February 28, 2007
[i hate taxes II] OMB, I just printed out the itinerary for my trip from (Washington) Dulles to (London) Heathrow and we're paying $148 each way for that trip. $296 r/t! It comes up to something like 4 cents per mile or some shit like that, which makes it cheaper than driving to London. How absurd. I think that is a HUGE steal.
But guess how much the taxes/fees add up to for the trip in and out of Heathrow? $268.04/pp! That's 47.5% of the entire ticket price!!
In the name of all that's holy... WTF??!!
Similarly, the taxes/fees on our *free* First Class ticket on South African Airways from London to Jo'burg to Cape Town and back to London is $140.26/pp. How is that a *free* ticket??
I blame it all on Heathrow.
Taxes make me nauseated. @ 16:11
[i hate taxes] It's the last day of February. Wow. March begins tomorrow. In 11 more days, North American clocks will "spring forward" to Daylight Saving Time; the earliest start for DST in the Northern Hemisphere and the earlist start for DST in the United States since DST was established 40 years ago. And in less than a month's time, the cherry blossoms will be out marking the beginning of spring!
Winter, however brutal it was (both in temperature and in gas bills!), seemed so fleeting this year.
Chris/Dave are already on their way to South Africa, luxuriating in Lufthansa's ultra-sybaritic First Class Terminal in Frankfurt as I type this. We will join them when we leave Friday night (together with Brett and David). South Africa will be only the second country I've ever visited in the Southern Hemisphere, and after South Africa I would have been to all 6 continents but one - South America (well, and Antarctica but an uninhabited land mass should hardly count as a continent :-p).
I'm fairly excited about our trip down there, noting that I have never been to Africa before (though Cape Town hardly counts as "Africa" to most people) and that Cape Town is 7 hours ahead of DC. Jet lag, ugh. It's gonna be a short (only 6 nights there plus THREE overnight flights) and whirlwind trip so it's hard to be zen about the whole thing.
Zen is a particularly hard state of mind to achieve on a day when I just found out I owe $40,000 in taxes.
:-o
And they are due in 7 weeks. There goes my new 3-series convertible... :-(
I *hate* taxes!!! @ 11:12
February 27, 2007
[meltdown] If you thought that globalization was just a myth. Or if you thought that China's rise in the world economy is just some far away distant thing that doesn't affect you.
Think again.
It all started early this morning before the sun even rose in the US. China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 8.8% - its worst one-day selloff in a decade - at the close of Tuesday trading there, triggering a tidal wave of selling which rattled markets around the globe from Hong Kong to London, Frankfurt to Brazil, and culminating in Wall Street's meltdown 13 timezones later. Speculative frenzy had lifted the Shanghai stock market above the 3,000 point milestone yesterday and then gave way to a tumultuous sell-off today that sent shares plummeting.
By close of market today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 416 points (3.3%) - its biggest one-day point loss since the 684.81-point loss on the day the stock market reopened after 9/11. At one point an hour before closing, the Dow was down nearly 550 points. All 30 components of the Dow fell. The S&P 500 fell 3.5% and saw its biggest one-day percentage loss in nearly four years. On the NYSE, decliners trounced advancers by almost 6-1 on volume of 2.31bn shares.
Europe was similarly hit too, with shares experiencing their biggest one-day percentage fall in nearly 4 years, led by FTSE-100's 2.3% drop, the CAC40 and the DAX both shed 3%, the SMI dipped 3.4% in Zurich, while Madrid's IBEX closed down 3%.
Incidentally, the Shanghai market was up nearly 130% last year. And China's economy grew 10.7% (!!) in 2006; a rate that will double the economy in 7 years.
This comes one day after I almost fired our broker. Who is 5 months pregnant. And she cried when we told her.
I feel grrreat! *eyes rolling* @ 16:53
February 26, 2007
[cny banquet] Last Friday, my co-workers and I (3 Malaysian-Chinese, 3 Vietnamese, 2 White boys, and 1 Mainland Chinese) went to Cafe Asia in Rosslyn for Happy Hour though we didn't partake in the $1 sushi coz we were gearing up for the Chinese New Year banquet later at China Garden, complete with red packets and mandarin oranges. OK, OK... "Lunar" New Year (but as Noi said, "We're all Chinese", LOL!).
I really wanted to do the banquet on Day 1 or 2 of CNY but I was in Mexico soaking up the sun instead ;-) Oh well, Day 6 is better than nothing. I mean, all I wanted was shark's fin soup and I got it! Yay me.
The 11-course dinner was better than 2 years ago when they served us some saute milk thingie (yuck) and squabs (complete with head staring back at you) which was quite repulsive for the white ppl in attendance. The roast chicken substitute for this year was AWEsome. The fish was a huge disappointment and I blame it on the restaurant guy who convinced me it was one of the more popular dishes in HK right now. Whatev. I wanted simple HK-style steam fish!
Anyways, here are some pics: (WARNING: Do not view this before lunchtime or you'll drool! Hehe...)
[L] The deluxe cold cut appetizer platter with roast suckling pig! YUM!!
[R] Some pork and shrimp thingie wrapped in a big dumpling topped with crab roe. Delish.
[L] The requisite and celebratory shark's fin soup with crabmeat. Yay! Drool.
[R] A contemporary take on Peking Duck. Very yummy.
[L] Shrimp, scallop and conch thingie with fried tofu. Very refined.
[R] Lobster in spicy sauce. Hard to eat, but very tasty.
[L] Nam Yee (fermented bean curd) roast chicken. The best dish that night!
[R] Grouper filet with ham and egg. The worst dish that night.
