Merry Christmas!!

I hope that everyone is having a great holiday season :). Joe and I are doing great-- hanging out in warm, sunny San Diego. We adopted Benson last weekend and we've been busy trying to train him. Overall he seems like a great dog... I'll keep you posted. :)

my new love. 

In love with a new man!

That's right. Believe it or not, I fell. Impossible you think? Well, almost. The man I fell in love with is not so much a man but rather a small 4-legged dog. He's tan and brown and TIIIIIINY. I love him. I want to take him home.

Adventures in Babysitting

Last night, I babysat for a very cute but hyper child of 8 years old. She thought that she was a horse. She neighed, she pranced, she dance around the house while teaching me all sorts of horse facts. For instance, did you know that spotted horses were called paint horses? You didn't?! Well, damn glad I babysat then.

Overall, the experience was endearing. Babysitting has gotten much easier from how I remember it. These days, just watch a cartoon DVD with the kid and play the interactive DVD-Rom games until bedtime. What was that? You ask about the cartoon of choice last night? Why, it was Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron, of course. Complete with soundtrack by Bryan Adams.

Holiday cheer

"Will you move so we can park please?" Joe asked the man standing in the only parking space left at the donut store.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO PARK HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO WAIT FIVE MINUTES!" exclaimed the man.

We both gave him nasty stares as we started to drive away from the spot. When we looked back, we saw a young woman walk by that same man on her way into the donut store. She sneered at him, "asshole."

I love the holidays.

CSET test scores update

I finally got my unofficial CSET test scores yesterday.

Subtest I English and History -- Pass
Subtest II Math and Science-- Pass
Subtest III Physical Education-- Did not pass

LOL. I can't believe it. I passed the "hard" ones but not P.E. I can't help but grin.

Bandage update

I kept the band-aid on my hand for three days. I think that it helped my scarring a little bit. My hand is slowly on its way to FULL-RECOVERY! hooray!! It's healing just in time for Thanksgiving :).

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!

Two men and an 8-month girl

"Do you think that she wants to suck on a lime?"

She wants to be a teacher too...

"Students will be assessed on weather or not they participate in the activity."

Bandages

I went to Rite-Aid yesterday to buy a bandage that could patch my grated hand. I found these-- band-aid advanced healing finger-care bandages. They go on clear and form a "white cushion" over your inury to protect it. Supposedly it promotes fast, "natural" healing... I just bought them because they looked fun and looked like they would stick to my hand. I had regular dinky bandages on my hand the night before and those fell off while I was asleep. I didn't want to go to work, hand somebody their lunch plate and have my nasty bandage fall in. Eeew.

Anyways, I approve of these bandages. They're a little pricey but worth it. It made my cut disappear. Okay, not really disappear but people didn't even notice the bandage. It was very incognito. I'm supposed to keep this bad-boy on my hand for a few days for "optimal healing." But unfortunatly, the bandage started to peel off last night while at Dave and Busters playing, "The Tower of Power."

Hey, at least it stayed on while I was work. :)

Cooking Wounds

In an attempt to grate cheese, I grated my right hand-- right on the joint of my thumb.

It actually looks like I intentionally tried to grate my hand. You can see little parallel grate marks...

I can't believe that this person is going to be a teacher

Someone in my class actually wrote this:

"I will be presenting a lesson plan on the symbolism of the red, white, and blue colors of American Flag and the significance of the 50 stars and the 50 stripes to a classroom of first graders. "

I laughed so hard after reading this post that I had to share it with Joe. His response:

"50 stars and 50 stripes?! lol. Moron."

I can't see too well in the dark

Joe and I just came back from San Francisco where his company celebrated the launch of his new game-- Everquest II. The party was held at RubySkye. Rumor had it that celebrities had been invited.

I think that I saw the actress, Bai Ling... it's either that or I saw a drag queen dressed as her. There were also circulating rumors that Urkel (a.k.a. Jaleel White, from Family Matters) was there but there were no confirmed sightings.

