What I Learned In 2006

Next to my husband, my niece EKT is my everything

I dislike Memphis less then I thought but I would not like to die here - NO WAY!

I love our house more than I thought

My husband is a far nicer man then me until other drivers piss him off

Friends are all disposable - even some good friends. No matter how much I like someone, at the end of the day, I can too easily turn my back on them.

It's not too late to lose weight if I want to work phucking hard lol

I must love Japan or really love Japanese food or both to go there five times in a year

Wives and husbands of buddies usually will not be your buddy

My mother may still give me a baby sister lol

'C' students will not end up being road sweepers contrary to the believe my parents instilled in me as a kid

I can be really mean to people I dislike or even sometimes like

I am a pretty good daughter

I hate stupid people more than I thought especially if they are Americans

I don't know how to appreciate country bumpkins or the southern accent

People think I'm a hick 'coz I live in Tennessee

No matter how many times I say we're not going to have kids, it still lingers at the back of my mind constantly

Why is it a headline piece of news when a 93 year old man dies?

I dislike mild winters

I still hate all summer anywhere

Australia and aussies are still at the bottom of my list - even lower then summer

Chinese songs are so much better than English ones

I dislike Katie Couric for no bloody reason

Travelling 150,000 miles in a year for fun is tiring :)

My once strong nails are getting weak and brittle

Sears sucks

I love my new SILENT Bosch dishwasher

I still refuse to shop at Walmart (thank goodness)

I cannot live without a tv

I know I can be a bitch - I just don't like to be told by someone else

Most people let me know (in front of him) that I'm too lucky to have a husband like him - no one, as far as I know, tell him same :s Hmmm...

I know I learnt a lot more but that's all I can handle for now. Happy new year to all of you still reading me after all this time :D I'm sure 2007 will bring lots more reason to blog. Stay tuned.

Seattle Beats Memphis Hands Down

Our three-day holiday celebration is coming to an end. I don't want to leave. More so, I wished we lived here. I doubt there is any chance but it doesn't cost anything to dream.

Christmas with the Shultze family was very fun as expected. Susan and Don were their usual generous hosts and Susan's parents were in town from NY and were their usual hilarious charming selves. ...and the kids... my goodness, do they ever stop growing?! Dinner was awesome! Susan went above and beyond and cooked this fantastic roast beef meal and fortunately, I could make myself useful in an angmoh kitchen by making the mash potatoes :) This is what celebrating with a family at Christmas should be like... lots of conversation and laughter, lots of fun, lots of wine and champagne (LOTS hahaha!) and just chatter in every corner of the house; which I suppose, explains why we are not in Memphis with my in-laws - I kid you not, spending two hours with that bunch shortens ten precious years of my life. Not because they're not nice... ok, there are nicer people in the world hahaha, but we just have absolutely no common interest. Plus there are way too many unspoken topics that can't be brought up ie, their restaurant.

Boxing day and the day after that was spent with our friends Julie and her boyfriend Yoshi. We met Yoshi some six months ago when they first started dating and thought he was nice but didn't really get to know him well enough. This trip, we spent some quality time with him and we really really like to see them together. He's very sweet and I think Julie albeit tired of her job, enjoys Yoshi a lot. I know the husband and I did. He's got a good sense of humor plus, he eats EVERYTHING! How awesome is that?! We're hoping everything goes smoothly for them and maybe we can even meet them in Tokyo next March. That would be awesome!

I had a lot of fun shopping two full hours in Nordstrom and then a little in Eileen Fisher the morning of Boxing Day. Nordstrom opened at 8am and the husband and I were the first in line...... ok there was no line. Together with four other Japanese ladies, I got two Ferragamo bags, two pairs of Cole Haan boots, a pair of Stuart Weitzmen suede boots (you can't go wrong with the service you get at Nordstrom), and two pairs of Miu Miu sandals. I also chanced upon a bunch of fun gay guys working there who helped pick some new fragrances for me. They were hilarious! That's what shopping should be like. Fun! So even though it wasn't the best sale I've been to, it was such a pleasure to be at Nordstrom again. ...Julie says Neiman Marcus is returning to Seattle. Yet another reason I wish to live here lol.

Why do we feel more loved in Seattle then we do where we live 300 days of the year!? We enjoy our friends here and they us and simply shopping at Uwajimaya is a thrill. Sure we do similar things in Memphis as we do here; EAT (surprise surprise!). But it's just so much more fun here! The evening at Julie's was really awesome too. She made a bunch of out of the ordinary finger food (I should have taken some pics dammit!) like proscuitto wrapped in papaya (yeah I bet you've only had it with melon right!? BO-RING!) lol, steamed dungeness crab that was heavenly and served a bunch of Japanese snacks that we really enjoyed. Simple? Sure. Different? Yes. Fun? Definitely! Oh, and the neverending flow of sake was nice too :D

I don't know when we return to Seattle. Maybe Easter, maybe the summer. Either way, I can't wait to see our friends there again soon. Who knows, a couple of them might fly over to Memphis for our annual Chinese New Year party in February :)

Northwest Airlines Still Sucks

It's been more than a year since we flew Northwest Airlines (NWA). We stopped flying them even though Memphis is a NWA hub because they have poor customer service, both at the airports and certainly in the air, small narrow seats though equipped with neverendingly long seatbelts - I think for humongous people who can't fit into the damn chairs lol and most more important to us, a bad mileage program. What happens when you've earned a shitload of miles and want to use them? Nothing. You can't. Either they can't find seats for you or they want double the number of miles for you to fly which is bloody ridiculous. The only times I have had been successful in using my NWA miles was when I lived in Tucson, AZ and flew Alaska Air to Seattle to see my then-boyfriend, now laogong - good thing those miles didn't go to waste eh lol. So NWA hasn't exactly been our favorite - oh and they have a yukky air alliance program!

The husband and I are loyal American Airlines (AA) folks. We made it a point to fly only them this year and yes, that meant taking at least one stop flights to Seattle, New York or L.A when we could easily take non-stop ones on NWA. Sometimes even paying more! This has helped us make Platinum Executive status with way too many trips to Asia. It's my first time and the husband has achieved it too many times with his more than two million miles - Mr. forever-platinum. But the perks that comes with platinum status and executive platinum is yet another world apart. Besides the international upgrade coupons you get, the service you get that comes with when travelling is endless. For one, the special airport lounges alone is worth every single cent we've spend with them. These lounges (not the ordinary lounges for practically everyone) really are fancy and comfortable. They are only for the executive platinum folks or people flying first class on international flights. No, not even if you're flying business class. You go to the lowly favored lounge which is usually packed to the brink muahahahaha. In this fancy lounge which I have spent up to nine hours at the LAX one and have time just fly by (I kid you not!), the flow of free food and drinks is embarassing. Yes, it includes all alcohol. The ladies who work there certainly aim to please and will go out of their way to have your commands a reality. They went out of their way to get me an international adaptor when all I asked was where in the terminal I could get one. Now that's what I call customer service! It's just little things like that. Usually when you're in one of these lounges, you hardly get four people in it and trust me, they're not small. Nicer bathrooms, fancy showers, plush towels... like I said, the list goes on.

Yesterday, Christmas Day, first time (certainly last of this year) we flew non-stop on NWA to Seattle. We were exactly thrilled since that means no way in hell we will be upgraded since we are back to being cattle class folks and we actually have to pay for a meal on the four and a half hour flight. Yes, small detail but it's been so long since we've had to do this. With winter weather going berserk everywhere these days, we decided not to take the risk since getting to Seattle on Christmas day to hang out with the Shultze family is important to us, we went the direct route.

The airport was practically ghostly. No line at check-in, no line at security and the one mile walk to our gate was deadly except for the black family behind us who insisted on doing every James Brown impression lol. Yes, he died yesterday but come on! The NWA terminal at the Memphis International Airport has been revamped and I will admit, nice! Much nicer than what it was before. At least the retail part of it. I asked the husband why haven't they done anything to the gates and definitely the bathrooms. He quick response, "'coz bathrooms don't make money...". I suppose, but walking past the beautiful retail area to the gates looks like you're walking in a college dorm! YUK!

The 'smart' people of NWA doesn't seem to have boarding down to a science yet obviously. They did the first class AND the people who need help (I could have gone since I do need help in many facets of my life lol) and once that was over, they announced boarding for ALL groups. Now this is a packed to the brim 757 flight! So you can imagine the mad rush when the idiot said 'NOW' lol. It's like having a bunch of refugees rush for the next boat to America. Even we were in line pretty quickly considering we had our carry-ons meaning everything, with us. People were already trying to trade seats before boarding so you can imagine the trading that went on upon boarding. The dumbasses didn't realize that they were holding up the line behind them; or they just didn't care. They just wanted to be seated with the rest of the family. For crying out loud, it's only four a half phucking hours! Even the husband and I had seperate seats (his directly in front of mine) and of course, someone was in my seat telling me I should go take theirs at 6F. "Yeah, phuck off!". Ok, I didn't say that but I thought it lol. You take your original seat first then you come ask. You don't take my seat then tell me to back-track four gazillion people behind me (waiting to run me over to get to their seat ahead) to go to a seat in front of the plane. Of course Bruce said no hee hee. He's my sweetie pie :D

The flight was not too exciting except for the bad turbulence throughout the four hours and the pilot who insisted on doing the play by play on exactly where we'd just flown over. Hello, we're in the either in the midst of thick clouds or above it. Who cared where the hell we were!? Just shut the hell up and let me sleep!!! That was when I whipped out my Nintendo DS and busted a groove lol. It's the name of my new game lol!! ...oh, when it was time to out away all electronics, I was removing my headphone when I noticed the old and unattractive flight attended glaring coldly towards my direction. I starred back at her and she mouthed 'turn it off now!'. I frowned and thought 'you idiot, my phucking cell phone's been on the entire phucking fight bitch!' Hahahaha!

Of course we have to fly NWA back home in a couple of days. But I'm not looking forward to having to deal with them even one more time.

Time to go get ready for boxing day shopping adventure now :D

America Makes Me More Chinese

In Singapore the term used to describe someone as being very Chinese would be 'cheena obiang'. A derogatory term calling someone 'too Chinese' - if you know what that means. You know, the greasy straight flat hair parted in the centre, glasses so thick you can hardly see the eyes that were already small enough to be blind-folded by dental floss, speaks nothing but a Chinese language so loud your family back home can hear him. To put it simply, just a Chinese who is immediately recognized (or guessed) to be from Mainland; someone who seems rather fresh-off-the-boat'y :D Crude in mannerisms and personality. Forever stuck in their own little Chinese world.

