Birthday 2015

I recently turned a year older and I still find it hard to believe. I don't want to believe it. I wished I had a more fulfilling and successful life, but sometimes that's not how life plays out. But, I can say that celebrating my birthday this year exceeded my expectations. I was able to hang out with my friends and family and go to places I like.

I first celebrated my birthday with my long time elementary school friends, Chen and Shan. I always enjoy catching up with the girls and eating with them, so it was fun.

The next day was my actual birthday and I celebrated it with my family. We began the day with dim sum at King Palace. Next, we went home and had cake and took some pictures. Even though it was November, I didn't feel all that cold that day and wore a dress.

After eating cake, we played some board games (Scattergories, Sequence, Guillotine). After playing some games and relaxing for a bit, we headed out to Paesanos to eat dinner. Afterwards, we watched The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials. I found myself really liking that movie, so that was a good thing.

The next day, I celebrated my birthday with more of my friends from high school and work. It was nice seeing people I don't see too often and watching them eat dim sum. However, I didn't like that we all didn't get to sit in the same table. Next time around, I will make sure everyone is in the same table and that I can see everyone, which means smaller gatherings.

I took a picture of all my friends that I invited to dim sum. I informed my guests they could dress up or not, but I'm still going to take pictures with them.

Even though a good amount of my friend were able to make it I still hope some others could have attended as well because I don't see them too often. But, it was very fun.

We finished eating dim sum around 1 or 2 and afterwards a few of my friends wanted to do something afterwards. We decided to change and then meet up to go to Downtown. Our first stop was Coinop, which was pretty cool since I always like playing the games there. Secondly, we walked over to the Ice skating rink to go ice skating. My friend, Ricardo didn't want to go ice skating, which surprised us since he didn't mention he didn't want to earlier when were discussing it. Nonetheless, he still ended up purchasing tickets to go ice skating. I'm glad he had the experience although he didn't originally intend on doing it. 

While heading back home after ice skating, Eric mentioned that he was going to eat pho, which made me crave it. And, it led to me and Kristine wanting to eat some pho. So, in the end we all ended up going to Pho Saigon to eat some pho. But, the funny thing is none of us ordered pho at the restaurant.

At the restaurant, I was able to catch up with the group and Snowbee was mentioned in one of our conversations. Both Ricardo and Eric never tried it, so me and Kristine tried to explain it because we love honey toast. Somehow, we all ended up going to Snobee afterwards. Eric ordered a drink and had the honey toast, but didn't like dessert. I wished I would have known that, but he didn't object to it when we described it. But, Ricardo loved it, which was good.

While I was waiting for the food at Snowbee, I crashed. I didn't expect to, but my body realized how tired I was when I leaned back on the comfy chairs, so I took a few minutes rest while my friends played Connect 4 and caught up with one another. I was also surprised when Eric thanked us for making him sleepy and for the fun we had that night.

Snowbee was the last stop that night before heading home. But, wait, I actually had to go to work right after Snowbee, but I would say I would still have done the whole day over again because it was fun.

I'm glad that I took pictures with everyone who attended my birthday celebration. It's always important to remember good moments like these. It's definitely one of the highlights of this year.

Family trip in Berkeley and San Francisco, CA

On Saturday, I drove to San Francisco with my mom, sisters, and my aunt. It's one of our few family trips and one of the first times I took my mom and aunt out. Since the occasion was planned late, I ended up cancelling my shopping date with my friends to Vacaville Outlet.

Even though I knew I was going to head out to San Francisco before I fell asleep, I could not fall asleep easily. I think I only got 3 hours of sleep. It wasn't that bad waking up early, but it still wasn't fun. The drive to San Francisco was pretty good. I'm glad that I getting more used to it.

After we parking in Chinatown, we walked to get something to eat. We walked to Great Eastern Restaurant, which was literally like two minutes away from the parking lot. The inside looked much nicer than I imagined. I was surprised to hear that Barack Obama ate there. I'm even more surprised that Stephen Hawking ate there. The dim was good, except I really did not like their pork ribs. It was rather harder and and not as tasty as other places that I have been. I do like that they seem to make everything when you order it, so it's more fresh. But, I did find the place a little bit more expensive than what I was used to.

I think I was close to falling asleep at the restaurant because I kept closing my eyes. I did, however, slept a bit while my sisters went shopping. My sleep deprivation finally caught up with me. The sleep also helped me to not feel as bloated.

After Chinatown, we walked to Union Square, which was about a 15 minute walk. When we arrived, we went through Westfield Centre and my sisters went to there usual shopping places. Afterwards, we walked to Union Square park and we took pictures with the Christmas tree. My aunt went to Prada and she couldn't find the bag she was going to order for my aunt in China. Our last stop at Union Square was H&M. I'm surprised that my aunt and mom both found something there. For me, I only find something I liked at H&M every once in a while. That day, I spotted a really cute black jacket with a string. I loved that style and I got it.

Before heading to the parking lot, my mom and aunt checked out some shops in Chinatown. They didn't find any medicine they were looking for, but they did get Longan and some grocery. At Portsmouth Park, I noticed a very noticeable amount of elderly playing cards. I thought that was awesome that they had a place to meet up and do something they enjoy.

Both me and Cindy wanted to stop at PurpleKow before leaving, so we went to the one in Berkeley. We ordered lots of boba drinks and I got my 10 stamps completed on my card. I'm getting a free drink next time :). Since I knew 85 C was close by, I walked to grab some egg tarts and other bakery items. On my walk, I noticed that Paris Baguette was right across the street as well. Too bad I didn't have time to stop there too. Next time! I think it was still a good experience and I got to do all the things I originally planned. And, driving wasn't bad :).

Middle School

Whenever I think of middle school, I think about how much I hated it. There was so much I hated about it and myself. I think it's because it's one of the loneliest moments of my time. It was back in a time when I felt very lost and unguided. It was a time when everyone was going through puberty and trying to understand their identity. It was a time when many people were not nice to me and I had to face them everyday.

But, then, today, I look back at my old middle school memory journal that I made and realized that there were some good moments. I was at a point where I apprehended my weaknesses and strengths. And, somehow I remained strong and managed to smile a lot during those days.

I totally forgot that I wrote a promotion speech for 8th grade in 2004. That's over 10 years ago! I never actually presented it, but I'm glad I wrote it. After reading it, I learned I didn't change so much and there are some stuff I forgotten.  I did get kinda teary when I read it.

I also wrote a "about me" for the memory book. The only thing that really changed is I definitely love Japanese food and I do like vegetables, except for yellow and red onions and eggplants. I don't know why I hated it back then.

I did make some friends that I still keep in contact with today. It helped me learn to be more independent. It helped me learn that it's ok to be by myself. It also made me yearn for alone time when I'm around people too much.

But, I still remember I hated workshop class and when I cut off some of my skin. I hated that some people didn't make an effort in getting to know me because I wasn't a bad person. Then again, I still admire those people who told me to never change and wanted me to be more open to others.

I did not imagine I would like this art class in middle school, but I think I ended up liking it because I was the only one who got an A and I was the only one to complete a rug.

So, I guess looking back at middle school now makes me think that all the things I hate are just things of the past. After all, me hating Japanese food is definitely a thing of the past. Even if some things did follow with me today, it made me stronger and a better person.