destroy everything you touch

venue: mezzanine
artist: ladytron
who: betty, lou, rich, ro, quyen, jen & jonathan
when: 28 april 2006 (friday)
doors open at 8p

this was the second time i saw ladytron live. the first time was at bimbo's during their first album tour. it was with pretty much the same group sans betty. i felt almost the exact same way... on a few hours of sleep from going to popscene the night before and dying because my heels were killing me. and it being very late. ladytron didn't come on until midnight or so. we left a little early and that was close to 1am. i was dead tired and glad i wasn't driving...

i forget who the opening band were, but that pretty much says it all. they were forgettable. that's better than saying they sucked, right? which they did. i would have so skipped them had they come up on my online radio station i subscribe to.

the night was supposed to be pretty interesting... ro and quyen who stopped speaking to rich and usually don't agree to go anywhere he'll be. but they did this time, so it was interesting how everyone would mesh. at first, ro didn't really acknowledge rich but later, they said a few words at each other, not necessarily to one another. i'm not sure that quyen said anything to rich. i didn't see anything interaction between them. it was a little disappointing but a good start, i suppose.

ladytron was good. there were two extra people on stage. betty mentioned she didn't know there were 6 people in the band, i thought there were just 4. apparently, they were from a different band on tour with them... or something. it was the first time for us at the mezzanine, bigger than we expected it to be. it reminded me of this club i went to in LA with joe & eric over halloween weekend last year. they did evil, that was a highlight. but i can't seem to remember the rest, aside from the overall exhaustion and my feet ablazed with pain. the show was pretty good but i prefer the smaller venues with seats and stuff.

betty's baaaack!

my partner in crime is back from china! i saw her at the gym last night and said enough omg's to pass as a 14 y/o (that's how old my gym instructor told me i looked but i'm sure she was joshin' me).

omg, omg, omg! i'm so excited! we're going to popscene tomorrow. i know i just went dancing with my sister the other night, but it wasn't popscene and popscene is in a category all on its own. besides, it's my cardio for thursdays. heehee.

come dancing...

i called my sister on friday to see if she wanted to come dancing with me in the city. she accepted and we caught up with each other. it was really nice. i realize how much i need her. she's my little sister after all. we were so close at one point, it's really sad that we started to grow apart...

tonight, we went to the fragrance fair at nordstrom. she hadn't seen our cousin debbie in a while so that was a nice mini reunion as well. we had a good time shopping.

yesterday, i started my low-iodine diet. for those who know me, i am having my annual body scan on may 1st for my thyroid cancer. i didn't have to really do the diet last year but i did it for the first year. the thing with being on a diet is, when you are restricted to certain foods, that's all you seem to crave. i am not allowed dairy products on my diet amongst many other things. but i so want some brie and cheddar. i've been eating so much fruit, i'm not sure it's good to have so much. luckily, i can have wheat bread (no white) of which i really enjoy. i've been eating wheat toast with egg whites. sounds yummy, doesn't it? i have 7 more days on this damn diet. good thing, alcohol is allowed. i'm still buzzing from the pinot grigio tonight. heehee.

so i keep going back and forth with the ex thing. i miss him but i don't and not in a pathetic way if at all. i'm leaning towards not. but my heart still flutters a little when i see a picture of him or when i hear his voice on the phone. it's funny, he told me once that my taste in music was so rare in a girl. i seem to be finding the same thing being rare in men i meet, which seems to be one of my top ten if not my top non-negotiable trait. oh well, moving on...

which transitions to the next topic very well. usually, i'm an optimist. and even an incurable romantic, if i do say so myself. but after going to happy hour with a work colleague and discussing life over a few drinks, he brought up a very interesting point. what exactly is love? as a romantic, it's something of passion and is unconditional. when you know you can't live without someone. that's love. but as i've experienced, you can pretty much live without anyone and everyone, but yourself. love seems to be a very misconceived notion. i think many of us want to believe that you can just live on love. but that's not so. you really have to work at it. if you don't, you don't have love. you get hate. and some other unnecessary evil emotions. i've always thought that if i really loved someone, we could always work things out. but it just doesn't work that way. it's a two way street. if one of you don't want to work things out, the relationship is doomed and love is non-existent. rafal (my work colleague) makes a very interesting argument. he says...
i know how it feels to like someone
i know how it feels to really really like someone
i even know how it feels to hate someone
but, how does it feel to love somone?
it's something that people like shakespeare created in his stories and poems.
despite being an eternal optimist, i couldn't help but agree with him. maybe one hopes that they know what it is to love someone. maybe it's something that slaps you in the face. or, it might be something that creeps up on you. i know that i feel love and i don't know if i can explain it. i just know i feel it. well, i hope that i do because i don't think i could really be myself, without feeling love for my life and my surroundings in which i am more than thankful for.

