dracil

Left early from work for Halloween. Quite a few people did as well.

Got to Berkeley at 5:50 then went with David, Joyce, and Emily to get costumes for them. The Berkeley branch of Spirit Halloween Superstores is a LOT better than the one in SF. SF's was pretty much cleaned out Monday night, while this one still had quite a bit of stuff. We finally left at 6:45 and got to Jenny's place at about 7:15.

Peter was already there when we got there and they were making "Mummy Dogs." There was also mini pizzas and cider and punch and cookies we brought. And of course candy. Tom didn't really join in the party. I got to go out and scare some kids. Well, only actually scared one. The rest were generally impressed with the costume though. I guess the mask was worth it in this aspect. 'Twas my first time trick-or-treating (well, technically giving out candies to trick-or-treaters). Oh for reference on the geek level differences, 1/3 of the people at my company knew what the mask was supposed to be, while 1 person at the party knew what it was. Most people otherwise guessed Davy Jones. One person at my company also thought it could be a mind flayer from D&D.

Anyway, eventually we got to watching Call of Cthulhu while waiting for Eric to arrive. I think we should've probably just skipped the movie. It's a little too niche for random showing, but it did explain my costume. Tried telling two more of Lovecraft's short stories as well as I could from my memory after we were done, which wasn't very well.

Eric arrived and Peter left and then we watched Silk, of which I was actually pretty impressed, because of its usage of three different languages in the movie. Of course there was subtitles too but it's nice when you understand all three languages too.

That was the end of it and we all went home after that. Thank you Jenny for hosting the Halloween Party!

(Oh, for once my usericon matches the season naturally )

((Oh, and Halloween is still the Western version of cosplay ))
Currently feeling content

dracil

So I finally finished watching Season 1.

I find their whole seriousness about the evolution stuff to be quite silly in the context of the powers a few genes can give. Dunno, it just ruins the suspension of disbelief. It does serve as a plot device so it's fine there, but the whole pseudo-philosophical stuff just needs to go. There's also some plot holes.

That said, the series was otherwise enjoyable. It began to feel a little like the Matrix for certain characters, especially one particular episode near the end of the season.

("Tangent about one of the people's abilities that might be a spoiler to people who haven't seen it yet (i.e. my parents )")

Unfortunately, I can't start watching season two, because they've already removed the first episode from their website! Argh!
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Oh right, it was this morning if you haven't noticed yet.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

I wonder if I have Asperger's, or at least some form of high-functioning autism. Or maybe I'm just weird. Or maybe...


Well, if I do, it might explain some stuff. I remember when I was a kid, somewhere around K-2 maybe, I went to what I believe was the school counseling center. I think my mom said that it had something to do with my interaction with others. I'm still not clear, but it was either me being too withdrawn or too hyperactive. In any case, I think the core of the issue was I probably seemed somewhat oblivious to other people's reactions or something, and I do recall being told later on (still in elementary school) by my mom saying that I didn't know when to stop doing something when people were no longer enjoying the activity.

I remember being sad when I went to that counseling place one day and being told I didn't have to go anymore.


Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

Yay for my stuff arriving without a hitch this time!
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Blah, I should've had a haircut during the weekend. It's long enough to be a little annoying and this weekend is not exactly suitable for getting a haircut.
Currently feeling annoyed

dracil

It's not that bad. I mean, where else does working at home mean watching stand-up comedy on your computer?
Currently feeling happy

dracil

So, um, wow. Long weekend. Left early from work on Friday. Things were fine as I was getting to leave but in the rush to leave, it felt like things might've gotten more busy. In any case, half the office was empty and other critical people had left early as well.

So, in my rush, I also ended up taking the wrong Bart. Dublin/Pleasonton instead of Pittsburg/Bay Point 'cause I kept thinking of Pleasant Hill which sounds similar to Pleasonton. However, even though I was late, Jenny and Catherine ended up being even later.

