July 31, 2007
[oriental eye exam] OMB, Gary sent me this and I about fell off my chair laughing so hard I peed down my left leg (and I'm wearing white linen pants today!)...
ORIENTAL EYE EXAM
Note:: If you cannot decipher anything, try pulling the corner of your eyes as if you were Chinese. It works!
*GIGGLE* @ 14:57
July 30, 2007
[more pics] Pics from the *previous* weekend, LOL!
[L] Brett! Where else, but at JR's, of course ;-)
[R] Todd, Patrick and Tony during the dinner party @ chez nous
[L] L'David performing to Rihanna's "Umbrella"... with his shirt off, of course... ella, ella, eh, eh, eh
[R] Patrick and Adam on the couch after dinner
[L] Lovebirds, aww...
[R] Adam, me, Brett and Patrick @ JR's!
[L] With Ken and Brett, looking completely smashed at JR's *giggle*
[R] OMB, how many pictures of my face in Brett's boobs do I need on this blog? LOL!
Pictures galore... @ 22:07
[scanned pics] I scanned these over the weekend and thought I'd share them. They're from Ann & Stoney's wedding at FGA (church) in KL last month. Professionally taken, black & white and simply sumptuous.
Me and Tony with the two beautiful bridesmaids - Danielle and Anna! My bosom buddies!!
I *love* this picture with the gorgeous bride - Ann - and us...
They were just so amazing I thought I'd share 'em. @ 21:44
[skanky humid dc] Two words - stank weather - reigned throughout the entire weekend. Yuck. It was humid as fuck and I hated it completely. There is a reason why I left Malaysia!! It wasn't even that hot, really. It was just disgustingly humid.
My weekend kinda sorta started on Thursday. Adam had the day off on Friday so we met them out at JR's for a little post-happy-hour-80s-music-videos night. It was weird to show up past 9pm on a Thursday night (and weirder still that Brett wasn't there!) but fun nonetheless. Didn't binge - 3 drinks - and left in a huff after Sean, who was wasted, called me another gaysian's name (some friend of his). Hrmph. Nobody mistakes me for someone else - and definitely not another gaysian - and gets away with it. Hell hath no fury like a gaysian scorned and this bitch was scorrrrrned! He is totally on my forever shit list now, LOL!
We had a surprise out-of-town guest on Friday night - our yoga instructor from Amanjiwo! I know, how random, right? Oh, and guess what I found out? Apparently, the Beckhams camped out at Amanjiwo exactly two weeks after we left there! I can't believe we missed him! And Posh!! Grrr... Anyho, back to Lawrence. We took him on a whirldwind tour of gay DC coz bitch only had, like, 3 hours to spare what with his busy, crazy, hectic schedule. We went to Logan Tavern and Halo (der). At LT, we were the table that just kept on growing. Initially, it was just Tony, me, Lawrence, Brett and Ken and we squeezed into a pretty good-sized 4-top booth (oooh, I said "top"). L'David joined shortly after, and then Dan came along. I don't know how but we managed to squish the 7 of us into a table of 4! Fun times.
I had already had two mojitos at LT before diving in head first into the deep end of Halo aka 2-for-1 happy hour mojitos. And you *know* how killer those mojitos are at Halo. I could barely stand up and/or see after my second mojito at Halo, OMB. All's I can say is those bartenders are k-w-a-z-y. Lawrence, of course, is Mr. I-don't-drink and Mr. I-have-to-leave-at-9pm-on-a-Friday-night so I hopped into the car (Tony is the DD, der) and we dropped him off in the boonies of VA. Since we were already there, I had planned on going to Tarzhay to swap out some picture frames, so we did.
Holy crap, I didn't know how drunk I was until I walked up to the cash register and the lady checking me out goes, "Are you drunk?", I was like, (slurring) "OMB, how do you know?", and she was like, "I can smell it". If I hadn't been that drunk, I would've totally blown my top. I mean, how dare she? As it was, I could barely stand up without holding on to something... anything.
But I could still punch someone in the face if I wanted to. And boy, did I get close. Coz at one point, I was standing there, drunk-texting (Lord knows who) and waiting for Tony. And the female breathalyzer looks at me - by now, I'm standing a distance away from her - and yells out, "Where's your ride?" across multiple aisles.
Ohhh NO she DIIN'T. Is she calling me out A-GAIN?? I was like, W-T-F!!! If I could've walked in a straight line, I would've walked all up and down her ass. As it was, I would've fallen off.
So what did I do? I, of course, point at Tony in a separate aisle and, in my most high school giggly voice, say, "There he is! hehe"
OK, she was right... I was drunk.
I woke up Saturday majorly hungover and in a total mess. You're probably thinking, "Com'on, it was only 4 mojitos! You're losing it..." Bitches, please. Halo mojitos are ridick, mmm-kay? So I bummed around the house all day before passing out for a nap at 5. I woke up just in time to trudge in the ridiculous humidity to L'David's for game night. The walk there was an eternity in swampy rainforest humidity. I was completely melting by the time we got there. Not fetch at all. Paris, Nicole and Lindsay would've all thrown a fit. I did, but Tony insisted on walking. I was seething and close to combusting in the heat and annoyance combo.
We played some inane but interestingly fun game called Apples to Apples. Basically, the "dealer" draws a green card that has an adjective on it and everyone puts up a red card that matches the adjective. The dealer mixes it all up and picks the best red card - totally random, coz the dealer gets to decide what his definition of, say, "sultry" is - and the person who put up that red card gets a green card. When you get four green cards, you win!
The game was just an excuse, really, to drink as many appletinis and bourbon slushes as you can without dipping the cards into the artichoke dip coz you mistook it for a chip. BTW, guess what else I learnt this weekend (from L'David's mom)?
Slush = Slut + Lush
LOL! Love it.
Once we were sufficiently blitzed, what did we do? Well, we went to JR's of course. We ran into Brett (yay!) and Katie and we proceeded to get massively shit-faced. I don't remember much except that Tony had to drag me home at some point (like, 2am) and cook me a huge bowl of noodles for supper *giggle*
We got up on Sunday and went down to the farmer's market in the steamy heat. We bought some mushwooms, a watermelon and some ridiculously expensive pork belly that was 99% fat and completely inedible. What a waste of money that was. We managed to sneak to yoga - finally, after weeks of procrastination - which was really good detox. I couldn't even fathom JR's Sunday, so we just stayed home and relaxed.
I didn't take that many pics this past w/end. Check these out:
[L] Lawrence! We meet again, 10000+ miles away!
[R] (From L to R) Dan, me, Lawrence, L'David, Ken and Brett @ Halo
[L] Dan, L'David and me @ JR's!
[R] I labeled this picture "Drunkdialing" but it should really be called "Tonsils"
So there ya have it... my weekend in crazy skanky humid DC! @ 21:25
[crack ho] Before I get to my ridiculously drunken Friday and Saturday nights...
Aaron:: What do you think of Lindsay's drama?
Me:: i love it so much i've started calling her lilo.
Aaron:: Ironically... Lilo rhymes with her new profession..."Crack ho"...
