SO CUTE DRAGON!!!!!

Today was a good day! I woke to a really funny text from Alex about firreeahh. LOL. And work wasn't bad at all... and then I went to dinner with my family at O Izakaya.. and finally I went on a movie date with Charles! We watched HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and it was SOOOO GOOD!

Probably in the top 3 best animated movies I've seen thus far! I was smiling a mile wide, and the tears of joy were definitely flowing. Awh... Toothless is so cute :) I WANT A DRAGON!!!


But since I can't have a dragon, I'll get golf clubs! I decided to hold off on getting a gun at least for now. It was a tough choice but I'd get more use out of clubs. After all, I did go to the driving range by myself on Tuesday night! Bo helped me figure out what I need. I just need to pull the trigger, after I get my furniture! =) Change and new toys.. I like the way this sounds...

A Mad World

This post is comprised of two parts: 1) a brief recap, and 2) a reflection of my thoughts on humanity. Let's begin -

Thursday was V's b-day; we started HH at Moussey's and then all went to Trigger. Good company and great laughs. Friday was a quiet night in, to prepare for Saturday which was a busy day at work and then a potluck at Gary's immediately after. Again, good company, delicious food, and ridiculous conversation. The party continued at Mayes on Polk. Stalone's b-day at Brian's is where my night ended. I'm getting too old for the momentous partying.

Today, went to San Mateo for lunch, but ended up at Santoukka in San Jose because Santa Ramen was closed. Dawdled at Kinokuniya after, and was inspired to take up "felting". Proceeded to Joann's to no avail - apparently there are no craft kits for felting. Ended up at Ikea in Emeryville initially looking for curtains, and winding up with a stalk of bamboo in a vase, a toolkit, and a list of furniture to go back for. LOTS of ground covered on a funday Sunday, and many curiosities explored. I am now determined to re-furnish my room and fully utilize the air-space which I have left unappreciated for so long.

Okay, now the main course. I just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird and, while I'll be the first to admit that this is a slow-moving text, I cannot deny that this novel is and always will be a classic. In the beginning, I understood the author's use of a child's perspective as a tool for framing the unspoken rules of goodness, equality, and morality. By the end, I realized that by viewing racism and prejudice through the eyes of a child and then have her innocent self become a victim of a malicious and vindictive attack, the author just pulls the thin sheet back and lets true human nature rear its ugly head.

This book does a fantastic job portraying the hypocrisy, ignorance, insensitivity, and bold-faced idiocy of racism. And the worst part is - in a general sense, I still see these same faults in the people around me as well as hints of them in myself. We may not be as openly racist now as we once were, but we've still got ways to go. How many times have you let an inappropriate remark go without speaking up or bothering to give a damn? I know I've had my share of experiences. The conclusion of the novel makes me angry, but in the end it all came full-circle. I'm glad I read this text, and I will try my best to be a wholesome and fair person not just most of the time, but ALL of the time. /rant

Burn Sh*t to the Ground

So the retail therapy fail continues. I went to City Arms this morning with my brother, hoping to bring home a new toy. But alas - I didn't fall in love with anything. I guess I'll hold off until I really know what I want to buy. Golf clubs may be next?

After work I had a gym fail. I went to both Montgomery and Van Ness 24s and couldn't find parking for the life of me! I guess I wasn't meant to work out today. Yeah, that's it. I didn't mind though, I like driving around in nice weather.

I finished up with 30 Rock so I watched The Proposal, and bawled. I think it's fascinating that I can identify with such a silly comedic movie like The Proposal but I couldn't shed a tear during Precious or Milk. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

Funday Monday

I went to Union City today expecting to bring home a new toy. Unfortunately, we couldn't agree on a price for the condition of the bike. SUPER BUMMER!

But the rest of the day got better! We switched the battery out of J's bike and got it running again - Ducatis have this ridiculous battery-under-tank configuration that requires two people. When he didn't need my help anymore, I was practicing my golf swing on his lawn until I started taking out HUGE CHUNKS of grass LOL. I proceeded to steal lemons from his lemon tree, until I got jabbed by a thorn which made HIVE BUMPS on my arm!! Ah, the trouble I get into when left to my own devices...

We went to the driving range after, and I'm making GREAT progress with my swing! I can actually control the direction of the ball now and I'm getting better at gauging distance. The sound of the club hitting the ball CORRECTLY is like sweet sweet music to my ears. I'm VERY excited with this development.

Rollercoaster Sunday

Today started out fantastic! I had a really long date with Menie, which began with eating Vietnamese sandwiches at the koi pond in Central Park! It was really nice and peaceful, gorgeous weather of course.

