Post-Christmas

Christmas is over. I'm sad. Not because I enjoyed Christmas, but it being over just makes it closer to the end of my Christmas break and the beginning of a new semester. Christmas came by, it was the usual eating with family, opening of gifts, and the Secret Santa gift exchange.

I've decided that I no longer enjoy Christmas. Haha I mean, nothing's wrong with the holiday, but I just don't see it as the "best holiday" anymore. This year, I got tired of hearing Christmas music over and over. The Christmas tree was put up late because we were all so busy. I didn't have a wish list of things that I really wanted, and sadly of all.... gift shopping was so stressful! Yeah Christmas is the season for giving and I love that, but when it's obligatory, that's where it makes the season so stressful.

Stress #1: Sending out Christmas cards
I used to personally snail mail Christmas cards to friends. It wasn't until last year that I didn't get around to it and sent personal emails instead. This year, I didn't even get around to that! If I don't get a single Christmas card, I really don't care at all. Yet, when I don't get around to sending out my Christmas cards, I feel like a horrible person.

Stress #2: Having to give kids the gifts they expect to receive
I picked Emily for Secret Santa. She wanted a Zhu Zhu pet, which I had never heard of. As usual, I did things last minute and got Christmas gifts the week of Christmas. I actually had to look 3 places (these things get sold out?!?!?!) before I finally got Emily her Zhu Zhu pets and play sets.  They're such a waste of money, but if that's what she really wants, that's what she gets! It reminds me of those Beanie Babies I used to collect. They were so expensive... ranging from $5.99 to even $30+ to almost-retired and retired ones. I can't believe my dad would buy them for me. I feel bad now cause they're just all bagged up in a trashbag in my closet now. I got Emily two Zhu Zhu pets (not knowing what they are) under the assumption that having only one would be boring. Turns out she got a total of 5 for Christmas. -_-

Stress #3. Bearing the cold weather
It's so cold out! I really hate the cold weather. I am not a cold season person AT ALL. This year, my family didn't even get around to decorating outside with our Christmas-lit reindeers. We didn't put the wreathes outside. We almost didn't bother with the Christmas tree since we got around to it so late, but then felt obligated to because the family party was hosted at my house.

Stress #4: Preparing food
My family always hosts Christmas at our house. Hosting a party means preparing dishes. Every year we always spend hours in the kitchen cooking. This year was different. We didn't cook a SINGLE thing. We ended up getting dinner platters from the supermarket to make things easy. It definitely didn't taste as good as home cooked meals, but hey, at least for once, "preparing" food this year wasn't was stressful.

Stress #5:  Weight gain of 5+ pounds
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the over-eating holiday dinners. Since then, not only is it hard to work off the post-Thanksgiving dinner, but you can't help but enjoy the holiday cookies, lattes, hot chocolate, rum cake, pumpkin pies, pepperment milkshakes, egg nog, etc, as Christmas nears. Then once Christmas comes, that's like a Thanksgiving dinner all over again. You end up gaining quite a lot and make that New Year's Resolution to "get into the best shape of my life!" ... only to realize that once you're in shape, the holiday season is just around the corner.

So yeah, I've concluded that the only thing I enjoy about Christmas are the extra days off (compared to other holidays) before you have to get back into your regular working routine.

Don't get me wrong though, I did have a good Christmas. Times with my family/cousins are always the best. I'm not a Christmas hater! I've just really decided that Christmas is no longer my favorite holiday. =P

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Home for Christmas

I didn't blog as much during my first semester in Grenada as I thought I would, but here I am now, back in Atlanta -- Home SWEET Home. Being home for the holidays has never felt SO GOOD!

To really re-cap my first semester in Grenada, I can honestly say it was an emotional roller coaster. I definitely experienced some high, motivational, uplifting emotions with happiness... but then there were also some times where I really just felt like I had hit rock bottom. My mood was depressed and my self-esteem was dropped several notches. In the end though, my last day on the island was one of the happiest days of my life. I met the requirement for the Charter Foundations Program and I passed the PMSCE. I made it!

Throughout the entire semester I couldn't wait to come back home, but oddly enough, just leaving the island after my first semester felt really bittersweet. I've gotten used to the island, my new way of life for the next two years, and I've met some pretty awesome people. At first I thought I'd just come down here to get the M.D. and come back, but now I think I'll bring back more than just the degree. I'm gonna be meeting a lot more people, making new friendships, and  hey, this is pretty much a once in a life time experience. I never did get to study abroad during my undergrad years; I'll consider this it!

All in all, I can get used to the island, but NOTHING beats out USA. I was smiling ear to ear when my flight landed at Hartsfield Airport. USA > Grenada, any day. This is going to be an awesome break.

Happy Veterans Day

I have such a deep respect for solders, so to me this holiday isn't just an "whatever holiday" (e.g., Columbus Day, Labor day, etc haha), but I actually take the time to thank whoever I know that's served in the army. This video is great. It was a real tear-jerker for me. Even in the movie Valentine's Day, of all things, my favorite part was the ending when Julia Roberts came home to her son.


Excuse me while I go wipe my tears...

I miss pho

Hubert brought up this video that totally back memories of freshmen year at Tech when I first saw it. I miss the undergrad years!


I haven't updated in a while, but just for a quick one, I've gone through over half the semester and I'm still alive! I'll update again once this semester is over. I'm already counting down the days to come home and eat my momma's pho!

Look who's walking now!

Today Ralph finally walked! I can't believe it. I was waiting for this day to happen and I knew I wouldn't be there. When I come home in December he's already gonna be running around. I'm gonna try to hold him and he'll just scramble away. He's growing up too fast! Time's flying by too fast.



Welp, at least that means my time on this island will fly by too! I wanna come home to my favorite people!

Thank You, Philip =)

Philip left at 5am this morning. I can't thank him enough how much he's helped me settle over here. He's done more than enough! Despite the fact that I was going to classes, we managed to fit in some fun before the workload got tough. We went kayaking, snorkeling, and rode on a dinghy. We also went to Fish Friday which happens every Friday in Gouyave (northwest Grenada). It was a long scary mountainous drive on the bus, but when we got there it was worth it! Tons of fish fish fish cooked in all ways possible Fish nuggets, fried fish, fish kabobs, grilled fish, boiled fish, fish fish. There were other seafoods too, as well as breads. They had drinks, local juices, and even icecream! We shared the nutmeg icecream, although the raisin rum sounded appealing too. We also spent time trying out tons of different foods, whether they were nice restaurants to eat out, food court food, food at the Caribbean stands, or local Grenadian food. We both love eating, but we don't like how it makes our body feels so.... we took time in our days to work out at the SGU gym too! The gym's not bad. It's pretty nice with air conditioning too. I hope to make a lot of use out of it. During orientation we also had tours to Annandale Falls and the Grand Etang National Rainforest. We didn't get to see the rainforest though (missed the wild monkeys!) becaused it rained out, but the waterfall was pretty! Despite how badly bitten up Philip got from mosquitoes, I hope he enjoyed his two week stay here. I miss him already!

