OakMonster’s Den

Two things I love most about October: Halloween and beer.

So far it hasn’t been a cold “fall”.  Heck, it was like 78 when I got to work at 7:30 a.m. this morning!  I think I will survive in my Princess Leia gitup after all.  Then again, I still have the Jedi cloak from last year to keep me warm and still in theme.

October is building up to be a busy one already.  The Bus Party tomorrow is cancelled in lieu of the debate, so that free up a bit of time.  Hopefully my newsletter will go to print on Friday.

Thriller practice this Saturday and of course, the Trojans are on and pissed off.  Watch out Oregon!

DMV Downtown on Monday…that ought to be interesting.  Haven’t been to that DMV since college!  The girls’ monthly dinner on Thursday and it’s our anniversary.  Another Thriller practice on Saturday on the beach followed by the K9 benefit show back in Fullerton.  Too bad I will have to miss the Long Beach Tweet Up!  Thrill the World LA barbecue on Sunday and, thank god, Columbus Day off.

Wednesday early board meeting.  Saturday USC at Washington and “Octoberfest” at a friend’s house who is a brewmaster.  Probably more Thriller practice in there somewhere through out.  A few Tuesdays at the Irvine practice probably.

Thrill the World on October 25 in the morning at USC at Arizona at night.

And finally, Halloween.

And after that, the Big Gala.

And after that, Thailand.

And after that, company’s holiday party I have to throw.

Not to mention my Monday dance classes.

Holy crap.

I’m a busy girl!

My most impulsive purchase of the year and my first ever full-made costume purchase finally arrived.

Also, probably the most unique wedding present ever bought.

I bought the costume set for my friend.  The groom is a Star Wars fan and the bride is a quite a knock-out.  Somehow, they never thought of dressing her in this.  And I thought of it for them.

A geeky good friend I am!

While at it, I bought me one.  Just in case somebody would invite us to a Halloween party this year, I would have something sexy to wear for a change.  Because, you know, Jedi wasn’t exactly a sexy outfit.

Funny enough, James and Aurora are dressing up Dresden for his first Halloween as Yoda.  At least I’ll be in on their theme!  (Tried to convince Brandon he should be Han Solo, but he didn’t want that.  Instead, he’s been growing his beard out so we’re going to make him Wolverine.)

I also think I’m going to do Thrill The World in this outfit.  A Leia Zombie.  I mean, I might as well maximize the money I spent, right?

James and Aurora came up with a great alternate universe back story for me.  Leia’s attempt to strangle Jabba the Hutt failed and instead he/his cronies strangle her instead!  The other two of my ideas were either that Luke missed the landing and Leia ended up eaten by the sand monster, or Leia showed up on Hoth in this outfit and died of hypothermia.

What’s your vote?  Or do you have an even better idea for a back story?

Now about this lovely gitup.  We will have to do some work on it after all.

I am so extremely grateful that the bottom part is not a thong but booty shorts.  Hooray!  The accessories are all different: they are all silicon rubber, and there is not chain attached to the collar.  The arm band looks a little funny being all rubbery like.

I must admit that the bra part is nothing like the picture.  AND for a small, the bra is fucking HUGE!  I mean, out of proportion to the booty shorts/skirt bottom.  What kind of a body image do these people have?  Sure, I could’ve gone with XS, but I was afraid my booty wouldn’t fit in them booty shorts…which I would’ve been right.

And the best thing about the bra top?  Velcro, baby.  Velcro and halter strings.  On Halloween?

A man must have concocted the assembly of this.  Yeah, let’s put the Velcro on the bra top.  Riiiight!

Brandon and I agreed that I might have to drop a few more bucks in a hunt for a substitute bikini top, farm the silicon rubber adornment off the original and sew/glue that onto it.  Because right now, my top doesn’t look anything like the picture.  It looks more like a faux camouflage granny bra from somebody twice my size with three times the boobs.

I also have to do something to fix the arm band part so it actually stays stiff instead of flopping around, or buy a real one and paint it gold.  Ditto the hair accessories.  The way they are now, I look like a rooster with floppy comb.  And I will need to find me some chains for the collar.

Work to do.  Work to do.

