car business

The inspection guy woke me up around 8:30. I have to say I am quite amazed at my ability to immediately jump up whenever I hear my phone ringing....(no matter how sleepy I am at that given time.) The whole thing took about 30 min and he only found that one scratch on my door to be excessive. I am starting to think maybe I should of just got that fixed before he came so I don't have to be waken up early again next week.

Anyway...for that one scratch on my door (Which I don't know which jerk did...) I will have to pay something like 210 if I have the car company take care of it. I think I am just gonna go see Leo and see if he can cut me a better deal. One 5 cm scratch for 210 is a lot I think.

I called Leo and left him a message on his cell phone...(yeah it's amazing I have my bodyshop manager's cell phone...kinda weird...) Leo actually remembers who I am....(must be the CD I gave him I guess...hahaha....or maybe just as he said, he doesn't have that many Asian customers to begin with.) I hope he will be able to take care of this fast since I already made another appt for inspection next Fri.

Man life is kinda unpredictable. I would not lease a car if I knew I would stay in the states after all. I hate wasting money on things I will not eventually own. On the other hand, if I didn't lease the car but bought one, then the low pay at HI would probably kill me with my rent, bills and car payments all together. So I guess everything did happen for a reason....and everything would eventually work out fine if I don't annoy God to death. (I don't think God can die...just an expression...)

Last night Billy asked me what were the most exciting time in my life with 5 year increments. I noticed I really lost a lot of passion in life throughout the years. I hardly find anything exciting now. I remember I used to be a quite excitable kid and had a lot of emotional swings to the extreme. Now I still get irritated and all, but I can kinda suppress that quickly as well. I am not really sure if suppression is that good for mental health though.

Perhaps people are right about how humans are not meant to live alone. Kids should have a lot of interactions with their parents (that is if their parents are responsible to be around and take care of them...), and be sociable with friends. People need to get in touch with the outside world early in age to know how dark the world can get at times. I think by early training a kid can grow up to be stronger and care less about disappointments in life. Oh well....maybe it's just personality...who knows...

Why did I jump that far in my topic? well...cuz of the questions last night I didn't sleep all that well. I don't think I should ever use my brain after 10 at night cuz once I start I cannot shut it down. The car guy didn't exactly help by waking me up early...and now I am all dizzy. On top of that I will have to eat with Hui-Ling jie, go to bodyshop, teach my student in the afternoon...oh and I already finished laundry while I type up this blog....I am indeed multi-functional...

Influences.....and being dumb....

I was putting few childhood pictures on my MSN for the past few weeks....and I noticed I have about 6 people on my msn list displaying their childhood pictures now. I told Nancy I may really be influential in weird ways cuz people tend to learn my ways of doing things without knowing it. I also told her I would just put my wedding pictures on MSN and see if everyone gets married. I am sure most of my friends would be excited if they are the next in line getting married. (I wonder what is wrong with them really...:p)

I woke up early today and went out to work the same time as Billy...ok...not exactly working....but trying to get my shoes for the wedding somewhere. I was going to Glendale to check out Nordstrom Rack, and decided to 1st go to Hollywood Bowl for tix since the time was still early.

I got to the box office around 9:50 and waited while drinking my morning latte. I was so patient that I waited till 10:05 to go down and check if the office was open...and then....I saw the note saying "starting from the 15th of May box office will be open from noon to 6".....yeah...great...I was not gonna wait there for 2 hours...so I drove back to Glendale.

I had no luck finding anything at Nordstrom Rack...even the clothes were not all that interesting. I might just be too determined to get a pair of shoes today I did not have much interest on other stuff. After my failure at Glendale I decided to quickly check that shoe store in Pasadena which Claire recommended.

DSW at Pasadena indeed has a lot of shoes, but nothing was all that impressive. I ended up picking something that I saw two weeks ago at Marshall, but with a more appropriate color. I guess this is what happens when I am tired of doing something. I am just not gonna think about shoes any more cuz I am tired of looking. I also passed that one store Joelle told me about with cheap jeans and cool stuff....maybe I should just go check that out on Fri or something...:p

So...I was being dumb driving so much to only get a pair of shoes, but at least I got one thing out of the way. My mood is still ok despite of all the stupid effort I made. (perhaps because I am only having one student per day for the rest of the week. :)

Oh...forgot to mention I started dreaming weird again....In my dream this morning Billy and I were taking a trip on a ship...not sure if it was a cruise vacation or not, but some friends of mine were also on the ship with us. In the dream Billy got annoyed at me because I was having too much fun with my friends.

