some call it experience...
okay so i remember when i was growing up that i always hated to listen to any form of "old school" on the radio. they were all songs that meant nothing to me. but now, i realise that i'm old enough to actually like the "old school lunches" on the radio... i've been listening to it this morning and i love all the songs that i used to hear in late elementary to highschool days... it's awesome. but then again, that means we're really old. yikes, highschool ended 7 years ago for me... elementary ended 12 years ago... i think i'm feeling some shooting pains in my left arm...

it's madness i tell you!
so i've been clubbing every night since wednesday. sonar, loft 6, legends and mesa luna... and the weekend's not over yet!! i still have to hit fubar tomorrow night at richard's on richards... man, i think this is what happens when i have too much energy... and no boyfriend ;op. oh well, at least my cardio's doing well.

and that's not all...
so if anyone wants to hear drama, here goes. i was so proud of my dragon boat team. i really thought that it was a really compatible set of people. but alas, i am wrong. i've never heard so much bickering about the financial situation of any team in any sort of oraganized sport as this one. is it cuz half these guys are in business? or at least know someone in business? it's really retarded if you ask me. we are such a strong team on the water, so charismatic off the water, and yet when the issues about who was responsible for what comes up, everyone is more quiet than a rock to admit it, but noisier than an explosion to blame it on someone else...
we're headed to the long beach dragon boat competition (among other ones) this summer. when i say we, i don't mean the original team. this is because some people on the team (minus the ones who really can't make it) just don't feel the need to go further with the team than the vancouver festival. what i thought when i decided to get on this team was that this was going to be the most competitive recreational team i've ever seen. i thought that everyone on this team shared the same attitude towards the same goal... but this is not true. so what i want to know is what were those people thinking when they joined? did they think that was it? doesn't sound too competitive to me. and then there are the ones who were so gung ho about the whole success of the team so they tried to involve themselves more (i.e. with the finances), but ended up scrapping the whole idea and leaving the team out to fend for themselves with no clue about what was going on. really people, you have got to get your hands on this thing us teacher-types like to call RESPONSIBILITY. it's not too hard to do, but you really gotta stick to your guns if you want it to work. and some tips for those who can't seem to do anything but complain that things weren't going as planned: if your ideas were so great, where was your initiative to take on that exact thing you were complaining about? some of you just don't seem to understand that nobody wants to do the dirty work for our team. at all. so quit all of your whinning and complaining and cussing and whatever else you're doing that doesn't send any sort of possitive vibe, and do something. we should all be in this team because we want to be in it. and do things for this team (i.e. fundraising, balancing the books...) because it's for the team, not because there is an outside influence (i.e. sponsorship money that could possibly reimburse us) driving us. if you don't agree with that, then take your 20$ and go. don't come back though... you're too much trouble.

*note, my commentary is purely from my point of view, based on what i know, and i don't know anyone on the team that would agree with me. sorry if you don't like it

yay for friendship!
so i really like taking my arnis class. i wouldn't miss it for anything. but this past saturday i had to so i could kick some butt with my dragon boat team. we placed first in the two races we had that day, and impressed all of our fans. sunday, we got our fastest time of the whole weekend (it took us 2 minutes and 8 seconds to paddle from science world to just before the cambie street bridge), and we won the race for the friendship cup. it would've been nice to win a medal too, but i guess the cup will have to do. well, we did place 9th overall in the festival (out of nearly 200 teams). now all that's left for me to look forward to is the dragon boat festivals in long beach (cali!) and in kelowna. woohoo, my team kicks ass!

no more teachers no more books...
tomorrow (or rather later today) is the last day of school. and it's only a half day! i can't wait til it's all done then it's summer break! honestly, the 2 month summer vacation looks sweeter and sweeter to me the longer i hang around the education field. it's enough to motivate me to stay... or just become self employed. i mean, how many of you out there would die to have 2 months summer vacation again? and let's not forget winter break and spring break either (both of which are paid breaks!)! remember back in the day when you were a kid? relaxing and not worrying about homework was all you ever looked forward to. that is the life!

