about me . . .
(updated 10/6/2017)
My Dad was 1/2 Chinese and 1/2 Filipino, while my Mom is 3/4 Chinese and 1/4 Filipino. So what does that make me? 5/8 Chinese and 3/8 Filipino.
Although my parents were living in Taipei, Taiwan, I was born in Bacolod City, Philippines. I grew up in Taipei, living in Tien-Mou and attending Dominican School from K-6th grades. Starting when I was in the 4th grade, my Dad took a job working for a company in the US. It was always his goal for us to come to the States to go to school. So after 2 years, he was able to bring all of us to the States.
We moved to a small suburban town near Kansas City called Overland Park, Kansas. I attended Leawood Middle School for the 7th and 8th grades, and then attended Blue Valley North High School for my freshman year. It was a brand new school, and had we stayed, I would have been part of the first group of students who would have attended there all 4 years. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. My sister was a senior that year, and my parents decided we should stay there until she graduated from high school. She continued on to attend the University of Kansas (KU). Rock chalk Jayhawk!
My Dad had already taken another job and was working in Sugarland, TX. We were all set to move there, then the plans changed. We needed to move to CA instead. So we came to Cerritos, and I started at Cerritos High School in the fall of 1988.
It was different being back in a school with such a large Asian population, after having lived in Kansas, where I was only one of three Asians in my grade. (Of the other two Asians, one was born in the US and the other had lived there since they were 4.)
After graduating from CHS with highest honors, I attended UCLA. I began my years there as an Aerospace Engineering major. But after 2 years, I decided that I was no longer interested in becoming an engineer. I switched my major to Applied Mathematics, and the rest is history. Sort of. I continued to pursue my Master's in Education during my senior year as an undergraduate (it was a special program). I completed my Master's in Educational Technology through American College of Education in 2014. I have begun to flip my Calculus classrooms and now teach them using a Blended learning model.
In 2013, I was asked to be a reader for the AP Calculus BC exam. This year will be my fifth year participating. I will spend 7 days in Kansas City, MO grading thousands of AP exam FRQs! Yay! ;-)
I began teaching in the fall of 1995, at Richardson Middle School in the Torrance Unified School District. I quickly discovered that middle school is NOT for me. I taught the next year at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance and then 4 years at St. Joseph High School in Lakewood before being drawn back to Cerritos High School in 2001.
Living and working in Cerritos is interesting, because I see many students, and former students around. Some teachers would never want to be in that situation, but I like it.
This year marks my 21st year teaching! I have been teaching at CHS for 17 years now. OMG!! I can't believe I have been teaching for this long. Here's to another 20 years!
ME, ON THE RUN
Since then, I have run a total of 59 half marathons, 18 full marathons and 3 ultra-marathons (all 50Ks). My next full marathon will be the Long Beach Marathon in October 2015, and it will mark my first time running as an official pacer. I will be helping people finish their run in 5:25. I am part of several running group: the Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs, Moms Run This Town (MRTT), Running is Our Therapy (RIOT) and A Snail's Pace.
Here's a boring list of all the races I've run so far and when I ran them.
I was finally able to break the 2-hour mark on my half marathons for the first time in January 2014, at the Honker's Motivational Half Marathon. I finished at 1:59:46, with an average pace of 9:08 min/mi. It only took me 42 tries to do it! =) In June 2014, I ran the Fontana Days Run Half Marathon, which is a downhill course. The overcast weather, along with the downhill course helped me run a PR of 1:58:51.
My best full marathon time is 4:24, which was at the Long Beach Marathon in 2013.
I am an ambassador for the 2018 Surf City Marathon again (4th year now?), which means I have to help promote the race and encourage people to sign up. I was an ambassador for them last year, and look forward to doing it again this year.
I am also an Orange Mud ambassador.
MY FAMILY
I have three sons: Matthew (18), Dashiell (11) and Brennan (9). My husband is also a math teacher and he teaches Math and AP Computer Science at Sage Hill School in Newport Coast. We met as sophomores at UCLA, so we are big Bruins fans. My oldest son is now in his first year at Carleton College. I'll bet you've never heard of it! Neither did I, until one of their football coaches contacted us about applying. Upon looking up everything I could about the school, we quickly realized that in addition to being ranked the #8 liberal arts school in the nation, it's simply an amazing school. (Plus it doesn't hurt that their colors are essentially blue and gold; it's really blue and maize.)
I enjoy watching Carleton Football, UCLA football, UCLA basketball, and Angels baseball. I love working on jigsaw puzzle and crossword puzzles, and I like to crochet, knit and scrapbook. I enjoy reading mystery, suspense and thriller novels, and am also addicted to TV. I have too many favorite shows that I watch, although some of my favorites are The Last Ship, How to Get Away With Murder, The Walking Dead, The Good Doctor, Law & Order SVU, Criminal Minds, and probably more.
Some Really Random Facts.
