first annual hot dog eating contest. how this idea came up i have no clue but i was certainly going to be there to cheer everyone on. four contestants. all guys of course because we girls are delicate and don't do stuff like this. ha. yeah right. i scarfed down two hot dogs for dinner before the competition even started. looking back i probably should of waited as we ran out of hot dogs at the end but you can't blame a girl for being hungry. i believe we had 32 hot dogs which sounded like plenty at the time but we weren't prepared for mr caly nguyen. the official 2003 hot dog eating champ. nine hot dogs in twelve minutes. that's pretty impressive no? he actually kind of reminds me of the little japanese hot dog eating man (i'm sure you know who i'm talking about i'm just drawing a blank on the name right now) since they're both skinny but can eat a shitload and their stomaches stick out abnomally big afterwards. why i know this i'm not sure but i do.

in either case hope you like the pics. my first post with my new digital camera. more to come with cancun of course :)

i bought myself a digital camera at fry's today. the sony dsc-p32. for the past two weeks or so all i've been talking about getting was the sony u20 that jon has and how i wanted the same one but in black but finally...when it came down to decision time my logical and practical side prevailed over my wanting a cute compact camera that oh fits so easily into my purse. for a mere $30 more, my camera has zoom and 3.2 megapixels...whatever the hell that means. i just know the higher the number the better.

ultimately what won me over in getting this camera over the u20 was when bren found this little black camera case that showed that yes this camera was small and sleek and could very possibly be just as cute as the u20. maybe not as cute but close. because that is what is important in picking out a camera anyways. i had my heart set on this little white furry case they sell on the sony website and all i could think about was how cute my black camera would look inside of it but i guess it's just not meant to be. plus sujeet brought up a good point in saying everybody has silver cameras these days so a black one would be sweet looking but i guess my camera will just have to do with being average. why don't digital cameras come in multiple colors anyways? i feel like it really could suck the girls in no?

i'm hoping there aren't too many buttons or functions with this camera. i normally like my gadgets to be very simple...point and shoot. i have a feeling i'll be quite happy with my purchase. plus i bought a 256mb memory stick with a $15 rebate which translates into me taking 200 some pictures with it all of which will become quite handy i'm sure when i'm in cancun next week. so expect to see tons of pictures from me. nothing scandalous of course. come now, what were you expecting with three girls running amuck in mexcio?

there was a time during my stay here in san jose that i had three of my ex's living within a twenty mile radius all at the same time. but now they're all gone. one moved a while back to do a residency in pharmacy in los angeles. another is a doctor in indiana. and the third recently has left to make the big bucks in real estate in ohio. and i do mean big bucks. out of all my ex's (not saying i had a ton or anything) these were the three that i got along the best with so i thought it was kind of funny when they began moving to san jose one by one. lucky me.

the topic of ex-boyfriends is always a touchy one. there seems to be this universal thought that once the relationship ends, so does the friendship which often times do but i'm a big proponent of remaining friends. sure it might not always work out but i'm batting about 50% right now which isn't too bad i suppose. i often run into the dilemma when referring to them in conversation if i should just call them my "friend" or my "ex". because really they are my friends but when you stick the word ex in there, it carries so much more significance.

i find it pretty amazing how you can be so close to someone for a couple of months or years and then poof just like that it's over. the person that most likely knows you better than your friends and sometimes siblings and yet all of a sudden there is no more talking or seeing each other. it's almost as if the person was never a part of your life. i've heard people say that they learn something from each relationship which is true but are relationships meant to just go away? for myself, my longest relationship was for about a span for four years and in looking back it seemed so long ago and he had such a big impact on my life (one of which was getting me later curfew hours and climbing out of my second story window in the middle of the night) but if i were to see him now, i would have no clue what to say except for the usual polite talk reserved to strangers. very sad indeed. all i have of that particular relationship now is a box full of letters and memorabilia that i came across during our move out of the san diego house and as hard as i tried, i couldn't bear myself to throw it away. why i don't really know but it's now sitting safely in a storage room in del mar. if anyone is in need of a velvet rose i've got one you can have.

i'm all for keeping in touch with your ex's and remaining friends. i'd say that two of them i'd consider my close friends since they know me pretty well and can pretty much see where i'm coming from or what i'm thinking sometimes before i even say it. and that is a rare thing to find so why throw it away just because there's a stigma attached to hanging out with your ex? pooh pooh to that i say.

i'm sunburnt again. i seem to just never learn my lesson. one would think after i was fried red my last time snowboarding i'd be slathering on sunblock but no. once again i didn't put any on and am now burnt on the stomache, shoulders, back, face and even my scalp. and the worst of the worst...i have a sunglass tan. i hate those.

this past weekend was spent driving from san jose to huntington beach with bren, maggie and rob. there was a surfing competition there but it was more so to hang out with the voltrons and company. it's been a while since i spent an entire day at the beach and i forgot how much fun it is. walked around the surf competition for a bit. hoped for a glimpse of kelly slater but who am i kidding. got myself a fake tattoo on the small of my back which makes me want to get a real one if it weren't for the pain. watched skateboarders in the half pipe (is that what it's called?) which was actually really cool since we were right on the railing but after about five mintues, we were told to move. then it was on to three blissful hours of beach volleyball. a sport that i love to play but am horrible at. it is here where i proceeded to get sunburnt but hey i didn't miss any of my serves except one i believe which i was pretty proud of. there was plenty of messing up on my part which made bren to comment "you're not very athletic are you?" which i found to be quite offensive because hey, i wasn't that horrible now was i? there was plenty of me running around to find my sandals as the sand was so freaking hot and during the process i managed to give myself quite a nice little cardio workout to where my butt was a bit sore the next day.