Didn't get to take pictures of everything we did, but here are some random ones taken:

Walk out of class, look over and see the beautiful blue water that makes it truly True Blue, St. George's, Grenada.

We snorkeled!

At Sea Fun Adventure in St. George's, right before we got on the dinghy

Beautiful view

A pool right next to the marina along with a great view of the town of St. George's

Starfruit drink! (local juice)

Soursop smoothie!

Grand Anse beach

Our rental Suzuki jeep, Jimmy. Steering wheel on the right and you drive on the left lane, had to get used to that.

Grenada! the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

Well, I'm finally in Grenada! It's been two weeks since I've been here and I don't know where to start.

The Good
I arrived on August 9, the day before the mandatory orientation. Philip came with me to settle everything in. We had a layover in Puerto Rico and stayed over night there. We found a $10 bill on the floor of our hotel. We stuck it in the slots at a nearby casino and after four cranks.... ding ding ding ding (x 1 minute) ... JACK POT! When we picked up that bill, I KNEW it was lucky money! It was $1 slots, so our jackpot came out to be $488. Pretty awesome, I've never won in slots before, it was like on TV! (okay... this has nothing to do with Grenada, so on with Grenada now....)

St. George's University is freaking BEAUTIFUL. It's exactly like how it looks on the website. First step on campus and I looked over and saw the beautiful blue water. It was breath taking. During orientation I found how helpful the students and faculty were. It's an amazing support group they give to all students no matter what term you are. Classes started and my professors are from everywhere, from New York, to Australia, to even a Grenadian himself (the only professor that's a little difficult to understand). There's plenty clubs and organizations here. When I'm on campus, it reminds me that I've made it. I'm finally at a medical school and will become a doctor some day. It doensn't matter which medical school I'm at, even if I'm on an island. This is my chance to be what I want to be. I forget everything else and just put my mind on my goal and focus. I do love everything this school has to offer.

Island life here. You know what that means, beach in between classes! Not that everyone's going to do it, nor would they have time to, but it is possible. You have access to the beach any time you want.  You wear shorts, shirt, and flip flops year round. That's great for me, because I hate cold weather. Watch when I come back home for Christmas, I'll be the only one in my family with a nice tan =)

Necessities here. At least there's everything I could possibly need. That is, unless I'm picky with some particular brand. The Real Value grocery store (IGA) is the place to go for it all. They even have plenty places to eat. I've had sushi, Chinese food, curry, local Grenadian food, wraps, pizza, and plenty other variety. They're not that good, but at least it's variety. They even have these sour sop smoothies that are to die for! I was hoping on a lot of different fruits I've never tried, but there's only been two that's been new to me (not sure of their names). Well, there's a third one, breadfruit, which I'm not sure is a fruit, because it tastes a  lot like cassava (a root).

My studio apartment is nice. It's actually great considering the location and how nice and furnished it is. The nicer ones closer to campus is ridiculously expensive. I have all my utilities inclusive, including AC, which is all I wanted. It's pretty hot here, so it's nice to be able to keep the AC running. I'm close enough where I can walk to campus if need be and I also have the bus stop right at our drive way.

So basically, everything that I need on the island to survive and attain my goal, I have it. I came on this island for one thing, and I have everything here to help me get it.

But then there's The Bad
Island life is terrible. Maybe that's me speaking from being here for such a short time. I was already homesick my first night here. In general, I get homesick pretty easy. My first time living in a dorm at Georgia Tech my freshmen year had me homesick for an entire week! And that's only 30minutes away from my house, in which I was able to drive home every weekend. But along with that, I DO adapt to my surroundings easily as well, if that makes sense. As of now, I'm perfectly fine with my living situation. The first night, my flight was delayed several hours due to maintenance issues. I didn't arrive to well after midnight and wasn't even sure if my landlord was there to let me in his apartment. He wasn't. Philip and I were dropped off from a taxi in front of the complex. A neighbor across the street said the landlord would be coming back. Philip and just waited.. and waited.. and waited... in the middle of the night. After about 20 minutes, he finally came. Food everywhere is so expensive too. I remember seeing OFF spray in Puerto Rico for $8 and thought that was expensive and decided to wait til we get to Grenada. I see it for $31 EC and I'm like "WHAT?!" The conversion of $1 US = $2.67 EC confuses me a little too. I heard rule of thumb is to take 40% as the US amount, so everywhere I go, I keep thinking a little less than half, which made everything seem so expensive. When really, the correct way to think is a little more than a third which made it closer to the actual amount.  I can't easily get eggs because they're not always available. The frozen meats seem like they've been frozen, thawed, and re-frozen again. Even then, they're still all expensive. That's 'cause they have to import everything. I had boxes of my stuff shipped from Amerijet down to Grenada. It costed $250 to have everything shipped. Who knew that picking it up here in Grenada would cost money too? I had to pay taxes on them, which costed another $100 US. It made shipping anything from home to here not even worth it. At least I'll know for next time. One girl ahead of me had 9 boxes to pick up, which were all torn and beat up. She had to pay $800 EC, which seemed outrageous!

The bus system here isn't reliable either. Well, it is, but I've been spoiled by the Georgia Tech Stinger and Trolley, which comes around every 5 minutes, whether empty or not. Here, you can wait anywhere from 5 minutes to even half an hour. Even then, when buses are full, they just pass on by without stopping. The thing is, at the bus station on campus, they don't leave unless there's a good number of people on the bus. So during an odd hour, when no one would be using the bus, the buses would be stationed on campus, just waiting. That's unfortunate for those in Grand Anse (off campus area where the First Term dorms are) who are waiting to be picked up. I've had my share of being impatient. I waited 30 minutes for a bus to Grand Anse for the grocery store and ending up taking a taxi there instead. There's a reggae bus (a van) though, that comes pretty often for pretty cheap. So you're always able to go anywhere you need to go. However, if you're a claustrophobic type of person, this is not for you! A typical van should hold what, 9 people at most safely? Imagine a bus that constantly shoves people in! There's about 15-20 people in a van!

