Today I spent most of my day with David and Ngoc figuring out how things work at UCI and so far the results have been better than I expected.

Before we actually went there, we had to do some pre-shopping for books at Cypress and this placed called TEXTBOOKS. I won't comment on the parking at the Cypress structure, but I can tell you that that fricken place jipped me a whole quarter. I'm sorry, but as a college student, I don't have quarters to spare.

The worse thing about today was definitely finding parking.  OMG, it is terrible to think that you would have to spend at least 30 minutes alone just trying to find parking.  I don't think that one second of glory when you see a person back out is worth the stress.  Geez.

Getting out of the car, we noticed that tons of clubs and organizations were spread around ring road.  I mean they have tons of stuff there... everything from Circle-K the adult Key Club to a reality tv club which you can expect me to join! Shyea!

Well anyways, the moment we walked onto campus, we were bombarded with flyers such as:

VIETNAMESE STUDENT ASSOCIATION - If life gives u a limp noodle... go make pho!!

CLUB KHOLLA FORMER KNOWN AS ELAN "Innocence Lost"

So you can imagine the overwhelming feeling of getting all this stuff at once.  There was some frat guy, I don't remember his name but he tried sure hard to recruit me and get me to go to a rush party all this week.  I don't know, but how much of a frat boy could I be anyway?  I wonder if they have one where drinking is one of the main things the frat does. But yea.

After getting our books in the bookstore, dang it was crowded, I was reminded that I grabbed the wrong fricken book and now I found out that my mom threw away the receipt. Gosh, my luck!  So now you can guess what I am stressing about these days?  We walked the entire campus finding out where all our classes are and I am gonna go through the entire thing again with Allyson when she goes on Wednesday.

When we were leaving, these sorority girls were talking loudly in the elevator and it involved talking to some guy. So they asked of me a favor and surely I didn't want to turn something down.  These girls were from the Phi Phi sorority, they had this Real World logo with that little description the tv show has (this is the story). Well they wanted me to call this place, and say:

Hi, may I speak to Dave?  If they asked me who I am, I am supposed to reply with: This is James from the wine cellar. Doing that simple favor for them made them happy.  They were actually trying to convince them that most uci people are not out there like them.

So DT treated me to a sizzler lunch, and man it was pretty good for making unlimited pasta and they have my favorite soup there too!  When we were done, we headed back to DT's house, and we were all on the brink of falling asleep but we didn't allow ourselves do. Since DT's mom is working with nails, Ngoc decided to let her be practiced on and they turned out to be pretty well.  I lost twice to him at a game of Monopoly but I am convinced that it was his board that cursed me to begin with!

I came home and am resting from all that has happened today.  The End.

Okay, my living situation hasn't changed much, none of my clothes are in boxes and I am not sleeping in an unfamiliar place.  But with a handful of friends doing just that at this minute, I can't help but get a little upset about it.  The phone ringing is less frequent, and more idle/away messages are on from their college Internet connection.  But I will get over it.

It dawned upon me that things were already in the midst of changing when I was playing Monopoly with just Inho.  I mean, it was still fun, surprisingly, but that was the precise time I knew that some of the people I got so used to seeing everyday would no longer be here in the flesh; only through a phone call or an IM box.

Well enough about that.  Yesterday I had a great lunch at none other HTB, if you don't know what that stands for, then you simply don't know me.  Well Isidro was about to embark off to UCLA so we ate toe celebrate the occasion, all the while talking up a storm about this and that.  Much fun there.  Me and Inho played Monopoly, and added some cool new rules, too bad only us two were able to indulge in it.

Well, today was rather very blah. Nothing to do, no one to talk too. I stayed home for the day and just typed away on my site or refreshed friendster to see how many new friends I had made. I got bored and ended up making some stupid game which is actually doing decent at my message board.  The picture says it all.  It's funny how I can get activity going on my site just by putting this picture up.

Well I am about to bear for the worse tomorrow but at least I know I have to return my library books.

Quote of the Day:  "Did Jennifer Lopez break up?" -  Yes, there are parts of the world where they don't have ET or Access Hollywood.

Here is the second batch of pictures from the celebration two days ago. 

Chris came over in the morning to do some things and tried to get me some songs but that ended up flopping, maybe next time?

Inho watched me in boredom while I am venturing off into the world of friendster... 15 friends in one day... won't you be my friend?

Quote of the Day:  "Would you rather be a sex icon or pop icon?  Pop icons come and go... sex icons just come." -  Thanks for getting so graphic.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the countdown stuff, but judging from the comments, etc. I don't think anyone was reading them to begin with.  So instead of jabbering more about my life, here is just a nice collection of pictures from our goodbye dinner.

20. Uno | This one time, at James' house, we played one uno game that lasted for an hour.  We never did finish that game.
19. Porno Movies | Some of the memorable titles we have come up with so far: Charlie's Anals, Anal Destination, The Lord of the Cockring.  Good times...
18. Volleyball | Play this physical sport in the scorching sun with hundreds of bees swarming nearby can be dangerous and fun.
17. Mafia | One of those SPOP games that you just can't forget... I swear I'm not mafia!
16. Magic Stick | Another SPOP game that we played, consisting of one little discrepancy that takes you forever to figure out.  I mainly put this on the list because someone was mocking another person about playing this game.
15. Pool | This might have been the second time I have played pool but I enjoyed the experience at UCI.  Pretty cheap but the girl that is supposed to open the Zot Center was late.
14. Final Fantasy X | Somewhere I could escape when I am bored, in other words, when everyone else has something to do without me.
13. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | I've broken every crime in this game and have encouraged my friends to come over and do the same.
12. Suzie Walker | That night outside of Puente was too much but I am glad that I was so approachable... I had to freaken dance about 8 times that one game alone, but hey, it was all in good fun.
11. Clue | So Marge Simpson did it with the rod in the Quik-E-Mart... and Smithers as a maid... haha.  Someone messed up that game bad!
10. Frustration | It was the spawn of the Monopoly rules we had made before hand.  Inho was just way too good for me but I got in a few wins.
9. Cranium | A group game that actually tests your brain power... lots of memorable moments and triumphs but did we really have to clean up every time, even when we did win.
8. Dictionary Game | Acting out any old word out of the dictionary is not that easy.   You try acting out clitoris and fertilizer and get back to me.  Sorry to all those who have played with me and have seen the mating ritual.
7. Scattergories | So much drama in supposedly a family game.  Since when were ice cubes round and ladybugs pesky?  And you know Phuong Pham is a president... even if it is ASB, doesn't say US presidents.
6. Taboo | Some people just don't have a knack for giving clues: what fell on 9/11... the two towers... NO... the other building... ummm?  The last time I looked, the Sears Tower was still there.

