before you ask, my new place in cyberspace [look! i made a rhyme!] isn't ready yet. all in due time.

thanksgiving was the usual affair. dinner in chinatown and then hanging out at somebody's home. this year, the adults went to my grandma's house and the kids came over to my family's house. normally, everybody would come over, but my dad was in seattle participating in a basketball tournament held in seattle. [yao ming's mommy and daddy were there too.] so since he wasn't here, the uncles did not have their annual mahjong and hard liquor night. instead, us kiddies played poker, texas hold 'em to be exact, and played with chips that had monetary values of $1000, $5000, and $10,000. obviously it was fake money, which prompted many "all-ins." i was told never to go to vegas...hahaha. after i lost all my chips, i made each of my brothers and my cousin give me "pity" chips so i could still keep playing. but after one too many losses, they cut me off. party poopers. then we changed the game to thirteen, with one chip per card left in your hand given to the winner of said hand. 'twas fun.

earlier this evening, i went to a wine bar with a friend from high school, and it was a place with posh decor, as expected from a wine bar since wine does tend to conjure mental pictures of snootiness and upscale ambiance. the host/waiter/wine guy remembered my friend from her previous visits - actually, he remembered her exact order. she threw me a semi-horrified look that pretty much said "scary" and i couldn't contain my spontaneous spurt of laughter, which was not at all polite, since he was still standing there. whoops. anyway, he looked like mr. sark from alias. who's obsessed with alias? that would be me. new episode this week kids.

i signed up for a hosting service at 1&1 and bought myself a domain at GoDaddy - all for just $7.95. so be on the lookout for the launch of my very own domain!

as for the actual name, all will be revealed in time. i have to say it was a lot of pressure picking out my .com name. there were several drafts and rewrites. props to my editor wendy. in the meantime, you may notice errors with photos from past entries - buck up and be patient, it will come back...eventually.

uw is officially kicking me out of their system in just a few short weeks. i am in the midst of deciding where to move all my web stuff.

i finally got to watch elf! will ferrell is a funny, funny man.

it's snowing...right now! right now, it is snowing!!! oh please, oh please, oh please let it stick and make it a snow day!

i went out to my car this morning and discovered that it had snowed! snow! and the weather people didn't even mention it last night. you can read about it here. and it's only november!

i went to old navy yesterday to buy a sweater i had seen online. i tried on the sweater and realized that i had been hoodwinked. it was not the cute sweater i had imagined. the disappointment was monumental. ok, it wasn't really, but i like to make hyperbolic statements because it is fun. and the check-out person looked sounded like britney. seriously, it was uncanny - i kept waiting for her to bust out in lip-sync song and dance. [no pun intended and no exaggerations either.]

:current media in play:

music

switchfoot : the beautiful letdown

sarah mclachlan : afterglow

justin timberlake : justified <--- this boy just gets cuter and cuter.

movies

love actually <--- it's british and a romantic comedy! you don't need any more reasons than that.

elf <--- i need to get into a theater to see this and so do you.

master and commander <--- i need to see this one too...

what? lack of a book list you say? well that's because i'm not reading any. my brain is turning to rot. brain activity is at an all-time low.

i had a whole list of things i was going to mention, but i can't seem to remember any of them. i shall assume that they were not altogether important, because logically, if they were, i would remember. my apologies - there is nothing for you here today.

this is the rental i was driving for two weeks:
[edit] the picture of the toyota camery has disappeared. [/edit]

i've made another step towards becoming a bonafide adult - i received my very own health insurance card! i'm quite excited about it. i can go and see the doctor whenever i want. this is great because growing up, after the pediatric years, my parents stopped taking us to the doctor. where most kids had physical exams on an annual basis, we only had them if participating in a school sport required them. why? because my parents are chinese and believe it is unnecessary to see a doctor unless you're showing proof of pain and suffering - like a bleeding gash on your head, and even then, i bet my parents would try to sew the cut back together. they're funny like that.

i spent the evening babysitting the kids of married peoples at church. we watched finding nemo and made shrinky dinks. those were a big hit with the kids, and an even bigger hit with the married couples. i think it was a tame night because i did not have to change a single diaper and baby ben did not have exploding poo. [i am impressed by parents because their kids do some pretty gross things.]

afterwards, i stopped by to watch the guys from my church play basketball in play-off game 1. it was an intense and physical game. our church guys lost, but i'm sure there's some character being built there somewhere. the refs were cool. i want to be a ref. they rule, with their black and white striped shirts and the authoritative whistle - their word is law.

coach dan makes a comment
ref: excuse me?
coach dan: -silence-
ref: i didn't think so.

awesome. there is so much power in that shirt and whistle. i am contemplating a possible career move.

i finally got my car back on tuesday afternoon. during the early portion of tuesday, i was productive - as i was not at all productive on monday. siobhan and i went to michaels in lynnwood, and then spent a long time at 99 ranch - asian grocery superstore. siobhan made note of the wide aisles, so that on a busy day, all the shoppers would not be pressed against one another. it was beautiful. the store was all nice and new and smelled good - no weird food smells. i'm adding 99 ranch to my list of happy places, right up there with best buy, target, and ikea. i could spend hours there.

