hey, guys...remember prince? remember his dancers diamond and pearl?

this one's for my die-hard buffy fans: check out pearl. or should i say.....miss calendar????? =O

yes way.

thank you EEEVVVEERRRYYYOOONNNEE for your birthday wishes!! =D

*big hugs all around*

love you guys.

JON YANG IS THE MAN.

thank you thank you thank you for my new page!! i love it!!

guess what i'm doing. PLAYING HOOKY!!! woohoo!!

my day-long site visit turned into a short morning visit and an early lunch....
and people at work don't expect me back....
so woohoo!!!

and since i'm already home, i figure i'll skip class cuz i don't want to go ALL the way back to southfield in rush hour traffic. =)

irregardless.

it's not a word!!! irrespective is a word. but not irregardles. check it out.

just like supposably. that's not a word either.

i totally just spent the last hour and a half trying to get through to vote for kelly. and i did. ha. i'm obsessed and i don't care.

cleaning the rollers on the inside of your mouse does wonders for its performance. it feels like i have an infinitely faster computer!

the clock on my desk that wasn't tick-tocking a minute ago is now tick-tocking. what the hell???

since martin has no comment box yet, i must comment here on the enormous accomplishment it is to actually get a coin on those little platforms in the water thingie at taco bell. woohoo!! personally, i feel the taco bell people should have given martin any free thing he wanted since he's such a good customer and on a first name basis with the employees. haha...way to go, martin!!! and since we're celebrating, happy birthday (one day belated), james!! and happy first anniversary, g and mads!! =)

how necessary is it to actually do work when everyone else in your group is absent? i've been here for an hour and a half and haven't done a darn thing. i lie. i found 5 potential foyer tables for my mom. sooooo bored!!! someone im me, please! fung is apparently too busy to recieve my random banter cuz her away message is up. i kinda hope no one shows up so i can sneak out early. heehee...then i can find a pretty cake for g and mad's first anniversary. =P

i found out yesterday that i have spend my birthday at a site and then spend the evening in a three-hour review class for the first exam that i have to pass to be a licensed professional engineer. it's like a pre-boards exam you have to take before you take the actual boards. yuck. this whole working on my birthday is a new thing to me. i did it last year for the first time and i didn't tell anyone at work that it was my birthday. i felt so alone. and now i have to spend my birthday looking at stormwater sewers with a bunch of strangers. i think maybe i've been too spoiled on my birthdays in the past....

today is a very sloooooow day. hence, i blog for the 4th time before lunch.

dinner friend got me a calendar last christmas that lists 5 things to be happy about each day. yesterday's included a white shirt and khakis and beautiful thimbles. hmm...i'm not really sure why i should be happy about clothes as dull as a white shirt and khakis (think de la salle) and i'm not sure i've ever been taught to appreciate a thimble in any form. i didn't even know they make decorative ones. do kids these days even know what a thimble's for?

people!! guess what me and chrissy got martin to do....

alvin just told me that tamyra got booted off american idol.

i'm in shock. this is so so so wrong. if justin wins then the entire thing it proves that the voting pool is a bunch of retards.

the question of the day: where is everybody?

i swear there's only three cars in the parking lot. figures. the day i get in at 7:30 (yes, 7:30 am, you can close your mouth now) there's no one here to witness it. i must say the good thing about being jet lagged is that waking up isn't as rough cuz it feels like noon and not 6am....so this is what it's like to be a morning person....;D

it's so nice that i'm not bombarded with work after being gone for a week and a half. i was expecting a bunch of emails and voicemails saying that all these things went wrong and this client didn't get this and that person needed that thing on my desk that wasn't there...

but all is well. and things are kinda slow so i'm just chillin' and catching up on your blogs with my cheez-its and coke. coke tastes different here than it did in italy. hmm. and cheez-its are the greatest food to me right now. all i could think about on my way to work was the cheez-its in my desk. haha.

europe was AMAZING. my brain is on overload with everything i saw....but i took lots of pictures so i could remember some of them. the whole time i was wishing 2 things: 1) that i had taken a photography class at some point in my life so that i could do the views justice and 2) that i knew how to speak more than just english and small tagalog and spanish phrases. ugh. i didn't think my spanish was that bad, but it didn't matter anyway cuz they speak catalonian in barcelona. =P and all we ate was tapas in spain..at first it was exciting but then i started to wonder what else they had cuz every place had tapas. and those sandwiches on french baguettes.

but yeah....barcelona, palma de mallorca, cannes, monaco/monte carlo (we were totally in a james bond movie), portofino, florence, and rome.

italy was by far my favorite, but maybe because we spent the most time there. we visited the vatican a couple times and that in itself is worthy of a vacation. forget the colleseum and the roman forum...this is where's it's at. we visited the basilicas where st. peter, st. paul, and st. john the baptist were entombed, and we went through the vatican museum and the sistine chapel. breathtaking. all of it. i think i left a trail of drool everywhere cuz my mouth was hanging open so much. i could spend days and days in every place we went. i wish i could spend a day in an empty sistine chapel just laying on the floor and taking in the walls and the ceiling. i can't imagine growing up in a place like rome...there's just so much history wherever you look, but i can see how it could be taken for granted...and people are just chillin' everywhere. i love it. i must go back. anyone wanna come? of course, porta will be there to give us the guided non-touristy tour of the city...right, porta? =D by the way...i am an expert at riding tour buses. so expert am i that i don't ever want to do it again. hahaha...

it's good to be home. i love my bed.

later, everyone!! i'll be back in a couple weeks...i'll tell europe hi for you. =P

isn't it funny when you roll into work looking like you just woke up...hair in headband, dorky glasses, the clothes you slept in....and everyone sorta jumps back when they take a first look at you. hahaha...i didn't know if i should have laughed or been offended. ahh..new york. i miss everybody. not a spare moment, which is good and bad. it would have been nice to just sit and have some qt with everyone...but everything we did we did together so it's a good time either way. yesterday was a rough day. very rough. well worth it. =)

isn't it funny when the same thing is happening to you and a friend, but neither of you talk about it because it's one of those things that you don't want the other to know because the thoughts that you think regarding the situation are just not thoughts that you would necessarily want anyone to know? or even in denial that the situation is even taking place? hahaha...no one has any idea what i'm talking about. maybe except one. ;D because talking about it becomes inevitable when it goes far enough, no?

hahaha...the whole thing is funny, really. perhaps (very) mildly sweet? maybe i'll tell you if i see you in person. =P

*GASP!!!*

steve has blogged. it's must be a great day.

i found out that the contacts i've been using weren't the right prescription, which would explain the insane headaches i've been having over the last few months. i thought i was just tired and stressed, and not sleeping, enough. nope. the doctor gave me new contacts last night and - voila! - i can see and no headaches. they dilated my pupils, so everything was crazy blurry for most of last night. haha..i couldn't even really see the line where i was supposed to sign off on my insurance. i can see!!!!!

austin powers is pretty funny. i was in a pretty silly mood last night, being blurry-eyed and all, so perhaps that's why i found it so entertaining. so if you're in a funny-haha-silly mood, then go see it. ;D

world youth day. my goodness. it was amazing. there were definite points of misery during the 100 degree heat after walking 7 miles and then some to get to the pilgrimmage site and the being woken up by a thunderstorm (complete with lightning) at 6am in the open field where we had no tent, no umbrella, no poncho, warm clothes or shelter within a mile radius...but more than that, there were soooo many wonderful experiences and blessings that looking back, who cares that i couldn't cool down or that my legs ached so bad i didn't think i'd be able to move them the next day or that it downpoured on us for like 3 hours? walking a mile to the bathroom and seeing groups of 100 people, all from different countries, dancing and singing and praising the Lord...being united in worship with 800,000 people from all over the world was a pretty amazing thing. and watching the blue sky take over the dark clouds as the pope began mass was pretty cool, too. it was vast. i don't know how else to explain it.

it was awesome.

it hasn't even sunk in, how much i took in this weekend. my heart just feels really full and i want so badly for everyone i know how much love there is for them from our God. yeah...ours. =) He is present.

i've always wondered how people can eat the same thing over and over and over again. like my mom. she's completely happy eating leftovers until they're completely gone...but i always thought that that's just what you do when you're a parent. haha. but i was proved wrong when i found out that eric can eat cereal and tuna and turkey sanwiches for his whole life and never get bored. and then there's martin. he is the taco bell king. he could eat taco bell bean burritos every day for lunch and if taco bell burned to the ground, i don't know what he would do. hmm...perhaps there's a simplicity factor that i'm missing.

now i am not a juice drinker. at all.

however...

