Post #31 - Productive Saturday


       
After a short lived crazy night last night, we woke up bright and early and headed out to the Orange County Indoor Shooting Range. I have been antsy to try this for a while now, and as I expected, I was scared out of my mind. Even with ear muffs, the first sound of a shot fired made me jump and almost squeal like a little girl. 

Eventually I manned up, and with shaking hands, I managed to fire off about four rounds and watched Brian shoot the rest of the time.

The rest of the day was filled with grocery shopping at Costco, Ranch, and Albertsons to prep for the big game tomorrow. 

Post #30 -Friday Funday

Twas a beautiful day today! I'm learning to embrace unemployment-ness...haha. I woke up and was surprised later with the return of fattyface! However, it wasn't a good surprise, he was only home from work because he came down with some sort of stomach bug or food poisoning, something alot those lines. I went to lunch with my fellow fatty, Brian Kim at Soup Plantation...his favorite spot. After stuffing ourselves silly we went back to the house and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.  

Later in the evening, John took me on a date! ;) We went to have ramen, and walked around eating frozen yogurt. hahaha. We came back and the house turned into a house full of generates! It was a good Friday.
   

Post #29 - I Would Make a Terrible Housewife

Day #1 of unemployment. I would say the only advantage of being unemployed is the ability to sleep in. I woke up around 930am, only to get restless and antsy by 11am. I really don't understand how women can be housewives, unless of course they have children. I had lunch and played housesitter for Niko & Daniel. I went to their house to let in the plumber that they were expecting and was greeted by Tank and a ginormous bone. He looked so cute holding it. It was probably as long as his body. Hahaha. After that I got even more bored and decided to go to the Spectrum to walk around and help the Pig pick up his pants at Nordstrom. 

After a fatty dinner, that included baked potatoes and bacon wrapped steak stuffed with stuffing and bleu cheese (Yes, I'm starting to believe that bacon is a staple in this household), we watched a bootlegged DVD of "Taken". Good action movie, but a little unbelievable at times. 

Post #28 - Unemployment Anyone?


Talk about shocking. Today I became part of the 9.3% California unemployment rate. 

After hearing the news and dealing with every emotion possible- mad, sad, happy, relieved, guitly...I headed back to Irvine and had sushi and drinks with Nolan. I forget how much fun daytime drinking is. 

After some beer, sake, and martinis, we decided to roam around target. Check out this awesomeness.. Valentine's Day Bears or Puppies? Nope! Valentines Day HEDGEHOGS! 
We took them for a spin around Target, but had to put them aside at the registers. Also picked up some mini fruit rollups, or as I like to call them...baaaaaaby fruit roll ups. They have tongue tattoos on them. 

I think now what I have left to do is kind of figure out what the heck I'm going to do next. SF? LA? Shoot, I don't even know. Ideally my future does lie in SF, but I also feel like I haven't given SoCal a long enough chance...about 1.5 years I've been here. Is that long enough? I'm not sure. I guess I will have to see what my options are, and see what will come up first. Right now I am just trying to keep my spirits up. Thanks for the crummy economy America. 

If anyone hears of anything in the retail industry that would possibly be of interest to me, please let me know, I would greatly appreciate it. :) 

Post #27 - Domestic Duties Round Deux


After a hectic day I work, I took out my domestic side and folded two loads of laundry that wasn't even mine! I didn't mind too much though, oddly enough, I love doing laundry! After laundry time, I watched meatloaf make a meatloaf. A FATTY meatloaf with bacon. 

Post #26 - Gung Hay Fat Choy

Happy Lunar New Years!

The Ox

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest. Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.

Ox people need peace and quiet to work through their ideas, and when they have set their mind on something it is hard for them to be convinced otherwise. An Ox person has a very logical mind and is extremely systematic in whatever they do, though they have a tremendous imagination and an unparalleled appreciation for beauty. These people speak little but are extremely intelligent. When necessary, they are articulate and eloquent.

People born under the influence of the Ox are kind, caring souls, logical, positive, filled with common sense and with their feet firmly planted on the ground. Security is their main preoccupation in life, and they are prepared to toil long and hard in order to provide a warm, comfortable and stable nest for themselves and their families. Strong-minded, stubborn, individualistic, the majority are highly intelligent individuals who don't take kindly to being told what to do.

The Ox works hard, patiently, and methodically, with original intelligence and reflective thought. These people enjoy helping others. Behind this tenacious, laboring, and self-sacrificing exterior lies an active mind.

