The holiday bussle is over and life is busy as ever. For some reason I wasn't able to grasp the "christmas spririt" this year. Perhaps it was due to how commercialized everything is or it could be the stress of trying to find the "perfect" present for everyone and still manage to stay within budget. Despite my lack of spirit this year, I hope everyone else's holiday is happy.

It's amazing that 2005 is almost over. It's been a crazy year and I look forward to what's in store next year. =)

It's Google in Pig Latin! hehehe

http://www.google.com/intl/xx-piglatin/

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just around the corner. Where did this year go?? Thanksgiving was really nice. We had the typical tradition turkey with a flair of Chinese dishes :) Yum yum! Right after we stuffed ourselves, Jeff and I hopped into the car and drove down to Southern California. The drive was there was really nice. We saw friends and went to the overpriced, extremely crowded happiest place on earth. That's right, Disneyland. The whole weekend was a lot of fun up until we headed back home. Traffic was horrific and it took us 9 hours to get back. Boooo...

Anyway, this week was a bit tough. The first night it rained I didn't bring an umbrella so I ended up looking like a drowned rat by the time I got home. And then this morning I was walking to the train station this morning and realized that I left my wallet at home. *doh!* So I had to drive all the way back and then deal with the lovely traffic on the way there which made me an hour late to work. *sigh* It was a good way to test my patience and my sanity.

I want ice cream.

Anywhos, Happy Friday everyone!

The New White Flight

In Silicon Valley, two high schools
with outstanding academic reputations
are losing white students
as Asian students move in. Why?

By SUEIN HWANG
November 19, 2005; Page A1

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- By most measures, Monta Vista High here and Lynbrook High, in nearby San Jose, are among the nation's top public high schools. Both boast stellar test scores, an array of advanced-placement classes and a track record of sending graduates from the affluent suburbs of Silicon Valley to prestigious colleges.

But locally, they're also known for something else: white flight. Over the past 10 years, the proportion of white students at Lynbrook has fallen by nearly half, to 25% of the student body. At Monta Vista, white students make up less than one-third of the population, down from 45% -- this in a town that's half white. Some white Cupertino parents are instead sending their children to private schools or moving them to other, whiter public schools. More commonly, young white families in Silicon Valley say they are avoiding Cupertino altogether.

White students are far outnumbered by Asians at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, Calif.

Whites aren't quitting the schools because the schools are failing academically. Quite the contrary: Many white parents say they're leaving because the schools are too academically driven and too narrowly invested in subjects such as math and science at the expense of liberal arts and extracurriculars like sports and other personal interests.

The two schools, put another way that parents rarely articulate so bluntly, are too Asian.

Cathy Gatley, co-president of Monta Vista High School's parent-teacher association, recently dissuaded a family with a young child from moving to Cupertino because there are so few young white kids left in the public schools. "This may not sound good," she confides, "but their child may be the only Caucasian kid in the class." All of Ms. Gatley's four children have attended or are currently attending Monta Vista. One son, Andrew, 17 years old, took the high-school exit exam last summer and left the school to avoid the academic pressure. He is currently working in a pet-supply store. Ms. Gatley, who is white, says she probably wouldn't have moved to Cupertino if she had anticipated how much it would change.

In the 1960s, the term "white flight" emerged to describe the rapid exodus of whites from big cities into the suburbs, a process that often resulted in the economic degradation of the remaining community. Back then, the phenomenon was mostly believed to be sparked by the growth in the population of African-Americans, and to a lesser degree Hispanics, in some major cities.

But this modern incarnation is different. Across the country, Asian-Americans have by and large been successful and accepted into middle- and upper-class communities. Silicon Valley has kept Cupertino's economy stable, and the town is almost indistinguishable from many of the suburbs around it. The shrinking number of white students hasn't hurt the academic standards of Cupertino's schools -- in fact the opposite is true.

This time the effect is more subtle: Some Asians believe that the resulting lack of diversity creates an atmosphere that is too sheltering for their children, leaving then unprepared for life in a country that is only 4% Asian overall. Moreover, many Asians share some of their white counterpart's concerns. Both groups finger newer Asian immigrants for the schools' intense competitiveness.

