TheThinkTank

WTF!!! Topic Change!

2008-09-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

So yes...I haven't blogged in a very very very long time. Those of you that do know why, thank you for understanding. Those of you who don't, just ask me and I'll tell you. Anyhoo, I was talking to Mandi this afternoon and decided that perhaps I should just change this into a food blog. Since that is the source of all our passions anyway. Therefore, for the inaugeral blog, I present...my recipe for "Spare Ribs and Daikon Mixed Rice".

First off, the ingredients:

1 whole medium sized daikon
1 package spare ribs (cubed)
2 cups brown rice
1 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp kosher salt
3 tbsp corn starch

Take the daikon and chomp it into little cubes. One thing though, you may or may not find the daikon with the greenery still attached. Most times I get the pure white daikon instead of the ones with the greenish stuff on the top like the ones pictured. I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you why, but the pure white ones are what my mom bought when I was little, so g'damnit thats what I'm telling everyone else to buy! Gently rinse the daikons with a collander but be sure not to agitate it too much cause they have feelings too, and the bruising might make them angry >:(

Now take the spare ribs (make sure you buy the cubed kind cause I didn't this time, and fucking hell they're hard to chomp through even with a big ass g'damn cleaver) and lightly brown them in a wok, or any type of pot that won't stick too much at the bottom, but can hold a decent amount of liquid. You can definately help the spare ribs along if you throw a bit of olive oil or whatever your oil of choice into the pot, but I chose to just lightly dust the bottom with some Pam and let the grease from the spare ribs slowly cook out. I drained a bit of the grease before I added any other ingredient due to the fact that 'Mixed Rice' is a saucy dish and I don't want all the grease swimming around in it.

After the spare ribs are pretty browned, add the rinsed daikon cubes to the pot, and stir a few times, making sure that both the ribs and the daikon are evenly spread throughout the pot. Now, add your soy sauce and mix letting it cook for a little bit with the lid on. This will slightly steam the ribs and sort of infuse the flavor into the meat.

Now, add just enough water so it reaches over most of the bits of daikon and meat and let boil for approximately 45 minutes.
Now, while you're letting the daikon cook down, I hope you have a rice cooker cause if not, this is going to be kinda weird. I suppose that "Success" rice or "Uncle Ben's" will work as well, but nothing like rice in a rice cooker. :D Anyways, I measured out about 2 cups of rice for both Mike and I, with a little left over for lunches the next day.

As you may or may not have noticed I'm using brown rice, because I just think its a bit better for you than your generic white rice, less starch and all that jazz. I'm using organic whole grain brown rice that I got from Whole Foods, on sale mind you, but its still pretty badass :D Anyhoo, it should end up looking something like this when you're done with it...

Now, after your soup concoction has been boiling for about 45 minutes, it should look something like this... >>

At this point, be sure to add your salt and mix it around because thus far all it has is the soy sauce. One thing also, I use low sodium soy sauce so it takes away from the taste a bit, I know I know, whats the point, low sodium soy sauce and adding kosher salt? Ah hah! therein lies the genius...I bought such a big tub of low sodium soy sauce, I have no choice but to use it :X, however, most of the time I find that it works just as well even without further adding salt, the saltiness just gets washed away when I use it in stews and whatnot.

Ok, after you've thoroghly mixed the salt into the pot, prepare a corn starch mixture using your corn starch and some water. You want to get the consistency of Elmer's glue.

After you're done mixing the corn starch and water together, turn off the burner and gently fold it into your spare ribs and daikon pot, making sure not to stir too much, but enough so that the corn starch gets evenly distributed throughout the pot.

You let this mixture thicken up for a few minutes while gently agitating it. The leftover heat from keeping the pot on the stove should cook the corn starch at just the right temperature. There's other thickening agents out there that aren't as finicky as corn starch, but again, its what I was taught to use, therefore, what I'm showing you to use :P

Now, after everything's been throughly mixed and thickened fill your bowl/plate of choice with some rice, spoon the thickened Spare Rib and Daikon mixture onto the rice, grab a bottle of Sriracha, and drizzle on top to taste.

Die CNN....

2008-04-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

KEEP FUCKING POLITICAL VIEWS , ARGUMENTS, AND COMMENTARY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE G'DAMN FUCKING OLYMPICS.

I'm sorry, but you have a million g'damn fucking arenas to go and say this or that about a country's politics or whatever but FFS its the fucking olympics spare me the "Save Tibet" or the "Communist Pig" banter cause I've heard it all before.

As far as I'm concerned, that CNN correspondent Cafferty can die in a fucking fire. I think when I calm down I'll be able to write a more succinct entry, but until then..

FUCK CAFFERTY, FUCK CNN

Cohabitation

2008-04-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

So as some of you may or may not know, for the past weekish or so my sasquatch and I have decided to experiment with cohabitation. It's interesting to say the least, we both have similar sleep patterns...in that we don't...and he has his video games to tie him over, while I have mine. Its amazing how no matter how long you've been together, subtle little things that you never noticed before somehow crop up.

