Neither.... nor.....

A new guy started at work a few months ago and my boss casually asked me if I like him. I told her the truth, "I don't have an opinion on him yet." I used to assume everyone I met are naturally a nice person until proven otherwise... too many times I was disappointed. Many people seemed okay at first, then a few months later they turned out to be a complete, for lack of a better word, weirdo or a downright asshole, with the weirdo ranking slightly higher than an asshole. So I no longer form premature opinion on people that I just met. I neither like nor dislike them. They are neither a good or bad person until proven one way or another.

Was That "Fine, A" or "Fine, B"?

When I was a child, my grandma used to do this to me: when I asked her a multiple choice question -- is it A or B? -- she'll answer with a "yes." Is that a "Yes, A," or a "Yes, B," I never did figure it out. Developmental psychology will tell you that one's social skill was developed via physical contact with their mother around two years of age, so I chalked my inability to figure out "Yes, A" or "Yes, B" to my mother killing herself when I was one and thereby learning the phrase "just to clarify...."

Lo and behold, today I found out that I wasn't the only one who doesn't get that. So I emailed a big shot today, "would you like it done this way (choice A) or that way (choice B)." Her answer was "That's fine." Totally back to my children scenario all over again, was that a "fine, go with A," or "fine, go with B"? Just when I was annoyed at my own ability, her admin, who was copied on the email emailed me "I interpret (the "fine") as _____________, do you concur?" She asked. It was very nice to find out after 30 years that I was not the only one who doesn't get it and I owed her the truth -- I can't concur with squat because I have no idea what she meant by "fine." Admin's next reaction had me busted out laughing, "Do you mind emailing her to find out. I don't want to sound stupid. At least she doesn't do you eval(uation)." As a very blunt person I totally have appreciation for another person's honesty. My wonderful "just to clarify....." was once again put to good use and "fine" was, obviously, choice A.

I still appreciate the admin for letting me know that I am not alone out there. :)

Toilet Training the Cat?

I didn't know you can actually toilet train your cat. I always thought it was just a joke...

http://www.karawynn.net/mishacat/toilet.html

Some peeps also recommend this supposingly environmentally friendly FelinePine, I've got to give a try.

Not Again?

A couple of years ago, hubby and I came home one day and discovered an envelope from our land lady, I said jokingly "Dear P and H, you are being evicted...." And I had to open my big mouth (granted, what other possible reason will you landlady send you a snail mail?). It turned out that her husband had passed away (very sorry) and she wanted to sell her place. Of course, chit happens. I'm sure if she had a say in this whole matter she'd rather her husband still be around. We had a vacation planned in less than a month and not wanting them showing the place while we were gone, we frantically found a place and moved out within three weeks.

A coworker of mine commented how evil it was for the landlady to ask us to leave but I disagreed with him. A lease was a contract, so I believed at the time, after a lease had expired, both parties had the right to terminate the lease. Why is it considered okay for the tenants to move out but not the landlady needing her place back? In all honest, the rent was way under market value, so we kept the place as pristine as possible.

Then we decided to move to an apartment. I figured that unless they are going to convert an apartment to a condo (common in the bay area before the collapse of the housing market) or the building being condemned, we should be able to live in an apartment till we choose to leave.... I was only half right. Due to the haste, it turned out the apartment wasn't as good as we had initially thought, so we had to move again after our 9-month lease was up.

This new apartment my husband and I both love, and we are being "forced out" again!! They wanted us to transfer to a different unit so they can upgrade our apartment, so essentially they are just going to raise the rent and refuse to renew the lease with us till we move. What are the odds of being evicted TWICE?? And it wasn't even because we are bad tenants!!

I am just too tired to move. My cat is 13 years old this year and our (her) next move is going to be her 13th move! On average she had moved with me once a year of her 13 years of life. Good God!

Let's count the 13 times:

Got cat
#1 - moved to a bigger apartment in same complex with old boyfriend
#2 - moved to summer sublease
#3 - roommates from hell at sublease, moved to new boyfriend's place
#4 - moved to new apartment after summer was over
#5 - graduated college, moved to new house rental
#6 - bought house with current husband
#7 - relocated to San Diego with husband
#8 - moved back to our house
#9 - moved to bay area
#10 - evicted from nice rental to not-so-good apartment
#11 - moved from not-so-good apartment to good apartment

Oh, I counted wrong, this next one is only going to be her TWELVE move, not thirteen... Maybe with this housing slum we can actually BUY a place and never be asked to leave again. :(

Peacock? Pheonix?

On August 7, one of Elvis favorite costume, a peacock jumpsuit was sold in an auction for $300K. It was said that he believed that peacock represents eternity. Peacock? Why peacock? Is it because of it's resemblance to the mythical pheonix, I wonder.

Mr. Right by Elimination

Once upon a time, when I was still in the dating scene, this online friend of mine would go on a date, and I'd ask him, "How did it go?" And his answer would be, "She doesn't rock my world." So silly me, not questioning why this guy is qualified to be the spoke person of love, always thought that when I found Mr. Right, he'd rock my world. One and a half years of dating and five and a half years of marriage later, I've finally came to the revelation that Mr. (Mrs.) Right is found not by a process of picking and choosing, but a process of elimination.

