Journals
Saturday,Jun 26 2004, 10:04:26 AMSo I've finally gotten thru a week of work....
So I've finally gotten thru a week of work. The teaching job this year is especially tiring, since I have 3 classes to teach and am working full time this year. It seemed like a long time already even though it's only been a week.. especially that I still haven't recovered from my finals. Fortunately Luis is helping out a lot with the C class so far so that lightened up the workload a lot for me, although there're still a lot to take care of. For the C++ class though I still had to do a lot of the lectures. But that's ok, I don't think the lectures are that hard, to me the most annoying part of teaching has to be the administrative issues, and luckily I'm teamed up with Aaron and he takes care of all of that.
So after a full week of work I treated myself to a night out =) It was so much fun, it felt so good. I went to eat and sing k with Eric Emily Teresa and Phoenix. This summer session is going to be like a series of farewell parties for Emily, so I guess each weekend we'll go somewhere with her. Next weekend (or the one after) we should be going to Santa Cruz Boardwalk again since we didn't get to play those indoor games (and outdoor except the beach) last time =) wheeee..
We sang for almost 6 hours.... that was crazy. since we only had 5 people, that was more than an hour of singing average for each of us. That's ok. "Work hard, play hard" -- that's exactly what I've been doing lately =) I really love how fulfilling my life has been lately. Only thing is I've been sort of sacrificing sleep for this -- but I'll get it all back this weekend, so no worries.
Wednesday,Jun 23 2004, 06:18:51 AM(This is the 4th and last entry of this...
(This is the 4th and last entry of this series of journal. Please read in order. Read the first one first, and so on)
On the 3rd day's morning, I happened to be part of the few who woke up the latest, again. Somehow I am just able to sleep so well =/ when everyone else wake up many times at night and wake up early in the morning and can't sleep anymore. maybe because I've been too tired and restless the past few days (maybe even the past few weeks) anyway. I was actually waken up a couple of times too, but I kept going back to sleep really quickly. Except at like 9:30 Emily opened the tent and basically stepped on my face with her foot (!!!)...... She said I yelled "AIYA" when she stepped on me but I don't remember myself doing that.. I do remember someone kinda slapped my face or something though while I was sleeping.. So I woke up kinda completely at that time now. Eric and I woke up the latest this day. We had to brush teeth and stuff in that water source close by because we didn't want to drive down to the bathroom in headquarters and come back up to pack stuff... well that was kinda cool how we all stuck in that little water faucet thing and did our stuff..
So after all that we all helped packing up everything and deconstructing the tent and all. We had quite a lot of snacks and drinks to finish up.. =P After that we went down to the headquarter to check out. For some strange reasons the car ride assignments got all reversed, everyone who was in Eric's car (except for me) got into the other car this time (Li Li's, since Denise left), so today I was in the same car with Eric, Calvin, Phoenix, Emily and Jenny instead. (actually I know why.. since Li Li is driving, Penelope sticks with him, and then kinda automatically the whole "family" Teresa Christine Bill stick with Penelope.. except that I sticked with Eric instead =P) And for some strange reasons again my car has to be the one with 6 ppl again. Skinny people get the short end of the stick again >_< and yeah, of course I had to sit in the back again since I'm one of the thinner people in the party. We then proceeded to go downhill.. but this time with another path. I think this path was brighter and less scary than the one we came up with, I think it was slightly shorter too but I'm not sure. We went back to town (which city was this again? Santa Cruz?), got gas, and had lunch. When we were on the way to town everyone got back reception on their cell phones and practically like everybody started calling. Except for me because my cell ran out of battery way early on the 2nd night already. Damn camera color screen cell phones =/ I charged right before heading off to the trip too..
So then we had pizza for lunch.. forgot where we had it.. Round table pizza I think? Yeah that was it. After that we went to Boardwalk theme park!!! And the beach there. In my very humble opinion I actually think this was the most fun part of the whole trip in terms of the events. For some reasons Li Li and his car disappeared so the 6 of us (Er, Ca, Ph, Em, Je and me) walked around in Boardwalk and played some games and stuff first.. we went through games like that hammer hitting thing where I got like 73, Eric got like 90 and Calvin got like 140... that was kinda sad since this white little kid before me got 73 and he looked like 12 years old or something.. then the ball throwing game.. Me and them two shared one game again and we each got 1 throw and we only got 1 bottle down.. some white kid next to us that's like 15 years old got 4 down by himself.. we just suck at these games =P But anyway this was really fun =) I haven't been to one of these parks in a looooooong time, in fact the last time was like 7 years ago when I first came to the US I went with my relatives -- and at this exact same park too. I felt really happy =)
And then we met up with the rest of the folks and went to the beach after sticking around the arcade place for a little while. At first I didn't really want to play at the beach and was just going to sit around.. I never imagined I would have that much fun at the beach, being a grown-up and all =) I felt like being a kid all over again haha... making sand castles (should be a great wall) and everything.. and we buried Calvin's entire body in the sand haha.. it was really funny, can't wait to see all those pics. so we decided to go around 6 or 7 or so.. it was kind of disappointing because I wanted to stay at the beach for the afternoon, and then in the evening we would play those games in the park and play laser tag, go to the casino, arcade, etc. But then people had to go back home by now so we all had to go.
