Family - Peering Through the Watch Glass

3 May 2012

When I Die

I want to be cremated. Unfortunately, my grandma passed away two weeks ago, and her funeral was this past weekend. I’m glad that she doesn’t have to suffer anymore, but it was really difficult to watch my parents, aunts, uncles, and grandpa have to deal with the pain of her loss. Most of my family wrote a piece about her for a memoir, and after reading through the rough copy last weekend, I wish I had been able to get to know her better. Most of my cousins also were in the same situation as me; the language barrier and my grandma’s quiet nature kept us from being able to bond with her over the years, but it’s easy to see how amazing she was through what my aunts and uncles had to say about her in the memoir. In junior high, my great grandma passed away, but I don’t really have any memories of her at all, and my memory of her funeral proceedings are very hazy. So it was pretty surprising to see the ceremonial/traditional funeral garments that my parents, aunts, and uncles wore . . . to be honest, it had a cult-ish Ku Klux Klan vibe since Asian cultures traditionally associate white with death and mourning. And the daughters of my grandma had a hood as part of their garment. Although my grandma passed away, it was nice to see that my family was also able to have fun, even on the same day of her burial. After her burial ceremony, our family went to a restaurant to eat, where we had reserved a private room. I’m not sure how other funerals are, but I think that the feast was probably also a way to celebrate her life. I suppose I should get back to my initial point. I want to be cremated when I die. My grandma had an open-casket viewing before the burial, and whoever prepared her body must’ve pulled back the skin on her face to make it more taught and “prettier”. They also put make-up on her, and the lipstick made her look completely unlike how I had seen her when she was alive. So I want to be cremated in order for people to be able to remember me the way they want to, not still and lifeless. Besides, I have this crazy notion that I’d arrange for my ashes to be split up into bottles for people to take away with them. Like party favors or something. So that they can scatter them on their next vacation. In any case, I’d want my funeral to be more of a celebration, but I guess funerals are for the living, not for the dead. Or so I’ve heard. I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but there is a new sub-page under the “About the Authors” page. Phantasma is a fellow student who is starting to focus more on his interest in writing and drawing/art. I’m sure he’ll post his on introduction soon enough, but I figured I should go ahead and formally announce it in a post of my own. After all, this is my blog. Classes are officially over for me, and now it’s finals time. I only have two, and the first one isn’t until Friday, the 11th, so I have quite a bit of time to ~~procrastinate~~ study. However, what I’m worried about most at this point is my piano II class’s recital on Saturday. What with the funeral and the suspense with my grandma’s death, I hadn’t really put much effort into practicing my piece. It’s an etude, which is a piece “intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity” (dictionary.reference.com), and as such, a real pain in the ass to learn. I’m happy to say that I’ve seen a great amount of progress in the past couple of days and can get through the piece fairly easily. At least, I pretty much know the notes; it’s just getting my fingers to remember them by Saturday. If I don’t have it down by Saturday evening, I at least have a fall-back, and my professor already knows about this. But she’s given me her vote of confidence and seems to think that I’ll be able to have it together by Saturday, so I’m sure that’ll help boost my morale and all that jazz. I probably won’t publish another post ’til after finals, but at least then I’ll have time to make a vlog.For all my readers who are also students, good luck on finals! ~~I just tried an epsom foot soak for the first time in my life, and it felt soooo good. Next step is to take an epsom salt bath.~~

19 March 2012

Fail Vlog(s) 3: Peas Feed Me Herpness

All right, I think I have these two videos in the right order. I can’t tell for certain right now because the videos are being converted and can’t be played as I edit this blog. The first vlog should be me talking in my pj’s about my drive home from Dallas. Also, wtf am I doing with my legs/feet? I think it’s safe to say that I fiddle quite a bit when talking, in one way or another. Of course, I also fiddle around when I’m not talking . . . I’m just a fiddler. Fiddler on the roof? ~~Obscure (maybe) Jewish movie reference from BCA.~~

Anyway, this first video was filmed the same night I got back home from Dallas, which I probably say somewhere in the video. But I can’t be sure because I haven’t watched it since I first filmed it over a week ago. Oh wells.

This was the recording of the game “Peas Feed Me” on my old computer at home. I said that I didn’t know what the game was based off of in the vlog, but upon closer inspection, at the intro screen, it says that it’s based off of a TV show. Makes sense, I mean I can see the game setting being an actual scene in a TV show.