Allow me to elaborate, when you first decide whether to go out with an individual, that's elimination because you have no way of knowing whether he or she is the right one for you, so you eliminate by looks, jobs, and other superficial factors. Then come the awkward first dates, more elimination, you spot for other major deal breakers that are noticeable right from the get go. If the individual made the cut, then comes the lengthy process of dating -- still an elimination process -- to see if there are any major incompatibilities or habits that absolutely cannot co-exist.

Lastly, after years of observation, and you decided that you can co-exist with this person, you enter into the committed relationship of marriage. Like my newly wedded friend said to me, "In the end, we all have our quirks, you look for the one that can best tolerate yours." And ladies and gentlemen, that is the truth of all relationships. So next time somebody comes up to me and asks me, "How do I know he (she) is the one?" My answer would be, "Well, if you don't find any of his habits intolerable, and he not overly critical of some of your habits, and the two of you can live in relative harmony, you have found the one."

Nosebleed Seat

The phrase nosebleed section is applied tongue-in-cheek to those seats of a public arena, usually an athletic stadium or gymnasium, that are highest and, usually, farthest from the desired activity. A common reference to having seats at the upper tiers of a stadium is "sitting in the nosebleed section" or "nosebleed seats."

The reference alludes to the propensity for nasal hemorrhage at high altitudes, usually owing to lower barometric pressure.

- reference wikipedia.com

For Asians who excels academically, colloquials are very difficult to learn as you cannot find them in any academic text books. Here's a funny story about what I think is "nosebleed seat."

When I heard the term I figured it either meant one of the two things: the seats closest to the action, or the seats farthest away. I've always guessed that it was the seats that's right next to the field. Never would I have guessed that seats can be so high that the lack of oxygen is going to give you nosebleed...

Here's my theory of why nosebleed in the first row:

(1) you are so closed to your favorite player your nose bleeds from sheer excitement; or

(2) you are so close to the action that occasionally you might get hit by a ball or puck, ergo, nosebleed...

The girl next to me, upon hearing my theories, said I'm such an embarrassment that she'll never take me to a game...

Random tidbits of the day: SPAM

All you need to know about SPAM. This entry is dedicated to the canned meat -- SPAM, not email SPAM. But while I am researching for this entry, I realized that I have no idea what SPAM stands for in the email sense and, for some odd reason, the origin of the term SPAM in that usage wasn't easy to find. But for those of you who has a curious mind for useless knowledge, here's a link:

Origin of the term "spam" to mean net abuse

Now back to what I originally meant to say...

My Filipino friend made me some spicy SPAM musubi. Many of you might not know what musubi is as it is original to Hawaii. Here's a picture of SPAM musubi (again, a decent picture of it was impossible to find on the web so I finally have to take my own):



My friend used these spicy Tobasco flavored SPAM in her musubi. Frankly, I never know that SPAM comes in more than more flavor. A quick search on Amazon generated the following results. For the ingorants like myself, there are:

Turkey SPAM



Hickory Smoke SPAM



Hot & Spicy SPAM



SPAM with Cheese (ugh)



and the very disturbing SPREADABLE SPAM (just the idea of spreadable meat....)



Please refer to their official website for a complete list of SPAM products.

Just when I thought I was nuts to have a blog entry on SPAM, I found someone equally as crazy, if not more so, than me.

A Tale of Two Spams

This guy (girl?) not only blogged about these new SPAM products when the first appeared in 05, s/he also have complete pictures of him/her cooking them... =.=

Unfortunately, our local Safeway carries ALL kinds of SPAM except the spicy ones. Amazon sells them in pack of 6. Who would want to buy 6 cans of SPAM at one time? Just went back to check, the last pack was sold on Amazon. :( I officially am unable to purchase spicy SPAM anywhere. :( (Okay, I have not yet scouted out ALL grocers in my nearby vicinity...)

While reading about what SPAM are made of, I have also learned the term Mechanically separated meat (MSM) which is also known as mechanically recovered meat (MRM), as opposed to Advanced Meat Recovery.... Okay, I think that concludes all-I-ever-need-to-know-about-SPAM.

Subtlety

Disclaimer: Contains spoiler for Lust, Caution.

***

So I watched Lust, Caution again. Why? You may ask. Because the first version I watched was the PG-13 version. Then my coworker kindly told me that the real theatrical version is NC-17 and it has about 40 minutes more of material. Frankly, the PG-13 version didn't make too much sense. What I got was: he bought her a big rock, she died for him. The full length version wasn't that much better, in my humble opinion. I really don't think the movie was all it hyped up to be. The man was supposed to be a frightful man; I didn't get that. Nor did I get the love/hate/danger between the "agent" and the traitor. It was about his affair with an attractive woman under his roof at best. Lots of nudity for a Chinese movie, I guess. I haven't watched that many Chinese movies lately. But I've got to say the sex scenes aren't even that real. Pardon me, but no man can just roll on top of a woman like that and be engaged. Ugh, it takes a little bit more effort than that, however dinky his tool may be.