*giggle*
Paris Hilton, 23 days in jail. Nicole Ritchie, 90 hours in jail. Lindsay Lohan, DUI and cocaine possession.
Watching how far these Madonna-wannabes have fallen... Priceless! @ 11:33
July 26, 2007
[fish and rice] Japanese girls born last year can expect to live to an average age of 85.81 years - an increase of 160 days from 2005 - making them the longest-lived in the world, according to the Japanese government. Japanese males have a life expectancy of 79 years, jumping from fourth place and is now second only to Icelandic men at 79.4 years. Japan has come a long way since WWII when average life expectancy was a little over 50.
Japan's women have topped the world's longevity ranks for 22 years. Hong Kong women are the world's second longest-lived at 84.6 years, followed by Spanish and Swiss women at 83.9 years.
On the flipside, Japan's birth rate fell below the replacement rate of 2.1 in the early 70s, sliding to a low of 1.26 in 2005. In 2005 also, Japan's population began to fall in absolute terms despite increasing life expectancy.
The result? A full 40% of Japan's population will be 65 or older by 2055 - up from 5% in 1945 and 20% today - if current trends of a low birthrate and high life expectancy continue and the population will shrink from 127m to 95m. That would be crushing for the world's oldest society to try and find a way to fund its pension requirements.
In any case, experts attribute Japan longest-living population to its traditional healthy fish and rice-based diet.
Sushi-mania! @ 18:24
[the internet is for...] ...well, not just porn apparently; the hillariously un-PC Avenue Q song notwithstanding.
See, my mom got bitten by an Aedes mosquito and has been hospitalized for dengue fever for the past few days. Sounds serious? Well, not really if you're in Malaysia. I know many friends who have had it and it's such a common thing that the doctors and hospitals there know how to deal with it quickly and effectively. It's not malaria, thank God. So, nope, I ain't too worried.
Well, not true. Anytime one of your parents is in the hospital - even if you know it's for something totally benign - the feeling of unease pervades. After getting my dad's e-mail about my mom's hospitalization on Monday night, I jumped online and found, purchased and had flowers delivered to my mom's hospital room three hours later.
Here I am in my living room, 10,000 miles away from her (literally) and I managed to get flowers by her hospital bed in three hours flat without getting off my couch. Impressive isn't it? I love the Internet.
BTW, dengue is not a Third World disease. It's an equatorial/tropical disease. Singapore, for example, has had an outbreak every single year since 2003 with many deaths in 2005 and also this year. The mortality rate is about 1 in 1000. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled Southeast Asia as a high risk area for a major outbreak of dengue fever. OFF! is your best friend there.
Get well soon, mom! @ 17:42
[11] So I was telling my friends about how I almost fell off my couch laughing at Jay Leno's skit on Tuesday night ("we had Lindsay Lohan booked for our show tonight but apparently she was already booked!"), and one of them (He Who Shall Not Be Named) says to me:
"I would have picked you up off the floor and sucked your 11th toe.."
ROTFL!
That made me realize that my 11th toe is a big part of my life (well, my physical self anyway) but there is nary a mention of it in my "about kiat" page.
Isn't that weird? I don't even think about having 11 toes anymore. It's just there. Though, I do vacillate between embarrassment from and pride of it from time to time. Like, going from being called a six-toed sloth or a mutant, to "hey, you wanna see something cool??"
Back when I was younger, I occasionally had to buy two pairs of shoes in different sizes so that I could take one side from each pair for each foot. Totally annoying. Now I'm just a size 8 and I squeeze my left outermost 6th toe in (yeaaa, I'm making you lose your appetite, aren't I? *giggle*) to make it fit. It's almost like a 21st century form of foot binding.
Whatever it is, I have totally embraced my 11th toe. I'm such a drama queen about my 11th toe (among many) :-)
Whatever, bitches. I can count till 21. Can you? No? That's right, you mere mortals :-p @ 16:09
[stupid ass] These two buttons (courtesy of Aaron) sum up how I feel about peeps at work this entire week...
*giggle*
'nuff said. @ 14:29
July 23, 2007
[i love sushi] Under the heading "Time to Go Easy on the Sushi? Study Finds High Mercury Levels Among New Yorkers", the NYT publishes this photo:
Isn't that just cruel? "Wait, don't eat sushi but look at this picture of a beautiful sushi-filled bento box!"
Silly NYT.
The article detailing findings by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (mental wha?) is quite interesting though. NYC women have an average blood mercury level of 2.64 micrograms per liter which is three times the national average. The folks in the highest income bracket (at 3.6µg/L) have 50% higher mercury levels than the lowest income group (2.4µg/L; most likely because fish is more expensive than meat. NYC Asian women on average have even higher blood mercury levels at 4.1µg/L. And among Asians, two thirds of foreign-born Chinese women eat an average of three fish meals per week - compared to one among New Yorkers overall - and have particularly high levels at >5µg/L.
Wait, I eat fish more than three times per week... And I'm foreign-born... And Chinese... OMB, they're talking about me! :-o Good thing I can't get pregnant, lol!
BTW, that bento box is from Sushi of Gari - one of the top 10 sushi restaurants in NYC.
Just looking at it is making me drool. @ 17:47
[hewlett-packard] Well, this is somewhat good news to wake up to this morning.
Tony is now officially an employee at HP :-) I wonder if we get discounts on PCs, hmm...
I say it is somewhat good... it's actually very good. Bigger company, better benefits and - more importantly - California benefits at that (i.e. domestic partner beneftis stay intact), yadda yadda. Plus he's only been there a month and the stock options are now worth 38% more overnight.
It's just not jumping-up-and-down, I-can-quit-my-job-and-party-with-Lindsay-and-Paris amazingly good, y'know what I mean? What, a girl can aspire to be a desperate housewife can't she? :-D (I said desperate, not drunken :-p)
Speaking of partying like Lindsay and Paris... Looooord have mercy on me after this weekend of closing down JR's on more than one occasion (I blame - and *heart* - Brett! *giggle*). Friday night? Shit-faced. Saturday night? Incredibly shit-faced. Sunday? Rehab/detox. Honest! I was so incapacitated on Sunday I barely got out of the couch/bed.
Kwazy. @ 10:19
July 20, 2007
[pussy allergies] L'David's roommate's response to my cat allergies:
"pussy put pussy in box for pussy allergies"
PussyLOL!
P/S: I'm the proud owner of my very first Ted Baker short-sleeved shirt, thanks to Chris who swapped out the size (from 2 to 3... I guess I'm not that thin after all *pout*) for me from London as my burfday gift. Me loves it long time! And wearing it today *beam* Thanks, Chwis! @ 09:25
July 19, 2007
[cock & pussy] L'David sent me this picture of his roommate's puss... I mean cat over MySpace today:
With a look of repulsion, pussy already knows what cock soup tastes like (courtesy of Aaron)
We're so juvenile *giggle*
P/S: I'm hideously allergic to pussy ;-D @ 11:54
[like a rock, only dumber] You thought *I* was bad, my office mate actually has a T-shirt that has a picture of Bush's face and the words "WORST PRESIDENT EVER" below it.
I love the e-mails he sends to me...
