As you can see, my Auntie Ne in the Philippines sent Penelope a little belated Birthday gift. Really, she is the cutest thing in the world. Oh and Penelope too. :)

After hearing so much about my co-worker's boyfriend for the last year, I finally got to meet him this past weekend when he came and helped out at an event. Its funny, since it's just the both of us most of the time at the back of the shop, Sarah and I pretty much talk about EVERYTHING, so when I finally met the infamous Chris, I wanted to pepper him with questions about all the stuff I had heard about him. I was even ready with my greeting of "Hi! I've heard so much about you!"

But, he beat me to it.

Upon meeting him, he shook my hand and replied "Nicole! I've heard so much about you!"

What!? Wait a sec. No no no. I've heard so much about you. YOU!! You don't know nothing about me. You're the boyfriend. I'm just a lowly co-worker who's anal about folding things. I'm no one. I'm boring. What has she been telling you about me??? I hope she isn't talking crap!! I hope you don't think I'm a loser. OH.. everything I said is completely false and I'm a pathological liar...

Unless she said something nice and cool, then those things are true and well, yes, I AM that adorable.

HA!

Anyways, the Olympics are over. Sad. I was getting addicted to it because it was on ALL THE TIME. Hmmm gymnastics on normal NBC, or do I want to watch some sailing action on CNBC? Hot swimmers in speedos... or hot divers in speedos... or somewhat hot short gymnastic guys in unitards.

OH, but its not all about getting hot and bothered about eye candy! Who knew that watching MARATHON RUNNING could be so interesting! You think, "They're running! They'll be doing it for 26 miles." and really, the commentary for it seems asinine. Really, Brazil is in the lead. Gee, I couldn't tell because that's all you've been saying for the past 2 hours. BUT even before the crazy Irish priest came and attacked Brazil, it was so interesting. They're RUNNING. And running. AND running. I can't run. My shoes aren't meant for running. But its interesting for some odd reason and we sat there for a good hour watching them run. Its not like I can sit back at the gym and watch someone do their thing on a treadmill, because that isn't interesting. Even if they were to do it for 2 hours.

Actually that would be sorta gross to be running a marathon on a treadmill at the gym for 2 hours because imagine how sweaty that person would be. Just dripping about on the equipment. And then imagine watching the people's reaction around him if he started shaking his head a lot, whipping that sweat about, AND if he were really stinky...

I'd totally watch that.

Tonight, I saw 2 kids dressed up as Harry Potter at Citywalk. Well, I wouldn't call them kids. They were more like teens I think. One was a boy and the other was a girl. Or at least I think it was a girl. Well the boy, the one I'm sure was a boy, was dressed up as "Harry" although I'm not too sure because the accent color they had was green, and well Harry Potter doesn't wear green. He wears burgandy and gold. But this boy was wearing black and green. And despite the fact that he had Harry Potter-like glasses on, his hair was a bit too long for my liking. If he were taller, he would have made an interesting Snape.

To the public, they were probably viewed upon as "weird."

I just thought they had the look all wrong.

Just a random observation.

A more important random observation... I need a life. :P

Lets take a look at a page of my life...

Scene: The kitchen. MOM is cooking dinner just as a NICOLE at age 6 comes running into the room, crying and holding her left hand out.
YOUNG NICOLE: Mom!! My finger!
MOM: What? What happened?
YOUNG NICOLE: We were playing outside and when I touched a piece of wood, it hurt my finger!
MOM: Oh... it's a splinter.
YOUNG NICOLE: It hurts.
MOM: I know... we'll take it out. (Opens a drawer, pulls out a pair of tweezers, and proceeds to take the splinter out of Young Nicole's finger.)
YOUNG NICOLE: Ooowww!
MOM: It's not coming out.
YOUNG NICOLE (panicking): What happens if I can't get it out?
MOM: It will get infected and your finger will fall off. Hmmmm... let me go get a needle.
YOUNG NICOLE screams

Now... lets look at the events of today.

