holidays

Long Thanksgiving recap

Between madly finishing NaNoWriMo and traveling back from L.A., here finally is my Thanksgiving recap.

Wednesday

While my brother, Greg, was at work, MB and I had lunch at El Pollo Loco, my first time. It wasn’t too bad. I got these grilled chicken burrito thingies. Afterwards we attempted to walk around, but it was too sunny for me so we ducked into a Starbuck’s till Greg got back.

That afternoon Greg did some prep work for Thanksgiving dinner. That’s right: he was cooking everything. A brined turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Yum!

That night we saw Ninja Assassin. The action sequences were cool, but it took forever to get started. Plus I was hungry the whole time. Luckily afterwards Greg brought us to a great Korean place, where we all had variations of sun dubu chigae, or spicy tofu stew.

Thursday

We were out early to head over to my uncle’s. While he and his family were out of town, my parents and younger aunt came to stay with my grandmother, Puo-puo. My older aunt was supposed to come down too, but she changed her mind at the last minute. This is the aunt who although she lives in California sees her mother the least. She’s also the one who made a stink about getting her “share” when my grandmother’s house in Berkeley was sold, although all the siblings had agreed that the money would go to paying for the nurse who cares for Puo-puo 24/7.

Right before we went down to L.A., I got an email from this aunt saying happy Thanksgiving. Being the polite niece that I am, I wrote back saying I was sorry we wouldn’t be able to see her, I was looking forward to seeing the family, and to have a nice holiday herself. She wrote back two messages within hours of each other.

The first said she talked to my mom and felt left out about missing Turkey Day with us, and that she was a bad daughter for not seeing her mother in over a year. (Well, then go see her.) The second one said simply that while she felt left out, thinking about how much space there was at my uncle’s house, it was just impossible for her to go. Did she not think she sent the first one? Did she forget? Weird.

Then my younger aunt told me how last Thanksgiving, this older aunt came down Tuesday night with plans to stay for a week or so, and by Thanksgiving Day was rescheduling her flight to go home earlier.

As I’ve said before, I don’t really get why she’s like this. It’s not like she has to do much to take care of Puo-puo. The nurse does everything, and my younger aunt or mother took over only when the nurse ate her lunch or dinner.

Speaking of lunch, we had delicious Chinese food my mom and aunt cooked:

MB who doesn’t even eat pork gobbled up those dumplings like there was no tomorrow.

Then while my dad, MB, and I lazed around the living room, and my mom and aunt hovered around giving unsolicited advice, my brother cooked. The turkey, before:

And the turkey after:

Delicious as always! This was the first time my father had my brother’s cooking, and he was extremely surprised. He kept saying over and over, “The turkey’s so good, the stuffing’s so good.” Even my grandmother, who hardly eats anything now, scarfed down some mashed potatoes and stuffing.

Puo-puo has changed immensely in the past few years. My chubby laughing grandmother has become an emaciated old woman I barely recognize. She can’t talk now or even make facial expressions. I have no idea if she knew who I was. She’s also lost some teeth and her hair, once black and permed, is now white and gray and lays flat on her head. When I first saw her, she did reach for my hand several times, but I’m still not sure if she knew me. My cousin Huang Lei was sad too when she saw Puo-puo. Tearfully she held her hands and spoke to her in Chinese.

Puo-puo seemed to see people though. For instance, throughout the evening she kept staring at MB. I had tried introducing him, but I don’t know if it registered. She kept eyeing him like, “Who’s this white guy in my house?” She also watched Mia, Huang Lei and Shane’s three-year old daughter, with great interest.

Mia was hilarious. After she got comfortable, she kept trying to get MB and my brother to play hide ‘n seek with her. They did for a while then got tired. At one point she decided she was mad. She kept crossing her arms (or trying to) and standing near us with a pout. A few minutes later, she came back and said, “I’m not mad anymore. I’m happy. Let’s play hide ‘n seek,” then grabbed MB’s hand and tried to pull him up.