My coworker interpreted the movie for me. Her interpretation made perfect sense. Made the movie a lot better. I just didn't get what she was saying from the movie alone.

Then I couldn't help but wonder: could it be that I'm that not in touch with the Chinese culture that I don't get the subtlety of it? Maybe I'm just more familiar with the American/Hollywood everything is out there for everybody to see style.

A British man once told me that Americans say "I love you" so much that it cheapens it. I beg to differ. My husband and I say it every day, usually multiple times a day. Five years into the marriage and six and a half years into the relationship we are still in our honeymoon period. An article said that, a study showed that it's not the interaction of the couple (some fights a lot, some avoid conflicts altogether) but it's the proportion of nice things/bad things that they say to each other that ultimately determines the direction of the relationship. Those who say 4 times more nice things than bad (don't ask me how they get the figure, just take it with a grain of salt) tend to have a longer relationship. Seriously, it's just words. Everybody likes to hear nice words. Why be stingy about it? If Hubby buys me something or does something for me that really makes me happy, I'll tell him repeatedly, whenever I feel the joy again. Or whenever I recall: remember you bought me the xxx some 3 years ago? That was the best gift I've ever had. Why not? It's not holding grudges if it's something positive.

There was this little boy who used to sit next to me at work. We have that kind of relationship in which we give each other shit all the time. What other kind of relationship can I have with a boy who's almost, not quite, but almost young enough to be my son? He's American; by that I mean White American. If you ask him, he'll give you a straight forward answer that he likes me (not in the romantic way). His honesty always surprises me, even though I have been in this country for over 20 years. I've always forgotten how open Americans can be. Being a Chinese, even though I like him a lot, you'll never hear it out of me, not in front of him anyway. Some cultural barrier will just always be there.

Giant Python

So the little girl who sits next to me sent me this link today

New threat to our way of life: giant pythons

To sum up the article in the San Francisco Chronicle, giant pythons released into the wild by irresponsible pet owners in FL is sloooowly making it's way to the Bay Area.

Solution proposed by me: How do we drive a species into extinction? You commercialize it! Anything that can make a profit, you bet we (humans) will hunt it to extinction. So let's promote snake skin shoes, snake skin purses, and better yet, whole snake feast!!

Little girl next to me, who is ABC (American born Chinese) thought I was kidding. Nope! Dead serious. Us Asians are known to eat about anything (carbon based life forms) that moves.

Oh, biologists also quoted pike being a problem in US, gobbling up all the salmon. Same solution. We start eating pike. So they taste disgusting as filets? Mash them up and make into fish balls. The curry fish balls that I bought from Ranch 99 last night was pretty tasty... and God know what they used to make those...

Per my best friend's, and possibly my own reader's, request, I have removed the picture of the giant python. Those of you who are curious will just have to follow the link to check it out...

Lust, Caution

Not bad, there's only a 2 week gap since my last entry. :)

Today I received my Lust, Caution order from Amazon. Although judging from the Chinese coworkers (living in San Jose, CA), every other Chinese in town has already saw this movie in the theater. But it's a good movie, highly recommended, especially if you are in bdsm scenes. :D



This movie obviously came in PG-13 and NC-17 version. According to my Chinese who watched BOTH versions, she said the PG-13 cut out about 45 minutes of the movie... which explains a lot. 'cause if you only watch the PG-13 version, it almost seemed as though the woman fell in love with the man because he bought her a big rock...

Regardless, so I had this conversation with my little girl coworker (like a baby sister to me) at work:

"It's a great movie, although you probably shouldn't be watching the NC-17 version. I can, however, lend you the PG-13 copy. You'll still get the gist of it."

"I get the gist of it from the title alone," she said.

"You get the 'lust' part, but what's the 'caution' part? Not unwanted pregnancy, mind you."

"Caution! Do not watch!" She said.

Yeah, there's a comedian in each of us. :P

Fun House

My friend brought her 10-year old brother over to play video game one day. On his way out, the brother said, "this is a cool place." Thinking (very rarely) like an adult, I thought he meant the apartment itself is very cool, literally. So I didn't understand why a 10-year old will find a common apartment "cool." Then my friend explained it's because of all the toys we have... Is it really a compliment that a 10-year old thinks my place is cool? :O

I guess Hubby and I (mostly me) do try to have a fun house. Every time we go look at houses, we always think about having a game room... or a loft that we can put a ping pong table (mostly my idea), and new newest obsession is an arcade gaming machine!

Weight Lost and Quitting Smoking

Something that I found mind-boggling: when someone wants to quit smoking, their friends and family are always supportive, including the other smokers. People respect others choices to quit smoking. Even if they can't help but to smoke in front of them, they don't dangle a cigarette in front of them to tempt them back into smoking. It's a kind of decency. What I don't understand is why can't this kind of decency extend to a person trying to lose weight?