it's getting hot in here
the weather's been really great lately. i have no complaints. and i'm sure it's nicer than what i've been hearing about san francisco lately (nothing but short shorts out here kuya!! ;op). as long as it doesn't rain for the dragon boat festival this weekend, i'll be just fine. i'm nervous as hell about the competition though... my voice feels like it'll be shot by the end of the first race. maybe i'll do what celine dion does and not talk 24 hours before the gig. yeah whatever! if i suddenly stop talking, you know the end is near! ;op

crazy
i got SO much to do today. and none of it is work-related... i wonder how most people do it. i only work 4 days a week and i still barely have enough time to deal with my personal life, even with my 3 day weekend! is it because i'm just a busy person? or is it cuz i'm lazy?... hehe, i bet it's a little bit of both ;op. but i guess planning for annie's wedding does keep me a bit busier than the average person.

booty
so the pirates (as one of the kids i tutor once called ron, eddie and neo) have lived up to their reputation... they had to go on yet another journey, to far away lands, for a long period of time, to pillage poor unsuspecting victims for no reason... okay, they just went on their 6 month cruise. but the other way sounded way cooler. but yeah, before they left, they left annie, nurse chris and me a bunch of their booty... as in belongings. and they are such good belongings... mostly consisting of dvds and cds... the odd guitar(s) hanging around... i'd say more but i fear people coming to pillage my house for their things.

music
i like music everywhere i am. i wouldn't mind if my life was like a big music video... not for the bright lights and the video hos, but for the fact that no matter where you go, the music is right there.
and i know of all the cool technology for music that is marketed towards people like me, but i still want to get me a new transistor radio. the one i got is so ghetto. it's cute and compact, but it's whack. if i wanna listen to the beat in the shower, then i'd bring the radio into the bathroom and switch it on. a typical radio wouldn't have any problems, but mines requires me to be holding my arm up as i balance on one leg with my other arm holding the radio over the sink... it sucks. so i end up usually turning up the house stereo loud enough for my dad to turn it down before i'm rinsing and repeating... :o(

woohoo!
only 2 more work days for me then it's summer vacation!! i swear, the summer, winter and spring breaks are the only reasons i'm still considering education as a career. that's it. wouldn't you tho?..

comments are back up and running!! yay gabe :o)

know what i hate?..
when people get all butt-hurt about things that they would do to someone else... for example, the second grade teacher at my school is nice... enough. as long as you don't impede on her rights, cuz she just doesn't like that. this includes the fact that everything "should" go her way if the people around her want to have a bearable time with her. see, if she doesn't follow through with what she scheduled with me, i don't get all upset. it just gives me more free time. but if i do the same thing to her, she gives me attitude like a 16 year old... as in cold shoulder for a week or two (lucky for me it's the last week of school! i won't have to see her for two months!). grow up, cougar! ;op

we found my dog on saturday. my parents looked all day friday for him, even at the city pound and the spca, but there was no sign. then saturday morning mom saw an ad in the paper saying that a dog was picked up 2 blocks from my house on thursday and that he was at the spca hospital. so we went and it turns out he was run over by a car not too long after he ran out of the yard. the driver must've picked him up and driven him straight to the hospital. my dog's pelvic bone was broken in 4 places and his insides were all torn. i got to see him for a little bit and he was so happy to see us, but he couldn't get up or anything. all he could do was wag his tail and lift his head, and even then, you could tell that he wanted to do more despite his injuries. but he was really hurting. it was so sad. he was already almost 13 years old so his chances of surviving after an operation wouldn't be good. so we had to put him down :o(

my dog ran out of the yard today. it's been almost 6 hours now and we still can't find him. mom thinks the spca or the pound got him. he isn't the smartest dog (think odie from the garfield comics) and he's really friendly. we'll go out again tonight when it's a bit cooler. i hope he's okay.

i'm gonna be alright
nope, no brain-draining nightmares for me this time... but that was still messed up.
anyways, i had the best work day i've had in a while. i only worked til noon and instead of tutoring 3 kids this afternoon, i'm not tutoring anybody! yay!! summer vacation's almost here! thank goodness that parents (or at least some of them) realise that with less than 2 weeks left of school, there's no amount of tutoring that could result in a change in their report cards now. what i also like is that today was teacher appreciation day, so despite all the cake and gourmet pizza the kids and their parents gave us today, there's no way that the grades i already recorded are going to change... i'm sorry ma'am, your child just doesn't have what it takes to be a rocket scientist... but with a little more practice sucking up with the gifts and food towards the right people, he could be anything he wants!!