For instance:

how often he leaves the toilet seat up
he never throws dirty clothes in a hamper, but rather a pile in the corner of the room
he likes to build small forts with soda cans around his computer
cartoon network is always on tv now (RIP Food Network)
random words such as "cock shit" , "fuck balls", and the ever famous "cock shit fuck balls"

But in all fairness, I do enjoy having him around more than before. Its odd the little things you start to grow accustomed to, like a snore or a laugh from the other room.

I know I know, it all sounds kinda corny and mushy but its true. Kind of like that "My Fair Lady" song...

"But I'm so used to hear her say .."Good morning" ev'ry day..Her joys, her woes,Her highs, her lows, Are second nature to me now Like breathing out and breathing in. And yet, I've grown accustomed to the trace Of something in the air; Accustomed to her face."

But of course substitute the "her" for the "him". teeheehee.

Anyhoo, besides all the bad stuff that I've highlighted he's actually a rather awesome "roommate"!

Awesome Roommate Qualities:
Always washes the dishes
Takes out the trash on trash days
feeds Emy if I forget
tidies up around the house if I'm not there
wakes me up when I'm about to be late for work XD
I was very nervous about this whole prospect before it happened and well, I'm still a little jittery. I guess its normal to have someone you're so close to...suddenly in such close proximity all the time. I never thought I'd say this, but I highly recommend all you couples out there to give it a whirl :P Thus far, I have to say that the pros completely out-weigh the cons and if you're unsure...sometimes you just gotta close your eyes and take a plunge!

Well Well Well....

2008-04-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

So its been a solid month or so since I've last blogged. To my loyal readers I'd like to extend my sincerest apologies but man life has been BUUSSSSSYYY. Lets start off with...the convention!

Now, I've spent the better part of last year and the first few months of this year preparing for our annual convention. I generally don't write about it too much because we can't reveal too many of our secrets you know ;) But, the convention is over and much fun was had by all. Theres still people that like to bitch moan and complain about whatever but haters...what can you do. Here's some shots I borrowed from a news site that was covering the event: Photos courtesy of Japanator.com!

^ Main Events Night, Nirgilis Concert

^ Teehee, Cosplay Contest

^ 1st Tekken 6 arcade tournament in the US!

Needless to say a lot of work went into this stuff, and I don't have any of the pictures from the convention itself such as panels and crowd shots etc. I think our final tally this year was around 5600 people which was up from last year's 5000-ish. We would've had more if this idiot of a person had bothered to post ppl at the door to his event to check wrist bands -_-'

I will post more tonight, but I hope this ties Mandi over till then XD

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

2008-02-22T07:51:00.001-08:00

Don't worry...the actual conference is in English!

Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-02-14T12:35:00.001-08:00

Estrogenfest 2007

2008-01-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

Now quite a few weeks have past since Estrogenfest 2007 and I just now came to the realization that I haven't posted a damn thing about it yet O_O So without further ado, I present the players of Estrogenfest 2007...

Needless to say, it was one of the most awesome times I've ever had. I'm not one to get mushy or overly sentimental, but Mandi and Brenda's visit came at a time when I needed to step outside of everything else for a little while and just let loose. I think for that I'll always be grateful to both of them for just being kick-ass enough to come hang out for no reason whatsoever.

So...what do you get when you put a highschool chemistry teacher, a graphic designer, and a disgruntled accountant together...mix 1 part cousin-in-law, 1 part Peanutjelly, 1 part Spritez, 1 part Ass and some mangos? A helluva good time is what.

Strangely enough, Mandi, Brenda and I met through WoW...oh yeah, the internet sensation known as World of Warcraft. Its amazing how something as simple as an online video game can bring people together from different walks of life and turn them into friends.

As Mandi had already previously posted we spent most of our time eating :D As many of you may or may not know, Houston is one of the biggest culinary cities ever. No we're not fancy smancy like New York, but theres so many different cultures and people here its inevitable that we're gonna get a healthy mix of every type of ethnic food, granted during the trip most of it was centered around Chinese...cuz ffs, look at the people leading the party haha.

There's really not much I can say or post that Mandi hadn't posted already, but I felt that being the host of this great event, I needed to at least write a little something to document the momentous occasion. All in all, a great time was had by all and I found a white version of myself, a new appreciation for reindeer, I can't drink as much as I could in college, 6 people have no problems racking up a $200+ tab, sometimes boyfriends make no sense, boys in general make less sense than boyfriends, and when in doubt...steaks do indeed go on your face.

First thing's first...

2008-01-27T19:23:00.001-08:00

I planned on blogging about something else, but let me get this out of the way first...

That's right folks. I am in pain...the excruciating kind...not the "walk it off" kind. I woke up this morning and I was feeling rather sore, but just laying in bed...it didn't feel that bad at all, so in all my infinite wisdom I decided to hop off the bed and start my day.

Upon my feet touching the ground, I instantly fell because hey, I wasn't expecting my legs to go "lawl, we're taking the day off". Quite possibly the only person in the world that felt worse than me at that very moment is this guy --->

Its odd because I usually don't feel the full effects of "soreness" until about 2 days after the workout, which leads me to believe that tomorrow is going to be a rather nasty Monday indeed.

