Flickr Update

I've added quite a few photos to my flickr recently, oddly enough, not the one above, but one very similar to it...click here to go there and take a looksie...

Juno

What a great, fabulous, cute movie that makes me want to curl up in a ball under my covers and contemplate life.

Honestly, I haven't given props to too many movies lately because none have struck me that much, especially not as much as Juno has. How can one movie make me fall in love with so many people, so many times over? Words do it no justice, just go watch the damn movie.

In other news, I got so incredibly soaked today that I had to buy a pair of socks halfway through my foray into the outdoors to replace the super soaked ones I was wearing. It just didn't stop, and I found out -too late- that my umbrella had holes in it. So even though I was carrying this stupid umbrella, I had minimal protection. So I spent some time looking for a new umbrella, which I found was not an easy task. I suppose I only looked in three different stores, but still, Nordstrom, Brookstone and Eddie Bauer did not have what I wanted and I was not happy.

The search continues....

Travel: Accomplished

Enough planes for me already.

I've been on six planes in the last month, which is nothing to most people, but more than enough for me. And even though I told my parents I was going to go visit Canada to check out the design scene, who knows if that notion will actually take hold.

But I have a question to pose to you.

"Do the picture at the top of my blog fit the border, or does it overflow?"

Because on the computer when I first did that picture, it totally looked great in the border, fit just fine, and now I'm on my laptop and it's overflowing. I assume it's because the computer I first did it on was a widescreen one. But who knows.

And I just realised that I didn't copy a few files that I was supposed to onto my flash drive. Darn it. And I wanted to get all the fonts from my parents computer, since they have way more than my crappy defaults. Darn it! And I'm sure there's some other computer-related thing that I totally forgot about, that will surface in a few days and I will be kicking myself for forgetting. (Say it with me.)

Darn it!

En Route...

I'm feeling quite lucky right now (knock on wood, oop, first must find some wood upon which to knock) because the buttons on this blogger are in English. Sad that something so small can have such a positive effect on my mood, but 'tis reality.

Just got off the flight from BKK to TPE and it was a good flight, slept for the first hour, then woke up, watched Travel Time in San Francisco (or something like that) where two people must accomplish eight cryptic tasks within 12 hours. Pretty crazy because I couldn't figure out most of what they had to do, since the clues were so damn cryptic and I obviously know nothing about the city I currently live in. What cracked me up the most was that the continuity of the their travels didn't really make sense...they'd be in the Castro, and then suddenly when they get their next clue, be standing in Union Square and luckily could take the cable car at Powell and Market (which somehow was incredibly empty, which I have never seen) up to Chinatown.

Anyway, after that, tried sitting through some of the Heartbreak Kid (for whatever sadistic reason) and really couldn't, so switched over to Zuma (I love the regional flights, it's pretty much the Singapore Airlines system, pause, play, games, all the lot), found I was pretty damn bad at Zuma with the weird handheld, and so decided to watch Across the Universe. Which is a movie I've been wanting to watch since first seeing the ad, but never got around to it. Was kind of conveluted (sp?) in the beginning, but then I got into the mood of a tiny bit of (if any) dialogue then singing, and then we started our descent, with probably minutes off the end, so they turned off the entertainment system.

Blast!

Here's Comes That Rainy Day...

Whew, I guess I just got home in time, it's pouring outside, about 10 minutes after I trundled home.

Well this visit to Bangkok has been very nice, a roller coaster of excitement, happiness, stress and reunions. I've gotten to see alot of faces from my childhood, many people that I hadn't seen for over ten years came for my sister's reception. The most memorable was my godparents, who -as always- were warm and happy to see me. Other people I've met I hadn't seen for maybe six or seven years, that was pretty crazy too. It really makes me think how much people change over the years, and how much they don't. It seems like alot of personalities are pretty similar, but the looks change quite a bit, which concerns me mostly because I don't think my outside has changed so much, I still look like I did in high school.

Except with different glasses.

New Year, New Colours

What a difference a little cream makes right?

I figured it was time for an overhaul, and I was getting tired of seeing the bulbs, so now we've got this flower...what the actual flower is, I haven't the foggiest. The overhaul itself is not yet complete, I've still got some tinkering to do with font colors, but this is the new look for now...