Dare you read them all??
- I used to have a dog named Scampy. We left him in Taiwan when we came to the States. :-( My sister's dog was named Laddy.
- I'm allergic to lots of different animals, including cats. I now have only 1 Russian Blue, Peri. Maui passed away in June 2013.
- I participated in Math competitions when I was in middle school (such as KATM and KCATM and the Math Olympiad).
- I have never gone skiing nor snowboarding. I don't really ever want to.
- I have an older sister named Immer. That's german for "always". Don't ask me why my name isn't something fancy like hers.
- I used to wear violet contacts and I used to have UCLA plates that read "PRPLIZ". No, my name isn't LIZ!
- I've never had any surgeries or broken any bones. I hope I never do.
- I can't stand watching a movie where someone gets cut or sliced (like by knives or razors). Good thing I'm not a surgeon.
- When I get hurt, like when I dropped a pizza stone on my toes the week before my first half marathon, I hurt in Chinese. Meaning I switch into that language. Don't know why. Although it's happening less often these days.
- My husband and I first met at UCLA, when we were 19. We didn't get married until 2005. We were both previously married to other people.
- Koreans mistake me for Koreans. Often. Although I have been asked if I'm Japanese or Hawaiian before, too.
- My Dad wished I was a boy.
- I was almost named "Josephine" because I was born on St. Joseph's Day.
- I used to always get my birthday off -- because I used to teach at St. Joseph's High School. We got the day off for our patron saint, of course.
- I have two first names: Sharon Cindy (ok, really it's two names to my first name). But growing up, I swear it was Cindy Sharon. Until the 6th grade when I found my birth certificate and it wasn't what I thought it should be. Identity crisis.
- My parents were supposed to name me "Cindy Sharon" instead of the other way around, but my Dad's boss at the time had a baby girl that was born right before me. She was named Cindy. He didn't feel it was appropriate to name me the same thing. Although they called me Cindy anyways. Again, identity crisis!
- My first job was working at Knott's Berry Farm, at the Beanery. I later transferred to the store up in Camp Snoopy.
- I love Scooby Doo.
- My favorite cereal is Frosted Flakes. I've eaten it ever since I was growing up in Taiwan.
- You know how swimming pools suck in water on one end of the pool and it comes out somewhere else? I have a scar on my right hand (over one of my knuckles) from where it sucked the skin right off my hand. I think I was 5. I never did learn the freestyle properly due to my traumatic experience on the day they were going to teach me that in my swim lessons.
- I used to have to listen to music (on a tape deck!) when I was younger. It helped me to sleep. But I had this old stereo where the power cord was broken or lost. So we bought some generic adapter that had 4 different sizes in one. It sort of looked like an "X". Now that I think of it, electricity had to have been going through all 4. Because I have another scar on my right wrist from where it burned through and made a big crater in my skin. Don't ask how or why I didn't notice and wake up.
- I used to rent tapes from the ACC (American Club of China) when we were in Taiwan. I attribute all that tv watching to why my language skills were so good when I got to the States. ;-p
- I hate bats. You know, the mammals. One of the houses we used to live in had a chimney that was blocked by bats nesting (?) in it. Occasionally one would fly down and into the house. I still remember my mom chasing it with a broom up and down the hallway while I hid under a blanket watching.
- I used to take piano and ballet lessons when I was little. I don't think I liked it much.
- I had to put our last dog, Ashlee, to sleep. She was a lab mix and 14 years old. The day I found out I was pregnant with Dashiell, I took her in and said good-bye to her. It was a Tuesday. I have a tendency to block painful memories from my mind. =(
- I can write upside-down and backwards. All thanks to a friend of mine in the the 7th grade -- Heather Haas. I was TA for Mr. Hazlett, my science teacher, and she sat across from me. We would write notes to each other without having to turn or hold up the piece of paper.
- I love chocolate. Dark chocolate used to be my favorite, but I'm leaning towards good-quality milk chocolates these days. White chocolate is good, too. I always try to have some around me somewhere.
- I love fried foods. They're so bad for me, but growing up chinese/filipino, really has kept me around lots of fried foods. I love the crunch. Yumm. UPDATE: I think my cholesterol levels are a little high now. I will have to cut back on eating fried foods. And the chocolate. Boo-hoo!
- My favorite ice cream is Breyer's Natural Vanilla Bean. No, not Dreyer's. No, not French Vanilla. Once, I bought it, and something was wrong with it. It was "off". I couldn't eat it. I was soooo disappointed.
- I grew up NOT drinking water. For whatever reason, I used to always say that I hated the taste. Until I went to Mexico (honeymoon, 1st marriage) and it was so dang hot and humid I had to drink water. Bottled, of course. Ever since then, I drink water all the time. Maybe I just had bad tasting water up till then?
- I had custom LASIK surgery on both eyes in May 2009, as an absolutely wonderful Mother's Day gift. I absolutely LOVE being able to see so clearly.
