This Month - Conan O'Brien's address to the Harvard Class of 2000

April - Actual Analogies and Metaphors Found in High School Essays
(some of these may come in handy for those of you who are writers...)

Archives

The Irregulars

	Alan aka Tsunami, Chef Alan; Chinese Stallion
	Angella aka Angie-poo; Ange
	Rithy aka T; King of Cambodia; Slick
	Vinh aka the Evil Older Brother
	Vu aka Voodoo; other Voos

The Haps:
(5.04.03 - due to near non-existent usage, I am replacing comment system with a general comment thingy on which you can type whatever tickles your fancy, you can even comment on my changing the comment system if you want =P..) Say Something |

Monday, 05.19.03

Decided to explore the basketball courts in Oakland Chinatown near my apartment this weekend. Turns out they have both indoor and outdoor courts as it's actually a community center. They also have ping pong tables so I suppose Vu and Alan and continue Alan's dominance over Vu - "Mr. I have a fancy paddle." Much closer than going into Berkeley and playing at Oregon Park or the middle school. Spent the entire weekend playing basketball at the courts or playing NBA Street Vol. 2 on a borrowed PS2. I currently have all 3 major consoles in my living room, it is muy fun especially since they each have 4 controllers for multi-player ass-whuppins.

My computer's power supply fan has started sounding funny. I think it's time to get a new computer, I've had this one for 4 years now with various upgrades here and there but it's gotten outdated and I think it's going to die on me. Besides computers are so cheap nowaday I should be able to get a P4 for around 5 bills. I was hoping to wait a year or two but old age is catching up with my computer. A new computer puts a dent in my 2-year car plan but what are you going to do, eh?

Wednesday, 05.14.03

Went to sleep early (midnight) last night from boredom and the absence of any spark of creativity. Of course going to sleep early means that I automatically wake up early (6:00am) and try to go back to sleep, especially since I was going to sleep in a little later today since everyone at work is going to be at the E3 leaving the office empty and silent and me plenty of time to goof off. Of course I would be going but for the fact that I have no writing credits to my name even though technically I am a member of the gaming press... sigh... My second missed opportunity to go to E3. Actually I probably could have still gone but I need to make that money ya heard?! =P

Friday, 05.09.03

6:30am Woken up by the sun, bright eyed and bushy-tailed. For a while I thought I had left the light on before I went to sleep. Being that I had woke up an hour earlier then the appointed time, I went back to sleep.

7:30am Woken up by the alarm clock. Very tired. Got my ass out of bed, my brain on the other hand is still wrapped in the comforts of the warm sheets and bedding. =/

Tuesday, 05.06.03

My co-workers are addicted to Quizno's. Ever since the place open a week or two ago they have made it a group outing to hit up Quizno's early (so as to avoid the line) for lunch. A coupla them haven't eaten anything but Quizno's since it has opened. I don't know how they can eat the same (of variations of the same thing) thing everyday, I can hardly eat at the same place in the same week.

Apparently my penetrating gaze can bore through walls and my monitor thereby scaring away the two co-workers that sit in the two cubicles in front of mine. Currently the cubicles are empty and I assume will stay that way as long as my gaze bores through them. (Actually, my co-workers moved due to corporate reorganization or maybe I just smell... but then shouldn't the co-worker in the cubicle behind me flee then?)

Going to see X2 for the second time today Not because I actually want to (I rarely ever watch a movie more than one except for "My Sassy Girl" for the train scenes... they're just too funny!) but because it means I get out of work early. We're making a team building thing out of it. I think that the casting for the first movie and second movie were pretty much dead on except for Cyclops. How the heck do you pick Jason Marsden as your leader??!! He looks way younger and anyone else on the team plus he's suppose to be by-the-book, serious, deadpan guy which Jason Marsden is decidedly not. Also why does the beautiful Kelly Hu only have one line in X2? And it's a stupid line too: "What are you doing here?" Bleh.

Friday, 05.02.03

Yoga. Every morning on my walk to work I pass this place called Funky Door Yoga with a window front looking out at the street, or looking into the studio, depending on which side your standing on.

Sometimes there are people within and sometimes their aren't but they are always fairly slender (I have not seen a single fat person since the place opened) and always half-nekkid. Not that I'm complaining (at least half the students are female) but is there some rule that says you have to wear a swimsuit to practice yoga? I get that you're suppose to have free range of motion but I'm sure you can remain fairly clothed for that. And it can't be the weather because it can get pretty nippy in downtown SF. So what is it? Is yoga only for skinny, half-nekkid, bendy people?

Sigh... I envy the bendy people being a very not bendy person myself.

Friday, 04.25.03

Jello. Too much creme brulee (fine dining) this week. My journal is turning into a restaurant guide/review. Yesterday night was spent at Cafe Chez Panisse or is it Chez Panisse Cafe. It was my auntie's last night with us. We ordered mussels and pizetta topped with rosemary and potatoes to start complemented by the Chardonay (actually I had a tangerine fruit soda since I don't drink). For entrees (note: in Australia entrees are what they call appetizers because those Aussies are weird yo! With their 'chuck it in the bin', their 'heche', and their 'zetas'), I had what amounted to a pizza pie with italian stuff on top and covered with a crust. To paraphrase the waiters description, "like a calzone but flat". Vu had the beef braised in a red wine sauce with snap peas and mashed potatoes. Vinh had quail served over a bed of peas and something else that we could not determine. Auntie Hanna had the halibut which must have been good since she made short work of it. For dessert, we shared a Cognac creme brulee which was okay, nothing spectacular. The pizza thingy was good but I think I liked Isa better.

