Mini 11-year H.S. Reunion with the M.A.S.H. Contestants

Facebook update:

1. I've been officially off the fb-addiction as of sometime last week, when I deleted the appln from my iPhone. It was slowing my phone down too much (no, it wasn't b/c I was constantly on fb).
2. FB rules! My GF Sarah found me on FB and immediately suggested a few of us get together for a little M.A.S.H. reunion. What an awesome idea!

Back in HS, Sarah, Michelle, Cindy, and I were on the school newspaper staff. Those were very, very fun times. During senior year, Michelle was the powerhouse chief editor, while the rest of us were page editors (i.e., roles with less responsbility). Cindy and I ended up with the Features page...which meant laying out dance pictures every few months (pre-Photoshop days) and writing random articles of interest (or what we thought was interesting). When we weren't gobbling up Hershey's kisses and Oreos or taking walks around campus 4th period, we were playing M.A.S.H. with each others' fate in hand. Talk about Sarah's selective memory passing onto me, I totally don't remember the choices we gave each other. But Michelle sure reminded us today!

We ended up meeting for lunch at Din Tai Fung, a very famous dumpling house in San Gabriel. It was my first time eating there, which completely shocked the ladies (how can I call myself Taiwanese?). We waited outside in the sweltering 93 degree heat for about 40 minutes before we were seated. Since I was a newbie, I let the ladies do all the ordering, and they made excellent choices! We had a variety of dumplings, shrimp shau mai, pork fried rice, pork chop (cutlet), and veggies. It was all soOoOOo delicious...and it secretly made me reminisce about our China trip a year ago, when my bro bought me a very fresh and huge crab dumpling.

We started lunch around 1:16 (I only remember this b/c the waitress writes the time you order on the ticket; apparently), and we didn't leave until close to 3! I had such an awesome time catching up with my wonderfully nerdy friends!

Contrary to what our MASH fates declared, no one is married to a Jiffy Lube mechanic (according to the girls, that was one of my favorite jobs for their potential spouse), no one is driving a Wienerschnitzel mobile (another one of my favorites), no one is working at Hot Dog on a Stick, and no one is married to any HS classmates...To no surprise, they are doing big and wonderful things.

It's awesome times like these that remind me what friendships are about...and how much I miss my friends.

5.8...or uh 5.4

"OMG, is it an earthquake?"

Nowadays, we're never sure if it's an earthquake or not. But this time, I was certain! My day was packed with stuff, but in dropping by Bro's office, I got suckered into having lunch with him and FBIL across the street at Dinah's for their anniversary roll-back pricing. I was excited b/c 1) I haven't had Dinah's before and 2) I've never jumped on roll-back pricing deals!

The line was ridonkulously long but Bro and I waited while I oohed and aahed at his new 3G. While I was being typically nerdy and telling him how to use the features, the earthquake hit while we were standing outside. We all kind of stood there not sure where to go (certainly didn't want to lose our place in line either). Bro and I were mesmerized as we looked at the swaying chandelier inside the diner. I noticed that Bro kind of gently pulled me closer to him (away from the building fixtures) twice. I guess I'm not one to take accidents/disasters as cautiously as I should.

Sidestory: when we went white-water rafting, I flew OUT of the raft and laughed hysterically while my bro completely freaked out! I've never seen such a look of fear (and love) on his face while his adrenaline rush yanked me out of the roaring rapids in a matter of seconds.

After the quake was over, we tried to call our loved ones. FBIL was driving so he missed it but caught up with us about 5-10 minutes later. BF had called me but I had missed his call. I was finally able to get through by calling the land line, and we quickly exchanged status checks. He was fine and nothing was broken at home, but the turtle was big-time freaking out like he's never seen before. Water from her tank actually splashed out on opposite ends. Our building swayed for some time (we live on the top floor, which is just the 3rd floor). He quickly ran over to our neighbor, as she has MANY valuables hanging around. Fortunately, nothing broke on her new (gorgeous and authentic) wood floors; just a few pots and pans fell.

Typical life resumed and we got our seats in Dinah's about 15 minutes later. Dude, we had the lunch/dinner chicken plate for $1.60 and fries and drinks for $.15! How crazy! We couldn't even finish our meals. Anniversary roll-back prices rules!

