//người yêu ơi\\

2010-01-03T07:52:00.001-05:00

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NEW BLOG!!!!! Address....

2009-09-04T22:59:00.002-04:00

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It's time to move on...

i forgot everythinggg!!!

2009-09-01T15:38:00.001-04:00

Geezuz...I had a lot I wanted to write about but...I forgot what they were. The only thing I remember is first days of school. Whatever, later.

ahreahreahre???

2009-08-30T11:23:00.003-04:00

OK...so today I have to do these things:

- Paperwork
- Get ready for school
- Books
- Plan classes
- Make Mother's CD
- Make Mother's DVD
- Laundry
- Organize Clothes
- Organize Drawers
- Organize Closet

Among other things. WTF!

BEWARE! Creepy thing up next.

2009-08-24T14:58:00.002-04:00

www.creepypasta.net
>>next<<
Did you ever see one of those videos where you are asked to look for, or follow a specific thing through out the video? Then, at the end, they reveal that as you were watching, something large and intrusive moved around in plain sight and you never even noticed it.

Its frightening how often that happens, like how I just moved from the doorway into your room as you read this.

------------------------------------

I found a link to this site from a forum. And of course I had to check it out because...well it's called Creepy Pasta. That pretty much explains it all. I mainly read it at work, but yesterday I started to read it at home. Thank God I read the above one at work, because if I had read it at home, I would've started to cry like a baby.

The site is basically a bunch of short stories (ranging from a few lines to a few paragraphs) of really creepy (for lack of a better word) stuff.

Some of them were kinda cool in how scary/creepy they were, so I wanted to share. Lolz. Once I get home I will probably watch a nice anime and do a new post with food pictures, so as to try and get the images out of my head.

Check it out, if you dare!

Lolz.

That was weird. Hermmmm....I wonder if I should share my Mother storyyyy....

một mùa thu trước mỗi hoàng hôn, nhặt cánh hoa rơi chẳng biết buồn, nhuộm ánh trăng tà qua mái tóc, tôi chờ người đến với yêu thương

2009-08-19T14:36:00.008-04:00

I just went through my collection of Random photos and...there's nothing I wanna use that would match this post! That means!!! I need to take more pictures.

OK! So Georgia. This trip was relatively good. In one van we fit Thao, Tina, Thuy, me, Thien An, C. Mai, A. Phat, A. Phong, and C.H. I know...that's a ton of people! But the van was pretty big, so it was nice. We stopped by Eden Center to buy a lot of food. The ride itself was just eating, sleeping, and watching The Omen. I don't know what the hype is about that movie, it wasn't scary at all! I had also rented Darkness Falls but we never got to it so I'm going to watch it tonight with Dolores. Lolz. So we get to Georgia and everything goes pretty fine. My group was nice. I don't think there were any mean people, just some stupid ones, but who cares. I was at first extremely attracted to this guy named Jimmy, because, well duh, 'cuz he was cute! But then we had a "sharing" moment that we had to do and I found out some things about him that was cool, like his motivation and why he's in TN and stuff. Compared to him, I'm just kinda normal, there. But anyway, he has kind of a bad boy vibe, which of course I'm attracted to. But then after being in his group for awhile, I realize he wasn't that great. He's kind of an idiot sometimes but, it's not something that's major. I feel as if, if he and I were friends, I'd probably be really sarcastic to him. And I wouldn't say that we'd argue a lot but, we would probably get annoyed with each other a lot. But anyway, there was also this other guy in our group. He was cute too. But he was quiet, and really nice. Kind of flirty nice, if you know what I mean. There was also this other guy, not in our group. He looked like a badass. Mohawk, not the shaved on both sides kind, his hair was just parted like a mohawk. Tattoo!!! We noticed him because during the pretest, he came over and asked if he could join us. Lolz. But anyway, Thuy and I talked to him a bit during one of the lessons, because we sat in the back. It was nice. He was really nice. Lolz. He added me on Facebook but he has a girlfriend. Of course, that wouldn't stop me usually, but it also doesn't help that he lives in Georgia. Lolz!

So the big points. I was extremely worried about teaching my lesson. We were supposed to have 10 minutes but they only gave us 5-7. I started mine and I thought I had so much time left, but then the HT in charge had to tell me I was out of time. Then he gave me an extra 2 minutes, but I knew I wouldn't be able to finish everything in time so I just stopped. Anyway, apparently I did really well. I was glad. The HTs that were watching us to critique us said that I reminded them of someone else from California, I guess she's good? And then one of them said that if I continue regularly with TN, in another 1, 2 years I'd be....I guess he couldn't find a word for it because he just gave me a bunch of thumbs ups. Lolz. But as he gave me the thumbs up, the kids in my group yelled out DOAN TRUONG DOAN TRUONG! Which was kinda awkward because A. Phong was sitting right next to us and he's our current Doan Truong. Lolz. But about A. Phong, I knew he was sitting there to watch me! HMPH! Anyway, the ppl in my group also liked my confidence and enthusiasm. Which is funny because I actually seem more confident when I'm really nervous. Heck knows that when I got up there I could feel my voice was about to crack but, for some reason that translates into smiles and laughs and cheeriness. Lolz. So anyway, the teaching thing went well.

The Big Game, went OK. We were third. We actually solved the first message first (I helped!) at the beginning but we went the wrong way. Then when we got to the second station, we couldn't find our message. We thought the groups before us had hid it but then found out that nope, the HT had just forgotten about us. I helped solve a few messages so I'm glad. There were some idiots and really annoying people during the Big Game but, whatever, I don't care.

I BSed the final test. O well. Lolz.

Overall it was fine. Everyone in my group were pretty nice. I liked Tina's group, they were really united. My group was overall OK. I was surprised they added me on FB. I added Jimmy because I wanted to see the pictures he took, but then other people added me so it was cool. Lolz.

I heard that after DHNS there was some drama between the Dong Nam guys and our guys, mainly C.H., which I think is lame. So if ever we had to represent, I'd probably show no mercy. Lolz. But good gracious, honestly the guys in Dong Nam are so much hotter and cuter than the Trung Dong guys. Haha. Ok, yea.

Then on the ride home we played cards, slept...listened to music...made a MickyD's think we were about to rob them because C.H. is an idiot and ordered 100 Chicken Nuggets. Lolz. Overall, it was a pretty good trip.

Now I guess all I have to do is finish my after camp homework...which will take at least 3 months. And then I get my red scarf? Hopefully. And then that's it. I heard that once you get to Cap II, you can take on positions. So I said, heck no I'm not going to take on any positions. And they told me, you don't choose them honey, they choose YOU! It was kind of like a threat. So to excuse myself from all that, I'll try to stay as far away as possible from future trainings. I kinda wanna go back to GA to see everyone but, I'm sure they wouldn't even remember me in a year. Lolz. So let's see how long I can hold out for.

----------------------------------------------------

So I just finished watching this Taiwanese drama called Fated to Love You. Actually, I more or less skimmed through it. Lolz. At least I got the basic gist. For some reason yesterday, I thought about it at work while listening to this random Vietnamese song called Chuyen Hoa Tigon, and the two things have nothing to do with each other and I remember thinking to myself, I wish I felt something.

I wish that there was a guy who would take my face in his hands and tell me not to cry. Tell me that I was something more than just some girl. I wish there was a guy who got annoyed when I cried. Annoyed because I was hurting, not because I cry like a baby, not because I'm weak. I wish there was a guy who volunteered to help, to take me places. Someone who could just look at me and know what I was up to. Someone I could look at slyly and who knew I was up to no good, who knew that I'm staring at him intently because I'm planning on pranking him while he's sleeping or stealing the sweater he's wearing, but then not caring because he likes me so he'll let me do whatever. I wish there was someone who just understood me.

It's not just love. I want to feel heartbreak. I want to experience it, I don't care how many times. I'm so jaded, it's not even funny. And it's not because I've been through so many relationships and I've been hurt so many times and blah blah blah, because I haven't been through any real relationships and I haven't been hurt that many times. It's because I haven't been in relationships and that I haven't been hurt that makes me feel like I'll never feel anything. It might sound crazy, but I want to feel a broken heart. Because even if it's pain, at least I'm feeling something. If the only way I feel anything aside from coldness and sadness, even if it means getting my heart completely torn and broken, I'll take it. I just don't want to keep feeling nothing.

Before, I didn't care. Hell, I sat through that whole series, Meteor Garden or whatever, when I was younger. I think I was in high school. And yes, I wished my life was like that. I didn't wish that the love story was the same, I just wished I had a bunch of cool older guy friends who treated me like their younger sister. Lolz. But then again, the people in the series were college kids, I think. They weren't my age. I thought I had time, I didn't care. But now I'm at about the same age as that portrayed in the dramas. And I know it's silly, I know I'm still young, I should have tons of time, but I feel as if by now I would've been broken out of my sleep and I should be starting to feel things. A little love, a little confusion, a little heartbreak, anything. But I feel nothing.

I know I know, how silly. To want to feel something that the whole world tries to avoid just because of some drama. And the drama wasn't even that good!

Life doesn't suck. I'm stressed. It could be better. But I'm fine with it. Everything is just "OK" all the time. I just want to feel something.

Mother told me that some fortune teller, who apparently is very accurate, even though we're Catholic and we shouldn't believe in such things, foretold that my life will be very good. I will be successful (?) and will be married to an equally successful husband. But I don't care! That isn't happening now! I want to feel something now! When I'm not feeling an intense something, I feel lost. Like something should be going on but nothing is.

Sure I can spend my time looking at people, checking people out, but I'm tired of that.

Is it silly that I wish for heartbreak? Love would be great, but I know that love isn't always sincere. And even if it were, it won't be forever.

I just feel kind of sad, is all. I wish that a boy would make me cry. That someone told me they didn't love me. Because then at least I would cry. I'd get over it but at least for a little bit I would be feeling something other than lonliness.

It's probably just a phase. But honestly, if I have to stop myself from watching dramas because the love and the heartbreak would depress me then, something's wrong. Maybe I'm just tired of living in a daze. I'm busy all the time but nothing happens. I talk to a lot of people but I don't hear anything. I kind of live through life like one big....dream? Cliche, I know. But that's how it is. I'm not...depressed...I don't think. Not yet, Lolz. I just feel..................................

Empty. Or...Void. Yea. That.

It must be a phase because I'm usually not like this. I'm the kind of girl who doesn't need to call her boyfriend for help. Who can change the car tires herself. Who, by the time her boyfriend finds out she even had a flat tire, will have already fixed it, cleaned herself up and gone to get ice cream. I'm the kind of girl who doesn't care what her boyfriend does, ever. Who doesn't care if he sleeps around as long as she's the main woman in his life. As long as he's sincere to her, puts her first, he can do whatever the hell else he wants in his spare time. Which would be all the time because I'm the kind of girl who's not needy. I'm the kind of girl who is probably very easy to hurt but very hard to break. I'm the kind who won't care what my boyfriend does ever, as long as he's a decent person and he loves me the most. Is that hard? Does that make me abnormal? Too complicated? I think it's rather simple to understand but, I guess not.

I don't know why I'm feeling so empty and void. I mean, I am all the time, empty and void. But this time it's deeper than usual. I'm not usually like this, I usually just accept it and move on but, this time the void hurts just a little bit extra.

Well, for the sake of other people, I hope I snap out of it soon. No more dramas for me!

So I'm worried about school starting. Hee. That's all. You think that has something to do with it? Eh, probably not...aside from the fact that at school I'll be faced with so many guys and more proof that no one will ever take my face in their hands. But otherwise...hermmm...

Ok I'm sorry. That was extremely mushy and unlike me but, it happens sometimes so, sorry but deal with it!

Chya ne!

do it now. you don't have tomorrow & you don't have y/e/s/t/e/r/d/a/y. do it now.

2009-08-19T14:00:00.000-04:00

OK, so, this one day I went to...I don't know why my font is all weird but OK....

I went to CVS and this neighbor was sitting outside the store. She calls me over and I talk to her for a little bit and she asks me for $2. So of course, $2, I would gladly give it to her. But then I realize that she hadn't said $2....she said and asked for $20! Which is a lot more than $2. And by that time I'd already opened my purse and you could see my money and I did have a $20 so...I gave it to her. Then she wasted about 10 more minutes while talking to me about how she loved my dad and how she'd watch him drive around in his scooter in the mornings and I'm just like...OK...OK....OK....now she'd said that she need that money for medicine...so the whole time I'm thinking...::Why are you still talking...shouldn't you be getting your medicine then?::, but I didn't say anything out loud.

Then, a few days later, Otouto comes home from intern-ing, I guess it was, and she stops him and asks him if I was home. Of course I was. But Otouto, because he is a genius, tells her that he wasn't sure and that he'd check, and that if no one came down in 5 minutes, it meant I wasn't home. So of course he comes up and tells me this and I refuse to go downstairs because I knew she just wanted to ask for more money.

So then, Saturday night, Mother is making her eggrolls in the living room and I'm in my room and allofasudden Otouto runs in and goes "She's here! The fat lady's here!" And of course it takes me awhile to process, but then I start to freak out. WTF does she want? She can't be trying to pay me back because even though when she borrowed the money she said she'd pay me back, I had told her not to worry about it, mainly because I didn't want her giving it to me in front of Mother and then Mother getting pissed. But anyway, the lady just would not leave, so I go outside, open the door, and she beackons me out. This is the part in the horror movies where any sane person would yell at the main character for being an idiot because, get this, I stepped outside. I kept my grip on the door handle though, and I could see that Otouto was standing there. So then...the lady asks me for money again. Another $20. I tell her I don't have anything. And I thought that was that. But no, she goes "Well, do you think your mom might have some money?" And so I go back in to ask and immediately Mother goes "NO!" So I go back out to tell the lady. And I guess she asks again if I had any and I go "No, I haven't gone to the bank yet." And so she goes..."Well, do you think you'll have it tomorrow?" And I go..."Um...I'm not sure, depends on if I go to the bank." And so she goes, "Well, just come see me if you do have it."

THEN! No...we're not done yet....

A few days later I rush into the building and was too scared to run past her apartment so I shoot straight for the elevator. As I'm waiting for the elevator, she jumps out of her house and goes "BOO!" I'm not even freakin kidding! And so I jump and the elevator comes and she goes in with me and some other dude. So she goes "So have you thought about it?" And I'm just like..."About what...?" And then I realize, O about the money! And so I go..."Yea but I don't have any cash. I honestly only have about $30 in the bank right now." Which was true. So then she goes "Girl, what am I going to do with you?" But I guess in a "playful" tone? Then, get this, she grabs my arm, pulls me to her and attemps to hit my butt! I KNOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!! We weren't the only people in the elevator either, there were like, one or two other guys and they just kinda looked awkward. Then she asks me if she could borrow $10, and I had to repeat that I didn't have any cash on me at all. So we get to my floor and she steps out with me and she goes "What am I gonna do with you?" And I go "IDK, pray that my boss pays me soon?" I don't know how I managed to keep a playful tone because I was freaking out so much inside!

So by this time I'm like...OMG do I owe her money or something? Did I borrow hundreds of dollars from her and not remember? Because she's acting like a loan shark and I'm the person who loaned money from her. Except that she's not a loan shark, I didn't loan any money from her, and in actuality it's her borrowing money from me!

Anyway, one day Reed comes to play games at my house. And I tell him. So he plans with me that we were going to go down to her apartment to end it once and for all. He gives me...$20? I think, and I have my $10, and we go down there once or twice, maybe three times but no one ever opens the door. It was kind of funny because we told Otouto that if we didn't come back in two minutes, he was to come down and say that I had a phone call or something. So he kept running down after us and hiding at the end of the hallway to wait for my signaling him to come save us, but she was never there. Then, the last time we did it as Otouto and I were walking Reed out. This time I was completely unprepared but she turned out to be home. So I nervously told her that this was all the money I had and I won't be able to give her anymore for awhile. I wasn't supposed to give a time frame but I did because I was nervous and I forgot. Then she said she'd pay me back and all that. But of course that hasn't happened and I don't care.

It was kind of funny because, she'd been after me for money like I owed her money or something. A random person looking in would have thought that I'd borrowed money from a loan shark and she was collecting, but in reality it was her asking me to let her borrow money! Then the night I came down to give her $30, which is more than she asks for, as an action to end it all, I'm standing there at the door with two big, tall guys, like a loan shark coming by to ask for their money back! A random person looking in then would have thought I was a loan shark demanding my money back but in actuality I came down to give her money!

How twisted is that????

But ever since then she hasn't asked for any money. She hasn't paid back the $30 either but I don't care.

Although, the other day a few weeks ago, months maybe, she did ask if I could drive her somewhere but I said that Mother needed me to stay home because someone was coming over to pick something up, so I didn't drive her.

IDK Why I was afraid of her. I didn't owe her anything. I'm not a genuinely nice person. Who knows, maybe I'm just selling myself short but, I think I gave her money and I was afraid of her because I thought that if I didn't give her money, she'd die or something! And it'd be my fault! One day Otouto came and told me that when he walked by her apartment she was sitting on the floor and was surrounded by cops. So I was like "OMG WHAT IF SHE DIES HER GHOST WILL HAUNT ME!!!"

Geezuz I'm such a spazz.

Haha....but anyway...the experience made me realize even more how much I dislike needy people. I'm kind of strict and critical and kind of mean when it comes to independence. I probably mentioned this before, but I was forced to grow up extremely early. So part of me still wants to be a child, part of me thinks that you should be a kid for as long as possible. Then the other part wants to grow up, the other part feels that at a certain age, you just have to take responsibility for your actions and your life and your choices, and man, or woman, up! That's why I dislike it when Mother tells me that I should teach Otouto how to do the bills. Why? Why should I teach him? He's only in high school. I haven't died. I'm not sick. I'm not going to disappear. I learned it because I was forced to, and although I'm good with it and all, I still wish sometimes that I didn't have to do it. So why force Otouto to do the bills when he doesn't need to? He's still a teen. Let him do teen things. I willingly take on a lot of responsibility so that Otouto doesn't have to, because he shouldn't have to. Now, once he gets to say...19...20...21 maybe...We baby him a little too much....but once he gets to that age, I expect that he will learn how to take care of himself. I'll force him to do bills then. I'll make him cook then. Because at that age and after, you're not a child anymore. Yes, be carefree, be nonchalant, be happy and cheerful. But be all that while being grown up. Be carefree, be nonchalant, be happy, be cheerful AS WELL AS intelligent and wise and understanding and responsible. I expect at least that much out of people. So I get really annoyed when people aren't like that. And as a relatively grown up person, if I do say so myself, I put up with it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off.

So anyway, I guess my main point was, I kind of know how people who take loans from loan sharks feel, at least a little bit. And, grow up!

S'all!

This is kind of a musing...right?

the end of boring titles!

2009-08-12T12:38:00.003-04:00

MY HAMSTER DIED?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

strapya world - disappointing

2009-08-10T13:31:00.001-04:00

My stuff from Stapya-World came last week and I was so disappointed. It took the glue two days to dry, and not even totally. And all the items are so tiny!!!

I had the worst experience with customer service yesterday. That lady shouldn't be allowed near a phone, ever!

I still don't have internet and I'm getting even more pissed at Comcast.

Phoo! I needa find some horror films to bring along to Geoooooorgiaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!

no titled

2009-08-06T14:36:00.004-04:00

For some reason my last two posts (the previous post and this current one that you are reading) have a LOT of curse words. Well...a few. But I didn't try to ****** them out so, be forewarned.

Alright...so I guess I lied. I'm not getting internet at home until SUNDAY!!! SUNDAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! Dammit. Lolz.

We coulda gotten our internet today, everything was going fine, until yesterday the office of my apartment complex sends out a notice saying that they are re-painting the parking lot today and there can't be any cars on the lot. They won't be done until 6PM! Which means I can't go home until 6PM because there is just NO WHERE else to park! And of course, I have a feeling they won't like it very much if all of a sudden a Comcast truck drives into the parking lot as they're painting. Although...it was kinda raining this morning so Mother thought that they wouldn't paint, but I called them to check and they will paint. Mannnnnn, watch, Imma go home at 6PM, they won't have painted the parking lot because it was too wet, and they moved the painting date to Sunday or something so that I'll never get internet!

Argh, I hate this place. We need a house!!!

So anyway, this training thing in Georgia is being a bitch. It's so funny how once I actually get to the trainings, it's usually fine, but all the work I have to do before even going is a pain, because of the stupid people putting the event/trip together. We're supposed to meet at church...but now A.Pg is telling us that we're going to meet "somewhere near" IAD (Dulles Airport I think). Because, I don't know why he'd think that'd be easier for anyone. So he expects me to drive my car to C.H.'s house...and leave it there all weekend. First off, I don't know C.H.'s parents...and I'm pretty positive that A.Pg didn't ask them if I could park my car at their house all weekend. So, if I do park at their house, I will have to either 1) call them, or 2) go in and talk to them once I'm actually there. But whichever it is, I'll have to talk to them to ask them if I can park there. WHY? WHY the hell damn can't I just drive to church? It's so much easier for all the girls if A.Pg had us meet at church. It's one, central location, everyone knows where it is, no one has to Mapquest it or go out of their way to get there. You would think that if they wanted us to go that badly, they'll try their hardest to make it easier for all of us, but no! They make it as hard as possible for us to go! I'm so annoyed with them, all the freakin time! I plan on probably just...once I can actually meet up with them, get in the car and find myself a nice window seat in the back, open up my laptop or my dvd player (whichever I bring), watch my movie, read my book, sleep, all the way there. Then once I get there I'm probably only going to talk to the girls (Thuy and Tina and stuff) and probably just ignore A.Pg and C.H., do my best so I won't have to go to another training like it, then on the way home, do what I did on the way there. Makes my life, and everyone's lives, easier the least amount of contact I have with them.

ARGH! Ok anyway...........Lolz........You know what would make me extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmely happy right now....?

If my stuff from Strapya World would come!!! But they haven't yet and that kinda sucks. Lolz.

Hermmmmm.....

So I've decided I should probably go study abroad. I mean, I do want to, it's just, I'm kinda anxious of all the paperwork. Once I get back to school, I will have 1 month to figure everything out, financial aid, which program, my classes. I'll have 1 month to do all that. So...starting next week, once I get my internet back and maybe buy a new printer (Staples doesn't fix printers! Go figure!) I'll get started on researching all the programs. And study abroad scholarships and shizz. So that once I get back to school, I'll have a binder/folder full of information and the advisors won't be able to screw me over!

Here's where I'm thinking...

1) Asia: China or Japan

I really wanna go because those places are so cool. And...I'm totally sure that I will not be disconnected from the world when I'm there. There has got to be cyber cafes everywhere in the major cities of China and Japan, and although they might cost money, the currency exchange thingy is in my favor, I think. Problem...I don't speak Chinese or Japanese. Now...I'm taking Chinese this semester, but that's not enough to get me anywhere. There is an internship abroad program for China and they don't require you to be fluent in Chinese, but if I want to get around then I'll have to know at least something. There aren't too many programs in Japan as is, and finding one with no Japanese language requirement seems almost impossible. Also, going to these places won't help my degree much. I guess I could somehow get my Asia Minor out of the way...maybe both the Minor and the Concentration, but I don't see that happening. And that isn't the hard minor anyway.

2) France

I speak French...enough to scream for help if I get raped. If I go to France, maybe I can get my French Minor out of the way. My French classes here are hard, so maybe taking classes in France lets me take care of my French Minor, at which point I can use whatever credit hours and hundreds of homework hours I was going to devote to French towards something else...like Chinese. Lolz. Or something, some easy class that'll help my GPA. Idk about internet access in France (I'm only bringing this up because Reed is in Australia, and we all thought the internet thing would be fine and we'd be able to keep in touch that way, turns out internet is terrible over there. He only gets a few thingymajigers per day and the rest he has to pay for. Definitely not enough to keep sufficiently in touch). And you know me, I feel alone as it is being surrounded by people, I'll probably break down if I'm stuck in some country with no contact at all to Reed and Dolores and Otouto and stuff. Oy vayyyyyyyyyy. There are enough programs in France...and I guess maybe I can weasel my way into letting them finish my Minor over there...maybe...

3) Switzerland!

They speak English! So if I go there, maybe I'll be able to practice my French but NOT die because if worst comes to double worst, I'll at least be able to speak the other language. Lolz. And, I'd probably get in some international affairs classes towards my Major, although I doubt it because the classes I need for my Major are so particular. Well, maybe I'll be able to knock out the French classes in Switzerland too? I'm kinda unsure about the internet use. For some reason now I'm thinking that Europe is really behind the times on internet connecting. I know, Australia is not in Europe. But I mean, Australia is a developed country, and their internet is so bad, Europe is also a developed country so their internet might be terrible too. I know...Japan is also a developed country...but they're OBVIOUSLY more technologically advanced than Australia and Europe!

Ok...so at least I have the basics of where I want to go. Now I just have to search for programs, choose a few that I like, meet with the study abroad advisor to make sure I can even go to these programs, meet financial aid to see if they'll pay for it and other ways I can fund the trip, meet with the academic advisor to make sure I'm on track and to make my classes fit....dammit....

