the client that i'm on this week is in san francisco. the city city. the commute up takes about 2 hours which is ridiculous. at first it's not so bad driving up but then after i realize that i've listened to an entire cd and then some and i'm still not there...i start getting annoyed. which is about the time i hit embarcadero and the one way streets, the bus and carpool only lanes, the confusing cable car and the pedestrians who won't let me turn. yes i know they have the right of way but there's just so many of them. plus, as if it wasn't hard enough trying to make sure i'm going the right way while reading the street signs and my yahoo maps all at the same time.

it's only my second day here but i just can't see why anyone would want to live in the city. yes it's nice being able to just walk out and grab lunch but parking is horrible, especially if you can't parallel park too well, and it's expensive ($20 dollars a day!). the streets smell like pee and are full of bums, although as i was playing don't step on the cracks with myself, i noticed that the sidewalks have glitter imbedded in them which makes it look quite nice in the sunlight. and i noticed that the business people dress a lot nicer here than in san jose and a lot of girls wear the dark rimmed glasses to make them look smarter...which i decided actually does work. maybe i should invest in a pair. but i'm so glad i chose san jose when i was trying to decide which city to live in and i'm perfectly content with coming up to the city every once in a while to shop around and then at night for the clubs.

friday night i went to go watch paul oakenfold at the backbeat with daniel, curtis and sanford. i've noticed recently that my clubbing circle has shrunk. enormously. everyone else is either burned out or just want to chill...which is good and everything but for some reason, recently, i've been wanting to go every weekend. i'm just glad the "party crew" is always up to go...otherwise where would i be? it was my first time to the backbeat and i was pleasantly surprised that there was such a nice club in san jose complete with plush walls. the even better part is that it is less than 20 minutes from my house. i was pretty excited all week to go watch him since everytime i've seen him dj at past events he's been pretty dope but for some reason, i wasn't all that impressed this time. maybe my expectations were too high since everyone else seemed to enjoy it but i left a little disappointed. but to make up for it, the night was really fun. the place was pretty packed but not too crowded to where there was no room to dance. so definitely well worth it.

then yesterday enid and i went on a shopping spree...or to put it more correctly i went on a shopping spree. enid's my shopping buddy and i love going with her since we like the same stores and she's very honest in giving opinions. plus she knows my style and what i would wear so it's great. i think every single time we've gone together i always end up spending more with the exception of maybe just once. there's just too many cute things out there but this time, i felt pretty guilty afterwards since i know i really should be saving my money for more important things and i tried to come up with a justification for spending so much but i couldn't. so now i'm debating whether i should return most of it but i really don't want to. if it makes any difference, most of the stuff was on sale. i figure it will be my gift to myself for busy season...but then i thought that was what my trip to michigan and kansas was for. dilemma dilemma.

i'm being a sheep once again but after seeing it on jon, james and greg's site...i just had to see. what does this mean?




Which Star-Crossed Marvel Lover Are You?

i passed! the cpa exam...well, not passed completely. only two parts but that's good enough for me. i still can't believe it. after waiting three months and then some for the scores to come...it was driving me nuts. plus, it didn't help that enid and chris both found out that they passed before i did so i'd feel even more like a dufus if i didn't. talk about pressure.

i guess all those weekends flying down to la and waiting and studying at the airport paid off. i have to admit i was really nervous before i found out since i actually studied this time and i kept thinking, what if i didn't study enough? i shouldn't have slacked off towards the end. or since i'm not in that "study" mode anymore can i still do it? plus, you know how after an exam everyone talks about the answers and i thought for sure i messed up. but the hard part is out of the way now and up next, tax in may...what a great day :)

i am s-o-r-e...but it was well worth it. i haven't had this much fun snowboarding in such a long time. everything was perfect...saturday, it was nice and sunny and the snow was pretty good too. and then that night it started snowing so we woke up to fresh powder. it was so great...my s turns were finally coming together, falling didn't really hurt and everybody stayed together on the mountain. and curtis and i along with everyone else even went down a double black. and let me just say, vi and his brother andy are dope. they got so much air on their jumps and i was thorougly impressed. i wish i could do that.

the nights were fun too. there were 23 people in the cabin and i felt like i was in an extended version of real world or something...everywhere i went there was people. people in the bedrooms, in the sauna, in the hot tub. everywhere. we played this game called the statue of love which became a little x-rated but was funny. and as we were playing mafia i was trying to tell them about kaiser soze and the doctor but i think i just got myself confused as well.

all in all, a terrific weekend. i'm so glad i got to go. and i think i even got a little tan on my face. if only i didn't have to work today, then it would of been perfect.

