise, their writing looks way better too! Or, maybe it's cuz it's my 3rd year and I know a bit more of what I'm doing, hee hee...who knows?

Because of ELO (Extended Learning Opportunity...basically a lunch detention for those who don't turn in HW), grading is a little hectic. I mean, I could just check off which assignments are done, and then grade them later. I'm sure most teachers do this. But I can't do it, ha ha...it's like, I see the papers, and I'm drawn into some swirling vortex inside my head where I'm forced to grade it all. So I do. And this is supposed to be the easy week of grading, compared to the rest of the year. We haven't even gotten into the Results cycle yet (the whole persuasive essay thing...=Þ). Hmm.

I'm taking my shower and sleeping, like now. Oh! My parents got me a new bed frame! Actually, it was for my bro, but he didn't want it. He wanted the bunk instead, so I got the new frame, and he has my old one, which is the top bunk of his bed from back in da days when we were little. It's a good bed frame too...even if it's full of old stickers that either have Pokemon on them..."School Lunch is Cool!" (our lunches used to come with stickers), some glow in the dark ones from the book order catalogues, Easter ones that are still on my desk, or those strange and bright Lisa Frank ones that were hip then (are they still hip? Heh heh.).

09.03.03, Wednesday:

[10:15pm] Yes!!! At last...an edible batch of peanut brittle, hee hee...It hadn't worked the past few days, so I couldn't do the demo. But I found a candy thermometer yesterday...NOW I realize just how long it takes for the mixture to get to about 300 degrees Fahrenheit...and why my previous batches were all...well...sponge-y instead of brittle-y!

It's been a weird few days, but God is good, and I can trust completely in His super powers! ^_^ Pretty neat...as right now, I'm entirely too enthusiastic, even for a Gail who just got Peanut Brittle to finally work, despite it being just a bit burnt! ^_^ I'll even have to wake up early to buy some more peanuts (I used enough in my trials, ha ha) and corn syrup. And go to school early enough to set up the stove and shield...and the flex cam, if I can get a hold of it! But I'm excited to do it! ^_^

09.01.03, Monday:

[11:53am] Procrastinating from grading. I'm simply in a crummy mood today. I know why, too. Part of it deals with my mom. =P Maybe going to the grocery store later for the ingredients for the "Foamed Saccharides with Protein Inclusions" (Peanut Brittle) Demo that I'm doing in class tomorrow will lighten me up! The grocery store and Trader Joe's often has a calming and positive effect on me, hee hee...But for now, I will just share a bunch of news articles. ^_^

Crazy Animals: Rampant Deers, Talking Parrots, and Attacking Carp.

Around the World: George Bush in Baghdad, La Tomatina, New Singapore Law, Corpses Here and There.

Idiot News of the Day: Man Charged with Stealing Tracking Device.

Towel Amnesty Day! Have you ever taken those Holiday Inn Towels? I don't think I've ever stayed at a Holiday Inn...though we have stayed at the Holiday Inn Express ones, and I think we may have taken some other things, not towels...hee hee...

Erica's wedding yesterday was nice and all. Hung out with our 5 families worth of RCAC'ers in a crowd of a bunch of people we didn't know. Unfortunately, Alison didn't remember my bro and I. I could understand it if they simply didn't recognize us, cuz we are older now and all, but like, my bro was standing next to Ralm, and she totally ignored him, and was going to say bye after talking to Ralm. Ralm was like, wait, this is my bro! And she just had this blank look on her face. I think she remembered later on. Like when we took pictures, she said specifically that was standing next to me. GAIL. I think to correct that she called me Cheryl earlier in the day, hee hee. ^_^ Auntie Anita (not my real auntie) totally didn't remember me either - she just stared at me blankly, gave a wane smile, and from time to time (while she was talking to Mrs. Chiu), would keep glancing over at me when I looked at her, trying to figure out where to place me. It was a little sad, but also rather amusing, hee hee...

But there were the tasty dishes for dinner - the Honey Mayo Walnut Shrimp, the Bird's Nest, Jellyfish appetizer, Lobster, and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't care too much about, like Shark Fin Soup, Abalone, bland noodles and super dry (and bland too!) fried rice. But they're all the traditional wedding food stuff, and we were fed well. =)

Only 86 more papers to grade...!

08.31.03, Sunday:

[07:10am] I have this need to blog about my karazy brother, hee hee...^_^ If you've ever been in a car with him, you know how he drives...always a heartwrenching experience, hee hee...(j/k. He is careful, even though it may not always feel that way...hee hee...) So on the way home from the Art Festival, he didn't stop completely at the Stop signs, and 2 well-hidden cops saw him. One came to get him, and pulled us over. The moment he gets out of the car, my bro's like, "Hey! I think he pulled me over before!" And it was the same guy! The same, bald, Lex Luthor look-a-like (though he was a little heavier than when my bro remembered him last time. It's been more than a year though)! So when the cop comes, my bro's just like conversing with him in a super casual, almost friendly way, about why he got pulled over, what he did, and oh, what exactly is a California roll (of which he didn't do, cuz he was faster even than that!). The cop is also talking to him in a casual, almost friendly way. Suddenly, somehow the conversation changes:

my bro: "I think you pulled me over before, actually."

Lex Luthor look-a-like cop: "Really?"

my bro: "Yeah, your name's Christian, right?"

Lex Luthor look-a-like cop: "Yeah! What did I get you for?"

my bro: "Uh, I think I was making a right turn (scattered pauses throughout. Why? Cuz it was for the same thing he just got pulled over for during this conversation!)...and then I didn't stop completely...I just kinda turned..."

Lex Luthor look-a-like cop: "Oh! I remember! The corner of Highgrove and Foothill!"

my bro: "Yeah!"

Gail: "Woah! You guys KNOW each other???"

Lex Luthor look-a-like cop: (taps his bald head as he bends down to look in the car at us) "Good memory!" (to my bro) "Are you still having trouble stopping?"

Next thing I know, the Lex Luthor look-a-like cop says something along the lines of "I don't know why, but it's your lucky day..." because if the other cop had chosen to come get him, my bro would have gotten a ticket for sure, but since it was him...and that he just got a call for something...and even though the call was just cancelled, he had juuust handed my bro back his license and registration. After asking the ages of us in the car, he commands us to remind him to slow down, and well...my bro got off from the ticket!

Crazy! Yeah. So I drove to and fro the Karaoke place, and avoided Ontario street by taking the freeway up at Main instead, hee hee...^_^ Even bumpin' my bro's booty-slappin' super-bass music in the car didn't ease the extended relief that he was feeling all the way there, hee hee...^_^

Another thing about my bro - on the way home, we saw Mars. my bro kept thinking it was an airplane, claiming it was blinking and had little lights on the side. Shelton and I didn't know what he was talking about, but he'd keep saying "blink! blink!" to indicate when it was blinking. We didn't see any blinks, so I think there is something wrong with his eyes. Too much direct light somehow...too many rods and cones dying off...maybe he needs more vitamin A, retinoic acid, or something. ^_^

08.30.03, Saturday:

[10:19pm] The Art Festival was cool! Not only were there cool paintings in creative new styles that I've never seen, but there were photography art, beads to make bracelets (Kevin and I made one each, and I got to keep them!), and even things like artsy ties that were made out of metal. Laguna also had a ton of other festivals lined up on that street, so it was neat, as we walked all over the place. The beach there is nice too! Volleyball and basketball courts were ON the beach, and the ocean looked awesome! ^_^

Afterwards, the five of us (Kevin, Gilbert, Shelton, my bro, and I) went down to Rowland Heights for Karaoke-ing with Fred, Josiah, Mello, David, and Kathleen. Mello and Josiah had to leave early, but after, the rest of us went to our usual after-K'party restaurant, Tasty House! ^_^ Gilbert did some friendly talking to the manager, which is Chris Wong's bro, and so we got a discount and some free appetizers! So we tipped them big. ^_^

Pictures from karaoke and the art festival will be up soon on Visions, if it decides to work. If not, I'll upload them on my pictures page sometime this weekend. =)

I'm still thinking of so many things in my head. Things I don't want to think about, because they aren't all that pleasant. But it's unavoidable and inevitable things. Which sucks.

I can't stand my mom at times. It's either a Cantonese mom thing, or just my mom. It makes it difficult for me to WANT to talk to her in a way that she wants me to at times, and so I just don't. I should though, but it's hard, and oftentimes, I simply can't without getting frustrated and angry. Either way...=(

[08:12am] Woah! I was up super late last night, doing a lot of thinking...hmm...I've realized a few things, and yeah...anyways...things I knew before, that I was always pushing aside, and new things too...and I gotta get ready soon - CCF people is coming over in less than an hour to go to the Art-A-Fair Festival! ^_^

Two days of school have gone by, and it's been great! =) 7th and 8th graders are so different! The 8th graders have like, perfect behavior. Even in my class of 41. True, it's still the beginning of the year, but compared to the 7th graders? The 7th graders don't have bad behavior, but they are really squirrel-ly! It's not just cuz they're my 6th period (6th period always tends to be more antsy than all the other classes), or that I have 38 in there. They're jumpy and all curious and ask a LOT of questions - it's cool, cuz they're excited and super-easily impressionable, but at the same time, it's funny how they compare to the 8th graders, heh heh. =) My class sizes are all whacked - 33, 37, 41, 25, 19 (!), 38! It'll balance out during the month, but the bigger classes will be big, and the smaller ones will always be smaller. Oy. They're giving me more chairs on Tuesday, so they'll all have somewhere to sit!

Oh yeah! I got Huy's package in the mail!!! Hee hee, I got some cool science goods I could use in my classroom. Thanks! ^_^

After school, I stopped by Heidi's to pick up more basil and EAT more basil and tomatoes...except this time, it was on pizza! ^_^ I've also made a good stock of pesto for next week - I can taste it now! On toasted bread! Pasta noodles (and I'm going to get me some more white mushrooms! Cuz last time...they were all brown and dead...=( )! Chicken! I'm not sure what else. But I'll find more things! Hee hee...maybe my teeth will be permanently green next week from all the pesto. Muah ha ha! ^_^

08.28.03, Thursday:

[05:17pm] So...tired...>_< I just got home after driving through horrible traffic...something happened at the La Sierra exit, and it backed it up all way past Madison! Or maybe it wasn't the drive home. Maybe it was the a/c being broken still, in my classroom...it was sooo hot out there...it's draining! Or maybe it was because I had to wear heels all day. Or maybe it's just cuz I have my 180 kids again. And went in to school super early to be ready. Or that my contacts are a little dry. Or that I still have a lot of unavoidable work to do tonight. Or that I'm sooo old now, ha ha. ^_^

Either way, I'm going to take my shower now. Maybe a bubble bath, heh heh...^_^ I wish I could rest today!

08.27.03, Wednesday:

[06:35pm] Such a nice day! ^_^ God started it off with an awesome bday gift (Mars!), unique from the past 60,000 years, hee hee...and then I got hit with a phone call by one of my OG homegirls, Kate! Jer and Kathleen dropped bday thoughts down, and Heidi treated me to tomatoes and basil from her backyard for lunch! ^_^ (I got a bunch of basil to bring home, so I'm making pesto tonight, and I can eat it for lunch tomorrow! ^_^) School was fun fun fun...the a/c doesn't work, so it was rather hot...but Spirit Day was neat, with random kids coming up to me, all excited and declaring that they have me for science this year, hee hee...

I also went to Little Red Schoolhouse, this teacher supply store, and spent Ralm's gift certificate on things that I would like to buy for my school, but have always held back on - more good books full of science experiments and fun things for class, neat posters, and even a really good "Parts of the Microscope" poster (it had parts for a triple beam balance too!) that was on sale for 50% off! Plus, I got my teacher's discount. I was amazed...at first, I was like, I'll take this and that, but not these two books...and then the lady said the price...and I was like, hey! I can add one more book! And another! ^_^ So yeah. I got my goods for $1.99. ^_^

As for tonight, I'm cracking open these new books, going through more lesson plans for the upcoming weeks...making pesto pasta...and sleeping in early for students tomorrow. I guess I'm ready to head back, and if not, I have to be anyways! ^_^

08.26.03, Tuesday:

[04:25pm] So the Tagboard is removed. Some freak that usually goes by "confused" has been posting some mean things on there, mostly just things with cuss words in there. If anything, it's some bored kid who has nothing to do at home, and is so bored that he/she has decided it's "cool" or something to vandalize someone else's site. I doubt it's someone near my age at all...if it is, it's really sad! =Þ I doubt this person is even a personal friend of mine - perhaps this person stumbled upon my webpage through someone else's, or randomly in another way.

I was shocked when I first saw his/her messages, and would erase them if they were bad, but it's to the point now that this person has decided to keep on posting anyways. Don't get me wrong - I'm not really mad at this "confused" person...and if anything, it's pretty much forgiven.

I don't mind if he/she wants to participate (I think it's a she. Reading Ella Enchanted? Using Pond's Clear Solution?), but if participating means sticking in cuss words every now and then that would offend me and my readers (and possibly impersonating Sharon! AND making strange announcements about "Christine and Michael's divorce" and to "pray for the baby"...when neither of the two C&M couples I know are in either position!), then it's a no go. Too bad I can't block IP's, ha ha...but it's probably not a static IP anyways. =Þ

I was thinking of taking the Tagboard down anyways, since it's not really used that much, so it's no biggie. Plus, you can comment by just sending me email. If you know me, then most likely, you have my email. ^_^

Anyways. Long day at school today. Our meeting in the morning was like...3 hours and some long...it felt more like it was 6 hours though, heh heh...I want to nap...but I have some school things I want to work on too...! I gotta get used to working again, hee hee...

[06:20am] Up for school! Teacher meetings all day today!

More random news: the Planet Huya and a 50-Year Old Missing Wallet! Then there's "Smart" Dust and drugs made out of Lizard Spit! Be enlightened! ^_^

08.25.03, Monday:

[10:50pm] Ooo! This is too good! ^_^ I got this from Neil's post on the OneCross Forums, hee hee...! ^_^

[10:27pm] Back from a full day in OC! Went to Fashion Island (Cheesecake Factory lunch!) and Huntington Beach with Ros and Belinda...watched Lizzie Mcguire with Ros...and then ate dinner at Yardhouse down in Triangle Square with my MAT homies! ^_^

It was cool to see my MAT peepz again, hee hee...like we all got catch up on each other, including some talks about fuel cells and microturbines, Carina's muuuultiple Hawaii trips, Mike's new fancy Corvette (I hear it displays things on the windshield for something!), trips to Europe, old/new significant others, and the awesome summer we've been having with the MAT program out of way, finally! ^_^ There were only a few missing, mostly cuz we couldn't get a hold of them - Jackie! Roman! Laura! We will find you one day! ^_^

I've had enough food today. I feel like I'm just about to blow up sometime soon, hee hee...*poof* Away goes da Gumsta'...! O_o

[07:46am] I was up at 5:30 am today. Yay! Up on time! ^_^ Finally. Right before school starts, hee hee...

This is really neat! ^_^ And this is the next book for our club meeting!

That's about it for now! I'll be off to step class in a bit! ^_^

08.24.03, Sunday:

[03:15pm] So yesterday was the giant birthday extravaganza dinner that Gilbert arranged for me, heh heh...It was so neat to see all the people there, and those that couldn't make it still contribute something somehow! ^_^ Heh heh, I was also spoiled with gifts all over the place - it was neat though, cuz all of them, whether it be a card or whatever, was full of thought. It wasn't like - oh, here's another bottle of lotion. Lotion or bath things are the usual "Uh, I didn't know what to get you cuz I don't really know you or thought about who you are" type of gift. Don't get me wrong - there are some really good smelling ones out there I like a lot! But you know what I mean, I hope! =)

Each person had really thought about (or it seemed like it to me anyways!) the gift they chose, or what they wrote in a card or letter (like Tako! Christie and Mike! Calvin! Clara!), or even in just showing up yesterday (cuz some people came from way far out too! Like Rosalyn! Or Belinda and Stan! Or Giang, who came after! ^_^). Or it could just be me, heh heh. But either way, thanks for all the wishes and thoughts! It is appreciated, and you're all super-super fantastic-o! Thank you thank you! ^_^

Dorothy and her friend Garvin also came over earlier that day to get her new stereo installed in the car by my bro. I got to splice wires for the stereo!!! ^_^ So I learned how to do that properly...at night, I noticed that my fingertips were really hurting, and it's cuz, well...splicing wires can do that. =Þ But yeah - I think I know how to install a car stereo now! ^_^

AND I got my bag of freebies from Staples in the morning. My mom came too, so she got one too, heh heh...In return for this gift, I decided to get the pushable crate type thing. Every full-fledged teacher needs one of these things, ha ha...I used to think they were excessive and "nerdy"...like carrying a backpack in high school, versus just carrying your books around (we had lockers then). But it's really quite handy, especially with all the journal grading I've done in the past years, or lugging boxes of papers back and forth to grade. So I got one, hee hee...plus my mom doesn't want me hurting my back again. =Þ

CCF lead praise today - it was louder than usual, and that's actually a good thing, I think. Cuz we're normally not loud enough, hee hee...but as for today, I think I'm done. It's too hot to do anything. Time to rest a bit, maybe! ^_^ Oh, and watch Master of the Flying Guillotine!!! Shelton found the DVD and gave it to me yesterday. Even if it's horribly dubbed in English, it will still be neat to watch, heh heh...

08.23.03, Saturday:

[08:00am] I went to the La Brea Tar Pits yesterday! Hee hee...I remember it being smellier, but it wasn't that bad - maybe when I was little, it seemed really bad. The really cool thing? That they were still excavating fossils and things out of the pits, to this very day! There were also baby tar pits bubbling out of various spots on the grounds - what if, one day, the tar pits all bubbled out and swallowed the area whole??? Heh heh...anyways, yeah. It was fun! The museum also has these large grassy hills, and there were kids rolling themselves down the hills, hee hee...I remember that my bro and I used to do that at the park by our old house. They had good hills there! ^_^

After, I played some Mario Golf with the Bridwell household, and then traipsed off to Chris' to play Neverwinter Nights with Chris, Jenn, and Eric. It's been a while since I've even been part of a LAN party, hee hee...lugging my computer over there in a box, nerding it up big time, hee hee. We had some problems getting it reallly going...but oh well...I guess it was a good starter night? I don't know when I'll have the time to play again, by myself or with a group, heh heh...but one day maybe! And we ate those neat Pizza Hut pizzas where you can twist off the breadstick crust - those are tasty! ^_^

Only a few more days of summer left! I'm glad I can enjoy them! ^_^

There's this Machu Picchu exhibition at the Natural History Museum of LA. It looks interesting - I don't think I can squeeze it in either today or Sunday or Monday...I miiiight...but it still looks really neat. =) So if you're looking for a place to go, check out them Inca treasures before it's over, on September 7th! ^_^

08.22.03, Friday:

[07:59am] Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that I had a weird dream last night. Old friends that I hadn't seen since UCI undergrad were reunion-ing. I think this is cuz Monday night, I might have dinner some MAT folks. I don't remember who was there exactly, but I do remember a Victor/Wuttichai for some reason. His girlfriend from back then was there too, only they weren't talking. He had this crazy suped-up Mini Cooper. It was blue, and like, it had huge spoilers, shiny rims, tinted windows and some design on it. I've never even SEEN a suped-up Mini-Cooper in real life, so it was weird that it was in my dream! Oh yeah. Jer was in the dream too, driving by in some other car. But HE didn't go to UCI - I never even went to school with him, hee hee...I think his sister was there too, but I'm not exactly sure if it was her. So it was, as all dreams are, funky.

On the way to the premiere yesterday, I saw a Dorothy Lane and a Lambert Road. Props to my homies, Dorothy and Lambert! ^_^

I'm slowly starting to add testimonials on Friendster, hee hee...it's kinda fun. =)

[07:40am] I went to a movie premiere yesterday! ^_^ I've never been to one before...but it was a neat experience, cuz usually, when the credits go by on the screen, one doesn't really care too much about it. But this time, cuz all the people who were involved in it were there to see their work, everyone would clap or cheer for their friends/families when their names rolled on, at the beginning at the end. That made it so much more fun! I went for Rosalyn, cuz she was the "Grip" and...what was it? The "Boom Microphone" (I forgot if the first word was Boom or something else). She also helped with casting, and she did a great job! The people she chose were pretty good actors! There were some that didn't, ahem, act so good, including one of the main characters, but she wasn't around for that casting. All the people that were involved in the movie, on or off screen, did it for free!

The movie was called Room 214. Eh. I'm used to kung-fu flicks, and movies with more action and violence in it, hee hee...remember how the symbolism and all wasn't fun for me in that movie, Hero? So we'll leave it at that. =) But it was neat to meet some of the people involved in the movie afterwards, whether it be on or off screen. I liked the henchmen (and when you hear "henchmen", you'd think there was violence, but nope...not really! They were more kinda like comic relief, in a way) - and I saw one after, so that was neato. =)

08.21.03,Thursday:

[11:54am] Hee hee...so I spent all morning playing Neverwinter Nights (Thanks Sharon! ^_^)(I'm a gnome, by the way. Hee hee...all the power to the little people!), after it finally got installed, successfully, on my computer. Interesting. I don't know if I particularly like it just yet, but it is captivating, and time goes by without you noticing it...like how 3 hours just whizzed right on by just now! ^_~

Yesterday was fun! Me and Tako went to visit the Kohl's in Irvine, and they had a Daphne's Greek Cafe there! So I went to eat there, for my second time. That place is good. I'm going to email them and tell them to build one up in Corona, hee hee...cuz all these new development areas could use a Daphne's...and a few other favorite places of mine, ha ha...=Þ After that, it was around 5pm...right smack in the middle of heavy traffic...so we went down two exits to that huge Tustin Marketplace, and spent time at Payless Shoes, and a few HOURS at Target! Target is so awesome, hee hee...Walmart is practical, but Target is definitely more foo-foo, and it's neat. =) Like normally, when I go there, I get what I need, and browse a bit. But since we had so much time, we browsed like for hooooours and discovered so many crazy things!

Like these crazy bobbing sumo wrestlers for the dashboard, hee hee...

Ooo! Tako also gave me my bday gift super early...a whole bag of yummy Japanese candy and treats, plus a Ramune marble drink (*cling cling cling!*) and a giant sized Yogloo (mango flavored!) drink! ^_^ Ah, she knows exaaactly what a Gummychild needs, especially riiight before school, when I need to stock up such goods for my classroom (my secret stash, hee hee...hey, if you're in a classroom for at leeeast 10 hours a day, you'd have one too!)! ^_^

08.20.03,Wednesday:

[09:20am] I'm thinking of dropping my membership at LA Fitness. They've not had any hip hop classes, as they promised they would when I first signed up (my reason for joining in the first place, hee hee...I never learned to C-walk and have been wanting to learn for a long, long time. Anyone wanna teach me? Hee hee hee...like heisting Twinkies from the 7-11 with my homies (muah ha! j/k...maybe...^_~), c-walking perpetuates my ghetto-ness, hee hee...); though step class is fun, once school starts, I'd hardly even go anymore. Either that, or I'm getting too much activity from other outings this summer to think that I'll need a gym anymore, though that may change with school. I might consider 24-hour fitness - they cost less, and might have hip hop, heh heh. Who knows? ^_^

Twinkies! That reminds me - on the way to Solvang a while ago, I saw this Chicken Charlie's truck. It had "Home of the Deep Fried Twinkie" on it. That actually sounds really scary, and outside the boundaries of a 7-11 heist, hee hee...^_^

I used to read Reuters through My Yahoo. But the thing is, I don't even use My Yahoo. So instead, I read Reuters straight from their website, hee hee...What got me hooked is their Oddly Enough News...it's always weird, but interesting. ^_^ Like this one: Burglar Finds Bacon Head, Calls Police

Oh wait. I just checked. 24-Hour DOES have Hip/Hop, at a time I can make it! They also have this thing called PiYo: Pilates/Yoga type. Sounds neat too. And at hours after school that I can actually make. Yes! I'm switching! ^_^

08.19.03,Tuesday:

[02:00pm] Yay! I woke up on time today...and stayed awake! ^_^ Not only that, but I went to my classroom super early, and by noon, I was done with everything for the week. That means, I don't have to come in until next Tuesday, when school officially starts for teachers! ^_^

It's such a nice feeling, cuz I thought I might have to go in one more day...and thus, have less vacation time. Now I have tomorrow morning, Thursday day, and all day Friday, free! Usually I look forward to school starting. But this summer was just too full of goodness, hee hee...it's okay...at least I'm all ready for the first week and some. Even my overheads and handouts are copied and done! ^_^

I wanna go play...I feel like going somewhere to celebrate and play ...but everyone is busy today, it seems, and mostly at work...*sigh*

I'm not tired of that Sonic Flood "Cry Holy" song yet. And I've been listening to it for the past month and some, hee hee. It's quite good. =) I'd share it all with you here, but I can't upload anything over 5MB at a time...and it's a 6-something MB mp3. =(

08.18.03, Monday:

[03:45pm] The new Google Toolbar is powerful. It blocks those pop-up ads! ^_^ Stop the pop with the new toolbar! ^_^

08.17.03, Sunday:

[10:58pm] I saw those spinning rims today on an SUV - them dubs were totally "bling bling", hee hee! ^_^

CCF was fun today - only five of us, but it was still a lot of fun! =) Kevin's in Catalina...Gilbert and Fred and James are all up north...Josiah and Calvin are still on vacation...Kathleen's taking a friend that's visiting around...Thomas just went on vacation...so yeah, pray for their safety! ^_^ Other prayer requests:

-Shelton to find a place to live for next year, and for God to do His thing and find a roommate for him too!
-my bro to come to church! I suppose praying for a more workable sleep schedule would help with this...
-Crystal - Vivi's starting college with her now; her family is not Christian, so she's really out on her own...and it's great that Crystal is such an awesome chick, in that she has such a fire for Christ! ^_^
-School starts in a week for me! Physical and mental preparation...!
-All of our health - we have a few that seem like we're coming down with some type of cold after the beach...and most of us have this rosy glow all over us...due to the sun...>_<

Ah. Entering my last free week. Before I start school...and can't do anything with anyone anymore. Sigh. I must make good use of it! Wanna go grunion running anyone??? Hee hee...j/k...nobody can make it out so late for fish...it'd be neat though...=Þ

I saw the wok chair again at Pier 1 last Thursday. If I ever have my own house one day, I'd have a room full of my weird chairs. My beanbag chair. A wok chair. Maybe a hammock. And a big window with a ledge thing to sit on. And lights and books in there! ^_^ Actually, I'm thinking that I cooooould get a small house in Riverside, hee hee...and my parents actually aren't objecting it. But it's more like they want me to rent it out instead of really living there, hee hee. They're more saying I could rent it out (maybe it's my mom that's saying this only), instead of, "Oh yeah, you could live there!", hee hee. ^_^ It's that "old people thing", where they invest in property by buying it and renting it out - older people seem to like to do this, hee hee.

And oh yeah! For all the teachers out there...this Saturday is Staples' Teacher Appreciation Day! I'll be there bright and early to get my bag of free goodies! ^_^

08.16.03, Saturday:

[08:55pm] My back is warm. Why? Cuz I'm sunburnt! Oy! If anything, I learned one thing today - to not just apply sunblock, but to apply it in the right places and in the right amount! If anything, my nose isn't burnt at all - I had applied more than enough on my nose today. I completely missed the top of my feet, hee hee...but everywhere else, I did put sunblock on, but either it all got washed away and I didn't reapply enough back on, or I'd miss the area completely. I know that peeling is unavoidable and inevitable. *sigh*

However, I had tons of fun!!! ^_^ It was our Annual Church Picnic, so lunch was our "traditional" (as it has been for the past 2 years, I think) Vietnamese Sandwiches and Egg Rolls. We had fun sitting on the beach, waiting for giant waves to wash over us and carry us out to sea! (Oh wait! I learned another thing! When you do this, sand gets on your butt. Like in your swimsuit. Ewww! ^_^) We had fun playing a cheap version of beach volleyball, where one bounce is permissible, before you hit the ball! ^_^

Jenny came, and it was neat, as we haven't seen her in a while! ^_^ Takako also came too! ^_^ So later on, towards the end of the day, Takako, Melody and I held each others' hands to go out into the ocean - like we'd jump up with the waves and ride it a bit...and like I guess after a while, we got really far out, without realizing it. All of a sudden, a huge wave hit us from behind and totally wiped us out! Like, you know in a movie, how two people are holding hands, and like everything's in slow motion, and the two hands, holding on tightly to each other, suddenly are slowly pulled apart, while the two people are like saying (in slow motion, of course): "Noooo!!!"??? Okay. So it was like that. Only it happened much faster, and in a split second, hee hee. Perhaps it wasn't as dramatic. But it was scary nonetheless! Cuz when that happened, I automatically shut my eyes to keep my contacts from killing my eyes and felt myself being pushed and pulled down into the waters, into nothingness! I felt water going in my nose, and when I opened my eyes, I saw nothing but blue sea water all around me and on top of me - it was freaky, cuz I could feel myself being pulled down and back, and yet I couldn't tell where I was! Next thing I knew, my bathing suit shorts were about to fall off, hee hee, so I had to hold on to them as the waters finally receded and I saw light and people again. Karazy! That was the last thing I did before I got out and went to change to leave, hee hee...^_^

my bro came out to the beach too, and had a lot of fun in the water, being pulled, pushed, rolled around, hee hee! ^_^

Oh. Another thing that I learned - next time I go to the beach, I'm bringing my glasses, and taking my contacts out. The seawater (it was really salty at Newport!) stung my eyes like crazy!

After, Pauline, Amy, Elaine, Nina and I went down to Fashion Island to window shop! The pet store was really neat - I saw a little daschund and a mini schnauzer that I wanted, hee hee...yeah, I've quite decided...I'm going to get me another pet sometime, when I have time to play and teach it things. ^_^ We then went to Pomona to eat at Mix Bowl Cafe. It was really good, like Garden Cafe, only it was Thai-style. Kinda like The Boat or Banana Bay, but smaller. =) After dropping everyone off, I finally got home...took a long shower...realized how badly I was sunburnt while taking my shower...washed my hair...and am now, I think, completely sand-free. ^_^

I need to work on the CCF lesson for tomorrow!

08.15.03, Friday:

[04:31pm] I went with my parents and Gilbert to this GM Auto Show thing, where you get to test drive a bunch of cars, heh heh. I got to drive all kinds of neat cars - the Acura MDX (I liked this one the most!), a Hummer (it had the neatest course!), an Escalade EXT, a Saab Sports Sedan, a Corvette, the Lexus RX300...and a bunch of other cars. GM spent a lot of money on this - I mean, not only are there the cars for us to play with, but there were free drinks everywhere...a free lunch...free tshirt and mints and toy cars...and it didn't cost us a thing!

The BEST part of the day? They had THE nicest Port-A-Potties I've ever seen in my entire life!!! Hee hee...these were like mini Vegas bathrooms! There was a/c, first of all...and then the inside had like marble walls and sink tables, and the handles of the toilets and the sink were all special and shiny...the toilets themselves were like the ones in a reeeeally nice hotel, where you wouldn't mind to actually sit right on them (I still didn't though, hee hee)! There weren't stalls - they were more like mini-rooms, where a wood door with shiny handles that locked would give you privacy. And the floor was all wood paneling! I tried looking online for some pictures, but there aren't any. So instead, here are two pictures I got, from the outside and inside - it was hard to take pictures, cuz there wasn't enough room, hee hee...

