birthday/thanksgiving 5-day holiday weekend

last wednesday, i turned 23, again. um, for the...8th time. okay okay, i really turned 31 but i don't feel even close to it. maybe it's because when i think about being 31, i imagined i would be married and popping out kids or have popped out kids like pretty much everyone around me. but that's okay, i am enjoying my life as i am right now.

my birthday was great. i took the day off because my manager said since she never works on her birthday, i couldn't work on mine. so i spent the day cleaning and slaving away for my party. i woke up at 8a and cleaned my apartment until 11a which is when i'd left for lunch with my sister at 11:30 so we could beat the rush and then have time to go shopping. by 11:40, banana leaf was so crowded we were relieved we met up early. after shopping, i went on a grocery shopping adventure to 4 different stores. i didn't get back until just before 4p to start cooking away. my brother had gotten us a refrigerator the night before and decided to hook it up just before my party started. despite half the people flaking out on me at the very last minute, it was a lot of fun. lots of food and lots of wine. i had a great time...

thanksgiving was the very next day. there were about 20 people coming over to my brother's house upstairs and his mother-in-law was in the kitchen with my sister-in-law slaving away all day. the dinner was a gourmet asian fusion with a touch of thanksgiving in terms of having mashed potatoes and stuffing in 3 chickens. first, the appetizers included seafood toast, fried bananas, and smoked salmon on shrimp chips and dressings. then for dinner, there was sea bass steam cooked in banana leaves, garlic noodles with grilled shrimp, seasoned rice with quail eggs and shrimp, vegetarian egg rolls, roast beef, roasted chicken, and a spring salad with shredded mango. for dessert, we had pumpkin pie and leftover burnt almond pumpkin birthday cake. it was a grand old time and much fun was had by everyone who came.

i actually didn't really do any holiday shopping yet. we went to the gilroy outlets at midnight after thanksgiving dinner, along with the rest of the asians in the bay area, but only stayed 20 minutes and left shortly after browsing one store. all in all, it was a pretty good and relaxing holiday. it was actually the first year i didn't have to make a turkey, which i actually missed doing. but it was nice not to have to do anything. ted made the mashed potatoes. good stuff.

thank you claire!

prior to meeting my financial advisor, i wasn't getting much back on my fidelity investments for my 403b. but since i had no idea what or how to do it, there wasn't much i could do. after meeting with her and following her advice, i changed my investments around to be more versatile on different types of stocks and bonds. my dividends & investments went from $1.37 in september to getting $162.27 in october!

thank you thank you thank you!

stars and death cab

venue: leavey center @ scu
artists: stars and death cab for cutie
who: ted, alex, andrew, betty, louis, romano, jen & jonathan
when: 15 november 2005 (tuesday)
doors open at 7p

last night we went to santa clara university to their leavey center to see death cab. stars opened for them but sounded terrible! the vocals were so low, we could hardly hear the words in the songs. which was a total bummer for me, i really like them. fortunately, i've seen them live twice and actually met both torquil campbell and amy millan, who were both very nice.

it was quite an adventure to find betty last night sans cell phone. she came solo as well. she called me 20 to 7p saying she was on her way but that she might stop home and that she would look out for us. i hoped she'd be there by the time we got there but not to my surprise, she didn't get there until after 8p. luckily, she ran into louis (avec une cell phone) and was able to contact me. we met up outside after the show.

it was my first time seeing death cab for cutie. they played songs from all albums including moviescript ending which was the first song i heard from them. the sound was a lot better than stars so i'm not sure what exactly it was, the band or the venue that screwed up earlier. ben gibbard truly has a great voice. it was a pretty good show despite the dry refreshments and obnoxious undergraduates...

his holiness, the dalai lama

last friday, i was given an opportunity of a lifetime. i got two complimentary reserved tickets to see the dalai lama talk on nonviolence. the last time his holiness was here was in 1994 and tickets for all 3 events had been sold out for months. i went with my sister-in-law's brother, dochi. he's a big buddhist and has a tibetan name that means being a rare diamond. we sat next to these vietnamese ladies who knew him, his tibetan name and how they met him. it was very cool.

the talk was political and a bit on the dry side. but the q & a afterwards was great. words to describe being there and the dalai lama...

amazing. humble. hopeful. positive. intelligent. humorous. playful. genuine. so down-to-earth.

it was so wonderful to know that he didn't have all the answers (who does?). and that in the presence of such greatness, he just seemed like a sweet old man. especially with all that he's been through, being exiled from his home country, he was just so positive and made me want to be a better person.

combat baby

venue: slim's
artist: metric
who: ted, betty, alex
when: 03 november 2005 (thursday)
doors open at 8p

last night, we went to see metric at slim's. it was a sold out show. even the balcony area we love to settle ourselves in was completely booked and blocked off for ticket holders with dinner reservations. kinda like largo but that's never happened at slim's before...

they had two unnecessary opening bands so by the time metric started, it was past 11p. my feet were killing me from wearing my high heels, so i could see better but who was i kidding? making me just over 5 feet doesn't do me any good with men like ted, 6 feet plus towering over me. oh well, i tried.

after 3 tom collins and two bands that sucked, i was ready to go. then metric came on and i didn't recognize any of the songs. but the singer, emily, has a very lovely voice. it was nice to hear her sing live despite the one song we knew which we (excluding ted) were just waiting to hear. finally they played combat baby and that was our que to visit alex's toothless boyfriend at the crepe truck. alas, when we got there, he'd gone but we still got our savory crepes! they were delicious after midnight on a cold and drizzly day.

ted finally showed up after metric finished 7 more songs after we went for crepes to take us home. i crashed as soon as i got into my seat. overall, metric sounded great live. emily haines has an awesome voice. and despite not being able to see her funky dance at the keyboards (as told to me by ted) and standing in really uncomfortable shoes (we meant to be sitting upstairs) for about 4 or so hours straight, it was a good show.

stanford bonus

today stanford university gave out university-wide bonuses to the staff and faculty. we were given $250. and after taxes, the amount came out to $142. apparently, the university has never shown such display of generosity before and i'm not sure they ever will again. it was a nice surprise, especially with the holidays and family birthdays coming up... including mine.

this is what i'm getting myself...they cost $245 and they are mbt shoes. mbt stands for masai barefoot technology developed by the swiss. the swiss are always developing comfortable shoes, aren't they? they say these shoes are the smallest gym and help your posture, which i definitely need! there's a video on how you should start wearing them to get used to them. i'm so getting these by the end of the month...