After the meal, we hung out watching some silly Chinese variety show before finally getting ready to leave. I knew my parents were sad to see us go. I encouraged them to visit us in the spring, after we moved into a new, bigger place.

Friday

After a relaxing morning, we headed out to lunch at the Curry House. As though we hadn’t enough food already, we had no problem scarfing down our delicious curry dishes. I got the curry katsu:

Afterwards we drove out to Venice, walked on the boardwalk, and down Abbot-Kinney Street. Along the way we saw some cool graffiti:

The Venice Canals:

And some crazy Barbies:

In the afternoon we headed out to Huang Lei and Shane’s. It was fun chatting with them and playing with Mia again, who kept taking pictures as we took pictures:

Most of her pictures were of her finger.

Saturday

Our flight wasn’t till after 8 PM so we had the whole morning to relax. We had brunch at Hugo’s, then took the Metro out to Hollywood. The L.A. mass transit system is weird. There are turnstiles set up but you can walk around them. Then the tickets are checked only sporadically.

Hollywood was pretty crowded. We walked around a bit, had some Beard Papa’s, then headed back to my brother’s to chill before our flight. As we packed MB found a letter opener I forgot about in the black suitcase I had been using for months. Who knows how many times that got through security.

Check in at Burbank was so easy. There was almost no one there though our flight was full.

By ten we were home. Yay!

~ ~ ~

I’m glad to be back in the routine of writing, but I also need to get my butt to the gym more often. I know I’ve gained eight to ten pounds in the last couple of years. I’d love to get that weight off.

family / holidays / los angeles / travel — Comments Off
25
Nov 09

Update on the Mac + L.A.

My laptop seems to have recovered my clumsy drenching. We let out it dry out for more than twenty-four hours, then Monday night MB thought it safe to turn it on and get my files backed up on a USB. Then we shut it off and let it air out for another twelve hours. Tuesday morning I started to use it, and so far it’s been okay.

“If you start to smell ozone,” MB said, “shut it off.”

No strange odors as of yet.

In other news, MB and I are in LA at my brother’s. I was dreading the trip to the airport and getting through security, but it wasn’t so bad. Although we hit some traffic in the taxi, we got to SFO well before boarding. There was a line for security, but it moved quickly.

After all my trips to SF in September, I’m an expert now in terms of getting through security quickly. Before I even get on line, I take out my laptop and stuff my jacket in a bag. I also have my cosmetics in a an easy to get to pocket, and try to wear shoes without laces. Then at the end, I don’t bother trying to take everything out of the bins. I just consolidate my stuff in one bin and take it with me to the side, out of the way of the line.

A trick to getting around paying for a checked bag: hand it to the guy at the last minute right before you board. Then when you get off, it’s right there waiting for you instead of on the carousel. This probably only works with bags small enough to be carry on, but a good solution if there’s not enough overhead space.

The flight was very short, just an hour. By the time I finished looking at the ridiculous things in the Sky Mall magazine, drank a tomato juice, and read some of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, we were landing. Our plane was small so we got off lickety split.

Getting through Burbank is a breeze. The airport is so tiny, we walked just a few feet before getting outside, and then just a few minutes later, my brother pulled up.

We were a little hungry so had In-N-Out Burgers. Thing was I wasn’t that hungry so those were calories I definitely didn’t need. :(

It’s weird to be in LA and not have to deal with a time change. I have to keep reminding myself there’s no time difference between where I am and where I was.

My brother had a comfy air mattress for us – which sadly is bigger than the bed in our sublet – but I kept waking up. I think it was the vanilla latte I had yesterday afternoon. No coffee today after 12 PM.

My bro had to work half a day today so MB and I are just chilling, working on our respective stuff. This afternoon we’ll probably pick up a few items, then start preparing stuff for tomorrow.

holidays / rant and/or rave / san francisco — 6 Comments
01
Nov 09

Halloween 2009. . .thank God it’s over

Is it me or does Halloween seem more and more like New Year’s? All the pressure, the build-up, the preparation, then – wah wah waaaah. Maybe that’s Halloween in San Francisco.