Well, Sara is also trying to get her studying abroad stuff together. Although she has about a year to do it and I have a month. O well...

Stapya World stuff WHERE AAAAAAAAAAAARE YOU???????

I'm not so worried about my GPA anymore. I mean...I'm kinda just convincing myself that it'll be OK if I stay around here for grad school. I'll move out to maybe a studio apartment in D.C....or Fairfax...or Arlington for goodness' sake. I can go back and forth between home and my apartment but I'll at least be by myself and not bothered. I kinda feel bad for Mother (I know!! She's been nice the past few days and it's getting to me!) I can put aside my pride for a little bit and go to Georgetown (if I can even get it!) Or go to George Washington. OR! I can even go to American U. They have their own International Affairs School, and I got in for undergrad, so...maybe. Heck shit, I might even put a bullet in my mouth, bite down on it, and go to George Mason for Grad School (This is my last back up choice). So I'm alright with the GPA thing not transferring. I just want to make sure I graduate on time and with at least a 3.5. Fingers freakin crossed!!!

STRAPYA WORLD!!!! ARGHHHH The stuff needs to coooooooomeeeee!!!

Chya ne!

P.S. So I read over the paragraph about the Georgia thing, and Keets is right, I sound kinda high-maintenance. And I'm sure that's what all the HT think also. But then when you think about high-maintenance, you think, "princess." And I definitely know better than to ask to be treated like a princess. So is trying to make things easier really being high-maintenance? There's a difference between "high-maintenance" and "too high-maintenance," I'm sure. I hope I'm just the first one. Either way, I don't care. I might sound like a snobby bitch about the issue, but I mean honestly, there are so much easier ways to do things that will make it easy for everyone involved. And yet somehow they always have to complicate the issue and make it a big mess so that I, who want just the simple things! turn out to be too high-maintenance. Fuck that!

too annoyed to find a decent post title.

2009-08-04T13:53:00.002-04:00

Soooooooooo....................Awhile ago A.P. called me and told me that after VL and FSM did those performances for the 3PriestsOrdinationReception, C.V. wanted to reward us with an "event," ie. dinner, going to the movies, or something like that. After a bit of planning, A.P. and I concluded that a dinner/party would be sufficient. I didn't think going to the movies would be good because it'd be too hard to satisfy each group (boys, girls, parents, and C.V.). Going to Kings Dominion would be OK but A.P. was worried that C.V. would get tired, and I had a feeling that once again, people would split up. So we concluded that a dinner/party at A.P.'s house would be good. So he tells me that he'll talk to C.V. about it. A.P. also said that after the Companions (NS) did that St.Paul skit thing, C.V. had suggested something like this already, but A.P. was slow at making it happen. So he decided that he would mesh everything together. Make the dinner/party/whatever into an appreciation party for NS, VL, FSM as well as a big kick off to get the kids excited about coming back to TN. I had a feeling he would do that, but whatever. I thought it was inappropriate to mesh a party with another party, especially since FSM and VL do a lot more than the other NS, but then again, it wasn't my money or my place to ask for two separate parties, so whatever, I just let him do what he wanted.

Last week at practice I find out through some of the dancers that A.P. had sent out an email inviting all of NS to a lunch at some restaurant in Eden. Now, I don't expect to be invited to a NS event because, I'm not a HT in NS. In terms of NS, the only connection I have with them is that I'm a dancer in VL. So I thought that maybe A.P. did decide to make two separate "appreciation" parties and that the one at the restaurant was for thanking the NS only. So I was like, OK makes sense I wasn't invited. So on Monday I'm getting kinda nervous because the NS Lunch thing reminded me that he hadn't said anything about the FSM/VL party thing. So I call him and ask him about the Lunch. And he says that yes, the Lunch thing IS the party thing he was talking to me about on the phone awhile ago. So....

He planned the Appreciation Lunch and did not include me.

He claimed that he didn't have my email address, which is absurd since I know we've emailed each other before. Or OK, he doesn't have my email address, VL has our own email address group, which he is a part of, so why didn't he send an invite to that address? So basically he said that he wanted to invite all the kids first and then HT later, but thing is, I don't participate as a HT. I'm not a HT in NS, I'm a dancer in VL, that's my position. So if this is an appreciation lunch for VL, why didn't he invite all the VL dancers? And then whoever else he wants, later? So whatever, he went on and on about how he thinks I should be there (ya think??). Then he says that if I do go, I should bring my Mother. Which means that...Otouto is invited as a NS, and he's supposed to bring a parent. Telling ME to bring Mother means that A.P. didn't think Otouto would bring Mother. Which leads me to conclude that he might've thought that hopefully Otouto would bring ME as his "parent," therefore making me be there not as a dancer, not as a HT, but as a parent, which is different completely!

So later that day I'm ranting to Otouto, and as I'm ranting I realize something else....

Mai, Hien, and Ceci are also part of VL. They've been participating in all our big performances since earlier this year. But...they weren't invited to the lunch. What kind of appreciation lunch is this? An appreciation lunch to thank VL, but only half the VL dancers were invited?

So I called A.P. up and I was like...wtf? And he tells me that if he invites Mai, Hien, and Ceci, then he would have to ask their Nghanh Truong if the girls can come. And I go...No...you wouldn't...because this is not a lunch for ALL TN performers...this is a lunch for NS, FSM, and VL. Mai, Hien, and Ceci would come as members of VL, not as people from Nghanh Thieu. So whatever whatever whatever. He didn't get it. He tells me that what he was going to do was he was GOING TO do something else for Mai, Hien, and Ceci. And I'm like "O? What were you going to do for them?" And he goes "I don't know." Of course I didn't believe him, he was spewing crap outta his mouth. He wasn't going to do jackshit for Mai, Hien, and Ceci and I knew it. So I'm like, " How do you think Mai, Hien, and Ceci are going to feel, when they worked just ask hard and practiced just as much as the other girls and yet the other girls were invited to an appreciation lunch when they weren't??!!" So at this point I was getting really pissed.

So then I brought up again the issue of him NOT emailing me an invite. Now, as I said before, if this was a lunch just for NS, I would not want to come. I'd maybe come as a chaparone for Otouto, because that's what I always do, but otherwise, I wouldn't come. Because I'm not in NS, nor am I a HT in NS. But, this was not only a lunch for NS, it was also a lunch for VL, and NOT all VL-ers are in NS! So A.P. should have invited the NS (and easliy FSM is made up of all NS so there's nothing big there) and then invited all the VL dancers.

Anyway, A.P. goes on and on about how he didn't have my email, or it was too hard to remember, his was easy to remember, whereas mine was all weird and he couldn't remember it, and I'm like BULL! I mean, OK fine, he doesn't have my email address, but wouldn't one of the other girls have it? He could've asked that someone, anyone, forward the invite to me (just earlier that day he'd sent out a completely unrelated email and asked that I be forward, at which Tina forwarded it to me). Or, Otouto! Otouto would have my email address. Heck, I wouldn't've minded if A.P. had just said "Insert Otouto's Real Name Here, tell your sister." That would've been fine with me! What I'm pissed at is that he didn't include me AT ALL! So what the FUCK am I in the dance group? Do I just happen to be there all the time? I just happen to dance? I just happen to act as the chaparone when he can't come? I'm just kinda there because I'm a stupid idiot who has nothing better to do? Like O...I don't know...I'm so clueless that I just prefer to put up with him and other HT and the girls (when they're pissy, at other times they are relatively good company) because I'd rather do that then say...practice my violin so I can join a real orchestra? Practice Wushu so I can actually go back to the Wushu School? Hang out with Dolores or Reed??

Anyway, I know better than to expect any appreciation from anyone at church, but to purposely exclude me is a little much, don't you think? So anyway, he claims that he just forgot, and that it wasn't intentional. But today while I was talking to Keets, I realize that it's always the same people that he accidently "forgets." Always, the same people!

And then he has the nerve to go on and say that he was going to send an email to the HT emailing group and ask HT to come, and specify that I'm a big, key part of VL and all that shit. And I literally said "I don't believe you! It's easy for you to say that now, but I don't believe you were actually GOING TO do it!" And of course that gets him all pissed off. And then, he goes on to say that at the actual lunch he was going to spotlight me and tell C.V. and tell A.Pg about what a key person I am and how much I do, and I'm like FUCK THAT! You would think that if he was actually going to do all this, you would think that he would let the person he was planning to "spotlight" KNOW that there was even a lunch happening!!

It's like he's always the LAST person to act! After I called Catherine up and bitched at her that one time, THEN he said that he was GOING TO talk to her but I did it first. He was GOING TO send out an email to me, he was GOING TO spotlight, but of course I get to it first, don't I? It's so easy for him to make me feel bad, he was a really good way of doing that!

So anyway, I told him that I didn't need him to tell C.V. and A.Pg shit, because I honestly don't give a crap. So to end it all I just asked him once and for all whether or not he was going to invite Mai, Hien, and Ceci, because that was the main reason I called him in the first place, it sorta just exploded into everything else. And he said that, "well, now after you explained it to me...I'll invite them." So then he sent out an email to the VL group address and asked for Mai, Hien, and Ceci's contact info, which I gave him.

But honestly, that day that he has the luncheon planned, is the day of the Lasan testing. So at 1, Otouto and I have to be at the Lasan place, which means we'll have to leave at around 12:30. He says Lunch is at 11AM, but you know, there are SO many freakin people involved, we won't actually sit down to order until 12, 11:30 at the earliest.

Before we hung up he said that even if I didn't believe him and all that shit, what he was planning to do won't change. So now, he'll kinda HAVE to send out an email thanking me and he'll HAVE to spotlight me at the Lunch. Because if he doesn't, he'll have lied straight out. And if he does, it's because he said he would, how am I to know that he actually planned to do it? And I don't plan on giving him benefit of the doubt because this happens all the damn time!

And, he also said that everytime he thanked the dance group before, he always emailed it to me too. But DUH! Obviously, because if he ever did leave me out, how the hell would I know? It wasn't emailed to me. And the girls and Otouto never tell me anything! And, the times he emailed out thanks and emailed it to me too, that was because he emailed it through the dance group's address, so it automatically goes to me too. Was that so hard?

Anyway, Keets doesn't think he probably purposely left me out, and it's just because it's the way he is. Which I agree. It's just the way he is. He favors boys, because he's a boy. No Lie. DHNS in 2005. The play we did featured ONLY boys. The only girl part in there was that of prostitutes (which he called just called "dancers) who's purpose was to act as temptation for the main character. The girls refused to do it so he had a boy do that part too. DNH the other year. He sent out an email thanking D.H. and someone else for helping him drive the kids to and from practice, but left out T, T.A., who also helped drive kids at times, and Me, who choreographed/taught the whole goddamn thing! In that email, he thanked NS, and not VL, so the thanking did not include me. So I had to send out an email thanking T. and T.A., but left myself out because, duh. And of course later he goes "O...yea..." O fuckin yea is fuckin right! He plans trips to amusement parks and shit for the Lion Dance team and FSM, but doesn't ask the girls if they want to go anywhere. Of course, after our over two years of being in the group, we ourselves had to plan our own little outing to the movies, which he LATER paid for. Of course, he always has an excuse for it. He's a boy, and it'd be inappropriate for him to hang out with the girls. So fine, take the boys to KD and go with them because he's a boy. Then ask the girls if they also want to go to KD and plan for a girl HT (Hey! I'm a girl! I'm a HT!) to take them. Shit, between me, T, and maybe even T.A., I think we can handle the girls. Or, if he doesn't trust that we can, ask the girls if they want to go to the waterpark. Or...anything! He only took action AFTER we planned an outing ourselves! Is he that clueless???

I sent him an apology text later that night. I realize that amongst the HT, he's the one who supports VL most financially. So to make sure that VL still gets support later on in life, I'm going to have to put up with him no matter how much he fuckin pisses me off.

I wonder though if I should even go to that lunch. I mean, like I said, Otouto and I have to be somewhere else by 1PM. But then again, I guess if I were to be...diplomatic about this...heh...I'd show up to represent VL, and to show that we, or I, because the girls never seem to get involved in my duelings with A.P., I'm kinda always on my own in that, they only make "O...What that sucks...That's not fair..." comments AFTER I've solved it. It kinda sucks when I'm the only one who has to deal with the unfairness. I mean, fine I'm the captain and that's my job but, sometimes it seems that all I ever do, or all I'm ever useful for! Anyway, sorry that was a random tangent...What was I saying...? O yea...I'd show up to show that I can get over shit like his messings up, no matter how many times he does it. And we do need money...and it is a free lunch. O well, I guess I might as well start being diplomatic now, for practice later on.

But still, he freakin pisses me off! Whatever.

ARGHHH!!! I hate TN! Bejeezuz lord fuckin nows that if I didn't love dancing and if I didn't like the girls enough, I'd have quit a long ass time ago. I gotta stop doing things for other people man, fuckin messes up my head.

Whatever, I guess the fact is I'll just have to put up with it and deal with. I won't be happy about it but have I ever been? Nope.

::sighs:: I just needed to rant.

Chya.

well you...knew if from the start...someday you'd break my h/e/a/r/t/...now we're all through, so cry, cry for me...

2009-07-30T10:19:00.006-04:00

I've been wanting to write for forever...But it seems so much is going on, I can't figure out what to write about!

Hermmmm.....

Well, Reed has left for Australia. I won't see him again until...next summer. ::tears!!::

That said, the topic of studying abroad came up with Mother and, surprisingly, Mother gave me permission to go. I know, it surprised everybody. But now that she's given me the option, I don't know if I want to go. I want to go to China, or Japan, but I don't know any Chinese or Japanese (On that, I'm also getting kind of nervous about me taking Chinese this Fall). That and also, my school is being such a biatch. I absolutely HATE George Mason. I'm fed up with their counselors, and the people who are supposed to help you. In short, if I do this studying abroad thing, I will have to figure it out on my own. Another reason why I don't want to go is, if I continue all 4 semesters here, and I somehow miraculously get all A's in every class, my GPA will only be as high as a 3.6. That will hardly get me in anywhere!!! If I study abroad, my credits won't transfer into my GPA, so it'll be even lower. I guess I could study abroad in the summer, but then I won't be able to work.

Idk...Mother says it's more important for me to study abroad. Now that's another thing. Now that she knows I can/should study abroad, she wants me to, which basically means I can't not.

Idk, I have no qualms about the actual studying abroad, I'm just terrified of the pre-study work. I should be getting used to complications by now but, every time life gets too complicated, I miss my dad more and more.

Ok, on another note. I bought a bunch of stuff off Strapya-World.com. I can't wait until it comes. O, and I got a new cell phone. : ) I was kinda anxious about it because before I bought, I did so much research on three phones, and then the day I bought it, I impulsively chose the one I knew nothing about because it looked cool. : ) O wells, it's been alright so far, I guess.

I have no internet at home because we're upgrading and the people won't be by until next week to set it up.

I don't want to go to this training in Georgia. It's effin annoying. And so much freakin work. And all the shazz we're supposed to know before we come? I know like...1 thing off the list. I'm not even freakin kidding.

Hermmmmm....What else....................I'm not really sure. Lolz.

O yea...one big thing....

So...my goals in life are basically:
1. Do well in school
2. Get a house/Get own place
3. Be successful and rich

I guess I'm doing alright in the first one. The second one...

I wanted to go to grad school far away. Circumstances had me go to undergrad at home, and aside from hating the school with an extreme passion, I don't mind too much that decision. For awhile though, I wanted to move out even though I was staying near home for school. I just wanted to get out! After awhile I accepted my fate and just stayed at home, but decided that no matter where I went to for grad school, I would still move out. After realizing that my GPA is so bad, I subconsciously accepted that I might have to go to school around here again, but even if that was so, I would still move out, so I spent awhile looking at studio apartments around here and in D.C.

But you know what, I want a house. I want a family home. I want to one day live in a mansion, but that's not happening anytime soon, so I'll settle for a nice townhouse, or a single home, with at least 4 bedrooms, a basement, big windows, big rooms, and a huge, open kitchen. And the other day, as I was thinking out loud to Otouto, I realized that I might just settle, once again, with my fate for the bigger picture. I really, REALLY want my own place...But...I also really want a house. And I want, for all her worth, to make my mother happy at least once, no matter how materialistic and superficial it is. I've always wanted to make her happy for my father's sake, and getting a nice house would do it, I hope. I've always realized that no matter what I do, it's not enough, but a house is THERE. It's freaking THERE, you can't deny it. I wouldn't mind living with her, if it was in a house. If the space was my own. Of course, after I get the family a house, I might very well move to New York...or Japan...or France...or CHINA! And work there for years and only use my room on occasion, who knows. But I just really want that house. Aside from a good paying job, that's the most important thing for me after grad school.

I don't know what it is, but I'm really starting to settle for my life. I settled with staying home for undergrad, I'm settling for staying around for grad...I'm settling for not having my own place. I don't know...I can't stand this apartment complex. My family are not dirty people but we have cockroachs everywhere! And every few months the stupid apartment management would do a chemical thing, which requires us to move all our kitchen stuff out of our kitchen, and the treatments wouldn't work. They've never worked!!! I want to move at least...but...I don't know.

Another thing, I like fresh beginnings. Whether it's...changing my blog name...getting a new planner...a new purse....new email address...or moving. The big things...I'm willing to put up with longer...but honestly...how good is a house going to be for me if I'm a traveler? I mean...I guess the main point is just to have a house. So that my mother can live in it until she dies (creepy)...so my brother has a place to party if he wants, or bring his friends over...so that I have a place to go when I'm on vacation from working in Japan...I don't know.

I guess the point is that...I feel like I'm in a rut. What the hell am I doing after undergrad? Going to grad school, I know...but where? And how? How am I going to pay for it? Am I going to study abroad? Where? HOW? How am I going to pay for it?? Where am I going to work after all this schooling? Where am I going to live?? Am I ever going to get my own place? Whether it's a flat or a house?

You know another thing...I'm kinda...IDK...anxious of living alone. I'd want a roommate, whether it be Reed or Otouto...I don't think I'd put up with anyone else (or the other way around)...but, honestly, no joke, don't laugh, all the horror movies I've sat through have given me a fear of empty places, that somehow leaked over to living alone. I think I've always been kind of afraid of being alone. That's why I can't do any work without the T.V. on in the background, I need the noise.

I hope I'm not settling for life. I think it's just with so much going on, and my ability to, unfortunately, adapt to other people's needs, I don't feel like...I don't know. I want to do diplomacy. I want to take over the world. I want to have affairs with all the hottest men on Earth (Rated R). I want to be on my own. But circumstance has made me...I don't know...settle with sticking around. I don't want to stay in Arlington, this area, forever. I will leave. But...it'll take longer than I'd hoped. That makes me sad.

On a more shallow note...I thought I would be making a lot of money this summer. But little things here and there...glasses...dresses for those stupid events...printer ink...make-up hauls...cell phones...all that shizz...has made me spend over $3000 so far. And now I'll need another hundred or so for the training in GA...a few hundred for books...and another few hundred for back to school supplies/clothes. Well...I thought I could save enough money for the Costa Rica and Europe trip but, I guess that'll have to be done later.

Things to be done later...this summer I wanted at least to get a start on learning some Chinese, to prepare me for taking Chinese at school this fall. I'm taking beginner's Chinese but just in case "beginner's" meant "I took Chinese in High School and this is just review," I wouldn't be too behind. But of course, I haven't gotten any studying done. I haven't been able to start going over my French. I haven't done anything with Japanese. I'm so...behind. This summer is...I don't know.

Well...this has been one long and confusing post. Ha...Well...I'm just glad I got a lot of things out. I don't think I made any decisions or said anything understandable in this post, but whatever. I'm feeling kind of down lately.

Chya, ne.

mamma mia, here i go again

2009-07-20T10:49:00.001-04:00

We had a dance performance last night and it was awesome! The girls did really well, I'm so proud. Will put up picture later. : )

told my girl we had to break up, hoped that she would call my bluff, then she said to my surprise, "big girls don't cry"

2009-07-18T08:25:00.002-04:00

Big Girls Don't Cry - Jersey Boys (or the original by Frankie Vallie and the 4 Seasons is good too)

Cutest song ever!

ok...the plan is to switch! remember that!

2009-07-17T11:50:00.002-04:00

I thought I couldn't do it anymore.

But nope, I can fake it like the very best.

tonight you're mine completely...................tonight the light of love is in your eyes, my darling. but will you love me tomorrow?

2009-07-13T11:15:00.003-04:00

I have 10000000000000000000 mosquito bites....everywhere!

The morning of the last day of camp I accidentally thought to myself how cool it was that I hadn't gotten bitten yet....and then I came home and they started popping up everywhere!

They'd better be just mosquito bites. >: ]

GAHHHH ITCHYYYY!!!!!

Ok...anyway...so I went to TN camp this weekend. Overall I'd say it was...pretty good.

Friday was a normal day. A. Phat made me do a bang reo at the bonfire, I had to go first. It was...alright. Lolz.

Then Saturday I was Truong Truc all day. I took a break before mass because...well because we were playing with water balloons and I got kinda really...really wet. But it was so fun!

Tro Choi Lon, the team I chaperoned came in 2nd. I helped Otouto's team a little bit with the cooking contest and they got 1st. I only helped a little tho. Those kids are good cooks! Lolz. : )

Sunday was water games and that was decent. Got home and was so tiredddd.

Ok...so on Saturday while I was Truong Truc, I actually didn't mind the kinds at all. It was the HT that really pissed me off. They just kept getting in my way! As the Truong Truc, what that basically means is that you're in charge. Of keeping time, of giving directions, of keeping the kids' spirits up, everything. Of course I had to take orders from A. Phong, and out of respect I listened to the other HT, but technically I was in charge. It was my first time and I'm not saying I was great at it, but half the time I screwed up because people kept giving me bad directions!

ARGHH!!!

Ok so for example...this is one of the parts that really pissed me off...as the cooking contest was ending A. Phong told me to tell the teams that they were to clean up their gas stoves and then bring them into the kitchen area and put them on the table in the middle. So I announced it to all the kids who were in the kitchen setting up as well as all the kids outside who were still finishing cooking. At one point A. Nguyen calls together the group leaders, even though they still had about 3 minutes left to cook/clean to tell them stuff. H.P. asks him what they were supposed to do with the pots and pans, and he says blah blah, then she asks him what they were supposed to do with the gas stoves, and he's like O...well...just leave them outside...and I'm standing right there so I go, No, you were supposed to clean them up and bring them in here. And A. Nguyen goes...Well, they didn't know. And I'm like, I announced it, many times, they should have known. And H.P. goes Well...no one did it so...(as in since no one did it, they shouldn't be punished for it...) And A. Nguyen goes...Yea, it's ok.

So I'm like...OK, and I just walk off. WTF? Like...WTF? A. Phong might've asked him to give directions to the team leaders about presenting their food to the judges of the cooking contest, but everything else they were supposed to take my orders. So why is it OK that no one cleaned up the stoves even though I had told them to? It was OK because H.P. said so??? How the fuck does that work?!

I hate having to work with and deal with the HT. There's a difference between giving advice and undermining people's authority. And all the HT were doing the second one. I don't mind advice, obviously it was my first time being TT, so I need the advice, but I definitely don't need the undermining of authority.

The girls in my cabin, bless their souls, had to go through my ranting like...all day long. Lolz. Sometimes I'm afraid of complaining about the HT to the girls because then they might not want to become HT...but I need them to become HT so we can overthrow this evil regime goshdammit!

Ok...anyway...screw it...A. Phong kept asking me if I was OK because obviously I kept getting pissed along the day...And I told him straight out that I was fine with the kids but that the HT were pissing me off. And he was comforting but...whatever. I told him after my shift was done on Saturday night that I didn't mind being Truong Truc, but only if it's about once a year.

Also, on Saturday some HT were visiting from Don Bosco. At one point I was lining up the kids to take pictures, and the HT were taking pictures while the kids were getting ready, and I hear someone say "Chi, sao Chi giu qua vay?" Which translates to "Why are you (is she) so mean?" And later I find out it was one of the visiting HT and I'm like fuck you! And later on I come in to the kitchen and A. Phong had to tell me something but he was across from two of the visiting HT (one of them being the rude one who called me mean) so I had to stand next to one of them and lean over. And when I got over there the guy nudged his friend and made a gesture up at me, like they were in the middle of talking about me or something. I just basically ignored them and kicked the chair into the guy's leg when I was walking off so eff them.

So anyway, Saturday night I'm sleepin' like a baby...and all of a sudden I feel wet drops. And I wake up kinda, in a haze and I ask...stupidly...Is it raining? Turns out it was the boys pranking back the girls. In the 15 minutes it took for me to fully process things, turns out the girls had gone to prank the guys by throwing anchovies into their cabins or whatever. The guys caught the girls and made them clean it up, but then came back to prank the girls by shooting water into the cabins and then leaving mamtommixedwithwater filled balloons on the porch. One of the girls said that the guys were gonna come back to pop the balloons and have them explode on us. IDK where she got that idea...but whatever.

