I mean, look at how neglected this blog is!!!

Let’s take a look back this year, see what all I did, and give out some 2010 awards, shall we?

2010 in Pictures:

Drinking Buddy of the Year: Bus Buddy Amanda

We’ve been riding the bus together for a few years and carpooled together numerous times.  But it was this year that Amanda and I started hanging out outside of the bus.  We grabbed a few drinks either in Downtown LA or right here back in Los Alamitos.  We occasionally dragged our husbands with us too, like when we went to the Night Dive at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Next up on our agenda is shopping.  Our wallets should be afraid. Very afraid.

Bar of the Year: Chaya Downtown

I actually have visited less and less Downtown LA hot spots since last year.  Work dynamic continues to shift and happy hour gathering has become more and more difficult to manage.  Yet, I kept finding myself moseying over to Chaya Downtown whenever I have an excuse to do so.

At the beginning, I didn’t really give Chaya much of a chance.  Compared to the cozy vibe at the Library Bar, I felt Chaya was a bit more snooty.  I was proven wrong on that.  Also with Library Bar having become so popular it was too crowded for my liking, Chaya has plenty of space to spread out either right up to the bar or out in their Japanese beer garden.  It’s one of the better places in the financial district for happy hour these days with great menu and strong drink specials.  I mean, that $5 cocktail specials they have would knock a lightweight on her ass, I tell ya!

Chaya bar is not just for drinks, but for lunch too.  Bartender Greg always take a good care of me whether I was just picking up a very reasonably priced to-go bento box or sitting down to pig out alone.  The food was surprising fast out there at the bar versus sitting down at the proper restaurant section.

Newcomer Award: USC Trojan Nation

Fight on!

It only took me 11 years since graduation to get around to buy USC football season ticket.  Bless her heart, at the time of purchase, Gridiron Goddess Amy shouldn’t be spending her money on the ticket, but she did. And we roamed and ruled USC campus as tailgate nomads, lugging our own food and beverages, looking for a place to crash.

During the sesason, I reconnected with old friend Roy aka USC Psycho and crashed at my rarely-seen Trojan brother Joel and his wife Zoe’s tailgate.  I never quite made it to Hawaiian Jen’s group at the engineering quad though, my one regret.  I also made new Trojan tweeps as I tweeted my away games from my couch or at the bar with USC Long Beach Alumni Club.

Yes, the Long Beach Alumni Club is back and very alive!  As destiny would have it, it got resurrected this year.  And naturally, I joined and soon became their director of technology, handling their twitter account and soon to design their website.

More Trojan Nation shenanigan will ensue through the spring, I am sure.  Thank god I’m not a basketball fan too or else my husband will never see me again…

High point of the Year: NaNoWriMo

I have great friends who always supported me through everything I do whether it’s AIDS Walk Long Beach with Team Lesser Weevils or joining GuerilLA in a spectacular improv musical unleashed upon the unsuspecting crowd at Universal City Walk.

This year I took a swing at National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and raised money for the foundation set up in my grandfather’s name in memory of both him and my mom.  Friends were super supportive with donations and encouragement.

I was writing on the bus on the way to work. I was writing it at lunch at work. I was writing some of it at home too.  50,000 words in 30 days proved to be too much for me as my inner editor and procrastinator kept chipping away at my words and my time.  However, I did have half of that for a draft of a memoir about our family’s ties to mom’s two big folders full of fortune teller notes.

Low point of the year (other than a disappointing USC football season): Sickness and death among friends

This year has sucked for so many friends healthwise thus make it a low point of the year.  Friends have been afflicted with fibromyalgia, MS, and cancer. I hate you, diseases, for making my friends’ lives unnecessarily harder. My fist. Your direction. Grrr….

Also,  a former colleague who had been dealing with kidney issues unexpectedly passed away.  He was okay one day and died in his sleep over the weekend. It was quite a jolt.

Holiday of the Year: Halloween for a completely different reason!

The past two years, weeks leading up to Halloween had involved running around with Thrill the World.  This year, I passed on the torch so I get to have my favorite holiday back!  Then again, the costume change this year was the most I’ve ever done.  5 costumes leading up to Halloween, if you can imagine.