I’m gonna try and find it so I can have it on my laptop too lol. It’s always nice to have a game (or something) you can play (or do) that requires no real thought and is amusing, and therefore, relaxing to play (do).

The outfits looked something like this, but my sister's was pink and silver instead of red and gold. Red and gold is reserved for the actual wedding day. — The outfits looked something like this, but my sister’s was pink and silver instead of red and gold. Red and gold is reserved for the actual wedding day.

So yesterday (Sunday) was my sister’s engagement ceremony. Traditionally, in the Vietnamese culture, the male’s family prepares/performs the ceremony for the female’s family. I guess one could compare it to the man asking the woman’s parents for her hand in marriage. Except more fancy. Since my sister’s fiance is not Vietnamese, my parents decided not to force Brad (and his parents) to prepare the ceremony themselves. Of course, the ceremony could have been skipped entirely, but my parents wanted to do this for my sister because “they’re worth it.” Not entirely sure what they mean by that, at least, not in specific terms.

In any case, it was nice and there was lots of good food and my sister and her fiance got to wear fancy traditional Vietnamese clothes for the ceremony. I got to meet Brad’s parents (along with the rest of my family, which means parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles . . . the whole kit and caboodle), and they left me (and I think most everyone else) with a good impression. However, aside from the honoring of ancestors and procession of gifts at the beginning of the ceremony, the whole thing didn’t really feel much different from a regular holiday get-together.

So, our gifts basically looked like this, though of course, we didn't have the exact same foods as in this picture. — The roast pig is so good! It has a crunchy skin while the actual meat remains moist and super flavorful.

I guess this is a nice way to describe the ceremony and give some detail about the reasons behind certain parts in a short-and-sweet kind of manner.

What’s funny is that my mom told me that I have to marry a Vietnamese guy because she’ll cry if both of her daughters marry “American” guys. I think it’s relatively safe to assume that American = white. When I told my sister that our mom had said that, she laughed and replied that “it’s not her decision to make anyway.” Which is all true, but to be honest, I’ve kinda inherently known that my parents expect that of me, or would like that, so my preferences have been shaped to include that as a requirement. Of course, before this little conversation, the preference hadn’t been as definite, and I’ve only dated white guys so far, but I’ve always felt that it would be best if I found a Vietnamese guy who also fit all my other preferences.

The point is, I don’t mind that my parents have really narrowed down my “sea of fish” into a pond. Even though it was my mom who brought it up, I’m sure that my dad feels the same way.

So, in other news, my cousin accompanied me back to Dallas last night. He’s a high school senior and is using his college days to visit my campus (more as an excuse to miss school than due to interest in my college). We didn’t get back to Dallas until 12:30, and early on in the ~5 hour trip, we stopped at a gas station to fill up my tank and grab some energy drinks. I had the bright idea to grab a Monster Java Loca Moca (energy drinks and coffee have never really worked consistently on me; half the time I feel they had no effect at all, the other half they’re super effective), and by the time we got to my apartment, I was pretty awake. As a result, I’ve pulled an impromptu all-nighter, one in which I actually wasn’t totally unproductive. I gave my cousin a tour around campus, we sneaked into some of the buildings, and I actually did some studying for one of my classes.

Thank goodness I only have one class today (technically, I have two, but the second class is pretty fail). I feel somewhat tired right now, but not like I’m going to pass out. Hopefully I can stay up until this evening, and then go to sleep at a decent time.

My cousin leaves for Houston tomorrow evening/afternoon, and the plan seems to be that he’ll take the Greyhound bus back. I’ll have to drive him to the station, though, and I’m not entirely sure where that is, though I’ve been told it’s in downtown. I just hope I don’t get stuck in rush-hour traffic.

~~And even with all this extra time I got from not sleeping, I still haven’t unpacked my clothes and whatnot.~~

