Hawaiian Rudeness

My friend and I were at the Ala Moana doing some shopping and taking some pictures. We wanted a picture with the both of us in it and so decided to ask someone to take a picture of us. I decided to ask this sweet looking woman sitting on the bench next to us because she didn't seem like she was busy or anything like that.

Me: "Excuse me, miss. Would you mind taking a picture of the both of us?"

Her: "Umm, no. I don't feel like doing it and I don't want to take your picture either."

Me: "Well, thanks anyway."

Ouch! Sorry I asked! So we were quite afraid of asking anyone else to take a picture of us after that encounter with the devil.

But that's not the worse blow off I have encountered since I've been in lovely Hawaii...read on.

We decided to go hike the "10-things-you-must-do-in-Hawaii" Diamondhead Mountain (see picture above, which is a view from the top of the mountain). We found our way to Diamondhead area, but couldn't find the main entrance area where we pay for admission and parking. So we decided to stop the car and ask a "local" for directions. A jogger came into view and he was heading straight for us, so we decided to ask him for directions.

My friend: "Sir, excuse me, sir. Can you tell us how to get to the entrance of Diamond...."

Jogger cuts her off: "No, I can't. I'm running" and he keeps on running.

All of us in the car stare at one another, stunned at his rudeness. We were afraid to ask anyone else for directions after that.

Who said Hawaiians had the nicest people on Earth? Someone lied to that person.

LAX FUN

What was supposed to be an hour layover turned into a five hour “where the hell is the plane” countdown fest. United Airlines was claiming “aircraft unavailability” as the reason for the delay of my flight to Honolulu. If you’re ever delayed at LAX for five hours, here are some things you can do to keep busy (yes, I did it all):

1. Walk up and down a few of the terminals. I got off of Terminal 8 and my connecting flight was in Terminal 6. So when I learned of the five hour delay, I took a stroll up and down each terminal. There’s lots of food shops and knick knack stores to look at in Terminal 7; there was a Ruby Tuesdays and Cinnabon in Terminal six, and also a Starbucks; Terminal 8 was pretty boring because there’s really nothing there.

2. Take out a book that you packed and read it. My book this evening was “Ray in Reverse.” Approximately 250 pages and took me an hour to complete. Okay, so I had read the first 50 pages at SJC, but still 200 pages in an hour is pretty fast.

3. Go to Starbucks and buy a peppermint hot chocolate to try to warm yourself, especially your frozen fingers from keeping the book open while you’re reading.

4. Listen to the whole soundtrack to of “The Last Samurai” on your iPod Nano or similar device. In fact, listen to it twice.

5. Walk around looking for a working outlet to charge your laptop.

6. Walk around and count every Dell laptop that you see (14!)

7. Observe the family of 10 adults running after their 10 children trying to prevent the boys from poking the girls’ eyes out with the toy swords (plastic toy swords are allowed on airplanes?).

8. Observe fellow passengers look at the United departure screen, search for Honolulu flight #935, then exclaim “FUCK! A FIVE HOUR DELAY?” or “YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!” This is still quite amusing even after you have seen it for the tenth time.

9. Go to a different restroom every time you have to answer to the call of nature.

10. Observe fellow passengers line up at the ticket counter four hours before the new departure time, hoping that a United agent will come and tell them this delay is all a dream.

11. Go search terminal after terminal to find an actual living, breathing, United Airlines agent. Good luck with that!

12. Go into the candy store and pick out all the red Sour Patch Kids. This task is much easier to do when they have tongs for you to use.

13. Observe plane after plane pulling into your designated gate, watch people get off the plane and then watch the plane pull away. “That plane is available! Why can’t it take us to Hawaii?”

14. Slowly eat your red Sour Patch Kids. First biting off the head, and then the legs, finishing off with the bodies. To make it more gruesome, say “No, no, please don’t eat me” out loud before taking a bit of the head and responding to yourself “Yummy.” People will start to stare, but hey, you’re contributing to the people watching industry.

