(Gross) Product Reviews:

Just a few thoughts that crossed my mind this morning as I was driving 5 MPH down the highway to work.

Neutrogena Lip Moisturizer is probably the best lip moisturizer i've used out there and trust me, i've used them all, from regular old chapstick to name brands like Origins and Aveda. They've all probably made my lips moist for about 3 seconds when i feel like i need to lick them to moisturize them again on my own causing my lips to peel, causing me to pick at them. Gross huh? I mean, I don't want a lip moisturizer where I have to apply every freaking 5 minutes. I want to apply maybe at max 3 times a day. Well, I gotta say, I think Neutrogena might be the one. It leaves a different kind of soft and there's no greasy feeling. There's no mint or cherry though for those of you who are into that kind of stuff (gross).

Another product is Yaz. Everyone's favorite topic to read about - Birth Control Pills... it's suppose to reduce your PMS and your period. Well, now that I've been on it for a full 3 months now I've gotta say... PMS is still there, but not a few days like it use to be, maybe more like 1 where I think the world is a shitty place and everything makes me cry. But the actual period?? 2 DAYS!? Could it be?? A little on the expensive side, but I guess it's worth it, so instead of 4 days of crying and 5 days of bleeding, it's been reduced dramatically. Who wants to be a girl again??

In other non-disgusting news, my best friend has started a blog (finally!)... so if you'd like to hear about what normal girls like to talk about you should definitely check her out and show your support. Plus, who doesn't love a girl who knows her sports? Right Flushie?! Now go read her my 3 readers!


...up up and awayyyyy

The - crapimisshavingsomeonecookforme(mom!) & Happy Birthday MMT(heart) Bun Rieu recipe:

So I decided to make some home cooking for myself and the bf. I was going between Bun Bo Hue (my favorite Vietnamese soup) to Bun Rieu (one of his favorites) and decided to go the Bun Rieu route since it was for his birthday. Bun Rieu, I believe, originated from Northern Vietnam (where all the best soups come from). It is a seafood/tomato based broth with a whole lot of bang of flavor. My version is easy to make because well... i suck at cooking and my bf knows it.. so this is pretty much a fool-proof way of make Bun Rieu.

I had to think about this a week in advance believe it or not. Cooking is a HUGE deal to me since I don't do it a lot...and when i do it's usually rice & eggs & Ramen. I surfed the internet for any different bun rieu ideas and not surprisingly there weren't a lot of different variations out there. Matter of fact, i believe i only found 2 recipes... but lots of pictures of people who were eating bun rieu. (bastards!)

So to start off here's what you need to buy:
Damage: 1 hour/60 dollars/having to deal with some mean Asian people at the Asian store
Tomatoes (lots, I bought 8 but used 5, so buy 6)
Eggs
Green Onion
Onion
Cilantro
Bean Sprouts
Vermicelli
Chicken Stock (4 cans)
Minced Crab & Prawn meat w/ spices (6 cans)
Shrimp paste (the purple stinky kind. "mam tom" in vietnamese)
Spare Ribs (2 packages)
pre fried tofu
Garlic
Shrimp (a lot)

Prework:
Boil your spareribs for 1-2 hours. The length depends on how tender you like your meat. Cook it for at least 1 hour... I think i cooked mine for about 2:30 hours (i forgot about it) the meat was so tender it fell off the bones. Set aside.
The soup base:
Damage: crying from onions/smelly kitchen. Seriously. Smelly Kitchen. Open your windows, turn on your fans, and feel sorry for your neighbors.

Cut two big tomatoes into wedges. Cut 1 whole onion and smash about 10 cloves of garlic. Heat your pot, once your pot is hot enough, throw in oil and then garlic. Saute your onions until they are clear and then your tomatoes until they are soft.
Throw in two cans of minced prawn and crab stuff. (One can each)
At this point, i got lazy and forgot to take a lot of pictures =(. Pour in 4 big cans of chicken stock and bring it up to a boil, then lower the heat to bring down to a simmer. Cut up the rest of your tomatoes and let the join the party.
Prep every thing else. That is- peel all your shrimp. You may want to taste your broth at this point... if it's not flavorful enough for you, put in squirts of fish sauce for your liking . or if it is too flavorful, add in water.
You can also put your spare ribs into your soup at this time (just the meat not the water!)
Shrimp balls: Normally you mix shrimp with minced pork, but i totally forgot the mince pork so i made strictly shrimp balls.
Place garlic into a food processor. Process.
Place shrimp into same food processor. Process until well blended and mush.
Add salt, pepper, and sugar. How much? i don't know, guesstimate it... it doesn't matter too too much since the shrimp balls will be mixed in with your soup anyway.
Once this is done, take a bowl of oil, dip your fingers in it and grab shrimp and drop them into the pot. Shrimp cooks easily, and they'll start rising to the top.

I'm kind of mad that I didn't take a picture of this part. It's an important interesting part that I've specifically learned from my bf...but because I was just watching and spacing out i forgot to take pictures! The part i'm talking about is the eggs:

If you like eggs you can add as much as you want. We only had about 7 eggs left in the house so that's how many we used. Crack the eggs and seperate the yolk from the whites. Blend all the whites w/ a highspeed blender until you get a foamy froth like texture. Open one more can of shrimp/can meat and fold in with the eggs. Pour the mixture slowly over your broth. You will see that it won't sink in. Cover up in a low-medium heat for the eggs to cook into a yummy goodness.
The prefried tofu can be added later.

Oops- at some point, you want to cook your vermicelli! Pour your hot broth over some cooked vermicelli add some sriracha hot sauce and you got yourself some mommy did not cook this for me bun rieu!
(feeds 6-8 people)

So for bun rieu the result was:
6 hours of intense labor (1/2 kidding)
backache
feet pain
loads and loads of dish washing
smelly house
happy boyfriend
Enough bun rieu to eat for 5 days straight!


