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My blog
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My Pretty, Yet Evil Name
Monday, Aug 18, 2008 9:49AM / Standard Entry / Members only
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Lion Dance Marathon
Sunday, Aug 10, 2008 1:58PM / Standard Entry / Wushu / Members only
I was going to watch The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with my mom today, but canceled our date with Jet because I got an email from Marla yesterday about the Self-Help for the Elderly lion dance fundraiser. Originally, we thought it was last Saturday (when we were in Disneyland), but it was actually today. Even though I don't know how to lion dance, I figured I'd still go and maybe help with playing instruments or something. So I went down to the Jackie Chan Senior Center on Geary at 10:30 AM.
Martial arts/lion dance schools volunteered to lion dance to merchants around the city to fundraise money for Self-Help for the Elderly. Kei Lun Martial Arts and SF Wushu offered to help cover the Richmond District. Basically, people from Self-Help would come along and go into the stores and restaurants to ask for donations. If a donation was given, they asked whether they wanted us to dance inside or stay outside and if they wanted firecrackers or not. As I wasn't performing, I was asked to be the liaison between the Self-Help people and the performers, so they told me what each place wanted as we went down the street and I passed that information along to the performers.
One thing that seems to impress the older generation is when you can speak Chinese. Haha. I accidentally busted out some Cantonese at one point because I wasn't sure whether the Self-Help people understood English or not and the face of the Self-Help lady I was talking to lit up. She kept complimenting me and telling the other people how "smart" I am for being able to speak both Chinese and English. Was kinda embarrassing in a way because I'm nowhere near fluent or anything. They just said things that were basic enough for me to understand and respond to. Did make me feel good, too, though, and gave me a little more confidence to speak in Cantonese whenever I could.
The shuttle took us out to my neighborhood first and then back to Geary, where one store generously donated $500. Sifu met up with us when we got to Clement and I offered to play cymbals at this point because I pretty much had the drum beat engrained in my head. We took a break while the Self-Help people met up with the other lion dance group to see how much ground they covered. Turned out that they already finished both sides of the street, so we called it a day. 5 hours of lion dancing for a good cause.
Click here to view some other photos from the lion dances.
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Journey to the Happiest Place on Earth
Tuesday, Aug 5, 2008 10:20AM / Standard Entry / Travel / Members only
With our stomachs happily filled with Jared's omelettes and pancakes, we hit the road around 7:30 AM Friday morning. Kevan and I watched both Mummy movies on Ryan Y.'s portable DVD player. The road wasn't too bad until we reached LA and got stuck in traffic for about two hours. Made it to the hotel around 3:30 PM, where Angie and Cassie were relaxing by the pool. They were originally going to drive, too, but their parents weren't comfortable with the idea and flew them down instead. As their mom booked their flight for 7 AM (!), they killed time by walking around Disneyland while waiting for us.
Once we settled into our rooms, we made our way over to Disney's California Adventure, as there was only half a day left and the park's smaller of the two. It was my first time there, as it didn't exist back then. Was kinda neat seeing mini-replicas of everything, like the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, etc. The first thing we did was go on the Grizzly River Run to cool ourselves off. My shorts ended up getting soaked, so I made the seats of all the other rides we went on wet. Haha. Then around 8 PM, we got ourselves settled to watch the Electrical Parade (which happens right before the park closes at 9 PM). Afterwards, we decided to have dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet across the street before heading back to our hotel to rest up for our long day at Disneyland on Saturday.
Got up around 7 AM Saturday morning, grabbed some breakfast in our hotel, and then caught a shuttle to Disneyland. We headed off to Torrowland first. It pays to start off early because the lines for everything were pretty short. Ryan Y. totally pwn3d me on Buzz Lightyear. I'm glad they changed Space Mountain from the last time I went. I remember it just going around in circles, but now it's similar to the one in Disney World where it makes quick, sharp turns in the dark. Definitely more fun. Ended up getting a headache from Star Tours afterwards, though, as it jerked us around too much, so I opted out of going to Autopia with the boys and went with Angie and Cassie to get fast passes for Indiana Jones. On our way there, we caught Mickey and the band in front of the castle.
Then we went on the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland before heading to the New Orleans Square to go on the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Stopped in Frontierland, but Big Thunder was closed, so we just grabbed lunch at the River Belle Terrace. We still had some time to kill before our time slot on Indiana Jones, so we made our way to Fantasyland and rode on Snow White and Pinocchio. Didn't get to ride on It's a Small World because it's closed for refurbishment. We also attempted to pull the sword out of the stone, but failed. After going on Indiana Jones, we went to get fast passes for Splash Mountain and did a little shopping before catching a shuttle back to our hotel to rest up a bit (our bodies just don't have the same amount of energy anymore).