Surprisingly, I still ended up completing everything on my schedule. I went to my BCBA Supervision meeting and unexpectedly got individual feedback on my first video recording of J320 and I. It was only 6 minutes long, but my supervisor and I talked about it for 1.5 hours. Long but incredibly helpful. I really didn't want to show it to this supervisor (he's so good but almost too brutally honest), but he wasn't too brutal with me. Although I'm on his accepted list, I have my own contentions with him as he often insinuates that a lot of speech-language therapy is not based on applied behavior analysis principles. So I felt like a champ when he said after the first view, "Well, that was pretty good." And then we broke it apart minute by minute...

The funny but sad thing is that my supervisor knows J320. He has worked w/ him and his family ever since the kiddo was 5. Every few years, he gets this kid (or supervises someone working with this kid) again. So it was funny. However, when I commented, "It must be kind of neat to see how he's grown..." (thinking physically, but subconsciously cognitively and behaviorally). He said, "Actually, it's kind of sad. I knew him when he was 5 and he's 13 now and I still see a lot of the same behaviors like throwing a tantrum when he was 5...Even though he has learned over the 7-8 years, it's not like he's grown and developed 7 years worth." True. Unfortunately, that's the nature of severe autism. :(

Anywho, I rushed to the gym for a quick work-off-the-fried-chicken-and-fries run and then rushed back for BCBA class. After tonight's class, we get a two week break before we have 2 more classes for this session. After that, I just have one more session and then I'm done! (Although, I still have the national board exam to study and take.)

Class was good in that we all got a lot of help on our individual final projects of doing a functional behavioral analysis. I needed the assistance b/c my project is challenging; I'll be assessing and experimenting with my chosen client's smoking habits (function of behavior: internal stimulation -- harder to modify). I think modifying my turtle's behavior (i.e., splashing at 6 AM every morning to tell me it's time to feed her) is probably easier than that!

Alarmed

Yesterday was quite an adventurous day. My day started off with a run to the new Starbucks down the street. I was really excited to see that the holiday season has officially begun. They have brought back my favorite coffee, the Christmas Blend! I left with my alternative-splurging-order in one hand and half a short Christmas Blend in the other (a generous sample from the enthusiastic barista that even spelled my name right).

I got to school in no time, quickly getting into the groove of things. As I prepped for the morning, I started cramping up (sorry, TMI). By the time my VTW showed up, I wanted to curl up into a ball (a.k.a. the fetal position), but instead, I popped an aspirin (which I rarely do under these circumstances) and off we went to see the 320s.

The pain got progressively worse with a side order of nausea. I noticed that I was yawning a lot...not from being tired, though. I should've taken that as a hint (as in gasping for air as a precursor to what lay ahead). To add insult to injury, the 320 I was working with whacked me upside the head about 3x. That was about all I could handle. I briefly ended the session, and we headed back to my room.

We were about 5 yards away, when I felt REALLY gnarly. Uh-oh, I think I knew what I was in for. When we got back to my room, I said in my calmest tone, "I hope you don't mind if I look crazy and lay down on the [disgusting!!!!] floor, but if I don't, I'm going to faint." I was already starting to black out.

For the next half hour, I laid on the DISGUSTING floor, curled up, profusely apologizing and trying not to scare the poor girl any more than she already was. As I lay on the floor, I called my bro with my cell, "Um, can you pick me up? I'm laying on the floor, about to faint."

My poor bro, who has dealt with my dramatic spells, dropped everything and rushed over to pick me up. I was still on the floor when he came. I was so embarrassed, not wanting to make it a big deal, but of course he topped the drama by getting me a wheelchair to transport me to his car. That alarmed the whole main office so that was even more embarrassing. When I asked my VTW to call my administrator up to see what she should do since I was leaving for the day, my administrator asked, "Should we call an ambulance?" I practically yelled from the floor, "O, no, please don't! I'm okay! Really!" I really did not want to draw any more attention to this (even though I am blogging about it now).

My bro dropped me off at home to BF (who had just woken up from working an all-nighter) to rest. I ate and slept for the rest of the day.