In the middle of all this i also made white cake with greentea creamcheese frosting. It didn't come out the way that i wanted so i won't waste time posting how i made that. It was good, but i couldn't get the green tea taste that i wanted. Why the hell is it so hard to find Matcha green tea powder around here?!

....damn i suck at cooking/recipe instructions. There goes my cook book dream.

oh well! Enjoy!

Jinx! (You owe me a Coke)

Remember that line? Who and how the hell did that get made up? Anyway, I think I continually jinx myself... every time I type in my blog that I need to update my blog more, I freaking don't. I do the exact opposite of that, I blog even less! How will I ever have a lucrative blog career if I keep this up??

There's these lyrics in my head today that I can't seem to get out. It goes: "Happiness... is not a fish that you can catch. Imagination can't resist the laziness..." Why is this song in my head? This morning while i was emailing my friend CC away and not working, I was talking to her about how I sit on the couch or in bed every day after work, think about all the things I could be doing or should be doing and then that's it... I just think about it, I don't do it. And then I complain about how my life is so uneventful and boring and lonesome. So that song popped into my head. I always thought I'd be a good radio dj where I can play a great song when someone called in with their problems. I'm also really good at talking to myself and making very long conversations about nothing all day long. When I'm with other people? Not so much. I think I would probably scare some people with the random thoughts that constantly run through my head. Too bad radio djs don't make that much and it takes a long while to be nationally or locally good enough to get paid well. Also too bad that I have a cartooney kid voice that would probably even annoy the shit out of me.

Also I don't think it'd go very well if I played "Superman" by Eminem everytime someone called in about a breakup.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, being too lazy to do something. Well this weekend i'm going to try really really hard to do some stuff... and that stuff will be cooking/baking! Just on Saturday though. Sunday is laundry and sleep day.

As Mr. Doctor would say, "baby steps my friend... baby steps"

You ever realize how much crap you have to go through to cook!? You have to get into your car, fight traffic, go to 2 different stores because all the asian stores can't store everything you freaking need, prep, cook for 5 hours, clean, clean and clean again. Good lord do dishes stack up easily, wtf?! and then you eat for like 10 minutes and BAM! You're done. It's like 10 hours of prep time for 10 minutes of food. WTF?!

Yeah but I'm going to do it.... I'll post pictures, don't worry!

My BF

...said I should blog about this, so here it goes:

Ever been in a car accident where your chest is bruised/in pain from your body jerking against the seat belt?

Ever had hiccups while you still had this sort of chest pain?

WORST. FEELING. IN. THE. WORLD.

Each hiccup feels like the bones in your chest are about to explode.

How do you stop yourself from hiccuping?

Crying from the pain of course.

What Analysts analyze on their free time:

I've calculated and "analyzed" that if i keep at the rate on which i'm paying my CC bills i will be completely CC debt free by May of 2009.

....MAY OF 2009!!!!!

That's less than 2 years away. Not bad, but not good either. I've really tried to lower my spending habits, i.e. no more expensive clothes, make-up for no reason....uh that's all i can think of right now. One thing I have not been able to stop doing is NOT eating out. Damn why do I have to be such a good cook in just four things?! Those four things include rice and ramen noodles.

But the more i think about it the more i'm excited about what I can do in 2 years... because truthfully after those bills are paid off i'm going to have madddddddd $$ in the b@nk $0n.

I miss travelling so much, but i know that in 2 years i'll be able to go on, not one, but a lot of awesome trips... AND not have to worry about CC debt.

People always say, "debt" will always be there, yeah sure, but CC debt definitely does not have to be there ALL the time. I can definitely live without that sort of stress thank-you-very-much. So I think taking a trip now while this huge thing is hanging over my head is soooOOo not worth it.

In the mean time I've ransacked my brain for "new" things that I can do and won't have to spend loads of $ on. Here's my list:

1. Get better at SC (of course...somehow, some way, i will!)
2. Start learning how to play the guitar. I have the guitar, i have the resources, what the hell is stopping me?!
3. Find more Anime to watch. Any suggestions?
4. KARAOKE! LA! LA! LA! Yeah, this is $ but one disc can last me months. (Takes me awhile to memorize those dayum Vietnamese lyrics)
5. Once i got some really great basic guitar stuff down, start singing (my own words)- Rock star in my own house here i come!
6. Learn how to cook more?! Maybe...
7. Uh hello all these free Museums in D.C. I must check out.
9. DC Zoo
10. Must.Take.More.Pictures
11. BLOG!!
12. Oh yeah, and read.read.read.

Anyone have a list of what they want to do or do more of?

DUAL!!!!!!!

I just got my dual monitors set up. Now I'm efficient as ever.

Somebody stop me before my keyboard/mouse/brain breaks!!

...damn I have no other excitement in my life. -_-

Getting into the groove....

IIILibras
/Channel Cao

gO!

Dear Diary,

My first game back on SC was awful. I got SCV rushed and couldn't even save my sorry ass. Not only that I can't get my old SN back! Ugh, some days, things just don't go your way. I didn't win any other games either... the 5 vs Zum's n00b coworker doesn't count.

How do people end their conversations with their diary?? Iono.

MySpace takes over the world...

Look!!!!!
Even my one-eyed-freak-on-a-leash is on myspace!!!!!!
(Ignore wannabe dog on the right)

Plates

As I was sitting in my usual 5pm traffic jam going 1 to 2 mph i looked around to amuse myself. I noticed that people in VA tend to specialize their plates. Well, maybe its the ratio of all the damn cars around here, but whatever- the point is, i saw a plate that said:

I1I1I1I1I

I was like COOOOOOOOOOOL, reminds me of the aol days, when those punkasses had those type of sns.

