It's been six whole days since we got back from Miami and there is absolutely no travelling plans on my calender for the rest of the year. WHAT?! Yes, really!! Can you believe it? I can't! I'm itching to fly... ok, I'd admit it: I'm trying to make platinum executive this year and dammit, if it means having to fly to Australia twice or going to Shanghai for a couple of days, I shall!
Yes, summer is fast approaching (yukky weather already!) and we'd fly a lot more together. But plans aren't concrete until the e-ticket has been printed and I hate planning and talking and no action. We want to go to SO many places but I know in reality, we'd be lucky if we go to a fraction of the places we want to go and see people we want to visit. I don't know why. It happens every summer. It's annoying. I guess we just get lazy - it's the damn heat of course! It always is the heat. Right now, plans are Japan (DUH!), Hong Kong (free hotel so it's a MUST go), Australia (c'mon before we have to pay for hotel!), China (mega miles), Boston (clam chowder, lobsters and shopping), maybe Seattle...
I've offered to take ROMT somewhere next weekend lol. Yes, I'm getting desperate. Coincidentally, April 28 is the last day in school for the senior boys and ROMT had decided earlier he will not partake in the ridiculous behaviours that day in school nor babysit them. He has taken the day off; which means we can go somewhere Thursday evening or Friday morning. Awesome! Unfortunately, it's already Saturday morning now which means it's less then a week before travel time and the trip will cost me my kidney! AIYOH! Pain in the ass.
Right now, our options are San Franciso - 800 bucks each, Seattle, $950 each, Toronto 490 each, Caribbean or Mexico (I told you I was desperate!) about 1K each... I could see a couple of friends in Toronto but they aren't very exciting. In SF, many friends whom I might not see but we would definitely see Dave and Arturo (see last posting), in Seattle we would hang out with the Shultze's and Julie (if she's around) and anywhere else, we'd just have to wing it and hang out and enjoy new things and people... but where?! ROMT is upstairs (as usual) working on his own thang and I'm being ignored on a too-bright Saturday morning. Maybe weekends aren't my favorite time of the week arrgh!
Need to decide NOW before the price goes up any more. Fine, I'd break the silence.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Monday, April 17, 2006
I'm Married To A Celebrity
No doubt only a mere Memphis celebrity for a day. Beats not being a celebrity at all I suppose lol.
This morning, on a slow news day (his words, not mine), an article in the local newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, was posted about ROMT. Yup, the husband!!
The article is as follows (in case the link above doesn't work) but let me prep you... there is nothing in it about me even tho' I was bloody interviewed HAHAHAHA! Well at least it mentioned my name lol. I suppose everything I said just all ended up on the editing room floor hahaha. It also did not print our neice's name (the one in Singapore of course!) or my brother would owe Bruce some loot... but in his defense, Emma's name was mentioned. I was there when he said her name :) At least he tried...
MUS alum's talent was Microsoft's loss
Photo Mike Brown
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Bruce Ryan is in his fifth year teaching eighth-grade algebra at Memphis University School, where he graduated in 1980. He left a lucrative position at Microsoft to return to the classroom.
April 17, 2006
The e-mail came from an old mentor at Memphis University School, Bruce Ryan's yearbook adviser to be exact, and it contained a familiar entreaty.
"Bruce, are you still alive?" wrote Ellis Haguewood, now the MUS headmaster.
"If yes, go to question #2. If no, skip down to the end.
"Is there life after Microsoft? If yes, where is it?
"You know that we could use a good-looking guy like you at MUS for a few years or a few months or even a few days."
During his 10 years at Microsoft, Bruce Ryan heard various versions of that pitch from Haguewood, but he was usually too busy working for one of the world's most powerful and important companies to even contemplate moving back to Memphis, much less consider working for his old high school.
He had graduated from MUS in 1980 and gone to Harvard, then to Stanford for business school and law school. He got to Microsoft in 1989, when there were 3,000 employees and six buildings.
When he left Microsoft in 1999, there more than 30,000 employees and more than 100 buildings.
Inside the Microsoft culture, where products are created with an almost evangelical zeal, shaping young minds sounds like a noble enough calling.
But Microsoft was trying to change the world, after all.
Go back to MUS? "That always seemed like a very fantastical thing that would never happen," Ryan remembers.
And yet, not long after getting the e-mail, Ryan found himself sitting in Haguewood's office, talking about a role as the school's chief of technology. Then the phone rang, and it was Major Wright, a math teacher and football assistant, informing Haguewood he was leaving for White Station.
"We'll find another eighth-grade algebra teacher," Ryan heard Haguewood say.
When Haguewood put down the phone, Ryan asked: "Mr. Haguewood, can I teach eighth-grade algebra?"
"He looked at me kind of funny," Ryan remembers, "and I don't know to this day if he was wondering whether I could do it or why on earth would I want to do it."
'Microsoft was a good preparation'
On a recent Monday in Mr. Ryan's classroom at MUS, the topics for the day are scrawled on a giant whiteboard.
Review Irrational Numbers
Introduce Radical Numbers
Standing before a classroom of eighth-graders, Ryan looks so comfortable in his fifth year at MUS that he could have been shipped from central casting.
"Indefatigable" is how Haguewood remembers Ryan as a student, and it isn't far off now as he takes students through the tricky fundamentals of converting fractions to decimals and delving into the complex world of square roots.
"Loving it, loving it, loving it," he cackles when the students find the midpoint between two fractions.
His class is a mix of formal and informal, casual and serious.
Kind of like Microsoft.
"Microsoft was a good preparation for teaching at MUS," Ryan says.
"We had a lot of smart folks at Microsoft, but they were not always the most mature people in the world."
At MUS, among 'boyhood heroes'
When he started teaching, Ryan says, he was nervous, more so because of the company he was keeping than the students he would teach.
Many of the teachers he found at MUS when he moved from Boston as a 15-year-old remain on the faculty.
"To me," he says, "it's like growing up with your boyhood heroes being the New York Yankees and then actually getting to play with them."
This, mind you, from a man who has stood on stage with Bill Gates in New York and given presentations. This from a guy who took one year away from Microsoft to work as a producer on the old show "American Gladiators."
"But that's another story," Ryan will say, and it is true that so many of his tales veer away from the main path.
There's the time he spent moonlighting as part-owner of Schulzy's Sausage in Seattle.
There's the long courtship with his wife, Karen, who is from Singapore and met him when a co-worker suggested she e-mail him for advice on a software glitch. They got engaged two days after 9/11 and married two weeks after that, on the MUS steps.
And there is the story of his good friend John Nielson, who like Ryan had joined Microsoft in the late '80s.
Nielson died shortly before Ryan left Microsoft, and Ryan can still remember his funeral, at Bill Gates' house, and hearing letters Nielson had written to his young children.
"It was," Ryan says, "the first time when I actually sensed that, despite my youth, time was a limited and precious commodity even for the young."
That led to Ryan re-evaluating his life, to thinking more about things like family. His mother, sister and two nieces live here, his father in Hot Springs, Ark.
"I would fly in for 24 hours on a holiday break, say hello, drop off some Christmas gifts and fly off to my next destination, wherever that might be," Ryan says.
With stock options, a nice salary and promotions over the years, he had done well. He is not a "billionaire," though some of his students have told him he must be.
Maybe if he hadn't cashed all those stock options in the early years ...
"I used to know people who sold none of their stock and so now they live in giant mansions and have streets named after them. I was not one of those people. I made enough money so that I can both teach here and make charitable donations to organizations that mean a lot to me."
In that e-mail from six years ago, Haguewood had said, "Actually the pay could be seven figures per year, if two of them follow the decimal point."
Ryan knows his math too well to fall for that one, but he also knows there are different ways to measure value.
"I wasn't sure how long I would do it when I came in. I get so much joy out of coming to work here every day. It is really exciting."
From MUS to Microsoft and back -- it may sound radical and even a little irrational, but Bruce Ryan is loving it.
--Zack McMillin: 529-2564
This morning, on a slow news day (his words, not mine), an article in the local newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, was posted about ROMT. Yup, the husband!!
The article is as follows (in case the link above doesn't work) but let me prep you... there is nothing in it about me even tho' I was bloody interviewed HAHAHAHA! Well at least it mentioned my name lol. I suppose everything I said just all ended up on the editing room floor hahaha. It also did not print our neice's name (the one in Singapore of course!) or my brother would owe Bruce some loot... but in his defense, Emma's name was mentioned. I was there when he said her name :) At least he tried...
MUS alum's talent was Microsoft's loss
Photo Mike Brown
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Bruce Ryan is in his fifth year teaching eighth-grade algebra at Memphis University School, where he graduated in 1980. He left a lucrative position at Microsoft to return to the classroom.
April 17, 2006
The e-mail came from an old mentor at Memphis University School, Bruce Ryan's yearbook adviser to be exact, and it contained a familiar entreaty.
"Bruce, are you still alive?" wrote Ellis Haguewood, now the MUS headmaster.
"If yes, go to question #2. If no, skip down to the end.
"Is there life after Microsoft? If yes, where is it?
"You know that we could use a good-looking guy like you at MUS for a few years or a few months or even a few days."
During his 10 years at Microsoft, Bruce Ryan heard various versions of that pitch from Haguewood, but he was usually too busy working for one of the world's most powerful and important companies to even contemplate moving back to Memphis, much less consider working for his old high school.
He had graduated from MUS in 1980 and gone to Harvard, then to Stanford for business school and law school. He got to Microsoft in 1989, when there were 3,000 employees and six buildings.
When he left Microsoft in 1999, there more than 30,000 employees and more than 100 buildings.
Inside the Microsoft culture, where products are created with an almost evangelical zeal, shaping young minds sounds like a noble enough calling.
But Microsoft was trying to change the world, after all.
Go back to MUS? "That always seemed like a very fantastical thing that would never happen," Ryan remembers.
And yet, not long after getting the e-mail, Ryan found himself sitting in Haguewood's office, talking about a role as the school's chief of technology. Then the phone rang, and it was Major Wright, a math teacher and football assistant, informing Haguewood he was leaving for White Station.
"We'll find another eighth-grade algebra teacher," Ryan heard Haguewood say.
When Haguewood put down the phone, Ryan asked: "Mr. Haguewood, can I teach eighth-grade algebra?"
"He looked at me kind of funny," Ryan remembers, "and I don't know to this day if he was wondering whether I could do it or why on earth would I want to do it."
'Microsoft was a good preparation'
On a recent Monday in Mr. Ryan's classroom at MUS, the topics for the day are scrawled on a giant whiteboard.
Review Irrational Numbers
Introduce Radical Numbers
Standing before a classroom of eighth-graders, Ryan looks so comfortable in his fifth year at MUS that he could have been shipped from central casting.
"Indefatigable" is how Haguewood remembers Ryan as a student, and it isn't far off now as he takes students through the tricky fundamentals of converting fractions to decimals and delving into the complex world of square roots.
"Loving it, loving it, loving it," he cackles when the students find the midpoint between two fractions.
His class is a mix of formal and informal, casual and serious.
Kind of like Microsoft.
"Microsoft was a good preparation for teaching at MUS," Ryan says.