Some whites fear that by avoiding schools with large Asian populations parents are short-changing their own children, giving them the idea that they can't compete with Asian kids. "My parents never let me think that because I'm Caucasian, I'm not going to succeed," says Jessie Hogin, a white Monta Vista graduate.

The white exodus clearly involves race-based presumptions, not all of which are positive. One example: Asian parents are too competitive. That sounds like racism to many of Cupertino's Asian residents, who resent the fact that their growing numbers and success are causing many white families to boycott the town altogether.

"It's a stereotype of Asian parents," says Pei-Pei Yow, a Hewlett-Packard Co. manager and Chinese-American community leader who sent two kids to Monta Vista. It's like other familiar biases, she says: "You can't say everybody from the South is a redneck."

Jane Doherty, a retirement-community administrator, chose to send her two boys elsewhere. When her family moved to Cupertino from Indiana over a decade ago, Ms. Doherty says her top priority was moving into a good public-school district. She paid no heed to a real-estate agent who told her of the town's burgeoning Asian population.

She says she began to reconsider after her elder son, Matthew, entered Kennedy, the middle school that feeds Monta Vista. As he played soccer, Ms. Doherty watched a line of cars across the street deposit Asian kids for after-school study. She also attended a Monta Vista parents' night and came away worrying about the school's focus on test scores and the big-name colleges its graduates attend.

"My sense is that at Monta Vista you're competing against the child beside you," she says. Ms. Doherty says she believes the issue stems more from recent immigrants than Asians as a whole. "Obviously, the concentration of Asian students is really high, and it does flavor the school," she says.

When Matthew, now a student at Notre Dame, finished middle school eight years ago, Ms. Doherty decided to send him to Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit school that she says has a culture that "values the whole child." It's also 55% white and 24% Asian. Her younger son, Kevin, followed suit.

Kevin Doherty, 17, says he's happy his mother made the switch. Many of his old friends at Kennedy aren't happy at Monta Vista, he says. "Kids at Bellarmine have a lot of pressure to do well, too, but they want to learn and do something they want to do."

While California has seen the most pronounced cases of suburban segregation, some of the developments in Cupertino are also starting to surface in other parts of the U.S. At Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Md., known flippantly to some locals as "Won Ton," roughly 35% of students are of Asian descent. People who don't know the school tend to make assumptions about its academics, says Principal Michael Doran. "Certain stereotypes come to mind -- 'those people are good at math,' " he says.

In Tenafly, N.J., a well-to-do bedroom community near New York, the local high school says it expects Asian students to make up about 36% of its total in the next five years, compared with 27% today. The district still attracts families of all backgrounds, but Asians are particularly intent that their kids work hard and excel, says Anat Eisenberg, a local Coldwell Banker real-estate agent. "Everybody is caught into this process of driving their kids." Lawrence Mayer, Tenafly High's vice principal, says he's never heard such concerns.

Perched on the western end of the Santa Clara valley, Cupertino was for many years a primarily rural area known for its many fruit orchards. The beginnings of the tech industry brought suburbanization, and Cupertino then became a very white, quintessentially middle-class town of mostly modest ranch homes, populated by engineers and their families. Apple Computer Inc. planted its headquarters there.

As the high-tech industry prospered, so did Cupertino. Today, the orchards are a memory, replaced by numerous shopping malls and subdivisions that are home to Silicon Valley's prosperous upper-middle class. While the architecture in Cupertino is largely the same as in neighboring communities, the town of about 50,000 people now boasts Indian restaurants, tutoring centers and Asian grocers. Parents say Cupertino's top schools have become more academically intense over the past 10 years.

Asian immigrants have surged into the town, granting it a reputation -- particularly among recent Chinese and South Asian immigrants -- as a Bay Area locale of choice. Cupertino is now 41% Asian, up from 24% in 1998.

Students in the library at Lynbrook High School

Some students struggle in Cupertino's high schools who might not elsewhere. Monta Vista's Academic Performance Index, which compares the academic performance of California's schools, reached an all-time high of 924 out of 1,000 this year, making it one of the highest-scoring high schools in Northern California. Grades are so high that a 'B' average puts a student in the bottom third of a class.

"We have great students, which has a lot of upsides," says April Scott, Monta Vista's principal. "The downside is what the kids with a 3.0 GPA think of themselves."

