Julie

Updates!

2007-04-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Daryl and I checked out Joshua Tree National Park. This is by far my favorite shrub:

Big Rocks:

Medium Rocks

Malinda and Jess's Texas Wedding (yes, the asian wedding party is line dancing!)

Bride and Groom gettin' their groove on:

Leina, Celina, and my sweet ride (how hip is my "westside" symbol?):

One more quarter to this year's teaching:

As of today, I am testing what it's going to be like being a single parent to two very cool high schoolers. Here's my new home:

Craving BRIE?

2007-01-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

Hooray!

I have just found THE BEST triple creme brie there is!

Usually $24 / lb., Trader Joe's sells this Belletoille Triple Creme French Brie for just $6 / lb. Just one tiny nibble of the buttery goodness will satisfy you of any cheese cravings for weeks. It is SO GOOD! I dare you to try it.

Happy Christmas and New Year!

2007-01-04T21:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday YeYe and BaBa!

Cousins

How youngins celebrate at the Holiday Bowl

How not-so-youngins celebrate at the Holiday Bowl (but note that both have attended the Cotton Bowl in the past)

Daryl and I are definitely registering for the Wii

Happy Christmas and 2007!

2006-12-19T19:21:00.000-08:00

I'll tell you later how this article made me feel and my thoughts on it. I am very curious on your thoughts!

As a Christian, what do you think?
As a non-Christian, what do you think?

Lost and Found

2006-12-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I lost my ring at work. I lost it somewhere between this big building on the left and the building at the VERY end right by the hills:

So during 1st period, I asked my kids to look on the ground of my classroom - NOTHING.
I emailed all my coworkers - NOTHING.
The secretaries left their desks to search - NOTHING.

I was close to tears! But I refused to let my students see. Many didn't even know I was engaged.

Then I looked outside my window, and what do I see?

KIDS EVERYWHERE! On the ground, looking for my ring!! All the teachers had received my email, postponed their classes, and made their kids go outside to sweep the campus for the ring!!! Thanks guys =)
And yes, it was found by one of my students. WHEW!

On another note, please lift up your prayers for this little guy:

This is Matthew, an 8 year old at church. 5 years ago, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and was given only 6 months to live. Well, the church got together and prayed like craaaaazy. Matthew surivived the 6 month mark, and continued to live well beyond that. The doctors then reevaluated him, and gave him another 5 years to live. In spite of the numerous bouts of radiation, he has remained so happy and cheerful. It is now the 5 year mark, and Matthew has just completed surgery again. The news was disheartening. The tumor had grown with more cancer, causing Matthew to lose his balance and some of his speech. Please pray for his family (he has a little brother, who is very scared about big brother being in the hospital). Please pray for God's healing...

2006-11-29T18:57:00.000-08:00

At Cal, waiting on Sproul with 75 junior highers:

1.) A Cal student on Sproul thinks one of my very pre-pubescent students is so cute that she gives him 8 full size candy canes (as if he were 5).

2.) One of my huge football fan kids stands smack in the middle of Sproul (the quad) at 12 noon and asks every buff guy who walks by,
-"Excuse me, do you know Marshawn Lynch?"
-"Pardon me, do you know DeSean Jackson?"
-"Oh hello, do you know Nate Longshore?"

3.) This same passionate football fan spends all of lunch in the DC talking to this one guy he found who works for the Cal Football Team. He asks him his GPA, his SAT score, what he was like in middle school, and of course, if he knows Marshawn Lynch.

4.) My kids absolutely LOVING the DC food (Crossroads).
Endless ice cream and soda = heaven!

Brave

2006-11-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

Ted Haggard's wife, Gayle, wrote this letter (this is an excerpt), to her church, New Life in Colorado, just a week after Haggard's incident(s) was made public:

Dear Woman of New Life Church,
I am so sorry for the circumstances that have led me to write this letter to you today. I know your hearts are broken; mine is as well. Yet my hope rests steadfastly in the Lord who is forever faithful.

