Juvenile Humor

I've accomplished nothing this weekend nor the past week in terms of prepping for my trip. So now I'm having stress dreams about packing and prepping. Sigh. Instead, I watched plenty of silly movies this weekend, hung out with friends, had dinner, and played the Wii.

On Friday night, I joined Jigaho, Polar Opposite, and Wavy to see Blades of Glory, a silly Will Ferrell movie spoofing the ice skating world. Not my usual cuppa tea but something about it made me laugh. Though it briefly crossed my mind that "Wow, I just spent 11 bucks to see this silly movie," it was worth it to hang out with my friends.

Twelve hours later, I headed for a free screening of Meet the Robinsons with a coworker friend. I never read the book and haven't been super impressed with the Mouse-eared company's latest films. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised by the story, the characters and the look of the film, even tearing up at the end. It's kind of like a quirkier, kiddie version of Back to the Future. I loved it so much, I can't wait to buy the film. It has replaced Flushed Away as my new favorite animated film.

Today, I attended another free screening with Polar Opposite. TMNT. Yup, that's right. Turtles. Of the Teenage Mutant Ninja sort. I never liked the cartoon as a kid nor read the graphic novels but something about this CG film appealed to me. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by this film. It wasn't heartwarming or beautifully rendered like Meet the Robinsons, but it was definitely an entertaining action film that kept me engaged the whole time. I would see it again. Maybe even pick up the graphic novel just to check it out and learn more of the back story.

To cap off the weekend, I met up with an old friend, his wife and their 4 month old baby daughter for sushi. We tenuously set out to a local sushi joint, praying that the baby would just fall asleep or sit very very still and stay very very quiet. No such luck. And she demonstrates her hate for me but screaming so loudly, I can see her tonsils, whenever I try to hold her for more than two seconds. She in fact scrunches up her face, opens her mouth and screams silently for about two seconds herself before the volume catches up to her and she bellows as I quickly pass her back to her parents like a game of hot potato. At least the restaurant staff was nice about it and gave us mochi ice cream for dessert on the house.

So three movies - all entertaining and I only paid for one. Screaming baby - but great sushi and free dessert. I'd say it was a winning weekend overall.

A Good Week

You know it's going to be an interesting week when a visit to the doctor and a shot in the arm actually starts off your Monday well. I woke up Monday morning still tired from the week before, with a feeling of "wow, I have absolutely nothing to look forward to today."

You see, almost everyday I try to find something small to look forward to, to give me a reason to actually leave the comfort of my bed and make my way outside my home. It can be as small as knowing that I'm going to have a good lunch at a specific place, the prospect of meeting up with a friend after work, knowing my boss will be busy or out of the office, or even as trivial as a good TV show that night. But on Monday, nada.

I showed up at a nearby travel clinic in Santa Monica to get my one remaining recommended vaccine for the trip. Apparently, regular doctors and health plans don't cover for 19th century type illnesses like typhoid. To my pleasant surprise, the doctor and nurse were extremely attentive and informative about my trip and health care needs, booking only one patient every half hour to an hour to make sure patients get all the time they deserve - something completely unheard of in this day and age of HMO's and overworked doctors. Of course, I had to pay all the out of pocket costs but wow, it made my day. Nice people. Not bogged down by the system.

I love my own doctors but the system dictates that they only spend about 5-10 minutes on me. This doctor sat me down about every scenario and treatment I would possibly need, personally administered the shot herself, told me about her recent trip to Burma, and then assured me that she had actually never even heard of a case where travelers to South Africa got sick yet.

Anyway, though my left arm was pretty much useless the rest of the day, it started me off on a good note. Even with the arrival of a new coworker sitting next to me who needs to be trained, even with Mr. DD coming back to work after his 5 week sabbatical, and even with the mountains upon mountains of stuff piled in my to do list in these next two weeks. And look, I made it to Friday already and I didn't even have to mow anyone down or punch them in the nose. A good week indeed.

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From the Land of Neuroticism

Jigaho mentioned this hilarious essay to me a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been able to shake it from my mind since. I keep relaying it to all my friends so I might as well post it.

