We laid Grandma to rest today. There was a mass at St. Mary’s church in Vancouver where Grandma attended mass every Sunday. Ed, Christine, and Victor gave a very touching eulogy for their beloved grandmother. It was a very beautiful service.
Thank you very much to everybody who sent their condolences, wished us well, attended the service, and kept us in their prayers.
30 June 2008
25 June 2008
LG Shine 8700
Ed and I switched cell phone providers and as a result, I got a new phone. It’s very sleek and shiny! It’s an LG Shine 8700 and it has all sorts of bells and whistles that I am sure I will never use. This is my first phone ever with a camera, bluetooth, music player, etc. I've never been a big phone geek. I was more concerned about not paying anything for the phone rather than its features. As long as I can make calls with it, I was satisfied. But now that I have all these cool things in my phone, I have to admit I've been having a lot of fun with it. But I'm sure the novelty will wear off after a few days.
23 June 2008
16 June 2008
You so lazy
Last weekend, I spent the day at Aunt Jennifer’s (the sister of Ed’s dad) house to celebrate Grandma’s 91st year on this planet. Two of Aunt Jennifer’s cousins were also hanging out at her house, enjoying Grandma’s company. The challenge for me when I spend time with Ed’s family is the language barrier. I don’t speak Chinese and the older aunts and uncles do not speak English. So we usually just nod and smile to each other but never actually converse.
After lunch, one of Aunt Jennifer’s cousin and Grandma were in the living room chatting. My purse was in that room so I strolled in to retrieve it. Then I here the cousin say “You! You so lazy.” I quickly surmised that she didn’t sound like she was speaking to Grandma so I looked over at them and sure enough, found her pointing at me. I’ve never had a conversation with her before and now she’s calling me lazy? What gives? I quizzically looked at her. Me? And she replied, “You so lazy. Why no baby? Grandma get old.” In a moment of insanity, I actually thought about making a rebuttal but as I inhaled to start speaking, I paused and then just said “Ok.” And ran out of the living room as quickly as I could.
I'm sure something got lost in the translation there. Now I realize, just nodding and smiling to each other isn’t so bad after all!
After lunch, one of Aunt Jennifer’s cousin and Grandma were in the living room chatting. My purse was in that room so I strolled in to retrieve it. Then I here the cousin say “You! You so lazy.” I quickly surmised that she didn’t sound like she was speaking to Grandma so I looked over at them and sure enough, found her pointing at me. I’ve never had a conversation with her before and now she’s calling me lazy? What gives? I quizzically looked at her. Me? And she replied, “You so lazy. Why no baby? Grandma get old.” In a moment of insanity, I actually thought about making a rebuttal but as I inhaled to start speaking, I paused and then just said “Ok.” And ran out of the living room as quickly as I could.
I'm sure something got lost in the translation there. Now I realize, just nodding and smiling to each other isn’t so bad after all!
2 June 2008
Time trial
The coach likes calling it “time control”, I think to remove the sting a little bit. Because it is trial by fire. The fire you feel as your muscles burn, as you paddlie a few hundred metres down False Creek. Going head to head with two of your teammates.
This is my first time trial this year. I haven’t been training for races so I haven’t really had to. And I haven’t paddled in a dragon boat until three weeks ago. But now that I’m racing in Alcan in a few weeks, I had to do this time trial. I was nervous - not about coming in last in my heats but about the pain I knew was coming. Heat 1 is 800m and heat 2 is 400m, with around 5 mins rest in between, using a dragon boat blade (I’ve paddled mainly with an outrigger blade this year) and paddling only on one side the whole way (in outrigger, I get to switch sides every 15 or so strokes). Paddling on one side is a killer if you haven’t trained for it. And I haven’t been training for it!!! I was dreading the pain.
Aileen and Janet were the other two paddlers in my heat. I finished second behind Aileen in both heats. In the 800m, we were pretty close for about half of the race and then I faded away. I finished about a boat length behind her. In the 400m, Aileen and I were even until the last 100m where I again faded. I finished right behind Aileen and Janet finished right behind me.
It was painful. Both heats just felt sooo long. My thoughts were all about keeping my form and technique right especially as I got more and more tired. Just don’t think about the burning. Focus on technique. Bury the paddle before pulling. Have to keep working on that. Unfortunately, one thing I didn’t pay attention to was my steering. I zigzagged my way down the creek, which didn’t help me at all. I was all over the place! Oh well. I’m just glad that’s over.
This is my first time trial this year. I haven’t been training for races so I haven’t really had to. And I haven’t paddled in a dragon boat until three weeks ago. But now that I’m racing in Alcan in a few weeks, I had to do this time trial. I was nervous - not about coming in last in my heats but about the pain I knew was coming. Heat 1 is 800m and heat 2 is 400m, with around 5 mins rest in between, using a dragon boat blade (I’ve paddled mainly with an outrigger blade this year) and paddling only on one side the whole way (in outrigger, I get to switch sides every 15 or so strokes). Paddling on one side is a killer if you haven’t trained for it. And I haven’t been training for it!!! I was dreading the pain.
Aileen and Janet were the other two paddlers in my heat. I finished second behind Aileen in both heats. In the 800m, we were pretty close for about half of the race and then I faded away. I finished about a boat length behind her. In the 400m, Aileen and I were even until the last 100m where I again faded. I finished right behind Aileen and Janet finished right behind me.
It was painful. Both heats just felt sooo long. My thoughts were all about keeping my form and technique right especially as I got more and more tired. Just don’t think about the burning. Focus on technique. Bury the paddle before pulling. Have to keep working on that. Unfortunately, one thing I didn’t pay attention to was my steering. I zigzagged my way down the creek, which didn’t help me at all. I was all over the place! Oh well. I’m just glad that’s over.
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