January 2006
January 1, 2006
Wow, I can't sleep for the life of me. That's okay, you say, cuz that means it's blog time! As an extra bonus to my loyal readership, here is a review of Felix's 2005, Broadway style! See if you can figure out how the songs relate to their corresponding months. And don't worry if you can't figure them all out right away, you can just go back through my calendar. ;-)
January: Avenue Q - There's a Fine, Fine Line
February: Johann Strauss - Emperor Waltz
March: Five Iron Frenzy - O Canada
April: Pure Pwnage - World of Warcraft is a Feeling
May: Beauty and the Beast - Be Our Guest
June: Vitamin C - Graduation
July: Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come
August: Elvis Presley - Viva Las Vegas
September: 311 - All Mixed Up
October: Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends
November: Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
December: Rascal Flatts - Feels Like Today
Happy 2006, everyone!
January 3, 2006
Hello, again.
Despite my freakish sleeping patterns the last two or three days, I managed to get up today for work and not be late (after a full eight hours, I might add), so yay! As for my health, I am happy to report that I am about 99% better. Why the 1%, you ask? Well, there’s this inexplicable twitch in my arm since this morning. It could be caffeine-related though.
So in honor of the year of the dog (well, technically not really yet, but work with me here), I have a dog-related story to tell. As many of you know, 1982 was an awesome year. Just as Tina and Melisa have about a million different piggie things for the year of their birth, I have a lot of little doggie things for mine. However, one thing that I really wanted to get for myself was another one of those little bobble-head dogs for my car, just like the pug that I had in the Corolla. So I went and did it. Unbeknownst to me, there were two inherent flaws in my plan.
The first is that I apparently have a serious problem in differentiating between animals, for those who had seen the little guy had all called him by many different names. Thus far, I’ve heard that it is: a dog, a cat, a raccoon, a mouse, a bear, a pig, or some absurd mixture of the previously mentioned animals. Now this bothers me a little. Either my family, friends, and I are all mentally challenged in some way or the folks at the bobble-head company just wanted to cover their bases and make some super animal that covers all twelve Chinese zodiac signs. Whatever the case may be, I could live with that.
Now what I couldn’t live with is the fact this supposedly cute little porcelain animal figure had genitalia and I had somehow missed it before making this important purchase. Yeah yeah, laugh it up! Anyway, thanks to my brother for pointing this out (after laughing at me for a full five minutes), I quickly removed this ‘action’ figure from my car and replaced it with my good ol’ trusty sidekick, the pug. Needless to say, if I had to spend that much time in my commute everyday, I’d rather have ugly than male porn.
God, why does this stuff only happen to me?!
Ah, the age-old question, who is cooler, Cantonese or Mandarin people? Related story here.
Vote today!
January 5, 2006
Shamelessly stole this from David 1's Xanga, cuz apparently, I'm really greedy. ::whistles::
Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz
January 8, 2006
Kinda on a short fuse tonight for whatever reason. Consequently, I'm going to rant! Everybody likes a good rant post once in a while.
1. My phone: I don't know if it's just the location or something, but no one can get reception in this house! Normally, I can live with this, but I was trying to teach my mom how to use the computer while on it and let me tell you, this was one of those moments where you're like, okay just shoot me now. Frustration compounded by even more frustration. Lovely.
2. The Patriots and Bill Simmons: I don't know if they paid him off or maybe he's from New England or something, but it's kinda irritating that he keeps saying that the Pats are a dynasty in the making and all that jazz. Okay sure they've won two Superbowls, but those were in the past!! There are *way* better teams out there this year. To make matters worse, they actually won today -- or, more like destroyed the Jags -- to rub it in my face. Thank you, football gods, for making this a year to remember. Heh, and I don't even have a good reason to hate Boston teams, other than well.. yeah.
3. My gym shorts: Yes, the same ones that I microwaved last year to see if they would heat up. I keep forgetting to throw them in the wash cuz they're hidden in my backpack. Four months isn't that long to not have washed something, right? Ew, Felix! Oh well, at least my other clothes are clean..
Alright. I think that's good for now. If I can think of any more tomorrow, I'll add it to the list. Hey! This was kinda fun. :-)
January 9, 2006
Alright, I gotta say this now before I forget.