While I have neither straight flat hair and gawd forbid, parted from the centre of my forehead, nor do I speak as loud as any typical Mainlander does (tho' I'll admit, I am loud lol), I am Chinese. I don't seem to look very Chinese to most people. I see that as a problem since most people think I'm Filipina or Hawaiian. Someone has even asked me what tribe I'm from thinking I'm Native Indian and one thought I was this Indian girl's sister (yes, the ones with the dot on the forehead). WTF!? But, living in the US of A has made me come to embrace being Chinese a lot more than I did ten, certainly twenty years ago when I was a mere know-it-all (well, know anything but Chinese) teenager.

This morning, I had a surprise IM message from my cousin's 21 year old daughter while I was listening to my itunes and catching up on email. She was gasping in surprise that she could see my playlist for a good hour of Chinese pop. Jay , Jerry, Jolin, Jacky, F4, LeeHom, you name it! Sure I listened to some Chinese songs growing up. Lord knows mom sang only Chinese songs to my baby brother and myself when we were kids - the same songs our little EKT is listening to now. But Chinese pop music wasn't exactly my forte. I could hum a couple of Emil and Jacky songs but which Chinese can't? These days, I look feverishly for them online, when I'm in Chinatown in NY, even in Japan when I'm at HMV.

I think it's because I'm returning to my roots. Being older now, living in a city where there are hardly Asians and speaking Mandarin means I'm talking to my mom or a couple of friends on the phone or maybe the Taiwanese sushi chef in town. I'm even trying to read the Chinese subtitles when I'm watching Chinese dubbed Korean series and making a point to match what they say with what I read. Insane as it might sound, but I can certainly read more Chinese chararters now then when I was in school when it mattered most lol.

Oh well, that's what living in America has done to me. I am now practically 'cheena' minus the physical charateristics . I suppose being surrounded by a bunch of not-the-brightest non-Chinese and non-Mandarin-speakers who I love to bitch about will do that to you. I only wish I could bitch it to someone else who will understand :D

Winter Is Here... Or Is It?

I know, it's been a month since I've posted anything and while I sit here skipping the 8:3am aeroboxing class (hey, Randy's been sick the last week and I'm tired of doing the alternative which is going to the gym that's filled with ugly old men (and I mean OLD) and even older women just to use the eliptical machine). I took yesterday off working out to prep for the Math department end-of-the-year party that was held at our house; so I figured taking the first class off this morning would be a nice treat for myself. Fine, I'll admit it, I'm feeling bloody lazy after a big ass bolw of fried rice for breakfast; there, I said it.

I can't say nothing been going on since my last post considering we did fly to Hong Kong. Nonetheless, I can't say it's been all that much different from any other month. Everyday's Christmas in the Ryan household. Okay, everyday's Christmas for ME. The weather, however, has been cranky. Last week we had below 20 degree days (that's below freezing for the people outside the US) and this week till Christmas it's going to be days as warm as 70 degrees! When did I move to Florida?! I want my real winter back!! I want my bitterly cold days and icy ass nights! I want to be able to be able to wear my winter coat, my leather gloves (cashmere lined of course), my high boots and my luxurious scarves without looking like I'm out of place. Ok, I will look out of place anywayz 'coz I live in a city where dressing up means you're going to court. Still, I enjoy going it - without explaination - and I want to, with permission from no one but the weather. I want to go shopping and see the stupid Salvation Army idiots standing there ringing the annoying bells asking for a donation (no, I NEVER give 'coz they spend the money people donate on sending people like me who don't, personalized address stickers and silly stuff like that which I trash without a second thought) dressed in their silly uniforms, not tees and cargos!

Okay, so where is the summary lol.

Hong Kong was a blast. Despite our incredibly short trip there, the husband and I spent two short but very fun days with my baby brother who was there on a business meeting and was able to stretch his trip to hang out with us... we saw my buddy and his new wife whom I cannot talk about here 'coz he reads my blog (lol). We will certainly be back to Hong Kong in the near future. The husband says the Chinese in Hong Kong are super nice (unlike the Singaporeans); but that's only 'coz he's a gwei lo and in a recently de-colonized country, they still feel that the gwei lo is King (not!) :D

I'll be the first to be admit, after flying 30 hours to Hong Kong for two and a half days and back and after flying more than one hundred and seventy five thousand miles this year, I had just about enough of taking long trips. After five trips to Japan, one to Hong Kong, one to Thailand, and I think two (or at least one) to Australia, going anywhere far isn't on top of my list for Christmas. The husband did suggest Japan and Thailand, even Singapore. But as much as I love to go to Asia for vacation, I had to shoot him one of those are-you-kiddin' looks and say 'naaaaahhhhhhhh!'. So Seattle it is for Christmas. Yes, we will spend it with the Shultze family and then see our friend (Japanese) Julie (not to be confused with my friend here, British Julie) whom we did a couple of trips to Japan this year. It's bad when there are more people who like to spend time with you who don't live in the city you live in where your friends and family live.

Christmas is in the air - well, not really here in Memphis, but it's an awesome excuse for me to shop :D Ok, I never need an excuse to shop 'coz like I said, it's Christmas everyday at the Ryan's. At least I get to use my Christmas china lol!!! I still wish the temperature will drop drastically - no chance though. But the very very sweet husband of mine has suggested we do some quick shopping in Boston and Chicago next week. So shop I shall... and I'm sure it'll be way too cold and I will be bitching, but I will be bitching with a big smile :)

All Better

After flying into Memphis and catching a cold on the plane, I spent the first evening with my laogong sniffing and resisting some coughs. I woke up the next morning to more serious sniffing and real dry coughs. Yuk!

I wasn't feeling all that bad... but yes, I had caught a cold and I couldn't deny it. My treatment, lots of water, my Chinese yin qiao cold tablets and set off to the gym for a 'switch class'.

It's the day after and I'm all better. Weird. Considering how mom freaked out when she heard that I'd gone to the gym with a cold. She claims people in Singapore have died from that... of course, she's also the same woman who warned me to stay away from crazy people or they will strangle me HAHAHAHA!

I'm all better and ready for Hong Kong in a bit.

Home... and sick arrgh!

It's sooooo good to be home. Truly. Being away from the husband for a full 13 days has been quite an experiance. Not just the seperation anxiety but having to be independent when I travel on my own is just annoying. You know, the usual having to fill up the forms before I gain entry into a country and little things like that. When I'm with 'the man', all I need to do is sign at 'x'. I don't have to worry if I have my documents 'coz he deals with them... I have zero responsibilities when I travel with him and stress free.

Yes, I had a wonderful time with my now-19-month-old-niece, EKT. She's adorable, mischievous, hilarious and a pain all at the same time. Scary thing is, she's soooooo much like me. My poor brother lol. We even make similar facial expressions and I don't even live with her for her to know I do that!!! Genes... scary how that works. It was nice that my brother brought the nanny/maid... it was cool not to have to cook, clean or even do what I usually enjoy doing - laundry :D It was nice to have my half boiled egg ready when I opened my eyes and mom would crack it lovingly for me. I say lovingly 'coz honestly, I did appreciate it and I know she loved doing it for all of us - seriously! She'd serve it to me with two pieces of my favorite Hup Seng crackers (lol). That is the life! It was nice to have EKT's very hardworking nanny have the laundry all nicely ironed and folded on my bed daily and my baby brother... wow, that baby's-daddy is a really good cook!! He specializes in one-dish pasta meals. I can't say he'd disappointed us at all in all the times he cooked. So you see... as much as I missed being with the husband and wished he was there enjoying little EKT with me, I can't say I missed doing what I enjoy doing for him day in and day out hahaha. Ok, that came out bad... but now that I'm back, I do look forward to being a wife all over again. Yes, it's good to get a break (shuddup, all off you who complain about what a good life I already have) every once in awhile to be my mom's kid all over again.

My long trip to Oz only confirmed how much I dislike the country and even more, the people. Wow... I didn't think a whole city could be made up of more rude, lazy and annoying people; but it really does! If you think you get rude and bad service from Asians here, try going to Melbourne where the Asians there don't work for a tip hahaha! It's BAD! Cab drivers are mostly Africans and Indians and they're usually alright and pretty friendly though quite a few of them seriously need to think about taking a shower... but ALL the Aussie drivers we came across SUCK!! They are so rude! Salespeople are nothing like the ones in the US - once again, the not-working-for-commission makes a ton of difference.... and the flies... my gawd the phucking flies! It's only spring and they're out with a vengeance. YUK! You'd think that a bunch of assholes at the airport who stop you from bringing dirty shoes into their already dirty country would be more concerned about what these flies are doing instead. Noooo... we get sniffed by dogs at the airport, questioned rudely by jerks (I have been to Australia a lot and not once have I been treated like a dignified human being, I swear!!) and made to get our bags scanned and checked for fruits, plants and crap when we enter the sorry ass country (yes, everytime so don't even think about bringing ANY thing you're not supposed to) and then get mistreated by their country's unwelcome people as well as the similarly unwelcome pests. Don't these people know we come to spend money in their damn country originally made up of criminals?!?!

It's gonna' be awhile before I have to step foot into that country again. Next week, destination Hong Kong for Thanksgiving where we'll be seeing my baby brother who will be there as well :) Life is good :D

A Day In Airports And Planes

It's November 2 and with mixed feelings earlier this morning, I left my laogong and started my trip to Australia to see my family. Why mixed feelings? Well, I'm really excited I'm going to be spending some quality time with my now 18 month old niece, Emma. But that also means being away from Bruce... and having to spend a full day at MEM, DFW and LAX before I finally take my final flight out to MEL late tonight and arrive two days later (due to time change and of course, forever and a day on the plane itself) on Saturday morning. Does that mean I actually skipped a day of meal? Which means I can formally pig-out when I get there? Ok, no, but I will anyhow lol.

This is the first time I'm going to be away from my husband for more than eight days since we got married some five years ago. Okay, five years and almost a week :) Will I live? Yes, even though he said I shouldn't have to cook a bunch of stuff amd freeze them or prepare anything specially for him while I'm gone, I did (last minute). I showed it to him this morning and there were no complaints - so I think he was pretty happy and contented. Thirteen days away... never mind him... will I survive the seperation anxiety?! Can I live with my family for thirteen days? It's been years and years since I spent anything more than a week with them :) No, I'm sure I'll be fine... thank goodness for skype, free international calls, webcams and emails.