1st day of the trip he started playing basketball by himself. The game requires certain pitches to be in tune to play. It's all weird I don't remember how that game worked. (Just a musical basketball game I guess? hehehehe...)2nd day of trip I was hanging out with a diff. crowd and he got more annoyed he went down to the basement of the ship and hid. I had to walk around the ship to find him...and then I woke up...I wonder what would happen if I continued to neglect him for the 3rd day...? I wonder what is the lesson behind this particular weird dream...hum...

Funny difference....

I know I know...I am writing blog twice a day again...just thought I would note this since I just read Billy's blog. If someone just reads his blog then the person would think our long weekend was packed. If that same person reads mine then he/she would feel confused....hehehe...

I also didn't know Ashley Judd's husband is a race car driver. I used to think she was kinda hot when I 1st saw her in movies. I don't even remember which movie it was...something with Tommy Lee Jones I think? or maybe earlier than that....Man....race car winner and movie star...they probably have too much money to spend. :p

Ok I got side tracked.... Just wanted to make a note how Billy and I are just so diff. even when we live the same life. It's very amusing eh?

I don't like Tuesdays....

Today is Tuesday, and I really don't like Tuesdays. I guess I just don't like teaching 4 students a day. I still can't really feel that uplifted about teaching James and he is usually the last student I have on Tue...sighs....

Tiffany asked me to take her violin and play on it so her violin would not sound bad after the violin man fixed it. I guess she didn't know by asking me to do that I will actually have to practice a little. I was kinda entertained cuz she was so serious about it and kept on complaining about the sound throughout the lesson...so I just said yes at the end.

So I was playing on her violin a little last night with Sibelius concerto. I guess Mr. Lipsett did get stuff rooted in me so after so many years I can still fake it even though it's not perfect. I was also wondering how I used to be able to play same stuff over and over everyday just to get those tiny details fixed. I guess being a performer sucks cuz you waste your life on details 99 % of people would not be able to tell. Interesting kinda life eh? hahahaha....now you realize why musicians are lonely people. They just live in their own world.

Anyway....long weekend was kinda boring. We went to see Shrek III on Sun and the whole theater was packed with people who went to see Pirates III. It's amazing how many people go to the movies during long weekend. I guess people don't know where to go with the gas price being so high. We should all be glad there is Hollywood to entertain everyone.

We did go to Yamashiro to have a drink with Ming on Sat. It was kinda weird putting people who he knew from LA together, since the rest of us don't really stay in touch much now. It's amazing how I was not able to concentrate much throughout the conversation. I guess I really don't have the ability to stay interested with same things or same people for a long time. I would be fine if the "same people" do have "diff. things" happening in their lives cuz then they would have diff. things to talk about...oh well...

Ok...enough complaints... I guess I thought long weekend was boring because I didn't get anything I wanted to get, and I had to teach when people are having day off. Teaching is really annoying on holidays...oh well...I am just being grouchy cuz it's Tue. I really don't like Tuesdays neh....

just some photos...

Don't feel like writing much....so I am just gonna put some pics on...


This is 蛋包飯 and Oyster 煎....not exactly the same looking as TW.


Something we ordered in Hollywood...Billy ordered this thing called S.O.S...and it looks like....you know what....I got "French toast bread pudding"...and it's not very French toasty...


Billy says bye to Hades every morning before he goes to work. Hades takes Billy's spot on the bed once Billy goes to the restroom and continues to sleep every morning...and one morning Billy just took my camera and took pictures of me and Hades sleeping...


Billy put Hade's collar inside out and said Hades now looks like catholic priest.


Tried make up with the make up person on Sat. Just took a pic to show how big my eyes can get even though they were not too small to start with...

One day ahead of time....

Thurs felt like Fri cuz I was so looking forward to only teaching one student a day. Today felt like Sat even though it's only Fri. Fri is usually quite relaxing for me, but then today was a bit packed so it felt like Sat. I forced myself to get up so I can carefully think about Joelle's song even though I did work on it a little last night. I was right that once I started it I would not be able to stop thinking about it for a while. I guess that is why I kinda didn't sleep too well last night.

