What a way to end '08 and start '09
I wrote this first as an update to my cousins about my turn of the year adventures...and then realised I should just cut & paste the email (with a few modifications here and there) onto here, because I sure as heck didn't t feel like retyping it all over again.
After incubating a cough starting Christmas Day, I began my 2008-2009 adventures.
December 27th: I\ began packing but was called in to work the last few hours of my shift unexpectedly! Good for the paycheck, but bad for the unfinished packing! My patient was also pretty unstable, thus I didn't get out of work until after when I wanted to leave. As soon as I returned home, I finished packing by shoving articles of clothing that looked warm into bags that I could carry on on the plane. I then drove to Oakland to leave my car at my friend's house, then rode Bart to the airport and didn't arrive there until 8:10p (A significant detail in this adventure since my flight was *supposed* to depart at 8:03p). Luckily my friend who was taking the same flight texted that the flight was 25 mins delayed! The nice people in line let me jump ahead of them while wishing "Good Luck!" at the check-in counter, the security check took what felt like a million years and as I ran to the boarding gate (in my socks and four layers because I wore as much as I could so that I didn't have to pack it) I could hear my cell phone ringing constantly in my pockets. It was my friend saying "HURRY UP!" "WHERE ARE YOU?!". Thankfully I made my flight, but not before feeling like a soggy spluttering (from the cough) mess. Surprised my friend at the airport, because she had no idea that I was even coming. I ran by her going "Oh my, you weren't kidding when you said it was cold here!" and I wish I had a video of her face because she stared at me blankly for a good number of seconds before she realised I had come to surprise her! She later told me that she saw and heard me, but thought I was just some crazy asian girl running around the airport. Didn't get to bed until nearly 2am.
December 28th: We went cross-country skiing at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. It was my first time in any sort of skis, it was also super fun and tiring! The snow was perfect, super fluffy so that when I fell it didn't feel like anything at all! I swear, falling on the bed hurts more! We also saw Elk grazing and wuffling through the snow right beside the trail.
December 29th: Shannon and I went snowboarding (or rather only I did since she skis) at Sunshine Village. Considering that I have only ever gone snow boarding at most five times, and the last time I did was maybe 2 years ago...it is not surprising that I super sucked butt at it. My friend said "Cheryl, I really think you were the slowest person on the mountain every time I looked back" but it was fun all the same! I went home with a ton of new bruises, including one HUGE BLACK one on the back of my thigh from falling on top of my board when I was only strapped in by one foot. My legs were so tired that it was difficult to ascend/descend staircases for the rest of the night.
December 30th: Went to visit Lake Louise! The boys of the group had woken up before 7am to get there early. However the girls took the day to sleep in. The ski resort looked like it would have been a lot of fun (but honestly I don't think my legs would have taken a second beating in such a short time frame!) so us ladies headed on over to see the actual Lake Louise. It was beautiful out there! Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly clear that day, and so we couldn't see the glacier. But what we did see was the lake frozen over. There was an ice castle facade that people could walk through complete with ice slide ( I of course joined the little children sliding down it!), people ice skating on the lake, other people cross country skiing around the area, horse drawn sleigh rides around the lake (which we sadly didn't have the time for) the sleighs even had bells to add the the wintery ambiance. There was an open topped igloo next to the lake (I assume to allow adults to reach in and help lil kids that get stuck in it) and banks of snow with tunnels that I almost got stuck in when I tried to crawl through them! We then went back to the house and made a snow slug in the front yard...we had originally attempted to make a snow monkey but failed miserably, so our happy snow slug was the end result. Then that night we got DRIZZUNK! I mean very very happy. At one point I ended up in my guy friend's underwear, and he in all of my clothes (pink bra included). I don't think we went to bed until about 3am.
December 31st: Woke up wanting to vomit, but couldn't because there was nothing inside my belly. Finally drank a glass of water, walked around and threw up fluids that tasted like REALLY BAD, or gone bad, beer. (which was strange since I had been drinking rum & cokes all night before) Took the airporter back to Calgary airport. During the ride I couldn't shut my eyes without feeling queasy, but I did see more Elk and also a wolf which was pretty cool! My flight back to SFO was delayed about an hour, so I didn't touch CA until about 4pm. Took Bart back to my friend's house and after picking up my car again, drove straight back to SFO to pick up my friend Annie flying in from Vancouver. Had dinner in Japantown, then headed back to Davis. Spent the turn of the New Year sitting about at home, we watched the ball drop (since as my cousin noted, we suck balls out here and had no live coverage of anything) and then went to bed.