MB and I went to a party last night. Between that and what we saw on the street, here’s my list of the Best and Worst Costumes for Halloween 2009.

Most Authentic

1950s milkman – From his cap, to the insignia above his left pocket, to his bike, this guy was the real deal. Aside from his iPhone.

Most Subtle

House – At the party MB saw someone he knew. “But I don’t remember him having a cane,” he said. “Maybe he hurt himself.” As we were talking, the guy suddenly pulled out a prescription bottle and offered us meds. “No thanks!” we said, thinking, What a weirdo! Suddenly, it dawned on me: “You’re House!” I cried. Dehr.

Skerriest

Burger King Guy – That mask combined with the guy’s tallness and long cape was the epitome of creepiness.

Most ’80’s

Evil Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid – From his Cobra Kai karate uniform to his feathery blond wig, the guy epitomized the ’80s for me.

Funniest

Knights from Monty Python and the Holy Grail – They got the costumes down to the clomping of horses’ hooves.

Bravest

The Naked Cowboy – This Asian dude had no problem going around in just his skivvies, a hat, a guitar, and his boots. More power to him.

Lamest

Five-way Tie:

Every girl who woke up and said, “I’m going as slutty this year.”
The guy who wrote BOOK on his face (we all saw that episode of The Office).
Every guy who wore regular clothes and a giant afro wig.
Doctors (come ON!).
The slutty girls (they deserve two spots).

As for me and MB, our costumes weren’t the best, but at least we tried. MB went as a douchebag founder (picture many pink pop-up collars, flip flops with jeans, and throwing fake money everywhere), and I went as Amelia Earhart. MB would like to remain anonymous, so here is photographic evidence of me:

me_ameliaearhart

I wish I could have gotten a full-length. My regular old boots with my regular old capris worked suprisingly well together. That hat was REALLY warm, by the way. I could only wear it for five minutes at a time.

As for the party itself, it was pretty fun, but I got real tired around midnight. Yes, I’m old! We took a cab home and watched the rest of the Ghosthunters marathon, a much more fun Halloween to me.

holidays / library / sleep / weekends — 1 Comment
17
Feb 09

So sleepy

Waking up after even 7 hours of sleep is tough after getting 10-12 hours a sleep a night for three nights. Hopefully this green tea and chocolate will help.

It was a low-key weekend. We don’t make a big deal of Valentine’s Day – MB cooked, which he probably would have done anyway. Trout and broccolini, our new favorite vegetable. Aside from running errands during the day, we were both caught up with schoolwork for most of the weekend. And I still had class Sunday and Monday as well. I keep thinking I have class tonight, but I don’t! Yay! Maybe it’s time to hit Sephora and restock on beauty supplies.

Two celebrity sightings: Blythe Danner, off of 8th Street, and the dude from Fringe. Actually, I didn’t see the Fringe guy, only MB did, and he didn’t see Blythe Danner, not that he’d recognize her. So one and a half celeb sightings.

family / food / holidays / library / weekends / work — Comments Off
26
Jan 09

Lunar New Year, sans dumplings

MB and I ended up at my parents’ this weekend, not really for the New Year but because their new TV arrived, and they needed help setting it up.

It was much easier than any of us anticipated. The old TV weighs a gazillion pounds. My parents wanted to put it in the next room, and my dad had the idea of dragging it on a sheet. MB thought this would ruin the carpet and that we’d have to carry it, which made me nervous cuz I had a hard enough time just helping to bring it down from its stand to the floor.

But the sheet thing worked! The TV seemed to weigh nothing as we dragged it away.

The new set of course weighs much less so MB was able to set that up on his own. Then he hooked up all the cables, and boom! we were done. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching stuff, going, “Woooow!” and “Look at that!” and bumping our hands against the screen trying to grab at things we thought were real.

