Man, this year has been a busy year for me....like with lil vacations here and there.  I'm not even sure where it all began.  I guess it just feels like a long summer (not a bad thing though!).

I suppose it began with my uncle and his family coming down and visiting us from France.  He came for like a month and stayed with us for about 2 - 3 weeks.  I spent time with them...we took them to Vegas July 7 - July 10.  Then 2 weeks later (July 24 - Aug 6), I flew with my sister to MN for our 25 year family reunion.  It was a blast.  I really had a fun time.  On one of the days, all of the kids went bowling and afterwards we had ICE CREAM!!!!  Another time was when we were doing our family karaoke-ing. HAhahaHAH OH was that fun and funny!  Anyways, too many stories to tell about that trip.  I'll leave that for another time.  So about a month later...my auntie No and my cousin Jenny come and visit us.  We rented a van and drove up north to the SF area (Sept 16-18).  We drove up Sept 16th...went to Nappa Valley on the 17th....and did SF on the 18 and head back to southern CA afterwards.  heh After coming back from SF area, we drove to vegas.  hah  By this time, I was kinda sick of Vegas now.  We stayed at Aladdin.  Drove up on Sept. 19th and came back on the 21st (Sept 19 - Sept 21).  Two weeks later, I go on this Houseboat Trip to Lake Mead (near the Vegas area) (Oct 7 - Oct 10).  It was alright.  It was my first houseboat vacation and I'm glad I got the chance to experience it but I would have to say that I had more fun at the reunion.  heh =) 

Yesterday I was in the car with my sister and she tells me about how she needs a costume for this costume party or whatever.  So…I was giving her all these ideas and she kept on turning them down.  Anyway, so I had another idea!  I said “hey you can just dress all brown!  And when people ask what you are, just tell them, ‘I'M A PIECE OF SHIT!’” haha I just started laughing after that and told her that that was the best idea I’ve had so far! 

I went to mammoth last weekend (Oct 15 - Oct 17).  We left Friday morning and got back Sunday evening.  The snow was alright on Saturday with Packed Powder and GREAT on Sunday with Fresh Powder, so when I fell, it didn’t hurt as much (or as much as it could’ve)  =).  Although it was my second time snowboarding, I consider it to be my first time because the first time was at Mountain High and the snow there was AWFUL, so it doesn't count because all I remember from that experience was that, I was really scared to fall because the snow was man-made and icy-like.

On Saturday, my sister and her friend Solange went with me on the bunny slopes and the second time down, I made them leave me because I didn’t want to spoil their fun.  So they left, and as I was nearing the end of the slope, I decided to find a nice place to sit and bum around.  Haha  So I was sitting there observing the people and soon enough I spotted my sister.  She came to check up on me and asked me what I was doing the whole time.  I told her that I was just sitting there because I didn’t want to go on the lift all by myself.  She then forces me to get up and we went on the slopes again.  The whole time my sister is trying to teach me how to snowboard and the funny thing is that, SHE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO SNOWBOARD HERSELF!  Haha She’s a skier but yet here she is trying to teach me how to snowboard.  Anyway, so my sister says to me, “see…look at her and do what she’s doing.”  This lady that was on the slopes with us is also a beginner but she’s better than me and tried to teach me a few things.  I thought she was kind of pretty and her bf wasn’t bad looking either.  I was telling my sister in Cambodian that I was surprised because she was nice and not arrogant.  I don’t know if I learned anything from that lady but it was nice that we ran into her because we learned that we paid too much for me to snowboard that day.  I was a beginner and so I was only going to snowboard on the bunny slopes and for that the lift tickets would only cost $25 but we had paid $50 or more.  I hate being ripped off!  I suppose that’s one of my pet peeves. 