Losing weight is an universal problem. Men, women, fat, thin, we ALL understand how important (and impossible) it is to lose weight. YET people NEVER think it's a bad thing to offer sweets to a person who's on their path to weight losing. There is nothing wrong to offer someone else candies, sweets, cakes, doughnuts. Never mind that the person is borderline morbidly obese. "Oh, here's a box of doughnuts for your trouble," or "here's a large cup of 600 calories Starbucks drink." Never mind if they are already (or well on their way to) diabetes. The most ironic part is: EVERYBODY can tell you that doughnuts are BAD for you, but it's acceptable to offer to a friend. What kind of a world is this?

The "End of the World" Song

Back then I didn't know what it meant "It's the End of the World as We Know It." So I thought it literally was a song about the end of the world. I love the song, but couldn't help but wonder that "Gee, the tune is surely gleeful considering it's about the end of the world."

Then I heard the song they played during the Gear of War (video game) commercial and later found out it was Tears for Fears's "Mad World." That makes a much better end-of-the-world song, especially when it's played with clips from the video. It truly felt like a lone soldier was the last human being left, fighting with aliens. And that'd also explain why "the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I ever had."

Games! Games! Games

I can't wait till I get back from China to purchase the 2 newest and greatest Wii games from Amazon. That is, of course, unless I find knock-offs in China. ;)





Hubby is also contemplating Guitar Hero III, but so far he is leaning towards the XBoX 360 one. :( He thought they might come in high def. Hah! Wait till he finds out that those inexpensive guitars we saw at Fry's are probably not for Guitar Hero III. Hah! :D



And I am contemplating Dance Dance Revolution. Maybe we should get them as Christmas gifts for each other. I sure hope my friends will play with us at our Wii Parties. :)

Soulfulness and Mindlessness

For some odd reason (all in my mind)? When HH looks up at me with the pretty yellow eyes, they always look soulful, like she has something to say to me (let it be feed me, give me more water, or change the litter box). Her looks always appear meaning. CC, on the other hand, his stares are just blank. He was looking straight at me but he might as well be staring into the air. It seems to me there was no brain behind those also beautiful eyes. Maybe it's because we haven't bonded as much yet? Or was it because of his young age of seven months?

Movie Marathon

Once upon a time I watched 3 movies in one night back in my "crazy college days." I thought that was the most movies I'll ever watch in a day. In fact, I never thought I'd watch 3 movies in a day ever again. Well, one never know where life will take them. I met my current husband. My "best" record now was 8 movies in one weekend. I think that was 3 on Friday, 3 on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday. How did we even squeeze 3 movies in on Friday? Oh, maybe it was 2/3/3. But wow. These movies marathons can be addicting. We tried to do another marathon this weekend but failed. We only got through three and a half. They are:-

Astronaut Farmer (Friday night)



I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (Saturday)



Ratatouille (Saturday)



and Hide and Seek (barely half of it on Sunday night, thanks to my stupid idea of entering a culinary contest...)



I've got to say, watching half a thriller was like just wetting my appetite and I can't wait to finish it tomorrow. :(

Culinary Contest

I spent two hours in the kitchen today trying out a couple of recipes before I enter the culinary contest at work. So glad I decided to try out the recipes one more time before signing myself up. After two hours of standing on my feet (they still hurt), both dishes, although hubby liked one of them, were only "edible" by my standards. I can't enter into a culinary contest with edible food... What was I thinking? I think I'll give up cooking and stick with "preparing food" from now on... they'll still be edible and hubby likes most of them... and it takes a lot less time than two hours... and I am not counting the time that will take me to clean up the mess that's still in the kitchen. :(

Perspective

After I bought CC (cat #2), a series of events followed and we ended up spending $1,300 on vet bills between both cats. To put things into perspective, CC only cost $100 in 2007 and HH $27 in 1995.

So finally we looked into insurance for the cats. Did a query for "pet's insurance" on Google and checked out the first three matches. To sum them up, one does not accept cats over 10 years old. Okay. The second stated that they reserve the rights to drop an animal if "conditions change and the cost significantly goes up." Ugh. Does a cat getting OLD count as a "condition change"? Are they going to just take my money and drop her in a few years? I emailed them with my one simple question and have yet to hear back. So we finally went with ASPCA's plan. Annual insurance for HH alone is over $300.

We have furthered started a health account for CC. The plan is to put $35 (same as insurance premium) into said account as our own insurance for him. Folks with kids set aside education fund; we set aside medical fund for our pets.

My friend, C, has 3 dogs. Insurance for a dog is $30 per dog per month (I think she checked when her dog was younger, because that actually sounds INEXPENSIVE), which comes out to $90 a month, almost $1,200 a year.

To further put things into perspective: evidently day care in this area costs $1,200 per kid per month. Holy cow! All of a sudden $1,300 for vet bills doesn't sound that bad after all. How DO people afford kids in this area? :O

Culture: East v. West

A friend of mine sent me this series of pictures today. You will have to have some familiarity of both cultures to be able to appreciate them. :)

Trendy


Way of Life


Weather


Queuing


Restaurant


Sunday on the Road


Transportation


Travelling


Meals


Opinion


Party


Dealing with Problems


Punctuality


Boss


Child


Contacts


Elderly


Emotions

Simply Awesome

So lately I've been plotting about getting a PDA via work. It's so awesome. I am waiting for the AT&T tilt to become available through work:

While researching on the AT&T tilt, I came across this service called the TeleNav, which is arguably even more awesome than that AT&T tilt. With the subscription of $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, it basically turns your cellphone or PDA into a GPS!!

