death cab and muffin spa day @ bliss

on sunday, death cab for cutie tickets went on sale at 10am online. betty and i have been waiting to go to their show for ages. last time they were here, we completely missed out on them. as soon as we heard about the show, they had already sold out. so this year, with the new album, we decided we would definitely go.

after getting tickets, i left for muffin spa day at bliss spa at the w hotel, which had just opened in july. it is on the 4th floor and is oh-so-blissful. there were the four of us, me, muffinslut, murdock muffin, and blueberry muffin. we were there for 3 hours filled with relaxation and pampering. it was lovely. we plan to go back soon!

while still in our very blissful moments, we decided to get a piece of heaven and go to kirala's for sushi. most of our favorite characters including louis the bartender and conrad, one of the sushi chefs. it was an absolute smurftastic day! ;)

my inner geek

ted and i have been watching this mini series called taken on dvd. when it was on the sci-fi channel a couple of years ago, my brother and i watched it with much excitement. i was a huge x-files fan and this show was right up my alley. there are a bunch of no names in it and a couple actors that are in the mainstream now. for example, dakota fanning is in it and stanford from sex & the city. i don't know his real name.

anyway, each episode is about an hour and a half so we are limited to watching one episode on a work night. the mini series starts in the 1940s at the time of ww2 and follows 3 different families that intertwine with each other over a few generations to present time. there are so many new characters being introduced and the make up on the aging characters is horrible but the story line is absolutely riveting.

i actually bought the dvd for my brother's birthday and couldn't wait to start watching it. he has yet to get the chance to watch it again because of his very busy schedule but i'm sure he will get around to it. it doesn't make me a bad person, right?

happy 33rd to my big brother!!

last friday, my big brother turned the big 33. my lovely sister-in-law (his sneaky wife) sent out an email saying that they were throwing him a birthday party on saturday with him included. then she turned around and sent outanother email excluding my brother about his surprise birthday dinner at maggiano's.
here is my 4-year old nephew in his fancy tuxedo that he never gets to wear. the story was that i was taking him to a dress up party at my friend's place and that there would be other children there, um, yeah right. likely story...

us girls with the birthday boy & two little boys

all the men

after the parents left, the shots came out. it was a grand ole time for all but 3 sick ladies. too many shots, apparently for some...

my younger cousin's blog

so i've been secretly reading my younger cousin's blog. i'd say little but she's twice as big as i am. but i am 10 years older. which makes me feel old... i guess i'm not really secretly reading her blog, i told her once, and she was embarassed! but she's so full of sass on her blog. she's usually very sweet and quiet and respectful around me. it's refreshing to know how much attitude she has. she's also a sagittarius which means sass was a given.

despite the whole open to the world blog thing, i still feel like i'm secretly doing it. i wonder what she would think if she read my blog? hmmm...

shoes from the nordstrom sale earlier this summer

aren't they pretty?

summary of events...

i've been bad with posting lately because i've been SO utterly busy!! anyway let's see what's happened in the last few weeks...

sunday, september 4
my lovely cousin debbie got married to her sweetheart of almost 10 years, roger. it was in morgan hill and despite the very hot weather, a very beautiful occasion. i saw family i hadn't seen in ages! and the nordstrom crew, as always, is a pleasure to spend time with! my sister-in-law thuy played this hilarious joke on the bride and groom. it was after we saw my other cousins (the bride's siblings) make the couple eat a spring roll from each end. it was sort of like the spaghetti scene in the lady and the tramp. anyway, thuy got a piece of cold broccoli, tied it when something she found out of the centerpiece and dipped it in hennessey! so, jacob (lisa's bf) hung it over their heads for them to bob and eat it together. they said it was the nastiest thing they'd ever eaten. but she told us she loved us anyway... :D

