April and Steve tapping the pitcher because...I don't know.

So even though I swore and swore I was NOT going to Ktown again...at least not that weekend...guess where I ended up ;P Anyway, it was Aaron's friend's birthday so we (as in me, April, Aaron and Steve) headed out to first dinner at a restaurant I don't remember the name of consisting of a dish that I can't spell and then to a bar/lounge/restaurant-y place called Luna for drinks and cake. If you go there, I recommend that you stick to the beer because the bartenders don't know what they're doing. Okay--the bartender that served me (who, by the way, completely ignored me until I yelled "EXCUSE ME" across the bar as he walked away from me) had no idea what he was doing ;P Not impressed. Anyhow, the birthday girl got completely trashed to the point where she was hugging the only working toilet in the women's restroom--thanks to Steve for blocking for April and me as we took over the men's :)

I was very buzzed verging on drunk by the time these photos were taken--the first was taken by Lawrence after he saw me struggling to take a photo of the three of us (you can tell that Steve is feeling it) and the second was taken by me right before we left--and I have no idea why.

We headed to Opus (sans birthday girl who had to be taken home) afterward. I got a key lime martini that I spilled after drinking half of it, Aaron bought me a cosmo afterward (this one, unlike the one at Lupus, actually had vodka in it) and then someone bought a round of Coronas. At this point things were getting a bit fuzzy--and I think I remember talking about the SATs and how people live to be really old in the Bible. Bah. I also have an extreme closeup photo of me and April because, before taking a photo of us, I zoomed in instead of out. Good times?

Steve passed out in the car on the way back and my dear April stopped by at the McDonalds drive-thru since Aaron and I had a craving <3 Filet-o-fish + fries = yummm. So bad but so good. Thanks for driving me dear :)

April at Opus

speaking of upgrades, i was toying with the idea of switching to wordpress as h00ntz recommended BUT i have a slightly unreasonable attachment to blogger...i've had an account with them since may 2000. in fact, i have two accounts. what had happened (i think) was that i signed up with them after i'd heard about how great it was, couldn't figure it out (or discovered that my host did not support ftp or something) and forgot about it. i signed up again a couple months later and have been using that account ever since.

my high school archives are here, in case you were wondering. i was sixteen when i wrote those first entries. five and a half years ago. d-dangg

i have a hangnail.

Met up at Skeeve’s…I thought I was late but I was the first one there ;P Played with his cute dog (that likes to lick my toes), waited for everyone else to come, met Nelson, and drank beer.

which also means it must be the 20th birthday of a young dude named Chris.

owlo

They're art people. The site is currently under construction but it's still pretty. Just not as pretty as mine (I <3 1993)

So the Lamchop needed some relaxation (and a drink or two) to help ease the pain of having some horrid witch that he thought he had gotten rid of do evil things to him despite the fact they have had no contact whatsoever in two months. You know who I'm talking about--or even if you don't just know that this girl is evil *simmer*

Six of us congregated at TGIFriday's for some food and drink before five of us (the blue-eyed one went home so he could get some sleep since he had been up since 4AM *ouch*) decided to loiter in the parking structure (as per usual) and do stupid things like call the pay phone to see if anyone will pick up.

I hope we were able to cheer you up a bit Lam[e]dit because I think you needed it :(

Saturday: Afternoon w/ April followed by a garlic and soju soaked Korean Night.

Now is my healing period...my bangs are too short by a quarter of an inch or so...nothing a couple weeks of growth won't fix BUT what to do in the meantime...?

Brokeback Mountain: SUCH a good movie. This is a love story, but unlike most which tend to cause a sense of disbelief and cynicism to rise up in my throat, this actually struck a chord in me. I do not recommend it to homophobes (duh.) and those who are squeamish about sex scenes of any type. I do recommend it to those who want to see a love story that isn't all candy-coated and/or those who want to see Anne Hathaway's boobs (I can't wait to see what google searches are going to lead to this post...)

Memoirs of a Geisha: Made me fidgety. I really, really don't have a problem with the leads being Chinese (well, and Malaysian). What I did have a problem with were the strong accents. That plus the costuming seemed kind of off, the hair seemed kind of off, and the dances were so freakin' bizzare (as my mother said of the last dance in their exhibition: what the hell was that?!). Cultural anomalies aside, to its credit it was a beautiful movie. I figure that the majority of people that will end up seeing the movie won't be able to tell the difference anyway, so it's a tiny minority who will be bothered by the things I was. I really didn't care for it because of the aforementioned reasons AND because I read the book prior to seeing the movie and you know the book is always better.

