K-Drama

I haven't updated my blog for ages. I don't really have anything going on but just not in the mood to write. My sister has been nagging me to watch couple korean dramas and because going out is expensive right now(gas and other costs), in the end i decided to stay at home and surf the web. I've been following "Dancing with the Stars" every Monday and Tuesday (thanks to youtube) and even voted for my favorite pair (kristi and mark). House M.D and Grey's Anatomy are on my lists also (too bad have to wait until the next season which will start around september). But apart from those shows, I'm now addicted to korean drama, especially historical drama. The first one that I watched was "The Legend or The Story of the First king's Four Gods". It was awesome! Made me fall for Bae Yong Jun (from Winter Sonata and hotelier). 24 episodes were nothing. I want more! Next is Jumong (The book of Three Han). I'm watching ep 7 right now out of 81. So far the story line is good. Really keep me wondering what will happen next. So this is going to be my new entertainment at this moment.

once

i guess once is not enough. i want more out of them. so they did produce an album called the swell season. glen hansard and marketa irglova once again reunited to make this album and now they are on a tour to promote it. I found out a bit too late and the tickets were already sold out for their performance in seattle. i searched craigslist, ebay and found out how ridiculous the prices that those brokers offered!!! original price probably around $50 and they are selling it for more than $150 a piece. i wish they had a law against those brokers... preventing them from buying tickets in large number and if they are not from the area, they won't be able to purchase tickets.

leona lewis

I just found out about leona lewis couple days ago. One of her songs, bleeding love, really caught my attention. Apparently she won the x factor (UK version of american idol). She has great voice, almost a mix of alicia keys and mariah carey. she can hold high notes pretty good but all of her song selections was typical ballad/slow music. here is bleeding love (for some reason they disabled the embedding function): http://youtube.com/watch?v=sF84pIhP5UM&feature=user

here's one of her live performances on x factor :


she can sing live pretty good. we'll see how she's doing couple years from now.

*someone left a comment and gave me this link to her renditions of run by snow patrol:

feeling guilty....

ok....i admit that it's been a while since i've updated this blog. at first, i was busy with school applications. yep i'm going back to get my master degree in business administration (MBA). it was tough to select the schools but not as tough as preparing the applications: had to study for GMAT, had to write essays (special thank you to someone that helped me with all the essays), had to ask my manager and my former supervisor for recommendation letters (thank goodness i was still keeping in touch with tyler), and had to prepare all the supporting documents. i'm applying for 3 out of state b-schools and 1 in Seattle (Seattle U) just because if I didn't get into any of the top schools, I will still pursue MBA from Seattle U and I can still work while getting my degree (part time school). I'm crossing my fingers to hear from those schools any time soon. *I've been accepted to Seattle U for Spring 2008... so hopefully i'll hear something back from the other schools whether I'm accepted or not before SU starts.

School applications was the main reason but other than that, i admit i'm kinda lazy to do anything these days. my apartment is the perfect example for my laziness. living room is a mess (papers and pet stuff everywhere), kitchen is definitely needing some hard core cleaning. bedroom and bathroom are the 2 places that look slightly in good condition. yeah.. i think i'm going to start cleaning my kitchen first pretty soon.

the movie from Ang Lee that i've been really curious to see. an espionage love story/ thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai. It was a really good movie. The story line was well made, the acting was great, good visualization and i'm loving it. a must see movie. kinda surprised me with the explicit content. Usually asian movies tend to be really hush hush about sex scene but this one is almost to the point of pornographic actually. an artistic and well made one though.





I have 2 new family members, remy and samy. it's really hard to take a good picture of rats just because they move around so much. i don't really know what prompted me to adopted rats. i think House M.D. is one of the reason (just because he had rat as a pet). the other reason is that i can't resist them every time i go to pet store to get food for my pigs. I adopted remy first but the next day i decided to get him his cagemate, samy. both of them are really cute and smart. i let them running around my shoulder (for some reason they like to hide under my hair and if i'm wearing any sweater with hood, they will jump into the hood and just stay there).

