I had to take the day off yesterday to renew my license. So, I decided to make the most of it and schedule a bunch of other appointments around it. Went to the doctor, hair salon, DMV, gym, and lunch with Jen. Overall it was a very productive day and my hair looks fab! I took off 2 more inches and went for a little bit more layers and darker highlights. I think I really like the dark highlights right now. I just might stick to it until maybe spring time or late spring! Aside from that things are going fine. Tonight I have Back-to-School-Night, which means a late day for me! I won't be home until 8:30 p.m. and I've been here since 7:10 a.m.! And they say teachers don't work that hard! Bah!

Goodbye to the Lim's

This weekend was the last weekend that Ray's parents were going to be in town. I don't think I've ever spent this much time with another's family in this short of a time! Yesterday (Saturday) we were supposed to go to a picnic hosted by his parent's high school group but his mom wasn't feeling well so we didn't head up to SF 'til the afternoon. We just ended up vegging at my house, which we haven't been able to do that much these past few weeks. We got to SF around 3:30 and was there 'til 10:30 p.m. We ended up going to church with his parents. Ray wasn't too thrilled about that! That night was also Ray's high school reunion in Modesto. I felt bad that he had to miss it, but obviously his family (especially his parents) take priority. I had fun last night. The time there was mainly spent making dinner. We had fresh lumpia (very diff. from fried lumpia), polobok (did I spell that right?) and chicken adobo (yum!) At one point, Ray's mom was talking and she had a bit of lumpia filling on her finger and when she was waving her hand around while talking the filling landed on Ray's lips. I swear it took me a long time to stop laughing. My stomach hurt so bad and I was practically in tears! It was soooo funny! We ended dinner with turong (spelling?) and smoothies. Turong is soooo good. It's basically plaintain and jackfruit wrapped in a lumpia/egg roll wrapper and fried. Normally you would put caramelized sugar on it, but his dad's diabetic so we ate it the healthy style. It was still very good and so easy to make! I think I'll make some myself but drizzle some sugar on it!

Torn

Lately I feel like I can't do anything right with one of my friends. I feel like I'm somehow missing a piece in the puzzle of how I make choices or plans because it doesn't end up the way I imagined. I go into things with the best of intentions but it ends up backfiring on me. It makes me feel really sad because I consider this person to be one of my closest friends. You know the kind. The ones that will be in your life until the day you die playing parchessi in the old people's home.....

Another tiring weekend

Friday, Sept. 16, 2005.

Spent the evening at the Evergreen Methodist Church with Ray and the Lopez family (Ray's mom's side) as they practiced for his aunt and uncle's 20th anniversary renewal of vows.

Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005.

The morning was spent at Arlene and Noel Lim's house for Joanne's baby shower. As always the party was amazing (for a baby shower). The decorations, party favors, and food were phenomenal. I've never seen well-thought out parties before because my family sure doesn't do it! You can tell they put a lot of time and heart and soul into the party.

The afternoon/evening was spent at Ray's Uncle Mars and Auntie Ale's renewal of their wedding vows. I'm still trying to remember everyone's names. I remember the kids' names more than the parents! Ray's cousin Eugene, his daughter sang. Meg is really good. It's amazing! I was starting to tear up! And the singers they had at the ceremony were amazing too. I almost cried when they sang a song by Josh Groban! There was so much food today! I think my stomach was going to burst!

Sunday, Sept. 18, 2005

A lot calmer day. Lily, Johnny, Ray, and I went swimming at Johnny's complex and then we hung out at a church fair. Had some overfried corndogs and went through the funhouse. At night Ray and I went to a mini-reunion of his mom's said but it was basically a reason to party and get rid of that weekend's food! So tired!

So much to catch up on......

Fri, Sept. 9, 2005

Joy and Lea Ann had game night. It was quite fun. I have to say that I did my part in trivial pursuit, which happens to not be a game I'm good at! Amazingly I knew answers to some things my teammates didn't! It was a satisfying feeling......

