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Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
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8:25 am - big blur
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so the past week was so packed and busy i don't know if i remember it all.
tuesdayi went on pickups? actually i don't think i did. i think i cleaned house? alrighty, no clue.
tuesday night went to pearl for kyle guys' pre-halloween party party. i didn't know dave was a military history buff. he said to call him. it was nice to see the little lawyers again... though really, the only lawyers are sanada and odogg. it was SO nice to see odogg again! and kendall. sanada had a nice little table with free food in the back.
there were a lot of people there... there usually are. oku came down, and i saw james (and he said babyroger was there, but i avoided him, heh) and april and i tried to give him pointers, but the boy isn't into buying girls drinks, so i'm not sure what else to tell him. saw chris and reid, who we got into w that night, and of course kyle. who isn't sure what he's going to be for halloween this year (he always has very cool costumes). lance and kev came down too... i haven't seen kev in years! glen was also there and remembers april from college. apparently he drove her home once because she was drunk. i find it amusing that glen was actually the responsible one once...
we stayed till pretty late... almost midnight. oh, and april picked up my dresses, yay. :)
wednesday... no uke gang, but i think i went to the swap meet to pick up stuff? i have no idea. but i met a friend for lunch at neiman marcus and that was nice. we ate some mochi gelato from mikawaya. well, i just had gelato. mmm.
then what did i do? damn. i really have no clue. oh, i picked up my pattern from mr. song for my new venture. :) actually i did that before lunch. and i think i looked around in the hawaiian fire(men) store but didn't find anything i wanted to buy. then for dinner i went to waialae country club for a wine tasting. doug invited me, which was nice. hung out with him and steve and doug's friend ... argh. i forgot her name. anyway, the food was good, the wine was good... and doug actually bought a bottle of expensive wine. and then i heard all about the terrible meeting they had with jimmy and mike and mimi the day before.
thursday... went to the clubhouse for wine day. is that all? i don't think so, but i can't remember what else i did.
thursday night went to kochi to meet kev, lance and kev's co-workers. turns out april knows jason from the club, and jason/joy and i know all kinds of the same people. her cousin is my ex, which we hit upon 'cause joy is an esthetician and i asked if she knew keri, who is also an esthetiian, but she didn't, so i was describing keri and said she does banquets at the willows. and she was like, oh, my cousin is at willows, and i was like oh, who's your cousin? heh. there was some girly shrieking going on. i told jason my dad didn't like garret because he thought he was too smooth. haha! such a small world. and then jason is scott's classmate. and z (who i talked to right before leaving the house for kochi) sits right behind them at football games. it was all very small world hawaii.
when we got there, sean was there with his friend mark. and slowly the guys showed up one by one. oku, scot, shane, stu, mats. worlds colliding. on the ride down scot bought a ticket for chopsticks and wine. yay. :) now i have to get rid of three. come on people!
after kochi we went to the little oven and i had saimin and an egg cream. kev and lance came with us since kev was still waiting for his friend to come in from la. it was nice to see kev again. never really talked to him in depth in high school or college but we have a lot of mutual friends and shared history. hard to believe i've known him(them) 18 years. sheesh.
so friday i woke up earlyish and went to pick up goro at 8 and we went to the clubhouse for collating. the club always collates (manually) their bulletin (the puka puka parade) on the last friday of every month. it's quite an operation... about 30-40 vets, wives and widows and one or two grandkids show up and help with the collating. everyone has a job like collating, taking piles of collated bulletins to get 'wiggled' (i have no clue what the real name for that machine is but it makes all the papers even and straight... it is really cool!), stapling, creasing, stapling again, and putting address labels on. it's a well-oiled machine. i got pulled from collating and got stuck creasing, which is sort of a crappy job because it's hard work. and half the creasers are kinda slow or talking story. but it was fun to me... i got some exercise. i was creasing bulletins and sliding them down to kazuto shimizu and joe muramatsu and kazuto was like, 'gee stacey, i give you credit, you're the only one working.' haha! at least my labor is noticed and appreciated. that's all i need. seriously... i am happy to bust ass. but if i'm not appreciated i wonder why i'm there. not that i feel the vets have to appreciate me... for them i just show up. they're old and if they don't notice anything at all, that's fine. but y'know... young people have no excuse. if i'm busting my ass for you for free, the least you can do is acknowledge it. :P
what was kinda funny was moru was one of the people passing the creased bulletins to staplers (since they were on the left and i was the farthest left creaser i could just slide mine down, so i didn't really need them, but they collected from the guys on my right) and he was teasing, like, 'hurry up! work faster!' because they didn't have enough things to pass down. but after the third or fourth time he said that i was like, 'you can help us you know,' (because he was just standing there waiting while bulletins piled up) and slid him a bone creasing tool (no idea what the real name is) and he laughed and held up his hands in surrender and said, 'nah, i no like. i apologize.'' heehee.
anyway, the creasers are one of the last ones to be done, and my hands were all black from the ink, and goro walked over and handed me some dim sum in a paper towel and said, 'here, befo' you topple ova' (from all the work). awwww. :) and alfred started complaining that goro is only nice to the womenfolk. 'where's ours?' he asked. 'you can get your own!' goro told him. those two crack me up... they are always bickering. keeps them young.
so i had to run some errands (work?) ... oh. i had to pick up some shave ice syrup (i've been driving around with that super heavy cast iron really old shave ice machine of theirs for a while now with the intention of cleaning that thing -- it was filthy!) and the bottle stopper thing, and then jimmy called and asked if i could go to lunch, except he was carless in kalihi (he was waiting for his car to get fixed so he was hanging out at the farm bureau... jimmy used to be head of dept. of agriculture under cayetano and ed case's chief of staff and president of the farm bureau) i suspected he wanted to somehow ask me about gfb and where my loyalties lie, since he knows i'm friends with steve and doug, but actually he asked if i would chair their membership committee for the new legacy organization (formerly sons and daughters) for the 100th. and of course i will! i can think of all kinds of people who would love to join and all kinds of benefits. jimmy said he wants 500 new members the first year and i think that's pretty doable. and of course we did talk about gfb and their 'bad' meeting and i felt pretty confident they can work together. they're all smart people who want what's best for the vets.
so we picked up my syrup since it was on gulick and then went to lunch at utage. saw al fujisawa and his ... staff lady... i forget her name :( there and we chatted a little. also saw al narimatsu! :) and a girl i know from pse (though i was never a member). everyone was at utage for lunch that day i guess. walking back to the car we bumped into zach (owner of sugoi and romy's friend) and i asked if he wanted to sell his garlic dipping sauce at the vets' bazaar. he ended up calling me later saying they actually didn't have enough inventory but was happy i asked.
so, i dropped jimmy off to get his car, and then went back to the clubhouse to get goro. it was about 2ish and i was tired, so i told him i was going home to take a nap. and he was like, 'yeah, drive safely, bumbye i catch good scolding from my daughta you get in one accident.' haha.
i really should get a tape recorder and just record him talking. he's the only guy i know who speaks in such heavy pidgin. and he remembers everything and knows EVERYONE. like, people say i know everyone but man, goro knows e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e.
anyway, i dropped him off and went home, but i couldn't nap and so i washed the shave ice machine (the whole reason i was lugging it around... i wanted to thoroughly clean that sucker). i was able to take it out of the car myself since i figured it was cast iron and could handle some jarring but i can't lift it back up again. but my neighbor had come home so i washed my car and the shave ice machine (which is so old it says 'made in occupied japan') and they put it back in my car for me. :) yay! they also gave me a practically new cooler (perfect size for two blocks of ice!) and folding chair 'cause their friend moved and they have tons of coolers and chairs. and shannon let me ride his pocket bike...that thing goes FAST! it's a tiny little motorcycle and when you ride it you look like one of those circus bears... haha! they're also pretty loud. kinda like a small dirtbike. anyway, i rode it around the parking lot... that thing is super fun. i always wanted to buy one years back when they were popular but didn't know where i would ride it. i don't think they're street legal 'cause they're so tiny and fast, they're dangerous. anyway, it was fun. :)
ended up talking story with all of them for a while, and then had to go get ready for dinner.
picked up goro at 6 and headed down to sunrise again. and that was the night o' disaster. in the end it all turned out fine, since goro is okay, but damn, that was scary and stressful because he didn't want to go to the er and the paramedic was like, 'i can't take him against his will.' lucky thing betty was there 'cause she's a tough lady and sort of bossed him into going. phew. so i rode in the ambulance to queens and called his daughter and shari took betty home (since i had picked her up) and then came to get me and took me back to my car, after we made sure goro was okay and then spent a few hours talking story with his daughter. i guess we were pretty cheery in the waiting room... and they didn't have room for goro! so they stuck him in the hallway. and that's where he stayed. some guy had gotten shot so all his friends were showing up and they sorta looked like gangsters. and there were lots of tattooed drunk scary yelling people around... and cops. man. the er is one sketchy place.