It is amazing how much women can over think everything while men have this expanse of fluffy clouds in their heads. Not all of course, but generally speaking, this feels so true and explains so much. Jigaho said she has now decided to treat all men as if they possessed the short term memory of a goldfish and not expect too much.

Two Diaries.

HER DIARY:

Saturday night I thought he was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a bar to have a drink. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment. Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed but he kept quiet and absent. I asked him what was wrong he said nothing. I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry. On the way home I told him that I loved him, he simply smiled and kept driving. I can't explain his behaviour; I don't know why he didn't say I love you too. When we got home I felt as if had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there and watched TV. He seemed distant and absent. Finally I decided to go to bed. About 10 minutes later he came to bed and to my surprise he responded to my caress and we made love, but I still felt that he was distracted and his thoughts where somewhere else. I decided that I could not take it anymore so I decided to confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep. I started crying and cried until I too fell asleep. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

HIS DIARY:
The Lakers lost again! At least I got laid.

False Pretense of Security

I'm old school. I like writing letters. And though I haven't actually handwritten anything but cards in the past half year, I love the idea of writing my friends, writing in my journal, and writing pretend letters that I will never send, just to get certain emotions and thoughts off my chest.

A while ago, in my very depressed state, I wrote a couple of extremely personal faux letters to certain special folks and saved them on my computer. Aha, but clever me, I locked them with special passwords - separate special passwords for each separate special letter. And of course, I haven't been able to unlock them since.

Last year, I casually mentioned to a coworker how I locked myself out of my own documents - I'm that lame - and he said "OMG, you just have to go our IT guy! He can unlock anything. I locked myself out of some documents and he ran this password hacking program and unlocked it in less than 5 minutes! Just bring your computer in. He'll do it for you." I shuddered at the thought of our IT guy reading these letters and said "that's ok. It's probably for the best that I can't get back into them." So much for security. It only saves me from myself.

Spelling It Out for the World To See

While driving along the 10 Freeway today I saw "Wo Heartbre k" spelled across an overpass bridge. The first couple of thoughts that crossed my mind:
1) People need to learn how to spell
2) Ah, looks like some letters fell off
3) Why in the world would someone tack up individual letters along the bridge instead of spray painting it across the concrete like any other self-respecting tagger in LA?
4) Ah, I guess heartbreak really does possess people to do irrational things....

Irreverent Art

While we searched for a place to eat before our movie, Ballet Dancer, her friend, and I wandered the Farmer's Market/The Grove and stumbled into the Jack Art Gallery, featuring Todd Goldman's silly artwork. Long ago, I owned one of his t-shirts, the one featuring this slogan:


It shrunk to the size of an 8 year old's tee just in time for me to stop wearing it anymore when it got banned on the list of bad things for little girls to wear to school. Parents were complaining it spread anti-boy messages and lowered their precious sons' self-esteem. I think I'll stop right there before I launch into a long-winded tirade.

Anyway, Mr. Goldman has tons more gems where that one came from. Here are a few of my favorites:



Hilarious to look at but I don't know if I'd like a giant painting of any of them hanging in my home. Maybe some postcard size ones. Maybe to hang in the bathroom. Seems fitting.

Music is to Looks as Lyrics is to Personality

With a smile plastered to my face the whole time, I finally watched the movie Music and Lyrics. And I enjoyed every moment of it! From the silly music video to the cheesy songs to Hugh Grant trying to dance. It was the perfect romantic comedy for a Saturday night with friends.

One of my favorite metaphors from the movie comes from Drew Barrymore's character Sophie. She explains to Hugh Grant that the music is like a person's looks. It might catch your attention at first and hook you in. But the lyrics are the personality - it's what you learn to really love about the song once you get to know it and understand its words and meaning. That is exactly how I feel about songs.

On another note, while driving to the theater to meet my ballet dancer friend, my newly revived Ipod (thanks to the awesome ITrip docking station for the car) pulled up a song I hadn't heard in awhile. Annie Lennox's rendition of the song "Waiting In Vain" from the Serendipity soundtrack.