saturday, september 10
the big moving day. i flew down on thursday night so i can help ted move. i spent half the day on friday packing up his stuff. good thing he doesn't have much. i'm so not looking forward to packing my stuff up. i really need to learn to throw out stuff. the actual moving day was a big mess... it started at 9 in the morning to pick up the uhaul truck and the tow dolly (to tow his car). there was a problem with the two dolly and one of the lights didn't work. so they had to take it to a different location. we were starved and went to the café tropical in silver lake for a snack and coffee (really good cuban food, the coffee is SO good! and at great prices). we then decided to run to the osh hardware store to pick up some rope for his piano. and on the way back to the uhaul, we saw an american apparel store and ted stopped to get a shirt for work. by the time we got back, it was 11am. we still had a lot of packing to do!

sometime after 2pm, ted's friend mal showed up to help with the piano. it was a tough job despite the ramp. there were two other guys that came and helped them lift the piano up a little step to the back of the truck. i spent most of the time finishing up all the packing and doing some cleaning. then my friend (and ted's) joe showed up after mal left and help tremendously with the move. we still need to take joe out for helping us.

after all the packing and cleaning, we were finally done! so we took the truck out for some gas and some dinner. then we got back to put the car on the tow and had no clue how to do it. so ted called uhaul and they told him to stop in and they would do it for him. it was 20 minutes to 7 and they closed at 7. by this time, the other light of the tow dolly had gone out! it was so frustrating!! when we got to uhaul, the guy that was helping us didn't speak an ounce of english and had no idea what ted was asking him. finally, some other guy came along. but he wouldn't help us because they didn't want to be liable so he just showed us what to do. finally, we got on the road at 7:20p. and while merging onto the freeway, some stupid jerk tried to cut us off. he sped up while we were getting into the right lane and almost hit us but went onto the pavement to avoid it. what an asshole.

we stopped once to get gas 3/4 down to empty. it costs us $75. the whole way, ted went 65 mph or slower. the speed limit for the tow dolly is actually 45 mph. it was going fine until we saw some flashing lights. it was a copper. he said one of the chains from the tow had fallen out and that we might want to secure it. apparently, it had been dragging on the road that part of the hook had disintegrated! the cop probably noticed the sparks from it dragging. it was close to 3am when we finally got back to my apartment. we just brought in the necessities.

the next day we unloaded in an hour! and it took a while to get someone to help with the piano but we finally dropped it off at my parents' house and dropped off the truck. good riddens. i don't know if we'll tow a car again...

yesterday, september 13
i had my follow up with my ophthalmologist. and the intubation didn't work. my tear ducts are still completely obstructed and now, it means i will need surgery. the surgery entails opening up the side of my nose to stretch out the tear duct sac. he says it would happen on a friday and i would be able to go back to work on monday. eek. good to know it's a fast recovery time. he wrote me a prescription for eye drops and wants to see me in 6 months. what a pain...

tube free!

on tuesday, i had my appointment with the ophthalmologist. i wasn't sure if he was going to remove my tube just yet or just check it out. so, i asked him, when do i get this thing outta me? and he sat pondering... and finally says, i'm trying to decide whether to do it now or not? he wasn't sure 20 days was enough but he decided to go ahead and do it.

it wasn't nearly as painful as when the tube was inserted but i am so relieved it is out. my eye feels so much better, especially when i rub it. i know, i should stop that. my tear ducts were stretched from the tube that they're a little droopy but it's not obvious.

i see him in 2 weeks and he predicts that i will be very happy and smiley when i see him... let's hope!

baby shower #3 & baby kane

on saturday, kelly's mom hosted kelly's 3rd baby shower. it was great fun and the food was delicious! we played games and shared horror stories on giving birth. um, so i think i'll take my time when i have a baby...

then on sunday, i went to see my cousin lily's 11 week-old baby boy. he was so sweet and chunky. he fell asleep in my arms while i caught up with her on family stuff. her sister debbie is getting married this coming sunday! i can't believe it's already here... i best get myself to the gym.

even bigger news...

as of today, ted accepted an offer for a job in fremont. which means... he's moving up! he's putting in his notice for his apartment as well. it's so strange that my boyfriend will actually be in the same city, not to mention apartment, as i am! the target move date is september 10th. it's pretty exciting news... isn't it?

