Another one goes to St Louis

Well this past weekend I helped another one of my friend, James, move to St Louis. I'm starting to get really sick of losing all my friends. I also found out that Joe will be leaving CoMO for good this coming Friday :( I am not happy.

I will post the pictures of the move. It was hot as hell, as this week pretty much the state of Missouri is under a heat wave warning and to top it off, he was moving into the 13th floor. But he didn't have much so the whole thing went by quickly.

The traitors friends who have left so far:

1. Dave (StL)
2. Dr Matt (StL)
3. Emily (Seattle)
4. Joe (Michigan)
5. Airforce John (Seattle)
6. James (StL)
7. Rocky (Dallas)
8. Zack (StL)
9. Danny (StL)
10. Moreno (SF)

And the list goes on and on and on...

Happy 4th

So how was the holidays? I didn't really do much eventhough I had four days off. I would usually have travelled somewhere but I had to stick around to manage the exchange of tenants at my Duplex. I spent majority of Saturday just cleaning, filling up holes, painting and prepping the place for the new tenants. The previous tenants cleaned but there were a few things they missed, you know how that is. That place is now spotless, I just hope the new people will appreciate it. Speaking of new tenants, I sincerely hope they will be reliable. I didn't have a very good gut feeling but since I didn't have much of a choice, I signed a lease with them. I am really hoping it'll turn out well.

Moving on (talking about my duplex/tenant situation makes me nervous) I had a very relaxing time off in town just hanging out with friends, eating great meals and catching a couple of the Summer blockbusters; Superman and Devil Wears Prada. Superman was just mediocre. I mean I'll always be a fan but the movie lacked action and the acting skills were quite bad with the exception of Kevin Spacey who played Lex Luthor. Kate Bosworth didn't have the spunk and feisty-ness to play Lois Lane. There is a little surprise in the movie though. The one great thing about this movie is the hunk-a-licious Brandon Routh. He was definitely a looker, Mmm mm mmm :P Devil Wears Prada was definitely more entertaining. Much better acting and I really liked the funny and witty dialogue. Also loved the fabulous clothes that Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway got to wear. It was a pretty simple script but all in all, it was funny and entertaining. Definitely check it out if you haven't already.

I did a little shopping and got two pairs of Jeans from the Gap for $10/pair! Unbelievable.
We later checked out the Columbia fireworks yesterday. It wasn't a spectacle but it was fun just being around friends. We had dinner and hung out a little prior to the show. We ended up at the top of a parking garage to see the show. It was a good ending to four days of relaxing and doing absolutely nothing and best of all not having to come in to dreadful work.

Happy Independence Day!

Here little birdie...

So for a few weeks now I've suspected something living in my exhaust vent pipes near the outside of the house. Matt (who is living with me temporarily) said that he hears noises in the ceiling. So yesterday, I got out of work early with no plans, I decided to investigate my little problem. The damn exhaust vent that blows air out of the downstairs bathroom is situation approx 7 ft from the ground at the back of the house and with no ladder, I had to stack 2 chairs to get to the vent (kids please don't try this at home). I know it's dangerous and I'm going to buy a ladder now!

I open up all the casing and to my surprise there were 2 birds staring at me. I guess they are almost grown now but they were probably hatched in there. So I get back into my house, call Animal Control and the beyotch was giving me shit for "disturbing" the nest. Finally he said he'll come remove the birds if I really wanted him to, I said "get yo ass here, NOW!". Apparently, there's no fee as our tax dollars pay for his services. The beyotch gets to my house, walks to the back and says "oh it's too high up and we're not allowed on ladders", proceeds to walk back to his truck and drives away! I was like wow thank so much, dumbass, I can see my tax dollars working double time here!!