AND THEN i was like, man... i gotta go to the dreaded DMV very soon to get my license/car crap switched over... maybe i should join the masses and make my own personalized plates as well. Too bad dyshanhics.com wouldn't fit.
How about O0O0O0O0
or BBGOTBK
or GLHFDD
or STFU
or MONKEY
or FREE99
or 126WPM
or EATING
or ALTTAB
or 8P

I wish we could use underscores instead of dashes, i'd definitely go for O_0
What would you use if you wanted to spend a retard amount on specialized plates?

Oh Green Apple Mentos - Where have you been all my working life?









Seriously?! I've always loved mentos but never in my life have i seen or tried one of these until today.
Speaking of candy, when i started working at the age of 10, my whole salary went to candy, i mean what else would a 10 year old asian girl buy in the ghettos? speaking of working, i worked numerous under the table jobs growing up... i don't know how i did it. Does the average american have any awareness on what goes on with these damn products they buy?

By the way, Crabtree & Evelyn soaps and shit? Illegal factory. Underpaid workers. Hours and hours of standing and cardboard papercuts. I would never buy their product, especially at the price they sell it at?? Psh.....

and now i leave you with another Excel tip: +
that's right, +

Happy OMFGICAN'TBELIEVEIT'S June all!!!!

Random Update:

It's been awhile... lots happened.
KUNGO got married!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH#(*$#*((@#*( !!! =]
Did a lot of reading about SC2
Moved from a cube to an office (with windows!)
Learned crazy Excel stuff at work. Like: =IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(A2,LABEL,1,FALSE))0,1)
Became addicted to French food. (Escargo yumyum!)
Did some shopping
Did some eating
Did some drinking
Did some visiting of a GM at the best Thai Restaurant in NO. VA (Now This is Good Stuff.)

AND

Last but definitely Lease :

Sorry about the crappy pics and video, but you get the point.

My life for Aiur...

Channel Cao will ressurect.

The new LP album sounds like motherfuckinggayarsesissyfiedemoindiecrap POP!!!!
Damn you RICK RUBIN!!!!!!!

The sad part is that a lot of the music actually starts out semi-good so I have hope when I begin a new track and then within 45 seconds it just crushes me and I wonder if I should re-name them LP'Sync myself.

OH. And the lyrics? Come on... what are you in 7th grade?? I hear better rhyme schemes on Chinese melody love songs sung by Vietnamese people.

Other than that, the album is GREAT!!!!!!

as a coaster...

Googlewhore

Hello, my name is Hanh, and i am a Google whore.
It actually just started recently, i mean I've always had a gmail account... last year i signed up for blogger, now i have: gchat; igoogle; greader; gcalendar; gnotebook; gdocuments; sms notifications sent to my cellphone from gcalendar; a new gmail acct; and I'm looking into Orkut looks like a gayspace type deal but without all the 8 year olds?! We'll see... i mean does anyone else use all these products as much as i do?!

I actually miss the whole internet interaction thingy... meet strangers online, see them at the same place everyday to chat... actually get to know them and become friends with them... i mean, do people still do that now a days in chat rooms? or is it all about the hooking up? the whole a/s/l/pic? thing just totally killed it. Now I'm thinking about hooking up the internet to my wii so i can play against other ppl and meet them that way... or starcraft again, but in sc, people only want to talk to you if you're good... and i'm not....hmmm what else is out there now a days??

In other news, we finally got a full size length mirror so now i can check out my awsomeness all at once without having to climb ontop of the toilet.

---
E: dudeeee i totally forgot about Kphooey's birthday, i'm sorry dude! happy birthday and rock on!! (oh young 1)

Blog Under Construction Part 1

Flushie is right... if I'm going to make my own banner, i might as well draw my own picture and use my own design, that would really define dyshanhics!! ...So with the help from a free tutor here is my first sketch of something i think i might want to use:

um... i think i'll try drawing it again next time sitting up and with an actual mouse.

....to be continued!!!!!!!!

yawn blog /yawn

I've been going through iStockphoto.com for the past 2 hours trying to find a good photo for a new banner for this boring looking blog of mine. What kind of picture says, "dyshanhics"? So far out of 648 pictures.... none.

Help? What type of picture/character do you see this blog as?

------------

E: had to share this. Found it while pic browsing -

whywhatwhowherehuhhuhhuhhuh?!?

I tried to watch House last night at a friend's house. A friend who has 3 kids who wanted me to watch the show in their bedroom. NOT A GOOD IDEA. All I got were 10000000000 questions thrown at me, "why is he sick?, what are they doing?, why is he sick?, who's that?, why is he sick?, they don't know why he's sick yet?, why is his face white?, what's Cancer?, what's Leukemia?, how do you get cancer? what's a bone marrow transplant?, NEEDLE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!, and finally, is he going to die?!"
Like WHOA! Stupidly, I tired to actually explain some of the stuff, and of course i didn't catch the ending because i was too busy answering their questions, so i said YES they both LIVED!!!!!!

So that's it... ONLY CARTOONS FOR MY KIDS!!

Anyway, I came up with this fabulous idea from my dream last night. Lasagna topped with mac&cheese.

YUM! Who wants to come over and try to make it for me?!

Doing the bills: completely and utterly depressing.

Because I'm a Girl (part 2)...

I L O V E custom design stuff, I love the option of making something my own way. I hate that I'm not artistic enough to do it myself. I love finding websites that do them for you.

Someone stop me before I actually buy one!!!
(Custom Designed by HTT (me)):

1154 Lill Studio

Now I wish I was visiting home... just for a few hours to make one of these.

