WHEW!!!! PUBLIC SCHOOL....IS GETTIN' EXPENSIVE!!!!!

Beng, Aria and I went to Walmart to pick up her school supplies according to her list that was sent to us from the Public Middle School that she will be attending. Here is her list:



Language Arts
1 (3-inch) binder
(4) marble composition books (100+ pages only)
(4) pocket folders with prongs
loose leaf paper
subject dividers
pencils and pouch
black and blue ink pens
highlighters
erasers
3x5 Index cards
Post –It Notes
Science
(1) composition notebook
Pencils & Eraser
Blue or Red Ink Pens
(1) box crayons
Ruler
(4) red folders
erasers
glue sticks
(1) Pack Loose leaf Paper
Math
Pencil Case
No. 2. pencils with erasers
(1) Pack Colored Pencils
Pencil sharpener with cover
(4) Composition Books
Ruler (inches & centimeters)
Protractor
Compass
TI-84 Calculator (Please label with your child’s name.)
(2) Packs of Copy Paper
(4) Pocket Folders
(4) Packs Post-It Notes 3X3
Social Studies
Blue/black ink pens
Colored pencils
1 (3inch) binder
spiral notebook
(5) dividers
white out
loose leaf paper
pencil punch
highlighters
pocket dictionary
glue stick
Paper Towels
Kleenex Tissue
Liquid Hand Soap
Overhead Transparency Pens

We spent over $300.00 The TI-84 Calculator itself cost over $100.00 with tax
Mind you, these expenses is NOT including her uniforms.

WE WANT PAULA ABDUL!!!!!

Yes! She may have been drugged up! Yes! She may have been drinking! Yes! She can be annoying! BUT...She is a 3rd of "American Idol" It's Randy, Simon and Paula!!!!!! Nuff said!

Keep her on! Get rid of that other girl judge!

HARRY POTTER & THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE...Wasn't worth all the trouble

Last Night, I decided to take the whole "Curameng" Klan to the movies to see, "Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince" to help chase our blues away from our recent string of events. My wife, Beng, my daughter, Aria, My Mother-in-law and my parents.
I went online to purchase 2 adults, one child and 3 seniors for the 7pm show. 6 tickets in all.
When I got to the theatre, the machine spit out 3 tickets for the 7pm show and 3 tickets to the 7:45pm show. Huh?
We went to customer service to ask about this. They said, "This has been happening all day. Just go to the 7pm show in theatre 7."
When we got there, It was a madhouse! People were standing around and mad...VERY MAD!!! People were trying to find anyone in an AMC uniform yelling at them to get their manager! Managers came rushing in yelling and apologizing in the theatre saying, "They don't know what happened to the online ticket purchases for 7pm giving them 7:45pm tickets instead and why this all happened. They asked if anyone with the 7:45pm tickets could move out and towards theatre 6. Groans mixed with Boos and people trying to talk over this saying, "I have to see a 7pm show! I have a time schedule that restricts me to see another show time."
What frustrated me was NO ONE who wasn't handicap sitting in the handicap section was not willing to give up the handicap seating for my mother who was sitting in a wheelchair, my Mother-in-law with a walker and myself with a cane EXCEPT for 2 gracious african-american women who decided to move to the 7:45pm show instead along with us and 175 others. (Don't worry..I thanked them for their effort)
Now..as we 175+ were standing 5 feet from the door at theatre 6, the long roped line behind us for the 7:45pm show started to get mad, broke the roped area and demanded the AMC management. It was like a scene from an episode of "Twilight Zone" when the people start to panic in fear for survival due to "change" Hmmmm....People yelling, people cramming in to get closer to theatre 6.
Then an AMC Manager says, "We will opening up theatre 8 (Which was originally showing "Ice Age 3") behind you for 130 people wanting to see Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince" close to the 7pm showing. Then people started to race to theatre 8 and file in a hurry with that said. The managers tried to stop them by yelling, "STOP..Not Yet!!!" Hehehehe...Yeah....right!
Finally, they were ready for us in theatre 6. The same african-american women whogave up their seats for us yelled out, "Let's give alittle courtesy and let this woman in the wheelchair in first with her family before she gets mowed down by you crazy people!" I turned to them and said, 'Thank You again."
The management did let us in first and we were able to sit together in a great spot.
Unfortunately, to me, all this madness wasn't all worth for this movie....Don't kill me...Just my opinion.