The Latest List Of Bush Bumper Stickers
1. Cheney/Satan '08
2. 1/20/09: End of an error
3. That's OK; I wasn't using my civil liberties anyway
4. Let's fix democracy in this country first
5. If you want a nation ruled by religion, move to Iran!
6. Bush . . like a rock, only dumber.
7. If you can read this, you're not our President
8. Of course it hurts: you're getting screwed by an elephant
9. Hey, Bush supporters: embarrassed yet?
10. George Bush: Creating the terrorists our kids will have to fight.
11. America: One nation, under surveillance
12. They call him "W" so he can spell it
13. Jail to the Chief
14. No, seriously, why did we invade Iraq?
15. Bush: God's way of proving intelligent design is bullshit
16. Bad President! No banana.
17. We need a President who's fluent in at least one language
18. We're making enemies faster than we can kill them
19. Is it Vietnam yet?
20. Where are we going? And why are we in this hand-basket?
21. You elected him. You deserve him.
22. Impeach Cheney first; of course that would make Bush president!
23. When Bush took office, gas was $1.46
24. Pray for impeachment
25. The Republican Party: Our bridge to the 11th century
26. What part of "Bush lied" don't you understand?
27. One nation under clod
28. 2004: Embarrassed; 2005: Horrified; 2006: Terrified
29. Bush never exhaled
30. At least Nixon resigned
"...You're getting screwed by an elephant...", ROTFLMAO!!! @ 11:22
July 18, 2007
[loooooser] Enraged would've been a mild term for what I felt when I saw the title of an article in this past Sunday's WaPo Outlook: "Why Bush Will Be A Winner" by none other than the neocon William Kristol.
I was like, are you FUCKING kidding me? It made me want to read it and then tear the newspaper up in pieces, burn it in front of the WaPo's HQ and then set the whole building on fire.
Of course... I didn't read it. Why bother. My blood pressure is high enough :-)
So it tickles me to death that David Corn of The Nation published a rebuttal called "Why Bush Is A Loser" in WaPo today. OMB, I almost creamed my manties watching Dave tear Billy a new one. Absolutely juicy stuff. But then he really goes on a rampage and, well, read on:
It's remarkable what Kristol leaves out of his bizarro-world view of Bush the Great: Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of the Justice Department, global warming, and much else. An American city was practically destroyed on Bush's watch, but that merits no consideration in Kristol's case for Bush. The Justice Department - run by Bush cronies accused of corruption, incompetence, or both - is in tatters... And though Bush begrudgingly conceded that global warming is underway and human-induced, he has taken no significant steps to redress this pressing problem. If one wants to peer into the future, it could well be that Bush will be judged a failure more for his inaction on global warming than for his action in Iraq. Vetoing stem cell research legislation, commuting Scooter Libby's prison sentence, rewriting clean air rules to benefit industry, pushing tax breaks for oil companies, suppressing the work of scientists, enhancing government secrecy - Bush has repeatedly placed parochial interests over the public interest.
The Bush-Cheney years have been marked by ineptitude, miscalculation, and scandal. A successful presidency? Bush will be lucky if he gets a public elementary school in his adopted hometown of Crawford, Tex., named after him. He has placed this country in a hole. Yet Kristol, with shovel in hand, points to that hole and says, Trust me - we're about to strike oil!
If it's true that history repeats first as tragedy and then as farce, Kristol has short-circuited the process and gone straight to parody. His Bush boosterism - an act of self-justification - would be amusing were it not for all the damage he has helped Bush to cause.
I want to kiss this man's feet, LOL!
Am I guilty of being partial and reading only one side of the story therefore widening the already impossibly huge chasm that divides Red and Blue America today? Abso-fucking-lutely. Do I give a rat's ass after six long, damaging, criminal and abysmal years under this fucked up Presidency? Abso-fucking-lutely not.
You dumb Republicunts can all kiss my ass. Right there --> (_|_)
P/S: :-o @ 09:52
July 17, 2007
[et cetera] The rest of our weekend in NYC was uneventful.
Well, there was that little drama in getting a cab to the airport. I had called for a Yellow Cab (how appropriate) to come pick me up at the house but instead of showing up at 5:45pm (for a 7pm flight out of DCA), they, well, didn't show up at all. Bastards.
So I hightailed it to the corner to hail a cab but, it being rush hour and all, most cabs drove by me full. Grrr. To top it all off, Random Guy walks up to me in the process of me hailing a cab and... well:
RG:: Hi!
Me:: [eyes open as big as they possibly can looking super surprised]
RG:: Wotcha doing?
Me:: Hailing a cab [steps away]
RG:: Yea, I know... I was watching you from across the street. Don't be afraid, I won't bite... unless you want me to [followed by a smirk that only a pedophile can conjure]. Where're you going?
Me:: [nunya bidness you dumb cow] National
RG:: Oh? Where're you off to
Me:: Nu Yawk [fuck! why did I just tell him that...]
RG:: Wow, I just got back from there... Wish I could come with you
Me:: [did he just say "come", like c-u-m "cum"?]
Grrrosssss. WTF lame ass pick-up line is that? Anyho, this guy was full on hitting on me! Gag. I was in a hurry and kept brushing him off but he just stood there and asked me countless questions (which were met with abrupt monosyllabic answers) before I ran off when I got a cab. Thank God he didn't try to follow me or I would've filed a TRO (temporary restraining order, der).
By now it's 6pm. Cabbie zoomed to DCA and only charged me $16.50 for the ride. That's like the cheapest ever. Fetch. I literally get to DCA and walk on the plane, that was how close I was cutting it. Flight was a breeze (in First, natch). We actually arrived early and I got to the hotel - near Grand Central - with plenty of time to spare before Gordon Ramsay at 9:45pm.
Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building, brilliantly lit at night
Gordon Ramsay... What can I say. The expectations were far too lofty for even him to surpass. The degustation menu was actually reasonably priced ($120/pp) compared to, say, Per Se ($250/pp!), so we ordered it without hesitation and got the wine pairing as well - which was, again, very reasonably priced at roughly $10/glass/pp and turned out to be very, very good. The dining room itself in the brand new The London NYC (hotel) is very chic and the service was flawless and totally not snooty. In fact, it was pretty casual and elegant at the same time, if that's possible. The food was also flawless, starting with yummy foie gras (my first taste in as long as I can remember) and climaxing with a perfectly cooked pork belly dish that blew your tastebuds away. The impossibly fresh and yummy cheeses and petits fours were totally Major (sorry, I had to use it at least once after watching Victoria Beckham on TV last night *giggle*).
I dunno, everything was perfect but nothing was astounding or remarkable or even memorable compared to say JG, Le Bernardin, Babbo, Per Se, etc. Or perhaps I'm just jaded and each new restaurant experience is just gonna pale in comparison to the rest? Sigh, woe is me.
Saturday was shopping day!
[L] The Empire State Building, as viewed from just a few blocks south of the hotel. 76 years old and, again, the tallest building in NYC.
[R] The magnificent Art Deco Chrysler building. 77 years old and the 2nd tallest in NYC.