15. Pull out another book and attempt to finish reading before the supposed boarding time in an hour.

16. Scream “Hallelujah” when the United agent finally announces that it’s time for boarding.

How to pass the time on a six hour flight:

-- Sleep.
-- Sleep.
-- Sleep.
-- Sleep.
-- Drink water.
-- Sleep.

My airplane travel started at 3:00pm at SJC. It ended at my final destination at 1:45am Honolulu time.

Thank goodness my return flight is a direct flight to SFO.

Hawaii here I come

In less than 48 hours, I'll be able to take many many many MANY of my own pictures of Hawaii. Wheeeeeeeee!!!!

How can I concentrate on work when I have the beach on my mind?

Advice for next Christmas

Avoid the mall at all costs on Christmas Eve.

Avoid the grocery stores at all costs on Christmas Eve.

Avoid Walmart at 5:30pm on Christmas Eve at all costs (half hour before closing time).

Avoid the parking lots at these places. Or be prepared to circle around for 20 minutes looking for a spot, or stalking other people hoping they lead you to their car but only find out they're taking you around in circles for the fun of it.

Avoid making eye contact with other shoppers on Christmas Eve. One look will make that stressed out shopper take his/her holiday cheer out on you: "I know you ain't got more important business than me, so hold your horses!" ; "Don't you dare take that candlestick, I saw it first from three aisles away." ; "I have to pay an extra $4 for an inflated basketball? What kind of &%*) is that?"

If you must visit the mall/grocery store/Walmart on Christmas Eve, wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to wait 30 minutes in the Express Check-out lane.

Avoid the mall at all costs the day after Christmas. Unless you are able to make it to the mall at 7am, it's not worth it. People are still under holiday stress. Only now, they have gift cards for fuel!

Avoid driving to the mall the day after Christmas.

Avoid the parking lots the day after Christmas.

Avoid the Apple Store the day after Christmas. 20 minutes of waiting in line just to make an exchange. It wasn't too bad of a wait when I discovered I could surf the web from one of their computers (the Boy had to wait in line--hee hee).

And if I had to be at the airport on any of these days, I'd probably say avoid the airport at all costs too.

Happy Holidays!

Joy Ride

The actors: Me, the Boy, the Boy's sister, mother and his step-brother.

The scene: Five people (the actors above) crammed into a small Toyota (Camry, I think?) going from Vacaville to the Boy's Aunt's house in Novato. The Boy is driving and his step-brother is in the front passenger seat. The Boy's sister, his mother and I are squished together in the back.

How to give the Boy's mother a heart attack:
***Everytime we're going downhill, the Boy's step-brother and sister raises their arms in the air screaming "ahhhhh!" as if they're on a roller coaster ride. Even scarier when the Boy lets go of the steering wheel to join in. Naturally, the Boy's mother screams: "All of you stop it! You're going to kill us!"

***Everytime we pass by a body of water (i.e. pond, lake or ocean), someone opens the windows all the way down and shouts "water, we're passing by water, please prepare your life vests." Keep in mind the weather was rainy and about 50 degrees.

***Whenever the Boy's mother would tell him to slow down or be careful switching lanes, comments that followed were:
-- "Oh no, watch out, there's one car in front of us."
-- "Come on Toyota, we gotta catch up with the three cars in front of us."
-- "I see red flashing lights!"
-- "Wait, there's blue flashing lights too!"
-- "Wow, that old time Buick just passed us."
-- "Can't you go any faster than 50 mph?"
-- "Watch out for the turtle on the road. Oh wait, that's us."

***Whenever the Boy's mother threatened to take over the driving, comments that followed were:
-- the Boy: "oh no, kill us all now. It'll save some time and suffering."
-- step-brother: "Okay okay, slow down. I'd rather have Quyen drive than let you get into the driver's seat."
-- the Boy: "Hell no. Quyen can't drive either!"
-- sister: "we're doomed."
-- me: "Hey! I have a very clean driving record, thank you very much."
-- the Boy: "That's because you never drive."
-- step-brother: "If [the Boy's mother] drives, we'll never get to your aunt's house."

