upgrade

i have finally upgraded my phone. i got a samsung x475 [pictured below]. it's a lovely little flip phone with a color screen. it's a pretty basic flip phone and i love it. i can finally use my little cell phone sock that i bought when i was in spain, which was just about a year ago. scary how quickly time flies.



i've been eyeing this phone for the last two weeks and i just wasn't willing to pay a whole lot for it. then, last night, i was at northgate and one of those t-mobile authorized dealer kiosks was running a "promotion" or so they said. all i care is that i got the phone for cheaper than what i'd been told all the other times i'd been phone shopping. yay!

anger levels stabilized

last weekend, i had an extended visit home to portland and it was lovely. lots of rest/sleep and plenty of good food. i walked around the pearl district with wendy and shopped for paper for her invitations. i watched fever pitch with my brother mike and wendy. it was pretty funny. i spent some time with my parents and spent some time unpacking some of the stuff i moved home, mostly winter clothes and books from undergrad classes. i was productive and cleaned out my home closet for clothes to donate - there were clothes from junior high. it's scary and totally embarrassing to see the clothing that i used to think was attractive. looking through the pile, it was like "what the heck was i thinking?!?" over and over again. i'm sure that 10 years from now, i'll look back on pictures and say the same thing. lame.

after work on friday, i joined the other bridesmaids for christine's wedding for dinner at ginza in bellevue. i was supposed to go to inSpa with them for some relaxing and pampering, but i couldn't leave work early enough to make it, which was a bummer because i definitely needed some de-stressing. dinner was good and afterwards, we went to visit jen and arthur's future home. arthur's staying there until they get married in august.

saturday morning, i overslept and was a little late to kristie's finals for volleyball in the CSL. they had team uniform t-shirts and everything. it was pretty awesome. i caught the second game [best 2 out of 3] and it was definitely fun to watch. of course, it's always more fun to play. i had lunch with her team somewhere on ranier avenue. it's been awhile since i've had dim sum in seattle. and it was pretty good and cheap too. afterwards, we watched a little more the CSL playoffs and then i headed out to join christine, connie, and isabel for some practice hairstyling for the wedding. it didn't go so well with hot rollers for my hair. i think my hair is too short for roller, even the small ones, and also, my hair texture just might not be conducive for rollers since the final outcome was like i electrocuted myself. it was even funnier because we only did half my head. so half normal, half electrocuted. we've determined that it will have to be curling irons all the way, much more style control that way. and then it was more food at olive garden, and i hadn't even fully digested from lunch. i felt a little sick afterwards, like when you're at a buffet, and you've had one plate too many.

i updated some pictures from christine's bridal shower and from mel, vern, and ben's visit to seattle here.

little miss cranky pants

this has been the worst of weeks. i've no patience and no understanding...at all. i think that i probably wouldn't have been as short-fused if this wasn't a PMS week, but as luck would have it, it is. sorry for the overshare. :D so, 11pm on monday night, i get a voice message asking me to work on tuesday at the queen anne office. tuesday is normally my day off. i live for tuesdays when i am free to relax and do whatever i can't get done on other days that i'm working. it's the one day where i can rest/relax and recharge. and this last tuesday, it was stolen from me..STOLEN! i'm being dramatic, i know, but i can be whatever i want. it's my blog. ha.

it's not even that i had to work, because someone was really sick, and i would hope for the same kind of back-up for when i'm sick. but, the part that was so anger-inciting was that they didn't even offer to replace my day off with a different day off. I was the one that had initiate and ask to come in later the next day and had to persuade my way to getting this saturday off so i could leave for portland earlier. my expectation was that working on my day off would allow me to have a different day off in the same week. bah.

after work on tuesday, i was supposed to go to 24 hour with pam, but once i got there, i realized that i didn't have my shoes, so i had to go home. at home, i was still really, really ticked, so i went running outside. anyone who knows me understands that i absolutely HATE running outside. so, you can only imagine how ticked i was that day. it did help to get rid of the crankiness since i was just too tired to be mad.

on wednesday, i think the office felt the bad vibes rolling off me. they kept saying to me, "don't go" or "maybe you'll come back." i'm saying this now: even if for some reason, i quit teaching or hate it, i will NOT be coming back to work there...EVER. there's no amount of money that would be worth it. and it's not like i make a whole lot as it is. my new line at work whenever i am asked to deal with repeat difficult/needy patients or anything else that seems to consistently want my time and attention is this: what more do they want?!? a pound of flesh? a pint of blood? a vital organ, perhaps? all my gripes until now have been the usual gripes that people have about working. now, i truly feel exploited. it's all about my own methods of rebellion now. today, i wore flip-flops to work [which aren't allowed]. it was my way of saying "screw the rules." granted, no one of any actual authority was there to witness my subtle rebellion, but i knew it and that was enough.

