another year - the big 3-2

some random updates... and back dating...

a couple of weeks ago, after the beautiful south show, i did some research on my pending eye surgery. the procedure is called a dacryocystorhinostomy (dcr for short) and the one that my opthalmologist scheduled me for is the external dcr which involves an incision on the side of my nose. well, i've discover (thanks to the internet) that there is a endoscopic version of the dcr which is done through your nose and typically by an ent physician. some opthalmologists do both but apparently, mine does not, as he didn't not even mention the endoscopic dcr version to me. i'm guessing, he wants the business, obviously. damn greedy doctor. so, i've cancelled the dcr scheduled in december and on the same date, have scheduled an appointment with an ent to discuss my options for the endoscopic dcr surgery. it's bad enough that i'm constantly teary in my left eye but the prospect of having a scar right in the smack middle of my face is enough to try something new. actually, the endoscopic dcr has been around for over 25 years. and the success rates of both the endoscopic and external procedures are essentially the same. the external dcr success rate is only a little bit higher but there are more chances for side-effects and infection, not to mention that scar. and if the procedure guarantees a 50% improvement, so be it. anything is better than what it is now.

what else... my roommate is finally moving out. yes, i have a roommate. she moved in during the summer and is my sister-in-law's friend from high school going through her second divorce. i know, yikes. she's only 33. now that she is moving out, my sister is moving in. it's going to be nice to have her back in the house again.

and it looks like i have less than a month and a half until my mancott is over. maybe. depending on my mood, i think i might file a few extensions. who knows.

last but least, the big 3-2 years of age tomorrow. i've been telling everyone that i was 32 so it doesn't feel different. 31 is such an ugly sounding age anyway. yeah, i'm happy actually.

hot chip @ the mezzanine

venue: the mezzanine (completely sold out!)
artist: hot chip
who: betty
when: 17 november 2006 (friday)
doors open at 9p

this time, we arrived 2 hours late and luckily, hot chip had not started. there was an opening band that was horrendous. so much that i don't remember their name. actually, i rarely remember the opening bands. we were just dying for them to finish up already. the mezzanine is an interesting venue. it's pretty spacious and there is a second floor with private rooms that were occupied with parties. they closed off the areas but you could still get through. and we did. we found our spot right up there next to a private party. i kept thinking someone was going to tell us we couldn't be there. but surprisingly, no one was the wiser.

the stage at the mezzanine is much smaller than that of the last show at the independent. actually, the independent seemed much bigger and better than the mezzanine. not sure why i detest the mezzanine venue so much. i just do. since the stage is smaller, the band could not rock out to their full potential as we'd seen at the last show. in addition, there are these huge columns in the middle of the venue and granted, they are required to support the structure of the building, it's a major obstruction of view to the stage. i think it makes more sense that the mezzanine is a dance club rather than a concert venue. greedy and sucky bastards.

i don't know if it was the lack of stage space or my foul mood of being at the mezzanine that made hot chip lose a bit of their contagious energy. it was still a great show but just not up to par as that at the independent back in august. watching the 5-6 cramped men on stage trying to rock out while playing their synthesizers and miscellanous instruments, just wasn't ideal for everyone. especially the band. but they made the most of it and gave a great show, which i very much appreciated. plus, you can't beat a $12 show!

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

superb

venue: the fillmore
band: the beautiful south
who: betty
when: 11 november 2006 (friday)
doors open at 9p

once again, i missed the first part of the beautiful south show. this time, it wasn't a delayed flight. more like, a delayed friend. that's right, it was betty. assuming that there was an opening band, we arrived sometime past 10p. at least this time, it was only an hour later. i'm told we missed 20-30 minutes which isn't so bad except that the tickets cost $40 and there was no opening band and they only played for about an hour or so more.

otherwise, the show was awesome. paul heaton is brilliant. and so cute doing his little dances on stage. and utterly flawless in his singing. without any obvious effort as well. wish he would do some housemartin songs...

the new female vocalist sounded just like the one prior. they are both folky-sounding which give the beautiful south a more folky sound, unfortunately, that is. but i know i can't really blame the ladies for that. betty and i missed song for whoever which they played early on. bummer, that's one of my favorites by them. ugh, not sure what else we missed.

also, they did two encores! they left the stage and came back twice!! who cares about their fans that much? i've never seen that happen.

