Mammoth

I apologize for the such a late update on this Mammoth post. I had Greek Week and Monte Carlo to keep me busy all week long. More on that in future entries... hopefully those will be up soon!

I went to Mammoth with my friend Amy and her family. Actually, we didn't even snowboard nor stayed in Mammoth. We snowboarded at June mountain and stayed in June's little nonexistence town. I have never even heard of June therefore I refer to this trip as "Mammoth." June is just a half hour away from Mammoth. Hence, this trip is called MAMMOTH. It's not like we didn't go to Mammoth at all, we actually went and got a mini tour of Mammoth from Amy's dad on our last day. So technically, I did go to Mammoth. Hehe.

I never knew Mammoth/June was so far away from Fullerton. I have always thought it was like an hour and a half away, two max. But no, it took us 6 hours with an hour dinner break, a few gas stops and bathroom breaks. Holy crap, it was like driving to Stockton. Except it seemed so much longer. We didn't get there until about 9p.m. I slept most of the way, I was lucky enough to get the whole back seat of the SUV to myself. We pulled up to our cabin and unloaded the stuff. I showered and went to bed since we had to get up really early the next day. I woke up to the smell of pancakes. Of course it took me like an hour to get ready, so I didn't get to have any pancakes. Amy brought me a bowl of cereal for breakfast, didn't get to finish that either. Eventually, I was all geared up and ready to go! Before we left Fullerton, I went out to invest in a few things. I left all of my snowboard gear back in NorCal, so I had to get new pants. It's almost towards the end of the season, so a lot of things were on sale. I found these hot pink snowboard pants for $40 in youth... IN YOUTH! Everything is so much cheaper in youth. I'm very blessed to be a tiny girl to fit in youth pants! Then I got some black under armour. I was planning on renting boots at June but boots were on sale here, so I decided to finally invest in boots. I got these white/mint green Lamar snowboarding boots for $40 also. What a steal! They're so cute. I didn't have to worry about snowboards or bindings because Amy had some extra boards for me. Phew, less I have to pay for. I'm probably going to invest in a board soon, maybe at the end of the season when everything goes on sale. So ya, all geared up!

It's funny because pink is not our color at all. I actually don't prefer pink and Amy absolutely hate pink. It's a good color to snowboard in though, easily to spot. We were the only ones wearing pink that day. We were REALLY easy to spot. Haha. We bought our lift tickets at Costco so it was a lot cheaper. $50. That isn't bad at all. A lift ticket for Mammoth would've cost us $95. Insanely expensive. That's a part of the reason why we didn't snowboard at Mammoth. Anyway, got there right when it opened at 8a.m. People weren't there yet so we got the whole mountain to ourselves.

The weather was pretty much perfect. High in the 50s. We didn't need to wear our jackets after about 2 runs. Amy and I did a total of 15 runs. That's the most I've ever done in one day. I tried to do jumps for the first time ever. It was so thrilling! I don't even know where I got the courage to do so. I fell numerous of times but also landed a few. Amy recorded a video of me where I ate it. All you can see is my board in the air. haha, but man, that jump was probably the craziest. I flew so high, falling didn't even faze me (gosh I sound so hood saying that). I also tried to learn carving. At one time, I hit my head so hard that my goggles and beanie came off. Still, I kept trying like a champ! I can go down the mountain and heel perfectly. The only thing left to be mastered is carving. Hopefully I can get that down soon! We went all day from 8a.m.-4p.m. with an hour of lunch break. That was probably one of the best trips I have ever done. I really liked June. Though the slopes were machine groomed, it was close to perfect. After that we went and got ice cream (that goes to show how perfect the weather was). Then Amy's dad made a spaghetti/weenie dog dinner. 

The next morning, we packed up and left the cabin. Some decided to snowboard Mammoth mountains, we on the other hand decided to have a snow day. We built a snowman and went sledding. It was the first snowman I've ever built! It was as tall as Amy. I accessorized it with my scarf and beanie. The guys put boobs on it. So we named it Maud Jones (a founder of ZTA). haha, so inappropriate. Here she is... 

Then we left. On the way home, we stopped at a few places. 1) Mammoth. 2) Convict Lake (it was a camp ground in the middle of nowhere. There's a lake there that was formed by melted glaciers).

We also stopped in this fish place and fed some trouts and this lava sand place (it was pretty cool).