My mom as usual cooked a good dinner, though with no dumplings since she usually makes them with pork and MB isn’t a fan of the other white meat (unless it’s in the form of bacon).

My fave was the salmon.

We left around 9 and got back to our place at 11.

School the next day! :( But I think this is going to be a very relaxed class. We spent the first hour going around the room, introducing ourselves and saying where we wanted to work eventually. On top of the, the teacher asked questions and would sometimes launch into these stories. I thought, Are we going to learn anything today?

He spent the second half lecturing on the history of collection management, but still let us out about 50 minutes early. I expected the lecture to be much longer but suddenly he was letting us go. Ah well.

My Human Information Behavior class on Wednesdays will be a lot more work. Group work, blech. When I walked in last week, I saw that the chairs had been arranged in a circle, and immediately thought, Oh GREAT, this is going to be one of *those* classes. It might be, but the teacher seems to have a good head on her shoulders, though she did drag out the end of class by asking over and over if we had questions, and of course some brown noser would make something up.

What I like about my Sunday class is that I know quite a few people, and we can chat and have inside jokes and stuff. I don’t know anyone in Wednesday one. Normally I don’t care, but that just adds to the weirdness of that class. I’ll find out on 2/2 about my Monday class. That teacher is at the ALA midwinter meeting this week.

Tomorrow I have to go out to NJ again for work, but this time I’m taking a car dammit. Unfortunately I need to be there at 8 so my car is picking me up at 6:45. Ack, so painful.

There is a woman here who’s husband died suddenly a few weeks ago. She’s only in her early 30s, and he died of a brain aneurysm. I can’t even imagine what that’s like. Today is her first day back at work. That must be so weird. How do you deal with people coming up to you, asking you how you’re doing? What do you say? “Well my husband just died – how do you think I’m doing?” She sounds like she’s being very gracious. I mean, what else can you do.

family / food / holidays / travel / weekends / what i'm reading now — 1 Comment
28
Dec 08

Christmas recap

MB and I had a nice time at my parents’ this weekend. Having him there really makes a difference – being there on my own is sort of tortuous, just me and my folks and their weird questions.

We didn’t leave till the afternoon of Christmas Day. I had to drag MB out of bed at 12 so we could leave by 1 or 2. We ended up catching a 3:15 train, which got us in around 4:30. There weren’t too many people, but more than we expected.

Then it was the usual: lots of eating. I tried not to pig out as much this time. Over Thanksgiving I was eating pie every few hours. Also, MB set up the Mac Mini my brother and I got for our parents. They’ve been thinking about getting a new computer, and the PC is horrendous for their favorite activity, downloading Korean soap opera videos and burning them to disc. With the Mac Mini, they can more do those things more easily, as well as connect directly to the TV. They needed a couple of extra parts so we had to wait till the next day to go get them.

That night we had Mongolian hotpot for Christmas dinner, like we did on Thanksgiving. MB has grown to be a fan of it, especially the spicy dipping sauces and very thinly sliced beef.

The next day we hit the mall to get the cable to connect the Mac Mini to the TV as well as a wireless router. Needless to say, it was a madhouse, wall to wall stereotypical suburbanites with their terrible frosted hair, giant sports jerseys, and awful Ugg boots. But at least we got what we needed for my parents. Afterwards MB and I ducked into the peace and quiet of Border’s, which surprisingly was pretty empty.

We had planned on leaving that night, but it took a while to get back from the mall, and then for MB to finish setting up the computer. So we decided to leave on Saturday, which pleased my parents greatly.

MB set up everything pretty fast. Before we knew it, my parents’ TV had been transformed into a giant computer monitor, and my mother could watch her stories directly from the Internet. My brother did a great job setting up the display for them, with a giant cursor/arrow and their “homepage” which sits on his website, and shows the three sites they go to for their shows. The wireless mouse is pretty neat. It acts like a remote, but takes some getting used to. I kept wanting to move it like a regular mouse with big movements, but it’s actually more like a laser pointer.