Today, my bro brought me to pick up my car. When we got there, we went to my room so that I could pick up a few things. We walked in, but as soon as we hit the light switch, the alarm went off. Of course it would go off! Why would I not think that the school is alarmed? I started panicking, wondering what we should do!

We ended up leaving the scene of the crime to go down the street for a yummy dinner at El Pollo Inka. After that, I came home and spent the night with Lil F (cleaning her tank) and waited for BF to come home so I could tell him all about my adventurous day with my bro.

I really feel awful that my bro worries so much about me. I've fainted on him or with him more times than I can count. Poor guy. BF's been "lucky" in that he has only dealt with it 1x...and I was in a casino with his parents. Not exactly a place where I could quickly lay down on the floor.

Not to worry, people; I'm going to see the doctor as soon as I find a new PCP!

Beach Bumming

Five years on the Westside, and I haven't been to the beach so much until this summer. Funny b/c when I had lunch with BGF yesterday, she asked if I go to the beach a lot.

Today, I met my bro at Santa Monica, where he did the rings. I passed on the opportunity (I get performance anxiety) and instead, went down to the ocean to wade around a little bit, since I haven't done that in years. Dude, I was soOOooOOOoo grossed out! I waded around for about 10 minutes, before the fluorescent green tides got the best of me so I went back to watch my bro at the rings. :(

Since when did the ocean turn fluorescent green? It was funky.

Afterwards, we went to Costco and picked up a new bookcase for bro. After ~3.5 hours of work, bro rewarded me with BOTH a Diddy Riese ice-cream sandwich AND Pinkberry for dinner! My bro totally rules! :D

Saving a life, 2 breaths and 30 compressions at a time

On Saturday, I woke up extra early to meet my classmates in Pasadena for a CPR class. I couldn't resist another Coffee Bean treat so I stopped by the same one as the day before and then headed on my merry way.

Our class consisted of Cheryl (the instructor), Cheryl (yours truly), BSILF & BSILFH, Yoyce and her BF Yayson, Rat A (a.k.a. CIA), Dimsum, Cold-Hearted K, and a lone nursing student who must've thought we were a crazy crowd. I'd say we were pretty successful at keeping the anxiety down and the fun at a high level. :)

I had a late random thought about all of this CPR stuff. For several years, I've been wanting to get certified just for the heck of it. I just never did. Now that I am about to extern in the hospital (in less than a week!!), it is a requirement. I'm glad I was "forced" to do this because now that I am officially certified (scary thought), I wholeheartedly believe everyone should do it, too!

The class was pretty intense for me. I think I went through a few emotional phases pretty quickly just in the first hour. When I first gave Cherelle (my adult manikin) mouth-to-mouth, I was freaking out, imagining that Cherelle was a real person and her life depended on me. After giving about a dozen cycles of compressions and respiration, I was a bit more confident. But then Cheryl busted out the child (Cher) and the infant (Elle). That made me think -- I am glad I never baby-sat b/c if anything happened, I wouldn't know wth to do except "call 911!"

Fortunately, after 5.5 hours of instruction, demonstration of competency, and a 100% on the examination, I am happy to say I saved Cherelle, Cher, and Elle. :)

Still, I hope I get through my externship w/o ever having to yell, "Call the code! Get the cart!"

Pampering

Yesterday and today, I've been forced to pamper myself (how often does that happen)? Back in October, bro and FBIL gave me a spa package to Peponi. My invitation/package is expiring in a week so I had to hurry and use them. I definitely did not want to let them go to waste!

On Friday, I received a mini-enzymatic facial. That was so nice, and I know my face needed it. The aestheticican, Rene, was wonderful as expected. Today, I went back for a Peponi Manicure (in between the Basics and Pleasure). I didn't catch the manicurist's name, but she was quite interesting and fun. A whole door was opened when she asked me, "Why is your mom in Texas?"

I'm excited because I get one more treatment this coming Friday. :) One more mini-enzymatic facial, coming right up!

.·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·..·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·. .·:*¨¨*:·.

