Deep Thoughts…Maybe

Stay (Faraway so Close) - u2
Lightning Crashes - Live
Just Heaven - Cure
Come Alive - Foo Fighters
Come Undone - Duran Duran
Read My Mind - The Killers
Dogs of L.A. - Liz Phair
Open Your Heart - Madonna
Given To Fly - Pearl Jam
Head Like a Hole - NIN

The toenail of my big toe on my right foot is coming off, slowly but surely. It’s pretty gross and I thought it deserved a mention here. It happened the last time I went snowboarding which I want to say was back in March or April. I’m pretty sure I injured it because I didn’t cut my toenails the night before so they were extra long on the day of snowboarding. And because I was constantly digging my feet into my snowboard boots, by the middle of the day I had developed a very sharp pain in my right foot. By the end of the day when I had taken off my boots to assess the damage, the toenail was black and bruised. It was a gorgeous sight.

This is a pretty gross entry.

This weekend, Tony and I headed up to Lake Shasta to go houseboating with a group of friends. The weather was gorgeous and the scenery even more so. It was nice just to unwind from the grueling week and a half at work and do absolutely nothing save for eating, basking in the sun, and sleeping.

Getting back into the swing of blogging is hard. I feel like I’m writing in spurts and not really having a clear train of thought. I suppose blogging is like riding a bike - you never really forget how. But at this moment - if we’re continuing with the bike analogy - I’m feeling a bit unsteady and wondering whether I’ll find my footing or just fall off the bike and not pick it up again. I’ll hope for the former.

I’ve become a recent convert to NBC’s The Office. I watched a handful of episodes from season 4 (the most recent season) and liked the show so much that I bought season 3 on DVD. I liked season 3 so much that I bought season 2. I think I’ll stop there because I heard season 1 was only so-so.

Hmm. I guess I’ll post this entry now.

On Friday, Tony and I went to eat at Dopo, an Italian restaurant located in North Oakland. The lemon ricotta zeppoles were heavenly. I’d go back there again just to eat the dessert.
Watched Sex ant the City on Saturday with Nina and Alice.

Brokeback Mountain is such a wonderful, powerful movie. As I do not have classes on Tuesdays, I went to catch the noon showing at the nearby movie theatre in my neighborhood today. There was hardly anyone there and I had the entire row to myself as a result. That turned out to be a good thing. I was tearing - actually, I was flat out crying - in some of the more moving scenes, and I’m glad that no one was sitting nearby to witness my histrionic display. I have not been this touched by a film in a long time. The last movie to have a similar effect on me was Schindler’s List (which came out more than a decade ago). I suppose the reason why the movie resonates with me - and with so many others who have watched this movie - is that loneliness - a recurring theme in the movie - is such a relatable feeling. And you don’t have to be a “gay cowboy” to understand what it feels like to be misunderstood, sad and lonely.

The weather here has been rather temperamental. Yesterday was gorgeous. It felt like we were in the middle of spring as opposed to the dead of winter - I shed both my coat and sweater so that I could sit out in Washington Square Park in between classes and bask in the warm sun. But today the gloomy, rainy weather resembles more of the New York winter days that I am used to. Oh well. All in all, we’ve been experiencing a rather mild winter thus far.

I am back in the Bay Area for my month-long winter break (how lucky am I?). This week, my girlfriend and I will be making a one day, snowboarding drive up to Tahoe. In preparation for this highly anticipated trip, I have already purchased a board and bindings and am eagerly waiting with bated breath to test my new equipment out on the slopes. The following week I will be going to Maui on a short 5 day trip with T. Then, I’ll be returning back home to NYC where I will be finishing up my last semester of school. How time flies.

I finished making a tarte tatin tonight (my very first one, thank you very much!). I took some liberties with the recipe by cutting the sugar by 1/4 cup, so hopefully the finished product will still be amenable to the tastebuds. The hardest part of the recipe came at the end when I had to flip the cooking pan upside down in order to get the tart onto a 12 inch serving platter. Sadly enough, my hands slipped in the first flipping attempt and the platter came crashing to the kitchen floor as a result. Fortunately enough, I was successful in the second attempt. I can’t wait to pack on some unnecessary pounds and try this tart later for dessert.

I am back with a slight vengeance. The vengeance is not at a 100% because truthfully, I’m not feeling very 100% myself. I got this nasty cold over the Thanksgiving break when I returned to CA and I think it just got exasperated on my red eye flight back home to NYC. Up until yesterday, I was treating my cold/cough with DayQuil but I immediately switched over to Robitussin-DM upon my sister’s recommendation (she swears by this medicine!) when I told her my symptoms. Hopefully the Robitussin will be better at supressing my cough. Otherwise, I might have to pay a dreaded visit to the NYU clinic.

It’s getting colder here (what update of mine wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the weather, eh?). Supposedly, we’ll be seeing some snow on Monday.

Truth be told, I have been lax with updates because I forgot the password to this website. T reset my password yesterday but in the process, had to reset the design over to the generic template. I’m kind of digging it though.

