Part 2.
Doesn't that look like i just colored it in with crayons??
I need to learn how to shadow/highlight. Any tips?
I might have to redraw it since the line came out kind of thick... i actually think it looks better smaller.
see.
and then even better...
I'm not much of a t.v. watcher. I saw commercials about High School Musical here and there...but really had no idea what it was all about. Until I went over a friend's house... a friend who has 3 kids and Disney is on almost always.
They did the dance moves to HSM. Cute.
Then Maz (who btw, is wayy older than I am) updates his gchat message to: HSM 2 <3
HSM!? A little old no!?
I believe they target a pre-teen audience. Yes, i'm pretty sure I saw that in the news.
So, finally, I was like whatever- Maz loves corny stuff as well as gangsta stuff... i kind of knew that about him. Shouldn't be a big surprise.
So my boss comes into my office the other day... sits down next to me and says,
"So I saw HSM2 over the weekend......."
Me: "uhhhhhhhhhh......"
edit: wth is wrong with blogger!
I am feeling my age.
I can't do stupid/spontaneous things where I won't care about the outcome anymore. For example... sky diving... i remember when i was a young one i was all damn i want to do that (once i can afford it) yayyayay jump off a plane yay! Now... i'm like...ehhh no thanks, don't want to risk my life... rather spend the $ on normal things like on food or apparently a 500$ vacuum.
I can't go all out clubbing anymore in fear of someone taking a freaking picture of me and it being posted on myspace. Who started the whole camera in the club phase anyway? Do you know how retarded that is? I mean everyone is dancing and drunk and you all want to get together and pose for a freaking picture. Do you know what a bright ass flash does to a drunk person?! Yeesh...
Plus all the drunk fat people bumping into me...ehh.. no tolerence for that anymore, i just want to hit them. and all the dirty sweaty icky people in the dark....damn how was clubbing ever fun...
Actually, I can't even get drunk anymore. Well... I can, off of one drink. Thanks to no more HH.... thanks to not having friends... I digress.. so yeah, one drink. and it's not even a funny happy drunk, it's like, oh shit i'm tired i need to go home and sleep right now drunk. why!? why?! is it because of my tolerance?! is it because my 27 yr old brain can't handle the dizziness? Forget the meaning of life, what is the meaning of growing older??
Now... since I can't drink and dance for fun... I should be doing older more sophisticated activities right? Sipping latte at a cafe somewhere... playing golf/tennis... uh... um... what other sophisticated activities are there? damn don't tell me having kids is the ultimate sophisticated activity!?
See... so i'm stuck, I don't know what i should be doing for "fun" anymore (besides watch anime, and no, i will never ever grow out of that.)
Advice people... advice.
^_^v
I looooooooove the new girls who just started here. They showed me how i can get access my gmail at work.
Yes. This was very blog worthy (and worthy of my love as well).
It's summer... you're like duh- it's been summer for about 2 months now.
Well to me, it hasn't felt like summer. There are several reasons...
Back in the day when I was living with my parents, they didn't believe in air conditioning. Well, they did, but for like 2 rooms. That's it. The entire house would be hotter than outside, except for the basement, it was a bit cool down there... so I always felt the "heat" of summer when it was summer. I would be sweating my ass off in my own house...eating hot Pho. Damn it's good to be Vietnamese.
We'd have occasional summer cookouts, where my mom would try to grill everything possible, fish, cucumbers, tofu, whatever. It even got the the point where they built a gas stove outside where they can make the hot pho out in the hot weather, heh. I had a decent size backyard... green grass, a garden, some cheapo hammock from Vietnam where I would fall asleep on after work and then wake up with a start from being afraid of being bit by bugs.
Oh my god... i haven't gotten bit by a mosquito yet this summer! DUDE! That has got to be the most bizarre thing for me, i use to get eaten alive during the summer by mosquitoes, now..nothing... i don't know if i'm happy or sad... okay i'm happy, but a weird kind of happy... it means that I haven't hung outside in the evening during summer! the best part of summer for me was when the sun was down, there was a cool breeze going through the hot summer night... and i'd be outside with friends, talking shit about someone, while Linni was inside karaoking... heh, that's summer.
Now, i go from a home that's kept at a 71 degree temperature to an office that's kept at a 50 degree temperature... the only time i feel "heat" is when i leave it at 80 degrees in my car... so i can let the blood in my veins warm up from the 8 hours at work.... sigh... so right now, i'm sitting out on my mini balcony... just me, the spider and it's web, some Sapporo and the nice heat. It actually doesn't feel hot to me... it feels normal. So right now, this to me, is the beginning of my summer... I guess I can put on some karaoke and pretend Linni is singing.
I know, this post makes no sense, even more so than my usual posts.. but that's because the heat's affecting my head. goal!!
For the BF's birthday I didn't buy him anything. There, I said it, I'm a bad gf. I actually thought about it... but not for very long. I'm just clueless like that. I decided to cook him that BBH recipe THAT HE GAVE ME instead. Which was a lot of work on my end, and it took more preparation than thinking and buying a gift. There, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!
Anyway- so the BF decided he wanted to go out and buy something on his own for his birthday... and decided to get Guitar Hero II for the XBOX 360 (which, btw, i got for his bday last year... take away my negative points!) Anyway, this is a game where i can use my fast typing skills on.... if... I was typing with only THREE fingers. Yes, you're suppose to use 4... but I just can't use my pinky... it refuses to work! And then the combo middle and pinky finger? nah-uh, not working. But hey, if you guys ever want to hear me play the easy version of a rock song AND hear me sing along, give me a call! (paypal accepted...through the BF's account) Of course the BF is getting pretty good at it, the only non-rockstar like quality he has when he does is when he uses the "Star Power". Plus what big guy wouldn't look funny with a puny toy guitar? =P
So speaking of birthdays.... mine is coming up! This year, for some reason, I don't really care, I don't want to do anything special, I don't want to shop my ass off (which i normally do), i don't want any pinky st. dolls for my collection, all i want is some home made pho!! If this is cooked by my BF that's an EXTRA BONUS. But any home made pho would make my bday like YUM. Yup, that's all I want. Restaurant pho just isn't doing for me anymore. I guess as you get older you realize what is really important in life? no? I mean I knew food meant a lot to me, but home made food?! sigh...
On rocking at work:
Work has definitely picked up. I'm no longer sitting around twiddling my thumbs... but as you can see, i still have time to blog! Well, no matter how stressed out i get about this job, no matter how busy i am, i still feel bored. I really thought once i knew what i was doing and i had all this responsibility i would start liking it. Well, I don't. Shh... don't tell Flushie, but i'm going to apply for his company, work for the Japanese and have the possibility of going to Japan?! Boooooooonusssssssss. Oh yeah... first I have to figure out what the company's name is.
Damn you for being afraid of i.net stalkers flushie!
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
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!
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.
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?
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.
(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
