Just got back from San Francisco

Just came back from spending 2 days in San Francisco. As always, I had a blast hanging out with my friends there. I hung out with Doris, Gorton, Bea, and her sister since they were all leaving for their South East Asia trip the next day. I was originally suppose to go with them on the trip but decided not to because of my health condition. For lunch, Doris took me to the Cliffhouse which had an awesome view of the ocean! The view was AMAZING!!! After lunch, we walked around the park overlooking the ocean and took pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge in the backgrond. At night, we met up with Gorton and Mayuko and had dinner at "RNM" -- the food was really good and the place was cool and chic. Then after dinner, all of us headed over to Laverandi Lounge to meet up with Doris' friends and had few more drinks =) The lounge place was pretty cool. Next day, I had lunch with Paigie, before we drove back down to LA. Overall, I had a great time in San Francisco =)

View from the Cliffhouse

Another view of the ocean from the Cliffhouse

View of the Ocean

Love the background!

Overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Dinner at RNM with Gorton and Mayuko

Sorbet at RNM 

Dinner at RNM 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!

For some reason, it really didn't feel like Christmas again this year. Another hummdinger Christmas. Boo. I feel like ever since I graduated from college, it feels less and less like Christmas every year. I wonder why? Does anybody else feel the same way? Or is it because I'm no longer young enough to enjoy Christmas like I use to? I guess the thought of having to go out and buy presents just stresses me out because I never know what to get people. When I was younger, I had a lot more things on my christmas list that I wanted. But as I get older, I feel like I don't really want anything for Christmas anymore. It's proably because now that I'm older, I can just go out and buy what I want right away without having to wait until Christmas to come around. Christmas use to be my FAVORITE holiday of the year. Hopefully next Christmas will be more exciting.

Anyway, in the morning, I went to the airport and picked up my parents from their 1 month trip to Taiwan and Japan. I know it sounds weird, but it's really good having my parents back. Not because I no longer have to drive my baby brother everywhere (well that too), but because I haven't seen them since September. I guess I really missed talking to them on a regular basis. So yah, I'm pretty close to them like that. After the airport, we went to a Pho place for lunch since mom was totally craving for a bowl of Pho for some reason. I guess there weren't many good Pho places in Taiwan and Japan.

Unlike most families who has at least one Christmas meal at home, our family had our Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant just like every year. If you haven't noticed, our family eat out A LOT. I can barely remember growing up when my mom actually cooked. I guess you can say that my brothers and I grew up eating a lot of restaurants and take-out food =) The food we had on Christmas was pretty good. I've always liked eating Chinese banquet food. My favorite was the "duck burgers" -- peking duck with chinese buns. hmmm mmm delicious.

Later that night, I went to see the "Memoirs of a Geisha". Aside from the story line, I liked the cinematography and the musical scores from the movie. I just think the whole movie was very beautifully shot (although some scenes were just too Japanesey and looked fake). But I didn't think certain parts of the movie accurately protrayed the Japanese culture very well though. I was also annoyed in the beginning when all of the Asians spoke English with various degrees of thick Asian fobby accents. Most of the accents were bad but I've gotten use to it as the movie progressed. Besides Ken Watanabe, most of the casts were Chinese but pretended to be Japanese and that didn't settle too well with me either. In the beginning some of the characters tried to speak Japanese but I couldn't understand a word of what they were saying! Just because they try to phonetically make it sound like Japanese, that its really Japanese! This totally reminded me of when I saw Kill Bill in Japan with no subtitles since Hollywood automatically assumed that all of the Japanese people would understand Lucy Liu's poor and accented Japanese in the movie. Anyways, despite all this, I REALLY enjoyed the movie. I totally recommend everybody to see it!

In other news, I'm planning to drive up to San Francisco on Tuesday to meet up and hang out with some friends before they take off for their vacation to Southeast Asia. It should be a lot of fun.

That's enough for today! Hope ya'll had a great Christmas! Bye!

My brothers, Tom and Frank. I haven't seen Tom for almost a year now so it was nice catching up with him.

Christmas dinner with the family.

another random pic from the apple store...me and my lil bro, frank 

3 days until Christmas!!!!