"We had a lot of smart folks at Microsoft, but they were not always the most mature people in the world."
At MUS, among 'boyhood heroes'
When he started teaching, Ryan says, he was nervous, more so because of the company he was keeping than the students he would teach.
Many of the teachers he found at MUS when he moved from Boston as a 15-year-old remain on the faculty.
"To me," he says, "it's like growing up with your boyhood heroes being the New York Yankees and then actually getting to play with them."
This, mind you, from a man who has stood on stage with Bill Gates in New York and given presentations. This from a guy who took one year away from Microsoft to work as a producer on the old show "American Gladiators."
"But that's another story," Ryan will say, and it is true that so many of his tales veer away from the main path.
There's the time he spent moonlighting as part-owner of Schulzy's Sausage in Seattle.
There's the long courtship with his wife, Karen, who is from Singapore and met him when a co-worker suggested she e-mail him for advice on a software glitch. They got engaged two days after 9/11 and married two weeks after that, on the MUS steps.
And there is the story of his good friend John Nielson, who like Ryan had joined Microsoft in the late '80s.
Nielson died shortly before Ryan left Microsoft, and Ryan can still remember his funeral, at Bill Gates' house, and hearing letters Nielson had written to his young children.
"It was," Ryan says, "the first time when I actually sensed that, despite my youth, time was a limited and precious commodity even for the young."
That led to Ryan re-evaluating his life, to thinking more about things like family. His mother, sister and two nieces live here, his father in Hot Springs, Ark.
"I would fly in for 24 hours on a holiday break, say hello, drop off some Christmas gifts and fly off to my next destination, wherever that might be," Ryan says.
With stock options, a nice salary and promotions over the years, he had done well. He is not a "billionaire," though some of his students have told him he must be.
Maybe if he hadn't cashed all those stock options in the early years ...
"I used to know people who sold none of their stock and so now they live in giant mansions and have streets named after them. I was not one of those people. I made enough money so that I can both teach here and make charitable donations to organizations that mean a lot to me."
In that e-mail from six years ago, Haguewood had said, "Actually the pay could be seven figures per year, if two of them follow the decimal point."
Ryan knows his math too well to fall for that one, but he also knows there are different ways to measure value.
"I wasn't sure how long I would do it when I came in. I get so much joy out of coming to work here every day. It is really exciting."
From MUS to Microsoft and back -- it may sound radical and even a little irrational, but Bruce Ryan is loving it.
--Zack McMillin: 529-2564
Back From Miami
South Beach is so not our scene! Hot ass weather (we have that here, no need go go all the way to bloody Florida!), non-English speaking people (got that in TN too!) skinny ass people all clad in the least clothing possible (thank goodness we haven't got too many of those here) and too many topless pompous Europeans on the beach making the American boys go ga-ga. Yet, I cannot tell you how much fun ROMT and I enjoyed ourselves the last three days in Miami!
My favorite buddy, Mathi or Guru (as I like to call him - his last name is Gurusamy thus Guru), was getting married. I met Guru (also a Singaporean, except he is of Indian descent) in high school in Toronto about 20 years ago. He has remained a really good friend since. He was also the one whom both the husband and I visited up in Szombathy, Hungary a couple of years back; and he'd met us up in Bangkok last year on a fake business trip lol. Now he lives in Xiamen, China working for a Dutch company.
Where do I begin telling you how our Easter weekend began. I guess I have to start with that first awesome lunch Bruce took me to at Joe's Stone Crab. Need I say more?! Mathi, Helena and her 13 yr old niece, Christina, joined us mid way and the partying started there. A bottle of white wine... then we transported ourselves to Lario's on the beach. There, we drank... and drank... and drank... non stop and fast. Couldn't help it! The heat, the excitement to hang out with Mathi again... not to mention, he brings out the lush in me lol. Before I knew it, we were sitting there with married couple Dave and Arturo. Dave was Mathi's room mate in college and Arturo is Dave's husband of 2 over years and they live in San Francisco. They are SO fun. SO bitchy... I love it! Hopefully I can see then as planned in a couple of weeks out in SF just to hang out... tho' the husband is a little nervous about them wanting to 'teach' me some things to make Bruce an even happier man LOL! That night, The Ryans missed the big party. Why!? 'Coz we bloody partied 6 hours way earlier then everyone else I was smashed, sloshed, dead to the world. I was so out of it I skipped dinner. Now how drunk can you imagine I was lol. The wedding was on day 2 so Bruce and I simply hung out on our own... hung out by the rooftop pool, got some sun, some breakfast and just chilled. We got to walk around South Beach for a little but it wasn't that impressive considering the heat... so after another good lunch at Puerto Sagua, we decided to tough out the weather and headed for the beach. Yikes! 30 mins later, we were on our way back to the room for a nice nap before getting ready for the wedding.
The smallish outdoor wedding of 40 at the Ritz Carlton was beautiful. Even the loud house music at the hotel/beach next to the 'alter' didn't change anything. It was a nice simple ceremony. Helena looked gorgeous and Guru was shittin' in his pants nervous as hell HAHAHAHA! It was all perfectly awesome! He's always been mister cool so to see him in that state was quite hilarious :D He just couldn't wait to get married and start the party going lol. The party, as it turns out, continued way past after the bride and groom left to begin their honeymoon in their suite. We stayed even after Dave and Arturo left. At the end of it all, there was Jason the Best Man, Mathi's buddy from Central Michigan and Helena's niece and her bf, Chris. We sat and tried to solve Jason's loveless life without Rose - the girl he met in Jamaica three months ago FOR A DAY! Needless to say, the wedding got to Jason a little... but fun was had by all of us making fun of him... me most of all. Hey, somebody had to take Mathi's place :D
Sunday, we met up with Bruce's buddy, Wayne and his girlfriend(?) and joined Mathi and Helena for lunch at Bongo's. Yummy cuban food! It was nice see Wayne again since I haven't seen him since our last trip to Tokyo... and it certainly was exciting to finally meet Sherry after all I'd heard about her. She's very nice... they look cute together(!) so hopefully we'd get to go to another wedding in Florida again soon lol. "No pressure Wayne!" :D
So Helena is now Mrs Gurusamy... she's glowing even more than that 1.7 carat platinum diamond ring on her finger. They should still be driving themselves back to her house in Tampa with Mathi's two sisters and nephews who flew all the way from Singapore.
It seemed like just yesterday I was sitting at Mathi's house in Singapore being served food by his mom... it certainly seems like yesterday when we were at his apartment in Indiana laughing at his room-mate (another Singaporean guy) turning a quarter of a century years old and making fun of his 'old age' and telling him he was dying. We were merely a pair of very cruel 19 yr olds... who have turned into cruel 30-somethings lol. Where have all the time gone?! Now, we're a pair of 35 yr olds... thank goodness we only call older people then us, friends lol.
My favorite buddy, Mathi or Guru (as I like to call him - his last name is Gurusamy thus Guru), was getting married. I met Guru (also a Singaporean, except he is of Indian descent) in high school in Toronto about 20 years ago. He has remained a really good friend since. He was also the one whom both the husband and I visited up in Szombathy, Hungary a couple of years back; and he'd met us up in Bangkok last year on a fake business trip lol. Now he lives in Xiamen, China working for a Dutch company.
Where do I begin telling you how our Easter weekend began. I guess I have to start with that first awesome lunch Bruce took me to at Joe's Stone Crab.
The smallish outdoor wedding of 40 at the Ritz Carlton was beautiful. Even the loud house music at the hotel/beach next to the 'alter' didn't change anything. It was a nice simple ceremony. Helena looked gorgeous and Guru was shittin' in his pants nervous as hell HAHAHAHA! It was all perfectly awesome! He's always been mister cool so to see him in that state was quite hilarious :D He just couldn't wait to get married and start the party going lol. The party, as it turns out, continued way past after the bride and groom left to begin their honeymoon in their suite. We stayed even after Dave and Arturo left. At the end of it all, there was Jason the Best Man, Mathi's buddy from Central Michigan and Helena's niece and her bf, Chris. We sat and tried to solve Jason's loveless life without Rose - the girl he met in Jamaica three months ago FOR A DAY! Needless to say, the wedding got to Jason a little... but fun was had by all of us making fun of him... me most of all. Hey, somebody had to take Mathi's place :D
Sunday, we met up with Bruce's buddy, Wayne and his girlfriend(?) and joined Mathi and Helena for lunch at Bongo's. Yummy cuban food! It was nice see Wayne again since I haven't seen him since our last trip to Tokyo... and it certainly was exciting to finally meet Sherry after all I'd heard about her. She's very nice... they look cute together(!) so hopefully we'd get to go to another wedding in Florida again soon lol. "No pressure Wayne!" :D
So Helena is now Mrs Gurusamy... she's glowing even more than that 1.7 carat platinum diamond ring on her finger. They should still be driving themselves back to her house in Tampa with Mathi's two sisters and nephews who flew all the way from Singapore.
It seemed like just yesterday I was sitting at Mathi's house in Singapore being served food by his mom... it certainly seems like yesterday when we were at his apartment in Indiana laughing at his room-mate (another Singaporean guy) turning a quarter of a century years old and making fun of his 'old age' and telling him he was dying. We were merely a pair of very cruel 19 yr olds... who have turned into cruel 30-somethings lol. Where have all the time gone?! Now, we're a pair of 35 yr olds... thank goodness we only call older people then us, friends lol.
Friday, April 07, 2006
When School Is Not Cancelled
Shelby County where we live has been going on severe weather warning since this morning at about 8am till tonight at 8pm. Ever since last weekend's tornado tragedy in Dyersburg County (how the storm was formed so quickly and killed numerous people there), both the local authorities as well as the national weather authority has announced that this is a DANGEROUS SITUATION today. For the last two hours, not only have Shelby County schools been let out as early as 11am, even the Memphis City Schools are cancelled by noon - including private schools such as Lausanne Collegiate School and St. Mary's Episcopal School. Yet, this stupid article on the unofficial site of the MUS blog 'We Are Staying In School' just proves how stupid and idiotic Americans can be. Yes, there are bigger idiots out there who have gotten into car accidents. Yes there are bigger idiots out there who cannot drive! But while the weather is calm now, LEAVE!! It's as if they're trying to fight the weather... come on!! More than half the phucking kids and teachers live close-by! I cannot believe my husband practically hung up the phone on me 'coz I wanted him to come home early. Sure, 40% of it is for selfish reasons 'coz I don't want to be home alone during this traumatic time (he obviously doesn't care nor realize (yet) how scary it can be not having grown up in a country where this kind of crappy shitty natural calamities NEVER occur). But the rest of the reason is 'coz I want him to be home safe and not have to take care of bunch of babies in school! Gawd, I am so phucking pissed! You'd think I was sending him out to chase after the phucking Twister!
They say the next storm coming will be in the form of hail. Some counties in Mississippi have seen as large as softball size hail. I wonder what teachers might say when their cars are badly damaged later?!
The MUS 'article' says if you want to come pick your son up, you can. But that means the boys will be missing the rest of the official school day - which means the teachers are to stay and teach! The stupid ass people who head the school should be responsible if anything happens to anyone who stays. IDIOTS!