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!

baby shower number 2

on saturday, my best friend kelly had a surprise baby shower in santa barbara at her mother-in-law, cece's house. kelly's husband chris grew up in a great house, complete with a swimming pool and huge back yard, not to mention minutes away from the beach. and... cece used to bake wedding cakes, yum.

so my day started bad, i was lame and got to the airport when my plane was taking off with at least a 30-minute wait in the security lines. don't ask, it's unexplainable. so i got a flight two hours later and got to the surprise shower late. fortunately, ted and i arrived when kelly's sister joy and her little family arrived. so we came in together. and surprise! kelly didn't expect to see me. i was glad to make it. cece was a wonderful hostess with a delicious spread.

the shower was also a great opportunity to catch up with some college friends. even though i hadn't seen nilda since last october at the trash can sinatras show at the troubadour, it wasn't until the shower that we actually got to talk. and i met her boyfriend glenn with who she had her first date with on the day of the trash cans show. she looked gorgeous and so happy. after talking to her again, it took me back to college. i remembered how witty and sassy she is. karissa and kirk were also there. i hadn't seen them since kelly's wedding in may. i actually never got to speak to kirk until the shower. kirk was hilariously funny. karissa and kirk make a very cute couple. we stayed to play poker with them and others.

we finally left at 10p to drive up to san jose. i'm not sure how long i lasted (awake) for the road trip. i'm so glad that ted drove. we got back to my place sometime after 2am. and ted stayed for the weekend... but i miss him already.

lou's big 30th birthday

my good friend louis turned 30 on the 10th of august, the same day as my intubation. he had this big bbq bash at the park. it started at 1p and going with our dear friend betty, we didn't show up until 4p!! but actually stayed until 8p. and lou drank the entire time, and rightly so, 30 is something big to celebrate. it's funny, on my 30th, the only person so drunk he had to leave to pass out was marris, um yeah, that's all i have to say about that...
i've known louis for 10 years now. it's hard to believe that we were a tender 20 years old when we first started hanging out. he's one of the sweetest guys i know... and i'm so glad he's still in my life.

intubation of my left eye **warning-- may be a bit graphic**

this morning, i had my eye procedure done. it started with the numbing of my nose. my ophthalmologist had these tools to keep my nose open, then he jabbed at my nose with some other instrument. it wasn't really painful, just uncomfortable. then he said, the problem here is... big tools, small nose. :(

the next was numbing my eye and that was the worst! well, almost the worst. he had this needle that went into my eye, there was some squirting and suddenly, my eye was flooded with fluids (most of which was my own tearing).

so that i don't go into too much detail, basically, the doctor puts a tube through my top and bottom tear ducts and down through where both connect down to my nose. the procedure was pushing through in the tear ducts (and hopefully pushing out whatever was clogging up my tear duct) and have the tube in for several weeks to widen my tear ducts. the really painful part was when he was pushing through the tube and it got stuck, going down from my eye to my nose, and he had to push it back up. ouch!
the procedure was a success and so, i'm supposed to have the tube in for a few weeks... i go back next week for a following up. another weird thing is, i can feel the tube in my eye... eeek. anyhow, wish me luck!

caroline & fred pinchon - wedding #3 or was it #4?

yesterday, ted and i ventured down to westminster to attend my friend caroline's last wedding of the year. they were officially married at the chicago city hall last year. that was wedding number one. since then, they've had two more weddings in france. fred is french, hence the weddings in france. and this one was a chinese banquet and their last wedding celebration.

it was a nice small event. ted and i sat with the couple. the last time we saw them was right before they got engaged. they stayed with me for a night and then headed down to carmel for a couple of days. carmel was where fred proposed to caroline. it was all very exciting and sweet.

