HAPPY HOLIDAYZ TO Y'ALL!!

I am just a couple of hours away to my first flight that will eventually hit Hawaii by the end of the day.

So, how as my xmas? Not too bad considering that most of my friends here were out of town and I was going to be content to just spend it by myself at home, catching up on Tivo and getting some sleep. Instead, I was invited by Sylvia and her family for a small and nice Xmas dinner on Saturday, followed by a nice small Sushi dinner on Sunday to help celebrate Karen's birthday, whom's birthday happens to be on Xmas Day (must suck to have a birthday on Xmas, heh).

Actually, I should be lucky that I at least get a xmas break, a whole week off from Xmas to the New Year (since the office is shut down, anyways) since most of my friends had to go back to work on Monday.

Anyways, Happy Holidayz to y'all and I will talk to you in the new year with tales (and pics) of Maui...ALOHA BITCHES!! :)

Holiday Holidayz

Just a lazy holiday is my excuse for not posting. Not really busy at work, just finishing up some loose ends and preparing for the onslaught that will be NEXT YEAR!! I mean, work is kinda dead now. Everyone took the holiday a week or two early. In fact, right now, there is only 3 ppl in the office and we aint doing jack shit!!

Also been just running around, seeing friends and doin' some last minute shopping. Been also picking up and dropping off a lot of ppl at the airport...I am desinated airport bitch...

And oh yeah, been also preparing for Hawaii. I did mention I am going to Hawaii for New Years and for Denny's sister's wedding? Well, if you didn't know before, you do now...

Anyways...I honestly can't wait for Hawaii. Going on Tuesday Dec 28th to Maui and coming back on the 5th/6th of January. No idea what I will be doing except for the wedding, new years and some beach we are next to...yeah...can't wait :)

Holidayz Shopping

Last minute holiday shopping SUCKS!! I made the mistake of going to the mall this week at lunch during that train wreak known as last minute shopping. Took me about 30 minutes to LEAVE THE FRIGGIN' PARKING LOT!!

Holidayz Gift

Check out the gift Densetsu gave Songco. Its a personalized chest playset featuring friends of Denny and Songco as the pieces. Isn't that fuckin' awesome? Not only that, but I AM THE ROOK!! Must be because I constantly pace back and forth :)

I wish someone would make me a personalized chess playset :(

Holidayz Par-tay!

Last couple of weeks, went to a suprising a lot of holiday parties hosted by different ppl. Here are the highs and lows:

Friday Dec 10: Company Xmas Party at the Edgewater Hotel in Downtown Seattle. We had a hyponotist.
Highs
--watching Pedo get truely hypnotize as he laughed himself to death and saw everyone naked. "Its sooo small!" he once even yelled.
Lows
--my co worker were very anti-social that night, especially to Linh, who I brought to the party

Friday Dec 10, later: Kona Kitchen Toy Drive Karaoke Nite.
Highs
--watching the "crew" sing "We are Family" ("I got all my sisters AND WING with me...")
Lows
--arriving late to the party when everyone else was leaving :(

Saturday Dec 11: Kristine's White Elephant Pot Luck Party.
Highs
--making my fried Mac and Cheese
--my white elephant gift to others
--I got to choose (and win) the biggest and heaviest white elephant gift, only to be revealed later as a Tub of Tide!!
Lows
--trading my Tub of Tide for a useless, not-even working flower lamp. (damn you Karen!!)

Friday Dec 17: Fiona and Chee Chen's Dessert Pot Luck Party
Highs
--making my Lychee and Mango Cobbler and being the first thing to go :)
Lows
--snobby anti-social guests make me leave early

Saturday Dec 18th: Some Pot Luck dinner at some guys house, invited by Alvin a long with Priscilla
Highs
--watching The Incredibles on DVD (yes, DVD quality too...fuckin' pirates!)
--beating a bunch of HKers in multiplayer Halo 2 action (I didn't know Chinese ppl play Halo?!!)
Lows
--snobby anti-social guest make me leave early (actually, I had to leave early cuz I need to go to...)

Saturday Dec 18th, later: Final Holiday Get-together with the "crew"
Highs
--seeing everyone before they went away for the holiday and sharing with them my awesome Lychee and Mango Cobbler!
--playing team Taboo with everyone, with Jennifer calling our team out for losing because we had 3 Non-English Speaking players on our team, including one who just came from Shanghai, one from South Africa (dont they speak English there?) and me, from CANANDA!! (WTF?!!)
--playing Karaoke Revolution Vol 3 til 1am in the morning
Lows
--leaving at 1am not realizing everyone else stayed til 5:30am on Karaoke Revolution :(

First Off...

Andrea.at work says: tell your friends that ACCESS SUCKS
namofni says: i usually generalize and tell them Microsoft SUCKS in general
Andrea.at work says: ah
Andrea.at work says: ok. can you put that in your blog? that andrea says microsoft sucks

Booyah, Grandmama! Booyah!

Secondly...

I have added a new Friend...one of my SF friends / Ex-AOL / Ex-Clubbin' Pimp:

Wen...

Go read about him and his "wedding" plans NOW!! Baby boy is all grown up now...*sniff*

Lastly...

Updated my Captured III album with the few pics I had taken at that Single's party I went last week. Its on PAGE 4. Please note how cool the women's bathroom is...

And oh, one last thing...

Not much to report on my personal life side except I did a lot of shopping this passed weekend (with 40% off coupons for Gap and Banana Republic...I AM THE BARGIN MASTER!!), went to this "poker tournament" at a "pho place" (wink, wink), and just today, went to have TOE SURGERY for the 5th time (or was that 6th? I lost count) on my big left toe (which Jon Ward called "freakishly HUGE!!"). Yes, I am slowly in pain as the painkillers wear off...

My Mini Vacation

So, where the heck have I been? and why haven't I written in awhile (again)? Well, I was technically not busy this time around, I was actually on a little vaction, taking some of my comp time that I have been given after I finished my last project. I took off on a Wednesday November 17th and took it all the way til next Wednesday off, leading into Thanksgivin' weekend, which I also had off. So, I got to take a whole week and a half off, using just a week of my own vacation / comp time! So, what did I do? Here are the long entry of a blog highlights:

Denny's Surprise Hawaiian Birthday Party in SF

How odd was it that I took off on a Wednesday? Well, I couldn't talk about it sooner but I actually flew down to SF on that Wednesday to help celebrate Denny's birthday and to stay for the weekend and hang out with Jon and his broken-ass foot. A surprise party was setup for Denny by Songco that night and I was one of his many "surprises" (not what you think!).

The party took place at this awesome Hawaiian restaurant and all his friends showed up, including some I haven't seen in awhile. While I still think that Denny suspected something was going to happen on his birthday, he definately did not expect to see me there :)

Anyways, instead of telling you what happen, you can check out Denny's pictures and my pictures as well here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/dennys_surprise/

Enjoy!

Google Lunch

One of my other highlights of visitng SF that weekend was Songco took me on a tour / free lunch at her workplace, Google. Let me just say, I was absolutely blown away by the work environment here. It is truely a place that is catered towards the employees, where I can see it as a joy to come to work everyday (or at least for the first couple of years, before the stockholders "change" things).

And they were not kidding when they say there's a "free lunch". Not only do they have an incredible cafeteria where they have multiple kitchens serving all types of foods, they have snacks and drinks ALL over the place. And not the cheap stuff either, nor just junk food, but tons of variety of just about everything, all free for employees (and lucky guests). And just about at every corner, there was also a lot of onsite "recreational" places. I saw a fitness center, pool tables, ping pong tables (with a fold out bleacher for spectators), a beached volleyball court and they were even building an outdoor swimming pool when we got there!

And then I was told about the 20% rule, where 20% of your work week must be spent on your own project...wow...just awe-inspiring...

I guess I can go on and on about this place but...hmmm, ya know, Google just openned an office here in Kirkland...hmmm...

Anyways, pictures of that can also be found in Denny's Bday pics as well...

Turkey Days

So, I got back to Seattle on Sunday where I spent the rest of the week basically doing nothing but staying home. I say, doing in nothing because I "tried" to clean my house. In fact, it took me one whole week to just finish cleaning my LIVING ROOM ONLY! What can I say...I caught up on my sleep.

The actual US Turkey Day, I spent it at my friend's Sylvia's and her family. Last year I went to about 3 Thanksgivin' dinner but this year, since everyone was out of town, I only went to one. Oh well, I made Jon Ward's cobbler recipe with a nice asian twist. I made it with Mango and Lychees. And it turned out quite good too.

Black Friday

Being the internet geek that I am, I already knew ahead of time what was going to be on sale this post Turkey Day (aka Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the US) and already decided there wasn't anything worth fighting traffic and crowds of ppl to get to. And plus I am broke from spending way too much money these past months. So I wisely decided to skip the shopping and go see a movie instead. Went to see Alexander (it sucked ass, btw) with Alvin who too didn't care to buy anything that day. Oddly enough, after the movie was done and we had dinner, it was about 8pm at night when decided to go head to Fry's and Best Buy, "just to see" what was on sale.

Anyways, long story short...ended up buying $200 worth of computer stuff (with about $125 worth of rebates)...damn you Black Friday!!

"Here, you are either meeting new people or Cock-blocking others"

So, this past Saturday, it was Albert Shen's traditional Holiday Single's party that he throws for charity. Albert is very well known Seattle socialite who is actually one of the first persons I have met here in Seattle. Very nice guy who throws great parties with this one not being an exception. This party was held on the 75th floor of the Columbia Tower overlooking Downtown Seattle.