Right now...Crash (Gwen Stefani), Believe Me Natalie (Killers), Slow Down (Alicia Keys), If It's Lovin' That You Want (Rihanna)

Boys today dress so much better than they did when I was in high school. Thank freaking goodness for the popularity of pants that actually fit.

So a looong time ago I went bowling with the Lamedit, Dao and his date, Hairy one, Breezy, and Mada. Lefty had to leave so Lamchop attacked her but she got away. Btw the above license plate is something I came across in the parking lot and not David's plate. Hay qua.

Anyhow, I had no socks so I got some from the vending machine and they turned out to be mens' larges or something because they were HUGE. I bowled suckage and a half both games, but at least I broke 30 the second time =0. HAHA. Believe it or not, that's bad even by my standards. I think I broke my nail off again but unlike that one time at Lucky Strike it didn't start bleeding all over the place.

Good times!

Wouldn't it suck to be assigned this plate, esp. if you are female? I was on lunch with a coworker when we saw this plate. The car had merged out from in front of us and had moved quite some distance ahead by the time I had gotten my camera out, so my coworker obligingly sped up so I could get a photo of it.

Work is, for the most part, okay. I generally don't like to talk about work outside of work.

Some time ago we were going through some boxes and found a plastic bag with these warnings on it. I thought they were hilarious and a couple coworkers cut them out and pinned them to my partition.

Yesterday we went to Nordstrom's eBar after lunch. I think I had only gotten coffee at Nordstrom once--way back in the day aka high school when we went to San Diego for an "exchange" with Rancho Bernardo.

Sometimes I can't believe how freakin' long ago that was. Actually, all of that has been hitting me harder than usual as of late. Five years since high school and it really doesn't seem like it was all that long ago. Time really does speed up as you get older. I'm still getting used to saying that I'm 22 and not 21--and I already have friends my year turning 23. I feel old. Those of you older than me are probably hating me right now, but just keep in mind that when YOU were 22 I thought you were old. Crap in a bag.

This past year alone has sped by insanely fast...one year ago I hit a mail truck and the shit hit the fan. Everything seems fresh but in my head I know it isn't. Everyone always says that time passes more and more quickly as you get older and it's a complete shock when you realize how true it is.

My coworker insisted on taking this photo of me in eBar because I had taken photos of everyone else. I still feel weird about posting work photos (well, mostly about posting photos of other coworkers) so I'll just post this one. You can see another one of them in the background, though.

Boxers vs. briefs vs. boxer briefs.

Guys: what do you wear and why? Plus, if you don't mind, how old are you?

Girls: what do you prefer and why?

That's all :)

So a couple of weekends ago a handful of us went to Redondo pier to get some seafood and booze. Unfortunately I had eaten dinner not long before we went so I was not able to take full advantage of the excursion, but I made the best of it by eating some of the food and drinking plenty of beer >:). Apparently Huntz and Christine stumbled upon this place and took a liking to their crab and their bibs. I forgot the name of the place...anyone care to refresh my memory?

We got four crabs, a plate of shrimp, calamari and fries, and four forties of beer. Yum yum. I had some calamari and fries and a few shrimp. I only had one piece of crab, but it was a supergood one courtesy of Aaron who cracked open the leg for me and still handed it over even after he discovered it was one of the best pieces. What a gentleman ;)

We headed over to some other place on the pier for drinks. Apes and I decided to try a couple of their signature cocktails; she had some sort of special cosmo and I had a key lime pie martini...with no lime save a thin slice floating in the glass =\ I believe the drink itself consisted of vanilla vodka, midori and pineapple juice. Not so fantastic. Oh well. We all split two plates of appetizers, Apes and I split key lime cheesecake (YUM) and Steve had a lot of hard liquor (kidding...sort of). I had a good time. Thanks dudes :)

Forgot to put photos on my usb stick so nothing new today :(

I do, however, have stuff already uploaded. So look for a photo post in a bit :)

So yesterday the Hairy Humped One invited us over for his family's supergood cooking and we went and holy crap I think I ate my body weight in delicious food because it's the morning after and I still feel like a fat slug.

Btw, that's only one of the 176 photos that were taken that night. I'll post more of them at a later date :)

Ah poop my nail just broke.

It's weird how your environment, the people around you, all these factors change but your outlook and self-perception does not. It's funny (and I guess a little sad) that I always meet people with the assumption that they're not going to like me simply because I look like a loser. OH and that's another thing. You go through the first twelve to fourteen years of your education with the same people in the same environment and of course, you get labeled with something that is mighty hard to shake when you're surrounded by the very people who gave you the label day in and day out. And then one day you go to college and again you have people labeling you but THIS time it's a label that's based on who you are at that moment and not who you were six to eight years ago. Imagine my surprise when a good friend of mine said that his first impression of me (four years ago holy crap) was that I was one of those intimidating Asian (rather, azn) girls whom he thought wouldn't give him the time of day. You know,the ones with the scary eyebrows and a face full of makeup. Except I didn't have scary eyebrows or a face full of makeup, so that might have been an anomaly. But you know what I mean. Right.