nantucket nectars has the best orange mango juice. i love it. and it's part orange juice (otherwise yucky on its own) which is a big surprise. perhaps it's the mango. i love mangoes. i'm on a mango kick...i had a mango smoothy in chicago last sunday and it was like eating a mango from the philippines (which those of you that have had mangoes from the philippines know that they are infinitely better than the ones you find at meijers and krogers and, yes, even hillers). maybe this is just a phase cuz it is, after all, summer...and summer means an abundance of fruit that you must take advantage of before the winter months take it all away or make it expensive. i digress. my point my point...hmmm..i guess i don't really have one except that i enjoyed juice today. =)

it's almost 11pm and i still have to finish a report and it must get done tonight. i haven't even done anything since i left work. man..all i want to do is sleep, and i can' t even get 10 minutes of napping in. i hate that in order to succeed you need to make your job your life, and i'm getting a good dose of that and not enjoying it one bit. the people at my work that are higher up are up there because they pull in crazy hours and and spend hardly any time with their families. and i suppose they don't really feel their social life is lacking because they're all friends with each other and then friends with each others' friends. it makes my mind spin, cuz i always had school friends and then my friends friends. always separate. and work is kinda the same. i have work people that i eat lunch with and then i have my friends friends when the work day is over. maybe i'm being suplada. but then people at work are always talking about their fun times when they drink beers and get drunk, and i'm not into drinking beers and getting drunk. i wonder about those people that need to drink beers to have a good time...it's sorta like high school again when drinking beers is like the coolest thing ever. but who knows? i'm just procrastinating.....

argh...i hate hate Hate HATE stupid project managers!!! so mean. it's called COMMUNICATION. that's how you get projects completed effectively and efficiently and still come out a nice guy. but don't ask me, cuz i'm the stupid junior engineer you can blame it on, right?? i need help. ugh.

i'm in the i'm-so-tired-my-world-is-literally-spinning-mode.

note to self: must find a way to minimize driving and take advantage of carpooling (aka me not driving, hehe).
translated: move closer to work or work closer to home.

the next month or so of weekends is gonna absolutely kick my ass. i can't wait. but i'll probably hop on jeyi's i-hate-mondays-bus pretty soon.

the big world is still very small: eric goes to college and becomes roommates with porta who moves to chicago and plays soccer and makes a good friend named rico who is really good friends from college with janet who i happened to grow up with playing the piano. and steen and porta are moving two seconds away from each other.

and sydney's place is DOPE. hi, four story condo complete with roof access for building parties. ahh..reminds me of viscount...

word of the day:

perdition. n:

1) entire loss; utter destruction; ruin; esp., the utter loss of the soul or final happiness in a future stat; future misery or eternal death.

2) (Christianity) the abode of satan and the forces of evil; where sinner suffer eternal punishment.

how sad would it be to meet this end in the name of revenge? not worth it. in the end you always have Him.

i've come to terms that it is simply not possible for me to get anything done during the two hours after lunch. i have so much work to do, but i don't want to do it cuz i'm still in the learning process and i hate sucking before getting better. it's uncomfortable. can i just go to sleep? and if not, can i just leave to go to the art fair? it's only 20 minutes away. my stupid office manager is having a mandatory pow-wow for no real or good reason for THREE HOURS today after work. as in until 8:30. YUCK.

i smell like mongolian barbecue. i feel like there's this cloud of mongolian barbecue smell engulfing me and offending everyone i come in contact with. so i'm sorry if i see you today and you have to smell me smelling like mongolian barbecue. i' m going to go home as soon as i can so i can change my clothes and scrub away the smell. =P

boo. i think i just lost my last blog. maaaan....something to the effect that i need my very own karaoke mikes...the ones from the philippines that already has the songs on chips in the mike and hook up to your tv or vcr with a regular pin. and i have to go to bed. i spent most of today watching a walk to remember on dvd. that movie is just so friggin endearing. i love it. i'm a cheeseball and i totally don't care. =P to bed i go..one a.m.!! aghh...

No comments:

how gorgeous is it out today? i love this weather...sunny, warm, slight breeze, no humidity. after yet another failed attempt to have a meal with chrissy i grabbed lunch from chinese food (haha..that's the name of the place!! actually..i just found out it has a real name, but the outside of the store just said chinese food really big.)...anyway...i grabbed lunch and ate at hart plaza on the riverfront. soooo nice out!! the seagulls came a little too close and were a little scary....i was afraid they were gonna try and eat my food. i don't like seagulls. or pigeons. they're like the rodents of the birds. every since that pigeon attacked us during a site inspection. =\ i think i'm gonna go home now. i'm volunteering at the ice cream social at my church tonight. for some reason, it's my favorite thing to volunteer for. i think cuz everyone's so happy cuz their eating ice cream sundaes. =) woohoo..the boss just sent me home. i'm out.

itchyitchymosquitobiteseverywhere.

must..

not...

scratch.

itchy itchy....yuckkkkkk!!

when you have a blog-worthy thought but share it with someone who reads your blog before you get a chance to blog your thought, does that then make the thought un-blog-worthy because it's no longer new and fresh?

i had a thought..and now i completely forgot what it was. don't you hate when that happens? it's like a brief glimmer of genius flashes and vanishes before you can record it. i've lost many eight counts that way. and test points. ha. maybe i'll remember it later.

this is ridiculous. who can work today? and working on friday? forget it. no one's gonna be here. except, of course, my manager who's crazy. not bad crazy but crazy enough to show up on friday to know whether or not i'll be here. and we're having and office bbq today to be followed be a manager's meeting. who's gonna get any work done? =P

happy 4th of july!!

p.s. kimmie seated lindsay (sp?) hunter last night at benihana. exciting, huh? what is it about famous people?

ever try surprising someone but they figure it out and make it blatantly clear that they know what's going on and completely take all the fun out of it? even if some things got slipped, why would you tell the supriser(s) before the event? it's like "hey...i know you probably worked really hard at trying to make this a great thing for me, but i'm gonna tell you that i know to prove that i guessed and i guessed right cuz i love being right". ugh. this is stupid. i suppose i just don't understand why you wouldn't keep it to yourself and turn the surprise around later? does that make sense? anyhow..i guess it's just disappointing when you don't get the reaction you were hoping for...

i'm overwhelmed with the amount of work sitting in front of me right now. it's one of those things where all you want to do is just go back to bed and hope that makes it...i dunno...go away? somehow makes it better if you procrastinate? i think a lot of my anxiety comes from having to call a bunch of people i don't know -- which is really hard for me to do cuz i get shy...i actually have to work up the nerve before calling strangers (even pizza places, haha) -- and then i have to ask these people questions that i only semi understand (for work, not the pizza places). i hate the getting of the experience. it's really uncomfortable.

byebye chrissy and conehead. i lost my dinner friend for the week. i don't know why it feels like so much longer. maybe cuz i can't randomly im her during the day or make the attempt to plan dinner and actually not have one of us cancel. and it's only a week!! haha. hope you guys have fun in china!!

let me just state for the record that jenny tai ranks among the top 10 best girlfriends of all time. eating food made by the same chef that cooked for the kennedys and the president of france and for clinton while he was at the white house and a whole bunch of other famous people was pretty cool. and the food was sooo good. *insert about-to-cry-face here.* so thanks, alvin for having a great girlfriend!! =D

went to the vincent chin 20th year remembrance conference this past weekend. it went really well from a conference perspective, especially considering it was planned in 3 months. lots of big names in civil rights activism and a handful of government reps. very exciting. but i'm definitely not as into it as i was in college..but that's a blog for another day....i get to go to lorie's site this friday for work if i finish the rest of my work. so that's what i'm going to do. hehe..it's like being a kid: "if you finish all your vegetables you can have dessert."

i wonder what it is that makes me feel that one exclamation point just isn't emphatic enough for me.

hi!

it looks so plain and not very emotional.

hi!!!

there..now that is emphatic. and i think it truly conveys my emotion. i can be that happy. or excited. haha..i'm silly..it's friday and i'm leaving work at 4!!!! (see?...there it is.)

go to the vincent chin conference everyone!! it's gonna be really good. i don't care how badly you need to pack to go to shanghai. ;D

i went to a movie as a part young adults outreach/fellowship thing at st. john's last night. we had wine and cheese for refreshments. what?! i mean, st. john's is a nice place, but i was just surprised at the wine and cheese. at a fellowship. i guess i shouldn't have been surprised at a facility that supplies baby bottles of mouthwash and hand lotion for you in the bathrooms.

why i would never be able to be a truck driver:
*my car would be really heavy. heavy car = sloooooooooow very sloooow acceleration = cause traffic = feeling bad for forcing others to drive slow

*tunnel vision would inevitably affect me fatally

*in the worst sleepy situation, even rent can't keep me awake

*spending 3 hours of my day in a car already stinks.

i spent the entire morning driving. i could be in chicago. i still have to drive home. someone get on making teleporting real...

i got dressed this morning in a long-sleeve shirt, took a look at the sun shining and the lack of audible wind (present over the weekend) and decided...it's gonna be hot today, i better change into a short-sleeve shirt and not wear a jacket. wouldn't want to be hot, would i? and now, here i am, 40 miles from my house and it's cold and raining and the only jacket i had in my car was a denim jacket that is not the same color as the jeans i'm wearing. agh...shame on me for not listening to the weather report. so if you see me today, don't make fun, cuz i'm just trying to keep warm.

oh yeah..everyone go to the vincent chin remembrance next weekend. don't know what i'm talking about? check it out.

it's friday!!!!! finally. whew. thought this day would never come. i think that sleeping with my ceiling fan on makes it harder to get out of bed. and there's this annoying bird that might only chirp right outside my window on friday mornings. happy weekend!