Saturday we just hung around and relaxed. We both got up fairly late, 10 for me, 11 for MB, had some lunch and just read our books till our 3 o’clock train. Last week I finally finished that Bach book MB had been raving about. I understand why he likes it – he’s studying music and like Bach is very scientific and mathematical – but I thought it was boring as hell. There was interesting information in it, but it wasn’t told like a story. It was like, here’s all this information.

Now I’m reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt and it is SO GOOD. It’s really well-written with interesting characters, and plus there’s mystery and suspense. Inspired by that I ordered a couple of other “literary mysteries” from Amazon with the gift card my brother got me – In the Woods and and The Likeness by Tana French, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

The 3 PM train was extremely crowded. We were able to get two seats together, but there were two noisy kids behind us, and then people standing in the aisle towards the end. What we didn’t know was that there was a hockey game at Madison Square Garden that day. Lots of tourists are awful, but lots of tourists in Devils/Rangers jerseys are even worse. That night we were so worn out from the crowds, we just stayed in aside from dinner at our favorite Italian place.

Today I’ve got to do some laundry, though it’s so mild out, all I want to do is walk around.

holidays / rant and/or rave — Comments Off
19
Dec 08

Rambly Friday

Supposedly there’ll be a big snowstorm today. It’s already started to come down a little. Although I feel like something’s wrong if it doesn’t snow during winter, I still don’t like it. It’s cold and miserable and slippery. Deceptive slush lakes that look like frozen over puddles form at the edge of curbs, and then I step in them at least once.

Today is a nothing day here at work. It’s the holiday “open house,” which means people bring in their kids to have their pictures taken with Santa, and the CEO goes to the different buildings and lets people shake his hand. In the almost-10 years I’ve been here, I’ve never done it.

I sort of miss our big extravaganza holiday parties. It would be at a nearby hotel and would last all day with free eats and drinks. You could go with people you actually liked and not see anyone else you knew the whole time. But the parties were only fun if you had a pal to go with, like when YP worked here and my friend Marilyn who was fired for being a bitter bitch, which she really was. But she was still fun.

Last night MB and I went to hear Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck plays “jazz banjo” and is backed by an incredible bass player and “Futureman,” who plays drums and a “Drumitar,” which MB and I guessed was actually a keytar with a drum machine stuck to it with lots of electric tape. They were really good.

I’m serious! And popular too since the place was packed to the gills. We were squashed at one end of a table. Luckily the people next to us, this 50ish couple, were pretty nice, but this other couple, 20ish, on our other side, were annoying. They were on a higher part of the floor and so were essentially right above us, and kept talking at top volume throughout the performance. I was farther away so I just vaguely heard them, but it got so bad MB had to ask them to be quiet. Then he said the guy was all douchebaggy and just made a “Whatever!” face and didn’t apologize.
I guessed he was a douchebag even before that. He looked a banker type and was good-looking, but in an overly groomed way, and the girl said something like, “My friend lives in some bumblefuck town in Louisiana,” and I guess he was from Louisiana? cuz suddenly he was like, “So are you saying I’m from some bumblefuck town? Are you? Are you?” The girl was like, “Well, anyway, she goes to Tulane.”

~ ~ ~

On another note, I believe I’ve written about jealousy before and how I’m trying to get over it, and although my feelings don’t make sense and have no basis in reality, MB has been really nice about reassuring me.

Usually I don’t like Cary Tennis’ advice. He meanders and says weird things. But I really like what he has to say to this woman. She thinks her husband prefers his woman friend to her, and with good reason: he says why can’t you be more like X sometimes, and the woman often acts cold to her. Cary responds (my emphasis):

Your husband has not shown much tact or understanding. . . .Your feelings are hurt. That’s not a right thing or a wrong thing; it’s not like you should be smarter so your feelings wouldn’t be hurt. . . .They get hurt no matter how smart you are. So husbands should respond to that. Maybe he thinks if he responds to that by reassuring you or being kinder to you or showing you that you are the most important person in his life that he is vindicating your hurt feelings. Well, so what? . . . .In any relationship, feelings are going to get hurt. . . .It’s silly to stand back and be cold and accusing when we could just as easily be warm and loving. We sometimes feel if we are warm and loving that we are giving in somehow. So I would say to the husband, give in already. Your wife is going to have certain feelings that don’t make sense to you. That doesn’t mean her feelings aren’t important. She’s hurt by your very friendly feelings toward this woman. It makes her feel insecure. So reassure her. Let her know that she is the most important person in your life.