1. Halloween Friday: Nerd Herder for work
2. Halloween Friday Party: Slave Leia for a Star Wars party at Amy’s house.
3. Halloween’s Eve: Crazy USC fan gear.  Well, I just topped off with what became my signature Dr. Seuss hat for the game.
4. Halloween afternoon: a Jedi costume was thrown on to visit Gregg at the hospital. I did tell him I was going to bring out Slave Leia but I didn’t think it was appropriate for a hospital.  David said if anyone was to have a heart attack, that would be a good place for it. LOL.
5. Halloween: Resident Evil’s Alice accompanying Brandon’s Tallahassee from Zombieland to our usual trick or treat evening at Paul’s house.

Song of the Year: Teenage Dreams, Glee version

Can’t. Stop. Listening.

Movie of the Year: Toy Story 3.

No, I haven’t seen the Social Network, Inception, The Kids Are Alright, or anything critically acclaimed.  Naturally, Woody and the gang won this round.

Surprise Movie of the Year: Hachi: A Dog’s Tale

It’s a straight-to-video gem.  I’ve grown up knowing the story of the original Hachikp in Japan so I was curious to see this movie Entertainment Weekly and my friend were raving about.  I knew it was going to be a 3 hanky type mush so I expected a little tears in my eyes.  But oh, no. No no no no. THAT was the middle of the movie.  At the end, I was sobbing so hard Brandon asked if I was okay.  I never cried like that for a movie. Ever.

Book of the Year: Delivering Happiness

Amy G. knows me more than I know myself sometimes.  She definitely knows something I don’t when she saved me a pre-release copy of Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness she had received at an event.  It only took me months to get to read it.  And once I did, I was inspired and depressed all at the same time.  You know, excited about the future and the fact that there’s a company out there that has the same perspective about “work should be a happy, inspiring place” as I do. (Damn you, Zappos for being in Las Vegas!)  And of course, it’s a little disheartening to look at my current situation which is not quite what it could be.  Then again, there’s not much fun you can really wring out of the line of work I do. *sigh*

TV Show of the Year: Doctor Who

I might have just become a late fan of the show (helloooo Martha Jones!), but my attachment to David Tennant is pretty strong.  So I was very skeptic of Matt Smith’s taking over.  But the show managed to change my mind and kept me glued.  So, hats off to you, Doctor!

Runner Up: Hawaii Five-O.  Alex O’Loughlin’s taking his shirt off every other week?  If this is not the best show on television I don’t know what is. But to tell you the truth, it’s Scott Caan’s performance that is keeping me hooked.  His big softy, smart alecky Danno is the only real character on the show. Everyone else is kind of two dimensional.

Oh, and you’re welcome for the following clip. (Good luck, Aquaman!)  Alex’ chest deserves his own FB page…oh wait a minute…

Restaurant of the Year: Koi Sushi, Seal Beach

We have always known of Koi Sushi.  As a matter of fact, my memory of it was that Brandon’s parents wanted to take us there once but the line was out the door.  We rediscovered it one day as a part of my quest to find a true Japanese restaurant, not just a place that serves sushi and teriyaki.  Koi was exactly what I was looking for.

They hooked us at our first visit with a huge hunk of braised pork belly “appetizer”.  I mean, we could’ve split that for dinner, it was that big.  And it was delicious.  The teriyaki beef got Brandon addicted.  Tender beef cooked perfectly and the teriyaki sauce that’ not cloying.  What I like most is that they a special menu that changes every week I believe.  Food was fresh and portion is generous.  Service was great.  As long as we get there off peak hours, there wasn’t any line.

When it’s a restaurant that Brandon actually craves, that gets on my favorite restaurant list!

*

Well, that’s my 2010. How did you year go?

One memorable hour on the set of Attack of the Show!  At one point, Olivia called me over during break.

“So Oakley, where are you from?”

“Los Alamitos…and Thailand.”

“So which is it? Huh? Huh?”

“Both!”

“You’re lying, aren’t you? You fucking liar.”

And then she introduced me to her co-host Kevin.

“This is Oakley. She’s a liar.”

“Oh, hi. You’re a liar?”

“Yes. I am.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“What?”

“Dude, I’m a liar.”

Hence this:

Anyways.

Oh, yes.  Olivia is just like who we see on television, people.  Except even prettier in real life.

She’s hilarious and super friendly.  And she drops f-bombs.  And she talks naughty.

Those haters, listed here in this LA Times story, just keep piling it on.

It’s this whole women hating women thing that women would never get to go anywhere, I think.

Yes, Olivia is beautiful, smart, and hilarious. Yes, she plays to her male audience…you’d be a fool not to when your show’s demographic is the dudes.

Play a ditz? Play a hot chick? Jump into a pie?  What she says is right, in so many words, you’re nobody but who your fans make you.  Much like this blog, if y’all don’t read it, it doesn’t exist. (So…thanks!) You can’t make a living as an entertainer if there’s no audience.