Scene: At a wedding decorating warehouse. NICOLE, many years later, is putting away fabrics in a hurried manner, and in the process of doing so, she bangs her hand against a wooden roller and yelps. SARAH, her co-worker looks on.
NICOLE: Oh f*ck! I have a splinter!
SARAH: Does it hurt?
NICOLE: (clutching her finger, staring at her wound, and wimpers) Yes... you don't have tweezers by any chance?
SARAH: Nope.
NICOLE: (wimpers more and calls out to her boss) Doug? Do you have any tweezers?
(DOUG enters room and walks over to a bookshelf and takes out a first aid kit.)
DOUG: Maybe. What for? (Looks inside and finds a giantic pair of plastic tweezers that shouldn't be in there in the first place because they're absolutely useless.)
NICOLE: I have a splinter... (Tries to take splinter out with tweezers, but like I told you already, they're uselss.) Aww... it hurts and it won't come out.
DOUG: Let me try (trying to take splinter out of Nicole's finger)
NICOLE: (Babbling to herself) ...and if it gets stuck, it's going to get infected and my finger is going to fall off!!!
DOUG: This isn't working... lets get a needle. You can try cutting your skin open...
NICOLE screams

We later were able to take it out eventually with a pair of pliers. I nearly passed out.

But at least I won't loose my finger to a tragic splinter infection. Thanks a lot Mom for instilling the fear of "infections" in me. That and the fear of "too much sodium" because too much sodium means that you can get kidney stones and I was scared of peeing in pain. That was the reason why we weren't allowed to get LUNCHABLES growing up.

"Do you want to pee rock salt? It's going to hurt!"
"No mom."
"Ok. You can have a piece of bread with mayonaise on it for lunch at school."
"Yay!"

Weekend Roundup

Thursday, I said "Bon Voyage" to my dear homie for life, Laura who'll be leaving for jolly ole England this week. I swear, she's gonna come back married to an English sailor, say phrases such as "chop chop" or "care for tea", and wear hats... frilly ones with flowers on the side. But for now, she was wearing normal American clothing as we went movie hopping... a delinquency I haven't done since I was in high school. Well, not completely "bad ass" seeing that one of our movies was "The Princess Diaries 2" which was just a tad bit too cheesy for 2 hoodlums like ourselves. *I liked the first one better*

On Friday, 5pm, Jean and I were fortunante to be able to participate in the last WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE attraction at California Disney EVER... and while you think "woah... that's pretty nerdy of them" really, we were far from it. Apparently we missed the "crazy disney fanatic memo" to wear our disney Millionaire shirts, hats, and pins, and chant the names of the hosts and stage crew like the dozens of folks who... were. At one point, Jean and I figured that there would be no point in us playing with the "fanatics" because they probably knew EVERYTHING! But in a way, their crazy dorky antics were sweet, especially for those disney employees who obviously were having their own last day of "work" at the thing. And although we never made it to the hot seat ourselves nor did we ever get to witness anyone get to a million... we did get to witness a possible love-match for 2 random Canadian teenagers on vacation.

Good luck you crazy kids.

Anyways, the rest of the weekend was pretty family orientated, which was really nice. Saturday was Mom's birthday so that night we went to have a delicious dinner at the gorgeous Mission Inn over in Riverside. Oh Riverside, you never expect to see anything there sometimes, and yet when you come across downtown and the Inn, you realize what a jewel it is and you're actually a bit grateful that it's so far from civilization because that makes it even more special because in a way, it's a little more "yours." Does that make any sense? Well, it does to me. We spent a good portion of the night exploring the hotel, playing "when I get married here", and wishing for a lottery win so that I can spend countless nights just basking in its charming glow. :)

I gush and I gush, but really, it's lovely....as is the Toyko Lobby in vintage San Dimas where we had dinner with Dad earlier tonight. And while I don't have any adjectives at the moment to illustrate how lovely our usual Japanese food spot next to the newly built Albertsons, its lovely in its own way.

Had my first job interview today. I can't say that I KICKED ASS... nor can I say that I SUCKED ASS.... so we'll just say that my ass is alright and just waiting. I personally think I should have prepared more. But the thing is that my interviewer was asking some very thought provoking questions other than your usual "tell me about yourself" and "what are your weaknesses?" What exactly are my management attributes? How do you answer "What motivates you" without sounding greedy or incredibly cheesy? Did he really need to know what 3 people dead or alive I would like to have dinner with? For a moment, I felt like I was completing one of those stupid online surveys or in a pagent of some sort. For fun, I like to hang out with friends, talk on the phone, go shopping at the mall, and BOYS! World peace yay!

