The Moussaoui Verdict
Zacarias Moussaoui, who admitted to conspiring on the September 11 attacks, is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. The jury chose this in lieu of the death penalty, which supposedly would cost the US more money to execute than the life prison term. Here I still don't understand how a one-time execution costs more than years of food and life support.

Anyhow, when asked "Did the jury get it right?", no one said it better than A. Wright of Redwood City. "There was no 'right' to be had. If they chose death he became a martyr, achieved his goal and we became guilty of the same crime he attempted: murder. By choosing life they have demonstrated that you can come to our country, conspire to kill thousands and in exchange we will commit to paying thousands of dollars to house you for the rest of your life in better conditions than you faced before you came here." (SF Chronicle Two Cents)

I can't agree with this comment more. Moussaoui won in all directions.

How Appropriate?
The judge presiding over the Da Vinci Code plagiarizing case had embedded a puzzle of his own creation into his ruling of the case. The judge spent 40 minutes to create the puzzle utilizing the Fibonacci sequence and another 40 minutes to embed it into his ruling using randomly placed italicized letters. A lawyer not involved in the case noticed the puzzle while studying the ruling and solved it in a day. But this came nearly a month after the ruling was originally handed down. How appropriate it was to have such a good-humored judge preside over such a case. Here's a link to the article.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2006-04-28T133451Z_01_L28316444_RTRUKOC_0_US-DAVINCI.xml

The Da Vinci Code Quest
For all you Da Vinci Code fans like myself, Sony Pictures and Google are hosting a game online to test your intellect, skills, and perseverance. I am a big fan of the book and eagerly await the movie’s release on May 19th. From now until then, I am participating in this online challenge. Skeptical as I am of my skills and intellect, I will persevere. If you think you have what it takes to crack the code or if you simply want to partake in the fun, visit http://flash.sonypictures.com/movies/davincicodequest/

6.5 Billion & Counting
A lot of babies have been born lately. Sure many babies are born in the world everyday, but here I'm talking about babies born within my immediate circle. In the last two months, a small bundle of joy had been born each to my sister-in-law, a friend, a coworker, and a cousin. That's four in two months. A fifth and a sixth are arriving soon as another friend and another coworker are pregnant. Talk about population growth! According to the United States Census Bureau, the earth's population hit 6.5 billion on February 25, 2006. Three of the four babies I mentioned above were born before that date, thereby contributing to that number. The other one is contributing to the estimated 6.8 billion by 2010. Cheers to all these little ones-in-a-billion! Ones-in-6.5billion-and-counting actually.

To top this off, even my boyfriend's two guppies gave birth to three baby guppies this past weekend. Babies everywhere! Even in the fish tank!

Here is my result from the How Evil Are You test Bpsnake directed us to. Beware...I am "the most dangerous kind of evil". :P

You Are 30% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

Geez, I haven't logged on to this site so long that I even forgot my login.

Have a little time free at work today so decided to read Wanwanha's stories of her trip to Switzerland. Of course now I want to go too. I always have a big travel bug in me and reading about other people's travels stirs it up big time.

My next destination is to travel to Vietnam, the country where I was born. Ever since immigrating to the US with my family at the age of 4, I have never gone back to Vietnam. Since I left at such a young age, I do not remember anything about the place. Furthermore, I don't even speak the language or know the relatives who still live there. My parents are planning a trip back "home" this October to take care of some business. This would be a good opportunity for me to tag along and take advantage of their company. For starters, they can help me commmunicate with the locals. Secondly, they can reintroduce me to the relatives I no longer remember. Their help in those two areas would definitely make the trip more enriching.

Although I am looking forward to this trip, at the same time I am also a little apprehensive about it. Vietnam's climate is very hot and humid. Having grown up in the Bay Area, I am used to dry and pleasant weather and thus do not handle humidity well. Fortunately I've always preferred warmer weather over colder weather, therefore the warmness may not be an issue. It's the stickiness of humidity I fear. Second, I do not like dirty areas/situations. With Vietnam still being a developing country, I predict I may have some sanitation problems to deal with, either with the environment, the practices of the people, and/or the food.

Having said this however, I pro of this trip (refamiliarizing myself with the place where I was born) still outways the cons (temporary humidity and insanitation). With a little preparation (mainly mental) I should be able to tackle those two "obstacles". I really look forward to this trip.

I tried the link that Wanwanha provided to see which American city best fits me. I would have never imagined the result. Here it is:

American Cities That Best Fit You:

70% Austin

65% Atlanta

65% Honolulu

60% San Diego

55% Denver

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

The top city that best fits me is one I have never been to, Austin. I have no idea what that city is like. Maybe I should pay Austin a visit to see if I truly will like it as this test reveals. I do agree with one of the cities, however, and that's San Diego.

I had just gone to San Diego for the first time last weekend. I really enjoyed the atmosphere in San Diego. It is warm and relaxed. With its beautiful beaches, pleasant weather, charming neighborhoods, polite people, cultural diversity, and abundance of activities, San Diego should be a comfortable place to live in. Although I like San Francisco a lot, I really wouldn't mind living in San Diego for a change.

Sorry I never got around to finishing up my tattoo story. Will try to get back to it if I can. But I think I'm just gonna move on to other topics for now.

I Got My Tattoo - Ep I

I finally did it. I finally got my tattoo. After three years of talk, I finally put some solid action to my words. Those who know the story know that the original inspiration which prompted me to want a tattoo happened one night about 3 years ago when I saw a bright, clear, beautiful crescent moon caressing a lone star in the sky. That spectacular sight inspired me to tattoo the scene onto my body. But due to various reasons, there had only been talk of the subject and no real action. Granted I did research the facts relating to tattoos (the procedure, the care, the possible dangers, etc) and I did look around for specific designs, nothing substantial happened for 3 years.

Finally this year, as time drew closer and closer to my 30th birthday, I finally told myself that this state of NATO (no action, talk only) cannot drag on any longer. Either I do it this year or never talk about it ever again. I basically told myself to do it or shut up about it. And so I did it. The ultimatum I gave myself worked.

As I credit my ultimatum for giving me the final push, I also want to credit my friend for agreeing to get a tattoo along with me. I never knew she too had been thinking about this. So that we can urge each other on, we decided we’ll get it together. A “pact” was formed.

With the “pact” in place, I renewed my research into the subject. Once again I looked online for designs. This time I actually found a few that struck my fancy. Whereas in the past everything I saw were good but not good enough. I guess with my determination, everything just came together better.

I also asked around for recommendations on good and, more importantly, clean tattoo shops. I was recommended a place on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. Two weeks ago, my friend and I walked right into that shop ready to do it right there and then. However, that place was really busy. So we made appointments to come back the next week.

While we were in Berkeley, we moseyed into other tattoo shops along Telegraph to see what kind of designs the other shops have to offer. That was when I found THE design that I wanted. I took a picture of it with my handy-dandy little digital camera so that I can show the tattoo artist at my appointment next week. Then as we walked pass a corner flower shop, I saw some orchids that were dyed a beautiful indigo and blue palette. I’d never seen orchids in that color scheme before. It was just striking. From that, I decided I wanted my tattoo to be in that color scheme – blue/indigo.

At that point, I had everything in line - the design, the color, the appointment. I was all ready to get my tattoo! My friend was ready also. She too found the design and color she wanted. And since we made the same appointment to get it done on the same day, we were both ready for our tattoos! We both went home that day excited about the appointment next week.

To be continued…(aka I better get back to work.)

My grandmother passed away over the weekend. She was 96 years old. This was the grandmother who raised me when I was little as my parents were always busy working. She made breakfast for me and my brothers every morning before school. She made us snacks when we came home after school. She took me to the park. She favored me and sided with me every time I argued with my brothers. She slept in the same room with me all through my childhood and because of that, she was the one I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom with me as I was scared of the long dark hallway. Needless to say, I am saddened by her departure. But as sad as my family and I are about losing her, we also feel it is a relief for her. She had led a pretty harsh life. It just might be a good thing for her to move on to a better place.

My grandmother led a hardworking life from childhood up through her middle age. Her family was poor. She started working in the plantations at a very early age. Things didn’t improve much after she married my grandfather because he too was poor. They worked really hard to sustain life for the large family they made. My grandfather had two wives and together they had eight children. That was a lot of mouths to feed. One might think that my grandmother’s burden would have been eased from the help she should have gotten from my grandfather’s other wife. That wasn’t the case. My other grandmother was weak in a lot of ways – health, strength, personality. My grandmother had to care for her as if she was another dependent. To this day I’m still not clear whether my grandmother held any grudges towards her husband’s other wife. Back then in the villages, it was common for a man to have multiple wives. But still, it must not have been a happy affair for a woman to have to share her husband. For sure I know my elder uncles did not, and to this day still do not, like their stepmother nor their half-siblings. They shunned her for being a mistress and discriminated against their half-siblings as being “wild kids”, as illegitimate. Unlike her older brothers, my mother has a bigger heart. She respected her stepmother as she did her birth mother and treated her half-siblings as if they were from the same mother. I commend my mother for that.

Back to my grandmother who had led a hardworking life up until her middle age. As my grandfather’s health started to decline, my grandmother bore most of the burden of keeping the family together. The family’s economic condition started improving after my mother got married. My parents started to own businesses and money was starting to be less of a problem. Thus my grandmother was finally able to relax her responsibilities. Life was finally getting better, or at least easier, for her. From there she was able to live a calmer life of babysitting her grandchildren while her children worked to support the family.

