HELP FIND VERONICA RUIZ!!!

One of my best friends, VERONICA RUIZ, has been missing since Monday, December 3, 2007.

She went for a hike on Mt. Tamalpias around 12 noon and never returned.

Please take a look at this flyer:

http://www.audcast.com/findveronicaruiz/

If you can help out in the search effort, then please call her sister, MariCris, at (650) 222-9578.

Please help find her... please help spread the word... please pray for her...

We all miss her so much...

I love you, Vee!

Here is another picture of her - she's carrying the baby:

Esquire...

note: a few months back, i wrote a blog similar to what i'm going to write now.

on november 16, 2007, at approximately 6:00pm, my brother became a real life lawyer!!!

congratulations, rat-eyes!!!

da-da-daaaaaaaaaaaamn!
we have a freakin' lawyer in the family!
if i ever get arrested, i know who my one phone call is going to!

and so, at approximately 6:00pm, 1/4 of my parents' dream came true.

2/4 of the dream are getting to the finish line.

and the last 1/4, well...

so, this is now my siblings and i current standing:

Eugene Chang, Esq.

Jamie Chang, PhD (date pending)

Jane Chang, Ms. (hey!)

Cheddie Chang, Esq. (date pending)

it goes without saying that i'm very proud of my brother and sisters.

and, it also goes without saying that i shamelessly show them off on this blog.

in any case, no matter how much i talk/write about my siblings, i can never do so more than my parents.

and here they are:

the proud parents of 4.

halloween...

as usual, my life has been pretty uneventful.

for me, nothing exsists beyond a 2 block radius from my house, so it figures i don't have much to write about... which is the reason why i haven't been updating this blog more regularly.

the thing that takes up most of my time is, of course, work.

i know halloween has passed, but my kiddies and i have worked so hard on decorating our classroom that i wanted to show it off:

do you see that small, teal wall?

that's my playhouse... well, the kids' playhouse (the whole classroom is my playhouse, shoot).

eugene built and painted it for me... but, i painted the grass and flowers, which you can't really see, but makes all the difference.

HA!

Dang, dude... has anyone been reading my brother's and sisters' blog lately?

(Wait, does that sentence make sense? Is it supposed to be "brother and sisters' blogs" or "brother and sisters' blog"? Well, whateva.)

What a bunch of downers.

Take some zoloft people.

I, on the other hand, being the joyful person that I am, have nothing but happiness and laughter to share with you.

Today, for example, one of my students said (with a hella stuffy sounding nose): "Miss Chang???(they always call my name like they're asking a question) I want to give you a hug."

And he proceeded to walk over to me, with arms wide open.

He kinda bumped into me, and that was his hug! HA!

Another kid said, "Miss Chang??? I like your shoes."

Followed by another voice saying, "Miss Chang??? I like your clothes."

Not only that, but I must have received like 10 apples!

I didn't know kids actually gave teachers apples.

These kids kill me.

They are cute as hell... they really are.

My job is so fun.

I think everyone should become a teacher.

Not only will it be the easiest money you've ever made, but it'll keep the dentist away.

My classroom...

the night of the living dead.........................

The-most-scariest-thing-happened-to-me-last-night.
Oh my God, it was so scary.
Last night, my slumber was broken by a freakin rat jumping on my head!!!!!!
Oh my gah, oh my gah, oh my gaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Well, at least I thought it was a rat... I couldn't tell in the darkness.
As I was sleeping, I felt this kinda small, kinda heavy, kinda warm thing fall right above my eyebrows... my forehead, if you will.
As you can imagine - and you must imagine - my eyes shot open with pupils dilated, nostrils flared, ears perked, body stiffened, and breathing stopped.
I must have been a horrendous sight to see, indeed.
In the split second that my physical features were adjusting to this unexpected surprise (and aren't all surprises unexpected, which is the reason why it is called a "surprise"?), my mind was desperately seeking an answer by asking questions:
Is it a rat?
Is it a creepy man petting me as I sleep... Mr. Antolini? I feel for you Holden.
Is it Foggy?
Whatever... I didn't care what the hell it was.
Alls I know is that I jumped hella fast out of my blanket and started shaking my head and body like a madman.
I even shouted in very manly voice, "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I shocked myself.
I thought that surely I would have awakened the rest of the house, but everything was silent.
All the while, my eyes were scanning the bed looking for the rat or Mr. Antolini.
I still couldn't see anything, but my body sure as hell felt the damn thing again.
This time the kinda small, kinda heavy, kinda warm thing ran across my body.
Again, my eyes shot open with pupils dilated, nostrils flared, and ears perked.
My body stiffened and I stopped breathing, but in all the excitement, I started to feel my right arm tingle.
I looked at my arm and I knew what had awoken me.
It was not a rat, but my dead, lifeless, numb arm.

Sometime in the night, I must have fallen asleep with my arm over my head and it must have gone completely numb after I unknowingly cut off its' circulation.
Then, my hand must have touched my forehead, but since my stupid hand lost all feeling, I didn't realize it.
And when I felt the "rat" for the second time, it must have been my arm swinging across my body, but of course I still didn't know it was my arm because it was still 100% numb.
The tingly-sensation was none other than my arm regaining blood.