- I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout while in Taiwan. We were TOFS (Troops on Foreign Soil). I didn't continue after we reached the States.
- I used to have an obsession with True Crime. When I was 12-14, I read books such as Helter Skelter, and looked up more books like it to read for fun. I can't imagine my son reading those books right now. I think I'd want to confiscate them from him if he was reading them...
- One of my running partners is a former student of mine, which is also a math teacher (but not in our district). She's pictured above with me (I'm on the right, she's on the left). Who would've known?!
- I love to eat Thai food. My husband loves Indian food, and it's growing on me. Don't get me wrong, I still love eating Chinese food. But I don't think it's fair to list that. Same goes for Filipino food.
- Several years ago I started to crochet reusable shopping bags made from (1) plastic bags and (2) old t-shirts. Here's how to make plarn and t-yarn. I doubt I'll ever sell them, it takes the fun and joy out of making them for people.
- When it is super hot, and I drink a nice tall glass of something cold, I cannot help but say "aaahhhh" after drinking. I never realized this until my kids did this. Then my husband commented, "You do it! He learned it from you." I have since noticed that it's just something I do.
- I finally got myself to really learn how to ride a bike during summer 2013. I even bought a new bike on July 13. However, on Saturday July 14, when taking it out for some practice, I fell badly and crashed on my face and left knee. I knocked 3 braces off my teeth, scraped my lips and mouth pretty bad, and really banged me left knee. I biked my way home afterwards and freaked my family out when they saw me all bloody. Oops. The following Monday, Matthew (who never learned how to ride at all, either) and I drove out to Marina Del Rey for private lessons with an instructor from REI, who taught us how to ride. Matt picked it up with ease, and I was getting a bit more comfortable.
- On August 21, 2013 my braces came off for the second time in my life! Never again will I go through this. Twice is plenty!
- In 2014, I became a Marathon Maniac. Prior to 2014, I had completed 6 marathons. I started the year off with the Camarillo Marathon, followed by the Carlsbad Marathon exactly two weeks later, and then the Surf City Marathon two weeks after that. I successfully completed 8 marathons in 2014, making a total of 14 overall.
- In April 2015, I ran my first ultra-marathon. It was a pretty tough one for a first 50K. I finished after 9hrs20min, but had a blast! I followed it up with Nanny Goat, which was a 12hr/24hr/100mi event. However, I opted to only run a 50K for this event.
- In August 2015 I ran the HURL (Helena Ultra Runner's League) Elkhorn 52K in Helena, MT. This has been the hardest run I have ever done in my entire life. I finished in an (embarrassing) 12hrs40min. I was the last official finisher for that race, #69. There were 4 people that did not finish and 1 that did not start. So taking that into account, I feel a bit better. The time limit for that course was 14hours.
- In September 2016, I ran my first 50 mile race at San Luis Obispo Wild Cherry Canyon. It got hot and my friend Chris Bonnemaison paced me the last 20+ miles. Finishing time 13:51:53. Three of my friends did not make the cut offs and did not complete the race.
- In October 2016, I ran my first 100 mile race in Fort McDowell, AZ at Javelina Jundred. It was the first time in my life that I had ever stayed up all night long, and I struggled with the sleep deprivation. Finish time 27:20:35. My friend James Howarth crewed me (as he did at SLO) and my friends Esther Morin and Stephanie Simon paced me. I would not have finished without their help and support. I was not a happy camper when I finished...I muttered (ok, maybe I scowled) STUPID repeatedly after my finish whenever anyone asked me about the race or if I was ever running another hundred...In 3 weeks I will be returning to Javelina to run it again. I hope to finish around 27 hours this time.
- In March 2017, I ran the Coyote Backbone Ultra 68. It was a race that went the length of the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. It was a seriously tough race. No pacers were allowed and my feet got trashed from the rocky terrain. It was definitely an amazing experience. I fell at mile 22 and cracked my left hip on a rock when I fell, superman-style. I slipped and fell again later on around mile 55 or so, but I barely remember that one other than how much it hurt! The next installment of this race will be in 2019, and I plan on being there. I "ran" the LA Marathon exactly ONE week after the Backbone, which happened to be on my birthday. I always run this race for charity, Kitten Rescue, and could not let the kitties down. It was my most difficult marathon ever, because I was not recovered from the week before. My feet were "broken" and I hobbled my may through the last 20 miles and finished over 6.5hours. Thankfully no Backbone race next year. LOL
- In September 2017, I travelled up north to Folsom and ran the Folsom Lake Ultra Trail 110k (which turned out to be 70+miles, not the 68.5 it was billed as). My friend James crewed me again, and my friend Chris Neiman paced me the last 26 miles. This was an an amazing race (which could've had some better course markings) but the views were wonderful. I will be back in 2018 as the course goes the clockwise direction for even years (this year, an odd year, was counter-clockwise).