So I look over at poor Hanna...and she's trying her best to stay asleep, and the pranking girls refuse to go back to sleep even though it was 4inthemorning, so I'm like, eff it. I get up and Catherine and I go over to the boys' cabin to have them clean up the mess. In the cabin I find just Patrick, Son, Be (: )) and someone I thought was Minh but turns out it was Binh. So Pat tells me that the girls didn't completely clean up their mess and there was still anchovies and silly string left. That the guys cleaned up most of the silly string and a lot of the rest of the fish but there were still one or two here and there. So I had Catherine pick up the rest of the anchovies...one because the anchovies were her idea, she brought them and all, and two because she came with me as a representative for the girls. So she picks up the remaining one or two anchovies. The guys had cleaned up most of the silly string that Thuy left behind but there were still two or three pieces lying around. So they point them out and I ask Catherine to pick them up because like I said...even though Thuy used the silly string, Catherine was there as a rep for all the girls who were pranking. So Catherine picks up like...one of the silly string pieces...changes her mind and then, get this...refuses to pick up the rest. She says that Thuy was the one who used the silly string so Thuy had to come and pick them up and that she wasn't going to do it. I was sorta just...like...shocked for a little bit...but I regained myself and said that if Thuy used the silly string as part of the prank then as a person who was also pranking Catherine was also partically responsible for the silly string. But Catherine keeps saying that they were saving the silly string on Minh and Be's cabin, even though through Friday the girls had told me that ALL the boys were staying in the same cabin, so when Catherine said that she thought Minh and Be weren't gonna be in that boys' cabin, I grew kinda suspicious so I asked her to stop talking and let Pat explain. So anyway, somehow in all of this crap, Catherine lets out that Minh was staying in H.P.'s cabin, she had said this before we went to the guys' cabin but I...like literally I was taken aback. Like...WHY in the GoshDam WORLD would she say that? What the hell was she tryin to do?? Like...Pat looked kinda surprised for about a second but he didn't say anything and IDK if any of the other guys heard but, I was like....I said outloud that that wasn't information that Catherine was allowed to discuss!

But OK anyway, the main point of that was I wish I hadn't taken Catherine along because she just made it worse. So anyway, I had Pat and Be come back to the girls' cabin with me. And along the way, to lighten up the mood I told Pat he had to wash my hair tomorrow. And he was like Why. And I said, cuz it smells like fish (I couldn't actually smell it because my nose was stuffed, but the girls said that the "rainwater" had mam tom in it). And Pat goes...that was just water...there wasn't anything in it. And of course, I didn't know what to say. So we get back to the girls' cabin and Pat and Be clean up the porch, and Brian pops out of the mini closet he was hiding in in the girls' cabin and goes "I'm sorry guys" and I'm like "Haha Brian you're not gonna be allowed back into the guys' cabin tonight" and Brian goes "BUT I'M NEUTRAL!" It was funny. Anyway out of nowhere I see Binh and Son and I'm like...OMG wth and they go "We're here to help." Which I thought was sweet.

It also struck me that, Pat said that he and Be were the only ones pranking, which I can believe...and yet Binh and Son showed up to help clean up even though Catherine wouldn't pick up like...two pieces of silly string for Thuy. Ok anyway....

As we were walking to the girls' cabin Pat told me that they weren't going to prank the girls at all but the girls started first, and I asked if he was gonna do anymore pranking and he said no. So as they were leaving after cleaning up the mess I went outside and told them that pranking is pranking. If you do it, you have to expect that you'll be pranked back. So I told the guys, to appease them, that if they wanted to prank the girls on their way to the bathroom (I was mainly thinking of Catherine, I had a feeling Thuy and Terri and Tina weren't leaving the cabin again that night, and I think most of the guys' "anger" was against Catherine anyway) then that was fine, but Hanna, poor girl! didn't do anything and didn't deserve to be woken up and disturbed with the pranks. So they were like...OK. And then I said that I and Thuy will come by in the morning to pick up the silly string, but Pat said that there were just a piece or two left so there was no need, and then Binh said that if I sent Brian back with a bag of chips then it'd be OK, so I did and Thuy didn't have to go over the next morning.

OMG that night was so hectic. I'm surprised I got up at all that morning. Lolz.

OK so overall it was a good camp. There wasn't anything...overly crappy I guess...aside from me having to deal with the HT, but that's normal. I noticed even more that the HT choose favorites, they're lazy, the like, but that's natural for them. Or everybody, I guess, to be fair. ::raise eyebrows::

O yea another thing...so apparently the HT take an annual trip to the beach. Last year A. Huy mentioned it to me but I couldn't go. Then this year nothing was mentioned to me at all. Catherine Thao and Thien An keep saying I should go or that it's not by "invite" but I mean, if the HT keep announcing it when I'm not there, I'm not going to invite myself. This isn't me being petty but I mean come on, I hate ruining people's fun and I especially hate being somewhere where you're not wanted. So it's not like I'm waiting for a special invite, but I'm also not going to go when I don't know that they actually want me there.

Ok...so that was my TN rant. Lolz.

Chya ne!

trèo non những ước non cao, anh đi đò dọc ước ao sông dài

2009-07-08T11:08:00.003-04:00

Otouto and I cooked dinner on July 3rd. It went well overall but made me even more adamant that whenever we do buy a house, the kitchen has to be huge! I mean, I've always loved big open kitchens, but now I'm sure I must have one. Otherwise no go!

Anyway...look at what we cooked! They've all been done by me before so the recipes are somewhere around (under the Food label).

Everything all together.

Steak!!!

Shrimp with Garlic and Grape Tomatoes. Side of Spinach. : ) Sauce was deelish!

Clams! Steamed in Chicken Broth (Couldn't find the White Wine : ()

Otouto!

My food! I know, my steak is still way red but I love it that way. So much jucier! And I didn't get any cow disease (I don't think) so I should be fine. ; )

I love food!!!

nhớ ai hết đứng lại ngồi, ngày đêm tơ tưởng một người tình nhân

2009-07-07T14:09:00.004-04:00

nhớ ai con mắt lim dim
chân đi thất thểu như chim tha mồi
nhớ ai hết đứng lại ngồi
ngày đêm tơ tưởng một người tình nhân

I have a very UNHEALTHY obsession with journals and planners. Well...with books in general...but since journals and planners are so much easier to pick out and buy, the most unhealthy part is with those.

Journals and stuff that I bought at Barnes and Noble. I adore that store. So much so that I'm putting aside $200 at the end of this summer with which I can use to go raid the store (for books).

I can honestly say that I will use these journals/planners that I just bought. The cute dolls one I'm using currently, it fits nicely in my messenger bag. The green one with the house on a bridge thing will be for when school starts, because I'll need a planner then anway, and the black covered one is to help me keep my finances in line. : ) Can you tell I'm trying to reason my reason to myself?

I ordered a sample kit off Everyday Minerals. So far it's working quite nice. I didn't have time to try on each foundation color, so I ended up just mixing all three together and surprisingly it's working well. If I put on too much then at first I'll look kinda pale, but after a few minutes (as I'm finishing my make-up), it starts to blend in really well with my skin tone.

The big container was bought extra so I could mix the foundations. I haven't tried the blush yet. I tried a little of the eye shadow (bought extra) but it didn't show very well, I didn't use primer. And I have tried the color corrector (in Pick Me Up) and it was really good. No good for undereye bags but good for little pimple scars here and there, of which I have many.

My cousin came over last week. I miss that kid.

We took him swimming but because he's so skinny he kept shivering, so the lifeguard told us to let him play in the kiddie pooh where the water is warmer, but when we got there he didn't wanna go in because there were bugs/leaves in the water. It wasn't that bad but, whatever. Lolz. So we just left. But it was still a relatively good day. I kinda wish sometimes that he lived with us. Then he might not be so skinny and we could teach him better and he wouldn't get bullied. It got to the point where he didn't wanna go home and leave our house. But Mother was being an idiot and...agh I'm just gonna skip this part because I don't feel like going over it. Would just get me worked up more.

LEGOS! I love the sound of Legos on Legos. : ) I built that magic carpet/spaceship. : )

And now just some random stuff:

A Pooh Bear and a pen that Red got me! He brought it to my workplace because his gf was getting an interview there that day. : ) The pot is for something else. Lolz.

My coworkers like to sabotage my "Quote of the Day" board. It's supposed to say: " A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents." But they changed it to say: " A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he makes about his/her spouse!" : ) They're funny.

A wedding card I made. I really want that Cricut Expressions machine!!! I should be able to get it by the end of this summer and so have plenty of time for the Xmas batch. If I wanna make Red a batch of Xmas cards I'd have to send them to him in like....September or October...because it'll take a few weeks to get to him and then a few weeks to get to whoever he's sending them too.

In other news:

- Having trouble with Otouto's new glasses. Gonna solve it tomorrow hopefully.
- Mother said that I can do study abroad, so have to save money/figure that out.
- Erm...bought A LOT of stuff off Cherry Culture dot com, apparently they just finished putting everything together and shipping it out like...a hour and a half ago...even though I ordered it a week ago. Granted it was a really, really big order. But hope it gets here before Friday so I can give Tina and Hanna their stuff, as well as try my stuff on.
- Camp is this weekend. Kinda looking forward to it, kinda not. Herm. It might suck...but I'm keeping an open mind.
- Someone from church asked me to put together a dance for this feast thing on July 19th. Hope that goes well.

Is that it...? O yea....

- Am eligible to upgrade my phone in August. I want an LG Xenon...or a Samsung Eternity. Can't decide which. Whichever one, I'll still have to pay extra so gotta save up money for that too. Gahhh!!! Also Mother wants to get the upgrades in-store, cuz she doesn't trust online transactions, so hopefully there are still deals available in-store on the Xenon or Eternity, but IDK I haven't checked. Gracious! I really want a new phone! My current phone has no space for personality, which is the worst. Everything I own has to have some personality. My purses have trinkets hanging off of them. My DS has ribbons and Kirby. My Violin case has ribbons and will soon have stickers if I get to buying them. I'm making up for my current phone's lack of personality by attaching a huge Bulbasaur treatkeeper to it but still. Lolz. Bulbasaur. I heart him. : ) I need a Pooh too though.
- Thinking of canceling cable because we would rather pay for faster internet. Mother said that we can get Comcast, which means faster internet which means Otouto and I can game at the same time. And I can always watch shows online, which I do now anyway. The only thing the T.V. really provides is the background noise, which I can't do anything without. But apparently Red told me that even if I cancel cable I should still be able to get local channels so, hopefully that works out too.

Anyway, I dare say this summer is going relatively decently. Let's hope this keeps ::knock on wood!!::

Chya ne!

d.u.y.ê.n kia ai đợi mà chờ, tình này ai tưởng mà tơ//tưởng//tình

2009-07-07T10:28:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago Red, Otouto, and I spent a day in D.C. We took the metro, ate river-side, and then went to see UP.

Pictures!

Tony and Joe's Seafood:

Mussels YUMMY! These were DEEEEElish. Had to order a second order because Red and Otouto ate most of the first batch.

Spicy Shrimp. Doesn't look like a lot but, it was really good.

Fried Calamari. The calamari itself was pretty good, but the best part was the sauce. It was light, a little sour and spicy and sweet all at the same time. So good!

Red's entree - Bouillabaisse - I tried a bit, I didn't think it was anything special but that might be just me.

Otouto's Steak and Cheese - Didn't try any but he said it was good.

My Crab Cake Sandwich. I snapped the wrong side of the sandwich. Well...the pickle was good...and the crab cake was delicious. : )

I love this restaurant. You have a choice of eating outside. Atmosphere is laid back. We ordered a total of 1 Fried Calamari, 1 Spicy Shrimp, 2 Mussels, 1 Steak and Cheese, 1 Bouillabaisse, 1 Crab Cake, 3 drinks and about 3 refills, and all of that was about $120. Around that much. I know, it was pretty awesome. The food is really good too. No skimping on the quality. Love this place!

Tony and Joe's (Washington, D.C. - Georgetown)

After the restaurant we went to see UP. I thought it was a relatively good movie but I didn't like it much. Red and I had some brief discussions about it and turns out that there was nothing inherently wrong with the movie, I do fine with sad, realistic movies/books/such, it was just that I felt that UP sorta jiffed me. I mean, it made itself out to be this happy, old man flying in a house held up by balloons, funny fat kid, ugly stupid bird, funny dog yay yay yay movie and then WAHBAM! Anything but happy stuff.

I can go as far as saying it ruined my mood. I knew that the first 20 minutes or so were supposed to be sad so I prepared myself for it and accepted it, and then expected the movie to get happier and happier and...well...it did for a little bit but then again, a sad montage...and then happy happy...and then again something sad. That was too much. Of course I was also tired that weekend in general so, whatev.

OOO We went into one of the shopping mall/centers at Georgetown. Was so cool. There's an H&M there! I must go back at some point. What I really went in there for though was Lilthingymajigs...and while there Red got me this -

Teehee - He also got me a Pooh plate but I haven't taken a pic of that yet.

In the shopping center.

Georgetown streets.

It's water! So cool!!!

Bridge...Key Bridge? Maybe. : )

It was an uber fun day. At one point Red and Otouto tried to lift me and throw me over the bridge's railing, the people walking around didn't even stop to pretend to help. LAAME!

And then later while we were in the shopping center Red and I tried to ditch Otouto but he found us. I haven't had that much fun in forever, I haven't run and laughed like I did that day in...never. I felt like a kid! :P Lolz.

Otouto (tryin ta look cool!)

Red. : )

Chya ne!

nước non ngàn dặm đôi h.à.n.g. l.ệ., tâm sự năm canh một bóng đèn

2009-07-06T12:41:00.004-04:00

The most beast, most wonderful, most awesomest game of Mario Party took place in my room last night.

Red came over with his Wii and we played games alllll day long. Well actually....

I picked Red up in the morning and we went to the cemetary to visit my POPS. Sat there for a bit...and then headed home, stopping at Home Depot along the way so I could by a pot and some seeds and stuff. Got home, played games, ate lunch, played games, played games, ate, played games. Otouto and Red had an uber awesome pillow fight, it was funny. Sadly it happened on my BED...which I had to clean up later but, wasn't hard. Pictures later, pretty awesome.

And then...it started getting dark and we went for a last Mario Party game. Now the first one, Red and Otouto spent sabotaging me. Badly. This time I sorta just laid back and waited. Was quiet, didn't say much. Otouto and Red argued with each other to convince me to use an item on the other, so much so that at one point I used the item and STILL they were arguing with each other, they hadn't even noticed. But yes, Red was in the lead, I was upset because I wasn't buying any hotels, people kept taking my hotels, I went from 3 stars to 6 stars to 3 stars to 6 and then to 3 again. But then you know what? Last 5 turns....I took back one of my hotels and went back to 6 stars. Then last 2 turns...just when Red thought he was in the clear for the gold...I reach from behind and take another hotel and WAHBAMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!! I have the most stars! I was also awarded an extra star for most Red Spaces...but that didn't matter because I'd already WON!

God...it was...well...it was

EPIC!!!

Pictures later. : )

-------------------------------

Gahhh I forgot to add borders to these. Eh, O well...

Red helping me plant my plant.

Preparing to game.

Random shot of my July4thWeekend nails because I was getting tired of it already.

: )

ME! Playing Wii Sports!

PILLOW FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winning hit...!
But oh no...................

: )

find arms that will hold you at your weakest/eyes that will see you at your ugliest/a heart that will love you at your worst/that's true love

2009-07-01T23:23:00.004-04:00

A girl's glow when she's in l.o.v.e. : )

Have you ever noticed that guys tend to go for girls a lot of the time when they're already taken? The girl is already taken, I mean. You can't always tell whether or not a guy is taken so every time a cute guy comes by you look for the dreaded sign: THE RING!!!! Proving he's married, if he was just someone's boyfriend, you wouldn't know until you've taken the chance and then it's heartbreak avenue.

But a girl...with girls there's just something. You can pretty much always tell when a girl is taken or in love. How? Well because! She's different. It's not a bad different. She might smile a little bit more. She might laugh a bit more, her face is more cherry, her actions are light and well...she's basically floating on air.

And you know what? THAT is what attracts guys. When a girl is happy and content with her life. I'm not saying that guys aren't attracted to single girls (cuz oBviOusly!), but when they are, isn't it usually the happy girls? The ones who make life seem interesting? Even if it really isn't?

That's why I propose that in order for you single gals to grab yourselves a good man, act like a taken girl would. Talk with a smile. Laugh with your friends. Walk as if the floor is made of clouds and as if someone is waiting for you whereever it is you're heading to.

It's a hard thing to do! It's easy for taken girls because well...there actually is someone waiting for the taken girls at their destination. For single girls to act like a taken girl is hard! When single girls are unhappy, there is no guy to cheer us up so how can we smile and laugh all the time??? When single girls walk around, there is no possibility of our prince sweeping us off our feet, so how can we act as if the dirty floor is made of clouds? And obviously, for single girls there is NO one who'll be waiting for us whereever we're going, so how can we pretend as such?

I have a habit of laughing too much anyway. And smiling too much. Especially when I'm nervous or scared or sad, it's my defense mechanism. And yet...no guy. : )

But the reality is guys are attracted to smiling girls. Girls who are just...different. Stand out from the crowd and you know what? Happy girls stand out from the crowd. EVERYONE is dreary ALL the gdarn time aren't they? Everyone is stressed about everything...school...work...friends...everyone is almost always bothered by something. There is hardly ever a person who is just....h.a.p.p.y. And so of course, whenever you do find a happy girl, a truly happy one, you'll notice her above the rest.

I'm not saying PRETEND to be happy. Definitely not. Girls who are taken don't pretend to be happy. They go through the same troubles (mostly) as single girls, but at the end of the day they know that they have a supporter, a guy on their side, and that makes them happy. How did they snab the guy in the first place? Who knows? But it's a definite thing that taken girls are most of the time happy and therefore attract more guys, right?

But yes, don't pretend to be happy. Actually BE happy. As a single girl, just try and live through the stuff that's life. Accept it as it is. And! Accept the fact that you have no guy and you know what? Be OK with that! And then a guy will notice your optimism, your spark, the fact that you can get along without men and yet are still happy. They'll look at you as a source of happiness for THEM! And then when you do get yourself a guy, you're already so used to the happiness, you'll make your relationship DOUBLE HAPPY!

And honestly, who doesn't what that??

I should try this out. I'll let you know how it goes. : )

Disclaimer:
Although I make myself sound intelligent, in the world of men I have no experience whatsoever. The only experience I have are in two very, very, very short relationships in elementary and middle school : ). As well as apparently breaking a total of 4 hearts (NOT ON PURPOSE IT WASN'T my FAULT!). What I say should be taken with a pinch of your own common sense. If your doing what I say results in a) you getting dumped and/or b) you staying single for the rest of your life, DO NOT come after me ; )

But all that aside, I never thought it was necessary for people to give advice only if they've been in the situation. I mean...for certain things like...buying a house...a car...dealing with a family member who has cancer and is dying, that kinda stuff, maybe you need some experience with to give great, sound advice. But otherwise with other things (even those I just listed), one can learn a lot just by observation. Lord knows I've observed my fair share of relations in high school (more than I cared for) and so why can't I make a judgement based on what I saw/heard?

If you disagree, well, hoohaa for you. But honestly, do let me know, observations form opinions that aren't really legit unless they've parted ten thousand ways with the original opinion. You know what I mean. ; )

tiển anh một chén rượu tàn, một bàn tay nắm một hàng lệ mau

2009-07-01T14:08:00.003-04:00

" tiển anh một chén rượu tàn
một bàn tay nắm một hàng lệ mau
cuộc cờ thế sự binh đao
phút giây tái ngộ ngàn sau biết còn "

New layout! Not perfect but I'm content with it. I like the basic layout a lot. The picture up top is OK, but it can be changed easily when I feel like it. And the colors are easily changeable too so, hopefully this is good.

Everybody should watch Queen Seon Duk, excellent series. It's currently airing (in Korea...?) so the subbed epis only come out every Tuesday and Wednesday and I've caught every one so far. It might be one of those series that only I can like. It's about war and palace politics and intricacies and culture and tradition and such, a lot of really good scenes. Some even make me teary eyed, and they're not even love-scenes. They're scenes like when the main character's unit decided to be bait to allow the other soldiers to escape, even though the other soldiers always looked down on his unit and ridiculed him. And then somehow they manage to make it through and the whole unit, muddy, tired, injured, finally limps back to base camp, gahhh it's excellent! Can't wait for next week's epis!

On another note, I really wanna buy some make-up off of cherryculture.com. The prices are pretty low right now, but I kinda wanna wait around for another sale. Then again, I don't know when they'll even have another sale so....argh...well...I probably won't be able to wait past the next two weeks....so if there's a sale then I'll buy it before TN camp, and if there's still no sale, then I'll buy it after the camp.

The camp was just a marking point, no big deal. Lolz. But I think it'll be the first year that both Otouto and I are going to camp at the same time so, cool! And hopefully all the girls'll come and it'll be fun. Fingers crossed though!

Hermmmmmmm I just wanted to do a quick little random post so I can post some pictures. I really like pictures. : )

O yea, I've been watching this anime called Mom's Life Kaasan (I think) and it's really cute. The little girl in there is a doll, swear!

Okie : )

Things I need to do:

Clean my room : ( - Like really, really clean it up.
Buy make-up. - Mostly NYX stuff, mostly eye liners. I'm not a big eye-shadow person. : )
Start studying. : ) : (

I came home one day (after the Cali trip) and just found him here. Mother washed him and just left him! Otouto went past him into my room to play games...and just left him!!!

Poor adorable baby...

Changgg!

Chya ne!

em là cả một bài thơ, em là cả một nguồn mơ ái tình

2009-06-29T22:40:00.002-04:00

" Yêu nhau từ một buổi chiều
Một chiều xuân đẹp có nhiều bướm hoa
Em là cả một bài thơ
Em là cả một nguồn mơ ái tình "

So I've been really itching to post but have been waiting around until I can watermark all my new pics, I feel like my posts are empty without some picture, unless I'm ranting, which I'm not. Anyway, THEN I remembered...I still had these!!!

I love pretty pictures of pretty things! These things are pretty!

the kid is not my sonnn!

2009-06-26T08:41:00.001-04:00

: (

GAHHH!!!!

2009-06-25T14:54:00.001-04:00

OMG If I don't see the next episode of Queen Seon Duk now I think I'm going to cry.

It's soooooo good! Kinda surprised that I've stuck with it for this long but OMG it's so good!!!!

S'all.

Ok Just a random post....

2009-06-17T10:16:00.003-04:00

Trying to check and see if this works. Apparently Otouto and Tina were able to load the blog on their internet explorers but...I haven't been able to.

Testing Testing Testing!!!

-------------------------------

It worked! Ok maybe my IE version at home is old? Will check it later.

Sleepover and Pizza

2009-06-16T21:21:00.001-04:00

Dolores and I had a sleepover the other...week...? Something. And we made pizza! Also made a cake (from scratch!). I helped mix things. But I don't have the recipe for the cake so I'm not gonna post it yet.

I don't really have the "recipe" for the pizza either but, there wasn't really a recipe so I'm just going to wing it and if there's something wrong, she'll fix me later.

Dolores looking fineeeeee.

Ingredients:

- Crust (which we bought at Harris Teeter's)
- Tomato sauce
- Cheese (I think we used Mozerella (sp?) and something else)
- Toppings (We had mushrooms, bell peppers, BEEF (for me, Mother and Otouto ONLY : )).

Directions:

- Heat oven at 350degrees.
- If you have any beef, you'll want to put some olive oil in a frying pan, add in some garlic, add in the beef, and salt to taste. Don't oversalt because once the pizza's cooking, the tomato sauce and cheese flavors will be plenty to season your beef.
- Now take your tomato sauce and using a spoon, spread the sauce all over the pizza crust.
- Add on the toppings.

My attempt at making food cute.

Mine and Dolores' pizza. : )

Mother and Otouto's pizza. Dolores' and mine's had mushrooms too but, it's under all the meat and shizz. And Mother and Otouto's had meat too but it's under all the mushroom and shizz!

- Take a pan (that can go into the oven) and grease with Pam, butter, whatever).
- Put pizza on pan and shove into Oven.

- I can't remember how long we waited but, it must have been about 20 minutes.

Done!

Notes:

- WE forgot to grease our pan and so our pizza was stuck when we tried to take it out. Even so, it was really, really good! And we also overtopped our pizza, but that's how we like to eat so, even though it was messy, it was one big delicious, awesome mess!

Enjoy!!

Next time: I mentioned in a previous post that Mother is allowing me to cook dinner for the summer. She changed that a bit last and this week when she decided to cook but yesterday I reminded her and she said ok. The recipe in the previous post (Shrimp) was one of the first things I cooked. I also made calamari but it was...not good so I'm not posting that. And I've also made Inside Out Hamburgers which were absolutely amazing. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. I will probably make the burgers again so hopefully I'll remember to snap some pics for you. The point it, because I'll be cooking mostly everyday this summer, I'll hopefully be able to learn a lot and post food stuff more frequently. As for what's on next time, I'm not sure, but it will be delicious!

Chow down!!!