They say the next storm coming will be in the form of hail. Some counties in Mississippi have seen as large as softball size hail. I wonder what teachers might say when their cars are badly damaged later?!
The MUS 'article' says if you want to come pick your son up, you can. But that means the boys will be missing the rest of the official school day - which means the teachers are to stay and teach! The stupid ass people who head the school should be responsible if anything happens to anyone who stays. IDIOTS!
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Adventures @ The INS
Since my past postings about the INS, see: INS Makes Me Have Road Rage and INS Part II, it's been awhile since we have had to deal with the INS (Immigration & Naturalization Service). I would hardly call their work there 'service'. But that's another story for yet another day.
I got my stamp for my permanent green card today!!! Does that mean I'm more legal then I was yesterday? MAYBE! I'm supposed to get my Green Card within month. We'd see.
The interview process this morning was a joke and a half! We went in with Tim, our 20-something year old lawyer who is volunteering to represent us costing us absolutely nothing 'coz he's not a slimeball like Barry Frager (Tim btw, used to work for Barry) which made me feel a little better since he was there at our first interview as well. He knew the interviewer and they started small talk and lead us to the lady's office. We sat down, had normal conversations like we would at a cocktail party, she looked at some of our pictures from our past travels, looked at some bills and asked for my passport. Huh!? That's it? The entire ordeal took 5 minutes! I'm serious! Why do they need to do this to people like us when it's so darn obvious that we're legitimately married and give people Green Cards without an interview to people like Tim's other client, a divorced Nigerian man who was just locked up last year for assult or something. No interview! I'm glad this went smoothly or I would bust another blood vessel from rage lol.
But it's over for now. Thank goodness!!
I got my stamp for my permanent green card today!!! Does that mean I'm more legal then I was yesterday? MAYBE! I'm supposed to get my Green Card within month. We'd see.
The interview process this morning was a joke and a half! We went in with Tim, our 20-something year old lawyer who is volunteering to represent us costing us absolutely nothing 'coz he's not a slimeball like Barry Frager (Tim btw, used to work for Barry) which made me feel a little better since he was there at our first interview as well. He knew the interviewer and they started small talk and lead us to the lady's office. We sat down, had normal conversations like we would at a cocktail party, she looked at some of our pictures from our past travels, looked at some bills and asked for my passport. Huh!? That's it? The entire ordeal took 5 minutes! I'm serious! Why do they need to do this to people like us when it's so darn obvious that we're legitimately married and give people Green Cards without an interview to people like Tim's other client, a divorced Nigerian man who was just locked up last year for assult or something. No interview! I'm glad this went smoothly or I would bust another blood vessel from rage lol.
But it's over for now. Thank goodness!!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Luncheon With The Ladies
I just came home from having lunch with the ladies at Adventures of Daytime Dining.
Today is the last Wednesday of the month and if you're part of the New Neighbors here in Memphis (and look at the calender in the newsletter), you'd know it's just another day to go have a nice lunch with other ladies who have also signed up to meet others alike. The group is called Adventure's in Daytime Dining. ...or something like that. I don't know. I signed up for the food. So it's a bunch of ladies who don't work, and all (but me) have waaaayyy too much too much on their schedule even for a simple lunch, and get together at a nice restaurant with good food and hang out to talk. Okay, a bone to pick: I don't know why we need to pick a nice (or different) restaurant each month if all these women are gonna' eat is a phucking head of lettuce! This is not even a hearty salad hahaha. Today, their little sorry salad looked like a side salad of lettuce, maybe spinach, thin slices of tomatoes with two sorry ass pieces of fresh mozzerella in it. So that's how they keep their skinny figures in place. Shit! Let me be fat... and happy!!! I had the villa pasta or something like that. Seafood (scallops, shrimps and mussels) with angelhair pasta in a homemade white wine sauce. YUM! Garlicky, buttery and just delicious :D I was full and very happy indeed. I looked over at their salad. How can they call that lunch?! It's rabbit food and shit, my rabbit would eat a helluva' lot more than those two pieces of romaine lettuce!
There were only six of us today. A very small group compared to the big group of at least 10-12 women we're used to. The conversation was dull. Today, everyone (but me again) talked about their kids... how awesome they are, how bright they are, how fast they are, how clever they are, how perfect they are and how they loved them all lol. Okay, maybe not like that but pretty damn close to my virgin ears. I was bored stiff. It was either kids or their diet. Where are the normal women?! Don't people talk about shallow stuff like shopping, shoes and clothing anymore?! ...or food! Why can't they be like Singaporeans and have an in-depth conversation about food, glorious food... while eating lol.
No matter. I should be used to this by now. I now realize why I don't have THAT many friends lol. Okay, so I'm the odd one. The one who can't stand bright sunny days at seventy degrees, the one who can't stand gorgonzola of any form, the one who doesn't think all babies are cute, the one who doesn't care what people say about her, the one who enjoys doing laundry, the one who deals with long neverending flight just cause, the one who loves cloudy and/or rainy days, the one who is just different from everyone else. Hey... at least I'm happy.
Today is the last Wednesday of the month and if you're part of the New Neighbors here in Memphis (and look at the calender in the newsletter), you'd know it's just another day to go have a nice lunch with other ladies who have also signed up to meet others alike. The group is called Adventure's in Daytime Dining. ...or something like that. I don't know. I signed up for the food. So it's a bunch of ladies who don't work, and all (but me) have waaaayyy too much too much on their schedule even for a simple lunch, and get together at a nice restaurant with good food and hang out to talk. Okay, a bone to pick: I don't know why we need to pick a nice (or different) restaurant each month if all these women are gonna' eat is a phucking head of lettuce! This is not even a hearty salad hahaha. Today, their little sorry salad looked like a side salad of lettuce, maybe spinach, thin slices of tomatoes with two sorry ass pieces of fresh mozzerella in it. So that's how they keep their skinny figures in place. Shit! Let me be fat... and happy!!! I had the villa pasta or something like that. Seafood (scallops, shrimps and mussels) with angelhair pasta in a homemade white wine sauce. YUM! Garlicky, buttery and just delicious :D I was full and very happy indeed. I looked over at their salad. How can they call that lunch?! It's rabbit food and shit, my rabbit would eat a helluva' lot more than those two pieces of romaine lettuce!
There were only six of us today. A very small group compared to the big group of at least 10-12 women we're used to. The conversation was dull. Today, everyone (but me again) talked about their kids... how awesome they are, how bright they are, how fast they are, how clever they are, how perfect they are and how they loved them all lol. Okay, maybe not like that but pretty damn close to my virgin ears. I was bored stiff. It was either kids or their diet
No matter. I should be used to this by now. I now realize why I don't have THAT many friends lol. Okay, so I'm the odd one. The one who can't stand bright sunny days at seventy degrees, the one who can't stand gorgonzola of any form, the one who doesn't think all babies are cute, the one who doesn't care what people say about her, the one who enjoys doing laundry, the one who deals with long neverending flight just cause, the one who loves cloudy and/or rainy days, the one who is just different from everyone else. Hey... at least I'm happy.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Permissive(?!?) RACISM?
I was telling the husband over sushi dinner last night that the radio station/show I listen to a lot (especially in the mornings), V101.1 - The Tom Joyner Morning Show - has been rather careless in their comments regarding 'the-other-race'. As a non-white, non-American, their conversations not only annoyed me, it disgusts even me. I wonder what do the (probably very small percentage of) white people feel if/when they listen to that.
This is along the line of what I heard them say:
DJ1: ...so this zookeeper stuck his hand into the tiger's cage at night while drunk
DJ2: It's a white guy right?! It's a white guy right?! (eagerly)
DJ1 keeps on reading the artile
DJ2: It's gotta' be a white guy. Only a white guy would do something like that!
Sure, we've all said stuff like that within our circle of friends about other groups of people. About white people, black people, Asians, you name it. But they are a radio station (who by the way speaks broken English a lot) and I feel, have a responsibility to the people listening in. Turn the tables around and imagine what might happen. Oooh... ugly!
Then yesterday, I turned them on and they were commenting on the new reality tv show, 'Black. White.'. They were talking about how the white woman when made-up as a black woman, didn't look like a 'sista' 'coz she had no 'JUICE'. Whatever that means, it didn't sound good to me. ...and of course, the sista' on the show had way too much 'juice' to look White. COME ON!!! The things they say on this radio station makes me cringe. I'm positive that if any white people say that about the black women, there will be a bloody riot.
So the husband brings up slavery and what their people went through. Oh boo hoo... there is their damn baggage again. Bah! The Japanese and Chinese have been slaves too... what about the internment and railroad experiances? Hey, I watch PBS once in awhile lol. Have you EVER heard an Asian-American ever bring that up!? Ever!? I may be less sympathetic but I feel that the 'bitter' Black people of America just can't have it every way they want! On one hand, sensitive to every damn thing a White person says (practically read into every single word spoken, chew up every sentence that's put out there) then say worst crap about the white people in reverse. Why are they still so bloody angry?!?
Personally, this is history. It's ridiculous baggage for anyone that's still alive. It isn't any of our problem today. You get no sympathy from me!
This is along the line of what I heard them say:
DJ1: ...so this zookeeper stuck his hand into the tiger's cage at night while drunk
DJ2: It's a white guy right?! It's a white guy right?! (eagerly)
DJ1 keeps on reading the artile
DJ2: It's gotta' be a white guy. Only a white guy would do something like that!
Sure, we've all said stuff like that within our circle of friends about other groups of people. About white people, black people, Asians, you name it. But they are a radio station (who by the way speaks broken English a lot) and I feel, have a responsibility to the people listening in. Turn the tables around and imagine what might happen. Oooh... ugly!
Then yesterday, I turned them on and they were commenting on the new reality tv show, 'Black. White.'. They were talking about how the white woman when made-up as a black woman, didn't look like a 'sista' 'coz she had no 'JUICE'. Whatever that means, it didn't sound good to me. ...and of course, the sista' on the show had way too much 'juice' to look White. COME ON!!! The things they say on this radio station makes me cringe. I'm positive that if any white people say that about the black women, there will be a bloody riot.
So the husband brings up slavery and what their people went through. Oh boo hoo... there is their damn baggage again. Bah! The Japanese and Chinese have been slaves too... what about the internment and railroad experiances? Hey, I watch PBS once in awhile lol. Have you EVER heard an Asian-American ever bring that up!? Ever!? I may be less sympathetic but I feel that the 'bitter' Black people of America just can't have it every way they want! On one hand, sensitive to every damn thing a White person says (practically read into every single word spoken, chew up every sentence that's put out there) then say worst crap about the white people in reverse. Why are they still so bloody angry?!?
Personally, this is history. It's ridiculous baggage for anyone that's still alive. It isn't any of our problem today. You get no sympathy from me!
Sunday, March 19, 2006
JIA
'Jia' is the name of the new upscale boutique hotel in Hong Kong (the first in Asia designed by fancy schmancy Philippe Stark). It's also where I am now... no, not Hong Kong. I'm at home! It's good to be home even tho' I was heavy-hearted leaving Tokyo after a week of blissful (early) Spring break with the laogong. For a change, we had a pretty slow-paced vacation. No serious heavy-drinking, not overly-indulging ourselves (I'm not saying none 'coz I had my share of uni-licious uni hee hee but I didn't buy the crazy bag with the matching wallet and watch I really liked at Takashimaya lol) ...and in a long time, we didn't even go practice crazy karaoke'ing :) Despite all that, it was still a wonderful trip. It's hard not to have a good time in fast-paced Tokyo (especially if you live in Memphis lol).
