A Bloody Anniversary

Me and my Petey Bear celebrated our anniversary this past weekend. It was great. He made me this terrible chicken curry dish and we traded gifts. We ended up vegging the whole weekend and rented a few movies.

First, I chose this random movie that was just released on DVD. It's called The Road and stars Viggo Mortenson. I scanned the synopsis and it was an apocalypse movie. Me and Peter love those kinds of movies so we grabbed it and put it on. Oh dear. It was pretty good. But it included terrible things like suicide, death, rape, cannibalism.... very depressing. Hm, not a great anniversary movie...

Next, I put The Box on. I always wanted to see the movie since I've seen the trailer. It was so mysterious! Well...that was the weirdest friggin' movie I've seen since Space Odyssey 2001! I still have no words to describe it. But again, it had things like suicide and death! Bah! Can we not escape it?!

After that, Peter wanted to watch Law Abiding Citizen because his friends kept telling him how good it was. Sigh.. Once again, it was good, but there was so much death and rape!! Why oh why!

All our movie choices were so terrible it was laughable!

On the bright side, at least it's a weekend we'll never forget. Literally, those movies were haunting...

No One Sippin' on Lemonade Here!

Mothers, Mothers, Mothers. What to say about ours? All I can do is shake my head. If you want a visual, she's teeny, has boy short hair, and has a Chinese accent.

Tara has recently informed me that the couple times she's asked my mom whether she likes my boyfriend or not, she's said the same thing:

"Aw, Peter. He does everything for her. Everything! She needs to learn how to do things for herself!"

I'm just putting the pieces together now and realizing that with my mom, first impressions are key when it comes to boyfriends. She gets an idea about them from the beginning and she sticks with it. Luckily with Huz, she always just said,"He is a good boy." Tina wasn't so lucky. She said, "He knows how to talk."

I realize now that I blew it in the beginning. I really wanted her to like him so I always told her things he did for us or the house, saying things like:

"Mommy! Look Peter mopped the floors after the bbq!"
"Guess what! Peter washed the car!"
"Peter already took out the garbage."
Peter, Peter, Peter

I forgot to mention that while he was washing the car, I was making him lunch. Or while he was mopping the floors, I was picking trash off the floor and wiping down tables.

I wasn't sippin' on lemonade, Mom!

Sigh... [Shake my head]

My Love/Hate Relationship with Coffee

Just like any ol' Joe off the block, I love coffee. It tastes delicious! It's warm, soothing aroma and its creamy, just-want-to-lick-your-mug taste gets me down to the bottom of my soul. Mm-mm!

But a few months ago, I've been connecting a couple dots that I never connected before. Once in a while, I'll have trouble sleeping. One time, after a day over Tina's house, I couldn't sleep until 6am. I was wide awake for hours in my bed. It was like torture! Since I had so long to think about things, I began to wonder why I couldn't sleep. Alas! The answer hit me like a ton of bricks. I had one of Tina's huge, but wonderful, cups of Cafe Du Monde coffee that day like I usually do when I go over! It all made sense!

Gawn darn it! Now I notice that even when I drink a cup of tea at 3pm, I have a bit of trouble falling asleep at 3am! Oh, the horror!

Well, all you readers should scroll down to the time right now. What time do you see? It's almost 6am (Idk why it says 5:30). Yep, it's happened, folks. The Caffeine Villain has struck again.

Tonight, I was participating in a 24-hour play competition at my college. They take writers, directors, and actors for the show. I signed up as a writer. At 8pm yesterday, all writers had to meet in the library basement of our school. It was there that we were told the theme of our play. From 8pm we were to begin the writing process until 4am. All night, they periodically threw a twist that we were to incorporate into our play. For the rest of the time, our plays are to be handed to directors so that the plays could be put on for the public at 8pm today on the dot, 24 hours later.

It was so much fun! But I kinda got overzealous and drank one cup of joe at 8pm and another at 12am... Why, oh, why Laura, did you do such a thing?

At 4:20am, I laid down for an hour in the dark, completely wide awake, and decided to give in and blog about my sorrows since I have nothing better to do until the caffeine wears off.... Sigh, the woe that is me :(


Update: I did not fall asleep until about 8:20am this morning and woke up around 10:45am. I'm feeling okay, not too tired! :) I didn't want to sleep too long anyway, so my sleep schedule won't get all wonky.

I Made $30 Brownies!

What the heck were in those brownies, you ask? Real fudge, cocoa, organic cane sugar, and flecks of gold? No, none of that actually. (And no, they were not "special" brownies either. Haha.) I wish I could say I made some spectacular gourmet brownies. But no, they were from a box, and they cost me lots of time and money. In the end, they were totally worth it...okay, not really. But they were still delicious.