The deal we had was, Jenny would drive, we would use Catherine's car, and I'd pay for gas. Still kinda felt bad for Jenny though as I didn't realize it really was that far to LA. We started at around 4:30 and we didn't get to Charlie's place till 1AM. We did stop at Carrows to eat first. We liked it, and the pies were great too. Unfortunately, Jenny forgot her notebook of routes in the bathroom.

Saturday, got up, called Carrows to make sure that Carrows had the notebook and to hold it for us till Monday. Woke Charlie up so we could go pick up Fang, then we went to pick up Joyce. We ate at this restaurant that was similar to Carrows (American) for breakfast, except for Fang, who'd already ate. Joyce got an extra egg by asking her eggs to be prepared differently. :D I guess they made a mistake (did 2 poached, then served the fried egg later), although the waitress didn't act like it was weird when she made the order.

We went to Huntington Beach to eat with Joyce's ex-roommate Stephanie. We were pretty late. Oops. We ate at Duke's, which was fine too. Then we walked along the pier looking at the surfers and fishermen.

We eventually came by a surfing museum so we did end up going to a museum after all. Interesting stuff inside. Was intrigued by these St. Christopher medallions they had in there.

Later that night, Fang, me, Jenny, Charlie went to spectrum for dinner. That took quite a while and we ended up at this Mexican place. But we got to take some nice pictures along the way. Then we had Tea Station afterwards as Jenny as was cold and needed something hot. Pretty expensive inside. We did a lot of photo experiments while inside.

Sunday, Charlie and I first waited for the girls to come and then we went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant that was REALLY understaffed and slow. After that, we went back to the museum so I could buy the medallions. Then we spent the rest of the day unsuccessfully looking for some games. Charlie was also checking out a new laptop. Got a call from Joyce so we met her around Disneyland. We took the wrong exit and went to the wrong Sheraton and were really confused for a while. Then we realized it was the wrong one and got directions (there are apparently two Sheratons around Disneyland). Joyce's Sheraton looked a lot like some fairy-tale type place, with a castle tower and village-building like units. We went off to Rowland Heights for dinner at this noodle place. It was good for Taiwanese food, but Joyce felt there were better ranked noodle places. We went back to Joyce's hotel, which we found was quite spacious and even had a Gamecube (with only one controller and it wasn't free though). We didn't stay too long though.

Charlie basically let me practice driving around in his car after we got back to Irivine, so I finally have some night-time driving experience, including on freeways. Didn't take too long to remember how to do everything, so that was good. However, there was a point where our headlights were off and we didn't know (we were confused and it was either the high-beam or no-headlights, neither of which is correct). Also had one bad part on the freeway where I was asking if this thing I saw was the exit and Charlie misunderstood and said yes, so I went towards it, but it was actually the side of the road, but I noticed in time and swerved back. Charlie probably lost a life from shock or something then. Dunno, I was still feeling pretty calm actually. The rest of the night's practice passed without incident, aside from being told to go left instead of right and vice versa several times by Charlie.

Monday, so I drove to Catherine's place to get more practice. This was also generally uneventful. After we got there Charlie switched off as it was more complicated and he wasn't familiar with the area either. Arrived early so looked around the stores. We went in, then Jason and Fang arrived soon after, and Jenny came a little later. We were depressed they didn't have their full menu though but what they had was pretty good. We then went to a bakery and after much deliberation, got 2 cakes and 3 mochis. Catherine, Jenny, and I parted ways with the SoCal people then and I got to drive the early stretches. Generally went pretty well although there was a bad mistake where I didn't check for a car during a lane change, but no accidents. We stopped at the Pyramid Lake's visitor center, looked inside (kinda like a museum) and took pictures and ate the stuff we got from the baker. I continued to drive after that until we needed gas, and since it was getting dark, Jenny drove the rest of the way.

