FallingLEAVes of Sunshine

I have been home over a week now and not a single post. Isn't that something? I was in North Carolina for probably the same amount of time and how many posts did I have? For those of you who don't know what Bloglines is, here's how I found out about it. My library cataloging class. Bloglines is a website that lets you subscribe to, duh, blogs. It's an easy way to keep track of all the blogs you read. When you log in, it will tell you if any of the blogs you subscribe to have any new posts. As part of our library class, we have to read blogs about library-related stuff. Naturally, I already added all of the blogs I read there. So instead of opening everyone's blog individually, I can just check there! The website, you may ask... duh, bloglines.com Since it is now after midnight, I will have to do the catching up part later.

Can you figure out what that feature is?

My cousin Kevin is my hero! I asked him if he might have any USB cords for a digital camera. He pulls out a cord from a box, and voila! It worked. So here you go guys! This one is a picture of the airplane's wing and the horizon as the plane was entering the Atlanta area. It was close to landing. That's one of the goldfish(?) at the restaurant. Everytime I see the fishes I think about Alan and Diane's little goldfish, Starvin' Marvin. Would Starvin' Marvin get this big if he was in a bigger tank and not in a tiny bowl? I don't know if ya'll can see it ... but that's the mysterious bruise! Most of the lighter part has faded to a lighter purple. But the darker part is now like a blotchy red. Cows! Look guys, cows! So, who wants to go cow-tipping with me? Any volunteers? Shelley? That's just down the street from where my cousin Karen lives. I remember my first visit here, which happens to be the previous visit, one morning after it had snowed, I went ou...

In case you get confused. Let me break it down what family members I have here. In Asheville, there lives my Uncle Tony, the oldest. He has three boys: Ling, Steve, and Michael. Ling has two kids, Alicia and Justin. Steve has two kids, Asia (3) and Paris. I just found out about Paris the other day. Michael is expecting (well, his wife is). Here in Brevard, I have the rest of my family. I'll start with my mom's side, because there's just one. My Uncle Heng. His two kids are Nelson (11/8/91) and Joanne (9/29/94). Growing up, they were ALWAYs at my house. Joanne used to follow me around the house all the time and we'd play board games. Where do I start with my dad's family? I guess I'll start with the boys, the twins. There's Uncle Sann. He's got two kids, Richard (2/20/91) and Eileen (3/30/94). Then there's the other twin, Uncle Meng. He's got three: William, Brandon (5/7/92), and Brenda (8/26/95). William is in college, so I won't be seei...

Today Sherisse texted me to tell me that Chris, our shipper/receiver, is no longer with us at our store. Do you know what that means? Gabriel can come back. He asked me awhile ago if we still had a shipper/receiver. At the time, we had Chris. But now... Gabriel... hee hee hee. *SMILE* :-D

If you didn't know, right now I'm sitting behind my cousin's computer in North Carolina. Wow, there really isn't much to do. So let me start at the beginning. My dad took me to the airport at 9, considering my flight left just a little before midnight. He shelled out 100 bucks so he could send two boxes to NC. First he paid 50 because i could only check two items, and I had a suitcase. Then they charged him 25 per box because they were over the weight limit. So by the time eerything was done and I made it to my gate, it was like 9:45. So I found an electrical outlet because my phone was practically dead. Plugged it in and talked to Sherisse and Nina. When I finally boarded my flight, the flight was fuller than it was when i checked. There were people sitting behind me. It was a man with two kids. One was like a baby, mebbe a year. So she cried in the middle of the night. I slept like maybe an hour and half or so. There was no one sitting next to me, so I got to stretch ...

When I got in the shower this afternoon (it was like 2:45 EST) I was just waking up. Then as I looked down, I see this humongous purple thing on my ankle. As I try to scrub it off, it wasn't coming off. It was a bruise! Guys... there's a bruise on my ankle. Not only do I not know where in the world it came from, it looks like a smile. I should put two dots above my ankle to turn my bruise into a smiley face. The bruise itself is about two and a half inches long and mebbe half an inch wide. And the corners turn up, so it does look like a smile. At first, I was like, somebody tell me my cousin pranked me in the middle of the night by putting paint or something on my ankle. But as it wouldn't come off, it was like, oh goodness it's real. It's really a bruise.

So this afternoon, while I was resting in NC after a red-eye flight with minimal sleep, I get this text message from angelina: Russell Martin is at PCC! But only the first one hundred people get autographs and I missed it by 2! He is right here in front of me and I can't even get his autograph! I heard they might let ten more in so I'll wait around... but I didn't know they'd be here so I don't know what to get signed! He signed my sunglasses too you can have them if you want lol And btw Andre was way nicer than him Anyway, so I talked to Angelina and this is how it went I think. HOpefully she'll put it up and we can hear the whole story. She told him she had a friend who was in North Carolina who was his biggest fan. And that her friend wished him a happy early birthday (his birthday is February 15, the day I fly back to LA). Technically he was only supposed to sign one thing, but he signed her sunglasses and a notecard for me! Yay! And here's what Andre Et...

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?