yay for 3 day weekend. im tired after a fun fun fun and happy trip to chicago. yay for tafers! the highlight? picking my booger :) har har. haha yea ok, so 3 day weekend means monday off, means i can catch up on sleep. and not only was chicago fun, but it was also productive, cuz i got to do laundry at rogers house! holler.
but the anti-highlight of the weekend, which i guess is the lowlight...well actually this wasnt the "lowlight" of the weekend, cuz the lowlight really was having to stop picking my booger and let it go, :( . haha but yea ok. anyways. driving home in hard rain when youre tired is NOT good. plus not really knowing your way around the chicago suburb highways and paying tolls all the time sucks...but yea...i almost crashed a couple times. haha. nearly passed out on multiple multiple occasions, combined with bad visibility...its not a good thing kids. if only someone was in the car with me!
cant wait to sleep. mmm....me hungy for sleep.
hahaha this is awesome. props to you crystal for getting them done! It was a message left for me on Friendster. Holler!
"I'm a friend of Kevan's from high school and when
I saw your pic on his site, I went "aaa! it's the
cool taiwan photos guy!" I had asked Kevan about
getting photos taken in Taiwan and he didn't know
about it personally but showed me the site of
your's (at least I'm assuming it was yours since
I don't think Kevan has that many friends who've
gotten pics taken of them dripping, ha). Anyway,
I just wanted to tell you that your photos were
really great and they inspired me to get my own
photos taken in Taiwan on my recent trip there
(though the studio I went to didn't have anything
as fun as yours...the most interesting was a wall
of crumpled aluminum foil and a wall plastered w/
magazine articles from Cosmopolitan)."
yea. just so you all remember:
we should all strive to be who we are at TAF back home, in our "real world". Be as happy, open, loving and caring as you are at TAF. strive to be the forever TAFer, and if you do all of this, you accomplish the goals of TAF. all you need to do is love, and you'll impact mankind in a unique and compassionate way. break down your walls, eliminate the barriers, just open up and it will come.
taf love love love to you, whether you being a tafer is false or true.
Surfed through about 100 TAF xangas last night. VERY INTERESTING. and that is an understatement. But here are 2 funny excerpts:
"Steve Lin came back!!! that was super cool!...too bad he didn't PD for JH"
haha ouch...
"can't believe TAF is over again! it's so sad! i wanna be an ILTer next year, so i have to remember to apply and all that stuff, and i hope i actually can become one, even though the other people i know who are applying, aren't exactly my best friends. JH swing choir this year was the BOMB!!! thanks Angie! while i'm at it, i might as well thank the other JH counselors too. Christine and Jon for being awesome PD's, Dan for being an awesome speaker, Amy for being from Canada (eh?), Alex for making me hurl, and being a great counselor, Andri for being so nice, Chris for being invisible, Regan for being even more invisible than Chris was, but being identifiable with his yellow shirt, Will, for adopting the Ramen Wings while Alex snoozed, Kelly for always smiling (hehe), NJ Jon Lee for making life confusing, Margaret, for being a great counselor last year, and anyone else who i forgot, sorry about that. Also, a special ShoutOut to the ILTs this year (Jeremy, Meecho, Lil, Tinya, and Ryan) for adding a special "Zing" to TAF spirit and fun this year. Oh yea, and to Roger Lin for forgetting my name, even though he was my counselor last year, and Melody Peng for being a great big sib, even though all she could talk about was how hot Alex Chen was. "
hahahahahahaha. ahahahahahahahaha.
awwww....
"TAF of Your Life"
Junior High Choir
TAF Night, August 9th, 2003
Another year at TAF, the best week of our days
When the week is done, we go our separate ways.
But all these memories will all stay in our minds
Such an experience is difficult to find
It's something unpredictable, but in the end its right
I hope you had the time of your life.
Every year we drive and fly to learn at TAF
To share good times together to have fun and to laugh
Thanks to the PD's, Counselors, and the ILTs
Us campers really liked the fun activities
It's something unpredictable, but in the end its right
I hope you had the time of your life.
The time of gathering, all places we are from
The time to make new friends and play under the sun
We never want to leave cuz of the love received.
Just make the best of it and remember all we believed.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end its right
I hope you had the time of your life.
Let's try to remember all the good times in our life.
Don't forget to use your knowledge in family strife.
Try to make the best of your memories tonight.
Sprint to paradise and experience the light.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end its right
I hope you had the time of your life.
This week in Junior High, the time has passed us by.
We watch the tears slide down as all of JH cry.
Here comes the moment to say bye to all our friends.
No matter where we are, Junior High love never ends.