My own self-image and what I believe other people see when they see me is a bit outdated (by like, ten years) but I have yet to figure out what exactly it is that I really am according to the people around me. Please spare me lectures on how it doesn't matter what other people think blah blah blah...I think most people care about what others think to some degree. Plus, first impressions are omegaimportant. I just wish I knew what kind of impression I make =\ Don't we all, though?

Anyway.

I had Hawaiian plate lunch today and I feel like a fat slug. Just not as slimy.

ps. hoho the polo you gave me fits perfectly :)

The day before Thanksgiving Maria, April and I headed over to a mysterious place called Irvine to celebrate Tony's 22nd birthday. The birthday boy was drunk when we arrived and only got drunker throughout the night. SO...Tony kissed Maria, I had a teensy bit of champagne and got to see some people that I haven't seen in ages. People like DJ (pictured below) and Dannoballs. I also saw two of my former LARC students (two boys on either side of Tony, top left) and boy do you know how weird it is to see your former students at a party? Okay so maybe it's not weird but yes it was weird...ergh whatever. Anyhow, they were freshmen (now sophomores) from my favorite class out of the five I've taught (3 one quarter 2 the next), so it was all good in the Irvine hood.

so go. esp you 45 cent babes.

happy 3 year to damon and sara...??? (i think)

Some time back (early October) a lovely boy took me to Palm Springs for my birthday. He treated me to a hotel, massage, and a superomegatasty dinner at Le Vallauris. I got lobster ravioli and it was so. Freakin. Good. Hunks of lobster tail and ravioli in this supergood basil something and something sauce (my memory fails me). The outdoor seating was all properly heated and was virtually covered by a canopy of tree branches with lights. Very nice. We spent the following day driving and walking around Palm Springs. I believe we also made a quick stop at Morongo on the way back. Good weekend :)

Went minigolfing with someone special and we both hit lots of balls into the water. He owes me a burger now.

Hit up Dave & Busters for drinks and such. My lava flow was pimping those brews.

Went for an Italian lunch for a certain Ho's 23rd birthday on the 24th of December.

Four females and four males went to Disneyland to show one Canadian female and one Canadian male a good time.

Pimp daddy Skim treated his ladies to a wine-ified Italian dinner.

Steph and I killed time in our friendly neighborhood Rite-Aid trying to find misspellings. Our search was very fruitful.

Ate at Gelson's with a couple of Yahoos (among others) on their lunch break. Btw the two fellows on the left are not the Yahoos. They're just weird.

Had a game night (namely Fluxx and Taboo night) at Aaron's. Next in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potty and the Sock Market.

Champagne, vodka, red wine, Taboo and charades on New Year's eve at Ray's. My very first boozy NYE :D

That was my December in a nutshell (well, not all of it but a good chunk). I may get more photos up later if I can somehow motivate myself...agghhh.

friday: april perhaps? maybe. i don't know?

saturday: 45cent babe hairylicious dinner in temecula. oh bebe.

FAQ: Why I choose to live my life in a fashion that makes me happy

Okay so they're not frequently asked...but they made enough of an impression to stick

Why move out? Why not just save money and live at home?
Quality of life. And the fact that I had always wanted to live on my own. My mom was charging me $500 rent and gas was costing me an arm and a leg; my commute was 50 miles each way every Monday through Friday. That was reason enough.

Why don't you just live in Irvine?
Hmm...you make a good case. After all, I do work in Irvine...it's cleaner in Irvine...the apartments are nicer in Irvine...sounds like a good idea. Now why don't you go negotiate me a significant raise in salary so I can afford to live in Irvine?

Why don't you get a roommate so you can live in Irvine?
Okay, as I said before, I had always wanted to live on my own. This is a good time to try it out, since I'm still young enough have a safety net (in the form of parents) without seeming like too much of a loser. It's also something I had to prove to myself: that I'm not completely dense and incompetent. I've been living on my own for a couple of months now and I can say with conviction that I am only kind of dense and incompetent. I've had people tell me that I don't give myself credit for a lot of things that I've accomplished. Well, here's one thing I will give myself credit for. I am proud of my financial independence. Is that so wrong? (sidenote: thanks for the talk we had a couple months ago, Damon, it helped me reaffirm some things I wasn't so sure about). As for the roommate thing? For four years in college I was spoiled with the most perfect roommate ever. I do not want to have to deal with adjusting to someone else. So call me spoiled. I've earned the right to make that decision. It's the quality of my life that I'm trying to maintain.