I love my job, but I think I’ve finally come to the point where I am being relentlessly challenged to come up with a solution to this engineering problem at hand, and there is no escape. In the past, what happened was that my 12 or 14-week internship would end, and I’d go back to school knowing that someone else would pick up right where I had left it. That is not the case now. We’re not in Kansas (or SF, or Fresno, or Vacaville) anymore. I mean, I found myself actually thinking about work the other day as I was waiting to pick up David and Ryan from the airport! What the heck!? Weekends are meant for sleeping in and vegging out. Gee, real life sucks.
January 10, 2006
Huzzah! I think I figured out my 'problem' as of late as to why I’ve been in sort of a bad mood. It’s so simple, too, if you think about it. They ran out of tea in the office! And you know how Chinese people like their tea. As soon as I realized this (roughly at around 6 am this morning, before my alarm), things started to change for the better.
When good Ol’ Alarmy finally screamed at me at 7:15, the first thing that I heard this morning was “... high-speed police chase ended badly at the junction of 85 and 101. Things are a mess out here going every which way. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!†Welp, I guess I’m tweaking my commute slightly today. You don’t have to tell me twice. So I got up a little earlier than usual instead of rolling around till 7:45, as to make a pit stop at Ranch 99 to pick up some of this magic tea. But alas, my ingenious plan was spoiled because they weren’t opened yet! Oh, come on, what is this crap! Safeway was open! However, there is a Starbucks in the same complex, so my tea fixation-turned-obsession was quickly resolved. Yum. A cold, cold Tazo tea lemonade when it’s 42 outside. I am so smart.
Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get any better, it does! Somehow, the fog that had burned off in Cupertino remained in the Sunnyvale/Mountain View area, and this wasn’t that wimpy stuff that you’d see every once in a while in this area either; this was the you’d better turn on your fog lamps because you have visibility for only about one-eighth of a mile type of fog. Quite beautiful, I must say. And dangerous, too.
So yeah, that’s my morning thus far. You know it’s going a good day when your wingman tells you so, and all he had to work with were your gray pants.
Fefoofix: yeah! gray pants, baby!
JuKa828: hahaha
JuKa828: awesome
JuKa828: you know it's gonna be a good day
Fefoofix: you should wear yours too, if it is going to be again
Fefoofix: c'mon, solidarity!
JuKa828: hahaha
JuKa828: but i wore them yesterday!
Fefoofix: weak!
Now if only my experiments would start working..
January 11, 2006
Ew! Note to self: look before you eat your food next time. Life lesson!
So someone took one cookie from my previously unopened bag of chocolate chunks and returned it unsealed, only we have a pretty severe ant problem here. I would have been pretty content, ignorantly munching away had one of those lil guys not ran across my face and tickled me as I was enjoying my treat. As a result, Yves and I had to raid the cupboard for a massive clean up effort. Argh. At least we'll have some cleaners over next week before the big Christmas party, or so I was told.
Oh, I was also told today that I will be getting an officemate next week. Dunno how I feel about that, yet.
January 15, 2006
Let's see.. 132, 136, 139, 162, 158. Not quite where I want to be yet, but not too bad for a 9-month absence. Will have to work to complete goal number 7 in time.
January 16, 2006
I should have taken a floating holiday, but those are so precious nowadays! Gotta save them up for something bigger, like a Hawaii or Hong Kong or London trip, one of which may possibly become a reality later this year.
Not much going on these days, so I’ll just do a quick recap. Friday’s dinner was spent at Wang’s, a small Chinese restaurant on El Camino that apparently changed ownership some time ago. The usual peeps went, and then we all scattered over to Jammix to dance, that is when we’re not chatting with each other and/or blocking the normal flow of traffic. Afterwards, a small number of us headed over to the post-Jammix afterparty at Happy Donuts, where we mingled over coffee, chai tea, and donuts and somewhat awkwardly spoke Mandarin to each other (“ni yao bu yao chi qiao ke li?â€). Since there were two special guests there for the first time, Carrie and Anita, the group was *very* well behaved. Also, since Justin wasn’t there, the number of homo momo comments by them was held to a minimum. Good job, guys.
I woke up early Saturday morning for a board game marathon session, only Justin hadn’t woken up yet, so it was delayed a bit. After our food excursion to In N Out, Justin, Tiff, Brian and I headed back to Sunnyvale for some Tigris and Euphrates and Ingenious action. I really liked the former; it’s one of those games that is quite nerdy and fun, yet not epically so in that it would require a mandated seven people and ten hours of your life (ahem, Diplomacy). That evening, I tagged along with Yves and his family to check out this Chinese bookstore before having Malaysian/Singaporean food in Milpitas.
