Saturdays of the past

Woke up at a decent time (10 am), not too late or too early. Borders this morning w/ the family. I love when it's the 4 of us & these days, that's getting rare cause either my dad is in Europe/China or my mom is working. My brother bought 3 books, I bought the other half of Tram's gift and my Secret Santa's gift. 2 people down, a lot more to go. I don't know how to divide what's left of my bank account towards 10 people. Hopefully it works out. Couldn't find the latest Entertainment Weekly with Robert Pattinson on the cover! The salesman said it was out of stock. Gay. Went down to Wal-mart cause my mommy had to buy her Holiday Party stuff and Super Mario Bros for my brother's present. Still no Entertainment Weekly! Ugh ugh, I got so frustrated. But I did buy the shampoo & conditioner I have been promising to bring to practice for Wendy but always forgetting. Drove back home, started Chapter 17 review, out to dinner at Chinese restaurant. Wore new plaid jacket! Met this girl who is my age and goes to Moreau Catholic School in Hayward. Turns out, she went to the Olympics this summer too. Food was awesome tasting & awesome looking, our parents are apparently friends with the owners and they made some "specialties" lol.

I love these kinds of days. Busy, but in a relaxing way. Family is the best. I used to have weekends like this in middle school & I miss it so much. Today was a great day (=

Hahaha I like this one. I guess they are fanpires too!

Family & food, people & parties, humans & hunger

NOVEMBER 26/THANKSGIVING: One of the best Thanksgivings ever. (= Cousins from UCLA and UCSD drove down, MSJHS cousin came over, aunts & uncles, family friends... all here. Must have been 20-25 people, a few left before we took a group picture. Dinner = buffet style! Yummy yummy yummy. Asian/white dishes (Turkey, chinese salad, honey glazed ham, 2-3 other asian dishes, pumpkin pie!, sweet potato pie, fruit). Drunk parents/adults. Cousin drove the teenagers of the family down to Century to watch Role Models. (I sneaked into Twilight and watched part of it again, hehe.) Back to Role Models, watched the last hour of it. "Her whispering eye." HAHAHA! Hella funny ass movie.

NOVEMBER 27/BLACK FRIDAY: Looove this holiday. Went with mother at 5am, she gives me freedom :D Don't try to hold me down while shopping, hahah. Quality time<3 Talked about... stuff. We rarely have time to talk so today was great. Bought: 3 coats, 2 sweaters, 1 t-shirt, 1 tank top, 1 pair of jeans. Victoria's Secret PINK, Macy's, & Wet Seal<3 Feeling very much accomplished! Except I really was planning to buy a pair of shoes but oh well. Next time. Hella deals everywhere, more than I have ever seen in one day. Free stuff like craaaazy! Saw some MHS kids, said hi to a few. Bought a little part of my Secret Santa's gift and Tram's gift. Still need gifts for: Ummm, a lot of people actually. So I guess I'm not that much accomplished but I do have an updated Christmas Shopping List based on what I saw today. MY FEET HURT LIKE A &@#$%!! Got my 3rd and final HPV shot at Kaiser. I hate that shot, hurts more than any other one. & they always tell me to lay down cause people have fainted before. Stole a sticker that said "I got my flu shot!" cause they didn't have any other stickers, boo. Home (where I am right now), but maybe back to Century for Australia with my mommy later.

Break is halfway over already! Damn. Loving the 4 days off though. I think I really needed it, we all did. Haven't started on any homework/projects yet. No worries, I got time. No Chinese school on Sunday! Therefore, no Chinese homework to do :D

*Oh yeah, can't forget. This year, I am thankful for all the opportunities that have been given to me and the hobbies that I continue to pursue with passion. I am thankful for the chances I get to improve my life, appreciate my life, & love my life. I am thankful that I am alive to give thanks on this day. I am thankful for the gains we have made in clean energy, equality, and justice. I am thankful for our ability to believe in hope, dreams, and love. I am thankful for my daily education & therefore, my "investment" in the future. I am thankful for life's basic necessities, such as food, clothing & shelter; as well as life's luxuries, such as great food, nice clothing, and a warm shelter. & Last but not least, without these people, I would not be who I am today. Therefore, I am truly thankful for...

My parents, for everything. Truly blessed is what I am (=

My grandparents, for being a major help to my parents and taking care of me since December 31, 1992.

My brother, who is my constant joy. (2 of his baby teeth fell out, 2 days in a row. He is so proud of himself haha.)

My extended family (These are the ones in the US only. Around 90% of my extended family is in China, who I visited this past summer. Maybe they will send me a full family picture someday, hah! Impossible. By the way, Chinese people don't celebrate Thanksgiving but they celebrate a ton of other holidays that Americans don't.)

Cousins, offering life +college advice at every turn. (I have a lot of cousins, no kidding. This is just one of the 9,876,543,210 of them. Hahaha, NOW I am kidding.)

My best friends, who are part of my past, my present, & my future.


Also, I am thankful these kids for everything they have helped me through this past year, including people I have gotten close to, who have taught me things, & who are just a great group of people (= [in alphabetical order]: Bettina Pancho, Brian Nguyen, Bryan Castanares, Coaches (Alex, Brad, Jessica), Dorothy Hoang, Eddie Carrillo, Erikacamisse Diaz, Hong Hoang, Jeffrey Cheah, Joann Chau, Kayjing Chua, Kevin Nguyen, Lisa Chu, Maggie Blackburn, Marykay Deguzman, Michael Pham, Michelle Deleon, Michelle Nguyen, Michelle Tu, Ms. Ngo, Nancy Tran, Patricia Do, Rhodan Muyot, Steven Thanh, Tansy Gu, Thi Nguyen, Veronica Flores, Vincent Page, and Wendy Yim.

Major repeat

^^^ That is the original song of Bella's Lullaby! I couldn't actually find it on iMeem, but I did find it on Limewire and uploaded it myself. (There is this Chinese saying that my grandma always says. Something along the lines of... you accomplish more by doing things yourself. This reminded me of that, haha.) None of that Yiruma stuff is the actual Bella's Lullaby!!!(which I also love and play on the piano) According to Carter Burwell's website, the official sheet music isn't going to be released until the end of the year. Booo! But on a happier note, he posted the beginning of the melody on his website. Playing those few notes will keep me quite satisfied until then. :D

Also on the subject of music, Britney Spears' album Circus is available to listen to on iMeem. Songs are actually in its entire length! I love being able to preview albums in its entirety, like I did with the I Am... Sasha Fierce (Beyonce). I don't really like Britney Spears' new CD, it's definitely not her best. Not really close to her best either. But one song, If U Seek Amy, is clever! If you listen to the song veeeery closely, the If U Seek Amy part hella sounds like F-U-C-K ME. Haha!

I almost forgot to blog about this, which is surprising because this kinda made my day. (: So for 2009, all the time standards for swimming have gotten slower. Like the A time for 15/16 girls 50 meter freestyle used to be 28 seconds but now it's 30. I currently swim a 29, which is now an A time! So I used to have BB times but not anymore heheh. WOOHOO! Instant fastness baaaby! My Splash magazine came today. I swear, Michael Phelps is like on every other page. Whether it's his name or a huge picture of his face, he is everywhere. I do love him but c'mon. That's too much love.

Ping-pong for the first time today. Ever. People find that hard to believe just because I am asian. Hahah shutup. I am not that bad either & I think I'll like it. Once again, shutup. No, it does not run in my blood. & No stereotypes please, haha.