How do you pronounce these words:

"shone", "contribute", "distribute", and "terrain"?

If you can, write out the emphasized syllable in CAPS and write it out as closely to other words as possible, ie. i say Canuck = kahNUK.

These are the only ones I can think of that people have laughed at me about. If you have pointed out my supposedly weird pronunciation of other words, please feel free to point them out. :)

I got to see a friend who came in from out of town tonight, and they felt like Santong Noodles in Chinatown. I hadn't been there in awhile, and remembered vaguely that they didn't have too much vegetarian selection and that their service was kinda rude. But whatever, it didn't matter, friend wanted to go, and maybe things would be different this time.

Round 1

Mean Lady Cashier (MLC): What do you want?
Me: I'm a vegetarian, do you have some dry noodles that are vegetarian?
MLC: Yes, this one is.
Me: Does it have vegetables on top?
MLC: Yes.

I pay. I sit down, and the food comes out. I should've taken a picture of it, but I must have been too stunned. It was a big bowl of noodles with sesame sauce, but ... with just 5 measly pieces of cabbage on it, about 2 cm in diameter each, that looked like someone thought it'd be too much trouble to get a knife out to cut it, and instead tore them by hand and threw them onto the noodles.

Fine. Well, I thought I'd get some actual vegetable intake rather than just have 99.9% carbs for dinner, so I asked if maybe there were some ready-made cold dishes I could get.

Round 2

MLC: Yeah?
Me: Do you have any vegetarian cold dishes?
MLC: Well, they have garlic in them. (Some Buddhist vegetarians don't eat garlic.)
Me: That's fine, I eat garlic.
MLC: Well then everything you see in this fridge is vegetarian.
Me (eyeing a beef dish right in front of my face at eye level): But um, isn't this beef right here?
MLC: Look you said you eat garlic so what's the problem?

------------

I will admit, the quality of the actual noodles is good, which is probably why everyone I know (non-vegetarian) loves to go back to eat there.

Hey, I'm not asking for high-class VIP service. C'mon, it's Chinatown. But serving me a dish with a poor excuse for vegetables and being short with me isn't really going to make me want to come back. Well, I guess I'm glad to have gotten reminded why I don't go on a regular basis.

Chinatown Boycott #1 was at Chinese Cafe, also very rude when I asked a vegetarian-related question.

After reading Rose's music list entry, I wanted to tell everyone about my first gift of 2008. I was the lucky recipient of a great mix CD that introduced me to a lot of stuff I hadn't heard before. This is definitely a CD I can listen to start to finish and have on repeat for a LONG time. Bonus: an included track listing with song and artist names and even track lengths! Thanks so much, T! :)

1. The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson
2. 1234 - Feist
3. Anyone Else But You - The Moldy Peaches
4. Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston
5. Somewhere Over The Rainbow / What a Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
6. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
7. They Can't Take That Away From Me - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
8. Dancing in the Moonlight - Studio Group
9. First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes
10. Lullaby - Dixie Chicks
11. Upside Down - Jack Johnson
12. In My Life - The Beatles
13. First Time - Lifehouse
14. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
15. Into the Ocean - Blue October
16. Thunder - Boys Like Girls
17. Hero-Heroine - Boys Like Girls
18. Say It Ain't So - Weezer
19. Disparate Thoughts - Matt Harding
20. World Spins Madly On - The Weepies
21. Gotta Have You - The Weepies

Considering my increasing distaste for what's on the radio these days (proportional to my old geezerness?), I'm glad I have friends who can expose me to new stuff.

Funny tidbit: someone had JUST told me about "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson a few weeks ago, I totally fell in love with it, and now T has it as song #1 on a mix CD for me. The universe sure knows how to freak me out (in a good way).

What's good on your playlist these days?

My best friends at the moment are: Robitussin, copious quantities of warm water, layers of clothing, and anything that will allow me to lay horizontally.

Energy levels are OK, and I sound like a frog, hahaha.