*i'm listening to disney's old songs right now... makes me want to watch all the classic disney again: beauty and the beast, little mermaid, aladdin, lion king, tarzan, etc

life so far....

So January is almost ended. It doesn't feel like new year...This past few months had been really busy for me and will be for couple months ahead. Went to Las Vegas and San Francisco last December. It was pretty fun actually. We stayed at The Venetian and Wynn Hotel. Gambled on the last day, playing roulette. I won $90 that day. not bad for a beginner. The food was good but expensive. Nothing new in San Francisco. I met my cousin for the first time since...uhmm 3-4 years ago? I got to drive around downtown SF for a bit. If you think Seattle is bad, wait till you get to SF. Drivers stop in the middle of the road, changing lanes without giving a signal, and people just walk like they own the road. But the food is really good. Can't really find a good chinese restaurants in seattle. There's couple but not as much as in SF.

I bought a new notebook last week. HP Pavilion dv6000. Good features inside and pretty light. Just trying to get use to windows vista. As of last week, I've been in charge of 2 lines. I got my old line back because they let Luke go. So me and Lori will work together to keep both lines up and running. I did my first reviews last week. It was scary but good experience overall.

30 for $30 deal

They have a "Dine around Seattle" event again this whole month and instead of 25 restaurants and $25 for 3-course dinners, they added 5 more places and increased the price to $30. It's really a good deal to try new places that you won't really try on a normal day. Last time I tried Brasa in Belltown and Eva Restaurant in Green Lake. I also tried Nell's Restaurant (for Veronica's b'day) and they are pretty good.
This time around I was planning to try Barking Frog and Etta's. Barking Frog was canceled due to bad traffic today. The weather was horrible and accidents all over the highways so we had to make last minute decision on where to eat. So we called in Etta's to make a reservation and we got a place for 2. Lucky. The food was delicious. My tablemate started off with an ice-cold wedge of crisp iceberg lettuce generously dressed with a creamy, chive-spiked Rogue River blue cheese dressing. I enjoyed the steamed Penn cove mussels with chorizo, potatoes and sweet onion. I went for the Etta’s fabled Rub with Love Salmon and cornbread pudding while my tablemate went for perfectly grilled tuna, just rare at the center, which was served with mashed sweet potatoes and black lentils. Really good!! Come dessert, I had to have the classic coconut cream pie, a towering slice of over-the-top coconut goodness and he had a Washington Apple Sorbet Terrine. Yummmy...The service was reliable and efficient and our server was friendly without being intrusive. Overall, I think both of us were really satisfied with what we had.
So for next week, I'm already browsing the website to find the next restaurant and I think we are going to try Veil Restaurant. The menu looks good and the review also pretty helpful. We'll see how it goes next week.

high maintenance bitch?

couple days ago, i had my nails done after a long day at work. i think it's nice to pamper yourself once in a while. so this morning, one of my guy coworker came to me and asked if i had my nails done. i said yes and asked him why. he and his friend think that girls that have their nails done are high maintenance girls. apparently his ex girlfriend was like that.

so i'm curious right now. it's true that when I stepped inside the nail salon close to my apt, most of the women there were pretty much like trophy wives or from well-off family. you can tell from what they wear and how they carry themselves. but then again, queen anne is quite a ritzy area. i bet if the nail salon is located in aurora or poor neighborhood, it's going to be a different story.

i can't really say that having your nails done mean that you are a one high maintenance girl. for me, it's just a fun things to do to pamper and make myself prettier. i haven't even thought about the subject until my coworker said that to me.

introducing dian widjaja, graphic designer

I've always liked my sister's work of arts since i was a little girl. so when she decided to become a graphic designer, her decision seemto be a good decision. after all the hard work that she put during 4 years of college, i can say that i really like and enjoy her works.

Here's her website/portfolio : http://dianwidjaja.com/

beauty is nothing without brains

take a look at these 2 commercials. they are so funny!!