This was the song I sent to the "soulmate" to tell him how I felt. I even spelled it out for him by sending him the lyrics (you know, just in case he was too stupid to hear it through the song). I had watched too many romance movies. Didn't it always work out at the end with a song? Apparently not.

While we were in a store, the original Bob Marley version of the song came on and I turned to Ballet Dancer to reminisce about the song and the movie. Before our movie started I told her about Mr. DD's breakdown. She made a face and said "Thank God you didn't end up with him!" There's nothing quite like hindsight and the perspective of a loyal friend to help you cope and enjoy a lovely romantic comedy completely angst-free!

TV Talk

Discussing one of my favorite shows with my brother:

Me: Oooh, Grey's Anatomy is on tonight. Think they'll kill off Meredith?
Brother: Yes. I hope so. Then they can call it George's Anatomy.

Status Quo, Or Lack Thereof

In the past month, I've heard from many old friends, most of them with the lead in line of "we have some news..." And of course, we know what that means.

Four different friends are pregnant, another one's engaged, and one of my younger brother's best friends? He and his wife just had a daughter.

I used to hate change, with the passion of a child who's lollipop was being taken away. I'm a teeny bit better with it now, but it still stresses me out. Of course, when I was chatting with my brother, lamenting that I felt old with all these huge life milestones surrounding me, he just wisely answered, "Bound to happen."

And We Are Live Once More...

Huzzah! We are with internet again! And when I say "we" I mean me and the cat because I know besides sleeping in my bed, she also surfs the web while I'm gone. I've been feeling like I live in the middle ages, but did manage to keep busy with all sorts of arts and culture while being disconnected from the world.

1) Last Friday, after a terrible day at work, I had a terrible time in traffic stumbling towards my alma mater to see Bloom, a series of modern dance performances set to Rufus Wainwright's music. A friend had comp tickets and since I'm all over the "free" I made my way out there, running up the steps and making it into the auditorium 15 minutes after the scheduled start time, just as the lights were dimming.

Some of the dances were beautiful but some were a bit too interpretive for my tastes. Like the one where they writhed on the floor for quite a while. Is it dancing if they don't get up on their feet?

2) On Tuesday night, after over a year of not drawing, I joined my polar opposite friend for a night of life drawing. I swear my pencils shuddered a little when I brought them into the light, having not been used since late 2005.

There were, however, a couple of strange things about this class.
- It runs from 10pm-2am
- It's in a dark sketchy looking industrial part of downtown LA, about a block away from the American Apparel factory
- It's not listed anywhere. Everyone heard about it from a friend of a friend of a friend...
- There is a bar
- There is a DJ
- There is a pool table in the corner
- People are smoking in there
- There's nearly 100 people in there. Half the people are sitting around the podium sketching and painting where the model(s) are posed but the other half are just milling about, socializing, smoking, and not drawing. That creeps me out.

I loved the music and unique ambiance, but I lasted only about an hour before the smell of cigarette and marijuana smoke nearly choked me to death. I'm not sure if and when I'm going back.

3) Last night, I once again trekked up to the alma mater to watch the Animation Show. I had planned on actually buying tickets, but one of the organizers sent me 20 comp tickets for the company. It was a big stress case to organize the group of coworkers and make sure they knew where to go, what to do... Basically doing my job outside of work. To the point where I wasn't enjoying myself as much as I should. I was so frazzled that I actually forgot my Polar Opposite Friend and left him behind at home. Something I've never done and something I felt so awful about, it plagued me for the rest of the night when he decided not to come to the show.

I liked over half the shorts but was exhausted by the end. Most of the people I invited showed up for dinner and the show but a few of them, the usual few, flaked. Though organizing large groups for these outings are stressful, I've also learned to let it go and not be too sad or disappointed when people bail at the last minute. Today, when one of those fools, aka The One, started in on his excuses of why he bailed, I just nodded, looked at him and said "You can't disappoint me anymore." I baffled him with my statement so elaborated a little more. "My expectations of you have been too lowered. There's not much you can do that will disappoint me now." It didn't play out as dramatic as it sounds - he kind of laughed it off and I gladly let him. But inside, knowing it was true, it felt great.