betty, if you are reading this, you know i love you... but you've really got to start doing something about this tardiness, i'm not sure how much more i can handle it.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ (despite missing the first half hour)

shop like you mean it

on wednesday (the first day of the sale), i got these brown suede ankle boots. i got these from my shoe guy at the valley fair store.
and on thursday, i got the black pumps at the stanford store. the evil sales guy brought out the brown ones too. i was tempted but said no. aren't they pretty??

that's right, voxtrot again

venue: great american music hall (gamh)
band: voxtrot
who: betty
when: 4 november 2006 (saturday)
doors open at 9p

betty and i had dinner tickets this time which guaranteed us a balcony seat. so, we sat right up front just to the left, and above the band. which was great for spying on people. somehow, in the dark, i found will in the crowd below us. with two girls. one seemed particularly close to him. turns out, that's his girlfriend. or some girl he's really close with. there was a lot of pda going on which tells me that the relationship is fairly new. no wonder he hasn't been to popscene. she wasn't particularly pretty either. and i'm not saying that because i'm jealous. well, i am but not of her. she was a little pudgy too. i've decided that i'm out of his league. judging from the women he has dated, i'm not assertive enough. and i actually care what i look like. which seems to go against the grain in the women he likes. oh well, his loss.

back to voxtrot... i forget the opening bands. magic bullets and someone else. i think will was distracting me during their set. voxtrot was exactly what i expected. three words to describe them: fun, amazing, energy. they were awesome. the set was longer. they played songs i hadn't heard. songs i wanted to hear. thinking about them makes me want to break out in a dance! their bass player looks a little like topher grace from that 70's show. he was totally rockin' out! and very fun to see that they like their music as much as i do!

i'm soooo glad i saw them again (3rd time this year).

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ (loooved them)

update on my blocked tear duct

surgery. apparently, since the 2 intubations didn't work, the only thing left is to cut open the side of my nose, unblock the blockage, put some plates to keep it unblocked and close it back up. oh, and hope that it doesn't get infected so the scar is minimal. ugh.

i'm in the process of getting a second opinion. but i'm scared...

soft and warm

venue: 330 ritch (popscene)
band: voxtrot & love is all
who: betty & will
when: 2 november 2006 (thursday)
doors open at 9p

i first heard voxtrot back in may. they opened for elefant and blew me away. i couldn't even think straight or chat with betty during their set. i had to stop and listen. it was the strangest feeling. i never get that way about live music. it made me feel soft and warm all over.

last night, they played at popscene with love is all. we got there during the love is all set and didn't pay much attention as i was stalking ramesh (singer of voxtrot) without trying to be so obvious about it. he's actually a very little man. short and skinny but cute. not sure if i was successful. for some reason, he kept moving away. then we found will. ♥

voxtrot have 3 new songs. i got the cd single. and a cute shirt (will post pic of it later). very very exciting! it was a short set and we were close to the stage for once. i never care about bands at popscene. ramesh is cute, spunky, and full of energy. voxtrot is a great live band. not only do they sound awesome, they are awesome. they are fun and happy on stage. it's refreshing to see a band not just stand there and play.

can't wait to see them at the gamh tomorrow!

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ (obviously)

coercive child-begging

on halloween, i went trick-or-treating with my brother, sister-in-law and their two kids. it's been ages since i've gone. i think the last time i went was for myself. and that was probably middle school for me. while i was probably too old for it, i still looked like i was 10. i remember filling up my pillow cases with candy. halloween was as good as christmas.

it's such a shame that halloween has been ruined for the kids these days. all the hooligans, freaks and psychos out there preying on poor innocent children. i remember the streets being full of kids in cheap plastic costumes with those hard-to-wear-masks. the costumes now are so much better than they were back in the day. and having gone again after nearly 20 years, i was pleasantly surprised to see people still in the mood to scare children, in a good way.

we had dinner in mountain view so we went to the neighborhood next to castro. the first house we went to had no candy. she gave the kids quarters. she said that they never got trick-or-treaters. so we moved on to a different neighborhood. the older the homes, the better. we came to one house where superman answered the door. then he called out for wonder woman to come see the trick-or-treaters. lo and behold, it was both wonder woman and superman! harry potter was so in awe, that he was totally speechless and forgot to say the 3 magic words. it was awesome.

as for me, after walking in 4 inch heels all day and night, i was ready to call it a day. while my brother and sister-in-law took the kids to grandma & grandpa's house, i went home. to do some ironing.

what a wild night. hope everyone had a fun halloween!