Enjoy, and a belated happy new year to you all.

Oh My Motherload...

So...I had a little bout of insomnia today (probably due to the fact I had a huge ice coffee...followed shortly by a super sugary coconut juice, which was followed by an iced green tea...), and started looking through some old photo albums I found.

And boy was I glad I did.

In case you haven't been on facebook, or aren't on facebook, or I haven't added you, or some other circumstance has happened in the two weeks: I uploaded some photos from ancient Patana...Kindergarten & P4 to be exact. And now I've found some from high school. More specifically Y7-10. And some of graduation.

Unfortunately I no longer am in possession of a scanner. Which is probably a good thing becuase I would spend all night scanning, tagging and laughing at said photos. Which is what I will be doing when my parents' scanner decides to return. Until then I suppose I will simply have to peruse through them myself and have some serious giggles.

Acupuncture a.k.a. FRIK That Needle Hurts

Yes, yes, I have heard that "when done properly, acupuncture is NOT supposed to hurt." But like my doctor told me, acupuncture is much like trying to stick a pin through cloth and not touching a thread. Damn near impossible right? Either way, I was in pain. But mostly becuase I'm pretty scared of pain and the anticipation of it was really bothering me. And caused me to break out in sweats. Not really conducive to the application of iodine, since water tends to wash away the stuff really bad, which my doctor was using as markers for where he was to apply his sadistic torture pins. So I keep telling myself it's for the greater good.

Somehow I still don't find that comforting.

The pin

For your viewing pleasure

(You sadistic bastard)

Awesomeness!

I've played Portal a total of three times and everytime I get freaked out because of the sheer awesomeness of the game...and the fact that the bots are really creepy. Actually the whole game is pretty creepy. But when I saw this comic, I knew I had to post it, enjoy.

Greetings from Bangkok! I basically flew here, dropped my bags and went to work for my sister's wedding, then a few days after all the wedding stuff was done (a full week after I had arrived) we sped off to the south of Thailand to hang out at Phi Phi for two nights then to Krabi for four. We just got back last night, and this morning set to work figuring out who gave my sister what, writing a list and cataloging it in the computer. Dad's upstairs taking a nap, my mom and sister are off entertaining the brother-in-law's family and I'm here, finishing up the spreadsheet. Good times.

I uploaded some "Thailand" pictures onto facebook, and have yet to do so for flickr, as I'm a little skeptical at the ability of my computer to load the massive load of photos I've got that have been taken over the last two weeks, many of which are of flowers I saw in Phi Phi. Alas, I've got these two on blogger as a taste for you, although I think I see a little message from blogger saying they can't connect, which means my internet just punked out. 'Tis life with a shitty internet connection.

Krabi sunset at Aonang Beach

Taipei-Yo!

So I figured I should do this post before I get to Thailand where YouTube is banned and I can't post this for those of you who aren't in Thailand. So I know the last time I was on my way to Thailand (mid-May) I was talking about Sean Kingston's 'Beautiful Girl' song that and a super catchy tune, and I really didn't think about him until I was hanging out at SFO watching videos on YouTube and stumbled across this Sean Kingston song which is just as enjoyable 'Me Love':



Anyway, the 13.5 hour flight was okay, I slept through most of it, waking up to the crying baby in front of me, which only pushes me further into NO BABY territory. The weirdest part is that whenever I bring up the fact that I don't plan to have children, people are so confused and say that I would make a great mother. I never remember to remind them of my low tolerance for loud noises, screaming and high-pitched voices, all of which children are prone to taking part in. The worst part is that until the child is in their 20's (and even then this might not be true) I probably can't communicate with them on a peer-to-peer level, and don't even get me started on parent-baby communication. I would probably be that weird parent that talks to their child in a super-grown up voice, trying to reason when them to stop crying. Somehow I don't think it would work.

Anyway, off to board the flight to Bangkok.
Here I come!!!

Finger Typing

I have this weird random affliction that one fingertip on a hand will suddenly start hurting without reason and also without my knowledge. Until I decide to type. And then excruciating pain follows. I really love that they have wireless internet available, I don't know what I would do right now if I didn't have the internet to keep me company. Watch Larry King Live and be bored to tears I suppose.