Paper Trail

It's been a rough couple of days at work and at home. My internet connection at home has lost its will to live since last Wednesday and because Time Warner sucks ass, they kept me on hold for two hours, until nearly midnight, before telling me they'd send someone Thursday to take a look.

"Oh tomorrow?" I asked hopefully.
"Oh, is it not Thursday yet for you? We meant next Thursday." the snide customer service rep replied.

So, I have lugged my beloved ibook to a cafe, subjected to the cafe's endless ABBA CD, to catch up on my personal emails, blog to my heart's content, and catch up on all my own blog reading. For the past few days, lost and bewildered on what to do without an internet connection at home, I've managed to:
1) clear out the 2 foot pile of statements on my kitchen table into their respective binders. My first step to organizing my finances for the year!
2) given up hope on sewing and thrown out all socks with holes in it
3) clean my apartment once again
4) shower at my neighbor's place - yeah that has nothing to do with the internet itself. However, in an effort of solidarity with the internet, the bathtub declined to drain too, and my landlord thought calling a plumber out late at night or the weekend didn't warrant the extra costs for my comfort
5) sorted and threw out a giant bag of receipts, some dating as far back as 1998.

Did I mention I'm a pack rat? And a nostalgic sappy fool? Everything reminds me of something. The reason I saved all my receipts is because back in the day, I once managed to balance my checkbook every month, and had high hopes to itemize every single thing I ever bought diligently.

Nearly ten years later, I have a paper trail of expenditures and memories - receipts from:
- Lake Tahoe in 1998, the first time I went snowboarding
- Coffee Bean, tons of them from 1998 - 2002 indicating the days when I could eat a muffin and an ice blended coffee for lunch several days of the week without batting an eye or worrying about weight
- Storyopolis, 2003 - a children's book store with artwork from famous illustrators, the time when I took the boy who broke my heart to share in one of my favorite places
- San Francisco, 2002 - a roadtrip with a dear friend from my childhood who for reasons unknown to me no longer reciprocates my friendship
- Beastie Boys concert 2004, when I took a random assortment of friends with me, including my favorite surly tattooed boy that no one would ever guess I'd date
- My sofa, "Oscar the Couch", and Ibook, "Christopher aka Ashton", from 2005, my first big purchases ever, items that weren't hand me downs from my parents
- Target, 2002-2003 - dozens and dozens of cans of cat and dog food from when my sweet geezer cats were still alive and the dog hadn't disappeared

I threw away a bag full of receipts, knowing that pieces of paper like these didn't mean anything to my memories. And boy did it feel freeing. (OK, I kept some. The ones where I might need for warranties and the ones that had REALLY significant memories tied to them. I'm not THAT strong.) I can't wait to rid my place of more junk. But I'm still pissed at Time Warner.

Something Light and Funny For A Change...

TOO funny! Just a straightforward homage to the gems that come out of her boyfriend's mouth. It actually reminds me of a couple different people, my brother included.

The Trouble With Dreams

Annoying buggers, they wake me up at night like a bad neighbor practicing the drums or saxophone. At least once a night, usually twice. I can't remember the last time I slept 8 hours straight. Everyday I wake up tired.

Most of the time, the dreams evaporate as quickly as I wake up and fall back asleep. Other times I remember the culprits that wake me up.

Last week, I dreamt I was driving, just about to rear-end the car in front of me. At the sound of the nerve wracking crunch of impact, I woke up to the sound of my neighbor slamming her front door, coming home at 3 in the morning. Freaky.

A couple of hours later, I woke up again - after a rousing and ineffectual game of tennis, with a large loofah sponge as a racket. The realization of using the completely wrong tool for the game (duh!) woke me up. Puzzling.

The worst kinds of dream? The ones that leave me feeling sad or upset, lingering for the rest of the day like a bad perfume. Like the one earlier this week when I dreamt that Mr. DD was dating someone new. I didn't even think it would bother me as much in real life as it did in the dream life. Frustrating.

