earthquake country

last night, at approximately 8pm, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6. the epicenter was in the alum rock area which is down the mountain from where we live. and i was meeting with betty at chevy's. we were waiting for our food when it felt like someone was kicking at my bar stool, REALLY hard. i turned and looked at betty, wondering if she was the one kicking my chair. but everything was shaking and kinda rolling. some glasses fell. the tvs hanging were swaying. all but one chevy's employee stayed calm. the one darted straight out of there! we all just waited for it to pass. and it did with no real damage to place. we just stayed and finished our meals.

on my way home, i received a call from my dad. he told me the earthquake originated in alum rock and couldn't get in touch with anyone at home. this worried me. what about the kids? are they ok? they must be scared. and i wasn't home to help them. so, i raced home. as i was going up the mountain, i passed some large rocks that had fallen at this hairpin turn. and was glad that i wasn't there when it happened.

i got home and my sister was home. she couldn't really call anyone. she was trying to get back to her boyfriend. she said everyone was fine. the power didn't go out. she was on the road when it happened so she didn't feel it. same with my brother & sister-in-law. they actually didn't have a clue. when i checked my room, there were pictures that were crooked and a few things that fell off my shelves. otherwise, in the same messy condition i'd left it that morning. my sister's room on the other hand, lots of things fell off her shelves. later, lisa says, damn, i can't believe i missed it!

apparently, this earthquake originated on the calaveras fault and 5.7 miles deep. the "big one" is speculated to come from the hayward fault. the last time the calaveras fault made any noise, it was back in 1984 which hit morgan hill with an earthquake at a magnitude of 6.2. still, this is nothing compared with the damage done by the 1989 quake (with a 7.1 magnitude). smaller shakes are so common here that i usually sleep through them. i have to admit, it was a little exciting to have one rolling through. we were due for one. i'm just glad there wasn't much damage as a result.

btw, happy halloween everyone!

control

in theatres on october 26 (now!)

sf- landmark lumiere
berkeley- landmark shattuck

anyone want to see it with me?

thoughts on bernie

thanks to my osoms, bernie is becoming less and less wonderful. it's not to say that he wasn't wonderful. the freshness of his wonderfulness is fading.

i've decided, while i prefer being chased by bernie (well, men in general), there's not much option for a relationship. for two reasons. one of them being we had one date. granted, it could have been 3 dates in one, it was still just one date. second, he's in new york and most likely will not move back. and there is no way i am moving out there. if you want to know why, ask my niece. keep in mind that she's a little scary sensitive with the subject of me leaving her. despite not having a romantic relationship with bernie, i'd still like to be friends with him. i still think he's pretty awesome. he's funny as hell and not bad to look at either.

this is really interesting to me because there are two categories i generally put men in. the "friends" category and the "dated" category. i no longer speak to men in the "dated" category. ex-boyfriends are in that lot. however, some "friends" have been able to move from the "dated" lot. considering all the boys i've "dated," the transition doesn't happen often but is still possible. once they are "friends," they can't move back to "dated." while bernie is moving from "dated" to "friends," i might consider the option of moving him back to the "dated" category. i don't know for sure but we'll see. being "friends" with him gives me the freedom of emailing him for no reason. and without any pressure.

maybe a "flirting" category would be best for me to put him in? nah, i flirt with my "friends" all of the time...

october & november animal print boots

i'm wearing the leopard pair right now...
btw, they were 90% off! that's why i got them both.

weekend of birthdays

this past weekend was much fun with too much food. ugh. i'm still full from all the birthday celebrations. on saturday, my best friend kelly came up from LA to visit and threw an informal birthday party for her daughter (who turns 2 today), emily-anne. last week, on thursday, i took half the day off to play hookie with kelly. i went over sometime before 2p and didn't leave until past 10p! it was so much fun. i really miss hanging out with her. she's such a great friend...