I love Cary! Well, for now I do, at least regarding this particular question.

The snow is coming down down down. Let’s see if it sticks.

family / friends / holidays / photography / weekends — 5 Comments
01
Dec 08

The long-ass weekend

Busy but fun.

Thursday
MB and I managed to get out of the house by 12:30 (that boy sleeps late but gets ready fast). For some reason I thought traveling on Thanksgiving Day wouldn’t be as bad, but Penn Station was still a madhouse! I guess Wednesday was worse, but there was still a line waiting to buy tickets all the way across the station. Luckily it moved pretty quickly.

The ride overall was fine. We were able to find two seats together and both had iPods to tune out annoying conversation. The only thing was people kept standing in the aisle instead of moving up a few cars and sitting their asses down. Got to NJ around 3:30 and spent the rest of the day eating: a light, late lunch, then Mongolian hotpot for dinner, then the apple pie we brought for dessert.

MB also spent most of the time helping my parents download these Korean soap operas. For years they’ve had dial-up but just got cable expressly for this purpose. Downloading the videos wasn’t bad, but my mom prefers to watch them on TV, so that involves burning the videos to DVD, which took HOURS AND HOURS. They had to be converted to something, then something else, then the actual burning. MB and my dad explained the whole process to my mother again and again, but she just kept asking, “Is it burning? Is it burning?”

By the next day, they were finally able to get a couple of DVDs done, but because of some weird glitch, the files were humungous so only one episode was able to fit on a single disc. MB and my brother both recommend that my parents get a Mac Mini, which we will probably get them for Christmas.

I tried to keep that a surprise. My dad kept saying he wanted to get the Mac, and I kept saying, “We’ll take care of it,” and my mother kept saying: “But it’s $800! $800!! $800!!!” Finally I had to come out and say, “WE WILL BUY IT FOR YOU FOR CHRISTMAS!” Jeez.

MB also spent some time fixing up my dad’s computer, removing files and programs he doesn’t need so hopefully it will run faster now.

Friday
More eating, lounging around, and messing with the computer. During the day, if my parents don’t have mah-jongg or karaoke plans, they watch game shows. There are so many! I’ve never really watched Deal or No Deal before, and got totally sucked in. The whole time I kept saying, “This is so dumb!” and yet I couldn’t stop watching.

We ended up leaving after dinner since MB was so determined to help my parents with their videos. They were EXTREMELY appreciative, and happy that we had stayed another meal.

We took a 7:15 train back, and although there were quite a few people, it was pretty quiet. I think everyone was tired.

At home we just lazed around, watching TV shows on Hulu.com. I still managed to stay up till 2, and MB till 4, which he has been doing since school let out.

Saturday
I wanted to get a bunch of stuff done before ES came into town, but I didn’t get up till 11. Luckily she came in a little later than planned so I had time to do laundry and clean the bathroom, yay!

ES was staying YP’s. After she got in, we hung out for a bit before ES and I headed over to my neck of the woods. She saw our place, MB demonstrated some music stuff as he does for all our guests, and we grabbed something to eat at our favorite Italian place.

Afterwards ES, YP, and I went to the movies (MB begged off, wanting to practice). We had wanted to see Australia or Bolt, but they were sold out. So we ended up seeing Quantum of Solace. It was pretty good – non-stop action – and of course Daniel Craig was sexy. But I thought the Bond girl was dull and couldn’t stop wondering what the heck “quantum of solace” meant (they never explain it or even talk about it, I think).