It was a great little vacation. I needed it bad. Then it was back to sunny Southern California. Back to 80 degrees weather in the middle of winter. I miss the snow. Anyway, so that was it. I had a great time!

Sneak Peak of Mammoth Trip

One More Disney Day!

I am proud to say that I am among the thousands that attended "One More Disney Day." You're probably wondering what the hell that is. Well, for the first time ever, Disneyland Park (California) and Magic Kingdom Park (Florida) opened for 24 hours on leap day. The parks opened on February 29, 2012 at 6:00 a.m. and closed at 6:00 a.m. on March 1, 2012. It didn't seem like a big deal to me. The reason I wanted to go was because my Disneyland pass was going to expire soon. So I figured why not! Little did I know, everybody and their mother was going! Rachel picked me up at my apartment at about 11:00p.m. Traffic was ridiculous! I was not prepared for it at all. We made a wrong turn but luckily it lead us to the  Downtown Disney, Chip N' Dale parking lot. We found parking right away. All of which took us about 45 minutes including being stuck in traffic. Normally, it would only take me 15 minutes to get to Disneyland from my apartment. Meanwhile, our other friends were still stuck in traffic, it took them 2 hours+ to get to the parking structure. Anyway, we boarded the tram and it took us to the park. Holy crap, the line for security was insanely long compared to the usual line. We finally got through that... then we saw this....

 

A sea of people were standing outside of the entrance. The park have reached capacity and they closed all of the gates. I have never seen this before. Rachel and I ran into some other ZTAs and we joined forces. Of course we did not get in the back of the line. We somehow cut so many people. Rumors were spreading throughout the crowd. "The cast of Modern Family is here!!!" "Holly Madison and Leonardo DiCaprio are here!!!" "I saw Shaun White!" "They're never going to open the gates!" "It will be hours til they let us all in." Whether they were true or not... I have no clue. Eventually the cast members opened the gates. Everybody cheered, screamed, and yelled. People were pushing and shoving just to get through. The moment of crossing that gate, holy crap... It was so magical (a total Disney saying, hehe). I pulled up my Disney wait time app on my phone. The shortest line was for my all time favorite ride, It's A Small World! 10 minutes wait time. We headed there right away. Something about being at Disneyland at midnight was just so incredible. It was like GradNight all over again. Here's a picture of the inside of It's A Small World...

After that, we waited in line for The Haunted Mansion ride. The wait was like an hour long. After that ride Rachel and I departed from the rest of the crew. They wanted to head home, so we stuck around. The wait line for all of the rides I wanted to go on was 100+ minutes long. Rachel and I walked around celeb hunt/ trying to keep ourselves warm. Oh my god, at 4:00a.m., it was freezing!!! I couldn't hang no longer. So we decided to go to City Hall and pick up a "One More Day of Disney" badge. We got there and they told us they ran out. I was devastated! 

Then this nice lady was like "You can have mine."

I wanted to say "OMG! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" right away, but that didn't feel right. 

So I pretended to control my excitement. "Oh no, I can't take that from you, there's no way." 

She said "I have been renewing my Disney pass for the past 14 years, honestly, take it."

I said "Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me because my pass is going to expire in like 6 days."

So she gave it to me, and we took a picture together. Gosh, what a saint! Here she is.... 

If y'all see her around, do something nice for her, or simply just say hello. Even a smile will do. =)

After that, we waited for like 30 minutes for the tram to take us to our car. I got home and KTFO. 

I woke up the next morning at 11:30a.m. I missed my 8A.M. class... and was 2 hrs and a half late to work. I was so afraid to call my boss. So I text her a long text saying how disappointed I am of myself and gave her the excuse that I have just been studying so hard lately... She responded and said it's okay, it happens. OMG, I felt so guilty, actually I still do. Let's just hope she will never ever ever discover this blog of mine.

Well, it was a pretty neat experience. How many people can say they attended Disney leap day?! Just thousands out of 6 billion+ people... that's not so bad. Maybe it'll happen again in 4 more years? Hopefully! 

