I went shopping today!!! I needed to buy a new pair of black pants and I found it at JC Pennys. I must have tried on about 12 pairs of pants before I found the one I wanted. Then I saw 2 shirts I liked and bought them too. And guess what? I've gone down a size!! That makes me feel good. I hope I can keep up the weightloss.
I practised piano today for the wedding on Saturday, and it felt really good to be able to play pieces that challenges me again. I had to compose a new version of Ode To Joy for the wedding Recessional, and I hope I remember it by Saturday!
I am leaving for Ventura on Thursday after work. I have to work in the mornings as usual, and after that I am outta here! I cant wait to be able to sit at the beach and relax. I've waited for this break for a long time. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'll be spontaneous, like Dave Malone says I need to be!
Lu, Joel and Joshua leave for Singapore on Friday. Chilin will be taking them. They will stop in Thailand for a little while before heading to Singapore. I will miss them these 3 weeks. So I'm thinking it's now time for my family to tell me stories about Joshua, instead of me telling the stories all the time! We played hide and seek again on Monday when I went over for dinner. He hid in a different place this time! He hid in the bathroom! We always play hide and seek. I think it's because we need 2 people to play!
He's doing well at school. He's learning to spell really well, and his math is also improving.
I will write more after my vacation. I hope the sun will be nice and be nice and hot at the beach!

So how do you like the new look of my blogspot? My friend Aura very kindly helped me change it. I must say, it does look a lot nicer! I'm glad for the change. Though I dont really care what it looks like, I care what is being said, it still is aesthetically better!
So thank God tomorrow is Friday. It's been a long week, and I'm ready for my break. I dont know what I'll be doing or where I will be, but I have a week to enjoy, and I think I will make full use of it. THOUGH, I still think I have to work in the morning. Which is ok. As long as I dont have to teach or deal with lazy students, I dont care.
But all in all, it's been a good week. I lost another 2 pounds, and that takes me ALMOST to 20 lbs lost. I would like to lose another 10 lbs before Lisa's wedding, but I'm not sure if I can. I feel very stagnant and stuck at this weight. Oh well, we'll see what happens!
I found a clothes store where I really like the clothes! It's called The Dress Barn and I bought a blouse there for the wedding next week which I'm supposed to play for. I saw a really nice dress there too, but I still have to think about it. Maybe I will go back there to try it again and see if I really want to buy it. The problem is I dont know when I'm going to wear it again. I cant wear it for work because it's too formal, and I dont see any formal occasions coming up anytime soon. So maybe I wont buy it. I guess I answered my own question!
Mom and Dad if you are reading this, I need new contacts. Is there anyway you can get a new pair for me? I think my power is the same as before, I just need new ones because mine is getting old.
It's my morning off tomorrow!!!! I always look forward to this. BUT I have to work tomorrow morning because I didnt get everything done today. Oh well. Such is life! Goodnight!

So Chilin is going to take Lu and Joel and Joshua to the airport. He volunteered after Lu told him how scared I was about driving their car and about getting lost. YAY!!!!!!! I have never been so relieved. I do have to pick them up from the airport but that's ok. I know how to get there. After that, Joel can drive, or he can tell me how to get out of there. OR, Chilin might volunteer again to pick them up because their insurance may not cover me driving their car. I just found out tonight when Lu told me, and I felt so much better.
Lu and I chatted about things she wanted to bring back from Singapore, and she said she wanted to get some Chinese songs on CD. She mentioned Deng Li Jun. I think it's Theresa Teng? And she asks me, do you have any? I looked at her in amazement and said, ME?? And we both bust out laughing. She was laughing at my expression, and I was laughing at the absurdity of that question. And we talked somemore, and then we smelled something nasty like rotten eggs. Apparently, Shari, her dog, farted, so I had to go home because the small was awful. It was really funny.
Joshua did the ultimate kid thing last week. He found a pair of scissors and cut a chunk of his hair off. I just noticed it tonight because it was dry, and I asked him about it. He said, I was looking for my toy and then I saw the scissors and I took it and I cut my hair. So I asked him, did mommy get angry? And Lu said, YES! So now he has uneven hair in the front. It was really funny.
I will be playing the piano for a wedding at church on May 29th. Holly is the daughter of Bart and Judy Ketterling, and they are wonderful people. I'm really excited, it's been a long time since I played for a wedding.
Tomorrow will be a long day, so I'm about to call it quits and go to bed. Goodnight!!

