I hate a lot of things.

Not too shabby of a Labor Day, IMO. Despite being dragged out to hike almost as soon as I woke up, I had an awesome time with my family, which sadly does not happen all that often, not regarding the "awesome" but more, the "time". Even during the summer, we didn't get to do much together, so this was pretty cool.
Some of the highlights:
1. Seeing like...20 lizards and yet still jumping and stopping when spotting one.
2. Me: "Raymond, if you don't shut up, I'll push you off the mountain."
Dad: "Ha! Then RAYmond, will become ROLL-mond. HAHAHAH"
...Don't ask, its some Asian dad humor.
3. Fending off bees from our SPAM and croissants. What a feast.
4. My parents commenting on how they were "outliers" in the age range of the customers at Verde.
5. Me: "These are my lazy weekend pants."
Raymond: "These are my fatty pants."
Me: "Doesn't that also make them 'everyday' pants?"
Raymond: "I knew you were going to say that. T__T"

And anyways out of all this, I realized how many things I hate and complain about on a daily basis. Like hiking for example. Honestly, I really don't even like nature that much. I just don't see the appeal of trudging up a steep hill, surrounded by dead leaves and some branches, sweating under the hot sun. On the same note, I also don't understand camping. I don't like annoying bugs, or any kinds of birds or fish. I also don't like horror movies, people who use "your" instead of "you're" or vice versa, kids with wheelies, changing in dressing rooms, seeing people I don't really know that well and deciding whether or not to say hi, and lukewarm drinks. And there must be so much more...

But do you know what I AM liking right about now? The idea that my mom might set up a PMT shop .Like. ACTUALLY set up. It's insane. I like...the fact that my super-nice/generous/awesome friend is gonna lend me a guitar to fudge my way around on. Even if I suck at it, it'll be fun. *sigh.. That's what I told your mom last night but she just wouldn- heheh. I kid. I also like finishing my first Chem Pre-lab without much of a hitch. I like the fact that I tried composing a song on the piano and didn't totally fail and actually wrote it all down. It was pretty easy, I just used the same four chords in the same progression over and over again.

But that being said, school IS starting tomorrow, and I'm def not likin' that.


-Lisa

Listening To: My crappily recorded, half-assed first attempt at song composition, currently title-less and lyric-less

The Mountain of Truth

Okay, so I have to share this story I "wrote" with my brother. Basically he forgot about it until Sunday night. Yeesh, I know, fifth grade and already procrastinating tsk tsk. and all he had was a measly draft and a vague idea, and who gets stuck to help him fudge it out? Yeuppp, you guessed it. Two hours of sleep, gone. The best part? The story was due TUESDAY, not MONDAY. At least I got paid to do it. :)
So without further ado, it is my great honor to present:

THE MOUNTAIN OF TRUTH
By Raymond Wu

Summary by Lisa Wu

So basically, there are these two brothers right? And they arrive at this BIG mountain, one of those stereotypical movie ones, complete with jagged rocks and tons of mysterious fog. The younger brother is named John, and for some reason the main character, who is speaking from first person, has no name. I will call him Bubbie. So Bubbie and John are at the Mountain of Truth in hopes of reaching the "Magic Ball", who knows answers to all questions. They want to ask the Magic Ball where their real parents are (typical), because their foster parents that they were left with since they were very young are cruel and greedy people (as always).

As they're climbing, they reach this giant fissure in the ground. Bubbie suggests they use his handy dandy rope and hook (because all 12- year olds have one, duh) to cross the fissure. John, being the annoying younger brother he is, complains and tries to start walking back, but in his stupidity and partly due to the fog, walks straight into the fissure. LE GASP! Fortunately, Bubbie has lightning-fast reflexes and saves his idiotic brother from plunging to his untimely death in the abyss. John is thankful, but shaken, as they continue their journey.