one last thing, to my partner in crime... happy belated (yesterday) 31st birthday betty!! miss you tons!

missing my pisa

i don't think i've really spoken to her since before her birthday in december...

swansongs

i've been listening to a lot of polak lately. i recently purchased their first album (out in 2000), swansongs. i got their second album when it came out in 2002 (i got it in 2003) and absolutely was addicted to it. the singer from polak was in the band adorable. he's got this really sexy voice. it's a little raw and a little dark. it's hot. and the songs are really deep and melodic. i loved adorable and still do. i always love polak. there are so many underrated bands out there, adorable and polak are two of them.

i seem to get into these phases... i am so in my polak phase right now where i just want to find out anything and everything i can about them. unfortunately, they don't have much out and i've got most of what's out there on them. bummer.

mee's going away

last saturday, april 15, i had my first dinner party in a really long time. i love to cook, especially for friends & family. i used to have these theme dinner parties during the mlk days. i almost forgot how fun it is.

the menu started with caprese. then there were three main pasta dishes, lasagna (of which the sauce i'd started making since noon and finished at around 4 or so), pesto, and carbonara. i used ground turkey in the lasagna and turkey bacon with turkey sausages in the carbonara. so, it's a little leaner than if i used the regular stuff. i also made some garlic bread. and for dessert, i made tiramisu with khalua, as always.

jackie is my former boss. she actually hired me. and connie is the one who convinced her to. so, i have the both of them to be eternally grateful to. they are also great friends to me. i no longer work with them but this is what we call our ips gang. jackie is married to rob. spiro & mee are former ips students back when jackie was the ips administrator, my previous position. anyway, the lot of them brought me flowers and ate my food with a full appetite. i could not ask for better guests. even little cena (she's 2!) was a gracious guest. may is her lovely mother and also expecting another little one.

mee is finishing up his phd in political science. he will return to thailand and work for their ministry of foreign affairs with his good friend netty (who was also part of our ips gang but finished up last year). i have known both mee & netty since i started at stanford nearly 5 years ago. it's hard to believe that mee is leaving. on the one hand, it's great for him and thailand. on the other hand, he will be missed very much. he's been a great friend to me over the years. i suppose i will just have to go to thailand to visit them both!

my goddaughter, hopefully...

this is kelly's beautiful little girl, emily. she is 5 months old and one of the sweetest babies i know! everytime i visit her, she's always smiling at me. she was so good when i watched her. even though it was only for about 30 minutes. her cheeks are so jiggly and she makes me giggle!

she's going to grow up to be such a beauty! she's already a darling...

behind in postings

kelly's surprise birthday

on april fool's day, my best friend's husband decided to surprise her by planning a surprise party the weekend before her 32nd birthday. he offered to fly me down to burbank but i couldn't take him up on it and since i was planning to visit her for her birthday anyway, i booked my own flight. i had a voucher so it didn't cost me anything. and surprised she was! seeing her speechless and confused was so wonderful!! i was so happy to be part of the occasion!

we decided to take her out on an all girls' night out to asia de cuba in west hollywood at the mondrian hotel. joanne and karen drove up from san diego to also surprise her. gail, her landlady and friend was also in on it. kelly's husband stayed home with their 5-month old daughter. i was told that everything at the mondrian in white. the staff/waiters are all dressed in white. when we pulled in, it looked like there were a bunch of house painters in spotless uniforms. it was really posh and fun. apparently, there are celebrity sightings at the mondrian.

