awrtivnd hghlahu asgdklhgqwoqwoie

yup, that about explains my emotion right now. i just got done watching one of andy's most painfully bad matches ever (andy roddick). this was his first round match at the US Open against muller. sadfhj jwuup. yup, i am still really upset. he lost in three sets... three tie breakers. i was begging the tv to show me andy getting pumped up and turning the match around... seriously, i was begging on my knees in front of the tv. it's a good thing nobody was home, cause they would have been freaked out by the wreck i was becoming. i was jumping around on the couch, talking gibberish, on my knees two feet from the tv... yup, a complete wreck. when it was the third set tie breaker, i didnt know what was going on... this was andy roddick, and this was the first round... what is this?

then i started laughing really hard when the tie breaker was in favor of muller 5-1... i made an excuse for this terrible match that i saw on the tv screen: it was a fake tape that was fabricated to show andy losing terribly. i knew that at any point, a big "Haha, gotcha!" would flash up on the screen and reveal the true score in favor of andy. then i noticed i was insane.

as soon as andy lost, i think i screamed, but i am not sure. if i did, i am surprised that the cops didn't show up saying he got a few calls from concerned (and annoyed) neighbors. then i started to cry. yup, i cried. then i did somersaults... i don't know why, but i am guessing it was a form of calming down and releasing some stress... and some temporary insanity.

now, i sit here, semi-calm, writing this true account. yes, all of this did occur, and it is all in respons to andy's loss. andy truly did lose his mojo. stupid mojo.

must go.

bye

more?

last night was spent in a korean/japanese resturaunt... you know, one of those places where there's a grill in the middle of your table and you put your meat and what-not on there and cook it yourself. so let me just explain a little bit of how much food there was.

to start off, let me say this: i have never seen so much food on one table at one meal at one time... ever. first we started with a salad (a huge and yummy one). then same soup, followed by the little dishes... there were tons of little dishes with awesome korean food. i would say about 20-25 of those little dishes alone. then, with the dishes came the rice. of course, i start eating the rice with all the little stuff, and then comes meat. the meat was incredible... i just loved it. i was near my limit with how much i could eat... i was getting really full. but wait, what's that? another serving of beef? ok, maybe a little more. another serving? ok, we'll see if i can eat a little more. just as i finish eating a little more beef, the waitress comes with a huge plateful of a different kind of meat to cook. i was SO full, but the food kept coming. after we cooked two or three servings of the new meat, out came the chicken. in the picture below, you can see one of the first servings of meat of the night on he grill... this is early on, not even halfway through. you can also see how incredibly full i am by the look on my face. i was struggling to find ways to make more room for food. by the time the chicken came out, i had already unbottoned my pants AND unzipped... if i went any further, i wouldn't be wearing pants anymore. so i figured this: "okay, the chicken is the last thing, i can take a few bites, right?" i did, but then, i discovered something new... and i should have know... there were still noodles to come... more food! now, before we went any furhter, i made sure there was no more food coming. after finding out it was finished, i slouched low in the booth and just sat there with my hands on my tummy... it was over. the food was awesome, don't get me wrong, but i just ate so much of it. i think the next time i go there, i will have to fast for a few days ahead of time. i know my brother would love this place, so when he comes back from japan, i am taking him there. there is so much food, and the amazing thing is that this is a normal meal in the korean culture. man, they know how to eat!

initiation

there's nothing like waking up at 6 in the morning to go play tennis... no, seriously, there's nothing like it. i just love waking up early and starting the day off with tennis. after 3 sets of doubles and good tennis, i know my day will go well :)

it was a lot of fun, and i would like to add that the colors of the day were green and yellow.... the two colors i wore and no one else did. yes, i got hit... multiple times. once nearly in the face (but my wrist luckily blocked it), another in the leg, and the last right above my stomach. they called it initiation... i called it torture... haha, just kidding, it wasn't torture. it was actually quite hilarious. i had a lot of fun with it. i definately have improved a lot since the last time i played with this group (very close to a year ago). i'd like to say i held my own and did okay :)

well, i am off to go see the brand new REI in huntington beach... it just opened yesterday. it's supposed toi be just as big as the mannhattan beach one... we'll see.

