So... what's up, yall? I've been MIA-ing for the longest time but I doubt anyone noticed, so it doesn't really matter right?? haha

Anyhoo, yesterday night (Wednesday), the most amazing thing happened. I'm still reeling from the excitement (i.e. goose bumps, cold hands etc)! One of the student organizations, Council of Ethnic Organizations, organized the International Explosion talent show, and our campus club (Soka Peace Group) participated in it. Our group performed on the Taiko drums (representing Japan), and we rocked the house. Like literally! The thing about this talent show is that the winner will get extra funding for their campus club, which is a great because our group is trying to re-establish ourselves and we want to bring Peace, Culture, and Education to benefit the campus. The most surprising thing was that our group was pitting ourselves against other established groups (e.g. Vietnamese Student Association, Nigeria Student Association, etc; they had tons of support), yet we emerged as the winner. Our taiko group only consisted of 7 people (2 UH students; 4 high school members of Kofu Taiko from SGI, and our taiko instructor) whereas other groups had more members performing.

This whole journey has not been easy (even though I wasn't one of the performers but was supporting from behind the scenes). I had to struggle within myself - to do what's best for the club or what's best for myself? Eventually, I realized that I did not have to sacrifice one for the other, but instead, I can do both at the same time without begrudging my circumstances. I learned and grew so much from this experience. When they announced that our group had won, everyone else in the hall went quiet. Only our own members (and members from SGI) cheered, but that didn't matter because we all knew sensei was cheering along with us. :)

I feel sooooo fortunate knowing that I have such a wonderful gakkai family. One of the reasons why I'm not gonna drown in the deep end of the pool.

I love you, Josh!

Don't mind me. I just had to put it out there.

Aug. 9, 2009 - Sunday

I went by Josh's place on Sunday evening and he brought me out to eat. Honestly, the worst part of getting your wisdom teeth extracted is missing out on the glorious food. The pain doesn't even hurt that bad. It's the part where you know there are so many savory food out there but you can't eat them because they're either too hard or chewing makes your mouth tired. Josh took me to a pizzeria near his house and I order spaghetti with meat balls. Due to a tired mouth, I couldn't finish eating it. Quite a pity 'cos I hate seeing food go to waste. He was supposed to have band practice but his bandmate decided to bail so we rented two dvds instead; Slumdog Millionaire and Watchmen. The good part is that my wisdom teeth are healing fine, and I no longer look like Quagmire, so I'm just really happy. Slumdog Millionaire was really good. A little difficult to understand because the story keeps jumping back and forth between the current and the past.


Aug. 10, 2009 - Monday

Drove down to Galveston to get his hair colored and cut by his friend, Chelsea. Now I see why he insist on going to Galveston to get his hair done because Chelsea's a really good hairstylist. Had lunch with her at The Original Mexican Cafe and I think it's the best enchiladas I've ever had because I managed to clean the plate! I never had been able to finish my meals ever since getting my wisdom teeth pulled, so that showed how much I liked the food. Hung out with Chelsea and Pedro for a little while playing Guitar Hero! And the new Batman game is really cool. Would want to get a Xbox but wouldn't do it now 'cos I don't wanna risk my grades.

Drove back home in the evening because Josh had practice. Turns out, only his friend, Alex, came to record a few tunes. I helped a little with coming up with a small scale on the electric piano. Watched a little bit of Watchmen. Many people told us they didn't like it because they kept getting distracted by the Dr. Manhattan's junk. Looking past that, however, beginning's kinda interesting.


Aug. 11, 2009 - Tuesday

Woke up at around 10 / 10.30 and continued watching Watchmen. Dental appointment at 1.30pm to see how I'm healing. Doctor concluded that there's no need for more antibiotics because there's no infection, and I can switch to an over-the-counter painkiller if needed. Gave me a syringe to flush out any food particles that might get stuck at the back of my mouth. Glad that I didn't have to pay a single cent for this check-up.

After dental appointment, we both headed to Katy Mills mall. Loved that the mall has opened up a Forever21 (even though the one at Memorial City is bigger), but sad that I can't go there because I now live an hour away from this mall. Josh doesn't even live that close to Katy. Headed back home to continue watching Watchmen. Didn't like how the movie ended because it talked about sacrificing a group of human beings to achieve peace. I guess the good part would probably lie in the fact that it will have an impact with the audience because it seemed real even though the movie is based on a fictitious comic book.

Headed to Sharmistha's for daimoku toso and YWD get-together session. Loved the idea of good fruits, pizza bites, good wine (even though I can't drink because I'm not sure how it'll affect my healing process), and sharing our current reads. Nice bonding session. :)


Aug. 12, 2009 - Wednesday

Wanted to leave the house early to get to school to settle some administrative matters. I finally got accepted! I have to make sure I have all my documents though because after frantically searching for my documents, I can't seem to find anything. Will definitely continue searching tomorrow. Hopefully, I didn't accidentally ship it back to Singapore or else I'll be as good as dead.

Came back from school and quickly got changed to get ready for our student division gathering at the beach. Rose, Alex (Rose's friend), Jessica B, Liana, Lynn, Joe, and I went. Had a pretty good day just hanging out and lying out under the sun. Can't believe both Liana and I slept though. Took some pictures at the end of the day with the girls. Love the beach when it's not too crowded, and the sun from 5ish onwards was really nice. Not stingy burning because dark clouds and lightning started forming, I guess. Reached East Beach at 3 something, left at 6.30pm. Before we left,  we saw this really weird guy using a metal detector to look for gold. I don't think there's gold in Galveston because it's been washed by the hurricanes. Then, we heard some douchebags asking the guy whether he found anything, and he told them he has only found a penny (1 cent) and other worthless stuff. I think it's hilarious, either way.

After we got back home, we decided to go eat at this pizza place called Italian Pie. Restaurant's owned by someone Rose and Alex knew. Food's pretty good, loved how they cooked the spaghetti (unlike the one I had at New York Pizzeria near Josh's house) 'cos it's a little more soft and more meat sauce. Yums.

Overall, my day was good. Miss not being able to be around my family, but I'm surviving well on my own. At least I still have people that care for me around. :) I need to find my own wisdom and courage!

Got rid of my wisdom teeth at last, all 4 of them, on Tuesday (Aug 4). Only one of it is affecting me (right lower jaw), but since the rest are already starting to grow out, might as well get rid of them altogether. The process itself wasn't really that bad because I was knocked out. I remembered praying in my heart for a smooth procedure and the next moment, I woke up and saw my mom and the nurse wheeling me out of the clinic, and the doctor said everything's done. I felt really drugged up and sleepy.

The aftermath wasn't all that great though. First I had to deal with the pain and my own paranoia that I was bleeding profusely. Second, the swelling only started to surface from the 2nd day onward. It looked bad yesterday because the left jaw was swelling pretty badly.

The worst part? I didn't realize I had to take solid food (I only ate yogurt and jello) in order to take my painkiller, so I vomited twice yesterday at work, at the back of the building. Tasted like bad orange juice. Not only did I vomit but I also felt really groggy. Josh called me right after I texted him to see how I was coping and he immediately decided to come pick me up and bring me back to his place to rest (his house is closer to my office while my place is like an hour away). He even made me some noodles to eat before he went back to work.

I'm guessing it was a number of factors that made me throw up, and one of it was probably rest. I didn't get enough rest a few days ago because I had to get up early to send my family to the airport, and also had to get up early because I lived an hour away from my job.

I'm praying that I'll get back into the pink of health and not feel sick anymore. I need my health back! Ok, back to work. :)

 This is from "On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime" by Daisaku Ikeda.