[L] Hong Kong-style pan friend noodles with seafood. Typical.
[R] Our table! That appetizer platter went from full to empty in 4.2 secs.
[L] Yes, I'm Asian and I always have a camera in my hand :-p
[R] It's fitting that Julee and I are the only ones stuffing our faces when this picture was taken. We rule! Hehe...
(From L to R) Loc, Lei, Loc's wife, Julee, Soon, Tony, Diep, Tom and Me!
Forgot to take pictures of the two desserts (lotus paste biscuit and red bean soup). Oh well. Was way too full by then to contemplate food, much less take pictures of 'em. But all in all, the dinner was delicious. Plus, it was really nice of them to charge us for 9 portions instead of the 10 that I originally booked. So that was pretty cool of them. And finally, the company was fantastic.
I love good food and good company! Xin Nian Kuai Le / San Nin Faai Lok / Chuc Mung Nam Moi! 23:43
[i love snow] 3-7" of snow fell over the DC region yesterday. We were on our way to yoga and I got some fantastic pictures just as the wet, heavy snow was falling at a pretty good clip and sticking to everything. It was a winter wonderland. Check it out:
The winter wonderland was fleeting though coz as soon as we got out of yoga, the snow had stopped falling and the heavy, wet snow were already falling off the tree branches.
I don't like the cold, but I love snow! 22:59
February 25, 2007
[sand to snow] What a difference a week makes...
President's Day weekend in Puerto Vallarta, México
One week later in DC
I can't wait for summer in South Africa! @ 15:34
[finally, snow!] The National Weather Service (NWS) is so cute (I was gonna say "they are a bunch of idiots" but I thought I'd be nice today... what? I *can* be nice :-p). They issued a winter weather advisory (light snow) since, like, the beginning of the week, and then yesterday they augmented it with a freezing rain advisory as well.
Well, guess what? They shouldn't make forecasts anymore because we got dumped on today. At least 3.5" of snow so far with more to come tonight. They actually (finally) issued a winter weather warning (4-8" of snow) two hours ago. TWO hours ago!! I'm like, der, it had been snowing since 4am and everyone in DC knew it was gonna be a bigger storm than predicted.
Everyone but the NWS of course. No freezing rain in sight (thank God).
Silly weather forecasters. @ 15:24
February 22, 2007
[two queens] Two days ago, both the Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mary II sailed into, in my not-so-humble opinion, the most beautiful harbor on the planet - Sydney Harbour. It was a historic and grand double feature indeed.
The $1bn, 3-year-old QM2 - at 23 storeys (203-ft) tall, 1132 feet long, 151,400 tonnes, carrying 3090 passengers and 1253 crew - is so huge, it could not sail under the Sydney Harbour Bridge nor berth at the International Cruise Ship Terminal at Circular Quay. Well, it is the world's largest ocean liner after all. She majestically sailed into Sydney Harbour just before dawn on Tuesday and had to dock at the Garden Island naval base off Woolloomooloo Bay on her maiden visit to Sydney.
Eleven hours later that same night, the 40-year-old QE2 sailed through the Harbour to dock at Circular Quay with the spectacular backdrop of Sydney's skyline, flanked by the stunningly beautiful Sydney Opera House and the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It has been 66 years since Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I greeted each other in Sydney Harbour. Back then, they were troop carriers.
If you've never seen Sydney Harbour before, you must go see it at least once in your life. Truly breathtaking. It is one of those vistas that when you see it, your jaw will drop and you will go "WOW" over and over. It's impossible to get jaded of that cityscape. Trust.
And next week, there will be four more Queens in Sydney *giggle*. I'm so jealous that Chris/Brian, Taylor, and Bernie are headed there next week for Mardi Gras! I know, right?? Mardi Gras!! Talk about hundreds of thousands more queens in Sydney, LOL!
So fetch. @ 20:09
[random texts] I was just scrolling thru my voluminous collection of text messages from the beginning of this month and came across this priceless lil' text from my ciocolato:
Oh my god....that was the most intense monkey sex ever..... I am flushed, quivering, dizzy and out of breath....
LOL! Only my friends... I could almost smell the sweat through my phone.
And how could I forget this little text exchange that led to the fetchnification of Phillip and Kiat:
P:: Are you out tonight?
Kiat:: Of course. I love Fridays! You?
P:: Probably. Let's do body shots.
Kiat:: First one drunk buys!
P:: Lol. Bring your wallet!
Kiat:: Bitch, pls. They should be paying us to drink at their bars
P:: Damn right
Kiat:: Are you out?
P:: Eating dinner. Where are you?
Kiat:: Bitch, pls. You don't eat.
P:: Hahaha only on Fridays.
Kiat:: Ok, marykatelindsay. Where later?
P:: Apesex?
Kiat:: Hot. Text me when you've made your grand entrance
P:: You'll hear the gasps. They will faint when we are both inside!
And with that, pandemonium ensued!
And this Valentine's Day text message from cunty Patrick *giggle*:
Happy Valentines Day! I know its a bit early but I have thousands of sexy friends so I'm starting with the ugly ones first...
With friends like these, who needs an enema. @ 18:06
[girl power] OMB, did you see LaKisha Jones on AI6 last night bringing the nation down with "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"?? Yes, that same song that won Jennifer Holliday the Tony and will most likely win Jennifer Hudson the Oscar on Sunday night.
HO-LY shit, this bitch can sing! And she's gonna bloody win the competition! When she sang "You! And you! And you! You're gonna love me!", I was like "Yes we are! You GO, gurrrl!". Simon even said, "I'm tempted to tell 23 people to book their plane tickets home", LOL!