this morning

i was on the train heading to work when we stopped in sunnyvale, i see this couple rushing to get a train ticket. then they give each other a quick kiss goodbye. the girlfriend gets on the train and the boyfriend is standing there seeing her off. he finds her at her seat and is waving to her in the most gay way possible. if i didn't see them together, i would have guessed he was totally gay. while watching him wave at her, he does this catching gesture as if she'd blown him a kiss and put it in his pocket. it made me to want to barf. which made me think twice whether i can claim to be an incurable romantic. i mean, this is just pure cheese, isn't it?

maybe i'm just bitter that none of my boyfriends have seen me off on the train and caught pretend kisses i supposedly blew at them. and cliff, doesn't really count when he used to see me off at the bart station. we weren't officially together back then. lame.

confirmed distraction

i so have a crush on one of my faculty. the older one. even though, he has the same first name as my brother, not to mention is the same age. weird, i know. isn't it? the long hair is kinda weird too but since he ties it back, it gives the illusion of short hair (right muffin?). anyway, i was chatting it up with him the other day. he just gets nicer and cuter. ugh. still on my mancott though. oh well.

i was thinking about ted today. about whether i loved him or not. i don't think i did. i wanted to so badly because i didn't want douglas to be the only one i said those 3 words to. lame. i was talking to my sis-in-law the other day about douglas, how she thought he was in love with the person i am now, how i am single. strong. slim. fun. when i'm in a relationship, i'm this pathetic useless person. and a fatty. totally lame. how do i stop myself from becoming that girl again? stay single. i think that's the answer.

the warfield after a 4 year hiatus

venue: the warfield
band: clap your hands say yeah & architecture in helsinki (2nd opening)
who: betty, lou & ro
when: 13 october 2006 (yep, friday the 13th)
doors open at 7p

the last time i was at the warfield was the travis show in... i think it was 2002 because i was still "friends" with smella. and um, still with cliff. i still have the travis cd he sent me prior to going to the show. anyway, bygones.

i discovered aih while listening to my musicmatch radio. i forget which band i put in. it was probably hot chip or death cab. i put a couple of aih's songs on my wishlist to download. later, i just put all their songs i could listen to on my playlist. this was before i found out they were opening for cyhsy. when tix went on sale for cyhsy and i saw that aih was opening for them, i was uber excited!

when they first came on stage, i didn't know it was them. i thought it was the first opening band. we got there sometime before 9p and didn't think they had started. the first song was really noisy and very 80's, in a bad way. there was all this energy on stage, reminiscent to the hot chip show. the second song was one that i recognized and i had this look of shock on my face when i realized it was aih rather than the sucky first band (who may not have sucked at all since we missed them) we assumed them to be. the band members all switched off playing different instruments and took turns singing. it felt like a theatre production. a musical of some sort. it was the coolest thing. they were so engaging and fun.

they even embraced friday the 13th by bringing a mirror onto the stage and breaking it. as well as opening up an umbrella though it took cameron bird a while to get it open. it was quite entertaining. he read some story during the whole thing.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ (loved them!)

after aih, we were totally hyped up for cyhsy. but they weren't as good. they were a little boring. the lead singer, alec ounsworth was totally bored singing all the old songs. and actually, we were bored with him. i felt sleepy in the middle of their set and before they could come back for their encore, we decided to scram. that was enough disappointment for me. and many others as we all rushed to leave the warfield.

rating: ♥ (that's right, one ♥)

superbi

the beautiful south has a new album called superbi. their last album came out in 2004 but i didn't pay much attention as there was no tour. well, not to my knowledge. i've only ever seen them play once and it was in 2000. at the time, i lived in san diego. i flew up to the bay area for the show. there was a storm and my flight that was supposed to have left at 4p (the show started at 9p), was delayed so late that i missed half of the show. despite the ordeal getting there, the half of the show i did catch was awesome.

with a new album in tow (and on its way to me via amazon), they are scheduled to play at the fillmore (again) on friday, 10 november. they are only playing 4 shows in the states so this is very very special. i read somewhere once that they would play more shows in the states, except, it actually costs them money to play here so they don't come very often.

as you can imagine, seeing them live is not only very exciting (for me) but an extremely rare event as well.

google-stalking again

this time, i google-stalked myself. and after filtering through countless women with the same name, i came upon this link. if you go down to 30 august, you'll see my name amongst many who won a new order contest. i think i actually still have the t-shirt? not sure, it was too big. i meant to give it away to louis. i hope i did!

anyway, it's kinda random but cool. i keep forgetting that i did that. hahaha.

