Thursday, November 30, 2006

Random #2 : Hugs

Why must guys hug their guy friends while simultaneously hitting each other on the back? Why can't they just embrace?

Snuggle with your friends, guys. Wha? Huh? A little gay? Yeah. But it makes me giggle!

For the ladies...isn't it a little weird when you hug another girl? The boobs get in the way. It's awkward. Smooshy. Unless padded bras are involved. Those things stand on their own and are probably inpenetrable.

Random: Hooray for Boobies

"Breastfeeding in public is acceptable when done discretely"

Who the hell is doing INdiscrete breast feeding?

Is she stripping completely?

Is she squirting people in the eye?

Is she shaking them around as if to twirl tassles and going "Whooooo!!!!!!! Chow time!!!!

Well if she is, she should be getting a tip, and not any guff from Victorian prudes.

Are you kidding me???

I got DSL at the house, thank goodness. But get this, when I got DSL in Houston 4 years ago it was like $29 for the first 12 months then about $50/mo after. AND I couldn't get newer cheaper rates because only NEW customers were eligible for the good rates. So it was either DSL or Cable and I had to choose. I HAD TO CHOOOOOSE!!!!!

NOW I get DSL and it's $14.95 for the first 12 mo and $17.95/mo after that.

Honestly, WTF.

Home, finally

Ahhhhh this trip posting is taking too long and really the best stuff happened on the first day....


Anywhoozles...

We left New Orleans and began the 11 hour drive that crossed time zones, making it seem longer, to arrive in Greenville, South Carolina at about 10pm. FYI there are two Days Inns in Greenville, so make sure you know at which one you have a reservation. Not much happened during the drive; we listened to a book, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. It was very entertaining.

On the next and final day of the drive, we were quite anxious to get home because it seemed like we were so close. We did stop at a BBQ place in North Carolina. It was alright; I like Pierce's in Williamsburg better, acutally. Grace drove the whole way taking us off 85 and on to 95 into Richmond. Grace is a good driver. It was her greatest driving challege...except for you know, driving an ambulance 80mph while taking on the phone and writing notes. Ok, so maybe it wasn't so much of a challenge. We listened to the rest of Confessions and also laughed along to Stephen Lynch, Mitch Hedberg, and a little Dane Cook. It took about 8hrs and we arrived in Richmond at Grace's house at about 4:20pm (the same time her flight was scheduled to arrive in Houston three days earlier. Freaky).

I stayed at Grace's for a few hours until rush hour(s) died down. We ate mexican pizza delivered from Bottom's Up and watched Top Chef. Ahh...comfortable couch and cable tv. But by 8pm I was itching to get home.

I pulled into the drive way at about 10pm and almost immediately began doing prep work for Thanksgiving. It was like I hadn't even been driving three days and 14,000 miles. It wasn't until a week after putting all my stuff in the car, after all the holiday hullabaloo, that I really began unpacking my car.

I'm still getting settled in. I've rewashed all my clothes. I spent yesterday clearing out Edward's old bedroom in the basement so that I could begin redecorating it and filling it with my stuff. FYI, Guboy, your room is filled with your crap now. LOL. Merry Christmas, clean your room. I'm applying to a number of technician jobs at NIH (a mouse job therefore no mice as pets, oh well!) and Quest Diagnostics. They're full time and part time positions, and since I have no money and nobody wants to give me any, I'll take anything and figure out how I'll complete my thesis. Wish me luck.

Well, I have to go now because I have lots to do. I am going to get a retail job while I wait for the science jobs. Probably some place where I can get a discount on clothes. :) wish me luck for a place that doesn't suck.

It's nice to be home. It will take some getting used to, but the food is good and I don't pay rent!

P.S. I am back on trying to live a healthier life and began a JC style diet on my own. Since Monday I've lost 2lbs! Yay!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Moving day 2, part 2, jammed packed with flavor

Now where was I?

After getting my fortune told, Grace and I went in search of some food. We came across this cafe with its doors wide open, even though it was a little chilly. The place was fairly empty, but hey, it was a random Sunday afternoon. The menu had a good sampling of N'awlins cuisine so we decided to give it a go. Our waitress was very chatty and hospitable. While we waited for our food we watched the sparrows hop in and out of the restaurant looking for crumbs under the tables. Grace's cup of gumbo arrived first followed by her shrimp po'boy with fries. I was starving and had the sampler that started off with a bowl of gumbo, followed by a split platter of shrimp creole and red beans and rice with a side of jambalaya, finished off with a lil bowl of bread pudding. My favorite was the jambalaya and made me want to whip up a pot of my own recipe of "gumbalaya" (my yummy, hearty, and spicy combination of gumbo and jambalaya). My least favorite was the bread pudding because it wasn't regular dense bread pudding, but a spicy, almost burnt, gingerbread pudding with too many raisins and whatnots. Oh well, but overall it was all pretty good and I was happy to have food authentic to the area.