Do check it out on the TeleNav website. I wish I had known about it sooner. My OLD phone, a Sanyo MM-7400, which I had subsequently sold on ebay, could actually use this service. :(

Superstitious II

While we are on the subject of superstitious, Chinese are also very peculiar about their (our?) numbers. Namely 3, 8, and 9 are good, 4 is bad. Not quire sure about the rest. I guess I'm not hardcore enough to figure out all that. Currently we live on 4th floor. No other reasons, it's the top floor, we'd rather not have people above us because people can be noisy. Hubby even asked me specifically if I am going to be okay with 4th floor. At the time my thought was if it was truly that bad, nobody who lives on 4th floor will still be alive, right?

Much as I love this apartment, I've been sick A LOT since I moved in -- 5 times. As I have said before, I've never been sick so much in one year (which has really only been 9 months or so). At least 2-3 times were allergies caused by the dirty filter. AND, HH's eye (only the left one) flared up again too. She has always had some drainage in her eye since she was a kitty, but usually not more than 2-3 days, during change of seasons. This time it has been months. Being a predominantly scientific person, I just assume its something in the air (walls/AC ducts) in the apartment. But could it also be explained with living on 4th floor? Or, is it because it's our "birthyear"?

Man, so many things going against us. Regardless, I took the flu shot this year, and my "birthyear" is almost over, assuming I make it. So we'll see.

Superstitious

I used to be a germ freak. I guess I still am, just slightly better than the time when it was at full blast. Two years after I had my tissue bank job and having separate sets of clothes, separate laundry baskets, separate shoes (and if I could separate wallet, keys, and driver license), I realize that my fear of germ (viruses) is pathologic (how ironic) and is severely cutting into my quality of life. I think people who are extremely superstitious has got to be on the same boat. Like my ex-boyfriend. To date I still find it hard to believe that someone in my generation can be so superstitious -- the bed cannot face the door; the bed cannot face a mirror; when sitting at a desk your back cannot be towards the door. Well, too bad American housing designs must not have taken too much of Chinese superstitious (except maybe in certain neighborhoods) into consideration. Most closet doors double as full length mirror, I never did figure out how you can place a bed so you won't wake up in the middle of the night and see the mirror. (Thanks to this said boyfriend, I am still afraid of mirrors at night :(. Holy crap, how DO you position a bed and a desk into a 12' x 12' square room with those criteria? And those are just a few that I can recall!! Man, people who are truly superstitious to that point must lead a rough life.

Hostage

Finally watched Hostage with Bruce Willis today.


I can't believe that the movie was done in 2005 and we just now watched it. The funny thing was, I was telling Hubby which movie I got over the phone. Here's our conversation:

Me: Hostage
Him: Hot Peach? (How did he get Hot Peach??? What does he think I got, porn??)
Me: Hostage
Him: Hot Page?

That was pretty funny. You have to be there. :)

It wasn't a bad movie. Typical Bruce Willis type movie, after he proclaimed that he will not do any more terrorist movies after 9/11. Kinda make me wonder what Live Free or Die Hard is all about. This movie comes out on November 20.

This has not been a good year for me; this has not been a good year for the cats

My cousin O said that according to Chinese tradition, the year you are born in is your "bad luck year." The concept completely baffles me. I mean, the year you are born in has got to be like your "birthyear" of sort (kinda like birthday, but its the year). Anyway you look at it, it should be your good luck year. But he said generations of Chinese say that, therefore that has to be true. Perhaps he has a point there (or that the generations of Chinese have a point there) and that also extends to other life forms... at least to my cats. Our year has been: human doctor, vet, human doc, vet, vet, human doc. I have never been sick 5 times in one year, ever. And HH hasn't been sick since the year I got her (year of the pig!!). This line of thought can be kind of scary.

More Coincidence

Entirely unintentional, I realized that both cats and I are all "pigs," according to the Chinese horoscope. :O I'm 36, HH is 12, CC was born this year, age 0. Wow! Couldn't even have been that perfect even if I have planned it -- I'll be too impatient to wait for a specific year to pick out a cat!

Super Cat

So we finally adopted our second baby (cat). Funny thing, I've heard a lot of stories about women who never wanted kids then turn 34, 35 and all of a sudden really wanted one and had one. I suppose many people told me that (Hubby included) to let me know one day my biological clock can tick and I'll want a child, little do they know I know my body very well. I know when I ovulate; I know when I am needy; and frankly, that boat has sailed. The time I wanted to have a baby most was in my early twenties. And looking back, I wasn't sure if I wanted a baby, or just believe, as many still do, that it's a natural and mandatory step in life. But I digressed, at my young age of 36, all I wanted was another cat. Not sure why. I guess that's as close to how a woman want a baby as I'll be able to experience. So after a month's search, we finally found our perfect kitty - CC.