You Never Know...

This past Friday was a regular day for me. Spent my morning at Germantown Centre, came home for a quick lunch and went for my hair appointment with Maryanne. Okay, the hair appointment isn't part of my usual Friday routine or I wouldn't have as much hair as I do now lol. As usual, my very busy hairstylist was running late; so I sat around kicking the breeze with the other hairdressers hanging out; namely, Lisa, also the owner of Germantown Hair Salon.

She called me over after a good 15 mins of small talk with the other customers and practically whispered 'hey, Karen, I need to tell you something - I feel you need to know and I feel really bad about it'. Since I only have a mere acquaintance relationship with Lisa, I was puzzled and confused what she was about to tell me. She went on, 'has Tracey contacted you lately?'. Tracey being my former cleaning lady, also one of Lisa's very good friends, who left Memphis after working for me for more than three years because she had to take care of her very sick father in Alabama... 'no?' I replied. 'Well remember Jim, the guy Tracey was cleaning for at Southwind?'. Of course I did. Jim, the guy who was much more anal then me, the bachelor who had his closet arranged by shades of colors who lived in a mansion all by himself after three divorces and owns a gazillion watches - information all provided to me courtesy of Tracey. Lord only knows what she told other people about my anal behavior lol. I told her 'yes, Tracey told me his house was burglarized when he was out of town and when she went to clean the house (she has full excess all the time), the bed was not done which she thought peculiar.' Turns out, Tracey was arrested on Thursday together with a male accomplice in Alabama - and she was tested positive for cocaine!!! My blood turned cold and rushed away from my face. I was shocked, confused and sad all at once. Is it really possible to be all those emotions all together? I like Tracey. I felt bad for her. She must have been so desperate. It all makes sense now why she left her house unsold nor advertised to be sold and just she picked up and left. It all makes sense to me now why she stopped going to her job at the restaurant in Mississippi which she ranted and raved about the great pay and great hours. Before she left Memphis for Alabama, she was offered a job by this guy (the guy who was arrested with her) in Mississippi and she would still come back to Memphis every two weeks on weekends until her house was sold and she would still clean for me and Jim - apparently, her two most favourite clients. ...and now, who knows what lies ahead (or not) for her.

I returned from my haircut and found that our security system had gone off while I was out. My first instints 'omfg, Tracey is here to kill me!'. Ok, why I thought that, I have no idea... but I did and I was petrified. I came in, sent the husband a note on Skype and ran out of the door in case 'she' was still in the house waiting on me. It sounds utterly ridiculous and bloody stupid now but I truly believe my life was in danger. If it wasn't Tracey, it was some other burglar. Hey, our home (when I was a kid) was burglarized twice and robbed twice at knifepoint - so you can't blame me one bit.

Of course nobody was in the house. ADT just sucks! I went to do my nails and then my nice husband came home earlier then usual from work just to make sure I didn't have to come back to the house alone hee hee. Yes, he does think I'm insane but what can he do?! It's too late now that we just celebrated our 5th wedding annivasary yesterday muahahahaha.

It's so sad about Tracey... sure, she had a complicated lifestyle. I could always picture her on Maury, or Jerry Springer... but I know she wasn't a bad person and certainly not a 'crackhead'! Guess I was wrong.

The Stalker Has Left The Building

Today is a happy day for me. My friend turned ex-friend turned stalker is leaving the Memphis area and I no longer have to screen all calls and keep a low profile within the city limits any more. Yes, the 'missing entry' is now back on the blog and this time, for good. No changes... just plain honest truth.

Of course, K came and stirred up more unnecessary crappy emotions within me. Anger. Disbelief. Loss for words. Okay, not so much speechless but disbelieve and certainly incredible annoyance.

On the last Friday of September, I got a brief email from J warning me of an out-of-the-blues visit from the ex-friend. I laughed aloud when I read that email. I dashed upstairs and e-chatted with the husband via skype (of course I couldn't use voice chat since you all know how loud I am lol) and explained the situation here and delayed picking him up from school. The more we typed, the more angry I got at K for messing up our schedule. Why was this person coming to my door, first without even a courtesy call and secondly, why was she coming at all when I had made it clear that she is history to me? Yes, my exact words were, 'I no longer have time for you and I have moved on'.

So in the midst of the e-chat, the doorbell rang... I stayed very still - my fingers typed slower, my body frozen to a stiff and my legs crossed uncomfortably on my chair. No I was not going to give the person outside a single clue that there was actually somebody at home. ...two endless chimes of the blasting door bell and 20 minutes later, I heaved a sigh of relief. The phone rang and she left a message. It was inaudible since I was still upstairs but I could make out her still-familiar voice. I ignored it and decided to stay inconspicuous and sat in front of the computer for a little longer. So still no movement other than my happy fingers typing away - my feet still not touching the carpet; they did not touch anything except for the faux leather on my chair for a good whole 45 mins I swear. No way was my feet going to rest on the carpet only for the wood under it to creak and then to shake the entire house. I was not having that - I was not 100% who was more insane yet. Me or K lol. After awhile, I figured the coast was clear and I dashed out to pick the husband up from work. Of course, there was a message on the cellphone as well. Blah blah blah. I can't remember what she said but she mentioned a gift at the front door. A gift?

The husband and I found this at our front door. What do you say when someone has made your front door look like you should have carved out R.I.P on a headstone and attached it to the house? We laughed a little, ran to grab the camera and proceeded to rather cruelly, do this to my 'gift'. No, of course I didn't appreciate it. Why should I? She knows/knew my style and these were not it. Anywayz, with the flowers came an almost five page letter. I thought of scanning it but though against it. Why give another loser the chance to plagerise and make someone else have to read it. I don't want to have to put you guys through it either. All I can say is, does this person have any pride and integrity left?! I mean, c'mon!! This bitch (me) has told you off and you're still pleading for her friendship? Apologizing for something you have no idea why she (I) is so mad about... begging for forgiveness for whatever you've done and simply wanting the friendship back on her (my) terms?!? That's crazy! Nobody does deals like that?!

I read the neverending letter aloud and by the time I got to the three or four choices she gave me on how I could patch back the friendship with her, I'd just about had enough of her nonsense. How can one person be so bossy and insensitive without even realizing it? Ok, my bad, I know she knows she's bossy. She just still believes it's an endearing side of her. Oh well...

Needless to say, I took none of her few options. Yes, I have moved on. So I do feel sorry for her sometimes... but it's not for me to fix her nor her life.

Pa's Birthday

Maybe because of the crowd I'm in these days, sixty doesn't seem to be that old anymore. My father turned sixty today and in the midst of our sushi dinner (due to the 13 hours time difference, we had to call last night), the husband and I called pa to wish him a happy birthday. He sounded to be in good spirits. Good start.

My sweet baby brother took the family to Tenshin (no website yet)- a much talked about Japanese restaurant at the Regent Hotel in Singapore for an uber extravagant tempura lunch. Since I could not think of a good present for pa, I called the Regent Hotel and got Suzie from Something To Go to get a nice chocolate cake delivered to the restaurant via Winnie once the family was done with lunch. Needless to say, the family was happily surprised though the brother had wished I'd been even more thoughtful and picked up the almost S$900 tab. No, of course I left that for mister big shot banker to do his deed :)

齊天大聖之憲在不准笑(音樂課)Part 2

Make sure you check out Part 1 first

齊天大聖之憲在不准笑(音樂課)Part1

If you speak both Mandarin and Fujian, you will appreciate this video :) Then check out part 2

Missing Entry

I just got an email from my friend J. She just read the merciless blog entry (her words not mine) about our mutual 'friend' and she suggested that I edit it. While she respects my freedom of speech, she just doesn't want to have to deal with the result of it all if this person reads this particular entry. ...and since I do not edit any of my posts - shiiiiiiiiiit, I don't even do that for the posts on my mil and sil (lol) - I will (as a favor to J) remove it temporarily. But only for J and her personal safety hahaha. Though I only did it upon reading in the same email to me, J told me that her daughter had egged a friend's house last weekend. Hmmm... maybe it was a threat and I removed the blog for my personal safety hahaha!

If you have not read 'If They Are Not Psychos, They Are Stupid' and have a need to do so before Oct 8, email me directly.

New Cleaning Ladies In The House

Traci - the ex-cleaning lady who had been working for us for more than three years, moved back to Alabama to take care of her father a month ago. Since then, the house has been, well, not clean. I am a clean person and people tell me I'm anal about cleanliness. But there is only so much I can do... or want to do in regards of cleaning. I can handle a one bedroom loft apartment. I can handle even a two bedroom and two bath apartment. But I can only polish the bloody huge ass screaming red island in this large kitchen so many times before I decide to just let it go to hell! There is only so many times I want to vacuum the deck (we have the top deck covered with an outdoor rug) before it pours a few hours later and all the damn leaves and crap from our neighbor's trees get onto the deck again.

I've been searching high and low for a reliable cleaning woman. But everytime someone gave me a mere glimpse of hope, the cleaning person would call and break the bad news to me about not having any openings. I have been so disheartened I was ready to polish the damn island all over again. ...and then... last Friday, I had to go get my hair done (of course!) before my crazy girl's night out; and who was getting her hair done by the same hairdresser, Maryanne, but Angie! Angie was talking about starting her own cleaning business and voila(!) 'a matchmade in heaven'. :D Well, Maryanne's words, not mine.

Today, my new cleaning ladies are here and I am, to say the least, thrilled! Angie and Paula are sisters-in-law and I'm glad to see that not only are they professional, claim to be anal (like me), are clean themseves (they smell nice lol) and bring everything they need; unlike Traci. Not to say Traci was bad. But Traci sometimes didn't have her act exactly together ie, not looking like she was totally out of bed or smelling like an ashtray or both. With Angie and Paula, I have my own client file, they take notes when I'm showing them around the house and they let me know when light bulbs are out and needs replacing or little things like that. But it's always the little things that count, isn't it? They are nice and tell me that the first job takes some extra time and then they will upkeep the place after this first long cleaning. Yes it sure was long. Both of them took three hours to clean upstairs alone! Traci used to finished the entire house AND the deck in 2 1/2! Yes, Traci worked at lightning speed but I like the detail that my new cleaners are putting in. Hell, they even cleaned the chandeliar in the foyer!!! Best of all, they cost less then my former hired help. How can you beat that!?