I forced Joelle to wait for Fedex with me at home cuz I needed to get this shipment from Apple. It's the photo guest book I ordered last week, and if I don't get it from the fedex guy when they deliver I would have to go all the way to Whitter to get it. I was stupid and didn't put another address for delivering, clearly knowing there is no way for any package to get into our gated apartment....dumb...

I went downstairs three times around noon, and amazingly each time I went down I always bump into a fedex truck. 1st time it was Fedex express, 2nd Fedex Home, and then finally the third one was Fedex ground. I was lucky enough to get my package, and the guest book actually turned out quite nice. I think it's a little over priced, but at least it's unique enough for people to write on. Now I just have to find the appropriate pens for them to write.

Song fixing was easy with Joelle after I thought about what I didn't really think would work. It's this back and forth kinda process that will eventually drive everyone nuts. She will probably be going to China in Aug, and I will have no way of recording her. I think I am more concerned about that than getting the lyrics at this point...since lyrics can always be adjusted no matter how long it takes.....on top of that Cindy will also leave around the same time...sighs...

Sometimes I wonder what this world will become that everyone is trying to get to China nowadays....quite interesting how everyone wants to go even though most of us know how dangerous and stressful it can get over there. Louie was just telling me about his plan investing in China too. I guess it's where the money is nowadays.

I guess it's good for me to be stuck here at this point or else I may be thinking about doing music in China as well....since they are still a bit behind in the entertainment industry....things should be cheaper there....oh well...not exactly a place I am interested of going...I think I am brainwashed way too much by my family. I don't think any of us want to visit China any time soon...maybe someday..

Have to try out for make up tomorrow. I hope it turns out to be ok cuz I don't have time to find another person to do it anyway. I wonder how many brides actually book a make up person last month before the wedding. Oh well....Billy's ring is probably not even gonna be ready by the wedding since it takes 4-6 weeks to get as they just told him on the phone today. Very interesting wedding it looks like...oh...and...I just heard we have more than 250 guests now. I wonder how many will show up at the end...

A lot of things to do tomorrow...I wonder if tomorrow will feel like Sun. Time is all messed up...maybe I am living in TW time or something.....

This must be a miracle....

I know I know...I already wrote my blog this morning....but I just have to note this cuz it's very unusual. I finished my bible reading and chatted with Louie as I said I would....and before I touched Joelle's song, I felt this urge to check up my violin. I know it's all weird...but I went to the closet and got my violin out. I even got out some pieces, opened the case, took out and tuned the violin....and....I...practiced....!!!!!!!!

Okok...I only practiced 30 min before I went back to IM with Ming. but...I don't even remember when was the last time I really practiced. What was amazing is that I am so much more patient now when I play. I know exactly how I should practice and I know slow work does me some good. I wonder if I got all of that from teaching.

My muscles are a little bit out of shape cuz I can feel that I need to work on my stretches with the fingers....but I don't think I would sound any worse than before if I just pick it up for a month or so. This is really an interesting experience I thought. Maybe I should just kick in one hour of practice a day to release my stress and make myself feel good....hahahaha.....

Maybe...just maybe...maybe I just don't want to start working on the song so I found all possible ways to delay it....even by playing my violin...hahahahaha.....I am such a slacker...Sorry Joelle....I will get to it....wahahahaha.....

I guess yesterday was just a bad day

I was struggling on my bed this morning cuz I just couldn't sleep all that well last night. I considered sleeping in but Tiffany's mom woke me up by calling me around 8:30. I guess she is an early bird and just loves to call me early. So here I am...writing my blog super early in the morning.

I had to teach 4 students a day for Tue and Wed this week because of all the screwed up school schedule the kids had. I guess that just kinda got to me so when my stupid lawyer called making some nonsense and repeating a lot of stuff I just got the fire in me burning again.

I think a lot of lawyers are really not that smart. They just hire paralegals to do their works and they talk big cuz they got their license and sits in their pretty offices. Harry Liu was a good example of that bunch. Jean's brother was actually not bad cuz he would really go through the files by himself and study on the case. I wonder if he did that cuz I am a friend of Jean. Now I am thinking maybe I should of just let him continue to handle my case. Oh well...what is done is done.