Went back to Carrows and picked up Jenny's book, and our portions this time was a lot more so we actually had leftovers and we only had one pie. Was dropped off at the Bart and public transpo-ed home.
Currently feeling exhausted but happy

dracil

Was picked up by Jenny after work at Lafayette Bart so we could go to Catherine's place to do some scrapbooking. We decided to eat at this Indian/Pakistani place called Curry House. Very authentic. Everyone else in there was South Asian. It's very spacious and family-business looking and the owner was nice. Food was pretty good as well. Restaurant people are often intrigued by us taking so many pictures of the food. (Like at Carrows on Monday). Worth a try if you're in the Walnut Creek area and want some Indian.

Scrapbooking was interesting. Felt like elementary school again. While there I also helped fix Catherine's computer. It just needed HEAVY cleaning, and some oil in the case fan as well. Also installed a USB card while I was at it.

We ended really late, i.e. Bart-is-closed late so I ended up staying at Cat's place. It's good that I can generally sleep anywhere. Although that's probably because I'm just sleep deprived.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

I'm actually a little disappointed at how uncube-like it looks. =/

This fanmade one looks so much better.



The official version is probably more huggable though.
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Hmm, I think I need to make sure I leave work earlier again tomorrow. Not nearly as much as last week, just need to get home in time to be picked up with my housemates for dinner. My weekends have been pretty activity-filled recently.

Maybe as a result, my amount of game-playing and anime-watching has really gone down compared to several months ago. I mean, I still do them, but I get tired of it a lot faster. Dunno, I guess there are some things more important in my life right now.

Edit: Speaking of which, as I was writing this entry, it seemed for a moment that some of us might've been uninvited to part of this weekend's activities, or at least if things had gone according to plan, we were never supposed to be there in the first place... Given the nature of the event, it's not surprising, although the temporary situation during which my assumptions over the week were cast in doubt was not exactly a pleasant feeling.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Oops, overslept. Of course, by overslept, I mean getting up at 8:25 instead of 8:10, so it's not like I was "late" (flexible hours means it's hard to actually be late).

For whatever reason, my computer crashed the night before and I forgot to start the alarm application again (so actually it's 2 days without alarm, but yesterday I was able to get up via my watch alarm)
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Boss treated me and my coworker to lunch today. :D He wanted Thai but the place he knew was far, so I led them to Osha Thai at Embarcadero. Line was too long and he had a meeting so we ended up getting takeout. They both got panang curry (boss had tofu, coworker had chicken) while I had pad thai. Yeah, for whatever reason I often get pad thai in Thai restaurants in the US. Like how I get pork chop at Chinese restaurants. I guess it's my way of setting a standard for restaurants. Like how Joyce was talking about getting the egg sushi at Japanese places to decide if it's worth eating there.

Anyway, left work promptly at 6 so I could get home in time to go to Denny's birthday with my housemates. Denny is Auntie Ruth's (I feel weird using the word "Auntie", but I think this is the more proper translation from what I say in Chinese) son, and Auntie Ruth my aunt's friend, and Olivia knows them too. Only LeQi had no relation prior to tonight. We were picked up by his friend Doug, who apparently lives very close to us too.

As for the party itself, it's... rather different from the parties I've been to. I guess I would call it an extrovert's party. There were lots of food and stuff like any party, but there was also A LOT of alcohol. My housemates both succumbed to a shot of alcohol (including the underage one) while everyone else was pretty much going wild with it. Somehow I managed to remain alcohol-free despite all that. I believe I can be persuaded to drink, but today definitely did not fulfill the conditions for that to happen. I was also a little surprised at just how loud it was whenever I stopped to observe the surroundings. For comparison, the TV was turned to max volume and we still couldn't really hear what was going on. Anyway, it's what I would describe as an Asian frat party with parents + kids. I think I actually felt more comfortable with the adults (edit: wow interesting slip) parents than with the people closer to our age.

That Introvert Advantage book is right. In very extroverted settings, introverts tend to lose energy fast and then kinda zone out of the surrounding (my housemates are also both introverts). Oh speaking of LeQi, she kept making travel plans to the east coast and Europe while we were there.

We managed to retreat back home some time after 11. Happy birthday Denny!
Currently feeling tired

dracil

Well, I actually went to the Post-Bachelorette party given that I'm not a girl.