That's right, get your kids to say it

http://www.lowercasetee.com/

ha ha ha ha ha

The odds are not in my favor

"I definitely recognize a lot of faces today," commented the CSET proctor as I was turning in my exam. "You look new, though. Do you think you passed or will I be seeing you again in January?"

Harrah's Casino, the scariest place on Earth

This Halloween was the scariest Halloween I have ever had. Ever. I just got back home and still a little freaked out by it all. It started off as just your typical day but by night fall, it just got weird. Crazy weird. Okay, so I may be exaggerating just a tad bit but still... I guess you can be the judge.

My brother was in town this weekend on his way to Thailand (took a weekend layover in LA) so I drove up to LA yesterday, hung out with him and our family friend, Chai. That night, we drove back to San Diego, had dinner with Joe (who has been working until midnight this entire week), came back home watched TV and fell asleep. Normal, right?

Today was normal too. Drove my brother, Chai, and his girlfriend Paula around San Diego, had dimsum, went shopping. So we come home later and Chai suggests gambling. Whatever, I am not a big gambler at all but he had driven all the way down from LA and if he wanted to gamble, we will gamble (or well, I will watch them gamble). So we mapquest directions to a casino called Harrah's. It's about 25 miles NE of where I live. Mapquest said that it would take us 45 minutes but realistically, when you drive 25 miles it only takes you 20 minutes. We just thought that Mapquest was calculating the drive for slow people.

Anyways, it's about nightfall by this point, we had left the house and had already driven over 45 minutes. We still weren't there yet. It was the farthest away from civilization that I have ever gone since I moved to San Diego. There were no street lights, tiny TINY tiny street signs and STEEP ass edges of mountain that I had to drive up. There were moments when I stopped breathing while I was driving up the mountain because I really thought that I was going to die. I had images of me, my brother, Chai, Paula, and my little car falling off the cliff, plummeting to our fatal end. And the thing was, the farther up we drove, the more we realized how screwed over the American Indians are. Shit. I can barely drive up the mountain and these Indians had to walk up the mountain to make it to their new "home." Goodness. Andrew Jackson was the biggest jackass ever.

Anyways, it took us about an hour and few wrong turns but we finally made it. Mapquest should have warned us why they had calculated the "extra" time in. I can tell you why now-- it was because we had to drive up Mount Everest, that's why. I had to catch my breath again because I stopped breathing more than once while driving up that mountain. lol.

The casino itself was even scarier. Out in the middle of nowhere on top of this mountain was a HUGE ass casino filled with blinking lights promising gold and fortune if you played ______ (blackjack? craps? slots?). My first thought was-- Harrah's, the scariest place on earth. Then so many questions popped into my head as we entered... Why were there so many Asians? How did the Asians get up there? How long have they been there? Who has been playing the longest with no sleep? What's the appeal?

Suffice it to say, this is my first and last trip to Harrah's. ha ha ha. I made my brother drive back down because I was scared that I would start hyperventilating again. lol. I was feeling like the casino stole a bit of my soul but i'm okay now. I am whole again. hee hee.

I am so screwed

In order to start student teaching in February, I need to pass the CSET next Saturday. The CSET is a standardized exam given to newby teachers to test if they know their shit. It's given in three parts and you can choose to take one, two, or three parts of the exam in one day. When I was registering, I chose to take three. I mean, how hard could it be?

Because I did my research on the CSET after I registered for the exam, I learned that you need to be smart as hell to pass all three parts in the same day. I also learned that the few people that had passed all three parts in the same day had studied MONTHS beforehand. I just started studying on Monday. Obviously, my "I-can-pass-and-not-even-study" attitude towards the test has flown out the window. I am screwed! Screwed!!! SCREWED!!!! Hopefully two weeks of studying will be sufficient.

T-minus a week and a half until the CSET. Wish me luck.