IT REALLY HASN'T BEEN OUR YEAR...

I think last night's car accident coming home, put our life for this year in perspective....It really hasn't been our year!
I thank God that Beng and I are alive. I thought we were going to orphan Aria in this accident in Old Town during rush hour. To make it all worse...I get the ticket for "so-called" speeding. I am going to court for this, because the police officer had taken her word. No speed monitors, just her word that I was speeding. Let's see...I am going straight. The light is green. She comes from the opposite way and makes a left turn in front of me...AND I GET THE DAMN TICKET for SPEEDING based off of her word?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
But due to our Honda being stolen and totalled on the past Memorial Day weekend, our ONLY vehicle is now in the shop. I mean...It's fixable, but it's inconvenient. I guess my daughter, Aria summed it up by saying, "Why is all this bad luck happening to us?" I guess it could have been worse...

ARIA CURAMENG-Winner of the Bliss Kids Arts Festival

PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 29, 2009

Aria Curameng Named Winner of the Bliss Kids Arts Festival
Blissliving Home announces the winner of the Bliss Kids Arts Festival: eleven-year-old Aria Curameng from Fort Washington, MD. The winning design will be adopted for a special duvet set to be featured in the Blissliving Home Spring 2010 Collection.

Blissliving Home is thrilled to announce the winner of the Bliss Kids Arts Festival - eleven year old Aria Curameng from Fort Washington, Maryland. Aria’s winning design is a composition of Thai inspired elements including a Buddha head, a warrior, an elephant, and exotic birds in a bright color story of red, purple, blue, yellow, and green. Created in pointillism style, small distinct dots of color create the impression of a wide selection of other colors and color blending. “The moment I first saw Aria’s creation I thought we had a winning design”, said Mei Xu, Creator and CEO of Blissliving Home http://www.blisslivinghome.com. “The composition of motifs is amazing, and the layering of color is simply extraordinary.” Aria, who learnt about the Bliss Kids Arts Festival from a cousin, said her dad introduced her to pointillism and showed her how to layer primary colors to create secondary colors. For her design submission she wanted to create light and shadow and decided to apply the pointillism technique. “Aria’s design skills are truly extraordinary,” added Amber Levy, Blissliving Home Design Manager. “She will definitely go places in the design world. This kind of talent will only continue to grow.” The winning artwork was selected from nearly one hundred submissions. The design will be adopted for a special duvet set to be featured in the Blissliving Home Spring 2010 Collection (launching in January 2010) which will be sold via an online boutique, printed catalogue and select premium retailers around the globe. Ten percent of orders placed on the duvet set will be donated to Children’s National Medical Center http://www.childrensnational.org/ , one of the best pediatric hospitals in the United States. Aria Curameng will receive two sets of her very own bedding. A national bedding design competition for children, the Bliss Kids Arts Festival was hosted by Blissliving Home in association with Children’s National Medical Center. Boys and girls twelve years of age and under were invited to submit original art inspired by the “Kingdom of Smiles” – the beautiful country of Thailand. The event was launched on April 1 and ended on May 31, 2009.

FAREWELL...MICHAEL JACKSON: The KING of POP

Whew...2 deaths in one day! But this one caught me blind-sided. Someone is going to profit in making the "Neverland Ranch" the new "Graceland".
What can I say about the "King of Pop" that anyone hasn't said by now?
I still remember the "Ed Sullivan Show " performance of Micheal and his Brothers as the "Jackson 5".
Awkward enough, people in the studio audience began to laugh when Michael stepped/danced up and sang. Standing in front of the family Black & White TV set, I looked back puzzled at my family and asked, "Why are they laughing at him?"
Now looking back at that as an adult, I realized people laughed in a surprise reaction of seeing an African American child so young singing with the same heart, soul and passion of a man aged and experienced through the years with a story to tell.
Michael...You will may passed on, but your legacy will live forever as the "King of Pop"

FAREWELL...FARRAH FAWCETT

Farrah Fawcett, whose luxurious tresses and blinding smile helped redefine sex appeal in the 1970s as one of TV's "Charlie's Angels," died today after battling anal cancer. She was 62.

Man, I will miss her. I still remember owning that a poster of her in a clingy swimsuit.