My birthday celebration on the 15th was low key but still good. Since it was Karmelina’s birthday too, our team treated us both to lunch and we gave her a gift of a Halo: Reach pre-order and a card and poster designed by our designer, Guy, who (with my suggestion) put our teams faces onto a Halo team’s body. Pretty great work.
Left work a bit later than expected so we had to change our flight to the day after. Went home and Henry ordered for delivery from Kumo since I had a Salmon Teriyaki craving and watched 24. Ate some yummy Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for dessert. Henry managed to top off my day with his present – a mini gift of a gorilla-style light and the main gift of a sweet Asus Netbook. I’ve been wanting a netbook for a long time and he got me just what I wanted!
Henry and I got to Cali a bit later than expected but I still made the most out of my day. We had a great home cooked lunch thanks to my grandma’s cooking. I got to eat my favorite dish ever made only by her – giniling. Can’t ever go wrong with that. Sung had picked us up from the airport and joined us for lunch. I’m glad he got to hang around with my family too.
Went shopping at Tanforan a bit. Got to see my lil sisters future place of employment – Hollister. Wanted to buy some clothes but got distracted by the Verizon Wireless booth and by Mrs Fields Milk Chocolate Chip Nibblers
Went back home to drop off Nikki who was driving us (good practice for her driver’s test and headed off to drop off our stuff and pick up Mod at his place. I was about an hour off schedule getting to Jason’s place (with no help from rush hour traffic) but we got to hang out a bit with Jason, Brian and Dan.
We headed out to Ginseng Korean BBQ for our dinner celebration. Met up with Sung, Luke, Kris, Anton, Jiong and Susan there (12 ppl total). Had good food with lots and lots of all you can eat meat across three tables. The Galbi was best. Thank you to the group for paying for the meal for Henry and me! We took a group picture cuz those just make me and my gallery happy =).
After that we went to the best ice cream place in mountain view nearby (#1 apparently because it was the only one). The line was longer than the line for the club next door! Had yummy Tiramisu and Caramello Crumble Chocolate ice cream. Luke paid for the ice cream Henry and I got. Thanks Luke! I was full from dinner but it was worth it to squeeze that dessert in.
I had a blast hanging out with my HS/college friends again. Thank you all for coming out!
Our week long celebration was as spectacular and memorable as always. I love how Henry’s birthday is only five days apart from my own. There is always a big celebration every half year. =D
*07/15, Wednesday – Happy Birthday to me! I had work this day so Henry came to visit me for lunch and treated me to a restaurant of my choosing – Wendy’s =P. It’s a regular lunch location for me but I like it anyway. During work, I received a beanie gift that my older sister especially made for me. I was impressed, it looked like a nice beanie. It was nice of her to put effort into a gift for me.
After work, Henry drove to pick me up from work and he treated me to dinner at our favorite Chinese Xiao Long Bao restaurant in China Town – Yeah Shanghai. There, he surprised me with a gift that he worked on for months – a custom tshirt with one of the best StarCraft flash videos ever, the Four Zerglings. He had been spending time watching the video over and over, recreating the graphics, and researching how and where to print the shirt. He even added a “H <3 M” on the back of the shirt. I was deeply touched by how thoughtful the present was and how much effort he put into it. I love my shirt!
After Chinatown, he drove us to Cold Stone in Times Square so we could use our free birthday ice cream coupons. Yay Ice Cream! Later that night, Henry and I finished off all the set lists presented to us in Guitar Hero: World Tour. It was great to be able to play it again and even more, to finish the game as well.
*7/17, Friday – Happy Summer Birthday Friday to me! Thankfully I had the Friday between mine and Henry’s birthday off so Henry and I decided to spend it at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. We used a coke can coupon to get half off and we decided to go on a weekday since it was cheaper then. Our goal of course was to go for the big rides. The place wasn’t too packed. The lines went quickly. We set our sights on Superman and Nitro.