And that was just on the ride to his aunt's house. I was suffering from a food coma on the ride back to his mother's house, so I kinda tuned out all the ragging on his mother's nagging. By the time we got home, the Boy said to me: "Why did you and my sister fall asleep and make us boys suffer like that? My mom wouldn't stop talking!"

Oh what fun it is to ride in the company of the Boy's family.

Evil Mr. Clean

Remember the smell of a brand new car? So nice and fresh? The dash are all shiny and free of dust; the carpets and car seats free of cookie crumbs? The car is so clean and new, you don't want to do anything to mess it up?

Well, the smell of a brand new house is a gazillion times better than that! And with that, the determination of not leaving a mess around is a gazillion times more also.

The Boy hosted Christmas Eve at his brand new spanking house. The only furniture in the house was his bed and the only electronic gadget was his tv and dvd player. Yep, there was no fridge. As I type this, there is still no fridge in his house. The Boy's "fridge" for the dinner was a small Walmart cooler with ice in it. And we only kept the drinks in there. And since there was no fridge, that meant that we had to do grocery shopping two hours before dinner was scheduled for. Grocery shopping at Safeway at 5pm on Christmas Eve is NOT A GOOD IDEA. I made the Boy wait in line while I went around collecting all the ingredients for a spaghetti dinner. By the time I got the last item, there were still five people in front of us. And let's just say all the other grocery shoppers were not in a festive mood either. I was squeezing between carts and people going in and out of rows and there was this one lady who actually slowed down and would not let me squeeze pass her to get to the bread aisle. I had to back track and go down the milk aisle and take the long way around.

Anyway, since the Boy's sister was not yet at his house by the time we returned with groceries, cooking dinner became my responsibility. Now, when the Boy is at my house, he does not interrupt me while I am cooking. And, most importantly, he leaves the dishes around, throws his socks and shoes whereever he wants, and pretty much leaves a trail of mess behind him. At his brand new house, however, the Boy becomes the Mr. Clean from hell.

"Quinny, you better make sure you don't splatter that oil on my brand new stove."

"Quinny, you better not spill the sauce all over the stove."

"Quinny, you better cover the stove rack with foil before you put that garlic bread on there."

"Quinny, I see oil splatters on the stove."

"Quinny, I see oil spots on the floor."

"If you keep Quinnying me I'm gonna throw this spaghetti sauce on your carpet! I'll wipe down everything with 401 after we're finished with dinner! Goodness you're crazy."

Once I finished cooking dinner, he made everyone huddle around the kitchen island to eat their spaghetti. His poor little nephew couldn't quite reach the counter and couldn't take his cookie back to the living room where the TV was either. The Boy almost had a heart attack when his nephew almost tripped with a can of Coke in his hand.

Mr. Clean from hell didn't stop there.

"Quinny, make sure you clean out the tub after your bath."

"Quinny, make sure you don't leave any water marks on the shower. Use the squiggee."

"Quinny, put your clothes in the closet. Don't make a pile on the floor."

Oh it wasn't just Quinny this and Quinny that all night. He did it to everyone.

"Take off your shoes! This is an Asian house now."

"Don't you leave my kitchen with that plate of food in your hands!"

"You better not give your son anything to throw in my house!"

"Stay away from the walls, I don't want you marking it up!"

So the Boy's family and I took a bet that his Mr. Clean tirade won't last longer than a month. But then we were wondering how the Boy will handle the situation when he rents out his house to complete strangers who will surely not give a damn about his brand new house.

here's a new one

So instead of the usual "Holiday Lunch" or even holiday dinner, my firm decided to have an office luncheon and then bowling as our holiday activity this year.

Festivities started at the office at 11:30, which means the catered food was set out in the main conference room, the booze was chilled and flowing, the office phones were turned off and the office was closed for the rest of the day.

