Saturday night was *deep breath* Baylor University’s Vietnamese Student Association’s Tet Trung Thu Banquet!  We’ll just say Baylor VSA T3 for short!  =)  So, before I get to the actual event, let me give you the low down on what happened before.

So I’m driving down that stretch of road that pasts through that small empty town and the ghost town right?  I am like 10 minutes away from Waco and a damn (excuse my language) state trooper was hiding behind a giant bush.  That was the sneakiest cop ever.  Most of the times, you can easily tell where they’re at way before you reach them (even though it might be too late).  This guy, I didn’t even see his car since he parked it way behind the trees.  I just saw him standing besides a huge tree with a radar gun when I past him up.  Then he started running back to his car.  Dude, if I had just sped up right there, he would have never caught up to me.  I drove for another mile or three before he even caught up.  Gawd…

So he comes up and says he clocked me at 91MPH!  WTH?!  I was NOT doing 91!  I’m being serious by the way.  I was going 83-84, 85 MAX!  (Yes, it’s still over the speed limit of 70, but that’s not the point…)  So that dude goes on to explain these crap to me saying, “You know most accidents happen when you’re speeding?”  Dude, don’t try to school me!!!  I just took a defensive driving course (for other stupid reasons) and I KNOW that most accidents happen during speeding, BUT it’s at NIGHT and with ALCOHOL!  So that stupid punk tried a red-herring argument (is that the right term?) on me!!!  So anyway, I get the freaking ticket.  Now, fast forward 2 days to today where I just realized that speeding tickets are fined depending on speed.  For speeding 11-20MPH over the limit, it’s around $200.  Now, if you speed 21+MPH, add another $100.  HOLD ON PUNNNKKKKK!  If I do my math correctly, my alleged 91MPH – the speed limit of 70MPH is… 21!!!  WTF!!!  And I KNOW… I KNOWWW I was not doing 91!  To make things even MORE worse, traffic condition goes into play also!  It was around 3PM Saturday and there was NO traffic on the road.  I was the ONLY car on the road and during the time I was pulled over, only 1 or 2 other cars passed by.  He put down on the report that it was MEDIUM TRAFFIC!  MEDIUM TRAFFIC MY ASSETS!  DAMN ________ TRYING SQEEZE EVERY PENNY THEY CAN GET!  I mean, I’ll take the dang ticket, just ticket me my CORRECT violation!  If only we could fight it (my gps constantly records my speed).

Okay, *deep breath again* SOOO on to the VSA Banquet.  Well… let’s just say someone made me forget about all that and so I had a great time!  Pictures can tell the story itself so ENJOY!

ONE!  Heheh =)

Eight days.  Yep!  No freakin power for eight freain days after the Hurricane Ike hit Houston!  So yea, this post is dedicated to everyone out there who found something to do with their lives for the past couple days and of course to those who still gotta figure out what to do until Centerpoint fixes everything.

But hey, GOOD FREAKING JOB CENTERPOINT!  You guys are awesome!  (I am really really happy, not being sarcastic btw)

WooT!

Only sad part — I’ve lost 1 fish (pretty expensive one too) and 2 others are kinda struggling.  =(

Right now it is 11:00AM and I am sitting on 8th floor of the M.D. Anderson Library overlooking Melcher Hall.  University of Houston has resumed classes, having only one official off day yesterday on Monday.  However, many of the professors have decided to cancel classes anyway, so I am basically just sitting here using my laptop for the first time since the storm hit.

My neighborhood is still powerless as of today.  It went out around 3:00AM Saturday during the storm.  Saturday night and Sunday was pretty hot.  No A/C kinda really sucks.  Sunday night, we had a cold front so that was pretty nice.  Besides the A/C being off, the only other electrical need would probably be for my fish tanks which are currently running on one battery powered pump shared between the 4 tanks.

As for damages, my house was a bit lucky.  The backyard is destroyed but compared to others’, I think we actually received the better half of the wrath.  The back fence (which is a 12 footer, not the normal 8ft ones) collapsed due to the back neighbor’s tree coming down and hitting our patio.  The roof is missing a couple tiles (not sure what they’re called) and therefore caused some water leaks on one side of the house.

Well, enough talk since you guys probably have your own experiences with the storm, so here are some pictures that I managed to take.

