Thank You

I have to say, I am somewhat surprised at the responses I have been getting lately. I hope I didn't give you guys a scare. It appears that my last two blogs may have given off a hint of down or depression in my mood lately, and I thank you for the nice thoughts and messages you have left me. That is very thoughtful of you, and I feel loved.

I do have to clarify, though, that I am not really down or depressed. I am just bored. I am working from home this week, with no projects going on, and it is driving me nuts as I am not used to this. With nothing going on, I have nothing really interesting to blog about. But I have so much time on my hands, so I decided to blog about the little annoyance with DMB. Maybe I shouldn't have used "Torn" as the title of that one, as that is highly exaggerated.

And then there was the Unfortunate Fortune Cookies. Hee hee... Truth be told, that is an old blog. Sometimes when I have time and my mind is churning information faster than I'd like to, I just sit down and type. I have a few other blogs in rough draft form that I have written but not posted yet. I want to save them up for times like this week where I have nothing to say due to my boredom. I have the one about my nicknames, one about why I blog, one about my life, and a very rough draft about Greg and Liz. I'll admit; the last one is only half a paragraph long! That won't be posted for months at least. Not until I can get that silly book from Amber.

I know this is sad, because I realize I blog a lot, but stranger that I have other written blogs saved up. LOL And the unfortunate fortune cookies one was a saved up blog. The two cookies that were referenced in that blog fell upon my hands a long time ago. The first was over two years ago, and the second one was at the end of last year. I was down then. But yesterday, I was reminded of the saved cookie blog when I went into P.F. Chang's. So when I got home, I tweaked it a little bit so I can bring in the story about Ln.Oi. and posted it.

So there you have it. The secret is out. I am addicted to blogging. Especially if you have rough drafts of other blogs. =) Oh, and don't forget, I will be publishing one that is a statistical analysis of my life in 2005. When will that come out? I have no clue. It's not easy to do mathematical crap, and I hate such stuff that I try to procrastinate. Ha ha. Alrighty, back to my boredom. And I just found out that I will be working from home next week too, without any projects. Yuck. But I have to work the next two weekends out of town. Now, that is depressing! ;-)

Post Script: If you are wondering about the "Not Unfortunate Looking" title, I think it is funny. I was tired of just "John" or "St Halcyon", so I decided to change it up. At first it was "Quarter Century Crisis", when I meant "Quarter-Life Crisis". I goofed that one up. So I changed it to "Having a Quarter Life Crisis" from that funny John Mayer song, but later realized it could have been misconstrued as me being a sad case. So I changed it to "Pretty Fly for a White Guy". I felt it was too long and not funny enough, because it is only funny to those who know that inside joke. Hence, the "Not Unfortunate Looking" one. It's like one of those sayings I have never heard of, like "Holy Buckets" or something like that. You just have to snort at the funny part of it, you know? So there you have it.

The Unfortunate Fortune Cookies

I hate fortune cookies. Sure, they are delicious. But each time I get one, it evokes the memory of the first time I have ever come to the United States and visited my uncle's Chinese restaurant. After dinner, he offered me one. My reaction drew laughter from everyone around the table, because I have this look as in, "What the hell is this?" I don't recall having any "fortune cookies" when I was in Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. And I am fairly certain that my family always had Chinese food every single time we go out to dinner as a family.

Okay, so that first encounter with the fortune cookie wasn't a bad one. It tasted good. But here is the reason why I have come to hate it. I know I don't believe in the crap about the lotto numbers at the back, or the fortunes foretold of this and that. But ever since my first experience with the fortune cookies, I have had two major setbacks that are tied to them.

Today was just another good ol' day. Everything was fine, until my being too nice did me in by agreeing to dinner with Ln.Oi. It's as if I really enjoy self-torture, and putting myself out there to be emotionally abused by this better-than-thou "friend." Ugh! Anyway, she could sense my not wholeheartedly wanting to be there, so after dinner, we parted ways. To some people, especially her friends, I would have been considered a mean person. But truth be told, she has hurt me in more ways than one that she's almost dead to me. But I just don't have the heart to say no when she called. And that goes with everybody and situation. I need to work on that.

Back to the point. I was still hungry after dinner, so I decided to go to a restaurant near her hotel and get food and drinks. As you can imagine through the topic of this blog, it's a Chinese restaurant. While feeling somewhat miserable, I just sat there half-assed-ly eating away to fill the hunger or momentary depression. And when that was done, what do I get? A fortune cookie! Which totally got me down all of a sudden. Why?

Most of the time when I get one, it is either funny or just plain not applicable to my life situation. But there were only two times where the fortune was so fitting and brought me to heights unbelievable. Unfortunately, those two fortunes have brought me down further in the days ensued than I have started without them. I know it's a piece of paper printed in a factory, but still, sometimes you hang onto hope and you're amazed by the mere coincidence of the timing with which you have stumbled upon. Has that ever happened to you?

Well, for me, I will never ever dine in a Chinese restaurant whenever I am at a critical junction in my life. It's not worth the pain that remembrance brings. And it's definitely not worth getting down again. I think twice is enough, and I can't bare the thought of a third time. In retrospect, I also think that it is entirely silly of me to hold such high superstition against something I am not superstitious of to begin with. Isn't that weird? So there you have it. My totally random thoughts for the day! =)

Torn

Most of you probably know that I’m a music fan; mostly of alternative rock and indie stuff. And then there are some of the bands that have gone mainstream that I still listen to, like Dave Matthews Band. I have been a Warehouse member for a number of years now, and I noticed a reminder on my Outlook Calendar (yes, I am a semi-geek) to renew my membership before tomorrow. If I don’t renew, I lose my seniority in the fan club.

As much as I love DMB, I have been a little bit disappointed with the band lately. I wasn’t exactly captivated by Stand Up, their latest full length record. Then last year, when I went to San Francisco to go see them at the SBC Park for their concert, I thought I had great seats as we were only a few sections to the right of home plate. When I got there, the stage was all the way in the back by the "bleachers" section, and the entire field was used for crazies who spent hundreds of dollars to be there. It certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.

And now, this is the first time I did NOT buy any tickets to any of their shows this year. The fan club ticketing period was a couple weeks ago and later extended for another week. I did not buy any tickets because they are not returning to Chicago this year. I used to go to the Kansas City concert as well every year, but it is just getting harder and harder to hit that one because they always play on a week night for that venue. The closest concert is in East Troy, WI. I thought about that one, but I couldn’t possibly drive two hours away to a show and have the capacity to drive back home tipsy. Is DMB doing this as a backlash to the lawsuit they faced here last summer? I don’t know, but I feel like Chicago fans are being unfairly punished. They always come to Tinley Park, but not this year. Ugh!

So that brings me back to the point. Should I renew my membership for another year? What benefits could I possibly gain from it? But at the same time, I do not want to lose my seniority. What a dilemma. I know, I know, there are worse things to worry about like world hunger, AIDS epidemic, the education system and human rights issues right here at home in the US of A. I fully understand that my frustration is pale in comparison to all those, but I still feel the need to share my feelings of being torn on this trivial issue with one of my favorite bands. Sigh...

My Political Corner Archival (from MySpace profile)

As I update the Political Corner section of MySpace profile, I'll archive the replaced cartoon in my blog for your review. Enjoy!

By Jeff Stahler (jstahler@dispatch.com), The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch

Yes Special

Tonight was a special night. We celebrated the "last" time the Roscoe Village girls get to hang out at Black Rock. I brought Shannon along, so that made it all the more fun. =)

Actually, I do NOT feel like blogging right now, but I’m only doing this to piss off Kathy! Ha ha ha...

Anyway, I was still hungry after the multitude of beers consumed, so I swung by McDonald’s {gasp!} and got myself a double filet-o-fish. Yuck. But I am hungry.

So I am now happy that I’m back to my old self. I actually had a decent amount of beer and I didn’t get drunk. I was starting to worry that in the past couple of weeks I have become a lightweight, since I got drunk easily after only a few. What was up with that?!?

I hope you enjoy this blog, Kathy! =P

Special Day (of unproductivity)

To my own amazement, I actually woke up today at 07:30. To my bigger surprise, I actually got cleaned up and dressed up! Whenever I work from home, I always wake up at 08:55, and just mosey my way around the house in my sleeping T-shirt and my boxers, hair disheveled and all. But today is different. I got my favorite pink dress shirt on, some nice black slacks, and did my hair. And no, I didn’t suddenly get the motivation from Shannon’s work-from-home-routine. =)

Some of you may have heard me refer to Sabine and Cesar once in a while. Well, they are my best friends here, and the reason why I moved to Chicago almost two years ago. I have known Sabine since 1999 from Southwest Missouri State University and Cesar since 2002. Honestly, he was the only boyfriend she has dated whom I approved overwhelmingly! Anyway, it has been pretty sad since Sabine moved to Miami for a better job over a year ago. Not just for me, but Cesar as well since he is still wrapping up school here in Chicago.

History of us aside, today is a special day. Sabine flew up this past weekend just for a few days, and I decided at the last minute to be a witness at their civil marriage today. Well, their marriage was also a sudden decision too. I mean, they have been engaged for way over a year now, and the wedding was set for this July. But because they’re moving to France later in the summer once Cesar graduates, they wanted to get the immigration process out of the way for Cesar. Sabine is French, and Cesar is an American born Mexican. It’s just too weird to see him lose his American citizenship and become one of them snobby French people! Ha ha ha... But now, instead of a wedding in July, they’ll have a huge wedding reception instead.

Anyway, so I went downtown to City Hall this morning, and for the first time, witnessed a quick civil marriage in a judge’s tiny office. Very weird. I’ve been in so many weddings where the whole thing has been grandeur, and this is a surprising process; one that is entirely new. And quicker than drive-through McDonald’s!