Crazy army soldiers

This is the tale of a young army man, as reported from Dek in South Korea:

When [Sergeant Martin] was a private and stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, he got drunk in some bars one night during the winter. He was so sauced up that he couldn’t go home, so he broke into some old couple’s house to escape the cold and snow at about 3 in the morning. He felt so bad about this, he went upstairs to the old couple’s bedroom and said, “Don’t mind me pops…sorry about breaking in…I’m gonna rack out on your couch!” needless to say the gentleman called the police and when the cops showed up, they found SGT Martin making a sandwich in the kitchen! He replied, “what’s up dudes…’s ok…I told the old guy I was crashing here tonight!”

uhh, no we're just brother and sister

When did people start mistaking my brother and I for a couple? I don't know if it was just because we were in Tennessee or what, but many people complimented us by saying that we were a great-looking couple. Ick.

Long Beach Aquarium

Just in case you can’t read the caption-- "Male sheephead are territorial; each protects a harem of females. When a male dies, the dominant female in the harem changes into a male..." You would think that the Aquarium would have a shock-alert next to these types of captions or at least a clause somewhere saying that some captions may cause possible heart-attack.

Imagine that?! One day, you're shopping with your little female Sheephead buddies for a new handbag; the next day, you're making sure that your same buddies (now known as bitches) don't slut around to any other female changing males. Hmm...

Maybe this post will teach you all who don't read captions in museums and aquariums to read them next time. You'll never know what you might learn from them...

the ease of technology

"What's that?" I said, glancing over at my friend's itemized printout. A few rows were highlighted.

"It's my prayer and fasting schedule. I printed it out for the Ramadan. I got it off the web."

When bad things happen to unsuspecting people

"You like my new purse? It's called a Ho-bag."
*chuckle*
"No mom, it's called a Hobo-bag."

A not-so-hop mom wanting to impress her two trendy daughters at dinner.

French Fries

"You like burnt fries! You always eat them first," exclaimed Joe when I gave him a dejected look after he threw his burnt fries onto my plate.

After I stopped laughing, I explained to him that I ate the burnt fries first because I liked them least. Gotta save the best for last.

I should be doing homework

I found a little 411 on Sea Monkeys... For those of you interested in purchasing them as pets, here are a few discouraging sentiments. Mind you, this is directly quoted from a Sea Monkey owner off of Amazon.com:

"1. SPILLS- I spilled water out of the two holes in the top by accident. BE AWARE. Walk slowly when they're in your hands.
2. FIGHTS- Sea Monkeys can sometimes fight over who gets the girl. Sometimes they fight over the death!! I haven't seen this happen yet, but I don't like the sound of it. I think they start to fight about... 4 weeks after they are born.
3. SEA DIAMONDS- Ah! I hate these Sea Diamonds. A few days ago I put some Sea Diamonds in the aquarium, thinking they would get excersise and have some fun. But I was wrong! First of all, the diamonds are huge. I think I crushed some Sea Monkeys when I added the diamonds in. Second of all, the Sea Monkeys are not interested in them at all...
4. AERATE- Some websites told me to mix more air in the aquarium. They told me to blow INTO A STRAW to give oxygen to them. I think I sucked some SM algae stuff down my throat..."

She neglected to add that she probably also swallowed Sea Monkeys during her aeration process.

Man, I really should be doing my homework.

Bed Bath and Beyond

I have never heard a greater sigh of relief followed by an appreciative chuckle until the day Joe explained to the sales clerk that it was our intention to buy the ugliest shower curtain they had in stock.

Wrong prediction

Just like recent hurricanes, I will NOT be hitting Tampa as I had otherwise predicted last month. I will be flying in and out of Tennessee for the weekend for my cousin's wedding (instead of making the road trip from Atlanta to Tampa) due a number of unforeseen circumstances.

Sorry if this disappoints anyone. :(

Blood donation(s)

On a whim four months ago, I donated blood. They pricked my finger and checked my iron level. I measured at 12.5 (the bare minimum level necessary). I also hadn't traveled to any foreign countries that they had designated as unsafe in the past 3 years. They deemed me worthy of blood donation.

For the past two months, I have been trying to donate again but my iron levels have only measured 12.2 or 12.3. Not high enough to donate!! So I get rejected and am instructed to eat more vitamins and/or beans. I start to take my multivitamins and still get rejected a week later. Apparently, some people are unable to absorb calcium AND iron if taken at the same time. Ah... the catch. So I start to take iron supplements and still, one week later... rejected. The nurse told me that it could take up to month for the iron to fully absorb in my system. Okay, fine.