So I'm a happy camper again. The husband even did his part to clean up his usually un-vacuumable/cleanable room so they were able to clean it out. He adviced that they not step into the closets for fear of falling objects hahaha and I made that pretty clear to the ladies :D They might never see the floor again after this first clean but hey, at least the room is prestine and clean for now.

I'm giving them each an ang pow (red packet/envelope) for good luck. They just started their business and I think they'd do awesome at the rate they're going. Traci called earlier to say her former customers need someone to clean their houses too and if my new cleaning ladies are good, to send them her way. Angie and Paula are thrilled and so am I to be able to help :D

They left a half a page of flyer for 'comments or future projects' for me to fill out. I inspected their work and as happy as I am, the half a page wasn't enough lol. I feel bad but hey, if I'm paying someone to clean, I might as well let them know they're cleaning for Hitler right!? No, I try to be nice... really! I even complimented the good job they did... then went on to let them know what they overlooked. We'll see what their reaction is in two weeks :D My happiness might be short-lived hahaha!

It's Official!

I have achieved Platinum Executive status on American Airlines hee hee. I am SO excited! When I woke up in the middle of the night (2:30am to be precise), I had to go online to see if the miles from my weekend trip to San Francisco had been fully posted. Voila! Not only had it been posted, my Platinum status had already been changed to platinum executive. ...and at that ungodly hour, I woke the husband up and showed him the page on the notebook. My sweetie pie managed a "huh? WOW! Yeh for my sweetie!", and fell back asleep immediately. That was all I needed anyway.

Now I'm aiming to hit the final 25,000 miles for this year to qualify for an extra four more one way system wide upgrages. Meaning, apart from my regular 8 one-way system wide upgrades I'm getting from flying 100,000 miles already, I will get 4 more for this year because of the 25th anniversary celebration. Wow! That's 6 rountrip international upgrades for free!! How awesome is that!? Plus upgrades on travels within the United States will be automatic and I wouldn't have to use my 500 miles upgrade coupons from now till feb 2008. Double awesome!!

I'm a happy camper. We're hoping to get these system wide upgrade coupons early so we can start using them for the next few trips this year. The husband should probably make it to platinum executive too - of course, he's platinum for life after hitting the two millions miles mark lol. Yes, we are a crazy flying couple! If he makes it, wow, we're gonna have 10 international upgrades to use for a year. How will I be able to fly economy class again after February 2008 if I don't make platinum executive ever again!?

Update On Girls Night Out

Well, I went and I'm back from my crazy quick trip to San Francisco. For a change, I did not see Union Square, did not go to Slanted Door, Aqua or Farrallon... did not even stay at a downtown hotel! In fact, the only thing I saw of SF was the exit on the highway to downtown SF lol. We spent all our time in San Jose and Walnut Creek.

My trip consisted of having a yummy neverending lunch at Prima Taste - the only Prima Taste restaurant in America (I believe the ones in Singapore all closed down. The satay practically brought tears to our eyes. It was SO bloody good! We had an awesome dinner at Singaporean Chris Yeo's Straits on Santana Row... and in between, we shopped on Santana Row at Gucci (didn't buy anything there), Ferragamo, Tods, Cold Haan and window shopped some. Most of all, the most fun thing we did was just hanging out and catching up with gossips and how everyone's been doing.

It was so nice to see W again. It has been almost ten years since I last saw her. She just turned 30 and ready to grow up - her words, not mine. She is ready to go on with the loser she's been with for the last 7 years. That was music to all our ears. We bugged her to get her Green Card (after all she's been married to an American man for seven years - and no he is not the loser I just mentioned - yes it's a story too long even I wouldn't get into lol). But W looks AWESOME! It was like looking at a hot Korean actress. The once tall, curvy, super tanned Chinese girl who loved Black bad boy military boys is now (after a series of lipo and cosmetic surgery) a tall, trim and pearl complexioned girl who's ready to be committed to a legitimate (read: rich) Chinese man. She says she wants MY life hahaha! I guess I should be flattered. She obviously doesn't know what she wants lol. What's a hot bombshell gonna' do with laundry detergent, spices and a dishwasher lol. But kudos to her for picking the only somewhat normal one in the group to emulate lol. N showed me the commitment ring Mr Jehovah Witness gave her... I suppose I will accept Mr JW. At least he's educated and has his own business, a home owner and is good with N's three kids. For some reason, my acceptance is important to N - or so she claims lol. M is pregnant and her once showy big firm breasts have gotten humorously oversized. Sort of like Pamela Anderson's. Maybe bigger - but surgery-free :D She's annoyed about not being able to see the floor under her, sick of not being able to tie her own shoelaces - fortunately people at the office are kind enough to do crap like that for her - though she has turned to just wearing flip flops; yes, even to her corporate job everyday hahaha. Her tummy in comparison to her large neh nehs is not so big at six months. But she's happily pregnant and loving food all the more. Loving A LOT of food hahaha! N and I had to laugh. It was a side of her we were not used to. I laughed and told her that it was a refreshing time for me since none of them have ever beat me in my bra size hahaha and N warned her that after the baby, the pair of bazookas would get even more ginormous. I'd like to see that! I don't know if baby Annaliese would be well fed or afraid of being suffocated or both. All I know is the Mister (her Mister) is psyched about that part hahaha!

My flight landed on time yesterday at 2:30pm. The husband and I rushed to lunch at Blue Coast Burritoes for fish burritoes - mmm, burritoes! We were starving! His breakfast consisted of two nectarines - yes, that IS considered breakfast lol and mine of water with no ice on the plane, a few pieces of Gardettos mustard pretzels (the only kind of pretzel I like and will eat) and some DEEP sleep. At home, I slept the moment my head hit the pillow... with absolutely no sleep at all the previous night - M, Mrs Motor Mouth was on full blast and I'd admit, we loved every single minute of it even though a lot of her gossips were of people I still have no idea who she was talking about hahaha - plus it's just not right to slip in any sleep if I'm going to be anywhere for only 17 hours - sleep was a welcome gift for a change. I slept for a good four hours... woke up and went out to dinner and then again hit the sack till 5:30 this morning. I'm now well rested :)

It's back to the salt mines today. No, I'm not complaining. How could I? There is actually someone out there who wants to have MY life hahaha :D

Girl's Night Out

Tomorrow, I'm flying to San Francisco for a girl's night out. Yup, all the way from the southeast to the west coast for one night with the girls :) Sounds glamorous, extravagant and fancy doesn't it!? I know. When I told my mom last night about my planned trip, she was opposed to it when she heard that the husband wasn't going. "Girl's night out? Why do you like running around on your own?" she asked. Guess what!? I don't care 'coz she's not the boss of me anymore muahahaha!

Actually, the trip is all for a day of hanging out with three friends whom I have known for a good ten years back in my twenties during my serious partying days. Now, most of us have grown up; well, sort of. There is me, the oldest of the group (arrgh); M is pregnant with her first baby girl due in months, N is recently divorced with three kids and doing well in her shoe business and the W... well, her life's still a mess at 32. The three of us are supposed to inject some sense into her over dinner and a slumber party. No seriously I'm known to be a pretty affective Dr Phil'esk kind of advisor to most of my friends and their problems - and you know all those psycho friends of mine need it lol. So I've made a mistake or two... men have gotten dumped and good relationships come undone. But it's mostly for the better lol. No I'm only kidding!

Two of the three girls who will be picking me up at sfo tomorrow live in the Bay area. The pregnant one who is married to a sweet all-American accountant lives in Walnut Creek. The other one now lives in Alameida with her new man, Mr supposedly ex Jehovah witness (no comments!). The third one is in the US settling old love / marriage issues (don't ask) and enroute back to Singapore from Seattle she thought she'd stop by San Francisco for a mini-reunion with the three of us. So mini-reunion it is!

Not looking forward to the flight alone but the big incentive is, I have been upgraded and after this trip I will be Germantown's first unemployed platinum executive on American Airlines. Whoohoo!!!

If They're Not Psychos, They Are Stupid

What is it with me? I seem to attract people who become friends whom I eventually realize they are psychotic or stupid or both!

I have an ex-friend, K (I know, ex-friend sounds so juvenile, but you'd understand if you knew her... or just read on - it's going to be looonnngg) who can't stop trying to be my friend - or make me like her again. I don't want to be her friend neither do I care about her anymore. She moved away from the Memphis area more than a year ago and not only have I not contacted her in any way, I have not returned her calls, replied to any of her emails or even via other friend's suggestion, give her some sign of life. You'd think that someone who has passed the fifty year old point would get over that. Nope... this is one of those people whose success is to annoy the shit out of you so at this moment, she is cheering 'v for victory!!'. Gag me!

K is selfish and a bossy brat and cannot imagine why anyone would dislike her for any reason. I tried to tell her before (when we used to hang out together) that not everyone is loved by everyone (not especially her) and not everyone loves her; but she would always think I was joking. Mean as I can be I always tried to tell her the truth... maybe not always verbally nor in a very direct manner, but I figured she would get the hint somehow, someday. Wrong! I simply cannot understand how someone who constantly tells me and another girl, J, that we are (were) her best/closest friends would treat us the way she did/does.

Ok, now the background. K's husband got a job in West Virginia and though he had a good job here, the pay would be higher in Morgantown which meant that K would be able to get that big ass house she always wanted. She had a nice enough house here... in fact, we hung out there quite a bit. But hers was the smallest among all the girls though you'd hardly call 3000 sq ft small! Of course, she failed to see that if she moved, it was to a bigger loser state then Tennessee! Who the hell voluntarily moves to West Virginia anyway?! It is one of the nine states American Airlines doesn't even fly into! Yes, truly! As if being in Tennessee wasn't bad enough. We tried to warn her... tried to talk her out of it since her husband was ok about staying. Nope, she insisted about wanting to be closer to family, namely her mom and stepdad, in Pittsburgh. That was a bigger mistake lol but we won't get into that. By the time they put the house up for sale, we knew it was a done deal. But it was then the problems started between her and all her friends. No it's not just J and I who wonder about her these days. It's EVERYONE. Trust me. They just don't have the guts to say anything to her. Up till then, everyone was still sad to see her go. I mean, she was a nice person. She was fun and at times, funny. She was a whiner but she usually did it rather tactfully.