Huz's birthday was last month, and all he asked for were brownies on his birthday. That night, I checked our cabinets, and the only box of brownies left was expired. I didn't make it, of course, though I did contemplate it for a second. In the end, I threw that box out. I felt like a terrible wife. So I vowed to make it up to him.

In anticipation of Valentine's Day, I made sure to buy two boxes. That day, while I was making the brownies, I remembered I had thrown our old metal pan away. All I had was a white ceramic pan, which I have never used for baking brownies and cakes before. But I figured it should work. Well, it totally ruined my brownies! They were undercooked and really gross. Huz wouldn't even eat it. So that batch was thrown out.

I finally got around to buying a new 9x13 metal pan. This past Saturday, I thought I'd surprise Huz and make brownies for him. I prepared them while he was still sleeping. The smell of chocolate wafted through the house. It even woke Huz up. He came down, and the first thing he said was "I smell chocolate." No "good morning" or "Hello, my love." Hmph.

After the brownies were done, I cut into them to give Huz a piece. And it was as hard as a rock! WTF. I looked at the directions and realized I looked at the wrong time. It didn't even have directions for a 9x13 pan like the other brownie mix did. I overcooked them! How the heck did this happen again?!? I threw it away today. And it was one giant hard rectangular cookie. Ugh!

Huz kept saying how I was toying with his emotions. Getting his hopes up and dashing them with shit brownies. (Not literally.)

Enough was enough! I was going to make brownies even if it killed me! Yesterday I bought another pan, but this time a 9x9. Bought two more boxes of brownies. Read the directions like ten times.

I finally made brownies that were edible today. Yay me! It only took a month, four boxes of brownies, and two new pans.

Piece a cake! Or should I say...

This Blizzard Just Might Kill Me (Part 2)

Huz went away on his yearly snowboard trip and was supposed to be back home yesterday. His flight got canceled, and whenever he changed his flight, that would be canceled. So it was a nightmare.

In any case, I had to shovel our car out, so, when he did eventually come back, I could go pick him up from the airport. I WAS NOT looking forward to that part. I did not want to shovel snow by myself. But I didn't really have a choice.

So yesterday afternoon, after the snow finally stopped falling, I decided to get a head start with the task. Shoveling wasn't so bad because the snow was fluffy and not very hard to shovel. After a few minutes, I went to go back inside to get something.

That was when I realized the door was locked.

I effing locked myself out! No Huz. No car keys. No phone. I only had a friggin' shovel on me!!

How did I lock myself out?? I walked out the house and, out of habit, I turned the lock. It was the worst feeling in the world...realizing my mistake.

I felt like the stupid person in the world!

I started to panic. I couldn't help thinking about the direness of my situation. My husband wasn't around. I was by myself. The blizzard just ended, and there was no way a locksmith was going to be open. And if one were, it would take them hours to get to me. I never gave anyone an extra key just in case. If I wasn't crying, I would have been laughing.

Luckily, a neighbor was outside shoveling and lent me his phone. I called Tina. And started bawling. I am usually a strong person. But at that moment, I really did feel both helpless and hopeless. I didn't know what to do!

My neighbor probably thought I was a whack-a-doodle.

Tina felt so bad for me. She said she was coming to get me right away. Of course, she had to shovel her car out first, and that was going to take forever. And she had to brave the roads, which were probably not all plowed yet. Ugh!

Even though Tina was coming for me, I still had to try to find a locksmith. My neighbor had a yellow pages app on his iPhone. So I tried the first locksmith listed in my area. However, I really thought it was going to be hopeless. But I had to try.

The phone rang a couple times, and someone actually picked up! Couldn't believe it. I told him the situation and asked if he could come out that day. He responded that he just needed to dust off his car a little and should be over in 15 minutes. I couldn't believe my luck.

I was the luckiest unluckiest person ever! First losing my car and finding my car the night before. And then this.

While waiting for the locksmith to come, I continued shoveling, which is what I was going to do anyway. Before I was even finished, he came and let me in.

It was a hell of a weekend. But I came out unscathed...only just with a little less money in my pocket. But that's not bad at all. I can't complain.

This Blizzard Just Might Kill Me (Part 1)

I had plans with a friend last night that I didn't want to cancel. Plus I didn't believe that the weather was going to be as bad as they say. Blizzard? Yeah right. My firm even closed early in anticipation of the snow. I laughed! Like really. The snow was purportedly supposed to start in the afternoon. There wasn't any snow even when I left work.