23 December 2011

Holy Heebie-Geebies

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Which is when we celebrate Christmas in my family. Dannngg. Where did the time go? I typed up a post last week, but the USB to which I saved it was left at my parents’ house, so I’ll upload that sometime next week. So this past week, I’ve been hanging out at my sister’s house. We don’t really do much, but it’s always fun spending time with my sister and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, Brad, recently got Elder Scrolls: Skyrim for his PS3, and I’ve gotten a chance to play it quite a bit as well. It’s preeeeetty awesome. It’s ridiculous how much you can customize your character; it feels like it should be an MMORPG. Surprisingly, I haven’t gotten addicted to it yet. It might be because I’m still getting used to the controls and gameplay. I’ve pretty much got my Christmas gifts done for the family. I made everyone a snuggie, except for my mom. I thought of making socks for her, but I no longer have time to get it done before Christmas. I feel kinda cheap for buying her something when I made something for everyone else. My sister and I have gone shopping a lot during this week. She received a ton of coupons, which is why we went shopping in the first place. I’m pretty pleased with my purchases. I bought some new makeup, a sweater/cardigan type thing, and this little owl-shaped doohickey to neatly wind my earbuds around when they’re not in use. My sister used the coupons more for Christmas shopping. Duuuude. I am sooo excited for Christmas day because Brad is proposing to my sister on Sunday. He’s been planning for a while, but money constraints have kept him from popping the question any sooner. He asked my parents for their blessing sometime in November. I accidentally found him in the jewelry store making the purchase after he wouldn’t answer his phone multiple times while we were all in the mall. I think it’s safe to assume that my sister just expects to receive “regular” jewelry. Bwuh, I wish I could be there for when he actually proposes, but alas, I have to head back to my parents house because we are spending Christmas Eve with the extended family tomorrow. My cat has been staying with them, while I took Toto with me so he could hang out with Gus and Lucy, my sister’s dogs. Apparently Jager has been having a ball getting the house all to himself. He’ll probably be super bewildered on Sunday if Teresa and Brad bring their dogs with them (if they can stay overnight). Oh, I’m so excited for Sunday. Pretty sure my parents consider the engagement as a type special Christmas gift. Some of the extended family has been asking about them getting married for a while too. Is gonna be AWESUM. On another cool note, Brad taught me how to drive stick shift in his Jeep today. It was pretty chilly, especially as there were no doors and he had taken the top off of it a while back during nicer weather, but it was still fun. My legs were actually too short to comfortably reach the pedals, so the work I had to put into pushing the clutch all the way when shifting gears had me sweating a little bit. I picked up shifting the gears pretty quick, but starting from a stop is gonna take a while. I’m so excited for the next time I visit and can drive it some more. Of course, there’s always a chance that it won’t be here the next time I visit, since Brad has been planning to sell it for a long while, but hasn’t because he’s been fixing it up. I’mma totally get a stick shift when I buy my own car. Like in ten years or whatever. IT’S GONNA HAPPEN. This Christmas will probably the my favorite/best Christmas for a while. ~~It’s a good thing almost no one knows about this blog (especially my sister), otherwise I’d be a total blabbermouth.~~

7 February 2010

A Night of Luxury

So, I recently had the pleasure of staying in a hotel as a result of my parents coming to visit me in college. The reason for their visit is lunar new year; I know that doesn’t occur until next Sunday, but on the weekend of new year, the family spends time together. Since I am in college now, a fair number of hours away, I cannot partake of the celebration with my younger cousins at our grandparents’ house this year; however, my parents still will be. (I really will miss the food they’re going to have! I know it’ll be absolutely delicious.)

It has been so long since I’ve stayed in a hotel. The responsibility of choosing one and booking a reservation was solely mine. Where I live currently, it seems that one of the cheaper hotels is the Doubletree hotel. (Or maybe I just didn’t look hard enough.) In my opinion, it was a pretty good deal. The fanciness of the hotel was apparent from the second I stepped into the lobby. Of course, they had the standard high ceiling, marble floors, potted palm trees and indoor fountain. The fountain was what caught my attention the most; it was pretty large, taking up so much space that it served as a sort of partition, with a little waiting area in front, and a lounge area behind it. Maybe it’s just me, but the fountain was mesmerizing. I could stand there for quite a while, watching how the water ran over the textured stone in rivulets, how one would flow into another, especially as they reached the bottom of the fountain.

And the lounge area behind:

The fountain itself has this kind of water action going on:

Pretty cool. (Amirite?)

Somehow, I had completely missed the fact that they give out “free” cookies while checking in (since it’s mentioned on their website). This was a pretty pleasant surprise; and they were warm! (Warm, soft chocolate chip cookies? This hotel really knows how to please their customers.)

For the room itself, I was pretty happy with that, also. The comforter the used was nice and fluffy (I love fluffy blankets), as were the pillows (four per bed? Nice!). Not only that, the bed itself was also a sleep number bed; that was pretty fun to play around with for a while.

What’s funny is that I had already tried the bed out and gotten under the covers by the time I took this picture. So I had to remake it in order for it to appear as if this was taken when I first got into the room. Looks good, right? D:

Even though we didn’t use it, I noticed they also had a nice clock in the room, to which you could connect your iPod or mp3 player (the headphone jack is hidden behind it).

