More tries by the internets to read my mind.

The search guesser distracted me, and I needed a few minutes to remember what my original search was. :P

Now that I’m reading it again … “how to get a six pack in 3 minutes”?!?!? HAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAH

Wine? Vinegar? Are food product labels also going along with the trend of tabloid headlines combining Hollywood couple’s names?

So instead of grabbing the chips while settling down for a night in front of the tube, you could just snack on the bag of crispy mini crabs:

Her exclamation seems cheerful enough; don’t know why she’s so down if it’s “GOOD GOOD EAT”:

It’s a party all right. That octopus looks like it’s gettin’ DOWN:

Oh no, Oh Yes!

And lastly, just a comparison of our bachelor guy friend’s shopping habits compared to us bachelorette girls’. Well, wasabi peas count as vegetables, right? :)

H-Mart is always a fun adventure. :)

Apparently my buddy over at Liquid Egg Product returned from the Chinese supermarket with some finds of his own. :)

OMG OMG OMG. So I was getting in my car to drive to work today. I had parked under a tree last night, and saw some bird poop on my car. I'd just washed my car Monday, so I was a bit pissed, but whatever. But when I got in my car to leave for work, I realized with sheer, pure and utter horror that ...

THERE WAS A F###ING DEAD BIRD ON MY WINDSHIELD.

"OMG OMG OMG that is GRODY," I thought. I had to go to work right then, I didn't have time to deal with it right that moment ... I thought, "I'll just drive to work and the bird will just fall off I guess. I am so so so sorry Mr. Bird!" So off I drove. Whereupon I realized with sheer, pure and utter horror that ...

THE F###ING DEAD BIRD WAS STUCK IN MY WINDSHIELD WIPERS.

OMG OMG OMG that is DISGUSTING, I thought. And as I drove, I realized just how stuck it was. It was so stuck that not only was it not falling off, but ... the leg of the bird would swing back and forth, as if WAVING to me. OMG OMG OMG GROSS!!

Got to work (almost crying at this awful sight the whole way, I couldn't help it ... oh and I forgot to mention, there were BLOODY GUTS smeared on my windshield but I couldn't use my wipers!!) and stepped out to briefly survey what the HECK was going on. And to my sheer, pure and utter horror, I saw that ...

IT WAS A HEADLESS BIRD STUCK IN MY WINDSHIELD WIPERS. AND ITS BLOODY DECAPITATED BEAK WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE BESIDE IT!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I had to ask my co-worker if he could help me remove the poor bird (and beak, and bloody guts) from my windshield and wipers. Turns out it was like HALF A BIRD (I DUNNO WHERE THE REST OF IT WENT!!). WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?!?1?1!! GRODY TO THE MAX YO!!!!!!

I was so grossed out I couldn't even take pictures like I usually would, OMG!!!! Yes I know, I'm such a girl!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! @_@

Had me speechless.

So you can't really tell what the rims look like from afar ...

 
So here they are in all their up-close-and-personal glory.

Aiyaaa.

Googling "free simple html editor" today brought up Arachnophilia in the results. It sounded familiar ... turns out it was the same software that I had used many years ago (probably circa 2000). Even with major updates to the software, the site hadn't changed much; the words "Arachnophilia is CareWare" still remained at the top of the page. I'd forgotten what that meant, guessing it was some variation upon shareware, like postcardware or something. Reading further for clarification, I came across a paragraph that I'd always kept with me, but as usual had forgotten the source:

So here is my deal: stop whining for an hour, a day, a week, your choice, and you will have earned your copy of Arachnophilia. Say encouraging words to young people, make them feel welcome on the planet Earth (many do not). Show by example that we don't need all we have in order to be happy and productive.

The selective bolding is by me, showing the words that resonated with me so long ago and helped shape who I am by just a little bit. Common sense, for sure, but to actually put it into practice? Not so easy. At the time when I read this, it made me question if I'd ever been made to feel welcome on this planet. A very touchy subject for me, since people have made fun of me since the beginning of time, and then on top of that my whole sense of identity was hurled into a black hole of confusion while living in China. (I've come out of that hole since, yay!) But even so, with careful thinking, the answer was ... yes. To the teachers, mentors, and peers who consciously made and make the effort to make me feel comfortable in a sea of derision, jealousy, insecurity, and negativity, thank you. And I guess that's why it stuck. And then the thought that followed was: well, if people were kind enough to do it for me, then I hope I can be that person to someone else. Yeah, I think I saw that movie Pay it Forward around that time too.

