This Memorial Day weekend was bittersweet. It was a great break from the everyday life to have four days off. Friday was my Summer Friday and Monday was the Memorial Day holiday.

*5/22, Friday – Summer Friday. Henry and I didn’t do much. I slept in til noon. We played some Fable II, ordered Papa John’s pizza. Watched a Netflix movie, Letters from Iwo Jima. Watched auditions for So You Think You Can Dance. I think we also played some Gears of War 2.

*5/23, Saturday – We were spending the day with Henry’s cousins. As we got ready to go out, I checked my email and received sad news that one of my GRX SF friends from my small group 318, Patrick Kong, had passed away. It took me by surprise and I couldn’t believe it at first. As the news set in, the sadness overcame me. I tried not to think about it too much since we were about to leave. Henry empathized with me and said we didn’t have to leave but I wanted to distract my mind. Although I didn’t give myself a chance to mourn for very long, I keep thinking about him throughout the past few days. He was one of the GRX SF guys I chatted with on IM. I played Scrabulous with him. We were going to play StarCraft some day. He let me park at his place and he drove me around when I needed a ride. He was there for my farewell gathering when I left SF. He was a good friend and I will miss conversations with him. Rest in peace, Pat.

Henry and I got to Central Park about an hour late. Helen, Stephanie and Christine were there. We grabbed lunch at Subway and ate at Sheep’s Meadow at the park. The weather was nice albeit a little on the windy side. We played some big two and some ultimate. Mike, his gf Lisa, and Ryan joined us. We stuck around until about 4 or 5pm. Then we had dinner at Shake Shack where Michelle (Henry’s cousin) joined us. The line was long as usual but it was Stephanie and Christine’s first time there and they couldn’t stop thinking about it the next day.

Afterwards, we headed to some closeby Karaoke place (not Duet). I have a lot more courage to sing just to have fun now that I accepted that I don’t need to sing well to sing Karaoke =P. I was happy with singing Love Story by Taylor Swift and proceeded to sing some pop songs. I learned I cannot sing like Beyonce to sing If I Were A Boy. I learned that it’s not so easy to sing Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat (plus, harmonizing makes it even more difficult). I enjoyed singing with Stephanie because she is so passionate about it. Henry woke up later and we sang a few of the 80s classics. Come What May is difficult to sing. Funny how I wouldn’t have realized it if I hadn’t tried. I will never learn how to sing Hey There Delilah. I sang a few of the musical songs too – Defying Gravity and Popular with Stephanie. I was Elphaba. I’m an Alto and have the hardest time with high notes. I want to get better at singing. Someday I will improve but while I suck might as well try and practice =).

After Karaoke, some of the cousins left (Mike, Ryan, Michelle and Lisa). Henry and I went home to pack up for Long Island. We got the car to pick up Helen, Stephanie and Christine. Dropped off Stephanie and Christine at their parent’s place then headed to Henry’s parents’ place. I remembered that this was the day of Sung’s graduation. Congratulations, Sung! I wish I was there to celebrate with him but he also said it was mostly for the family. He doesn’t feel like it’s over yet until he’s done with his thesis. I called him to congratulate him that night and killed half my phone battery =P. Best of luck to him!

*5/24, Sunday – Hung out with Henry’s family and Stephanie and Christine’s family at Long Island. They had a barbecue. 烧烤及好吃. Just lazied around, napping at the couches thanks to food coma. They had tiramisu cake too, my favorite =). There was this Chinese Romanian child, a neighbor with her caretaker, who came over. Henry’s mom was talking to her in Chinese and I was trying to learn from them talking to her o.O;;. She probably knows more than me =[. Was doing laundry for most of the day. Read some books – Henry’s Portable Life 101 book and Mrs. Lee’s Chinese Children Stories book that the author gave to her as a gift. Headed home at around 9:30pm, got back around 10:30pm, rested, played some Fable II then conked out.

*5/25, Monday – Got food from Taco King for dinner. Watched Gladiator. Got too lazy to do anything but play Fable II. Great weekend.

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