Then we went back to Menie's and read together for a bit before watching the Sharks game. She also gave me a makeover with her fancy airbrush makeup machine. This is what I'd look like if I wasn't so pale: (I'd have orange cheeks LOL)

I ate dinner with her parents and it was one of those "why don't you speak Chinese" conversations, except this was probably the best one yet lol. They were actually REALLY awesome despite the language barrier. After dinner we watched Precious and ate kettle corn. She also served me wine, and dimmed the lights. BEST DATE EVER! The movie was really moving, and very touching. We also watched Why Did I Get Married - more Black drama. We had a midnight meal and then I went home.

AND THEN -- SECOND SCARIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!! I was a few blocks away from home, driving through the projects and I stopped at a stop sign. I started driving through the intersection and a skateboarder donned all in black flies through the crosswalk, hits my car, and then somersaults over the front. I'm sitting there thinking: OMG, I'M FUCKED. I park and roll down the window as the girl is getting up. And I'm asking her OMG ARE YOU OKAY?? And she's like yeah, I think I'm okay. And then I'm like, ARE YOU SURE? ARE YOU HURT? And she's like, no I think I'm okay but this was my new skateboard - do you have any money? And at this moment, a patrol car pulls up (told you we were in the projects) and hears her last sentence. So he asks her, WHY ARE YOU ASKING FOR MONEY? And the girl says, I was just joking! So the cop tells me to leave, and that they will take care of it.

Here I am, scam or not, ever so grateful that I've got a dented car instead of a lawsuit on my hands. I don't understand exactly what happened, but hey - I'll take it, appreciate it, and pay it forward.

Recent Developments

So as it turns out, my first experience with golf was a stroke of beginner's luck. I went to the driving range Monday night, and realized that I've got a lot of work to do on my swing! BUT NO I AM NOT DISCOURAGED, I *WILL* KEEP TRYING =)

Last night I was also invited to join Yelp Elite. Yes, I know that Yelp is known for extorting money from businesses and I've heard the expression "White whine", but somehow I still feel.. special. Whoever thought of this Elite thing is a genius. So yeah, now I'm Elite. What's up beezies!!

This morning at my eye appointment, I was asked by both the optometry tech, and the ophthalmologist if I was there for color contacts... so I guess that means that I once had really, ridiculously, good-looking vision. Now I just have regular vision... that freaks me out. I'm glad that my vision is still considered "good" but I want it to be the way it was before!!!!!!!

I'm currently reading To Kill A Mockingbird, and I'm surprised I hadn't read it in my school curriculum, ever. I can see why it's a classic, I love the way the author portrays the innocence of youth and how the main family represents everything atypical of the times (politically, morally).

Today I also passed my Handgun Safety Test - finally! And then I went to the gym. Next I've got to do some research on handguns, and get in shape for Bay to Breakers! Also, ordering contacts tonight! I hope they restore my vision to what it used to be.

The Top of the World, with Don Geiss

A disturbing dream, in which I was two characters at once. I woke up in a cold sweat, and am so very confused...

There was a young girl, who fell in love with Don Geiss (the founder and CEO of NBC from 30 Rock). Except, this Don was a disheveled and lonely Don. He was a broken man with all the riches in the world and no one to share them with. He found joy in spending time with this young girl, who reminded him so much of the daughter he had once lost. He told her stories of his travels, his business, his legacy. He relived the past through the present in conversation with her. She was his last morsel of happiness. There was just so much pain in his soul.

They sat on the steps of a plaza on an uppermost level of a high rise building (do those exist?). The sun was setting on the horizon and it was warm despite the light breezes. The conversation paused, and she leaned back on the step and gazed happily along the outline of the buildings against the orange sky. He smiled upon her, and then his smile faded away as he saw the sparkle in her eyes when she turned to look at him.

The girl didn't see the pain in Don's soul. Rather, through her naivety, she saw the success and power, and the envy of others around Don. She saw a man who gave her undivided attention when he gave attention to no others. She saw the gifts, the elegant diction, the impressive suits, and the authority. She sat up there on the rooftop, completely satisfied to be in the presence of a man so exclusive to her.

There was also a man in the corner of her eye, slightly above herself and Don, who seemed to be watching the sunset too. He was a well-dressed man, in a suit, but the angle made it hard to tell who he was or what he was really doing. She returned her attention to Don, and she asked him to tell her more about his daughter. There was nothing she enjoyed more than hearing him speak. It didn't matter what he said, or how he said it, she adored every bit of anything he could say.