So this seems like a lot of strange mush to have written regarding some html editor, but it's really not about the html editor at all. I thank Paul Lutus for his hard work on it of course, but more so for positively influencing my thoughts and actions for the last 10 years ever since I read his words.

Oh, and I did download and use Arachnophilia. Perfect fit for my needs today. :)

I've gotten back into table tennis recently, and on top of that I've just met someone who went to college with Whitney Ping, and so I thought I'd bring back this poll from 2001 since I was reminded how I was once mistaken for her. If you do a quick search for her online, you'll learn she's an Olympic table tennis player (I enjoyed this article). For anyone who ever thought I was decently good, let me put this in perspective: I know without a doubt she could whump my rump left-handed and possibly blindfolded. She says she practiced 5 hours a day while training full-time in Sweden; I can barely get through 2 hours playing recreationally without feeling like I'm 70 and have knocked my back out.

Personally, I don't think I look like her, even after scanning through more recent pictures.

(Today's blog post title was brought to you by AllLookSame.com. I was forwarded this site a long time ago and never took the test, but the name of the site just stuck in my head.)

... a total stranger takes a picture of you without your knowledge almost 10 years ago and then posts it on a website with other weird photos that are made fun of.

I'd never heard of AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com until Henry pointed it out to me (um, thanks?!). HAHahhahah oh man. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this on the website. Not exactly work safe (depends on your industry, I guess), so beware when you click through the photo to the site.

So I guess I should explain what is going on here. :) Old Calgary buds Reema and Winnie were showing me around San Francisco - had to be between 1999 and 2002, while I was an acupuncture student in Cali - and took me to the Palace of Fine Arts. So we were walking around taking pictures and there, on the green, was this dude posing for a professional photographer. Before my friends could stop me, I ran over and asked if I could have a pic with this guy, thinking that this was too hilarious! I still have the original pic where me and this dude are facing the camera; it's a bit strange to know that someone secretly took a pic of us from the side, and has hoarded it until now!

I remember asking him why he was taking pics there; I can't for the life of me remember his answer. I believe he said his name was "Blaire"; I never remembered to look for him on the internet after that.

Not that this REALLY explains anything except for my penchant for wanting to take pictures of everything I encounter. Be sure to read the caption and the comments underneath; so funny! Man. Yep. The Internet "big-time". Thanks(?!?!) AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com!

Thanks for all the birthday well-wishes!! I hope all is well for everyone in this new year!

As if to alert me to my +1 status, my body protested at 9pm to go to bed. It's now 4 am, and I am strangely wide awake, and awfully sentimental.

I think I've become more aware in my "adulthood" of patterns engrained in me that I don't necessarily like, but are undeniably part of my being. I suppose I could just say "that's just how I am", but I refuse to just BE that way.

To all of my friends: each and every one of you inspires me to be a better person. And that is the best birthday present I could have.

I've been following Hurricane Ike updates online; haven't felt like turning on the TV. Maybe I'll do it just to test how long I can watch it before getting sick and tired of it.

Came across this video on weather.com. One sentence caught my ear:

"Church members say after their prayers, Edouard slowed and turned right, and Gustav went to Louisiana."

I think it's normal when people turn to faith in times of crisis, but ... can they truly celebrate that they "diverted" Hurricane Gustav so that it didn't hit us here in Houston but instead our neighbors in Louisiana? "Hooray! It didn't hit us! It hit them! Whahahaaahaaa! We rock!!!"

In the meantime ... I'll be filling up on drinking water and shopping for bananas. ;)

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.

This is especially puzzling, since I *WAS* home at 11:05am. :(

And I kid you not, at the very beginning of the tracking, the FedEx website claimed:

"Loaded on to trailer, SAN DIEGO, CA"

I'm imagining sweaty hulking men loading stuff onto the back of a trailer.

That statement was later mysteriously deleted.

Now to call FedEx.

I just completed a weekend of required acupuncture continuing education. Oof. I never knew that sitting on my behind for 10 hours straight could be so draining, but it is.

There were both Chinese and English tracks, and I took the English track since there were more interesting topics being taught. We are required to take one hour of ethics (where we were privileged to have a professor from Baylor College of Medicine come speak to us), where both students from the Chinese and English tracks were sitting all together.

That was the only class where we were mixed with the Chinese track group, and these are my observations about cell phone etiquette during that one hour.