Something really funny happaned yesterday. I have a student Eumi on Wednesdays at 7 pm. She's all of 6 years old, but oh so much personality. I usually give her candy at the end of her lesson because she does well, and I never think anything about it. Yesterday, Eumi comes into class dragging a HUGE bag of candy. The candy must weigh as much as she does! I said, what's that???!!! And she and her mom both said, you always give candy away, so we thought we'd buy some for you. I thought that was SO nice of them. I told Eumi, there must be a thousand pieces of candy in there, and she goes, no, there's only 500, because it says so on the bag! So now I Have a massive bag of candy which I doubt will ever end!
My student Hirushi is really funny. She's only 5 and she doesnt know her alphabets too well yet. I asked her what a note was, and she said, F! And I said, so what is F for? And she thought for a while and said, Elephant! I wanted to laugh so badly. Then I said, what's this note, and she said, G! And I said, good, what is G for? And she thought for a while, and she said, Gelephant! And I REALLY wanted to laugh then. So I gave her a clue, and said, what animal has a really long neck?? She thought for a while, and she said, I know! ZEBRA!!! I think it was about there that I cracked up.
Chilin really likes my new car. He kept saying, wow, this looks like one of the big cars. I have wood accents in my car. At first I didnt like it, but now I really do. And he really likes how it drives too. It is definitely a lot smoother than my old car.
On Sunday I am going to be recognized as a member of the First Baptist Church in Ventura. I joined the membership class because I had to because I served in the church. I dont mind, I liked it. I thought I didnt have to stand up in front of the church, but I guess I do! I'm glad I will be recognized at the 8 am service because that's the one I attend. I think the people there know me best because they see me the most.
That's the big news for the week. I have to send Lu and Joel and Joshua to the airport and drive their Toyota 4runner. I DONT WANT TO DO THAT!!!!! After my wreck, I am so paranoid. AND I dont want to get lost around the airport. LAX must be the most complicated airport around. I'm praying I can get out of it.
Well, it's almost 1 am, and tomorrow is my morning off, so I am going to ENJOY it. Later!

Amanda Morales.
She's one of my students, and I think today I will write about her. Amanda came to me last September almost giving up on music, and not interested. She couldnt really read notes, and it took her a good 2 months to learn a piece. She didnt want to practise, but she liked coming for lessons. Which was a great start. Her mom talked to me more than once about her, because she didnt know what to do. I remember I told her mom to give me one more month to try and help Amanda. And then I asked Amanda to play in my Christmas concert, and after that, things did a 180 change. She started to be a lot more interested, and she practised, and all of a sudden, she started to improve a lot and very quickly. She would take initiative to do more than I asked her to, which was very heartwarming to know. And I really enjoy teaching her, and interacting with her. She's got a great sense of humor, and we have the best times during lessons.
Well, on Thursday as we got done with lessons, I started chatting with her, and I told her how proud I am of her because she is doing so well. And she herself asked me, Ms Audrey, is it ok if you write the days down, and I'll fill in the times I practised? I was like, OH YEAH SURE!!!! And she genuinely wants to improve. I was so thrilled!
After her lesson, I asked her mom if I could talk to her, and I told her that I wanted her to know that Amanda is doing wonderfully. And I told her that I really enjoy teaching her and I'm really proud of her. And I'm glad I did that because I felt that Amanda's mom needed to hear that. I think she knows Amanda is working a lot harder now, but I think it became real when I said it to her. So I think I will start doing that with every parent, just letting them know how their kid is doing. Amanda's mom even said Amanda talked about becoming a piano teacher! That was a nice compliment!
I wish there were more Amandas out there. I'm grateful to have been able to touch this one life in this way. It makes all the long hours and hard work worthwhile.

I like my car!!! I REALLY like my car!!! Chilin drove it a little today because he had to help me park. The story goes like this. I parked in a spot where both he and Florence said was not safe for my new car because the car next to me would bump my car when they open the door. There was a parking spot right behind where I was parked, and Chilin said back into it. Well, I CANT BACK into a spot, so Chilin did it. And he got out of the car and said, wow, this is a nice car! Feels like driving a big car. It feels bigger, it looks bigger, and I really do feel lot safer in it because as Chilin puts it, (in Chinese) my backside is not touching the freeway.
I think backing in is a guy thing. I dont know any girl driver who does it, but I do know at least 3 guys who do.
It's been so hot lately that we have had to turn on our air. We really didnt want to because it will jack up electricity prices, but it was unbearable. And it's not even summer yet! But today was a nice nice day. It was a lot cooler and now it's even nice to go to bed without the fan on too! I got a tan just by driving. Which is nice because my arms and legs really need to see some sun. I live in California for goodness sake, I need to get a tan before I go back to Missouri for Lisa's wedding. I cant wait to go back and see all my friends back there.
So this week has been pretty good. My students actually behaved. But I also think it's because I'm not so stressed about my car anymore. Yay yay yippee!
Sunday is Mother's Day, so HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!!!!!!!!!!! Have a wonderful day!!!