we didn't actually see anyone but had tons of fun. the food was so good. it was an asian and cuban fusion. i'd had asian fusion before but not with cuban food. we had 3-4 appetizers and 3 main dishes. it was family style and more than enough food for the 5 of us. i had a pineapple mojito which was their specialty (they also had mango mojitos). i'm not a big mojito fan but it was delish!!

we started with lobster potstickers, grilled pesto shrimp, fried riceless sushi rolls, butter fish, pan-seared ahi tuna on top of wasabi mashed potatoes, and a cuban chicken dish thai coconut sticky rice steamed in a banana leaf. it was all soooo good.

we all had a lovely time and kelly felt like a regular person again, being out and about. happy 32nd kel!! xoxo!

day five - monday, march 27th

for my last day in chicago, i decided to see the sights. i had planned to go up either the sears tower or the hancock observatory and then spend the afternoon at the museum of contemporary art. so i headed back to the magnificent mile and walked along the street. my first stop was the hancock observatory. it cost me $11 to go up 80 miles. it was pretty cool. this was straight down from the top.

next, i decided to check out the museum of contemporary art. in the back of my mind, i was thinking... hmm, maybe i should check if they would even be opened. many museums close on mondays. and as luck would have it, they were closed, of course. i decided that i was done with seeing the sights, so i went shopping. across from the john hancock center was this lovely presbyterian church.

i shopped until mien got off of work. i got two new belts at filene's basement. we met up at marshall fields. she bought me some of their signature mint chocolates. it was quite yummy. we decided to have dinner before my flight. we walked around and stumbled upon this place... she'd never been there but was curious. the bistro 110 was good. they gave us a card with my name on it and a recipe for oven roasted garlic. they served it with the bread. i'm going to have to try it sometime.

mien took the train with me to the airport. we talked the entire way. it was so nice to see her and chat in person. we've caught up over the years on the phone but there's something special about being able to see emotions and expressions. she watched me go through security and didn't leave until she could no longer see me as i headed towards the gate. i had so much fun. i can't wait to go back when the weather is warmer.

buenos dias!

hola!

i'm taking a beginning spanish class, so expect some spanglish in the coming posts...

me gustas la clase d'espanole. heehee. that's probably wrong huh?

day four - sunday, march 26th

sunday was the day before my last day in chicago. mien and i took the train to chinatown for dim sum. unfortunately, when we got to triple happiness, everyone else in chicago was thinking they'd have some dim sum too. so we went down the street for lunch. not dim sum but good and cheap. afterwards, we walked along the main chinatown drag. went into a few stores and i bought some ergo candles that are made out of soy and burn faster than wax candles. the scent is called trio. i've actually bought this candle in a different size. the scent makes me think of my childhood... ah, the memories.

we got boba before leaving chinatown. i had a papaya milk tea with boba. it was huge and cold. they mix papaya with milk tea and ice so it's more like a shake. i could barely hold it in the brisk cold weather. we got back on the train and were off to armitage, an area of chicago that's really quaint and cute. there were victorian buildings with bay windows and it made me think of san francisco. it was really charming. mien and i did some shopping at the lush store there. i got this lemony flutter stuff for my cuticles, elbows and feet. i love products! especially multi-functional products. i've been using it every night.

after lush, we had some hot chocolate at the ethel's chocolate store a block up the street. i think this was one of the best cups of hot chocolate i have ever had. it was rich but not too rich and sweet but not too sweet. usually, hot chocolate makes me sick and my stomach churn. but this one didn't. i wanted more. the two of us had a lovely chat while sipping our hot chocolates. it was so nice to just lounge with a cozy cup of hot chocolate. mmm...

so recently, mien and i had one big thing in common. we both had younger musician boyfriends. hers was 24 and the epitomy of a rock star, tatoos and all. mine was 25 and looked like more like a business student. anyway, they were younger, hotties, and fun. that was two years ago, since then, we've lost our rock star boyfriends. mien took me to hear her ex-rock star boyfriend sing in wicker park. this was where they met. it's a piano/jazz bar called davenport's. the bartender made us this drink called a rootbeer float, it was soooo good. i could've had 3 more. the music was good. i was impressed by her ex. who knew his voice would come out of someone like him. big voice but looks like a kid. and plays the piano like a pro.

