Ardith in Town This Weekend

Ards is in the LA area this weekend.

She's here for the Hollywood Bowl concert tomorrow (John Williams concert), but since she's here, she might as well kill multiple birds w/ one long drive.

So if you want to see Ards, call her up.

Although she has plans tomorrow (spending all day w/ Krystal to geek out or something).

She only shows up to the LA area every full moon.

More Eye Trouble for Shiz

My right eye was starting to get irritated again.

So I wore glasses today & was driving to work when I noticed my glasses were dirty. So I wiped them with my shirt, and the left arm broke off.

I was only at Venice & Motor, so I should have turned around and headed home... but I balanced the broken glasses on my nose and headed to work. Dedication!

I got to work and taped up my glasses.


It's a little awkward, but it'll do for now.

I guess I'll go to COSTCO next week to buy a new pair.

PS. Koge's left eye was getting better this week, but when I saw her this morning, her eye was pink again. We're in sync!

Lego Indy Jones Makes Me Dizzy

Sat borrowed Dave's Lego Indy Jones game, so I decided to play with her.

We played three stages, and my head started hurting. I think I got dizzy from the 3D movement.

I had a headache for the rest of the night. Am I too old to play video games now?

Koge Doesn't Like WiiFit

Sat and I have been playing with the WiiFit a lot. I logged about 1-1/2 hours, and Sat probably has 2 hours logged. And we're only in our second day.

But there's someone in the Yama household that doesn't like the WiiFit.
That would be 三女 Koge.

Example 1
When Sat started to jog (in place), Koge walked into my room to hide under the bed covers.

Example 2
When Sat was going a strength exercise with me watching, Koge pee'd on Sat's blanket on the couch.

I think we're not paying enough attention to her.

So next time we play with WiiFit, we need to invite another person over to play with Koge.

PS. My WiiFit age is 29! (Sat is 32) But we both gained weight from yesterday -__-

New Lamp for Yama Sis TV

I forgot to mention yesterday that Dave bought a replacement lamp for our TV for my birthday.

And part of the birthday gift package was his lamp replacement services. Yay, handyman Dave!

Our TV is around 2 years old (I think). We leave our TV on all hours of the day, so the lamp was gonna die out faster than what's written on the box... I didn't think our TV was getting dull, but there is a difference with the new lamp (I think).

Thank you Dave for the second most unromantical gift ever. (Erikku gets the top prize for buying me a domain name)

Wii Fit Yama Sis

Vu brought over Wii Fit for Sat, and we're borrowing Dave's Wii until we get one of our own.

Both of our BMI? It's a secret, but we're both listed as "overweight"... Our Mii's got fatter in the game w/ a little pot belly.

My WiiFit age is 32. Whoo! Minus 1!

Sat's WiiFit age is 43. Ahahahahaha!


Sat is trying the yoga breathing now, but she said it's boring. She probably wants to move around more... but I'm perfectly okay with just doing breathing exercises.

She tried the soccer game too, but didn't get a lot of points, so now she's trying the balancing exercise.

Dee's New Phone

Dee got an iPhone wannabe. Verizon's LG something. It's a lot smaller than the iPhone, though.


He has a different ring tone for a bunch of people. He tried to make me guess what song belongs with who, but I didn't recognize the songs. Like "Saved by the Bell" theme? And "GI Joe" theme? BTW, I'm "My Favorite Things" because it was the only song Julie Andrews was singing (all the Mary Poppins songs were the Broadway version). I really wanted "Step in Time."

Oh, he plans on going around and sneaking photos of people. So a big photo will show up when you call.

PS. Nameless Korean guy downloaded a Spanish boot of "Clone Wars." Nameless group of boys watched it and said it was awful. Something about the opening theme having a weird arrangement, no scrolling text in the beginning but a 40's announcer guy recapping something, Jabba the Hut's kid burps and is stinky, clones of the strongest man on Earth (no?) are actually dumb, Yoda and Obi Wan show up at the end to participate in the group photo.

じゅるる's brother just went to see it too. He should have waited for the bo...

Deep Fryer Missing

I was watching the Food Network & the Neeley's were deep frying green beans in a beer batter. They said it was a great way to get kids eating veggies, and it's healthier than french fries. Never mind the fact that deep frying anything isn't healthy...

But the deep fried green beans looked like tempura green beans, and I thought it would be lovely to have some.