last night vu and I had our first sleepover party. vi came up from la in the afternoon and then jay, linda, liz and kevin came up later that night and all slept over. the occasion? snowboarding at tahoe of course. I can’t wait…my first time this entire season. at first, when vu told me that jay and some of his friends were going to spend the night I thought for sure it was going to be a sausage sleepover but nope…surprisingly it wasn’t and another thing that was surprising was that we had all gone to san diego state. anyways, i’m all packed and got my board and boots in the car, my earmuffs (two different pairs! i can’t wait to wear them…they’re very cute) and i’m all set to go. i just hope there’s good snow…and then curtis and i are off for the drive up. It should be dope.

i proceeded to lock me and chris, who flew in from kansas, out of my place saturday night. the front door has one of those locks that as soon as you twist the handle on the inside, the door opens but lo and behold, if you close it, it remains locked. who knew? so there we were, tired as hell with no way to get back in. i felt terrible. i called everyone who i thought might have a key and of course, the one person that does (yuan) is on his way to go snowboarding. so chris takes out his credit card and starts trying to open the door while i try to take the screen off the window to see if it's unlocked when two policemen walk by...and don't say anything. hm...that certainly makes me feel safe. so finally, i told chris that this one window was vu's bedroom and just as he's about to go climb up on the roof to try to get in, he realizes that it's actually the neighbor's house. oops. but everything turned out all right as chris proceeded to climb up on the roof to the other window (while i'm holding the water coolor for him to step on hoping i don't make him fall) and thankfully it was unlocked and he could crawl in...all this without anyone calling the cops or anything.

but anyways, i also discovered that i don't think i know how to smoke properly. chris and i stopped by a cigar shop one night and as he was buying one the salesman says why don't you get one too? so you can join him to smoke? they come in different flavors. so i'm like uh...all right and picked out a cute skinny vanilla one. on the way out, he said remember to not inhale. not inhale? how is that possible? as i tried to smoke it later that night, after our little locked out situation, i realized that i didn't know how to puff without inhaling. but then i don't think i was inhaling properly either since i didn't feel anything? the only good part was that the vanilla tasted sweet if you licked your lips afterwards. i decided that cigar smoking is gross. even worse than cigarette smoking, it's all the bad parts times ten. smelly hair, clothes, fingers. yuck. not worth it.

i went to go to a recruiting event yesterday at berkeley with david (who is so proud of cal it amazes me...cal license plate, cal jersey, cal hat, still goes to all the games...) and two other people. it was for the asian business association. i've never actually gone to one where i had to present and i hate giving oral presentations. flashback to speech class in college...just not me. it certainly didn't help when i showed up that i saw students in suits all dressed up and a formal looking powerpoint to boot. the minute i get there david is giving me instructions on what to say, stuff to mention and with butterflies in my stomache i tried to remember everything but i had no idea what to say. the only good thing was that there were other people up there with me. i'm not even quite sure i made sense...i rambled a lot i know...talked fast, made some futile attempts at jokes and after a little while up there, i was like hey, this isn't so bad...it's actually kind of fun because amazingly, they actually seemed to be listening. or at least they did a good job pretending to be.

but i think my favorite part was after we spoke and they came up to talk to us. i remember when i was going through recruiting i hated having to be the one to initiate conversation and it was a little weird being on the other side but it was fun talking to all these random people. a lot of them were freshman which amazed me that they were so young and already attending these things and i passed out my card to whoever asked...it was pretty fun. i'm glad david asked me to do it.

afterwards, david treated us all to steve's bbq at the food court and even got us boba. it was a nice little capper to my evening.

so yesterday i asked vu to help me plug in my tv so i can get cable only to get the response, oh, you don't have cable in your room, it all flows through to the family room (my translation of what he said...something about satellites and so on...who knows). i could feel the horror flowing through me...what? no cable? what will i do? but then i thought this is actually a positive thing because that means i can read more and i actually have quite a few books my aunt gave me that i wanted to read. but then...after getting sick of unpacking i went downstairs to watch tv only to find that he has OVER 500 channels! i couldn't believe it. it took me forever to figure out how to use the remote. and he even has sex in the city. he has five different hbo channels. who ever heard of such a thing? i think i was in tv heaven last night.

i'm not homeless anymore. gone are the days of living out of a suitcase and staying at hsin's last week and then my aunt's this past weekend. i have officially moved into vu's townhouse now. tonight will be my first night there. you know, i was thinking earlier today, since i've moved here, i've lived in an apartment, a house and now a townhouse...all different kinds. random thought. but anyways, saturday my mom, my aunt, tri, yuan and xuan all helped me to move my stuff into my room. it was great...we were done in about a hour...this is definitely my easiest move yet. actually chris will probably say every move was easy for me but that's what muscles are for i say.