This year around, though I met a couple of new peoples, I mostly got to know better some other people I have met briefly before. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too interested in meeting "new" people but getting together with my old friends who I haven't seen for awhile because of my "crunch" time. Regardless, I had a good time...highlights being our attempt to get our friend Sylvia hooked up with this "guy" and trying to sneak into the women's bathroom, which is an incredible bathroom in which each stall had awesome view of the city. No joke!

Pictures coming soon (though I didn't take much).

Speaking of pictures...

I also posted that Scholarship gala I went to last week. Go Here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/naaap_scholarship/

Back in Work

Back at work. Meetings. New projects. Tireness setting back in...

Denny Proofing

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=23727

Cap'n Crunch

So, work has been so far very calm and uneventful but I am getting a lot of game playing done :) But all that's going to change...finally been told and assigned what I will be working on next and I am a little disappointed to tell you the truth. First off, this project was not the project, if I had a choice, would have chosen to work on, so there's some of the disappointment there, but also this project will go into CRUNCH mode sooner than I want to go back into that. *sigh* That's why they are callin' me Cap'n Crunch (a term we use for someone that goes from completing one CRUNCH mode only to move onto the next CRUNCH mode).

Oh, btw...in case you are wondering, THIS was what I working on for the last couple of months, in which was the cause of my last month of HELL...

On the bright side, staying on this project, means working on a cool project that will also lead into bigger and better things for me...more on that some other time ;)

The Bargin Master!!

Yo!...check this. You know how last week, i got this MAD deal on my laptop, saving about $850?!! Today I decided I needed to go buy a laptop bag and was planning to pick up this $70 one at Fry's after work. But for some odd reason, I ended up at a CompUSA at lunch, not even looking for a bag there, when I stumbled onto this AWESOME Samsonite leather laptop bag that was just PERFECT for my laptop. In fact, it was made specifically for a 13 inch laptop. And still had plenty of room (without being too big) for all my other crap that I carry to work everyday (Gameboys....lots of Gameboys).

And the price? Retails about $70, they had it on clearance for less than $20 BUCKS!!

Dont I have like just the wierdest luck with bargins or what? :p

New Photos

New album is up. I call it:

Captured III: The Passion of the Moment

featuring the long lost Sylvia's bday dimsum pictures, pictures from LA, the NEW HOTNESS (my new car), my new baby niece Sara and Danny and I doing the Wu Tang!

A must see!

Oh, Those Wacky Americans...

The fall out of the Tuesday's election:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/11/04/gonorth041104.html

http://attenuation.net/files/iq.htm

Spending Spree

So, like I said before...I am completely done with my last project and not as busy as work. Actually, I am not busy at all...to a point of boredom (you can only play games at work for so long). And when I am bored, I tend to do things I have neglected, such as cleaning up my house and my office or write in this blog. I also tend to spend more money when I am bored. So, yesterday, I broke down and bought myself a laptop (FINALLY!)

I bought myself this beaut Sony Vaio VGN-S260P which is also considered the "smallest true gaming laptop" at 4.2lbs (not that I play PC games or nothing). But I even tested the unit with some "high end games" and they all worked fine, including Max Payne 2, Ground Control II, Call of Duty and Unreal Tournament 2004. I am actually considering getting The Sims 2 for to play on my laptop.

So, why did I buy this laptop? Well, I also wanted one so I can work and surf the web whereever I want, but it would also be great to have a DVD player on all those long flights. I did my research, and this S Series laptop was pretty high on my list. Why, even my friend Silver got it, and he raves how he can play Final Fantasy XI online with it. But what really made me pull out my credit card to buy it was, there was a $850 REBATE on it!! Yeah, it was a no brainer then...

But man, I am spending way too much these past months. I bought a car last month, now a laptop...I have a bunch of trips coming up, including Hawaii, and a request to go to Tokyo in March...and on top of that, I am trying to buy a house too (yeah, I should talk about that some more but more next time)...but I think the house will have to be postponed for awhile...

Doh!

First Things First...

The results are in for this year's US elections:

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/the-results-are-in-024785.php


The Project That Would Never End...

...ended last Thursday, 7pm (of course, I didn't read that email until 8pm that night).

So, my life has been reclaimed after this one month of hell (minus my trip to Toronto)!! This damn game is over. No more working from 6am to 11pm (which I was doing for the last couple of days...MURDER!!). And the best part?!! Just in time for a halloween, so I can at least celebrate that (btw, originally, I was supposed to SF for Halloween...had to cancel because I didn't know when this game would end).

So, I took Friday off to sleep and to get ready for a Halloween Party Friday nite. There were 2 parties to go to on Friday, Sean's house party and Cary's Warehouse party. We ended up going to Sean's because Cary's turned out to be a party for his church group where there was NO ALCOHOL!!! I personally didn't care but the girls I I was with did...so Sean's we went in the Queen Anne area.

I was dressed up as James P. Scully from Monsters Inc., a last minute costume I "modified" to fit me. It was originally a child's costume in which I cut off both the arms and legs, wore them on my forearms and lower legs and then put a suit over it for that Pimpin' style. Voila! Not only was it the best costume at the party, it was a costume that all the girls really like!

Anyways, the party was great. Not to crowded and met some cool people. Aside from the fact that one of my friend's was dressed as Ali G and became "Ali G" to a point of annoyance, I had a great time. Later that night, we went to another party, but it wasn't too much fun (too FRAT PARTY-ish...yeah, I am getting old) before we headed to Chinatown for some good soupy noodles at Purple Dot. Lots of costume hotties walking around the restaurant that nite :)

Saturday...was a bust....we were given wrong directions to a costume party and by the time we realized these were wrong directions, I called it a night. Had to drive up to Vancouver the next day...oh...I did have Kobe Beef for the first time that night...very soft and tender...like eating fat but really tender cuts of meat...

Sunday...spend the day with my friend Silver in Vancouver, who just came from Japan and LA, on his way back to Toronto. Mostly chilled as I showed him around Richmond's Asian malls and Metrotown. We later met up with a friend of his for some All-You-Can-Eat-Brazilian-Meat and then we met up a bunch of Japanese exchange students for drinks at this very tiny bar in Downtown Vancouver. It was crowded as heck but fun seeing all these Japanese people dressed up around me.

Anyways...pictures of my halloween can be found here!

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/halloween_in_seattle_2k4/

Took Monday off to veg as well...now back at work doing nothing. Back to normal...

Usually, when I am procrastinating, I DO NOTHING!

Check out my good friend / struggling med student / internet junkie / San Deigo to Seattle Roadtrip co pilot / procrastinator, Moxy and her wonderful new blog:

http://finechina.blogspot.com

It funny how I always run into her on Yonge Street whenever I am in Toronto. Its downright eerie if you ask me...

Just cause I am a Game Designer, doesn't mean I play games all day...

Once again...its been awhile since I have updated. Well, since I have been back from Toronto into Seattle (last Saturday), I have been put back into the fire and been working everyday til about midnight to help finish my the game here. And its been a rollercoaster of a ride, from stressing out ("Can anyone do anything right without me?") to near anger (on a conference with Japan, I nearly exploded) to tireness (there has been 2 days I have been at work from 6:30am to midnight) and outright glee ("Wireless Multiplayer ROCKS!"). But we are ALMOST there...so close I can taste it...

As a side note, since this game is getting pushed back to completion everyday, it doesn't look like I will be flying down to San Fran for this halloween weekend. Oh well :(

Update from Toronto

Hey y'all...in Toronto now this week (and only for this short week), seeing my baby niece, Sara, who is absolutely cute and very tiny but cries like a mofo. Actually, its still too young to know how to smile and most of the time its asleep, but she's a beaut...

But its great to be here and take a break. I know back at work, its kinda chaotic and I do my bit to help (was just online writing work emails for the last 2 hours) but its still good to be away from that and do fun family stuff instead. But I know when I get back by the end of this week, I will be thrown right back into the thick of things.

Anyways, I am enjoying it while I can...

Danny Yen...Fighting DA MAN!!

http://www.pulse24.com/News_Features/Silverman_Helps/20041007-001/page.asp

Next time, he's takin' down those annoying telemarketers!!

Yeah BOY!

My "On Hold" Life So Far

Once again. Busy as hell at work. Even more busier considering my car problems I had last week and a surprise trip I have to take. Here's the details:

--so, last wednesday, I had no car. Had to seriously consider $3000 on an new engine for my old car. Or seriously look at buying a new car.

--also had to considered, that even though getting a new car was better, it would serious impact my finacial situation because I was also trying to buy a house (gettin a car loan will affect my credit rating amongst other things)

--by Saturday, I bought a new car...a 2004 Acura TSX Automatic with Navigation. You can read the details of my sweet new ride on your own, but it fulfills my childhood dream to have a talking car (that I can talk back to!)

--btw...the car's color is Carbon Grey...yeah, its the new HOTNESS!!

--of course, buying this car meant I have to postpone my house buying for awhile. Bummer.

--work is ramping up incredibly with an incredibly short schedule to work with. I mean, its INSANE and the fact that half the team is in Japan, makes it crazier!!

--add to that I have to leave Seattle for a week starting Friday. I will be going back to Toronto for a week to see my sister's new kid, Sara (born Sept 10th). I made these plans awhile ago before I knew of this crunch time but I still have to go, so I leave at a very critical time. I feel really bad about this but its something i have to do. I have someone here who is going to replace me while I am gone but I have some doubts that he'll know what to do :(

--so I am busy because I am busy but am also busy because I need to prepare for my replacement here. Its hell, trust me right now

--my old childhood friend Wayne, came and visit / stay with me here in Seattle for about a week. Because I am so busy, all I can do for him was drop him off somewhere in the morning and pick him up later that night. Well, at least he had fun and he loved staying at my place. He fell in love with my Tivo.