We had two back-to-back Malaysian lunches; the first at a misguided adventure to Fatty Crab which was good but the menu was so tiny to the point of boring. Nyonya on Sunday was pure perfection. We gorged on roti canai, bak kut teh (yum!), hainanese chicken rice and stir-fried rice noodles. Totally yummy and a sweat-astic experience since their A/C was somewhat broken and it was in the high 80s. Fun!
My shopping expedition was a bust. I didn't find a tux, pout. Even Zara (which had a massive sale) was not satisfying. We did raid the MOMA design store and I bought two pairs of shoes at Kenneth Cole (courtesy of Tony's parents for my birthday) so it wasn't all bad.
We also sampled some of Grand Central's famous oysters in the basement "bar". They were the perfect (albeit expensive) late afternoon snack to tide you over before a late dinner. I was none to happy with the fact that they had no Kumamotos on the menu but that just pushed me to try other stuff like Pemaquids from Maine (which were OOC good) and Meximotos which tasted just like Kumamotos but from way south. And I mean, WAY way way south; like, instead of WA state, they were from Cabo. The variety there is endless and that's what I love about the place. Perfection.
Between oysters and kaiseki, we ventured up Rockefeller Center for a spell-binding and relatively crowd-free view of Manhattan. Enjoy:
Looking south towards the ESB and downtown (sans WTC Towers)
[L] Midtown West flanked by the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings
[R] Looking east towards Queens
[L] Looking southeast towards Brooklyn (our hotel was just south of the MetLife building above Grand Central)
[R] Looking north towards Central Park and beyond
[L] The tri-level observation platforms are SO cool!
[R] Look! St Patrick's directly below us...
[L] Looking northeast towards the ritzy Upper East Side
[R] Looking west towards the sun setting over Nu Joyzee (Hoboken, anyone?)
[L] Looking north from Times Square - Wow!
[R] Looking south towards One Times Square where the ball drops every NY's eve
[L] One Times Square @ night
[R] The "New" 42nd Street @ night
On Sunday, we attended the Bastille Day festivities on 60th in the Upper East Side. It was festive but not very interesting since they mostly had food (delicious food at that) and we were already stuffed from Nyonya. That didn't stop us from eating our way through the desserts on offer - Bouchon, with their sensational chocolate timbales, was particularly memorable even if they were $1 a piece (!). But who cares, Thomas Keller is a demigod. The famous Payard wanted $5 for their eclairs! Quelle horreur. I don't care how famous they are or how amazingly chocolatey or creamy their eclairs were, the thought of paying $5 for a pastry is coronary-inducing. We did fork out $5 for a bag of macaroons (at a dollar a piece! I'm totally in the wrong business) coz we just couldn't resist them. On the way to Wicked, we also ran into another festival on Madison Avenue. Weekends in NYC feature one festival after another.
[L] Central Park and the Time Warner Center in the distance
[R] Another festival on Madison Avenue
Our last meal in NYC was at Shaburi across the street from the hotel coz I saw shabu-shabu/sukiyaki and was instantly drawn to it. Mishima Tei (sensational Kyoto sukiyaki restaurant) it wasn't, and we weren't expecting it to be. But the sukiyaki was pretty good nonetheless. The prime beef paled in comparison to the Kobe beef the night before but that's what you get for eating the equivalent of Giant ice-cream after Ben & Jerry's. Also, and not that I'm being racist or anything but it was just disturbing to me that the entire *Japanese* restaurant was staffed by Chinese people. Weird.
OMB, isn't it funny how we had four Asian meals after Gordon Ramsay? I am such an Asian boy, giggle.
Our flight home was a chore. Our plane was sposed to come from Boston but they had wind shears there causing the arrival of the flight into LGA to be delayed by 2+ hours. In the meantime, USAir (aka Useless Airways) was as incompetent and customer-unfriendly as they come. The gate agents constantly lied to me ("your flight's not coming from Boston"... "oh, all delays are ATC delays"), and they were rude to just about anybody who went to talk to them ("you can either fly to Charlotte and overnight there at your own expense or spend another expensive night at a hotel here"); up to and including being rude to each other and just constantly bickering ("I'm already working overtime!"... "this is not my job and I ain't doing it"). Waaaa. It was pathetic and abysmal.
We finally took off 2 hours after our originally scheduled departure time. There were more snafus at DCA due to our delayed arrival - there is a 10pm curfew at DCA which means the airport is short-staffed from baggage handling to parking attendants after that time. We didn't get home till midnight, FIVE plus hours after we had left Manhattan.
I'm gonna take the bus the next time, LOL! (NOT). Or just plain walk considering all the eating I did (yes, I gained four pounds this past weekend :-p).
So, yea... It was a pretty uneventful Bastille Day weekend in NYC, n'est-ce pas? :-D @ 16:32
[kaiseki heaven] On Saturday night, we went to Sugiyama which is a kaiseki-style restaurant in Midtown West. They only serve kaiseki with prices on par with the kaiseki in Makoto, but we opted instead for the chef's selection (der) which was quite expensive but, as it turned out, sooooo worth it.
My initial impression when I walked in was, "this isn't Tokyo". Compared to Makoto, Sugiyama lacked ambience. Don't get me wrong, the decor was zen-tastic. I was just expecting to sit on uncomfortable wooden box chairs (Makoto) or on tatami mats (Sushi Taro). Nope, this was decidedly civilized.
And then the food came... And so did I.
[Left] The first course was a harbinger of a culinary feast unlike any other since we came back from Kyoto. (From R to L) The fried snapper was both crispy and flaky at the same time. The unbelievably sweet tomato was a perfect segue before the pièce de résistance - the tofu and ankimo (monkfish liver) combo. The ankimo was somehow mashed in with the tofu but still left the tofu perfectly silk and smooth. Each heavenly spoonful was a mini food orgasm. Sublime.
[Right] The second course was a sashimi course laced with gold leaf (!) to put all others to shame. As much as I love the Kumamoto oyster (bottom right), it paled in comparison to the giant clam, scallops, tuna, toro, kampachi (kinda like a yellowtail), red snapper (tai) and the sea urchin (uni). In that order, each delectably raw morsel crescendoed to mind-blowingly streaks of melts-in-your-mouth tai and piquant uni that made you shudder. Now, I'm not a big fan of uni to begin with. I think it stinks, to which Tony responds: "this coming from a man who eats durian, pfffttt". Well, my mind has officially been changed. Usually, I would save the toro for the last. But this time around, I couldn't decide if the tai or the uni would be my final taste of sashimi heaven. Sublime squared.
By now, I had thoroughly peed myself the food was so good... not to mention drowned myself in ridiculously expensive (more so than wine!) but stunningly good sake that Tony picked out.
[Left] The third course was no, not miso soup, but a fragrant clear soup with cilantro and some japanese herbs and a fish cake in it. Delish. Perfect palate cleanser in preparation for the "main course".
[Right] I just could not resist the Kobe beef on the menu! There was a $60 (!!) surcharge for the beef but I'll be damned if I didn't have some in a fabulous kaiseki restaurant. Lemme tell ya, whatever they're doing to these cows (daily shiatsu) or feeding them (beer and sake) in Japan, they just need to keep doing it coz they are OMB good. Me love cows laden with unsaturated fats long, long time!