The Ox is not extravagant, and the thought of living off credit cards or being in debt makes them nervous. The possibility of taking a serious risk could cause the Ox sleepless nights.

Ox people are truthful and sincere, and the idea of wheeling and dealing in a competitive world is distasteful to them. They are rarely driven by the prospect of financial gain. These people are always welcome in small gatherings because of their humble composure and reverent nature towards the host. They are reputed to be the most beautiful of face in the zodiac. They have many friends, who appreciate the fact that the Ox people are wary of new trends, although every now and then they can be encouraged to try something new. People born in the year of the Ox make wonderful parents and teachers of children.

It is important to remember that the Ox people are sociable and relaxed when they feel secure, but occasionally a dark cloud looms over such people and they engage all the trials of the whole world and seek solutions for them.
---
Granted, my pile of red envelopes is pretty minimal. My family is not very traditional when it comes to this holiday. Sure, we have the dinners and hand out red envelopes, but I don't receive nearly as much as most Asian kids nor do we follow the traditional superstitions (ie getting your haircut prior to the new year, not washing your hair on new years day, not eating meat, wearing new clothes, etc). Sometimes I wish that we carried on more of the traditions that come along with this holiday, I feel like little by little our culture is getting lost.

We headed back down to the Vine this afternoon and made it back in good time- around 730pm. I broke out some of Mom's care package and enjoyed some Chow Fun for dinner.

It was a good time home...I will be back again soon. :)

Post #25 - Mom's Pot-O-Soul


This is one of the things I miss most about living at home- Mom's home cookin! After waking up for some Pre-Chinese New Years Dim Sum, my Mom spent the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking up some Jai, Chow Fun, Prime Rib, Twice Baked Potatoes, and helping my Dad with the BBQ Ribs. All of this was so that I could bring some food back with me to Irvine. Aren't parents the best?? 

Post #24 - God It Feels Good to be Home!

After waking up in the late morning from the late night drive, I spent some time with the parents. Even though I saw them less than a month ago, it always feels good to be able to talk to them about what has been going with them and the rest of the family. Sometimes I feel so out of the loop since I live down South.

Later that evening a few of us took advantage of the San Francisco Dine About Town deal and had dinner at Chou Chou...a cute little French Bistro nearby my neighborhood. We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the Chef himself, complete with air kisses and glasses of champagne for making us wait a little for our table. Dinner was delicious...I had my first taste of Escargo (I've always been too freaked out to try it), and the pork tenderloin was so yummy that we all cleaned the plate. To end the night, we headed to Circa to meet up with the rest of our friends...it was weird to see it in a louge atmosphere since the last time we had been there was for our girls' xmas dinner in 2006! Had a a few (or more) glasses of bubbly, a street dog, and called it a night. 

I miss nights like these. 

Post #23 - If You're Going to San-Fran-cisco....

Tonight Vinh, Brian, and I roadtripped home to San Francisco for Lunar New Year. Originally we were planning on leaving Irvine around 8pm....but after dinner, a slight detour, and of course some lagging, we didn't head out until around 10pm. Vinh was quite the soldier and drove the entire way up! And as you can see, we have Brian in the back who was sleeping the majority of the trip up. Traffic wasn't bad at all, but on the 5 we hit some pretty heavy fog that forced us to slow to about 30 mph for quite a ways. Thankfully, we made it home safe, although quite late...after dropping everyone off, I didn't arrive home until 3:30am! 

Post #22 - Obama Fever


I tried out this site that I read about on Daily Candy.....these were some of my favorites. :) 


Post #21 - Domestic Duties



Shu's Baby Shower at work -> Outlet Team + Chinese/Islamic Food = Good Times at work. 
Nothing too exciting on the homefront. Got out of work a little early today and went home to tend to some necessary domestic duties. Laundry. A total of two loads and folding of an additional load that has been sitting in the dryer since last week. I hate leaving clothes in the dryer after they are done tumbling dry because that equals more wrinkles..which in turn leads to more ironing. Bah. An unproductive yet productive night. 

Post #20 - The Day America Has Been Waiting For


Yes We Can. 
Its about time. 

Post # 19 - Good As New


Lexie has returned to me tonight as good as new! At the shop, my exact words were "It's pretty again!" Thank you Platinum VIP

Crazy Laker/Cav game tonight...as a loyal GSW fan, I couldn't help but wish the Lakers would lose. But then again, Kobe was playing with a sprained finger almost the entire game...gotta admit, he IS a soldier. 