surprisingly we all had enough energy to go clubbing that night and it was off to century club i go. never been there but i've heard lots about it so i was pretty excited. the venue was really nice. very spacious and upscale (it better be for the $20 cover although girls were only $10. i love being female at times) but for some odd reason, lots of short asian guys there. i wasn't even wearing my highest heels and i could easily see over the head of half the people there. why are asian boys so short anyways? i don't care how hot a guy is...if the height isn't there it could be a lose lose from the very beginning. after all what girl doesn't love wearing heels? i know i do. by the way, i've discussed this with my many girlfriends (so that means one or two) and we all agree. the guy must at least be the same height as when we're wearing heels but no shorter.

then after eating some pretty good congee complete with pig's blood and cow tongue sunday which i gladly passed on to vi, it was back up to san jose we go. in rob's slammed car which i got to drive. for those in the dark, a slammed car is one that has been lowered i believe. now i've been to a many car races when i was younger and seen plenty of lowered cars but never one that bounced this much. it was almost like we were on a roller coaster. the ride up was quite uneventful much unlike on the way down when we were literally stopped in traffic for 45 minutes. it was almost like a scene out of rem's "everybody hurts" video except for the guy who came streaking out of his rv. of course i missed all this as i was passed out in the car after having been drinking since 3pm friday but that is another story in itself.

another great weekend although i did play phone tag with ameer all weekend long and we still never saw each other. next time i hope. at least i have my sunburnt body to remind me of the fun times. oh joy.

i borrowed jon's digital camera this past weekend for stacy's wedding and i love it. i want one. i think i'm going to buy it for myself for my upcoming quarter century birthday. technically if i was a real shitty sister, i could take jon's back because 1) i paid for it 2) it was never a present and 3) he still hasn't paid me back but i won't. i should but i won't. i've never used a digital camera before and was always a firm believer in using my trusty 35mm but i'm now a convert. i love the fact that it fits in my purse and my pictures get posted the next day for everyone to see. it's even kind of fun to think up of captions however cheesy they may be.

i don't even really mind that it has no zoom. i just stick the camera in everyone's faces and no one can tell the difference. next up is for me to learn how to upload the pictures (i had jon do the ones from stacy's wedding) but i've been told it isn't very hard at all and that even i could learn it. i'm really quite excited about this. call me a sheep but i think i will have to copy jon and take pictures wherever i go and post them in my little yahoo folders. now i'll just have to decide on the color...black, blue (if i get blue though i'll be a double sheep as that's what jon has), or silver. the great thing about all this is that the camera has dropped $100 now so i may have to get it soon...in time for my week long vacation in cancun coming up.

now on to another topic. i was a bridesmaid at stacy's wedding in san diego and i loved it. not just being part of the bridal party but more getting my hair done with all the girls (there were 8 of us!) and getting to ride in the limo bus. i don't think i'll get sick of the saying "always a bridesmaid never a bride" because really, if all my experiences are like this, i'd be a bridesmaid forever if necessary. damn i should of gotten more girlfriends.

this would be my third wedding this year with two more on the way for a total of five. although going to weddings can get a wee bit expensive, ok more than wee bit, it's worth it i think. i'm starting to really enjoy seeing what decorations couples choose, what the centerpiece looks like, the bridal dress...all the little things i never really noticed before but am mentally storing away for when i get married. that is if i don't forget seeing how my short-term memory isn't the greatest.

i teared up more times at this wedding than i did combined for all the ones i've attended in the past. why? i'm not quite sure but i'm slowly becoming a softie. my favorite favorite part of the wedding was when marci (maid of honor) sang the song for the first dance. it was just so damn moving! a great great night although my dress did get tighter and tighter as the night wore on to the point where it was getting quite uncomfortable. so double thanks to mr jimmy wu for picking me up even though he was on crutches and for providing such a nice green shirt and black warmup pants for me to change into. note to self...don't eat so much at weddings when in a tight dress. could help in not having to suck in stomache so much.

i have a new crush. and this one blows the bachelor out of the water. i'd like to announce here and now that richard tillman is the new it guy. at least for me anyways. who you ask? richard tillman. younger brother of pat tillman, recent recipient of the arthur ashe courage award at the espy awards. i'm quite sure he's an unknown to most everyone reading this blog but i'm telling you ladies, he's hot! and it's very rare that i say that about anybody.

he's got the tall brooding good looks. a nice body...you can tell he works out but doesn't look like a meathead. the disheveled hair that i'm so into at the moment. the bachelor had that too but richard's is rumpled much better. definitely one of the cuter guys i've seen in a while.

now how did this new crush develop you ask? i actually only saw him on tv for about 5 minutes accepting the award on pat and kevin tillman's behalf but i was already smitten. andrew firestone just can not compare. let me backtrack a bit. bren has been telling me months and months about this pat tillman guy, a football player who turned down a multi-million dollar nfl contract to join the army rangers. the elite of the elite. of course when i heard the story i was a bit moved and intrigued because who does that in this day of greed and no values? every now and then i'd get updates from bren on him but i guess i never understood the magnitude of his actions. until now at least.

