Hello, all. My name is Stephanie Thao. I am a senior majoring in Information Studies.
The beginning of summer break was busy, but as time went on, it was not as hectic. The next week after I went back after finishing my finals, we had our family reunion. Everyone in my family came to town. We played games and competed against each other. It was fun and hot. Unfortunately, my nephew who would graduate in a few days sprained his ankle while playing soccer. Supposedly one of my younger nephews pushed him accidentally, but we are not sure. No one was blamed.
The next day, we took several family pictures. It only included my siblings, six sisters and two brothers, and my parents. This was the first time that we have taken a picture as a family in a long time. From what I remember, the last time we took a full family picture was more than ten years ago, and it did not even include my younger sister.
Then, my nephew graduated high school. Everyone went, including his dad’s side of the family. We all fit almost three rows. A few days later, we went on a mini-vacation to Dallas, Texas. The main thing I will remember is the confusing highways and traffic. We went shopping, to the zoo, Ikea, and played a card game, Ultimate Werewolf, at the hotel.
(An Ikea: Wiki Commons)
Aside from my summer break, I love eating snacks, candy, and desserts. My sister found a recipe for a Chinese-style sponge cake a few years ago. She usually decorates it and I make it. It tastes light and not too sugary. It is a cake that my parents especially love and other family members like it too. However, my brother does not like it because he says that it tastes like nothing.
Anyway, this is an introduction about me. I look forward to working with everyone in the class.
Hey Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a pretty action-packed summer of family fun. I also spent a lot of time, at least relatively, with my family. I've got six siblings, so it's hard to spent time with all of them, but when I do we usually do a lot of the things that your family does, namely game-playing. I can't remember the last time we took family photos though.
Hello, Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteWow! A family reunion sounds like a lot of fun. My family of four has enough trouble actually all sitting down to take a picture together. I can't imagine trying to do it with eight siblings! It sounds like you all had a good time together, and that makes me glad. Also, mmmm. That cake sounds quite tasty.
That all sounds like so much fun, Stephanie! And, of course, Ultimate Werewolf seems like a natural Myth-Folklore connection: maybe you can explore the idea of a card game as a storytelling idea, describing how some supernatural creature or creatures could be the basis for a card game... and there is no shortage of supernatural creatures out there! ... Curious Creatures in Zoology ... I hope you will have fun with the class!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI thought no one else had ever heard of Ultimate Werewolf! I absolutely love that game, it is such a fun time with friends and family. I tend to get really competitive with the game but it never gets any easier to guess who's who.
It sounds like you had a really fun jam-packed summer, which is the best way to spend free days as far as I'm concerned!
Hi Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteWow! You have a huge family. I have six people total in mine, as well as two dogs and a bunny. I thought my family was big! I love having a “big” family. There was always someone to play with. There is an Ikea about 45 minutes from my house and I have gone with my sister to just walk around for hours. It is such a cool place. When I was home I cooked for my family as well but I love cooking so it wasn’t so much of a chore for me. Good luck with your school year!
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you had a lot of fun with your family this summer. Unfortunately, I was trapped in Norman all alone for mine. Could you explain what Wealth, Power, and Prestige was about in more detail? I'm curious what made it your favorite class. Thanks for sharing, good luck with the rest of this class and the rest of your semester.
Andrew
For me, I liked the layout of the class. It was a lecture class that graded participation, some assignments, and four exams, if I remember correctly. We had four books to read. It did not require too much of me. The material was interesting. We learned about class structure, some theories, a little about gender inequality, and things like that.
DeleteThank you. Good luck too.
Stephanie, I am jealous you have so many siblings. I have two brothers, but I wish I had more. I babysit a family with five kids and I am jealous they always have each other to play with. Family is very important to me so it is fun to read stories about other people and their families. I have never taken any classes associated with your major, but it sounds interesting. I hate when teachers call on me in class--I am much more of a take notes during lecture person, but I am sure that you learn a lot more when actively participating!
ReplyDeleteThose are some pretty cool things to do over summer break. I went to a big family reunion a couple years ago and I know those can get pretty hectic but they're a lot of fun. I hope your nephew's doing okay now. Dallas is pretty cool although really hot to go for a vacation during the summer. I love the zoo though but I wonder if it was too hot to see very many animals? That's always a problem with going to the Oklahoma city zoo in the summer. I hope the semester's been going well for you and look forward to reading some of your stories.
ReplyDeleteYes, he is doing fine now. He was able to walk for his graduation, so it was good. I can't remember clearly, but the zoo was a bit hot and humid. There were several of areas with trees. Also, there were some water misters, so that made it cooler. By the way, we went to the Fort Worth Zoo.
DeleteNice to meet you Stephanie! It sounds like you are really close to your family. Wow there are a lot of you! I bet that makes the holidays hectic but a lot of fun. I have a small family so big families always seem like so much fun. I'm from Dallas and I can definitely attest to the fact that the traffic there is so crazy especially compared to OKC. It was great to hear about you and I can't wait to read some of you stories!
