What the hell happened to me in 2006?

What the hell happened to me in 2006? Well, I took some time to think about it, and here is what I came up with:

• January:
  Still lived in Las Vegas, still worked full-time, and still attended school at night. However, I got to have some fun toward the end of the month because my great friend for 17 years from New York came to visit & stayed with me for about 2 weeks. I took him around the Strip checking out all the places; it was a good time. Oh, one night we went Tao at the Venetian, and I happend to slap his face in the middle of the dancefloor because I thought he was falling asleep. Gee...I was mean.

• February:
  Finished up the last class; I was so happy - no more school every single night & no more exams every freaking Friday. The sad thing was I had to quit my full-time job because I had to complete a 160-hour of externship in order to graduate. Did I mention that the externship was non-paid?

• March:
  Started my externship. Unfortunately, I was placed in a very unorganized place, and I was so glad to be out of there at the end of the month. Yes, I finally graduated!!

• April:
  Then, it was time to say "Good bye, Sin City, and Hello, Indiana!" I packed all my stuff, and moved to Indiana. The first month was pretty hard trying to adjust myself to the mid-west. I also tried to look for a job, and at the same time, got hooked on MySpace, which I was glad to reunite with a lot of my good friends, and better yet, started to make new ones!

• May:
  Still had no job, and still was hooked on MySpace. Though I felt very depressed at the time (due to the lack of $$$$), but as it turned out, I got a job in downtown Indianapolis at the end of the month. Woo-hoo! Oh, also went up to see the tulips in Holland, Michigan with my lovely sister. Oh, boy, we took lots of pictures!

• June:
  Started to get paid, at last!! I was pretty happy, but still got lost driving to new places...d'oh!

• July:
  Started taking ballroom dancing. Boy, it was fun, though the cost was a bit too pricey...still it was fun & I learned so many styles of dance.

• August:
  Still attended dance classes. Went to the Indiana State Fair, took a bunch of pictures, and saw the biggest pig and her babies; that was cute.

• September:
  What the hell happened then? Probably nothing that exciting since I couldn't remember anything. Oh, I finally got an Indiana License Plate. (I cheated, and went to look at my old blog postings ...yeah, sue me!!)

• October:
  A very bad thing happened. Well, it was a long story, but in a nutshell: I went out to a bar with a friend from work, had some drinks & food, thought I was okay to drive, got in the car, and 5 mins later threw up while driving the car! And to make it even worse, I missed my exit from the freeway, got lost in the middle of nowhere, but managed to find my way home, ...and almost got arrested for a DUI while parked in the garage at home. Go figure.

• November:
  The weather started to get cold as I started to wear thicker layers of clothes. Went to IKEA in Chicago, Illinois, and stopped by a Japanese market on the way back to Indiana. Boy, the traffic was really bad that day.

• December:
  The weather got colder, as my old car started to have problems. I ended up spending > 600 bucks for the repairs...yikes! On top of that, I had to drive in the snow for the first time in my life. I was VERY nervous.

Well, guess that was another year that just passed me by. So, what's for next year? Well, from what I know for sure: I'll be working myself to death in January and February due to the special bonus program at work. After that, I'm planning to go back to school in summer since I have to wait for a year to become an Indiana resident in order to pay the tuition at a cheaper cost. Other than that, dunno...hopefully, I will get to take a vacation somewhere? Or, maybe even go back to visit home in Thailand? Guess, we'll see.

Happy New Year and Cheers!

Nighttime in Downtown Indianapolis

Well, my car was having some problems, and needed to be fixed, so I ended up having no transportation for a day, and ended up having to be dropped off & picked up. Since I happen to work really close to downtown, I figured I should check out the area and take some pictures while I was waiting for my ride home. So here they are. I think it was about 8pm at the time, so it was pretty cold out, but it wasn't too bad. And, as for my car, I actually had to pay about 400 bucks for the repairs.

Yup, there goes MY Christmas present!!

Brown County - Nashville, Indiana

My sister and I went to Brown County a few weeks back. Man, it was sooo nice, especially during this season. We actually went to the State Park; it is the largest Indiana State Park (15,696 acres). It was a nice day and everything was just beautiful: the weather, the scenery, the drive...the food (we were bad...we had the breakfast buffet). We, however, managed to hike on a couple of trails to burn off the calories though; that was really fun. Before heading back home, we decided to stroll around the town for a bit. Man, there was a lot of people out that day since the weather was soooo nice, like I've mentioned. So, we walked around up and down the streets looking at the shops for about an hour before we ended our trip with an ice cream as our treats :o)

White River Gardens (Indianapolis, IN)

Went to see a Bonsai Show at the White River Gardens yesterday. The only word I could say was 'WOW~!' It was such an unbelievably breathtaking sight. Everything was so neat and amazing. Unfortunately, it was raining at the time, so I didn't get a chance to really spend more time on the outside areas...well, I definitely got to go back for more. For more info, please visit their website: www.whiterivergardens.com

Here are some of the pictures I took from the indoor area. The first one is by far my favorite:

Recipe: Dee's Turkey Larb

Okay, due to popular demand (fine! there were only 3 people who've asked), here's my version of the Turkey Larb recipe:

You'll need (also see picture below):
• 1 package of Ground Turkey
• Chopped red onions
• Chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp of fish sauce (or depending on how salty you really want it)
• 1 tbsp of lime juice (or depending on how sour you really want it)
• 1 tbsp of chili powder (or depending on how spicy you really want it...you should get the idea by now...)
• 1 tsp of ground black pepper
• Pineapple rum & diet coke, to drink before, during, and after the larb cooking process
• A cat (Ok...I know I'm asian and all, but the cat is just to look at while making the larb, and NOT to be eaten!!)

