It's been exactly 2 months of nothing worth talking about. I was a friendster addict for a while. DirecTV went down and I have yet to reactivate it so I haven't watched TV for 2 months. I've been reading a lot. Eating a lot. Sleeping a lot.

Oh last week I went to an accupressurist in Torrance. He was so good! I never believed in accupuncture or any of that until now. He actually just uses the blunt end of toothpicks and he can cure almost anything! He examined my shoulders and neck muscles and figured out the reason why my jaw muscles locked up in the first place so now I'm getting it fixed. He also "balanced my hormones" by poking around below my knees. It's painful as hell but I swear by it. No more headaches, no more migraines, my back feels better and no more emotional outbursts. So guys, listen up~ this is an actual cure for PMS! hehe.

By the way, for an intriguing read, try Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. For something fun and girly, try Trading Up by Candace Bushnell.

That's right! I went to SeaWorld San Diego on Sunday. Actually it's the weirdest thing. Saturday night I had this horrible, horrible dream that Richard became a super-workaholic and we never did anything together besides work, work, work. So I woke up really, really cranky and thinking we really need to take time off of work to just enjoy.

We went down to San Diego with Anton & Jen to visit a supplier. Well the batch sucked and we had a whole day to kill so we went to SeaWorld! Being Memorial Day weekend, it was really crowded.

But still it was fun. Saw most of the shows, but we didn't go on any of the rides because the lines were too long.

Moley ate like half a bag of chocolate yesterday! Chocolate is VERY toxic to dogs and we were really, really worried because he was breathing funny and had diahrrea. Well so far today he seemed, okay, although his eating habits were a bit off. Hopefully nothing bad will happen.

We are for sure moving into a new office but it hasn't been set up yet as far as computers and stuff goes. We bought a new mannequin today, full body with no head. And... tomorrow we're going shopping again. I stole 5 items of clothing from the stock this week.. muuhaahahaha. Why work in the clothing industry if you can't have perks?? :p

This morning I got a call from my Aunt Rosanna in Toronto. Looks like her family is waiting to hear the details of my "graduation" so that they can come down and celebrate with me. It was hard for me to explain that no, yet again I am not graduating. In fact, I've pretty much forgotten about school altogether. I promise though, I will get everything together this weekend and contact all of my teachers on Monday.

Which reminds me I got my arthrocentesis procedure done on my jaw. The doctor told me that this is basically a 50/50 chance of unjamming my jaw and we'll know in 2 weeks. It was painful as hell. Basically it was like 5 injections into the jaw joint from the outside of my cheek, near my ear. It was a horrible, horrible experience. Well now I can open my mouth 40 millimeters whereas in January only 25 milli. Our goal is 55 milli~ which is the average jaw opening.

And I read the last installment of the Shopaholic series, hilarious, as usual. But reading an entire book about preparing for a wedding? Too much for me...

Wow I have shared my bowel movements with the rest of the world! Well it's nice to say that I am feeling much better now. I've moved on and am eating beef jerky, sushi, and other regular food.

We spent the day in OC today, visited a supplier in OC and stopped by the Costco in Norwalk. Wow. Remember when it used to be Price Club? The freeways were nice and uncongested today, for a change. Still not much work was done and it looks like tomorrow will be a busy day. We're a couple of days behind on shipping, there are now 4 double racks of clothing in the living room and no walking space. In fact the living room is so unliveable that Moley is starting to use it for his toilet. But then again it's our fault that we've been so busy lately, we haven't taken him out on a regular basis.

Other than going out today I watched American Idol. I can't wait for Clay Aiken to win. That last performance was just amazing. Today I filled out a survery for the management of our building. We get to complain as much as we can about the water damage that occurred during the last couple of heavy rains in hopes that the management will actually fix the problem in the building.

And blah. Today is such a blah day. I ate a lot of beef jerky. We hooked up a new printer but unfortunately it has NO parallel cable input so we cannot use our print server and AUGH it's such a mess.

We bought tons and tons of jeans. Can't wait to put 'em up online. Sell sell sell.

New Discovery: Books on eBay! Wow.. who would have thought :) I sell the ones I've read... use my paypal account to buy new ones... it's almost like the Cerritos Library! Anyhow I just finished Shopaholic takes Manhattan, and now I'm waiting for the 3rd book in the series to come in the mail. I love this series. It's very comical, and sadly a clear portrait of me and my addictive shopping habits. I must've ordered like 7 books on eBay last week. It's so fun getting all of these packages in the mail... it's like opening presents!

And media mail! Who woulda thought sending packages would be that cheap!

New season of Sex and the City is starting soon. To get in the spirit, I finished reading 4 blondes. (Candace Bushnell). I only liked the first story out of the four.

What a week last week was! It's all a blur now...

Last Tuesday I went to see Dr. Pullinger (Orofacial Pain specialist) to see what type of medication he can give me for my jaw before my "surgery". After running mad errands around LA, I was amazingly on time for my dreaded 2pm flight to Las Vegas. Unlike most people, I ain't a Vegas person. I was only there for 2 days for a trade show.

After checking into the hotel, Anton & Jennifer went to gamble. I was by myself (Richard was at home with Moley)... and rather than spending hours in the casino (which I hate) I decided to walk across the street to the mall. Not that I wanted to go shopping, but our Deluxe Suite had a kick-ass jacuzzi tub so I had to go get some bubble bath. (Wow who knew italicizing words could be so fun) So after 2 hours at the mall, I was back at the hotel room with nothing to do. I watched the game (Tuesday night.. y'all know which game I was talking about). It was so depressing I decided to go take a bubble bath.

Well the next day we were at the show for literally an hour. It was the worst. "Industry" show? My God... more like "We're trying to get IN to the industry" show. So, needless to say Anton & Jen returned to the casinos after lunch so... I returned to the room and took another bubble bath before my flight back home.

Then on Thursday Richard & I went to one of our suppliers and bought another batch of clothes. The rest of the day was spent working and catching up with the last two days that I was gone.

Friday came around and after working in the morning, we stopped by the USC Graduation. My cousin Gerry was graduating. Actually I saw Ernest Lee from high school there. It was kind of nice to see a familiar face, until my sister said, "Uh, isn't he younger than you?"... yeah, yeah.

Then Saturday we met up with Anton & Jennifer to work on the new batch of clothing. That night we decided to eat Ruen Pair. This... started a horrible, horrible chain of events.

11pm Diarrhea.

3am Diarrhea.

4am Richard throws up. 3 times.

6am Diarrhea.

stay in bed until 10am, Diarrhea.

12noon Diarrhea. (I sure hope I'm spelling diarrhea correctly)

12:30pm check into UCLA Emergency Care

2pm Get hooked up to an IV. Sleep for 2 hours.

4pm Check out and go home to sleep until Monday.

Which of course brings us to today.

Weekend went by way too fast. No studying, nothing for school. Worked a little. Slept a lot. Ate even more.

I found this interesting quiz. It's a "Real Age" quiz on like NBC.com or something. Quick questionnaire to quickly assess your lifestyle, and based on that they determine your "real age" as compared to your "biological age". So for example, even though I'm 22, my "real age" is 26.7.

Hmm. I guess I didn't need a quiz to tell me that I wasn't living to my fullest, shouldn't expose myself to secondhand smoke, and should eat more vitamins and vegetables everyday.

Time flies by so fast! This was supposed to be the week that I promised myself to go to school everyday. I don't have any idea where my time goes. Seriously. Blecch.

Well here's a quick update on Moley... We gave him a summer shave-down so he is super-skinny looking now. He's been acting a little weird lately. He doesn't poop as often.

Our living room is still a nightmare. There are 4 racks of clothing in there now. We don't really use the living room... just for packing clothes. Which isn't too bad... at least I don't have to drive to work. Not yet, anyway.

And well not much else is happening. I've been reading fiction books about women with these fast-paced lives and things to do and... well I'm so boring now. I rarely even change to go out... I'm always just in a T-shirt and my Juicy sweats. (Which have 2 Moley-teethmark-holes on them now) I'm either lounging in front of the computer or sleeping. Or watching TV. Or out to eat with Anton. I'm sick of eating now. That's all we ever do.

The house is a mess. The carpet is dirty, the tiles have pee smell in them. (Even though I feel like I mop them every day) The kitchen's a mess. The bed is full of pet dander. It's time to call Senora Cathy to make this place liveable again.

