Anyway, I’ve been God-awful about blogging, and I really do apologize; I have so many venues for different things, and then when I finally give meaning to this place, another avenue appears that hadn’t previously been in my consciousness, an avenue of usefulness that, alas, would replace whatever functionality this place had to offer.

But, I’m not going to make more excuses, and I’m also not going to give you up, either. I just have to get back into the habit of just logging in, at least, to spur some sort of writing out of me

A shortlist of stuff that’s been going on:

• Moved from WeHo/Beverly Hills to West LA. Love it 100x more than where we were. Robertson Blvd’s expensive boutiques and restaurants do not agree with my income (with the exception of Gyu-Kaku–I LOVE THAT PLACE FOREVER and it was great to be able to walk to it and come back home responsibly inebriated!); however, West LA Santa Monica Blvd’s food offerings do!
• Working full-time for the summer. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to work full-time! Luckily, I have a decently fast computer set-up at work, and all the coffee I can drink (and a decent Italian deli, as well as an excellent coffee shop right around the corner, too), so I suppose I can’t complain!
• I’ve been playing a lot of TF2 … again. I took a very long break from the game (about a year?), and back then all I would play was either Medic or Sniper. Now I’m sort of a whore for Demoman. It’s been fun, though, and I still can’t get enough of Payload >_<

For breakfast I know, I’m so Asian, but soy sauce/Maggi sauce is so
gooood with eggs!

Posted via email from Hau Incredible! Haha … ha … ha.

Posted via email from Hau Incredible! Haha … ha … ha.

Yes, meatless bacon.

I know they sell a number of imitation things—and one particular brand doesn’t really do it very well, in my opinion—but, to find something like this in an Asian grocery store? Furthermore, manufactured by a Taiwanese vegetarian product company?

Maybe I should backtrack here.

As a tradition of sorts, I’ve decided to go vegetarian for a month every year. It was so hectic last year, though, that I wasn’t able to do my vegetarian stint, so I decided, as a part of my 2010 resolutions, I would be vegetarian for the first two months. I guess it’s a little bit like cheating, since there are only 28 days in February, but that was something I realized after the fact

Anyway, after hearing this, most people would frown and gasp, as if it were the end of the world, and ask, “Dear God, why oh why would you do that?”

And then, smugly, with a certain kind of smile, I would reply, “Because I can.”

Nothing drives a person crazier than the thought of someone going temporarily vegetarian. They can accept it when someone goes full-time vegetarian, but short-term? They think I’ve entered the 9th-ring of Hell, or something. They secretly pray for me.

Well, really, it just goes to show how little will power people have, doesn’t it? I’m not Catholic, but I do know that Lent exists in order to challenge people to abstain from something for 40 days, to practice will power (or so I think—I could be wrong). Coming from a Buddhist family, I’ve gone to temple and thoroughly enjoyed the vegetarian meals I’ve received (for free, no less). A vegetarian meal is nothing short of normal, for me and my family. My mom has gone through phases where she would be vegetarian for years, and I would always enjoy having parts of her meal. It was never guilt-driven, it was never something I did to prove a point—I simply enjoyed it, a concept that people seem unable to grasp.

So, the short of it is: I do it because I can. I do it because I can prove a point that I don’t have to rely on meat. I do it because I like it. I stopped craving meat after awhile, and it was nice.

On to the real point of this post:

Tee hee, “black papper.”

There is a nice, large, conspicuous sign in Hawaii Supermarket that says, “Vegetarian Food” in the freezer area of the store. I didn’t notice it until now—not sure why—but I peered over one of the open freezers, and saw what I thought was normal bacon. A weird item to have in an Asian grocery store, sure—but wait! It was meatless bacon! Well, then! For $3.49, I figured this would be an interesting venture.

It says to keep frozen, but it also says it’s fully cooked, so it can be served hot or cold (haha, who eats bacon cold?!). I decided to go down the hot route, and popped the brick in the microwave to let it thaw. Then, I sliced them as bacon-thin as I could, fried it until it was a little brown, and served it with my breakfast this morning.

Perhaps I should’ve let it brown more in the pan, and perhaps I should’ve eaten it while it was piping hot, but all things considered, it wasn’t so bad. I certainly wouldn’t call it bacon, but it was at least a decent-tasting … vegetarian meat thing. Even the boyfriend approves!

Until then, hang tight, my friends.

Nintendo DS:
Daigasso! Band Brothers DX. I just got this last week and downloaded 11 songs so far. You can only download 100 total and you can’t erase any of them, so I’ve been stingy with what songs to get (although for some songs, I just have to download, i.e. Moonlight Densetsu, the Sailor Moon theme song hahaaaa). It’s pretty fun but it got a lot more difficult compared to its predecessor–the timing window is just REALLY precise T_T But practice makes perfect … hopefully?