--oh..new photo album. That "wedding" I went to. Enjoy.

U R NOW UPDATED!!

Oh, yeah...its FUCKED!!

Car needs new engine. Mechanic going to charge $3000 to replace. I guess I need a new car now :(

First the Good News...

This Sunday, I got to go to Charles and Li's wedding in Bellevue. First off, I have to say, I was utterly touched that I was invited to the wedding. I have been living here for 2 years, and I had made enough good friends to be close enough to them to be able to be apart of one of their most precious moments. I am truely blessed to be living here.

Anyways, the wedding was great. The ceremony itself was very touching, with some geniuine tender, "choke up" moments (including yours truely) and it was just great to see some of my friends all dressed up and looking suave. This is also marked one of the first weddings I have been to where I was generally drunk (open bar and I didn't drive...more on that later) and it was wonderful to feel like that and also not worry about the crunch time of work.

Li, with her acute matchmaking skills and wicked sense of humour, decided to make me sit (since I came with no date) at the bridemaids table with all her sisters (and one cousin). That was great and all, but 2 of them was sitting there with their bf!! Oh well...

Pictures coming soon...

Now the Bad News...

On Saturday, between going to work and running errands throughout the day, I was driving my car a lot. During that time, whenever the car was idled, I noticed this weird sound coming from my engine. Didn't think much about it though I was already planning to take my car in for maintenance sometime in the week.

Saturday nite, I went home to pick up something to bring back to work with me, when my car COMPLETELY STALLS as I exit my apartment complex. It literally stopped moving right at the exit, blocking all these cars behind me. Some ppl got out their car to help me push the car to the curb where I can call AAA.

Long story short...AAA towed my car to my mechanic...mechanic not openned til Monday...Monday, mechanics sez he can't look at til Wednesday...Wednesday, today, calls me and tells me my TIMING BELT BROKE!!

Well, they are still looking at it as we speak but it doesn't look good. Either its fixable or I have to buy a new car...which is not the best time to do so right now :(

I am really thankful that during my constant hi speed driving on the freeway that Saturday, my car didn't stalled then. But still...this really sucks...

I am sad...

Pictures Here Now!

Kristine's Birthday Week 2K4

enjoy...

"Baseball Been Bery Bery Good To Me..."

So, every year, since I work for a company that kinda owns the Seattle Mariners, I get the great opportunity of catching a game (or two) in some of the best seats in house...aka...the seats behind the Marines Dugout. Well, that opportunity came last Tuesday, against the Anaheim Angels and I have asked my fellow partner in crime / baseball fan, Linh to join me, siting just 2 rows back from the dugout.

Well, turns out dued to my hectic schedule (and the fact I had 4 straight meetings that day), I wasn't able to go to that game tonite. So, Linh went on her own, without me, taking my friend Karen instead (who is probably the BIGGEST baseball fan and my other choice to go see a game with me). They had a great time in which they couldn't believe how close they really were to the game. One guy in front of him even caught a ball will walking up the aisle to get a drink!

Funny Story insert: that guy who caught the ball was actually one of my coworkers who told me that he sat infront of these 2 girls who spent all night complaining about not getting a foul ball. Immediately, I knew he was talking about Linh and Karen :)

One of my co workers also got a pair of tickets to the Mariners vs. Angel game on Wednesday night and he too could not make it, and ended up giving it to me because I missed Tuesday game. So, as a birthday present, I took my friend Kristine as part of her week long birthday celebration.

Kristine was absolutely BLOWN away by the seats and so was I because these seats are even BETTER than the ones I would have sat on Tuesday, as they put us RIGHT UP AGAINST the dugout. We literally put our feet up on the dugout to watch the game. We saw the game really close, and saw (we could even "talk to them") every player walked in and out of the dugout. Kristine was a little worried about foul balls and flying bats but she enjoyed every minute of game (she didn't once get up). Kristine even got a baseball from talking to the Ballgirl. The Mariners won the game 1-0 and Ichiro got his 233rd hit in the game, trying to break that record. These were the best seats I have ever gotten.

On Thursday, I once again manage to get ANOTHER pair of dugout seat tickets for that's night game because no one at work were able to go because of work (including myself!) We all spent about a couple of hours trying to get rid of the tickets (you would think it would have been easy) and I finally off loaded them to my friend who's father and brother was in town and has never seen a Mariners game. Needless to say, despite being late for the game, they had a great time sitting that close to the game.

Shangri-La

Friday nite...after a week of chaos at work, and 6pm conference call to Japan, it was time to go out and celebrate the tail end of Kristine's week long birthday celebration. The final stop, Shangri-La (formerly ISPY) in downtown Seattle for a party hosted by one of Kristine's friend.

It was a nice turn out (not too crowded) as I walked in the club with 8 other girls. But the party was great and the DJ was just awesome. Tons of great old school hits for me to dance and sing along. I got to hang out with Jojo, one of the party promoters, who was just an awesome guy who can really dance. He did the whole New Edition dance for "I'm Still in Love with You" on the dance floor which everyone gave mad props for. I also got to see our friend Cherry dance...and boy can she dance. She was on fire! Makes me wanna take lessons now to keep up with all these "kids" ;)

Anyways, we all hit the Broadway Grill afterward for our 2am meal of those awesome Jalapeno Corn Fries. One of my most favorite nites! Pictures coming soon...

Crazy

Heylo to my loyal readers.

Yes, its been awhile since I last posted. Lets just say, its been CRAZY here. Especially after having a very LAZY Labour Day (really didn't do much at all), I come back to work and I get an CRAZY amount of work load. How crazy? Basically, since one member of my team is in Japan, and another is leaving for materity leave, I have to fill in for them and do the job of 3 people. Yes, the crazy crunch time has begun for me.

Not only that, I also had a surprise business trip to LA for Monday in which I had to work a good part of the weekend to prepare for. It was just CRAZY.

Crazy Crazy

How bout this for CRAZY? Friday...my sister had her first child then. Sara was born on September 10, 2004 at 11:17 am at 7 pounds 9 ounces, and about 22 inches long. I am a proud uncle now (again!). Not only that, my coworker Keith, had his first child on Friday also (its a boy!)! And he was in the same waiting room as one of those Penny Arcade guys who was also having a kid (his was born on the 9th, though). And I could bet they all really didn't want their childs born on 9/11.

Friday was also Charles' CRAZY bachelor's party in Seattle. We had a CRAZY time but I can't believe the amount of money I spent that night. We all spent like $108 bucks EACH on dinner ALONE!! That did not even included what we did afterwards (which I am not allowed to talk about :P). CRAZY...CRAZY...

Craziness

Sunday...after going to work in the moring, party at Ken's place in the afternoon, I flew to LA in the evening for a Monday morning meeting in Santa Monica. And guess who was on the same flight with me to LA? Why, it was none other than 90210's Ian Ziering and OJ Defense Lawyer Robert Shapiro. And do you know what was more crazier than that? They were both riding in COACH with me on ALASKA AIRLINES!! Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I betcha anything Ian's wife would never be caught dead on coach! (turns out they are getting an divorce...I learn something new everyday on imdb.com!)

Anyways, I stayed at this AWESOME hotel in Santa Monica where I had a whirlpool bath tub that opened up to the bedroom so I can watch TV while I bathe. Hell yeah, I did that!! But the place is CRAZY expensive...but company paid of course :) Craziness!

Another reason why NY is the coolest

Oh yeah...I promised to post this email from my friend Josh in NYC and his roaming reports from the protests that took place over the weekend...

iNfoCity...not just news about me...but news from all over! (TM)

Yesterday there was a huge march that started just a few blocks from my apartment. Something like 400,000 people were there. I joined in and it took about 3 hours to move 20 blocks.

Megan and I had the good luck to be standing right next to the only act of violence that happened in the march.

From salon.com
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/30/sunday_protests/index1.html

"Protest Warriors, a Texas-based, right-wing group whose members have crashed lefty demonstrations carrying mocking signs like "Communism has only killed 100 million people. Let's Give it Another Chance," sent a contingent to march into the crowd. "We're about to have some fun," said Sergio Kadinsky, a 20-year-old Protest Warrior from City College of New York. At first, to their evident frustration, they were ignored or indulged. "They have the right to be here, but they're jerks," shrugged McCormick.

Soon enough, though, a group of outraged anarchists saw what was going on, tied their bandanas around their faces, and charged, yelling, "Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!" A brief fistfight ensued, during which several of the Protest Warriors' signs were broken. That was pretty much the extent of the day's violence. "

What this article doesn't mention is that they were carrying a sign that said "Black children should go to a black school". And that was what really pissed people off.

I also got to see Triumph the Insult Comic Dog right outside madison square garden. I'll have to watch Conen O'Brian tonight and see it.

This morning there were about 12 cops per block by my apartment even though I am a mile away from the actual convention. That is like one cop for every 2 people on the street!

The bike protests from a few days before were also a lot of fun. Something like 5,000 bikes clogged up the streets. The funniest thing was watching two guys walk out of a bar seeing all these bikes and one says "What's the point?" "To protest Bush" "Oh... right on." He sounded like a lost clip from Napoleon Dynamite.

Boyfriend Arm Pillow

Goddammit this is funny!

http://www.gizmo.com.au/public/News/news.asp?articleid=3123

I guess it funny until you find out that one of your Japanese friends is divorcing his wife because he's always at work and she started cheating on him...

Medium Update

So, yeah...long time since updating...been lazy...blah blah blah...

--been watching a lot of movies...in theatre and at homes with friends. Movies include: Garden State (great cute movie), Collateral (liked it up to the Hollywood-esq ending), Girl Next Door (liked it up to the Porn Convention scene), Mystic River (good acting but still feels to much like they are trying too hard to get an Oscar), and The Village (the more I think about it, the more I hated the movie).

