Giant Cabbage

@ Freshia.

Dumpster Diving

Ace was digging in the trashcan. His eyes say "It wasn't me!," but I think the evidence indicates otherwise.

Big Cheeto

My mom accidentally bought these giant cheetos. Scary.

I'm still here.

Survived my first quarter of nursing school. I'm still here, no worries.

New goal: Continue blogging to update the fam so they don't think I fell off the earth.

Birthday at the San Diego Zoo

The new baby at the zoo.


Staring contest with giant bird.

Andrew took me to the San Diego Zoo for my 25th birthday. I haven't been there since, well I think I was in elementary school. My personal favorites: the elephants, hippos, pandas, polar bears, and the giraffes. Next trip: Sea World.

Time Warner Update

I have finally resolved the whole Time Warner Cable identity theft fiasco. Take that, Time Warner. I hate you.

Ant War

I've declared war on a ruthless colony of ants. Every night I go to bed with a glass of water on my nightstand, and every morning I discover a mass of floating ant carcasses. These ants prefer plain ol' water. Even when Andrew left his Thai iced tea on the desk, they chose the water! So every night, these stupid ants crawl into my water glass and literally commit suicide. I hate them.

Tagalong Ice Cream

My mom was really excited when she came home from grocery shopping because she said that Ralphs had a sale on Tagalog and Samoan ice cream. So naturally, I thought she came home with some ube or mango ice cream. Turns out it was Girl Scouts Tagalong and Samoa ice cream. Whatever, it was still good...

Chocolate for Men

So I found this weird chocolate specifically for men at a Korean market. It was disgusting--the worst chocolate I've ever tasted. No wonder so many men hate chocolate.

Apparently there's also chocolate for women, but I couldn't find it in the store.

Tita Linda's Birthday

Two birthday cakes! King's Hawaiian Dobosh and Red Ribbon Mango.

We brought Grandma Perla home after our long journey back to Los Angeles and immediately started another celebration. Happy Birthday Tita Linda!

Saying Good-bye

Grandma Carmen and Grandma Perla

They think we're still getting the camera ready.

We had to say good-bye on Sunday morning. By that time Grandma Perla was already complaining that too many people were taking their pictures, trying to steal their beauty. After staying up late talking for two nights in a row, the two sisters had to say their farewells again. They exchanged Ilocano curse words, hugs and kisses, and made bets about who would survive longer.

Listening to the two sisters talk all weekend long, it's all too obvious where all of the women in my family have derived their strength, independence, and confidence.

It was a fun trip. I know everyone sensed the void that was left by Grandma Gloria's passing. But I take comfort in knowing that we keep her close to our hearts by exchanging our memories of her and her life.

More pictures.

The After Party

Crash.

Celebration at Tita Carol and Tito Jim's

Tito Melvin and Tito Jim BBQing.

Their beautiful backyard.

Andrew and Me.

Everyone.

Tita Carol and Tito Jim hosted a small, intimate get-together in their beautiful home. Brunch, meryenda, and dinner with little snacks in between.

Tita Carol begged Grandma Perla to prepare her favorite Grandma Perla specialty: Cascaron. Grandma Carmen happily obliged as long as they had all of the ingredients. Tita Carol sent poor Tito Jim to brave the Asian market for the right coconut milk and glutinous rice flour. Grandma Perla's only instructions for Tito Jim to find the right brand were,"Not this one. Get the other one. You will see." So after three trips, two kinds of coconut milk, and a bucket of unnecessary lard, Tito Jim returned and the cascaron-making commenced.

After two big bangs under the pot, an almost oil fire, and Grandma Perla's scary oil burn, it was ready. And soon afterward they were devoured.

Then there was the usual story-telling, reminiscing, and tsismis. We talked about the time Grandma Perla was caught smoking marijuana. Uncle Reynie's gallavanting days before the Navy. Who had the worst eczema. A debate on the best treatment for eczema, old-school Vicks vs. modern wonder Aquaphor. How high everyone's cholesterol/blood pressure/blood sugar is. What cholesterol/blood pressure/diabetes medications everyone's taking. How Grandma Gloria learned to drive. The Grandmas' plan to steal one of Tita Alicia's pet goats to make kilawin. Grandma Carmen's rules of how to treat women. How Grandma Gloria never learned to cook. How Chris put together my bike on my 5th birthday, then taught me to ride it when he stayed at our house one summer.

