| hello, cupcake! |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|03:17 am] |
there's a store in the dc area with this name (and a book out there by the same name too, i think). but in the recent week, i've managed to find myself in THREE different bakeries eating cupcakes. me, a not-so-enthusiastic cupcake-eater. i think i've met my two year cupcake consumption quota in less than five days. living in the dc area has sort of muddled up my brain a little. i keep wanting to blurt out, "ooh i'm SO in the mood for some custard from dairy godmother!" or "lets go get a 9:30 cupcake from buzz bakery!!" but then i stop and remember that dairy godmother's in del ray and buzz bakery is in alexandria, virginia and not so much in north carolina. and i have to make do with bakeries that close promptly at 8pm, or don't even open at all on tuesdays. this state sure isn't very encouraging of late-night cravings.
on my drive home i got to thinking about the concept of driving fast. virginia strictly says that radar detectors are illegal, but that doesn't stop people from using them. heck, there's a whole business out there for developing the latest detector that goes under the radar of police radar detector detectors, if that all makes sense. detector scrambling and stuff... or something. but it got me wondering why there's still a problem of speeding if it's so blatantly obvious that it isn't the right thing to do. police nab speeders, insurance can go up in addition to speeders having to pay a hefty penalty. so by society standards, it isn't right to speed. yet tons of inherently good people choose to do something that society says is bad. why? obviously, speeding saves time otherwise spent on the road. i don't by any means have a cohesive enough mind to be a philosopher, but if getting caught were the only thing stopping everyone from speeding, wouldn't the easy way around that just be for everyone to speed? drivers outnumber cops like... 10,000 to one, so it's very unrealistic for a sole highway patrolman to do anything about 10,000 speeding cars. well, i guess nobody would want everyone speeding, because "it wouldn't be safe" but it's actually safer to travel at the same speed as everyone else? i'm rambling. i guess i'm just thinking about how easy it would be to overturn a society law if only the masses all worked together. an ordered society is a very fragile thing.
is there some unspoken rule out there that you're supposed to hate the guy your girl friend hates? i think this applies more to the female gender. like support the girl friend by saying, "that guy's a real jerk" and curse the air he breathes? middle school and 'sex and the city' drama stuff. does that apply to girls your girl friend hates? i get so confused about what's the proper thing to do. i think i'll just do whatever. |
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| boo. |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|04:08 am] |
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the trouble with dating, is that i really do 'date to marry', and there just isn't anybody here that i'd really like to marry. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 11th, 2009|03:24 am] |
i had a really strange dream last night regarding a neighbor and one of my roommates deciding to sue me for something. failure to take action to fix something in the apartment? it also included obama sitting in on the hearing, because he decided that week that he was going to randomly listen to small case hearings just to get a feel for what the public was going through. what i remember most is my roommate crying when i confronted her before the hearing began and saying sorry and that it wasn't personal. and i flash to the movie "you've got mail" where tom hanks' character says, "it wasn't personal" when he tells meg ryan's character that he felt bad about putting her out of business, and she goes "what does that mean 'it wasn't personal'? it was personal to ME". anyway, i don't know what i'm getting at, but that dream disturbed me, for more than the obvious reasons, and i woke up breathing hard and gathering my thoughts together for a few minutes before realizing that my roommate wasn't unhappy with me. i guess it's also sort of disturbing that i know that movie so well.
i went to a karaoke activity tonight, and it reminds me of the nights when my parents would karaoke with the then-new karaoke machine with family friends... cheesy (and sometimes inappropriate) 80's videos playing in the background of the streaming words. except it didn't cost $23 dollars then. oh well, new experience, and i think i'm tone deaf. oh the horror. i shall stop singing in front of people now.
and finally, do you think... well, taking into consideration this concept of "five love languages", do you think two people are destined not to be good friends if one of them is "quality time" and the other one is "gifts"? i'm wondering about that, because the gifts friend will never think of investing in time to hang out and not getting uh.. gifts, whereas the quality time friend will feel abandoned and might just think gifts shouldn't be given to that friend? i dunno. i was just thinking about that recently. |
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| do bunnies see colors? |
[Oct. 4th, 2009|03:36 am] |
did i mention i got a new place? signed, sealed, delivered... and moved in on monday. the living room is this awful rich yellow color this is simply overwhelming, so today (saturday) i enlisted the help of a guy friend and repainted all the walls to a blue-grey color. except that instead of it coming out neutral, it looks like i'm flaunting carolina pride... yet again. oh well. it still looks much better than the yellow. i know, because whoever the idiot was who chose that yellow color also decided to paint the door and door frame the same color too. and since i didn't know what kind of white the rest of the uncolored walls were ("falling snow" vs. "moon rise" vs. "guest house" vs. "hushed white"), we decided to leave the repainting of the door for another day, so it looks like there's some funky color scheme going on with the white, light blue, and yellow. but you can really tell the difference. plus, behr premium plus ultra paint is pretty friggin awesome. primer and paint all rolled into one, with minimum fumes! also went and changed all the baseplates for the light switches and outlets to just a plain white instead of off-white or the occasional squareish design antique-looking plates. so it all looks much better.
