congrats to brad & marie!

*** back-dating again! ***

yesterday, joe and i drove up to san rafael to see our old college friend, brad, marry his sweetheart marie. brad met marie in san francisco which she was here attending a program. i think that's how the story goes. when marie finished, she moved back to paris so brad followed her there. and after being together for 10 years, they came back here to get hitched. it was such a lovely and elegant summer wedding. the wedding took place at the falkirk cultural center in san rafael. it was so nice to see brad again. he looked the same!

i am planning to go to paris next summer for my 40th birthday so i asked brad if i could look him up when i am there. he said sure and hopefully i make it!

the speeches were all so tender and moving. there was a friend of theirs that translated all the speeches in french, and she did a wonderful job as it made me tear up the same (if not more) than the speeches made in english. it turns out that brad's mother is british and came here to marry his father, who is american. so when he decided to move to paris for love, they were all for it.

found it! me with the pet shop boys in 1999

i didn't think i would find it so quickly but here it is... this was taken on october 29, 1999 in san diego at a radio station. i cropped out the others but obviously couldn't crop out the woman in the middle.
from left: chris lowe, my coworker jerry, neil tennant, and me.

san diego adventures w/ mien

when i was in chicago last month visiting my friend mien, she asked if i wanted to be her date to a wedding in san diego around mid-october. it was a great excuse for me to come down for a visit, so i said, sure! i booked my flight, reserved a car, and contacted some people to see. all this before i knew what a bad 2-3 weeks i would have after getting back from my very fun chicago vacation.

i flew into san diego last friday on the very last flight. it was scheduled to arrive at 11p but to no surprise, it would be delayed. the only problem with this is that i had to get to the car rental place off site before it closed at midnight. luckily, i made it on time.

once i got to the car rental place, there was another problem. the only car they had left in the category of my reservation was a minivan. quickly, i pictured both mien & i stepping out of a minivan in our formal dresses. that was a no. the only other car available was an suv. for $5/day extra, i think i got a good deal talking up the guy at the counter. then again, who knows.

i got lost on the way to chula vista where mien's family lives. i didn't get there until close to 1a. i felt bad for arriving so late but it turned out ok. her family is super nice.

before the ceremony, we stopped by mien's sister's house to visit with her niece and nephew. both very sweet and cute kids. we stayed about an hour and had to stop by the store to get me some make up brushes since i'd forgotten them altogether. ugh. i knew i'd forgotten something.

the ceremony started at 2p and it was at least 30 minutes from where we were. mien has been friends with the bride since high school or before. i guess i met the bride sometime during ucsd but couldn't quite remember it. the ceremony took place in scripps ranch in this very lovely church. it was dome-shaped, almost like the pantheon in rome, with the hole at the very top. it was also a very catholic ceremony. i don't remember when it was over but we left to pick up some fast food at jack & the box. after which we got ready retouching our make up and doing our hair. cocktail hour began at 5p but we didn't leave until 6. we got there in time for the salad portion of the dinner course. it was at the sheraton hotel in the bay tower at harbor island. you can see the san diego skyline past the water. it's really a lovely sight.

the wedding was kinda blah so we left a bit early. the music was so bad that even though we really wanted to dance, we didn't. so we headed downtown to the gaslamp district, which is now all the rage. back when we were in college, it was absolutely pathetic. as we drive onto broadway, we found ourselves next to a car full of cute boys. being in an suv is good for looking and flirting with boys in cars next to you. at one point, the car stopped early at a red light to be next to us. we found out they are cute foreign boys. my favorite... german boys. heehee. we lost them soon after we'd found them. oh well.

after a few times around the block, we parked in the horton plaza parking structure. don't do this if you don't plan on getting validations. it's $$$. i'd only ever parked there while shopping at horton plaza but didn't know where else to park. so we walked around. we walked and walked. finally, we came upon a nice hotel we didn't mind lounging at. it was the us grant hotel. and at the very same moment we were about to go to the bar there, there were two other gentlemen thinking the same thing. except, they beat us to the locked door first.