okay, someone's gonna have to explain mulholland dr. to me, because i don't get it. not fully. who was telling me it's really good? victor? now i'm not sure if he was lying or if he really thought it was good. times like this i reflect on my simple-mindedness. i'm not very good at recognizing symbolism or interpreting anything really...perhaps this is why romantic comedies entertain me so much. i just absorb...no thinking. i mean, i like movies that make you think, but half the time i'm too impatient. patience patience patience...still working on that. i will forever be working at it. anyway..i think i need to read more books. where's my book club again??

it was tough getting out of bed this morning. i think it's gonna be a long week...

everyone around me is sitting around looking for stuff to do. i don't understand how my desk is swamped and they have nothing to do. aiya. i guess i should be grateful that i'm busy? job security....

i'm going to the tigers game tonight with work. woo. i'm just excited (eh) cuz these are the closest seats i've ever had.

dancing to a song that you don't really like is hard. i like the choreography, but not the song. =P

happy birthday chrislum!!! woohoo! the big two-seven yesterday! you're a big boy now....;D hope you had a great day...i think the lakers won just cuz it was your birthday. lucky you. go nets.

let me just say that palak had the best graduation party. the enormous inflated twister mat made it. ddt amoung booo-ga-looo psycho jumping was ridiculous fun. we all need one in our backyards. =)

i'm moving to a bigger cube on the fun side of the office...not that my cube isn't big already. if i reach both of my arms out,my fingers barely rest on the desks on opposite sides of my cube now...and i get a BIGGER one! i think the extra space will speak to my manager as "more work" which we won't think about right now. i better move my stuff now so the new girl can take over my cube. =P

i am all alone on my half of the office. no one in the cubes near me...no one in the offices surrounding me....it's so lonely. it's like something in my brain knew that no one would be here and allowed me to sleep for an extra two hours (in my own bed that i love so much which is good but bad cuz my cousins left and my house is lonely and quiet now). so it's a nice lonely. i can actually go to lunch..i haven't eaten lunch this week yet cuz it's been so crazy here that i forgot and ended up eating triscuits to tide me over to a late dinner. alvin's working near me for the time being, so i think i'm gonna meet up with him for lunch.

i think i'm hypersensitive. the head secretary (i guess that's what you'd call her) just came in and threw my copy request at me and asked me "what is this?" like i offended her by requesting another copy of the report i wrote. grr. that's her JOB. i gotta go make sure she doesn't mess it up....

let's talk about working far from where you live. it stinks. i scare myself sometimes because lately i've been getting to work and not really remembering getting there. it's that tired-and-not-quite-awake-yet daze...and i get to work and think that at any point on my commute to work i could have caused a huge accident cuz i was half-incoherent on the freeway. and i'm still sleepy. need coffee...p.s. 3 hour conference calls: thumbs down.

the CARTOON TOURNEY is over!!! the midwest committee would like to express our deepest thanks to all of those who have participated as well as a huge THANKS to the Organizer for all his hardwork to produce the best cartoon tourney ever!!

soooo much fun! what are we gonna do next?

people taking the extra day off on long holiday weekends makes my day sooo much better....i ran into virtually no traffic this morning. it was great. and i've been relieved of potential paintball engagements so i can go see harry connick, jr. tonight. i just hope it doesn't rain. i have my banig that turns into a bag and i don't want it to get all muddy.

tagalog lesson for today: banig - (bah NIG') noun. grass mat that i use for sitting in the lawn sections of concert areas. mine is pretty and folds up into a bag and i got in the philippines for 150 pesos. that's like three bucks. yay.

*have fun in nyc, everyone...i wish i could go, too. bring back fun stories so i can live vicariously!!*

me and ny spent the evening assemling my new elliptical. this is very exciting. i don't know if this will lead to a healthier lifestyle or will serve to justify eating crap whenever i want. i didn't realize how much dance practice allowed me to eat whatever i wanted til i became a lump routinely moving from the bed to the car to the swivel chair to the car to the couch and back to bed every day. activity not done on ass = good thing.

i'm sick! again! how is this happening...i NEVER get sick..or got sick. did you know that in all of high school--all four years--i missed ONE day from being sick. ONE! and in college, i never really got sick either. i'd get sniffly or a little put out every now and then, but not sick sick where i couldn't do anything. not like this year. i've been sick like 3 times...not just sniffly, but sick-and-out-of-commission. perhaps it's this whack weather swinging 50 degrees every day. or maybe it's riding rollercoasters over 200 feet high at 92 mph in 35 degree weather. i'm sure that didn't help. i went to cedar point with the cousins on sunday. sooo fun. roby had a bum knee so he got this disability pass that let us jump the line and wait only 15 minutes. woohoo! we rode millenium force twice and waited a total of 30 minutes. his bum knee saved us 6 hours in line. =) so thanks, roby!! it's only the second best time i've had at cedar point. the best time was when i was 13 and we went with my cousins from the philippines on a tuesday in early may and there were NO lines. we rode all the rides like at least 5 times--even the bad ones--just cuz we could. it was like we owned the place AND it was the only day my mom ever let me skip school when i wasn't sick. i think she sorta loosened up after that cuz in '98 she let kimmie skip her last month of senior year to go to the philippines...

this morning i watched a pregnant woman walk across a gas station smoking a cigarette.

=(

i really don't like antoine walker. before, i thought he was alright...a good basketball player--ugly as hell--but a talented athlete. even amidst the round 2 game 1 crowds, i wasn't particularly feeling the hated "walker" chants or the guys with the fake fros sitting next to me in my center court seat seizing every opportunity to tell antoine walker that he sucked when the crowd was relatively quiet. perhaps because i never avidly watched a boston celtics game til then. but now.....arrgghh. i don't like him at all. i might even offer the word hate here, but i'll refrain. perhaps this is what other people feel when they hate kobe (which i don't understand). grr....so i guess, go nets!...kick some green butt.

on a different note: what do you get a mom that has everything she needs, requires absolutely nothing more than she has, and likes to chill at home? oh yeah...and mother's day was three days ago so there goes one round of gift ideas. it's not a riddle. i need help. it's my mom's birthday today and i'm fresh out of ideas. and don't say a plant. she'll just let it die. anyone?

you know what's so great about instant messenger? you can have a completely random thought (and damn funny, sometimes) that no one within close proximity will understand and you can just im your friend. it's like studying at the same table in the library, and talking when you don't want to anymore. i'm aware that this is old news and probably thought of many times before...but i found myself marvelling in it yesterday while i was out at a site about how great it is and how lonely you don't have to be at work if the people you work with suck. =) or even if they don't suck and are just really busy and responsible.

i get to take drugs. yup, my shoulder requires drugs. big pills. heavy stuff. i'm not sure how effective it is on the pain cuz it just knocks me out everytime i take it. i spent the entire weekend crashed on the couch. needless to say, i didn't take them yesterday in an effort to be productive at work. my mom told me i could get some money for it if i sold it on the black market. silly, mommy...i wouldn't even know where this "black market" is to sell the stuff. hehe..

i tried blogging three times yesterday....the second and third times were in an effort to express my frustration after losing half an hour worth of blogging...but to no avail. so we'll see if this one works. i went to the marshall fields yesterday cuz i have this gift certificate from a christmas present that i returned and ended up getting gypped on the gift certificate. but that's a whole other story full of further frustration and incompetent make-up counter girls. anyway...i wish they would have just given me the money when i returned it. i had the receipt..it's not like i just brought in the gift. i wanted the money, not store credit. =P i hate store credit at stores i don't really shop at. i end up buying stuff that i don't really need...or want, sometimes. i just spend it cuz it's about to expire. and if you don't use the whole thing, they issue you another gift certificate for like $8. woohoo. =| can we use marshall fields gift certificates at target? then it would be worthwhile...


p.s. the cartoon tourney is down to the FINAL FOUR. vote now!

by the way....the cartoon tourney has reached the Elite Eight. vote at www.pogiboy.com to get your favorite toon into the Final Four. Thanks to everyone for playing along!

what's wrong with my shoulder? at first it just felt like there was this knot that was making me sore near my collar bone, but now it's migrated to the back and it doesn't feel like a knot...there's this sort of hot pain shooting through it every now and then. and it's been almost a week...so i'm thinking doctor visit. but then once i say that it doesn't hurt anymore. ugh. and then there's the thing with my leg. i think i'm getting broken. what have i been doing to have a sore shoulder and leg, you ask? hmm...well nothing, really. nothing physically taxing...except for waving around a pompom at the pistons game sunday. that was with my good arm. blechh. maybe it's the weather?

MIDWEST REGION - Sweet Sixteen

g.i. joe had an easy time wiping out the rescue rangers, but can the american heroes defeat mulan and her army--swift as a coursing river? tough as a great typhoon? strong as a raging fire? mysterious as the dark side of the moon? Vote now!

(3) GI Joe

(15) Mulan

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 5/6, 9pm EST.

it's time for the SWEET SIXTEEN!!! view the official tourney bracket here.


EAST REGION - Sweet Sixteen

after a HUGE upset, gummi bears send the bugs packing to win a spot in the sweet sixteen. can bugs & co. defeat the bouncing fur balls as easily as they did aladdin and his genie? Vote now!

