My Lovely Kim Samsoon.

Her name is Samsoon.  She is half papillion, half pomeranian.  She weighs about 10lbs and her head is smaller than my hand.  I am stuck with this little monster for the next couple of days.

So far she has peed on me when we were introducing her to our dogs, who by the way, are 5x her size (probably more).  She pooped and peed on my car mats.  She also pooped in the

 kitchen.

Lexi grew accustomed to her and quickly became bored of her.  Zeus however.. he must think Samsoon is a little toy or a squirrel or something.  He's still fascinated by her and I spent a good amount of yesterday yelling at him to leave her alone.

Samsoon is Peter's boss' dog.  Of course, I'm left to take care of the dog since Peter works most of the day.  Not to mention this dog requires WAY more work & attention than Zeus and Lexi.  She lacks in training and house manners.  She just walks all over you, bites you, licks your face, etc.  At least she's made it to her puppy pad to poop and pee last night. Ok, and she is cute... but still.. really small.

THANKFULLY... all the dogs have been sleeping for most of the day.  As long as I don't excite any of them, I think I'll be good.  I am completely exhausted by this dog. Peter put her in her cage this morning so that I could sleep.  Once he left... all I heard was barking, howling, & whining.  I finally cracked and let her out of the cage.  She couldn't handle being in there for 10 minutes!!  She was very well behaved once I let her sleep with me though.

I snapped some photos of her... she doesn't stay still for very long.  She's still a puppy and has soo much energy.  & yehh... she currently has double fangs.

Hanging out with the boyfriend.

After Peter got off of work today, we headed over to Loveland for a couple of things.  First, we went to pick up these board games that I bought off of a guy on craigslist.  I bought Taboo, Cranium (Regular Edition), & Scattergories!  I'm so happy & stoked that I got these games because I've been wanting them for a long time and I got them all at once.  The best part, it was only $22.00 for all the games :D  They're used, but I don't mind.  One of the games alone, brand new, would be the same price.  Score!  He had a BUNCH (100s) of other games & I may just have to buy from him in the future again.  I love board games!  Peter just doesn't like em as much :]

After we picked up the games we went over to Pho Lan, a new Vietnamese Restaurant in Loveland that serves pho.  It was a perfect choice for the gloomy weather!  We both got the Bo Vien (Meatball) pho.  He got a large and I got a medium, which was more than enough!  We also got an appetizer of 6 crab & cheese wontons and vietnamese iced coffee for Peter.  Everything was $21.00!  Well-worth the money if you ask me.  I enjoyed the meal and it was very affordable.

We headed over to Layne guys' house afterwards to drop off this girl's shoe that I accidentally took during my drunken stupor ;)  Oops.  Haha.  I also needed to get my pants that I left at their house.  Wish we stayed longer, but next time :P

We headed to Centerra to check out the shops.  GameStop, Best Buy, PacSun, & Lids.  Peter walked out with the new Method Man & Redman CD & a Colorado Rockies hat from New Era.  Then we headed back to Greeley to check out Blockbuster.  There were A LOT of good deals, but we decided not to get anything though since we won't have time to watch a movie this week.

LAST stop... King Soopers!  I really really wanted ice cream.  I bought a half gallon of Dreyers ice cream for $2.67... amongst other incredibly unhealthy things that I normally eat/drink.  2 liter Pepsi, Keebler's Fudge Striped cookies, bag of Nestle Crunch, bag of Baby Ruth, and Haribo Gummy bears.

I know, I am SO unhealthy :)  Bad habits die hard.  It doesn't help that Peter LOVES candy and I LOVE chocolate.  Lol.  Ever since I started drinking soda again though, I've gained the weight that I lost, which in retrospect is probably a good thing.

I'm pretty tired, but I'd like to go ahead and do a bunch of other stuff like cleaning up & organizing before I sleep.  All in all, it was a good afternoon with the boyfriend.

My Bebes.

These two are the cutest little munchkins ever.  I love my little bears.  I'll be really sad when I have to leave them for a while :( :(  They're my bebes and I wont be able to see them for almost 2 months!! Lexi is going to be sooo sad :(  I've been with them 24/7 for the past year and awww I just love them to pieces.  I need to get them started on getting all the right shots, microchipped, blood tested etc. so that they can move to Hawaii without having to be quarantined for 180 days :)

Oh yeah, before I forget, I havent entered much sweepstakes lately, but I did manage to get a surprise win in the mail last week.  I got a Mountain Dew Voltage sweatshirt/hoodie.  Its HUGE though.  Haha.  I also got an e-mail yesterday that I won a $5 Jamba Juice gift certificate.  It'll be perfect for when I go home to Hawaii.  Jamba Juice is just down the road from my house :)  Considering how little I've been entering, I think May has been an OK month sweeps-wise.  Here's some earlier wins:

