Since my last entry, I'd enjoyed 10 days in Waikiki: I attended the Vamps Final Party, enjoyed the beach, people-watched many Japanese people, ate lots of great food, met some nice locals, slimmed down, came back... and here I am, back to the Grind.

Thankfully, I've closed my month-end so the hectic portion is over for the time being. I'm on to catch up for the rest of the month, but that's more of a low, long burn. And despite being over-worked and underpaid, I'm feeling rather good and productive this week (I know I know, it's only Tuesday). So today I cooked some (unconventional?) fried rice and made myself a very minimalist bento for lunch tomorrow.

Originally posted on hitoride.vox.com

Omg he made top 10!!

I'm excited-to watch history unfold, to see what decisions are made, and how deeply rooted problems are handled.

This was the most terrifying movie.. to my wallet. Should have watched Blindness. I was so sick afterwards from the bad camera work. *gag

It's finally happened: Sony came out with a new Sony ereader. Woo hoo!

I've been saving up Border's gift cards to get one so they'd better carry the new one the next time I visit!

I'm itching to try Crepe House Uni!

First things first is I need to stop sleeping so frakin' late! My face is suffering the most, I think. @_@

I'm testing out this scribefire add-on for mozilla. Let's see if this posts correctly.

I want to make my own layout but I'm not sure where I'm supposed to upload the graphics-- and maybe I'm not allowed to unless I'm a paid member. :P

Been trying to workout more. This week is moto class! Woo! Crossing my fingers that I don't drop the bike or anything silly like that. Today I went out and bought a pair of regular calf-high boots for class. I wonder if it matters that it's got a 2-inch heel...

Need to toss some clothes. Seriously.

And need to wear my retainers.

After waking up on the wrong side of the bed this morning because I accidentally chipped a glass something and felt groggy in general, I somehow managed to gradually get out of it over the course of the day. Starbucks helped, and so did getting some actual work done at work (heh), and of course eating at the mall and doing some shopping didn't hurt. By the time I'd gone to the bank and back home, I felt like I'd accomplished a lot; and after organizing a box of photos and tidying up my room, I felt pretty darn productive.

I noticed that in many of the photos from my youth I looked.... angry. Or at least, I wasn't smiling, which made me look somewhat unpleasant. Ah yes, the perks of being Almost almost 30: with each passing year I feel more comfortable in my own skin. Now if I can just get myself to start working out this week! :P

This weekend will be busy again--Saturday I'm working over-time, and then Sunday my cousin is back home from the army so it's party time. Woo!

F sent me this preview of Burn After Reading. Definitely would like to check it out.

Busy week this week! Time to get some shuteye. Peace!

Thank you mojojoey for filling me in on what happened at the party.

And for dragging me, Superhero-style, to the bathroom. Cuz everyone knows a true friend is the friend who would hold your hair back while you puke a kidney half-passed-out-like.

And was that guy really balding? cuz I don't quite remember what he looks like. >.< LOL



Everyone drive safely! It's gonna be a heck of a rainy week!

To celebrate my birthday this weekend, I did a lot of lounging, watched Elizabeth: the Golden Age, went to dinner with some friends, went to a lounge for a friend's bday and ended up being carried out and throwing up a kidney or two, slept in, went a another friend's bday party, went to dinner with family, surfed the web and burned stuff, chatted with people, worked out, hung out with Bf.

My fingers have been itching to play piano; whether this is related to a recent half-viewing of the Nodame Cantabile special, or the piano battle clip of Jay Chou in Secret, I'm not sure. In any case, I tried playing the old family keyboard and it is just NOT the same. At all. Plus it's missing a whole two octaves at least.

So, on a whim, I decided to take a look at how much a new piano would cost. A decent upright would cost around $3,000. And to even consider getting the "piano-I-will-own-until-I-die" piano--aka a baby grand--would cost anywhere from $4,000 (sketchy if you ask me) to a whopping $11,000. I thought, well hell, why not just get a grand piano then? But those (big) babies can hit 20-30 grand. I don't know if they really make THAT MUCH of a different compared to, say, a $10,000 grand piano, but then again I'm only around level 6 (intermediate). Out of 10 (pro).

You might think, well that's only 4 levels from a 6 to a 10.. You got that far.. How hard can it be? I don't know how they figured out those levels, but I can say that the gap from 1 to 6 is very different from the chasm of 6 to 10. I would aim for an 8 at best unless I could somehow stomach doing nothing but eat, sleep, and play the piano for 10 hours a day.

In short, I can't afford a piano. I could've just said that, but that wouldn't be much of a read, now would it?

Yesterday I took a day off with the intent to "possibly" snowboard, but it turned out to be an awfully rainy day to be up. Of course, that means more snow for later. *wink* I was hoping to get in a snowboard session once a month this season; this month is almost over, so I'd better get crackin'!

Instead, yesterday my Vaio hit a massive disk error and crashed. I spent much of the day trying to get it to restart and revive itself. I went with Bf to eat L&L BBQ and get Starbucks, and happened to check out the CompUSA closing sale. All laptops and computers 15% off.

I checked them out, and then I saw it--the Vaio with everything I wanted: webcam, 2 GB ram, large hard drive (200 GB), good video card (Nvidia GeForce 8400), and Bluray. OMG.

