FallingLEAVes of Sunshine

It will only have been five months since my camera broke ... Five months without taking a single picture on my own digital camera ... Five months was how long I lasted. Too bad I didn't do this a month ago! If you haven't figured it out yet ... I'm getting a new digital camera! It's a Canon Powershot S3 IS. Here's some of the things about it: 12x optical zoom lens with USM and UD lens element Optical Image Stabilizer 6.0 Megapixel CCD Larger size 2.0” Vari-angle LCD 30fps VGA movies with stereo sound and Photo in Movie feature DIGIC II, iSAPS and Flexizone AF/AE for fast, precise results and 2.3 fps continuous shooting performance 20 shooting modes and My Colors photo effects High ISO Auto and ISO 800 for low light flexibility Widescreen (16:9) recording Photo In Movie feature enables the capture of full resolution digital stills during video recording Offers 20 shooting modes including full Manual mode, Aperture Priority and Shutter Speed Priority My Colors (Of...

Caption: One of the members of the Newsboys takes quite a fall during a recent concert. Okay, so it couldn't have been that recent because Phil is no longer with the Newsboys, as of December 31st. But still.... poor Phil! I hope he didn't hurt his bass or himself. Awww...

For TWOO WEEKS!!! Not for good, for anyone who remembers that debacle. And technically, I'm only going to be there for little over a week. I'm arriving on the 6th and leaving on Russ' birthday. Of course I have to be back in town to celebrate my hubby's birthday. JUST KIDDING!!!! Here's some pictures from when I went three years ago. The first one is of my uncle Sann (dad's younger brother, #4), my aunt letty (dad's youngest sister, #), and my aunt letty's two youngest kids (Kevin and Kelly) Then there's my twin uncles above, Meng and Sann (#5 and 4). The picture with me in it is with my twin uncles and Letty's youngest kids. If that's confusing, try this: 姚明耀 (姚文堅) (b. 1948) -- Uncle Tony 姚明宗 (姚文龍) (b. 1949) -- Uncle Long 姚明哲 (姚文斯) (b. 1955) -- My dad 姚明雙 (姚文彬) (b. 1962) -- Uncle Sann 姚明全 (姚文彪) (b. 1962) -- Uncle Trung 姚慶玲 (b. 1965) -- Aunt Christina 姚慶涼 (b. 1966) -- Aunt Letty Now in case you didn't know, that's seven out...

Okay, so I haven't posted anything of importance in a long time because I didn't think it mattered or anyone paid attention to this thingy probably because I don't post anything of importance anyway. After the first few days of the new year, might as well post something. Even Chris has posted! Though ... it seems the blogging world has died down quite a bit. To start off the new year we have new scratches on my car! Actually more than that. I scratched the passenger side and broke part of the driver side where the mirror is. Pictures down below. How did I do it, you ask? Well, I was backing out of my drive way last night and on the phone. Mind you, I've done this a million times ... though usually in broad daylight. Didn't realize I wasn't backing out straight till I heard the crunch of metal. I looked to my left and saw my rearview mirror had caught the fence! Boy oh boy. I pulled forward to straighten my car and hit something on the side of the house. So now m...

Newsboys Bass Player Leaves Band By Anne Thomas Christian Post Correspondent Tue, Jan. 02 2007 10:09 AM ET Internationally renowned Christian band Newsboys recently announced that their bass player, Phil Joel, has left the band to devote more time to family and personal goals. He parted ways with the band Dec. 31, 2006 . "I'll always be a newsboy, it will remain a strong part of who I am", said Joel. "I've grown up with the guys and they'll always be brothers to me and the past 12 and a half years have been amazing." "We will miss him," said frontman Peter Furler. "We appreciate him, and wish he and his family only the best for the future." The band just completed a successful tour of Singapore and China without Joel as a four-piece with mates Paul Coleman and Jeff Frankenstein taking up additional vocal and bass duties. The boys have decided at this time not to replace Joel, but to perform on their upcoming North Ame...

Because we found one on the highway! It was too funny. Since Sunday services were canceled here in L.A., a couple of us decided to venture up to Tehachapi to join them for theirs. A couple meant two cars: Jack's and mine. On the way back, we had just gotten on the highway when lo and behold: tail lights! Up ahead, we could see two highway patrol cars at the front line, doing their thing where they block/slow down traffic. Finally, they got on the side (one to the left, one to the right) to let the traffic go. They had their lights on and pointed to our right side. I look to see what the lights are pointed at, and there's this COW on the side of the road! Hilarious! Going to Tehachapi is always fun. On the way from the Stallers to the church, I was following Jack and he took the "scenic" route to the church. And then on the way home, Nina spotted a Starbucks in Palmdale. We got off, got our drinks, and I got on the only freeway onramp I could find. Unfortunately, it wa...

