rain rain go away!!!!

rain is bringin me down. it's been raining almost non-stop since i got back to pitts. i dunno why but it always seems that rainy days just suck up all my energy. all i want to do is hide in bed and sleep. i'm back to wearing my grubby school clothes and no more cute strappy sandals. i just took the cute red polish off my toes since nobody is going to see them anyways with all this rain.

the rain is from the hurricane in lousiana. crazy stuff, all the damage out there. my heart goes out to those families who have lost loved ones or have lost their homes. if i had any money, i would donate it to them. mebbe i can donate like 10 bux to a relief fund?

classes started. so far my fav classes are Managing Intellectual Capital and Interpersonal Negotiations. My least fav is Game. blah...that game class is gonna be a big black hole that sucks up all my time. it's worth 2 classes because well...it's that much work. :-p

let the sleepless nights begin...

back to school

i'm back in my room. wednesday i cleaned up everything, dusted off all the shelves, did 2 loads of laundry. met all the roomies. they all seem pretty cool and considerate. i think it will work out well living with them. although i do miss the girls i used to live with. it was always nice to come home to some estrogen and have girly talks after hanging out with all the boys at tepper. now i see everyone with their laptops open downstairs and the fridge is full of liquids. and the good side, guys have much less stuff so the place is a lot less cluttered. also these guys are much cleaner. who woulda thought?

gonna take a hip hop class with rita. she's teaching! i'll be hanging out with her a lot this year so i can have more girl time. still waiting for financial aid to come in. they say it's gonna be on the 29th. in the meantime i'll have to transfer some funds. man, where does all my money go!? i'm still waiting for one roomies financial aide to come in so he can pay rent. :P

nyc with amy

ah hanging out with amy in NYC is always fun. of course the first night i get there, we chat until almost 4 in the morning! on a thursday nite! i felt so bad cuz she was so tired the next morning for work. but i kept telling her to go to bed and we just kept talking! hahah. that's the greatest when you can talk with someone so much that you can't stop. sometimes it's like i have the sister i always wanted cuz people always ask us if we are twins or related. prolly because our sense of style is very similar. we're always swapping clothes whenever we see eachother. hanging with amy's girls was fun as always. but oh man those girls LOVE to shop. i don't think i've heard people talk about shopping so much in my whole life. i don't think i would fit in with NYC. they buy $1000 purses and $200 designer jeans like it is nothing. i don't even like to carry a purse if i don't have to. i look for jeans to be on sale for 30 bux or less. (although i'm not completely innocent on this one. i do own $70 jeans). it's not that these girls aren't smart either. but they just don't talk about work. guess i'm not used to that.

as for the events of the weekend...much partying indeed. we went to PM, sway, Air, Gastaad, Bed and prolly a handful of other places i don't remember. ate tapas, chilean sea bass (sorry jyan, it's so good!), steak with prociutto and cheese inside, and amy's home cookin. although with all the partying and hanging out with fun girl friends, i still ended up crying. i was at PM and was dancing. i accidentally hit some guy in head. (there's more to this but i won't explain here.) i said i was sorry but i think he thought i was amy. earlier amy was dancing close to him and bumping him as well. so he chewed me out by saying " ok this is the last time i'm telling you. sit down!" he said a lot more but i couldn't hear half of it. so anyways...being chewed out + missing home + being tipsy + pmsing + missing my hunny + running out of batteries on my cell phone so i couldn't talk to him = me sobbing in the bathroom. i wasn't mad at that guy. i knew he was mad for a good reason since i did hit him in the head. and i knew that i normally would not be crying in the bathroom at a club (cuz i dislike drunk girls who do that in clubs). it was only because i was already emotional over various other things that i just plain broke down and couldn't hold it in. it didn't last long though because even in my emotional state i could hear the voice of reason in my head. "why are you crying in the bathroom!?? it's only hormones. get it out of your system and then be done with it!" it only lasted maybe a few minutes. but i cried, and now i feel much better.