bren went to high school with pat tillman and his brothers which explains why he knew so much about the guy. the little bits and pieces that i would hear from him made me admire pat tillman that much more. how he didn't accept the arthur ashe award personally because he didn't want the media attention. how he didn't grant any interviews when he decided to join the rangers because he didn't want it to seem like a publicity stunt. how he doesn't feel that there should even be a spotlight on him because he isn't anymore important than the guy fighting next to him.

the espy awards were last week and bren taped the part where they were presented the award. and i finally got to watch it today. there was a video salute to the two brothers and i have to say, i got a little teary-eyed. it's something that i greatly admire but sadly could never see myself doing. i'm much too conservative for that. in either case, he is my new hero. not just because he joined the rangers and gave up on millions but more to do with the way he carried himself. that's the way it should be because really, athletes and tv and movie stars are no better than the average joe. they even received a standing ovation from the crowd.

i'm rambling once again but basically i saw pat's youngest brother last nite and couldn't keep the smile off my face. i even had bren rewind the tape just to make sure that he was cute. and he was. my first impressions are off sometimes. bren said that when richard was in 5th grade he had sophomore ladies in high school attending his every little league games. now do i know how to pick them or what? and to top it all of, bren was friends with his brother. it just can't get any better than that.

i was a good samaritan today. i just donated blood for the first time evidenced by my proudly displayed "i'm a first time donor" sticker on my pants. nobody ever told me the extent you need to go to. my vision was you go in, they put a little needle in your arm and take what maybe four of five test tubes full of blood? how bad could this possibly be? i've been having my blood drawn once each week for the past three weeks and it wasn't so bad. the first time for my policy, second for my doctor's appointment, third time was today and then next week i'm supposed to give blood again for another test for another policy. i've never had so many needles pricked on my arm before. next thing you know, i'm going to look like a heroin addict.

i'm not quite sure why i never really knew what donating blood would be like. apparently everybody else knows but somewhere along the way, nobody bothered to tell me. did you know that you give one whole pint of blood?!?! one pint! when i was signing in, i asked the guy how big one pint was and asked if it was about three or four test tubes full and he just laughed. "you'll find out soon enough" he said. i hadn't been this nervous before in a really long time. the part that hurt the most was when they prick your finger to see if you're anemic. my finger throbbed for a good hour or two afterwards. i was secretly hoping my iron deficiency (i was iron deficient two years ago and had to start taking iron tablets everyday) would somehow save me from all this but nope, plenty of iron.

they ask you a whole slew of questions such as have you traveled outside of the US since 1980? 1980? heck that's practically my entire lifetime and so there i sat trying to remember everywhere i might of possibly gone to. have you had sexual intercouse with someone who's had sexual intercourse with a male? that was an easy no. and the list continues. the thing that i found very weird though was that after they prick your finger and do the initial test and ask all the questions, you're sent to a little private booth with two bar codes. one for "use my blood" meaning i've answered no to a lot of the questions and the other for "don't use my blood". meaning if you've done anything remotely kinky in your past, you better be putting on that bar code. i just found that so weird. does anyone ever put the "unsafe" bar code and if so, what happens? do they just tell you to leave? do they take your blood and test it for you? i never got the chance to ask. in any case, if you were unsafe, why would you volunteer to donate blood in the first place? yes please let me spread my AIDS to everyone.

by the way, did you know that when you donate blood you actually have an iv tube sticking out of you? and the blood runs through a little tube to the pouch? walking into the donating room was eerily similar to walking into a hospital ward. nurses and chairs and iv bags and needles everywhere.

the whole ordeal ended about one hour later and i suppose it could of been worse. the nurse had trouble finding my veins so it took three tries which didn't help lessen my fears much. then during the process i start feeling a little light-headed and they had to get me water and for a while there my blood dripping slowed down a lot...too much i think. so there i was, lying in this chair with three nurses around me trying to figure out if i was going to make it to one pint or not. they even went so far as to weigh my blood bag to see if it was heavy enough but i made it. thankfully. i would of been pretty upset if i went through all this for nothing.

so now i'm just left with a throbbing finger, a little wooziness and a nice baby blue bandage on my arm. to match my shirt of course because i'm fashionable like that. the only bummer is i'm not supposed to have alcoholic drinks for 24 hours and i'm going clubbing tonight. the last time i went completely sober i was bored out of my mind so let's hope this won't be a repeat.

but really, everyone should donate blood at least once. if i did it, i'm sure you can too. except ameer who is known to faint. apparently we're having a severe shortage this summer so go donate guys! you even get free cookies and ice-cream afterwards. and two if you ask nicely. rah rah rah...i'm a cheerleader!

it's hard waking up early and coming to work after a two week hiatus. but what a fun hiatus it was. it's been a while since i've been back to san diego for such an extended amount of time and it wasn't long before i got back into the groove of how we operate. which translates into no time constraints. got myself a tan finally. i thought i was pretty dark but then mr joe marshman didn't even notice this morning and curtis said "oh i guess you have a light tan". light? i've been swimming everyday for a light tan? i beg to differ but then again he is a guy so he's not supposed to notice these things and he's dark as hell so everyone is light compared to him.

