Browse Month: October 2005

trick or treat

I finally carved my pumpkin last night. We made the basic triangle eyes and nose and two buck teeth. Only difference was that Jes used his dremel for some of it…that was not pretty. Mary also came over last night to hang out with us. We had a small 9-lb turkey that’s been defrosting the fridge all week so Jes roasted it up and made all the fixins. I even made some homemade cranberry sauce…mmm…cranberry sauce. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They have to be my two most favorite holidays. This was just a preview of more things to come!
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Today at school, the kids had a big Halloween carnival with games and prizes. They all dressed up and had a little parade on the blacktop. If I didn’t work with kids I think I’d almost forget it was Halloween. We bought some candy at Target yesterday just in case some kids came by…uh, we got one. Where are all the kids?! We certainly have a few living on our street but I guess they’ve gone elsewhere. My cousin was in Cerritos tonight and said that not many kids came by her house either. Hm… Oh well…they really missed out on the Batman Pez dispensers and Skittles that we have here! I suppose Jes will just have to stuff his face with chocolate and sugar this coming week. I don’t think it’ll be too difficult.

It’s been a while.

We met up with Dayantha, Huy, Ti, Thilan, Krishani, Derek, and Elise last night at Shark Club in Costa Mesa. The club was decorated for Halloween with plenty of people dressed up. The cover was pretty unreasonable but the price for a drink wasn’t so bad. All I know is that I had quite a few vodka tonics on an empty stomach and whew! I was nice and toasty by the end of the night and wide awake! You know…taking a nap before going out really helps. Anyway, we had fun and got to see some pretty skimpy costumes. Jesse always says that Halloween seems to bring out the “inner slut” in girls. It seemed rather true last night. Our waitress was a “slutty cop” and there were a bunch of just “slutty [fill in the blank]”. Girls get pretty creative and manage to hike up the hem lines and push up the boobs whenever possible. I suppose that’s why there were so many guys out last night…to check out the final package. Afterwards we stopped at Denny’s for some grease and sugar where the topic of conversation revolved around what Dayantha’s type was…pretty funny. Jes got us home in one piece and I slept in this morning with a headache and a couple trips to the bathroom to get rid of all that I had in my system. I made some coffee and rice porridge for breakfast and all is well in the world again. I can’t remember the last time I got this faded. Cheers and Happy Halloween!

wow…so many markers

Marie picked me up yesterday afternoon to go paper shopping with her. She’s starting a little invitations/baby announcments company out of her home and needed to find paper for her samples. So, with Cole in tow, we stopped at one place and it was shut down. Then we went to this other place in Irvine and it was so awesome! While Marie browsed the paper section, I took Cole around through the rest of the store. There were two aisles where every imaginable marker could be found. Do you need a Pentel marker in fine point in Burnt Sienna? They’ve got it. Need a permanent Sharpie-brand oil-based poster marker in baby pink? Yep, got that too. It definitely is an art student’s place to be. I so wish that I had the time and motivation to take some classes or just dabble in something. I suppose this website and my photography projects are enough for now. I’ve been wanting to sign up for a Chinese brush-painting class for over a year now but haven’t made the commitment. I’ve been thinking of taking a darkroom refresher course for two years now…still haven’t. I don’t get it. I guess by the time I’m done with work, I’m ready to just go home. Going to a 3-hour night class twice per week just doesn’t seem very appealing to me at the moment. Maybe I’ll take a short class next August when I won’t be working and won’t be at camp. That’s it…that’s what I’ll do.

what a mess

After a day of rest I went back to work today. My knees were sore, my ankles were sore, everything was sore. However, I managed to put in a full day of work and the walking and moving really helped. By the end of the day I was feeling much better and I wasn’t waddling around as awkwardly as I was yesterday. Speaking of…yesterday I chatted with a couple of people who ran the race and they were all just as sore. We all had our own little ailments from a sore butt to sore ankles. What a mess. Luckily I’m feeling much better today and I can start back up again. I’m not sure if I’ll do another marathon soon but I’d like to get one more 10K in before the end of the year.

run like a girl

Yay! We finished the Nike Women’s Marathon! The morning started really early. We got up at 5 am after tossing and turning all night due to jitters and the neighbors playing poker all night next door. We got to the starting area by 6 am and the gun went off at 7.

The hills were pretty mean and the fog was cold and wet. We started at NikeTown, ran down Embarcadero, past Fisherman’s Wharf and The GG Bridge, and then through GG Park. The first half was fun with Susie by my side until we had to say “goodbye” at Mile 12 when the half marathoners split off and I was on my own for another 14 miles. The last half went deeper into GG Park, past the finish line (bastards!), down The Great Highway, around Lake Merced, and back up The Great Highway…pretty dull and painful. I felt ok until Mile 20 when the bump on my knee started to bother me. I think the hills had really taken a toll on my legs as well. All I know is that I made sure to eat and drink plenty of fluids along the way and boy did they pamper us. We had numerous aid stations, lots of Luna Bars, bananas, and chocolate. They even had a Pedi-Care station where they gave out free Nike socks and chairs for you to change into fresh socks. At Mile 25, I was struggling but then Ryan showed up and ran with me for the last mile. That was cool.

Overall, the race was scenic but painful and I finished in 5 hours and 45 minutes…much slower than expected but I’m still happy that I finished. The half marathon girls did really well. Vyl even finished under 2 hours and I think they all had a great time. At the finish line, we were greeted by men in tuxedos handing out the little blue box. The finisher’s DryFit T-shirt was also nice. Props to our supporters: Jimmy and Eleen with the noisemakers, Jesse the photographer, Victor and the signs, Ryan the last mile cheerleader, and Dayantha the guy with a loud voice.

Afterwards, we had Vietnamese food and then Vyl took me and Michelle to get pedicures. Aahh… Our flight home was delayed and the plane ride was very uncomfortable. Check out photos from the race here.

That’s a cute shirt.

Today I spent the day in Union Square with Vyl. We went to the Expotique to pick up some shwag. I scored a personalized pace band, a grip of Luna Bars, and some Ghiradelli chocolate. I also tried on some Nike shoes and got a free pair of socks. Cool! The whole city was covered in blue and orange Nike Marathon billboards and posters. This is quite a production and whoever is in charge of Nike’s marketing is a genius. The NikeTown was packed with women scrambling around trying to buy everything off the racks. Some popular items were already sold out by this morning and I am even tempted to purchase a $70 jacket that can be personalized for free. *sigh* I’m such a sucker for cute running stuff. This is one running event that goes above and beyond anything I’ve ever seen. I guess they just know they’ll make it all up through NikeTown sales. It’s just ridiculous.

This evening before dinner, we drove the actual race route. There are some gnarly hills on the course and the last half of my marathon is a litte dull. I was feeling really anxious afterwards and all through dinner but now that I’ve had my pasta dinner and the timing chip is on my shoe, I’m feeling a little more optimistic. I just have be like the tortoise…”slow and steady”. OK…it’s off to bed I go.