Sunday morning was supposed to be spent at Palo Alto Bowl with an old high school teammate of mine, who is actually a Stanford PhD chemistry guy now. But alas, he ditched me because he overslept or something, so I flew solo for a good solid two hours. Since my scores were actually posted in the last entry, I guess I have nothing more to say about this topic, other than I’ll probably make this more of a routine as to get my bowling arm and sliding leg back into shape. I don’t think I can hit deuce ten times by August if I don’t go weekly, or at least once every two weeks. After homemade pancakes and a lot of football, I made Melisa come with me to the Valley Fair Mall so that I can do some ‘holiday’ shopping. The trip turned out to be a success, for I found exactly what I needed for this weekend’s party. Go me!
So as to end this on an amusing note (and to explain why that above song is up there), I will post a conversation between my coworker and me while we were down in lab:
Felix: ::whistling something while happily working away::
Iswadi: Dude, what are you whistling? I think I know that song.
Felix: ::thinks how can he possibly know this; he’s not Chinese:: Oh nothing.
Iswadi: ::pauses, gives me a look::
Felix: You’ve heard of Jay Chou?
Iswadi: Yeah! My girlfriend listens to it all the time! Hahahaha!
Felix: Oh crap. ::think of witty comeback.. think of witty comeback::
Iswadi: ::still laughing hysterically::
Felix: Oh yeah? Well I caught you whistling Kelly Clarkson last week, remember? So now we’re even.
Iswadi: ::silence::
January 18, 2006
Douglas is back at work (from Hong Kong)! I now have one more person with whom I can speak Cantonese! I need all the Chinese practice I can get because seriously, yesterday was a sad, sad day.
As usual, Tiff and I met up for our weekly 'business lunch' and so I drove back over to Cupertino because I felt like Chinese food. The host who seated us spoke to us in Mandarin, so naturally, we responded accordingly, but we were caught completely by surprise when he gave us an all-Chinese menu! I mean, neither one of us has mastered the art of the lunch specials character-recognition quite yet, so when Tiff had to ask the busboy for some English menus, I cried a little on the inside. I did try to redeem myself slightly by ordering our dishes entirely in Mandarin (with Tiff's supervision of course); however, the damage had been done. Thus, I told myself that I have to diligently relearn the language, maybe not to the level that I was at when I was seven, but perhaps at least to my level of understanding during my sophomore and junior years. I don't think I can let it slip anymore. This is just too important to me.
So in order to do this, I'm going to first start off by watching Chinese music videos, with words and all, like so. And contrary to popular belief, this is not just an excuse or a cover up so that I'd be able to watch Asian boy bands without being made fun of too much. Or is it..
January 19, 2006
This was too amusing not to post. Justin's and my emails back and forth today:
These Gray Pants Are So Awesome...
F: that when you spill spaghetti sauce on it, it just dries on the spot and you can rub the residue away.
J: that they look like dress pants but are as comfortable as jeans.
F: that you can say stuff like once you've had gray, you'll never stray, and not feel dorky about it.
J: that you can pwn a shaman when you wear them. And no one does that.
F: that you can pwn a hunter when you wear them. But oh wait, you can pwn them anytime, so nevermind.
J: that they have more armor than a mage's entire armor set. Not that that's hard.
F: that they are frost resistant and possibly fire resistant.
J: that anywhere besides Old Navy, they'd probably cost $1000.
F: that given the number of good days I've had since wearing them, they're probably worth $1000.
J: that if you wear them, you are irresistable to girls.
F: that if you wear them, you are irresistable to guys, given our geography.
J: that wearing them can turn you invisible.
F: that you can wear no underwear, and it'd still feel just as good.
Oh, also, I finally got my lab coat today! No longer do I have to be Metrology or Karen.
January 22, 2006
So as to not have any further confusion out there, the following are my most 'cryptic' AIM away messages and what they actually mean:
"Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool
And all shootin' some b-ball outside of the school"
Where it's from: The theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
What it means: I'm playing basketball, most likely somewhere on Stanford campus.
"I got one sock! Lookin' for the other.
One sock! Looking for its brother.
When I find that sock! I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll put it on my foot, and I'll stick it in my shoe!"
Where it's from: The book Wayside School Is Falling Down
What it means: Pretty self-explanatory. I'm doing laundry.
"Oh boy, sleep! That's where I'm a viking!"