The food was a bit interesting. Other than it being catered "potluck" food, there really wasn't a theme going on. There were crabcakes (not good), battered shrimp (really not good), chicken terriyaki on a stick (so-so), some kind of carrot rolled in a slice of beef on stick (don't know how it tasted because it was still bleeding and I don't eat bloody meat), sushi (ehh), and fresh veggies to dip in ranch. Although I tried out a little bit of everything (except for the bloody beef thing), I pigged out mostly on carrots and cucumbers and ranch dressing. There was a dessert plate of brownies, blondies, lemon bars and vanilla cake, but I didn't induldge because it wasn't too tasty.

After muching on food at the office, the staff and attorneys walked over to the Yerba Buena Gardens to continue the holiday festivities with a couple of hours of bowling. These people I work with are sure competitive in nature. Even though the majority of us sucked at bowling (I mean we sucked big time!), we were all talking smack and trying to ruin the other's concentration. In the first game, I lost to the Managing Partner by two points ("I only let you win because you're the Boss Man."). In the second game, I beat out the Junior Associate ("Guess who's getting a bunch of work dumped on her desk tomorrow."). Then the third game was men vs. women, and let's say that didn't work out quite well. The men were scoring 275 points after Round 5 and the women were only scoring 125! The women were only barely catching up by scoring 245 after Round 8 when the pre-paid time ran out and the bowling managers didn't allow us to continue (the men didn't bowl past Round 5 because they were bowling so hard that they broke the pin setter/re-setter thingy at the end).

It wasn't a traditional firm holiday party, but I sure enjoyed this much more. Boss Man joked that next year we're all going to New York for skating in Rockefeller Center.

=)

Calling all Bloggers

Can you attach a video clip to this blog? If so, how do you do it?

Thanks much,

-Q-Pig

Cat Nip

I recently bought some cat nip for Jelly Belly Fatty Catty because Q said cats go crazy for catnip. She was not kidding. I didn't realize I also needed to buy some sort of toy that has a compartment for the catnip, so the Boy was just holding the jar with the lid ajar so Fatty Catty could sniff it. She went into a cat high. She kept rubbing against his hand and when he took the cat nip away, she followed him from room to room. He let her sniff some more and then she kept purring and rubbing against his legs. He finally put the cat nip away.

I was cleaning in the kitchen when the Boy was feeding cat drugs to Fatty Catty. As I walked back towards the bedroom, this is what I found:

The Boy put the cat nip on the second shelf. Fatty Catty saw this and pounced up trying to open the jar. And when I tried to take it away, she tried to swipe at me! What the heck is in this cat nip?

iPod Nation

Even though it was pouring buckets of rain in San Francisco today, the Boy and I did some Christmas shopping (mostly his xmas shopping) in Union Square. You would think that people would stay indoors when Mother Nature is crying a river upon the earth, but no, every one and their mother were out shopping. If you thought the malls get crowded during a Saturday afternoon in sunny 80 degree weather, take that times two and that's the atmosphere you get when you go shopping during a downpour the weekend before Christmas.

Macys was especially crowded because they had a huge sale, an extra 10% off your entire purchase--that's on top of the 40-50% off they already discounted on most items. This sale allowed the Boy to buy his mother a really nice Calphalon nonstick pan at half the cost of the original price (for those who are not cooking enthusiasts, Calphalon is the Seven Jeans of cookware). The sale also allowed the Boy to splurge on himself with new bedding for his new house. Hotel Collection king size down comforter--$560; Charter Club king size down filled pillow, firm--$120; total price the Boy paid after discounts and gift cards he accumulated from work--$141.02. Told you it was a good sale.

Of course the Boy wasn't the only one shopping for himself. With the great bonus I got from work, I decided to spoil myself for once by visiting the Apple store and joining the iPod nation with the purchase of a sleek iPod Nano in black.

It was pretty cool that we spent an exactly five minutes in the Apple store. There was this express iPod station where you tell them which iPod you want, then they ring you up with this portable credit card machine the size of a brick and email the receipt to you. Pick, scan, and leave with product in hand.

It's so pretty and so small. I haven't been able to put it down. I put all of my songs on it, plus some of the Boy's songs and I still have over a gig left of space on this 2G thing. Guess I'm not one of those hard core music lovers.

