hey peeps. man, i'm pooped. been working all day. i didn't do anything brainful, but i was helping out one of my coworkers for some test bringups. plus, the chip came back over the weekend, and there's this weird (but serious) problem in the lab. we're scrambling and sort of panicking about this issue. i hope we can figure out what's wrong.
i'm also starving. i went with M to tofu house, and instead of my usual spicy pork, i got the kimchee tofu soup instead. that stuff was good (albeit temperature hot), but it didn't fill me up at all.
tonight's a "guy's night out" with my three stanford buddies. we're doing bocce ball. i've done it once before (at campo di bocce in los gatos), and it wasn't very exciting. however, it'll be great to see the guys again. we all live in the bay area, but we don't do a good job of getting together. i wish we saw each other more, that's for sure. so i'm highly looking forward to it.
i got to wear a cool tie yesterday. like i said, it was beige, navy blue, and white. i saw it on a mannequin at macy's men's at stanford shopping center, and i immediately knew that i had to have it. if my memory is right, i think that i couldn't find it in the store, so i had them take it off the mannequin. since it's sort of a muted tie, i've never worn it to a wedding (where i usually wear a more colorful tie), and plus, i don't wear suits that often anyway, so the funeral turned out to be the perfect opportunity to bust it out. i got a compliment on it from cheryl, too. :)
this morning, i had a dream where a girl was changing her clothes in the same room. she made me turn my back towards the wall, and i tried to sneak a peak by looking at the reflective surface of my watch. i think i caught a distorted view of her boobs, haha. i woke up soon after that, to my dismay; i think if the dream had continued further, i would have seen more.
so my theory on the massive number of hits i got last month is that it was because of kate beckinsale's new movie, _vacancy_. we'll see if that theory holds when her next movie comes out. it's a huge drastic change!
so nelson's brother is coming to live with him this week for a while. i wonder how much that'll change his eating habits, i.e. if i'll be able to eat with him. nelson is my default lunch partner on saturdays. we have this routine where i call him around noon or so, give him half an hour to shower, i drive to his place to find him still in the shower, and we go eat afterwards. so now, either he'll be busy with his brother all the time, or the three of us will hang out. i'm guessing it will probably be the former.
ok. i'm going to cut this short. i gotta go home and set the vcr (to tape _how i met your mother_) before heading over to alan's place. bocce ball awaits.
friday, i took paul and mikeC to gombei. i recommended the gombei chicken dish to them, while i got the chicken katsu don. it was a late dinner, so i was pretty hungry, and i ate most of my big bowl (even most of the rice, which i rarely eat these days). it was a very satisfying meal. and since i took my medication before meeting up with them, i was very sleepy afterwards, so i just went home and went to bed.
friday, nelson, mikeC and i went to taqueria la bamba for some cinco de mayo food. i bumped into olivia, one of k2's good friends, while i was there. talk about a blast from the past. she was definitely surprised to see me, and i didn't know if she would recognize me, especially with the new glasses and hair. we chatted for a while, and it took a while before we finally landed on the subject of k2 herself. hehe.
afterwards, the three of us went to REI, which is, in fact, my FAVORITE store (i say that with all the sarcasm i can muster). we stayed there for way too long, but the guys bought stuff. nelson got a bear cannister and a green plaid shirt, which he had been looking for for a long time now.
oh, while we were waiting for mikeC to arrive for lunch, i tinkered with the electric piano that nelson bought from jamie. sad to say, but i had forgotten how to play anything. i tried in vain to muster up the chopin revolution etude the i used to be able to play from memory. sigh. but nelson had the sheet music to pachelbel's canon in D, so i sight-read it with only a little bit of difficulty. it was fun playing the piano again, and i definitely miss it. maybe i'll get one myself.
after REI, i went home and watched some sports before heading out to gombei again, this time with taiko folk. i got the chicken katsu curry this time (not hungry enough to get the gombei chicken which i had planned to get), and then it was off for the stanford taiko spring concert! the show was pretty good, and afterwards, we mingled at the food-laden reception in braun rehearsal hall. i met some of the current members for the first time, and it was fun talking to them. they're so young! i also tried "sponge drops" for the first time. they're like twinkies, if i had to compare them to an easily-recognizable kind of food.
sunday was all about the funeral. i got up at 10am, got dressed in my navy suit (white shirt, brown/navy/white tie), and carpooled with paul and leeya. the ceremony itself didn't involve much speaking. there was a lot of kowtowing, and then some buddhist monks came and chanted for well over half an hour while the family alternated between kneeling and standing the whole time. then, we each got a stick of incense and kowtowed and stuff. then, it was time for the burial, and we got carnations and kowtowed again.
afterwards, the family treated us to a dinner at a nearby restaurant. we got candy and $1.50 (the tradition is to spend on sweets, as it was a sour day) after the ceremony, so i bought a bottle of dr pepper. i didn't eat much because it was only like 5pm or so, but they did serve duck, and i happily ate all the duck skin and fat. (i'm starving as i type this.) it was good to see my friend handling himself ok, but at the same time, it was bittersweet, of course, because of his loss.
after that, paul, leeya and i went over to the great mall to get a dress for the flower girl in their upcoming wedding. while the girls were doing that, paul and i took the girl's little brother to dave and buster to play. he's a cute kid. we did skee ball, video games, etc. after that, i went home, and i enjoyed having an early evening to myself to decompress.
all in all, it was a full weekend. the weather was a bit hot, though, especially on sunday, standing out there in the sun with a dark suit on.