Projekt Revolution Tour

Last night's concert was totally mega sweet! For sure. John got us tickets for my birthday (a full month and a half early . . . What a great bf!). I've always wanted to see Linkin Park in concert. I have their Pankake Festival concert DVD and used to watch it endlessly. I don't know if there's any other band that I really, really, really want to see. Well, ok, there's a few, but I can't even think of them cuz I'm still pumped over how great this band was. Apart from the awesome, high energy sets from My Chemical Romance and LINKIN FREAKIN' PARK, there was a second stage which was over with by the time we got there. We caught Julien-K who were pretty good and gothy. But for some reason the the roadies from Placebo walked onto the last 5 minutes of their set and started tearing down early. Major show fowl. They weren't even running overtime. They even took the guitar out of one of the guys' hands. Not sure what that was all about. So yeah, John and I decided to walk around more and check out the booths. You think there'd be more vendor booths than just the couple that were selling jewelry, but oh well. John, my Tangueray and I enjoyed the shaded cantina area and people watched, which is the best thing to do at a concert like this where everyone and everything was out, walkin' about and burning together under the hot sun. Btw, how bad do I feel bad for white people and the painful looking sunburns they got yesterday! Man. Doors were at noon and we'd gotten there at like 4:30. By that time the damage had definitely been done but I still felt like passing out those cone hats that Vietnamese rice paddy workers wear. The chick in front of me had a killer bra tan complete with strap and that plastic circle that links in the back.



Two thirds of the way through my drink, I had a moment. While watching all the cubes, the punks, the dads, the neo punks, the small children, and the other crazies go by, John tells me that a lady had just walked by who looked like Beth from Dog the Bounty Hunter. I practically broke my neck doing a 180 to look at her. Then I had an idea that I haven't had in a good 5 years. I suddenly had a really good idea for a halloween costume. I'm going to be Beth and it's going to be awesome. I'm talkin the real deal here - tattoo on my boob, blonde wig, stripper shoes, blue eye shadow, iridescent pink lipstick and A FANNY PACK EQUIPPED WITH MACE!!! I have to go all out, mostly because that's how she rolls, but also because since I'm asian and a pretty dark shade of brown I'm not sure about how recognizable I'm gonna be as Beth, but I think since I have a few months to prepare that it'll actually be fine. If only I can get John to dress up as Dog . . .

I was surrounded by tall white people, so I had to stand on the chair. I leaned on John so that I wouldn't get in too many people's way and he served as a great buffer to my rockin out. I didn't think I had the power to knock over John, but Basically, people were so pumped over LP that there were times that I couldn't here Chester. That's what kind of concert this was. I mean, I couldn't decipher absolutely everything myself, but that's because I spent the whole time screaming and singing at the top of my lungs, but I shat up enough to check out the rest of the crowd, because that's always cool to watch.

I don't wanna get longwinded about all the reasons I love LP, but I do have to say a few things. LP is six guys. That's alot to deal with. A lot of opinion, a lot of emotion and thoughts and ego and tastes. But these guys are still going strong as a united, damn good band. And they're not afraid to cry on stage. They're my kind of band, they had a varied set list from intense hard metal tracks to the early hip hop-y fused tracks to songs with just Mike, Chester and a piano. They were really diggin the crowd too which always makes for great output.

Here's another part of the story. I decide to get garlic fries (I think they're a Bay are a thing, not sure, but I do know they're delicious) and a corn dog. We go back to our seats and Taking Back Sunday is up. I only knew that one single they have, which I like. They seem kind of like a blank rock band actually. Placebo was better. HIM was HIM, a little too Creed-y for us. The big guy behind me, however, thought they were the bee's knees and was totally drunk singing. I'm all about people who are all about their bands so I didn't really mind, but then he started spitting on me. I put a tissue over my fries and laughed a little inside. But then he started getting a little angry and just very negative. I kind of feel bad for people who get really negative when they drink or when they're in a cool place in general. These all day concerts are all about good vibes, you know, kind of Woodstock-like, and for someone to start dissing other bands because they only came for one of the bands is just so fowl. I blocked him out, but I couldn't help seeing all the dirty looks he was getting and by the middle of MCR's set he was nearly kicked out by security. His wife was so mad, "Just wait til tomorrow when you can remember what we're talking about." Ooooo. Burned (and not by the sun). Security had nothing over her.