Could she have gone and done something more “dignify”?  Sure. Will her fans follow there?  Probably not.

But having seen her in action on the set, I’ve got to say that she has the brain and sense of humor to back her up.

So, good on you, Olivia.  I wish you well.

Haters will hate.  And everyone has a point of view.  Respect that, and moving on.

As Olivia signed on my copy of Maxim–yes, *MY* copy of Maxim, and I bought the Playboy too–”Let’s braid hair!”

Yes, Olivia.  Let’s join our Asian powers and braid hair.

We have our own brand of awesome.

And everyone else can, well, suck it. 

6 days in Costa Rica and I came back with a new look at life.

I went 6 days without the internet (except for a 30 minutes I hopped on to check in with the hubby when I arrived and before I left), work, or television.

I went 6 days without much of anything but gallo pinto, rum,  and time.

Yep.  Nora and I didn’t do much of anything during our trip but relax and go with the flow.

We landed in San Jose at 9 a.m. on Thursday and we were at Calilu restaurant to wait for our shuttle by 10 a.m. The shuttle to take us to Playa Conchal was to pick us up at 3 p.m.  We sat and ate, made a new friend with a Canadian girl, learned to play Gin Rummy, and watched the rain fall.

Our driver was awesome and we learned the meaning of “Pura Vida”–pure life–or pretty much the answer for anything in Costa Rica: excellent, fantastic, I’m well, etc.  Our Canadian friend ended up saying good bye to us as “Puta Vida” and “Puerto Vida” after another 5 hours in the van.  LOL.

Having gotten into our room at the all-inclusive Paradisus Playa Conchal at 8 p.m. that night, we called for room service and cracked open in-room Imperial beers and called it a night.

The next few days was pretty much this: wake up at 8, done with breakfast by 9, and sit out by the pool or swim up to the bar for the rest of the morning.

We explored the hotel’s golf course on Friday, looking for the howling monkeys, bought our postcards, hit the beach, and had a wine tasting class, tasting house wines…meh.  Dinner with the Bride and Groom and friends, gambled a bit at the tiny little “casino”, and more drinking with the Groom and his friends.

On Saturday, we were in the swim up bar with the boys until all of us had to get get ready for the wedding.  The beautiful sunset ceremony on the beach north of the hotel was awesome and we didn’t get rained on, which was a HUGE blessing.  A casual reception followed.  Afterward the boys went back to continue drinking in their room and the girls ended up at the pool.  I didn’t go with either party but the late night downpour sent all the girls running in the middle of the night from what I heard. LOL.

Sunday morning came, we squeezed in our morning routine before packing up and checked out at noon.  At 2 p.m. we were once again on the shuttle, heading back to San Jose.  At 7: 30 p.m. we got out of the van in Escazu, just west of San Jose.  My friend Richard picked us up and took us back to his farm in Alajuela, just north of San Jose.

Richard was a chaperone (“Leader”) of his Costa Rican delegation of 4 11-year-old kids to the international camp in Australia I also went to back in 1989.  We have managed to keep in touch these 20 years and here we were, sleeping in his living room in Costa Rica.  Who woulda thunk!

Richard took us through the windy roads of Alajuela and up to Poas volcano.  We hiked up to see the crater but got the San Francisco treatment: nothing but fog.  He then treated us to Costa Rican lunch and ice cream at Pops, the Costa Rican version of Baskin Robbins essentially, and a quick tour through Alajuela town center.  Now, THAT is a contrast from our 3 nights at a touristy, vanilla all-inclusive.  We got to really see the country and the people!  Nora and I whipped up dinner at the end of the afternoon of watching thunderstorm rolled in over the farm, and capped off the day with Richard’s favoriate movie “Across the Universe”.  All three of us are Beatles fans so that was quite awesome.

Our last day in town, Richard dropped us off in Downtown San Jose to explore.  We dragged our feet through the Precolumbian Gold Museum, lingered over our lunch at the Gran Costa Rica Hotel, and explored the mini souvenir mall.  We took the cab back to Richard’s office and he drove us half way to the airport, fetched us a cab, and we said our goodbyes.  A few more hours of waiting at the airport and Nora and I were on our way home.

We didn’t do a lot. We didn’t have excursions planned. We didn’t zipline.

But we did enjoy our downtime.