Specifically it was Emily who really had to be home.. so our car went to Palo Alto to take her home instead of going straight back to Davis. On the way we decided that we'll eat dinner at her house too, since she invited us. Palo Alto looks like a really nice town =) First time I've been there. And Emily's parents were really nice ppl too.. I think we all felt kinda shy haha. They cook really well too =) Thanks a ton for that meal Emily =) After dinner we talked for a long time at her place... we talked about much stuff.. I'm glad we are all so open to each other. That topic always makes people sad but it was nice that we were all willing to help and talk.
Then the 5 of us headed off to go back to Davis, around 10:30pm or so.. (that's why when we got back it was like 12:30am) On the car ride I think we were all tired.. Eric was almost falling asleep driving.. Luckily we changed CD to 思覺失調 so he could start singing aloud.. I sang along aloud too.. and I sang along aloud to 好好戀愛 too.. I got kinda touchy during the car ride because I was so tired and all, and I think I said a lot of stuff again that I wasn't going to tell others about.. (partly because Eric's topic back in Emily's house gave me that mood) but that's okay, hey, friends are friends. =)
So we sent Phoenix, Calvin and then Jenny back home. I wanted to go to eat or have a drink again with Eric afterward to talk more but then Old Tea House was closed already at 12:30 for some reasons.. so oh well.. I just got back home. This was the end of the trip and it was now time for me to pack up and sleep and prepare to go back to bay area.
The end of this series of entries!
Tuesday,Jun 22 2004, 05:06:15 AM(Again, please read previous entry first if...
(Again, please read previous entry first if you haven't. These are posted in order. Previous entry means the one below this one.)
The second day was kind of hectic overall. But at the end, all's well ends well =)
So starting off back from the night before, I was waken up 2 times during my sleep.. (I think other people in my tent got waken up more than that) The people in the other tent were just too noisy and talkative =P basically the people in my tent were the ones who sleep and the ones in the other tent were the ones who (tried to) stay up all night. The first time was around 4am.. a particularly funny line I heard when Phoenix and Calvin were talking right outside our tent (outside the toilet) Phoenix: "Let's wake up President (Teresa) and their whole family (referring to our tent)" (apparently everyone else in my tent also was waken up at this time by them anyway even though not intentionally -- they were too loud =P) I found it really funny how she refers to us as a "family" haha.. That was really sweet.. Anyway I was then once again waken up around 7am. Took me about half an hour to go back to sleep until like 9:30am when everybody else woke up, but I wanted to continue to sleep.... and someone suddenly said "if you don't wake up now you're not gonna get a chance to brush your teeth after we went to the bathroom" then Bill and I just popped up immediately.
The daytime of this day was actually nothing much special... we went hiking and attempted to get to that really beautiful falls there (we went to a weak one at first that was really close to our campsite but it was small and weak).. the big one was SO far away it takes 6 hours round trip to get there.. we tried to do that and gave up about 1 hour later and decided to turn back so that still took us 2.5 hours or so.. all the while Emily was sleeping in the car I think so we went back to the car and then we all headed back up and it was already almost dinner time. Eric started cooking pasta for us (that was GOOD, I'm not kidding, never seen a guy cook that good) all.. but it was kind of bad luck for him as the moment he finished cooking, Denise came up the hills and they went out and talked for a long time so the rest of us kinda finished all the pasta sauce almost.. I really really feel bad for Eric since he cooked all this and he didn't get to eat much of it =( Anyway there was a lot of funny moments this day so far.. Hopefully the pics will be up soon and we'll see. Mostly the series of pics with me being a ninja and murdering Calvin.. =P
At night we played this police and killer game..I won't bother explaining it here but we draw random cards to determine who the polices and killers are in each game.. and for some reasons out of like 10 games, I got to be one of the 2 killers (out of 11 ppl) in 8 of the games, and another game I got to be one of the 2 polices, and another game I was a common citizen. They all said I had this scary killer look on me after a few games since I kept being the killer (and I STILL kept being the killer afterward too). Annnyway. After that we played kinda a "spotlight" game where we go around in circles (while sitting around the campfire) talking about ourselves, all of our embarassing and private stuff, so yeah I guess people found out a lot of things and confirmed a lot of news/rumors about me, but nothing they don't already know anyway, so oh well =P