Blogging

I used to enjoy blogging a lot back when we lived in San Diego. We moved and shitty things happened and to avoid my blog turning into a very bitter blog (on hindsight, probably should have), I lost my drive to blog. But I missed the time when I loved to blog, so here's another shot at it... right before the new year.

Movie: Fog

Went to pay rent today, as per Hubby's request. Almost have to pay a late fee again, tsk tsk tsk, Hubby. While I was there I decided to browse through the apartment office's free DVDs for residences. :) And ended up watching Fog. Hubby said he watched the older version back when he was seven years old and it made him peed his pants at night... okay, he did not say that.



Wasn't a bad movie overall, a couple things here and there that they could do to make it better. But hey, nobody said its going to be an Oscar winner.

Movie: Blades of Glory

This is what we watched tonight:



I am 100% behind brainless movie on Friday nights. Thought provoking movies should be saved for.... when I am more awake.

It's exactly as advertised: stupid but entertaining. What more can you ask for on a Friday night?

Settling

I never understood why people settle on their significant others. I guess we have all wanted something to work so badly that we just tell ourselves that we can make it work, but marriage is a big thing, considering that you are making the commitment to send the rest of your life with this person. I always thought it's strange that people will complaint about their spouses the exact same issues before and after their marriage -- if you were complaining about these issues prior to the marriage, you are aware of these issues. Now I've came to realized that it's all a matter of investment.

How so, you ask. Well, most of these "issues" we are talking about is not a deal-breaking kind of issues. At the beginning of the relationship, nothing is serious, the guy (or gal) is an okay guy and the issues don't worry breaking up over. Two-three years down the line when it's time to talk about marriage, all the more not worth splitting over over minor issues like that. I'm not sure about others, but issues that I notice will continue to come back and haunt me and it will only get worse as time goes on. I wonder how many of these "settling" are truly happy marriages. Then again, who can define what is truly a "happy" marriage?

Statistics (aka Mini Games)

So over the Labor Day's weekend I fell ill so I had to stay in and kept playing mini games. I did not know that one can get physically ill (seriously neasuated and, I kid you not, I could literally feel my brain turning into mush) from playing too much mini-games.

Hubby told me that mini games are a quickly growing market... and mostly among women my age. It was then that I realized that I do not like to be a part of statistic... It's like being stereotyped. :/

My Cat Is Turning GREEN!

I'm a big supporter of consumerism. Why not? After all, the ultimate purpose of earning money is to spend them. It's not like they'll be useful in your after life. Maybe to bribe your way into Heaven?

I honestly think I'll make a good sample for marketing research. Many a times, I've seen commercials and subsequently purchase the products.

Example 1: Sunday morning, I was waiting for the dim sum restaurant to open to go have some dim sum. I saw KFC commercial while mindlessly watching TV while waiting for the Chinese restaurant to open. Guess what? 30 mins later hubby was in his car driving to get KFC.

Example 2: I purchased some Extreme deodorant products for Hubby upon seeing the commercial. By the way, Hubby was very impressed with their extreme action. Whether they'll cause cancer in a long run, that's another story for another day.

So you see what I mean? You want to do marketing researching, I'm your gal. I seek out new products when I go to Target. And when I see them, I have to purchase them. (Hubby is the exact opposite. He discovers something that works, his theory is, "Why try anything else when I know this works?" What a boring man? :D)

So I went to get kitty litter today and discovered this new product:



Of course I'll have to try it out. I dumped out all the old litter in the house (also an effort to try and see if I can find out what my Kitty is allergic to) and put in this new one. Shortly thereafter, our new kitty went to use the litter box. Shortly thereafter, I discovered green stuff on his hair next to his butt! :O Mind you, he's a long hair kitty. Many a times he has "stuff" stuck to his fur after he used the litter box.

I thought "uh oh, not again (having "stuff" stuck to his fur)," but I couldn't figure out where the greenness come from. Since green is my favorite color, half of his toys are green. My first (and only) thought was that perhaps he ingested some green fur from the toys and was now pooping them out. Then I tried to clean him with kitty bath wipes (thanks to whoever invented them, true savior for lovers of long hair cats) but the greenness won't come off. And I just could not figure out why his POOP was green!!

Since he refused to let me continue examining his fur, I figured I'll dig out his poop to have a closer look... It was then when I realized the greenness was from the LITTER itself!! He inevitably wet himself a bit when he went... and the fur around his... thingie turned GREEN!!

Pros: the litter smells good. Smells like bubble gum. Let's give it a few days and see how much my cat is going to turn GREEN!

Insight of Translation 6

打腫臉充胖子
Keeping up with the Jones

Prestige

For Asian, prestige is very important. One would even argue that its more important than happiness. As in, if you can put up a good front, happiness is not so relevant. Especially growing up in Hong Kong, world of the superficials. One gets judged by the brand of clothes they wear, the brand of watches, the brand of purses, the kind of car you drive, etc. etc. You get the idea. Job is, of course, very important too. Noticed that most Asian students choose one of the majors in this category: doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, accountant. Rarely do they deviate from these. Your self-worth is determined by your career choice/success.