Good: cell phone is turned off, or is on silent or vibrate mode.
Bad: the cell phone is left on.
Bad: multiple cell phones go off during the class because owners didn't take a hint when people were annoyed by previous offenders.
Bad: a cell phone is left on, and the owner leaves to use the restroom, and then someone calls the phone. Repeatedly.
Worst: a cell phone is left on, rings, and owner answers. LOUDLY.

I would love to be all proud of my people and stuff but ... I'm afraid in the arena of cell phone etiquette, we generally suck. At the temple a couple weeks back, it was packed for Chinese New Year. There were TWO pleas made by the emcee for people to please turn off their cell phones. Yet multiple phones still went off, some even playing polyphonic renditions of rap songs - all in the middle of the temple service. Niiiice. Why do people think they are immune to this? Do they think, "Oh, I'll leave it on, since no one is going to call me"? To the people who need to answer the phone during situations where answering would be disruptive (and there are many), please, it really is very simple: turn your phone to silent or vibrate, take note when someone is calling you, leave the area, then either answer if you are in time or call the person back. What is so hard about this?

Another etiquette faux-pas encountered at the continuing education: I was reminded how much I despise talking to someone (up until now, always a male) who CANNOT MAKE EYE CONTACT (as in, YO, UP HERE, ON MY FACE, YOU FOOL) when talking to me. No, I don't find it flattering that you have your eyes "on the prize" ... especially when there's not much of a prize there to begin with. And if I'm already freaked out by your overtly oozing sleaziness (like I have felt before), I'm not going to be much inclined to give you a hug. Read the body language please and see why I am standing more than an arm's length away with back tensed and all hair on end. Do NOT approach me and make physical contact.

Not sure if other girls feel the same way, since I'm pretty old-school, but this is how I operate.

Hokey dokes. End of rant. Class dismissed.

I didn't know that our local HEB grocery store was so ... ahead of the times.

1) Set dial to the 6-minute mark, because you want crunchy toast, and according to the picture, that is the crunchiest toast setting.

2) Forget to set dial to "Toast", leaving it on the settings from that cheese stick late-night snack the other night.

3) Stupidity © me.

An approximation of my thought process while the toast was on fire:

omg it's on fire but the lack of oxygen should probably make it stop by itself hmm should take a pic before it goes out ok unplug the thing dousing with water in there would probably be bad oh crap the fire alarm is going off damn it's hella loud shut up how do i get it to stop i can't pull the cover off yargh ahh hey it's still burning my theory was not correct i should try to take it out of there but i only have wooden chopsticks won't those get set on fire too if i go in there with them oh well i'll be really fast ok here goes omg omg shut up fire alarm boosh ok now i'm safe. whew.

... has come to me recently by way of Thi, Shilpi, and Amit. Thank you guys. Where there was an intangible, unexplainable void is now a ray of hope that is shining in and filling me, which sounds cliché but ... it truly is hard to put into words what I feel right now.

Day twelve. Mrs. Thumbhead gets some more stuff with which to torture Mr. Thumbhead.

Merry Xmas, all. :)

(YouTube link :: WMV file, 1min 26 secs, 4.2 MB)

Day eleven. Mrs. Thumbhead finally gets something.

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Looking forward to spending Dec. 25th with the fam, actually. We're gonna have awesome hotpot at home. I'm already drooling just thinking about it ... Howard, you're missing out! Hmm, I actually miss my booger of a brother (whoa, he's on Wikipedia. Crazy, yo!).

The Eighth Day. Thumbhead rocks out, pre-iPod style.

The Ninth Day. Thumbhead gets a lesson in fashion sense.

(the WMV file, 60 secs, 2.9 MB)

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Yes, I passed out last night from a long day and then dinner with my girls.

It's tough having patients that don't understand that even an acupuncturist needs their personal space and time. No, I do not feel bad turning down someone outside my immediate family who asks me to treat them later than 10pm, and even tries to make me feel bad for doing so. ("For medical emergencies, please call 911. Thank you, and have a great day.")

(or download the WMV here, 51 secs, 2.1 MB)

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I don't like shopping, and shopping during the holidays is just absurd. Though I'm only buying gifts for the immediate fam this year, it's still pretty stressful. I was at the Galleria this weekend and it was insane. Don't EVEN get me started about Walmart.

I'm trying to hold off on getting me another camera until after Christmas, or even after New Year's. Place your bets now, folks - can I do it?!

