Random Brain Dump

This past weekend I drove the girls to Palo Alto for them to check out some roaming horses on this open pasture. The girls got to feed and pet a few horses, they always enjoy that. I got to snap a few shots, and I enjoyed that.

I spent more time this weekend on basketball than normal. I started playing hoops again after about 6 months hiatus thanks to bum knee & shoulder. I’m convinced these two long-time injuries will not improve further, so I just strapped on a brace and just went at it. To the injuries added an ankle as I rolled my left ankle going for a steal. Sigh… but at least it’s not too bad and I should be okay for next week. 🙂 The Stanford Recreational center is a great facility with wide & open courts– very enjoyable.

Suzanne took the two girls to Disney on Ice, so I had the Sunday afternoon to myself. So I of spent it in front of the tube catching UCLA & Lakers games. Both were exciting close games and best of all both teams emerged victorious which made my day. A DVR would’ve helped, I had to flip between the channels since the games were aired at the same time. That was a bit annoying!

But, it’s all good…

I came home today to find Allison distraught, yelling at the top of her lungs. I learned that she was arguing with her sister and mis-behaving. After she refused to apologize to her sister as ordered, her mom promptly sent her to her room– she was told not to come out until she calms down. She balked when I offered my help, so I left her alone in her room.

As I walked away, I heard her screams:

Nobody loves me in this family. My sister doesn’t love me. My mommy doesn’t love me and my daddy doesn’t love me. And I don’t like anyone!

What drama princess! And stubborn. Took another 10, 15 minutes for her to calm down. I came in to sooth her and gave her a nice talk; then I carried her out to the family room. Then she did something nothing short of being miraculous; she walked up to her sister, started bawling and apologized (I didn’t even prompt her to apologize) with rivers of tears down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry JeJe (big sister). bah…”

See what I mean about stubbornness? She refused to apologize when ordered and did it only on her own terms. Katelyn gave Allison a big-sisterly embrace, wiped away her sister’s tears– telling Allison that everything is okay. When asked why she is crying, Allison then said:

I cry because it’s very hard for me to say I’m sorry. bahh, bahhh…

Her mom & I looked at each other in total amazement. I mean total shock since we never seen an admission like this from Allison, ever. Suzanne almost cry right then & there. Me? I’m a rock!

bahhh, bahhhh….

Today is a big day for our family. It’s our Katelyn’s birthday– she turns 6. Naturally, she’s very excited. Last night, we took her to a book store to choose a book as a gift for her classroom. And this past weekend she happily went with us getting stuffs ready for her party. We encouraged Katelyn to invite anybody she wants but she indicated that she doesn’t want a big party. So we’re keeping her party small, thank goodness!

Katelyn is doing well in kindergarten; she loves singing, dancing, reading, writing, drawing and coloring. She can do simple addition and subtraction. She’s on the shy side but made two close friends in her class, always telling me things about what she & Alicia or Chaelee do in school. She’s starting to help out with simple chores– she likes rinsing dishes (let’s see how long that’ll last). She’s really into Hello Kitty this year. She likes taking pictures and asked for her own camera, so I got her a pink Kodak digital camera (Valentine’s day makes it easier to buy things pink). Can hardly wait to see her reaction when she opens the present this evening. Looking forward to share with her the hobby of photography. Who knows, we may have a young shutterbug in the making.

Overheard Katelyn to her sister this past weekend that both cracked me up and gave me a jolting reminder:

“I have a purse. I’m a woman now!”

Katelyn is a good girl, I think we’ll keep her… 🙂

Any comments of birthday wishes will be appreciated. I’ll make sure Katelyn gets a chance to read them– I’m sure she will get a kick out of them.

My youngest daughter Allison has a favorite pillow. It’s actually a throw pillow, but it’s made of this super soft material. She doesn’t actually sleep on it, but uses it as a body pillow. She places it on her right side of the bed every night. She really loves the pillow– so much that she’s become very protective of it. Here’s a telling episode…

We let the girls sleep with us on our bed on Saturdays– it’s a treat for them and us! A few times we’d asked Allison if she wants to bring her favorite pillow with her to our bed. To our surprise, she always declines. Odd, but whatever… So this past Saturday, Suzanne grabbed Allison’s pillow without asking. Allison objected, but relented since it was late and Suzanne didn’t want to go back and get another pillow.