MOMMY!!!!!!

The visit went well, kind-of. The weather totally sucked, so we didn't get to go into D.C. at all, just a lot of shopping and eating. Anyway throughout these 5 days, I've realized a couple things about my mom:

1. She's crazy. Like absolute. Before she use to be like a regular mom and say things like, eat your vegetables, and then it became to eat your vegetables- they're healthy for you, to crazy things like eat cabbage and greenbeans but not squash because this and that is good for your hair to grow out and lets you sleep better, but this makes your muscles weak. Where the hell does she get this info from?!

2. She's a trash talker. She was kicking all of our asses in wii bowling. and she was all like... Psh. Why would i want to play a second game? I already won! and was all high and mighty. Must be all the cereal you ate mom!
(i love how i talk to my mom on this and there will be no way in heaven or hell that she'll ever find my blog and even if she did, would never read it, and even if she tried, wouldn't understand it)

3. She's a cleaning fanatic. I admit, what mom isn't right? Especially an Asian mom, but seriously, me and MMT cleaned the house the night before they landed, and she still managed to try to clean the house as soon as she stepped into the condo!! and STILL called me messy.

4. She's crazy.

5. Every 5 minutes she gives me "advice" on what to eat, when to sleep, how to clean, what to eat, what to eat, what to eat (oh my god i just realized she didn't say anything to me about my weight!!!), what to eat, that i should go to a buddhist retreat so i can learn to be stress free, what to eat, buddhist retreat, and how to clean.

6. She's crazy.
7. She's crazy.
8. She's crazy.
9. She's crazy.

10. She's very good at driving me crazy.

Balance

Because summer is coming and I want to look H O T in a bathingsuit/bikini/swimwear I've been watching what I eat and hitting the gym (semi-regularly). I usually pack lunch and eat until I'm satisfied, not full, and in that way I'm not in a food coma in my cube from 2-4pm. Anywhoo... no lunch packed today, didn't feel like a salad, so I decided to go for the double cheeseburger from MC'Ds w/ fries (of course) and to balance it all out, drank water.

Realization: Water does not go very well with fast food, actually it tastes like crap and doesn't really wash down all the fast food taste.
Damn, I'm dying for a Coke right now.

My parents are flying in tonight, coincidentally the same time Mr. Man T's parents are coming into town. I might start drinking right at 5 to live through it.

Oh shit, i just realized Mr. Man T's... okay writing that is just way too ridiculously long, from now on, my bf is known as, "bf" or MMT, MMT sounds cool... oooppps, realized MMT's new boss freaking works at AOL, I'm going to have to persuade him to bring back scrambler... oh and V. 3.0 if possible.

Antisocial Bloom (D.C.)

I don't know what type of flowers these are...
But they are dayum pretty

even in the dark
away from the crowds...
sort of.Cherry Blossoms
I tried to do
phim truong moves
but the flying blossoms

kept getting in my eyes!!

We went during the night to avoid big crowds but there were still a lot of people there. We're going to try to go during the day time to take more pictures, hopefully the flowers are still up and hasn't all welted in this 40 degree weather!

April Fools

Is "Having a Dream Job" all a myth? Should I let go of that notion?! Can it ever stay over 60 degrees during the freaking spring?! When will I be able to eat solid food again??

This is depressing... please leave me links I can read/check on daily.

GOOoOo Matsuzaka.

And to leave you something that isn't freaking gloomy:

TORTURE



I have to wait every other week for this damn show to come out in youtube!! ahhhhhhh. I like that warning sign. very appropriate.

For your I don't want to work at work moments:
http://www.becomeanmm.com/

Guess who's getting this for FREE99???

(Damn that picture came out bigger than expected)

((Flushie, expect a call from me in a few months))

Moshi! Moshi!!??

And the Reason is You.....

This is definitely not my first blog. I started blogging back in 2002. Back when I was just a little college drop out that needed some money to pay for the education i never finished. (If that made any sense) I somehow landed an accounting position which evolved into me having a crazy Assistant Controller title. Anyway, on days that didn't have enough work to keep me busy 8 hours a day i had to keep myself amused. Was chatting on AiM enough? No. Was playing Literati against MKW enough? No. So somehow I found Xanga and started blogging. I started off slow... just like this blog, I'd forget about it now and then and was updating only about once a month. Then- i got better at my job and did things faster... so i had more free time, so i blogged even more. Eventually i was spilling my heart out on that shit, i talked about everything, i came an expert on talking (typing) to myself. But one day I realized I wasn't talking to myself, (uh hello public blog, hello everyone in the world who has access to the internet) One of my friends, Phanus, was like... oh yeah Hanh what's the name of your site again? And I'm like what?? how the hell did you know about that... anyway, ever since that i was more cautious about what i typed on there... it was never the same again. Still I continued to blog almost daily about less personal stuff, but still stuff that went on in my life... it got so bad, it bothered me when i got too busy at work and couldn't blog. When something funny or cool or sad or anything happened, i thought hey i could blog about this! I thought about blog topics in the shower (but somehow forgot them by the time i got in front of the computer) Man, my blog was like my best friend who didn't give me any good advice that i was going to ignore anyway.

Eventually I switched jobs, got cubemates that i didn't want to blog in front of, and the ultimate horror happened, my job blocked xanga!!!! Seriously, i was semi-dramatically devestated. Blogging and reading other blogs took up a lot of my work day (don't worry i definitely got all my work done!)