it was nice to see them and catch up for a bit. we're hoping we can finally make it out to chicago next year. so, that was my 4th wedding of 2005. i have one last wedding to go...

jon brion & surprise guests

venue: largo
artist: jon brion
who: ted
when: 05 august 2005 (friday)
doors open at 8:30p

as we walked to the reservations line, i think i see rhea perlman. then i think, nah... but once we get to the end of the line, i see this really short man who looks exactly like danny devito! then i hear him say, rhea! check this out! they were there with their family. it was very cool to think that danny devito and rhea perlman would go see jon brion.

so, we get in and they show us to our seats. prime location! right at the front. it was better than the last time we went! when you get reservations to the jon brion show, you get a table which requires dinner. so this time, i got something different. i got the honey baked chicken breast with mashed potatoes and salad. not only was the salad very yummy, i had to eat all of it but the rest of the food was good too. ted usually gets the chicken caesar salad because it was safe to get. he liked my entree though.

jon brion is really utterly amazing. you feel like you're in the presence of pure genius. not only does he play all sorts of instruments but he also sings. so, he does original songs, then he takes requests but puts in his own thing. oh and another thing, being so close, i couldn't really see any wrinkles on his face! i think he's in his 40's? and well, maybe some on his forehead that his hair covers up but nowhere else!

we stayed for the second set this time. we'd prepared ourselves and took a short nap earlier in the day. last time i went, i was fighting to stay up and ended up having to leave before the second set. so, there are some surprise guests in the second set and it's fiona apple and nickel creek, this folk band. i didn't really like fiona apple before, i just thought she was too angry. ted is a huge fan. and after seeing her live, i was very impressed. i don't think i can say that i don't like her anymore but i kinda do now.

t-c haters unite

i don't know about you but i hate tom cruise. as a result, i vowed never to watch any of his movies. i no longer watch the old ones i've seen when they are played on tv. and under no condition do i watch any of his new releases. i didn't think much of him when he was in top gun, what was the big deal? he's a little guy with a big nose. but it wasn't until i saw him in interview with a vampire as lestat did i start to respect him as an actor. but that seemed to have been it, so i reckon it was just a spoof role.

not only do i find him utterly repulsive but i grew to disrespect him even more when he and nicole kidman separated. if someone like nicole kidman married him, there must have been something i overlooked. but then they broke up and all my evil thoughts of him returned and stayed. he's had awful taste in women since. especially his current flavor of the month,. could katie holmes be any more annoying? what's with her talking only on one side of her mouth? does she have some sort of speech impediment?

recently, i read some very funny comments made by the legendary lauren bacall. apparently, she's a t-c hater too. i'm glad i'm not the only one who thinks he's a horrendous actor...

probing procedure on valium... in my eye!!

i went to see the ophthalmologist i was referred to for my eye surgery. he seemed nice. the office was very different. it was like an all in one free for all eye center full with a store of eye glass frames. there were ophthalmogists, an optometrist,opticians and others. there's a sun room in the middle of the office with a tree growing in it. i should have taken a picture.

after speaking to him briefly about my teary left eye, he stuck a syringe in my eye and injected saline without warning. suddenly, i was in a lot of discomfort. the doctor explained to me that he would be doing a probing procedure where he will put me on valium to relax me and insert tubing in through my tear duct to push out the blockage. here's an illustration:
this procedure should clear out the blockage at the top (to come down through my throat, gross!), however, if there is blockage deep in my tear duct, i will need an operation. the deeper the blockage is in the tear duct, the more serious it is. the doctor mentioned that he had a feeling that the blockage in my eye is deeper in my tear duct due to the amount of mucus that discharged when he injected saline into my eye. if this is the case, he will know soon after he does the probing.

i see him in two weeks... until then, he doesn't want me to clean out the build up in my left eye to see how much accumulates. then, i get to do the probing procedure while fully awake and in utter discomfort... eek.