oh, and check out the new purchase... i've been saving up :) by the way, the purchase is the camera. came straight from europe...bought it off of some friends that were just there. sweet, eh?

well, i am off... preparing for an exciting day... a brand new rei and a dividend to use!

hooroo

semi-sedated

i had an appointment today to see how soon i needed my wisdom teeth pulled. i also got to learn how the whole procedure goes, what complications can arise, and, oh ya, the best and most important part: my options i have for being pain free during the procedure. yup, that's right... i have a choice of how i want to go through the operation. here are the options:

1. i can be absolutely aware and awake, yet not feel any pain (after 8 injections that will numb me) through the procedure. yet of course, i will still here the cutting, pulling, breaking, and metal tools while feeling the pressure (not pain) against me mouth and the pulling sensation. although no pain is felt, a lot of anxiety can occur.

2. i can be absolutely out, unconscious, and unaware of anything. the only thing i will be doing is breathing and pumping my heart... everything else stops. yup. i would be in a deep sleep, the doctor's pull the teeth and so on, and then i wake up about an hour later feeling like i never went to sleep. this is the most common choice and least stressful.

3. or i can do what is called "twilight" sedation (i think i may go through this one). this is, in a way, considered to be semi-sedation. now, this actually seems kind of humorous, and you will see why i would want to film my procedure under this choice of pain-freeness. in "twilight" i will not be completely out and sleeping away... i will still be able to react to a stimulant like someone telling me to do something. i will not feel any pain except for when i am first injected with numbing stuff which, according to what my doc says, i will forget was ever done 5 seconds later. i will be awake and semi-aware, but will not remember a single thing after it all wears off. i would kind of be like 10-sec-tom where i forget what is happening every 10 secs. people tend to get a little loopy under this option, but that is what makes it appealing.

so, those are my options. my personal opinion is option 3. what do all you have to say?

by the way, one of the possible (but of course, "not likely") complications is that they bruise a nerve in my lower jaw and my chin and lower lip goes numb for anywhere from a week to a few months. fun... numb jaw. haha

anywho, that is my story for the day.

hooroo and ta ta

i am officially "in"

well, i am now a part of the verizon "in" network. yup, i got a cell phone today. Mr. Fedex delivered it today after i got back from tennis. fun stuff... mmhmm.

tennis is going great... but then again, how could it not? it's tennis, and tennis is always great :)

not much to write to night. i didn't do too much today. i did buy two cds today though (itunes). i got phil joel's first album "watching over you" (he is the bassist for newsboys) and i also got matthew west's first album "happy". they are both great cds. my music collection is expanding, but newsboys is still my top pick :)

well, enjoy the rest of the summer

tenez!

thats' the word that "tennis" came from... anyway, thats what i have been doing a lot of. tryouts are twice a day, and today, i took a lesson in between the two sessions... actually, i have a lot of time before my next session this afternoon. no, i am not sick of all this tennis, i am enjoying it thoroughly. :)

change subject: one of my favorite things to do is look at the peculiar postings on msn news. there is some funny stuff there... for instance: a nun is reprimanded for wild dancing with a missionary, teacher is fired for forcing his students to eat with their hands, soccer team loses 1 to 50 because goalie goes to concert, and other stuff like that. however, i come across some cool stuff by clicking around. most of you may know that i love the commercial with the guy putting picture frames over his head and taking them off (the song "picture book" is in the background). it's the hp commercial. anyway, i came across a cool article about the commercial today. here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8564390/

at the very end, it says that the commercial is "tivo proof." i can support that and say that it definately is tivo proof. i stop everytime i see that commercial is on and watch it, at least twice.

