Thanksgiving Weekend! (Revised and Updated) ^_^

Again, it's certainly been a long time since I've written blog. :P Part of this year's resolution will probably be to write my blog a little more often than I'm writing right now... lol!

This weekend is a special one since it's a Thanksgiving weekend! Last day of classes for the week was Wednesday so it's a nice long weekend which I'm thankful for. The only complaint I would have (if any) for this great weekend is the fact that so many of my teachers decided to give homework so I've been having to study and write papers and such. Ah well.

So let me tell you what I've been doing for this weekend so far...

Thursday was Thanskgiving so while Maki and I woke up around 9:00, Naomi and Erin had already been awake from around 8:00 to start cooking. LOTS of good food. ^_^ So after given just a few minutes to really 'wake up', started cleaning up the house. Also had to go last minute shopping with Erin at the grocery store.

Lunch was a simple affair of sushi makis. ^_^ Then around 2:30, Ericson and Tomoya (Maki's and my Christian classmate (Speech class)) came so we could have a short 'service'. We sang a few sangs and prayed; gave thanks for the day and prayed that we would be good witnesses to the non-Christians who would be coming over today.

Then from 3:00 we were pretty busy with people continually coming by. Some had to leave earlier but there was ALWAYS plenty of people around. :P As I said, lots of delicious food including turkey, lamb stew, mashed potatoes (I made!), candied yams, salad, stuffing, cranberry jam, stringed beans, spaghetti, LOTS of assorted pies, LOTS of chips (including avocado and spinach dips), cinnamon rolls, and more!

Not only was there lots of food and fellowship, we also played Mafia which was sooo much fun and really broke the ice to help people get to know one another and become comfortable with each other. Also played a Thanksgiving quiz game, Apples to Apples (a fun word/card game which Ericson brought), and Uno. Somewhere in the middle I showed some of my videos that I've made, including scenes from Newsies. ^_^

(Let me just introduce you to my good, great, fantastic, funny, hilarious friends/classmates from musical theatre class, Mitsuko and Kaori (picture to the left)~!

Here's a 'guest list' for who came:

Tomoya and Ericson as already mentioned... Erin's friends Michi, Sun, Mayu, and Miho. What was REALLY interesting was that Miho's current roommate was none other than my classmate from last semester's Japanese class, Maki! So of course we also invited Maki to come so it was nice seeing her again. Naomi's friends included her business associate/friend from Japan who is also called Naomi. :P She in turn also brought her friend Ritsuko. And Naomi also had her work related friend Adam come over. And as you can see I invited my musical theatre classmates/friends Mitsuko and Kaori. Later on in the evening, Brandie and Verano came over with their 3 month old baby, Aidan; Danny also came and stopped by for a couple of hours.

So... as you can see, LOTS of people. :P As I mentioned, we played games including Mafia which was soooo much fun! I was the "Narrator" most of the time but at the very end I played and Maki and I were the Mafia... and we won!!!!! ^_^ We were just too, too good and were the only ones left. muahahaha

Around 11:00 in the evening we began cleaning up and Erin and I took Mitsuko and Kaori home. On the way, we talked about how Kaori might come to see the Christmas pageant and also come to the church Christmas party! She's going to be going home for Christmas and was really interested about getting together with us during the holidays and coming to Kanto Christian Church. That was really exciting for me, getting together with one of my college classmates in Japan! ^_^

Do the math and you'll see that our Thanksgiving party lasted from almost 2:30 until around 11:30... almost 9 hours! Whew! Had such a great time and I know that everyone really enjoyed themselves which was the important thing; it was great hearing from everyone later about how much our house was really like a home and the four of us were like family.

Went to bed and the next day (Friday) I got to sleep in a bit though not too much. Studied history and then watched some NCIS while eating lunch. Finished answering all the multiple choice questions for my history take home quiz (had to read over 60 pages from my book to find all the answers :P) then because of the Thanksgiving sale, Maki and I went over to Borders. Got a couple of dvds and Christmas presents there; such great sales!

Got home then Naomi, Maki, and I went to Naomi's business networking group's holiday party. I knew a few of Naomi's business networking 'friends' which helped me relax. :P It's always a bit 'awkward' at first to go someplace where you don't know anybody. But all of Naomi's friends were soooooo nice and welcomed Maki and I with open arms. After eating a delicious dinner (including dipping fruits into a chocolate fountain... YUM!), someone brought a karaoke machine which we put to good use for the rest of the evening. lol! Had a great time singing and dancing; I was most definitely starting to lose my voice towards the end of the party and I had to sit down part way after standing and dancing most of the time.

Thus Friday ended and now for today, Saturday's, report!