I decide to take care of the problem myself. I put on my gardening gloves and shove my hand in the hole. The whole ordeal took about 1 1/2 hrs as I started out tugging on the feathers and that would just scare the bird and they'd go deeper into the hole. Finally I reached in there, nervous as hell, grabbed the bird in my palm and took it out. The first bird escaped as I was taking it out and flew right by my face. I almost fell off my damn double stacked chair. The bird got to the ground, looked at me and proceeded to fly away. Probably it's first flight, for it was still wobbly. The 2nd bird was a bigger challenge for it was deeper in the hole, and quite a feisty little thing too. As I was pulling it out, it starting chirping like MAD. Like it was having a seizure or something. I noticed the neighbourhood birds surrounding me, I was really freaked out. I was afraid he was sending some kinda distress signal asking all his "friends" to come attack me! I swear I saw that in a movie once. Anyway I yanked it out and it too flew away.

I cleaned out the vent as it was filled with hay, twigs, feathers and probably bird poop. It was all very gross. Finally I rigged up a little screen and glued it to the hole so nothing else can go into that damn vent pipe.

And that's it for my bird drama yesterday. I'm quite shaken by the whole experience =)


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Small talk:
We went out to Soco last night. I was originally not planning on it but Jerod had great persuasive powers. It was fun as usual.

Pride

June is Pride month. It's always a great feeling; beginning of summer and parties going on in most major and not so major US cities. This year I've only had opportunity to attend the St Louis pride which took place this past weekend. In years past I've attended celebrations in Minneapolis, Kansas City and Columbia which were all great fun. I have to say Minneapolis has everyone beat hands down (I've heard it's the 2nd biggest pride celebrations in the Nation!). Amazing thing was I had no idea that weekend I was flying in was such a festive one. It was pretty much 3 days of pure fun and partying.

Anyway I've been feeling much better and no major meltdowns recently. Last week my boss was starting to get on my case again but yesterday I've come to a realization (enlightenment almost) that it's only a freakin job! I mean, yeah the consequences would be horrible if I were to quit or be terminated but really it's only an effing job! I used to literally shake in my pants when confronted by my boss, I would overload my work just to please him but I've started to realize that I can just take it easy and if he's not happy, he's not happy. He's just not a happy man (I wouldn't either if I was him; his life is in Kentucky, he doesn't know anyone here cos he works 10-12 hour days, drives 6 hrs home every weekend...I mean what else can i say?)There's nothing I can do. I have also realized that the other engineers here don't care too much either. They don't show that much progress in our weekly meeting and they come in late and leave early so really I am like a star employee compared to them ;) ***I guess I shouldn't go so far as calling myself a "star" employee, but I guess I'm no different from everyone else!***




So Pride this past weekend in St Louis was an absolute blast. KK decided to join us in the very last minute (Oh BTW, he works/lives in KC now). He came in Friday night and rode in to St Louis the next morning with Justin and me. We had lunch with James in the Central West End and later met up with Dave and went shopping. Dinner at O'Charlie's was fun (2 words: dinner rolls).

We started the evening at Freddy's which was absolutely packed. Met Actor Alex there and pretty much stood around and talked alot of trash. It was fun. After that over to Complex we went and just like Freddy's it was packed (Pride weekend I reckon ;). Saw a bunch of peeps from Columbia and also met Kenneth+Jeff and the rest of their asian posse (No longer am I the lone asian of the group, HOLLA!) We kinda mashed into one huge group and danced our ass off.

I guess the moon and stars were alligned or something but everyone ended up gettin some! James and Alex started making out on the dance floor. A third guy (who happens to be the same guy who tried to pick me up last Winter at Faces) joined the James/Alex makeout session. Dave was his in his usual slut mode, Justin got groped and KK (the straight one) was feelin everyone up, they all loved it! What about me, you ask? Well in the last 15 mins before closing, I met this gorgeous, ripped, musclehead guy. He was majorly flirting and not before long we started making out. I don't usually do this but this guy was just gorgeous. He wanted to take me home but I politely declined (I was with my friends). I did give him my number though. So that was how the night ended. We went home and slept like babies.

