March Birthday

So the other day hubby brought up this suggestion for my birthday present -- lasix surgery. I wasn't sure if I should say it's sweet or freaky. A surgery as a gift?

I've had pretty bad eye-sight for most of my life. Maybe I can't say that. But I've had fairly bad eye-sight since my first eye examination. Whether it was due to my poor reading habit as a kid or genetics (in which I didn't even stand a chance), there was no way to pin point. So one of my "three wishes" (Haven't you always question yourself that, IF you can have 3 wishes, AND the last one cannot be for more wishes, what would they be. Yeah, it's that kind of a scenario.) was to have perfect eye-sight again (?). Never had I thought it'd happen in this life time and I didn't even need a genie from a bottle for that.

The idea of a lasix eye surgery is still very scary. How others can just go and get it done without seemingly a lot of thought was beyond me. But recently reading this article on MSN (which I could no longer find) about how looks matter at the work place, I think I'll eventually take the big plunge and get it done. I guess if sh*t happen, it's just my luck.

Here's An Interesting Love Story

Movie: A Day Without a Mexican

What a STUPID movie!! Don't get me wrong. I have lot of respect for the guy (guys?) who produced this movie to make a statement/political statement/send a message to as many people as possible, but it's just dragged on for sooooo LOOOOONNNGGGG. It's not exactly a very complicated plot. Granted, I wasn't expected the normal Hollywood style lots of actios, lots of explosion, but gee, can you really sit there for TWO hours and watch a movie about nothing but Mexicans were gone. I mean, we GOT the message after the first 45 mins... Even HUBBY, who has a longer attention span than me, had to fast forward the movie just to get it over with.

If anything, it did make me want to go for a big, juicy carnitas burrito afterward.

Insight of the Day

Taco Bell is really the Mexican equivalent of chicken with yellow sauce...

When East Meet West

Okay, let's get something straight here:

1. The kind of Chinese food that you see in grocery store aka Panda Inn style -- fried rice or steam rice or chow mien with two side dish combo including but not limited to broccoli beef, chicken in red or yellow sauce, and sweet and sour pork is NOT real Chinese food.

For the record, we have Hong Kong or Taiwan style "western food" too. And if you ever seen what's served, you'd probably go, "Huh?"

2. There is no such thing as "fortune cookie." It exists only in US. I recalled watching "Rebel Billionaire" and they went to Hong Kong and the guys started looking for fortune cookie. Including the founder/owner of LoveSac, who had spent three years in China, they were all very surprised that they couldn't find fortune cookies in Hong Kong. In retrospect, I suppose there really isn't any ways they'd know that fortune cookies are an American thing. (They finally found them. Although it's not culturally Chinese, fortune cookies are probably still "made in China.")

3. To-go boxes are also an American adaption. Taking your leftovers to go is frowned upon, at least in Hong Kong. Besides, the portion of meals in Hong Kong were actually made for human consumption. There shouldn't be need for those white box, which in recent design has lost their handy little metal handle for more convenient microwave reheating purposes.

4. Don't even get me started on chopstick fonts. There isn't even any alphabets in Chinese. We have characters, not alphabets.

5. Hero, House of the Flying Daggers, Disney's Mulan are movies made for American audiences, they do NOT, I repeat, NOT, represent mainstream Chinese movies. (And for the love of God, Disney did not create Mulan. I mean they made it into a movie, and conveniently mangled up the ending. It was written by a dude name Hans Christian Anderson in the year 1837, but that belongs in a different entry.)

6. People in China no longer dress like they do in those movies. Nor do they in Hong Kong or Taiwan or Singapore, or other places with Chinese.

7. Not all Chinese knows Kung Fu. And we can't defy physics and fly in air.

8. If you like martial art movies other than Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and House of the Flying Daggers. More power to you. But that's only one genre of Chinese movies. For one thing, we also have modern movies. You know, those with cars and elevators and skyscrapers and people dressing in jeans or suits or sweats.

Woo Hoo! Life (Blogging) Is Good Again! :D

So here goes:

I woke up. I played with kitty. I get dressed. I played with kitty some more. I get ready to leave the house. I played with kitty again. I went to work and returned home. I played with kitty...

