My roommate in Pittsburgh loved watching that show “what not to wear”. I at first dismissed it thinking it was one of those reality shows. But the thing about the shows is about how to improve yourself.

Every day on the BART, I see people dressed up for work. The twin set with black belted sandals–administrative assistant or liberal law firm?. The polo shirt and khakis with black converse–a programmer?

What we wear is often a reflection of who we are. Our appearances become who we are. So it makes me wonder. Are such tv shows suggesting a makeover for both the outside and the inside?

I used to wear solid shirts and (comfortable) pants. Usually sweats because they were comfortable. Nowadays, I occasionally wear jeans even though they’re not comfortable. I wear the camisoles, the trendy prints, the layers. People who have known me for awhile say that I have lost my initial edge and become *gasp* (more) normal.

In the last week, I have realized two pet peeves of mine. Yet I confess that I may be a hypocrite. Awareness is the first step to recovery. But still.

1. Lack of punctuality. Arriving early appeases my social anxiety. But besides that (I have arrived 1 hour before an interview before), I don’t want to wander the streets of a dark downtown waiting for someone. Why does that happen? I don’t know. I can’t read people easily when they say they’re going to arrive around 5 pm, which actually means 5:45 pm.

2. All talk, no action. I need to take people less seriously. When you say that you’re going to make a movie this summer, I’ll remember it. And I’ll hold you to it because I’ll want to take part. Design, of course. Perhaps I have trouble telling the difference between dreams and true decisions. Don’t tell me you’re going to send me an e-mail, say that you’re doing it. Like right now.

“I quit the Internet last year,” my friend’s sister said at yesterday’s Women 2.0 pool party.

One of the more shocking moments I had at the pool party where guys outnumbered the girls. While talking to a member of Flock, he noted that this web 2.0 community is like high school but with the ability to drink alcohol and lack of parental observation. Pretty much that’s what it was. It was full of mostly twentysomethings scattered with thirtysomethings making small talk about what companies they just started, the power of being a community ambassador, and overall feeling of how to get the next round of funding.

In comparision to my experience at Lunch 2.0 and Bowling 2.0, this time it was much more friendly and social. Possibly because of the food and drinks. Not to mention, I had dragged a few CMUers and Rescompers along to the party.

As for the comment, she said that she had to get back in for her sister. Since after all, her sister beats me on the number of social networks she has joined.

I thought that once I got a real job, my life would decrease in its interestingness and I wouldn’t find things to blog about. Rather, quite the opposite. Although nowadays, I get home late, feel really sleepy, and cannot find the mental energy to blog thought-provoking pieces.

But well interesting moments. BART is a culimination of oddities in the Bay Area. Every morning, I rush up to the station and hope that a train will be waiting for me. Then I would nervously find a seat–preferably close to where I am standing. And there I would plop down with my laptop bag and my bag (the word purse does not exist in my atypical femaleness). Then after a minute or so, I would unravel my headphones from my ipod and sit in a senseless state until I reach 16th street mission.

Yesterday though, this woman got on at Orinda, gave me a long stare. I stared at her back, but she didn’t change her gaze. Then she looked away. 10 minutes later, she stared at me again, an observing, interested stare. Then 5 minutes later again. And again. Then she left, staring at me.

My friend sent this to me:

Which cities spend more than anyone else by category?
L.A.: gas and homes
Washington, D.C.: entertainment and insurance
Chicago: cars and cash contributions
Boston: healthcare and tobacco
San Francisco: booze and books

And then she said, “SF is where you belong, if it werent for the booze.”

Perhaps. But who says books are my first love? Only if it’s my writing! Yeah, I know a self-centered moment.

I don’t do caffeine. Period. I survived grad school without it so I can still survive life without it.

But perhaps with it, I’ll stop making stupid comments. Then again, what am I thinking, my incredible pseudo-OCDness gives me enough energy for every task that I want to complete.

For all the trouble and frustration I have gone through the past week, I want to buy myself a present.

A new cell phone. I know. There’s something to be said about buying a phone when I just signed a contract and am dissatisfied with my current one even though I already exchanged it once.

Or I mean, I was intending to buy myself speakers for my ipod or silk pajamas. But how can I really live without satisfying communication with the outside world? That first, please.

How I fixed the comment count in my blog.

I am good at getting the scripts from the Internet to do what I want. I am not great at writing them.

CSS is messed up for now. Still in the process of hacking the kubrick layout to fit my needs. :)

I don’t believe in blog titles because I believe they define the post and take away from its character. I want my blog to be taken as one single moment at a time. Content is not meant to be judged by its cover. Perhaps that’s why artists use untitled as the name of their work.

But besides that, I do sometimes hate change. I got a new phone with my cingular plan and didn’t like it. I returned it today to get a Nokia. 3 hours later, I decide that I want to return it.

I like my LG phone from Verizon. Even though it has no bluetooth. And this ridiculous winking smilie whenever I complete an action. But it really fit my needs.

I am thinking of switching back to b2 from wordpress. Even though wordpress has so much more functionality. I can finally use flickr and flock with it. I can manage my links more easily than the raw html I used to do. And furthermore, I won’t have to deal with any more spam comments again. But I don’t like how it does its search…the search page doesn’t even display all the content of the matching entries. I don’t like how I have to write my posts without being able to see my previous posts.

But this is me refusing to head toward the future. I hold onto the past, because my needs haven’t changed. I suddenly am rethinking my decision to move to the city because I want three-pronged electrical outlets and the ability to drive to Safeway, Wamu, and the Apple Store with only walking from the parking lot. But I gotta let the change happen and it’s my turn to adapt.

I finally succumbed to wordpress after my scripts got hacked and my posts were displayed from old to new rather than new to old.  Rather than spending hours figuring out how to undo the action, I took an hour to upgrade my blog to wordpress.

Not a five-minute install, mind you.  Because the b2 script I used was from 2003, it had been outdated for years and the import scripts no longer worked.  Not to mention the number of mysql commands I had to execute to get my comments working right.

But here I am, back in the modern age again! Yes, there is a real working rss feed.  Yes, I can now do trackbacks and all those modern blog things that go around now.

Even though I heard a great talk by Matt, one of the founders of WordPress, a few weeks ago, I still don’t like the interface.  b2 fit my needs.  WordPress is now a bloated, fat cousin with too many features.  I only need to write, search my posts, and manage my comments.  But with time, maybe I’ll be a true convert.

But look!  I used a title for my post!