After seven years of losing to USC, we not only upset (13-9) the Trojans but kept them from going to the National Championship! Awesome. I guess crossing all of my fingers and toes really worked this time. Haha. Yay Bruins!!

It’s rivalry weekend and UCLA is playing USC.  It might be a fun game to watch but I’m going to have to cross my fingers and toes for them to win.  Fortunately, I prefer watching college basketball and we’re ranked No. 1 in the AP poll this year.  Woo hoo!  Good luck Bruins!!  F*ck ‘SC!

Last night my photography class was at Cypress College.  That’s where my instructor does some of his work and he thought that it would be good for us to see an exhibit of photographs along with all the studio equipment there.  There’s an older Chinese lady in my class who asked me last week if she could come with me since she was afraid to drive somewhere new at night.  She’s retired now and visiting her daughter for six months.  She’s staying at her daughter’s home, which happens to be just up the street from me!  I was hesitant at first, thinking it would be awkward but just called her up yesterday afternoon and offered her a ride anyway.  She turned out to be a very nice lady and could practically be my mom.  Her eldest daughter is also 31 years old and just got married this past summer.  We had a nice conversation about a variety of things including her pottery class, a new exhibit at the Bowers Museum, and how I grew up so similarly to her own children.  I found her company to be very pleasant and sorta comforting.  I can also say now that I’ve made a new friend in the neighborhood.   

I was in our weekly staff meeting today when a teacher came in and said, “Uh, guys, I think there’s a house on fire.” We all stuck our heads out the door and whaddayaknow, the house across the street was up in flames! People rushed to their cars to move it onto the playground but mine was safe in the back parking lot. It was just amazing how it was blazin’ and no one had called the Fire Department. One of the teachers called 911 just in case and the operator said, “No ma’am, we weren’t aware of this fire. We’ll be right there.” It was really sad to see a home up in flames. That has to be one of my worst fears. Luckily the owners weren’t home but some of the neighbors were home. I bet some didn’t even realize that the house next door was on fire. Well, the emergency crew came and put the fire out and my meeting continued. That was the exciting part of my day.

In other news, Mammoth got 4 inches of snow in the past two days. Wow, I hope it keeps up. I wish it would start raining here too. My plants need watering. The season opens on November 9th, baby!! It’s time to go to SkiDazzle for some new skis! Just kidding, Jes.

Oh yeah, thanks for lunch today, Mommy!

…awesome. My brother sent me a link to a set of photos posted by BBC and the best one is this one. I swear he could be a cousin of mine. If my brother and I were there we’d be posing for the same photo. I’m just amazed at how peaceful this take down has been so far. I suppose there’s something to be said for the “buffer state” or “land of smiles”. What’s funny is the the U.S. is “disappointed” in the coup. I’m sure some Americans would love to do the same for our dear president.

If you don’t know what happened, here’s the low down: The Thai Prime Minister, notorious for using a buzzer to shut down “unproductive” questions during press conferences, has been forced out of office. This guy has pretty much squandered the Thai people’s money and did some pretty shady things. Well, under the “approval” the King (who the people LOVE), the Thai army went in and pretty much kicked the PM out.

Tanks and dudes dressed in military gear filled the streets and the Thais decided to come out and celebrate by decorating the tanks with flowers and ribbons and offering food to the soldiers on duty. It’s too bad this didn’t happen last January when we were there…that could have been me in one of these photos.