I'm sitting in the EVA lounge at San Francisco International, waiting for my flight that won't start boarding for another two hours. Why come so early to sit around and do nothing? Because this way, I'm out of the house, I can't go back even if I forgot something, so everything is out of my hands. The serenity that comes with that realization is astounding. My pre-flight schedule is like clockwork:

1. Wake up freaking out because I have until 8PM to get my shit together and finally pack, which I usually leave to the last minute because I end up doing laundry the night before because I'm just that lazy.
   
2. Do all my last minute crap, which today was clean up, wash dishes, throw out all the decomposing food in the fridge, throw bottlecaps all over the apartment for Moo to play with, cut vellum, score, fold and insert into holiday greeting cards, write in greeting cards, seal and send out greeting cards, buy cat treats and cat litter, work on and print out some last minute school stuff, go to school to give to a classmate, return a shirt at Costco and make sure I have everything I need.
3. Make sure all the stuff is done, and redo in necessary and pack slowly throughout the day.
4. Start seriously freak out an hour before I have to leave the house.
5. Pace furiously until my ride gets to the house.
6. Get to the airport, wait to check in (I usually end up arriving before the counter's even open, talk about eager) and get to the lounge.
7. Begin relaxation.

The weirdest part is that I hardly ever remember the freakout, but lately I've been reminded or notice it myself. So why did I leave my greeting cards until the very last day before I left? Like I said before, I'm just that lazy. It was actually quite a process, between designing them, getting them printed, cutting them, scoring them, getting the vellum to go inside to hide the photo paper printing on the inside of the cards (I got them done at Costco at the photolab), stamping, labeling and writing in the cards. This is what I get for making my own cards, because I thought it would be cheaper (it kind of was....sort of not) and more "personal". I even did my own labels with a little Moo cat that I drew.

Card front and back, I think this is an old version, as I was told my a fellow flickr that the plant was actually not Myrtus communis and after some searching I found that it was actually Lagerstroemia fauriei. Oh well, can't get them all the first time around.

The address label I used, another old version, in the actual version you can't see the background around the kitty.

It sucks that I had to leave a week early, so I had to get all my work done a week early to turn in to my professors, but thank goodness for the internet, because it allows me to turn in a take-home quiz when it's actually due instead of a week early. I have a paper to write and the semester will be officially over. It's so strange because this semester has been absolutely insane, especially the last few weeks, I've been going into work overdrive trying to get everything done on time and somewhat to the quality that would satisfy me. Now I'm pretty much on vacation and damn ready for it. I think I was going to type some other stories, but I can't remember what I was going to type since I didn't write anything down, which I've found is a theme in my life-don't write something down, simply deem it forgotten.

So on this note I end with a quasi-battle cry:
"Bangkok, here I come!!!!"

There is no limit to the amount of weird, crazy, funny, odd people and events I see in San Francisco. Yesterday I was on the bus when someone standing next to me suddenly said -to no one in particular- "Quit stalking me grandma or I'll throw you off the Golden Gate bridge." He then proceeded to laugh. Unfortunately I was sitting in a one seater and had no where to go since I needed to get to the end of the line and the bus was packed. He got off soon after, to my relief.

In other news, finals are kicking my butt. Hard. And then stabbing me with a rusty serrated knife. Oh I suppose I'm being overdramatic, but if not now, then when? In still other news, the household is now home to a Roomba, which is currently doing it's job vacuuming without my help. I've always got to keep an ear open to make sure it doesn't get stuck on ledge or something. I have to say, the first night with it in the house was eventful, I was in bed when at about 1am the Roomba was knocking on my door, well, more ramming against my door, trying to get in. Half-asleep and fearful of the coming rampage of robots, I thought the damn thing had turned itself on and was coming for my blood. Turns out my brother-in-law had turned it on to see how it would work after it finished charging.

I suppose these are life's little adventures that incidentally shave years off of my life.

Huh...

So today I walked out of a 12 story building into the financial district of San Francisco, thinking I was the shit.

Let me rewind.

On (seriously) a whim, I decided to look on craigslist.org for available interior design internships. I found seven companies, researched them and wrote seven cover letters. Then I sent out seven e-mails with attached cover letters and resumes. At 11 o'clock at night. And one called the next day during class, so when I listened to a voicemail not knowing where it came from and heard "...do you think you could come in tomorrow for an interview?" I damn near fell on the floor in shock.