All in all though, I guess it means that I did something right during my workout and that my muscles got a good shakeup. What I'm not looking forward to is the possibility of working out again on Thursday without my muscles fully healed up. I'm probably just whining now but g'damnit, I'm hurt and I'll whine if I want to!

Nirgilis is coming!

2008-01-26T09:46:00.000-08:00

Your muscles and the "two week" grace period

2008-01-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't worked out since December 1st due to the unforeseen circumstances that make me nauseous and therefore will not discuss. Needless to say, lately I've been starting to think that I need to bust out an appropriate wardrobe for the flabby state of my poor muscles T_T;

It's actually quite odd if you think about, you spend countless hours working out and honing your muscles so that each workout gets easier. Your muscles slowly become accustomed to the torture and each week things get better and better. HOWEVER, working out is also like a life-long addiction to some narcotic. Thats right folks, I said it...working out on a weekly basis religiously is like being a crack-head.

The moment you stop working out, even for just a little while all of sudden your whole system goes to shit and your body decides "omfg, you're not working out , what do I do what do I do...oh I know...here let me store all this fat you're eating and convert it to jelly rolls" -_-;

To be honest though, re-introducing my muscles to cardio and light lifting wasn't that bad at all, I finally got around to calling my trainer again and had our first workout this morning. I thought I was just going to flop down and turn into a pile of mush but I actually feel quite energized! Feeling good baby, feeling good :D

My trainer told me that I have about a two week period from today to continue my regimen and my muscles will return to form, muscle memory he says. Well heres to hoping he's right and not full of shit haha, because judging from how they feel right now I'd say I'm gonna be one helluva sore Asian woman come Sunday morning.

It's been 5 yrs.. its time for a change...

2008-01-21T16:40:00.000-08:00

So...I got new glasses over the weekend T_T . Let me give you folks a quick rundown on my previous glasses. I got them for a very good price from my friend Dr.Tran and I've loved them ever since. They've been with me to three different countries, countless purses, two suitcases and 2 traveling bags. I've lost them more times than I can count and sat on them more times than Lohan's been in rehab. As you can probably deduce from this description, they were getting a little run-down.

Notice the highlighted areas...those are where there use to be color, and now...there is absence of color haha. Its rather unlike me to not "get a new one" of something that is run down or overused, but I don't know...I think I've formed a relationship with my glasses. We've been through thick and thin together and it seems like...an old friend thats always there when its too early and everything's fuzzy. But alas, all good things must come to an end, so I tucked away my old friend in a safe place and ventured into the world of "frames" to choose my new face companion for the next few years...lemme tell ya...it wasn't pretty.

I've always been rather partial to the black plastic frame because its durable, it fits my face well, and if I inevitably sit on it, I won't morph it into some weird shape that only fits Quasimodo.

So thus, I began my search. Now, you'd think it'd be pretty easy to find a nice pair of black plastic framed glasses, you know...with the popularity of "emo" and all. Oh how mistaken I was, apparently, emo is such a trend now that theres a plethora of weird looking glasses out there that make people look like Lisa Loeb on crack.

Not that theres anything wrong with Lisa Loeb, I actually liked her music for a little while, but I definitely don't want to be walking around with some crackhead Lisa Loeb glasses.

Finally, after quite a few hours of sifting throw mountains and mountains of black framed glasses I finally found one that I didn't find too objectionable, unfortunately, it only came in red T_T. WHY HAS THE GLASSES GODS FORSAKEN ME! WHY! Then...out from the corner of a pile...a light shined through and I beheld a sight that almost made me burst into tears of joy. A suitable pair of glasses. Now don't get me wrong, I know I'm insanely picky when it comes to this stuff and I loathe getting new glasses to begin with, but these were near perfect. They're a little more square than I'd like them to be, but after a few hours...I didn't care anymore :P.

So without furthur adieu...

TADA!

This is Epic.

2008-01-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is so epic, that it just speaks for itself. Lesson here kids...LEAVE NO DINOSAUR BEHIND!

"It's the Revenge of the Nerds and Cera is Our King!"

2008-01-18T10:08:00.000-08:00

Heylo faithful blog readers! I know its been quite awhile since I've blogged and as some of you may know, some pretty crazy things have stunted my blogging time and energy. I don't want to go too much into that right now because frankly thinking about it makes me ill and nauseous. SO onto my topic for the day...Michael Cera + the real young Hollywood.

Now I'm trying really hard to think back to last time I picked up a newspaper or magazine without seeing Lindsay Lohan drunk/rehab/drunk/rehab, or Britney Spear's private parts plastered all over the place ripe with the title "Young Hollywood Gone Wild". Now, I think this is probably rather unfair because to be honest when did Hollywood agree to have the likes of Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie be their spokespeople for the next generation.

So, I thought and thought and thought about who else is out there that no one seems to want to write about it...and then it hit me, like the broadside of a Harry Potter novel..."Cera is our King!"

For those of you who don't know, Michael Cera is a super talented young actor from Canada with the comic timing that hasn't been around for quite some time. It doesn't matter what role he plays from the kid in Arrested Development to the "quiet one" in Superbad, he just makes all of his characters so believably awkward without even really trying. Unlike some of the other actors that I'm going to discuss, Cera very seldom appears in the "blockbuster" films I guess he might be one of those awesome indie film actors that you know of, but only get to see every once in awhile. BUT you never know, he might be the next Johnny Depp in training :Q. If you guys don't know who he is, you should check out his filmography and pick up some of his movies cause he's just too funny to miss.

