okay... so this first week of having the household without the parents was a little rough, but overall pretty good. i've done some cleaning and rearranging, i got the internet set up in sarah's bedroom, and i even reset the fuse that blew in the kitchen. the only thing that sucks is that sarah is almost always late for school. it's not my responsibility to wake her up and i think she tries, but my mom and dad are always the ones nagging her to get her ass moving. i think she just got used to it. oh well, she's got another 2 more weeks. hopefully, she'll get used to getting herself moving by the time mom and dad get back.

i just got back from watching a movie with sabby. despite what i've heard from reviews, the wedding planner was such a good movie! i don't need to mention how much i loved the setting (yes, it was filmed in san francisco) and the story was just plain sweet. oh and that matthew mcconaughey!! there is just something about him! maybe it's his demeanor... or maybe it's his drawl! *sigh* i am such a sucker for a charming accent hehehe ;op

i felt the need to update the "my mom went to the philippines to surprise my dad" situation so here it is... but forgive me if it sounds like i'm talking like one of the "GAP girls" from saturday night live.

my mom just arrived in the philippines this morning at 730am (like 1130pm their time), and my dad called and was like "where's your mom?!" i was all dumb saying "she left for work already" and he was all "are you SURE she's at work?"

"yeah.."

"are YOU SURE she's NOT in manila?"

"uhh.. yeah..."

"are YOU SURE she DIDN'T TELL YOU that she was coming to the philippines?!"

"dad, why you trippin?!" (okay i didn't really say that but it was along those lines... but if he understood it i would have ;op )

he answered "she just called me! i haven't seen her yet but she said she was here!" and i was all "...uhh.. surprise!" and i was laughing and he was all in shock! then my dad's real self came out...

"who's staying there with you?! are you watching your sisters? don't stay out late! be careful driving!.."

it was so FUNNY!! my mom ended up calling me 10 minutes after i hung up with dad and she was all giggly. she was so impressed with herself that she succeeded pulling it off. i think they're both at one of my tito's weddings right now, as i type. i'm so happy they're there together.

my mommy is leaving for the philippines today. she's been wanting to go for EVER, so i'm glad she's taking her vacation out there. now me and my sisters will be out here by ourselves for 3 weeks. hmmmm... i wonder how much trouble we can get ourselves into.

anyways, i'm also really happy to say that i've finally finished knitting the scarf i've been meaning to give as a christmas present to my best girl sabby. if you're reading this sab, i told you it was going to take a little bit longer than the other scarves i gave the other girls! i hope she likes it. knitting is actually quite easy and i think i did it well... but if anyone wants me to knit them a scarf, you'd better put your order in now so it'll be done in time for next christmas!! ;o)

i just finished eating a bowl of instant noodles. i think i put too much water because instead of being chicken flavor i tasted, it was water flavor. oh well. my day has been blah, but after reading my kuya's blog, i think it'll go a bit better. my cousin is so hilarious.

now, back to the daily grind.

yummy. that's all i could think when i went to the chinese new year festival yesterday. there was food everywhere! i only went there for a few reasons though (to buy lotsa cheap things i don't need)... but my main reason was to get this awesome candy called longxutang, or dragon beard candy.

it's really neat. it looks like a cotton ball, but softer. and instead of cotton, it's made of really fine strands of sugar rolled around a crushed nut filling. the candy maker makes it right in front of you, and when he's pulling the sugar strands, you can see where they came up with the name dragon beard. this used to be made only for the emperor of china way back in the day for his big parties and banquets. nowadays, it's made during the chinese new year festival and other big occasions.

the line ups for this candy are always so long, and it looks like the poor candy maker makes it all day (the grounds open at 11am and go til midnight!). plus it looks really laborious. to make a little box of 6 candies takes a bit less than 8 minutes, and people buy at least 2 boxes at a time. so even if you only have 2 people in front of you in line, ordering only 2 boxes each, you'll be waiting about 30 minutes til it's your turn. hehehe... i ordered 6 boxes for me and my friends. see, the key is to hit the dragon beard candy first, and take turns standing in line with your friends. those who aren't lining up just walk around the grounds to see what they wanna see. by the time the first few are done, they can line up while the second bunch can go and hit the festivities. yes, that's how long the line takes but it's worth it.