Tnoight, around nine, I left my house to go pick up my brother in Glendale. As I was going up Colorado, I drove past the Galleria and saw some police activity going on. There were three/four guys sitting on a sidewalk, with a couple cops with them. After I picked up my brother, we went back down Colorado to get back to the freeway. The same guys were still there. The second intersection after that, we were stopped at a red light. Normal stuff right? Well, to my right, this white SUV pulled up next to us and the driver got out. First thing that came to my mind is... "is he going to say something to the guy in front of him? I hope he doesn't have a gun." Don't worry folks, he didn't have a gun. However.... He started to pummel the driver of the black SUV. My windows were rolled up and my music down low. But I could hear the thud of each punch. He just kept hitting him through the window, which was rolled down. I was telling my brother "oh my goodness, what do w...

Who I saw today and how much I spent.... today, after I finished my LONG shift at work... I picked up Nina so she could come with me to the Galleria so I could pick up my things at my store. This week is a 50% off promotion for all associates. So, I had some things on hold at my store that I wanted to buy. Instead of parking near my store, I parked near the food court. Nina and I were walking when she saw someone waving at us. I was oblivious (just like I was oblivious to how close that guy was standing behind me at the Dodger game) to this person. Nina saw who it was, recognized him, and turned me towards the person. It was Gabriel! Mind you, I haven't seen Gabriel since his last day. He was on his dinner break. SIGH. That's all I've got to say about him. On the plus side, Juan/Johonny/John/whatever-his-name-is was still at Gloria Jean's when we walked by. So, does anyone care to speculate how much I spent at Talbots today?

That's where I'm working this week! They're short on staff this week and my manager asked me if I wouldn't mind working there. It would be a nice (very nice) change of pace, so I said I would. The reason they're short on staff: 1) The store manager is helping with the opening of another store somewhere else 2) They have one associate who only works on weekends (we have one of those too) 3) Another associate is on vacation in Brazil for this week So, if you have six or seven employees, and half of them are gone... who do you have running your store? The one associate I met today only works two days this week. I see their shipper/receiver more than anyone else. It's a small store, so we only have two/three people in the store at one time. Yet, there's three entrances: the main one, one in the middle, and one in the back. The one in the middle and in the back are connected to the store next door, the Kids store. It has been quite an experience. The women there...

At least, that's what Kelly said to me this morning. They only administer the test once, and if you miss it, then "the ship has sailed, at least for this job position."

I just got home from work around 3:30 and I checked the new and old messages on the house answering machine. The fourth old message was from Kelly, from Human Resources at Burbank Unified School District. She called to tell me the appointment for my test for the job was at 1:30 on Wednesday, September 6th. AARGH! I didn't get the message till Wednesday, September 6th at 3:30, two hours after I was supposed to take the test! I checked the caller ID on the phone, and the message was left on Friday, September 1st, at 4:44 PM. Why didn't I checked the old messages sooner? Now the other question is... who checked the messages in the first place and didn't TELL me I had a message?

My camera's busted. I'm not sure how, but it's stuck. When I turned it on today to take a picture and I tried to zoom, it wouldn't zoom. Instead, it beeped and shut off. But now it's stuck. It'll only turn on for the play back and that's it. I don't know what to do! If it doesn't get fixed, I'll be cameraless because I don't know where my 35 mm is. On top of that, my battery charger is missing. Waaah! So, today, the high school department went to see a Dodger game. Don't yell at me... but I've lived in the shadow of Dodger Stadium all my life and I've never been to a Dodger game. Until tonight. Great game. Garciaparra, Loney, and Drew hit homeruns.

For the last couple of days, I have been struggling to get on here! I don't know why, but every time I tried to log in, I ended up on my gmail account instead of my blog. Weird, huh? Finally I got in today and changed my password, so hopefully that helps. Argh. For days I've been looking for my nail clippers, and I've given up on finding them. Now tonight, I'm looking for the battery charger for my camera. Guess what I found? My nail clippers. Don't you love when that happens? To continue on from my April post, to anyone who wants to know, I am not interesting in anyone. I was just asked the other week, and the answer is no. I give up. The bus isn't coming and the bus isn't stopping for me. Let's see... our new pastor and his family arrived on Saturday. After the ladies' bible study, I took Nina home. On the way to her house, we went to Starbucks. Afterwards, we were going to drive by the parsonage to see if the Parkers had arrived yet. Well, there...

So, last weekend was the Harvest Crusade in Anaheim. Shelley and I went on Saturday night. What could've been a 45 minute drive took practically two hours. Lovely southern california traffic. We missed the worship service with the Harvest Crusade band. We heard most of it while we were making our way to the Stadium and trying to find seats. We were on the bottom part of the third level to the left of the stadium (if you're facing the stadium). We got there just in time for Joy Williams' performance. She sang "Stay," "We," "Hide," and "By Surprise." Towards the end of her performance, I saw someone moving around on the second stage. They had two stages, kinda in an L shape. The other guy wasn't wearing any shoes, so I was like, "hey, that's Todd Agnew!" He came on and sang "In the Middle of Me," "Let Everything that Has Breath Praise the Lord," and "Grace Like Rain." Crystal Lewis came on...