Great things about the Bay Area, 2nd of many

Radio I don't know why, but radio here is wonderful. Actually, what I really can't figure out is how radio here can be so different. Clear Channel and other media companies seem to exist mostly to feed the greedy wallets of those in the music business, and most importantly the pop business. Radio wasn't horrible in L.A. but man, at a time when there is no shock to the new, they play just the right amount of old stuff to make your day (or most likely, your grueling drive) get-throughable. I've have not heard mid-career Janet Jackson dance tracks since Janet Jackson was in her mid-career! I mean, there's a difference between nostalgia (Mariah Carey's Someday) and something that you love but just haven't heard in a while (Janet Jackson's If!). Nostalgia is definitely a tapped market (Hot Topic, Special Editions of Labyrinth and The Last Unicorn, etc.), but the latter is just so fun to have around when your stuck in midday traffic. Sure, people still play Hey Ya and once a month they bring out En Vogue's Hold On, which are fantastic songs. But man, one time I was pulling out of Target and I heard Free Your Mind!!! I nearly shat my pants it felt so good! After that ended and I stopped dancing and narrowly averting curbs and small children, they played The way you move by Outkast. On a tuesday afternoon! These are not one time moments either, they be playin the good shit all the time. They've been playing so much Prince that I don't even mourn the loss of my Prince Greatest Hits CD that John bought for me after I saw an infomercial for it. Score!




Great things about the Bay Area, 3rd of many
public tranportation Sucks that I work nights, I can't really use it right now. Sigh. But oh man, I've heard that the public transportation here is some of the best in the nation. I believe it. I saw a bus the other day that has free WIFI. On a bus. ON A BUS.

side note: I'm writing poolside. And you're not. haha. . . I'm watching John float about in the pool, attempting get a primer tan. Maybe all that body hair is getting in the way. Or maybe he's just been working/gaming too much. Or maybe he's not really Mexican/a quarter Filipino. HAHA. I'm so mean. But it's ok, cuz he won't do anything. ;} Cody, on the other hand, really hates it here. There's a big tub of water, no grass to poop on and new concrete which prolly smells like wet children and not like the piss of other dogs. Not exactly a fun place for him - it's like a big mix of everything he hates.

Hippie rant (1 of many): Water is killing us

I'm sitting here in front of Whole Foods and I feel bad for buying a bottle of water. I almost never buy bottled water. Even before the world was all eco-conscious I knew that it was a big waste of money and plastic and that it was just plain silly. Sure, Smart water tastes freaking awesome, but what I usually see is people going to Costco and buying crates of tiny ass bottles of Kirkland water. As if that stuff isn't just tap water. And then people don't reuse the bottles as much as I think they should. Some people don't even use it as a "to go" thing. They drink it at home! Grrr! So if I buy water, I usually get a big bottle, and make sure it's suitable for refillin' and reusin' at least a dozen times. I did that today. Bought a pretty, curvy cute bottle of water to go with my indian food, mostly because it was a cute bottle and not expensive.

After my meal I realize that the water was bottled in New Zealand. The other thing about bottled water is transportation. Liquid is heavy, which means transporting it everywhere is an enormous oil and pollution problem in itself. This bottle alone is so heavy that I use two hands to drink it. This water is pretty great, and not bad for how much I paid for it, but in the end, it's not worth its real cost in anyway. No water is, unless your dying in the desert or you've got to wash poop off your hands.

I don't even leave my dog in the car for more than 45 seconds.

I couldn't get this news story out of my head. . . . The thing is that I've been working more Cocktail shifts at work instead of working just room service and ofcourse, a big part of waiting tables (especially for me) is forgetting about things. As in everything. From bringing someone extra chopsticks when they've dropped theirs to remembering to actually type in someone's order or spilling drinks. (I have day-mares about this actually. I've been pretty traumatized by it even though the guest who I spilled the $15 glass of Rombauer chardonnay on was really nice and didn't seem bothered by it much. In fact, he gave me a hug cuz I looked stressed over the spill and the large party of 12. His friends joked with me the next day too. I love happy hour people btw. They're never really too drunk and they're always happy cuz they're no longer at their shitty job.)