A birthday came and went. This year, I threw a joint b-day bash with a friend from b-school. We held it at PS450, a pretty swank lounge in Murray Hill (of all neighborhoods!). I suggested the lounge because my friend and I both live in Murray Hill and the lounge was therefore a close, stumbling distance home for both of us.

The fall semester is almost done and after next year, I’ll be packing my bags and heading back to the west coast. Time has gone by so quickly. I shall miss it here.

Last night I attended my cousin’s as well as two of her other friends’ birthday party. Not to deviate from the subject (nevermind, I’m going to), but do you think that the reason why there are so many birthdays in July is that couples like getting especially lovey-dovey during the winter season? Anyway, the party was held on top of the rooftop - or solarium as trendy New Yorkers like to call it - of a very chic new apartment building in the Financial District. The weather was just about right yesterday night. The 90 plus degree weather during the day time had cooled and left quite the comfortable, mild clime for the evening. We feasted on ribs, roasted chicken, potato salad, and cornbread catered from a local deli and indulged in chocolate mousse cake and homemade carrot cake for dessert. It was quite a lovely evening.

I feel like a friend might be angry at me for hanging out with one of his other friends who he isn’t on close terms with anymore after this other friend moved in with this girl that the first friend dated for a while. Wait - was that too confusing? Now I am confused. Let me reread this paragraph one more. Well, that’s as coherent as I can make it without giving any names. In any case, I feel like this past weekend I was caught in the middle of something that I didn’t want to be caught in. Poor me, no?

My favorite jeans lose their tightness after only a week of wear so I remedy this by subjecting these jeans to the wash and dry cycle at the end of each week. I’m creating more work for myself by washing and drying my jeans every week as a result (or do people typically wash jeans worn 1-2 times during the week every week anyway?), but I’ll sacrifice for the sake of fashion!

Hello. I’m addicted to ice coffee. The weather here is muggy, humid, and wet. If feels like Taiwan. Without all the Chinese people, of course. My mom will be coming to visit me in August. I hope my apartment is up to her standards. The last time she came to inspect an apartment of mine was when I recently moved into my Noe Valley apartment in San Francisco a few years ago. She hadn’t even entered my apartment yet, and the first thing she commented on when approaching my front door was, “Xiao-Hui, it smells like pot here.” I hadn’t even realized that my mom knew what pot smelled like. But she did - I’m so proud of her.

There are a number of birthdays coming up in July. I have no idea what to get anyone. What a pickle. The sun is out now. I like commenting on the weather. The blue sky is peeking out. Lazy summer days…

Last weekend my best friend E got married to her college sweetheart. It was a small and intimate wedding with just over a hundred people in attendance. I am so incredibly happy that she and P have finally tied the knot. I was also blessed to take part in the wedding last Saturday as a bridesmaid. However, I can’t help but feel that I didn’t shoulder enough responsibility when it came to helping out with the preparation up until Saturday and execution on the day of. Granted, the long distance was definitely a crutch, but there’s still a lingering doubt in my mind that I could have done more.

This weekend I’ll be flying into LA again for my cousin’s wedding (all these weddings this summer…when it rains it pours). And I’ll also be repeating the painful routine of flying the red eye back to JFK on Sunday night. It wouldn’t be so painful if I could actually catch some sleep on the plane.

I was snubbed tonight!

Got to watch U2 at the Continental in NJ yesterday night. It was such a terrific show. I was in the general admission section, right after the end of the ellipse. My ears are ringing still (forgot to bring earplugs) but I had such a fantastic night. When they sang Yahweh - the third to last song in their encore performance - all the band members came out onto the ellipse railing and stood no more than 3 feet away from me. Highlights for me were The Fly, Miracle Drug, The Ocean, and Running to Stand Still. I really wish that I had snuck in my digital camera last night because I was so close to them several times during the show.

My honey in Switzerland
My friend’s bridal shower

Today’s a very good day. I got the package that Anish sent to me by mail today - it contained the latest NIN CD - With Teeth - and a tin of Sushi Adhesive Bandages. They’re the cutest things. I’m thinking of purposely giving myself a paper cut just so that I may sport one. And even though I’ve two more finals to go in the two classes that I barely kept up with throughout this whole semester, I am a very happy camper right now. That is all.

Remember the pilot episode of Friends where Rachel proclaims: “They’re my new, ‘I don’t need a job…I’ve got great boots’ boots”? I need to get myself a pair.

I took the subway to Chinatown today because I was craving some cheap, Chinese vegetables (e.g. bok choy) that usually cost an arm and a leg at the Japanese or American grocery stores. After loading up on groceries at Dynasty, I went to Joe’s Shanghai to eat lunch. When I went in the restaurant, the only seating that the staff could provide me was at this rather large table that could easily fit six people. I was actually glad when another single diner came in shortly after me and the staff ushered him to my table as well. We struck up a conversation shortly after we both ordered our respective meals. I told him that I was a student still on holiday break. He told me that this was his first day of jury duty and that he didn’t have to report in until 2 pm. Conversation was touch and go in the beginning, but within 10 minutes we were chowing down on our pork soup dumplings and talking like good friends. I learned that he had moved to NYC from SF because of a girl and a job (mostly because of the girl though) and soon afterwards, he married the girl and bought a condo with her on the Upper East Side. I told him that I had also moved here from SF and we waxed nostalgic on the warm weather (warm compared to here, that is) back in the Bay Area. We talked of other things - T, my nephew, his younger sister in medical school, my older sister in part-time law school, snowboarding, how there are no good resorts here in NY. When we finished up our meals and were paying our bills, I realized that almost an hour and a half had passed and there were still things that we were chatting about. Sometimes, conversations with random strangers can be the best.