--went to Vancouver with a whole bunch of girls as I make an attempt to show them a good time. Good time shopping and eating. But Saturday night clubbing was very disappointing, we couldn't get into a SINGLE club...we were in lines for at least 30 minutes at one club, another 1 hour at another and then turned away from one more because one of use wasn't dressed right! Then we tried this lounge on Davie only to find out it was closing. We finally hit one club 30 minutes before last call and had one drink before calling it a night. I feel bad that I couldn't show my friends a good time that night...

--ah...okay...lazy again...so, I like to say that the rest of what I have been doing can be summed up in photos...updated my CM2: Chronicles of the Moment album...check out page 4 on....enjoy

Back to work...

Humour for 80's Loving Computer Geeks

http://142.55.41.245/~vdi/

Please sign the guestbook as well!

Yesterday

Tuesdays is usually new DVD (and Video Games) release day. Yesterday, one of the new releases was The Girl Next Door Unrated DVD (and Shaolin Soccer US version DVD). Best Buy had a special that if you get The Girl Next Door DVD, they will also throw in a special Maxim's Girl Next Door Contest DVD.

Despite the fact that none of us have even seen this movie, we all bought this DVD...even me...oh, the shame :(

Yesterday's Yesterday

At lunch, we had a fire alarm go off here at work. Turns out not to be a drill because 3 firetrucks showed up as well (I guess you can say, it was a 3 alarm...).

We all went to lunch only to come back and be told to take the rest of the day off to allow the firemen to investigate the "fire". Woohoo! You didn't have to tell me twice!

So, what did I do for the rest of the day? Go home and sleep. Oh...and I also went and bought a new Transformer. *insert transforming sound*

Yesterday's Tomorrow (er...Today!)

My friend Ben from LA is in town. Him and his impressive anime friends are coming down to see me and the Nintendo Store later today. I also made arrangements to take them to the Microsoft Store as well, for some heavily discounted items...

Damn...I should have hit him up for some stuff from Blizzard before he came :)

HAPPY TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO ME!!

Two years in Seattle! Wow!

What did I do to celebrate? Not much...

--Friday: took day off. Went to Mariners game vs. NY Yankees with 30 of my friends in which I help organized (cheap tickets from my company...hey, we do OWN the Mariners). Pictures coming soon...

--Saturday: went to work instead of going to park with my friends. Went to see "The Village" (the more I think about it, the more I didn't like the movie). Then went to friends house to watch sappy chinese love movie called "Sound of Color" in which had no english subtitles and my friends wanted to watch it in Mandrian. Regardless, I had no fuckin' clue what was happening...but it was still a bad movie.

--Sunday: laundry. Went "condo" hunting (more on that later). Went to Ben's place to hang out at his pool with Linh and Karen and Jenn and David, while I baked a pizza. Played Boggle and Speed Scrabble.

Seattle's Weather

Two quick little stories about Seattle's weather:

1. One time at a US Border crossing, the custom officer asked some questions about me and where I worked. Then he went and asked me about how Seattle's weather is like. I told him it is really nice and sunny. And then, with a crossed reaction, as though I failed some major exam question, he told me I was wrong and that Seattle is always dark and rainy. I protested that it really was a very nice and sunny place at this time of year. He then went and shushed me, jokingly telling me keep that a little secret to prevent more ppl from moving to Seattle. He let me thru...

2. I was in a friendly chat with a bunch of ppl at a table when one person asked this other person, who happened to just buy a condo in Seattle, if his place had air conditioning. He laughed and said no, because it only really gets hot a couple of days in the year and it wasn't worth it just for that.

Anyways, the point of the story here is that Seattle is NOT the dark and gloomy and always rainy place that most ppl stereotype it to be. In fact, since I have moved to Seattle like 2 years ago, I experience moderated climated place that is never too hot or too cold, that can get as as sunny as San Diego and rains about as much as it does in Toronto (which is ever so typical). Honestly, its an absolutely beautiful place to be especially with all the mountains and "greenery" surrounding ya.

Having said all that, I have to say that Seattle right now is SO FRIGGIN' HOT AND SUNNY. In fact, its been like this for like the last couple of weeks, to a point I have a hard time sleeping at nights cuz its so warm (no air con, remember). Even Denny experienced how unfamilarily hot and sunny it was when he was in Vancouver that couple of weekends ago. I even have a really dark tan from the Seattle sun, and I dont burn that easily. And what's more interesting, since these weeks of this heat wave, I can only recall it rain ONCE (last friday), which only gave us a couple of days of cool relief (back up on Sunday).

Yup, being in Seattle now will pretty much shatter that little misconception that most ppl have of the Northwest...come and visit, wont cha?


New "Friend"

New friend added to my friend's blogging list on the side that I like to read. Songco, I met last year at her July 4th party in San Fran. She's now become my cool friend / inside person at Blogger.com / Google.com offering me nifty insider stuff that most geeks like me would appreciate! Yeah, I am such a nerd :P

Dr. Jekyll and David H.

Last Saturday, my friend David threw a Red Bull Party at his place in Kirkland. Well, what what wierd about this was not only because it was a Red Bull party (where it was a drinking party where you drank drinks mixed with Red Bull), but the fact that David actually "THREW" a party at his place! David is what you consider a typical Microsoft employee...very quiet, shy and not much of a party goer...

So, it suprised me even more how crazy David was at his own party. He truely let his "hair down" for this one, which was partly dued to the Red Bull in his system, but mostly, because he invited some of his college buddies from Vancouver down for the party. David was like another person around these guys, much more zany-ier, more open and dare I say, more naughtier (not to me of course).

You know, I am kinda the same. When I am around certain people, people who have known me the longest, I do become a more different person than I am use to. In fact, the more that I think about it, the more I realized that most of my friends in Seattle have never really seen the "real me", with or without the alcohol...hmmm...I wonder when he will show here?

Anyways, it was very good and therapeutic to see David like that and I am sure he really needed it. And his college friends are just really cool. I mean, one of them was telling me how HE WAS THERE at this stripjoint called Brandi's in Vancouver where BEN AFFLECT was caught with that stripper there (thus ending his relationship with J.Lo).

Well, as much fun as I was having at the party with David's friend, it was becoming too much of a "sausage fest" for me to stay. So I left and headed to downtown Seattle to meet Linh and Jenn and Kristine and Angela and Cherry and the rest of them for the "chicky fest" at Toi, a really cool hip hop lounge that I haven't been to for like 2 years. Danced the rest of the night away before we ate at Purple Dot at 2am, something I haven't done in a LONG TIME.

NEW SHIT!! NEW SHIT!!

New Album with pics from all over the place...

CM2: Chronicles of the Moment

Check it out...

Resident Evil Apocalypse

HOLY CRAP!! Did anyone see the new Resident Evil Apocalypse movie trailer?

TORONTO IS RACOON CITY for the movie!!!

That's fuckin' cool how they blew up our City Hall like that :)

Remember I said I had 2 other albums to post?

Well..they are finally posted! Only 1.5 months late but nevertheless posted in my online photo album. Check them out:

Toronto Memories 2K4!: Check out pictures of Maur's kid, Monica's bday party I went to with Karaoke and my family and some of the my other friends from the Tee dot Ohh...these are also some of the last pictures I have ever taken with my old camera...

Toronto Scenes 2K4: check out various touristie shots of Toronto while walking around...oh the memories...

Escape-A-Date

Too Funny...

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040803/cltu060_1.html

Whatever happen to just having a back up plan with your friends?

Karaoke and Softball and Monkey

So, this Saturday was the big Softball tournament in which I was going to practice for. It was to start about 8am in the morning and play til it ends around 5pm (the final game, anyways), so LOGICALLY, we should have taken it easy Friday night and try not to stay up too late. Of course, that's not what happened...

Friday night started with a happy hour early evening lounging at my friend's club, X Factor (which, btw, this is THE BUSIEST I have ever seen the club, though the Dance floor was still bare). Anyways, the plan was to stay for a bit and then head out to go home to get some sleep.

Unfortunately, we ended up meeting some really cool people and we started talking and playing pool (in which I totally played my best game EVER) and having a really good time. Ended up being invited to Karaoke by these people which in turn, more and more people got invited to go (including half the softball team). So, we all stayed up singing Karaoke til 1am in the moring...this was not good.

Next morning, as hard as it was, I got myself out of bed (didn't fall asleep til 3am) and got to the baseball field around 8am.

The tournament itself was fun but our teams (there were 2 of us) were utterly SLAUGHTERED by the other teams. While we were playing for fun (in fact, most of the team nevered played softball before), all the other teams had all very SKILLED players, who even played on other leagues, and very competitive. We pretty much lost all our games and ended up facing each other in the FINAL BATTLE FOR LAST PLACE game. Though my team ultimately lost that game as well, that was probably the most fun and best game we ever played. Spent the rest of the afternoon watching the final games by the SKILLED teams which was very entertainment to watch. Every team really played very well that day.

Check out the pictures:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/naaap_softball_tour/

Saturday night, after a long nap, went out to celebrate fellow co worker / ex Digipen Jon Tihee Johnson's bday at the Garage, a billard / bowling / bar in Seattle. Actually, it was kinda a surprise party for him which he totally enjoyed. Anyways, a really good time...check out the photos here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/tihees_birthday/

Sunday: believe it or not, was my FIRST weekend off, where I did go out with any one, no softball practice, I didn't call anyone, no one called me, did nuthin...but stay home and clean my place and did laundry and oh yeah, watch a couple of Hip Hop movies (Brown Sugar and 8 Mile). I really needed that...