on the list of things to do was also to change out one of my roommate's bifold closet doors with mirror sliding doors, to help make the room look bigger. the package barefly fit into my car, and i ended up having to hunch my head down and drive home like a little person peering over the top of the steering wheel. anyway, when we opened up the package to install the "easy to install" doors, we realized we need a hacksaw and a drill, which i don't have. therefore, leaving that installation for another day, and it'll chill in the living room for now.
and finally, and the most interesting in my opinion, is my desire to replace my bathroom toilet. whoever installed the current toilet had tightened the bolts that attach the tank to the bowl too tight, and one of the bolts had ended up cracking the tank. so it's been dripping for a while. maybe even centuries. i had gotten advice to invest in a good $150+ toilet, even though one can be had at a mere $70. i had these plans in my mind that i'd go to the store and pick out a toilet, bring it home, remove the old toilet, and install the new one all by myself. afterall, home depot had rated "toilet replacement" as an "easy project". but then, last night i remembered hearing about how habitat for humanity had a store in raleigh where people donated items for houses. i go online, and wow, there's actually a place 10 minutes away from me. so i take some rough measurements of the tank at home, go to this ReStore place, and wow, there's a tank there just like it. one of the volunteer workers wanted me to take the whole set and then throw out the bowl if i didn't need it, but when he wasn't looking, i managed to swap the tank i wanted with another standalone tank nearby, and then took the tank i wanted to the cashier (a different volunteer) and paid a mere 20 bucks for it. that's how it's supposed to be done! reusing parts instead of filling up landfills! but i can see that being weird to some people... my friend thought it was weird... buying someone's used toilet instead of a new one. but really, all i needed was a new tank, and it isn't really necessary to pay $150 at a store for a brand new everything that takes muscle to lug home. unfortunately, the bolts i was going to use to install the new tank were the bolts of the old tank, and they don't look so good. so tomorrow i'll have to go back and try to find some bolts and gaskets and fix it up before my friend stops by with the drill and hacksaw to install the closet door. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 23rd, 2009|11:26 pm] |
i know that she doesn't read my livejournal so i'm safe, but tonight as i was driving to her apartment to go grab a spur-of-the-moment late dinner, it hit me...
i'm really going to miss judy when she moves away from dc. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 12th, 2009|02:07 am] |
yesterday on my way out of target, this lady approaches me and asks if i can spare any change for food. i gave her all the coins in my pocket, but i had this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that i should go with her into the store and buy her this big meal from the food area. i didn't though, and as i drove away, i saw this target employee talking to the woman about harassing customers.
then today, i finally meet the father of one of the people i know back at home. it's weird- i had known he worked at the PTO as well, but i figured out of the six thousand employees, the chances i'd ever see him would be next to nil. but it turns out he's friends with my office mate, and he sits two doors down from me. fancy that. my office mate goes, "hey, you two are both from nc!" and the dad looks at me, looks at my name plate and goes, "oh, you're the daughter of that guy... what's his name? umm umm gee.." it sort of weirded my office mate out a bit. i can imagine what he was thinking- just made an innocent comment that we were from the same state and his friend says he knows my dad. small world. anyway, after i go, "oh! how are you uncle" i had this sudden... urge to stand up out of my chair... like i was a well trained pet. it's a respect thing i think- i once saw one of my dad's old employees (asian guy) stand up when my dad went to go say hello to him at a restaurant and i asked my mom about why the guy stood up and why my dad insisted he sit back down. it must've been 10 years ago at least, but somehow it stuck. anyway, i didn't stand up and it bothered me the rest of the day.
one of my very good friend's grandfather passed away last night. he'd been struggling for a few years now. i gave her a call... but i didn't know what to say. can't really deal with stuff like that very well- consoling and whatnot. but i have this strong feeling that's almost pushing me to drive home tomorrow for the visitation and the funeral... but i can't. gah, another thing to feel bad about. i keep telling myself that she's got her whole family there but it's still not helping. she came to my grandmother's visitation and funeral when she passed away nearly eight years ago... wore red nail polish though, but that was an honest mistake. leslie scolded her afterward much to my amusement. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 5th, 2009|02:16 am] |
call me foggy, but tonight as i crossed the state line and saw the dirty, shadowy "wecome to north carolina" (man, budget issues must be in dire straits), a great big cheshire grin broke out. i dunno what it is, but it's always a relief to step out of VA soil to land back in carolina. the leaves haven't even started changing yet and i'm already in love with NC. but... i realize NC isn't anything special... no "seven wonders" here, no world famous cuisine, no "everything is bigger..." logo attached to it, but it just makes me feel better to be back. i'm going to wear black to mourn the day i have to change my license plate to VA.