We went to the prayer meeting and I was all tired after my students. Topic of the night was about love, and it's just not a simple lesson. While brother Chen was talking about how sometimes it's hard to love each other...I was already thinking....hum....a lot of this is repeating in a endless circle....so you see? talking about how hard it is to love each other. Us humans are just way inadequate in this matter.

Brother Chen and his wife were also worried about Louie. It kinda reminds me how I got tired of asking him what is going on in his life and if he is coming to the prayer meeting. To be honest we all know the center of his life now is probably his GF. (and then some studying plus work of course...)I don't know how much we can do to pull him back and it just gets annoying if I have to keep on pushing him. Moral of this discussion is that one needs to carefully select someone who would help both sides grow as a partner. Speaking of which...I don't know how much I am helping my partner really....

We got home and Billy was feeling a headache and also uneasy stomach. He claimed it's a pimple on his head causing everything (somehow it sounds weird to me...), but I thought maybe it's the McDonald salad he had. It is also possible I just transfered my headache to him cuz after the meeting my headache got much better. The poor kid went to bed and this morning he said he was a lot better. I guess yesterday was just a bad day then...

Today is a new day and I am just gonna read my bible to start it off. I better get myself to work on Joelle's song too before I have to cancel the meeting again....and also...I will catch up with our brother Louie and see what the heck is going on in his life....some love right there....right...

Weird Dream part II

It was another night with dreams and this time church was still involved in the dream. I was playing piano for the church and the worship leader annoyed me to death. He would just pull out a song right before they need to sing it in the whole service, and I would have no idea what he is gonna lead next.

I think the dream was all about irresponsible church people who think doing everything last min is fine because in God we have grace. I would just call that abusing our grace from God. I guess I was also fed up with worship leaders who think mistreating their musicians is ok since it has been done that way all along too.

I keep on wondering why every time I remember weird dreams I always know what is the issues behind the dreams. I have a feeling God is probably trying to heal me from whatever the issues are through those dreams and that is also why when this happens I always get super tired afterwards. Maybe releasing all the anger and stress in the dreams just takes way too much energy to start with....

I wish there is this memory erasing machine so people can choose to take certain parts of their life away from the brain. (not like my memory blocking technique which only temporarily bury the issues till one day it explodes.) I wonder if us humans would be wise enough to use that kinda ability if it is available. We probably won't....

Weird timing....

Today is just a weird day....1st I woke up with a weird dream once again. I haven't have any dreams for a while and somehow I just got a whole night of dreams again. The last dream and the only dream I remembered before I woke up took place in Scotland!!!! I have no idea why I was there, but then I was living alone cuz my family in the dream all died. I guess that has something to do with my abandonment issues...Oh well...

Tiffany's mom called around noon. She told me that the violin repair man she just visited knows me. I was like...huh? who? So the violin man turned out to be someone I used to take my violin to when I was a kid back in TW. I guess we wasted enough money at his shop he remembers my name....even after so many years.

While I was teaching Brenda, my lawyer called and told me our interview will be on the 16th of July. I was like...yeah...right....just one day after I booked all the hotels now you are telling me I have to be in LA on the 16th of July. I told her to postponed the interview but then she told me I will probably have to wait for a long time for the interview to be rescheduled. I just told her I will call her tomorrow to tell her the decision after I discuss wit Billy.

I guess I was frustrated by the call that I lost my concentration a little bit while I was teaching. James was my last student for the day, and his weird behaviors didn't help much for me to gather back my concentration. I kept on wondering why a kid already in junior high would have such a big problem controlling his own behavior. (I mean....most people would not have a problem waking up form a nap when they are 13 years old, right? He was shouting and crying....and I totally sympathize his mom.)

Anyway....the weirdest thing happened when I tried to cancel hotel rooms with priceline knowing they really don't take cancellations. It just happened that on Sun the 15th I didn't "bid" through priceline but booked with the hotel itself. Because of that I was able to cancel our rooms for Sun night, thus making it possible for us to have that interview on the 16th and drive to Vegas afterwards.

Ok...I have to admit I am still very annoyed that so many things are happening. I have to fit a lot of stuff into my schedule and everything is getting affected by my students' end of school schedule and the wedding. Now on top of all that our vacation plan need to be changed because of that stupid interview.