08.14.03, Thursday:

[10:32pm] Oh wait. Let me retract what I said about Friendster, hee hee. It's not BAD to meet people completely new online - that's how I met my big bro, heh heh, and he's the best! ^_^ But that was the only and last person I met online, hee hee...I wonder if AsianAvenue still works? At the same time, it is weird...and who knows who really is on the other side? I guess most of it ain't that bad. But I've heard enough weirdo-stalker-crazy stories from a certain reliable source, hee hee, to scare me off.

By the way. During tennis today, there were swarms of these green bugs that looked like katydids...but they were wider and flatter...and they were all over the place! On the ground (so I stepped on many as I ran back and forth on the courts), and on the tennis balls (so many got hit). There were TONS of them, heh heh...about a month ago, there were tons of these crunchy brown flying bugs. Now it's green bugs. I wonder what will be next? ^_^

[09:34pm] Friendster is such a bogus thing, hee hee...bogus as in silly and crazy. Some people actually MEET other people on there, or hook up with someone on there. Karazy! I like it cuz I can find old buddies from long ago, heh heh, and it's neat to eventually end up being able to talk to them, see what's up and stuff, especially good friends from the past, that I've lost contact with. =) But yeah, I have to agree with Frank's friend, who said something along with it giving one a "fake sense of popularity", hee hee. And plus, is it only an Asian thing? I see only Asians on everyone's "friends" list. True, many of my own friends on there are Asian. But then you'd think that out of the however many hundred thousand people that are in my network, there would be a few non-Asians. There aren't very many. =Þ

Now that I think about it, I have few non-Asian friends. Why is that? I used to have a lot of friends of other races before UCI. I think at UCI, there really ARE a lot of Asians and "minority" races, and few whites. So yeah. I guess I have a lot of friends that aren't, well, Caucasian. Though the few that know, and the ones I knew from before, are pretty dang cool too. ^_^

I just got back from playing tennis. I love doing backhands! BAM! ^_^

[03:20pm] 104 degrees Fahrenheit today...sigh...but the a/c is on today at home. Woo hoo! ^_^

I have the car again! So this morning, I went to school, did more things, and then stopped by Staples to redeem a $10 coupon that they had mailed me a long time ago. So I got some spiral notebooks for my students, just in case, as well as those giant clear packing tape - they're the only thing that works to hold up my posters to the brick walls in class. While I was there, I saw these pens, and it said "Free Product" with online survey on it. So I thought that the whole package of pens would be free, if I bought it and went online to fill out a survey. As it turns out, they'll be sending me something free, but the pens were not. Sigh. But the pens are really nice, and I like them - they're colorful and smooth, and I can use them for all kinds of artsy stuff. =) They're Staedtler®. I wouldn't know the brand name if it wasn't for their white erasers with the blue wrapping on it - they were the first white erasers I ever had, and they're from Germany. Because I like their white erasers, I've decided that they must be pretty cool. ^_^

Oh yeah! I went to get gas. Gas prices are up. =( But not the 32 oz. drinks at Mobil gas stations! They were only 45 cents after tax. Woo hoo! So after staying those many hours in the morning at school, I cooled off with a big cup of Lipton Raspberry Ice Tea! ^_^ (It's not done yet though, so I'm still drinking it as I type!)

So far, no big after-summer cockroaches at school. I saw two little ones, and chased them off, but no big ones like last year to play hockey with, hee hee...did I say how big it was last year? It must have been a mutated supersized one - almost 3 inches long, and almost an inch wide. Scary! O_o

08.13.03, Wednesday:

[03:33pm] Check out these cool zoo pictures at the Yahoo News SlideShows, hee hee...not only do they show how the animals deal with the heat, but they're educational too! ^_^

[08:45am] Yay! I get the car today! ^_^ That means I can go into my classroom today and start getting things ready for school. This summer has been so awesome! ^_^ I'd like it to last much longer, but...oh well...I suppose America must be educated sometime, right? =)

Monday was awesome - not only did I get my car taken care of, but I also got treated to Swedish Pancakes at IHOP (so much more yummier than at Original Pancake House, cuz these ones are fluffier and come with that lingonberry butter!) and had Juice-It-Up's Just Peachy drink! ^_^

Yesterday, I finally got my salary stuff taken care of at the district - they didn't even have it on record that I had my Masters! And I know turned in the papers for everything last school year, and they had told me they did add it in. But, it's all fixed for now. =)

I don't have much to blog about, heh heh...I think cuz I've been busy working on school things and typing up handouts and such - it's not entirely TOO exciting, though I still have fun putting graphics and stuff on those papers! =) If anyone wants to shoot me ideas for science, go ahead! ^_^ I like gathering ideas! =)

08.11.03, Monday:

[07:21am] Is it upsetting when I don't update? Hee hee...what if I never updated again? *gasp* J/k... Maybe only for Gilbert. =) It's been a few busy days, so I haven't really had too much time to update. =) Friday was the wedding...it was lovely, even though I was late to both the wedding and the reception!

On Saturday, I had breakfast with Agatha, Sam, Bei, and Cory at the Original Pancake House. I got the Mandarin Crepes...mmm!!! ^_^ Then we were off to the Disneyland Hotel for Cory's Tae Kwon Do tournament, where he got first place for his form. Wow, he was powerful! He ran out, yelled and bowed, and did his form really well, with really good kicks, and exuded with confidence, which impresses the judges. Especially coming from this tiny 7 year old that looks like he's still 5, hee hee...I also saw the black belts compete - the kids, as well as the adults. Man, they're quick! I also watched weapons, like the bo, bongs, and the nunchucks. I still want a bo, hee hee, but now I've decided that I also really like the practical tahn bongs, the short sticks. =) Weapons for me, one day. =)

my bro and I were talking last night - if we had enough money to last our lifetime, what would we do? Like would I still teach? I'd still teach, indeed - maybe I'd even start a new school where Heidi could run it, and we'd have all our neat ideas implemented (of which we have a lot of good ones that we can't do, because of administration and other issues...sigh...these are those theoretical ideas that a teacher would want and love to do)! But, I'd also be free to take time out here and there to take culinary arts classes, some weapons classes, learn a branch of martial arts really well...learn the crossbow for fun! And travel too! It'd be neat to go about doing this or that, learning all kinds of things along the way as one spends time in one place or another, hee hee. ^_^

Saturday night, I went to watch S.W.A.T. with some of my homies - after playing Uno/Street Fighter at our place. =) Fred thought that we had only Street Fighter on our SNES, cuz that's the only game he's ever seen us play, hee hee...it was then that he discovered that we also had a bunch of other games, good ones like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Turtles in Time), Mario Kart, Final Fantasy 3, and all that good stuff. Anyways, S.W.A.T. was a good movie, and I would put it up there with Pirates of the Caribbean! ^_^

I can't believe school starts in 2 weeks! TWO WEEKS! Where did the time go? This has been the best summer though, hee hee...I better get ready for school...

08.08.03, Friday:

[07:55am] My mom cut my hair yesterday - it's quite a bit shorter, though not too much (whew!)...but it will grow again. It's about the same as when I cut it last month, heh heh. =)

I watched About a Boy last night - it was quite brilliant! ^_^

Congrats to Christie and Mike!!! They're getting married today, and I'll get to see them for the big event tonight! ^_^

08.07.03, Thursday:

[08:25am] Oh yay! They're making Ella Enchanted into a movie! ^_^ As well as a few others...check the booklist! ^_^

Perseid Meteor Showers of August! Between 2:12 am - 4:35am tomorrow morning, northeaster sky! ^_^

08.06.03, Wednesday:

[12:03pm] Aw man...look what I found out today about CR-V's...=( I hope mine is okay. I'm taking it in for an oil change tomorrow anyways, so maybe they can look at this too.

Yesterday was Melody's Mom's bday! Happy Birthday to Melody's Mom! ^_^ I also went to Solvang and Santa Barbara, on a one day road trip. Solvang was more modern than I thought it'd be - for some reason, I thought it would be really old school Danish, heh heh. Oh well. I got my Danish Cookies! Santa Barbara had a neat Farmer's Market where we got some Pluots. Mmm, they're good and tasty - like the plum that is red on the inside, and more juicy! ^_^ The trip can be summed up in pictures here: (note - pictures have been removed...not enough memory storage on geocities, hee hee...)

08.04.03, Monday:

[08:17pm] Oh yay!!! I'm connected to the internet! Woo hoo! ^_^

I'll get those Magic Mountain pictures up sometime tonight! =)

[07:01pm] It really isn't that bad without 'net, but things like email and posting here can be a problem. On Sunday, for CCF, Mello, Fred, and I taught our lesson! It was fun in that it was not just "blah, blah, blah" the whole time - we had some other things, like a time capsule type writing assignment, a skit, a song, and some good discussion. It was also at Ralm's house, and he showed us his two year plans for his house - he's adding a balcony, a jacuzzi below that, an extra patio room, AND a room for a pool table. Plus garden areas bordering that whole renovated chunk of his backyard. Hee hee...crazy, but cool - he has a nice way of accessorizing his living quarters. =)

Eric is back from Thailand, and so he granted me a visit today, hee hee. =) It's nice to have him back here. =)

08.03.03, Sunday:

[08:20am] Internet is fully down. It may be a hardware problem (the cable modem), but my cousin is having the same problem, so it must be a Comcast problem. =( They won't be able to send someone till Wednesday.

Before I go on...Happy Birthday to my car! ^_^ It has hit 20,000 miles today - not bad, when you think about when I was still commuting to UCI. But still a lot!

On Friday, I visited Lorie, where we went to eat a neat diner and watched Bend It Like Beckham in downtown Burbank. I didn't have any expectations for that movie, and so it came out way better than I thought it would - I liked watching them all speak in their English accent, or better yet, their Indian-British accent. =) Accents are neat, hee hee. =)

That night, Fred, David, my bro and I went out to Irvine to find Shelton and celebrate his birthday! Happy Birthday Shelton! ^_^ We ate at that China Garden place till our stomachs were about to, as Fred put it, lyse, and then we hung out, loitered in front of Shelton's place, and then loitered in the house after. We loiter a lot, hee hee...it's all good. =)

I spent all day at Magic Mountain yesterday with Ros, Takako, Chris, Jerry, and Nathan. What a small world - Jerry's the guy that my bro remembers catching pigeons by the legs when he was little, he roommated with Jimmy, he knows Grace (and Mike), and of course, he knows Jason up at Cal - in fact, he's the person Jason had mentioned before that gives him a ride to church! I think I am getting old though, in terms of riding roller coasters - even Viper didn't seem as thrilling. =( "X" was neat, but it banged my head around a bit and I got a slight headache afterwards. I liked Scream though, and Goliath, even though it always has that "I'm-about-to-pass-out-and-die-right-here" feeling, just keeps getting better and better every time I ride it! ^_^ Colossus is classic and I still liked going on that one. =) After a full day there, we went off to our much anticipated dinner at Hamburger Hamlet. It's funny cuz we were anticipating that all day long, as well as daaaays before yesterday, hee hee...looking at the menu online, deciding our food already...okay, maybe not all of us were that crazy, but a few of us were. =)

Before I left for Magic Mountain, I was at SGVAC, and I got to see Sharon, Stacy, Chris Yu, Jenn, and a few others go off to Ensenada for their Missions Trip! I thought they'd have left already, but I'm glad they were still there so I could send my farewell's - cuz I've not had internet, I haven't been able to give them any last goodbyes, good lucks, encouragement, and that sort of good stuff. Ah, but they were eager and excited to go, and it's neat to see them go off into something that He has planned for them, even though we don't know exactly what He has planned. =)

08.01.03, Friday:

[07:35am] Happy August! ^_^ This won't be published online till way later...my internet hasn't been working at all. =( Not that I was here yesterday, nor will be here today, to use it, hee hee.

Rock Climbing was a ton of fun...I climbed a LOT more this time, and now my arms and HANDS are sore. But it feels good, hee hee. Of course, I didn't fail to get myself a few bruises and a painful tiny scrape on one of my knuckles. I suppose I just ain't too graceful. =) The youth really liked it - Josh and Chris were already experts, and everyone else seemed like they really liked it. I don't know about Amy, hee hee...but she did have a good time yelling at everyone and telling us where to go, how high up to climb, and what to bring down (like the poster at the top), hee hee. =) I forgot the batteries for my camera, but Thomas took a bunch of pics on his cell phone, so he can post them on the Visions site later. =)

After, we had pizza, a healthy salad to match that unhealthy pizza, and ice cream to celebrate Chris's bday! =) Let me recommend to you now that putting 14 magic relighting candles on an ice cream cone is not a good idea. But it's fun! ^_^

Melody also came over early to help me prep for this Sunday's CCF lesson. It's gonna be good, I think. =) We have a neat writing activity (ha ha...I'm such a teacher!) and a skit (we've recruited Thomas to be a Nazi soldier, though he doesn't know what he's doing yet) to accompany what we're teaching. =)

After everyone was picked up (I didn't have to drive anyone back today! It was cool - they all were able to be given rides and taken care of!), I went took a really long bath. Like I was reading a book Nina let me borrow, soaking to clean off the grime that built on me from the days' event, and just chillin'. Soon enough, my parents were demanding I get out, that it was not good to take a bath too long. I have my own theories though - I think that cuz they can't see me, they're worried that something might happened (like I think my mom fainted once in the bathtub when she was little, when she was taking a bath, or something like that) and so if I'm in there too long, they basically freak out. If they can't see the situation or hear anything, they can't control it. Ah, I got out obligingly - but it was quite nice to just sit there, really relax after a whole day of nonstop action, and be soaked with bubbles and read about The Frog Princess. ^_^

07.31.03, Thursday:

[08:09am] When you really think about it, Spammers have some creativity. Like they put all kinds of things in the subject to get you to open their email. Like "How come you don't email anymore?", or "I finally found your email!". Hee hee...I opened up my Juno email, which I haven't used in way more than a year - I can't believe it's still active! But yeah, it's all spammified. Oh well. If I don't know the name personally, it's trashed. ^_^

My last class of Shaolin Kung Fu was yesterday - among other things, we learned a REALLY cool throw that no one would let me try on them at home. I won't mind it if someone throws me - it's kinda fun! I wonder if any of the Youth coming over today would let me try it on them? ^_^ I'd like to take more classes, cuz I'm really getting the hang of it, and I don't want to forget these things I've learned. However, with school starting up, I don't know if I can make it anymore. =( I've still got a month, I suppose, so I'll think for a week if I'll take the August class, though I kinda doubt it. Anyone wanna spar regularly with me? I'll teach you cool things! ^_^

07.30.03, Wednesday:

[12:20pm] Let me rephrase this morning's post, hee hee...we all get groupie or flakey some time or another. It's just those that do it all the time that bug me. =) There are valid reasons to not be able to make something at times, right? It's when one does it consistently that it can be hassle-y. >_<

Oh! Oh wait. I forgot what I was going to say. Never mind. Off to eat lunch. ^_^

[01:10am] It drives me nuts when people get groupie. Like an old aquaintance I knew back at UCI...he and his pack would go either nowhere, or everywhere, together. If one came, they allll came. If one didn't want to go, they allll didn't want to go. What's up with that? At the same time, this mentality is so prevalent...anywhere and everywhere. AaRrGgHh!

And flakers are really starting to get on my nerves. I'm nice and all. But some people really do need to think of others and quit flakin' on things, whether it's me or other things. Just say you'll be there, or not - make up your mind. I don't mind if the flaking only involves him/herself, but when it involves other people, considering other people is important too. It's a hassle when flakers decided to, well, flake...last minute, or after "the point of no return", so to say. Sigh.

None of you reading would have to worry about this - most likely it ain't one of the regular readers here. Just venting some frustrations here...venting is good. Gets things out, and afterwards, I'm all okay, usually. I mean no harm nor nothing personal by any of this venting.=)

07.29.03, Tuesday:

[11:30am] Happy Birthday Chris! ^_^

So you can TRULY say I'm procrastinating. Instead of doing schoolwork first, I end up doing everything else - checking out my plants, taking pictures of random things in the house, and even preparing for dinner (and it's way too early to do this, hee hee...). I'll get to work. Right after I post some more here, hee hee...^_^

I've heard that saying, "Hindsight is 20/20", several times this week - from the reports about the 9/11 Terrorism Attack, and even in Christie's testimony on Sunday (I wasn't there, but I listened to the mp3 my bro made). And it's true - of course it is. Everything is obvious when you look back on it. From all those big historical events, like the Columbia Space Shuttle and the 9/11 incidents, to our own personal lives. I know I've made some stupid mistakes in the past, and if I had known what I know now, I would have never made them. And yet we, as humans in general, keep making them. It's like we have to experience the mistakes ourselves to finally get it (and sometimes, more than once before we get it). Many are mistakes where one can learn from, and yet others learn things too late, and it may cost them, who knows, their life? There's a funny, but rather cynical poster I saw somewhere that said something about "It may be that your only purpose in life to serve as a warning for others." *sigh*

Oh yeah, so now the whole Cambria/Hearst Castle/Monterey/Salinas trip is all fully cancelled. I was getting rather excited to go too - like I really wanted to see Nit Wit Ridge, hee hee...the name itself is enough to make me want to see it. =) But it's okay. We're still going to go visit Solvang as a day trip, so that will be neat, as I've never been there, and I hear neat things about it. =) Maybe I'll get me a Danish cookie. =)

Oh yeah (again)! I've uploaded all the church-related photos onto the OneCross Visions site. =) This is good - I no longer have to worry about webspace for church pics, and can reserve room here for everything else. =) I know I'll still eventually run out of room, but it buys some time for now, right? =)

My hibiscus plant is getting along well - there was a big lovely flower today, and the plant itself is getting slightly bigger - it had more than just one flower blooming the other day, so it's visibly growing. Woo hoo! ^_^

Shelton found these on Sunday in our fridge. I don't know what my mom uses them for, but at the moment, the package is still sealed. I know that one day, they'll just be part of some soupy concoction that she will create. You can have your own too, for $18! O_o

[09:50am] Hee hee...Jason just called and gave me some Good News. And it really is cool news, and we'll just have to trust Him to take care of things. It might even go really slowly. Who knows? But He has stirred something in their hearts...and that's always a good thing to hear. After I got off the phone, I was looking at this box of Rice Flour Mochi (the powdery kind of mochi) with Black Sesame filling...it had the double happiness sign on it. It was rather appropriate, so I ate one for the occasion, hee hee...^_^

(Okay, so it's a little blurry, hee hee...)

07.28.03, Monday:

[10:20pm] Something happened that was simply neat! =) My cousin and I went out to play tennis, only to find all the courts occupied. So we thought we'd go running instead, but ended up looking over his art work from his Visual Arts class. As a result, we spent a few hours where he taught me about "vanishing point" (drawing things from a bird's eye view), and how to use etching cream for making mirror designs. If his parents get him some etching cream, he and I are going to make a bunch of them, heh heh heh...^_^ Anyways, after that, I helped him out a bit with his website, going over how to use Frontpage and helped him to upload and link up a song. So he has that Tai Mai Shu funny Chinese rap up on his webpage now, hee hee...you can listen to it on his website (Sniper(+) Songs). =) But yeah, while we were at my house, a short thunderstorm happened, and we were like, "Yeeeah! Good thing we aren't playing tennis!" ^_^ God has His ways, right?

Other than that, my whole, entire day has been spent on the first week and some of the coming school year - besides figuring out how I want to layout my classroom, I also did some lesson planning and worked on the syllabi (some changes need to be made to the old one, as always), and I'm also working on a webpage for the class, hee hee. A whole day, and yet it's but a chip in the year to come. At least I'm slowly getting to work on this, right? =)

[10:41am] Happy Birthday Neil! =)

Arrrg....taking a break from mega-school planning...

Truth in Science News? More neat science stuff from Scientific American again. (Yeah, I love this publication! ^_^)

07.27.03, Sunday:

[10:54pm] Palm Springs is one karazy-hot place, my friends...it didn't matter what time of the day it was, heh heh...but it was still a nice weekend, as Ralm paid for my goods. =) Like food and movie ticket and snacks...essential things like that...for helping him out! ^_^ The ASU officers had their retreat, and it's really a good bunch of kids - they're still teenagers, hee hee, but they know when to get on track and work well together, and I think that if they carry out what they have planned for this year, Ramona's ASU will be really awesome! ^_^

It's so funny how self-conscious they were, like when it came to taking pictures. Well, not funny, as in funny Ha-Ha, but funny, as in interesting. Some of them warmed up to it, a little. But it's that age. My students at school don't like to have their pictures taken either. I was like that too then. Now? Hee hee...taking silly, goofy pictures and acting fobbish and such is a lot of fun. It doesn't matter if we look like complete dorks. Maybe we ARE fobbish. ^_^ When I'm 85, it'd be cool to look back on it and remember such events. Even if I had Alzheimer's, I'd still enjoy them, right? (j/k!) ^_^ That, and having a digital camera really allows one to go nuts with taking pictures. =)

When I got home, my bro and Shelton arrived a few minutes later after visiting Gilbert. Gilbert's home now, and he's mostly okay, which is great. =) my bro and Shelton made dinner, and we had a good time eating, chatting about all kinds of laughable matters (which I won't say here, so I won't embarrass someone, hee hee) and watching Bruce Almighty on the computer.

I also got a postcard in the mail this weekend from Thailand! ^_^

I'm off to a new week! Filled with more school prepping, cleaning, reading, rock climbing, eating out's, birthdays, Tri-Council meeting for CCF soooometime, and Magic Mountain in the end!

07.25.03, Friday:

[11:17am] My uncle #2's appendix had burst on Wednesday, so Thursday, I went with my bro to the hospital to visit him. 2 days in a row of hospitals...! He's doing okay, and as perky and funny as he usually is, so that's really good...and it was a close call, so I'm glad he's okay. =) He is definitely a Lau - he has that "Lau funniness", hee hee...^_^ Actually, I really like my dad's brothers...they're mostly really funny people who enjoy what they have, and take life as it comes. ^_^

I went to Target this morning to use my gift card - I needed contact solution. And guess what? I got a shirt! For...$1.64!!! Yes! And it's nice too - the rayon-y, sleek kind that I can wear to teach, hee hee...what a looovely deal! =) Ah...how I love excellent deals...! ^_^ I also got books for the Book Club, and I'll be starting My Antonia today. =) But I'll be gone this weekend - I'm helping Ralm out with his ASU Officer Retreat...in extra-sunny Palm Springs! ^_^

07.23.03, Wednesday:

[09:40pm] Dang, I'm blogging a lot today, hee hee...

It's amazing how much respect adults give you when they realize how old you are. For example. I look like a teenager or something. I can't help it - put me in a T-Shirt or a suit, it's pretty much the same, hee hee...But like today, at the hospital, this one nurse got all snippety with me when I asked her about some things for Gilbert. She thought I was some kid, not knowing what I was doing. I was talking to the phlebotomist, and he thought I was some kid too, until he realized I was much older, and then suddenly, there was this change in the way I was talked to. A whole newfound respect appeared.

Do I do this to kids? I don't think I do. I teach 8th graders, who want to be treated like adults. How come some adults out there don't give respect to kids? I suppose I could understand why they don't, hee hee, but it sure doesn't mean you can't rule a person out just cuz "they're a kid". The young ones have insights to share too, right? It's just a different kind of insight than older folks.

Oh yeah, I was listening to my They Might Be Giants CD, and realized just how neat, creative, and fun they are. They're all really random too. That's why I like them. Maybe they were high when they made their songs, aiya, though I hope not! Is there really any meaning in their lyrics? I don't know...you tell me...^_^

[06:10pm] Hey everyone - send a note to Gilbert...he's in the hospital. =P He fainted in class, and since he couldn't get a hold of family, he called me up. The school gave me the wrong hospital though, so I spent an hour out in the middle of nowhere (Colton has some parts that are truly, out in the middle of nowhere, hee hee...), waiting and waiting, calling all over the place, but noone picked up their phone, to find out what was going on. The drive there was interesting though - there was this one street full of litter and junk - plastic kiddie pools, tons of old couches and furniture...strange how everyone just one day decided that that street would be where all that stuff went. Why didn't they just dispose of it properly? Or donate it? *sigh*

Anyways, after that hour, and after having some school representative confusingly direct me all over San Bernardino (she kept saying, "Oh, that's the right way...no...wait, turn around...no, where were you? Oh wait, go back!"), I finally end up at the right place, and find Gilbert mostly okay. He lost a lot of blood, so there will be a transfusion later. Pray for him. =) And I think he'd appreciate any emails/shout-outs/phone calls (well, he can't use his cell there...but you can just leave voicemail messages, hee hee)/check ups. =)

I saw Harold there, and got to talk to him some. It's a shame that we haven't talked so much in so long. He was always a cool buddy. Other things happened though (nothing personal to anyone at all) Maybe this summer, we can all go out to play again sometime. =)

Anyways, I just got home. I'm going to get a bite to eat, and then head out to Kung Fu. Latas! ^_^

[12:53pm] I stopped by school today to visit some of my ex-students in Heidi's summer class, before dropping off a ton of stuff for my classroom. YES! It's NOT being used for summer school...so that means I can practically go in whenever I want to start working on it - they already cleaned my room! I also stopped by Linda's to finally give her her bday present from December (long story why I never got it to her, hee hee), as well as hang out with her for a while - it's been a while since I've seen her, as she's been busy with relatives that were visiting for the summer, but they just left yesterday, so now she's back to being free! =)

I was trying to decide what to cook for dinner tonight, and this came to my mind...

Isn't it interesting how we people over here in America worry about things like what to buy, wear, look like, eat, watch, where to go for fun...even how long to study something for school...and yet there are people out there in the world that have much more vital worries than that, like how to survive? There are those out there that don't even have the option of asking themselves everyday "Now what do I wear today? What would match this or that? What do I want to eat? Do I want to study this now?" And it's interesting to think that there are those in that condition that would realize that they are luckier than someone else who may not even have any needs or wants that they are blessed with already...the cycle simply continues. And yet it's those that realize this and do something about it that can help.

At the same time, just like the health difference in underdeveloped counties and developed countries (e.g. Mortality Rate based on Infectious Diseases vs. Chronic/Debilitating Diseases), each area has something else that would be the main concern of that place. Needs versus Wants. Survival versus Luxury.

It doesn't seem to matter what the situation is though. I mean, it DOES matter. But what matters more is what we do with what we've got - resourcefulness, using what's available to the best, putting forth the effort to move in a positive direction, no matter what situation one happens to be in.

[12:15am] What a good day! I spent all day (yesterday, technically) kickin' it at home, where I burned CDs, read my Scientific American, watched some TV, and did house things, like make dinner (mmm...Stir Fried Chicken with Shitake Mushrooms and Lily Roots...all on top of crispy, deep fried vermicelli!)...and then went to Puente Hills Mall to meet up with some friends! I found a pair of nice pants from Express...they were 80% off! Only $12! Woo hoo! I could wear them to work and to play, hee hee...they're denim-ish, but nicer than usual ol' jeans. =) I'm such a fob, hee hee...or is that, "I'm so Chinese"? ^_^

I went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean with Rosalyn, Takako, Jenn, Chris, Pat...even Pastor Dan was there! Ooo, it was such a good movie! Another one worthy to be bought on DVD when it comes out, hee hee hee...I usually don't find actors/actresses as WOW, but in this one, Orlando Bloom was WOW, hee hee...^_^ I think it was just the role, cuz even though he was neat as an elf in LOTR, it wasn't anything WOW. So yeah, I think it was just the role, hee hee...^_^

07.22.03, Tuesday:

[10:06am] So, Where Is The Love?

Since there are so many links in today's short posts, I thought I'd add one more, heh heh heh...^_^

[09:21am] Ooo...if you get the National Geographic Channel (which I don't), watch the NG Today program on Thursday (9am and 7pm)! I was reading my Scientific American, and there was a really good article on the Delphic Oracle (that you can read too!). Really neat stuff. =)

I had lunch with Dolly and Giang yesterday, at Daphne's Greek Cafe (do you see a Greek theme today? ^_^), and then Giang and I went around window shopping at the mall and doing errands to stall until traffic was over so I could drive home, hee hee...I haven't seen Dolly in almost a year, and Giang, we haven't hung out in a while, so it's always nice to hang out with them! ^_^ Giang's coming to Loma Linda, so I'll get to see her more! Woo hoo! ^_^

07.21.03, Monday:

[10:40am] Happy Birthday Sharon! It's the Goofsta's birthday! ^_^

VBS Closing Ceremony was awesome yesterday! The kids were a little shyer in front of the whole congregation when performing the songs, but they still did a great job! ^_^

We went to Banana Bay to celebrate Christie's return from Australia, as well as her and Mike's upcoming wedding! Afterwards, my bro, Kevin, Shelton, Christie, Mike, and I went to watch Finding Nemo. It was soooo good! I liked it a lot. Enough to want the DVD when it comes out, and the soundtrack one day, hee hee. ^_^ The previews for Brother Bear (as strange as the name sounds) and The Incredibles looked interesting too. =)

While I was at the theater, they kept playing Sam Cooke's song, "Another Saturday Night". It got stuck in my head, so I downloaded some more of his songs this morning - I like his music! ^_^ So now I'm a Sam Cooke fan. ^_^

07.19.03, Saturday:

[11:30pm] I'm back from today's festivities! The Tofu Festival was awesome! Hee hee...David, my bro, Kevin, Kathleen, Dorothy and I went...to get us all to fit in my car, we put my beanbag in the back, and threw David back there, hee hee...j/k...he reeeeeally wanted to sit back there anyways. ^_~ Traffic was bad, but we got there before the opening ceremony! Roger Fan, Parry Shen, and Karin Anna Cheung from Better Luck Tomorrow were there to host the ceremony, and we got to get their autographs and pictures taken with them! Karin wasn't around though, and my bro went back later to get her autograph, though she was taken by another fan and he didn't get a picture with her. =( Oh, but you know what was neat? When we came back to get pictures with them again (hoping to get a picture with Karin too this time!), Parry remembered my name! Crazy! But yep...we were all kinda scared, but it was neat to get our picture taken with and the autographs of somebody that was in a movie, hee hee...even if I didn't think the movie was AS good as Edwin or my bro said it was. Shhh! ^_^

After going all over the place, getting free things and samples, buying some food with our tickets (Lobster Balls were so yummy!), checking out the neat things from the vendor (we got a neato t-shirt for Edwin...I won't say what it says now, in case he's reading this and finds out before his time, hee hee...), and wandering in a hidden garden we found, we went around Little Tokyo, settling to eat dinner at Curry House. Mmm...so tasty....! Kevin's dish, the Seafood Gratin, was one of the tastiest dish there, heh heh...^_^

After a very tired day, we ended it by visiting Kohl's, where my bro and Kevin both got some very boffo t-shirts, for an excellent price. ^_^

Although I didn't get a Tofu t-shirt (didn't like their design), I still had a good time. My prize winnings for the day? My Hinoichi Fan that looks like the top of a box of Tofu, and the Hinoichi Tofu/box picture magnets. I got three of those. No doubt Eric's going to get one, muah ha ha...^_^ I also didn't get to see Iron Chef Morimoto, as he didn't come out till way later in the day, but we did get to taste his spicy tofu dish!