another big cheshire grin broke across my face as i turned into my subdivision but that's for a different reason. it's a relief to be home, especially after a 5.5 hour drive in traffic, where i learned my palate can no longer handle rich things anymore- like a large DQ oreo cookie jar chocolate blizzard. shame. but i get home and i rattle off a list of things i want to do this weekend, one of which is to make dumplings entirely from scratch. and whaddayaknow... my mom's a mind reader or something- she already planned for dumpling-making to happen. sweet.
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 30th, 2009|02:00 pm] |
it's a hot, lazy sunday afternoon and i just got into work. self-pity? oddly, not really. there's something... surreal about coming into work on the weekends- it's a different vibe. i liken it to being in the undergraduate library at 4am, or waking up at 3:30 in the morning feeling completely rested. for those that have never willingly come in on the weekends, this vibe is different from that vibe where you're forced to stay at work late. my roommates look at me like i'm crazy, or shake their heads and threaten to tell my mom, because they know pretty well by now that i hold her opinion in high regard... but they have trouble understanding that i kind of like it. not because i'm a workaholic- i'm definitely not that. if someone suddenly calls me up to go do something, i won't make up some lame excuse because i want to stay here. but like i said... there's a different vibe on the weekends.
there's no one else here, except maybe one or two other people on the floor- and their doors are closed just like mine so we all don't really know who's here. i'm listening to my "girl radio" on pandora through the computer speakers, which i'm not sure i'm really allowed to do, but i figure it's the weekends, the bandwidth demand shouldn't be too high right?
but.. it feels like waking up in the middle of the night and deciding you want to delve into a few chapters of a book you've been meaning to read, or making yourself a bumstead sandwich with all the works, or making some cheeseburger cupcakes with yellow, green and red frosting (look those up online if you're clueless) because you can. because time stops still. and i'm all for time stopping still :) |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 28th, 2009|02:55 pm] |
thursday nights always mess me up. i get it into my mind that "oh, i don't have to get into work on friday during the regular hours i usually get in!" and i stay up way too late and so friday i wake up late and mosey around eating and watching tv and i don't roll into my office until noon or so.
that's what happened today. except "step up" was on tbs today and i think it's so cute how channing tatum and.. his costar actually went and got married and i decided i was going to finish the movie before i left. and then as i'm biking to work (in the MIDDLE of my 8 minute commute) it starts raining. and it rains down hard. i don't get dc weather. it's like- suddenly the sky opens up and you get this huge downpour, and 5 mins later it's sunny again. well, i was biking biking biking, getting more and more soaked, but i was fine, and then when i turn into the street where the office buildings are, i must've been going too fast, or i went over a sewer grate, or that darn brick sidewalk was too slick, but i wiped out. ouch. it was like a snowboarding tumble, except the ground was completely horizontal, there was no snow, i wasn't wearing enough winter padding, and it hurt a LOT. i think the bike flipped over or something, because it was facing the wrong way when i looked at it. yeah- it was a pretty spectacular fall. so i lie there for like 10 seconds, in the crosswalk, in the pouring RAIN going, "ow. that kind of hurt." but being used to inflicting considerable amount of pain on myself (aka snowboarding), i get back up, put on my shoe, and limp over to the sidewalk. afterall, there are cars trying to turn in from the main street. a pedestrian went to go get my bike and asked if i was ok. i walked my bike the rest of the way down the street, still getting soaked, but i've learned my lesson. no biking in the rain, ESPECIALLY on brick.
so now i've lost skin on my elbow and ankle and they've started to burn ever since i went to the health center to get some bandaids, my hip feels like it needs a replacement, and i'm freezing because i'm still kind of damp. gah, what a crummy commute. i tore up the side pocket fabric of my new burton backpack too. stupid. oh, i hope my bike's ok. maybe i should go get it in for a tuneup now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 20th, 2009|10:16 pm] |
let you in on a little shameful secret.