me so proud

i'm so proud of my hunny. he just completed a VOIP certification boot camp and he passed all the exams! it was hard core... 8AM until 8PM of solid class time. then he went home and studied every night for the 5 exams they had during that time. also the class was on weekends too for 14 days straight. no break! i don't think i would have had the will power to be that hard core. as much as i study at school, we will at least have one night a week where we won't study. unless it's finals time of course.

back to the east side

i'm in NYC before i drive back to pitts with yanni boy. for some reason i'm just not enthused about returning to school. i really had an awesome summer seeing all my friends and family again. i always feel sad when leaving the bay area. the sadness was really setting in as the plane took off. i could feel the tears try to burst out of my eyeballs.

i'm glad that i can at least see amy before school. last nite we talked until 3 in the morn. ug. i woke up at 1PM today. still not adjusted to the time.

i miss home. :(

mommy time

my mom and i spent a lot of time together this week since i was going to be leaving. did a lot of house searching. not really seriously just yet. just really to see what was out there since i had so much time without working during the day. also mom likes to look at the decorations to get ideas for how to do some remodeling. saw mostly townhouses since that was the only thing within price range. one place we really liked was off of curtner. but i'm not so sure about the school district there. we also looked at sunnyvale and los gatos. the place we liked the best was called the landing in rivermark. they townhouses as well as single family homes. however all the single fam units were taken. they were first sold in 2002. for 600 something!!! brand new! ug. i wish i had seen them then. however if i had bought one then i wouldn't have money for school unless i sold the place. but those homes were SOOOOO NICE! such cute designs and enclosed. those homes now go for 1.2 mil. after 3 years! sheesh. i'll never afford one of those now. insane housing prices *grumble grumble*

i'm hoping housing will take a slight sip this year so that when i graduate, i'll be able to afford something nice.

banyan

met up with hunny's friends for dinner on tuesday nite at this malaysian/singaporean place. they are so sweet! they knew P and I were leaving for school so they wanted to see us all together before we left. i'm always so touched by how nice and welcoming hunny's friends are to me. there were so many people however that i had to migrate down the table to talk to everyone. janey got her braces off! and tony finally finished his MBA. he was doing a part time program so it's been 3 long years. i don't think i'd every be able to commit myself to a three year program while working. going full time is hard enough! but the nice thing is that his company paid for it all. he works at lockheed i think. perhaps if my company paid for it all, i'd rethink the whole part time MBA thing. but oh well. it's a dif experience. mebbe i'll try for a part time masters if my company will pay for it.

korean bbq and boba

met up with all the scimagicians for korean bbq at korea house. mmmmmm..... although the bbq was only ok, the rest of the food was really good. kalbi, those little fishies, this fish and egg thing wrapped in seaweed, squid, and all those other little dishes.

we were just chatting bout everything. it was so great to work with such a good group of people back at scimagix. i'm really glad everyone was able to keep in touch and hang out together.

the korean lady who was serving us was so funny. first she tried to speak to me in korean. but i always get that. i think sometimes my makeup looks really korean. then when she knew i was chinese, she kept saying "hsieh hsieh! wo ai ni!" hahaha. her hair was a real architechtural feat. she somehow used hairspray and a curler to make her hair curl inwards like 3 huge waves about to cover her face. hahah. but it kinda added to her cute character. i wish i had my camera with me.

after dinner we went for boba at fantasia with all the other asian gangstas. silly teddio splashed strawberry frost all over viv. doh! although i must say, the strawberry frost was quite tasty! i'll have to get that next time. we blended right in with the other hoodlums by hanging out in the parking lot until almost everyone was gone. haha.

bride to be: irene!

so I went down to LA on friday for rene's bridal shower/bachelorette's. All the planning that went into seemed to go superbly. not too many people, not too few. all the plans were flexible enough to allow for the plus or minus one to two people. nighttime festivities couldn't have gone better.

ah where to begin...