Harold and Kumar, part deux

So, last night, I had a free pass to another preview screening of Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. I took my friend Alvin to it, in which we took off from Redmond at 5:30pm to catch the 7pm showing. It was because of rush hour traffic that we had to leave this early because the seats were not guaranteed, even though we had passes (it was still first come, first serve).

We got to Pacific Place at about 6:15pm and the line up around the theatre was HUGE!! We dottled to the end of the line and waited patiently to get in. About 6:40pm, they let ppl into the theatre. About 6:45pm, the line stopped and the theatre was full. We didn't get it.

In fact, A LOT of people didn't get in. There was enough people who didn't get in to fill another theatre. And we were slapped right in the middle of this line.

Personally, I didn't care too much about getting in to see it again. But I felt really disappointed for Alvin because he drove and he skipped off from a major deadline of work just to see this movie with me. Oh well. BTW, of all the free screening movies I have given passes to and went to, this is THE FIRST I was ever denied into the theatre. They REALLY OVERBOOKED for this event.

We later went to University Village for some dinner. We actually got to eat at this little Thai restaurant that Alvin has been ALWAYS wanted to get into but never could because it was "always a line up outside." And now we know the reasons, because: a) the place is INCREDIBLY SMALL so it wont fit alot of ppl and; b) THERES ONLY ONE COOK cooking everything!! It took about 45 minutes to get our food and though it was cheap, it wasn't a whole lot. I really dont think I will come back here again but if I do, its take out all the way (when we left, expected take out time was 1 hour).

New Album!

Actually...old album...my steps towards bringing the other 3 old albums available for viewing...

Here is my Zoo Trip album taken sometime after E3 and before my vacation to Toronto. We went to the zoo as a company trip / wrap up party for my last project (for a "Monkey tour"...get it? hahaha)

Anyways, check it out!

The other 2 albums coming soon!

Out of the Blue

You know, since I have moved to Seattle, I have become kinda of a last minute kinda guy. Yes, I procrastinate in everything I do but I also never usually have anything planned to do, say, for the weekend until the very last minute. Like that river rafting trip I took last couple of weeks ago...that was only planned for the me the night before, just cuz I happened to be at Linh's place that night, with nothing to do that night either...

Which is why I also love it when things happen for me "out of the blue." When I have nothing planned for a particular day only to get a surprise phone call / msg to go do something...

Take last Thursday night. Nothing planned for dinner...was just going to work thru the evening and then go work out, when Alvin calls me and asked me to an inpromptu BBQ with a bunch of Canadian pharmacist / Microsoft employees I have never met. Cool! Good food, nice ppl (some of which turns out I met before) and I even kicked ass in a game of Big 2. Not bad for a Thursday night...

And of course, take this past weekend. Denny suddenly appeared in Vancouver last week and asked me to come up for Saturday. Not that I had anything planned for Saturday but I pretty much dropped everything and drove up to Vancouver to spend it with Denny and his family. Had an great time out with Denny and his cousin (which included a lounge, a club and a last event that I can't talk about but involved money and sitting by yourself) and dim sum with his parents. Drove back to Seattle the next day only to go to a last minute movie (Bourne Supremacy--good movie) with Linh...

And even yesterday....minding my own business, and I get asked to go shoot some frisbee that evening, just cause it was a beautiful day...wow

Oh...speaking of out of the blue...NEW ALBUM...Dragonboat and my company picnic pictures with my NEW CAMERA :) Check them out here:

Saturday Fun Day

Enjoy

Hawaii, here I come...

Great news. Bought my tix to Hawaii for Denny's sis wedding / hawaiian party this new years. Been procrasting a little too much to go and actually buy the tickets but today I did. I guess seeing Denny's parents this weekend and how excited they were if I were to show up made me wanted to go even more...

Even better news. So, I check my junk mailed filled hotmail account this afternoon to get a flight fare price notice that a flight to Hawaii during new years DROPPED almost $300!! Normally, a flight from Seattle to Hawaii is about 700 bucks during that peak new years time (and I was more than ready to pay that much) but when I saw it drop to $452, I literally jumped at buying my tix to Hawaii. And its on United, so I get the miles!! Waaaahooo! It was a no brainer!

But what luck, eh? I felt so lucky today I decided to go buy some lottery tix as well...hey...you never know :)

Now December seem so far away :(

Harold and Kumar

I saw a special sneak preview screening of this movie last Friday and I must say, this is a VERY FUNNY (stupid and dumb) movie which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED (so much so I had already won a free pass to another screening this THURSDAY in which I will go
see again).

So, to help plug this movie again and my love for Asian Amercian (and Canadian) cinema, here is a letter from Harold and Kumar themselves that you should read:


MESSAGE FROM ACTORS JOHN CHO & KAL PENN - Please forward to everyone!

July 24, 2004

Dear Friends, Fans, Haters, Players, and True Money Makers,

Hey! This is Kal Penn (aka Kalpen Modi) and John Cho writing to encourage you to go see our upcoming comedy from New Line Cinema, "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," opening nationwide on July 30th. This film marks the first time a major studio is releasing a project with two Asian American males as the leads. We don't have stereotypical accents, we don't passively tread through the story, we're not asexual or hypersexual, there are no martial arts scenes, one-dimensional cab driver segments. We play a couple of all-American guys who happen to be of Indian and Korean American descent. Our characters (Harold and Kumar) are post-collegiate buddies who get the munchies and end up going on the adventure of their lives as they set out to satisfy a spontaneous craving for White Castle burgers. Ebert and Roeper just gave our movie "Two Thumbs Up"! We hope you will too. Read on.

The opening weekend for any film is extremely important. Studio executives (the people who make big decisions about movies) track the numbers from that first weekend's ticket sales and make all kinds of decisions based on that data.
They decide if they will add more screens to show a film, if they will spend more money in promoting it, if they will start investing in a sequel... but most importantly, they decide if elements of the film work and whether they should do it again. In our case, that means they will be asking, "Will a strong script and story succeed or fail with 2 Asian American guys in non-stereotypical roles?". We personally think it will succeed, but we need your help! This film is our chance to prove that realistic, nonstereotypical depictions can make an audience have a blast, and take in enough money to make this happen in the future.

By buying a ticket to "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle", you aren't just gonna get to see a really funny movie with two dudes who look like you. Nope. You're also going to be saying to media outlets, "I support accurate representation of Asian Americans and would like to see more." You have the power to change things simply by buying a ticket to a film that we believe you'll have fun watching anyway!

Please go to the theaters on the weekend of July 30th, and watch "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle". We look at this awesome opportunity like we do voting in an election. Every movie ticket someone buys is a VOTE, and the cool part is, you're allowed to vote as many times as you want. With your support of the film, we will show decision-makers in Hollywood that supporting movies like these is not only the right thing to do, but is also good business. We'll also show YOU what it's like to ride a cheetah, hang glide off a cliff, pick up a hitchhiking Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser), tell off a bunch of ignorant punks, get love interests, and sing Wilson Phillips at the top of our lungs.

So just hold on for one more... week, and check out the website at www.HaroldandKumar.com. This film opens the weekend of July 30th! Send this email to all of your friends. Throw parties. Order food. Make a night (or weekend) out of it and go see "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"! This is a landmark opportunity for the Asian American community, and we are proud to be the faces involved. With your support and the success of this film, we hope that it's only the beginning of many more Asian Americans on screen...

Enjoy the movie,

Kal Penn and John Cho
"Kumar" and "Harold"
New Line Cinema's "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle"

NOW GO SEE THE MOVIE!!

3 Day Long Super Weekend (or how I FUCKIN' love my new camera!)

HUH? 3 day weekend? well...turns out, after I took the Monday morning off for a doctor's appointment, I went home only to lock my keys to my car in the trunk...so I had to wait for AAA to bail me out...so I decided to take the rest of the day off...

SUPER weekend? well, I did ALOT this weekend. One of the most fulfilling I have ever had...lets break it down!

--saturday morning: Dragon boat race. Drove up to see the NAAAP team do really badly (last in every race, even beaten by a team of old ladies, almost tipped over in one race as well...). It was also very sunny and hot out. Took a lot of pictures with my new camera, while discovering all the cool stuff it can do. The funny thing about the camera is that it takes pictures REALLY quickly, so much so I had a hard time adjusting because I was use to a pause like from my last camera. But once I got use to it, I REALLY admire how fast it takes pictures. I love my new camera.

--saturday afternoon: company picnic. Hanged out with Vivek and James and Max and Nate and Jon Johnson and his girlfriend. Its funny how Jon has totally changed into a new person after working in Japan for a month. He is now a "playa!" I am dead serious. Anyways, ate like a king, played some volleyball and took some great action shot of the picnic. I love my new camera.

--saturday evening. Dinner with Alvin and a bunch of his friends, including meeting his new cute gf, Julie (who I have met before). Highlight was meeting a couple who's met while the guy was enaged and the girl was dating the guy's roomate. They went out for only 2 MONTHS before they married each other. Been together for 13 years now. Lovely...Didn't take any pictures but I still love my camera...

--saturday nite: clubbing with 6 girls at X Factor, my friend's club, as he attempts to throw a "party". This is like the second time I have been to his club and both times, it was COMPLETELY DEAD. It was horrible. Me and the six girls, trying to liven up the place were the ONLY PEOPLE DANCING! We left around 12 midnite which was very awkward cuz we were the only "life of the party" and we left our friends in the cold...hey...we tried...later went to Red Door bar in Fremont where I discovered the cute new girl of the group has a bf already...Aggrrrrr...at least my camera takes good nite shots....I love it!!

--sunday morning: slept in.