And I've gotten so lazy. I used to be so fruitful. So tedious with my work. So... productive. Now nothing interests me. It's a vicious cycle. I'm always looking for trouble. When I have nothing to do I deliberately look for projects to do, etc. etc. When I'm swamped with school and work I end up doing nothing.

What a great and relaxing weekend!! Well, we haven't had new inventory for a while, so we didn't have to list this weekend. I had a lot of time to just relax and hang out at home. I finished 'Nanny Diaries' and bought & finished 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'... amazed at how much I have in common with the main character... hmmmm.

Moley spends all of his time sitting next to the bedroom door while I'm working on the computer. The look of "Oh pity me and take me out!!!" is overwhelming in his eyes...

I've been battling a nasty sore throat all weekend. I've pretty much been curled up on the sofa, sucking on a strawberry halls and reading a book all weekend. Moley, of course, hates it. He's always begging to play.

And today I went to Costco. We bought lotsa lotsa pasta. I cooked cheese tortelini in alfredo sauce with smoked salmon. Yum... I was planning on baking Cinnabon's for dessert but we were all too stuffed.

And I resolve to go to more classes next week.

And write my Behavorial Psych paper early.

And actually STUDY for my midterm.

I have a yucky, yucky midterm tomorrow. I really don't feel like studying... hey what's new???

Anyhoo I ate SO MUCH meat today. We actually ate at Tony Roma's... just 'cos it was right next to the post office. So imagine eating ribs & a baked potato for lunch... so heavy. And when dinner time rolled around, I was still in the mood for meet so we ate at Johnnie's Pastrami... on Sepulveda. I hadn't eaten there in years and it was pretty good... of course not as greasy as Chano's...

But now I'm stuffed... watched TV & worked on listing items all day today. Went to the post office, and went to the dog bakery to get Moley some treats. He has a new favorite... the little pizzas. They smell like real pizza! And~ they taste like uncooked instant noodles. His Three Dog Bakery cookies are pretty good.

Midterm. Yecch. I guess it's back to that now...

... groan ...

I am feeling the after-effects of eating French-Vietnamese sandwiches from Little Saigon's "Lee's Sandwiches"... not good. My cheeks are flushed, my tummy hurts... and... it's.. c-o-o-l-d..

Well I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to keep up my entries. Or go to school. Or fold my laundry. Things have been hectic!

Well first here's an update on Moley: He's done with his 4th week of training and can "stay" pretty well... unless there are distractions: other people, other dogs... well that doesn't help us much!!! He still pees on everyone he sees. Not to mention we stopped giving him his poo-poo medicine so he's eaten his poop another couple of times. Blecch. But he's still growing, and he's outgrowing his new clohtes :(

And as for the "business"... we're all set up now. We regularly buy inventory, we have a "system"... and we're looking to rent some office space because having four full racks of clothing + boxes + shipping supplies is not ideal in your living room! But things are working out really good. Our growth rate has been amazing... and my fingers are crossed.

And as for me... things have been tough. I haven't had as much time for school as I'd like to, but it's slowly changing. During my free time I browse online stores like Neiman Marcus, eLuxury, and BlueFly to scope out the items. I read fashion magazines. Wow. I'm liking this new job ;). I'm also reading a new book, The Nanny Diaries. I still watch my Passions and Days of Our Lives. I've added American Idol, The Bachelor, Mr. Personality, and America's Most Talented Kids to my Tivo list... yes I'm a reality-tv-whore.

I've done a lot of rethinking about -me-. I've noticed a trend. After getting "settled", I start changing and I don't know why, and I don't remember what I was like before. I get picky, I get defensive, I develop an attitude... and I am just generally very pessimistic. Maybe it has nothing to do with relationships and it's just phases I go through. I really don't know. But not only does it affect how others perceive me, or how they feel around me, it's also affecting how I perceive others. I get annoyed, I start to despise people, it's just ridiculous. And I'm only looking at what's on MY side. I don't even want to imagine what people think of me.

But then I tell myself that I'm going to "change" and be more aware of how I act, what I think. And I realize... is that how much work it takes to just "live"? That you have to stay alert and think everything through before you say it, consider consequences and other people's thoughts before you do something. Well yes, up to a point. But when the smallest things you do either annoy or offend someone, isn't there a possibility that -THEY- just might be TOO SENSITIVE? Yes, I admit, I'm sarcastic up to a point... but it's easy to distinguish between my sarcasm and bitterness... isn't it?

And whatever happened to the art of conversation? I thought a conversation was when two people bounce their ideas off of one another. Why is it considered so RUDE for one to pipe in a comment or response before the other finishes... when there is no intention to halt the flow of information... when sometimes you want to just add an "I was thinking the same thing..." or "But what about..." or "That's not what I thought..." And isn't it ironic that the same applies to when you have NOTHING to reply back? The other person gets offended, feels ignored.

Since when was there a book written on how to converse? The proper rules of conversing?

There are just too many rules to live by to please everyone.

School Schmool. I've started attending my Indonesian class but not much else. I promise starting next Tuesday I will again. Moley hasn't much time to practice the things he learns from his trainer because when we're at Anton's, he's just tied up to the computer table, chewing on the leash so he can get to the cats.

He pooped in the house the other day and ate it. We're starting to get a little lazy with bringing him down to pee. Not good...

And did you hear about this SARS thing? Supposedly some guy in Monterey Park, the owner of a large supermarket, contracted the virus and died. So supposedly people in Monterey Park are starting to wear the surgical masks... is this 100% true? Can someone confirm? eeek.

Well it's 1AM and I think time to go to bed.

Yesterday, after Moley's nasty incident, we all went to the beach in Venice. The beach houses there are so nice! There's this little private beach where a lot of pet owners go. It was Moley's first time at the beach and he had a lot of fun! Actually, it was my first time walking on the beach with Richard too. Moley kept walking up to the edge of the water but when the wave came he'd run away. What a scaredy-cat.

I was NOT prepared and didn't have any towels or anything for when we left. Moley was so dirty! He fell straight asleep though. Then when we got home we let him swim around in the bathtub.

Later on that night we had dinner with Anton & Jen at Le Petit Four on Sunset. We haven't been on Sunset Blvd. in so long! That tells you how often we go out nowadays. The restaurant was so busy they messed up our order 3 times.

Well, this morning we woke up to get ready for Church but by the time all of us were ready (Richard, me, Catherine, and their cousin Jessica), it was too late. We all decided to eat at McCormick & Schmick's instead. I tried their Spinach Chicken Salad... so good! After that I did a little shopping by myself and now I'm back at home. I do not want to start school again tomorrow. Actually, I won't be starting until Tuesday. I think we have to drop off Jessica at the airport and then go over to do more buying for inventory.

I am so frustrated about a lot of things. I might not be able to enroll in Psych 100B because of my inc. in 100A and... well that might set me back an entire quarter. Yesterday we got our reseller's permit so we're ready to buy more inventory. I can't wait until Monday! Richard mentioned the whole clothes idea to Anton and now he wants in too. We're figuring things out for now I guess... trying to get our plans down.

Meanwhile Moley had another training session today. He did pretty well. He gets really tired afterwards. Then we decided to have lunch at Century City so that Moley can come along and get some treats at the bakery too. Then at home Richard was playing the "humping game" with Moley... ... Basically when Moley starts humping he just kind of encourages it along... and then... well.. this thing came out of Moley's thing that was like 6 inches long I swear and we all freaked out cos it wouldn't go back in! It was out for like 2 full minutes and he was so confused, he didn't know what it was. He was crying and wailing.... it was so sad.

Moley went through puberty.

This is my last Spring Break weekend. I better make the most of it.

Got a couple of my grades back from this past quarter... I got a B in Physics and a B- in Anthro 7. Not bad, considering I never ever ever went to class and missed a midterm. Well, hopefully I get my A+ in Indo and it'll all even out. I didn't even take my Psych 100B final.. I'm making it up next quarter.

Moley seems so bored lately. I've been doing so much work and cooking around the house and he's just kinda been moping around, getting naughtier and naughtier. He can actually jump on to the kitchen counter now! He knows his treats are up there so he uses his food bucket as a kind of step.

Last night Anton came over and I cooked! I made some Indonesian fried chicken, fried pork, morning glory, and some soup. I'm getting a hang of this cooking thing . I'm lucky my mom is full of good recipes.