But yah, I am all dined out, I want jello (if you've never seen My Best Friend's Wedding, you might not get the allusion.)! I mean a nice chinzy restaurant is nice now and again but now I just want some fast food while I sit in front of the tube. Eating for thirty minutes instead of 2 to 3 hours. Jello! And I suppose I'll have it since we still have leftovers from Zachary's sitting in the fridge.

Thursday, 04.24.03

Isa. After taking the essential golden gate bridge tourist pictures with my auntie (she's actually only two years older than me but I take utter delight in calling her 'auntie' to her dismay) from Australia, we headed over to Isa in the Marina district.

The food was quite good. The chef, Luke Sung, was Asian (showing support for Asian people); the food, French; our waiter, unfailingly polite. The plates are appetizer-sized and served family style. We had the corn risotto, flat iron steak, crispy chicken, sea bass, goat cheese, calamari, vanilla bean creme brulee, foie gras, and almond-flavored semifreddo. They had longer descriptions but they escape me at the moment. The steak was good but it was served with a tarragon mustard that was a bit too strong for my liking. The chicken was moist and tender though my brother complained of it being too salty, I liked it fine however. Of the dishes, I would have to say that I enjoyed the vanilla bean creme brulee the most, the vanilla lends its a soft and more subtle taste that I found quite delightful. I enjoyed my experience at Isa and would recommend anyone to try it.

Auntie and Vinh falling asleep at Thalassa.

After dinner, we headed over to Thalassa in Berkeley to play pool. We met up with T, Minh and her significant other, Ken. An interesting thing about Minh and Ken is that they speak in the same manner with what I am told is a Seattle accent. It's quite entertaining to see them together and poke fun at them. Anyway, after a good start and victory over my brother, I preceded to totally suck ass for the rest of the night.

Sunday, 04.20.03

Vegas Highlights.
-Taking a stroll from the Venetian to Mandalay Bay stopping at the MGM Grand, Tropicana, Excalibur, and the Luxor on the way. It's something akin to walking to each of the different 'lands' at Disneyland except with a lot more cigarette smoke (bleh). Now I have only the Mirage, New York, New York, and Treasure Island to grace with my presence.

-Eating dinner at the Bellagio Buffet. Kobe Beef was not very tender; it was downright chewy in fact... quite the disappointment. The prime rib was overcooked. Beef Wellington was pretty good and tender; probably the best out of the lot. Half my meal was dessert which ranged from flan (mmm... flan... my jello, much better then creme brulee... though rich as it was, it might have been the 'creme brulee' of flan) to chocolate mousse cake (light and mmm good) to more fancy stuff like something that looked like an egg but was really coconut creme inside a candy shell with a lemony 'yolk'.
-Final Tally. Auntie and Vu came out with a loss at the tables while Vinh ended up 95 dollars. Phong, Christine, and I don't gamble. I come for the food and the splendor of money (i.e. the extravangance and theme of each major casino).

Vu the Uber-dork has purchased and is going to eventually watch all seven seasons of Star Trek the Next Generation in it's entirety. At approximately an hour per episode and I'm guessing 26 episodes per season that is 182 hours of Patrick Stewart yelling at people and non-people and whatnot.

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Tuesday, 04.15.03

Bend it like Beckham. A enjoyable if familiar movie. One of those going against the grain type deals with a soccer twist. I had no idea what it means to 'bend it' so I googled it and found that you 'bend' the ball in soccer by kicking it so that it curves thereby attempting to fool the goalie who has a harder time determining the trajectory of said ball. And thus ends today's lesson!

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Monday, 04.14.03

Taking Auntie shopping. Five hours of walking around the city in circles, I threw in two trips up Nob Hill for good measure. Lunched at California Pizza Kitchen and dined at the Tonga Room before spending the evening at Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiradelli Square.

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Friday, 04.11.03

Better Luck Tomorrow. Very smart, relevant movie with a largely Asian American cast. I found some of the characters to be very reminiscent of some people I knew back in the day. Yes, all of five years ago.

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Wednesday, 04.09.03

Bucket Hats.

Black or white?

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Monday, 04.07.03

My Weekend
Spirited Away. My brother did not like the movie. He thought that Princess Mononoke was much better because it featured fighting rather than running an inn. I thought it was a more dynamic Alice in Wonderland. A story about growing up, the characters are unique and some are quite frenetic, constantly moving e.g. the bellows keeper. The setting fantastical and wondrous presenting a wild parody of normal everyday things. The animation is more simple than what we see today but the backdrops are nicely painted and the characters fluidly animated.

Valley Fair. Decided to go to the mall with Ange, her roommate Jenny, and Vinh. Ange is a shopper. Jenny, Vinh, and I are decidedly not. One guess who won out. We were there for four hours. Oddly enough we ran into Alan there at Copeland's Sports, one out of 277 stores.

Basketball. 3 on 2. We only had five guys and it was too cold to sit out. I manage to end up on the two team twice. So sad...

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