At my friend's house, we made and ate dinner, and it still hadn't started snowing yet. We even started a movie, and still no snow. Then later in the night, we finally see it. There was already 2-3 inches on the ground. I for some reason wasn't worried. Bah, whatever, I thought. Let's finish watching the movie, and then I'll head out.

By the time I left his house, there was a lot more snow on the ground. I was walking to my car to drive home. But there was only one problem. My car was gone.

I didn't realize I parked on a snow emergency route. All cars on that road had been towed. My friend said that they sometimes just move the car to another street. I really hoped that was the case because the alternative was a lot worse--that my car was impounded, which would really effing suck.

So we set out in search of my car. I pressed my car alarm every time I saw a silver car. "Here car car," I said. We only walked a few blocks, and I had a sort of feeling about this one street. So I insisted we try it. The next moment, I heard the sweet sound of my car alarm. Yes!!

However, by this time, the snow was really falling. I knew the ride home was not going to be fun. I didn't live very close either. Probably more than 30 miles away.

I drove not one minute before I realized that driving home was probably a baaaaddd idea. But I was determined to get home. I wanted desperately to be home.

I also wanted to live, so I took my time. I didn't drive any faster than 30 mph. Yes, I realize that is slow. But I didn't want to risk going any faster.

My heart was pounding. My palms were sweaty, and my body was rigid. I was a nervous wreck. Slowly but surely, I made my way home. I made it alive!! I only had to endure one long tortuous hour of terror, stress, and every other horrible emotion you can imagine. But I was home!!

All I could think was, "That was the stupidest thing I've ever f**king done!" Never again.

You'd think I was done doing stupid things. Well, then you'd be wrong. The story unfortunately doesn't end there.

Stranger on the Train

You know those people who meet people everywhere they go. Like in line at the coffee shop or the corner store. Or at the bus stop or supermarket. Well, I wish I could say I was one of those people. But I am definitely not. Sure, I smile and respond when a stranger says hello or makes a comment. I'm not rude. But this is how I see it. I am never going to see you again. I don't know you, and you don't know me. I already have enough friends who I don't even have enough time for, so what's the point, right?

This is particularly true when I travel. I am totally anti-social. I don't want to talk to anyone. I just want to catch up on my novel or listen to my ipod. I don't want to be bothered.

But for the first time, I regret my bad attitude.

Last night I was traveling home by Amtrak train with two of my co-workers. We sat at one of those four seaters that face each other. A young woman was sitting on the fourth seat, and we sat ourselves down in the three empty seats. After such a long day, we all wanted to enjoy a nice cold beer. The stranger overheard and wanted in. So for an hour or so, we were all drinking, talking, and having a good time. She told us all about herself--that she just broke up with her boyfriend and started a new job. My co-workers even tried to hook her up with someone we know from work. It was all in good fun. She even mentioned that she would hang out with us if we were ever back in her city. She was really cool and friendly.

It was just me and her chatting at the end because my co-workers got off an earlier stop. The whole time I was thinking whether I should ask for her contact information. Would it be completely pointless? Will anything really come out of it? Do I really want to pursue a friendship with this girl I just met?

Then my stop came, and we said our good-byes. I hopped off the train and immediately regretted that I didn't get her information. Ugh! I suck! Why can't I just be nice to a stranger? What is wrong with me?

I know her name though. It's Betsy. It was really nice knowing you, stranger on the train.

Procrastination Is the Christmas Way

Ah. Christmas is almost upon us. It's the time of year for joy and love. But also a time for major procrastination. Droves of people were planning on hitting the malls and stores this weekend. But what they didn't plan for was...mounds of snow to stop them! A fuggin' blizzard. The biggest one in December...like ever. WTF! Doesn't Mother Nature know that we need to shop!? That Christmas is almost here?

Knowing that we were getting lots of snow today, Huz and I went to Target at 11p last night. A lot of people did the same. Target was friggin' crowded at midnight. Haha. I had to buy my little niece's birthday present, and her party was supposed to be today. Tehe. And I had to pick up giftcards and holiday cards for our staff at work. Done and done.

But we didn't get the most important thing. A shovel!

Instead, we woke up today at 11a and went out in search of one. We tried three places, and each place had run out. Also, at each place and at the exact same time, there were three other people looking for shovels too. Haha. We weren't even the only dummies who waited the last possible minute to buy a shovel.

I'll also like to note that we have lived at our house for three winters, and we still don't have a shovel. How the hell is that possible?