• 5/1 - 2 Movie Passes - Coke Twist-Txt-Get
  
• 5/1 - Monster Energy Drink x2 - Kawasaki
  
• 5/1 - 2 posters - SKYY Vodka
  
• 5/7, 5/11, 5/12 - $25 Gift Card - Coke Twist-Txt-Get
  

Game 3 Nuggets vs. Lakers

photo: Colorado, August 2005

I suppose living in Colorado does have it perks at times.  Then again, I believe you can find beauty in everything.  I took this photo on the way back up to Greeley after bringing my first year of "college summer vacation" to an end.  This photo is nostalgic at best.

Tonight is the Game 3 of the Nuggets vs. Lakers series.  THIS IS OUR HOUSE!  The Nuggets have won 16 straight at home and I believe we will win again tonight!  The Lakers will of course will provide a good challenge, but we can do it!  I definitely WILL NOT fall asleep during this game!  

Last night, I fell asleep during the Cavaliers vs. Magic game!  Ahhhh.  I watched the first two quarters & fell asleep during half-time.  I half woke up during the last 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter (thinking it was the 5th) and quickly fell asleep again.  I woke up during the last minute or so during the 4th.  I TOTALLY THOUGHT I WAS AWAKE (because I could hear the TV), but I apparently missed the most clutch shot of the night/finals series.  The roar of the announces/crowd quickly woke me up as I saw King James erupting in excitement.  The constant replays of his game winning shot throughout the rest of the night totally made up for it though.  This play was the talk of the town.

I'm making sure I'm not falling asleep this time.  This game will be crucial to the momentum and morale of the team.  GO NUGGETS!  I need to put my nuggets gear on.  Since I don't have anyone to watch the game with (Peter's at work), I can go crazy and jump up and down without a care in the world.  Lol.  It'll be fun.

Yes, I'm sure everyone has noticed by now the way in which Peter has influenced me, my life, & my choice of sports entertainment these days.  Not that I didn't enjoy these things before, but I've actually taken it upon myself to watch sports.. even if I'm by myself.  5 years ago, I wouldn't be able to say the same.

On a side note, before I take a quick shower... writing has proved to be a challenge.  Endorsing a check & writing a deposit slip shot sharp pains through my fingers.  Ugh.  It made driving a biatch to say the least.  I grinded my gears TWICE yesterday.  It's the first time I've done this to my car in the 8 months that I've owned it.  It's not a pretty sound.  Anyway, I just have to laugh because my mom is really sad about not being able to write as nice & neat as she used to (side effect of .. yah).  She's been practicing her handwriting daily.  Me, I think I'll just avoid it altogether for now.

GAME TIME!

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

heart.shatter   ... good thing its a 7 game series. wayyyyy too many stupid plays.  way too many fouls.  & way too many selfish plays.  get smarter nuggets!

The Journey Home.

Last night at 9:45pm while watching the Nuggets vs. Lakers game coming down to the wire... I realized I had less than 15 minutes to book my flight to Maui!  I originally put this flight on hold 2 days before and prices jumped over those 2 days, so I knew I had to book my flight.

All in all, with taxes and everything, $373 round-trip to Maui on United Airlines.  That's with one stop-over in LAX and one in DEN on the way back. Oh yes, there's a catch, I have to fly out of Colorado Springs instead of Denver.  I'm going to see if I can just stay in DEN on my way back up though.  Haha.  Saving $100 seems to be worth the extra 1 1/2 hour trip down to COS ;)  So, it's official, I'll be home June 4th - July 28th.  I gave heed to my mother's request to stay longer, at least till the end of the month.  My mom deserves it and I did promise to take care of her.

I have quite a few things to take care of when I get home.  I don't want to be a slave to my thoughts and ill-feelings toward numerous parties.  My mother won't say anything and I can clearly see the burden that everything is causing.  Therefore, I'm going to take it upon myself to let all the assholes of the world know that karma is alive and kicking.  Frankly, I'm tired of all the bullshit and ungrateful people.  My mother is too great a woman to confront others, but I love her too much to let anyone else hurt her.

My mom can't afford to be stressed about anything right now.  These things can prove to be detrimental to her health as she continues to go through therapy and is recovering.  Unforunately, things just never stop though.  Today, we received word that Mr. Suzuki (Suzuki Sensei in the Aikido world) passed away in the early morning hours.  He was 92.  Mr. Suzuki was my mom's patient and lived with us for about 2 years or so under the care of my mom.  She called him "Papa" and really loved him.  As for myself, I really respected him as a person.  He was a legend in his own right.  It's rare to witness a humble spirit in a man with his status.  

