quoted

This afternoon I had meeting with a city councilmember's staff. I arrived early so I sat in the waiting room with my coworker and picked up a magazine. I was flipping through the magazine when I noticed that minsoo was quoted in one of the articles. That was really cool.

t0ny camp0l0 rocks my face off

TC was the speaker at our church conference this week and I think he covered a lot of really controversial topics. He was all up in our faces about caring about the poor and rejecting our materialistic culture. Although he's Christian, he also has some very controversial views that are very different from the religious right, which was very refreshing. I'm also really glad that one of my friends, who isn't Christian, came to our service to hear TC and really liked it. He definitely ministered to her today. Yay!

I also saw Wall-E today. Awesome and so deep. P1xar did it again.

happy birthday jess!

Today is Jess' golden birthday!

I'm sure you're having a great one. Sorry I can't be there! You rock.

walks

We've been trying to take walks after dinner to get a little bit of fresh air, time away from screens (tv, computer) and hopefully a teeny bit of exercise.

We walk through the nice residential neighborhood behind our apartment and up the hill to check out the amazing view of the city. On the way up the hill, there's a house on a corner that has a dog in their backyard that barks at anyone that walks by the property. The dog sound slike it wants to eat you. I've never seen the dog because it's locked up behind a big wall & gate, but I imagine that's it's a type of pit bull or large dog with sharp teeth and lots of drool.

Minsoo is afraid of dogs so today he told me that he wanted to run by the house, instead of walk by it, so that we could avoid the barking assault. I agreed so we booked it by the house and avoided the barking. We were so proud of ourselves. In hindsight it sounds dumb, but it felt good at the time.

In other news, I'm glad that sasstimesseven got kicked off abdc this week. Good riddance.

happy golden birthday Sarah!

where's bruce?

On the Turner C1ass1c movie channel, they're doing a special on Asian films. Tonight was my favorite film, Flower Drum Song. We were out so we missed it, but now Enter the Dragon is on, which is Minsoo's favorite. We're watching it, even though we have it on DVD. I love those polyester suits and cheesy haircuts.

Speaking of Bruce, when we were leaving Kauai after our honeymoon, the guy checking our IDs and tickets looked down at mine and asked, "Where's Bruce?" Of course, I had no idea what he was asking so I said, "What? Oh, no, it's just me and him [pointing at minsoo.]" The guy asking me was Asian and we were in Hawaii, so I was surprised that he would crack a brucelee joke.

Bruce Lee's family came from the same area in China as my family. We could be related! I sometimes think that this might contribute to minsoo's love for me.

reality show monday

I just watched the most uncomfortable make-over reality show. It was one of those makeover shows where friends nominate you and then get to pick out various "looks" for you. You get to pick one of the "looks" and get a corresponding makeover haircut. It's supposedly a transformative experience.

This episode was a train wreck. At the end, the woman said that she was no longer friends with the people who nominated her and felt like they were trying to break her spirit (she was a 30-year old goth hippie called "p1um"). The whole episode she kept pouting and said nasty things to the host and her friends. I felt so bad for the host, who was trying her best to keep her cool. I even began to get pissed at her. The stylist who was one of the people to help her get her new look scolded her for not thanking her friend who gave up important plans to be there to help her get her makeover. The woman didn't even thank her friends and instead just left on her high horse, saying she'd keep the sneakers but give everything else to g00dwill. I wanted to cry for her friends after watching it because the woman was so cruel, ungrateful and stubborn. Actually, I don't think she was a horrible person, but it did seem like she had serious trust issues and other issues that made it impossible for her to relinquish control and appreciate good intentions. I know it sounds weird but the episode was so intense.

I'm emotionally exhausted now. That episode was toxic for my soul.

I wish I had just watched j0nandkate+8 instead.

warm Sunday night thoughts

I'm sitting outside on my little balcony right now. It's so dang hot in our apartment so I've escaped to the outdoors. It's nice.

It's days like this when I wish that I had a house on the beach so I could sit outside and watch the sunset, instead of sitting outside watching cars drive in and out of our side street and alley.

Sunday nights are so bittersweet. I'm finally winding down from last week and them, boom, I have to begin thinking about next week.

Every Sunday evening, the same thoughts go running around in my head:
"Should I call in sick?"
"Ooo, I wonder if there are any new job listings...".
"Maybe I should start playing the lottery...."
"Is Red Mango open?"
"Gotta check my email before I walk in on Monday and end up already behind on work..."

Ah, sweet, sweet Sunday.

it's hot.

It's been blazing hot this weekend, which sucks for sleeping. Our wall unit A/C only cools the dining room and part of the living room so the bedroom never gets cool at night. I'm really tired because even though I got 10 hours of sleep last night, I was so hot it feels like I only slept for 5. Now, I really want to go to sleep but the room is so hot I don't want to go back in there.

That's it for today.

We celebrate the darnedest things

Just to let you all know, June is national bathroom reading month. I found this out today while listening to npr.