I personally think God wants to us to go to the interview on the 16th and not to postpone it....otherwise I don't think that day would be the only day I could cancel the hotels...I mean with all other days I bid on our hotels, but on 15th I just booked with the hotel itself. I don't even know why I did that...So...anyway...we will have to expect a long drive coming back from Reno and hopefully the interview will be good next day...weird timing I know...everything is just weird today...weird weird weird....

Wedding STUFF.....

Our wedding coordinator volunteer, my er-ge, called around noon today. He has been extremely busy for the past two months and honestly speaking I am still a bit perplexed why he would want to be our coordinator....cuz he really does not seem like this type of person at all. He asked me how the preparation is going, and I was glad I was able to at least give him some minor progress with this phone call. (I used to tell him not much is going on, so I guess he was quite happy with our discussion today.)

I just noticed during the weekend that our wedding is only about one and half month away. I guess it's about time to start panicking... I sure hope I will stay emotionally stable through the rest of time before the wedding. It seems like there are still a lot of stuff to do, but then I don't know exactly what to do. Oh well....just hope July 8th will end sooner than expected.

I called Nissan to set up an appt for my car inspection. I was put on hold for almost 1 hour before I was able to set a date. I guess those car companies are really dumb to put their customers on hold for so long. That kinda made me not wanting to do business with them ever again. Last night we got a car magazine to look into what we want to purchase later on... I think after this call I am leaning more toward the Acura TSX. :p

Chatting and eating with Jay & Daniel went pretty smooth. I guess we will just have to find one more song for the procession and then that would be fine for the music part. I wonder what music we should play at the banquet...oh well...can't think about those right now. I get annoyed when I have to pick music or songs for a specific occasion.

We also got the test tubes for the center pieces. I hope those will work alright when we put flowers in. I also booked all the hotels for our vacation after the wedding. I am sure there will be a lot of driving around, but at least this is the route Billy suggested so he would think it's less boring. I hope he won't get too tired driving...I am glad he can always sleep well when he is tired...

I think I should stop writing about this wedding thing or I will get more anxious by the min....

Trying out the washer and dryer

We haven't have any relaxing weekend for a while, but this weekend is not too bad. We woke up super late around 10 in the morning and I am sure that helped a little for the big hole in my mouth to heal.

Basically we didn't get much done at all for the whole day....1st we went to Macy's to return the earrings Billy's friend got me as a wedding gift. I guess it's rare for girls to not have ears pierced. I tried to look for an appropriate necklace for the wedding but didn't find any. We ended up eating at this Japanese place for lunch, and the waitress was kinda spaced out..oh well...It's her job, not mine.

We got our weekend boba drinks and went to Almansor hoping to find out if we can have rehearsal for the wedding on Fri night. The schedule for that weekend is really crazy cuz they have two weddings Fri night and 4 weddings on Sat. I don't understand why so many people want to get married...but it looks like the only time we can have the rehearsal will be Sat morning....that is if we are lucky and nobody books it in June.

Pasadena was out next stop after Almansor. We weren't able to get anything form there either. I guess it's just hard to pick stuff I like. Billy went to home depo to get paint and screws cuz he is gonna try to make our TV stand by himself. I know...it sounds kinda cool...We will see how it turns out to be cuz he wants to make our bed by himself too....I am not even gonna think too much about it since I have no idea how...

I am now sitting at his house trying the new washer and dryer he bought for his mom last week. I think the new machines work pretty well but then each one takes more time than our apartment cycle. I wonder if the clothes would get cleaner if I really wash them that long. (I chose the speedy process already cuz I had no patience...)

Billy is out there cutting the grass for his house. The machine is so loud I wonder how old it is. It feels kinda interesting to do house works during weekend. I am not really doing much other than sitting here waiting for the clothes to be ready and eating dried apple chips his dad gave me...but at least I am writing my blog....hehehehehe

Patience is all relative....

I have been doing a lot of patience work lately that I almost think I am a patient person now. I spent the last two days doing photo books that I mentioned before. I guess I always had passion for photos ever since I was a kid. I remember how I would go home each break and just play with photos for days... trying to cut, assemble, and laminate them. Mom used to think I am nuts wasting so much time on them.

So when I was trying to arrange our photo guest book I kinda went back in time and memory. I think once I concentrate on doing something I just can't stop doing it till it's done. It was the same way when I played games, when I read a book, or when I tuned my out of tune singers...hehehe....(Somehow it never really happened when I practiced...I wonder where I would be if I continued to practice a lot throughout the years?)