Before she put up their house for sale, she asked J and I if she and her family could stay at our homes for an extended period of time. I remember avoiding her calls not knowing how to say 'hell no!' to her. I didn't call her back when she left voice messages for me and I was seriously stressed! Then came the afternoon when J and K took me out for my birthday lunch. I vividly remember we were seated at the corner booth having a nice meal at Yia Yia's. Things got uncomfortable pretty quickly. She brought up the upsetting question again. Since it was almost summer vacation, I used the husband as an excuse and said no to her since he would be home and on vacation and it just wouldn't be fair to put him through the crap I know she would bring with her. Since J and the family was going away for two weeks in Florida for the summer, she decided to let K and her family stay and house-sit for them. I thought that was a good idea too. Only to be hit by another even more upsetting question. She asked J if they had cable in the bedrooms they were going to utilize. Yes, gawdammit I'm sure she asked that. I am not making this up. My eyes bulged out like a cartoon character would when she asked J that. I couldn't even swallow my lunch after that. The bloody gall!!! I think J was a little shocked plus she's Brit and she thought K, the ugly American meant cable like the jack in the wall. Nope, K made it apparent that she and the family needed tv (which they will bring their own) with cable and that J's husband could actually get the cable company to hook it up in the rooms for a small fee. WHOA! Are you for real woman!? ...then she said 'that's why your house (meaning mine) would have been perfect 'coz I know you have cable in your guestrooms'. Again, like the courtesy is for free deal. Just 'coz I have it doesn't mean I want to give it to you or let you use it! That's why it's called MY bloody house you nimbkampook! Plus I'm not in the motel/hotel business thank you very much. My guest rooms are for guests... people I welcome and invite.

Well, K's house sold way early and they had to get out of there much earlier then expected. Well, not really but they would rather inconvenience their friends then the buyers of their house. They obviously wanted the money from the proceeds of the sale asap. ...so what does a professor, his wife and their college aged daughter do when faced with a situation like that!? They move into J's house a week early (they claimed they wanted to save money that's why they didn't want to stay in a motel) and then announced that they would stay not just the two weeks to house-sit but also an extra week after J's return from summer vacation since the house in West Virginia was not to close till then. Hey, I kid you not she is a piece of art, isn't she? ...maybe not art but certainly a piece of something! Yes, this does get worse! See, what did I tell you about being an ex-friend.

So in moved K and the no-personality husband of hers and their daughter who had a crush on J's college aged son. Run Forrest RUN!!! It only took days before K was running the household, helping buy groceries which was nice but was just buying crap J didn't appreciate. People just have their way of running their own households and K apparently didn't understand nor cared to ask. She brought everything from her ex-pantry from the house as a gift to J lol. Yes, rancid nuts, out-of-date cake mixes; you name it!

One night (before J and family left for vacation) we had a girl's night out thingy and we had dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby. The bill came and I paid my share (the idiotic American way of doing things) and I fully expected K to pay J's bill; I mean, she was staying at J's house and it was like fifteen sorry ass bucks for crying out loud. Did she? Take a wild guess. You think you're horrified!? I was speechless - and you know it takes a lot out of me to shut the phuck up! I was practically traumatized lol.

To cut the next few weeks short, K very quickly started losing J as a good friend. K even had to plan her own 'Farewell to K' party hahaha! I kid you not! J was away, I was away... we both got emails from her and other people she suggested on doing, telling us what to do ie, to be in charge of bringing paper plates and what not. Needless to say, it was more like 'Good Riddance to K' party' by the time it got around to it. J and the family came back from vacation and found their couch ripped and damaged, the water and power bill sky-rocketed and not only did K not apologize for the couch, or help pay the bills, she denied any wrong-doing and said it was already damaged before. She yelled at J's kids and made the youngest one cry and acted like she was the mother of the family and was doing everything for J. Before she left, K took J and her husband and the rest of us couples out once -big phucking deal! They did nothing special for J and her family and left with nothing but a bad aftertaste in J's and the whole family's mouth.

Shortly after her departure, she returned! Yup! It wasn't even six months! She asked to stay at J's and a few other friends. Yup, she manage to bully J into it. Which was fine except she started complaining about how noisy it was in the morning at J's to be woken up by the garage door when J's husband left for work; she compared the other friends' houses she'd stay at to J's and boasted about the sheets and fancy towels they had for her. I'm surprised she was not chased out of the house immediately. I saw her twice during that visit. Once at our weekly bowling session. She asked for a hug when she saw me and I commented "you just left yester-freakin-day why do you need a hug!?" She was obviously hurt and then she complained later how I didn't sit next to her at lunch and ignored her throughout lunch. I so felt like a man trying to ditch a sorry ass bitch! So I invited her, J and J's mom visiting from England, over for lunch the next day. I cooked a simple lunch and entertained them for the afternoon. That was the last time I saw her. What upset me was... a week later, a mutual friend of ours came up to J and I and asked 'hey, where were you two that day at K's coffee get-together at Starbucks? I was hoping to see you there since it was K's gathering and I knew you two would be there.'. Needless to say, J nor I had been invited to this 'event'... thing was, I didn't much care (though I'd admit, it did bother me for a minute since hello, she was at my house just the day before eating my damn food and saying crap like 'I really miss our days when we used to hang out and just eat and talk) but hello, at this point, she was still staying at J's!!!

Guess what!? She's returning to the Memphis area again. I got an email from her a few days ago asking if the husband and I would like to join them for a couples get-together. Now how do you deal with someone like that?! Yeah you gotta' just ignore it one more time. You guessed it, she's staying at J's for a week. Who the phuck visits for one bloody week!? Excuse me, she's staying longer then that. She'll be here Sept 27 through Oct 8! That an eternity! So it's a week at J's, a few days at some other so-called friend whom neither J nor I have ever heard her mention before her last visit (that's the girl who has the nice fancy sheets and towels and the big huge house in Mississippi - then again, it's freakin' lame ass Mississippi) and a few more days at J's and when her prof. husband comes to town, she will stay at a hotel with him. So guess who's ditching two weeks of bowling to avoid Ms. K lol. Hey, I don't mind. I can keep myself busy. ...and no, we're not going to the get-together. I don't care to see her... nor hear about what she's doing or not going. Besides, I'm sure I'd hear all about it from someone after she leaves lol.

So that's the story of K. I have resisted writing this piece of blog about her for more than a year; before her departure. It would be a lot longer but believe me, I cut it short. But now, it's time! The girl just won't give up! If she reads this, oh well. All the better. She can go complain to everyone here about what a horrible person I am... guess what? They already know it HAHAHAHA! She needs to realize that everyone she knows here has moved on with their lives. Just 'coz she hasn't made any new friends in "Worst Vagina" (no that is not a typo) doesn't mean we have to keep feeling sorry for her. Give it up K! Get a life and move on!

My Better Half

I have come to accept that my husband, KOMT, is the nicer one between the two of us. He is the kinder one, the more compassionate one, certainly the less agressive one and of course, as reminded constantly by people around the two of us, both his friends and certainly mine (lol), he is the polite one in the couple.

In school during civics class, I was taught how to be a good citizen, what filial piety means (to take care of our elderly for you Americans who are not familiar with this term), cheating is bad and honesty is good. At home, I was constantly reminded that I had no other job but to not talk back to my parents and make straight 'A's in school. I didn't listen. Never did. The government taught us crap like how to live in harmony in a racially diverse country like Singapore and how to be courteous to one another via retarded songs like 'courtesy is for free, courtesy is for you and me'(you know how the song goes for those of you who grew up there and were taught those sorry ass songs). A lot of good that did me hahaha! Sure courtesy is for free. But just 'coz it's free doesn't mean you're gonna' get it from me!

My friends have asked me before... "what made Bruce pick you?". I often tell them it's because I'm cute but I usually get jealous bitchy remarks hahaha! More than one friend of mine have commented that Bruce picked the wrong girl (actually, one of their comment was Bruce brought shit upon himself - nice friend huh lol) and thus has to suffer the consequences. I beg to differ (of course!). He's picked a wonderful woman to be an awesome wife, a very good cook (for someone who hasn't had much home-cooked Singapore food - I'm the best he could have found). Besides, where else can you find a young, demure, do-as-she's-told girl when you're a successful man in his late 30s lol. Ok, maybe I got lucky... I did, still am - and I bloody hell know it. Still, he's happy with his pick. Really! Okay, I'm sounding desperate here...

My husband is my better half. Certainly to the few retailers in the Memphis area who have crossed my unfortunate path. I'm the bitchy Asian wife that the super nice poor teacher guy brings in all the time to give someone a piece of her mind. I'm the horrible Filipino looking wife (I can just imagine how many times those people have thought 'mail order bride gone wrong' lol) who yells at people if they don't stick to what they say. Yes, I'm the one who can relate my husband's dissatisfied messages back to the salespeople more effectively. Yes, we play good cop bad cop and I usually play the latter. I know, none of you are surprised lol!

Bitter

I have been looking forward to this trip to Seattle for a long time. Even before summer when it was already too hot in Memphis. Seattle is my salvation from the heat, the sun, the at-times-dry-no-rain-place... the yukky southern accent, the not that great Japanese food place and the just not-that-fun-place.

Well, we left Memphis first thing Saturday morning. Equipped with an almost empty carry-on, with a practically empty toiletry bag (with the new STUPID TSA security rules, all I could bring was powder (I guess the anthrax scare is officially over), lipsticks and eyeliner. ...so there was no need to check in luggage - and just as well 'coz the line to do that at the airport was insane!

We got here 15 mins early and Bruce got back into his Seattle mode and we jumped onto the public bus to the city. I hate buses in Seattle. Ok, I hate buses in general. But in Seattle, it's filled with insane people and/or stinky homeless folks. Yuk! But I was happy to get here so I went with the flow even tho' being sweet the husband did give me a choice to take the cab, I caved on knowing he would be happier being on the bus. See, I can be sweet too lol! Taking that blasting sardine packed bus into the city was not fun. But seeing Bruce do 'acrobat moves' standing in the middle of the bus with the circular thingy (it circulates when the bus makes turns) was worth the ride :) Even the woman sitting next to me couldn't help from laughing out loud watching my laogong look hilariously monkey'ish changing holding bars from every acute turn.

Why am I so bitter then? Well, we get to the city and it's like 90 degrees! Can you believe it?! We left the too-hot mid-eighty degrees weather of Memphis to come to an even hotter Seattle. Worst, I have to walk everywhere in this city so it feels way hotter here than being in Memphis when it's 90 degrees and all I do is stay home. Of course the friends here say we brought the heat with us. What can I say.