Drippingly Diva. Ferociously Fierce.
We have a winner! @ 17:18
February 21, 2007
[so over people] As expected, I have been inundated with work since I got back from México. Mercifully, the weather has been kind - it actually hit 55° today! Yesterday was our first above average day in more than three weeks (you don't want to see my gas/electric bill this past month).
I have been sleeping like a baby, recovering from my 4-day drink-a-thon in Puerto Vallarta. And now I've got to start planning my next big trip which begins a week from Friday! I'm such a travel-whore.
So... I'm kinda over people today. I usually am anyways, especially the ones that are stupid, filthy and/or rude. But last night, I had to pick up some pills from CVS in Dupont (Cipro, no less :-o Why? Don't ask..) and I was waited on by this demotivated Pharma-Nazi who had the intelligence of a toad. Her customer service skills would've made Stalin proud.
The usual routine ensues. She asks me for my last name and I spell it out to her. TWICE (WTF? There are only three letters!). She spends less than 10 seconds looking through the stack and proclaims that she can't find it. I said look again but she insists that they don't have my prescription. I tell her (to fuck herself... I wish!) to go check her computer. She asks me for my last name. AGAIN (Good LORD, THREE letters!!!).
And then she asks me for my first name.
"It's Kiat, K-I-A-T"
"K-A-I-T?"
(No you dumb cunt) "K-*I*-*A*-T"
"What is it again?"
Gee-sus eff-ing Kwist. How insanely hard is it to remember a 4-letter first name and a 3-letter last name?? Especially since I had given it to her three to four times!
Anyhoe, she looks it up in her 'puter. Sure 'nuff, it was there. She says nothing to me, saunters over to the prescription area... and proceeds to ring SOMEONE ELSE up before looking for my stuff!
Oh, nooooo you diin't.
Finally, she looks for my prescription again and sure 'nuff, she finds it this time. What should've taken 15 seconds took 10 whole minutes. And this bitch is getting old so 10 minutes is precious to me!
And then we come to today. One of my co-workers had an issue that he swore up and down was the firewall's fault (I'm in charge of the firewalls). I couldn't find the problem so I told him to go check again. This time, he came back huffing and puffing with irrefutable proof (hah!) that it was the firewall's fault and that I need to fix it coz he ain't never wrong and his shit don't stink. Bitch, please.
I spend quite a bit of time troubleshooting his issue and told him that there might be something wrong with his device, so I wander over there to check it out. This was so not my job at this point but I decided to help the poor fella out coz, well, I really want things to work too. And what's good for the company is good for me! Haha, I *so* drank the Kool-Aid. Anyhoe, I have no clue how to manage his device but sure enough, after poking around for a few minutes, I find a few glaring and elementary mistakes (laughable, but I didn't), fix them, and voilà! Everything started working again. Bitch barely thanked me even though I had gone out of my way to help him out.
That woulda been just fine, but then a few hours go by and bitch had another issue which he AGAIN swore up and down was the firewall's fault. And I'm like, "not again...". So I patiently troubleshooted his issue once more, and after spending quite a bit of time on it decided that it wasn't the firewall's fault. I tell him that and he again insisted that it was not his problem (can we say, "I've heard it all before"?). This time, I was like, nuh-uh... this one's yours. I ain't helping you do YOUR job. You go figure it out coz I have proof (irrefutable!) that it is not the firewall's fault.
You know what he does? He goes and gets my boss to help him troubleshoot his problem.
:-o
I can understand the need for a second opinion. We are all human and we all want it and get it at some point. But consult with me first. Don't go behind my back.
Basically, it made me feel crappy and demotivated coz I had gone out of my way to help this dude out with, what was supposed to be, HIS job and not only does he not thank me, he forgets about it and then goes behind my back to my boss, thus implying that I'm not doing MY job and helping him out. I mean, com'on... I busted my ass for you when I could've seriously belittled you in front of your boss for making the most elementary mistakes in configuring your device. And now you don't trust my diagnosis of the situation, but instead you go above my head? If my boss didn't think I was capable, I would be so SOL.
Seriously folks, I am good at what I do (and hideously underpaid, LOL!) and I can do it well, fast, efficient, thorough and complete. You bitches need to trust my judgement when it comes to serious shit. I'm not infallible but bitch, please... I'm never wrong *giggle*. And when it comes to networking and firewall, you skanks are so far out of your league you're practically playing a different sport. Go back to Networking 101 and then come twalk to me, mmm-kay? *suh-NAP*
People suck. I'm so over people. @ 18:56
February 19, 2007
[11 more days] We are comfortably seated in the Red Carpet Club in México City's Benito Juárez Airport, (mis)using the wi-fi signal from the (AA) Admirals Club downstairs *giggle*. Our flight to DC has been delayed about 90 minutes due to late arrival of aircraft from Dulles from the night before. We left beautiful, sunny Puerto Vallarta (PV) at an ungodly 7 o'clock this morning. Even more shocking is the fact that I woke up at 4:30am! Kwazy.
The 7am flight is also the first flight out of PV for the day. The reason why we took that flight was to make the connection to Dulles which was supposed to leave at 10am but has now been delayed till 11:30. But the main reason we were even bothering with a 7am flight was coz it was the only Aeroméxico flight with award seats available, and gurrrl I ain't payin' $500 r/t for an hour-long, 500-mi domestic flight. Shocking how there is zero competition in the skies here.