(1) Looney Toons

(5) Gummi Bears

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 5/6, 9pm EST.

WEST REGION - Round 2

lion y lion!! can mufasa and simba beat out the classic voltron?

(7) The Lion King

(2) Voltron (Lions)

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 5/2, 9pm EST.

MIDWEST REGION - Round 2

boy vs. girl as the two heroes fight for a chance in round 3. will it be batman? will it be mulan? vote now!

(10) Batman Beyond

(15) Mulan

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 5/2, 9pm EST.

MIDWEST REGION - Round 2

the pocket monsters enter round 2 fully recharged, screaming their names, ready to battle it out with the robotech crew.

(5) Robotech

(4) Pokemon

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 5/2, 9pm EST.

it's round TWO of the cartoon tourney...don't let your favorite cartoon go down! vote vote vote!! everyone vote, everyone vote once. do it now!

don't forget to visit the the other regional games: superlum, munfung, pogiboy

for the official tourney bracket click here


MIDWEST REGION - Round 2

will garfield have enough in him to make it through round two?

(1) The Simpsons

(9) Garfield

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 5/2, 9pm EST.

amit and karina are FUN. and they have fun favorites. go see.

MIDWEST REGION - ROUND 1
part 1 RESULTS:

the princess of power fails to upset the robotech crew and advances with a mere 2 votes over greyskull, mulan edges out the tiny toons and batman beyond squeaks by old school d&d in a tiebreaking vote. make sure your favorite cartoon gets the credit they deserve! voting for the final round 1 battles ends tomorrow at 9pm EST. see the official bracketf or tourney results and schedule.

it's a blah day. very blah. not really feeling one extreme or the other. blaaahhhh....i hate rain. rain, rain go away. my brother has chubby cheeks!!! hehe...looks like a chipmunk cuz he got his wisdom teeth pulled. aww....but he can't eat real food. i brought home pizza house chicken tenders and fries and he couldn't eat any. that sucks. =P i need to get my wisdom teeth pulled. i'm a little hesitant, tho, cuz i hear sometimes they have to break your jaw and i don't want anyone to break my jaw. but one of my teeth grew in sideways...ewwwwww. at least i won't have to take vacation day to get them pulled...stupid me thought i would! but i guess it counts as a sick day.....blah blah blah. hope the sun is out where you are.

MIDWEST REGION - Round 1

the sailor man's source of strength is in the spinach....will he eat enough to take on the real american heroes?

(14) Popeye

(3) GI Joe

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 4/29, 9pm EST.

here we go....round 1, part 2 of the midwest division:
don't forget!! voting for round 1, part 1 closes tomorrow! get your votes in now!!

don't forget to visit pogiboy, superlum, munfung, and apollo for more tournament action.

for the official tournament bracket visit www.pogiboy.com/tourney.html


MIDWEST REGION - Round 1

uh-oh..it's the bartman and homer up against the menace that is dennis...will mr. wilson finally see dennis go down?? YOU decide!

(1) The Simpsons

(16) Dennis the Menace

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 4/29, 9pm EST.

pistons rock. the palace was actually loud and people were going nuts...it was awesome. and we won, so woohoo!! boo on chrissy's work for keeping her til 8:30pm and causing her to miss the game. boooooo. it's alright, girl....we still got round 2. ;D and like chrissy mentioned, we gave paolo the wrong directions home (sorry, man!) from bubble bliss, and he ended up near st. clair shores....oops.

muchos props to alvin for setting up the cartoon tourney. so fun!! there goes productivity. =P anyway...you can check for the latest story on the care bears vs. woody woodpecker battle from our correspondent, reporting from hong kong. over to you....derek?

going to the pistons game today. game 2 against the raptors. why are sporting events so fun?

MIDWEST REGION - Round 1

are babbs, buster and plucky enough to take out the female warrior and mooshu sidekick?

(15) Mulan

(2) Tiny Toons

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 4/27, 9pm EST.

MIDWEST REGION - Round 1

new school vs. old school. who will school who?

(10) Batman Beyond

(7) Dungeons and Dragons

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 4/27, 9pm EST.

alrighty people...vote here for your favorite cartoon...have fun!!
want more?? you got it....
www.superlum.com
www.munfungsworld.blogspot.com

for the official tourney bracket visit www.pogiboy.com.


MIDWEST REGION - Round 1

will the princess of power defeat the almighty robotech? vote now!

(5) Robotech

(12) She-Ra

Place your vote via comment. Voting for this game ends 4/27, 9pm EST.

i think i'm getting sick the way i was getting sick in l.a. i don't mind so much functioning all day with a little bit of a sniffle and cough here and there..it's the whole waking up and being sick that i hate. you know how you can't breathe and your head hurts and your chest hurts and your throat hurts and if you move the room goes round and round and round? ugh. even when it's beautiful and sunny out, i can't get out of bed if i'm sick. and i hate orange juice and everyone's telling me to drink it. HATE. yuck.

right now i'm watching cirque du soleil and the contortionist is grossing me out. how is it possible that her bones aren't broken from doing all that stuff? ewww..

wanna hear something cool? they built a philippine-american cultural center in southfield last fall. but that's not the cool part (i mean, it's cool, but not the cool part i was talking about). .....and now they're naming the street philippine street. cool, right? i thought it was a great gesture from the city government.

boo. my manager just asked me to stay til 9pm. figures. this stinks. i'm going out for a looong lunch involving shopping.

there's no one here at work...i came in yesterday at 9am, late, as usual, and i got the first parking spot next to the door. usually i have to park on the side of the building when i come in that late. and right now i'm the ONLY one on my side of the office. it's kinda lonely. i was all worried that i'd have to stay late and i'd miss seeing eric's new condo that he bought on tuesday. guess not...yay! i'm gonna go eat fast food for lunch cuz i'm sick of drinking all this water.

i think there are naked people running around ann arbor right now. that is, if the cops aren't being dumb and pouncing on naked people in order to arrest them. what if you were that cop patrolling naked mile? haha. i would NOT run after some naked person and take them out in order to ticket them for indecent exposure. run away, by all means. i don't want to see you naked. although, as a part of the umich experience, you have to go at least once just to see it. madness i tell you. i must admit that i'm grateful that i've never seen anyone i know running down south u in their birthday suit. that was a huge tangent. *sigh* my whole point is that an entire year has gone by since my last class, possibly ever. it's like i blinked and a year went by. it's funny how fast time goes by but doesn't at the same time and how easily people come in and out of your life but are still there for the important things. man...i wonder when we're supposed to get over this post-college bump into a part of our lives when we don't look back and see college as the best time in our lives...

i'm such a slave to marketing. specificallly, packaging.
my latest downfall: the grab and go cheetos cup.

ups: the top comes off to become a baby bowl for the snack so you don't have to try sticking your hand to get to those final cheetos. it's plastic and reusable if you're economical that way (i'm not...). since it's plastic, it keeps the cheetos from getting smushed during stressful transportation. and it fits in the cup holder in your car.

downs: waste of money. it costs almost two bucks when you can get a really big bag of cheetos for three. =( buy the cheapo ziploc bags and just be more careful during transit.

it's FRIDAY!!!...and it's quitting time. everyone go home or leave work and do something fun except it's raining so you'll have to stay indoors if you're in the detroit area. what a long week. i don't think i've been fully awake the whole time. have a good weekend!!!

it is SO beautiful outside!!! i ran out to my car to grab something and IT IS SO NICE OUT. =) boo on working indoors. lorie got a rental car for work and for some reason they felt they needed to give her a convertible to drive out to three rivers...we're taking it out tonight. hehe. it's supposed to be like this all weekend so let's do something fun outside. ultimate anyone?

can someone please tell me why it is that some people are morning people and some people (ahem, me) are not? i've been having the hardest time getting out of bed and staying out of bed in the morning...not that i was ever very good about it, but it's significantly worse now. usually, i'll just have a hard to getting up. but once i'm up, i'm up. now it's to the point where i will get out of bed, shower, and then go back to sleep. WHO DOES THAT?! me, apparently. showers are supposed to wake you up...and after i finally get my butt out the door, i spend the rest of the day trying to keep my eyes open. i think there's something wrong with me. i need help.

good weekend. alvin is the designated blogger for saturday dinner, so let's see if we can break his comment streak at 8... ;D

i'm "working". i hate this..feeling completely not motivated to work. blah. i've done everything but work since i met with my manager an hour and a half ago. i feel like i'm auto-pilot. maybe because i barely made it into work alive this morning. i'm so tired...i spent the night battling for sleep with my stomach cramps. ugh. guys truly have it easier. must stay awake....my clie is low on batteries, so i can't play bejeweled. i think chrissy's a little bit addicted now....i think we got her hooked on the way home from miami. i feel myself beginning to ramble, so i'll stop myself. happy monday! =P

guess what i saw on my way to work today?