Ms. Scott and her counterpart at Lynbrook know what's said about their schools being too competitive and dominated by Asians. "It's easy to buy into those kinds of comments because they're loaded and powerful," says Ms. Scott, who adds that they paint an inaccurate picture of Monta Vista. Ms. Scott says many athletic programs are thriving and points to the school's many extracurricular activities. She also points out that white students represented 20% of the school's 29 National Merit Semifinalists this year.

Judy Hogin, Jessie's mother and a Cupertino real-estate agent, believes the school was good for her daughter, who is now a freshman at the University of California at San Diego. "I know it's frustrating to some people who have moved away," says Ms. Hogin, who is white. Jessie, she says, "rose to the challenge."

On a recent autumn day at Lynbrook, crowds of students spilled out of classrooms for midmorning break. Against a sea of Asian faces, the few white students were easy to pick out. One boy sat on a wall, his lighter hair and skin making him stand out from dozens of others around him. In another corner, four white male students lounged at a picnic table.

At Cupertino's top schools, administrators, parents and students say white students end up in the stereotyped role often applied to other minority groups: the underachievers. In one 9th-grade algebra class, Lynbrook's lowest-level math class, the students are an eclectic mix of whites, Asians and other racial and ethnic groups.

"Take a good look," whispered Steve Rowley, superintendent of the Fremont Union High School District, which covers the city of Cupertino as well as portions of other neighboring cities. "This doesn't look like the other classes we're going to."

On the second floor, in advanced-placement chemistry, only a couple of the 32 students are white and the rest are Asian. Some white parents, and even some students, say they suspect teachers don't take white kids as seriously as Asians.

"Many of my Asian friends were convinced that if you were Asian, you had to confirm you were smart. If you were white, you had to prove it," says Arar Han, a Monta Vista graduate who recently co-edited "Asian American X," a book of coming-of-age essays by young Asian-Americans.

Ms. Gatley, the Monta Vista PTA president, is more blunt: "White kids are thought of as the dumb kids," she says.

Cupertino's administrators and faculty, the majority of whom are white, adamantly say there's no discrimination against whites. The administrators say students of all races get along well. In fact, there's little evidence of any overt racial tension between students or between their parents.

Mr. Rowley, the school superintendent, however, concedes that a perception exists that's sometimes called "the white-boy syndrome." He describes it as: "Kids who are white feel themselves a distinct minority against a majority culture."

Mr. Rowley, who is white, enrolled his only son, Eddie, at Lynbrook. When Eddie started freshman geometry, the boy was frustrated to learn that many of the Asian students in his class had already taken the course in summer school, Mr. Rowley recalls. That gave them a big leg up.

To many of Cupertino's Asians, some of the assumptions made by white parents -- that Asians are excessively competitive and single-minded -- play into stereotypes. Top schools in nearby, whiter Palo Alto, which also have very high test scores, also feature heavy course loads, long hours of homework and overly stressed students, says Denise Pope, director of Stressed Out Students, a Stanford University program that has worked with schools in both Palo Alto and Cupertino. But whites don't seem to be avoiding those institutions, or making the same negative generalizations, Asian families note, suggesting that it's not academic competition that makes white parents uncomfortable but academic competition with Asian-Americans.

Some of Cupertino's Asian residents say they don't blame white families for leaving. After all, many of the town's Asians are fretting about the same issues. While acknowledging that the term Asian embraces a wide diversity of countries, cultures and languages, they say there's some truth to the criticisms levied against new immigrant parents, particularly those from countries such as China and India, who often put a lot of academic pressure on their children.

Some parents and students say these various forces are creating an unhealthy cultural isolation in the schools. Monta Vista graduate Mark Seto says he wouldn't send his kids to his alma mater. "It was a sheltered little world that didn't bear a whole lot of resemblance to what the rest of the country is like," says Mr. Seto, a Chinese-American who recently graduated from Yale University. As a result, he says, "college wasn't an academic adjustment. It was a cultural adjustment."

Hung Wei, a Chinese-American living in Cupertino, has become an active campaigner in the community, encouraging Asian parents to be more aware of their children's emotional development. Ms. Wei, who is co-president of Monta Vista's PTA with Ms. Gatley, says her activism stems from the suicide of her daughter, Diana. Ms. Wei says life in Cupertino and at Monta Vista didn't prepare the young woman for life at New York University. Diana moved there in 2004 and jumped to her death from a Manhattan building two months later.