Looking forward to a better New Year's!

[ me on the phone with my DSL provider, regarding repeated dropped signals for long periods of time ]

Me: Yeah, so my internet's actually working NOW, but for example, last night I couldn't connect yet AGAIN, even after the technician came by and supposedly fixed the problem.
Nasal-voiced DSL Guy: Well, I'm looking at our connectivity reports last night ma'am, and there was a shortage last night.
Me (tired of them giving me the runaround): Shortage? What kind of shortage? Like, a power shortage? Shortage to what?
NVDG: Well, it could be a power shortage, or a variety of other calamities.
Me: Did you just say "calamities"? What sort of "calamities"?
NVDG: Well, you know, like ice storms.
Me (thinking to self - what a tard!): Ice storms?! You DO realize I live in Houston, Texas, right?!
NVDG: Well, not necessarily, I didn't mean ice storms, um ... [ starts laughing nervously ]

[ chatting online with friend who'd had a terrible day ]

Me (4:20:05 PM): but now i know
Me (4:20:10 PM): and knowing is half the battle
Me (4:20:19 PM): "GI JOEEEEE AMERICAN HEROOOO"
Friend Who'd Had Terrible Day (4:20:22 PM): GI HAHHHHHHH
Me (4:20:27 PM): hahahahahah
Me (4:20:33 PM): were we on the same wavelength there? 
FWHTD (4:20:36 PM): omg.. maniacal laughter caro
FWHTD (4:20:49 PM): i have just had a day, that felt good
Me (4:20:57 PM): kekekekekekkee

[ Online chat with friend who had an um, interesting link to share. Click thru at your own risk! ]

Friend With Interesting Link to Share (3:32:15 PM): if you need to blow four minutes for something really stupid (or just read the title): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-asA8s0c4A
Me (3:49:56 PM): i'm at work, and i've clicked thru
Me (3:50:03 PM): and i'm glad that i had the volume turned WAY DOWN LOW
FWILtS (3:50:11 PM): oooh
FWILtS (3:50:13 PM): sorry
Me (3:50:18 PM): i can't hear wha't s going on and i'm not sure that i want to hahaha
Me (3:50:26 PM): hahaha no
Me (3:50:30 PM): tis ok
FWILtS (3:50:30 PM): don't bother
Me (3:50:50 PM): i'm going to close the window now, as the queens or kings are engaged in a 69 position
Me (3:51:00 PM): and in slow mo
FWILtS (3:51:04 PM): right
FWILtS (3:51:33 PM): well, i gotta make sure to do nsfw next time, so that's completely my bad

Comic relief has been much appreciated during this high-stress week. Thanks to Chef Hugh and the gang for some super-appreciated social as well as culinary pleasantries:

That's right, Korean BBQ at home, foo! (I am SO going to buy that attachment for the gas burner)

With Chef Hugh's homemade soft tofu dessert with real ginger syrup.

I saw these little orange wheely things at Walmart. There was only Spanish labelling indicating what it was. I thought it was candy. I was hungry. I picked one up and put it in my mouth ...

Yuck. I think it was pasta! :(

Apologies to Cindy for the violation of the cuteness of her stuffed bears when we went over to her place the other night.

Hahah okay fine, I'm not THAT sorry. :) Click through for the more "risqué" pics. Disclaimer: by clicking through, you certify that you are over 18. May not be work safe ...

Oh, and I just had to pose with Crystal's cool new camera. It's PINK!

Click through to lastminute.com and click on the link in the upper right-hand corner where it says, "The boss is watching - look busy". Pure evil genius!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Please take a look and sign if you can. The petition's intro is quite thorough and describes how I feel pretty accurately:

In recent decades, China's effort in trying to make Chinese easier for both her youth and foreigners resulted in this push of Simplified Chinese.

Simplified Chinese, although convenient, fails to incorporate meaning into its characters. Many words of same phonetic sounds are replaced by a single character that possesses the same sound but lacks in meaning.