And if you're thinking about getting a sound dock for your iPod, the Bose system is the way to go. The quality of the sound is worth the price of the Bose. And don't bother looking for any deals. I tried and failed. But at least the Boy is happy with his early Christmas gift.

I love my Nano!

December is great!

10 reasons why I love December!

1. Work slows down A LOT. Instead of running around like a mad-chicken-with-its-head-cut-off trying to meet deadlines, I have time to sit and enjoy a cup of tea while reading the news online.

2. It means the year is almost over and a new year is soon to start!

3. Vendors that we use keep sending us goodies all month long (cookies, chocolates, sandwiches, calendars, pastries, keep it coming!).

4. Lawsuits get settled b/c peeps are looking for some quick x-mas money.

5. I now have time to blog!

6. Holiday parties -- nothing's better than seeing the people you work with make drunken fools of themselves.

7. Having photographic evidence of all those drunken fools at holiday parties.

8. SHOPPING! Okay, this is good all year round, but it's just a more meaningful experience for me to be able to spend 4 hours at the mall hunting for that specific snowman print pajamas for that special person who will shout "YAY! JUST WHAT I WANTED!" when they open it.

9. Did I mention the cookies? Yes? Well, bonuses at work makes a good December too.

10. Only fifteen more days until my trip to HAWAII!!

Whoo hoo!

The life of a cat

When Mommy gets home, I curl up on her lap and watch tv with her.

Sometimes I hide in Mommy's closet when she's at work. I really like the laundry basket, but only when it's empty, and Mommy doesn't empty the basket a lot.

I really like this orange blanket. It's really nice to nap on.

It's also Mommy's favorite blanket to use for naps.

Why are you interrupting my nap for pictures, Mommy?

I'm tired now. I'm going back to sleep.

White Christmas

I went to see White Christmas yesterday at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco, and it snowed! It snowed inside the theater, I mean. There's no real snow in San Francisco. Anyway, back to the snow part. It snowed at the end of the last scene of the show. It snowed on stage, then it snowed out into the audience. Such pretty pretty snow. The light small flakes floating gently to the ground. And the best part? There was no -12 degree weather with the snow! And the better part? There was no real snow when we left the theater!

I've been missing the snow since I moved here from the East Coast (I just miss the snow, I still do not miss the freaking cold weather). And this show brought such a big smile to my face. Yay!

Okay, the snow glee is out of my system now. Oh, White Christmas is a wonderful musical and you should go see it if you get a chance. It snows!

Tiffany's

The Boy and I went to Valley Fair Mall today to do some holiday shopping. As we're walking around, we just happen to stop in front of Tiffany's jewelery store. I was trying to figure out what shop to go to next, but the Boy kept nudging me towards the front door of Tiffany's.

Me: I don't want to go in there.

BF: Come on, let's just go take a look around.

Me: Why? You'll never get me a ring from there. Ha ha. You'll never get me a ring period.

BF: Well, we know that, but let's just take a look anyways.

Me: We're dressed in jeans, we can't walk into Tiffany's like this.

BF: Come on. We're not the only one dressed in jeans. Let's go take a look. You've never been in here before.

Me: Fine.

So we walk into Tiffany's and everything I saw was so sparkly and shiny. There were diamonds everywhere. Big ones, little ones, necklaces, tennis bracelets, and oh the diamond rings. The solitaire, the three diamond anniversary ring, princess cut, emerald cut, F grade, G grade, sparkly, sparkly shiny shiny diamonds everywhere.

Me: Oh, they're so shiny!

BF: Of course, it's Tiffany's diamonds. These are the best.

Me: Oh, this is so mean of you to tease me like this.

BF: That's right. You can look but don't get attached. Like I told you before...

Me: If I want a diamond ring, get a new boyfriend. yeah yeah, I know. But these are so shiny...

So of course I had to share this experience with the Boy's father. I called him up a few days later and told him what his son did.

Me: Hi!

BF's dad: Qui Qui? How are you doing?

Me: I'm well. But you won't believe what you're son did this weekend.

BF's dad: What did he do?

Me: He took me into Tiffany's!

