Merry Christmas!

First Christmas away from family. First Christmas with my new family; John, Holly, and Baxter. I thought I would be depressed and sad wishing I were at home with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins. I definitely wanted to be home, but I wasn't depressed. John wanted to decorate the house to make sure I was in the holiday spirit. Poor guy was afraid I would be grumpy and moping this Christmas. I was afraid of that too. But I wasn't. The sad thing about this is that I never felt the holiday spirit this year. Christmas seemed like just another day off. There wasn't anything to really looked forward to. I tried listening to Christmas music in the car to get me into the spirit. Yes, that is disappointing. Is it because I'm getting older? No way am I a grumpy old holiday hating lady, but this year, I wasn't excited about Christmas. I hope the rest of my family had a wonderful time. I will make sure it make it to the next Christmas. It' s been too long since I've seen the Clans

Food is fun

I've been watching a lot of Travel Channel and Food Network to see where all the hotspot eateries are. Surprisingly there are quite a few featured places that are here in Oklahoma. Eating is something I love. Eating at a famous place that was featured on TV, now that I love even more! My plan is to go to as many of these places as I can. So far I've been to Big Truck Taco. A little taco shack that's packed during lunch hour. It's a bright yellow concrete block that's located in Oklahoma City's "ghetto". Ghetto in parenthesis because this isn't Baltimore City. You know what real ghetto is if you've ever known parts of Baltimore city (or Hyattsville). They have the bestest, greasiest, yummiest soft shell tacos. My favorite was the brisket taco. Now if you've ever had bbq brisket you know how good this stuff is. Imagine that piled high on a tortilla with so much grease it drips down your wrists leaving globs of orange fat stains. Haven't been there in a while since I don't work downtown anymore. But will probably have to make a visit when the cousins come ;)

Next stop: Ingrid's Kitchen. Driving through most of Oklahoma City you start to notice some food trends; Mexican, Tex-mex, bbq, sonic, bbq, tex-mex, more sonic, more bbq, etc. So I was excited to find that there was an authentic German restaurant in town. Being adventurous one Sunday, I convinced John to leave the couch and drive a few minutes up north to try the German Breakfast Buffet. (okay, so not very adventurous, but for me and John, any new place, no matter how close or common, is an adventure. hmm, actually more so true for John than me!). We walked into the cafeteria-like restaurant. Nothing fancy. There was a huge buffet station set out with the usual breakfast food and some lunch items. The only "German" thing on the menu were bratwursts and sauerkraut. Disappointing. I wanted to try some schnitzel and schinkenwurst, and knackwursts. Whatever those are. John loved the food. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy that eats Totino's pizza 6 days out of the week. Don't know if we'd come back to this place for the breakfast, but I would like to try a schnitzel.

A few weekends ago I once again convinced John to drive out even further than before for another Travel Channel driven food adventure. I' ve actually been wanting to try this place for a long time. Get ready for it.... fried chicken and waffles! and soul food! Real soul food that was made by some lady called Mama E! Prior to our trip I had been craving fried chicken like no other. So I was super excited. John, oh John, had total reservations as soon as we spotted the yellow shack, yes another yellow shack, although this one much more ghetto-er than Big Truck Taco. He later told his coworker where he had gone and she asked us what the hell we were doing in that part of town. More ghettoness. If it wasn't for the Travel Channel, I would have never ever thought about eating at this shady place. But hey, good food is good food and I wasn't bothered by the appearance of the place. It kind of reminds me of the tiny food shops at Eden. Steaming silver trays of hot food held behind a glass and the lady behind it scoops up your order into styrofoam plates. I got the wings and waffles with a side of collard greens. All of the food looked and smelled so good. Mac and cheese, roasted chicken, stuffing, neck bones, meatloaf, gravy, catfish. This stuff was no doubt made from scratch by someone who knew what he/she was doing. And for a dollar you get unlimited Koolaid. John was more excited about the Koolaid than anything else. We ate our food in a small dining area with black writing scribbled all over the walls and tables. There was a big old TV that played Rush Hour at the end where the food was being made. My chicken and waffles were good. Nice combo of sweet and salty. But it wasn't as exciting as I thought. John's soul food however was delicious. I don't know of any other place near here that has that type of home-cooked food. I will definitely come back to try more. Almost forgot! There was also free dessert! I had no idea what is was and still have no idea. But it was good. See photo below.

Next stop is a fried chicken place called Eichens. My coworkers have been raving about this place. So we'll be taking a work trip this Saturday. Yay!