sometimes the food i take pictures of and post actually doesn't turn out so well :(
the sweet taro ravioli? that blasted pasta skin needs to be 50% thinner. blasted! but i guess that's part of the experimenting- you have to do it a few more times to get it right. when i go home or when my parents come up to visit though, i always forget to pick up or tell them to bring a few things i want from the kitchen. one of my dad's customers brought him a fairly decent size thing of 100% pure maple syrup as a thanks for what he did, and that stuff is mad $$$. they don't maple syrup up anything (well, neither do i but who cares) so i want to take it to do something with it, instead of having it sit in the fridge until it goes bad. also, my dad's got two (or three?) dark brown french (or is it chinese??) rolling pins, and i want to steal one so i can start rolling out dough without having to use a wine bottle. you can do anything with the power of those rolling pins pulsating in your grasp! okay.. so you can do the same amount of anything with any other kind of rolling pin, but i've seen my dad make dumpling skins, and tsong yo bing (scallion pancakes) and man tou (steamed white buns) with them, and those little brown sticks have got power. i need that power. i need one of those rolling pins. hmm what else? taking my bundt pan would be nice too. anyway,
i was watching food network, and one of the top notch places to get authentic dumplings in new york was explaining what they were putting in their dumpling filling. it was: ground pork, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sauteed onions&garlic&chinese chives, and the secret ingredient? silken tofu!!! apparently it gives it that nice silky consistency that corn starch can't do. so that's going to be next on my list. homemade dumplings with homemade dumpling skins. i'm wondering if i should like, extend an invite for some sort of dumpling party or something. i hate host planning and coordinating for events. i just want to do the thing the event's supposed to be focused around. i need an assistant to schedule and plan these things! anyway, anybody in dc who reads this (which i think is just jennifer) or really anyone else who can get here, if you're interested, i'm making dumplings the next chance i get.
oh, note to self: i also need to figure out how to make zua bing (thousand layer pancake). i've actually never seen it made, but from how my parents explain it (they seem to know the theory behind everything, but never make too much stuff), it appears to use the same dough as the tsong yo bing, but you just gotta like... work it a thousand times or something, and don't add the scallions. it's one of my grandpa's favorite things to eat, so i think my mom should like it too. i think i'd get mad points with her if i succeeded.
i watched an episode of good eats where alton brown made baklava. i need to go find some puff pastry and buy a food processor and make that too. at some point. need a food processor first.
ahah ok so at work we've got automatic toilets, which are nice, but can be a problem when you're doing a #2 and the thing flushes every time you bend over. WELL, i recently moved up to my official official permanent place at work in a different building and a different floor, and some stalls in the women's bathroom actually have a sheet/strip of toilet paper hanging down from the seat cover dispenser to stop the automatic triggering! ahahahahahaha. it's sooo obvious that those stalls are the designated #2 stalls! and then some days it'll switch stalls and you'll see it and think, "op, someone else just cleared their system!" anyway, i just thought that was a bit humorous.
it's become common practice for me to drink a pepsi or dr. pepper daily now :( it started last week when my throat was bothering me. i have this theory that the burning carbonation from soda will sear off all the little bacteria and make me get better faster. and now i just get one because i like the taste, and it helps my stomach make it from breakfast until i can eat lunch. at least i buy the cans instead of the bottles. that makes it a little better right? btw, dr pepper only burns on the tongue, and doens't when you swallow. sort of defeats the point of getting rid of the bateria in the throat. pepsi and coke are better.
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|11:43 am] |
last time i talked to someone about not having anything to write about, she suggested i write about what i'm doing, what i'm thinking, etc.
well, i'm writing to you today from the hallway bathroom. AT 11:45 on a MONDAY!
yep. i'm taking my very first official sick day today. it's even bona fide! sort of. i think i still could function and do work though. actually, i DID go into the office for 1.5 hours to check up on the status of some things and fax off certain docs, but i'm still taking my eight (or 9) hours of leave. don't really know when else to use them, and not planning on popping out a kid anytime (guys really get the short end of the stick with sick leave huh?) so might as well. plus, i AM sort of phlegming and coughing and sniffling and slight headaching and mother nature's plaguing me this week. those are enough reasons right? anyway, i thought i'd make note of the officialness of today.
i guess i could make use of this time to be studying for the "proficiency exam" on wednesday that's supposed to mark the end of our 6th months of training. i might do that. maybe.
my laptop is slowly but surely breaking apart. nothing wrong with the circuitry, but the actual casing. last night i found yet another tiny screw on the ground... that was ejected out due to another extensive crack on the bottom of my laptop. hmm... another ibm/lenovo or an asus?
and on a more serious note-
i feel like half of my life is completely planned out and on track... and half of it is just "dead". the planned out half is the half that i can control. i know where i'll be working... know where i'll be living, have a sense of where i want to move to after a certain number of years, etc. etc. stuff that i have control over. the other half, the "non-career" half is the problem. ok i'm bored no more writing now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 2nd, 2009|09:14 pm] |
so i have to get my wisdom teeth pulled out sometime in the near future (preferably within the next month), and this past weekend i explained that i had wanted to be hit with local anesthesia instead of being knocked out with general anesthesia- so that i would be able to feel the experience of getting the extractions. my friend then shot back with, "wait, you're saying you want to be awake to feel them cutting into your gums, breaking your molars into pieces, and then pulling them out??" why, yes... yes i do. i explained that i've decided that i'd like to feel sensations and experiences... like i was never able to know what numbing my mouth and drilling teeth felt like until i had my first cavity. she then promptly retorted with something along the lines of, "so how about i punch you in the face now, so you can experience that sensation?" not those exact words, but yeah- it might have seemed like what i was asking by the way i was saying it? i explained that i could do without the face punching because i've already run smack dab into a wall before, which is probably what it would feel like in a lesser degree, and i wasn't interested in experiencing that again in a larger degree of pain, but thanks for the offer!