Did some shopping at Ikea today with my brother. I didn't actually need anything from there but just wanted to check out some of their furnitures that I want to eventually buy for my big move to Hong Kong . I can literally spend hours in Ikea without getting bored. I saw few things that I definitely want to buy and take with me to HK. But it's so hard to buy furnitureswhen I don't even have my apartment yet. Seeing all the cool furnitures made me want my own place even more, but it also made me realize how much my parents need a makeover our house :)

After Ikea, went to South Coast Plaza (for the Nth time), and picked up a Christmas present for my brother. Then went to my ortho appointment. The good news is that my braces should be coming off next month! Can't wait to get these suckers off...I've had them for over 3 years and am tired of taking extra 15 minutes flossing every night.

At night, I saw KING KONG with some friends at the Block. I would say the movie and its special effect was pretty impressive. But overall it was way too long -- 3 hours to be exact. 3 hours is just way too long to spend watching a gorilla movie. But Naomi Watts looked so much like Nicole Kidman in the movie.

quick trip to vegas

Went to Vegas with a friend and just got back last night. We basically did all the usual stuff that one can do in Vegas -- eat, shop, and gamble. I ate so much at the buffetts that I felt so bloated after every meal! So of course, right after I got home, I went straight to the gym to de-chunkify myself. But I have to say Makino Sushi buffett place at the vegas outlet was pretty good. I also came home with a new watch and some new clothes from shopping. As for gambling, I came out slightly in the red but its all good since I never expect to win when I go there anyways. It was good going to vegas with just a friend instead of in a big entourage since we had the flexibility of doing whatever and whenever we want. Overall it was a good trip and I had fun =)

another star sighting in LA

On Friday, we had dinner at Hugo's in Hollywood. Pretty much everything on their menu was healthy and organic stuff. Surprisingly, the food was actually pretty good. They also have a whole assortment of organic, herbal, black, red teas that we can choose from. During dinner, Ellen noticed that the guy sitting at the table behind us looked very familiar. The guy turned out to be Jeff Goldblum!! If you don't remember who he is, he's the guy from Jurassic Park. Actually that's the only movie that I recognize him from.

After dinner, we went to Hollywood & Hyland to get some creme puffs at Bearded Papa's. Then we watched "Narnia - the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" at the El Capitan theatre in Hollywood. I guess I haven't been to Hollywood & Hyland in a while because that whole area has changed quite a bit and seems to be more commercialized now. It's pretty funny seeing all these random people dressed up in costumes on Hollywood blvd.. Where else can I see a guy dressed up in Pokemon, Michael Jackson, Spidermen, Home Simpson, Darth Vader, Storm Trooper....only in LA! =)

The movie was actually pretty good. I remember reading the book when I was younger but I don't remember the story at all. All I remember from the book was the wardrobe and that was pretty much it =)

Finally....

So, I have finally booked my air ticket for my trip. I'll be going to Paris and Rome in January with a friend of mine from school! Woot! I really can't wait to go back to Europe since its been a little over 6 years since I was last there. We plan to be in Paris for 1 week and Rome for another week. I can't wait to go to the Louvre since it was shut down the last time I was there due to a massive strike. Hopefully, there won't be any public strike this time...altho you never know since those frenchies do love public altercations.

I've also finally decided on what I want to do with myself post-mba. After spending many sleepless hours thinking and mulling over what I should do, I've finally decided. I've decided to accept the position with the German investment bank doing Equity Derivatives in Hong Kong. I'm quite excited about the position and my decision. This job will definitely put me outside of my "comfort zone" so to speak since it'll be a brand new field. But I'm totally anxious to learn new things and widen my knowledge horizon =D

In other news, I went to visit my grandmother at Rose Hills yesterday. It's really hard to believe that its been almost 6 years since she past away. Every time I drive up to Rose Hills, it brings me back to the day of her funeral which makes me really sad. That was probably the saddest day in my life. She was definitely one of the closet person in my life growing up and it really took me a long time to be finally okay with losing her. I still remember how she use to tell me all kinds of stories about herself and about our family. As she got older, she started repeating herself over and over again, but I didn't mind it one bit. Sometimes I wish that she was here to tell me those stories again. Right after she passed away, I use to have a lot of dreams about her and I remember waking up in the middle of the night thinking that her passing away was just one bad nightmare. Wherever she is, I hope to meet her again one day.

