January 6, 2009

• The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
  Entry 32

  
  
  Beware! Long post!
  
  2008 and 2009
  
  So far, the new year is heading off to a great start. I can't believe I'm on my 32nd blog in New York City! I've been doing so well on blogging about my experience here, I definitely won't forget how much fun I've been having here.
  
  Xanga isn't as popular and as widely-used as it once was, but I'm glad I kept at it. When I look back at old posts (now private), I get nostalgic remembering all the great memories I've created since 2002. Blogging has become something I do for myself. My xanga page isn't something I promote so only friends who knew I had this page in the past will know it even exists.
  
  Moving on... Looking back on my years passed--not just 2008, I can say that I've had quite an eventful life. I've done my best to make things interesting and I've done my best to keep pushing myself to experience life to the fullest extent of my will and abilities. :: pat on the back :: Every year has come with a new chapter and different experience and no year is ever the same for me and I've grown accustomed to changes in my life and I could say I've grown dependent on it. I need to have changes--I need to keep moving forward.
  
  
  Let's reflect on 2008 alone.
  
  January - I gave my Lori, a month's notice before quitting. She'd been so great to me during the 2 years I worked at Thales Avionics. She took me in while I was green and gave me the opportunity to travel with her on tradeshows and work them. She gave me full reins on planning events and seminars and the experience truly taught me that I, even as a little girl with a small voice, could gain the respect of my fellow colleagues.
  
  February - I spent most of 2007 planning and preparing for a backpacking trip through South America and I was determined to start with Carnival in Rio de Janeiro so that's what I did. I took with me 7 other fantabulous friends who gave me the freedom to plan my trip the way I wanted.
  

  • Rio de Janeiro- Carnival was totally awesome! Dan, Nam, Duy, Laura, Quang, Hieu and I partied until the wee hours of the morning and explored the beautiful city that is Rio de Janeiro.
  • Manaus and the Brazillian Amazon- Manaus was so friggin' hot and humid and horrible, but we HAD to go there so that we can embark on our Amazon adventure. Our journey on the Amazon was absolutely amazing. We learned so much about the rainforest, met locals, caught caimen, went piranha fishing, and explored to our heart's contents. Thinking back, the 40 some odd mosquito bites were worth it.
  • Iguazu Falls (on both Brazillian and Argentinian sides)- We said good-bye to Quang and Laura and headed off to the beautiful Iguazu Falls. The Brazillian side of the falls was easy enough to get to, but the Argentinian side proved to be a challenge. We even had a bit of border problems, but easily fixed thanks to our great hostel staff.
  • Cusco, Peru- We said good-bye to Hieu and headed to Cusco, Peru. Immediately upon arriving, I had the worst headache. Cusco is set high on the mountains so altitude sickness is very common. We eat coca leaves to off-set the headaches. Other than that, I'd say that the city is beautiful. There's an abundance of culture and history.
    
  • Machu Picchu- We took a tour around the Sacred Valley before finally heading up to Aguas Calientes so that we can visit the hidden empire of Machu Picchu. When we arrived in Machu Picchu around 6am, it was still covered in clouds. As the sun rose and the clouds cleared out, we could see the city opening up before our eyes. It was amazing!
    