Where it's from: Ralph Wiggum in The Simpsons
What it means: I'm probably taking a nap, cuz I don't leave my computer on overnight.
"Out having a reasonably good time.
You know.. like what we used to do?"
Where it's from: Simon in The Wedding Banquet
What it means: This is my semi-scandalous away message. It could mean that I'm out clubbing or bar-hopping, but since I do neither of these two activities that often, it's been used more recently as a placeholder for random less scandalous adventures, like In N Out burger runs.
"Singing in the rain."
Where it's from: Gene Kelly, of course
What it means: I am trying to run up Yves' water bill by taking my infamously long showers. That is why you see this multiple times a day and/or for two hours at a time.
"Peon: Work work."
Where it's from: Warcraft
What it means: It used to be my "I'm doing homework, but feel free to bother me if you're cool" message, but since I don't have any of that anymore, it's now become obsolete. These days, you might still see it from time to time if I am playing the game and my primary gaming message is down for whatever reason.
And there you have it! See? I'm not that hard to figure out. :-)
January 25, 2006
Don’t really have the time or energy to do a real update, so instead, here’s a summary of what’s been happening and a preview of things to come:
- Took a nice long stroll around campus Friday night. It was fun, what with good company and good conversation and all.
- Attended Yves’ 6th Annual Christmas Party (for 18 of his coolest buddies). There was a lot of food since it was a potluck and we played some amusing games. Also, we had a white elephant gift exchange! I gave away a bug wand, and received a pet rocks collection in return, which I traded to Tiff for her farm animals sound keyboard system instead. Pictures from that night are here, courtesy of Brian, the master photographer.
- Started reading Red Scarf Girl that I borrowed from Carrie in order to educate myself about China’s Cultural Revolution. What I didn’t realize was that it hit so close to home, in that both our parents had been so significantly impacted by it. My mother had never talked about it so openly before until I called and asked her last night (partly because I never really paid attention or was too young to fully comprehend it back then), but let me tell you, it was heart wrenching to hear her stories. The things I take for granted nowadays..
- Found out J&J lost its bid for Guidant. It shouldn't affect me too much, but I just didn’t like how Boston Scientific all of a sudden decided to swoop in and create a bidding war. At least my company’s fourth quarter results met expectations, so that’s good.
- Renewed my World of Warcraft account after a two-month absence. Respecced my arcane/fire mage to be frost/arcane. Also been sleeping a lot less. Is this a causation or correlation effect? Huge LAN party to be held the first Saturday in February for those who are interested in watching Unbroken Circle in action.
- Super Bowl XL party to be held a day later. Steelers vs. Seahawks! And since my boy Denis is from the Pacific NW, go Seattle!
January 27, 2006
Dude, okay, quick complaint. So the new guy? He's been making me look bad by coming in early and leaving late. I mean, who does that? What the heck! It's not that I'm a slacker or anything, and this is especially not true this week since we're actually gearing up for animal studies, so that's been keeping me quite busy and stressed. Booooooo! Oh well. He might score me a free burger. Heh.. so another fellow coworker and I have a side bet going as to when he'll start dressing down, aka, wearing jeans. I said Friday, but he said next Monday.. and any other day is a draw. Winner gets In N Out! Come on, new guy, don't fail me now!
I need stuff to do this weekend..
January 30, 2006
Because there hasn't been much going on (and I write about nothing but WoW and dance anyway these days), I'm going to spice things up a bit by posting my dun dun dun.. grocery list! Yeah that's right. You read it here first.
- Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail, x2
- Foster Farms boneless chicken thighs
- Atlantic salmon fillet
- Zucchini, x3
- Bananas, x3
- Fuji apples, x2
- Green onions
- Garlic
- Lays BBQ potato chips
- Lime Jello
Aside from the chips and jello, you're probably thinking, wow what is this fruits and vegetables business? Felix must be so heatlhy! Well, let me tell you. After 'voluntarily' taking a health profile at work in order to take advantage of a $500 health insurance contribution, I was informed that while my bp and exercise regimen are a-okay, my nutritional intake (especially that of fruits and veggies) is about on par to say the average person in Somalia. So yeah, I had to change that. Fear is the best motivator.
Alright, check back tomorrow or maybe in the next few days, folks. I promise there'll be something more substantial soon. God, I sure hope so. I just realized that this is pretty sad.
Oh and in case I haven't said this to you yet: 新年快樂!!!