With all I had on my hand was time,I’ve learned to relax for the first time in a long time.  I’ve learned to let things go and enjoy the moment. I’ve learned that I can still walk away from work a little and that I can’t let it consume me like I have been.

My shoulders haven’t been up to my ears since I got back as my normal life’s stuff starts circling me.

I’m slowly getting back on the internet life, catching up with duties left behind, and clearing out the DVR.

But the zen of Costa Rica is still with me.

And I’m going to keep up with it the best I can.

Here are the pics. Enjoy!

Ideas worth spreading = Spirit of TED.

TED conference is where the brightest minds came together to share their ideas.  I’ve heard of the event last year for the first time, and have been wanting to attend ever since.

And I finally got to do it this past week at TEDxUSC, an independently organized event hosted by USC.

In a small world, Amy G told me about her friend who were going to TED who turned out to know @FStop23.  As a matter of fact, dude was the one who told @Fstop23 about the conference, who then reminded me to apply for the invitation. I, then, in turn, told my friend Janetta about it.  The next thing we knew, our little posse worked out a great deal.  @Fstop23′s gang, having a more flexible schedule than the rest of us, secured our seats in Bovard Auditorium.  (5th row from the stage, better than my CEO’s seat, no less.  Not too shabby there, gang!)  I showed up with lunch for one of the gang and snacks in hand.

We’re talking innovation here, so I baked Pim’s The Morning After Banana Bread in muffin form. Ah, the glorious blend of bananas, espresso, and Jameson!  Not only I got to feed my little crew, I offered some to the people sitting nearby and some random students as well.

See? Ideas AND muffins worth sharing!

Anyways. TEDxUSC’s format was mostly live speakers with a few videos of  TED presentations, USC student films, and musical performances.

My mind was blown.

So much energy in the place. And so positive!  Bovard auditorium has never felt so large AND small all at the same time.  I mean, there’s so much more out there to know and to discover that you feel so tiny, but yet all the spirit of discoveries and innovation makes you feel larger in life, like you too can do ANYTHING.

Like Woodstock for the brainiacs.

Peace. And free ideas. Rock on, man.

I’m not going to recap everything from the event because they’ll post all of that up on TED website soon.  However, these are the ones that made an impact on me.

Daniel Seddiqui : “50 jobs in 50 states” in 50 weeks: “You make your own destiny,” he said.  Word.

Then we were in space with Dr. Nicholas Patrick, NASA astronaut. How your perception of everything changed when you’re in space. Like the value of letting go and holding on. One of the most intriguing things he said: You can see the [environmental] policies from space.  How the policies are affecting the earth.  We can’t see it down here but they can see it from up there.

And while in space, we explored a little further with Paul Frommer, the creator of the Na’vi language for Avatar. Instead of discussing the language, he instead introduced us to how to use Na’vi in romantic situations. Didn’t see that one coming, did ya?

The video of Temple Grandin’s presentation at earlier TED conference was very fascinating.  “She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids,” says the description.  Ms. Grandin herself said that the world needs all kinds of minds.   And the mentors are essentials in bringing in more great minds.  Funny how in WIRED magazine a few months ago, Thokil Sonne advocates for the same thing for the 12 shocking ideas that could change the world.

Michael Yap, CEO at the Media Development Authority of Singapore, talked about new media in sharing experience. The whole putting another billion people online is one thing.  But then he showed a video of a “Food Lab” which has sensors in your ladle and in your pot, which transmits to the other pot and ladle so you can learn to cook, knowing exactly how much force you need to stir a pot at what temperature.  I’m not alone in thinking that it was a little creepy of a way to learn to cook.

Food should be something personal.  Look at all the processed foods out of the factories, they’re nothing like a home cooked or even restaurant meal.  Human element is needed to make food good.  Oh yeah, I’m off on a foodie tangent there for a bit.  But see? Wouldn’t have stopped to think about how I or we learn to cook and what food really means until Michael showed us that.

Then there’s a sit-down chat wiht Jeb Corliss, the Human Bird.  Dude puts on a flying squirrel suit and jumps off planes.  He said it’s not because he has no fear but that he harnesses the power of his fear into training and meticulous planning of every tiny little steps to ensure that everything goes right. If you do that enough, you have nothing to fear.  While I can understand what he’s saying, I still think dude’s fucking nuts. And awesome.

And of course, Al Seckel.  At this point, we’ve been in the auditorium for 4 hours now. And then Al came in and fucked with all of our brains with his sensory and visual illusions.  It started with all these crazy visual stuff then it was also audio.  You know, Stairways to Heaven going backward on its own was mumbo jumbo but when you look at the “hidden lyrics” while you listen, suddenly you hear every word that wasn’t there.  But all of that comes down to how your perception was formed (by the age of 8 thereabouts) and what we think we believe in.  Total trip.