I wrote a 10 page paper about him my senior year of college. I need to re-write it to fit the occasion and probably condense it to no more than 2 pages. My mom wants me to send my paper to his family.  All I know is, Maui lost a great soul today.  The Aikido world lost a great teacher.  Some things I'd like to highlight about Mr. Suzuki:

• At the age of 90, he attained of kyudan, or 9th degree black belt in Aikido.
• He is the first non-Japanese citizen and only the fourth person ever to achieve a 9th degree black belt rank in his martial art.
  
• His promotion made Suzuki Sensei highest-ranked aikido instructor in the world outside of Japan.
  
• He was a police officer for the Maui Police Department for 32 years & retired as a Major.
• He volunteered his time to teach new MPD recruits the art of self-defense from 1953 until 2007.
• Shin’ichi Suzuki Sensei: Head Instructor, Maui Ki-Aikido
  
• Maui aikido ’sensei’ attains 9th-degree black belt rank
  
• Honored Teacher

He had quite a life and I am grateful and honored to have met someone like him.  I wish he held on just a few weeks more.  I would've liked to visit him and present him with the paper I wrote about him.  I'll always remember him sitting at the table with a pile of Christmas cards, painstakingly hand-writing a card to each and every person that sent him cards & well-wishes.  We talked and talked and talked that day.  Until we meet again Mr. Suzuki.  'Let your ki flow like a stream.'  May the waters embrace your soul and like a river lead you home.

Photo: Iao Valley circa 2007. Cotton candy effect.

Confirmed. England, here we come.

August 26th - September 3rd.

This week will live in infamy for the rest of my life.  Why?  Because this is the scheduled date of Peter & I's trip to London, England!!! Yes, I finally got he confirmation dates :)  How awesome is that?

Backstory:  I was bored in mid-November and decided to try my hand at sweepstakes.  The second night I played them, I instantly won a trip for 4 days/4 nights in London from a Coke Zero instant win game.  I was shocked to say the least.. It was my first win from an online sweepstake!

I am so glad everything is coming together.  We still need our hotel reservation confirmation, but I'm not really anticipating anything great for that.  Haha.  Originally, the trip I won was for 4 days, but I was able to extend the trip to a full week, without charge.  We'll be staying with my cousin Arnel after our 4 night hotel stay.  I guess he & his wife will try to take leave for the week that we are there :)  I'm also making arrangements with my other cousin Ela to meet up with her sometime while I'm there.  Hope things work out.  It'd be nice to meet up with them somewhere else in the world besides the Philippines ;)  

If I had it my way, I would've stayed at least 3 weeks!  Lol.  Peter works though, so that's a bummer.  The things I could've done in Europe!  I definitely would've taken a train to Milan, Italy and visit ALLLLLL my family there.  There's so many cousins, aunts, uncles, and all their children that I haven't seen in YEARS and years.  One day, I'd like to backpack through Europe, stay in hostels, do an odd job to get extra cash, hitchhike on a farmers truck, etc. etc.  One day.

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

Also, an update on me hand.  When I said I'm missing two knuckles, I meant it quite literally.  It's broken, duh.  Classic Boxer's Fracture.  Here's 2 sets of photos.  1 from a couple of days after the fact & the other from 2 days ago.  I know, it's still bruised.  I'll live.

It was a pretty day yesterday.

Yesterday was in the 90s!! After doing some webwork, I met up with Ken at Noodles N Company for lunch. We ate outside, chatted, and all-around had a great conversation about life. It's always nice to meet up with friends you rarely see or talk to and catch up. We ate outside on the patio and the weather was just perfect. I had the stroganoff with braised beef and it was delicious.

After lunch, I stopped by Starbucks across the street and decided to surprise Peter with a Iced Chai Tea Latte since he was working just a block away. It was hot and he was wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt. I figured he'd enjoy a nice cold drink :) He was taking in a delivery when I got there, so I waited outside in my car. It just got hotter and HOTTER ... I thought I was going to have a heat stroke!! My A/C refused to work either for some odd reason and kept blowing out hot air (my car is new, there's no reason for that!)... Alas, i walked in with his drink. He looked quite surprised! Lol. It's the first time I've done anything like this, so I hope it was appreciated :)

I went home, had a convo with my nephew (cousin's son) via text. I told Peter my hand hurt & no more driving for me today. Haha. Damn stick shift. He called me during his break on his way to Fort Collins. On the way there, something went wrong with his car and he decided to turn around and head back to town.  Sooo, I had to drive down to the dealership to pick him up and he borrowed my car for the rest of the day.  

