Browse Category: friends

turkey, fried chicken, and pizza

It’s Thanksgiving weekend and everyone’s home for the holiday. That’s the best part, besides the food. Holly, Dayantha, Victor, Jes, Jimmy, and Yoon came home and I got to see them all. Tonight will be another reunion with my friends from UCLA. It’ll be fun to have the whole gang together again…Hans, Jesse, Mich, Mary, Linda, and of course Sandy – the birthday girl.

On Thursday morning, I woke up to the sounds of KOST playing Christmas songs while my mom was ironing and it was really cold in my room. For a second there, I actually thought it was Christmas already. The DJ was even wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas”.

Anyway, Thanksgiving dinner was at Jes’ house with his family. We had lots of turkey, ham, and everything else you’d expect. This year, my parents went to my auntie’s house and my brother baked a pot pie for himself at home. Thanksgiving is always a strange holiday for my family. Last year, we had a ghetto Thanksgiving with KFC and all the trimmings. That was fun. Another time when I was about 10, we went to Yosemite and were waiting to eat dinner at this nice restaurant but decided not to because the wait was too long. So, we ended up spending Thanskgiving dinner in our hotel room eating leftover pizza from lunch that was warmed over the heater. That was fun too. My family can be so non-traditional and ghetto sometimes but it makes it even more memorable and special for us. To this day, my mom and dad still have fond memories of that trip to Yosemite and get a nostalgic chuckle everytime we talk about it.

What a weekend!

On Thursday I got to hang out with Patty and Patti. Patty and I met up after work and took a nice walk up to a park. Then we met up with Patti at Asakuma in West LA. We sat and talked while dining on blackened cod and sashimi until they kicked us out. It was really nice to catch up.

It’s been a long time since my brother and I got a chance to celebrate together. For the past couple of years, my mom has been sending me flowers and a balloon on my birthday. That was pretty much the extent of it. This year we actually got to see each other and have dinner. This year, I got a delivery of flowers from Holly though! I was very surprised and it was very sweet of her to remember and go through all that trouble. Actually, I got a bunch of phone calls on Friday as well as the day after. It’s so nice to be loved.

On Friday night, Jes flew down to hang out with me. On Saturday we went to the San Diego Zoo to visit the animals. I got to see the pandas, polar bears, and elephants. 🙂 That evening we had dinner at “Top O’ the Cove” in La Jolla. We had a nice outdoor table overlooking the ocean at sunset. Too bad there was too much fog to actually see the sunset. It was fun anyways. However, there was a very snooty party of 4 that was sitting next to us…made me roll my eyes several times that evening.

This week will be my second week at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The commute is horrible!! Luckily I’ve been assigned to the acute wards with an OT who works 4 10-hour days. That means I have Mondays off!! Yippee! My clinical instructor works primarily with infants both in the NICU and on the regular floors. It’s a really high paced environment where there aren’t any schedules and you pretty much have to play it by ear every day. The babies are so small and fragile. A lot of people wonder “what in do OTs do with babies so young?” Actually there are a lot of things that we can assess and treat. First of all, we are the ones who determine when a baby is ready to be fed by mouth. We look at oral-motor skills and whether the baby can manage formula in their mouths without choking. We also check if they have all their reflexes and whether or not they are developing appropriately. Pediatrics is pretty interesting. There’s so much I don’t know but it’s so fun to learn!

Growing up…

Last weekend was Patti’s bridal shower and bachelorette party. I drove up to SF with Patty Shih on Friday and it was so much fun! All the festivities were on Saturday. It was so nice to see all the girls together again and to get caught up with everyone. Holly, Jane, and Timmie (the bridesmaids) did such a great job too! Patti was such a good sport…*sniff* made me proud. I still can’t believe that one of us is actually getting married!

Last night I went to see an old friend from UCLA play in his band. The group is called “Wild Gift” and they sound like a mix between Pearl Jam, Live, and Incubus? Anyway, it was awesome to see Joel up on stage and being a ROCK STAR! He was really jammin’ on his acoustic guitar! Tonight we’re going to see him play at the Roxy…should be cool. Well, I’m half-way done with my internship at Rancho…only 6 more weeks to go!

Today I will be having a little “midterm evaluation meeting” with my Clinical Instructor. This should be interesting. I’m feeling like I’m in the flow of things at Rancho and can’t wait to be done! I love the experience but I’m just feeling the burn right now. Some say that the last 6 weeks there will fly…I sure hope so. Can’t wait to find a real job that pays.

Jes got a job this week! It’s not his “ideal job” but it’s better than unemployment! I’m relieved and I think he’s somewhat at peace. The job is at a home equity firm in San Ramon. He will actually start on Monday…yikes!