Going to bed when I’m supremely tired has been working three nights so far.  It works better on the weekend, I’m sure.  Man, trying to get up to wash the Korean BBQ smoke out of my hair this morning was tough. It’s starting to cool at night in California a little bit.  Cool when I left the house and when I got home.  It makes it really hard to get out of bed in the morning.

When I got work, I gave my dad a call.  Of course, I caught him watching his nightly news and he filled me in on Thailand’s current madness.  He recommends the recent article in Time Magazine.

“Somebody’s funneling money into the PAD,” he said.  “Someone’s paying daily stipends for people to not be earning a living but to sit in at the Parliament House.  And it’s a pretty good bet around here that it’s the old-money elites.  They want the Democrats to be government and Abhisit as PM.”

“But I want Khun Mark [Abhisit] to be the PM…” I whined.

“I know. But not like this,” dad replied.  And I agreed 200%.

“Brandon said if this shit is still going on by the end of October, he’s not coming home with me,” I told him.

“Tell him this is the BEST time to be in Thailand,” dad replied.

“I told him the protest doesn’t bleed over to the tourists so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“It’s not just that,” dad added.  “All the other tourists would’ve canceled.  Hotels would be empty, and then we could get any room at any hotel we want in Phuket on the cheap!”

My dad.  There could only be one.

*

And there could also be only one Brandon.

A text message this afternoon sent me into a giggle.

“Hahah. The cats attacked [The traveling Couch] Monkey!  Jumper walked by  with Monkey in his mouth then the little ones [Brandon’s folks’ new cats as oppose to Jumper, the elder statesman] ran by and stole him from Jump.”

My poor traveling Couch Monkey, covered in kitty drool!  Later on tonight, as Brandon was reading before bed with the cats, again, Monkey was taken.  Brandon had to chase the cats down to get him back.

And my poor husband, for him to be on his cell phone to text me these things, Brandon had to step outside and down the driveway of their house in the mountains of New Mexico.  It was 27F when he called me an hour earlier

Now THAT’S love.

*

The day of much love and laughter ended well at my first Lyrical Jazz class with Sizzle at Moondance Studios tonight.

I LOVE Sizzle!  She’s totally awesome.  Not only does she have lessons planned for the next 6 weeks, she also taught us the history of each week’s style.  Today, we learned the basics of Fosse style and did the routine from the first 2 verses of Chicago’s All That Jazz.

Jazz hands. Fosse’s port de bras. Hip pops. And other signature Fosse moves.

Aw, my quads. And my back.

The zombie moves I was going to practice before I go to bed should look awesome now that my back is a little bit stiff…

With less than one hour notice, I rushed off this afternoon to join a few people in practicing the Thriller dance on the beach at Dockweiler State Park.

Yes, you heard me.  Thriller. On the beach.

I am joining the Los Angeles group in Thrill the World 2008 where folks gather in full make up and costume to dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller at the exact same time all over the world.

For LA it’s Saturday October 25 at 11 a.m.

I saw the video last year and have always wanted to do it.  Finally here’s my chance!The LA group is trying to break the record of having 200 people at the event.  The Irvine one is closer, but I’m all about breaking records so I will be joining the crew to the north.  Still, I’m hoping to be able to practice with the south crew so I don’t have to drive too far.  We shall see!

There might just be an event in your neighborhood, so check out the World Event section.

Thailand hasn’t signed up for an official event yet.  It’ll be Sunday, October 26 at 1 a.m.  But I’m sure someone is going to start it up.  (I’m so sending this to Kitty’s magazine!)  Can’t you just see a herd of zombies doing this down Kao San?

No, those in yellow shirts at the Government House doesn’t count.  That said, it would be a lot better for everyone if instead of stirring shit up, they would learn to do the dance instead.  But I digress.

Coworkers congregated in my cubicle over some chocolate covered almonds.

“Have you seen Oakley’s article in the Daily Breeze?” Coworker #1 referred to my 15 seconds of fame.

“No,” Coworker #2.

CW#1 continued to tell CW#2 about Temple of Fresh & Easy blog.

CW#2 snorted.  “Who has time for that kind of thing?”

And of course, CW#2 ranted on about how he doesn’t have time to do the Facebook or “such nonsense” because of his busy social schedule, implying along the way that folks who do those things don’t really have a life.

That did it.