It was unseasonably cold - it freakin' snowed TWICE in two days lol... but fear not, with all the walking, after almost being frost bitten and getting head colds (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration here) walking those miles all over Tokyo helped a great deal to build heat and burn some calories that needed to go away anyway lol. And the food... oh the food! We went back to see my toothless ramen boyfriend at his restaurant lol - it's been awhile since we hit the streets of Kabuki-cho at three in the morning lining up for yummy ramen together with all the businessmen and their hostesses... but it's so worth the wait... and of course, we followed our tradition of dropping by Sushi Cho for some serious awesome sushi in the little alley in Ropongi on our first night, had sushi breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market - you might think it's such a touristy thing to do but hey, it can't get any better getting a full sushi and sashimi meal at eight in the morning with the most delicious clam miso soup and beer rubbing shoulders, knees and thighs next to the fishermen and fish auctioneer who's finishing off their day's work :D ...and of course, as usual, we met up with Bruce's ex colleagues, now good friends and our friend Julie who flew in from Seattle via Honolulu to hang out with us for a couple of meals :D So it was nice... we tried more different insane restaurants and laughed at all the crazy things we did, saw and experianced.
It's even nicer to be home because the day after arriving from Tokyo via Dallas, we took the three hour drive up to Nashville for 24 hours (for a Math competition) and back. Please(!), IF there is a 'gawd', DO NOT make us ever go back there again! So it's the Capital of Tennessee. Big phucking hairy deal. Capital of idiots more like it. I don't like it, and I don't want to go back. I don't want go into detail why or it'll become ugly and feelings will be hurt. Hahaha, okay, no I really don't care whose feelings get hurt... but it's almost 2am now and I'm in no mood to rev up my emotions at this hour. All I can say is, it makes me appreciate the Black people in Memphis or simply appreciate Memphis in general lol.
Right, time to get some Z's and enjoy the comforts of my clean crisp bed (Nashville Holiday Inn YUKS(!)). I envy the husband. He's been in deep slumber for hours.
It was unseasonably cold - it freakin' snowed TWICE in two days lol... but fear not, with all the walking, after almost being frost bitten and getting head colds (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration here) walking those miles all over Tokyo helped a great deal to build heat and burn some calories that needed to go away anyway lol. And the food... oh the food! We went back to see my toothless ramen boyfriend at his restaurant lol - it's been awhile since we hit the streets of Kabuki-cho at three in the morning lining up for yummy ramen together with all the businessmen and their hostesses... but it's so worth the wait... and of course, we followed our tradition of dropping by Sushi Cho for some serious awesome sushi in the little alley in Ropongi on our first night, had sushi breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market - you might think it's such a touristy thing to do but hey, it can't get any better getting a full sushi and sashimi meal at eight in the morning with the most delicious clam miso soup and beer rubbing shoulders, knees and thighs next to the fishermen and fish auctioneer who's finishing off their day's work :D ...and of course, as usual, we met up with Bruce's ex colleagues, now good friends and our friend Julie who flew in from Seattle via Honolulu to hang out with us for a couple of meals :D So it was nice... we tried more different insane restaurants and laughed at all the crazy things we did, saw and experianced.
It's even nicer to be home because the day after arriving from Tokyo via Dallas, we took the three hour drive up to Nashville
Right, time to get some Z's and enjoy the comforts of my clean crisp bed (Nashville Holiday Inn YUKS(!)
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Video Girl
Ya'll(!), the videos of Emma are up! Ok, for those who are like me (once upon a time) who couldn't stand people showing pics of babies in their family (I didn't care if they were the kids, the grand kids or the neices and nephews of these people... ok, I'd admit it, I still don't want to see them lol!), you can ignore this post. But for the others who simply love babies and want to see the cutest Chinese little baby in this world, this is it! Bruce and I think our favourite niece EKT is the cutest, most adorable and certainly smartest of them all. The videos of her are up! They are at our website under pictures or you can click here to go direct.
DISCLAIMER: If our niece seems a little grumpy in some of these videos, it's 'coz she wasn't in the best mood. She was sick on this trip. That's why not so many insane screaming and laughing from her. But still lots from me :D
ENJOY!!!
DISCLAIMER: If our niece seems a little grumpy in some of these videos, it's 'coz she wasn't in the best mood. She was sick on this trip. That's why not so many insane screaming and laughing from her. But still lots from me :D
ENJOY!!!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Adventures At The IRS
...so a few weeks ago we got a letter from the IRS. One letter to me (to make sure the husband got it), one to the ROMT saying blah blah blah, call us, make an appointment 'coz you're gonna be audited. Obviously, it was a little scary for me having watched American tv time and again seeing people led away in handcuffs for fraud or whatever, who knows(?!); read about how the husband's step-brother, MM - lawyer of the crooked-gay-naked-Survivor lose his case last month for tax-evasion. My stomach was in a knot almost immediately. I can well imagine why my always very cautious husband who gets quite easily stressed on a normal day has been pretty highly strung for the last couple of weeks since he made the appointment for today, March 1.
It was agreed that it was a good thing I would be away for a week in Thailand while the husband would be undisturbed and be able to organize his paperwork to deal with this upsetting meeting. I did feel bad that he had to do it himself but I also knew I was of no help to him. ...so I came home from a great vacation to a more then ever stressed out husband, a study full of paper - more than usual - files, binders and more paper... and oddly, a not very hungry husband lol. As timing would have it, I fell sick the day after I returned. That meant leaving the husband all weekend to himself to catch up on more unfinished work, matching the sale and purchase of stocks. Fun! NOT! It's insane how much time and work he's put into this... a rough estimate... hmmm... a full 9 - 5 work week I'd say. No exaggeration!
Being the supportive wife that I am (and very kaypoh also lah), I was quite pleased that I was not only invited to this meeting, but the husband actually wanted me there with him for moral support. So at 11am, I went on my merry way to pick him up for a 12:30pm appointment. Okay, a little kiasu considering downtown is about 30 mins drive away... but we wanted to be safe and early. We got there an hour early lol. He had part of his usual pack lunch/snack in the car before we proceeded into the building into a small cold (not as in temperature but as in non-persona) room with five chairs, a small reception window and cheap office carpet. I felt like we were back at MLGW!!! We sat there while I tried to ease the husband's temperament. The box full of binders from 1998 to 2004 at his feet, it was a little hard to distract the poor man. I think he wanted to be distracted. His laughs were louder then usual, his face hot from nerves... his mood... almost too good lol. No doubt he'd done his homework... oh believe me, he did his bloody work. But like being at the INS (immigration people lor), you never know what kind of an officer you'd get, what they'd ask and nightmare of all times, what you forgot to bring that you were supposed to.
12:30pm came and went and a good five minutes later, a black woman came into the room, introduced herself as Ms Brown (I don't know about you but I thought you never introduce yourself as ms or mister right?). We went into the room, romt took his binders and computer out of the box, set it up and there was a little look from Ms Brown and then she began 'oh... you brought your own computer...'. Yes she was impressed. But that was only the beginning. For the next 35 mins, she asked the husband about random stocks he traded. She asked, he provided details, calculations and answers to match her numbers. She had originally picked 40 random stocks from the list of 250 trades he made. But after the 4th one, she said "let's just skip to the last page". I could hear the screaming sigh of relief inside my husband's head. "There is a god!!" ...ok, we wouldn't go that far. Never mind the mistakes he found that the IRS actually owes him some money in return. Never mind about how much work on AT&T trade alone he had worked on the night before since it split and changed name and split and changed back it's name... all he wanted to do was get outta' that room. We managed to do just that all within the hour... with a letter to boot to say we owe nothing, we're clean and we're honest! WOW!
We were in the car within minutes, the husband was breathing regular again (first time in weeks), and I can't even tell you how many times he sighed and told me he's happy again - this is just on the drive home mind you. He was actually gonna' go back to school for the stupid ass faculty meeting, can you believe it?! I gave him my you've-got-to-be-phucking-kiddin'-me look and he made the right decision by calling school to say he was on his way home hee hee.
We came home, I made a huge batch of popcorn, he had a beer (now THAT is relief!) and he fell into deeeeep slumber within seconds :D
It was agreed that it was a good thing I would be away for a week in Thailand while the husband would be undisturbed and be able to organize his paperwork to deal with this upsetting meeting. I did feel bad that he had to do it himself but I also knew I was of no help to him. ...so I came home from a great vacation to a more then ever stressed out husband, a study full of paper - more than usual - files, binders and more paper... and oddly, a not very hungry husband lol. As timing would have it, I fell sick the day after I returned. That meant leaving the husband all weekend to himself to catch up on more unfinished work, matching the sale and purchase of stocks. Fun! NOT! It's insane how much time and work he's put into this... a rough estimate... hmmm... a full 9 - 5 work week I'd say. No exaggeration!
Being the supportive wife that I am (and very kaypoh also lah), I was quite pleased that I was not only invited to this meeting, but the husband actually wanted me there with him for moral support. So at 11am, I went on my merry way to pick him up for a 12:30pm appointment. Okay, a little kiasu considering downtown is about 30 mins drive away... but we wanted to be safe and early. We got there an hour early lol. He had part of his usual pack lunch/snack in the car before we proceeded into the building into a small cold (not as in temperature but as in non-persona) room with five chairs, a small reception window and cheap office carpet. I felt like we were back at MLGW!!! We sat there while I tried to ease the husband's temperament. The box full of binders from 1998 to 2004 at his feet, it was a little hard to distract the poor man. I think he wanted to be distracted. His laughs were louder then usual, his face hot from nerves... his mood... almost too good lol. No doubt he'd done his homework... oh believe me, he did his bloody work. But like being at the INS (immigration people lor), you never know what kind of an officer you'd get, what they'd ask and nightmare of all times, what you forgot to bring that you were supposed to.
12:30pm came and went and a good five minutes later, a black woman came into the room, introduced herself as Ms Brown (I don't know about you but I thought you never introduce yourself as ms or mister right?). We went into the room, romt took his binders and computer out of the box, set it up and there was a little look from Ms Brown and then she began 'oh... you brought your own computer...'. Yes she was impressed. But that was only the beginning. For the next 35 mins, she asked the husband about random stocks he traded. She asked, he provided details, calculations and answers to match her numbers. She had originally picked 40 random stocks from the list of 250 trades he made. But after the 4th one, she said "let's just skip to the last page". I could hear the screaming sigh of relief inside my husband's head. "There is a god!!" ...ok, we wouldn't go that far. Never mind the mistakes he found that the IRS actually owes him some money in return. Never mind about how much work on AT&T trade alone he had worked on the night before since it split and changed name and split and changed back it's name... all he wanted to do was get outta' that room. We managed to do just that all within the hour... with a letter to boot to say we owe nothing, we're clean and we're honest! WOW!