the magic of photoshop

see chris's brother in the background?

now you don't!

that my friend, is the magic of photoshop... and me, on how to work the magic. ;)

big news...

last night, joe, the singer of ted's band called him to say that he was planning on quitting the band. and ted was planning on telling the rest of the band at a meeting tonight but their drummer disappeared to the east coast. so, the band is officially broken up, i think. and well, ted has nothing holding him in la now. so he is planning on moving up to sf! with me!

i told my manager that it looks like i am staying and she said, let's work on getting you that promotion! i'm excited about staying around my family,
about my boyfriend moving up here to be with me and start a new band,
about getting a promotion,
about keeping my doctors...

but i'm in shock that it's actually going to happen. i've been mentally preparing myself to live in la and was ready to go on my interview at ucla in august. but now, it's all changed. is it really happening though?

hmmm... !!

another surgery... eek.

on friday, i had an appointment with the ophthalmologist. i've had this problem with my left eye. some days it's really bad, other days, it's tolerable. after having to dab at my eye with q-tips the entire day at kelly's wedding, i finally decided to get it checked out. especially since i've had this problem since last october or so. and it's gotten progressively worse.

so, i first had to get an appointment with my primary care physician for a referral. then i wait for the referral to be authorized and then i am able to call the ophthalmologist. so, I then make an appointment with the ophthalmologist and she checks me out. and now, i wait for yet another referral authorization for the surgeon.

two years ago, i was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. the thyroid maintains metabolism and you can't really live without one unless you are on synthetic thyroid hormones for the rest of your life. without the hormones, your brain slowly dies. i had a fine needle aspiration (basically a needle biopsy) done on my thyroid and out of the 8 samples my endocrinologist took, they found cancer in all 8 samples. my endocrinologist sent the samples to the guy who wrote the text book (for medical students) on thyroid disease. so, i knew i didn't need a second opinion. within the same month of my diagnosis, i had surgery, a full thyroidectomy. then following the surgery, i had a body scan to see how much cancer was still in my body. the nuclear medicine doctor said it was "a good amount." so, i had radiation treatment called an ablation. it's not as harsh as chemo. it took a few days of being stuck in a room covered in plastic and labeled "radioactive" but i got through it and the body scan following the treatment came with a smile.

since then, i've had two body scans that have turned up clear. while i have 3 more years until i am declared cured, i feel very good about my health. it's made me realize how short life is. i felt very lucky for all the care i had with doctors and support from family and friends.

this ocular surgery isn't cancer, at least hopefully not, but is still very frightening. if left untreated, that may lead to infections that may lead to who knows what else. so my thoughts are, i need to get this done asap. i can't say i am looking forward to it but i know i will be fine with the network of family and friends i have around me.

4th of july & los angeles...

i spent the last 5 days in los angeles with ted. i flew down in the afternoon on thursday. ted and i went straight to kelly's to pick her up for lunch. we had our usual at the california chicken café. very healthy.

the next day, we slept until 2pm. apparently, we were tired. we ran some errands and did as much as we could for what was left of our friday. this included seeing batman begins at 11:30p. it's so nice to be able to go to a movie with your significant other...

on saturday, we were really good. we woke up to go to a spinning class (cycling, they call it at 24) at 10am. and it kicked both our asses. i'm still hurting today. and frankly, i'm feeling a bit whimpy about that...

sunday was nigel's (the band's drummer) bbq in silver lake. it was fun chatting with all the transplants in la, including ted. it's pretty amazing how so many people from every corner of the world end up in la.

yesterday, monday was my very last day. we went to rob's bbq who is ted's mom's best friend's husband's brother. he is helping me find a job and is very very nice. his house is just as fabulous as he and his partner are! ted and i had a lovely time.

being in la with ted for an extended period of time made me really want to move there asap. i love him so much and feel more and more comfortable making la my new home. now if only i can find a job that pays enough...