January 2, 2000: Crystal Cathedral

Carol, Grandpa, Mom, and I drove over to Garden Grove, CA to attend a service at the Crystal Cathedral.   We sat in the balcony.   The service was very nice and it made me aware of how important this new century was to me and to not waste any more time with the Joe/Dawn situation and to concentrate on paying my bills.   

Then, we went to Krispy Kreme Donuts down the road.   The donuts were just baked and melted in your mouth.  These were Carol's favorite donuts.    

Then, we drove over to Diann's new house. It had alot of work to be done.    She had some delicious bread and tea for us.  Her kids were home schooled, so we got to see where she taught.   In their backyard, they had orange trees, so of course, my mom went crazy and wanted to take some home.  

We had to leave, as I had to fly back to Chicago.  Carol dropped me off at the airport. It was so sad to leave my family.       Carol had got us tickets to the Price Is Right, however, I couldn't take anymore time off of work due to the big Y2K scare.   Brandie picked me up from O'hare airport which was a big help.

January 1, 2000: New Years Day/Rose Bowl Floats

We were all tired this morning.  Eddy wasn't feeling well, so he went back to his house in Pasadena.  We took Aunt Elsie home.   Carol, Grandpa, my Mom, and I went to view the floats that were in the Rosebowl parade.   Each flower on the float had a vile of water in it.  After the parade and float viewing, the flowers were dried and used as potpourri.     It was pretty neat seeing all of the floats and seeing the Sierre Madre mountains in the background.   Eddy was still not feeling good, but he did drive us by where the Rosebowl football game was held. Then, he took us to his house in Pasadena.   I helped him set up his yahoo email account.    We went to dinner with Carol and then went home. 

December 31, 1999: New Years Eve

On New Years Eve Day, Carol, Eddy, Aunt Elsie, Grandpa, Mom, and I took a bus tour that went to Hollywood, LA, and Beverly Hills.    We stopped at Mann's Chinese Theater.   We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe which overlooked Cedars Sinai Hospital.     Hard Rock Cafe was attached to the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills. It's an enclosed mall where some movie stars can be seen. 

Our tour also took us to Venice Beach which was so much fun for people watching. Carol and I got henna tattoos on our wrists. They were so cute.  Neither one of us wanted a permanent tattoo so we thought this was the next best thing.   

For New Years Eve, we had dinner at this seafood restaurant.   We got our first taste of sushi, which I didn't like.    Then, Carol, Eddy, Mom, and I went to Long Beach and watched the fireworks that overlooked the Spruce Goose and Queen Mary.   I will always remember where I was when we celebrated entering a new century.     We got home and watched the news where all of the cities/countries showed their 2000 celebrations.   Got to see my hometown of Chicago celebrate with fireworks on TV.    We blew our horns and let out a bunch of noise with the party favors that Carol bought.  

December 30, 1999: Los Angeles

We flew to Los Angeles on December 28th and stayed with Carol Wong.   Carol lived in Cerritos.   We drove into LA and visited Laura Vandermuelen. The traffic there was horrible.  There were about 6 lanes of traffic and no one seemed to use their blinkers.   I don't know how I got us around LA, but I did.  Laura lived on Detroit St. which was off of Wilshire Blvd.  Laura had a real nice place.  Her roommate was Kristy Walker.     Laura took us all around Beverly Hills, Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Dr, and by Arnold Schwarzenegger's home.   We had lunch on Sunset Strip at the famous burger joint.    Also, we made a surprise visit to Jake Messinger at his work.   He worked in this store that sold gifts, cards, etc.  Estelle Getty, who used to play Sophia on "Golden Girls" used to frequent this store that Jake worked in.  Then, we went to Burbank to see the Jay Leno Show.   Arsenio Hall and Jimmy Buffet were guests on Jay Leno's show.   

Fall 1999: UIC in Champaign and Springfield, IL

I decided I would take a road trip to Champaign, IL to visit my friend, Adenike, whom I met in my photography class at Harold Washington Community College in downtown Chicago. Adenike and I were movie buddies and went to the movies all the time when she lived in Chicago.    After community college, she decided to transfer to UIC in Champaign.      I had never been there before, so it was nice to visit her.     She had a part-time job in a coffee shop.

We decided to take a side trip to Springfield, IL to see where Abraham Lincoln's house was.      Then, we drove around Springfield to check it out. There wasn't much to the town. Then, we came back to UIC and spent time hanging out.  I had a great time on this trip.  

June 12-13, 1999: Motorcycle Races in Newaygo

Went to Michigan for the weekend to work at the motorcycle races in Newaygo.   Sue and I stayed at Jerry's house.   Jerry and Terry were friends of Sue's sister, Chris.    I had never seen such a messy house in my life.    There were beer cans, food, trash, and clothes laying around everywhere.    Jerry won 10 million dollars in the lotto a few years ago.   We worked from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.  In the evening, we went to Andy's graduation open house.   Terry and Andy are stepbrothers.    I met Mike Tabaczka at these races.  He did their website and photography for the races.   

May 28-29, 1999: Joy's Visit to Chicago

My cousin Joy took the train from Ann Arbor to Chicago to spend the weekend with me.    I met her at Union Station and then we took the Metra train out to Downers Grove to my apartment.   We went to the IKEA store and to Pier 1 Imports.   I got my living room chair at IKEA and this fountain and stand at Pier 1 Imports.    Joy and I ate at Dave and Busters off of I-355 on Lake St.    When we got back to my apartment, we worked on putting together the chair and stand.   

On May 29,  I took Joy to Information Resources so she could see where I worked.   We went shopping on State St and had dinner at Ed Debeviks. I took her to Navy Pier.

Then, we went to this Female Impersonator show which was hilarious. Yolanda and Lilly had told me about this place.     There were alot of bachelorette parties going on here.    One of the guys dressed up as Cher. Joy and I laughed so hard.