no, what i really meant by feeling sensations and experiences is that i'd like to be able to finish up my life knowing that i've left it having experienced everything i wanted to experience. don't some people sign up to run marathons because they want that sensation of having achieved a 26.2 mi run while others wince at a 100 meter sprint? or some people enlist in the army because they're willing to brave tours for their country, whereas i'm not too particularly interested in having that tucked under my belt so i'll probably pass that experience up with no regrets. you know, i could go on and on with tit for tat but the point is, who's to do the judging for what experiences i'd like to collect in my life? just because i want things slightly out of the ordinary doesn't mean i'm asking for a gun to shoot my foot to see what that feels like. i'm not a masochist. but the way i figure it, if i'm only going to have one shot to get my wisdom teeth out, i want to leave and be able to say i knew what it felt like.. not, "oh gee, i dunno- i was out cold the whole time, go ask someone else."
anyway, that's all i wanted to say about that. i wish i was able to have gathered all those thoughts to shoot back at the time of the actual conversation but i always knew i wasn't cut out for the debate team. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 26th, 2009|03:17 am] |
this morning i had a conversation with someone that made me rethink the "opposites attract" viewpoint. i think it should be renamed as something along the lines of, "complimentary opposites attract". i guess the basis really depends on what kind of opposites you're talking about. if you're an introvert and you find an extrovert, chances are that those personality differences will compliment. if you're self-conscious about being short, you'd probably find someone who was a mite taller. and there's that cheesy hollywood "you make me want to be a better person" line. with all these "complimentary opposites" examples, i'd think a relationship would still last pretty long.
the flip side is when opposites are blatantly obvious and could cause a rift in the relationship. for instance, if you like to travel and the other person doesn't understand the concept of spending money on something "intangible", or if you're generous with money and the other one isn't, or the things you find are fun aren't really fun for the other. the other person wants you to change who you are- by being more flirty, or more outspoken or more whatever you're not. i guess these kinds of differences wouldn't necessarily break a relationship but it's almost kind of like... submitting yourself to and accepting the fact that you'll be working in a job you don't really love... for the rest of your life. sure you'll get used to it, and may even become comfortable with it, but it won't ever be something you'll be passionate about. you won't ever look forward to going into work. it's just a means to an end i guess. you would think that two people would learn these differences and make the decision to not further the relationship, but if you view it like interviewing for a job, don't lots of people hear the job description- think it's not all that great, but still accept the job thinking maybe it'll be better than what they knew it to be?
well, that's how i view what a "comfortable relationship" would be like. accepting a long-term relationship but never really feeling any strong emotions. but then that brings me to the debate between arranged marriages (of the olden days... for most cultures) vs. by-choice. isn't there some statistic or something out there that an arranged marriage outlasts marriages by choice? of course, i don't know if the statistic is that way because arranged marriages are like... 5 in 100 and all five end up sticking whereas among the rest of the 95 by-choice marriages, maybe forty wont last, making that population roughly meet the current 50% divorce rate. BUT if that had been smartly factored in, then one of the reasons arranged marriages end up sticking might be because the two individuals generally accept, adapt, and grow to love, whereas the by-choice marriage individuals refuse to do the same? or securely fasten the blinkers over the eyes, and go get hitched because they've been in a "comfortable" relationship for 5+ years, and marriage is the next logical step?
hmm, i'm actually not sure where i was going with starting the arranged vs. by-choice marriage discussion, but basically, the importance of avoiding relationships based on comfortability was jolted back into my mind today. that's a no-no, and i don't want to make that 50% ratio go up any higher than it needs to. if you gotta submit yourself to a decent-but-not-perfect job, you gotta have something else to make you want to live your life. you can't have "comfortability" bombarding you at all the angles.
....right?
