I just had one of the most diverse spring breaks ever! Aside from the horrendous amount of driving, I was able to cram more into one week than I thought was possible. As my last blog said, Spring Break started with a rather pointless work day consisting of irrelevant information proceeded by five hours of chaperoning the senior ball on Saturday. Sunday was even better with correcting papers all day. I did, I am very glad to say, finish my work early. By late Monday morning, most of what I needed to do for work during break was done.
So, on to the rest of my break. For the first time, I watched more than one movie in less than a day. Oh, that felt wonderful. That Tuesday night, I headed down to Fremont to visit my sister. Anna, Ben, and Al were still in their normal routines because of work, but they were very accommodating. Anna’s computer was on the fritz so I used and abused her cable modem hook-up and did some downloading…ah, I wish I still had the freedom to do that. While they were at work, I did work of my own and completed grading all my papers Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Wednesday night, I was very happy to get to see Karena and Sammy and Sung for whom I have not physically seen for awhile now. We had dinner and just walked about the Great Mall for a little while. Even though it seems mundane, the company was nice and I enjoyed it very much. Thursday afternoon, I drove home to Fresno with my sister. Later that night, we picked up my other sister at the Amtrak and the whole family was back together again. When we got back home, my mom had cooked dinner. Ah, home-cooked meals again…I miss those. It was very good, as usual. We all spent some quality time together.
The next day, while my parents were at work, I did something I have not done for so long. I sat down, shut the door to my room and picked up several new books and just enjoyed them. I can’t wait for summer to do that again.
The next morning, I packed up and left for Los Angeles to stay the night at Will and Samantha’s parents’ house in Cerritos. Thanx guys for letting me stay there. The Warriner’s were very accommodating and I watched another movie..hehe…I think most of us agreed that Panic Room has a “bad” ending. If you have not watched it, well, let us just say that the end leaves you “wanting” more.
Sunday morning rolled around and I the Warriner’s went to mass and I left for San Diego to attend my friend’s wedding. Now, Jeff, my friend, told me that it would probably be about 2 hours from Los Angeles to San Diego. Um…well, he was quite wrong. The traffic was light due to the Easter Holiday and I arrived at 9 a.m….2 hours before the wedding actually started. When I arrived at the Four Seasons in Carlsbad (which, btw, has a beautiful view and is surrounded by one of the more luxurious communities I have ever seen) the wedding party was taking pictures. I greeted Dr. and Mrs. Tsai and I was glad that they recognized me. I had this nasty feeling that they would be like many parents of friends that say they do not recognize their kids friends. However, they were happy to see me and looked nervous…especially Dr. Tsai. He looked a lot more anxious than Jeff did. Ah, I wonder how I would feel if and when a kid of mine gets married. It must be mind-blowing, especially the first kid. There is something especially special about that (not to undermine any of the siblings when they get married, but the first one to get married usually is the grand and exciting line to cross for a lot of parents, I think).
The ceremony was a beautiful one. The Palm Court was decorated with a Renaissance arch and wood chairs and accented with pink rose petals that seemed to sing with the period music played by the live musicians. The wedding itself was short and sweet. The vows were quick and the rings exchanged. The whole thing lasted less than 45 minutes. Interesting that an even so important can be consolidated into even a day. But, what a day. The sun peaked through the thin layer of clouds for the ceremony. And, I mean it when I say that. It was overcast the rest of the day. Weird. Anyway, the day continued with a reception that included two toasts by the maid of honor and best man and the bouquet toss (which every female participated in…the draw being that there was “fortune” money in the actual bouquet). No garter toss…now, that is not fair. (Someone actually said that they should never have those and I immediately said that was some double standard.) I guess you can’t argue about some things. The food was good though. The salad had this weird white pepper thing going on that looked like onions, but tasted sweet. What is with those spinach salads I see everywhere these days. The soup was also quite good…it had salmon in it…yum…salty too. I love salty. The main course was interesting because this was the dish everyone picked when they were sent the invitations. However, those of us that picked the fish were quite left out on the portions department. Albeit very good, the fish was all there was. There was vegetable garnish and sauce, but that was it. The people with steak had mashed potatoes and veggies…much more substance. Oh well. The dessert was a bar full of a variety of things including this fondue like custard that was crisp on the top and warm liquid on the inside. Very nice. Of the dance-floor, most of the dancing was done by the older couples. I guess they were less reserved than the younger crowd. I, myself, had no partner and I’m more used to House, R&B/Hip-hop music to dance to. I did enjoy watching every else dance though.
As the reception wound to a close, I took Kevin, my friend’s brother back with me to Cerritos to pick up Sam. From there, we took the long trek all the way back up. Now, let me just say that combining all those other trips into one is not such a good idea. I think my car drank 3 full tanks of gas that day. Well, we did stop mid-way at the Ranch Market Restaurant and had us some grub before heading back on the freeway. With 160 miles left of the nearly 400, I tired and Sam volunteered (THANK YOU) to drive (I actually said: “I think we need to switch soon.” And she was awake and so she got the great privilege of driving the rest of the way. Haha…Anyway, we got back to Davis about midnight, 1 a.m. and I was back at home soon after.
Today, I spent the day doing my taxes and mailing that off and some other chores, including some bills and arranging tomorrow’s return to work. Yea!!! Now, I think I will retire to sleep. Again, I can’t wait till summer. I hope I get to at least see so many people (and I hope to visit more and hope to at least visit the same people again for a while.) Till then…Congratulations to my friend Jeff and his new bride Fawn! I hope that they draw eternally from the well of happiness and continue a life of bliss with blessed time and, of course, fun!