Life as I know it

Ah.... haven't got a chance to introduce my family yet, since I have been rather busy hanging around with my friends during this wonderful winter break, in fact, currently I am in my brother's (Jeff) house typing up this particular blog. (He lives in Rowland Heights, which is 6 miles away from my home in Diamond Bar) He and his wife (Stephanie) also have a son, Justin, my nephew, now only 1 1/2 years old, but I think he is the cuttest and the smartest baby I have ever seen.






My brother(Jeff) and his son (Justin)





My brother, Jeff, is currently 30 years old, which is 8 years older than me^^, My dad, Joe, who already retired in Taiwan like 10 years ago, is currently a part time real estate agent (Currently looking for a case, preferably someone who wants to sell their house^^, he is probably the best father known to mankind. I could never ever repay on how much he had given me; The amount of time and energy that he spent on me and my brother can't not be measure by any word or number...and I always love him and thank him for what he did to me.

My mom is a retired school teacher, she is well in her 50's but still looks young and pretty, in fact, she was voted the best looking female on an 2000 people school campus during her college days, I am not kidding^^, as I am writing this paragragh, my father is picking her up from LAX international airport to my brother's place. It's going to be a wonderful new year.


I am Jih-Yi (John) Chang, Currently a senior in Berkeley, majoring Environmental Economics and Policy, going to graduate in May of 2006. Just happen to come back home for the winter break^^.

well, that's about it ... until next time ... Ciao~~

Reunion with Taiwanese Summer Camp 2005 in LA

Just after the long and tiresome day at the Casino the day before, yesterday was also a blast for me because I got a chance to meet some of best friends that I made during my Summer (Loveboat) Camp in Taiwan for Dinner in Cerritos.

I've got a chance to meet Sam Chuang again, a cool guy who always slept next to me during the camp. ( Yep, those Formosa camps are usually too ghetto to get single bed for each of us... ^^)
and two Kevins, ( we call them "butt brothers" during summer camp because I guess they always sticking together and doing some of the stupidest stuff one could imagine, such as Shooting B B guns at each other in close range while taking a video with their digital camera)



The "Butt Brothers", Kevin Lian (left) and Kevin Wu (Right)



8 members of our group, from left to right: Carson Bee, me, Kevin Wu, Sam Chuang, William Jang, Krystal Pong, Kevin Lian, Thomas Hui




Anyway, 11 of us headed to this place called "Gumpy" in Cerritos, and I think for a total price of $11, I have never ate so much in my life, god, the food was awsome; I had a popcorn chicken noodle. And the mango and strawberry shaved ice is just Amazing!!





Me, digging up the huge mango and strawberry shaved ice!!!




We chat and had fun through out the day, and all good things must come to an end.
Thanks to Jonathan Poon (Paparazzi Jon), he took some pictures that captured the esssence of this wonderful Reunion.

Poker in Casino Morongo!!

So on a rather boring Tuesday afternoon my good friends Eddie, and Charles called my up and ask half jokingly if I wanted to go to Casino Morongo in Cabazon (CA). (well... WELL, what do you think this conversation is going to end up... lol)

Anyway, They picked me up at my brother's place around 10 PM in Rowland Heights, and after a brief rest in my friend's place, We drove about an hour to this beautiful Casino, ( For those of you really into poker, it is THE casino that held Poker Superstar II, where Johnny Chan won the whole thing and a nifty 400 grand.^^)

So the game begins, Eddie and Charles headed straight to the roulette table while I am trying to figured out a way to sign up for the 1-3 dollar blind Texas Hold'em table, which is, by the way the smallest stake they can offer.(One can imagine how many people are trying to sign up for that particular table.) After an hour of waiting (on the waitlist) and fooling around, losing $40 on roulette and slot machine on that period. The lady finally called my initial and then pointed to table 12 where I am going to be sitting.

Since this is the second time I am at a Casino table with this kind of stake, I only bought in for $40 to start. To my memory I don't know how I lost those $40 in less than an hour (think my all in on my big blind short stack with 9-10 off suit got cracked by AK person on my left and QQ on my right, gosh I was drawing dead when that person hit his trip Q's...), but I was still pissed, really REALLY pissed because I been playing poker for over an year, and recently, I played more than 7500 hands on Bodog.com. So I bought in for only 20 dollars more, saying to myself this is all I am going to wager tonight !!

Then comes this beautiful hand when I got K hQ d off, I got this painful look on my face because I heard that it is the losingest hand in poker because many people always over play it. Then... the flop strikes me K d Q h J d, Wow I have 2 top pair off the freaking flop... well... there is no other choice but to go all in, and to my amazement, 2 people called me almost rather instantly which worried me a bit, (do they have a straight or a set?... oh well guess i'll find out really soon.)

The turn brought a K c, which is a perfect card for me, I made my fullhouse. Both people that still got chips checked and the river brought an A s, which one person bets $20 the other called.

Side pot first, first person showed his A d 3 d, Flush draw end up hitting his ace on the river, second person showed his trip K's with a low kicker, so he won the side pot, and I scooped in all the rest of the money with my boat!! From that point on, it's been a breeze, I have been getting cards, QQ, AQ, AK, and increased my chip stack to about $160.

I end up cash out $139 because it's 4 AM in the morning. My friends are still going at roulette, Eddie is up about $250, while Charles is not doing so good when I got there, think he is down $80 at that point. Then ... within an hour, I lost all my winning on roulette again... F#$%#$%$# I haaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttteeeeeeeee roulette, jesus, that game should ban for casino ...lol. So I came out $5 down for the whole night. What a waste of time.

Better luck next time ... I guess... and NO MORE Roulette for ME!!!

The Day after Christmas!!

After a long and fulfilling Christmas day, one could not think life can get better than this. (Excluding the fact that Lakers lost on Christmas day.....gosh.... they can't hit a shot in the final strech if their life depends on it...)

Hehe, anyway, it is always good to go to Best Buy with my parents during this occasions, because, 1. you don't have to pay for stuff you really wanted to buy, and 2. wth, it's the day after Christmas, everyone is on a buying mood and everything is on sale ^^

Also, I just got noticed that my mom is coming to LA, (Diamond Bar) in December 30 from Taiwan, hopefully she only got good things to say about me this time. (She always saying the same thing on the phone, just like any other parents would say when they talk to their children, but come on, I am 22 years old and I know how to take care of myself ... lol). Through all of the above, I really wanted to see her, because I missed her ^^

Anyway, I also love to play poker, Bodog.com Rocks!!!

Ah... got to run ...

Until next time^^