Anyways, pictures are up. Check 'em out. =)

[12:15am] Wow! I got props on Jason's website! ^_^ Heidi came over today to see my house finally, hee hee...and check out the garden too, to get ideas of how to organize it. My dad has an awesome garden, and I like the way he set it up, so I've told her many many times to come see it, hee hee...and she was impressed Daddy! ^_^

Afterwards, we went to Old Town Orange for our Book Club meeting at Deb's place, ate there, and after our meeting, loitered around Old Town. It has a bunch of antique stores, which can provide limited entertainment (after a while, the novelty wears off and they all look the same), as well as a Diedrich's. I got the Siberian Citrus...mmm...I remember blogging once that I was impressed with Starbuck's Tazo Citrus, but it is truly nothing when compared to Diedrich's. Diedrich's is so much better than Starbucks in so many ways. I don't like coffee, but their Hot Chocolate is heaven...and now, the Siberian Citrus...mmmm...^_^ Anyways, enough of this! =)

VBS was so awesome tonight...it was the last night...so sad...but there is the field trip tomorrow, and then the closing ceremony on Sunday to look forward to. Hee hee, we got the kids to sing and have them run around the sanctuary at the same time - our plan for Sunday's ceremony, hee hee...^_^ While leaving the church, I was pushing shut the gate for the back parking lot. It's dark out there, and the wheel on the game ran over my food. Owww....so my right food is bruised again. It was bruised about a month ago (I forgot why already...did I drop something on it?) too. My poor feet...=(

07.18.03, Friday:

[08:37am] Ick. Humid weather ain't any fun - the stickiness, mugginess and dreariness of it sucks out energy and mind, heh heh...In this weather, I don't want to wake up...I don't want to do much of anything...I constantly feel like I'd like to take a shower every few hours...and I keep thinking of the mosquitoes that would be born in this weather. I think I just tend to relate mosquitoes to humid weather automatically because of Hong Kong - the few times I've went, every time, I get bit, and the results are quite unpleasant. Are HK mosquitoes just more powerful? I think I'm just not used to them, and my skin goes crazy. Anyways, it's a given that I'd get bit, hee hee...kinda like a geometry proof (as much as I can't stand proofs).

Wendy and I went to Original Joe's for dinner last night. Mmmmm...good Italian food, big menu, very neat setting and crispy garlic bread! ^_^ We also went over our plans for our trip - yay! It's all done! I'm so glad to be done with it...I spent many days trying to figure out what to do. Like when you first hear "Cambria", it's like, what is there to DO there? But they have all sorts of things with curious names, such as Moonstone Beach (it's a beach that has black sand!) and Nit Wit Ridge. ^_^ And then Monterey seemed to have SO many things to do, all that seemed to cost a great deal...but we're NOT golfing or whatever, hee hee...just touring. Solvang, Morro Bay, Cambria, Monterey, and Salinas...woo hoo! ^_^

07.16.03, Wednesday:

[09:27pm] I got to play with beating sticks in Kung-Fu tonight! =) Actually, they were poles. But it was cool - I learned to swing them around and do a bit of fighting with them. Woo hoo! We did a few different kinds of kicks today, some jump-rolls, and some more defense moves. Other than that, my day was filled with Harry Potter (I'm almost done! It's quite good, and not as boring as the 4th book), doing some house things, and making dinner. I think 80% of my day went to reading Harry Potter. Which I intend to get back to soon enough. ^_^

07.15.03, Tuesday:

[10:40pm] I went over to Vanessa's, where we sang and practiced the songs and hand motions for even more songs, heh heh...then we had dinner at Iguana Joe's. We've never been there before, but the name was certainly curious enough to draw us in. The food there? Ick. =( Nothing special: small menu, quite average food (though the rib eye steak sandwich Vanessa got was good. Not fantastic, but good.), and hoooooorrible service. Our waiter was like watching WWF the whole time, while we were waiting and waiting and waiting for him to take our order, bring our food, get our check. Small tip for him, hee hee...

We picked up Wendy and Andy, and we were off to another night of fun, fun VBS! ^_^ It's neat to see these kids get so excited about VBS and the things that we get to teach and share with them! =)

Oy. I'm reading Harry Potter like crazy! =)

07.14.03, Monday:

[11:33pm] VBS was so awesome tonight! The songs went well and were fun to lead with Vanessa, even if I did learn all the hand motions last minute - woah, the Youth! Wow! They're all so grown up now, basically leading VBS and taking over on everything for it. They're called "Auntie" and "Uncle" by the kids at VBS. I've known most of them since they were wee tykes! I'm so proud of them! ^_^

Did anyone see the moon tonight? I saw it! It was a full moon, very low in the sky, really big, and browney/yellow/reddish looking. Interesting, hee hee. That also reminded me that a big Mars event is coming up, end of July through August - it'll be the closest distance to Earth since, well, almost 60,000 years ago. (Actually, that happens on my birthday, AKA the first day of school, hee hee...) It'll be brighter than Jupiter, and easy to find, as it's red! Woah! =) Check out Space.com for more info. =)

Oh yeah! Another mouse, though outside of the house this time. I found it dead in the corner of the garage today - it ate the poison my dad left out. So sad...that there are so many dying mice here...at the same time, there seems to be mice everywhere! (heh heh...don't worry, my house ain't infested and all. ^_^)

[11:50am] The church looks aaaaaawesome for VBS! It starts tonight! Ha...I don't even know my songs. Nor the hand motions that go with them. What will I do??? O_o

Mmm...I'm so excited about the Tofu Festival! ^_^ I got a coupon for a free admission (hey, that's $8 less to worry about!) in the ads from yesteday's LA Times. If you get LA Times, look through for it! It also has a coupon for a free box of Tofulicious, hee hee. I've never liked how some people could simply eat tofu from the box, straight from the fridge. It seems weird, hee hee...and I'm not a big fan of Tofu-Fa either (though I do like the syrup, hee hee), but this Tofulicious thing is not bad! =) It's like Tofu-Fa, only it's either mango, coffee, or strawberry flavored, infused IN the tofu instead of just a syrup floating around the outside. I got the mango flavored one, of course, and I'm quite impressed! ^_^

When I went to the grocery store, I also went to go get my parents some cantaloupes - they told me that Vons was selling 4 of them for a dollar! (Vons doesn't have Tofulicious - if you want that, head to your local Albertson's. ^_^) So I went to get 8 of them...and when I went to pay for them, it turns out that it was 4 POUNDS for a dollar. Sigh. I also went to Target, to get them a garden gazebo they wanted (our old one was broken), but they ran out; however they will have more this week. My mission today has been foiled!

However, Target has a school supply sale going on, and I got those crates that I need for class for $2 each. And I got artboxes, since the ones from last year are mostly broken. Woo hoo! ^_^ If you need school supplies, Target is the place to go! ^_^

Oh! You know what's funny about this Vons? When they're spray water on their veggies, a thunderstorm and rain sound comes on. Like a mini-version of Rainforest Cafe's thunderstorms...without the gorillas and elephants in the background. =)

I also drove by the Main Street Bistro in Corona and went in. It's been a long-time curiosity of mine, because every time I pass it, it's closed. It only opens from 7 to 4pm, and during that time, I'm working; but the sign on there, advertising for yummy pastries and sandwiches, as well as a sign saying they used Diedrich Coffee (I don't like aaaany coffee. But their Hot Chocolate is da BOMB! ^_^), was enough to make me want to visit it many times. =) It's a tiny little bistro/cafe, hidden in the back, and it's really quiet, tranquil and nice. They have a cool little garden patio. Maybe one day, I'll go there to eat and read or study something. That would be really cool. =)

07.12.03, Saturday:

[07:55am] Nooooo! I wanted to sleep in today! Didn't work, hee hee...^_^ Anyways, yesterday was fun! I hung out with my mom and aunt out at Rowland Heights, where we went grocery shopping, had lunch (really bad dim sum. =( Or maybe I'm just not used to it. The Siu Mai had little EGGS on there - Siu Mai is NOT sushi! Hee hee hee...), and bought some clothes at one of those Chinese places. My mom and aunt bargained like crazy (and we got an amazingly good deal...my mom bargained up till the VERY end...she's really good at this, hee hee...), and we ended up with some very Hong-Kongy clothes: made out of very nice materials, cut very well, and er...interesting designs? They were making me wear this or that left and right, dressing me up and such...aiya! I like some of them. Actually, most of them are pretty neat, hee hee. Though there is one with a very crazy-psychotic-denim-zig-zag design that my mom and aunt so loved and demanded that it be purchased, even if I told them that I probably won't wear it. Good deals can be good AND bad, huh? But I will wear it to school. Scare my students and intimidate them, ha ha ha! ^_^ That's the good thing about being a teacher - you can wear weird things. ^_^

I went to eat dinner with Eric and his co-buddies in Pasadena, getting to see lovely people like Pantipa and Ole, and getting to meet some others, and then went with him to his mom's place in San Dimas to hang out with his family, which is always interesting, hee hee. ^_^ Then I headed back to my land, Riverside County, in the Far East. ^_^

Today's plan? VBS Decorating at church, from 11am to 4pm - anyone coming? If we're done for today before 4pm, then we'll be leaving early. ^_^ Then off to the Commissioning Service, to send off people doing missions work for the next three weeks! And yeah - I'm going to miss Eric while he's off in Thailand...but I'm looking forward to August. ^_^

07.10.03, Thursday:

[06:42pm] I got this cool ping pong link from Jason. Check it out! ^_^

[06:20pm] Another runaway car on the news again. *sigh* I got my eyes checked this morning, at Walmart, hee hee. Kaiser just sucks when it comes to making appointments...cuz you end up being scheduled to the next available appointment, which is usually about 2 months from when you call. =Þ But the Optometry in Walmart was good - they were playing Lilo and Stitch on their TV, so I got to see some of it (I've never seen it before, though I here I have to!), and the optometrist not only checked my eyes, but educated me about what she was doing. That's one of the things I like whenever I get to go to any health thing. ^_^

Oh yeah! My eyes haven't changed! The prescription is the same! ^_^ Whew. Like it could get any worse? (I better not jinx myself!) ^_^

I made dinner tonight! Mmm...it was tasty! The menu:
-Stir Fry Celery topped with Sliced Shitake Mushrooms and Chinese Sausage
-Fried Eggs, with the yolk all runny and edges crispy! mmm...
-Stir Fry Shrimp with Herbs (Thyme, Parsley), Onions, and Tomatoes (and some cooking wine, hee hee!)

07.09.03, Wednesday:

[09:20am] There's this cartoon that comes on Cartoon Network every morning from 8:30am - 9am that I watch when I'm downstairs. It just happens that I'm there at that time, heh heh...it's called Sitting Ducks. It's good - I like it! There never seems to be a really evil bad guy, but situations that the characters find themselves in that they have to fix or get out of somehow by either working together, being creative and courageous, and by building character. It's cute! ^_^ It's neat to see these 3D ducks and penguins waddle around Ducktown. ^_^

But it also reminds me of old TV shows. Like Little House on the Prairie and stuff. Weren't those shows so...so...what's the word? Good? Wholesome? Something along the lines of that - where morals were upheld and character counted, and such were the things taught to those watching television. Interesting how times (and society) has changed, huh?

07.07.03, Monday:

[07:20pm] After-dinner thoughts to finish off this cruise rant:

*Relaxation everywhere. No worries to take care of. Not even things like making your bed or cleaning the bathroom to stress over. ^_^ But I wouldn't go on another one anytime soon. It'd be a loooooong time if I even plan on going again. There were times when I felt like I should be doing SOMETHING, hee hee...;I suppose I'm too much of a do-er. =) But yeah, I'm not a beach person, so the sitting-in-the-sun-deal didn't click with me too much. I had more fun with the galley tour, the neat tricks they taught us, finding nooks by the ocean to read my Scientific American, playing at the gym, and exploring other things to do besides going to the casino, clubbin', or drinkin', heh heh. ^_^

*My dad was sick most of the trip. And he also fell one night, really hard. I was so worried about him! =( So yeah, I'm glad we all came back okay...prayers are STILL appreciated. Actually, my bro has also gotten these strange headaches that could be sinus related, or not. He's not feeling all too hot either. =P

*But now I'm back! I better get in gear and figure out this Hearst Castle trip, and the VBS decorations for next week!

[06:23pm] Wow, a lot went on while I was gone! my bro didn't water the plants, so like my little houseplant is droopy and has some leaves that are turning brown...Calvin's back in HK...Christine and Michael are visiting SoCal from Seattle...CCF started with the Tri-Council yesterday (only I wasn't there, heh heh)...my computer has a bunch of things on the desktop that I didn't put on there...there's some rat climbing around our house (like in the garden) that my dad plans to trap soon, and anyways, yeah...that wasn't a LOT, but there's more, I'm sure! =)

There's also a ton of strange, funny, and interesting articles about "Life in Asian America" over at explode.com. There's a lot, so take your time. =)

The cruise was fun! Highlights are:

*The ship had all kinds of fun things to do - eating (and this was never a problem on the ship, aiya!), a tour of the galley, a spa, a gym to play at, swimming, the jacuzzi, little sessions on how to fold towel animals and cutting up neat garnishes with fruits, seeing an ice sculpture made, random touring around the boat, ping pong competitions, and all kinds of stuff. I got a cookbook that has many of the really good stuff we dined on.

*The Food! We ate all kinds of stuff! Giant lobster tails...Escargot (I thought it'd be more chewy, heh heh)...Scallops with a piped mashed potato garnish...Curried Apple Soup...Swedish Almond Chocolate Cake (mmmm! another Swedish thing I've discovered and like!)...Baked Alaska...some type of ice cream with poached pears...Lox and Bagels...spiffy omelettes...anyways, there were a LOT of desserts and a LOT of really tasty appetizers, salads, and main courses. EVERYTHING was just there, and plain tasty. ^_^ They had a sushi bar too, but I didn't really like it - I'm not a sushi person, but I think I've actually had better, so perhaps this one wasn't THAT good.

*Ensenada is a neat city, in that it's not just "Mexican"...but a mix of everything, like in California. The population consists of, besides what one would normally think of as a "Mexican", Russians, Chinese, Italians and other Europeans, as well as some Indians and other ethnicities. Neat huh? Besides a tour of the Civic Center and the city, we also toured an old winery. They usually give every guest samples as well as a bottle of something to take home, but not the day that we went. Why? Because the next day would be Election Day, and as a result, all alcohol has been prohibited from being sold anywhere. Isn't that interesting??? We were told by some people that candidates used to bribe people with alcohol, heh heh. Aiya! =Þ The city is neat though - buildings are mostly brightly colored, and there were little food vendors everywhere! I didn't get my fish taco nor churros de relleno, but I did get a fresh seafood ceviche! Mmm...deeeelicious! They had a lot of octopus in that one too, and that, I truly relished. =)

*The boat rocks back and forth, and it takes some getting used to. I never really slept well though. Not because of the rocking, but perhaps the mattress was WAY too soft. My back ain't feeling all that great. So when we got home, and I finally got to sleep in my own bed, that was looovely! Although waking up and finding the room really hot is not that great. The weather was great on the boat, probably because the inside was air conditioned, and the outside constantly had a breeze.

*Our headwaiter, Joven, was really awesome! Not only did he do his waiterly-things, like know our preferences by the end of the first day, but he also knew everything about everything in terms of what to do, where to go, and when to do this or that. He also demonstrated the napkin-folding during the galley tour, and he can balance things on his head and dance at the same time (and probably limbo too, ha ha! Nah, I think they had something that stuck the platter to their heads). He explained to us that they work for 6 - 8 months at a time, without being able to go home. Many of them are from countries outside of the US, and he was from the Philippines. That's a crazy working contract huh? So anyways, we tipped him big, cuz he was cool. That night, guests are traditionally expected to tip the Maitre'd, but like we never saw him until the very last night, where he greeted each table for a few seconds, and when he announced things to us during dinner, we would never see him nor would we understand what he said. So we didn't tip him. Woops?

I'm sure there's more to say. But right now, I'm about ready to eat a light dinner with RICE. I haven't had rice in days. I must have rice! ^_^ Pictures will be up soon, so wait patiently. =) Till latas! ^_^

07.04.03, Friday:

[10:10am] Happy 4th of July!!! ^_^ Catch fireworks at your local areas today - there's science involved! Chemical reactions galore! And maybe some physics too...=) I've been reading Scientific American this morning. I love this magazine! ^_^

07.03.03, Thursday:

[10:30pm] I counted all the moves I learned yesterday in the Shaolin Kung Fu class. Besides the basic roll, punch and kick, I learned 5 different throws! Woo hoo! ^_^ It was fun, and I practiced on my parents at home - they were quite impressed, hee hee. ^_^ I've decided that, like Chun Li, I like kicks more than punches. =)

After class, I stopped by Heidi's place - it was fun to catch up with her, whether it be business about school, or just whatever we were up to! I plan on dropping by one day to see her summer school class, which is the Language Arts class that 8th graders from last year need to pass to get to high school. Our team had the least amount of students that were retained! There were only 4 students from our team that had to repeat Language Arts. It's awesome, cuz we worked with all our kids so much, and it was looking like there would be more repeating, but nope...only four! =)

I'm about packed for the cruise tomorrow! Yay! I can't wait! I hear Ensenada has good fish tacos. So I'm going to get me one. And Heidi says that a little above Ensenada, in a place called Bufadora or something like that, they have Churros de Relleno - chocolate stuffed churros! Something I should definitely try at least once! =) And of course, not to mention that there will be mighty good food just laid out all over the ship for the taking, hee hee. ^_^ I don't plan on pigging out, hee hee...but I do intend to try many scrumptious morsels! =)

07.02.03, Wednesday:

[02:15pm] My hair is cut! ^_^ It's only about shoulder length, so it's not thaaaat much shorter than before. Though after my mom cut it, I had to pick up a massive amount of hair from the ground. There was so much of it! And it was soft! But anyways...hee hee...

It feels very light. Like I can turn my head and not feel that much of it attached to my head. I like it. And over summer, it will grow, grow, grow all over again! ^_^

No, it's not highlighted. I thought it'd be fun to have some subtle hints of color, just for summer. But then I heard you have to bleach it. NOOO way is that going to touch my hair! Heh heh, I don't mind - I prefer my Natural Chinese Black hair color. =)

Shaolin Kung Fu tonight! I can't wait! Hiiii-yaaaaa! ^_^

07.01.03, Tuesday:

[12:10pm] Aiya! I'm horrified! O_o I'm a fan of Jewel. I like her music. my bro downloaded a bunch of things (I guess he's reverted back to d/l-ing things, hee hee) and I watched the Intuition video, a song that I didn't even know she sang. MYYYY goodness. This ain't Jewel! It's like...Britney Spears or something. O_O ! (still shocked!)

At first, I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe her lyrics were a sarcastic throw at pop music nowadays, compared to the music she is known for writing and being a part of. But no. After looking up her newest CD, and reading some reviews...I've accepted that she's changed her music style. Like Mariah Carey, she has, as you can say, hoochified herself. *sigh* It's too bad. I like her old stuff.

I know people change. It happens. It's their own personal choice. The question though, is in what direction one changes. I have no right to judge Jewel, hee hee...I mean, who am I to have that right? But if you watch that video, anyone would know that this ain't gummy-stylin' (I can make judgements for my own preferences, right? Hee hee...) at all. It's kinda sad - my world anyways, is short one less good artist. She was one of my favorites. Oh well, I should go buy the old CD, instead of d/l-ing music off the web. Maybe Jewel lost confidence that her music was any good, because not enough people bought her old music (though I think it did pretty good, right? hee hee), and the lure of the shiny glitz, glamour and publicity that people like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera get is more appealing? Maybe I could have made a difference if I bought a CD, hee hee. I can only dream, right? ^_^

06.30.03, Monday:

[10:55pm] Universal Studios today with Rosalyn, Takako, and Jimmy! What else can I say, except that it was fun fun fun??? How could it not have been, with this group of people? ^_^ The Mummy's Haunted Mansion type place was suspenseful and thrilling as we wound our way through the maze holding onto each others' backpacks; going on Jurassic Park three times in a row to assure that everyone got wet, and that we made a different pose for each time they took a picture, was priceless; Shrek 4D was awesome, and the other new as well as old rides were all just as fun for all of us! We were all pretty pooped out by the end of the day, but it was good nonetheless. =)

Sunday was busy, but not stressful, as is becoming typical of my summer days (which is awesome, by the way!). ^_^ Picked up Q for church; Sunday School and Service; VBS Meeting; Jenn's birthday party; dinner at Penang; hung out with Eric. ^_^

In Sunday School, we talked about Conducting a Spiritual Audit. It's good stuff, and made me reflect on many things. Read them if you're interested or have the time. It's really insightful and meaningful stuff; I'm thinking of teaching CCF this for our next quarter, as it made me think and realize of a LOT of things that are so essential and important to us all.

We were short of players on our bball game yesterday, though the guys played really well with what we have. I'm sad that they didn't let me play though. =( I'm no good, and sure I'm pretty useless to the really competitive teams that are playing, but I'm sure as heck not limited to "cheerleading cuz I'm a girl", as someone won't stop saying. It's not just that though. Noone even supported that I play or helped advocate to "Yeah, let her play!", and that was really, surprisingly disappointing. I would have supported someone else, if it was the other way around. Is it really about winning, or is it about playing and enjoying that time? It's like that last kid that ain't picked for a team, cuz the rest of the players are only worried that their own image won't look so good. That they'll lose. It's just a game. It ain't a life or death situation. I'll shut up now. Cuz some people who read this blog might take it way out of proportion, when it's not meant to be that way. *sigh*

06.28.03, Saturday:

[08:55pm] My goodness. I've been literally all over Riverside/Corona today. Sooo many things to blog about today! My mom's been on this "Let's go all over this city that we live in, and the next one too" mood, hee hee...=) So we traveled to the mall and I got new shoes (wow! So fast! Not my old K-Swiss's, but they're pret-ty neat-o!). We stopped at Levitz, and I realized just how big white-people furniture (okay, Caucasian furniture? Hee hee...no offense intended!) are compared to asian-people furniture (yellow-people furniture? ^_^). I'm used to going to those asian run furniture stores, and the sizes of them are fine; at Levitz, everything looked big. Like I was in a furniture store for giants, heh heh! =) At Home Depot, my mom went looking for some plants, and I saw a loooovely-neat-super-heavenly-looking flower - a Dahlia flower. That will be the next thing I want to plant. Woo hoo! ^_^

I'm going to go cook that Pineapple Fried Rice and make the Mango/Strawberry Sticky Rice dessert for Jenn's party tomorrow. Mmm...how I love tasty treats!

[03:50pm] More tidbits:

*I need to cut my hair. It's getting quite long, hee hee...I always tell myself that I'd change the style too. But it's been the same since like forever. I like it, and am quite comfortable with it. Am I supposed to get out of my comfort zone in this area? hee hee...^_^

*My tennis shoes are dying! There's a tear in part of the seam...you can see part of my feet through one of them. These only lasted 2 years! *sigh* My old ones lasted 4. Heh heh...I want my old K-Swiss's again. =) Though the myth is that females enjoy shoe shopping, it doesn't apply to me most of the time. I'm a ruffian, remember? ^_^

*Chinese Fellowship was interesting today. Picked up some more mandarin, and even sang along (I have no idea what words were coming out of my mouth, hee hee) to some of the songs. =) On the way home from fellowship, my dad got another sinus headache again. Makes me worried. =(

[09:26am] So many interesting things have happened in the past few days, hee hee...here are some tidbits:

*My cousin is on Friendster! Heh heh...it was strange finding her there, but even stranger that she knows one of my friends, and even MORE crazy that Jason had her IM, so now I have her sn, hee hee. I haven't talked to her yet, except once through email. What's funny is that I don't even use this Friendster thing - I signed up to support Timmy, hee hee. ^_^ So it's an interesting system, hee hee...=)

*I stayed up till 3am reading and finishing The Red Tent last night. Goooood book! ^_^

*Gilbert has been setting up a "surprise" bday party for me. He spilled the beans, so it's not really a surprise anymore. The funny thing is, I don't know a good number of the guests on the evite list; they probably don't know me either. That makes for a rather potentially interesting party, don't you think? hee hee...But it's cool. Gilbert has arranged my bday events for the past three years, so I never get the chance to feel neglected on those days, right? =) When I was 13, my parents forgot about my birthday - it was all due to a miscommunication of some sort, but I was quite sad that whole day, cuz, well, you know how important it is to turn 13 when you're a kid, right? So birthdays can be important, and that's why I like to recognize them for others, just in case anyone may feel neglected, hee hee...^_^

*I had dim sum yesterday. Hadn't had that in a while - mmmm...! They had one of the yummiest deep fried tofu around! ^_^ By the way, I'm going to the Tofu Festival in July! ^_^ So far, Dorothy is coming with me! Anyone else up for a day with tofu everywhere? A delicious adventure awaits, I say! =)

06.27.03, Friday:

[12:40am] I just got back not too long ago from watching The Producers. It was...good...but...there was a lot of lewd and crude humor. At first, it was funny, but then they kept pushing it, and well...it wasn't so funny after a short while. But it's better than what I'd imagine something like Rent would be, or those other musicals out there. I hear Rent is a good musical, but I also know that it has that kind of humor (a lot) in it, so I know that it's not something that I'd want to see. I still want to see Beauty and the Beast. Too bad it's no longer playing. At least I have the special edition DVD? =Þ

However, I did get to see Giang today! Woo hoo! ^_^ And I met a new friend, Kathy, and got to hang out with Eric, AND Tako, Jenn, and Ros were there. So many, all at once! =)

06.25.03, Wednesday:

[11:25pm] More pics put up. Goofsta' Sharon's linked up. Have a nice day! =)

[01:50pm] Since it was next to Wal-Mart, I stopped by Petsmart. I like that place, but while I was there, I was thinking that hey, it'd be nice to get a pet again...I watched the parakeet cage for a while, and they were all having so much fun...one of them had a long tail feather and was running around with it, while others were trying to get it from him. There was another that looked almost like Emily, except that he was male and not so brightly colored as she was - in fact, none of them were as bright and beautiful as her. *sigh* I got teary eyed watching them. =( So I went around to the rest of the store.

Maybe another parakeet one day, if one exists to be as bright and intelligent as Emily... A dwarf parrot of some kind would be really fun, but the ones I saw there ranged from $550 to $900, and they're usually that expensive. No lovebirds. And I don't care for finches, cockatiels, nor canaries. Maybe reptiles - geckos would be cool. But they only had tiny ones. A mouse or guinea pig would be neat, but none of those particularly called out to me. Fish would be neat - I liked the little Neon Tetras and Fancy Guppies. There were a ton of kittens napping and one enormously fat cat, but no dogs. I had seen a reddish Australian Cattle Dog once that I liked, and when I was at UCI, there was a pet store at Fashion Island where I would keep seeing the same little Long-Haired Dachshund that I simply wanted to take home. I saw snails at Petsmart too, but I don't think that would be too much fun to raise.

[10:25am] Summer is going by so quickly, it seems. It's almost July already! But I AM relaxing. ^_^ I still have things to do here and there, so it's not like I'm just bumming around the house, but it's not a stressful-busy, which is really nice. I planted my Hibiscus, I've been tending to my plants and meeting my summer goals everyday, running errands around the house, and cooking dinner for my parents. =) Even right now - it's 10:20am, but I've already done a lot - go to Step class, get batteries for our garage door, do some more other errands, clean up the kitchen, read some, and now blog. I want to wash my car...maybe tomorrow morning, hee hee...I have more to do today, but I can take my time at it. =)

I woke up this morning, and the first word in my head was "chop-socky". I don't know why. Was I dreaming about kung-fu flicks? ^_^

Yesterday was Tuesday. Did I mention how much I love Tuesdays? And getting to hang out with Eric? Did I??? ^_^

06.23.03, Monday:

[10:20pm] Some Summer Camp pics posted up. ^_^ Relaxing day today - played tennis with Andrew, made dinner for parents, went down to RH with my bro to run some errands, chatted on AIM more than usual. =)

06.22.03, Sunday:

[03:40pm] Home from Summer Camp! The weekend was soooo awesome! Recap: I got to cabin with Sally again (yay!); our cabin was great, in that we really shared a lot and spiritually supported each other, and it was a lot quieter than I'm used to (high school girls cabin - wow, different from junior high girls cabin eh? hee hee...); 2 girls recommitted themselves last night, which was awesome to see; a combo Cabin Time activity planned between our cabin and the one next door went really well; played paintball (and buddied up with Sharon and Andrew); Andrew and Anthony had a good time, which was really cool as it was their first time going (well, for Andrew it was anyways); Jason K. AND L. both got to go; TNT were awesome helpers and leaders; I got to know Kim more and we were able to talk about, well, all kinds of things; I got to see Jimmy Chu before he leaves for Texas; my car was written all over again, heh heh; I got me a free poster from JITB during lunch ^_^; and so much more...! ^_^

06.19.03, Thursday:

[11:10am] I took a field trip to Wal-Mart this morning to get an oil change and tire rotation for my car. During the almost 2 hour wait where I grew rather hungry, I realized some insights, if you will call it that, while browsing the store.

*I always have a difficult time finding a toothbrush. The regular sizes are way too big, and the children's sizes are just too small. The perfect size is the compact size. However, when the bristles are too soft, it does nothing to my teeth, and if it's the firm bristles, well, I just don't like them. So I like the medium bristles. That makes out for a compact, medium bristled toothbrush. Only one exists every time I go looking for it - the Oral B Advantage Plus toothbrush. Has anyone ever seen any other toothbrush that is compact sized and medium bristled??? Heh heh...

*One of my many summer goals was created today as well. I will grow a few plants, successfully! =) So I got a neat looking Hibiscus (except it's more of a pink/fushia color than this picture) plant to grow outside, and a dainty little Schefflera plant to tend to inside. If I keep them well, they'll both grow to be big and lovely! =) I think it'll be neat to know how to grow plants well. I can move up to fruits and veggies, like my super-powered dad, after I can successfully grow these two into good sized plants. =)

*I still need to pack for Summer Camp! I need to be ready in about 2 hours so I can pick up Kim!

06.18.03, Wednesday:

[04:15pm] This week is going by quickly...! Tomorrow is the day for summer camp already!

As for yesterday and today, though I kept busy (the loft is rearranged now! ^_^), it was still nice. Today, I read. Maybe I read too much. I read 300 pages! It's good book, but I'm not done with it yet...though I'm thinking that I honestly should stop reading it, at least for today. It was relaxing though!

I also have been getting my money's worth (or trying to, now that it's summer) at LA Fitness. I went to a class I thought was step, but it was actually a total body conditioning class. My adductor muscles (outer thigh muscles, right? heh heh...I forgot if that's correct!) hurt, cuz they had us do something like a squat, though we were constantly moving, for a long time. It's painful to go down the stairs or sit, hee hee...

06.16.03, Monday:

[11:59pm] Congratulations Thomas! My nephew graduated today from high school - he was the Salutatorian! =) Ain't that grand? =) I'm glad his speech wasn't like all the other cliché speeches I hear every year: "I remember four years ago, when we first walked onto this campus...and now..."

I got to meet up with Takako today for lunch. Yay! ^_^

My dad is still getting his migraine headaches. =( It makes me really worried...headaches suck. I get headaches whenever it gets really hot, and they make a whole day seem bad, but his is a different story. My dad certainly doesn't deserve them. Prayers would be appreciated...thanks...