There's this one kid at Site 2. He is the most adorable kid. He's everyone's "favorite" including the 3 librarians (the speech room is in b/t the computer lab and library; it's almost like a little "foyer" in between the two huge rooms). Anywho, he is somewhat on the PDD spectrum and totally hyperlexic, but has not been dx'd yet (long story). Anywho, when I work with him and go over Buddy Bear Association books, he'll respond correctly and sometimes add in, "One popcorn [or other appropriate food object], coming right up!" It totally cracks me up! He is so cute. I'm excited b/c just within the past few weeks, I've seen some progress. I'm mainly attributing it to development, though.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was a nice, casual V-day for the BF and I. We had dinner at Paco's Taco's (my fave Mexican restaurant!), stopped by Hotcake Bakes for dessert, and then went bowling. :)

I also received a bag of "Classroom Mix" Valentine's candies from bro and FBIL last night. What a clever idea and a delicious mix of Snickers, M&Ms, and Twix! I also received a Valentine from my MC2 - a See's Candies chocolate heart! Yummers. :) I didn't see my regular kids for tx today so I didn't get to throw a real "Valentime" day party for the small potatoes, but last Friday, we had mini-V-day parties w/ the kids and tmrw, we'll wrap up the celebration. Yay!

XOXO to all of you!

P.S. Hotcakes Bakes: "Katrina Moore and Elfie Weiss have opened little ten-seater Hotcakes Bakes, combining their American and Parisian baking techniques. Everything’s made on premises, from scratch, without benefit of mixers. Signature baked goods include opera cake; banana cream pie with milk chocolate ganache; and croissants. Sandwiches served on fresh baguettes pair ingredients like caprese with prosciutto and turkey with avocado."

Coffee Break

This is a cheesy confession~

When I was in college, I used to study all the time at coffee shops. That was the thing to do. We'd go to the coffee shops in Downtown La Jolla, Pacific Beach, or just stay on campus. Me, being the coffee lover, longed for the day that I could just sit at Starbucks and chat with friends as if I didn't have a care in the world (likeworking or studying).

After a chaotic 4 weeks of 490 and 5 weeks of 557, K3 and I made it a point to meet for a coffee/chai tea date to ketchup, talk shop, and "exchange 411 re: our S.O.'s bidness." We chatted, laughed, discussed, and pontificated until the sun went down. I had soOOOooOoOooo much fun, especially in light of "pretending" to be a chic L.A. person having coffee with a good friend as if we weren't in the middle of a crazy quarter and counting down the minutes before class began. It was great. :)

To continue on in the good vibes, our Outstanding Service Prof let us out early! Second time in a row!

AND that's not all!

At home, I opened up a sweet, cute card from BSILF that thanked BF & I for a teeny favor...and out fell a Sbux GC! Oh goody goody! Or, should I say "yumm in my tum." ;) Thx BSILF! :D

Lock Down

Today, I lived life on the dangerous side. Unintentionally, of course.

For the first time, I experienced a Lock Down. (Thankfully, BSILF explained what a Lock Down was, before our practicum began.) So yesterday, I was at Site 3, deemed the "worst of the worst." I was observing really tiny tots in the AM (holy moly, little boys are a bundle of insanely high NRG!), and frolicked back to the small potatoes' side mid-morning with the intention of getting some Dx hours. Instead, I worked on my first report and had lunch in the Teacher's Lounge w/ MC2.

During lunch, I flipped through the C S H A program and saw that one of my wonderful profs will be honored at the convention! I was all excited and telling MC2, when I stopped mid-sentence and exclaimed, "OMG! [BSILF] also won an award!" I was a little embarrassed b/c I exclaimed that BSILF is one of my classmate and a really good friend. Embarrassed b/c I didn't want her to think, "Well, if she's your good friend, then wouldn't you have known about this already?"

Well, it turns out that BSILF didn't even know! Crazy! Congratulations to BSILF for the Outstanding Student Award! :D

After the excitement, we went back to the room to finish up reports. Around 1 PM, Mrs. A barged in saying she barely escaped being caught by Security (she didn't evacuate when she was supposed to). Turns out there was a bomb threat called at the Tiny Tots' site (literally 1/4 of a block away from us) so they had all evacuated onto the front lawn. Now, having witnessed only 2 rambunctious boys at a time for half hour sessions was already exhausting enough. I couldn't imagine the thought of 90+ high NRG boys and girls out there.