When Sunday came, I returned the board and boots that I rented and now I’m wondering if I got ripped off again.  I rented the board and boots on Saturday and mammoth has this thing where you can keep your stuff for the next day.  So anyway, on Sunday when I returned them, they charged me $60.  Now, I’m not sure if that’s for 2 days or for 1 day.  If it was for 1 day then I got ripped off.  Grrrrr  It better have been for 2 days.

For those who know me, they know that I’m this chapstick girl.  My sister thinks that I’m addicted to chapstick and who knows, maybe I am.  Anyhow, on Sunday I had the carmex type of chapstick in my pocket.  I was going to move it and place it elsewhere but I forgot.  hehe  So when I got back home Sunday evening, I noticed this round bruise.  haha  I call it my temporary round tattoo. 

SUMMARY of what I did today:

I went to Lynn's house today.  Lynn, Jerry and I played MJ and then Rosa came ove and Lynn, Rosa and I took a walk around the block with her dog.  Later that night, we watched "Man on Fire".  After we finished watching the movie, the four of us played "Clue."  haha It's actually not such a bad game.

I think I want to start writing my thoughts and feelings using xanga.  I never really cared much about xanga but today my sister kinda annoyed me and I felt like writing it down (or in this case...typing it).  I never really thought it was a good idea to post things up on xanga ...heh...mainly cuz I was like 'paranoid' of things linking back to my family members or watever but....ya know.. haha I was stupid then.  I've come to a realization that I dont necessarily have to talk or write about what I did that day.

Anyway, so I was saying...  my sister annoyed me today.  I had picked her up from the airport and we were driving home and she tells me something.  So I'm listening but then I kinda repeated what she said but into a yes/no question.  She then gives me attitude and says, "Annie what did I just say?"  And now I get annoyed and said, "what?! I'm just asking you a question."  Then I explain to her how she's annoying because there are times when I have to repeat myself like 3 times, and these are times of when she actually wants to listen to me (can you imagine how it is when she doesnt want to listen to what I have to say?!).  So anyway, I say to her, " I'm just trying to confirm what you said, just trying to make sure that I understand what you said.  There are times when I have to repeat myself at least 3 times because you dont get it the first 3 times and in this incident, I've already repeated what you said and all you have to do is say 'yes,'  you dont even have to repeat yourself , ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SAY 'YES,' is that so hard?!?"

OOOh there are 2 other inncidences that I would like to talk about. 

Well, we were driving over to one of her friend's place and I mentioned a way to remember where to turn right, I said, "just remember to turn right after the liquor store."  She then acknowleges that I was right (and I know this for a fact because she thought I was wrong but then we saw the liquor store and YES INDEED we made a right turn after the liquor store).   So anyway, another time occured and she like repeated what I said and says something like, "Oh just use Cindy's trick by spotting the liquor store so you know when to turn."  OKAY at this point I'm like, "what?! what are you talking about?  I'm the one that told you that."  And she's like "No you didnt...Cindy told us that."  OMG talking to her is soo annoying sometimes.  I guess thnking about it now makes me think that...she probably wasn't even listening to me that day (what's new, eh?).

Okay another incident prior to the right turn after the liquor store incident:  Well, Yvonne and I had been hosting these 2 bonfires or watever and we marinated chicken n stuff.  Anyway, she had told me about how this one cook or watever liked using ziplock bags when marinating.  So basically, I learned this from YVONNE.  Now, this brings me to talk about how this one day I was marinating pork chops and was using the gallon ziplock bags to store the pork chops in because we were bring the pork chops over to Cindy's place. So anyway my sister says something like, "oh I taught you this huh?"  And I'm like, "uh, no you didn't." *ruth shakes her head and sighs*  So she continues on saying how she learned it from Cindy or how I probably learned it from Cindy or how she probably told me about how Cindy does it or watever.  ERG  It's kinda annoying sometimes.  So anyway, I tell her (with attitude), "uh no, I learned this from Yvonne! and no you did not teach me anything."  And then she's gives me attitude and says, "whatever." 

I dont get it!  Is she confusing me with Cindy or smth?  What's happening here?