anyway, i am gonna go relax now... wanna be fresh for tennis :)

hooroo

back to bellflower... again

well, i've been back home for a little under 24 hours. we got back yesterday afternoon from mammoth after eating a humungous (i can't spell that word... and i already know somebody *points to beth* will make fun of me for it) breakfast. it was soooo good. yup, it deserved three extra o's in the "so". anyway, i was very sad to leave. i always am when it comes to leaving beautiful mountains, skies, and weather to come back to smoggy LA where the skies can hardly be called blue and the "mountains" are never seen. i know it sounds like i don't like living here, but don't get me wrong, it's all good... but the mountains are better.

anywho, i had tennis tryouts this morning. all is going well. we've got some good new girls coming out, so it's exciting. i've got another session this afternoon... looking forward to it... yup yup, i am.

well, i gotta go... actually i don't, but oh well. i have nothing else to write.

hooroo

my illegal act for the week

well, i am sitting in the car right now near someone's house who has an unsecured wireless network... in english terms, i am getting wireless internet for free.

well, can't talk long. today, we just went shopping on main street and then went and drove up past the mammoth lodge to go to this one place where you can see a great view of the minarets. i can't believe we are leaving tomorrow. i am really gonna miss this place. i just love mammoth. i would love to come spend a summer up here, get a part time job, and become a local. wouldn't that be great?

yup yup, well, that's all for now. i've been playing and watching LOTS of tennis. roddick vs hewitt... go roddick! thats tonight. well, tata, see you all (beth) when i get back... my family teases me about my lack of audience... so spread the word, please. the only people that check this are either here on the trip, or are named beth.

anyway, buh bye

wow, its already friday

lets see... i will begin with what went on yesterday, then i will get to today. i will keep it short though and just mainly put pictures up. just a few stories first, though.

so yesterday was a lot of fun. the day was spent at gull lake. this lake is probably my favorite lake to go to. its close by, not too big, and, best of all, they always have a kayak to rent. so jenny and i rented a kayak for a few hours and had a ton of fun just kayaking around. let me tell you, we are becoming pros at kayaking. however, we tried something new a few times yesterday. this kayak also has pedals that you can use and a rudder to steer with if you want to. so jenny, sitting in the back, put the rudder down in the water and we pedaled a bit while she steered. pedaling a kayak is a great workout. my legs and bottom were burning with such a workout. jenny made fun of me cause i was going crazy. anyway, so we decided to go back to paddling. i was paddling on my own a bit, but i found that i was working extra hard to go straight. after about 5-10 minutes of paddling on my own, i hear jenny say from behind... "oh, i forgot to put the rudder up." it was hilarious.. the rudder was turned to make us go right. i couldn't stop laughing... it was great.

all this time, my family was in a little motorboat fishing. my mum caught her first fish. she was very happy. however, they had the boat till 7 pm. we were out of the kayak at 3:20. we had no money, no keys to get in the car to get money... no food, nothing. so we waited almost 2 hours doing nothing till they realized we were stranded. so they came back and gave us money to get food. we walked into town, then came back and decided to rent something new...

a canoe! we were on the canoe for an hour... that was fun... a lot different than kayaking. so we got off the canoe at around 6. another hour with nothing to do. so we were going to ask the guy if we could rent the kayak for a half hour. now, earlier in the day, we had kinda made friends with this guy. so he told us, go ahead and just take it out... no charge". we were so stoked... so stoked, that when we got on the kayak, we went crazy and pedalled and nearly tipped the kayak. funny stuff. so we were pooped by the end of the day.

today we went to bishop. we went bowling for a bit and didnt do much more. so today was relaxing... plus i got to drive back to mammoth... i love that drive, and i love cruise control.

well, thats bout it, so i will post pics... ta ta

yay for kayaking! 

pretty 

my frizzy hair + open window = this 

don't rock the boat... 

can you canoe? 

havin a little fun on the water 

jenny taking a break... :) 

yay for weird camera poses 

water fall.. i love water falls... i hiked down a little bit so i could get this pic 

a leaf with twin lakes in the background 

jenny and me playing the balance game 

tennis courts 

hanging out... in a tree... perfectly normal. 