Afterwards, while they went to the French consulate to jumpstart the immigration paperwork, I decided to stick around to do my own errands, like filing for tax exemption on my property, address correction on my property PIN, city sticker, and other crap I have managed to procrastinate for almost a year now. It is such a novel idea that every public department is in a single building! Yet, somehow it is ridiculously segregated! I have to go here to do something, but then go another place to get something else, return to the original place with said procured item in hand, and the likes. Ugh! Crazy!!! And worst of all, I found out the hard way that the building is actually physically divided in two. So if you are on the third floor on one side, you can’t access the other half on the third floor. Now who designed this?!? I swear, City Hall is worse than that rat maze with the cheese in the middle!

Barring the little crazy errands that I had to do, Sabine, Cesar and I finally regrouped for lunch at the Italian Village. Yummy! We stayed there for a while, chatted, and joked. No worries to think about, at least for me work-wise. But I can only imagine Cesar’s feelings of desperation, as I could have sworn when the judge said, “I pronounce you husband and wife,” I heard a giant padlock slam shut, and the key tossed out into the lake! Hee hee hee...

All kidding aside, this has been one of the rare moments since Sabine moved to Miami where the three of us have actually spent some intimate time together. Just like the good old days. With the exception that Kitty isn’t around. Besides, I have now discovered that I am deadly allergic to cats, so Kitty’s absence was not an issue. =) But I miss her though. Or him. Hmm, after all these years, I never quite remember the gender of that cat.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The beautiful sunny day has turned into a dark, drizzly day, for it was already 15:15, and I have to ride the train back home while they go finalize the wedding cakes and the sorts for July. Sabine will be heading back to Miami tomorrow. And before long, I have realized that I have been counter-productive all day! I am just now starting to catch up with work, and it is already 17:00. And what do I do? Blog. Nice move there!

Well, one final good news turned up today though. I don’t have to travel this week! Again! Yippie! That’s such a great way to end the first quarter of 2006. Awesome! Now I just need to get rid of my dressed up clothing and return to being a bum after such an awesome meal with great wine! =) Oh yeah, did I forget to mention we had a bottle of wine ON TOP of not working all day today? Rock on!!!

One Man Wrecking Machine

Okay, so in my non-alcoholic drunken state from lack of sleep and such, I promise you this will be my last blog for the day, which seems like a blur from last Friday on. Is it really the end of the weekend? Sigh...

Anyway, I’ve been switching up the song on MySpace profile a little bit lately, but I’ve put off Guster’s new song for far too long. I can’t wait till the new album comes out during the summer, and especially when they announce the date to come back to Chicago. Nothing yet, but I’m hoping they’ll add Chicago to the list. I’ve got to get my Guster live concert fix after having to work last October in NYC. Oh, back to the point. Check out One Man Wrecking Machine on my profile. Awesome song!

Whoa! Holy Flying Tomatoes!

So I got home earlier today from work, and I was going on 28 hours straight without sleep. Sabine, Cesar and I decided at the last minute yesterday to meet up for Dim Sum at Chinatown once I return, because Sabine is in town from Miami for a few days. What a brilliant idea! Since we all have met Erin and Christine before and enjoy hanging out with them as well, I invited them. It was a blast. Food was yummy. Watching those little shrimp buggers go in your tummy. Ah, heaven. Then it was all washed down with some bubble tea from across the restaurant. Just like the way it has always been.

Anyway! After we split, we went to Fleet Feet so Christine could buy herself a pair of running shoes for the Shamrock. Dang, that place was packed with people. I guess spring ushered in sudden motivation for people to run again! I wish I have caught that motivation bug myself. But I did relent a little bit to the crazy madness that is the American economics of buying. I got myself a pair of arch support sole inserts. It took forever, because they only have just 50 different kinds to try out. I ended up getting the one Erin found. They were comfortable, but also had this ugly picture of an old dude with a stethoscope around his neck. What? My feet do not require his listening for any heartbeat, thank you.

Okay, I gotta stop digressing and get to the point. Sheesh! I got home, and while in the midst of text’ing, I fell asleep. That was so NOT the plan, because I didn’t want my sleep pattern to be all jacked up. But I’m glad I woke up at the time I did, because now I can catch Grey’s Anatomy on HD! I think I’m addicted to that show, if the first thing that came to my mind as soon as I woke up was TV. And food. Hmm, it’s almost time for the show too. Sweet! And what? Breastfeeding keep the weight off of women? Damn Desperate Housewives!

Update (21:03): Damn! It's a rerun. At least it's Into You Like a Train.

Another Reason Why I Hate O'Hare

People have sometimes asked me why I don't fly out of O'Hare, and persist their not understanding the reasons of my preference over Midway. Well, for one, O'Hare is not easily accessible by public transportation from where I live. Second, it is always crowded. Third, it is the nation's busiest airport, leading to constant delays departing and constant waiting to land. Fourth, the highway that you have to take to get there is constantly backed up with crazy traffic. And now, I have found yet another reason when I checked USA Today's front page article, which is quite fresh: Federal agencies to probe safety at O'Hare! Don't say I didn't warn you! =)

What a Glorious Morning

Okay, before you puke your guts out when you read my blog title, I do have to let you know that this is one of those rare moments where I am awake at such an ungodly hour on a weekend, especially a Sunday. Of course, I’m cheating a bit, because I have not gone to sleep since yesterday!

Thanks to Kathy and Amber, I was able to fly out to Traverse City yesterday afternoon, which I barely made it to O’Hare. I guess if I didn’t go out and drink with my buddies and wake up so late, this wouldn’t have happened. =) But I made it! Rock on!!!

I worked my little tail end off, and my project is 90% complete! Sweet! Of course, the expectation was to get only 50% of it done, but I can’t believe it! The client was happy. Trust me, so was I! And we didn’t run into issues where the system had to stay down after the downtime window. In fact, we were up six minutes ahead of schedule! Awesomeness right there!

But seeing that my client wanted to go home and they can’t let me be in the IT office by myself, they had to boot me out of the hospital. Hence my reason being at the airport this early and my flight leaves in about an hour and half. Sigh...

I guess I should look forward to this beautiful day, because yesterday Sabine called to let me know that she was in town for a few days! I guess we’ll be going on our traditional pilgrimage to Chinatown. Ha ha!

Well, for some odd reason, being busy and all that, I did find time before starting actual work to upload my pictures. Imagine that! =) The pictures from the Anti-war March is finally up, and you can check them out at this shutterfly share. And the pictures from Friday night can be seen here.

I guess now I’ll try to enjoy the little bit of free time I have before crashing hard on the plane. I just hope I don’t drool over myself, or lean my head on my neighbor, or anything embarrassing like that. After all, I already have four red stains on my jacket from Friday night, which I didn’t notice till yesterday! Oops!

As Kelly Would Always Say...

I am da-run-ka! She’s like the only person who would be brave enough to take a single syllable word and stretch it out to three syllables. But that’s cool. It is only a Friday night, and this is the second time I am a little over my head with the alcohol. Why? Cos I have to fly out to work on Saturday, so I celebrated early on Thursday! Bad idea though, cos I hate this crazy feeling. I can’t believe I’m like the first person to leave the crowd earlier. Matt, Maria, Erin, Christine and Shannon are probably still out at that crazy bar. And here I am, doing my best to blog a little while intoxicated. And shit! I left my car at Amber’s! Man, I just hope I can wake up in time to go get it. Otherwise, I hope that they don’t have street cleaning shit going on over there. I’d hate to see a boot on my car when I get back from work. Night!

PS: I look hot! I went and got my haircut after not doing it for four months. I like Erin’s hairdresser. She’s awesome. Only because I look smoking!!! =)

Un-effing-believable!

So! I witnessed a couple things today that just blew my mind. I was at BWI on my way back home to Chicago, and while waiting in the A boarding line for my Southwest flight, this lady totally cut in line in front of the lady ahead of me. I tapped her on the shoulder, and kindly told her that we were in line way before she got there, and her response? “Oh well.” WTF?!? I almost shat my pants right then and there. And the saddest part is that she didn’t cut in line where she had a big advantage. She actually cut off three people!!! Why even bother? Three people?!? She might as well just get to the end of the line! Oh, that really pissed me off.

When I got back home, I hung out with Amber in the evening. If you’re familiar with Chicago and the Wrigleyville area, you’d know that there’s a big police station near Addison and Lake Shore Dr. Anyway, after dinner and the bar, I drove home on Addison. As I got closer to where Erin lives, a block away from the station, I see a police cruiser in the middle of the street with its cherries on. This was around 1:00 in the morning. When I passed the cop, it turns out that he was right behind a car that was stopped in the middle of the street. And what did I see? The driver was passed out with the door open, his body leaning out, and a pool of puke on the street. WTF?!? First of all, you should NOT be drinking and driving! (Although at this point, I have no room to talk...) Secondly, if you’re going to be drinking and driving, do NOT drive by the big police station. And finally, if you feel like you’re going to pass out, drive into the alley! Sheesh. Un-effing-believable.

So yeah, that’s my day in brief. I am so glad to be back home. Yay!

My Political Corner Archival (from MySpace profile)

As I update the Political Corner section of MySpace profile, I'll archive the replaced cartoon in my blog for your review. Enjoy!

By Steve Breen, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Copley News Service

Dying of Diabetes

Okay. If I have to predict the way I’m going to kick the bucket, I think it is going to be of diabetes at a young age. Of course, I’m using “young” relatively here. Why, you ask, would I be thinking of such morbid thoughts? Simply put, junk food. It all started with last Wednesday, so let’s review.

Last Wednesday, I went out to dinner with my friend Ln.Oi. After dinner, I had a green tea ice cream. Strike one.