Wow, I can't sleep for the life of me. That's okay, you say, cuz that means it's blog time! As an extra bonus to my loyal readership, here is a review of Felix's 2005, Broadway style! See if you can figure out how the songs relate to their corresponding months. And don't worry if you can't figure them all out right away, you can just go back through my calendar. ;-)
January: Avenue Q - There's a Fine, Fine Line
February: Johann Strauss - Emperor Waltz
March: Five Iron Frenzy - O Canada
April: Pure Pwnage - World of Warcraft is a Feeling
May: Beauty and the Beast - Be Our Guest
June: Vitamin C - Graduation
July: Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come
August: Elvis Presley - Viva Las Vegas
September: 311 - All Mixed Up
October: Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends
November: Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
December: Rascal Flatts - Feels Like Today
Happy 2006, everyone!
January 3, 2006
Hello, again.
Despite my freakish sleeping patterns the last two or three days, I managed to get up today for work and not be late (after a full eight hours, I might add), so yay! As for my health, I am happy to report that I am about 99% better. Why the 1%, you ask? Well, there’s this inexplicable twitch in my arm since this morning. It could be caffeine-related though.
So in honor of the year of the dog (well, technically not really yet, but work with me here), I have a dog-related story to tell. As many of you know, 1982 was an awesome year. Just as Tina and Melisa have about a million different piggie things for the year of their birth, I have a lot of little doggie things for mine. However, one thing that I really wanted to get for myself was another one of those little bobble-head dogs for my car, just like the pug that I had in the Corolla. So I went and did it. Unbeknownst to me, there were two inherent flaws in my plan.
The first is that I apparently have a serious problem in differentiating between animals, for those who had seen the little guy had all called him by many different names. Thus far, I’ve heard that it is: a dog, a cat, a raccoon, a mouse, a bear, a pig, or some absurd mixture of the previously mentioned animals. Now this bothers me a little. Either my family, friends, and I are all mentally challenged in some way or the folks at the bobble-head company just wanted to cover their bases and make some super animal that covers all twelve Chinese zodiac signs. Whatever the case may be, I could live with that.
Now what I couldn’t live with is the fact this supposedly cute little porcelain animal figure had genitalia and I had somehow missed it before making this important purchase. Yeah yeah, laugh it up! Anyway, thanks to my brother for pointing this out (after laughing at me for a full five minutes), I quickly removed this ‘action’ figure from my car and replaced it with my good ol’ trusty sidekick, the pug. Needless to say, if I had to spend that much time in my commute everyday, I’d rather have ugly than male porn.
God, why does this stuff only happen to me?!
Ah, the age-old question, who is cooler, Cantonese or Mandarin people? Related story here.
Vote today!
January 5, 2006
Shamelessly stole this from David 1's Xanga, cuz apparently, I'm really greedy. ::whistles::
| Greed: | High | |
| Gluttony: | Medium | |
| Wrath: | Very Low | |
| Sloth: | Low | |
| Envy: | Medium | |
| Lust: | Low | |
| Pride: | High |
Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz
January 8, 2006
Kinda on a short fuse tonight for whatever reason. Consequently, I'm going to rant! Everybody likes a good rant post once in a while.
1. My phone: I don't know if it's just the location or something, but no one can get reception in this house! Normally, I can live with this, but I was trying to teach my mom how to use the computer while on it and let me tell you, this was one of those moments where you're like, okay just shoot me now. Frustration compounded by even more frustration. Lovely.
2. The Patriots and Bill Simmons: I don't know if they paid him off or maybe he's from New England or something, but it's kinda irritating that he keeps saying that the Pats are a dynasty in the making and all that jazz. Okay sure they've won two Superbowls, but those were in the past!! There are *way* better teams out there this year. To make matters worse, they actually won today -- or, more like destroyed the Jags -- to rub it in my face. Thank you, football gods, for making this a year to remember. Heh, and I don't even have a good reason to hate Boston teams, other than well.. yeah.
3. My gym shorts: Yes, the same ones that I microwaved last year to see if they would heat up. I keep forgetting to throw them in the wash cuz they're hidden in my backpack. Four months isn't that long to not have washed something, right? Ew, Felix! Oh well, at least my other clothes are clean..
Alright. I think that's good for now. If I can think of any more tomorrow, I'll add it to the list. Hey! This was kinda fun. :-)
January 9, 2006
Alright, I gotta say this now before I forget.