anyway, the next morning i dragged myself out of bed and went to the clubhouse and there was goro. it was a rather long meeting and i helped tommy poison the weeds and then i went to meet the sons and daughters at punchbowl to put flowers on the graves of the vets for the joint memorial service.
since i'm young and limber :) i was sent to the other cemetaries to put flowers. so i put flowers on mits fukuda (he was one of the few japanese officers of the 100th... he was the commander guy) and sakae takahashi's (founding member of central pacific bank, former hawaii politician) graves. neat.
went home and on the way picked up two blocks of ice for the tailgate. got home, lay on the floor for a while trying to rest, and then got ready for tailgating. drove to the warehouse to meet anderson since it was the closest place to the stadium and he hopped in with me and off we went. like scott said, it was a ghost town like the vonappen years... uh fans are so fair weather. :P there was tons of parking but that was good for me 'cause i drove right up to the tailgate around 4 pm. we busted out the shave ice machine and it was pretty darn easy to make about 30 shave ices for everyone. kendall brought some mango vodka and that was SO good with the shave ice! dangerous. we made some non-alcoholic shave ice for a lot of the kids nearby. visited with matt and christy and walter and shane and that gang (the recipients of the shave ice) :) and hung out with the regular gang... wil, rob, dean. unfortunately i wasn't super impressed with the tailgate food .... it was okay. usually it's better.
anyway, then we went to our seats and anderson and i talked about all kinds of things... the movie, hiff, hiff parties, a possible new venture for him, structure and getting sponsors for hiff, etc. etc. etc. it was like a meeting but with football. :) at the end of the night i had committed to throwing a couple parties for hiff to show that people care. haha. :)
after the sad game i went home and passed out.
sunday i woke up earlyish and had to be at punchbowl to help by 7 with the refreshment tent. we set it all up and i got to talk to lois and eileen and ann and ed and jayne and les and mike (the kids). and howard (lt. col.). and hugged doug and pam and steve (though i'd just chewed steve out on friday night. did i tell you this? i was so pissed i started crying? oh well). and of course it was good to see the vets... ron oba, chilly, ted tsukiyama, bill thompson, mr. arakaki and nancy, kuni, alfred and paulette, all the wives and widows i see at collating but i'm not sure of everyones' names, ray and aki... i can't remember it all. oh, and goro came! and sat under the tree, in the shade by the refreshment tent. i was so happy to see him. happier to see him carrying a water bottle. :) it was a hot day so that made me think ... we had two huge coolers of bottled water and i wanted to make sure everyone was hydrated after what happened to goro. so i grabbed like a case of water from the cooler and put it in a box and walked around handing them out. i was kinda militant about it. 'you want water? no? better take one just in case, it's hot today.' after a while the boy scouts wanted to help, so we gave them lots of water and off they went. but i still did a sweep of my own because boy scouts can be shy and i'm not. i felt like a flight attendant holding up the water, 'you want water? you want water?' but handed out another two cases, so i was happy.
i was also happy to meet the scoutmasters, brothers neil and myles... they said they'd help clean the clubhouse. :) yay!
mr. arakaki started telling mr. thompson (442 president) about the c17 idea i had and pierre went to tell gen. lee about it. bill thompson seemed to get excited. :) yay! and then mufi was there too, so mr. arakaki told me to pitch it so i did and he liked it. yay. i mean heck, who wouldn't like it? :) only thing is howard said c17s are totally not comfortable rides and they'd prolly have to stopover in la and maybe on the east coast. but that's cool... we can pick up the vets in la! :) we'll need a couple portapottys though. and maybe a lot of seat cushions.
anyway, it's all in gear and looks promising.
after the memorial service goro wanted to go eat lunch so we ate at zippy's and i dropped him off at the clubhouse and i went to bust ass at the jodo mission's bazaar. i bought some plants and misc. stuff... including a teacup that said 'made in occupied japan.' for like ten cents. apparently there was a brand new mac that went out the door for $100. bleah. :P wish i coulda been there earlier. putting stuff away is always the crappy part, but oh well. i told cliff and david and rev. narashiba and ian about my happi coat idea and everyone liked it. and talked with... rev... maeda? about my visit to lahaina jodo shu. and we talked about the mochi pounding for new year's and i said we should advertise and sell to the public, 'cause he said the mochi we make is really really good. anyway, i ended up with TONS of stuff in my car... i had to make room for goro. i swear my car looks like i'm homeless.
anyway, around 2 i went to pick up goro at the clubhouse, and he wanted to go shopping, so we went to marukai so he could buy pupus for roy guys at ala wai, and then the commissary so he could get strawberries and more pupus. i think he felt bad about friday night and scaring the crap out of me, or maybe he was just happy to be shopping since he said his daughter and grandkids take him but have no patience, but he kept asking what i wanted and to go get it, just get what i want and put it in the wagon. finally at marukai i was like, oh, you can buy me ponzu. heh. i've been meaning to buy ponzu for months now. in the aisles of marukai i also bumped into jason h from high school! apparently he works there in the back. funny. he followed us around the aisles a bit talking story and we caught up a little. and goro kept telling me to get something for dinner so i wouldn't have to cook, so i got a shiso musubi and some butterfish (which i really did eat for dinner and it was yummy).
what else.... sunday night i got to stay home for the most part. i picked up ryan from the airport and drove him home (kapahulu) so that was a little tiring, but overall i got to chill and clean house and stuff.
monday i went to the clubhouse 'cause mimi had made chili for the development meeting i missed and they froze it and had chili dog and rice. super yummy. :) i was in the office telling jayne and amanda about all the mike and jimmy and gfb drama and etc. and mr. arakaki kept coming in to say that the food was ready and to come eat, and we kept saying we're coming, but we're gossiping first. :) finally goro made a plate and brought it to me. awwww!! so cute.
i think i took goro home around 2ish and his daughter had just come home to grab something. he showed me his dead cell phone 'cause it was in his jacket pocket and she had washed it. and she said she picked up a new one that day. goro's so lucky... he has a really great family.
yesterday i woke up at 445 and picked up mr. taba (a veteran who is also an artist) at 530 so he could be on khon's morning show with manolo morales. we got there around 6, and had so much fun with dayton the waffle dog guy (and he fed me waffle dogs! yay!) and i wrote my name in japanese for bob sato, the veteran calligrapher, and he was surprised i could write in japanese. it was fun talking with manolo and bruce (camera guy) and everyone.
afterwards i dropped off mr. taba and his friend was waiting for him in the driveway. so we all went to breakfast at rocky's, which is just down the street from my house. :) apparently they're regulars there and know everyone. so i got my biscuits and gravy. :)
while we were having breakfast my mom called and wanted to go shopping for a light fixture, so i told her i'd go with her if she drove. so she picked me up around 10 and we went shopping. i was seriously hanging from waking up so early, but somehow i made it through marukai, pacific lighting and fans, and the gentry design center where i ended up buying my tatami. they're on their way!
i also talked with kurt about his store s'more and the possible trip to smu.
my mom and i ate lunch at kampai. we shared the short rib loco moco and that thing is GOOD. two thumbs up.
then i came home and passed out. i'd forgotten my phone at home and had a bunch of missed calls. sigh.
when i woke up it was time to go to muay thai (thai boxing) with april so happily she picked me up and we went. i learned a lot last night and got to go in the ring. :) that was fun!
today is another busy day... must get going.
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| Monday, September 29th, 2008
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7:28 am - yay for sleep
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ok. so i'm back to good after the friday night disasters. without spending too much time on it, basically goro had to go to the er and he freaked all of us out. luckily his son in law hangs out at uptown and was actually there when goro had his little episode and that's how i got in touch with his daughter, who was at home. maybe i'll write about this a little bit later, because it was quite an adventure, and dude, queens er is pretty sketch at 1 am. if i ever have to go to an er i hope it's during the day.
anyway, the relief i felt early saturday morning was from knowing goro was in fact okay.... he just needs to drink water and eat food. sounds simple really, but i've never seen him eat much if anything or drink water... i've only seen him drink beer. so the good thing that came from all this is that on saturday (a few hours after his trip to the hospital, mind you) goro was at the clubhouse and he beat me there (8 am!! after going to the er and going home at 2!) and i actually saw him eat breakfast. rice, eggs, and fried bologne. and at punchbowl yesterday he was carrying a bottle of water and i made him drink another one. and then we went to eat lunch at zippy's after and i actually saw him eat another meal. wonders never cease.
anyway, i've been super busy and running around and i want to write about it but i'm kinda tired and i may go nap again.
ttyl.