It's something unpredictable, but in the end its right
I hope you had the TAF of your life.
happy tears :*)
extra maintenance: comments fixed, links updated. holla.
ah yes. now taf really is over :( . "Post-TAF" time is done and everyone is starting/heading back to school. But oh what a magnificent post-TAF after an awesome awesome TAF. haha this is sad. im posting about post-taf instead of real taf....odd.
but driving andrea to chicago might have been the best car ride ever! this, i remind you, was more than a week ago. hehe yea...but 6+ hours in the car together from Manchester to Chicago due to getting lost and having to go this way and that was somehow NOT BORING AT ALL! ah, good times, drea, good times. actually better than good. ridiculously good, almost should be illegal cuz it was so good.
turn turn we almost become dizzy....and that runaway wheelchair....and the ohare metro!...getting lost in the ghetto....taking pictures while driving....almost getting killed by a bus trying to follow alex yang to chinatown....haha yea. aww yay good times. So yea, that was sunday, and needless to say, the 6 hour drive was only supposed to be around 3.5...so yea andrea missed her flight and had to stay till monday! happy nights at rogers house therefore. yes andrea, i think it was a magnificent time with you, and our rapport! oh what wonderful rapport we built! haha. ahh...my penn girl, with your wharton words. awww. me miss drea. drea clicks. i need some more rapport!
but i digress. came home that monday, and thats when i was really taf sad. no taf chats to come home to either! but then tuesday, goo goo dolls concert with angie and tiffany coming up! yaaaay! tafers in springfield! staying the night! seeing what a real fair is! and the goo goo dolls impressed me, very good live. and we took a picture next to a saltwater TAFfy stand. haha yea, we are sillie. chili's steak n shake, ice deli, fair food, the palace of ice cream and yogurt (hollaaa), and buffet city. angie...seriously...we eat too food much when were around each other...
so the girls left wednesday afternoon. taf sad again :(
but then! off to stl for a big taf reunion weekend! yeeeeaaaa!!! got there late, around 1030 for the Taiwanese Church lock-in. but first went to Dennys (food) with angie. and we had our first mozzerella together....wink wink...and then back to the church. it was happee! many tafers...tim jeng didnt believe it, haha. ryan and angie human flea'd. karen lai and albert wu were the other out of towners there. pretty much all da stl kids. yea, lot of us. youth leader Brenda had me do storytime. haha yea that was fun. played around, good post taf breakdowns with my represented staff of angie, tiff, and ryan, and yes...pizza (food) was ordered. and then eventually sleep! i snored. tiffany heard. she poked me. it did not help. haha.
woken up early...left church, went to angies house, we showa'd, and then...brunch at IHOP (food) with tiffany and albert. mmm...stuffed french toast (which i also recommended to john D while at Rogers last sunday night post-taf). yes, fuuull. so what do you do when youre full? invite yourself over to alice and alvins house to take a nap! haha yes. and nap we did. we all met up there...all meaning: me angie albert tiffany alice alvin ryan eric emily karen tim jon chen. and then it was time for...bubble tea (food)!!! bubble tea'd it up, then angie and i went shopping around the loop. the loop is more fun when its daytime and stores are open, as opposed to the late night rendezvous i had with my siue crew. hmmm...no picture of me and angie in the loop. sadness. haha, but we WERE dressed like twins that day. black taf03 camper shirt, bootcut jeans with whiskers, white shirt underneath, and black old navy flip flops. if i was someone else and saw us walking down the street together, i would be amused. har har. we bought some beads for necklaces, and my necklace is awesomeness. but yea...we were in the loop for a good long time...maybe 2 hours? a lot of it spent testing out every couch in this furniture store. i seriously think i could make my own couch. i mean really, how hard could it be? all i need is fabric and a lot of stuffing right? yea...simple.
so after the 2 hours walking around...back to bubble tea (food). i got starfruit...not good. eew. hehe. called ryan up, they were all at the jon and jeremys hanging out, so we headed there. but then we got sidetracked at the Galleria. banana republic sale! yaaay! and i convinced angela to purchase an orange shirt so now she has color in her wardrobe other than black/white/navy blue! i am amazing.
so after another hour...off to the chens. got there and....napped again. and soon after it was time for...dinner! after some hard decision making...we ended up at Lions Choice (food). au jus soup is good. and 10 cent ice cream cones are also good. yaammmyyyyy :) then after that, cosmic bowling! played 1 game, then the next was ryan me steven wang and eric vs tim jon alice and albert. we won, hollaaaa....so we played again and well, ryan had to leave and he was our heart and soul so...we didnt win. plus tim amazingly bowled a 208....2 turkey balls! haha it was impressive, very impressive. and then back to angies to sleeeeeeeep.
