The 24-7 coverage of Hurricane Rita on TV/radio is getting irritating. I've been disillusioned in general with the media since the overhype that came with SARS. Well, since I've decided to stay put, I'll be able to see how much of this is hype and how much is for real. That is, if I am able to "be safe" (aka "not die").

The people who have gotten stranded on the side of the highways because they ran out of gas now need to be ushered to shelters. There are supposed to be tankers of gas coming to their rescue, but so far there has only been 1 tanker who was giving out 10 gallons of gas per vehicle. Highways have opened up converting southbound traffic into northbound, but that doesn't seem to be improving the flow by much.

So at this point, fleeing will not really reduce my chances of getting majorly screwed over.

In the meantime, I'm processing pics I've taken over the last couple of days. I hope my "borrowed" wireless Internet connection lasts me awhile.

It also strangely comforts me that I'm not the only one staying put, which I guess tells me that I am not out of my mind, unless we're all out of our minds. Today Eddy came over to hang out and we just watched some DVDs. I know a couple of people personally who actually turned around and came back (gas shortage and traffic frustration). Thanks to everyone who called / e-mailed to wish me luck and to offer comfort. I'm actually a little scared, but refuse to give in to unproductive hysteria.

Today I was extremely moved because of an act of random kindness that happened to me (again). I went to HEB to procure some food. No bread, so stocked up on tortillas to throw in the freezer. A couple jugs of drinking water to add to my stockpile at home. Cans of corn 'n beans. Bananas. They ran out of shopping carts so I picked up an empty box laying around and lugged all my stuff around in it. As I checked out, the bagger offered to carry my stuff to my car. I declined his kind offer, since they were busy as anything. While stumbling out with my box o' stuff, a man in the passenger's side of a passing car jumped out and spontaneously helped me with my box! I asked him if he was leaving town. Turns out he is part of our "First Response" unit. "Someone's gotta stay," he said with a grin. So here's a pic of Dan and I after getting to my car (parked in the farthest possible spot from the store; I couldn't find any parking anywhere closer). Thank you, Dan, and all of our First Responders, for all that you do for this city and all that you will do in the coming days. And for helping me with my groceries.

But most of all, for providing me a bit more emotional comfort for what is to come.

Holy batman, look! Some REALLY IMPORTANT NEWS! (Windows Media Video, 1min 10secs, 4MB)

That's right, folks. I have decided to try my hand at journalism, banana-mic and all. I even sang the background music.

In the meantime, winds are really picking up, and it is EERILY DARK outside. [shudder]

I'm going to go make myself some gourmet [vegetarian] Ma Po Tofu for dinner while I still have electricity.

Pics from my "Housewarming" party (aka Independence party) are up! In this set: plenty of video footage of out-of-tune drunken singing! (As if that's supposed to make you want to look at the pics. Oh well.)

Conversation of the day:

Me: I'm dogsitting two dogs right now. They're just like kids. They're happy to see me when I get home, they love attention, they get jealous of each other. They understand lots of commands, too. Like, when I take them outside to pee and poo and it's time to go home, I just say, "Go home!" and they just run on home.
Friend: Um, Caroline ... kids don't like going home when you tell them to, and ... they don't pee and poo outside.
Me: Oh ... right.

Anyway! These are my temporary "kids"!

Shar sleeps while Jag contemplates freedom.

Jag and Shar hanging out. That's one of Jag's toys, and that white puff is part of its stuffing that Jag has managed to rip out.

Jag and Shar hanging out. Jag always looks happy, and Shar always looks sad.

Lily Jr. came to visit me this weekend. I'd had a rough week, so on top of all the support my friends have been giving me, having her come be goofy with me was just what I needed. Thanks, Soopakid! :)

Highlights: chugging boba every day, indulging at Lemongrass Café (had to go give my friend Theo, the manager, as much trouble as possible, hehe), de-romanticking the Waterwall, using the internet connection at the Apple store in the Galleria and not getting kicked out, terrorizing the waiter at The Flying Pig, figuring out Fruit Rollup Tattoos (not really - here's the video! [Windows Media Video, 2min 11secs, 4.2Mb]), and chatting amicably with Eric over lunch about peeing in wetsuits.

Oh, and as promised, the goofy pics of me and my headset are included too. Yargh. I look really ugly with it on. Must reduce use to in-car and when out of sight of other humans.

I'm gonna stay up and do some catching up on pictures. Yay for pictures! I've been so busy with stuff I haven't had time to post as many pictures as I would like.