Mama E's we're here!

This was where you ordered the food


John. So happy to eat at Mama E's.



"Dessert" I ate it.


Hope this provided you with a nice break from your studying/working/procrastinating :)

Dad's new retirement plan

Being in San Diego by the water, the piers and the fishermen makse me miss my dad. So I gave him a call today just to say hi. He sounded unusually excited to talk to me about my current trip to San Diego. Apparently now he wants to retire here because "I can go fishing on the pier. Bring my radio and an dau phong. Or I don't need to fish, I can be there and enjoy the nature." My job while I'm still here in San Diego is to do some research for him. He wants me to find out how much it would cost for a 2 bedroom townhouse."Nothing big. One room for me and mommy and one room for you, Nancy, and Sandy when you visit". I told him when he decides to move out there, I'll move too. How great would it be to have my family all together in a beautiful city such as San Diego....(hint hint Nancy, Sandy)

Fashion update

So I have been stalking fashion blogs for the past few weeks now. I was never in to fashion. Of course I wanted to look good, but comfort and convenience took priority. Make up and jewelry and cute shoes were all extras. I never understood why people would spend so much money on all these extra things. My wardrobe consisted of mostly blue scrubs for the past few years. And dark dreary colors (as my mom called them). Blues, creams, blacks, and grey. Oh grey, I think you are my new favorite color. Mom says I dress like ba gia. Thanks, mom. But those colors, in solid patterns, were the easiest to wear. NOW, however, I am breaking my boring fashion habits! Why now you ask? Well, 1. I don't have to wear blue scrubs anymore. 2. I've actually got some extra dough to spend on the things I always thought were extras. 3. My coworker always looks so darn cute, like she stepped out of a J Crew catalog. 4. I definitely look more 'grown up'. (it sucks when you walk in to see your patient and they give you this "you must be the assistant, you look like you're in college, you can't know what you're doing, what the hell, I want to see the doctor") 5. I want to be able to flaunt it while I still got it ; )

That all being said, I have gone on a mini shopping spree. I have rediscovered J crew. They actually have really nice stuff. And Ann Taylor, too. Gonna attempt to wear heels to work one day. Small, sturdy, strong heals, but heals none the less. Bye Bye Nikes. Next step is to go to Target or Forever 21 to find some cheapie jewelry to spice things up. I'm kind of excited about this! New looks for the coming new year! Let's see how long this fashion momentum lasts.... here's a look at what I got from www.jcrew.com, on sale of course:


sparkly belt. Definitely something new to me.


Wasn't sure about this one, but got it in a olive green color.

The orange cardigan. I got one in light blue too!
Still sticking to more neutral colors. hopefully these all look good, if not, returns!

Fall?

Fall already? aw man. I'm enjoying this weather but whenever summer ends, I always feel sad. Now that I'm out of school there shouldn't be much difference which season is which. Fall doesn't mean the start of school, and summer doesn't mean the end of classes. Still, summer equals beach, and crabs, cookouts and reunions, watermelon, and longer days. I love it, love it! Dear Summer, I miss you.

Wedded Bliss

It's been over a week since the whirlwind of wedding fun happened. how did the time fly by so quickly? John and I spent a year and a half planning in anticipation for this day. We had an idea of how the day would turn out. I had a pretty clear image of how I wanted things. Visiting wedding blogs, browsing through bridal magazines, and watching Platinum Weddings became a regular activity. Earlier during the planning phase we wished that the day would come sooner, but as the date came closer, I started to wish time would slow down. Of course I wanted to marry John, but I also knew that this once in a lifetime event would be over in 24 hours and will never happen again. Anticipation gave me something to look forward too. It made the planning process fun. In reality, I'm still visiting wedding blogs and watching to WE wedding TV shows :) It's become routine! I wish we could relive that day:

Woke up at 7:30. Lucky for me I got to sleep on the bed downstairs since Lynn slept over. I would have been too chicken to sleep in the basement by myself if it weren't for Lynn, instead I would have slept in my usual spot, the living room floor. My mom was already up making xoi. A few of the bridesmaids slept over that night. I wished we could have all gotten ready together, but with 8 girls, time was an issue! Did my routine morning thingamagigs, tried to get something to eat, gathered my dress and shoes and went to the salon for a makeup session. The salon agreed to open early for me which was very nice since it was just me there. Oh, and the weather! I can remember clearly how beautiful that morning was. Some brides may have wanted to be surrounded by bridesmaids/parents/friends/photographers/hair stylists/makeup artists early in the morning, and yes, I did want that, I would have loved to have that, but I was happy to be able to have a few moments to myself. I enjoyed the drive to the salon. I must have passed through Patapsco State Park thousands of times before, but on that quiet Saturday morning, I noticed how wonderful that little road was. The sunlight mingled with the trees to create patches of bright and shade. It was cool enough to have the windows down. My little 3 minutes of wonderful alone time to let things sink in :)