[12:50am] Congratulations Edwin! We watched him walk, took pictures, went to eat at Market Broiler with his family, and played at Dave and Buster's for the night. Just got home. It's gonna be weird without Edwin around...four years have gone by already! That's a lot of memories. But I think that many of us have agreed tacitly that he is one of those lifelong friends that we're so lucky to meet every now and then in life. ^_^

By the way...my bro and I found this Star Trek Voyager game at D&B, where you shoot bad guys (like Silent Scope, House of Dead, those type of games)...sooo much fun...hee hee...You may call us nerdy, but it's Star Trek, and anything attached to Star Trek is usually pretty worthy stuff. ^_^

06.15.03, Sunday:

[04:19pm] I sure hope that the past few days are not indicative of how my schedule will be like for the summer, hee hee...it always seems that when I anticipate relaxation, the opposite occurs. Like today, at church, it was all karazy and hectic with getting food ready for the fundraiser and the car wash too. I hardly got to sit and talk with anyone, heh heh...but hey, we had a good time cooking and washing cars and attacking each water with water in various ways (might I add that Amy had water in her mouth and she SPIT it all out at me?!?). Thanks to the moms for helping us clean up for kitchen duty while we were washing the cars! =)

Edwin's parents are here - they're pretty cool. =) We'll be off to his graduation soon! ^_^

And what's with this of me blogging more than once in a day? Why do I choose these little gaps to go online and blog? Aiya...^_^

[07:00am]

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! My dad is super cool. That says it all! ^_^

Congrats to all the graduates!!! Congratulations Dorothy! Congratulations Edwin! How exciting, hee hee...to have finished college...I remember those days, muah ha ha...^_^ Edwin will be going back to Michigan...=(...and Dorothy will still be around, so hopefully we'll still see her around. =)

It was cool to walk yesterday - I got to see most of the my old friends from the program, and we all got to catch up and take lots of pictures, heh heh...=) Our Science and Math people were united once more - Stacy, Carina, and Mike - and the rest of our buddies from Cohort C, including Laura, Scott, and Roman! No Gina, Jackie, or Bruskey though. =( We got to stay right behind the flag that announced our school, so it was a good marker for people to find us. ^_^ However, my people came a little late and got locked outside, hee hee...I didn't know they'd be door-locking! But, they got to see me on TV (I was on TV! heh heh!), and we all got to hang out afterwards, which was great! Giang came too! My mom seems to have learned how to use the digicam and had a lot of fun using it to take a ton of pictures, heh heh...she's getting more and more advanced in terms of technology, hee hee...although she has yet to master how to use AIM. ^_^ We went to Lonestar Steakhouse for lunch (mmm...Cajun Ribeye!), and filled up on food before heading back through horrible traffic to Corona.

By the time we got home, my bro and I were dead tired, and Shelton was about to pass out sleeping too (except he got interrupted by a call to play bball, hee hee). But the day was not over yet! Dorothy was going to graduate too! So we went to UCR for part of the graduation ceremony before heading home to join up with Fred. We did mess around a bit at UCR...acting silly, jumping around some parts of UCR, loitering a bit and being hooligans...and realized that our antics were watched by some guy in a car as we were leaving the vicinity, hee hee...=)

We didn't have the party at David's due to some confusion that Dorothy and Edwin weren't able to make it - as it turned out, they were going to join us at the end. So they also joined us at our house later that night for mahjong (or well, I saw some people making a turtle out of the blocks before I went to sleep, so I don't know if they actually played!), watching VCD's on Fred's laptop, hanging out, and playing on the PS2. It was just a good hang-out time...something we actually hadn't done in a while, it seems. So it was fun, even if I had to go to sleep earlier so I could wake up early today to prepare for the fundraiser at church today. =)

06.13.03, Friday:

[11:06pm] What a day! Nonstop action, till now...

My original plans:
Wake up late and sleep in comfortably.
Drop off Science Protocols at the District Office.
Grocery Shop for Fundraiser.
YF - chillin' like a villian and precooking for Sunday.
Something for my cousin's bday.

What actually happened:
Woke up early. Tried to go back to sleep. Didn't work.
Did Laundry.
Drop off Science Protocols at the District Office.
Drop off more materials at Staff Development Center.
Pick up Memoirs of a Geisha at Barnes and Noble for next Book Club meeting.
Thinking that my mom nor bro would be home for lunch, I stopped by Juice It Up for a Just Peachy smoothie, which I haven't had for more than a year (fo' real!).
On the way home, I get a phone call that my mom IS home and wants to eat out. And my bro is home too - apparently, he didn't have to go to work till a little later.
Once I get home, we went to try out a new tiny neighborhood eatery, Cowboy Surfer Grill.
Upon arrival at home, I have time to wash my hair quickly and do some thinking and planning on how I want to move my loft before Vanessa, Nina, and Amy arrive for YF.
The next 8 hours are spent with these 3 crazy girls as we go grocery shopping, precook, hang out, eat dinner, and precook some more. Melody (and Megan) came by later, and Mello and I ended up doing most of the cooking while the girls basically abandoned their mission to help cook and clean up. It amazes me every time that these things usually leave me with more work than if I had done it myself - the cleaning itself was insane, and we're not just talking about dirty dishes and people not picking up after themselves, hee hee...I like my YF, but there are some that need to learn how to clean up and not go through everything, especially when they're at someone else's house, aiya... >_<
Minutes after the girls leave, our family went to my Auntie Rosa's to celebrate my cousin's birthday. Happy Birthday Andrew!!! ^_^

I just found out that besides my family, Takako and David will be the only ones I know attending my grad. ceremony tomorrow. I know it's not a big deal, but I'm a little sad that so little are going to be there. Eh, I walked already though, and a ton of people were there for that one anyways, hee hee...and I graduated technically 8 months ago. I'm just walking it now. Despite the dinosaur tail, the hood is still pretty neat. =)

All in all, this felt more like a busy Saturday than a Friday.

[01:30am]

Congrats Linda L., Linda Q., and David N.!

More dead balloons. ^_^

Don't know why I'm still up, heh heh...^_^ Summer break is on though! Woo hoo! =) My classroom is cleaned out, and I simply need to drop some curriculum things off at the district office for the science department tomorrow, and then I'm officially off! =)

Hotmail server has been down for a few hours Arg, I feel so gypped (Wow! I didn't know this was how one would spell this word!) without email! >_<

I watched Boy Meets World tonight with my bro. Corey and Topanga are married??? I've been so out of TV, hee hee...and the funny thing about Boy Meets World is that Corey reminds me of Edwin, heh heh. Maybe it's the curly hair. ^_^

06.11.03, Wednesday:

[10:17pm]

Congrats Joanna! ^_^

Many balloons have died, and will continue to be sacrificed this week. Graduation week renders many to be set free into the air and fly to who knows where. What I want to know is where they end up, and just who finds them in the end??? ^_^ My super cool niece graduated from El Dorado HS today! my bro and I got this giant grad cap balloon, heh heh...though we held onto it to give it to her after the ceremony. =) I also promoted my students today, and I turned in my grades too - I'm done for the year! I just need to be checked out tomorrow, and then it's finally summer break, officially! =)

Oh! One of my goals this summer is to learn php. Yep. That should be fun, heh heh heh...^_^

[05:15pm] I just realized something. Confidence in a person is really important. I know that's a known fact, but I just realized how important it really is, cuz it's affected someone I know. I mean, one needs to know who he/herself is, and what he/she wants in life. One needs to know how much one should take into account from what others say about him/herself, and not feel bad about him/herself. In return though, one must know how much and what to say to someone else. Too much confidence is not good. Too little can also hurt. It takes a while to gain a balance - it takes time, maturity and experience. And of course, it takes God. Confidence in Him cannot be compared. =)

06.10.03, Tuesday:

[10:50pm]

Congrats Wendy!!! ^_^

My lil' sis' graduated today from North HS. She's heading up to Berkeley this fall. Wow! She's all grown up! Heh heh...It was weird being at the graduation too. Like, honestly, for some strange reason, I don't remember too much about the ceremony itself. I remember the cow mooing. I remember that there were a lot of people, hugs, and finding some of my friends, though not too many - my family and guests found me pretty fast and we went to my house for ice cream floats soon after. ^_^ But to think - dang, that was SEVEN years ago???

Wendy's graduation was fun - her little brother, Andy, was SOOO excited! He was jumping up and down, clapping incessantly (really, he wouldn't stop clapping! ^_^), and shrieking and yelling his lungs out! It was awesome! =)

At the same time, it kinda made me more excited about this Saturday's ceremony, hee hee. I tried on the whole cap and gown ensemble. The hood is a little weird. Like I have this little dinosaur tail at the end of the hood! It's supposed to be like that, though I think it's still a little strange. All I need is a dinosaur mask, and I can make a perfect little T-Rex silhouette against some wall! ^_^

Last day of school was today! =) Promotion and staff luncheon is tomorrow...and check out is on Thursday. Summer's here again! Already! ^_^

06.09.03, Monday:

[07:05pm] Weekend recap: Friday night, my cousin came over. He got the SAME car as me...the same color even...and then the next day...my uncle down the street also got a silver Honda CRV. I like my car. But...but...ah...oh well, imitation is the highest form of a compliment, right? Hee hee...it'd be too funny if we all went out somewhere at the same time, hee hee...^_^ My (I typed in "mine's", but then I remembered, due to the constant reminder of someone who took English instead of Language Arts, that such a word doesn't exist!) car though, has a sidestep, which neither of them have. I AM smiling smugly. =) But then again, I guess they don't really need a sidestep at all.

I spent all day Saturday making those weeples. Literally. ALL day. However, I was rewarded afterwards with the movie Catch Me If You Can. Good movie. Even better company! ^_^

The mouse was finally caught, in a mousetrap. My bro and dad were so excited - they both wanted to be sure that I got a picture of it with the digicam, heh heh...but I'm not posting that picture up here. It's kinda gruesome. =Þ

I also went to Jamie and Jason's wedding yesterday. Enough of these weddings - so many of them! Heh heh...but it was neat. Even though I didn't know the bride and groom too well, I still had a fun time. =) I even learned how to fold those dinner napkins into swans (well, er...the ones I made kinda resembled swans...). Very cool. ^_^

06.07.03, Saturday:

[09:30am] I can't find these weeples anywhere, hee hee...I've been looking for them, online and physically in the stores, but now, it's almost the end of the school year. I wanted to get them for my students, hee hee...do you know what I'm talking about? These, as two of my students have dubbed them, "legendary fuzzballs", are made from big pom poms and have eyeballs on them, as well as sticky feet. I can make them, I guess. But the feet won't be sticky, heh heh...They're so cool, so I wonder why they aren't around more. I mean, you can pay me in weeples and I'd really be quite content! ^_^

I suppose I'll head down to the crafts store after step, and get me some fuzzballs, eyeballs, and feet material...do I really want to make 100 and some of these "legendary fuzzballs"? I think I do...! ^_^

Yesterday was good. All my kids were mellowed out from the field trip the day before, hee hee...^_^

06.05.03, Thursday:

[09:05pm]

Happy Birthday Mommy!!! ^_^

Field trip to Pharoah's today! ^_^ Lots of fun playing with the kids and other teachers - cards, water slides, the "Nile River", miniature golf (I got a few hole-in-one's!), and just hanging out. Only one injury - one of my kids sprained a finger pretty badly but is a-okay. Parent pick-up went smoothly and quickly. After, I went to the BTSA Focus Group meeting and am all done with BTSA forever and ever! =)

Then I met up with my mom and dad for dinner - for my mom's bday dinner! ^_^ We ate at Chen Ling Palace. I now have newfound respect for that place - I didn't before, as I didn't think their food was that good. Plus, I always see people eating the fake Chinese food there - you know, the "white people version of Chinese food", which includes things like Mu Shu Pork, Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet and Sour stuff, and all that stuff. So like we order REAL Chinese food, like Ginger and Onion Baked Crab, steamed Tilapia, XO Flavored Fried Tofu and Seafood in a Clay Pot, and the such. My dad decides to throw in a sweet and sour pork, and the lady waitress is like, in Chinese (as there are primarily English speaking customers around her), "Are you sure you'd want to eat that? Those foods are normally geared for them..." Ah. So they understand. ^_^ So she recommended a traditional favorite, King To Spare Ribs. And the food we got was deeelicious. =)

I'm reading The Nanny Diaries, and I really like it! I recommend it to everyone, heh heh...I was instantly hooked onto it. It's funny and witty, and it uses big words and phrases that I like (and I've learned a few new words too!), such as: cacophony, baronial splendor, insouciance, making offerings to the Tuition Gods, and anyways...it's good so far. I like it. =)

06.04.03, Wednesday:

[07:29pm] I'm in such a grumpy mood today...and I don't know why. I think it was all set off after the staff meeting. We were supposed to have a Science Safety Meeting (don't ask me why we're getting this now, at the END of the year, heh heh - but oh, the District's safety posse ain't exactly the smartest people in the world - did I ever mention that they took away our alcohol thermometers once cuz the guy fully believed and swore up and down that they were mercury thermometers? My goodness, mercury is silver, not red colored! *sigh*) from the district at 1-3:30 today. As it turns out, "LD" gave us the wrong time - the meeting was actually from 3 - 5:30 (and our staff meeting would end at 3pm). That would be fine, except that I was supposed to go to a BTSA Focus Group meeting to get my credits at UCSB. I had all my work done nice and neatly ahead of time and was ready to show it all and get my credit, heh heh...The meeting lasted straight up till 5:30pm, with the lady presenter talking very slowly and her telling us strange and ridiculous things, like why they haven't picked up a few boxes of old and dangerous chemicals that we've asked them to pick up...two years ago (it's still sitting on campus. I think it might be quite volatile, heh heh...), that we're not allowed to accept donations from our students for supplies for class, and only allowed to pay for those things via purchase orders. Even things like sugar, corn syrup, salt, and vinegar. Of which, since that's the rule, we're fully out of compliance this very moment.

Anyways, I couldn't make it to my meeting, came home and missed step class (and the good instructor is back now), and have a ton of journals to grade. Tomorrow, we're going on our field trip, but who knows if I'll be up to having fun at all if I'm up all night grading?

I'm supposed to go buy some contact solution since I'm all out. I just have a little travel bottle left, which is nearly gone. But I don't feel like going out to Wal-Mart right now.

The dates for our Youth fundraisers for summer camp got all mixed up. my bro left me some post-it notes with short sentence fragments, of which I did not understand, and so I asked someone at church about it, and she told me which dates the Board wanted me to do the car wash and fundraiser on. However, I get the pastor's newsletter and it's all different. Apparently, there had been some miscommunication between the Board, my bro, his post-it, and me. I had just emailed the youth this morning about the two dates for the events; as it turns out, they have us scheduled for our original dates - both events on the 15th.

I called UCI over and over again to ask if it was okay that Mello pick up my cap and gown. However, all they have are these silly automated voice messages, and no one picks up. They're only open while I'm teaching, by the way, so I've been calling the past few days to find out during my conference period, and have not once heard a human being on the other side of the line. (But thanks Mello, for picking it up for me!!! You're awesome, as you always are!!! ^_^) So if I have time tonight, I'll drive down to her place and drop off my ID card. That is, if I grade all these journals and am not pooped out tonight.

And all these things are just silly little things - I don't know why I'm so grumpy. Normally, I'd just dismiss it after a few minutes of wrinkling my forehead and move on to something else to do. Maybe I need to just sleep in. Anyways, I think I'm done venting, for now...>_<

06.03.03, Tuesday:

[06:21pm] My goodness, this Mark Walker kid is supa' fly! ^_^

It's also important to inform everyone that tomorrow is Free Doughnut Day at Krispy Kreme. I wonder if it's just the regular glazed ones that are free, or if it's good for any donut in the store? ^_^

06.02.03, Monday:

[05:55am] This strange metal noise woke me up this morning, twice. The first time, I ignored it, and went back to sleep. The second time, it was too persistent for me to ignore (and I was more awake then, so I realized it must have been something unnatural and foreign in my room that was alive!), and I woke up, curious and slightly scared as to what in the world would be in the metal box by my bed. Perhaps a stray insect or something that got stuck there somehow. So I wake up, turn on the light, and walk back to my bed, still half asleep, and next thing I know, this large, dark colored something leaps out of the box and onto my bed. With still-sleeping eyes, all I know is that something MUCH larger than an insect has somehow found its way into my room and has jumped onto my bed! I back up, freaked out by this unexpected horror, and it leaps onto the ground, runs a little ways, and then backs up under my bed within milliseconds. Me, thinking it's some giant insect (but by now, I'm thinking it could be a lizard), squeal and run straight over to my parents room where I hopped onto the bed for a few seconds (my parents are already up and about, and had no idea I was even there!) and let my mind settle down from the surprise and think, what was it?

Of course! It was a mouse! HOW in the world did mouse get all the way up to the shelf by my bed? My parents say they can jump really well and climb up all sorts of things. It was either in the house, or more likely, someone didn't close the screen door in the garage well, and it got in.

And thus, Good Morning to you all! ^_^

The weekend was great - I did practically no schoolwork whatsoever, can you believe it? One of these rare weekends of the year where I actually lounged around, did housework, and concentrated on things outside of school (though this week itself will be busy with, the last Journal Check of the year for all students!)! I went to a Takako-Party. ^_^ She's back! Yay! =) I also watched Matrix Reloaded with Gilbert, David, Shelton, Kathleen, and my bro down at Ontario - it was lengthy, but also good in terms of putting everything together. I liked the plot twist. It was weird - I like fighting and action, but there were points where it seemed to be TOO long. TOO long action scenes for me? Surprise, surprise...but yep, strange...maybe I'm getting OUT of the action scene? Nah, I doubt that's true. =)

Yesterday was our church's 12th Anniversary Celebration! I've been at RCAC that whole time. Wow! CCF at Ralm's was fun, filled with Patrick's good cooking and fun with the gang. =)

05.30.03, Friday:

[11:10pm] Correction: It was my bro who started the food names, months, maybe a few years ago even, of calling David "Dan Taat" (who is more commonly called DVD) and Edwin as "Baat Fan" (White Rice, as he's the white-tess of all of us, and loves cheese and pasta more than any full blooded Chinese person could). The rest of the names were concocted last weekend. Oh yeah, Dorothy was "Siu Hong Bou", but somehow, that became "Siu Loung Bao", and I think we're sticking with the "Siu Loung Bao", ha ha...). Such silly, silly, silly things we do...^_^

[05:45pm] Friday already? This week went by super fast!!! It was a good week though. And all next week, we're building roller coasters and going on our 8th grade picnic at Pharoah's again. Plus, it's the last full week of school. Wow!!!

Here's a funny link on Ping Pong that I got from our CCF forums...^_^

I forgot to mention that many of us were bequeathed with nicknames on our Las Vegas trip. Kathleen's "Ha Gow (Shrimp Dumpling)", and I'm "Siu Mai (Open-Faced Dumpling)". David's "Dan Taat (Egg Tart)", my bro is, I think, "Ow Hou (Beef Chow Fun)", and Shelton's "Souw See (Sushi)". I forgot the rest. But we all ended up with food names because Calvin's Chinese name was mis-pronounced by Gilbert as "Ju-Cheung", or Pork Sausage (or Intestines, depending on which way you mean it, hee hee...). ^_^

I got a cool shirt yesterday. It has a picture of some Japanese person with Chun-Li style buns. I like it! My students too, hee hee...^_^ I got it yesterday when I had a 2 hour break between being done with schoolwork and waiting for the Choir Concert to start. My students invited me to their Choir Concert, and it was so cool - they were looking for me before I even showed up, and when I showed up at the doorway, waaaay in the back of the auditorium, they started screaming "It's Ms. Lau!!! Hi Ms. Lau!!!", hee hee...it was loud and distracting, and people were staring at this little Chinese girl, but it was also neat to know that it meant something that I showed up...they (the girls) are sooo 8th grade girl-like - high pitched, super enthused by everything, and seeing everything in terms of cute-ness, hee hee...but I like them! And it was cool, as I had dropped my teacher-mode and was in a total hanging-out mode, so after they sang, they sat with me and we chatted, talked, and hung out, and it was simply fun. =) Anyways, it's interesting how I can be teacher-like in the classroom, and yet still hang out and just be me when I'm not. Yet they know the distinction - in the classroom, and outside, and that's, well, neat. I think I just repeated myself, though not in the same words. Anyways, yeah. =)

Danny Z. visited today after school. It was neat - I hadn't seen him in such a long time, and I remember that he had told me what a huge impact I had on him. His mom had told me so too, after promotion. It's awesome being a teacher. Even when I'm about tired and burnt out of hanging around all these kids, it's still awesome, and I still love it. =)

05.26.03, Sunday:

[09:35pm] Back from Vegas. Tons of fun! ^_^ my bro, Kathleen, Dorothy and I left around 3:30am on Sunday...the drive was adventurous...we faced super foggy conditions, bright sunlight shooting into our retinas as we drove East, and of course, my bro the Driver (enough said, heh heh...^_^). We hoped to get breakfast when we arrived in Vegas, but when we called to announce our arrival to the city, they were going to be going to church soon, so instead, we went straight to Shelton's, unloaded our things, and went off to the first service. After that, we drove down to the second service at Shelton's home church. ^_^ We had a light lunch of Shanghai noodles, followed by a very long journey (our car was the lagger this time. It all started when my bro decided to make two 360 degree circles in a parking lot...) at the M&M Candies factory, and met up with Fred and Ed and their friends for the late-lunch/early-dinner at the Bellagio Buffet. We spent 3 hours there. The whole time, Dorothy and I purposely wasted food, muah ha ha...

Why? Because Bellagio made me and her angry. And you don't mess with these two little Chinese girls, hee hee...What happened was it was just about 4:30pm when we were all paying at the entrance. At 4:30, they switch it to the dinner price. Our gang was paying for the food, and once me and Dorothy got our turn to pay (we were the last 2 of the group), they decided to switch it to the higher price, and we had to pay a whoppin' $36 each...when we were probably ones that would eat the least of the group as we were still a little full from lunch...and despite the fact that we were with the group of people that had just paid for the lunch price. If they charged us all the same, we'd be cool. But we weren't cool with it cuz us two got mercilessly ripped off, hee hee...so we wasted a lot of food. On purpose. ^_^ Well, in that we got everything possible and more, and then didn't eat it all, hee hee. And we toasted our gangsta'ness after we vented and felt much better about it, hee hee...^_^

We visited the Venetian, hoping for a gondola ride, but we ended up not going on it. We also went to Circus Circus, where we won a lot of stuffed animals of all sizes and had lots of fun. We went to sleep quite late, and woke up this morning...packed...ate breakfast at the Orleans Cafe, and drove 6 hours home. Traffic is not fun, but it wasn't that bad, really, and we entertained ourselves in the car. ^_^ When we got home, my neighbor, Auntie Martha, invited us to a BBQ dinner in her backyard, so we ate that...and now I'm unpacked and playing with the computer again. ^_^ 'Twas a grand trip overall! ^_^

See? You can have fun without gambling and drinking, hee hee hee...eating and playing and hanging out wit' your posse is just as good! ^_^ I'm not advocating that you go out and be a hooligan by wasting food on purpose when you're overcharged for a buffet though, hee hee...^_^ Next time, I'll just bring me a Zip-Loc® bag. ^_^

Some pics are uploaded. ^_^

05.24.03, Saturday:

[09:00pm] Did lots today - school and house things both, heh heh...and I still need to pack for tonight! I am reading The Lovely Bones. It's really good!!! I can hardly put the book down...and it's stalling me from finishing up the failure notices, hee hee...though I'll have them all done before heading to Vegas. It better be anyways. ^_^

[08:05am] So much to do today...so why am I blogging??? Hee hee...so I can share with you a silly link...! ^_^

05.23.03, Friday:

[07:59pm] It's Friday! And a 3-day weekend as well! I've finally just about hit burnout, and so it's a really nice feeling to know that I get a break. I don't think I'll take any BTSA days (I'm given 2 days for the school year, and I haven't taken one) for the last 2 weeks of school, as we'll be doing a lot of stuff that I simply don't want to be out for. Should be fun though - we did a fun lecture today on Energy. I was talking about Potential Energy, and one of the examples to get them to understand it better was a Hadouken fireball, right before it would be projected towards its victim, from Street Fighter, hee hee...my kids so loved the example that some of them dubbed it "Hadouken Energy", hee hee...just as long as they don't really start calling it that and thinking that that's the official name for it. ^_^ Plus, they found it extremely amusing that I play video games, heh heh...but hey, they learned potential and kinetic energy well today. ^_^

I also had an observer in my class today - a former student's mother, to be exact. It was cool, and she had a good time there watching them launch their pop rockets! =) (Oh, to clarify things, two of my classes didn't get to do pop rockets yesterday, like the other classes, because not enough of them brought in their pop rockets.) They're presenting their Newton Scooters in class next week. Should also be neat! ^_^

Last night was the Book Club meeting at Sheila's. Sheila's house is awesome! I so love it. One day, if I have my own place, I'm definitely going to paint some walls. White walls are nice, but colored ones are nice too, hee hee...I've already decided that the bathroom will need to be colored. It's more fun! ^_^ The meeting was really good, and lots of fun. It's awesome that we can get together and do things OTHER than just teaching at the same school, and get to know each other better. I think in the first meeting, I still felt really young compared to them all. But this last meeting, we got to talk more and I'm feeling more that these other people can be good acquaintances and friends, instead of just co-workers. So that's neat. And not just that, but I found out that Debbie AND Katarina are both huge Buffy fans too, muah ha ha...! ^_^ Our next book is The #1 Ladies Detective Agency. It sounds like it'll be a ton of fun! =) I still have a ton of books to read at home though...so I'm glad summer is coming up. ^_^

I got the RCC summer classes booklet for the community today in the mail. I found something that would be awesome to take! Hee hee...it's titled: Ancient Art of Shaolin Kung-fu for Beginners. That sounds like fun...should I go for it??? I might, for the fun of it. But I think it's every night, and it starts before my school ends. And I think it might be every night. I'll have to find out exactly what the schedule is, and then seriously think about it, hee hee...anyone else want to take a Shoalin Kung-fu Beginners class? Muah ha ha...^_^

Vegas tomorrow night! Woo hoo! ^_^ my bro, Kathleen, Dorothy and I plan to party it up while Fred drives us all there, muah ha ha...j/k j/k...there's a ton of us going. Why? Why else? Good food! M&M place! Giant stuffed animals! Ahhh...the good stuff of Vegas indeed, hee hee...^_^

05.21.03, Wednesday:

[08:45pm] It's getting hot out here in the IE...stuffy, muggy, and it makes you sleepy (and take a short nap) in the middle of grading tests, hee hee...it happened twice - yesterday and today! It's not even summer yet...my goodness, we're going to be cooked out here this summer!

Oh! I should be grading some more tests. But I'm taking a short break to have my say on Buffy, hee hee. The more I think about it, the more I liked the Season Finale last night. It was really fitting - like during the whole time Buffy was the slayer, she was always burdened. And even though the very end wasn't a big bang, it ended up peacefully and nice, and I liked it. =) Heidi (who I got to start watching it a little while ago, hee hee...) says they might have a spin-off from it...called "The Slayers" or something, heh heh...it's possible. And I'd watch it, if it was as witty and fun and creative as Buffy was. ^_^ I really should write to the writers and tell them what a good job they did, hee hee...I bet they have a lot of mail anyways though. Maybe in the summer, when I have more time. =)

Since there will be no more Buffy on TV ever again, I should consider getting those giant DVD Season bundles, hee hee...simply cuz it's a classic now. Or it's a classic in my terms anyways. ^_^ But I'm in no hurry. Perhaps I should save a little in a money box for it, hee hee...

But yep, Buffy is my favorite TV show, hee hee...X-Files was good too, only they dropped Mulder and replace him with some weirdo, and with their time change several years ago, it became impossible for me to watch it, so I stopped.

05.20.03, Tuesday:

[06:05am] Summer is almost upon us! Not that there's only about 3 weeks left of school, hee hee...but that the weather is getting warm. It's going to be a hot summer, I reckon! I like cold weather better, heh heh...but I guess we all have to take our turns throughout the year, right? ^_^

My internet was down yesterday. Quite traumatic. But I did get work done, heh heh...I made two versions of a test and made the test dividers yesterday. I didn't do any grading, though I have this huge stack that needs to be taken care of. Soon. Soon, it will be done.

This is the second cauliflower from our backyard. My dad's happy about it, hee hee...it was well grown, healthy and good! (well, we ate the first one. THAT was good, hee hee. This one, we gave it to my aunt and her family).

I went to a wedding yesterday! Congrats to Yen Ting and Cecilia! ^_^ Hee hee...so many people getting married! Maybe cuz it's spring. I was thinking at first it was the age, but then other people older than I are also attending all these weddings within a few months, so we decided that perhaps it was just the weather causing it all, hee hee...^_^

05.17.03, Saturday:

[11:15pm] After school yesterday, Heidi went to see Holes. It was awesome!!! ^_^ If you liked the book, you'll like the movie. All of the characters did their part really well, hee hee...Zero was the best - just like how I thought he would be! ^_^ He was like the Hermione of Harry Potter (although the movie wasn't that great...she fit the role perfectly!). Anyways, this is one movie that I'm going to get when it comes out on DVD. ^_^

Today, I went to SGVAC for the Counselor Meeting, about the upcoming summer camp. It's only a month away! Wow! Another year already...it went by fast, really...! After, I went to the L.A. Zoo with Eric and his college group people. It was fun, and I got to see all kinds of neat animals - Sifakas (I think my favorite there!), Wallabies, Tapirs (they were bigger than I thought they were), Giraffes, Hippos, a Rhino, Lions, Tigers and Bears (oh my!) (hee hee...cheesy, but had to do it! ^_^), and a whole lot of energized monkeys, among other things, hee hee. ^_^

Robin talks to her car too, and points out siblings to it! Do any of you talk to your car? Heh heh...^_^

After, Eric and I finally got to watch X-Men 2. Yay! ^_^ It was good, but very, very long. But still neat! ^_^

05.15.03, Thursday:

[08:37pm] So I went to find my little binoculars (I don't have a big one, nor a telescope, hee hee...just a $5 mini binoculars that I got at a musical in high school. ^_^) to look at the moon more closely, and guess what else I found? My i-Zone camera! I thought I had lost it a long time ago. I knew that I had it, but I wasn't ever able to find it when I needed it. The moon looks neat...but I certainly wish I could turn off those streetlights for a bit, heh heh...

But anyways...yay!...I got a two-for-one deal tonight! ^_^

[07:20pm] Total Lunar Eclipse tonight! Go watch...it'll be very cool to observe this astronomical event, hee hee...^_^

The very last BTSA meeting was today! Heidi and I had fun with the party flavors during the meeting (See below...shhh!). ^_^

*NOTE: It's more fun if you zoom in on the flamingo's content expression...hee hee...