Oh, and I ate an entire box of melty blends all by myself today. That is 39.2 grams of fat.

Spring break is underway and so is my new business!! Doing what I love to do most... shopping! All of that bargain shopping with Marcela over the years paid off... now I can use my expertise to find good deals to resell online. Anyhow after all the research, on Monday I started going to closeout warehouses and such around the city. I've bought my first load and I'm preparing to get them online... once I do that I just have sit back and watch the money roll in. Okay, okay. I know that's being optimistic. But it's good.. I'm excited.. I 'm pumped.. it's all coming together.

Melty blends are so yummmmmy. I bought 3 boxes of them yesterday. For those of you who don't know what they are, go to Mitsuwa or any other japanese market and go to the chocolate aisle. They have this box of chocolates called "Melty Blend". Make sure you get the "Cacao" flavor... regular chocolate, NOT the white chocolate. Yum yum gimmie some.

Yesterday Moley had his first day of school. We found a private trainer near Marina Del Rey. Actually, the trainer is a behaviorist so we spent the first lesson telling him about Moley's habits, activities, & etc. Basically he deduced that Moley is too "spoiled" "babied" and "attached" to us. :) We have to do separation exercises with him this week so that he doesn't get separation anxiety whenever we leave.



After that we all had lunch at Ramayani. We met up with Anton, Jabin, Catherine, Jessica, and Yona. I hadn't seen Jabin in a long time. His hair is long and shaggy again. Yona walked from her apartment. THAT surprised me! Yona walking for more than a block! Hehe.Then we picked up Moley from the groomers. I had them take all of his hair off since he gets so hot now. Then I had a l-o-o-o-ng nap. Waking up at 5:30a really drained my energy. I woke up starving though! And craving BBQ ribs. I've been craving BBQ ribs for like 2 months now but Richard doesn't eat ribs. I love the ribs at Houston's. Yummmm. Well we ended up picking up Anton and going to King & I instead. It's a little Thai restaurant on La Cienega.

Well, sadly that's pretty much it. I ordered some lotion and make-up stuffs from Sephora.com... so that's pretty much the only thing that has me looking forward to next week. I don't have anything planned for Spring Break... but I don't want to waste an entire week of vacation. I'm trying to convince the gang to go to Sea World with me next weekend. Hee hee.

Wow it's been a while. Well I wish I could say that I was too busy studying for finals to write entries... hehe... but truth is it's been so boring I didn't really have much to write each day. I had a final last Friday, Monday, and yesterday (Friday). The rest of the week I basically either watched Passions or complained that Passions wasn't on. I think this obsession is turning unhealthy.

Later at 10am Moley is going to have his first training session with "I said sit!" I just taught him how to "Speak!"... but he only does it when I have a treat for him. The reason I'm awake this early is that at 5:30 Catherine & I went to go pick up her cousin at the airport. On the way back I realized I've never watched the sun rising from the east before... hehe.

Last night I watched Boat Trip. It was not like I expected. Cuba Gooding Jr. did a good job... but I don't think Richard was that comfortable watching the movie.

Joanna took the essay portion of her Whitney test this week. Thinking back, I wonder what things would have been like if I didn't go to Whitney. Well, then again I wonder what things would be like if I stayed in school (UCLA) continuously and already graduated. I guess you can't spend your lifetime wondering what things could have been or should have been. I remember while I was going through high school I felt like I had so many regrets, but now that I look back they all seem so miniscule. We were all so over-dramatic back then. Now that I'm older, I just feel smaller. A lot of things leave me wondering, is this significant enough to waste my time worrying over? I don't know... sometimes when you focus too much on the little things, then broaden your view and look at the big picture... all it does is leave you confused. Blah, I don't even know what I'm getting at. It's way too early in the morning to start getting philosophical.

As for my job update, I've decided to go into business for myself. So far Richard and I have filed for a DBA & a Seller's Permit. Next week we're going to visit high-end apparel wholesale warehouses to look for good, reliable suppliers. This should be more fun than work ;) ... it's the perfect work for a bargain hunter. Let's hope all goes well.

Wow it's been a while. Well I wish I could say that I was too busy studying for finals to write entries... hehe... but truth is it's been so boring I didn't really have much to write each day. I had a final last Friday, Monday, and yesterday (Friday). The rest of the week I basically either watched Passions or complained that Passions wasn't on. I think this obsession is turning unhealthy.

Later at 10am Moley is going to have his first training session with "I said sit!" I just taught him how to "Speak!"... but he only does it when I have a treat for him. The reason I'm awake this early is that at 5:30 Catherine & I went to go pick up her cousin at the airport. On the way back I realized I've never watched the sun rising from the east before... hehe.

Last night I watched Boat Trip. It was not like I expected. Cuba Gooding Jr. did a good job... but I don't think Richard was that comfortable watching the movie.

Joanna took the essay portion of her Whitney test this week. Thinking back, I wonder what things would have been like if I didn't go to Whitney. Well, then again I wonder what things would be like if I stayed in school (UCLA) continuously and already graduated. I guess you can't spend your lifetime wondering what things could have been or should have been. I remember while I was going through high school I felt like I had so many regrets, but now that I look back they all seem so miniscule. We were all so over-dramatic back then. Now that I'm older, I just feel smaller. A lot of things leave me wondering, is this significant enough to waste my time worrying over? I don't know... sometimes when you focus too much on the little things, then broaden your view and look at the big picture... all it does is leave you confused. Blah, I don't even know what I'm getting at. It's way too early in the morning to start getting philosophical.

As for my job update, I've decided to go into business for myself. So far Richard and I have filed for a DBA & a Seller's Permit. Next week we're going to visit high-end apparel wholesale warehouses to look for good, reliable suppliers. This should be more fun than work ;) ... it's the perfect work for a bargain hunter. Let's hope all goes well.

It's the beginning of another long week. Well, actually I have finals next week so this is actually going to feel like a short week. Not only do I have finals for this quarter, but I have to make up my finals from last quarter as well. Yikes.

We didn't go to church yesterday morning, so we ate dimsum with Anton & Jen instead. Then afterwards they kidnapped us and forced us to go to their office with them for a couple hours. That ruined my plans for the whole day :(. I was planning on going to 3rd Street or the Dog Bakery at Century City... anything but a long, boring car ride to Encino.

Well afterwards I think Richard felt bad about it so we went to OSH to buy my Calla Lilies. We stopped by Pier 1 Imports first (His favorite store =P) and Cost Plus to buy candles and other home accessories. The lilies that were left at OSH were shriveled up and dying so I didn't pick up any. Besides my tulips aren't doing so well and it doesn't look like my palm is going to come back to life. It kind of ruins my motivation to start my garden.

We were too lazy to go out anywhere plus we felt bad since Moley had been home alone almost the whole day so we just ordered delivery from Jerry's Deli. I love their chicken soup.

Well, now it's Monday morning. So far I've skipped class, jogged for about 1/2 hour, and ate leftover chicken soup. What a great start.

Happy Sunday morning! Yesterday was my first *real* Saturday in a while. I'm talking about going out, bein' outside, and enjoying the LA weather. First Richard & I went to Barney's New York for breakfast. We ate at the Greengrass Restaurant. I was craving their cream cheese. I ordered an omelette & sausages... but I ended up eating a lot of toast. They have this fresh strawberry jam that is so so good. Richard got mad at me for eating the "free stuff" and not eating the food that I have to pay for. Hee hee. Oh, and also we sat next to Leann Rhimes. She's lost a lot of weight.

Afterwards we picked up Moley. We went to Petco to get him a dogtag and then to the shelter to register him with the city. We found out that registering an unneutered dog is $100 while registering a neutered one is only $10... better to wait until he's neutered.

Then we drove around Santa Monica & Venice following this "Dog Walk" map looking for good Dog Parks. We visited about 4 of them and they were all horrible. Basically just a patch of sand with a couple of trash cans. Finally we decided to just drive up to Encino to the Sepulveda Basin Off-Leash Dog Park that we drive by all the time, since it's really big and grassy. Moley had such a fun time! Of course we had to stay in the small dog area... but he had a fun time sniffing butts and doing other dog things. He did a really good job of following us around and keeping tabs on where we are while he was playing too. It was quite funny... almost made me feel like a mom bringing my toddler to the park. Then I made the mistake of bringing a bag of treats inside... as soon as I opened it I had about 5 dogs run towards me and sit & beg... then I saw the sign... "Absolutely NO food inside park!!!"

