hello all,

it's been a rather hectic two weeks with x-mas events and the coming of the new year. work's been slow, though i'm sure there are urgent things to be done. there are many exciting things that occurred in the past two weeks. let's see where we left off last...

[i'm having writer's block. nothing that i've typed in the last 20 minutes sounds right. so i'm just going to right whatever comes to my mind.]

i can't do it... i've deleted far more than i have written here. it's driving me insane. maybe it's the music i have on the background. oingo boingo. they are driving me mad!

i've noticed recently that i have this problem with impulse buying and having to return the goods later on. three things: 1. i could actually be better with managing money, 2. i could be having money problems, or 3. i could be a shop-a-holic. anyway, today i returned a scarf i got at the gap. here's the story. i went with jenny to the century city shopping center to get mike his x-mas gift. it's been cold lately (colder than the normal california winter), so i decided that i need a scarf. so i went to banana republic and got one. as we were walking around the mall, we went into the gap, and i decided that i needed another scarf. it's so silly. to think that i would actually need two scarf. maybe if i lived in canada or somewhere that's cold like all the time. so i returned it today and got my money back.

i feel like i've been doing a great deal of impulse buying lately. it's ridiculous. i have a trenchcoat. a bloody TRENCHCOAT! i live in los angeles, where it rains like 3 times a year. why in the world would i need a trenchcoat? impulse buy, i'm telling you. i didn't return that though, i got it at camarillo and i wasn't about to drive my ass back up there to get a refund. anyway, carlin has the receipt so it would be way too much trouble. so far, i've returned a vacuum, an electric heater, several cds, and some clothes. it's such a hassle, i rather not be buying things.

i saw a pretty funny shirt today at the santa anita mall. it's not like rolling down the hill in shorts funny. but it's quite charming. it's a black t-shirt with white lettering. the phase escapes my memory right now. but it was pretty funny. yeah, i know... that was totally worthless.

so what did i do during christmas? well the sunday before, i celebrated christmas with mark and his extended family. his aunts and uncle, his cousins, and of course his parents and siblings. it was more entertaining this year than the one i went to two or three years ago. there was definitely a lot more people this year. [oh, btw, before i forget, never, EVER put sushi in the fridge. it's just not right.] okay, so the event started at 2pm. basically, there was food and there was the tv. i didn't really talked to anyone, didn't feel like socializing. so at around 5pm, the traditional singing of the christmas carols and the wrapping paper war commenced. i sat next to cherena, mark's cousin, who is this really tall, and nicely put together, white chick. she seemed very nice, but i was completely intimidated by her. i don't know why. i wasn't attracted to her, even though she's got everything in the right places. i spent half the time laughing during the vocal festivities because mark's brother, kurt, was making funny faces and doing silly things to various songs. when it came time to pass out the presents, aunt kathy got kinda ticked off cuz people were throwing wrapping paper balls at each other and probably not paying much attention to her. the highlight of the night came when all the gifts were handed out and mark's uncle, ed, wife to kathy, and father to cherena, chucked this gigantic wrapping paper ball (size larger than a softball, completely solid) at me. but unfortunately, he miscalculated the trajectory or did not have the arm strength cuz the ball hit one of the lightbulb covers over the dining room table. it was hilarious. glass everywhere, in my cup of water, on my lap. funniest shit i've ever experienced in my life. btw, christina was really good! hahaha.

on christmas day, i had lunch over at my friend, kimmy's, house. i finally got to meet her mum, her uncle, and some of her other relatives. also meet her husband, gordon's, side of the family. i got there fairly late cuz i woke up late and didn't want to drive out to where she lives (which is out near camarillo). but i had a pretty good time once i got out there. i ate some home cooked food that her mother had prepared. played with the kids, who only wanted to hurt me by throwing toys at me. when people started clearing out, i got the chance to talk to her uncle, who lives in london. he had this asian-english accent, which is similar to the people speaking english in hong kong. it's pretty neat and i'm totally envious of him. he's a masseur at a health club there and has developed this massage method called the "kee technique." he actually gave me a massage, which was really good. the funny thing was that he asked me if i play any sports or workout with weights because my muscles were pretty solid. (thank you!) afterwards, we talked about english things, like television shows. apparently he enjoys, "as time goes by," and "black adder," too. i left at around 6:45pm and headed out to mark's place out in culver city and hung out there til 10:30. saw jenn and she's doing well and was looking good.

the following day, i went and got me a new bed. the denwick from stearns and foster. it is a eurotop and it's completely comfortable. it was priced at $1499, but with tony getting one as well, we ended up getting it for $1299 out the door. the only thing that ruined it for me was that i didn't wait for my friend, rob to decide if he wanted to get a new bed as well. unfortunately, the guy offered the $1299 for that night, and it was just too hard a thing to give up. so, i'm sorry rob. i was proud of the fact that i haggled and it worked. i've never done anything like that, but apparently it works. so i'll be getting the bed next sunday, i can't wait. i'll be going with cecilia to either bed, bath and beyond or linens 'n things on tuesday to get some sheets (she's getting a gift for roy's, her lover, sister's wedding) and maybe pillows. so tonight, i dismantled the old bed to make room for the new bed. i've been measure the room to see what's the best place to put the bed. it's highly difficult when your room is small and you want to be able to open all the windows. obviously, that's not going to happen so we'll see how it goes. i didn't realize that it's nearly 3 ft high. it's just going to stick out not matter what.

tomorrow, actually in about 7 hours, i'm going to go dim sum and afterwards going to see "lord of the rings." i've seen it already, but since i got a free ticket from the first lotr dvd, i decided to go see it again. i wasn't too enthused coming out of the theatre the first time i saw it. but hopefully it'll be better this time. last time was just too many people. packed house and i was sitting next to clark, a friend of a friend's, so it was kind of weak cuz i didn't know him all that well. shawn's still having problems with how gay the hobbits are. and i totally have to agree. it bothered me the first time i saw the first lotr. but now, i don't really mind. i mean if they want to fuck each others' hobbit anuses, who am i to stop them. my plead is that peter jackson plays it right, and not show frodo and samwise doing it in the third film. the one good thing about the new lotr, is miranda otto, some australia actress playing the role of eowyn. she's pretty cute for being in her 30's. just like, rosamund pike, who played miranda frost in the new 007 movie, miranda otto is little known in america. but hopefully, they will both be better known and will appear in more american movies.

okay fuck, i need to go to bed or i won't wake up for dim sum tomorrow. there are probably a shitload of grammatical errors, but hell, it's nearly 4am and i need some sleep.

so goodnight all.

album/song of the day: a cover of "the tide is high" by atomic kittens

length of time stuck in traffic: none, didn't drive into work

posted by your arse at 3:53 AM