Amazing Circles!

These are my new love of the moment!





photos courtesy of flickr memebers.

VIETNAMESE AMERICAN IDENTITY

FOB-TWINKIES-EGG-BANANA-

UNIT STRUCTURE IS NOT THE FAMILY, BUT THE INDIVIDUAL
THEY'VE INVESTED SO MUCH SO THEY SHOULD REAP THEIR REWARDS IN US
DEBTS OWED TO FAMILY WHO FINANCED THE JOURNEY HERE
AMERICA HISTORY IS STILL BECOMING

It's been exactly six weeks since......

My comment for Tami from my Friendster account

My say on Tami Nguyen (friendster.com)
Elizabeth
Posted
document.write(11/17/2003 6:09 pm)


Tami's my best buddy! We've known each other since birth but didn't become best buddies till the sixth grade!!! She's the coolest person you'll ever meet. Sweet, sensible, caring, helpful, and responsible! This girl knows what she wants in life and she'll go after it no matter what! Tami & I have been through lots...from guys, to school, life, and oh lord....my near death-drowning at the YMCA swimming pool! Haha! She's up for anything....prolly one of the msot adventurous ppl I know, she's also into athletics! She's very a very well-rounded gal and very VERY active in school activities. Her only prob is she's got to slow down and take a few breathes here and there! She can be quite clumsy sometimes....forgetting things or doing the most random stuff ever. I can see this girl going places already and she hasn't even graduated!

--------------------------------------

Of course it is six years since the posting. She has graduated college and although we have not kept in touch as much as I would like, we do stay in touch thru emails, phonecalls, and nowadays...facebook. She's a professional photog and teacher. I am so proud of who she has become....and happy to see her attain the independence she'd always sought when we were both younger.

May 17, 2009 4.7 Earthquake

It was around 8:30pm and my mother and I was hanging out at Aunt Nena's place watching Vietnam DVDs. I had just walked out from the restroom when Aunt Nena yelled" OMG, earthquake Anh!" I told her it couldn't be because I didn't feel it and that it may have just been me making heavy thumps from my walking. Nope, she was right. It was a 4.7 magnitude earthquake centered somewhere 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

(Picture courtesy of Getty Images from knsd.com)

Meanest Managers?!?

I just heard from Robin that some people at work thinks I'm one of the meanest bosses at work. LOL. Meanest boss vs. Bossy Boss with High Expectations for everyone....I'd say I'm more of the latter. Thanks Blanca for making such a good point about what differentiates me from being meanest boss vs bossy boss! :P

Frankie V from Channel 933

Guess what celeb was at my store yesterday?!?

Frankie V from Channel 933!

I walked around with him around the store for an hour to help launch our Stockman & Dakota premium beef label-Channel 933 giveaway promotion! It was fun and best part was when he got on the intercom and did those pages!

Pic taken from : http://www.channel933.com/pages/frankiev.html

MINA HAS GONE MIA

Oh my gosh, look who ran away from home again!

Here was Mina's big opportunity to escape (when I let go of her leash)

Luckily mother got to her leash just in time.

Here she is happy that we didn't have to run after the dog this time
Eh, so Mina wasn't quite too happy about it.

See her stick her tongue out at me, the photographer?

Seeking for a second chance to escape

Mina, knowing mom's wrist was still recovering from her injury,

decides to use all her might to pull mom for a walk

Unfortunately for Mina,

mom thought it would be a better idea to anchor herself to the ground.

See how happy mom is from her "bright idea?"

Mina desperately wants a WALK.

So she ahem...decided to give mom a present...smelly farts! LOL

Mina's farts were sooooo bad that mom she ran back inside & abandoned the WALK! Here's Mina...wondering if the WALK was ever going to happen.

*Note* Mina's golden moment to run away since her leash was not held.

Mina is seen here pondering whether she should head for the left or right direction.

Mina: "Maybe Mimi's in the car and will want to take me for a walk!"

Mina: "Hmm...nobody in the car..

So Mina runs away. She looks left then right to cross the street.

She tinkles a bit here and there every 2-3 houses to mark her "way back home"

Mina: "Hi mom & Dad. I had a fabulous walk and running away. Thanks!

Time for dinner..spoonfed style--> Just how it should be! Here's Mina sticking her tongue out bc someone is spoon- fedding her for dinner

Yummy in my Tummy! Mmm....hmmm!

Mina thinking about another walk..

You're Just STERN Liz!

We have this new hire at work who has a "job coach." That's all the details I will say about him. Anyways, there's been a couple times where I've tried to talk to him and teach him how to do things the proper way. Whatever I say, whether it's just from asking him to do things a certain way without saying it with so much pessimism & negativity, he takes it the wrong way becasue he's very sensitive...

So earlier today I found out that the entire 3 weeks since he's hired, he's not doing such a good job; missing floor sweeps and really just "wandering" around the store doing nothing. So I decided to pull him into the office and try to understand and help him do a better job.. I asked Dale to be present while I speak to the new hire due to the "there's always two sides to the story" thing. Guess what happens in the office? I haven't even said much to the new hire and you can see him becoming really upset. I tell the new hire I can't help you if you can't help me understand why you're not performing well the past weeks. Of course, things don't get settled when he leaves and he ends up being upset with this sort of creepy glaring eyes towards me for the rest of the day. Afterwards, I said to Dale, "I can't say anything to him because he'll just get upset before we'd ever come to some point of resolution." Dale couldn't believe what just happened when the new hire got really upset. I told him, see i can't say anything to him...good or bad because he'll just cry." As Dale left the office he said, "Liz...you're just stern...you have a stern voice."

The point is ...when my voice becomes ahem...stern...watch out because I can make you cry!

Visiting Ong Ba 7 in Santa Ana

May 2nd, 2009:

My parents and I paid a visit to a very dear old family elder. Ong ba 7 in Santa Ana. It has been more than 10 years since I've been to their home. It was something I had looked forward to ever since I heard that my Seventh Gpa had open heart surgery. It has been about 6 weeks since the surgery. He looked so much different from the gpa i once knew growing up. It has been years since we've rekindled our relationship and I must say it brought back some fond memories I had with them and the numerous fun I've had inside that home.

Here's Ba 7 & Mom in front of the house

Zachary (Co Oanh's Son) The baby I fell in love with while visiting Ong Ba 7.

Ba 7 giving us some "la cam" to make purple sweet rice xoi. I also love how huge this red flower was! We have one at home but not this huge.

Ong 7 seemed so tiny to me. It's as if he's shrunken in size over the years. Glad he's recovering quite well.

Dad giving Ba 7 some tree trimming advice
Really hot magenta pink flower that I am so in love with for its beautifying color

Phan Boi Chau Street in Nha Trang Vietnam

Ong Phan Boi Chau
A part of Vietnamese history that took me 26 years to learn. I never knew this till today when my uncle posted pictures of Vietnamese emperors on webshots. I was wiki-ing out who those ancient people were in the pictures and came across three words "Phan Boi Chau." Those words suddenly pulled me into a strong urge for curiosity. My maternal grandparents lived on this street in Vietnam. All this time I thought it was just like a name....that translated into something like "--- --- Pearl" when in fact it was actually named after someone famous, a nationalist leader: Phan Boi Chau. He seems like a name long lost in Vietnam history to me. You know that feeling that overcomes you when you discover something relative & profounding that makes you who you are today. Well, I felt that.......and I was proud to know somehow it's quite relative to my culture and past.