Dolores!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a completely random note:

We did each others' nails!

: )

Chya ne!

I can do my nails!!!

2009-06-16T21:20:00.001-04:00

I know, it's pretty awesome.

My first attempt. Very cute but, the yellow tips had air bubbles because I was rushing. : (

Ignore the hair. EW! But cute. And long lasting, I've had this for over a week...?

2nd attempt at the nails. I was too impatient to wait for the nail polish to dry, so when I put on the top coat parts of the nail polish got taken off. That sucked. But the metal things make me look rocker chick.

Lighting is weird (and I took this INSIDE too!). But I really like it. The actual nail color is a lot more bright pink, like...erm...candy pink. The picture doesn't do the nails much justice. And it looks a lot better now that I've cleaned up the sides. : )

Is anyone else having trouble loading my page? Or...is it just me and my government computers???

Garlic Tomato Shrimp

2009-06-16T21:17:00.001-04:00

The original recipe is actually named Garlic Basil Shrimp and is from here.

Original Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds large shrimp (20 to 25 per pound), peeled and deveined
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
3/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then saute shrimp, turning over once, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.

Add garlic and red pepper flakes to the oil remaining in skillet and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add wine and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Stir in basil and tomatoes and season the sauce with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Return the shrimp to pan and cook just until heated through.

*Copied straight from the original site.

What I Did!!!

Ingredients:

- Olive Oil
- Shrimp
- 3-4 cloves garlic (I like garlic).
- Red Pepper (I couldn't find flakes so I just got some powder, no big deal).
- Chicken Stock
- Dried Basil ('Cuz I couldn't find any fresh ones from Safeway...or was it Giant...?)
- Grape tomatoes
- Salt and Black Pepper
- Spinach

Directions:

- Heat the oil in the pan and then throw in shrimp. When shrimp is pink on both sides and generally pretty cooked (Overcooked shrimp is NOT yummy!), take out and place in bowl or something. Leave juice and oil in pan.

- Add in garlic and red pepper to taste. Let sit for about 30 seconds (or 20 : ) ).
- Add in chicken stock and let sit for 2 minutes.
- Add in tomatoes and basil. Season with salt and pepper (this isn't that necessary). I like my tomatoes cooked, so I waited a minute or two, but since they are cherry tomatoes, don't wait too long. You don't want to each mushy tomatoes, I wouldn't think.

- Add in the shrimp and let sit for about 30 seconds so the shrimp will be heated too.

- Ladle out the shrimp and tomatoes.
- Throw the (cleaned) spinach into the chicken broth/garlic/pepper mixture. Let sit until liking (I also like my spinach cooked so I waited about a little less than a minute).

- Put on plate and enjoy!!!

Notes:

- Spinach: Read on some website that if you're cooking spinach, it's ready as soon as the leaves look even a little wilted. You don't want to leave the spinach cooking for too long or else it'll turn into baby food. (Like the stuff Arthur's parents always tried to feed Kate and D.W. and couldn't).

- As you may have noticed, I used Chicken Broth (Stock) instead of wine firstly because I'm not old enough to buy wine, and secondly because I kinda knew I had a bottle somewhere but couldn't find it. I've seen this substitue be used for a lot of recipes that require white wine so if you ever run out or aren't old enough to buy any white wine (or you're cooking for people who shouldn't be drinking just yet) just pour in the chicken stock!!!

Enjoy!

Next time: Pizza!!!

Loaded

2009-06-16T12:17:00.004-04:00

Picture time! I have a ton from California, Card making, etc. that I want to post. I also have a bunch of pretty flower pictures that I took while I was in Cali but I'll save those for dry spells or whatever. : ) I just love pictures!

Some cards that I made for Reed. I like the box, made it myself, you can see the fold lines. Ha!

The cards really are terrible, I don't care what he says. I need that Cricut Expressions Machine so I can get more creative! I felt bad that they weren't that great quality so I wouldn't let him pay for them. I'm saving up for the Cricut at the end of August so I can start making great quality Xmas cards and stuff. : )

Graduations cards for Thuy and Tina. I forgot which is which! I have to get started on making their presents.

California Picture Time!

I love flying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ignore my giant nose. : )

My own room at the priory!

Pooh staking out the place. Checking for ghosts and stuff. He's a brave bear!

Otouto invading. (He did have his own room). So did Mother but for some reason they were always in mine.

I love these two pics! I think Otouto took the second one because I'm not that creative. I was gonna save them for "dry spells" but, they are too good!

BEST.CAKE.EVER.

A Viet shopping area? Yea.

That's it for now!!!

California Trip

2009-06-09T12:04:00.005-04:00

We left the house at around...7ish on Friday morning and had a neighbor who drives taxis take us to Dulles Airport. He went the long way. He ended up stopping at the gas station while the meter was still running, but it didn't seem to be that much so I didn't say anything. Yes, he drove us as a taxi driver, not as a neighbor, but we didn't care because that's what we'd expected anyway, and we didn't know him that well.

Got to the airport, went through checking in luggage, that was super easy. Then went through to security. Mother and I had to use the rest room so we left our bags with Otouto. Before I went into the restroom he asked why people were "up there" and we were down here, I told him because the line starts down there and we'd have to walk up there, obviously. So I go to the restroom, come out, and they are no where to be seen. Otouto and Mother just disappeared! I was like...what the fuck? So I looked around like an idiot, when I finally met eyes with the security guard across the hall and he pointed to the mass of people. So I yelled over...THEY LEFT? And he nods his head.

Strike 1: Otouto and Mother leave me at the bathroom and take the bags with ALL the passports and boarding passes in it so I was left with nothing.

So I get into the line but the female security guard stops me and asks for my boarding pass!

Mini Panic 1.

The guy security guard yells over to let me through, so the female guard does. So I catch up to them. We go to the security thing. I tell them to take off everything metal. And Otouto decides that it's OK, he can still wear his bracelet...the metal one...so I yell at him to take it off. And he goes "Everything (metal)?!" And I'm like "YES EVERYTHING!"

Strike 2: Otouto refuses to follow basic directions.

I understand the need to be nonchalant, but honestly, this is an airport. More people go through here than...I don't know where else. That and, people at the airport are the most impatient, so I don't give a shizz how non chalant you are, take a break from it because it's not just you who's trying to get through the lines. The people behind us might be running late, because you refused to take off your bracelet for the sake of looking cool, the alarm might sound, then you'd have to turn back and take off the bracelet and go through the check thing again and because you spent time doing that, someone behind could have missed their flight. I wanna be as non chalant as anybody, but there's a time and place and the airport is not the time or place.

Anyway, we get through that fine. I should have just let Otouto wear his bracelet so the alarm could go off on him but, I didn't wanna hold up the line for the people behind us. So we get to our gate...everything's fine...Mother gives us money to get Starbucks...and on the way to Starbucks I tell Otouto that I really did not want to yell at him while we were on this trip so he can be as cool as he wants to be but when I tell him to do something, he has to do it. And he says OK. Or something like that.

Anyway...we get on the plane....I sat window seat and the seat next to me had no one so that was cool. I absolutely love flying! So pretty being in the air! Flight was pretty good. Unlimited free snacks and drinks but I only got an orange juice and some chips, wasn't hungry after that Starbucks.

Anyway, got to Cali. LOVE CALI WEATHER! SO awesome! Cha Minh and Thay Hoang and Anh Tuan picked us up. Cha Minh suggested we go out to eat but Mother said no, so we just went to the priory (where we were staying) and ate leftover dinner.

I thought that we would have to share a room but nope, each person had their own room. This priory was huuuuuuuuuge! And right between mine and Mother's room, there was a T.V. room/library. Lolz.

Prayed a bit >: p ...........ate........whatever. Mother made me change from what I wore on the plane to a tshirt because...there were a lot of brothers and priests downstairs...I don't get it.

So that day Mother gets in a jiff about the clothes we packed. She'd given each of us $100 to go buy clothes for the trip, but she didn't go with us. Cuong bought mainly bermuda shorts and tshirts and I bought skirts and blouses. She told us that we basically had to pack for:

1. One big important mass on Saturday
2. An outing day on Sunday

So I brought a dress (that she forced me to wear) and Otouto brought his suit and tie and dress shirt for the big mass. When we went shopping, she told us she wanted us to buy nice clothes for outings because she didn't want us wearing our old clothes. So we did. We bought clothes that we would wear for outings. All she said to me was that as long as the shirts didn't show cleavage. I asked if I could wear skirts and she said yes, as long as it's past the knee. So I bought non cleavage shirts and knee length skirts.

She decides to throw a fit about the stuff we packed. My skirts look like stuff Mexicans wear (racist much)? She had expected us to buy slacks and dress shirts, I'm sorry but, who the hell wears slacks and dress shirts to go out and see the town?

So she ends up pissing Otouto off.

Strike 3: Mother throws fit and pisses Otouto off.

Before we left, in fact, the night after we went shopping, I told Mother that I was going to try on all the clothes so that she can "approve" of them because, and I said this, I wasn't going to have her throw fits in California. But she goes, no no, as long as it covers you then it's OK, I don't need to see it. She tells me I'm not allowed to wear my jeans because they're ugly, so I didn't bring jeans except for the pair I wore onto the plane. That's why I bought all skirts.

But of course, after she pissed Otouto off about his clothes, she makes me go into my room and try on all my clothes. Then criticizes me for them.

Ok so, what can we do about it now? We're already in California, is she going to have us fly back to Virginia and go back in time and rebuy our stuff? She gets all pissy about how I'm not letting her criticize us and yell as us (???) and I'm like, as our Mother you are allowed to your opinion of us, obviously, but right now you are causing fights for no reason. You can't do anything about our clothes now aside from transporting us to the nearest mall, and yet you still wanna fight about our clothes. You're causing grief over an issue that isn't solve-able right now, so all you're really doing is causing problems and pissing everyone off!

She goes on to say that she wants Cha Minh to be proud when we're out with him. And I'm like, wtf? Is Otouto dressing like a gangbanger? Are his pants baggy? Does he have pictures of guns on his shirt? No, he's a decently dressed boy who everyone else seems to like a lot except you! Everyone else thinks his hair style is cool, everyone else thinks his dress style is nice, except his mother! Go figure. And I went on to say that Cha Minh is Otouto and mine's godfather, not Mother's. And as a godfather he should be close to us, understand us, how's he going to understand Otouto if everytime Otouto is around Cha Minh, he acts different? Cha Minh visits sometimes and he'll be able to see that while Otouto is with friends he acts comfortable and cool, and when he's with Cha Minh he'll dress differently, act differently, be overall uncomfortable. How's Cha Minh gonna feel then? Although Cha Minh's not one to talk, but he'll notice something. How come my godson isn't comfortable around me?

And somehow all my lecturing turned into her saying that she feels sorry for me because I don't have nice clothes. What a wonderful thing for Mothers to say.

First off...I have clothes. They fit. They're comfy. They're not rags. My bosses seem to think I look nice in them. The kids at the learning center where i volunteer liked the shirt I wore yesterday. So what the hell is wrong with them. Our (Mother's and mine) combined income a year has to be about...maybe $30grand, give or take, we can't afford "nice clothes." I don't want to pay for a1hundred dollar dress. WHY should I pay for a1hundred dollar dress when I can't afford it? And then she goes, I want you to have nice dresses to wear when you're out with the youth group leaders. WHEN do I ever "go out" with them? I went to 1 thing to represent the youth group in, people wore JEANS to that event! Why do I have to impress the youth group leaders? Even if I wear a1hundred dollar dress when I'm with them, if it suits their tastes, they'll like it, if it doesn't, they'll still hate it, so what's the point?

The one thing that pisses me off the most is what kind of a mother is she? She goes "Well I thought you would know to buy this, you should've known to buy that." I'm sorry but, when did I turn into Jean Grey? All of a sudden I'm reading people's minds? She doesn't do her goddam job. If she wants us to dress a certain way and it's important, say it. She lets us do things with basic rules (which we followed to the T) and then goes "That's not what I meant." Is that our fault? We followed your directions and then YOU decide that's not what you meant with those directions? She tries to blame the faults on us. We bought clothes that were decent, no cleavage, didn't show anything, and yet it's not what she had imagined so she says we're bad children. She has it too good, I swear! She's lucky Otouto doesn't act like the kids in his school. She's lucky he doesn't dress like the kids in our neighborhood. She's lucky I don't dress like a whore! But I've never tried to act like/dress like a whore, Otouto's never acted like/dressed like a gangbanger, so she keeps on making up stupid directions that apparently are common sense but it's just in her head!

I'm trying to explain to her that she's causing trouble at a place that is not her place. This isn't her event, she's not becoming a priest, she has no right to say jackshizz or start trouble. It's Thay (Cha) Hoang's event, it's his ordination, how's he gonna feel if all of a sudden at his ordination weekend, he has three of his guests bickering and being pissed the whole time? And I'm trying to explain to her that she should let Otouto and I be ourselves around OUR godfather...but somehow it went on to how SHE tries to get me nice things, SHE feels bad that I have to shop at Ross...wtf? The stuff there FITS me...and she talks about it now, but if I were ever to come home dressed like the kids who wore expensive things, she would hate it!

So I've never actually lectured her ever before, but I did then. And the convo ended on a quiet note but after she left I cried anyway because she upsets me and I hate her.

Anyway, I put on a different shirt and am still wear jeans. And Mother asks Cha Minh if Thay Hoang or someone can take us to a nearby store later so she can get Otouto another dress shirt and me another dress, and Cha Minh tells her it's unneccessary and she mumbles something about the clothes we packed (see how when we think things are ok, they're not?) and he looks over at what I'm wearing and goes, what are you talking about they're dressed fine.

So anyway, we didn't have to go buy more stuff. And that's that.

That night we went to someone's house. Ate. Next morning Thay Hoang had his ordination mass.

I didn't want to wear the dress Mother told me to wear because it had a LOT of cleavage, but she made me wear it, maybe she didn't notice the cleavage thing or whatever, but the whole time I had it I was too busy pulling it up and fixing it to enjoy the day. Again Mother didn't want Cha Minh to take us out to eat. So we got banh mi instead. Went back to priory, hung around for a bit, had a mini party at the priory. Bed time.

Next day there was another mass at the local Vietnamese parish. After the mass Thay Thien An and Thay Duc took Mother Otouto and I out to visit the Vietnamese shopping complexes. We went to one and Thay Thien An and Thay Duc were going to take us to another two, but Mother insisted that we go to the house of the lady that there was a party at that night to help her cook instead. So our "outing" consisted of walking around for half an hour. What an outing!

Thay Thien An was getting sleepy though and I felt bad that he had to drive 40 mins to get to this lady's house, and the Vietnamese stores were lame so I didn't care much. But of course we got to the lady's house and waited for an hour...hour and a half...two hours...before the party started.

This lady's house was awwwwwwwwesomeeeeeeee! Huge living room was dedicated completely to her son, a musician. I liked her house a lot, there was an even mixture of religion and music, so it wasn't completely overly done. She was nice too, apparently a French teacher but idk. Just knew she was a teacher. Lolz. Anyways, mingled, was fine. Got home at 11ish and went to bed.

Next morning woke up, printed out our shizz, Cha Minh took us to the airport, everything went smooth and got home safely.

Overall the trip was decent. The only thing that ruined the trip was Mother yelling at us, giving us mean stares, telling me that I shouldn't sit cross legged because she could see my legs, and instead told me to sit with my legs open (I know, wtf right?) being stupid, stuff like that. The people at the priory were nice. Cha Minh didn't take us on the outing but I do give him credit for trying to take us out to eat a few times and of course, Mother always said no. He offered to give us some money when he heard Thay Thien An and Thay Duc were going to take us out, but we didn't take it.

Then later Thay Duc gave us (OTOUTO and I) money which Mother took from us saying she'll use it to buy Thay Duc something to give him after his ordination but...I think she changed that later to, oh he won't let us buy him anything...so i don't know what happened to that $200. I know...that's a lot too.

Oh one more thing, Thay Duc said that he would accept me as his godsister if I promise to become a nun, I said no. Then Mother told him that I said I'll accept to be his godsister but I'm not becoming a nun (which I did say), and he said OK. So I thought, he's just kidding.

But then before we left Mother had us go to his room and I thought she was gonna give him something and have us just be there. But instead she goes "Nhu-Y doesn't believe that you're really accepting her as your godsister, so were you serious?" OMG I thought I was going to jump over and strangle her! She completely caught me off guard, I was like...are you effing me??? Seriously? So the whole time I just stood there and smiled like always....because what the fuck! Way to corner somebody? And what was Thay Duc supposed to say? Even if he hadn't been serious, he couldn't've said that! Mother has the worst ways of doing things!!! I hate it, she has no sense at all!

Also Mother came in and told Otouto and I that when a priest becomes ordained, he gets a handkerchief that he gives to his mother, and so when his mother dies St. Peter'll let her through automatically. I'm sorry but...what?

So basically, all you murderers out there, have a kid, send him off to become a priest, get the handkerchief, and then continue on your killing spree. Free ride to heaven everyone!

Ok so what was I saying? O yea...Thay Thien An and Thay Duc are uber nice, they're sweet and cool and funny. It's funny listening to them argue. Thay Hoang and his family were nice. Cha Minh talked more than I remembered....he apparently is funny too, who knew. His parents were nice. Our mother was a pain. But overall it was a pretty good trip. I don't really have to phaze it out of my memory. I love San Francisco, and the houses, the ones in Oakland and SanFran, soooooooo pretty!!!

I think that's all the complaining I'll do for now. I don't have pictures yet so I might end up just posting them randomly later. Maybe.

O yea...this is random but it makes me happy:

commonsnat on Photobucket.com

I want a dog like that one! I think they're Siberians....right...? They might be Tamaskans...no...they're Siberians, yea def. Siberians.

Chya ne!

Should I blog???

2009-06-09T11:39:00.001-04:00

Ehhhhhhhhhhh...........don't.............really feel like it. I'm slacking so much!

Back!

2009-06-02T16:08:00.001-04:00

I thought about blogging about my trip but...

I just got back at around 1AM this morning. Am currently at work. Gonna go to the movies with Reed later, go home, cook dinner, and a friend is coming over so...Also haven't fully unpacked yet, although I did manage to get all my clothes into my clothes hamper before going to bed this morning...and wanna post up pictures with my blog so will wait until I've uploaded the hundreds of pictures and watermarked them.

::sigh::

Let's just say, it wasn't the best, it wasn't bad. That's all. Lolz. I might leave it at that if I didn't want to post pictures so bad. Darned pictures!!

Chya ne!

This trip...

2009-05-28T20:26:00.002-04:00

I think for the past few days I've been complaining so much about this upcoming trip...that I leave for tomorrow...that I feel like I have more to say, but I can't.

Basically we don't want to go. It's going to be a pain in the arse. Waste of time...waste of money...waste of effort...Arghhhh I don't know. I told myself to make the best of this and so. I will. It's CALIFORNIA! CALIFORNIA for goodness' sake! I will not let this stupid trip ruin California for me. California will forever remain a source of happiness for me and I refuse to let this trip get to me. And so, here's some pictures of the last time I was in California. It was the first time I'd been and it was great! It was for a business trip.

I'm going to just leave this at that. If this trip turns out terrible and...it will...then I'll talk about it afterwards. Lolz.

On the other hand, I found out how to put lyrics into my Ipod! It's pretty awesome!

Ok anyway...So these are pictures from my business trip LAST year. This year's trip is for "family" and of course...will suck.

I saw a whole lot of bail bonds places around San Diego (which is where I went for business last year).

Little Italy! Love it! Had a dinner there the...first night, I think. Was excellent!

There were prettier fields but Beth, my coworker, was driving way too fast. Lolz.

Ooo Panda at San Diego Zoo! I went around and explored after our event was over. : )

Er...yea...

Second hotel we stayed at.

Cute little French patisserie...

Na Hoku and the bracelet my boss got me there...that I seem to have misplaced...

Sight seeing. We walked around a lot. I know that won't happen this time.

View of the outside tables at the place where we had dinner the last night we were there. It was sooooo good but I swear the bathroom was haunted. Lolz.

On a "ride" at San Diego Zoo. Heehee!! I was scared at first but, it was cool.

I know that this trip is nothing like last years and I refuse to let this trip ruin my view of California. It has to happen because otherwise...we woulda just wasted $1000...But expect a long rant when I get back.

Chya ne!

outing today???!!!

2009-05-20T11:22:00.002-04:00

Maybe.

Otouto wearing my jacket and model walking.

He looks better in it than me!!!

Just finished putting stamps on 1000 envelopes...

2009-05-19T15:31:00.002-04:00

A nap right about now would be nice. Since I really wanted to finish with the envelopes I stayed after a bit and have missed the bus. So gotta wait another half hour. : Ophooey.

O god...this would be soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo yummy right now!!!

i had a camera whore-ring session....

2009-05-18T22:58:00.002-04:00

Which doesn't happen often and so...you'll be seeing a bunch of random pictures up of me trying to look decent. Herm...I quite like not always having HUGE posts with a bunch of random pictures...makes the posts cool that they have lotsa pictures but doesn't really make it "together", makes the post kinda...really random. But a short blurb every now and then with a random picture that explains itself is somewhat more...idk...better.

Here's one....

Good God I really am cross-eyed.

they had fried chicken wings at the cafe today!

2009-05-18T12:23:00.004-04:00

I love those! It's been awhile since I've had them because the cafe used to have them everyday, but now it's only a few times a week. And since I don't go to the cafe everyday, I never know when they're going to have the chicken, so lucky!

Alright so for the past few days I've been down because I was worried about my grades. My cummulative GPA had a chance of going below a 3.0, which would have been very, very, VERY bad. But it's ok because it's a 3.1. That isn't great, I don't like it, but I'm content with it for now. I have to get it up. ALL A's next semester man! Has to!!!!! So for now...no more school stuff!!!! YAYY!!!!!

Just went back to work full time, no biggie.

Church...well...church...hahaha yay............................

Ok so...our youth group has a council for our church, then a council for the region, then a national council. Apparently the national council is coming out with this new rule that will make the DT (the level I'm in right now) obsolete, and bring in another level instead. The level they want to bring in are the HS, technically, the rule in the past was that once a NS reached the age of 18, they could either choose to lead the kids directly by becoming a DT (leader trainee) and then going on to becoming a HT, OR they could choose to stay in the youth group but not be so involved and so become HS. The new rule, however, is changing all of that. They're changing the age of the NS to 13-15, and making HS 14-17, so that their activities can be monitored by the HT. Also, they're taking away the DT level and so...idk where it goes from here because it's uber confusing.

But so, there's a training at the end of this month that's hosted by our region which I guess I "have" to go to, but I'm not. I can't, Imma be in California. So I asked C.Mai, who is, I know for sure, in the regional council and I'm pretty sure is in the national council too, what is going to happen to the kids like me who are DT currently and won't be able to go to HT training before the new rule comes out. She goes "Stay home." As in...don't bother coming. As in...don't come. And I was like.......

Ok! Sounds good to me. I guess the thing with C.Mai is she's always on a power trip. Always telling people what to do, commanding people when her power is just that she's older and she's been in TN longer. So people "respect" her because she has the "experience" card but, otherwise nothing. She doesn't really participate in TN weekly, she's just in charge of the choir. Anyway, A.Phong, who's actually the leader of our TN group, said that the new rule will be announced at this training at the end of May, but if "we" as in our doan, don't like it then we don't have to enforce it. I actually think it's a stupid rule. Why would you allow a bunch of kids straight out of NS, or HS, or whatever it is, to immediately go to training and become HT right away? They have to basic training whatsoever. Heck...I've been a leader-in-training for half a year and I know nothing! Just this week A.Phat asked me to hold the flag because there were only three HT there at the beginning of the TN meeting, including me and him, and I was like...how do I do that? And A.Nguyen goes, this is what you learn at the training, and I'm like...yea? screw you. This basic stuff is what you should have taught us before.

Anyway, whatever. I told Mother and Mother told me that she'll pay me $200 to quit TN. She said she doesn't like that the HT boss me around and make me do all the work they don't wanna do. That woulda been OK, until she said that I should join TSC, and I was like....No. I dislike their organization with a passion. They're OK by themselves, as individuals, but together they're a bitch so hell no. And she was like, well they're so much more closer than the HTs in TN, and I'm like, they're so close with each other because they go on beach trips together, and road trips and cruises together. I can't go to any of those so I even if I join their thing, I won't be close with them. And she goes, O, then join after college. And I'm like...yea...No.

So I had an inkling of a desire to quit...but then just this week C.KP asked if I could be her second for AN starting this fall. As in she'll come up with the program and she'll be the level leader, but I'll "run" it. I guess...I said yea. Haha...but I did tell her that I'm not going to the training so I'll either still be DT or a no cap. And she said she doesn't care what cap I'm in as long as I'm devoted. And I was like, OK. But she said she has to talk to our council about it first and...heh...you know there'll be trouble there. They always have trouble with everything.

I guess I should be happy that she thought I was up for the job, but then again I can't help but think that it's because no one else will/can do it. I mean...the other HTs in the AN level include her brother...and her other brother's girlfriend so...IDK...anyway. Whatever I like C.KP so, I'll think of it as the former.