"We emphasize academics so much and protect our kids, I feel there's something lacking in our education," Ms. Wei says.

Cupertino schools are trying to address some of these issues. Monta Vista recently completed a series of seminars focused on such issues as helping parents communicate better with their kids, and Lynbrook last year revised its homework guidelines with the goal of eliminating excessive and unproductive assignments.

The moves haven't stemmed the flow of whites out of the schools. Four years ago, Lynn Rosener, a software consultant, transferred her elder son from Monta Vista to Homestead High, a Cupertino school with slightly lower test scores. At the new school, the white student body is declining at a slower rate than at Monta Vista and currently stands at 52% of the total. Friday-night football is a tradition, with big half-time shows and usually 1,000 people packing the stands. The school offers boys' volleyball, a sport at which Ms. Rosener's son was particularly talented. Monta Vista doesn't.

"It does help to have a lower Asian population," says Homestead PTA President Mary Anne Norling. "I don't think our parents are as uptight as if my kids went to Monta Vista."

Why is it, when fall season starts, that the early morning air smells like onion? Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that? Maybe my nose is playing tricks on me...

Halloween is around the corner and I have to admit that it's not exactly my favorite time of year cuz 1. I hate being scared and 2. I REALLY hate being scared. On the bright side, I get to indulge in a plethora of candy and sweets *grins* Watch out cavities, here I come!

Jeff and I carved pumpkins last week. Pretty cool lookin' huh?


Happy Halloween everyone!

Wow, I really stink at this blog thing. How long has it been since I've written?! TOO LONG! So let's catch up!

1. Happy Birthday shoutouts to Jackie, Beryl, my Sis, Longi, Adam, and Shanta! Hope ya'll have a good one =)

2. I have a place of my own!!! and now I'm in debt and my friends and family never want to put furniture together again. =P

3. Going to see Mxpx and Relient K next month. YAYAYAYAY!!!

Thank you everyone for all the e-cards, messages, and gifts! It made me feel special. Birthdays are one of the only days I feel I can get away with anything and not feel super guilty *grins* What an eventful weekend! On Saturday I had lunch with my parents at a yummy japanese restaurant. It's one of those hole-in-the-wall places with to die for sushi! :) Later that night we group of us went out to San Francisco and at a wonderful Peruvian restaurant. I might have to add that to one of my top 5 fav. foods. Afterwards saw fireworks and it was the most amazing fireworks show I've ever seen. Sunday was another day of eating! YUM! I went to 2 BBQs. (prolly not going to do that again cuz I kind of overdid it and felt a little sick by the end of the day but the food was well worth it!)

Other things that happened this week:

- I went to bible study and FELL ALSEEP. They shouldn't feed you and then put you in a 45 minute meditation/relaxation period AND have pillows available and expect us to stay awake. It's just asking for a nap!

- I did more packing. My room is starting to smell like cardboard from all the boxes :oP I'm a few steps closer to being done! My whole apartment is almost furnished. I still need a coffee table, computer desk, and a bookshelf. Anyone know of ppl giving away these things? Let me know! :o)

So I was surfing the web and came across this:

"If you go shopping with a Libran, best to plan some extra time! This sign can be terribly indecisive when it comes to purchasing. Balancing their money, however, is a snap for the Libran. Keeping a good balance between savings and spending money is a real talent for these folks. Their love of fashion and housewares can see them out and about in stores quite often. One of the Libran's favorite pastimes is to shop for someone special."

*ahem* I think they're right on about the "spending money" part but I seemed to miss the "Saving Talent" train. :-P

Have you ever switched to a new laundry detergent and noticed that it smelled so good that you couldn't help but sniff your clothes every 2.5 seconds? My clothes smell so nice! *sniiiiifffff* I must look like a freak at work... either that or they think I'm checking for B.O. :oP~~

So I'm sitting at work and my bosses are sitting together over in the next cubicle chattering in German. It's frustrating enough not being able to understand a word they're saying, but it's even more frustrating when you hear them drop thier voices down to a whisper. Like that makes a real difference since none of us can understand it anyway.

It's a conspiracy I tell you!