I got a miniature deep fryer for Christmas a while ago, but I only used it once. Well, Dee used it once to make yuca fries for a company end-of-month BBQ party.

And it's disappeared since then. Has anyone seen it?

PS. Alpha Ben decided not to go on the hike. He tried sitting in a car, and his butt didn't like it. Here's his exact quote:

I tried sitting in the car. There's no way I'm gonna drive 5 hours. It feels like I had a chunk of ass ripped out.

Ben's Butt Surgery

Alpha Ben said he had surgery this morning to remove a cyst in his left buttock.

Quotes from chat, for those who weren't online:

Man, that surgeon was messed up. After he removed it he was like, here, check it out. And he's like I'm gonna cut it open. And apparently it squirted him with crap. I was cracking up.

So Alpha Ben took the day off of work, because he can't sit on his butt. And he has to lie down on his tummy for the rest of the day.

But he's planning to go on a hiking trip the next day.

I told him not to get his butt infected during the hike.

Baby for Y Family, Sick Member for F Family

Sat got a call from Ichigo yesterday morning.

Sat's childhood friend Bryan (Jennifer's younger brother) is going to have a baby. They just had a baby shower. We didn't know about it, so we didn't prepare gifts... but maybe Ichigo gave them money on our behalf.

And we also found out that Lynne's mom is very sick. I'm not sure what kind of sickness she has, but it sounded pretty severe. Susie (Lynne's younger sister) is staying at home taking care of their mom.

I'm sure Y おばちゃん & Ichigo are in a bit of a shock, since Mrs. F is around the same age as them (maybe a little bit younger?).

Matching Eye Infection w/ the Cat

I have this annoying eye infection in my right eye. I could have sworn my left eye was hurting... or being bothered by my contacts, but I end up getting an infection on the other eye. Go figure.

I've been real good about keeping my dirty fingers (finger nails) away from my infected eye, so it's improved a lot. I'm glad it didn't get super puffy that would leave a scar tissue in the inside of my eye lid & require surgery to remove the scar tissue... which I had done in my teenage years. Nothing is scarier than seeing a long needle being slid into my upper eye lid from one corner to the other. (sorry for that visual. kekeke!)

Anyhoo, I get home and poor Koge has an eye infection too!
Her left eye lid gets infected often, usually from her scratching her own face with her hind leg.

I looked up eye drops online, and a lot of them require prescriptions. I guess I'll go to Centinella Pet Supply Co and see if they have over-the-counter eye drops for cats.

No photos today. Cuz too many of you are too squirmy about these things.

Breakfast at McD

I went to eat breakfast at McD's today.

I wanted to eat pancakes after watching Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" and the Bisquick add-water-and-shake bottle commercial. じゅるるsaid there's an IHOP nearby too, but I opted for McD's because it's cheaper.

We got the deluxe breakfast platter.


The milk had Star Wars characters on it. I guess they're promoting the Clone Wars movie. I haven't had non-lactose free milk in a long time, and it made me a bit burp-y. Stick to the lactose-free milk, Shiz...

After I got back, Sat said she went to McD's for breakfast w/ Dave too. We're connected! But Sat didn't like that for some reason.

Oh, Dave didn't get a hash brown for his deluxe breakfast.
"I got ripped!" he said.

Allen & Dee's Adventure: Til Death Girl

Dee was excited to tell this story, so I thought I'd share it with you all.
Excerpts (and some paraphrasing on my part) from our Skype chat.

* * *
Dee: So Allen and I went to the park to play basketball.
We were there for 4 1/2 hours!

Shiz: That's a long time playing basketball.

Dee: But here's the thing.
So they were filming an episode of "Til Death", the show with Brad Garrett. They were using most of the park. And this attractive girl on set kept coming over to play ball with us.

Shiz: She's staff?

Dee: She's an actress, 19 years old, from New Jersey. She'd play a game with us and some other guys, go back to set, then come back later to play some more.

Shiz: She's allowed to get sweaty?

Dee: I think she was done with her shots for the day, but still had to be on set. So we stayed that long because we weren't she if she would come back to play, but she did. Allen and I are both very sore, but it was worth it.

* * *
According to Dee, the actress was Italian & looked a little bit like Marisa Tomei. And she played on their team & played good.

