Birthday Weekend

Friday night turned out to be one of those nights where we planned to go out and do something, and ended up just staying home. We were planning on going to see either Fahrenheit 9/11 or Saved! with Kenny, but it ended up being too late, and he didn't feel like driving up. So Marc and I just rented Monster, which turned out to be pretty good. Disturbing, but good.

Saturday - 9:00 am

Saturday morning we got up early to go to the mall to buy a present for Erin (Marc's sister-in-law) for her birthday. We also picked up a big bouquet of flowers for my grandmother's birthday. We dropped off the flowers, popped Bandit in the car, and headed off for his sheep herding lesson.

11:30 am

Jan decided to try him out in the big field. Her comment was, "I think this could turn out really nicely. He'll have a lot more room to work and he'll feel less pressure. It could work out really nicely.....Or it could just be a big fiasco, we'll see!" It turned out to work out pretty well! We had a large flock of sheep to work with, and he kept them gathered very nicely.

12:30 pm

We got home, and I put Bandit in the backyard in his little pool, and then ran upstairs to quickly change out of my stinky and dirty clothes. Then it was back into the car, and off to Cupertino, where we were having a birthday lunch for my grandmother, who was turning 86. We ate at a Chinese restaurant called Hong Fu, and there was so much food. On top of the restaurant's desserts (bao bao fun - if that's how you spell it - one of my favorites), we also had the cake that my mom brought.

3:30 pm

After lunch, we drove over to Steve and Erin's in Fremont for Erin's birthday party. There, we had even MORE food, Mexican this time. Somehow, I still managed to eat some rice, beans, a burrito, and a slice of German chocolate pie. Allison (who turned one last week), was so cute - she's walking, and really "talking" a lot now. She really seems to like her Uncle Marc, because she kept going to him to be held, and she'd put her head on his shoulder. At one point the two of us were having a contest to see who she'd go to, but she snubbed us both, hehe. One time, she came over to give me a toy baseball (and she was clearly headed for me), and just as she was about the drop the ball into my hand, Marc reached in and grabbed it! "Thank you, Allison!" he shouted gleefully.

8:00 pm

After we finished opening up presents and everything, Marc and I left to go to meet up with my brothers and cousin Henry at the movie theater in Union City to see Fahrenheit 9/11. Steve went with us too, although he met up with us a bit later.

The movie was packed. I thought it was really good, and well done. It was enlightening for me too, even though I'm already no fan of Bush. The ties between the Bush family and the Saudis were interesting, but it was the images from the war that were particularly eye-opening. You always know that people, innocent people, are going to die in war, and that war is destructive, but you never really make that emotional connection about what that really means. There were parts that weren't easy to watch. I think Michael Moore also showed more restraint in his usual flair for over-the-topness in this movie - when he lets the images and the soldiers speak for themselves, that's when the movie's message is the most powerful.

When we got home, I read another 100 pages of Harry Potter, then went to sleep.

Sunday we both slept in, and it was a pretty kick-back day. I took Bandit to the Petsmart class, and he did pretty well with a few people that approached him. One of them was a fairly big guy, and he actually let him pet him. On the way out, I bumped into this young couple, who asked me if they sold puppies at Petsmart, or if I knew of any other pet stores in the area. I told them Petsmart didn't, and that I would really recommend they try rescue, rather than buying a puppy at a pet store (thankfully, there aren't as many of those around nowadays). They were a bit befuddled, and I explained to them why, and that there were indeed adoptable dogs and puppies at the SPCA and animal shelter. I also told them that if they really wanted a pure-bred dog, that they should seek a reputable breeder, and not a pet store. Hopefully they'll take my advice to heart, and hopefully they talked to the people at Petsmart, who I'm sure would tell them the same.

I took a bath in the evening with some bath salts to try to sooth some of my leg pains, but it's still bugging me. I did manage to read 300 pages or so of Harry Potter, though. I'm almost done!