After that Moley was so stinky. He had been sniffing butts and there was slobber on his face from other dogs licking him. I gave him a long, warm bath and he slept for a while after that. Oh wait, Moley actually ate dinner & played at home, *I* was the one who slept for a while After my nap we got ready for dinner. Anton really wanted to eat steak at Ruth's Chris but I wasn't sure if I was up to it because of my jaw. But I figured, what the hell... expensive steak is supposed to be tender right? We stuffed ourselves silly, until we could barely walk afterwards. I literally just plopped on my bed afterwards and didn't move.

Favorite Item of the Day: Kiehl's Cucumber Herbal Alcohol-Free Toner

The main reason I stopped by Barney's today was to replenish my supply of toner. I've tried a lot of toners in the past and this is by far my favorite one. It's a little bit gross looking and stinky, but my skin feels so smooth afterwards.

Not much in the happenings of the Wilshire Borgata. This week has pretty much been school, stay home, go out to dinner, stay at home again. I've been wanting to start to study for finals this week but I keep pushing it off. Well since I have only one week left of classes I will try to make it to all of them next week. Let's see how I do.

Well, on Thursday Richard and I found our Dracaena marginata plant at a nursery on Sawtelle. After a long conversation (we're talking hours here) with the nursery owner's son about his ex-girlfriends and their yeast infections (he was somehow trying to make a correlation between women/yeast and plants/fungus.. it wasn't pretty) we set up for the plant to get delivered today (Friday).

It is quite tall, we're trying to fit it into that corner behind the cabinet... we might have to cut a couple branches off. Anyhow, the nursery guy saw my Palm and said... on top of the fungus and rotting leaves I also have a bug problem. This plant might be harder than I thought to salvage. Well if I can somehow bring it back to life, Richard promised that he won't complain when I buy flowers or other plants... so let's see how green my thumb is.

Moley is still doing his crying bit whenever I give him a Greenie (favorite dog treat). He cries and whimpers while he walks around looking for a place to hide it. It's pretty funny. Now he does this thing where he licks it instead of the usual biting, I guess making it last longer.

I had this weird dream today while I was napping that I was going on a hunt for torisoboro because I didn't want to eat it at Furaibo. Then we found it at this Japanese restaurant. Then after Richard came back from work we went to Terried. It was like deja vu from my dream. (But they don't have torisoboro )

I've added more pictures of Moley to my Imagestation. I love this thing. They let me keep an unlimited amount of digital pictures. You can even upload video files. Their printing services aren't that bad either. Reasonably priced, good quality, and quick delivery. Moley's Photo Album

My job hunting is not going well. I am not getting very many call backs. Most of the jobs I sent resumes for were looking for full-timers though. It's tough being a starving student!

Oh yeah the other day I got my fat content checked out at LA Fitness. I feel like a food. I am 26.8% fat. That sounds so ugly. That's more than 1/4 of me. I'm supposed to be dieting and exercising until I get at least 22%... which is "healthy". I guess no matter how much weight you lose, if you do it the wrong way, your fat percentage just keeps climbing.

Favorite Thing of the Day: Glaceau Vitamin Water

I love this line of enhanced water. It kind of tastes like not-too-sweet gatorade. They are good for you (packed for vitamins, in many different varieties depending on what you need) and they taste really good. I usually can't stand drinks that are too sweet. If anyone knows where I can go to buy these in bulk, please let me know!

I haven't written in a while... well nothing interesting happened all weekend. We helped Anton & Jen move again. And also I caught a cold so I was miserable all weekend. I did go to one class each on Monday and Tuesday-- welp it's a start!

Richard & I are looking for a potted Dracaena Marginata plant for the living room. I posted the picture of the dying palm somewhere last month.. and needless to say I think it's hopeless.

Who knew tulips opened up during the day? Well I'm kind of bummed cos I was researching it online and tulips actually only bloom for a couple of weeks before they die out for the rest of the year.

We got a new couch set, so at least now the coffee table doesn't look so big! Well I'm home all day today. My direcTV just went down so I suppose I should be studying. We'll see. I still have 2 Tivo'd episodes of Days of Our Lives for backup.. hahaha.

Fun Game: Japanese Food Game

Rearrange the foods in the right order.

I'm having a good weekend so far! On Friday I went to class in the morning. Then the carpet & wall people came so now our living room is finally clean and everything is in order. Moley also got a haircut... he looks so different now! Looks so much older :)



Anyways today (March 1) is Richard's 23rd birthday. So on Friday night at midnight all of his friends came over for a little surprise birthday party. We were actually really tired because we had been helping Anton & Jen move all day. Everyone stayed until like 2AM just talking... I thought I was going to fall asleep. I haven't slept past midnight in like over a month! Anyways, I haven't seen everyone in a while so it was fun.

Today was -more- moving. Other than that we had dinner at Caffe Roma which is on Canon in Beverly Hills. I've been pretty exhausted from moving things but it hasn't been so bad. I guess I'm used to moving things around, since I pretty much moved every year since I've started at UCLA.

Yesterday was also the mark of 1 1/2 years with Richard. (And a full 2 years since the day I met him, since I met him on his birthday) Wow. It's not that I can't believe it's been so long... because it's felt like forever. It's just that once you put it into a number it becomes so concrete. I started getting very sentimental in the car and just going over the last 2 years in my head. And then I started thinking, why is it that guys are so afraid of being sentimental? I mean, those closest to me know that this is one thing that I think very highly of. I mean, to be sentimental about things you have to put yourself in a vulnerable position and express thoughts and emotions that you would otherwise keep to yourself. I think to sacrifice your pride and let your guard down like that is the most sincere, genuine act you can show towards another person. People need to stop being so self-conscious and prideful and just take a step back and enjoy their lives. Moreover, they need to stop worrying about the future or what they've done in the past and just contemplate about the little things that make you happy. And if those little things come from someone special, then let them know that! Everyone always just keeps things to themselves. They are afraid of risking their pride in a moment of sentimentality. That is a shame.

Be proud I went to school today. I went to BOTH of my classes, was early, and stayed until the last minute. Wow. It felt good. I think it had something to do with drawing up my schedule and realizing that this is the last chance I have at these classes. I hope this quarter works out okay.

Well this morning I went to my Indo class, then went home to watch Passions & Days as usual. I am getting very, very hooked on both shows. The weekends feel so incomplete without new episodes. I took a nap and was >this close< to not going to Psych class... but I had to speak with the professor so I went.

On my way to class I was so hungry since I didn't have lunch, so I stopped by the vending machines. As soon as I saw the Hostess Cupcakes I had to have them. I haven't had those since High School! The days of the Hutch. Wow. It's been a while. I think back then they were like 50 cents or something. They were a dollar at UCLA. But, just for memory's sake, I bought them anyway. I almost spit out my first bite. They do not taste as good as they did back then. I don't know if the recipe changed, or if I'm more sensitive to sugar now or what. But anyhoo I couldn't finish even one cupcake, so I bought a bag of funyuns instead.

During class I was so bored, I started playing around with my jaw. And now my right side clicks. I got freaked out- don't want it to end up like my left jaw so I set up an appointment with my Orofacial Pain Specialist right away. I see him next Tuesday.

After school I had dinner with Richard at Ramayani. I haven't been there in a while either. I love the Shrimp Noodles there. We ordered quite a lot and were too full to walk afterwards. We went home and played with Moley for a while. He is getting cuter and cuter. I can't help thinking that I am so attached to him now. I've never felt this with any of my previous pets before. He's getting so big, but he still has a puppy face. I'm teaching him a new command. Theoretically, when I say "Moley, look out the window." he's supposed to go to the window, put his paws up on the sill, and press his nose into the glass. So far, he does it if I put a treat up on the sill. Tricky.

Well, that about wraps up my evening. I just got through watching The Bourne Identity. It was quite a long movie. Matt Damon ain't too bad though. Tomorrow is Richard's Birthday Eve. I need to start plannin.

Well... today was no different than any other day. Woke up late. Richard already left for the gym, brought me some Jamba Juice. There was no way I would have been able to join him. My chest is so sore from my workout yesterday :(. It's very hard to move around. Anyhow, I watched Passions. Added Days of Our Lives to my schedule... and pretty much hung out in front of the computer all day.

