New Year/Winter Break

Wow. I did not realize I haven't been blogging since November.. :< That's quite a long time.

Well, school's starting tomorrow. Ew. I've spent my entire Winter Break relaxing, playing games, visiting family.. I have yet to catch up with my school work, but I'm blogging here to pass the time. Hmm.. I finally managed to complete my Scholarship Application for YFU, or well, almost complete. The only thing I need is 8 2x2 prints of my picture, and I"ll be doing that tomorrow at Costco. And then on Tuesday, January 6, I'll be sending it in! It's the last day to send in applications and I'm totally cutting it close..

Yeah, every time I think about myself in Japan.. I get so excited! I mean.. I know I haven't even gotten an acceptance letter, but it's so hard to keep myself from fantasizing. Studying abroad in Japan is something I've always dreamed of, if I do get this chance, it'll be spectacular! I don't know about my essays though.. it's quite hard to write these essays because I want to make it sound good, but I also want to make it professional at the same time.. It's really hard, but I tried taking a first person p.o.v. Anyways, I'm pretty sure you're getting sick and tired of me rant about YFU and applications and such.

Ah yes. Winter Break. On Christmas, my mom, dad, brother, sister, and I packed the car around eight 'o clock, and around nine, my uncle arrived at our house. From there, we drove for seven hours, all the way down to LA. The night before I had stayed up, so during the ride, I slept like a baby. It was so great to sleep through an entire ride. The car gets pretty boring.. So yeah, I woke up at our last rest stop and after that, I dozed in and out. By the time I woke up, we were parking into a space for our inn, and my uncle was checking in.

That night, we went to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant named Cali. It was really yummy, and tasted like home-cooking. After that, we drove to this really nice church, I only remember "Trinity Broadcasting C..." Something like that. But MAN. They decorated for Christmas! It was like a park that was brightly lit, with all these lights, and even the palm trees had lights on them! It was gorgeous.. Then after THAT, we drove around some neighborhoods. They were decorated well, too. I especially enjoyed one that had a large snow globe on the front lawn. It was plastic and pumped with air, but still, it looked really nice! We went back to the inn after that and slept.

The next day was Disneyland. We arrived around ten-ish, and after that, we headed to Tomorrowland. This day was really long and at one point, we waited in line for 2 hours for the Indiana Jones ride. I also remember the Christmas Parade. I didn't get a good view because there were too many tall people in front of me.. So yeah, around nine thirty, a fireworks show was scheduled. There was a chance the fireworks could be canceled because of the bad wind conditions, but by the scheduled time (9:30) the music started up, and bright bulbs of gunpowder exploded in the air. It was beautiful!

They stopped halfway.

I remember at this point, it was completely freezing and I was shaking as my eyes wandered above Sleeping Beauty's castle watching the spectacular show. During the halfway point, they announced that "due to weather conditions, the show cannot continue." Everyone was disappointed..

We went back to the inn after that.

Saturday we went to my cousin's house in San Diego to see my new niece. She was about 2 weeks old, and she was tiny! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her! She was so fragile and.. Well, the only word I can think of is precious. It had been a long time since I had seen my cousin's and Thuon's wife because a couple of years back, they lived in Texas, and I had never seen them before. It was really gratifying to be able to get to know my cousin's better.

Jonathon plays guitar and is a DJ. Chi Hai (that's what everybody calls her) bakes the most delicious cakes you'll ever taste. That night we had pho for dinner, and I also showed Jonathon my violin. It was a really fun day, just getting to know a part of my family that I wasn't familiar with. I also taught Chi Hai how to knit! I was knitting a scarf for my friend during Winter Break, so during the car rides I would knit, but I was bored, so I brought it in to watch tv and knit at the same time. After we said our good byes we headed back towards the inn. Sunday we packed up and left around eleven o'clock in the morning. I stayed awake most of the ride..

I was glad to be home.

My cousin from Stockton was down in San Jose for New Years so she came over and we went to the mall. I managed to buy a shirt and a long sleeved shirt too! The day after that, I went to my cousin's house to greet the new year. It wasn't very exciting, but we did celebrate my grandma's (My dad's mom) eighty-seventh birthday. This year, we didn't miss the countdown. I got a lot of calls from my friends, but one of my friends, Kevin, asked me about my New Year's Resolution. I realized I hadn't made any.

So, after countless hours of thinking about it, (No, not really. I'm just making these up on the spot.) I present to you, my New Year's Resolution!

- Study harder, that means less procrastination, less fooling around, and more concentration!
- Learn more Kanji! If I won a scholarship, that would mean I would have an easier time in Japan.
- Finish some more outfits for Cosplay. I haven't been motivated to sew lately.. But, school comes first, so I guess I won't be finishing any outfits..
- Lose 10 lbs. Then again, who doesn't want to lose weight? Does this really count as a resolution?

That's.. about it. I really don't have any other realistic resolutions..


New Year's Day I went out with my friend Robert to eat sushi with him and his friends. It was a group of seven including myself, and we just had a really fun time eating and talking, even though I had only met six of them the same day. Robert's friends were very nice and friendly, and I hit it off with the girls really fast, and we began to talk about a lot of things, such as school, and private schools, and what not.

After eating and paying, Robert, Ben, Alex, and I went to Alex's house (Robert was my ride that evening) and we played pool. I learned that I wasn't a total failure at pool. I actually beat everyone at Cutthroat, which was a stroke of luck, in my opinion! After that, we played Texas Hold 'em and by ten-thirty Robert drove Ben and I home. It was a lot of fun!

After January first, I tackled my Scholarship application and all I need to do is print pictures now.. I need to finish my English 3AP homework.. but since no procrastination is one of my resolutions, I should start on it. Soon. Before the end of the semester preferably. Oh yes. Lets not forget the Calculus and AP English Final. Yeah.. that'll be swell..

Anyways. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a happy new year! I'll be stuck here doing homework for the rest of the year.. or until I get a letter from YFU in April. And proceed to hyperventilate from the results. Either I won or I didn't.. doesn't matter.. it'll get the same reaction out of me either way. 'Till next time.