Oh well. If it doesn't work out at least it was an experience. Plus there's that old saying that always gives me hope, "When God Closes A Door, He Opens A Window." So I'll just have to wait and see what happens. :)

Hot diggity dog!! It took me 3 years and 9 months, but this is my 1000th post!

I can hear the chanting of "NERD" in the backround... like in that final scene of "Revenge of the Nerds" when the giant crowd of dork, dweebs, and geeks chanted "NERD" around the bonfire. It was empowering... in a dorky kind of way.

Still... this is pretty exciting.

Sorta. :)

Anyways...

The other day while I was at the Nordstrom Rack, I was in the dressing room and surrounded by a group tweens in my neighboring cubicals. Oh what a delightful conversation I got to overhear...

"Oh my gosh... this is so cute."
"Oh yeah! That is so cute!"
"I'm sooo going to get this."
"Oh yeah... you should. What do you think of this skirt?"
"That is so cute!"
"That top is nice too..."
"Oh I know, but I think I need a bra for it?" *giggles*
*serious* "What do you need it for?!?"

Oh to be 12 again. Actually, I wouldn't. 12 sucked. And if I were the girl who just got moted by her friend in the dressing room, I'd start to cry because although I did look cute in skirt (totally!), she didn't think I was "booby" enough for a bra... and lord knows how important "first bras" are to girly girls. I was *this* close to swinging the curtain open and teaching the poor chestless girl some "I must I must I must increase my bust" moves... followed by "for fear for fear the boys will think I'm queer" because lord knows they worked for me. Or was it the bananas? I remember Jenny Reyes telling me that eating bananas helped your boobs grow...

Remember the days when you stuffed your bra with tissues and you were conviced that that extra layer of fluff really did something for your chest... when really it just matted down into nothing... and yet you felt "chesty" and grownup because that was what all the girls did... or so you thought.

Yeah... at 12, you weren't very smart.

You aren't smarter at 24, maybe a bit brighter... but at least you can fill out a bra.

WEEKEND RUNDOWN. No work... and yet a lot of weddings. :) YAY!

Friday afternoon, I finally met Jean's sister Joan and helped them out with their wedding preps. Trader Joes, A hardware store, and a six pack of peach soda later, we got to work. But it wasn't all work...

Around 8ish, we ditched the flowers and computers, and went down to the Grove for some BBQ, mojitos, and good times for Ryan's Birthday. :)

Saturday, I spent a good portion of the day with Erin as we worked out all the floral stuff for her wedding... only a month away!! Centerpieces... Check. Bouquets and Buttonieres... check. Best case and worse case scenarios planned out to the T... check. :) I think we're ready!! How exciting!

That afternoon, I raced down to the Skirball Cultural Center for Joan's wedding reception and had a ball with Jean, Beth, and Sakura. The hit of the night, was the photo booth they rented and had everyone take their picture and create their own page in the guest book with it.

Then after everyone had their turn for "guestbook" purposes... it was a free for all.

Sakura, Jean, and Beth... too cute!



Beth and Me... peace and kissy faces


Sakura and Me... peace and the "running out of ideas" pose


Me.
Jean scares me.
How embarassing.

If only everyone had a free photo booth to use everyday!!

Today was Melissa's birthday... so since we knew that she would be working on her special day, Tam and I decided to go suprise her at the mall. For a while, as we were walking the aisles of Macy's, we started to doubt ourselves because WHAT IF she wasn't there, well then that would suck! But YAY.. she was... and was very much in shock as we suprised her with our cameras while she was with a customer.

Suprise!!

Then we waiting till closing and went out to BJs for some random beer sampling, food, and wading in a mini lake of spilled water. Eww?

"Thats right, when Nicole went to see Harry Potter she wore the whole get up."
"No I didn't!! I just wore the scarf that my friend made for me! Its cute."
"Yeah.. you wore the scarf and the cloak and the little beanie hat..."
"Lame... shut up!"
"OH and she had an stuffed owl on her shoulder..."
"Whatever!"
"And the guy behind her was all "Excuse me, I can't see. That damn owl is blocking my view!"