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| Saturday, September 27th, 2008
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2:25 am - something like chernobyl
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that's how i feel about tonight.
i don't really want to talk about it just yet, but i need to express something. what that is, exactly, apparently i am unsure of... but i feel a lot of things right now and i would say that happy is not one of them.
relieved, yes. pissed off, check. proud that i stand up for myself, yes. bad that i was maybe too blunt, definitely. frustrated a thousand times over... yes, yes, yes.
i had a premonition about tonight as i neared goro's house. nothing specific, but just a funny feeling that tonight was not going to be an ordinary night. or a good one, despite the optimism i felt after today's lunch with jimmy.
sometimes i don't like being right.
doesn't happen often, though.
i am in desperate need of sleep.
and last night it seemed like all my worlds collided in one very bizarre (but completely normal to the untrained eye) evening.
ok, 'night.
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| Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
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10:09 am - up for air
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so after cleaning up the office on saturday i went to vote, went home and got ready for dinner since it was my brother's bday, and then the fam picked me up and we all went to dinner. kinda brady bunch-like.
then i came home, cleaned a little more, and april came over after work and we went to blake's bday at w. by the time we got there it was about 1045, so we stood in the line even though we were on the guestlist, which made no sense at all to me. we stood in that damn thing until we finally got to the front almost an hour later, and the girl at the door told us that they cut off the guestlist at 1130 and we had to pay the $15 cover. i was pretty annoyed. why even have a guestlist if you're going to make people stand in line and then pay a cover because they missed the time deadline you made them miss because you made them stand in line? sorry, but screw you.
anyway, luckily burt (who was stamped) was headed back in and i asked him to take blake's lei up for me and instead he sent blake down. so i got to see blake and wish him a happy bday. he was like, aw, i'll pay the cover for you and april, but i was like, heck no, it's the principle. that's just not very nice at all of the promoter (blaise sato... he almost has the same name as blake). i'm so not going to w past 9 ever. really not cool.
so we went to kochi and met up with b.uy and the ilh. i would say it was the iolani boys but it actually wasn't that night since chad and z weren't there. but masaki was, and apparently he's racing some short and heavy but surprisingly fast guy and people are wagering. it's pretty funny.
anyway, we went to sanoya after and shared a tonkotsu ramen, which was perfect. and i lost my new glasses somewhere in the course of the night. sigh.
sunday i slept in and cleaned more... i cooked the salmon from goro for dinner. i caught up on a lot of 'entourage.' i made seashell bouquets for orders. i can't remember what else i did... i think i did minor yardwork.
i also waited around for my parents to call because the house renovation has them all stresed out and i was gonna go help get rid of trash. but they kept calling only to tell me to come later and they'd let me know. so, whatever. oh, i think i finally opened the embroidery software because i was planning on opening the embroidery machine i bought back in april. but then i found that i need to buy MORE embroidery software to do what i want to do and it will run me about $300. seeing as how i spent $450 on the machine and $110 moreon the software/hardware i have, i'm not sure i want to spend $300 more. do you know how many things i could pay someone else to embroider with $700?
i think the embroidery machine is going back to walmart. actually, i'm supposed to buy my mom a cricut for her now long-past bday. yeah, i think i will do that. i should do it soon. that stupid thing has sat there unopened for long enough.
...
so yesterday april wanted to go surfing again, so i told her to call me at 630. she called me at 730, which was just as well, and came over by about 830. we went to white plains... first time for both of us. and holy crap, it's a great place to surf! no paddle, no reef, and no waikiki crowds. it was a bit small though, so i didn't catch any waves. but i'm excited about the beach and totally want to go back when the surf is a bit bigger. it's like the boise game in '05 (which we lost, but colt, grice-mullen and bess put on outstanding performances) ... not a win today, but it whets your appetite for the wins tomorrow.
anyway, after that we had lunch at rocky's coffee shop, which was the first time april ate there despite having grown up in waipahu. funny.
after that i went home and showered and packed up stuff and brought it to the warehouse. hung out at the warehouse for maybe half an hour and then went to meet ming to get my sewing quote, which i really liked. looked at all the fabric i still have there, which actually isn't much, really, and talked to a newish employee of ming's who used to work for a defunct tshirt vendor i had a couple years ago who remembered me. ming just bought some big silk screening equipment and i'm pretty excited because now he does everything. yay!
then i went to pick up dresses from khi and asked him to make a sash sample for me, and his wife hugged me because she said she missed me. awww. :) i told them i was on a trip. and i told them about the stupid doggie clothes i bought and how the dogs have weddings and they thought that was so funny. americans. and japanese. such odd people. :) michi was like, 'how does the dog know it's in love?' heh.
anyway, after that i went to pick up jewelry in waikiki, and then i went to ala moana to wander around because stephen wanted to go karaoke but i didn't know what time. i figured early since he was flying in from la. so i went shopping at macy's and found some cute dresses. blah. so i put them on hold under april's name, heehee. and i went to the mac store and started wanting a macbook. it's so pretty.
then i met steve at gs and we sang a bunch of songs. aaron, who is a regular there and friends with spencer, was sitting at the bar, so we chatted a bit. steve and i got hungry so i ordered food around 730 and we came out of the karaoke room to eat at the bar and talked story more with aaron, kyle and will. it's a small world.... they're friends with the maru peeps and will used to work at hanagasa. but i guess okinawan bars/restaurants are an even smaller world than hawaii itself.
anyway, then i went shopping at duty free and bought some really cute travelsized clinique lip glosses.
on the way home i dropped off the jewelry at the warehouse.
and now i don't really know what to do with myself. lori's coming by at 1045 so we can do a candy run. i guess i should put together some silk bridal bouquets 'cause a big order came in yesterday and they're part of it. hmm. it'll also be nice if i could get rid of that big box o' flowers, anyway. takes up a lot of space in my spare room, which i am trying to clean.
oh, and i'll be selling the ball/evening/prom gowns for way less than i bought them for (never worn, still new with tags on) at the club 100 bazaar. they're really pretty but i don't need them. hopefully someone can find a better use for them.
i got my shipping quote for tatami... $360. but they said they can ship more mats for the same price...anyone out there want to buy tatami? it's like $150/mat. which jay says is cheap.
actually i mentioned this to steve last night and he was like, don't you want tatami from japan, made by an artist? and i was like, uh, no, it sounds expensive. and he said his client would probably do it as a gift if he saw my face. and i was like... i dunno if i want a gift from your client.
anyway, i'm going to eat some natto and rice for breakfast now.
byebye!
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| Saturday, September 20th, 2008
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4:12 pm - cleaning out the past
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so dinner at sunrise last night was good... i actually had no idea katsu made such awesome sushi, but he does. and we had some. mmm.
shari made us all dress up like pirates since yesterday was 'international talk like a pirate day' or somesuch deal. i dressed like a pirate chick. then i realized that it's pretty easy to dress like a pirate. i think i'll be a pirate for kyle guys' halloween party. because i'm lazy like that. arrrr!
so anyway, i went to uptown at 10 since that's when dinner was over. everyone else went to maru since the higas own it (well, their kids do... their kids who are like, my age) and that's where the ice cream cake was. oh yeah. it was actually a surprise bday party for shari's friend, but her friend went home instead because she was sick. it was kinda funny.
so i went to uptown and goro was sitting with eric. and decided he wanted to go back to hanagasa and sing. so we went. and then bugs and ... myles and... i forget their names, but like six of them followed us over and damn, they sing like pros. and bugs does this really neat whistle... i don't know how the heck he does it. it sounds like a policeman's whistle. he was trying to teach us how to do it but my mouth doesn't work that way, i guess.
so we went home around 1215, and goro gave me his wife's old fabric and two sweaters and a disneyland mug. and the sashimi and some ginger. i'm not real sure what i'm going to do with the fabric... but i can think of something.
this morning i actually woke up at 9, which thrilled me. i went to the swap meet and picked up stuff, and then went to get a block of ice from hawaiian ice and then went to club 100 to test the shave ice machines. two are manual (like, you crank them with your hands) and one is electric, but the electric one is more of an ice crusher... it's not shaved. so, that is getting a veto from me. it's neat though... you can pour ice cubes in it and it gets all grinded up. the other two machines made fine shave ice.... but one is way easier to crank than the other. i timed it and i can make a shaved ice in thirty seconds. however, i'm not sure if i want to be doing that all day long. i think i'll rent one (new, electric machine) and use the crank one as a backup. i also think i will attempt to borrow it for tailgating next week. :)
so then i left and came to the warehouse to drop off the stuff for orders and pick up all my new crap that i mailed home. :) and then i started cleaning. because we're moving soon. and omg, i have so.much.crap. everywhere. anyway, i'm throwing out a lot of stuff ... taking stuff off the bookshelf, etc. oh... darn. i should have taken a picture before i started. oh well.
anyway, i'm going through five years of memories and while it doesn't compare to the stuff i have at home, it's quite a bit of nostalgia. and i have a lot of good random stuff in here... samples of this or that that i thought i might sell but didn't, old business cards from when i was working with cedar grove, etc. and i drank a can of grape soda. even though it could very well be years old. heck, it's sugar and preservatives... it's not like it's milk.
ok, back to work. i still didn't vote and i need to get home before the polls close at 6.