I love my job, but I think I’ve finally come to the point where I am being relentlessly challenged to come up with a solution to this engineering problem at hand, and there is no escape. In the past, what happened was that my 12 or 14-week internship would end, and I’d go back to school knowing that someone else would pick up right where I had left it. That is not the case now. We’re not in Kansas (or SF, or Fresno, or Vacaville) anymore. I mean, I found myself actually thinking about work the other day as I was waiting to pick up David and Ryan from the airport! What the heck!? Weekends are meant for sleeping in and vegging out. Gee, real life sucks.
January 10, 2006
Huzzah! I think I figured out my 'problem' as of late as to why I’ve been in sort of a bad mood. It’s so simple, too, if you think about it. They ran out of tea in the office! And you know how Chinese people like their tea. As soon as I realized this (roughly at around 6 am this morning, before my alarm), things started to change for the better.
When good Ol’ Alarmy finally screamed at me at 7:15, the first thing that I heard this morning was “... high-speed police chase ended badly at the junction of 85 and 101. Things are a mess out here going every which way. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!†Welp, I guess I’m tweaking my commute slightly today. You don’t have to tell me twice. So I got up a little earlier than usual instead of rolling around till 7:45, as to make a pit stop at Ranch 99 to pick up some of this magic tea. But alas, my ingenious plan was spoiled because they weren’t opened yet! Oh, come on, what is this crap! Safeway was open! However, there is a Starbucks in the same complex, so my tea fixation-turned-obsession was quickly resolved. Yum. A cold, cold Tazo tea lemonade when it’s 42 outside. I am so smart.
Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get any better, it does! Somehow, the fog that had burned off in Cupertino remained in the Sunnyvale/Mountain View area, and this wasn’t that wimpy stuff that you’d see every once in a while in this area either; this was the you’d better turn on your fog lamps because you have visibility for only about one-eighth of a mile type of fog. Quite beautiful, I must say. And dangerous, too.
So yeah, that’s my morning thus far. You know it’s going a good day when your wingman tells you so, and all he had to work with were your gray pants.
Fefoofix: yeah! gray pants, baby!
JuKa828: hahaha
JuKa828: awesome
JuKa828: you know it's gonna be a good day
Fefoofix: you should wear yours too, if it is going to be again
Fefoofix: c'mon, solidarity!
JuKa828: hahaha
JuKa828: but i wore them yesterday!
Fefoofix: weak!
Now if only my experiments would start working..
January 11, 2006
Ew! Note to self: look before you eat your food next time. Life lesson!
So someone took one cookie from my previously unopened bag of chocolate chunks and returned it unsealed, only we have a pretty severe ant problem here. I would have been pretty content, ignorantly munching away had one of those lil guys not ran across my face and tickled me as I was enjoying my treat. As a result, Yves and I had to raid the cupboard for a massive clean up effort. Argh. At least we'll have some cleaners over next week before the big Christmas party, or so I was told.
Oh, I was also told today that I will be getting an officemate next week. Dunno how I feel about that, yet.
January 15, 2006
Let's see.. 132, 136, 139, 162, 158. Not quite where I want to be yet, but not too bad for a 9-month absence. Will have to work to complete goal number 7 in time.
January 16, 2006
I should have taken a floating holiday, but those are so precious nowadays! Gotta save them up for something bigger, like a Hawaii or Hong Kong or London trip, one of which may possibly become a reality later this year.
Not much going on these days, so I’ll just do a quick recap. Friday’s dinner was spent at Wang’s, a small Chinese restaurant on El Camino that apparently changed ownership some time ago. The usual peeps went, and then we all scattered over to Jammix to dance, that is when we’re not chatting with each other and/or blocking the normal flow of traffic. Afterwards, a small number of us headed over to the post-Jammix afterparty at Happy Donuts, where we mingled over coffee, chai tea, and donuts and somewhat awkwardly spoke Mandarin to each other (“ni yao bu yao chi qiao ke li?â€). Since there were two special guests there for the first time, Carrie and Anita, the group was *very* well behaved. Also, since Justin wasn’t there, the number of homo momo comments by them was held to a minimum. Good job, guys.
I woke up early Saturday morning for a board game marathon session, only Justin hadn’t woken up yet, so it was delayed a bit. After our food excursion to In N Out, Justin, Tiff, Brian and I headed back to Sunnyvale for some Tigris and Euphrates and Ingenious action. I really liked the former; it’s one of those games that is quite nerdy and fun, yet not epically so in that it would require a mandated seven people and ten hours of your life (ahem, Diplomacy). That evening, I tagged along with Yves and his family to check out this Chinese bookstore before having Malaysian/Singaporean food in Milpitas.
