This is me... :)

i received an email from my sister this morning.
it’s wonderful to be able to see some kind of history of your family.
it’s difficult to find anything on my family from both sides because of immigration and well let me just say it —WWII.
anyways, back to the email. my sister found an article that was about my grandma and her family. this is what the article said with the pictures below:

After a day of office work, the Oda sisters like to play their record player and try out the latest swing records. Ariye (left) is selecting the disks she wants to hear, while her sister, Sumi, is turning the machine on to one of the songs on the Hit Parade. Ariye and Sumi work as cost accountant and stock clerk respectively in Rockford, Illinois, a city of some 90,000 people, 90 miles northwest of Chicago. They formerly lived in Sacramento, California prior to evacuation to the Tule Lake Relocation Center. —

In their smartly furnished upstairs apartment in the Rockford residential section, the Oda family spends many pleasant evenings together. With her three daughters working all day, Mrs. Oda is happy when evening comes and the family can gather in the living room to read, study, or just to talk and listen to the radio. Left to right are: Sumi, a stock clerk and a student at the Rockford Business College; Fumi, a bookkeeper; Ariye, a cost accountant and also a business college student; and Mrs. Ariye Oda. Ariye and Sumi attend business college two nights a week for advance study. The Oda family is formerly from Sacramento, California and the Tule Lake Relocation Center. Mrs. Oda has two sons, Philip, a sergeant at Camp Shelby, and Hiromi, a shipping clerk in New York. The Odas have been in Rockford several months and have found the city much to their liking. They have made many new friends and have found their new jobs interesting. In the picture, Sumi is studying her homework, Ariye is looking for her favorite continued story, while Fumi and her mother are looking at the newspaper. By the lamp in the background is a picture of Sgt. Philip Oda.

So my sister's been hounding me to read this book. So much so that she forced me to take her copy home and read it.

Today i can proudly stand and say, "IM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!"

life's been hectic what with school and working everyday.

i was making this for my old xanga site. wow, oooold school.

this was a mixture of different flowers. i looove loove loove this one.

another grunge effect.

=)

i haven't blended in a while.

just because i love this boy. <3

before:

after:

my sister wanted me to do a picture of her.
so i did. it's of her and our friend christina.
i'm very proud of that quote i wrote.
it's AWESOME. lol.

before:

after:


<3>jackie

i used a picture of my friends adorable daughter.

so, i've finally got my groove back into my graphics. oh how i've missed it. i'm just trying to get familiar with all the filters, tools, etc. in my photoshop again. slowly i'm remembering. =) 

so not many people read my blog but i still write and post pictures because i love to. i finally made a video of myself talking or shall i say talking bubbles on youtube. its weird to see my face on youtube...but yet it feels awesome. i wish i had gave some more people shoutouts because i watch soo many people on youtube. lol. 

matt's bet



the sign says "lesson learned: never bet against shane"




him and shane


i wasn't embarrassed at all


wada and matt

video from that night is below.

salsa night





i was concentrating. =P








♥ ♥

today at the park

gb jaymie flying their awesome kites




sophie was tired after the park and a bath


and so was lucy. lol

love, jackie

GO TROJANS. haha. anyways, my beautiful friend thea grad from usc last week and today was her grad party. the food was yummy with a sushi, saimin, etc stations. the spicy tuna rolls were spicy and oh-so-good. =) what else but pictures.

it was that time of year where people are confirmed, baptised, and given their first communion. but, our choir sings for the 6pm mass on sundays so we sang at the confirmation ceremony. the plan was for the whole choir to wear red and we all did and it looked fabulous. our voices were strong and the spirits were high. here are pictures from it.

this year i opted to do karaoke for my birthday because im an obessed karaoke-er. lol. wasn't able to have the party on my actual bday because it was a sunday so we had it the following thursday. i had a blast. i got drunk but not drunk drunk where i acted up a fool. im too old to get "fucked up" on my bday. =p i got drunk just enough. matt kept me in control...he would be like, "babe, have some soda and here eat this sandwich" and i would sneak some sips of my bottle of wine that i got as a gift when he wasn't looking. i had fun and although matt wasnt able to pull off a surprise it was still awesome that he organized it. i love him so much. enjoy the pictures.

presents from the boyfriend











presents from onesan



oh those yellow hello kitty pajama pants were a present too. =P

♥ jackie