We closed with the behind-the-scene of OK Go’s Rube Goldberg music video with Adam Sadowsky of Syyn Labs himself with a video intro from the band. (Tricked me. For a second I thought OK Go was REALLY behind the curtains!  Boo on you, Adam!)

Like that wasn’t enough. There was an interactive reception afterward with “toys” you can play with like interactive physical therapy game that needs you to move to accomplish the task–a gentler Wii, if you will–and then there’s this laser thing that traces your image and projects it onto a wall (look at Janetta below playing with her laser shadow), and some models showing off wearable arts by Psycho Girlfriend like a dress made out of plastic tubings or pool foam “noodles”.

Now, at the reception.

<rant>

Us paid customers to TEDxUSC got red badges and no wrist band.  I’m assuming that they too assumed we were all of age.  Students in attendance were carded and given wristbands if they are over 21.

It is a blessing and a curse of looking like a college student even though I graduated from that very same college 10 years ago.  The bartender wouldn’t serve me. because I had no wristband.  I told him we red badgers didn’t get one so here’s my ID.  He refused to check my ID and brushed me completely aside.

Look, motherfucker, if I was an underage trying to get a drink, would I BEG you to check my ID!?  I PAID to be here at this event and have been in the fucking auditorium for 6 fucking hours. AND YOU WON’T SERVE ME MY MOTHER FUCKING WINE?!?!

Yep. I almost went Woodstock 1999 on his ass.

I found another bartender who listened to my situation, kindly looked at my red badge, and checked my ID.  Wine was served with a smile AND an apology for inconvenience.

The kicker?  I went back to the motherfucker who refused service earlier with my empty plastic cup of red wine and asked for a refill. “Of course, miss.  Here you go.”  Not event asking for that godforsaken wristband he couldn’t live without a half hour ago.  Whatever.

</rant>

Despite the ID incident, the event was great.  Our little gang had a great time.

I ran into someone I know during the break.  I asked how he was liking the event.  He said that he didn’t understand why the program should be interrupted by music and student films.  And he thought not all speakers were worthy because they weren’t all innovation that are practical.  What’s with that human bird guy or that autistic lady?  A kid with looping electric violin?  Really?  For business executives like him, he said, he felt like he was cheated out of his precious time to spent 2 out of the 6 hours with what he considered nonsense instead of finding out more about cutting edge innovation.

My friend Janetta just looked at him and said, “You’re not at the right conference then.  That’s not what TED is about.”

He just blinked at her.

Down with the Man, man.

Breakfast:

• My Starbucks treat: decaf tall Americano with caramel sauce.
• Leftover plantano frito con frijoles y crema–fried plantains with beans and sour cream–from my Friday’s foray into Salvadorian cuisine. Ahhh…Sarita’s Pupusaria at the Grand Central Market!

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Lunch:

• Mendocino Farms’ Vegetarian BLT.  Yes, you read that right. It has vegetarian “bacon” and pepper jack cheese. And it was wonderful.  You read that right. This bacon fiend actually enjoyed the vegetarian “bacon”!  Then again, I was eating int the sun in line outside of USC’s Bovard Auditorium. It’s like being home again.  Everything tasted better!
• A handful of blueberries

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Dinner:

• A few glasses of wine at TEDxUSC reception and a few noshes, a little cheese quiche and a blue cheese & grapes egg roll.
• Came home and made The Minor Elvis: a grilled peanut butter, banana, and honey on 9-grain toasts.  The real Elvis has bacon in it…

.

Satisfactory level: Very satisfied. Again, the surprise that was the vegetarian “bacon”.  It looks horrifying but it tastes like a less salty, not so greasy, crispy fatty part of the real thing.  I would eat that again. And I’d even put it in the Veggie Elvis!

Thoughts: Holy crap. I ate a lot of carbs this week…

Saturday I spent the morning with my hubby cruising down to San Pedro for a feast that is breakfast at Gaffey Street Diner.  The rest of the day I spent baking, mostly.

That night, the hubby set me loose to party with my Twitter crew.

We threw an early birthday party for @always_blond at @fstop23′s place.  The ever gracious host didn’t call off the party when he heard that his daughter-in-law had gone into labor earlier in the day.  However, we had contingency plan as to where the key is and what we were to do if he had to run off to the hospital to hold his first grandchild.