I miss a good night's sleep and wonder when it will come back to me. For now, I continue playing the part of Zombie Whatchamacalit. Yawn.....

Things To Watch

At the beginning of the new year, a friend lent me season 1 of The Wire, a look at the lives of Baltimore drug dealers from every level, and the cops that bust them. It's not my usual fare of choice, but by episode 3, I was hooked. When I only had 4 episodes left for the season, I only slept 4 hours because I NEEDED to finish it. I have season 2 in my hands but I need to recuperate before diving in again. I was also worried that I'd start swearing a lot more from the bad influence of this show.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, thanks to UBBF, my fellow coworkers and the new upgraded (legit) cable, I'm addicted to watching EVERY episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I laugh out loud watching this. Craig McCracken is a genius. (He also created Powerpuff Girls!) Eduardo and Coco are my favorites.














I also finally managed to watch Children of Men with SLY last night. It was a chilly night in Westwood, but SLY and I got out of work early enough to find free parking, smuggle in a sandwich, soup, and some tea for dinner, and made it into the theater barely before the movie started, munching silently in the dark. The movie was bleak but an intriguing concept of the future. If mankind became infertile, I agree that humanity would cave in on itself and most of us would shed our morals. The movie just kind of ends with tons of unanswered questions, but we just decided to make up our own back story for the hell of it.

I realize that I loved watching all of these because there is nothing in them that I can really relate to - nothing that makes me angst or reminds me of anyone or any time way back when. Just pure escapist entertainment.

Songs That Make Me Laugh

Heard this one on KROQ quite a while ago. It doesn't quite get as much air play anymore but every time I hear it, I cackle in delight at this band's eloquent words.

Hate is a strong word
But I really really really don't like you



This other song makes me laugh purely because it's so melodramatic. I actually really like James Blunt's first song, You're Beautiful, overplayed as much as it was. It reminds me of when I was in Scandinavia and it played on the music stations every night. His second single however, begs to be sung at the top of your lungs preferably to a friend who finds it equally humorous, like Wavy.

Conversations With My Brother

Bro: Why is he a "Lord?"
Me: You mean Voldemort?
Bro: Yeah, why is he "Lord Voldemort?" He wasn't born a Lord.
Me: Um. I don't know. Maybe because if you're mean and powerful enough, you can demand people to call you anything you want.
Bro: Well then I want to be King.
Me: You can't be King. You have to be King of some country. You'd have better luck buying a title like "Duke."
Bro: I don't want to be a Duke. I want to be King. I'm going to make people call me King.
Me: Whatever dude.

Some days, I feel like our roles have reversed as we've gotten older. He's become the older sibling that I can go to for practical advice, the person who may not know everything about me now, but will always know the true me that will never change. Freckles and all.

And then there are conversations like this, reminding me he's still my silly younger brother who used to annoyingly follow me everywhere, whom I adore till the end of the world.

Of course if I ever told him that, he would just say "You're a big dork."

My Favorite San Francisco Day

As much as I love my attentive friend in SF, my favorite time during the holiday visit was the morning they left me to wander the city alone for a few hours. Nothing feels more like a vacation than wandering around a city center, visiting museums and snapping pictures. They dropped me off at the San Francisco Shopping Center (above picture) before heading to church. I walked through the Yerba Buena Gardens where I saw this funny sculpture of a downed boat.


With the hour and a half I had before meeting up with another friend for lunch, I hit the MOMA the way I always do. I took the elevator to the top floor, starting with the feature exhibit of Anselm Kiefer and, and slowly made my way down. I passed through the Edward Weston and Tina Modotti photography exhibit, finishing down in the modern collections from the early 1900's. Sprinklings of Picasso, Matisse, Pollack and others I haven't heard of wrapped up the 2nd floor.