Eventually after scaling a large rock face, the brothers arrive at a small lake. There is a signpost that says "BEWARE OF PIRANHAS" and and old rickety bridge (can you COUNT the cliches in this story?) Though it is established that John is a moron, apparently this runs in the family, because Bubbie decides not to test the limits of this old rotted bridge and picks instead to DIRECTLY SWIM AMONGST THE MAN-EATING PIRANHAS. Do not ask me why. However, he suddenly discovers, that like me, he is not to talented of a swimmer (although I passed the swim test, hellyeah!). He begins to struggle and flail, and his brother jumps in and saves him. Yay for brotherly love. "That's one for one," said John, smiling. Dude my brother came up with that. T___T

So. This is the moment they have been waiting for. The Magic Ball, in all its glorious magic-ness and ball-ness, floats before them. Giddy with glee, Bubbie approaches the Ball with reverence. He asks...the question, THE question, the QUESTION, THE QUESTION, to end all questions: "Where are my real parents?"

The Magic Ball pauses before answering in a deep, rumbly voice (a la Morgan Freeman) answering uselessly, "I do not know where your parents are." And John, perhaps rightfully so, begins to flip the hell out. I mean they just braved dark abysses, steep rock faces and bloody piranhas and this dumb ball can't even answer a simple question. However, Bubbie understands. "John..our parents..They're gone." John is still like..."wth?!"

The Magic Ball then speaks again: "Your parents will never truly be gone." before freakin' exploding into an acid trip of gold shimmery lights. Suddenly...that weird harp music plays, and an image appears on the Ball...It's a memory. Think Pensieve. It shows a man and a woman clutching two infant boys. Tearfully, they lay the boys in a cardboard box in front of a doorstep. The woman sobs and says, "I hope that they'll be happy, and that they'll know no matter what happens, as long as they have..EACH OTHER, we will always be with them." Fade to black.

So apparently this makes everything aiight again, so John smiles and says, "Come on, let's head home" in that classic, overly-hearty way people say things at the end of happy movies. Complete with sunset in the background and cheesy music, Bubbie heads home with his brother John- with his parents "by his side".
*cue "awwwwwwwwwwwww's"

THE END

All I can say is he better get a fricken A, am I right? LOL.

Cooking..win?

Well, my mom stayed true to her word and we decided to bake somethin' today. As usual, we found ourselves lacking in several of those baking type ingredients, because we're not exactly a baking type of family. What self-respecting hardcore Asian family makes cookies and brownies? Pfft, dumplings and fried rice all the way! We managed to scrounge up EXACTLY as much butter was called for in the recipe (which turns out, was leftover from the last time we attempted baking), found out we needed much more flour and sugar (to which my dad replied "Why so much sugar? Tai tian le!- too sweet!"), as well as vanilla extract. We also found out we had managed to lose all our measuring cups except for the 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 tbsp, and 1/8 (YES, ONE EIGTH, FOR GOD SAKES) teaspoon. So we tromped off to Safeway to buy the necessities.

And at Safeway, I managed to have one of those "is that person who i think it is" encounters, as well as a "hey its that persons should i say hi only i don't really knowt hem so it'd be awkward,better avoid them only oh no why are they standing there so long now I have to walk past them and not look". *sigh. I guess Safeway is the place to be nowadays, eh? Where all the COOL KIDS ha- alright I'll stop.

Anyways so we hauled back all our crap and we sort of just started..baking? Or more like. It was me baking. I guess it was pretty fun. I never understand people who love to cook, but there is something to be said to make something that tastes delicious using your own two hands and hard work. My brother basically hovered around being generally unhelpful and basically only wanting to eat the brownies. :D Pretty satisfactory results, if I do say so myself.

On a totally unrelated note, I saw this really funny thing on TV today. I'mma keep names and details out of this, but what a fail. I realize its just a local TV station and that's the best they can really do...But seriously. My hand were itching to do awkwardturtles through the whole thing, esp. during the second show where the host kept walking around like a creeper behind everyone, and one girl was trying so hard not to laugh. I can understand though. I was doing the same thing. Faillllll.
Edit: I realize that sentence was pretty ambiguous. I was trying not to laugh, NOT being a creeper behind people. *sigh. Sad how I have to clarify that, really.
-Lisa