*sigh* I'm just happy it's Friday. YAY for a 3-day weekend!

Yosemite here I come! WOOOOOOOO!


I'll have pics when I return :)

Creating a budget blows. Not only is it depressing adding up all the bills and expenses for the month, but I end up having a panick attack thinking that I'll end up as a beggar on the streets of San Jose.

No fun.

To contribute to my excess spending, I recieved an outrageous bill for my health insurance (evil!). They couldn't have picked a better month to send the bill. Instead of billing month to month for the summer, they decided to clump three months together. *Argh!*

Anywhos, I'm going to sulk myself to sleep and dream that a money tree will grow in my room. :)

So last night I had dinner with my small group and we chowed down on good 'ol greasy chinese take out. Everything was going dandy until I was chewing on something that didn't feel quite right. Turns out it was one of those tiny red hot peppers that are meant to be placed on the side of the plate and never to be eaten...EVER.

Holy moly.

I couldn't even feel my taste buds and I thought all of them got nuked by the evil pepper. I ended up downing a liter of milk before my tongue was back to normal. Needless to say, my tummy wasn't very happy.

Jeff and I made a trip to Southern California this weekend and for the first time this summer I stepped foot on a beach! We arrived late Friday night (delirous and tired) and hit the beach Saturday afternoon. The skies were clear and the air was warm. It was perfect... until we started to head home and hit the worst traffic in history. To top it off, it was one of those traffic jams that existed for no reason. No car accident, no major merging, nothing! By the time we got back, I felt like a big puddle of "blah". Soon after we cleaned up and headed out to dinner. It was fun. Good food and lots of laughs :) Unfortunetly, we had to head back the next day and go back to the "real world". *sigh* Nonetheless, it was so good to see everyone. :o)

Congratulations Marc and Shanta! :) I miss you guys. Come back soon!

After weeks of planning, I'm happy to say that Shanta's bridal shower was loads of fun! Nothing can beat yummy sushi, cheesy shower games, and Leo in a wedding dress made of toliet paper. It was a classic moment.

Saturday night we celebrated Alli's birthday by taking her out to a superb Singaporian restaurant in downtown Mt. View. *yum!*

This week will be a bit eventful. I was walking to work this morning and almost got hit by a car. I think I lost about 47 hairs when that happened. Hopefully I can manage to stay alive for the wedding this weekend.

*Photo borrowed from Jen Bullock. Thank you! :)

I think I've been a little bit lazy with my blog. *guilty look* So what's been going on? I've spent the last few weeks prepping for Shanta's bridal shower, eating, going to movies, getting addicting to coffee from lack of sleep (oops, that one slipped out) heh heh... Yes folks, I've officially caved in. I figure that a happy Amy is better than a grumpy one :-P

I accientally threw away my credit card in Jen's trash can the other day and Jen was brave enough to sift through her garbage to get it for me. (THANK YOU!) I've also managed to get attacked by fleas from my kitty. Myleft arm looks like it's been attacked by the red polkadot monster. Advantage to the rescue! Has anyone noticed all the summer sales going on in the mall?!?! *sigh* I think I'm a shopaholic in denial. You know it's bad when you spend your lunch break looking at clothes and shoes instead of eating... HELP! (Shanta, you're not allowed to help. j/k)

So besides being broke, I've been entertained by Alli's new kitty, Momo. Isn't he cute? The thing is a complete spazball. I've never seen a kitty do so many flips and jumps out of the blue. I'm starting to believe that he was an acrobat in his past life.

I admittedly have to say that I'm hooked on "24" thanks to Jeff. So if I happen to dissapear, you can blame him. ;-)

Okay, back to work...

Okay, this whole no coffee thing is not working. I recieved a Starbucks gift certificate on Monday for taking a survey. I took it as a sign that the coffee gods were speaking to me and made a trip to Starbucks the next morning.

This week has been pretty crazy. I won't bore you all the little details but it's a combination of family/friend functions, working on invites, shopping (just a little... heh heh), yummy dinners, and more dead things that my cat dragged in.

Oh! I went to Tahoe with some of my good highschool friends last weekend. I'll post more about it when I get some photos up here.

Any plans for Fouth of July anyone?

