Very bored

Life is going slooooooow. I'm bored! I watered my plants twice, repotted one of them, then watched them grow. Seriously. And I hit Hobby Lobby two days in a row to find something to occupy my time. Erin talked me into knitting a scarf (it'd probably be winter again by the time I get done), and I also made a wedding gift for Charlotte and a graduation gift for a friend. THATs how bored I am.

So anyway, thats why I made plans to visit my friend up in Chicago next week. We're going to watch the musical Wicked!!! Its $100+ apiece but then everyone tells me its the best show they've ever watched. And maybe we can go to Chinatown for some tim sum and bubble tea, and maybe visit a museum. :)

Oh and my supervisor told me that I'd be picking up a new PD client at the veterans home! More schmaperwork fun. But at least it means I should cover my adult hours this summer and hopefully NOT need to get any more adult clients in the Fall. I really miss working with kids.

Twister!!!

How to tell when a tornado is headed your way:
1. The sky suddenly turns SUPER dark, cloudy and green after being sunny and cloudless all day
2. Howling winds
3. Tornado siren!!

The electricity was flickering on and off, the siren was blaring, winds were howling.. very scary!! It was like the movie Twister. TV reports kept telling people to stay in their basements, but I really didn't want to go hang out with the washer and dryer. And also, I wanted to stay close to the TV to get more updates (I should really invest in a battery-operated radio..). In the end, I just decided to stay in my apartment, hands clutching my cell phone and eyes glued to the TV and also to the neighbors. A lot of them were just standing outside watching the sky, so I figured I would run when I see them do so. ;P

But anyway, the storm has passed us and is heading east towards Dana and Delphi so I figure I'm safe. For now. I wish Johanna was here since she grew up in Oklahoma and would probably know best what to do!

Now I'm watching videos on Youtube of crazy people who drive towards tornadoes to get good footage. Omg.

Random thoughts

Spring is literally in the air, and I'm having the worst allergies. I can only assume its the pollen causing it because I get it every spring.

Anyway, I just added another $55 to my NYC fund babysitting Av today. Babysitting is gooood money, and great fun too. I mean, I get paid twice as much as last summer's job waitressing at Balaclava, and thats not even counting the suffering I go through being on my feet for hours, inhaling a ton of smoke, working unearthly hours, grouchy coworkers, completely brainless tasks..

How is it that I'm more appreciated in the US than in my own country? Since I've been in the US (less than 2 years), I've already made at least $104,000 in income and benefits, 10x more than what I've made in my 22 years in Sg. But more than that, its also that people are so much nicer! How is it that I get better treatment here as a foreigner than I do at home as a citizen? It doesn't even make any sense!

Cooking away!

Went to the veteran's home again this morning. Our supervisor worked us but good. She made us stay a whole hour longer than we were supposed to - doing paperwork! Paperwork schmaperwork. Anyway, although I'd rather be working with kids, I do rather enjoy reading the files of veterans. I am SUCH a sucker for war stories. I love reading about which wars they fought in, for how long, which division they were in.. blahblah. These are people who have fought in real wars!!! How cool is that (Not that war is cool, but you know what I mean).

Sadly.. from their files, it seems that a lot of them kindof fell apart when they returned home after the war. It must be very hard to grow old and not be able to do so many of the things you took for granted when you were young. Like speaking, socializing, seeing, hearing...!! I don't wonder that they are depressed. (Apparently the SLP at Tan Tock Seng had reported that my paternal grandmother was depressed too before she passed away, although my family fervently denies it!)