SNOW!!

hmmm...march comes in like a lion and out like a lamb?? april...showers?

alvin said he might blog today. *gasp* let's see if he comes through.

i spent from 7pm to 8pm tonight doing aerobics at my church with the 35 and over crowd. my mom wanted to go, and somehow got me to go with....i mean these people were hard core...they had the exercise mats, hand weights, sweatbands...the whole bit. i must admit that there's nothing like 76-year-old ladies hanging with the instructor to keep you moving...especially when they do the arm exercises with 5 pound weights where they make you hold your arms straight out for an eternity. *must...keep...arms...out.....old lady next to me can do it....i can do it...too.* haha...i exaggerate, although i was extremely impressed by some of these ladies. not that we were doing super high impact tae-bo aerobics, but i hope i'm in that kind of shape when i get to be their age.

seeing that i was able to do aerobics today, i think i've recovered from the whole dance mix experience. my groggy voice turned raspy almost sexy-connie-esque...but it's almost gone now. i was feeling a little like phoebe, especially when i busted out my guitar and tried to sing and play. i still am not very good at all at all at all....(smelly cat...)...i really need to take lessons. that's the only way i'll really focus and really learn, i think. it'd be cool to be self-taught in something, but i need to be real: i'm not disciplined enough to teach myself an instrument. that, and i'm too anal...i'm big on technique, and how do i find out what good technique is without an instructor? there is only so much a book can tell you. i think i'm gonna go cut my nails now so i can start working on my callouses.

exhaustion has led to possible illness. i've had that groggy voice thing going for the last 3 days....i'm contemplating whether or not i should use it to go home sick. if chrissy had gone home "sick" and met me for lunch, i would have. i think both of us had the guilt factor in the back of our minds, so i here i sit, in my cube.

i'm not sure if i need to iterate the large quantity of people in town this weekend. our daily visits to pizza house were always for a party of 30. yikes. i bet they love us and hate us. anyway..i was a little sad cuz i didn't get to hang out with everyone as much as i wanted to. it was so awesome that everyone came out for dance mix but then it had to be easter weekend and family affairs had to come first. so i guess this means we'll have to get together again soon, huh? ;D just tell me when and where. see? we should get together quaterly....and the way it's working, we're right on schedule. so i guess we're looking at the beginning of july? hehe...start saving you pennies! that's only three months away.

9:42am. less than 24 hours since i've left 85 degree weather. at least detroit didn't meet us with snow. it's actually supposed to be nice today...nice being a relative term. nice weather because apparently it was snowing while we were on the beach....not so nice weather because it's not warm enough to sport flip flops and shorts. regardless...miami was fun and the fun has travelled to michigan. i can't believe how many people are going to be back come tomorrow. this is nuts. and why am i at work? everyone in my group is on vacation, too....so why am i here? i snoozed for a good 45 minutes this morning debating whether or not to come in. i conclude that practicing til 3am is not a healthy activity. i don't know how martin does it....anyway...i feel the tired but past exhaustion that you're on the brink of delirium right now.

sleep is good. very very good.

i envy those of you who are sleeping right now. i should be, too. =P i suppose it's time to be somewhat productive now that i've dragged myself into work......

la la la...going to miami!!! i had lunch with martin today and his excitement is contagious...and he's not even going to miami. he's just excited to see everyone next week. gotta love that guy. i slipped into a little bit of a food coma after lunch, tho', cuz martin decided to be daring and not go to taco bell for lunch and get soup at tim horton's instead. foooood commmmma....i hope that this isn't what will always happen now that i've cut back on caffeine. i haven't had coffee in forever and i've limited pop intake to once a day or less...mm..on average. ;D there are some days that are worse than others.

really, i shouldn't have to work. i can't concentrate. don't wanna work. need to get to warm weather and beach. it's way too cold outside..it snowed again today. ha. nice spring. for real...it's gonna snow in june. i feel it. what if that really happened? okay...must focus...maybe i'll go practice the dance in the bathroom....

i'm in a weird mood. i'm not sad but i'm definitely not joyous...and i should be. i'm going to miami on saturday to meet up with some of the greatest people in the world to dance and not dance. beach. friends. dancing. no work. blechh. i need to shake it. chrissy's right. victor's coming in today...woohoo! the fun begins. who'd a thunk that we'd ever get those cali boys to come to michigan to hang out? even james is coming next weekend (along with jon and hong and george!). just a sign of the ridiculous amounts of good times that are about to ensue...

in sam's words: it is officially not a game. ;D

alvin might be right when he said that david copperfield has demonic powers. i don't know how he does the stuff that he does. i left the show yesterday more puzzled than entertained....i mean, almost 24 hours later, i'm still puzzled and bothered.

i don't get it. ;=|

someone should really sign up to be on his tour for the next 5 years so you can tell me all his secrets.

went to the steven curtis chapman concert last night at hill...

amazing. it's beyond my vocabulary.

so much talent and so full of Spirit. the man played 5 different guitars. 2 acoustics (needed two cuz one had a capo), a 12-string acoustic, an electric guitar and a 12-string electric. conehead and i were in awe. and we were 5th row center so we could watch in awe in detail. a lot of the second half of his show was telling the incredible story of the auca indians in the amazon jungle and their change of heart and way of life....gives me hope that people aren't as bad or as mean as they appear to be. take for instance the mean person that's impersonated everyone on everyone else's comments. i really don't know what motivates people to be so mean. i mean if they think it's funny, well then haha i laugh at your immaturity and naivete that those to whom you target with your mean comments will actually care what you think or believe you are the person you're pretending to be...and frankly, i don't care about the comments. see, the thing is...i find that most people are inherently nice and are only mean for a few reasons. either they're angry and emotions get the better of them and meanness ensues but not on purpose, they want revenge and want to feel better or they have one or many insecurities, may or may not be aware of it, and need to put other people down to make themselves feel better....and it's usually the latter. so, mean commenter, my prayer for you is that you address and remedy whatever your issue(s) is/are and direct that energy along a more positive line...because acting out like that (which i'm guessing is pretty frequent for you) for whatever reason will only get you in the wrong place when it really matters.

it's been one of those weeks where i don't feel like doing anything. i'm entirely unproductive at work...it's amazing how hard it is to waste time sometimes. =P both of my managers are gone and yesterday i was pretty much the only one on my side of the building. what to do what to do....i'm not particularly inspired nor am i in what you would call a good mood. i guess i just felt like blogging cuz yesterday i wanted to blog, but the stinkin' server was being whack, so i couldn't get in blogger to blog. i wish i weren't feeling so yechh cuz it's gorgeous outside. back to "work"...

i am addicted to bejeweled. must keep clie off. must focus on work....what is it about those games in which the object is to line up 3 of the same thing? i'm addicted to all of them....

March 7, 1995:

7 years and counting....

=)

so dinner buddy and i are finally gonna have dinner tonight...after a 2 month (almost) hiatus. it was getting ridiculous. i thought i was gonna have to cancel again today, cuz being a girl sucks, but i think i'll live through this one...last time i died, but this time i don't think i have to. plus, the inventors of aleve are great people. great. anyway...dinner buddy and i were planning a fun night that only kinda involved dinner...more of a grab mcdonalds or toxic hell and then go boarding!!..except i just got back from getting a new drivers license (i forgot to blog about the retard that i am cuz i lost my new wallet with money in it, which is rare, and my world in it--okay, tangent..) and i didn't wear a coat once i felt the temperature as i stepped out the door.

stupid michigan weather. all the snow that fell last night is all gone. not even a little melted. ALL GONE. =( ugh.

don't wanna work i don't wanna work!!! can i just be five so i can throw a tantrum, get my way, and get to go to my room? although, i don't think i really threw tantrums when i was a kid...not like you read about in books or see on tv....i mean, i used to fight really loud with my brother, but i don't think that qualifies as a tantrum. and why was going to your room the standard punishment? come to think about it...i don't think i ever got sent to my room either. but now it would be nice cuz then i could just sleep in my comfy bed with lots of pillows. hmm. i'm waiting for my manager to get out of a meeting so i can take some report out to detroit. i'm glad i get to leave the office....times like this i'm glad i'm at the junior level. no one really expects much...

my monitor is blurry. i'm not sure when this happened, but i'm pretty sure it wasn't fuzzy when i logged in this morning. =( i pretty much destroyed one of the buttons on my monitor...the stupid thing got stuck and kept flashing through the different options.

note to self: mechanical pencils do not unstick those little buttons on the front of your monitor.

fun weekend...we went to gameworks on saturday to celebrate j and eric's bdays...we were lucky enough to find tables to fit us all. but there was no karaoke, so boo...but there was a guy wearing a silver sequined jacket calling bingo (????), which was kinda funny. i felt bad that he had to wear it, but i guess if he was getting paid.... my arms are sore from playing the free throw game...i actually beat eric once, but he was drinking and i'm sure he would have kicked my ass on any other occassion. all in all...fun weekend. except yesterday i found out that my cousin's birthday party was on saturday and i completely forgot. i am the worst cousin in the world.

happy birthday eric and j!!! actually, it was yesterday, but i was gone all day and i kinda hate using my computer at home cuz i'm on one all day at work, so i didn't get to blog....eric's the big 2-5....it's the silver anniversary of his birth! hehe...i think it's funny to think of birthdays that way. why do birthdays get their own name anyway? when you get married you have an anniversary...but why isn't it referred to as your weddingday? or marriageday? i admit that those sound a little silly, but i bet birthday would, too if we didn't always call it that...stupid little things that i ponder...