Although Henry couldn’t go on a lot of rides because the rollercoasters were affecting him, we still managed to ride the best rides that made it all worth it. Superman gave us the great feeling of flight. We sat on the rollercoaster but our seats went back so that we faced the ground. It was an amazing feeling going through the tracks. After Henry got some rest, we rode on Nitro, which was also an awesome ride. The drop on that coaster was so steep, I was overcome by the adrenaline rush.
Later on, we saw a bunch of characters gathering around the fountain. Henry wanted to take pictures with his favorite cartoon characters – Bugs Bunny and Tasmanian Devil. We found that the dance party was coming up soon so we stayed to watch Mr. Six dance with a group of dancers and Tweety and another cartoon. Tweety was the most amusing as it was funny to see him do the macarena and the cha cha.
Towards the end of the night, Henry and I found a replica of the Exploratorium from San Francisco, Six Flags style. We went in there and saw their technological stuff to play with. It was a fun day at Six Flags.
*7/18, Saturday – Welcome to Medieval Times! I’ve had the idea to go to Medieval Times for a while ever since I saw Cable Guy. I thought it would be a good celebration for Henry, especially since it’s related to a movie. Some of our friends had also mentioned wanting to go there someday and I thought it was a good time for it.
Whenever Henry and I mentioned this celebration to our friends, we would get laughter as response or an eager wish to go as well. I know its a big celebration for kids but since we never did it before, I knew it would be a memorable experience. Thus, we gathered our friends together at Medieval Times!
Right when we got there, we were treated like royalty, being called Lord and Lady. We took group pictures and then entered into the medieval hall where they sold costumes, weapons and armor. This was also where they “knighted” people.
Walking around, we saw collections of great swords used by great names in history – Prince Valiant, Knights Templar, Barbarian, Christopher Columbus, Robin Hood, William Wallace, etc. They had a speaker with a great voice who announced what was to come. Henry and I had a blast just taking everything in.
We were assigned to the blue team, rooting for the blue knight, Casa Valiente. There were children in the rows in front of us. The arena were lit in different colors according to which knight each section rooted for.
They served food throughout the whole show. The “Bill of Fare” consisted of Garlic Bread, Tomato Bisque Soup, Roasted Chicken, Spare Rib, Herb-Basted Potato, Apple Pie Pastry, and Pepsi.
The food was good! And the food was abundant! There was so much food that I couldn’t finish it. There were no utensils so we had to eat with our hands. I mostly used napkins though =P. There was no need for knives as the chicken was so well cooked that it fell right off the bone.
Our friends who joined this medieval celebration:
Mike, (me, Henry), Norman, Chris, May, Allen, Ed, Mike, (later Helen and Steve)
Although our blue knight was a sucky newb, the show was entertaining. There were enough pauses to eat in between and there were a lot of filler horse riding, hawk tricks, and knight games. There were plenty of great photo opportunities as well. Chris C’s photos looked amazing!
The day ended well and everyone enjoyed themselves. It was great having our friends come out to celebrate with us. Later, after we dropped everyone off, we topped off the night with some lovely gaming – Call of Duty World at War – at Allen’s place in New Jersey.
*7/19, Sunday – I told Henry to meet me after my lyrical dance class because I had a surprise in store for him. I changed into my summer dress and we walked over to Times Square to eat Chicken and Rice from the Halal Guys. Henry had been craving this for a while now so I knew he would want it for dinner. After dinner, Henry asks me, “so what musical are we watching?” I shrugged it off but he already knew what I was up to =P. I took him towards the Richard Rogers Theater to watch In The Heights, a musical he had kept mentioning that he wanted to see for quite some time now.
