i did it. after five long years i made the last payment on my car this month and the title documents are on its way in the mail. this is the first car ive been paying for on my own with a loan entirely in my own name. whether i should consider that an accomplishment in that i was able to pay it off before turning 30 or if i should consider it a failure that it took me this long to pay it off im still not quite sure yet.

i was one of those spoiled teens who received a car upon turning sixteen. a red ford contour that was shared with my twin and then after that and all throughout high school, we drove whatever car my dad happened to have on lease at the time. my favorite being our green pathfinder since it was nice to be a bit higher than everyone else on the roads although that was short lived when my twin managed to crash it into a tree. exactly. i still havent quite figured that one out either.

then for my high school graduation present, my dad purchased for me a white with gray interior honda accord. my dream car. it had two doors and as it was during my racing years, i got tinted windows, changed out my headlights to clear and was even going to go so far as to get it lowered along with a new exhaust and chip to make it faster but thankfully i came to my senses and decided to save my money for better things. like a monkey decal on the back window instead.

fast foward to six years later and due to some circumstances that lead me to have to give up the accord, i was left with three weeks to research, test drive and purchase myself a new car. while i found it daunting at first since i really had no idea what i wanted, at the end, i came away with a car that had all the options that i wanted except for maybe a gps system. it was four doors and yup you guessed it, white with light gray interior. even after five years, i still smile everytime i see my car right after a car wash or parked in the garage.

hopefully this car will last me for a couple more years so i can reap the benefits of not having to have to make car payments for a while and in the meantime, i can start saving for my bmw.

a sure sign that im getting old and turning thirty this year. i just spent the past hour cleaning my apartment. i swiffered, vacuumned and even *gasp* cleaned my bathroom. toilet, shower, sink the whole works. something that i usually rely on my housekeeper to do but for whatever reason, i couldnt get a hold of him this week so rather than risk my visitors thinking badly of me, i got out my scrubbing bubbles and windex and cleaned away. even if those visitors are only my twin and sagging monk.

i even turned down an invitation to a wine bar tonight just so i had time to clean. something that the old me would never have done. the old me wouldnt have given a second thought about tidying up the place or making sure all of the towels were clean or putting everything away in their proper place. or at least piling it neatly in a corner. and its only january. who knows what other revelations might be in store for me as i make my way towards the big 3-0.

for all i know i could be hosting a dinner party for ten next although i wouldnt be holding my breath for it.

ive been introduced to the world of yelp recently even though ive had an account since july 2006 but in this time, ive only written a whopping total of 7 reviews. i never really knew there was this entire yelp community out there complete with its own acronyms "rotd" (review of the day) which i couldnt figure out for the life of me and finally had to ask someone or that people could send you "compliments" or more importantly that there is such a thing as a yelp elite member. what is a yelp elite member you ask? i mean honestly when i first heard about it i couldnt figure out why anyone would want to be a yelp elite member since what benefits could there actually be until i found out that there were yelp elite parties. with free drinks and food. now that sounds like my kind of party so ive convinced my friend to take me to the next one and will have to report back. it cant be too bad right, a party with no cover, free drinks and filled with fellow food lovers.

when i first created my account last year, i remember sending out invites to my sf neighbors and some joined, others ignored me but no one was very consistent in writing any reviews and it kind of just fell to the wayside. little did i know that some "elite" members yelp about every single place that they visit right on down to the local coffee shop. me on the other hand, i usually dont get the urge to write anything unless i really love it or hate it which would explain my lack of reviews. i have enough trouble trying to update this blog on a consistent basis as it is but i do love it when my friends write reviews.

part of the fun of living in a city is that there are so many different options for everything. two of my favorite eating places were recommended to me by a friend that i probably would have never discovered on my own. another friend uses yelp to help keep track of where hes been which actually makes a lot of sense. i mean anytime we go out anywhere the questions asked are always, whats the dress code? is there cover? and whats the music like? one can usually find the answers to all these questions with one quick search on yelp and even better if one of your friends has already reviewed and tried it.

i find myself on yelp a lot more often these days reading different reviews and coming up with my list of places i want to try. maybe this will replace what friendster was to me before because "friendster is so old school" i was informed by a stranger this past weekend who then went on to exclaim disbelief that i didnt have a myspace or facebook account. is it really that odd? although he was impressed that i knew what twitter was. so thanks twin for keeping me up to date on these things. i wouldnt want to date myself with my friendster knowledge now.

my last week and a half were spent in sunny (or not so sunny i should say) san diego home for the holidays. its been a while since ive been back for that length of time but what made it that much more special was that it seemed everyone else was back for the entire time too. my mom obviously but then there was my twin who has now moved back home, sagging monk the one who actually still lives there, des and victor i pretty much saw almost everyday and put in a smattering of the nose, hong, lilly, even grace and aubrey, it turned out to be just what i was needing and looking forward to for ending 2007 with a bang.

its amazing how fast a whole week of doing nothing can go by. my first couple days back i was bored out of my mind and was itching to get back up to sf but after a couple days, i was right back to my old break schedule of going to sleep at 3 or 4am and not waking up until 11am or so. surprisingly, in looking back i felt as if i accomplished pretty much everything that i had wanted. ate burritos with horchata and carne asada fries, boba and yogurt world up the ying yang, dumpling inn and on the hanging out front, saw everyone and anyone including old family friends that i hadnt seen at least since college, grace and aubrey, caught up with college friends, my godsister, frank and jennifer made an appearance, its amazing how busy i felt even with no schedule. finally tried persian food at ameer's house and of course, guitar hero dominated most of my break as well. i started off as an easy player and by the end of the week, i am now a full fledged hard bass player although the jump from hard bass to hard guitar is just too much of a gap, its going to take me a while.

i capped off the end of the year and break with a 1989 theme prom party for new years eve at lilly's and in a rare occurrence, all of us got into the spirit and foraged the thrift/vintage shops of san diego in search of the best outfit. mine was quite charming i assure you and the party didnt disappoint with its own bartender to boot. theres nothing like dancing to songs from your past where each and every song is dance worthy and the countdown was spent among close friends and well thats all one can really ask for these days.

this is probably the longest time that my twin and i have spent together and we got along beautifully, or at least i think we did. while being dropped off at the airport, i was quite sad to have to head home but looking forward to it at the same time. but he will be coming along with james to stay with me for a couple weeks soon and as i have been telling everyone, it will either turn out to be a great load of fun or a big potential disaster. well see but if its anything like my xmas break, im all set and ready for it.