After the movie, we went over to YP’s and had some wine. Later MB came over too, needing a break from practicing. We had fun, yakking and laughing.

Sunday
Saturday was another late night, but Sunday I was up by 9 for our photo expedition. Unfortunately the weather was awful – cold, rainy, and windy. I brought an umbrella but no gloves (duh) and my brand new boots, I soon found out, were not waterproof.

Still, after breakfast, we sludged through the day (the theme was “LES” or Lower East Side), taking pictures when we were able to pry our frozen hands out of our pockets. We lasted about an hour before needing to head back inside. We chose Teany, which I pass all the time and have never tried.

I had a chai latte, which was delicious and gave me a total boost. I thought I didn’t like chai, but this Indian restaurant MB and I sometimes goes to serves it at the end of the meal, and I decided I liked it. The first chai I ever tried was from Starbuck’s, probably not a good benchmark.

YP had had enough wet, cold, picture-taking by then so we walked back to his area, and caught the train near his place to the Canstruction exhibit at the World Financial Center. By then ES and I had had enough of the weather too, and so were content to hang out there for the rest of the afternoon. In addition to the exhibit, there were a few stores open, and we both did some shopping. ES got some stuff for her parents, and I got a few shirts for MB.

When we were almost done with the exhibit, we both realized we were starving and had some sushi in the food court. It looked better than it tasted, but it was good enough.

Finally it was time to head back to YP’s so ES could pick up her stuff before heading out to Penn Station. She took the train there, and I walked home through the terrible, terrible weather. It was so windy and raining so hard! I was completely soaked and freezing by the time I got home.

I did not want to go out again so MB was sweet enough to run to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner. We had what we had Wednesday night again: bbq chicken, stuffing, and string beans. Yum!

Today
It was really hard getting up this morning, and difficult to focus on any actual work. And of course the weather today is just gorgeous! Almost 50 degrees, sunny, and NOT raining. Oh well.

MUST go to the gym.

family / food / holidays — 3 Comments
27
Nov 08

Happy turkey day, everyone

Ah, Thanksgiving – showing thanks by carving up a large bird carcass, ingesting too much food, and letting out past and petty grievances with the family. I know it’s one of my favorites holidays.

Actually, Thanksgiving with my parents is pretty mellow (except for the giant fight my mother and I had in 2006), just the three of us and some Mongolian hotpot. This year MB will be joining me. Should be interesting. Luckily he is so good-natured and sees fun in almost everything, even going to the mall.

This day with my ex and his family was always amazingly stressful – all the people coming over, my ex angry about us having to do the bulk of the work, and inevitably my ex fighting with his mom and/or dad. About a week before my eye would start twitching.

Not having to do that anymore is something I am definitely grateful for.

Yesterday at work was totally dead. I did a few things in the morning before getting in one last workout before the long and piggy weekend. Had lunch and tied up some loose ends before heading out to brave the crowds and pick up some wine and dessert for today. I thought I’d go to a couple of places, but Grand Central had everything I needed – apple pie from The Little Pie Company and a couple of reds from the wine store upstairs. I was all set.

And I thought luck was totally on my side when the bus arrived just as I got to the stop. But since it was only about 3, we ended up picking up all these school kids. There were tons and tons of them! And all Asian it seemed. I overhead a high school kid say it was because of P.S. 104, which is apparently almost all Chinese.

They were generally well-behaved, but there were so many of them, they were noisy, and took up a lot of room with their giant, nerdy backpacks and violin cases (I kid you not). And kids 10 to 13 are just annoying I think. They seem to repeat things a lot. “I told you she was on the bus! I told you! I told you! I TOLD YOU!” All right, kid, you’ve told everyone now.

What with the traffic, it took forever to get to the apartment. I tried to get the driver to let me off before my stop – at a non-stop – but he wouldn’t, though by law he’s supposed to.