Unbeknownst to me, I have honored this June designation many times this month. I hope you all will get the chance to celebrate this American tradition sometime in the next week.

hi, my name is wai-ling, and i'm addicted to a.b.d.c.

I don't watch mtv on a regular basis because I'm too old (they target kids up to 24 years old). However, I reject ageism on Thursday night when they air that america's best dance crew show. It's a freaking awesome show.

I love how Asian the show is and how the asian crews kick ass. Last season there were only a few crews with Asians in them, however this season it seems like everyone has a token Asian members, even that girl cheerleading group. Asians are like every crew's lucky rabbit's foot 'cuz we keep it real on the dance floor. Okay, when I say we, I mean them.

One of the groups tonight were a group of guys from Napervi11e IL who got ripped a new a-hole by the judges. Their routine made me feel really uncomfortable because they looked like they were trying out for America's best stripping crew. I'm glad the judges also felt that they sucked. Yucky. The other group I totally disliked were a group of girls who did a routine that reminded me of a sport's team's dance crew. Go home Lakers girls, go home, you lost the NBA finals suckas, stop dancing. I can't believe these 2 groups won't go home tonight because of the voting system.

I've gotta go vote online for the crews now. I can't let both the strippers and the cheerleaders make it past next week. ABDC is the best!!!

boo (hoo hoo)

Today I broke my streak of not-crying-at-work. I haven't cried at work (not including the time my coworker died in 2006) since my last job in 2004.

Damn and my not-crying streak was going so good.

I guess this is a pretty rad statistic for me since I've managed to have a breakdown at almost every job I've had except for the one where I was an assistant at a publishing company.

Non-profit jobs are hard, yo.

After a really crappy meeting, due in part to my horrible attitude about work, my coworker friend asked me what was bugging me. So of course that sent me into a crying nightmare. I am not a graceful crier. I get the shakes, the hyperventilating, hiccups, the inability to speak complete sentences without gasping for air....the works. I end up a big fat mess. The aftermath entails huge swollen eye lids, a raging headache and red face. It's so ugly.

Anyway, I've just been really disillusioned with my job as I was hired to do cutting edge social change research and since my co-worker died 2 weeks after I was hired, all I've ended up doing is project management (without the for-profit salary). I love what the organization does, but I really hate what I do day-in-and-day-out. There's a bunch of other things, but that's for another post. Suffice it to say that while I like to say that I'm helping to change the world, in my day to day life, it feels very much like I'm not doing anything but making too little money for too much work.

Sometimes the money looks greener on the other side (the for profit side).

all look same

Today I was at an all day training with a small group of people when one of the other attendees came up to me and said "Hey!" like we had been engaged in a conversation. So I said "hey!" because we had talked a few hours ago and maybe she wanted to talk more...

Then she said, "So I have go in awhile, but I know you had some questions about what I'm doing." I looked at her blankly. She kind of stared at me and then said... "Ohhhhh" and walked over toward the one other Asian girl in the room.

She mistook me for the only other Asian girl in the room... who was at least 3 inches taller, had short hair, no glasses, wearing a completely different outfit and was Korean.

Even in the diverse non-profit sector we Asians all look alike, I guess.

bad day

Mondays usually suck but today was a thoroughly bad Monday.

I opened up my work email box this morning to find that a grant proposal I had submitted was rejected. Then, later on in the afternoon, I found another grant proposal rejection letter in my in-box. Well, it wasn't so much a rejection letter ("Thank you for your application, however because of the number of applications we are unable to award you a grant....") as it was a mass "Congratulations" email blast for the organizations who had been given a grant. So I had to read the whole email and look for our name on the list, hoping that it was my organization they were congratulating. Unfortunately it was not. It felt like I had tried out for high school jazz band and they posted the list and I didn't make it, even though my jazz piano skillz were so excellent (just an example, though, uh not based on real life).

To make me "feel better" my Exec Dir decided to make a joke about how apparently it's just a myth that my department is supposed to earn our org money, ha ha. I gave her a look that said "you suck bitch" while she tried to hug me and make it all better. I just crossed my arms.

On top of this, I saw a big ass cockroach on the ceiling of the conference room when I was having a meeting. I know they are stalking me, I know it.

And of course, to end my bad day....tonight my friend called me up to hang out so I went over to her house thinking that it would cheer me up. I was already in a cranky mood, so I ended up getting into a tense conversation with another girl who was at my friends' house about how "ching chong ching chong" jokes are not funny (she is not asian) and, in fact, racist and offensive to me. She thought "accents" were always funny, R0sie0's joke about DannyDev1to was hilarious and in general ching chong jokes are really funny and so what's the big deal? Comedians are supposed to make fun of people. My head almost exploded. If you know me, you know how little tolerance I have for stuff like this (prob the reason why minsoo and I get along so well). So my bad mood did not help. I almost walked out, but I was eating Chocolate ice cream and I hadn't finished yet.