BF's dad: He did?! Ohh. Did you buy anything?

Me: Well, that was just it. He just let me take a look around. We didn't buy anything.

BF's dad: Wait, did you want to go into Tiffany's?

Me: Oh no, he was the one nudging me in there. I said I didn't want to go, but he kept pushing me in.

BF's dad: Oh, well that's new. This is a big step for him then.

Me: Oh please. We both know he's just toying around with me. You know what he said once we were inside?

BF's dad: What?

Me: "You can look but don't get attached because if you want a diamond ring, you're not getting it from me."

BF's dad is laughing: Qui Qui, he's probably trying to surprise you. You two belong together forever.

Me: Ha Ha, [BF], you're dad says we belong together forever! I think we're a long way from forever, sir.

BF's dad: He told me that he wants to get you a 3.5 carat diamond.

Me: You know why he wants to get me a 3.5 carat diamond? So he can legally have it back if our engagement breaks up.

BF's dad is laughing harder: He did say that!

Me: Oh you know he would and he did.

BF's dad: Oh, he doesn't mean it when he says he won't buy you a diamond ring. Just you wait, he'll get around to it. You two will be together for always.

Me: Okay, here's [BF]. He wants me to get off the phone with you now.

As soon as I hand the phone over to the Boy, he tells his father: "Father, don't you go feeding stories to her. You know the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Oh, I still can't get over the sparkly diamonds. It reminds me of the engagement scene from the movie "Sweet Home Alabama." If only I had a romantic boyfriend to propose to me inside Tiffany's and let me choose the ring. A girl can dream. *sigh*

It's Over

7:00am - wake up to prepare to go to the test center

7:30am - leave SF and drive to Millbrae where test center is located.

8:00am - get to test center, Marriott Hotel, and stand in line to be checked in for test (note: there was already 50 people in front of me and 50 quickly lining up behind me).

9:00am - finally get checked in for test and proceed to ballroom where test will be administered.

9:30am - been waiting for 30 minutes, and still waiting for the proctors to finish checking everyone in.

10:30am - proctors finally start reading instructions for the LSAT

2:30pm - finish writing portion of the LSAT which means finished with the LSAT exam!

3:45pm - arrive home, ready for lunch and a nap.

Planning too far ahead

BF: I have a few moments to talk before the Judge returns. What are you up to?

Me: Aww, that's sweet of you. It's slow at work, so I'm looking up hotel information.

BF: Why are you looking up hotel information?

Me: Researching where we can stay when we go to the Aerosmith concert in San Jose.

BF: The concert's not until February, right?

Me: Yeah.

BF: Aren't you planning a little too far in advanced?

Me: I know it's far away, but just wanted to see what hotels are in the area.

BF: Don't plan so far ahead.

Me: Why?

BF: That's going into 2006 territory. You don't know if we'll still be together by then.

Me: Aw, crap. That's right!

BF: hee hee!

Me: I have to worry about our relationship surviving Christmas first!

BF: New year, new girl!

Me: Lord, why me?

GF / BF

Me: Did you get the pumpkin bread I sent you?

BF: Yes, I did. It's delicious. I had to share because I opened it in the war room, so the attorneys liked it too. They thought you were very sweet and was teasing me for the note you wrote on it.

Me: My "honeybuns, hope you like the bread" note? ha ha. With a note like that, I guess you can't say that your "good friend" sent you the bread.

BF: Oh no, she's going on about the "good friend" thing again.

Me: Well, that's how you introduced me at Thanksgiving..."Who's that? Oh, she's my 'good friend.'" and you used the finger quotes and the eye wink with that.

BF: What's wrong with "good friend"? Isn't that what "GF" stands for? Good friend?

Me: No, GF stands for girlfriend, and BF stands for boyfriend. What would BF stand for if we were going by your "good friend" translation?

BF: Better Friend!

Me: Oh gosh. "Hi, I'm his 'good friend' and he's my 'better friend'." This is how I'm going to introduce you now? With finger quotes and all?

BF: Yep, isn't it cute?

Me w/ voice of sarcasm: Adorable!