Of course, I can't let my opinion about who is set to inherit Hollywood with just the king, so let me move on to the other young talents that I think deserve a serious look :O

Now, Shia LaBeouf...first off let me say...I have no idea how the hell that goofy annoying kid from the Disney show "Even Stevens" got so damn hot. :Q I mean FFS look at the guy haha. Ok, I'm done drooling. Anyways, he's one of those child actors that did good, and is maturing into a stellar actor/leading man. I believe the first film I saw him in was the blockbuster "Transformers", but he was also in this completely awesome thriller named "Disturbia". I'm a self admitted wuss when it comes to those type of movies but "Disturbia" is truly one of those that just deserves a watch , rewatch, and eventually a special edition dvd buy. :D

Now, Ellen page. Admittedly I don't know too much about her besides her performance in Juno. She kinda strikes me as a young version of someone, but I can't quite put my finger on who....if one of you guys know who she reminds me of, let me know ok? LOL. But seriously, she definately deserves a spot on the up and comers list of people to watch. O_O

As I sit here dilly dallying and looking through droves of different pictures and movies that I liked with actors that I adored, I've come to realize that maybe the horizon isn't full of doom and gloom. Theres a bunch of great actors that I didn't highlight such as (forgive me) Mandi Moore, Michelle Trachenberg, and Justin Long.

Its really just a damn shame that its the ones that completely screw their lives up before the age of 30 that seem to get all the attention. I really hope that maybe some day I can pick up a newspaper or magazine and see Britney with her kids at a park enjoying a Sunday or something like that. To be honest, I don't know these people and nor do I care to, but at the end of the day I still wish them the best :P

Panic at my house! Everyone's invited!

2007-11-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Thats right people its crunch-time! I've always been a rather good juggler when it came to different things I had to accomplish on the day, week, month, etc etc. Unfortunately, I've found myself completely slammed this past week with no glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel. Our annual convention is coming up and theres so many things to get ready and sort out that its starting to drive me bonkers.

First off, I spend basically an entire week and some change writing and sending out proposals to company begging for money and support, which is usually ok with me because hell...its money $_$ , but you throw that duty on top of babysitting this new guy on staff who's suppose to be in charge of our US guests. Now, when I say babysitting, its probably pretty harsh, its more like..helping them out in a way because they don't know how to write properly. Here's an example of the email he sent out to some potential guests:

Hey guys, ****** here, I thought it'd be nice for us to have a little sit down and chat about what we can do for this convention we got coming up....

It's ok, right, just a rookie mistake, panic situation still under control. I figure ok, not a big deal, we can fix it. Afterall, I'm sure many a people have made the mistake of writing an email too informally. So after I wrote out all these things for my potential sponsor contacts, I spend some time and write out a template email so that he can follow it and not make the same mistake again. Crisis averted.

Now, I get a call from my friend who's in charge of the whole shebang and he says to me, "The website launches in a few days, you think you could send all this stuff out and get a response so we can have some sponsors lined up for the website launch?"

Oh dear, what a crunched time frame. Usually this stuff takes quite a few weeks to iron out details and forge commitments and whatnot, but..HEY! its alright! So I wake up super early the next day and get all my stuff together and FedEx the principle ones out so that we can at least get some responses from our more sought after parties. Granted I haven't heard back from them yet, but they should've just received the package today, gg Veterans Day. Crisis Semi-Averted.

Now, here's the kicker! This convention coming and goings don't relate to my 9 to 5 at all, its all part of the company that does the stuff with the arcade. It'd be nice if someday I could devote my attentions to this full time because its what I enjoy doing. For those who don't know, I'm an accountant by trade and most of the time its a pretty easy going job. Do some paperwork, crunch some numbers, go home, gg. Well, every so often the powers that be spring a little something on you that beings with 'A' and ends with 'T'. DUN DUN DUN!

On top of all this stuff I have to do for the convention, I also have to prepare 7 years worth of paperwork for some stuffed shirt thats gonna come and tell me no matter how well prepared I am, that our company owes them money. Normally it'd be ok, not too much stress right...but hey, I've only got a month to do it and I have no help. I have 1 month, to prepare and arrange 7 years of paperwork by myself -_-

I want to be a wizard

2007-11-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

I wanted to relate this interesting conversation that I had with my sasquatch last night. Mind you, I was half asleep and I didn't even realize I had this conversation until he told me about it this morning.

Me: **snore** ** snore** **snore** ... whoa, hey...where are you?

Him: I'm here, you were snoring in my ear

Me: oh crap I'm sorry, was it loud?

Him: No, I just moved away cause you were snoring

Me: Oh..... (moments later) ... I want to be a wizard.

Him: You do? why?

Me: Cause wizards are cool!

Him: What would you do if you were a wizard?

Me: I'd turn my cousin into a frog.

Him: Why would you do that?