After makeup was done, I headed back down route 40 to Vi/Tien's house. Everyone was up, they had their hair nicely done, and Uncle Peter was at the stove cooking bacon and eggs! I am so grateful to have such a talented aunt. I previously gave her a vague idea of how I wanted my hair, and she was able to complete that look in less than an hour. The amazing thing was, even with my abnormally thick and coarse hair, she was able to whip out her magic (and large can of hairspray) and made the style stay in place the entire day and night! No touch up needed. We put the veil on at that point since I didn't even know how to put one on correctly and wasn't sure if any of my girls knew how either. So there I was, makeup, hair, veil, in Vi's kitchen eating a banana and 1/4 of a bagel wearing a turquoise hoodie and skirt. I was ready!

Got to the church and was greeted by my photographers! I was the only other person there. After dropping my things off in the music room, I went to the room where the ceremony would be held and just stood at the beginning of the aisle taking it all in. No one was there, just me. In 30 minutes this room will be full of people and I will walk down this very aisle to my future husband. After that, I waited in the dressing room until I was given the ok to come out. Traditionally, no one see the bride until she's walking down the alter, but I was so excited to see family that I was walking around mingling with everyone. Screw tradition! Also, John and I did a 'first look' where the bride and groom see each other prior to the ceremony. John's seen me in this dress before (yeah yeah) but I was so excited for him to see me with the makeup, hair, and veil. I remember the look on his face when he saw me. He had a calm, loving smile as he held my arms out and took it all in. We were ready. Once the bridal party was lined up and the music started, I got really excited. We had one good looking bridal party! I took both my parents' arms and remember standing at the end of the aisle, trying to make sense of everything before me. Thinking back on it, the thing I remember most, and I think this is kinda weird, is the blueness of all the bridesmaids dresses and how it brightened up the room! Knowing me, I thought I was going to be sobbing down the aisle. But I didn't. Then I thought I would be sobbing as my parents handed me to John, but I didn't. I didn't cry when we said our vows, I didn't cry when we were announced husband and wife. I was cheesin the whole time! how embarrassing! This came to my attention through all the wedding photos. In reality, I just could not stop smiling. And that smiling must have prevented the tears to come. One of my favorite parts of the day was right after the ceremony when I was able to meet with the family/friends. There should have been 2 hours dedicated to that :( wished I had more time.

Tea ceremony. Neither I nor John planned on having a tea ceremony. For me, it was one more thing to add on to our already extensive to do list. Choosing to wear ao dai was a last minute decision of mine. We basically did the ceremony to make his mom happy. My parents would have preferred we did the tea ceremony, but she said it wasn't necessary. I have to say, I am glad we did it. Because we are Viet and I am proud to be Viet!!! Rebel.

Fast forward to the reception ...

The rest of the day was nonstop go go go! There should have been time for me to relax for at least an hour, but between the tea ceremony running late and driving between John's house to mines, it left me with zero extra time. As soon as I got home, I rushed and packed the car with decorations and sped to the mansion. How embarrassed was I to come there and find 2 of my guests already there. nothing was set up yet. So, I put those two guests to work! They insisted. My dream was to have the mansion immaculately decorated once guests arrived. They would walk into this beautiful space filled with soft light and music and be served cocktails and food. Nope. We were running around placing flowers on the tables, setting up tea lights, organizing table numbers, boxes on the floor. The reception started without any official announcement. I don't remember too much during the start of it. All I remember was running up stairs to put my gown on, running back down stairs to make sure I had my car keys and the extra boxes were cleared, and taking a bazillion pictures. hopefully the guests were enjoying themselves inside while John and I were out on the lawn. Once photos were done, we went inside to find a room full of people all trying to talk to us. It was quite overwhelming. John and I grabbed our plate of hordevours and went up to the bridal suite. At that moment I was able to slow down, take a breather and just be with my new husband. Through out the day we were surrounded by people. And knowing me, I love being in the crowd amongst family I haven't seen in a long time. I wanted to spend all my time with them. But it wasn't until we were alone in the suite did I realize how much I needed to get away from all the craziness for a moment. Of course, we didn't spend much time up there. We were ready to get the party started! I barely ate that night. It also felt like I barely spent time with anyone, when I hope in actuality I did, although probably too brief. The night really was a blur for me. It was like I dabbled a little bit here and there, spent some time in the tent, spent some time at guests tables, spent a little time at the bar, a little more time in the cake room, danced a bit, took a couple photos. There was so much I wanted to do and not enough time to do it all!