i was able to bond lots with miss sharon kim and she was nice enough to go along with jon to drop me off at the airport. saw gene perform at his cd release party and i was actually listening to his cd last night when i was unpacking. visited babbs a ton at fumari's and found out that smoking hookahs is hazardous to your health. not quite sure why i thought that it wasn't in the first place but i think the nice smelling flavors threw me off. saw jb and helen for a bit and actually carried a conversation with jb that lasted longer than two sentences. amit came down two weekends in a row...one weekend with his cowboy hat and the next without. eric flew in from michigan for his bachelor party (or at least jon and hong's version of a bachelor party and we know that consists of lots of balling and video games) and i did volunteer to jump out of a cake for free but nobody seemed too keen on that idea. at least i tried. rambled on and on to victor on the way back from e street and what i said i don't even know. heard ameer freestyle rap for the first time which was hilarious. saw evan again making this twice in one year. that's got to be some kind of record. got no lobsters from hong but i'm still wishing and waiting and saw his shadyness in action. or at least i think i did. had nancy and jimmy to keep me sane at times and if it wasn't for jimmy, i don't think we would of finished packing on time. james and connie came back from camping and i got to seem them all of a ten minutes before it was time to get ready for the airport. but at least i saw james being thrown into the pool. that was a double plus. you sure you're wearing boxers under there?

i learned i dance like a white girl which was agreed upon by almost everyone. found out or actually told that i have no rhythmn and can't keep track of an eight count. or ten count in my case but at least i know what a down beat is now. the white girl dancing theory is still yet to be proven though. we must have a dance-off next time. i have rhythmn dammit! i learned it is possible to gain five pounds in one week and jon eats like an anorexic. i learned or realized how lucky i was to have lived in senterra for so long and i guess all good things must come to an end at some point or other. at least temporarily.

surprisingly, i was pretty sad to leave last night but i think it's more a combination of moving out and my mom going away for a couple months. i guess i'll be staying at hong's a lot more now. at least i'll get first dibs on the lobster this time. thanks for a great two weeks guys.

i had a very lovely day in san diego yesterday. i won my bet with jimmy (told you i wasn't gullible) so he treated me, nancy and my cousin hailin to brazilian for lunch. all you can eat buffet too. i love going to new restaurants or trying different types of food and this was pretty good. i especially like the big knives that the waiters walk around with dumping loads of meat onto our table and of course the lychee jelly which we stole and put in my purse to be eaten later. although everyone forgot theirs so i ate two of them myself. very good. i miss the lychee jellies that you can pop in your mouth. remember those? a girl choked and died while eating one so it's no longer being sold. i am sympathetic of course but why must everyone be punished?

then it was off shopping in pacific beach and i had such high hopes but the stores weren't as good as i remembered. but i did make one very important observation. i must say or rather exclaim...san diego really is home of the beautiful! perhaps it's been too long since i've gone anywhere near the vicinity of a beach so i was easily impressed but i've never seen so many well toned and tanned bodies before.

everywhere i went i saw girls in little itty bikini tops and tiny shorts walking around the stores and the guy themselves were often shirtless. with muscles too which is an added plus. i suppose this is the norm for a beach city but damn. do these people just workout and tan all day long? i was quite in awe and i heard lots of cat calling as well. if i was a guy, i think i'd be cat calling too. who knew i'd be sight seeing in my hometown of san diego.

afterwards we went swimming of course (i think i've gone almost everyday since i've been here. must take advantage before we move) and then after a filling dinner at niban of which victor tried to kill me with wasabi it was off clubbing to e street alley. i'm not complaining or anything but a certain someone told us outside that yes there were cuties (he was talking about girls but still...) and it was really crowded. both of which were not true. i saw no cuties and it wasn't that crowded at all. in fact, everyone in there was abnormally short and i felt like a towering giant but it all worked out. made it very easy to spot jon in the crowd at least. another observation i noticed is that i need to pee quite a lot when i'm drinking. i made so many trips to the bathroom but at least i got lollipops for everyone. go me.

if it weren't for jimmy dragging me to take a shot every ten minutes the night would of been very boring indeed. and i had my first drink with my cousin who's a newly minted 21 and i could see my serving as a good role model vanishing out the window. oh well what else is new. at least i had late night eats at keith's of scrambled eggs and toast with butter. lots of toast and lots of butter. what a great day.

packing is a bitch and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. especially when it's ten plus years worth of your childhood that you're packing. we're moving out of our house in san diego or actually renting it out so i've been packing. the movers came last weekend for round number one and took away a lot of the furniture which means one of two things. one we have way more room now in the family room to hang out making it very condusive to large friend gatherings. twister anyone? or two, since we don't have any furniture tv watching is relegated to two very uncomfortable chairs making me watch much less tv than i normally do. which is actually a good thing seeing too much tv gives me a headache anyways. yes big revelation i know.

but in this packing frenzy, i've come across lots of things from my past that i've either forgotten about or just had no clue where it had gone. found all my old diaries and actually found the key to one of them. needless to say i had a good laugh reading my entries from 1993. let's just say it all surrounded around boys and whether he likes me or why he doesn't like me. ah the good old days. found lots of old love letters because you know i had so many suitors when i was young. ha. more like lots of love letters from two specific boys. haven't had time to read them all yet but you can bet i will be soon.

found my stamp and sticker collections which i'm keeping. i basically have four piles. one is to keep and put in storage in san diego. second is to keep and bring it up to san jose as if i don't have enough junk in my room already. three is to donate to the kids of poverty because you never know when they might need a snoopy alarm clock. and fourth is just to trash outright. it's harder than you think. some things i know i should part with but just can't. take for instance my barbie and my little pony collections. it wasn't so easy racking up eight barbie dolls with different outfits and accessories and i have a ken as well. when we were younger i would make jon play barbie with me and of course he was ken while in return i played g.i. joe and transformers. now what would i do now with barbie and the my little pony's with their own house to boot. nothing except take up space. my desperate plea to my mom was "but but they could very well be worth money on ebay!" she wasn't buying that one. so away they go.