Sunday morning was supposed to be spent at Palo Alto Bowl with an old high school teammate of mine, who is actually a Stanford PhD chemistry guy now. But alas, he ditched me because he overslept or something, so I flew solo for a good solid two hours. Since my scores were actually posted in the last entry, I guess I have nothing more to say about this topic, other than I’ll probably make this more of a routine as to get my bowling arm and sliding leg back into shape. I don’t think I can hit deuce ten times by August if I don’t go weekly, or at least once every two weeks. After homemade pancakes and a lot of football, I made Melisa come with me to the Valley Fair Mall so that I can do some ‘holiday’ shopping. The trip turned out to be a success, for I found exactly what I needed for this weekend’s party. Go me!
So as to end this on an amusing note (and to explain why that above song is up there), I will post a conversation between my coworker and me while we were down in lab:
Felix: ::whistling something while happily working away::
Iswadi: Dude, what are you whistling? I think I know that song.
Felix: ::thinks how can he possibly know this; he’s not Chinese:: Oh nothing.
Iswadi: ::pauses, gives me a look::
Felix: You’ve heard of Jay Chou?
Iswadi: Yeah! My girlfriend listens to it all the time! Hahahaha!
Felix: Oh crap. ::think of witty comeback.. think of witty comeback::
Iswadi: ::still laughing hysterically::
Felix: Oh yeah? Well I caught you whistling Kelly Clarkson last week, remember? So now we’re even.
Iswadi: ::silence::
January 18, 2006
Douglas is back at work (from Hong Kong)! I now have one more person with whom I can speak Cantonese! I need all the Chinese practice I can get because seriously, yesterday was a sad, sad day.
As usual, Tiff and I met up for our weekly 'business lunch' and so I drove back over to Cupertino because I felt like Chinese food. The host who seated us spoke to us in Mandarin, so naturally, we responded accordingly, but we were caught completely by surprise when he gave us an all-Chinese menu! I mean, neither one of us has mastered the art of the lunch specials character-recognition quite yet, so when Tiff had to ask the busboy for some English menus, I cried a little on the inside. I did try to redeem myself slightly by ordering our dishes entirely in Mandarin (with Tiff's supervision of course); however, the damage had been done. Thus, I told myself that I have to diligently relearn the language, maybe not to the level that I was at when I was seven, but perhaps at least to my level of understanding during my sophomore and junior years. I don't think I can let it slip anymore. This is just too important to me.
So in order to do this, I'm going to first start off by watching Chinese music videos, with words and all, like so. And contrary to popular belief, this is not just an excuse or a cover up so that I'd be able to watch Asian boy bands without being made fun of too much. Or is it..
January 19, 2006
This was too amusing not to post. Justin's and my emails back and forth today:
These Gray Pants Are So Awesome...
F: that when you spill spaghetti sauce on it, it just dries on the spot and you can rub the residue away.
J: that they look like dress pants but are as comfortable as jeans.
F: that you can say stuff like once you've had gray, you'll never stray, and not feel dorky about it.
J: that you can pwn a shaman when you wear them. And no one does that.
F: that you can pwn a hunter when you wear them. But oh wait, you can pwn them anytime, so nevermind.
J: that they have more armor than a mage's entire armor set. Not that that's hard.
F: that they are frost resistant and possibly fire resistant.
J: that anywhere besides Old Navy, they'd probably cost $1000.
F: that given the number of good days I've had since wearing them, they're probably worth $1000.
J: that if you wear them, you are irresistable to girls.
F: that if you wear them, you are irresistable to guys, given our geography.
J: that wearing them can turn you invisible.
F: that you can wear no underwear, and it'd still feel just as good.
Oh, also, I finally got my lab coat today! No longer do I have to be Metrology or Karen.
January 22, 2006
So as to not have any further confusion out there, the following are my most 'cryptic' AIM away messages and what they actually mean:
"Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool
And all shootin' some b-ball outside of the school"
Where it's from: The theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
What it means: I'm playing basketball, most likely somewhere on Stanford campus.
"I got one sock! Lookin' for the other.
One sock! Looking for its brother.
When I find that sock! I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll put it on my foot, and I'll stick it in my shoe!"
Where it's from: The book Wayside School Is Falling Down
What it means: Pretty self-explanatory. I'm doing laundry.
"Oh boy, sleep! That's where I'm a viking!"