Last Thursday, I had a small dinner get together. On top of the food I cooked, or rather, nuclear disaster that I concocted, I had deep fried lumpiah. Granted, lumpiah isn’t necessarily a junk food, but that was the first time I’ve had deep fried food in a very long time. Strike two.

Last Friday, before going out, I had some ramen noodles. And then in the midst of celebrating St. Patrick’s day with the girls, I went to Chipotle in between bars and had TWO Burrito Bols! Strike three.

Last Saturday, while nursing my wicked hangover, I had pizza for lunch. I rarely eat pizza, and I consider that junk food. Then before heading out to the anti-war march, I had ramen noodles as a pre-dinner. Then that evening after the march, while having dinner with Erin and Christine at the Italian Village, I had a tiramisu and the rest of Christine’s Cannoli. Strike four.

On Sunday, after I got to D.C., I went to J.C. Ferrari’s for dinner, and there I had a Cannoli for dessert. Strike five.

Yesterday, Monday, I went to Chipotle for lunch, and had a Burrito Bol! Since that’s not enough, I went to Friendly’s, which is like a Steak & Shake that is local to the D.C. area, and had myself a strawberry double milk shake. Ouch. Strike six.

And that brings us to today, which is the rock bottom. I have never seen a Wendy’s that serve breakfast, and since I’m staying at the Sheraton (they don’t give out breakfast), I decided to try out Wendy’s on my way to work. I had an artery-clogging sausage and egg biscuit and hash browns for breakfast! Then after lunch, I’ve got this serious sweet tooth that just needs to be satisfied, I went to Target and bought myself a Kit Kat bar and a pint of Hagen Dasz ice cream. I finished the Kit Kat bar and polished off half of the ice cream. Ugh...

I decided that I need to be good for the rest of the day, so I planned on having Subway for dinner. Lo and behold, Brandon, one of my former roommates from when I was living in Kansas City, showed up at the client site where I’m working at this week! I have not seen the dude for like years, so we had to get together for dinner. And what did I get? A cholesterol-laden, buttery seafood platter! Damn!

And making matters worse, on my way back to the hotel, I decided to swing by Wendy’s and got myself a Frosty! Strike seven, eight, and nine all in one day!!!

What is wrong with me? Why do I love desserts, and why am I craving junk food? At this rate, I should be dying of diabetes and diabetes-related illnesses! Oh, I hope I’ll behave starting tomorrow. But we’ll see. =)

My Private Commemorative Day

I have to say, I am somewhat proud of myself for lasting through the day without incident. Today is a special day for me. Not because for some odd reason a lot of flights out to D.C. were sold out and full which forced me to depart uncommonly early at 14:00 this afternoon with just a few hours of sleep, or that upon arrival I went to J.C. Ferrari’s Italian Restaurant that is supposed to be authentic and awesome but surprisingly have Chicken Oriental Salad on their menu. March 19 has come to bear some significant meaning to my life, and I am glad I went through the day without incident.

March 19 deserves commemoration because I woke today, felt another way, and realized everything was going to be fine. I’m just bored; nothing is ever going to be the same anymore. And I’m free in my mind to fly. What a sigh of relief I can finally let out. Phew!

Well, nothing much happened today other than the travel, dinner, and a bit of television watching. I’m going to bed soon so I can catch up with my Z’s and be well refreshed for the week ahead. I am going to have a fun time here in D.C. I am so looking forward to Monday! Good night!

What do we want? When do we want it?

My my. What can I say? It surely has been one heck of an interesting week. It was my first non-travel week for 2006, too! Looking at my schedule, it looks like this is the only one I’ll get for Q1. Anyway, since I have not been blogging lately, this will serve as a quick summary. Of course quick is relative, as I type furiously fast, so the amount of words that come out of my mind is quite plentiful. =)

On Thursday I invited a few friends over for dinner at my place. It was somewhat of a special occasion, since it was my first non-travel week of the year, and also one of the first times where I have friends over at my place. I really don’t count Cesar and Sabine, since they have been here already when I was house shopping back in 2004. I also can’t count Erin and Christine for that Thanksgiving dinner last year, either. But honestly, it was my first time when I opened up my place to my friends. =)

Anyway, instead of cooking the safe, tried and true stuff, I ventured a little bit. I bought a new brand of green curry paste, and thought it would be a good day to try it, figuring that Thai green curry should be the same across the board. Big mistake. That thing was spicy to high heavens! I could not finish my serving of food, which is a practical first! Christine gave me the bird, thinking I was purposely trying to kill her {for her mom’s lumpiah}. Amber sniffled a lot, and I swear she might have cried here and there. And Kristen was being super polite and tried to grace it through. Man! I was embarrassed by that evening. Good thing Christine’s lumpiah saved the evening. Ha ha ha. Now I just hope I have not scared people off permanently from ever accepting another invite to my dinner parties. =)

Then I stayed up really late that night, thinking I didn’t have much to do the next day, since I work from home when I don’t travel. At around 4:30 in the morning on Friday, I was finally getting to bed. And that’s when I realized I had a freaking appointment with the allergist at 9:00! Ack! Sleeping a couple hours before heading out to be tortured sucked! But then, what sucked even more is the fact that after I was injected with all these known allergens under my skin, I had to sit still without scratching or even touching my injection site for twenty minutes! Normally that’s not a big deal, but within minutes, I had four huge bumps and redness across my arm. Apparently I am allergic to trees, ragweed, and grass. The fourth one was cats, but that was already a positive reaction from a previous test a month ago.

Have you ever had an itch so bad, but you can’t do anything about it for almost twenty minutes? That is what I call torture! I would much rather hold my piss in for a whole day than to watch four itching spots on my arm waiting to be scratched. It got so bad that after a while, my mind couldn’t even process where on my arm it’s itching. It felt like my upper arm, elbow and fingers were all itching. Damn! In fact, I think I’d be willing to go to Gitmo Bay instead as well! Ha ha.

After the torture, I went to have lunch with Erin. It was funny, cos she happened to be in downtown that day too. I have this "tradition" where whenever I’m at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, I’d call both Erin and Christine for either lunch if I have a doctor’s appointment in the morning, or dinner if the appointment is in the afternoon. Anyway, Christine couldn’t make it to lunch simply because she has a cool Irish boss who brought in lunch and a big bucket full of iced beer! Why can’t I work for someone that cool? ;-)

So that brings to the point that Friday was St. Patrick’s Day! Typically I don’t celebrate that day any more than just wearing some green stuff so I don’t get pinched in high school, but apparently quite a few people took the day off to celebrate by drinking at 10:00 in the morning! Holy smokes! Who does that? Apparently a lot. =) Well, after work, I decided to go hang out for a little bit. The plan was to go out and have a few, and then come home sober. Instead, I magically got drunk that night! The worst part is that I only had three beers, a scotch on the rocks, two Burrito Bols from Chipotle, and another three beers. That’s not a lot for a time span of five mere hours, but I got way more than just being tipsy! Of course I suspected that it must be due to the fact that I have not had anything to eat for days in the beginning of the week, which contributed to my intolerance to alcohol. Or maybe I threw in a kink with the scotch on the rocks in between beers? Who knows?

I woke up Saturday with a hefty hangover at Kathy and Amber’s. I vaguely remember asking Kathy for waffles or pancakes when she checked on me at dawn. I woke up later in the day and just chilled with Amber. That was nice and relaxing. After lengthy contemplation over what to do while wolfing down baked frozen pizza, I settled with the plan of doing absolutely nothing so that I can leave for DC on Sunday all rested.

Well, what do ya know? After getting home and showered, I found out that Erin was at the anti-war "parade." I didn’t join her as it was already started, but I went and joined the "parade" near the end of the route nonetheless. That was quite interesting. It certainly was bigger than the first anniversary protest I partook in Kansas City. That was far smaller. Here in Chicago, there were quite a lot of police officers from both the city and the state. Cool. But what was not cool was some lame officer shoulder checked me when I was standing there taking pictures of some anti-Bush poster. That was totally uncalled for!

After taking pictures of so many cool and creative posters, I finally met up with Erin and Christine for dinner. Again, this was supposed to be a relaxed evening of doing absolutely nothing. We went to the Italian Village and just hung out like we used to. I so needed that. But the tradeoff was that we sat there and chatted till midnight, after drinking a hundred cups of decaf coffee! Ha ha ha ha ha. That was cool, though. Just hanging out with my A.P. friends is always a treat! {Gangsta!}

Of course, it is almost five in the morning, and my flight to DC will be coming up shortly in the afternoon. But since I have not blogged for a while, I thought I should just extend my do-nothing-evening-that-turned-otherwise and do so. So here ya go! My apologies for the lack of fluidity in my thought process, as I just got done doing four loads of laundry and the many dishes from Thursday evening. Ha ha, I had to throw out the Thai curry. That was a nuclear disaster if there ever was one in a condo. =) Good night!

Venus and Mars. Blah!

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE: One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed.

Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."

I said "WHAT??!! What was that?!"

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear... "You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man." She then responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said lets get a pair for each outfit. We went onto the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you...she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis. I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey." She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation she finally said, "I think this is all, dear, let's go to the cashier."

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled "WHAT?"

I then said "honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman." And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either....but at least that bitch knows I'm smarter than her.


{Ha ha ha... My first joke in a blog! I hope I don't catch hell for this! =) Thanks Caroline for this funny one.}

Foggy Day

I don’t know what it is about today, but I’m just a tad bit unmotivated. Work is a little bit pressing, yet I managed to find time to watch the potato peeling video over and over again every now and then. And of course I discovered other nifty videos that I had to watch them too. How pathetic.

I knew I was going to be in town this week, and for some odd reason, this is one of the few weeks where the stars {some of them, anyway} aligned themselves to the point where Dan, a coworker of mine, who was my race partner for the Muddy Buddy Boulder 2005, is in town, and so are my friends Sandy {whose friend had the wedding this past weekend} and Ln.Oi. Ln.Oi. is a friend who I really don’t hang out with anymore, and some of you may remember her from this previous blog.