What the hell was i talking about? Oh yeah, so anyway, in the end, no more xanga, though i have freaking access to it again, hello blogspot, hello blog during my 9-5... will i be able to pick up the addiction again?? I hope so.. i think typing to myself keeps my conversational skills in tact.

ha!ha! okay the first 6 hours of work i had nothing to do, when it's almost time to go home and i'm ready to blog again? I'm swamped-time to work!

have a good weekend errrbody!

(dayum, i just noticed all my pics were dead, i forgot i totally cancelled my old isp account)

On the look out for FOOD:

It is true, I've led a sad life. There are a lot of foods I didn't get to eat until I was working and semi out of college. In my family, there was no such thing as eating out at restaurants- not with 7 kids. Even when my older brother and sister had a job they never took me out to eat!! WHAT!! So when I made enough money I pretty much spent it all on food... what can I say, food is my first love.

Even with money I didn't get to experience a lot of food since I came from a small city. I did find all the local yumyums and finally realized small mom and pop restaurants had way better food than the big chains. There are two types of food that I think about now and then and actually feel a little sad that I didn't have a chance to eat it when i was younger.

One is SUSHI... man, I can still hardly afford sushi dinners... now a days I see h.s. kids all up in those restaurants and I think wth!??? Yeah, I'm pretty bitter that I came from big poor family.

The second food is girl scout cookies... people always always talked about girl scout cookies, i never got to taste them until i started a real full time job!! I didn't even know what those stupid boxes looked like... i never had a girl scout come knocking on my door selling those suckers. Anyway, come the job and a mother is selling it for her daughter- i figured they HAD to be good, everyone talked about them, and2.50 a box?? MAD CHEAP!! So i bought 5 boxes...and ate them all... and then learned that that drug only came around like once a year. So the next year i stocked up and bought 10 boxes!!!!!!! Man, thinking back... i can remember how happy and pudgy i was... mmm...

After that first job, no one sold girl scout cookies to me (again)...which was weird, because, we moved to a better neighborhood... and we all know girl scouts come from the better neighborhoods!! Anyway... i didn't think about them damn cookies again until this year. When i heard people in the office talking about it, and telling each other that their boxes came in. Man I was sad... I was SO SAD. Ask Mr Man T. I talked about it... which caused him to steal a half eaten box from his job, but whatever! I was so happy when i saw that box...but still sad that i couldn't buy all the different flavors and knew i had to savor that box so i ate like 3... and put the box away.

Come last weekend when we had to go to Walmart for some diet stuff and Hallelujah!!! Girl scouts selling girl scout cookies outside the freaking store (i don't know how they landed that location). So the little hyperactive girls were like, WANNA BUY SOME GIRL SCOUT COOOOKIES?!?! ::SMILESMILESMILE:: and i'm like YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

and now here i am trying to eat girl scout cookies and type in my blog about my love for them.

i think my keyboard is broken, honey what did you do to it?!?!!!

oh yeah, so the point of this post is that if anyone knows of any food that you think i may have not tried or eaten yet, please please please let me know so i can leave this darkness behind me forever.

Thanks.

The definition of "lucky":

I've always talked about how good of a cook Mr. Man T is... if i didn't love this man and wasn't able to make him my bf, I'd hire him to be my "personal chef" hint! hint!
Below is a very very small display of what I've been blessed with over the last 3 months. I wish I took more pictures, i wish i took pictures with an actual camera rather than my shitty cam.phone, i wish i could blog about each and every meal. i wish i could eat all of this over again without gaining 1 pound. Those who've had a taste of his cooking cannot deny...

This is one talented person.

99% of these pictures are from home (my home!) cooked meals.
Going from Top Left to Bottom Right:
Ramen;primedryagedsteakdinnerwithlobstermedleysweetwhitecornbroccolinicreminimushrooms; steakdinneragain;
steaktip&steakfries;crabcake;asparaguswintersoup;
asparaguswintersoupagain;wine;tetfruit;
hotpot;teasmokedducksaladwithrasberryorangevinagrette;blackberry jalapeno crustedrackoflamb;
lamb&pasta;lamb&pastaagain;wine;
banhcuon;duck;duck;
frencheggsinapastrypuffmyabsolutelyfavoritebreakfastever;
shabushabuhotpotwithcraband4differentmeats;bunbohue

you
seriously
can
not
beat
that
.

Rollout!!

Damn I can't believe I only posted once this month. Anyway, it's my third week into work and all is swell. In fact, it's doing so well, I'm training someone tomorrow. I don't know how someone who's only been in the field for 3 weeks train, but I guess I'm doing it!

I don't think I've complained enough about the traffic around here, have I? Well let me give you some details:
On a really really good day (i.e., Holiday), it takes me approximately 30 minutes to get to work. Not bad eh? On a normal good day, it'll take me 45 minutes. On an AVERAGE day, about an hour. On a crap day, one hour and fifteen freaking fuckity fuck minutes. I'm telling you, that extra fifteen minutes really gets to me. It took my coworker 2 hours to get to work! I think I would start crying if it took me 2 hours to get to work when it is suppose to take me 30 minutes.

I really thought I've accepted the traffic here... I know, there are a lot of people, a lot of cars, cops are out to get you, I get it, I get it... I actually have not had road rage yet. I actually get that more when Mr. Man T is driving and I'm on the passenger side.

Anyway, VA drivers, you cannot blame all of the traffic on the speed limit (55mph, btw, VA highway are for wimps, haha- that should be their new logo, instead of VA is for lovers, it should be, VA is for wimpy drivers!) You cannot blame it on cops who pull you over for going over by only 5 mph. By the way, I have yet to be pulled over, knockonwood. Instead, I've noticed you VA drivers lack the "street knowledge" of driving, so... if there are any VA readers out there, please obtain this info and pass it along to your loved ones so we can all get to work a little faster and the world will be a better place.