He looked off into the distance and the sun was beginning to disappear. She looked too, and suddenly, a shockingly cold breeze traveled through her. Just as she looked up, she saw the body of the man above fall into the loop of a noose. It bounced once, twice, and then hung motionless. She panicked, looked at Don, and screamed for him to LOOK! She screamed and screamed wildly, and he would not look. He kept his distanced gazed straight-ahead while she cried hysterically, until his face fell into his hands. He would not look.

The girl realizes the man was Don.

Reunion & Cheese!

Saturday night we went to Town Studio K for a pre-game sing-off, and then we headed to Circolo for Dane's birthday. Luckily I got a second wind (with the help of the COFFEE Bo brought me, thanks!!!) and ended up having a blast at both K and the club.

I saw lots of HS friends at Circolo and it felt like a high school reunion - not just Washington, but SO MANY people I used to hang out with, even those from other schools. It was an awesome feeling, to have both my old and new close friends to party with!

I put together a collage of pictures from the night. I didn't get to take pictures with everyone, so I threw in a picture of Menie from Thursday LOL. I also couldn't squeeze in a picture of Dom :( But this was my best try:


Today, I returned Julian's car and we went to get lunch at Hotei! Fabulous sushi, not-so-fabulous ramen. When I got home I couldn't watch the Sharks game so i went to Brian's to pick up Chad's BUZZ. Little did I know, I was only able to pick up the controllers (no game). GASP! I was so excited to play BUZZ... oh well. I met Menie at her house and we went to go pick up beer, but we ended up getting lots of yummy cheese and crackers for snacking, hehe. We also got grapes (WE GOT GRAPES!).

While getting gas near Bo's house, Menie gave a beggar some change and he told us to go to the beach. It was a bizarre moment. In response, she told him we would go to the beach tomorrow, and then it got even more bizarre. As we were pulling away simultaneously, a mini ferris wheel backed up and blocked our path. What the hell!!!! How random is that?

Anyway, we had a night of playing beer-pong, watching Hurt Locker, and snacks gaaaaaloooore at Bo's place in SJ. Fantastic end to a fantastic week. J'adore!

Hearts on Fire

Wednesday, I went to HH with Julian after work, and I found a pearl in my oyster!!! I'm keeping it in my wallet for good luck!

Thursday was HH at Olive, then the cursed Cow. Menie made my hair purty and curly. =) After the JITB run, I beat Kevin AND Andy at Pinata Party! Woot!


Today after work I went to Teatro Zinzanni! I really liked the show, but I think the food in September (Gypsy Moon) was better - tonight's show was titled Hearts on Fire. There was less storyline than Gypsy, but more of the impressive acrobatics. My favorite act was the hoop performance by the Ukrainian contortionist. She was gorgeous, graceful, and very entertaining.


Thelma Houston was one of the two lead-singers, and HER VOICE IS FREAKIN' AWESOME! I wasn't familiar with her before tonight, but she incorporated this song as part of the show:


During the show, a U.S. Marine (yes, in uniform) proposed to his girlfriend. How cute is that!! And our table had just discussed how her shirt-length mini dress and sky-high strappy heels made her look like she just fell off of a pole. Very cute though, and she totally said yes! Talk about "hearts on fire", I had a blast. I didn't get picked this time to participate, although JD did drag me up to the stage to dance. It wasn't bad at all though, Teatro Zinzanni is always such a good time!

Suppenkuch, and K.

Victor fixed my Silverlight, now my Netflix works again!! So last night I stayed up watching the rest of 30 Rock Season 2, and today I totally regretted it because I woke up exhausted. I still can't get over that Werewolf Bar Mitzvah skit, TOO FUNNY!

After work, I attended dinner at Suppenkuch which involved lots of delicious German food accompanied by tasty German beers served in ridiculous BOOTS!! We played the "7" drinking game again, and it got pretty bad. Pretty bad as in pretty funny to watch. I had a headache from lack of sleep so I elected myself DD.


Spontaneous karaoke party afterward, first at Encore and then we migrated to Fillmore K. For kicks we snuck a bottle of Crown in and I think we sang for about 4 hours. I thought I was going to go deaf because no one else wanted to turn the volume down!!! Was a great time, and my throat hurts now. I'm totally loving my new camera though. Pa-pa, Paparazzi!

Seafood Monday!

Today, Julian and I had lunch at Swan Oyster Depot and it was so fun! The staff there is really, genuinely, friendly and they've got all kinds of oysters - my fave! They also have clams there that are GOOD, my favorite were the "little necks". I never realized you could eat clams raw until today, I surely have been missing out.

