A 26th Birthday Dinner

My grandparents took my two cousins, Lauren, Nikki, and I out to dinner for our 26th birthday. Each of us are only 3 weeks apart, me being the oldest, followed by Nikki and then Lauren. 10 years ago, they had taken us out to lunch at Club 33 in Disneyland. This was us:

Gotta love that adolescent awkward phase.

So yes, let me explain because I'm sure many of you are thinking, "Wait ... those people aren't Asian!" I have been adopted as a granddaughter. My mother and my grandmother were really good friends before I was born. Hence, the following formula happened:

Simmone born + Nana & Papa claiming Simmone

= Adopted granddaughter

No, there were no legal adoption papers filed and yes, I did have relationships with my biological grandparents. So instead of 2 sets of grandparents, I had 3. Essentially if you're still confused, just smile and nod because it is what it is. They are my grandparents and Nikki and Lauren are my cousins (plus DJ, who is Lauren's brother, who's not here because he's a boy) and I've been a part of the family all my life.

We tried to re-create the photo from 10 years ago. Us girls are a little off center. Nan and Papa pretty much look the same. The rest of us, well, we're all pretty happy we've gotten over our adolescence. Haha!

Nan and Papa took us to Sakura in La Cañada, CA. Think Japanese flair cooking.

And the night begins!

Our chef didn't really do too many tricks. He liked to play pranks though, by pretending to throw things at us.

Our table was at a 90 degree angle so getting pictures of everyone in action was a little difficult.

Here's a picture of me getting nailed in the face with a shrimp. The chef was aiming for my mouth and missed.

Action shot of Nikki trying to catch the shrimp!

Picture of Lauren after she missed her shrimp. Our chef didn't have very good aim.

Nikki: "I totally thought I was out of the way. But apparently my chest wanted to be in the pic, haha!"

So the restaurant found out that we were celebrating our birthdays and they had us all hit their birthday gong. Then they brought us ice cream cake, which I didn't take pictures of because I refuse to perpetuate this Asian/tourist trend I've been noticing at Bubba Gump! ;0P

The cake was awesome though!

Aw, lookie! We're all growed up!

Thanks for an awesome birthday dinner Nana and Papa!

Happy New Year!!!

As many of you know, I am currently on a plane. But because blogspot is awesome, I've been able to preset the time when I want this to be published. So ....

WARNING: There will be A LOT embarrassing pictures of me. Prepare for your eyes to be assaulted!!!

Saying Goodbye

And don't worry! It's not too long or sappy!

I have actually had a request to see what I looked like before I came to NYC. Luckily for those who made the request, packing allows you to find such photos. So here we go, back to South Pasadena High School circa 2001/2002!!!!

(Sorry Pamela, Roz, Rudy, and everyone else in these pics!!!)

And while you're cracking up, let me take the time to explain that this was for Color Day, which was the most patriotic day for our high school. We were the Tigers and our colors were orange and black (which were just awful) and on this day you were supposed to go all out with school spirit.

My two best friends from HS. We called ourselves "The Drama Shorties" because we were in the Drama program and we're all about 5ft tall. That's Rudy on the left and Roz on the right.

Hey, laugh all you want at the costumes. We won the "Best Costume" prize for our grade!!! 

Roz is even wearing the "medal" we won that morning. Woot. Plastic orange plates with a "Best Dressed" label glued onto it ... our school passed out the best prizes ...

This is my twin, Pamela. We played twins in Peter Pan because we were both in the Drama program and Asian - which meant that we looked the most alike. Sad, huh? That's small town syndrome fer ya! ;0)

Incidentally, I was still able to see without glasses then. I'm blind as a bat now!

Some buddies in Cambria. See why I missed CA?

High School Graduation - The picture that everyone has.

Just for fun, I thought it'd be cool to juxtapose that picture with my college 

graduation pic:

My parents look exactly the same. 

I just look older. Oh, and I started wearing make-up. Lol!

And yes, Dad, I have my mother's nose.

I think the one person that I really do have to mention in my "Goodbye to NYC" is Mr. Derrick Karg - whom I've affectionately nicknamed "Fuzzyhead" because his hair has been for the most part, just out of control.

Note: His hair is different in almost every picture I have of him.

Dear Fuzzyhead,

You have literally become one of two men in my life who I consider to be one of my brothers. You were one of my first friends in New York and one of the very few people from school with whom I am still close with. You have stuck by me through hard times, seen me at my worst, and was with me during some of my best times in New York. You exposed me to many new things such as your taste in music, favorite ebaum's world videos, and other random stuff that I didn't really like. Hahaha! You were with me for my first snow experience and showed me how to toboggan. Granted, you didn't tell me that I had to roll off the damn thing at the bottom of the hill. So you watched me bounce off the ground from the impact and laughed when I landed on my face several feet away - jerk!

And of course, who could forget the red hair??? Holy frickin' cow! Talk about becoming infamous by association. The stupid things we did during freshman year - I was highly amused by the fact that the rest of my college career was plagued with "Hey! You're that girl that hung out with that guy who dyed his hair red!". And folks, he had me re-dye his hair not once, but twice! And both times he forgot to bring me a glove!!!! So what did I do??? I dyed his hair and walked around with red hands for a couple of weeks. It definitely gave me a headache then, but I guess you learn to let these little things go. Maybe it's my turn for revenge??? Look at yourself, bro! Hahaha! (And let's negate the fact that he talked me into dying a lock of my own hair. God, we look like dorks!)

You and your family took me in when I was looking for comfort and familiarity. I can not express how grateful I am to your family and most especially, to you. I look back at our past 6 years and I remember times when we laughed, cried, fought, comforted each other, and times when I just wanted to strangle you! School was definitely a rough experience because it was just so much damn work! I couldn't have asked for a better person to struggle through it with. And looking at our pictures now, I kinda see why everyone thought we were dating. Funny how you never see things when you're in the situation. Haha! I love you and I'm so blessed to have you in my life.

See??? We frickin' look like a couple!!! And why are we hugging a tree?!?!? (Don't answer that question!)

And with that, I sign off to New York City. Perhaps some day in the near future I'll be living here again (how ironic would that be???). Just watch, I'm gonna get a gig and with the way my luck goes, the project is going to ship me back out to the Big Apple. (I'll be so annoyed if that happens!) At least now, I know that I have friends out on this coast and that I will never again have to be as terrified as I was when I came here 6 years ago. I will be okay, no matter where life takes me.

Queens, Bronx, & Rikers Island

Happy New Year!

2009