family road trip to canada... i sensed it would be a very interesting experience. lotsa family stuff came up during this trip, which i suppose was bound to happen being that the 4 of us would be together 24 hours straight for 7 days. not always a perfect equation, but good times nonetheless! we enjoyed great views and scenic drives, good sightseeing, long drives, and very cold weather. i think my parents' favorite was the capilano suspension bridge in vancouver, canada. in seattle, washington, our family enjoyed fresh, reasonably-priced seafood from pike marketplace. mmm... oh, and the columbia river bordering oregon and washington was also very spectacular, with the awesome multnomah falls in the columbia gorge. i think those were the toppers. oh yes, and in oregon, we took advantage of the no tax on goods and went on a shopping spree at the outlets. they were having a sale, AND we got several additional discount coupons and came home with lotsa goodies. i personally came back with a new pair of walking shoes, running shoes, adidas jacket and warmup pants, wool socks (for my philly trip *shiver*), silk thermals, a load of new multicultural books for my students (mostly hardcover!), and some other small things. =) i was the designated photographer (being that i'm the only one who owns a camera) for the trip. i've already put in the order for my prints at costco, and as a gift to my parents i'm going to compile a scrapbook of our trip. already bought the scrapbook.

coming home to la, i realized that a storm indeed must have occurred. on most of the streets i drove on, there were countless potholes. i was trying to dodge them left and right, particularly the big ones (obviously), because a couple years ago i drove over a big ol' pothole and it actually took out my tire. i also had a full carload, so i'm sure that helped to flatten my tire. ah yes, and of course i was reminded of the friendliness of la folks. this dood pulling out of a driveway decided to cut me off, so i brake and motion WTF??, then i proceed to turn into the driveway and flicked him off while i was pulling in. then i parked and started to walk down the parking lot, only to see that this dood had driven around the corner and back IN to the very parking lot he tried so hard to get out of. so i see him coming down and can't believe he has such time, which i actually found to be pretty comical. so upon seeing his car coming towards me, i don't make eye contact at all, and pretend to forget to arm my car. so i turn around, walk a little ways to my car, disarm/arm it, then walk through the parked cars over to the next aisle. then i continue walking towards the store and the dood stops even with me (but over in the next aisle), kinda hesitates, then goes "hey.. fuck you..." kind of dispassionately, if u ask me, but i ignore him and keep going. must have been very climactic for him.

anyhoo, i rang in the new year in a random hotel room in a small oregonian town called rice hill. didn't feel too celebratory. i felt too lucky and comfortable knowing what had happened in southeast asia. i didn't feel it was appropriate the way some countries carried on in all their glory, while other respectful countries decided to tone it down or cancel celebrations altogether. i still can't believe the sunbathers who continued their tourist ways on the beach admist the disaster and corpses. that disgusts me. and above it all, FOX news telling the people to "stop the bush bashing" and stop calling him stingy?? how can you contribute only $35 mil in relief aid, and be content? obviously he knew he was being stingy, because shortly after he upped that sucker 10 times to $350 mil! he doesn't have to admit with words that he was wrong, cuz his actions certainly spoke them. and even more disgusting, in the next few years, america is planning to build like 6 more stadiums in different states, which will cost $350 million right there. so america is willing to spend a whole lotta dough on recreational sports, but not to truly aid the countries that they claim to help (but in fact, fuck up even more)? stop the bush bashing, you say?