Philip and I rented a jeep for 2 days and it made life so much easier. That's basically the only two things "bad" about this island that I have to complain about. How expensive everything is and not having a good source of transportation to rely on.

and now The Ugly
MOSQUITOS! They're TERRIBLE here! Next thing I'm stocking up on my next trip down would be tons and tons of cans of OFF-Spray. Every single day I'm getting bitten. It's actually not always that bad here. It's just during this time it's pretty awful because the island experienced a drought several months back. I was told that it'd get better, by my God! Everyone's also been told about the dengue virus, which comes from these life-threatening mosquitoes that lays eggs every time they suck blood. ahhhh!

I miss the U.S., being able to just drive to Target if I need anything. Being able to just go to Chik-Fil-A for quick eating. I miss all the authentic good Asian food on Buford Hwy! I miss all my friends and family. I miss Ralphie. I'm gonna miss his first steps. Living here just makes me LOVE USA!

Haha I know, I know, I need to get over it. I'm not really complaining, I actually have an open mind and excited for all the experiences the next two years I have here. I hope to make the best of it and come back proud to have being able to experience studying abroad in Grenada.

just a few things left to do

Less than two weeks left and it's byebye USA Jacinta and Hello Caribbean Jacinta. Just a few more things left to buy, gotta pack, few more dinners with friends, few more moments of family and cousins time, few more paperwork to make sure of, few more calls to settle and arrange things, few more things to settle with leaving Nala, few more things to clean to leave my car and room behind, just a few more.... okay maybe there's a lot more to do. But it's alright, at the same time, I'm gonna party in the USA! And by party, I mean sleep in and soak in as much of this lifestyle as possible before everything changes.

Over the weekend was Ralph's 1st birthday celebration! Happy Birthday to my nephew Ralph!

Emily, Me, & Ralphie

I'm really gonna miss these two when I leave. I'm gonna be gone for 4 months before I come back for a break so it's no big deal, but still, going away is going away. Since I really love kids, I'm gonna miss both Emily and Ralph. Emily because she loves me soooo much (for good reason haha), and Ralph because he's my first nephew and I'm pretty sure he won't know who I am when I come back.

Best Quote of the Week

"In our family there are two rules. Rule number one, Tam is always right. Rule number two, refer to rule number one." -Tam's dad (hahaha super hilarious)

Had a great time with Giang, Ann, and Tam (& Ryan) in Augusta this weekend!

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day because today Uyen and Bob (and Ralphie!) are celebrating it with Bob's dad. Last night we ate mini hot pot. It was everyone else's first time eating non-Vietnamese style hot pot.  I introduced it to them and they loved it! Today's the day for all the dad's. I love my Ba! Also, today is my momma's birthday! Happy Birthday momma!

By the way, over the weekend Philip and I watched Splice. Very weird movie.

National Spelling Bee

I'm just now tuned into the middle of the National Spelling Bee on ABC that's on right now. This mixed Asian girl had to spell "confiserie" (oooh there are squiggly lines under that word as I typed it). It's a French word! Is that even fair? These words are crazy, all these contestants should be winners. But anyway, they pronounced "confiserie" as "COL-FIZ-AH-REE" and I felt so bad for that girl. I knew the pronunciation threw her off, and of course, she spelt it with an "L" in place of the "n". When they said "sorry", she made this face like "that's not how you spell "colfiserie?" and they pronounced it again, slightly producing the "n" sound and she felt so bad.

uh oh, gotta go, i'll finish this post later. about to eat crawfish!

It's a Fun Night Every Night!

"Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of." - Benjamin Franklin

Alright, last two months in the USA... must not waste a single second! Every night must be a fun night! Lately it's been raining so although I'm in an ALTA tennis league for the summer, we haven't had that much practice. It started thunderstorming with lightning yesterday so granted, practice was canceled. We went with a group of friends to Steamhouse Lounge on West Peachtree Street for their special deal of $5 dozen oysters! (Gotta try out a new place every time from now on). I'm so used to seafood joints in Atlanta being so expensive, that I was thoroughly pleased with the prices here. We ordered lots and lots of oysters, hush puppies, Phil ordered a buttery corn on the cob, and we shared a lobster bisque soup that was to die for! Everything was yummy, can't wait to go back again!

Afterwards we all went to watch Prince of Persia and I realized I hadn't step foot in the theater in a really long time. It was an enjoyable movie being that Jake Gyllenhaal starred in it (love him!). It wasn't what I'd call an awesome movie, but I wouldn't say it sucked either. Oh and best part is that I didn't fall asleep. Score! I'm on a staying-awake streak now... one movie so far. Maybe because we watched an early 9pm showing haha =D

And today is the day I get to try my free reserved Chik Fil A Spicy Chicken Sandwich!

 (Ken Liu's picture, Ken Liu's sandwich)

It's reserved for today between the hours of 5-8pm. Can't wait to eat it!

And then it's the first game for the NBA finals tonight! It's gonna be a curry night too! I have some super ripe bananas and plantains that will have to turn into banana bread. I've never put plantains in banana bread before, but I'm gonna try it anyway. Hope it turns out moistly, sweetly, yummily delicious.

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." -Rhett Butler

This weekend was Memorial Day weekend! Didn't really feel any different, since every day is a holiday for me =D. There's no such thing as a "yay, no work or school tomorrow" for me. Every day is summer! Oh life is great! ... for now.

So this weekend I watched this movie that's taken me several years to get around to watching. Gone With the Wind.

I've felt horrible to have never seen it. It takes place in MY HOMETOWN. It's a classic love story during the Civil War, the first colored film, taken place in Jonesboro, and I've never seen it in my life. What a shame. We have a VHS at home, and I wasn't in the mood to watch it in that quality. I downloaded it in blu-ray and finally watched it over the weekend. I LOVED IT! I've never read the book. My mom told me the book was much better, cuz in the movie, you hate Scarlett and Rhett, but in the book, you love them. I liked Rhett Butler. Not only was Scarlett O'Hara from Jonesboro, but Rhett Butler was from Charleston! Like Philip! So I was imagining that love story as me and Philip hehe... til I found out later in the end Rhett leaves her.. haha so nevermind! But it was pretty neat though, when they'd mention Twelve Oaks, Tara, McDonough, or even Clayton County, I was like wow, I know all these places! Great great great movie, probably my favorite classic movie now, along with Sound of Music. I'm definitely gonna read the book.

.... after I finish The DaVinci Code. Bob printed a copy of this book in 2003 and passed it around and it got to me and I never got around to reading it. Seven years later and here I am ready to start. I'm sure it'll be an enjoyable read. Can't wait to finish it and start Gone With the Wind!

Oh and Chi Doan's baby is now named Mason Cheng. All newborns look alike. I look back at Ralph's newborn pictures and it shows absolutely no resemblance to what he looks like now. Mason in this picture though, does kinda look like Emily. He's gonna be cuuute!