In the bathroom, they made everything look cool by folding the towels *and* the toilet paper in a fancy way.

(May I attract your attention to what appears to be cabinets at the bottom of the photo? Now see that gap in the top left corner of the center “cabinet”? I thought it was broken at first, until I found that I couldn’t open any of them at all. There’s also a gap in the bottom right corner, due to the way it’s angled. After more curious fiddling with the middle panel, I found that I could at least move it to where it was vertical; however, I still couldn’t slide it to where it appears to be a closed cabinet. In the vertical position, there’s an opening along the right side of the “door.”

What? You don’t care?
Well, I thought it was cool! D:

Unfortunately, even with the fancy sleep number bed, I failed to get a good night’s rest. Perhaps it was because my legs don’t like to be restrained? (I failed to pull the edges of the covers from beneath the mattress before going to bed).

That’s not all I did this weekend, though! I’m not such a boring person that the most exciting thing I can blog about is how amazing I think this one hotel is. A hotel so amazing that even their trash bags smell good. And before you think I should be sent to an insane asylum or wonder why you’re reading my blog in the first place (which I think is a pretty good question, in any case), I only know because I forgot my pillow in the hotel room after we had already checked out, and when I went to pick it up later, the receptionist at the front desk wanted to put it in a bag to protect it (I guess) and could only find a trash bag. While running back to the car, I mashed the bag + pillow against my body to make it less cumbersome, and in doing so, got a wiff of the bag itself(because I know my pillow doesn’t smell like that). I know, I know. Forgetting my pillow was pretty fail.

Like I mentioned earlier in this post, my parents came to visit me. Of course, like every other time they’ve come to visit (which hasn’t been that many, truthfully), they treat me out to some good Vietnamese food. Really, it’s the only thing I’ve eaten this whole weekend, and boy, was it delicious!
After lunch yesterday, we went to the little Asian market nearby (and later along the way, Saigon Mall) and bought some food. After actually looking at the things I picked out (and they bought for me), I’ve noticed that I seem to really like lychee flavored things.

(But look, look! There’s a bottle of passionfruit green tea on the right side. That counts for something, right?) The lychee flavored water comes in a clear plastic can! (Isn’t that cooollll? Like transparent aluminum!)

The lychee jelly really brings back some memories (well, sorta). I haven’t had these things in such a long time!

Anyway, after this trip, my parents took me to the mall. They’ve been wanting me to get new jeans ever since they saw the skinny jeans pair I bought during Christmas break. My mom said because they look to be warmer, but my sister told me what they said to her, and apparently, it’s because the jeans I have now (which are somewhat baggy, since I intended them to be rather roomy in the legs) look unflattering on me. Gee, thanks, Mom.

I was never one to really enjoy clothes shopping for long amounts of time, and this time was no differ ent. It’s always troublesome to find pants especially, since I have to look for petite/short ones that are also in my size. My thighs are also somewhat big (for my stature), so when I do find pants that fit comfortably over my thighs, I know they’ll be loose around the waist. I don’t know if my calves are also bigger than normal for someone my size, or if it was just because I was previously athletic, but sometimes the most problematic part of the pants when trying on jeans are getting my calves to fit into the corresponding portion of jeans (of course, this only goes for skinny jeans).

For something so troublesome, it’s only understandable that I don’t do this frequently, either. The last time I went shopping for jeans was maybe sophomore year? Those jeans have lasted me pretty long, also. They’re still in good condition, aside from the fact that they’re frayed on the bottom (from being too long for my legs). I purposely bought those to be loose around my legs; after all, I don’t want to have to wrestle my clothes on and off every time I change. Yeah, I know, I’m pretty lazy with my wardrobe. I didn’t really start caring about what I wore until maybe junior or senior year of high school, and I wasn’t much more inclined to worrying about whether this matched that. And since I shop so infrequently, it’s good that I find a brand I know I will fit good (and what size fits well) that also lasts long, right? So, Levi’s, thank you for making such dependable jeans.

Anyway, I eventually found two pairs of jeans that fit rather well and weren’t too expensive (Levi’s, huzzah!). My mom had originally wanted me to buy two pairs of jeans that were differently colored than the pair I bought during Christmas holiday (for more versatility with the rest of my wardrobe), but the black pair that I found looked somewhat awkward in particular area. Afterwards, we went to check in and relax a bit at the previously mentioned hotel-of-awesomeness before heading to church.