I resumed my job hunting, checking out sites such as hotjobs.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com. Then I finalized my school schedule for the next year. Now that there aren't too many classes left, school doesn't seem so bad. I just... need to get back into the habit of studying! My gosh... whoever said old habits die hard... new habits are even harder to start!!

I met up with Thomas for a quick pre-dinner. Had some Chinese Chicken Salad & Sesame Chicken Wings from Feast From the East. One of my friends recommended it and I read good reviews so we decided to try it. Not bad.



I came back and watched TV for a little bit and then Richard came home from work and HE was hungry so I ate again. We ate at Versaille's on Venice. UCLA students will agree, the "Famous Chicken" is worth the $8. (Do you remember when it used to be $5.95???) Not to mention the mango smoothies. Yum.

Moley is so cute. So, so cute. I really like him. He's sleeping in his crate on his back. And he's making funny noises. (I think he's barking in his dreams)

Well, today was another long, lazy day at home. I did go to the gym this morning though. And I had a Jamba Juice lunch. I have a secret. I am not paying for my gym membership. I bought a pre-paid 2 year membership about 4 years ago and they... errr... forgot to keep charging. Oh well, lucky me But shhhh, don't tell.

So what did I do today. I watched Passions. I go nuts on the weekends when Passions is not on. It's quite sad. I understand that Passions is a very cheesy soap opera, but still. Oh and I finally finished Thirteen Days. I did fall asleep at the end though. Despite falling asleep a total of 3 times, I would say that it's a pretty good movie.

I had dinner at Sawtelle Kitchen. The Spicy BBQ Beef salad there is so yummy. Didn't do much after that. I sent out one more resume today.

Why am I so irresponsible these days? I'm so lazy to clean up... I mean 2 weeks ago I was vaccuuming twice a week and mopping on a daily basis. Now I won't even throw out my dead Valentine's flowers. My tree is dying. Not because I am not feeding it, but because the rain just crushed what was left of the standing leaves. Now I believe there are 3 leaves standing up, and 6 that have fallen over. Quite sad.

I did have a good surprise today. I received a hand-written letter from a dear, old friend which really put a smile to my face. You know, that's one thing nice about the world. That you find a couple of those other people out there that you can really just connect with. There are high-maintenance friendships that only last with constant contact, but then there are the ones that really last because of who you are, and not what you do. I don't think I'm making much sense. Oh well.

My entry got erased I am so annoyed!!! AUUUGGGHH. And it's not like my day was all that interesting but still, how annoying.

Okay, here's me starting over. I woke up late today and Richard had already went to the gym. He brought back some Jamba Juice for me though. I have been so lazy these past couple of days. Few days. Okay, okay, I've been lazy for the past week or so. I was planning on studying the whole day but I had to watch Passions. By the time Passions was over I got really hungry and Yona was at the Mitsuwa Supermarket so I had her pick me up some instant fried rice.

Now before you gag, this stuff is pretty good. It's japanese and you mix a rice packet with a seasoning packet and then stick it in the microwave for 2 minutes. The rice is actually plump & not dry. Good stuff. Anyhow afterwards I was still hungry so I ordered some spicy noodles & soup from Talay Thai. Then after a nice, relaxing bath, I decided I was going to study (again) but the delivery guy already came. It's hard to study & eat at the same time so I ate and watched TV instead. I watched K-19: The Widowmaker. But then right at the good part (the nuclear reactor in the submarine was causing a core meltdown) my DirecTV went down. AUUGGHH!! So I switched to my Tivo'd copy of Thirteen Days. But that didn't last long, I fell asleep. Too much of the Cold War.

Then I went to dinner at Saks'. A lot of good food for cheap. Just what I needed, more food. My appetite has been humongous this past week. We hurried through dinner because I had to get back in time to watch Joe Millionaire at 9pm.

And that was my day.

Job search update: Well I contacted a staffing agency but unfortunately they don't staff for part-timers. I sent out one resume today to an Asian in-language marketing/advertising agency. Fits well with my resume, hopefully I'll get a call back. If not, then it's time to mass-mail some resumes.

Favorite Item of the Day: Crede er Conditioner

This is an amazing conditioner, especially if you have stressed out or colored/dry hair. Marcela recommended this to me. Rather than using it as a regular conditioner, about once a week I put it in my hair for 15 minutes before rinsing. (Perfect as a bubble-bath treatment) It leaves your hair soft, shiny, and smelling really really good. Don't use too often though or else you'll get a build-up.

The weekend is over! I'm supposed to have a Physics midterm tomorrow but I forgot to study so I'm going to try to postpone it. Okay let me recount what I did this weekend...

I woke up late on Saturday morning and got ready to go eat lunch. Richard & I went to Johnny Rocket's on 3rd street with Anton & Jen. I still haven't had surgery yet on my jaw so I was unable to eat a burger... I settled for the chili cheese hot dog instead. After that we went apartment hunting with Anton & Jen. I wore heels and it was a bad choice. My feet were hurting. We hung out with them all the way up to dinner, which we ate at Furaibo. I hadn't eaten there in a while, so it was good! I like the torisoboro there. After we got back Richard & I couldn't think of anything to do or anywhere we wanted to go so we pretty much stayed at home, watched TV, played with Moley, etc. I realize now that I should have been studying for my Physics midterm! Oh well.

This morning we went to church at 11am. Then after that we had lunch at Mongol's BBQ in Westwood. I shared a plate with Catherine so it was the first time I finished my plate! (Even though there are "No sharing!" signs all over the walls, hehe.) After that we stopped by Rodeo Dr cos Catherine wanted to get a purse @ Gucci. I've been looking for a "bigger" bag... one where I can actually fit a lot of things and wear during the day w/ anything, and not look too much like a mommy, and I found one, I think. It's $595 though Well, we'll get me a job so I can have money to shop. I'm so broke right now it's depressing.

After that we met Anton & Jen at the Amandine Patisserie across the street, which has become Anton's favorite snacking spot. I felt like I've seen them everyday this week. Well, after that I went home to watch the Grammy's. You know, at first I thought that Norah Jones deserved all of her awards, then I found out she doesn't even make her own music. So what's all the jazz? I think John Mayer deserved more. Also he mentioned something about being 16 but in an article they said he was 24. So how old is he? I think Michelle Branch should have won more awards

And what a nice surprise! I wasn't expecting all of NSYNC to be there, much less sing a tribute! It was nice to see them share a stage again. Although I have to admit, although their vocals were in sync (sorry- had to do it), they didn't share their usual charisma. There wasn't enough interaction within the group, JC's hair looked horrible, and Justin needed to shave. I mean come on! The best looking tonight was Lance... that's a scary thought!

Anyhow I had dinner at Soup Plantation today.. I make a killer salad there. I was disappointed that they didn't have Clam Chowder but they DID have Cream of Mushroom. I've been craving that for a long time. I ate two bowls. I also ate a baked potato, some pasta, macaroni & cheese, Chinese chicken salad, caesar salad, my own salad, and... it was hard to walk after that. (Lot's of eating this weekend huh?) Moley's sleepin' already... I suppose I should too. The only thing that I'm looking forward to tomorrow is Passions. How sad.

I didn't go to class again today, but hey, what's new? I woke up with a really bad head/neckache and my jaw was really tight. I'm not sure yet when I'm supposed to get it fixed. But I woke up just in time for the Pilates class at the LA Fitness gym in Westwood so I went and did that. It's not as good as the class over at Winsor Pilates... so I must say it was a waste of an hour. I had the Bounce Back Blast from Jamba... it tastes really good! It's $4.25... I remember when Jamba's were $2.75! Geez...