(side note, I started writing this blog very shortly after I got back to OK, saved it and am returning to it now... so some of the excitement and things I have wanted to say are forgotten, and I got lazy)

In the end everything was wonderful. Yes, it may sound cheesy, but I felt nothing but love that night. Everyone that was there sacrificed time and money to be there that night. Through out the reception, I had guests come up to me and tell me how much fun they're having. Best comment of the night came from my little cousin, Khoa "This is the best time ever!" with his both hands in the air! It really was the best night ever.

Post wedding, my mom called to tell me she received several compliments from my aunts/uncles/cousins. They enjoyed the food, the cake, and overall had a really good time. This meant soooo much to me. Prior to the wedding my mom and some of our older family members were judging American style weddings. "too expensive, the food is bad, they don't give you enough food and you have to go to Burger King after (specifically quoted from my dad). But HAH! in your face! YOU HAD FUN! :) honestly, this wedding was for me and John, but really I saw it as a humongous reunion of two families and friends. It didn't matter how much work we put in to it, we wanted to make sure our guests had a good time. I'm still calling my mom up to see if she's gotten any more comments about the wedding :) Sometimes I can't believe John and I pulled it off. We totally winged it.

I want to get married all over again!

A little less than a week away :) nothing but excitement now!

My 5 year-old Saturday

It's 104 degrees outside. John and I decided to hit up the Oklahoma Zoo. Lucky for us it was pretty empty and the animals were actually out. I haven't gone to any zoo in a long time. Despite the pounding sun, it was a lot of fun. Being out all afternoon totally killed us. We went home, took a nap until about 4pm, woke up and watched Princess and the Frog. Cute movie. Again, I haven't watched an animated Disney movie in a while. So to sum it up, I spent the day like a five year-old :)

Missing my Summers

It's been about, oh 3 or so weeks since I've been back in MD and I am missing it already. I will be back home in about a month or so, but it's not the same. It's summer, I should be at the beach, or a cousin's house, or going out for late night Rita's/froyo/ice cream runs. Lately work has been so draining. By the time I get home I just don't want to do anything. And it can get tough sometimes when you don't have anything to look forward to on the weekends. By all means, I always look forward to the weekends, just to be able to wake up late, lounge around, and not have to be anywhere. Also there are weekends when we do have plans. But boy do I miss those rowdy get-togethers and nights of loitering. A part of me is very excited to start a life here in OK. I am very happy with the new job (even if it's all day non-stop on your feet trying to solve the world's menopausal issues). And I am totally excited about the new house. However, 2 days ago I was driving to work early in the morning and a song by O.A.R came on and for a moment I just wanted to keep on driving West and end up on the coast of the Pacific Ocean :) This particular song always, always reminds me of my trip to San Diego. This song became my California 2008 trip theme song. Dang song kept playing over and over on our drive down there. But it was good. And I just love it when I hear this song. I can remember what it felt like to be driving down the coast with the ocean on the right and mountains on the left. It's probably the fact that I'm right smack in the middle of the continent and have no ocean within reach. What to do, what to do. A trip to San Diego would be the next best thing.....
Move over, Vi. We're gonna be heading your way! (hopefully semi-permanently in a few years!)

what the f*ckity f@ck f!ck

it a million degrees here and the AC died on us twice! they fixed yesterday and today when I walked in after work, it was hot! poor doggies. I'm just waiting for 9:00 to roll around so that I can just lie down and go to sleep. There is nothing we want to do. The air is so hot and still. This stinks

Forgot I had a blog!

I almost about you, my poor little blog. (thank you everyone else for still writing. I like reading the things you write). Anyway back in Oklahoma and started at the new job and it was very tiring. Hopefully all this stuff will make sense and not spill out of my brain. It was especially hard returning to work since I did have a wonderful 2 weeks off. It has been the best 2 weeks of summer so far. Thank you to everyone who pitched in and helped with the parties. I wish all of my bridesmaid could have made it! I was so happy to be back, so happy to do even the most mundane of errands. It felt so good to hang out, no worries, no major schedules. That is how summer is supposed to feel.. I love it.