it's freezing in my office right now...i don't understand why these people think that just cuz it's sunny outside that it's also warm. i spent all day yesterday in the freezing cold. yes. outdoors. it was cool cuz i got to get out of the office, but it wasn't cool that we were further north (hence, colder) and outside all day taking groundwater samples. water. water that freezes if you spill it on your nitrile gloves that don't keep you warm at all. brrrrr. i get cold thinking about it. and me and chris gave up coffee, so i can't even warm myself up with that. probably better anyway...i need to lay off the caffeine. i'm reminded once again by friggin mother nature how much caffeine hurts me. yechh.. i hate being a girl.

do you ever wonder about those people who are constantly feel it is their job to tell everyone what to do? i mean...those people who are just....bossy. (hey, i'm back in 5th grade.) i wonder what goes through their head to justify treating people like crap. i've spent all day listening to this woman just verbally beat on people....how are people so mean to belittle someone (in front of colleagues, no less) for the benefit of...what? i don't know...and the pathetic part is that she behaves like a lap dog to all the project managers. ugh. i just avoid her...

i love saturdays. i think if i lived alone, i might spend the whole day sleeping. not that i want to waste my day sleeping, but you have to admit, that sometimes that is not a bad thing. and everyone's gone! what am i gonna do with myself?

ah...back in the office. i feel entirely unproductive. i feel like i've been looking at the same stupid report for the last 5 hours. not being in the office for a week reminds me how nice it is to not work. half of me doesn't want to do anything, the other half wants to learn. so i sit in limbo (conehead can sculpt limbo, much to the dismay of eric) and blog.

hope everyone had a good valentine's day!! (or a single-awareness day, as kristine puts it..) the year's going by really fast....i think it's because of the lack of snow and the 50 degree weather. good and bad....i want it to snow because i think it would be nice to land a jump before the season is over. so bring on the snow.

i didn't have to work today, so i had a game plan to be productive and choreograph and run errands and everything...except for that lorie called me at noon, and i was still in bed. so much for productivity. =P i need to work on my lenten goal....i'm giving up being a lazy bum.....i contemplated giving up pop again, but i did that once and it ended up being no good. i figure i'll just cut back and drink more water. that's a part of not being a lazy bum, yeah? gives me energy...supposedly. off to productivity i go...i need to do something...i've only been up for five hours.

so i'm sittingin my required 40-hour OSHA hazardous waste operations and emergency response (whew!) training..the good part: i'm 15 minutes away from my house and traffic doesn't really exist on my way there. the result: 1 extra hour of sleep. good. the bad part: it might be the most boring place on this earth and the instructor guy spends 20 minutes talking about sea level and the atomosphere keeping our bodies from being floating molecules and blah blah blah balha BLAH!--all to explain how 2.05 atm can be the same as 1520 mmHg.

"1atm = 760 mmHg."

that is ALL he had to say. sea level? 20 minutes?!!! when we could spend those 20 minutes sleeping or going home and enjoying the weather. talk about tangents. i think i may have just been unseated.

driving to work at 20 mph is the pits.

DEREK. of course you are invited to dance mix!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! come come come!! we will talk.

saw janet last night. amazing, just like before, although, i must say that i was feeling the crowd more at the garden than at van andel....nevertheless, it was awesome. a-maze-ing. plus it was just fun because it was lorie's birthday (happy 25th!!!) and eric and ny and donna and alvin and j and chrislum were there. =D i was pretty surprised by grand rapids, tho'....it's a pretty nice city. if detroit could just get it's act together to be like that....

so there's snow and snow and snow and oh yeah...ice and freezing rain on top of it. doesn't make for a fun three and a half hour drive at midnight. or a morning commute. i'm pretty much the only one in my office right now. i wonder if anyone else is gonna come to work....it's way too treacherous out there for any vehicle to be on the road. last night we saw at least 10 cars stuck in ditches and this morning i saw 5. i'm sure there were more cuz some of the cars i say were waaaayyy stuck in those ditches. none of the schools are open...with maybe the exception of michigan...they'd technically be open but no one would go to class....just cuz of that lawsuit a few years back. silly law students....i'm always surprised at the things people sue for.

so i thought i had blogged one of my more clever blogs, and it's not here and i don't know what happened to it, but i can assure you that it was clever. so clever that i can't rethink it. alvin finally checked up on the comments on his blogspot. i would have linked him, except there's nothing new to link to seeing that he hasn't blogged in over a month now. at least he acknowledged our comments. =P alvin, blog!! stop working and blog!

lorie's gonna celebrate the 25th anniversary of her birth on wednesday, gettin' old. hittin' that quarter century mark. and hey, insurance goes down! saving money is always a good thing. =D we're all going to see janet jackson in grand rapids. why she's going to grand rapids, i have no idea, but the tickets were cheap and we have good seats. kimmie and co. will be sitting on the main floor dead center. just need to figure out that "and co." part. i feel we're gonna be cutting it close to making the show. phllbbtt. i hate cutting it close..too stressful. like fast card games and encore.

blah blah...nothing fun happening to me. my tailbone still hurts from last weekend...starting to think this might not be normal. i'll ask porta...he should know. ha. anyway..here i go...back to work...

there is a world of traffic out there for me to face and yet i sit here blogging instead of trying to beat it. maybe cuz i don't look forward to getting in my car. every time i get in, i'm reminded of that stupid patch of ice (or should i say ice boulders) that took me out on saturday. ugh. if you ever go up to shanty creek, stay away from summit and just go to schuss. the snow was sooo much better and so were the runs...well except for that ridiculously flat one we foolishly went down. torture it was. but what a fun weekend for snowboarding. like chrissy said...nuts and lorie just started boarding and they did so good!! i think the falling might have taken a toll on donna, tho....it'll get better! soo much fun...hanging out with conehead and chrissy and porta and donna (who i never see ever) and lorie and ny. =D once again: i am so blessed. and we even made it home before midnight on sunday to get a semi-decent night of sleep...even though me and chrissy shouldn't have had to work in the first place. companies that don't take off mlk get a thumbs down. two, in fact. the only good part was that there really wasn't any traffic...okay...time to go home. g'night all!

one more hour before i leave for up north. techinically, it's like 2 hours cuz i have to go get chrissy and conehead first. i haven't been to this resort since i was 9 so i'm hoping that i remember right that the runs are waaaay better than they are in southeastern michigan. they probably have some natural piles of dirt instead of some made out of garbage. and taller, too...but then again i was also a foot and a half shorter. conehead has the brilliant plan of stopping off at birch run on the way up. brilliant i tell ya.

oh, yeah...i'm blogging at work. amazing. who ever thought i would blog at work? not that it would be outside of my nature, but who would ever think i would have a job in the first place that would give me my own computer?

i think i drove halfway home in first gear today. a good 15 miles. first gear! the roads weren't even bad yet...just a little bit of snow.--just like every other winter we've ever had in michigan--and there people go driving retarded. i realize that there is a degree of caution that must be taken during times of precipitation, but people! it's just snow and it wasn't even sticking! well, whatever. i just like to complain. i'm glad that i got home alright and that i didn't see anyone else have an accident on the way home. the good part: snow for snowboarding. real snow. the good kind. it should be even better up in traverse city. =) the even better part: lorie said we could make spring rolls. =D

it's hard to want to move forward when your life plateaus in contentment.

my week of bumdom is coming to a close. i stayed up past 2 every night just cuz i could. actually, last night i didn't because i realized it would be dumb of me to get used to sleeping so late since i start work on monday. don't want to be late on the first day. not that i could...you know how you're pretty anxious to start a new job that even if you are perpetually 15 minutes late for everything, you'll be on time, if not early, for those first couple weeks on the new job? yeah. anyway...i'm excited....no, not excited. don't want to get my hopes up. i'm looking forward to starting this new job. it will be nice to work with people that are within a decade of my age.

so i woke up this morning with a sore throat. i'm not sure if it's because i'm at the tail end of my sickness or if my whole neck is just sore from falling on my head yesterday during snowboarding. hmm. my mom reckons i should get a helmet. yeah, yeah. i think i should just stop falling on my head. regardless, everyone should take time off of work to go boardig. =) it makes it that much more fun, right, chrissy?

one more day of dumb lab work before a week of no work before i start my new work. heehee. what to do...i figured i could get some reading in (that's right, i read) since eric has repeatedly brought it to my attention the downward spiral my vocabulary and communication skills have taken since i graduated in april. i admit that this is true, hence the reading. i'm also hoping we'll get some more snow (sunday's forecast says so) so that maybe one of my home friends with 22 vacation days not including holidays will take time off and be a snowboarding buddy, too. ;D

i feel that my life is beginning to roll now....i have no reason to complain about anything....i have my family and friends and a job and a mode of transportation. i'm pretty set...the new year really brought a fresh start, i feel. cheesy, i know....who cares? it's a good thing. finally, i feel that it's okay for me to do all the extra things that i want to do without feeling guilty about not having a good job.