Seriously, I am getting tired of the whole implication that because I put my life online that I have nothing better to do with my time.

Do I talk down on your hobby of fixing up classic cars, pimping rides, antiquing, woodworking, gardening, or, in CW#2’s case, hanging out at bars and clubs?

You choose what to do with your free time.  You make time for your hobby.  Mine happens to be blogging, social networking, and video gaming.

Yet, these “normal people” constantly talk down to us geeks.

I used to just laugh it off and went with the “Oh, I know. I don’t have a life,” as a reply.

But I’m not going to do that any more.

Fuck you and your “normal life”.

I *do* have a life.  It’s not the same one you live or the one you think it’s “cool”.

My life is online, digitized, and pixelated.  But it’s a life I’ve chosen to live.

I find my meaning in writing and sharing my thoughts with the world, whether the world wants it or not.  I find my meaning in sharing my life with other I don’t know as a window into some new experience that is not my day-to-day.  I find my meaning in squashing the bad guys in my games with my controller until my hands cramped up.

Like I discussed with fellow Twitter-ette SallieB before, some of us have the ability to build relationships both online and off.  Some of such relationships only get better with the reinforcements from the other source.

I have human interaction with my local friends, and even better relationships with my long distance buddies.  I actually get to “meet” new people across the world I would never would have met in a bar like Rude Cactus, Steve and Richard of Thai-Blogs, Chef House, and many readers that I have come to “talk” to like Irish Cousin Robert and Amy of the Q Family.

And there’s also the new circle of friends we built around Brandon’s World of Warcraft guild and occasion gathering of the geeks at James’ house.

I put my life online originally because half of the people I know live half the world away.  Blogging was the best way to keep everyone in touch.  Not that they really swing by here often either, but I give them an option to be updated.  I know going in that if I put this online, everyone gets to see it.  I know that since I started my first website back in college.

My blog and other social networking media is a newsletter or a zine that happens to be online.

I’ve always “printed” some kind of zines since I was in 3rd grade.  It’s the same concept with a new medium.

Still my hobby.  Something I love to do and make time for.

So, go on out with your cool kids to the hip bars, “normal people”.  I’ll be right here with my computer and game console, enjoying my own life my own way.

…do not tell of war or of waste, but about a fan blog called Temple of Fresh & Easy.

Yes, sirree!

Finding Nirvana at Salad Bin ran in the Business Casual Column in the Torrance Daily Breeze today. (Folks reading this 2 weeks from now may not see the link. I’ll be sure to post a PDF later.)

Thanks, Muhammed again for coming down to my humble abode last week!

ETA: Muhammed also posted my picture on his blog and described me as “vivacious”.  That’s the biggest word anybody has ever used to describe me! 

Photo by Muhammed El-Hasan.

Muhammed from Torrance Daily Breeze was in my home office on Friday night to interview me about the Temple of Fresh & Easy blog–you know, my store obsession blog.

Then came the questions about why I blog about a grocery store. Why especially would I give a business free publicity and get nothing in return? Do I feel like I was taken advantage of?
I know that it is his job to ask the questions and get to the bottom of why some random person would start blogging about a grocery store and expect nothing in return.

The fact that he asked me that question got me thinking.

Have we as a society become so jaded that we question people’s motive for saying nice things about others?

With Web 2.0, we as consumers can now raise our voices like we could never have done before. We can band together to cheer on for the restaurant we love. We can link our arms in verbal protests against a salon that wreck our hair and rape our wallet. We can rate the deodorant we bought yesterday so others may use our input to make a better decision before they buy.

As consumers, you are no longer alone in the dark. Many of us are out there with you.

Sure, floating out there are also people who are professional promoters and endorsers. I can see why some folks, including Muhammed, would question my motive.

I did tell Muhammed that I just like telling people about things that I love. There’s nothing in it for me. I don’t do it for the glory. I don’t do it for fame. I don’t even know if anybody else would drop by any of my blogs at all.

But just in case they do, now they would know about something good they can pick up or a product they shouldn’t try.

For those who know me in person or from this blog, they know that I’m just, well, too damn quirky to have a motive.

I am passionate about things that I love and hate. I will rave about things I love and rant about things I hate. Mediocre stuff just doesn’t really get the mention because, well, it’s not worth the time.

