I’m hoping the image will inspire me to feel super and, better yet, *BE* super.

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?

Travers and Schuester: Brothers?

One is a math genius. Other is a musical genius.

I can see a crossover episode, y’all! ;-D

Timothy Olyphant (Justified) : Michael Weatherly (NCIS) : Chris Pine (Star Trek…okay not TV, but movie based on TV show). They could play brothers. Hot, HOT band of brothers with awesome hair.

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!

On that note, the Boom has begun:

March 19: Zachary arrived a little early for J.C. & Erick and Big Brother Joshua.
March 24: Chloe arrived a little late for Aurora & James and Big Brother Dresden.
March 25: Conor arrived on cue for Irena & Danny, first time parents!

Next up…

April 17: a girl, first for Lynda & Sean
May 27: a girl, first for Olaina & Justin
July 3: Eva & Ricky’s 3rd.
Mid July: Brenda & Jon’s first baby.
September: Doe & Wyatt, first baby for the couple, a new sibling for Big Brother Eli.

Tabatha from Tabatha’s Salon Takeover :: A Na’vi

I mean…really.

*

2009 Awards

Drinking Buddy of the Year: Brandon, actually. Surprise!  The mister doesn’t usually party down, but he has taken up a beer here and there this past year, a stressful one for his work.  So we had gone out for a beer together more than the year before.  Cheers to you, honey bunny!

Bar of the Year: Hennessey’s Tavern and Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach. These two places never fail to deliver cold pints and some great eats.  They’re our go-to places when we want to run away from the daily life for a little while.

Sorry to disappoint y’all with the lack of Downtown LA’s bar feature this time around.  I haven’t partied in town much at all.  Climate change around the office will affect your happy hour weather, I tell ya.

Newcomer Award: Twitter Gang. I have grown to love folks I met at Tweet Ups especially @dananner, @anaperiodista, @fstop23, @davidmoyle, @sendchocolate, @joncruz, @vbesack, and the disappearing @phraktyl.  We went shooting pictures.  We played Rock Band.  We got drunk.  We had overall great times on and off line.  Great year to make new friends!

High Point of the Year: Watch Thrill the World Los Angeles became the awesome success. From mere 100 last year grown into the thousands. It still blows my mind.

Low Point of the Year: The Christmas Flu and USC Football Rebuilding Year. Yep. Suckage.

Best Holiday: Halloween…again. I mean, prancing through Pine Street as Zombie Princess Leia, rocked that stage with my awesome crew of zombies?  Best. Halloween. EVER!

Song of 2009: Glee soundtracks. I mean, I can barely pin it down to just ONE song!  Almost everything from Glee I totally dig.  I’m especially partial to Somebody to Love, Don’t Rain on My Parade, Defying Gravity (the duet), No Air, Sweet Caroline (Can I get a hell-yeah from Team Puck?), and this one I can’t stop singing.  Lea Michele.  What a revelation!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7grQH0LbE

Movie of 2009: Avatar. I’m sorry, Star Trek and District 9!  You came sooo close!

Surprise Movie of 2009: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story – Rod Faifa Ma Ha Na Tuh – รถไฟฟ้า..มาหานะเธอ.  I’m soooo in love.

Restaurant of the Year: Bottega Louie. Great food and ambiance.  Totally a favorite place to run away from work to for a long lunch.  Okay it’s a little loud, but what an awesome place to be!  Affordable awesomeness.

Book of the Year: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Seriously. Go read that.

TV Show of the Year: Glee. Duh.

*

2009 Goals Tally:  6 out of 10…kind of.

1. FAIL – Explore Kung-fu.  HAH!  I did not.

2. FAIL – Drink more water.  Did okay for a couple of months before waking up to pee in the middle of the night got old.

3. FAIL -More guitar/piano/singing – at least twice a week.  I did try for once a month, but that didn’t happen since my office got so messy I can’t even get to the piano.

4. PARTIAL SUCCESS -Read more books – One book a month at least.  Actually did 10 out of 12.  Not too bad!

• Water for Elephants, Sarah Gruen – Love it.
• Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, Lynne Truss – Learned all sorts of new things.
• Watchmen, Alan Moore – The movie ending makes a hell of a lot more sense than the book I tell ya.
• Turn Coat: The Dresden Files Book 11, Jim Butcher – Always love Jim.  This is no exception.
• Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert – Definitely love the Eat/Pray part. I could do without the Bali experience.
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – Best. Book. EVER!
• Bad Things, Michael Marshall – I’m still scratching my head at that one. Whuh…?
• The Foodie Handbook, Pim Techamuanvivit – Totally enjoyable and awesome.  She takes gorgeous pictures.
• Heat Wave, “Richard Castle” – Totally a fun read for us Castle fans.