Here I’m missing some pieces of the puzzle. I don’t know what my mother’s older brothers did in terms of helping the family. It seems to me they didn’t do anything besides holding grudges against their stepmother and half-siblings. My mother pretty much took over the burden from my grandmother when it came to supporting the family. My mother also had an older sister, but she married off to another village really early so she was no help.

Eventually my grandfather died and my grandmother went on to live with our family instead of with my uncles’ or aunts’. She looked after me and my brothers as my parents ran their businesses. When my family immigrated to America, my grandmother came with us. My brothers and I were very young then, ages 4 to 12. Being new immigrants, my parents had to work very hard to put food on the table. My grandmother was great help to them as far as taking care of us kids while they worked all day. As such, my grandmother played a big role in our family as we were growing up. And we loved and respected her very much for that.

About 10 years ago, my mother’s second brother immigrated to America as well. At that time my grandmother’s health was starting to decline. She especially started to lose her mobility. She could no longer walk and needed to be transported everywhere with a wheelchair. Even the simple act of going to the bathroom was a problem. As such, she needed a lot of care and attention on a daily basis. Since my parents had to run the family restaurant and my brothers and I either had to work or go to school, we couldn’t give her the kind of attention she needed. Therefore it was fortunate that my uncle came to America because he then took over the task of taking care of my grandmother. At first my uncle lived with us at our home and cared for my grandmother there. Then a couple of years later he and my grandmother moved into an apartment closer to downtown where it was more convenient for him to take care of her. From then on, my grandmother was under my uncle’s care at his apartment. Once in awhile we visited them and once in awhile my uncle would take my grandmother, in her wheelchair, to “walks” as far as to our restaurant as a small little field trip.

Then a few years ago, my grandmother had a stroke which rendered her bedridden ever since. She could not even sit in a wheelchair. Therefore in the last few years she was always in her bed. With her poor vision, poor hearing, and poor memory, she pretty much didn’t know what was going on around her. She couldn’t recognize us when we visited. She probably couldn’t even feel her own existence. But she hung on. My grandmother was a strong woman. From her early years of working hard to take care of her family to her latter years of fighting to keep her life, my grandmother was a strong and amazing lady. Her strength, her will, her capabilities, none of these can be slighted.

Then last Tuesday, May 3, 2005, my grandmother suddenly coughed like mad. We sent her to the hospital. The doctors told us she had some internal bleeding in her lungs. She was in critical care for two days and then she was transferred back to a regular room after her condition stabilized. I visited her as often as I could while she was there. Then on Saturday, May 7, 2005, her kidneys failed. Shortly after that, she stopped breathing and passed away peacefully in her sleep. My brother and my uncle were there with her when she passed. My mother had just stepped away from the hospital to drive a visiting relative home when it happened. Therefore she wasn’t able to be at my grandmother’s side at the moment of her passing. I myself also wasn’t there at that moment. To be honest, none of us expected her to leave so suddenly. We all thought she could overcome this episode. When I visited her on Friday evening, I had asked the nurse on duty for her assessment of my grandmother’s situation. The nurse told me that she looked pretty stable and that after a few more days of monitoring, she may be able to go home. And that’s exactly what we all thought – that she might be able to overcome this one and go home in a few days. She had always been able to “go home in a few days”. Why shouldn’t she this time? Banking on that, I had planned to visit my grandmother later in the evening on Saturday so that I could do some stuff in the earlier part of the day. Unfortunately, I missed the chance to see her one more time before she left. It was more unfortunate for my mother though. She was there all morning and had just stepped out for about an hour and still she missed her mother’s last moment.

I’m sure my grandmother fought very hard this time around just like she always did in the past. It may just probably be the time for her to let go and free herself. She should be at a better place now, a place where she can have peace and comfort to rest her tired, overworked soul.

She will be missed.

I had a very eventful week last week. Went to many places. Did many things. It was fun while it lasted. But like always, all fun eventually comes to a stop. Reality always finds its way back in to ruin things. This time was no exception. The fun ended and reality is kicking in.

It’s so ironic that sometimes the more fun you have, the more consequences you have to suffer later. Does this take away from the initial enjoyment? I don’t know. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. If only fun and enjoyment can come with absolutely no strings attached. But we all know that’s not possible.

An interesting question was posed to me while I was in London. First allow me to list the facts involved.

(1) The normal liquor license in London (or maybe in England as a whole) allows pubs to sell alcohol until 11pm. With a 15-minute allowance to wrap up all drinking, pubs usually kick customers out by 11:15pm.

(2) Certain clubs and/or restaurants have extended liquor licenses allowing them to serve alcohol later into the night, till as late as 2am.

(3) Because of items 1 and 2, there has been a long standing problem in London where people kicked out of pubs at 11:15pm migrate over to clubs with extended licenses in attempt to continue drinking. But seeing that most of these people are already half drunk or have had enough to drink for the night, bouncers at the clubs deny them entrance. With both sides persisting on their stands, fights often break out between the two groups.

The question posed to me during a casual conversation at a pub was, “If London extends drinking hours to 2am for all pubs to match up with the clubs, do you think that would alleviate the problem with fights between club bouncers and pub-to-club hoppers?”

I was asked this question because the person knew I was from San Francisco where drinking hours end at 2am uniformly for all establishments. He wanted to know if doing what we do here in SF would help them with the problem of fights they have there. My answer was no, it wouldn’t help their problem. It would only create other problems instead. Everywhere there is drinking, there are problems. For us, the problem is at 2am when the streets are filled with drunks who are at least loud and raucous if not fighting or driving. The threats of these problems are as troublesome, if not worse, than the problem London currently faces. Also, with their culture of hitting pubs earlier in the evening than we do, extending the drinking hours will only increase the amount of alcohol they will consume in one evening. That just creates drunker people on their streets by the time the pubs close. I think I have some valid points here. Feel free to comment.

After quitting my last job and before starting at my new job, I went to London for a week. This was the first time I stepped foot into Europe. I’ve been to Canada, Mexico, and all around China, but never Europe. Wish I had the time and money to go to more European destinations, like Paris and Italy, but at least I got to go to London. It was a long overdue trip. I have a friend there and he’s been bugging me to visit him for two years. And finally I did.

Overall the trip was good. It wasn’t the best trip I’ve ever taken, but it was definitely worth my while. The history, the architecture, the culture were all new and/or different to me somehow. London is one of the oldest modern cities I’ve been to. At the same time that it is a modern metropolis with a bustling economy, it is also a city full of history. Everywhere you go you see old buildings still standing from eons ago. For me this was good because I enjoy looking at old architecture. London definitely has lots of that to offer. Westminster Abbey, for example, is one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen. And with all the royal coronations done on location and with so many important figures buried or memorialized there, I would also call it powerful. Other than Westminster Abbey, I was also impressed by Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and the London courthouse. London Bridge, on the other hand, was a disappointment. Having heard about the bridge so much and with the old nursery rhyme that pays tribute to it, I expected a beautifully designed bridge. To the contrary, it is the most boring of all bridges with no design aesthetics whatsoever.

The most beautiful area we visited was the city of Bath, which is two and a half hours west of London. On the last day of our trip, we joined a tour for a day-trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. The city of Bath was built around the hot springs that the Romans discovered in the area in 90AD. The Roman Baths occupied a huge area of the city. To the present day only a small portion of it has been dug up. The bulk of the area still lies underground yet to be unearthed. Anyhow, with a beautiful river running across town, a charming little bridge lined with shops, and the entire city built with one single façade of yellow brick houses, Bath looks absolutely gorgeous. It is as picturesque as any scene you find on jigsaw puzzles. I can imagine myself visiting Bath often for weekend trips if I were to live in London.

The one biggest problem I had on this trip was the weather. London is too darn cold!!! I don’t deal with cold weather too well. This has always been the case throughout my life. I don’t know why. Maybe my body just can’t generate enough heat to warm me up when the surrounding is cold. For me to be in London in early March was not the smartest idea. But when that’s the only time I can go, what can I do? Nothing really. So I roughed the cold. It wasn’t fun, but I survived. The way I consoled myself at the time was to constantly remind myself that at least it wasn’t snowing or raining like it did the week before my visit. That was a blessing I counted.

Another thing that posed as a little of a problem was the poor exchange rate we got for the dollar. The 2:1 (dollar to pound) ratio we got really deteriorated our buying power. All the numeric values posted in pounds in London looked the same as those in the US in dollars. BUT…we had to multiply all the pounds by two to get the equivalence in dollars. As a result, everything was essentially double the price as in the US. That really hurt. Given that, we didn’t spend much on this trip. Maybe I should rephrase that. We didn’t “buy” too much but we still spent a lot of money. How’s that for Econ 101?

A lot have changed since I last blogged. I no longer work at the TV station where I slaved for over six years. I am now working at a radio station as an operations assistant. This is the sister station to the station I’ve worked at part-time since college. Throughout my nine years as part-time board operator for the station, I built up a strong rapport with the company and its employees. They like my work ethics and I like the company’s stability. So when we mutually decided we needed each other’s help – they needed a new assistant and I needed a new job – both sides came together naturally.