05.14.03, Wednesday:

[10:27pm] Dang my bro. Always making a mess, and never cleaning it up. A bag of popcorn blew up in the microwave today, and when I got home (I got home early today too!), it reeked of burnt popcorn. So I did a few things to try to fix it, but nothing worked. Even now, it still smells pretty strong, despite open windows and the use of the all-house fan. The thing is, he didn't even clean it up. And he's not home now - he'll be home soon. Lucky for him, I was the one that got to face my mom's (who mostly scrubbed out the microwave) wrath, not him, because he is not home yet. This seems to be a pattern, grr...>_<

Other than that, the day was great! =) My kids were awesome today (gray weather usually calms kids down. No rain, but it appears like it's going to happen, but not enough moisture to get the kids crazy. 8th graders are strange specimens, hee hee...) in terms of me not having to worry over any behavior problems. The staff meeting went fine, unlike last week. The regular step class instructor is back, so I'm happy. I like her - the other ones really are just not as good in making things clear for all of us, heh heh. I'm reading more on that The Book of Salt, and finding that I really am not liking it so much. Bleah. I like how the author uses language though - the words she chooses and how she puts them together, but the content? >_< But Artemis Fowl? Ah, that's good stuff. I'm reading that much quicker, and will read that to my Silent Reading class. =)

05.13.03, Tuesday:

[11:07pm] I was just about to go to sleep. As I jumped onto bed, I noticed that the moonbeam was shining right on my bed...! So I had to blog about it. ^_^

Plus, Buffy is about to end soon. It's getting really good! I am quite curious as to find out what will happen next week, hee hee... Yep...I absolutely love Tuesdays! ^_^

05.12.03, Monday:

[08:07pm] Mother's Day was awesome. =) In the morning, some of the youth and I went to make corsages for the mothers before church started; worship was neat, filled with music of all kinds, and sharing from some of the mothers. At night, Shelton came over and helped me cook (Okay, okay..."us"... So my bro cooked the rice. And Jello. Heh heh...) dinner. I made the West Lake Parsley Soup, Pork Chops, and the Ketchupy Big Shrimps, hee hee...and Shelton made a yummy Steamed Tofu with Asparagus and Pork Dish. I think my mom had a good time, being served all day long. =) After, the three of us watched Identity - it was better than I thought it would be! ^_^ It was neat hanging out with Shelton - like them good ol' days when he used to live here with us, heh heh. ^_^

Today was filled with all kinds of surprises. I guess the biggest one was that a parent of one of my best students last year called, and wanted to observe me teach! I was like, woah...cuz even though she was one of the best students to have, she WAS in the overcrowded, 42-student class that was THE hardest class I had to manage. And for some reason, she wants to observe me for her teaching credential. I'm quite honored, and well, still surprised. =)

Another surprise - well, it was more of just a realization - was that after school, I stopped by Walmart to get film canisters for an experiment that we will be doing next week. I needed to get the clear Fuji-type containers, where the lid fits on the inside of the canister, quite unlike the common Kodak canisters. I got to the picture area, and said: "Hi, I'm a teacher, and was wondering if you had any film canisters I could..." Without a word, the guy held up his hands, went to the back, and pushed out a huge tub of film recyclables, and said, "Take as much as you want!" I guess it's quite common for teachers to do that, huh? And I also guess it might be common for teachers to go trash-digging to get these film canisters. Because the ones I were looking for are less common, I had to do some extra digging. Man. The things teachers do for their students! ^_^ I didn't mind it though, and it made me think about what MY teachers in the past must have done at times, heh heh...Wow...^_^

OH yeah!!! Artemis Fowl has a THIRD book! Can you believe it? I saw it at Target yesterday. So I got it. Aiya. That means there are now 2 books that I'm in the process reading, and 3 lined up for when I'm done. I really need to stop with buying these really good books, heh heh...^_^

05.10.03, Saturday:

[08:30pm] Went out to eat dinner at King Buffet. Mmm...they have good shrimp there. ^_^ It was for Mother's Day, one day early. =) Oh yeah. I read what I wrote, and realized that there were a TON of spelling errors. What the heck??? So I fixed and edited my previous entry. =)

[02:55pm] Andrew and I arrived at the park to find that all the tennis courts were taken. Realizing that it was about 8am and that none of them would be leaving any time soon, we decided to take the obstacle course trail at the back of the park, where we raced a little, tried out the obstacle course things, and talked a lot. He wants to be in the Air Force and fly those F-18's, hee hee...or maybe a sniper. ^_^ That explains all the CS games he would play, heh heh....j/k j/k ^_^ It was neat though - Andrew is a pretty cool dude, very aware of other people and how they feel at times, and he has a good head on his shoulders. He's amiable, talkative, and makes friends really easily. I like having him as my cousin - he shares the same taste for good food and snacks. ^_^

I went to Starbucks today, after driving my mom all over Corona and making a long stop at Joanne's Arts and Crafts (she got materials to make clones of a doll purse I used to have when I was little. She did a good job on the first one, so she's making more for some kids at church. She's got super powers when it comes to sewing and designing, heh heh...), because it was hot and I was in the mood for a smoothie. But the only place that sells a smoothie in Corona would have to be these trendy coffee places - of which many of you know, I'm simply not an avid supporter of Starbucks, hee hee. They do have some good things now and then, so I took a risk for the Tazo Citrus Smoothie, and it was pretty good. =) It was also pretty clear in terms of open tables to study at. I've studied at Starbucks, Denny's, Barnes and Noble (which was my favorite, cuz if you get those big couches before anyone else, it was yours to keep till you left, hee hee...) and all those types of places before (although I do have to admit the best deal would be at Sizzler's. You can get the All-You-Can-Eat-Salad Bar deal and stay there for HOURS...I think my bro and I got really full on Clam Chowder when we did that though, hee hee...), but this Starbucks one looks like it has potential for a possible work area if I can't work at home for whatever reason. Even if there isn't an All-You-Can-Eat deal there. ^_^

I don't like looking at furniture, but there ARE neat ones out there. So at Cost Plus yesterday, I saw a Papasan Chair. Yep. The Wok Chair, as Lorie has dubbed hers. That, as well as a real iron wok to cook in (with the "wok adapter" to fit the stove top, mind you!) and a neat wall clock would be some of the items I'd need in my future household. Yep. I already have a growing library (though I need to find some more space for these books!) and my beanbag chair. And my posters. I had always wanted a hammock, but after the notorious Hammock Incident By Which I Almost Killed My Kidneys happened, I'm still a little nervous about them. But I do think that a hammock is just as necessary as my beanbag chair. We'll see, hee hee. ^_^

I was close to getting the Wok Chair. But there really is no room at all in the house for it, hee hee...I wanted to MAKE room for it but my mom simply laughed at my ideas and told me in full practicality that I'd have nowhere to put it at all. *sigh*

[12:37am] Hee hee...so here comes a Friday night (actually, it was technically last night now, right?), and I'm actually free with nothing to do! ^_^ But I had no one to play with...not a single soul was available, free to go play, or wanted to see X-Men 2, or Holes. Giang was, but she called me after my mom decided that she wanted to go to Ontario Mills with me. Or else, Giang and I would have gone out, hee hee. Dang, I haven't seen my homegirl in so long! But we still cool, 'cuz we just tyte like dat, heh heh. =) At Ontario Mills, my mom and I pretty much window shopped, though I did stumble (and buy) upon a neat book. It's titled Fly: The Unsung Hero of 20th Century Science, hee hee...all about the Drisophila Melanogaster and its extensive contribution to science. ^_^ I think Shelton might like this book, hee hee...(if you're not reading any books right now, I do recommend you read this out before I do. I have a whole rack of books on my "To Read" list, heh heh...^_^)

After, I got home and my bro and I chilled by watching a bunch of movie trailers online, and watching Better Luck Tomorrow. We have some copy made by some person who cut off the last line of the movie. DRATS! All I know is that the main character said something like "I don't know what my future holds, but I know that..." And that was it! Arg! Edwin, what were the last lines of the movie? ^_^ The movie was riveting, in that it makes some good points, I suppose, about being Asian, and then about being a teenager and how a person would deal with the situations he/she is placed in. I wouldn't care to watch it again though.

I'm waking up early tomorrow! To play tennis with my cousin! I got a tennis elbow last time, because I was actually serving correctly. Ha! Don't know if I'll want to do it right tomorrow, hee hee...^_^

05.08.03, Thursday:

[07:05pm] Oh yeah. If you look up my name online, you can't find me, muah ha ha...! ^_^ The only place that has my name (and I didn't see any others out there that had my first name AND last name put together; one or the other doesn't count. Ain't I unique? Hee hee...j/k...^_^) is the list of those that are graduating from UCI this summer. ^_^ One used to be able to find me on the Nutrition page at UCI, but that updated that, and of course, I'm no longer the TA there. =)

That reminds me. I graduate from UCI on June 14th, 2003. 11am, at the Bren Events Center. I'll be wearing my nifty Masters robe! ^_^ All are welcomed to come. I don't know what we can do afterwards...hang out, play, eat a late lunch or whatevers in OC...you can all throw me some ideas, but I do need to head back to UCR for the evening commencement for some of my friends there. ^_^

[06:14pm] In this old Odd News section, they talk about that Sars drink that's in Taiwan, among other things, hee hee...and oh! If you only clicked on the Mercury bit below once, click on it again. I changed it to a better website - you can actually see itty-bitty Mercury crossing the Sun! ^_^

The staff meeting yesterday ended with many people steamed. I won't say too much here. But let's say that "LD" (codename, ha ha...shhh!) chose words that accused many of us as being teachers that have low expectations, don't care to praise our students when they do well, and that we have created a culture for our students to not care about their learning. Why was this said? Because our test scores were low, and not as high as LD wanted it to be. As professionals, our initial reaction to the low test scores were to examine things such as: "Why did this happen?" and "What can we do in the future?", but instead, we didn't even get a chance to talk about this. We had followed his demands exactly this year, despite many of our feelings towards the loss of our own curriculum in the classroom, and because his ideas didn't generate the results he wanted, he turns it around onto us. Aiya! Even today, when I ran into other teachers, the conversation centered around what he had said. He was having a bad day though. But still. He needs to learn to take his bad days in a more professional manner than, instead of blowing off steam at us in such a way.

My LP's for this week are done. I have nothing to do tonight, hee hee. All the grading I wanted to do is done. However, I should LP for next week, hee hee...*sigh*...and I SHOULD grade "ahead", like figure out grading for the Bottle Rockets we're doing now, figure out a solid plan for the launching tomorrow, and update some things in my schedule. So I guess I do have some things to do. But they're not so fun...>_<

05.07.03, Wednesday:

[06:26am] I haven't read online news in a while. Here's some of what I read this morning, hee hee...

Representin' da 9-0-9! ^_^ I actually read this one on a REAL newspaper yesterday and just needed to share this out. They have some pretty, ahem, interesting ideas of us in the IE. We ain't ALL hooligans out here...^_^

Caped Crusader Saves the Day Kinda like Superman. I wonder what the uniform really looks like?

Mercury Crosses the Sun Rare astronomical event. It's going on this very moment!

05.06.03, Tuesday:

[06:53am] So Ducky, wassup? We've been praying...! Send us da 4-1-1 homes...^_^

05.05.03, Monday:

[07:32pm] Gilbert has conveyed his feelings of a sense of loss yesterday, reminding me that I hadn't blogged in a while, hee hee...^_^ Ah, my loyal reader (readers? Are there more than one? There could be! Heh heh...), I apologize. It's been a crazy many days. But many days of awesome-ness! ^_^

Friday night, I went to Eric's company anniversary dinner, and I got to go on a yacht filled with really good food! Mmm...! The novelty quickly wore off when I realized it wasn't that much different (I actually liked the swaying of the boat, so that was neat) than being inside a building, hee hee...but that was because it was raining that night. I still enjoyed going though, and can say with certainty that yes, I've been on a yacht! ^_^

Saturday morning, I went to the GATE Conference at UCR...that was SUCH an awesome conference. I learned SO many things, and things that I've heard before, but that weren't ever clearly explained, were explained clearly and well. Like Socratic Seminars and Science Stations, both of which I intend to implement next year (since there's really not enough time left this year to do them, which is unfortunate). I got so many ideas, and came up with more ideas that I already can't wait till next year! We also got a nice free lunch and a free book for all of us - what could be better? ^_^ Saturday night, my bro and I decided to go down to Irvine and visit Shelton, dropping off those White Castle Microwaveable Cheeseburgers and to check out where he's been staying at for this past year. =) We left with the intent to go home, but ended up eating Seafood Chow Mein and Deep Fried Crispy Tofu at a local restaurant. ^_^

There was a whole lot of good food this past weekend, as you can tell. Let's not forget that on Sunday night, we had CCF at the Pastor's, which always has prime rib. Doris also made us her cream-of-mushroom-mixed-with-cauliflower-and-shrimp dish. I certainly ate well this weekend - not a moment of being hungry, nor was I ever really too full. ^_^

During dinner tonight (see? More food! heh heh...), my dad commented that I should be a food critic. People all over the world would pay to hear my comments on their gourmet creations, hee hee...that sounds a lot like fun. How does one become a world famous food critic anyways??? Such is my thought and question for the day...and if you know the answer, satisfy my curiosity by leaving a note on the tagboard, or you can simply email/IM me. ^_^

Oh yeah. If any of you ever ever EVER find good science articles, whether they're from magazines or newspapers, or even webpages, you can send them to me. Yep. Just ask me for my address and I'll take anything you send me! ^_^ I can use them for my classroom next year. =) I have many that I've saved over the past 2 years, but not quite enough...! ^_^

04.30.03, Wednesday:

[09:05pm]

SMOKING IS GOOD FOR YOU

1. It makes you smell so bad, dogs won't bite you.
2. It makes you cough at night even when you're asleep, making would-be burglars think you're awake.
3. It saves you the indignity of old age.

I saw a poster saying that on the cover of some Chinese magazine that my mom was reading, hee hee. There were a bunch of funny pictures that people took and sent in to the magazine, and so they printed many on the cover. Only I can't read Chinese too well anyways, so I didn't know what was so intriguing about the other ones. But this one, it was in English. =)

Did I say I was done with reading The Emperor of Ocean Park??? Hee hee...I meant that I was done TRYING to finish it! I was 200 pages into it, and I honestly can't go on. Nothing has happened yet. 200 pages (or more?) to simply get the setting into play??? Bah. >_< However, the other two books are coming along well. The Art of War book is pretty neat...you can look at it in terms of life, and well, for teachers...we can look at it in terms of the classroom, hee hee...^_^ Sometimes, it might just feel like the battlefield! ^_^

On Friday, there's a super shortened schedule for the Cinco de Mayo festival at school. We have an assembly in the morning, and school gets out early (at 1:30), with only 25 minute class periods. Woah. Talk about cutting instructional time to only 25 minutes...this is almost as productive as that silly assembly we had on the fundraising at the beginning of the school year. However, it IS good to celebrate cultural diversity, especially since a large majority of our students are hispanic. (Hmm, what about the 1% Chinese population at Sierra Middle School? Shouldn't there be some sort of annual Chinese New Year celebration? hee hee...j/k...^_^) However, it's interesting to hear that they don't really even celebrate Cinco de Mayo to the level that we do in Mexico and other Latin American countries. So are we perpetuating a falsehood to these kids here?

Oh! But my point was, that I was going to have guest speakers from the Riverside Recovery Resource to speak to my students about drugs and alcohol abuse. I know that Project ALERT is over, but it's neat to have the students hear all this from a different point of view, from some people that have been there, done that. I thought they were going to have teenagers speak, but as it turns out, it'll be two counselors who have been through the recovery process themselves. So it should still be interesting. =)

04.28.03, Monday:

[10:20pm] More hectic-ness, but more fun! =) I really did go out a lot this weekend, aiya...heh heh...the Festival of Books was neat. No Amy Tan though - actually, they told us that she was speaking at the Etc Stage, and when we got there, there was this band playing, so we looked at it a bit, and then moved on to find her, thinking she had spoken already and had gone to sign books. When we got to the book signing area, they said that she wasn't signing ANY books...! We were all quite disappointed...=( The next day, I read in the newspaper that Amy Tan was playing the tambourines for the band, and that Stephen King was doing something in the band too. AIYA! So we were there!!! Drats, heh heh...

We got no signatures...the authors we were looking for were either gone, as we got there towards the end, or not going to be there till the next day. So after, we drove out of busy UCLA and went against traffic to Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. I had never been there before! Linda, Michael, Vanessa, and I had a good time watching the street performers, browsing about the stores, and eating a Greek dinner, hee hee. However, I don't think Michael thought too highly of those grape leaf wrapped things. >_<

On Sunday, another person accepted Christ - David! First Kathleen, then Wade, now David. Wow, this is too awesome! ^_^ I really can't explain how joyful it makes me. It's hard to explain, but I'm sooo happy about it all! =)

After church, we went down to Chinatown, to FCBC, and attended Dorothy's baptism ceremony. Congrats Dorothy! ^_^ After, we had dinner at a little cafe place, where my bro, Kathleen and I each got XO Sauce dishes (chow fun vs. fried rice vs. chow mein, hee hee). ^_^

I'm done with reading Stephen L. Carter's The Emperor of Ocean Park. It's tooooo boring...I'll skip around it and see what the book has to offer, but I'm going to start the new books I got at the Festival. Besides The Book of Salt, I'm also going to read The Art of War (Sun Zi and Sun Bin's version), hee hee...^_^

04.26.03, Saturday:

[09:57am] A hectic week indeed, but lots of fun...! ^_^ In short, constant block periods due to testing have been wonderful for long classroom activities (such as Hot Wheels ® Physics), Dorothy visited my classroom for two days (she got to see 3rd period both days. Woo hoo! Heh heh...), we had our first Book Club meeting at Heidi's, and I stayed out till late with Kathleen last night for pho, games (I won't say too much about this girl who kept changing the rules here, hee hee...), and ice cream! ^_^ I got the Youth Camp flyers from Jeremy this week - they're awesome!

AP tests are creeping up, and so good luck to all y'all prepping for it...it's a toughie, but it's a worthy experience! ^_^ That's how I felt about the MCATS, but nobody else seemed to think they were THAT fun, so maybe I'm a little strange, hee hee...^_^ Four months straight of studying for that test...it was crazy and difficult, but after it was all over, I realized I learned a lot. In fact, THAT'S how I finally got Physics, hee hee...I didn't get a thing from my physics professor. If I remember correctly, he looked like some famous person at a certain angle. Like Al Gore or something, heh heh...he made absolute no sense. Anyways. =)

Today, I'm going to the UCLA Book Festival! I'm so excited! However, I can't find my books. =( I lent Joy Luck Club to a student, and she didn't get it back to me on time (her aunt was borrowing it), so Amy Tan won't be able to sign my book, if I even find her. And if I find Sandra Cisneros, I won't be able to show her my copy of House of Mango Street, cuz I couldn't find it anywhere at home. I might have let someone borrow it too. Aiya, this is the problem with me - I let people borrow them, and then I forget who has it. Yet I want to keep them because I like them, as I have a growing library. But at the same time, it's not like I'm going to read it again and again - I might just read it once or twice...and pick it up many many years later. I think I really am materialistic when it comes to books...>_< As for finding any authors I like today, I'll just bring some nice stationary or something, muah ha ha...^_^

Next Book Club reading: The Book of Salt by Monique Truong. I need to get this book sometime soon, hee hee...^_^

04.22.03, Tuesday:

[10:27pm] Pictures uploaded, hee hee...now if geocities doesn't mind this linking, it'll work out fine for now, hee hee...(all I did was create another account and upload...temporarily testing this idea only, hee hee...I'm sure they don't allow such things to happen!). Back to work! =)

[07:25pm]

I just got home and checked email. One of them had a subject of "Gummycandy" on it...I was delightfully surprised, and when I clicked it, it was some gross, spammed porn ad. How corrupt, disgusting and cruel can some people be???

But Gummy-Goodness did occur today! One of my students, who I helped out last week, came by this morning and dropped me a bag of Gummy Lifesavers! She said I "saved her life", hee hee...and she included a ton of snack size Almond Joy candy bars! Hee hee, she remembered me saying I liked Gummy candy, so she didn't get me the regular kind, and she remembered me saying almonds were deeelicous, heh heh...how cool is all that? ^_^

We're testing this week. Block scheduling. I love it! One lesson covers two days. AWESOME! ^_^ (and we have time to build and make things, for physics, which is peerrrrfect. We did Hot Wheels Physics today!)

04.21.03, Monday:

[09:00pm] Awesome Honda commercial, hee hee...

04.20.03, Sunday:

[03:30pm] It's Easter...! ^_^ An intelligent ex-youth had some good questions about Easter, and why we should celebrate it if there are all these pagan origins of Easter Eggs, Sunrise service, and how in the OT, Deuteronomy 12:29-32 condemns pagan incorporation into the way we serve our Lord. My thoughts? Like all those other nitpicky things out there that tend to tear apart one's joy to serve the Lord, such as apologetics and things like that...it's good to know about, hear about, and even form one's own opinions at times, but in the end, it's all God. I love biology, and I could relate this or that science to the Bible, but is that what, in the end, is going to matter, when I come face to face with God? Does it really matter if Creation occurred in literally 7 days, or not? No! Is it wrong to lie? Sure. So was it wrong for those individuals who lied to Nazi soldiers about hiding Jews or other outcasts in their homes? Of course not.

What matters is, do our actions and choices bring us closer to God, or further away from Him? Where is our heart at? He sees our hearts and knows. If one feels that celebrating Easter with a Sunrise or Good Friday Service is wrong because it may have originated from some pagan worship of a sun-god or what not, and truly feels that that takes him/her away from Christ, then don't do it. If one feels that because the day we celebrate Easter is not the exact day that Jesus rose again because our calendar doesn't match that of that time (and hey, every year, Easter is on a different day. It's always on a Sunday, but it doesn't follow the exact date every year!), that we shouldn't celebrate it because we're not following to that exact date that the Bible says, then one can choose to not do it. But again, what matters is, do we bring ourselves closer to Him, or further from Him, based on these choices?

Easter is a recognition of what He has done for us - as Christians, we should recognize this every day anyways. There's nothing wrong with having a certain day though. It opens up the opportunity for those that aren't Christians, or those that aren't sure, to be aware of why we do what we do, and what it all really means.

(So, I'm sorry that that website ruined your day. I read over Deuteronomy, and those are my thoughts on it - hope it helped, and Happy Easter to you! And hey, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong - but I know where my heart stands, and so do you, and I know that He knows too. It's not "Christianizing" pagan religions. Read Deut. in context as well, it makes things more clear too. =) )

As for other things on my mind...I was blessed to have Emily for half of my lifetime, and I thank God for putting her in my care. It's hard to think that Emily, who was so intelligent, who had spunk, a personality, and who looked forward to hanging out with me whenever possible (despite the things my bro and I used to do to her - put her in Lego houses, run her through obstacle courses, take pictures of her (with flash)) - who could discern things and people, that she may not have a soul. The Bible never said that they do. I have many other questions, but I trust that God will take care of things, and thus I leave it in His care.

She died because she made one of her crazy jumps to get rice during dinner, and fell on her back. Her back was most likely broken, and though I don't know if it was painless, I know it was quick. She lived a long life - longer than most parakeets, and she never once got sick. She was always healthy. The only thing wrong with her physically was that she couldn't fly, and that was due to outside forces. She's been with us through a thousand things - when I was happy or sad, tried all kinds of food (she liked lemon meringue...loves fresh rice and noodles and sesame seeds off burger buns...dared to sneak chicken and eggs, which I would quickly take away...and many other things), was present when we were robbed in the old house, moved with us to the new place, met many friends, chased ping pong balls, hated Stevie...and the many months it took for her to get to know me, and vice-versa, when I first got her. She had escaped from us twice, and twice, she stayed in the garden and would come straight on back to us and her home. When she could fly, she used to fly to my room in the morning from the living room, fly to our heads; when she no longer could fly, I taught her how to climb the stairs to find me and she'd do it on her own. She greeted us with chirps and songs all the time. I'm mostly okay now. I'm still sad at times - at night, there comes a time that I'm conditioned to go downstairs to check on her, but then I realize she's not there...or when I come home, I expect to hear chirping and to whistle back, but...well. I dug a grave and buried her Friday afternoon. She has a nice spot, protected from outsiders by a spiky cactus, and a tree or bush type thing that my mom wants to grow will be planted there.

I did no schoolwork nor cap bustin' this weekend, so I need to get crackin'...We have fellowship here in about 3 hours...!

04.18.03, Friday:

[09:30am]

Emily Sunshine Lau
1991-April 17, 2003

I don't even know what to write about. I came home from Les Mis, and when I opened the box, I couldn't push past the tissue until my bro saw some of her colorful feathers. I couldn't believe my eyes, nudged her, expected her to chirp slightly or move, but she didn't...it wasn't until I picked her up and felt her stiff that I realized she was gone...

I was playing with her before we left for Les Mis. Edwin even took the liberty to feed her some grains as she wouldn't let him pet her...It's difficult to come home and see this, and know I wasn't here for it. She was so small, but she was so much. God put a lot of unconditional love in that bright green little thing for me...

I took today off. I feel like doing a bunch of nothing...

04.14.03, Monday:

[04:46am] I'm home early today. My reason? So I can get a bunch of work done. >_< My internet connection has been super uncooperative since I came back. Actually, my bro said it was being like that during the week too. Aiya...so this recap was all written Saturday night, and not posted till now...I'll link up pictures later...=Þ

Oh yeah! Yesterday was Gilbert's bday! We celebrated at Claim Jumper, hee hee...and maybe it was another person's bday as well...^_^

Vacation recap:

My vacation was AWESOME! There are so many things to share! But it'll take up 2 full webpages, I'm sure! Heh heh...so I'll try to shorten it to the best of my abilities. =) On the first day, we went up to San Francisco, and toured the area. At Fisherman's Wharf, we got a discount at the crab stands, because the vendor was Cantonese too and heard us talking, heh heh. =) We also ate dinner with Jason at Chinatown - it was neat to see him during the trip! ^_^ You know what my favorite part of SF is??? The Bay Bridge. It's so neat! Double-decker'd out and everything, hee hee...^_^ The next day, we drove through Mendocino, where there were lots of wine-tasting signs for the weekend. There were also grapevines everywhere - it made me think of The Grapes of Wrath, heh heh...We had lunch in some Chinese place in Willits - the manager was a funny fellow who ended up not just giving us food, but directions and tour sites for Leggets and the surrounding area. Thus we toured the redwood forests of Northern Cali, and got to see the Living Tree House and the Drive Thru Tree, all part of the Avenue of the Giants. Right before we got to Crescent City, there was a mudslide of some sort on our one lane highway, so waited for a long time before we got to move in - interesting. I've never been on a one lane road where a mudslide happened, in the rain, heh heh.

We arrived in Washington the next evening, so Christine took us out to eat at a Korean BBQ place, toured us around Lake Sammamish, and drove us around the Microsoft campus, where her husband works. Wow, that place is karazy-huge! Not only does everyone get their own office and big window so that they could "think better", but they have this giant play area where a soccer field is established for the employees, heh heh. Because Michael works for MS, we heard a lot of stories about Bill Gates, including seeing where he lives, hearing about the birth of his children (Christine works at the hospital where all the big people go to, like Bill Gates and Seattle sports people end up when injured), how the company picnics are on Mt. Si (and why the surrounding neighbors were invited), and even how he has a temper if things aren't just right. Interesting, heh heh...

We visited beautiful Snoqualmie Falls, as well as went up to the Cascade Mountains where we got to play a bit in the snow. We had lunch with Christine's parents in the Seattle Chinatown (uh, we went to THREE Chinatowns on this trip - SF, Seattle, and later, Vancouver), visited the Seahawk Stadium, and went to Pike Place Market. Pike Place Market was my favorite of the whole trip in Seattle, hee hee...they sold sooo many yummy things!!! ^_^ From seafood to sweets to flowers to trinkets, it was all neat - if I lived there, I'd go there at least once a week! ^_^ We also visited the Canal Locks, the Space Needle, and the Microsoft Company Store, where Christine and Michael hooked me up with a keyboard and mouse, heh heh...After, we went to Crossroads - a mall type place, but it was different and neat. Like they had a grocery store on one end, and in the middle, there were a few shops and a food court. But what was REALLY neat was that they had a giant chessboard where people from the community could play, as well as a bunch of tables where people could just play games - from chess, to card games, to those games where you have little action figures to compete against others, hee hee. There was even a public library database area! This was my second favorite place - it was neat, because it would bring the community together, you know? And at the same time, the public respected the rules and kept the area clean and neat. But then again, it IS the area too - people work for MS, Nintendo, hospitals, Boeing, and other places like that there, you know?

My dad got his wish - we went to the Boeing Assembly Plant, hee hee, where we saw a 747-400 assembled for Korean Air Lines. Very neat, hee hee...my dad says I was basically raised by Boeing, as his work pretty much deals with them. ^_^ The Tulip Festival up in Skagit Valley was also grand - the fields were painted, literally, in colors of pink, red, purple, yellow...almost everything imaginable! The tulips (and daffodils too!) were HUGE, up past my knees even, and they were sooooo lovely! ^_^ Up in Vancouver, we had a dim sum lunch, visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge, drove through Stanley Park, went to Canada Place and strolled through the very fancy Pan Pacific Hotel. We also drove by Gastown and Chinatown, and stayed the night in Richmond, at Christine's high rise condo. The next day, after a stop for pastries in Chinatown, we drove back down the US/Canada Border, where we were stopped and inspected and fined $100 for carrying Pei-Pa fruits...uh...long story...hee hee...you'll just have to ask me in person eh? =) After having some tofu soup at Christine's, we headed on our way home, stopping in Roseburg for one night, and Sacramento the next.

At Sac, we visited the capitol building...and well...there wasn't much to see there. Actually, I don't like the city too much - it's hard to explain. It didn't click with me, hee hee...or maybe I was just totally in the wrong side of the train tracks. Cuz we had dinner at Outback, on the OTHER side of town, and it was okay-ish there...though it STILL didn't click with me! The next afternoon, we were home!

Thoughts while traveling:

I had fun traveling, but I still do love home best. I think that there are many times, when I travel, where I'd think to myself that I'd like to live here or there...and mostly, it's because of how beautiful everything is when you get to see nature full on. Sometimes, we get so caught up in the amazement and prevalence of technology that we forget about the beautiful intricacies of the nature God had weaved for us at the beginning of creation. And it's this that makes me want to be here, there, everywhere, because I would love to be immersed in it, hee hee...How can one who sees these wonders and not know with certainty that He exists?

However, even technology can be beautiful, if we realize that our minds are a reflection of our Father. It's too bad we're not intelligent enough (or disciplined enough? or unselfish enough?) to apply it as usefully and well as Him, eh?

I saw a bum walking very quickly and purposefully on Sacramento St. in SF. Where do you think he is going?

The Eel River was very cool. However, Shasta Lake (for Mt. Shasta) tops it off as the most beautiful I saw up there. Mt. Shasta was pretty dang neat too. =)

The first billboard I noticed in Oregon was one for antismoking. There was this classy looking guy smoking, and he says to a classy looking lady, "Your scent is intoxicating...". She responds: "...Yours is carcinogenic." ^_^

There are 796 exits for California on the 5 freeway, while only 300 or so for Oregon and Washington. California's pretty big huh?

04.04.03, Friday:

[10:00pm] Aiya, I've not had a break since 5:30am! Heh heh...now...I'm finally packed, and pretty much ready for tomorrow, except for some grading. After school, my mom and my aunt took me to the mall to do some gift shopping and well, just shopping (I got my sunglasses! Heh heh...they were pricey though...but my mom even liked them and she offered to pay for a small part of it, so I decided to get them, heh heh...as my aunt said, since she's going to give me some money for it, I might as well go for it and "saat sae la!" ^_^ I know...we're such violent Cantonese folks...always talking about beating up one thing or another, hee hee...). Then we went to Vons to get groceries (my mom stockpiled on frozen foods for my bro while we're gone. Or else he will starve. Really! Or, he just might eat nothing but omelet's, hee hee...). When we got home, I went with my dad to pick up the rental van in Ontario...then went to the ATM...came home and started packing...made a ton of phone calls for tomorrow's Sports Rally (thanks for everyone that is going to help out!)...packed some more...and here I am! ^_^

It's cold out. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow, though it looks like it might. Why? Because I want the Sports Rally to keep on going, AND a road trip with a bunch of rain is not THAT much fun. I hear there's a lot to do in Seattle: coffee everywhere (buuuut I'm not a coffee fan...), the Space Needle, lots of museums, and even an underground city somewhere. That's what some people at work have been telling me. Oh yeah! Speaking of that - Mr. Williams has been supplying me with these really tasty Swiss chocolate confectionaries, hee hee...He had a giant bar of dark chocolate that a friend got him that he didn't want. I'm not big for dark chocolate. But this? Mmm...it was heeeavenly! ^_^ And he gave me four little Lindt chocolate balls that have this creeeeamy center, hee hee. In return (this is like the school lunch exchange program in elementary school!), I gave him some of those mochi marshmallows that have this apple-y center. ^_^

Since we're on the topic of snacks...^_^...have any of you tried this "Dragon Beard Candy", this Chinese thing where they pull flour into really fine threads, laced with sugar and filled with crushed peanuts and sugar??? My aunt brought some special ones back from HK (they're from my uncle in HK) - they literally melted in my mouth, and they were sooooooo absolutely delightful...! Mmmm...^_^

Hee hee, my aunt and Gilbert seem to be SARS free. Yay! ^_^ It's scary thing, you know? People dying and such.