Got a haircut. Tried out the place that's a block from my place. It's... ok. I'll probably continue going for the convenience...

Left a bit after 5 to meet up with Sophia in front of Old Navy at downtown. She was late, then had to use the restroom first.

So we got to Joe's Crab Shack close to the appointed time of 7. If only we had gotten there earlier we might've beaten the phone call making the reservation that took the tables we needed. We ended up getting them to put a bunch of irregularly shaped tables together. The bachelorette group came after, and then it was the remaining BST group.

Too much beef yesterday = wasn't too in the mood for steak. I ended up getting the Fishermans' Platter which was mostly fried stuff. It was what I wanted when I ordered it but i think I should've gotten something else instead after all. The girls got her this shirt that looks like a half-naked woman, and the restaurant made her do The Carwash. :D 'twas fun!

We went to Ghirardelli Square afterwards for ice cream but almost everyone just got hot chocolate or something similar. Only Charlie and I actually had ice creams, and mine melted really fast. Hot fudge + ice cream + warm room + not eating immediately = melting. But other than that, it was good. We actually mingled with the SoCal peeps during this time after Fang moved us all around. Spent most of the time talking with Judy.

Then we went to Fang and co.'s hotel room to look around, and Fang was presented with some gifts and the scrapbook. Lots of pictures taken of course.

Then we all went home after that. Foggy foggy San Francisco where Sophia and I live recently. Definitely less safe to be driving around...
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Bah, what's the point of a bus schedule if the buses don't follow it. Was late to church as a result. The church is about as big as the USF one and actually has a similar interior design as well. It might be a bit bigger, if you include the stuff around it.

Noticed there was a blood drive there too so I went to it. Ended up being turned away at the last step though. Well, I wasn't actually planning on going (since I didn't know there was one) so I didn't prepare for it by doing the whole eating/drinking lots of liquid beforehand. But at least now I know that other than doing that, I can actually donate blood. Before, I thought that because I've been in Thailand in the past year, I wouldn't be allowed to donate because of the malaria risk, but I guess if you only stayed in the city, they think it's okay. Oh well, this particular blood drive won't be back till spring but there's some regular spots in the city, like near work.

Decided to go to Arizmendi Bakery and go to the park as well, both of which I have not been to in quite a while. Took some pics and would've taken more but the camera ran out of batteries since I haven't recharged it for a while. Spent most of it trying to get a good shot of ducks chasing each other at the pond at the Strybing Arboretum. I think I got a couple good shots out of several dozen shots. Unfortunately, the only squirrel I saw today got frightened away by some guy walking by before I could take a pic.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

I just thought this was cute.


Currently feeling amused

dracil

Brr.... it's cold. It seems to have gotten colder after the fog went away and the sun came out. I dunno why. So when I get up in the morning I just feel like there's always some cold draft.

When I got home yesterday, our internet was down. Checking logs showed that it was down as of 6PM. Well I tried restarting my computer first in case it was that, but it wasn't, so I went down and saw the modem/router had no power. However, the power cord goes into their room. Since my landlord/landlady weren't home I didn't want to poke around. After they got back I looked at it some more. The extension cord it was attached to had a faulty light so I couldn't tell if even that was working, so I got my old router and tried it and it worked. So now it was either the modem/router or its power adapter. I tried using another power adapter and that worked fine. So it was the power adapter. It worked fine after that but I'm a bit worried since the V/A of the power adapter is not the same. The old one was 6V/2A while the one I switched it to is 12V/1A. The amps is lower, but the actual wattage is the same, and I think if the voltage is greater it's ok... it's not overheating or anything.... but I guess I should still try to get the proper power adapter.

Well, this morning my landlord said his cable connection to the modem/router wasn't working. Hmm... Well, he said his cable's always had problems so I said I'd try one of my spare cables when I got home. But for now, it could be the cable, the wrong power adapter, or the router itself is a little fried from before. I think this is why I kept getting spammed by AOL that I was signed on in two different locations (since I keep myself signed on at home and at work) a couple days ago.

