It's hard to believe I've known Ashley for 16 years. It's even harder to believe she's remained my friend despite how I made fun of her when we first met.

Ashley: Do you remember when we were in middle school, how you critiqued my essays? You wrote 3 columns: 'The Good, The Bad, The Ugly'. 'The Ugly' would always be full, and there'd be like ONE thing under 'The Good', something like, "Spelled your name right."
Me: Hahaha, shoot, really? Dang, sorry girl. I know, I was a punk lil' kid.
Ashley: That's cool. 'Cuz you know what? It's because of your criticism that my English improved. Thanks!

Ashley, my sincerest congratulations. I love you so much. I'm so happy for you that you've found an awesome man to share your life with. Be good to John now, y'hear?

I love how this pic (courtesy of my dad) captures April's multi-talented-ness: she can smile AND kiss at the same time!



And they lived happily ever after.

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Here's another of my side-by-side comparisons (if you missed the others, here they are):



19 yrs later, and not much has changed. Our piano teacher (who led us to piano duet victory when we were but wee ones), now 79 years of age (but SO not looking or acting it!), is still the sweetest lady ever; April is still as skinny as a stick, 100% body mass = brain, and has landed herself a most excellent hubby; I, eh, well, I now have a full-looking set of teeth and know how to occasionally act girly. Both of us are definitely as dorky as ever. Dorks 'r us!

I had the extreme pleasure of being a bridesmaid at April's wedding after 19 [torturous! hehe] years of knowing the bride. I love you, girl! This also means though that there were NOT that many pictures taken because I can't possibly expect my dad to be as freakish as I am, although I'm sure I got this trait from SOMEWHERE ... gotta blame it on sumpin' ... gotta blame it on sumpin' ... blame it on da rain, yeah, yeah ...

Just finished watching the season finale of "The Bachelor". This is my first time tuning in to the reality show. And yay! He picked the classy, mature, confident one over the pretty bimbo.

I have to admit, I think the Bachelor dude is hot. Funny, his name is Andrew Firestone. One of my cousins' names is also Andrew, and although [ex-]Bachelor Andrew is beefier in build, I think they have similar facial features:

But isn't my cousin cuter?

The season finales of The Simpsons were awesome. One of them ended with the whole cast joining hands and singing the Canadian national anthem! Sweeeeeet.

I received one of those junk catalogues in the mail: "For Women Only". These things crack me up. For one, they always have the personal vibrator that is supposedly ONLY for massaging your back, but it's shaped like a you-know-what, and they always give this semi-erotic description about its uses. And the fashions ... oh I thought I was rid of funny fashion after leaving China, but I was wrong: "The Jacquard Caftan, just $16.95, makes you look THINNER!" This thing could make an elephant look thinner.

They conveniently do not have a picture of the abovementioned personal body massager, so here it is:

.

And this is Caroline, live, reporting from Quarantine Land.

Chinese vocab o' the day: [ge2 li2] : to isolate, segregate; to quarantine.

My legs hurt - I'm hobbling around like I'm 200 years old. My arms hurt when I try to massage my legs. When I pick my nose, there's dried mud up in there. When I swab my ears, there's dried mud up in there. When I wipe my ass ... actually, it's pretty clean up in there.

But who cares ... because I FINISHED THE MUD RUN!!! WHAZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!

OK pplz, here are the pics (and a video too!) from the mud run! =) Much thanks to Dave for going and taking all the photos for us!

Henry is a guy who needs to meditate on how to be angry. The boy is incapable of being angry without extreme stimulation, which is a good thing under normal circumstances, but let me explain. He ordered a digital camera online May 23rd. Now, 22 DAYS LATER, still no sign of it despite promises from the online vendor (will get their name so we will all know NOT to shop with them) of overnight shipping (supposed to arrive 2 days ago) and excuses like "it's on backorder - again - but we will be getting them in tomorrow". Alas - I am getting more angry about it than he is. Well, just hope you get it before your friend's wedding, dude! =)

And now, finally, after much nagging, I have pics from Howard's grad in Syracuse up! You owe me, foo! =) Plenty of pics and video footage for you to munch on. =)

 

Me & Mimi & bat, 1999(?)

Mimi & bamboo & I, 2002

We were just lounging outside on the porch in the beautiful weather eating lunch. Hugh and Mimi's 95 lb. golden retriever Moemoe was laying under the table. He suddenly made a move to leave and knocked the neighboring shelf down onto our food! Mama Mimi grabbed the bamboo stick for some doggy-style discipline and ran around the table yelling, "Moemoe Chang!" She swung ... Moemoe ducked behind me ... SMACK! It took me a sec to figure out that the sting on my calf was because she'd whacked me there! HAHAHAHA. Mimi, I know I can always count on you for a spanking

6-02-02 weight: 96 lbs*
6-02-02 percent body fat: 13%*
*This looks pretty depressing - my body fat increased but my weight decreased! Factors that may have influenced the accuracy of these stats are 1) I weighed myself right after I ate, and 2) I was wearing less clothing than the original weighing. Trust me tho, I ate a LOT ... some mornings I woke up feeling FULL =)

Current weight: 96.5 lbs
Current percent body fat: 11.5%
Non stop eating!!!

I'm in Conway, Arkansas! =) Hugh and Mimi put my name on the marquee! Hahahaha. Pics to come. I've been eating nonstop. I have challenged them to put the pounds on me. Tonite is when I'll actually be helping out in the restaurant (Mr. Stirfry). Muahahahahaaaaa ... they'll be sorry they ever let me