Hermmmm...the dance group has been going fine. No real big news I guess. Although...for this Father's Day thing, Thuy had wanted to do a pop/hip hop song, and I liked the song, I wanna do it too. But I wanna do it for something else, not Father's Day. That and we had just finished with a pop song so it seemed like it'd been forever since we'd done a traditional. Tina and Hanna also wanted to do traditional and so, I talked to Thuy about it and she said it was fine. I didn't mention Tina and Hanna....so if Thuy's actually mad and was just saying that it was fine, lolz, then whatever she can just be mad at me. Hermmmmmmmm...............I hope she doesn't still read my blog. O well, people'll prolly get tired by this point anyway and not notice.

What else what else...Hm...there was other stuff but it requires an accompinement(SP!) of pictures...so for now I'll just post some random pics because I'm bored.

GAHHHHHHHHH So many pictures! Have to end this post soon since I just got another thing to do at work so...here goes!

pretty key chains that Sara made for us! same with the pooh in the other post.

mother's day cards. the quality and creativity of my cards has really gone down. i need that cricutexpressions machine now!!!

mother's mother's day present. i made that "bow."

it's a digital voice recorder! yay!

another mother's day card. : (

a strawberry smoothie mother made.

first thing i ever bought from shilla bakery...and it was gooooooooooooooooood!!!

candy from lilthingimajigs.

i ordered stuff from sephora.com. the scissors didn't come with the package, lolz.

eyeshadows, lip stuff, cheek stuff.

ud eyeshadow primer! yay!!! i've only used it with dark eyeshadow once, the result was pretty good. and currently i've only been using it with really light pinks, so i can't really tell the effect. but i bought one for tina and she's been using it and i think she likes it so yay.

i made that. the "pins" was sewed on. not written with marker!

teeheeheee.

OK so gotta go, gots work to do. More later maybe. : )

O yea, I'm not going to reread this for mistakes. Too lazy, and if I reread the stuff about the youth group, I'll probably just get pissed so, whatever.

Chya ne!!!

2009-05-16T01:00:00.002-04:00

Still not in a good enough mood to blog much. : ( Sadness....I'm in a slump!

Eh, I'll be back next week maybe...

2009-05-15T11:58:00.001-04:00

I really wanna post updates and stuff but...I feel so down right now because of my grades.

That and I have projects to do at work which requires me being away from the computer soooo...yea...here's some pictures instead...

baibai.

i got a pocket got a pocket full of sunshine

2009-05-10T08:17:00.002-04:00

i got a love and i know that it's all mine whoaaa whoa o oooo...

stupid song playing on the radio stuck in my head. i don't even like this song!

2009-05-06T17:02:00.002-04:00

I'm screwed on finals but I really just wanted to post SOMEthing.

My attempt at a macro shot. Not that macro. But was the best I could do. I was outside too!

Ok so...the weeks of hell have begun.

2009-04-27T12:40:00.004-04:00

This week is the last full week of school. Lotsa stuff due, things ready to be due.

Next week has two more days of school in which a ton of presentations, essays, are going to be due...and then after those two days, have to prepare for some final exams.

Then the week after that...will be more exams. And then...done. But will spend of the rest of the week cleaning my room..which is also hell.

So...if I don't come back until 3 weeks...It's OK! DOn't call the cops. I should still be alive.

Chyaa ne!

Ok screw that program...

2009-04-22T16:00:00.004-04:00

Yea...that program...ecto or whatever...is so not worth it.

I wanted the program because I wanted to be able to keep multiple blogs under different names. Not going to tell you why, that'll ruin the point of the other blog. If anyone ever gets to it.

Anyway, the program is just not worth it. It's not even pretty, doesn't even look that high tech. So not going to pay for it. So I'm back to just blogging on here. Lolz. Sadly though, I am wayyyyy too lazy to go back and disable the comments option for ALL the posts. So I'll just start leaving the option abled from now on. W.e. I'm already used to not looking for comments. Lolz.

Back to good ol' blogging online. I don't even really update that other blog much so, won't pose too much of a problem I don't think.

Yay! Blogger!

Finals...Spring 2009 : (

2009-04-21T08:41:00.003-04:00

HNRS 230 -

Timeline Project: Need to start working on. Did it, turned it in a week late.

Class Presentation: I hate partner/group projects. The guy I was partnered with for this presentation didn't do any of the readings. He came in to class with a total of 3 discussion questions. And then he ended up taking over the whole damn thing because he kept b-s-ing shizz as people were talking. He hardly let me get in any point at all! Idk what I got for this thing.

Paper 2: Topic doesn't seem too bad. Was supposed to be 8 pages. I did 4. The question was kinda an opinion question. There wasn't much research to it.

Paper 1 Revision: Not that bad...I don't think. Didn't do it.

Predictions: Imma get a B in this class at best. The papers aren't that bad I guess but, I've been skipping so many classes, haven't even updated my Timeline since the other month...and don't even talk that much when I do come to class. Yea...I got a B. Which is great because I thought I would be getting a C or lower...haha, the B really helped my cummulative GPA. If I'd gotten a C in this class, idk what I woulda done. So thanks for a pretty cool prof.

Overall thoughts: THIS CLASS SUUUUUUUUCKS! Well...not really. The prof is nice and knowledgable and all...just wasn't my cup of tea.

ANTH 114 -

Test 4:

Predictions: B? Maybe??? I gots a B-. Haha, yes! Technically it was a 79.6. But the prof. rounded it up. Thank God.

Overall thoughts: : ( I just didn't like the class. The class was huge. The prof spoke real quitely at the front of the class so no one else could hear him. And the material was just boring. It was one of those classes where they tried to assign terms to everyday, common sense things. Did not like it.

HNRS 228 -

Last writing assignment: BS-ed!

Final exam: Went OK I guess.

Predictions: We have more grades in the class because we had labs, classgroupwork, and homework...and iclicker questions. I did relatively well on those. Maybe a high B? Low A? I gots a B! O well, it was a 4-credit class so that helped a bit.

Overall thoughts:

FREN 371 -

Paper 3: I gave this in to her about two days late...but she didn't seem to notice. Then she told the whole class that we were to correct the papers and email them back to her at 5pm the next day. So the next day I stressed and I freaked out as I tried to comprehend her scribblings...then emailed what I could to her, then she replies back with "That was quick"..but in French. And I was like...really?? Seriously??? Didn't you say it had to be in by 5?

Final Exam: I studied the literature SOOOO hard. OMG by the morning of the test you coulda asked me for the dates of ANY of the stuff we read for the second half of the semester and I coulda told you. I woulda been able to tell you what the first phrase of each ouevre was...anything! But what sections of the test was actually on literature...2 matching parts. !!!!!!!!!!!! I was so upset, I'd actually studied that really hard! Everything else was on history, which we didn't go over in class and I didn't study. DAMMIT!

Class Presentation: It was OK.

Predictions: I don't think she'd fail me...right...? I got a C+. Better than expected.

Overall thoughts: IDK. The prof. was really nice and all but...so much information. The class was supposed to be about history AND literature but all we ever talked about in class was literature. BUT the tests were on BOTH!

HNRS 353 -

Inquiry 3: Which I'm about to fail!!

Wiki Case Study: LAMEEEEEOOOOO

Final Paper: I sent him my idea which he says is good so far. Fingers crossed! That was only the idea though. Ha..!

Predictions: B? Yup, got a B. Granted I sent in my paper like...3 days late so. There was some weirdness but it got solved in the end so, whatever. Lolz.

Overall thoughts: Prof was nice. Didn't like that he crammed a bunch of stuff into the last two weeks of school. Inquiry was due, and then right after that our case study was due, and then right after that a short essay was due, and then the final paper. So...that was random. But o well. I can honestly say though...I didn't learn much from this class. Didn't learn much from my other honors class this semester either.

GOVT 322 -

Some more workshops: Went OK.

Final Exam: Was optional. It coulda hurt or helped me and I didn't want to take the chance. Was satisfied with my C+.

Predictions: EPIC FAIL!!!!

Overall thoughts. Hate this class.

Update more as the semester starts to end. CRY!!!

That's all I guess. This is more of a note to myself so that I do not repeat this semester in the future. This semester was an epic fail and I did not like the feeling. This won't happen again, hopefully.

Arghhhh this stupid paperrrrrrr

2009-04-21T08:31:00.002-04:00

Seeing as how ecto insists that I have a title for all my posts, otherwise it'll title my posts "UNTITLED" which is NOT cool....

For now and if I decided to buy and continue using this program...the titles of my posts will just be what my first line of the post woulda been.

I'm not creative enough to think of post titles anyway...unless for special occasions. But this isn't a special occasion. Lolz. I just have this paper I'm supposed to turn in today...I have to leave for class in less than an hour...and I gots nothing!

ARGHHHHHH

I'm glad that school is almost over but...I'm also screwed because I probably failed all my classes. The only class in which I might pass would be....HNRS 228 Astrobio.

::cries in corner...::

Hermmm....

2009-04-20T23:38:00.002-04:00

I must say...I am pretty happy with this ecto program. After the less than a month free trial however, I'll have to buy it. We'll see if it's worth it. Sorta annoying how it'll say there's an error if you don't have a title for your posts. And I don't know how to disable the "Comment" function through ecto...that's sort of annoying since I don't like the "Comment" function...But o well! Maybe I'll figure it out some time.

So was wasting so much time trying to figure these programs out that haven't even started Inquiry 3...due tomorrow no less! Yucky!!!

Just a test

2009-04-20T22:51:00.002-04:00

testing testing testingggggg

Evil Monkey in my Closet!

2009-04-20T21:46:00.005-04:00

I...think I found a program to manage multiple blogs. Free 30day trial. Gonna see if I can figure the thing out but so far so good. Chyeaaaaaa....

: )

Layout Change!!!

2009-04-20T13:42:00.002-04:00

I really reaaaaaaally liked my old rainy layout but...idk why my already terrible pictures were looking even more dreary and un-charming!

I like this layout too, it's not too bad. And my pictures look a little brighter....sort of...

Maybe not really... : (

Hee!

Mitae!!

2009-04-20T11:42:00.005-04:00

I look hot. HA!

dress shopping...alone...a few weeks ago. teehee!!

I ended up not buying the dress but, I swear to go back for it at some point!

Piggy

2009-04-19T22:40:00.002-04:00

173

5-2

What makes a language romantic?

2009-04-17T14:45:00.007-04:00

I remember Mother bringing home a notebook some years ago in which was written a bunch of Korean stuff, I remember thinking it was the coolest thing. I have no idea what it said, but it seemed private for some reason because I couldn't understand it.

Currently...I'm...what can be considered fluent...in English...I'm pretty fluent in Vietnamese...and I'm...err yar....in French. I'm planning to learn Japanese and Chinese sometime soon.

For whatever reason, English doesn't sound romantic to me. I don't know what it is. When I think of phrases in English and Vietnamese, I feel as if the Vietnamese phrase is deeper, has more meaning. Let's take, for example...

I love you. Means totally NOTHING to me. I can imagine myself saying this to anyone. Love ya! I can write this on any card...I love you!

Je t'aime. Yea I already say that tons. Lolz.

But...Em yeu anh. OMG I could NEVER say that to anyone. I couldn't imagine myself saying or writing this to any future lover. To me it just carries so much weight. Why is that? It means the exact same thing as the two previous phrases and yet, I could never say it. I just tried saying it outloud, I almost couldn't say the last word!

I guess these terms are a bit too cliche. You can probably argue that I love you means nothing to me because I hear people say it all the time and not mean it. It's overused by everyone else so why should it be meaningful to me?...Whereas...Em yeu anh...aside from in songs, I've heard no one say this to anyone in real life and so...I don't know, there's something dark and mysterious about it.

Ok then how about something else....er....

I sit under the moon and think of you. Ok not very poetic. But I can totally and willingly write that in a letter to a "lover."

J'essais sous la lune et pense a toi. Yea...yea I'm not shy from that.

But...OMG....

Em ngoi duoi trang va nho den anh. OMG if I ever wrote that in a card the handwriting would come out scribbled as shizz...and the phrase would be unfinished because...I wouldn't be able to finish writing!

What is it??? Maybe because I'm not used to Vietnamese? I'm fluent in it and all but I've never really had to explore the poetic, deep side of the lanuage and so it's still too intense for me to grasp? I can imagine myself...like say a lover from the future asks me over the phone what I'm doing...I can definitely say....Thinkin' of you...or I can say...Je pense a toi...but I CAN'T say...Em nho den anh. That's just so...I don't know what.

I love writing, I love words and languages and but...there's something about Vietnamese, Chinese...Japanese that's deep and...intense and meaningful for me and I don't now why. French...not so much...

English I can say anything, no shyness, no embarrassment...French...same...

But Vietnamese...I don't know. Something...about it.

I guess I could maybe write it....that's not so bad...but directly SAYING the words, having them coming straight from me...I can't.

Idk why.

: )

You know what really "grinds my gears"?

2009-04-17T09:44:00.004-04:00

People who purposely put you in awkward decision making situations.

Such as...

Mother knows that every freaking Saturday I have dance practice. I know she always uses the "I forgot" excuse (which always got me in trouble whenever I used it) but honestly, if you can't even remember that your daughter has dance practice EVERY EFFIN SATURDAY then wtf?

So anyway, she knows that I have practice every Saturday and yet every now and then she still asks me to go play for a funeral which happens...guess...during dance practice. So wth am I supposed to do with 8 girls...for an hour while I'm not there? Honestly!

Before, when I was telling her about how the TSC people expected me to practice with the girls as well as go get food for them, she agreed that wth am I supposed to do with the girls while I waste time getting food. But now that it's about something she wants, it's OK that I just ditch the girls for an hour.

I don't even like this lady. (Her pops or something died, not her). Freakin lady is stupid! She effin made me cry! She's lame, I don't even like her! And her kids, I don't hate them but I'm not big fans of them either!

But anyway, Mother claims that "if you can come then come but if you can't then don't." But you know what she really wants, for me to come, otherwise she wouldn't've asked. And then when I go "what are the dancers supposed to do while I'm gone for an hour?" She goes "O you have dance practice? I forgot." Godfuckingfuckyoubitch.

So now, I am put in the awkward situation of deciding whether or not I should play. If I play, I'll be annoyed the whole damn effin time. I know that Cha Vuong will probably be doing the mass so it'll be longer than an hour because this lady actually knows him so he'll go on and on with his homily. And I'll feel as if I've ditched the girls for an hour. What kinda dance captain goes "Come to practice at 10AM but I won't be there." WTF??? AND! I know that the girls probably won't be practicing what I asked them to so when I come back and realize that they weren't practicing what I'd asked, I'll be uber, uber annoyed but then I can't get outright pissed because I wasn't there in the first place!

And if I don't play, then she'll be a bitch for...as long as she wants.

I guess what I could do is, since hopefully most of them will already be there by 9AM, take like 10 mins away from the first practice and go over the dang hoa song and then ask them to please practice that while I'm away and then come back, go over that a little and then do over the other, other song.

Godwtf???? I knew that she was going to ask, I just knew. But we were getting along so well that I thought she'd gotten smarter and loandbehold, she has not.

EFF!!!!

I really like my "Rainy" layout but...

2009-04-16T21:12:00.007-04:00

The dark background color makes my pictures look even more dreary than they are...hermmm...Wonder if I can change the color...or if I'll have to just change the whole layout...phooey!!

So...we're talking about the one-child policy in hnrs230.

2009-04-16T19:49:00.006-04:00

Watched The Dying Room. I think it's sort of absurd. Of course, I, by no means, think that the one-child policy is a perfect idea but...honestly...I thought the documentaries were stupid. I mean...China obviously has a population problem, wth do you honestly expect people to do about it? People as in the Chinese government. It's inhumane that they made the one-child policy because now a buncha babies are being abandoned and left for dead in government run orphanages. Yes...that sucks as hell...but are the documentaries and the criticizers really doing anything to help? All they're doing is forcing the Chinese government into the defensive and making the government try to hide more. The documentaries and their makers claim that the orphanages are understaffed...so why aren't they pushing the U.N. to encourage or send nurses over to help the staff? They say the nurses are undertrained and don't know why they're doing, so why aren't they pushing for doctors and nurses from places...like the US! to go over to China and start a training program? It sounds hard now because the Chinese government is already on edge about the issue but I mean, after a bit of negotiation, why wouldn't China allow them to do it? I mean, China needs countries like the US for trade and economical reasons, so if you push the aid idea hard enough, they can't refuse! But instead of doing helpful things like that, all the criticizers can do is sit around and...criticize. Yes...some documentaries did encourage some people to ask about adopting, but that only helps SOME of the babies. Why not do something to help ALL the babies overall??And, some of the documentaries angered the Chinese government so much that they pushed back adoption dates for Americans in the process of adopting...was that helpful? NOPE!

That and...right now China has a one-child policy that is inhumane...but if China did something else (really, what CAN they do?)...such as....

1. Force Chinese citizens to leave for other countries

- Problem? Other states are only going to accept Chinese immigrants for so long. After awhile, countries are going to stop allowing Chinese people to come into their countries for fear that they're going to take over the planet! Then China's gonna be like..."WHY aren't you letting Chinese people into your country? You hate Chinese people? WAR!" And other countries are going to be "WHY are so many Chinese people leaving and coming to our countries? You must be trying to take over! You must be staging a COUP! WAR!"

And then everybody dies.

Or...

2. The Chinese government could order mass killings of the population...

- Problem? I'm not even going to explain. It's a DUH really.

OR!!!

3. The Chinese government lifts their ban. Everybody has as many babies as they want.

- Problem? Within a few years...there'll too many people, the countryside will be destruct...People will starve...the country will be in ruins...There'll be a mass migration anyway...People will die anyway...Those same people who are criticizing the one-child policy now will come up again to criticize China's rising population...

Another thing that is inhumane about the policy, according to the documentary makers, is that the government is forcing people to abort babies...and become sterile and shizz. OK so say that doesn't happen. These people, since they're already pregnant, are allowed to have their babies and the baby comes and they have to pay more money (money they don't have) to raise the baby...or maybe the baby turns out to be a girl and they end up abandoning her into those government run orphanages that leave the babies to die and THEN WHAT? Did letting them have their babies help..? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

So honestly...WTHell do you expect a country to DO???

I'm not Chinese by the way...nor am I Communist...I'm actually not a fan of Communism because of my attachment to Viet Nam...but I just think that it's absurd for criticizers and documentary makers to sit around and do nothing when if they had so much power...they could be doing much more.

Ok end rant. Just something to think about.

Dependent people...

2009-04-16T19:47:00.004-04:00

On the morning of Holy Thursday, I woke up to find an email message that read like this:

Subject: hey...umhhh
Content: Hi Nhu-Y,

Sorry I couldn't call you to ask you this in person cuz I don't really know your schedule... umhh.. do you have 200 bucks I can borrow, please? by.. like.. today? it's an emergency. well, I can give you some kind of collateral if you want :

thank you very much. please beep me back when you got this. ty ty ty

Martha An Nguyen

Ok...my problems with this...??:

1. She had actually called me earlier in the week to ask if I was going to a tinh tam at church. My schedule is exactly the same every day whether I'm at school that day or work, and she knows it. There's no reason why she couldn't've called me.

2. 200 bucks...? 200 BUCKS??

3. BY TODAY? Who the hell asks for money and wants it THE DAY OF? HONESTLY??

4. "it's an emergency"...what IS the emergency? I'm sorry but...if you're going to ask for 200 BUCKS, just saying that it's an emergency is not going to cut it. Did she crash her car again? Does she need bail money?? What? What is so bad of an emergency that she couldn't ask her parents for money and had to come to me?

5. "beep me back" OMG I don't know WHAT it is about that phrase that just GOT to me. BEEP ME BACK?

When I read the email the 5th time (out of disbelief)...I thought...she probably doesn't need the money that badly because who, in their right minds, needed money badly and would send an email like that?? If I needed 200 Bucks...I woulda begged, pleaded, given 10 reasons, I woulda called and left a voicemail...10 voicemails! I WOULN'T'VE left an email message explaining nothing.

Now first off, if I had the money to spare, I would've given it to her. Second off...even if I didn't have the money to spare, if the email was any better and if it weren't HER, I probably would've given the money.

This girl...OK...here's the difference between me and her...

1. She came to the states just a few years ago and her parents have already bought a huge house...I don't know how...they just have.../I still live in an apartment building infested with roaches even though I've been in the states for over 10 years.

2. Her parents bought her a brand new car from 2008...and then when she crashed it they offered to buy her another new car/My car is from 1997 and I constantly worry about its health.

3. She has both parents taking care of her/I have 1.

4. She doesn't work/I WORK by ass off!

5. She doesn't have to pay for her brother's living expenses/I do.

I mean...My clothes, Otouto's clothes...my school supplies...Otouto's school supplies...I pay for all of that. I'm pretty sure she doesn't do the same for her brother. Her parents spoil her silly! She took a whole freakin semester off of school to "think" about life. I, out of anyone, understand an existential crisis, trust me, but did I take a semester off school when I should have...? NOPE! Not only did she just not go to school that semester, she didn't work either. She said she was waiting for another office job, the last office job she got was through school. She has no real work experience and yet she thinks she's qualified for an office job! I took a job petsitting for like...$30 a day! Why...? Because it paid! She has the freedom to move out of her house whenever she feels like it...I don't! I have responsibilities! She doesn't! Who the HELL does she think she is to just ask me for $200??? She always acts like she is more mature, more grown up. She always acts like she's the better person but honestly...who DOES this???

Obviously, I didn't give it to her. Then that night, she completely ignored me at mass. Before mass I was standing with the NS and usually she'd come over, this time nope. Then during the mass, usually during masses I have a habit of looking at the door (cute guys gather there for some reason...) and whenever I do she's always looking at me and she gives me that look like she thinks I'm about to say something to her which is awkward because...I don't...but that night? She looked completely ahead, didn't glance at me one bit.

Then today she texts me and asks if I want to go to the circus because she has extra tickets. I replied kindly but only because...I didn't have her number saved in my phone.

Now...if she...worked...was responsible and intelligent...and for some reason just ran into a huge problem and needed my help...then fine, I would have helped. But she didn't even work. She does nothing to help herself so why should I help her? I'm not here to baby people! I'm not saying that people who depend on their parents suck, but I am saying that at some point, people need to grow up. Once you're over 18...heck younger even sometimes! I don't care how lame you are, if you can't take care of yourself, you're not grown-up in my book. And I refuse to baby people like that.

I don't mean to say that being grown-up means that you have to pay for everything on your own. But I mean...once you've reached a certain age, you should be able to make intelligent decisions. Even if you can't pay for stuff on your own, don't drag people down with you! Make rational decisions. Don't put people in awkward, horrible decisions! Deciding that you want to move out because your parents got mad that YOU crashed your brand new car that you've been driving for less than a year shouldn't be something to be proud of. That's irresponsible. You should work, no matter what it is. You should accept responsibility because it'll help you grow, especially if you're not doing anything anyway!

I'm not trying to sound all high and mighty. Mother did pay for my cell phone and she pays for the bills and food and such, I know. But I take care of all the house paperwork, work, school, and everything else that I need. In other words...if Mother died tomorrow, that would suck..., but I wouldn't be helpless. Argh! I don't know. If you get it, you get it, if you don't, you don't.

Ok I have to stop, I can't run out of ways that I disapprove of her so...rather just stop talking about it. All in all, I am very disappointed in her. I've always thought she was irresponsible, fake, and too dependent...a baby in other words, but this really pushed it.

I'm not rereading this because it'll just get me angered up again so...screw you grammar mistakes.

This is REALLY random...

2009-04-16T19:46:00.003-04:00

Ok aliens...yea my desire to talk about this topic died down. I was just thinking about it

yesterday during honors astrobio. Why is it that...ok...why do humans think that the only way that there is intelligent life on other planets is if the conditions are the same as that on Earth? I mean...what I'm being told in astrobio is that...Unless there is liquid water...unless there is a carbon cycle...unless there is plate tectonics, then it's very likely that life cannot exist on that planet. Why? Why does conditions for life have to be exactly like they were on Earth for there to be intelligent life? And another thing...why do aliens have to look different from us? I mean, since humans think that to have intelligent like, a planet has to have about the same conditions as Earth did, then wouldn't the organisms living on those planets also develop the way Earth's did? I mean, I'm not expert but that's kind of a contradiction isn't it? I mean, I know that the development of life is really delicate and all but...still...Ok I'm just...being random now.

Cherry Culture!!!

