A Sentimental Night

Chhimi wanted to take night shots with his new digital SLR camera, so he took me out on a downtown date aka camera man assistant tonight. Downtown was where I grew up when my family first immigrated to the States. We lived in an apartment funded by the government during the late 70's and early 80's. I drove by it tonight after a very long time.... They have remodeled the external building and the building now has a model apartment with its light peaking out underneath the curtains.

As I drove by, my first reaction was pure shock. I still remembered almost every single part of that apartment and the neighbors that had lived there. My 2nd reaction was pure sadness that sent tears up to my eyes as I sobbed, while Chhimi thought I was utterly crazy. I was so sad to see my childhood was no longer physically here but have become my own memories and will only be alive as long as I am.

Everything Seemed So Big Then
I used to remember the apartment was grand and big, according to my childhood eyes, even though thinking back now, it couldn't have been more than 800 square feet two bedroom one bath for a family of 5. The hallway seemed so long and narrow. My parent's room felt so big. My two elder brothers shared a room with bunkbeds. Their window faced part of the building's entrance. I would used to sit out there on the floor to ceiling window to watch my dad come through and immediately go out to the front door and greet him. One time, I was playing dress up with my mom's black high heels and I greeted my dad when he came home with the weekend groceries.

Everything Seemed So Simple Then
My mom stayed home until I was 5 to take care of me and my brothers to make sure we at least one parent present in our lives while my dad worked away at odd jobs, including jobs in Arizona, Nevada. I remember my mom would used to make pocket money by baby-sitting other neighbors' kids in our living room. My grandma, who lived on the 3rd floor, would be sitting on our sofa and supervising my mom's work. It all seemed so simple then...a loving family...a wonderful home...everything was just perfect.

I know I may have romanticized my childhood but every single part of that apartment I know and lived there for 12+ years...and in one night for me, it has vanished for good. I will never get that chance again to walk across the building with my father holding my hand to get breakfast. I will never get that chance again to walk to school with my mother, all 14 blocks. I will never get the chance to learn how to do tricks on a BMX bike with my brothers.

Bizarre Saturday?!

Volunteering
This past Saturday, it was all about girl power. I volunteered at a local Engineering program from 6:45am - 4:45pm, where 80+ high school girls came in to learn about engineering and what's being an engineer is about. More than 25+ volunteers came in too. It was a big event for sure!

My hubby even designed the t-shirts this year for the event and even came to volunteer as one of the 2 photographers! My long-time buddy, Connie, also volunteered (or was coerced by me) to be the photographer too...she was sick and had lost her voice but she still came! I have such wonderful people in my life that supports me :-).

Throughout the whole day, I was stressed and had a blazing headache since it was my 1st time organizing and directing the event. In the morning, I had 1/2 cup of coffee and that was it. At lunch time, I had a couple bites of a 6" Togo sandwich, a 1/2 cup of soda, and 1/2 bag of Corn ships....nothing else. This lasted me until 4:30pm. But it wasn't too much of a problem...I was just so glad to see how successful this event had turned out and so proud of my team of volunteers. So Go Girls In Engineering!!

Margarita Time
Afterwards, a bunch of the volunteers decided to go the nearby restaurant for some Margarita celebration for a job well done! I finally got some time to sit down and scarf down some food...we ordered boneless buffalo chicken, chips and salsa, queso dips, southwest eggrolls....Mmmm, it was yummy! Of course, I needed a good drink then just to calm myself from all the excitement of the event....so we had a fabulous time chit-chatting with some of my girl friends and of course, some guys tagged along too, including my hubby. No biggie, they're so part of the crowd! We had lots of laughs as we enjoyed the 'Ritas.

Party Time
Later that night, my roommies and I went a so-called 'Keg Party' at one of my friend's house. This is the 1st time that my roommies hung out (after like over a year of living together)...wow! Well, in reality, one roommate already moved out like in May but she's still our buddy...so it was a girls' night out and Chhimi literally booted us from the house. He said he's tired of all the estrogen from the day of volunteering and he's ready to be by himself and to relax. So sharply at 7:45, we were out of the house and affectionately known as 'Chhimi's Angel' to raise some H*ll at the party ;-).

We were sooo early for the party. The party was supposed to start at 7:00 but apparently, I didn't realize that parties don't usually start until 9:00pm. We arrived at 8:15-ish and were the 1st ones there...omg! But we still had a good time chit-chatting with my buddy-host, Allison and her friend, Lauren. She was baking cookies from scratch! wow!

Then people started coming in around 9pm and brought their own alcohol and apparatus for their beer, consisting of a funnel and a plastic pipe...Hmmm...not sure what the name of it is though ;-)

The house was sooo crowded with people that I haven't seen for like over 1 - 2 years. It was great to just see them and catch up. Some people I don't miss one bit. Some I miss. Don't worry, I was the designated driver so I didn't drink (only a few sips of something that my roommie mixed for me) so I was sober the whole night but was very very tired from the day. I even played 'Jr. Quarters' and had my own designated drunk to drink for me. I was only expecting us to be out from 8pm - 10pm...but we ended up not leaving the party until 1am (this was after the cops came for a possible 'noise violation').

What a Bizarre Saturday for me!