55MPH means to go AT LEAST 55MPH, NOT SLOWER.
Left lane FAST LANE, right lane SLOW LANE. That equals RIGHT LANE=55MPH
If you're driving on the left lane and someone on the right lane is passing you? That's a clue to get out of the left lane.
If you are not exiting stay the hell out of the right lane when an exit is coming up.
When you are exiting the highway, there is no reason for you to be braking unless the exit ramp is a curve. ABSOLUTELY NO REASON.
You do not need to leave a space the size of a football field in between you and the car in front of you.
If and when you do get into an accident, exchange information, move on. You do NOT have to wait for the freaking cops, because in the mean time, your blocking traffic to dwindle down to 2 lanes and therefore, the cops aren't going to get to you within the next hour.
I know you're lost, i can't blame you, 45% of the streets name here has the name "Fair" in it. Come on Fairfax, get over yourself, even if you ARE lost, try pulling over or speed the hell up, because you going 2 mph makes me want to ram your ass.
Speaking of 2MPH, did you know you could make turns as you're going over 2MPH. Seriously, the gas pedal is your friend.
Your yield sign means that YOU YIELD FOR ME.

Ugh.

Hey did everyone have a good Valentine's day? Presidents Day? Fat Tuesday? Chinese New Year? And any other holidays/celebrations I may have missed?!?

GMail Dad

I still remember the day my pops was all like, take my credit card and go buy your little sisters a computer and if it is cheap buy me one too. I was like uHHh ookay, thinking the last time he used my laptop was to look at other Vietnamese girls in those dating websites where he would show my mom the girls' pictures. Crazy! So I got him a desktop and set up a gmail account for him so he can be cool. I also set one up for my mom, but she seems to not like checking it for some reason.

Anyway, I have a crap load of siblings, 6 to be exact, 2 older, 4 younger. My dad, seriously, only talks to me. My mom seems to love everyone else equally, but my dad doesn't really say hi to anyone when he sees them, except for his grandchildren, but I don't blame him, they are cute as hell. In any case, moving to VA has now made me the one who lives the furthest. I also have the VA area code, so my parents can't call me from the home phone (no long distance carrier) unless they have a calling card. Plus, my dad got pissed at Verizon Wireless and cancelled his cellphone... so I get emails from my dad now.

These emails don't really tell me how he's doing or he doesn't ask me how I'm doing or anything... these emails are about things that he can definitely ask his other children but for some reason just chooses not to. Even the ones that live with him!!
He also writes them in half Vietnamese half English. I don't know where he got the idea that I know how to read Vietnamese from. Must be all the Karaoking...

The first email I got from him he wanted me to tell him what to do with a letter he got from the state and proceeded to copy down what the letter said. I really wonder how long it took him to type that. Anyway, I had to respond back to him (in Vietnamese) and then ask him, why the heck didn't he just ask one of the twins?? and reminded him that they too speak English.

The second email I got from him, he had in the subject line, "your mom cry". Way to go on getting someone's attention.

The third email, told me to call my brothers and sisters that were back in my home town and who has a local number to join him and my mom for her birthday celebration. I'm like what the? What??

So I just forwarded the email.

Either he really hates his other kids or he thinks I'm some sort of Administrative Assistant for him.

The Cycle of Life

On Death:
I found out that my first bf passed away recently. I suddenly remembered a lot of things I never realized I would've. My first hand holding, first set of late night phone calls, first kiss and first tears I cried because of a boy. You know what I could imagine so clearly in my mind? What his death certificate would look like. I've looked at so many throughout the past months, I know which information would've been added. Manner of death: Accident. It is sad and I'm sure he will be greatly missed. RestInPeaceuntilyourreincarnation: Cao

On Living:
I realized I've been giving out my address all wrong, ooops! I'm a ditz.

On Living (kind of):
I know I thought of this before... and I'm pretty sure I've posted on it, but man... me not going to school OR working, is making my brain turn into mush. I really can't do this much longer. I know a lot of you probably think I'm crazy for actually wanting to work but trust me, having money come in is a security that lets you enjoy life more.

On Cooking:
I know on previous posts I talked about Mr. Man T being a fabulous cook so I definitely should be posting about what I've been eating lately! That will come. I've also picked up cooking (for some reason I can't sleep past 2pm so I have to do something). From Mr. Man T's aunt, I've semi-learned how to make Banh Cuon, which is a doughy like substance (made out of flour) eaten with meat and cha (Vietnamese version of spam?). I will definitely post my step by step moves on this later. Mr. Man T was going crazy with that camera. All in all it came out pretty good, but the aunt pretty much made it fool proof for me. hehe. I believe she showed me the easy way, where you just cook the flour on a pan. There's also a steam version, but man... my poor fingers, I've never held my fingers so close to a hot pan before in my life. Cooking is a dangerous sport!

On Baking:
We seriously spent over 100 dollars on baking products, all because of cupcakeblog
courtesy of chockylit an amazing engineer by day baker by night who has graciously lent the world her recipes. We first tried her Vietnamese inspired recipe, Vietnamese Coffee Cupcakes. Have you guys ever had Cafe Sua Da? Well have it as a cupcake. It came out pretty good, sweeter than I thought it would, the aroma of the coffee was probably the best part for me. Look at how small and cute my cupcakes came out to be!! We did not do the condensed milk pudding or the whipped cream topping since we decided it was actually pretty sweet enough. However, we did dip the cupcakes with sweetened condensed milk and that shit was deeeeeeeeeelish!!!
Check out the blog, it has great easy to follow directions and pictures.