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| Friday, September 19th, 2008
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4:46 pm - xmas in september
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so i forgot to mention that while i was gone all the 442 books i bought arrived. so i had lots of packages to open and smile at. :)
and i also bought a lot of dvds, finally... colma, american pasttime, etc.
and i finally posted the stuff from my downtown vendor that i've been meaning to put up for i think 3 months now.
and i can lie on my floor again. :)
and i finally pinned the muumuu skirts so i can get them sewn.
i feel like eating something but i'm not that hungry. argh. boredom snacking is so not good for the depuffing effort.
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1:33 pm - cleaning out my closet and planting shiso and new worms
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so last night april wanted to go to the club (as in honolulu country club) to visit her old customers (club members) 'cause when she quit two weeks ago she did so kinda abruptly and didn't say goodbye to anyone. so we went and she brought one group wine and another group baileys since some guy likes to drink baileys shivers. which sounds pretty good actually. anyway, when we got there i noticed that doug (gfb doug) was there! apparently he's like a member at like, all the country clubs here.
anyway, april's a sweetie, and has worked there for like 14 years, so everyone wanted to buy her drinks since she could finally sit down and hang out instead of work and serve. at first she didn't even want to walk in though i'm not super certain why, but after we stood outside long enough and people noticed us and started staring i told her we kinda had to go in now, haha. so anyway, she had a lot of fun and the girl got drunk from all the wine. but it was nice to see her finally relax and happy and after the club closed her friend ken wanted to go visit her other friend/co-worker who is a bartender at chateau (a kb in kalihi).
so i drove. it's kinda funny to be in a kb and see business guys that i know. or meet business guys. it's kinda funny to see their reactions. actually, it's pretty amusing. the nice thing is that the food is usually pretty good. (like at electro, haha!)
anyway, today i woke up at 6 yet again and got more cleaning done. i finally hung up most of mt. clothing on my bed... new stuff i bought on the trip and on maui and etc. i also cleaned out my closet and unfortunately only filled one shopping bag of donatables. i really have a lot of clothes right now. amanda (at club 100) commented that i seem to be dressing more femininely now. 'cause before i was tshirt and shorts girl. and i still am. but i guess sometimes i actually wear something nicer.
...
ok so i just called mike because he is gonna help me lug out the shave ice machines at club 100 (apparently they own 3) so i can see if they work 'cause if they do i don't have to rent one. and then there was all this confusion about the a company meeting and whether it was tomorrow or next week and i was right. :P but anyway, there's a lot going on.
so today i also harvested my worm compost and made another bin. i planted some shiso in the compost... we'll see if it takes. and i noticed a small miracle in my yard... the white nice-smelling cattelya orchids (ben kodama kine) are blooming! no thanks to me. so i brought it in the house 'cause it's so pretty, and then it tumbled to the floor and 2 of the 3 flowers broke off. sigh. poor orchids. anyway, they're in a vase by my bed now. it's amazing how good these orchids smell. they're pretty massive, too. :)
anyway, my house is slowly taking shape. i forget who i was talking to... i think it was lorna... but i said it was kinda discouraging because i clean and clean and clean, but it doesn't get clean, it only gets to look like a normal person lives here (versus a crazy person).
sigh.
anyway, goro wants to go to uptown again tonight but i have dinner at sunrise with shari and her friends. so i'll meet him after. and he said he has sashimi for me. :)
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| Thursday, September 18th, 2008
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4:19 pm - my mommy rocks
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so while i was away my mom came to feed socks (my cat) and lori came over to play with her. and as i mentioned earlier, i left the place a mess and that included the sink. there were tons of dishes that were waiting to be put away and lots of dirty cups (though i used most of them to drink water) and a pineapple head in the sink. and my mom washed my sink! and all my dishes. awww. :)
so i went to an awamori festival last night (okinawan shochu ... that's the best way i know to describe it) at the pineapple room. shari told me about it while i was in sf. it was a neat event... it was a fundraiser for this okinawan dance group and they closed down the entire pineapple room and had tasting stations with sort-of okinawan food, awamori tasting, a silent auction, and okinawan singing and dancing (there were these 2-3 year old girls that were SO CUTE).
oku (since he's uchinanchu) and trini (since he was hungry) came down and hung out. it was a nice event... i texted ron to tell him i was at an awamori festival and shari was pouring, and he was like, 'is she drinking more than she's pouring?' haha!
so anyway, i bid on a lot of awamori expecting to be outbid, but i ended up winning ALL my silent auctions and came home with freaking five bottles of awamori and two okinawan glass cups. however, now i have awamori to use for that dreamsicle concoction i so loved from chopsticks and wine two years ago. can you say abunai?
oh. and my car's a/c was broken... i discovered it when i drove it around on tuesday and it sucked because it's REALLY HOT. so i called fukushima (well, pearl city auto center, now) to see if they could fix it and took it in this morning at 8. and they said they could fix it but i had to bring it back 'cause they had to buy the part, and so i went back home, cleaned more, and then went to club 100 for wine day, briefly. i brought the big orion beer (in a veuve cliquot jacket thing i got from ron shinoda, haha) and a bag of the awesome senbei from toe, and it was so nice to see everybody. :) i've only missed one week but it seems like forever. goro was like, 'i heard you got shanghai-d into dancing hula for nosaka.' (ie ray nosaka of the ukulele gang, which always performs everywhere.) and i was like... yeeeah. (did i write about this?) anyway, he was like, 'you better stay with us, bumbai you get kidnap and gotta dance.' lol. well, too late for that.
anyway, i mentioned my little idea of the bruyeres anniversary to mr. arakaki and he really liked it. so, yay. my project lives.
oh. and i also went to the craft fair/bazaar meeting yesterday at club 100... they're having an art show/sale/craft fair/bazaar on oct. 4 and 5 at club 100 (come on down!) across iolani, and i seem to have pigeonholed myself as shave ice booth girl. :P did i already write about this too? anyway, i'm now in charge of finding volunteers for shave ice AND the kc waffle dogs because i opened my big mouth about how it would be nice if we had some lunch kine food, and there you go. anyway, all my worlds are going to collide at the club 100 craft fair/bazaar. oh well.
in other news, i got jon's last mailer (since i'm his constituent), and .... dammit, i read it and felt sorry for him. i'm still not doing anything resembling helping him until i get an apology (which may well be never), but seriously... he's still way more qualified than the other guys running. and he is a good guy. and he works hard for hawaii. so, i was actually going to not vote in the primary, but ... blah, i'm going to go and vote for jon on saturday.
so in my depuffing effort, i'm making veggie chili for dinner. i felt like cooking anyway. it's so therapeutic. and if i say so myself, my chili kicks ass.
oh. and i finally bought baby gates because socks is rebelling and walking into my room even though she knows it's a cat-free zone. and i'm tired of shooting her with the watergun. ten bucks at walmart. i <3 walmart.
ok, i think that's about it for today.
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| Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
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1:50 pm - cleaning and unpacking
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so i left my place a huge ass mess when i left because i was running around and not being at home and stuff for weeks leading up to my trip. so i'm cleaning and unpacking and trying to get rid of stuff to make room for all the new (awesome) crap i brought home.
i went to muay thai last night with jigsaw and april and i had SO much fun!! i'm hooked. the sensei guy could read me like a book though, it was small kine freaky.
i got a sewing quote from eric and i really like it.
i'm helping kurt with his 1-item hukilau store and pricing azuki beans for the veterans. wtf. i added a cute dog for $100 to the store. haha. :) and omg, he sent me this 676k eps and wondered why it wasn't uploading. lol. artistic talent != computer savvy.
i've also been shopping for tatami mats and trips to smu and australia, heh.