Look at my Yelp! reviews. It’s either love or hate. I don’t do in-betweens. When I love a restaurant, I get everyone to go there. When I hate a restaurant, I will tell anyone who’d listen. I have a coupon for places I love to shop, I pass it around too.

Heck, just last week, I hauled cupcakes from Charmed Cupcakes in Long Beach on the bus to my office Downtown because I love their cakes and want everyone to try them and experience the joy. I could have easily ordered the cupcakes from Silver Lake where we usually do. But we’ve done that. This LB place is new, and it’s good. I feel obligated to spread the word.

See? Here goes the link and the shout out. Haha. Can’t help myself.

Do I get free cake from the shop? No. Just the pleasure to know that now people will enjoy something yummy.

Is my desire to spread the joy I have experienced considered a motive?

Well, heck. I guess I do have a motive after all.

Y’all, I once again bought a bike.

This is my new baby, Electra Townie, souped up with a cargo rack, a makeshift cargo hold (container bin and bungee mesh), and, of course, a bell. Brandon also scored his new cross-country bike, replacing his undersized cheapy that’s been killing his back and, more importantly, his bad knee this whole time.

While Brandon’s purchase was planned as he’s taking the riding a bit more seriously now, it was a slightly impulsive buy for me. But I’m tired of being left behind when the boys go out to ride. Sure, they can do the rides on their own, but at least Brandon and I can do something together in addition to just playing games, watching movies, or driving around.

So, Brandon and I went on a test ride today to, where else, Fresh & Easy store. My goal is that I could ride there on my own to do some shopping before it gets dark. And eventually, we’ll ride all the way to James & Aurora’s house. And eventually after that, all the way to Seal Beach and back.

Finally, my “cousin” May (her mom is one of my mom’s best friends) is acclimating to Beijing. Her brother Nicky is blogging about it here. I will leave the link up for you on the right column through the entire Olympics.

My dad is all excited about the Olympics too. It’s always been big deal for us growing up, watching the coverage and sometimes live broadcast of the Olympics. The opening ceremony was never missed in our household, no matter what time it came on. The 2004 Olympics were especially good for Thailand, most medals ever won. I hope we repeat ourselves here. Come on, Paradorn. Bring us home some bronze, at least, bro!

And speaking of the games, does ANYONE know where we can watch the opening ceremony LIVE? NBC’s schedule shows that they will broadcast at prime time. But Beijing is 15 hours ahead of PST therefore that can’t possibly be live! If we want to see it live, then we should have to resort to the internet? Seriously, any lurkers with the knowledge, could you please de-lurk for the day and clue me in, I’d really appreciate it.

Well, at least I found out that USA channel will broadcast badminton live. At least we can try to catch May there.

Hope everyone’s weekend was great!

I used to dance.

I’m not particularly good at it, as in I could never go to Juilliard, but I wasn’t horrible.

This might come to surprise to some, but I used to be THE choreographer at school back in my days.  Mainly because nobody else would risk the embarrassment to do the job, while I, on the other hand, have no concept of shame.

There wasn’t a school show I didn’t dance in or choreographed or both.  I was in every Christmas pageant since kindergarten.  I was on the “dance team”, a handful of dancers teachers would call on to perform somewhere.

I started ballet in kindergarten and took the standard tests for it up to level III before I decided that I didn’t want to be tested any more.  The instructor didn’t seem to mind me continuing to take classes  with everyone without the test.  As a matter of fact, at some point, for the big multi-school production of The Nutcracker, I was taking 3 levels of dance lessons.  Because of my size, I was to perform as the clowns with the girls one level below me.  Then I’d take my regular class and learned all the moves as Clara’s friends. And I followed that with the advance class, but just the regular class but not the choreography.

Anyways.  By 6th grade, I started on pointe.  First of all, I was the only one left in the class who actually haven’t done any testing.  I was also the only one left who actually didn’t have the goal to go to dance school or have a serious career in dance.   I surely didn’t have the long, lean body for a ballerina.  I was there purely because I love to dance.

