renegadeRICEcracker

poor judgment

after a fairly consistent slow-winning streak, i lost all the money i had left in my partypoker account. $85 in two days. but, rather than take that as a sign, i deposited $100 and am playing poker even though it's late and i'm exhausted (it's not so bad -- i hadn't deposited money in at least 4 months). i've won back $17 so far. but i really need to go to sleep.

to entertain myself during all the folding, i took two harry potter tests. the first said that i am albus dumbledore. the second only measured for kids, and said that i am hermione granger.

Which HP Kid Are You?

anyway. tonight my sister and i hosted a big banquet dinner at ocean star in honor of my dad's 70th birthday. it was a lot of fun. some aunts and uncles came in from out of town, and a bunch of cousins and their kids came. we had around 30 people (we got a private room), and it was festive. in the middle, though, there was a power outage. right after the appetizer. it lasted for a little over half an hour. and, they were super busy -- there was a big wedding party, and also there were several graduation parties. so when the kitchen could start up again... they had a lot to do. dinner was veeeery slow. we got there a bit before 7, we started the food up around 7:45, and we didn't finish until 11.

alex didn't nap very much today, and usually goes to bed at 8, so he was very tired and got a little cranky. but he was generally happy so long as we let him walk around. that's right. walk around. he is now walking. he is the cutest thing ever. ridiculously so.

one of my cousins has a baby a few months younger than alex. my other cousin remarked (before i saw the baby) that he looks like a girl. i didn't understand how a baby could look like either, since they all sort of look unisex to me, except for, like, big pink bows people put on their heads. when that family showed up, ayumi was talking to my cousin's wife and asked, "oh, is that your daughter? she's so adorable!" "that's my son." whoops. but he really does look like a girl. and if your little boy looks like a girl, at least dress him in blue -- not in red-checkered overalls that look girly.

anyway. it was very good. my favorite dish was the candied shrimp with walnuts. mmm... and the shark fin soup was good, too. and the roast duck with bread. and the jellyfish. mmm.

it is SO WEIRD seeing my cousins' kids all grown up, in high school, in college, etc. the two i specifically remember being born are now 20 and 17. and one of them (she's 25) is getting married in march. she marks the first of the generation younger than mine to get married. NOW i feel old. jesus. but they are all so cute. aww... i love seeing my family.

okay. goodnight. (and i'm up $35 now. or down $50 for the last 3 days. however you want to look at it.)

ahh... weekend.

i've been meaning to blog for the entire last week, but it's been buuusy, and i've just been super tired. so, happy belated pride!

last weekend we had a summer event at morongo casino, which was totally fun in a cheesy way. we got there in the afternoon and drank by the pool (i wasn't expecting this, since in my head i only registered the "casino" portion of "morongo resort and casino," so everyone was in a bathing suit and i was in jeans), and then i played a couple hours of poker (won $50), we had a super-long and really good dinner, and then we went dancing at cielo, morongo's nightclub. in this time period i drank many, many mimosas, then switched to wine, then had champagne with dinner, then more wine, and then vodka drinks at the club. i, um, got sick in the middle of the dancing. but just a little bit.

one of my co-workers told me on monday that, while we were dancing, his friend asked him if he was sure that i'm gay. "that's what i've been told." "are you sure?" "as far as i know..." "because i was watching her dance with you... and she doesn't act very gay... i don't really think she's gay." hahahahaha.

anyway. after dancing i wandered down to the casino with a friend, learned a very surface amount about how to play craps (but i only lost a dollar, which i thought was pretty lucky), and then we went and put our names on a list to play poker. this line took super long, though, so we didn't end up playing any more. we did, however, drunkenly end up arm-wrestling. now, i know i'm out of shape, and i'm not as strong as i used to be, but i'm generally fairly strong for a girl. like, i don't lose all that often in arm-wrestling to other girls (of course, i stay away from hulking bull-dykes for this sort of competition). i take it a little for granted -- like when jkt used to get all mad because she worked out while i just drank and smoked but i could always out-power her. well, this girl beat the shit out of me. it wasn't even close. it took, like, less than ten seconds. three times in a row. i told her that i felt totally emasculated and that i am now very afraid of her. aiya.