Stupid AIM

So I woke up this morning and logged into my AIM as usual, and I noticed that everybody on my AIM buddy list was GONE! For a second, I thought maybe I just needed to re-login again but I tried that so many times and my list is still empty....so sadly, I have to start re-enter people's screen name manually one-by-one again from memory. Dude, I wonder what happened?! There has to be a logical explanation for this. A friend of mine jokingly said maybe somebody got hold of my password, logged in, and erased all of my buddies from my list *Hrmph*. If that's the case, then who the heck would do such a looser-ish thing? Oh well...

Anyways, next time you see me online, please send me an AIM message so I can add you back onto my list!

Cheers!

Day in OC

Did some Xmas shopping in the morning at South Coast Plaza (again), before meeting up with Haeran for lunch. We had mexican food at Chipotle's, which was my first time there. I've heard a lot about this place and the food turned out to be just like what I've heard... hmmm hmm good. I remember reading a business article about Chipotle's and how its owned by McDonalds and whatnot.

After lunch, I drove to the Mission Viejo mall to do more xmas shopping. I guess I haven't been to the MV mall in a while because I got off the wrong exit twice and instead ended up going towards Laguna Hills and Laguna Beach. All this xmas shopping is wearing me out. At the mall, they had another Apple store and I just couldn't resist but to play with their computer cameras again and take few more photos (see pics below). But shopping at the mall totally gave me the feeling of being in OC. There were so many typical "OC moms" everywhere carting their strollers all dressed up in heels. The scene couldn't have been anymore OC than that I thought.
At night, I dropped off my brother at his school function, then went to the gym. Had a pretty good workout. At night, I met up with a friend over Starbucks coffee and good conversation. After sbucks, I had to go pick up my brother back up again from his school function. Man, I've been driving him everywhere today! So this is how it feels like to be a private driver.

okay i'm going to log off now... i need to go to bed.

good nite y'all !

me playing around in the Apple store...again 

At the MAC store again... me pretending to be all shocked.  

Inspired by Andy Warhol 

Back in LA

So I've been back in LA since Saturday and I haven't done anything but just hung around the house and did some Christmas shopping. Yesterday, I went to South Coast Plaza in OC and picked up few things for myself, and also managed to help my brother buy most of the gifts that he wanted to get for his friends for Christmas.

With my parents away in Taiwan and Japan for nearly a month, I have now inherited the responsibility of waking up every morning at 7:15am to drive him to school! Not only that, I also need to pick him up from school in the afternoon. I feel like a professional car service sometime.....and for a high school kid! Well, anything for my lil brother I guess. I remember when I was younger, my parents would use to make me and my 2nd brother either walk or ride our bikes to school. We didn't have any choice...well, unless we decide not to go to school. My parents would only drive us to school only on rainy days. So looking at my brother now, he has it really good!

Today, I decided on a whim to drive to Santa Monica to do some xmas shopping and enjoy the great weather outside. It's always nice to walk around Santa Monica when its all sunny. The weather was pretty good although it got chilly towards the end. But chilly weather in LA today was like in the low 60's..which is nothing comparing to the obliterating cold winter temperatures back in Ithaca so I shouldn't be complaining at all. I realized how much I like going there. There's just something about the city and the beach itself that keeps drawing me back. I always pay a visit whenever I'm back in LA. On the way back, I realized how much I enjoy going there so I made a promise to myself that one day I'll buy a waterfront house there. Not sure when that will be, but it'll be one of my many goals in life. I hope it won't be like one of those unattainable goals like "lose weight" that's on my goal list year after year.

I also spent some time in the Apple store playing around with their latest laptop and video ipods. I took some pictures using iphoto (see below). I love the cool applications that comes in a MAC. Why doesn't ours come with cool applications like MACs?