I cut this part out, but when Dee said they were in the park for 4-1/2 hours, I thought they were there playing card games (or board games)... or played basketball for 1 hour & talked about the strategy of the game for 3-1/2 hours.

I hope they have more encounters with... girls.

Shiz Can't Cook Series: Microwaves Hate Me Too

I was heating up a frozen tamale from Trader Joe's today.

The instructions on the plastic wrap says "microwave for 5 to 7 minutes." So I heat up the tamale for 5 minutes.

But the tamale came out burnt.


All the cheese boiled out. Although it was crunchy and cheesy, so it was still yummy.

And the bottom side of the tamale was brick hard. It was a bit cracker-like, so I could still eat it.

There was no more cheese left inside the tamale. Boo!

I'll heat the tamales for 3 minutes next time.

Teeth Cleaning at a Boutique Dentist

I got my teeth cleaned today.

Dr N sisters' office moved couple of months ago, and this was the first time I went to their new office. The sign said "N Family Dentist & Spa." Spa?

Well, the entrance is very spa-like. With a big curvy creme-colored satin & silk covered sofa and high-back cloth covered chairs. Round rug in the center of the room. And yellow-ish mustard colored painted wall, with a big painting of women in puffy dresses drinking tea in a rose garden.

And then the surprise was when I walked into the office. There are no walls or doors!

Each dental chair is separated by tall cabinets (dark maple color), which hides the X-ray machine neatly out of view. The little sink is at the end of each tall cabinet. Oh, the dental chairs had spring green leather seats. Which matched the spring green paper pleated blinds.

There are no more spitting sinks. There's a cone-like cup attached to a suction hose & you spit into that. I guess there's less cleaning involved b/c you just replace the paper cone cup.

It kinda feels weird, because you can hear the dentists talking to their patients on the other side of the cabinets. But I'm not bothered by the buzzing sounds of the dentist's office, so that was the only thing that bothered me.

From Dr N talking to another patient, I found out that they have a third sister (youngest) who is an architect & she designed the new office for them. And her office is right next door to their office.

I told Prince about the new office & he was disturbed. He thinks people are in embarrassing situations when they're at the dentist's office... with their mouths wide open & conversation that goes フガフガ.

At least we have our clothes on.

I'm always bothered by the mirror windows with no blinds at a gynecologist's office. I know people can't see inside those mirrored windows, but damn, I sure feel naked.

Chris' First Day at Work

Chris started his new job today.

He's designing eco bags.
I hope he makes really cute ones.

I really liked the red Aloha version from Trader Joe's, but they replaced it with the blue surf boards one that looks a bit too cartoon-y. They recently added a bunch more, probably because a lot of Japanese shops sell their bags at $10-30 a piece. I like the new Trader Joe's cube-shaped insulated bag for $6.99, but I would never need something like that. The new white one (the one that looks like it's made out of paper) is a bit smaller than the blue surf board one, but it looked good enough & I bought one to keep in じゅるる's car.

I also like the Whole Foods eco bag. The one with a green apple. Super cute! I also got a canvas bag from Whole Foods with two elephants.

I wanted to get the tokidoki eco bag during SDCC, but they always have long lines so I didn't get one. Those would have made nice souvenirs for Japan.

Reader Poll, Aug 2008 Edition

Last week, Dee asked if I wrote a new blog entry.

"I haven't read it (new entry) yet.
Does anyone other than me read it? Like couple people?"

From those who comment...
Ards, Sasami, Dave, Jyun, Dee.

Sat commented once, but she doesn't read this blog.
I think Vu stalks.

Is that it?
Are there other stalkers who are reading?

I thought I gave out links to this blog, but maybe I should start including it in my signature in Evites. Har har.

Maybe add a link on Flickr... I definitely don't want to add a link on LinkedIn.

No, no. I don't need unwanted readers.
Only the bored ones who like to read what the rest of the gang are eating for lunch.

My First Crocs

I've been wanting Crocs ever since BV Aya said they were comfy.

Then Ards gave me a pair of Crocs that she bought for $6 each. They're the ballerina slipper type, so they don't look very childish. The back part of the foot by the ankles hurt initially, but once I broke them in, they were pretty comfy.

So I decided to look for a pair of the original clunky Crocs. I wanted to get them in brown or something neutral looking, so they looked more likes shoes.