And of course a friendly game of hold 'em. I hear someone bet a full car detail?

Fun times. And the best part? I know the secret to Grandma's cascaron.

Sacramento Airport

Our assignment: Pick up Tito Melvin and Uncle Reynie at the airport.
This is their luggage for their two-day trip. Really, it's just a modern art sculpture in the baggage claim area.

Max's Fried Chicken

Famous Fried Chicken.


Uncle Reynie swears that you really can eat the bones.

After we left Grandma Perla to tsismis at Grandma Carmen's house, we explored what seemed to be the Asian neighborhoods of Sacramento. Their Seafood City is even larger than ours. I didn't expect to see Valerio's, Red Ribbon, Pho houses, and Chinese all-you-can-eat buffets so far away from home.

Right next to Seafood City we decided to finally try Max's Fried Chicken. My dad always talks about how the rich people in the Philippines usually catered their weddings with Max's. In fact, my dad's dream when he first immigrated to the United States was to eat an entire chicken by himself--no sharing with his seven siblings.

He didn't eat a whole chicken, but he did indulge in some chicken sisig.

In all, the chicken was pretty good. We were all slightly disappointed because the chicken didn't come with rice (seriously, Filipino restaurant that charges $5 for rice!?), but we were pleased with the included banana ketchup. So, Max's Fried Chicken, Red Ribbon pandesal, and Valerios ensaymada made for a nice meal to end the first day of our short stay in Sacramento.

Two Baka, One Baboy, and a One-year-old Tub of Bile

Grandma Carmen and Grandma Perla arguing about whether they are chopping beef for papaitan or pork for pinakbet.

We left the market with one package of beef and one of pork. The grandmas were in such a hurry to start the cooking that they blindly grabbed the packages and started chopping. After the labels were thrown away, they couldn't figure out who was chopping what meat. After about 25 minutes of debate, we later discovered that we must have taken one of someone else's bags, because we actually had two packages of beef and one pork. In the end, both Grandmas were chopping beef, and the pork was still sitting in the fridge, waiting to be chopped.

Grandma Carmen had saved some bile for the papaitan from last year, but my mom convinced her that using the fresh one was in everyone's best interest.

Defrosting Beef, Grandma Carmen Style

You can't exactly tell from this angle, but this was a HUGE pot of marinating Korean BBQ.

Preparations for our weekend feast began as soon as we arrived at Grandma Carmen's house. My mom packed 20 lbs. of beef short ribs to bbq at Tita Carol and Tito Jim's house along with a couple trays of chicken drumsticks. We figured the long drive would be enough time to defrost the beef, but when we removed the butcher paper, the beef was still frozen solid. While my mom, Colleen, and Sean ventured off to the local Asian market, Andrew and I were left with the daunting task of defrosting the massive beef carcass.

I sat in the living room reading Grandma Carmen's big stack of People magazine (she's an avid reader of celebrity gossip) while the beef took a long carousel ride in the microwave. Then Andrew walked in with a look of horror on his face.

"Grandma Carmen's pouring hot water all over the frozen beef. She's cooking it, and I don't know how to stop her."

I went into the kitchen to see if I could convince her to leave the preparations to us. I told her to relax and let us do all of the work.

"Oh no, my dear. I don't like to be always sitting down. I need to work, don't you know I'm always the hard worker, not like my sister Gloria. Whenever it's her turn to cook and wash dishes she will say, 'Oh!! I cannot work, Sister, I am too sickly!' Ay apo, my God..."

(I feel that typing "Oh!!" does not do justice to that familiar Ilocano shriek that I've come to know as a Querido sister trademark)

When her hot water defrosting technique failed, she pulled out a 13-inch knife and started stabbing into the frozen block of meat with all of her 90-year old might. Scary. I was terrified that she'd stab either herself or me.

In the end the meat finally defrosted and tasted great even though a few pounds were slightly boiled in a hot water bath before marinating.

Paula's Pancake House in Solvang

Colleen's early morning face.


Dan was too full to finish the rest of his pancakes!


Saying good bye to Michelle and Dan.