The weather in PV was phenomenal the whole time we were there. The day we landed was, by far, the nicest day when the temperature hovered just below 80 and the humidity was non-existent. It got hotter and more humid as the weekend progressed to the point where, shock and horror, it even sprinkled (for a few minutes) yesterday evening while we were drinking on the rooftop of a gay oceanfront hotel overlooking the calming and gorgeous waters of the Pacific Ocean. But we managed :-D
I am looking forward to going home; PV is nice and all but the "wake up, eat, lay on the beach, drink lots and lots, bar-hop then go clubbing till 3am" cycle got quite monotonous after awhile. Plus, I need rest and sleep! Here I thought this was gonna be a relaxing beach vacation but we went out every single night instead, partying till the wee hours (and I never say no to a good party). Fun, but quite exhausting. I am definitely not looking forward to going back to winter though (27°F in DC right now, brrr).
Fear not. This vacation is ending but my next vacation (to South Africa, wheeeee!) begins in 11 days! And the weather in Cape Town - where it's summer right now - is identical to PV: 80s and 60s. Just perfect.
HOT! @ 11:33 México City
February 18, 2007
[gong xi fa cai] Happy Chinese New Year from Mexico! You can get chinky with it and wish everyone "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (see characters on the sidebar to the right) or "May Prosperity Be With You"!
It's the Year of the Fire Pig (4705). Oink!
The weather in Mexico is brilliant. The (Mexican) food is to-die-for delicious. And the (non-Mexican *grin*) boys are hot.
How else to celebrate the New Year ;-) @ 12:20 PVR
February 16, 2007
[bliss] We're here! We arrived yesterday afternoon in sunny Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific Coast, 550mi west of Mexico City. It's 73°F (23°C), headed up to a sunny, beautiful high of 79° today.
Pure bliss...
Winter? What winter? ;-) 11:09 PVR
February 14, 2007
[bitch. eat. drink] I saw the funniest ad the other day in MW for Freddie's (gay bar in NoVA) American Idol nights:
Watch Simon Bitch...
Watch Randy Eat...
and Watch Paula Drink!
ROTFL!!! I need to start watching American Idol again... drrrunk! Well, I kinda did a lil' bit at JR's last night with Bernie, Blaze, Brett and Evan *giggle*. @ 19:49
[vacation delayed] Well, the good news is Dulles is open tonight. And our flight did not get cancelled. Plus our cabbie had a 4WD minivan (a heaven-sent after this morning's shenanigans with my useless rear-wheel drive M3) which got us to the airport with plenty of time to spare for our flight. Earlier, I had spent pretty much ALL day at work (or the remnants of the workday since no one was at work) fixated about when Dulles was reopening and about whether our flight would be cancelled or not. I was so worried my ulcer was having an anxiety attack.
And now for the bad news. Our flight to Mexico City was supposed to depart two hours ago. Yet, we're still here at Dulles Airwort, waiting in the somewhat comfy Red Carpet Club next to gate C17 *sigh*. BTW, it is a sea of human insanity in here - crowded terminals, no place to sit (thank God for the RCC lounge), it's hot/smelly/putrid, screaming peeps, and overflowing restaurants, not to mention lines out the ass EVERYwhere. There is nothing pleasant about this airport. Even on Valentine's Day, I have zero love for Dulles. Stank.
On the flipside, we did get upgraded to First Class (yay!) which won't mean dick if our flight gets canceled. Yea, yea, it could be worse but whatever. I like to whine and I'm good at it, nyah.
Thank God for free drink coupons, LOL!
So I saw the funniest CNN ticker headline scrolling across the TV screen just now:
"House [of Representatives] hearing on global warming cancelled due to winter weather"
*giggle* Well, not so funny when you consider that that same winter weather is probably causing our flight to be delayed tonight.
The saddest part? I had grand plans to have Valentine's dinner in Mexico City tonight. We are staying at the uber-cool W Hotel in the leafy Polanco district (Mexico City's Beverly Hills) and I had ressies to dine at some fancy restaurant tonight after we arrived. With the delay, we're probably gonna end up having Valentine's dinner (if at all) on the plane itself, arriving way too late for any restaurant to be open.
It's 7:30pm and I'm starving. Plus the glass of wine just ran out. How eff-ing romantic. Sigh, Mexico sounds really great in winter... if you can actually get there.
Note to self: Do not fly on Valentine's Day! @ 19:42
[red is the color] From my bitch Aaron:
Oh, my cheeks are red *blush*. Well, red is the color of the day... and the weekend! Yes, the Year of the Pig (my daddy's year!) will trample in on Sunday the 18th.
Liquor up! And Happy Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and President's Day weekend to all my skanks out there.
Me love long weekends long time ;-) @ 15:02
[brutal] February has been pretty brutal so far, even for DC's miserably cold winter standards. So far, every single day this month has had sub-freezing temperatures as a low. Temp-wise, every single day has also been below average, including a 5 day stretch where temps never rose above freezing. The average has been 26.9°F (!) which is 10° below normal. Ugh. We have had 5 snow days, but they've all amounted to puny amounts of snow (1.1").
Yesterday, we had our first winter storm of the season (well, a moderate one). It was the best. I had stayed home in the a.m. coz I had a doctor's appointment at noon (blood pressure = 106/74 = perfect). By the time I got to work, I went to a co-worker's farewell luncheon which lasted till 1:30pm. When we got back to the office, our company had announced that, in accordance with the Feds, we were all allowed to leave at 2pm due to the impending ice storm. So I basically only had to work for 30 minutes yesterday, LOL! Totally fetch. I felt bad and being deemed "essential personnel", I decided to stay till about 5:30pm. See? I can be devoted :-p
So what was the storm like? Pfffttt. We totally did not get the amount of snow that they predicted. We so did not get an "ice storm" (I still remember 1999 very, very well), although I did get pelted on on my way to JR's last night. Yes, I went to the bar coz I thought we'd be closed today :-p Anyhoe, what we did get was a whole bunch of sleet. Yuck.