upon seeing us behind them, one of them mentioned that we ought to find our way in together. but before we could say yes or no, they'd already begun chatting it up with us. turns out that they were two business men from florida. at first, i was talking to ron and mien was chatting with siroos. but later, we switched. i don't remember exactly how it happened. siroos asked me what ethnicity i was. i asked him if he could guess. he answered, does it start with a p? and we ended up chatting together most of the night. they were in the ice cream business. siroos was explaining to me that their specialty was pomegranate ice cream with dark chocolate. in addition to the unique flavor, they put their ice cream in a tin can. then i said, because it stays fresher! siroos said i was right! i was in disbelief and told him i saw this on the food network. he says, we were on the food network! and i respond, well, what show was it then? he answers, unwrapped. he was right. and continues to tell me that he was on that show!

i remember watching the episode with my sister and the part specifically about the tin cans. and how we ought to put our ice cream/frozen yogurt in tin cans. now, this is just the sort of thing that happens when i am out with my dear friend mien... fun fun fun.

triton pride

according to the 2009 guidebook for america's best colleges from the us news & world report (see story here at ucsdnews), uc san diego, my alma mater was recently ranked the 7th (tied with university of wisconsin-madison & georgia institute of technology) top public schools. that's out of 164. not too shabby for a new-ish university. uc san diego is #35 nation-wide (262 schools). very very exciting. go tritons!

speaking of san diego, i am going down next month for a visit. can't wait!

thoughts & dreams

as i hype myself up for my upcoming trip to chicago, there have been random thoughts going on in my head. as a result, have been producing some bizarro dreams.

a couple of weeks ago, i was contacted by an old friend i met through my ex from san diego. at first, it was a little strange since i didn't really like any of his female friends. but i found a kindred spirit in her. when she called for him, i found myself chatting it up with her more and more. this was nearly 10 years ago. when he and i broke up in 2001, her friendship meant a great deal to me. it was as if we'd been friends all along sans him.

she moved to chicago for medical school after 2001. chicago is an endearing city to me because i almost made it my home in 1999. my ex got into northwestern for medical school and although he never asked me to move for him, he made inferences to it. for instance, he said med students who have significant others with them do better in medical school. so i started to look for jobs in the area. we made a trip there to find housing. and ended up signing a lease with a deposit made on a quaint 2-bedroom little house by the school. but when it came closer to our move date, he got into the med school at ucsd, which was where we were. he asked me, where do you want to go? since i had a job in san diego and had a place, i told him i wanted to stay. and after his first year at ucsd, he blamed me for having such a difficult time there. i blame him for being such a stupid ass.

anyway, i moved back to the bay area in early 2001. and our friend ended up in chicago after all these years. i lost touch with her when i was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2003. i lost touch with a lot of people. recently, she instant messaged me out of the blue. it was perfect timing as i am planning a trip to chicago. sunday night, we found time to catch up over the phone. it was really nice hearing her voice again. she told me that she had contact with my ex about 6 months ago. that he was doing a fellowship at the children's hospital there. and they met up for coffee. weird that he ended up there after all these years. it turns out that he has not changed, at all. but this wasn't news to me.

lately though, i've had these disturbing dreams of getting back together with him. this has happened twice now within this past week. and i don't know why. well, it's from recently being contacted and told that about him being in chicago. really strange as i have nothing but repulsed feelings towards him. second thought, it might be interesting to run into him after all this time.

a halloween treat

ten years ago (yes, 1997) in san diego, our household decided to throw a twin peaks themed halloween party. my friends (lou, ro, rich & quynh) were down visiting from the bay area. it was the first and only time they came to visit me during the 5 plus years i called san diego my home. not to mention lou's first time on an airplane. very very exciting!!

it was also the best halloween party, ever.

lisa and i were (& still are) huge twin peaks fans. we bought red flannel bedding to give the whole red velvet curtain effect. aside from the alcohol, we served cherry pie, donuts (?) and coffee. we played twin peaks on the tv and the soundtrack in the patio on the boom box. across the courtyard, our neighbor was also throwing a halloween party. our parties were interchangeable. people from our party went to his party. and people i didn't know showed up at our party. since i was drunk (see below, on the right) before people even showed up, i didn't care.

the picture at the top shows the twin peaks cast. from left to right: smella as "joan chen's character"; clair (one of our roommates) was "laura palmer found dead in plastic"; me as "audrey horne"; and lisa as "shelly johnson, the waitress."

good times. good times. (right lou?) heehee.