Well I took a long afternoon nap with Moley. Well, I didn't mean to. I was cleaning the house and doing laundry (whenever I feel guilty for missing school I always clean) and I laid down on the bed for a quick minute which turned into 2 1/2 hours. I was going to stop by the office with Richard but I had to wait at home for the carpet guys to come by. Plus I was "supposed to" be studying for my Physics midterm, which is next Monday. Anyhow, I woke up and had dinner with Richard at Hurry Curry. We ordered as much as we normally do but this time we didn't finish it. I had the lobster bisque too. Not as good as Beau Rivage, of course, but okay. Much better than the one Soomin and I cooked up a couple years ago! Anyways, I was so full that I had a stomachache the rest of the night. Then we went to go see The Life of David Gale. A+++. I recommend it, but only when you're in a serious mood because it is a very heavy movie. It keeps a nice pace throughout the movie and isn't too predictable. Kevin Spacey gave an incredible performance and I actually didn't mind Kate Winslet. Also, the movie was wittier than I would have expected. By the way, so movie tickets are $10.50 now? What happened to $3.50 matinee? Man I miss the Edwards at the Cerritos Towne Center... but tonight, the first time in a long time, I had some theater popcorn! I did the whole ghetto (1) ask for a tray (2) split popcorn in two, and (3) drench in butter. hehehe... (By the way, $8.50 for a popcorn and diet coke?? That's a $30 night and we had to SHARE a popcorn & drink? Geez. What is the world coming to.)

And an update on my palm tree out in the balcony... the wind nearly killed it! Two dead branches just came down. The other leaves are still spotted (brown AND white) but their shape looks okay. I wonder if these leaves will heal, or if new ones will just grow...

..and Moley is learning "roll over"

I just checked the calendar to see if today is supposed to be one of my "moody days" but it isn't... so I'm not sure why I'm feeling like this. I was just sitting in the car on the way back from Anton's house and I got this wave of depression just thinking... I mean usually I'm a pretty optimistic person or at least I'll concentrate on the day ahead of me and make the best of it but today I couldn't help letting my mind wander around a bit... I am filled in a world of uncertainty. I mean how can you foster trust and hope if the world around you is so uncertain? I don't know.. maybe this is a mid-20's crisis where you think everything around you has the potential to be temporary so you get scared and try to think of things to hold on to. Wait a second, I meant to say early-20's crisis... I'm not quite at mid yet... I think it's because we're in this college transition period where we live in an apartment, tight with money, and relationships come and go... In high school where you were sure to see the same people everyday you at least had your friendships to hold on to... and the security of coming to school the next day and everything being the same. Now that we have flexible schedules, and you have the choice whether to work or not, and the world is too large to bump into your daily friends, things get a little uncertain.

Anyways after I woke up today we went down for lunch at the Bagelworks Cafe downstairs. Richard was supposed to go to work afterwards but something came up so we went back home. My project this week is to salvage our tree. Previously it was indoors but it didn't get any light in the corner so now it is outside on the balcony. The leaves are wilting and such but hopefully the sun & regular water-feedings will revive it. We'll see!

I sent in my laptop to Sony Repair today.. I hope it makes it there okay. My year's warranty was almost up so I had to send it in this month. The battery is loose so whenever it's on battery and I move it, it loses the power connection and just shuts off. I've lost valuable essays and notes because of it

We spent the afternoon and evening at Anton's house, helping him move and such. Moley had a fun time playing with Mugen again but he got so dirty. He'd pee on the floor or squirt & accidentally sit on it. He also likes to play in the kitty litter box! Gross! (He eats cat poop )He's very smelly now but we can't groom him because he is on his treatment for ear mites. Eww.

Well we ate dinner at Tacos Mexicano in the valley... I'm sick of Mexican food. I must've ate 6 carne asada tacos and 2 al pastor tacos. My stomach isn't too happy right now. My brain isn't either-- I'm supposed to be reading & catching up on my Physics but I can't get myself to open the book...

Okay maybe it's not the "time of the month" thing and more of "I had a boring day full of negativity" thing.

I am so glad that Trista picked Ryan! I totally agree that Charlie didn't seem like he had the capacity to fall madly in love with someone. I saw Charlie as a guy that Trista could date but Ryan was more husband-material. He's just so sweet! You rarely see the "hopeless romantic" type anymore... I hope they stay together and prove America wrong!!

Anyways I skipped out on gym this morning to sleep in a little. We had lunch at Savoy Kitchen in Monterey Park with Anton & Jen... then we went to them to a loan consultant for a while. We had to hurry because we had to get back home by 2pm. Today was our Thomasville couch delivery and also the carpet guys were coming to dry out the rain damage in the corner of the living room. Well I wanted to post a picture of the new couch set but I don't have my dig cam with me and also we have half the carpet pulled up with two large fans and well... the living room is just not a pretty sight.

After I got the directv up and running again we pretty much just watched TV all night. The Bachelorette was on, and so was "The bad, the worse, and the ugly" of American Idol. I'm sorry but I just can't help laughing while watching Keith's "Like a Virgin" performance! I mean... is he for real or what?



Anyways I have a class at 8:30 in the morning tomorrow so I'm going to do a little bit of reading then go to sleep. Moley's already asleep underneath my chair. Which reminds me I haven't taken any pictures of him in a while. He is already growing out his first collar!

Very, Very Cool Site of the Day: How's Life.net

This is my cousin Alex's Production Company. He's an awesome House DJ and he's back in Jakarta for now. Check out the design he did for the website-- he's a very talented graphics designer. The site is a bit slow since it's being served from Indonesia, but it's worth the wait! There's also a message board on there for other fans of House that you could hit up.

What a busy 2 days! So much errand-running.

Yesterday at noon Richard, Moley and I went to Poquito Mas. It's like a Baja Fresh but not as... well actually it was a lot like Baja Fresh. I'm not a big fan of Mexican anymore so I wasn't wowed but Richard liked it. The shrimp burrito is pretty good.

Afterwards we took Moley to the vet to get his last set of shots and find out what's so itchy about his ears. We also got him microchipped. Apparently it's common to insert a rice grain sized identification chip in between the shoulder blades. So that way, if he gets lost, he can get "scanned" and we can find him. We also found out that he had ear mites and that's why his ears have been so itchy. He finally got his rabies shots and will soon be neutered. It's so expensive to have a puppy! I think we've spent over $400 at the vet already for him.



In the afternoon we went to Costco and then Mitsuwa market. There are a lot of good snacks at Mitsuwa. My favorite are these little individually wrapped cookies in a red box called "Couque de Asses"... not that great of a name. (Supposedly they're 'Cat's Tongue' cookies???) But they are really, really good. We bought some shabu-shabu beef and stuff too. I didn't feel too bad about buying so many snacks because I worked out in the morning. Well, kinda worked out. I don't last too long on the treadmill.

Afterwards I -finally- picked up my car from the Honda dealer. They never found anything wrong with it so they just rewired the ground wires "and if it happens again, just bring it back." What the heck is that??? So they want me to wait until I get into some horrible car accident or something. Grrrr...

Joe Millionaire: I have this theory. I think Sarah was hired by Fox. I think Fox wanted Evan to end up choosing a really nice girl that wasn't into him for the money so that's why they casted Zora. (They had to make sure she was authentic) But I think they hired Sarah to seduce him (hence the planned 'making out' in the forest) and trained her and gave her ideas to make sure that she made it until the end. If you look back to the way she acts, she really seems to be "acting"! And then the whole bondage thing kind of came at an opportune time, don't you think? I'm pretty sure she was hired.

Well this morning I had my presentation in my Indo class. I had to teach the class an Indo song. It was quite embarrassing. After going home and feeding Moley, Richard & I went to California Roll Factory. The sushi there isn't that great but it's "ok". Then let's see... I think we went home after that and I took a really long nap. (The movie bloodwork played twice on payperview) Before dinner we went to our first H.O.A. meeting. It's condo-talk for "roommate meeting"... we met the construction managers and heard about the plans for the building repairs. And... listened to an old man complain about parking for an hour. You see, people are abusing the 10 minute temporary parking and the Guest Parking downstairs and this guy I guess writes down license plates and such. I'm thinking if you're old and you don't drive and you don't get visitors, why do you care? Augh. He really annoyed me. Well afterwards we ate some shabu-shabu at home.

Okay now time to watch Trista on Jay Leno. Even though I like Ryan better for her, my bet is that she chooses Charlie.

I'm so glad that tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday! I need more weekend! Well, nothing out of the ordinary today..

At about noon Anton & Jen came over to pick us up for lunch before going real estate shopping. We ate lunch at Mishima on Wilshire since it's on the way to Brentwood. We planned on stopping by as many 1-4pm open houses as possible so we were driving around frantically. Of course it did not help that while we were looking around for directions or speaking with real estate agents, every 10 minutes Yona or Vina would call and ask "Can you come pick us up?" "We want to blah blah Japanese this that." "Oh we're lost how do we get here?" "You've taken the bus before, which bus do we take to go here?" "Oh, where does the 4 go? You told us to get on the 4 and now we're lost." So yesss... if I sounded annoyed it's because I was busy! Every single time my phone rang Anton or somebody would give me a dirty look like "Shut that damn thing off before we kill you." Anyways, not a big deal but it needed to be explained.