5. Jenga | It got your heart racing, you had to make sure you didn't make it fall, and made sure you didn't pick the block that made you sit in the lap of the person on your left.  It happened of course and for some people who have no restraint, that can be a bad thing.

4. Truth or Dare | There were so many versions of this game this summer, there is little left to the imagination when you think about the lives of your friends.  On top of that, you know the kind of kinky stuff that went on just by playing the game... raspberries there, dry humping here and who can forget sam sex tongue kissing through plastic wrap?

3. Rank Your Friends | A touchy game, but played by several people wanting to know where they stand on a list of friends.  Hey, being #2 isn't all that bad, but sometimes thinking about being #1 would be so much more rewarding.

2. Bingo | This was a close contender for the #1 spot, even if a handful of people have played.  On all occasions, there have been a sense of enjoyment out of playing, but more on those times we have won this past summer.  So while everyone went out clubbing and stuff, we were dabbing our numbers on a cheap piece of paper.  

1. Monopoly | This was definitely the summer of Monopoly.  Everything from bombs, warden, etc. have been added to the game.  Players have built up their core strategies and make others play until their mothers scold them for not coming home.  It is a war of attrition.  Then, there have been those times when victory was so sweet for some and so daunting for others.  I will remember all those times when some mishap happened, messing up  all of the houses and hotels set on the game board.  Then, who could forget the nasty glares that one game when a house was removed or building superficial allies until something came along, forcing you to turn your back on that person?  This game had it all, which is why it has made its debut at #1.  It brought people together and tore them apart at the same time... who wouldn't like that?  I can think of 16 players off the top of my head!

Yesterday, I went to Target and got this nice track jacket.   Spare me the misery and don't make fun of it if I happen to wear it in excess.  It appears that my Tommy Hilfiger jacket had to go a LONG time ago.  Oh well.  There were some weird dudes around there, they even went into the back room for personnel only but I thought something fishy was up so I got all paranoid and wanted to get out of there ASAP.  That didn't happen as we continued to meander around the place looking at underwear, game boards and lastly Halloween costumes.  After that, there was a pit stop at the 99cent store, both Chris and Chau needed to get something.  There was this old ass stingy asian man in line and he didn't seem to understand that each noodle you buy is 25 cents.  He was outraged that 12 of them together would cost 2.97.  Me and Chau tried to get him to understand what we were saying but it didn't get through to him apparently.  It's been so long since I saw someone create a scene like that.  We dropped off for some drinks before heading back and playing the #1 game on Episode 2.  Isidro came by to play and he and Chau would be the last two standing.  Poor Inho was waiting for the next game but that never happened for him.  At least he got dinner like the rest of us.  Kenn made me laugh that night on the phone telling me a joke.

Flash forward to today, where I met up with Allyson and Van to go pick up some of our books and then shoot pool at the Zot Center.  The books were expensive as expected and now it feels like all my time at Regals has been lost to books.  Argh.  They are heavy too!  Well I shot pool for the first time in a long while and I would rate my performance a 4 out of 10.  I even made the cue ball jump when I didn't intend to.  Anyways, after the long game, we had some lunch at the student food court or whatever.  We saw this man lift his armpit up and saw this huge wet circular spot there... gross, and this is while we were eating.  On the way back, we dropped by Isidro's work to pick up some stuff Van needed, that was followed up by a visit to a bank and an ice cream store where this weird guy was eyeballing us the whole day.

After requesting a ride home, Van held me against my will and took me to Allyson's house where we watched a few music videos before we got hooked onto Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.  Dude that show is too funny.  I starting dozing off after the third episode.  So this is basically what I learned... when a girl touches her hips or maybe her breast, she is interested in you... repeat a name when you meet someone so you don't forget their name... flip flops are apparently in... and most importantly, be confident.  Bleh, I doubt my love life will get any better after watching this show.  Then we caught a glimpse of the Wade Robson project and all of us had an urge to go out and shake some booty.  But time was running short and Van had martial arts class to go to, so we parted our ways and here I am making the next episode of the countdown and writing this.

What songs stand out in your mind this summer?  How do they rank on your list?  In our first episode, counting down to Friday, I will be recapping the essentials that have gone on this summer.  Feel free to comment on your own top summer songs, I'd like to hear what your faves/memorable ones are.  Keep in mind, this list doesn't necessarily mean I like the songs... LoL.

