a day in the life...

2007-02-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

PAAC 20th Anniversary Gold Tickets (Table for 10)

PAAC 20th Anniversary Blue Tickets (Tickets for 2)

PAAC 20th Anniversary Ticket (Single (1) Ticket)

2006-01-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

a new year...

i am so determined to make this new year great! part of me feels like positive change is just around the corner and minor blips that i've already encountered are nothing.

but first a recap of the past holiday weeks:
-i was off from dec 23rd to jan 2nd - what a long vacation! the break made me feel like i was still in school

-we had a christmas eve party at our house w/ some family friends. all the kids are my age now, but most of us are down to play games. we played cranium, taboo, and spoons, plus for some reason, we got into a question and answer period with some of the older "kids" (they're actually over 30) about pregnancy, which was interesting, but i won't bore you with the details about my new found knowledge regarding breast pumps

-christmas was lo-key and was spent at my uncle's house in dublin and my aunt's house in union city. two of my uncles have new babies (allison and christian) who are both so cute and not at all cry babies. my little cousin lea is showing signs of being the ultimate middle child -- she was whining the whole night whenever her parents were paying attention to allison and not her. but she's cute too and is loving to her new little sister.

-despite making all these plans to go snowboarding, i did not go. shucks :(

-i was in san diego from dec 29 to jan 2nd, which was a lot of fun. my old roomies jane, eileen, and ro were all down in sd as well as oscar, who was in for winter break.

thursday night, i was able to meet up with my cousin, kristy, who was in town from singapore, in downtown sd. she and my other cousins took me out when i was in the philippines in 2000/2001, so i was happy that i had a chance to meet up with her. her job is really interesting -- she works for a big consumer products firm and she is responsible for the marketing and advertising of on of their brands in australia (e.g. tv campaigns, newspaper advertsing, promotional pricing). and she's 2 years younger than me -- i'm kinda jealous. afterwards, eileen, jane, and i went to bar dynamite, a small hip-hop spot. bar dynamite was fun, but some guy that i didn't want to dance with booed me and gave me a thumbs down across the dance floor. who does that?! lame-o. no wonder no one wants to dance with you. besides, i didn't feel like being the meat in a dance sandwich.

friday night, jane, eileen, ro, chris, novette, and i went to the house of blues cuz ro's brother ollie hooked us up with tickets. the house of blues was so fun and afterwards, we went to los alazanes (sp?), formerly albertos, near my friends' house in chula vista, where i got my 3 rolled tacos with guacamole grub on! i soooo love mexican food.

saturday night was new years eve and we all just wanted to do something lo-key. so we hit the family party scene at eileen's and then i spent the rest of night just playing scrabble at jane's place with her brother and his friend. also went to zapata's in paradise hills during the day and got an oh so wonderful california burrito (carne asada, fried potatoes, salsa, cheese, and sour cream!).

sunday, i watched "rumor has it", which actually wasn't that bad. more of a rental (but what movie in the theater isn't a rental these days), but not as bad as all the reviews out there.

back home monday, where i slept so much in preparation of the work week.

besides that, my birthday is coming up, and i don't feel too stressed out about getting another year older. my parents have been on my case lately about my having grandchildren which is starting to get torturous. they don't even question if i'm dating anyone or interested in anyone--they simply question (rather repeatedly) when they are going to have grandchildren. what's wrong with these people?!

also, it's dine about town time in san francisco, until jan 31st. i went to fringale for lunch on friday, which was excellent. here's the link if you're interested: http://www.sfdineabouttown.com/.

my parents and i are doing a mini-biggest loser competition. $100 each, and the winner who loses the biggest percentage gets the pot. i figure that i'd be down to pay $100 to motivate my parents to lose weight.

2005-12-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

100K and other things...

my 99 honda accord has passed the 100k mark -- is that too soon? no clue. but benchmarks like this makes me reflective. 100,000 miles of wild rides, road trips, unintelligent decisions, and both significant and insignificant moments. i have become a different person in these past 6+ years, and i often wonder what moment has been the most influential.