I’ve now been here two weeks. The work is easy. Not to be bragging, but I’m a fast learner. They didn’t expect me to catch on so quickly. There’s still some stuff they haven’t transferred to me yet. Those seem to be the more complicated stuff. Can’t wait to take on those responsibilities too because there’s just not enough for me to do now. (Hence, the free time to blog again.) I rather have things to do instead of sitting around all day waiting for stuff to come my way. Another reason why I want more work is that I’m afraid upper management might think this newly created position is not so needed after all. They created this position with me in mind, thinking I will be of great help to the Director of Operations who has too much on his plate. Which he does. I’m amazed by how much he handles in a day and how he managed to get by without an assistant in the past. This year he was finally able to convince corporate headquarters that he needs a full-time assistant. Hence I’m on board. I just hope he can continue to convince them there’s enough work to justify keeping me full-time. But like I said, there’s still stuff waiting to be transferred to me. Hopefully once those get going all will be fine. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my stress-less work days. Such a thing was nonexistent at my previous job.

I submitted a piece to the Sorry Everybody site, but I don't think they posted it. It was probably too hateful for their liking. Oh well. I had to do what I had to do...vent. I'll share it with you folks here when my internet connection at work works better. It's been flaky lately.

2 weeks ago (about a couple days after the election) my friend had told me about the Sorry Everybody site, which Bpsnake mentioned in his blog yesterday. At the time that my friend told me about it, there was only 1 page of photo submissions by visitors to the site. Now there are 543 pages and counting. Each page has multiple photos of people apologizing to the world for the state of our presidency, his incompetence and our failure to vote him off. These submissions do not just come from our fellow disgruntled citizens of the US Of A, but also from people of other countries sympathetic with our situation. This site really shows the extent of our people's hatred of Bush. Having said this, I am still at a shock that he actually won enough votes for a re-election. What happened? I still don't understand. Or maybe I just refuse to.

A commentary by Joan Ryan on today's SF Chronicle is really dead on about the presidential election. I would like to share it with everyone.


We Barely Recognize Each Other
By Joan Ryan

Like others in the Bay Area, I was huddled with friends around the television set Tuesday night, my son pressing a blue-donkey or red-elephant sticker on each state as the returns rolled in. As we held out hope for Ohio, one friend related a story that, in retrospect, helped me understand Bush's convincing victory as well as any I have heard.

A young man, my friend said, was walking door to door on her street a few weeks ago to raise money for the Kerry-Edwards ticket. When he knocked on the door of one house, the owner responded to the young man in a huff.

"I'm a Republican!'' she said. "Didn't you see my flag?''

That, in the end, is what it boiled down to.

Somehow, as Bush and his party cut taxes to the rich, sent young Americans to their deaths in a war based on untruths (and managed with stunning incompetence), reneged on its financial commitment to education, and plunged the nation into crushing debt, they became symbols of morality and patriotism. They sold themselves as the party of God and country, offering comfort to people who wouldn't need comforting if the Bush administration had not created the very problems for which it then offered spiritual refuge.

Give them credit. They are like PG&E nabbing the candle concession for a blackout the company caused itself.

It is a confounding time to live in a place like the Bay Area. Watching the returns Tuesday night, and listening to voters across the country, I saw that John Edwards was right about the two Americas. But the two Americas are not divided by money but by belief systems that have drifted so far apart we barely recognize each other anymore.

In exit polls Tuesday, morals topped the list of voter concerns, and an overwhelming majority believed Bush is more moral than Kerry. Thus the resounding victory for the incumbent.

Here in the Bay Area, we, too, place a high priority on values and morality. But clearly, many of us define morality differently from much of America. It is not about church membership. The evidence of morality is in one's actions, not one's Sunday-morning rituals. Morality means more than prayer and more than proclaiming a personal relationship with God.

It is social as well as religious. Is it moral to wage war on a country that did not attack us, and to wage it on false pretenses? Is it moral to stuff more money into the pockets of the wealthy while teachers buy their own crayons and patch their own classroom walls, and while people with mental illness live on the streets and in prison cells for lack of services?

Is it moral to deny two people the joy of committing their lives to one another in marriage? Is it moral to prevent scientists from pursuing cures to devastating diseases because of our leaders' personal religious convictions?

Our country has always included a mix of religious and political beliefs. But we shared a foundation of certain "truths to be self-evident'' that allowed us to meet on common ground. Today, I don't know. Our belief systems - - what is right and wrong, what is patriotic and what is not, what is truth and what is not -- are so different and so dramatically shape how we interpret news and information that we seem no longer to be living within the same culture.

I can't for the life of me, for instance, figure out how anyone could watch those three presidential debates and even entertain the thought that Bush is qualified to lead the free world.

I am puzzled, too, by the reaction to the bin Laden tape. When bin Laden showed up on a video just days before the election, I figured it would remind Americans that Bush had yet to capture the man responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, that he got us sidetracked in Iraq, which had nothing to do with Sept. 11. Instead, the tape seemed to deepen many Americans' belief that ... what? Bush is doing such a good job on terrorism that we should renew his contract?

Some have suggested that the Democratic Party needs to reconnect with middle America and its values, that we should take a page from the Republican playbook and talk more about God and faith. Yes, the Democrats need to revamp their strategy. But I would hate to think we would try to win next time around by emulating politicians who get away with destructive and amoral acts by passing them off as directives from God.

Faith and flags won this election. But I haven't lost my belief in another f-word -- facts. They're bound to come back into fashion sooner or later.


E-mail Joan Ryan at joanryan@sfchronicle.com.

SF Chronicle - Thursday, November 4, 2004
Page B - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/11/04/BAGOK9LGGR1.DTL

Googi went to Cancun last week.
Googi had a lot of fun.
Googi did a lot of water sports (swimming, snorkeling, jet skiing) even though Googi can't swim well.
Googi swam at the beaches.
Googi swam in the hotel pools.
Googi played beach volleyball.
Googi jet skiied in the waters of Bahia De Mujeres (Bay Of Women).
Googi sunbathed.
Googi got a tan.
Googi got bitten by mosquitos.
Googi habla Espanol muy mal (speak Spanish very badly).
Googi spoke Spanglish.
Googi ate a lot of ceviche.
Googi ate a lot of seafood.
Googi ate a lot of spicy food.
Googi likes spicy food now.
Googi drank good margaritas with her dinner at Gory Tacos.
Googi ate Yucatan food at Labna in El Centro.
Googi ate Creole/Cajun food while listening to live jazz at Blue Bayou.
Googi ate lobster at Lorenzillo.
Googi ate good burrito at Burrito Shack.
Googi ate seafood at Italian restaurant called Casa Rolandi.
Googi ate a lot of Mexican food.
Googi missed Chinese food.
Googi drank good tequila.
Googi bought a bottle of tequila.
Googi went shopping at El Centro (Downtown).
Googi hated the annoying vendors who tried to pull Googi into their shops.
Googi hated the annoying timeshare agents who kept bugging Googi to listen to their timeshare pitches.
Googi visited the Mayan ruins at Chichen-Itza.
Googi climbed the 90 ft tall pyramid called El Castillo at Chichen-Itza.
Googi did not eat chicken pizza at Chichen-Itza.
Googi went to Isla Mujeres (Island Of Women).
Googi snorkeled at Isla Mujeres.
Googi did the Zip Line at Isla Mujeres on top of the waters of Bahia De Mujeres.
Googi was afraid to do the Zip Line because Googi is afraid of height and cannot swim well. But Googi went through with it. Googi is proud of herself.
Googi slept on hammock at Isla Mujeres.
Googi smoked her first cigar.
Googi hated the cigar.
Googi should try Cuban cigars.
Googi went drinking every night (now you know why Googi is writing like this - Googi killed a lot of brain cells).
Googi said "I'm not gonna drink tonight" every night but ... Googi drank every night.
Googi got a lot of freebies.
Googi likes freebies.
Googi should be careful of freebies.
Googi can get in a lot of trouble with freebies.
Googi said goodbye to paradise and came back to reality last night.
Googi is back to work today.
Googi doesn't want to work.
Googi wants to go back to paradise.
Googi is dreaming.

Bye Superman. Your legacy lives on.

I recently watched two movies on DVD. I liked one of them a lot. But the other, I didn't. I'll talk about the one I didn't like first so that I can end this blog entry with a more cheerful note later.

What was the point of "Passion Of The Christ"? Besides raking in millions at the box office, what did Mel Gibson try to accomplish by making this film? Was there a "for the record" statement that he wanted to make? Or did he want to point fingers at a certain group of people for the sufferings that Jesus endured? I am not a religious person. I do not have a religious background. I'm not sure if it's my lack of biblical knowledge that prevented me from appreciating this film. To me, it was merely a gruesome portrayal of the torture cast upon one man. I saw it as two hours worth of a whip-by-whip, nail-by-nail account of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Do people, followers or not, need such a graphic depiction of this biblical event in order to appreciate Jesus' sacrifice for mankind? There is a growing argument that the material carried on the mainstream media is becoming too violent and/or graphic for the good of the audience. This film feeds into that argument completely. For that, I didn't appreciate this film.

Unlike "Passion Of The Christ", I really enjoyed watching "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind". The plot is about a man wanting to erase the memories of his ex-girlfriend. But during the procedure he changes his mind and a struggle to hang on to the memories ensues. Rolling Stone calls it "a smart, sexy, and seriously funny comedy" and I totally agree. It's smart because of the complexity and uniqueness of the script. It's sexy because of the bizarre romance shared by the characters. It's serious because of the heartbreak that was experienced by the characters but felt by viewers. It's funny because of all the lighthearted dialogue and witty images. Writer Charlie Kaufman wrote this unique love story and director Michel Gondry immaculately transferred it onto film. Gondry created beautiful visuals to carry the story along. He accomplished this not with fancy special effects, but simply with creative camera angles and transitions. The success of this film owes very much to Gondry's creative visions. The acting in this film cannot be slighted either. Jim Carry and Kate Winslet deserve much praise for succeeding in roles they don't normally play. Overall, this is an excellent movie. I recommend it to all.