Okay, I think I'm rambling too much. Going off on too many tangents. Or maybe I'm procrastinating from getting back to work, now that I'm on a break finally. ^_^

04.03.03, Thursday:

[11:00pm] Kathleen and I went out to play tonight! ^_^ We went down to RH and I went snack shopping for the upcoming trip...I found a ton of those Morinaga chewy candy (though, I didn't find all the flavors. My goal was to buy one of each flavor, and I only found four. I know there are more out there...somewhere! ^_^), and got myself a box of ALMOND CRUSH Pocky's. Mmm...I've never had an "almond crush" one, but I know I like almonds...and these look mighty enticing...! ^_^ Of course, I might get thirsty, so I got some peachy-water thing.

I resisted the very strong temptation to buy more snacks. I wanted to try a bunch of new stuff, like strawberry flavored soy milk (now how would that taste???) and some other stuff, but I know that we really do have more at home that we'll be taking with us on the trip. Plus, I might be the only ones eating them (my parents aren't AS big on candy as I am...heh heh...), and I know I won't finish them all in one trip.

After, we loitered around the HK plaza, window shopping at the toy stores, getting fishballs (eh. They're good. But they're not GREAT. They don't taste that fresh - yes, they are bouncy and elastic-ky, but they don't taste fresh, and sadly, that's a minus...) and eating dinner at Hainan Chicken. We got the fried Hainan chicken, heh heh. Mmm...^_^

Okay, about sleeptime. Goodnight! ^_^ [One more day...! ^_^]

04.02.03, Wednesday:

[07:40pm] 2 more days...! Actually, I think that my mind is already on Spring Break. ^_^

We took a staff picture today...because we're going to be on TV! I don't know what channel or what program, hee hee...just some news program where they choose one school to spotlight - and the district chose our school to represent them! Neato, huh? =) So we'll be on TV for a few seconds, heh heh...I'll let y'all know when and where when I find out these important details. =)

03.31.03, Monday:

[07:10pm]

Happy Birthday Crystal!!! ^_^

Busy, but fun weekend. ^_^ Recap? Hmm - Strawberry Pie, Tokyo Wako, LAX to pick up Michigan Adventurers, YF leading worship service, MC'ed sharing on Winter Retreat, RCAC vs. GCAC, Christie (in person), Li-Yin (by phone), Sally and Edith, Mall with Lauren (got a neat cell phone cover!), Tasty House dinner, and Alias.

Four more days...then I'm off to Seattle! ^_^

Meanwhile, I must grade, grade, grade...>_<

03.28.03, Friday:

[06:15pm] I'm so excited! This has been an awesome day! =) It was 50's day at school, so I dressed up in rolled up jeans, put on a button-up sweater and put my hair in a ponytail with a scarf. After school, we had a school dance of which I had to chaperone. Usually, it's kinda boring to chaperone, but this time, I had some fun. I showed off my backspin, cuz the kids wanted to see me do it again, and they all circled around for it, hee hee...after, a few more kids went in the circle to show off what they knew, but then it just died...as not much of them break, hee hee...^_^

When I got home, I found out we got cable! Wow! This is so awesome! 82 channels...including the Discovery Channel and the Food Network. Do you KNOW how happy I am at this point??? Hee hee...I can watch Iron Chef now! ^_^

Then when I got upstairs, I found a box for me that came in the mail - full of my business cards! Hee hee...they're just silly ones for fun, but I like them nonetheless. (I get to pass these silly things out now, heh heh...) Happy points shooting off the scale!

To top it off, I get to hang out with Eric tonight, and I hear I might just get to play Kung Fu Chaos as well! Even more happy points! ^_^

03.26.03, Wednesday:

[08:35pm] The only word I can use to describe today is: Eventful! ^_^ At school, we had an earthquake drill, and I got to be a burn victim, heh heh. So as I was laying dead in my room (actually, I just put my head down on my desk. There's no way I'm laying on that tile floor where people step on all day, and where I've chased off many cockroaches and rubble! >_<), waiting to be searched and rescued by the team for my wing. My team never came! Aiya, if it was real, I'd be a dead corpse, hee hee...what happened was some silly commotion happened over at PE between two teachers (these two fight like little kids...aiya...and I won't go into details!) and so my team couldn't get to me cuz they had to handle their dispute. Another team found me later on when they realized there was a whole wing that was not searched. At the end of the school day, we had a BBQ that the principal made just for us - he cooked us hot dogs, burgers, and brought all kinds of stuff to feed us and thank us for our hard work. Wow! (I know. Heidi and I have this thing about "LD" - it's amazing that he thinks so highly of us at times, hee hee...anyways...shhhh! ^_^)

After school, Cheryl came over so I could open up my Money Market account. If you don't have one, you should get one. A Money Market Account is JUST like a checking account basically, except that you get interest on it. In fact, it gets more interest than what I get for my savings account at BofA, which is like 0.50%. It gets on average around 4.00%. Much better. I highly recommend it to all of you out there that are working, hee hee...drop me a message and I'll get you in touch with her! (There you go Cheryl! I've subtly dropped your name publicly on my webpage! ^_^)

I went to LA Fitness for Step class, and guess who I saw??? Romani and Tawnya! Karazy running into them! My goodness, I haven't seen these two since a little after we graduated from high school. It was neat catching up with the two and chatting about what has happened since high school. I found out Munira moved to Texas and that Liz is now married. Romani has a clothing line called Bullitt or something like that (which is neat, cuz that's what she's been wanting to do!). There's tons more gossip but I suppose I shouldn't put it all here huh? ^_^

And I had a delicious dinner - dumplings (the leek kinds) and some bao's that my parents found at Ranch 99 (6 for only 99 cents! That's good quality Chinese cookin', homes...!). Certainly eventful, yes? ^_^

03.24.03, Monday:

[06:10pm] I went with Rosalyn to go see Miss Saigon last night. WOW! I haven't seen a musical in ages...the last ones I saw were Sunset Blvd and Italian Girl in Algiers, back in high school. They were both really good! ^_^ Anyways, I even got a program as a cool souvenier...I suppose I will get one for Les Miserables too, hee hee. ^_^ My goodness. All these links!

Jason came to church yesterday too! Well, he was back from spring break, of course. He had to take care of some business that could have been really volatile...I'm glad everything didn't go as bad as I was worried it would. Prayer works alright, hee hee. =)

My 2nd and 3rd period were crazy today. Maybe because of all the subs we had. Who knows why 8th graders act the way they do anyways? ^_^ Tomorrow, there will be another group of teachers out again for more meetings/conferences, aiya.

Okay. Dinner and a butt load of school work tonight. No chance for step class (though it is some crazy lady at this time, and not the ones I like anyways, so it's kinda okay...maybe...I need to get my money's worth, dang it! ^_^).

03.22.03, Saturday:

[10:13pm] Lorie! =) I have your booklist made and done, hee hee...the link is permanently posted on the right side of this webpage, where my current book reading is. =) And if you're not Lorie, you can check it out too! ^_^

[05:57pm] Student Led Conferences went really well - I didn't have to do much, as expected, so I got to read and finish The Thief Lord, as well as do new seating charts and plan lessons for next week. Wow. =) But it was awesome hearing the parents interact with their kids - how they were proud of them, or even those that came down hard on those students that don't do well. The parents cared, and that is something that is always great to see. ^_^

After school on Friday, I went down to South Coast with Melody and Kathleen. We went shopping (the True Blue Spa Hand Lotion is super powerful! I got one for my mom, hee hee...they have a deal going on right now, muah ha...^_^), took a bunch of fobby pictures (which I won't be able to publish online, as my bro has my digicam - half of the gang is up in Michigan for spring break!) with Mello's camera, and had dinner at Nello Cucina. Mmm...I'm not a big fan of alfredo, but this dish - the Fettucine Michelangelo - was soooo yummy! ^_^ The atmosphere was very neat, with fake flowers that wound their way up around the place, and a neat old guy that played his guitar during the dinner.

This morning, Kathleen, Vanessa, Calvin, Gilbert, and I went to Sunrise Assisted Living again to do some volunteer work. We didn't get to do manicures this time, but I did get to push this lady named Mabel out in her wheelchair and chat with her as we sauntered outside. Then at lunch, I got to play waiter for many of the residents - getting their food, cutting up big food, picking up dishes, getting coffee and tea, and cleaning up at the end. What was neat was that there was one lady that nobody could understand what the heck she was saying - but I did! It was awesome. They were all like, you know what she is saying??? She wanted hot water for her drink first, but not just water - she wanted me to bring it to her table so I can pour it there and she can stir it. Another time, she wanted me to help button her shirt. It was crazy, because just by body language, you couldn't really tell what she wanted, and one certainly wouldn't be able to tell what she wanted by what she said. It didn't make any sense either! Is this some kind of gift God has bestowed on me? to understand this type of tongue??? Hee hee...^_^

Another lady, she couldn't talk properly either - she stammered and said a series of "bbb-bbb-bbb" whenever she tried to say something (actually, that was ALL she really said!). Half of the time, I got what she wanted, though most of the time, I had help from the other residents who knew what she wanted on a regular basis.

Lunch was down at Noodle House - Kathleen and I were really in the mood for beef stew noodles (with tendon!), so we took Calvin along, and YouJin joined us there. After, Calvin and I went to Yamato, searching for this Japanese candy that I really like (all thanks to Linda Q. for hooking me onto it, heh heh!). It comes in many different flavors, and I wanted to get one of each, hee hee...only they sold them for twice as much as the other Japanese Market (of which I don't know how to get to!), and only had two flavors. So I just got one. I will need to go on a quest another day and find them all! ^_^

And now, I'm finally home. Home, Sweet, Home...indeed! ^_^

03.19.03, Wednesday:

[07:30pm] This is pretty neat - I actually have some free time today! Why oh why, you ask? I don't have school till noon tomorrow, so I don't have to worry about going to sleep late. And most of my grading is done for now, except for entering the scores and grading one last set of work. All thanks to Kathleen's and Eric's dedicated assistance last night! ^_^ They each were rewarded with one of the neatest stickers I have, though, ahem, I found out this morning that one of them was secretly placed on my lunch container! (Ah ha...pretty sneaky...! Hee hee...no worries...I have a plan...^_^)

What's cool is that I can also go to step class again tomorrow. =) Twice in a week is a lot compared to how many times I've gone in the past few months...of course, being sick did knock out a good chunk of that, heh heh...^_^

Student Led Conferences are tomorrow (hence, no school till noon for me!), so my on-site hours have been shifted down to noon till 7pm. I don't even do that much at the conference - as it's Student Led, the students do everything. I just meet and greet at the beginning, really. I've set everything up for tomorrow already, so while they're conferencing, I can either lesson plan or read my book! (Perfect, as I'm just getting to a really good part in The Thief Lord!) I'm looking forward to a pretty relaxing day tomorrow. =)

So. The war has begun with Iraq. The effects will probably go farther than just rising gas costs. Oy. What's crazy is that because it's not on our soil, it doesn't seem to make as much as an impact for us (like many of my students know there's war and are talking about it at some level - whether it's just "We're all gonna die!" or something actually mature, heh heh... - but many also don't really care about it too much), and we forget about those people that are there, really experiencing it, and the innocent people that could be harmed in the crossfire. >_<

03.17.03, Monday:

[04:35pm] The Inland Empire is basically a desert. So it's always neat to see how green and lush everything gets out here after the rain! =)

While I was up in Big Bear, being pushed into the cafeteria to reserve a table, I heard from the crowd two girls talking: "Is that not Ms. Lau???" I had no idea who said it, so it's a mystery as to who knows me, but somebody does, and it's a mystery that would be neat to solve, heh heh...

Heidi and I want to start a book club! ^_^ The first book is one that I was soo close to buying a long time ago...so we're starting with it. It's a book about the plague. Year of Wonders. ^_^

I have a lot of work tonight to do, so if my AIM is on, and the away message is on, I may be here, but be patient...leave a msg, and I'll respond during my breaks, heh heh. ^_^

03.16.03, Sunday:

[11:30pm] Back from Winter Camp! Sooo much fun...so many pictures...too much to post...! The group included my bro, Amy, Vanessa, Linda Q, David N., Josh, Chris, Thomas, and Theo. It snowed Saturday evening, so since snowfall till we left, we basically were in nonstop snowball combat, which involves throwing not just those little snowballs, but huge masses of snow upon each other, pushing people onto the ground and ambushing the unfortunate chosen one, and just plain goodness. We made a giant snowman too! =) The snow was super soft, powdery and white, and even though the only dry clothes I had to go home in were my pajamas, it was all quite worth it. =) Some brave campers made some serious decisions up there, and it was neat as we got to know each other better as a group, as we had some people that had never gone to camp go with us! Yay! =)

Driving in the snow was a little scary. We saw an accident where the damage was pretty bad, and it was hard to see through the thick fog and heavy snow, but it was still a good experience overall. ^_^

03.13.03, Thursday:

[07:25pm] Oooo...this looks mighty promising...punish those who spam your email, muah ha ha...^_^

I moved my jumbo beanbag out to the loft! This was my original plan, only there was nowhere to put it in the house, and that's how it ended up in my room. I liked it there, but it's more fun when I can share it with others and give them the honor of sitting on it too! ^_^

Okay...back to schoolwork and packing for the weekend...!

03.12.03, Wednesday:

[09:18pm] Oh YES! ^_^ My Army is back up again! Click on it to help it grow! Yes, the Dwarf Queen reigns once again! ^_^ As is the usual deal, I'll grant you a small parcel of land and a few soldiers to start up your people! Hee hee...^_^

[08:27pm] Our YF Fundraiser Luncheon on Sunday was awesome! I didn't get to post about it yesterday, so I'll make it up here. =) We had such delicious food - fried rice, Singapore rice noodles, chow mein, orange chicken, "fancy" corndogs, broccoli beef, clam chowder, jellyfish, Chinese Chicken Salad, Tacos (hard and soft shell), the Tai's specialty drink (soda, OJ, ice cream, and mandarin oranges!), cheesecake brownies, sparkling Jell-O topped with chilled cream cheese, sandwiches...all hand made fresh by YF! ^_^ We earned a whopping $441. Woo hoo! ^_^

I don't get Tuesdays with Morrie, but I do get Tuesdays with Eric. ^_^ I know, cheesy. Hee hee...but see, last night, I had a ton of work to do. I mean, a LOT. I even woke up early this morning to do more and finish it up, as I drifted off to sleep after midnight last night (yeah, I know, early...but aiya, teaching is really, physically exhausting, hee hee, so I don't sleep like super late much anymore, unless I have no school the next day. ^_^) But yep, he drove all the way here to keep me from procrastinating and mindful of my grading, to do the the dishes (and there were a lot last night!) and not let ME do any of them, and even put the cover on Emily's cage for me! That's a lot of bonus points! ^_^

It's going to be another hectic evening. I will be out all this weekend in Big Bear. Then I'm also out on Monday for an RSP Conference, so I have to prepare sub plans. The only hard part is that none of this Project ALERT stuff is in the textbook, so they can't do premade worksheets. Maybe...just MAYBE...if the student that has an uncle that deals with the Drug Prevention program who wanted to visit our classroom for two Mondays...if that uncle can come in on NEXT Monday...heh heh...

Science, Math, and Special Ed will not be pink-slipped, so I hear. However, Heidi told me today she's getting one. Drats. She's an AWESOME teacher, and I can't imagine not working with her, you know? It's like that one person at work that you always end up going to to vent, ask questions, find out things, and to just chat away...she can't not work with me next year! We were planning a Science-Language Arts Academy program too! Anyways, there are many reasons why she shouldn't be pink-slipped, as she has priority and credentials that hold her up above many others, as well as the fact that she's mighty good at what she does. Perhaps I need to exert my cap-bustin' influence over some district officials...heh heh...j/k...^_^

Did I mention? On Monday, when I got to school, I saw graffiti on some of the windows, walls, and the parking lot. Heh heh, it had to be someone that obviously was not able to jump over the fence, as the inside was all okay. I believe we do have cameras, so even though I haven't heard anything about it, I hope the culprits were caught already and taken care of.

03.10.03, Monday:

[07:45pm] Arg. I have so much to do today! I won't have time till next week to even fully clean and fix up my bathroom. That's right, it's MYYYY bathroom, hee hee! ^_^ my bro wants to move to the downstairs bedroom, and thus, he's taking the downstairs bathroom as well. So I get the bathroom for me, and I can fancify it in whatever way I want! Glow-In-The-Dark stars can be neat, as the mirror would accentuate the effects and make it seem like you have the night sky on top...but it's kinda tacky, hee hee. ^_^ I might get the loft too. That means I can move my beanbag out and fix things up here too. Woo hoo! ^_^

My taxes are done! ^_^ What's crazy is that, in the deductibles section, they ask about gambling. You can get gambling loss as a deductible??? Is that fo' reals???

03.09.03, Sunday:

[09:40pm] Oh! I forgot to say that I went to Kohl's after church tonight, hee hee. Something like a fancy Mervyn's - not too impressive, but the huge discounts were indeed appealing. 50% off on a ton of things, hee hee. But anyways. They have one of the biggest collection of fun socks that I've ever seen in one store! ^_^ However, do not think that I like just ANY socks that have silly things on them, hee hee. I have much more depth than that - the sock must appeal to me in a certain way. It must show me that it is gummy-worthy, in that although it is silly, it still has something surprisingly intriguing, amusing, and makes the wearer feel super-powered for the day. ^_^ So I got only one pair today, as moderation is key, and that this one proved to be gummy-worthy.

I think this is the most sock-buying I've done in a while - I got two just about a month ago, and one today. I do watch my budget, and such luxuries are things that I do need to budget for too, besides my bills. =)

[06:50pm] So my parents bring home a series of tapes of one of those 80's Hong Kong kung-fu TV series shows, Chor Lau Heung. The good thing about these are that they are neat, and are old time favorites. I mean, Chor Lau Heung and his posse of skilled fighters, like Woo Deep Fa and Yut Dim Hong (the guy who kills people by leaving only a single mark on his victims' forehead, hee hee) going around, saving the world from bad guys who laugh in that evil, maniacal-type laugh, is always fun to watch. But see, each tape holds 6 hours of footage. And in these types of TV series, there are usually much more than one or two tapes - this one, I think, has like 6 or 7, where most have an average of 12 or some. So after my bro and I got used to the bad tracking, we watched the entire second tape (the first tape was hopeless - the tracking was so bad!) and didn't sleep till 4:30am. Hee hee, I guess it did help enrich our Cantonese skills right? There were no subtitles at all! ^_^

At least we're not on a time limit to return these tapes. I think we can keep them. =) One time, we borrowed a series that had 12 or so tapes, and my bro and I stayed up late so many nights to watch them all...I think it was the Legend of the Condor Heroes, hee hee...another favorite. ^_^ (What's funny is that both featured basically the same cast. I guess these people were big hits back then.)

Back to working on my tax return! ^_^

03.08.03, Saturday:

[11:10am] Jason is one of those few that really loves to go to church. Not just loves to go, but relishes in it! He doesn't take it for granted, and he appreciates this blessing that many churchgoers see as a chore, a duty, and a "aiya-I-have-to-get-up-so-early-and-dress-up-and-be-nice-today". For that, I salute him! ^_^ And yes, 16 more days...

And a thought that hit me: It sucks how some people so want to be included that they exclude. This is something that makes me frustrated when I see it going on. It just keeps the cycle going on, you know?

Speaking of cycles, I watched the movie Hero last night. I suppose it was very symbolic. But there was not a lot of kung-fu action. In fact, they had MENTAL kung-fu sequences where they would fight in their minds - what the heck??? I wanted the movie to simply end, hee hee...sorry, but a Gummychild values good kung-fu action over extreme symbolism any time. ^_^

[08:40am] I was cleaning up some parts of my old webpage and moving files around. And I found some of the neat things I used to have on it, like music in the background, scrolling messages, the old web designing that I did for Future Physicians of America, brainteasers and stories, and even some crazy webpage I had linked up about how gummybears are tortured worldwide. =) I had the main index page linked to a ton of other pages I made. I think after a while, I thought there were too many subpages, and that was part of the reason why I stopped and changed it. But looking back...wow, I did a lot of work on it, and it was pretty good for a beginner playing with html! Hee hee...

Anyways, I still like the scrolling messages, so I put up again for the heck of it. I might need to clean it up one day (might take a while, knowing me!), but for now, it's there. ^_^

03.07.03, Friday:

[05:05pm] Today seemed so short! I got lots of things done, and yet, there's more that I still want to do and plan for school, heh heh. Plus, I met with my financial advisor, and went on a long lunch at Teriyaki Plus. David, one of the youth heading up to Big Bear next weekend for camp, recommended me to go try his uncle's new place. Mmm...they have Tempura...hee hee...and all the people working there were so cheery! It was neat - they were all smiling, paying attention to who ordered what, knew our names from when they took our order to when we left, would bring food out to people, and they really knew their customers or would get to know them without being nosy...all that good stuff. Karazy. But very cool. ^_^

03.06.03, Thursday:

[10:25pm] Fishballs forever! ^_^ I don't care how feral it is, but if all I had to eat were fishballs for a meal, I'd relish in the goodness! ^_^

[06:15pm] Hee hee, I was just thinking about my Ooompa Loompas. =) That's my zero period intramurals team - we're playing bball right now, and it's funny, because my guys are all short in that class (hence our name). Led by the shortest teacher on campus, hee hee. ^_^ We've won two - one by forfeit, and one, we actually won! One of our best players is a girl, who's the tallest on the team. We have some mighty good short players though - we're small, but speedy and I see some good moves out there. ^_^ Basketball is over though, and now we're up for volleyball. Woo hoo! ^_^

[06:20am] I need to get started on my taxes...aiya...! >_< Heidi mentioned that Rabbit Proof Fence is a movie, and that it was good. It's from a book, a true story written from the granddaughter of one of the protagonist. Hmm, maybe I should get the book and read it...or, I can watch it. ^_^

03.04.03, Tuesday:

[11:05pm] Here's something from last weekend's Winter Retreat:

The usual question that one hears a lot is: What if? When you die, and God is at the gates of Heaven, He asks you one question: "What should I let you into Heaven?" How would you respond?

However, Ralm put a totally different twist on things: What if God asks you a different question? What if He asked you, "Why didn't you give up everything, sacrifice it all, and come follow Me?" What would you say?

Deep food for thought!

And hey, if we spend quality time with the ones we love and care about, we should spend quality time with Him too, huh? I need to work on my Devotionals. They're there, but could definitely have more depth to them. It's hard to break out of the "ihavesomuchtodoandthereisneverenoughtimeformetogetitalldone" mentality. I think time is one thing that I have trouble "sacrificing". It's one of the goals I've had for the past two years, and it's going really well, but I think that I could speed it up and make it better. I'm still latched on the many things I have to do ahead of me for the day, and that's why it's been going not as good as I'd like it to go. I will continue to strive on! ^_^

[06:35am] Mmm....! Tea egg for breakfast! ^_^

03.01.03,Saturday:

[08:25pm] I went rock climbing today, at Hangar 18, with Eric, Jenn, Jeff, Yvonne, Kelvin, and Stacy (my Big Grasshoppa'!)! It was fun...I think we were there about 4 hours and some! My arms are going to be sore soon...the muscles have already tightened up, and I'm not typing quite as quickly as I usually do. =P Buuut, it was a lot of fun climbing and scaling the walls, swinging from the ropes, and competing on who would get to the top first. Yeah, so me and Stacy lost...but it was because we were on a course that was slightly more tedious than our competitors, right? ^_^

[09:50am] So. The deal is, if Fred buys the Xbox, I'm going to buy Kung Fu Chaos. It looks THAT neat, hee hee hee...^_^ (click on the "Experience" link on the left!)

Heidi told me she saw the previews for the Jet Li movie, Cradle to the Grave, and says that Jet Li is HOT, hee hee...muah ha ha...besides Snoballs, I've converted her to like Jet Li too!!! That, or she has good taste. ^_^ I think she must have good taste, cuz Heidi is simply tyte like that, heh heh. She says he gets better with age. Personally, I like his older movies better, like when he was throwing real kung-fu around...I must bring her some old tapes for her to watch! ^_^

Last night, I went out to eat dinner and play games with Eric and his posse of fun game-pros, hee hee...we played Tigris and Euphrates. ^_^ It looked neat, but unfortunately, I was a little tired from the lack of sleep this week, so I didn't do much, heh heh. I got a ride home though, and am now fully energized with more than a full night's sleep! ^_^

02.28.03,Thursday:

[06:15am] Ewww. I just had a dream about cockroaches!!! I was in my class, and it was during 2nd period, and a student noticed there was one dangling right above my desk...like how a spider would hang down a thread of webbing...and so I got rid of that, but then noticed that there were piles of them near my laptop, as well as on a bunch of other places. So some of my students helped me get rid of them, because I was so freaked out by them, hee hee. If anything, I don't like spiders, but I don't like cockroaches more. I'm not a wimp - I used to go bug catching and play with them - but spiders and cockroaches? Those are two just really different creatures from all the other bugs out there!

So I woke up this morning, freaked out by the dream, and what did I see? A little cockroach sitting in front of my door. I had seen it last night, but it was at a weird angle so I couldn't get it, and I thought my bro would take care of it (obviously, he just stayed seated in front of the computer and left it there after I went to sleep). So I caught it and flushed it down the toilet today. No more cockroach nightmares, I hope. ^_^

I saw Daredevil last night! Storyline could have been better, but the action was quite good! Bullseye was neat, hee hee...and crispy pastrami sandwiches beforehand was a nice touch to the night out to the movies with Chris, Yvonne, Jeremy, and Eric. ^_^

02.26.03,Wednesday:

[05:10pm] Going through the Drugs and Alcohol unit with my students is fun. You know why? Cuz I can throw in a ton of biology!!! Hee hee...So far, we've talked about alveoli are (for understanding emphysema), how carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in red blood cells, why one gets cramps when they run during PE, and what they can do about it, who Phineas Gage was, prefrontal lobotomy, and even what some parts of the brains do! It's very cool, and it reminds me of just how much I love biology! ^_^

Buffy and Smallville were both good last night. I'm glad they're picking up again, especially Smallville. But they're not going to have any more new episodes for a while...arg!!! >_<

Les Miserables is finally coming local! Woo hoo! I'm so excited...I've been wanting to see this since I was like, what...10??? heh heh...Giang and I are going to watch it. Anyone else want to join? ^_^

02.25.03,Tuesday:

[05:40am] I had such a good night's rest, and woke up to the sound of pounding rain. The rain is going nuts! It's super heavy, and it hasn't stopped the least. I love it! ^_^ I don't remember seeing a storm this crazy since...well...I don't know...but it's been a while. ^_^ Everyone, stay safe today though - driving, I imagine, will be a toughie...! >_<

02.24.03, Monday:

[06:00pm] Winter Retreat was sooooo much fun!!! Although I'm totally tired out from it...today, I had practically no energy to teach 8th graders, heh heh...but it's okay, it went by pretty well. (Ha! I said "well", not "good"! ^_^) I hope I am able to finish all the work I have for tonight early enough, so I can go to sleep and get more sleep than I got this past weekend all together, hee hee...^_^

Friday night, Melody, Megan, Shelton, Lambert, and I drove up to Big Bear...when we got there, the house was locked! my bro and the gang had picked up the keys and dropped by the house earlier, but they had gone out to get food. So we shivered out in the cold, and then went back into the car to take random pictures and wait, hee hee...In terms of pictures, let's just say right now that we took a lot of silly, but fun pictures throughout the weekend. ^_^ Unfortunately, nothing tops that controversial picture of Edwin and Shelton when we went up to San Francisco last year...shhh....^_^

Ralm's messages were powerful, and what was neat was that I had been praying for two of my fellow people there about some stuff they're going through, and his messages hit their situations right on. I don't mean, just a bit, or just slightly, but right on. It was sooo neat, cuz I was able to see how my prayers were answered in just a short amount of time! ^_^ Our theme was "Into the Truth", meaning, into the truth of what it takes to be God's people. He emphasized Love, Passion, and Discipline, the three key parts of being His children...three simple topics that I know about well, and yet, it still gave me a different perspective on what it really takes, and how I can apply such things in my life. =)

There was an earthquake while we were up there too - it was pretty strong, a magnitude 5.4...and there were a bunch of aftershocks, registering between even 4.0 to 4.5 on the Richter scale. Crazy huh? The newspaper said this big lamp smashed into a wrought-iron table at the Holiday Inn in Big Bear - which was right down the street from where we were staying! Luckily, nothing broke at the house we were renting, hee hee...or there goes our security deposit!

We played a ton of games, including Butt Ugly Martians, Trivial Pursuit, and Catch Phrase. =) There wasn't too much snow, so we didn't get to play too much, but Edwin, Shelton and I got to build a tiny snowman before Lambert knocked it over, heh heh...and we had a delicious $7.95 buffet lunch at this Chinese place that also had a Mongolian grill thing in it...mmm...hee hee, I'm taking Youth there to eat! ^_^ More silly pictures were taken at the shops in the Village, in perfect fob-tourist style - all of us touting our cameras and holding up peace signs. ^_^

After I came home, my parents wanted to go eat Chinese buffet for dinner at a new restaurant, hee hee...so we had MORE buffet food for dinner. =) Both buffets were rather good. Chinese buffet is getting better - I remember I used to think it wasn't all that great, but the restaurants are now putting up better places with better food - not just the fast food style kind. ^_^ Then I got to visit Eric and watch Alias! ^_^

Giang also got into medical school!!! She was accepted to Loma Linda! Woo hoo! Though it's not like super close to here, I'd probably get to see her more than now, heh heh...I'm soooo happy for her! And so excited!!! Congrats Giangy!!!

02.19.03, Wednesday:

[06:09pm] I've sold Heidi on those yummy Hostess Snoballs...hee hee...I bought a pack for myself at Spanish class, and even an extra one to send to Huy, because they were extra fresh. I just need to find me a box to mail them in, heh heh...^_^ Speaking about food, my mom had bought a big tub of that Pork Sung thing...so she made me Juk (congee...porridge...whatever it's called) today. Mmmm...^_^

I have a lot of work to do tonight. Because I'm going away for the entire weekend, I need to get next week's LP's done...grade as much as I can...figure out Failure Notices...get laundry, start packing, and make sure last minute details, like transportation, is taken care of. Oy. But it's dinner time first. ^_^

02.17.03, Monday:

[07:40am] I'm finding a pattern of authors I tend to like, hee hee...Lois Lowry and Lawrence Yep, to name a few. These are authors who write those fiction books that one tends to read when in middle school. Such are the writings that appeal to me - not because I teach their target audience, but that they're fun to read. I like fairy-tale likeness, though not traditional fairy tales. I think I realized this after reading that giant Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales book. Anyone want it??? I'll gladly give it away. I'll also gladly give away Lilian Jackson Braun's 3-in-1 novel of "The Cat Who..." mystery novels. But anyways, I do read other books too - like things that deal with science in almost any way (even textbooks. Those, I actually find fun...!), religion (apologetics is interesting. Like I don't argue over the nitty gritty details of things, though it's interesting to find out what people think of certain controversial issues), classics, and even cookbooks and comics, hee hee. I'm a roundabout reader, but this year, exposure to certain fictions increased - all these deals from Scholastic book orders are difficult to resist, and the benefit is that, if it's not a keeper, I can give it away to my students. =)

I went down to University Village with the Youth today. We had a mini Bible Study out on the tables there, followed by lunch and watching Shanghai Knights at the Metropolitan. Hee hee...Amy and I had watched it already, but we didn't mind watching it again! Besides all the crazy fun, I also got Mystic, the unicorn beanie pal, from Elizabeth! How neat is that? ^_^ And Vanessa...*sigh*...she did NOT drink 10 boba drinks, as she so boldly said she would do. Wassup wit' dat? Even after I offered to pay for them! Hee hee...so Lauren...next time...we make sure she drinks them all...! Voo must prove her allegiance to boba, ha ha ha...