[Left] I don't know why Tony didn't want to partake in the Kobe beef - "I already spent it on the sake" - but his was a seafood platter which was cooked in a fun little (very, Very) hot stone. It was very good as well, though nowhere near as orgasmic as the Kobe beef. Nonetheless, I think I'll go for the healthier seafood option next time.
[Right] I got to cook my yummy beef and mushwooms in a mini-wok. The beef was oh so tender and juicy and succulent and just plain meltingly good it made you want to cry. Divine.
[Left] As good as the beef was, it was the beef itself that was tasty, not anything the chef did. This fifth course of tempura soft shell crabs was holy-mother-of-everything-precious good. Tempura looks so simple (how hard is it to dip in batter and deep fry?) but good tempura is really, Really hard to come by. By now, we are obscenely full but this soft shell crab tempura was still just phenomenal. Chef Sugiyama is a genius. And the sake is making us very, very happy *giggle*.
[Right] Superbly tasty sticky rice (made with lots of love) with tsukemono (Japanese pickles) and the best miso soup this side of Tokyo! The perfect end to the perfect meal.
BTW, the service was excellent too.
Mmm, me hungry. Eat now. Lunchtime! @ 12:11
[14,000] Back in the good ol' days of the mid- to late-90s, the Dow crossed thousand-point milestones more than once a year - from 4,000 in 1995 to 9,000 by 1998. 1999 marked the height of the dot-com bubble with the Dow crossing 10,000 in March followed by 11,000 five weeks later, peaking at 11,722.98 on January 14, 2000 - a mark that will not be crossed again for another 6 years and 9 months.
Irrational exuberance indeed.
Our portfolio took a massive hit and it took just as long before it recovered to its 2000 levels. Seven looooong years.
Well, the Dow hit 12,000 in October of 2006 then breached 13,000 just 7 months later. Today, barely 3 months later, the Dow has crossed 14,000 for the first time ever.
This time, though, there's no pesky person at The Fed talking about overvalued shares or hyperinflated asset values. However, the subprime market collapse and the foreclosure explosion looms which, together, may drag down housing values further and the whole consumer-driven economy and stockmarket with them.
One can say that once bitten, twice shy. I ain't playing that ride-it-out game again if the market starts crashing.
When to sell, when to sell... Any ideas? @ 11:01
[sushi for two] Most of you don't care for and/or don't eat sushi at all. The ones that do really just love the taste of soy sauce ("can I have sushi with my soy sauce, please?").
But whatever... this article makes for an interesting read nonetheless.
Only coz it made me hungry!
Yes, I'm guilty of being a maguro- (tuna) and toro- (fatty tuna belly) lover myself. Did you know that 80% of world's bluefin tuna catch is used for sushi? So much so that a sushi grade bluefin can sell for $400/lb (!!).
I think I'm gonna start boycotting tuna... and toro. The former is somewhat easy (no more spicy tuna rolls? argh!) but the latter's gonna be harder than quitting smoking, me thinks.
OK, ne'ermind. I'm still gonna continue eating raw tuna. Yup, that boycott lasted for, oh, 2 minutes *giggle*
I ♥ sushi! @ 10:25
July 16, 2007
[w...hacked] I officially dislike the W The Court at 39th and Lex. No, I still love the W. In fact, I have loved every single W we've ever stayed in - N'awlins, Seoul, Union Sq, Mexico City... even the shoebox-sized rooms at the original W, just 10 short numbered blocks from The Court.
And true to W style, this one also had gay & lesbian porn in its DVD library... I mean, what's not to like, right? :-D
So why did I not like The Court? The air-conditioning is eff-ed up. The A/C unit in the room was one of those individual ones; not centralized. I know, how eff-ing ghetto is that? The thing worked perfectly fine - cool air and all - so no complaints there. It was just extremely noisy. Like, not I-can-get-used-to-it continuously noisy. But like, the damn thing shuts off when the desired temperature is reached and when the thing starts back up, it makes a sound only a garbage truck crashing through your bedroom door can make. It jarred you out of your sleep (alllll night) and makes for an extremely restless night.
And a sleepy Kiat is a grumpy Kiat and boy was I grumpy all day Saturday! Let's just say that Tony's #1 mission on Saturday was to find earplugs for me, *giggle*.
OMB, I just complained about the A/C of a perfectly contemporary and hip hotel. Gosh, do I just have nothing else to complain about? (*don't* answer that :-p)
Anyho, it has been a year since we had gone up to NYC (shocking, I know) and the last few times we'd been there, we'd stay on the West side - Westin Times Sq in Hells Kitchen, usually. I'm just so used to that location - the abundance of subway lines, the proximity to all the places we would normally go to, etc. Staying on the East side, we ended up cabbing back and forth between Midtown East and Midtown West constantly (cross-town subway lines don't work too well). The Lex area only has one subway line - the green one and it barely goes anywhere. The only thing good about The Court's location was the stone's throw distance from the Midtown Tunnel ($30 cab ride all-in to LGA!).
I miss the Westin Times Sq...
I miss New York! @ 23:18
[wicked awesome] So Wicked was, like, wicked cool. Yup, after repeated attempts by Tony to get me to go see it, I finally got us tickets to the Broadway production of Wicked - 16 rows from the stage - two days before the show itself! Hearing and reading all the glowing reviews from everybody and everywhere, I had been searching for seats for the past few weeks or so once I knew I was coming to NYC but this show is not just sold out, it is *com*pletely sold out. Like for weeks and months on end. I'm like, "how small is this theatre??" Kwazy.
Anyho, so there we were laying on the bed in our cozy, fun but irritating room with an even more annoyingly loud air-conditioning unit at the W after a flawless but unmemorable dinner at Gordon Ramsay (more about that later), I decided on a whim to go check for seats. Lo and behold, seats for the Sunday matinee opened up! I quickly bought it, not even thinking twice about the ridiculously overpriced tickets ($130/pp!).
So we get to the Gershwin Theatre and, lemme tell ya, this place is Massive. Every seat was taken. At a hundred plus a pop. Amazing. "This show better be good," I thought to myself. The theatre itself was plain and modern with a giant stage - a stage that would fit the most lavish and sumptuous musicals.
The massive stage in the Gershwin Theatre for Wicked (and the Emerald City in the center!)
90 minutes into the show, I left the theatre during intermission and all I kept saying was "WOW!". If ever there was such a thing as a Blockbuster musical, Wicked is it. If Hollywood was to produce a Broadway musical, Wicked would be its creation. This show was FAN-tastic. The songs were instantly hummable and catchy. The stage and the gigantic, ever-changing set were magnificent. But all this would've meant absolutely nothing had it not been for the jaw-dropping and goosebumps-inducing performance by the leads that played Elphaba and Glinda. Phe-no-me-nal.
Yes, I cried multiple times :-p
The storyline is both heartwarming and funny, drawing you into the quirky, out-of-place and, therefore, understandably evil character of Elphaba aka the Wicked Witch of the West - performed by powerhouse vocalist Julia Murney. Her solos and her duets with Glinda really brought the house down, bringing these two characters so powerfully to life you feel for them and root for them and laugh with them - so many genuinely LOL moments - and cry with them.