Even so, all schools are closed today... BUT, more importantly, the Federal Government delayed its opening for 2 hours. WTF?? My company sets its work schedule to the Feds and I was *SO* hoping for a snow day! Bummer.
So I walked to work this morning. It was extremely messy (my socks are still water-logged). The sidewalks were semi-shoveled. I am actually quite impressed with the businesses who had shoveled all their sidewalks by the time I walked in to work this morning, considering the storm only dissipated at 9am. But the sidewalks were the easy part. The streets, on the other hand, were sludged beyond bad. At every intersection, I had to wade in ankle-deep snow and sludge to cross to the other side. It was disgusting. My shoes/socks/feet/jean-legs were so wet by the time I got in to work.
Why didn't I wear snow boots, you say? Coz I'm jetting off to Mexico and I don't need snow boots in Mexico :-p Smart ol' me should've worn the snow boots anyway (I don't have a pair) and then pack my fetch Zara sneakers to change into. But I was obviously still drunk this morning, lol.
But even MORE surprisingly... why didn't I just get Tony to drive me into work this morning?? It is Valentine's Day after all and bitch better show some love.
Well, I did. Here's what happened (don't laugh):
So, yea (stop laughing)... Never again. My car, like me, is not built for winter. 'Nuff said.
Winter is NOT FETCH. I need to be in Mexico!!! @ 14:49
[mexico, baby] So... we MAY or may NOT be going to Mexico today. Yup, we were planning on jetting off to Mexico City today for Valentine's Day, followed by Puerto Vallarta for the long President's Day weekend. But Dulles just barely reopened after the nasty snow/sleet/ice storm we had yesterday and who knows if the flight's gonna take off tonight or not. Pout.
But if we go, then it's Mexico, baby! Muy caliente! (I don't know how to say "fetch" in Spanish)
And if we DO go, I don't want to gloat but... it really is hard not to :-D
WASHINGTON, DC
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
High: 29°F (-2°C) |
High: 31°F (-1°C) |
High: 37°F (3°C) |
High: 38°F (3°C) |
PUERTO VALLARTA
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
High: 80°F (27°C) |
High: 83°F (28°C) |
High: 84°F (29°C) |
High: 85°F (29°C) |
Now, granted these are just weather forecasts, BUT... I am going to LOVE 80s/60s weather! I'm even afraid that 80s might be too warm for my poor little winterized body.
Please, please, please let me go to Mexico this weekend. I need to get out of winter!! @ 14:05
February 9, 2007
[weekend pix] My New Year's resolution should've been: Post hot weekend pics before the next one arrives! Oy.
From a cold, cold winter weekend in February...
[L] Me, Shawn, Brett and Jason @ JR's... Abbas (bartender) took this picture of us! Shots are evil ;-)
[R] Some of my co-workers (*gasp*) at Chaos
[L] My Super Fetch Finnish Bitches! Here I thought they loved me...
[R] ...but they really just loved each other. Strike a pose, bitches!
[L] This puts Madonna-Britney to shame!
[R] Evan's 27th @ JR's... Yes, bitch is getting ooooold *giggle*
[L] Good Lord... another underage-drinking, cocaine-abusing beauty queen out of rehab
[R] Evan and Dave @ Annie's
[L] The birthday boy and Brett, who puts the big "O" in Omaha ;-)
[R] Aaron! with his, um, Argyle sweater... (I know, right?)
[L] Adrian and mid-life-crisis-new-car-and-house Gary, aww...
[R] Catching a pic of Chad and Jason at the same table (next to each other, even!) is as rare as a Halley's Comet sighting
[L] More cake for the birthday boy!
[R] The hot chicks - Jason and his co-workers @ JR's (yes, back to JR's)
Another weekend starts in, oh, 5 hours! Hot. @ 16:06
February 8, 2007
[state visit] The ever so fabulous Queen Gen of Berkeley is crossing the continent for a state visit to DC in a couple of months' time. I'm so excited! She will be bringing Prince Tom (no, he can't be King) and 4-month-old Princess Hanora with her, and it will be a royal reunion of sorts; y'know, from one Queen to another.
Her lil' note to me announcing her state visit ended like this:
"...it's going to be a little different with Hanora... we're not able to go out quite as much as we would like to. I guess it will be a few years before you can take her to Halo for a cosmo..."
*giggle*!!!
Aww, our lil' hag-in-training. Hanora will be six months' old when she makes her first state visit to DC. The perfect age to mold a future Queen.
Aunty Kiat will step up to the task ;-) @ 15:29
[america's fav] To celebrate its 150th anniversary ("Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future"), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) polled the American public to choose the top 150 examples of American architecture. The results, America's second-tallest building doesn't play second fiddle to any other structure in this list:
1. Empire State Building, 1931
2. The White House, 1792
3. Washington National Cathedral, 1990 (surprise!)
4. Thomas Jefferson Memorial, 1943
5. Golden Gate Bridge, 1937
6. U.S. Capitol, 1865
7. Lincoln Memorial, 1922
8. Biltmore Estate (Asheville, NC), 1895
9. Chrysler Building, 1930
10. Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, 1982
Six out of the Top 10 are in DC. Cool, huh?