So today, with my little bloodmobile appointment in hand, blood donation has not only turned into a good samaritan deed but my life's mission. I go in, tell the nurse my iron level situation before I fill out any paperwork. She has me enter a little room where she pricks my finger. She puts the blood on a slide and the blood is read using a small machine. There is about a minute pause where I am just waiting, waiting, waiting to see if this whole month-iron-absorption thing was legit or if the last nurse just wanted me to feel better about my inadequate and measly iron levels. The machine beeped, indicating that the score is read--- 13.5!!! Holy crap!

Mission accomplished.

Joe and I at Dan's On Broadway surprise party. 

Carpe no diem

When Ingrid Croce offered me a job at her restaurant, I couldn't turn her down. We all know how that ended. I worked for a weekend and quit. Balancing two jobs and school was pushing the envelope for me. A few months later, I was offered a job at A/X. After the Croce's incident, I happily declined knowing that I wouldn't save any money because I would spend it all on my discounted Armani Exchange clothes. Yesterday, I was officially offered job number 3-- ophthalmologist technician. I love that I am getting all of these jobs offers but I find that I am probably the least qualified for this last job position. Restaraunt-- yes, fashion and clothes-- yes, yes, but eye sight? ha ha ha. They must want to blind their patients.

Strange times in San Diego

Today I saw a guy in the check out line buy white bed linens and an orange, lacy pair of women's underwear. Even stranger, he managed to pick up a woman in the same checkout line before his credit card transaction was completed.

concert!

For the past three years, I have been waiting too see Death Cab for Cutie in concert. Last night was the time that I had been waiting for. A radio station out here hosted a 5 band concert for a mere 25 bucks a person. It started with some local band, DCC, Muse, Franz Ferdinand, and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's. I bought the ticket just to see DCC but liked the music of Muse and that one song of FF.

DCC was great live-- they were having some bass problems but it was fixed by the 3rd or 4th song. I thought that they did a kick-ass job. Well, except for that one part where the bassist jumped off the drummer's platform and fell on his butt.

I must admit, though-- Muse stole the show. I wasn't expecting such a great performance from them but boy, they sounded better live than they do on their CDs. The lead singer kinda looked like a quirky, black headed version of Clay Aikon (is that how I spell his name?). The guy was pint-sized. FF was ok. Most of their music was much more mellow than I had anticipated. I was ready for a nap by the time they were done with their set... But then the 3Y's came on--my naptime quickly ended. The lead singer was dressed from head to toe in a tight shiny silver shirt/ skirt duo with little red ruffles around her neck and waist.Her feet were adorned with green converse high tops. She didn't sing at all-- she just screamed all of her songs. I would compare her scream to a loud, banchee like scream. It was ear piercing and mind numbingly bad. I really thought that they were just joking around at first but... to my dismay, their "act" was really who they were.

The reason why some things come in pairs

My pregnant friend, Charina-- "Won't it hurt to breastfeed?"

Her husband, Dan, promptly responded-- "That's why you have two of them."

Sheer panic

Have you ever had the feeling that you had to do something but didn't know what it was until it was too late? I had that feeling today. That's right, last month I told someone that I would go in and work for him today and completely FORGOT about it. Luckily, my butt was saved by another waiter. He kicks ass. Seriously.

And, I am glad that I actually did something productive today (I wrote one of my three papers). If I had spent the day watching TV and catnapping, this enormous amount of guilt in the pit of my stomach would probably be an ulcer right now.

Through the Grapevine

When I was at work on Friday, an older lady was telling me about her experiences in Thailand as a young, white female back in the 60's (in case you were wondering, she was traveling around Southeast Asia studying architecture). This one was my favorite story.