I was amazed that I got an interview so soon, and so caught off guard that I temporarily forgot that I didn't have a portfolio to show at the interview.

So I rushed home and worked for a few hours on a pretty basic portfolio, but before I begin, I must present to you, the map:
So the story begins on the bottom left play marker. I head north to Pier 39 to print out (top play maker), take the F street car to 2nd and Market and then go to Kinko's to bind my portfolio, then to school to talk to International Services about how and when I can work. Then off to the interview, back to school, get a bagel-wich and take the school shuttle -which somehow I take the long-windy one which takes me through Union Square before I get the bottom left play marker. and then back home.

But I have still not explained why I felt like I was the shit. Let's just say the interview went alot better than I thought it would. I comprehended the questions asked of me, which is a new development under pressure, and had good answers. My interviewer was really nice and let me know that she really liked my cover letter, resume and portfolio. So basically she was the best interviewer I could have had for my very first job interview. And it made me realise that I am a hot commodity and would definitely be an asset to any company I worked for. Let's see how long this confidence will last.

And then a few minutes ago I saw Yoni's flickrstream and his picture of his morning tea made me think about how much I want some stability and relaxation in my life, a regular time when I can just sit on a porch, look at nature and drink some stupid tea. That's so not happening anytime soon. Life is far too hectic right now. I wonder when I'll get to that point, or if I ever will.

Happiness capped with a little melancholy, just another regular day.

Ca-razy!

Usually I'm not that into fashion design, but this is pretty damn amazing! Toot toot!

Today Is A Day For...

...mundo celebration!

Rejoice, for my computer has finally gotten fixed! After two weeks without my own personal computer, I realise how much I rely on it, and how nice my sister and brother in law are to let me sneak onto theirs when it "looks like" they're not using it. And trekking to school just when I wanted to do some work wasn't too great either. Except now I just realised that I saved my CAD work at school without saving it as an earlier CAD file, so I can't open it on my computer. Oh well, that's life I guess (woohoo).

So in case you were wondering what in the world happened to my beloved computer, one day, the motherboard basically decided "I'm not going to work anymore. So. Ha." The BEST part was that my warranty had expired four days before my computer gave up, which I didn't find out until I called Dell to ask them to please figure out why my computer wasn't charging. I suspected it was the adapter, so I called, they shipped out a new one, courtesy of Dell (which, by the way, I love, their customer service has always been nice to me, ask long as I talk to the right person), and found out that it in fact wasn't the adapter, but the motherboard that konked out.

What were my choices? Pay $248 + $45 re-instatement fee since the end of my warranty had already come and gone, and I get my computer covered for two years. So I had to ask how much it would cost to just replace the motherboard. A whopping $500, which happened to include the labor for installation too. How nice. So for a grand total of $303, I got my warranty until 2009, and had a guy come to my house to replace my motherboard. Which was great. Except that he didn't show up the first day. But he did the second, and was very nice and friendly and showed me all the parts of my laptop that he basically had to strip to put the new motherboard in. Who knew there were so many screws in a laptop?

Anyway, my biggest fear was that all my work and pictures and music were going to get wiped off my laptop and I would have lost all my pictures of my dogs. Funny that those are the pictures I cherish most. I've been seriously considering getting an external harddrive to back all that stuff up. We'll see how that goes down.

My head is spinning so I guess it's time for bed.

Baked Cheesy Deliciousness

So I bought a pound of rigatoni in the bulk bins at Rainbow Grocery because I haven't ever tried cooking creamy pasta with this type of pasta and apparently it's perfect because it's fluted and "picks up that cream so incredibly well". Right, so I needed to try and found a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis on Food Network and here's the delicious results with a few additions and changes:
Ingredients:

• 1 4 oz. stick of butter
• 1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. flour
• 3/4 qt. whole milk
• 1 c. grated mozzarella
• 2 large carrots, cut into bite-size pieces
• 10 white button mushrooms, sliced
  
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 lb. uncooked rigatoni
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F
   
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan (enough to fit more than a quart of liquid), add the flour and whisk until smooth.
3. Whisk in the milk and keep stirring until smooth, keep cooking until the cream coats the back of a spoon and you can draw your finger along the back of the spoon and the cream stays separated. Remove from heat.
   