Sat., Sept. 10, 2005

Ray's parents were in town for Matthew's baptism. We pretty much spent the whole day in SF doing the baptism thing and just hanging out with the Lims. I lost count of how many times marriage was brought up. It was seriously getting overplayed!

Classroom overflow

I'm annoyed that I have to teach 2 more students than I'm supposed to. I'm annoyed that I have to make these poor kids share textbooks and use photocopied sheets instead of having their own practice books. I'm annoyed to hear that I might have to put with this until Oct. 1st.

Things are winding down.....

....just for this weekend!

So today Ray and I went to Soraya's baby, Daniel's, baptism shindig. The baptism was at 12:30, but since I was still with my family at 12 we couldn't make it to that portion of the festivities but we did make it out to Livermore for the reception. The celebration was located at their house in Livermore. Unfortunately Shirley and Irma couldn't make it so it was me, Ray, Rick, and Lorena. Food was good (rice, beans, and shredded pork or meat). It was super windy and we were sitting outside. Eventually things were blowing everywhere. I even had a plate of tortilla chips fly into me. Thank goodness there wasn't any salsa on it or anything that would ruin my top! Ray and I arrived at 4 p.m. and we left at 6 p.m. We headed back to Milpitas, stopped by Big 5 to buy some ping pongs and a scooter (all for Ray, crazy guy), and then went to visit Jen, Steve, and baby Chase. We hung out with them for a couple house and headed home at 9. Today definitely was a more low-key day. Things are starting to wind down. Tomorrow will be volleyball and relaxing and then back to the grind!

The benefits of owning a motorcycle

#1: Cheaper gas
#2: The ability to "share the lane"
#3: Easier parking
#4: Life seems a lot simpler on a motorcycle
#5: If there's motorcycle parking it's most likely going to be close to where you need to be!

and.......

#6: Feeling like a rock star when you're cruising past cars, an event staff person moves the barricades aside for you, and people are waving at you in excitement.

Brothers Grimm sucked, Earth Wind and Fire rocked!

Friday, Sept. 2, 2005:

Ray and I went on a "date." We had dinner, some frozen yogurt, and saw Brothers Grimm with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. Suuuuucked ass! It was such a bad movie! Weak storyline, bad acting, and bad editing. I love movies that involve fairytales so I was totally disappointed by the movie. It's so not a reg. movie theater, so not a rental, so not a cheapie theater, and it's so bad that it may even not be worth borrowing from the library!

Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005

Took the motorcycle to Capitola for the Begonia Festival. We specifically went down there to see the sand sculpture contest. I've never really seen sand sculptures before, not even sand castles. There were some pretty impressive sculptures there. There were a group of octopi, the march of the penguins, a dragon, etc. There was this little sand castle that was amazing. It was small and yet with so much detail. The artist even used a bit of seaweed as the lounge chairs in the front!

We strolled around Capitola a bit. Had some clam chowder on the wharf and drank some smoothies. The Capitola Village is really cute and quaint. They have this one hotel called the Venetian Hotel or Village and it's like units instead of rooms and they're painted different colors. They're alongside the beach. Very cute!

After Capitola we headed back home and rested a bit before the Earth, Wind, and Fire/Chicago concert at Shoreline Amphitheater. Once again we took the bike up there. Gas prices are ridiculous right now so it was nice to pump gas and only have to pay $6! We got to Shoreline and zoomed past all the cars in line to get into the parking lots. (Note: this is legal for those who didn't know. It's called "sharing the lane!")

We arrived at Shoreline about 20 min. before it began. Concert was great. EWF was cool. Chicago was good but not the same without Peter Cetera. I'm not as big a fan as Ray is but I still had fun. We eventually moved a few rows closer to get a better view and some guy joined us but in front of us. He kept dancing like there was no tomorrow! Then there was a woman doing her "thang" in the middle of the aisle and I was thinking to myself, "Hmmm, they should join up!" Lo and behold but 20 minutes later they start groovin' with each other! Then this woman stood next to me and she was all clubbed out in her outfit and dancing up a storm too. She was dancing normally until she squatted down and did that bouncing movement for a looong time! Very funny.