So I hadn't been blogging a lot lately (and this is so not the first time I started out a blog entry this way). I was reading this article in which the author was referring to most blogs out there as "egoistic" and with "lots of spelling errors." And I was really bummed out by that comment (speaking of being egoistic). And I felt offended. Now that's taking things personally considering the person who wrote that probably never seen my blog and never will. And quite frankly, I can't even say that his observation was incorrect... Well, in my own defense (to who?), I just want to clarify that I don't blog because I believe that others out there care about all the painstaking minute occurences in my life. I blog because I have a passion for writing. (Like that somehow makes my blog better than others. Hahaha.) And I'd like to avoid this turning into literally my online diary, but let's be honest, how many of us have deep, insightful thoughts everyday? Or something to funny to write about. And if we do, we'll be writing for $$$! :D

But couple good things happened today. ^_^ (Yeah, "ut oh," is right, here comes what I think is greater than life but will bore you to tears...) First I stumbled onto this blog where this guy actually SAID he enjoyed reading others' blogs and learning about their lives (I'm sure some blogs interest him more than others). And although I knew he wasn't referring to mine, it certainly got me out of my blogging blues. I'd mention his blog on here, when I got around to digging out his URL. ^_-

Second, some guy who claimed to be Craig from Craig's List left a comment on my blog!!! Holy Cow!! Pardon me for being a bit skeptical. For us nerds/geeks out geeks, Craig was about as close as it gets to a celebrity. I suppose the founder of eBay would be a celebrity too, but I don't believe she is the owner of eBay anymore. I suppose there's also Bill Gates out there, albeit my love for Microsoft products (scroll down and check out my recommendated web browser, hint hint).

First there's Mike Resnick (Sci Fi writer), then there's Craig Newmark. Life is certainly good ("Simple mind, simple pleasure." -- Jim Davis, in Garfield) I swear, sometimes it's my oddest blog entries that will attact the unimaginable and get feedbacks. :)

And for those of you who are here looking for tips on planting/transplanting/maintaining/killing banana trees, my apology for the deception... :)

As for my when-I-caught-them-I-just-want-want-dig-a-hole-and-burrow-myself-in-it kind of shameful spelling errors... well, sometimes I try to squeeze time to blog ah... and it was very late at night ah... you get the drift... :)

Who Said Money Can't Buy Happiness III

I want 3.2 MP Credit Card Size Digital Camera HELLO KITTY Edition. T.T

It was released in Japan in December, 2004. Why is US so slow on getting these cutsie gadgets, if ever? T.T

Bay Area II

It's been three weeks since the move. That means we'll be able to see our new, custom-ordered couch in no more than 5 (yes, I said FIVE) weeks.

And hard as it may be to admit it, I'm starting to fall in love with Silicon Valley. And that's NOT because every well-known tech company under the sun has an office here (Netgear, ATI, Ebay, Yahoo, Google... where's Craig located, you know, the Craig from Craig's list...). It's all TOO nice to be able to drive no more than 20 mins any way to get to some type of Chinese stuff (groceries, sweets, mangas, videos). I am LOVING it here!

And there are also LOTS of Prius here. I can't wait to get my own. T.T (<- that's the emoticon for tears streaming down my face, btw). Maybe they'll have more COLOR selections for 2006??!!! What's with the different WHITE and different PEARL and different SILVER colors? It's a CAR! I'm not trying to paint my wall here.

Oh, and one more interesting and noticeable "phenomenum" in the bay area. The green lights are long enough for about 4 (FOUR) cars to pass and the yellow lights last for about 3 seconds. I WONDER WHY SO MANY PEOPLE RUN THE RED LIGHTS??!!!

Now I just need to find a bay area blogger list to get onto. ^_^

Who Said Money Can't Buy Happiness II

The next toy that I want to get:

http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/catalog/productview.jhtml?sku=CZ307

(I can't post pictures just yet because we just got internet access yesterday, haven't set up any accounts yet.)

It is a 2 MP credit card camera WITH water proof case. All for the low, low price of $119.99. For those of you who has been following my blog (LOLOL), yes, I have upgraded from 0.3 MP to 1.3 MP and soon to 2.0 MP. Have I mentioned that it also has a small, small LCD display screen? :) Yes, call me spoiled. Read my motto of the day!