We were in the car within minutes, the husband was breathing regular again (first time in weeks), and I can't even tell you how many times he sighed and told me he's happy again - this is just on the drive home mind you. He was actually gonna' go back to school for the stupid ass faculty meeting, can you believe it?! I gave him my you've-got-to-be-phucking-kiddin'-me look and he made the right decision by calling school to say he was on his way home hee hee.
We came home, I made a huge batch of popcorn, he had a beer (now THAT is relief!) and he fell into deeeeep slumber within seconds :D
Friday, February 24, 2006
Getting Home
Osaka’s kansei international airport was a little disappointing. It’s huge, clean (very unlike Narita) and… empty – at least the sub-terminal where American Airlines sat. I was hoping to get some duty free shopping done during my three hour layover but… nothing. I do however thank my sweet sweet husband for all the exposure in Japan. I felt so at home I actually ordered ramen (ramen o-ne-gai-shi-masu!) at the little café (not the nice fancy type mind you lol), sat there and amen slurped myself silly lol. Can’t wait to get back there in a couple of weeks. I miss Tokyo! Ok, it’s the food… but more than anything, it one of the cities where I feel most free – certainly the opposite feeling from being ‘home’ in Singapore lol where I feel stifled and watched. Maybe ‘coz we’re there in Japan so much… I totally understand why the husband feels so comfortable there. Why we return again and again. I guess it’s one of those places where you feel you can be anyone… be yourself. After all, nobody knows who we are there. So I don’t speak their language (tho’ I wish I did) but so what?! …and while I know like all other Asians are judgemental, Japanese are so damn polite they don’t make you too self conscious about being weird. Maybe someday, when we strike that big lottery, we’d buy my dream apt and move there… ok, I guess I’d have to work on the language soon.
Well, here I sit on 23c with nobody next to me for the next three seats. Awesome! I’ve slept for gawd knows how many hours . Only four more hours to go. We’re already in north America somewhere… I’m almost certain I’m NOT gonna’ make my connection but oh well… they’d just have to put me on a later flight… I’d have to see my sweetie pie a couple of hours later. Will I live :D
Well, here I sit on 23c with nobody next to me for the next three seats. Awesome! I’ve slept for gawd knows how many hours . Only four more hours to go. We’re already in north America somewhere… I’m almost certain I’m NOT gonna’ make my connection but oh well… they’d just have to put me on a later flight… I’d have to see my sweetie pie a couple of hours later. Will I live :D
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Time Flies When You're Having Fun
Well, they came and now they've left. The Tay-family's mini gathering here in Bangkok albeit short, was most fun and enjoyable. Being in a kid-friendly hotel like The Oriental made so much of a difference having Emma with us. Then again, at the Oriental, money talks and shit walks. So you know my little Princess of a niece had the best of everything the last few days... of course, she has the best of everything everyday; and the hotel certainly lived up to her standards (and ours, as expected). Her special meals everyday were absolutely delicious lol. The waitresses were awed by her and of course, dad had the time of his life showing his new pride and joy off to everyone :) Strangers were taking pictures of her. It was quite funny.
Despite the crazy happenings in the middle of our vacation ie mom landing up at the hospital, dad and the sil falling in and out of the bad flu that mom had caught from Emma, crazy conversations with the Cambodian traffic mover at the Conrad Hotel (you can't miss him when you drive up to the Conrad), praying dad didn't embarass us by screaming at anyone at the Oriental, dad screaming at the limo girl at the Oriental (lol), practically being 'arrested' at the hotel trying to sneak some fresh durian into the room (that was not only funny, but we saw it coming way too late and by then it was too late to even give it to the cab driver lol) and just insanity that sits by the Tay family when we're together.
All in all, I had a great time and I can't wait to get together with everyone again.
Maybe dad and Kevin will join us in Tokyo in a couple of weeks for an eat-fest lol. If not, I guess we'd go see Emma again in Australia in June/July. That girl is SOOOO adorable. I'm going to put up some short videos of her in the pictures site here so you can check it out.
Now, I have to get ready for my 24 hour relay back home. I'm so not ready for this. If it wasn't for love... lol :D
Despite the crazy happenings in the middle of our vacation ie mom landing up at the hospital, dad and the sil falling in and out of the bad flu that mom had caught from Emma, crazy conversations with the Cambodian traffic mover at the Conrad Hotel (you can't miss him when you drive up to the Conrad), praying dad didn't embarass us by screaming at anyone at the Oriental, dad screaming at the limo girl at the Oriental (lol), practically being 'arrested' at the hotel trying to sneak some fresh durian into the room (that was not only funny, but we saw it coming way too late and by then it was too late to even give it to the cab driver lol) and just insanity that sits by the Tay family when we're together.
All in all, I had a great time and I can't wait to get together with everyone again.
Maybe dad and Kevin will join us in Tokyo in a couple of weeks for an eat-fest lol. If not, I guess we'd go see Emma again in Australia in June/July. That girl is SOOOO adorable. I'm going to put up some short videos of her in the pictures site here so you can check it out.
Now, I have to get ready for my 24 hour relay back home. I'm so not ready for this. If it wasn't for love... lol :D
Saturday, February 18, 2006
If It's Good Enough for Jacques Chirac...
it's good enough for me :D
After a long long flight via Dallas (four hours layover), Narita (2 hr layover but almost missed my connection 'coz I'm an idiot - another story for another day), I finally made it into always-hot-and-humid Bangkok. The flights were fine albeit neverending... I got lucky and only got to share the row of 5 seats with a typically heavy-drinking Japanese businessman. On the flight from Tokyo here, got to share a three seat row with King Kong Bundi (sp?). No, not the real KKB but a very big but very friendly Canadian coming to Thailand for the first time for business. We chatted a lot. I think he was just happy to talk to anyone after an even longer flight then me. He went from Ottawa-Chicago-Tokyo-Bangkok. Better him than me.
Yes, the President of France is here at the Oriental Hotel. I arrived at the hotel at past 1am with security and an airport metal detector starring at me at the entrance of the hotel. He leaves today, I believe and in a couple of days, the King and Queen of Spain arrive. Do I feel special or what. Actually, no. What I feel is bloody safe lol.
Yes, it certainly is good to be back at the Oriental. The only regret, ROMT isn't with me... I wish he was but as I always say, someone's got to be responsible and pay the bills... and buy the big ass lottery ticket we're gonna win in a few hours lol. I miss him... missed him even more trying to fill out customs forms, going through immigration and checking-in here. Having to be responsible for myself just sucks, feels odd and a real pain in the you-know-where :D
Well, I skipped the last meal served on American Airlines and skipped everything on JAL (except the much needed cold cold yummy Japanese ice cream sandwich). I got in, took the coldest shower possible, got the internet connected (missed Bruce all over again) and eventually got some room serice at 3am. AH! Pad Thai from the Oriental. Taste of heaven... or the husband's cooking lol. For some reason though, it just didn't taste perfect without sharing it with Bruce :(
Not much to report yet... the Tay family is enroute here and I'm just hanging out online. I'm still stuffed from my dinner/breakfast so no buffet breakfast this morning lol. I'm looking forward to seeing Emma and dressing her in the little tiny outfits I got her hee hee. (I can hear the husband rolling his eyes lol!!)
More to say in a later post.
I miss my husband...
After a long long flight via Dallas (four hours layover), Narita (2 hr layover but almost missed my connection 'coz I'm an idiot - another story for another day), I finally made it into always-hot-and-humid Bangkok. The flights were fine albeit neverending... I got lucky and only got to share the row of 5 seats with a typically heavy-drinking Japanese businessman. On the flight from Tokyo here, got to share a three seat row with King Kong Bundi (sp?). No, not the real KKB but a very big but very friendly Canadian coming to Thailand for the first time for business. We chatted a lot. I think he was just happy to talk to anyone after an even longer flight then me. He went from Ottawa-Chicago-Tokyo-Bangkok. Better him than me.
Yes, the President of France is here at the Oriental Hotel. I arrived at the hotel at past 1am with security and an airport metal detector starring at me at the entrance of the hotel. He leaves today, I believe and in a couple of days, the King and Queen of Spain arrive. Do I feel special or what. Actually, no. What I feel is bloody safe lol.
Yes, it certainly is good to be back at the Oriental. The only regret, ROMT isn't with me... I wish he was but as I always say, someone's got to be responsible and pay the bills... and buy the big ass lottery ticket we're gonna win in a few hours lol. I miss him... missed him even more trying to fill out customs forms, going through immigration and checking-in here. Having to be responsible for myself just sucks, feels odd and a real pain in the you-know-where :D
Well, I skipped the last meal served on American Airlines and skipped everything on JAL (except the much needed cold cold yummy Japanese ice cream sandwich). I got in, took the coldest shower possible, got the internet connected (missed Bruce all over again) and eventually got some room serice at 3am. AH! Pad Thai from the Oriental. Taste of heaven... or the husband's cooking lol. For some reason though, it just didn't taste perfect without sharing it with Bruce :(
Not much to report yet... the Tay family is enroute here and I'm just hanging out online. I'm still stuffed from my dinner/breakfast so no buffet breakfast this morning
More to say in a later post.
I miss my husband...
Monday, February 06, 2006
Chinese New Year Party 2006
Well, our annual CNY party came and went. It was overall very successful and I'd like to believe everyone had a nice enough time. Food was plentiful and so was booze - with the help from the bottle of Chinese alcohol that Hopie brought which had the boys doing shots in no time. It was fun and funny to see. I resisted as much as I could have done a couple of shots... but someone had to do the clean-up after the party despite having Tracey's (cleaning lady aka bartender for the evening) help. Seeing how these boys obviously know how to party, we've got to have a MUS Class of '80 party here soon :)
A couple of issues however, after this party:
1. When you say you're gonna be at a party, you turn up. When you can't, you call. I think ROMT was a little disappointed when we waited and waited and his principal - the same one who just had a big ass speech at chapel about 'kindness' failed to turn up at the party. Maybe ROMT needs to give a speech about 'courtesy'. :) I guess I'd find out why he didn't turn up. Bruce's guess is: kids' problem. My guess: They forgot. Either way, the party went on...
2. When you go to party and you enter seeing a shitload of shoes at the door, it's understood that you need to remove your shoes. If not, pay attention and THINK. Worst, if the host tells you 'you need to remove your shoes', then bloody hell DO IT! My sil had a problem with this... on the party day itself and the day after when she boldly walked into our house with her damn platform boots with her older daughter in her 2 months old Ugg boots that we got that used to be purple, now gray from dirt and her friend Kara's also dirty boots, into the house. WTF?! On the day of the party, she called to ask if I was gonna' MAKE her take her shoes off. I was adament. 'DUH'!? It's my house and my party! She claimed that her shoes MADE her outfit. I should have told her it would have to be a well fitted bra!! She said she wanted to look taller and slimmer. SHIT! If a pair of damn platforms can make me look taller and slimmer, I'd be the first to be wearing a pair even if it meant vacuuming every damned day. Ok, maybe not, but c'mon!! You've been INVITED to come to a party. You don't phucking ask if you can wear your dirty old shoes into people's house for your own vanity. This is a Chinese household. If you want to wear your shoes, stay home and parade your phucking shoes in your living room all you want! Guess who's written out of the guest list for next year's party?! Hell, women should be thanking me for not having to wear their shoes at the party for a few hours. I for one love my shoes. But if anyone gave me the opportunity to take them off, trust me, they will be off! Tall and/or slim aside, I want to be comfortable. IDIOT!