Because I spent some time on that, my landlady offered to drive me to West Portal station. (Thanks!) And because of that, I actually saw Papanii! Haven't seen each other since graduation. So we were able to catch up a bit. Apparently he lives close to the West Portal station and also works in SF, so we might be able to hang out in the future. :D

Oh, and stupid me for leaving my cell phone at home. No music at work.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Should've posted this last night.

There was a baby party at work today. Someone got us food from this Vietnamese place. Tu Lan I think. Got crispy noodles. They were anything but, because they were soaking in this oily sauce thing. Kinda disappointing.

Landlady gave us half a turkey as well.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Haha, I'm the only one at work right now. I guess I should've slept in even more. People will probably come in after lunch or something, but I do see some people working from home (or at least they're on our company IM)

Thanksgiving was a lot smaller this year. Only my aunt and her kids. My distant cousin wasn't here and neither was my uncle and my cousin didn't bring friends. My uncle did call though. Tried to call my parents but couldn't reach them.

I think we actually finished most of the food this time though (except of course, for the turkey). Spent the rest of the night playing on the Wii with my cousin and then just talked and did some catching up.

So yeah, I guess no Black Friday shopping for me this year again.
Currently feeling relaxed

dracil

*sigh* I suck at planning.
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Wow, I made a lot of mistakes throughout the day.

First mistake, leaving home early by 1 hour. Oops. So I leave at 9, thinking I'll get to the Bart in time to catch the 9:52 and get there at 10:16. Got to the Bart station, looked at the schedule, notice that 9:52 means getting there at 10:32. Quick call to Jenny. As I'm making the call and saying the time, something felt wrong. I think about it, then realize we're meeting at 11:16. Oops. Another call. The Bart actually ended up being delayed though and got there around 10:45, so I really ended up waiting for only 30 minutes.

So got picked up by Jenny then Cat came then we went to the theaters and met Jenny's friend Steve. As we sit down, I realize I don't have my cell phone. Hmm.... second mistake. It turns out I left it in my bag. So the bee movie was fun. The premise is absurd but the jokes were funny, and that's what really matters.

Steve had to leave afterwards, and we went to Yokoso Sushi. Thoroughly enjoyed the place. Loved the tempura flakes on their sushi, and their oranges were cut in an interesting fashion.

Jenny took us back to Cat's place and left after that. I made all sorts of naughty origami with Cat. Also helped set up the wifi for their Wii. Her housemate came back and started playing Red Steel on it sometime in the middle of it.

Mistakes 3 and 4 happened when I left. Mistake 3, I realized I left my miniusb-to-stereo converter at her place since I was playing music via my cell phone. Doh. Eh, it just means I can't listen to music on the cell phone with my headphones. Mistake 4 was realizing later that I also forgot to bring the scrapbook page for Sophia. Oops.

Oh well, I'll probably catch her at Berkeley next weekend and get the stuff then.
Currently feeling sleepy

dracil

Had a huge nap last night. From a bit after 8PM to a bit before 2AM. Of course, then I ended up going to bed at 4 and getting up at 8. That's still about 10 hours though, but the sleep isn't as deep. My body just knows that I'm not sleeping normally and so I never end up just sleeping through the entire night when I take a nap at night.

I think it's good I got the sleep 'cause I was having a hard time staying awake during meetings yesterday, and today I spent an extra long day at work, and the sleep definitely helped. Cat came by at about 4 to give me the stuff I forgot at her place last weekend.

Only been able to have lunch alone 1/4 days so far this week. Dunno, I like being alone for lunches at work since that's usually when I get to read all the daily/weekly newspapers/magazines. Can't do that when you're with people. Also, more flexible about where and when I decide to eat.

Oh, so I guess I didn't get enough sleep since I think I tried taking a nap on the Muni and promptly left the scrapbook paper on the Muni. Doh.
Currently feeling okay