On the way back from Santa Monica, I was stuck in a horrendous LA traffic on the 10 and 405 (and it was only 4:30PM!). In a bizarre kind of way, I kind of miss sitting in these horrible LA traffic while blasting my music and singing as loud as I can in my car :D

In other news, ever since I came back to LA, I've been eating out every single meal. Let's see, I had Vietnamese food twice, Hawaiian twice, Japanese shabu shabu, and Chinese. Since I was so tired of eating out tonight, I decided to cook some chinese style beef stew for my brother and myself for dinner. I think it came out okay. But from the way my brother kept putting hot sauce into his soup for flavoring, I guess it tasted slightly light. But when I was cooking, I was amazed at how empty our refridgerator was. Luckily, we went grocery shopping the night befoe. Sometimes I wonder what my parents and my brother eat when I'm gone?!

I've been feeling chunky these days, so I went to the gym last night and tonight. Felt really good afterwards. I really need to get into the swing of things and start working out regularly like how I use to.

On a random note, I've been so addicted to trashy tv shows lately -- mainly Fabulous Life of XXX on VH1. For some odd reason, I find that show to be quite entertaining.

Tomorrow I plan to do some more xmas shopping in OC (maybe Newport?) and plan to visit my grandmother at Rose Hills in the afternoon.

Time for bed...need to wake up early to drive my brother to school.

Good nite folks!

Me playing around with the iPhoto camera in the Apple store in Santa Monica.  

Isn't this cool? I did this on iPhoto. I like how its Andy Warhol-like.  

Layover in JFK

Good morning world!

I'm now in JFK waiting for my connecting flight. I'm feeling so tired and sleepy that I can't wait to hop back onto my connecting flight and sleep all the way to LA. Although the wait sucks, I really like the free wireless internet here at the JetBlue terminal! Free wireless rock!

So I've been wanting to buy a Digital SLR camera for sometime now. But I don't know much about which SLR cameras to buy since there seems to be so many different kinds and brands out there. Does anybody out there have any recommendations? I've never owned one before so I'm looking for something more of a entry to mid type of camera. Any info would be helpful! Thanks!

Officially Done!

Howdy people!

I am officially 75% done with my MBA as of yesterday! It's hard to believe that I only have few more months to go before I graduate. Although I'm happy about it, I'm also feeling sad that its ending so quickly at the same time. Looking back at the last 1.5 years here, I realized that I have made so many good friends in such a short period. It'll definitely be difficult for all of us to part and go on our separate ways back into the real world. As I review the prospective student's mba applications, I'm excited for them that their mba adventures are just about to start, where mine is sadly coming to an end. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the program and I'm glad that I made the right choice to come here.'

In other news, the weather has been SUPER cold here the past few days. The other day, my weather-meter on my desktop showed a temperature of whopping 16F (-8 Celsius)!! Walking to school has been pretty unbearable these days. It was so cold outside that my ears started feeling numb. I was pretty paranoid that somehow my ears would just break off if i touch it. Sometimes I really wonder how people can live here winter after winter and not be fed up by this ridiculously freezing temperature!

Tonight we all got together and celebrated Gorton's birthday at this place called Antlers. The food was actually pretty good. I had the duck and it was delicious. I'll have to remember to go back there for their Prime Rib specials on Wednesdays and Lobster specials on Thursdays. Afterwards, we went over to Doris and Bea's place to drink and play white elephant christmas present exchange game. It was my first time playing white elephant and it was pretty fun. Too bad that my fondue set was stolen by some other people. But I did come home with this pretty cool Tranquil Tea Set which I'm quite happy about. Now I can start making a habit of drinking tea at home.

Since my flight is at 6am in Syracuse Airport, Sundar has kindly offer to take me to the airport. He's planning to pick me up from my house at 3:45AM to drive me to the airport! I'm so thankful for that. If that's not friendship, I don't know what is. I'll be arriving in LA around noon... I can't wait to go home!

My weather-meter on my desktop. A whopping 16F!  

Dinner at Antlers 

Sundar with Newton, the pug 

Duck Entree at Antlers. it was really good.  

Birthday Boy --- Gorton 

Future business leaders of America....aka my friends =D

Bea trying to decide if she should open a new present or steal mine. She ended up stealing my fondue set *roar* =D