What a month. 2 projects came and gone. Fortunately they were completed rather successfully. Completing projects always gives me a great sense of accomplishment, but unfortunately I'm starting to feel tired. Not physically, but mentally. How much more stress can I handle? How much more frustration can I swallow? How much more advantage can I let my bosses take of me before I go insane? Being conscious of all the flaws in the system does not help me turn my back on all these nuisances either. Either it's time for me to leave or I need to take a long break. So what if I take a long break? Who could guarantee improvements when I return? The underlying problems in the company cannot be changed easily, if even possible. Guess my best bet is to find a new job. Honestly, I really wouldn't mind changing jobs, even if it means going into a new industry and starting off all over again from the bottom rung. But knowing how sluggish the current job market is, I know it will take some time for me to find something. No problem. However long it may take, I'll continue to believe there's light at the other end of the tunnel. In the meantime, I'll take short breaks here and there to help keep my sanity in check. Last month I took a few days off to retreat to Las Vegas and Santa Barbara. Next month I'm going to Cancun for a week. Hopefully these short breathers will help carry me through.

What irks you more, working with incompetent people or working with bossy people? It's my luck that I'm working with both, and it's the same person! Yes, this person is incompetent, yet bossy. Bad combination. The worse part is this person also has the power to override any of our objections. Good luck to us if we want to get any work done, let alone quality work.

I didn't realize I haven't blogged in such a long time. My last entry was about my friend's visit from out of town and my playing hostess. Well, he's since been gone and the pseudo vacation that he brought on to me had also come to an end. But one lingering effect still lives on – the 80s music mode that he had gotten me into. This self-proclaiming "80s Junky" friend of mine stumbled upon an 80s radio station while he was here. Listening to this station with him somehow recharged my interest in music from that decade. I have since been digging up music from the 80s wherever I can. What with my brother's old tape/CD collection and the internet to bring about songs like "Careless Whispers", "Seasons Change", "Shattered Dreams", "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Foolish Beat", and of course, "Karma karma karma karma chameleon, you come and go, you come and go oh oh oh…" to play in the background as I blog tonight.

It's been fun digging up these old songs. Listening to them again in the present time has put me into a state of "recollection" and "rediscovery". "Recollection" because certain songs remind me of certain things. "Foolish Beat" reminds me of middle school. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" reminds me of staying up late on Friday nights to watch "Friday Night Videos". "Rediscovery" stems from the fact that many songs didn't really register with me at the time. Granted I was just a little girl then. I pretty much listened to music purely on a rudimentary level. As long as the tune was catchy, I liked it. Lyrics, underlying meanings, vocal or musical talents, all meant nothing to me. Listening to them now, on the other hand, I've discovered a whole new appreciation for some of these old tunes. "Suddenly, life has new meaning to me. There's beauty up above and things we never take notice of. Wake up and suddenly, you're in love." Wow! Beautiful.

Too bad not all my discoveries are as beautiful as the previous example. Namely, what on earth is "karma chameleon"? I've only just realized these were the lyrics, and title, to this catchy tune. Can you blame me? Back then the little girl in me tried my best to stay away from Boy George!

I have a friend visiting from out of town this week. So I've been playing hostess and showing him around. So far we've been to Fisherman's Wharf, the Coit Tower, Ghiradelli Square, the Haight/Ashbury district, and the Napa Valley wineries. Next we're targeting either a cruise on the Bay or a night tour to Alcatraz Island.

I have to say, as a regular resident of the Bay Area, I wouldn't be doing some of these things or going to some of these places if I wasn't taking a visitor around. Fisherman's Wharf? Coit Tower? Alcatraz? These are tourist traps. They're for tourists only. BUT...as I went to these places with him, I suddenly felt like a tourist myself. Suddenly I felt like I AM on vacation and I AM sightseeing. It's amazing. Maybe it's because I don't go to these places often, if at all. Therefore in a way they seemed new and fresh to me. At a gift shop in Fisherman's Wharf, I found myself fascinated by those pendants containing a grain of rice with your name engraved on it. I actually wanted to buy one. Even though I didn't buy it, this shows how deep of a "touristy mode" I was in to be fascinated by things in a gift shop.

My friend is in town for another 3 days. That's how much longer my role as a tour guide will last. I should really thank my friend for visiting and bringing on this sudden pseudo vacation for me. If only I didn't have to work this week as all this is happening. But of course, that's too much to ask.

In reaction to JLo's marriage to Marc Anthony this weekend, bookies are offering 3-1 odds that the quickie marriage will dissolve by the end of the year. They are also offering 10-1 odds that JLo will marry more than eight times in her lifetime, beating Elizabeth Taylor. This is too funny! A little cruel, but definitely funny! How can anyone, even JLo, blame these bookies for recognizing viable opportunities to make a few extra bucks?

My question for JLo is...Why do you even bother? You know your own track record. You'll just be in and out of your lawyer's office signing papers. Why don't you just save yourself the time and energy and put them into better use. Oh, by that I don't mean another Gigli. Please!

Speaking of license plates, I have a question. Those cameras installed at intersections to catch red light runners are set up to take pictures of the license plate of the offending car. From that they trace the licensed owner of the car as the red light runner. What happens when an offending car doesn't have plates, eg new cars who's plates have yet to come? How do they identify those cars/drivers?

Whoopi! The scratch on my car is gone. Woohoo! I took my car back to the dealer to put in a rear spoiler. Besides installing the spoiler, the nice people at the dealership threw in a free buff job to buff out the scratch for me. So now my car is as good as new. Then again it IS new. Heck, I've only had it for a month and my license plates haven't even arrived yet. Wonder what my plates will be. If I were to get custom plates, does anyone have any suggestion as to what I should get? Let's see your creativity people. :)

AGHH!!!! There's a 1.5in scratch on my car!!! That hurts!!! Who the #%@& did it??? Feel my pain people...

I was up bright and early this morning. Actually, the "bright" part doesn't really translate cuz the sun wasn't even out yet when I left the house. Revision: I was up dark and early this morning. Reason was I had to monitor a very important technical switchover at the station. Fortunately everything transitioned smoothly. This is one big load off the shoulders, MY shoulders to be exact. This is yet another part of the improvements at work I mentioned in an earlier blog. I think I can soon start to relax a bit and enjoy the changes. God I need a break.

Massages...what's the big deal about them? Do they really help your body relax? My girlfriends and I went to the Napa Valley yesterday for a girls-only daytrip. To pamper ourselves, we decided to visit one of the local spas to each get either a massage or a facial. I opted for the Hot Stone Massage, which supposedly is a recent fad in the world of massage treatments. Here's a description of it that I copied from the spa's website: "Smooth stones are heated and are used to relax and massage muscle tissue, dissolving stress and melting away tension. The stones glide across your body in long, flowing strokes, while others are placed on various energy points. The radiant heat along with the stone massage releases deep muscular tension without pain or discomfort."

Oookay. I did it. Then were my stress dissolved and tension melted? I really can't tell. Because frankly speaking, I felt exactly the same AFTER the treatment as I did BEFORE it. I did not experience the relaxation that massage buffs rave about every time they come out of a massage. That feeling of "Oh that felt so good" was not experienced here. For me it was more like "Doh, that was money down the drain".

Now on to the "without pain or discomfort" part. True I didn't feel any pain or discomfort during the session. Kudos to the massage therapist for managing that. But I woke up this morning with sore and aching shoulders! What's up with that? Shouldn't the painless nature of it extend pass the immediate treatment itself?

I don't get it. I really don't. What's the big deal about massages?

That's right Wanwanha, I haven't been blogging. Guilty as charged. And the reason is of no surprise either - I've been submerged in work.

12 hour work days have been my norm. Enjoying a weekend off has become a privilege. Bringing work home is like a requirement. Somehow or another I've become this workaholic who, believe it or not, is not really complaining. As much as I want to regain my life (if I ever had one to begin with) I am getting much satisfaction from my accomplishments at work. My station has seen much improvements in the last few moonths and I am proud to be one of the major players involved in bringing on those improvements. Where we are now is where I've been hoping for us to be ever since I joined the company 6 years ago. 6 years! How's that for being patient or relentless?!

But it's not time to celebrate just yet. We've only just touched upon the surface of our goal. There are still many odds and ends to smooth out. Until then, "Workaholic" continues to be my middlename.

Blogger.com has a new look. It is also offering more functionalities, one of which is to allow readers to post comments directly onto our sites. Let's see how that works.

Well...it looks like what Wanton Wrapper did on his site.

I bought a new car this week. It's a 4 door sports sedan. A 2-door coupe is available in the same make and model. But I went for the 4-door sedan instead. This shows how much I've "matured". A few years ago, I would've chosen the coupe instead. Back then I would've seen the styling of the coupe as much more fun and wild. But now the coupe seems too kiddy and punkish to me. The present day me opts for the sophisticated styling of the 4-door sedan instead. Now I also find 2-door cars impractical. It's inconvenient when it comes to transporting passengers. But then again how often do I transport passengers? I usually drive around alone anyway. And since I don't have a family/kids yet, why do I have to worry about people crawling in and out of the back seat? But yet, I placed this criterion pretty high in my selection process. Basically, rather than fun, I went for convenience. Rather than wild, I went for sophistication and comfort (the spacious seats in the sedan are much more comfortable than the cramped up coupe). I am selling my spicy red sport coupe and have put money down for a silver comfy sedan. Daddy's little girl has definitely grown up.