January 1st: Dropped Bailey off at my dance instructor's house before heading down to Orange County. Stopped by Harris Ranch for lunch. I had never been there before. It was very good. I got beef stew, my friend got pot roast.
January 2nd: Spent the morning in Hollywood! Went to the Chinese Theatre and took pictures with hand and footprints of celebrities. We aso shared a slice of New York style pizza - it hit the spot. Spent an hour waiting in line to get into Universal Studios. The reason why we were in line for so long was that there was a stupid family that stayed at the ticket counter for over 40mins, no joke. It was infuriating!! But it was fun, we only went on a few of the rides since our time was cut short by the stupid line-holding mexican family. The people behind us in line joked that they were probably trying to pay in foodstamps. Ahhh yes, I know, we're all going to hell. But it's funny right?! Then had dinner at a Japanese Restaurant with part of my family. Of course it was delicious!
January 3rd: Went to Disneyland. We entered the park about 9am and didn't leave until nearly 1am. That's over 15 hours at the park...oh and what a good day it was! Unfortunately, the weather was pretty chilly for most of the day, and so we did not go on Splash Mountain. But we did go on a bunch of other rides; Finding Nemo, Buzz Lightyear (twice), Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Thunder Mountain, Madderhorn, Indiana Jones, Sleeping Beauty's Castle...I even went swing dancing in the park and danced with a 74 year or man. He was so cute, he introduced me to his wife (who he had been with for 44 years) and he said "Look at me honey, I'm still picking up girls!" it was cute and funny at the same time. We watched the parade, Fanstasmic and of course the fireworks! Since everything was still Christmassed up, we even got 'snowed' on.
January 4th: Had a late breakfast with my aunt and uncle at the pacific coast? I forget the name of the place, but it has awesome breakfasts, and is dog friendly. Then we drove back to Northern California and stopped by Anderson's for a split pea soup dinner. Picked up Bailey and headed back to Davis.
January 5th: Woke up late, got a Magellan GPS from Costco!!!! Then went to the Vacaville outlet malls, and met up with my friend's friend for dinner at Buca Di Beppo in the city.
January 6th: Again woke up late...but because I coudln't sleep well since I had hurt my neck somehow the day before. I mean seriously, it hurt like crazy! Had lunch in Japantown again, spent under 2 hours browsing around Union Square and then drove my friend to the airport. Drove back to Davis, and then went salsa dancing for the first time in 6 weeks until nearly 1am.
Now I have a ton of laundry to do. But Happy New Year to you all. (o:
Cheryl
After incubating a cough starting Christmas Day, I began my 2008-2009 adventures.
December 27th: I\ began packing but was called in to work the last few hours of my shift unexpectedly! Good for the paycheck, but bad for the unfinished packing! My patient was also pretty unstable, thus I didn't get out of work until after when I wanted to leave. As soon as I returned home, I finished packing by shoving articles of clothing that looked warm into bags that I could carry on on the plane. I then drove to Oakland to leave my car at my friend's house, then rode Bart to the airport and didn't arrive there until 8:10p (A significant detail in this adventure since my flight was *supposed* to depart at 8:03p). Luckily my friend who was taking the same flight texted that the flight was 25 mins delayed! The nice people in line let me jump ahead of them while wishing "Good Luck!" at the check-in counter, the security check took what felt like a million years and as I ran to the boarding gate (in my socks and four layers because I wore as much as I could so that I didn't have to pack it) I could hear my cell phone ringing constantly in my pockets. It was my friend saying "HURRY UP!" "WHERE ARE YOU?!". Thankfully I made my flight, but not before feeling like a soggy spluttering (from the cough) mess. Surprised my friend at the airport, because she had no idea that I was even coming. I ran by her going "Oh my, you weren't kidding when you said it was cold here!" and I wish I had a video of her face because she stared at me blankly for a good number of seconds before she realised I had come to surprise her! She later told me that she saw and heard me, but thought I was just some crazy asian girl running around the airport. Didn't get to bed until nearly 2am.
December 28th: We went cross-country skiing at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. It was my first time in any sort of skis, it was also super fun and tiring! The snow was perfect, super fluffy so that when I fell it didn't feel like anything at all! I swear, falling on the bed hurts more! We also saw Elk grazing and wuffling through the snow right beside the trail.
December 29th: Shannon and I went snowboarding (or rather only I did since she skis) at Sunshine Village. Considering that I have only ever gone snow boarding at most five times, and the last time I did was maybe 2 years ago...it is not surprising that I super sucked butt at it. My friend said "Cheryl, I really think you were the slowest person on the mountain every time I looked back" but it was fun all the same! I went home with a ton of new bruises, including one HUGE BLACK one on the back of my thigh from falling on top of my board when I was only strapped in by one foot. My legs were so tired that it was difficult to ascend/descend staircases for the rest of the night.
