At TechTV, Leo (or was it Patrick? I don\’t get techtv in the East Bay) asked, How did you meet someone from Minnesota if you\’re from California?

I replied, Online.

He looked surprised and said, Oh, wasn\’t it scary?

Noooo…I do it all the time!

TODAY, we got nice autographs. Firstly, we attended a live broadcast of The Screensavers on TechTV. Yes, I don\’t have that channel here but apparently Tanner did. You can see a quick shot of our faces on today\’s show. Then we passed by Virgin Megastore where Crystal Method was signing autographs…LIKE OMG OMG OMG?

Happy 3rd Birthday to UNOCCUPIED.ORG! Poor domain. I almost forgot to re-register this domain. :( Hopefully, the transfer will go through.

Today was an interesting day. Lele called me from France. Not once…but several times due to the fact that I rarely hear my cell phone (my ring tone blends in with background noise really well). So I would check my cell and see my missed call. I tell myself OKAY, NEXT TIME I WILL HEAR IT but I don\’t. I finally got to talk to the chicken and frog (MAJOR PARIS SCENARY) later on.

On the way to our Alcatraz night tour, Tanner and I fed ourselves a lot. A club sandwich plate, an ice cream soda for me and a single double dipped chocolate cone for Tanner, calm chowder, shrimp and chips… It was disappointing to find that the movie The Rock was inaccurate. There is no shower room with the balconies. There are no underground sewers. Tours where the guide locks visitors behind bars…does not happen. How disappointing. Although one guide locked Tanner and I inside a dark isolation chamber (with two other cowardly Mexican boys) for about 30 long seconds. Because it was a night tour, we got a tour of the prision hospital. The best part was when the guide tried to fit all 20 of us inside the bug room aka the psycho ward for the crazy inmates.

Later on, Tanner and I went to the restaurant The Stinking Rose in North Beach (aka Little Italy). The restaurant was known for being centered around the bulb of garlic (everything had garlic!) Personally, I was disappointed. I picked the wrong dish as usual and ended up with an entree of neon colored ravoli that was vegetarian. The ravoli was only stuffed with cheese and potato surrounded by a white cream sauce. No flavor whatsoever. Tanner on the other hand got a plate of angel hair of pasta heavily tainted with garlic. On the way back to the BART, Tanner suddenly got a major stomachache. He freaked out and started running toward the Transamerica (that triangly thing unique in the SF skyline) except…it was closed! But I never saw anybody run so fast. So out of sympathy, I led him away from the Financial District…and within 2 blocks, I found the Hyatt Hotel. We waltzed in as we were guests there and headed to the second floor, where the restrooms (or washrooms as Tanner so lovingly calls it) were located. When we returned to my house, my mom fed Tanner a dose of Mylanta that had expired in the year 2000. Mmmm…that boy!

Oh yes and Tanner picked out a supremely bad DVD to rent from Blockbuster – Out of Time. So predictable that it wasn\’t funny. I ran away twice. Why are there outtakes as the bonus features???

And in closure, read my statement of purpose for grad school (due like in a few days). Any comments appreciated!!!!

Unlike some people, I always check my e-mail every day! :p

It\’s interesting how my parents act when my friends are around. Suddenly, the supposed irritation disappears…replaced by eternal kindness. On Saturday, despite my repeated my protests, after dim sum…my parents took Tanner out to the Golden Gate as well as Muirwoods the tall tall redwood forest (of course, my parents just had to pay for everything). Then my parents just had to take us out to Three Brothers from China, a local Chinese restaurant. Is this them being overprotective or just overly generous?

And it seems like Tanner really likes the places that I don\’t. Such as…the Asian restaurants. His favorite restaurant was Three Brothers from China. Only $18 for three plates (bbq pork, crispy baked chicken, tofu plate), soup and dessert (red bean tapioca soup). Personally, I never liked this restaurant. For the fact that I used to go with my former best friend to this place all the time in middle and high school. While we were there Saturday, I was especially fearful that someone I know might show up and ruin the entire thing. But fortunately it did not.

And then we went to an Ranch 99 (an asian super super supermarket!) in Milpitas. Not to my surprise, Tanner loaded up on $15 worth of pocky, asian candy, asian drinks, crackers (almost 20 different things)…

So today is going to be our first day in Frisco. Except the weather outlook looks…very dreary. We\’re going to spend some time at the…ROCK aka Alcatraz. Like most people from the SF Bay Area, I have only been to these tourist attractions when someone out of town really really really wants to go.

DID YOU PEOPLE WANT SOME FOTOS?

I have always disliked connecting flights.

When I went to Europe with my family about 5 years ago, we had a connecting flight at Washington D.C Dulles Airport. Because of supposedly bad weather, we were delayed…two days. Basically, my sister and I got to know the Dulles airport really well (we took over the place tee hee!) while our parents spent their hours at the Reservation desk. At the end of the night, we took a taxi to an expensive hotel (the only one that had vacancy) and spent the night. The following day, we were able to get a flight to JFK in NYC. Then we took a taxi to La Guardia airport. And then once there, we found that our connecting flight to Amsterdam did not really exist. So the same thing happened. My sister and I got to know the airport really well while our parents bantered with the officials at the reservation desk. Eventually, the airline finally gave up and said that they were at fault. They gave us a free hotel stay and breakfast! Evidently, there were other passengers with the same plight. And the following day, we were able to get a flight to Amsterdam while on standby.

And so Tanner right now is 2 hours delayed. Connecting flights? I should have taken Cat\’s advice and avoid America West at all costs. Even if it\’s $100 more!

blogging is not a cliche.

Sigh of relief! All my letter of recommendations are finally complete! So the rest of my graduate applications is up to me…to complete on time! After all this, I don\’t know how anybody complete a non-online applications.

How was I able to complete my undergraduate application four years ago? I remember being lazy and only applying to the four UCs (UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCI, and UCSD) which allowed me to only submit one application. I got into every single college I applied to…except one. And I am pretty sure if I had appealed, I would have been accepted. The thing is…it\’s four years later. I am less diligent than I used to be. I also acquired this nice little habit called procrastination. We\’ll see in four months!

Did I mention that I did a BLOGS WE HATE show on screwthoseidiots.com? Oh yes I did! Because I was coming off a bitter holiday mood, lots of my rants were more angry and irate than they should have been. Just to note, I like livejournal more than xanga and tabulas.

As a disclaimer for those sensitive types – remember, I hate the blog not the person.

Because I was irritated at my parents, just like Minny Soda, I bought tickets to San Diego today! Yo lady! Basically, my sister plans to fill me up rotten with EXTRAORDINARY DESSERTS and her cooking! Perhaps, we shall pay a visit to Ulta. And possibly (or VERY LIKELY) I shall meet with DRAMAH again!

I have a bad habit of telling my parents what I am doing. As a result, they get overly anxious and overly worried. And as a direct result, I get highly irritated because these anxieties are completely trivial!

I should follow the example Lele and Cat. Keep my parents on a need-to-know basis. Obviously, they do not need to know! ALL ABOUT TAN TAN VISITING…!! NO WORRIES TAN TAN!

For the past few days, my parents have been fretting about how it\’s such a big deal that someone is taking up my time. Hello, I am on Winter Break and I am almost done with grad school apps. But this is not a surprise, since whenever anybody visits my parents…they always wish that they did not extend their invitation. Not my relatives. Not friends. And it\’s not a surprise that the couches in the living room rarely are used. It\’s all about maintaining the mundane cycle of everyday life! Fussy fussy.