the working on my day off incident was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. on it's own, during any other week, it probably wouldn't have been as big a deal. but these last few weeks, i've been tired, busy... trying to juggle all these different things and making efforts to hang out with different people, and i finally had enough. i was reading a book about a girl who tells her family and friends that she's into bird watching. she isn't really into bird watching, but it's her cover story so that a few times out of the year, she can "run away" for a short time under the guise of "bird watching." she just takes off for a few days to wherever she feels like. that's what i'd like to do. just take off for a little bit where nobody can reach you and no one makes demands on your time. i'm sure that says something about me, like being selfish, but i'm too tired to think too much about it.

tonight, shiv, garrett, and i [and a bunch of other people] went to the EMP liquid lounge to hear the audio biography play. it was a great way to release the tension built up over the past week and a half. it was fun seeing friends that i don't get to see regularly and to hear the band play. i had a mojito, which i later discovered, thanks to siobhan, was a double. it made me feel all slow and sleepy. they had a good laugh. i totally don't get why people drink in mass quantities.

i'm totally looking forward to taking off to portland for a couple of days. hopefully, i'll get some needed break time and chill out. i'm feeling way too tense.

circles of friends

i'm tired. not because it's almost 3am, but because it's been a busy week. i've come to realize that it's not easy maintaining friendships when everyone seems to run in different circles. i so admire the people who are really good about keeping in touch with everybody, even after people move and all of that.

after work on thursday, garrett, siobhan, kristie, me, and teri [from whom i get my paychecks] had dinner at mediterranean kitchen with our friend kirk who was in town visiting. they had gigantic portions...leftovers for days people. and it was really good.

after work on friday, melissa and i went to the kirkland performing arts center to catch Second City's 45th Anniversary Tour. they're an improv/sketch comedy group from chicago - famous alums include alan alda, eugene levy, dan castellaneta [voice of homer simpson], bill murray, mike myers, john belushi, tina fey, chris farley and a good portion of other former and current SNL players. it was pretty darn funny. we hurt from laughing so much. i learned that adding ninjas and spoofing dirty dancing makes everything funny.

today [saturday] siobhan and i had a bratwurst lunch at greenwood market. afterwards, i ran around getting last minute stuff, mainly pretty balloons, for christine's bridal shower. we ate, played fun games (like scandalous/hoochie toilet paper bride), and hung out. then, it was off to a potluck for vern, mel and toddler ben who are in town this weekend. more food and dessert and a whole lot of amusement from some of the guys who were singing disney classics and a little maroon 5 at the top of their lungs. it was great to hang out with the lees. they've been in the bay area for 10 months now and in that time, formerly baby ben has grown to a wild little person who talks and sings the alphabet. too cute...and too much energy. josh was mellow today, while owen is on the verge of walking on his own any day now. he also learned bartering/bribery. jo told us that if you're holding him, he'll kiss you and then point to somewhere he wants to go. he trades kisses for transport. so cute.

some pictures to follow...shortly.

stupid voting public

i just read that nikko smith was voted off of american idol. the voting public must be totally lame. there's no other explanation for scott savol and anthony federov lasting this long. they're really bad and they pick lame songs. who picks "climb every mountain" to sing?!? arg! the worst part is, i bet it's stupid girls voting for the crappy contestants. double arg!

inner anger ball

my friend and co-worker ana and i were at work today and we both felt like it was a really good day. this is only important because the last week was so bad. we both had this mysterious ball of inner anger. the anger was not inspired by any particular person or event, nor was it meant to be directed to anyone specific, but we were cranky/grumpy and short with those that we encountered at work. well, maybe it's not entirely unexplainable. we've both been operating under an increased work load and our patience probably just wore too thin this last week. shiv says the moon probably brought out the craziness too and i believe it. but, i think today marked the disappearance of our inner anger ball, which is good, because it really made us want to kick people in the teeth.

also, i've learned a new word from ana. she may not have made it up, but she's the one i heard it from so she gets the credit. "geeking" as in freaking out over geeky things or in a geeky manner. so, for example, someone that gets excited about a software update would be "geeking out" about it. "dorking out" can be used in the same manner and i think i've heard people say it before. we have to make our own fun at work.

weekend update

friday night pam and i went to see beauty shop. it was funny, cute, and at times, predictable. and, that djimon hounsou is attractive! we went to eat at applebee's afterwards and saw lots of asians in large groups. it reminded us of post youth group hang outs. and it made us feel a little old, comparatively speaking. plus, it was only like 11pm and i was about to fall asleep at the table.

saturday night pam, shiv, and i went to the JEMS spring concert. it was nice to see people that i haven't seen in awhile, AACFers, kids from warm beach, college friends, etc. good music and good times.

on sunday we had a guest speaker from the alaskan bush come and share about his ministry to the native peoples of alaska. it was really great to hear about his experiences and it was a good reminder for us to be grateful for what we have. we've been looking for a pastor for quite some time, and every now and again, people make it seem like it's the end of the world because we're without a pastor. it was some nice perspective from pastor nathan as he shared about their need for a structurally safe church building with running water and plumbing/sewage. he was a cool guy, with a fun sarcasm, feeling our pain about not having a pastor. haha.

after church i went to owen chan's 1st birthday party! it was lots of fun!
[click on the photo for more.] after the party, i stayed to help clean-up and to play with owen and all his new presents :D happy 1st birthday owen!