on saturday, i went over for more food, cake and a game of tripoley. i rarely play card games but since everyone else was playing and the night was still young, i decided to try. basically, it's 3 games in one and 3 ways to win. first, you match up any high hearts you have. there are 9 pots of money you play. then, you play poker with 5 of the cards you have. and finally, you play russian rummy. whoever gets rid of their cards first, wins the last pot. i think i stayed until all of my chips ran out which was close to 11p.

on sunday, it was trang's mother's birthday brunch at dim sum. i stuffed myself silly. both days. then trang & i took the kids to chuck e. cheese. i don't really remember the last time i went. when i was a kid? can't be. anyway, we stayed for a good hour or so and then we went to the gilroy outlets. despite being really tired, i'm always up for shopping. after a full day, i cleaned for a bit and rewarded myself with a nice, relaxing bubble bath. i love my bathroom. since we're moving in december, i need to make the most of it!

ugh, i'm still recovering. i hope to hit the gym this week, except, i've got this awful cough that's keeping me up nights. usually though, i feel better during the day. nights are pretty bad even though i try to sleep at an incline. i hope it goes away soon...

random work incident

i'm usually at work until 5:30p to catch my 5:49p train. our office closes at 5p and there's a room in front of my office which i am responsible for. the room is our grad student mailroom so mostly, people i know come through this entrance.

last night, sometime after 5p and as we were closing up shop, this random student comes through my office. i start towards him and say i'm sorry, we're closed.

he says as he continues through the office like he belongs there, oh i'm sorry, i just need to drop something off.

i'm sort of in his way and he just moves around me. i'm in complete shock. i'm speechless (rare, right?). and i just give him this combination of a dirty & confused look. i stare at him while he puts this card into one of our faculty mailboxes and heads out. he turns around and apologizes again and finally leaves.

i follow him out so i can lock up behind him. this is why i work with grad students. undergrads here have this sense of entitlement and they feel like they can do whatever they want. ugh, drives me up the wall!!

this morning (less than an hour ago), the same guy comes into my office. his name is steven. and get this, to apologize! this NEVER happens. he says he wants to apologize for being rude last night and had been thinking about it all night. again, i'm speechless with shock. finally, i tell him that i appreciate his apology. it's funny, after going off on undergrads doing what he did, it turns out that he's a grad student. figures, undergrads who do this never apologize later.

is there a full moon coming up? no, there was one recently. maybe an earthquake? totally bizarro.

the start of something?

i was very excited about my date with bernie on saturday. he called in the afternoon to touch base on our plans (like he said he would). he suggested sushi, i said i love sushi! we were on for dinner at 7p. i would pick him up where he was staying. he texted me the address and i was ready.

but i got a call from my parents asking if i could pick up the kids from vietnamese school. the school is just down the street from us and i had car seats so i said i would. what they didn't bother to tell me, according to trang, was that they were supposed to babysit. i told trang, as long as she or my brother got home by 6p so i can leave, it would be fine.

6pm rolls around and nothing. i'm rushing around getting ready, throwing clothes here and there. the kids were hungry so i had to feed them. there was leftover food and dirty dishes everywhere. i thought, ok, i'm not going to worry about that stuff. but what do i do with the kids?? i had to leave, now! so i tell them to put their shoes on and i was going to drop them off at my parents. as soon as i was about to load them into the car, i saw the garage close with my brother's car inside. so i yelled his name and he opened the garage. saved! the kids ran inside and i was ready to go. except, i still needed gas for the car. i texted bernie, running late, had to babysit & need to fill up but on my way!

i got there around 7:30p and i was really nervous. we'd had this great phone conversation. he seemed really cool so far. he calls when he says he will or when i ask him to. so far, this guy was perfect. and as it turns out, cuter than i'd remembered. we have dinner at this cute sushi place in japantown. it's tiny. i have this funny wasabi story i tell. and it's also a good way to tell someone about my thyroid cancer. since i've lived with it for 4 years now, it's not so hard for me to talk about it.