And lastly, for Memorial Day, we all went over to Giang's house. They've lived there for what, nearly two years now, and I FINALLY saw what their bedrooms looked like. Isn't that crazy? Time really flies when you realize it's been that long and you never got around to going upstairs! I love their house. I can't wait to buy my own house someday and decorate it.

Okay, foreal lastly, I finally chose an apartment to stay at in Grenada. I didn't want to stay at the only dorm offered to me in Grand Anse because it's known to be really old and run-down. It runs out of hot water, the drinking water is unfiltered, and just other things that makes it sound 10x worse than Ga Tech's Woodies. Finding a place off campus without knowing the island was hard. Knowing that I won't have a car made it even harder to find a place in a convenient location and close to school. Putting rent costs aside, I wanted to find a place that was comfortable, clean, convenient, and safe. I had to keep in mind not to have high expectations. All the apartments looked like beach houses. I did the best I could to find the perfect one and finally narrowed it down to Grand Moves Apartments: http://www.travelgrenada.com/moves.htm. I really hope it's a good place. Last thing I want is to live in an uncomfortable place! I'm pretty sure I'll be fine though. I think I adapt easily? :)

It's a Boy!

Chi Doan delivered her 3rd child today. Happy Birthday to Boy Cheng on May 29, 2010. Boy Cheng doesn't have a name yet. As of now it's either Liam or Milo (not even sure if I have the spelling correct). I still haven't seen him yet. He was born around 5pm today at 8lbs 2oz. What a chubby baby. We're probably gonna go see him tomorrow, I can't wait!

I went to H-Mart today and got so many fruits. I got red cherries, large fuji apples, fresh apricots, dried persimmons, papaya, blue berries, plums, and dried dates. Just recently I started to love dried dates. I got a big box of them. They're so good! I think I've had them before actually, a long time ago, and used to hate it. I don't know what I love them so much now. I love dates!

Yesterday we grilled out in the pool area and had some friends over. It rained!!! It was still fun though. We grilled outside in the rain and brought the food inside to the game room. There's a shuffle board in the game room and I finally learned how to play. It's a fun game if you're really into it. I sucked though... really bad. So bad, it made my self-esteem go down. I even played foosball and sucked. I really wish I was good at something (don't we all haha), but really! There's a pool table down there too and I plan on making good use of the two months I have left in the States to get good at something... an activity/sport in particular. Sure, I can try to get awesome at tennis, that's a given, but I want something else. Since a pool table is available, shooting pool it is. Let's see how it goes.

Okay, this post was meant to be short. Again, Happy Birthday, Boy Cheng!!!

Back From Vacation!

Ah, home at last! Just came back from the cruise and a spontaneous trip to Disney World! Pictures and details later. I'm about to go eat lunch. Subway. Eat fresh!

Tickets booked!

I just booked a round-trip ticket to Grenada. I went ahead and booked round-trip because I figured it'd be more expensive to book another one-way coming back home in December, especially with it being during the holiday season. A week ago, I called American Airlines because they discount 5% for SGU students. It totaled around $1200! I looked on Travelocity which totaled around $940... obviously better off than the 5% with American Airlines. I compared Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity and the winner was.... *drum roll*... Orbitz! With a total of $844, I am more than pleased, especially with the other prices I saw last week. Finally booked, a bit of stress is finally off my sleeve!

Georgia Tech students class of 2010 are graduating this weekend! With summer vacation starting next week, Philip booked us a cruise trip to the Bahamas! We're going with a group of friends and I'm really excited. I've never been on a cruise before! Philip says it's his "Congrats for getting into medical school" gift from him. Awwww =) I'm so excited! We're leaving on May 9th to board Carnival Sensation. Bahamas, here I come!

Since I won't be home for Mother's Day, our family celebrated Mother's Day over the weekend and ate at Nori Nori. Usually our Mother's/Father's Day dinners are just immediate family, but for the first time we combined all the mothers (aunts) in the family and had one great big dinner. With more of the cousins together, it was definitely more fun. The more the merrier! haha I'm just trying find ways to have more gatherings just so I can spend time with everyone before I leave. I know I still have 3+ months, but time's going to really fly! Last week some friends got together to celebrate Emily & Andy's last day in the states. Over the weekend they left to Nevis for Medical University of the Americas. It was bittersweet sending them off. I can only imagine how I'll feel once August comes!

That's still a a long ways ahead. For now I'll just be excited for the cruise. yayayaya!!

on Fox 5

A lady just approached me asking me questions. I had no idea it was Fox 5 news. I didn't even know I was going to be on TV! It wasn't til Emily texted me saying she saw me on TV did I find out. I had to take a screenshot just for memory hahaha =D

Age 24: learned how to jump rope

I have all this time on my hands now and one of the main things I've really been working on is exercising and eating right. I've tried different forms of exercise and experimented with different workout equipments to find out favorite ones to work with. Currently I found that I love yoga, kick boxing, and sports as a form of exercise. I've also come to hate the tedious treadmill, elliptical, pilates, and weights. They're either too boring or too painful for me to bear haha. Anyway, last week when I was babysitting Emily, she kept wanting to do a jump rope contest. Being that I eat all day at their house, I took advantage of this chance to exercise. All my life, I've never really liked the way I jump roped. I've always took two jumps per one turn. I've always seen people jump once per turn and couldn't seem to be able to do it. Jump roping with Emily was the first time I jump roped in what seemed like years. It felt great! I made a note to myself to get myself a jump rope and get better at it!

I just found a jump rope laying around in the pantry and started to do some jumps. I asked my brother to jump rope and he jumped the "correct" way. So just 15 minutes ago, he taught me how to jump and now I finally know how to jump one jump per rope turn. I guess all this time I've been jumping too high (bending my knees)! Kinda weird, I mean.... did I really just learn how to jump rope? (I still don't even understand how double dutch works)

(I just looked on youtube because I wanted to try to find a video of how I used to jump and how I jump now, but instead I found a video of a dog jump roping! I want to teach Nala to jump rope!)

I also realized that there are so many things I don't know how to do. To this day, I still can't hoola-hoop, whistle, snap my fingers, or roll my R's. I can't even close my lips and blow and make that perpetual rumbling lips sound if anyone knows what I'm talking about. At least I can roll my tongue!...but that's a genetic thing.

My plan now's to master the jump rope and do cool tricks!!!