 (or download the YouTube-logo-less version here, WMV, 39secs, 2.2MB)

(or download the WMV file here, 1min 32secs, 5.6 MB)

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I can never arrive and leave Walmart in less than 15 minutes. I'm always thwarted by trying to find parking or waiting in long-azz checkout lines. Well, today I had it all planned out. Get there, go get my soymilk, go get two photos printed, check out AT the photo center because SURELY no one would be as smart as me and do that, and leave. Could I execute this on at Walmart on a weekend? [dun dun dun dunnnnnn]

Got to the parking lot. Parked in the first spot I saw, start timing. Walked briskly into the store. Dammit, couldn't find closer parking, 3 mins already. Beeline for the soymilk (2 mins). What, where's the soymilk at? It was HERE last time ... oh THERE it is (1.5 mins)! I confidently headed for the photo center (1 min) ... this shouldn't take more than 3 mins and then I'm outta here!

There was a lady already at the instant photo printout station, selecting photos. I helped her complete the checkout process - oh noooo - FORTY-ONE PHOTOS!!!!

Exasperation! Fine. So I waited, cursing all the while to myself. At least I was able to place my order while her photos were printing ("PRINT FASTER DAMMIT!!!!" as if visualizing this would speed up the per-print time). Her order took like 7 mins.

OK. "Gimme my photos you stupid machine ... I already placed my order ... what's taking so long?!" I wanted to bang on the machine but restrained myself. Nope, there's a 1 minute waiting time so that people's orders don't get mixed up. Oh how thoughtful. But not on this day when I was in a rush to get outta there!

Checkout. Three items (I picked up some batteries while waiting for the lady and they were right there in front of my face), I got my cash out to speed things up. She scanned item one - beep, scanned item two - beep, scanned item three (the photos) - no worky, scanned item three again, nope, scanned it again, still no luck, keyed in the code, code invalid, keyed it in again more carefully, nope, scanned it again while waving the barcode scanner around at different distances and angles - beep. 4 mins. AUGGGHHH!

Walking (almost running) back out. Darned slow people on their carts walking so slowly, soaking in all the Xmas marketing. Almost got run over by an old lady and her shopping cart by darting out from between the displays too fast. Made it back out to my car in 4 mins probably. Driving to destination. OK slowpokes outta my wayyyyyyyyyy ... got there just in time. Whew. Too stressful though. Will never do Walmart-on-a-limited-time-schedule again. Ugh. Cuz this was Walmart, the Two Weekends before Xmas edition. Yuck.

PS - "ISO HI" mode on my Canon SD600 is gross. SO noisy.

OK. In order to avoid having tons of Mr. Thumbheads screeching at you all at once, I'm succumbing to YouTube for playback here. But you may download my lovely file here if you wish. (WMV, 4.3 MB, 1min 10secs)

And I KNOW you didn't miss Days One and Two. :)

Heading out to a "company" party, so I'm posting this a little earlier today. Seems like this weekend is an unofficial national company party weekend. :P

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Hey, geek feedback question: are the videos starting automatically when you load up your page? Cuz I don't want them to. I tried to turn "Autostart" off so I can post multiple videos on here without having them all come up screeching, "ON THE NTH DAY OF XMAS MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO MEEEEE!!!!" in nonharmonious rounds. Somehow I don't think that would go over well with co-workers of my working readers ... er, I don't think it could benefit anyone, really. Autostart was successfully suppressed in my FireFox 2 and IE 6, and I'm on WinXP Home. Please post your OS and browser version and let me know!

Just doing my part to prevent deafness and tinnitus (aka ringing in the ears) before you all come running to me for acupuncture treatment. :)

Update: succumbing to YouTube here.

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Now for some real holiday goodness:

Me: Your mom told me she was renewing her vows after 50 years of marriage, and that you kids were footing the bill for everything! How sweet and generous of you guys!
Daughter: Oh, it's really very little compared to how much they've given us.
Me: *Snif!*

Stuff like this truly warms me from the inside out.

Update: Succumbing to YouTube here.

1. When someone says something that is just totally ridiculous because they are clearly underinformed and thus making incorrect basic assumptions, but doesn't let you debate with them or explain anything at all, just repeating the same blatant BS over and over to you, and then swings a "I was once a Mensa* editor for xx years" at you like that means anything. Yeah, he's probably really smart, but that doesn't mean he knows EVERYTHING and is right about EVERYTHING ...
   
2. When you're hanging out with friends and a guy amongst them whom you hardly know takes excessive pictures of you thinking you're not looking. You already get the vibe that he's a closet perv, and during the course of hanging out you see him blatantly taking pictures of another dude's girlfriend's cleavage hoping that people are too drunk to notice. He continues to snap picture after picture of you ...**