(side note: is it supposed to feel like your fingertips will fall off when you first learn the guitar? it's a little painful to type. i don't know how i'm supposed to develop callouses.)

i'm excited to see what this year will bring. people are looking at buying houses and are moving all over the place....and i just found out that my friend michelle just got engaged to her doctor boyfriend (congrats!!!) and that chris and sheila got engaged at a pistons game last month. my goodness...we're all growing up so fast! haha...for real....it's like the video they made for jon at avalon. half a dozen young professionals being completely retarded in jon's underwear. how is it that we are so silly and can still get hired to do real world work? i love it. i have no idea if that made sense. oh, well..it's bedtime for me. bye bye to jon for a little while...good luck and safe travels in england!

oh, yeah...happy birthday to STEEEVEEE!!!! (in 30 minutes and counting...) happy 23rd, man!

whoa. what a trip. i don't think i've ever done so much in a week in my life. it was super concentrated fun. eating, dr. mario, movies, boarding, shopping, eating, sleeping, dancing, bonfire, cranium, mafia...my goodness. it was so much more than just those things, tho'. la...sd..irvine...i'll say it again. my. goodness. fun fun fun!!! i love my friends. i really think that i have the greatest friends in the world...we're so far apart, but when we get together, it's like no time has passed. so thank you thank you lynn and hong and james and victor for spending practically every minute of our visit with us and housing us and for driving us all over southern california and jon and george, too, for playing host to us in sd. you guys are the best ever for showing us such an amazing time. just think...only 3 more months and we'll be in miami. =)

so eric and i arrive at lax super early for our flight, get our bags checked in without a hassle, board our flight on time and even arrive at dtw early. atypical for northwest. of course, the idiots at the airport failed to notice that our plane had arrived, so we wasted a good 15 minutes on the plane waiting for them to connect the walkway to the plance so we can de-board(?). did i mention that it's 10:50pm on new years eve? (enter frustration.) we can make it to my house, i tell myself as we book to baggage claim...you will not miss watching the ball drop with your family because you have never missed the ball drop with your family in your entire life. i figure, we actually got to detroit on time, no doubt will i make it home on time. baggage claim to it's sweet time and by 11:18, we're running out of the airport with our snowboards in hand. (enter anxiety)42 minutes to get home, i think...i'm barely gonna make it. at 11:43 we're at southfield freeway and 8 mile, at least 20 minutes from my house. (enter disappointment) my brother calls me 5 minutes before midnight like i asked (so i could pseudo drop the ball with the family) and we count down and midnight hits. *happy new year!* i'm in a car less than a mile away from my house. i must say i was pretty close to devastated. i mean, i ran into my house without unloading the car so i could make the tail end of the new year excitement, but it wasn't the same. at least i got to see my cousins before they bounced off to other new year parties. i missed a tradition and i don't think i want to do that again. makes me realize how attached i am to my family....further reinforcing that this is where i'm supposed to be.

anyway...i've spent new years day sick. it was building up all last week and finally just blew up this morning. it's the kind of sick that makes you miserable because you can't breathe or swallow or talk or move your head. yechh. i have to go to work like this tomorrow. the only good part is that there's only 3 more days left at ppg (aka pppoopy--like kimmie says). then i have a week to do...nothing!!! hahahahaha...can't wait. i think i can try out my new snowboarding skills on our snow-covered landfills...

okay...lots of last minute shopping to do. i thought i was done, but i need another something for my mom so it's not just a bunch of theater tickets that she's opening tomorrow. hmm...what do you get someone that doesn't need anything? last night was white elephant....4 years and running now....probably the quickest and least stressful of them all. that was nice. but then there was cranium. i think that made up for the lack of stress in the gift exchange. club cranium's involve way to much stress for a post-white elephant game, and i was queen of them last night. *sigh* but, as always, it was a ridiculous amount of fun and i hope that everyone has friends to have that much fun with.

so i got the job. i'm an engineer. =D

i can't believe how fast christmas came this year...(2 DAYS!!!)....only been 8 months since graduation...it's interesting to see how much all our lives have changed in that short time frame, yeah? anyway....MERRY CHRISTMAS, everyone! i guess the more appropriate thing would be to say happy holidays. so HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! have a wonderful time spending it with those close to you...and be safe...very safe. and if i don't blog before the year end...happy new year, too!

isn't it frustrating when you're trying to tell someone something but you want them to guess it, so you try to initiate the guess-mode, but it fails miserably? hmm..does that make sense? see..i tried to do that to munfung today, but she just completely missed it. whooo...right over her head. so now i guess she'll have to wait, huh?

*patience* i think i have it now. =) praises.

it was snowing on my way back from royal oak last night. what a tease. i thought it would snow a lot cuz the sky's been looking like it had tons and tons of precipitation to dump on us, but nooooo....it's supposed to snow on sunday now. i just want to have a white christmas. it's not christmas without the snow.

despite good things going on in my life, i've been feeling very blah. i'm in a blah funk and i can't shake it and i don't know why.

*shake shake shake*

nope. no good. maybe i'll feel better in the morning. better pack...going to columbus for the weekend.

move over 2tongues...say hello to sharon kim. she is definitely on her way. good job tonight, sharon!!

p.s. weather forecast for tomorrow: partly cloudy with a high of 55F. 55?!! not your typical december 13th michigan weather. i'm not sure if i should love it or hate it cuz it won't snow so i can practice snowboarding before la....

one of the cutest things in the world: little kids singing their heads off about christmas.
pure joy. makes you wish that life was that simple again...reminds me of that brian mcknight song. =)

one of the most fun things in the world: cranium. now...i usually hate board games. H-a-t-e. i think i was traumatized in my childhood. but cranium is the exception. maybe it's because we get to see g and eric dance around like cowboys or alvin reach delirium while figuring out flying butresses...or maybe just because it's a team effort? it's way too stressful when it's each person for him/herself. regardless...i've never laughed so hard in my life. i guess you had to be there. we played at the guevara's place in e. lansing after g's school christmas concert. ha..they're the guevaras now. i still need to get used to that. =D

wow. what a test of patience. no car and no new job. i had to have my brother drive me to work today and my mom pick me up.

"hi, i'm twelve."

i couldn't even be cool and have my boyfriend pick me up because he's been galavanting in vegas with fun people while i'm here having my patience tested. yeah, i'm a bit jealous. teeny tiny bit. but i got over it about 2 seconds after i realized i wouldn't be going. i did get to have a fun saturday with alvin and conehead and chrissy and j and chrislum. it was a good thing bubble bliss closes because i feel that we would have had an eternal euchre tournament otherwise. it might be the best card game ever (which means that more people than those originating from michigan should learn how to play it so they can play with their native-michigan friends.) ;D

i was going to end at the ";D", but i just realized that i really need to work on my conclusions. even in high school, i was never very good at ending a paper, which might also be why i tend to go off on tangents and never really make it back to the point at hand. i'm going to work on it. it will help keep my mind off the things i'm being impatient about. (ha!)

coming december 5, 2001.
GS Titatnium Pearl

ordered my car today.

it's pretty.

=)

i might get it tomorrow.

hey!!! i bet you missed me, huh? so it's been, what? a couple weeks, it looks like...what have i been doing? nothing! i'm a bum. thanksgiving was good. i swear i blogged about it, but i guess not. didn't eat myself stupid, but i did watch the buffy marathon that was on. it was ridiculous...14 hours of buffy reruns. i love it. now that i think about it, i think i just commented on everyone's site instead of blogging on thanksgiving. i'm not even going to dare try to catch up on everyone else's blogs right now in fear of not getting to bed before i have to go to work. anyway...i got to catch up with steen last thursday and then psycho me decided to try to go to best buy the day after thanksgiving at the crack of dawn only to find that the line wrapped around the building. what??!!! i'm telling you, people are c-razy.

my psycho-day-after-thanksgiving-shopping-buddies: ny, vince, alvin, chrislum, and jasmine (chrislum's cousin from cincinatti? it's definitely ohio...) =) i am not alone.

that was a great day. lots of driving, but great. the only part that was poopy was having to drive up to birch run by myself. yeah...alvin and chrislum met up with me later so that i could spend time in espirit without them waiting around for an hour. i was missing lynnchen. the rest of my poopy face friends met up with us at great lakes crossing...sticker pictures were taken...(i have them, btw)...we got boba (sorry, kyle...can't spell the chinese you taught me)....played cranium...yay! fun day. wanna know something else that's fun? i'm getting a new car! woohoo! maybe that's why i haven't been blogging...too busy doing research. haha...i hope everything goes okay. this is such a big step. financing. whoa. that's a grown-up word. an even bigger grown-up word: mortgage. yikes. anyway...

went to see the rockette's christmas spectacular at the fox with eric's family tonight. we could have been on a cruise, that's the type of show it was. it was good....we were all pretty surprised that they ended it by re-enacting the nativity scene. it was really good, and the craziest part was that they felt that it was necessary to bring out three camels, some sheep, and a goat to make it super duper great. and for those of you taht care...there were five midgets that pretended to be santa's elves. (see me shrug) one of the rockette's is from the heights and went to school with me and my brother...more so with ny cuz they were in school plays together. she was probably the best one onstage, and that's not cuz i'm biased. okay...time for bed and to let ny use his computer.