the story goes... one time (at band camp, heehee), i lost my taste buds. i'd undergone radiation treatment and it was maybe a month or so later. all of a sudden, in the middle of the day, i couldn't taste anything. the duration of the lost of taste buds was about 2 weeks. during which, i'd gone out to eat sushi. and i thought, since i can't taste the wasabi, why not put the whole ball in with my soy sauce? afterwards, i still couldn't taste anything and for a second i was fine... until my eyes began to water and my nose started to run, profusely. while my mouth couldn't and didn't react to it, the rest of my body did! it was pretty funny.

bernie was really concerned for me. and shared his health issues with me. it's crazy and scary that your body starts to fall apart when you get older. but, that's the process of aging. we talked about everything and anything. until the restaurant closed. we weren't done hanging out so he took me to this wine bar. i have no clue where it was. it was in a really nice neighborhood where there was no parking. after we finally found decent parking, it was a nice walk to the wine bar. he offered his arm to me while walking down the hill. he said he always offers his arm to ladies walking downhill in heels. i just figured he was giving me a reason to hold on to him. but i could see that it was that he was a gentleman.

at the wine bar, we talked more openly. it's where it all came out. there, i told him that if he was as cool as he seemed, i was going to be upset that he was leaving. he told me how happy he was when i first texted him. even though he got it at 3 or 4 in the morning in hong kong. then he held my hands. and told me he really wanted to kiss me. i remember him saying this at popscene (yes, i know, i didn't mention it below). it was so cute. i couldn't say no to him at popscene and i couldn't say no to him this time. so i leaned in and kissed him. before we knew it, the wine bar was closing. and we were off again, but where?

he hadn't been in the country for a few months and didn't really know where to take me. he was staying with friends and i didn't really want to go back there to hang out. so despite having left my apartment like there was an explosion, lisa wasn't home and it was an option. i asked him, do you want to come back to san jose with me? he answered, as long as you don't mind dropping me off here tomorrow.

in the car, he held my hand for a bit. still making me laugh non-stop. i don't know what it was about him. something really special. at popscene, there was something then but i didn't know what. i still don't know if i know. my concept of time during this date was completely obsolete. i don't remember when we got back to san jose, at all. but he loved the view and the apartment despite the mess. he didn't seem to care. he just wanted to be with me. and i wanted to be with him.

we hung out until 2p on sunday afternoon. it was a lot of talking, kissing, holding and cuddling. something i've never done for so many hours. with anyone in one sitting. not even with the live-in bfs. and i think we would have stayed in bed much longer had it not been for hunger and thirst. damn those essential life necessities.

we had waffles and pancakes on the way back up to the city. i dropped him off and was already getting sad. he held my hand in the car. and kissed me when he left. said he would try to have dinner with me before he left if he could finish all his stuff.

i'd never had such an amazing time with someone i'd just met. it was so open and comfortable. i don't think we tried very hard to impress one another. at least, i couldn't tell. it was so genuine. i'm completely thrown off. it's bizarro. but now, i'm so very sad. :(

my renewed faith in men

first, there was the best date ever which was officially the first date after coming off my mancott (i think?) and now, there's bernie. yep, the guy i met at popscene when hot hot heat played, while not waiting for chris. despite being slightly drunk, there was something about him. enough of something that i let him give me his number. and since he is moving to new york in the very near future (next week), i figure, what have i got to lose? so i texted him. and he texted me right back. from hong kong. told me when he was coming back and when he moving. and then he asked me if i wanted to hang out. i texted back, yes! call me when you get back! that was mid-september. i hadn't heard anything from him after. honestly, i didn't expect to hear from him at all.

but on tuesday, the day he came back, i got a call. from him. this is second part of the renewed faith. i was so shocked that he called that i was too scared to pick it up. i let him go to voice mail. i called him back the next day. i think we were on the phone for over two hours. and i was laughing the entire time. lisa could hear me in the kitchen from my room with the tv on. ha. it makes me smile just thinking about our conversation. i was so impressed with him. i mean, the fact that he called when i asked him to. and the last part of the renewal was the phone call. i haven't been on the phone like that with a guy since the dreaded ex.

and so, i have a date with bernie to look forward to on saturday. yay!