the best irish car bomb ever!!

so if you've ever had an irish car bomb, you may or may not know that they are usually lit on fire. hence, the car bomb. but with the fire hazard, they won't/don't light them up anymore. some places won't make them because some retards have been chipping the glass when dunking the shot.

if you know me, you know that i looove car bombs. they are my drink of choice when dancing because it's a quick and substantial amount of alcohol i can dance off for a while if not hours. but of all the car bombs and of all the places i've had them, i've never had one lit on fire. until, i went to this gay club in west hollywood on saturday that we've decided to call corndog because it's so corny. it's actually called hotdog. they don't seem to have a web site i can link to.

back to the car bomb. it was me, kiki, and our friend jodargo there. his friend met up with us. we asked the bartender for car bombs and it was odd, he went to talk to another bartender about it. who sort of looked us up and down. straight, i gathered. so they say, yeah, they'll make us car bombs. they started them as usual. filled up half a pint of guinness and started the shots of baileys and whiskey. then, he brought out some barcardi (?) and topped off the shots with it. in addition, he put some barcardi in a separate glass. he told us to move back and by this time, EVERYONE is watching us. he dips his hand into the barcardi and lights it on fire! then he put his hand on the bar where our shots were and part of the bar is on fire! and he dunks our shots into the guinness pints and we down them. i don't know if it was the fire or what but it was the best tasting car bomb i've ever had. that was the only redeeming thing about that stupid club.

let's get out of this country

venue: great american music hall (ugh, the tenderloin)
artist: camera obscura
who: ro, lou & betty
when: 20 july 2006 (thursday)
doors open at 8p

betty and i got there a little late but didn't miss much. it was quite an adventure getting to the venue as we parked about 3 blocks away. the tenderloin is filled with freaks & crazies. camera obscura had just started their first song. romano & lou were at the hemlock tavern waiting for us. afterwards, we headed over to popscene.

i'd been listening to their new album let's get out of this country almost everyday since i got it. tracyanne campbell's voice is lovely. it sounds sweet and innocent, even a little angelic. the six member band is very dynamic. with instruments that include a trumpet. and it makes all the difference in the songs. they played most of the songs off of their new cd. i was very impressed with them. it was one of the best shows i've been to in a while.

i'm still impressed... would definitely see them again.

i now have video...

my lollipop head

recently, my nephew has been coming downstairs in the mornings (before i wake up) to see if i would play with him. most of the time, i'm still sleeping and i just tell him to be a good boy and go upstairs.

i've been thinking about it more. i want to try to get up earlier and spend some time with him reading to him. i think it's very important at this age that he gets this everyday. we could have breakfast together while doing this. i just hope i can wake up early enough. i'm going to have to make an effort. while he is not my child, he (as well as his sister) is the closest i have to having kids. i love them like my own. i think this is really important and it's something he needs right now.

i'll post progress reports... wish me luck!

anniversary sale

today is the first day of the nordstrom anniversary sale. so i went shopping this morning! despite the two and a half hours of sleep i got as a result of going dancing last night. i'm still doing pretty good. i think i'm still energized from popscene.

it was a mad zoo at the nordstrom valley fair store. i got there 20 minutes after they opened and i parked on the second floor of the parking structure. that never happens! it certainly didn't for the half yearly sale. there are all these things on sale that wasn't in the catalog! i saw people (mostly ladies) with arms full of clothing. it was a little scary. i decided to skip the clothes and head straight to the shoes.

i wasn't sure if this pair was going to be very comfortable but they were, surprisingly. so i got them. i got a pair of 4 1/2" michael kors platform pumps too. i'm still debating about them though. they are also dark brown. i've been on this dark brown color phase these days.

i made friends with two funny asian women who were checking me out in the michael kors pumps. they thought it was too high for them but it looked like they needed the height as much as i did. they would come by together or separately to ask my opinion about what they were trying. it was a lot of fun.

next was cosmetics for me. i'd put these two items on pre-sale so i had to go pick them up. my cousin is an assistant manager in the cosmetics department so i did my pre-sales with her. i got some other goodies in my bag too! yay!
my sister and i are going back tonight... nordstrom closes at 10p.

precious moments

last night, i came home late and wanted to see if my chunky & lollipop head (niece & nephew) were still up... and they were. my nephew says to me, i want you to have a baby so i can have a cousin to play with. omg. i don't know if someone put him up to it or not but isn't that the cutest but craziest thing?

later, i was getting ready for popscene and put some perfume on. then chunky says to me, you're yummy and asked if she could have some too. since she was going to bed soon, i told her i'd let her have some tomorrow.

i absolutely adore these babies. i don't even need to have children of my own as long as they are around. they give me so much love. ♥ ♥ ♥

back log - the 4th, blocked tear duct, & a baby shower!

4th of july

i spent independence day at muffin's new pad with sir gb. they had a grill going out on their balcony which is on a corner and faces the street. so there's no one next to you. it was quite nice actually. getting there was a little bit of an adventure as my friends(betty & gillie) & i got lost getting to her apartment. the food was very yummy and i met some cool new people i could go dancing with. heehee. all in all, it was a nice low key event. we saw some fireworks but it doesn't seem to impress me like it used to. i just wasn't interested. i think the food was distracting me. food or fireworks? food or fireworks? i took food.

thanks muffin! ♥ it was great fun.

eye update

it's been nearly a year since i had my intubation, i went back to the opthalmologist last week for a check up. i thought i was just going to have surgery and get it over with. but there were some problems... he said i had three options. they are:

1- some sort of balloon intubation where they stick a tube inside my tear duct that is blown up to stretch the tear duct. but he said that procedure almost never works. so, scratch that.