The next day we went to Pride. Dave had class and James had to apt hunt, so they both flaked out. We again merged with the KC asian posse for most of the day. We ended up having a pretty good time, despite the fact that we were hungover, sleep deprived and hungry. I don't know where we get our energy, but we yelled and cheered and got a bunch of beads (mardi gras style) ;D

I'm back...

Well as promised, I'm back to the blogging world. Like I said in my previous posting I haven't been feeling the best last week. Thank god things started to change and I turned the corner. For those who still don't know, I am stuck in a job I despise, wanna get out yada, yada, yada.... (for those of you who want to read my *sob* *sob* sad stories, scroll all the way to the bottom)

Anyway enough of my sad stories ;) So what have I been up to since my MIA, you ask? Well not that much. There was a huge party that Dave threw the night before his graduation. It was great and a ton of people showed up. We partied all night (towards the end it was just Dave, Justin, James, John Webcam and LaLa) and finally left the house the next day, it was fun but what's more is the memories that I will hold on for the rest of my life. We laughed, we cried...it was great! Then Dave graduated and eventually left for St Louis. There goes one of my closest friends, moving away. One of many to come in the coming summer months.




Another one to leave soon is Dr Matt. I had dinner with him last week at Chevy's, food was good and we both shared our problems and encouraged each other to move on. He's always so much fun to just sit and chat with. He's a great listener and conversationalist. He is finally done with his residency and will be moving to St Louis with Matty. They just bought an extremely espensive home there, I definitely need to go visit ;)

Well just this past weekend, a bunch of us went in to St Louis to go to Six Flags for their annual gay days celebration. It was also James' birthday so we went all out and celebrated on Saturday night. I think this is the most trashed I've ever been (Damn those "hot damn" shots) and as if it's not bad enough, I puked. Big time. With only 4 hrs of sleep (thanks to John's snoring) we ventured to Six Flags. It was fun until we took the Excalibur ride and that made us all sick to our stomachs. It didn't feel right for the rest of the day. I actually called in sick the next day! *mental note, NEVER ride on Excalibur again*
I've been on most of the rides but they had the new Superman ride. It's pretty much a free fall of about 7 or 8 stories, very cool ride but the line for it was darn long and we witnessed a girl having an epilepsy seizure...major DRAMA!!



*****I am used to feeling like this but the cycles used to be several months apart but lately it seems like the frequency is increasing more and more. I don't really know what this means but it's not good. I hope I have enough energy and motivation in me to keep going until I eventually get my GC. I think what I found most worrisome was not knowing what plan B was and those who know me knows I ALWAYS have Plan B :) On the other hand, the thing that really made me feel better this time around was actually writing down my emotions and sorting it all out and also talking to friends about it. In the past, I would just stay home and try to ride out the storm.******

Sorry =(

I have been totally slacking with new postings on my blog. I just haven't been feeling the best lately. It's the usual complains about my work/career/life but to add to my misery, my friends have slowly been leaving Columbia like this city is infested with two headed cochroaches. Ah well, I promise I'll post something real soon....!

I miss all your comments too :(

Ciao

Check it out...

Hey guys, I will be writing about this past weekend soon. Dave had the wildest party ever and his graduation was so joyous yet melancholy.

But in the mean time you guys should go check it out this game, make sure you have your volume turned up...very cool...leave me a comment and tell me your results :)

GAME

Have fun!!!

Graduation

Time flies! It really does. I have been secretly hoping that May '06 will not arrive since about Summer of last year but I cannot believe how fast it has passed me by. It has been great though, I have absolutely no complains. It's been a great ride.

I attended Joe's graduation this past weekend at Columbia College and I will be attending quite a few others this coming weekend for Mizzou's graduation i.e. Dave, H2, Matt M, Emily, Matt G and quite a few others. This is a big milestone and it means it's the end of one chapter and the start of another for these people.