Now that we've got all the ingredients, you need to cook the turkey first. I usually add some water and black pepper, and just stir the meat. Once done, add the rest of the ingredients (also see picture below): red onions, cilantro, fish sauce, lime juice, chili powder, yeah, the whole shabang EXCEPT the rum & diet coke and the cat!! Some people might add some rice powder, too, but that's if you can find one, or if you even know what the hey it is. Stir and mix everything vigorously. Now it's ready to be served!!

P.S. Don't forget to finish your Pineapple rum & diet coke. And if you don't like the larb after you make it, oh well, call me...at 555-2424. Thankx & good luck!!

Turkish Tag

Here are 6 things that may or may not be considered odd about me...

• I really don't know how to ride a bike (please laugh all you want 'cause it is so true!)
  

• When I come home from work, I would always give my cat a kiss. (okay, not a tongue kiss...just touching lips & noses)

• My favorite food ever is this one Thai dish called Larb. I usually make it with turkey meat, and eat it with sticky rice. (oh gosh, just talking about it makes me drool. If anyone want a recipe, ask me! Satisfaction guaranteed!! Well, that's if you like spicy food...)
  

• I'm addicted to watching the show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? This show is so freakin' funny. I laugh so hard eveytime I watch it, and one time, I even choked on my own spit. (I know it was so gross~)
  

• I have a drinking ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), or so my sister called it 'cause when I am relaxed at home, I would always have multiple types of drinks lying arond the house here and there. Ex: I would have a glass of OJ, a glass of diet coke & a glass of water on the coffee table while watching TV. My excuse for this is ... just in case we ever got attacked by aliens I would always have my weapons - you know like that little girl in the movie, Signs by M. Night Shyamalan.

• My secret dream dog is a Basset Hound. (Meaning: if I were to get a dog, I would totally go with a Basset Hound.)

IMA: It's My Art (aka Indianapolis Museum of Art)

Just a few shots from the IMA (Indianapolis Museum of Art) in the Oldfields Lilly House & Gardens. Didn't get a chance to go inside the Lilly House just yet, but I'm planning to do so sometime in the future.

Back to Work, ehhh!!

Things I have done during the past two months while I was jobless:

1) Road trips! The first one was when I moved from Nevada to Indiana. Thanks to my sister; she was kind enough to help me with the move. So, we (my sister, my cat, and I) took a three-day road journey from Nevada to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Illinois, and finally, Indiana. The drive wasn't too bad, and the cat only threw up once (thank God!). The second one was when my sister and I went up to Michigan to see the beautiful tulips in Holland. The trip only took about 3-4 hours (one-way), but we did stop to visit our cousin, Jenn who is attending Norte Dame, on our way back; that was really nice.

2) Learn animation. Yes! I finally had time to do this. Before I was SO busy working and going to school (every night) for about a year, so I didn't really have any time to sit down and go through all the computer books I have. Now that I did, I learned how to make animation, glittering text, and more cool tricks that I never knew of before.

3) Gain 20 pounds. Let me tell you, staying home (for most of the time) did really add more body weight to yourself. Plus, I am always in front of the computer doing stuff, so though my hands and fingers are still in shape, the other parts of my body aren't. THIS is NOT good at all, and yes, I will definitely have to get rid of them....really soon :o(

4) Watch (too much) TV. Oh, boy! Day after day after day, I watch TV. If I am not watching TV programs, it would be movies or TV series on DVDs. So far, I have watched all three seasons of Scrubs (which I found very entertaining), the first season of Lost, weird (and psycho) asian movies like Oldboy, Audition, A Tale of Two Sisters, Shutter (a Thai movie, really scary - for some reason, the link to the website is broken, but it is www.shuttermovie.com), and some other new movies.

And finally, 5) REST! Man, it has been so nice to be able to go to bed whenever I want, and wake up whenever I want. However, in the past few days I had to get up early 'cause we got some constructions going on in the house, and the people came to knock on our door way too early in the morning, but it's all good.

So, I will be going back to work (sigh) the day after Memorial Day. I am happy and sad at the same time, but mostly, happy because I will finally get some $$$ coming in! Yay!

Tulips from Holland, Michigan

Nature is truly beautiful and amazing.

I went up to Holland, Michigan over the past weekend. Luckily, the weather wasn't too bad, and there was some sun, so I took a bunch of pictures while I was admiring the tulips. I am thinking about putting together a set of all the tulip pictures I took from the trip. This might take some time to do, but it is going to be lots of fun.

My Portfolio

These two images were taken on 04/25/06 while my sister and I were waiting for a guy from a nursery that we went to look for a Japanese maple to put in our backyard. And since I still don't have a job now, I figure that I should do something that I enjoy doing while I'm searching for it.