So, I guess the most scariest thing that has ever happened to me wasn't very scary after all.
Unless you take into account the moment when I looked down at my right arm.
Because when I did, boy, it freaked me out.
Not only did it feel dead, but it looked dead, too.
It would be too difficult for me to explain what a dead, but not really dead, hand looks like, so I won't even try.
But, try to imagine it......................................

your personal hygiene...

i feel so nice and clean right now...

i just clipped my nails, took a shower, and brushed my teeth (so minty-fresh).

i used to hate brushing my teeth, i still do actually.

when i was younger, the only time i ever felt motivated to brush my teeth was after i watched a catchy sesame street skit where a gazillion muppets would pop up from behind shower curtains, shake their heads back and forth, jump around, all the while singing, "kids just love to brush! we love it! we love it!"

to give you an idea of how the scene looked liked, here's a link to a youtube video of my colorful friends motivating the hell out of me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrJaN-OD1ig

i hope my dentist happens to watch this video before my next visit.

his breath shocks and suffocates me each time.

how terrible is it to have a dentist whose breath can trigger my gag-reflex?

it kinda scares me to think that i'm getting brushing tips from this guy because he's either not taking his own advice or he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

anyways, as i was cutting my fingernails, it struck me as a kinda odd thing to have to do.

isn't it strange how your nails just keep on growing and growing, and every once in a while everyone in the whole entire world has to take some time out to cut them?

unless you're a freak-of-nature, as this person clearly is:

i don't know who this person is, but, yikes!!!

let's hope that she's not trying to grow out her toenails, too.

there are only a handful of things in this world that disturb me as much as long toenails do.

it's so gross.

i especially hate it when girls give their disgusting little toes french manicures (is that what it's called?).

i can only imagine how long they must have had to grow out their toenails in order to have them done up that way.

gives me the heebie-geebies.

come people, cut them toenails, please!!!

don't be like those tiny dogs with claws that scratch the pavement as they walk (and bark... those tiny dogs always have to be barking, don't they?) past you.

please, take the time to brush and clip.

you're a wizard 'arry...

harry potter is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm so sad it's all over.
why, jk rowling, whyyyyyyyyyyy???
i stayed up until 3:30 this morning finishing the book.

don't worry, i won't spoil the ending.
(i won't pull a vee! puhahahaha!)
so you need not be afraid of reading the rest of this post.

what i want to do is tell you about the events leading up to my purchase of this final book.
for the past month or so, i've been skillfully dodging all things related to this magical book.
whenever it came on the news, i'd quickly switch channels.
whenever the wonderful world of wizards was discussed on the radio, i'd turn the dial with an almost unworldly speed.
and whenever people were engaged in a conversation about the-boy-who-lived, i'd hum a tune to drown out the noise and scamper away.
i did everything i could to avoid hearing how the book ends.

then, the day before the book was to come out, i said to my brother while rubbing my hands, "ooh, i can't wait until tomorrow when harry potter comes out. oh, i can't wait! i can't wait!"
then my brother said with a smirk of his face, "i know how it ends. do you want me to tell you? i know how it ends. muhahaha."
then, as if sent from dumbledore himself, i received a phone call, and hurried off to my room to answer it, leaving my brother sitting dumbfounded in the living, but all the while laughing, "muahahahaha!!!"

on the day of the release, my only plans were to get out of bed, buy the book, get back into bed, and read the whole thing.
years and years and years of reading these books, following the lives of these characters, and it all came down to this final installment.
i was filled with such joy and excitement - to finally be able to find out if and how harry potter was to defeat voldemort.
to read the conclusion with my own eyes, after weeks of close calls.
on my way out, my mom agreed to come with me to costco to buy harry potter, and as i was pulling out of the driveway i was recalling the exchange my brother and i had the previous day.
i was telling her how mean it was of him to threaten to spoil the ending of a story i've been following faithfully year after year.
but, to be fair, i told her that he didn't ruin the ending.
it couldn't have been more than a second after i said that, that she just blurted out the ending to me!!!
she just said it, plain and simple, with the same evil smirk eugene had on the day before.
more than 7 years of reading and waiting down the drain.
i was just mere minutes away from my goal, having successfully side-stepped all the potter-spoilers, leaks, and rumors.
then, just like that, my mom, my one and only mom, popped my happy, potter-filled bubble.
and all she could say in defense was, "well, what can i do? you talked about it first. it was on the news."
after about 5 good, long minutes of me yelling and screaming, "how can you just tell me the ending? how? hooooooooooooowwwwww? why did you do that? whhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" i finally calmed down.
and again from my mom, "well, what can i do?"
for those of you non-changs reading this blog, "well, what can i do?" is not a phrase used by my mom in it's literal meaning of "my poor baby, how can i help you?"
rather, translated it means, "well, whatever."
now, go ahead, reread the what my mom said to me after she ruined the book, using the translation i just gave you.
doesn't so nice does it?

i felt like i was harry potter, fighting against all the voldemorts of this world only to be defeated by dumbledore.