So I was listening to the radio this morning. There is this new condom just being tested in US. There is a layer of lotion (gel?) on the inside of the condom that helps men to maintain their erection longer. Soon as the relevant agencies approve it in US, they'll be on the consumer's market. Frankly, for those who needs some additional help/fun, this sounds like a much better option to Prozac. Sex sells. Sex always sells. If and when this hits the market, we are talking about a multibillion business.

Then I get to thinking -- in order for new condom invention, there are actually designers who sits there 40 hours a week thinking about how to make condom better. Wow. Speaking of prestige. Seriously, how do you tell people what you do for a living? :O

Don't get mad if the inventor(s) of such product happen to come across my blog. Haha. I don't mean no disrespect. I've been a tissue harvester for many years. The motto was: we enhance others' lives. Note: enhance, not save. Enhance means making their quality of life better. It was a meaningful job. Making erection condoms arguably enhance the lives of many individuals. Keep up the good work, condom investors!

Insight in Translation 5

怒從心中起,惡向膽邊生
Adrenalin Rush

:D

Translation 4

豁出去了
Oh, what the hell.

(Amateur) translator's note: the tone when using "oh, what the hell" matters. Note that in this sense, it ends with a period (.), not an exclamation (!). If used with an exclamation, "What the hell?!" will mean "發生了甚麽事?!"

Insight in Translation 3

This one is actually from my grandmother. :O She knows some funny ones...

霸住茅厠不垃屎
Shit or get off the pot.

Insight in Translation 2

賽翁塞馬,焉知非福
Blessing in disguise

Insight in Translation 1

My friend HL is a translator in HK. It never cease to amaze me how some idioms exist in both the English and Chinese language. I'll record them in this blog (like there is a theme to this) as they occur to me. :)

屋漏扁逢連夜雨
When it rain, it pours.

Teastick

Accidentally mistyped Gmail.com today and ended up at Gamil.com. Since they have a big disclaimer about how people mistype Gmail and ended up on their page, I decided to spend a few minutes browsing their site and discovered this:







This is the teastick, here's a picture of how it's used:

I totally can use one of these, but it's a bit pricey at $18? If you are interested, you can find the teastick here.

Wisdom

Some wisdom comes with age. My latest enlightenment is: Don't make others' problem my problem. Lately I've been realizing that there's very few truly happy people. Some I understand why they are unhappy, others I don't. For me, I try to maintain an uppity mood. When your mother committed suicide and there's suicidal from your paternal side also, you learn to keep your mood elated. And I don't mean via any chemical means. And, sometimes, unfortunately, shit inevitably happens -- an unpleasant day at work, some unpleasant encounter with strangers, etc. And I have a bad habit of not easily letting things go, no matter how hard I try. Because of that, I already have occasionally battle my not-so-uppity mood so it's wise to avoid making others' problem my problem.

It's very important to distinguish whether a problem is your problem, or another individuals. For example, if you are in an unhappy marriage, it's your problem. If you are unhappy at work, it's your problem. If your friend are in an unhappy marriage, that's their problem. Notice that the saying "misery loves company" is RIGHT. People who are in unpleasant situations, i.e. bad marriage, loooves to sucker others in, i.e. wanting you to hang out with him and his spouse, as often as possible. This is a very good time to draw the line between his problem and yours. HE chooses to be with HER. It's HIS choice, not mine. Ergo, I am not obligated to share his misery. Someone who actively gets himself into unpleasant situations, i.e. always dating women who turn out to be big trouble. Again, it's his choice and his problem. First time, it's an unfortunate incident. Third time... he's subconsciously bringing it onto himself. Don't let him sucker you into "Oh, what should I do now?" or even bother telling him "Don't do that again."

Ergo, lesson of the day: in order to maintain an elated mood at maximum number of days possible, distinguish between your problem and others' problem. And don't let the others' problems get to you, even if you offer to help!

Dating

Two kids (in their early 20's) at work are actively dating. One dates mainly because he's bored; the other dates because he's ready to settle down. How can I tell?

The first one was mortified when he heard that hubby and I moved in together after a month, "But he'll be there all the time!!!" Um.. that's kinda the idea of getting married.

The other looks upset, exhausted, disappointed, "I just want to find that person whom I can go home to every night."

And ladies, that's the difference between the guy who's ready and the one who's not.

And if I have to say what I regret doing wrong while dating... that is I gave waaaaaay too much benefit of doubt. So here's my advice for those who are still in the (online dating) game:- if you are seriously looking, life is short. Know your list of criteria that you look for and know your deal breakers. Don't cheat yourself thinking that he/she will change or that you can live with it. You can't. You are just planting the seed for problems/miseries later on. Make sure you have enough in common with the person, and also enough differences. And, most importantly, your fundamental believes/values have to be the same. Should you see any red lights/deal breakers during any dates. Next!