The first half ended triumphantly with many, Many moments of pure magic littered throughout. The second half was a little darker and, according to Tony, differed somewhat from the book. Plus, the "Hollywood" aspect of the musical went to great lengths to incorporate the Wizard of Oz movie into the musical further highlighting the glaring differences between the musical and the book of which it was based on. This annoyed me initially, but at the end, you leave wanting to see it again (well, at least I did).
In short, you absolutely must go see it. The storyline will suck you in and spit you out thoroughly entertained. You'll love it! @ 22:45
July 15, 2007
[a city so good...] ... they named it twice - New York, New York.
Posing in front of the Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock(efeller Center)!
Posing in front of Times Square at night!
We're here! I'm such a poser :-) (Be gentle... these pictures were taken from my camera phone :-p) @ 10:07 NYC
July 13, 2007
[don't drink and sauna I swear I have to get better at this pictures thing. Sometimes I wish I could put up pics directly from my phone but I just know that that's dangerous coz I'll be drunk-blogging and putting up inappropriate pictures (such as the one taken while 5 naked boys were in Rob/Mikko's sauna last weekend *gasp*... myself included *gasp*-squared).
Anyho... These pics were from Rob/Mikko's fabulous pre-summer vacation dinner party at their place. It just seems like everyone's (aka boys that have money and will travel) going off somewhere at some point this month and next so the gathering was quite appropriate considering our ridiculously hectic and busy travel schedules. Mikko cooked a super-fetch dinner, as usual, and the company was riotous... up to and including the, um, "sauna" incident.
What words of wisdom can I impart from my first ever sauna experience at Rob/Mikko's, let's see... OK, let's just say that going into the sauna, drunk, and dehydrating yourself that much more is *not* fetch. Couple that with consumption of (warm) champagne in the sauna is highly not recommended. If you find yourself unable to walk much less figure out where you live after that, don't say I didn't warn you :-D
Just don't drink and sauna, mmm-kay? That said, we all had a blast and we'd do it again in two secs... when they get back from France/Spain of course.
Anyho... the pics (and no, the infamous "naked sauna pic" is NOT included :-p):
[L] Sitting on our new front deck before Rob/Mikko's party (ugh, I look fat)
[R] David, Nick, Chuck, Patrick and Adam on our new front deck
[L] Mikko, our fabulous chef and host!
[R] Chris, Me and L'David @ Rob/Mikko's!
[L] Pretty in white...
[R] The new poster boy for crazy drunks, LOL!
[L] We love champagne long, Long time!
[R] We were sposed to act nonchalant in this picture... while loading up on more champagne!
[L] What happens after you pour it? You drink it, of course...
[R] Our close-up! Sweaty, pores, and all...
[L] Why are there so many pictures of us??
[R] Aww... don't they look like jailbait-cum-cell buddies together
[L] L'David and Rob, our hostess with the mostest!
[R] Why is Rob licking my ears? (see next)
[L] Why are they licking my toes?? Caution: This is what happens when you are drunk post-sauna...
[R] Can you guess which is whose? (Chris, L'David, Dan, Me)
[L] L'David and his fierce friend, Kelly, @ JR's Sunday
[R] Dan, L'David, Me and Kelly
So while we were seated at dinner, this Venezuelan guy sitting next to me and I strike up a convo.
VG:: When did you come here?
Me:: Ten years ago
VG:: Oh, that explains it
Me:: Huh?
VG:: Why your English is so good... You've been here since you were 10
LOL! I knew I could fool the white boys with "not looking my age", but I didn't know I could fool other minorities too.
And bitches, please... I definitely don't *look* 20, and I don't *want* to be 20.
25? Maybe :-D @ 15:37
[nuyawk, nuyawk] In about 5 hours, I'm gonna be on a jet plane to Nu Yawk Citay! Gosh, I can't even remember the last time I flown... when was that, last month?
Tony's been in NYC since Wednesday and I'm headed up there to join him for the weekend. It being the depth of summer, we managed to score (relatively) cheap rooms at the W on 39th and Lex (The Court, I think). I love the W (no, not dubya), though I haven't really been to The Court so this is gonna be new for me. Last night as I was checking in for my US Air shuttle flight to LaGuardia, I got offered to upgrade to First Class for $50. Fifty bucks! That's like two drinks in New York. So I took it, natch. I'll be damned if I'm gonna fly coach to NYC when I don't have to.
It's also Bastille Day weekend... OK, here's your edumacation for the day: Bastille Day aka Quatorze Juillet (14th of July) is the French Independence Day. It celebrates the day in 1789 when Parisians stormed the Bastille prison - symbol of the absolute and tyrannical power of Louis XVI - which marked the beginning of the French Revolution, the death of the monarchy, and the birth of the modern French Nation.
Anyho, NuYawkers love celebrating so there's gonna be a big Bastille Day celebration on 60th in the Upper East Side. I can't wait. The weather in New York is also sposed to be pleasant this weekend - 70s and 80s. Yay.
We're also going to Gordon Ramsay tonight. Yes, that crazy chef guy from Hell's Kitchen. Expectations are high. We haven't been to one of his restaurants in maybe 5 years and it was pee-down-your-right-leg amazing back then in London. When word spread that he was opening a restaurant in New York last Nov, I just couldn't wait to go. Ressies were impossible to come by, so we're stuck with a 9:45 slot which is fine anyway coz I don't get to NYC till 8. Incidentally, Gordon Ramsay in London is also the only restaurant in London (and one of only there in the UK) that has three Michelin stars. I hope I won't be disappointed!
Other than that, my agenda for the weekend is pretty exhausting... shopping, shopping and more shopping! *giggle* I need a new tux for the cruise in Nov. I also need to prowl through Zara and H&M plus all the other good stores that you can only find in NYC (like G-Star, Kenneth Cole flagship, etc.). In short, the only thing that will be exhausted by the weekend's end is my credit card :-D
We also have a kaiseki dinner at Sugiyama on Saturday night which should be either uber-fabulous or shockingly disappointing compared to Kyoto ten months ago. We'll see. What wasn't disappointing was the mouth-watering, melts-in-your-mouth-toro-sashimi omakase dinner that Chris and I had at Sushi Taro last night.
I had forgotten how good it was - or could be - and last night just reinforced to me what a genius Pancho-san is when he's dishing up his omakase aka "chef's menu" (omakase means "entrust" i.e. entrusting the chef to serve you whatever he pleases). Zen-sa-tion-al.
Me love Japanese food long, Long time. Sake it to me, baby! *giggle* @ 14:36
July 12, 2007
[office pics] In case you're wondering what my office looks like...
My office space on the 7th floor!
Check out my view... I can see Aaron! And *squint* Jason!