anyway. we were up until 3 and then the next morning i had to get up all early so i could drive back in time for the parade. it was a long day of watching the parade, having lunch, bar-hopping, and then going to a birthday dinner, and i was left pretty wiped. however, i didn't get any sleep, because morongo renewed my poker addiction, so i stayed up too late sunday, monday, and tuesday playing poker (i've gotten better). then last minute i had to fly to seattle wednesday, coming back thursday, and i already had plans to go out thursday so... i'm tired now. very, very tired. and also a little displeased with pictures that were taken on the dance floor last night and distributed today.

i took a little disco nap, and then i have to go pick up my dad and ayee soon, because they are flying in for the weekend. my dad turns 70 on the 21st, so my sister and i are hosting a big chinese banquet at ocean star tomorrow. these things are expensive. jesus. but it will be fun.

anyway, that's all that's going on. i'm now trying to get this strong girl to meet another friend of mine, who i think could beat her in arm-wrestling. i think if someone beats her, i'll feel better. once she even beat my coworker (i met her through him) in arm-wrestling. my male coworker.

oh, and i played darts again recently. i love darts. okay, goodbye.

HYPERHYPERHYPERHYPERHYPER!!!!

i wish that i could moderate my caffeine intake such that, when tired, i could climb up to a middle ground of alertness, rather than bouncing back and forth between utter exhaustion and jubilant energetic glee!!!

already it's wearing off and i'm getting tired and will go get more coffee soon.

bye bye ak

my best friend at work quit a couple weeks ago and yesterday was her last day. i was all busy yesterday (indeed, here until 12:30, so i was around for most of her last day packing up), so it's just starting to sink in now. i'm also all tired from working late and getting up early, so that makes me more maudlin, too. :-(

it's getting lonely around here...

yay karaoke!

we went to cafe parao last night for my birthday karaoke party. it was a ton of fun. i got to see a lot of people i hadn't seen in a while, belted out some tunes, danced, and was able to get wasted without puking, which was nice. it was pretty raucous. i remember at one point one of my friends commenting, "it's a little early in the night for dancing on your knees, isn't it?" this was followed with a, "you are going to have ALL kinds of unhappy bruises all of your knees tomorrow!" and she was right. i do. i also have a big bruise on my thigh that i don't remember getting. aforementioned friend pointed out that i was falling all over the place all night, and probably it was from one of those falls. i mean, not falling all the way to the ground... like, falling and throwing a hand out at the wall, hitting people, or knocking into a table. yeah.

today i went to a baby shower. that's always fun to do when you're tired and hungover. i am so not ready to have a baby. i can't believe people my age are having babies. aiya.

okay. i have to do a few hours of work and then maybe will go meet mitch for a drink (he's in town for the weekend) unless i pass out first. bye!

the last of the 20s...

so, i turned 29 today. thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone! it was really sweet! i just was thinking to myself the other day that once you get older birthdays sort of lose significance and they're just like any other day -- they no longer carry the specialness that they did when we were little and had parties with cake and ice cream and streamers and decorations and all that. but, i have to say, i got a completely unexpected barrage of niceness and birthday wishes all day long, and it was so nice! it started with my dad calling and waking me up to sing happy birthday to me, and lasted through the day. people i haven't spoken to in years randomly e-mailed to say happy birthday -- i have no idea how some of them even know it's my birthday (indeed for a couple people i now feel all guilty because i have not even an inkling when theirs is).

anyway, thank you. it was really nice. (especially the "haha you're still older than me" that accompanied one birthday wish.)

i'm at my sister's now and trying to gather the energy to go meet people at del's. i volunteered to work on an amicus brief with another associate, and as a consequence worked until 2:30 am last night and the night before (she, lucky girl, was the first to be able to say happy birthday to me in the office just past midnight -- woo). so i had dueling feelings all day of "hey this is nice it's my birthday and actually feels kinda special" and "oh i'm nauseous and going to be sick i'm so tired." but it wasn't so bad because i didn't do any work before lunch (i had an eye appointment), went to a 2 hour lunch, worked 3 hours, and then left early to come down to torrance for a family dinner. we went to el pollo inka. mmm... el pollo inka.

okay. i need to motivate. i'm about to pass out.

oh hey! i went to vegas last weekend and had a blast with law school friends i hadn't seen in year(s). it was fantastic. i also completely renewed my poker addiction. woo! i did feel kind of bad on bailing on the non-gambling activities... but... well... i couldn't control myself. i will post a couple pictures soon. it was awesome -- we even got to hang out with james blunt.