Since I couldn't buy them yesterday at Third Street Promenade during the scavenger hunt, I went shopping at Del Amo. Macy's didn't have as many different types & colors as the Crocs store, I did find a pair of tan ones I liked.


I'll be wearing these for the rest of the year.

Dennis' Birthday Scavenger Hunt & BBQ Party

Scavenger hunt started at 2:30pm (actually 3:00pm).
Four teams of four, with 16 people participating.

Dennis' team included Sat, Dave & Ards. They won.

Shiz's team included じゅるる, Steebu & anti-social Vince. He came out this time! We got second place.

Rica's team included her boyfriend, Romyr, Romyr's girlfriend & Chris. They got third place.

Mike's team included Nidia, Danielle & Beverly. They came in last.

And then we went to BBQ at Clover Park. It was really cold! But the food was good. But then again, the boys forgot to buy snacks like chips to feed the hungry kids while we waited for the food to cook. And they also forgot condiments. But they heard my complaints & bought chips when they went out to buy condiments. Good job boys!

じゅるるsaid I need to learn to be a guest. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut when I'm not hosting...

Then again, Dee didn't plan for anyone to skewer the beef satay, and guess who came in handy & saved the day? My hand smelled like teriyaki sauce & was very marinated by the time I was done. Mmmm, BBQ'd hand!

Sooo sooo tired!
Please look at Shiz's Flickr account for photos.

Triple Lucky Day

August 8, 2008.
8.08.08.

So today is a triple luck day.

No one I know is getting married today, but here are today's happenings.

Dennis turns 30 today.
He technically has a paid holiday today, but he had to come in to finish off work. He's taking Monday off, tho.

Miki's last day at work was today.
じゅるるwent to her farewell dinner. She doesn't have any specific plans yet.

I guess that's it.

I didn't watch the Olympics opening ceremony because I thought they aired it live & plus I already saw the highlight photos on MSNBC.

The end.

I Met Them When They Were Eighteen

I was looking at Luke's Flickr account.

I guess Luke & Henry went to their cousin's wedding. Perhaps in Taiwan?


And as I was looking at the photos, I thought... gosh, they look so old now.

The first time I met Henry was when we were both 18. He was a floormate at the UCLA dorms.

Then I met Luke a year later (two?), when he was 18 (or 19?). I think it was at a restaurant with bellydancing. Well, it was an ISA event, so we were there for cultural stuff. Maybe I met him earlier... but that's when I remember him from.

Now they're in their 30s, and they look so オジサン. Does that mean I look オバサンtoo?

Pioneer Chicken... Again

Dee came by the office again today. Because the boys had planned on going to Pioneer Chicken... again!

Dee: "But I only had a soda yesterday"
Dee: "And Jon didn't go yesterday."

That still means Allen is eating fried chicken for the second day in a row.

Fortunately, Dennis was able to save his arteries because he had to go outside the office for some work stuff.

But I remembered Dee mentioning that they have gizzards there... so I gave him & handed him a $5 bill to get me an order of gizzards.

It was yummy.

And I only ate cereal tonight, to off-set all the fried food during lunch.

PS. Only Dennis & Chris went to the all-you-can-eat-tacos night yesterday.

The Boys Keep on Eatin'

Dennis said the boys are heading down to a place in Huntington Beach that has all you can eat tacos for today. It's something like $5 to get in, and there's tacos and wings and stuff.

I bet these boys poop a lot.

Popeye's... I mean, Pioneer Chicken

The boys meet at the office to go to Pioneer Chicken together. At least once a week, but more often twice or three times a week.

I guess the main company went out of business, but the franchises are still continuing as "Pioneer Chicken."

I asked if they were going to Popeye's Chicken & they got mad. I guess there's a difference with all these fried chicken places. They insist it's good, but I think it's because they get bigger portions for their money.

And I guess Allen's been joining them for the summer b/c he doesn't have anything else to do.

So the boys went off again to eat their buckets full of fried chicken & stuff. They'll come back fat & juicy, perfect timing for this weekend's BBQ.

Empire Strikes Back Virgin

I think every boyfriend I had since high school has tried to get me to watch Star Wars, starting w/ Erikku when he brought over three VHS tapes.

So I've watched bits of Star Wars trilogy over these years, but I don't know the whole story. I think I've seen most of the original movie... that's the one where the little tin robot has a hologram of the princess... and they go through a sewer to escape... fly through some mechanical cavern-like thing & blow up the Death Star... and get medals at the very end, right?