Okay, there was only supposed to be two issues but I got a call from the sil earlier. This is another issue I have with the general Americans who come and eat at my house. Why is it that everytime you taste something you'd say 'OMG you HAVE to give me this recipe!'. First of all, I don't have a recipe to anything I cook. Second of all, what makes you so sure I even want to share it with you?! I have with certain people but there are just some who just ask and ask and become a pain in the you-know-where. What is it with these white girls?! The sil says I NEED to give her ALL the recipes to ALL the dishes I cooked at the party. SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT! Just 'coz I don't have a job doesn't mean I love to waste my time either.
So yes, those are my issues. Other than that, I had a ball. I just had to let it out somewhere and what better place then here ;p
A couple of issues however, after this party:
1. When you say you're gonna be at a party, you turn up. When you can't, you call. I think ROMT was a little disappointed when we waited and waited and his principal - the same one who just had a big ass speech at chapel about 'kindness' failed to turn up at the party. Maybe ROMT needs to give a speech about 'courtesy'. :) I guess I'd find out why he didn't turn up. Bruce's guess is: kids' problem. My guess: They forgot. Either way, the party went on...
2. When you go to party and you enter seeing a shitload of shoes at the door, it's understood that you need to remove your shoes. If not, pay attention and THINK. Worst, if the host tells you 'you need to remove your shoes', then bloody hell DO IT! My sil had a problem with this... on the party day itself and the day after when she boldly walked into our house with her damn platform boots with her older daughter in her 2 months old Ugg boots that we got that used to be purple, now gray from dirt and her friend Kara's also dirty boots, into the house. WTF?! On the day of the party, she called to ask if I was gonna' MAKE her take her shoes off. I was adament. 'DUH'!? It's my house and my party! She claimed that her shoes MADE her outfit. I should have told her it would have to be a well fitted bra!! She said she wanted to look taller and slimmer. SHIT! If a pair of damn platforms can make me look taller and slimmer, I'd be the first to be wearing a pair even if it meant vacuuming every damned day. Ok, maybe not, but c'mon!! You've been INVITED to come to a party. You don't phucking ask if you can wear your dirty old shoes into people's house for your own vanity. This is a Chinese household. If you want to wear your shoes, stay home and parade your phucking shoes in your living room all you want! Guess who's written out of the guest list for next year's party?! Hell, women should be thanking me for not having to wear their shoes at the party for a few hours. I for one love my shoes. But if anyone gave me the opportunity to take them off, trust me, they will be off! Tall and/or slim aside, I want to be comfortable. IDIOT!
Okay, there was only supposed to be two issues but I got a call from the sil earlier. This is another issue I have with the general Americans who come and eat at my house. Why is it that everytime you taste something you'd say 'OMG you HAVE to give me this recipe!'. First of all, I don't have a recipe to anything I cook. Second of all, what makes you so sure I even want to share it with you?! I have with certain people but there are just some who just ask and ask and become a pain in the you-know-where. What is it with these white girls?! The sil says I NEED to give her ALL the recipes to ALL the dishes I cooked at the party. SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT! Just 'coz I don't have a job doesn't mean I love to waste my time either.
So yes, those are my issues. Other than that, I had a ball. I just had to let it out somewhere and what better place then here ;p
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Gong Xi Fa Cai
It's the year of the dog. It's my year!! I'm going to turn 36 soon. Somehow, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth... or is it from the horrible dinner I had last night?
Gong Xi Fa Cai to me. Maybe for the first time in too-many-years-to-count since I left home at 16 1/2, I am homesick during Chinese New Year? I can just imagine what the whole family is doing now... with all my aunts and uncles, my cousins and their kids. Maybe it's just the fact that the family I married into is not only small but not very family-like. I don't know.
Family gatherings to me while growing up were always filled with laughter and food. Even if it was just another Saturday and my mom would spend the rest of the day at my aunt's playing mahjong. Still, I would have at least a few cousins around with two of three toddlers running around seeking attention. Today, these toddlers are in their 20s and they have different toddlers running around them. There is always some form of activity... some high drama scandal... something, anything. People talk, people laugh... all within a tiny little flat with the smashing of mahjong tiles every few seconds. Orderly chaos. With my in-laws, there is just no human relationship; never mind friendship. As you already know, the mil is insane, the sil is wierd and insane and the bil... well... he's just him. Nothing ever seems to bother him. Maybe that's why it works in their relationship and he hasn't killed the sil yet. So when you get the husband, me and the three of them chararters and the two rowdy and not-so-smart kids together (who at 3 and 5, I STILL can't understand what the phuck they say when they speak) creates just a little annoying baby havoc. Conversations at the table at every gathering with his family goes like this.
Husband to BIL:
Husband: How are you? How is the restaurant?
BIL: Good. Very good. It's always PACKED!
Husband: Oh, great to hear that... while thinking in his head: LIE!!!
Husband to MIL:
Husband: How are you mom? It's good to see you!
MIL: Oh I'm doing great (LIE!!) Thank you for coming out tonight in this weather!
Husband: No response... thinking... you really think we want to be here? You're insane!!
Husband to SIL
Husband: Says nothing... thinking: you are insane!
Sil: Says lots but who's listening?!?
I suppose it's best they don't talk hahahaha! Too many taboo topics.
The above conversations are NOT made up and NOT exaggerated. Honestly! They are real conversations that go on at EVERY get-together we have... about three times a year. Hey, no family is perfect :D We did however do the good deed for the year 2006. We invited the sil and bil to our Chinese New Year next weekend. Lots of booze, lots of food. Eat that weight-watchers lol!!
Gong Xi Fa Cai to me. What should I do today? Haven't got anyone to visit. No one's gonna' be visiting us. Hmmm... I've got to do something to lift my spirits. None of this bitter taste, bitter feeling should be sitting in me. Not especially on the first day of MY year... something sweet. Yes, I should have something sweet. That's supposed to help. A call back home. That should do the trick hee hee.
Gong Xi Fa Cai to me. Maybe for the first time in too-many-years-to-count since I left home at 16 1/2, I am homesick during Chinese New Year? I can just imagine what the whole family is doing now... with all my aunts and uncles, my cousins and their kids. Maybe it's just the fact that the family I married into is not only small but not very family-like. I don't know.
Family gatherings to me while growing up were always filled with laughter and food. Even if it was just another Saturday and my mom would spend the rest of the day at my aunt's playing mahjong. Still, I would have at least a few cousins around with two of three toddlers running around seeking attention. Today, these toddlers are in their 20s and they have different toddlers running around them. There is always some form of activity... some high drama scandal... something, anything. People talk, people laugh... all within a tiny little flat with the smashing of mahjong tiles every few seconds. Orderly chaos. With my in-laws, there is just no human relationship; never mind friendship. As you already know, the mil is insane, the sil is wierd and insane and the bil... well... he's just him. Nothing ever seems to bother him. Maybe that's why it works in their relationship and he hasn't killed the sil yet. So when you get the husband, me and the three of them chararters and the two rowdy and not-so-smart kids together (who at 3 and 5, I STILL can't understand what the phuck they say when they speak) creates just a little annoying baby havoc. Conversations at the table at every gathering with his family goes like this.
Husband to BIL:
Husband: How are you? How is the restaurant?
BIL: Good. Very good. It's always PACKED!
Husband: Oh, great to hear that... while thinking in his head: LIE!!!
Husband to MIL:
Husband: How are you mom? It's good to see you!
MIL: Oh I'm doing great (LIE!!) Thank you for coming out tonight in this weather!
Husband: No response... thinking... you really think we want to be here? You're insane!!
Husband to SIL
Husband: Says nothing... thinking: you are insane!
Sil: Says lots but who's listening?!?
I suppose it's best they don't talk hahahaha! Too many taboo topics.
The above conversations are NOT made up and NOT exaggerated. Honestly! They are real conversations that go on at EVERY get-together we have... about three times a year. Hey, no family is perfect :D We did however do the good deed for the year 2006. We invited the sil and bil to our Chinese New Year next weekend. Lots of booze, lots of food. Eat that weight-watchers lol!!
Gong Xi Fa Cai to me. What should I do today? Haven't got anyone to visit. No one's gonna' be visiting us. Hmmm... I've got to do something to lift my spirits. None of this bitter taste, bitter feeling should be sitting in me. Not especially on the first day of MY year... something sweet. Yes, I should have something sweet. That's supposed to help. A call back home. That should do the trick hee hee.
I Have Disgraced My Own People
Last night, the close to the year of the rooster, we ended up at sorry ass PF Chang's. Yes, we knew no smart Chinese would spend the last day of the year there (thus the heading of this piece)... but since it was the mil's birthday, and it is her favourite restaurant, the sil picked the restaurant. Before I go on, I have a bone to pick. I'd like to add that no matter which restaurant we end up picking... no matter if it's 30 mins drive away from my mil's home or like last night, less then 5, she is always late. Not by just 5 or 10 mins I might add. No, age cannot be an excuse. Neither can a new hip, bad knees or insanity. It's beginning to become a rather rude tradition in my eye and I honestly think she's playing it in her favor! No one would ever say anything to her of course. Why?! 'Coz she'd get defensive... then break down and cry. It's a routine now. What an irritating thing to do on purpose! No, her time is certainly not more important that mine and vice versa. So why should I be sitting there waiting on her and her new hip to arrive!? Arrgh!
Back to my most hated restaurant in the world (standing right next to the my most hated cheap shopping place in the world, Walmart), it would be the last time ever in the next three lifetimes of mine would I ever step into that wanna-be- restaurant that cooks wanna-be-so-called-food again. What a bad close to a good year!
It was pouring outside - my ideal weather. Unfortunately, nothing else was quite ideal. The food sucked! OMG, I used to enjoy a meal even at PF Chang's. The sweet and sour pork was good - in Tempe, AZ - and that's about it. But last night, I ordered the beef chow fun, the husband ordered the steamed salmon (so did the sil) and the bil ordered the Singapore fried noodles. Nothing, and I mean nothing, tasted even close to edible. The chow fun (which is supposed to be wider rice noodles not the narrow ones that is used for soup based dishes) was cooked with cheap diluted and too-salty dark soy sauce (which dark soy sauce is usually not), bad grade of beef that was cut thick and chewy. The salmon was overcooked and absolutely tasteless... the Singapore noodle which even I have come to appreciate in this country, had practically no ingrediants in it other than vermicelli and curry powder. WTF?!?! This is at a restaurant that was packed with people still waiting to be seated when we were leaving at 8:30pm in the midst of a heavy rainstorm!! Granted, it's a westernized Chinese restaurant with much nicer ambiance then many restaurants in Memphis. But my goodness, the food tasted like it was cooked by someone trying to cook (Chinese food) for the first time and failing really really badly. It was awful! It tasted bad bad BAD! Yes, I admit, I do have high standards when it comes to Chinese food; but I have also had good American Chinese food. Last night's food was beyond bad. It was simply BAD FOOD! Obviously, people who LOVE PF Chang's know nothing about good tasting food, never mind Chinese food or not.