20. Unknown - Inho's Korean/Classic CD | At first I didn't think these songs would make it, but really, I am still shocked that they can sing enough about carrots and milk.  You are probably saying WTF right now...
19. Avril Lavigne - I'm With You | They played a montage of "Friends" at my work and always played this song.  I always imitated the yodeling with my co-workers.  You can imagine how annoying that got to be.
18. Stacy Orrico - Stuck | Old song... but new to me.
17. Christina Aguilera feat. Lil Kim - Can't Hold Us Down | Didn't hear the song that much, but once I saw the video, I couldn't forget it.  I like ghetto settings and Lil Kim and her outfits, who can ever forget that?
16. P. Diddy, Nelly, & Murphy Lee - Shake Ya Tailfeather | Heard this song once and I mocked the dance to it.  I remember them going DAMN real loud in the video to some bootay.
15. Pharrell Feat. Jay-Z - Frontin' | Does anyone notice the high voice?  Again, another good song to sing to people just so they act like they don't know you.  Lil Lisa always laughed at me singing this song, but I think it is just my singing in general.
14. Ashanti - Rock Wit U (Aww Baby) | Don't try counting all the times she says aww in that song, I never finished doing that.
13. Hilary Duff - So Yesterday | A fun song to sing to your friends in public just so they pretend not to know you.  It grows on you if you listen to it enough.
12. Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love? | Another outplayed song.  We heard it on repeat at someone's house, and the loop was cut off short so all we kept hearing was "Where Is The Love" over and over again.
11. Good Charlotte - Girls and Boys | The feel good song of the summer.  Who can't forget a video where a guy is rubbing down an old lady with sun block ::shivers::
10. Spice Girls - 2 Become 1 | On the way to the mall we came across this CD in someone's car, who I will leave anonymous.  Classic reborn again.  And it was the first time I realized they were talking about sex in the song.
9. Jewel - Intuition | Reminds me of a game that I played with Chris and Chau, this dictionary one.  And not to mention Kenn's lively passenger.
8. Chingy - Right Thurr | Hated this song, made it's way to TRL, hated it even more, it fell off, I celebrated!
7. Lumidee - Never Leave You (Uh Oh) | Hip hop class.  Just one of those songs that stands out in your mind for no reason, just that it was so played out, you can't forget it.
6. Beyonc� - Crazy In Love | Repetitive.  Everywhere.  There was this one time me, Chau, and Inho were eating ice cream and it matched her outfit.  Too funny.

5. Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent | Bump this song with two guys in the car and watch heads start to turn.  It really works if you want attention, but people might get the wrong impression of course.

4. Jessica Simpson - Sweetest Sin | The words... the lack of success... classic and memorable to me, annoying and downright sickening for someone else.  Maybe the bitterest sin is listening to this song.

3. Coldplay - The Scientist | We know who loved this song, but after awhile, I think it made its way into everyone's fave song.  Sad video, I remember watching it once at Chau's and another time at Inho's (while he ZzZing).

2. Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not The One | No one understands how I can reach that high note.  One time, when we were heading to the beach in Vi's car, it played about 4 times, even the dance remix!  

1. Mya feat. Sean Paul - Things Come and Go | The summer anthem thanks to CRS.  It was bumping in almost every car ride, the song was catchy and it never ever got annoying to any of us.  Move out of the way "My Love Is Like... Wo!"  Remember all those someone said she looked really good, and then a few minutes later someone would say she looked like a burnt rat.  None of that matters to me because it was a great song for the summer.  It definitely defines summer 2003: Things Come and Go ::sheds tear::

It's been a long time since I last posted but so much has happened in that period of time.  First off, I want to say in response to my last post: Eve of Failure or Success, that I was a success on my driving test.  I missed 6 and did not have critical driving error like last time.  All the trees, curbs, everything was not phased during my test.  The luck streak didn't end there though.  The same day I went to go play bingo at night at Fountain Valley High School.  To my surprise, I was able to win a game!  See the picture above, the orange squares... well we need to get a jamboree, so that means a corner stamp (four numbers in a corner, a six pack (6 numbers that are formed by making a 2 by 3) or a straight up bingo.  I had 3 stamps and 1 six pack, and the game asked for a total of 4 things so I jumped up and shouted bingo with all my might and all the elders looked at me in astonishment.  The guy came over, placed a huge flag on my table and waited for confirmation.  To top that off, the winner of the game would also award the entire table with pull tabs (they are very similar to scratchers) and I raked in an addition $15 on that.  Of course the winnings wouldn't have been complete without splitting, so you can guess that Inho and Chris were very happy that I won too.  That night we went to go eat, and boy did we eat a lot at Norms.  There was so much food and we didn't care seeing that we wanted to celebrate our first bingo win in a string of so many losses.

The next day was just as eventful.  After just cashing in, there was no better time to go school shopping, which I did with Inho and Isidro.  We got lots of crap, found $5 jeans for Isidro (cool huh!?!), and ate at Olive Garden.  There was this never ending pasta and boy did I fail at making a dent out of it. Oh well.  I togoed that sucker and continued on with the day.  Nothing much more happened that day until we decided to press our luck again and play bingo.  We were running late from the get go so we almost decided NOT to go.  I called the place, and the man there was very rude to me... sign # 1.  So we were late, just like the day before to FVHS... sign # 2.  But the most obvious sign that we must go to the place: the fact that the newspaper I had in the car had a full page ad on the place that was having the bingo... how much more in your face can that be?

We went there and met some nice people once again, and before I know it, we lost the first set of games.  During intermission, me and Inho didn't know whether to take our chances at playing those games, but we did in the end.  They asked for three bingos.  I was losing at first and Inho had been waiting for one number for several calls until I finally caught up to him and then my number came out B5 and I startled the room when I shouted bingo again.  It was a sweet victory for us, and there would be a smaller cut seeing there was only two of us to split it with.  I called my mom, and not fully aware of cell phone etiquette, I shouted so loud.  If you think old people can't mad dog, trust me they can.  I guess I shouldn't gloat so much next time.

We tried our luck with Bingo one last time, but no such luck this time, although we came close.  Since then, I have played one game of Monopoly, got a couple of drinks, and have been preparing myself mentally for everyone's' departure to their respective colleges.  It is truly gonna be a hard week, so winning bingo will only make it better.