i've thrown or given so much stuff away that all i'm left with is one little box that i'm bringing back up to san jose. mainly cd's and xmas cards i found but haven't used. so expect some xmas cards this year from me. and then for storage, just two boxes and that's it. everything i own pretty much is crammed into my room up north or sitting in storage somewhere on del mar heights.

so as that song says "growing up is hard to do"...it's a 60's song i believe in case you're trying to hum it.

so i'm back in san diego again. sitting in front of jon's computer that i literally had to beg and plead to use. he's not cool like that. in either case, i flew back to san jose sunday night, stayed a little over 24 hours and now am back in sd. why you ask? no it's not because i missed my sd friends too much although that could very well be the case. i've realized during my stay here this past week that i've been experiencing withdrawal from them but that will have to be explained in another blog...maybe. the real reason is being the irresponsible little worker that i am...i forgot my laptop at home. i didn't even realize it until my mom was dropping me off at the airport and asked where my laptop was. needless to say i had the deer in the headlights look on my face. laptop? oh yes...that is why i came down to sd in the first place. but i wasn't too worried since i knew i wasn't scheduled to be on any clients for the rest of the week.

monday rolls around and i decide to just take the day off as what's the point of even going in if i don't have a laptop? besides i had my car to tend to, needed to make a doctor's appointment and give a blood test for my new policy. lots to do. i'm a busy girl after all. ha...yeah right. at this point i still wasn't quite sure what to do about my laptop. should i have my mom overnight it? possible but expensive and plus who knows what could happen. i've got sensitive shit on that thing. it's almost like my baby after my cell phone. very nerdy i know.

during this time, i decide to check my work voicemail and got 7 new calls. 7! that's quite a lot for not being on any clients. and of course what happens. shit hits the fan and i'm thoroughly stressed out for a good 3 hours at least. got a couple calls from managers, the big boss of hr herself and some other folks. all over this training course we were supposed to complete by june 30th and currently i'm shown in the database as not being in compliance. which means i could face disciplinary actions. whatever that means exactly i have no clue. but noncompliance my ass. i completed that thing two weeks ago but without my laptop i had no way to prove it. in either case, they make me call the national 1800 number of which i'm on hold for over a hour and the whole time i thought my battery was going to die. not fun. to top it all off, the guy that finally answered promised to call me right back but never did. bastard. doesn't he know i'm on a tight deadline here?

so i just leave it at that. hey it's not my fault no one called me back and i know i completed it. and well seeing how i was in dire need of access to my laptop (briefly flirted with the idea of jon accessing my laptop for me and even called him in a panic but decided it was much too complicated for him to handle. ha) i called hr and basically just asked if i could take the rest of the week off and was approved. gotta love them at times.

i was supposed to fly down friday for july 4th weekend anyways so i just upped my flight a couple days earlier (the change fee was only $28...i was really expecting at least $100 these days but hey...gotta love southwest) and now i'm here. and of course when i got a hold of my laptop i was able to show them my report saying that yes i had in fact completed the course on june 11th. take that suckers. so i fired off a nice but curt email with the attached report which is the least i could of done. seeing how they caused me so much stress and trouble. don't need anymore wrinkles.

but i'm not complaining. i don't mind being in sd another week. it's almost as if i live here now but the only downside is a waste of my vacation time. even with my five weeks a year i think i'm running out. amazingly. but i'm expecting a lot more swimming and tanning, maybe even the beach, jamba, roberto's and shopping. plus jon's not working now and my cousin gets in tonight so i'll have constant play buddies. aren't they lucky.

tonight will mark my being in san diego for one entire week and i've loved every minute of it. well except for when my stmache blows up to the size of a balloon after each meal but that's another blog entry. for those worried (yes i know there are many of you out there. ha), i am going to the doctors as soon as i get back to san jose under my mom's strict orders.

i'm not even quite sure why i'm loving my stay in san diego so much. i haven't done all that much. made several jaunts to downtown to watch hong being macked on and show off his dancing skills but besides that...being the dutiful good daughter i am i've come home each night to just hang out. but really, i think i've said this several times before in my other blogs, it's just being surrounded by family and friends. we started off strong hanging out each night with rock bottom, islands, niban, fumari's but then slowly weaned off towards the latter of the week but tonight it'll be picking up again. tonight marks gene's cd release party of which i plan to be a raucous as i can. oh how he wishes he never told us about it. but everyone will be down. i think anyways. ameer should be in town. amit came in friday. ms sharon kim is here for two weeks. and of course the old crew (with the new and improved jimmy!) with the exception of grace who ditched us because we weren't fun enough. and oh we're missing sagging monk because he's traversing the mountains camping somewhere.

yesterday i met up with my girl's group from college and out of the six of us, one is married and pregnant, one is getting married in less than a month and another just got engaged. it's really crazy actually. talk yesterday consisted of how much weddings cost, where the best florists are and essentially all wedding advice one could ever want. seeing how i'm nowhere in the vincinity of anyplace close to getting married, they all promised to keep their wedding books for me. pretty convenient really. and of course there was baby talk and talk of sonnograms and i even went maternity shopping for a bit after dinner. very different than my usual conversation with the sd group which mostly consist of yo where you at? when are we meeting? let's go eat. ha. but you know i love it.