I also waited patiently on baba's arrangement for Cindy's song. It was supposed to be done within a week, but then I waited more than a month I think. I still haven't get a song from Howard either, but again it may be another patience lesson for me. I do wish I can get a song from him at least by June so I can start writing mine.

This morning I was chatting with a friend regarding relationship. I could totally feel that I almost lost my patience. I honestly don't really understand why most girls have to put themselves in bad situations and then dream for the best outcome. I believe one has to take the responsibilities with choices we make. It's ok to make bad choices cuz we all make mistakes. I just don't think we should wish miracles to happen in directions we want when a wrong choice is made to start with.

I guess patience is all relative. I admit I am only patient toward things I want to do or stuff I am interested in. I am not able to stay interested in issues for a long time when everything is repeating a pattern toward failure. I believe miracles do happen, but not with our wishful thinkings. I don't think God would just spoil us with miracles if we just keep on being stupid all the way. He is not a dumb God after all is he?

Studio Pictures

Ok...so I didn't have time to write any blog yesterday.I was kinda playing around with photos to make a photo guest book for our wedding for the whole night. I know we already got a scroll for people to sign, but for some reason I just really like photo albums and thought it would be more interesting to let people write something in it.

I went to the studio where we took our wedding photos and got the compress files of the 40 pictures we picked. I came back home and found out those photos are limited in resolution thus it was difficult to make everything work with the i-photo templates. (I knew the files were with limited resolution, just didn't know how limited they were....hehehehe)

For the whole night I was basically playing with the photos, turning them around here and there to fit them into the template. I also added some "normal" pictures just to show that we do enjoy everyday life together as well :)

Anyway...here are some studio pictures in raw format. Hopefully the real album which they are making for us will be ready by the wedding so mom and dad can get the smaller one to show grandma and relatives in TW later on.

Billy and his mom thinks the pictures with black and white backgrounds turned out the best. Those are the 1st sets we took so I guess the photographer was still able to concentrate. I liked the black ones more than the while ones. I thought the pictures with our backs were pretty nice though.

Billy said we should pick more "solo" pictures for them to do graphic design later on in our real albums. I didn't like most of my solo ones though...I liked his solo pictures more than mine...too bad he didn't pick that Japanese one... Here are some solo ones. I only liked mine in purple dress. Oh...I think Billy looks like a big boss :)

I just really like the sparkling background....

We only picked two from this background....but this semi-black and white one was cool...I slightly changed the other one to match the feeling...hehehe

People say I look Japanese...So I guess I had to try this.

This background makes it feel like we were somewhere near the beach.


Ok....enough photos for now :)

Ancient pictures...

Mom gave me this link with photos Ivan scanned for me. It was very entertaining to go through them....a lot of memories through diff. times...and a lot of them I am not too sure what happened...

This is when I was a baby...I have no idea where we lived....

Mom liked to dress me up I think....in all kinds of weird ways...


I think I was a pretty happy kid....

Many people said I look like Japanese....and you know what? I really so look like Japanese, even when I was young....

Mom and dad also took me to many countries and that was really a big privilege for kids at that time. These are from our US trip.

The year after US we went to Europe....

Ok....here are my cousins...and my dorky hair style...

Here are my bros...ok...the 1st one is with my cousin Xiao-Ping cuz he was inseparable with my bro Clement. The 2nd one I thought it was funny us three all had the same hair style...

I guess I will have to look into some other pictures when I was in high school and college...more work to do later...:)

Weird questions....

Recently I have been thinking about some weird questions. The questions can really just pop up any time any where with everyday life that we go through. A lot of times there is really no answer to the questions but I still ask them just for the heck of it. Very often there is even no need for an answer with my questions, but I still ask anyway.

Yesterday was mother's day. I didn't do anything for my mom except calling her Sat night to wish her a happy mother's day. I guess I am lucky in a way that my parents really just give me unconditional love and don't ask things in return from me. Maybe they just know I am not able to give them much...hahahaha.....but it sure feels nice after I look at many Chinese families.

So I wonder why Chinese parents expect their kids to do things for them in return. Honestly I kinda know the reasons, but I ask that question because I am very lucky to be born with my parents. I have caused them a lot of troubles growing up being a sick kid but I have never doubted that they love me....not with some sort of purpose behind their actions.