Since my last entry, I have my cell phone... blah getting nagged now, gonna have to cut this short.

Sorry, just had to get it straight to the point.  It was boring huh??? Note to self, don't do that ever again.  Well I had a blast this past weekend and I can't believe school is just around the corner. Ahh!

My brother's planned honeymoon isn't going so well.  A big complication at the airlines so Cancun was off, which shows that I guess I should owe it to my parents for not letting me go in the first place.  Well they are in Vegas right now, but I at least hope they are having a blast over there.

It's official, I have fallen into the cell phone craze, actually it is no longer a craze, which once again shows how I am late into getting in on those trendy and hip things.  I will be picking it up tomorrow. 

Today, we went to get my dad's AC fixed.  I would have driven us home in another car, but we know about my driving history so that was out of the question.

Around the house today, me and my dad did everything in our power to get the house improved: so we renetted all the screens, cleaned the bathroom, fixed chairs and cupboards, and to end it off, had a nice dinner with the family. Good ol' spring rolls.  IT has been so long from the days when my dad would come home at around 415, 2 hours after I got off school before we ate dinner (yea we used to eat early).  To sit down together, at any hour, these days just seems like a blessing, so if you get to do that every night with your family you should be happy about it.  Now I am probably going to head off any play some more FFX but I hope I don't find myself up until 5 am, which means I can rewatch the day's TRL.  Now that is when I know I stay up too late.

After much lounging, my family and I made our way over to John's house (brother's friend) for a good old fashioned BBQ on this Labor Day (Happy Labor Day by the way).  In any case, the food was good: we had ribs and steak.  Yum!  And I can't remember the last time I had such tasty corn on the cob. Mmmm.  We were all hungry there.  Frank (brother) was the head chef for the day and he did a great job.  I saw a black widow with white spots all over.  Pretty disturbing.  All of our feet were sooo black, Vy had the blackest and who knows who followed.  Little Brandon was having a blast in the back popping his poppers from the wedding.  He has so many more boxes to go through before he is actually finished with them.  When it was time to eat, we all chowed down as if we had been stranded on an island for days without food. 

Tomorrow is the day I won't see Brandon and his parents for a week (I was supposed to go to Cancun too!).  Oh well.  I pray that they have a safe and fun trip there.  I guess I will have to make it up this weekend at the zoo.  Yay (50% sarcasm). Later all!

There was so much time to see what is going on with my relatives.  The conversation was great and I can't remember laughing so hard.  I can't really go into the details of the conversations, but they were priceless.  I am so happy that I have this closeness with my family, even if we are small compared to most other families.  I shouldn't take it for granted and if you have this too, then you shouldn't either.  I have some caps from the day but since the digital is running out of battery, I can't upload them just yet.

Here is a story that I CAN explain.  My grandma, the cutest and sweetest person, was telling us a story.  She feeds these birds in the backyard and she told us how she is sad that they don't come anymore.  So she said the entire story in Vietnamese and all of a sudden said "birrr."  She reminded me of Chingy for a second.  Apparently, she was trying to say bird, but all of us listening to the story said "why in the world would she just insert an English word out of no where."  Well it turns out that she didn't want to say "chiem" which means bird in Vietnamese but can also be interpreted as the special spot for a girl.  We all laughed at her attempt to avoid saying that.  I guess you won't really appreciate this story unless you understand Vietnamese.

There was also a time when part of the family was eating durian, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it is by far the smelliest fruit, if not food, that exists out there.  It is banned at airports I believe, and everyone in our house, with the exception of those who like it, take cover.  Well today, I made an attempt to sit just next to it, just in case my future wife LOVES eating it.  Before I knew it, my cousin was feeding me the stuff just so I could get used to the taste.  For some reason, I don't think I ever will.

That concludes my day, but boy was it long and memorable.

There was no pubic hair shavings found in the wedding cake, no one ate a piece of poop, and no one went under the table to service another person.  Nope, this is all the things you would expect of "American Wedding" but a Vietnamese wedding is anything but.

At the early hours of the morning, 6 o'clock which is my usual zero period waking up time, the entire household slowly went from slumbering, lifeless bodies and transformed to lively and happy people.  I started the day off with a sausage mcmuffin, and had to feed Brandon at the same time.  I was terrified because he was already in his mini-tuxedo and I couldn't risk getting any ketchup stains on him that early on.

After the photographer came, we took some group shots of the family and such until it was finally time to get to the church.  The first sign that this isn't a typical wedding: the bride and groom see each other the entire time before the actual ceremony.  No biggie really.  I guess that really debunks the bad luck theory people always talk about.  Anyway, we took our respective places in the church and what the bridal party perceived as a confusing and daunting process turned out to be much better than what we expected.  People sitting in the pews actually believed we knew what we were doing.

Just to add more zest into the story, I will tell an embarrassing story.  Given my history with dress pants, there were no blunders with them today, that dept. was excellent actually.  However, it was up until we entered the church that someone noticed that I had silver buttons on my vest as opposed to black ones.  Turns out, I put on my vest backwards.  What a spaz!  Geez, sometimes I don't know what to do with myself, but I am glad that there was no other serious damage incurred to my tux today.

After more pictures (there were tons of pictures taken today), we headed to the restaurant, but when I think about it, I don't even know the name of the restaurant.  I just remember that it is hidden in that corner where Bank of America is on Bolsa and Magnolia.

The food there was great... if I had a chance to enjoy it.  There was just so much commotion going on at the party that there was even hardly anytime to eat.  There were definitely many highlights.  My draw dropped when my dad hit the dance floor (I would provide visual aides but I don't think you would like to see them).  My brother's best friend, the best man, John gave one of those touching speeches, the ones where you can see everyone in the room reaching for a kleenex.  I cracked jokes, danced (well once, that was how busy we were), and caught up with old friends and relatives.