Well at 4pm we headed back and had coffee at the Amandine Patisserie because we were all exhausted. We rested at home for a while and we actually had time to go to a movie! I've been wanting to see How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days since it's come out and we finally had time to today. We watched at The Bridge and I was craving a chili dog so we stopped by Jody Maroni's first. Wow! The chili cheese fries there are pretty good. I really enjoyed the movie, I think I was laughing pretty loud. And although Richard complained that it was a chick flick, I caught him chuckling here and there. And that dog was adorable! I like how it looks like a miniature horse

You know what's sad though? That this movie picks apart all these things that girls do "wrong"... yet it's like... grrrr. I don't know. I mean -duh- you shouldn't do a lot of those things within the first 10 days you date a guy but it's like, a lot of the "stunts" she pulled are things you would do with a guy when you are comfortable with him and all relationships get to that point! Nevertheless I thought the movie was cute. I really like Kate Hudson. I mean if Jennifer Lopez was the one in the movie I think it would be flat out cheesy. But Kate pulled it off well...

Tomorrow's the big finale of Joe Millionaire! I wonder what this sick twist is. I bet he's going to choose Sarah, and after he tells her the truth she will not come. Then, the twist is that even though he isn't a millionaire he is still pretty well-off and he actually OWNS the construction company he "works for" and Sarah's busted for sticking in the game only for the money.

But I really want him to choose Zora.

We (Richard, Moley, & I) went to Anton & Jen's house today. We picked them up and then had lunch at P.F. Chang's in the Valley. Sherman Oaks Galleria or something like that. I like the Peking duck thing there, but it really isn't good Chinese food. It's better than Chin Chin's though, the food is horrible there! Then we went over to their house and watched Moley hump their dog Mugen. Both dogs are boys yet they both really like to hump each other. Something is not right.

Later in the evening Richard & I got ready for our belated Valentine's Day dinner. We went to Beau Rivage in Malibu. I've only been there once before. Actually, I went on my first "date" with Richard there about a year and a half ago. So after getting all dressed up we headed up PCH to the little Mediterranean restaurant.



The place is really cute. It's right off the coast and has a very cozy feel to it. There are lots and lots of flowers and... walls filled with plaques and awards for the food and service. Actually, the service is one of the best... they actually seat you right away. (Unlike Spago's where even if you have reservations, you have to wait 45 minutes). The food is amazing also... I know I don't really like lobster, but I ended up having the lobster bisque (which I definitely recommend!) and lobster ravioli. I don't like -WHOLE- lobster but I don't mind it minced up and cooked in other things Richard had some Hawaiian tuna carpaccio and veal chops... he loves the lobster tail there but he's allergic now . It was nice to have some time alone to just relax and have a real conversation over dinner.

In the past couple of weeks we both have done a lot of reflecting about things and we started talking a lot about... perception. He brought up this really good point that everything in life really is just how you perceive it. I mean it's like vision. We are not "seeing" color... what we see is our perception of color once the light comes through our eyes. And using that same analogy, people are annoying only if we perceive them as annoying. Situations are what you make of it. I mean this sounds almost as simple as being optimistic vs. pessimistic but I think it's something we all overlook daily. I mean, we only think optimistically or pessimistically about the future, or things that we hope for. We never really apply it to people, or things that have happened in the past. I mean, when you really sit down and think about it, and pick things apart, you can see a lot of things in a different light. Also we talked a lot about accepting things that we cannot change. I mean in this world each person is only in charge of their own life. Who are you to go out and try to change someone else? I suppose he is right... your first step should be to look inside of yourself and change that part of you that perceives whatever problem it is to be a problem. A lot of conflicts arise in relationships when someone says "Why can't they just see things my way?".. and not enough of us say "Why do they see it this way and what kind of sense can I make of it so that it doesn't bother me?"... does that make sense? I don't know. If this really is a new way of thinking I'll try it out for a couple of weeks and see if it really will make a positive difference in my relationships.

Well it's 1am so I think I'm off to bed. I cannot wait to go to the optometrist next week... my glasses give me a migraine whenever I wear them.

Very, Very Cool Site of the Day: Jane-Carroll.com

My goodness this site has some of the best flower designs and arrangements I have seen in my life. The Baby Blooms are adorable and everything is just so pretty! Guys... want a way to make that girl's heart melt? I guarantee one of these will :)



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Happy Valentine's Day! Well, today turned out better than I expected!

At about noon Yona and I went to Jamba Juice. We ate Sourdough Parmesan Pretzels (Gosh- so addicting) while I tried to convince her to skip the rest of her classes today. Then at her apartment we had some turkey bacon... Turkey bacon!? Okay, you know how regular bacon is dark red and has "white" fat strips? Well, apparently, in turkey bacon they use dark and light turkey meat to distinguish the colors. That is just sick. We eat bacon for the fat strip am I not right???

Anyways after I got home at about 1p or so, I got a call from Richard. I wasn't expecting him back from his little trip until tomorrow so it was a nice surprise. I had actually planned to spend the rest of my Valentine's Day giving Moley his much-needed bath and cleaning up around the house since it started to get dirty after the rain. Well, actually I still did end up giving Moley a bath and cleaning up the house but it was much more fun with Richard around I was happy. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and lounging basically. We pigged out at Apple Pan, watched TV, played with Moley. It might sound very low key to you, but it was really what I needed.

Well, enough about that. I updated yesterday's post with a picture of the arrangement I made for Richard. It looks much better (and larger) in person.

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Don't you hate how this thing is in EST? Confuses me with the dates.

Favorite Item of the Day: Mason Pearson Boar Bristle & Nylon Brush

Who would have thought that a hairbrush can make so much of a difference? I thought all hairbrushes were the same... all they do is detangle. But after brushing with this brush I find my hair to be softer, better texture, and less tangly throughout the day. I use the Boar/Nylon combination since I have such thick Asian hair. The natural bristles work hard to distribute your natural oils evenly on your hair strands, and the nylon bristles feel really good on your scalp. To justify it's pricy-ness... well, uhm, the entire thing is made by hand! Just buy a pocket sized one, it will still brush your head and you'll save yourself $50. Seriously, you will feel a difference. And plus they're made in London

This morning I woke up at 4:30 to go buy fresh flowers before the Valentine's Day rush.... then I turned my alarm off and slept til about 5:15 or so. After convincing myself that this only happens once a year, I finally got up and got on the road to the Flower Mart. This was my first time, and wow! They're open to the public and you can get any fresh flowers at a wholesale price. It's nice to wake up to a large warehouse full of flowers! I had ordered 25 red roses and went around looking for foliage and a nice pot. After an hour or so of browsing I went home to arrange them. I had no idea roses had THAT many thorns. An hour and a half later (and a very sore thumb) I had 2 dozen roses in a large arrangement. Wasn't too bad for a first try! Then I went back to give them to Richard. I'm glad he liked them... and that he didn't believe that I did it myself. It was nice to put time and energy into something instead of just thought and money =P

Poor Moley is stinky but he's been so itchy I've been hesitant to give him a bath. So we went to Petco and I got him some Doggy Conditioner. Hopefully he'll come out of this bath less itchy and less smelling like pee!

Also I found him this microwaveable bone. It's lamb & rice flavored but made out of potato. So if you microwave it, it expands to like 4 times it's size and becomes crispy. Well I followed the instructions but then the bone was so hot that Moley did not want to go near it. So stupid me, I decide to run it under cold water.... it got all soggy and wet and sticky and yeccchh.. Good thing dogs like soggy, wet, sticky things, Moley's having quite a good time chewin' it up right now.

Well, I didn't make it to Pilates or running today so I'm going to clean up the house a bit so I don't feel too guilty about being a couch potato today. I'm so hungry though. I'm too lazy to go out and buy food but there is nothing good to eat at home. Lately I've been skipping meals just cos I'm too lazy to think of what I want to eat. Thank God for Jamba Juice... too bad it's not open late at night!

Favorite Item of the Day: Pepperidge Farms Tahoe Cookies

These are so good! They are white chocolate & macadamian nut cookies. They are crispy and buttery... The very definition of an unhealthy snack. But augh, they are so good.