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| Monday, September 15th, 2008
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11:25 pm - back in the 808
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so back to sf. ok, so i flew into sf on sunday night, and jay rolled out the tatami. he took apart the tatami bed and is now using a regular bed, but kept the tatami mats from his old bedframe so i slept on the tatami. it was super comfy! the last and only other time i slept on tatami was in japan and after that i really wanted a tatami room. and now i want some tatami mats. :)
i woke up lateish on monday and after much nagging got jay to wake up and do laundry. :) because i needed a towel. apparently jay does laundry once a month... but since it's such an ordeal doing laundry (i felt like i was in college again!) i can sympathize. and he made food... he slow-roasted some tomatoes and garlic and made pasta. it was super good! i was quite impressed. the last time jay cooked (and i benefitted) it was chili and 7 years ago.
so that night kurt picked me up and it was off to yoshi's, a new swanky jazz bar/asian fusion type restaurant. it was really yummy... did i write about this? i feel like i did. anyway, the night was topped off with a massive loco moco at hukilau (portuguese sausage, bacon, spam, and hamburger patty). and spam musubi. and a lava flow (which was really good!). and a shot of patron which did me in. anyway, kurt had to catch a 5 am flight to hawaii the next day so we called it a night early.
the next day i woke up lateish again and ventured downtown to meet nelson (aarisings guy) for lunch. i've 'known' nelson for years in cyberspace but never met him in person. we ate at max's and i had a massive chicken pot pie. it was nice to finally put a face, voice, and mannerisms to the online persona, haha.
that night i had dinner with cliffy and leila and baby r, and anna! anna was supposed to bring baby a, but he's teething so she left him at home with dad. anna picked me up and we went to eos ... it's kinda like an izakaya/tapas place... really good! the salmon was super good... the dumplings too. kinda like wontons in a beurre blanc. actually, i feel like i wrote about this too...
did i write about the last day in vegas? i don't remember. anyway, we woke up late (noon) and had lunch at in-n-out (rick treated everyone). i had animal style fries, which are actually kinda gross... i wanted animal style burger but rick heard animal style fries so that's what i got. and now i know that i really don't need animal style anything. then the guys checked into nyny since that's where the comped rooms were, and we went shopping at belz outlets, which kinda suck, but i found some roxy stuff i liked so i was happy. and i bought some nike running shoes. and then we had all you can eat sushi at sushi mon. which was better than all you can eat sushi (that's what it's called) last year. i'll have to tell ron...
so back to sf. the next day anna picked me up around 11 am and we took jay with us to lunch at namu. he got along with baby a quite well, haha. baby a is SO cute!! he's super well-mannered and smiley. just like mom. after lunch jay walked home and anna and i went wandering... non-cheap fabric place... SUPER awesome ice cream.... walking around golden gate park and we had tea at the japanese garden, which was neat (jay said they hired korean gardeners and they screwed up the garden. i thought it was still nice though.)
anyway, that night i went to dinner with toDd, jen and jay. we went to ino sushi in jtown and bumped into jay's friend jane there, with her bf. then we came home and i passed out super early.
i woke up and jay had to go to work, so i packed up and anna came to get me. we went to lunch at ... i forget what it was called, but we had veggie chili and quesadillas and fresh squeezed orange juice. and went to paper source and it was like being a crack addict in a crack factory. letter press is SO pretty. i think i've found my solution for my hawaiian wedding stationery... i always wanted to do a line that went with my wedding dresses but never really knew of a practical vendor for that stuff other than printing absolutely everything myself, which i didn't want to do. anyway, now i can do my line. yay!
then we went to the post office and i shipped the stupid swords home, along with three flat rate boxes of stuff i didn't want to lug to la, including the paper stuff and clothes i didn't need.
and then i arrived in la. i saw some ohio state fans at lax so i was a little excited for the game. :) i texted gfb-steve about that since he's an sc alum and he was giving me crap about not cancelling my trip so i could go to that gfb meeting they had in hawaii this past weekend and ride the spirit of go for broke (the c17 named for the 442) and have dinner at roy's (i was like, HELL no!). and he was like, dude, the tickets are going for $5000! gees. that's so insane. back in july i was bummed the aiea peeps weren't going to the uh-oregon state game (they said airfare was too expensive) but i was pretty excited to go to the sc-ohio state game shortly thereafter and the excitement only grew. even though i'm not an sc fan. haha. i'm a fun fan.
anyway, i got in around 530, 6, and ron came to pick me up. i told him i wanted to try koi since i always see it on 'entourage' so we went there for dinner. it was okay... nice atmosphere, good food... but not spectacular. there was papparazzi outside though... it looked like tmz.
the next day i got up earlyish and walked to good stuff to meet steve the bruin for breakfast. it was nice to catch up! apparently steve has a new job. that he can't tell me about because it's secret. loco moco is sweeping the nation.... i had two loco mocos in sf and it was on the menu at good stuff, too. so weird. they actually claimed that it was 'like in the islands, but better,' which made me raise an eyebrow. but i was tired of eating loco moco so i had the half waffle, eggs and bacon.
went home, relaxed a little, and then ron and i headed to the proud bird to meet toke and his wife and toe (100th vets) for lunch. the proud bird is a restaurant dedicated to the tuskegee airmen... it's really cool! lots of pictures and old planes in the yard, and the view is of planes landing at lax, haha. everyone had the kobe burger except toke's wife rae, and it was really good! i think it was the crispy onion-ring like things that made it so good. breakfast had been only an hour and a half earlier so i wasn't really hungry, but i ended up putting away the whole burger, to ron's amazement. heh. toe gave me two and a half pounds of senbei (REALLY yummy kine) to take home. it even came in a really big box. i gave him the karaoke tape from goro. it's so amazing how healthy and sharp these veterans are.... toe is still venturing all around japan. and toke drives to vegas for the mini reunion with all the crates of fruit for the hawaii peeps. it's so crazy.
so then we headed to the valley 'cause i wanted to check out this manufacturer in sylmar. it didn't take very long... it just took forever to get there. i didn't realize it was such a trek to the valley... and to think i used to drive that distance all the time when i lived in northridge without blinking. i guess when you want to see your friends and you're young, distance really doesn't even register.
we were done super early so i called imelda (we were gonna see her after dinner) and she said to come by. she's an editor for 'brothers and sisters' so we dropped by disney in burbank to say hello and check out her work digs. it was pretty cool! she showed us what she was working on (splicing some kind of scene with justin the hot brother... can't remember his real name) and took us around the set. we saw balthazar getty... i thought he was mcsteamy from grey's anatomy (i'm really bad at recognizing people... rex lee was at justin's 'finishing the game' screening last year at vc and i totally did not see him). he said hi to imelda... i think he called her hot stuff. :) apparently he likes to bug her when she's working.
so we went to have coffee at the on-lot starbucks... it was fun! imelda said it was too bad i wasn't there earlier, because justin the hot brother was around and she would have introduced us, lol.
after that we headed to canoga park (i made ron drive over a hundred miles that day, he's so cool) for sushi at go's mart. and holy crap, that was so freaking awesome. i thought it was better than urasawa. i liked urasawa, but urasawa is like matsuhisa in the sense that it's like, kaiseki and not all sushi. an older haole couple came in and sat next to us and we started chatting and as it turns out, they know the real ari (ari gold is actually ari emmanuel) and there is a real lloyd, but he isn't gay. what a trip! they also know michael greene (sp?), the hot shot lawyer in hawaii. such a small world! they said they had trouble finding good places to eat in hawaii (they asked the concierge at the hilton) so i made them a little list for their next trip to hawaii.
anyway, go's mart was super ono... i talked to james shigeta's agent in the middle of dinner, but mr. shigeta forgot to call me over the weekend. :P oh well. his agent is really nice. but yeah... go's mart... super awesome. i think it may be my new all-time favorite.
we were there like three hours... we got home and i think i passed out. it was a long, looooong day.
saturday i got up lateish and went to the fashion district. ron let me drive his camry and i got to play with the gps. that thing is fricking awesome! i got a professional hairdryer for lori and found the doggie blanks for the 100th's craft fair. i went to almost all my wedding dress vendors and found one new one. i was only there for three hours but managed to do quite a bit of damage to my credit card. i am going to need to have another photoshoot really, REALLY soon. but i'm really excited about the new vendor... they have super nice stuff. and their prices are awesome.
oh. speaking of photoshoots did i tell you i got a lot of work done in vegas? oh yeah, i think i did. i posted lots of new dresses from main street. i still need to take inventory though.
what else... oh. i also got my very ono bacon-wrapped fashion district street vendor hot dog. i think those are probably the most awesome hot dogs i've ever had. including pink's and ... well, i guess that's the only other awesome hot dog. the dodger dogs were ok. hank's haute dogs was good but not awesome... maybe i didn't try the right one. anyway, it was bacon wrapped with everything... ketchup, mustard, mayo, carmelized onions, salsa/guacamole. such heaven.
but yeah. i was there for three hours and then it was time to meet ron and friends for the sc-ohio state game. apparently parking is a premium... well... so is everything sc football, i guess. heck, ron sold a parking pass for the price of my uh season tickets (which are double the price of scott's season tickets!). i paid $20 for parking near staples center and caught the shuttle in (which is what i pay per game for reserved parking at uh games). there were some buckeye fans on the shuttle so it was interesting chatting with them... they were wearing buckeyes strung in lei type things and they really looked like kukui nut lei. one guy said that buckeyes are actually poisonous, but when the squirrels are starving they eat the edible part. (oh! i saw my very first chipmunk in vegas at the parking lot of the high school gym dean/marc guys played at... SO CUTE!).