i have more caffeine pumping through my veins right now than i have had in the last year. i was shaking before. i've calmed down since then. this is exactly why i should never become one of those coffee fiends. i'm glad now that i don't need that cup of coffee every morning to get me going. i would be beyond hyper. and once i've developed a tolerance for it and tried to quit, my caffeine headaches would be infinitely worse than they are now...and i only drink one thing of pop a day. (that's soda for all you non-midwesterners.) the only thing is that coffee is free at work and pop is not. the benefits certainly need to be weighed. eric would probably say to just quit them both. hmm...pretty sure that won't happen in the near future. i don't know.

people! i realize that there is the whole "i" before "e" except after "c" or when sounded like "a" as in "neighbor" or "weigh". BUT!--there are exceptions.

excepcion supremo numero uno: the adjective that's used to describe things that are out of the ordinary...W-E-I-R-D. weird. it looks funny, but that's definitely the correct spelling.

i only bring this up because james is not my only friend that has issues with this word. so, class, the lesson for today? w-e-i-r-d NOT w-i-e-r-d.

weirdos.

no throwdown. the pistons are safe. buffy: the musical was awesome and i can't believe that joss whedon was audacious enough to make an episode where every actor bursts into song and dance. impressive.

let it also be known that chrissy has finally completed her boba mission. me and my wednesday night dinner buddy were joined by our gm-dork friends, eric and conehead, at the new boba shop in downtown rochester. very cool place...boba and korean food. (yum!) if it were closer, i might be there everyday. it was such a great night...gorgeous fall weather (sweater weather!), boba, good friends, good conversation....how lucky am i to have such great friends. it has also been determined--and this is for real--that in order for eric agustin to get it in his head how frustrating it is to never be able to reach him, an order has been declared that no one, i repeat NO ONE, should answer any phone call bearing his phone number, cell phone or home. this is extremely important in our cause to be able to effectively contact our dear friend when we need him. so help us help him come to this understanding. it's really for his own good, yeah? ;D

tonight is the night. buffy: the musical will be airing in t-minus 68 minutes. all i know is that there will be a throwdown if the pistons keep me from watching it.

what a weekend. i just finished watching the tape of the performances, and everyone rocked. funktion brought it. 2xs was amazing. i was so impressed. amazing. i'm just so proud of all of them...what a great first performance. =D what a great weekend. i don't think i've ever seen so many people from michigan while not in michigan. time was definitely fully maximized, though limited. we got into chicago a little late because of running late, traffic, accidents and ryan and alvin needing to buy work out benches (kidding, guys!) before they left...so i was a little worried that people wouldn't want to go out because they were tired. they were, but we went out anyway to zentra. crazy fun....ran into college roommates (!?), funny inebriated frineds, hip hop was spun...fun times. =D watched monster, inc....soo good. boo might be the cutest thing to ever be cute. then u of i. ahh. practically all of umich 2xs--old and new-- was there, practically all of funktion was there. i can't believe how many people showed up. the only bad part was all the driving we had to do. let me just say that the drive from u of i to chicago at 4am is very very difficult. tunnel vision. but it was all worth it. seeing all our friends...really it's priceless. just like the commercial says. haha. i have great friends. beautiful people, they are. i'm so blessed.

lorie has a blog!!! woohoo!

happy halloween, everybody! did everyone celebrate by stuffing themselves stupid with candy? the number of trick-or-treat-ers in my neighborhood has declined steadily since i was in middle school. we were the only house in the dead end (for those of you who have been to my house) that was passing out candy. what party poopers. even my next-door neighbors who are teachers didn't pass out candy. hmph. if i were a little kid, i might be frustrated. but i'm not, and the lack of kiddies asking for candy has left me and my brother with lots and lots of chocolate! haha...my mom always buys too much. now all we have to do is discover her stash. shouldn't be hard. she's not too good at hiding candy.

this whole daylight savings time is messing with me. i walk out of work at 4pm to go home and i don't know if it's semi-dark because the weather is poopy or if it's semi-dark because it's supposed to be dark soon. huh. and if it's just semi-dark because the weather is yucky, then i wish it would just rain already, because i'm not digging this *dreary* motif. well, i don't wish it to rain on the trick-or-treat-ers. it's more like i wish i wasn't so affected by the weather. gray days really make me want to do nothing. my brother tried to get me to run today at 6:45pm. okay...#1: it was dark. dark dark. like the middle of the night dark. ##2: it's cold. i feel snow threatening halloween. #3: it's devil's night. "only to schoennher and back," he says. 3 miles?! ha. maybe to conehead it's *just three miles*. i told him i'd rather do 1000 sit ups than run a mile. but i should do something active. i feel myself turning into a slug. mindless and slow-moving. i can't wait to go to chicago this weekend. i'm ridiculously excited--practically giddy. practically. i get to hang out with my greatest friends, including ny and lorie who i hardly ever get to hang out with together, and see 2xs (bunso's debut!) and funktion perform. i better sleep now cuz i probably won't be getting any this weekend....

chrislum is the best! look! it counts comments on its own! this is very exciting for me...

pet peeve #102801: boyfriends that never answer their cell phones EVER. frustration.

today, there was snow. it's very disappointing to see snow fall before halloween. my brother recalls a halloween when it was snowing. i remember no such thing. at all. halloween = fall, yeah? what happened to fall!? i love the fall. i love sweater weather. and we've completely skipped it.

why is my date and time a different color than the rest of my blog? hmm...i must have messed something up when i kept moving the comment thing around. and now my computer's being whack. argh. it's been a frustrating half hour. first no boba, then no eric, and now this. i wish i knew html. i think i'll just go to bed.

comment away! i did it all by myself. like james was saying earlier....copy and paste: gotta love it.

the most disturbing thing on tv these days: the levis (?) low-rise jeans where the belly buttons are singing.
ewwwwwwwwwww.
belly buttons should never be filmed, never mind filmed singing. my brother has graciously taped it for me as some form of sick torture.
(fyi: the girl singing the jingle is the girl that's on the sopranos...jamie lynn something or other. she was also on the cover of maxim a few months ago.)

my house is empty. my tita and my cousin and my lolo left to go home to the philippines today and i'm sad. every time my tita leaves, i cry. i'm such a baby. it's not like i'm never going to see her again (she's coming back in the spring), but it's been that way since i had to say goodbye to her the first time she left the states when i was nine. and then i make her cry, and then we're both sitting there hugging and crying ourselves ugly. ah, well...life must go on..

i might be getting a new car. it's actually more of an i-am-going-to-get-a-new-car, but now i just have to find one to buy. but it can't be too expensive because i have no money and my insurance is going to be ridiculous since i like to drive fast and i'm not 25. shopping for a car is not as fun as shopping for clothes. at least for clothes you can just see if it fits...if it looks good and has a good price, buy it. but with a car, you have to know so many more things that i don't know, but should care about, and i assume i eventually will because i am a soon-to-be car owner. plus, i'm pretty sure that ny and eric will sufficiently educate me on everything i need to do as a soon-to-be car owner. they're good that way. i don't feel old enough to have my own car. maybe it's the whole financing thing...i've never bought anything big enough where i have to pay in installments. it's scary--like my first baby step to being independent from my mom. of course, at college i was independent from my mom because i didn't live at home, but she still made sure everything was paid for and that i didn't starve. and now i'm home, and she cooks and lets me live here for free...and, technically speaking, i'm still her dependent (so says the irs). i don't know what i'd do without her. i'd be so lost otherwise, but i don't think she knows it. maybe i should tell her.

connie cheung is my hero.
she is the only person i know that would and did run 26 miles just to run 26 miles. straight. 26 miles!!! that's nuts! i now have a friend who's a marathon runner. it is incomprehensible to me why she would do such a thing, but she did and i'm soo proud of her...so yay, conehead!!

i've decided that i hate being at home alone. it's a completely different being-at-home-alone at home-home than at school-home. at school-home you have 20 closest friends and a couple dance groups to hang out at all hours of the day and going home at the end of the night/beginning of the morning is just so you can get the minimal sleep required to get through the next day. and everyone's a short walk or a shorter drive away. here, you have to drive everywhere and everything closes early, and currently, everyone's gone. ny went to visit lorie at her pad in k'zoo, eric went to help out at the youth retreat for his church, my mom, cousin, tita, and lolo all left for branson, missouri on thursday, and kimmie was in a2. she's here now, but she was supposed to come up to the pistons game with chrislum and alvin and j and brian (and galvez--he met us up there) to meet me, but she hoed me out for this thing called 2xs. ;D so after a great night hanging out with my great buddies (fyi...pistons beat the heat: 90-76, i think), i came home to an empty house. it's scary. on my way to being well into my twenties, i'm still afraid of my basement (there is a very valid reason, ask me later if you want), so you can imagine how creepy i feel the rest of the house is when it's dark and late and i'm by myself. so i try to busy myself by watching iron chef, but the sensor light in our backyard kept going off, and i was too chicken to see what it was so i just went to bed. the important thing now is that i'm chillin' with my favorite sister, watching old episodes of buffy and drinking bubble tea. =D and i'm not at home alone. it doesn't get much better than this.