i also decided that cleaning someone else's bathroom, espeically the toilet, is horrible. the bathroom is just not a sanitary place. i cleaned the entire thing...sink, toilet, and i even got down on my hands and knees to scrub the floor. i think my mom was pretty impressed with my diligence :)

my mom is here visiting for the weekend and i'm actually really happy. i was looking forward to it all week. we'll probably end up not doing anything but i do know this...for dinner tonight i was eating homecooked chinese meals and nicely cut-up apples and pears which is basically all i really wanted. and as i am blogging, evonne is making me my favorite cake with cookies n' cream ice cream. yum yum. i am a very content girl right now.

so i'm at work today and my co-worker wanted to see a picture of my twin. the only one i had on my laptop was this picture taken by james in new york last summer. the next words i hear is awwwwwww you two look so adorable. adorable? that's not a word used to describe two people in their 20's. and then this one girl goes hey, your brother is pretty cute as far as i can tell from this picture. to which i answer no no no...it's just the fish lens distorting our features. i find it very strange whenever someone thinks jon is "hot". ok, maybe not hot...that would be exaggerating a little too much. but it brought back memories of the first time i watched jon perform with funktion at michigan. afterwards, all these girls, one in particular, came up to me going your brother is sooooo cute...can you introduce me? very weird i tell you. i do know that he has the height thing going for him though...besides that it's all a big mystery...at least to me.

i've literally taken over hsin's bedroom for this week. seeing how i'm homeless right now, hsin was kind enough to let me stay at his place. what service i tell you. he lets me sleep in his bed (imagine, i'm the one inconveniencing him and he's left to sleep on the floor in the living room where it's freezing). i hog his cable modem the minute i get back from work, i strew my clothes and essentials everywhere, and the other day i came home not feeling too well and he was kind enough to bring dinner up to his own room for me. he even went out to get my clothes from my car! amazing...not only that but every night so far, there's been dinner waiting for me when i get back. and he has tivo too which i think is the greatest. i'm a huge tv junkie in case you didn't know. i can totally get used to this...maybe i should be homeless and work in oakland more often.

what a great weekend...the gang made it up here around 3am (it only took them four hours!!! james is nuts) and after a couple hours sleep, we all got up and helped me move (oh wait, did i say all? i mean everyone except victor who slept through the entire thing only to wake up and say "i didn't know you were moving, you should of woken me up. sure, we believe you). the rest of us picked up the u-haul, loaded, unloaded, and dropped the u-haul back all by 11am. i don't think i've ever seen a group be so efficient. then it was off to lunch where james sweated like a pig eating his very spicy beef noodle soup. besides that we mainly just bummed around, went to the skatepark where i fell asleep on karina's shoulder while she was talking to me and then watched american pie 2 at vu's (yes vu, we used your couch and tv without permission). then it was off to enid's bday dinner at an italian restaurant but the table was so long that we were kind of off by ourselves so we kept amused with my izone. (you'll have to put them on your webster jon).

then while everyone else from the dinner went off to karaoke we were off to club nv in the city to meet up with nancy's friends. i haven't been to one of those all out asian parties in a while and the one hour wait in the freezing cold reminded me again of why i hate lines. but it was pretty fun playing fmk with james and karina. victor, you should of been there. the club itself was pretty dope but way too crowded. the music started off being really good hip-hop but then turned into techno which i felt kind of bad for james since he would get all excited when a good song came up but then once it started going boom boom boom, he ended up just standing there and watching most of the night. but as it turned out we had karina to amuse us. i won't go into details but she was hilarious. very memorable.

and i kept to my resolution of not drinking. not even one sip. i haven't gone clubbing where i was sober in a while and i must say, it dawned on me how sleazy clubbing really is. watching guys hit on girls who have no clue what is going on and seeing everyone, girls mainly, throwing up everywhere...on the floor, in the bathroom...so not sanitary. towards the end of the night, i was ready to leave and as i was watching drunk people spill out of the club, i kept thinking this is what i was like just last week. very embarrassing.

afterwards, we went to one of nancy's friend's place in berkeley to spend the night. his place was VERY clean and he even made potstickers and pasta for us. james was about ready to take him home. and it was nice being able to shower in a bathroom with a door...instead of hiding behind a towel as we were doing in my room. then in the morning we went to chinatown in sf and ate dim sum which was the one thing james had been wanting to do. but the true highlight was me, karina and nancy all bought pj's together. gnk we call them. and you'll only get to see them if you're lucky enough to be at a sleepover with all three of us :)

then we drove back to my place to pack up everyone's stuff since they had to leave only to find that james locked his keys in his car. yes, i admit it...i secretly did it on purpose so they could stay longer...i'm not sure what he did but it was pretty funny watching him and nancy take turns being in the trunk trying to use a coat hanger to open the door with victor calling out directions.

all in all...a perfect weekend...just what i needed. and yes, i know i blogged a lot...too much perhaps but i was in the mood. i dedicate this blog to jon who must be so proud of me right now. enjoy.