Over the weekend we also had some extra expense due to the wedding again. We went to order or wedding rings, and they were kinda expensive. I know I tend to pick expensive stuff, but hopefully that would make us wear it more and stop me from wanting to buy new rings to wear. I wonder why dad doesn't wear his ring... I guess he is committed enough to his marriage he really didn't need to wear it. I wonder where dad's ring is and if he can still fit into it now he gained so much weight. (Billy was kinda planning to get more weight and thinking about buying a slightly larger size for his ring...I just thought that was kinda amusing and worth mentioning.)

We also went to pick the wedding photos yesterday. Billy's mom went with us and she actually didn't say too much for the whole process. I thought we would be able to finish picking the photos within an hour, but it took way longer than I expected...(like more than two hours). I wonder if Billy was more into the photos than I was cuz he picked more than I expected. Maybe it's my perfectionist nature kicking in cuz I didn't want many of the photos when I think they have minor defects.

Oh well....we ended up picking 40 photos and spent more than 2000 on them. I wonder if that is really worth it...but then people said if you don't get wedding photos you would regret later on. Dad and mom didn't have those studio wedding photos when they got married. I wonder if they regret at all....I think photos would really mean nothing if two people don't stay loving each other, no matter how good the photos look. I also wonder how we will look like in 10 years...maybe we should try to get some studio shots again in 10 years...it must be fun then :p

I am not sure how many years people have to save up just to be able to have a wedding. I am pretty lucky Billy is taking care of major expenses for us, but I still feel bad he has to spend so much money just on the wedding alone. I think we can already get a pretty nice car with all the money we have spent till now. I wonder who started this whole wedding thing. Adam and Eve didn't have the ceremony but yet they were made for each other. God didn't say anything about a ceremony being necessary either...I don't know why people keep on saying a ceremony in front of people is biblical....? Oh well...another one of my weird questions...

Anyway...even Tony's wedding is over with....soon shall be ours. I guess not much time is left to get ready for everything. I wonder when I will start to lose more weight again due to the stress. I think the best way of losing weight is to get into a serious relationship and get married....even though I know it does not work for everyone. :p

Competitiveness

People can really get competitive.....in the weirdest ways....

We went to Tony and Patty's wedding yesterday, and Hui-Ling jie was also there at the wedding. She was saying how she likes to watch people's attires in weddings and that is basically the only thing she is interested every time she goes to a wedding. (I know...very weird reason indeed.)

I noticed how girls try to look their best when they go to weddings and thought that was some sort of competitiveness right there. Later I detected how I was looking into details of their wedding such as flowers, decoration colors, clothes, vows, pastor, music, number of guests, etc. I was not only paying attention to them, but also trying to go through each category comparing to our wedding. Right....talking about being competitive.....

I saw a few unexpected people at the wedding. I saw Max Wu who wrote Ed's song with me, and the other Max who I didn't see for years. (who happens to be one of the groomsman). I guess this is really a small world after all... One thing I didn't really understand was how the bride's maids and groomsmen kept on facing the audience throughout the whole ceremony. I thought that was entertaining... maybe Tony was trying to let the guests look at them more and get distracted...?

We had to catch a party at Daniel Ortega's house at night. (Billy's college friend and co-worker now) It's also a set up dinner for his other friend Nader, the Palestinian. I think Billy's long term friends seem to be easy to get along with. I got really entertained when Daniel was explaining how to arrange and eat the Mexican food that he made (The Tacos)...cuz I am honest not interested in Mexican food AT ALL!!!!!

We had to play this "pop culture" DVD game that Daniel's wife Alta got after dinner. I guess I am just not that in sync with US pop culture. I had a lot of fun watching people fighting over answers & scores though. You can totally see their personalities when people play games. Some people really get ticked off when they are not winning, and Natalie was completely pissed off by how Nader was getting all the answers right.