02.16.03, Sunday:

[05:10am] One of my students sent me the cutest picture of a panda bear. They know I like certain Chinese things, including Jet Li and Panda Bears. ^_^

02.15.03, Saturday:

[11:40am] Last night, Ed, David, Kathleen, my bro and I went to the Mills to watch The Recruit...even though it was soooo tempting to watch Daredevil! EVEN when the guy made a mistake and printed out Daredevil tickets for us (I had three of them in my hands! For the IMAX theater!!!), we resisted. Or, more like I resisted, as my brother was like, let's watch it!!!! Hee hee...Many of the times were sold out, so we got the 10pm showing, and got to meander about the mall a bit. At PacSun, David and Edwin got matching sweatshirts (buy one get one free, hee hee)...if my bro and I found different colors, we would have gotten them too, for the heck of it, hee hee...it'd be so funny to all walk around in matching sweatshirts, but with different colors, hee hee...like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, we just might intimidate everyone around us. I convinced Kathleen to get a pair of fun socks with me, hee hee, and I got a neat t-shirt that had monkey butts on the back...sounds silly, and it is. =)

The Recruit was alright. I thought there was more action in it, but it was more of a mind-game movie. I couldn't tell for a bit just who was good, who was bad, who was double-crossing who, and all that, heh heh...typical plotline, but good enough to make you doubt who was doing what for what side. Did that make any sense? ^_^ Final Destination 2, though, I'm sure, would have had more action in it! ^_^

After, we went to Norm's! my bro and I wanted to go for the Steak and All-You-Can-Eat-Shrimp deal...but that only takes place between 11am - 11pm. David wanted the 99 cents special on Strawberry Shortcakes, and they ran out. Kathleen wanted the 2 pancakes, 2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 eggs deal for $2.99, and that only worked after 4am. And then they had no sides, except for hash browns and fries. Ay! What the heck?!? ^_^ At least we got a bowl of free soup for David? I think Edwin got what he wanted, though he wanted the Steak and Shrimp deal too! ^_^ Heh heh...we all took pics next to signs of what we wanted...(except for Kathleen! hee hee...and hers was the BEST...like there was a giant poster advertising what she wanted, and then next to it was another giant poster advertising what she ended up getting! ^_^)

Edwin also heard that no one can eat 6 (more than 6?) of those Saltine Crackers (pictured with my bro and I) under one minute, with no water. David tried it. He was not successful. Hee hee...just imagine a mouth full of that gooey paste! ^_^ Anyways, we'll try again next time. ^_^

02.14.03, Friday:

[06:15am] I must be getting better - I stayed up later than usual last night and wasn't the least bit tired. my bro and I were talking about movies (Daredevil looks mighty promising...! It has that crazy Hoobastank Bodies Hit the Floor song, muah ha ha...At least my bro only went through a very brief phase where he ran around the house saying that, unlike his obsession with Avril Lavigne, hee hee! ^_^), books to read, and the CCF Winter Retreat.

It's Valentine's Day, hee hee...I have these neat "I Am Loved" pins to pass out to my students. I got them for free...! As a teacher, I find I can get some things for free when I get them for my classroom. Not too much, but some, and I scrounge around to find them! ^_^

Another three-day weekend coming up...! ^_^

02.12.03, Wednesday:

[05:00pm] This rain is awesome! ^_^ I guess I won't need this anymore...until it stops raining, hee hee...^_^

02.10.03, Monday:

Happy Birthday Dolly!!! ^_^

[06:40pm] Oh yeah! I don't think I ever said what my cough was. I had (still have, though it's ending! Yay!) a case of acute bronchitis. I mean, after all, my upper respiratory tract was already weakened by an infection...and heeeeey...I don't know why, but I just remembered something. A cold is could very well be caused by one of the many rhinoviruses, right? [I like that word - sounds like rhinoceros, and I tend to think as them as big, though peaceful, creatures. Maybe it's because I do think Rhinox is pretty cool (from Beast Wars).] Hee hee...I love my biology! ^_^

[04:40pm] Hee hee...one of the referrals to my page was this link: http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/bay/4045/ It looked mighty familiar...and as it turns out, that was my webpage before geocities was taken over by yahoo. Wow! I wonder who had that link to my webpage - 'twas a loooong time ago..! ^_^ I remember that old webpage too...I still have it on my computer I think. It had scrolling messages at the bottom of the browser, a ton of pages that linked off of it, and a bazillion animated moving jpg's and bmp's, heh heh...There's not that much here compared to it (it was getting a little too much anyways, hee hee). Oh, and I had music on those pages as well, ha ha...and it was all done with html, by hand. ^_^

We raised a good amount of money at the fundraiser luncheon, and had some really good food, including Fred's Juk, Shelton's Curry Chicken, Effie's Strawberry Napoleons (of which I'm getting the recipe for, indeed! It was sooo heavenly...!), Mike's Fruit Salad with Silky Marshmallows, and well, just all kinds of stuff. It was funny...all the guys were acting all important, in that they were cooking for such an important event, hee hee...it was all good. =) I played a game of Around-the-World bball with Bobby afterwards - drats, he beat me...and I was soooo close...!!!! (Lauren, school your uncle for me in foosball next time, hee hee...)

In the evening, I got to watch Shanghai Knights! Hee hee...I still prefer Jet Li over Jackie Chan. ^_^ Eric and I meandered about Old Town Monrovia too. I like that place - it's got this neat rustic air about it...and the big tree at the library is pretty spiffy as well. ^_^

And today? Today...there was no school! Lincoln's Day Holiday, heh heh...so I spent it getting LP's ready for the week and some, and spent my lunch in Alhambra with you-know-who, hee hee...^_^ I'm back now, and am working on more LP's and school things, of which I need to get to right now eh? =)

02.08.03,Saturday:

[05:40pm] Arrgggg...I'm so frustrated! Bleah! I feel so much like this little guy...

I'd like to vent exactly what it is that is making me so frustrated, but some might take it personally...so I'll just hold back for a bit. I really am not angry at anybody personally, but just irked with how...anyways...ARG! ARG ARG ARG! >_<

Okay, that's enough hard typing - my poor keyboard is getting beat up, hee hee...=)

I'm still sick, but I think I am getting better. Didn't I say that last time? Well, as long as it's progressively getting better...that's a good thing. And with two three day weekends coming up...that's pretty good, ya know? ^_^

I woke up today, unexpectedly babysitting my dad's friend's kid. He's about 17 months. Babies are tough to take care of - they can't exactly talk, and so when they just start crying for no reason, and you don't know what they want, it gets complicated, heh heh...my mom checked the diaper, I tried to feed him, give him water, go in whatever direction he was pointing at, and he still was not happy! Hmm. Isn't that like a lot of adults sometimes? Hee hee...but anyways, most of the time, he had fun hanging out with me, it seems. =)

Last night, my bro, David, Fred and I had dinner at Crabby Bob's. my bro and I split the bacon wrapped filet mignon and crab legs - I've never really had filet mignon, but it wasn't too good there, heh heh...anyways, it's alright of a place. Not too noteworthy. Afterwards, we went on our shopping adventure at Costco to get groceries for our fundraiser luncheon on Sunday, and then the guys came back to our place to hang out. We were heading out to Dave and Buster's to play, but my parents caught me right before I was going to go and said I'd better stay home, being still sick and all...and they're wise, of course. In the back of my head, I was thinking that I should stay home anyways, so oh well...I guess I can play pool another time. I haven't played in a while, and I wanted to play, hee hee...of course, even if I am no good, I tend to win when everyone else hits the 8-ball in. At least I have skills to NOT hit that ball in, muah ha ha...! ^_^

02.06.03,Thursday:

[09:50pm] Should I grade...or should I just go to sleep...??? I mean, there's still so much to..z...and...z.zz..zzz...goodnight... ^_^/~

02.05.03,Wednesday:

[05:30pm] It's been a long couple of days - being sick makes everything sloooow...>_< Ick! Like last night. I woke up around 4:45am...and didn't fall back into a good, peaceful sleep free from coughing till about 6am...which is my latest wake up time...and slept a good half hour...woke up to a sunny room, and realized that I needed to hurry up and get out to school! The cough is improving...but it feels like I'll have it forever, aiya...!

The Columbia Space Shuttle disaster was so awful...I mean, as it was said on the radio the other day, the whole world knew the names of all the people on Joe Millionaire, and all those other media things, and yet, many weren't even aware that the Columbia was returning that Saturday, until something bad happened. Oftentimes, we need to examine where our priorities lie...=( We spent half the class period discussing about it in class yesterday, and I showed them how Space Shuttles and Space Stations worked with the internet. Many of them didn't know what they were, how they looked like, nor what they did. It was a good learning experience for them - not just the science of it, but to examine the important roles played by these astronauts and other heroes.

The Star Party was neat yesterday! We had no hot chocolate (the hot water pot wasn't working...>_<), but we did catch a lot of planets, stars, and galaxies. =) Another awesome event, heh heh...^_^ We also saw an Iridium Flare, where the mirrored panels on a satellite flashed down on us for a few seconds as it orbitted the Earth, heh heh...pretty neat...as I've never heard of it nor seen one before. =) And after, I had dinner and got to hang out with Eric. What could be nicer??? ^_^

Femdogg sent this excellent article about teachers. Ha...45 hours a week on average? I certainly think I do more than that, hee hee...I mean, today, I stayed 9 hours at work. And this is a day where I left quite early - at least 2 earlier, on average. =Þ But yeah, hee hee...the article is pretty good. ^_^

Some meanie stole our newspaper today. It was gone this morning, with only the Food section left. All because Smallville has their exclusive poster in it today. I don't really care for the poster all too much, but the fact that someone thought it was okay to take it...=(

Heh heh, I completely retract that post! *poof* ^_^

02.03.03,Monday:

[10:37pm] I just watched Legally Blonde. I thought it'd be really silly, ha ha...like one of those blonde-teenie-bopper movies. It's much better than I thought it was! =)

[07:44pm] Visit my cousin's website! hee hee...^_^ (Must promote! He stars in his own band...hee hee...check it out! heh heh...)

02.02.03, Sunday:

[10:47pm] Sometimes you think you know what's going on. Sometimes, you're not sure. And it's that moment of not-sure-ness that tempts one to jump to sudden conclusions. Conclusions that one doesn't want to draw and conclude just yet, because it's only based on one or two moments. You want to give it more of a chance, and see if those one or two moments are defining, or, if it simply was one or two moments based on something else, and not what you fear. However, if it is defining, it's that giving-it-a-chance that will bring what you fear. Maybe it is all too good to be true anyways. Or, maybe I am just thinking too much, which is likely.

02.01.03, Saturday:

[01:00pm]

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Hay Fat Choi...Sun Tay Geen Hong...Lai See Doi Lai??? ^_^

I had pork tongue for the first time for the New Year's Eve dinner last night, hee hee...it's weird to think about it, because while you're eating it, of course your own tongue is forming a bolus out of what's in your mouth, which is a pig tongue...kinda gross...but the thing is, it's really tasty!!! Just like regular pork, but tender, ha ha...There was fat connected to the one I ate - now where would a tongue have fat anyways? I thought it was all muscle? But anyways, enough of this - it's probably grossing some of you out! ^_^

I showed my dad where Jupiter, Saturn, and Sirius was last night in the sky. ^_^ Which reminds me...the "O Starry Night" Star Party with the Riverside Astronomical Society is going on again next Tuesday night. My students are all so excited about it, as field trips have been few. I am too! Last year, we saw so many cool things...ha ha...if one really wants to, one can shuffle through my old archives and find an old blog from February 2002 to see what we saw. I'm sure I must have written about it. =)

I finally saw the CD Shelton gave me - Laputa: Castle in the Sky! It's good, and nothing, nothing, nothing at all like Spirited Away. At the beginning, the heroine wasn't all crying and screaming annoyingly like in Spirited Away - instead, she had some guts and smashed a bottle over the bad guy's head and jumped out of the window and crawled on the outside of a flying airship (dirigible???). ^_^

My mom stayed up late partying with her 'hood, so to say. =) They were up till...what? 2am? 3am? Who knows...! Playing Mah-jong, drinking tea, and eating some of those yummy sweet sesame rice balls, heh heh...=)

My cough is getting a little better - even though I'm still coughing, it's a bit less, and I didn't get up in the middle of the night coughing, like the previous nights. =) My sty thing is going away too! I hope this keeps up...it's a good start for the New Year...!

01.31.03, Friday:

[05:15pm]

Happy Birthday Daddy! ^_^

It's my dad's birthday today! Yay! =) He's so neat, and definitely super-powered! ^_^ Besides all the other things he does, he always, always takes good care of me, hee hee...as demonstrated in the past few days of me being sick. =)

I'm glad it's the weekend...sweet, sweet sleep...(maybe)...and tons of grading...Oy...

01.30.03, Thursday:

[06:30pm] So I spoke too soon yesterday, heh heh...last night/this morning, I got up at 3am, coughing all over the place, and not able to get back to sleep...*sigh* But my dad got up, and he made me some warm honey-lemon water and helped me go back to sleep. I woke up later at 5...and snoozed the alarm till about 6:30. Not a good night's rest. =( And to top that off, yesterday, I had thought that I lost my angel "Special Teacher" pin that a student gave me for Christmas. =( Luckily, I found it today...yay! =)

My dad had the day off, so he was my ride to and from school - he also got me some powerful Nyquil (which I will take later tonight), two packages of cough drops, and something for the funny sty on my eye. What a dad huh? =) And tomorrow is his birthday even! =)

I feel so diiirty. Icky. Sick. =( But hey...I'm getting pretty good at spitting them loogies (or however you spell them) out. Muah ha ha...!!! Actually, no...it's pretty ewwwww...>_<

01.29.03, Wednesday:

[06:30pm] Could a day get any more...well...icky? uncomfortable? tiring??? I'm still coughing all over the place, which is no good. But that codeine is working - besides making me sleepier at school, hee hee...it also seems to be helping with the cough. OR, maybe it so powerfully blocks pain receptors that I think that I'm feeling better, heh heh (and not cough AS much anyways). Anyways, the medicine has something else other than codeine in it too, and I'm sure that something else ("something-ione", of course) has some effect on the cough.

I also think I have this sty on my eye. It's like on the inside edge of my lower lid. It's not even that big, hee hee...I looked up online what a sty was, and they mostly show this huge bump on the eyelid - mine's not on the eyelid itself, and it's definitely not that big - aiya, what if it SWELLS to be that big?!? - but it is very agitating...The other teachers say it's a sty though - they probably have more experience than me on this, heh heh. So while I was driving home, I wanted to pick up some mantanilla (??), as the wise John Smith says it will help. However, in my OTHER eye, my contact flipped or something, and I couldn't see out of it too clearly. So with a cough, a possible sty in one eye, a flipped contact in the other, and still feeling somewhat drowsy from the medicine, I decided to drive straight home. Oy.

I'm home now of course, with a stack of grading to do. Maybe after dinner and grading, I'll go get some of that mantanilla stuff.

01.26.03, Sunday:

[04:55pm] Ha ha...translate this...! ^_^ (note: translation is not all that great, ha ha...the Chinese itself is better than the English. I translated it into English and it barely makes sense...>_<)

你好。我是病。我恼怒因为我是病为那么长期, aiya! hee hee... 你知道什么滑稽? 这个翻译不会翻译" Aiya!" ^ _ ^

01.25.03, Saturday:

[10:10pm]

Ha ha...I'm in an army of dwarves...^_^ You can click on this link every single day and add a soldier to my little army. Please? =) Actually, I'll post it to the right, on top of the tagboard, for the convenience of those who'd like to support my minion of short people. ^_^ An ex-student of mine from Irvine is my commanding officer, ha ha...We can declare war on other soldiers and build up our army every day. A good way to get the ruffian-ness out of me, eh? In fact, you can join in the fun too! Hee hee...actually, after this, I noticed that it was from Outwar.com, and dude, I could have been a gangsta' and recruited thugs and do things like run a crime ring! Drats. ^_^ Anyways, this is much more fun than fantasy basketball, hee hee...

[11:25am] After PN last night, the gang of us went to dinner at Rainforest Cafe for You Jin's birthday! Happy Birthday You Jin! ^_^ Besides yummy food (I got to try shrimp scampi! Mmm...!) and suggestions and plans for future eats (Red Lobster has all-you-can-eat shrimp; Olive Garden has the never-ending pasta, salad bowl, and breadstick; our Chinese New Year luncheon will be at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet), we also loitered after hours at the Mills, and eventually came back to our house to watch My Sassy Girl till the wee hours of the early morning...(I can't beLEIVE I woke up at 7:30 today. I thought I'd be sleeping in much more than that...!)

In my classroom, I found this note a student had dropped after class. Usually, when I get notes, it's like, "...muah ha ha...gossip...!" - after all, this is one means of finding out what's going on socially with your students, though it's only a small source of information. The threat is that if it's a really bad note (with profanity and really bad things in it), I just might mail it home for the parents to read...!!! But anyways, I'm tangenting. =) This particular note was cute and bubbly, and it read: "Dear friend...I'm SO happy! I love my 6th period. Ms. Lau is the best teacher!..." It was sooo neat to find such a note! ^_^ So I stuck it up on my bulletin board, and the next day, she saw it, and was embarrassed but quite happy and pleased with it. =)

I also chaperoned a dance yesterday. This year's kids don't really dance at all - most of them were standing around talking and moving slightly, hee hee...I only had to sit about 6 kids down! What's neat is that I actually had some fun at this one. On a "feisty" (as some would say?) dare, Mr. Williams grabbed me at my feet and tossed me over his shoulders and carried me across the gym, hee hee...I also showed some teachers and kids how to do a backspin. ^_^ Since they were selling glow sticks, I got one, and showed some kids how to spin them with their hands properly, hee hee...Very unchaotic dance to chaperone, lots of hanging out and playing with the teachers and the kids, and little management - nothing at all like last year, where the kids were off the wall 10 minutes into the dance, and I had to keep a sharp eye out for distasteful dancing. It's like, dancing should be fun, you know? You can act like an idiot and still have a lot of fun. There's no need for hoochie dancing, and I'm glad that I can push that with my students, in what little ways I can. This year's group of kids are also a great group of kids (in terms of general discipline. Hey, I liked my students from last year too a'ight? ^_^), so that helps as well. =)

01.23.03, Thursday

[06:40am] Thursday already? Aiya! It's been such a fast and hectic week. I had some really good thoughts to share here, only I can't remember exactly what anymore. However, I DO remember that when I went to take a shower earlier this week, I stepped on more of my bro's clipped nails. =Þ

Last night, I went to sleep late...but kept waking up super early this morning. I woke up at 4am! And I wasn't tired!!! But I thought it'd be a good idea for me to sleep more anyways, so I went back to sleep...and woke up before 5am...and then my alarm went off...and each time, I'd just decide to go back to sleep. I wasn't even tired. I was just thinking that since I went to sleep late, I should just sleep in more because it was unreasonable to be up so early. I despise waking up when it's still dark...it always seems as if I really didn't get any sleep at all. Maybe my sleep cycle is all messed up because I've been up late the past few days doing school work. Project preparation can be a lot of work...but once they get going, I do get freed up a little! ^_^ Maybe. I shouldn't speak too soon...

Oh yeah. I was thinking that, if I did have a 9 - 5 job, my time outside of work wouldn't be so consumed with, well, work. At the same time, I love what I do! Every job has it's advantages and disadvantages. For example, Cheryl came over last night to discuss financial things with me (she's a financial advisor type person now, hee hee...I opened a Roth IRA with her! ^_^) and she came over like at 8pm. She can basically work whenever she wants to, you know? But the thing is, she has to go out there and get customers, ask for referrals (and hey, if anyone is interested in financial planning, for either retirement...saving money for college, buying a house, and all that stuff...let me know! Hee hee...so I can refer her to you! She's nice! ^_^), and do a bunch of stuff that, even though it's not exactly 9 - 5, she still has to do a lot of things or else she can't work, you know? Each to its own...

Tuesday was a very important day...! It was Fred and Josiah's Birthdays!!! ^_^ Happy Birthday guys! ^_^

01.20.03, Monday

[09:50pm] End of my 4 -day weekend, hee hee...'twas good indeed. =)

I spent like hoooours at urgent care with my bro today. They're so slow...I know doctors are hard working and all, and I've been through it first hand, when I was shadowing at Loma Linda...but this particular doctor was literally on the phone chatting about skiing or something. Oy. He wasn't all friendly and supportive, like how doctors, as I would think, should be. After all, when dealing with people in pain, people DO want some sympathy and shown that they're cared about, ya know? But anyways...my bro seems to have somehow sprained a back muscle, and some nerves are pinched, and well...you get the state that he is in, heh heh. 800 mg of Ibuprofen has been good to him though, hee hee...=)

I got to hang out with Eric today, for a late late lunch. It's always, always neat to hang out with this guy, ha ha...^_^

Oh, I updated the pictures section. =)

01.19.03, Sunday

[08:54pm] Ha ha...how funny...exactly 12 hours later...

The day started with a lot of waiting for my bro, hee hee...his leg injury makes him walk at about 0.5 miles/hour...literally, or close enough to it! ^_^ Church also included me substitute moderating at church, hearing Ed Lu give another awesome message, and a visit from Effie - I haven't seen her in ages!!! ^_^ Lucky for my bro, we found him a wheelchair (or a transporting type one anyways) to move him around, ha ha...

We went to West Covina for our basketball game against Grace Chinese Alliance Church...tooons of fun! ^_^ Lots of cheering, yelling, and screaming, ha ha...and we lost our first game, but we won the second one. The third and last game for the night...well, it was only an 11 point game, and it was getting pretty dark by then...hee hee...>_< I suppose I do like watching basketball more when I know the people I'm cheering for and playing against. I don't mind watching it on TV, and I can get into it, but the thing is, I really have no personal attachments to Shaq, Kobe, Iverson, and them people. Even Bibby, though I really do like his name, ha ha...Nor do I want to develop any personal attachments to them - I think a lot of people who do get into the game is because they do, over time, develop that attachment to certain players, hee hee, and it's alright, it's cool - it happens for me in other things too, hee hee, like ice skating or even a really good TV show. ^_^ Yao Ming is cool, and it's all good to support people of my culture, heh heh, but yeah. It's different, you know? ^_^

After, we headed to Tasty House for dinner. Mmm...they have "Gai daan zai"! Those little pancake balls, heh heh...they're soooo heavenly when fresh...! ^_^

I'm a little grumpy. Maybe it's because I lost my sunglasses today. Drats, and it's hard to find one that actually fits my head well...*sigh*

[08:54am] What the heck...??? Not only do I get a ton of spam in my old email...but this morning, I found a CHINESE spam. Woah!

01.18.03, Saturday

[11:53pm] Stan and Belinda's wedding was today. Wow...all I can is: Powerful. Beautiful. Pure. Surreal. Holy. Congrats to two really awesome people...! ^_^

01.17.03, Friday

[11:50pm] Took the day off...nice to wake up when school is just about starting, hee hee...^_^ Of course, my throat gets to rest too...I don't think I've really said anything all day today (noone is home; my mom went out grocery shopping for a bit), except for talk to my bird, hee hee. And with Emily...well, it's mostly bird-talking (making bird noises, ha ha...). ^_^ It feels so much like a Saturday! ^_^ I cleaned some...finished my Spanish test...played with ideas for the upcoming Astronomy Project, and will officially LP in a bit.

A nice, lazy (though not entirely unproductive...that just won't do!) day...^_^

01.15.03, Wednesday

[08:45pm] Hey! Neato! You know how we have those Quarters with different states on the back of them? You can now vote for the California design! Hee hee...thanks Dolly! ^_^

[06:30pm] Minimum School Day only today. But packed with lots of action...!

Our CCR Review yesterday went great! The only component that could be a problem is the EL (English Learners) component, where the lady judging that criteria might say we are noncompliant - the reviewer said her conclusions were still in process. First of all though, she has no valid grounds, and she, unlike the rest of the reviewers (like for GATE, safety/drug prevention, etc...), did not even interview the students, or parents. She took several sweeping observations and that was it. She has a reputation for being, well...being one that always seems to have a chip on her shoulder. Anyways, whatever happens, I'm not the least bit worried - we'd appeal, and probably make it anyways, cuz our school does a really good job with EL students and differentiating instruction. Did you know that our school is representing the entire district for this CCR review??? Heh heh...our school has been doing a lot of that this year, it seems. The Second Chance Literacy Team also had a good round of our school today. That's enough of teacher-talk though. =)

After school today, Ben B. and Aaron stopped by to sell me a car wash ticket for their track and field team at Ramona. It was cool to be visited by them, and to talk and hang out. Ben had left the school in the middle of the 2nd trimester last year - he was expelled for getting into a fight - but it was neat that he still remembers me! =) Aaron, I've seen several times already and it's still neat to be visited by them. Both have Ralm for track, heh heh...

The FIRST thing these boys told me were that they so wish that they had done better in my class...because all the stuff they're studying now, they had seen (ha...not exactly DONE) in my class last year! Hee hee...it's awesome. =) And Heidi, who is NOT one to lavish praise for no reason, also told me that she can always tell which students have me - that they know the science at a deeper level than the other kids. That's quite a compliment! ^_^ Cuz you know, I honestly don't know what these kids do with the knowledge they learn in my class - like how they'd use it elsewhere, or when they'll use it again in the future, and realize that they learned it way back in 8th grade. So it's always nice to hear directly from them that what I did was truly not in vain. =) Teaching certainly has many rewards, and this is just one of them! Well, two. The second, in this situation, is that the kids remember you, WANT to and DO visit you long after they've moved on to another school, and even invite and are eager for you to show up to their events, like in sports and what not. A run-on sentence, I think, but one with good things in it that are worth saying. Wow. =)

I'm thinking of taking Friday off. This cold is dragging, because I haven't had any time to rest...there's a 3 day weekend coming up, and if I take Friday off, it'll be a 4 day weekend, where just maybe, I'll be able to sleep more, and hopefully rid myself of being sick. I've not taken a sick day this entire year so far. However, I hate having subs! Should I???

01.12.03, Sunday

[08:00pm] How many of you enjoy your shower? I certainly do. I looooove how comfy it makes me feel! Like when you're cleaned up, refreshed and awakened by a warm shower, and there's a slight scent of soap (cucumber melon, in my case, hee hee) that lingers in a steamy bathroom, and you get to place your feet onto the fluffy bathroom rug...it's simply...very nice. ^_^ I really do anticipate taking my showers and baths.

Anyways, the other day, right before I stepped into the bathtub, guess what I stepped on?!? It just totally broke the dreamy bubble that comes with being cleansed and refreshed...can anyone guess? I don't think it's something that would simply pop into anyone's head. my bro might guess it though...because it was one of his clipped TOENAILS! Or maybe it was a fingernail. What's up wit' that? That's what a trash can is for, aiyaaaa! ^_^ Either way, there were tons of them, scattered not just on the floor and that precious, fluffy rug, but inside the bathtub too! Ewww...so I spent the first bit of my shower washing away his nails. Not such a dreamy shower, as showers are meant to be! >_<

Another window massacre at school today! This time, my room wasn't hit, but about 20 some other windows were, including the principal's office, Franks', and Dombrowski's (which was really bad, so I hear). It's getting pretty costly to repair these windows, ya know? They really should just install cameras.

Dinner was good last night, hee hee...and so was Alias! ^_^

I wanna see Hero when it comes out. There's a lot of kung-fu in there, hee hee, and my dad's been telling me about it. AND it stars Jet Li. ^_^

[1:30am] Dang. I literally spend the entire day working on lesson plans. I haven't spent this much time on LP's for a while...but since I'm changing everything, I guess that's what happens. I woke up and started working around 10...took a break at 6 to head to YF, which was a welcomed four hour break...came home...watched Spiderman (Even if I wanted to work, I couldn't...my bro was running a virus scan on the computer again, heh heh...)...came back up and worked till now. I think I'm done. I hope I am. Well...I'm going to sleep after this anyways, so...^_^

YF was awesome...we had a small group today, but it was simply neat to just go in-depth in the Bible with these awesome people. We had so much thoughtful discussion that it was really cool! The chips and salsa and cheese afterwards were excellent as well, and Cookie's presence is always welcomed! =)

01.10.03, Friday

[10:15pm] Woah! Friday already? That's nuts...this week went by so fast!

Today was neat! After school, Cherie came by! So me, Chris, and Julie went out to eat with her in downtown Riverside, at La Cascada. La Cascada used to be by Sierra...only it moved recently. I rarely go to downtown Riverside, but yep...it's just like downtown anywhere - one way streets, and shops on the streets, though not much...After that, I dropped by Berean's, and one of my old students saw me! Tatiana told me she is now leading as number one in her science class (Honors Natural Science) and she told me that all the stuff that we covered last year was really helpful for them this year, and that they knew most of the stuff and were able to lead in it in their 9th grade classes now. Yay!!!! That's one of the nicest things to know as a teacher - that I prepared them well for the next year, that they remembered what we talked about last year, and that they are able to really do well this year because they do remember and had truly learned from when I taught them in school!!! Neato huh? =) Many of the students in Natural Science and Honors Natural Science at Sierra had visited back or emailed to tell me the same thing, and yeah...it's just really cool. =) I mean, Tatiana had a HARD time with the periodic table, and other students struggled with physics, and now...BAM, they got it and are doing it well in the next year. That's just awesome. Awesome-awesome-awesome! ^_^

Then in the evening, I went to PN, where there was quiche to snack on, as well as a bunch of Taiwanese snacks that Edwin brought back for us, hee hee...of course, there was a bunch of basketball talk. We have our first game against West Covina in 2 weeks! I don't think I'll play - I haven't practice in a long time...evident in that I have no game anymore...ha ha ha...^_^

Drats. We have visitors on Tuesday and Wednesday at school...CCR Review...and Second Chance Literacy...oy...more dog and pony shows? Ick...>_<

01.08.03, Wednesday

[09:25pm] Went to dinner with Kathleen tonight. Mmm...I haven't been to Mimi's Cafe in a while...I loooove their carrot bread! The perfect amount of raisins and walnuts...moist and entiiiirely yummy...! ^_^ They even have their recipe online. I'm going to try making it one of these days! ^_^

This weather is nuts. I like how it's cooler now though...and that slight bit of rain today? Awesome! ^_^

My 3rd period, though still the most rowdy compared to the rest of the classes, has actually been pretty good the past few days. Either they have some type of winter break hangover, and just need to warm up to school again, or well...maybe there IS some change. Woo hoo! I hope it keeps up. It's not great, and there's still room for improvement, but yeah...significant difference from before. Nice. ^_^

I'm in a sleepy mood. Think I'll sleep early tonight...