so i just finished packing and i'd say i did pretty good for cramming it all in to one night. basically i just stuffed everything into trash bags and i figure i can worry about it later. i really do hate moving...it seems i accumulate more and more stuff each time. anyways, now i'm waiting for hsin to show up and then in a couple hours james, nancy, karina and victor will be joining us. i can't wait...i've been looking forward to it all week. i must say, i'm actually pretty surprised they're coming up. i didn't really expect them to say yes since in essence they'll be driving 10 hours roundtrip and they'll only get to stay for about a day and a half. but i'm definitely not complaining AND to top it all off, they're even going to help me move. i really do have the greatest friends.thanks guys!!!

i went to a chinese deli for dinner today and since i didn't know how to say what i wanted i ordered in english. right away i noticed that the guy at the counter was pretty rude to me which i kind of brushed off because come on, we all know that once you get into an all asian setting, the people are so rude. just think 99 ranch and chinatown. i wonder why that is. anyways, as i was waiting for my food, this white guy walks in and as he was waiting for his take-out, the workers starting talking about him and about how clueless and lost he seemed. and i will admit, he did look a little out of place ordering his pearl milk tea but i thought it was pretty rude for them to talk about him like that. let's see...i really can't remember what the point of my story is...i'm not even sure i had one but it was just something i noticed on the way home from work today. i guess it's a good thing that chris is starting to learn chinese so at least he has a little chance of sticking up for himself.

i am never drinking again. yesterday i went out to celebrate jimmy and sanford's birthday and somehow i ended up blacking out before both of them. i'm not even sure why...one minute, i was talking to my friends and feeling fine and then the next minute i wake up in my bed. one of the only things i do remember is my roomate saying george, there's 15 people downstairs and they're being really loud. to which i answer, i'm drunk. sorry.

i guess that's what hard liquor does to you. but i've pretty much decided no more hard drinking for me. the feeling the next day is just not worth it. i woke up with a horrible hangover, threw up almost promptly and then later again at david's place. curtis and sanford ended up staying the night and daniel was stuck taking care of us again. curtis did show me a picture of sanford lying in the bushes at the gas station on the way home and a picture of my pt cruiser covered with sanford's throw up on one side. not very pretty.

but don't worry, i did take it in for a car wash but it's still not completely gone. so this coming weekend, when james, victor, karina and maybe hong or nancy and whoever else come up to visit, no drinking for me. i gladly volunteer to be the designated driver although i was the dd yesterday too and we all saw how great that turned out to be.

hm...you might be wondering, how is she blogging so late when she doesn't even have a computer at home? ok, you're probably not but that is besides the point. the point is i am still here...at work...at the client...and i'm just now about to pack up to go home...only to come back at 9am and review with the partner. as i sit here, trying to think up of something intelligent and semi-coherent to write for a memo, i realized that i have basically been in this conference room all last week. yes, saturday and sunday included. the upside though is that i may get to take friday off and have a nice relaxing three day weekend. i hope so anyways.

it's been pretty interesting this past week at work because my entire audit team is asian as well as my client. my team is made up of someone from china, taiwan (that's me), singapore and hong kong. i never thought i'd be using so much mandarin at work but i have to say, i am so glad my parents made me go to chinese school. i just wish i had paid more attention instead of cheating off of everybody and making magazines during class. another thing i realized is that i think i'd really love working in asia somewhere. i'd love it even more if there were real toilets. anyways, i digress. i'm not quite sure how to describe it but the experience with working with all asians is very different than all of my other engagements. i feel a lot more comfortable and more free to ask questions or what not. i just wish my chinese was better. maybe i should buy chinese tapes like chris did...i'm always surprised at how much he's learned and how quickly he remembers the words.

but this entire week has been filled with boba almost everyday, yummy chinese food and my client just took us to dim sum. i guess this makes up for having to work 7 days this week just a little bit.

i hope everyone watched the season finale of survivor last night. it was great! only because ethan won of course....i so wanted him to win and i was cringing in my seat because i thought for sure by a fluke that kim would win. i thought the ceremonial cleansing was a little cheesy but otherwise, i was satisfied. this is the first season where i've watched almost every single episode and it seems like next season will be even better. no rations whatsoever. the thing that really took me by surprise was the final tribal council. i seriously could not tell it was filmed inside a studio. i thought maybe because ethan's hair was shorter and kim didn't seem as skinny but i still wasn't entirely positive until the cameras panned out and i saw the audience. i was shocked at how well they could re-create the entire setting.

and oh, i was a little surprised at how bitter kelly was at the end but it was interesting to watch someone i went to high school with. so...if you're not a fan yet and don't watch it, you can start next season. the end of february. i even had enid teach me how to program with the vcr she lent me just so i can tape survivor and tempation island (which resumes next thursday night by the way). i'm not a tv junkie...really i'm not.