oooohhhh i'm in pain!!!!

i am so beat... (yes, like rodney king). my dance workshop was good. i learned a couple new moves and even a dance routine. well, the dance routine kinda sucks in the beginning cuz there were some people who didn't quite like the full time tempo, so we had to cut the whole thing into half time. but the rest of it was cool. we danced to the best music too!! the instructor had us dance to the theivery corporation and some other stuff... ninja tunes was it?... anyhow, it was good music.

afterwards, i hit the club with the girls and we had a good time. the girls especially had fun. they all don't hit the clubs often, so when they do, they always get a kick out of dancing and seeing what crazy things happen to me. for example, last night we were dancing and there was a guy who was dancing up to me. he didn't say hi or introduce himself and he was getting closer. just when sabby thought i was going to say hi to him or something, i turned around and said "i'm sorry, did you want to pass by?" and i moved out of his way as if he wanted to get through. the girls were laughing (they had already had a few... and two of them had eaten nothing before coming out!) and he got the hint and turned around and went back to his friends. good thing too, cuz later on that night we all saw that guy groping like two other chicks. yay for women's intuition ;o)

the dj was cool. it was same guy that usually plays at wettbar on saturdays. two of the girls were just creaming over him. he was mc-ing at one point and telling people to imitate his "cool" dance for free drinks. i thought this was hilarious cuz he was doing some sorta funked out running man thing. sabby was like "mer, you can do that!!" so i did... and i got a free drink! it was so funny. i couldn't stop laughing even when he was handing me the drink ticket. he was like "that girl's got it!!... here you go, you deserve it!". i must have looked hilarious cuz the rest of the girls were killing themselves laughing too! i gave my ticket to my friend cuz it was his birthday on thursday. imagine how i'd be if i did drink!!

my tummy hurts. i think it's from coughing so much this past week. i just wish i could get over this bug i've got and go on with my life!!

anyhow, i went to a "dragon boat" meeting tonight (dragon boating is kinda like having 12 people paddle a canoe). there's the dragon boat festival happening this summer where we're going to compete in a race against other boats. our team is getting organized so we can hit the water in three weeks to start practicing. i'm really excited about this. sabby and cin and jo were really into it last year so they got me interested in it... of course, i'm not wanted for paddling skills... they needed a caller.

the role of a caller is pretty basic. i keep the boat moving by yelling at the paddlers to keep paddling. the requirements for a caller are: lightweight (cuz i sit at the bow.. that's the front of the boat, right?), loud voice, and rythm. i even get a drum to beat!! that in itself is so cool! i hope i can do it though... watch, i'll run my paddlers like racehorses and in the last leg of the race, they'll all just keel over and die. hmmmm. i'd better think of some tactics...

i am so happy about this weekend. it's very productive already (woah... i think i had a horoscope that said that this weekend would be really productive... creepy!!)! tomorrow, i'm hitting a dance workshop. it sounds intense and i'm so hyped for it. it's going to be hiphop (i'll be hitting the other dance styles in the future) and i am so up for a good workout. i hope it isn't disappointing. at least if it sucks, i'm stil going clubbing later that night. then i can really "git ma groove on!"

plus, i got my hockey on sunday night... oooh i haven't touched ice in a month. even if i'm rusty, it's all good. the team we play against is the same team i've already scored on... so maybe i'll do a repeat! woohoo!

okay. on friday i think it was, somebody called my house asking for sarah. it went something like this:

*RIIING RIIING* (yes my house phone REALLY sounds like that)

"hello?"

"who's this?"

"uh, who is THIS?"

"oh, umm is sarah home?"

"no she isn't but if you leave a name and number, i can get her to call you back."

"wait, who are you?"

"WHO are YOU?"

"are you one of her sisters? you sound hot."

"well, thanks, that's real nice but sarah is not home, so just leave a name and number for her to reach you at and i'll get her to call you."

"wait don't you want to talk to me? what are you wearing? i look pretty good today, i'm walking down the street and i'm getting looks."

"oh, you know, by the sound of your voice, you sound like a pretty ugly guy. that's probably why you're getting looks. now, if you want to leave a name and number i'll take it down. i don't care who you are. if you don't want to, then its just fine by me."