It's become a family tradition to stop by Paula's Pancake House in Solvang each time we drive up north. We take the longer, scenic route on the 101 just so my dad can have his Danish pancake fix. I like watching the ostriches run along side the cars on the highway.

Michelle and Dan decided to make the drive up to the Solvang too, even though they couldn't make the whole journey up to Sacramento. At least there was some outlet shopping at Camarillo on their way back home.

High-Tech Parents

I was just chatting with Tricia about how our parents are adjusting in this new, high-tech world "on the online." So I've been taking note of some new Taglish phrases that have become commonplace in our household.

Nanay ko: Puwede bang i-text mo si Colleen?
Ako: I-tinext ko na siya.

Mom: Can you text Colleen?
Me: I already texted her.

Tatay ko: Naning, paki-gugol mo ang mga NASDAK na istoks para sa akin.
Dad: Naning, please google the NASDAQ stocks for me.

Nanay ko: Ate, bakit hindi ako makapag-email kay Tito Melvin? May bayrus ako?
Tatay ko: Anong klaseng bayrus? Kabayong Trodyan?
Ako: Hindi, walang bayrus! Nakalimutan mo ang iyong pasword!

Mom: Ate, why can't I email Tito Melvin? Do I have a virus?
Dad: What kind of virus? A Trojan Horse?
Me: No, there's no virus! You forgot your password!

Tatay ko: Puwede bang i-feysbuk ko ang CNN?
Dad: Can I facebook CNN?


My dad's "cell phone."


This is particularly impressive from my dad because he once thought my eyeglasses case was his cell phone, and he still hasn't learned how to turn on our computer. But facebook, twitter, and google, yeah, he's heard of dat...

Wilson Park Mini-Marathon

Michelle and I broke our old record by doing 8 laps at Wilson! 7.28 miles.

Long Distance Call

Grandma always told me and Julie that if we misbehaved, she would haunt us after she dies. So I was a little scared when I received a call from her, until I remembered that I had changed Tita Glory's number from "Tita Glory" to "Gloria Santos."

Woo hoo!

I just had my interview at CSULA, and they've already offered me a spot in their program! Yay!

Meringue Puppies

I saw these cute cookies in a bakery in Little Tokyo.  They remind me of the Badobado's dog, Chanel.  Actually, they look like a white Neela. 

Culture Shock

Little Spam, Big Spam

I never knew there were two sizes of Spam.  I remember cooking Spam in our rice cooker in the dorms.  We put the pot in the cooker, pressed the button, and hoped that the bottom would get hot enough to sear the delectable slices of processed meat.  It took forever.  Then I got smart and brought my mom's electric grill which went a whole lot faster!

I think college was one of the first times I realized that everyone doesn't have a rice cooker.  And everyone doesn't instinctly know how to cook rice.  Then I noticed that some people buy steamed rice when we ordered Chinese or Thai take-out.  Buy steamed rice?!  Absurd...

Which reminds me of another shocker...  You know that stool that has a spikey little tool attached to a 2x4 for grating coconut (if you don't know)?  When I was a kid, I used to think that ALL families had that thing.  I also thought that all families had giant machetes for slicing the tops off young coconuts.  For Colleen and me, coming home to see our dad in the backyard hacking away at coconuts with an 18-inch machete was all too commonplace.  And we kept it in the kitchen with all of the normal kitchen knives.

Haha, one day I want to see my dad climb up a coconut tree in the Philippines.  I hope he isn't too old by the time I can get out there...

Dinosaurs!?

Yum.  Dinosaur Egg Plums aka pluots.  A plum-apricot hybrid.  If it were up to me, I'd call them plumcots.

CSULA Interview

I was just invited for an interview at CSULA.  I'm so excited (and nervous).  Now I need to find professional clothes...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Celebrated my dad's birthday with 2.5 cakes.  The half was actually the leftover of Andrew's cake.

Happy 25th Birthday Bebe!

I wanted to write "Happy Birthday Bhebz!" on his birthday cake, but he wouldn't let me.  No fun.

Lucky the Grasshopper

I've always thought of my dad as very in tune with nature. He's always had this fascination with surviving in the wild (he's an avid fan of Man vs. Wild). He also has this insane ability to catch insects with his bare hands. Which brings me to another childhood memory...