Later MB and I decided to brave Whole Foods and pick up some stuff to make dinner in case restaurants were closed. It was crowded but not crazy. The check-out line was totally manageable and we were outta there pretty fast.

He made a good dinner of barbecue chicken chunks, steamed string beans, and stuffing, yay! to get in the holiday spirit. I ate way too much stuffing.

For most of the evening we just lazed around, then saw a midnight showing of Labyrinth. I actually have never seen that movie. I think I’ve seen only the beginning and then wasn’t interested. Now I know why: it is a bizarre and trippy movie, and oh so ’80s. David Bowie wears the craziest outfits that totally show his unit. Weird!

Okay, we’re outtie.

family / food / friends / holidays / weekends / work — Comments Off
20
Nov 08

How did a whole week pass since my last post?

Lazy, I guess.

Last weekend
I had a fun time with my brother. I took Friday off and met up with D. at his hotel. His room was nice! The regular rooms are supposed to be shoebox size, but he got an upgrade and it was totally decent, big enough for two people. It was also very clean – hard wood floors, white bedding, very white bathroom. Quite Japanese in a way. The downstairs was all hip.

We had lunch at Sarabeth’s before walking up to The Whitney, which I haven’t been to in a long time. The only special exhibit they had was on Calder, which was pretty cool but too crowded. MB was supposed to meet us, but he got a late start and didn’t show up till we were almost done. But of course my brother and I had totally rushed through so it was good to look at the exhibits again.

Afterwards we had an early dinner – Italian – then went back downtown to show D. our place and neighborhood. We also got some drinks. I didn’t get quite so plastered this time. Nursed one vodka tonic and was fine.

The next day D. and I had lunch near his hotel. We picked a random Japanese place – well, not that random, he Yelped it first – and it was really good! It seemed more authentic than other places, and had a lot of good noodle choices. I got a curry noodle bowl with duck. It was yummy! In fact, it makes me hungry right now. After lunch we walked around a little before D. had to run off to get ready for his friend’s wedding.

Sunday I mostly worked on the usability report that was due for Information Technologies. It wasn’t difficult, just tedious. I kept getting bored and wasting time. But I got it done.

This week
Very quiet at work, as it has been for a while, though that might not last long. Now that my boss is fully transitioning to his new position, a lot of the communication-related stuff he did will fall into my lap, which is good because it means I’ll be needed.

Info Tech class on Tuesday sucked. It was really boring, then stressed me out because it made me realize how much work needed to be done (or redone) on our website. In fact, I woke up an hour before my usual wake up time on Wednesday, thinking about it. But it was good because I got a shit ton done (at work, haha). Now I *think* we’re in good shape. Or at least there’s nothing else I can do as webmaster before my group turns in their stuff to me.

Last night I got my hair cut, yay! It was driving me crazy being all mullet-like (I exaggerate, but it felt like a mullet). I asked Yoli to make the back very short but leave the top longer. Now I love my hair! It’s rather like Twiggy’s.

Afterwards I shopped a little and ended up buying these short Born boots for $90 (25% off). That makes five pairs of boots now. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I keep trying to find comfortable boots but haven’t had much luck. I have a brown pair from Clark’s with heels that are too high, a black pair with high heels, a black pair from Clark’s that are too narrow (maybe I should stop buying boots from Clark’s), and an old winter pair.

I think I can get rid of the old winter pair, which I’ve had for years. And hopefully these new ones will be comfortable and sturdy enough fro walking around the city, which MB and I do A LOT. I’ve been wearing my Keds, which are great, but I want more wintery ones. I tested the new boots out last night and they seem comfy. Time will tell.

Tonight I have my other class, which is relaxed if boring. And I’m glad it’s not raining! It rained all last week, which made traveling the city a pain.

This weekend I need to do my site visit for Info Tech. I picked the New Museum, which should have a lot of interesting technology. Although it’s not due till 12/2, I’ll be glad to get it out of the way before Thanksgiving weekend, which will be busy between going to the ‘rents’ and seeing friends (yay!).

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.