I'm not a coffee addict. I'm really not. So cutting it out as part of my daily intake will be no big deal... Okay, so far I've lasted 38 hours and 55 minutes. Not bad! I can do this. So you're probably wondering why I would torture myself like this. Reason: I DONT KNOW. Arrghhhh! Well, okay, the obvious reason is health ... Oh, and keeping my teeth from looking like wood. *sigh* It's going to be a long week...

P.S. Green Tea doesn't count, does it?

Embarassing momment of the week:

I got off work and was walking across an empty alley when a mini van zipped right out infront of me and almost turned me into road kill. I thought the van was going to continue to move foward to get onto the main street so I kept walking, not paying any attention to anything and then *wham* I walked right into the back window of the van. I was holding my water bottle and it made a *crunch* sound. Um. Yeah. The driver probably thought I was crazy. Not to mention everyone else on the street probably saw me and thought the same. Seriously, when do you ever see someone smack into a moving car?! Arrghh.. I was completely mortified and kept on walking like nothing happened. *sigh*

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What a weekend! A group of us went to Sonora to go backpacking for Memorial Day. Despite the lack of sleep, bruises, scratches, and cuts, the trip was well worth it. The nature was incredibly breathtaking (as always). This pic was taken on the 2nd day when we hiked to the top of the mountain. We even saw snow up there! It's definitely a once a year kind of trip yet I can't wait to do it again.

IMG_0578

Misty's done it again! I walked into my room in time to see my cat toying with something and it turned out to be a completely traumatized baby bunny. I think we're going to keep it :) Hopefully this time we can keep it alive!

I had one of those nights again. The "my brain won't shut up" nights. As a result, I only had 3 measly hours of sleep last night with the theme song of "Alvin and the Chipmunks" running over and over in my head. (yeah, just a tad bit annoying) I feel like the biggest crankster on the planet right now. I even tried drinking warm milk (which is the nastiest smelling thing ever and probably the dumbest thing to do since I'm a milk reject (aka lactose intolerant) and I ended up with a major stomach ache.

So during all my tossing and turning, I look over to see my cat sleeping soundly and was extremely irratated with the fact that she could sleep and I couldn't. So being the mature one that I am, I kept waking her up about every 10 minutes or so. I think she hates me now. Needless to say, the both of us were yawning our brains out this morning.

Today is what I would call "A Bad Hair Day". I spent a good 30 minutes this morning trying to tame down the "poof" on top of my head. (I slept with my hair wet last night... no bueno) So not only was I running late but there was major traffic on the freeway because of the rain. I was so close to missing the train. (it was like those scenese you see in the movies when the person just barely slips through the doors) So while I was sprinting to catch the train, I forgot to bring my umbrella and my hair is now back to "poof". Ughhh... Someone tell me a bad hair story so I feel better :(

During this week my cat has gotten into this habit of falling asleep on my stomach. It's not too bad for the first 5 seconds but after a while I feel like I have a bowling ball on my tummy. Maybe if this continues, my stomach will miraculously be flattened by her. Just a thought :D

One thing I love about San Francisco is that there is always somewhere to go on your lunch break. I decided to stop by a cute boutique called "Jeremys" and found myself surrounded by extremely expensive designer clothing and shoes. After torturing myself by looking at the price tags, I decided that I should probably leave before buying something that would make a dent in my bank account. *sigh*...

When I got back I realized that I had major garlic breath (from a sandwich I had earlier. I swear, they put like 3-4 cloves of garlic in it! It was yummy) so I was asking around for mints. Co-worker #1 gave me a "fun size" packet of Bottlecaps. It really didn't do much but I can't pass candy up like that! So Coworker #2 started making fun of me for being "unhealthy" for eating candy. I stood up and looked over the cubicle wall just in time to see him stuff his face with a handful of potato chips. It was GREAT! haha. Calling me unhealthy... HA! That was my laugh for the day :)

I was getting frustrated at work today and then I came across this quote:

"Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds."
~Albert Einstein

I think I feel better now.

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone!

Last September I took a trip to Taiwan and lost my rose stone necklace in the rain. Two hours later we returned to the same area and amongst all the crazy cars avoiding to hit the thousands of people bustling in the street, I spotted a little pink stone on the wet ground. It turned out that it was my necklace and I was happily reunited with it.