In general, it was a day full of joy and life.  Congratulations Frank and Ngoc!

Starting from left to right:

1) my cousin Will, brother Frank, & sister-in-law Ngoc
2) my mom and dad
3) me and bridesmaid/ Ngoc's niece Vy
4) Brandon and the best man, John
5) Jennifer and her b/f Kevin
6) cousins Bessie, Michelle, sister, and grandma
7) Frank with Brandon
8) The Usey Family

Woke up. Sat around. Ate McDonalds sausage mcmuffin, one of the few things that is worth eating there.  That comprised of my morning.

I sat around online for a little bit, before playing games.  Turns out someone I know is also known by someone I know, but I didn't know that. Follow? Well I would use a quote from that conversation because I was cracking up but I can't remember exactly.

Today, I ventured to Westminster and my sis thought it would be a nice idea to get a picture of Brandon for the wedding.  He was dressed as a skater; he even has his own board.  Awesome!  Well, the pictures turned out awesome.  Then after walking around some more, my sister went to Best Buys to get the future husband and wife a digi camera.  Now that was VERRRY nice.  It turns out the best man also bought them something similiar to that, so by the time we presented the gifts at night, he figured he would have to return his.  The reaction to my wedding gift went better than expected, apparently, they had never seen anything like the metallic image engraving, so I am stoked that they like it.

Well I am heading out early for a big day tomorrow. Night.

There is no clear cut reason WHY I am putting this hot/disturbing picture on my site, but mainly it is to draw readers into the rest of my xanga entry.  If you don't know it yet, Britney, Christina, Madonna and Missy opened up the VMAs in a shocking way.  I am sorry to those of you who find this picture repulsing and I accept your thank you's to those who get pleasure out of this.  Head on over to mtv.com for further details on the outrageous awards ceremony.

As you can see, Britney is wearing a wedding dress and that hooks into another big event that is going on in my life. Today, I had rehearsals for the big day this coming Saturday and I didn't realize that a wedding ceremony at the church (no, no one tried to burn me, throw rocks at me, or put me on the stake Kenn).  There are so many things to it... step here, bow there, face this way.  I hope I can take it all in by this weekend.  I pray that the things will go fine for them on that day.

After that, I went with Jen, Kev, Brandon to Claim Jumper.  I had Brandon in my possession for a good 30 minutes because we were waiting for a table while the others went to Stater Bros. to pick up some watermelons.  It was weird because I was his sole person of responsibility.  He is sooo cute at the wedding, walking down the aisle and bowing at the appropriate time.  Somehow, I don't think he will remember all the exact steps to the ceremony but he is only 4.  At dinner, Jen and Kev could not get enough of me retelling my driving test story over and over.  I should just write a comic strip or something on it, cause they almost laughed up their dinner.  I guess I don't have the "common sense" smarts.  My sister also doubts that I have "book" smarts cause in a book, you can easily read that: DO NOT RUN UP THE CURB.

Much more has happened today, but I should make these entries shorter and due to demand, make them less exclusive, therefore less confusing. Night.

But I won't dwell on that for too long.  Happy Birthday Ngoc!  I didn't quite get a chance to say that to you today.  Those flowers were a last minute gift so I am sorry if you don't really like them?  I was running late because I was trying on tuxes... at least some things are going okay.  Nickel Nickel was fun, after you left you got me hooked on that nickel game that pushes coins off the ledge.  Too bad I was using the wrong machine, the one you even told me not to use.  I should really pay more attention.

I'll recap my day yesterday real quick: played Monopoly three times before the end of this day, ate BBQ, drove around, and sat in Chau's room.  Heard lots of quotes about being strong, etc. due to living conditions.  Watched over as someone played AOL buddy/enemy to everyone... talked about our insecurities... planning something soon.

I'm not in much of a mood for xanga.  @ least I saw lots of friends today.

Quote of the Day:  "I think dad will be drunk... maybe James can take us home after the wedding party... You guys should walk home..." - My brother and sister make it no secret what they think of my driving skills.

I felt a slight tap at my shoulder, and before I knew it, I was wide awake.  Today, I had to go through this conference thing, I felt like a big shot.  Picture this, you are a movie star but you are filming your next big feature film and that means you cannot attend a ceremony where there is an award on your behalf.  That is exactly how I felt this morning.  I was speaking to this conference of big shots that run my dad's company and they wanted to have some sort of spiel for the award recipients... $2000 smackers... woohoo! Well anyway, I couldn't help but feel good of myself as they said nice nice things about me, with little knowledge of who I even am.  So, after that uplifting phone call, what better way to celebrate than catch some breakfast.

Chris thought that IHOP would be a good choice.  The food selection is good there, just that it is a bit pricey for my taste.  We got a huge carafe of orange juice.  I love those things cause you can drink and drink until you blow up!  Well, it was quite a sight, cause there was this little bug that kept pestering us, and here you see two big guys waving to and fro just to get rid of the darn bug.  We both ordered the same thing and were happy at the selection.  To our surprise, we saw Laura and Stephanie there.  We caught up on so good times, made faces at each other.  On the way out, Chris thought it would be cute to write "White gurl" and throw it into Laura's jeep.  It was well received, let me tell you.  And this is just two of the many victims Chris has in store.

By then, we went back to my house and waited for Kenn to complete the rest of the day's plan.  We watched TRL and The Price is Right.  Geez, some game show contestants... popcorn isn't as inexpensive as you think... and duh a dinette is $999 (you would be saying the same thing if you saw the other two items).  Before officially meeting up with Kenn, we decided to visit Julie at the Bagel Lady.  She was quite busy with orders, but nevertheless was happy to see us.  She laughed at something Chris showed her, apparently, they are too boojee? for her.  Sorry man, you can't convince everyone! So hah.