  • Easter Island- We said good-bye to Cuzzie (Frances) and headed off to Easter Island off the coast of Chile to take a look at the ancient Moai staring off into the horizon. The small island contained so much history, we were fascinated with all its stories.
  • Quito, Ecuador- Still only Dan, Nam, Duy and I left, we continued our trip on to Quito. Spanish is Ecuador was hardest for me to understand because it was so fast. Quito was an amazing city, even though it rained most of the time while we were there. We explored the Old Quarters and had a fun time taking pictures. In Ecuador we ate chinese food 2 nights in a row. You can't beat filling up for hungry travelers on $12 total!
  • The Galapagos Islands- This is the one location we went to where I had nothing planned. This could have gone disastrous in so many ways, but everything worked out superbly. We booked a tour upon arriving and enjoyed our whole time there. The animals truly own this island. Everyone who populates it, lives and thrives with the animals and their surroundings in mind. We rode horses on a volcano rim, we swam with sea lions, we saw penguins, giant tortoises, and so many more.
  • Tikal, Guatemala- The four us stayed in a jungle lodge in the forests of Tikal where their great temples still stand. I've you seen Mel Gibson's Apocalyto, you'll get an idea of what it looked like here, minus all the slaughtering Tolteks and fleeing Mayans. We had time so we even went on a ziplining adventure through the trees of this great jungle.
  • Cancun and Chichen Itza, Mexico- Tikal was supposed to be the end of our trip, but I hadn't had enough. I decided to end our trip off with a bang. I picked Cancun because it was nearby and not only that, I'd give myself the chance to see Chichen Itza. We explored, we partied, we said good-bye to our awesome adventures.

  March - This month was spent preparing for our move to New York City. I'd prepared all the past year, but the final preparations still needed to be made and paperwork confirmed. I also took the time to spend with my family and loved ones.
  
  I'm going to stop at March for this post because I've let you read everything I've done and experienced since I've been in New York until now. I hope you've enjoyed my stories and thoughts.
  
  2009 is here!
  
  Resolutions? I can honestly say I've never made any real new year's resolutions. For the past two new year's I've told myself to start drinking or at least start being okay with drinking. My tolerance is a miserable failure. But, I'm proud to say I'm a lot better now than I was before.
  
  Resolutions? No, I can't say I have any for this year either. Whenever I made a decision to do something, even if it's something gigantic, like quitting my job, taking a month-long backpacking trip through South American and subsequently moving to New York City, you can see that I'll do it.
  
  I take initiative. I don't wait for anyone to hold my hand and take me with them because I don't do well being pulled through life. I push through it. I normally don't need to be pushed. I guess that's my life's resolution. I'll continue to push myself to experience and to live.
  
  The one thing I had to be "pushed" into doing was "writing." I don't have much confidence in myself. I'm lucky to have a supportive husband and I just want to make him proud because he has so much faith in me. Everyone starts from the bottom though and I'm so glad that Xanga (a site I've been so faithful to) has given me the chance to work for and learn from them. I feel like I've improved so much already. Aside from that, I'm writing articles from home for another site and also sending in clips to various other organizations. And I'm temping in between to get some extra cash to help my hubby out.
  
  On another fun note: My mom met someone who read people's futures by calculating the year, month, day, and even time of their birth. She called me and when I said "hello," she said, "You're dead!"
  - "Why?"
  - "It turns out that you're stuck with Dan for the rest of your life," she joked.
  - I decided to play along, "Oh no! That's horrible! I can't believe this is happening!"
  I don't really believe in these types of things and neither does my mom, but that was nice to hear anyway. We did have a good mother-daughter laugh though. It's nice to be able to talk to her whenever I can.
  
  I don't have a solid plan for a new adventure for 2009 yet, but I do have options I am thinking about it. You'll hear about them as soon as I figure things out.
  
  
  New Year's Eve was spent in Brooklyn's Prospect Park this year. We didn't figure out what we wanted to do until about 9pm that night! Our friends were either sick, at an extremely expensive party, or staying in their apartments. I wanted out and since I'm usually the shot-caller of our roomies family (no one else ever really cares), I called the shot again on this night again and everyone had to endure the grueling cold with me. Haha.
  
  New Year's Dinner
  

  
  
  Waiting for Fireworks
  

  
  
  There they are!
  

  
  
  

  
  
  Another photo of us
  

  
  
  And beginning the year with New Year's Day breakfast, courtesy of Nam.
  

  

  
  
  This post ended up being longer than I expected so I'll post my Christmas in California photos in my next post.
  
  2009, here I frickin' come!
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  • 11:37 am
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