My dad used to catch grasshoppers while he was on his route at work. He'd skillfully grab them with his hands and tuck them away into an envelope or other handy container. Then he'd bring them home and place them on my desk. So, when I got ready to start my homework, I'd find a mysterious envelope there waiting for me. Thinking it was probably money, I'd excitedly rip it open, allowing the captive little bugger to jump out at my face. Of course I'd always scream in shock.

My dad would do this on a regular basis. When I started catching on, he'd put them in different places--I guess you could say he's a little bit of a prankster.

I'd always try to keep the grasshoppers as pets, even though my dad always insisted the right thing to do was to let them go. Actually, I think he told me to either set them free or feed them to Susie, our Rhode Island Red hen. I remember one particularly spunky grasshopper that I named Lucky. He got this name because while I was "playing" with him (I'm not sure how you play with a grasshopper) in the backyard, my dog Brownie snatched him in her mouth and almost swallowed him whole. Lucky survived the whole ordeal, but with some considerable injuries. He could no longer hop. I felt so guilty about my recklessness that I became determined to nurse him back to health. Allison and I smashed up pieces of grass and fed him through a syringe, no easy task, I might add.

Then I remember being upset with our parents because they wouldn't let us take the injured grasshopper with us to the restaurant we were going to. We did anyway. We brought him sandwiched in a pair of pie tins from Marie Callendar's, lined with a comfy layer of grass. When my mom found out we snuck him into Tita Glory's Volvo, she was upset because we couldn't bring the pie tins back for the 10 cent discount, haha. Now that I think about it, we left the poor guy in the hot car while we ate. He would've been better off at the house.

Surprisingly, the little guy even survived our shoddy veterinary care. He made a full recovery. Then he got lost in my room. I found him about a month later, after coming to terms with his probable death. I found him, very much alive, hiding behind my blinds while I was cleaning my window. I got so freaked out by his sudden reappearance that I instinctively sprayed him with the Windex I had in hand.

After surviving a treacherous journey in my dad's work bag, a vicious dog attack, the sub-standard medical care, the unrelenting heat of a closed car during a California heat wave, and finally, severe chemical burns by Windex, I decided it was time to set Lucky free. In retrospect, Lucky probably wasn't an appropriate name for him.

Baybayin

I just figured out how to write my name in baybayin, the pre-Spanish Filipino writing system. Cool.

My favorite part about taking Tagalog at UCLA was learning how to spell borrowed words--it's hilarious. These are actually words that were in my Tagalog textbooks:

1. maykroweyb
2. nars
3. pitsa
4. kerot
5. pokus
6. workbuk
7. pulis
8. titser
9. graduweyt
10. miting

25 Random Things About Me

1. I hate that whenever a curly-haired woman gets a makeover on television they insist on straightening her hair. Then for special occasions like weddings everyone insists on curling their hair.

2. I’m a hypocrite; I’ve been straightening my hair since 2002. Japanese hair straightening is a gift to the world.

3. I happen to enjoy paperwork. Filing, filling out forms, labeling, color-coding, sending out correspondence, stationary, Post-it notes—I love it all.

4. One of my favorite punctuation marks is the dash. It annoys me that most people use the dash and hyphen interchangeably (a dash is two hyphens). I'm also annoyed when people don't place the required comma in compound and complex sentences. I believe in the Oxford comma.

5. I have never seen Star Wars. I’ve been told that not doing so is un-American.

6. I enjoy pulling out my hair. There's an art to it.

7. My car’s name is Steve.

8. I have a birthmark on my right underarm. I was embarrassed by it as a child so I always raised my left hand instead of my dominant right.

9. I like to tell people that I was named “Elisha” (Alicia with an E) because my mom’s name is “Emy” (Amy with an E). The truth is, my parents first saw the name in one of my cousin Kuya Chester’s open houses in elementary school. They noticed she had good grades so they thought it was a good pick.

10. I’ve been sent to the principal/dean’s office three times. (1) In elementary school I was asked to verify this girl’s claim that another girl called her stupid. It was me, I said she was stupid. I guess I was right because she never suspected me. (2) I can’t remember exactly why, but I remember being there in middle school. (3) In tenth grade I was sent to the dean because my friends and I were apparently too rough during a basketball game in P.E. If we were boys, no teacher would have given it a second thought. The next day in P.E. we were lectured about how to act like mature, young ladies. Apparently mature, young ladies don’t play basketball.