Anyway, given the tragedies that happened over the past weekend {of course, not everything over the weekend was a tragedy}, I didn’t feel like hanging out with any one of them. Showing them around Chicago and dining out are so far away from my mind that I’d rather be in this little fog I’m in instead. But Ln.Oi. kept persisting all day about dinner. I can only ignore her so much, so I finally relented shortly after 17:00, in the hopes that she would have given up and made plans of her own. It turned out that we did get together for dinner.

For reasons I can’t share, we had a very strange and bad history to our friendship. There was a fine line between stressful and awkwardness, and a good time, during dinner tonight. For the most part we avoided, or talked around, the bad parts of our past. Fortunately, we were able to open up and share our current individual problems that did not involve our troubled past. And what was revealed tonight was a big eye opener! Although I may be confused myself, I cannot imagine the state of mind she is in herself. My fog pales in comparison to hers. Apparently she’s dating a married guy, and she knew this all along from the first time they met. Or more like he is cheating on his wife with my friend many times, repeatedly. Hmm... And now she doesn’t know what to do, and asking for my opinion.

What was I supposed to do? I liked her before. Then immaturity and, dare I say, stupidity on her part broke that up. I was a bit crushed for the situation that happened then, but we have moved on. And now, this revelation about her comes to light. She knows I have a strong feeling about cheating, yet she brought this up. I know I shouldn’t say this, but I think I should feel blessed that she burned things up last November. Wait, where was I? Oh, my opinion. Well, I’m real thankful that I’m over her since last year, so it didn’t bother me to give her my honest opinion. Of course, she still doesn’t know what to do. So we just continue eating.

After dinner, we were kind of iffy about what to do next. Hoping that Amber would be at Black Rock, I thought maybe I could give her a call and hang out with her while both Ln.Oi. and I drink our fogs away. But darn it, she didn’t answer. Maybe she was at the hip hop class? Or watching a run of Sex and the City? Well, whatever the case may be, the indecisiveness turned from wanting to drink into being tired and just calling it a night.

That’s good, I have to say. I don’t know if I really wanted to spend any more time with her. And if Amber have answered, that would also mean revealing who Ln.Oi., and having the both meet each other. That would be a bit daunting. But the situation turned out for the best, and the decision right. So the rest of the ride to her place involved small talk. Something about her noticing that I didn’t eat half as much as I usually do. I told her it was due to my fog. And as we neared her place, she asked about places to eat on a Sunday night. As I went on and on with suggestions, she cut me short and added that it was going to be for her and her married boyfriend. Hmm... What am I supposed to say to that? I don’t want to encourage her pursuit, but I don’t want to judge either. But we got to her place. Whatever response she was hoping for, I didn’t oblige. Sigh. What a night. Probably should have just stayed home instead. =)

I gots to get that culinary tool!!!

Most, if not all, of you know that I am a food addict. Leave food in front of me, and I will show you the amazing food disappearing trick. Throughout high school, my friends have always called me the Food Disposer. If I’m out with a bunch of friends for dinner, and any one of them can’t finish their food and don’t plan on doggy bagging it, their food will not be safe, and will be considered my dessert! Many servers who work at restaurants I frequently patronize will know this. That is why I enjoy dating girls who can’t eat a whole lot. Hee hee, just kidding.

Alright, I digress. You see, in relation to food, far fewer of you know that I enjoy cooking. Whenever I am not home just for a day or so, I’ll try to cook. As much as I enjoy cooking, I have my limitations though. I will rarely cook meat at home. I don’t know what’s up with that, but maybe some of you with clinical psychiatric background may enlighten me with your Freudian theories. And I also don’t like to cook certain foods I love which require too much work. For example, cauliflower. How the heck do you cut those things? Broccoli is so much simpler to dissect, despite the fact that they look almost similar in build and stature. Then there’s the dreaded potato. I don’t like baked potato, but unfortunately, baked potato is the easiest way to make potatoes. I hate cooking it because of the peeling part! Come on, if you’re a cook, you’d agree, right?

Well, fright and stress no more!!! I found a link that showed you a cool new tool that will help you peel potatoes with ease. So much ease that you can do it in a single shot! What, what, what? You got that right! The total amount of time you actually spent physically peeling a potato is less than five seconds! Don’t believe me? I didn’t at first, either. But I hope I can convert you. So without further ado, click on this link so you, too, can learn how to peel a potato in a single shot under five seconds. AMAZING! I can finally enjoy potatoes at home! Now I just have to find a way to dice up cauliflowers; then my life will be holistic. =)

Something strange has befallen me

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I was really cold and shivering all day yesterday. Then around 15:00, I got really sick and pale. I was severely dehydrated despite the large quantity of water I drank, and I had a fever and headache. It was so bad that I had to wear a fleece pullover, long pants, open up all the heating vents, and cower up under the sheets in a fetal position. Even then, I was still feeling cold. I thought for sure that if it gets worse this morning, I would find a way to go to my doctor, or worse yet, the E.R.

Well, strange as it was, I actually woke up feeling better this morning. Granted, I had to wake up multiple times during the night feeling awful and drinking water, but I did get better this morning. Weird, huh? I’m not completely better, as I still don’t feel hungry. I know I should be craving food right now if I’m really better, since all I had yesterday was a granola bar and two bananas during the day, and four oranges for dinner. And all I had today was a banana, and I’m not hungry. But I don’t feel terribly sick either!

Of course, I told Amber that I suspected someone must have gotten a hold of a voodoo doll and cursed me, but then I said that while I was in pain and delusional. Now I know it’s just silly speak, but I wonder, does it have something to do with karma or something? Surely, this past weekend was the most painful weekend I had to endure, and all these enlightenment, or shall we say, realization, of so many different things was just too much for me to bear that physically I just got sick? I don’t know.

Okay, enough random babblings from me. I just want to let you know that I have finally posted the pictures of my Lake Tahoe ski trip online. It’s amazing, now that I have revisited the pictures. Nothing beats the beautiful, picturesque Lake Tahoe with snow around you. It certainly is a different kind of skiing experience, what with the huge lake in your view. Wow!!! Click here for the pictures! Enjoy!

Urges

I have no idea what is up with me, but the topic of The Last Samurai came up during brunch with Amber. I have seen the movie a couple times before, and it is not exactly a great movie or anything of that sort, but I have this urge to watch it! So after lunch, I went and got it at my somewhat far away neighborhood Blockbuster store. Of course, like many times before, I probably will end up not watching it, and then forget to return it by a certain date, and be charged a "nominal" fee for the late return. Ugh. I always do that! I remember this one time where I had a coupon for Hollywood Videos where you can rent up to five movies for 99 cents each, and I actually rented five movies. And how many did I end up watching? Just one. And this was when I was flying "home" to Kansas City about a year ago. Sigh...

And speaking of urges, I have an overwhelming sudden urge late last night to get really drunk. Of course the good John {if there ever is one} in me talked me out of it, so I just drove on home and caught up on the three episodes of CSI that I have missed. I guess I have not been watching much television lately, since I have a lot of other shows from multiple weeks that is still on my living room computer waiting to be watched and purged. And silly me, I got The Last Samurai on top of all that. Sheesh.

You know, sometimes I just wish I don't have a conscience. Or that I should be more like a normal guy, in the sense of being just like everybody else. You know, be a stereotypical guy; the kind that is ostracized by many book authors {i.e. Greg and Liz} and newspaper columnists. Apparently my being different from the rest is not easy for everybody. And should I feel guilty about being different from the rest? I don't know. But all I can say is that I feel like a big ass hole though. Which is why I was somewhat driven with the urge to drink last night. Sigh...

Well, the weather today looked nice, but then it got real cloudy and cold fast. I am glad I decided not to go to the South Side Irish Parade today. I still cannot bear the thought of drinking so early in the morning. Obviously I didn't read the evite details closely, because I thought we were all getting together some time in the afternoon for the parade. Nope; 9 AM. I have never woken up that early besides being coerced into it by some crazy race organizers. LOL In any case, it would have been fun to go watch this Chicago tradition though. Oh well...

Okay, tonight is going to be a fun night. I'll just kick back and relax, as another episode of Grey's Anatomy comes on. How did I become this silly TV junkie? They should produce less interesting and lower quality programming. Maybe that will be a good motivation for me. But then again, in this world of global economy, such a ridiculous idea is a flawed one for the network television industry. Ha ha ha.

Holy smokes! My bedroom just lit up real brightly. That was a lightning! I didn't know it was supposed to rain today! Weird. Well, I'm really glad that I don't have to travel this coming week. Nice!

Come Downstairs and Say Hello

My Political Corner Archival (from MySpace profile)

As I update the Political Corner section of MySpace profile, I'll archive the replaced cartoon in my blog for your review. Enjoy!

Walt Handelsman, Newsday

Eternal Sunshine on the Spotted Mind

Plan: After dinner, come home, floss and brush, turn off the alarm clocks, and sleep till whenever I feel like waking.
Reality: Six hours of sleep later, cell phone went off, home phone is ringing off the hook, and window cleaners started working {only six days late}.

Ack! I tried to go back to sleep, so I laid there in my comfy bed with eyes wide shut. But the sunlight is really bright, and I don’t have thick curtains in my condo. After about a couple hours of tossing and turning trying to catch some sleep, I finally gave up. I’m still tired and groggy, with a mind as clear as mud. Sigh... Hence my blogging right now. =)

Yesterday after work was just a low key night. I was supposed to get together with Christine, Erin and her crew for a free wine-tasting thing at the Field’s, but my slow moving arse prevented my meeting up with them for that. But we did meet up later on for dinner at Viagra Triangle. The place finally decided upon was Hugo’s Frog Bar. I have never been there, so I was a little giddy and excited while on the El.