bumpy roads with a slight panic

today was the day we decided to rent bikes and go biking ('we' meaning jenny and me). so, we rented mountain bikes (no, not full suspension, part suspension.) so we took off and had a little trouble finding the trails (which are all paved) and went off-road for a while. we finally found the paved trail and went on it for a little bit. however, we quickly bored of pavement and decided to off road to another path. well, about 20 minutes later, we weren't sure about where we were going. we were going downhill and found ourselves in a valley surrounded by mountains.

being surrounded by mountains is an awesome feeling... it's amazing, the enormity of the mountains just make you feel so small. it's an incredible feeling to see the scenary in every direction and not hear cars or see highways. it's almost overwhelming, but at the same time calming. i just love being in the mountains and away from all the concrete.

speaking of being away from concrete, we had begun to doubt our location and decided we should turn around. we didn't get lost, but there were a few doubts. the way back was all uphill, so we did get a workout. we finally reached home and then came to eat lunch at the tea shop.

so, i will post the pics... well, see ya'll later

i am sitting in the comfort of the condo right now, eating a handful of wheat thins. no, we do not get internet here, but I decided to write the entry ahead of time on word and then cut and paste it in so that it would be way quicker.

we drove around all the lakes today.. lake mary, twin lakes, lake george… you know, all those ones. on the first stop, twin lakes, jenny and i decided to have a balance fight… you know where you try to make the other one fall off by making contact with each other’s hands (on a log by the way). i think I have a pic that I can post.

anyway, to continue with the story, we arrived at another lake… lake mammie… and as we were leaving, an old couple came up to jenny and me and asked, “you are the ones that were balancing!” I racked my brain to think, balancing? and, who are these people that watched us balance, and where? quickly, it clicked… the log fight. “yes, yes, that’s us! the balancers!” it was great.

so we arrive at the next lake, lake george, and the appear again! the man said, “hey, there they are again!” we chuckled, and as soon as we walked past them, I declared that if we saw them again, I was going to take a picture with them.

well, we went to lake mary, and they didn’t show up. I was a little disappointed.. I was looking forward to the picture. so we were pulling out, and sure enough, they were pulling in. we just missed them… or they just missed us… either way, no picture. maybe we will encounter again… and the picture will happen.

we are gonna bbq tonight at the condo. and that is pretty much it.

oh ya, and the letter of scarlet hue has finally been finished… it was painful, but I conquered it!

see ya!

day two and a half

well, yesterday was a kick-backer. we relaxed most of the day and hung out at the old mammoth village. it was raining most of the day, and it rained pretty hard too. however, fun was found.

jenny and i went to the arcade after we both went to giovanni's and had this great meatball sub (giovanni's is a resturaunt, not some creepy guy's house, for those of you who couldn't tell). anyway, at the arcade we won some fun stuff that provided hours of entertainment. we each got a tiny nerf gun that shot a foam thing about 8 feet (if you were lucky). the thing is about 6 inches long, so its small. however, we were very amused. then, we got a foam frisbee thing at a tshirt shop. we were joking around and threw it... surprisingly, this thing flies really well, better than ANY frisbee i have ever thrown. and the best part... it's foam so it is ideal for indoor use. we had a great deal of fun with that. we would throw it at eachother as hard as we could, and it wouldn't hurt at all. great stuff.

jenny is grammar checking me right now... so excuse my poor grammar, because i refuse to take her grammar advice.

anyway, we are going to twin lakes today, so it should be fun. its a beautiful day and perfect weather. a storm is on its way though... i can smell it.

hopefully better stories will come along soon... in the mean time, i posted pics below... enjoy!!!

hooroo

this is from yesterday when the clouds were low. 

and here it is... my favorite and best lightning picture i took the first night... i love lightning!! 

this is when it was flashing behing the tree for a cool effect. 

here's one of my first lightning captures.. 

this is a picture i took on the first night while it was storming... i took it right after the lightening flash.