saturday morning rene showed up at sabrina's house in her PJ's. those were the directions we gave her. hahahah. then as we were headed to the brunch place in melrose, sabrina kept making comments like...so you think the plane is ready for the skydiving later? and ohhh....so you ready for your tatoo that says " property of jimmy! don't touch!" hahaha
brunch was amazing. it was at the bungalow club. due to the PJ's we had free champagne cocktails. the food was really good also. i had an omlette with tomato, goat cheese, lobster, ham, and spinach. then dessert was tiramisu and apple crisp. dessert was free because they made a mistake! yay! i was really looking to save money since rene told me some people were strapped for cash. and yet even though things weren't too pricey, the place was so cute! fancy pillows everywhere and a huge wrap around couch. so comfy for a bunch of girls!

brunch went until 4 (yeah we were talking a lot) then we crashed at sab's place. i was going to have rene do the moves from carmen electra's strip tease but then we were all kinda tired. so instead we just sat, chatted. then took a mini 15 min nap before getting ready for dinner. dinner was at louise's. it's been a while since i've been to that place. amy and i split a salad and the paperdelle pasta. mmmmm..... i brought a fetzer gwurtztraminer to drink. surprisingly there was enough in the bottle for everyone to have a little taste. irene had to do a bunch of embarrassing things while dressed in a devil veil and holding a fuzzy whip. hahahaha.

clubbing we met up with chester and the boys at club ivar. we all got in free due to chester's gf. that was a nice surprise for rene to see those boys since she really didn't like talkiung to strangers. she had so much fun she started crying! hahaha!! in the middle of the club! multiple times! sooo funny. rene is such a softie.

all the events turned out great for being so last minute. i'm so glad we made rene so happy she cried. but we also made her really drunk. hahaha. don't worry, she only got sick once.

sunday morning i had lunch with sab at this cute crepe place in santa monica. perfect end to a nice weekend.

dinner with the boss

dinner with the boss turned out to be much longer than expected. we were supposed to meet at 7 and so i figured it would at most take 2 hours and then i'd go meet up with the girls at santana row. but we just kept on talking. partially cuz he was telling me about his wife's 14 year old sister, who they are going to be taking in. poor girl is 14 and was in foster care since 5. only 14 and she's close to being hospitalized for being bulemic. but wait there's more. she's also a cutter. i just don't understand. how can a 14 year old child have so many worries that she's hurting her body so much because of her emotional state. that just isn't right.... his wife turned out fine however given the same parents. she's even completed a phd from brown. what happened to her lil sis? all this time she never even knew since she was so busy with school. she was absolutely shocked and full of worry that all that happened to her lil sis. as a big sis, i know how that feels. i worry bout jon all the time. even when i know he can probably take care of himself. but i just can't help it. big sis always wants her lil bros to be doing well. but "well" is not the same is "just ok".

after dinner ended at 10 (yeah...lotta talkin. i felt so bad for taking up so much of his time that i only ate 2 bites of dessert.. i ordered it cuz he said it's covered by the company so i should order something since he was getting a coffee. alas! i forgot to talk about the food! we went to zibbibo in PA and had the beets, eggplant, mussels, moroccan prawns, spinach, mixed greens and the leg of lamb. the lamb was so rare that we had to send it back to the kitchen to cook it further. won't be ordering it again though. it was only ok. the wine was great however. Storrs - merlot. also he recommended that i try dirk's fav - Grgich Hill - Cabernet

happy hour at straits

hung out with the girls and a new friend, elaine, at straits. just when i meet kool new people to hang with, i gotta go back to school! met a bunch of her girl friends who were a riot to hang with. the setup couple got to talking (at last!) . met another fellow grad student from CMU. phd in electrical eng from CMU, now is a professor at harvard but on a year sabbatical while doing some consulting all over the world. gotta keep in touch with that one. (always the networker....i know) i actually met a lot of really cool people that nite.

something i realize - being a girl makes networking really easy. but i like to think i'm able to prove that i'm actually a substantial person who is worth keeping in touch with. for instance, i know the prof wanted to talk cuz he was hitting on me. if you don't know anything about a person in a networking situation, you will select people to talk to who are either attractive or look like you may have something in common. in the business world, unfortunately that means that if you're a woman then most of the time men approach you based on appearance. so i always feel like i need to prove something to them. prove that i actually do know what i'm talking about and that i am a good contact to have. and so that is what turns me into the networking fiend that i am sometimes. i always feel the need to show i have some value. people always comment on what a great networker i am. but maybe it's not so much that i'm good, but that i always feel compelled to network. once upon a time in HS, someone who didn't talk to me much said that she thought i was an air head. *shudder* i abhor the thought of being known as a ditz. i know how to install and configure oracle dammit! hahahaha....