besides all that i went on a huge shopping spree yesterday with jen and well, let's just be glad i brought a big suitcase down here.

hot diggity damn. don't know where i got that from but it's been running through my head for two days now. in either case, i think i can get used to living in a mansion. in the mornings i wake up to my own suite, take a shower, take my sweet time getting ready because the conference room is only a two minute walk away, come to work, and sit at my desk by myself listening to launchcast until the simulation starts. and i'm actually having fun with it. not being rude because i've decided it's beyond impossible for me but just seeing them try to figure out what's going on and the overwhelming looks on their faces. pretty similar to what i have even now at times. the class even clapped for me when i walked into the room at the end of the day. thank you thank you...i'm sure an oscar is in the works somewhere. ha. yeah right.

breakfast consists of basically anything and everything you could think of. well, not scrambled eggs and such but more along the lines of tons of pastries to choose from and fruits and drinks. i've also been drinking coffee the mornings that i'm here too. very unusual for me as i try to refrain as much as i can. maybe because we have a start time of 8am here and we all know my day never starts that early. then after a couple hours of playing client and internet browsing in between, it's off to lunch where yesterday i had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. big strawberries too.

then around 3 or 4pm snacks come out. the first day we had freshly baked cookies and little tins of ben and jerry's ice-cream. i had the cherry garcia flavor. on top of that, it was one of the new hires birthday so we had this huge chocolate cake and well, it was only right to take a piece. yesterday we had nachos and more chocolate cake with coconuts inside and i'm usually not a fan of coconut but it was there and i was bored so why the hell not.

i'm then regulated to a couple more hours of getting some actual work done and going around trying to find blogs to comment on as me, suj and jon are mired in this commenting revolution. but it seems our efforts may be harder than i first thought. there just aren't enough updates these days but we will prevail! i never thought i'd say this but browsing the internet gets pretty boring after a couple hours. there's only so many news articles, gossip columns, fashion pictures, and blogs to read before i run out of places to go. plus i'm no longer addicted to friendster.

but moving along, night time consists of a gourmet cooked dinner and afterwards it's so nice to walk into your room with the towels all folded and tidy with your bed turned down with two pieces of ghiradelli chocolates waiting for you. is this the life or what? the staff here are all so helpful and even drove some of the new hires to the nearby long's and safeway as they didn't have a car. what service!

to top it all off, i don't need to go back to work monday as i'll be at training again, this time as a participate in san diego. of course i'm sure the amenities won't be quite as nice and i'll have to share with a roomate but no complaints here. everyone should live in a mansion sometime. even better if it's free.

so today marks the first day of my role playing instructor for our new hires. it's not bad actually. mainly because i haven't had to do much yet but i will in a bit. i've arrived, gotten my conference room, received a ton of handouts i'm not quite sure what to do with, databases with too much information and was served lunch. to top it off, training this year is at the hayes mansion (for those who know, the place where josh had his wedding reception). i'm actually in the same building but just downstairs in the conference room. and i've been told i'm allowed to stay here for my two night duration. hopefully i won't get a roomate. after all, i'm not a participant this time, i'm an instructor. i've moved on up...a bit anyways.

as i meet the other two instructors, they both seem pretty young and hip. like me of course. and as i was making my little speech introducing myself and telling them exactly why i'm here (my role is to be the client. hence the role playing. i'm told to be rude, sarcastic, mean but that is yet to be seen whether i can pull it off or not. that's just not in my nature...at least not when it's make believe), i look around and don't feel like an instructor. the room is filled with recent college graduates and basically i don't feel much older than them. i wish they weren't so formal when talking to me. can't they see that i'm fun? one of them?

i feel like it's a bunch of kids leading a bunch of kids. if that makes any sense. i don't really have any clue what i'm doing. nobody told me there would be this much prep work. a whole binder of materials to learn for only three days of training? that does seem to be a bit on the excessive side. plus i'm supposed to role-play four different people and i can't even remember their names much less who i'm supposed to be and when. maybe i should have read my binder a little more closely.

i remember when i went to training, one instructor stood out in my mind because he was so laidback and wasn't uptight and yuppity like the others. actually, the other two instructors are actually both pretty young and i like it. it's a fun atmosphere. beats sitting in my little cube for eight hours a day that's for sure.

either case, it's only for three days then i'm off to sunny san diego for one blissful week of training. but first up is our social event for tonight. ropes course for teambuilding at city beach fremont. an event that i've already made perfectly clear to everyone that i will not be participating in. flashbacks of sixth grade camp ran through my head and although those ropes courses were fun looking back, there is no way you'll get me into a harness again.

i decided at 1am last night to take the iq test jon sent me. i found myself guessing on a lot of questions mainly because i wasn't in the mood to exercise any brain power. i mean, memorizing street addresses and doing addition is not my idea of a good time. of course all this defeats the purpose of taking an iq test in the first place but at the time it seemed like a good idea and having already started there was no way i was going to quit. for those of you that took it, how annoying was it to have to wait for the timer to run out before going on to the next question? but moving on.

just really how much correlation is there between scoring high on a test of this type and intelligence? there's been tons of articles and studies done so i won't go into much scientific detail...not that i'd know it in the first place but really, ever since the first time we step into a classroom and even to this day, we're conditioned to take tests. tests for finals, tests to become certified in a certain field (in my case the dreaded cpa exam which i can not for the life of me get motivated to sit down and study for), and the king of all tests...the SAT's. i remember back in high school when jon would give me his sat review books and was always telling me to study (what a role reversal we have nowadays don't we?) but i never did. i would go into the tests blind and not really care. all the while everyone else would be taking review courses and their scores would jump a couple hundred points but if anyone could go in and just study the type of questions and memorize vocabulary words, how is this a measure of how smart you are? it's really more of a reflection of how good of a test-taker you are.