This morning, we went to eat again (moar Vietnamese food, heck yessss), and then my parents left (after going back to the hotel to pick up my pillow in the nicely fragranced trash bag). Earlier today, I took my jeans out of the Macy’s bag so that I could take the tags off and whatnot and put them away. To my dismay, I found that the cashier failed to take off those magnetic buttons they put on clothes to (I suppose) deter thievery.

But I already paid for these jeans! Well, okay, my parents paid for them, but that’s beside the point!

I suppose this means I have to go back to Macy’s (or some clothing store, at least) to have it taken off. How troublesome. D;

I know it’s not until next Sunday, but happy lunar new year!
For the Vietnamese people:
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Wow, I think this is the first time I’ve ever had photos in a blog entry.

22 December 2009

Summer Lovin’ Fun

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 12:00 AM It’s been a long while since I last posted something here. Much has happened in the past year. This summer, I had the chance to visit Colorado again. We stayed for a week, and although I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have if it had been during the winter (so I could’ve gone snowboarding), the vacation turned out to be really fun. For one, I bought myself a snowboard! (Unfortunately, I won’t be going to Colorado this winter; it’s going to be all lonely in the vacation house there.) Hopefully I, along with some of my older cousins and my sister, will be able to go to Colorado for vacation next winter.
Anyway, this summer, I went to Colorado. Two of my younger cousins, their parents, one of my older cousins and his parents, my mom, and myself all went to a vacation house in Winter Park, Colorado. The older cousin’s parents own the house, but everyone in the family is allowed to use it for vacationing. My family really enjoys snowboarding and skiing. I’m not exactly sure why we decided to visit during the summer, but it wasn’t so bad. We opted to drive; of course, me being myself, I slept most of the time.
We did a variety of things while in Winter Park. The first day, one of the first things we did was just drive around, sightseeing. Of course, while we had all already been to Winter Park, Colorado before, it’s so obviously different in the summer. It was odd not seeing snow everywhere. I believe the next thing we did was go to the Base (the snowboarding/skiing park). In the summer they still have attractions there for visitors, but there wasn’t all that much. We only stayed for a little while that day; the adults planned to take us back later in the week to spend the whole day there.
The next day (Tuesday?), I think we went into the city and just browsed the shops. My younger cousins and I painted some pottery again for souvenirs (again, we had done this in the past during winter vacations), and this was also the day I bought a snowboard. I have the mindset that since I spent money buying a snowboard, I’ll be more inclined to return to Colorado so that I can put it to actual use and get my money’s worth out of it.
One day in the week, we drove farther up into the mountains and did some sightseeing in the national park there. In spite of the cold, I really enjoyed the day. I found that being in such fresh air, running around, and hiking up some trails we stopped at really energized me. I also had fun taking pictures of the scenery. I think the pictures I took where rather good for a point-and-shoot camera. According to a sign, at one point we were 12,000 something feet above sea level. I don’t like the picture I have with the sign because the wind was being rather gusty, and kept blowing my hair everywhere. Naturally, it was all in my face as well.
Thursday’s next, right? This is the day we went back to the base. The cousins were allowed to roam about as we pleased; likewise, the adults did want they wanted. They have this one attraction called the Alpine Slide. As hinted to by its name, the ride is a trough-like slide embedded into the mountain side. Since it would be unwise to have it on a slope used during the winter, they placed the ride under a ski lift, winding narrowly back and forth. One sits on a scooter-like device and controls their speed using a lever. Forward to reduce friction and go faster, pulling back engages the break-device. They had two slides – one “fast” lane, and one “slow” lane. The slow lane is probably more family oriented, intended for small kids and their parents riding together; however, sometimes the people in this lane went faster than the people in the “fast” lane. I, of course, tried to go faster with every subsequent ride, leaning forward as far as I could go to make myself more streamlined, leaning into the curves. My cousins and I determined an order to go in. The oldest cousin, Tommy, always went fast, and would go first. I would go next, and not have to worry about having to slow down unless someone in front of Tommy was going extremely slow. After me was my younger cousin, Nguyen. Last of all was his younger sister, Thao. We believe that she couldn’t go above a certain speed because she wasn’t heavy enough. (Her first ride resulted in four or five people trailing along behind her when she reached the bottom.) Other than the slide, we also played putt putt; I really don’t know what to say about this. Tommy was the best (probably more experienced than the rest of us as well), and I suppose it just depended on certain circumstances for the rest of us. Haha, the first time we went through the course, we accidentally skipped a hole.