After a trip to Juice It Up--I think I like theirs better than Jamba, Kenn arrived and we made our way for our shopping filled day (I ended up buying two things and boy were they not pricey at all).  Not much happened on this trip, but by the end of the entire thing, we were all pooped.  South Coast, TJ Maxx, two shoe stores, 99 cent store, Cold Stones, and Alertos (the food was good today, Kenn and Chris do not recommend the chicken burrito, and we all recommend not dining there at night as someone Chris knew got their leg shot there... and was bribed by a man, a husky one, to shut up for 100 dollars, but ended up leaving in the end.  It is too bad that by the end of this trip, Chris has victimized 3 more people... ahhh!

Driving sucked major balls today.  It just wasn't those fun days of cruising, and with the test coming up in two days, I have like zero ounces of confidence in passing.  I better get my act together, or I will be taking the bus to school.

After dinner, I went to the gym for the second day in a row.  I feel good that I am finally using my pass, but too bad it ends in like a week.  Oh well, that's my fault for being lazy.

If my day gets any more interesting, it will just have to wait for the next entry.  I am writing this way in advance just in case I can't get online later.  Later everyone.

*** Thanks Kenn and Inho for letting me stay over during the fumigation.  I hope that I didn't overstay my welcome and didn't raise hell just by being there.  I had lots of fun, but do you guys ever wonder which house I had more fun at?  Well maybe I can do another xanga entry on that one day... lol.  Mi casa es su casa! ***

Time sure flies when you are having fun and no doubt have I been having a blast these 2/3 days away from my parents and away from home. But through it all, there is a feeling that you get when you are at home, something you cannot grasp anywhere else but home.

The theme of today revolved on several things but what stands out the most is the fact that we, this includes all those who I have came in contact to today, were such lazy asses today. Me and Inho didn't wake up from our deep sleep until 1:30 pm today and even when we did wake up, neither of us really wanted to get up.  But eventually we did and we mustered up enough energy to eat some leftovers, some darn tootin' good leftovers.  During this time, I remember going online and fixing up Inho's desperately in need of a change xanga. It looks much better now than it did before.  We also had to finish up this letter for Mr. B's dad (for the scholarship, don't get any ideas folks).  We realized when we abbreviated his name, it said... Mr. B Sr. lol. In any case, we did not have a clue to see how much time this one letter would consume of our day.

After that, we planned a tentative afternoon version of Monopoly but that plan fell through after I had to "report" home and assist in getting our house back to the way it was pre-fumigation.  David and Chris had other priorities with Key Club, so the game would have to be postponed til the night.  I called home and it turns out that I didn't even have to come home at all as everything was in order early in the morning.  We picked up Chau, we even named her as a superhero and gave her her special powers (ask her if you really want to know).  She fit in nicely with us as she claimed to be sooooo lazy.  On the way out of Inho's apartment complex, we learned that we had to make an acupuncture stop before going to the library to return some overdue books.  So while Inho was getting needles stuck into him, me and Chau continued to tallk about the never faltering topic of life.  Us azn kids sure do have it harder it seems.  40 minutes or so later, Inho comes back out and we make our way to the library.

At the library, we saw these people taking pictures at the park nearby, and wondered why anyone would even bother taking pictures here.  I presumed the ducks swimming in the pond nearby.  Well we did our business in there, and tried to make a copy of the letter we had written earlier because 1) Inho's printer made it purple and 2) Chau's printer would no cooperate.  It only added to our problems when the copy machine decided to make it apparent that the piece of paper was indeed a copy... the librarian even got pushy with us, saying that the library is officially closed, hmph!  So we headed on over to Office Depot and bought an ink cartridge for Inho and roleplayed in the offices of the store about "irreconciable differences."  The rest of the day played out as we went to 7-11 (I spent 100 smackers on a slurpee), then back to my house to watch Shrek and Nine Months.  It was getting too hot at my house so we sat around as usual trying to find out what we could possibly do.

One way or another, we ended up in the Promenade, buying Rite Aid ice cream and walking on over to Marshalls to see if anything cool was on clearance. Two out of the three of us were lucky (not me!) and found something to buy. My luck. Me and Inho had to take a tinkle so we rushed back to Regals just to use the restroom; I never thought I would be THAT person.

The remainder of the day was of course dedicated to one heck of a Monopoly game.  Because there was only three of us, things were more fastpaced and moved along much better. We even added a few new rules, most notably: the Warden and Tornado, which was used even after people were out of all the money... some of us didn't handle the loss too well. Let's just say I was hit by several small green houses and big red hotels. Kenn came over, realized he could not keep up with the banking skills "necessary" of the banker so he insisted on telling Chau's little sister how to call us names.  My name turned out to be Fairy Godmother; lovely aint it?

Inho has accused me of being a bear before.  I have this Old Navy sweater that has these black sleeves and tan body and I wore them with black jeans once, so naturally, I looked like a bear.  One day, long ago, I even stood next to a poster that had a bear and it didn't help that I was in the same exact pose as the bear.  And then there was two years ago when I played a role as a bear in a Spanish movie that we had to make for a project, where Inho played my son.  And to top that off, today, I woke up at 1:40ish from what Inho calls "hibernation" and what Chris calls my small comas.  Well it was true, everytime I woke up, I found myself falling asleep 10 minutes later only to be awaken by the sound of the phone, or something loud on the tv.  I swear though, Inho takes the longest time to write in his xanga... each time I woke up today, he wasn't even finished with it and this was over the course of 3 hours.