To top it off, I had cranky 3 year old birthday girl Mackenzie pee on my nice Eileen Fisher pants. She is THREE!!! WTF?! If she's not toilet-trained then for crying out loud, wear phucking diapers!! No apologies from her mother. Why am I not surprised. She is the mother of the two kids who don't know how to say 'thank you', don't know how to say 'please', don't know how to say much I suppose. However, they sure know how to say 'I WANT, I WANT, I WANT!' very well!
I left dinner rather bitter and certainly still hungry. No sympathy from the husband who upon returning home, went straight back upstairs to his computer - as usual. I guess I never explained to him just how important last night was supposed to be. Well, I never had to. Things just went the way I made them... until last night since it coincided with the two birthdays. It's vital, what the Chinese call the eve of the Chinese New Year, 'the reunion dinner' to be filled with happy conversations at the table. No, not conversation like my sil had with the waitress (and me) about weight-watchers and about how much weight she's lost or how many points each dish has (and how much she can afford to eat) and how much weight each of her friends has lost. I don't phucking care!! I think it's rather insensitive! ...telling this to a fat girl. Sheesh... these skinny white bitches just can't even retain a brain in them to understand what sensitivity is, can they!? Never mind weight watchers. Try some brain teasers!! ...yes, the 'reunion dinner' should not only go out with a bang; everyone should be happy and there should always be plenty of each person's favourite food on the table... with leftovers for tomorrow, ie the next year. ...and in my family (and a lot others), that's when the head of the family gives out red packets to everyone, right down to the maids. But... what did I expect. It certainly isn't the husband's fault he doesn't understand the importance of the reunion dinner and how it should be. My own father doesn't even know everything and he's freakin' Chinese!! But I blame me and my own big mouth. We were supposed to go to Asian Palace last night. But I'd brought up the fact that Asian Palace would be packed - since anyone with a brain who wants Chinese food in the Memphis area would/should be there. Certainly everyone celebration the reunion dinner and wasn't cooking a feast at home would be there. I just couldn't picture us sitting there with prolong silence and annoyance waiting on food. So... not only did I get to close my year with bad food, be embarassed to be seen at that restaurant with not that great blah- company... I came home hungry, played SIMS on my Nintendo DS then went to sleep. Happy New Year to me.
Back to the sorry ass restaurant... anyone I know reading this, if you ever want Americanized Chinese food again, go anywhere; anywhere except PF Chang's. You want a nice atmosphere with your Chinese food, take-out some from a good restaurant and eat at home. If not, don't do Chinese. PF Chang's is just a place that people who don't know food and don't care what food tastes like go.
Back to my most hated restaurant in the world (standing right next to the my most hated cheap shopping place in the world, Walmart), it would be the last time ever in the next three lifetimes of mine would I ever step into that wanna-be- restaurant that cooks wanna-be-so-called-food again. What a bad close to a good year!
It was pouring outside - my ideal weather. Unfortunately, nothing else was quite ideal. The food sucked! OMG, I used to enjoy a meal even at PF Chang's. The sweet and sour pork was good - in Tempe, AZ - and that's about it. But last night, I ordered the beef chow fun, the husband ordered the steamed salmon (so did the sil) and the bil ordered the Singapore fried noodles. Nothing, and I mean nothing, tasted even close to edible. The chow fun (which is supposed to be wider rice noodles not the narrow ones that is used for soup based dishes) was cooked with cheap diluted and too-salty dark soy sauce (which dark soy sauce is usually not), bad grade of beef that was cut thick and chewy. The salmon was overcooked and absolutely tasteless... the Singapore noodle which even I have come to appreciate in this country, had practically no ingrediants in it other than vermicelli and curry powder. WTF?!?! This is at a restaurant that was packed with people still waiting to be seated when we were leaving at 8:30pm in the midst of a heavy rainstorm!! Granted, it's a westernized Chinese restaurant with much nicer ambiance then many restaurants in Memphis. But my goodness, the food tasted like it was cooked by someone trying to cook (Chinese food) for the first time and failing really really badly. It was awful! It tasted bad bad BAD! Yes, I admit, I do have high standards when it comes to Chinese food; but I have also had good American Chinese food. Last night's food was beyond bad. It was simply BAD FOOD! Obviously, people who LOVE PF Chang's know nothing about good tasting food, never mind Chinese food or not.
To top it off, I had cranky 3 year old birthday girl Mackenzie pee on my nice Eileen Fisher pants. She is THREE!!! WTF?! If she's not toilet-trained then for crying out loud, wear phucking diapers!! No apologies from her mother. Why am I not surprised. She is the mother of the two kids who don't know how to say 'thank you', don't know how to say 'please', don't know how to say much I suppose. However, they sure know how to say 'I WANT, I WANT, I WANT!' very well!
I left dinner rather bitter and certainly still hungry. No sympathy from the husband who upon returning home, went straight back upstairs to his computer - as usual. I guess I never explained to him just how important last night was supposed to be. Well, I never had to. Things just went the way I made them... until last night since it coincided with the two birthdays. It's vital, what the Chinese call the eve of the Chinese New Year, 'the reunion dinner' to be filled with happy conversations at the table. No, not conversation like my sil had with the waitress (and me) about weight-watchers and about how much weight she's lost or how many points each dish has (and how much she can afford to eat) and how much weight each of her friends has lost. I don't phucking care!! I think it's rather insensitive! ...telling this to a fat girl. Sheesh... these skinny white bitches just can't even retain a brain in them to understand what sensitivity is, can they!? Never mind weight watchers. Try some brain teasers!! ...yes, the 'reunion dinner' should not only go out with a bang; everyone should be happy and there should always be plenty of each person's favourite food on the table... with leftovers for tomorrow, ie the next year. ...and in my family (and a lot others), that's when the head of the family gives out red packets to everyone, right down to the maids. But... what did I expect. It certainly isn't the husband's fault he doesn't understand the importance of the reunion dinner and how it should be. My own father doesn't even know everything and he's freakin' Chinese!! But I blame me and my own big mouth. We were supposed to go to Asian Palace last night. But I'd brought up the fact that Asian Palace would be packed - since anyone with a brain who wants Chinese food in the Memphis area would/should be there. Certainly everyone celebration the reunion dinner and wasn't cooking a feast at home would be there. I just couldn't picture us sitting there with prolong silence and annoyance waiting on food. So... not only did I get to close my year with bad food, be embarassed to be seen at that restaurant with not that great blah- company... I came home hungry, played SIMS on my Nintendo DS then went to sleep. Happy New Year to me.
Back to the sorry ass restaurant... anyone I know reading this, if you ever want Americanized Chinese food again, go anywhere; anywhere except PF Chang's. You want a nice atmosphere with your Chinese food, take-out some from a good restaurant and eat at home. If not, don't do Chinese. PF Chang's is just a place that people who don't know food and don't care what food tastes like go.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Theme: Stupid Part II
If you haven't read Theme: Stupid Part I, read it first. I assume by now that you have at least watched one episode of Flavor of Love. Everybody has VH1. Ok, not everyone... but still... well, we certainly have!
If you have, do you noticed just how stupid the show's producer's are? I mean, I assume it's the work of art of this person (or a bunch of bigger idiots). After the first half of the show, they'd tell you to stay tune for the elimination round. Oooh, who will get voted out. Stay tune... stay tune... with a blink of an eye, the next second, they play next week's highlights. Now, if you're any normal person like Bruce and I, you'd watch next week's highlights and see who isn't in the episode. DUH!? Hello!? We already know who's being voted out lol. You have to laugh though... I mean, that's why we watch it. To see how much more stupid can the show get. Hey, sorry ass Red Oyster is still in it. So is Hoopz, Smiley, Hottie, Goldie (SHE IS ARSENIO IN DRAG!!! WE JUST KNOW IT!!!), Punkin', New York (the most horrible bitch out of the bunch of idiotic bithches) and hmmm... maybe it's just six left. Either way, it's a hilarious show!
Last week, Flav took sweetie to a very romantic dinner date. Guess where?! HAHAHAHA! Red phucking sorry ass Lobster! OMG! Bruce and I were practically crying. I mean, we know Flav is honestly sincere about loving Red Lobster hahaha! ...and did you see how much salt he puts in every mouthful of food?! Including salting every single piece of cucumber slice!?! Last night, Flav fell asleep on Red Oyster hahaha! You should have seen her face. How can any one of these women want to live with this man or claim they are in love with him? I don't get it. ...and he can't be rich... and that can't be his real house... nor bodyguard... nor limo... I mean... these women are just horrible horrible people!
Poor stupid Flav...
If you have, do you noticed just how stupid the show's producer's are? I mean, I assume it's the work of art of this person (or a bunch of bigger idiots). After the first half of the show, they'd tell you to stay tune for the elimination round. Oooh, who will get voted out. Stay tune... stay tune... with a blink of an eye, the next second, they play next week's highlights. Now, if you're any normal person like Bruce and I, you'd watch next week's highlights and see who isn't in the episode. DUH!? Hello!? We already know who's being voted out lol. You have to laugh though... I mean, that's why we watch it. To see how much more stupid can the show get. Hey, sorry ass Red Oyster is still in it. So is Hoopz, Smiley, Hottie, Goldie (SHE IS ARSENIO IN DRAG!!! WE JUST KNOW IT!!!), Punkin', New York (the most horrible bitch out of the bunch of idiotic bithches) and hmmm... maybe it's just six left. Either way, it's a hilarious show!
Last week, Flav took sweetie to a very romantic dinner date. Guess where?! HAHAHAHA! Red phucking sorry ass Lobster! OMG! Bruce and I were practically crying. I mean, we know Flav is honestly sincere about loving Red Lobster hahaha! ...and did you see how much salt he puts in every mouthful of food?! Including salting every single piece of cucumber slice!?! Last night, Flav fell asleep on Red Oyster hahaha! You should have seen her face. How can any one of these women want to live with this man or claim they are in love with him? I don't get it. ...and he can't be rich... and that can't be his real house... nor bodyguard... nor limo... I mean... these women are just horrible horrible people!
Poor stupid Flav...
Monday, January 02, 2006
Theme: STUPID
You want a good laugh and something to bitch throughout another stupid reality show? Join us to watch 'The Flavor of Love', starring noneother than hottie (YUK!) Flavor Flav and a line of 30 (now 25 after the first episode) even more stupid (hard to imagine eh?) women.
We missed the first 18 minutes of the show (no worries, we have recorded the rerun episode that was aired two hours later lol) but when we tuned in, Flav was naming the girls. Yup, these girls were to disregard their own names and have dumbass FF give them names like 'Oyster', 'Serious', 'Picasso', 'Goldie'... yes, he names all thirty of them. It's hilariously stupid and the husband and I thoroughly enjoyed laughing HARD. I don't know that many of you an stomach an hour of it... but c'mon, be a sport!
To match the show, they had to air advertisements for the audiance who'd actually watch this show. Obviously, stupid ads!! It's amazing! I mean, for real! Obviously, the people at VH1 really know their audience!