Quality of life? And that's why you're living in Tustin?
You ignorant asshole Tustin is so not the ghetto. I absolutely cannot win with people. I have people getting on my case for living in the "slums" and people getting on my case for living in the perfect OC bubble. I suppose that's what I get for living in a city that borders both Irvine and Santa Ana. Now, to set things straight.

If you think Tustin is the ghetto then you either have never seen Tustin or have never seen a ghetto. I have yet to see a single homeless person in my area. I have yet to see helicopter searchlights shining through my window at night. You want to see the ghetto? I can show you a ghetto, but if you can't handle Tustin I don't think you'd be able to handle it.

And on the flip side? All of you who generalize all of Orange County as being wealthy, spoiled and in a "bubble", please don't. It's like calling all of the SGV affluent just because it happens to include San Marino. Granted, some of Orange County is like that. But have you ever heard of Santa Ana or Garden Grove? Have you ever seen Santa Ana or Garden Grove (I'm only picking on these cities because I used to spend a lot of time there)? I rest my case.

And for those of you who think I'm a spoiled OC girl for heaven's sake 1) not all people from Orange County are spoiled and 2) I'm not even from Orange county. I'm just here because I went to school here. Believe me, there is much more I'd like to say but I'm sick of typing and I need to pack up and get home--to the SGV.

Yes that was long. I've been seething for months now. Now bring on the criticism.

Sometimes I can't believe how freakin' long I've been blogging. Loser.

I woke up this morning looking like I had been crying all night; eyelids were crazy puffy. I have no idea why.

I finally have something to put my TV on. And something to sit on besides my desk chair.

Two of my coworkers bought bettas. One is called Mr. Sunshine. Mr. Sunshine is the pissiest looking betta I've ever seen.

Steph: what does it mean when bettas eat food then spew it out?

i feel absolutely disgusting today.

i bought a loveseat and a set of shelves at ikea yesterday.

i like muji (found on his site) stuff, but i can't really afford most of the big stuff on there. they even have a knockoff bingo pouf that i almost kind of like better than the original. i imagine that after shipping and such it would come pretty close to the price of the original, though.

google is braille today.

I ate waaay too much. Yummy Wahoo's steak sandwich with extra guacamole thanks to the Virginian coworker (I am so out of it that it literally took me four tries to spell "Virginian") who does not like guacamole. Food coma at its worst. I'm feeling so lazy that I don't even want to get up and pee even though I kind of have to.

I have lots of photos from my winter break (I had the 23rd through the 2nd off thanks to our very nice company president) but not a ridiculous amount. Not quite 200, I think. I'll post a few eventually.

Steve and his sister bought their mother the most adorable little puppy. It looks like a fat little ghetto-bootied sausage with lots of fluffy white fur. Steve wanted to name it Stew. Did I mention that Steve is Korean?

I practically lived in Brian's sweatshirt for most of break (that's what he gets for leaving it at my apartment). He was going to let me keep it after he left but I felt bad and gave it back :(

April needs to upload pictures...!

It rained on the Rose Parade today. The rose queen wore a poncho. I think.

2005

Round-trip flights: 6 (4 to Oakland, 1 to Vegas, 1 to Hawaii)
Road trips: 1 to MooCal, 1 to MooCal/Tahoe, 1 to Berkeley to pick up the brother, 1 to Palm Springs.
Wine tastings: 2 (Napa and Santa Cruz)
Concerts: 1 (Tchaikovsky in SF...must increase this number for 2006!)
Disneyland trips: 1 (w/ Xin!!)
Visits to Roy's: 2 (Newport Beach and Vegas)
Visits to Sarentos at the Ilikai in Honolulu: 3 (holy crap)
Visits to Zippy's: 2 (chili rice!)
Employers: 3
Relationships: 2
Breakups: 1
1208 Alicante residents who threw up vodka because of a breakup (not necessarily mine): 3
Alcohol-induced vomiting: 2
Any other type of vomiting: 0
Bottles of wine opened the night before graduation: 3
Number of candy leis that had to be redone because I was drunk the night I was trying to make them: 1
Number of months w/o coffee: 4
Number of residences: 3
Number of car accidents: 1
Number of people it took to minimize the damage that resulted from my car accident: 2 (Damon and Irv :D
Number of manicures: 2
Number of manicures prior to 2005: 0
Number of spa treatments: 1
Net pounds gained: 6-ish
Number of key lime martinis tried: 3
Number of figurative candles on my figurative birthday cake: 22
Cell phones: 3

Okay time to stop wearing pajamas.