My only complaint - blank canvases passing as contemporary art. I may not understand all contemporary art, but I'd like to think I'm more openminded than most. I often get bored at art films in museums, but I understand what the artists aspire to convey. However, when an artist just paints a canvas all white, all blue, all whatever color they choose, that's just plain lazy. Anything that requires paragraphs of explanation and interpretation from the curator is trying too hard. I've seen various blank canvases in contemporary museums around the world and every time, I think "they've gotten so lazy or egotistical they think 'yup, this is enough.'" At least paint a circle in the middle of it. Or add some stripes. Anything.

This is the entrance to Macy's. To me, this is a cooler piece of art than any blank canvas.

The Change of Plans... For The Better

On Thursday night, I had planned to leave work early enough to watch the movie Children of Men with friends and also to avoid boy with foreign girlfriend so that I wouldn't have to decline drinks. Of course, I ended up working late, missing the movie, and bumping into him. Drink invitations were extended, but not having eaten any dinner yet made it much easier to decline drinks on an empty stomach.

Instead, I went over to SLY's where she heated up a homecooked meal for me and we decided to go watch The Painted Veil. It was a beautiful movie in every way - the 1920's period clothes, the settings in London and China, and most importantly, Edward Norton and Naomi Watt's acting which blew me away. Definitely a better alternative than getting drinks.

Lazy Saturday Afternoon

It's a beautiful sunny day outside but I am still in my favorite flannel pajamas watching cartoons, all the backlogs of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends that I've Tivoed. Finally, after weeks of fitful sleep, I slumbered from 3am to nearly 2pm, putting away the alarms and the phones. I amaze even myself with how much I can sleep.

I plan to drink vanilla green tea, watch cartoons and movies, read, munch on bon bons, and stay in my pajamas as long as possible. I'm going to pretend I'm still on Christmas vacation. Unfortunately a friend called and needed a ride from the airport late this evening so eventually I'll have to change and leave the house.

Dust Settling

It's 3 days into the new year and the dust is still settling. Work is ramping up again and I still really don't care. The only thing the holiday break did for me was to make me want a longer vacation and SOON. It's amazing that my shoulders and back immediately started aching the first day back at work.

My brother is headed back for his final 6 months of business school tomorrow morning. The next time I see him, he'll be graduating with an MBA. An MBA that my dad had also hoped for me long long ago.

They all drove up tonight for dinner at Curry House and dessert at Beard Papas, and of course they had to comment on how small and cluttered my place was, how fat I was getting, etc. However, after telling me to "stop eating so much," Dad promptly asked "where's my cream puffs?" There's nothing sweeter than laughing at your parents with a sibling.

Yesterday, the boy in town with foreign girlfriend, had mentioned having a group of us meet for drinks Thursday night. I'm still on the fence about that. On one hand, would it look rude and blowing-them-off kinda thing or would it not matter since there's a group of people who were his usual friends that will be there? I haven't "met up for drinks" at a local bar since he moved away. It was never my thing, and never my friends though they were always friendly to me. Back then, I went along with him because I didn't mind being there nor being someone else for awhile. Now, it would feel out of place and odd to go revisit the past in a sense.

Finally, on another note, every December I look back on the year and go "oh my God, what have I done this year?!" Usually in the tone of "another year down the drain and what have I to show for it?" My pragmatic friend, the polar opposite, laughed when I told him that and said "Funny, but I ask myself the same thing every year end too! But more like Wow! What have I done this year?" In the tone of "look at all my accomplishments this year!" Inflection can be so powerful.

In the spirit of both our attitudes, I'm doing one more list. The list of goods and bads for 2006.

The Bad:
1) Continued boy angst, such as Mr. Dating Debacle
2) Burnt out from work
3) Straining an old dear friendship
4) Didn't get to travel out of the country
5) Random bouts of depression and weeping
6) Getting used to being 30 and knowing that I'm nowhere near being a together person
7) Spending a lot of money

The Good:
1) Surviving all the boy angst and possibly getting tougher (only time will tell)
2) Traveling nearly every month within the US
3) Starting this blog and writing a lot more
4) Getting a nice raise and not getting fired from work, despite my complaints
5) The friendships that did stick and the friends who were there for me
6) The realization that I'm actually learning from my experiences and a tad wiser
7) Spending a lot of money (or being able to spend a lot of money on nice things)