"are you sure sarah's not home? she's probably nicer than you!"

"she probably is, but i don't care."

"oh okay... (he gives me his number)."

"and what was your name again?"

"umm... tell her to ask for larry."

"is that even your real name?"

"no."

"so why should she even bother to call you?"

"just give her the message."

"oh i will."

and i hung up. so i told sarah of this larry guy, and she calls him back (she doesn't know of any larrys or anyone who goes by the name of larry). the lady that answers says that he isn't in so sarah says thanks and hangs up. oh well, no loss.

but on saturday morning, i get another call to my house, by someone asking why our house number showed up on his call display. my mom was the one who answered the phone so she told the kid (i'm assuming it's our infamous larry) that there was a guy who would only leave the name "larry" that called our house number the day before. he called for her daughter at our house number, and left this kid's number as a callback number. the kid then wonders what sarah's name is, cuz he doesn't know who it could have been that he called the day before. my mom then says "well if you don't know who you called, then you can just forget this number.". she was pretty upset because this boy was somewhat impolite. so we thought that was the end of that.

but then, "larry", called tonight and asked who called for him a couple days ago. i decided that we didn't need this so i just told him "no, no one called for a larry from here." he asked if i was sure and i said "yes. why, are you larry?" and he quickly said "fuck you."

you just can' t beat the wit of today's youth.

there are no clouds in the sky, and the sun is shining so brightly, but it is sooo cold today!

so i owe the story about the end of my fun trip to san francisco. okay, well, i was in the terminal at SFO knitting (yes, i am suprisingly domesticated) and listening to my awesome new downtempo cd that my kuya mixed for me. it was just past 4pm and my flight didn't board until 5:20pm so i had time to kill. i had been at it for a good 20 minutes when this pleasant looking guy looked my way and started waving his hands to get my attention. yes, he was indeed waving at me... unless he really wanted to talk to the old man sitting to the left of me. anyhow, i pulled of my earphones and smiled back.

"what time is it?"
"4:35pm"
"thanks." :o)

that is of course not the end of the story. well, he got up and walked off somewheres for a bit after that, talking on his cell. at about ten minutes to 5pm i had enough of my knitting. it was just getting too boring. so i decided to just stop, listen to the rest of my cd, and finish drinking my jamba juice. by about 5ish, he came back to where he was sitting to find that a whole family took over the whole bench that he was at. the terminal filled quickly. there was only one seat left in a little corner and this guy wasn't small enough to sit in there comfortably. so while he was fidgeting, i figured what the heck, i'll invite him to sit in one of the 2 seats that were free beside me.

i didn't exactly know how i was going to do it, but as i rummaged in my purse, i came across my pack of cinnamon trident. eureka! this was the perfect opportunity to pull the "gum" line...

now, let me quickly explain the "gum" line. last hallowe'en, i was at a club called mesa luna with my sister and her boyfriend when we ran into an old elementary school mate. we were just sitting at a table near the dance floor, chatting away when he spots a really hot girl across the dance floor. i told him that he should go for it, but he insisted that he'll just wait til she came over to him. i thought to myself that it would never happen cuz she didn't even seem to notice that we were where we were. suddenly, my friend pulls out a pack of gum and holds it up. then he starts to yell "HEY!!! HEY YOU!! YOU WANT SOME GUM?!!"... sure enough, it gets her attention, she walks over and she introduces herself to him after she takes a piece of gum. they start to converse and lo and behold, the gum line was born.

now, since i was in an airport terminal, it wasn't as loud as in a club. instead of being as vocal as my old classmate was, i just made eye contact and pointed out my pack of gum to him. he smiled back, got up from his seat and walked over to sit beside me. after i gave him the gum, the first thing he said was "you're from vancouver, right? you look familiar." but as a took a closer look at him, i thought to myself "hold up a sec, YOU look familiar..." but i just coudn't figure it out. i thought i recognized the guy from clubbing or something, but then he mentionned that he was in san fran to watch the raider's game that happened the night before with his agent. then he mentionned that he plays in the CFL for the montreal alouettes (for all you americans reading this, CFL stands for Canadian Football League, and an alouette is a bird). i was having a pleasant conversation with davis sanchez!