back in college, getting good grades wasn't entirely about knowing the material. it was also about being able to read the instructor to see what type of exams were given and the type of questions that would be asked. everyone knows this. to achieve a high score on standardized tests, there is systematic way to study for them. how else does kaplan or becker's earn so much money? why are students and even professionals so willing to plop down thousands of dollars to attend?

for me, i see any type of tests as being pretty useless. how many tests, finals, quizzes, pop quizzes have i taken over my lifetime and without a doubt, i know i don't remember half of what i memorized anyways. i do remember sohcahtoa...how handy was that little acronym. everything was crammed for that one or two hour duration and then the minute i walked out the classroom door, poof, it was gone. and i haven't really had to recall on any of that information anyways. so what was the point?

sure i like watching the history channel or learning about it but i'd much rather do it without worrying about the the specifics. half the time i don't remember the year it took place or which countries or persons were involved. who was fighting who or who signed what treaty. i just don't remember. or maybe my short-term memory is just not all there. that wouldn't be surprising to me either and i know why. looking back i never really got to enjoy the books we were assigned in school because i was more concerned with remembering names for the quiz tomorrow or the essay i had to write. but nowadays, without anyone on my back telling me to finish chapter five by the end of next week, i find myself wanting to go back and re-reading those books for my own curiosity. the classes that i learned the most in were surprise surprise pass/fail and taken because i wanted to take it not because it was a requirement to move on to the next grade/year.

our culture of measuring everything by a number or grade leads to students who think inside the box. i'm a victim of this myself i believe. but no one ever gets famous or rich by thinking inside the box. it's those who can succeed by thinking outside of the norm that really are the most impressive. otherwise, the xbox may never have been invented and where would all those halo die-hards be then?

is it possible for someone to learn to be a good hip hop dancer? i went to hip hop class last night and it wasn't as hard as i thought it would be. of course my class was at 24 fitness and not at a decked out dance studio with professionals but details details. did i also mention that i was surrounded by older people who obviously had never heard of any of the songs being played before?

in either case, is this type of dancing something that can be learned? can you practice and practice and be good? or is it something that you're born with? by the way, i've said this several times before. if you've got the gift of dancing, use it all you can. you must not let it go to waste. if you're trying to pick up a girl or guy, dance around them a bit. dancing ups the attractiveness factor by a ton. more than a ton.

even though i was able to get all the moves last night i just didn't feel it. i'm not sure what it's called but certain people have that sass or spunk to them that catches your eye. i don't have it. my hips shake funny and when you start adding the arms with the foot movements, i get a bit confused and just make up my own. it's too bad i couldn't be more like mr hongshin and make it to the top 40. my point is this. i've seen people dance that know all the moves but they're almost a little too on the beat. does that make sense? sure they've got all the moves memorized but it's a little too perfect. i tend to like those that are a little off-beat and put their own oomphs into it. what those oomphs consist of i'm not quite sure seeing how i don't know how to dance but i know it if i see it.

the funny thing is that when i'm out clubbing, i feel like i have rhythmn. of course those who have gone with me can beg to differ. i don't ever feel awkward dancing and i think i move my arms and legs in time to the music also. i'm always surprised at people who just seem to have no coordination or a dancing bone in their body. aka white guys. most of them anyways. ever go to a white club and stand on the second floor and see the people swinging back and forth? like trees on a windy day almost. very amusing.

i think i've come to the conclusion that hip hop dancing is something that you're born with. i don't care how much you practice or redo the steps, it won't look the same. it'll either look too perfect or too awkward. one must have that little hip hop and a shake to set them apart. make it unique. not very many people have that. at least that i've seen anyways. but for those that do, and i think you know who you are, you must work it. do it for us non-dancers or dancing challenged folks. i beg of you.

as if aim, yahoo and now friendster wasn't enough to kill what little productivity i had, i've now been introduced to yahoo launch. it's a radio station where you can customize and rate the songs played and then based on that, it decides the type of music to be played in the future. jason wallace told me about this last week but i've only had the chance to try it today. and guess what i've been doing all day. this radio station thing has basically rendered me useless at work. it's even better than friendster. i think i'm pretty much over that obsession now.

but this radio station thing. it's great. you're probably thinking, gee it's only a radio station. it shouldn't cut into your work time THAT much but oh it does it does. i'm pretty horrible at remembering artists and song titles but with this, it shows you exactly what song is being played and i get to give it a rating between 1 and 10. i keep going back and forth to make sure i rate each song and to see what the title of the song is. to increase my limited knowledge if you will. it gets pretty addicting. plus the more songs you rate the higher you move on up in the levels. right now i'm only a newbie but jason is already an enthusiast having rated more than 300 songs. i'm not even sure what benefits you get as you move on up the rankings...probably nothing but i like seeing the countdown. only 112 songs until the next level!

another great thing about this is that you can listen to other people's radio stations as well. get a peek into what type of music they like. and you can rate their songs and that also influences what songs get played on your customized radio station. ingenious. because really why would i want to be listening to someone else's radio station while i can be working on my ranking but ranking your friend's songs benefits you too! they've thought of everything. well almost everything. everyone should really try this. just don't forget to give me your yahoo id.