It was a good musical. I couldn’t help but think about how I could apply what I saw to our dance ministry skit. I liked how the background dancing flowed seamlessly into the action on the foreground and it didn’t distract from the main character’s dialogue and story. One thing that did surprise Henry was that he knew the lead guy, someone who had previously tried out to be part of Dance2XS but didn’t make it. And he was good friends with one of the actresses/dance captains – Stephanie Klemons. We met up with her backstage after the show. It was funny leaving the theater at the same exit as the actors. A lot of people from the audience crowded around us, wondering who we were, but Henry and I just walked by as if nothing happened.
I would put this in a category of good musicals, although it doesn’t compare to the top ones I’ve seen. I would rate as follows: Miss Saigon (I have yet to see it but I’m rating it up there), Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Wicked, Rent, Jersey Boys, Spring Awakening, In The Heights.
*7/20, Monday – Happy Birthday, Henry! Henry’s Birthday fell on a weekday but we made the most out of it. I knew I wanted to treat Henry out but I had a hard time figuring out where to bring him. Henry ended up wanting to surprise me for his birthday! I guess its okay as long as it makes him happy =). I wore the shirt he made me and met up with him near City Hall. He brought me to the Brooklyn Bridge and told me that he had never walked across it before and it was his first time doing so with me.
The weather was perfect for the walk. It was nice and warm. The breeze cooled us so it wasn’t too hot. The walk across was relaxing and it was nice to be able to walk it with Henry.
Henry also had a place in mind for dinner. Under the Brooklyn Bridge was Grimaldi’s – one of the top pizza places in New York. Its fame leads people to line up for long periods of time just to get a taste.
The pizza was good. We ordered Sausage and Garlic. Henry rates it as one of his top five. After dinner, we made our way back to Queens. We stopped by the Baskin-Robbins close to our apartment but to our dismay it no longer sold ice cream. In our eagerness to get our birthday ice cream, Henry drove us to the Baskin-Robbins at Path Mark and we got a taste of our long awaited Baskin-Robbin’s ice cream. They didn’t have cookie dough, sadly, but their flavor of the month, Oreo Outrageous, wasn’t a bad substitute.
*7/21, Tuesday – Helen treated us to Rizzo’s the next day after work. Thank You, Helen! This pizza place was conveniently located very close to her apartment so we met up with her there. She introduced us to perfectly baked thin crust pizza. We ordered the Golosa – chicken, spinach, bacon, no mushrooms, and onions on one side.
It was good pizza! So good that it rose above Grimaldi’s on Henry’s top pizzas list. I liked it as well but I didn’t like the dry mouth feeling that the spinach gave me after. Henry called me a veggie noob. Oh yeah and they also have a specialty dessert called Pizzetta Nutella (thin crust pizza topped with a rich chocolate hazelnut cream, dark chocolate chips and powdered sugar) which was also good. I will definitely go back but I’m removing the spinach from my pizza next time.
*8/03, Monday – Andrew and Amy treated us to Lusso today as a last bit of birthday celebration for the both of us. Thanks Andrew and Amy! They got us a Groupon coupon for $50 worth per table at Lusso. Henry and I ordered Spaghetti Carbonara and Hangar Steak. The Carbonara was well made and delicious. The Hangar Steak and potatoes with the melted butter was so flavorful that it was such a treat to our mouths! The food was so good and filling. We also had Tiramisu for Two for dessert which we shared with Andrew and Amy. With the $50 discount, the food only came out to 2 bucks! We paid a tip worth the full price. It was a treat to be able to eat such good food for such a good price.
*7/2, Thursday - I got out of work at 1pm. Woohoo! Loved having a half day to start the three day weekend off early. Henry and I ate lunch, watched So You Think You Can Dance, played some StarCraft, packed and showered to get ready to head for Henry’s 大舅舅 (uncle)’s place in New Jersey. Helen was caught up at work so we took off a bit later than expected. I think we left at around 9 or 10pm or so. Great thing about having other people along the ride is that I don’t have to stay up to make sure Henry stays up while driving. I dozed off along the way. We got to NJ pretty late so we just chatted with Henry’s uncle and aunt for a bit before figuring out room assignments then heading to sleep.
