Interview

This morning, a reporter from the Chinese Daily News 世界日報 came to Starbucks at Towne Center and interviewed some of us going to Philmont. 5 members from my crew were there and we sat and told the reporter about Philmont. She got all the information she needed and took some pictures of us. She also asked each one of us questions about what we think about Philmont. I said we are all physically ready but it is all on our mental. So the article will be in tomorrow's Chinese Daily News 世界日報 instead of Monday's. That is good as more people buy the newspaper on Sunday than Mondeay.

One more night of good relaxing sleep on my bed tonight. Then, it will be 14 days away from home, 2 for traveling. I have heard both good and bad about the Amtrak Train and will find out when I spend 23 hours on it tomorrow night. I'll twitter about the train on my phone so you can follow me, twitter.com/ktcn15. there will be updates. So Philmont, I am pretty much packed. Just have to put the stuff in my backpack and some final stuff. Have a full day tomorrrow though. Having a family crew dinner at Spaghetti Factory at 5 tomorrow evening. Gonna be pretty fun.

I went to the Archery Program at El Dorado Park this morning. My sister was in the class for beginners and I decided to take the safety course as my friends were there doing that. We learned the safety information and I shot the arrows a few times. I hit 2 bullseye. IT was really fun.

So Philmont tomorrow. Gonna finish packing completely and leaving at 7 from Fullerton.

710 Day

It's 710 day today. July 10th, 7/10, the radio station, 710 ESPN celebrated their day today. 710 ESPN is my favorite radio station as it is sports 24/7. Also, they will have the Lakers play-by-play next season. They had festivals and giveaways at the Nokia Plaza. I wanted to go up there to Downtown L.A. but couldn't go. I wanted to take a picture with the Lakers Championship Trophy. O well, I'll try to go next year then.

My sister had a city summer league game tonight. She made a 3 point bank shot that got everyone surprised. Their team lost with a lot of controversery. The score keepers did not change the possession arrow after the opposing team had the jump ball tip. It didn't switch and that was a crucial blown call down the stretch. WE were all screaming at the ref and score keepers to change it but they did not hear us. They HAVE to wake up. But my sister did great. She is the only girl on her team. Good job sister!!!

In less than 48 hours, I will be on the Amtrak Train heading towards Philmont in New Mexico. It will be a 23 hour ride. I have heard that the Amtrak Train is not comfortable and is not a good place to sleep on. It is really noisy and they are rude. This is just a hear say but I feel it won't be very comfortable. That will be a full day through the dserts. I have sorted out my gears today. I'm still waiting for a few things to be washed here and there. Tomorrow, I plan on putting on my gear into my backpack and do some last minute shopping. I'll be gone til the 27th and will be returning in the morning. That is Philmont...

Played golf today at Heartwell. I was paired up with my sister and Jon Gau and his sisters. We 5 had a really fun round. It was really competetive and I was a bit Rusty as I haven't been playing there in over a month. I shot a 43 and Jon's sister Mimi shot a 44. Jon and my sister both shot a 45. It was a round that went down the stretch.

I'm geetting interviewed tomorrow morning @ 9 at Starbucks in Towne Center. The Chinese Daily News reporter will interview me and few of my crew members. It will be awesome getting some media attention for Philmont.

The Philmont Shirt

Tonight, I recieved my Philmont T-shirts. They look so cool. The front has the Philmont patch that we will receive when we are done with the trek and the back is the logo that we decided on a few months back. It shows the Philmont head in the middle with the L.A. lifestyle on the left. It includes downtown L.A., palm trees, the beach, and the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. Through the middle, it shows the Amtrak Train going towards New Mexico. The right is Philmont. See the picture of the logo. We are trek 714-J-1. So that's Philmont. I saw the list of foods we will get @ Philmont. IT will be tough not eating home food and eating trail food for 10 days in a row. I will bring some dry noodles and soy sauce to spice up the food.

I golfed today @ Little Rec in Long Beach. It was my first time playing there. I shot a 43, 12 over par 31. My drives were pretty straight and my game was pretty consistent today. It was really windy though so I had to play out the wind. We played pretty fast today less than 2 hours. I had fun golfing there @ Little Rec.