So yeah. This puts it in perspective you know. I'll have one table where I've practically done everything right, they love the food, picked the right wine. Last night, a lady from Hawaii went from pretty chatty to a hugger by her third Grey Goose. She gave me her card in case I was ever in Hawaii, and urged me to go to this free show in the city. And then the table next to them was dirty looks galore and I was just dreading the time that I'd have to approach them again. All over a dropped chopstick.

This guy forgot to do what could simply be called an "errand" and ended up royally screwing up his entire life. Forget the possibility of prosecution and jail time. This guy's life is over. Because of a simple act of forgetfulness.

http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_207011854.html

UPDATE: Not really, but, I've moved from Whole Foods to Peet's. (My life in a nutshell, really . . . the good news is that there aren't as many yuppies in here as usual. I think the Starbucks across the street does a good job of filtering them out. The even better news is that the laptop/studying for a test guy near me has head phones on and is blasting Dancing Queen by Abba.) ANYways, I just read in the Chronicle about more of that story. Interestingly, the headline is, "Don't think it can't happen to you". And it makes me think more. Yes it's true. Sometimes I get in bed and realize that I've forgotten to feed my dog. Half the time I leave for work realizing that I'd forgotten to eat enough to last me the next 5 hours. Forgetting things is a big part of life, of course. But do we really need the newest Volvo to be equipped with a communicator telling the the driver that it has detected a heartbeat left in the car after the alarm has been enabled?! Or $90 car seats with similar functioning weight sensor pads? Good lord.

The worst part is that the front page article even includes a box of tips on how you can be reminded that you have a child. One of them suggests to place a stuffed animal in your passenger seat as a marker for you to remember your back seat brat. Another suggests that you leave your purse or lunch bag in the back so that you never leave the car without opening the back. But then again, I always forget my lunch at home.

Chin pics!!!

These are mildly to not so mildly iPhoto-ed pics of the new chins. This is the best I could do, honestly. They were taken in nightshot and taken through cage wire. Muy dificil. But anywho, enjoy. Oogle at the dorky but super cute extra forehead fluff. =D

My fav movie: The Last Unicorn

Because you adore the movie, MAYBE HALF as much as I do, I share with you this site where you can get an autographed DVD of The Last Unicorn. The thing is that this is the only site that will give Peter S. Beagle ANY portion of profits. He is the author of the book and has somehow been taken off of the payroll for the DVD sales. Maybe the book as well, not sure.

I believe he was on site for the animated movie in 1981, and is also on board for the remake (live + CG) version teased on the movie site (grrr!!!).

Buy here

oogle here

BEBISHES!!!

A word or two about Macs

A great friend of mine, Sharon, who I seem to only hang with when there's a book festival or a Journey/Billy Idol and other Rock ManSluts concert to go to, is deciding what laptop to buy. Since I believe everything is connected in some karmic, Buddhist way, this blog will teeter back and forth from being a plea to her and everyone else (sans gamers, the haters and the uncool) to get a Mac and an ode to Mac-ness in general.

Actually, I don't know much about my Mac. And that's why I love it. I don't need to know much. 98% of all problems can be easily solved by the lay person. It's user-friendly. So user friendly that I believe it is the ideal computing machine for all people like me. And by that I mean people who have the computing skills that I do (Grandmas, soccer moms, small to medium sized children, etc.)

For instance, last night, Mi Chica Graciela and I finally saw each other on AIM and tried out iChat with our built-in webcam thingys. It took forever actually because everything worked fine except that she couldn't hear me. After much much ado, I thought maybe we should just restart our programs. And it worked!!! I find that anytime something isn't working very well on a Mac, you can usually just restart the program (not the entire system) and all is well. I wish I could press restart on certain moments in life. Like last week when I spilled a $15 glass of chard on a customer. But that's neither her nor there. Except that I really can't get the incident out of my day-mares. Maybe this will help. . .



I have no shame. . . . Anywho, we webcam-ed for like an hour or something. It was soooo fun, but webcams really need getting used to. It's kind of wierd at first. I didn't get the amateur porn vibe or anything, just that wierdness of live video. I felt like I always had to be entertaining. I kept showing her the unexciting stuff in the room, like the bottle of hot sauce on my table, and my dog, who didn't get it. Or I'd make faces. And wave. (Am I really turning 26 next next month?) Then she wanted to share music, and do funny dances, for which I was totally down cuz it seemed like pretty standard webcam activity, but even though she was with me in many ways, it felt wierd dancing in front of my laptop to the latest Justin Timberlake club jam, even though i really love his dance songs. Oh man, the moment we got it to work, Gracie just LOLed for like 5 minutes straight, and I started bouncing and dancing on my couch. It's just so fun, and just plain crazy to experience.