What I want you to know is that I love my husband, Ted Haggard, with all my heart. I am committed to him until death “do us part”. We started this journey together and with the grace of God, we will finish together.

If I were standing before you today, I would not change one iota of what I have been teaching the women of our church. For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case. My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful.

To Save the World

2006-11-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

Halloween Story

2006-11-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

On Halloween, one of my students had an amazing costume of Minnie Mouse. She had the whiskers, eyelashes, gloves, the dress...the works! In the middle of class, she gets called to the student office. This is a big "dun dun dun" because it usually means you are about to be suspended for something.

She packs her stuff and is stressing out because she is not sure what she did wrong (she's a good student). She shakes with fear as she leaves my room.

10 minutes later she is back. I ask, "are you ok? What happened?"

She says, "Oh, it's all good. My mom just wanted my grandma to see my costume"

cute =P

Happy Birthday Julie Chiu!

2006-10-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Julie Chiu!

We wrote you silly notes

We ate seafood and sang a silly song for the whole restaurant

We played a silly game

Love,
Your Friends

The minds of 13 year olds

2006-10-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday in my advisory class (homeroom), my kids have to reflect on their success in a particular class. One of the questions I had them answer today was:

4.) What is something good that happened to you this week in school?

Before they started writing their reflections, I emphasized that I was referring to something "good" in their academics or at school. Here are the responses I got (actual spelling and grammar preserved):

4.) Nothing but I got my phone to work

4.) My familiy has ordered a big t.v. for the house. I am very excited!

4.) I been stayin outta trouble

4.) I went to visite my mom and I was so happy to see her because i havent seen her in like a mounth and a half (this one made me cry, because this kid comes from a complex family and is a handful)

4.) My grandma died over the brake that was bad but I got a good score in golf and that was good

4.) I didn't get in trouble at school but I did at home

4.) It's my birthday on Sunday 22nd.

4.) I got my skateboard back

4.) I'm getting my hair dyed back this week

How can I not love these kids???

I wonder what the human equivalence is?

2006-10-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

New Roommate!!!!

2006-10-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

Meet Frosty =)

Lovely San Diego

2006-10-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

And lovely brother

This is LOVE

2006-10-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.
But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.
Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''
But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''
"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''
That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''
And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.
Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''
How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.
Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.
``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

For Parents or Parents-to-be

2006-10-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

Kids are kids...though they know they shouldn't do something, they do it anyways. They also respond differently to different consequences. For example, there are some kids who will only respond to a raised voice (ie. yelling)

There are others who will only respond to manual labor

But I have some pretty creative parents who have come up with some incredibly effective consequences for their 13 and 14 year olds. Here are my top 5:

5.) No phone, no chatting, no email, no ipod, no friends (gasp!)

4.) Shave off their long rocker hair.

3.) Shave off their dreadlocked hair (two moms who were friends did this to both their respective sons for getting a D in my class).

2.) Take out all the furniture and "fun" contents in their room except for a bed and desk.

1.) Take them to the Salvation Army and let them pick out one outfit...then make them wear that outfit for the rest of the school year (hahahahahahahaha....)

2006-09-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Whoa this is cool!
Guess who Exhibit "A" is =)

Heroes

2006-09-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

Go watch Heroes now! Free downloads at http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/ ....SOOOOO GOOOOOD!! I already have a favorite character =)

Teaching is one of the best jobs ever...

2006-09-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

because everyday, there is something to laugh very loud and hard about. Something about teaching middle school kids teaches you so much patience and understanding, because the things that these kids do is just straight up ridiculous at times, and they don't even realize it.

I got a neatly written apology note from one of my favorite kids the other week. I've gotten a few before, but none this sincere (p.s. I did not edit):

Miss Fuw I didn’t mean to disrespect you it’s just that I wanted to know why did I have to go to detention for no reason It seamed to me I don’t think I did anything wrong for you to give me detention just for not hearing what you said I was putting papers in my back pack and I looked up I asked what are we suppose to be doing I don’t think I deserved a detention next time I know I should say things better and more respectful so next time I will say Mrs. Fuw can I talk to you after class about it or ask in a more respectful way why should I go to detention

Sincerely,

Bob (name changed)

Knowing 13 and 14 year olds, can you guess what he did?

