deb and me boarding at boreal.  

me, deb, chris chen, ha, and jen. face masks and leg waxing. fun! 

YES.  

me and tiki at the olympic garden strip club. my first lap dance!  

all the girls about to go clubbing in vegas. jessica, chi, deb, jacq, jo, and me. 

and this little girl beat both of us to win first place. she killed me with four hula hoops.  

me and jacq getting ready for a hula hoop contest at fao schwartz in caesars palace. i won second place, jacq won third place.  

me riding jessie at yosemite.  

the bestest teachers and TAs at wisdom - david, ha, deb, me, san, and kuan.  

merry christmas! happy birthday!

to me! although, technically, i'm still 22 right now since i was born around 2 pm today.

i know i haven't posted in ages. this might be the longest i've gone without blogging, i'm not sure. i feel like i should blog now though since it's christmas and my birthday. there hasn't been too much to blog about. everyday has pretty much been the same. let's see, since i last updated, i:

- went to vegas
- picked up another kid at milestones
- just came back from reno

see? you didn't miss much. it's just been two vacations and more work.

vegas can be summed up nicely by saying that it was a quick, last minute trip that was loads of fun and ended with a trip to a strip club where all the girls got treated to hilarious lap dances (although, i feel that the phrase "lap dance" is far too much of an understatement for what actually happened) from awesome male strippers. and, yes, there are pictures. ;D

work...has been okay. it's work, you know? i've been working with milestones for about 5 months now and i'm pretty used to it. i have two kids i work with now - K and T. i remember feeling really overwhelmed when i first started working with milestones since it was the first time i'd ever really met a kid with autism, let alone work with one. but now i feel reasonably competent. it's been a little tiring though, working with both kids at once. i would work with T in the mornings (and some afternoons) and K in the afternoons. so i had pretty full days and it was just tiring working with these young kids. K is four and T is only two and a half. and, yet, they both have the ability to wear out all the grown-ups around them.

i do feel like my work is pretty fulfilling though. as cheesy as it sounds, it's satisfying to see that what i'm doing is actually making a difference in these kids' lives. it's the craziest thing to watch them actually learning and picking up so many things when i'm working with them. when we first started working with T, he would spend the majority of our sessions throwing huge tantrums and running away from us screaming at the top of his lungs. but now, T has taken a liking to me and he recognizes me and smiles at me. i love playing peek-a-boo with him; i run around the house and he chases me and laughs at me when he finds me whereas, before, he would completely ignore me and avoid me. also, when we first started working with T, he couldn't say any words, only gibberish. but now, he's picked up so many words and, with each day, it seems like he's saying more and more words. i feel quite proud of how far he's come along and the work we're doing with him.

and the last thing on the list to blog about is our recent trip to reno for 3 days of boarding. it was me, mike, deb, david, jacq, bobby, and steven. just got back yesterday (friday). first day, we boarded at squaw valley (met up with san, kuan, tony, and edward) and it sucked ASS. the resort itself was quite nice but the weather was incredibly shitty. it fucking hailed and was unbelievably windy. i would stand in place, without my board on, and the wind would literally push me forward. needless to say, i did not do well that first day. second day, we went to northstar (met up with christina chen and victor) where it rained all day. i did better at the runs but we didn't stay the whole day since it wouldn't. stop. RAINING. we were all soaked completely through by the end. i did have a few bad faceplants though. bad in that i fell face first (when i got up, my goggles were covered with snow) and then slid a couple feet down the hill with my arms outstretched. kinda funny, in hindsight. third day, we went to boreal where it was fucking crowded and hot as hell. i actually took my jacket off and wore only a long sleeve t-shirt and a short sleeve t-shirt over that. and i was still hot. i did better on boarding cuz the runs were easier but it was just. too. CROWDED. the lines for the lifts were insane and i walked up the hills with deb a couple times. anyway, by the end of the trip, i felt incredibly sore. my whole body just ached. my arms are sore from pulling myself up after every fall. my ass is sore from falling all the damn time. my legs are sore from plowing down steep hills. my neck is sore from...i don't know what. my knees and the inside of my right thigh are bruised (that sounds a little dirty). on the way home, i was so tired that i fell asleep and drooled. twice.

the rest of the time we were at reno, we did the usual stuff - midway games (my prize stash this year consists of two squirts [or crushes] from finding nemo, a mini hippo, a mini penguin, a neon green monkey, a mini christmas bear, and a big monkey hanging from a bar. okay, so most of those, mike won but i got a couple of them too), gambling, buffet, and prime rib at sweetwater. gambling was okay. i didn't win anything but i didn't have any major losses either. i played pai gow twice and each time i lost about $5. not bad. deb tried to teach me craps. we walked by an empty table and the dealers and pit boss hassled us into playing. they also hassled me into throwing the dice which was not a good idea. the first time i threw, i threw one of the dice off the table. the second time i threw, i think i hit one of the dealers with the dice. the third time i threw, everyone ducked or ran off. just kidding. the third time i threw, it was okay. but i did actually hit the dealer with the dice. oh well. all in all, a very fun trip. i got to use my new board (with new boots and new bindings!), my new pants, my new goggles, and my new camelbak. heh. yes, i know i have a problem.

anyway, hope everyone has a fun christmas. looking forward to the end of the week when i'll have my bday party/christmas gift exchange, go clubbing, and celebrate new year's eve. three days of partying. hope i can handle it. if i feel nice, maybe i'll put up some pics on this sad, starving blog. oh, actually, check out my yahoo pics. it's pretty much updated with all the pics from summer (rafting, fourth of july, raging waters, gilroy garlic festival, wisdom summer camp, and yosemite). the only things that are missing are vegas, a bunch of random pictures, and this reno trip.

merry christmas everyone! happy birthday to me!