We went back to playing our Frustration game which is quickly gaining popularity and we even added a few more rules to make the game even more fun. I can't believe how much time we can pass by playing it.  I used the computer for a little bit while Inho was pounding away on his PS playing an old school game: Megaman X4. I like the premise of that game: fight and collect armors and weapons to build your way up to the ultimate robotic fighter. Well, there were parts he just couldn't get passed.

Eventually hunger overcame me (this was after my driving practice but nothing really interesting happened besides me seeing Jen N. and the teacher who everyone claims I "give the best book chats ever" attributing the broken rocking chair to my fat ass... that or my swiftness... in any case, DUMB!).  Well, Inho and Chris and I all went to Harry's to grab a bite before our big rematch back at Chau's house.  The food was good, and we realized how cheap things are there, yet how you can get so much.  We had some good food: biscuits and gravy, chili cheese fries, quesadillas, and this egg/country fries stuff. Yum. Your welcome by the way (inside story).

We finally left for Chau's while Inho went to church.  There, we waited til she got back from her plans and then busted out the monopoly... David's of course which I think is the second best thing next to mine (cause I have more pieces and money). I won the first game without much effort but who likes to have an easy victory? Not me. The second time around, Chris surprised us all and won a third game in just two days. Geez. Luck is sure on his side these days. To note, we had some bad and scary run ins with cat sounds and owl sounds... we all were a little rattled by the sporadic sounds and going out into the car was no easy task.

I am back at you know where and the poor guy is sleeping now. I think I wore him out (don't think nasty or anything sickos) but I hope he knows that I appreciate that I can even stay here in the first place.  There's not much to do but to write in this and watch Boy Meets World and Sister, Sister (couldn't there be something else on tv right now?).  That's it, I'm outtie.

You've heard it before but I had a nice long post designated for my xanga before bam, it disappears and then you start banging your head on the desk wondering why you didn't save it somewhere else. So I'm going to try and condense what I had before. 

Yesterday was my first day of homelessness and I didn't realize the everyday commodities that I am blessed with are sooo important to my well being.  I have been fortunate enough to have friends who were willing to take me under their wings for a couple of days.  Kenn--I had an awesome time "conversating" with you til the early hours of the morning.  I think we are both motor mouths, but it's probably why we get along so well.  In any case, thanks a lot for letting me crash your place Kenn. I'm sorry if I disturbed you from your much needed nap.  I enjoyed the mattress thingy on the floor, the fan, and even that picture that you posted up. It was a nice sight to wake up in the morning and it even reminded me of a conversation we had about waking up in the morning if you can read what I mean.

Allyson was the next stop onto my long day and me and her kicked it for awhile watching music videos; namely Baby Boy, Mary J doing her thing, and Low which was #1 on TRL today... well it was convenient to be there because her sis "Char" was having a birthday co-worker, former and new, get together in an hour at Hometown.  Dude, after getting there, I started missing the great times that I had working with certain people just because they were funny, quirky, and fun to just talk to.  You guys are awesome: Caryn, Char, Chris, David, James, Jessica, Yvette!  Wasn't it fun loitering in front of the movie theatres after we were denied watching free movies today? Oh well... as long as we had a kick ass time, I don't mind.

Afterwards, I went to Mercy Music, so you can guess at least one person I saw there but to my surprise Inho was acting as though he worked there... answering peoples' questions; telling them stories about guess wat? his appendix!  I guess its a timeless story.  We went to the bank and then to Tomy's for Seedro's lunch break... boy was Inho's food covered in loads of chili... dang! I am just so happy that no side effects have resulted because he ate that.  Thanks man!

Well at Inho's house we made up this wacked game of Frustration up and it was just soo addicting to both of us... I love how we can twist games to fit our needs. I, however, loss badly pre-bomb era (inside joke).  Chris came over like an hour later giving us news of these dollar shoes that he found... that's 50 cents per shoe... is that not believable.  We had some fun just playing with this unknown tube in Inho's room and Chris was just doing something very wrong with my deck of cards **shivers**

Now what kind of day would be complete without going over to Chau's abode. Two swift games ended in one person's victory... one that kept making out with a nectarine I think... very interesting... Boardwalk and stupid Kentucky was the death of us both times... stupid stupid stupid.  I hope we can find something else to do cause I think a much needed break from this game is key.  Sorry Chau for maybe boring you with routine... I loved the chicken, you sure know how to take the skin off of it (does this not conjure up thoughts of a not so distant memory?)

The night wasn't quite over so we headed back to Allyson's house so Inho could give his gift to Char.  IT was nice: a LOTR music sheet thing from guess where? Well if you haven't been paying attention too bad.  All of a sudden, we just started getting into karaoke singing everything from Build Me Up, Buttercup and the title of this entire post... oh yea... remember Bye, Bye, Bye?  That was fun... then on the way home from the small karaoke get together we scared each other like made and now I am sitting in his room (Inho) typing to you guys and watching this korean drama... pretty entertaining for not understanding it.  Day #1 at Inho's house is going well... speak to you all later!

Yesterday was quite amazing as I learned so many things about the people around me, not including about myself. This was of course through conversation and some shocking actions but if you want to know those actions... well I don't think you ever will.

The day started off with my instructor planning a late driving day... which I think are the worse! But I am getting to the point where I enjoy driving. When I got back from the practice, I was bombarded with phone calls--I felt love. Well, one of the calls was from Van and it just so happens that I owe her old posters... so old in fact, that they are from movies that now appear on PPV: Final Destination 2, Alex & Emma (ewww), Bulletproof Monk and How To Deal. Wonder what she will do with them.  It was quite funny actually because when I met her at the park to give it to her, she was sooo worried about getting them crinkled up and all. Well, I wanted to show Van the remains of that tree that I accidently killed and even knowing this fact, she let me drive her car there, even though it was only a couple of feet away. Now you know this girl is a daredevil for that! Well the parking was decent this time around, and I didn't go up the curve.  She laughed at the site as we observed the big whole where I life once existed. Van grabbed a pretty flower nearby and she was off to meet with her friends. Just to make a public apology: the Mickey D nuggets are STILL 99 cents.  I'm sorry that I alarmed you Van.