The original plan was to go to Cru, but that restaurant has been closed down. With that, the crew did not want to wait before satiating their hunger, so at Hugo’s, they just grabbed one of the bar tables instead of waiting hours for an actual dining table. Which is great, because by the time I get there, I wouldn’t have to wait to feed the beast in me. Ha! Bar tables are generally small, and you can squeeze four people into it comfortably. But what actually ensued was us squeezing eight people into it. Dang! That was really tight. I’m glad the dude next to me didn’t eat! Ha ha ha. Unfortunately, with the table jam packed with stuff, we did manage to spill a glass of water and break the nice glass. Or, uhm, more like I tipped the glass over and shattered it. Oops. =P

Dinner was great, but pricey. More so than I wanted to pay or plan on. You see, I have never met Erin’s friend Sam. I think they may be dating. But in any case, since I arrived late, there was a bottle of wine opened. So I thought I would chip in on it. It turns out later on when figuring out the bill, that bottle I voluntarily chipped in and shared on the goods was a $60 bottle! What? I guess I learned a good lesson that night. If there’s an open bottle to be shared by all, make sure you ask how much it is first! =) I mean, I do like cabernet sauvignon, but if I am going to pay top dollar for wine, I would much rather spend it on Shiraz or Merlot of my own choice! OUCH! With my dozen of raw oysters, crab cake, seafood soup, wild Alaskan salmon {YUM!}, chip in of the wine and dessert {which was humongous!}, my bill came out to be a whopping $110! Holy buckets, Batman pants! Yeah... I mean, I can afford such meals once a week, and it is within my means, but I would much rather spend that kind of money on other stuff with closer friends. Erin, Christine and I are tight, but not when it’s with three people I have never met before. Ouch! Knowing how much of a high roller Sam is, I chose not to go to Dublin’s Irish Bar with them after dinner. I was full already, and I can’t imagine drinking another glass of anything! You should see how big the dessert was!

So I got home late on Thursday, and went to dinner with Amber. The weather was quite questionable, but I had a good time nevertheless. Or she did, considering that I was sweating like a sweaty dude eating all that spicy food. =) Then we ended the night at her main hangout dive--Black Rock. This is a bar to which I have heard many stories of, but never ever been to. All this time, I have mentally pictured this place as a small neighborhood dive, with a small capacity of holding no more than sixty patrons. When I walked in, it was huge! They actually have a lounge in the back, two pool tables, a kitchen, many tables and chairs, and a big, long bar! Whoa! That certainly was an interesting place. I can see why Amber loves that place. First off, it’s no more than a two minute walk away from her place, and second, every day of the week they have some sort of a $2 special. I wish I have a neighborhood bar just like that here where I live. I probably do, but I just don’t venture out by myself. Hee hee.

Oh... I was supposed to fly out to Arkansas yesterday for Jennifer’s wedding, but about two hours before my flight was to depart, I decided not to go. Life as a consultant has put me on the road for far too long, and I have this burning desire to stay home in Chicago. I know I will not be traveling next week, but I still wanted to stay in for this weekend. Could it be the South Side Parade that Kathy and Aarthi are setting up for an all day of drinking this Sunday be the motivation? Or the idea of hanging out with Erin and Christine on a Friday night instead of spending that exact time flying to Little Rock, then driving 200 miles to Bentonville? Or that I miss Amber, Kelly, Amy and the gang? Or how about all of the above? Whatever reason may be, I am just glad I am home. I can just stay cooped up at home all weekend, and I will be content.

Well, I have a date tonight. Perhaps I can also find time to do my taxes and submit reimbursement for health flex spending account for 2005. I’m such a procrastinator in matters like this. I know I have $2,000 waiting to be reimbursed, since that is the amount I elected for 2005, and I could have my hands on this cold cash since the middle of December, yet I somehow just put off spending an hour filling out a form and faxing over all the EOB’s and health receipts in. Come on! What is wrong with me? Last year, I bought the city sticker for my car about three months past due. And Chicago levies a heavy fee on you if you’re late on that, too! Again, how long does it take to go down to the corner store and get this all done? No more than fifteen minutes. Yet it took me three months! And last year, I submitted my tax return form in the late evening of April 15th over the web! Why do I do this? Maybe procrastination is something I should have addressed as a resolution for the not-new-anymore year? Hee hee...

Okay. I know this blog is getting long, but somehow, I am always quick with spitting out stuff on my mind. This only took me no more than fifteen minutes. Crazy, huh? Anyway, I only admitted my fault for being a big procrastinator in this blog instead of some other entry on its own, so that most of you will never get a chance to read it, assuming you got tired of the long blog. Ha ha ha. I’m sly, aren’t I? It’s just like how politicians attach in certain totally unrelated provisions to certain bills they pass in Congress and nobody ever seems to notice for the most part. Remember the security measure bill late last year which had a provision to open up drilling in Alaska? I was pissed off, but luckily it was caught before the bill went to W to be signed, and subsequently that provision was taken off. So yeah, that’s what I’m doing right now. Admitting my shortcomings in a public forum, but in a manner which I hope nobody will ever notice. I can’t say I was hiding my faults and shortcomings, and nobody can’t say I didn’t tell them. Ha! Eat that, Batman! ;-)

Okay, back to being in a state of spotted mind. And procrastinate no more!

MySpace "Pheeww-Eee" - Friday, March 10, 2006, 14:45

My, oh my! What a hectic week it has been. Or rather, two weeks, considering that I worked through the weekend. And Q1 is fast encroaching the burnout stage. And that means a big push to complete projects and collect signatures so we can ring in the revenue. Yay! Not.

Well, the highlight of this past week was not the fact that I have finally tasted the famed Maryland style lump crab cake, but that I have finally gotten to see my high school friend, Santi, for the first time since 1996 when we graduated from a little school in the middle of rural Indonesia called CJIMS. It was so great to catch up with her. But unfortunately, I have not had much sleep, DC was an hour away, that I wasn’t as perky and engaging as my usual self. And there was barely enough time to catch up on everything. I mean, we have not seen or talked to each other for ten years! Do you think a couple hours over dinner is ever sufficient? I’m glad to have recently found her on MySpace; otherwise, it would probably be another ten years before I get to see her!

While driving from Baltimore to DC, I was filling the void in my numb mind after intense work with reminiscent things we have gone through together while growing up and moving through this phase known as high school. It’s funny what she remembers the most about me is different than what I remember the most about her, or the specific experiences and the such. While driving, I thought about Mystic Pizza, the sleepovers, our other friends. It was a good memory, and it made the hour long drive feel like a breeze. But come on, it’s Santi, so even if it would have taken a couple hours to get to DC, I would have totally done it nonetheless.

Of course, being dog tired that I was, the ride home after dinner was way longer. I somehow missed my turn out of DC, and started heading towards Annapolis! I knew something was not right when the highway turned into eight lanes plus an HOV lane. I didn’t recall seeing that on the way in. It turns out 295, my intended route, was only labeled Washington Baltimore Parkway. How was I supposed to know that? Ha ha ha. But I could have easily avoided that little mishap if I wasn’t tired out of my mind. =)

Seeing that I was wrapping up my project in Baltimore, I knew I would not have another chance to be back again, so I made a point to go back to Legal Seafood restaurant and pamper myself. Well, that wasn’t the priority, but the fact that I needed to try this famed Maryland style lump crab cake. I could have gone to any restaurant in Inner Harbor, but I didn’t want to ruin the experience. So that’s why I chose the tried and true Legal Seafood. And oh my gosh! Forget the crab cakes I’ve ever had in the past. The formerly best crab cakes are now demoted! For starters, Maryland style lump crab cakes are not deep fried, and they are less fatty. Or it appeared so. And it is actually lumped with crab meat, not like a pate mooshed together into a patty and fried. And sooo delicious! Of course, this could have been skewed by being served at a well renowned seafood restaurant, but still, it is so damn yummy! If you have never had Maryland style lump crab cakes, you better go get them! It was like a little taste of heaven! Of course, I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re allergic to crustaceans or have problems with cholesterol! =)

Alrighty. It’s a Friday. It’s the weekend. Just a short few hours till I do some celebrating! Yay!

MySpace "The Flight That Almost Wasn’t" - Monday, March 06, 2006, 21:42

What a long week it has been, I'll tell ya! Thankfully I don't have that many readers on my blog; otherwise, my weeklong absence would totally be grounds for fan loss! =) Man, where do I even begin?

It was a dark and stormy night. Wait. Wrong story... Let's see; I got back home from Lake Tahoe about one in the morning of Tuesday, February 28. A short little nap preceded the trip to the doctor where I learned I was mildly allergic to some type of mold and seriously so to cats and dust. The rest of the day was spent on work before having dinner, followed by a little bit of a show-face moment at the Fat Tuesday Pub Crawl. If I didn't have to fly out to Petoskey on the butt crack of Wednesday dawn, I would have stayed longer, for it seemed to be a great time. You know it's a great time when Aarthi is going all wild and pouring beer down the back (unknowingly, of course).

That's where it all went downhill. After flying all morning on Wednesday, I worked till shortly past midnight. Then on Thursday, I worked till Friday, 2:30 in the morning, before I accidentally fell asleep in my work clothes without flossing and brushing my teeth. That still gives me the yibby jibbies. Since I didn't get the chance to set the alarm, I actually woke up around 9:00 on Friday. Oops! Apparently a lot of angry emails was floating around trying to figure out where the heck I was. Hee hee hee. If I wasn't a great guy who is very knowledgeable of so many different technologies and being really good at what I do, I am quite sure that little act, along with many other trivial ones in the past, would have been grounds for my being "let go." Ha ha ha.

