Winter Break Updates

This might be too long for facebook so the link is: http://americanjohn500.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/winter-break-updates/

First off, FOX & Time Warner made a deal, which I find amazing!

I will start summarizing winter break. Instead of using a huge blob of text to do so, I will try to emancipate this blog from hurting people’s eyes with the incorporation of pictures and rude comments.

Let’s see. Winter Break was either: hang out all day, hang out partially of the day, relax entirely at home. Either way, fun & a break from the necessities of UCSD schoolwork is always good for the mind and the soul.

Based on the previous updated blog, here is everything that occurred from December 19th to beyond.

So, on Saturday (12/19/09) I did a wide variety of things. Earle, Brandon, Tony, Vu, Triet, Brian, and Kevin came over, and we went eating at Kyotori for Sushi. Yummy stuff. I think the waitress was Korean so I said “Cansamidad” to her.

Then we went back home to play boardgames “Loaded Questions”. SOMETHING I ALWAYS Have to do. I think boardgames are quite fun, despite them being sometimes called “bored” games.

Then we went to Main Place Mall where Earle had to go buy a gift (which he didn’t). We hung around on Nordstorm couches cause we were super tired.

And then we got free food at his friend’s restaurant (which ended up not being free), and then we came late to a free Jason Derulo concert at Buena Park Mall (where I got my white elephant gift for Jonny’s party… The elephant in the picture is actually gray… But seriously at Wal-mart I got the Glee Cast Season 1 CD for Jonny’s future secret elephant.

Some Republicans went up to us and told us to sign a petition to stop gerrymandering in the state of the California; I was thus obliged to help.. and then we went to Mcdonald’s cause I was hungry. Then we went to play pool, where I miraculously was able to win with Earle and Stephanie Do on my team [against Decky and Marly]! Despite me sucking. haha.

All in all, it was a good day, and I had a ton of fun. Thank goodness for friends. Earle also gave some inspirational tips about networking and socializing that I will carry through to the next quarter and beyond to improve my life.

Sunday (12/20/09); I actually relaxed all day! And got all my farming out of the way. hehe. :D. I think I finished RA applications too! Probably not on this day tough.

Monday (12/21/09): After going to Wal-mart with Earle and Tony to buy USB sticks, we went to westminster mall (to buy nothing). But I checked out the new bookstore Co-Op, which was pretty nice. I also found out the city hall for westminster is actually inside the mall. Isn’t that SOMEWHAT tight?! Well, no… not really. We went to dollar tree where Earle bought Tuna. Then we got bored… and me & Earle and his friend Andrew went to watch the movie Avatar. I’m going to give the movie 3 out of 4 stars. It felt anti-human for the longest time, and it was uncomfortable watching two smurfs make out, but the storyline and CGI effects were hella’ legit (cool). Dialogue was horrible though. HEHE. “I see you”.

Then we went to eat @ Hot Pot City with Earle, Brandon, and his friend Melissa. Apparently they give unlimited rice and soup there…. and then we got crapes, which were frigging’ expensive!

GRRR. My sister also came home this day.

Tuesday (12/22/09); Jerick and Brian Vo came over in the morning and we watched some Jackie Chan movie with the Bronx. I apparently laughed at various parts including when the FBI agents punched the little kid (which wasn’t actually supposed to be funny);

Then we went to dollar tree to get wrapping paper and McDonald’s dollar menu for lunch. Then we just watched youtube videos for a while.

Later I went to Wal-mart, Souplantation, and Target with my sisters before going to Jonny’s White Elephant Exchange – where I got a bottle top, and where…

Sonny & Jennine Got Glee Volume 1. HEHE. Equal Tradeoff :). Eden got Earth’s puzzle, Earth & Eva/Chris got lava lamps, Robert got a first-aid kit, Jonny got some herbs, and Hiep got something which I forgot, and Diana got a game. It was all in fun. And then we played slapjack and Egyptian War before I ultimately left.

Wednesday (12/23/09); I ate at Mae’s Cafe and went to the mall with my siblings. It was so tiring that I fell asleep on a chair there. :D. Christmas eve-eve lines are long, also. Piece of advice to everyone: Don’t go shopping 5 to 1 days before Christmas. Later, we got crapes. MMMMMm.

Thursday (12/24/09); I went to Amy’s House. She fell asleep on me. 🙁

Friday (12/25/09); Well, I woke up early for starters at 8 to actually open presents.

Then me and my siblings + Nam decided to go for a “cruise”, which means drive around and wasting gas. We made a pit stop at some environmental beach facility, which was kinda okay, I guess.