The first one is a QA with a contestant from South Carolina for Miss Teen USA 2007


The second one is a TV commercial for Mercedes-Benz


now i'm wondering where "dumb blonds" jokes are coming from... go figure! speaking of the first video, i can't even understand what she's trying to say. it's a really simple question but it took her all around the world to answer it and she still didn't get it right.

hmmpphh

found out today from ticketmaster that they are refunding my money for amy winehouse's tickets that i bought couple months ago. apparently she canceled her north american tours. sucks. i was crossing my fingers that she can make it for this september. i guess not. hopefully she will reschedule it again. sigh. maybe i should just go to bumbershoot instead. the shins, panic at the disco, gym class heroes are playing on sat, sept 1st. i'm not really into sean paul nor joss stone but curious about kings of leon and black rebel motorcycle. saturday with the shins and friends or sunday with those 2 rock bands? can't really decide right now. anyone else wanna go to bumbershoot?

busy weeks

it's been a long week. so glad that weekend is here. getting involved with setting up the new line was interesting, fun and stressful. stressful in a way that i still had to manage my own line while also deeply involved with the new line. there were times when i had to do time studies on the processes and instead of leaving me alone with the studies, everyone wanted a piece of me at the same time. i was so ready to pull my hair out and started thinking of kicking someone. but anyway now that the line is somewhat ready, it's not as bad as the first time. still bad, still stressful but somewhat more manageable just because i have someone helping me with the time studies, and someone else to slowly take my place in the old line. hopefully he can learn things pretty quick.

so, after thinking of not reading the last harry potter, i decided to change my mind and bought the last one (might as well). it's not a bad decision. the last one was so much better in storyline and action than the previous 2 books. i really enjoy the deathly hallows. there's an article about what happened next to harry and his friends after the final book in CNN.com. here's the article . i wish she put that information somewhere inside the book.

it's been a long day. going to brush my teeth and sleep.

random stuff

So, I have to admit that i really like to peek through my windows to see my neighbor's apartment. you see, when i moved to my apartment, whomever occupied that next building unit really did a good job in decorating his/her place. it has a wooden floor. for some reason the whole wooden floor thing kind of struck me as a romantic, warm, and inviting place to live. i just can't take my eyes of the apartment. then couple weeks ago, they moved out and i could see the inside (living room, bedroom, and kitchen) well enough through the blinds. at that time, i had couple instances where i was tempted to go to that apartment and pose as an interested future tenant just to see what it looks like from inside. too bad i didn't do it. i think in less than 2 weeks, one couple moved into that unit. well i'm not sure if it's a couple or not but whomever live there put red (red wine-ish) color drapes in the bedroom. interesting thing for a guy to put them in his room isn't it? so based on that, i'm thinking that there might be a girl living there also (i saw both of them drinking beer in their bedroom one day). anyway, i haven't peeked around as much as i used to. they probably think that i'm a stalker or peeping tom or something bad like that.

apart from that, i got a virus in my friendster! i saw my sister's profile and told her that someone hijacked her profile because her profile was really messed up (male, 31, single. from UK. also her hobbies, and all that things were erased and they put something in "about me" section). when i opened her profile, i guess that's when the virus or whatever copied itself to mine because couple minutes later when i checked mine, mine was also messed up. exactly the same as my sister (male 31 single, from uk and all that crap). i've changed it back and run antivirus, spyware, trojan remover from my computer twice. i'm still not sure how bad the effect can be. is it just some pranks? or someone maliciously put worms or virus in friendster. i don't know. have any of you friendster users had that before?

i'm such a procrastinator. i have this project from work that i'm doing it right now at home but so lazy to finish it. instead blogging seems to be appropriate at this moment. how bad i am.

