Wednesday, January 29, 2003 its only wednesday, but its already my birthday! i received my first present from my parents...a silver linked, stainless steel swiss army alliance watch. it's simple, yet sophisticated...elegant, yet understated. so if you see me, ask me for the time and i will gladly tell you. i will buy my birthday gift to myself today. tee-hee. the birthday plan looks like so: this friday i think that i have to celebrate with kat unless i do the bday thing on saturday of next week because she is on-call on friday and she wont be able to make it. joyce would rather have it next week than this week because she has brianna. i still havent informed anyone of the upcoming events and have not made any such reservations. this is going to be interesting. i know one thing though...on monday, i will go to nyc and eat crepes for my birthday. 1:01 PM

Monday, January 27, 2003 info-favorites if you have a worse case of chappy lips than me, then i feel sorry for you....because my lips are as bad as they get. it's extremely bad during the winter when it seems as if barnacles have attached themselves to the whole surface area of my lips. for years i have looked for a solution to this problem--i have bought over two dozen lip products that i thought could help me ranging from a $1 tube of chapstick to $5 kiehl's (which are supposedly expedition proven--i highly doubt that) to $7 rosebud lip salve (which all the celebrities swear to, but i shall not because it does not work on extremely bad cases such as mine) to $15 loccitane lip balm (which i do not recommend). all sorts of packages have enticed me from the aveda line to some lip thingee i bought at bigelow's that had some emt/medical/emergency slogan but did not do anything to parch my dying, dehydrated lips except leave them pastey white. but now, i do have a solution for you. elizabeth arden 8-hour therapy lip cream. do not be afraid that it comes in a lipstick tube. it works absolute wonders. after two days of using it, my lips are as smooth as a baby's bottom. in all the years i have suffered from severe chapped lips, i have never had results that have worked so well in so little time. its like a snake shedding off all the dead, old skin. if you are a guy with severely chapped lips, i think the harassment you will get from you buddies will be worth the soft, smooth kissable lips. your girlfriend will thank you for it, i guarantee. 1:53 PM

my birthday is slowly impending, so now it is time for the spending, a little black bag with an agnes b. tag, and some paper cloth denim for mending (as in hemming, because i'm way too short for the inseam these jeans have for the 'average' woman.) its that time again...my birthdays have become pretty routine. a group of my close friends and i celebrate at some restaurant (preferably spanish) and then drink at some fancy bar/lounge. since my real birthday is on a monday, i havent really decided if i should celebrate it the friday before or after my birthday. i'm actually thinking the latter for a couple of reasons: 1. jan31 now only 5 days away and i have yet to make reservations at a restaurant--or choose a restaurant for that matter. 2. i have not yet found my birthday outfit. 3. i have not yet invited said group of close friends. 4. my aunt's big 50th birthday party is feb1st, and i dont want to party too hard the night before. i am old. ecch. anyhow...i was in the city on friday with michelle running errands. besides the blistery cold, i must say, it was a very enjoyable day. unfortunately i did not get my haircut as scheduled, but i have this whole week to do that...i guess. anyway, as we were circling the times square area for parking (a slight impossibility), this painting in a window of a comic book store caught my eye. if i had a scanner or a digital camera (*subliminal message* my birthday's coming up, hint, hint!! *end of said message*) i would be able to show you what i got...but since i cannot, you will just have to use your imagination. the painting was by a guy named erik drooker and it is his version of some comic book character. now, i really dont mean to toot my own horn or sound conceited...but the painting has a certain resemblance to me. michelle confirmed this and james seconded it, so i am not completely self-absorbed. but i thought it was cool and michelle was kind enough to ask if the painting was on sale. she bargained for it for $50 (although you cant really call it a bargain because it was her first official offer and in hindsight, we both wondered if she could have got it for $25 -- but $50 was my limit to begin with so, whatever). and for some strange reason, i have become increasingly materialistic within the past week or so. i dont know if its on account of my birthday, but i am eyeing new watches, a digital camera, an mp3 player, a new bag, new jeans and a new cell phone. i think that i can rationalize my need for a watch, but i have 3 working cameras, 4 pairs of fancy jeans, a fully-functional cell phone and absolutely no real need for an mp3 player. 1:18 AM