This Gmail thing sounds like a good idea. Where do I sign up?

Wow, it's the end of the March already. And I didn't blog at all this month. It's not that I'm losing steam with this online journal thing. It's because work has just been too hectic. I still have lots to do today, but I need to take a break. So here I am.

I read somewhere a little while ago that only 7% of internet users blog. That makes us a rarity doesn't it? Then of the 7%, only 2% blog daily. Oops, fell out of that elite group somewhere along the line.

Been doing a lot of hiking lately. Almost once a week. Almost. Not bad according to my track record. Would like to keep it up. But we'll have to see. Afterall, I'm a Gemini. One characteristic of a Gemini is that s/he is fickle. A Gemini jumps from one interest to another rather quickly. So who knows how long I'm gonna stick with this particular one?

Disclaimer: Political bimbo here is about to talk politics. I am the Jessica Simpson of politics, meaning I don't know jack about it but still I want to dispense my inflated two cents on it. So brace yourself for the following entry...

My applause to San Francisco for issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. This is another much needed step towards equality for all. But is it true that the mayor may have overstepped his boundaries in ordering this proceeding? If it is, then I rather he had not done it. It's one thing to allow equal rights to all. But it's another to go about doing it in improper ways.

Politics have never been my forte. I am in the dark about its workings. Hence I have no idea what the political, maybe even legal, ramifications are surrounding this event. But I do know that the game of politics has its rules and procedures, e.g. propose bills, get them passed, then execute them. As a civilized society, it is important for us to follow procedures such as these. Otherwise what's the point of having rules and regulations at all? So if the mayor did misuse his powers in inducing this event, I'd rather he follow the proper procedures. That may take much more time, effort, and money to accomplish, but at least we wouldn't be criticized for it. Opponents of this unprecedented event call this a type of "lawlessness and civil disobedience". That just takes away from the joy and pride that are associated with this worthy cause.

Babies, they're so delicate and fragile. My little niece, who's only 1.5 month old, went into the hospital last night. She has some sort of infection, either viral (less serious) or bacterial (can be serious). They took all sorts of fluids and blood from her for tests to isolate the main cause. But results won't be back for 2 days so they are keeping her in "urgent care" for a close watch until they know for sure what's going on. I went to the hospital to see her during my lunch hour today. My heart dropped when I saw her. First off, she has IV attached to her tiny little left hand. To hold her IV in place, the nurses made her a makeshift cast out of a tongue depressor and gauze. Casts don't even come that small but yet this small little soul needed one. Poor thing. Then on her other 3 limbs you could see the bruises and punctures resulting from all those needles poked into her. Meanies! Stop poking holes into my little TNT (her initials)! I know, I know. Stop being so squeamish. Those needles are necessary. How else would they know what's going on. Just hope the results come back good. Pray, pray, pray.

We don't know how she got this infection. We are guessing it was from the little party we had at home over the weekend to show her off to relatives. About 20 people came. Some held her, some didn't. Maybe she came into contact with this "bug" then. See how fragile babies are? Learn.

It's 5:48am on a Sunday morning. What am I doing online blogging at such a time? Am I such a geeky technophile that I jump at every opportunity to crack open my laptop and blog away on any stupid little thing that jumps to mind? You can decide for yourself the answer to this question at the end of this entry.

About 45 minutes ago I woke up from my sleep to some terrible coughing. Who's terrible coughing? Mine. I was coughing for such a long time that apparently I had even incorporated it into my dreams. In my dreams I was engaged in a deep conversation with someone but it was constantly interrupted with my coughs. It slowly became annoying to the both of us. The annoyance continued for a while before I gradually woke up and realized that the conversation was in fact a dream but the coughs weren't. I was, in actuality, coughing long and hard during my sleep for some time already. If coughing hurts one's throat, I think I may have done some serious damage to mine already.

I am going through a cold. Apparently I'm at the coughing stage of it. The cough-my-throat-out-like-I-no-longer-need-it-anymore stage. I don't have any medicine to take for this cold or for this annoying cough because I didn't to go to the doctor. One, I've been very busy at work. Two, I've always hated going to the doctors. They're no help most of the time anyway.

So I got up at first and rummaged through our medicine cabinet to look for some cough medicine. Found a bottle of Dimetapp. But it expired way back in Dec 2002. Yikes. Tossed that in the trash. Rummaging some more, I found nothing else. Then as I went to the kitchen to get a drink of cool water to soothe my throat, I found a bottle of what seems to be prescription cough syrup prescribed to my dad. That also expired. But only 2 days ago. Since it's in the kitchen rather than stored away in the medicine cabinet, I think my dad is still taking it. From that I decided this medicine is still good. I took 2 teaspoons of it as the direction says. Yes, the minty syrup soothed my throat down a bit. Then I went back to bed.

It's been 45 minutes since I took the 2-day-expired cough syrup. I'm still coughing and I can't get back to sleep. There's nothing on TV. My eyes are too tired to read. What else is there for me to do as I suck on a cough drop to calm down my cough before I wake up the rest of the house with it? This was when I whipped out my laptop to go online. When IE opened, I remembered I haven't been blogging much lately. A friend of mine, who apparently reads my mumbo jumbo regularly (I don't know why), had complained to me last week that there's nothing new to read on my blog recently. So here's to you my friend (you have to be if you're reading this).

So back to the opening question, am I a geeky technophile to be blogging at this wee moment of the morning? Or am I just a whiny cat who takes in every opportunity to whine about my ill situations? You decide.

Speaking of CNY, did you know that the Lunar calendar is at year 4072? Wow, that's more than double the western calendar. Amazing. If reincarnation exists, wonder how many cycle it's up to already. What version of Googi is this? Version 59.0 (estimating 70 years per lifetime/reincarnation)?

Hoping to cash in on a little CNY luck, everyone in my office, all the 10 of us, chipped in $5 each to buy 50 Lotto tickets. So if on Monday this office suddenly becomes empty with no one showing up to work, you all know why.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! I love CNY. It's one of the rare times of year when everyone in my family comes home for a festive dinner together. My parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, the whole clan. Since we do not live together and since we all have our own busy schedules, it's hard to gather everyone together on a regular basis. We don't even get together for "big" holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving. We say we want to but it never happens. But for CNY, we make it happen. It's no wonder CNY is my favorite holiday of the year. Now if only we can get the day off from work...

After the sad entry on Monday, let's change gears to a much happier piece of news. My new niece, the 5th so far, was born this morning. Yup, a New Year's Eve baby. She weighed in at a healthy 7lb 3oz. But she's a little short on the get go at 17.5 inches. But not to worry, she will catch up. This is my 3rd brother's 1st kid. Needless to say he is proud and gleaming with joy right now. According to him, every year the entire world will celebrate his daughter's birthday with fireworks. Ha! A very proud remark indeed.

Today marks a sad day in history. Popular Hong Kong singer/actress Anita Mui died of complications to the lungs caused by cervical cancer at 2:50am Dec 30 HK time. I am quite saddened by this piece of news. Ever since she announced to the public in September that she has cancer, she's been fighting the illness bravely. She vowed to continue living life to the fullest. Sadly her final days were short and few.

A strong and determined woman, she's made a tremendous life and reputation for herself. Besides winning numerous singing and acting awards, she had also won the love of many - her friends, her colleagues, and her fans. She will be missed by many, including myself. I had always admired her strength and determination. In a way, I see some resemblance of her in me. Though I never really idolized her, I always respected her. Goodbye Anita.

So I did it. I went to the "job interview" and politely declined the offer. They were very understanding. No feelings were hurt. No bridges burnt. All is good.

I have a job interview scheduled for today. I'm gonna go in as planned. But I'm not going in to fight for the job. On the contrary, I'm going in to decline the offer.

Why am I going if I don't want the job? Why don't I just call them and say I'm not interested? Why waste my time going there and their time seeing me? The answer is I don't want to come across as rude or wishy-washy. What? 3 months ago I wanted the job and now I don't? 2 days ago I wanted to speak with them about the job nature and now I don't? It's not that at all. It's all a matter of timing.

3 months ago when they first approached me about this pending job position, I felt insecure about my current job and would have accepted offers from prospective new employers. But as they took the 3 months to get approval from corporate headquarters to create this new position, my current company also went on with making plans of expansion and thus broadening my horizons here. Now I see new outlooks and challenges at this current job and am looking forward to tackling them. Therefore I have no choice but to turn down other offers that come at this time.

So...I'm going to the "job interview" today to ensure to them that my interest was genuine, to express regret that timing is not right to make this happen at this current point in time, to thank them for considering me for the position and for the well thoughts that I could be a good candidate. Hopefully I won't burn any bridges with them and they'll continue to consider me if and when other opportunities arise in the future. The world is round. It keeps turning and turning. But you might still keep ending up at about the same place with about the same people. It'd be wise to keep good ties with them.

Just as I'm starting to think life is getting too monotonous, along came acid reflux and a stomach flu to spice things up for me. One goes up along the system while the other goes down. What fun. Not!

I'm reading "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser. I have to say this is a very interesting book. It brings to light many things that exist in our nation's fast food industry which subsequently trickled down into and affected our nation's diet, pop culture, economy, and even landscape ("the malling of our landscape" as the book's description puts it). I'm less than half way through the book but already I am amazed by some of its points.