2009-04-16T19:29:00.006-04:00

BEST WEBSITE EVER!!!!!

cherryculture.com

Best Make-up website! Bought like...almost 20 things from there for like...$42? Something like that. Free shipping over $40. Of course...I suck at make up and have no real use for some of the stuff I bought but...once I do have ideas! It'll be great! I'll show you!

the box

i took these pics after i opened the package in my car right before going to school. i couldn't wait!!!
nyx sharpener..blotting paper...angle brush
amuse ultra fine eye liner in black, metallic pink...mocha...and white.
nyx eye/eyebrow pencil in baby blue and baby pink. i accidently ordered baby blue again, i already had it. o wellz.
nyx candy glitter liner in hot green (i swiped 2cm of this on my hand right before i drove to school and it was really...really distracting...), red (because i don't have any other red make up things), and disco queen.
nyx glitter cream pallet in utopia. a lot of websites say these pallets are pretty but useless but, i'm confident i can use if for something...at some point. DANCERS watch out!!! these are going on your eyes next performance! lolz. jk. maybe.
nyx ultra pearl mania (powder eyeshadow basically) in white, lime, turquoise, black, and sky pink

nyx lip smacking fun colors in thalia and femme
So far I'm lovin the colors. Haven't really used any of it yet but...once I do I'll update. : )

O P.S. I have used the NYX Eye/Eyebrow Pencils in Teal and Baby Blue, which I bought at Amusé at Tyson's Mall. They're really good. Love the colors. They motivated me to buy all the NYX stuff. NYX rocks. Some of the shadows are a bit as good as MAC but for cheaper. I mean...If the colors are there, it stays, it doesn't irritate your eyes, then really what's the diff between the cheap and the expensive? You're going to wipe them off at the end of the day anyway! But really...NYX is really good quality. : )

S'all!

Ok...so a short update thingymajiger.

2009-04-16T18:21:00.006-04:00

I bought this journal thing at BarnesandNobles the other day in the Bargain section. IDK why...I never do. Something about BarnesandNobles just makes me...buy! Ok so anyway, I actually started writing in it. Sorta cool. I have scribbles and everything.

I always told myself to write but, never thought I should start now. Was waiting for something to "happen" but...that's never gonna happen so why not right? <--- That wasn't supposed to make sense really.

Mother gave me a nice "speech" the past weekend. We've been getting along alright, knock on wood knock on wood knock on wood. She's alright sometimes. I don't wanna get into too much detail but sometimes it makes me wonder why ppl "like" me so much. Like, a lot of people at church depend on me for things, they have this "image" of me that's almost perfect and it's like, it's not real, you know? I don't know, whatever I guess.

So last week Cuong and I house/pet sat for Sara's family. I came by today to drop off their key and thought I'd get the pay today too but, guess not. It was really awkward reminding Laura (Sara's sister). I don't like to bring stuff like that up because...it's weird you know? Whatever, I'll just go back for it at some point. Lolz.

So anyway, the petsitting itself...I don't know, it was alright I guess. I probably would've been more comfortable if Molly (the dog) were my own dog because half the time I was worried that I'd eff up in taking care of her and so therefore wasn't enjoying it as much. But...I don't know. Molly and the cats and the fish were sweet and nice but, they needed so much attention. I mean, I know all dogs want attention but, I sorta figured that once I get a dog he'll be like me you know? Friendly, kind, but not "needy." I don't know. I'm rethinking getting a dog. Lolz. But overall I guess it wasn't terrible. Staying at their house did make me want for our own house even more tho. Man I can't wait until we can afford a house, a town house even.

Erm...I guess I can talk about Pita-ten in this post. It's basically this really, really cute anime. It's about this kid whose mother died (grammar?). An rambunctious but kindhearted well meaning angel in training befriends a too kind hearted motherly devil in training and end up being the kid's neighbors. It's an extremely cute anime. I guess what I wanted to talk about was that, apparently, according to wiki, the angel used to be the lover of an ancestor of the boy and so when she was sent down to heaven again she immediately took a liking to the boy, he was a reincarnation of the ancestor or something like that. It was weird because, the angel was older than the boy and so, at some points you were sorta confused as to their feelings for each other. The demon in training acted as kind of a motherly figure for the boy, making him obentos and such. So I guess my question is...the boy didn't need a "lover," he need a mother figure, which the demon fulfilled, so what really was the angel's deal? Aside from being cute and bringing to action into their boring lives, she didn't necessarily fulfill any purpose. IDk I'm confusing myself. Someone please google and watch the anime and discuss it with me. Lolz.

I think that's it for this one. It was basically just a really random update. Lolz.

Fried Shrimp

2009-04-16T17:58:00.005-04:00

Original Recipe - I know that I've eaten a lot of these made by both Pops and Mother...but I wouldn't say I got the "original recipe" anywhere.

What I did!!

Ingredients:

- Shrimp (peeled and deveined) - Eggs - Panko Japanese Style Breadcrumbs - Salt - Pepper - Oil

Directions:

- Mix a bit of salt and pepper into a bowl of beaten eggs. - Pour some Panko into a separate bowl. - Dip the shrimp one by one into the egg mixture. - Roll shrimp around and coat it in the Panko breadcrumbs.

Egged and breadcrumbed shrimp. I don't breadcrumb the tail just for aesthetics.

- Pour oil a quarter up into the pan. - Heat oil on high. - Add in coated shrimp. - Turn stove to medium. - Cook.

Theys is cookin'! This was like...my 3rd batch and so...the oil was gettin' nasty. If that really bothers you, just ladle it out, no biggie.

- Take a plate and put some Bounty on it (a layer or two). - Take cooked shrimp out of pan and place on Bounty covered plate. This helps absorb the oil. - Eat with preferred sauce. Enjoy!

Notes:

- Yea Fried Shrimp is extra, extra easy. Not hard at all, that's why I love making them. As for flavor, shrimp and eggs already have their own special flavor and so, even if you don't put in enough salt and pepper to flavor the eggs, the end product should still be fine.

Enjoy!!

Next time: I don't know yet. : )

Lots!

2009-04-14T23:19:00.004-04:00

Ahhh! I have a long list of things to talk about (listed in the "What's Next" section) but no time to get to it all. Must focus on school work!!

I'll probably get around to updating in a few days...maybe weeks, we'll see!

Chya ne!

yay!!

2009-04-12T13:16:00.002-04:00

happy easter people!!

Some pictures I felt like posting...

2009-04-06T15:07:00.007-04:00

fire!

On the first night of the NS retreat, some of the HT went outside to fish instead of sitting through the lectures. : ) Me and An joined them for a bit but it got too cold. It was fun! They almost put the whole dock on fire though.

i loooooooove water!!!

otouto and his friends

Although Otouto gets along with all the kids in NS...and they all seem to like him and all, he only considers some his "friends." Not like, best friends or anything, just those that "well they're not going so I don't wanna go." You know? Anyway, most of these guys are nice. Lolz.

*teeheehee*

wang lixiong

Came in to talk in my HNRS 230 class. Was cool!

Some other people came in today too but, didn't snap a picture.

Funny picture...

otouto holding winter pooh hostage....

Because I wasn't making dinner. : )

messages to decode!

The other weekend practically nobody went to TNTT and so, C. KP put me in charge of our level. And these are messages that I made for them to decode in a mini "BIG Game"...to get them ready for the actual "BIG Game" this past weekend. They're real smart!

kimbab!

The first kimbabs I ever made. Although, I was sick so couldn't really taste it. Otouto said they were good though. No recipe because I sorta rushed through them and couldn't tell how good/bad they were. Pictures are kinda eh. I guess the close-ups woulda looked better if I'd taken the saran wrap off but, I was too lazy.

So last Friday was Confirmation and Mother was asked to be someone's godmother. And the choir was singing/playing so I decided to drop by Ross and buy an outfit. I got...

for less than $100. even after plus tax and all.

head scarves, shoes, purse. love the shoes!

wore this dress with the shoes and purse to the confirmation mass. was alright.

wearing this dress right now. effin love it! adore the pockets!

this has a bit of cleavage that i'll have to fix but, i like it.
There was this Size12 dress that fitted me perfectly. It looked so effin good! But I knew that it wouldn't've worked if I sat down and the material was sorta thick, really hot! I was going to buy it and make it my "goal" dress but, I didn't wanna spend the money then. Might go back for it later. Pictures later. Lolz!

I started doing the petsitting at Sara's house on Saturday. Otouto is helping me which is great. He only wants half of the pay for each time he walks Molly. Lolz. I'll prolly give him more. The job isn't that bad because I'm learning. But, most of the time I'm too afraid of "What if something happens to Molly (the dog) while we're walking her?" "What if we don't do this exactly right?" So that I'm not that comfortable. I'm sure that when I get my own dog, I'll be more comfortable but, right now I'm taking care of someone else's dog so, I don't want to mess up. But, the pets are really nice and sweet. Molly hasn't barked once since we got there. It's lame that Otouto and I have to drive over in the morning and then home at night (instead of just sleeping over) but, even though Mother is fine with us being there all day, I doubt she'll like us sleeping over all week. But w.e. She's being nice about the whole thing already so, Idc. Lolz.

Ok...so I basically just had a buncha pics and really wanted to post them to get it over with. And so I can concentrate more on my hw. Lolz. Hate that.

I still have:

Fried Shrimp recipe and... Otouto and Mine's TV debut! O yea and...the HT meeting.

Which I'll do once I get back to Sara's.

Chya ne!

I gots me a Twitter account!

2009-04-05T09:25:00.003-04:00

Because I'm pet sitting at Sara's and didn't know where the computer was and couldn't get online with my laptop so wanted to say something through the phone but...ok long story short...

Twitter looks cool! : )

Thit Bo Beef Steak

2009-03-31T13:07:00.007-04:00

Original Recipe - taken from my POPS!!! PAPAAAAAA!!!!!

Yea I don't really remember at all how my dad did it. I just basically...went out and bought some steak, took out the ingredients that "looked" right....and threw in the amount that "looked" right. And it was awesome!

What I did!!

Ingredients:

- Garlic Powder - Salt - Sugar - Pepper - Soy Sauce - Fish Sauce - Bot Ngot (English term IDK) - Steaks - Butter

The ingredients waiting to be used.

Directions:

- Take the steak and a "hammer" thingymajiger and pound on the steak. Idk why but that's what I used to do when my dad cooked the steak so I still do it. It really helps when you cook it though. Especially if the steak is hard and not tender enough. My steaks were really...really...large. And I shoulda pounded more but, it was OK. - Mix a bit of garlic powder, bot ngot, a little bit of salt and sugar, pepper to taste, a bunch of soy sauce and a bunch of fish sauce. I knew it was right when it just started smelling right. Sorry I can't be more precise but...If I do cook this again, I'll make sure to take measurements and update. - Pour the sauce over the steak. Then place the steak in any remaining sauce in a bowl and cover.

Marinatinnnnnn'

- Wait a few hours. Do homework. - Turn on a pan and melt some butter in the pan. I cook my steak with butter, not oil.

Butter's burninnnn....

- Put in your steaks and cook until happy. Otouto wanted well done but...I didn't pound the steaks enough so it took forever to cook it to well done and so...it wasn't that well done. I was impatient for mines and so was a little undercooked but I just went back and cooked it for a few more minutes and it was perfect.

Notes:

- The marinade was deeeeeeelicious. I didn't think I'd be able to do it because I never paid attention when my papa cooked steaks. I don't know what came over me, I just used the ingredients that I thought should be in there and I just put in the amount that made it look and smell "right". Thank God it worked. - The only problem I had was that it took forever to cook but that was my error and not the recipe's.

Enjoy!!

Next time...:Fried Shrimp chyeaaaaaaaaaa btcheeeeees!

Ok gotta go to class.

Chya ne!

Crisis....

2009-03-31T02:40:00.005-04:00

Why do I want to have a concentration in Environment? Is it because I'm currently working for DOI? And I like where I work and will hopefully work for them for as long as I can until a better career opportunity comes up? But even if I do have a concentration in Environment now, then what? I'm not getting a Masters or Doctorate in Environment. And the Environment classes required for the concentration have so many prereqs. If I concentrate in Environment I'll have 22 more classes to take in 4 semesters. If I don't concentrate in Environment, I'll have 16 classes to take in 4 semesters. I don't want to take just 4 classes a semester, so I'll probably take 5/semester anyway. But if I don't concentrate in Environment...I'll have room to take other classes. Maybe I'll just take a bunch of Chinese classes. For fun!

I really like where I work right now but...first off, none of my bosses even majored in anything Environmental. And even if I did have a concentration in Environment, it shows nowhere and it'll go nowhere. And I'm not furthering it so why do it now? Whereas, I have a concentration in Asia and a minor in Asia and obviously Asia is a big deal in my future career goals so...that's definitely something I have to follow through with. Besides, I'm not going to work for DOI forever, and the other departments (State, Homeland Security) that I'll most likely go to if I do stay within the U.S. government...don't really have anything to do with Environment! That much. And...I probably won't stay within U.S. government forever anyway...well maybe in the near future but later I'd like to move on to UN or something...or work in UN through U.S. government, idk.

And...

I've been stressing over my minor in French. I've been trying to decide whether I should drop the French minor and take Chinese or Japanese language classes instead. Since French doesn't have that much to do with Asia anymore, or anything. But now...if I drop the Environment concentration, I can continue to take French (which I was going to do anyway)....and also take Chinese language classes. And besides....I really want to work for international government organizations....like UN...or Interpol...and their main lanuages are...English (which I know enough...) and French! And the UN also values Chinese. So that's a win!

Ok...that's what I'm gonna do then. Tomorrow I'll go ask the school to revoke my Environment concentration and just keep my Asian concentration.

So now my degree is....

Global Affairs Major with a concentration in Asia. Double Minors in Asia-Pacific Studies and French.

Yes.

That sounds about right.

I do NOT want to go to this retreat.

2009-03-20T14:07:00.003-04:00

Yes...I know...that's how I felt last time and it turned out fine. But this time I know all the people who are going...and the people in charge...and I don't wanna go no moreeeee!!! Argh! O well...hopefully...god hopefully it turns out fine. I have tons of photos that need watermarking so I'll do that soon and then I'll do a real post.

For next time:

- St. Patty's Day Outing

- Food (Restaurant, My recipes...and the Lasagna recipe if Dolores ever sends it to me!)

- And of course...shizz about how this retreat went...ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....lameeeeee.....

I wish these people were more organized...I don't wanna drive there...well I do...but I don't wanna pay for gas and shizz. And I'd be fine with not driving there if they just figured out who was going with who when before the day of! Now I'm sitting here...less then two hours before we're supposed to meet and get ready to go...and I'm still not ever sure who's gonna pick me and Otouto up. WTF? I sorta don't wanna drive because I don't wanna strain my car...but then again it'd be easiest if I did just drive myself and Otouto. I'll know exactly where all my shizz is...I'll be able to arrive and leave when I wanna...dadada....

Stupid...Annoying...muttermuttermutterings....

Ok whatever. Ha. Aishhhhh this is lame. Me and my stupid last minute decisions that can't be changed.

O yea something else to talk about next time:

- Cha Bo

I think that's it. I wasn't gonna post or anything but...I have half an hour left of work and I gots nothin to do. So there.

Ok chyaaaa neee!

O yea P.S.

Tina's and Hanna's mom is uber nice. Lolz! I called Tina yesterday to ask if her dad could pick Otouto and I up and take us to church...and I guess after we hung up Tina's mother thought that for some reason there was something wrong with my car...like it was broken or something...so she called me and basically said "You want my husband to fix it for you?" Lolz, she's cool. But yea I told her there wasn't anything wrong, miscommunication. But haha....their family is nice.

Ok...Yea I still have half an hour left...hence the rambling...oiiiiiiiiiii vayyyyyyyyyyy....Hermmmmm....I should use this time to learn some Japanese...but I forgot the website...o well...

Okie Chya ne!

I had a Daniel Henney dream last night.

2009-03-11T12:18:00.003-04:00

Nothing happened. Lolz. It was short but uh...pretty inspiring...pretty awesome. Yup.

AHHH LOVE OF MY LIFE!!!!

I've realized I lose my brain sometimes when I have nothing to do. I think people give me stuff to do to avoid me scaring them with my idleness. O well!

Chyaaa!

Fly Birdy!!

2009-03-10T22:07:00.008-04:00

me and doloreeeees!!!

100th post OMGGGGG!!!!
Wow…I don’t remember having ever kept a blog for so long. Wow.

Don’t have much special for this post. I just felt the need to post something. Lolz. Dolores came over for a sleepover and it was pretty awesome. Look forward to a deeeeeeelish lasagna recipe and some delectable pictures. We also made a german chocolate cake…Omg…IT WAS HEAVEEEEEEN!!!! Ah…sweet angles sing. OK anyway. So…as an attempt to make my 100th blog somewhat awesome, here’s something that I’d posted on a previous blog of mine. Read and ponder…

————————————————————————————

Is it Irony? Fate? Or is it You?

March 14, 2008 · 1 Comment

Say one day you were walking down the street and a “being” appeared to you and told you that tomorrow you were going to die from an airplane crash. Unfortunately for you, you have a business meeting at the other side of the country and therefore had to take a plane to get there, when is your flight? The next day. So since you are extra, extra careful, and you don’t want to die, you decide to cancel your plane trip and drive to the meeting, but you had to get a start right then. So now you won’t be taking the plane, great right? Wrong, as you’re on your way to the business meeting, in your car, a piece of an airplane falls from the sky and WHAM! There goes you and your car. Now, is that Irony? Or is that just Fate?

Say you didn’t believe the “being” that appeared to you, say you just didn’t care and went on with life and took the plane the next day to get to your meeting. Your plane crashes and you die, is that Irony? Or is that Fate?

When someone is foretold to die and they do their best to avoid the situation in which they are told they will die, but end up dying anyway, people call that Irony. But isn’t that also Fate? No matter what happens you are doomed to die at a certain time, certain place (assume this is true) and no matter what you do you can’t avoid it. That’s not Fate, that’s Irony. And if the person who is doomed to die doesn’t try to avoid their death, what is that then? Just Fate?

Another thing, when your death is “foretold” and it actually does happen, is that the cause of your being fated to die? Or is it cause of your own subconscious? When on the day of your “foretold” death your death does occur, is it because it was Fate? Or is it because subconsciously you had the idea of your death occuring at a certain time on a certain day in a certain way, and because of that you somehow put yourself in that exact situation, ready to die? Not because someone saw into the future and told you, but because they told you, you in turn made it happen?

I don’t know. This is what happens when I have too much free time at work. I think one day we should have an experiment. Someone should randomly go up to a random person in the street and tell them that the next day they’re going to die from a car crash. Then wait and see what happens. The person might die, which would mean either that they were fated to die and you just foretold their death without really meaning to, or that people aren’t doomed to die at a certain time, place, but rather because they think they are they just put themselves in the death situation. Or, they don’t die, in which would prove that you are “fated” to die at a certain time and it’s not cause of your subconscious. Of course as with any experiment, it’d have to be done over and over and over, and the results might prove both theories. I think it might also be illegal. O well, maybe one day.

Who’s with me?? No one? You’re going to die, I saw it.

Omg I think I’m going crazy. I need work to do!!

—————————————————————
The 1 comment was just Reed commenting me. Lolz! So yea…interesting that I wrote that around the same time last year as I’m reposting it now. Cool!

A few little tidbits for your reading and looking pleasure. Remember that if I got something from somewhere else…I’ll either put them in quotes or I’ll say who it’s by. Usually if they’re just in quotes, I got them off a website and didn’t feel the need to cite (because the originator is anonymous) but wanted to make sure no one thought that I was creative to make it up. And obviously I’m not going to place quote marks around pictures. If it doesn’t have my watermark on it, I didn’t take it or make it. If you wanna know where I found stuff, just ask! Here ya goo!!

Chya ne!!

” y0u g0tta let g0 when y0ure hurting t0o much 
y0u hafta give up when l0ving isnt en0ugh  

y0u g0tta m0ve on when things aren`t like they were bef0re

cuz f0r sure, thereSz s0meone 0ut there wh0 will
(( —— l0ve y0u m 0 r e —— )) “

” If distance were measured in terms of the heart  we’d [[never]] be more than a minute apart * <3>

(I liked this quote a lot. I’m a firm believer in long distance relationships but hey…who am I to talk?)

” “Lie to me,” she whispered ”I love you,” he said ”

” Things change and people do too,
but my love goes out to a certain few  

The ones who are there through the good and the bad  

I’d say they’re the best friends I’ve ever had. “

(I had to retype that one. The grammar was horrid!)

” Graduation is a bittersweet mixture of opportunity  and letting go. Seniors are justifiably sentimental.  They know the world will never be quite the same. “

(So freaking TRUE! I think.)

” You start backstabbing me 

and going against your word 

thinkin’ “Oh she will never find out”  

Well guess what?… I heard * “

” When shit goes down n sides are taken you find out 

Who was real && who was fakin. “

” .* ThE MorE FriendZ YoU HaVe *. 

.* ThE MorE ProblemZ YoU SeE *. 

.* CuZ EveryOnE ThatS A ParT Of uR LifE *. 

.* TaLkS cRaP WheN YoU CanT SeE *. “

” What goes around comes around. 

That’s what people say.  

so all the pain you caused me  

will come back to you someday. “

(I didn’t have a horrible life experience (Ok maybe I did…but that’s beside the point!)…these quotes just rhymed better than the others. Lolz!)

(Ok time for some lighter quotes. Ha!)

” º° ToNiTe I AsK ThE StArS AbOvE °º  
º° WhEn Im GoNnA WiN Ur LuV°º  
º° WhAt Do I Do? °º  
º° WhAt Do I SaY? °º  
º° To TuRn Ur AnGeL EyEs DiS WaY °º “

” Do iT 2 day…
iT mIgHT bE iLLeGaL 2MoRRoW!! “

(If it doesn’t probably hurt to have this tattooed on me…I so would!)

” Life is all about trusting your feelings and taking chances. 
losing and finding happiness; appreciating the memories 
and learning from the pain and realizing that people  

ALWAYS change <3*>

 ” Sometimes you gotta hold your head up to the sky  
fake a smile.’ and pretend your fine . because all things  

have a purpose whether its good or bad - hearts  

get broken and friends get mad. But whatever  

may happen just keep a smile the whole way thru  

and never let anyone get the best of you. ”

” The harder you FALL  

The higher you [[ Bounce ]] “

Picture-fiedddd!!!

2009-03-06T13:52:00.002-05:00

I wanted to do my homework during this class but...my homework requires textbooks, which I didn't bring...or that I play a game...which I can't really do while taking notes. So....I'll just get this over with. Lolz!

Ok so...er...let's see...so this past weekend I went to the Tinh Tam Mien for HT. I have to say...overall it was pretty good.

On Friday, A. Phat picked me up and took me to church. There, we hung out for a bit while the rest of the HT were arriving. A. Phat gave me $55 to pay the fee for the Tinh Tam. I know that when he and A. Phong told me not to worry about the fee, I thought A. Phong was just kidding about A. Phat taking care of it for me. And, A. Phong'd said it was just $20. But the actual fee is $45...even though we do get a $20 refund later. Anyway...yea so A. Phat paid for me but told me not to tell anyone. He said that they (Idk for sure who "they" are) really wanted me to go and didn't want money to be an issue. So yea.

Thao, An and I went with A. Nguyen. The drive there was fun but sooooo creepy!!! So this place...it was in the middle of nowhere in Delaware. It was...an aquatic center or something like that. We passed the house on the way in and ended up U-turning real close to this really creepy plant (like chemical plant, not flower plant) thing. At some points the roads were completely deserted. Also, on our way there A. Nguyen was playing NNN reading Can Nha So 24 through his Ipod. Man...that story is creepy! We didn't get to finish because on the way home it was already day so A. Nguyen said we should just save it 'till next time. But yea...the house OMG...soooooo creepy! It wasn't completely run down or anything but the surroundings...there were plain fields on all sides and this swamp/lake thing in the back. I should have taken a pic of the place when we first got there because I never left the house after we went in. Lolz. But...I do have this pic taken the next day...O ok so I guess I went outside once to take some pictures and camera whore myself but...anyway...

i swear...it was creepier at night...

Ok so...Friday night we got there late...had the opening mass...did a little confession thing...hrmph...And then ate...and went to bed. There were a LOT of rooms in the lodge. Each room had a buncha bunk beds with actual beds! It wasn't bad at all. That night we went to sleep at around 1ish because we were watching a movie...which was supposed to be a horror movie but was more just a weirdish kinda thing. It was made up of a buncha stories and we ended up only watching 2. The second one was pretty good. This girl who usually isn't into looks gets obsessed with a ghost's beauty and the ghost takes advantage of that to "switch places" with her...if you know what I mean. I can't remember what the first story was though...o wellz. It reminded me of those Japanese horror anthologies. But this one was Chinese. Ok yea.

So Saturday the retreat really started. We did blah blah and blah. I can't say it was the most exciting...alotta discussing of this and that...Although each doan did do a skit, was sorta funny. Ours was based on the biblical phrase "When I was naked, you clothed me..." Or something like that. And the other HT decided to plan the skit on Friday night...so we were going to just do this other thing that we did before but change the needs to clothing...it was pretty straightforward...But then a lot of the other skits were sorta...not so straightforward...so I started thinking metaphorically and came up with the idea of abuse. I asked A. Huy if we should make our skit a bit more not so straightforward but he said it was OK. But then later Thanh said that we should change it. At first I thought that was sorta rude because I hadta write up the "straightfoward" skit by memory...and then she just says we should change it. But whatever. I thought about it too.