Was woken up by a phone call around 8:00 which was a bit *hmph* but I fell right back asleep for a couple more hours. :P Started my history short essay part of my take-home quiz then around 11:00, Naomi, Maki, Naomi's business friend (whom I mentioned before) who is also named Naomi, and I went towards Hawaii Kai. Ate Greek food for lunch then shopped at Costco. Stopped by Naome #2's homestay place for a while then headed for home. The whole afternoon was spent in INTENSE concentration on the computer. :P

I finished up my history short essay then set to work on my last paper for Speech Class. I had to write a research paper about interpersonal communication and it's relationship to computer. *rolls eyes* It wasn't particularly a difficult report to write... the fact that I had to do 'research' and search for sources was the real drag. I didn't really have to look up other people's opinions about a topic I'm pretty up to date about... but it had to be done. I also worked on checking book reports for the high schoolers of KCIS (almost done guys!).

Before I knew it, it was dinner time and naturally, we had leftovers (SOOO much in the fridge right now). lol! Watched the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera then went back to work on my paper. It's 'tentatively' done right now (will have to read over tomorrow) then studied Business Law. Read a couple of chapters, took a quiz, and posted on the discussion boards. *sigh* I studied sooo much today my head feels ready to explode... :P lol! I'm just glad that I got so much done.

Tomorrow is Sunday! The plan is to have a short service of our own in the morning and then head of to New Hope's morning service. In the afternoon I might go see the movie Happy Feet with my classmates but we'll see how it goes. Ta-ta!

Rain Rain Rain Pretty Much ALL Day Yesterday... :S :P

I know, it's not really Thursday right now (Friday morning) but I wanted to put up a quick post of what happened yesterday before going off to babysitting in a little while.

In the morning I had a Psychology exam so I went to class a bit early so I can study on campus. It wasn't raining that much on the way but I could see that there was a high chance of the weather getting worse. The test was fairly easy so I finished in like 40 minutes. :P By then, it was POURING and most of us students were stuck in the building since we didn't want to rush out into the rain. Melissa (Psychology and Musical Theatre classmate) and I braved the rain and ran to the cafeteria to get some food (I wanted to hot, hot chocolate on this slimy, wet, and cold day).

That was around 10:00... the thing is, my class and subsequently Maki's class end at 10:30 and we were supposed to meet at the Great Lawn for the campu prayer meeting which is from 11 to 12. Because it was raining, I assumed the prayer meeting will meet in the cafteria.

So while I was waiting, was just having a grand old time when around 10:30 I saw two of my classmates from last semester. Jason, Nicky, and I had taken the History class together last semester and had been pretty good friends so they came to my table and we were pretty much catching up on everything (Melissa soon left for another class). Around 11:10, realizing that I hadn't seen anyone from the prayer meeting yet, I decided to take a quick look around the cafeteria and spotted Maki as she was just coming in. :P Becaue we had no means of communication, after her class she had gone to the parking lot, to my classroom building, and then back to the parking lot before deciding to come to the cafteria. :P I felt so bad because it had been raining so bad; fortunately though she had an umbrella unlike me... lol!

I saw one girl from the prayer meeting and found out that the prayer meeting had been cancelled. Since it was still raining and I was pretty comfortable, I stayed until around 12, talking to Jason and Nicky while Maki was with another classmate of ours, Tomoya. At noon we both went home.

Had lunch and watched (very hisashiburi) Law and Order then an episode of NCIS. Studied a bit then went to my Musical Theatre class. Mitch wasn't in class today (had to go to mainland because a relative passed away) so we mostly did singing for the better part of the class. Then, since Mitch wasn't there, Lina asked me to lead the class in some dance warm ups. ^_^ Then at the very end, she showed us pictures she had taken of us a couple of time earlier in the semester during our dancing. She pointed out our postures, arm positions, leg positions, etc. Then got to leave early class early though it didn't really turn out that way because Lina and I were talking about something else she might like me to do for her in future... :P When it becomes definite, I'll tell you what it is. ^_^

Went home and had dinner (thank you Maki and Naomi), watched NCIS, did some computer, then had our prayer meeting at 8:30. Afterwards, I got to talk on the phone with my father for a bit (really missing home right now), then read The Count of Monte Cristo. About 3/4 done! Such a thick book but I LOVE reading it; am getting especially tense because I'm getting towards the exciting parts!

Then it was off to bed for me. Here are my plans for today: going to babysit Malia and Bella from 10 to around 2 or 3 and then nothing planned until Friday night service in which I'm playing drums. Probably afterwards will go out to eat... to celebrate Matt's eye laser surgery! Yup, he finally got his eyes lasered yesterday! Soooo happy for him; many congratulations!

I'm off to babysit now... ta-ta!