I've had a good couple of weekends. It all started when Eric informed me his friend Geoff Nuttall would be performing in Houston and that I could go check him out - for free! Geoff was fun to watch, practically flying off his seat during the performance. Afterwards, we got to meet Geoff along with his lovely wife Livia (who described Geoff's performance as a calm one by his standards). [ Pictures! ] Big shoutout to Eric for hooking me up, it was great to watch Geoff perform, and it was very nice to meet Geoff and Livia.

Last Saturday was kinda crazy: in the morning I saw a couple of patients, then headed out to the Chinese Cultural Center since there was a fair going on there with some food, and then we headed out to the dragon boat races downtown. We then headed back to TheBoy's, where I showed him how to make Min's to-die-for sandwiches. (My awesome cousin Min is always teaching me how to make delicious, simple meals.)

That night was a charity date auction, where I was seriously scraped off the bottom of the barrel to be their last-minute, last-resort "photographer". I borrowed a camera I consider better than mine thinking nicer equipment would yield nicer pictures, but lack of familiarity with the camera proved to be a bigger obstacle than I thought. Luckily all my pictures ended up getting reduced to tiny thumbnails, which make them look way better than they do full-size.

The main event of this past weekend has got to be Eddy inviting us all over to his place for his birthday party and another unforgettable night of his world famous homemade cong1 you2 bing3 (fried green onion pancakes). I like how on HIS birthday, WE all get fed. Of course, we chipped in to help make some, but still, Eddy was quite the host, always on his feet making sure we always had cong1 you2 bing3 readily available for consumption. [ More pictures! ]

It's hard to believe I've known Ashley for 16 years. It's even harder to believe she's remained my friend despite how I made fun of her when we first met.

Ashley: Do you remember when we were in middle school, how you critiqued my essays? You wrote 3 columns: 'The Good, The Bad, The Ugly'. 'The Ugly' would always be full, and there'd be like ONE thing under 'The Good', something like, "Spelled your name right."
Me: Hahaha, shoot, really? Dang, sorry girl. I know, I was a punk lil' kid.
Ashley: That's cool. 'Cuz you know what? It's because of your criticism that my English improved. Thanks!

Ashley, my sincerest congratulations. I love you so much. I'm so happy for you that you've found an awesome man to share your life with. Be good to John now, y'hear?

I love how this pic (courtesy of my dad) captures April's multi-talented-ness: she can smile AND kiss at the same time!



And they lived happily ever after.

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

Here's another of my side-by-side comparisons (if you missed the others, here they are):



19 yrs later, and not much has changed. Our piano teacher (who led us to piano duet victory when we were but wee ones), now 79 years of age (but SO not looking or acting it!), is still the sweetest lady ever; April is still as skinny as a stick, 100% body mass = brain, and has landed herself a most excellent hubby; I, eh, well, I now have a full-looking set of teeth and know how to occasionally act girly. Both of us are definitely as dorky as ever. Dorks 'r us!

I had the extreme pleasure of being a bridesmaid at April's wedding after 19 [torturous! hehe] years of knowing the bride. I love you, girl! This also means though that there were NOT that many pictures taken because I can't possibly expect my dad to be as freakish as I am, although I'm sure I got this trait from SOMEWHERE ... gotta blame it on sumpin' ... gotta blame it on sumpin' ... blame it on da rain, yeah, yeah ...

Just finished watching the season finale of "The Bachelor". This is my first time tuning in to the reality show. And yay! He picked the classy, mature, confident one over the pretty bimbo.

I have to admit, I think the Bachelor dude is hot. Funny, his name is Andrew Firestone. One of my cousins' names is also Andrew, and although [ex-]Bachelor Andrew is beefier in build, I think they have similar facial features:

But isn't my cousin cuter?

The season finales of The Simpsons were awesome. One of them ended with the whole cast joining hands and singing the Canadian national anthem! Sweeeeeet.

I received one of those junk catalogues in the mail: "For Women Only". These things crack me up. For one, they always have the personal vibrator that is supposedly ONLY for massaging your back, but it's shaped like a you-know-what, and they always give this semi-erotic description about its uses. And the fashions ... oh I thought I was rid of funny fashion after leaving China, but I was wrong: "The Jacquard Caftan, just $16.95, makes you look THINNER!" This thing could make an elephant look thinner.

They conveniently do not have a picture of the abovementioned personal body massager, so here it is:

.

And this is Caroline, live, reporting from Quarantine Land.

Chinese vocab o' the day: [ge2 li2] : to isolate, segregate; to quarantine.