Toasted

I toasted the work laptop. I literally toasted the work laptop. By that I mean there were crackling sound, there were smoke coming out of the laptop toasted. My cousin believes in the "course of the original year" (the year of the Chinese zodiac sign that you belong to, which is every 12 years). I don't know. At first I thought it was my health, but that's looking better and better by the day. Then I worry about the health of older kitty. She, too, is a pig according to Chinese zodiac, but all her lab work came back negative. I, however, haven't been having much luck with computers. Not too long ago I, metaphorically, toasted my home computer and had to perform a clean reinstall. I just got this new work computer last Thursday. Technically, it hasn't even been a week yet (toasted it before midnight). AND, after I got the first new laptop, it has component issues. IT spent about 4 hrs working on it, then realized it was just hardware and swapped a shell for me. I couldn't imagine their joy when I showed up at IT again promptly at 8 AM tomorrow morning...

Purses

Maybe I'm a cheap person, but I just don't get $2000 designer purses. I can see why a $20 Walmart one probably won't cut it because it just looks $20 and not very durable. But what is wrong with a Macy's $65 one? After all, all you need is to fit all your stuff in and carry it to one place or another. If it can serve that purpose and doesn't look too out of style, it's good enough for me.

I had this $20 beater Walmart purse that I love to use during travelling. Why? It's machine washable -- cloth, backpack style. Let's face it, going to travel is not the cleanest thing in the world. Usually my little bag/purse came back with me half black. Nothing beats emptying out the purse and throwing the entire thing into the washing machine. Once it dried, tah-dah, good as new.

My aunt felt so bad for me she had to buy me a designer purse... I'm only guessing it's designer because she made a point of saying that it wasn't a knock-off. What a waste for someone like me. :D

Monster Flicks

I can't say I'm proud of my taste in movies. Because, let's be honest, movies with depth requires energy and attention span to watch, both of which I severely lack. Part of the reason I enjoy watching movies at home is because I can have my laptop on for those slower parts of the movie. Pretty bad, huh?

So the latest monster flick I got from Netflix is Primeval. So far we've been 1 hr into it and it has been quite disappointing. It's not that difficult to do it right with a monster flick, all it needs is all of the following attributes:-

• Ample amount of monster shots. For obvious reasons. We watch the movie FOR the monsters. With today's digital effect, don't skim on the monster shots. We understand it's a B-line, low budget production and are not looking for something that can rival Jurassic Park, but at least to the level of Frankenfish. Now that is a monster flick done right.


• Allow ample amount of people for the monster(s) to devour, 8-10 will be a good number. Again, it's a monster flick, we know people will get eaten by the monster and we also know that the main male and female character will not get eaten. Primeval only has 5 core people on the team to start. Ugh, minus the guy and the gal, the monster can eat no more than three people. C'mon now. We don't care how many extras got eaten. It's just not the same.


• Create a situation where the crew is trapped. Let it be a boat, a submarine, an underwater station, the desert, the forest. There are no way for them to get out. Preferrably with foreshadow of it at the very beginning -- scientist/engineers bragging about the security systems -- "This is highly secure and xxx (bad situation) will only happen if xxx happen (something unlikely) followed by an arrogant "hahaha". i.e. security locked down in underwater station, the only boat was destroyed, or better yet, the bad guy tried to get away and ended up first to be eaten by monster. Cars were destroyed/out of fuel (gas tank destroyed) in the dessert/forest etc. Primeval made the mistake of not trapping them. The characters had the options to leave ("We got to go now. We can drive." "We can't see the road." "I know the roads." Next thing you know, they are in a hut over the water. Hello! Not exactly a vacation in Tihiti. Why a hut above the water? There wasn't even a shot of HOW or WHY they got there. There were just there after the discussion of the tour guide being able to lead them to safety. But noooo, let's hang around longer, right above the water.)


• Create some nail-biting moment where the monsters are coming. -- A most common one is that transmitter tagged to the monster. Works. No need to deviate from what works. Jurassic Park uses the rippling of water. That's a master piece.


• It's a monster flick, not softcore porn. -- Find actors who can act. Or at the very minimum doesn't sound like a recital. It's a monster flick, not soft core porn. If I want porn I can download them free on the internet. Please don't put in 2 big boobed porn stars who can barely memorize the script. They don't need to undress and shower at odd intervals and the only 2 big boobed girls who can't act don't need to make out while the threat of being eaten by monsters are looming over them.

And that's all the elements of a good monster flick. See? Not that difficult is it?

0.65

My engagement ring is a 0.65c diamond. By today's standard, that's a SMALL ring. Back in Sacramento, all the girls in my group has 1.0c, they can sacrifice the quality of it, but it has to be 1.0c. After moving to the bay area, that bar has risen, now 1.1 is the new minimum. And I do mean minimum, cause it goes up from there. A girl at my work has 1.3, the other 1.8. I have a small hand, 0.65c looks pretty good on my finger.

Luckily, the success and happiness of a marriage is not represented by the size of the diamond. The ring does, however, represent the two core values of my marriage:

(1) we've made the commitment to not live beyond our means. We don't have to buy the best money can buy, or to keep up with the Jones. We just have to buy what we can (comfortably) afford.

(2) He's not a perfect person, and neither am I, far from it. But we are aware of each others' longs and shorts before we commit to this relationship and we accept each others' flaws and love each other nonetheless.