We thought we were safe so we continued working until 10 minutes later, we heard a loOooOong bell. I had no clue what that meant, but Ms. M peeped outside to see if we had to evacuate. Nope; not a soul outside. She called the Main Office to get the low-down.

Turns out we were on Lock Down. Dude, whatever happened to fire and earthquake drills? As paranoid a person that I've become, I guess I didn't really think there was a serious bomb threat. On the other hand, this wasn't a Lock Down drill. It was for reals. After that settled in, melodramatic images filled my mind. I envisioned the SWAT team outside, investigating a mysterious package. I don't think that's what really happened, though.

MC2 and I eventually snuck out thru the cafeteria and left unscathed and unharmed. What a risky day it was.

Today, I got the scoop. The 50 interrogated all the JH kids and supposedly took the juve delinquents into custody. Apparently, the same kids were at Site 2 two days prior, committing the same act (but I was at Site 1 so I missed that commotion). Not to mention, yesterday at Site 2 (where I was today), a HUGE fight broke out b/t two races. Glad I missed that.

I'm too young to get life insurance, aren't I?

P.S. I categorized this under "Rarities" with the hopes that this is a rarity!

Ice Adventures

First ice adventure ~ ice-cream!

Two nights ago I made ice-cream for the first time! I busted out our new ice-cream maker and made cookies 'n cream with real Oreos. Man, it was delicious! BF and I haven't finished it yet b/c it is really rich. I could definitely get used to making ice-cream as soon as we have more room in the freezer. Making slushies may be my next move. :)

Second ice adventure ~ snowboarding!

On a whim, I decided to go snowboarding w/ Bro, FBIL, and their buddy and his BF. Actually, I had a dream early Wednesday morning where I went snowboarding. When I told Bro and FBIL during our night hike, FBIL mentioned going boarding today. I was hesitant since school already began and time for fun adventures is a rarity. Yesterday, Bro asked me again, and with a little hemming and hawing, I decided that it was now or never.

So I woke up at 5 AM and was at my bro's 10 minutes before 6. Former We Ho cheerleader and his BF picked us up at 6, and we headed to Big Bear. Starbucks stop, equipment rental, and three and a half hours later, we were hittin' the slopes. The powder was perfect and fresh since it had just rained and they had just added more man-made real snow. It was also great b/c it wasn't too crowded. After two runs, we ate an early lunch. Dude, seriously, the nachos and chili fries were so good. Bro & I had Peanut M&Ms for dessert. :) We did 3 more runs and then called it a day b/c by then, it was jam packed with people and taking forever to get on the lifts.

I had so much fun! Fortunately, I didn't crash into anybody. A dude rammed his board into my back b/c he didn't see me (I was at the top, strapping myself in), but at least I didn't get a board rammed up my crack, requiring stitches (like Bro's anonymous friend).

I fell a lot more times than I thought I would, and I was a lot slower than the last times I've been. In fact, I was the slowest of the bunch. I wanted to attribute it to old age, but FBIL and Bro are older than me and I used to be faster than them. So that wasn't it. Maybe I've just become less coordinated and weaker. Dude, I was eatin' their dust all day.

In terms of injuries, I didn't pull any muscles, like how I pulled my groin muscle big-time in 2002. =X That was a horrible experience (and I didn't even know I had a groin muscle to pull). Bro, FBIL, and I also attempted to learn to carve, but after I totally ate it a few times, I gave up. It was hard b/c 1) we were learning on the intermediate/advanced slopes so it was way steep for an amateur to learn on and 2) when we tried to learn on the bunny slopes, it was way too crowded and you pick up speed so fast. The last thing I wanted to do was stop my board by running into the many people obstacles along the way.

We left around 2 and made another Starbucks run. I didn't realize how tired I was; after I had my latte, I totally fell asleep for about half an hour. BTW, Sbux has some adorable Valentine's Day stuff! When I got home, I cleaned Lil F's tank, too. By the time I was showering, I could barely lift my arms to wash my hair! How weak is that!

It was so worth it, though! This past week has been adventurous, special thanks to FBIL and Bro. I am trying to be more spontaneous and adventurous, despite the daily stresses of being a grown-up and being a student. :) Not too shabby a track record for the first week of the year, huh?