December 30th: Went to visit Lake Louise! The boys of the group had woken up before 7am to get there early. However the girls took the day to sleep in. The ski resort looked like it would have been a lot of fun (but honestly I don't think my legs would have taken a second beating in such a short time frame!) so us ladies headed on over to see the actual Lake Louise. It was beautiful out there! Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly clear that day, and so we couldn't see the glacier. But what we did see was the lake frozen over. There was an ice castle facade that people could walk through complete with ice slide ( I of course joined the little children sliding down it!), people ice skating on the lake, other people cross country skiing around the area, horse drawn sleigh rides around the lake (which we sadly didn't have the time for) the sleighs even had bells to add the the wintery ambiance. There was an open topped igloo next to the lake (I assume to allow adults to reach in and help lil kids that get stuck in it) and banks of snow with tunnels that I almost got stuck in when I tried to crawl through them! We then went back to the house and made a snow slug in the front yard...we had originally attempted to make a snow monkey but failed miserably, so our happy snow slug was the end result. Then that night we got DRIZZUNK! I mean very very happy. At one point I ended up in my guy friend's underwear, and he in all of my clothes (pink bra included). I don't think we went to bed until about 3am.
December 31st: Woke up wanting to vomit, but couldn't because there was nothing inside my belly. Finally drank a glass of water, walked around and threw up fluids that tasted like REALLY BAD, or gone bad, beer. (which was strange since I had been drinking rum & cokes all night before) Took the airporter back to Calgary airport. During the ride I couldn't shut my eyes without feeling queasy, but I did see more Elk and also a wolf which was pretty cool! My flight back to SFO was delayed about an hour, so I didn't touch CA until about 4pm. Took Bart back to my friend's house and after picking up my car again, drove straight back to SFO to pick up my friend Annie flying in from Vancouver. Had dinner in Japantown, then headed back to Davis. Spent the turn of the New Year sitting about at home, we watched the ball drop (since as my cousin noted, we suck balls out here and had no live coverage of anything) and then went to bed.
January 1st: Dropped Bailey off at my dance instructor's house before heading down to Orange County. Stopped by Harris Ranch for lunch. I had never been there before. It was very good. I got beef stew, my friend got pot roast.
January 2nd: Spent the morning in Hollywood! Went to the Chinese Theatre and took pictures with hand and footprints of celebrities. We aso shared a slice of New York style pizza - it hit the spot. Spent an hour waiting in line to get into Universal Studios. The reason why we were in line for so long was that there was a stupid family that stayed at the ticket counter for over 40mins, no joke. It was infuriating!! But it was fun, we only went on a few of the rides since our time was cut short by the stupid line-holding mexican family. The people behind us in line joked that they were probably trying to pay in foodstamps. Ahhh yes, I know, we're all going to hell. But it's funny right?! Then had dinner at a Japanese Restaurant with part of my family. Of course it was delicious!
January 3rd: Went to Disneyland. We entered the park about 9am and didn't leave until nearly 1am. That's over 15 hours at the park...oh and what a good day it was! Unfortunately, the weather was pretty chilly for most of the day, and so we did not go on Splash Mountain. But we did go on a bunch of other rides; Finding Nemo, Buzz Lightyear (twice), Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, Space Mountain, Star Tours, Thunder Mountain, Madderhorn, Indiana Jones, Sleeping Beauty's Castle...I even went swing dancing in the park and danced with a 74 year or man. He was so cute, he introduced me to his wife (who he had been with for 44 years) and he said "Look at me honey, I'm still picking up girls!" it was cute and funny at the same time. We watched the parade, Fanstasmic and of course the fireworks! Since everything was still Christmassed up, we even got 'snowed' on.
January 4th: Had a late breakfast with my aunt and uncle at the pacific coast? I forget the name of the place, but it has awesome breakfasts, and is dog friendly. Then we drove back to Northern California and stopped by Anderson's for a split pea soup dinner. Picked up Bailey and headed back to Davis.
January 5th: Woke up late, got a Magellan GPS from Costco!!!! Then went to the Vacaville outlet malls, and met up with my friend's friend for dinner at Buca Di Beppo in the city.
January 6th: Again woke up late...but because I coudln't sleep well since I had hurt my neck somehow the day before. I mean seriously, it hurt like crazy! Had lunch in Japantown again, spent under 2 hours browsing around Union Square and then drove my friend to the airport. Drove back to Davis, and then went salsa dancing for the first time in 6 weeks until nearly 1am.
Now I have a ton of laundry to do. But Happy New Year to you all. (o:
Cheryl