Me: Cause she's a bitch. (moments later) ** snore ** ** snore ** ** snore **

_______________________

ahem...well, I must mention that I had no recollection of this conversation but it was great fodder for unparalleled amounts of laughter the next day. gg sasquatch, gg.

The Chinese COMMUNIST Culture Center

2007-11-08T15:04:00.001-08:00

Run for the hills people, the Red Army is marching and their headquarters is the Chinese Community Culture Center. Oh yes my friends, it is true...the powers that be at CCC have regressed into minions of the Mao Zedong death squad out on a witch-hunt to destroy sanity and efficiency within the center's walls.

For those of you who have been following the "saga" of the chain of events that lead to this post, I am sad to inform all of you that the idiots at CCC have won the battle. During the "board meeting" that was called regarding the issue of "inappropriate" relationships; the spin doctor known as Chi Mei successfully railroaded my cousin-in-law.

The board agreed that for some reason or another CCC would be held liable for any of their employees relationships outside of the boundaries of the center. One of these "board members" alluded to a story regarding how a supervisor gave a worker a ride home after work, and that worker was subsequently killed shortly after the supervisor dropped him off. The family of the worker then sued the company successfully because the company was liable for dropping the worker off. Now...does this sound ludicrous to anyone else, because it sure as hell sounds like the biggest piece of shit I've ever heard in my lifetime.

They went further on to say that while its not a bad thing for coworkers to have social functions under official CCC circumstances; it is a "conflict of interest" for coworkers to have a social gathering outside of official CCC circumstances and that the center would be held liable if anything happened. Now, I don't know about you guys but again, load of horse-shit.

Needless to say, when confronted with the burden of proof regarding this "conflict of interest" the board simply replied, "We know its a conflict of interest, you just don't know yet because you are too young. We're older and we know better."

W.T.F. -_-'

Mind you, those arguing the case were both in their 30's and with a vast amount of working experience as well as college and college level educations. With these turn of events my cousin-in-law basically replied that with this working environment that was created and the complete inability for the center to filter out fact from rumor, she has no choice but to tenure her resignation.

To be completely honest, I don't know if its a victory or a defeat. I'm happy that she's finally gonna be rid of those fucking idiots and free to explore more lucrative options. At the same time though, the center has been such a focal point of all of our lives. Something very rewarding about helping out the less fortunate children out there and making them feel at home even when their parents have to work extra shifts.

Needless to say, I know it hasn't truly hit her yet, but my cousin-in-law has devoted so much time and so much effort not to the center itself, but to the kids that it houses. I just hope that whomever the idiots get to replace her, that they'll take care of those kids.

OMG November!

2007-11-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I didn't even realize it was November already. Sheesh! Time certainly is flying by this year isn't it. What should I post to commemorate this occasion. Lets see..here...

^^ That outta do it :D

The Internet Killed My English.

2007-11-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

Thats right, I said it, the internet killed my Engrish. I think its really funny how sometimes normal, highly functioning adults will just completely type like idiots. Lets take for instance...my WoW talk. I will recreate the above sentence using "wow-typing"...

thats rite i sed it. the internetz keeled my engrish. I think its rly funnay how sumtimez normal, highly functioning adults will jus completely typez like idjits.

See my point? I'm completely guilty of this as well, because I too possess the highly coveted, L33T Sp3ak keyboard key bindings..

:D I'm just kidding of course, my keyboards black..ANYWAY! Is this the taint of our generation? The 50's gave us unrealistic and gender binding boundaries, the 60's turned us all into crack heads, the 70's were stupid and gave us the jitterbug, while the babyboomers of the 80's overpopulated our world with the nincompoops from the 90's.

Now, before I start winding up the turret about young whipper snappers, I too, am a nincompoop of the 90's. Granted, technically I should be an 80's kid, but lets be realistic, by 1990 I was only 10 so most of my formative development happened in the age of the brain dead...mmm...braainnss. T_T

I'd really like to think that the mark of my generation expands beyond more than just horrible English skills and every person being able to type more than 75 wpm, however, time is getting scarce for us to make our mark. Perhaps we will be relegated to the internet generation...this saddens me, particularly because everyone knows that the internet is for porn, internet gaming, and downloading illegal copies of videos that usually turn out to be porn. LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!1!1!!!!one <-- see my L33t Typing?

I hath seen the signs of PURE EVIL...

2007-10-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Now...allow me a moment while I gather my thoughts upon how to gingerly approach this topic. Ok, moment over...MOTHERFUCKING BULLSHIT...about sums it up I would think. So all of my loyal blog readers...all 3 of you, check this out...

My cousin-in-law has been working at this community center for 9yrs. In the span of her time as there it has always been tradition that all the members of the youth program staff would hang out at her house and pal around and whatnot (most of them are college kids).

Now, mind you...she is not the direct superior of these kids and has no say in their day to day activities or anything of that nature. One of these kids is a family friend of ours, and is currently staying with her AND her husband because it's closer to his school and he has no car.

Two weeks ago, her boss approaches her and says "ok either Ricky needs to move out, or you need to quit or he needs to quit because its a conflict of interest." To which my cousin-in-law answers, "how is it a conflict of interest, all the kids are over at my house all the time." Now, her boss goes and says that their relationship is "inappropriate" and that people will start rumors etc etc. BUT she will give my cousin-in-law a week to process what she has said.