So basically what I was thinking was...clothing is supposed to protect us. Say, outside, you would wear clothes to protect you from the weather...or if someone hit you and you're wearing a thick jacket, the thickness of the jacket would offset a bit of the pain. So to me...I think that nakedness doesn't just mean a poor person without clothes...it's anyone or anything that lacks protection. The other people in my doan got the idea and liked it a lot. So we changed our skit and made it a kid that was getting abused by his alcoholic father, with the absent minded mother, and the sister who throws herself between her father and brother to protect her father. Yes...if you know me and you're thinking...I did come up with a story that reflected my life...but change it slightly to emotionally abusive mother, dead father, and...the rest is the same. Lolz!

Ok anyway...long ass story short, no one got it. I had to explain it a bit to my group, and A. Huy himself had to go around and explain it to other groups. It wasn't that confusing! It was metaphorical but, I guess it was too much for the other ppl. A. Nguyen was the abusive father...he's really good at it. Lolz! Chinh Hai was the little kid...Thao was another sibling and they played it pretty well...An was the absent minded mother but she didn't do her part right. She was supposed to say something to her husband quietly, he'd snap at her and she would just leave and then I'd come in...but she kept hanging around Chinh Hai (the kid getting abused) and so basically did my part...which woulda been fine except that we wanted to make it totally obvious about the protection part so whoever was protecting the kid, supposed to be me, was supposed to literally throw themselves in front of the father's kicks...but An just kept hanging around...she didn't do a dramatic protection, she just walked around and shizz...so the skit kept draggin...Aish...whatever...Anyway...Lolz...

Ok so all that...and then...that night (Saturday), we did this thing that...Idk, I don't remember ever doing it. We had a chau at first...and then we all sat in a circle...I was thinking "OMG SEANCE!" half the time...but it was really just bonding time. Lolz. We passed a candle around and whoever wanted to talk did. I said something or other. It was cool. Kinda.

looks pretty!! i'm not one to be religious but...i love the candles! and i thot it was just nice.

Ok so anyway...that night we went to bed...we were listening to another of NNN's stories but...I couldn't stay up for it. It was boring anyway. Lolz.

winter pooh having a little fun on one of the poles of An's bunk bed. : )

ahhhh cuteeee!!!

winter pooh and cu teo (thao's bear)

i was...er...packing...yea...

So ok...I dreaded going to the tinh tam, I really did. But I have to say that overall it was kinda fun. Something interesting with the HT, and I mean all the ones I've met so far, the ones from Mien...which can make it hard to make friends but also make it easy...is that once you're together it's like you're automatically friends. There's no introducing anybody. You come and it's just like...there you go. I mean...I had random people squeeze themselves in between me and other HT...sit there...I'd turn around...turn back and they'd be sleeping on my shoulder. It's not creepy! Lolz. I mean like...It was like...I don't know. You can't really dislike anyone. You can disagree with them and all when it comes down to doing things and stuff but...I don't know. It's hard to hate them. There was this one girl who I "met" at the first HT thing I went to in Richmond...God I thought she was so effin annoying but...at this tinh tam, we were taking group pictures and I jumped in front of her and she just reached around my neck and pulled me down like she knew exactly who I was. I mean...I guess that sounds weird to some people but, to me it was sorta cool. Even though there's some drama amongst the HT...they bond a lot better than...other people...::cough cough:: NS ::cough cough::...Idk. Lolz. You still do have to keep an open mind and all but, that's the way it is with everybody.

on the way home...in a. nguyen's car...he has a nice car..

Ok so that was probably the longest part of this blog...Lolz...

Alrighty moving on...

Picture time...? Yea...let's do that.

i read somewhere that something about how your favorite scents can really stimulate something in you that helps...memory and shizz? idk...but i love the smell (and taste of course) of these things.

My mother came into my room, saw the box in my trashcan...then asked me if I had some more because she likes them too. So I pondered it for a second and then decided...alright why not? And...if that sounds mean, you'll see why I had to ponder in a second...

So I reached into my desk drawer and opened my last box, took one out, turned to give it to her...and when I look at her she's staring back at me wide-eyed...and I think...o eff...and she goes...you're not allowed to buy those anymore! They make you fat!

And so I go.................................................................ok..................................................

But then of course, because I'm not allowed to buy them anymore...yesterday I went out and bought some more.

tina : )

As mentioned in previous posts, I went to the movies with the NS. We didn't take as many pics as I said we would...We never do...huh...But yea...those two were from after the fact...Isn't Tina the cutest?? I say YES!

chocolate croissant

There's this bakery place on campus that has the BEST bagels. I absolutely LOVE their bagels! So I thought that their other pastries had to be a bit as good right? Wrong...I couldn't even finish that croissant. The chocolate was chalky, disgusting. Tasted just as bad as it looks. I'll be sticking to the bagels from now on.

my violin next to my aunt's wedding thingermajiger...

Otouto and I played our violin at my aunt's wedding last summer. It went uber well, I might've mentioned it on some other blog...but yea Otouto came down and unpacked while I was doing someone's hair...and I guess before I came down someone decided to take my violin and make a nice pic with it. Lolz, I guess it was one of the professional photographers. Otouto said it woulda looked better if my violin was clean of rosin but...I say it looks real that way. Lolz! I love my boo...the violin, not the brother.

Speaking of violins...and instruments in general...

the orchestra i play with...the row i sit in...

Yea I play with a mini orchestra...Church music...it's pretty fun...I do it for the music. Lolz. So we have...some violins...some violas down the line...then the row in front of us has woodwinds and some more violins. Lolz. I didn't know which pic was better. The idea came to me as I was playing and happened to look over...Actually I'd messed up and glanced over at Otouto to see if he'd noticed...Hahaha...but yea...I wanted to take a pic candidly but since I was playing at the same time as the rest of them, I didn't pick up my camera quick enough...so I had to spend a minute or too going "hold your instrument in play position, pass it on!" LOLZ! They're pretty awesome, those kids.

There was a fire Wednesday morning! Well...It wasn't a big fire...but it was on our floor. A neighbor came pounding on our door to tell us to get out because there was an actual real fire. Sometimes the alarm goes off and it's a false alarm so, people've stopped coming out. But this neighbor, he doesn't live on our floor, so Idk what he was doing on the floor, probably visiting people, but he was running up and down the hall pounding on people's doors to tell them to get out. He's really helpful. Otouto and I like him a lot. He's nice and friendly too. He's probably the neighbor we talk to most. Apparently the house that had a fire was right next door to us...but...the smoke to me seemed to be coming from way down the hall...Idk...

helpful hero : )

firetrucks yay!!!

Speaking of neighbors...I went down to CVS the other day...and one of my neighbors was outside the store and asked me for $20. At first I thought she said $2...but she actually said $20...so I gave it to her. Lolz. Then she had me stand there for like...5...10 minutes while she talked about how everyday she thinks about my dad and his smile and shizz...and I was like...that's nice...

And then I guess this dude saw me give her $20...or he just saw me...and came over and asked me to buy some Christian merchandise...$5 each...they looked real nice...and so I bought two of them and gave them to Mother.

It's not that I just have the money to give away but...why not you know?

Anyway!!!

Had a project to do for HNRS 353...

OMG kirbyyyyy!!!

I now love this game and want to buy the DS version... : )

The assignment was basically to map out an aspect of an old NES game. Idk if I did it right...but I did it. Me and this other girl got sorta...er...not upset...sorta...annoyed...at this other girl's project on it. She did the same game...but she basically took the Kirby's game for Nintendo and turned it into a board game. I didn't think that made sense! I mean...take a book and make it into a board game...fine...but take a game and turn it into a...game...? It was just so complicated and "much" to me. She had game pieces everywhere. And the thing with the Kirby game is that there's so much you can do, so much going on. And also, and Otouto actually said this before I did...Kirby's Adventure isn't a chance game...but the girl said that it was. And I didn't get that at all. Anyway...lolz...unless you've played the game you probably won't know what I'm talking about...or even if you have you still probably don't know what I'm talking about. But this was the most colorful thing I've done since I started college so...yea...that Kirby on the star took me like...1o whole freakin minutes! I actually drew the star hoping that when I colored it in it would make the eraser marks less noticeable but...didn't work. O well...heeheehee...I like Kirby second to only Pooh Bear.

Ok...Idk why but I always blog best when I'm at work. I started this post on Wednesday in class and now it's Friday at work...LOLZ! I did a buncha stuff and finally had an hour to myself so...why not blog? Lolz.

Ok so before I end...just wanted to talk about this singer. Shady Stone. I'd never heard of him before I downloaded one of his songs...and recently I tried to look him up and I found some other songs of his but no information about him. Someone said he's just an internet singer or something. At first his voice was a bit high and sorta whiny for me but...I like his songs a lot. Voice wise...it sometimes sounds like Cardin Nguyen's. But I don't like Cardin. He's...Idk...he sucks. Lolz. But anyway, Shady's voice has more variety...and it's so relaxinggggggggg. He sounds like...Ok let's just say that, if you (a girl LOLZ!) got in a fight with your boyfriend, and he serenaded to you outside your window and his voice is Shady's...you'd forgive him. Heck you'd jump out the window to him. I don't wanna make him sound too amazing...but I do like his voice and songs a lot. Especially "Chi Co Toi Yeu Thoi"...and "Thien Than Tinh Yeu." The little rap parts in his songs are good too...not as good as Eddy Viet but...pretty good. The English attempts at rapping suck but, s'ok. I don't think it's Shady that raps in his songs too...I think it's like...featuring someone or other.

OK camera whore-ing time!!!

i randomly felt like making a cell phone charm thingimajiger. It photos better when it's not swinging around.

Before I end...I'm probably not going to go over this post for grammar because I have to go pick Otouto up from school...and gdam it's just too long a post! So sorry beforehand! Ok here's some real camera whore-ing.

sOmEbOdy can't take a serious picture! you know one where they're not making weird faces!?

opp...there's one...

chya neeee!!!

It's...2:48AM...March...4th...I have...2 more pages to type...but what AM I doing...?

2009-03-04T02:27:00.002-05:00

O...just reading up on stuff on dramabeans.com...

WHY??? You ask...? Idk...

Ahh my head! It spinnnnnnnnnns!!!

I don't know how much longer I can continue to BS shizz...AHHHHHH!!!

I was going to just update on my weekend and shizz on this post but...It's 3:22AM and I am sleepy like anything!

I wake up at 8ish...I would skip out on HNRS 230 but that's the class in which I have to turn in my paper...I haven't even studied for my Anthro Exam2 yet! That's tomorrow! I mean today...Wednesday...And I have tons of things due for Thursday too...Ahhh might as well just not go to sleep!

But I can't...I'm weak...I'll just go to bed now...drag myself through the day tomorrow...pull another late nighter tomorrow night/Thursday morning...drag myself through Thursday...and then collapse. Then go to work on Friday...and drag myself through that...pull myself through a few hours of voluteering...and then...collapse for real!

And then it's Spring Break! Yay a fun filled-catch up time Spring Break! Yay yay yay...

Obviously I'm losing my mind.

Bai bai...

Oi....?

2009-02-24T14:22:00.002-05:00

The last time I went to a HT thingimajiger I told myself that I wouldn't go to any more unless it's a training and therefore I had to go. That's why I skipped out on going to the Dai Hoi HT in January. If you've read my previous posts you'll know why that is. But anyway! I had also decided not to go to the Tinh Tam (this weekend). But A. Phong gave me the puppy dog look as well as told me to not worry about the fee and then kept asking me about it for the rest of the night (we went to the movies with the NS) and so I guess...I decided to go. But then I went home...looked over all my class schedules and...omg there's a lot of work to do. So then I had to set everything up in my assignment notebook and I'm actually pretty on schedule. I haven't done all my work but...it's getting there. And if I continue to go as planned, I'll be able to go to the Tinh Tam no worries. I guess...the Tinh Tam is different than the training and the Dai Hoi. The training is...well...it's training. Doi...The Dai Hoi is, from what I've heard, a huge party-get-together kinda thing...The Tinh Tam is supposed to be more of a spiritual journey. I actually just wanna go to relax. We won't be going sightseeing or anything but I just sorta wanna have a nice, quite weekend away from this place. I just need a break. Lolz. I hope it goes well. And I hope it's "fun." Thien An is bringing food...I think...and movies...hopefully. And a lot of people are going so...IDK! We'll see. I'm sorta anxious though. The last time I went to a HT thing, it wasn't that great...and this time...IDK. I'm not going for the spiritualness....I'm going for the relaxation...so...hopefully it'll work. AISHHH!!!!

So like I said before, I went with the NS to the movies. We saw Coraline. It was pretty good actually. Lolz. I sorta sat by myself. Well...I was with the NS but...Tina had Kevin on one side and Thuy had Catherine on her other side so...I was sorta just there. I noticed it at one point during the movie but...whatever. I mean...Kevin is Tina's boyfriend...and Thuy and Catherine have always been close so, what'd I expect you know? Anyway, it was the last day for Coraline to be shown in 3-D. We were really looking forward to that but...there wasn't that much 3-D. I thought it was just me because I was wearing the 3-D glasses over my real glasses...but then later I found out from Tina that no...there just wasn't that much 3-D. But still, the movie was pretty good. But then again I love all Tim Burton stuff so...I'm sorta biased.

So last night I was doing my FAFSA and thought that I didn't have Mother's PIN. I was being so impatient...If I'd been a bit more patient and looked before I acted I would've seen that the PIN was stapled to my paper...Well...I did see it but I didn't open it to look inside so I thought it was just another copy of my PIN. Soooo I did all this stupid stuff and although the guy from Customer Service told me that I didn't need my mother to sign it for my school to get the info, and I can just submit and have it processed without the signature...I'm still nervous! But...IDK...so I'm gonna send in her signature for next day delivery and hopefully it all works out. Gdammit.

Er ok so...this week I have...

1) Ash Wednesday Mass at 7PM (playing with the orchestra) 2) A training at GBLC on Thursday 3) Cultural Cooking at GBLC and then heading out to the Tinh Tam.

OMG I bet it's gonna be like last time...all the HT say they're going and then they cancel last minute. AHHH!!!! NERVOUS!!!!!

Herm...I wonder what I have to pack...

O yea...speaking of GBLC...so Otouto and I were at GBLC last Friday and Lauren comes and tells us that the County has this television program in which they do short segments on people in the county. Their next topic is to promote volunteerism and Lauren wanted to know if Otouto and I would do it. And so I said YES! Duh! Well...I didn't say Duh...Lolz.

So then the guy in charge of the program or whatever contacted us and Otouto and I are gonna go into taping the week of my spring break. It's gonna be awesome! Lolz. Lauren thought, and the guy in charge agreed, that it'd be interesting to do a brother-sister twist. I was hoping that that meant they'd tape us together, I'd be less nervous...but I guess he wants to tape us separately...O well...I hope we do well. It'd be so cool...I've been published...online and soon hopefully on print (all very, very small things for work so don't even ask, Lolz)...and now I'm gonna be on real TV! Maybe. LOLZ! Ahhhhh sorta excited.

Ok so currently I'm feeling nervous, excited, anxious....and a bit calm? Calm before the STORM MANNNN!!! Ok maybe now I'm just high...

Here...an old, old picture showing my feelings...

fudge, bearwithnoname..., winterpooh, owl..., and blizzard...so obviously this was before i got...autumn pooh...summer pooh...and pooh pooh...o and baby pooh. lolz!

Shrimp Stuffed with Clam Mix

2009-02-24T14:01:00.002-05:00

Original Recipe (taken from whatscookingamerica.net):

Ingredients:

- 1 lb large shrimp, uncooked

- 3/4 cup soda cracker crumbs (about 18 crackers)

- 3 tablespoons butter, melted

- 1 (6-ounce) can minced clams

- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

- salt and pepper

- 1/3 sup sherry (dry or sweet)

- parsley sprigs for garnish

- lemon wedges for garnish

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving tails on. Using a sharp knife, butterfly shrimp by cutting along the inner curve or underbelly about halfway (almost completely through), leaving the tails firmly attached. Press the shrimp down flat like a butterfly.

- In a medium bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, butter, clams (including liquid), parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Stuff each of the shrimp with the clam mixture. Arrange the stuffed shrimp in a large baking dish; pour sherry around the shrimp.

- Bake approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until shrimp are opaque in center (cut to test). Remove from oven. To serve, arrange shrimp on a serving platter. Garnish with fresh parsley and lemon wedges. Serve warm.

What I did!!

Ingredients:

- A lot of shrimp, uncooked

- Cracker crumbs

- 3 tablespoons butter, melted

- 1 (6-ounce) can minced clams

- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

- salt and pepper

The ingredients waiting to be used...aside from the wine. Lolz.

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel, devein, and butterfly shrimp. Lay flat on baking...thing.

- In a bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, butter, clams (including liquid), parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Stuff each of the shrimp with the clam mixture. Arrange the stuffed shrimp in a large baking dish.

Prepare to be baked!!!

- Bake approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until shrimp are opaque in center (cut to test). Remove from oven. Serve warm.

YUM YUM YUM!!!!

Notes: Ok so I didn't change much about this recipe. I only took out the sherry part because well...I didn't have any. : )

Next time: I don't know yet!

Ok so recipes will be shown in 2 parts

2009-02-23T14:32:00.002-05:00

1) where I got the original recipe from and 2) what I actually did because I don't always follow the recipes exactly through.

Clams Steamed in White Wine Sauce

Original Recipe (taken from whatscookingamerica.net):

Ingredients:

- 3 to 4 lbs live small hard-shelled clams - also called cherrystone, littlenecks (in the New England states) and steamer clams (in the Pacific Northwest). (Note: If the shells are open, tap on shell. If it doesn't close after being tapped, toss the clam.)

- 3 tablespoons butter

- 1 small white onion, coarsely chopped

- 6 parsley stems

- 3 cloves garlic, lightly chopped

- 1 bottle dry white wine

- teaspoons red pepper flakes

- melted unsalted butter

- thick slices of French Bread

Note: The use of unsalted butter is imperative for this recipe, otherwise it is way too salty!

Note: FDA's recommendations are to soak steamer clams for several hours in seawater (or 1/3 cup coarse kosher salt and 1 gallon water) to which you have added 1 cup cornmeal. Use kosher or sea salt as the iodine in regular salt will kill the clams before they hit the boiling water.

Directions:

- One hour before serving, scrub clams with vegetable brush in cold water; rinse with water until free of sand (adding a little coarse kosher salt to the water will help remove the sand from the clams).

- In a steamer pot or large kettle, melt butter; saute onion and garlic until soft. Add white wine and pepper flakes and bring to a slow boil. Add clams and cover pot with a tight-fitting lid and steam over low heat just until clams open, about 5-10 minutes. Do not over cook, as clams will become tough and rubbery (discard any clams that do not open).

- Use tongs or a slotted spoon to transfer the clams to large individual soup bowls with individual cups of melted butter. Pour broth through a cheesecloth-lined strainer to remove any sand. The broth can either be used as a dunking liquid for the French bread or placed in mugs to drink.

- Eat and enjoy!

What I did!!

Ingredients:

- A few lbs live clams (I bought four pre-wrapped bags, don't really know how many lbs it was).

- 1 onion (coarsely chopped half, my onion was pretty big I guess)

- 6 parsley stems (chopped)

- 3 cloves garlic, lightly chopped

- 1 bottle dry white wine (I just used whatever was in my mother's desk drawer thing. At one point I thought I would have to borrow some white wine from Reed but apparently we really did have some. Don't know what brand, just knew it was dry white wine. I only used half the bottle)

The wine. I think it's California Chardonnay?

Directions:

Ingredients waiting to be used. : )

- Use a clean toothbrush to lightly scrub the clams. I read only that usually stores have already cleaned and washed the clams pretty well, it's just a precaution to wash and scrub them again. Place the clams in a netted container in cold water giving time for any other pieces of sand to fall into the bottom of a container. Regard the above picture.

- In a large pot, melt the butter, throw in onion and garlic.

Stir stir..

In 30 seconds or so, pour in half the bottle of white wine. Wait till it boils, throw in the clams. Cover the pot with a tight lid. In a few minutes, come back and use a ladle to move the clams around a bit. Put the lid back on. Continue checking every 5 minutes until it looks like most of the clams have opened. Should only take 10...15 minutes overall.

- Use chopsticks (; )) to take out the clams and place them on a plate for all to share!!!

WARNINGS! If using salted butter, don't put in too much. It makes the clams extra salty.

Note to self: Next time, try harder to find unsalted butter.

The finished product. Deeeeeelish!
Notes: I did some research after the fact and found out that you can do this without alcohol. Not for the reason that you're afraid of alcohol but more just that you don't have any available. I found a lot of sites saying that you can use CHICKEN STOCK instead of wine. I haven't tried it yet but I assume that it would be a bit saltier so maybe add some water? If and when I do try this way, I'll let you all know for sure!

Next time: Shrimp stuffed with clam mix YUM!!!

Ok so...I had this separate blog for food thingers.

2009-02-23T14:25:00.002-05:00

I decided to post recipes on them and actually leave available a comment section. In the course of the few months that that was on, I posted 1 post and had 1 in draft. : ) Therefore, I've decided to move that blog over here and just post food stuff on here.

I forgot what I wrote on the food blog but basically...I love to cook. Not very good at it. Not many chances to do it either. Once I brought up the idea of me cooking dinner from now on because Mother is too busy for it, yea I got yelled at. So now I only cook during "special" things and only spur of the moment-ly. If she knows about it beforehand, it never turns out well. Anyway...Just a little prelude. My next post will be a recipe. : )

This'll be a picture filled one.

2009-02-20T07:45:00.002-05:00

So much so that after looking at all the pictures...I can't remember what I wanted to say...

Well...to start off...school's been sucking. Period.

Work has been fine. As always. Knock on wood!!

Tomorrow there's dance practice of which Thuy and Hanna are in charge. During the DNH practice I told them that I wasn't taking charge of the practices for this song because they're in charge of it, choreography, teaching, talking with A. Phat, everything. And Thuy gave Hanna that sly look. It's hard to explain...or even remember now...but w.e. And I wonder if I should start a new traditional dance routine...Idk...

I've decided to dedicate my Saturdays all to TN. As in...for the remainder of the week don't expect me to do any TN stuff. I'll do dance practice in the mornings...TN...Choir...Mass...and after mass will be dedicated to the AN attendance stuff and choreo...if necessary. If I have a thing on Saturday then I'll do it the Friday night before but...otherwise...I don't think taking time out during the week to do it is helping with my other activities. So there.

Anyway...after mass tomorrow Otouto and I are going to the movies with the rest of the NS. I hope we don't see that cheerleading movie. But why o why do I have a feeling we will...? I told Tina we have to take lotsa pics so...I'll try to look not so terrible and maybe next post there'll be a prettier person. Lolz!

Hermmmmm....what else what else....? Well...I've been playing MySims Kingdom on my DS. Lolz! I finished the storyline which was freaking awesome! First time I've ever beat a storyline. Hahaha...and now I'm working at fulfilling each character. I've done three. I had my first glitch. Darn game blacked out on me when I didn't save. So now I save every 5 minutes. Lolz. Otouto told me to.

Valentine's Day was lame. Lolz. I hate Valentine's Day. Not with a passion but...I don't like it. It's a cheap excuse to trap your man, woo your girlfriend, and be lame overall. I mean...I have nothing against people who celebrate Valentine's Day but...if you loved your lover that much Valentine's Day should be just aNotHer day to show it. And to those of you single, lonely people, my heart went out to you. And to those single, happy people, I hope you rocked it!

This is about just as much "love" I got on Valentine's Day.

a buncha hearts i cut for the au nhi. i wrote "happy valentine's day" on it and huong taped candy to each heart and all the ht signed them. it was cute.

a game that c. ngan made the au nhi play. they each had a letter with a description of a ht. then they hadta guess who it was, find the person, get candy, and show a sign of valentine's...which is a sign of love i guess? this is my group spelling out 'i [heart] u.' hahaha....c.hai told them to do it. it was still cute. and then later richard gave me a candy from the bag the team got from me. hahaha.

the ht played a secret valentine game. this was my valentine.

I know...it's backwards...Lolz. Took it with my webcam.

It says....

"Nice, as in not too mean.

High energy, or just high.

Unbelievably easy to smile, laugh...(arrow pointing to) or just high.

Young, youthful (something I am not).

Unbelievably is a word. No need to check the dictionary. Please don't!!!"

Ok so...I have no idea who sent it. Lolz. I guessed A. Huy because...1) His kids use those stamps. 2) Handwriting...has to be a guy 3) He says he's not youthful which means it has to be one of the older HT...and 4) I have a tendency to fix A. Huy's grammar...it's 'cuz I care!!!

But I asked him and he said no. But then again...A. Binh asked C. KP if she were his secret valentine and she said no...even though she was. Huong and Thanh shoulda made a rule that said if it is you you have to admit it. Lolz. But Huong said that if I haven't guessed by Friday she'd tell me so...Imma text her and remind her. Lolz.

Okie...

The other day we went to visit my newborn baby cousin. Don't know her name yet...Mother said they don't tell you the baby's name until the day thang. ? Idk. It's a buddhist thing...she said...but...she's not buddhist so...Lolz.

isn't she cute???