After our refreshing naps, we were ready to continue the second half of our day. We decided to head back over to California Adventure first, as we wanted to try out the new Toy Story ride which opened a couple months ago. The line looked a little too long, so we hopped on the Sun Wheel first. Unlike a regular ferris wheel, the gondolas can swing, so it was kinda scary at times when we were leaning forward. While atop of the wheel, we noticed the line for Toy Story had shrunk a bit, so we decided to go for it and it was well worth the wait. It's similar to Buzz Lightyear where you shoot targets, except you wear 3D glasses and play different carnival games. And the effects are really neat. Like if a balloon blows up, you'll feel the wind in your face. Definitely my favorite ride now.
It was then back over to Disneyland, as it was almost time for us to go on Splash Mountain. We had a little time to spare, so we went on Winnie the Pooh right next to it. Note to self: never sit in front of the log again, especially at night. I was the only one who got completely soaked, while everyone else just got a little splash. We went by height (and us girls stole the 3D glasses from the Toy Story ride) for the picture, though. Then we settled ourselves down by the castle to watch the fireworks, but unfortunately, it ended up being cancelled due to "high winds and elevation." That really sucked. So we just went on the Matterhorn and Angie, Kevan, Ryan A., and Ryan Y. went spinning around on the Mad Tea Party before we headed over to catch Fantasmic!. Before leaving, we did a little shopping on Main Street for souvenirs. Then we caught a shuttle back to our hotel and decided to order pizza and hot wings from some place that advertised in the rooms.
We checked out at noon the next morning and headed to Knott's Berry Farm, as Kevan raved about their chicken, so we had to try it. Man, was it good, but very filling. You get buttermilk biscuits (which were also very good), soup, salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn or cabbage, and dessert with each meal, all for $14.90. And the pieces of chicken they gave were huge. Ryan Y. was the only one who finished his order (he got country fried steak, though). Then we dropped Angie and Cassie back off by Disneyland (their flight wasn't until 8 PM), said our goodbyes, and made our journey back home.
Click here to view all our photos from the trip.
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Weekend Getaway
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2008 12:53PM / Standard Entry / Travel / Members only
T-minus 3 days! Pretty excited, as I haven't been to Disneyland since middle school, which was more than a decade ago. It will be a fun way to celebrate Ryan Au's 18th birthday, too (he's actually never been there before). We feel a little guilty because Sifu told us at practice on Sunday that we were asked to lion dance this Saturday in the Richmond District to fundraise money for Jackie Chan's Self Help for the Elderly Center. Hopefully, they'll find enough people to help out. Good thing we didn't head out there today, though. Otherwise, we would have been caught in the earthquake.
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Field Trip Photo Activity Exercise
Thursday, Jul 24, 2008 3:45PM / Standard Entry / AliveNotDead / Members only
JoanneSanderson blogged awhile back about a little amusement house at the pier where she lives and Jane had never been to ours before, so I took her on a field trip yesterday to visit the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45 in Fisherman's Wharf. I've been there a couple times before, but it was a lot of fun getting to play the machines with someone else. We, of course, had to try out the two bowling ones they had.See through
I nearly lost my arm trying to arm wrestle a machine. There were supposedly different levels and I chose the intermediate one first, but couldn't bug the darn thing, so I picked the easiest one next and it felt exactly the same! All our time spent on Mario Kart paid off when we raced on Cruisin' USA. Jane won on our first try (you get a free game if you come in first), I won the second, but we lost the third, where we raced in Hong Kong.
Then we headed off to the Pier 39 for clam chowder and walked around for a bit. Watched some boys breakdance on our way there. As I know Jane hasn't been doing her exercises on Wii Fit, I made sure she got a good workout by taking her to Coit Tower. She had never been there before either and the sun was finally out again, so up the hill and stairs we went. I was getting a good workout, too, but it wasn't as bad as the last time I went.
Circle: One of the three basic shapes
Afterwards, we took the F-line down to the Ferry Building, grabbed some gelato (yum!), and made our way downtown. It was in the bathroom of Nordstrom where we decided that I should try and do the rest of the recent photo activity she gave us. Haha. People were probably wondering why the heck we were taking pictures of the mirror in there, but hey, it made for a cool reflection. So around the mall we went looking for the other items.
Reflection and shiny/sparkly
The thing we found frustrating was not being able to capture things as we see them, especially with things that sparkled or shined. What surprised us was how hard it was to find something with texture. We were so determined that we even went up and down Macy's looking and before we knew it, it was a quarter before 6, so we had to call it a day (I was quite tired anyway), meaning that I had to finish this up at home.
Words, numbers, texture, and favorite clothing
