no confrontation necessary

good news. my sister-in-law confirmed that my other sister-in-law rejected the hat as hers. now the hat is back where it belongs, with me. and is mine all mine!

long lost sun hat from tokyo!

last year, i went to tokyo with kiki. on this tokyo trip, she and i did a lot of shopping. this included the purchase of one very cute fabric sun hat for the bargain price of about $10USD. after coming back in april, summer was around the corner and out this hat came. i took it with me every where i went, to the park, to LA when visiting ted, e v e r y w h e r e. and one day, it went missing. i searched and searched but it was no where to be found. i felt awful for having it for a couple of months and then poof! it was gone.

this past weekend, there was a bbq upstairs at my brother's place. most of the siblings with their significant others/spouses were there, on our side and my sister-in-law's side of the family. the next day, yesterday, i saw the hat sitting in the living room on a chair. i recognized the striped lining and asked my brother where this came from. i went crazy thinking, this is my hat from japan!! the tag was in japanese and was a size s/m, which is exactly what i remembered it to be. then he mentioned that it might belong to my other sister-in-law because she wears hats like that one. i thought, this is true.

i then went downstairs to my apartment and remembered where i kept my receipts from japan. i remembered it was from uni-globe and that it was 100,00 yen. i found the receipt and couldn't decipher the japanese. then i found some numbers on the tag that matched the receipt!! i knew it was my hat!!

now, i don't know how to approach my sister-in-law about it. i'm thinking that i will wait for her to ask about it if it truly does belong to her... i just hope it will not be taken away from me again.

my new partner in crime... ok, maybe not

since alex and betty have been gone, i've been spending much needed quality time with my niece. previously, as in a couple of months ago, she hated me. she would cry in terror at the sight of me. one step and she immediately takes cover behind the nanny. i don't know what happened but she now loves me. when anyone takes her away from me, she literally is kicking and screaming. she is the sweetest thing!

oh and she absolutely adores ted which of course, means she's got great taste at the ripe age of two. whenever she comes downstairs to the apartment, she yells out 'ted! ted! ted!' as if to say 'come out, come out wherever you are!' then she gets a hold of this picture of ted and me, but somehow her little hand always ends up covering me up. and when i have my laptop on, with ted's face as my background, she can't seem to keep from touching the screen where his face is. it's almost a caressing motion on my screen. i think she is in love with my boyfriend... hmm, i better keep an eye on that saucy little girl!

betty leaving... for 2 months

my partner in crime and the most perpetually late person i know, is leaving today for 2 months in asia. she will hit malaysia for a wedding, taiwan and hong kong to visit family/friends, and japan to visit kazuki and others. she's also making a stop in new york for a few days. it must be nice to have summers off. i'm sad that she's going without me and that she'll be gone. :(

our new partner in crime, spike, is also leaving tonight. only she will be gone for 1 week to the pink beach house across the country. and that won't be as bad for pre-occupying myself. after all, i have the kiddies to hang out with. spike and i will be hanging out this summer and will always be on time for everything! imagine the concept of not being 1-2 hours late to an event?! it's a thrill thinking about it since it's so rare that we arrive anywhere on time with betty alongside us.

last night we celebrated by chowing down at kiralas (betty's fav sushi restaurant in berkeley) and dancing the night away at popscene. louis was our guest star last night. hmmm, i wonder if betty is done packing yet?

anyway, bon voyage betty! love ya lots and i wish i could go!

sunday dinner

i had dinner with jackie, her husband rob, and former & one current ips crew as well as significant others and one offspring. this dinner was to bid dear farewell to netty, who has, after being here for about ten years, finished his academic career including his BA, MA, and PhD, at stanford. it's hard to believe that he's leaving us! he's going back to thailand to one day, become prime minister. that means, he's our thailand hook up! ;)

spiro and may's little girl cena is the cutest! she's so friendly and smiley. she went around the room giving everyone hugs. she's got rolls everywhere! and looks just like may, minus the rolls. and may looks great for having given birth.

clockwise from the top: may & spiro, netty & neil, me, connie, mee & little cena, jackie & rob

i finally met netty's so, neil, who has met my so, ted. netty & neil went to one of the gigs in phoenix last weekend. they really liked the band, breakfast in tokyo. so now, netty is the only one out of the group to have met ted. at least, he can vouch for me that i'm not making ted up out of thin air!