we didn't stay too long. we went for some dinner before it was too late. so we headed up the street and found this wine place. we were still full from the chinese food earlier so we just had some appetizers. since i was in a wine café, i decided to have wine. i think there were 6 different pinot noirs in the flight i tried. they were closing so we stayed a short time.

we cabbed it home for facials, incense burning (mien purchased the same place i got my candles), and a chick flick. we put in under the tuscan sun, i'd only seen it once and it was a while back so i was up for seeing it again. it was one of those films that help pick you up from a bad relationship. sort of to give you an ounce of hope that there are good times to come. like spending time with an old friend you haven't seen in nearly five years in a city that's brand new to you.

day three - march 25th (continued)

dinner at rinconcito sudamericano was with mien's doctor friends camille, cliff, julie, tyler, and hoang. there were two others but i didn't meet them and they left early.

it's interesting to have dinner with lawyers one night and doctors the next. conversations always seem to be work-related. a little boring if you aren't in the field. we had dinner at this great peruvian restaurant. it was really good. it was a little funny because they brought their own booze. the restaurant provided glasses for us to drink our booze in.

afterwards, tyler (julie's boyfriend) had to go home because he was on call the next morning. so the rest of us were off to have some drinks. cliff and hoang were in front, while us girls (me, mien, camille & julie) squeezed in the back. we're lucky we're all small asian women. we went downtown to this bowling/billiards place called xxx strike. it was a cool concept. bowling alleys, billiards, and lounges to just sit, chat and drink. i thought, why don't we have any of these in california? i spoke too soon, there's one in hollywood.

it was a lot of fun. we just lounged, drank, and chatted about life and love. camille and julie got hit on while mien and i chatted away with cliff (camille's fiancé) and hoang (their single guy friend they seated across from me at dinner, thanks mien). it was mellow but still a lot of fun. i definitely did not want another night to end at 5a. this night ended sometime around 11p.

back to the chicago trip...

day two - friday, march 24th
mien had to work on friday, despite our late night, so i did what i always do while on vacation... i went shopping! the big shopping avenue in chicago is michigan avenue, otherwise known as the magnificent mile. i took the 145 bus ($2 for the ride) there from in front of mien's building. it was so easy and convenient. i was first dropped off at the start of michigan ave. lucky me, it was a mall...

it was interesting, there were all the same stores as there are here in the bay area. i went into the benetton store, club monaco, bloomingdale's, h&m, nordstrom, etc. there was a filene's basement there (kinda like loehman's) where i found the perfect pink bag that matches my pink shoes. it actually started to snow while i was in h & m. needless to say, i spent a lot of time there. here's a summary of my purchases on friday:
@ benetton
2 (one white, one camel) button up shirts
@ h & m
1 black sweater, 1 white tee shirt, 2 pairs of fancy panties, 1 pair of brown tights, 2 shirts for jaden, 1 top & 1 pair of overalls for chunky, a bunch of hair stuff for chunky (i think that's it)
@ filene's basement
1 pink furla bag
@ ethel's chocolate
box of assorted chocolates (for my coworkers)

i think that was it on friday... mien had hoped to get off of work early but it wasn't possible so i went home around 4p. she came home shortly after i arrived. we hung out and watched tv for a bit. mien took a little nap. we had a dinner to go to at 7p. it was her friend debbie's birthday. around 8ish, we cabbed it to uncle julio's hacienda to meet up with mien's lawyer friends.

incidently, i met someone from the bay area who knows my sister-in-law's family. and now that i've thought about it some, i think i went out with her brother once or twice. it turns out that mien met jennifer at some law convention. jennifer approached mien as they were the only asian girls there. it turned out they were both from california! and that sparked their friendship. jennifer went to hastings law school with my sister-in-law's sister. i went to the hastings law school graduation ceremony, meaning, i went to jennifer's law school graduation. to make a long story short, it's a very small world.