Today was like a slap in the face reminder that the weekend was over.

wildcat gathering, east coast style

We just got back from a short trip to "the 'Shire" as minsoo calls it. Our college pal got married so we headed to the east coast to celebrate and reunite with our old friends.

We also got to meet our friends new twins. The last time we "saw them" they were inside our friend's belly. They are adorable! They're fraternal and also have distinct personalities already. I'm sad that they live in Boston, because if they lived in LA, auntie wai-ling and uncle minsoo would be hanging out all the time with the little ladies... and of course, with their parents. :)

It was also awesome to hang out with the ladies -- I miss them! It's crazy to think that I've known them for almost 12 years. Luckily, we all haven't aged that much since undergrad (I think.) Maybe I'll post some old pics later on, but for now, here are the ladies, with the new little ladies...

I think that the dress I'm wearing makes me look like I have a tummy. Boo for trendy baggy dresses (so comfortable, though).

Minsoo also reunited with his freshman year roommate. Yay Andrew!

And just a little extra for you all, spotted in the hotel parking lot:

off for the weekend

Heading off to New Hampshire for a wedding. I'm super excited to see friends, especially our friends' young twin girls. We've watched them grow by monitoring their blog, so it'll be nice to finally meet them in person.

It's early. I'm tired. Gotta catch a flight!

"you're not cool" - 5-year-old matthew at bethel

So today, I went to a w0rkf0rce 'n' ec0n0m1c development conference and guess who was there?? OMG, It was rockstar economist JSachs! He's like the only economist that hangs out with bono! He was giving the lunchtime plenary talk and I was totally freaking out! I know, how cool is that?

Okay, so it's not cool. It's totally nerdy. And you know what's nerdier? Because I knew that he'd be at the conference, I brought my copy of his book so that he could sign it after his talk (even though he was hocking a new book).

This was the most exciting thing I did today. I need a vacation.

gas prices part 2 & daily blogging

After yesterday's gas violation, I went to this website called 1osange1esgaspr1ces to find out if there are any cheaper stations near my place. The cheapest gas is about 30 cents/gal cheaper than what I paid yesterday... which seems like a lot until you really think about it. For 10-11 gallons, it really only adds up to saving about $3, which means that I would still end up paying $50 for gas, which is still ridiculous.

I used to scour my neighborhood for the lowest priced station, but finding a station where you only pay $50 instead of $53 is still highway robbery. I'd rather take those 5 minutes doing something worthwhile...

On that note, minsoo and I talked about blogging everyday (minus traveling weekends) in solidarity with hannah, who is studying hard for the bar exam. While blogging does nothing to help her with bar classes, we think it might be a good temporary distraction. I don't promise that every day will be interesting, but I do promise that there will be something on this page everyday (minus traveling weekends) until Hannah opens up a can of whoop ass on the bar exam.

Obligatory gas prices suck post

I waited until I was running on fumes before I filled up gas. I drive a civic ex. I paid $53.27 for a tank of gas this morning. Yikes.

book therapy

I had a horrible day, which turned around when I entered the bookstore this evening and saw Dav1dSedar1s' new book! MeTa1kPretty1Day (one of his older books) is the most hilarious book I have ever read and one of my favorite books. I highly recommend it.

Being at the bookstore reminded me of how I once wanted to be a librarian. I'm not kidding. Did you know that you have to have a master's degree in library sciences to be a librarian? I think I would be a rad librarian. I think I'd like to work in the map collections or the electronic data section. If I worked as a librarian, then maybe I could be the coolest person at my workplace (like someone I know). Boo-yeah.

our small group is a bad influence

Minsoo & I are in a married couples small group at church. Even though a "married couples" group sounds horribly boring and straight out of a scene from bridgetj's diary ("smug marrieds"), the group rocks my face off because the people are all cool and normal. Anyway, I digress. Our group met up for dinner last night at a Mexican restaurant instead of bible study. We were told that a new couple was going to join us to check out our group so we were told by the couple that organizes our group to "be on our best behavior."

We ordered margaritas and coronas while we waited for the new couple and looked at the menus. When they arrived, I was thinking to myself, wow they look young. They were actually not married, but very recently engaged -- and recent college graduates. Oh man.

So I think they were surprised at the fact that we're all oldies (last night I was the youngest person) but also that we were drinking (gasp, Christians drinking!). I'm sure that since they're recently graduated but getting married that they might be a tad bit more conservative than the rest of us.

I'm not sure if they're going to be joining us regularly and honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about having such a young engaged couple joining us. I think we might be a bad influence on them. I would also hate to scare the girl with stories of what married like is really like. She still has that "I found a guy who makes my heart sparkle" look. (Hannah, that reference was for you.)

fun photos

Instead of a deep post about tv, my job or our crazy neighbors, here are some fun photos...

It's minsoo's 30th!

The NU crew

The sisters:

Fun times.