before the pain.  

lake tahoe!

now that i've napped and unpacked, it's time to settle in for a bit of blogging.

monday 12/20, day 1.

started the day at 11 am when everyone met up at my house. surprisingly, everyone was on time and we finished loading the cars and left a bit early. got to tahoe around 4 or something. the cabin was pretty nice. wound up not getting a room of my own though which, i must admit, greatly disappointed me since deb and i planned this whole thing. didn't really feel like we got what we deserved; basically got screwed over. but life's not always fair, i suppose. i roomed with deb which was fine since we got the best bathroom. the sofa bed was not the greatest, but oh well. better than the ground or the couch.

anyway, after all the unloading and whatnot, ha, yeung, and i went to albertson's to get more food. came back, had lasagna and garlic bread for dinner. yum. afterwards, we all played big two tournament style. i was the biggest loser. yay for me. the cursed xbox grabbed everyone else's attention for the rest of the night (and for most of the trip in general). went to bed around midnight.

tuesday 12/21, day 2.

let the snowboarding begin! woke up around 730, got ready, and left around 9 or so. went to kirkwood and used the college discount for $29 lift tickets. so cheap! definitely got our money's worth. and i got to use my cute new ae snow jacket! and my cute new gap earmuffs. yes, it's all about the cute clothes and accessories.

we all stayed together for the first couple of runs. everyone had to wait and help out me and ha. went down the first run fine. second run was disastrous. it was because we hadn't quite switched deb's board from goofy to regular. so the board kept wanting to go down the run goofy. so when we got to the bottom, we switched the bindings to regular. helped out quite a bit. the group split then. me and ha stayed together while everyone else (deb, david, jacq, bobby, yeung, and mike) went off to the other side.

so the thing i hate the most about boarding is getting off the lifts. i've always hated it. always dreaded it. i can never relax once i'm on the lift because i'm constantly stressing about getting off. i suppose that may be part of the problem, but i can't help it. i hate it. i absolutely HATE. IT. why can't i have someone just pick me up off the lift and gently set me down on flat snow? is that too much to ask for? sufficed to say, i never made one successful dismount. at least it wasn't too embarrassing since it was only on the bunny slope and 80% of the people fall off those lifts. oh well. by the end of the day, i didn't care that i couldn't get off the lifts successfully. as long as the fall wasn't TOO hard, i was fine. going down the slopes was much better than getting off the lifts. i fell forward quite a bit though and hurt my knees and wrists a lot. there was one time where i fell forward twice in a row and the second time hurt so much that i just wanted to cry. but i didn't. because that would be dumb.

anyway, ha and i took a break and had some expensive chili in a bread bowl. stupid ski resorts (and amusement parks, and zoos, and museums, and movie theaters) charging however much they want for food because people have no other choice. damn them. damn them all!! went down a final run after eating and waited for everyone else to come back. the group split again with me, ha, deb, david, and mike going back to the cabin first. it was nice to get home and shower. had pot stickers and chow mein for dinner. yum! my favorite dinner out of all three nights. thanks to ha and deb! napped for a bit then went to the casinos. went to caesar's and harrah's but couldn't really do anything since all the pai gow tables were full and we didn't want to wait that long. played some slots. i won a $5 jackpot off a quarter slot! woo. hoo. went back home, la dee da. can't remember what else happened that night. went to bed some time around midnight.

wednesday 12/22, day 3.

ohhhhhh god, the soreness. the aches and pains and soreness. my whole body hurt. but especially my back and neck and abs. oh and my right butt cheek. abs hurt whenever i laughed or sneezed. woke up to sore muscles. decided not to go boarding a second day. i just couldn't take the pain and indignity of falling off those lifts again. deb, jacq, and bobby were the only ones to go again. hardcore, man. the rest of us stayed home and bummed around for a bit.

in the afternoon, we went out to the little forest across the street to explore. it was fun running around in the snow. pretty funny too since the snow wasn't quite stable enough and we wound up sinking into it a lot. took a lot of good pictures. there's a really funny video of david running across the snow and falling flat on his face. every time i watch it, i laugh. just too funny. we found a trail that had completely frozen over. that was sorta cool. the guys went all slip and slide over it while me and ha decided to be SMART and safe and stayed on the snow. headed back soon after that.

didn't realize how long we had been out there since deb, bobby, and jacq were back at the cabin and had been waiting for a while when we returned. felt really bad since none of us took a phone with us and lost track of time. didn't think we'd be out there that long and that they'd be back so soon. sorry guys!! we were rightly chastised. anyway, we decided to head to the casinos again, hoping that it would be less crowded earlier. ha and yeung stayed at the cabin while the rest of us headed off to harrah's.

found a pai gow table and we all slowly took seats. it was my first time playing pai gow! or any table game for that matter. bad table though since we all lost a lot. i lost my very first three hands! pretty discouraging. but i didn't feel too bad since deb said it was probably the table; none of us were winning. and there was a REALLY annoying vietnamese couple playing at the table too. grr. i pulled out after losing half my money. so it wasn't too bad. only lost about $30. the price of a lift ticket. sad that i didn't win though. :( hung out at the casino a little bit more then went back to the cabin.

dinner was spaghetti and mac & cheese. didn't eat any of that though since i wasn't that hungry and i don't really like spaghetti. bummed around for the rest of the night. the cursed xbox took over again. deb and i went to bed pretty early. i was just going to rest for a little bit but wound up dozing. mike and david stayed up late playing games. boys.

today.

woke up around 8. got ready, packed, and cleaned. check out was at 11. we made good time and were out by 1045. drove and drove and drove. made a pit stop at some krispy kreme. all bought doughnuts. yum. drove and drove some more. lots of traffic frome stoneridge to home. yes, closing an entire lane during rush hour is just brilliant.

unloaded at my house and deb's house. had a post-trip feast at deb's. we finished the pot stickers (such yummy goodness!) and the spaghetti. watched some tv and dozed off. finally went back home and napped for a few hours. woke up and unpacked. this blog is starting to get boring now.

anyway, thanks to mike for driving the hard parts. i'm not so good with windy roads. and thanks to bobby for driving the other car. and thanks to everyone else for a good time. but most especially, thank you to debra, my partner in planning. this trip would definitely not be half as awesome as it was without you.

okay, mushiness aside, i'm gonna upload some pictures now. didn't take that many pictures, actually. getting too lazy to take pictures these days. but i'll upload them after this blog. will come back and edit to leave a link.

and here it is: lake tahoe pics!

i got an ipod for my birthday!

it's a pink mini! so cute. see picture below (the song playing is "time of your life" from green day). from deb, mike, david, steven, chris, ha, and jacq. thanks guys!

no time to blog though. must watch desperate housewives and pack. going to lake tahoe tomorrow for a few days of boarding. yay!

EDIT: oh, and look at the cool snowboard we got for mike! it was very hard for me to keep it a secret. especially when he said to me the night before, "man, i wish i could own my own snowboard." heehee.

it's pink!