caesars - paper tigers

venue: bottom of the hill
band: the caesars
who: kiki & spike
when: 08 june 2005 (wednesday)
doors open at 8:30p

we actually got there on time. and, got rock star parking too. good thing, because it started raining. the 3 of us had a great time as we always do. we sat at the bar the entire time. we had drinks, food, and met a lot of random people stopping at the bar. including a 25 y/o australian named david. it was his birthday that night so we bought him a drink. then we went to 330 ritch to check out the guy from ride. we caught it at the very last song and then it was time to go home. the music was very sleepy, much like that of ride. adam from australia chatted it up for quite a while with david from australia. i think adam had fun talking about his hometown... he mentioned the jets saying something along the lines of melbourners sucking and their town was better or something? oh who cares...
oh, i forgot to mention the caesars. as i expected, they didn't remember us from two years ago and driving them all around san francisco for their very first time, or so they said. not that kiki & i approached them that night or anything. nothing happened that night and i am very glad about it. she talked to them the following night. the music was okay, it's strange to actually recognize their songs though. maybe i'm still in shock but they're total divas now...

baby kane sy!

my cousin lily gave birth this morning, get this, au naturelle! no drugs!?! why she would do such a thing, who the hell knows but she survived and that's all that matters.

name: kane tu sy
dob: 7 june 2005
time: 4:47a
weight: 8lbs 12oz


baby kane!

oh and lily highly doesn't recommend the delivery sans drugs method. i guess she just wanted to try it...

congrats to lily & toeu!

my lovely cousin lily

... is currently having contractions with her second pregnancy/child. she has a very cute little 3 y/o boy named nathan and will give birth any second to a second little boy to be named kane. i guess now, we just wait... tick tock tick tock... can't wait!!

here's the link to her baby's web site. enjoy!

comments!!

yay! i got a comment... this proves that someone actually reads my blog! does it count if it was from family though? i hope not. ;)

kelly & chris burich

my best friend kelly got married yesterday at the ralston hall in belmont. i had the honor of being her maid of honor. and despite starting the day at 6am and ending it at around 11pm, it was worth every minute to share this lovely day with her and her new husband chris.

we got ready at the san jose marriott where there was an anime convention. needless to say, we did not blend well with the anime fans consisting of geeks and gals in costume and regular attire. my cousin debbie did hair & make-up for me, kelly, and kelly's mother. i didn't recognize myself after she was through with me! she's been known to work miracles... and of course kelly looked very beautiful.

the church ceremony was at 1pm and i was very nervous! it went off very well despite the missing presentation of flowers to the virgin mary. it was so exciting for me to be there next to kelly at the church. it was one of the shortest catholic church ceremonies i've been to yet.


me & ted


my lovely cousin debbie & her fiancé roger

despite the 3 cocktails on a very empty stomach, i was able to give my speech without a hitch. it was not only slur-free with minimal word stumbling but also tear-free which was my main concern. and, i made the guests laugh, twice. yeah, i know, i'm awesome.


chris & kelly doing the garter belt gig

this was after the bouquet toss that actually initially landed at my feet. it was between me and joanne and we both jumped away from it! afterwards, kelly told me i was supposed to catch it and that she aimed for me. i knew she was!

today, kelly's parents had a luncheon at their home for the opening of the gifts and a nice spread of food. ted and i stuffed ourselves. and then they are off to australia tonight for a 16-day honeymoon. i'm so jealous.

sandra & pedro

me and ted at sandra's wedding in pasadena, as many of you know, is my favorite place in the world

jerk in the lame yoga class

yesterday, i went to my usual step class at the gym. the class before is the lame piyo (pilates-yoga) class. the instructor erma yelled at me and others previously, so until i can, 1) yell at her for being such a sucky yoga teacher or, 2) make her cry for being such a sucky yoga teacher, then i will always come to this step class bitter and give erma dirty looks. sure, i wrote a letter to her boss complaining about her but she's still there, isn't she?