Now, during the course of the week, this rancid bitch goes around the center asking people OUTSIDE of my cousin-in-law's department about her and Ricky's "inappropriate" relationship. Now, I don't know about you, but I think this constitutes slander/defamation of character. Now, also, in response to the whole "all the kids come and hang out at my house" comment, the boss lady has now said that all the people working in that department are to submit their grades to her in order to make sure they have an 'appropriate' gpa. WTF!!!

Now if any of you guys out there know any lawyers or lawyers in training, now is the time to ask them what they think of this situation. Until then, I offer only one thing..

In response....

2007-10-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

Since I'm an absolute nub and have no idea what the exact etiquette is regarding 'comment' response, I figure I'd devote my blog today for the comments that I've been getting on the posts. Its either this, or discussing the mucus discharge that is ever-flowing from my poor nose. Yes, I'm still sick..^#$^#@&(!%#$%!&

Anyhoo, lets see here, first things first I guess..

i've said it before, and i'll say it again... nothing can defeat the penis -Mandolin

Yes..nothing can defeat the penis. O_O
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I was upset as well when I found out. Not because he is gay, but because JK Rowling is trying to make a political statement out of the book. If it was part of the plot that he was gay, then she should have written it into character development. Oh and btw, this is brecie.
- Roberta

I don't know, why does a character being gay have to be a political statement? If I understand the situation, she didn't just announce it. Someone asked the question "had Dumbledore ever been in love". If in her mind, he was gay, should she have lied? Refused to answer?

I can see why it's not apparent in the book...it is, after all, a children's series. Overt sexuality of adults in a children's book isn't really appropriate, so if there were any clues I'm sure they were subtle and easily overlooked.
- Mai

it really cracks me up that the news is making such a big deal over it. jay and i heard on the news "find out next which Harry Potter character was gay!" i had my money on Seamus... c'mon, he's a real momma's boy! i was surprised that it was Dumbledore, but it made a lot of sense. it still just cracks me up that the media thinks it's something that should be reported everywhere. she came out with neville's marriage and no one is reporting "HARRY POTTER CHARACTER NEVILLE WAS STRAIGHT!" :P
- Mandolin

First and foremost...Hi Brecie :) Secondly, I can see why people would be upset regarding Dumbledore because it did come as a rather large shock. Is America ready for a gay 'father figure' and more importantly, should we really care this much when theres a bunch of other crap to worry about? :P I say , yes, why the hell not.

Theres only so much 'serious' news you can take before your brain explodes into itty bitty little pieces, and since I've grown accustomed to higher level brain functions I say sometimes discussions such as these would be guilty little pleasures, kinda like reality shows.

Also, I agree with Mando Carlissian that the most shocking thing isn't that Dumbledore was gay, but that Neville got someone to marry him without fainting :D

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i hadn't seen that DCFC video before! if you haven't gotten it already, pick up their dvd "drive well, sleep carefully", which documents their transatlanticism tour. good times.

also, in the Chang Hui-Mei video, what is she so sad about? i think maybe she is so sad because she is, in fact, too hot. i am to understand this happens.

and that michael wong video is really sad! was the song broken up like that in the recording or did they do that for the video? either way it's really cool.

thanks for the props!

-scott

follow you into the dark is still the most romantic song D'=
-Mandolin

also... i found this lovely specimen O_O
everything cover
-Mandolin

Hmm, I haven't picked up the DCFC Dvd, I think I will do that as soon as I get over this nasty little bug. I was rather surprised that I liked DCFC particularly because the first time I heard one of their songs I was like "meh", but I think it was "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" that completely changed my mind.

The Michael Wong video is indeed rather sad, and I recall my cousin telling me that if you don't slightly tear up while watching it, then you've got to be completely dead inside. Granted, I didn't tear up, but I did feel very sad...I guess I'm only mostly dead inside :D Oh, and the song doesn't break up when you're just listening to it, they did it for dramatic effect methinks :D

Now Chang Hui-Mei is a somewhat recent discovery for me, but she's been rather popular in Asia for quite some time now. The name of the song is literally translated to "listen to the ocean". Basically, its about her longing for her man to admit that he loves her, but alas he's a bit of a free spirit or something of that nature. I guess what I like most about her is that there's something in her voice thats faintly haunting and kinda wants you to feel sad with her, or happy with her...depending on what the case may be. :O

Yes...I'm a closet hopeless romantic, and "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" has just got to be the most romantic song I've ever heard T_T <-- happy tears.

Now, as far as the "Everything" cover...that dude sounds like he's got a horse stuck in his throat and it's trying desperately to get out, but he can play the guitar so thats a plus!! I've found a slightly older Indonesian gentleman that does the cover as well, and I will counter your Korean guitar playing, horse stuck in throat, everything cover...to my older Indonesian that can't pronounce words right everything cover...

I'm STILL in love with Michael Buble

2007-10-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

-Michael Buble

I was browsing through some blogs just now and found a friend of mines which I will refer to as Geri. Which reignited what I had planned to do before...so here's a few youtube vids of some of my fave artists!