-getting pulled over after a night of partying: didn't get the DUI, but i continue to be scared out of my mind whenever i drive home after drinking (even after just 2 drinks). definitely put my party-girl ways to rest

-getting laid off after six months at my first job out of college: i would have never had the chance to live in nyc or chicago if i still remained at my first job. and i realized for the first time that some things can't be planned, no matter how much i try to play it safe

-death of a loved one: i'm not sure what had more of an impact -- losing someone that i loved so much or knowing that this selfless, caring woman died knowing that her husband didn't really love her anymore. kind of messes up my former idealized notions of love and relationships.

i know i sound dark and pessimistic but i am hopeful that i am not. i rationalize that i'm just more realistic. and just as these moments have changed me, new moments can alter my attitude as well.

other things...
-went to happy hour today with the co-workers. funny how a little alcohol and out of office time always leads to some heartfelt venting.
-had the christmas party with the berkeley peeps. that was fun! gosh darn it, i was this close to bringing home the erotic dice -- nice steal ro! haha
-celebrated eric's bday at luna lounge. it's been so long since i've had a chance to dance with my homegirls. strange thing, i saw this one person by the bathrooms that i recognized. i couldn't figure out why she looked so familiar, but then i realized much later that i went to high school with her. oops.
-went to wonderfull at mighty last month. i love stevie wonder! all these random people were there, including someone that i used to carpool with in elementary school. small world

song of the moment:
love it or leave it by alicia keys, mos def, & common

2005-11-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

toaster oven hits the spot!

last week was a good week. there's a new sandwich shop down the street from my work that tastes just like potbelly in chicago. potbelly was one of the places that i knew i would miss, but now all my cravings for a yummy toasted sandwich with hot peppers are now satisfied.

2005-11-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

learning is fun!

i'm back to studying to occupy my time. i'm partly freaked about this exam that i plan on taking in june called the CFA Program Level 1 exam. (CFA stands for Chartered Financial Analyst). i'm getting sponsored by my company (even though it is only slightly related to my current job) as long as i pass everything. the exam is tough -- they recommend studying 250+ hours and it only has a 30% pass rate (yikes!). i start taking review classes in january, but right now i'm focused on reviewing the material i'm not so comfortable with, like accounting and economics.

not much else is going on...saw mos def, talib kweli, pharoah monche, and jean grae on oct 30th. it was bomb, but now i have truly seen all the hip-hop shows that i will ever need to.

album of the moment: The Once and Future, Jazzyfatnastees - oldie but goodie from my college days; great for studying to.

2005-10-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

the best things in life are free!

last night i saw the black eyed peas and blackalicious for free at monster Park (aka candlestick park) with olivia, alan, eric, marjorie, rowena, eric, dale, lisa, and shirley. since it was free, we all assumed that the black eyed peas were going to have a weak set and only play only a few songs. to our suprise, they performed closer to 15 or so songs, including freestyle, breakdancing, and musician solos. apl even performed "bebot", a tagalog rap that i never in my wildest dreams thought i would hear live. when he started to sing "filipino! filipino! filipino!" people were pumping their hands in the air -- it was awesome! i'm in total "must download their album" mode. thank goodness for my subscription to yahoo music, which has more than once satiated my need to listen to random songs and download them to my mp3 player.

i must say, much props to honda for hosting a bunch of free concerts around the country to promote the new 2006 civic.

on another note, why the heck did my last post get deleted? the basic gist was that i took a bunch of group shots with my co-workers for pictures for my company's career website...if the sight of me as a potential co-worker is not enough to recruit people, i don't know what is! haha. just kidding...really :)

also, last friday, i went to the social club in sf. that was cool too. its always nice to see people i haven't seen in years! afterwards we went to lucky chances and got our -ilog grub on! i have to say that the chickensilog is quite tasty.

song of the moment: "bebot" by black eyed peas

2005-10-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

life of a blagger....

so much has happened in this past month and a half...

i moved back to the bay, painted my room, and started my new job in san francisco. even though i haven't done anything too exciting, it's such a relief to be back home.