Even after all that, I was able to get one system, the most important one, done and signed off before leaving. Yay! I love the rush. Of course, I was supposed to leave for the airport at 16:00 to catch my 17:00 flight, but what did I do? Leave exactly at 16:20! And I made the cut, too! SWEET! But my flight from Detroit to Chicago was delayed a bit, so that sucked a bit. Knowing a couple coworkers of mine were in Chicago for weekend work, I knew I could depend on them to get together for an impromptu dinner at the late hour I got home.

Nothing too exciting so far, right? But I had to fly out again Saturday afternoon to Traverse City, Michigan for an overnight work. Ugh. We were supposed to take down the hospital system from 12:30 till 6:30 in the morning, but a few things came up. Although I was done with my part by 6:30, other issues kept it down till 9:30. My flight back home was at 11:00, but I stayed a bit to help out. And what do ya know? I didn't leave the hospital till 10:35! I can honestly remember one other time when I was cutting it this close, and that was when I was in Oklahoma City. I made it to my flight that time. And surprisingly, this time too. Thank goodness for (one) the cop who I blew by driving fifteen over the limit through town who didn't turn around and pull me over, and (two) the snowstorm hitting Chicago that delayed my flight. Granted, I did make it to the security area at 10:52, but if the delay wasn't there, I'm sure I would not have been allowed on the plane since they require you to be boarded by some sort of a time limit. But yeah, I love living on the edge.

I got home Sunday afternoon so I could go home and pick up my luggage and head to Midway to fly out at 16:45, with just a few hours in town. Now, mind you, I had to fly out and back in to O'Hare whenever I go to Michigan; in case if you're wondering why I didn't just stay at the airport. Anyway, remember the snowstorm I mentioned? Well, apparently that severely delayed my flight to Baltimore as well... I guess it wasn't just my flight, but many others, considering how jam packed it was at the airport on Sunday and how nasty the snow was coming down.

My plane took a while to get to Chicago. But when it finally did, they boarded us nonetheless, despite the downpour of the snow. They shut the door. And this is where the unbelievable sequence of events unfolded. We just sat there. But it wasn't long before I heard a loud noise similar to driving your car through the car wash. Rightfully so, since I wouldn't want to fly out of there without deicing. Then I thought we could finally leave, so I shut my eyes finally; for the first time since being awake a couple days straight.

Then something woke me up about forty minutes later. Since I sat next to the wing, in front of the emergency exit row, which was a mistake as you can't recline your seat in front of said row; I looked out the window. What? I turned to my fellow traveler next to me, and asked, "We haven't flown yet?" That noise that woke me up was the deicing process! Apparently, the tower couldn't clear us for take off, so we just sat out there in the tarmac! And since thirty minutes have passed from the last time we deiced, we had to get deiced again!!! Nice. So I thought that we could finally leave by this time.

Nope! We just sat there. And sat. Finally, we are cleared for takeoff! Yay! But that little bit of joy was short lived. We needed to deice. Again. So we waited. And waited. The pilot explained that there were only two deicers servicing Midway that day. What? So we waited. Finally, by the time we got deiced for the third time, we taxied out to the runway. By this time, it was already 19:05, which is more than two hours past the original departure time.

"Flight attendants, prepare for takeoff!" cracked over the speakers. YES! The engines roared and came to life. The plane shook. I felt my body being pushed back against my seat. I felt I could finally fall asleep without any incident. Then, not even three seconds have passed, the pilot engaged the brakes and cut off the engine. I knew that was odd, but I didn't care for a second or so. Then my eyes opened really wide, pulled out my ear plugs, looked out the window, and listened carefully.

If you're like me who have flown pretty much weekly and read a lot of aviation news, you too would be scared too. What the average person doesn't realize is the frequency of airport close call incidents that occur monthly in this country's major airports. The few seconds after the pilot cut off the engine and hit the brakes was the moment I remembered what happened just a month or so ago at LAX. A flight controller had cleared a small plane to take off a runway, while at the same time giving a Southwest Airlines flight clearance to land on the same runway, while also giving another large jet clearance to cross the same exact runway. Lucky for the pilot in the small plane who pulled the brakes after noticing a 737 landing, for otherwise an accident would have happened. And that was the closest call in recent years at LAX ever!

You read this kind of stuff here and there, but you never thought that you might be in one of the planes involved. Sensing the chatter and the heightened state of awareness among the passengers, the pilot came back on and informed us that nothing horrible was about to happen, other than the fact that the controller gave us a last minute order to delay the takeoff. Phew! But wait. Why did the controller tell us to stop? When I unplugged my ear plugs, I didn't hear another plane landing or pulling an emergency full throttle either. But nothing horrific happened. So that's good!

Finally, our flight took off a few minutes after that. I got to Baltimore around 23:00, when I was supposed to be here at 19:15. Dang. I have planned to go have a nice dinner, watch Grey's Anatomy, then hit the sack. Instead, I was stuck wondering around downtown Baltimore looking for some sort of an eatery. M&S Grill was already closed; so was The Cheesecake Factory, the McDonald's around the corner, and the shady Chinese restaurant nearby. Damn, not only was I tired from not sleeping the last two days, but I was starving! Finally, I found a 7 Eleven store near the main drag where there were quite a few strip clubs. Hee hee. I got a "guaranteed fresh" meat pocket and a microwavable cup of soup.

I got back to the hotel, and proceeded to nuke up my chicken and dumplings soup. As soon as I hit the START button on the microwave, the room got dark. And silent. Darn! I blew the fuse! And of course, the hotel was booked full, and I got in really late. It took the staff about thirty minutes to find me another room to move too. So there I lay, in the dark, hungry with an opened cup of cold microwavable soup, waiting. After repacking and finally moving to another room and settling down, it was already past midnight. Sheesh!

So that leads me to the reason why I woke up at 10:00 this morning. Ha ha ha. It was already late, and I was supposed to be at the client site in the morning, but I said to myself, "What the hell." I'll just go to the corner café, and have myself a good breakfast after showering and all that nice stuff. It was noon, so I had to pay a dollar extra for breakfast items. But who cares! I got myself a big glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, a couple of pancakes {my absolute favorite breakfast item}, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a $1.50 extra egg, cooked sunny side up. Yeah, baby. I pampered myself! I deserved it. I don't care if my manager screams at me for being late, but I needed the John time after all I had gone through since last week! =)

Now, mind you, for the typical folk, this could easily be one of the worst weeks in one's life, but it wasn't really all that bad. I've had way worse. And all that didn't make me have a bad day or week either. In fact, I got really happy after I landed in Baltimore yesterday. Please don't ask me why, for I probably won't tell. But then again, the more I think about it, the more I realize that it wasn't anything worth being super happy about. All I could think about was Amber's little smirk and her telling me with her bible in hand, "I told you so!"

MySpace "...and the Mayhem plot subsides..." - Tuesday, February 28, 2006, 17:36

I have finally returned from my vacation, and back into this strange reality known as work and responsibilities. Huh. I got home shortly after one in the morning, and I had no inclination to check my email, much less do any kind of blogging. But I am finally somewhat caught up with my work email, and now in the midst of doing my laundry. And yours truly is back online! Ha ha!

After all the fun, alcohol and self-indulgence like eating Hagen Dasz coffee ice cream for breakfast has worn off, I am now tired and sore! In addition to the little nicks and bruises I found initially from all the little accidents from attempting crazy stunts in the terrain park and the woods between two runs, I actually found out that I am in much more pain than I thought. I have way more bruises than thought. And I discovered them when I sat down in the plane, and while walking. Nice!!! Actually, here's a little dirty secret. Maybe more dark than dirty. I actually wanted to break a small bone here or there. I wanted to go all out. You know, you're only young and agile once. Uhm, make that somewhat young and agile. I know I'm not as cool as when I was in my late teens or early twenties, that's for sure!

Ooo. And before I forget about this, I sat next to this really cool couple on my flight from Las Vegas (layover) back to Chicago. Bob and Pam. We had a lot of interesting conversation going on, and the strangest part is that they both were divorced and married each other for six years. Bob brought in two little girls, ages six and eight, and Pam had two almost grown boys, ages sixteen and eighteen. You would think that I have nothing in common with these two individuals, considering how far apart we are in our own respective lives, but we just clicked! Too bad I don't have a girlfriend where we can get together in the future for couples' night out. But oh well. I'm quite sure for them, they never get to go out with four kids under the roof.

You may be asking why I'm not in Petoskey right now. Well, I would much rather fly straight to work from Lake Tahoe at my client's expense, but I had a doctor's appointment. The mission? To find out what ails me so often. I thought it would only take an hour, but I actually spent all morning into noon time at this special doctor's office. No, not *that* kind of special. More like allergy and sinus stuff, because I have this chronic sinus infection. The good news is that surgery is going to be a last option. Yay!!! The bad news is that now we have to find out what's wrong. And the preliminary test they did today was to find out what I'm allergic to. Well, holy crap! I was surprised at the findings. You know how they do the preliminary tests, where they prick you with all sorts known allergens on your skin? I didn't think I would be allergic to any, but it turns out that I'm somewhat allergic to a specific type of mold, and violently allergic to cats and dust! What, what, what?!?

It is now revelation for me. Just like when you learn stuff about your ex-boyfriend now that totally explained his suspicious behaviors when you were together. It makes sense why my belly would get super itchy whenever I'm with a kitty. And the bump on my skin wasn't small either. You know, during these tests, they use two controls; a positive, which is basically histamine, and a negative, which is just saline water. It was obvious that I had a bump from the positive control, but the cat and dust pricks actually had bumps more than twice the positive controls! And I'm told that I can't scratch myself for fifteen minutes. And my left arm where they had the cat and dust pricks were itching to high heaven before three minutes have even elapsed!