--sunday afternoon: softball practice. Most ppl didn't show up because of probably being tired from Dragonboat. Too bad, they missed out on MY TRIPLE PLAY as a pitcher...too busy playing to take pictures but doesn't mean I dont love my new camera...

--sunday late afternoon: went to "the Bite of Seattle" a food fair at the Seattle Center. I missed last year so it was cool to finally check it out. LOTS of food to try out. I had mostly Crab Cakes, Beef Brisket over a Sausage on a bun and Coconut Shaved Ice. Some pictures taken while we try to recover from food coma. Camera...Love...

--Monday: because I decided to take the rest of the day off, I decided to do stuff around the house that I have been negecting, like Laundry. Because my washer and dryer was broken, had to use the in-complex facilities for the first time which meant I needed quarters. But since I had no car (yet) and no change machine anywheres, how the heck was I going to do laundry? I ended up getting about $4 in quarters from my collection of those "US State" quarters I have been collecting. Turns out I had enough "doubles" to make up $4!! When I got my car back, used it to do Dry Cleaning, wash car, dinner, and even bring a old computer to be recycled. And I managed to clean my place up too. Awesome!

Did I mention I love my new camera?

New Digital Camera

So, yesterday afternoon, I got my new digital camera...the Sony Cybershot DSC-W1 (black one) and must say, I absolutely LOVE THIS CAMERA. I thought it was time to "upgrade" (but really downgrading) to a new camera and I spent a lot of time researching my perfect camera which made me come this camera. Without getting all technical, some of the reasons why I got this camera were:

i) Size. Its about the size of all those Canon IXUS / Powershot / Digital Elphs. After lugging my huge Sony DSC S85 everywhere, I realized I wanted a small camera. This thing fits into my pocket nicely, which means I can finally be comfortable bringing my camera virtually anywhere. More nite club shots a coming...

ii) Memory Stick. As expensive those lil' fuckers are, I am stuck with a whole bunch of them so it was a no brainer to get another Sony camera.

iii) Large 2.5 inch LCD. Its HUGE!! Just look at it!!

iv) Batteries: this camera actually uses AA batteries. Though you should use the provided Ni-MH versions of AA that it came with (last increibly long), I can always plop in good ol' alkaline AA in there as well. Though, it wont last as long, its a good back up battery source for those last minute "cool girls in Kill Bill costume" shots.

v) Its cool and new: only out since last month, ya'know I have to get the latest and greatest!!

Anyways, I plan to take my first pics this weekend when I go to a Dragonboat race and my company picnic. Should be cool...


Oh...so, what did I do with my last camera? well...when i went back to Toronto, I actually "donated" away to my sister and her husband. They were looking for a camera and thought they should have it since there first child is coming soon (need to take plenty pics of that!). Its still a great camera and I know they will get great pics out of it!


Speaking of pictures...

I have a new photo album up. Pictures from last week's rafting trip with Linh. Taken with a disposable waterproof camera. Check it out.

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/rafting_down_sauk/

To show how busy and/or lazy I am, I still have like 3 other albums that I need to post on my online album. They include an album from a trip to the zoo I went and 2 albums from my trip back to Toronto (some of my LAST PICS with my old camera). Trust me...they are coming...


"ITS ANCHORMAN! NOT ANCHORLADY!"

My favorite AnchorLADY from San Diego, Lee Ann Kim (aka NewsDiva) has a wonderful webpage / blog that I like to read every so often. Everyone should check it out if you are looking into the insights of an proud Asian American journalist.

http://www.xanga.com/skin.asp?user=newsdiva

I met Lee Ann thru the San Diego Asian Film Festival (she start the darn thing) and I must say she is one of the most nicest, coolest and most down to earth person I have ever met. Its funny watching her on the news and how proper and professional she is, and then getting to "hang out" with her with her "hair down" and its like 2 different people.

Anyways...it was a great pleasure working with you girl...and I hope to see ya soon...


I also updated some of the side bar stuff, including a new link to Jules' website. I also found out she is getting married as well! Congrads girl!

iNfoCity Weekly Blog Entry Template

insert comments about being busy and/or lazy to blog recently
Sorry...been busy with work. This past 2 weeks, they actually gave me work to do on a new project. Lotsa work. Lotsa work that require me to think a lot. Its amazing how much of my work is just thinking for very long periods of time, sometimes with nothing to show for it, so most people think we game designers do nothing but play games all day...but in reality, we are thinking...anyways...that's my excuse

insert listing of things I did last weekend
--friday, Anchorman with Linh. I laughed a lot. She hated it.
--saturday, white water rafting with Linh and her sister up at the Sauk River. It was a free outing with Linh's sister's lawyer group so all I had to do was show up. Though the water wasn't as wild as the last time I went, this river was much more technically challenging and more scarier IMHO. Because the tides were low, lots more rocks stuck out of the water creating new obstacles to get the raft stuck in, plus it really freaked me out how I can see the bottom of the river and all its "jaggy-ness" and how bad it would be to fall out of the boat.
--saturday nite, didn't go out because I was just dead tired. Slept.
--sunday, softball tryouts/practice in the morning. very fun, though I am kinda rusty. Dim sum for lunch. Went back to work to finish stuff. See, I am busy now :(

insert funny antidote of the week
--nothing else to talk about, because either there wasn't anything or I just plain forgot...
--oh oh...my new digital camera comes in tomorrow!! What happened to my last one? Ah...more on that some other time...

insert promised to write more frequently next time
Yeah...yeah...

Blog Blah!

Inspired by Denny and his now frequent daily entries into his "chronicles", I was going to do the same...

Naw...I have become officially more busy and therefore more lazy to do so...

Here are the highlights:

--my July 4th weekend was not a complete bust as I thought it may be.

--Went to comedy stand up show on Friday (the openning act guy was funnier than the headliner).

--Saturday, went to Mt. St. Helen. Though the "volcano" was covered by clouds, it was still a beautiful view, day and drive.

--Sunday...spent the whole day drunk on Sangria with co workers and a bunch of female Japanese exchanged students in Bellevue. Had an awesome view onto of Scott's condo, which not only did we see Bellevue's fireworks, but we also were able to watch Seattle's and Kirklands too...it was like little nuclear explosions shooting off in many locations all at the same time...

--Monday...finally watched Fahrenheit 9/11. Regardless if I am a Bush Hater or not, the movie openned by eyes (ears and heart) to corruption politics really is. Its scary really...

--Tuesday, back at work. New project. Insane new project with a more insane amount of time to do it...welcome back to Crunch time :(

--tuesday also marks a very busy day as everything needed my attention. Let me count the ways:
i)cell phone buggy last couple of days, so I needed to call for replacement
ii) couldn't get the new digital camera I wanted (btw, my old one is no longer with me) from NZ's Sony connection so I had to order one ASAP from this place in NYC. Awesome attitude these ppl on the phone. Anyways...ended up with better deal then going thru Sony.
iii)Tivo in the morning going wonky...had to restart Guided Setup again, but didn't know how to redo it with internet. Had to look it up online. Done but almost late for work...
iv) washer and drying not working properly. took too long to dry clothes, made clothes smell like mildew because to too longer to dry (and stay wet longer). Called in apartment to fixed. Still waiting for response.
v) because no washer and dryer, had to go to friends house to do laundry. Did 2 very big loads of laundry
vi) business proposal meeting with friend. More on that some other time :)
vii) needed to do my finances to figure out if I can afford a house this year. Doesn't look good so what am I going to do especially since my lease is up REALLY soon.
viii) did I mention work got a hell a lot busier :(

First Off...

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!

Nothing Planned for July 4th

Wow...maybe because I am just lazy or something, but I have nothing planned for this long weekend here in the US...nothing at all :(

And what's worst, most of my friends here are busy entertaining their own guest or out of town this weekend so I have nothing to do with them either :(

Originally, I wanted to fly up to SF again for July 4th weekend but then I decided I should try to save some money and stay in town. Now I wish I have done that instead (I did try to look up some last minutes flights, but it was still too expensive and Jon is busy anyways).

So, what the heck am I going to do this weekend? Think dammit think!! :(

On a lighter note, this past week has been incredibly boring at work, with very few things for me to do and things I do have to do, I do very quickly...of course, I shouldn't complain...at least I get to go home early and have my weekends off...

I did go to Portland last weekend for the first time and I watch a heck of a lot of movies too, like Dodgeball (funny), White Chicks (funnier) and Spiderman 2 (better than the first IMHO).

This week was also the last time I will see Justin before he moves down to Pleasant Hill, CA (outside of Oakland) to take a traveling Occupational Therapist job. Justin was one my closest friends here in Seattle and he will be missed. Good luck buddy...

Welcome Back to Seattle Post

Hey y'all...

Yeah yeah...been lazy with the post since I have been back. Once again, I have been busy, trying to readjust into my structured unpredicable life here in Seattle. Yes, I am at busy at work (kinda)...did you know I have work waiting for me when I got back...I mean, it could have been done by someone else I assume but no...they waited for me to return so I can do it...

And I still haven't even unpacked fully from my trip...in fact, my place is a utter and complete mess now and I dont know when I can straighten everything out (will be out of town this weekend...more on that someother time). Not only that, I have tons of things to watch (new DVDs bought in Toronto) and play (games I bought), not to mention the shit load of downloaded TV shows I still have to watch on my PC. At least my 2 weeks worth of backlog Tivo has been caught up (most of it anyways).

Anyways, here are the highlight of the past week:

--my final day in Toronto consist of lunch with my mom before my friend Leila came to pick me up to go to the airport. We even had time to stopped off for a quick bite to eat and even Square One shopping mall for some last minute geek shopping. We chatted on what was important...video games :)

--flight to Denver and then to Seattle. Much longer than when I did it the other way. And oh, on my Denver to Seattle flight, for some strange reason, I really needed to go to the bathroom a lot....like REALLY a lot...but the worst was during take off when I really had to go...but i couldn't until the "captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt light". I was dying...