All the usual suspects were there: @macabrephoto, @sendchocolate, @vbesack, @joncruz and @dananner who brought her daughter.  We also met @kerbehr and @hankito for the first time and I hope we didn’t scare them off…too much.  @phraktyl and @phraklet made an appearance after a long absence.  Finally, a surprise drop in from @anaperiodista completed the crew.

In the middle of all of the party, of course, @fstop23 suddenly yelled out, “Sophie’s here!!”

The condo exploded in squeals and applause.

I had made a promise to @fstop23′s daughter-in-law, who adores the Nigella’s Guinness Chocolate Cake recipe I make, that she would get her own cake once the baby’s here.  So I came to the party with one cake for the birthday girl, and a small one to be delivered to the new mama.

“@fstop23, take the cake!” I called out after him as he was grabbing his keys.

“Oakley, she just gave birth. I don’t think she’d want to eat anything right at this moment…” He didn’t even get to finish that sentence.

Almost every woman in the place is a mother. They weren’t going to let him leave the condo without the cake.  And some plastic utensils.

“She hasn’t eaten anything since she’s gone into labor. She KNOWS you’re here with your friends and the cake. AND you’re going back out there without the cake?!  Are you fucking kidding me?!” That’s pretty much the general chatter.

He sent a picture back to us a while later of the mama holding the baby. A hospital bed table in front of her, on it was the cake–with a fork stuck out and a good chunk of missing.

Great time was had by all that evening as we rocked out to Rock Band.  @phraklet singing Eye of the Tiger was adorable. @macabrephotog posting the pictures of our butts on the internet–whoever stood in front of him during Rock Band–wasn’t quite as adorable but funny as hell.  And here’s a payback…

What a night, indeed!

Easter Sunday usually is just another Sunday for us. But this year we were invited to have dinner with Amy.  I have just visited with Amy last month but Brandon hasn’t seen her in a couple of years.  The mister doesn’t like to drive up to Los Angeles that much so once in a blue moon he’d do the honor.

We missed the earthquake on our way there.  Amy and her niece filled us in on the action while Kaya, the golden retriever, showered us with love. We also made a new friend with Jenni who arrived a while later and we all hung out and chat and drank wine while waiting for the roast.

And the what a roast that was!  I’ve always known Amy is an awesome cook.  But hot dang it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten her cooking.

Besides, it’s kind of nice to eat someone else’s cooking instead of my own once in a while.

The weekend wrapped up with a surprise message.

My high school friend and former BFF Jen has finally joined the Facebook.

Another point for social media.

And here’s to new friends, old friends, good friends, and 4-legged friend!

Then again, it’s easy to do when you have a restaurant downstairs selling awesome vegetarian/vegan sandwiches at lunch time.

Breakfast:

• The usual coffee treat from Starbucks
• Fage yogurt with peach puree. Yum!!

.

Lunch:

• Half of the French Onion Soup Melt sandwich from Mendocino Farms.  Grilled onion on melty aged gruyere on pretzel roll.
• Organic tropical iced tea
• A nice dose of sunshine
• Afternoon snack: crackers and a big spoonful of whipped cream cheese.

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Dinner:

• Trader Joe’s frozen entree of paneer masala and spinach rice.

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Satisfactory level: So so.  Well, the breakfast wasn’t all that substantial and the lunch, although nice, was a little bit on the light side.  It also didn’t help that I was cutting up 7 lbs. of meat to make the St. Patrick’s Day Guinness Beef Stew when I’d usually be cooking dinner either.  LOL.

Thoughts: Like I said, it’s becoming more natural and less of an obligation.  I was VERY tempted to drink while I cook dinner but I did very good.  Then again, knowing that I’d be indulging the following day is a pretty good motivation.

**

Oh yeah, St. Patty’s day at my house was off the hook.  We have a full house this year with my friends and Twitter gang.  Lots of food but not a lot of booze consumed.  Well, you know, it’s in the middle of the week after all.  But we managed to have a few Irish car bombs thrown about.

I had two. And was still standing at the end of the night. Yey me, the wayward alcoholic!

I don’t know why nobody has pointed out before, but my Twitter/blogger friend Dave Conrey called me a Thai-rish.

Kiss me, I’m Thai-rish!   LOL.

He said he’s going to make a t-shirt out of that.  I’m still waitin’, Dave!

**

The week of fun-ness to balance out the crazy work week continues tomorrow as Brandon and I will go on a little romantic getaway to Sunset Strip for the night.