On Eating:
I'm definitely gaining more weight. I can't help it, food is so good and so freaking readily available around here. You ever go food shopping and you're so freaking hungry you buy everything in the store and try to get the hell out of there so you can go home and eat it all? Well around here, you don't have to. A new and freaking spectacular Whole Foods Market just recently opened a few blocks down from us. This place is like a world on its own. True, you can't get regular Coke but... fresh sushi/Japanese food? Check! A full menu of cheese and wine? Check! Sandwiches? Check! Pizza? Check! Fresh seafood meals? Check! Gelato!??! CHECK!!!!!! Eat and then shop, all in one.....ahhhhhhhh...
Mr. Man T pretty much felt like he died and went to heaven. Well those are my words, his words were, WE CAN'T MOVE AWAY FROM HERE!!!!!
When you guys come visit me, Whole Foods will be one of the first places I take you to go "sight-see" hehe.
BTW: CEO of Whole Foods, also blogs and they are now #5 on Fortune's Top 100 companies to work for. See honey, I told you you should work there.

On Marriage:
A bunch of people that I and Mr. Man T know are freaking getting married, it's crazy! 'Tis the age, 'tis the age... anyway I'm super happy for those girls. What? I don't know the guys! Anyway, Mr. Man T's younger brother is also about to pop the question. (If he hasn't done so already.) In Hawaii. How rrrrromantic. I can't wait to hear the proposal story! It is true, since Mr. Man T works in a Jewelery store I've come to learn a little more about the bling... but who cares about that, I've also got to try on more of the bling! That was fun. It's weird that something so small can look so damn b r i g h t on my little finger. Just look, this is only a 1.2Ct. Wow.


On leisure:
I have all this time, I should clean, but I don't. AH! Leisure equals laziness. I can't handle.

Okay, all this writing about cooking and eating has definitely made me hungry. Time for cupcakes!! Ta-ta.

Whoa - 7 Years in 5 Days.

I just had to review the last 7 years of my life for my new job. It came out to be 38 pages long.
In the past 7 years I have:

• Moved approximately 7 times
• Was on and off jobs about 6 times
• Went to 4 different colleges
• Called 6 different people/places to clarify dates
• AIM M.K.W. 10000 times to clarify dates
• Checked my Xanga to clarify dates (sad that I have to check my own blog to remember things)
• Checked my EMail for peoples' names
• Had to pull my credit report
  

I've realized that there are NOT a lot of people I can put as references as to where I've been, etc., etc., I just used the same 4 people over and over again.
I've also realized that if I do not constantly blog about what's going on in my life, there is no way in hell I will remember any events in my life, not even the freaking important ones. Remember the teachers in junior and high school where they use to talk about their lives and give dates... like, I remember in June of 1954 I was blah blah blah... it amazes me that people can do that!!
In any case, I better keep my blog updated so if I ever have to go through this again I have something to check up against.
---

Since Mr. Dad has been in town, we've been hanging out with him and the other relatives lately. I have some great Mr. Dad stories I need to start sharing before I forget!!

I did want to share this one story though... I was sitting in one of the aunt's living room watching the football game when Mr. Man T's cousins started talking... I only first caught bits and pieces of the conversation since I was trying to concentrate on the game via the fuzzy t.v. All of a suddenly I hear:
cousin 1: What did you wear?
cousin's 2 bf: He-he, nothing.
cousin 1: NOTHING!? HAHAHA
cousin's 2 bf: no no, I mean, just plain clothes, nothing special, not nothing - nothing! hehe
cousin 2 looking at me: we went to a S&M party.

ME:

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet (you knew this was coming)

About a week ago I met Mr. Man T's dad. Let's call him Mr. Dad for short. We picked up Mr. Dad from the airport... we said our hi's, shook hands... it was all very polite and nice. So during the car ride he began asking me questions (non-threatening ones) in Vietnamese and English. Did you start work yet, do you know what Hanh means, do you know what else it means, your parents never told you what it meant, do you have an American name, you DON'T have an American name, but Hanh is so hard to pronounce, what is your last name, oh-no you have two names that are hard to pronounce, hm... let's give you an American name...

.....
.......

How about Rose?

All I could say is... I like my name and is it really that hard to pronounce?

And Mr. Man T brought up the fact that his little brother has an African American name.

All in all I thought it was a nice encounter, I wasn't terrified of talking to him even though I didn't know what to say to the fact that he wanted my name changed within the first 5 minutes of meeting me. Plus, he's a funny man.

New Friends





Almost everyone that I am friends with from my old city, I've met pre-college days. With that, I've known everyone for at least 8 years... wow, so I pretty much "grew up" with my friends. It's hard making new friends and being yourself (retarded) in front of people you just met. Lately, after the holidays, the people we've been sorta, kind-a, not-really, hanging out with are married couples! What would I have to talk about to married couples?

Luckily... they have kids. 8, 5 and 1. They love me, I DDR (and lose) with them, watch cartoon/kids shows with them, play Foosball (and lose) with them, play a weird version of ping pong (and lose) with them, run up and down 3 flights of stairs, play ring around the rosey, etc., etc... all while the "grown-ups" chit chat.

Sigh... at this rate, I'll still be growing up with my "friends".

Hello 2007.



Happy New Year people! Hope that whole ringing in the new year was fun! For me, I did a little something something that I haven't done on New Years Eve in awhile. First, I bought a couch at Ikea and tried to carry that sucker. NO FUN.

Secondly, I went clubbing. I can't even remember the last time I went clubbing... well, actually I do, but that didn't count. I mean, all out clubbing... by the way, my club wear? Jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Everyone elses'? A short dress. Wow. Anyway, we went to this club in D.C. called Love, I heard it has 4 floors. I only made it to the second one. That place was seriously packed, hot, and the music was wack. I got alcohol all over me (damn myself for being short), stepped on, elbowed in the face and was choking on cigarette smoke.