Tony helped me put together this collage of box-framed postcards from Malaysia
Neat, huh? :-) @ 15:04
[babysitter for hire] Check this out:
One of my co-workers brought his entire family (6 kids!) to work yesterday and we all went out to lunch. I gave this little kid a piggyback ride for THREE whole blocks from the office to the lunch place. Yup, you read that right - Kiat doing manual labor. He was way too adorable to say no to. He wasn't heavy at all. The hard part was making sure he didn't fall! I'm terrified of dropping babies/kids, etc. AND he not only messed up my hair (um, why do you think I carry hair gel with me wherever I go?), he kept using my ears as a steering device i.e. he would yank on the left one if he wanted me to turn left, etc. My ear were *so* red.
At one point he asked me if I had a son so that he could have a playdate with him, LOL! When I said no, he was like, "are you a teenager?" Awww, he made my day!
When we all had to get back to work, he refused to leave! Instead, he gripped onto my hand, refusing to let go, and insisted on coming back to work with me to the point of throwing a tantrum. His parents were *not* pleased, I'm sure.
What can I say... Even kids think I rock. I'm irresistible :-D It did help that I not only gave him a piggyback ride, I also gave him money to buy root beer and ice cream. I know, I would be *such* a bad parent, lol!
Who wants to hire me to be their babysitter? ;-) @ 14:59
[wardrobe malfunction(s)] I am going to sue my Korean dry cleaners (wait, aren't they all Korean?) for $54 million. That's right, I'm pissed and it's all their fault and I want to be compensated for emotional trauma, pain and suffering!!!
What, you are asking, could drama queen Kiat possibly cook up this time, pray tell?
See, I wanted to wear my pink shirt to work today (and unofficially make Thursdays Pink Shirt Day at the office i.e. if you don't wear pink, you can't sit with us) together with my fetch Zara white pants. Well, I get to the office - in a hurry, mind you, coz I'm perpetually hungover on Thursday mornings - and I realized there is a stain the size of Bolivia on the shoulder part of said pink shirt. And it smelt like it too, eww. Talk about *serious* wardrobe malfunction that would put Janet to shame.
But that's funny, I thought. I had just pulled the shirt out from the dry cleaner's hanger, plastic wrapping and all that. WTF, right? It should be sparkling clean! And this is not the first time this has happened! The last time it happened, it was at the beach and I didn't notice it until I had already gone to the clubs! It was tres embarrassing and uber annoying to say the least. Don't you think the embarrassment and annoyance alone is worth suing? I mean, seriously. Class action, of course, since I am probably not the only one. Those mofo's get away with murder, I tell you!
Mmm-hmm, can you say Drama with a capital D?
Obviously, I couldn't show up to the meeting with a stained pink shirt (my co-workers would maul me for that fashion faux pas), so I begged one of my co-workers to lend me one of the shirts in his stash in the lockers here. Dude is like 8" taller than me (standing up, not lying down :-p) and his shirts are, like, sized Large or some shit like that. Anyho, I picked out this striped J.Crew one (the only one that was mildly presentable *evil grin*) that was, like, size 16 - 16 1/2! I'm like, WTF? I can't wear that. That's, like, 2" bigger than my neck! And you know what they say about big necks...
Well, beggars can't be choosers so I put it on. The shirt went all the way down to my knees like jammies, the sleeves were equally long (dude has long arms), and the width of the shirt made it look like I was wearing a poncho or something. And I couldn't really tuck it in without looking like an A&F frat boy coz I wasn't wearing a belt! Looooord have Mercy. Yes, can you spell d-r-a-m-a?
Long story short, I wore it, tucked it in, went to my meeting, and recounted the whole story much to everyone's amusement.
Fast forward to lunchtime... We're sitting outside at Nooshi. The day is fabulous, the weather even more so. Said co-worker, whose shirt I was wearing, made a snide remark at me. There was a bottle of soy sauce on the table (low sodium, of course). I grabbed it, mimicked the action of pouring soy sauce on his shirt to "ruin" it. Guess what? The bottle was full. Soy sauce soaked through his shirt, my undershirt and all the way through to my skin. I know this sounds cliche but I smelt of soy sauce. Soy sauce all over my crotch area. I looked like I peed soy sauce or jizzed all over myself or something. I felt like a retard but my co-workers, of course, found the whole thing hillarious to the point of tears.
MOR-TI-FIED.
At that point, I just *had* to go home and change. Into a fabulous tan linen shirt and flowy white linen pants, of course. There was just no way I could go around wearing a stained *borrowed* shirt and soy-sauce-on-white-pants. No eff-ing way.
So that's the story of how I have gone through not one, not two, but THREE wardrobe changes today. And, dare I say, I look fetcher with each iteration ;-)
At least it's a beautiful day for multiple walks back and forth to the house, n'est-ce pas? @ 14:10
July 6, 2007
[08-08-08] Far more significant than 07-07-07 (IMHO) is the fact that yesterday marks 400 days before the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
The Opening Ceremonies of the Games of the XXIX (29th) Olympiad will be held on August 8th, 2008 at 8:08pm and 8 seconds i.e. 08-08-08 8:08:08. Eight, of course, is considered a very lucky number in Chinese culture; its pronunciation in Chinese is similar to "prosperity" and "wealth" (發).
When it comes to being superstitious, the Chinese have got y'all beat.
I *so* want to be there. But competing for two of the 91,000 seats in the "Bird's Nest" with China's 1.32bn people is almost a lost cause :-( 11:16
[07-07-07] Tomorrow is July 7th, 2007 or 07-07-07; whichever way you write it, Month first like the dumb Americans do or Date first like everybody else does.
Tomorrow is also Live Earth day - a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series that will take place in NYC, London, Jo'burg, Rio, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Hamburg... and, get this, Washington, DC!
Yup, Live Earth will be held at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian tomorrow at 10:30am with a rare performance by country-music power couple Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.
Yuck, why couldn't they get Madonna? Or Beyonce? *eyes rolling* @ 11:10
July 5, 2007
[hump day holiday] I have been sick for a whole friggin' week now! Grrr. This runny nose and cough thingie just won't go away *sigh*. I have been blowing (my nose) since last week and not in a good way.
None of that stop me from partying from Sunday through to last night though :-D I mean, what is one supposed to do with a middle of the week holiday, right? It's so eff-ing inconvenient. Who the eff thought up this holiday that occurs on a SET DATE every year anyway? Kwazy bitches.
Anyho... Sunday night, I just *had* to get out of the house. I had been sleeping on and off all weekend until late Sunday afternoon when I had had enough of nursing my cold. So we drove up Rock Creek Parkway to Picnic Area #9 for Brian's 29th Birthday BBQ Bash.
Initially, I was like, WTF? A party outside of the Boozey Manor? With *NO* booze? Shocking! Not to mention horrified at the idea of spending a sizzling mid-DC-summer day outside. My hair and makeup was already protesting the humid punishment.
Whatev... it took us 45 minutes to get there (!). Mmm-hmm, we got lost. In Rock Creek Park. Stop laughing. OK, Tony will say that *I* got lost. He told me to call to get directions but nooooo, I was too stubborn. Hi, my name is Kiat and I refuse to ask for directions. Instead, I drove us round and round, up and down the myriad of teeny tiny lil' roads in the park, trying to find #9. Ugh. Tony kept asking me to call but I stubbornly refused thinking that I could find this place at any moment now. Yea, like 45 minutes later after we had driven the entire length of the park. I am such a man when I want to be. My only consolation is that the day was nice, the sun was shining, the temperature was cool and the top was down. What could go wrong at that point right?