5. FAIL – Add yoga to the routine – at least once a week.  Not so much.  However, I ended up losing 6 lbs. from September through November with the Thriller work out and stress diet.  Haven’t gotten any of it back…yet.

6. SUCCESS – Take a language class.  Buongiorno! 

7. PARTIAL SUCCESS – Cook one new recipe a month.  I went with a few new ones in a month and then go without cooking for weeks.  But we did try new recipes.

8. SUCCESS – Fix them teeth.  5 more months!!!

9. SUCCESS – Fix them eyes. Well, I *did* decide on not getting LASIK done after extensive reserach and serious discussion with my optometrist.  There’s a 50/50 chance I would come out normal or my dry eyes are going to get more severe to a level that’ll become problematic.  I’ll stick with the glasses with that kind of odds, thanks.

10. SUCCESS – Keep up with whatever is working well.  Still a latte a week here.

Brandon was a complete trooper, escorting me up and down the street and once again played photographer and roadie to our rag tag team of zombies.

Obviously, I barely watched USC…and even more obviously, I had a bra on.

Sorry, team. My bad. Moo. Moo…

Sunday came easily. First Sunday with zero schedule. No Thriller. No meeting.

Holy shit.

I had no plan.

I took it in stride and parked on the couch for the first half of the day, picked myself up to go get a massage, took luxurious long shower, and went out to dine stress-free at James & Aurora’s.

A normal Sunday, I quit you for so long. It’s so good to have you back!

How was your weekend?

It took Brandon and I 7 years of marriage to figure out that we both like camping.  Away from the cars kind of camping.

We have been investing in our camping gear.  When we were shopping for a backpack, the staff mentioned that REI does have overnight backpacking classes and that we should check that out.

So we did.

This past Saturday and Sunday, we were in Mount San Jacinto State Park backpacking for the first time with 2 REI instructors, Greg and Michael, and 5 other newbies.  One is gearing up for a trip to Bhutan.  Two are day hikers, taking things further. One is a budding outdoorsman.  And one wants to learn to go camping in one pack instead of a carload.

Of all of these guys, we were the least in shape.  Brandon has activity-induced asthma. And I, like how I was telling everyone else, have a case of activity-induced wussy.

It was no surprise that I came in dead last everywhere we went.  However, it was definitely a surprise that I came in anywhere at all.

With 22 lbs. (10 kg) of pack on my back.

And just for perspective, that’s 1/5 of my body weight.

On Saturday morning, we all met early in Rancho Cucamonga REI for gear check at 7 a.m.  Bright eyed and bushy tailed, we quickly bonded over the fact that none of us, less one, had done this before.  We all had a chance to run amok the stores to be fitted with a pack or finding a tent to rent.  I traded in my rain jacket for a kid’s sized lined one and a pair of convertible pants/shorts cargo–both kids size.  We had some more talks and split up the foods, and then we were on the road to Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.

The tramway shot us straight up to 5,900 feet (about 1.8 km) from where we were.  Thank GOD for the Bonine I took earlier for the van ride from REI, I would’ve barfed on someone during the tramway ride.  Hahah!

We found ourselves a spot on the observation deck to battle with fearless squirrels have lunch.  Thankfully, I had the mind to put 2 containers of sun-dried tomato and roasted red pepper bruschettas into one of our gallon zip lock bag as they leaked all over the place.  After lunch, we repacked everything and double bagged said containers.  We came to find out later that one of lid had cracked on transit.

Then we hiked down what we have come to call the Switchback From Hell to the Ranger’s station to learn how to use our compass and maps and GPS units and to further acclimate ourselves with the altitude.

Everything reminded me of Brandon’s parents’ house in New Mexico with both the scenery and the thin air.  And I thought, oh yeah, if I could totally handle Red River, this altitude thing shouldn’t be too bad, I thought as I popped a few Aspirins to cope with the altitude.  (The Aspirin trick is a remedy Brandon’s folks always have us do before we started the drive up from Albuquerque.  It definitely helped stemmed the altitude headaches.)

The altitude kicked my ass like USC kicked San Jose State’s.  (Knew I was going to tie that in somewhere, didn’t ya?)

2 miles (3.2 km) to Round Valley with about 600 elevation gain. It doesn’t sound like a lot but with the terrain and the altitude and the 22 lbs. on my back, that was the longest 2 miles of my life.  Brandon and I brought up the rear with Instructor Michael behind us.  And then we had to go from Round Valley up another hill, I’m guessing half a mile, to our campsite.

This was where I hit that proverbial “wall”.  Marathoners, according to this guy here, hit that when their bodies literally used up everything its got.  In many cases it’s in our heads too, like in “Run Fatboy Run”.  And now I knew what that was like.