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[Jul. 24th, 2009|03:13 am] |
it's too early in the morning to be up right now, having never gone to sleep the night before- but in my defense, i was up reading "kite runner" (finally) and having stopped at chapter 15, i was contemplating some thoughts in the dark and thought it'd be nice to share to whoever was interested. still typing in the dark though, which is probably doing nothing good to my eyes, but i'm currently at home (parent's house) and i'm deathly afraid my dad will pull one of his insomnia moves and find me up past 3am. i'm not in the mood for feeling guilty for sleeping past 8am the next morning.
i spent four hours tonight singing/yelling out the lyrics of songs on the radio and in particular, "i'll be there for you" but the ashton kutcher rendition, not the bon jovi one. up until tonight, i didn't even know bon jovi wrote it. i was singing because i was tired, and did you know there's like only one dairy queen between alexandria and raleigh? i missed the 38B one and for the next two hours, it was nothing but mcdonalds and wendys and hardees. i had wanted to try out the tagalong blizzard :( it was also very very hot in the car and being the... masochist that i am, i didn't turn on the air conditioning and poor tommy looked like he was about to die. i would have bought him a blizzard too, if only DQ had planted some franchises along I-85.
but got home in... said four hours, socialized with the parents, set up tommy's cage (he's chilling at home for the next three weeks), ate tons of ribs, watermelon, apple juice and ice cream (had to get my cold fix somehow), watched reruns of food network shows (i think i've got my dad hooked on "ace of cakes" now) and updated my mom about work. mainly explained this past week's fiasco with one coworker who, as a result, has been driving me up the wall, and also explained how shoddy i felt about work and my newfound lack of interest because of.. said feelings of shoddy-ness. luckily, both my trainer and assistant trainer seem to think otherwise, so hopefully the transition from the training academy to my actual department will be bolstered by good comments from both trainers to my future supervisor. we're moving in the next two weeks, and just today, i located my new room (shared with some chinese guy) in another building, in which the whole floor seems to be populated by no one else except asians and indians. at least according to the name plates. i've also located the future room i want to be in... one of the window offices so i'll have to start working for that. anyway, this all wasn't what i was thinking before i decided i'd start writing my thoughts out.
i think singality has it's certain advantages. a few weeks ago, i decided i wanted to attend a free HK movie showing that was part of this HK film festival. i couldn't find anyone who was interested/available, so in an act of defiance to... something, i decided i'd go alone. happens to be the first time i've ever gone to a theatre (of sorts, it was an auditorium) by myself to watch a movie too. anyway, silly ignorant newbie as i am, i thought getting there 15 minutes beforehand would be sufficient. well, i had tried to get there a bit earlier, but the task of parking slowed things down a bit. so i finally got to the museum it was being showed at and i realize that everyone else who was serious about watching the film had arrived more than an hour early to wait in line for the free tickets. after being explained the situation and after being offered the 80th "stand-by" ticket, i was just about to wander off when this random stranger asks if i'm alone and then gives me an extra ticket he had in his pocket. so i got to bypass the however many stand-by ticket holders to walk straight into the auditorium to claim a seat. sweet.
but then, singality has sucky disadvantages. for instance, i think it'd be nice not to have to come up with an excuse to hang out with someone like... all the time, or have someone right there to be the one to drive you around if you happen to be incapacitated (like... wisdom teeth removal or something), or have someone by default do things together with you if you want to do them. that last one's giving me a bit of trouble lately.
in an effort to break up the mundaneness of working and to take advantage of this current stage of being "young and reckless" with no attachments (familial and financial), i've been more open to signing up for events planned out by this work society thing i'm in- which i originally joined to get discounted movie tickets. but before i hit "reply" with a "sign me up!" i stop and think who might be interested in doing this too. so far, i'm having a really hard time getting other people interested. maybe my lab is just a dud group of individuals. that or none of them know how to swim or are willing to jump out of planes.
soooo... what i think i have to end up doing is just do these things alone. i'm scheduled to take an introductory scuba class in early august, where i hope it won't be like... 55 minutes of instructions and 5 minutes of diving, and then just today i got an email about tandem skydiving. kinda insane, i know, but i've had dreams before where i feel like i'm falling, and i figure this'll be the closest i'll ever get to experience "plummetting to my death". told my mom about it tonight and she only said "ehh that sounds dangerous", not "ehh don't be ridiculous". so i might end up doing it. it's in early september. kind of expensive though.
but it'd be nice to have someone go, "yeah, i'd be up for it!" instead of getting looks like i'm crazy all the time. life's about collecting experiences right?