i got to sc and though i've been on that campus a million times it was the first time i saw the rose garden. no wonder some alum donated $5 million to maintain that thing... it's huge! and pretty. i met ron at the two naked statues and we went in the stadium. i was looking for the lawry's tailgate but didn't see them. i distinctly remember sc having crappy concessions from the uh-sc game in '03, but things have improved considerably since then and there's actually starbucks in the coliseum!
it was pretty crazy.... crazier than the sugar bowl! 93,700 fans all dressed in maroon and gold or red and white. i almost felt like buying an sc shirt but didn't since i'd prolly never wear it again. it was my first time watching sc play where i was actually cheering for sc since all the other times it was uh vs. sc. sadly uh got smashed by oregon earlier on saturday. oh. but kurt said june jones invited him to smu's homecoming and asked if i wanted to go. totally! if he remembers he invited me i'm so there. i miss june.
i also like seeing how other people do things. vintek took me to boa steakhouse in west hollywood and he said that there's restaurant week (or something) in la and all the really great restaurants have special menus and pricing. that is SO smart! hawaii should totally do that. i'm going to tell dean okimoto the next time i see him. or roy, i guess.
anyway, the game was fun, even though it was a blowout... big time sports is always fun. i liked being at the uh-fresno game back in '96, too, even though we got killed 20-0. i like it when peeps come out to support.
after the game ended i drove out to glendale to meet up with jason. i haven't seen jason since vc last year. he showed me his new office and studio... it's so huge! they've got like 7000 square feet and are working on a new tv show. i drooled over their mac stations with massive screens. he drove us to pasadena and we went to yardhouse for drinks and dessert and we talked about the movie and stuff. funny, right when we were having drinks, gfb-steve texted me that christine said hi. and i was like, hi back, and i'm with jason and he says hi too. and she was like, really!? because she loves him because he helped bring up the hanashi program. i told jason he should come out to hawaii for hiff and he could stay with me, but he's so busy, he probably can't. but he said i should go up for afm (american film market) in november. and he hasn't steered me wrong yet so i think i will. he's actually been telling me that since day 1, back in '05. but i don't think i was ready back then.
so i got home and that was the night i got locked out. :P heh.
the next morning i got up as late as possible, which wasn't really very late... ron let me take the camry again out to ikea. i am so loving that gps. and the camry in general. i don't like driving his other car 'cause it freaks me out driving other peoples' cars, and that is an expensive car. and it freaked me out a little at first driving the camry since it's new but i got over it pretty quickly. :) so i went to ikea to get meatball sauce for lori, and i also wanted to buy another bookshelf, but i didn't think i'd have time to ship it home so i didn't buy it. instead i bought a light fixture that i'll have to hire an electrician to install, and curtain rods so i can finally put up the stupid curtains i've been wanting to hang for years. and i got seat cushions for football games, haha.
i also ate way too many meatballs at ikea... i had like fifteen meatballs with the mashed potatoes and cranberries, plus a hot dog and a cookie. oh crap. i don't know what i did with the last cookie. i wonder if i'm carrying it around in my bag.... ew. anyway, i really need to go back... i think i want those drawer things that roll out. my mom just installed those in her new kitchen and i'm fairly certain they cost a small fortune. but at ikea... $25! yay. i also thought about buying a new couch... my living room looks like a college kid lives there. and has a shopping problem.
i was looking half heartedly for a daybed for the computer room since i want to get rid of the computer desk and desktop, but i think i'll prolly end up getting the tatami instead. i'll have to figure out how to ship from sf though.
i'm all excited to clean house and car and maybe i'm even inspired enough to paint!
oh, also beau confirmed that they'll be in vegas when we are for the 100th mini reunion. nascar is right after we leave on the 23rd though, so i was thinking of extending. nascar sounds fun. i wonder if extending is even an option though, 'cause i bought a package from ann. hm. something to ask about.
so i went home after ikea and the gps sent me in circles because i forgot to set ron's house as the new destination... sigh. i was so tired when i got home i passed out for an hour or so.
then it was time for dinner with vintek! i haven't seen him in almost three years! it was so nice to see him and catch up. vintek used to take me to all kinds of fun things when i lived in northridge... he also got lorn and me tickets to starlight express in vegas. he's so cool. he took me to boa steakhouse, which was SUPER yummy! i was so stoked 'cause i wanted to try house of prime rib in sf but i ran out of time. plus i didn't get to eat at lawry's in vegas either... the guys didn't seem into it, sigh. so i got my red meat after all, yay! the steak was divine, and so were the sides (i am now a mac and cheese fan). and we had the best nachos ever. was it goat cheese? i dunno, but it was ono. so nice to see vintek again. now he has me all excited about white water rafting. :)
got home and passed out again. i think the wine made me sleepy again, haha! ron came home and i think i mumbled a half-drunk greeting. and when i woke up again (i had to trade sleeping arrangements with ron's roommate tony 'cause he had to work early and i was staying in the office) it was time to actually sleep, so i lugged myself upstairs and then hopped on my laptop and then started iming with ron, which was stupid because he was in the next room so i went next door and hung out while ron worked. and then i got kinda delirious by 1220 or so so i went to sleep. their place is really cold... so nice! it's actually the perfect temperature. i think i'd go running a lot more often if i lived there... i don't like to sweat.
anyway, today was my last day there... i woke up a little late and went to the furniture district to check out a new possible vendor and let me tell ya... it is scarytown! it's worse than the fashion district. like, i thought i was going to get mugged. there was barbed wire everywhere. but it was totally worth it, because the person that belonged to the voice on the phone (eric) is really nice and he has a lot of great stuff. i bought some stuff to take home since i was going to need to take home another bag anyway. i'm so excited. he gave me some samples too. :)
it was around 11 so i headed to torrance and the go for broke meeting. actually the meeting was at 10 but ron said they'd be there until lunch time, and i missed seeing ken (mis vet) 'cause he went to hawaii for the board meeting. they'd gotten back last night. so i saw ken, and george (mis vet who worked for hugh hefner for 16 years and built his round bed) and i helped with their mailing for evening of aloha (their fundraiser gala every november). i chatted with julia (who was in vegas for that bball tourney, but i didn't see her at the cal) and jack wakamatsu's son and christy (a wife? widow?) and emi.
and then i went back to ron's and packed. i had to borrow his super strong bag for all my crap. but i'm pretty proud of myself... i fit ALMOST everything. you'd be impressed too if you saw all the crap i had to fit in there. i also mailed the curtain rods to myself and the postmaster guy was REALLY nice and actually sort of packed them for me.
then ron took me to the airport and i had the nicest skycap EVER and i really think my luggage was overweight but he let me slide.
and now i'm on the plane and we have about an hour left on this flight home and i'm really looking forward to being home. :) the trip really did whiz by... i was gone 11 days but it felt like maybe 4.
i am super rejuvenated and i didn't see half the people i was supposed to see in la but i got SO much done and i'm actually really motivated to do work stuff again.
oh, and i got myself roped into (ok, i volunteered... am i a sucker?) helping kurt with his hukilau webstore... he was like, ok, tell me when you have time to help me, and i was like, i might have time when i get home, send me the link and info... and he does and i look and there's like one product for sale. lol! anyway, that should be fun.
and i'm kinda tired and i think i will nap now. april is picking me up and we're going to hang out. cousin time!
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| Saturday, September 13th, 2008
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11:48 pm - locked out
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so i was locked out of the house for an hour or two (it's 240 am) before i realized that the garage door is programmed into the car. ron let me take the camry (hybrid! SO cool!) with gps and said he'd leave the front door unlocked for me since i went out with/to meet jason after the game. but he didn't (ARGH!). and then he wouldn't wake up... i tried the doorbell and texting and calling, but he turns his phone off at night so i figured that was in vain. so i was going to sleep in the car. but then i started freezing. and i didn't remember which garage door was his, so i was randomly pressing buttons driving past what i thought might be his garage door hoping something would work.
and something did.
hallelujah, i am now clean and in a warm bed in the dungeon (just kidding. it's the office... which is actually brighter now because tony works at home and it's all rearranged and stuff).
and i still didn't get to write about what i wanted to write about but once again i'm tired and it will have to wait. i'm just happy i'm not freezing in ron's car on the street.
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| Friday, September 12th, 2008
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7:22 pm - oink oink
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so i'm in la and i saw some ohio state fans at lax when i got in yesterday. it was kinda exciting for some reason. i'm starting to feel the hype.
anyway, i want to write more but i'm so tired.... i was going to write, but i just changed my mind. i need to sleep. but i will say i've been eating very well here. i can feel myself getting fatter ....
ok, really must sleep. talk to ya tomorrow.