XBox 360:
Grand Theft Auto 4. I’m actually quite determined to beat this game I think I am nearing the end. I love the story and the character development! Oh and the sandbox gameplay never hurts, either

When I want to take a break from GTA4, I pick up Rock Band and play with Justin, with me usually playing guitar + vocals and him on the drums.

PC:
On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1. I haven’t actually beat this yet, nor have I continued from where I left off, but I will soon. Or some time. Some time soon?

Games I Might Pick Up Again:

Starcraft – I started very, very momentarily, again, to refresh the story in my mind. I think I basically reinstalled Battle Chest on my computer and started playing the Human Campaign. Do I even have the time for this?!

DoTA – I don’t know if I will pick this up again either, but … we’ll see?

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch – I realize the servers are almost anemically empty these days a la TF2, but I still want to play. I miss it D: haha

This post to be continued when I have more time later

But what I should’ve done was vote for Mike Gravel. HAHA. He’s absolutely insane … almost magnetically so!

Anyway, last night I met up with Justin, Cindy, Vaishnavi, Chris, Sukhdeep, Paulo at Country Way for dinner. Oh my GOODNESS their portions are huge! I ordered a Spanish omelet but the (kindly old) waitress misheard me and got me a spinach omelet… umm. Boo. It was still good, though I really was craving the Spanish omelet! Wahhhhhh.

It was a good reunion though! Catching up on where we are in our lives, plus some random banter related to sports and video games. Cindy and Vaishnavi looked thoroughly lost and Justin tried to translate for them what we were talking about (haha I’m so mean to my friends). How nice. It was like a mini high school reunion

Tonight at midnight I’m going to temple for New Year! Yay vegetarian bun rieu ftw! Tomorrow is New Year, next week is Valentine’s Day (but we’re celebrating the day after, since that’s also Cindy’s last day in the US), the Warriors/Suns game is next Wednesday … so exciting!

ANDD~ I’m going to Las Vegas in March and Seattle in August. EXCITING!!!! I love traveling, even if it’s not really that far away

HAHA Conan + Stewart + Colbert!!

I’ve had to think about a lot of things this past weekend … recurrences from the past, reminders of my psychology, my fears, my insecurities … it’s sort of strange to be put in this position. Hmm. Musings of the past. The past makes you who you are, but sometimes I wish it didn’t.

Anyway …

Yesterday I met up with Cindy, Tam and Vaishnavi at Salang Pass, an Afghani restaurant. It was pretty good, aside from the not so awesome service Afterward, we went to Tea Station in Newark. It seems to be our recurring hang out spot, in spite of the fact that the workers there like to perch on your shoulder and make you feel rushed and unwelcome Seriously, it’s annoying and I want to yell at them to stop being such assholes about it, but whatever. Their drinks are good. It’s hard to say no to them. They will take away your cups and pots as soon as you finish them, and then give you the bill without you even asking or even looking like you guys are gonna leave. They’re so mean But, again, like I said, their drinks are really good so it’s hard to say no. I just learn to ignore these giant hints they drop and extend my stay. It’s not even like there’s a line out the door or anything, so kicking us out wouldn’t be good for business. Bastards.

Will update again with pictures from this weekend, but it will be a protected post, and the password can be obtained by contacting me kthxu.

So what’s new with me, for my huge readership out there? (all of 1? I think I hear crickets…) Just the same old–work, and sort of school. I’m going for an all-online lineup but something tells me that that’s failing and failing fast–mostly because I spend my time on stupid shit like this (i.e. tweaking my layout so much that it takes about a WHOLE DAY). No archive page yet because I’m still figuring out the ways of the WP language, but soon enough, it will appear at the bottom of the page.

What I’ve learned from trying to tackle this layout? That I essentially suck at coding. It’s a sad, sad truth that I had to face at some point or another.

I’ve been working out quite a bit, but not as often as I would like. I also fail at that. Oh well, what else is new, right?

I have NOT been playing enough video games if at all, and it’s really sad. My Steam account feels neglected. Oh wait, I lied, I have been playing Super Mario Galaxy, which is fun in that insanely easy way (although I must confess, I’ve gotten so frustrated at some parts (and lazy too) that I’d almost literally throw the Wii remote at Justin, who would dutifully beat the level in about a quarter or less of the time it took me to even get through half the level. Yes, I suck at video games, what else is new?). It’s also insanely … fruitastic? Oh I’ll spare you the trauma.

I’m going to Carmel this weekend as a romantic winter getaway trip thing with Justin! <3 That should be very exciting

What you should be expecting from me for the months to come, as far as this site is concerned:

• No layout changes (because, believe me, I’ve learned how fucking painful it is to change it);
• Frequent updates (every other day-ish?);
• Angst, vulgarity, anger;
• Happiness, randomness, etc;
• Photos!;

So relax and enjoy the website As always, bug-hunting is greatly appreciated! If you see something weird happening to the blog, let me know what it is, what browser + version you’re using, etc. Comments always welcome! And finally, this blog is known to look a bit funky in IE