After lunch, we met Menie and Victor downtown. We picked up coffee along the way and walked around a bit. I took a picture in Union Square pretending to be a tourist, LOL.


We stopped by at Straits in SF center and had dessert also! Then we shopped and headed back to my place to hang out for a bit. We went to Crustacean for dinner and the crab was awesome. Afterward, we went to Magnolia for drinks and I really enjoyed the beer there. We ended up ordering some more food and sitting around telling ghost stories. Menie started crying when she got spooked, and then I started tearing because she was crying. Being deeply empathetic is really awkward.

F'ing Taxes, F'ing Snails. LOL

Friday night I had dinner with Jon and Nick at Yan's. We stayed there for a few hours just hanging out and chatting - trying to plan the Vegas trip. It wasn't until then that I realized everyone else is coupled up. Boring! I'm rethinking the trip.

Saturday, I went to Carlos's birthday after work at Marlena's. The drag queen performances were pretty entertaining and the crowd was really friendly! I left around midnight and took a cab to Yoshi's where I met Dom and Bryant. I snuck in the re-entry door (hehe) and was surprised at how large and nice of a venue Yoshi's is! I had a pretty good time dancing.


Today I slept most of the day, and then Bo picked me up in the evening. We ended up not being able to find parking at 3 different places, so came back to my place to do my taxes. OMG, it took a solid hour to get everything filed. I'm *SO GLAD* Bo helped me, it would have taken me 3 hours easily and I would have done it all wrong. I'm paying taxes again this year, damn it all! Oh well, at least it's done and done.

After doing taxes it was pretty late, so we picked up Menie and her friend and went to Harry's Bar to meet up Charles and ate dinner there. We had a really lively conversation over our long-awaited meal. And boy was the food good!


Bo showed me this video, and it's f'ing awesome.

Return of the Men-ie (Yup, like Jedi)

SO MENIE IS BACK!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

Yeah, it's exciting. She's back from Seattle for good! She came with me and Julian to Pat and Mary's BBQ Monday and we all had a great time. We watched Benjamin Button (yawn), played Taboo, ate yummy bbq and ice cream, and drank. The group was really mixed but everyone got along well!

I've got this gruesome, hacking, cough right so I'm skipping the gym this week.. hopefully it'll be gonezo soon.

Today after work I went to HH with Menie, Dom, and Charles. Mar's Bar was good but the service was lacking. Laszlo had a cool vibe. Dom and I worked out when we got home, but we ended up playing GT4 instead. I won, twice!!! Out of 5 times! That's pretty good, for me. Or bad, for him. LOL

Batteries & Screwdrivers

I just had a badass dream. One of the most badass dreams I've ever had, and it happened in a matter of exactly 15 minutes - between snoozes. It was so badass that I actually STOPPED snoozing so I could type everything up. And the sucky part is, that I lost some of the earlier details while Windows was loading.

I was on the Earth Air Force, and he was part of some super human half-robot race that we were battling against for universal domination. Very Star Trek/District9-like. We met repeatedly in battle and something happened like love at first sight, and he was super hot and muscular. When I looked in his eyes I could tell he was different, and unlike his barbarous peers. People of his kind were unable to touch alkaline batteries and screwdrivers, so we scattered those items all over our base to ward off the super powerful creatures. I was very capable of deadly hand-to-hand combat, and some sort of high-ranking officer. YES!

One night, before we were to take off for the epic, final, most grandeur battle ever, he sneaks into my base and into my quarters. I can sense his presence, but when he comes into my room I pretend like I’m still sleeping because I’m absolutely petrified, yet at the same time enthralled. I’m holding two D-sized batteries in my fist under my pillow but I unclench them and move my hands because I realize that I don’t want to hurt him, and I don’t think he’ll hurt me. I keep fake-sleeping as he creeps around in my room and examines my belongings, and the longer he’s there the more intense everything becomes. Finally he comes over to my bed and he just looks at me for a while - hovering. And it’s awkward, but I’m still fake sleeping. And then he leans in and kisses me, one of those dreamy movie kisses of forbidden love. Then he touches my hand, and is burned by the residue of the battery acid. At this point I am forced to feign awakening, and he explains that he had sleep-flown there and awoken in my room.

Like destiny.

All at once, we understood the incredible danger we were now both in. We also knew that he must return to his necromancer-like people, as it was late in the night and both sides were set to embark very soon. We were feeling this pressure and emotional torment just as one of my colleagues bursts into the room shocked and confused. This is where I wake up.

Holy Crap!!!!