Why?

Well, you’ll have to tune back in later to find out about that now, won’t you?

I have been to many weddings: a full mass in beautiful cathedral and Christian-light ceremony which I really don’t mind.  I’ve been to the  we-made-our-own-tradition, and this-ain’t-about-God/gods ones, and those are usually quite fun.

But this one totally takes the Holy Roller cake.

It’s a little bit frightening when every sentence of the introduction of the ceremony had either God or Jesus Christ in it. And then realized that most of the people there were from the bride and groom’s respective churches.

The speech about marriage being a union of a man and a woman as intended by God, now that I came to expect.  I remembered going to a Catholic wedding once with my gay “fiance” Cheech as my date. (Hey, Cheech did say if Brandon wasn’t going to marry me, he would do it just so I didn’t have to leave the country. So yeah, he was my gay fiance! Haha!)  We were late so we were in the back of the church anyway, but when it got to the man and woman part, we were rolling our eyes and stifling our giggles in the back.

Here, I rolled my eyes to myself and softly “pssshh”.  In hindsight, the folks I heard singing the hymn behind me later on probably were damning me to hell the entire time I made side comments like that.

Especially during the submissive wife section of the speech.

I thought for a second I had traveled back through time. It was said at least 3 times that the wife is made out of the husband, and must be submissive to him and follow him.  He is to follow Jesus and she is to follow him.  He may not understand you or anger you, but you should listen because he is your husband and you have to trust that he is right.

Did the wind blow so hard we landed in 1910?  I wasn’t really sure.  Until the kid next to me stared playing with his iPhone out of boredom.

To each, his/her own flavor, I understand it and respect it.

Another friends’ wedding was the complete opposite to this one.  Theirs was a spiritual union. They mentioned that love is for all and marriage is for all as well.  That the couple would listen to each other and be supportive of each other’s choices.  Perhaps those on the other side of the gay marriage fence would be offended by someone turning their wedding into a bit of a political soap box.  Well, that’s how I feel about getting Jesus preached at.

But, man, having to sit on a windy and chilly rooftop for one-hour while getting Jesus beating into me totally gave me a glimpse into what my personal hell would look like.

This lovely heavy-handed Christian flavor also continued through the reception which is, you might have already guessed, a dry one.

Thank GOD the bar was only a few steps away.  I kept running into the bride’s cousins there.  LOL.

However, the redemption came with the Chinese banquet.

11 fucking courses of fantastic Chinese food, y’all.

There were only 8 of us at the table up through Course 4 before 2 of them left.  We did pretty good considering one of the friends doesn’t eat seafood.

1. Appetizers, and there were five: roasted duck, jelly fish salad, seaweed salad, marinaded tofu and mushrooms, barbecued pork, and sliced beef.
2. Honey walnut shrimp
3. Scallops, snow peas, carrots
4. This green soup with seafood bits in it.  Funny part is I asked the waiter what soup it is. He said it’s vegetarian. Me: Oh, ok…wait is that shrimp? Him: Yes. Me: Er…ok…
5. Beef and asparagus sauteed in some wonderful sauce and served in this crispy noodle bowl.  Our friend Ed called in “Poetry on a Plate”.
6. Wonderfully crispy skin fried roast chicken with wonderfully moised meat, served with shrimp crackers.
7. Abalone with bok choy and shitake mushrooms.
8. Steamed whole fish with ginger and other spices. De-boned whole at the table. It was pretty cool.  Sweet, sweet fish. So very tasty.
9. Egg fried rice with whatever was left in it: a little barbecued pork, some shrimps, some scallops, some chicken.
10. Mango pudding.  Lovely, not too sweet little cups of heaven.
11. Cake: you either get chocolate cake with whipped cream filling or yellow cake with strawberry cream.

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The holy rolling ceremony may have turned me off.  But the food definitely got me thanking the Lord!

And I’m also thanking God to have blessed me with the diversity in my group of friends.  So far, nobody kills anybody over their political or religious believes.

Not yet.

There have also been changes at my work.  We have created a new department which roped my marketing team of 2 in with 2 other departments to pursue new directions.  The new Boss Man is first a friend.  Much like my relationship with my boss Nhien, because we are friends first, communications are open in both directions.  It makes for very successful partnership I think, but yet also frustrating.  You see, the new department is like new found toy.  There are constantly “Oooh! I want to do THIS!” and “Yeah, let’s do THAT!” which tend to throw a wrench at both us and another department.