As a last resort, we bought a small flat shovel from Home Depot. It's going to be fun shoveling our cars out tomorrow. Note the sarcasm.

Damnit, why'd we procrastinate!?!

What About Flip Flops?!?

A lot of people may not know this about me, but I turned into quite a germaphobe over the years. The commercial about toilet cleaners where they zoom in on the germs skeeves me out. Laura makes fun of me about it. I wash my hands constantly and sometimes have to ask my husband to do the same. "Did you wash your hands when you came home?" "Did you wash your hands after you took the trash out?" "Did you wash your hands at all today?" Sometimes to mess with me, he says no and then proceeds to wipe his germy hands all over my arms and face, whilst I am screaming. Then he'd say he did wash them. Not cool...

So I love wearing flip flops. I liked them before they were everywhere. It is one of my favorite things about summer. I think they are comfortable, goes perfectly with my casual style, and is just easy. Then I read the most horrible article today, titled "Can Your Flip Flops Kill You?" The tagline is "Summer footwear harbor more than 18,000 bacteria, including deadly germ." BUHHHH!! If I had really thought about it, I would have guessed. Flip flops are worn to places they probably should not be and, hence the name, flips up stuff I'd rather not think about. Ahhh, my flip flops are going to kill me! I gotta go right now and disinfect my flip flops immediately. Ack! Okay, I am not really going to...my laziness won out. But I will be SERIOUSLY thinking about it!

Good-bye, Babydolls?

I am at an age and far along enough in my marriage that everyone and their mother want to see me pregnant. Tina and Laura say it all the time. I even get it from Carmen, Tina's six-year-old! (She wants cousins to play with.) Every time we visit my mother-in-law, she gently touches my belly and asks me if I am pregnant yet. That is awkward. Plus I don't like my belly being touched! So it appears that my family and my husband's family are on baby watch. It's kinda like the paparazzi every time they think they see a "baby bump." They go in a frenzy.

So what does this have to do with babydolls? Everything! I love babydoll shirts and dresses. It is all I've worn this summer. I think it is flattering. Well, I thought it was...until my husband's granny saw me in a babydoll dress. She remarked that my stomach looked big and then demanded to know whether I was pregnant. I denied it, and she accused me of lying. I denied it again, and she threatened that I better not be lying! OMG! I was self-conscious all day after that. So I learned my lesson. Babydoll dresses + crazy family that wants me to be pregnant ≠ a good time. So the next time I saw my husband's family, I told my husband I have to look skinny! So I wore a black dress with an A-line silhouette. And they actually commented that I look like I lost weight. I hadn't, of course. But I felt victorious. Win one for Tara. However, my cousin-in-law made the mistake of wearing a babydoll dress that day. And she got the "ARE YOU PREGNANT?" exclamation. She has two beautiful sons...leave her alone!

So will I give up babydolls? No, of course not! I love them. They are comfortable. I don't feel compelled to suck in my tummy all day long. They are awesome! Plus, my husband said that when I do finally become pregnant, I have tons of cute outfits already. Win two for Tara!

Late Night Turns into the Crappiest Day Ever

I traveled out to LA for work on Monday. I was up early around 5am, so I had a pretty full day. I had also planned to meet up with a friend that night for a few drinks. I was thinking I'll meet him at 7p and be in bed by 9pm. I had an early flight the next morning and had to wake up at 4a. So that was probably the smart plan, right? Well, it didn't turn out quite that way.

When I met up with my friend, I was already two martinis in and a bit "happy." I ordered two more drinks at the bar, both margaritas. Then my friend wanted to go to another bar. You can imagine I was very agreeable by this point. So we went and there I ordered a vodka tonic. By the time I got back to my hotel, I was dead tired and had to wake up in two hours. So I took what was basically a nap and headed to the airport. It was effing awful! Traveling while drunk/hungover...not good. I felt crappy all day! I still haven't fully recovered.

What the hell was I thinking? I'm not young anymore. I don't have the quick recovery time I had in my twenties. A few years ago, it would have been nothing. Now a late night ruins my whole week. I noticed a few changes after I hit 30 (truthfully even before that). But it's not just clicking knees and back pain, now I've discovered I can't hold my liquor as well as I used to. Take my youthful good looks but not my propensity for vodka! Cheers to that!