nervous habit

so, i have this bizarro nervous habit that makes me look like a retard. i do this thing with my lips which keeps me from speaking clearly. and i'm already stumbling over my words because i'm nervous. on top of that, my lips (if you know me, you know that they are kinda full sized) are in the way!

last night, there was a work dinner and i was seated next to a colleague whom i hardly speak to. mostly because he's a little intimidating. i was the only one sitting next to him (there were two empty seats to his left) so we were talking almost the entire time. i was surprised how nice and funny he is. i thought there would be these uncomfortable silences but he always said something when our conversations ended.

i realized i was nervous after seeing someone else there and interestingly, noticed how i didn't have to struggle with my lips when speaking with him. weird huh?

silversun pickups & the rickshaw

venue: the rickshaw
band: silversun pickups & viva voce (opening)
who: lou & ro
when: 28 september 2006 (thursday)
doors open at 9p

last thursday, i saw the silversun pickups (from LA) with my friends louis and romano. the show was sold out. i'd only heard their old stuff on musicmatch. lou & ro had only heard their new stuff. it was a nice balance. there were two opening bands. i don't remember the first one but the second band was viva voce. i think they were from oregon. according to the guys, the singer was cute and that certainly added to their appeal. i thought she was ok.

it was my first time at the rickshaw. they have actual rickshaws there. it's kinda fun. it was a small venue. nice and hip. apparently, it's some indian club on the weekend sometime. i think it'd be fun to go to.

the silversun pickups were quite good. i was impressed. i was especially excited when they played their old stuff. i'd been listening to it non-stop since will told me about them. i thoroughly enjoyed the show. and to think that ro thought they were too rock 'n roll for me. and that he'd been filtering out such bands on my mixed cds he'd been giving me. but he knows better now.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

emily haines of metric

venue: café du nord (sold out)
artist: emily haines & the soft skeleton
who: betty, cousin lam & nina (again!)
when: 22 september 2006 (friday)
show starts at 9p, dinner reservations at 8:45p

yeah yeah, i'm back-dating but who cares...

i went to this show with my cousins lam & nina (future cousin) and betty. the great thing about café du nord is being able to get dinner reservations (with a $15 minimum) to get great seats. betty and i did this for trashcans back in 2004. the food is actually really good too. i had the steak entree we always end up spending more than $15/person but it's nice that we don't have to. and this time, it was lam's treat. thanks cousin! xoxo!

we got there a little late, they said to be there at least 30 minutes before your reservation but we didn't get there until close to 9p. which was fine because they hadn't even set up the tables yet. we had the same waitress as last time. i remember her because she was cool. we parked at the mortuary again, $10. it's just a block away. not bad considering parking in the castro is horrendous most of the time.

after getting settled with our dinner (we ordered at the bar), emily haines started the show soon after. the show was sold out and they added a late show at midnight so they got right to the point. she chatted us up more this time than she did at the metric show. her music is a lot more mellow than metric. it was like having her in my living room and just hanging out. she's got a great voice. it's really sultry and sexy. there was a picture show coordinating with the music. it was a nice artsy touch.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

the little things in life

...are what seem to matter most these days.

what i've learned this past week with the passing of our beloved brother dochi is that life is really too short. especially to have life end at 32. and that he should be a prime example of life and how people should be.

always happy.
always positive.

despite the hell he'd been through. he was always smiling and friendly.

we miss you dochi. ♥

in memory

dochi pham
1974-2006

i've decided...

on the subject of dating, that i'm taking the rest of the year off. no more dating. 2006 has been a horrendous year for me and i think it best if i just go solo for a while. after the break-up, the 22 y/o liar, two of my "so-called" friends hitting on me and others, i've had enough.

it's not that i won't stop "hanging" out with guys. it just won't be anything romantic. there's something i have that's also helpful. i like to call it the osoms, short for out-of-sight-out-of-mind syndrome. even when i was dating ted and since he was down south, i couldn't help but forget about him when i was out and about. i never cheated on him, i was just a little friendly is all.

with osoms, it feels like ted never happened. which is nice because he sucks.

omg, he lied!

back in april, i met this stanford grad student at popscene. he was really cute and pretty assertive. i remember asking him how old he was, as i always do. he said he was 26 and i remember thinking, good, that's one year older than ted. but the other day, i was on the stanford system (because i have access) and looked him up.

it turns out that he lied about his age. and is actually 22 y/o, not 26. that's 3 years younger than ted. 1983. i'm 9 years older than he is.

oh. my. god. i'm such a cradle robber!