For example, did you know that the "natural flavors" and "artificial flavors" that go into our food items are manufactured at the same "flavor" plants that produce the scents in our hand soaps, shaving creams, deodorants, air fresheners, furniture cleaners...? Did you know that the difference between "natural flavors" and "artificial flavors" lies not in the nature of the ingredient (i.e. whether it's natural or artificial) but in the process by which the flavor was produced? The difference is so slight that a chemistry bimbo like me cannot comprehend. I was only naïve enough to believe "natural flavors" is better for me than "artificial flavors".

The book also brought to light that while fast food chains are receiving federal subsidies to hire and train underprivileged/less educated workers, their R&D staffs are constantly designing machines that are so easy to operate that no training is required. Anyone, without any skills, can easily operate those fryers and grills. Workers rarely leave the fast food industry with any more work related talent than when they entered. And since it is so easy to "train" new hires, fast food chains often favor the practice of letting go of more experienced staffs in exchange for cheaper new recruits.

The point of this blog, if there is any at all, is to endorse this book, which I think is an interesting read. By no means is it to lobby against the fast food industry, though the book does that innately.

The winds are really gusty tonight. I'm sitting here in my room, trying to read a book, but constantly interrupted by the forceful clattering of my windows. I hope my windows are sturdy enough to withstand the force. Someone please check on me tomorrow. Should the windows shatter and stab me to death, I wouldn't want to die unnoticed.

Beside the winds, the weather has also suddenly shifted cooler today. Much cooler. Is So Cal having cooler weather like we have here? If so, I hope it's helping with the firefighting efforts, although I don't see how strong winds can help. Too many lives and properties have already been lost to the fires. I wonder how the arsonists are living with themselves now. Knowing all the devastation they had caused, hope guilt eats them alive.

Wow, all these warm October days we're suddenly having. What a treat. Been taking advantage of it cuz I know these don't last too long in SF. But a couple of my coworkers, as superstitious as they are, aren't enjoying this weather as much as I am. It's not because they find the heat uncomfortable. Rather, they believe that these odd warm days coming so late in the year must signal a looming earthquake. Don't know where they got that notion. Don't know how scientifically correct it is. But what can you do? If it hits, it hits.

Red's account of the Southern California fires reminds me of the Oakland Hills fire in 1991. I remember one warm October day (not unlike today) in 1991. I was hanging out with my brothers in front of our old house in the southwestern side of SF. The air was filled with this charred smell, as if someone was barbequing next to us. There were also flakes and flakes of ashes floating around in the air. Sure enough, the ashes and burning smell came from the fires on the Oakland Hills. I was so awed by that. I knew from the news that the fire was big. But what's "big"? I had no concept of what "big" was until I saw the ashes floating on top of my head, a good 15 miles away from the source.

Change of subject.

I just bought an MP3 player so that I can listen to music while I work out at the gym. At first I was aiming to spend about $100 on it. But of course, after browsing at all the available models, I bought one for almost $200 cuz this particular model offers "so much more". So now I either have to go to the gym twice as much or work out twice as hard to justify this beefed up purchase. Yeah right. Ok, you guys can stop rolling your eyes now.

Yes, very well said Red. Totally sums up the matter of it all for us women in this regard.

Red, very well-said -- " Abortion is something most women want to avoid, it is a road no one wants to travel. It's not an easy road, but it should still be a road. "

Based on the crimes I see in the news lately, I think that maybe a lot of women should have gone through this road because society is now suffering from the children whom they brought to life but did not bother to teach.

Wait.. I thought performing abortion in the third trimester was ALREADY illegal? Now it's moved to the second trimester? I guess it doesn't take a psychic to know that pretty soon it will be illegal to perform abortion in even the FIRST trimester. What's next? Contraceptions soon to be illegal in the US as prescribed by Pope JP the 2nd?

I often wonder if it were men (who make and pass our laws) who carried babies, would pro-choice be written into the law as well? It's quite easy for people to tell others what they SHOULD do with their body, but it's a totally different story when you are the one being told what you must do w/ your body. In the ideal world, people will want to keep their babies, and provide them w/ lotsa love and hugs and kisses. But, we don't live in this ideal world. No one goes around chanting pro-death, pro-death. No one wants to be a baby killer. Abortion is something most women want to avoid, it is a road no one wants to travel. It's not an easy road, but it should still be a road.

It would be very sad to see abortion being banned altogether. It's totally possible since it seems to be headed that direction. I guess women could always rely on back alley abortion clinics, or just use clothes hangers, and just kill themselves. That's what will happen. Both the baby and the mom will be aborted. That's just dandy.

Sorry, Googi. Have not caught up with the reading on this issue -- so better keep my thoughts to myself until I know enough. I just feel like we're moving backwards.

Bush to Sign Partial Birth Abortion Bill

What do you guys think about this bill? I'm not a political person. Politics confuses me. I'm not totally clear about this bill either. But if I understand it correctly, I have a few thoughts to share.

The bill aims to ban "a type of abortion, generally carried out in the second or third trimester, in which a fetus is partially delivered before being killed." Even though I'm not a political person, I've always been Pro-Choice. A woman should have the right to decide if she is capable and suitable to have a baby. If she were indeed incapable and/or unsuitable but is forced to have the baby due to anti-abortion laws, the baby would just suffer later. However, I believe if the mother is entitled this right to decide the future of her life as well as that of her fetus', she should return the favor by having the decency to decide earlier in the pregnancy rather than later. The longer she waits to decide, the more the fetus will grow, take shape, and start living. It becomes increasingly unfair to the fetus to endure a "rejection" the more time it was given the chance to develop in the womb. Having said this, I'm leaning towards supporting this bill even though my stance remains Pro-Choice.

But of course there's the issue of protecting the mother if carrying on the pregnancy further would endanger her life. The bill addresses this issue. It provides "an exception when the life of the mother was in danger". But a fault was found in that "there were no protections for a woman's health". This is where I'm confused. What type of "woman's health" are they talking about? Until this confusion is cleared in my understanding of the issue, I cannot fully say I support this bill. That's why I said at first that I'm "leaning towards" supporting the bill rather than a full-blown "I support it".

Anyone have any insights to share? Particularly anyone care to explain to me what "woman's health" they are referring to?

A moment to remember Elliott Smith, a talented singer/song writer who lost his battle with drugs. Those who don't know who he is, listen to "Miss Misery" from the "Good Will Hunting" soundtrack.

6 kids to 1 Googi? That's a pretty harsh ratio. Don't know if I can handle 6 kids all at once. I have 4 nieces and nephews and that's already a chore. Well, I'll keep this idea in the back burner Redpanther. But in the meantime, if any of you married people want to start multiplying, I offer to take your little bundles of joy off your hands once in awhile when need be. Especially since some of these bundles of joy may be my god sons/daughters right Wanwanha?

How sweet! My coworker, one of the handful I supervise, gave me a gift and chocolate for National Boss Day. Jeez, I'm not even his boss.

One of my tires suddenly went flat this morning. Totally out. Don't know how this came about. Now the car is in the shop to change all four tires since its about time for new tires anyway. No point in patching up one now and then changing it again real soon. So...I woke up $400 lighter.

But I'm not gonna let this get to me. Wanna learn to relax and not let things get to my mood so easily. Wanna try to think more on the brighter side of things. For example, I don't know what happened to the tire. One theory is I may have ran over a nail or something lastnight. Thinking on the darker side would be: Damn, $400 down the drain! Why were there nails on the road?! Why me?! Thinking on the brighter side: Wow, what if the tire had popped on me lastnight when I was driving on the freeway at 70-80 miles per hour. The result may have been deadly. Fortunately that didn't happen. I was safe and sound and sleeping peacefully on my bed while the car was parked outside and the air in the tire slowly let out through the night. And now I'm alive and well blogging about it. Yes, this is a better way to think.

Now what if tomorrow I won't wake up $400 lighter but 4lbs lighter? That would be awesome!!!

That poor Chicago Cubs fan is taking all the blame for the Cubs' loss to the Florida Marlins in Game 6 of the NLCS. His reactionary lunge to catch a foul ball prevented a Cubs outfielder from catching it, thus allowing the Marlins to rally towards winning the game. Now that the Marlins have also won Game 7 and beat the Cubs to the World Series, the blame is coming down even harder. He is now the talk of town. His story is on media headlines nationwide. Late show comedians are using him as butts of their jokes. Web polls are logging thousands of blames towards him. Some people say he's selfish for not caring about the consequences of his action. His governor calls him stupid. Another governor considers offering asylum to him. A resort in Florida is offering him a free 3-month stay if he feels the need to get away from Chicago.

People give him a break! The poor guy already issued an official, and quite heart-felt, apology to the world.

"There are few words to describe how awful I feel and what I have experienced within these last 24 hours. I've been a Cub fan all my life and fully understand the relationship between my actions and the outcome of the game. I had my eyes glued on the approaching ball the entire time and was so caught up in the moment that I did not even see Moises Alou, much less that he may have had a play. Had I thought for one second that the ball was playable or had I seen Alou approaching I would have done whatever I could to get out of the way and give Alou a chance to make the catch.

To Moises Alou, the Chicago Cubs organization, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, and
Cub fans everywhere I am so truly sorry from the bottom of this Cubs fan's broken heart.

I ask that Cub fans everywhere redirect the negative energy that has been vented towards my family, my friends, and myself into the usual positive support for our beloved team on their way to being National League champs.''

Let it go people. Time to move on.