The next morning, Allison got up. First thing she did was stealthily got off the bed, grabbed her pillow and put it back on her bed before heading out to the living room. Little did she realized that her sly actions were being observed by Suzanne who was already up but been laying still in bed. Curious, Suzanne asked Allison later that morning why she took her pillow back rather than just leaving it behind (she’s not the tidy type)– to which Allison replied that she didn’t want her mom to starts liking her pillow and then keeps it.

Unbelievable! So it all made sense to us now, all this time she didn’t want to take her pillow into our bedroom on Saturday nights because she didn’t want to risk the chance that we decide to keep it after we “discover” how soft the pillow is. 🙂 It’s so funny how a 4 year-old can get so paranoid & protective of their things.

Too funny… 🙂

There once was a rabbit named Miguel. His curiousness always got him in trouble. One day he smelled an unbearable essence of fresh dandelion, lettuce, and pieces of mint all smothered in acorn sauce. Miguel couldn’t take it, and ran as fast as his feeble legs could carry him to the direction of the smell. But once he got there he fell down a six foot pit, full of darkness. His scream was so loud it could shatter a human’s glass window. A wolf came up and said “Ooh, a nice plump one, I usually get skinny, bony ones. After that the wolf laughed liked a maniac. Miguel thought “Here is my chance!” He felt the energy pump through his blood and forced it to it feet and leaped! Once he hit the ground he ran home like there was no tomorrow.

When Miguel came home, he was in a sweat. When his mother, Rose, saw him she kept on asking motherly questions like “Where were you Miguel!” and “Oh, are you sick, you’re sweating!” Miguel quickly told his mother about the wolf before she put a spoon of disgusting medicine into his mouth. He shouldn’t have told her about the wolf because her worrying turned into hard, loud sobbing. Then she cried “ You could of ended up like your father!!” This caught him off guard. His mom didn’t usually talk about dad which name was Brian. He died by not paying his side of a bargain with some squirrel gangsters. Miguel pulled himself back into reality. Then he told his crying mother about his plan. She was just about to say it was too dangerous when Miguel said” It’s what father would do.” and gathered his friends into the center of Sherwood, his village.

Miguel told his friends Rocky the badger, Lightning the squirrel, Remy the rabbit, and Tuck the turtle about his brilliant plan or so Miguel said. After Miguel talked Tuck asked “ How are we going to get the fresh meat?” “ We’re going to the Sugarmen house.” This wasn’t suprising to the party of friends. They had been there when they were around six to seven years old. When they were rushing to the huge house Miguel thought “Will this work?”

When they got there , Remy asked if Rocky could open the door. Fortunetly the strong and huge badger opened the door with no difficulty. Lightning looked as cute as possible for a distraction. The others opened the freezer as quietly as they could and took a big piece of lamb chop and the escaped through the window. Lighting had no trouble escaping, he bit the family’s hands and went through the window like his friends.

When they got back to Sherwood they went back to their parents for hot supper and a colossal nap. But when Miguel came home instead of being dead beat he was full of life. He told his mom that they completed most of his plan. They had a celebration with food like roasted lettuce, sizzling corn and some fresh dandelion.

In the morning the four friends woke up very early and dug a immense hole as big as a rhino. They put the huge piece of meat cautiously into the pit. At the wolf’s cave he smelled the meat and exclaimed “ Mmm, smells good!” and took off. Just like Miguel the wolf fell down screeching all the way down. But when he jumped, instead of getting out he fell flat on his behind. Miguel and his friends all thought of a single word,”Yes!!” The friends all told everybody in the village about what had happened. Sherwood would now be safe with joy for now.

The story above was written by my 4th grader nephew Andre. His story is entitled “Miguel’s Adventure!”. I thought he did a super job so I figure I’d post it as a way to show him that I’m proud of him and his work.

Andre must be super proud since he even signed the email with his full name (I didn’t even know his middle name till now). 🙂

Hi Uncle,
Look at this story I wrote all by myself.
What do you think? Good, huh?