UN's action to "unify" the Chinese characters and recognize ONLY Simplified Chinese will have devastating impact upon the Chinese language, culture, history.

The world is already getting stupider and stupider. Can we try to slow things down a little bit here?

Quote of the day:

"He's in-in-incompetent ... I mean, impotent."

Sometimes, the best course of action to take is none at all.

@ Abercrombie & Fitch Nov 2006.

This was my second funeral ever, the first being about 13 years ago. I've had people in my life pass away, but I was unable to attend those funerals. I have yet to lose someone very close to me, and I know my day will come, and I know that no amount of mental preparation nor experience by proxy can really prepare me for it ... these are just some thoughts regurgitated out into digital format, since I've been thinking a lot about various things since attending the funeral.

The Logical Write-Up

They say people only get together for weddings and funerals, so I started to draw some parallels between the two. Both are considered once-in-a-lifetime events that friends and family try to attend if they can. Both require some advance arrangement in terms of finding a location, planning the number of guests who will attend, figuring out who will be making speeches. Money / gifts are exchanged, though in the Chinese tradition, money is given in red envelopes for happy events (ie. weddings) while white envelopes are used for unfortunate events (ie. funerals). Both can have receptions, and thus be social events.

Both are celebrations in a way - weddings obviously celebrate the love and happiness of two people and their futures together, while funerals could be described as a celebration of the life of the deceased and wishing them well in their next destination. People cry at both.

(I feel like I've just written a segment for Wikipedia. And I know it looks like I have no feelings and could possibly be a heartless robot in human form. Please read on.)

The Emotional Write-Up

We arrived at the funeral site an hour early. Our friends, the children of the deceased, were already there getting ready for everything. We said hello, hugged, and asked if we could help with anything. They said they had things under control, and introduced us to a few relatives. I just didn't know what to do. It just felt wrong for me to socialize in such a setting, and I just had to leave the area, so we went walking around the funeral grounds until it was time to start. I felt like if I had stayed there, I would have started crying, the emotional tension was so thick, with everyone either already crying or on the verge of doing so.

I was pretty determined to not cry. It is, after all, one of the Buddhist things to do, as a show of compassion and understanding for the deceased, detaching from our relatively selfish need to have them stay here with us, so their spirit can find their way to the next stop on their journey. And then there's the logical side of it; if one person starts bawling, then there's a sort of domino effect and then it just kinda gets out of control.

Walking around the funeral area was a bit better, but I got a bit depressed reading the tombstones. Doing some math, we found children buried alongside their parents. Young men who had been killed in war. Poems penned by lovers left behind. The saddest part was seeing a little baby's area of the burial grounds. I'm glad I had company; we talked about the inevitability of birth, aging, illness, and death, and reflected on our own impermanence.

But no amount of psyching-up or logical discussion could prevent me from tearing up when our friends had to go up and basically give a toast (another wedding parallel) to their father's life and legacy. To regale the audience with stories of the fond, fond memories. It hit me hard. Their dad is about my dad's age. Would I be able to stand up and speak with such poise if it were me in their position? Would I be able to recall minutiae that I did not think significant until death tore that loved one away, making every little detail suddenly significant because those memories would be all I had left? Would grudges fall away? And why do I still have stupid grudges when life is too short to begin with and we don't ever have time to tell each other we love one another? Am I waiting until death separates us to forgive the past? If so, why?!

I was asked to help with photography so that the relatives overseas who could not attend could see the proceedings. I was relieved that I could help in some physical way, yet this was a challenge to me as well. Normally (say, at a wedding), I would be up in yo' face, snapping away, shooting away relentlessly in search of a few good shots. That day, I felt inhibited (unfathomable, I know). Suddenly it felt wrong to be up and about when everyone was trying to be quiet and still. The only thing that slapped me back to reality was the reason for the photography: the relatives.

(Now it looks like I've got multiple personality disorder. Sigh.)