We walked off some of those Calories and stretched our legs from the long drive by walking allll over the French Quarter. I was partly in search for some shrimp boudin for mom. It's a sausage with shrimp and rice with creole seasoning. Unfortunately, the place that used to sell it in the French Market down by the water closed down a while ago. We learned this from the rather surly woman in the chocolate shop. Of course we stopped by a candy shop. Pralines are really popular there but we chose a couple chocolate covered marshmallow things instead. We also stopped by cute little galleries including this awesome Animation gallery that the "Secret Art of Dr. Seuss" as well as cells from Looney tunes, Simpsons, Peanuts, etc etc. I wished Goo and Edward were there with me; they would have loved it.

By 6pm Bourbon st was starting to get LOUD and rowdy. Actually all the drunk college kids started coming out of the woodwork at the strike of 5. But by then, the elderly and we started getting tired. We took a little break back at the Inn on Bourbon and forced ourselves to get back out around 8 or 9pm.

Once we stepped back outside it was INSANE. LIKE NO OTHER SUNDAY EVENING. Bourbon St was blocked off, people were drunk and hitting on anything that moved. There were guys trying to lure in other guys to see "Topless and Bottomless" girls. We were mostly amused by the strip club where you could "Wash the girl of your choice". Well, boy, what is better than that? If it wasn't a strip club, it was a disco with laser lights and the music blaring. Some guy was singing Sweet Home Alabama and trying to get the audience to call back. Another club had hip hop thumping and 19 year olds jumping. LOL Grace and I asked the concierge where we could find a nice little jazz club where we could just chill...cuz you know...we're old. 62...no 26? Yeah, 26. But instead we decided on going to somewhere calmer, like Harrah's casino.

We decided to walk the 9 blocks to the casino and take a cab back. On the way there we passed Cafe Beignet's which had a statue of Louis Armstrong in addition to some chick in leotard. BIZARRE. There was a jazz trio there but for the brief time we were there, they were just telling some strange story about how the lead singer used to be a vaccum salesman when he was 16. Once again, bizarre, because nobody but his bandmate seemed to care. So we left after buying a pecan tartlet and a frozen mango margarita. We kept on to Harrah's but I couldnt walk pass when we came across the Hustler shop! Yay! Two levels of porn porn topped with hardcore gonzo porn. It was a long shot but we asked one of the clerks (a very thin girl who didn't seem like...well, let's just say she isn't college material) if they carried anything with the Filipino porn star Katrina Salazar. For a few minutes it seemed like they just might have it, but to no avail. Oh well. We did get a guy standing in the gay porn section hit on us. I really don't know what to think of that.

When we had enough of all that crap we pressed on in the chilly air to Harrah's. It's no Vegas on the outside, but once inside it's pretty much the same. I pointed out WMS games, the company Edward works for. Then I pointed out how I don't understand multiline games, but we gave them a shot anyway. Then! Grace won $45 on a WMS game (I think!?!). Later on I won about $10. I spent it on a Fuddrucker's burger (instead of the $23 buffet!!!!!). Yummy with sauteed onions.


So to recap: Drove from Houston to New Orleans. Got a Tarot card reading. Walked all over the French Quarter and Market. Ate creole food. Browsed through a bunch of great shops. Went to a casino and won :). Pretty awesome sunday evening, if you ask me.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Day 2 Part 1 of the best Sunday EVER

Sunday, November 19

Grace and I had gotten a room at a motel in Houston because my apartment was basically non-functional. I still had utilities and whatnot, but no TV and nothing to sleep on. We woke up early and headed out the door at about 7am.

First stop: My apartment to check the place one more time and return the keys. Bye bye Scotland Yard Apartments!

Next stop: The Valero gas station down the block. WHOooooo Hooooo!!! Road trip!