after dinner, we headed to the clubs and bars. i'm not sure exactly where it was but it was debbie, jennifer, this guy that's sweet on debbie, mien and me. our first stop was the lion head pub & the apartment. upstairs is the apartment complete with two bedrooms in which one bed we settled in. at first, there wasn't anyone interesting to talk to other than the people we were with. then there was this german guy i was talking to. he was nice. his name was robert. he was in chicago working temporarily making some new hip replacement technological device. it was cool, i wasn't interested but he was cute and friendly. i told him i spent some time in germany back in 1998. he told me he had a little daughter. then he had to go hang out with his friend patrick. after german robert left, there were two guys walking by. the first one started talking to me, and then the second one started talking to me too. after that, we started heading out...

as we're walking to the car, i was having a nice chat with debbie, telling her to come out to the bay area to visit me and i'd take her out and it would be so much fun!! then, we were stopped. in front of this bar, john barleycorn, with a guy waving at us to come inside with him. i looked at mien and she says, hey, he's cute! let's go have drinks with him! the rest of the gang decided to head home and let us stay out. it was already 11p, i thought we were going home...

steve was his name. i was a little surprised, this sort of thing never happens! mien was all for it so i went along with her. when we got inside, steve went to get us some drinks. then i saw this really cute guy so i smiled at him. and he approached me! who knew that smiling at someone would get them to come over. that NEVER happens here. he told me i was pretty and i said thanks. then steve came over with our drinks and took us away to meet his friends in the other room. his friends were matt and dave. steve was talking to me, i wasn't really paying attention... mien told me she thought steve was cute and i thought dave was cute so we switched places. apparently, steve didn't like it so he took me to the bar to get me another drink.

at the bar, suddenly, there's this girl freaking me from behind! i was like whoa! what just happened here?? after i had my carbomb, i went back over and met the girl who freaked me. she had 3 guy friends with her whom i also met. i think they were filipino and thought i was too. i was talking to one of her friends who incidentally is getting his mba at usc but is home visiting. it was kinda cool to meet so many people.

later, dave left and it was just me, mien, steve and matt. i don't know if john barleycorn closed and that's why we went to another club. so, the four of us hopped into a taxi and they took us to this club. it was freezing outside and there was a line so i wasn't looking forward to waiting. fortunately for my wussy californian ass, matt knew the bouncer and we bypassed the line! during the short time we were in line, mien and i managed to meet a couple of more guys... hahah. i don't remember what the club was called but it was dark and really crowded. i paid cover since steve was out of cash. so he made us wait for him at the bar while he went to the atm. surprisingly, while waiting, i met a couple of more guys! it was never ending. i don't even remember their names but they were really nice. steve showed up soon after and took us upstairs where we bypassed yet another line! mien and matt stayed on the dancefloor dancing while i went to a lounge area with steve. i was having my 3rd or 4th guinness. holding it next to my face so steve wouldn't try to kiss me. he was sweet but i just wasn't interested. he told me i was pretty and that when he saw me on the street, he wanted to meet me. he also liked my hair. of course he did.

when it was finally time to head out from this club, i walked by one of the guys we met at the bar, he told me to be careful. um, okay, thanks? that was kinda weird. steve was holding my coat and when i got it back, my cell phone was missing! so i made him look for it. he found it quickly. someone had left it by the dj upstairs. we cabbed it back to matt's place. not sure where it was. apparently, matt and dave are roommates. they had a pretty nice place too! there, i had another guinness. again, so steve wouldn't try to kiss me. we hung out until mien and i realized it was 5am. time to go home. so we shared a cab with steve and we were dropped off first. mien paid for the cab. steve asked if he could come up with us. our answer was a straight no, you can't. then i told him if he wanted to find me, he could look me up at my work! that was it. mien and i went upstairs and slept until 3p the next day. what a night!

i asked her if this was normal, being picked up off the street like that? she said no, it was unusual and that i shouldn't expect it the next time i came for a visit. awww man!

day three - saturday, march 25th
so we woke up at 3p on saturday and it was only because mien's friend camille called her! we had dinner plans with them... so before getting ready, while listening to music, eating chips and chatting. i finally decided to take some pictures of the view from mien's apartment on the 42nd floor.
it was the view of the lake that convinced her to buy.

new shoes!

i know i'm supposed to make updates on my trip but i couldn't help myself, i had to post this. i just got them and can't wait to wear them when it stops raining. aren't they pretty?