A visit to Bartell's and it solved my toiletries problem... and my friend Julie got me a sample size for my two day use of perfume so I am set for this trip before my next trip in a couple of weeks to San Francisco for one day for a mini Singaporean girlfriends reunion; which better be nice and cool when I get there... :s

Fortunately, the Hotel Max's air-conditioning blasted from the moment we walked into the room. Imagine, we had to turn up the temperature before heading to bed... this might be the first for us to ever do so.

Annoying S.O.Bs

Recently, I have heard from quite a few of my Singapore friends who now live in America, that mere acquaintances are calling, asking for favors to buy them stuff here to be sent back home. While I do this often for my family, mostly by choice, they are my family! They can ask anything of me. Even ridiculous favors :)

The last couple of days, this former classmate of mine from Singapore has been leaving messages for me on msn messaging like 'when you're online, let me know' or 'are you there? you must be very busy'. Since I am perpetually set to 'away' status namely trying to stay away from people I don't care about, I have been ignoring her.

Well, this morning, I woke up to another one of these messages, 'let me know when you come online'. I messaged her and said 'hi, I'm here'. Stupid me. She started with a 'wow you've been very busy!'. I managed a slow 'yeah'. She cut any other small talk and said 'hey, I need a favor'. Surprise surprise. She told me she needs to buy crap for her nail business and this store has stopped shipping internationally. That she needs to mail the stuff to my home address and then I can mail them via usps to her. I thought about it and instead of saying 'no', I asked her what she was getting. No answer. Instead, she asked me if I will be seeing my family again. Meaning... if I am, I can pass the stuff to my family and my family can be her delivery people. HELL NO!!! What is she like?! She also did not mention about how she'd pay me for doing her this favor or even for the postage. I told her to let me know BEFORE she orders anything and since she doesn't have my mailing address, I think I'm safe for a bit. There is no way I'm doing this craptactular favor for her. She's not even a friend for crying out loud! Some people sure know how to annoy the hell out of me! Of course, right after asking for the favor, she types a quick 'gotta' go! I need to take my son to classes'. It's freakin' 8pm there! Unless her son is in some beer chugging class, I can't imagine what a 5 yr old boy would be doing out at this hour.

Another 'friend' of mine who went to high school with me in Canada, also a Singaporean, got my email from gawd knows who and emailed me... realize this: we had not contacted each other since 1987! She wrote me an email last year right before the new year and asked me to purchase some music for her on itunes 'coz she can't seem to do so from work. She also explicitly told me to hurry as it was URGENT! I deleted that email immediately and put her on my 'who-list'. What is a who-list? Well, if I put my friend, say... Jane on my who list... if anyone ever brings up Jane's name again in front of me, that will go, "Jane WHO?!" :D

What are these people like!? Surely it is not a Singaporean trait? Granted we're a selfish group of people, always thinking solely of ourselves; so if we're nice to you... BE CAREFUL lol! But I'm sure with some kind of sensitivity chip built in all of us, we can't all be so idiotic?!

Well these two people mentioned can go kiss my big round behind 'coz I'm not playing personal shopper nor mailman to either. Irritating specimen!!!

Bad Translation...

where else... The Flavor Of Love.

Pashintz aka Patience aka girl who is half-cast with black and Chinese blood was voted out on Flavor of Love today. Well, not really voted out but she's out.

People in the know and eager to watch new episodes of the show will be happy to hear that brand new episodes of the fake reality show is now shown much earlier then before. Last season, it was on tv every Sunday evening (and quite rightly so with those humongous boobies and asses hanging out everywhere). The last couple of weeks, you can watch fresh episodes at eleven in the morning on the 'lord's day' - hahahaha, ok you know I'm only joking here. Not about the time of the show... the 'lord' thingy.

Anywayz, back to the show. This Pashintz girl who claims China is 'home' speaks Mandarin. Yes she really does. But for someone who claims home is China, her mother tongue sucks lol! Worst than mine hahaha! Anywayz, after she walked out on the show - even tho' Flav was gonna' give her a clock signifying that he actually wanted her to stay - she commented on one of the girls she had a spat with earlier that day. She said in Mandarin that the girl was just too much to deal with and basically, she used the word 夸张 or 'kua zhang' on her meaning 'to exaggerate; to overstate'. The translation written on the screen for us read 'she's a dirty whore'. That would be 賤貨 'jian huo' lol!

Talk about a mistranslation!!! 笨蛋! Ben dan! 蠢瓜! Chun gua! HAHAHAHA! (sorry if your computer doesn't read Chinese characters)

Another Tree Episode

This morning, KOMT suggested that he agreed with his mil, my mom, that I should just leave the sorry ass Ray Shepard aka Mike's Tree Services aka SG's Tree Service aka Steve Witucki episode behind and go on with life. They both told me it just isn't worth spending more time and effort dealing with these losers again. Besides, the husband didn't want his very portable solar lamps stolen nor did we want them to do a crappy job on purpose. Reluctantly, I agreed and didn't call RS again.

At about 4pm earlier, Mike from Mike's Tree Services called. Yes, unsolicited. I asked him who told him to call and he said sorry ass Ray. Well, he didn't say 'sorry ass' of course. He asked me if Ray had given me a quote. I laughed aloud. I asked if he did not know the saga of the situation which I think he did have an idea since I do recall speaking to him on day two of this whole saga. Anywayz, he told me he would have the crew over within the hour to finish up what they have to.

It is now 7:27pm. Three hours have gone by. This is a big joke now. Gawd forbid they come 'coz guess who's not answering the door. Oh believe me, I've done it to furniture delivery people who were an hour late before (another story for another day), so you know I can sit here and ignore doorbells all day if I wanted to, which I will.

Can you believe this bunch of liars!? No phonecall to apologize, no call to say they can't make it today and maybe come on Monday. I have mentally written off the money we spent - not that I have any other alternative. Naturally, I have written the losers off this earth. This bunch of shady non-tax-paying of trash should all go fight the war since they don't contribute any other way to their own country - why send the smart young ones over?!?

My Baby Brother's Baby Girl

My favorite (and only) brother has a seventeen month old baby girl. Emma is the family's pride and joy. The little girl whom I have been buying a ton of presents for in the last two years is the cutest little addition to the family. She brings a smile to the entire family and has made life so different since she was born. Even her favorite (and only) ang moh uncle's life has altered. He certainly has bigger shopping bills to foot and more baby stories to listen to on a daily basis. But he loves her; yes he does! Yup, I have been shopping for baby/toddler stuff so much people, ie strangers, have been sending me free milk formula, free diapers, coupons, you name it, just to go buy more baby crap lol.

Yesterday, little Emma went to 'trial school'. Since she is not quite 18 months yet, my sister-in-law thought it might be fun and a good idea to take her to Pat's Schoolhouse to see how her daughter might like school before she is officially enrolled. ...so Emma got to skip her first day of her second phase in swimming lessons to go to a real classroom. ball!

How did Emma fair? Well, from my sil's report this morning (I got up early to call them 'coz I was excited to hear about it all), little Emma had ball! She had a wonderful time dancing (apparently, the only one who got up and danced by herself and in front of the mirror too mind you lol), playing outdoors (please don't let your legs get caught between the handle bar and slide like your auntie did in kindergarten lol) and feeding herself sweet cereal that she doesn't get to have at home. Everything was great until... until... it was arts and craft time. Yes, little Emma seemed to be a good social butterfly until she was asked to dirty her little fingers hahaha! What?! Take cotton wool and dip it in glue?! Huh?! That's what scotchtape and staplers are for! The girl got upset when she got glue and cotton wool on her little hands hahahaha! I roared with laughter when I heard this. That is so... so... ME!!! OMG, for someone who doesn't spend a lot of time with me, little Emma sure has a gazillion of her auntie's personality and traits. She's quick tempered and bubbly, she loves to laugh LOUD, she's goofy, she greedy, she loves all food, she loves to dance (but I do not dance in front of the mirror thank you very much), watch tv, sleeps with her mouth open lol, have things her way and omg, she hates making a mess or touch gooey stuff. This is a mini-me in the making lol! This is probably my poor brother's biggest nightmare hahahaha!

Everyday, I call my mom and/or sil promptly to hear of Emma's day and her new pranks. Never mind what's going on with anyone else at home. The stories about Emma brightens my days and makes me laugh like a hyena. She's a hilarious little imp who has absolutely changed my parents' life. She is the only person who can manipulate my dad and get him to ignore even the stock market on an active trading day. She is the only person who can calm him down and make him laugh instantly when he's upset. Needless to say, my dad, Emma's yeye, is her partner-in-crime. She is not allowed sweet stuff that much. What does yeye do? He buys home muffins and chocolates for his little hungry grandbaby. It used to be Starbucks cakes for our little black pug, Lucky... and now Lucky, like me, my dad's ex-princess, are now both chopped-liver lol.

So my baby brother's baby girl is my favorite little baby - the husband is my favorite big baby :D When kid number two comes for my brother and sil, it'll be yet another kid for me to love and spoil. Can't wait! ...and... "No! I Still Don't Want A Kid!"

Ray Shepard - Eat Shit And Die!!!

You're dishonest, deceitful and never mind being professional!

Okay, as you can tell, I'm pissed off with this ass of an idiot. Yes, I'm also an idiot to have paid these people to trim my trees. All $850! But the fact that they claimed they were done at almost 9pm in the dark and asked for payment, was I to say 'no', right!? Not especially since they were recommended by the company who does your yard - Doug's Quality Lawn Care. I have emailed Doug and he claims they were probably recommended by his supervisor Hairley.

Anywayz, it all started on Monday afternoon in the midst of my afternoon nap. Ray Shepard called and offered his services ie, come over to give me a quotation. He came, we met and he told me the guys would be there that AFTERNOON to finish at least half the job and would come back the next morning. That evening, I got home past 7pm and saw a bunch of tatooed guys in my front yard, a kid and a woman in the pick-up truck parked in front of the house. It was like a white trash convention! I ignored them. An hour later, they rang the doorbell and asked for water... or soda. I usually don't care since it really is hot here, but we were having dinner and I was miffed that they were disturning us and the entire neighborhood. I told them to pack up since I didn't want to hear it from the neighbors (not that they have complained before but I would be annoyed if I came home from a long day's work to hear tree cutting people in my neighbor's yard way past normal yard-working-hours). They claimed they would be done in 15 mins and would need payment. I was surprised but didn't question them. I wrote out a Citibank check and paid them. They returned minutes later - yes interupting our dinner yet again and our watching 'Big Brother' telling us they didn't except out-of-state checks. I was like 'HUH?'. It was either local checks or cash. Yeah I have nine hundred bucks sitting at home to paying a bunch of tatoo loosers. Even if I did, I wouldn't have given it to them. No one told me of the payment policy. Certainly not sorry ass Ray Shepherd which by now, I had realized that he had obviously subcontracted this job out to another group of people. So when I told them we didn't have a local check (so I lied), they just stood there... they did not offer to come back the next morning. They just stood there and Bruce and I looked at each other wondering... WTF!?