One day, she waiting for a friend in a hotel lobby in Southern Thailand. Her friend was running late so this lady decided to take a seat on one of the lobby room couches. Then, out of no where, she felt a hand come from behind her. This hand cupped her right breast. She was very shocked and incredibly mortified. She couldn't believe that someone would disrepect her like that at a very reputable hotel. Immediately, she turned around to scold the accuser when she realized that the "hand" wasn't a hand at all but rather the trunk of a baby elephant. The King's procession was walking by and a little elephant thought that he could be fresh with her.

Smog time in San Diego

After a long two days of running around trying to get Kevin's car to pass the California DMV smog test, I can officially say that I never want to get my car registered in the state of California. It's a big, big, big, big, big pain the arse especially when your car won't pass. In case you're curious, Kevin is handling the smog complication very well. If this had been my car, I would have driven it into a lake.

In and around Florida

Just like recent hurricanes, I, too, will be in and around Florida. My dates of arrival and departure are actually scheduled though. I will be flying the dreaded America West Airlines because it's the cheapest flight I could find online right now (I had a bad incident with them when I went to Las Vegas two years ago). My plan was initially to fly in and out of Tennessee but it appears that I will be making a road trip to Tennessee from Atlanta with my brother and co. for my cousin's wedding (by the way, I can't believe us "kids" are old enough to get married). Then we will be driving back down through Hot-lanta and onward to good ole Tampa Bay. We're going to arrive in Tampa on Monday, October 18. I leave for the west coast again on October 26. That's right kids, I will be there a WHOLE week.

I know I was just home. But I am going home again. See you there :).

New things to do

Maybe it's something in the air or just like-minded people trying to spend their free time productively. Needless to say, I wasn't going to document my brand new hobby (as of Saturday night)--crocheting, until I read Serena's blog about how she's learning how to knit. I am very impressed that she's already knitted a hat for Isaac. I, on the otherhand, haven't so much as even made a coaster.

The best thing since AIM

YAHOO INSTANT MESSENGER!!! Download it. For me. Please. My new screenname is vim792000.

My motivation

My motivation comes from my cartoon mentor, Homer Simpson. He is almost comparable to the Dalai Lama in profound statements. This one is my favorite right now-- "Trying is the first step towards failure."

You simply cannot deny this man's genius.

Practice makes perfect.

Another day at the hair salon... or so I hoped.

My hair color had been fading and the roots had been showing so I thought that today was a good day to have all of that stuff touched up. All is well until the new assistant from Brooklyn took me to the shampoo area to rinse out my hair dye. There's small talk about how he's newly imported from the east coast and how he currently lives in an apartment in downtown San Diego with a friend.

Then, the series of unfortunate events occur. I felt water. No, not the water on my head, but I felt water dribbling down the back of my shirt. Immediately after, I heard a loud splash. The water basin had clogged up due to an overlooked piece of cotton that the assistant hadn't removed from my scalp before shampooing. I franticly stood up because I was so startled and realize that water and remnants of hair dye were now dribbling down my entire back side.

The assistant, being new on the job, became overly apologetic and began to dry off the floor first. I, on the otherhand, was dripping wet and a little confused with I should do next. Run to the bathroom and ruin the salon with my hair dye dripping everywhere? Or, just stand very still and hope that someone would hand me a towel?

By this point, practically everybody at the salon rushed over to help me and the assistant when it dawned on me-- I realized that the white tank top that I had worn was now ruined because of the hair dye. But I thought, hey--no harm, no foul. I didn't really care that the hair dye had ruined my clothes or that my undergarments were soaking wet. I just felt bad for the new assistant's psyche.

After the floor was mopped and my clothes were put in the dryer (don't worry, I was wearing a robe), the assistant (still shell-shocked) proceeded with my shampoo session. He had already conditioned my hair when he muttered, "Oh, I don't think that I shampooed your hair yet." So he had to backstep to shampoo first, and then condition-- that's right, Haircare 101.

To top it all off, the entire time the assistant never got the water pressure quite right. The pressure was so strong that I kept wiping off the little splashes of water hitting my face and my eyes. I didn't have the heart to say anything to him because he was already so frazzled and fidgety from the the flood that had caused prophets like Noah to build an arc.

What matters to me is that he gave it his all and tried his best (and trust me, he was trying). In time little assistant, you will be the best shampooer ever.