And I've seen bits of the second and third movie. Like cutting open a creature to survive the winter. And little furry munchkins fighting in the trees. And Luke's hand getting cut off.

Once again, the thing about never really watching Star Wars came up again at じゅるる's brother's place. I mean, I have my reasons.

1. I wasn't in the country when the first movie came out.
2. Girls just didn't watch movies like that.
3. Immigrant parents don't take kids to movies they don't understand themselves.

I did mention that I went to see the "first" movie on opening day. In Westwood. With crazy kids in costumes. I didn't watch the second movie because I was in NY for work that weekend... but I did see the third. But apparently those don't really count.

ゆーちゃん handed a box of the first three movies, and demanded I watch the second movie.

So I watched it today. I've seen the icy planet sequence many times. I think that's sequence is the problem. It's slow & boring, and I gave up before it got a little more interesting.

So things I learned from watching Empire Strikes Back today.
1. Yoda shows up for the first time in this movie. I didn't know (and leave me alone!).
He kinda looks puppet-ish in the first half of his scenes, but gets better later on. He sounds like a mix of Kermit & Miss Piggy. And I wanted to trim the free-flowing hair on top of his head.

2. Boba Fet(?) is a bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader. I didn't know that either. And he talks! I still don't know why he's popular, so I guess I have to watch the third one.

3. I finally found out who Lando (warehouse staff) was named after. He's a black guy who's bad and good.

4. Princess Leia is an おばさん princess. She doesn't look the same age as Luke... but how old are they supposed to be?

I could just hear Ards screaming things as I watched.
"Don't kiss him, he's your brother!"
"He's a jerk! Don't fall in love with him!"

I guess I'll have to watch the third movie too. I do remember the scene when Darth Vader dies. Isn't that all I need to know?

Mini Chocolate Cornet

I've been getting random hits on my chocolate cornet photo on Flickr.

I didn't realize until I was working on BEI's titles that らきすた has a thing about chocolate cornets. I really don't know how it relates to the show (probably the main character likes it?), but ヲタmust be searching for it on Google or something.

Anyway, I went to Marukai Pacific Market today to buy some 差し入れ forじゅるる's brother who was moving. I went to the bakery to buy some food for ourselves, when I saw a plastic container with miniature versions of their 菓子パン. One of them was a mini chocolate cornet.


Look how tiny it is!


It tasted like a normal chocolate cornet. Except there's less creme compared to the amount of bread, so it's not as sweet. I think I like this ratio much better.

Freebies: Del Taco, Baby Wipes, Monitor Wipes & Cat Food

Once again, I'm digging around for free stuff.

Here's one for the boys:
Del Taco - two free chicken soft tacos + a shake for your birthday
If my birthday didn't pass, I'd sign up for this for my free strawberry shake...

I also requested for free baby wipes (for じゅるる's brother, who's having a baby soon), free monitor wipes, free cat food (for Koge), free cereal & free feminine products.

I forgot to mention that I started getting the freebies in the mail. Apparently Dave laughed at me for getting the freebies... what's wrong with getting a box of Multigrain Cheerios? Or doggie snacks for my cat? Or a packet of Benefiber? I should take photos of them next time.

Gas Station Mishap

I went to fill up gas today.

It was $4.19 a gallon. Much cheaper than earlier in the week when I was returning the rental car.

Anyway, as I was driving out of the gas station I thought,
Hmm... did I go through the motion of screwing in the gas tank cap & closing the lid?

I look at the side mirror to see if the gas tank lid is open.

It's wide open.
Eep!

So I quickly turn off the engine, run out & close the lid.
The gas tank cap was still sitting on the back bumper of my car.

This is the second time I did this at this particular gas station. Last time, I drove 5-6 blocks before someone honked at me about it. By then the gas tank cap had fallen off & I had to ask Dee to buy me a new cap.

But I have an excuse!
When I got out of my car to fill up, there was an icky smell. I saw a box of cat litter that was next to the gas pump, so thought the smell could be coming from that. Although now that I think about it, the cat litter might be kept there for any gas that's spilled on the ground. Anyway, the smell was so intense, I wanted to get back into the car... I think.

Plus I had two boxes of Drumsticks ice cream bar sitting in my car & wanted to get to the office quickly.


PS. They were yummy!