The perfect analogy for my current work situation, which my colleagues agreed on, is that the New Department is like a box of marbles spilled across the floor.  Your day-to-day responsibility is like the door you’re trying to reach.  You want to get to the door but you keep tripping on the marbles and falling down.  You pick up the marble and put it back in the box and keep going toward the door but there will be another marble to trip you up.  You eventually get to the door but you’re now all banged up. AND you’re late.  Eventually, we will all learn to navigate the marbles and manage to pick them all up AND get to the door gracefully.  In the meantime, put on your helmet, kids–it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Now, the Big Event just wrapped up without much of  hitch on Wednesday.  So a huge weight has been lifted but yet more are on the way.  In all of this, I’m trying to squeeze in an hour here and there to study Italian.  I’ve been neglecting homework because I thought I can totally do this without much help, but every week I fall further and further behind.  I’m realizing the reason why I struggle so much with it is because I’m learning a third language on my second language.

To use Hugh Laurie’s analogy of going to the set of House being the only one who has to add an accent, it’s like going to a battle with a fish when everyone else has a sword.  Almost everyone in class is a native English speaker.  Most also speak Spanish even a little bit.  I’m there with Thai being my native tongue and here I am learning a new language on my second language.  My head is translating it front and back and left and right before I come to some conclusions.  However, the benefit of my Thai tongue is that I can roll the R’s and sound the hard T’s better than anyone.

So here I am, trying to be a better student and put in some homework time.  On top of that, I still have to find time to cook–which, sadly, I’ve been able to do strictly on the weekends, to keep the blogs up to date, and to wrap up my tax paperwork.  Hey, at least the office is in order now.  I just have to comb through the pre-sorted bill and reconcile everything.

Oh, and today I had Italian class in the morning, was supposed to be at a salsa workshop at noon, bake a cake, then off to a baby shower at 4 and a birthday dinner at 7.  Thankfully the last 2 parties are at the same place.

At this level, I thought for sure I would go down with a cold after the Big Event.  I ended up with massive allergies starting at the event.  My stomach has been warring with me pretty much for 2 weeks.  And then my back decided to throw a coup as I was having a nice relaxing dinner with Brandon.

It’s like my brain knows of the maddening schedule I have ahead of me today.  So last night on behalf of the entire body, my back muscles decided to throw a tantrum and seized up.

So, no salsa today.  And up until now, I’ve been laying flat on the couch, nursing the stout left in the bottle from making my chocolate Guinness cake with some Ibuprofen.

I don’t know if having been a better eater helps stemmed the physical meltdown I usually have after a stressful period of time.  You know, my usual 24 hour of low fever and energy zap?  Not happening this time.  So the body just went for the most recent injury, my back, and uses THAT to punish me.

Well, I’m soldiering on anyway.  At least tomorrow all I have to do is type up notes for Thrill the World and go to the meeting at 7 p.m.

But then there’s the farmers market I want to get to, dinner I want to make, and the paperwork…FUCKIN’ PAPERWORK!!!

*sigh*

So, how is your week/weekend?

• Ritz crackers with cream cheese
• A mug of Ecchaenacea Defense tea with honey

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Lunch

• A few bites of brown rice and garlic tofu with vegetables from Pick Up Stix before the fire alarm went off in the building.  I came back and just ate the tofu about half an hour later.  Mother fuckers on the 33rd floor really need to get fined for all their burnt popcorn, I swear to god.
• One of my home made dark chocolate covered–are you ready?–Not Quite Nigella’s recipe of salted maple honey bacon caramel.  A failed experiment, the caramel did not set but I found another delivery vessel that works perfectly.  Hehee.

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Dinner

• Garlic mashed potatoes with cheese and green onion, mac and cheese, sauteed vegetables and a little bit of a salad.  All the sides I ordered for our barbecue family pack from Maderas Steak & Ribs.  Everyone else was having baby back ribs and chicken.
• Lots. Of. Wine. 3 kinds to be exact.  Amount consumed among 3 ladies and one taster comes down to one full bottle and half each of the other two.  It was a Fresh & Easy twitter tasting party.

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Satisfaction level: Pretty high.  Breakfast and lunch were both interrupted so I got hungry here and there.  And PISSED off.  But oddly enough, I didn’t crave meat like I did last week.  However, dinner was very, VERY satisfying.

Thoughts: This week seems effortless.  And less junky.  LOL.  And I’m very happy about that.

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MORE on the fantastic all-girls wine tasting night here which was an awesome cap to each of our Day from Hell episodes.