Some crazy looking baby animal in dug out hole next the the garden bricks.  That thing looks nasssty!  It has no fur and was just wiggling around.  We left it there, but the next day, it disappeared.  I know theres a squirrel nest in the tree, and the squirrel was rebuilding it, so this golum looking thing might be a squirrel…

Being a woman really has its kicks.  Today, I went over to my nephew’s school to teach them how to lion dance for their upcoming world culture fair and talent show.  The kids were pretty cool.  One of them seem to know a lot about the difference between dragon dancing and lion dancing.

Around 5:00PM, their mom (my cousin), took them to their martial arts class and pulled me along to get a feet massage.  LOL!  So yea, once we arrived, I went in…and it was like dark and super quiet with soothing music playing.  I was giggling inside.  =)  So yea, I sat down on the comfy seat and they had this hot hot water thing to put my feet in.  I had no clue what was going to happen or what to do, so i just closed my eyes and tried to relax away…though I was very curious about what was going to happen.  Then, oh my gosh…the masseuse guy touched me… LOL!  Slowly he began working on my head!  WTH?!  He did some point pressure thing-a-ma-bob on my scalp and worked his way down to the shoulders, and arms, and fingers.  How awesome!

Then, he worked on the feet, to the calves, to the joints, and popped all the little toes.  I was trying so hard not to giggle out loud.  So after about 30  minutes of that, we moved to those little chairs that you sit with your face flat on a pad (kind of like what you see in the mall with those Asian massage guys).  Duuude, this was awesome.  He did some pressure point on my neck!  It hurt, but at the same time was totally awesome!  Again, he did every part of the body; he went from the scalp again down to back, then did my arm joints, which at first scared me since my arm pops out easily, but it felt great!  What was cool was that he also did my buttocks!!!  How crazy is that?!  LOL, a guy was touching and poking and rubbing and elbowing my butt…and I liked it!  More!  MORE!  OH YEAAA!  =)

Anyway, so yea, I think that whole session lasted about 45 minutes to an hour… Or maybe it just felt so great that it seemed that long.  Whatever the case, I’m totally hooked.  Expect me to come back every month or so!

…I’m in ecstasy!

My new glasses finally came in! Well, it wasn’t the glasses that took too long, but rather the contacts. Somehow, one contacts set came in later than the first set. Why is that? Shouldn’t the company make both sets for the same person at the same time? Weird…

Yea, so I was walking to class today and being the loner I am, I was looking at the floor. I noticed something horrific! Well, not really horrific, but since now I can see much clearer (my old glasses were coming up on 3 years now), I can definitely see the ground and exactly how far away it was…and it seemed as if the ground was closer, wayyy closer. That means I’m either shrinking, or I’m FREAKIN SHORT! Haha, I wish I had my old glasses back. Those didn’t give me correct vision so the ground looked further away and so made me think I was taller than what I actually am. /sigh

A down-side to these new glasses is that my peripheral vision is gone! The thick frame blocks my side view! This morning, I woke up early and told my mom about it and showed her the glasses. Then, I went back up to get ready for school. She decided to test out my “vision lost”. So, she walked quietly, but not sneakily, straight up to me from the side and poked me. WHOA! That totally scared me! This has got to be the first time in my entire life that she scared me somehow! =)

But yea, today I was supposed to go to America’s Best Dance Crew 2nd Season After Party at the Scene Lounge with friends, but things came up so had to cancel that plan… =( Would have been pretty cool to see teams battle it out… Oh, and it was sponsored by SCION of course!!!

Anyway, Long sent me a link to this pretty cool video. Check it out.  It’s some guy (or girl) starting a drawing off in a way that looks like something obscene, but then continues the drawing into cool characters or animals.  I suggest only mature people watch the video…

So my mom just came back from visiting my cousin and his newborn baby in Louisiana. I was supposed to go, but made a last minute decision not to due to some “secret” thing I’m planning. Had to stay back and take care of that.

Anyway, my mom was talking to me earlier. She was telling me about my niece, Megan, who’s only four years and lives in California with her parents. Her mom enrolled her in a swimming class (not sure how long ago) and she recently had a swimming competition. Awww, how cute huh? Little kids trying to survive and not drown in the water…great stuff! Haha, well I’m not sure what place my niece got, but they gave her a certificate and she was overjoyed! Later that night, she was crying and so my cousin (her dad), came in and checked on her to see what was wrong. She responded, “I won! I’m so happy!”