The top three cities with America's favorite architecture? NYC leads with 32, DC has 17 and Chicago has 16 (Wrigley Field at #31 is tops there, the Sears Tower is #42). Other NYC landmarks that made the list - St Patrick's Cathedral (#11), Grand Central Station (#13), the St. Regis Hotel (#16), the Met (#17), Brooklyn Bridge (#20), and Rockefeller Center (#56). Notably, Bellagio in LV showed up at #22. Amazingly, the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue was #53!
The other DC winners - Washington Monument (#12), Supreme Court (#15), Library of Congress (#28), National Gallery of Art West Building (#34... what?? the East is much nicer!), Union Station (#37), National Museum of Air and Space (#63... eww), Willard Hotel (#76), Ronald Reagan Building (#79... wtf-ever), Metro (#106... yay!), National Building Museum (#112), and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (#124).
It's nice to not be known as the city with the worst, oh pick one, crime rate, poverty, schools, weather, etc. for a change. @ 10:05
February 7, 2007
[gary's $.02] DC Gary (not to be confused with LA Gary) is gonna kill me for this but oh well... *giggle*
"And, not only was it a nice leather bag, it was a friggin' Coach bag full of clams and cholesterol. Then she wanted her $3 in change from her $20 bill. Prolly so she could make her next payment on the bag since it's so out of her league . . ."
I always said if you don't have anything nice to say about somebody, come sit next to me ;-)
Vicious... I love Gay-wee! @ 17:43
[the weekend] Well... there is only one word to describe this past weekend - FREEZING. It was so cold this weekend, my buzz went away everytime I stepped outside.
The notable thing about this past weekend is that it marks the longest consecutive stretch of days (Jan 2nd till now) I've been physically in DC since late August of last year! Yup, all those Bali, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy, Japan, Vegas, China, South Korea, etc. trips meant that I was AWOL from DC for the latter half of last year.
So the weekend was actually quite fun. It's amazing that my alcohol-depleted brain can still remember what happened, but I never forget a good time :-D. Friday night kicked off with a dinner party at Chris/Dave's with Rob/Mikko, Rob/Carlos and Brett. Had way too much wine. After that, Chris, Carlos and David went to Rob/Mikko's to meet the Super-Fetch Finnish Bitches (SFFB's) - Jonna and Erika - while I went to JR's to meet Jason, Brett and Shawn. The acceleration to inebriation slammed into high gear when Shawn suggested we pound shots at the bar. Kwazy.
I was quite fully loaded when I decided to stumble up to Chaos to meet the Rob/Mikko party. Well, apparently I wasn't *that* drunk coz even-more-drunk Chris got barred from Chaos by the Chaos Nazi, lol! He and David ended up at Cobalt which I had every good intention to go to but was too drunk to move from my perch at Chaos. Anyhoe, the Chaos Nazi is super-fierce and not in a good way. (Big Black) Bitch has a huge wand that I swear had an "electrocute" button on it and a blade that might pop out at any time if you mess with her. And if the "weapon" didn't work, bitch could just sit on you coz she was so big a tornado couldn't move all that junk in her trunk.
Jason made one snarky comment (OK, maybe like five) and BBB sneered at Jason and said, "there are lots of bars on this street, you don't have to come to this one." I was like :-o and Jason was like, "fuck this, I'm going to Fireplace", LOL!!! The BBB was definitely a crowd-deterret, as evident by the paucity of people inside. And Jason went to Fireplace, of course.
Regardless, I reunited with my SFFB's inside Chaos and we got massively wasted and danced like we were bridging the East-West divide. Hot. I do have to say that I am not a fan of Chaos and will probably never go there again unless coerced (or drugged *grin*). I just don't get the whole Chaos Latin thing. Their beans are not as nice as Chipotle and far less filling (those skinny bitches at Chaos are gnarly). Even Baja Fresh has a "freshness" advantage over the stale wet... uhh, boys at Chaos. Hehehe. OK, I'm bad :-D
I, again, had good intentions to meet Jason at Apex but OMB, I could barely make it home in the freezing cold much less to Apex!
Saturday rolls around and it's yoga day. We got another boot-camp yoga instructor who decided that our bodies are all too cold from the Arctic blast and they needed to be warmed up. What followed could only be described as cardio-hell. It was a good thing coz Saturday night was gonna be a long one in terms of alcohol-consumption.
Evan's 27th B'day! We all gathered at our Shrine to the Birthday Bitches (JR's, der) for drinks and cake. I saw Aaron and was like, "Argyle?? Honey, that's the ugliest eff-ing sweater I've ever seen..." Bitch deserved it coz she bought it from Gap in Potomac Mills, LOL! But I swear to God, right after I said it, some random mo from the bar walks up to Aaron and unleashes his pick-up line on Aaron, "Hi! Cute sweater... Where did you get it from?". At, like, almost the same time. The coincidence is uncanny.
At one point, I tried to nudge Evan to claim his "birthday present" standing at the bar and bitch tells me that boy is deaf and he's so over screwing around with deaf guys coz, "you f-'em and then you have to text them to tell them that they're hot." OMB, I about fell off my bar stool. I love irreverence!
Fourteen of us - Evan, Dave, Aaron, Brett plus her friend from Omaha, Shawn, Chad, Peter, Blaze, Gary, Adrian, Jason, Tony and me - then marched up to Annie's for Evan's birthday dinner. I had my usual wings and wice (minus the wibs, coz I wasn't that hungwy). Of course, the usual shenanigans ensue (can't put 14 drunk gay guys at a table without drama), including an episode whereby Brett's friend from Omaha wraps up her deep fried clam plus fries entree and shoves it - dripping grease and all - into her huge clam tote.