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| Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
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7:34 pm - sf
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so it's cold up here. but i'm having lots of fun!
went to dinner with kurt on monday night.... we went to yoshi's, a new swanky jazz bar/fusion sort of restaurant. the chef (not the exec chef) scott is from maui and went to mit and is my age. we ordered tapas and it was all really good. scott sent out a lot of food compliments of... well, himself, and kurt's plans to eat and drink a little, then go eat sushi somewhere else were kinda derailed, but it was all good. had a couple glasses of rather expensive wine and hung out in their vip lounge thing upstairs with andrew the...some kind of manager. kurt said it was too bad ty (sp?) was off... he's the chef at roy's. i guess all the restaurant types know each other. anyway, we went to hukilau after and kurt fed scott (and me and andrew) a really massive loco moco with portuguese sausage and bacon and spam and hamburger and i think three eggs. with lots of gravy. plus a spam musubi on the side, which was a nice touch. and i had a lava flow...it was really good! and a shot of patron. i got home nice and drunk.
the next day i sort of slept in and ventured downtown to have lunch with nelson the aarisings guy. it's such a small world; he knows ryanozawa and jigsaw and a bunch of other people i know. we ate at max's ... i had the chicken pot pie, which was nice and warm (i was so cold!). then i went walking into little saigon and got some vietnamese sandwiches for jay who was still sleeping. i got some iced coffee while i was there... soo good. vietnamese sandwiches are so much more expensive at home. coffee too.
anyway, then i cabbed it back home and cruised around uploading pix and ordering prints until anna called me around 530. she picked me up around 630 and we went to meet cliff and leila at eos for dinner... i had a sample flight (is that a new name or something?) of reds from france and italy. basically three glasses of wine... which is a lot for me. the food was really good! i was totally happy with my dining experiences in sf since the guys mostly ate guy food in vegas. cliff and leila's baby girl is so cute. and she knows a lot of sign language! 15 months... pretty darn smart kid. anna left baby a at home 'cause he's teething. it was a super yummy dinner. haven't really spent time with cliff since ....may '07? no... maybe may '06. no, that can't be right. i swear i saw him in march sometime. hmm.
anyway, today i hung out with anna... she picked me up at lunchtime (oh, and jay too!) and we went to namu and had korean loco moco, which was quite yummy. then jay walked home and me and anna and baby a went to ... hm, where did we go? we had SUPER AWESOME ice cream at bi rite near golden gate park... ho that stuff is SO GOOD. i think i need to eat more tomorrow. what else did we do... oh! she showed me this discount fabric place, but it's way cheaper in the fashion district. we talked about our little venture and logistics and oh, that's what i did earlier. i called courtney. and chatted with keri. ooh! and keri and i are trying to get the guys a bit out of their comfort zone so we can go snowboarding. either whistler or reno or tahoe. i'm excited! :) oh and yesterday i booked the cabin in kokee for the trip with lorna and andrew in december. yay!
what else... oh we went to golden gate park and walked around a little, had tea at the japanese garden... that was so nice! i thought i'd been to golden gate park before but i guess i never did go. oh, then we went to anna's place and she showed me her logos and basement. i really like her place! it's really big. and it's so nice and clutter-free. sigh.
anyway, i'm super excited about the new venture. it could bring me back up here quite a bit. :) should be fun!
what else... oh, she took me to paper source. i only had five minutes to look around but damn that place is awesome! i'm a little afraid to go back... i'm going to spend too much.
tonight toDd and jen treated me (and jay!) to sushi at ino. we saw jay's friend jane there. tres yummy.
anyway, tomorrow is my last day here and i have to mail some stuff home to make room for the paper i'm going to buy tomorrow. :P and we can chat more about our little venture. hooray! :)
i'm really tired. gonna hit it early... been drunk and going to sleep at 3, 4, 5ish and waking up early for a few days and i'm feeling slightly worn down.
'night!
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| Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
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9:57 pm - heh
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figures. got this from escodaiichi. but i'll prolly vote for obama.
Your Issue Profile: 40% Obama, 60% McCain
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When it gets down to it, you tend to best match John McCain.
But he's not the perfect candidate for you, and you may not be sold on him yet.
Obama shares a good number of your views too, so you might want to give him a second look.
It all comes down to which issues matter to you the most.
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| Monday, September 8th, 2008
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12:22 pm - hello from jay's
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hallo!
so vegas was lots of fun... got to go shopping at the premium outlets on friday, had a loco moco at the cal for dinner, had a coffee shake from lappert's (they don't make them... i talked the girl into it... hazelnut coffee and kauai pie ice cream -- winner!), and got a lot of work done from the player's club at mainstreet for the second year in a row. kinda odd but i'll take the productivity bursts when i can get 'em.
the guys all gambled lots as expected... they are gambling fiends. myk has the midas touch though... he wins everything! he hit a jackpot waiting for the guys to use the bathroom. haha. so he treated breakfast when we got in and dinner at makino's on saturday night. actually, the only meal i actually paid for in vegas was the all you can eat sushi at sushi mon just before flying out. rick got inn-n-out for everyone for lunch yesterday. and my steak and eggs (it's not vegas without steak and eggs!) were courtesy the meal book from the bball tourney. and i still have to pay marc for the room...
the guys (dean, marc, brad, wags, kirk, ivan, and a bunch of other guys i don't know) won their division for the basketball tourney, so they were happy. i also saw stacy sato! her husband (who is scott's cousin)'s friend gerald is the organizer. small world. i also saw brad, scot's friend, at the craps table on saturday night. but hey, it's vegas... the ninth island.
i got a lot of shopping done... i got my max studio fix, and i got some new running shoes from the nike outlet since i don't really have good running shoes. and i got a lot of roxy stuff. i even cut myself off at max 'cause i felt bad that the guys had to wait for me. but you know... there is always next month! and beau texted me... they have a four day pass from training so he'll be in vegas too. so i told him to come to the 100th's mini reunion. fun! :)
so i totally enjoyed myself in vegas. i didn't really gamble that much... deposited a little bit in the wheel of fortune quarter slots, and walked around with marc and marc/k and sparrow until about 530 on saturday night/sunday morning... so my vegas time was well spent. didn't get to eat anywhere super fancy or ride any thrill rides or go clubbing since the queen of wild (keri) stayed home, but i had a lot of fun with the aiea peeps and will definitely do that again.
...
so now i'm here in sf at jay's and we're doing laundry and jay is cooking. he said he's making spaghetti sauce and is slow roasting a tomato or something. it smells freaking awesome. and i went to sleep at 2 last night and woke up at 11. nice. :)
i think i'm going to have to mail some stuff home.
i'm also uploading pix to my shutterfly account. :) so i can finally print them.
ok, bye!
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| Sunday, September 7th, 2008
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5:52 pm - hiho
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so i'm sitting at the gate waiting for the flight to sf with michelle. how cool is free wifi at the gate? wheee!
vegas was super fun. i did a lot of shopping. my bag was overweight by 5 pounds and the southwest ticketing lady let me go. i've flown sw many times before but now i am a fan. :) yay sw!
anyway, more later. ttfn.
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| Friday, September 5th, 2008
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10:49 am - aloha (from) las vegas!
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ed sakamoto the playwright i worked with (early movie thing) has a play called 'aloha las vegas' which i sometimes think of when i'm here.
anyway, hi HI! ok, that was silly. hi everyone else too. i have to say that for taking the redeye which usually kills me, i feel pretty darn good. i got a few hours of sleep on the plane and since marc had an extra room (which is now mine) and has been here since wednesday, i had a place to nap while the guys gambled. yay! i like traveling with the aiea peeps. barry made spam musubi for everyone and i am SO getting to be the girl! they packed all my luggage in the shuttle and the van and helped me with it everywhere else and i don't have to drive.
according to them, this bball tourney thing after labor day weekend is some kind of asian american thing. like, i guess all the kotonks show up here and the scenery is supposed to be good and everyone congregates downtown. i have never heard of this phenomenon, so it should be interesting. ron texted me this morning while we were having breakfast and said julia (from gfb) is here too, watching her hubby play bball. it's kinda funny because rick said that the hawaii peeps don't usually have fans like the kotonks. haha.
so anyway, i am SO much happier today than i was the last time i was here. which would be last year in october. that was like, the worst month of my life. it was for the 100th's mini reunion and jon had just gotten his dui and i got an earful, which pissed me off because all the effort i'd put into having the dui not happen was obviously in vain. but, what're you gonna do. anyway, i'm totally looking forward to the next mini reunion. it will be fun and i won't be worrying about anyone getting a dui.
