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.