:-o
I know, right? Who on earth gets Annie's... TO GO?! Not to mention smelly deep-friend seafood and soggy french fries shoved into a nice leather bag!! W. T. F.
As if bitch didn't smell like fish all night, now she smelt like clams too. Might as well throw in the whole Atlantic ocean into that melting tote of smells, OMBFS. She then had the audacity to scream at us for making fun of her - "you bitches are gonna be hungry later and you ain't gettin' none of my clams!". LOL!!! Bitch, we don't want your fish or your clams. If you ain't seen mid-western white trash yet, you shoulda been there *giggle*.
After that, the whole lot of us invaded DIK for Karaoke night. Our group doubled the number of people there and halved the average age. One would think Karaoke is like my national pastime or something from all the requests I was getting from people to sing a song (what was I gonna sing... Meatloaf's "I would do anything for love, but I won't do twat"?). Whatev. I so am not a Karaoke person (well, unless Madonna or Beyonce comes on *giggle*). After that, it was back to JR's with Jason and his work workmates Laurie/Patty, Brett and Shawn/Justin, and (yet another) Dave plus Evan's friends Gina/Guy, until damn near closing.
Yet another frigid three-str8-nights-at-JR's winter weekend. The partying is unstoppable ;-)
P/S: I *promise* there will be pictures... @ 16:17
[malaysia pride] I walked to work this morning in snow and 20° weather, brrr.
In conjunction with Malaysia's 50th anniversary of independence from Britain (August 31st, 1957), Malaysia launched Visit Malaysia Year 2007. And this article in USAT today is timely: "Malaysia - Truly Asia". Check out the Photo Gallery! @ 09:44
February 6, 2007
[superbowl sunday] Prelude to Superbowl XLI @ JR's...
Jason:: I am so lazy....been in bed all day. Lol. What are you doing?
Kiat:: Shopping!
Jason:: Hot! Did you still want to go to jr's for super bowl?
Kiat:: Der. Kick/Drink-off is at 6:25
Jason:: Commercials start at 6. Lol.
Kiat:: Our ad comes on at 8 - Absolut Drunk
Jason:: And we are the stars
Kiat:: We'll be water cooler convo tomorrow!
Jason:: Wouldn't have it any other way..
Jason and I can be so butch sometimes *giggle*.
Ahh, nothing says Superbowl Sunday like wishing my bartender at JR's Happy Superbowl Sunday *giggle*. Anyhoe, they projected the game on the screen like they did last year. And also like last year, they played music (but no music videos) while the game was on the screen, and they turned off the music and unmute the tele when the ads came on. How appropriate :-D
The game was soggy but quite exciting. I wanted Chicago to win (I pick my teams based on whether they're in a Blue or Red State), but oh well. The ads were a yawn. The halftime show was Zzzzz... Prince was boring. Bring back JT and JJ! I did exercise some self-control and was only there for 2+ hours. And yes, I did get home for dinner :-p
Oh, and I won $20 from the office Superbowl pool! Yay me!! See? I can be butch one day out of the year :-p @ 14:33
February 5, 2007
[is this kiat?] Look what Aaron e-mailed me today:
Is this Kiat?
LOL! Bitch :-) *muah*
I want that T-shirt! @ 22:53
[payback] Mother Nature called this morning. She said, "payback's a bitch!". This was after I bitch-slapped her last week for bringing winter back. What happened to global warming??
It's literally freezing in DC. Except for a brief period of a few hours yesterday, temps have not risen above 32° since Saturday evening. It's 20° (at 1:30pm!) now which is the high for the day. Windchills are 4°. That's -16°C for all of you who are metrically-inclined. The forecast is for single digit temps tomorrow morning with sub-zero windchils. Actual air temps will be 9°F (-13°C) with windchills of -2°F (-20°C)! And the high will be 28°. Ugh.
Snow on Wednesday, perhaps. The forecast says it won't go above freezing again until Friday which means five consecutive days of sub-freezing Arctic temps. It hasn't gone above 40° yet since the beginning of the month.
I haven't really gone outside since Saturday evening, except for a brief stop at JR's for the big game (um, Superbowl XLI, of course der... btw, the Bud Light ESL and the Snickers kissing ads were the best!) last night. I got a ride to work this morning and we took the inter-building tunnel to lunch just now. I'm afraid to venture outside. I really don't have clothes for this kind of winter.
I'm c-c-c-old!!! @ 13:46
[the "surge"] While I am, of course, vehemently supportive of the Senate's attempt to pass a non-binding resolution opposing the "surge" - in fact, I wish it was binding AND would withhold spending for the "surge" - I am actually more giddy at the prospect of the resolution being voted on, regardless of the outcome (looks like it's gonna be filibustered at the mo).
I want Senate Republicans to go on the record *supporting* this latest war-fantasy of Bush's aka the "surge". I want them to go on record for supporting President Bush's continued war on Iraq and putting more American troops in harm's way. I want them to have blood on their hands when flag-draped caskets are flown home into Dover, and when suicide bombers fuel sectarian violence with mounting civilian casualties in the ongoing civil war quagmire called Iraq. I want them to see them shamed by dead bodies.
And then I want them all to lose in Nov 2008. @ 12:08
[impeach bush] I am FURIOUS this morning at Bush's irresponsible, war-mongering $2.9 TRILLION budget for 2008. He is planning on cutting $10bn from the federal spending on education (from $68bn to $58.6bn in 2008), but increase the "war" (ahem, defense) budget by 11% from $435.5bn to $481.4bn. The EPA's budget would also be cut to finance his war machine.