...
so yesterday was fun! i got a lot done... did i tell you everything is breaking? i have like, wholesale breakage going on here. i use things till they break, but ... i had to fix my laptop spacebar (well, dan did), and then i had to get a new backpack 'cause i didn't find one on wednesday. i got a black leather one that was like, $110 with april's discount. dang. i guess it's good i don't care about bags.
i also got new slippers because the red ones from bin are all worn. the new ones are also from bin and are fricken tall, but amazingly comfy! i'm wearing them now andthey make me like 4 inches taller, haha.
so i also picked up my new glasses (YES!), and april got her car fixed, and we dropped off fabric at khi's, and dropped off stuff at the warehouse, and i got my backpack, and she returned stuff she bought, and we picked up fancy musubi at manabu's and then went to wine day at club 100. betty came by too. goro gave me a tape to give to toe when i'm in la... it has the karaoke songs we're going to sing on it. mr. arakaki commented again how he had so much fun at sunrise the night before, and then he tried to give me fifty bucks for spending money for my trip!! how cute!! i was so touched. but i was like, no, no, NO. and then he said, well, ok, we gotta go sunrise again, but next time it's my treat. and i was like, no, next time it's stephen's treat! haha! anyway, that all went well and i made it happen. :) i love that. i like setting people up to do things and then they go and get stuff done. it's like an assist.
anyway, then april had to go to work, so we left around 230, and i dropped her off and went to the bank to get cash. and then she called and asked if i could pick her up 'cause she quit. so i went back. and then she tagged along to walmart 'cause i needed omiyage and we got starbucks. and then we went to waipahu longs so i could get smelly pikake puffs for ron. you know... my bag is fricken 46 pounds and it's like ALL OMIYAGE. there's too much damn food in there. argh.
so i packed and lori dropped me off at the airport and here i am. :)
i'm uploading pix from sunrise to flickr.
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| Thursday, September 4th, 2008
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7:57 am - sunrise, sunset
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so yesterday is kind of a blur. woke up and went to ukulele gang/practice/call it what you will at club 100. afterwards i went to get coffee with amanda since i wanted to chat with her and completely forgot i parked in the alleyway, which i almost never do, and succeeded in blocking in two cars and trapped the ukulele gang for about half an hour because they don't have my cell number. good thing we didn't go far and i remembered. still, i felt super bad. ewps.
anyway, then it was back to aiea ... went to pick up stuff at the swap meet. then went to the warehouse to check on some stuff, but my internet is down. argh! i left the insurance bill for scott... i always forget that sucker. good thing there's a ten day grace/cushion or we'd be kicked off the health insurance long ago.
met up with jigsaw in the tunnel since i had this sorabol coupon i figured he would appreciate more than me, and ended up taking a little detour to sbux and met his friend/co-worker co, who showed me awesome pix of australia. i am so wanting to go more than ever. :P i had a little sample size of the pumpkin iced latte and a pumpkin cake thing and was like... you know, they should make small sized things, maybe double the size of these samples... i'd be all over that. sometimes you just want a little bit.
anyway, co also told us about muay thai, which he's taking. sounds fun. i could use some kind of class.
then i left... went back to the office, but it's really poho since there's no connectivity and i wasn't in the mood to fix it. so i went to pick up more/new inventory at great lines and beart and also went looking for a new backpack since old faithful is finally all bus' up. :( 14 years and a walk on the red carpet in shanghai will now have to be retired. april the shopper mocked me on tuesday. heh.
then i went back to club 100 for the craft fair/bazaar meeting, which was good... somehow ended up getting myself volunteered for helping at the c co. hekka party on some uh game day in october. sigh. oh and bringing the popcorn machine for the halloween party. i won this popcorn machine at the mis shinnen enkai in la back in '06 and never used it. i almost got rid of it but it was actually the grand prize and it is so cute. anyway, glad i'll have a chance to use it. or rather, that someone else can use it... since i'll be at lori's house.
then it was time for dinner at sunrise... the little ultra last-minute get-together i threw together in three days. actually earlier in the morning i invited mr. arakaki and his wife... i'm glad he was in the office at that time. it was a nice sized gang... eileen, lo, bob and nancy, titus, pam, and steve. shari came by later, and sho was there so katsu (the owner) busted out the sanshin and played and sho danced. and ripped his pants. and we all drank really good wine that steve brought (silver oak!) and kachashi-d at the end. and took a group photo. bob and nancy brought me a beautiful ginger lei... because i was going on a trip! so sweet! and cute. i was so touched.
anyway, the whole point was to get everyone together so steve could get to know them, and i think everyone had a blast. :)
afterwards titus and i went to write at his house (around 1130) but i passed out on his couch around 1230 and woke up at 345 and i think titus had finished cleaning up the script himself. don't know what time he went to sleep but i didn't want to wake him up so i left. now there's a team mate... i know he was tired too. :)
so today i have to run around and be really efficient 'cause i have to go to wine day, pack, pick up my glasses, and get on a plane, all by 10ish tonight. and since april is coming to wine day with me and then wanted to go to macy's for something after (she works there) i can look for a backpack and use her discount. :)
and beau AND ron texted me at like 7 today... i was trying to sleep till 8 but... hey. but it's cool, because beau can meet us in vegas in october for the mini reunion! :)
ok i gotta get going.
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| Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
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8:29 am - happy endings
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so my day yesterday didn't start out particularly well, with being tired and my spacebar not working and some emotional trauma. but i went to pick up the football tickets (the annual drug drop) from ron's brother and then i went to pick up my new labels for my store and they're really pretty. and i'm getting them for quite the steal. i looked at other products and am getting quotes for the vets for new stuff, like eco bags (i company had them for party favors at the i co. dinner in march).
and bea called me because she said eddie was asking about me. so i told her about the trip and what's going on with the script and etc. so nice to hear that eddie is doing fine. he had a hospital bout in japan earlier this summer and is slated to come home in november. i haven't seen him since march... i miss him.
anyway, while i was getting my labels, april (my cousin) called and asked what i was doing. so i called her back... she had called on labor day asking too, but i was writing with titus. anyway, on the way home i called her and she sounded kinda sad, so i was like, do you want to go surfing? and her voice lit up and she was like, ooh, i haven't gone in years!! (fifteen years ago she dated a shaper and used to go surfing all the time, but stopped when they broke up.) so i told her to meet me at my place and i'd drive.
i figured i would bring the boogie board and we could trade off, but she said she didn't know how to boogie board... which i find so strange. it's so easy to boogie board... it's harder to surf. though a surfboard is much faster paddling, that's for sure. anyway, i was so close to surfing. sigh. it's okay though... she needed yesterday a lot more than i did. seeing her smile and excitement made me feel good.
anyway, i caught a few good waves, the best one kind of accidentally. it was bit of a metaphor for life, as usual... sometimes you're not in the right position, sometimes it's not the right wave. and you expend a lot of energy on a not so hot ride, or the wave is too small or too big. sometimes you're just tired. but sometimes it's just perfect and everything clicks and those moments are what make life worth living.
i'm not sure why since this doesn't usually happen, but i started getting blisters from the fins, so i went in after i felt my spirit sufficiently rejuvenated and april stayed out a little longer. my plan was to go back to the car and throw the board in, bring the towels out, and just chill on the beach. but i couldn't for the life of me remember where the car was. but in doubling back i got approached by the paddleboarders, who were giving free demos (one guy owns a paddleboard shop). which totally thrilled me, because i've been wanting to try it for months!
so the guy was teaching me how the thing works, and april started paddling in. so we both tried. it was super easy and fun and a good workout. i don't know if i want to buy one since it's so darn big and as it is i hardly take my longboard out, but i have to say it was a lot of fun.
by the time we went back in and packed up it was about 630, so we went home and then went to highway inn for dinner (hawaiian food). regina was there and my cousin and she think they know each other from somewhere but don't know where. anyway, we talked about all kinds of things. there was a time when i talked to april every day (beanie days) and saw her at least once a week (kickboxing). i missed her.
anyway, then i went home and showered up and almost passed out, but dan came over around 1030 and fixed my spacebar, thank god. it was really bothering me yesterday. it's not completely fixed, but it's usable and that is a relief.
so my not-so-perfect morning turned into a pretty awesome day. and i went to sleep happily ever after.... until 6ish.
today's a freaking busy ass day though, so it's time to get going. bye!
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| Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
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2:38 am - the race
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so it's a race to be ready to leave on thursday. a race to get the script done.... everything done, basically.
my space bar isn't working very well for some reason.
i had a lot of food this weekend. sunday brunch at john dominis with steve was good... got a lot of stuff done/planned/off in the works. then headed to bess's daughter's first bday party.
then cooked up some yakisoba and boiled some edamame for titus's film screening party and headed down to kk's house (the art zone). it was super nice to see everyone again and see what they've been up to.
after that met up with scot and oku at mai tai and then pearl for a bit. headed home earlyish, like at 1.
went shopping with lori this morning and then she treated me to breakfast at cream pot, which was super yummy. :)
came home, wrote with titus, and then went to dinner at chiba ken with moon and his nephew.
i'm really really tired, and i hope my glasses come in soon.
'night.
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