quick highlights of things i've done since my last post:

-returned to chicago for a weekend trip with my friends...it was strange being in the city as a tourist vs as a resident for a change
-ran the 12K bridge to bridge run. i would hardly call myself a runner, but it's cool knowing that i have 7.5mi under my belt (and i ran the whole way).
-watched an a's games. go oakland! too bad they were already out of contention for the playoffs
-play softball regularly on a friend's work team. we haven't really been winning, but that feeling of hitting the ball is unbelieveable.

looking forward to the following in the near future:
-girls night out w/ the homegirls
-mos def and talib kweli in SF!

songs of the moment:
"heard them say" by kanye west, featuring adam levine from maroon 5
"god only knows" remade by joss stone
"unbreakable" by alicia keys

2005-08-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

the day laughter died...

this past weekend, i was really looking forward to watching the improv olympic 25th reunion show here in chicago. the show was sold out and the featured performers included mike myers, tim meadows, amy poehler, rachel dratch, horatio sanz, andy richter, and andy dick. i was able to get tickets for face value on friday, the day before the show and when i got there, i realized that i got 5th row seats! so the stars seemed aligned, right? got tickets for face value to a star-studded show during my last weekend here in chicago--what could be better?

OH MY GOSH! what a horrible, horrible show! first, the wireless mics were jacked - no one could not really hear what the performers were saying. so to solve this problem, they had the performers hold mics or talk into mics set up on stands, which didn't really solve the problem because the people in the balcony still could not hear. because they were filming the show for HBO, when they realized that there were problems with the audio, they would have to repeat a performance or repeat an introduction so that it would get recorded properly. i guess this would be acceptable if the show and the performances made up for the technical difficulties. but NOOO, the performers weren't funny either. by intermission, it seemed like almost half the audience had left. i found out later, a lot of people were asking for refunds. i decided to stick it out to the end because i hoped it would get better, but overall, there was not much improvement in the second half. i felt really bad for some people because i know they paid way more than face to see such a bad show.

after seeing a regular improv olympic show with gary when he was here a last week and seeing this show, i WOULD NOT recommend watching an improv show here in chicago. i've seen second city shows (which includes some improv but mostly skits) and their shows are significantly better than improv olympic.

2005-08-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

sailing...takes me away to where I've always heard it could be...

crazy...who would have thought that someone like me would ever go sailing on lake michigan. definitely a whole different experience--i felt somewhat out of place because its such a bourgeois thing to do and i am of humble beginnings (ok, that's a bit exaggerated, but not that much). i guess the whole experience was similar to the feeling i had when i first ate dinner at a nice restaurant. a proper end to my time here in chicago (i'm leaving on august 31st) and probably a reminder of how out of place i've felt while i've been here (1 year, 4 months, 10 days and counting).

i went sailing with one of my boss' employees, Dirk, Darren (part owner of the boat w/ Dirk and some other guy), and 2 other guys my age (Brian and Tom, who work for Equity Office). an MBA intern at work was supposed to go with us, but he was feeling a little quesy from a night of partying and didn't want to risk getting sick on the boat. so i didn't really know anyone on the boat, but my experience in chicago has also taught me to be comfortable doing things on my own, so it was cool.

i took some amazing pictures of the chicago skyline and of the boat, which i have yet to upload onto my computer, so i will probably include them tonight or tomorrow. honestly, i was a little scared at first (because i had no idea what to expect) and didn't know how rocky it was supposed to be. We would turn and change directions (the term is "tack" i think) and i would have to quickly go to the other side of the boat. There were all these different sails (the jib, kite, and the other one), they would "cut" and "trim" the lines, put the "wrench" in the "pocket" -- it was like i was in a foreign country hearing a foreign language. luckily, i also took some bonine (equivalent to dramamine, but this brand was recommended by my aunt), because there were a few moments when i felt somewhat queasy, but never too bad. they let me steer the boat as we were coming back, and that was cool also.

can't wait to move back to the bay, but i can't believe just how behind i am with packing. the movers come saturday morning and i have so much to do.