Gosh, I digress. Geez. Anyways. Back to my MacBook, which my friend says to name Mac-galing. It's the tagalog word for, uh, like, something that works well, or something that is cool. Hard to translate. You can say it instead of Bravo. . . . So, there's so many things to say really. I'm writing on a Sticky note, its a simple note program but you can basically use it to write whatever you want. I guess it isn't Word, but I wasn't about to spend $80 on the Office upgrade when I don't need excel and all that other stuff. I find Stickies perfect. You can color code and you don't have to toggle between docs, they literally look like Post-its on your screen. You never have to hit save or anything. And if I ever have to make a pamphlets or anything, well, I could always hack InDesign, my fav design program.

There's those other Mac things like widgets, but I hear you can get those on PCs too now. Expose is a Mac thing too, and whatever they call that cool function that happens when you press F11.

Spotlight is the "Search" function that is really much better in design and function than it's counterpart on Windows. So is the Finder, which I guess is similar to Windows Explorer. But also looks better, and works better. I can honestly say that most things on a Mac not only look better, but work better. Which helps to reduce typical computer rage to about 4% of what I usually experienced on PCs.

Hater you call me? I don't hate, I appreciate. Apple puts out alot of good product. I never said perfect and I never will. I know they're pricey and I know that "Mac people" are usually obnoxious, but that's ok because things are changing. The thing is that Macs are expensive but the thing is they're worth it, like all good investments in good products. Someone thought about all the little things so that even though you pay more, you really do get more.

the new roommates

So after a few examinations where John and I referenced no less than 3 sets of chinchilla anatomical photography, we figured out that the two surprise babies are a boy and a girl. John named them Tom Foolery and Palaver.

For those who don't know what palaver means (I didn't either), here's the thesaurus entry:

palaver "holy cow, what a palaver we caused in the girls' dormitory!" fuss, commotion, trouble, rigmarole, folderol; song and dance, performance, to-do, carrying-on, hoo-ha, hullabaloo, ballyhoo.

We had to DIY chicken wire to the outside of the cage because the babies can escape through even just an 1"x 1" hole. John woke up five times the other night to come out and find that they'd escaped the cage. Although chins are pretty smart, they never remembered how scared and cold they felt once they got on the outside. Each time, John would find them huddled together in the same spot in a very small space between some books, just inches away from the cage.

uh, . . . just click on this.

http://itp.nyu.edu/%7Ejyp243/jy/pillow.htm

John's pets are more Mexican than he is

Late last night I was having a snack. I walk to the kitchen, Cody follows ofcourse. And then he trots away all quick like and I follow him, cuz he's usually very interested in what I'm doing in the kitchen, naturally. Turns out he's made a beeline for the cage o' lesbians aka the chinchilla cage, where John's chins live their crazy lives, chewing everything in sight and jumping off the walls - literally.

So I check it out, and then in between the wall and the cage I see a FREAKING RAT TAIL!!! I was so disgusted that there was and for any period of time, has been a mouse and/or rat in the apartment! I felt like gagging and screaming and irking out all at the same time. But I made sure to call John before I thoroughly squirm the hell out. John was in bed, and was like, "man, ok. Lemme get a shirt on at least." So he checks it out and finds a BABY CHINCHILLA!!!!!!!

We had a full three minutes of 'like, uh, WHAT???!!! Shen's a skank, and RZA is actually GZA???!!! "Freakin Mexicans!!!" (For the record, John said it first, not me. I'm simply quoting him.) (Oh, their full names are Shenanigans and Razzmatazz, but like eveyone in our little family, they have like 6 nicknames. Sorry if I've confused you. Speaking of names, we now need 2 new ones.)