Feeling Much Better

2006-08-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Warning: Slightly gross picture coming, but not too bad.

Thank you for the phone calls and well wishes! I feel 100% better. I slept for 12 hours two days in a row after the incident. Plus, I get my stiches out in one day! Here they are, all neatly in a little row:

Note that there are two stiches underneath the 4 that you see here, and there is some random bruising around the wound.

My mom has some interesting theories on what caused me to faint. Here they are:

1.) "You are too stressed out from those pre-pubscent middle school students"
2.) "You don't sleep enough, so you really just fell asleep in the shower"
3.) "You were trying to lose weight to fit in your wedding dress"
4.) "Daryl left for a few days for LA and you fell apart"

And thank you Jon and Joanne for coming all the way to Walnut Creek with flowers and fresh home-grown tomatoes (my faaaavorite!!!! next to cheese) and a sample guava wedding cake made by joanne!!!

What a strange day

2006-08-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was coming down with a light fever. This morning in the shower, I blacked out! I've never fainted in my life! When I woke up I was lying on the tub floor with the water still running. I gashed my chin pretty badly (still don't know on what). Even though I was bleeding, I was so exhausted that I laid down to take a nap. Then I drove myself to the emergency room in Walnut Creek, where thankfully, it was not busy at all. A chinese nurse named Julie gave me an EKG, and threw the CAL shirt I was wearing into a biohazard bag. I didn't even realize there was blood on it.

Then they put me into one of those rooms like you see on ER, and was attended by 2 more nurses and a doctor. Then they gave me an IV and took about 10 vials of blood and other bodily fluids to run cultures on. The nurse who gave me the IV said he lives in Spokane, WA, but that he flies down to work in Walnut Creek every week because it pays him twice what he would get in Washington. Crazy!

Then I got 6 stiches (never had stiches before!) and slept in the hospital for about 2 hours. They even gave me heated blankets...ahhhhhh =)

Anyways, would you please pray for me? They are not entirely sure why I fainted, although they are sure it's not something too serious. My head is still pounding, but I can walk and drive. I would like to go back to my kids tomorrow, even though the doctor said I probably shouldn't.

Thanks!

The Bay Area Welcomes You Jocie!

2006-08-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

Had a fun time this weekend (even in traffic!) when Sam, Carol, and Jocie visited the Bay Area for the first time as a family. Above is pier 39 and the nasty sea lions.

Jocie walking on the green at Tilden

What could we be laughing at?

The one and only bushman is back (but wasn't the original guy white?) Hilarious as ever.

Sistahs!

On another note, wedding planning has been very fun...

...especially since Daryl's been doing all of it! Thank you daryl!!!! What will I do when you leave for LA!!! IYQ =)

And to end...the future asian marilyn monroe:

Details for Reals

2006-07-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

General Story (aka the unbiased version):
On July 19th, 2007, Daryl asked Julie if she would like to go to Cheeseboard
that Saturday to buy some of their favorite pastries for breakfast. She couldn't decline.

On Saturday, they drove by Strada to buy their favorite coffee drinks (Julie = Americano, Daryl = Mocha, no whip). Then they drove to Cheeseboard to buy:
Cherry Corn Scones
Pecan Roll
Cheese Roll
Daryl suggested that they buy some good quality cheese and eat it with some fresh baked bauguettes. Julie couldn't decline (even at 9:30 in the morning).

The couple then headed off to the Berkeley Rose Gardens, and found a nice, cozy bench in the sun. Daryl insisted that they sit in the sun, although Julie was very hesitant, because it had been very hot that week.