as soon as the class starts getting up from their rest phase, i make my way in to get my step, risers and weights. the step is this big clunky bench that i usually drag with one hand while i have the risers in my other hand. while the music is still on, the piyo class is over so i drop the step and it makes this loud clash on the floor. then, to my left, i hear someone say, can you be any louder? i look over at this jerk and say, actually, i can. i proceed to get my weights and he walks by right as i get back to my step. i then throw my dumbbells on the ground barely missing his feet and say to him, is that loud enough for you? then he walks off saying something about not wasting his time blah blah blah.

if you're going to throw something at me, just because i'm a small person don't think that i won't throw 10 things back at you.

hoi's big three-o bash on sunday

yesterday, hoi and her husband sid threw a lovely brunch at maggiano's in a private banquet room. there were about 30 of us. and SO MUCH food!! it was great.


the sok family @ maggiano's (sid, matthew & hoi)

after an attempt to walk off a very filling lunch (including double orders of desserts per the birthday girl) around santana row, not to mention to pick up hoi's birthday card, betty and i headed over to hoi & sid's place for the opening of gifts and birthday cake. we thought we were taking our sweet time walking around santana row but we were only the second group of people from the lunch to show up. for the next several hours, we sat around watching tv, chatting, trying to play sceneit?, eating cake and watching little matthew run around.


me with hoi's little sweetie, matthew

betty and i were the last to leave. i realized that since the lunch began at noon and we were leaving at 7p, we'd spent nearly a work day with them. i'm sure they were glad to see us go, finally.

spike's potluck

alex had a mid-quarter dinner party last night. i brought sangria and some cheese & crackers. alex had strawberry daiquiris and kumquat water. christine (from ips) came with margaritas. i met sanford, ena & sir philip, tahu, keira & her husband. erin (a former ir student), curtiss and danny, whom i'd previously met were there also. it was a fun group.

alex prepared the following menu of which was... as my 4 y/o nephew would say, yummy in my tummy! with a swirling hand gesture over his stomach.

jamaican jerk chicken

mango salsa--she also added papaya

black beans and rice with cilantro pesto

spicy pineapple slices--add vanilla ice cream (it's delish!)

stuffed peppers--she substituted portabello mushrooms for the octopus

jamaican hot pepper shrimp

when alex throws a party, she throws a party! still waiting for betty's recipe for her spicy bell pepper shrimp dish... i imagine that will take a while unless one of us physically watches her send it on her computer.

trashcans

venue: slim's
band: trashcan sinatras
who: kiki & spike
when: 11 may 2005 (wednesday)
doors open at 7:30p

it was my 6th tcs show, second time at slim's. last night, they recorded the show on a cd that you could pre-purchase and pick up after the show. at first, we didn't really care much about it. but half way through the show and being our obnoxious girlie selves, we decided to get the cd so we can hear ourselves laughing in the background in one of the quiet slow songs.

i finally met up with eddy (aka marie) and her husband john from sacramento. see october 2004 post. betty and i met this couple at our first tcs show at the troubadour in march 2004. betty and eddy bumped into each other and was profusely apologizing to each other. then, i think it was john that said, only at a trashcan sinatras show would people be arguing about apologizing back and forth to each other. that brought on a flutter of emails back and forth on whether they or we would be at the next trashcan show. they are a very lovely couple.

then there was creepy brian. he's at every show creeping around me. he always ends up next to me or in the vicinity of my location, just staring over at me. at the first slim's show, we were downstairs and he was to the left just creeping around me, not saying hello or anything but staring at me as if he were speaking to me in esp. last night was no different. for some reason, he ended up upstairs in the opposite corner to us. he'd lost some weight and betty didn't recognize him but i knew his creepiness. then she heard his rapsy creepy voice and confirmed it was him. again, he didn't say hello but just stared. guys should know that this is NOT okay.

alex made friends with the recording guys and after a brief discussion on hippies, he took it upon himself to give us 2 extra copies of the cd, free! sometimes, it is just so cool to be us... ;)

overall, the show was good. they played freetime so we didn't have to shout it out to request it. after having met frank from the cafe du nord show, i couldn't look at him sing. so i watched john douglas the entire time.

more i love yous...

he finally said it. then he said it to me again and again... yay!!