A small fear in me is that the new chapter for these people will not include me. I don't mean it as to us not being friends anymore but majority of them will be moving away and friendships always change when people move away. We will talk for a while and as time goes by, we drift further and further apart. I know I will definitely not lose touch with some of the closer ones but still it just won't be the same. I know, I know...never say never...but if experience has taught me anything, most friendships almost always does drift apart. I am just as guilty of it myself.

I have had quite a few chapters myself and have made amazing friends along the way. Some of the really close ones, we still keep in touch but somehow it's not the same. Little things like being able to "read" each others mind or body language or finish each other's sentences or funny little sayings or made up words will no longer be shared or used. But that is just reality. Nonetheless, I am still so amazingly grateful that I had the chance to become apart of their lives. Hopefully, our paths will cross again, one just never knows!

I don't show much of these emotions because deep down I am truly happy for all of them for accomplishing this major milestone. I guess I am just selfish, but then again aren't we all just a little bit selfish sometimes.

Happy Birthday, H2!

Yesterday was my one of my closest girl friend, H2's birthday. Happy Birthday, Girl!!!!! She's reach a milestone but she still looks like she's 21 so it's all good ;) Took her out to dinner at this new fancy schmancy restaurant in town called Sycamore. She got this special Gnocci pasta and I got a Veal dish. The food was good but it was definitely a little too rich for my taste. We then walked around downtown chatting and trying to decide where to go for dessert. We settled for Tellers and had their Chocolate Decadence Cake and Lime Cheesecake....very yummy (Muuuur!) :P James and Jerod joined us at Tellers and we had a few drinks prior to Soco.

It's been a while since I've been to Soco on a Thursday night but I had a good reason tonight, it's my friend's bday. I was still feeling a little under the weather but I didn't have a choice...I HAD to go, right? It was fun, it was packed as usual. I didn't plan on drinking but ended up having quite a bit to drink and got a little tipsier than I had anticipated. The night went well but some asshole stole my AE shirt which I left at the coat rack. It wasn't my favourite shirt but it still pissed me off to think that someone would just take something that didn't belong to them. I looked around but didn't see it anywhere or on anyone but I quietly cursed the person who took it, "May his crotch be infested with a thousand fleas!!" Hope that'll the SOB a lesson...:D

It's a Friday and I'm almost done with work. I'm happy. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My first Nephew!

So how was everyone's weekend? I hope it was good. How was mine, you ask? Well I didn't really have one since I had to work 12 freakin hours on Saturday doing physical inventory! Got off work and had dinner with Steph, Em and Dave at Chilli's then later went to Brook's surprise birthday party. After that we went to Shattered for Mark's (of Mark&Daniel) birthday party.

There is definitely no shortage of birthdays around this time. There is Steph, KK, H2, Tze and also my brother, all celebrating within days from one another. Steph's birthday (a big shout out to Steph "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!") was Sunday. We gathered up the group and had lunch at Flat Branch. After that I just got home and rested. I am still not 100% recovered as I have a bad sorethroat but my cough's gotten much better. I need to lay off late nights for a while until I start feeling better.

Today is KK's birthday (another shout out to KK, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"). I also received some good news from my oldest brother, Ewe. I am an UNCLE to my FIRST NEPHEW!! He sent me a text message saying that Masako gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Tatsuya, weighing 3.4 kg at 8:32pm May 1st. I have yet to find out all the details. Will definitely have to call and get as much info as possible. It's so hard being an uncle and living on the other side of the world, these are times when I really want to be back home with family. My niece, Naomi's starting to walk and talk and she barely knows who I am :(

My 2nd brother is also expecting a baby sometime this year. Sure seems like babies are popping out left and right this year. If you read an earlier post, my friend Reema + Chad just had little Arden. I also received an email from my old college buddy, Adam, telling me that his wife just delivered a baby boy, Wynn. I just feel so happy for all these people and truly wish they were all much closer so I can join them in celebrating their happiness.