So here I am, typing on my brand new Vaio. Lucky news is I managed to get my old Vaio to work again so I'm working off two computers. It's pretty SWEET.

Now all I need is a Wacom tablet and start using my Cybershot more and I'm good to go!

This morning before work I was changing and spotted something small and black floating in my peripheral version. I jerked my head in that direction and saw that it was one of my most hated enemies--a mosquito.

So I picked up my usual weapon of choice, which this morning was my latest Delia's catalogue, and followed the slow-moving thing around my room, holding my breath lest it catch too strong a whiff of me, and when it hovered close to my pile of dirty laundry, I brought my paper roll swiftly down. It was laying on a bath towel. So I banged at it some more until it stopped moving and was starting to fall apart.



TRIUMPH.



(note to self: wash your laundry)

Whew! Events seem to sink in a lot slower in my "older" age, but I really did finish my first marathon on Sunday. The idea sounds pretty amazing, but actually doing it isn't so much--all you think about is pace, fueling, hydrating, and (trying to ignore) pain; and not so much about how small the city must be for you to have gone from the heart of downtown to the coast to the border of the neighboring suburb. But I have to admit, some of the views were downright fantastic.

So here's a tedious run-through of how "the most painful day of my life" went, because I like to describe things that way:
( Read more... )

Finally, I reached the finish line where a bunch of tuxedoed guys were giving out Tiffany souvenir necklaces, walked past the silly foil capes that are supposed to keep you "warm", got my T-shirt, and there was mojojoey again, who I saw on the sidelines near the finish. I was actually surprised she found me, and very grateful too! because she led me around to all the useful booths and things, and lord knows walking and thinking at the same time were out of the question for me at that point. Some goodies we nabbed: tropical-flavored chapsticks, whole bottles of sunblock, and even make-up and workout towels.

Even though I couldn't walk right for that whole day, or even the next day at work, when I wished for flat work shoes, I was already thinking to myself: Depending on how my schedule is next year....... maybe I'll do another. ;)


THANKS FOR THE BROWNIES GIRLS!! THEY WERE DELICIOUS! :)

Today felt like a very productive day, even though I didn't have time to do my Jpn homework. :/
But at least I made it to the dentist to get my teeth things, and the optometrist to get my trial contacts and prescription. Then I got in an 8-mile run at sawyer. I was shooting for 10, but the last 2 miles were in this ivy-walled shaded area, and it was a bit spooky by myself... T_T But next time I'm there I will do the full 10 or more!

I'm a fan of the ipod and the subsequent offspring like the video and shuffle, but I didn't really see what was so special about the iPhone... Until now:





So cool.

This weekend I took a free composting class with my cousin, and learned that composting creates compost, while worm composting creates fertilizer (nourishing worm poop, yay). I found out worms can eat paper plates and cups, and even newspaper. How cool is that?!

I finally got an oil change, which is good because I'd run out of window-wiper fluid and seeing as how they top off everything when I get an oil change, I never bought any refills of anything.

I watched 1408 with Bf and Frank. It wasn't what I expected, but I enjoyed it. It was funny, witty, suspenseful, chilling, and at one point in particular, freaky. John Cusack was great, and so were the scenes with Samuel L Jackson.

I haven't posted for a long time, ne? Went to Fanimecon this past Memorial Day weekend, so hopefully I'll be posting a few pictures later on.

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I liked it! Sooo much better than the 2nd movie. :P And also Johnny's hot. Okay, so is Orly.

I need to get off my bum and RUN. Been really busy at work lately though, so it's been hard to be productive with all the stuff I want to do, and still run. I have nihongo final in 2 weeks! :0 And I'm still moving and unpacking.

This weekend I'm going to take care of my car, finally. It's time for an oil change! And a wash. And wax. And vaccum. And window cleaning. And....*trails off*

I was able to catch Neil at this event--it's nice to be able to re-live it through this video that I'd forgotten they were going to film until now.

http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2007/04/lazy-sunday.html

It's been at least 7 years since Clutter has dominated my life; slowly draining my energy, my confidence (in showing my room, at least), blurring my train of thought, and keeping me fighting to "get it together." The only perk is that it's effectively suppressed, if not irradicated, my perfectionist tendencies through overwheming shock and then long-term exposure. Now I'm just anal in other ways. Hoorah.

But now, because of my budget and other on-going efforts to better my life, I'm beginning to change thought patterns. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to my frugal self, but it's probably better that way. I want to be balanced: to enjoy life but still have money to travel when I'm older.

It's Thursday--one day away from Friday, the best day of the week.

Will probably be meeting up with a cousin I don't see often; for her bday, and to watch a movie.

Japanese starts again on Wednesday. Need to study up on kanji and vocabulary words before then.

Planning to finish moving the rest of my furniture by the end of this week. And sew the curtains finally. And do my taxes. And go grocery shopping.

Been reading Fragile Things, a short story collection by Neil Gaiman. Best material I've read by him since The Sandman series. I like that dark and eerie surrealist stuff.

Watched Children of Men last night: it's a great movie. Enjoyed it a lot.
Gonna try to watch Babel this weekend.