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Ok, ok fine. Someone told me I should be a little bit more honest and not make this diary so dry... So... I'm going to make a confession. I was really really bored today and didn't have anything better to do... so I started browsing around NSYNC message boards again. NO, not because I'm such an avid undying fan, I was just really, really bored. Then I wandered over to a Britney Spears message board. Some of the posts really annoyed me and pissed me off. "Britney is so perfect, she would never cheat on Justin. She's making out with Colin Farrell and Fred Durst but she's not a slut she is my idol blah blah." Actually, I even registered on one of the boards because I was going to reply and tell a girl off. But then I stopped myself and realized what I was doing. How sad.

What another lazy day. I didn't wake up in time for class but I had an orosurgeon appointment at 10:15. This is the second Orofacial Surgery Specialist I've seen so far about my "jaw problem." Now the weird thing is that I don't have any more pain in the jaw.. it's just that I can't open it any wider than 2 cm.

Anyways he said that I will have to go through "Oroscedntisees" or whatever... which has a 50/50 chance in fixing the problem. 50%??? Geez. And if that doesn't work then I have to have surgery done. Sigh. Sounds expensive.

After the doctor's appointment I felt too lazy to do anything, i.e. my midterm at 3:30pm. I ended up just getting a note from the doctor. Hopefully that's sufficient to make up my Psych 100A midterm =T.

I got back home and did homework.. relaxed.. took a nap. I woke up really, really hungry so I met up with Kenny and Yona at Sawtelle Kitchen. Actually, Yona already had dinner but I made her eat with me again, the more the merrier. I love the chicken wings there!Then I came home and played The Sims all night. Literally. It's pretty sad. If any of you play The Sims, I'm at the point where I can't play my family for too long because then my relationship levels with my friends drop... because I have too many friends. I actually built the entire neighborhood so that my family can have a lot of friends. Ok. This sounds weak.

I need to get out more.

Favorite Item of the Day: Creme De La Mer Moisturizing Cream

I really like this cream. I was very hesitant to try it since it's so pricey and I was afraid that I would get hooked on it... and I have. Everything they say about this cream is true. You just warm it up in between your fingers and apply to your face. Well, maybe younger people don't need it as much since it's mainly for erasing wrinkles and such but since the first day I've used it, it's given my skin a much softer and smoother texture.. and just looks healthier! So I'm hooked... which is bad... considering it's about $1000 for a 16 oz. bottle.

This weekend my sisters came up to visit me. It was nice to have company, but they really just came up to play games. Vina is hooked on Kingdom Hearts (which I completed =)) and Joanna just came along. I got all of them hooked on The Sims though... so I wasn't allowed on the computer all weekend. We just all hung out, the four of us, and ate out, ate in, played games... it was a lot of fun. I rarely get to see them during the week so it was nice to have 3 sets of hands to do things for you like get a glass of water.... hehe.

Also it was nice to share the "Moley duties" like taking him out to pee. I drove them back to Cerritos today since they didn't have any school.

By the way did anyone else watch Joe Millionaire today? What a disappointment and a waste of an hour! I thought for sure they'd at least reveal who he chose today. I guess they just want more people to watch next week so they can beat The Bachelorette's ratings. I really hope Zora wins. She's really down to earth and I think she could start a real relationship with Evan. Sarah, on the other hand, is... well there's no other word. Slutty.

And Moley lost his first tooth today! Well... before today I didn't know puppies lost their puppy teeth... so I was pretty freaked out. I'm still contemplating whether or not to neuter him. I feel so cruel taking away his manhood, his reason for living. I want puppies! But I do not want a house full of marked territory. Hmmm...

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By the way, I highly recommend the book below. I bought it on sale at Barnes & Nobles and I think it's the niftiest thing ever. There are chapters like "Stain Removal" and "Pet Allergens"... very homey stuff but it's all the stuff you wish you learned from your mom that you refused to before.

Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House
By Cheryl Mendelson, Harry Bates

I made it to class on time today! Well I had a midterm at 8am and another at 10am =T. After wearing out my brain, I decided not to stay on campus and stopped by Yona's apartment. We hung out for a while and ate Jamba Juice before heading back home to check on Moley.

Then Yona left with Moley to go spend the weekend in Cerritos. On the 405 my car stalled again! That's twice that it's happened to her. We had to drop it off at the dealership again and so now I won't have my car back until next week. They can't even figure out what the problem is.. when they tested it they said that it accelerated on its own and it is giving weird computer readings. My car is posessed :(

Just in time, Soomin came by. We had a really, really late lunch at the French Patisserie, Amandine, across the street. I made the mistake of bringing Moley so he got himself really dirty and I gave him a bath before Soomin and I went to work out. I jogged and biked for a while then we went to Pilates!! So proud :)

After we got back I made us some dumplings then we started getting ready to go to the Lounge in West Hollywood. The "Miss Chinatown"'s were having a get-together there and it was Asian night. I haven't been to a club since... New Years. And actually, a long time before that. But anyhow Soomin forgot her ID so we hung out at Urth Cafe on Melrose until her friends came. The crowd at the Lounge was... very UCLA 2 years ago. Soomin said that it's mostly UCLA & USC graduates... no wonder. The club was packed but Soomin's friend's brother DJ's there so we got in right away. All in all I had fun. My feet hurt from dancing but I haven't been out to a club with just girls in a while so I had fun. I didn't drink much though since I drove and did not want a repeat of what happened at New Years.

Favorite Item of the Day: Caudalie Grape-Seed Lip Conditioner

This chapstick works so good! It's not waxy, it doesn't smell, and it doesn't taste like anything. In fact, it gets absorbed so quickly you don't feel that residue on your lips. Also, you only have to apply it once a day because it works all day! Definitely worth the $15... go to sephora now!

I'm so tired today and it's been so tough trying to study. I woke up late (again) so I didn't go to class. Actually Moley woke me up at 3AM because he needed to "go"... so I didn't get out of bed until about 9am... after my Indo class ended already. I rushed and headed over to the orosurgeon for a follow-up appointment. (I just took out my wisdom teeth last Thursday)

Afterwards Mike Aki called me and told me about the Barney's Warehouse sale at the Santa Monica Airport. I've never been to one so I decided to stop by. It wasn't as great as I expected, maybe because I arrived late. I did manage to find a good deal on a couple things though. It was horrific... there were no dressing rooms, just cheap mirrors at the end of each rack. Not only did I have to change in front of hundreds of people running around but the place was messy and I was afraid of misplacing my purse. Well, and the old men standing around.

After that I just headed back home and tried to concentrate again on studying. When I talked to Richard on the phone it made me feel even worse that I was watching TV and eating snacks rather than studying. Well, I suppose it's back to the books for me since my midterms start at 8am tomorrow! Augh~

Even though I woke up at 8am this morning I decided to skip my classes (again). Which is horrible, since I have an Anthropolgy & Indonesian midterm on Friday that I am -very- not prepared for. After doing the usual take the dog out/feed the dog, I went back to sleep until about 10:30 or so. I felt really guilty about not going to class so I ended up cleaning around the house a little. I swear I feel like I vaccuum and mop everyday just to get rid of the doggy smell.

Soomin called this morning and she was in the area so we made plans for lunch. Also, she hasn't seen Moley in 2 weeks so she wanted to come by and play with him. Moley is my 3.5 month old American Cocker Spaniel Puppy. We ate at Le Pain in Beverly Hills and Tina (also from my high school) met up with us too. I never really talked to Tina much in high school but it was nice to be able to catch up. I couldn't help thinking that the two of them are still exactly like they were in high school. I'm wondering if I've changed since then? Well of course we went through the run-through of embarrassing high school moments, memories, and all of that. And, we found out that a lot of people our age are getting engaged and married.. and even some having children! I do not like how this seems to be the topic of the month.

Afterwards Soomin & I stopped by 3rd Street to pick up a few things at Sephora and Brookstone. She came over and we played with Moley. Moley can jump on the coffee table now! Not good. Now that he's grown about 3 inches I had to Moley-proof the house again! He is getting naughtier by the day, especially since he can jump on the couch now!

After watching The Bachelorette (I hope Ryan wins!) I went to Winsor Pilates to work out for an hour. No one interesting in my class this time, although Kelly Hu was in my class on Monday.

Sad to say this is probably one of the most eventful days I've had this week.