School starts next Monday. Already, two of my professors have e-mailed us letting us know of the homework that would be due come the start of class on Monday. I’ll probably wait until Sunday to look at my assignments. I find that I work well when I’m doing things at the last minute.

The bulb in my desk lamp has burned out!

I haven’t updated in a long while. In any case, Christmas and New Year’s came and went, and I found myself back in the Bay Area celebrating with my friends and family over the holidays. I got to see more of my nephew (literally - since he’s grown quite a bit since the last time I saw him in November) and during the extent of my stay, I had the chance to hold, feed, burp, and change him - quite the gamut of responsibilities, wouldn’t you agree?

This has been my godsend (thank you T and Jie). I honestly must say that I can’t imagine life without my iPod (scary, isn’t it?). It’s true what they say - all you need to survive in New York is a trench coat and iPod.

So, I might as well hop on the bandwagon and pronounce myself a Takeshi groupie. The guy’s related to me (albeit distantly - he’s a second cousin) so is it morally wrong for me to be fixated on him (probably)? Growing up, my sister and I paid little attention to his rising fame in Asia because to us, he always seemed a little too girly. But now, he’s quite the handsome devil. And FYI, the good looking genes run throughout the whole family.

Two finals done, two papers finished, one more final to go. I’m not very productive when studying at home, I’ve discovered. All the distracting elements - food, bed, music - are here for me to not ignore. I should have gone to campus today, but the weather outside looked so gloomy. It’s very cold here now. Are wearing ear muffs a fashion faux paux? It’s a silly question, but for some reason or other, I feel this slight pressure to still look fashionable in extreme, bitterly cold NY weather. My ears will just have to freeze then and suffer frost bite if it turns out that it’s just not *cool* to be wearing ear muffs. I’m only slightly kidding.

Yesterday when I was in the computer lab on campus writing my final marketing paper, one of my classmates came up to me and asked, “Are you okay?” a total of three times during the extent of our less than 10 minute conversation. I must have had this glum, morose look pasted on my face. Perhaps it is because writing is not my favorite activity to do. It is rather ironic that I write in this online journal. But yes, going back to writing. I’d rather be subjected to Shania Twain music than have to write. I’d rather stub my big toe and have it bleed a little (but just a little) than have to write. In fact, I’d rather give up caffeine for a whole half of a day (now that’s sacrifice, let me tell you) than have to subject myself to the travails of writing. Anyway, hopefully you get the picture, catch my drift, are down with it, etc.

I’m burning - no wait, perhaps I’m ripping - my Thievery Corporation onto my iTunes right now. Rip away, I say!

How sad. I missed U2’s surprise performance in Times Square today. There were rumors that the band would be performing in NYC, but the only clue that was given was that the band members - if they were to give a surprise performance in the city - would somehow “stop traffic.” And I suppose the fact that U2 performed on the back of a flatbed truck in the middle of Times Square midday today does qualify as stopping traffic. Had I known the whereabouts of this secret performance, I would have skipped out of my Firms and Markets class in a heartbeat to go see Bono, my heartthrob.

This past weekend my classmates helped ring in my 28th birthday. We went to Cho Dang Gol in K-town for dinner and then headed to Gaslight in the Meatpacking District for more drinks. There was a third bar after Gaslight, but memories of events subsequent to Gaslight are a bit cloudy. I had to call it a night after that third bar, but the majority of my friends continued partying into the wee hours of the morning.

Finally (most importantly), I am an aunt! I cannot wait to go home this Thanksgiving to see my nephew.

I am back, maybe. I am staring out of my window right now and it looks overcast and gloomy. I am supposed to go out tonight with some classmates of mine, but I do not have a Halloween costume. I will dress in the clothes that I typically wear to class and call it my “MBA student” costume. I am quite the creative genius.

I finished three midterms this past week, and I have one more to go this coming Friday. That, in addition to my honey flying in from the Bay Area that day, will be my light at the end of the tunnel.

Here’s me smiling. Sometimes I forget to smile in class. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t forget how.

It’s a Saturday evening and I am stuck inside doing my Statistics homework. It doesn’t get much more exciting than this, folks.

This past Wednesday, I attended a special lecture with Donald Trump as the guest speaker. He brought his fiancee Melania Knauss along to the lecture, and all the men in the room craned their necks to get a better view of her when she first walked into the lecture hall. She is quite the beauty though (and that would make Trump the beast, perhaps), and I am sure that she is used to turning heads wherever she goes. She sure turned Trump’s head. Trump was telling the class that six years ago when he first spotted the model at a social function, he automatically went up to Melania and demanded her digits without beating around the bush. Apparently, his brash charm (or large-sized wallet) attracted her to him and they have been going strong ever since.