Post # 18 - Recovery


After an eventful Saturday, this is where I spent the majority of Sunday. Well, to be fair, I split the time between the couch and the bed. Bam was pretty tired today too. 

Post # 17 - Just Keep Swimming..


Today started Niko & my attempt for weekly weekend adventures. The weather has been so nice lately, we started our morning off fairly early (for us at least), got some coffee and headed out to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.

It was a small aquarium, but they had a good amout of things to look at. Sea lions, sharks, lots of Nemos and Doris, fish who change their sex, leafy sea dragons, and of course my favorite...the sea otters! Daniel & I spent a lot of time racing to see who would get their pamphlets embossed first while Niko & Brian stood by laughing at us saying "are you serious??" Followed up the aquarium field trip with a late lunch at Boston's across the street. After some beer, pizza, pasta, and of course a bacon cheeseburger, we called it an afternoon and headed home.
After a few hours of rest and some seafood chigae a la Vinh, Brian and I went up to LA to see some friends and ended up at Area. Yes, clubbing...haven't done that in a while, but it was fun to get out, have some bubbly (yeah, champagne at a club..random, I know), hear some awesome music, grub on some street dogs, and stay up til the wee hours of the morning.

It was a great Saturday :)

Post # 16 - Where I Spend Most of My Days..


Happy Friday! 

Welcome to my cube. This is where I spend 2,080 hours or 260 days of the year. Normally it is a lot messier, but today was a slow day, so I had some time to get my life in order. Things that make my cube interesting - my faux ocean view, my paul frank wallpaper, the sample sweatshirt on my chair that I wear when the office is freezing (which is most of the time), my halloween candy bucket my coworker gave me, the vast array of lotion options, my pink desk calendar, and lastly, my pink earphones.

Post # 15 - Ultimate Gluttony

10 Big Macs. 6 Apple Pies. 5 Guys. 

Gross isn't it? 

Don't worry, I didn't partake in the glutton fest. With the Big Mac 2/$3.50 special and the so-called recession, the homies decided to buy as much McD's that $20 could buy. And if that wasn't enough, they also decided to have a eating contest- Vinh took the prize with eating an entire Big Mac in 3 bites and Andy took the prize for eating 3 Big Macs, totally 1500 calories. 

Boys will be boys. 

Post #14 - Meet Bammie


Meet Bam-Bam. The world's cutest and most spoiled Pitbull. Bam has a good life. Technically he has one owner, but the whole Irvine family treats his as if he belonged to them as well. He gets treats all day and sometimes even a bite of our dinner if someone sneaks him some. He does all sorts of tricks including saying "I Love You". Really. He can say it to you and you would understand him as if he said it to you in English. His hobbies include barking at other dogs, chewing up any toy he gets, wearing collars or his holiday bow tie, eating tennis balls, happy feet, and hogging the couch. He will literally get up on the couch next to you, and somehow manage to push you over inch by inch until he is in his favorite part of the couch- smack dab in the middle. He enjoys sleeping on cushions and/or couches and lately will not sleep without a pillow under his chin and a blanket. He will be my default filler picture when I have one of those days where nothing interesting happens to me. My favorite dog until I get a cute little Yorkie of my own. :)

Tonight we watched Gran Turino, Clint Eastwood's newest film. I really didn't know too much about the storyline before watching this, nor did I expect too much. Clint Eastwood captured his role as a pessimistic old man very well. He plays a racist war vet set in his ways that ends up befriending/mentoring his Hmong neighbors. They both end up teaching each other things about culture and life, and e defends them against gangs that consist of family members of his neighbors. His role was somewhat reminiscent of his Dirty Harry days. My favorite line of the movie: "Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me." Great movie.

Post #13 - So You Think You Can Sing?


Tonight marked the start of another one of my guilty pleasures- American Idol! Although I haven't kept up with a single season since the first, I'll admit that it's fun to watch once in a while. Tonight I wasted two hours of my life watching the first round of auditions in Arizona. Although I was impressed with some of the contestants (Emily Hughes, Stevie Wright, and Scott MacIntyre), I still don't think this season will be that great. The new judge, Kara DioGuardia, is fun though, I love how she called out Bikini Girl- who in their right mind comes to an audition in a bikini and later tries to make out with Ryan Seacreast. Girls are always haters, but come on now..seriously?