Been cooking quite a bit lately. Today my new Japanese friend Erisa-san came over to our place and we made tempura for dinner, which was very very good. :)) Meeting different people is fun - from the little preschoolers to the 90-year-old veterans, people of different countries, cities, religions, ethnicity... It makes me realize that there is so much about life that I still don't know. I guess I will never be able to explore and learn it all, but I can die trying. ;)

Memorial Day

We went to Amee and Jeremiah's place for a Memorial Day cookout last night. We made:chocolate strawberry cupcakes (which taste just as good as they look!), and..
patriotic rice!!!! It was inspired by Johanna's story of how her family colored the rice green one year for St. Pat's day. We've been having SO much fun with food coloring. ;) Just think, in the future we can also make Halloween rice, Christmas rice, Valentine's Day rice, Easter rice... (On a side note, its also a good way to get your kids to eat some more. My friend's 2-yr-old son was captivated by the colors ;))

Anyway, I almost cried during Memorial Day service at church yesterday. They had a ceremony for the soldiers from our county (Tippecanoe) that have died in the last few years. Some of their family members were present and they were tearing, and there were some people that I know who were or are in the armed forces, and so I was very moved as well. Sometimes I think that the USA is full of Fox Mulders - all believing passionately in something and giving up their lives for it. Their beliefs sometimes seem "crazy", but I still deeply admire the passion.

Yesterday I also met so many cool people in church!! I met this amazing Japanese girl Erisa who attends a Baptist university in Wisconsin with a major in biblical counseling and a minor in music. She is here for the summer studying biblical counseling at my church and her parents are missionaries in Japan. She said she'd teach me some Japanese because I've always wanted to learn (and also because people always think I look Japanese!).

And then I met my friend Jeanie's parents who drove all the way from Pennsylvania to visit. They are the sweetest people. Her mom is such a darling old lady, and she even played Big Taboo! (which is like Taboo, Pictionary and Cranium rolled into one) with us at the cookout.-- my latest acquisition from Amazon! --

At the parking lot Erisa and I bumped into Courtney's parents and siblings, including her little 2-year-old sister who was recently adopted from China! (How coincidental is that? *see previous post) Anyway when I get the chance to, I'd find out more about adoption from them. They are one of many white American families I've seen that have adopted little girls from China. Even Johanna said her mom is thinking of adopting, even tho she already had a huge family of 5 girls, 1 boy!

And there's more! We were talking by the campfire and Amee told us how she and Jeremiah were travel nurses for about 3 years. Its like contract nursing - they move from state to state to the places they want to go to and work in hospitals there for a couple of months. They went to San Francisco, Vegas, South Carolina... so much fun!! Yes, I admit its giving me ideas... HAHAHA. I should write to ASHA and suggest they come up with a similar "travel SLP" program!

Memorial Day weekend

Its a long weekend! Although not like it makes a difference to me since I'm on semi-vacation now anyway. ;) Yesterday I tutored Korean guy again, although its not really tutoring since we just sit around and talk for an hour. All I do is help him find words or ways to say things when he has difficulty expressing himself. I enjoy talking with him about korean culture and finding out whether all those things they show in korean dramas are actually true. ;)

Anyway, I've decided to put all my babysitting and tutoring money this summer in a jar, to save up for NYC trip in the fall. So far I already have $85, which is 1/3 of my plane ticket and I can stay with my friend Sunitha in Jersey City so I won't need accommodation. I will need extra money to SHOP till I drop though. ;) *shivers with anticipation*

Johanna and I talked for a couple of hours last night exchanging our life stories and our crazy dreams about the future. Our families and background could not be more different. Her childhood dreams include being an actress and Miss Oklahoma. ;) I almost fell off the couch laughing when she told me she always imagined herself as Anne in Anne of Green Gables. That is sooo her, bright red hair and all! I told her my new fantasy is going to Africa and being an educator for UNICEF. I don't actually think it will happen, but I'm dreaming about it anyway.

Dear friend Charlotte (who is getting married in less than a month!) and I talked the other day about kids, and she was saying why have babies when there are already too many people on this earth and you can adopt? Thats a good point and definitely something to look into in the future, especially since another friend who had worked in an adoption agency told me a lot of the older kids (i.e. age 3 and above) have trouble finding homes. I am making it my new personal goal to put all my stupid fears aside and reach out to love people who are unloved.

Another fun day

Life these couple of days has been pretty busy, but in a fun way. Today I babysat Av all day and it was fun. That kid has SO much energy its unreal. But he was really affectionate, which was very sweet. He kept cuddling up and giving me big hugs, and his parents said he was really excited about me coming. He's such a little sweetheart. ;)

Unfortunately he got upset when I had to leave that he actually started crying. I got lost twice driving back home because I kept thinking about it and feeling bad. Anyway I'd be seeing him once or twice next week again since his dad is having a dinner party for some board of directors from England or something and he wants me to watch Av so they can entertain in peace. Ha.