Friday tomorrow, just 3 days til Philmont. I will pack tomorrow for sure for Philmont. Gonna take a day off from cross country again. Today was time trials and I ran my 2 mile course in under 16 minutes.

Sleep in tomorrow for me.

4 days

4 days til I leave for Philmont on that train. I have started to get my things ready and packed. I am still waiting for the cooly nice designed T-shirts to arrive. IT should come anyday now. When that comes and that is washed, I will fully pack. Sunday night, we are boarding the Amtrak Train for a 23 hour train ride.

I will be in the chinese newspaper 世界日報 or Chinese Daily News this coming Monday, July 13th. They will run a feature on our crew to Philmont as 9 out of 11 people have some chinese background. My dad got them to run a feature. That will be pretty cool getting some media attention about our trek. On Friday or Saturday, a reporter will interview me and some other people from our group. Look for me in the chinese news paper all of my chinese friends this Monday.

I have started going to the cross country workouts as I have been biking there mornings. I took a day off today. My legs, especially my calf, are real sore right now. Tomorrow is time trials so it will be a good assessment.

I had nothing today on my schedule and it was really relaxing especially the sleeping in part. I finally finished Lesson 1 out of 8 of online health. For my Speedback Assignment, I scored a 37/40.

Just 4 days til Philmont. It will be a long 2 week trip but will be fun. I have some mixed feelings about it.

Michael Jackson Memorial

Los Angeles was at the center of attention to the whole world today as the Michael Jackson Memorial took place at STAPLES Center. It was an amazing atmosphere there. There were over 27 news trucks parked along STAPLES Center and all the networks set up their shots in front of Star Plaza and Nokia Plaza. We will never see anything this big ever again. I think over 1 billion people watched this event today as it was broadcasted for free to any networks. I watched the memorial from my house from the start and it was pretty cool and really well run. Everything went as planned and that was good. L.A. will get a big tourism boost from this as people came from all over the world.

To me, I never really understood Michael Jackson. Before his death, I always thought he was a person who screwed up his life with plastic surgery and the child molestation charges. I never thought he was this popular. Also, I was scared to see his face as it was really scary. But now my perspective has changed after his death. I fully understood who he really was and I am not scared to see his face anymore. I'm used to it. Michael Jackson was a person who did a lot of good things for the world. He holds the record for the most money donated to charity as he gave to a lot of child charaties. Also, Jackson influenced many singers style like Usher and others. He invented the moon walk and blossomed. His songs are pretty cool too as I know "Beat It" and "Man in the Mirror". Michael Jackson didn't moleste that kid. The kid only said it so he can gain money. Michael Jackosn was a great man and very influential to the world. I know understand him after his death which is pretty sad. My generation will have mixed feelings about the king of pop.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson. We will miss you!!!

One More Week

One more Week til I depart for Philmont. Next Sunday at 7:40 PM, I will board the Amtrack train @ Fullerton and head east towards New Mexico. The train ride will take about 23 hours and we will be at Philmont Monday evening. On Tuesday, our trek will start. Our trek will be a total of 56 miles over 11 days. We will hike 2 miles the first day, about 3 miles the second day and it will increase. Day 6 will be the hardest and longest as it will be a 8 mile day. After that, the mileage will decrease each day and that will be great. The longest day will be a dry camp day, meaning we will have to cary our own water. It will be a tough 2 weeks away from home but we will be doing many events there also such as rifle shooting and much more. I will write more on our itienary later on this week. Next Sunday before we leave, we will have a dinner at the Spaghetti Factory which is next to the train station. This week, I have to start packing and getting all the things down. I am a bit nervous right now but that will be the case for everyone going to Philmont. So that is next week

Happy Birthday America!!!

Happy 233rd Birthday America!!! This country broke away from English rule in 1776 and is still standing as of today. So today we celebrate the best nation on earth's birthday. It was Independence Day.

I went to my Aunt's house for a BBQ Party. There were about 20 of our family friends there. We all brought different things. For example, my sister, cousins, and I baked some brownies as deserts and brought it there. Things that were cooked in BBQ or oven were chicken legs, Korean BBQ Ribs, potatoes, sausages, and other stuff. I overloaded on a lot of them as I ate 3 chicken legs, over 5 Korean BBQ Ribs, 2 potatoes, and other snacks and deserts such as shaved ice and brownie. It was really delicious. We all chatted about a lot of things this afternoon. It was a nice family gathering event.