Survival of the fittest

For those of you who know me very well, you know that I can get easily freaked out and very jumpy, especially when I am completely engrossed in a project. If I am working on something and you come into the room, I will scream-- not because you invaded my privacy but because I thought that you were going to kill me. It's survival mode... Darwinism at it's best.

A day of golfing gone horribly wrong

Joe, Florence, and I have been trying to improve our golf skills by practicing at the driving range every week. At first, I was doing really well. I could actually hit the balls and they would fly straight-- be it, not very far, but straight. The more and more I go, the worse and worse I get. The stupid little golf balls now fly through the air at a very sharp angle, likely to hit anyone or anything that comes across it's path. It's unpredictable... in a predictable kind of way.

Today, for example, Joe and I went to a new driving range north of where we live for a change in atmosphere. Each person's personal space on the range was divided with waist-high green metal waffle dividers. Directly behind us was the parking lot. I bet you can see where this is going. The first few balls I hit were decent. The more I hit, however, the more the balls kept hitting the metal waffle dividers and ricocheting into the green. Luckily (?) I wasn't hitting them hard enough to do any damage. I did have images in my head of me actually nailing a ball into the dividers where it would bounce off and hit me in the face (maybe that's why I wasn't hitting them that hard, it was all subconscious). Anyways, maybe about 15 minutes into my game, I hit a ball so hard (and at such a sharp angle), it hit the metal divider, bounced across the driving range fence into the parking lot where it hit... (brace yourself) a pretty black, expensive Lexus. No damage was done (it hit the wheel) but I decided that I shouldn't push my luck anymore. See, my golfing was unpredictable in a predictable kind of way. It was only a matter of time before something serious happened.

An investment for the future

I never used facial cleansers or moisturizers. I never washed my face before bedtime or even splashed it with water to make it sure it was hydrated. My thought was always-- hey, if it ain't broke (read: no pimples/acne), don't fix it. But man, times are changing. Because of my part-time job as a server, my hands are always getting dirty from handling plates and glasses. And, because I have short hair, my hands are always touching my face to push back the hair that is always falling into my eyes. So *poof*, I have pimples.

Today I decided to invest in skin care products. The only problem is, in order for my skin to get better, it has to get worse. That's right. For a few weeks, I have to tough it out with SUPER RED, SHINY pimples (even bigger than the ones that I have right now!) growing in every which crevice of my face while my skin goes through a "detox" phase. I am no longer Vim. For the next few weeks, you can call me pizza face.

Eek! Hurricane!

Don't fret. My family is safe. They were evacuated from their house yesterday but were able to return home this afternoon. Silly east coast meteorologists never seem to get weather forecasts right.

To toast or not to toast?

Back in the day when I had a full-time job in DC, I used to attend monthly meetings called, "Toastmasters." For those of you unfamiliar, it's simply a club where people come together and improve their public speaking skills by practicing in front of one another. Your prepared or impromptu speech had to be a certain length of time with as little mistakes as possible-- there was always a "grammarian" to count every single grammatical mistake and filler word. After a year of attending these meetings, you would think that I would be flawless in public speaking. Wrong.

This morning I was forced to leave a message on an elementary school's answering machine. My message went something along the lines of this-- "Ummmmmmmm. My name is Vim and I am a student uhh working towards my teaching credential. Uh. I need to sit in on two classes for uhh an assignment and uhhhh, I was wondering if I could uhhh schedule a time so I could come in. Uhh. Thanks."

With every "um" and "uh", the little grammarian that has been embedded in my head as a result of Toastmasters laughs and adds another tally on his imaginary chalk board. It taunts me and makes me even more nervous to speak in front of people. Did Toastmasters help me become aware of all of my flaws in public speaking or did it just make me more paranoid?

Educational psychology

Today, my teacher lectured in such a way that he subtly gave out his resume. I hate it when people do this. It's like they're trying to prove their greatness to us.

All I have to say is-- I never doubted you, dude. Let's skip the pride parade and finish class so I can go home and watch Iron Chef.