the house

my fav restaurant. at first i was going to meet up there with only diana and cindy. but then my bro and his friend christine wanted to join too. oh man what a riot. jon is always a character and my friends love it when he joins with anything. other people seem to think that's so strange that i invite my baby bro to things. haha. we're cool like that.

dinner was full of good food and loud, jovial conversation. we ordered a whole mess of food - let's see if i can remember. tempura battered softshell crab, chicken liver and mixed green salad, oysters, sea bass (my ABSOLUT FAV), kobe beef, rib eye (i really liked that one also). we also had a great pinot noir from sonoma. the name just can't seem to stick in my head. canto something? diana, help me out on this one. the wine was really really good, i need to check out where to buy it. lastly we shared a peach pudding thing and the chocolate cake.

after dinner we kinda split up and me, diana and cindy went to this other jazz bar in NB. just chatted bout girl stuff. sometimes i still can't believe how much we've all changed since HS. and yet, some things never change at all. i feel really lucky to have the girl friends that i have. carrie bradshaw ain't got nuthin on me.

cutest baby ever!

sandy came over to play with ethan all day today. ok well actually she came over to see me but all we ever do is play with ethan all day. hahaha....

ethan is the cutest baby ever! and i'm not being biased since i'm his auntie mel. really.




Share video at JussPress.com


i actually wanted to write more on this post. sandily wrote on her blog about our friendship. i guess it just comes so naturally that i don't really think about it. no matter how long it's been since we've last talked, it's always as if no time has passed at all. just as comfortable as when we were freshmen talking bout boys while studying on her carpet. only now it's babies, marriages and jobs. haha...

Opus One

Share video and photos at JussPress.com

I went to the Opus One winery this weekend! Also went to Silver Oak and Sequoia Grove. All were great! but all i could do was three wineries. after that, i was buzzing so much, everything tasted great! that's the problem with going to the really good wineries. i know that i'm tasting an expensive bottle so the chinese in me screams...don't waste! drink it all! don't worry, hunny drove. lucky for me he never drinks very much so i always have a DD. also i started with the Opus One so my palate was completely clean. i found the creamy taste most interesting. didn't know grapes could taste creamy...

i've also started up with the networking emails again. ah yes, slowly ramping up back to my normal networking self. it was such a nice break this summer to only talk with friends and family. minimal networking all summer. but now that vacation is almost over, time to get back in gear.

Redline RTD vs sugarfree RedBull

so with my little experiment, i found that the Redline "incinerator" stuff actually works better than RedBull. however the Redline stuff claims it's the ATP that is inside the drink. now, i know ATP gets dephosphorylated to produce energy and ADP. however, ATP is stored in cells. i don't see how digesting it would do anything since it would be broken down with stomach acid. but i did notice a significant increase in energy level without getting tired. i'll have to look into the biological reason why Redline works better. i'm intrigued.

absent minded professor

yesterday i had dinner with HP. he's such a strange one. we dated before and decided it would be best to just be friends since we were such different people in different places of our lives. i don't mind being friends if things don't work out if the person is nice. but it just seems that whenever he's not seeing anyone, he starts thinking about me because i have "the list" of what he's looking for. in actuality, he has my "list" too. but i've discovered long ago that the list hasn't ever worked for me. anyways, he really should realize that it's not a good thing to be the "nice" girl he thinks about everything time he's single. =P so why do i remain friends with him? i dunno, i can't say no to hanging out with a nice person. i know he doesn't do these things on purpose. he's like an absent minded professor who only goes by what he's feeling at the moment. *sigh* i just need to keep track and only hang out with him when he's dating someone.

lady of leisure

my last day of my internship was last friday. so i've been waking up late, taking dips in the pool in the middle of the day, catching up on my reading and tv watching. today i think i'm going to play some piano. see if i can learn a difficult song today.