*7/3, Friday -I woke up early the next day thanks to my new early work schedule. I got up at around 6:30am. I was still sleepy but I couldn’t go back to sleep. After I showered, Henry’s 大舅舅 and wife woke up (I don’t know what I’m supposed to call them) and told me I could grab some waffles and syrup for breakfast. I was happy to have my routine breakfast in front of me and ate two waffles for breakfast everyday I was there. I also broke out my Chinese for Youth Level 2 book and got a bit of help from them. Henry didn’t wake up until 10am and everyone was up by noon.
Henry and I helped out with making food. Henry was shucking corn while I peeled carrots. Made me feel like making food wasn’t too much of a chore. We ate lunch and got to taste the cooked sweet white corn. So good! We also watched the Wimbledon Semifinals match between Andy Murray and Andy Roddick. So sad. I was rooting for the Queen to show up for finals. I wasn’t terribly invested though. As the day went by, the rest of the Lee family arrived – Stephanie, Michael, Lisa, Henry’s 外婆(grandmother), Henry’s 小舅舅(uncle) and his wife, as well as Henry’s parents.
Stephanie and Michelle (Henry’s cousin who lived in that house) set up the Badminton net with Helen’s help. I played that game for the first time ever. They told me playing Badminton would be bad for my Tennis game. My natural tendency was to play Badminton like I played Tennis but Henry helped teach me and correct me along the way. I learned to hit the birdie up and Michelle and Henry taught me different ways to serve. I feel like I got decent pretty quickly so its a game that’s not too hard to pick up. I had a lot of fun rallying with the cousins.
Some new people who were family friends (Anita was the only one I sort of interacted with) showed up for the BBQ. We stopped playing when the food was ready. Food was great. Mike and Lisa worked on Margaritas and Mike made me a special virgin version. Loved it. I called mom to wish her a happy fourth of july even if it wasn’t celebrated in the Philippines (it was the 4th of july there). Then we celebrated 小舅舅’s birthday with a birthday cake. Henry and I kinda celebrated too since it was our birthdays as well that month.
After food coma started setting in, people started getting ready for bed. We were all sweating from our badminton matches so we took our showers. Some people played Uno. I found Helen and Henry playing table tennis. After much hinting, I got Henry to teach me basics of table tennis like the forehand and backhand grip as well as the serve. We played a few games of pusoy dos/big two (actually, Michelle played for us both, I just helped her along o.Oa). Then we conked out.
*7/4, Saturday – Happy Independence Day! To celebrate, we headed over to the New Jersey shore boardwalk. It was a sunny day and I ended up getting cooked the entire time. This is my third time of prolonged exposure to sun (Ultimate and Badminton were the other times) so I have gotten a few shades darker. We didn’t go into the beach because they have this ridiculous rule that you have to pay five bucks to walk into the sand. Only Mike and Lisa went that route.
We stopped by the Chocolate Factory then ate lunch at a nearby burger joint called Stewart’s “Drive-in”. We walked around the boardwalk more after eating. There weren’t any booths further along the beach so we just kept walking just to keep walking. Henry and I along with Anita and bf made it pretty far down. We met back up at 3:30pm then headed home.
Our van dropped Anita and the rest of the family friends off at the train station. Henry and I headed out to play some badminton again. The sun was too intense and made it hard to play on the net so we played along the side. Helen, Michelle and Stephanie joined us a bit later. We decided to try playing on the net even if it was so hard to play with the sun in my eye. Henry and I took the bad side since we had sunglasses. Later on it ended up with me and Michelle up at volley and it helped train my soft and more controlled hits. I have a lot of fun playing the game. We headed in when it was getting dark and we were getting bitten by mosquitos ><;;.