Ok, then we finally got on 610 west at about 7:30am

Next next stop: McDonalds somewhere. It was a renovated one. It had a fireplace and was like a cozy cafe, only dirty like a McDonalds. McDonalds! You can't deny who you really are!!!! But they did have two computers with internet. I wanted to blog from there just to say, "I'm blogging from a McDonalds" but for some reason you can't post from a McDonalds. Weird.

As we drove through the crappy west side of Houston, Grace noted how it stank like INDUSTRY! and was disappointed to learn that we weren't going to be driving through desert. That's the other side of Texas, far far far away.

From 610 we took I-10 to Louisiana. It got more scenic once we hit the Atchafalaya basin. Atchafalayaaaaaaaaa. I bet you could get some jumbalaya in ATCHafalaya. The road lies very low over the bayou in this area. I bet you could also see some aligators.

I drove all the way to New Orleans since it is only about 6hrs away from Houston. On the way there we listened to a CD I burned of the music on my laptop arranged in alphabetical order. It included the appropriate Muppet Movie song, "Movin Right Along" and the worst Muppet song, "Muhnah Muhnah". We got there at about 2ish. Good thing it was pretty dead and we didn't arrive at night because with all the narrow one way streets, it was hard enough to get to our hotel.

We stayed at the Ramada Inn on Bourbon at the corner of Toulouse and Bourbon, right in the French Quarter. It was built on the site of the old French Opera House. I made the reservation at Hotels.com and got it at a steal at $99. Normally the rooms go for $240. It's a really pretty hotel and the beds were SOOOOOO comfy; I wanted to take one home. They had Bath and Body Works soaps in the bathroom. Very nice, but the iron was missing from the closet. Normally I wouldn't care, but my pants were wrinkly.

We decided to go exploring in the French Quarter. It smelled like a frat house. Like the sweet stale smell of alcohol and sweat and little hint of pee. Almost right away we spotted a Voodoo shop and we went inside. They had lots of little trinkets like Mexican Day of the Dead dolls and Turkish evil eyes. The girl at the front with the bright magenta hair mentioned that they were having a special on readings. $20 each for tarot card, past life, or numerology and only $35 for two. I was a little disappointed they didn't have palm reading since I have wanted to do that for ages now. I settled on a Tarot card reading. I paid the bright magenta girl and she brought be to a little room in the back that had a beaded curtain for a door.

Inside the dim closet sized room sat a heavy set woman with long white hair and a flannel wrap around her shoulers. She put away the paper she was reading (I wonder if she gets very bored back there) and welcomed Grace and me into her little room. She had an English accent and seemed very pleasant but, I never got her name. I sat across a kitchenette sized table from the woman and Grace sat on a sofa chair next to her.

The woman asked me to think of a question or my life in general. She then had me shuffle a deck of Tarot cards. I'm horrible at shuffling regular cards and this was even harder because the cards are longer and there are over 70 of them. I shuffled them 3 times (3's the magic number, yes it is, the magic number). She laid 10 cards out in what I later learned to be a Celtic Cross spread.


Grace thought it was amusing how I wasn't giving the woman any information. The woman would interpret the cards and ask, "Does this make any sense to you?" and I would merely answer, "Hmm, yes. I think so." I wanted her to go through all of the cards without my help. Although if she was reallllly good she would be able to tell from my slight facial expressions and body language if she was on the right track. And all of this fortune tellng stuff always has to be taken with a grain of salt and all for fun, but truth be told, the cards were pretty much on target. For example, the card which describes the querent was the King of Cups which meant I am supposedly someone that holds back my emotions and tries hard not to let them show. LOL. When I noticed Grace was nodding her head with her eyes wide in agreement, I wondered if I should have let her come in the room with me! At least my last card that shows my final outcome was a very happy one. I am a little worried about the 'near future' card though; it was the three of swords and depicted a heart skewered by three swords. Owie.

Once she had gone through all of the cards I let her know what I thought some of the cards meant. Some of the cards dealt with career and creativity and starting a business. So we started talking about jewelry making and selling. Then she took off her necklace and showed me her work. I gave her tips and she told me about some wholesalers I should check out. LOL, it was just funny how the conversation always seems to turn that way. Beaders are everywhere.

I tipped her $3.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Moving pt 1

Hey everybody! Lots has happened in the past week.

I packed up my valuables into my Nissan Sentra and tossed the rest in the dumpster or just left it in my apartment for the cleaning people to deal with (my security deposit was just $150 and $75 was unrefundable, so no big whoop). A few large items were given away or sold to good homes.

I guess it'll just be easier to give y'all the run down:

Saturday Nov 18th

I woke up early after going to bed late to finish packing the car.