We also went on the rock-climbing wall. Mmmm, the strenuous activity was invigorating. I enjoyed the physical challenge so much. It was only a small wall, probably only somewhere between twenty and thirty feet tall. It had three sides: easy, medium, and hard. I chose to do the hard one first, then went to the easy one. The medium was the one I did last, and the only one neither I nor Tommy could do. I believe Thao was the only one to reach the top. The main reason was due to the smaller handholds on that side that we older cousins couldn’t get good grips on. My muscles were rather sore the next day; I was so pleased. XD
There was also a maze. Not one a really memorable part of the day, and I won’t elaborate too much on it. The goal of the maze was to find all the letters of a word, hidden throughout the maze, and use the hole punch below each letter to punch out that letter on the card given to us at the beginning of the maze. If we found all the letters and made our way out under a certain time limit, then we would get a small prize. Nguyen was the only one to get a prize.
The last thing we did at the base was ride a lift to the top of the mountain and hike down a trail. Nguyen did not accompany us at this time as he was feeling rather tired and somewhat ill. Tommy and I wanted to go so that we could take pictures of scenery, and Thao just wanted to tag along because it was something to do. Whereas I only have a point-and-shoot, Tommy actually has a professional camera, since photography is a hobby of his. (I believe I’m still waiting for him to upload the photos so that I can see them again.) It’s rather difficult to actually understand how big these mountains really are, especially when traversing them on snowboards and skiis. Hiking down this trail took a good two or three hours, especially with our frequent stops to snap pictures. I really enjoy physical activity, and this was particularly fun. Some parts were rather steep, and somewhat worrisome, even moreso with the loose pebbles and the fact that our shoes were unsuited for hiking.
Friday! Friday, the last day. This day was most exciting; we went rafting down a river. The water was cold, and our guide was very entertaining. We shoved off with two other rafts (the other two rafts occupied by the members of one family), and it was funny to hear the friendly competitive banter between the guides. Tommy and I sat in the front and were the lead rowers; we also got wet the most, probably. The water was cold, but the physical activity kept us warm enough. At one point, the guides offer everyone an opportunity to dive off of this one cliff. Of course, how could I resist? Except, apparently, I pushed off too hard, and the momentum put my body into a nearly horizontal position when I hit the water; needless to say, it was rather painful. Since everyone was required to wear lifejackets at all times, no one sunk too far into the water, and my back was protected from the impact; unfortunately, my bottom wasn’t. I only wish I could’ve gotten a picture of it, since someone on the cliff opposite was stationed to take pictures of people as they dived (all pencil dives). I probably would have had my eyes shut, anyway. Haha, I can still remember hearing everyone go, “Ooohhhh,” in sympathy as they watched me hit the water in my less-than-ideal body position. When we stopped for lunch later, one of the other guides even asked me if I was okay! (I’m a tough girl; I can handle it!)
Over time, we had water sitting in the bottom of the raft from all the times it splashed in as we went through some of the rougher rapids. I wore flip flops, so my feet went numb rather quickly. The guides took good care of us, and no one fell out of the raft at any time. The guides had their own massive oars with them in the back of the raft, and sometimes, they took over completely, allowing us to rest and enjoy the view.
Unfortunately, all the sun exposure caused my lips, the least protected part of my body (my chapstick didn’t have UV protection in it), to become sunburned. The next couple of days was rather painful, especially during mealtimes. Well, at least I know to make sure my chapstick has UV protection whenever I need more.
That takes care of what we did during the days, does it not? As for how we occupied ourselves at night while we were back at the house, we did a variety of things. Sometimes, my cousins and I would play two-on-two foosball (unfortunately, they had already sold the ping-pong table from when there house was up for sale). We also played Cranium a few times, although the teams were almost often unmatched (Tommy and I against Nguyen and Thao – older against younger). I had fun, of course, but I was always on the winning team. When it was close to time to go to sleep, Tommy always retired to his bedroom a little early, and did who knows what. Nguyen, Thao, and I slept in the media room. The most watched channel? The FOOD channel, of course! I particularly enjoyed watching the competitive shows, and shows such as Cake Boss, where they often had elaborate and creative-looking dishes.
Wuhh, looks like this entire entry was about only one week of my summer. So much to write about concerning my past year! If I keep blogging like this, I’ll wind up with a book.
(I apologize for any grammatical/spelling mistakes in this blog. Suck it up, though; I’m too lazy right now to edit it all.) I hope my snowboard doesn’t miss me.