11. When I was in 3rd grade, I wanted to be a nurse practitioner (yes, I specified nurse practitioner). In college at UCLA, I considered a number of different majors: physiological science, biology, psychobiology, psychology, English, sociology, and anthropology. Somehow I ended up in women's studies; my dual concentration was health care policy and psychology. Turns out I had it right in the beginning because I still want to be a nurse practitioner.

12. I can’t live without Q-tips.

13. I was once addicted to lip balm. My favorites are Aquaphor by Eucerin and Lip Medex by Blistex (the blue pot).

14. I’m obsessed with eyebrows.

15. I once cared for more than a dozen chickens in my backyard.

16. I can harmlessly put birds to sleep (think lullaby, not euthanasia). So far I’ve done this with chickens, doves, and parakeets.

17. I’m terrified of Green Fruit Beetles, Cotinus mutabilis (http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/coleopt/Cotinus.htm). As a kid I incorrectly identified them as Japanese Beetles, Popillia japonica. Very similar in appearance, both have a shiny, metallic green color. I’ve been attacked by these giant beetles on many occasions. In the worst encounter to date, a particularly clever little bastard flew into my car through my sunroof while I was driving. I’m convinced the green fruit beetles are conspiring against me for revenge. When I was a child, my dad taught me to catch them and tie strings under their wings to fly them on “leashes."

18. I hate ordering food, especially on the phone. It's ironic because I used to work at Starbucks where I took drink orders for many hours a day. I also ordered our store supplies on the phone. But I have never ordered a pizza on the phone. Thank goodness for online ordering.

19. Andrew and I met during summer school in 1999. We had cultural awareness and driver’s education together. In cultural awareness we were assigned a group project on the Philippines. I was in charge of compiling everyone’s research into our written report. His “research” was a tiny plagiarized paragraph from an encyclopedia. I was offended by the plagiarism—he didn’t even cite his source.

20. I like to write out the alphabet over and over again, cursive and printing, to evaluate my handwriting. I also practice writing my signature when I’m bored.

21. I like looking at people’s big toes to see what celebrities they resemble. Try it, it’s fun.

22. If I can’t give exact change when paying with cash, I try to make it so that I get quarters back. For example, if my total is $18.83, I’ll hand the cashier $20.08 to get $1.25. Andrew hates it.

23. I think it's ridiculous that the United States insists on remaining on the Imperial system instead of SI/Metric. At the same time, I have no concept of how long a kilometer is (but I'd be willing to learn). I also think we should switch to a 24-hour clock. I wonder if school-age children in other countries have to learn how to convert metric to imperial...

24. I love chocolate chip cookies sans chocolate chips.

25. My sleeping schedule is terribly screwed up. I used to work the opening shift at 3:30 a.m.; consequently, if I can't fall asleep before 2:00 a.m., I'm doomed to stay awake until 7 or 8 a.m. Sometimes I wake up at 2:30 a.m. terrified that I'm late for work. That's why I'm doing this instead of sleeping right now.

Rollerblading Trauma

Ever since Julie posted about puddle land and Christian posted about elementary school, I've been reminiscing about events in my own childhood.  I think I've blocked some of these traumatic events from my memory until now.

Rollerblading at Redondo Beach Pier

I can't remember what the occasion was, but I remember Julie and I were rollerblading at Redondo Beach Pier.  We were rolling each other up and down the slight inclines that are built into the walkways of the pier.  We were having a good time.

I distinctly remember one part of the walkway that was steeper than we initially anticipated.   

Julie told me to really bend my knees so that I would speed down the walkway faster.  "Kuya would do it!" she explained, although I didn't need very much convincing.  

"Remember to use all of your weight!" I instructed.  

And so she did.  I bent my knees and tried to make myself as aerodynamic as possible.  Julie backed up so she could get a "rolling" start.  She rollerbladed as fast as she could and pushed me down the treacherous walkway.  I was blasting by other slow-poke pedestrians.  Then there was a slight turn that I didn't quite make.  Before I knew it I was headed straight into a metal railway.  This metal railway was all that stood between me and falling about 45 feet right into the Pacific Ocean.  I slammed right into the railway, the top half of my torso pretty much hanging over the top rail (think of the bar that kids sort of somersault/twirl their bodies around in playgrounds).  I was that close to swimming/drowning with the fishies.