I took the liberty of putting on some make-up and snapping a picture or two afterwards .  It was really nice outside once 'golden hour' hit.  I really wanted to take photos out where the sun was shining, but there were people outside.  Lol.

I just lounged around for the next couple of hours.  I watched TV,  chatted, and cooked some dinner for Peter.  When he got home, he told me, "Babe, you're a good girlfriend."  :)  Perhaps.. that has to do with everything I did for him today.  To that I say, "Of course. I'm awesome!"  You'd probably be an idiot not to see that and that's that!  ;)

Today, I'm excited for the Denver Nuggets game!!  I believe in you NUGGIES!!  We can do it and clench the Western Conference Finals in SIX.  Hehe.  Just a hunch... maybe it'll go to SEVEN.  Exciting!  I think we're going to try and go somewhere to watch it.  It's much more fun when there's other people cheering with you.  Maybe we'll go to B-Dubs!  I love wings and today is 'wing tuesday' ... 40 cent wings!  & now for pics..

*Note, I had to edit this post. There was an overload of smilies.  I need a smiley intervention.  Lol.  & yes, my eyes are quite large sometimes.  & I was trying really hard for that peace sign.

Weatherman Was Right

Sunrise, 4 years ago.. one of my favorite photos.

Majority of my photos on flickr need to be found doing a manual search since my "Pro" account expired months ago. Thats pretty much when I stopped using flickr as well. Publicly, only 200 of my photos are displayed because of the restrictions on basic accounts. I do have hundreds of other photos on there though :)

Anyhow, for once the weatherman was right! I took the dogs out early this morning and it was raining. "Arbis Ti Gracia" (Ilocano) as I'd call it or Showers Of Blessings. I love the smell of rain, especially in the morning.

Tonight I'm having dinner with Layne guys at their new house in Loveland. It'll be nice to spend some time with friends. I'm going to make my cheesecake cookie cupcakes, but I didn't know I only had one box of cream cheese at home. Damnit. I knew I should've bought more. I cant afford to drive again since I have a stick shift. What shall I do in this little predicament? I have a few hours to figure it out. Haha.

Currently, Lexi is sitting at the top of the stairs trying to get my attention. She's telling me she needs to go to the bathroom. Sometimes, I despise how smart she is. A dog that tells you what she wants and is persistent at it until she gets it whether it be needing water, food, attention, or using bathroom. What she's come to understand in these past 2 years boggles my mind. Lol. The newest thing she's learned, "Lexi, where's daddy?" Haha! Its too cute. When I ask her, she'll immediately look towards the door to see if Peter's coming. If she thinks he's almost at the door she starts going up the stairs to look for him. Perhaps having 2 smart dogs is quite entertaining most of the time.

News I've read so far today, will read more later. Too many about death right now:

• Suspect in pregnant Marine's death not father of unborn child
  
• Boy found buried in NM park still unidentified
  

Losing Sensation

Its been a stressful few weeks/months to say the least.  I need to start creating an outlet for my thoughts once again.  So here I am... taking a break from my photoblog.  Why I chose this username is not depressing as it seems.  Explanation to come.

Current thought: I'm losing sensation in my right hand.  I have what you call a typical 'Boxer's Fracture.'  Yes, self-diagnosed, but its obvious. Now this scares me and I am fully aware it is imperative I see the doctor and I intend to once I get paid.  Oh the woes of not having health insurance-- a great benefit I always took for granted up until I graduated college! My hand seems to have gotten a little better ever since I've sat up, but if i try to lift up my hand, my pinky and ring finger start shaking.  Crazy.  I can foresee having to rebreak my hand (sober!!!) and having a cast or splint in the near future.  Oh boy.

I've never broken a bone in my life.  Never needed to see the doctor other than being 'cough cough' sick.  Now, the functional abilities of my right hand are limited.  It's still bruised, still a little swollen, & slowly becoming more bothersome.  Damnit what am I going to tell my mother?  I think I'll blame this on..... skateboarding.  Yes, thats it.  She'll probably have a heart attack if she ever found out the truth behind me breaking two knuckles & then some.

My mother is still recovering and I can't bare to burden her with the stupidity and lack of rational I displayed last week.  They say it takes about 5-6 weeks for an injury like this to heal... errr. Guess I'll have to face my mom with it whether I like it or not, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there :)

As far as today goes, I'm in awe at the amount of "chatting" I did.  The IM's just never stopped.  It was the strangest thing, but I must say, I was very amused with every conversation.  Many quote worthy comments were made... To all those friends, thank you for brightening up my day :)  Although my hand paid the price, I enjoyed myself!