I love Melissa! Friends forever!!
From the cradle to the grave bitch. :)

Last week, I caught glimpses of "THE SOUND OF MUSIC", "SISTER ACT" and "THE SINGING NUN" on TV. Different channels. Random times. But all in the same day.

One would think that it were her calling. And for a moment, I thought it was a sign. I mean, what are the odds really? A day full of musical nun movies? And here I am, looking for jobs, unsure about my future... could this mean that I should look in a different direction?

But then I realized that at the end of each movie, the main "nun" ended up leaving the order to persure their dream.. well with the exception of Debbie Renyolds who stayed a nun, gave up the singing and went to Africa on a mission... but she did have her contemplative moments of leaving, running off with a suitor, and touring the world as a folk christian singer... which I think would still be pleasing to her needs and beliefs. But in the other movies, Julie Andrews left to marry Captain Vontrap and well Whoopi wasn't really one in the first place.

Hmmm... something to think about.

"INTERN!!
Yes?
Look alive. Look alive."

Yesterday, we went to Universal Studios to play tourist and ride the brand new Mummy ride. For a moment on the ride, I thought to myself "Oh my gosh, MOM is going to DIE on this" but luckily for her, it wasn't too long and she didn't throw up... while the rest of us cried "THATS IT!?!"

Yeah... the ride was nice... just short... and not quite as fufilling as you'd think it would be if you were waiting 55 minutes for it. But if I had a quarter for everytime I heard "Imhotep" in a creepy whispering voice while in line... I would be a BAJILLIONAIRE!!

That night as we were leaving the Citywalk, I waved bye to Carlene and Sonny, only to turn and smack right into a pole. My head hit the cardboard sign on it, which then slammed into the ground... and I stood there EMBARRASSED because not only was it crowded... it was filled with overly trendy teens who just got out of the TEEN CHOICE AWARDS. So I just put my hands over my face and wished myself to be invisible. Because if I couldn't see them... they couldn't see me. Or my mom next to me shaking her head in disappointment and telling me to pretend it never happened..

Why is it that anything embarrassing in front of huge gangs of "really really cool" teenagers is 10 times worse than it really is? It's probably because I know that when I was that age and I saw someone do something of the sort, I'd laugh my ass off and tell all my friends about it... and we'd all laugh about it and eventually turn into a dance move that will make us all laugh at dances. And there it was, your greatest embarrassment, nicely choreographed to music.

Long live the "wash your stinky hair" move.

Anyways, life have been ok. I got my car back last last week and the AC now works. It also passed its smog test and I felt like a proud parent of a child who always gives you trouble, constantly inches by just barely to survive, and yet you can't help but love it because it has so much personality. Not to mention, some hundred thousand miles that reminds you that for all the crap it puts you through, it still gets the job done.... without being a gas guzzler. Thank you for that at least VW!!

So, on Little.Yellow.Different, the blogger Ernie made a reference to the THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER fellas... and so I of couse got curious and went to the site to check out what exactly was going down there...

Its pretty nice. :P

OH... but while it being pretty nice, they also had some *questionable* pictures that didn't really make me go "Ohhh baby..." it just made me go "Um... oh?"

Like this one for example...

Um... ok? Riiight...

As you can see, this very, um, nice looking gentleman appears to be sitting naked in hay. Dirty hay. Outside. And as hot and nice looking as he is, I can't get over the fact that he's sitting naked in hay. Dirty hay. Outside. That isn't very clean or hygenic I think... I mean goodness knows what animals have been munching on that hay and there he is, sitting naked in it. There could be ticks there... he could get lyme disease... and although I'm sure he'd still be nice looking, now he'll be a bo-hunk with bull's eye rash in his nether regions and inflammation of the brain.

Eek!

So... then while I was on this site, it made me wonder, gee I wonder how those Chippendales are doing?

They're doing mighty fine. :) Steve Kim likes girls with bright smiles who can dance.

HEY!! I CAN DANCE!!

And thanks to those Crest Whitening Strips... my smile is brighter than ever!!

Awwww...

Since the summer is practically coming to a close, I've "offically" started job hunting. But in the back of my mind, I keep on thinking "Well, whats the use. I have to work this job until Mid-September and I won't offically get to start anything until Mid-October," but it can't hurt to try right?

