Monday, August 8, 2016

Houma's house plantation, Louisiana

Slavery is a very sad part of our history, unfortunately the owner destroyed all the slaves' house...but this is nice to know that they support the Story of slavery in the Whitney Plantation. They did not mention much about it though, I wonder. This just reminds me to be loving to all kinds of people and not judge anyone by their color or social standing because we are all loved by our Creator in heaven, Jesus Christ. 
Our own private tour
Map of all Louisiana's plantation and census
Hand painted replica of the original painting on the wall in the 1800s
Dining table, the glass contraption is filled with arsenic as a bait to catch flies, then napkins are layed over it to hide the gross insects while they eat
She asked me to play and I did chopsticks and Fur Elise intro.
The man's room. Yes we women were allowed to see it, afterall it is 2016 not 1800s
They said that they would not have wanted Lincoln's sculpture in this house but a wife said "I don't know where to put our 'junk'" and the owner of the house bought this for 3000$ and it was tarnished black but when they cleaned it they realized it is 64 lbs of pure silver and had orginal signature of Gutzon Borglum, the same creator of Mount Rushmore. Pretty neat "junk"
Drugs for any ailments and toys for kids. These feathered metal toys are so pointy I could not fathom how they played with it, I pray it did not hurt anyone. 
Staircase
Vampire slayer kit, a gift from Ms Anne Rice to the owner of the house.
French lady depicted as indian lady for they did not know how american indians look like.
Dolls and wedding dress
This was how the backyard looked like before the Missippi River flooding  and the governemnt had to remove oak trees to build the Levy, retaining less than  half of what it used to be.
This is how the backyard look like now in Summer, 2016 
Coin bank
Voodoo mask




Monday, June 6, 2016

RocknRoll San Diego Marathon and Half Marathon


I always see this slogan: "It is not all about the finish line, but the journey also." 
I don't want to disregard the real athletes who train very hard and give their all, everyday to achieve  a successful run time.  I have few friends who are real athletes and see the amount of time, discipline, effort and practices that they put everyday to achieve greatness. Couple of them had my other friend and I  do a little crossfit training that they do before the real game and they modified stuff so we can get through them tough excercises and drills. I could not  imagine what goes on in their real training, if ours were modified and still are tough. How much tougher do they really do. But that is why they are athletes and most of them got paid and sent to college for being one. 

My friend, Crystal and I finished our first 1/2 marathon yesterday- the San Diego Rocknroll 1/2 marathon. http://www.runrocknroll.com/programs/ 

I did not know what to expect and was so nervous before the day of because I have never ran straight over 4miles beyond my 5-6mile runs in the gym. If anything We walked/ ran but we finished. There were  plenty of bands playing that were in almost every mile of the run. I was so amazed how highschoolers and gradeschoolers were organized to have their cheering squads on  the road pushing up to the finish. The gay community was so loving dressed with big balloon boobies and glam squads giving high fives and cheers from the beginning and saw them again in after mile 10.  The military familys had their row of flags cheering us up- "you can do it!, you are running for the others who sacrificed their lives!" That mile was very moving I had to stop Crystal, my friend from crying upon seeing the long road of pictures of young man and women who was killed defending our freedom every single day. 

San Diegans are one of the nicest people. Neighborhood gather in their front lawns to support gave cheers, even tequila, dance, sliced oranges, anything they can think of to keep us going.  I even saw iphone docked for music outside their gate. Lots of volunteers for water, gatorade, candies, coaches that are in the road for injuries and responsible medics spots. I am glad my first marathon was here. We felt genuine love from everyone.

Everyone is standing in their respective coral while we find bathrooms and they are everywhere. Look, these were lines going to bathrooms. 
Ready...3,2,1....go!
"1/2 marathon because you are only half crazy".

First mile-smile
This guy is running with his firefighter full-on outfit
"Run Magical Unicorn" the sign says. 

Yes, there is a race going on the other side also.


Yup, this nice person had sliced oranges and Crystal put the whole thing on her mouth and soon as I put them in my mouth I thought, I trust it is clean.
First band
Mile4

Military families were out cheering us to run for the young men and women who sacrificed for our freedom. 

https://youtu.be/lOdMsFbweLg


These photos are not just randomly placed here for display, these are sons and daughters or moms and dads or brothers and sisters or friends who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. 
Crystal noticed how young they are like 20's, 21, 22... It made her very sad and teary eyes until she realized we still have to focus and we are running for them too like one family member or a friend,  was saying, cheering us up. 


These kids are handing out paper towels to wipe our sweats...everybody is just so supportive in anyway they can. P.s. Sign behind them says: " Honoring the services and sacrifices of the American Military". 


Beer
There was a sweet old man waving inside that window
This made me laugh for I seem to need it every 10 seconds.

The pink sign says : "You run better than the government."
This man is giving whisky shots at the 5 1/2 mile sobriety check point. 
Yup runners but at this point, "walkers" stopped for photo opp
"Seemed like a good idea 4months ago" 
"Seems like a lot of work for a banana".
These cheered us up.
He said he won't tell
Blister-boo-boos...note to self: don't wear new shoes even if it a month old. Pick favorite running shoe now and use it often if not always training to test for blister forming so next year it should be ready for zero blister.
No shame in stopping just not quitting;)
We can not quit, if they can do it, ee can too
"Your lazy friends are still sleeping"
Another band
Pinocchio says,"there is no more hills"
Share the love

"You have never looked better, well maybe a few miles ago."
Just cause few people at work are making fun of me that I could probably not even make 6miles.
These highschool cheer leaders are all sooo sweet.



Where is this super cute building or is it a house?
"Dont fart"
Yes a cow!
Another band and so grand stage
I stopped counting but the great Alaskan Airline arc you can not miss.
These home really have a full on bar set up in their front yard. A couple really stopped for their free shots.
10mile mark...3 more...we got this.
We are in the freeway
They turned the tunnel into a dance club with DJ from the entrance of this tunnel


I see downton
The music that kept me going plus Elements of life
Less than a mile to finish line.
Ice to greet us after the finish line...and rows of gatorade, bananas, pretzels, cup of fruits, sweet pea chips, chocolate milk. Rocknroll marathon came prepared with photo booths and camera people during the race and after the race. 
Rescue Crystal's blisters
Taxi that a very helpful lady who works/volunteer for rocknroll was super nice to help hail for us. 
Yes all that yummy healthy nourishment, and no I did not finish all that food in 1 sitting. 

And yes I was taking videos and pictures while running and walking and all that love distracted me from the pains in my bum, back, legs, feet and we got through this for the first time and reached finish line and got our medals. 
 
I hope this inspire you to do it with us next year. Serious training this time and more serious run time. Have fun always.