I wasn’t out of breath like I was earlier on the hike.  My legs just said no. Brain stopped thinking about the fact that the campsite was only just another 2 minutes away: it just didn’t want to me to go any more.  I told Brandon and Michael that I had hit the Wall and that I needed some time to get my brain in the right place again.  Seriously, I could see the top of the hill from where I stopped but I wasn’t going to go anywhere any more.

Without a word, Michael came over, took my sleeping pad off my pack, and continued his slow-and-steady pace up the hill.  That was all I needed to get me back on my feet and got the campsite.

The spot came highly recommended by the rangers and now we knew why.  The view at the site was beautiful, totally worth extra work.

We set up our tents and started in on dinner of pasta with pesto or bruschetta with chicken (chunks in pouches).  At this point the oil from the leaky tub was everywhere and onto everything.  Pretty much anything we touched food-wise at some point was oily and/or smelled like the bruschetta.

I took the liberty and named our little group the Bruschetta Brigade.

And they in turn named me Captain Crunch for unknowingly contaminated the pot of pasta when I used my sand-crusted gloves to break up the noodles. Whoops. Poor Stephanie and Pam got to eat that crunchy batch.

That night, the Brigade split up into two groups: the Summiteers who would actually summit San Jacinto Peak, and Team Tamarack who would do a mild day hike to Tamarack Valley and then clean up the camp for the Summiteers.

The following morning, Instructor Greg and 3 guys left a bit late on their schedule to summit San Jacinto.  Team Tamarack was all girls except for Brandon and Instructor Michael.  We cleaned up the “kitchen” and pretty much packed ourselves up except for a day pack for our little hike.  I was excited to be walking with just the camera. Photo ops, here I come!

Tamarack Valley was gorgeous. We even spotted some deer while we were out!  Michael packed us a lovely little lunch of hard cheese, tomatoes, and salami.  The Summiteers checked in on the radio and they were running about 2 hours behind, having left late this morning.  So we headed back to the site to finish up.  I was still a little winded going back to the site so that deflated me a bit.

So we packed up everything we can, and just as Michael was saying the boys weren’t going to make it back on time, I spotted the Summiteers coming up the hill.  I started cheering and the rest of Team Tamarack followed.  The Summiteers did so well!!

We helped everyone packed up the camp and got some group shots.  And down the hill we went.

I was feeling pretty good. My toes weren’t hurting all that much and I managed to not get too winded most of the time.  I really struggled with the weight going downhill.  Every step down was a little scary like I was going to tip over.

Everyone eventulaly went past me and Brandon, who was helping me down every steep step, except for Francis who injured his toes summiting, Kevin who wanted to actually look at some scenery on the way out, and, of course, the ever patient and encouraging Michael.

This little group did get to witness the marvel that is my agility when I slipped heading downhill.  Trying to gain my footing while balancing the weight on my back, I somehow ended up with two trekking poles firmly on the ground in front of me, facing up hill.  Zero biff.

I may not have the physical strength or stamina, but I am definitely plus 10 on biff avoidance.  That little maneuvering proved to be entertaining for all.

We re-grouped at the Ranger’s station where we first set off.  And off we went to attack the Switchback from Hell.

I was out of breath mid-way up the first ramp with Brandon in front of me.  Michael was once again right behind me.  He said gently to focus on the shadow of the rails cast on the path in front of me and to take VERY small steps.   I started my steps and I heard his trekking poles made the rhythmic clacks behind me.  Automatically, I tuned into the clacks and got in a pace.  I stopped for breaths at every bend.

Michael never once rushed me.  Just as he never did on the way in.  He waited patiently for me to get a hold of myself, physically and emotionally, and then get moving.

3 turns away. I hit another wall. This one was emotional.

My feet were still going.  I wasn’t in pain or anything but my heart was fluttering and my eyes were tearing up.  I felt like I either have to start crying or throw up, one of the two.  I did neither and I finally got to the station where everyone was waiting for me.

I tossed my pack and sat down to catch my breath.  I couldn’t catch one and started coughing.  A blessing in disguise really.  I was actually crying by that point but I claimed that the heavy coughing got me teared up.

In total, at least what I think I did, the distance I covered doesn’t sound very impressive: round trip (to/from camp and to/from Tamarack Valley) of about 8 miles (13 km).  But there’s the 700 feet (213 m) in elevation gain in all of this and with only 2 hours to adjust to the altitude when we started out plus the weight of the pack on your back, that there was a true butt kicker especially for those like me who are pathetically out of shape.

All in all, I did it. All 22 lbs. of it.  All 8 miles and 700 feet of it.

On my own two feet.

This is probably the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life so far.