so fresh and so clean
so what did i do on one of the most beautiful days of the week?... i stayed inside to tidy up. i organized the huge cd drawer, but the dvds will still have to wait til i regain my energy before i get to them. it took me oh about 4 hours to do this all... and what's worse is that i found some of my cd cases completely empty! poo. well, hopefully i find them. if anyone out there has an extra copy of a diary of a mad band or the show the afterparty the hotel, you know my email... ;op
so now i'm done and i think i should treat myself to some icecream.

one last thought...
when a guy stops persuing you, why is it always your fault that he fell for you? i'm not the one with the word "sucker" tatooed on my forehead. to all the playettes out there, when you meet someone who looks like a potential sucker, don't forget to warn them. you know with something like "don't fall for me. i'll make you cry home to your mommy." it's only fair. then if they still try to go for you, no worries. when it's all said and done, don't forget to tell him "i told you so."

hehehe

my nightmare
it was so gross. i was in my kitchen with a tickle in my nose... the kind you feel when you're just about to sneeze. well, i didn't get to the sneezing part because i heard a little rumble in my head. then all this liquid and mucus stuff dropped out of my nose! from BOTH nostrils!! in a second i realized that my brain had just fallen out, through my nose! despite my brain now being on the floor, i remember thinking "what the fu..?!" then i saw sarah walking by, so i told her to call 911. nobody seemed to be picking up so she just waited as i paniced. then i woke up.
dang, that was messed up.

i'm melting!! i'm melting!!
that's how it felt like up here last weekend... friday started out nice enough. sunny with a little bit of wind. tom took me to beau's photo to buy me and the girls some photo supplies we need. man it felt cool to come into the shop with my school supply list and say "hi. i would like all this times four, please." then i got to spend about 250$ on us... i felt like such a baller. too bad i'm not rich for real. *sigh* one day :o). that night i checked out the chinatown night market and this little "c-town urban dance off block party" which was also in chinatown. there was a dance dance revolution game contest, and some singing and dance performances. it was short but really fun to watch.

become the stick
saturday got hotter, and as most saturdays, i spent the afternoon indoors... arnis was good this week. i almost broke my knee cap by hitting it really really hard with the bamboo escrima stick. then of course was the trapping exercises which contributed to my new bruises on my arms... again. i think i have to hit the weights again soon cuz defending myself won't do me any good if i don't have any muscles. and i think i've got to practice a bit more with them sticks...

keepin' it g-a-n-g-s-t-a
that night almost felt like a clubbing night but at the last minute eddie was all "naah, skip it" even though we were the next ones to get in. we even got a good parking spot! well, you know you're "gangsta" when you can afford to be like that. most people would be upset if they had to spend any amount of time in a line up and not get what they lined up for. but not us! according to eddie, "there are only 2 kind of people in the world. haters and gangstas." which side are you on?... ;op instead, we decided to hook up with sabby and li and them to eat us some all you can eat sushi!!! yum yum. we were all SO full that we just headed home to sleep! it was good cuz at least i got some rest before the races that were happening the next day.

please don't feed me to the rabid killer seals!
sunday was cloudy... at first. i was on the water at about 945am and yelled my brains out. although i was worried about not being able to call a proper race piece, i think i did okay. the second race i felt better about even though we placed first for those first two races. the third race was a bit harder... to make a painful story short, i messed up the calls, and we got third... hopefully i wasn't the only reason we dropped, but i'm pretty sure i had something to do with it (my bad!!). well, at least there's 5 more practices for me to get it all right before the big festival on the weekend of the 22nd...

who got game?
sabby picked up nurse chris, eddie and ron and they came to watch. but when we were done we went to check out the hoop it up 3 on 3 basketball tournament... this is when the sun decided to come out and burn us as much as it could without letting us die. i felt worse for manny, jaywin and russell tho. they were actually playing in this scorching heat. good thing they had something to show for it more than sunburn and heatstroke... they got first place in their division :o). yay!