i was awoken the next morning by a voice. i turned to look up, no one was there. looked at the door, no one was there. i was confused. then angie said "here" and well...yea she was behind me. haha...it was weird, i guess you had to be there to understand the funny-ness. went to church, saw jh campers steven hsieh, gloria, and chingting...and chingtings brother talked to me a lot, hehe. church was good...youth leader brenda told the church i saved the lock in because of my storytime. haha yea...shrug. after church, ryan, me, emily, karen, tiffany, angie lin, angie, and gloria went to panera (food). jh table! wahaha. good salad. good soup. good selfmade lemonade. and maybe some of the best pickles ever....wink wink. teeheehee. haha. im so cheesy. but you know you liiiike. Booger.
took emily and karen home, karen had to leave :( then tiffany ryan and i went back to angies and we made my beautiful necklace and ryan...attempted to make one for himself...but he was not successful. tiffany did though however. shes using that cornell education. mmmmhmm. and yea, angie actually made mine cuz...yea, too hard for me. haha. its so pretty, and it makes me feel pretty too. and whitty...and...yea ok. they went bye bye, angie and i then....hmmm, what do you think? did we eat (food) or nap? yea ok, we napped. for like 10 minutes...? although it felt like an hour. weird. but of course, we got fed some cheescake (food), and then we departed. went to walmart to print pics, played in chairs, then...haha geez...went to red lobster (food) for dinner. AND WE ATE SO MUCH FOOD. oh man ok, seriously, if you have never been to red lobster, GO GO GO and eat their CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS. they are bliss. we made love to our biscuits. and it was good. oh so good. and then pina colada shrimp for angie...which is ridiculously perfect for her...and well...i had a lot of food. BUT THOSE BISCUITS. askdl;kasdl;ksad;klasdl;ksad. i miss you biscuits.... :(
so now we were full. went to target, saw some cool things, but they closed. soooo, back to walmart. walmart fun. julie weng and tiffany came! yay julie! weird weird sketchy animal picture book. dirrty. haha. "rise to the occasion" and "anything goes". haha. eew.
twas getting late, angie had to be home, so sped to alices and picked up forgotten hoodie and bandana, and back to angies. packed up, said bye bye, and off i went! made it back home in good time too. yay. but taf over :(
or should i say, taf2003 over. dont worry kids, TAF2004 is already in the works.
And by the way, mark it down now: TAF2003, August 1st - 8th. Theme: Ethics and Values. its only about 350 days away. start getting ready!
so yea...that has been my past week. throw in the K-swiss tournament at the Park, this new fangled Friendster craze, post-TAF wrap ups, and getting ready for UIUC, and well its been busy. and its not going to get any slower. I DIDNT EVEN SAY BYE TO TRACI. IM F-ING TERRIBLE. seriously. sadness. kjsd;lksdal;ks;lkl;sadkasd.
hey at least this means tafers soon at school. i cant wait to be settled in. tyler...i need help. hehe.
Ruth Ann is an awesome buddy and an awesome crush. yet why doesnt she get drawn on while i get drawn all over, even though shes right next to me?!?!?! Alex...Tiffany...i know it was you.
who's your TAF crush?
so yea. taf. taf2003 was awesome. i dont think i could tell events like the way i did with post taf cuz...that would just be too much. but i can say that it was one of the best years ive had. i feel as if ive grown so much and i feel oh so refreshed with life and with people. the TAF spirit is a rockin, and i hope all the jh campers felt that. awesome speaker in Dan, hes the man. even awesomer co-PD in christine, she has taught me so much its unbelievable. CHRISTINE IS A STUD. and of course, an AWESOME staff. i dont know how we got so lucky to have so many counselors and ilts that are studs. oh man, oh so good. Racism workshop...sad times man, sad sad sad f-ing times. Ive never cried at TAF in my 11 years. i dont recall. it changed during that workshop. yea. power to you campers, power to you. swing choir! yaay. the campers liked it, and i know guys helped other guys out. that makes me feel best of all. TAF Night was awesome too with JH kungfu and folkdance. awesome. Punk'd! awesome Punk'd revenge! Jersey Jon can cook. mmmm. awesome staff. awesome campers. just awesome. This 1 small paragraph does TAF no justice WHATSOEVER. i dont know if i ever could write up something that articulates well just how much TAF means to me and to others, and how it has changed me. Amazing, simply amazing. I love TAF. I will stop the rambling now though, but just so you all know, TAF is the best place in this world, thanks to everyone who is there.
ok im done. this has been one long post. Thank you for reading. If youre a TAFer, i hope you had an amazing week. If youre not a TAFer, open up to everyone around you. break down walls. let people in. spread the love. love love love. actually, TAFers, you guys (or gals?) do it too. we should all do it. Spread the TAF Love.
and remember kids "turns out not where but its who youre with that really matters"
the car is packed.
the countdown is at 1.
the cell phone is getting charged.
the excitement is setting in.
sleep now. wake up in 6. final checks, and im off! to TAF2003.
happy happy!