China's space mission was successful. Space capsule Shenzhou 5, carrying 38-year-old astronaut Lt. Col. Yang Liwei, orbited the Earth 14 times in 21 hours on October 15th, 2003. Although the mission didn't accomplish anything "cosmically significant", it proved that China is able to safely take a human to space and back. This mission officially puts China in record books as the 3rd country to ever do so. This is indeed a milestone for the most populated nation of this planet.

Populated it sure is. And I'm sure by smart people too. This mission can attest to that. But if only these people can have more human rights, their accomplishments can go even farther.

See ya WTW. Fly safe.

Speaking of flying safe, the Chinese are ready to go up to space. Big venture for them. Hope they have their act together.

What is Yom Kippur?? My nieces and nephews got today off from school (elementary) because today is "Yom Kippur". We never got that off when we were in school. I swear, school districts nowadays are getting lazier and lazier. They are off for the slightest holidays and I notice more and more "minimum days" where school is in session for only half a day. What's going on here?

One would think that the morale of my department at work would be lowered to some degree as a result of the looming doomsday. But surprisingly, this is not the case. Everyone seems to be going about their days as if they don't know, don't believe, or don't care. But they do know. So could it be that they don't believe it will happen? Are they so optimistic of the situation that they think management would keep us even though letting us go would cut costs? A little naive isn't it? Or could it be that they simply don't care? Are they that indifferent as to whether or not they have this job? Given our low salary level, I don't blame them to be indifferent. But in spite of that, we're still going to have to face the agony of a job search. That must amount to some level of frustration no?

But to be honest, I myself am not concerned of the situation. I've wanted a way out of this dead end job anyway. I just haven't done anything about it.

I joined this company more than 5 years ago. Moved myself up to one of three managerial positions in the SF office. Anymore upward movement would require surmounting the authorities of the other two managers, which in all nature, is impossible. So if the prospect of the closing of my department is taken away, I foresee myself to be stuck in this position for as long as I stay with the company. I'm 28. The thought of doing the same repetitive things for 40 more years until retirement scares me. This thought has actually been with me for a while already. Like I said, I just haven't done anything about it yet. Therefore, the impending doomsday of my department may turn out to be a good thing for me after all. For better or for worse, it could serve as a motivation for me to start looking for a way out...finally.

I may be out of a job by the end of the year. Why such a shocking news all of a sudden? I have always boasted to my friends that I enjoy a great deal of job security working at this company. So what happened? Well, the culprit is the all-too-familiar Technology Replacing People scenario.

My company has a nationwide satellite station based in LA, a local cable station in the LA area, and a local cable station in SF. To date, the 3 stations run rather independently of each other. Each station has its own Programming Department to take care of its own program line-up and signal transmission to viewers' television sets. During the past year however, the company has been investing a lot of money into upgrading its system with hopes of integrating operations of the 3 stations into one centralized location. Soon, programs seen on all three stations will be transmitted out of the same playout center located in LA. As a result, the Programming Department of 2 of the 3 stations will become obsolete. What used to take 3 teams of people working in 3 separate locations can soon be done by one team working in one location. I will be one of those to be axed once such upgrades are completed.

My colleagues and I here at the SF station already sensed this is to happen somewhere down the road. This sort of thing is imminent. We just never knew when it will hit. Today we got word through the grapevine that the day is drawing near.

I'm back from the Big Apple. It was altogether a wonderful trip. One word sums it all up - food. Ate so much that I think I have to take a break from food, if that's even possible. Probably not.

Can't document further details/thoughts of the trip right now cuz I have to plunge right back into work. But I have to say, the 3 wishes I hoped for prior to the trip pretty much came through. Isabel didn't affect my trip at all. I was able to finish what I had to at work before I went. And my cold was almost entirely over by the time I got there. Thank you to whoever was watching over me.

My challenge right now, WTW, is not to make the content of my dream come true. It is to get over this darn cold I caught from my coworker. It sucks to be sick. It's sickening to be sick, which makes matters worse. People should not be allowed to go to work when they are sick. If my coworker had stayed home, I wouldn't have caught it from him. But then again I'm at work right now. Have to get a bleep load of things done before I head out to NYC this weekend.

3 things I wish to happen before my trip:
(1) All my work gets done (which blogging doesn't help).
(2) My cold is cured.
(3) Hurricane Isabel dies down.

WTW: Googi, hmm...maybe you dream is telling you that you are ready to move on with your next challenge. That it is time to step forward and take on things without fear or worry. That you will happy with whatever that big challenge is!! You know having a baby is the biggest challenge! It's a life time commitment. And that fact that you are happy with it means a lot!

Googi's comment on WTW's entry about kids: Funny you brought up the topic of kids. I had a dream this morning that someone abandoned an infant boy to my care. The baby was very cute. In the dream I was very happy that he came into my life. I woke up with a smile on my face. What does this dream mean? I have no idea.

This is by far the best ad linked to our sites to date: "201 Ways To Deal With Difficult People" by Alan Axelrod on no other than Redpanther's site. It's only $8.76. Maybe you should get it Red. Reward them a little for being so good at finding their targets. Ahahaha....

Since everyone's rambling about doctors, let me throw in my 2 cents.

Bozodo, I have a plethora of prescription medication too - oral antibiotics and topical creams and solutions for my skin. Some are free samples directly given to me from my dermatologist while some are bought with the numerous prescriptions he generously writes me whenever I ask. It's so easy to get medication from this guy. If I can legally turn around and sell my inventory out in the market, I'd be rich. Well maybe not rich, but much better off than where I am now.

I've been going to this guy since freshman year college. So it's been many years now. His treatment and medication did work for a long time. Hence I keep going to him. But for some reason, his magic is not working anymore. Not in the past 5 months. Here I am wondering in my mind why isn't the medication working anymore and there HE is asking ME straight out, "why can't I clear your skin?" Uhh...you're the doc! You tell me!!!

So are doctors worth the money they charge? I often wonder.

RMJ Entry #34:

Back from another busy week. Another project down. One more to go.

There were a few things I wanted to blog about last week, but now, after their moments have passed, it no longer seems relevant to write about them. This sums up a lot of things doesn't it? Things/people/issues get their moments of fame, only to realize later that these moments are very short lived. Blame it on the busy world with all its daily happenings. Blame it on the public's short attention span. Blame all you want. You still can't change this inevitable rule of sorts.

RMJ Entry #33:

Are you partially to blame if your friend gets into a car accident on his way to pick you up for dinner? I know the answer is no but I couldn't help asking myself that when it happened to my friend this past weekend. If he wasn't responsible for picking me up, if I had offered to drive instead, he probably would have been spared that "destined" journey. Worst part is, the car is totalled. So he's without a car now. How can I not feel bad about it? But of course, if you look at it positively, it's fortunate that he walked away from the accident without any injuries. That's definitely a blessing to count.

So hey you...we'll do dinner again next time alright? I'll drive. Or maybe we'll take public transpo. Or walking is fine too. We can work up an appetite. Yeah, that's good.

RMJ Entry #32:

WTW, you are so right about blogger.com putting ads relating to our blogs on our sites. Red, did you notice your site has links to Hobo International Bags, Gyms, and Swimming Lessons? I just noticed mine has a link to Little Red Riding Hood. Boy oh boy are they snooping into our stuff.

Speaking of snooping, this brings me to rant about our email providers. They're totally allowing advertisers access to our information. Why do I say that? Cuz I keep getting emails from MYSELF. Many of my junk mail are from my own name, the exact spelling and all. What the hell? They must have looked into my information to get my name and use that to get my attention. Ok, I'll give them that. That's smart. So curious little me opened some of these junk mail to see what they're trying to sell me. They range from loan consolidations, to life insurance, to diet pills, to...brace youselves...male genital elongation drugs! WHAT THE HELL? If you have the guts to look into my information for my email address and name, might as well look at my gender while you're at it. Why would I need elongation drugs to secure my manhood??? Whatever happened to the concept of a Target Audience? Did they think I am their target audience for that? For boob enlargements maybe (key word "maybe"). For sure I have nothing to elongate. NOTHING.

RMJ Entry #31:

It's a cold gloomy day today. Feels like winter snuck up on us early. I don't know if it's the weather or if it's because I woke up early and came to work early, but something is mellowing me out. Another possibility is that our station just finished one big project and is stalling on the start of another. Whatever it is that's causing my mellowness, my subordinates are probably hoping for more of it. I sure am yelling at them less because of my mellow mood. Maybe I shouldn't use the word "yell" cuz I don't really "yell" at them anyway. "Demand" is more the term I guess. Maybe. Maybe not. Whatever. But for sure I'm not asking for much from them today. Heck I'm not asking for much from myself either. Everyone is just having a chilled out day here.

RMJ Entry #30: 2003 International New Talent Singing Championship @ GGP

This event took place Saturday, July 26, 2003 at the Band Shell Auditorium in GGP. It was the first ever Chinese outdoor concert in GGP's history. It turned out pretty nicely. Like WTW said it was very crowded. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. The fact that it was a free show played largely to this I bet. The show was good. The contestants weren't bad at all. Some side performances dragged a bit though. There were a few bloopers with the mics, but nothing too drastic. Overall I'm happy with it. Heard some spectators broke out into a fight but I was too busy to notice. They might have been fighting for standing space.

Those in the Bay Area, we're airing this in Sept. Stay tuned.

For me, this is 1 project down and 2 more to go in the foreseeable future.

WTW: thanks for stopping by.

RMJ Entry #29:

Yesterday 2 teens in San Jose were playing a game. They threw punches at each other until one gave up. Oh boy did one of them give up. In fact, he DIED. And the other is charged with involuntary manslaughter. What kind of moron game was that? Whatever happened to Duck-Duck-Goose or Simon Says?