Where it's from: Ralph Wiggum in The Simpsons
What it means: I'm probably taking a nap, cuz I don't leave my computer on overnight.
"Out having a reasonably good time.
You know.. like what we used to do?"
Where it's from: Simon in The Wedding Banquet
What it means: This is my semi-scandalous away message. It could mean that I'm out clubbing or bar-hopping, but since I do neither of these two activities that often, it's been used more recently as a placeholder for random less scandalous adventures, like In N Out burger runs.
"Singing in the rain."
Where it's from: Gene Kelly, of course
What it means: I am trying to run up Yves' water bill by taking my infamously long showers. That is why you see this multiple times a day and/or for two hours at a time.
"Peon: Work work."
Where it's from: Warcraft
What it means: It used to be my "I'm doing homework, but feel free to bother me if you're cool" message, but since I don't have any of that anymore, it's now become obsolete. These days, you might still see it from time to time if I am playing the game and my primary gaming message is down for whatever reason.
And there you have it! See? I'm not that hard to figure out. :-)
January 25, 2006
Don’t really have the time or energy to do a real update, so instead, here’s a summary of what’s been happening and a preview of things to come:
- Took a nice long stroll around campus Friday night. It was fun, what with good company and good conversation and all.
- Attended Yves’ 6th Annual Christmas Party (for 18 of his coolest buddies). There was a lot of food since it was a potluck and we played some amusing games. Also, we had a white elephant gift exchange! I gave away a bug wand, and received a pet rocks collection in return, which I traded to Tiff for her farm animals sound keyboard system instead. Pictures from that night are here, courtesy of Brian, the master photographer.
- Started reading Red Scarf Girl that I borrowed from Carrie in order to educate myself about China’s Cultural Revolution. What I didn’t realize was that it hit so close to home, in that both our parents had been so significantly impacted by it. My mother had never talked about it so openly before until I called and asked her last night (partly because I never really paid attention or was too young to fully comprehend it back then), but let me tell you, it was heart wrenching to hear her stories. The things I take for granted nowadays..
- Found out J&J lost its bid for Guidant. It shouldn't affect me too much, but I just didn’t like how Boston Scientific all of a sudden decided to swoop in and create a bidding war. At least my company’s fourth quarter results met expectations, so that’s good.
- Renewed my World of Warcraft account after a two-month absence. Respecced my arcane/fire mage to be frost/arcane. Also been sleeping a lot less. Is this a causation or correlation effect? Huge LAN party to be held the first Saturday in February for those who are interested in watching Unbroken Circle in action.
- Super Bowl XL party to be held a day later. Steelers vs. Seahawks! And since my boy Denis is from the Pacific NW, go Seattle!
January 27, 2006
Dude, okay, quick complaint. So the new guy? He's been making me look bad by coming in early and leaving late. I mean, who does that? What the heck! It's not that I'm a slacker or anything, and this is especially not true this week since we're actually gearing up for animal studies, so that's been keeping me quite busy and stressed. Booooooo! Oh well. He might score me a free burger. Heh.. so another fellow coworker and I have a side bet going as to when he'll start dressing down, aka, wearing jeans. I said Friday, but he said next Monday.. and any other day is a draw. Winner gets In N Out! Come on, new guy, don't fail me now!
I need stuff to do this weekend..
January 30, 2006
Because there hasn't been much going on (and I write about nothing but WoW and dance anyway these days), I'm going to spice things up a bit by posting my dun dun dun.. grocery list! Yeah that's right. You read it here first.
- Ocean Spray cranberry juice cocktail, x2
- Foster Farms boneless chicken thighs
- Atlantic salmon fillet
- Zucchini, x3
- Bananas, x3
- Fuji apples, x2
- Green onions
- Garlic
- Lays BBQ potato chips
- Lime Jello
Aside from the chips and jello, you're probably thinking, wow what is this fruits and vegetables business? Felix must be so heatlhy! Well, let me tell you. After 'voluntarily' taking a health profile at work in order to take advantage of a $500 health insurance contribution, I was informed that while my bp and exercise regimen are a-okay, my nutritional intake (especially that of fruits and veggies) is about on par to say the average person in Somalia. So yeah, I had to change that. Fear is the best motivator.
Alright, check back tomorrow or maybe in the next few days, folks. I promise there'll be something more substantial soon. God, I sure hope so. I just realized that this is pretty sad.
Oh and in case I haven't said this to you yet: 新年快樂!!!