if only i can get rid of the commercials now, this thing would be perfect.

purely hypothetical of course. if a friend is interested in another one of your friends, are you obligated to set them up? or at least make the initial introduction? if both parties were interested, this would be a no-brainer question but what if without even asking your friend (the one whom the other friend is interested in), you already know there's no chance. well let's not be absolute here. let's just say very minimal chance. very. is it rude to just say so? after all, you are friends and friends can be brutally honest. in theory anyways.

nowadays with members of the opposite sex so hard to meet, friends of friends is your best bet. but being the middleman, what is our duty? can i help it if all my friends are just oh so hot? but being hot also comes with certain criterias to be met. in other words, they don't just want to be hooked up with anybody. and it's for this reason mainly that being the middleman is not very appealing. not at all.

is it enough to come up with a lame ass excuse? but those get old over time. should i at least set up a group gathering as a foiler to the first meeting? do i go so far as to exchange numbers? all very important questions i'm sure. i can only hold one's hands for so long but at some point or another the relationship has to blossom on its own. sad but true.

at least once a week i get the standard old question, wow you have some really cute girl/boy friends. hook me up. HOOK ME UP. i believe i've blogged about this before but as long as the same topic isn't broached twice the same year, i've deemed it to be ok. my standard answer nowadays is nothing. silence. and just wait until the next topic comes along. you'd be surprised at how long i can be silent for. looking back over the years, my success rate in setting up my friends isn't all that great. in fact, i can really only think of one couple off the top of my head that i've been the middleman for. i do take great pride in it though. partly because well...i didn't have to do anything and i still get the credit. i do get the credit right? and my handsome reward is a nice fat piece of juicy steak.

i'm not really expecting any answers and no, i won't lash at you if i hear the words hook me up again. or any variation of it. but just know deep down that the job of the middleman is not an easy one but seeing how we are all friends to others, it must be done. we should not shirk from our responsibilities although i really would like to. one can wish right?

i had quite the domestic little weekend. it all started with an impromptu jaunt to target to buy patio furniture. patio furniture! can you imagine me getting excited about this but alas i was quite the happy little shopper. images of me basking in the sun all the while sipping my ice cold drink. so i came out of target with two plastic chairs (high-ended ones too for only $8.99) and a foldable white table. my favorite of the three items. not to shatter my image i insisted on buying some country time pink lemonade mix to round it all out. so there you could find me, on a nice sunny sunday afternoon with my cup of pink lemonade on the table, sunglasses as to not harm my eyes and my current reading by dave eggers. can't you just smell the the freshly cut grass and the white picket fence? ha. of course i only lasted about a hour before the sweat getting into my eyes and the little bee buzzing around forced me to duck instead but all was not lost. i got sunburnt and my feet are no longer a pasty white. at least i don't think so anyways.

if you think my domestic-ness ends here...you're in for a treat. for some odd reason, i received recipe cards in the mail and in a fit of ambitiousness...decided to make the sirloine steak. and for good measure i decided i'd try to make the ketchup rice as well. my favorite item in all of san jose. the rice came out tasting like well...rice with ketchup poured over it. not quite the effect i was going for but it's still a work in progress. i did learn however that flipping rice can get very tiring especially if you have no arm muscles. the sirloin steak was perfect. p-e-r-f-e-c-t. of course i really should not take credit for it as my only job was to brush on the marinade but still..it was my idea. that deserves a little credit no?

i even ordered 24 more recipes to be sent in the mail for only $5.95 plus shipping and it comes with its own filing box with pre-made dividers. i'll look like a professional for sure. actually, the recipes are really easy. one recipe per card so it easily fits in your purse (or man purse if you happen to be a guy) to bring to the grocery store and i actually have heard of most of the ingredients unlike other cookbooks i've seen. and the best part is, if i reply within ten days, i get a free wok! i may have missed the deadline though. in either case, you have an asian martha stewart in the making. pretty soon sagging monk and i will be throwing poolside barbecues and he'll supply the homemade patties while i slave away at everything else.

iron chef watch out!

enid has officially moved to the big apple and for some reason her move affected me more than i thought it would. at least when i first found out about it anyways. i find this very strange as prior to start of college, jon moved away to michigan and i didn't shed a tear until i saw his very depressing video roaming the halls of the dorms. but then i came to visit during xmas break and all was better in the world. james moved to irvine, gaga moved to berkeley, victor and jimmy moved to la and not one tear. more like a wave of a hand. i can't even be too sure we hugged. grace stayed close but i still never really saw her. maybe because i just knew we would all eventually end up in san diego again and my prediction basically came true. everyone is back and now it's me that lives the furthest away.

but for enid it was different. i felt like it was the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another while in the other instances, the chapter never closed. i'm not quite sure what it is but maybe it's because she's my first close friend to move post-college. first little dent in my bubble of san jose. i felt the need to plan a big clubbing nite (of which i forgot my id and the doorman had napoleon syndrome and demanded i leave because i was causing a disturbance), make her a scrapbook and sing our hearts out on karaoke night. there's no doubt in my mind we're going to keep in touch but it's different. maybe this is the difference between one of your childhood friends moving away versus a friend you met later on.

or it could be all of our parents live in san diego so we're bound to be back one time or another. whatever it is...i don't like it but i know it can't be helped. many more of my friends will be moving from san jose in the next couple years, myself included possibly and well, i guess it's just part of growing up.