I gave in and said I can give them my personal check which has no money in the account. Another lie. They took it and left. The next morning, I walked out onto our front yard and GASP(!), they had no completed their job!!! SHIT! I called Ray Shepard. He seemed apologetic and promised the guys would return to finish up the job. That was Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon, he called to say the guys were at another job and would come first thing Wednesday morning. I was out all day Wednesday and when I returned mid-afternoon, no tree people, no trimmed trees. I called RS. No reply. Called the tatooed idiots, they said they would call me back. Thursday, I called RS. Left a message. No reply.

It's Friday evening... nothing. I will continue calling this ass till he returns call or give me a sign that he's alive. I have a bunch of numbers... (901)503 1778 - he says this is his cell but it's actually his wife's - or so he claims. Then there is (901) 4815338 for Mike's Tree Services (the flyer which he first gave me) but Ray says not to call that number. I did anywayz and Mike seem to know exactly what job I was talking about... and Wes (one of the tatoo fools) of SG'S Tree Service (901) 237 7044. By the way, the check had to be written out not to Mike's Tree Services nor SG's Tree Service... it was written out to a Steve Witucki and was cashed at about 2pm on Tuesday afternoon. My own fault for not cancelling that check on Tuesday morning when I found out about the incomplete job. Arrgh!

If you're in Memphis and the surrounding areas and get a flyer from any of these people, DO NOT use them!!! I learn it the hard by giving them $850 for nothing.

Another Year, Another Lunch Bag

Today is the King's first day back at teaching again. Year Six! Impressive considering merely a little more then 6 years ago, he didn't know if he should marry me, what his career path was or where he was going to live for awhile. Today, he got dressed early; obviously excited and just all smiles and kisses before he walked out of the door with his lunch bag - melted jalapeno cheese with leftover flank steak he made over the weekend in onion pita bread pressed on a panini grill. Yes, it's as good as it sounds especially since he can heat it up on the microwave in the office / cafeteria.

So it's back to my regular schedule. After a summer of sleeping at ungodly hours, I'm going to have to get back to sleeping way before Leno or Letterman comes on and waking up way way before Good Morning America starts airing. I miss it... I can't wait for it to be dark when I wake up every morning and most of all, I cannot wait for the cold weather to get here!! Cold weather means good moods for me, means going out more and just doing more stuff for me instead of staying in my bedroom watching my Korean dramas or Cantonese dramas from Hong Kong. Yes, a little different from the average person here in the US who longs for the bloody hot ass summer and wearing as little as possible and being out in the scorching sun and disgusting humidity. No, this Singaporean here loves her cloudy and rainy days and if it was winter every day of the year, she couldn't be more thrilled.

Well, I suppose it's back to school schedule, back to doing wifey high school teacher things. Attending football, basketball... sometimes even baseball games tho' the husband is pretty good about not making me go to every game; especially when he's not sure if we're gonna' win lol. No lacrosse, soccer or anything too bad yet tho'. We did go cheer for the track team once but that was fun 'coz it was out at Shelby Farms and I knew some of the parents who were fun parents with a good sense of humor ie, no Asian ones lol!

My Mil Makes Me Laugh

My mother-in-law (mil) who is 73 still works full time. She's a hard worker I believe and she knows how to do her job well. But not too long ago, after her hip surgery, she was complaining about her new boss. How she can't believe this person wants everyone at the office at work everyday and clock-in their full eight hours. She told this to her son and he, of course, being a reasonable person told his mother 'well that's what they're paying you to do right? Work full-time?'. His mother answered in a huff and couldn't understand why her son could not for once see things in her point of view.

Today was a lovely day! After three weeks of drought here, we finally got some much anticipated rain. Not thunderstorm. Just rain. Lovely summery morning rain. Guess what!? My mil didn't go to work. Why? Her simple honest reason: 'coz it was raining. Yes, I'm totally serious. She had a doctor's appointment this past Tuesday so she didn't go in either. Now how would this deter the productivity in the medical centre she's working at? No wonder they are YEARS behind in transcripting their records hahahaha!

When There Is No Lock...

He builds a fortress.

This is what a 16 year old boy has to turn to in order to protect some of his privacy. He claims it's a fortress... like he's playing war... but we ALL know what kind of a war he's playing by himself LOL!

Stupid People - Who Are NOT My Friends

No, I'm not gonna' blog about the only piece of news today all over the world that has to do with the other group of stupid people; damn terrorist! ...and I usually blog about the people I know. Especially the stupid ones. But I just read this piece on Reuters about a group of stupid criminals and I can't help but share it with all of you for a good laugh. Where else better to find 'people like that' but in Singapore's neighboring country lol.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian thieves used a net and rope to haul an ATM cash dispenser through a glass wall and down a flight of stairs, only to discover they had grabbed a check deposit machine by mistake.

The three robbers fled after realizing the failure of their plan, in which they used a pick-up truck and a lorry to yank the machine from its moorings, the Star newspaper said on Thursday.

Automated teller machines (ATMs) have recently been the focus of a spate of robberies or robbery attempts in Malaysia.

In one case, thieves loaded an ATM onto a truck but abandoned it about 5 km (3 miles) away when they discovered it had no cash.

Oh Shit!

If you had watched the first episode of Flavor of Love 2 last night, you'd understand the heading lol; but more on that later.

Yes, Flavor Flav is back on tv. After a season of going through the last 20 women down to the final two, psycho 'New York' and little hoodlum 'Hoops', Flav picked the latter but ended up not finding his soul mate in her after all... DUH?! So the little black man with eeiky gold teeth, eeiky hair, ok... the eeeiky black man (how's that lol) is back with twenty more hoochies to pick amongst them, a possible female kind whom he can spend the rest of his life with - maybe. None of them are girls, ladies (certainly not) nor would you consider them women. They are of an entirely different breed of... people, if you may. You'd understand what I'm saying if you just go watch one episode lol. It's a big joke for the rest of us watching it and yes, it truly is enjoyable lol. Ask the husband!

It was pretty funny when it started very quickly with a serious catfight and I commented that the girls this season look even trashier then the last. Hard to imagine that it's possible but really and truly, they are. Not a minute later, Flav is on air relating how in this season, he's not letting the producers pick his top 20 hoochie mamas but he's made it his own job to do so hahaha. That obviously confirmed my statement :D

Yes, again, the women went through the formality of being named by Flav. This time the names given were stupider and spelt even more incorrectly. But sort of white people spelling the way they think rappers and idiots would spell by adding a 'z' after everything... only not exactly appropriate. So thanx producers! It would have been more entertaining to just let Flav spell everything wrongly on his own which I'm sure he's quite capable of doing. ...this season, the names include Somethin' - yes, that's her given name (maybe 'coz she can't really be 'someone' or 'somebody'). A girl who speaks with a serious lisp (and can't stop talking) who's been named Nibblez but everyone keeps calling her Nipples... there is Buckwild, Buckee (if I remember correctly - I know there were two Buck-somethings), Beautuful, Patienz... and there are like five girls with gaps in their teeth but I can't remember their names only what the husband kept repeating during the naming session, "call her Whistle!" hahahaha! I can't remember any more of those crazy names. I just know there is a big momma in the house this time and she scares even ME with her HUUUUGGGEEEEEEEE breastuses. I swear, they were EVERYWHERE in last night's show and they will be everywhere till she's eliminated lol.

So the usual fights and screaming sessions went on and much to our amusement, it was fun and hilarious. But someone topped tv history last night and it was far better then last season when insane New York spitted at that slut of a white trash Pumkin whom by the way, has been on forty three other reality shows kissing men and showing the world just how easy it is for a man to remove her knickers. Last night, Somethin' ps'd on national TV. When I say 'ps', I mean it by the very hokkien (Chinese dialect) term of PANG SAI aka pooped, aka shit. Yes, I'm totally serious! The girl shit'd in the living room and on the stairs in Flav's crib! HAHAHHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry, it's just hilarious and I do feel sorry for the girl. But you have to admit, it's never been done before(!); or never been aired. I mean, in the midst of celebrating the ousting of the first five girls, poor Somethin' had to slip away to the bathroom upstairs rather quickly, only for everyone to be horrified by the smell and then, sight of it on the stairway lol. OMG I nearly pee'd my pants laughing. It was just too much!! Poor girl will never ever live that down for as long as she lives. I have one question however... where were her bloody bloomers? How did that crap (no pun intended) escape her knickers?!?!

So... if you missed it episode one, I'm sure VH1 will replay it another forty two times before the second episode airs this Sunday.

Back From Bangkok

Though our flight out there via Chicago and Tokyo took awhile - to say the least - we made it to Oriental Bangkok; albeit a good 14 hours later.

The trip specially planned to spend time with Emma was very very nice. We, yes, including the Tay family, had a really good time just hanging out, getting to know my now-walking niece and got to spend a lot of time together in the pool everyday, had side-by-side cabanas where we napped and ate and just had good times. We ate a lot of good food - but that's no surprise, I know - had new experiances eating at road side stalls and my one big trauma - getting into a toilet with a toilet seat only to realize there was no toilet paper and no flush TOO LATE hahahaha! That was quite an experiance. But while I wasn't amused with the entire situation while going through it, I laugh about it now - 'coz what else am I gonna' do about it lol.

It was a short four day trip. We all wish it was a couple of days more. Next time at the Oriental will be longer for sure. Then again, I suppose like the husband believes, it's better to leave wanting more than leave thinking you've seen and done and wanted everything out of the place you just visited. Makes sense to me. I'm going to see my niece (and family of course) in a few months in Oz. I can't wait. By then, she'd be running, saying more words and be even more fun to play with.