- Death Cab for Cutie

- Chang Hui-Mei (I like this artist so much particularly because she achieved pop idol status without sounding like ass -- also, sorry about the karaoke haha)

- Michael Wong (This video makes me sadface)

- Jack Johnson

Dumbledore's Sexual Persuasion

2007-10-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, Dumbledore's gay. WTFH! I know :o I was just as shocked as everyone else. This timeless and beloved character was a sausage chaser. Whodathunkit O_O

I guess in this respect, JK Rowling's challenging our time honored beliefs in the 'father' figure and basically our overall outlook on people in general. Let me relate a small snippet of my conversation with my lovely boyfriend..

Me: Dude, Dumbledore's gay

Him: The actor?

Me: No, the character, Dumbledore's gay, he was in love with Grimmwuld.

Him: STFU are you fucking serious, no way, he's not gay.

Me: yah he is! go read leakycauldron.com, JK Rowling was doing a Q&A.

Him: dude, no way, I'm not gonna read it...he's not gay.

Now mind you, my boyfriend is a card carrying democrat and pretty liberal when it comes to issues such as same sex marriage, equal rights for same sex couples, etc etc...so him being so adamantly opposed and downright flabberghasted really perplexed me.

Could it be that we as a society aren't ready for a gay "father" figure? I really don't know the answer to that, and honestly I don't think it really mattered whether he was gay or not. I guess it all comes down to the eye of the beholder and who knows...maybe JK Rowling is drumming up some more hooplah in case she's releasing a HP Encyclopedia XD.

The Great "Migration" and the Coming of Age

2007-10-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

So as all my 1-2 faithful blog readers know, I've been battling the great evil that is called allergies. Unfortunately, a weird turn of events has my allergies slowly progressing ('migrating') into a serious case of the sniffles. It sucks, lemme tell ya :( Not only that, it decided to drop 20 degrees this morning from the time it took me to get into my car , go to work, and get out of my car. Therefore, I had the pleasant experience of spending the day suffering from the sniffles, while freezing my ass off from being under-dressed. I do believe that its fate playing a rather cruel joke on me :P

Although I can't really complain, cause I've had a pretty good year thus far and generally when I call in "sick" its more due to being lazy than actually being sick. :P So in the grand scheme of things, I suppose its only fitting that when I actually am sick, I don't have the sick days XD. Good thing theres this sign otherwise I'd just call in sick O_O (Disclaimer: That sign's not actually posted, I just thought it was funny and kind of reminded me of how work felt today)

The Great "Coming of Age".

Well, as some of you may or may not know, it was my birthday this past Sunday. I have now officially turned 28. Give me a moment while I sob in my Cheerios. T_T

I've often wondered how stupid I was back in college thinking that I could retire at 30 and live a life blissfully enjoying the millions that I have magically earned in the 5 years since college graduation. Alas, as with the passing of each birthday past the age of 25, I find myself reflecting on how I'm doing. I have to say that for 25-27 it was rather depressing :( I never really felt like I've accomplished much and often wonder if I will ever get to accomplish all the things I have set for myself to do; afterall, I have yet to become a great candy cane maker.

This year, however, seemed rather complete.

**Warning: Incoming Mushy Sentiment**

I don't quite know what it is, or how to put my finger on it, but I think that being with my sasquatch has made me rather content. My job hasn't changed, and I'm living in the same house, but it all seems somewhat different. Could it possibly be that being in a committed long term relationship was what I needed to feel this way? Man, what kind of monkeyshine is this!!!

The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that its not the relationship, but how knowing that no matter what there's gonna be someone on your side that makes the world seem better. Who knows, maybe the better part of becoming "mature" is understanding that no one can go at it alone and be it friends, family, or significant others...as long as someone's walking that long path of life with you...regardless of circumstances you're still somewhat more complete than you were before.

The Dangers of "Next Blog"

2007-10-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

I'll have to admit, I'm one of those people that thing everything on the internet is safe to look at, and those sick things you find every so often is the oddball instead of the norm. Well...heh...lemme tell ya, was I in for a shock XD.

You see, all you Blogspot people out there...theres a tiny link called "next blog" after you post and I figured, hey, I guess I can go see what other people are writing about. First few clicks went by harmlessly enough, mostly in Spanish and couple of in Portuguese. Now...the very next click...oh boy. Hahaha, actually, literally boy...boys everywhere. I had stumbled upon Jona's page and his homage to his penis and apparently, the penis's of other men...and well, you get the idea.

Now, I'm not gonna make some stupid social commentary regarding lifestyle choices, because I really couldn't care less about whether Jona likes tacos or sausages, but yah...just as a word of warning to all you would-be blog browsers....every so often...you'll run into some Jona's :P

Let there be LIGHT!