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|11:05 pm] |
i'm pretty sure it's no secret that i'm a momma's girl. like, ridiculously so.
in fact, i think i might even be able to pin down the exact moment that i became one. it was when i was a girl scout (brownie stage) during the hanukkah holiday, where one of the girls or the troop leader was jewish so we were each given little mesh bags of chocolate coins. you know what i'm talking about right? well, everyone else promptly dug into theirs and ate it all up. i should have too, considering i was a little kid, and little kids don't get to buy their own chocolate to eat, but i distinctly remember thinking, "oo, chocolate! momma likes chocolate, i'll save it and give it to her when i get home!" so i didn't break a single plastic thread of the netting. and then when i got home and gave the coins to my mom, i remember her telling my dad how touched she was that i didn't eat it for myself but brought it home to share. from that point on, i was a goner.
if she tells me to get a job, i go and get a job. she makes an innocent comment about the out-of-date tape player/intercom system, i go research on how to replace it with a cd player/intercom system and then replace it. she laments about her kitchen sink faucet, i go order one and while she's out with my dad, i hurry to take out the old one and install the new one and act nonchalant when she gets home. she suggests i get a specific college degree, i throw a fit, "rebel" by trying out other things and then 6 years later i've got a BS and MS in that field. funny how that works out. she says hop, and jump ten feet in the air.
anyway the point is, lately i've been focused on trying to learn how to make all these asian foods. not really asian dishes per se, because my tastebuds are seriously not working out the way normal tastebuds work. i don't really focus in on the flavors so i'm a little weary in making well-known savory dishes. instead, i try to make asian foods that people think are a hassle to make. stuff that takes technique i guess? you know, to make sure the culture and heritage continues and stuff. and if friends are interested, by all means ask- i LIKE doing this stuff. but generally i try to learn how to make stuff that i know my mom likes to eat, but is too lazy to put forth the effort to make. and since i like doing it and don't mind at all, she's one of the luckiest mom's ever. i try to learn how to make certain things
so for a while judy's been going on about this restaurant in the dc chinatown. she piqued my interest because she said they once gave her the wrong order of noodles, but it was super flat and cut with a knife. i thought she meant dao xiao mien- the chewy noodles you cut with a knife from a ball of dough you hold in your hand. i had gotten really excited because i'm pretty sure those are one of my mom's favorite types of noodles, and i was going to make a point to eat there when my parents visited again. notice the sucking up part right there. anyway, friday judy and i go and eat there and all they've got is la mien (pulled noodles) which is great, but i'm not as interested in it. i was expecting the dao xiao mien. and what had judy meant? the he fun (chow fun) super flat noodles. bummer.
SO, i've decided... my NEXT asian attempt will be to make all sorts of noodles! the "dao xiao mien", these "mien ge da" noodles my grandma used to make for lunch for my brother and i, where you make this thick noodle batter in a bowl, and then as you pour it into boiling soup water, you use a chopstick to cut off slivers, and then ALSO "mao'er" noodle/dumplings that my mom made... once i think, where you pinch noodle dough with your fingers into the shape of cat ears (mao'er) and drop them into soup, AND i will attempt to make "la mien", based on this video i found.
wow, you can find all sorts of videos on the internet. i'm going to make this sometime soon. it's dao xiao mien.
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|11:23 pm] |
seriously one of the best things my parents ever did for me was make me asian. chinese specifically. with no food allergies. love it. i should give them a mom/pop card every year with the message, "thanks for being asian and making me one too!" why the sudden surge of being giddy? WELL.....
just five minutes ago, i had a craving for moiji/mochi. so i got off my lazy bum and got out:
1/4th cup of glutenous rice flour (yes, i had that rice flour sitting in my closet)
3/16th cup water
1/16th cup sugar
microwaved the crap out of that for 1 minute and BAM instant goodness. didn't feel like opening up a whole can of red bean paste, so i just ate the dough straight up and i was supremely happy. where did i get the glutenous rice flour and the optional red bean paste you ask? WELL...
at the asian grocery store!!! to me, that place is like a FAO schwartz to a little kid. aisles and aisles of goodness. raw products upon raw products of endless possibilities to make awesomnesses.
want to make zhong zi? go pick up some sticky rice and bamboo leaves.
want to make dumplings? pick up some dumpling skins.
want to make onigiri (ok that's not chinese but whatever)? pick up sticky rice, dried seaweed and maybe some bonito flakes.
want to make tsong you bing (scallion pancakes)? flour, oil, scallions and salt
want to make taro and sweet potato chews (the only way i know how to say it is in taiwanese, and i suck at that)? to the produce aisle and starch aisle for some sweet potato and tapioca starch!!
want to make sushi? go get some salmon/tuna, sushi rice, seaweed, avacado and MAKE THAT SUSHI!!
want to make moon cakes? attempt to make moon cakes!!!!!
want to make beef ho/chow fun? buy the noodles, beef, sprouts, green onions and ask wayne for his mom's recipe!!!!!!!