This is bad news for me, that's for certain. I mean, it's great that I'm not allergic to dogs, my all time favorite, but I also like cats! I love Kitty, Sabine's little cat, and Electric Mayhem Psycho Kitty, Liz's cat. Darn! Well, I guess I ought to stop plotting my 7,926 step plan in kidnapping Mayhem. Boo... Oh well, it's good to know that now than later, huh? And now I can get back on my Zyrtec! Try being told not to take that for three days before your doctor's appointment. Don't you just love the feeling of a clogged up head?

Anyway, so that is what's going on with my life right now. And an early flight in the morning. I'm so tired, that I may have to become a party pooper and not go to the Fat Tuesday party. I don't know... We'll have to see when time rolls on by. Now I just hope I get the time to catch up on everybody else's blogs and their bulletins. That's quite a lot of reading. But I'm so ready to merge back into society! Ha ha ha.

MySpace "Taking a spill!" - Sunday, February 26, 2006, 21:50

I can't believe tonight's the last night of my vacation. Well, technically, tomorrow is the last night of my vacation, but that doesn't count when you spend the entire day flying from the west coast back to Chicago. But it'll be worth it, cos I'm coming home to all my friends, and there's a Fat Tuesday pub crawl happenin'! Yay!

So today, I did the unimaginable. We decided t to do a kickass terrain park. While we were on the top, excluding Derek, since he was a bit new on the skis, we just sat there waiting to grow our balls out. We let some kids go before us, right before we went, this kid in his skis hit the ramp, caught some good air, but was about half a foot short of the landing off ramp. His skis hit the lip, he snapped out, landed head first, and ate snow. But the funniest part was his skis got stuck at the edge of the off ramp. Funny as it sounded, it actually scared the shit out of me, cos I don't want to be that guy. And of course, I have never done a ten feet jump before.

So I told Reed to go before me. After all, he is in his snowboard, and had terrain experience a few years under his belt. Never mind the fact that he dislocated both his shoulders the last time around. He went. He picked up speed. He cleared it. But he landed with his toe edge, and ate snow! He smacked his head on the landing so hard that his hat and goggles popped off! And all this time, Chris was down there with the camcorder. That looked like it freaking hurt! And I'm to go after that! Nice...

I proceeded down the hill, picking up speed, thinking about the kid earlier. By golly, I'm going to clear that shit. I'm not going to eat any snow! Poof! I hit the ramp. Air. I caught air. The sheer exhilaration of the feeling was AWESOME! But then... I'm still in the air. Uhm, not cool You're not supposed to stay up there that long. Not only did I clear it, I went almost eight feet past the optimal landing. And I let out this huge wail, as if I just jumped off the bungee cord. I landed. On both feet. YES!!! I was so excited, that I brought my arms up in the air. A bit too fast. Which brought my torso off balance. Then I fell back, and wiped out! After doing such a kick-ass move! Damn! I tumbled and rolled. Cut myself on my left shin on my right ski which popped off, and rolled on my right side over it. It was so bad that it ripped my ski pass holder right off my jacket. Great! Now I have to take my jacket in to the dry cleaners to get it fixed. But the coolest part? Chris got it all on camera. I can't wait to watch it...

Alright. I'm a bit tipsy after downing a few scotches, then back to the condo and drink beer in the hot tub. So I better get done with this. Laters! Miss ya all! =)

MySpace "Lake Tahoe!" - Saturday, February 25, 2006, 00:35

Okay... I had a late night, and slept only a few hours before having to fly out to Reno. So far, Lake Tahoe is beautiful. It's just a shame that there hasn't been any fresh snow for the past week or so, and the snow is kinda melting. I checked a couple luggage, a 22" roller bag and a long snowboard bag with all my ski stuff. We had a layover in Phoenix, and guess what happened when I got to Reno. My oversized ski bag made it, but not my mere 22" roller bag. How messed up is that?

The drive to Lake Tahoe was quite awesome. Although the condo we're staying at does not have a great view, it's cheap, and has its own private hot tub. Rock on!!! While we were in the hot tub drinking beer and having our man talk, the Southwest Airlines luggage delivery dudes came. I have my stuff! Yay!

Of course, the good news after the bad news was promptly followed by another bad news. This is what I call another one of those J-Ho-isms. In my hurried state to get things packed yesterday, I somehow managed to forget my ski boots! The most important piece of equipment in any skiing activity! Of course, Derek has to rub it in by saying, "It's just me, and I don't know about you, but whenever I pack for a ski trip, one of the first things I take care of is the ski equipment." Ha ha ha. That was actually quite funny...

Okay, I'm drunk, and a bit dehydrated for sitting in a hot tub for almost two hours. So I need to go. I only got online to check the weather forecast to see how cold or hot it is going to be tomorrow. I need to get offline and SLEEP! Night, folks!!!

MySpace "Quickie" - Thursday, February 23, 2006, 00:34

It's 1:35 in the morning here in beautiful Petoskey, MI. And I just got back to the hotel from work. For those of you who consistently live (or more appropriately supplement) your life vicariously through my idiosyncracies as transposed in my blogs, I apologize for the lack of blogging. Please don't get me wrong--I do have a lot of things to say. I just don't have the time.

You see, I'm supposed to go on vacation this Friday to ski in Lake Tahoe, and that also means a shortened work week. But the project cannot wait, and there is a deadline. So what do I do? I worked long days and nights that would tally up to the same amount of work spent. And best of all? I think I'm almost done! Next week should be a cinch!

Anyway, I have so much to say, but can only elaborate briefly. So here goes:

Monday was a zombie day for me, for I have not had any sleep on Sunday night. That was the most painful flight I've ever taken. And of course, a couple client staff and I went about the afternoon doing something really immature. We walked by a hospital employee parking lot where we spotted a van that was packed with stuff. Toilet paper, soda, perishable foods, and raw meat. What the?!? We went back there again with my camera and took pictures of it. How funny is that? One of these days, I'll post the pictures for your review. Then that night, I slept early, and woke up really late on Tuesday. Oops!

Tuesday morning, I realized something that made me laugh when I woke up late. The lights were still on, and something next to my bed caught my eyes. Oh my gosh! This is very private, so it won't be blogged. I may share with a select few of you in person. Just remind me. ;-) And Tuesday night was a great night. I think.

On Wednesday, I did something really stupid while in the shower. Remember how I said once, or maybe twice, about how I like to think deep, random thoughts while taking a shower? Apparently, either by the deep thought process or there lack of, I somehow decided to wash my hair with my Nivea facial scrub. I stood there in the shower for a good few minutes, rubbing my hands through my hair (and pulling out a few too), wondering why it won't freaking lather. Hmm... I think that has happened to me twice. Good thing the facial scrub claims not to dry your skin out, so my hair shouldn't be that damaged. ;-)

I was quite busy during the day, but while taking my short lunch break, I decided to check out Google News. I am pissed. Very pissed! What the hell is W thinking of when he wants to strike a deal with a Dubai company to run our ports? My thoughts and opinions on this is more than a blog's worth, so I'll direct you to my good friend Chad's blog on this matter, as I pretty much share the same opinion. You can also read my comment about it in his blog. Maybe one day, I will share with you my opinions on this subject matter. But for Christ's sake, the presidency is not something a dimwit like W should be toying with! Ugh!!! This frustration is worse than going without sex for 40 years!

Finally... My eyes are dried and heavy. I have to wake up for a flight back to Chicago, so I can pack for Lake Tahoe. Woo hoo!!! Hopefully I don't break a bone. Or worse, tear my ACL. I'm kinda wary about my knees, considering the little IT band incident I had with the Arizona Marathon back last month. Granted, I ran that marathon with zero training, so that was an extreme situation.

Oh, and before I go, I've been doing some analysis on my life. Not psychological, but more statistical. I've always wanted to do something like this, but never had the chance. But I've been setting aside about 15 minutes each day for the past month or so to work on this. Hopefully, my results will be posted soon. It'll be called something similar to: A Statistical Analysis of My Life in 2005. And to give you a preview, it will center around three things: My personal life, travel, and work; as those are the three main things that are central to my focus.

Okidokie. Time for sleep! Loves!

MySpace "The thing about love songs..." - Monday, February 20, 2006, 02:18

Oh crap! I meant to say, "The thing about long songs!" Got your attention, didn't I? =) So I was doing my chores earlier in the day, and was supposed to have plans to go see Curious George with a few peeps. And before long, I have wasted a lot of time doing the dishes, singing to my imaginary sponge microphone, to O.A.R.'s live version of That Was a Crazy Game of Poker, as well as a few other cool songs. I have that on a loop, and the song is almost twenty minutes long! Anyway, it just boggles my mind that such a cool song can make you lose track of time. I don't know what it is about the thing with long songs. =)

Well, I did it again. I just got home some minutes ago, and it's almost 2:30. And gee, I have to wake up at 3:30 for a 6:00 flight! Have I become an insomniac? That ain't cool. I think I'm just going to pass out on the plane. Again. Maybe this time I won't drool all over my jacket. Hee hee.

Ooo... Guess what? I just found out tonight that I have a reputation! At first, the thought that I have a reputation itself was cool. Until I heard what the reputation was: John is a flirt. What? Where did that come from? That is a bit scary, but at least that's a cool reputation. A bit larger than life, and larger than the real me, but I'd rather take that rumored reputation than something like, say, John is really weird and creeps people out. Ha ha ha!

So it's officially five days away before I head on out to Lake Tahoe to ski with my buddies. That's cool! I can't believe I've held in my excitement till now. Well, I can say that there have been a few other things that were on my mind that kept me preoccupied. But oh well. I love skiing, and this will be a nice little break. Totally rad.