2- do another intubation. last year, the tube was too tight and rather than leaving it in my eye for a few months, it was there for a few weeks. initially, i felt drainage so i was excited that it was working. but the tightness created problems. my eye started to get infected and my tear ducts were getting stretched and droopy.

3- the last option is surgery. he'd open up the side of my nose and make an incision to try to stretch out my tear ducts. the problem here is that my condition isn't that bad. and apparently not ideal for surgery. if i went through it, i would end up with a scar on my face, which is likely to become infected since the area we are dealing with isn't sterile (my nose) and that would make the scarring worse. plus, it may not even work! ugh.

we talked it over some more and i decided on doing the intubation again. i don't think i posted in detail the whole procedure. i guess i said it didn't hurt but it really did. in fact, it was a bit traumatizing. although, now that i've been through it, i know what to expect and it may not be so bad the second time around. so, the plan is to leave it in for 4 months instead of 3 weeks. the procedure is scheduled for august 2nd. wish me luck!

my cousin's baby shower

this past sunday, my cousins (proud parents-to-be debbie & roger) had a baby shower. they are expecting a baby girl. it's very very exciting. they got married last september and were together for over 9 years before that! as they are still attached at the hips, they have been very much in love for the entire time. it's refreshing to see that kind of love still exists.

i was asked to make tiramisu and cream puffs and bring drinks. well, i was a little overzealous with the alcohol. i bought a case of champagne and two bottles were barely touched. i spent most of saturday (until well in the am) trying to finish baking the cream puffs (baking them in my mini convection oven was 30 minutes for every 9-10 cream puff, i made 40) and the tiramisu. which was a total disaster! i had total of ten tubs of marscapone cheese. out of the ten, only two was good. the rest came out curdled. i'd never been so frustrated at 4am before. on two hours of sleep, i woke up early to get more marscapone cheese to make at least a batch of it for the shower. out of the four, i purchased that morning, only two worked. so i had 13 single servings of tiramisu for about 30 people. oh well. thank goodnes for my sister who came over to help me finish up with the cream puffs. the custard didn't turn out for that so we put cool whip inside with strawber- ries. oh yeah, i cut my thumb (while cutting the strawberries) and smashed my index finger closing a door on it. all on the same hand. at least it was my left hand.

there were fun games, good food, and great people. kelly was also there for it. she sat with us in our "winning" table. each one of us (even though i was the last one to win something) got picked for prize from a game. i will post more pics when i upload them from my camera. despite everything, i had a wonderful time!

they are a lovely couple and i'm so very excited for them! congrats debbie & roger! i ♥ you both!!

adventures at kirala's

i'm posting late (sorry melissa!) because um, i was sick on thursday and have been super busy since...

last wednesday, we went on a ladies night out at this very yummy sushi restaurant called kirala. betty used to go there all the time when she lived in berkeley and she knows the owners. as well as everything to order.

as we are chowing down our scrumptuous food, i see, in the corner of my eye this really cute guy. he's in the kitchen somewhere and i see his face peek through the circular window. and he's such a cutie! i think i was pigging out on ice cream when i saw him watching me. i laughed as i caught his eye. and he returned my giggles with some himself. it was all very high school. which made it cute and obnoxious at the same time. one of the owners took me back to the kitchen to meet him but as soon as i got back there, he sort of ran away and hid from us. so, i went back to my seat. after exchanging more looks, the owner came over to me with a piece of paper. it had his name (ogi) and phone number on it. i sent back a piece of paper with my name and phone number. then we decided we were going to stop being annoying so we left.

on the way to the car, the owner was saying goodbye to us from a window above and ogi was with him. that's when we introduced ourselves. betty said it was like a scene out of a cheesy japanese movie. it was funny in a cutesy cheesy way. and we were off to the next adventure...

we end up at a bar in oakland. i can't remember the name. the bar had nice ambience. and jonna's friend charlie joins us. we were there for about one drink or so and decided we wanted to go dancing. so we head over to luka's. while en route, i get a phone call. it's ogi and it turns out he lives right by luka's. so we invite him to join us. about an hour or so later, he shows up with his friend agi. we find out that ogi is 24 and is from mongolia. he also speaks russian! but as luka's is closing, ogi suggests this korean karaoke place somewhere off of telegraph.

we get there and the karaoke is closed so we sit in a booth and drink. ogi & agi order 2 pitchers of beer and some alcohol. we have these sake-bomb-like drinks. so it's me, betty, joahnna, melissa, jonna, ogi and agi. and i remember having a forth shot but nothing much after that. apparently, betty said i had 6 or 7. which freaked me out because i wasn't sure what else i didn't remember. and um, i didn't remember the making out part. ugh.

i don't really remember much else but waking up in betty's spare room and being sick all day on thursday which wasn't so fun. :(