I'm sure the first episode of 'The Flavor of Love' will telecast another 40 times before the second one comes on next Sunday. Go for it! It'll make you feel like Einstein after a minute of it lol.
We missed the first 18 minutes of the show (no worries, we have recorded the rerun episode that was aired two hours later lol) but when we tuned in, Flav was naming the girls. Yup, these girls were to disregard their own names and have dumbass FF give them names like 'Oyster', 'Serious', 'Picasso', 'Goldie'... yes, he names all thirty of them. It's hilariously stupid and the husband and I thoroughly enjoyed laughing HARD. I don't know that many of you an stomach an hour of it... but c'mon, be a sport!
To match the show, they had to air advertisements for the audiance who'd actually watch this show. Obviously, stupid ads!! It's amazing! I mean, for real! Obviously, the people at VH1 really know their audience!
I'm sure the first episode of 'The Flavor of Love' will telecast another 40 times before the second one comes on next Sunday. Go for it! It'll make you feel like Einstein after a minute of it lol.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Another One Bites The Dust
Another divorce.
I just got off the phone with my college room-mate. What can I say...
I received a not-so-happy email from Melody last night accusing me of not keeping in contact. Now Melody and I have were roomies for a year in college. We got along well and had fun. She wasn't exactly the partying type of girl but she was a good enough room-mate and we laughed a lot together. She wasn't the most well liked girl on campus but I liked her. She was nice to me. I was probably the first non-American she'd ever come across and I doubt she's met many more since me. She tolerated my insanity and I tolerated her mess - how, I don't even know. We always got along well - even when we hated each other's guts. It's hard to explain. But it's easy to recognize our difference once you walk into our rooms. Her side of the wall is filled with Disney characters and mine, well, mine was filled with half naked men (hey, I'm the normal one here! :D). We email and chat online once in awhile but certainly not religiously. Needless to say when I got this email I was a little surprised. I wrote back and gave her a brief update of my life and asked the same of her. Well, I got a shock this morning when I read that she, like the rest of my other high school and college girlfriends, is getting a divorce.
Of course I called her immediately. A little worried. I've never met her husband but the few times I have communicated with him on the phone, he's never come across as being 'nice'. She answered the phone sounding suspicious. I was using my calling card so it probably read a Denver number. "KAREN!!", she screamed immediately recognizing the way I yell 'Melody!'. She still talks like she's home for the weekend from school and updating me on her life in in-the-middle-of-nowhere-vernon, connecticut. Thirteen years have swooshed by. Wow, how I have changed and like-to-believe, progressed, and how she err... hasn't. She's got a graduate degree in horticulture. Yet, since graduation, she's been working at the Disney Store - big shock there, NOT! Then she started telling me how HOT Mark is... uh oh, I just knew where the conversation was heading. "MELODY, YOU CHEATED ON YOUR HUSBAND!?" She laughs.... I repeated my question. A little amused to be honest. I just can't understand why my friends have all gone down the same path. ...and to be honest, it's rather demoralizing. Meloday makes it number... gawd who can keep track of all of my friends who have cheated on their husbands and/or getting a divorce. What is it with these girls I know!?!? Then she told me how she lost 80 pounds since April this year blah blah blah. WOW! Granted, it's a lot of weight (it's practically one whole person!). But she's known this Mark fella (apparently) for the last ten years! Doesn't that say something about him??? Oh well, what can I say. She says I won't understand. Little does she know, from all the crap I've heard all my girlfriends tell me, I understand better then anyone else out there. Yes, she married a 50 year old man beyond his years whom she shouldn't have and wants out. I get that. But she didn't have to wait till she lost 80 pounds and slept with another man to do that! Sad...
It makes me wonder about women who get married out of pressure. I know some of these girls I know certainly did. I also know some married girlfriends who aren't the most sensitive when putting a question across. Why do married women make single women believe that being married would make everything better? Worst, why would our parents make me believe that? LOL! Yes, sometimes, if you're lucky, life really is better. I got lucky! VERY LUCKY! Still, not every women, obviously, gets to be like me - and realizes it. So why are we made to feel that we need to have a man in our lives? Why are we made to feel once hitched, it's time to have a baby?! You have no idea how many times my married friends with kids tell me to stop 'posing' and go start a family. I HAVE A FAMILY! It's Bruce and I. We have a full night's rest every night and we're happy.
If you have a single girlfriend out there, don't try and set her up. Please don't ask her why she's single because either she wants to be single or she obviously doesn't know the answer to that stupid question. People are sometimes quite contented with where they are. Ever thought of that? No need to mess them up. Keep your 'good deeds' to yourselves. Otherwise it won't be too long before someone else get another girlfriend calling or emailing them about another rendezvous or ugly divorce procedure.
I just got off the phone with my college room-mate. What can I say...
I received a not-so-happy email from Melody last night accusing me of not keeping in contact. Now Melody and I have were roomies for a year in college. We got along well and had fun. She wasn't exactly the partying type of girl but she was a good enough room-mate and we laughed a lot together. She wasn't the most well liked girl on campus but I liked her. She was nice to me. I was probably the first non-American she'd ever come across and I doubt she's met many more since me. She tolerated my insanity and I tolerated her mess - how, I don't even know. We always got along well - even when we hated each other's guts. It's hard to explain. But it's easy to recognize our difference once you walk into our rooms. Her side of the wall is filled with Disney characters and mine, well, mine was filled with half naked men (hey, I'm the normal one here! :D). We email and chat online once in awhile but certainly not religiously. Needless to say when I got this email I was a little surprised. I wrote back and gave her a brief update of my life and asked the same of her. Well, I got a shock this morning when I read that she, like the rest of my other high school and college girlfriends, is getting a divorce
Of course I called her immediately. A little worried. I've never met her husband but the few times I have communicated with him on the phone, he's never come across as being 'nice'. She answered the phone sounding suspicious. I was using my calling card so it probably read a Denver number. "KAREN!!", she screamed immediately recognizing the way I yell 'Melody!'. She still talks like she's home for the weekend from school and updating me on her life in in-the-middle-of-nowhere-vernon, connecticut. Thirteen years have swooshed by. Wow, how I have changed and like-to-believe, progressed, and how she err... hasn't. She's got a graduate degree in horticulture. Yet, since graduation, she's been working at the Disney Store - big shock there, NOT! Then she started telling me how HOT Mark is... uh oh, I just knew where the conversation was heading. "MELODY, YOU CHEATED ON YOUR HUSBAND!?" She laughs...
It makes me wonder about women who get married out of pressure. I know some of these girls I know certainly did. I also know some married girlfriends who aren't the most sensitive when putting a question across. Why do married women make single women believe that being married would make everything better? Worst, why would our parents make me believe that? LOL! Yes, sometimes, if you're lucky, life really is better. I got lucky! VERY LUCKY! Still, not every women, obviously, gets to be like me - and realizes it. So why are we made to feel that we need to have a man in our lives? Why are we made to feel once hitched, it's time to have a baby?! You have no idea how many times my married friends with kids tell me to stop 'posing' and go start a family. I HAVE A FAMILY! It's Bruce and I. We have a full night's rest every night and we're happy.
If you have a single girlfriend out there, don't try and set her up. Please don't ask her why she's single because either she wants to be single or she obviously doesn't know the answer to that stupid question. People are sometimes quite contented with where they are. Ever thought of that? No need to mess them up. Keep your 'good deeds' to yourselves. Otherwise it won't be too long before someone else get another girlfriend calling or emailing them about another rendezvous or ugly divorce procedure.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Why I Can't Shop At Walmart Anymore
I cannot shop at Walmart anymore - not in 10 lifetimes. We just returned from getting some hangers there and it's been at least six months since I was last there. Tonight, my final time shopping there has reminded me why I will not be seen back there ever again? No, I cannot let myself ever shop at Walmart ever again. Not in ten lifetimes! No... not because those stupid Christians on TV actually took out airtime to tell us not to - what do they know, they believe in freakin' fairies! Not because it's now a little farther away from us since we have a second, even bigger and fancier Target closer to our house... and it certainly is not because it is probably the cheapest place in town to buy ANYTHING. I just can't shop at Walmart anymore because:
1. I feel like I'm in New Orleans after the hurricane DURING looting
2. I don't feel like I'm actually shopping in the US nor any civilized nation
3. People working there don't have the attention span of a 3 yr old - they can't
check you out without talking to the cashier three aisles away or the last
customer they'd just checked out
4a. They have an "Express Lane" for customers buying 20 items or less (95 percent of the people have 20 items or less). That means you can choose between the Express Line (with 28 people waiting) or the other lines (with 3 people each with 472 items). Nice choice...
4b. The people in the Express lane can pay with coins, third party checks, coupons, gift certificates, currency they printed on inkjet printers, and anything else they can barter.
4c. The Express Lane has this sign posted: "Only 20 Itmes Please". While I appreciate the courteous use of "please", I wish they would have spelled it "pleeze" to keep with Walmart's Holiday Illiteracy theme.
5. I can't deal with shopping with hobos
6. I don't respect people who buy candle warmers so can keep their rooms scented
without burning their candles
7. I don't respect people who try to save every cent and buy a potato peeler that
peels them curly fries
8. I don't need to save 30 cents per shopping trip
9. I don't want to be shot if I honk at a moronic driver in the parking lot
10. It's a suckie shopping experiance no matter the time of the day
11. I prefer quality versus quantity
12. Target is SOOO much nicer (and it's not even that nice)!
It's so bad ROMT is even thinking of dropping our Sam's Club membership and moving to Costco. It's a sad day when we think about leaving Sam's Club, not because it's bad, but because it sits next to Walmart.
1. I feel like I'm in New Orleans after the hurricane DURING looting
2. I don't feel like I'm actually shopping in the US nor any civilized nation
3. People working there don't have the attention span of a 3 yr old - they can't
check you out without talking to the cashier three aisles away or the last
customer they'd just checked out
4a. They have an "Express Lane" for customers buying 20 items or less (95 percent of the people have 20 items or less). That means you can choose between the Express Line (with 28 people waiting) or the other lines (with 3 people each with 472 items). Nice choice...
4b. The people in the Express lane can pay with coins, third party checks, coupons, gift certificates, currency they printed on inkjet printers, and anything else they can barter.
4c. The Express Lane has this sign posted: "Only 20 Itmes Please". While I appreciate the courteous use of "please", I wish they would have spelled it "pleeze" to keep with Walmart's Holiday Illiteracy theme.
5. I can't deal with shopping with hobos
6. I don't respect people who buy candle warmers so can keep their rooms scented
without burning their candles
7. I don't respect people who try to save every cent and buy a potato peeler that
peels them curly fries
8. I don't need to save 30 cents per shopping trip
9. I don't want to be shot if I honk at a moronic driver in the parking lot
10. It's a suckie shopping experiance no matter the time of the day
11. I prefer quality versus quantity
12. Target is SOOO much nicer (and it's not even that nice)!
It's so bad ROMT is even thinking of dropping our Sam's Club membership and moving to Costco. It's a sad day when we think about leaving Sam's Club, not because it's bad, but because it sits next to Walmart.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
