it's my last night in washington... i had a fun time (minus the nagging from the 'rents)... i visited the tacoma art museum... saw michael chang (the tennis player) in bellevue... supported then congratulated my friend on his engagement... did some shopping... had a mini family reunion down in portland... sewed a tiny t-shirt for an uglydoll, just to see some people smile... ate mexican, thai, korean, vietnamese, red robin, jack in the box and homemade chicken marsala and california rolls... i reunited with old friends and made some new ones... and i drove (something i don't get to do much in nyc).

in a few hours...
california, here i come... right back where i started from...

Come they told me... a new born King to see
Our finest gifts we bring to lay before the King
So to honor Him when we come

Little baby, I am a poor boy too
I have no gift to bring that's fit to give our King
Shall I play for You on my drum?

Mary nodded, the ox and lamb kept time
I played my drum for Him... I played my best for Him
Then He smiled at me... me and my drum

i'm in the apple store in the "u-village" (in seattle).
just checkin emails and updating...

i came home to realize that our new house doesn't have cable or an internet connection (or even a computer...).

okay, i feel weird blogging in public. merry christmas everyone!

i can't believe i actually woke up... Seattle (actually, Federal Way and Tacoma), here i come!

the question is whether i should continue to stay awake...
... or if i should take a nap until 5am... at which point i'd need to take a shower and lug all of my stuff to the airport.

the other question is whether i should take public transportation or dish out the 30 bucks for car service.

either way... i'll be stomping on the west coast soon... (!)

[creepy "the ring" voice] 2 days... [/voice]

movin' on u-u-up~...
on friday, i move from my cube into a (windowless) office...
so i'll have a door... but i lose my dorm fridge to a coworker with seniority...
... i'm also transitioning into a full-time creative position (as opposed to being split with the marketing dept.).

i'll get to blast my music (on my computer speakers... haha)

signs of aging...

i woke up in the middle of the night and had to stretch because i was getting a cramp in my calf muscle. seriously... imagine being interupted from your womb-y slumber by sharp excruciation in your chiseled, well-developed muscles (har har...). then imagine your laziness overcoming the pain and drifting back into dreamland... only to be rudely awakened by a second, stronger burst of agony. then in your butt-nakedness (okay, i was wearing underwear)... fumbling out of bed and doing a lunge to exorcise the horrible leg-demon.

is this normal?!?

it's my last week at work! (until i go on vacation... i'm not laid off)
i can't wait to be back home. and california should be alot of fun too...

after work today, i'm visiting p.carl & chris to play some scrabble... i love scrabble. i've been reading word freak-- a non-fiction novel about competetive scrabble. it's warping my notions of what "good" plays are. in tournaments, players average 3-5 bingos (using all 7 tiles) per game and around 32 points per play.

i tried playing literati (yahoo!'s online version of scrabble) last night and got rocked. i averaged 1 bingo per 3 games and about 15 points per play... hahah, needless to say, no tournaments for me in the near future.

i find inspiration from the strangest places sometimes.

today it's anime (i know, i'm a geek). as i was watching one piece today, i realized something: anime characters are so passionate. that's the beauty of the medium... live-action actors risk being criticized for over-acting... but with animation, the artist/animator is free to exaggerate expressions and hyperbolize emotions in the characters. when they laugh, their mouths open wider than the size of their faces... tears fling out of their eyes... and bodies shake with joy.

... and when they cry...

... streams flow down cheeks... lower lips spasm out of control... snot drizzles out of noses... and they emit painful, wailing cries...

i don't remember the last time i really cried. and i've never cried with that kind of intensity (i know, it's "only a cartoon"). it's stupid, i know... but i kinda wish i could have as much passion as these wide-eyed weirdos-- so that when i cry, all kinds of liquid would pour out of my face.

i've come to the conclusion that it is impossible to maintain tidy-ness in my room. i've accumulated too many things... clothes, bills, cds, free-sample chewing gum, ticket stubs, pocket change, tubes of carmex... all these things clutter my room to an unmanagable degree. i try daily, but seem to have only scraped the surface.

so i reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.
- ecclesiastes 9:1

there's no connection between the two parts of my entry, in case you were searching for one.
except, maybe, that they're both things that were on my mind.

something about the winter makes me think more. the cold weather has my brain working extra hard to keep me warm. i wrote-- actually thought-- a great song on the walk to the path train last night. i should've written it down, 'cause for the life of me i can't remember a single line now.

on another note, when i got off the elevator in my building yesterday, something caught my eye and had my brain fixated for longer than it should have. it's not an uncommon sight, something that most people wouldn't give a second thought. but it managed to capture my attention and now i'm even blogging about it. it's something i haven't seen in a while... something that just looked a bit out of place in my hallway... something that jarred memories, mixed emotions and a bit of homesickness. it was a plush, brown mat with the word "WELCOME" printed on it.

it also got me thinking about girls.
... and how come i don't have girls knocking on my door (figuratively).
and what kind of welcome mat i have laid out there.
haha.

i'm about to write about poop. if you are offended or utterly disgusted by this topic visit my neighbors (<----) or read some lyrics (---->).


so, after a long day at work and with an empty stomach, i walked down to one of the best street vendors in the city (Kwik Meal on 45th/6th). it was a (friggin) cold night, so i couldn't eat in one of the parks as i normally would. i decided to situate myself behind a refillable soda at Togo's.

meal ended and duty called... and i'm not one to deny my boys some (public-toilet-) fresh air. i headed to the back and i found the single occupancy bathroom. score. the bowl was clean, but nyc is nyc and i had no reading material, so i was ready to pump them out and jet. two baby boys had no problems diving into the pool, but the third (and final) was being shy. then *knock* *knock*. shoot. the pressure was on. with one, steady, forceful contraction, junior was out and swimming. *wipe* *wipe* i stand, turn around and discover the yao ming of dookies chillin' like a villian. i pause for a brief moment then hit the switch, but yao was resisiting. flush number 2. but sucker was tall and rigid and the force of the water wasn't breaking mr. ming in half. flush number 3-- with a cough to try to drown out the sound of the flush. nothing. flush number 4-- while holding down the lever (which does nothing, by the way). no change. ARGG. and there's a dude (or dudette) waiting!

i scanned the bathroom to see if there was anything i could use to chop up Mr. Stubborn. not a (friggin) thing in site. for a moment i considered just abandoning my boy. then, i considered using my own finger to push him though. absolutely no (friggin) way! (desperate) flush number 5. this time yao moved a little. flush number 6. yes, he'd started to turn around. with 3 more attempts, i'd managed to rotate that sucker and send him on his way. whew. i quickly washed my hands and exited quickly.

the guy waiting must've thought i was crazy or having major problems (which i guess i was).

question of the day: what the heck did i eat to create indestructable turds?