We all went to the firework show @ Cerritos High tonight. We parked near Elliot Elementary and my cousins and I walked to the CHS parking lot. There we had perfect view of the firework as it was above us. This year's was way better than last year's. There were music and a lot of cool new designs. It was boom boom boom continued. Afterward, the streets were all blocked off and it seemed as if it was the Lakers fans celebrating after they won thee championship last month. At my aunt's house, we set off some fireworks that were left over from last year. We lighted them and they blew up. Some made a huge noise. Man I still hear fireworks right now. Everyone is doing them illegally in Cerritos so who cares. We had a lot of poppers too. It was a really fun day today.

Happy Birthday America!!!

Mom's Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday. It is also my aunt's birthday. They are sisters and were born on the same day but 7 years apart. At home, my sister and I prepared for the birthday celebration. I made a card from my card maker program and then we baked a cake ourself. It was our first time and we made a strawberry one. Ate it at night and it tasted pretty good. We had BBQ Ribs for dinner and it was yummy. I ate 4 3 pieces of them and was really full. So happy birthday to my mom and aunt.

Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza swapped places. I say Lakers got the better hand of it. Artest signed for 3 years and he brings toughness and defense to the Lakers. He will be like Dennis Rodman of the Bulls in the 90s. Lakers will be a pretty deep team next year with Fish, Kobe, Artest, Pau, and Bynum.

Manny Ramirez returned tonight to the Dodgers at San Diego. He got a standing ovation mixed with cheers and jeers. But there were more Dodger fans there than Padres fan. Dodgers will be a great team down the stretch as Manny Ramirez will be really fresh from his 2 month vacation. He will help them out.

America's birthday tomorrow...

Triathlon

I accomplished the triathlon today in a weird way. I ran cross country this morning for 1st time this summer. I woke early and biked to Cerritos High. At XC, we did Indian Run. It wasn't too hard as my group had to do it for 15 minutes. Then I biked back home. In the afternoon, I biked to CPE and swam at the Swimming Pool. I swam about 40 laps back and forth which was a really good workout. I went at my own pace. I biked back home. So there it was, the triathlon. Cycling, Running, and Swimming. I performed the trio in an unofficial way. That was a pretty cool accomplishment.

I had a lot of free time today and finally started on health online. Finished 1/3 of the lesson 1. There are 8 lessons. It wasn't too bad. I played on my play station 2 a lot today.

2 years ago on this day, my family and I went to the Carson Animal Shelter and adopted Rusty, my German Shepherd Mix dog. It was on this day he came to our house. He is now 5 as we have said today is his birthday. So my little brother is growing up. He has been a great addition to our family. Rusty is a really great dog although can act naughty at some times.

3 years ago, I moved up street into my current house. From 2000-2006, I lived at my old house on Park Street that we remoldeled. But my mom and dad found this house at an open house and decided we should move here. So we did but I wasn't quite thrilled at first when I found out they had purchased this house. We had remoldeled it into a nice new house. I got over the unhappiness and now is happy we moved here. Our house is bigger and has 2 stories.

There are 2 important events on this day July 2nd. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday.

July 1

Today is a big anniversary day. One year ago on this day, I fractured my right foot while playing basketball. It changed me for a long time. I was on crutches for 10 days and it was painful. I couldn't go to summer basketball practices. I couldn't go to cross country anymore. The fracture was only a dot but it hurted a lot. I still played in the last summer basketball game and did well in limited minutes despite my injury. So that was one year ago on this day. IT was my first major injury in my life. From that point on, I was really cautious on how I played basketball.

I went to go renew my passport today as it was set to expire in November. I need my passport for my trip to Taiwan as it is really important to get through customs while traveling internationally. It should get done in 4-6 weeks. For Taiwan, we have bought our airplane ticket. Leaving at 1 AM August 23rd and coming back 12 PM September 6th.

Played a round of golf at Ironwood today and set a personal record with 39. I had 2 pars. I finally broke 40 there. It was a pretty good day to play, perfect weather.

Gonna go to cross country tomorrow for 1st time this summer.