Fast foward to today...
I was walking to work yesterday and when I got near South Park, I noticed that my charm had fallen off my chain. *sniff sniff* I spent my lunch hour wandering up and down Brannan and 3rd steet hoping that I could find my little silver charm. No such luck. I decided to give up for the day, concluding that I would never see it again. I was walking to work this morning in the drizzling rain thinking," oh great, RAIN... no chance of finding it now". When I was approaching my building, I looked down and lo and behold there it was... my little silver charm. HOW COOL IS THAT!? The rain gods must love me :)

Lights, camera, action! I was walking to work when I noticed that South Park didn't look the same as it usually does. There was a big metal sign hanging from one of the poles saying "Thompkins Square Park". The area was surrounded by a green fence and the planters had flowers overflowing in them. They even had a few hot dog stand outside. Turns out that they're filming a scene for the movie "Rent". It's moments like these I wish had my camera!!!

All the cafes around the area are closed. It was funny walking in and seeing everyone in the office going crazy because they couldn't get thier coffee. My boss drove out and made a Starbucks run to satisfy our coffee cravings... ahh, gotta love the coffee addicts.

I went to my parent's house this morning to help my mom sort through photos for the funeral. It was interesting hearing my mom tell me stories that went along with each photo. There was a photo of me when I was about 1 years old and it looked like I had just balled my eyes out. My eyes were red and my cheeks were puffy with red blotches. What happened was my uncles placed me in a blanket, each holding an edge of the blanket and had me bouncing around in it .... and then they accidently dropped me. Hmm... not sure if I really needed to know that.

The day went on and my mom continued to recount her memories growing up. My grandparents were illiterate, didn't know an ounce of english, were completely uneducated, yet they were able to fly over from Taiwan to the states for the first time at the age of 83 just so they could see thier daughter. That's pretty freakin' awesome.

My grandpa passed away last night. He accepted Christ a few hours before he left this world. I think the one thing that I'll always remember about my grandpa is that he always wanted what was best for our family. He was also very good at feeding me fruit...lots and lots of fruit :) Sigh. I feel a little awkward right now... a little numb.. a little apathetic. I honestly don't know how to react. But the one thing I do know is that I will miss him greatly.

Last night I found a half-eaten bird in my room. (bloody, bones, and all) Okay, I know cats don't know any better, but that's DISGUSTING! *aarruughhhhh!!!!* How do people who have indoor/outdoor cats do it?!? Almost every night I find a "surprise". I'm starting to not like surprises anymore. Let's tally up all the unwanted creatures I discovered in my room.

Birds = 2
Rabbits = 1
Lizards = about a gazillion

Solutions anyone?

Oh yeah speaking of nature, Happy Earth Day everyone!

There's nothing better than sleeping in, cooking a nice meal, and vegging infront of TV all day. That's exactly what I did yesterday. Ahh... the simple pleasures... Unfortunetly, I have to return to the "working world" and rack my brain to make cheesy ads for all the paranoid people out there! *sigh* Time to focus!

ohgod

Give_God

walmart

My bank account is suffering. (or more like I'm suffering because of my bank account) I told myself that I wouldn't go shopping Friday. The next morning my friend calls and wants to go to the Gilroy Outlets. (okay, at this point I'm thinking that I can go shopping without buying something. No problem. I've done it before so I can do it again) So we not only go to the Gilroy Outlets but we "conviently" stop by Santana Row and Valley Fair on the way back. (you're probably thinking that I caved in a bought something. Yeah, you're right... Okay OKAY so I bought a "few" things! Why do stores have to have so many cute things?! So last night I sat down to balance my checkbook and realized that this is my third weekend that I've gone shopping this month. I think I might be turning into a shopaholic... *gasp* I've gone to the other side!

Note to self: Don't listen to standup comedy when you're at work. It makes you sound like an idiot when you try to cover up your laughing.

My first post!

I've decided to catch up with the rest of the world and start my own blog. I spend a good chunk of time being the professional web sufer when I'm at work. I might as well put the time into good use.
So my dad left for Taiwan last night. I think he really misses spending time with the rest of the family. I was a little sad to see him leave. It's funny, my dad and I have this hate/love relationship and it's always determined on his mood. Mad dad = unreasonable arguments/nagging that never end up anywhere. Happy dad = silence :)