Hachiko: A Dog's Story

While eating hot pot (I love hot pot!) at Jay's apartment last week, he told us about a movie called, Hachiko: A Dog's Story, starring Richard Gere. He compared it to Marley & Me and said that this movie would get you crying (bawling) 10 times more. I finally watched it and absolutely loved it. Here's the trailer:

It was based on a true story. Here's the story behind it: http://hubpages.com/hub/Hachiko. The story just touches me so much because just recently I've learned how much more a canine can give you. They're more than just a cute, furry "toy"... I cried so much throughout the movie. I just got Nala a little less than 4 months ago and already I love her to death. Philip and I decided to get a dog and originally I didn't really want one. I was afraid I'd grow tired of her and just wasn't ready to commit. Now that we have her, I love her more than anything. Nala gives such unconditional love, so loyal, and even if I yell at her for her wrong-doings, she's always forgiving. I know why people love dogs so much now. Like my cousin told me yesterday, "You've become a dog person!" YESSS... I absolutely LOVE dogs now. I think they're the most amazing creatures! I couldn't have asked for a better first dog. Nala's the best best best best dog ever!

Leaving in 3.5 months to.....

.... the beautiful island of Grenada!

Thank you, school, for responding in a timely manner. I won't have to pay my second $500 deposit for Ross University. Bye, bye Ross! Hello St. George's University!

Becca Lee

SHOUT OUT TO BECCA LEE!!!!

Just wanted to say I love you.

:-)
(that's the face you always use)

Pollen Pollen Everywhere

Is it just me or is pollen even worse this year? I've never really been a victim of allergies and not til this week have I ever been affected by pollen. My throat is getting itchy and my nose is runny. I keep sneezing too. Just being outside is making me itch my eyes out. I'm scratching and swishing my eyeballs so hard it's tearing up and turning red. I'm one of those scratchers that have to scratch when something itches. If I had the chicken pox, I'd probably be scratching as I please. I can't stand itchiness! Speaking of chicken pox, I don't know if I've ever had it. I got vaccinated for it though, so I won't ever get it. I used to want the chicken pox haha, is that weird? It's just one of those things I wanted just because other kids had it. When I think back on my childhood days, I can't even begin how badly I tried to assimilate with my other American friends. But I'll get into a post about that another time. For now, I'm just gonna enjoy tonight indoors with the AC on. And I guess another Hello to pollen tomorrow!

Dang, Georgia's in the "HIGH" range!

Nanny Tax?

Along with tutoring, I've started babysitting as well. Yesterday while babysitting, the mother told me something about "deducting taxes" from my paycheck. Immediately I was thinking, "uhhh what?" ... I've never really babysat on a regular basis, but from what I know, when it comes to babysitting, you just come to babysit and leave with either a check or cash. When did taxes get involved?

I asked Philip and a couple friends and they all thought it was weird that she'd take taxes from me. Who does that? Friends told me that "That's stupid", "She's not a company..." or even "She's trying to jip you.." And although I found it really weird to not treat me like a "normal" babysitter, I didn't think she'd try to jip me or treat me unfairly, cheat, or just anything negative. She's such a sweet lady!

So I googled it up, and apparently there's a law, often referred to as the "Nanny Tax", that I've never heard of. Being a nanny, babysitter, or just anything of that nature is still considered a household employeee. Even if a babysitter only works part time or comes in just once a month, as long as they make at least $1500 a year, the Nanny Tax is required. Tons of people don't know about it and a huge percentage don't even pay it. And although chances of catching someone not paying are slim, it's still a law!

I'm glad I know now. Looks like the folks I babysit for are law-abiding citizens ... good people hehe.

I got a check today though, and nothing was taken away. So now I'm more confused. Maybe I'll pay something at the end of the year. I feel really clueless when it comes to this stuff. She mentioned W2 forms and not once in my life have I ever filled out such a thing. Welp, now's the time to learn I guess? It's not even a real job, it's just babysitting!!! hahaha... Tja!!

("Tja" is German for "Oh well")

Nguyen Family Photos

Inspired by my nephew's blog (http://ralphnguyen.wordpress.com), I've decided to create a "blog" that holds all the pictures taken of the Nguyen Family. We hold a gathering for almost every holiday and birthday throughout the year. We all upload them to our individual Picasa accounts and send invitations to everybody to share. But these invitations just stay in my inbox (or mine at least) and through years, I forget what all invitations I have to which set of pictures. In fact, most of the pictures, I've completely forgotten!

To make things easier, for my mom at least who looks at Ralph's blog all the time and clicks back to days to look at pictures when he was just born, I created a wordpress account for Nguyen Family Photos. I kinda like this idea, because not only can I link the pictures to it, but I can even blog about the event itself. I've linked back all the pictures since 2003 and I was amazed at how much my family/cousins have grown and how many gatherings we have!

8 years worth of pictures and it'll surely continue on...

http://nguyenfamilyphotos.wordpress.com

I'm a Tutor Now

TutorExcel called me the other day to interview me to become a tutor in Biology. There is a female student, 9th grader, taking AP Biology and her concern is passing the AP Final Exam at the end of the year. Being that it's just 9th grade Biology (well, AP) and I, myself, have actually graduated with a degree in Biology, it shouldn't be hard at all, eh? I've actually never tutored before and I made sure to tell TutorExcel that. After meeting with me, they said they believed I could do it and said I'd make a good tutor for this student.

So I'm glad I have a job now. This is actually something I'd like to do before starting medical school. I've been jobless and not in school for 3 months now. After all the interviews, applications, and stressful waiting is over with, I'm finally able to do anything I want to do. Not only is the pay great, but this opportunity not only lets me help someone else, but it's actually a challenge for me to try to make some improvements in this girl. Do I think I can do it?

Well, I've frantically searched online for AP Biology Cliffs book to download haha. It's 419 pages. It's spring break next week and I start tutoring the week after. That gives me one week to finish that book to brush up on the details within Biology I. Whoo... so far I've gotten through the first 30 pages. At least all of it is review for me and I'm able to just skim. Afterall, I DID just take the MCAT not too long ago. This Biology stuff should be fresh on my mind. Why am I so scared?

Welp, goals are always nice to make. My goal is to get this girl a 5 on her AP exam! hah. Ah, well I'll just do the best I can.

Happy 82 Degrees April Fool's Day!

It's 82 degrees outside today.... NICE!!! Today marks the first day this year that I wore shorts outside. It's so hot that Nala can hardly run. She's constantly looking for shaded spots, poor her. It's getting so hot, I'm starting to miss winter. Not..! I'm loving every bit of this! Let's just hope allergies won't creep up on me...

Spring Birthdays in the family!

Over the weekend my family and cousins celebrated all the Spring babies' birthdays, which included me (24 years), Tam (25 years), and Ethan (11 years). Basically all we did was talk, talk, eat food, talk, open presents, eat cake, and talk, talk, talk, some more while nibbling all the food on the table. Lots of laughter and fun times. I love my family!


cake





opened presents


cut the cake


enjoyed our mascot


great company



More Pictures Here...