Fake Last Day of Vacation

Although I began school yesterday, I am psyching myself out to believe that today is my last day of vacation. Of course by the first day of class, we were supposed to have already read Chapter 1 so I was already behind in my assignments when I got to school.

This morning, I began my "last" day of vacation by accompanying BF to the local bowling alley for his first "real" bowling lesson. I cheesed out of taking bowling lessons and read Chapter 1 of our dysphagia text while he learned how to approach the line. One and a half hours, Chapter 1 and a few pages of Chapter 3, and 3 bowling games later, BF and I bowled two games. BF thinks I was subconsciously "itching" to bowl b/c in my first game, I bowled 3 strikes and picked up a spare, totalling 136! My second game was a bummy 80 something but I still had fun. Unfortunately, BF noticed that his ball was chipped so he was incredibly bummed out! Fortunately, his new coach is doctoring his ball over the next few days.

Afterwards, BF and I went to Costco. One of his New Year's Resolutions that I made for him is to eat out no more than once a week (and to eat healthier). That means we need to stock up on food that he will eat at home so we went all out at Costco (my favorite "market"). The rest of the day inclued more errands such as stopping by one of my doctors, who gave me a calendar of "Beautiful Korea" and bid me a very enthusiastic "Happy New Year!" in her accented English. That made me really smile. I also went to Food-4-Less and picked up a few more stuff...including peppermint and vanilla extract to make ice-cream! Yeah!

I decided at the last minute to join Bro and FBIL for a night hike at Temescal Canyon in Pacific Palisades. I thought we were joining a large group of their friends since they said we were hiking with a "large group." Turns out we were hiking with a large group of people. Strangers to be precise. I have to admit I was a little leary, especially since it was a full moon (all the crazies are out) and we did not know to bring flashlights. Still, we ventured on.

Our hiking leader, a 6 foot 8 inch naturistic dude, led about 25+ of us on a really dark hike that takes place every full moon. The theme of tonight's hike was "Feast of the Senses." The guy made us narrow down which sense we would not want to live without. Most of us chose vision. Quite appropriate since we were going on a night hike where those of us without flashlights would have to rely on our other senses (well, not taste) rather than our vision, which I am certainly most used to. For a few yards, we hiked silently and listened to all the sounds. We walked farther away from the highways and traffic died down and all we heard were crickets, trampling of leaves, whispers, and Coco the dog sniffing around. Our next trek honed in on our sense of smell. Lots of sage and other herbs. For the rest of the hike, we just went uphill and didn't really zero in on any of our senses b/c we were too busy huffing up and up and up. I was so not ready for such a wild hike.

Nevertheless, we made it to an opening at what seemed like the top of a mountain. The view was magnificent. We could see Santa Monica Bay, LAX (sort of), and Downtown LA. I was more enthralled by the moon and the stars above. The full moon often reminds me of my mom. I could be wrong, but I think every full moon, my mom and her temple put on a big celebration of sorts. What really surprised me tonight was the thought of how I haven't seen Orion, his Belt, and the Big Dipper in probably years. That thought made me happy and sad. As corny as it may be, I thought about the "light pollution" that our cities have (and made me think of stuff I'm reading in Voyage of the Turtle). The only times I really look up at the stars are when I'm at Ama's. She lives at the base of the Foothills, so we can actually see the stars.

Rewind: I was actually star-gazing New Year's Eve with BBN. I asked him if he could see the moon. He said yes and pointed to the moon. I asked if he saw the stars. He said no. I tried to point them out to him. Then he finally said, "Those are spaceship!" LOL

Anywho, the view was wonderful and the dude made us do a pirate's trick of staring at the moon with one eye so that our rods and cones would adjust to the dark. It was a neat trick that I am not explaining very well b/c my mind and body is mush from the hike. Bro, FBIL, and I ended up leaving the crowd and treking downhill IN THE DARK all the way back down.

Our downhill trek was interesting for me. When we were going uphill, I was so anxious about tripping in the dark so I kept running after the stranger ahead of me w/ a flashlight. I didn't really enjoy my surroundings. Going back down in the dark with no light except the full moon was such a different, calming (occasionally scary when I tripped over rocks or missed a step) experience.

I'm glad I went on a night hike. It was my first night hike and my third hike, said the sheltered girl.