In spite of the heat, the couple ate their fill of bread and cheese. They talked, they laughed, they joked around. The two also took some time to pray together for each other and for their families. By then, the two were ready to take a walk through the beautfiul garden. As they began to walk, Daryl noticed that there was an extra box of cheese in their bag! He gave it to Julie (who was very excited at the thought of free cheese), and she quickly opened it.

To her amazement, Julie saw:

Before she knew it, Daryl had gotten down on one knee and proposed. She said yes immediately, and they hugged. As they were hugging, there was a large wave of shouting and clapping from behind the various rose bushes. The couple's close friends and family jumped out of their hiding spots and cheered. There was then a short celebration with sparlking wine and cheeseboard pizza among the blooming roses and vines.

The proposal

She Says "YES!"
The End

OK...now, HER version (aka the Long Version):
On July 19th, (a wednesday), Daryl asked me randomly if I wanted to go to Cheeseboard with him that Saturday. I said "OF COURSE I WANT TO GO jdak;sldkjf;alksdjfakjsd;lfkja;lsdk!!!!"

On Saturday Daryl woke me up super early so we could get to Cheeseboard early enough to buy the Pecan Rolls (they run out fast). They are huge and fresh and filled w/ toasted pecans, raisins, and apple pieces. Delicious! I also bought my regular cheese roll and cherry/corn scone (sounds weird, but it is scrumptious).

Daryl also said I should choose some cheeses (the Cheeseboard has hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of local and imported cheeses) because he knows that is my favorite part. I couldn't decline! I bought a firm goat cheese and some fresh-baked baugette pieces.

We then headed with our treasure to the Rose Gardens. I was very pleased because we had done something like this almost 3.5 years ago as one of our first dates. I thought, "Sigh, Daryl is being really romantic today!"

And then the romance stopped. When we got to the garden, Daryl said, "let's sit in the sun." He knows that my dad had trained me very very well to NEVER sit in the sun during the daytime, especially in the summer! How dare he ask me to get skin cancer! hmph! I was adamant about sitting in the shade, but then Daryl said, "I have a cold, I should sit where it's warm." I couldn't say no to that (he really was sick), but inside, I couldn't help but think, "you wuss!"

We ate our yummy bread and cheese and pastries, and drank our delicious juice and coffee. The roses were blooming in all sorts of colors (red, pink, white, orange, peach), and the sky was blue. It was almost perfect...except it was SO DARN HOT!!! Daryl could see that I couldn't take the heat anymore, so he said, "OK, let's pray together (weekly thing for us) and then we'll walk into the shade." I coudn't wait. We faced each other and prayed. When we finished, he stretched his arms and I made a mean comment about how white his arms were.

Daryl then asked me to walk toward the center of the garden into the shade. As I got up to walk, he said, "Oh look, Julie, it looks like Cheeseboard gave us an extra thing of cheese." I couldn't believe it. I took the extra container of Brie and peeked inside.

I did not find a nice gooey brick of brie. Instead, I found some tissue wrapping paper, and a bright, brilliant, sparkling....ring!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so cute because the ring was sitting on a little ring holder made out of a rolled piece of old yellow church bulletin. I couldn't hold my tears back. Before I knew it, Daryl was holding my hands and on his knees. He said, "Julie, will you marry me?" I said "yes" almost before he finished asking me.

I gave him a huge hug. Little did I know that it was not over. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jon peeking out from behind some vines. "Jon?????" I said.

Then Daryl said, "oh yeah....ok everybody! You can stand up!"

Then "boop boop boop boop boop!" About 20 heads started popping out from behind the rose bushes!! They started cheering and clapping so that everyone in the rose garden could hear and see us. I felt famous! I even heard rustling in the bushes behind me, so I turned around, and who do I see but Kristy, J.Chiu, and Janelle climbing out of the thorns and leaves with cameras and video cameras. We screamed out of excitement of course, but then I realized they were saying "Wait wait! We were in the wrong spot! Do it again! Do it again!!!" hahahaha they are so funny.