South OK wine festival

It was a big coincidence that John and I found out about this community festival. We were in the shopping center looking for a mortgage broker office when we saw the posters advertising "Chateny 7th Annual Wine Festival". This wine festival was going to be held in a shopping center parking lot. I wasn't expecting too much since this seemed to be a very small event, but it was close to home, involved wine, free live music, and pet friendly. Neither John nor I are wine drinkers but we had nothing planned for Saturday evening so we decided to go check it out. Holly and Baxter came along. I love it when we can do things together, me, John and our dogs. The parking lot was transformed with a large outdoor stage, ice cream trucks, wine booths, food stalls, and a large crowd of young and old sitting on lawn chairs and picnic blankets listening to the band cover Journey. $5 for a wine glass and 5 tasting tickets. The best part of the night was the people. People here are sooo nice. Asking us how we liked such and such wine and so many others asked us about our dogs. Those two got quite a lot of treats! It was such a nice feeling to be outside surrounded by good people. It really was a community event and I was happy to feel like I belonged. I haven't felt this sense of belonging amongst a large group in a long time. Okay, so I didn't actually know any of the people there, but everyone was very welcoming and that made it easy for me to like I belonged. These little events are so much fun. We're actually planning on going to another wine festival next weekend. Although that one will be on a much larger scale.

New Job!

I got a new job. Great! But I'm also a little sad. Our plan was to stay here for 2 years then move to California. But now with this new job, I'm going to stick around OK for a bit longer. I reaaalllly hope I like this new place. I've been working with teens and young women. Now I'll be working with menopausal women. Um, I'm a bit nervous. The older my patients are the more "issues" they've got going on. I was able to shadow for half a day at the new place, and 98.9% of all those patients were on prozac. Aye ya. My mom is all excited though. This is wonderful, I'll hopefully be able to help all my older cousins and aunts!! Prozac for everyone! Here's the website http://www.docmenopause.com/ . My picture better be up there...eventually. Plan all you want, but things will always change.

John's Diet

I tell people all the time how horrible John's diet is. And I tell him that too. So when Christine joked about how I should document his eating habits, I took it seriously and thought it would be a great idea. John surprisingly thought it would be fun too. So here is what John ate for dinner for the past month. It's not all bad.... and sorry, some of the numbers are out of place and I actually missed some dinners when we went out to eat, which would have
been pictures of burgers and steak.
one of these should be Day 3
probably one of the healthiest thing he's eaten. Not a very good dinner though. he wasn't feeling too great that night








"games sustain me"







Not a hint of green *sigh*

Ta

Coming up: John Cao's 30 Day Diet

Downsizing

We had a surprise staff meeting last week about budget. I know we've been hurting for money and they've done everything they can, but last week it got to the point where letting staff go was the only solution. Imagine sitting in this meeting knowing you were the last clinician hired. I was the newbie, haven't even been here for a year yet. And as they say, "last one hired, first on fired!". Ah! Was today going to be my last day working here? I wonder if the other place would hire me again? Luckily I looked around and noticed some faces missing. Then as the boss continued to say "those who were let go have already been notified." A sigh of relief. I still have a job. Not only that, I was one of the few who would still be working 40 hour work weeks. Many people stayed on staff but had their hours cut. I guess they kept me on because being the 'newbie' I'm probably the cheap labor :) and I'm flexible. With that, I now work in 3 different clinics with 2 clinics an hour apart from each other. This actually works out quite nicely since John and I can carpool twice a week and it's nice to work with different people in different places.

Stupid economic decline. This was the closest personal encounter I've had with it. It's real alright. and scary

Is it that bad that I watch "The Hills"?