When we got home I noticed a blue-black and eventually yellow bruise all along my abdomen from where I hit the railway.  Now that I think about it, I had a dangerously high chance of falling off the pier that day.  And then I think, I wasn't a great swimmer, much less so with rollerblades on.  I think I seriously could have died that day.  Scary.  

And Julie and I thought nothing of it.  We continued pushing each other around on the pier.

Rollerblading at some Park

I just remembered another dangerous rollerblading incident.  I vaguely remember rollerblading down some hills in a particularly hilly park somewhere in Orange County with cousins Allison, Christian, Tricia, and Mark.  Probably on one of my famous Orange County vacations.  These hills were definitely not safe for small children to rollerblade down.  Nonetheless, we did--probably lead by our fearless, daredevil leader Christian (in retrospect, I guess I should have warned against this danger since I was the oldest).  

So we're rollerblading down these insane hills, and we're moving so fast that we can't control our descent.  So, to stop ourselves from totally eating it, I remember intentionally crashing into trees on the way down the hills.  We would run off the cement pathways into the grass, and eventually into a tree.  Someone could have suffered a serious head injury by crashing into these trees, and yet all we could do was laugh.  I remember Allison and Tricia laughing so hard that they peed.  And then Tita Glory got mad, not because we could have paralyzed ourselves, but because Allison had peed.

Rollerblading in the Backyard

I'm starting to see that we made rollerblading a very dangerous sport.  When Allison and Christian used to sleep over at my house, we'd spend most of our time in the backyard.  We'd play farm with the chickens and my first dog, Brownie.  During those warm summer nights, we'd try to catch as many "boogies" as we could (now I know they're called June bugs).  So we'd rollerblade around the backyard, trying to catch these flying beetles.  The dangerous thing is we'd skate around wielding these long, pointed sticks.  I'm not talking little kabob sticks, I mean wooden poles more than five feet long.  At the speeds we were skating around, I'm sure these poles were enough to impale each other.  We would swing them around trying to hit the boogies in mid-air.  Probably could have gouged someone's eye out.

It's a miracle we all survived childhood without any serious damage.  I used to think Grandma was overreacting when she said we'd all break our necks.  Now I understand why she was constantly warning us about that.

Ginataan

Bilo-bilo

My mom has been making a lot of ginataan lately.  Ginataan always reminds me of Grandma because she would call us almost every weekend to ask my mom to make some for her.  Then I felt bad because I remembered how it used to annoy me, because Colleen and I had to roll the bilo-bilo, or the little glutinous rice balls.  Then I laughed because I started thinking about all of the annoying things she used to do that aren't so annoying anymore.

Andrew and Bambi

I just thought this picture was funny.

Anal Glands

Allison came over to the house for a little weekend vacation.  I asked her to teach me how to express our dogs' anal glands.  I think this might require some explanation.  When dogs defecate, their poop creates pressure against a pair of small glands located near the dog's anus.  This pressure releases a small amount of noxious, fishy secretion along with the poop.  This foul odor is like a business card for dogs.  It explains why dogs always greet each other by sniffing each other's butts.  

Normally, the gland is self-draining.  But for many dogs, this unfortunately isn't the case.  Their glands become impacted, which is uncomfortable for the dog.  This is why we sometimes see dogs "scooting" to relieve themselves.  Perhaps it's because domesticated dogs don't eat as much roughage as their ancestors?  Today's dogs often need to have their anal glands manually expressed for them by their friendly neighborhood veterinary attendants.  Lucky for me, my cousin Allison is specially trained in the art of anal gland expression.  So in exchange for a lovely Korean BBQ dinner, Allison took me on as an apprentice.

I have to say, I was pretty nervous.  My first patient was Bambi.  Ironically, it was also her first time.  She was an excellent first patient--very calm, didn't bark or freak out at all.  I wasn't able to express Ace's glands, but Allison assured that I just need more practice.  

Needless to say, it was an interesting and informative weekend.  Quite smelly too.