These are just a few pictures from yesterday. I took out the SD card to put all the pictures on my laptop and stupid me, not knowing what "Scan and Fix (recommended)" meant, clicked it anyway just because it said "recommended" and ended up losing ALL MY PICTURES on that card! I was soooooooo sad. There were so many pictures on there. Luckily Dominique helped out and I was able to recover everything. I'm SO RELIEVED!!!

24 years old now

March 20, 2010 was the first day of Spring! I also turned 24 years old =)




More Pictures Here...

BEST INTERVIEW EVER

I drove half an hour on I-20 East today for an interview for St. George's University CFP. Dr. DL (graduate from St. George's) greeted me and told me to wait a bit while he finished up with his patient. He left me today's newspaper to read while I waited. I wasn't nervous or anything just because I felt if I didn't get in, my future wasn't at a loss because I still had a back-up. So I guess I was in a comforting situation.

Talk about luck! I think I was landed with the best interviewer ever! Once he came back in, he introduced himself with his age, year of graduation, family, etc... and when he sat down, he began with "I don't ask questions..." My ears perked up like, what? He explained to me his background, that he had a 3.5gpa and 30+ on his MCAT. He applied to 60 schools and not a SINGLE school accepted him. Haha maybe he holds a grudge or something, but from his long journey of finally getting into medical school, I think he's forever hated the way the admission system/process works and wants to change it. He's told me how some people with straight 12's (36 MCAT) also get rejected and he just doesn't understand what goes on within the admissions committee to make such decisions on people. Or he's said even people with low MCAT scores, that doesn't mean one day they wouldn't make a great doctor. He said "I don't need to ask 'Why do you want to become a doctor?' because I already know." He said, "I'm just gonna ask you what kind of vegetable would you want to be?" hahaha. I was so caught off guard with everything that I actually asked "Haha, would you like me to answer that?" and he laughed and said no. He really did not ask a single question except, "Do you have any questions?" Dr. DL was as real as it gets regarding Caribbean medical schools and getting residency. He knows that Caribbean schools are the US rejects, cuz really... we'd ALL rather be in the US if we could! He told me about life on the island and just everything I needed to know. He didn't even bother looking at my application and said, "I recommend all my applicants." He said he felt that the attrition rate for med school is so low, why make it so hard to get in?

There's more to it, but overall, this was definitely an unforgettable interview. I think I got super super lucky. But then again, it's not up to him. It's up to the admissions committee, and according to Dr. DL, who knows what goes on and how they decide among people... I guess we'll just see.

I didn't display too much information revealing him, because I'd hate for someone to turn him in for being an awful interviewer. In my opinion, he was the best interviewer ever.

Jillian Michaels does yoga now!

I love yoga! The first time I ever did yoga was 3-4 years ago maybe? It was at Bikram Yoga (I think that was the name) and it was hot yoga. We stretched for about an hour in a 114 degree room. I remember that felt really good, but it was only a one time thing. I never really paid membership or did yoga on a weekly basis.

I've been trying out a lot of things on our Comcast with the different videos they have on Exercise TV. Yes, just like any girl, my new year's resolution is to get in shape! Mainly for health moreso than looks (ok ok, looks too). My mom and all my aunts went to my uncle's pharmacy two weeks ago to get their blood pressure and cholesterol and tryglycerides levels checked. I didn't want mine checked just yet cuz I've been eating badly recently... and also because I was too embarassed =P. Just the day before I ate pizza! So I told my uncle I'd exercise for a month and then get it checked. So anyway, with this exercise TV, I've been following Jillian Michaels for the most part. She's the trainer for those on The Biggest Loser, and if you've seen that show, you've seen some MAJOR results!

I've done the "30 Day Shred", "No More Trouble Zones", and "Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism" which were all about strengthening and cardio. They were great, but now they've been taken off Exercise TV. Now this new video came out... and she does yoga! I tried it yesterday and this morning and let me tell ya, I AM FEELING GREAT! I'm gonna stick with this for a while. You really feel your muscles (or in my case, flab!) tighten up and you can feel yourself getting leaner. I like it a lot.

So although my exercise and activeness (including tennis) is not so much to complain about, it's my eating habits that need a major change. That's so hard, because I freaking LOVE FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

But I'm working on it. After all, it's almost bikini season! =D

Chi Doan's Baby Shower

I had a lot of fun today. Woke up this morning, went to Party City to buy a buncha helium balloons, drove all the way to Happy Valley (with balloons obstructing my review mirror!), and attended my cousin's baby shower! It was so much fun that I wish I did a better job at planning my sister's baby shower. Being that we ate dim sum made it even better. I love dim sum so much, it was my first time eating it in several several several months! Lots of people showed up and we had lots of fun games, raffle ticket drawings, and a delicious cake. This is her 3rd child now, so I guess you can say she's kinda "old"? haha most of her guests came with families of their own! The rest of us cousins sat at our own "kids table", which will forever be called the "kids table" no matter how old we'll get. Afterwards I went with Chi Doan to go to Emily's piano recital. Emily was the youngest one there and was the first to play. It was so cute watching the other kids dressed up in their Sunday's best, playing a 30 second song. I can't wait to watch my own kid's recital someday! So today was definitely an out-of-the-ordinary Sunday and I had a great day.

Later this evening, as we usually do every Sunday, Cu and I played tennis against Bob and Uyen. And as usual, we killed them! Well actually, every time it's always super close, but in the end, Cu and I win =D. We play so often now that just today I was thinking back of the time we first picked up a tennis racket as beginner level as possible. I was in 7th grade. I remember we used to bring out a whole basket of balls to hit back and forth cuz they'd always fly out the fence. Now we're able to just play with a can of balls. My tennis abilities (though not excellent), shows that practice makes perfect! (Well in my case, practice makes better!)

Hot Pot

I love eating Chinese hot pot. The first time I was ever introduced to it was on a trip to New York a couple years ago. Now Phil and I go to the one in China Town cuz Jay loves it so much. I'm craving it right now. Like dumplings, I can feel like I can eat it every day without ever getting tired of it. Yesterday we went to eat hot pot and it was our first time eating out with friends in a while (things have been busy!). It was fun! Jay brought some champagne to celebrate my getting into medical school. That was so thoughtful. Then it made me realized that I've never even celebrated it once I found out! I really wonder why that is. Back in college, I thought the day I'd receive my acceptance letter would be the happiest day of my life. Well I AM happy! I'm just wondering why I'm not jumping around going crazy over the news. Maybe it's one of those things that just kick in later hehehe. As I write this, I'm really happy. I'm gonna celebrate. I'm gonna buy enough groceries to eat hot pot for an ENTIRE WEEK!

YouTube edition of We Are The World

"We are the ones that make a brighter day, so let's start giving!"