RMJ Entry #28:

A moment to remember Bob Hope, legendary comic who passed away yesterday at the age of 100.

RMJ Entry #27:

Which would you rather?

- Park under the blazing sun and return later to a sizzling hot car?
or
- Park in the shades under a tree and return later to car smothered with bird poop?

Yours truly happened to have chosen the latter and as a result spent an hour this weekend washing away the damages.

Speaking of washing my car, I noticed the poor thing is really beginning to show signs of its age. My Little Red Riding Hood is 11 years old. It had never suffered any serious damage (knock on wood), but it does have the usual wear and tear - a little dent here, a tiny dint there, patches of faded paint here, and speckles of chipped paint there. Washing it this weekend, I also noticed tiny little cracks on the front emblem. Oh no, not the emblem - the symbol of my Little Red Riding Hood's identity! Now I really feel bad for not taking better care of it. I thought I did, but I guess I didn't.

RMJ Entry #26:

We all have a list of people we appreciate, e.g. our significant others, families, friends.  Might I add another to that list - people with whom we have great conversations?

Have you ever come across someone who is so in sync with you that the two of you just feed off each other in your dialogue?  For example, when you say 1 + 2 = 3, he/she follows through with 3 + 4 = 7.  Then you: 7 + 8 = 15.  Him/her: 15 + 16 = 31.  31 + 32 = 63.  63 + 64 = 127.  Between the two of you, this can go on and on.  Sometimes it may even get so deep that you guys are on to 958463 x 3599 = 3449508337. 3449508337 / 9775 = 352890.87847. 352890.87847 x 7843.396 = 2767862904.6.  You get the picture - one party's input feeds the other's.

One may question, "Wouldn't someone as in sync with you as this be someone very close to you like your significant other, family, or friend and thus brings you back to the original list of people you appreciate?"  Not necessarily.  True this person can very well be a subset of the aforementioned categories, but he/she can also be your next door neighbor, your workout partner, your mailman, your supermarket clerk, or even the stranger you spoke with on the bus this morning.  That half-hour conversation you two struck up on your way to work might be more absorbing than any conversation you'll ever have with your husband/wife.  Don't shrug off this possibility cuz it's, um, possible.

Now, how many of these people do we come across in life?  Some of you may be fortunate enough to have stumbled upon many.  But your less fortunate counterparts probably never experienced such blissful encounters.  So count your blessings.  Appreciate every person with whom you can strike up an exciting conversation.

Whoa, look at all these responses to my private little saga. Then again it wasn't private anymore once I posted it on something as public as the WWW right? Anyhow, thank you all for reading my rant and for caring enough to put in your thoughts. Yes Red, your input, and that of WTW, did offer much consolation. They soothed the evil side in me that believes if we (women) suffer, they (men) should too!

It's quite painful. The device is called a catheter. It's basically like a large needle 16 inches long. Imagine a knitting needle. I 've seen in first hand at the ER. When I saw the way the doc put that thing in, I was almost able to feel the pain. My legs automatically squeezed together. Nice huh?!

IIIIIICK!!!! Ok Red, you just grossed me out!

Red: It's totally natural to have a yucky, violated feeling right after such a personal procedure. Afterall, your doctor is still a stranger to you, butting into you personal issues. And worst of all, she came at you with some cold, metallic tools! If it's any consolation, I have heard that the boys endure worse pain when testing for std's. The doctors insert some long, needle-like tool right into their pee pee canals to scrape up things that might not belong there. OUCH! So, maybe God is a girl afterall.

RMJ Entry 25:

Warning: I'm gonna get a little (or maybe a lot) personal on this one. Here goes...

I should have scheduled an emergency session with a shrink after my Pap smear. Boy did my mental state after it qualify me to seek counseling! THAT DISTURBING PAIN bothered me all day long! I'm not kidding. The pain was disturbing and I was disturbed. The entire ordeal only lasted about a minute but all day after it I kept remembering THAT PAIN. That excruciating minute kept repeating itself in my mind over and over and over AND OVER again. Every time it did, I cringed. I tensed up. I crunched my fist so tight that you would have thought I was gonna punch you. Gosh darn it, I might have! Would a shrink have helped my situation? I don't know. But at least he/she would have been there to listen to me to bit**. And now my friends, you guys bear the load of me bit**ing. (Redpanther: behold Crazy.)

I say you're darn right about your suspicions. #%@&#@% to PAP Smears!!!

RMJ Entry 24:

Suspicion: God thinks women have higher thresholds of pain than men.
Reason for suspicion: God entrusted the responsibility of childbirth to women.

Suspicion: Doctors think women have higher thresholds of pain than men.
Reason for suspicion: Doctors invented the Pap smear for women to endure every frigg'n year.

My thoughts on Pap smears - #%@&#@% !!!!

RMJ Entry #23:

Oh the things I'll do to procrastinate at work.
- I check on the performances of my coworkers' computers. I'm such a concerned unofficial IT person.
- I walk around the block after lunch to reap the health benefits of a light exercise. Yep...uh huh...very healthy. Saves my sanity too.
- I rearrange my desk to give myself a "change in scenery". Move the computer from one side of the desk to the other. Rotate the pictures in the picture frames. Behold my "new" office.
- I price check airfares for my hypothetical vacations. Even daydreams come with price tags!
- And of course, I blog.
Yes, I understand all this comes with consequences. Procrastination doesn't equal cancellation. Putting responsibilities off doesn't eliminate them. Annoyingly, they still loom in the background, haunting you, tormenting you.

RMJ Entry #22:

Bozodo, any news on Elliott Smith yet? Like you waiting for Elliott Smith to put out an album, I've been waiting for Dido to come out with a new release. Finally, the end to my wait is near. Her new album is due out September 16. Last night, as I was driving home from the gym, I heard her new song "White Flag" for the first time. I turned on the radio in the middle of the song and immediately, without having to wait for the DJ to announce the song, I knew it was her. There is no mistaking her style and her voice. Woohoo...I can't wait to get my hands on her new album. She's one of my favorite artists, if not the favorite. Heck I even have the tune to "Thank You" on my voicemail's outgoing message.

Welcome back to reality.

RMJ Entry #21:

I went on a mini-vacation to Southern California this past weekend. It was a much-needed break from my busy work schedule. On Thursday, the last day of work before the break, I was very frustrated and stressed. Hence my July 3rd entry in Wanwanha's blog site. Fortunately, the thought of the then-forthcoming trip got me through the day.

Then throughout the 4 days of shopping, strolling along the beach, hiking, and hanging out with my friend, I let out all the frustration and stress. I had a wonderful time and did not let anything bother me, not even the notoriously dreadful LA traffic nor the two calls I received from subordinates with work-related inquiries. The relaxation mode I imposed on myself helped to swat away any annoyance those elements tend to bring. (Here I would like to thank my friend for her impeccable hospitality. You know who you are!)

One would think a relaxing break such as this would condition me to return to work fully recharged and ready to tackle the day-to-day challenges. I usually return to work from trips with a certain amount of vitality or, at the very least, a willingness to carry on until the next vacation. Alas, this is not the case this time. The moment I walked through my office door this morning, I was greeted with the abominable responsibility of crisis management - not quite the welcome back I envisioned. After putting out the fire, I moved on to other more routine duties - duties stuck with me throughout my 5-year tenure at this job.

Was this mini-vacation too small to revitalize my enthusiasm for work? Or is 5 years of routine too dreary? Does this mean I need a longer vacation? Or is it calling for me to find something new? Am I just going through a phase? Or am I at a lackluster? I'm 28. How many more 5 years can I handle?

RMJ Entry #20:

The DVD of "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days" released yesterday.  I saw this movie when it was showing at the theaters and somehow someway completely fell in love with it.  Though I do have a history of fondness towards romantic comedies, I was surprised by how much I liked this particular one.  I don't know if it's the ever-so-cute Kate Hudson, or the oh-so-charming Matthew McConaughey, or the way-too-romantic-to-be-true storyline.  But something really chimed in with me. 
 
I didn't just fall for the film, I also became infatuated with one of the songs on its soundtrack - "Feels Like Home" by Chantal Kreviazuk.  This song is soft, sweet, and touching - all the attributes that should make me SICK.  It is SICK how I adore this movie.  It is DISGUSTING how I love this song.  But I DO adore this movie and I DO love this song. In fact, I am listening to the song as I write this blog and I will order the DVD once I'm done. Kudos to the masterminds behind this film. You've got my buck.

PS. Sorry to pull a Bridget Jones on you people all of a sudden. If there is a ratings system on these blogs as there is on TV shows, I would not be surprised if this one plunges in the numbers. But I'm just being true to the title of this site...it's all my random mumbo jumbo.

RMJ Entry #19:

Oh gosh, it's already July. It seems the first half of 2003 zipped by with the blink of an eye. Chances are this second half will do the same. Time is going by too quickly for me! Any way of slowing it down??

My 12-year-old niece, whose first day of her life I remember as clearly as yesterday, started her period! Jeez, in my mind she's still a baby and in her's she's thinking what brand of pads!! Wings or no wings. Regular or thin. And get this...my other niece, all the 11 years old in her, has her own blog site that she uses to worship the boy in school who she has a crush on! Crush, fine. But blog site?? I've only had mine for less than a month! And I'm 28!! Are they growing up too fast or am I just too slow? I gotta get wit-it don't I? Girls, slow down! All this drama is too much for ol' little Googi to handle.