And then comes sleeping time and some problems kinda arose.. Basically tent sharing problems.. Calvin and Eric ended up going outside to the car to sleep.. I was kind of stuck in the middle in this trouble like Teresa said.. If I went out with them I wouldn't have any space in the car anyway, if I didn't it seemed like I was not considerate and mo yee hei.. I really really felt bad for Eric especially since he had enough problems on his own and then he was dragged into this thing by Calvin.. Luckily after having talks with everyone else we came up with a conclusion/solution.. many thanks to Bill and Li Li for helping me with going over so far away in the dark and cold night and talking to them, they were really great friends, I can't believe they were willing to spend the time and effort to help me like that, I couldn't have done it (convincing Eric and Calvin to come back) without them.. it was really inspiring because I totally see clearly why now that I am still not a good socialable person.. I just don't have what Bill and Li Li have.. especially thanks to Li Li since I just knew him for 2 days and he was still willing to help me so much, even took the time to drive down to the headquarters for it. Also Teresa too for convincing Calvin at first to come back from outside.. Really I just want to say that you guys are the greatest friends ever, I love you all so much.. I know if it was anyone else other than you guys, they wouldn't spend effort helping me solve the problem and would just go to sleep themselves and ignore it. I felt that after this problem had happened (and solved) I became much closer with all of you, maybe it was even a good thing that it all happened. And then another funny thing was how Teresa mentioned "all the men going out of home to take care of business, and all the women staying home to wait for them to come back with good news when they're done"... makes the whole situation feel so warm =)
So as we all came back to the tent, we all fell asleep really quickly.... and that leads us to the 3rd day.
[to be continued]
Monday,Jun 21 2004, 09:03:02 AM(Please read in the correct order... read...
(Please read in the correct order... read the previous entry first [the one below this one], and then this one, and then the one above, and so on)
The first day of the trip, Thursday, we planned to head out early around 11am. So we ended up leaving around 12.. and took a while to get there. Around 3 hours? And the car ride was kind of bad actually.. the trunk was all full so stuff has to be put on our bodies especially those of us in the back seats.. So 6 of us went there first (Eric driving, Bill in the front seat, then Teresa Christine Penelope and me in the back). being in the back seat is not only uncomfortable (legs couldn't move at all for 3 hrs) and when we're almost there where the roads are all turn-y and stuff... those of us in the back seats all got car sick (we normally don't)..
After checking in and everything at the head quarter we started setting up the tents.. that took us a long time because we never found the instruction manual before we finished it.. with our creative imagination (mostly Penelope and Bill's actually) we set up the tent correctly at least (the first one was kinda shaky, the second one was much better). After that we went back down to the nearby town to buy some stuff from safeway there and ate a little bit first since we knew barbecue wasn't going to happen until pretty late.. and another reason we went down there was to wait for the other car to come so we can all go back up there together (as it IS pretty hard to find that place). The other car (Denise, Phoenix, Calvin, Emily, Jenny) finally came around 7~8, so it was about time we head back up. At least in this trip I'm in the front seat =P That was better since Bill doesn't get car sick anyway.
It was already like 9pm when we were all up there.. we met up with Li Li back up there so all of us were there now. But it's all dark now and Denise has to go so Eric had to lead the way back since it's pretty hard to find the right way out at the crosses especially at night.. so I went with Eric too and was in car with him while Denise follows his car and everyone else just unpacks stuff at the camp site.. This part of the night I have to write about =P Because that car ride was crazy scary.