MAN I LOVE THIS SONG hahaha

hehehehehehehe

hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

some days are just good days!

Sometimes we change and we don't even know it

Now as a 23 year old, I still have the same heart and mind as I did as a kid, as far as I remember. No birthday has ever felt any different. I've never actually felt older. It's not until we actually look back do we see how much we've grown.

I don't know, but this really got to me. I was trying to look for an old email in my Gmail and as I typed up keywords, a bunch of emails resulted. I opened one just to read it and it was from the beginning of 2005. I was ranting to a friend about how difficult my semester was at Tech. It was my spring semester of Freshmen year. It was during a particular weekend where not only was I sick, but I was so emotionally caught up with the stress that apparently I cried all weekend. I was upset with my parents and Sunday came around where I'd leave that evening to head back up to my dorm. My mom said to stay for dinner first and I refused. My dad said "Bye" to me (I was upset with him) and I didn't bother to say "Goodbye" back and just left.

I read that email and I just couldn't believe it! Not only do I have NO RECOLLECTION of that moment at all, but I just can't imagine myself being so rude to my parents like that today! And you always watch in movies/shows how it's during the teenage years where you're least appreciative of your parents because you're growing and experiencing the world, wanting to do your own thing. As I've grown older, I've been more and more appreciative of my parents, and it'll only grow more and more. I just couldn't believe my actions in that email. Like really, WOW! Bad, Jacinta!

I like reading back on old things. I can't believe I threw away my first diary because I was so embarrassed by my writings. I even deleted my first xanga too. Geez, I was dumb back then. Anyway, I guess I'm just glad that I realized that I've shown more respect towards my parents as I've grown older. Hope they realize it tooooo.

Newer News!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Ross University School of Medicine [proudly] accepts Jacinta Nguyen!

I got the call this morning! I've waited 2 long months and confused as ever why it took so long. I've kept up with ValueMD and there were those who interviewed just a couple weeks ago, who've already received their decision. My interviewer said I was on "hold" and I had no clue what that meant. I was supposed to find out last week, but didn't. This morning I emailed my interviewer once again and he called me right back. He began for a least a whole minute and I couldn't even tell by the tone of his voice if it was good or bad news. He finally told me that it was "sweet and sour" news. The delay was due to the overwhelming number of qualified applicants this year. Although I applied for May 2010, both May and September classes are full. I'm wait-listed for September (crossing fingers) but guaranteed for January 2011. Wow, that's another year away! But it's okay, at least I'm accepted. I am REALLY surprised because I really thought I was bound for MERP (which is the 4 month program that I'd have to pass in order to start their MD program). I can't believe I got straight admission. My interviewer must have really said good things about me! I'm really happy!

So this weekend was not only the Lunar New Year, but also Valentine's day! oh and the Olympics have started too! Usually the Nguyens celebrate TET (Vietnamese New Year) together with a whole roasted pig, but it snowed the day we celebrated (Friday), so only a handful of people could come. For the first time there wasn't a separate "kids" table. We all shared a big table and ate together. Granted, there were tons leftover pig and food, but who can complain? I love eating leftovers the next day!

I was also anticipating the Olympics Ceremony. Mainly for the We Are the World for Haiti premier. But just as the first chorus came with Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson in view, the TV blacked out! DARN SNOW! I missed the entire premier! I just youtubed it and finally saw the whole thing. I LOVE THIS VIDEO. I've always loved the song. It gives me goosebumps every time!



And lastly, Valentine's Day was yesterday. Philip and I are broke as ever so we didn't plan anything extravagant. However, he did get me simple ring as a gift. I was talking to Becca and she asked what he got me and I mentioned "a ring" and that's it. She then went on Facebook to joke and added a "CONGRATS!" asking me to post pictures of it and that's why my Facebook wall is now covered with "Congratulations on your engagement!" comments.... hahaha. Philip and I didn't make any reservations and we wanted Italian. Maggiano's was booked so I decided on Olive Garden just because Phil's never been. That place was also packed and we noticed a Scalini's across the street. That name sounded familiar so I figured it was good, so we went there. As I walked in I saw a bunch of baby pictures and I realized I heard of that restaurant from my sister who we pregnant at the time. Supposedly if you eat their eggplant parmesan (and due for delivery), they promise you'll deliver within 24 hours and if not, you'll get your next meal for free. I guess that's all they're famous for because their food certainly was not good! I was really disapointed, but at least their hospitality was exceptional. I wouldn't go there again, but I have to say at least I had a great Valentine's Day dinner.

Now I'm actually free out of my mind! No more stress!!!

Snow

The biggest SNOW DAY of the year was this weekend! Friday there was snow everywhere. I hadn't seen so much show since the Blizzard of '93!



A deer came through my yard!



However, it was short-lived. The next morning the sun quickly melted everything away. Bye bye, snow

T-Shirt War (pretty neat!)

Stop Motion T-Shirt War - Watch more Funny Videos

An hour of digging...

BRRR it's cold! While people in the colder states are shoveling out the snow, for an hour I dug out dirt! ...... virtually!!

I got an email from a guy working in the MaRC building at Georgia Tech. He needed volunteers to test out his joysticks and controllers for virtual digging for video games. For an hour, he gave $20. I went ahead and signed up just for the heck of it. It was pretty fun! It was my first time in the MaRC building and it looked pretty cool. First thing I thought was how colorful it was. It was like a Lego factory haha. Anyway, now I'm $20 richer. I can go order a pizza!

New News! (is that redundant?)

I got an email from St. George for an interview! Right at the peak patience... I got that unexpected email. I'm still expecting the decision from Ross this week, as my interviewer promised. I'm just crossing my fingers for some security, gosh. But that's great news. I'm going to pursue that interview and see how things go.

Gmail now has Buzz (go Tech!) like Twitter?? I never really got into Twitter, but I found myself just reading people's statuses about the new Google Buzz all day. Maybe I'll start writing random statuses?

I was babysitting Ralph today with the TV on in the living room and suddenly heard my voice. I looked up and saw my commercial! Hahaha that was my first time actually seeing it on TV! I laughed for some reason, like it was so cool haha. I'm surprised they're still showing it! I thought I only had the month of January. Cuz it's February now and I saw another API commercial with another girl. They probably accidentally aired me just so I could have the chance to catch myself on TV =)

Superbowl Sunday

Great game for those who are fans of the Saints! I personally wanted the Colts to win so I was sad to see the Saints get that last touchdown. Oh well, I did enjoy the commercials though. I'm gonna go buy myself a buncha Doritos and Bud Lights tomorrrow.