--thursday...back to work with work waiting for me. Nothing I couldn't handle...

--thursday nite...was going to go home and start cleaning up my place but I get a phone call from Porn. Funny thing about this guy...EVERYTIME he has a flight into Seattle, HE ALWAYS MISSES the flight out of it. So, he gets stranded in Seattle and he usually calls me for a place to crash. Luckily, airlines gave him a hotel room to stay in so he called just to go hang out. We go see The Chronicles of Riddick. That movies made absolutely NO SENSE whatsoever. Made Pitch Black look Citizen Kane or something..

--Friday: dinner in Alka Beach with Linh and her hot lawyer sister. Did I mention, that this is one of the first time I found parking in a busy place AND I PARALLEL PARKED all by myself in to the spot?!! Woohoo! After dinner to Linh's place, waited for Angela, sucked into watching Euro Trip Uncensored (awesome movie!) and then drinks at Triple Door with Justin and Paul and Andrea...

--Saturday: lunch with Oiyan and Jimmy. Then went home to build my Star Trek Enterprise model I got (it so fuckin' detailed and it even lights up! just awesome--yeah I am a geek) and sleep the whole afternoon away (no cleaning up yet). Dinner at Oiyan's with Jimmy and Chee Chen...and then I convinced everyone to go watch The Terminal after reading Denny's review of it. It was a good movie but I dont think I had that much of an emotional connection as Denny did. Maybe my heart is black...

--Sunday: tennis in the moring. Dim sum at lunch. Fremont Fair in the afternoon (somekind of hippy fair). Hanging out with Justin, Paul and Andrea in the evening at their place, watching Family Guy on DVD

--Monday: work, working out in the evening...missed strip club outting with the boyz :(

--Tuesday: doctor appointment in the morning. work. Dinner at Linh's (she cooked it herself). Love Actually viewing afterwards.

Now you are all caught up!

My last post in Toronto

My 2 weeks are almost up. I fly back to Seattle tomorrow. I had a blast in Toronto, seeing old friends and just hanging out. Despite that...I can't wait to get back to Seattle...I guess I am a little anxious to get back to work...

Here are the highlights:

--bbq and karaoke for Monica's bday. Got to see Monica's old friend Lauren and Dawn who I met when I first moved to Seattle. Karaoke in Korean Town was awesome...that Korean place we went to was one of the best karaoke joints I have ever been to which VERY recent songs.

--dinner with Silver and John and Rental Girl. We told so many great stories about the past (mostly involving Steve) which some I almost forgot. One great story I was told went something like this:

John was driving Wayne in his car, somewhat speedy down Toronto streets when both of them hear something.

Wayne: do you hear that? its kinda faint.
John: yeah I did. What is it?
Wayne: I dont know, but the faster you go, the louder it gets. You should speed up.

As they speeded up, it turns out that faint sound was a police siren. John was pulled over and his is how he recieved his first speeding ticket.

--met up with old Elementry friend Huy and his girl, Jin. We watch Euro Cup 2004 soccer, England vs. France at the Peel Pub. What an awesome game with the crowds in the bar (both England and France fans fairly represented) really into the game. Toronto is such a soccer city...it was amazing...I walked down my neighbourhood in the Portuguese Village and everyone is glued to their sets watching the Portugal vs. Greece game. Even at the mall, ppl found any TV they had and sat infront of it. And when Greece won, the Greek neighbourhood went ballistics and some even (dare they) drove down to the Portuguese neighbourhood to gloat...awwww...that's Toronto.

--lunch with Jason discussing his wedding plans and life in the gaming industry. wish i had more time with him.

--dinner with old digipen classmate Vince in Scarboro. We ate good sushi and then met up with ex Seattlite Priscilla. I know that both Vince and Priscilla are good friends now because they argue with each other. I am happy.

--lunch with old digipen roomate John Mac and his gf, Megan, who JUST came back from Japan for a summer break. John Mac is now working at Rockstar Toronto for a bit. That boy is just as strange as ever ;)

--dinner with Londoner, Monica and Joey and Renee at some mexican joint near my house, were I have never eaten before. Went Bubble tea before I went to Mike's place where I met his roomates, 2 people from my past. In fact, I was only told that they were roomates with Mike at the last minute before I entered his house! Two person were Janice and Chung, who I met like 10 years ago at camp and never saw them since. Wow!

--hanged out at my friend, Hong at her place. Hong's a cool person to talk to with 2 brothers who really liked talking to me about the game industry. Stayed up late with all 3 of them...

--huge dim sum with the family. I brought a copy of my game on my GBA SP and my cousins couldn't stop playing the game. They wouldn't even allow my younger nephews to play.

--you know, i haven't been home for 1.5 years and the first thing I was told about is how my house was renovated and how I will not recognized it when I came back. Well....it wasn't THAT drastic...but what was drastic is the house next to mines....it use to be a little single story bungalow and now its a 3 story, MODERN design home. It looks incredible! Not only that, I found out that the person that lives in it is a semi famous Toronto celebrity (identity concealed to protect his privacy). Cool?

--actually, walking thru Toronto, there are a lot of NEW buildings everywhere. Mostly new condos but boy do they look very cool a lot of them do. Great designs. But not just the condos, there are a lot of DARING new buildings which very unique designs. Pictures coming soon...

Anyways...see y'all back in Seattle...

My 5 Minute Mid Toronto Vacation Report

(5 minutes is all I have left at this $3/hr internet cafe)

--so far fun...seeing a lot of friends and family
--but 2 weeks is not enough time for me...I usually come home for 3 weeks
--went mini golfing in the dark with the "Men of AXE" crew (aka The Gay Boyz) with fun nick names as The Choo's, Hentai Rob, White Boy Jon and Rental Girl...Then we went to all you can eat Korean BBQ at midnight for like $12 CANADIAN!! WOW!
--on Saturday, I nearly died from all the food I was eating with my sister's inlaws...we ate SOOOOO MUCH for dim sum followed by an invitation to their place for a BBQ dinner...I can't believe the amount of food there was that night...
--on Saturday, I also nearly died from a car accident that happend right in front of us of the freeway...we pulled over to help and make sure everyone was okay and called 911. I wasn't too worried about the accident at all but how we were off the side of the road waiting for the cops. Even the tow truck driver told us to leave in fear of getting rear ended.
--spent Sunday with my best bud Danny who came down all the way from London to spend the day with me. We went to the Pickering Flea Market where I got to see "trailer trash" of all ethnicities there....then went ate Japanese and watched Harry Potter 3 on an IMAX screeen. Just beautiful!
--Monday...went to see Jon and Thea and their new kid, Trentin in Oakville. That baby is growing really fast!
--Tuesday. Girlie shopping / tour of Toronto with my Seattlite-turned Torontian friend, Priscilla. I bet she never walked as much as she ever did than last nite :)

oh...yeah...did I mention it is friggin hot and humid here? and its supposed to rain too...but its not...
oh...at least all the girls here are wearing very tight tshirt/tank tops and short skirts everywhere they go...

ta da..

STILL in Toronto

These past days have been fun yet relaxing...basically walk around a lot and hopefully run into a few friends or two...next week is when I should actually call ppl out ;)

Last nite I was supposed to see Maur...he was going to drive down to Downtown Toronto so we can hang out at some IGDA Toronto geek meeting thing at some bar. He cancelled but I ended up still going (I was in the area). It was actually cool. Lots of ppl showed up and I got to see a couple of ppl I have met before. Toronto's game development scene is really growing by leaps and bounds...

The last time I was back in Toronto was a year and a half and man, everything changes here. I mean, there's a lot of thing that changed for me since I have come back every year or so, but it still blows my mind to see the change and know what it use to be.

Of course, there's a lot things I miss while walking thru Toronto like how beautiful some Toronto neighbourhoods are and how nice it is to be able to walk anywhere in the city and how safe it is. And oh yeah...Jamican Beef Patties from Bathurst Station, and those Panzerotti...DEEP FRIEND Pizza calzones...nothing taste better than fried pizza dough...YUMMY!!

Of course, there's one thing I dont miss about Toronto and its the humidity. And the humidity is not that bad here now either, yet all this west coast living I been thru as lowered my tolerance greatly...great thing I didn't come back in the summer...

Dont know what I will be doing tonite...supposed to go to a bar or dancing or something but everyone is so last minute here...just like me :)

In Toronto NOW...

Flew into Toronto last nite. Took off around 11am Seattle Time...got into Toronto 9:30pm Toronto Time. Yes...I usually lose about a day getting here and usually I dont sleep the night before but I made the mistake of doing so...so I couldn't sleep last nite...

And I have no internet at home :( I am using a internet cafe here on Yonge St.

So, I am just hanging out now...checked out the AXE store...found out Silver is out of town til next week...oh well...

Memorial Day weekend was very laid back and lazy. Went to a couple of BBQs, dinners and even went bike riding. Now I want to buy a bike...

Memorial Day weekend was also when NZ was in SF and I was also supposed to fly down also. Oh well...I missed that too...but got some great drunken phone calls instead..

A few things before I forget...

--I noticed that ALL airplane food taste the same. Not that it tast bad or good...just the same. I noticed this after I burped a bit and tasted the aftertaste and how it taste VERY familar.

--GLEN! Glen! Glen! Glen!
http://content.collegehumor.com/media/movies/starbucks.mov

--Check out the making of the Japanese commerical of my game:
http://watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20040528/mario.htm

and the actually commericial too!
http://www.planetgamecube.com/media_downloader.cfm?filename=/commercials/mario_vs_donkey_15.mpeg

oh, those wacky japanese!!