Some people started heading home – Henry’s parents, 外婆, Stephanie, 小舅舅 and his wife. The rest of us ate leftover dinner. Mostly wings. A little before 9pm, 大舅舅+wife, Michelle, Michael, Lisa, Henry, Helen and I headed for the Freehold Raceway Mall to watch fireworks. We set up our folding chairs. The fireworks started shortly after 9pm. It was a nice experience. The sky was clear and I took pictures and video.
We headed back right after. Henry, Helen and I were supposed to go home that night but Henry was sleepy. So was I. We both napped on the way back. We decided to go home the next day. We watched Taken before we slept. Henry had it with him from Netflix. It turned out to be a pretty good eye opening movie. We stayed up a bit longer since the movie woke us up. We slept at around 1:30am.
*7/5, Sunday – As with every other day during the three day weekend, I woke up early again. I woke up at 7:30am this time, got my normal breakfast. It was quiet again. The day before was a lot noisier with the grown ups speaking in Chinese in the morning when the house was a lot more full. I pulled out my Chinese book again to get in as much studying as I could. Henry eventually woke up after a few hours. One of the first things that came to mind to him was to watch the Wimbledon finals. We ended up being glued to the flat screen tv as we watched Andy Roddick vs Roger Federer. Having watched Federer win in the French Open vs Robin Söderling, Henry had already given me a good background of the guy and I got to like him after seeing his personality in the interview (where he made a speech both in French and English!). Of course, I would root for Federer. It ended up being such an epic match with the fifth set going to 16-14! Glad I watched it and got to be a part of that world.
Mike, Lisa, Henry, Helen and I headed out after that. I napped along the way again. Henry dropped Mike and Lisa off near Mike’s place. We stopped by PC Richard & Son so Helen can check out air conditioners. Then he dropped Helen off. Finally Henry and I got home sweet home. We vegged on the couch. I watched some Billiards on TV. Was so disappointed with the Black Widow being taken down by Kelly Fisher. Was surprised to see a Filipino, Iris Ranola, going against Kelly Fisher in the finals so I had to watch that too. Iris unfortunately got trampled though. Oh well, better luck next time. Henry and I played some StarCraft after, then ate dinner, then went to sleep at around midnight.
Oh happy July, my favorite month! Maybe part of my positive association with it is the holiday three day weekend to start off the month. MTV has a half day at work today and I’m leaving in 15 minutes.
I’ve been continuing my learning by exposure to WordPress on my personal site. I’ve tagged and categorized the first eight pages of posts. Only 86 more to go! Note to self: continue starting with July 29, 2008. There was actually a WordPress question that came up that was work related. How do we deal with integrating one blog from one URL into our proprietary framework which will require the same blog to integrate into multiple domains for multiple regions? We’ve got some possible solutions up our sleeve. Anyway, this just proves that my WP work isn’t all for naught since I can consider the capabilities of the technology.
July 4th Weekend will be spent hanging out with Henry’s family. Should be good times. =)
*01/24/09, Saturday – Henry and I celebrated Chinese New Year with his family at Gobo. It was a joint celebration with Henry’s mom’s birthday as well. It was a vegetarian restaurant so I ended up eating mostly starch o.O;;. I managed to get myself full though. We got Henry’s mom some pig figures that represented different sayings for New Year (my favorite and easiest to remember being “Da Ji Da Li”). Ed got one from Taiwan on his trip there so we thought it would be a good gift for Henry’s mom as well. Allen and May were nice enough to bring it back from Taiwan for us.
*01/25/09, Sunday – Henry and I also celebrated Chinese New Year with Remnant Westside people over at Jen’s apartment. It was also Bryan C’s birthday so it was a dual celebration. Good food, great fun. Henry and I brought Ling Ling potstickers. We played some pool after. Chatted and hung out. Good times.
By the way – update on my chinese: I can now write (by hand) 你好吗？yay go me. I’m working on 我 and 他 next o.O;; I’m waiting until after February when things calm down a bit more before I take up Chinese classes again. For now I’ll have to just rely on my DS.
