Archive: July, 2007

My supervisor is seriously the best.

No, really.

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Excuse phone camera quality.

She got me flowers and a fancy cake as an early birthday gift. I love the cake! I collect snowglobes… Very clever. I’ve always known I was lucky to have her as a supervisor. (She’s also helped me move and gets me goodies every time she goes on a trip.)

One of my best(est) friends flew into Austin to visit me (for the first time!) last night. I actually lent her my brand new car today to use while I’m at work. My coworkers think I’m crazy for it but… I trust her.. (I TRUST YOU!!) Eek..

So Mary Ellen likes to baby people and already we were butting heads minutes after I picked her up last night. She was trying to tell me how to work a drive thru at Whataburger. Today? Today, she sends me to work with a tooth brush and toothpaste.

Anyway. Mary Ellen, trust you, be careful with my baby. :)

Birthday festivities

(New things of the week bolded as usual)

Friday, with Bing’s company, I brought a new car. A royal blue Honda Civic EX. Had dinner afterwards with Michael. Then went out for Bill’s birthday.

Managed to snatch him 5 kisses from attractive girls for his birthday.




One of the bars hopped, Speakeasy . Been meaning to go for years now. I love these two pictures from Speakeasy. (photos courtesy of Jessica L. and facebook)


That was Friday night/morning. I got home at around 4. An hour and 15 minutes later Jessica from Joy Luck Club called to wake me up for SeaWorld. Brandi and Jessica’s birthday present to me this year is a trip to SeaWorld. Jessica dragged me out of bed, we went to pick up Brandi, IHOPed it, and then got to SeaWorld as it opened. As promised, we were there from open to close. First time I ever spent a full day at an amusement park. Ever tried to do that on one hour of sleep? We went on 2 roller coasters, 4 water rides, saw 3 shows (I only fell asleep during one of those shows), fed and pet the dolphins, visited the penguins, visited the sharks, had banana split dipping dots, and chilled at the wave pool. They saved me from drowning once.

Unfortunately, we used disposable cameras so I don’t have photos to share yet. I had a blast. I love Jessica and Brandi.

I also decided I want a pet whale.

Sunday, I recouped.

biggest check of my life

$4,800 from Insurance company.
$6,000 loan from generous private parties (0 interest!)
+ Full expenditure of emergency fund (I.E. 99% of savings account)
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biggest check written in my life.

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Good thing today is payday. eaotjeaoitjaoitjaoeitj

mmmm. snails.

One thing I’m extremely grateful for are good friends. Namely, Chris and Cindy who came up to visit because they noticed I’ve been bummed. Seriously, who can be bummed with friends like that? Cindy and I haven’t seen each other since over a month ago when I went to Houston just for a day and had gelato with her. Saturday night we all had Madam Mam’s, then introduced Chris and his younger brother to Book People, Waterloo Records, Sparks, and the table top s’mores at Halcyon.


Chris's little brother and ICindy, Chris, and I

Then we went to my sparsely furnished apartment where we spent the rest of Saturday night playing poker …. for no money. Just beer and “questions.” We bought in by answering questions and each chips were seconds of drinking you can distribute as desired.

They introduced me to new beers. Leinenkugel which was DELICIOUS. Blueberry tasting beer. And then there was Blue Moon which was a citrusy beer. I’ve found two more beers that I can handle (in addition to the Dos, Shiner, and Kirin). Delicious.

Sunday was another day full of new things we had lunch at Polvos on South First St. Ehh. It was okay? Trendy and popular and the fact that everyone gets their own salsa.. that’s a little quirky but I wasn’t all too impressed with the food. I ordered the Trashcan Plate. Hehe. Cindy has a photo on her photo blog here. Should have just gone to Don Juan’s and spent half as much money there. Cindy left after lunch. Chris and I went back home and napped.. afterwards we tried one more new place before he headed back to Houston. An Italian place near campus called Tony’s Vineyard. Aside from the hole in a wall feel that I love in my food diggs, the ambiance, and finally the chill but nice waiter… I wouldn’t recommend the place.


I had the mushroom soup. Tasteless. Chris had some kind of tasteless pasta with crab meat and shrimp…

But I finally got one thing off my Life’s To Do List. Escargot. I’ve yet to encounter them on a menu yet and they had it on their menu! I asked the waiter about it before I finally succumbed..


“So have you ever had it?”

“No, it’s not for me…”

“Does it get ordered often?”

“No.”

“Do you uh.. just pluck it from a garden in the back or do they get ordered?”

“Uh, we order them…”

Huh. I ordered the soup and initially chickened out of the snails. Chris egged me on and finally ordered me the delicacy. The waiter smirks and a few minutes later he serves me….



I stare at it while Chris laughs to himself. It just looks a lot more disgusting than I anticipated. It looked like snails! The waiter walks by again and asked me what’s taking me. I asked him have one with me. Egged him on, “Come on.. live a little.”

Waiter and I forked our respective snails and at the same time popped it in our mouths. Quick .. only not quick enough. Too chewy. Took awhile for both of us to get it down. What a sport, that waiter. The texture.. very very much what I thought a snail’s texture would be. Rubbery.


I only finished two and a half of those little buggers. Waiter tried one and Chris tried one.

I don’t think I’d do that again on my own accord. But I can finally scratch that off my official list of things to do before I die.

Attachment

Plans change. Shit happens. Moan if only for a little and then revamp your plans and hop to it.

So much easier said then done. It’s hard to let go of that master plan. Whatever it is. A job that extends you luxuries you dreamed of as an undergrad. A boy that was suppose to be the one. A car that was suppose to last 2 more years to give you more time to save for a better car. Perpetual lessons in life yet it doesn’t cease to stun us each time we relearn it. Starting over from scratch reminds me of the futility and absurdity of life. It doesn’t really matter what you’ve acquired and accomplished, it could be swept away quickly and randomly. Maybe the Buddhists were onto something when they encourage you to not form attachments to anything. That that is one of the sources of pain. Hm.

I went car shopping for the first time in my life. Bing took me. Test drove an Altima and a Camry. I fell in love with the Altima.. I love the proximity smart key thing and the leather package complete with sun roof and butt warmers. But I just can’t afford it on top of other bills. I WAS a little delusional at first.. but Michael with the help of Excel spreadsheets brought me back to earth. Looks I have to settle for a more economical car. Another Corolla or a Civic then.

I guess better to lose a car than other things. (Knock on wood)

No apartment and no car. If I had a boyfriend, this is the week we’d break up.

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That’s my car on Friday night. I ran a yellow light and just when it turned red, a car was turning left right into me. Only 74,000 miles. 2000 model. 7 years. My first car accident. Bummed beyond belief. It was supposed to last me at least another two years, for me to start cushioning up my finances. Heh, my last words to Michael on the phone was “I’m running a yellow….. oh, FUCK!”

Good things: I’m okay and alive. It happened pretty close to Michael’s house so I wasn’t alone as I would be had it happened right in the middle of Austin and Dallas. He helped distract me of my current financial hell. He gave me a ride back to Austin. I have good friends.

Dammit. Just, dammit.