I Stand Corrected

Hubby made a fuss today about me commenting on how he likes Chinese movies because they are slap stick comedies. *rolls eyes* Why oh why did I tell him this URL? Oh, that's right, he's one of my 3 loyal readers. :D

So here's the correction to my previous post. Hubby's appreciation for comedies is not limited to slapsticks, he also has an appreciation for MINDLESS comedies! As evidence by his favorite comedy of all time -- "8 Heads in a Duffle Bag."

Tomorrow he's going to argue with me that that was NOT his favorite comedy... Ah well, gives me more stuff to blog about, right? ;)

Hubby and Chinese Comedies

Found a video rental store that has REAL Chinese DVDs. I stress REAL Chinese DVDs for a reason. Back in Sacramento, all the stores (that are usually within a Chinese grocery store) inevitably rent VHS tapes. To make matter worse, these were not original VHS, these are copies that they've made. Add that to the fact that a million people have already watched it, the quality was simply unacceptable. If they have to make copies, can't they at least make VCDs??

So I was pretty happy when I found a place that rent DVDs, and NOT homemade DVDs, the real, copy right attached copy!! Interestingly enough, hubby picked out more movies than I. Everytime we go there, he'd beeline towards the comedy section. "Beeline" was just a figure of speech, there's only one shelf. Some movies were divided by the famous actors, other's by category. Hubby said, "I have never watched a Chinese comedy that was not funny." I found that odd, it's not like humor was one of Asian's strong suit. Then I realized something -- hubby loves them slapstick comedies. Evidently slapstick comedies are like arts and music and certain body gestures -- they are international.

Bay Area

It's been two weeks since the move. The ironic thing is, when I have all the time in the world to blog to my heart's contend (being unemployed), there's nothing to write about, mainly because without a job, or a kid I guess, I literally have no life. I suppose I could write about the unpacking saga. And how that ONE box that we left behind has all the stuff that we need. (I'm sure there's already a Murphy's Law written for that one).

This being a temporary resident (I sure hope I won't be renting this place for the rest of my life!), I don't feel like unpacking and displaying my entire book collection. In fact, I'm kicking myself for collecting books in the first place -- there are so many better alternatives, like stamps, takes up less room and easier to move from place to place. But you know, when you buy your first house, you get this misconception that this is "permanant," or at least I'll most likely be stuck in the area (Sacramento) semi-permanantly. Who'd ever thought...

Although I have lived here 7-years ago, I have forgotten how wishy-washy the weather in bay area is. It could rain and then turn sunny and rain again and turn sunny again ALL IN THE SAME DAY!!! When I was a kid, the saying had it that a woman's mood is like weather. I guess this is the kind of weather it was referring to. (I wonder if that statement is still politically correct in our society in US today.) Regardless, is it a pure coincident that women's mood resemble that of the weather, or our mood reflecting the weather -- sunny = more serotonin = happier, cheerful women; rainy/overcast = less serotonin = more moody, irritable women? ;)

Time Travel?

Found some funny stuff on the web today. :) Check it out.

Anyone else interested?

Settling In

We are finally starting to settle in in our new "home." The boxes are half unpacked, and we've already done a few home cooked meals. The hubby is being undecisive on whether he likes the job or not (his answer goes back and forth depending on the day). I suppose I should job hunt again (third time since the start of this blog, hurrah, hurrah, and my cat is probably one of the most moved cat -- about eight times in her 10 years of existence), now that we are in the horribly expensive bay area, my not working is no longer an option. :~(

Hubby was already saying that he'd like to move to a cheaper area "in a year's time or so." Ack! Not what I want to hear while I am still UNPACKING!!!

Lots of Asian amenities around -- restaurants (that serve more than just chicken in red sauce and chicken in yellow sauce), groceries, and REAL bookstores (the kinda that carry bizarre books that might never sell. The weather is, of course, beautiful for the most part. Perhaps the bay area is not that bad after all. :)

Movie: Shall We Dance?

I'll give it a B-. Not much I want to comment on this movie, except for the fact that it based on a Japanese comedy by the same name made in 1995. I have an issue that they (the US version) decided to give the audiences that little tid-bit (that it's based on a Japanese movie) at the BEGINNING of the movie and along with it they had exerpts (pretty much the entire movie) from the original Japanese version. Ugh. It's like giving you a summary of a story you were about to read. What's the point? Granted, it's not exactly a detective story that has lots of twists and such, but still. I hate, hate, HATE getting a run down of a movie I'm about to watch. Grrrrrrr.