So after we lead Denise back downhill, Eric and I had to drive back up.. the road was so dark (since there were no lights anywhere, only car lights, and they had to be on high beams), its so unbelievably scary driving on the roads there at that time. When you turn off the car lights it becomes pitch black because there's no lights anywhere. (we tried that for a second) And the roads were so narrow that the car could fall off a cliff (no fences on the side) if you're not careful.. and during the car ride, because of the environment around, I couldn't stop imagining things like someone suddenly appearing in the middle of the road (who turns out to be a ghost), and all that stuff from scary movies. Luckily (=P) none of that happened and we got back up safely at least. When we're back up there and we parked our car it's pitch black again so we had to use our flashlights to get to the camp site (since there's a walking distance between the place to park the car and the actual camp site too). This is when we said REALLY FORTUNATELY Eric didn't lead Denise back alone, and that I came with him... because he totally wouldn't be able to make this walk alone =P We were scared even when we're walking together shoulder-to-shoulder since all the light we had were from the two flashlights we had, and when we turn around to look it's pitch black. Even trees can be scary at that condition =P And since one car ride back downhill takes 30 minutes, we took roughly a little more than 1 hour to come back to the camp site.. when we're back everyone else was all like "they're finally back!" I felt like they were all worrying we fell down a cliff or ran into some ghosts or something =P
And so we finally started barbecuing... that was actually kinda full for me at least, only that I was super thirsty but I didn't want to drink much water still because the bathroom is so far away (the close one is really dirty and stinky, its not even a bathroom its just a toilet with a roof) and it takes a car ride to get there (so we usually waited for 5 ppl to want to go and then just drive down there -- 10 mins car ride). But nonetheless the BBQ was a lot of fun =)
After the BBQ we didn't really do that much as it was already like 2, so we all went to sleep.. I somehow got "assigned" into the better tent (2nd one, the one that is better-built, even though the landscape is not the best inside..), and at least I got the best position in the whole tent to sleep too. Eric wanted to sleep in my tent at first but somehow I ended up sharing with Bill & Christine, Li Li & Penelope, and Teresa instead. I think the reason was because we kind of wanted to divide up the guys evenly into the two tents so when there's a bug or something in the tent the girls won't get all crazy =/ And when some wild animals attack the girls won't be all helpless too. =P
So that was the first day... going to write about 2nd and 3rd day tomorrow.
[to be continued]
Monday,Jun 21 2004, 06:15:21 AMThe camping trip was really great for me (I...
The camping trip was really great for me (I think for everyone else who went too =). I actually think that the events were not where the fun was (since it's just ordinary field trip events.. like hiking, bbq, etc.), it's just being with the friends I like so much for 3 days that's the best part. And to tell the truth, these 3 (or 4, including the day before the trip) were the most 充實 ("fulfilling"?) time I've had in a looooong time, if not ever so far. I also felt that I learned a lot of things and grew up a bit (because of these things) and became much closer friends with them (everyone who went).. it was really one of the best times I've had in a long time.
I'll start writing from the preparation day... that was Wednesday, the day before we head out for the trip. It was basically the after-finals celebration day for me. A very busy day! On Wednesday morning I had my last final, ECS150. I wasn't really that stressed about it, but I still woke up early and went to the library before the final to do some last-minute review. (final exam time was 10:30~12:30) So I was the first to finish and got out of the exam at 11:10. I waited outside the classroom for my friends, bored like nothing, beating the games on my cell phone and such. The second and third person to finish (Ryan McCormick and Ian Karlin) came out around 11:30, and I talked with them for a bit to realize that I did a couple things wrong. But that's okay, I ended up with an A anyway. =) All my friends came out after 12:10 so I waited well over 1 hour for them.
After that I just waited around and wandered around campus for a bit (and played some GGXX at the arcade) alone waiting for some friends to go eat with. We went to IHOP for lunch, but I just ate a little bit because I didn't want to ruin my big celebration dinner that my other group of friends planned for that night. Something interesting that happened during this lunch... not during, actually, but before this lunch. So while 5 of them were on another car, the car I was on only had me, Denise and Penelope.. and Denise started talking about something, and after a while I got to find out a lot of things I didn't know before -- something about what others know about me actually. Apparently I am one of the most-talked-about people among the Cantonese community in Davis, and news about me spread like crazy... I totally had no idea that everyone knew that much (private!!) stuff about me =/ It's almost as bad as those entertainment news on HK newspaper.. But that's okay, not that I mind anyway.
After lunch, a bunch of us went to Walmart in Dixon to shop for stuff for our camping trip. Jenna and Tammy came along too as well as Brian, even though they weren't going to the trip. (missed out!) We bought sleeping bags and stuff.. nothing in particular happened during shopping.. except that'll be the last time I'll see Jenna in a while since she's going back to HK on Thurs.
After that it was almost time for our celebration dinner.. we (Bri, Sha, Kev, Mau, Ken) went to Buca di Beppo in Sacramento to eat. I ate quite a lot of stuff but I didn't feel that full, I felt like I could still eat more when everything was finished.. maybe because the food was actually good and I haven't had any good food for a while because of the restaurants in Davis =) And I guess a meal after all the stress is gone is especially refreshing. After dinner a few of us (the ones from dinner minus Mau and Ken) went to ARC to work out and play badminton and racquet ball. We just wanted to try racquet ball for the first time (none of us played it before).. that was kinda fun =P maybe I'll play more of that some time later.
After all of that I finally came home around 12 or 1. Time to shower and start packing up for the trip... it also means I won't get any more than 8 hours of sleep max because the plan was to head out at 11 the next morning. It also means I won't be able to recover my lost sleep time during finals until the weekend AFTER ATDP starts because of what I've planned for myself the next few days before ATDP. =( But that's okay. As long as life's good. =)
[to be continued]