happy one year ted! XOXO

waiting for the siren's call

venue: henry j kaiser
band: new order
who: ted, kiki, spike, linney, lou, rich, jen & anthony
when: 29 april 2005 (friday)
doors open at 7p

ted & i left to pick betty up at 4:30p. she was supposed to come over at 4p but unsurprisingly, she didn't show up. instead, she called at 4p to tell me that her car didn't start. so we ended up picking her up. sometimes, i feel like she does this on purpose? hmmm...

so, we're on 880 heading to oakland and we're actually almost there and i get this phone call. it's alex, and she says... am i driving right behind you or what? then i looked in my rear-view mirror and it's alex in her saturn. so we just caravan'd it the rest of the way.

the chemical brother's were the opening gig. they mixed it up for about an hour and a half. after the first half hour, i was chemical brother'd out! i started to fall asleep towards the end. but when new order started, i had to stand up. we all stood up at the front of the balcony and danced away. bernard sounded fantastic live. new order played for about an hour and a half and played one encore. blue monday. they added kylie minogue's vocals at the end from her 'can't get you out of my head' rendition to blue monday. it was fabulous!

lame cowboy on the caltrain

what is the deal with strangers listening in on other people's conversations? especially those with funky cowboy hats and feel at liberty to make rude comments. spike and i were on the caltrain on friday afternoon and this guy interrupts us as we were chatting amongst one another...

me: ...i was in high school when that '89 earthquake hit.

lame cowboy: wow, i was in kindergarten when that happened... boy, i feel much better about my age.

lame cowboy should know that it is not okay to say what he said. my response should have been: at least i look much younger AND better than you ...

but alas, i am too nice. ;)

everything will... or not?

after less than 3 hours of sleep, i'm not sure if i am in the right mind to post anything but i had to. because one, i had my annual body scan for my thyroid cancer and it was clear! dr. yen said that my scan looked fantastic and despite my less than 3 hours of sleep, i feel fantastic!

and two, last night was a pre-birthday celebration for betty's big 3-0 at popscene. whenever there is reason to celebrate, we try to do it at popscene, especially if it's on a thursday. louis and rich made it, finally. and alex brought her research assistant, danny, who is a very cute and fun undergrad. and thanks to danny, the everything will mystery hath been solved... and all i can say about it is... i was right! :p

oh and happy 30th betty!!

the wedding present

venue: slim's
band: the wedding present
who: spike & kiki
when: 15 april 2005 (friday)
doors open at 8p

we left shortly after 7p to get there around 8p. i called slim's to see if tix were going to sell out and slim's said it was close but to get there early.

so, we got in and it was very early so there were seats available upstairs. the opening band was called the crystal skulls. they made me think of the 80's. bad 80's music. and bored us out of our minds. there are these guys sitting in the table next to ours. there are five of them (we thought they were gay) and one guy (let's call him glory) kept staring at betty. he was so obvious about it, that alex started giving him dirty looks. finally, as i stepped away for a bathroom break, he took it upon himself to approach betty. with his wedding ring fitting very snug on his ring finger, he claims that he was trying to hook his single friend up. likely story. jerk.

after i returned to my seat, glory comes up to me and puts his slimy arm around me. he proceeds to ask my name. then i tell him to buzz off because we didn't want to talk to him. he finally leaves and his single friend comes up to us to apologize profusely and offers us a round of drinks. sounds like a plan... beligerent, annoying, drunk married guy bothering some ladies and his nice, single buddy comes to the rescue with a round of drinks. hmmm... sounds like they've teamed up before.

all this happened during the wedding present's set. damn that glory. anyway, david gedge played some cinerama songs too. which were the only songs i recognized! they did health & efficiency which he didn't do last year at bimbo's for the cinerama show. despite glory and his antics, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the show. i picked up a couple of cds after the show for myself.

next came the crepe guy missing teeth. across the street from slim's is the crepes-a-go-go truck. betty and i have had crepes there after a show and it always hits the spot. so we go and the older crepe guy making the crepes is talking to alex. then he asks her name and the next thing i see is him making these gestures for her to give him her number and call him. ewwwww!! i couldn't help but burst out with laughter and yell out no no no! then began to walk away and had alex follow me. what a comical end to the night!