01.06.03, Monday

[10:10pm] A lot of things happened over break at school. When I came back, I found that one of my windows was broke again! Remember how last time, there were a few windows smashed by unknown kids throwing broken up cement into them? Well, this time, there were a LOT of windows, all over campus, broken and smashed. Our custodial staff took care of them over break, though this weekend, I guess more appeared. The band room had two bricks thrown into the windows, and had two large gaping holes. There were also really gross pictures and graffiti-writing on some doors and walls on campus. I spent the morning (and I came early today to do some work...which, well...was put on hold) cleaning up my classroom. I had help from the custodian, but it was still a mess - one big hole, but lots of little pieces of glass all over the place, some found even way on the other side of the classroom.

It doesn't bug me personally, but it does make me a little upset that doing such a thing sends ANY message whatsoever. Let's say some kid had beef with the school, or even certain teachers, or even me. It doesn't show anything - like what are we supposed to do about it? We don't know who it is and what the problem is. Or, which is more likely, some kids thought it'd be fun. *sigh* Plus, me and my kids get to see a hole in our classroom, one that we do enjoy being in. =( What strikes me also is that the alarms didn't go off. Hmm. Security sucks there eh? =P

Mr. Robert Middaugh, the computer teacher at Sierra MS, passed away on the 23rd of December. He had cancer and was going through intensive chemo, and hadn't been on campus this school year at all. He was really brave - he asked for the highest dosage, and kept cheerful throughout it all. He made his peace with his people and God, and said that he didn't want to be hooked up to anything, so if the time came, it would come. He was always, always cheerful and full of encouragement - a good man, now in Heaven, no doubt. *moment of silence*

01.05.03, Sunday

[08:55pm] A final blog...before school starts again...*sigh*

Two neato pictures of the gang at Knott's! ^_^ I know...they're tiiiiny...but if you click on them...they comes out SUPER big. =) I was making the thumbnails a little bit bigger, but the resolutions were all funky...since I haven't mastered the software part of digi-pics, it will have to do for now...^_^

Overall, it was a great 2 weeks off I had. =) Yeah, so I got sick and got the stomach flu...but what better time is there to be sick? AND, I suppose it did do me some good to stay home a bit and not have to go here, there and everywhere, doing this or that. My parents were right - that I need to stay home a bit more, aiya! ^_^ And for all the days preceding the stomach flu...I had an excellent time hanging out with awesome, awesome people. ^_^

My New Year's Resolution? Hmm. The main, and biggest one is to not take on so many responsibilities. That was a goal last year, of which I completely failed, heh heh...so this year...yeah...I'll try not to do soooo much. I need some time for myself, hee hee...It's all about managing time...and I can do it well, even when there's a lot of things on the list, but then I end up cutting myself out in the process. =Þ

Am I ready for school tomorrow? I don't know...I still have a cough...and I'll need to start using my teacher voice again. Ah, and it had such a relaxing break too! =) And waking up on time? Aiya, I'm not even close. I meant to get back into it towards the end of break, but forcing yourself to wake up at 5:30, or even 6am, is simply something one doesn't do when one is sick. So I just kept on sleeeeeping...and tonight...I guess I can go to sleep early. I've got nothing else to do!!! Hee hee...because I've been home all day, I've done all my work. There's nothing left to do. I even put all the papers in the car - I just need to bring my bag and keys tomorrow, and drive to school. I'm going early though - the janitors waxed our floors (yay!) but they don't know what order my tables were in, so most likely, I'll be in there early to move tables back to their proper area, set up for school...and all that fun stuff...in the wee hours of the AM.

Hee hee...with the translator so conveniently located here (see bottom of website), I could just write a whole blog in some foreign language and have you all translate it yourself...can't I? ^_^

01.04.03, Saturday

[06:30pm] I like this Orisinal thing. I wish I was THAT cool and could make these cute crazy games and effects on my website...heh heh...maybe one day...^_^ As for now, it goes in the "Fun Places to Visit" place. And maybe I'll get a wall clock...or a tshirt...muah ha ha...

[10:30am] Another toy that connects to my computer, hee hee...this time, I gave my bro some business...for a lovely discounted price, of course. ^_^

01.03.03, Friday

[07:45am] Gummychild has been rendered inactive for the next few days. All activities postponed and delayed, including YF, CCF, Girls Day Out, Church, etc...Mother had restricted all activities, and she is expected to stay home. She can still hang out with you and do things in the house (watch movies, tv, eat, play games...) but you'll have to come here, vs. she driving out there...!

My mom is wise, hee hee. =) Yesterday was really bad! My stomach was in this indescribable pain, and I was bedridden the whole day. I got nothing accomplished, except for contributing to the sewer system through intermittent spurts of diarrhea (ewww...hee hee...), running a fever of 102, and well...just being in horrible discomfort. When my mom came home, she scolded me for going to Knott's, and scolded me for not listening to her, scolded me for being so busy, etc...but at the same time, she was taking care of me, giving me medicine and all that good stuff. It's just her way to show me she cares eh? hee hee...=)

My fever finally broke last night and today, I'm still not in the best of shape, but and a bit more awake and alive than yesterday. Hee hee...if you're in the Youth forums, you'll have to ignore my bro's preposterous claim that today's activities were "CANCELLED. GAIL IS DEAD.". =Þ But yeah, I think I have the stomach flu. My mom said she had it just a few days ago - that's weird - I got her sick with the cough/cold, and she got the stomach thing before me! But anyways. Yeah. Back to sleep? Or finding some food? I think I'll find something to munch on today...! ^_^

01.02.03, Thursday

[08:30am] Aw. It sucks to be sick. All the fun, yelling and what-not from yesterday wore me out...so I had to cancel going out to play with Rosalyn today. =( I woke up like at 4am, with a really unhappy stomach as well...I went back to sleep, but woke up with it still there, as well as a dull headache of some sort. I think I'll just sleep some more...do some lesson planning...have some warm soup...and watch the Laputa: Castle in the Sky movie that Shelton burned for me. =)

I'll fix all the crazy errors and strange tag-board-unworking-ness at another day, when I'm up to staring at the computer, hee hee...^_^

01.01.03, Wednesday

[11:55pm] I know...I'm supposed to be asleep for tonight...but I was too full! ^_^ Hee hee...I had yummy beef stew noodles for dinner, as well as some pan fried dumplings! Mmm...! ^_^

Knott's was fun today! It was cool to hang out with Lorie again, as well as with Eric, heh heh, and Mercedes, Huy T., and Ricky. =) I only got to see Lorie and Mercedes for a short time yesterday at Downtown Disney, because I felt I was too sick to stay for the countdown. However, today, I'm doing much better. =) Knott's has added a bunch of new things since I've last been there (which was a long, long time ago...!), and it was fun! Ghostrider was neat, and the Perilous Plunge...MY GOODNESS!! Every single person comes out DRENCHED in that!!!

Boysenberry Punch is miiiiiighty tasty...! ^_^

And oh!!! Huuuge important announcement!!! CHRISTIE AND MIKE ARE ENGAGED!!! ^_^ Congrats you two!!! This is sooo awesome...they're like two of the neatest people in the world!!! I'm soooo incredibly happy for them, hee hee! Yay Yay Yay! ^_^

[07:35am]

Happy New Year!!! ^_^

Wow! 2003!! ^_^ Being born in 1978 seems like a looong time ago, huh? Especially with my students all being born in the late 1980's. That's crazy!

ACKKKKK!!! So my computer is up. Besides entering grades, I decided to upload the pictures from my digital camera...and somehow...I ended up deleting ALL MY PICTURES!!! >_< Aiyaaaaaaaa!!! Wooooeee! I meant to delete ONE, and then it started deleting all of it, and I tried to stop it...but I couldn't find a pause or stop button...and all 130 are now gone...dang it!!! Perhaps...this was meant to be a learning experience...*sigh*

But well...we can pretend that there are pictures from:

1) Eric's Company Dinner

2) Random shots around the house (my bird...my dad...my bro pointing at everything...)

3) Lau Family Christmas Party

4) Giang and Nikki

5) Rose Parade Decorating

6) Fellowship at the Wang's (including Bday celebration for Mr. Wang)...where we had lots of cute shots of the Fearsome Four (Bianca, Adelaide, Leah, and Benny) who practically killed me and Vanessa...

Well...I guess I can give a few highlights of what happened over break so far...there's a lot, so I'll try to not babble on forever and make this one humongous blog! ^_^ (actually, maybe I WILL babble a bit. I haven't blogged in so long! ha ha...!)

David Wang thinks Leonardo DiCaprio is HOT! (ha ha ha...I won't say what he thinks of Frodo...!)

Lord of the Rings: Two Towers...an excellent movie! We went for Calvin's Bday...Happy Birthday Calvin! ^_^

Rose Parade Decorating with Ramona HS's Key Club - Waking up at 4am, I went down to Ramona HS to help Ralm out with driving Key Club members to Pasadena. The morning consisted of driving in pretty good traffic in the wee hours of the morning...to following a crazy driver throughout LA, to breakfast at Del Taco, and almost getting into a major accident in the process (hee hee...I won't go through the details, but let's just say that I thought we were all going to die! I have no doubt whatsoever that God totally were taking care of us...!). We stood in line to get inside to decorate for almost 2 hours, and when we got in, all we did was cut flowers...we didn't get to decorate the floats at all, though it was neat to walk through and look at them. We had a free lunch - a turkey sandwich filled with nothing but mayo and a LOT of mustard (eewwww...!), and went to Chinatown afterwards to meader about and eat dinner. Woah, I haven't been to Chinatown in a while!

We also passed by Olvera Street and Little Tokyo - places that I haven't even been to in yeeears...I should visit them again just for the heck of it one day. =) I remember that the last time I went to Olvera Street was back in HS, and for our International Club, we bought a bunch of roses made out of crepe paper from this vendor to sell in a fundraiser at school. =)

It was awesome to hang out with these high school kids - kinda like YF, but different, heh heh...when I dropped off Linda V. (there were three Linda's...one is Linda from church! ^_^), Nancy, David, Linda K., and I stayed to kick it and play cards there until I realized that I really needed to get home and rest. It was no fun having an incredibly runny nose the whole day at all...I felt so diiiiirty, as Huy would put it. =) So when I went hope, I went straight to sleep after taking some Sudafed.

Fellowship at the Wang's - Though tired and still sleepy from this cold (or whatever it is I have), I still ate well, and had enough energy to even play with the little kids. I realized that the girls - Bianca, Leah, and Adelaide - were MUCH more violent than the boys (well...only Benny was there, and he's a gentle soul! If Cory was there, he'd have probably killed us with his Kung Fu.). The girls were basically beating me and Vanessa up, knocking us over, and not letting us get up. Then they made us give them piggy back rides, chariot rides, and horsey rides all over the place till we were completely drained! None of these girls were over the age of 5...they were like little halflings...but super violent...!

LoneStar Steakhouse and Saloon - My dad treated us to some good steak...hee hee...they have really good Honey Butter Bread...Mmmm...

Sushi-Kamon - By the Nijiya Market in Rowland Heights, this place had suuuch yummy Japanese food! I had the Matzu plate - delicious beef, kamon chicken, and tempura (I was in a tempura mood, so it was perfect!). Edamame, Miso Soup that I actually liked, and Scallop. I actually like raw scallop, despite my track record for raw seafood. ^_^ The meal was worth every penny! ^_^

12.31.02, Tuesday

[11:58pm] New supercomputer merger is complete!!! =) Specs include...

Pentium IV Processor (size of a quarter). 2.53 GHz. With a 533 MHz bus. 512 MB DDR 2700 RAM (333 MHz bus). 60 GB Maxtor HD running at 7200 rpm. Dimensions...size of a shoebox, hee hee...^_^ Power packed shiny box. =)

I'm sooooooooooooo happy! My computer is up and running now! It's been down since...since...last week...! I can update my blog...upload pictures from the digicam...and be on AIM again, heh heh...the good life. ^_^ I need to fix that crazy tagboard...it's not working rigiht...and I'll update later...as for now, it's almost sleep time for me. ^_^

Happy New Year everyone! ^_^

12.23.02, Monday

[11:35pm] Saturday was full of heavy, crazy rain...and of course, midday, my mom wanted to take me shopping with her at Ontario Mills. Aiya! So we went...and spent a long time looking for parking...and was stuck in the mills circle for so long that we couldn't get out in time to get to the Christmas Celebration at church, heh heh...so we instead stayed and had dinner at Market Broiler.

Sunday was Calvin's birthday! Happy Birthday Calvin! So after church, Ralm, David, my bro and I took him out to watch Lord of the Rings. Wow. It was a good movie! I liked it better than the first, hee hee...I like Sam. He's a good character, and trustworthy. I think he would have to be my favorite, though I like most of the characters in general. And poor Smeegal...! Anyways, if you haven't watched it, you must! It's really good! ^_^ After, I went to watch Alias (only it was a rerun. So we ended up watching Chicken Run instead, hee hee...) with Yvonne, Chris, and Eric. =)

Monday Today, I got to hang out with Eric some more! We did some meandering about Glendora, ate at a place called Flappy Jack's (pancakes!), visited his neat friend Isaac, drove through a lot of traffic, and went to the game place, where I got grading done (and almost left the bag of papers there when I left! Or I did! But I got them back...*whew*) and played Puerto Rico. I like this game. It's fun! Hee hee...and with Travis' superpowers invested in guiding me how to play, I came in second!

12.21.02, Saturday

[09:35am] Yay! I'm on vacation now! Finally! ^_^ And dang it, I thought I'd sleep in longer...but I simply couldn't, heh heh...oh well...

The last day of school was great - I was one of the few teachers who actually had her students do some work...my goodness! Like, yeah, I showed a video, but it was Bill Nye, and we would stop and talk about the video and answer movie questions from time to time. And at the end, there were even ADDITIONAL movie questions that the students had to write down and answer. They were like, do we have to do all this work??? (It wasn't even that much, but I guess compared to the parties and random movies, like Spiderman or the Grinch Who Stole Christmas...) The general rule in my classroom is that food is welcomed ANYTIME, as long as there's enough to share with everyone else. So yesterday, some students opted to bring food, so we did have snacks and such. =)

After school, I went to find Eric, and we went shopping in Pasadena to find a "Cheap and Cheesy" gift for the gift exchange at his fellowship later that night. He got this neat Pig Catapult (hee hee...20 mini pigs to launch, up to 15 feet away!!! I actually ended up with this one...muah ha ha...*evil plan forming in head* ^_^), and he helped me find this Gold Tooth that was, as it said, "Safe and Classy"...for "Whether you're pimpin' da ho-s or crusin'...this gold tooth will add that extra sparkle..." Anyways, it was stylin', ha ha...=) Our secret location finding this stuff? Urban Outfitters. I like this place. ^_^

Eric's company dinner was at a lovely French restaurant, where we dined on all kinds of fancy goods. There was this yummy kona coffee crusted seared beef, and a lobster and shrimp soup-like thing covered with a flaky crust...for an entree, I had a rack of lamb, and for dessert, a heavenly vanilla creme brulee. Mmm...! After, we went to the fellowship, where there was fun abound with the gift exchanges, and a lot of good times talking to friends I don't get see as often. =)

'Twas a fantastic night to kick off my two weeks of break. ^_^

12.19.02, Thursday

[08:40pm]

This morning, some of my students came and did my hair...put up twisties all over the place, hee hee...they did a neat job, though it'll be a task to get these rubber bands out of my hair! They want to come and do this tomorrow morning too...but in a criss-cross twisty way, heh heh...hmm...I'm not sure about it, especially if I'm going to some fancy dinner tomorrow night, hee hee...

So Lambert visited my classroom today, and observed periods 3, 4, and 5. I'm sure period 3 was quite an experience for him, heh heh...^_^

One more day...!!! I'm quite excited! =) (C'mon, wouldn't you be too, if you were a teacher of 180 crazy 13, 14 year olds, [and ahem, working under certain administrators...>_<], and were about to go on a two week break? ^_^)

I'm sooo counting the days...the hours...the minutes...Our Journal Entry in class today was, "There is nothing per minute, but change." So true! ^_^

12.18.02, Wednesday

[08:37pm] Two more days till vacation!!! ^_^ And wow, Christmas is coming up fast! Our church's Christmas celebration is this Saturday, and this time next week, well, there'll be a full out party for the rest of the Lau's here! Karazy...time flies pretty quick. I hope vacation time doesn't go by so quickly. I'd like some time to kick back, have fun, and not worry about school too much. =)

I had something I was about to blog about. Only I forgot what it was. Oh well. Back to some leisurely grading! =) Leisurely, because I will be watching some Beast Wars, or gift wrapping, or cleaning around while I grade. I don't plan on grading them all before vacation - I'll just take my time and grade a few here, a few there, hee hee...

12.17.02, Tuesday

[06:30pm] Juanita is one awesome kid, hee hee. She's a student at my school, whom I've taught how to say "Shut up", "I love you", "I'll beat you to death", and "How are you?", and "Good" in Chinese. She aspires to learn something new whenever she gets the chance, and uses them quite well, ha ha...notice that they're not all violent. There's a balance of nice things, as well as some survival words...^_^

So the state budget cut is hitting education pretty hard. No fun. Besides UC students having to pay more for tuition, on a smaller scale (down to the middle school scale...all the way to one particular school in RUSD...), all our planned field trips are cancelled. I still want my kids to go to Magic Mountain, so I'm going to see what I can do (fundraise, probably...although last year, the kids DID pay for their own tickets and the bus, which almost covered everything.). The "O Starry Night" Star Party is free, so that's good. But the whale watching trip is probably going to be cancelled, among others. I hope the end of the year field trip won't be, because well...that's a fun thing for all the 8th graders on their way out of middle school. However, the budget cuts affect many other things as well, besides field trips. Things like materials and resources that are incredibly essential could be affected too. I wonder if Title 1 money is affected? We're getting a good chunk of change for that, and we've been using it really well this year. As a staff, I think we agreed on something like an LCD Projector...however, if that order wasn't put in earlier, I suppose we won't be getting that this year, heh heh. I suppose we'll find out more details tomorrow, at the staff meeting.

By the way...the district is looking to cut out un-credentialed teachers and such, of which we harbor a few at our school (I think only two or so). I'm credentialed for biology, general science, and chemistry...have my B.S....and my M.A.T....and am CLAD certified...as well as TESA certified. I don't think it's likely that anything would happen to me, but of course, with my principal's current state (attack-Gail-mode-for-no-justifiable-reason), I wouldn't be surprised. >_< Being untenured certainly has its disadvantages.

12.16.02, Monday

[09:30pm] Yesterday was Edwin's birthday! He's way over in Taiwan...but Happy Birthday nonetheless!!! ^_^

I had a really good weekend. Hardly even touched schoolwork! Saturday was spent Christmas decorating the house, with Eric's help ^_^, and getting the Christmas tree (a very, very soft Noble Fir from Home Depot, hee hee...). The house smells looovely with a real pine tree in it...I liiiike...=) In the evening, Fred and I went down to the Spectrum and spent money on Christmas presents and snacks from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, hee hee...I brought home one of those giant Peanut Butter Bricksters for my bro...he almost died of a heart attack after eating the whole thing! (j/k!) ^_^

On Sunday, I went to church, but only for Sunday School, because I had to then rush off to Sierra Madre for Belinda's Bridal Shower! It was a tea party in a tea room. Mmm...tasty sandwiches, fresh scones, good English tea, and really yummy desserts...very fancy! Belinda's like my age - I can't even THINK of getting married right now, hee hee...24 seems like a young age, you know? To be married, that is. Dang, we're all getting old (I was chatting to Lorie about this, and it came up that we met like 6 years ago!!! and that we've already been out of undergrad for more than 2 years...and that next June, she'll be done with dental school, and that I already have my masters. We're all growing up into adults. Kinda. ^_^). In reality, I suppose this is around the time when people are getting married left and right, hee hee. Then again, everyone is different, and everyone has their own timeline for it. In Belinda's case, I have confidence that she and Stan will live happily ever after. ^_^

Ah ha ha...I found the two songs that were stuck in my head, that I didn't know the names nor artists of it. Angie Martinez sings "If I can go", and Kelly Rowland sings that "Stole" song. I like "Stole"...though it's a sad song, and not the usual happy ones that I like, heh heh...

12.14.02, Saturday

[09:20am] I watched Star Trek: Nemesis last night! With Captain Jean Luc Picard and his homies...it's always good! And the ending...I was like, noooo, it couldn't be...! But it WAS! And...nooooo...and anyways, I don't want to give it away. =) Captain Janeway was in there too, for a brief moment - that should make my bro quite happy. ^_^

I went to this really posh "The Bridge Cinema De Lux" theater somewhere in LA (Santa Monica? I have no idea where, hee hee...) with Eric and his posse of fun people. ^_^ After, we stopped to get some refreshments in the Westwood area. Wow, I haven't been there in such a long time - since senior year in high school I think!!! LA is quite different from Riverside - from the shiny tall skyscrapers, lights, and even the way department stores and such are found. Parking even seems different - lots of structures or street parking, vs. the wide open spaces that are usually found in front of a grocery store or something.

Now that I'm awake, I need to get ready for the day: Mission Christmas Decorating. ^_^

12.12.02, Thursday

[08:20pm] Mmm...I want to make some zucchini bread one day, hee hee...doesn't it just seem delicious? I've had some before, and I liked it. ^_^ Meanwhile...you can all read this interesting article on royal dining...

Tomorrow is Friday! Friday Friday Friday!!! And then I have one more week till break...woo hoo! =)

12.11.02, Tuesday

[5:37pm]

Happy Anniversary, Mommy and Daddy!!!

It was their 25th Anniversary yesterday! How cool is that? ^_^That's a long time...and it's so nice there are still people celebrating their 25th Anniversaries, and more, in our world. Cuz you know, nowadays...>_< It also makes me realize that being 24 is actually pretty old. I still don't feel (nor act? nor look?) quite so aged, but 24 years is a long time to have been alive. And hopefully, there's more coming too, hee hee...should God decide to keep me here a while longer. =)

Eric also came over, and we ate out at Villa Amalfi! Mmm...their bread was yummy, and the pasta I ordered (Chipotle Fettuccine) was spicy, gooey, and tasty. Then we did some shopping at Target! I really need to sit down and make a list of people that I'm getting Christmas presents for. Mostly, I really don't know what though...so it might take some time! ^_^

Wow, there are getting to be a lot of blob characters on here...all these celebrations, hee hee...^_^

12.09.02, Monday

[06:15pm]

Happy Birthday Linda! and Happy Birthday Mike!

Another set of birthdays for two really neat individuals! ^_^ Linda's a tennis star at her school (hee hee), and Mike is the infamous white dude at our church that speaks, writes, sings, and understands Chinese better than most of us. =)

I forgot to mention that last night, after eating dinner, my bro, Anthony, Andrew, Fred, Eric, and I headed down to the Life Plaza area...to get Fred some of those Takoyaki things that his friend wanted. Ewwww...it smelled gross...I like octopus...but this strange snack emitted a horrifying odor...so I simply wanted to say...Noooo on Takoyaki! (The crepes next door, on the other hand, smelled simply heavenly! Next time...mmm...) However, for those interested, there's a recipe linked to it. Yuck. >_< Even though my judgment is not based on me actually tasting it, I still have chosen to condemn it, hee hee. I've tried Durian before, and people always say that it's nothing like how it smells. Yeah right! I've learned well enough through actual taste...heh heh...

One of my students goes to Harvest. This weekend, she had told me that Larue was going to be there...because she told me late, I had no way of getting her my CD to be autographed, hee hee...buuuut, she went ahead and go me their autographs on a postcard. Woo hoo! ^_^ I don't think I've had any famous autographs of any sort, hee hee...do I??? Anyways, she has decided to be my hookup for famous autographs if there are singers I like at her church, for this year. =)

12.08.02, Sunday

[09:24pm]

Happy Birthday To my bro!!!

It's my bro's bday today! Yay! Two-and-two years old, heh heh...^_^ And I remember him telling me that I was so old at 22. Ha! =) So we went to dinner and celebrated at Diamond Palace, and we also celebrated my mom and dad's 25th Wedding Anniversary, which is actually on the 10th. =) We had SUCH good food...two plates of tofu, honey mayonnaise shrimp, peking duck, lobster, sizzling beef, spicy/salty pork chops, veggies, and more...nothing but plain goodness went into our tummies today...=)

The Glory of Christmas was pretty good too! I remember seeing the flying angels when I was little...and that was about it. But last night, I guess now that I'm older, I was much more able to appreciate it! The ballet stuff was really cool, the singing was awesome, and the whole Crystal Cathedral is just plain neat. The bathrooms, mind you, were simply super cozy and grand...as if I was in some super fancy place...which it was. Oh! And I got to pet a baby donkey...it liked the attention, and it was soooo cute, and sooo little! =) After, we had dinner at Sea Food Paradise, an old-time favorite off Westminster. Hmm. It has degraded much since the olden days when we used to live in Garden Grove. I don't recommend it...the people that had clam last night (which I had none, heh heh...) reported disturbing reports about their bowel movements...eeew....>_<

12.07.02, Saturday

[12:18pm] Did all kinds of stuff at home today...! ^_^ Among housestuff and some school things, I did get to mess with this webpage some, and even though it's totally not winter colors, I still like it. It's bright and cheerful, hee hee. =) If you want to see a nice winter-themed webpage, go see my nephew's [Eclipse ] webpage again, ha ha...! =)

[08:57am] Total Randomness ^_^

Geminid Meteor Shower coming up December 13-14!

$3.59 for my very own R2D2!!! (he always saves the day!) (Hmm...and I dooo need to drop off film at Target...)

Snowmobiling at Mammoth?

Glory of Christmas tonight at the Crystal Cathedral!

12.06.02, Friday

[09:00pm]

What a crappy day. I even left the middle of PN because I really, really, really just needed to go home. I feel like the weight of a bunch of stress just have squished me into the ground. There are literally a few vessels that are bulging out of my right temple, and I have a stress headache of some sorts. I could die of an aneurism, yikes! hee hee...j/k...maybe...I really just want to crawl into a hole, dry my eyes, and sleep it all away...I've felt it building up, but I guess it wasn't till today that the ugly truth of politics, especially when dealing with administrators in the realm of public education, sat glaring straight at me. And it's tough when you're not tenured just yet...

I did get to talk to my parents tonight about it though...and it's nice to know that my dad and I are both people of principle. Despite the politics of the adult world, we both have principles that we hold onto. So what if we don't move up far? What matters to us is not the ways of the world (plus, we end up avoiding all this stupid political agenda that goes on everywhere. As if I didn't have enough stress already!), but what's at the core of things. Yep.

It really is too bad though. That the adult world is so...well, so political. So fake. I can't stand fakeness. It's plain retarded, and yet...that's the way the world works. Isn't that so sad?

12.05.02, Thursday

[09:50pm]

Happy Birthday Sally!!!

It was my homegirl Sally's birthday yesterday! Hee hee...December is a big birthday month...my bro, Kevin, Edwin, Jenny, Mike, Linda...the list is huge...! ^_^

Eric drove ALL the way here...to not even watch Buffy and Smallville with me (they were reruns), but to grade papers for me! Ain't that something that's worth a few shiny star stickers and such??? ^_^

Last night, I stayed at school till 9pm, grading 100 and some journals. Woah. But it does liberate me for tomorrow...of which I'll only have a few things to grade, do the report cards...eat a nice lunch (La Cascada...mmm...fish tacos...) with some of my fellow teachers, maybe look for a jacket at the mall afterwards (ha! I'm supposed to get a civilized jacket of some sort, so that it will at least match when I wear nice stuff...and not be such a ruffian with my sweatshirts and regular jacket/windbreakers...hee hee...) and start a bit of Christmas shopping...and then get ready for Praise Night!

I had dinner with Cheryl today, at Zendeja's. Only I forgot to bring my coupon book! Drats, where did I put it??? =) However, it was a good thing we weren't that hungry, and just shared something. =) It's been a while since we've hung out, as we've both been busy with everything, hee hee. =)

my bro gave me my Christmas gift today! Hee hee...even though he couldn't get the Beauty and the Beast (special edition...in a shiny box, heh heh) DVD during that crazy post-Thanksgiving shopping, he did get me one today at work! I haven't even opened it just yet. I think I'm just in awe of the shiny box, heh heh. =)

12.02.02, Monday

[09:40pm]

Happy Birthday Wendy!!!

It's my lil' sis's birthday! Woo hoo! ^_^ This girl is off to do great things - I know this for certain! ^_^

I just got back from school about an hour ago. Oy. I stayed late, helping kids and grading their presentations...this is indeed going to be a long week, with the trimester ending, final Journal Checks (all on Wednesday!), and grades due on Friday...=Þ In a way, it is fortunate that I don't have students on Friday. Actually, it's VERY fortunate. I can spend the whole day bubbling in report cards and such, and if done early, maybe I can even leave a little earlier and prepare for our Praise Night (our debut PN!) Friday. Anyone can come! Come one, come all! =) It is not guaranteed that everything will be high-tech-supa'-fly, but we'll do the best with what we know! =) 7pm, RCAC, Friday night!

I haven't blogged in a soooo long, it seems! Hee hee...so...let's start back from Thanksgiving...

Thursday David, Fred, Ed, my bro, Kevin and his 5 friends, all came over for some bball in the late afternoon. Later on, after some people left, we had more visitors arrive for dinner - Kathleen, You Jin, Gilbert, and Eric too! =) The food was so tasty...Fred made his potato pancakes (I helped!) and the spinach/artichoke dip, and Ed made the Crispy Potato Skins. Kathleen brought over her mango tapioca dessert, and You Jin treated us to a Coconut Creme Pie! After a long game of Trivial Pursuit (of which no one won, hee hee...), we ended the lovely event in the wee hours of the morning after. =)

Friday I went to Monrovia and helped Eric and his gang pack and move to their new place! A full day that included Claim Jumper's for lunch, and chicken mcnuggets for dinner. Their new place is neat, but confusing...there are so many doors and twists and turns in that place that I got lost more than once, hee hee...and it's all in one house! ^_^

Saturday In the morning, CCF went to volunteer at Sunrise Assisted Living (convalescent home type place) for the first time. Wow! It was so cool!!! Edwin, Wendy and I went to the dementia cottage, where there were those that suffered from Alzheimer's. We played paddleball with them, but with a balloon...like two of them snoozed off during this exercise time, but the ones that played were pretty competitive, hee hee...=) I also helped a few here and there with things like getting coffee, moving them around, and talking to them. One lady kept introducing me to this guy that sat next to her, saying he was Dr. So-and-so, and he kept insisting back that he was not. I then asked him what his name was, and he said he didn't know. At the same time, she was calmly insisting he was Dr. So-and-so, and he was calmly denying that he was not. It was kinda funny, in a way, because it was like I was watching a movie or something, but at the same time, it wasn't quite so funny...Later on though, we went to the other cottage and gave manicures to some ladies! It was so much fun, hee hee...they totally reveled in being pampered a bit, and even Fred gave a manicure, ha ha...! These ladies were nice, and wanted us to come back again, to do their nails again. =)

After, we celebrated our endeavors at Ghongzhou, where it was $1.88 for any kind of dim sum plates that we wanted! =) We ate a lot. A LOT. After, we wandered around the Puente Hills Mall, doing some early Christmas shopping and hanging out, and was joined up with Dorothy! =)

Sunday Church in the morning...and then fellowship at night! CCF was at the Pastor's place, where we got our traditional meal of Prime Rib (and Sun Chips. These two are like what we have, at the minimum, every time we go to Pastor's, hee hee...)...this time, accompanied with Doris's seafood pasta and Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, heh heh. =) Me and Ed are done with leading this quarter's CCF! Woo hoo...! =) It was fun though. =) Now I'm Datahead/Treasurer for the next quarter! =)

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