What a funny child! I can totally see her as one of those beauty pageant winners who start crying right when their name is called… =)

Facebook is pretty awesome. While looking at some of my friends’ listed events, I saw the one for Baskin-Robbins’ $0.31 cent Scoops Night on April 30th! This has got to be one of the best things ever. Ben and Jerry’s also has a similar deal, but theirs is free! However, it makes me feel bad for not having to pay anything at all, cause that means they’re losing full cost and not making any profit. In BR’s case, they may not be making a profit, but at least they won’t be losing full cost. (Actually, it’s just one scoop of ice cream for 31 cents…so I’m pretty sure they ARE making some profit…and with the amount of people who shows up…)

So yea, this reminded me of last year’s event where I took my nephews. I remember it was saved on my broken Razr’s memory card so here they are! The little one pictured in front is Phu (Jason), and the older brother in the back is Phong (Jonathan). This is off topic, but pretty cool: Phong claims he has had 10+ girlfriends. =)

It’s that time of year again. People caroling, kids smiling, couples…groping? Oh, I meant cuddling… Sorry, reality got to me. Couples these days… =) Heheh, anyway, my family threw a Christmas Party once again. This year was just as fun as the ones before. Anh Hieu came back from researching at Harvard or near there. AND he had a surprise too–a GIRLFRIEND! Pretty pretty. Bac Dung’s family once again was the first to show up and at the same exact time as the other years: right at 6:30pm. We were sitting there watching the clock and right when it hit 6:30, the doorbell rang. Weirddd.

Here are some pictures of the family gathering:

Anh Khuong was too lazy to get his food and sit down…instead he just stands there and eats whatever he sees

Presents time! The little nephews standing around in anticipation for…

Santa Clause! It’s a tradition in the family for someone different to be Santa each year

Bac Loc giving away presents and anh Tuan holding up his baby Santa

And lastly, a family portrait!

It’s been awhile since I wrote in here.  My friends made a facebook for me and so I’ve just been logging onto that and messing around.  Plus with school and all, I haven’t really had anytime (besides Warcraft time) to write in here.

Thanksgiving this year was pretty cool.  My niece came over from California.  She’s so tall for only being in pre-k.  Pretty cute little girl!  Supposedly she has a boyfriend named Ramon.  Haha =)  So yea, for Thanksgiving, my relatives and I met at my aunt’s house.  Food was pretty good.  Turkey tasted like ham… I think it was ham!  Played Brain Age with my nephews.  Duy is good!  He’s only in 3rd grade, but after watching me lose a lot, he just took the DS from me and started whooping everyone.  =)

My church’s annual Thanksgiving Festival was a disaster this year.  Rain caused profits to not even match half of what we made last year probably.  Saturday night was completely empty.  We lion danced for the church again.  It was requested last minute and so performance was nothing comparable to what our normal ones would be like.  I helped out at the Vovinam Booth most of the times.  Making cotton candy was pretty fun!  I wanna get a machine myself now…

Black Friday I went to Best Buy when it opened to grab myself some 100pack dvds and a flash drive.  Then met up with my cousin to go to Office Depot, Toys-R-Us, and Willowbrook Mall.  Got nothing there.  Came home around 9Am then took my sister’s car out to dealership to get an oil change.  After that, along the way home, decided to drop by Lowe’s to buy one of those cool MagLite flashlights!  That’s probably the best item I got this Black Friday!  Haha =)  Serious!  It’s Awesome!

Anyway, Finals are coming up really soon.  I’m already done with my Bio Lab and Art History.  After finals tomorrow for Physics Lab, I’ll only have Bio Lecture, Physics Lecture, and Philosophy to finish.

Can’t wait until this weekend though!  Why?  CRUISE BABY!

Fort Lauderdale, Florida | Miami, Florida | Key West, Florida | Cococay, Bahamas | Nassau, Bahamas

WOOT WOOT!

What more can I say? On to the college life…damn… =)

Graduated Cum Laude under Distinguished plan with 6 cords and NHS collar

Crystal

Jonathan

Madeline, Linh, and my sister

anh Lang, anh Dang, and my sister again

My dad, mom, bac Nguyet, crystal, her mom, and her dad

anh Nam holding anh Hung’s kid! I think thats Trang’s head… =)