Later that night, we would eat bbq, and oh, hit a pinata….. on xmas….

Saturday (12/26/09); We thought there would be lots of After Christmas sales, but those are normally not advertised. Ya wanna know why?! BECAUSE THE STORE DOESN’T WANT THE CRAP at the end of the year, so they try to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Little did we know this. We went to Wal-mart, and the mall, ate at IHOP, and took a nap at home. Somehow we ended up going to the mall again and then I actually paid for food for a change – Pizza Hut.

Sunday (/12/27/09); I went grocery shopping with my parents for “supplies”, after eating Pho and getting a haircut.

Monday (12/28/09); We went to Main Place mall so my sister could find a suit. She took basically forever, and we ended up still going to Target. Then we went home to eat. And then played Pool,where I lost three games in a row. (PS: After making 3 shots in a row, in an attempt to get the black ball in, I accidentally hit the white ball in). FAIL! End game.

Tuesday (12/29/09); Brian Vo’s dad took me and Jerick fishing at Huntington beach, and suffice to say, we caught nothing.

Wednesday (12/30/09); My sister left in the morning so I realize I better hang out with someone else. Triet, Brian, George, Earle, and Tony came over to hang out. Somehow we split into two groups – Tony, Earle, and his cousins going to Fry’s. Me, Triet, Brian, and George were the smart ones though – we decided to avoid 2 hours of standing around by simply going to eat . We ate pho Ga at some half off place, which was okay, and then we played pool, which was only 4 dollars! (for 40 minutes). [Tony joined us at this part]. Then we saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for free at George’s theater, which was A SUPER COOL MOVIE. I <24 it with a passion.

Tony left at this point, so me, George, Triet, and Brian just played cards and ate dinner at my house. Triet & Brian left after Annie and Earle came to visit, and Annie and Earle left upon realizing Earle, and his cousins + Amy were coming over. Oh boy. DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. They left, and me and George were just doing nothing for a while, and then he left.

Thursday (12/31/09); Let’s see. I didn’t really end the year with a bang. Instead, I just stayed at home and relaxed. I did widen the gap on Farmville, although it seems to be closing on me again. Me & my sister decided to watch the New Year’s Eve thing on NBC/ABC/&FOX. It was a yearly tradition of watching it (although my other sister was gone). Let’s just say my sister didn’t even make it to midnight, so I was stuck alone. HAHA… way to ring in the new year.

Friday (1/01/10); Wow, it feels both real and surreal typing “10” as the date. Oh well. To ring in the New Year, Thiep finally came back from his Northern trip and then we went to Starbucks/Jack’s and talked for like 2 hours. Then we went Bowling with Chris & Howard… And. I lost every time, but you can tell based on these pictures. I fixed my technique by the end of the night.

Saturday (1/02/10); My final “real” day of Spring Break. Tanya drove me to her restaurant in the morning, and I struggled communicating in Vietnamese with her dad. Later we went to her house, and watched some Disney Channel while completing a puzzle. And Uh, it was a hard Elvis Presley puzzle. We watched the movie “Dadnapped” with Emily Osment, and let’s just say… it was horrible.

Later, I went with Thiep to Tiana’s house… where we played cards for a while until Linh came. Then we rented a movie. Sonny, Jennine, and Jonny came and we watched the movie “Shutter”, which wasn’t scary at all but Jennine still ended up screaming (even though she already saw the movie…).

Then we played poker (x2), with Tiana & Linh (the newbies) winning, (WTF?), and then we played catchphrase a few times… And finally Loaded Questions, which took a majority of the night. By the end of the night we were all tired and stopped strategizing, giving Tiana, the host, the win. hehe. It was pretty fun overall.

Sunday (1/03/10); Back in SD.

Lessons learned this Winter Break.

1) Drama. When you hang out with your friends, you have to be aware of the drama that goes on surrounding them. This means, don’t invite two people that are mortal enemies or do not get along with one another anymore (even if you happen to still like both of them).

2) Friendship. The friends that are worth it, are the ones that make it the effort to hang out. Friendship takes both sides to work out.

3) People change. The people you hang out in high school might not be the same people they were when you first met them, which sometimes, is unfortunate, but is a natural part of life.

4) Groups. Hanging out in small groups (less than 8), is better than hanging out in huge groups. This means you can focus your attention and get to know better certain people (to prevent cliques/etc. from occurring). This also means only hanging out with people you like, which should be easy if you truly like/get along with them.

5) Some friends get mad at you if you don’t hang out with them. Who would have thought?

6) Don’t intermingle cliques when hanging out.