Johanna made dinner and we had two of our classmates over for dinner. She made hamburger turnovers (which are like apple turnovers but with beef stuffing) and salad. And we ate the cookies from yesterday for dessert. Very yummy :))

But now I have a headache so I'm going to bed early and hopefully wake up fine and dandy tomorrow. Nitey nite.

Baking fun!

The cookie doughThe edible playdohThe bakers (Johanna and me!)The end products: Seriously, the edible playdoh recipe is SO AWESOME. Its just powdered sugar, corn syrup, salt and food coloring! The texture is like real playdoh so you can roll it out into different shapes, and you can squish them together to make different colors. Me and Johanna are quite the artists huh. :) I'll give a prize to anyone who can identify all the picture shapes!

But anyway, the reason why we were baking is because I'm babysitting Av all day tomorrow from 11am-5pm so I'm trying out the recipe first before we make it tomorrow. He'll probably really enjoy it and it'd be good for his fine motor skills too. :)

Today was our first day at the veterans home. It wasn't too bad. We screened a very sweet old lady, and we met our clients for the summer. My client has post-stroke aphasia and Johanna's client has Parkinson's. They were both very very nice too. So yeah, I guess it won't be too bad working with them. My client loves playing on the computer and so today we played a bit of the computer version of Jeopardy! which is seriously the toughest trivia game on the planet. Then we wrote like a ton of paperwork. That's the very worst thing about medical settings - the darn paperwork! And what's worse is that its all handwritten, which makes it just hellish to plow through and digest. Sigh. They should make all doctors and nurses go through MANDATORY handwriting courses.

Then I went in to work and sat through a 3-hour-long meeting! *yawn* But I'm thankful for my job, really I am. So that's my busy but fun day! :)

Lazing

Its been nice just lazing around. Trying to get as much rest as I can before all hell breaks loose on June 9. Tomorrow Sunitha and I are going to Indianapolis to pick up her driver's permit in person because she's afraid it won't arrive in time by Saturday, when she'd be leaving Lafayette for good! Ah I hate it that all my friends keep graduating!

On the bright side, she's moving to Jersey City, close to NYC and I plan to visit her either the last weekend of May or maybe August. I'm soooooooooooo wanting to go to New York, but then I don't know if I have that thousand bucks to spare. 1000 dollars, which I should probably save. But then you only live once right?? ;)

Anyway, the city of New York beckons. I swear its almost a conspiracy.. there was even an article about New Yorkers in this month's Smithsonian. And one of my clinic supervisors who had moved from NYC maybe 20 years ago keeps saying how much she missed it and if we wanna live there we should go right after we grad. ;P Maybe I should look into externship sites in NYC instead of Cali.

Today after church I went for lunch with a couple of people, including this girl whose parents are missionaries in Liberia. Anyway, she was saying about her parents had always taught her that the safest place to be is in the middle of God's will. And you shouldn't let this fear of not being "safe" prevent you from doing things that you should be doing, whether its serving in other countries or even in the inner city. I mean, I'm pretty adventurous but I have my limits.. and I've never dared to head out to Africa or certain 'scarier' places in Asia or South America, or to some extremely impoverished inner-city schools. But thats exactly where God's grace is needed the most, isn't it?

So, I learned something today.

Me and the President of the United States

Spokesperson for Bush
and lounging with Playboy owner, Hugh Hefnerat the Las Vegas Madam Tussauds! Haha. It was fun. I love how they have all the props, like the bunny ears and champagne bottle. There was also golf clubs so you can pretend to play with Tiger Woods. Bet my dad would love that!

I was looking through pictures on my laptop to make a poster collage of photos. I ordered a 30x20" one and I can't wait for it to arrive! In the meantime, here are some of my favorite pictures.. I totally even forgot I had some of them. ;P

Tower Bridge, London '05
and Singapore '06 (I think. Any of you guys remember?)