I've also never taking so many pictures at a club before in my life. Actually, I've never taking ANY pictures at a club before in my life. That was a little weird for me. So if anyone sees my picture in myspace or anywhere else somehow... uh, i don't know, let me know?

I didn't get too buzzed either. Only because I noticed Mr. Man T drinking and I knew he wasn't taking his DD responsibilities seriously. We got home around 3 am I think and I had to jump in the shower. I reeked of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Man, D.C., when are you going to jump on the bandwagon with the other cool states and ban smoking in public places?!

Overall, I don't think I'll be going back to that club any time soon. I'm more of a small club/lounge person. Where I can sit and drink and watch people.

Ah.. other than that, I haven't gone out much. Does anyone have any ideas for me??

P.S. Congratulations on your engagement PT!!!
P.P.S. I am now computer illiterate. Anyone know how I can design my own template here? Or even better, anyone willing to do it for me?

Nothing like starting a new year with something actually new...

Well, it has been one full week since I've moved down to the big VA, originally from MA I can say it is quite different. From the last post, you could guess, that I'm not use to big city traffic. Yeah, traffic in my city totally sucked when school was in session, but I don't think it could compare to this place. Most roads have 3+ lanes, highways... I don't even know which one I'm on half of the time, north, south, east, west? who knows, I always knew in my home town. Oh well, maybe if I paid more attention to the sun rather than the bastard drivers around here!

In any case, that has been fixed, Mr. Man T got me a TomTom! (New #1) The ultimate bossy device. I have to tell you guys... Phanus should get this thing. I have Janet speaking to me... Janet is from England, someday I will speak with an accent just like her! I also learned another road term, the roundabout. (New #2)

Settling in to a new unfurnished apartment is always hard. The walk-in closet is unfortunately not big enough for two sets of wardrobe. We have no drawers, so half of my stuff is still in my suitcase, the other half is still in my car. You guys use to think I lived in my car before? Psh, you haven't seen anything yet. In any case, it is hard to clean and organize when you have no place to put things... painting hasn't been completed... I guess I should start working on that since I am jobless and all. Here are some pictures though for your enjoyment.
It has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1 loft, 1 balcony. I like, I can't wait until the summer!
and everybody's favorite, a spiral staircase:

I've gone up there ONCE.

Ah... Christmas, I never really posted anything about this year's holiday. (BTW, Merry Christmas everybody!!!) What can I say? It was a very different Christmas from what I am use to. I wasn't out doing crazy shopping for anyone. I actually am still going to be buying Christmas gifts though... but I'd rather wait until I get a secure job offer, so do you think they'll still be selling wrapping paper at the end of January?

As for Christmas Eve and Christmas itself, it was quite interesting. I met all of Mr. Man T's cousins and some aunts and uncles all at once. (New #3) I pretty much stepped into the house without him, and his cousin loudly introduced me. What could I do? I just used both my hands and waved. Then I ran to the corner. I am so glad I did not get bombarded with Vietnamese questions. No, I do not mean questions in Vietnamese, I mean the typical Vietnamese questions parents ask. A few of the cousins were sweet enough to actually buy me presents. I thought that was great, everything I got was very nice, especially Mr. Man T's Burberry gift card. I also got to eat one of my favs, Bun Bo Hue! All in all, I wasn't really hassled by anyone, and everybody was super friendly to me and I was super quiet to myself so it worked out swell.

On Christmas, I got to hang out with one of Mr. Man T's favorite cousin, Miss Saigon. Miss Saigon, was her AOL screen name, and she is pretty much the whole reason how Mr Man T and I met. In any case, we went to watch that new Rocky film, which was eh.. and then had dinner at Miss Saigon's house. We had interesting conversations...until her little sister came home. That's when the stories got REALLY entertaining. I haven't heard fun and funny stories like that in a long time. I thought, it was a great way to end Christmas night.

Well this post was pretty much a long babble of babbles. I promise I'll try to stop and start posting normally again.

I wonder if I can tomtom my way back to the cousin's house to eat some left over bbh....

!!!

Hello from VA!!!!! I have relocated and have no job, no family and no uh..friends, well one. The one I live with. =] My short update:

1. My condo is muy nice-o
2. Traffic here sucks hairy monkey balls
3. My area is muy nice-o
4. Interviews are tiring
5. Traffic here sucks hairy monkey balls

There should be a rule...

If you're going to ask me for my opinion/advice:

And I put some thought, time and effort in answering you, you should HAVE to follow it.

If you just want to hear me talk (because I have funny insights) tell me before hand and I'll come up with something and won't be mad at you for 10 seconds while you NOT listen to me.

Geezus!

The Ultimate Statement

I had a nice fun-filled very private conversation with a super good friend of mine. About. My. Cycle. He's a pharmacists. Knowing him personally, I don't know if I would ever trust him to be MY pharmacists, but I do know that he knows his stuff. Most of the time. Anyway I talked to him about me switching my birth control method and how my doctor confused the shit out of me. He recommended to me what birth control pill I should probably be on. The effects of any birth control and for some reason he was really worried about breast tenderness. Trust me Mr. Doctor, that's the least of my worries. I was getting constant headaches, extreme mood swings, exhausted all the time, very irritable, very emotional... seriously, I just thought I was becoming a total bitch. So, I tried to switch some things around to see if it will change things.

First I'd like to say, if this makes me gain weight, I will immediately go off of it.
Secondly, Mr. Doctor, I didn't get the names of what you recommended, can you email me that again? (Just in case these Apris suck.)
Thirdly... is it me or do Target have really heart-felt-feel-good commercials?
(Just started the Apris today.)

Someone let me know if they think I'm changing.

Thanks!