New Menu at BCD

To my great surprise, BCD has a new addition to its already delicious menu: Stir-fried Squid and Vegetables.  I'm pleased with the new dish--the noodles are quite tasty, it's a nice portion of squid.  I do wish there were zucchini instead of the bell peppers though.  But overall, I think I'd order it again.  It still doesn't beat my favorite tofu soup with kimchi and mushroom.

TEAS Exam Update

Results:  99th national percentile rank!!!  woo hoo!! 

Take that, stupid tectonic plates and igneous rocks!

TEAS Exam @ CSULA

I took the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS) at CSULA this morning.  There are four sections: reading, math, science, and English usage.  I thought they were all pretty straight-forward.  

The scores for science and math count most toward acceptance into the nursing program.  The hardest part was definitely doing all of that math without a calculator.  One of the problems was to find the mean value of a data set with 25 numbers, all of which were in the ten-thousands.  So that was annoying.  

Some of the science questions were pretty random too.  I have no idea how my knowledge of plate tectonics, igneous rock formation, and science Nobel prize winners serves as a reliable indicator of my ability to succeed in a nursing program.

TFC at Michelle's House

We were watching game shows on TFC at Michelle's house, and we couldn't stop laughing at some of the contestants names.  Bhebz and Fhey.  Seriously, those are real names.

Coke Zero vs Diet Coke

Winner: Coke Zero

Happy Birthday Tita Susan

Happy Birthday Tita Susan! I remember when Colleen and I went through your purse to find out how old you are. To this day, it remains a mystery...

Nursing Application

Today I turned in my application for graduate school in nursing.  I'm nervous.  Wish me luck.  I should find out by April.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Happy Birthday Grandpa! We miss you...

The Extraction of Colleen's Wisdom

Colleen recently had 4 wisdom teeth extracted. I was fortunate to only have 2 to be removed. I was excited to ridicule her immensely swollen face. To my great disappointment, she isn't that swollen.

One positive note, for the time being, I can now eat much faster than she can. For those of you who didn't know, Colleen is a speed demon when it comes to eating, whereas I am quite slow.

2009

I hate training myself to write 2009 instead of 2008. Also, I'm not particularly fond of the way my 9's look. Ironically, I love the way 9's look in print.

On the other hand, I do love writing "January." It has balance. If you understand what I mean, I think you're cool.

Family Vacation at St. Regis Resort

Our view from the balcony.

Daddy's first shot with a digital camera, not too shabby.

The Snowman Family

We had a simple family vacation at St. Regis Resort by Monarch Beach in Dana Point. We started the trip by meeting Mommy and Colleen and Tito Melvin and Tita Glory's house. Daddy and I left a day later because he had to work. We decided to park one car at Tito Melvin's place so we wouldn't have to pay parking for both cars at the resort.

My mom prepared a lunch of steak sandwiches with avocado, red bell pepper, onion, and tomato on sourdough bread. My mom and Colleen bought a red onion at Pavillions but when they arrived at the house, the red onion was no where to be found. Colleen searched the van without success. So, we settled for a regular white onion.

When we finished lunch, Allison went to work and we went to the mall. On the way there, my mom caught a yellow light, and because my mom NEVER goes through a yellow light, she braked suddenly and the red onion shot out from we're still not quite sure where into my dad's legs at the passenger seat.

When we got to the mall, Colleen and I did some light shopping--actually, she shopped and I basically walked around with her. The mall was pretty empty; it was clear that the recession was taking its toll. Then we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which my mom always mistakenly calls The Cheese Factory. Huge portions and no refrigerator in our hotel room meant lots of wasted food. Sayang. Colleen was eating as much food as she could in anticipation of the obligatory fasting that would follow her wisdom teeth extraction.

The resort was beautiful, but also empty like the mall. Like most Filipinos, we brought our own snacks to the hotel room--brownies, chocolate cake, blueberry muffins, chips, grapefruit, peanuts, and one red onion. We forgot to bring water from Tito Melvin's house, but there was no way I was going to pay $6.50 for a bottled water. Tap water was just fine.

The next day we walked around the resort, took pictures, and checked out the botanical garden. For the most part, it was a non-eventful vacation. I'd say the highlight was the warm bubble bath, oh yeah, and that the room was free for all 4 nights.