mini break

in anticipation for my surgery scheduled next week, i am going away for a mini break down to southern california starting wednesday night. i will be back early next week with lots of stories and pics to post! ♥

rock & roll marathon

saturday, june 2nd in la jolla

i flew into san diego straight from vegas (see below). since i had pretty much emptied my insides that morning, i wasn't really hungover or anything. and was ready for a nice dinner. my sister-in-law, trang had flown in before me. her sister, jade was picking us both up. since i was arriving an hour later, they decided to wait for me.

it was so nice to be back in san diego. i haven't been back in years. i don't even remember the last time i was there. it's been at least 3 years, that's for certain. i did forget that early june in san diego is quite glooming when it comes to weather. i went from scorching hot weather (in vegas) to slightly cold in san diego. ugh. i'm surprised i didn't get sick from the drastic weather change!

jade is the only one running the rock & roll marathon. trang and i were there for support. initially, both jade and trang (and their mother) had planned on doing it. they trained together but trang hurt her knees. then ricky (my brother) decided to take trang's place so jade would have someone to train and run with. but unfortunately, he too hurt his knee(s). jade and her late brother (dochi) had planned on doing the marathon together. but he passed away last september and she decided that she would continue without him, for him.

since i'd lived in san diego and knew my way around (for the most part), i was assigned the driver. i was a student and poor when i was in san diego. i didn't really know where to go. i usually just went to la jolla. so, that's where we went. we drove around and then found this place called roppongi, japanese asian fusion restaurant. they had all these "best of" awards out front. we decided to eat here. despite a room full of empty tables, they said they were full for seating inside but that there was seating outside available. there were heat lamps so it was fine. it turns out, it was prom night and that's why all of the inside seating were reserved.

our server, jason, was very typical san diegan. he was young and had long blonde curly hair. total surfer type. he had this boyish charm to him which made him quite appealing. we ordered so much... let's see, we had the polynesian crab stack, the crispy buttermilk onion rings (we only had a few), pan seared sea scallops, spicy kung pao calamari, boneless short ribs, grilled filet mignon, and i can't remember the rest. we also had three desserts. we had a sundae, lemon creme brulee, and the warm chocolate melting decadence. there were several servers bringing us our dishes. one asked where we put all this food. jason was quite impressed as well. the food was delightful.

sunday, june 3rd

we checked in at the sofia hotel in downtown san diego. our room was a tiny studio room with a pull out couch. yes, the three of us in a pull out couch. we were very cosy.

jade had to get up at *ugh* some obscene time like 4am so she could get ready and leave by 5. we got up in time and dropped her off. then back to the hotel for a nap. we planned on being at the finish line by 11:30a so we'd wake up at 10a. only problem was... where the hell was the marathon?? we didn't figure that until an hour on the road and all around downtown. there were NO signs! this is the 10th anniversary for the rock & roll marathon but still, proper directions would have been nice.

the marathon participants wore a chip in their shoes where they could be tracked online. so trang had people back in the bay area track jade for us. we were trying really hard to make it to the finish line to cheer her. after driving around the san diego airport for a while, we found a parking lot for the marathon. not the parking lot for the marathon, mind you. we were still a ways away. after we parked the car, trang flagged down a rickshaw driver. he was across the street and she yells "hey, the guy in the green shirt!!" it was hilarious. at $15/person, we were desperate to get there so we got in. he could only drop us half way (if even that) but biked as fast as he could as we told him about why jade was running the marathon.

it was another half hour or more before we finally reached our meeting place. the team-in-training tent. we ran through a sea of people leaving (with blisters and all)in the opposite direction. when we finally found the team-in-training tent, it presented us yet another problem. how do we find jade in this crowd?? so we start wandering around looking for her. after about 10-15 minutes, she finds us. she'd finished in 5 hours and 20 minutes (if you see her, you must congratulate her!). it is quite a feat. when we saw her, we hugged for a while.

the walk back wasn't so bad. since we weren't running or anything. to the right, you see us catching another rickshaw. it was $40 for all 3 of us. and he took us to the lot we were parked in. he was zig-zagging through cars in traffic. it was a little bit scary.

we checked out and headed back to la jolla for lunch. there wasn't much of a choice as most placed were closed. we ended up at crab catcher. trang said the food was like cruise food. you get the gist. afterwards, we returned the rental and flew home. my brother picked us up in san jose. when i got into the car, i saw my chunky and lollipop head. they said they missed me! after such a jam packed weekend, it was such a tender homecoming.