WTF Moment

This past weekend, we 3 sisters enjoyed a rare girls' day out. Basically, that just means we didn't have the little ones with us. We decided to shop and go to the beach. Tina actually bought some stuff...poor girl never gets to go shopping. However, she just can't get away from the color green--it's her favorite. Laura and I are trying to get her to branch out. Slowly but surely, I guess. After that we had an early dinner and set off to the beach. The day was going great. At the beach, Laura waded in the water while we watched from the shore. (It was ice cold...brrrr...) We huddled together on beach towels and chatted about random stuff, made fun of each other, and just enjoyed the company...the usual. Then Laura wanted to find the perfect shell for her boyfriend. So we went searching. Then the grossest thing happened to me...ever!! I stepped in something while walking. It was something mushy and got right between my toes. I was wiggling them to get whatever it was out. When that didn't work, I used my fingers. And found out it was gum!! I started squealing uncontrollably.

Some...people...are...just...so...disgusting!! How can you spit out gum at the beach?!? People walk barefoot there! It was recently chewed, so it was incredibly sticky and hard to get out. I had to walk around with some leftover gum residue between my toes all night until I got home. That was in someone else's mouth...chewed up and spittle-y. Yuck!!

I have stepped on too much gum in my life. (But never barefoot until yesterday.) So you people out there who leave your gum just anywhere...someone always steps in it. And somehow it always ends up being me! Be kind, please keep that in mind. Thank you.

Hot Dogs

Today while walking in the city, I saw a dog left in the car with the window opened a crack. The temperature outside was over 80 degrees. And I don't even want to think about how hot it was in that car. Dog owners do this time and time again. People don't realize that leaving your dog in a hot car for even a few minutes is really dangerous. The temperature in the car rises exponentially and becomes like an oven. In just a few short minutes, the temperature inside the car can reach as much as 40 degrees above the temperature outside. It is even worse when the car is sitting in the sun like the one I saw today. Poor poor doggie.

Furthermore, dogs overheat more quickly than humans because they have fur and don't sweat. Dogs cool off by panting or blowing out heat, which is actually less effective. I also don't think people realize that there are also laws against leaving dogs in the car in hot weather. So this is a warning for you ignorant pet owners. Please think before you bring your dog outside in hot weather. And think twice about leaving your dog in the car during the summer. It is animal cruelty.

Mopeds: A Must in Oahu!

We rented mopeds in Oahu, and it was the best decision ever. I almost didn't rent one. I tried out our friend's moped, and it was a bit unwieldy. So I was hesitant to get one. Then we went to the moped rental store, and the guy refused to rent one to someone without any experience because someone else had just gotten into a bad accident that day. That, of course, didn't help my trepidation. I told my husband that it was bad mojo. Haha. So we debated going to another moped store for a few minutes, and my husband told me not to do it if I was afraid. But I didn't want us to miss out. And I didn't know it would be sooo much fun. I am so glad we tried it.

On the first day, I had a death grip on the moped handles. And mopeding (yeah, that's a word...look it up) in the city was kinda scary. After I relaxed a bit, I was able to enjoy the scenery around me. On the second day, we drove up this road called Tantalus Drive that went up and up a mountain. The views are gorgeous from up there. And it was fun going up and down the mountain. Mopeds are a must in Oahu because there are so many roads and places to go that are perfect for mopeds. (Chris, you must rent one! You will regret it if you don't!)

We had so much fun. But I did injure myself. =:::( On the way home, we stopped by a store to buy last minute gifts. So I had to get the kickstand down, which is actually really hard to do. You have to kick this heavy handle down and lift up the back of the moped. I was standing on the wrong side of the moped and too close to the muffler. And I burned my leg on it!! Wahh! It was really hot considering we had driven around all morning. I am okay though, but it looks worse than it is. Tina can't even look at it, or she'll vomit. Poor me.

Stereotype: Chinese Women Are Bad Drivers

I am offended when people assume I am a bad driver or are surprised when I can actually parallel park. I am a good driver, damnit. It's the damn stereotype that Chinese women are bad drivers. However, I can't argue with it when evidence is staring me in the face.

I was with my husband driving on the highway when, all of a sudden, the car in front of me swerved to the left (almost into the divider) and then changed to the right lane. That was strange, I thought. I passed the car and saw that the car was driven by a little Chinese lady with glasses. What the heck! Then my husband and I were laughing about how Chinese women can't drive. Then not 5 minutes later, a van that was supposed to yield to me drove right in front of me. I think the driver realized their mistake and just stopped! I was joking to my husband that it would be funny if it was a Chinese woman driving. So when we got a chance to pass the van, we both turned to see. And you guessed it! It was a little Chinese lady with glasses! Haha! What are the chances. Then it got me thinking of all the stupid things I've done on the road and of whether other drivers look at me and conclude that it's not just a stereotype. =(