Hey, I need ya'll to pray for me about a new job opportunity. Yesterday, I was checking my e-mail during my day off. There was an email from a librarian at PCC (the college I go to), and she sends out job announcements to all the library students at PCC. Normally I don't pay too much attention to these, since usually I'm underqualified. The last one I considered was at Franklin High, which was close by. But the hours and pay wasn't what I was looking for. Then yesterday's email didn't catch my eye either... until I looked at the bottom of the email and saw who the email was coming from. It was the SAME librarian I worked for when I was in high school! I called her up, and she didn't recognize me at first. But when she finally did... she got really excited! And I got really excited! I didn't think I had a chance getting this job, and I still don't. But I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try. So, what is the job? I went online today and got the applicati...

... you only have one freeway to take to work, and you end up on the wrong one! Yup, that happened to me this morning. To go to work, I usually take just the 5 freeway. Well, the onramp is right before the 2 Freeway, and if you don't change lanes, guess which freeway you end up on. I was in such a fog on my way to work, that I didn't realize I was on the 2 Freeway until I was halfway to the first exit. By then, I realized I was no longer on the 5 freeway and I had to take the 134 Freeway to get to work. Now that's sad. Instead of taking one freeway to work, I had to take two. On the bright side... I went to get my mocha at Gloria Jean's and Johonny/Juan/whatever-his-name-is mentioned that he hadn't seen me in awhile. HE NOTICES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sigh. Why was I tired this morning? Well, we did have youth camp last week. Saturday was my recharge day and what did I end up doing? Getting up before nine to take my cousins to a "Rock the Bells" event in San B...

Back in May, I suffered a blown tire due to stupid driving on another person's part, add to that a spike in the side of the road. Due to my financial status at that time, I only had enough cash on hand to replace that one tire. Jack wanted me to replace my tires while I was in Portland. Again, due to my financial status, I couldn't afford it. Too bad I did't. Because guess, what? I NEED NEW TIRES. How did I discover this? Tonight, while taking Nina back home, the front right tire popped! My guess, they're old, and my car had more weight on it than usual. Nina was in hte front seat, in the back seat I had three of my cousins, and my brother (17, 14, 14, 13 are their ages), PLUS my mom bought like packs of water (3) and gaterade from Smart and Final today (it's like Coscto for those who don't know what a Smart and Final is). So, I'm guessing with all that additional weight, the front tire couldn't handle it anymore. I was making the second to last turn at...

So, last night, while I was trying to sleep, I heard some rustling in my neighbors banana plants. If you don't know what those look like, I'll upload some pictures later. It being late and dark, I used my lamp to see what it was. A pair of eyes looked back at me in the dark. It was a raccon1 Guess the subject gave that away, huh? But can you guess what the raccoon was doing? It ran back and forth along my neighbors house. It took me a sec to realize what it was doing. It was when I saw something the size of a kiwi fruit scuttering back and forth. The raccoon was chasing a mouse. The chase didn't last long. A short scuffle in the banana plant, a few squeeks later, the raccoon scooted along, its prey dangling out of its mouth. A long time ago, a raccoon was in our backyard. My mom put a bag of moldy hot dog buns in our backyard. Late at night, again, I heard a noise. I peer out my window, and lo and behold, it was a raccoon. It got into the bag of moldy hot dog buns and had a...

After chatting with my cousin, I realized I needed to update my Key Ring Collection. It's on my Bebo profile, but it wouldn't let me update it. So I decided to put it in my blog entry. My cousin and I both collect state things. I buy shot glasses for her whenever I go to somewhere (which is very limited) and she buys me key rings. Juan and Shelley have also contributed to my collection. Now that Nina and Karla are going to Midwest Camp, I wonder if I could hit up Nina to get me one! Here are the state keychains I have so far: New York, Maryland (Washington DC), North Carolina, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Illinois, Oregon State Keychains with My Name: Nevada (Las Vegas), North Carolina, California, Oregon (? have to check) International: China, Iceland, Taiwan

At last! After seeing two other couples in the church go wireless, I’ve finally joined the club. The club being those who have wireless keyboards and mice. I loved using a wireless keyboard and mouse while I was over at Dan and Terri’s, as well as Juan and Shelley’s. It makes it so much easier because I tend to take the keyboard off the desk (because it’s too high for me) and place it on my lap. Which of course, limits me to how far I can take the keyboard. Too bad it wasn’t an ergonomic keyboard. That would’ve been sweet! Anyway… today Gabriel told me that he was gonna miss me. I’m gonna miss him a lot. He’s the only guy I’ve ever known to make me feel…. Special. It drives me nuts how I feel when I’m with him, but that’s all coming to an end very soon.