Hmm Why are my thoughts not so fluid and smooth? I don't know. My mind is not working. Again. ;-)

MySpace "Strange..." - Saturday, February 18, 2006, 01:06

Have you wondered that although you're not alone, you just feel lonely? Or that there's just that one poison ivy in your life, the secret little devil amongst your friends? Yeah, I wondered about that too. Or maybe I'm just drunk.

MySpace "Freaking Miracle!" - Saturday, February 18, 2006, 10:05

Okay, so I went to bed around one in the morning. And I unset all my alarm clocks, hoping to get a good night's sleep in for once this week. And whatcha know? I wake up at 8:30! Eight freaking thirty on a Saturday? And I have no race to go to, so this is a practical first! And this just means that I'll get to enjoy day light longer on a weekend for once in my life. Yay! What am I going to do? Gotta be something productive... This is so sweet!!!

MySpace "The Last Supper" - Thursday, February 16, 2006, 21:58

When I woke up this morning, I checked to see if there was any possibility I could switch my Friday flight to the Thursday one before the snowstorm arrived. Well, it turned out that the gazillion other traveling businessmen had the same brilliant idea. The flight was sold out. I figured, well, no point in trying to get on the 17:00 flight, since by then the storm would have blanketed us. And surely enough, the flight was cancelled. Hmm... So I worked late nonetheless. There was nothing I could do anyway. And this was my first experience with Michigan snow. They are fine and small, almost powdery, but they have a little bite to them. They sting when they hit you in the face. Although they look dry and fine, they are actually miniscule and wet! Yuck! You know, I wouldn't have minded being stuck here if I had my ski equipment and clothing with me! Ha ha ha...

So after work, not knowing if my flight tomorrow will be cancelled or delayed forever, I decided to go indulge in a good Italian dinner. Splurge. Enjoy the evening while snow just keeps on coming down like there's no tomorrow. God forbid, I might end up being stuck in the airport the entire day with no decent meal to be had. And the thought of my friends in Chicago having a blast while I'm stranded here in Petoskey with all hotels' NO VACANCY signs all lit up. Yeah. That would be the story of my life. LOL But seriously, I hope not, but I've been through worse. Whatever doesn't kill me just makes me stronger. {Can you scream BS any louder? Hee hee...}

I'm shocked to learn that the United States publicly condemned the SBS for releasing pictures of continuing abuse at Abu Ghraib, especially during a time of heightened Muslim sensitivity. Well hell! Do a freaking better job of NOT continuing to abuse prisoners, and maybe the Muslim community will not be so freaking pissed off at us. Ever thought that could be a pretty good step towards calming down all these world conflicts?

Now, I'm not partial to one way or another, but I have to say this. On the same token, the Muslim groups of people who are doing all the rioting and slayings should follow what they preach. I don't think killing people and torching innocent businesses that carry a Western sign is exactly very Islamic. Certainly, these people won't get their eighteen virgins when they die. Of course, this is not a general categorical blanket statement for all Muslims, but the ones who overreact and break their own beliefs. They should be ashamed, and be ridiculed of even calling themselves acting on behalf of Allah!

Hmm... Well, nothing much to say for tonight. I'm full from tonight's dinner and content. A little bit of merlot, some insalata di spinaci, pasta di pescatore, and some gelato di noche. Yum! {By the way, I was thinking of you, Amy, as I slowly let the gelato melt in my mouth as I savored the rich, heavenly flavor. Am I making you wet? [in the mouth; for all those with a gutter mind]? Don't you wish you're having some gelato yourself right now? =) } It's really funny. Petoskey is this tiny little town, yet they have quite a lot of million dollar houses from old money and the riches of the Motown haydays. And then there's this great Italian restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Well, I guess I shouldn't say Petoskey is nowhere, since it is Latitude 45.37 & Longitude -84.96. That's somewhere, right? ;-) Another week passes. Another weekend to look forward to. And another period of patience. And I definitely cannot have another near nervous breakdown like last night. Ha ha ha. Okay, good night!

MySpace "What just happened to me?" - Wednesday, February 15, 2006, 22:35

So everything was great. I worked late, but I plowed through all the technical issues that came before me. It was bitter cold. Even the news about a possible record snowstorm for this winter may hit Petoskey at midnight, lasting through Friday, did not deter my will. Granted, it would suck real bad if I get stranded here. But just right before I turned for bed, I decided to check my email one last time. And then for some reason or another, I decided to Google a little bit. What I found made me sick to my stomach. I didn't have much of a dinner, since all I had was a couple instant oatmeal (Maple & Brown Sugar flavor, if you must ask), and my hunger just went away. I don't enjoy a sudden feeling of loss and sadness.

There is so much information about people on the Internet! It was no wonder that someone was able to find me through my phone number a few weeks ago, which kinda spooked me. But in any case, the more I read from the search results, the more I was fascinated with it. But at the same time, there were some things I read that made me think to myself, "Was that a sign?" "Is that why he did it?" Don't get me wrong, as there were some facts I found out that were pretty neat. But what lingered the longest in my mind was the stuff I read that made me sad. Should I be worried? Unfortunately, Google doesn't have anything on me. Yet. But still...

I was okay, but now I'm feeling down. I should be in Chicago right now, having swirls with a couple of girls (you know who you are!) and watching flamingoes gather round for a huge orgy. But I don't drink during the weekdays. I don't know... Now I can't seem to forget about that day. That wonderful day. Damn. I feel like a referee, stuck in the review booth. But without the time limit. Just like in my dream. Where I was suspended in air looking at myself in bed. A future self of me, and I'm just watching. Wondering if I'm in a happy place or not in the future. But the dream wouldn't move on, for what seemed like an eternity. I could see myself stir in bed once in a while, so it wasn't frozen in time. I looked peaceful and content. But that still didn't give me any clue about whether I was happy in the future.

Why was I dreaming of my future self? Why didn't I float on by to something else? I hardly ever remember my dreams. I can honestly count less than all my fingers combined where my dreams were so bizarre and significant that I woke up remembering them in my head, even till today. Dreams from when I was a little kid till now. Less than ten! That's not a lot. And the only thing I know was the sound of a repetitive noise. And stirring to my senses, as I blacked out of the dream while watching my peaceful future self, I realized I was suddenly awake, staring at the ceiling.

My heart wasn't racing; nor was I sweating. But my eyes were wide open fast, and deep in my heart I felt anxiety without the anxiety. What does it mean? I hate it when this happens. Sure, someone once told me that dreams are mere figments of my imagination, but I don't go about imagining myself in the future sleeping peacefully. Nor do I imagine my younger self almost dating someone else for years or married. I don't do that during my waking moments. I may have, but not anything like that in the dreams. Maybe she's wrong about what dreams are.

Anyway, I'm feeling loss, with a touch of anxiety, and now sad and sickened. After getting through the day without feeling any of those since waking up. Hmm... Now let's think of something else. Yes, let's think about the possibility that I may be stranded in this forsaken place called Petoskey. It's actually quite beautiful, really... But thoughts of those are much better than the dream last night and the sudden loss I felt from all that wealth of information. Okay. Good night. And as my friend Kelly would always say--Uno Mas!

MySpace "Singles Awareness Day" - Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 22:07

Hmm... I woke up not realizing that it was Valentine's Day. I mean, I knew it was going to be a Tuesday, February 14, but it just wasn't the first thing that came up when I woke up. It was something else. But that's besides the point... I was good last night and went to bed at 23:30. But somehow I managed to wake up at 8:30! And I didn't show up at work till 10:00! Oops!!! I'm glad I work for a really cool client right now.

Well, I didn't think much about it when I just randomly grabbed my favorite pink dress shirt from the hangers after I showered in the morning. And it didn't dawn on me until a friend emailed me, saying that she was wearing all black in observance of today. I looked down, and thought, "Darn! I'm single, and I look like a freaking poster boy for this Valentine's Day!"

And of course, people had to bring in bagels, doughnuts, and lots of candy. Hmm... Let's take an inventory of what I had between breakfast and lunch. 5 peppermint patties, 13 Hershey Kisses, a few bags of those stupid heart shaped candies with silly things written on them like " I LUV U," 2 half doughnuts (I cut a lemon jelly doughnut in half thinking that would be it, but fifteen minutes later went back and had a half of some other doughnut), and a bagel. The redeeming fact? I didn't have any cream cheese with the bagel. Ha ha ha...

The client site I'm working at now has their IT offices in the basement of the hospital. That sucks, because there are no windows. And I have one of those little icons on my computer that tells me the current weather outside, and I was ecstatic to see that it actually got warmer than 32 degrees today! That was a much needed warmth to this tundra of a place called Petoskey. ;-) But of course, my spirits were somewhat dampened when the cleaning lady who came into the office emptying the trash can told me that there is this huge snowstorm coming in on Thursday and lasting through the weekend. Great! My flight is on Friday. I do NOT want to be stranded here in Petoskey. Maybe if I work late and long hours, I can try to get out of here by Thursday? I'm crossing all my fingers and toes!

Oh, and before I forget, I should also share with you that in the basement of the hospital is an invisible designated walking track. They have marked certain hall ways that make a huge loop, with a sign that indicates "3 laps = 1 mile." Or something like that. And along this walking track, they have speakers overhead for the public announcement system. The funny part is that they patch in music into these speakers. So during the day, since "my office" is adjacent to the walkway, I can hear the music. It has always been some cheesy music from the '80's, but this time around, all the music was love songs from the '80's! It drove me nuts! I guess they don't have an unlimited supply of music, so I would hear them six or seven times throughout the day! That's awful! I can only handle the theme song for Ghost at most once a day. But come on!!! LOL

I guess it's time for me to head to bed and relax. I'm just a little bit disappointed that I'm missing out on Aarthi's White Elephant Flower Exchange party. I wish I was there with them! I would very much like to get a plastic flower from Erin or something cheesy like that. Ha ha ha. Okay, good night, and tomorrow will be better if you were down today! =)