also on tuesday, our volleyball team, 3 ugly ones [questions about the team name may be directed to one of our team captains, ryan] had a potluck dinner celebration for a fun and fairly successful season. we ate japanese chicken curry, teriyaki meatloaf, asparagus, veggie platter, a pork dish, thomas kemper soda, and chocolate cupcakes with mint chocolate chip ice cream. 'twas a feast. then we played apples to apples - a fun word association game. i have a feeling that not everyone was as enthused by the game as i and some others were. but that's ok, in my mind i like to think that everyone had fun. there were some awkward patches though...i think we were maybe a little confused about social interaction rules outside of volleyball.

on a different note, the oc is great. great, i tell you. as are all the other shows i watch :D

sometimes, when i least expect it, i am assaulted by my childhood. i'm thinking of suing.

i stopped by fred meyer to pick up the aquaphor mentioned earlier and i passed by the shoe department when flashes of memory hit me. i used to go to freddy's as a kid with my family, back when british knights and la gear were the must-haves. i just remember how much fun it was to be there and how excited i was whenever my parents asked if we wanted to go to freddy's [this was of course, before target.] it was a family event. just like going to k-mart and jefco, which became best, which went out of business and became uwajimaya in beaverton. i miss being little, being bratty kids with my brothers and begging our parents to buy everything...and then some - ok, that part still happens. i can't wait to go home for thanksgiving. as i get older, all my memories get glossed over with happy powder, which basically means that i forget all the things that used to bother me and just remember the good feelings. because really, that's all that matters.

breaking news: eczema has claimed its lastest victim - me. i went to see my doctor this morning and apparently the dry, cold weather in seattle has caused an eczema epidemic. aquaphor is my new best friend. and it should be yours too if you're prone to dry skin and chapped lips. my consolation is that i was able to dodge eczema for a good 22 years until now. not too shabby.

i am so excited not to work for the next two days. i hope to use my time off wisely. this means not sleeping until noon and then being unproductive. i hope to finish off a couple of knitting projects, send out two care packages, paint some frames, and perhaps even make a few christmas cards. ambitious, i know. last year, i purchased a whole slew of card making tools, thinking that i would save so much money by making my own cards instead of buying the boxed cards from the store. obviously, i didn't really think through my plan logically. but, if i make my own christmas cards for the rest of my life, i will have achieved my original goal of saving money.

this weekend was filled with busyness. mindy and wendy visited, so of course there was lots of food and hanging out with lot of people. good fun. we all went to see love actually. i loved it. it's the best of all my worlds - it's british AND a romantic comedy with the likes of colin firth and hugh grant. what's not to love? i think that i shall see it again. plus, i really want to watch elf, with will ferrell. it looks like a funny and lovable movie.

my friend che is in west africa for the next two years volunteering with the peace corp. she just sent an e-mail because of an emergency tea shortage. [she loves tea] and she mentioned that in cape verde, they have my most favorite sandals/flip-flops in the whole wide world - havaianas. these are sandals made in brasil. i think she's sending me a pair! i have my beat up old gray ones from my summer 2000 trip to brasil and my blue ones with the flag of brasil [from one of the students at english camp]. i love these sandals. i am, however, a little sad to find them appearing all over the place, like at urban outfitters, or in magazines like Us. i'm happy for their success, but sad it's becoming a trend/fad. i liked having them to myself and the other SAM alums - and the millions of people in brasil. the best part is that your feet don't get stinky - unlike say...teva sandals...

anyway... so this weekend as wendy and mindy come and visit, we're going to put together a care package and send it to her. i'm thinking since she's gone for 2 years, we'll be sending her supplies often. :)

our volleyball teams last round of play-offs was tonight. we played the top team in the first set of games and though we didn't win, we made them work for their win. all in all, it was fun and i feel ok about losing to them. they were nice, and that counts. the second set of games was junk. we won, but we so totally should've won a lot faster than we did. at the end it looked like we were going to lose, but somehow, we pulled a win from out of somewhere. the cost of being 3rd place? my whole person feels achy and in pain. as somebody commented, i cleaned half the floor. gross.

but earlier today, since i didn't have to work, i went to target and best buy, my happy places, and picked up finding nemo, legally blonde 2 [it's cute and funny...seriously], and the new sarah m. cd. i also got an update on my car, parts are still not in, so i'm driving the camry for another couple of days. the man at lexus of seattle, let's call him mark, keeps saying he'll keep me updated, but not once has he called me. every single time, i've had to hunt that man down to get a progress report, and still he can't explain to me why the transmission broke. essentially, i have to stalk him to get some answers, which turn out to be pretty lame - "Well, don't worry about why, it's covered under warranty so it's fine." uh no. it is not fine. i want a reason, so that i can know how to not let this happen again [as if it were actually under my realm of control]. if i were a confrontational person in real life, some of my annoyance would be communicated to mark of lexus. but since i'm not, i say "thank you" a lot and am very accomodating - i might as well offer to bake him cookies and muffins. boo.

it sucks to pull up to the gas pump and realize you don't know how to get the gas tank door thing open. then after you figure it out, it sucks again when you realize that the actual gas cap is giving you trouble too. i was at costco, gassing up the rental camry when all of this occurred. during my search for the right lever, i popped the trunk open a couple of times and had to get out to shut it. i think the other gas patrons may have been wondering what i was doing. i called cora for assistance since i know her fam has a camry. i even had to scramble and consult the owner's manuel [which i prayed to be in the glove compartment] while inching forward in line. i'm such a tool.