Since finishing school and working a normal work schedule, I have discovered the joy of watching trashy TV. I was never hooked on any TV series for long. There was Heros and Lost, but I stopped watching after the first or second season since I never knew when they aired. But now, omg, I've been watching The Hills, The City, Million Dollar Matchmaker, Bridezilla, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kell on Earth, and the occasional Real Housewives. It's not a religious following, but usually when I turn on the TV, one of those shows is on. None of these shows are ever really good. And sometimes, they're quite annoying. But oh so entertaining. What is it about these shows that get some of us addicted? For me, it's being able to see what other people's lives are like even if it is mildly scripted. The glamour and glitz. The ridiculously beautiful landscape, houses and people. The fancy schmancy restaurants, the fashion, and of course, the drama. A part of me wishes I could live that life of luxury and beauty. But what really keeps me watching is the fact that it's just plain old eye candy. I can sit there and watch it and not have to think about anything. Everything on the screen is pretty. That's it. I don't have to worry about the plot. Don't have to worry about the characters. Just sit there, and watch it. No need to think. It's trashy, yes. But give your brain a break. And that is my guilty pleasure.

So I totally lost it and yelled at the medical student today. HAHAH.. I even surprised myself. But you know, sometimes, when you see something wrong, that just keeps happening and the person keeps getting away with it, you do something. I'm not even in charge of her. But she was not doing the medical assistant right. She's been here for over 3 weeks. When you're a student, act like one. Be overly eager to learn. Ask if there's something you can help with. Come to clinic on time. Don't leave early. Leave your cell phone, cigarettes, cheetos, jelly beans, magazines somewhere else, not the front desk. Okay so Ashely (the medical assistant) and I don't follow all of those rules ourselves..shh, but we're not students. After our little discussion, she straightened up today. Let's see how it goes tomorrow. It's pretty funny because I don't think either of them expected that from me. Ashely later told me she called the other medical assistant to tell her what happened. And Jackie asked "Amy?! Amy An did what?!" *sigh* sometimes I wish people didn't see me as the nice one.

How do I pass my days?

Being back home was wonderful. I was able to spend a little bit of time with all my family and friends. I would have loved to have seen everyone at least once again before I left, but between meetings with wedding vendors and running between my parent's house and John's parents house, we didn't have time. Sorry to all those who I didn't get to see again! It's strange that even though I've been away for a few months now, when I came back it felt like I had seen my family/friends only a short while ago. This is good. It means I haven't been gone too long. It also means we're all still keeping in contact. Phone calls, Gmail. Thanks for letting us all stay in touch! I remember there was always something to do on the weekends back in Maryland. With a huge family, it was always someone's birthday or anniversary. I looked forward to these events and the occasional outings on Friday nights. Now here in Oklahoma, there's none of that. Or less of that I should say. Yet, John and I some how pass the weekends. We've been finding things to do that we probably never would have considered doing. Even if it involves Super Target, laundry, and vacuuming. And although it can't compare to a nice picnic at Centennial Park with my friends, I still enjoy those weekends. I guess what I'm feeling is that even though I miss home so so much, I'm pretty content living here in Oklahoma. But boy.. wouldn't it be so much fun if my friends were here!

Sunny 70 degrees today... 38 degrees with a severe winter storm warning. Oh, Oklahoma weather. How schizophrenic art thee?

Which ones??

I'm loving these earrings! But since we can't have everything we want, gonna have to narrow it down. Help me! Which ones do you like?

Drops of Night


Star Drops


Total Eclipse


Crystal Wave


Peony Pave


Pave


Contour

Nothing like Professional Bull Riding on a Saturday night

I had never heard of "PBR" before. My friend made fun of me for not knowing. Must be popular here since I've heard it in a few country songs. (yes, I've been listening to country at work. Not my choice, but it's not so bad) PBR=Professional Bull Riding. And one of the biggest events was held at Oklahoma last weekend. This is something I've wanted to do while here in Oklahoma. I thought I was a cultured person, but somehow in my head I was imagining a man with a lasso being chased around by an angry bull. Must have gotten mixed up with Spain's bull fighting. In Spain they fight. In Oklahoma they ride. Everyone was wearing Wranglers and cowboy boots and hats. I mean EVERYONE. Excluded from that dress code were me and John. John sported a UMD Terps T-shirt, Abercrombie cap, and some Adidas track pants. I at least has some jeans on... and clogs. We felt out of place. But it soon turned out to be a lot of fun. Each rider took turns on the back of a bucking, spinning, 1,700 pound bull. Most guys were flung off in 5 seconds. You would think that once the bull threw the rider off it would charge and try to trample them. Nope, once the rider was off its back, it stopped kicking, and calmly turned around and walked back into its cage. It was funny actually. This mean, wild bull, all of a sudden trots back into its cage liked nothing happened. So well trained! Although, it would have made it much more interesting if it were a rampaging bull.





Okay, this was a rebel bull. He didn't want to go into the cage right away. Most of the others went in soon after