2016... that's a wrap

Both of my brothers are home and work is off for 2 weeks, things here are really mellow and slow. I'm glad we have the time and opportunities to hang out and kick it again before 2017 kicks in. 

Coffee Zone w/ Chris

Vaka Burger

Thomas brought stuff home from Vietnam. The Vietnamese have a strange way of wrapping things up. Everything appears to look like how they wrap cocaine up.

CHLA

Beer Belly

The best grill cheese sandwich on earth. Hands down.

Duck fat fries

French Dip

Time with Thomas at Coffee Zone

Phamily
I neeeeeeeeed a new camera!!

Christmas at Church

36 Years

8 years of gardening

After 8 years of gardening, the city drop the bomb on us and want to shut it down. It is funny because we've been doing this for 8 years and we live about 2 blocks away from the civic center. Did someone make that phone call and want to complain? I don't know, but I don't see any "harm" in plants and vegetables. Whatever the reason, they didn't want  us to grow plants in our yards anymore. That being said, the parents are "salty" over it because they've been doing it for so long. In the midst of this whole time, we had so much organic food and we made a lot of friends.

Despite the bad news, their chins are still up and their smiles still shine.

Recent events and activities

Got a couple of Supreme island polo shirts in.

Gardening as usual.

Before

After

Birthday dinner at Diablo taco with some of my friends.

Ham Ji Park BBQ with Andy

Ba Mui's house at Thanksgiving

Strolling in Downtown Los Angeles

Across the street from Go Get Them Tiger Coffee

20 years ago (ish) Muc Su An came to Hong Kong refuge camp. During his time there, he preach and share the Gospel of the good news. Today, we reunited here in the United States of America and have a good dinner together.

Allen's Bachelor Party

So.. my buddy's gonna get marry next year and he's busier than ever before. That being said, we decided to go skydiving (Which I wasn't really interested in doing in the first place) in San Diego. The night before we stay over a house in Oceanside via AirBnB eating tacos and kicking it. I had 2 strong ipa beers and passed out before 10pm. Those guys played card games and being their usual loud selves until 2am.

Next day, the weather was so cloudy that they had to cancel the event for the entire day. With a downcast face and a gloomy weather, we drove to get boba and walked around Old Town San Diego. One of the highlight was Allen getting pushed out then get kick out again. I wasn't there to see it, but he sure did have fun. At night, we had bbq at phil and drove home. That was pretty much it. We had a lot of fun this weekend. The weather could've been better, but hey there's nothing you can do against the weather.

Mom's 60th

Her birthday was 2 months ago. But I didn't have time to blog much these days. Fortunately, as a substitute teacher, I do get 3 weeks off. Which is very nice. 

Well.. Mom is 60 and she is smiling like she's still in her 40s. The same smile when I was a kid. In many ways, I thank God that she gives and continue to give me a crazy amount of love and support. It's overwhelming and I cannot express it in words.

Subbing

I'm currently a substitute teacher for charter school in los angeles. though the pay could be better, but beggars can't be choosers after all. Almost everyday, I meet new students and new staff at different school. It's a great experience to see different lesson plans, classroom management skills, students at different age / stage of development, and district/ schools before I plan to be a full time permanent teacher.

Hopefully, I can get myself into LAUSD and teach there real soon.

At first, it was difficult to be a substitute teacher. Not because the skills and knowledge to teach, but it's the nature of the job. Students treat you like a "nobody" and they have almost no respect for substitute teacher. At the same time, getting attention from students and having to work requires a certain leadership and authority skill because a substitute never knew them. 

I've learn so much from students in the past few weeks. My teaching and classroom management skills appear to be better than before. I know this for sure because when I return to a school I've sub before, the kids don't want to mess around with me anymore. Instead, they have certain respect for me and some want to stick with me in the class instead of going to lunch or recess. 

Until next time..