Anyways, so today, I got my first call from a job that I applied for... and really really wanted... but timing is everything and after explaining my situation with them... well, it just wasn't in the stars for me this time. Dammit!!

But as heartbreaking as it was, it's still gives me a little bit of hope. If they liked my resume, another company might too and well then that would be good right?

I hope.

"If I kill the baby spiders, then they won't grow up and breed more spiders..."
"I think thats the same philosophy Hitler had."

FINALLY, my boss has bought us some RAID spider killer so that we can take care of the spiders that linger around the shop. Yay! We actually got to test it out the day that we got it when we found a giant black widow hiding behind a door, just waiting to suck it's fangs into one of us. So as you can imagine, we all looked on rather fascinated as we sprayed down the spider and watched it wiggle and writhe around in pain... until it finally died.

Morbid... and yet... captivating.

I no longer have to work in fear! :)

Carlene and Sonny bought TETRIS and DR. MARIO for the OG NINTENDO. The only thing is that EVERYONE in the house is getting darn right competitive, not to mention somewhat childish with the TETRIS.

Mom: I play now.
Me: No... I'm next. I'm after Carlene.
Mom: NO! YOU ALREADY GOT TO PLAY BEFORE WE CAME HOME!!!

My mom, will TAUNT you. She will talk shit. She will sing and will gloat in your tetris misfortune.

Mom: JUST DIE ALREADY!

See.

But the funny thing is that when she finally gets her turn, my mom... well she doesn't suck... she's just slow. It seriously takes her 10 minutes to get to level 1. Thats from level 0... 10 bars... to level 1. I think this is her game tatic because while we fall asleep out of sheer boredom... she'll play over and over again!

When we were younger, she would sneak to our Nintendo and play the game all night long. :)

Its like we just unleashed a monster...

Busy busy weekend... I just have a headache.

Friday: It was Nicole and Uncle Sonny day!
It started off when my uncle came with me to the VW shop for a dianostic test. My mom insisted that I take him along because I am a girl and "susteptible" to be taken advantage of by the big burly VW car mechanics. But I showed them...

VW ass: For a dianostic... I'll be $190.
Me: $190?
VW ass: $190.
Me: Um... when I called eariler, they said it would be under a hundred.
VW ass: Who did you talk to? With this test that you need, it's always $190.
Me: I don't know, but I DID call earlier and they said it would be under a hundred. In fact, I called other dealerships, explained the situation they were way lower than that. I know where the problem is... I just need to pinpoint what it is exactly.
VW ass: *thinks* Ok. I'll only charge you for an hour. $95.

Thats right. I'm hardcore. Booyah bitch... I'm KICKASS.

Or something like that. :)

Anyways, after finishing up with the car (let me say... its painful and that I really, truly, do hate this care with a PASSION!), it was back to the house to COOK!

Speaking of "kickass" my uncle does so in the kitchen. We must have made enough eggrolls and gabi to last us through the winter. Then we made boba with almond jello. Then we went over to Chow King and had lunch because although we were cooking up a storm at home, none of the food was really for consumption. :P But for dinner, we did cook up some of those GIANT crabs that my uncle brought from Seattle. :)

Too much food. So if you want some lumpias, come on over. We gots them stocked in the freezer. :)

*So sorrry Joe I couldn't make it to your thingie on Friday... my car is horrible. HORRIBLE. I'll tell you a real happy birthday though in 22 days... so at least I didn't miss anything "official".

Saturday/Sunday: Nicole and Sarah's Day O' Work!
Chaircovers chaircover chaircovers galore!! :P I think I've seen "too much" Sarah from the driving, to the installation, to the driving back, to the driving to the teardown, to the teardown to the driving back home... then the same on Sunday! But awww, Sarah's fun and she really is a sweet girl. OH!! and I actually have 2 new places to put on "THE LIST" because they were so gosh darn gorgeous and pretty that right after working, I had this itching to go around exploring the venues.

So all in all, a pretty ok weekend, despite the whole car trauma. ARGH. BOO. I HATE YOU. BOO! YOU SUCK! BOOOOOOO VW!! Then again, it could be worse... somehow.