Talk about mixed emotions. . . We were just trying to figure it all out, gender-wise. I was super glad that it wasn't a rat. John was going crazy cuz it was so cute, and he's a sucker for little furry things. We had our OMG faces on for a solid 5 minutes. Chinchillas are mostly fur, so when Shen got what is known in certain circles as "a fat ass", we never thought pregnancy, we just thought she was growing or whatever - she's only like 2 and a half. And ofcourse, Petco can't get the sex of a chinchilla wrong right? Psh! Dumb petstore! Anyways, Shen's been acting funny lately, John's been catching her lying on her side in this creepy way. Oh yeah. Uh, side note: I always thought that RZA's clit was a little big. Yes, I've seen it. And yes, I've seen him, uh, do stuff to it himself. I just thought she was a crazy lesbian who sucks her own clit. I think that's what you would've thought of it, right? If you've ever lived with chinchillas you will be amazed at the crazy insane shit they do all the time.

Anyways, so I immediately get online and find out what we're supposed to do. One of the first things I read was that they can have up to 4 kits, which is what baby chins are called. So i was like, uh, we might wanna look around more. John moves the couches, and FINDS ANOTHER BABY CHINCHILLA! Meanwhile, Cody's running around like, 'We got NEWBS'!!!

So we had to babyproof the cage with cardboard because the babies are small enough to squeeze through the bars, which is why we found the babies ouside of the cage. I'm just going to list all the crazy chin facts that I found out, because just like chins themselves, it's all completely loony! But soooo interesting.

*Apparently RZA could try to get Shen preggers again within the next 3 days. It's called breedbacking, and it's very unhealthy for Shen, so John had to run out and get another huge cage (they're the ferret sized cage. Even bigger than some rabbit cages, cuz chins are tree dwellers. From South America.)

*The baby's have no height concept, so we had to take the ramps out so that they don't go leaping to their deaths.

*Last, and gnarliest factoid: Apparently, if one of the baby's are a boy, we have to separate him too, because in 4-6 months he could possibly IMPREGNATE HIS MOM!!!

*Sorry, THIS is the last one. To answer your questions - yes, baby chins are totally adorable, and I know you demand pictures of them. And John's guns. And John's body hair.





John had to go to work late cuz of all this, and so I took over the job of fighting all these little fires. I ran out to get wire and tape so that I could DIY / babyproof the new cage and he also mentioned that we need to verify the genders of the babies soon. (Something that a little place called Petco should've done before selling RZA/GZA to us.) So I'll most definitely post other updates about Shenanigan's further shenanigans as well as the happenings of RZA's jizza. For now, I have to go and Google Image search 'chinchilla genitals' to determine the sex of the baby chins, mostly so that we can name them but more importantly, to further prevent all this chin sin.

Cody: "I can't believe you got her knocked up! First they think you're a girl, and now you guys are gonna have - not one, but two kits?! You can't ask me to keep ALL these secrets. Can I at least give them a hint?. . . Dood, your ass better get a job."

a few product reviews

... Cuz product reviews are fun and helpful.

I'll say it again ... I got a new MacBook! YAY! So I decided to invest in all the accessories... I found this keyboard protector made of Japanese silicone for only 10ish dollars. They usually run at least 20. This one is really thin, yet strong and made especially for this model. I habitually lift it to see how much stuff that it has already prevented from floating down into the innards of my computer through the side of the all the keys. Very good investment because no one wants to crack open their laptop and feather dust abound every electrode of their very pricey Mac machine. Or pay someone else to do it. . . . When I run into more monies I'm definitely getting the RAINN laptop stand. Oddly, it seems to be the only one that looks good for real 'lap top' use. Not odd is the price: 80 bucks.

Another recent purchase was out of necessity, bet John would raise his bushy eyebrow and a skeptical smirk to that. But that's ok because I bought a PURPLE AND PINK VACCUUM! Again, YAY! It was only $129 at Target, and I, along with the 80 other reviewers on target.com, think it's just wonderful. It works great, is very powerful (ok, that more or less means that it's really loud, but I like loud). The dirt chamber and the bottom brush head is clear for easy cleaning which is what we need because we are hairy people. Others have said that it sucks on bare floor, even when you switch it to the bare floor option. It actually spits out debris. Painful when your floor is full of hardened rice grain. But vaccuuming bare floor always feels wierd anyways. Anyways, vaccuums are something that really need attention, but seem to really give you many good years if you just do simple maintenance fairly often. . . I usually clean out the brush head at least every 3 vaccuums. And I usually empty out the dirt canister every time. It makes is suck harder. Everytime. :]