By the way, I'm about 8,000 miles away from making Platinum Executive on American Airlines and I'm totally psyched about it :) Bruce says I'm probably the only unemployed PE (certainly in Memphis) hee hee. Even he might make it to be a PE this year with the crazy summer travels this year. I'd probably make the special 25th annivasary rewards for platinum executive travellers by the end of the year (make an extra 25,000 miles on top of making PE) so I'd be even more 'special' (not special ed) and I believe get another free round trip international upgrade hee hee. So exciting :D

Three Time's A Charm?

Well, we were on our way to Bangkok... everything went smoothly till we boarded flight AA153 in Chicago. The sensor on the plane was broken and while we sat in the blasting freezing plane for a couple of hours and made small talk to the fellow passengers sitting on the same row as us, they finally announced that the plance was going out of service and that we would have to change planes.

YES(!) of course we missed our connection despite having a generous 3 hour layover for us to change terminal, get dad's special Nikka whiskey and maybe make a phonecall or two.

Last night, for the third time in a good five weeks, we went through customs in Japan again and strolled into arrgh... Japan... together with about 100 other unfortunate souls, checked into the not so nice Narita Excel Tokyo Hotel. I suppose I was so beat and pissed by the time we got to the hotel, the last thing to complain about was the room (I'd admit it's much bigger then our room in Osaka lol) and the set meal provided at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel. Bruce rested peacefully while I layed in bed (pissed that I slept too much on the plane) in my hotel yukata (Bruce commented that I looked like a hospital patient the first thing he got up - not THAT funny!) and watched CNN most of the night - like I need to know more about the damn situation in the Middle East? (SNORE). Yes of course I'm sleepy and cranky now lol. But what's new?!

So once again, we're on our way to BKK. Here we are sitting at JAL's smokey ass Sakura Lounge while my brother, sister-in-law, Emma (and nanny in tow, of course!) are on their short flight there already. American Airlines has wasted our one night hotel at the Oriental and a good five hours away from our niece which we're flying a gazillion miles to go spend time with. Sorry ass airlines and airline people - I think they're worst then bankers and lawyers!!!

Oh well.... what can you do right?! We can bitch and write all the letters we want after this... can't buy the time that was burnt last night. I just wanna get there in one piece as scheduled today!!!

Z's

I'm so sleep deprived it's not even funny. Since returning from Japan, I can't say I have made myself stick to the local time. Hence, I've been sleeping at past 4am, as late / early as 6am... then waking up at 9am in the midst of bright sunshine. That always gets to me since other then the summer season, I enjoy waking up at no later then 5am in the dark and starting my day while the rest of the neighborhood is asleep. I like it that way. So to wake up with the screaming sun sorts of pisses me off. I don't know why, it just does.

I suppose part of the reason why it hasn't been a priority to get back to local time is 'coz we're leaving for Thailand tomorrow. By the time I get there, I'm sure I'd be so confused I won't be able to figure out what to do. But... with the excitement of seeing little Emma, who cares about sleep :) EKT is fifteen months old now and she's walking. Her uncle Bruce will be meeting her for the first time so he's really excited as well. He's really sweet to her, buying her special presents just from him. Of course, he buys all the presents she gets from me also lol but that's different :D

I took a nap this afternoon from 5 - 7pm before dinner... I should be good to go till mid morning and definitely gonna sleep well on the flight over there. Too bad the flights are completely full and our upgrade requests to business class are denied. But as tired as I am, a couple of games of sudoko on my DS and I'd be good to go. I won't even need to watch my Korean dramas on the plane :)

Delayed Osaka Curse

So we got through our Osaka without much of a hitch (minus the hotel situation lol). But since we got home, my poor husband has been so sick with high fever and stomach problems. The poor guy. All day yesterday, he was either in bed watching tv in a foetal position or dead to the world, trying to sleep it out to fight the returning high fever.

Last night, he finally had a bite to eat. Melted provolone in crispy pita. I don't know about you, but back home we believe dairy isn't a good thing for diahrea. Everyone here seems to believe differently though. So cheese it was. It didn't help that while we watched the World Series of Pop Culture on VH1, they played the bloody Taco Bell ad for their new spicy chicken crunch wrap forty five times which tortured my poor husband lol. The image of melted cheese can kill a man who hasn't eaten all day hahaha!

I'm hoping he'd be alright and will be able to at least get out of bed today and have a decent meal.

Sometimes it's a little scary when you're responsible for someone else's health. I mean, when I was younger, there was always someone I could go to and whine and tell them how sick I was and I'd be taken care of. I had my mom at home and when I left home at 17, I had a nice young couple who were my friends who would take care of me. It was miserable being alone in Arizona when I was really sick with the flu and worst now that I am supposed to be the caretaker. I'm no doctor and all the home remedies I know are from the 17 years I stayed at home and gotten from mom... It's times like that that makes me even MORE glad I don't have a kid. I would so panic if I had to try and take care of a sick child when he or she can't even tell me what the hell is wrong lol.

Oh well, such is the mood this morning... sleepy (my time difference is still messed up so I'm just hanging out and staying out of the heat - air-conditioning is SO nice to have and be around lol) and hoping the husband feels better. He took some po chai pills last night so I think the stomach should ease up a little... as long as he eats, I'm happy.

A Blog-Worthy Trip

We just returned from our second trip to Japan this summer and I must say, it's been very interesting and more fun then ever. Not just 'coz we had made lots more crazy fun Japanese friends, had horse meat or almost killed ourselves eating yakiniku lol... it's just crazy times in Japan all over again :D

We flew into Kansei International Airport for the first time and took the Shinkansen (bullet-train) to Tokyo immediately. Needless to say, upon arriving in Tokyo and being in some form of transportation for many more than 24 hours, the first night was pretty uneventful. The next few days we hung out with our friend Julie, had the best ramen in between shopping and hanging out, saw the Kohnos' and went to a beer garden atop Keio Shopping Mall and just had a really nice relaxing time.

Day four, we took the shinkansen to Nagoya where we met up with Jun (our ex-sushi chef at Rainbow Roll in Tokyo) who'd gotten married about a year ago and moved away. We saw him one night in Tokyo but it's just been different not being able to see him every trip. Our meal in Nagoya was interesting, to say the least. Not so much the food though is was very good - we had unagi on rice with green onions known as hitsumabushi. The real even for Julie and I was more about meeting Jun's wife. I mean, he's been putting up with a lot of crap from this psycho woman (yes, it's only his side of the story, true... but he's our friend... :D). So we're expecting a hot young babe and a little spoilt brat... in walked oba-san ie, old lady HAHAHA! (sorry no picture lol). Okay, so she isn't old; but we're sure she isn't in her 30s. The part that got us sick is that she's 10 weeks pregnant and is still anorexicly thin. Anywayz, she was nice enough... well other than that part about spilling my cup of tea on me hahaha but that's just an accident - or so we believe lol. We hung out a good half of the afternoon and then got on our merry way back onto the train to Osaka.

Osaka's been an interesting place for both Bruce and I. His first trip there, he fell deathly ill. His second trip there and my first with him, supposedly with my brother and his wife, the four of us got deathly ill in Tokyo the day before we were supposed to train it to Osaka. At the end of the day, they shortened their trip and went home while Bruce and I actually stomached the 3 hour train ride into the city, walked a good 20 mins around the blinding neon lights, turned right around and headed back to Tokyo. Fun... NOT! That was a good two years ago since we even mentioned Osaka again. We've sort of been avoiding the Osaka curse for a bit. This time, since we'd already been to Tokyo for Bruce's birthday in June, we figured we'd check out Osaka. Our friend Julie whom we missed in Tokyo on our last trip thought it would be fun to hang out with us in Osaka and vice versa... and so, the trip to Osaka was concrete.

To say the least, the start of our Osaka trip was less then ideal. We arrived, got to the hotel only to realize both Julie and us had made reservations at different hotels with the same name lol. Neither hotels had our reservations and Julie had actually made a mistake on her reservations lol. She was a little hard on herself since she is by profession, a quart-time travel agent... we headed to our hotel and found the room not abled with internet connection. We moved to hotel number three into our little cubicle and headed straight out to the restaurant that Julie's friend Junko had been waiting for us since 7pm. It was now past 9pm, crazy storming / typhooning and just insanely hot. This was the night we met Junko and restaurant owner Joe (yes, he's Japanese).

Day five, day two in Osaka, Joe took us to a fancy tempura place... and then we met Julie's friend Takashi. This was the night we had horse meat. Not just plain horse meat but RAW horse meat. Yup, horse sashimi hahaha! Honestly it was quite tasty... but I don't think I'd volunteerily order that. I mean, it's horse. YUK! We also had raw cow liver (this was not so tasty 'coz it just tastes way too livery for my liking) and just weird food. Most of them were tasty though... we went on to another bar where we met Hideki. Cool crazy quiet (well quiet to us 'coz he doesn't speak that much English lol) drank with us and then took us to a transexual bar hahaha! Yes, we went and yup, we had fun :D

Day (six) three, Bruce and I did the Osaka style eat-till-you-drop lunch at a what-seemed-like theme food court. It was very nice. We had some okonomiyaki, some tako yaki and honestly, we were so full we couldn't go on :) Night three, we hung out with Hideki for a couple of hours at a bar and sushi restaurant before meeting Junko for a crazy too-hot Korean/Japanese yakiniku. Ok, this was the moment Bruce thought about killing me. I'd been dreaming of grilled beef since our last trip in Tokyo when John took us to this awesome place and had the best beef... so when I mentioned it to Junko and all the transexuals that I love niku, they all said I have to go to this place. BIG MISTAKE lol! It's not fancy, nor was the meat lol... not air-conditioned so you know how HOT it was in this tight little space called a restaurant... no chairs so we had to kneel or pressed our asses on non-existent flat cushions... it was just hilariously not so funny hahaha. The husband was giving me I'm-gonna-kill-you looks and I was in so much pain I couldn't help but laugh and drink myself to a stupor lol. All in all, we had fun. Of course, after dinner, we had to close up the evening with more drinks at another bar :D

There is just too much to talk about to put them in black and white. Like the relationship pyramid that all these Japanese we met on this trip... who is sleeping with who, who's bf is actually married with a kid, who's paying a 7k alimony a month or who is impotent and who is about to get married but not dumping the lover lol. It's a trip! The watermelon so square it doesn't look real... People from Osaka are awesome and fun and crazy! Can't wait to get back there... but only if I get to check into a bigger hotel!!! :D