4. Stir in half the cheese and all the chicken, carrots and mushrooms, set aside.
5. Cook rigatoni in boiling water for 5 minutes, the rigatoni should be undercooked as it will continue cooking in the oven.
   
6. Drain pasta and mix in with the cream sauce.
   
7. Pour into a large and deep baking dish (13x9 inch is recommended, or smaller if you want to split them up), sprinkle remaining cheese and bake for 25 minutes.

Serve hot and steaming. Yum.

So I haven't posted anything through-provoking and substantial in quite a while because 1. I'm hardly in the state to provoke my own thoughts, much less other peoples' and 2. My computer's motherboard has given up.

Not much has been happening, but I do wonder how a person who I don't know, and doesn't actually have any effect on me and petrify me to point of inconvenience.

There's this lady, that stands outside Rainbow Grocery, and she asks for signatures to help with the homeless or something like that. I really, really don't like solicitors, they make me very nervous and I really don't like being pressured to contribute to something that I haven't thought through thoroughly (say that fast four times...I did, saliva EVERYWHERE). I mean, send me a pamphlet that I can read, research and make a decision on instead of visually assaulting me in public when I'm pretty much zoned out and already uncomfortable because I'm out in the wild and probably sweaty from walking around. I mean, I've got a frown on my face, and even I have to admit that I have a pretty formidably pissed off looking face when I'm zoning and not thinking of anything. It's just my natural facial expression. You'd think people would leave me alone, but no. Anyway, this lady has perfected her tone of voice so when she asks if I will take the time to sign her petition, when I say no I feel like an absolutely awful person for saying no. I know, I know, it shouldn't affect me, and I've rationalized it to the point where I'm screaming "What are you THINKING?" to myself in my head, but still, that little guilt-ridden voice comes on back in full force.

Eugh, enough complaining, I'm going to eat some mini-corn dogs.

Best Thing Ever...

Honestly the best thing I've seen on the internet in ages, there's a whole line of these videos that combine Eddie Izzard comedy with legos. Perfect combination. This clip is funny even if you don't know Eddie Izzard, and if you don't know the Izzard, you should get yourself a copy of any dvd comedy tour and watch it. He's genius, brilliant, fabulous. Enjoy the clip. I definitely did, I was laughing so hard I almost fell on the floor.

It's Friday...

...and my living room is being overrun by ants.

They appear to be coming from the outside through the outlet we have on an exterior wall (which in and of itself is a little strange), and I woke up this morning to hear that the dining table was covered in ants this morning, which were dispatched before I stumbled from my room. The outlet has been taped up around the box a few times over, sealed as much as possible and we're hoping that the ants will stop their invasion.

In other news, a week ago I fell off my bike. I was going downhill down Bryant street on my way home from getting a backpack at Ross. Getting ready to make a left turn, I was riding down the middle between the two yellow lines separating the two directions of traffic and trying to avoid the little reflectors on the road. While doing my little cautious dance I completely underestimated how low below the road a manhole was, and when I hit it my bike jerked, I hit the front breaks, which made the front of the bike stop, but the back kept going, catapulting me over the handlebars. Luckily all I did was hyperextend my 2nd, 3rd and 4th metacarpophalangeal joints. I.E. I fucked my knuckles up good by landing on my fingers and bending them backwards too far. Other injuries? A scraped left knee and a bruise on my left thigh. It's taken me a week to post about this because I haven't been up to full typing speed up until yesterday.

And in more recent injury news, I pulled a muscle loading laundry into the car last night, which was a very strange feeling, I was lifting (without my legs, bad Asha, bad, bad, bad!) the bag into the back seat when I felt a weird sort of popping sensation in my back and immediate PAIN. Ugh, great stuff, and what i really needed right now.

Luckily I was already going to the chiropractor today, but not until the afternoon and I had a meeting in the morning, two hours sitting in the same position listening to other people talk was not my idea of a good time. At least I got free coffee, orange juice and pastries out of it.

Like I wrote on Maya's facebook today, 23 and my body's already falling apart. What the heck's happening to me?