Now, since this is my first review entry on my blog I want to end with a product that I have really hated - just short of loathed, really. I call it a white person's rice cooker. The only reason why I say that is because if you're gonna buy a rice cooker it should be Asian. I'm not going to explain this, because it needs no explaining. But I was duped and I allowed myself to make this horrible purchase which I could not return because it was out of box, blah, blah. Looking at Amazon reviews, I guess some people really do like it. Why do I own it and use it? Well, It looks good on the countertop and it's a Cuisinart. Because of these two reasons, I trusted the purchase to be a smart one. Also, it retails for like 50-60 dollars and I got it for 40 because it was a floor sample at Robinsons-May when they went belly up. Sigh. So, almost every single aspect of this product sucks. This is prolly gonna get wordy (because, well, it's me. And this is about someing that cooks my carbs) so imma get my list on right now.

PROS

It's small and light. I like light things especially when they're things that I have to wash and/or move a lot.

It has no other PROS except that it looks cute on the counter cuz it's stainless steel and says Cuisinart and has a square footprint!

CONS
It took more than a few tries to figure out how IT wanted to cook MY FOOD! It requires a tad less water than most cookers. And by tad I mean "an impossibly untangible, very hard to measure amount", which I only determine by primal Asian instinct. I couldn't explain it in words, but only I know how to measure the water. But still, a year or two later, I still produce a horrible, horrible batch of rice every other week or so.

It scratches easy.

When trying to remove the steamed food from the steaming hot steamer insert, your hands get steamed and burned because there's just no easy, safe way to do it.

The glass lid is just a shitty design. It basically will slide off when the pot is tilted even just a little bit = more steam burns and the possibility of it crashing / shattering on the floor.

It just doesn't cook well. And that's it's primary function! Almost all of the cooked rice comes out with a somewhat hard center. We usually just leave the cover on for a good 10 minutes before serving to get a little more cooking time in.

quickie... hehe, get it?! hahaha

Quick post... I just wanted to share with you all the good nipple shots I'm getting of John with my MacBook Isight camera!!! They're awesome in a nipple hair kind of way. I really don't know why John doesn't want these pics on the internet. He's actually trying to escape my camera here! I have no idea why he would do that.


This one currently graces the desktop of my new glossy MacBook screen. Tiled across my desktop so that all I have to do is press F11 and I'm there. I'm there in that place where John is half naked beside me, warm and ready for anything. My Bear-y Bear ManGod.

I moved to NorCal!!!

So maybe you know that I've moved to the Bay area and maybe you don't. So just to let you know... I moved to the Bay area! To make a short story shorter, I decided to get back together with John because even after more than 4 years of being with him he remains my adorable and completely lovable ManBear.

The thing is, he'd gone and upgraded himself to a better job. That appeal of that new gig is shadowed by one thing, and that was its location - NorCal, the Peninsula, the Bay area, "up North", SF, etc.

I'm not one for long distance relationships, and we'd been living together for at least 2 and a half years prior, so I wrestled with an impending decision. Do I stick around in my comfortable (I'd since moved back to my parent's house - dog in tow) and well-cushioned surroundings (because it was the place I'd grown up in since I was 5 and being away for a while gave me a brand new fixation on it... cheap Filipino and Asian food, mmm) or do I take the risk, accept the change, dive in, etc.?

I basically looked at the Bay as an opportunity. And I've always told myself that opportunity is a very important life concept. It's an opportunity to grow up completely, be on my own. It's an act of sacrifice towards my relationship and an act that solidifies my commitment to it. It's an opportunity to live in one of the other major US metropolitan areas too! The Bay is it's own thing, you really can't compare it to any other place.

This move is gonna challenge every other relationship I have too. I have to struggle to - not just "keep in touch" with the people in my life - but make sure my friendships and familial relationship don't go to complete shit just because I'm on the other end of the state. people. I would be very little if I didn't have the people that I have in my life, my parents, my brothers, cousins, aunties, uncles, my girlfriends . . . and just because I left SoCal, I don't want it to mean that I left them. Its definitely is a sink or swim situation, financially, emotionally, and all that. I need challenge in my life, and I'm prepared to take this one on. No matter how much I miss my peeps. . . brb, kleenex moment =(