The size of the increase in the defense budget alone would fund 9 months of our education budget next year. During his Imperial Presidency, the defense budget has increased by 62% since 2001.
But wait, there's more! He is also asking for $93.4bn for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the remaining 8 months of FY2007, AND $141.7bn for FY2008. Add that all up and you have a staggering sum of $623.1 billion (FY08). For defense. Wait, how much are we allocating for education in FY08? Um, that's right... $58.6bn.
And how much will the Iraq/Afghanistan wars have cost us by Sept 30, 2008? $662 billion. That's right, ladies and gentleman. That's $2,200 for every man, woman and child in America. All to finance a war machine and to fight a war of his choice.
I am not only sick to my stomach, I am also incensed.
I am only heartened by the fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans share my intense anger for this President, as evidenced by these polls that have been released over the past week or so: CBS News - 28%, NBC News/WSJ - 35%, Newsweek - 30%. Those numbers are abysmal and are only matched in unpopularity by Richard Nixon who resigned in disgrace in 1974.
And as far as the media is concerned, his Presidency is over. Yesterday's news, if you will.
"Other unpopular war presidents have staggered to the ends of their terms - Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson come to mind - and Bush may do the same. But because Iraq is now widely viewed as having been an unnecessary personal crusade on Bush's part, there seems to be an extra element of derision in the political commentary, especially from the left." - WaPo's Howard Kurtz
"The American people basically fired George Bush in the last election. We're now just watching him clean out his desk." - NYT columnist Tom Friedman
"A lot of Americans consider this presidency over." - CNN's Bill Schneider
"If America were a parliamentary democracy, we would have a no-confidence vote and a new prime minister by spring." - NY Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin
And my personal favorite:
"If we had a straight dictatorship, Bush would long ago have been dragged out of the White House either by an angry mob or by disgruntled generals." - New Republic's Jonathan Chait
Wait, we aren't in a dictatorship?
The losers of this most disastrous and catastrophic (yea, yea those two words are synonyms but it's Bush we're talking about) Presidency in American history are the American people, not to mention the citizens of our planet.
This madness needs to stop. When is Congress going to impeach this President?? @ 11:58
February 2, 2007
[alcohoroscope] This priceless little e-mail from Aaron (via Brett) redefines AA - Alcoholic Astrology. Here's the Taurus entry (me!):
TAURUS (Apr 20 - May 20)
Drinking style: Taurus prefers to drink at a leisurely pace, aiming for a mellow glow rather than a full-onzonk. Since a truly intoxicated Taurus is a one-person stampede, the kind of bull-in-a-china-shop inebriate who spills red wine on white carpets and tells fart jokes to employers, the preference for wining and dining (or Bud and buddies) to body shots and barfing is quite fortunate for the rest of us. This is not to say that the Bull is by any means a teetotaler - god, no. A squiffy Taurus will get, er, gregarious (full of loudmouth soup, some would say) and is extremely amusing to drag to a karaoke bar when intoxicated.
LOL!!! I love it. That pretty much describes me to a T as far as drinking goes - Wining and dining, yes... Body shots and barfing, no (Jaeger is EVIL). Gregarious when intoxicated. Karaoke!! Definitely a one-person stampede.
That's me... a mellow yellow glow :-D @ 14:51
February 1, 2007
[what's the point] You will not be surprised to learn that the United States does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave (in connection to child-birth) to mothers.
What you will be surprised - no, shocked to the point of disgust - to learn is that the US is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee paid maternity leave. The other 4? Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.
If you're thinking, "WTF??", consider this: the *combined* GDP for those four countries is how much oil Exxon Mobil sells in 8 days. And we're lumped in the same category?
Pathetic? More like criminal.
It's not all bad news:
- US workplace discrimination laws cover race, ethnicity, gender, age or disability.
- 117 countries guarantee pay premium for overtime. Only 8 countries mandate more than the US rate of 150%.
But the bad, by far, outnumbers the good:
- 168 countries grant maternity leave; 98 give >14 weeks. US? Zero.
- 65 countries grant paternity leave; 31 give >14 weeks. US? Zero.
- 107 countries allow women to break to breast-feed at work; 73 of them are paid. US? No guaranteed right.
- 137 countries mandate paid annual leave; 121 give >2 weeks/yr. US? Zero.
- 145 countries provide paid sick days; 127 give >1 week/yr. US? Zero.
- 134 countries have a legal maximum limit to the work week. US? Zero.
And guess who has perenially opposed paid family leave? The Republicans. How can a party claim to stand for family values when it doesn't think American mothers should have the right to paid maternity leave??
What's the point of being the wealthiest country on the planet - with companies that generate exorbitant profits of $75k/minute - when mothers are expected to return to work the day after giving birth?
It's despicable. Shame on our Government. @ 13:54
28 :: i hate taxes II
28 :: i hate taxes
27 :: meltdown
26 :: cny banquet
26 :: i love snow
25 :: sand to snow
25 :: finally, snow!
22 :: two queens
22 :: random texts
22 :: girl power
22 :: so done
21 :: so over people
19 :: 11 more days
18 :: gong xi fa cai
16 :: bliss
14 :: bitch. eat. drink
14 :: vacation delayed
14 :: red is the color
14 :: brutal
14 :: mexico, baby
09 :: weekend pix
08 :: state visit
08 :: america's fav
07 :: gary's $.02
07 :: the weekend
07 :: malaysia pride
06 :: superbowl sunday
05 :: is this kiat?
05 :: payback
05 :: the "surge"
05 :: impeach bush
02 :: alcohoroscope
01 :: what's the point