so... i'm on this new diet. it's the "go to the gym again and eat vegetables and natural protein with the occasional protein shake" diet, mixed in with liberal amounts of chocolate (currently stressed at work) but it's not as filling as eating straight up junk food, so my mind's constantly fixated on ways to make and eat more food... can you tell?? |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 7th, 2009|11:05 pm] |
stuff to make in the near future:
ribs using a dry rub featured on good eats:
8 parts brown sugar
3 parts salt
1 part chili pepper
1/6th part cayenne pepper
1/6th part onion powder
1/6th part black pepper
1/6th part jalepeno seasoning
1/6th part old bay seasoning
1/6th part rubbed thyme
moon cake
using my brand new mold... but accidentally bought a moon cookie mold :(
five layer dip
refried beans
avocado
black olives
tomatoes
shredded cheese
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|12:42 am] |
the trainer assistant (real trainer, just not the designated trainer for us) has this super duper sweet tooth. i thought i was bad, but he's even got this huge coffee mug with hershey chocolate assortments imprinted on it. he keeps us well supplied with chocolate and candy, and for the picnic we had last week, he bought like... a costco crate of sweet tea and coke cans. much to my chagrin, i get so hungry throughout the day that i end up eating tons of candy. i joke around that you can tell my stress level by the number of times i go up to get more candy. monday and tuesday i had 8 fun size packets of m&ms because i couldn't manage to find anything i could use for work (and again, i stress i am not slacking off, but i couldn't find the prior art needed to write up rejection reports despite hours of searching). however, today i only had... three packets of peanut m&ms and a coke (for breakfast) because i was too busy typing to realize the status of my stomach. typing = getting work done :)
but i joked around that the trainer assistant must know a dentist or something... seems like dentistry is the choice medical profession for vietnamese people and lo and behold... his COUSIN is a dentist! i knew it all along. trying to generate business for family. jk jk.
tomorrow'll be a kit kat/snickers day i think.
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| i knew it was a good idea to find my roommates on craigslist! |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|11:40 pm] |
this particular 3-day weekend (i get every other friday off... by working almost all 9 hr days) i went into the office for two of the days. shocking? could be viewed as that i guess. in the government, they assign us to GS levels, with 10 steps within each level. kinda like... tae kwon do... you have white, white with one yellow stripe, white with two yellow stripes... and so on and so forth. our GS levels are 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15. it gives us an idea of our pay at each level and step, and the amount of production we have to output every biweek. we're like a regular sweat shop, except we sold our soul for more money. the GS level also tells us what we're allowed or not allowed to do. well, basically there's just one thing so far that i can tell that distinguishes the GS levels. if you're a certain level, you can go in to do voluntary overtime. so that's me, i did voluntary overtime. but it was unbelievable the number of people who were like, "what! what were you doing during the week days??" i mean, i guess it makes sense to automatically assume that i was slacking off or something, but man oh man, it sucks that i really absolutely wasn't... and i had nothing to show for it. so i come in on the weekends to get more time to try to get done what i couldn't. but seriously, i was NOT slacking off.
so when i was moving up to the area, i contemplated the idea of... rooming with friends of friends. it didn't end up working out which is what i was actually secretly hoping for. i mean, what better way of making a completely new set of friends and lifestyle than forcing myself to room with completely random strangers? sure there's the chance of meeting complete psychos, especially through craigslist, but someone must've been watching out for me, because these two people are pretty cool. i'm like slowly infiltrating one roommate's circle of friends, and the other one... well i just went to her client's consignment sale today. there's a bunch of rich people neighborhoods around where i live, and that roommate nannies for one of them, and the wife recently decided she was going to do this purifying cleansing thing and decided to get rid of a whole bunch of stuff. i missed the furniture portion of the sale, but my roommate asked me if i wanted to go today for the last day of it. against my better judgement- because of my budgetary goal for this month- i decided to go check it out- plus i told myself i'd say yes to more things. i've never met upper class desperate housewives or met super chic supermodel women, but holy crap these women were dressed like they were permanently living in fashion week, and here i come in with an oversized washington capitals t-shirt i got at the ballpark and some jean shorts. but the lady's place was like a nordstrom rack with all the ridiculous clothes, and they focused their attention all on me. "ok try this, now this, this now, ok no take that off, hmm keep that to think about" for 2 hours straight. it was insane. at the end of it, i walked out of that house having spent $170 on clothes with them unbelievably happy for having spent 2 hours dressing me up like a barbie, flabbergasted that i really had no distinct style, and wondering what gym i went to or if i ran or whatever. HAHA. i told them i used to mow the lawn and rake leaves for my parents. yeah, that's a workout they'll pick up :D but that was a pretty interesting experience. i'm officially out of hangers now, and $300 over my monthly budget. i was so close too... only two more days.. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|12:41 am] |
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it's a strange thing... i can't whine about being out of shape to someone who is dissatisfied with their weight. i can't gripe about difficulties at work to someone who doesn't have any to go to. i can't "woe is me" to someone who just broke up with his/her gf/bf. and i like hot dogs so much more than cheeseburgers. |
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