friday night, i took my parents to darda seafood for dinner. it was a decent wait. it's weird there; they had a big tables open, but only a few small ones. we waited for a while, but were finally able to get seated after about 15-20 minutes. after dinner, we went to my mom's cousin's place in san jose (nearby, near the cisco campus) to visit her family. she had a cute almost-2-year-old daughter. then, we went home, and my mom's friend esther came by to drop off some gifts and hang out for a while.
saturday morning, around 9:30, i heard some rummaging sounds downstairs, so i got up. when i went out for my morning smoke, i saw my parents about to leave. what? they were going to drive off without saying goodbye? my dad's weird like that. anyways, they decided to leave early for LA, and apparently it was a long drive (around 8-9 hours) because of the traffic on the 152 and the 5. ouch.
nelson and i had brunch at los gatos cafe. he was half an hour late, which made me fretful because i really needed to go home. why? because i wanted to watch the stanford men vs. texas tech game. i missed part of the first half. apparently, we played well at first, but once the lopez twins went out with foul trouble, we sucked. we didn't score a basket for like 5 minutes straight. but in the second half, we came back strong, and won the game by one point. *phew* i was so happy that i threw on my stanford basketball shirt.
after that, i watched the season finale of _the next great american band_. hm. it seemed that the producers and the judges really wanted the clark brothers to win. anyways, here is the list (as i always do) of the bands voted off in order:
the hatch, the likes of you
rocket, the muggs
franklin bridge
cliff wagner and the old number 7
tres bien!
dot dot dot
light of doom
denver and the mile high orchestra
sixwire
the show wasn't nearly as good _american idol_, but i have to say that i semi-enjoyed it. i will probably follow it next season if they decide to renew it.
then, i met up with jay/margaret and alan/ting at korea house for a reunion dinner. the moment i got there, i told the waitress that i was going to order the kalbi jim (not kalbi, but kalbi jim, which is an entirely different dish) because it takes like 30-40 minutes to cook. man, was it tasty. i highly recommend it, although it is $20.95. it was great seeing jay and margaret again, and i'm glad they moved back here. jay starts work in february, so i'm going to try to hang out with him in january.
after dinner, i headed over to greg/cheryl's place for their holiday/gift exchange party. most everyone was already there. the first thing i did was to ask greg for a computer so i could check the cowboys score (we won, 20-13, but lost TO to an ankle sprain.) leeya agreed to do a shot of insignia (from mexico) tequila. well, she did a half shot on ice. (leeya doesn't drink, so people were surprised that she did it.) then, after the warriors lost, john was in a pissy mood, so he and i hit the bottle of bushmills. we both had 3.5 whiskeys. we all hung out and chatted for a while until the gift exchanged party.
we drew cards for the gift exchange party, and i drew the ace of spaces, which meant i went last. this time, instead of stealing a gift (which i have always done), i decided to open the last gift lying there. i was excited, but guess what was inside? A GOLDEN PURSE. WTF? who buys a non-unisex gift? i was very disappointed, afterwards, ann kindly took the gift off of my hands. but i walked out with nothing. sigh. what a fiasco.
i left around midnight, but not before puking in the street. i had some disturbed sleep and weird dreams.
i woke up at 10:30, got some cash, and headed over to nelson's place at 11. we grabbed some wendy's drive-thru and went up north to candlestick for the 49ers/buccaneers game. our seats were pretty awesome: on the 25 yard line, 13th row. the game was good (niners won 21-19), although honestly, TB pulled some of their starts in the 2nd quarters because the game meant nothing to thing since they clinched a playoff spot already.
during halftime, i got to smoke, and i spent forever trying to find some tasty gordon biersch garlic fries. in the end, i found them, but i missed a 49ers touchdown because of them. but yeah, you gotta have garlic fries. salty and garlicky and altogether wonderful.
it took us around an hour and a half to get from the parking lot to the 101, though. that part really sucked. there has to get a better way to travel back from a football game. after i got back home, i called up mikeC and john, and we (plus grace) met up at wahoo's fish taco for dinner. don't get their carne asada. that meat sucks. get their spicy chicken instead.
after dinner, we went to paul/leeya's house and watched the endings to _ocean's thirteen_ and _shrek 3_. neither were very interesting. then, as they got set to play LAN games, i left and got ready for bed and _sportscenter_.
overall, a very good weekend. today, though, i'm not sure if people are up for anything. they're probably spending time with family. i'll see what i can scrounge up. i leave for LA tomorrow. anyways, once again, happy holidays everyone!