The madness that is December

Hmm. It's been awhile but my comp wouldn't let me access my account, something about cookies and java and whatever. Who knows what it's trying to tell me, I don't. But I just got a new computer, (well, second hand from my sister's Singaporean boss but who cares because it costs me $350! and is barely a year old! and it has wireless internet access and did I mention $350?!?) so, updates galore!


Birthday was mostly good :) Just spent the day chilling with my sis and then went for dinner (Peking duck for $16! hell yeah!) at this chinese restaurant in Milpitas. And when we got home, the sibs surprised the heck out of me with a jelly cake. so asian :) and a little bit ridiculous. Apparently, my sis pretended to do the dishes late in the night before my birthday in order to sneak out the kitchen door and smuggle the cake in, hiding it in the depths of the fridge. I have to admit that I didn't have a clue but I was pretty baffled when I thought she had done the dishes only to find them waiting for me in the sink and also at her insistence in going out for lunch on my birthday (mmmmm...mexican seafood...) just as i was opening the fridge to look for lunchable leftovers. haha. sometimes my obliviousness surprises me. Man, I would totally fail big time as any type of undercover agent. Anyway, we get home from dinner and I go change into sweats (cos the house? is freezing!!) and the entire time my bro is persistently trying to talk to me (apparently he's the decoy) and then my sis is telling me to come out of the room. Just as I'm walking to the living room, she jumps out of the bathroom entrance with the cake and they start singing happy birthday, scaring the crap out of me and prompting hysterical laughter. Oh man, I love those two nuts.

The only down side to the day was that I went and got a cheap haircut and due to some miscommunication (apparently 1/2 an inch shorter means cut the whole thing off and give me a different haircut), I end up with that generic bad asian haircut similar to the ones I used to have back home when I didn't know better. This time, I'm a lot more fashion savvy or at least my sister is and we manage to devise a way to get around that bad fobby asian boy look by flipping it all out. It's not bad, I'd even say it's pretty cute but for someone who doesn't usually primp, it is hell to have to spend 20 plus minutes blowdrying and styling. Sigh. It's grown on me now and all I really need is a yellow jumper, nun chucks and to change my name to Selphie and I'm set. sorry. nerdy game reference. couldn't resist :)

Van had her solo burlesque debut the next day and it was hilarious. She was doing a superman themed solo *smirks* and it really made quite a few ppl in the audience happy since it was pretty raunchy with kryptonite dildos and superman pasties. But as Vaish pointed out, the creepers behind us (apparently they're regulars aka creepy old pervy men) were probably the biggest ewww factors at the show. Well, apart from this one chick whos performance on stage was both tasteless and very cringe worthy. Otherwise, this was probably the most entertaining show that I've been to so far :) I absolutely loved the performance where a female chewbacca was trying to pick up a clone trooper and the muppet dance was funny as heck. But I think that's it for me in terms of burlesque shows for now. I've seen enough boobs, feather boas and pasties and honestly, some of the performers kept doing the same thing. I've watched one lady do the same boring routine 3 times! I really can't take much more of it especially since I have no interest in boobies. A little break is called for; after all, absence makes the heart fonder, eh?

Hmmm. What else? I got one of my grad school apps out but not without a lot of angst and bitching and last minute craziness. Sigh. i will never learn how to beat procrastination. I'm hoping to get the other two out without all the drama and well before the deadline. wish me luck.

I've also been cleaning a lot and actually managed to throw out my notes from college. I'm kind of a pack rat and I hate throwing out stuff that may one day be useful especially books and such. But I had to face that fact that I'm never going to need my chem or physics notes from freshman year. Going through my notes, I found countless notes I had written to myself in the margins (when i was super bored in class) and notes I exchanged with friends. Seriously brought on the nostalgia. It brought back memories of hanging out with the girls, crushing on that super cute boy who sat diagonally behind me in Myth class, AGS and intl. society events, how the poli sci prof got her hot son to cover some of her classes and proctor the exams (I had no interest in poli sci but I never missed a class :D ), the really awesome and kooky profs and advisors and all that. I honestly made some of the best friends and had the best time ever during the community college period of my education. Transferring to Berkeley was awesome and prestigious and gave me lots of opportunities to do stuff but it wasn't as fun and I didn't enjoy it that much. I wasted a lot of time involved in activities that just kept on disappointing me and bringing me down. Oh well, I did learn from the experience and i did leave Cal with some great friends and memories but CoM was probably one of the best choices I've ever made.

Speaking of CoM, I managed to get some of the girls together for a day in SF. I wish Sam was still in the states but three out of the four musketeers is still a good turn out :) Unfortunately for me, the other two are horrible enablers and I ended up buying things when I didn't intend to do any Christmas shopping at all. We also had dinner in little Italy where the food was good and the waiters were really hot and charming *grins* The hotness factor dimmed somewhat when they turned out to be incredibly pushy especially with the dessert and wine. Oh well, nobody is perfect, right?

I've also been baking a lot since I was taken in by Martha Stewart and her stupid false advertising about how mass producing cookies is rewarding and oh so very easy. Hah! Of course it is when you can pay for kitchen elves to do the work. I only have one sometimes kitchen elf and she's usually slightly disgruntled at being roped in to do my bidding. My sibs and friends make fun of me and my domestic-ness but they totally benefit from it the little buggers!

For Christmas we had a little dinner thing going on. A couple of friends, my sibs, good food and some alcohol and we were golden. I'm not sure if Merv took pictures but I made a Christmas ham, roasted veggies, a crustless spinach quiche, pulut inti, cincau, a rustic pear tart and Vaish brought spaghetti. And the cookies. Can't forget them. Although I can't believe how every Malaysian I've seen has never had Biskut Mama Carries before! But I guess I should take into account that everyone I've polled and plied with them have been Chinese Malaysians and Mama Carries is a Malay raya type cookie. Pics and recipes to come :)