It's amazing to see how one (Nader in this case) can memorize so many trivial things....I mean...name of the dog for the Brady family? what the heck? Many of the questions were kinda old for me too....some of the events were happening before I was born!!! None of the music questions were related to classical music...This is definitely not something for me to play and win. It was just a very interesting game to participate in and observe if you are not there to win. :p

Nader was the big winner and I am sure the girl they were trying to set him up with liked him even more after the game. He was getting a kick out of it too cuz he seemed like he would not mind staying longer and play one more round. People are indeed talented in diff. ways I tell you...hehehe....Natalie on the other hand, had to deal with her competitive nature a bit. I was very amused listening to her conversation with Tigrant. I think Tigrant was right about how Natalie would be more suitable to be a lawyer than him.

I thought I was pretty chilled when people were trying to compete on things I have no idea about. I only need to win on things I know I can win. I guess that has something to do with my "control freak" nature... When it comes to things I can't control or has no say about...I just automatically drop the case right away. Anyway....it was a long day...but quite entertaining over all. :)

My skin treatment today....

I lied yesterday when I said it was the last time I would write about Ho-Ching for now. I just have to mention her again today. She used to tell me the reason why she has good skin is because she cries a lot. She suggested that I should try crying once a while then I would start to look young. So I got my share of skin treatment this morning when I saw this clip Robert mailed out....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vWJUwGI61iU

I think this is about the last blog I am gonna write on Ho-Ching for now

Mom told me to give Ho-Ching's mom a call, but then I am not really sure if I am gonna do it any time soon. I am usually not very good at dealing with dramatic situations, and most of the time I would just put it aside until the event kinda fades...I know...it's how nothing gets done really....

I was reading stuff from Robert and Sheila....and just remember that I forgot how well Ho-Ching used to cook. I guess part of the reason was because she was already sick and didn't cook all that much when I got to know her. I am just not all that into eating, but somehow people around me those years were usually those who enjoy food a lot. I remember how Ho-Ching's face would just light up when she talks about food. I used to get very entertained about it.

I am just gonna attach some stuff Robert and Sheila wrote here so you all get to see how everyone misses Ho-Ching. I am sure there are more from others but this is just a glimpse.

Here is something Sheila wrote.

我幾乎每天晚上都會作夢；醒過來後，卻常常煙消雲散，忘記夢見的內容。星期六的晚上，整晚夢的都是荷晴，醒來後，夢境卻還是歷歷在目︰我夢見從前跟荷晴一起去玩過的地方、我夢見她那常掛臉上的笑容。 荷晴是我來到加州第一位認識的朋友。我們一起做的第一件事就是去逛大華、買波霸奶茶。後來拉肚子，她還給我藥吃。在她面前，第一次的見面，卻好像是家人一樣地親切。 荷晴是個好廚師。她會隨手煮些家常菜，我們吃來卻一點都不輸懷念的家鄉味；因為吃進去的不只是她煮的好味道，還有她那善解人意的"分享"。 荷晴是個好遊伴。她有清楚的方向感，而且她總是先我們一步知道哪裡好玩，然後扮演嚮導的角色，帶著我們去探險。跟荷晴在一起，永遠不會有"無聊"的時候。 荷晴是個好聽眾。她會觀察你，看見你的心事和憂慮。然後她會聽你傾訴、陪你分析事情的利弊。有智慧的荷晴，會用她那特有的幽默，化解你心中的煩惱。 荷晴生病，不是一件新聞。第一次見到她，就發現她走路比較慢。尤其是上下樓時，她會叫我們先走，然後她再慢慢地跟上。後來，荷晴的病愈來愈嚴重了，她瘦得只剩原來一半的體重，走路也愈來愈蹣跚。可是，我不記得曾經聽荷晴抱怨過她的病。我記得的，全是荷晴開朗的笑，還有她那積極、正面的思想。 這就是荷晴。她短暫卻豐富的生命，留給我們的，是這麼健康、開朗的印象，成為我們眾人的祝福。荷晴，謝謝妳，and 再見！如今，我深信妳是蒙了憐憫，要脫去肉身的束縛，去永恆裡等待我們所確知的再相遇。我也為所有荷晴所愛、也愛她的人禱告，唯願這"信"也在你們心中，所以你們也可因這盼望而得安慰。

Sheila

I got to know a lot of non-believers through Ho-Ching. I became friends with quite a number of them through her. I remembered how she always tried to pull them to Christian events and our concerts. I am sure Ho-Ching really made a difference in their lives. Mom told me maybe her death would be a start to lead them to Christ. I certainly hope her testimony as a Christian would affect those who are not in the family yet.