Sunday, January 19, 2003 there's nothing to say, really but i feel like typing. *sigh* 8:12 PM

jampackedfun i spent the weekend relaxing, as it is the last weekend of my two year hiatus from the academia. friday i watched "a guy thing" with james, michelle and ed and realized that my standards for movie critiquing has gone waaaay down. its that i think stupid things are really funny now...which i would like to believe is my sense of humor finally kicking in. its nice to watch stupid funny movies. gives your brain room to breathe. lets you unbuckle your belt alittle. kick your shoes off. relax. saturday afternoon, james and i took a chilly, yet picturesque drive through upstate new york to barrentown, a.k.a., albany. i cannot believe i actually considered living there considering the average temperatures for the day. holy crap, its cold. our hotel room was a freaking igloo, i kid you not. james slept in his dinner attire because he couldnt take the temperature of that room. otherwise, i had a grand old time learning how to play craps at the play-casino his company set up for all its employees. the next time i head over to a.c., i actually have a game to play besides caressing the handle of the slot machine and running my fingers through dirty quarters. right now i am being a very good student and actually doing my homework in advance. i have three euripides tragedies to read and i have read two out of the three. and i am researching the backgrounds of each play because they have to do with the trojan war and my knowledge of greek tragedies lies somewhere behind the cobwebs of 10th grade english literature with mrs. criaris. i forgot her name for a minute. and then i am going to reread my plays and outline each one. holy shit, i have alot of time on my hands. if only i had this much dedication for studying in college. better late than never. thank you for your time. 6:29 PM

Wednesday, January 15, 2003 body modification rituals at claire's boutique i poked two holes in my ear. because some lady at banana republic chose to wear the cutest earrings the day i was waiting on line to buy lou's present. and then i wanted the earrings. but could not have them because one day long ago i decided to forgo earring-wear because of its utter uselessness. kind of like toe rings. ive since changed my mind. i also sat down for three hours with james to watch lord of the rings 2 and this is what i got out of it. legolas looks alot like justin timberlake--which i never really noticed in the first movie. its in the nose and the jaw structure. i*heart* legolas. *sigh* someone please talk me out of buying a new cellphone that i dont need because i have a fully functional one in my possession already. what's the point, really? but i cant seem to talk myself out of it, so i'm hoping someone else will. i think i need one of those mentors that people have for ga or aa, but for sa -- shoppers anonymous. my mentor can console me at three in the morning when i am most vunerable to exercise machine infomercials and the such. 12:03 PM

Sunday, January 12, 2003 alligators and crocodiles in less than 12 hours i have to take my best friend of 13+ years to the airport and enable her to get on a plane and leave us indefinately for the west coast. i have either been living in denial or in slow motion for the last couple of months because i still cant believe this day has already come. and although i am so proud of her for going off on her own path and living her own life, i still cant help but feel so selfishly sad that she is leaving me. in these last three days, i have managed to do some major quality time with her and all our closest friends. and its sad to say that you really do take the best things for granted and you never realize the full extent of their importance until they are gone. and who's to say when she'll be back really...supposedly its six months, but you never know. california does some weird things to people. but whatever her choice is, i fully support anything she does. because i love her. i thought about sabotaging her ride to the airport and "accidentally" oversleeping...or maybe running out of gas before we reach the airport. but tomorrow morning, i will arrive promptly at 1030 with a dunkin donuts medium french vanilla light and sweet and a full tank of gas. and i will do my duty and bring her to the airport on time and hug her one last time before she gets on that airplane. and i will try to smile and be happy for my friend and not think about how much i am going to miss her while she's gone. i am really beginning to hate california. 3:06 AM

Monday, January 06, 2003 did you put oranges in the ricecooker again? i had the strangest dream last night. stranger, is, that when i woke, i really believed this had all happened. i had a dream that i was the lead in a play that my high school chemistry teacher was directing. my name was mei-ling and i was some chinese girl that was going to fight a dragon. only i hadnt memorized all my lines and everyone was bothering me while i was trying to memorize them...which was only hours after the big football game -- at the concourse of freehold mall. anyhow, at one point, i was in my room practicing when my mother called to tell me to put oranges in the ricecooker. and i woke up believing that i had to. last night was a restless night of sleep. i fell asleep right after i hung up the phone, which was at 2am...and then i woke up at 345. i did all my nightly rituals and then went back to bed but found that i could not go to sleep. so i watched the news for a while and then finally fell asleep around 430 only to be woken up at 6am with violent stomach cramps. damn you, mexican food! 2:47 PM

Thursday, January 02, 2003 2003 i have this firm belief that who you are with and what you do on new years eve and day determines the majority of who you will spend your time with and what you will do in the coming year. so does this mean that i will be sleeping until 4pm and eating pizza and chips with james while watching old reruns on tv? sounds just like last year. which does not bother me one bit. new years was very festive. i had a can of silly string that i sprayed into a crowd of james' family & friends when the ball dropped at midnight. we kissed happy new year and went around hugging everyone else. all in all, a very happy new year. new years day i woke up at one and he woke up at four and we ordered domino's pizza and ate and watched movies. then, michelle, edwin, abel, dante, james and i went to eat again at houlihans and shoot pool at herberts. i beat james at pool and then at two games of basketball. does this mean that i will win at every competition with him this year? oh, happy year. i hope you all had a great new years! 5:47 PM