We were invited to a lunch after the funeral ceremonies, and I was afraid to laugh until there was some sign that laughing would be okay from our friends. (Incidentally, that sign came in the form of, "[Insert name of new friend], this is Caroline. You know that rap video I sent you? This is her." New Friend: "I THOUGHT you looked familiar somehow!!" How can you NOT break out into a smile with THAT kind of introduction?!)

And so I'm left with this: to this day, I am still unsure as to how to help when a friend has lost someone. Should I make them laugh? Try to cheer them up? Try to have them open up and talk about the one they have lost? Avoid the topic? I feel like I already have a penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, so I feel extra hesitant in such situations to open my mouth at all.

The only thing I know is this: T, C, and S, you have always been an example that I've wanted to follow in how you interact with and treat your family, always sticking together, through thick and thin; and then always being utterly selfless and considerate towards not just your family members, but to everyone around you. You are one of the strongest examples I've encountered that makes me strive to be a better daughter and sister. This period of time isn't going to be easy, and I hope you'll reach out for support if you need an extra ear / hand / shoulder ...

Is the Obsolete Computer Museum's website run off of obsolete computers?

I would rather eat rocks than buy anything at Best Buy.

I've developed a cough. No cold symptoms, just a cough.

I forget that most mothers don't work on Mother's Day, which is why I can still run around and get her real present ready today (she has no idea).

Just got back from a one-day trip to Dallas for a funeral. It's hard not to cry when your friends (children of the deceased) are crying while recounting the happy memories.

Reformatting my computer solved a bunch of little problems I'd tolerated for the last 3 years, including:
- external volume mute button: if I unmuted the laptop, then hit the increase volume button (also external), it'd mute again. So I'd have to hit "unmute" AGAIN, before I could use the increase volume button.
- I tried out this notebook utility that came with my computer called "battery calibration". Now, it actually gives me at least a few minutes after warning me before shutting down when the power is low. Before, it would go, "Better plug in now" and then shut down immediately.
- scrolling with the touchpad is much more consistent, whereas before it would just stop working sometimes. Strangely I'd read that you have to install a generic Synaptics driver to get hardware scrolling working in Firefox.
- the built-in wireless had been starting to crap out, so I'd bought an external wireless adapter. After reformatting, the built-in works fine.

Will add to the list as I find them. Good grief, should've done this sooner.

Off to finish off our gift to my mom!

This sucks. As does this.

The bro (who sent me the first story about baseball player Choo) and I were discussing how in smaller cities, the backlash against Asians would be worse than in bigger, more diverse cities. Let's take a look here, using Los Angeles and Houston for comparison since they are relatively chock-full of Asians.

Population numbers as of 2000 census:
Blacksburg, Virginia: 39,573
Cary, Illinois: 15,531
Los Angeles, California: 3,694,820
Houston, Texas: 1,953,631

Oh, and for those who read my site anywhere other than the mothersite, I was out of town for a few days and only posted to ihatepink.com while I was away. So to get your mini-pic-fix, visit the mothersite! :)

I was celebrating the finishing of my taxes, you know with TaxAct.com and all ... oops, did I just say that out loud ...

And then, I was sent this link to the blog of a Virginia Tech professor, which got me catching up on the day's big news, and now ... I feel crummy. I don't dare watch any of the videos, because I know I would start crying.

@#$% ...

The other night I saw this vehicle while driving home.

I mean, I KNOW "everything is bigger in Texas", but the mpg on that monster is probably tiny. Compare the height of this thing to the car beside it, which I think is an SUV ...

Also, the other day at my friendly neighborhood King Dollar store, I saw this:

Ah, 2 things I could've used in my rap video. :) Voting ends 11:59:59pm PT April 8th, 1.5 days left!

Perhaps I shouldn't be, but I am.

Chinese dating site for singles seeking Chinese women for love and marriage

I found the site browsing through a fellow acupuncturist's website ... related ads, eh? o_O

Screaming. Inwardly.

Have you ever been so tired that you have no brain? That time for me is now. Good night.