so yeah, that was my little brush with fame at the end of my trip. he's a really nice guy.

lots of things have happened since i last wrote, and i don't recall why i was sad in the last entry. sorry to leave you hangin'. catching up won't be too hard. i just got back from san francisco (again... yes, i love going there. i thought it was because i liked the city, but the city is only okay compared to the company that i keep when i visit :o) ). so yeah, i've got a lot to write about.

first things first. i went to san francisco by myself only after my mom and little sister told me that they wouldn't be able to make it down to california with me. it woulda been cool with mom, but sarah had to work, poor thing. but like she says: "at least i get paid." hehehe, what else would a princess like her say?

so off to san francisco i went. this was the 3rd time i've gone there since my trip with sabz and cin last august. sabz is always telling me that i'm so bad that i go so much... but i'm sure she'd love to come back there to visit kuya and everyone again. we had such a great time in august, didn't we girls? ;o)

but back to this trip. of course, i went down to visit my kuya gary. i arrived on the 29th of december and kuya was so nice to come out and meet me at the airport, even though he was still a bit sick. what a great guy :o) the weekend consisted of us hanging out and watching movies. i was so happy that i got to see divine again. that girl is so sweet. we would've hung out more, but she got sick later on in the week. i hope you're doing better divo!!

i would have to say that the people i saw the most this week was rob and phuong. those two and kuya and i went out for new year's eve to the embarcadero to watch fireworks. they were spectacular. i hope our pictures turn out nice. phuong and i were having a great time just chatting away. i know rob wasn't enjoying the evening ecstatically, but i enjoyed his company nonetheless... and kuya, it was a bit cold, but not that cold (yes, you may insert canadian stereotype here). ;op

new year's day was fun too. us four went out for brunch at this great little restaurant with awesome banana pancakes. then we headed back to rob's cute place (by "cute" i mean "small"... hehe but really, it was cute!) and kuya and phuong decided to nap, while rob and i jumped in his car and cruised to seacliff and land's end. wow. those houses were huge! and what a view! we climbed this big rock thing, and it was a bit challenging, what with me holding my purse, and rob in his doc marten's... but it was well worth it. we saw the golden gate bridge and the bay to our right, and the pacific ocean to our left. it was perfect. hopefully next time i'll be able to make it there at sunrise... and with a camera! afterwards, we went back to his place to wake up the sleeping beauties, rob played his guitar and sang a couple songs, and we made plans for the evening... yet another movie. but it was "what women want" so it was all good :o)

the next couple of days i went shopping with phuong. kuya went to minnesota for 3 days so she and i kept ourselves busy. i love that girl. she has the best taste in shoes, clothes, accessories, music... but that's nothing compared to her personality. and i can't get over the fact that she's younger than me! i swear i thought she was at least my age or even a bit older! she's so mature and fun and i find that so refreshing. there's no word to describe her. she's just the best. she is "the phuong". ;o)

on the thursday, i decided to go and visit my friend david in oakland. i took the muni and the bart all by myself. yeah, i'm pretty proud of that. david lives in ghetto oakland and it was exciting, despite the lack of hearing gunshots or witnessing muggings. but yeah, it was pretty ghetto. so we went to a few record stores, but ended up back in the city. we were headed for the sfmoma, but we didn't get in. the line up to get in was almost down the block!! so i went shopping instead :o)

i think that one of the 2 highlights of this past weekend was that kuya and i finally went to the exploratoriun at the palace of fine arts. that place is beautiful. and inside, the exploratorium is just sooo educational! i loved it. one of my most favorite parts (and kuya's too, i know) was this cool cosmic ray chamber. it was this huge tank filled with alcohol and it showed the little rays shooting thru it. it was so cute and soothing... something i'd watch while listening to some downtempo. wow, that'd be nice. we also saw a bunch of baby jellyfish there, the first ones hatched at the exploratotium in almost 2 years. that was cool too.

the other highlight was later that evening, when kuya and i went out with phuong to ihop. i love pancakes. i don't remember how we got onto the topic, but we started talking about ghosts. i will not go into it right now because it is almost 3am as i type and i want to be able to get to sleep!

this entry is getting way too long and i have one more short story to tell... i think i'll save it for tomorrow. i need sleep!

to be continued...