Yummy. That was, um, cranberry juice. That's it... cranberry juice ;-)
[L] The birthday boy!
[R] OMB, Taylor is, like, more than a whole head taller than me!
[L] He is one year younger than me. Sigh.
[R] I look like his Asian pet, LOL!
We weren't sposed to have liquor in the park but The Mean Girls found a way (as they always do when it comes to being boozey). The minor problem of the restrooms being quite a ways away meant that all of us had to drive back and forth to the next picnic area to go pee. We were also sposed to leave before dark but we were having so much fun that it was past 10 before we left the park. Drunk. A short (OK, *VERY* long) but squirmingly uncomfortable car ride later (let's just chalk it up to Drama with a capital "D"), we found ourselves morally obligated to make an appearance at JR's Sundays (der). And... we stayed till 1:30. On a Sunday night! :-o
PLUS I was sick. I woke up Monday morning feeling like I had just been hit by a bullet train. So I stayed home *giggle*. I called in sick (which I was) but I was actually hungover (very). I did go to work on Tuesday which was great coz work let out at 3pm! I was *so* ready to start my Independence Day fetch-tivities so we got together with Rob and Rachel and sat outside at Jack's for dinner and drinks.
The next stop will shock you to your last white trash cell: we went to Virginia :-o We joined Aaron, Blaise, Brett, Chad and Evan at Stars and Stripes in Crystal City for trivia. We kinda sucked. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst was losing to a bunch of straight teams. Ugh. That's what you get for leaving DC! After that, we met Gary/Adrian at Freddie's... yup, Northern Virginia's only gay bar. It wasn't as tragic as I thought it would be but it wasn't pretty either. Naturally, we didn't stay very long.
I had made grand plans to hit 80s night at Cobalt that night. Wednesday is almost never a holiday so I felt like it was a moral obligation (and my gay duty) to go to 80s night the day before the Fourth of July. Well, apparenty ALL of gay DC and half of the gay tourists in DC thought the same.
We left Freddie's and went to JR's. We could barely move in there, much less get a drink. I thought Cobalt would be better. WRONG. We were there at 11 and the line was already stretching down the block. There is *never* a line at Cobalt on 80s night (Tuesday night!). I was like, WTF? I had dragged some of my co-workers with me so at that point we just needed to tough it out and wait in line.
After we got inside, it was just pandemonium. We couldn't maneuver the crowds at 30 degrees so we decided to go upstairs and danced all night instead. The A/C was partially broken so everyone was pretty much melting. And it stunk. But we ran into *so* many people in there and had a phenomenal time nonetheless. The music was fierce but not as fierce as it usually is. I was super drunk and got home at 3:30am. I had not done 80s night in awhile so I totally needed it. So fetch!
[L] Pondering over tough trivia questions in Virginia (ick)... we came in 4th :-(
[R] Why am I on my belly with my bare feet in the air in the middle of a restaurant?
[L] Blaise, Brett, Me and Evan @ gay ol' Freddie's in VA (yes, Virginia!)
[R] Me and Gay-wee!
[L] Me and my co-workers - Serra and Denise - at 80s night at Cobalt!
[R] OMB, ruby red slippers salt and pepper shakers!! LOL!
I was (and still am) a little under the weather so I slept till 11+. I needed it. We rested pretty much all day on the Fourth until it started pouring at around 6pm. Fearing that the fireworks show might be cancelled due to the crazy on and off rainy weather, we decided to watch the fireworks from Chris' rooftop at Quincy Court on 10/L.
I was like, woohoo!, we're 11 stories up. Until I realized that there is an equally tall building (Ten Ten Mass) between us and the Washington Monument, grrr. You'll see it in all the pictures below. Anyho, we made the best of the crazy weather (it drizzled during the fireworks show) and the slightly obstructed rooftop view (with LOTS and lots of champagne *giggle*). All in all it was a fabulously good time, without getting wet or sitting on mud (like we did last year).
Pictures from last night's fireworks extravaganza in the nation's capital:
Party Girls, from L to R: Chris, Michelle, Tony, Eric, Patrick, Me and Adam
And then today, I joined Rob and Michael for lunch at Teatro Goldoni. Michael bought me lunch for my birthday (which was so two months ago), isn't that sweet? Well, it was either my birthday or my one-year anniversary at my current job (can you believe it's been a year??), take your pick. One bellini, bottle of wine and shots of limoncello later... I am stunned that my bosses at work didn't figure out that I was pretty much drunk all afternoon, LOL! Note to self: Take a half day off next time you have lunch with Michael *giggle*
My birthday panna cotta today @ Teatro with Michael and Rob
Another super-fetch and fun-filled weekend is just around the corner. Doesn't it seem like we just emerged from a weekend? Hump day holidays aren't so bad after all! @ 23:08
Fourth of July, 2007
[america celebrates] This is what the scene will be like in [L] Washington, DC (A Capital Fourth) and [R] New York City (Macy's Fourth of July).
Just to recap, here is the video (recorded with my Canon SD630) of the spectacular 3-minute finale to last year's fireworks display on the National Mall:
Fourth of July on the Mall 2006 (640 x 480) 49.5MB, 15-min download
Fourth of July on the Mall 2006 (320 x 240) 8.4MB, 3-min download
Happy 231st Birthday, America! @ 16:36
July 3, 2007
[mr margarita] My day is over, yay! Our office let us out early @ 3pm today in honor of Independence Day. And it's a gorgeous day to boot! Low 80s and no humidity. Totally fetch.
Appropriately enough for an upcoming holiday, I got this from Aaron today.
I need a margarita! Maybe that'll help kill off all the remaining germs in my body (yes, I'm still nursing this stupid cold). @ 15:06
[province of china] So, I just attended an online presentation and one of the slides had a list of countries blah blah. Anyho, one of the "countries" on there was listed as "Taiwan Province of China".
LOL! They won't be getting much sales in Taiwan with that slide, that's fer shhhure .
P/S: Just for the record, Taiwan *is* the 23rd Province of China ;-) Yes, I'm a commie, lol! @ 14:53
31 :: oriental eye exam
30 :: more pics
30 :: scanned pics
30 :: skanky humid dc
30 :: crack ho
26 :: fish and rice
26 :: the internet is for...
26 :: 11
26 :: stupid ass
23 :: i love sushi
23 :: hewlett-packard
20 :: pussy allergies
19 :: cock & pussy
19 :: like a rock, only dumber
18 :: loooooser
17 :: et cetera
17 :: kaiseki heaven
17 :: 14,000
17 :: sushi for two
16 :: w...hacked
16 :: wicked awesome
15 :: a city so good...
13 :: don't drink and sauna
13 :: nuyawk, nuyawk
12 :: office pics
12 :: babysitter for hire
12 :: wardrobe malfunction(s)
06 :: 08-08-08
06 :: 07-07-07
05 :: hump day holiday
04 :: america celebrates
03 :: mr margarita
03 :: province of china