Your only nephew,
Andre Alexander Tan

We spent this past Christmas with a big get-together at Tahoe. I mean big: four families! The cozy cabin I got was barely big enough to accommodate all of us. The weather was nice so the kids went out and played snow pretty much every day.

We probably had the most fun spending the afternoon sleighing at a snow park on Echo Summit. We also spend a day at Squaw Valley; the kids went snow-tubing while I snow-boarded with some of my cousins. Snow-boarding this time wasn’t as fun as I remembered– yet another subtle reminder of me getting old! We stopped and checked out Emerald Bay along the way. Too bad we were in haste and only spent a a few minutes snapping pictures; the place was simply breath-taking.

It was a nice break for everyone and it was timely for me after a few stressful weeks on the new job. I especially enjoyed the opportunity just relaxing and snapping some pictures on a snow-covered landscape.

Wishing all of you a merry holiday season…

Last week, I arrived a few minutes early for a business meeting in Palo Alto. So I decided to take a walk to kill time. I got out of my new car and put on a jacket. The jacket felt comfortable and warm. I looked back to admire my new car, noting that it needed a wash.

I took a few deep breaths of the brisk cool morning air and started my walk. The parking lot was covered with fallen leaves– every step I made crackled with crumbling leaves under my feet. The orange sun peered through whatever red leaves were left on the the trees lining up the street. The whole scene seemed burst in orange. Absolutely a beautiful morning and a perfect time for some quick reflection. “Thanksgiving is coming” I reminded myself.

These are many things– big and small– that I am thankful for.

I have a beautiful family that I come home to every evening.

I have a lovely wife whom I love. A wonderful mother to our daughters, she’s forever fun-loving, always encouraging and supportive of me. I just wish she reads my blog. 🙂

I have 2 beautiful girls that I adore. They bring out the kid in me and brighten my everyday. Suzanne mentioned the other day that she felt that it is a privilege to be able to love them. I feel her take couldn’t be more appropriate.

The girls’ new school year is progressing well– they both enjoy their school and are doing well. They are fortunate to be taken care of by my aunt during the work week. I’m relieved of most worries when I leave them to her each morning.

My mom and my sister are in generally good health. We call each other more often now, which is good. I was looking forward to spending Thanksgiving them and my sister’ kids, who are coming up for a holiday visit.

I get to live in beautiful Silicon Valley with its wonderful weather. The Pacific ocean is half an hour away and the Sierra is 4 hours due east. Bustling with high-tech opportunities, it’s definitely the place to be at the moment.

I am able to help provide for my family, making good money doing something I love. Best of all, my work doesn’t prevent me from spending quality time with the family. Weekends had been family time this year.

I am working out regularly and with the exception of a few sport injuries, I am in general good health.

My thoughts turn to a few old friends of mine, who I still keep in touch with on a regular basis.They keep me feel connected and grounded.

After driving the Camry for almost 14 years, I got a new car and for the first time I am really enjoying my ride. And I’ve got a new camera that will serve as a vehicle for my creative outlet for years to come. I will get a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment out of these.

UCLA starts the basketball season with #2 in the polls. I expect a good year from this year’s team.

I felt light in my steps and high in spirits. Just felt happy. Things are good at the moment! Nothing more to wish for… Well, I did only wished I had my camera with me to capture the picture-perfect morning.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody…

I took off a few hours yesterday to attend Allison’s Halloween celebration at her school. She was adorable in her Minnie Mouse costume– yet another hand-down item from her sister. Allison caught me sneaking in her class during story time; she excitedly waved to me and happily blew kisses at me. I motioned her to pay attention to her teacher, but it was obvious her concentration is now broken. Next, she lead the class in the parade which was actually sad for me since it means she’s the smallest child in the class.

Today, Suzanne took off work to attend Katelyn’s party & parade. Katelyn spent the afternoon after school visiting her friend Chalee. I picked Katelyn up and whisked the girls to their swimming class. Next, I went to a local Thai restaurant to pick up dinner. After bathing the girls and dinner, got the girls into their costumes and we headed out trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with their cousin Malia.

Boy, I’m tired…