ReplyDeleteHello Stephanie! It’s nice to meet you : ) I haven’t heard of the class Wealth, Power and Prestige, it sounds interesting. What does the course actually entail? I completely understand about Summer being hectic, the majority of my family are all Summer babies. So, needless to say I was broke the entire the summer and I went to about a dozen swimming parties (we are all a bunch of fishes). You have a huge family! Even bigger than mine, all that chaos is wonderful isn’t it? You pretty much described exactly what my family does when we all go on “mini-vacations” and hang out together. I’m really happy to be in this class with you, you come off as a very sweet person.
ReplyDeleteHello Stephanie, it's a pleasure to read about you, haha!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you were really able to take advantage of this summer to spend time with your family. Family time is always very important. I hardly get to spend time with my family, up until recently when I moved back in with them to finish my last semester at OU. The class you took sounds very interesting.
Best of luck with the remaining part of this semester!
Hey Stephanie, it is nice to meet you. It sounds like in general you have a pretty busy life. The class you described as the best one you took sounds pretty interesting to me as well. I hope that your senior year treats you well. Good luck and I look forward to reading some of your posts.
ReplyDeleteWow, you have a big family. That would be fun when everybody goes to vacation together. Reading you introduction, I’m a bit jealous of your summer’s activities. I love eating sweet too, and I bake sometime. However, I’m not a very good baker. Luckily, there are a lot of good videos on Youtube that help me out. Since this is your senior, I hope everything is going well for you.
ReplyDeleteHey Stephanie! Just from reading your introduction I can see how close you and your family are! I think that this is so important, because family are our biggest support systems! Your summer was packed! Are you someone who thrives under stressful situations? I love that you put a picture of Ikea on your introduction! I love Ikea, but I hate putting the furniture together! At my internship this summer I had to assemble Ikea desks and It was one of the hardest things I had to do! Thanks for sharing and I am excited to read more from you!!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie! I have family reunions every few years. They can be a lot of fun but also very exhausting and overwhelming. It sounds like you had a great summer! Anyways, I am really glad I got to read a little bit about you and I am looking forward to reading more of your posts in the future. Good luck with everything!
ReplyDeleteHey! I think it's awesome they you are so family orientated. Unfortunately, bad things can happen especially with a lot of people around, and I'm sorry to hear he sprained his ankle! Those heal quickly though, so it's a good thing it wasn't worse. I also have a big family reunion and there are so many people there that some of them I don't even know. It probably sounds ridiculous that I don't know some of my family, but it's true! Anyways, I look forward to reading your stories!
ReplyDeleteHey Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteI think it is so cool that you have such a big family and are so family oriented! Ironically, my family also had a family reunion this summer in Kansas City. We hungout, grilled barbecue, played catch phrase, and got caught up on each others lives. I'm glad you had a good summer and I'm glad I got to get to know you a bit better!
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ReplyDeleteAs someone who’s also really close with my family, I love that you used so much of your introduction to highlight some of the people who’re really important to you. It’s awesome that there are enough of you to make up your own little clan at family reunion competitions—I’ll definitely have to recommend activities like that next time I have a reunion. Hope you have a nice rest of the semester, and I’m looking forward to checking out your story.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to meet you! I also have a very large and involved family. We do not have family reunions though. We do have family game nights though ever New Years Eve and we play games like Taboo and Catch Phrase. We usually end up yelling at each other, all in good fun. You sound very busy, but it also sounds like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like such an action packed summer. You have six brothers and two sisters?! That is a lot of siblings. Sometimes I think my brother is too much to deal with. I love Ikea, I sometimes go down there with a friend vowing to not buy anything and to be out in an hour or two. Usually we spend a lot of money and spend at least 4 hours in the store.
ReplyDeleteHi there, nice to meet you! I am also incredibly close with my family and I enjoy hearing about others. Although my family is not as large as yours, I still love them all the same. It sounds like you had an incredible summer. If we're being honest, I've never stepped foot inside of an Ikea. Looks like I'll have to go sometime!!
ReplyDeleteHey Stephanie! Sounds like you had a busy summer! My summer was pretty much booked too. I only got 2 weeks of actual rest before school started. I am looking forward to winter break so I can binge watch Netflix with my dog. Its really sweet that you are close with your family. I am close with mine but I only have 2 sisters and 1 brother.
ReplyDeleteHey Stephanie! My family is almost as big as yours so I love hearing about how close you are with your family. The big gatherings are some of my favorite memories growing up. Winter break is so close I can practically feel the 20 degree winds hitting me in the face. Cant wait for a great Christmas!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie! I wish I could have had a relaxing break! I feel like I haven't ever had one because I'm always working and taking classes! I did get to go to Disney World this summer with my best friends so that was a nice little vacation but straight from there I came back here for sorority recruitment! I can't believe this semester is almost over! Counting down the days until winter break!
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteI love that your family is so important to you that you included them even in your title. Family is the most important thing always. I have moved many times in my life, and every time I find myself starting over, I always have my family there with me, so everything ends up being okay. I can't wait to read more of your work!
Hi Stephanie, it is nice to meet you even if we only have a couple of weeks left in the semester. It is very interesting to see that you seem pretty busy during the summer which is usually my case too but I spend it busy watching movies or swimming at the beach since it is what I love doing the most. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to read your stories.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie, nice to meet you! Information Studies sounds very interesting, what kind of classes do you take for that? What is your dream job?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a good summer, and hopefully you have an equally good winter break coming up! :) happy to read your introduction and a couple of your stories!