Multi-tasking

Between 20 hours of work, 15 units of school (15 hours of school) and assisting my sister with Zach, I don't think anymore, I just do.

And it makes me think, how on earth do people go through school (college, grad school, professional schools) while raising a kid? It boggles my mind honestly.

I've also lost my sanity. Just let this semester end now, thank you.

Back to the Grind

I have been back in the San Jose area for over two weeks now, after vacationing in Peru and Los Angeles. The trip to Peru was cut short for reasons I will not go into on Blogger. The time I did spend in Peru was very enjoyable, and I met some random Canadians as well as a fellow Bruin Alum, thanks to Jaclyn and Kathy.

I would post photos of my trip, but the majority of my readers have either flipped through them on facebook or Picasa.

School started a few weeks ago, and I've been working roughly 20 hours a week at my job with Our City Forest, trying to compensate for the vacation time I took.

In more exciting and serious news, my sister is ready to give birth in less than two weeks! I will soon have a nephew to dote on, however, I will not be spoiling him because I am a very, very poor Aunt. I am excited to welcome a whole new generation of our families (both Ray and my sister's) into the world. Life will change as we know it, and everything around it will too.

That's my life in a nutshell.

Oh yes, my work has been postponed for a semester. Personally, I don't care anymore because it's time that I start finishing things on my own pace.

Parents

As many of you know, I am currently residing in San Jose with my sister and her husband, Ray. This year, I will become a proud Aunt to either a boy or girl. Personally, I'm hoping for a nephew, mostly because my sister's friends all have baby girls. Either way, it's very exciting. Both parental sets are excited, although my parents have gotten to the point of being so excited that it's become irritating.

Anyway, that's a little personal update on my life. Hopefully I won't screw the kid up too much, eh?

Separation

Journals are a funny thing for me, mostly because I have a hard time writing in them. I try to write as often as I can in my journal, blog, or what have you. As time has gone on the sites myspace and Facebook have both offered options to either publish posts or upload "notes." Personally I still like maintaining separate domains because, though there is no such thing as privacy thanks to the internet, I like to believe I still maintain a bit of privacy. Most people who read my journal are friends, maybe not everyone, friends I actually know and enjoy to see.

It's a little strange and unnerving to have my relatives on Facebook because well, Facebook was a college thing initially while I was in college. I know there is a good deal of students (former students at this rate) th at miss the old Facebook. All my younger cousins, my sister, my brother, and other various people from my life are now on Facebook. I suppose it's a great way to stay in touch, but to me, it was always more of a way to stay connected to my friends, which, by the way, has allowed me to stay in touch and reconnect.

I'm not really one for family bonding to be quite honest with you. This stems from a lot of various situations from my childhood, growing up, or whatever. This sort of epiphany sort of came when I saw all my relatives on Facebook getting happy and closer to one another while I still maintain a relatively distant relationship. Don't ask me why because I do not know why. I guess, as a friend has as her quote, "Friends are family you choose." The happiest I have ever been has been with my friends, and that in turn finally led me to become the person I am today. I'm not saying that I don't love or care about my family, all I am saying is that, I was never close to them outside of family functions and gatherings. I would be lying if I said otherwise.

Scoops

The holidays have been filled with spending time with my ever so dysfunctional family. This year we had a little rehash of last year's festivities by going out and having Korean BBQ at The Corner Place. Over Christmas dinner my brother-in-law Ray and my sister kept ranting and raving about Marcy's ice cream located in Hawthorne. Of course, curiosity got the best of me, so I typed in "ice cream" in the Yelp search engine, and this place called Scoops came up with over 300 reviews. So the day after Christmas we went out, had our dinner shindig and headed over to Scoops. Now, the actual name of the ice-cream store didn't ring a bell, but the street Heliotrope did. I then realized that I wanted to do this bike ride with the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition about a month and a half ago that ended up at this particular ice-cream shop. Since I reside in the West Side and the ride began in closer to mid-city Los Angeles, I opted not to. How unfortunate that I did not discover this place sooner! I highly doubt I would have stumbled upon the store randomly on my own, since it is essentially tucked away on a little street that is beginning to resemble Silverlake along Sunset. Why yes, it is quite hipster actually (you know, the people who wear tight fitting clothes from used clothing stores, with emo-hair cuts and where you find hipsters, you are bound to find a bike or two tied up to a rack or parking meter near by).

The reviews ranted and raved about how delicious this parlor was (and deceptive on my own accord). They serve Gelato (looking back I don't think they actually serve ice-cream), Vegan ice-cream/gelato, sorbets, and have your yogurt options because of the Pinkberry craze. Not only do they produce their own product in store, but Scoops offers different flavors every day, minus Brown Bread which is the only flavor to be offered consistently. On top of that, they have themed weekends (the guy behind the counter told me that they recently had an alcohol themed weekend). It is a simple shop, with a few tables and a couch, as well as a white-board for flavor suggestions. The selection isn't enormous, but it isn't limited either. The best part of this place is that a scoop is actually two scoops in a cup or a cone! And they the provide "refills" that cost a measly $1.75. The actual "scoop" costs about $2.50. I ended up getting Brown Bread and Maple Butterfinger. The service was genuine as well as the guy behind the counter allowed all six of us to test taste all the flavors since we had never been there before. I really liked the place because it wasn't over-the-top and it seemed that the people running Scoops were sincere about their product and service towards their clientèle. I got into a small conversation with who I presume was either the owner's son or co-owner about Scoops.

The store has been in Los Angeles for three years, and its popularity grew rapidly due to Yelpers. But oddly enough, the store owners wanted the store to expand by word of mouth, not by mass reviews on an internet search engine. Maybe they wanted to keep the whole local store feel, and succeed without the help of the internet -- validity perhaps? Anyway, the owners actually requested that Yelp take Scoops off of Yelp's top ten (like I said, I have not encountered any other place with over 300 review with 4.5 stars). Tucked away on Heliotrope near Los Angeles City College, Scoops is definitely one of the best places to go for a nice cold dessert. I highly recommend trying out Scoops if you are ever in the neighborhood. I don't think you'd regret it.

Next time I will write on my beer exploits (which I am beginning to think that I am an alcoholic) on the pubs, bars, and beer selection in the West Side. Just remember folks, if a place doesn't offer Newcastle on tap, it's not worth going to.