The instructor didn’t think the same way.  Pretty much, I was given minimal instructions and largely ignored in class.  I didn’t even know I was supposed to break my pointes so that they would flex.  Conveniently for all, my motion sensitivity set in just about the same time.  I mean, I couldn’t even do a double on regular shoes without feeling dizzy.  It was never like that!  On pointe, the dizzy spell was a lot worse.  I would pretend to sit out in class, blaming it on my toes, when in reality I was so dizzy from all the spins I was ready to throw up.   I would come home and lay down for another hour before I can even move.

That was the end of ballet and the beginning of jazz.  I was enjoying jazz thoroughly when the class I could attend was canceled.  Then the school moved to a new location, no longer convenient.

Despite the fact that I was no longer taking classes, I was still called on to dance and choreographed.  I guess because, like I said, I was the only one up for the job.

I came to the U.S. and I was excited that you can actually take dance as one of your classes!  But then I got to visit the dance class and quickly realized that I would be totally out of my league.  And here, who would want me to do anything.  So I retreated to my own private production of dancing around my bedroom.

Sometimes I beat myself up for having to quit proper lessons years ago.  Same regret I had with piano.  But I still love to watch people dance.  I still feel the music through my veins.  As a matter of fact, watching a dance performance, sometimes my muscles would twitch as if they want to dance too.

And my body was doing that when I watch So You Think You Can Dance, my newest TV addiction.

I can never dance like that.  But I was surprised that my criticism from the couch was the same as the experts on the panels most of the time.

It’s not that I have the expertise.  But I FEEL the dance.  If the dancers couldn’t move me, if they couldn’t get me twitching, they’re not conveying the emotions that should be moving the audience.  And that just can’t be a good performance.

SYTYCD thoroughly entertains me and at the same time it breaks my heart that I no longer dance.

But yes, I am planning on getting my shoes back on and get back out there.  As a matter of fact, a few years ago, I took up jazz at the community center.  No offense to older readers, but the class was paced for seniors.  Not what I was looking for.

Nonetheless, I AM planning to take up the classes again. I have done some research and I know where to go now.  It’s just a matter of money at this point.

Sad: Dropped Brandon off at the airport this morning. Poor thing.

Glad: Had lunch with Nora in Irvine since I was already in the area. It’s good to return the favor.

Splurge: While waiting to go have lunch with Nora in Irvine, I ended up at the Container Store. Those of you who have been there know that when you go in for one thing, you come out with much more. I went in for two bottles of Mrs. Myers dish soaps. I came out with kitchen wrapper organizer (badly needed), closet organizers to replace my giant plastic tub that threatens to kill me every time I pull off the top shelf, sturdy clear plastic baskets for the hard to reach part of my top pantry shelves, and a travel clothing organizer to keep Brandon’s shirts from wrinkling for his next trip…which is at the end of the month.

Saving: Bought a pair of low heel brown shoes for $25 down from $60 and therefore save buying one new suit.

Fate: Someone tapped Brandon 0n the shoulder to get into her seat on the plane Cincinnati to Harrisburg. He looked up to see his mom.

Planned: Half of the things I want to get done today is done. The other half starts to look every unappealing.

Productive: Got to organizing the pantry less Brandon’s top shelf full of tools. I seriously cannot see what I’m reaching for out there. There was a moment I was going to stack my stepping stool on a chair, but since there’s no one here to call 911 if I fall, I didn’t. Also put together the first set of closet organizer and put the plastic wraps and parchment papers etc. in place.

Procrastinate: Took a break and channel surfed. Still haven’t put the closet organizer in the closet yet. I guess blogging is considered a part of this category. Now that I’ve been watching the cooking shows, I think I need to eat dinner and get started on the cookies.

Dread: 10 dozen of the Weevil Cookies I have to bake tonight.

Anticipation: That’s $150 for AIDS Walk Long Beach right there, baby!

Active: My roller skates totally rocked. I rolled out down the street with Brandon yesterday to the pharmacy and looped around the apartment parking lot for a bit. At least I seemed to remember how to do this. My body is loving a little exercise too.

Inactive: As predicted, ankle swells up just a wee little bit. Not painful to walk on but I wasn’t going to skate today even though the procrastination totally is cheering me on. Besides, the lot is kind of busy today with the neighbors downstairs moving and the other tenant getting all of his crap out of the garage.

Okay. Okay. I’ll stop stalling now.

*sigh* So much to do on my day off.