I had a tennis match today. Once again I played with Bob for mixed doubles. Our male opponent served a really fast serve on my return and I don't know what happened but I ended up hitting my face with my raquet really hard. I now have a semi-black eye and a gash where my right eyebrow is. It stung, got better, but still kinda hurts. I hope it won't leave a scar! But it's a battle wound right?! We won! First set was scary, but we won 7-5. Second set we easily won 6-2. Overall, 4 out of our 5 lines won, which is good. But the Nguyens are extremely competitive so not winning all 5 can bring us slightly down. One more game left in the season and we're hoping to make it to play offs!

Watched the Superbowl at home and was able to get a hold of my dad's nice (by nice I mean those Nikon slr thingies) camera and take some pictures of Nala! Every time I take pictures with my own camera, her eyes turn red. Anyway, I took the funniest picture....


SHE BLINKED!


Phil calls her "Princess Nala"


She was so cute waiting at the door


Had so much fun chasing tennis balls all day that she slept during the Superbowl

Enjoying my Saturday night

I've been watching the Dexter season dvds all week. I just finished season 1 and am now starting season 2. Awesome show in it's gruesome way, I love it! And at the same time I'm enjoying a smoothie too. I LOVE SMOOTHIES. My parents, sister, and Bob are at a wedding right now. I'm just at home relaxing like no other. Ah, life is goooda.

I babysat, Ralph, today too. I fed him some mushed up broccoli and sweet potato and he ate it all up. What a good boy!

I read on the ValueMD forums for Ross University and one girl who interviewed with the same man I had said that he said,"a delay is good".... so I'm gonna count on that! (Being too optimistic?)

I have a tennis match tomorrow that I'm excited for. It's Superbowl Sunday too (Go Colts!), so we're grilling out at the game. Can't wait to eat a slab of BBQ ribs, bratwurst, turkey dogs, and potato salad!

Ross

Email reply from my interviewer:

Hi - the cte has you on hold....I received word that we should have a decision late next week.

Sorry for the delay...hang in!

COME ON, ROSS. Get back to me! It's taking forever.... sigh.

Integrity

"Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching."

Now that I have a dog, I carry the responsibilities that any dog owner should do: clean up after your dog! At my apartment, I'd have to say that a lot of dog owners do a really poor job of this. Every time I take Nala out, I get disgusted by all the droppings from other dogs that weren't picked up by their owners. I still use the trash bags from the pet stations that the complex conveniently puts out for us. I still clean up after my dog, but no one will ever know... Every time someone sees me with the dog, they can easily think, "Ugh, she's one of them dog owners that don't clean up their dog's mess!"

This morning I took Nala out on the top deck to let her loose and play around. Another guy was there with his great dane and we let the two dogs play together. He introduced himself and it was fun to have the two dogs play. After a while, Nala needed to go and I immediately took her downstairs to the area to go. When I came back up with Nala, the other guy and his dog already left. However, there was something new that wasn't there before! That's right, a huge pile of.... CRAP. That really pissed me off.

Later on another residential couple drove up and noticed me and my dog. When they got out of their car, they noticed the dropping and I could tell they were severely pissed. I was pissed because they probably thought it belonged to my dog. I was standing afar, but I noticed they even took a picture of that pile, so I knew they'd tell management. Moments later, the complex management came up. I saw them walking towards me and that made me even more scared/pissed that I'd get in trouble for something I didn't do.

AMAZINGLY enough, instead management asked, "Do you know who it was with the dog before you came up?" I was surprised they didn't accuse me first. I told them the name the guy had introduced to me earlier and told them the story and that it was definitely his dog. They believed me and we talked about the problem with many residents not cleaning up after their dog. They assured me that they're working on it. I was just surprised that they weren't accusing me of anything!

So today I learned the importance of integrity. I'll never understand why I wasn't accused when I was the only one with the dog up there (seemingly obvious that it'd be my fault), but I'll still continue doing the right thing.

That's it for now. I'm really enjoying my dog. It's been so fun teaching her so many tricks! So far it's Sit, Lay Down, Roll Over, Up, Paw, and Go Home. My favorite is Bang Bang! and she plays dead, because it's the cutest one. I'll show it all in a video someday!

Edit: Okay, Angela just told me they probably had surveillance cameras and that's how they knew it wasn't me. Makes sense! Well then all this integrity talk, my butt! They already knew! Haha just kidding, integrity is still a very good thing, yes.

I'm sick :(

Welp, I'm finally sick. I hadn't felt sick in a while, but stupid me played tennis in a t-shirt tonight. Well I had a hoodie on, but then it got hot, so I took it off, but then it quickly got cold again. I dunno, after hours of practicing, I'm finally back inside and warm..... but sniffling like I've never snuffed before. My nose is running... and my voice sounds cloggy.

So I didn't share the full story, but long spontaneous story short (very short) --- Philip and I got a doggie! I posted a quick video of her below. We named her Nala and she's a 7 month old Golden Retriever/Chow Chow mix. She definitely still has that puppiness in her and so far she's been such a joy! And that's cuz she hasn't had any accidents (knock on wood)!!! "Good Girl!" <-- I must've said that at least 1000 times in the past week. I've never owned a dog before so this is definitely something new. I'm not sure what to expect but I can say it's been a lot better than I ever imagined! I LOVE MY NALA <3


(recently spayed. she's so goofy with the elizabethan collar that we may just leave it on for the heck of it)

Introducing.... Nala!

7 months old

API commercial!

I almost forgot to share! It wasn't until last night when some friends told me they saw me on TV did I remember! About a month ago, I was filmed to be in this 30 second commercial about an API (American Professional Institute) college. I was at my mom's shop working for her one day, when one of the customers, who happened to be in advertising, asked if I'd be interested in shooting a commercial. OF COURSE, why not?

It was a neat experience. I went to the CW network and it took about 7 takes before they were satisfied with mah acting skillz.... and speed haha. It was mainly the speed I kept messing up on; I went way too fast. Anyway, I've never caught it on TV before, but last night I found out it was on Fox 5 around 1:40am. Cool!




And on to other news, I got accepted into my very first medical school today. Medical University of the Americas (MUA). haha yayy I have a future now! It's not really big news though, because I'm really waiting on the decision from Ross University that I interviewed with a month ago. I didn't even meet up for an interview with MUA. Instead they called me bright an early in the morning informing me that they'd be giving me a call later that day (1pm). I waiting around with all my MUA documents open on my computer ready for the phone interview. After about 30 minutes, I was granted admission. So I was finally able to say for the first time, "I've been accepted into medical school!" .... something I couldn't wait to someday say. =)

I had a very wonderful and loving Christmas and New Year. Happy 2010! Now I can't wait for the Vietnamese New Year. It'll be the year of the Tiger...last time I was 12 years old. This year I'll be turning 24!!!