Some random pics of my other cousin...the baby's brother. Some are from the day we came over to get some crayfish...some are from when we came over to have some steak. Man it was some yummy steak. Chu Hoa kept telling us to eat more and Otouto and I really wanted to but...we were so full. And Chu Hoa and Co Nam might've wanted us to eat more but...there were other people from their family there that...weren't as...inviting? Idk...whatever. And for that reason I didn't take pics of the steak but...here are cute baby pictures.

They're all of Albert. : )

with co nam. not his mother. just his aunt.

something's stuck...? : )

just kidding!! : p

The last two were from my camera phone...hence the bad quality. But still adorable! Lolz.

Yea the night we came over for steak was Valentine's Day. Apparently it was the guys doing all the cooking. Poor Chu Hoa had to do it for my family. Lolz. 'Cuz no Pops (tear) so Mother didn't have a guy. Not...a live one at least...and Otouto was a guy but couldn't cook so didn't matter...and I didn't bring a guy. Technically I wasn't supposed to do the dishes either but...I told Chu Hoa that since I didn't bring a guy this year, I'll at least do the dishes. He just laughed.

And another thing...Ba Bay made us clear the table. I mean...we know that Mother talks constantly of how when we go over there to eat, the other family members can eat and go...because they're rich, at holidays they just give money and there you go. But Mother has to eat and clean. Otouto and I usually just clear our plates and whatever else we brought out but, this time Ba Bay made us clear the table. Like...all the drinks, most of the plates, stuff that other family members brought out and then left. But at one point Chu Hoa locked us out of the kitchen so we couldn't anyway.

But I swear...when I have my own dinner parties one day...I'll have someone (paid) to clean up. Not make my poor relatives clean up after my rich relatives' messes.

ANYWAY! Was just a random rant.

Ok so...the other night was Otouto's school orchestra's fundraiser at Silver Diner. His volunteer shift was 7-8pm so we came early to eat dinner. I saw Mr. Revere. I don't know if he saw me but I didn't say "hi." I wish I had. Next time I will. He might've seen me. But I still hadn't gotten over my traumatic experience with saying "hi" to Mr. Laurie so...Lolz! But I liked Revere...I liked Laurie too...but...Now that I think about it Revere would probably've reacted nicer. Ah well...next time I swear!

a part of our entrees...

Was alright. I don't know how the salad was but the soup was a bit too salty. I didn't eat much of it.

crabcake basket appetizer.

It was soooo good! It's basically three mini crabcakes between bread and a tomato. Was really, really good.

dessert. brownie...vanilla ice cream...chocolate ice cream...whipped cream...cherries...caramel...

Yea...the waiter brought our dessert before our entrees which was...weird...We ordered it when we ordered the entrees but I thought that was just so he could take the menu away...O well...it was still good. The brownie was still warm inside...Ice cream was still cold...we gobbled it down. : )

me and otouto eating the dessert. : )

otouto's entree - shrimp and steak...? idk the actual name.

I had this the last time I was at the diner with Reed. I thought it was good...so did Otouto...lolz.

my entree...breaded steak...

Erm...overall it was a pretty good entree...but that was because of the mashed potatoes...corn...and broccoli. By a third into the steak I got tired of the break and ended up knifing off the bread. I realized that Reed had got this last time we were there and so...oopz. Lolz...It wans't terrible but. Also, I'd asked for rare and it seemed pretty well done.

brownie and ice cream dessert from a restaurant in Easton, MD.

This was a brownie I had our last day at Easton (business). I shared it with Rachel. This was really good too. The dessert from the diner reminded me of this. Lolz.

caramel latte from murky cafe.

After dinner I went across the street to Murky's for coffee while Otouto did his shift. Was yummy. The coffee was great, atmosphere was awesome...wish Reed'd been there.

Herm...I can't really think of anything else...Work...School...Church...Er...Yea...I'm a slacker...in all of those. Lolz. But I can't think of anything big.

I guess that's all. Wow this really was a picture post...anyway...

Silver Diner - Clarendon

Murky Cafe - Clarendon

Chya ne!

-------------------

Wait I thought of something else. I don't know if I mentioned this before but I downloaded GIMP...a photo-editing program. Similar to Photoshop. I love it! I learned how to add a "watermark" to my photos and it's so simple! I haven't looked up how to add borders but that's OK. The pics in the post had the "watermark" on them. I want to make my watermark a little signature drawing that I'm working on although...Idk if I can do that...so I'll have to work on it first but...for now it's looking awesome!

And also...just a bit ago me and some coworkers and the deputy chief went down to G2 in the other building to clean up the storage room. Then a bit after another coworker and our chief came down. At one point the chief goes...hahahaha...Ok he goes...

"Dam these people. If the door's open then think they can just stick it in." - GeeNie's Chief.

He was actually talking about how the door to our storage room has been open because the knob and therefore lock's been broken and so other people from the Service just stuff their "crap...I mean valuables" (another quote...from another coworker) in there...but...Omg I laughed out loud so hard when he said that. It's hilarious! Think about it.

I meant to make a banner with it but since I'm at work I have AdobePhotoshop and the only thing I know how to do with that is...resize...And I tried to do it the way GIMP taught me but...the buttons are in different places so...whatever. Later. Lolz.

-------------------a creepier part---------------------------------

Ok so everyone knows that my pops passed away in 2007 and most people...family...know that my mother has NOT gotten over it yet. She doesn't bawl or mop around really...but...subtly she does. Anyway...Idk if I've talked about this before but once...at night...I went to bed before Mother came home and at one point I felt someone kiss me on my temple...Thought it was Mother...but then when I turned around to face that direction and...I see someone leaving the room so I go..."mom..."...no response. Then I turned back to the direction I was facing before and...boom...Mother. Leaning in for a kiss. This time I was freaked so I go "MOM??" and she goes..."yea!" And I'm like..."did you just come in here before?" And she pauses before she goes..."If not me then who..." Like she knew, or wished, for something. This was after my dad died. So 1) If the first kiss was from her...why'd she lean in for another one on the other side? My face isn't that big. She coulda reached over if she wanted to kiss me on both temples. 2) If the first kiss was from her then why didn't she answer me the first time I called out "mom?" I sat up and called too 3) I was freaked. I know that if it was Mother, it had to have been Father's ghost...which should've been good right? Right...? Maybe I was watching too many horror movies at that point to find it good.

Then just the other day...I woke up when my alarm went off in the morning...but then went to lie down for just a few more minutes. I heard someone call my name...it seemed to be really, really loud but for some reason I didn't feel scared, I hardly even got up. Lolz. I thought it was my mother. So a few minutes later I go out to the living room and Mother's rummaging in the kitchen and suddenly, I hear myself asking her, I wasn't going to ask her, if she'd been in my room. And she goes "no, I've been in the kitchen." And I guess I must've given her a really horrified look because then she goes "it was your father. He's so linh. I wished for him to wake you up and he did." And I go "that's not funny. It's scary." And she goes "why...I wish for your father to stay around and help us."

And from then I furiously stomped into the bathroom...took a shower with my glasses on the whole time...and ran back into my room.

Aside from that being completely creepy...it also shows how selfish Mother is. Father is DEAD! Let him rest in peace! What can he possibly DO now that he couldn't do before? Let him move on! He deserves to be happy in HEAVEN or whereever!

-------------------a sadder part-feel free to ignore----------------------

The more I do random google searches on hospices the more I think I killed my father. Co Nam said she felt the same way with Ong Bay but...it's just a feeling. Well...when do I get over this feeling? I know I know...I did what the medicine told me to do...I did what the hospice nurse told me to do...but that's the thing. I did it. Otouto was going to be the one who gave Father his medicine (and I half am glad that Otouto wasn't the one because I wouldn't want him to feel this way...even though he probably wouldn't've), but no...Mother insisted that I did it. So I did...and then Father died, right then and there.

I got a Nintendo DS!!!

2009-02-13T08:36:00.002-05:00

Omg! And a game!!!! Pictures later. LOLZ! I just had to post that I'd gotten it, I was going to burst with happiness. Yes, I got it on my own, paid for it with my own money, and omg it was awesome! I've been paying for my own stuff for years but...it still feels great everytime to be able to buy something and know that it's yours. And not have to be nice to someone because they got it for you.

Speaking of that, that's why I don't like receiving presents unless they're from...Red...Dola...or Otouto...because i know that if they gave me a present, it's because they want to, not because they expect me to be nice to them. They can give me a present and two minutes we'll be discussing something and I'll go..."bitch" and they'll be like..."omg WHORE!" and it'll be all ok. Giving and receiving presents to and from other ppl are just...awkward...

Ok anyway...pictures LATER!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! hahahahaha.

-------------------------------- Update!

Ok so...here are the pictures of my DS!!! AHHHHH!!!! : )

being the idiot that i am...i couldn't open the box and so otouto had to do it for me.

THE DS!!! AHHHHH!!!! haha....i originally wanted the onyx (black) but the best buy that we went to didn't have it. so i got red.

again...i couldn't open it...

the DS being handled by my fat manhands. : )

= love.

Hahaha...Ok so obviously I'm super happy about that.

In other news...last night when Otouto and I were on our way home from Best Buy, I got a call from C. Phuong and found out from her that this Saturday's Chuyen Mon lecture is my gig. She did it last week so when C. KP sent out the schedule and it had both our names on it, the both of us just assumed that C. Phuong was in charge and I was helping. But no...it was the other way around. I mean...yea when we had our AN meeting I did sign up to teach Chuyen Mon but...I thought they were gonna train me first! I guess not. O well...C. Phuong helped me a lot in figuring out what to teach. The hard part was coming up with a lesson plan. That shizz was complicated! But I just followed C. Phuong's example and, she said it looked good so. Here's hoping all goes well! As rewards for my game after the lecture tomorrow I'm gonna give the winning team a box of Thin Mints. Lolz. The best reward right??

So remember some months ago when I said Red had "commissioned" some cards from me? Well here's the one I sent to him to give to Sara for Valentine's Day. He said he liked it but was wondering why I used green. I thought the green contrasted with the purple best. If I had a dark red or pink, I would've used that but didn't. Anyways he said he liked it but I think he's lying. : ) I hope Sara likes it enough though, if just a little.

you can't tell in the picture but the base color is green.
Speaking of Sara...her mom asked me to petsit for them in April. I actually wanna do it. They live close enough so that it's not hard for me to go back and forth. And it's some extra money which is always good. I'd prolly go to their place before school to feed the pets and walk the dog...then come back in the afternoon and just stay until night. I've never walked a dog at night alone before. I've never petsat before either. I hope I do well man!

At work today Rachel asked me to go through my database and collect some photos for her to use for a news...magazine...article...thing? Release? Something. So I did...and then she asked me to start writing captions for them. It wasn't...hard...but it was time consuming. Each one took like half an hour. I had to do some research to write the captions so it required going back and forth between multiple files and sites. Having double screens is uber cool but sometimes when I'm working really hard I tend to stare intently at the screen and having two screens means double the open windows and I get easily confused as is...

So I took a break at some point and looked up quotes to use as signatures for my emails and happened on this quote...which sorta applied to the work I was doing but not really...I guess it just applies to...well...life.

found the quote on preciouscreationz but made the banner myself using Photoshop!

That's about the only thing I know how to do on Photoshop. That and resizing and changing the pixels of images. I don't know how to do anything else and I think it's amazing when I see pictures of people that were photoshopped. I didn't even know you could do half that stuff! I mean...I don't care much that photos have been photoshopped...it's basically like putting on make-up but after the fact...I just find the photoshopping procedures extremely interesting. Like...photoshopping in eyelashes and stuff...how do you DO that??? It's intense...I think it's cool. I would never have the patience so I actually have a slight...not respect persay but I'm lacking the right word...for people who do that. I don't think there's anything wrong at all with photoshopping your pictures. I mean...if you can put on make-up to pretend you look a certain way, you can definitely photoshop to pretend you look a certain way. I just think the process of photoshopping is cool.

Have to go do taxes with Mother tomorrow. It's a Saturday so there'll be a lot of people. Dear God...I hope I have all the necessary paperwork with me tomorrow so that we can get in and out. I don't mind waiting a bit to get into the place and start, I just don't want them go to "O you need this and this more" and then I'd have to go home and get it and come back later and Mother'd be all pissed and crap. I'm gonna take notes this time. Lolz. So that I know for sure what to bring from now on. Aishhhh I just want to get it all over with.

That's all the...stuff...well...for now. Lolz. I often have these dry spells and then post like mad. Ah wellz.

Chya ne for now!!

So today I went to Starbucks after classes and when I got home I told Otouto about how the guy working at Starbucks was really cute.

2009-02-11T22:06:00.002-05:00

And so he says some stuff and then he finally says: "OMG look at him grind that ice...i'd like him to grind my ice." And that just completely made my freakin day. Lolz. Otouto is funny.

Today was really nice outside. Weather.com said that it was gonna get up to the 60s and it did, so I wore a short sleeved shirt to class. It was all fine. Except that the wind was horrid and I was freezing!

But still, weather was nice so after I got home I set up some chairs on the balcony and attempted to do my paper there. I never used the balcony to its full extent. I always thought about cleaning it up and sorta...setting up a mini desk area so I can do hw and stuff outside during spring and summer. Never got around to it. I absolutely love outside, I love weather. I hate nature. Especially the creepy crawlies part of nature. Freaks me out! Knock on wood. : )

So it was nice outside. I wore a long sleeved shirt to battle the wind...but I was wearing shorts so my legs were freezing. Although I could take the wind, I couldn't take that I only got one bar and so couldn't load the clip I needed for my homework and shizz. So I went inside. It was nice while it lasted though.

heehee...my shirt from work. it's not a uniform or anything. i've never actually worn it TO work...

So homework wise I had to write a mini inquiry paper for my HNRS 353 class. I got soooo distracted! See one of the reasons I wanted to do hw outside is because then nothing'll distract me. People don't distract me. Things do. So...obviously, after I went back into my room, I got bored and distracted a lot and this is what came of it...

i like that my legs are shiny. freshly shaven...but you didn't have to know that.

I would so get a Pooh Bear tattoo right there if it wasn't guaranteed to hurt. O wellz...one day maybe.

So...there's this song...Vi Anh Yeu Em...I heard it years ago and finally found it on my computer again awhile ago and started listening to it again. It's a Viet Rap song and for some reason, I'm freaking addicted to that song. I don't know what the hell it is. No matter what mood I'm in, I can always listen to that song. Usually I'll like songs for a bit and then just get freakin tired of it...but this song. It's like I can never get tired of it. It's this song and Without You by 1TYM. I never tire of that song either. No matter what I can always listen to those two songs.

Anyways, I decided today to look up the singer. At one point in the beginning he says "It's Eddy Viet..." But I thought he said "It's Every Viet"...so I looked that up but thank goodness he's popular enough so that the right name popped up when I searched. Anyway I went through some other songs of his that I found and...they're pretty cool. The lyrics are really nice and meaningful...

Ok I was going to post them but...that would take too long. I think the reason I'm so addicted to this song is because...it draws on my innate desire to be hurt by love. To by hurt by...anyone! Anyone other than someone in my family. I'm so tired of getting pushed around by my mother, I care a lot but...it hardly "hurts" anymore. And my views on relationships and boyfriends are so...open...that I don't feel as if I can ever put myself in the situation where I'd get hurt. I mean...basically...When and if I have a boyfriend...he can cheat, he can lie, he can do whatever the heck he wants. The only thing I require is that if he does all those things, I still have to be the main love in his life. So the only way for me to be hurt is if I was the whore and someone else was the main girlfriend. There's such a slim chance of that happening though right?

I know! It sounds weird...and I'll probably elaborate on it more in a later post. But what I'm getting at is...I have yet to be heartbroken. I've been told that I've broken a few but...they're just bitter. : )

It sounds insane but...it makes sense to me. It also probably draws on my desire to date a bad boy...a bad boy with a good heart....hahahaha. And as old as I am...I still think about that. Yes...there is a certain "bad" boy I have in mind...but I think I've found that guy's FB page (stalker!) and...I think he might turn out to be a nerd...Which is fine! But it changes the image. Which...doesn't really matter because like anything'll happen. Duh!

Hahahaha...Ok...anyway...check out the song "Vi Anh Yeu Em" by Eddy Viet. I never used to be that into Viet Rap but...I like Phong Le...and Eddy Viet. Phong Le's just funny...Eddy Viet's lyric's are really deep so. Yea.

a random picture i found on PhotoBucket. i like that site.

I want a Nintendo DS. There are some games on there that I'd like to play. I think...if I had one...I'd probably stay off iminlikewithyou.com. I've been spending wayy too much time on that site. I think it's 'cuz I've been watching horror movies again (found a great site for it) and when I watch horror movies (it didn't used to be like this)...I need to feel a connection with something real. Whether it be the TV...Otouto...random people on AIM...or more currently...people playing games on iminlikewithyou.com. But anyway...I saw some short Japanese ghost story movies yesterday and OMG...the first half was OK...but the second half...goddam! I almost scream ten thousand times! It was SCARY! I haven't been scared by a horror movie in awhile and these things...good God they just scared me. I should stop. Lolz. And that's why I need a DS....

Wait that's not a very good excuse. Well w.e. I just want one. There you go. And just for future reference for myself...I want these games to go along with the DS...:

- Pokemon - Brain Age - New Super Mario Bros. - Mario Kart DS - Mystery Case Files - Personal Trainer: Cooking - Mario Party DS - Nintendogs: Lab and Friends - MySims Kingdom - Animal Crossing - My Japanese Coach - Littlest Pet Shop - My Chinese Coach - Age of Empires: Mythologies - SimCity Creator - My Baby Boy - Dragon Ball: Origins - Hello Kitty Daily - My DoItAll - My Secret World

So basically I just went to the Best Buy website and scrolled through all the games on there and wrote down whatever looked interesting. Lolz. This'll help with my car rides on business trips or waiting in the airport on business trips and stuff....Yay! Ok so...I want that...but I also want a CriCut Expressions machine. Eh, maybe I'll get the DS first since it's cheaper...and then wait awhile before getting the CriCut and pray that by then the price has gone down and I have more money. : )

Ok so...I think that's it. I'm uber tired now.

also found this on PhotoBucket. thought it was cute.

Thao just commented me on FB and said that the professor was wondering if I was even in the class. I've only skipped twice! Good grief. I'll know not to mess with her again. Gracious. I just hope she doesn't ask me tomorrow. I'm not good with that. At least not in front of the class. Well, I could care less because I don't know anyone in the class aside from three people and I don't think they'd care...but still. Ah well, I emailed her a lame excuse...but at least the French was good! I think! W.e. But now for some reason I can't sleep. Lolz. Aish Ah well. Please just don't ask me about it in front of the class. I have a hard time thinking as is. I don't need the pressure!

Ok Anyways....

Chya ne!!!

P.S. I'm listening to "Vi Anh Yeu Em" again and...I think it's the lyrics. Because just having it on isn't helping, it's not paying attention to anything else and just listening to the lyrics that does it. Soothes me....

love my new layout!!

2009-02-10T22:21:00.002-05:00

"you're drunk." "you're sexy."

hahahaha...family guy...

i actually got a bit of work done today...well not really...but...at least it was something. not really that much in the mood to update but...just wanted to post something to push down the previous posts. lolz.

a real post later.

chya ne!

omg...i am about to explode...

2009-02-08T09:03:00.003-05:00

stop fucking testing me...i can only hold out a little bit if you continue to stay in my room i swear i will fucking kill myself goddammit!

you know...that's not a bad idea.

Ghet

2009-02-07T21:45:00.002-05:00

GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHET GHETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this weekend i got no work done. at all. whatsoever. depressed! yay for me!

2009-02-01T22:01:00.002-05:00

otouto tagged me on facebook and so i wrote this thing out...

------------

"Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you."

1. I love to eat...everything. Especially...ice cream...cake...ice cream cake...seafood...chocolate...oranges...bananas...pineapples...watermelonn!! I actually like to eat vegetables...if there is a sufficient amount of meat that goes with it.

2. When I was younger I used to have imaginary siblings. An imaginary older brother and 4 imaginary older cousins. I've always wanted an older brother. These imaginary relatives were always "there" for me...but then I started to grow up a bit and they appeared less and less. It's sort of sad.

3. I love what people usually consider "bad" weather. Love the rain...LOVE snow! Hail...sleet...it's pretty awesome...

4. I laugh and smile a lot. Especially when I'm nervous. That being said, I used to care a lot about other people's emotions. I got pushed around a lot in middle school because of that. I would always apologize for stuff when it wasn't my fault. I hated that. Then I got to high school and there was less drama because I just didn't give a shit when there was. Then people thought I was so nice I never got involved in drama, but fact was I just did not care. And I didn't have the time. After my father got cancer the first time, I realized that I was there to comfort myself. And no one cared about how I was feeling so why should I care about them? I still care about my mother's and brother's emotions a little too much currently even though my mother's the one who over-abuses my emotions but I don't care. With anyone other than my mother or brother, I don't care very much how you feel. Get used to it. Over half the world's population doesn't give a crap either.

5. I love watching horror movies but I know that if I were ever in any of those same situations...I'd prolly pee my pants.

6. I love my MacBook...and my camera...and my cell phone (no matter how many times I throw it against the wall).

7. I lOVEEEEE jewelry.

8. I like to dance and sing, although I'm not very good at either.

9. I play violin, keyboard, and guitar...in order of good to ok to at least I know the fingerings! Why so many instruments? Because music is my life.

10. If you get me a Cricut Expressions machine...I'll love you for life. You'll like that ; ).

11. I used to do Wushu but am taking a short break. I swear I'll go back one day. I wish I were better at it.

12. My brother and I actually get along. I know I used to beat on him when he was younger and sometimes still do...but he's the only one now who can take my temper. If you think you've seen me mad...unless you're Cuong, you haven't seen anything yet. I think Cuong's a g. That said...I can't stand my mother. It'll probably get better after I move out but...for now I can't stand her. We have too different personalities. Also, I can't stand it when my family gets pushed around. I don't care so much when it's my mother (because she just walks herself into those situations) although it still pisses me off. But I get uber pissed if my brother gets pushed around. Don't mess with him, I'll kick your ass. Obviously I care a lot about my family. IDK why, my mother bullies me more than anyone at school ever did but, for the sake of my father's happiness in heaven, I let her do as she wishes.

13. Some kids from school that I didn't know all too well and never thought even knew me voted me as one of the people who are so nice you can't bear to be mean to them. I KNOW! Weird right???

14. I love The Simpsons...Family Guy...American Dad...Friends...Sex and the City...Law and Order...CRIMINAL MINDS! Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer, ANTM, True Beauty (although the judges are lame),...Stuff and stuff...

15. I have a blog...in which I rant and post embarrassing pictures.

16. I'm a very independent person. I very much dislike spoiled children or those who depend on other people. I swear to myself that my boyfriend will never have to come over just to fix something for me because by the time he's heard that I had a flat tire I will have already fixed it as well as taken my car to the store for ice cream to celebrate myself. Because I'm so independent, I tend to look down upon those who depend on other people. At a certain age I think you should be able to fend for yourself (except for in certain situations) and if you can't, that's too bad, go die. It sounds harsh, I know! But that's who I am, and that's why I tend to hang around other independent people so that I don't get tempted to slap someone. I always run into a problem here though because my buddies who are independent people currently live far away...and so I'm surrounded by spoiled brats everywhere and am always tempted to smack someone. OOO the irony...that's irony right?

17. I speak English, Vietnamese, and French. In order of fluent to close to fluent to enough so that I can write short blogs in it.

18. I have a lot of acquaintances...a few friends...and very few buddies. If you were my buddy you'd know the difference between the three...if you were my friend you would probably think you're my buddy but you have no idea...and if you're my acquaintance I'm probably very nice to you.

19. Winnie the Pooh Bear can be considered my soul mate but I'm gonna marry Orlando Bloom and Daniel Henney...yes...BOTH! I'd marry Pooh Bear but...that seems to be a little unbelievable...

20. I didn't go through a normal childhood and so missed lotsa normal "kid" things. One of them being the "dream wedding" phase. Therefore every now and then I browse through wedding dress sites and daydream. Don't worry...it means nothing.

21. My life goal is to finish college, go on to grad school, get a doctorate...in anything...get a good job...buy a house...a nice car...and just LIVE. I wanna travel the world. My dream career is to become a diplomat, maybe even an ambassador! WHOA!!!

22. I love babies, they're cute! But I don't like children. They're annoying. I can get along with them but...If I had any of my own I'd probably pass them along to their father once they reach 5.

23. I have a twisted view on relationships that I'm very proud of but normal people dislike. If you LIKE going to church, you probably will not agree with me so don't even ask. 24. I pretty much care about nothing. I went through a very emotional phase...then a very nonchalant phase...then a semi-emotional phase...and now I'm going back to my "I just don't give a damn" phase...it works best!

25. My dad was, is, and always will be my hero. I miss him!

Man that took forever...back to homework! --------------

and i still haven't gotten any hw done. ah wellz.