Hollywood Hike

A few of my sorority sisters and I hiked to the Hollywood sign last Saturday. Honestly, it did not seem like a 5-mile hike at all. It was a little rough at the beginning due to the extreme inclines but everything else was a breeze. The view was amazing. Still, it doesn't beat hiking in Yosemite or the Sturtevant Falls. Here are some pictures:

My Big and I

Before the hike

During the hike

Random guys throwing up our crowns

A view of Forest Lawn (MJ was buried here)

"Charlie's Angels" 

After the hike

I HAVE TERMITES!!!!

Termites. Termites.. TERMITES!!! It is such an ugly word. I never expected to have these nasty-infested-blood-sucking bugs in my home. I could not tell what it was at first because I have never experienced anything like it. My first thoughts were.. maggots, or white-clear-nasty things. Then I found out that they were termites. Honestly, I am extremely embarrassed to tell anyone about it. What if my friends doesn't want to come over anymore? What if they think I'm unclean?! So I decided to do some research. The pictures that popped up was not very pleasant. Then I discovered that it is not my fault that I have termites. They can find their way through cracks from outside of the structure. So I called my management up and they are taking care of it. They sent in the Terminix Pest Control guys. Luckily we caught it in time. It is not at the extreme stage yet. Apparently, they have been digging their way through the beam from the outside. The guys are going to clean everything up before I get home today. I also put in a request for them to come and clean my carpet because who knows what could be living there! Overall, the experience wasn't so bad. My management was very professional and took care of everything in a timely manner. I still hate these bugs though. Go eat wood somewhere else please!

Meet My Parents

As I am sitting at work not wanting to work, I went through my old flash drive where I secretly stored pictures that meant the most to me. I have not looked at these pictures in a very long time and it brought back a lot of memories. I forgot that these photos even existed. It's almost as if I had just unlocked a treasure chest. A treasure chest filled not with gold, but nostalgia, excitement, and fun. Everything that is worth more than gold.

Here is a thing about my family, we don't take a lot of pictures. I mean we try to for special occasions, but even then, we don't capture much. In this treasure chest that I have just unlocked, I found pictures of my parents that illustrates their love for one another. My parents are no romantics. I have never seen them show affections, not even a kiss, to each other. Believe me, for a very long time, I was almost convinced that my parents are no longer in love. However, these photos were able to capture the love that they have for one another, the love that I never even knew existed.

What's a V-Day?

I have not celebrated Valentine's Day since the 8th grade. So it was just like any ordinary day for me. I am not bitter, nor am I excited the holiday but it does get annoying when your boss gives out Twilight V-Day cards, and people goes around asking you if you want to buy teddy bears with chocolate roses, or strawberries dipped in chocolate. No, I don't want to buy your teddy bears nor do I want to spend a whole lot of money on your strawberries when I can make them myself for half the price!

Well, this year I decided to celebrate this holiday with my friends Hiba and Rachel. I guess it's better to spend it with friends than cooking at home alone. I wouldn't have mind. But since all of us had no plans... why not.

The first course on the menu is called Rachel's Salad. Why the name? Because she brought it from home. It was pre-bagged though. We didn't have a big bowl to mix our salad, so we used a pot instead. How efficient! Rachel's Salad has: lettuce, cabbage..you know all that salad stuff, then she added yellow tomatoes and carrots, it came with almonds, raisins, and crumbled bleu cheese. We topped it off with a white balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was healthlisticly delicious.

We made vodka lemonade after we prepared the salad. I didn't have wine at my apartment, so this was the next classy thing. 

Then we went ahead and boiled the water for our farfalle.. blah blah blah. I cooked the mushroom in olive oil and garlic. Then threw in the pre-cooked-chicken-that-came-in-the-frozen-bag. Once that's done, Rachel lightly added the alfredo sauce, when I say lightly... it was like a pinch. She's a health freak! I would have thrown in the whole jar. Oh well, it came out amazing anyway. Then we mixed in the pasta. Voila! We created our version of "light" chicken farfalle alfredo.

For dessert, we decided to go with the double chocolate cake that's been sitting in my fridge since last week. Rocky Road, Strawberry, and Vanilla ice cream were added of course. 

Hiba didn't cook anything, she just came to join us after her class. We all ate and watched.... He's Just Not That Into You. Rachel soon realized that we were just like those sad, soppy, pathetic girls with no valentines. I refused to think that I was one of those. Because I was really content with what I was doing. I was not jealous, nor bitter. Anyway, maybe next year? Haha, just kidding. You say Valentines, I say Vodka.