Movie: First Daughter

Kinda kiddy-ish. I guess it's really aimed at audiences a tad younger than me. (Do not read on if you don't want to find out about the twist in the movie. As if, right? ;) I think the fact that the boyfriend turned out to be a secret agent was kinda cute. Yeah, wasn't that big of a twist. Many would probably argue that they've seen it coming a mile away, but I am slow like that. :)) Which is good, cause it makes movies more enjoyable for me. ^_^ The guy who played the boyfriend/bodyguard was kinda cute. :) So was the big black secret service. Let's just say I won't kick him out of bed. ^_^

Didn't like the ending much that it hinted there might be possibilities of the relationship going on. Same thing with "The Prince and I," I think sometimes, even in movies that's aimed at younger audiences, it doesn't hurt to be more realistic that certain romances, are just unattainable. It's not always necessary to have a "happy ending."

How the Cat Got Spoiled

I read on this article that cats are not naturally vocal. It's when they cohabit with humans they learned that their owners respond much better to sound that they adapt the ability to "talk."

Over the course of ten years, my cat has learned that "mew mew" will get the door opened and closed for her. "Mew mew" will get her new, fresh food to replace those that has been sitting out for TWO hours. "Mew mew" will also get her fresh water. Today my cat learned a new trick, "mew mew" will also get my husband to open the blinds for her (or shall I say the husband learned a new trick today?) so she can bask in the sun.

I thought cats are nocturnal. What do they even care about basking in the sun??

Who Said Money Can't Buy Happiness?

Check out this complete system that'd allow you to experience the motion like that of a movie star.

D-Box -- The Odyssee Experience

Read what they have to say on their website:

Odyssee uses a two or four point suspension system to lift and move your seating in perfect synchronization with the onscreen action and sound, creating a virtual-reality experience in your living room or home theater. You're literally drawn into the action as never before, experiencing the same motional forces as the actors and players you're watching.

The Move to the Bay Area

So the big move was over, at least I hope so. Just like any other moves in the course of history, it was a hectic experience. I suggested to spend an entire day loading so we could pick up the odds and ends as we go then drive and unload the next day to make the experience as untraumatic as possible, but noooooo, hubby decided literally the last minute that since we could finish packing before 3 PM, we should just hop into our cars and go. Not to mention that he had conveniently underestimated the amount of junk that we possess and downgraded the Uhaul to a smaller size. Ugh. We had to load up our SUV AND shanghai a friend to help AND loaded up his Baja AND spent the next day driving back to Sacramento and loading up BOTH of our cars to bring more stuff down. Well, at least we weren't moving to a different state.

My entire weekend was packing and driving and loading and driving and unpacking and more driving and it just seemed that the world was spinning and spinning and spinning around me.

Never had I thought that after residing in the bay area for five years, leaving for seven, I'd be returning here because the Montana boy whom I've met in Sacramento was taking me back here. Life has a funny way to work itself out. Ah well, as long as I overlook the fact that the housing prices are unrealistically high and that my family also lives in the same area, this is not a bad place to be.

Blogging and I

I havent' been blogging much lately, as evidenced by Hubby kind reminder, "You haven't blogged in over a week!~~~" said with whiney voice and pouty face, sounding very disappointed every time he checked my blog. I must say, even coming from my Husband (as Chinese would say, "The florist says the flowers smell good" -- doesn't count), I felt very flattered every time I heard that. :)

To me, blogging is a creative process. And in order for a creative process to take place, certain criterias must be met (I'm a picky person!): time of the day (preferrably in the evening), location (living room or bedroom), number of individuals in the house (I prefer to blog when I am alone). In addition to all of the above, I also prefer blogging from the laptop, over the desktop. I tend to think better when I am not stuck in a straight back chair. So the death of my beloved Sony Vaio laptop didn't help much on the blogging end either. And the night shift job for the last three weeks had effectively took out all my precious blogging AND movie-watching time. :~(

BUT, good news to my loyal readers (?), my brand spanking new, top of the line Gateway M700 laptop shall arrive in my new house (rental :( next Tuesday and Parsoni, the avid blogger, shall, therefore, return. :)