Then I had lunch with Marivonne and Luo at an awesome Chinese restaurant. We ordered so much that we had to be moved to a big round table with a lazy susan. I tried a couple new dishes that I loved including honey batter fried fish served cold. But my favorite, if I HAD to choose, would have to be the potstickers that were soooo insanely good and a lot better than any other than I've had. Even though we had so many dishes, we were envious of other tables that were ordering duck and got that to go.

Stuffed and ready to burst, we drove back to my apt so that they could buy my T.V. and DVD player. Thank you Marivonne!!! That money really helped :)

Shortly after they left, Grace called. She had arrived at Hobby Airport!

I picked her up and we drove back to my apt to finish the last of the car packing while she snacked on the Bejing duck take-out.

Then I took her on a driving tour of the medical center. The tall buildings fooled her into thinking it was downtown. And as I was pointing out the M.D. Anderson skybridge that crosses 2 streets and spans at least a quarter mile, we got PULLED OVER by U.T. police. Apparently I rolled through a stop sign. Honestly this fake cop had nothing else to do on a Saturday as the medical center is DEAD on the weekends. Ah well, I got a written warning, LOL.

Since I no longer have access into the building, we continued our driving tour. I drove through Montrose and along Westheimer to the Galleria. I have NEVER been to the Galleria on a Saturday evening. I know better than that. So thank goodness, over 4 years, I had finally learned other parking options at the Galleria. For homebodies like us, a Saturday at the Galleria was a little overwhelming. I took Grace to the Louis Vuitton and insisted that we were still in a mall that has a Sbarro's and Claire's. Then we walked around and got lost trying to find a store that had the M.A.C. lipstick in Misty in stock. And, not that they are rare, but I was glad that Grace was able to spot the quintessential Galleria shopper: Middle aged rich woman dressed like her 14 year old daughter.

After we had just enough of the strange world that is the upscale mall, we headed back to the medical center because Marivonne was in the lab and could let us in. I was able to introduce my friends to each other, show Grace around the lab, and print out another copy of the map. It was getting late, so I said farewell to the lab one last time and said my goodbyes to Marivonne.

Grace and I then met up with Katrina and Will at Amazon Grill. It took forever for them to give Grace her salad but other than that it was good and super yummy as always. Grace got to taste the magical dressing and the soupy kind of tres leches that is common in Houston and nothing like the one she had for her wedding from Richmond's CubaCuba restaurant.

Since we couldn't leave town without going to Dessert Gallery, it was time for second dessert. Sure we had one dessert already. But what was there to stop us to have another??? I had the Luscious Lemon cake and Grace had the Chocolate Pecan pie a la mode. Needless to say, we didn't finish.

Grace and I had to get up early the next morning so we bode farewell to Katrina and Will, but not without snapping another Aznz Rule Peace out photo (this one is actually from earlier that week).

Even though I'm glad to be out of Houston, I will miss my friends. Thanks for a fantastic last day.


I'll post more about the rest of the trip later.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The C stands for Crack. Is it coincidence I bought them at CVS??

OK, so you all know how Cadbury Mini Eggs are made of crack and are would be perfect if only they were sold all year round? (This guy says it perfectly). Well perfection is nigh!! Cadbury now has these:

They don't really have a name, but they're basically Mini Eggs for Christmas! Except balls, not eggs. Practically the same. LOL. Cadbury Mini Balls!

I'm gonna go OD now.

Monday, November 13, 2006

It's getting real! For real, y'all! Really!

I called the electric and phone companies this morning to discontinue services on Monday the 20th.

It's only starting to sink in that I am moving for good and I have to be out of this apartment in a week!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO exciting!

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Friday, November 03, 2006

FYI: I'm retarded

Hey folks

I changed my email address password thinking, "Hey I should change my password because that is the responsible thing to do if you want to keep people from stealing your identity" or sumthin.


But I failed to remember that I am a retard and I changed it in the middle of the night when I have NO memory in my head and I am an even bigger retard because I didn't write this password down. Then I got a new automated temporary password from yahoo and didn't write that down before clicking on something so when I tried to go "Back" and look at it, the page had expired. SO I had to get ANOTHER automated temporary password.

So, while I wait for the automated temporary password #2 to kick in (apparently takes 24 hours) I will not be able to chat or email from my houston underscore 610 account.

Edit 11/4/2006 12:18AM: I got back into my account :)