concerts

My long awaited tickets have finally arrived yesterday. one for Michael Buble and the other one is for Amy Winehouse. I was browsing ticketmaster.com and found out that he is coming to Seattle (aug 28 and 29). at that time, i was interested to see his show but still thinking about it. by the time i made up my mind, both shows were sold out but i noticed that he added 1 extra day. so i made up my mind and bought the ticket. the 1st concert that I'm going to see it by myself. at the same time, when i was searching for MB, i found out that Amy Winehouse is going to give her first US tour and seattle is one of the cities. I like her voice and decided to just go for it. Can't wait for both of them.

the confectional

Confess your love for cheesecake. I have to say that I don't really like cheesecake that much. But today, when we were walking around pike place market, Sunny mentioned that there's one good cheesecake store around pike place. We found the place and they looked so good. Lots of selection of Cheesecake Truffles and Cheesecakes. After drooling at them, I decided to try one that caught my eyes: Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake. they had a small sign of "everyone's favorite" and it was fabulous! not a bad choice for first timer. Anissa got triple berry one and it was also a good one.
They even had cheesecake with cayenne pepper on it. I wonder what's the taste going to be. a spicy cheesecake.

The price is a bit too high for a small cake i think. I'm not sure how much 1 slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory cost but i think it might be around the same price for a bigger slice than this one. As you can see from the price list, one cheesecake costs $3.50. But I have to confess that it's worth the price. I just found a dessert place close to my place and definitely going to try more of them.


funny quote from the owner:
"Forgive me chocolate for I have sinned. I have not yet had my daily confection."

paris, je t'aime

In Paris, Je T'aime, celebrated directors from all around the world (Coen brothers, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, Alexander Paynes and many others) have come together to portray Paris in a way never before imagined.

Paris, Je T'aime is a collection of short love stories in Paris' neighborhoods (each director telling the stories of an unusual encounter in one of the city's neighborhoods). I watched this couple weeks ago in Uptown AMC cinema and I really enjoy watching it. It's a sweet movie worth to see.

*I miss Paris......

neurotic mom

Couple weeks ago i found a wound/scab around piggy's nose. i thought frappy must bit him so i didn't pay too much attention to it. until a week later when i found out that it's not getting any better and no hair around his right side nose. after searching the net for vets around my place, i found couple places but the problem is they only deal with cats and dogs. no exotic pets. damn. i still can't believe that guinea pig is an exotic animal. anyway, i called one place in greenlake area and they referred me to one vet in greenwood that deal with small animals. tried to call but it was weekend and i got their voice mail. from there, i found out about emerald city emergency animal hospital in wallingford. so i gave them a call and brought piggy in. the doctor didn't say much about what's wrong with him since she's not a specialist in exotic animals but she suspect of ringworm or mites infection. from that place, i got referred to this bird and exotic clinic in aurora. i called them up and set up appointment. what the 1st doctor suspected was true. piggy got ringworm. it's nothing major. just need to give him ointment around his infected nose. no big deal.

a week later, i noticed he wasn't feeling well. he sat inside his house and didn't eat that much and he started to lose weight. i separated him with frappy and put him in a box in my room so i can keep an eye on him. i took him last tuesday to the doctor again. in a week after i brought him to doctor, he lost around 10% of his body weight. not a good sign. the verdict wasn't good also. he got pneumonia. i was so afraid he won't make it to the doctor. so he's now under antibiotic and for 3 days, i had to make him soft food for him to eat. it wasn't fun. luckily he didn't have any energy left to fight me. so putting the syringe inside his mouth was not that bad. it was messy for the 1st time. but after a while i kind of getting the hang of it.

he's still under antibiotic but i stop giving him the soft food since he's starting to eat his pellets and hays and carrots more on his own. but i'm still paying really close attention to him and any tiny changes make me nervous. as long as he's eating a bit and drinking water, i'm happy. even the shape and size of his poops were really important. for these couple few days, i've been looking at them and making sure that he still poops every now and then. i think when i have kids on my own...i can say that i'll probably be one of those neurotic mother.