2007-10-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

So yesterday started out rather typical until around 11:30ish when I decided that my allergies have gotten so bad I could no longer function. Nevermind that I felt like one large nasal drip, but my eyes were also driving me crazy, so I figured it was time to go home. Now...the trek home was uneventful but after I got home is when things started getting interesting :o

I got to the area where I live around noon and despite the allergy symptoms I was quite hungry; therefore, I stopped by the local grocery store to grab some eats and a refill on the allergy medication that didn't seem to be working anyway. I was walking by the frozen foods section when a sign advertising "Candles 3 for $1" caught my attention. Meh, what the hell, I thought so I bought some candles. Little did i know how happy I would be with my purchase :D

I get home finish off the soup and crackers I got for lunch and hunkered down in front of the computer to do some serious chatting with some friends when "bam" all the lights go off and the UPS's on my computers start beeping. Usually, the outages in my area don't last all that long, but after about 15 mins I decided it'd be best to turn everything off. Time rolled on...20 min, 45 min, 90 min, 120 min...WHAT THE FUCK!

There I was, in the dark, with my 3 new candles that I bought for a dollar. It was at that very moment that I realized how much I depended upon technology for entertainment .. and after that...I got severely annoyed with the fact that I was not entertained.

As with anyone that knows me even remotely well, theres only two things you can do when the lights go out and its getting dark...and one of them is sleep, and sleep I did! from 4pm to 7pm I slept and when I woke up the lights were still...out. OMG what am I to do?! This is when I took a deep breath and did what any logical person would do, I hopped in my car and drove around for 45 minutes at a high rate of speed on a highway you have to pay to drive around on :D I pulled back into my garage around 8pm and lo and behold.."Let there be LIGHT!". So, you may ask, what do you do with this wonderful wonderful electricity that can power all of your machines of entertainment? ... I go on the internet and watch Chinese soap operas XD
<3 <3 BUT...that is a different obsession altogether :)

Mold, Calories and Relationships .. OH MY!

2007-10-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Since its been a few days since my last blog, this one will be three-fold. Let us start by expressing my overwhelming hatred for allergies.

This sinister little blip on my genetic road map drives me absolutely insane every single year. What's worse is that it can strike without a moment's notice. I'm allergic to mold and particularly its spores. Therefore, I'm generally doing alright until it rains. -_-

I had escaped the allergen woes thus far, but this past weekend, the torrential downpour must have awoken the long dormant spores and they now glide through the air in a fancy free style, much to my chagrin of course.

So I ask myself, what is a girl to do? Of course, I ask myself this same question every year, so I've decided to take matters into my hands...and I'm going to finagle myself into a handful of Allegra samples <3

Now, calories. WTF...why mention calories you ask? Well my semi-anonymous internet friend, I will enlighten you. A wise Pik once told me that calories are what you use for energy etc, and the excess calories you don't use during the day gets stored as fat, now that the science lesson is over, a comic to help illustrate my main point...

I recently got into a little "discussion" with an old friend of mine, whom we shall refer to as Mr.D. Now, Mr.D has convinced himself that being on a fad diet which admittedly produces quick results, is the only way to go as far as losing weight. Of course, I countered with the 1000-1100 calories a day + exercise method that I subscribe to follow. Then, I somehow became akin to the starving children in Africa and then someone who will ultimately end up binge eating because it is impossible to eat 1000 calories a day for the rest of my life.

Now, to be fair, its been a little while and my details of the conversation are probably a bit hazy, but nevertheless I'm still quite miffed at Mr.D. It's alright though, I will do my thing and he will do his; never shall our dieting philosophy paths cross...but word of warning to all you Mr.D's out there...regardless of how u eat, it won't matter if you never learn self control :P

aaannnnd now....drumroll please....Relationships. :o

"If I were I loved as I desire to be, What is there in the great sphere of the earth, Or range of evil between death and birth, That I should fear, - if I were loved by thee"

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

I find myself in the peculiar position of being in a long-term serious relationship. This doesn't happen to me very often given I'm often known to lose interest in people quite quickly and rather frequently, I guess thats all part of growing up.

Sometimes things get tough and you probably want to just call it all quits and throw your hands up in the air and curse the day you discovered the opposite sex...but then...life wouldn't be much fun now would it ;)

Generally I'd try not to bring up things that are too personal, but recently a couple that I know have been having some communication issues. Its a little sad to me since I've known them since they started dating and now they're on the brink of "long-term relationship" divorce. To be honest, I don't blame the person wanting to break it off considering all the ups and downs that they've been through, but sometimes I think...maybe if they just gave it another go. I'm the eternal optimist though and life is probably too short to be giving out too many chances; yet, you never know...if I didn't think this way I'd probably be single and somewhat lonely instead of "coupled" and content.

Submission

2007-10-11T15:39:00.001-07:00

I've always detested personal blog logs just because they always seemed so trite. Every little teeny bopper on the face of the planet posting who they think is cute and who has a crush on who, as if their secrets are safe when read by the people on the internet. Although, I must admit recently a friend of mine changed my mind.

I was sitting idly at work when a friend of mine sent me a blog of one of her favorite actors, Daniel Wu. Now, admittedly I was intrigued so I started reading it as well. It kind of resonated with me how it was less of a source for gossip than it is a way for people to document the little things in their life that might seem insignificant but mean all the world to the person blogging. Therefore, I decided to start this blog as well.

Now, generally some might say I have my cynical side (which I do) but there just might be more to this than just random events. Who knows, I guess it remains to be seen ;)