on your marks...
we were all kinda bored in between the games so we decided to take a little walk to chinatown. now, there is a part we had to pass through that i wouldn't walk through at a pace slower than a sprint if it were around dusk or later. we call it "cracktown". lucky for us it was 2 in the afternoon. so off we went to explore all the cd/dvd/vcd stores we could... some of us found one or two good movies for cheap (like the beijing bicycle and full throttle) and we got these cute little bags that fit the dvds perfectly... and one of us (NO names... *cough* ron! *cough*) found so many that the cute little bag was not an option... he got a big unsightly bag instead. hehehe... i really shouldn't clown though. he's going to end up leaving most of them with me!! yay! i've got movies to last me oh, say, 6 months!! ;o)

SOLID
and despite all the movies purchased, we decided to end the day by going to the movies... undercover brother was SOLID!!! if you're up for a funny movie watch this one. i laughed til i hurt. plus it doesn't run too long so it's perfect for a comedy.

it's the end?
no. i've got more junk to clean out of my email than i thought. found this entry... yes it's still about california ;op
enjoy!...

from the bay to l.a.
so saturday started off with driving from my kuya's place in daly city to modesto... man that was a long way. for those up here that don't know, it's kinda like driving from my house in vancouver to mission... yeah it took that long. but we made it... we got to ron's place at about 2am and two of his cousins and his brother were still awake, waiting for us. we unloaded our purchases, grabbed a set of clothes and our toothbrushes, then next thing you know, we were all piled into the van by 230am and headed for someplace near long beach...
getting to sleep was a little bit tricky. there were 9 of us in a minivan that holds 7. at first you'd think that 2 more people wouldn't be too bad. but for a 6 hour drive, it gets a little bit uncomfortable... long story short, i found myself very comfortable sleeping on the floor. we all awoke to a very brisk stop somewheres along our trip. we were rushed out by ron's mom telling us to "pick which one you like"... turns out we were right in front of a filipino bakery in delano. so we all piled out and walked in, excited to eat some pandesal or maybe even some ensaymada if there was any. i looked around and saw a bunch of breads and things i didn't recognize short of the pandesal. so we all just pointed to this bread that had the shape of a cinnamon twist, but instead of cinnamon was full of sugar. we were all a bit sleepy still, but wondering what time it was. the sun was coming out and it looked like it was going to be a really nice day... turns out it wasn't even 530am!! needless to say, we ate our bread and fell back asleep. we were at uncle richard's house by 830 in the morning and the house was already busy with everyone cooking food and setting up for the party. later in the morning, the house and food was blessed, and by then everyone was ready to go to the mall! well, at least "the kids" were. we really needed some walking of some sort after a long trip of sitting so we headed out.
we did a bit more shopping, then we all decided to watch a movie that night... too bad we all wanted to see different movies, but it was all good. sonder, ron and i went to watch episode 2... that is one cool movie! i think i'll take rafael to it. anyways, the rest of that night involved all of us being too tired to do anything else except for making fools of ourselves and karaoke-ing til the wee hours of the morning... good times!

bling-bling
ever been to a vietnamese mall? it's a lot like going to aberdeen or yaohan in richmond, but it's vietnamese instead of chinese or japanese. all i can say that is very distinct about it is that there was a heckuva lot of jewelry! it was like in disney's aladdin when aladdin walked into the cave of wonders and saw all the riches... and there were diamonds everywhere! ron's mom bought this really nice bracelet and was looking for a pinky ring, but she couldn't find one. now that i think about it, i shoulda looked harder for something out there because i can't think of anyplace here that could compare. oh well, just another excuse for me to go back!
to rest my eyes from all that glare, sonder suggested we look at the cds. we were browsing through the mixes and ron came across this one cd and asked me what i thought of the songs... i thought it looked good, so we got it... turns out it was this mix cd we were bothering a guy at this one shop in the great mall about. see, there was a store in great mall that was playing this tight mix. we were asking the guy at the cash what cd it was and he told us his friend burned it for him. we asked what the album was and he told us it was from his friend... i was getting a bit irritated cuz the mix was pretty darn good and i wanted it. so ron was all "i'll give you 20 bucks for it" but the guy said "no." so we were all drove (heheh that's slang for "upset") but we couldn't do a thing about it. so we left it alone. then we found it at the vietnamese mall obviusly burned from its original... and we bought it for 5 bucks.
YAY for cd burners and the desire to make a quick buck!!