On the way home from driving, I saw Lucy walking at the corner with a backpack on, so I figured she was still at the library. I also made the trip because someone subliminaly told me to read a book that have such quotes as "Don't apologize... No need to explain" or something along those lines... not something I would necessarily live by. Anyway, it seems that Lucy has been working in this creole/chinese restaurant in New Orleans, and lets just say she has made enough money to make any person happy. Wow, but upon her return, she's gotta get her ducks in a row to get ready for LA... but hey, she missed us all (at least you know who you are anyways). So yea, it felt like grade school talking in that ancient library.  With that being said, we went our separate ways, away from the nice AC with my new book in hand.  We found out that we both have something in common: we both have been deprived from that little movie called Pirates of the Carribean.

Getting home, Kenn and Inho dropped by for awhile... we sat around for awhile talking about whatever came to mind. We marveled at all the food that was packed into bags for the upcoming fumigation. We went upstairs to the sauna and sat around. Inho insisted on pushing his luck by retelling those two scary stories that I mentioned in the previous post... but really, he didn't get much reaction from Kenn.  Even though I knew the story and the whole screaming sequence, I walked out of the room to go #1 and when the screaming came, I still jumped a little bit... but they don't know that until now... what kind of xanga would it be without some confessions?  In the spirit of How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, we played Bullshit... and each time someone bullshitted each other when it wasn't at the right time, they had to answer a juicy question... and now I feel I know a little too much about my friends. We will leave the questions and answers out of this.

Inho once again had to go somewhere so it was down to me and Kenn and we made a shocking discovery but we are still bewildered by what we had found out, or if it was even the truth.  Well, after that very extended talk, we built up an appetite so went to Harry's... ordered: broiled chicken and fish... take a stab at who ordered what. There, we talked about everything imaginable... but it still revolved around certain topics that intrigue both of us and never gets old... I feel more enlightened about what I know about the world after talking to Kenn. Adding more pounds to my fatass...we both got ice cream and talked about other stuff...

After we talked the hell out of that topic, we headed over to Chau's house at 10:00 and well, I am at a loss for words.  I would talk more about this section but I don't know how to word what happened exactly... I just remember calling someone white trash and looking at each other funny. Use your imagination for a change and fill in the blanks people, can't tell you everything you know?  Let us never speak of it again Chau and Kenn.

That concludes my long but very eventful day.

Tip to people out there: Mary J. Blige said... "No More Drama."ore Drama"... so take her advice.

So yesterday, I did some more behind the wheel training, as if ummm the 15th hour isn't enough. Even ventured on the freeway, didn't have a problem forcing my way into traffic... but boy do I hate merging.

After I got back from the trip, Inho called me up to go to this cable company to switch his receiver and to check out Target (French accent on that store is a must).  We had a pain in the butt trying to find the place and it ended up being smooshed right between a Farr's Stationers and the post office. We found like a hidden park on the way there... did anyone know that a West Garden Grove existed? LoL. Both of the trips to the different Targets were a bust so we ended up going home.  But, we did find my long lost video game: Final Fantasy VII at Gamestop... what a miracle... I finally have my hands on the game that I have been looking for for a good 3 months. I am stoked about that.

Inho then proceeded to tell me some "freaky" story about a girl taking a dookie in a Korean school... spooky yea? Well it was when he reached over, grabbed me, and SHOUTED... he was lucky I wasn't driving cause I would have swerved off the road and you would not be reading about this entry right now... thanks Inho...

We got back to his place and it turns out he has another story up his sleeve, this time about a brother sister who have this bizarre relationship... its set in some stupid place called Osaka... and this time, as a precaution, I told Inho to sit far away... but no, he insisted that he had to be a certain distance to set the full effect of the story... and even though I could feel that he was about to scream, I just screamed like a sissy when he did that shouting thing at the end... when the stupid skull in the story talks... just a tip to anyone that listens to Inho's version of ghost stories... they end with a big scream.  Actually, I was surprised that he was able to tell the whole story through, he usually loses my interest after the second sentence in.

As you know, I wasn't hooked on much either so I fell asleep on his bed... and was accused of snoring and drooling (ladies reading out there... this is not true! hehe).  But when I awoke, Inho was playing some beatmania game and we watched rank: top blondes of 2003... 1) Reese W. 2) Rene Z. 5) Kate H. were all I remember.

It was hot up in there so we got slurpees before heading to Chau's house... we sat around drinking our drinks and then went to rateapix.com and insisted on rating some of the people there... then we went to look at people from our school, some we laughed at, others we said... impressive (actually not).

Before then, David showed up and we played the o so infamous Monopoly once again (I smooshed Inho's box by accident... serves you right!).  This time, instead of a David-Chau vs. Chris-James alliance... it got mixed up drastically as it was David vs. Chris vs. Chau-James, but in the end David had gloating rights and he made sure we knew he was winning (trade in those hundreds man!).  Chris swore I worked at Washington Mutual, mortgaging every other turn.  He even said he would leave at one point in time but after Chau landed on his Illinois a couple of times, well he was convinced to stay... the game ended at 12:10, until Chau and I had no other outlet from escaping David and his luck, but you can be assured that it won't be happening again, that or I won't ever play with him again (j/k). Got home, watched some tv, and here I am now typing in my xanga before my next driving lesson.

More exciting news! I got my computer fixed fixed already and now I can be available to do more stuff online... as if I don't do enough already.