one of the benefits of having all this free time is that i can now do lunches with all these people i haven't seen in a long time. yesterday i met up with peter and michelle. my old boss and coworker from appstream. these people showed me how real recruiting should be done. good recruiters and HR should be responsive and actually CARE! in every other company i've worked for since, the recruiters were sloppy, lazy and just didn't care about the job at all. working with people like that just pisses me off. =P bah...happy thoughts...happy thoughts.

it's such a nice day outside today. i'm gonna go for a run.

a perfect day

- woke up late and rolled out of bed
- went with hunny to watch opera at stern grove in sf (i love diane reyes!)
- snuggled on top of a towel while listening to an aria. hunny had his arm wrapped around me as i told him what an aria and a recitative was
- we clapped our hands! (one hand was his, one hand was mine. it's really hard to coordinate! it was hilarious---u had to be there)
- we picked up sandy and then headed over to aymerik and cathy's place in sf ( i found out aymerik has this crazy huge collection of star wars light saber replicas. signed by the actors! *drooooool*)
- ate dinner with everyone at circolo - i had the salmon duet and a mango mojito, hunny had the tapioca crusted chicken. YUM!!!!!!! (more great company and great food! i loved chatting with everyone. i love it when we can talk business, careers, food, people, anything!)
- hung out at aymerik's place and chatted with everyone while aymerik and I had some dessert wine (nobody else was into wine)
- went back to hunny's at around 9:45 and i got to watch my fav shows while hunny was reading (he's currently reading a lot of VOIP books and harry potter). 4400 and gray's anatomy.
- we both did more reading before going to bed (i'm reading the Tipping Point - a fascinating book about what drives human behavior and what could cause unexplainable drastic changes in our society. such as the rapid crime decline in NYC or certain fashion trends. the psychology and socialogical explainations. it's all related...really. read it. it will make you see the world differently)
- fell asleep in his arms

*sigh*


BLISS

houses and gadgets!

saturday hunny and i went to his directors housewarming in berkeley. gay men have such great style! the walls were a brick red, the floor was dark stained bamboo. some walls were a light gray to offset the red. the bathroom had small blue glass tile which extended from the shower to cover the entire floor. the sink had a recessed drain so you couldn't tell where the water went. all the handles of all the spouts were built into the walls. they had spent a year remodelling the place and what a great job! the director's bf put in a lot of effort to make it a great event. all the appetizer bowls were matching. there were 3 large caraffes filled with lemonade, white cranberry juice/vodka, and some czeck herb drink. there were gadgets everywhere. even the kitchen light could be raised and lowered to an appropriate height. i really liked the kitchen knife holder which was a huge magnet to hold the knives. hunny kept laughing at me the whole time cuz he knew i wanted all the gadgets i saw!

appetizers were amazing. green and red figs wrapped with procuitto with a little bit of goat cheese, sweet olives with goat cheese on bread, sundried tomato spread on cucumber slices, mixed nuts, and much more. everything was meticulously thought out - where the plates should go, what would be the best arrangement, extra cups under the table for easy access. presentation was awesome. as a party planner, i really appreciate all the hard work that went into the event. lots of people only know to enjoy food but rarely do people appreciate the planning that goes into a party. i wish i had the chance to really tell him how much i enjoyed all his hard work. he was too busy being a party host and chatting it up with everyone so i didn't want to bother him when we left.

chocolate cake and gymming

friday hunny was craving steak and chocolate cake so we went to eat at macaroni grill since it has his favorite chocolate cake there. he ordered the rib eye and i had the lobster ravioli. the food was ok but the cake was better the last time we tried it. after eating, we each tried half a can of "incinerator" and then went to the gym to work out. the incinerator was supposed to help us burn fat more efficiently. i did 1 hr on the eliptical then 10 min on that weird treadmill-like machine and 10 min on the treadmill. overall i noticed i didn't feel very tired and i didn't sweat as much as i normally do. i'm thinking the caffeine was probably what gave me the extra energy so i'll try to use something less pricey. i bought some sugarfree red bull and i'll drink it before i work out next time. i'll let you know if i get the same results.