I was so estatic to see Daryl's parents (came all the way from Sacramento!), Dave and Marilee Wang, My Uncle John, Gloria, Todd, Jakie, Nathan, David, Betty, Abraham, Kristy, Julie, Janelle, Frankie, YaoWen, Michelle, Jon and Joanne (who hid everyone!). I wish more of you could have been there, but the Garden wouldn't have fit everyone!

I was too excited to eat much pizza, but it didn't matter. I am Daryl's fiance, and he is mine!!! =)

THE END

OK...now, HIS version(aka the not-as-long-as-Julie's version):

I got the idea from a diamond commercial where a couple is in Paris on vacation for an anniversary and the husband thought it'd be a good idea to renew their vows while standing in front of a fountain. The couple's parents and other friends slowly reveal themselves from behind their newspapers on the steps of the fountain and suprise the woman. I thought this was a perfect idea because we both love and care for our families very much. I thought of proposing in the same manner because it wasn't flashy yet thoughtful. I especially wanted to share the occassion with the people we love who have supported us. The most perfect place was the Rose Garden because we always enjoyed talking at the garden when we started dating in Berkeley.

It's always easy to get Julie to Cheese Board because she loves cheese and we usually take our food to the Rose Garden. Emailing people and inviting them wasn't that stressful and fortunately I have good friends that helped hide people and provided ice cold drinks for them. That Saturday morning I placed the ring in a cheese box I had gotten from Cheese Board the week prior. I hid the ring in my car door on the way to Berkeley and then tucked the box in the back of my jeans since I was afraid to leave the ring in the car alone. Whenever Julie patted my back I had to be sure to gently remove her hand without being suspicious. We bought our pastires and I suggested we get some cheese for the obvious reason of pretending they gave us "something extra."

As we walked down the steps of the Rose Garden I had to stop and put all our food down because the cheese/ring box was coming our from the back of my jeans. The box almost fell to the ground but I caught it and tucked it in again. Julie thought I was tucking in my under shirt and she still didn't suspect anything. Timing was good when we got to the Rose Garden so I just hoped Julie didn't see our good friend Jonathan walking around the garden or anyone else trying hiding. It was quite amusing because I saw everyone hiding but apparently Juie did not. I saw little heads peep from behind trellis posts and rose bushes and then recede back into hiding. I even saw some friends get really close to us and I hoped that they could see us when I actually proposed. I had to hold in my smiles and laughter from knowing everything was working out so well. It also helped that it was hot and Julie had to stand up to face away from the sun so she couldn't see what I saw. We ate and laughed like we usually do and I thought it would be a good time to pray. At the end I hurried and decided to pray for our families because 1) I thought it'd be nice to do and 2) I needed to stall for more time.

I couldn't stall any longer and had to jump the gun a whole 5 minutes early than my scheduled proposal time. I gave the signal that we were going to leave by stretching my arms. I even held them high for awhile so people knew the show would began. I specifically told Julie to head in a certain direction which was toward the middle of the Rose Garden where hopefully everyone could see us.

I then slid the box from my jeans and into our food bag and motioned to Julie. She was suprised when she opened it and one of her first reactions was she smiled and laughed. This didn't suprise me since she did the same when I first asked her out and I had imagined it when I pcitured her reaction in my head. I had a small speech to tell her but got nervous and lost my words when I saw her get excited and cry. I simply asked her to marry me and she said yes faintly. When we were hugging I heard "look over here!" and all our friends and family jumped out and cheered. Others popped out from around the Rose Garden which was hilarious when a suprised Julie saw them. Unfortunately they couldn't see us and missed the actual proposal; we had to do it over again for pictures. Luckily the shade kept us cool as we celebrated with family. On Sunday our proposal was announced at church and the mayhem began.

THE END FOR REALS!

Details

2006-07-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

They are coming soon, I promise! Just waiting on some pictures....can't tell a proper story without pictures!

Thanks btw for all your well wishes =)

Why is Julie so happy??

2006-07-22T21:48:00.000-07:00