the series of unfortunate events

I think i can be a part of Lemony Snicket's book. Last Sunday it was raining pretty hard in the morning. As I was walking down the hill to go to church, my right leg apparently has a mind of her own. It slipped! Tried to catch my balance but to no avail. So i fell down. hard. I hit and scrapped my right kneecap. I thought for a moment it was going to be ok but as I looked down, blood was pouring out. Luckily i had a tissue paper with me that day. Tried to dry it out but it's just keep coming. In the end I had to go home. Can't really sit inside the church with bloody leg can you? Thank goodness it was memorial day weekend so I got monday off to relax my right leg. kneecap was swollen and painful but it's not as bad as Tuesday. getting in and out of car was a challenge but never knew that it was going to be that bad. walking was painful. sitting down was painful. even getting up from a chair was also painful. Couldn't really bend my knee. stairs was my enemy. by 9 am i was so thinking of going home and just resting my knee. i was limping and one of my coworker asked me what happened. So i told him and he offered me painkillers which I took instantly. I might have taken too much because by mid-day, I felt good. leg didn't bother me at all and i can walk like normal. Basically this week has been associated with pain. it's getting better now. can almost walk normally and not as swollen as before. but this is going to be another week before the bruise is completely gone and the wound is fully dry and turns into a big scab.

on another note...i just cut my finger today when I tried to trim some papers. later on i got another paper cut. What an accident prone I am.....one thing after another.

it was a great night

Thanks for coming to my place last night. It was really fun. I know my piggies will charm you all but didn't expect you guys to gush over "bad boy" frappy. hmmm maybe all of you kinda like the bad boy image in real life......or maybe it's just the "bad hair day" look that he has. Anyhow if you guys have time (vero and caroline) to upload all the pictures, share them with me :)

flickr account

Just created a flickr account for my pictures. Used to have snapfish to store pics but after a while you have to buy prints from them or they will close your account. So i'm starting new with flickr. I haven't had the chance to play around with it yet, but I just posted pictures from yesterday mariners vs yankees game. it's a boring game. yankees slaughtered mariners 7-2. mariners played really bad yesterday. as usual... that's nothing new (no wonder ichiro is going to leave seattle. he looked bored during the game) :p same thing with sonics and seahawks...they suck. anyway.. apart from the boring game, i walked around safeco field. pretty nice views up there.

So took couple pictures from the game yesterday and also took couple pictures with pigs as my models. the girls were just sitting quietly inside the bowl not like piggie. but overall i still like piggie....i think he can act in front of the camera :) i'll take frappy's next time.. he's such a pain to catch. here's the link to my flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/niff3r/

tagged!

I've been tagged by lola to write my 7 habits or facts. Basically the rules are:
• start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself
• people who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog
• then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names
• don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog

My 7 things:

- I must have my small black pouch filled with lip balm, lipsticks, lip gloss, and small mirror inside my bag all the time. I feel naked if i don't apply my lip balm and lipstick after I eat (ohh and checking my teeth with my small mirror after I eat. Don't want any unwanted veggies/meat stuck in between *grosss*).

- I check my email while brushing my teeth in the morning. While at work, I have 1 tab open for my yahoo email and second tab for news website (cnn.com, or msnbc.com or seattletimes.com). When I come home, I sit in front of my computer and browse for new anime torrents and check my yahoo mail again.

- I must have my cellphone with me all the time. It bugs me if I forget to bring mine. I'll keep thinking what happen if something bad happen and I can't contact anyone.

- I have to sleep with a blanket eventhough it's summer and hot outside. It's just not right without a blankie to cover me up.

- I hate parallel parking. even hate it more if there's a car behind me waiting to pass. I'll pass that parking spot to find other spot.

- I hate waiting for people who are late for their own appointment. If you make appointment at certain time, be sure to show up at that time or move it to later time if you can't make it. It annoys me most of the time.

- I'm shy. I'm usually very quiet around new people.

Well that's about it. I can't really think of anything else right now. If someone wants to play along, leave me a comment and i'll check your website/blog :) I have 3 people that I will tag: anissa, veronica, and citra. Feel free to play along guys... :-)