Too Stress

Last nite around 5pm I get an email regarding a problem I have on the project I am trying to finish up. I ignored it (I read the email but I thought it was about something else and it was not my concern).

2 hours later...I read the email. It was a bigger problem then I thought. But everyone have already left work.

2 hours later than...I came back to work after dinner to fix the problem. Now I dont mind coming in to work, especially when its a mistake on my part. But what was worst was I had to call in someone to come in as well. Luckily, one of my enginneers is really cool and didn't mind coming in. Took about 5 minutes to fix but it would take me another 2 hours to complete my part of the task.

2 hours later, around 11pm, I am home...exhausted and just want to veg. But I couldn't. My smoke alarm was churping, meaning the batteries need recharging. Just my luck.

2 hours later...after hitting 24hr Safeway, I finally go to bed.


Too Funny

During E3, Jon and I, along with his Winamp buddies (Steve and Dave) got to be apart of a little skit to be film for X-Play, that great little video game show on TechTV (sorry...G4TechTV now) with Adam Sessler and Moooorgan Webb (btw...saw the episode with us in it...can barely tell its us...oh well...at least we got to meet Morgan Webb).

Anyways, as thanks for doing the skit, they gave us all business cards and asked to email them for a free tshirt.

I got the Tshirt today...and when I openned it, I just laughed. Along with the tshirt, was a little note:

We ran out of large shirts. Sorry! Hopefully this XXL will suffice. Just pile a little more on your dinner plate tonite, and everything will be dandy.

Love,
X-Play

Gotta love those guys...

WOW! Two Albums in Two Days!!

Just uploaded my E3 2K4 album (yeah, its that slow at work). Didn't take as much pictures because there wasn't much to take pictures of (ie. Booth Babes). Special thx to Sze who uploaded all her pics into my album as well...

Check it out here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/e3_2k4/

Enjoy!

And this btw, is the BEST SHOT EVAR!!

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/e3_2k4/p1010023.html

Just too perfect...

Homeness

Quick heads up. I am going back to Toronto for vacation June 1st to Jun 16th. Sorry for the short notice but I only recently found out that I can go on vacation then (and even that's still not written in stone).

Anyways, this marks the longest I have ever been away...I haven't been back in Toronto for like one and half years, and I can't wait to go back and have my mom's cooking and see how everyone is....


Plug-ness

oh yeah...gotta plug:

PLAY MARIO VS. DONKEY KONG FOR GBA!!

Its out NOW!!

Check out the webpage

http://www.mariovsdk.com

or the japanese one

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/bm5j/index.html


Crazyness

One of my friends here is going to Toronto this weekend. I say this is CRAZY because she just BOUGHT the tix like yesterday which means they are MAD expensive (especially during this Memorial Day weekend...I should know...that's why I am leaving AFTER Memorial Day) and she is doing this just to SURPRISE a guy "she is seeing" for the weekend in hopes to mend a bad situation...

What ppl do for love, I guess....


Emptyness

This weekend, I got to check out my friend's new niteclub X Factor in Capital Hill here in Seattle. They had their grand openning party last Friday, in which I missed because I was in LA, so this was the first time I got to see the place.

First off, the club was awesome. I mean, its a really nice size with a second floor and a really crisp and clear sound system. The bad news was I went to it on a Saturday night and it was COMPLETELY DEAD! I mean...uncomfortably empty.

I went with a couple of ppl to check it out and with some meeting us there and they all showed up only to leave immediately. I stayed in the club to just hang with the owners, but it never picked up.

I kinda feel bad for the club but then again, its only the 2nd week. But I also feel bad that I help spread the word about the place only to show my friends a empty club. What's worst, I was told that I should have come on the Friday where it was completely packed...only that I was told by my friends who actually WENT to the club on Friday that it too was DEAD then.

Anyways, I hope the place picks up after I come back from Toronto...its a really cool place to hang out.


Hotness

Okay...FINALLY...I put up my pics when I went to Seattle Hot Import Nights Car Show early this month....

Check it out here:

http://public.fotki.com/namofni/seattle_hot_import/

Yah!! And all the guys rejoice!

Dum Dee Dum...

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/about/best/bos/30807835.html

...dee dum dum...

Thx to NZ for the link...can't wait to try it myself...I am the Terminator!

From SEA to LAX to E3 to 1up to X to I-5 to SF to DNA to WYB to SFO and back to SEA and NST...

The recap...

--Tuesday morning: at work watching the Nintendo E3 Press conference live before I go to SEA Airport. Flight delayed, arrived in at LAX late...
--Tuesday evening: missed the Nintendo party with Sheryl Crow that we were going to crash...after a $50 cab ride, ended up hanging out with Jon and Justin F and the rest of the Winamp crew at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. Amazed at how many white ppl eat there now (including our table). Later went to the Dresden to watch Marty and Elayne (a la Swingers) and then hit the Saddle Bar on Sunset, where we met up with ex-Digipen Ryan and some of my co workers. Stay up til 3 am.
--SIDE NOTE: I was in LA with Jon staying at his swanky ass hotel room at the St. Regis in Century City, paid for by AOL. And it was such awesome hotel with an awesome view. There was a phone with a little LCD screen that can control EVERYTHING in the room including the temperature and lighting...and even check your flight. Not only that, when we left the hotel as messy as we do, with clothes everywhere, they not only clean up the room, but OUR LUGGAGE too! They put all my dirty clothes in a bag and neatly folded my other clothes. They even wrapped up all my lose wire and plugs!! The cleaning lady even knew Jon's name!! Is that cool or what?!!
--Wednesday: E3 day one. Waited about 1 hour just to get our E3 pass. Lunch at Zankou Chicken. Fuckin Yummy! Back to E3. Didn't really see much except running around the hall meeting up with people who called me. But saw a lot of ppl I haven't seen in ages. Could have won a iPod mini too :(
--Wednesday evening: dinner with my company (of those at E3) at Buffet Land, this awesome ghetto Korean BBQ place set up by me. Its funny how I had to paid my own way to E3 yet I still had to set up dinners for the president. Oh well. Everyone digged the food. Jon and I later went to the AOL party where The Roots were playing. Sound in there sucked so we left. Went back to Sunset and hanged out at Dublin and Miyagi's with some NST crew. Hotel by 3am.
--Thursday: E3 day two. Realized my phone wasn't really working so I ended up not calling ppl and checked out the E3 show instead. The show was okay, with most of the BIG games of the show were games that were shown last year. The only thing worth looking at were PSP and DS. I am surprised of the positive reception to the DS and the demos really rock...and everyone really liked Metroid for DS, a game we worked on. I love the PSP too but the battery life (2.5 hrs to 10 hrs!?) and the fact that all the games were ports worried me.
--Thursday evening: dinner with my friend Ben and his Cal Arts boyz (who work all over the industry like Pixar and Maxis) at Curry House for some awesome Japanese curry (the only curry I like). No passes to Sony party (once again). We were supposed to go to Blizzard party but someone forgot our tickets. DOH! Ended up going meeting my friend Raina of 1-Up zine was hosting an awesome party with DJs who mix with video game music at the Little Temple Bar. One DJ (named DJ DolphinForce) was dressed up as a giant cardboard robot as he DJ. He was just incredible. Later went back to Sunset and to the ultra cool and snobby The Standard bar. Got back around 3am.
--Friday: E3 day 3 and we decided not to go. Instead went to Magic Mountain and rode rollercoasters all day. We had a blast especially since the line up were pretty short. The BEST rollercoaster there was called X. Basically, its a rollercoaster with ROCKING back and forth chairs that rotate so that sometimes you are going forward, upside down, backwards, head first etc...IT WAS INCREDIBLE...it was like nothing I have ever been on because you had NO IDEA where you were going!!
--Friday Evening: dinner with Pennya and his Standford buddies at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown LA. This is one of the great thing about going to E3 was meeting ppl and networking and this dinner was one of the best networking I have ever done. Met ppl from Namco, Ubisoft, THQ, Xfire and Sony. There were even a guy from Nvidia and a guy from ATI at the table. I wanted to take a picture of them hugging. Drank at the rotating bar above before went back to Pennya's place to crash at 3am.
--Saturday: breakfast with Pennya and his mom before we went to Honda dealership for a new key to Jon's car. Jon lost his keys and all he had was his valet key which could start the car but not open the trunk. Started our 6~7 hour drive to SF. On the way, we found his keys in his luggage. Get to SF around 5pm where Jon took at nap and I beat the crap out of Denny at Tekken 4 and Soul Calibur II.
--Saturday evening: dinner with Jon and Wen and Grace at San Tong, famous for its wings. Good food. Later met up with Jon's gf Linh to go to an Element party at DNA. Its fuckin' great to come up to SF and be able to go to a party as a VIP, bypassing the incredible long lines and $20 cover. Anyways, the party was really jumping and the girls were pretty hot in their short skirts (it was short skirt night). I got drunk. Went home and slept around 3am.
--Sunday: Checked out Haight St. and the Kid Robot Store and the new Giant Robot SF store. Then went to see Sylvia who was having a BBQ at her place. Turns out the Bay to Breakers Marathon was happening today in SF and she was running it. This marathon is famous for ppl dressing up to race, some going completely naked as well. Fun fun fun.
--Sunday evening: Dinner with Denny at Hawaiian place, watched Super Size Me with Jon and then Would You Believe bar for some drinks. This is the first time I have been here even though I been wanting to check out "Denny's hang out place" for the longest time. Drank 3 of Denny's "The Denny" drinks. Hanging out with Denny drunk is fun. I learned to properly play pool. Late nite dinner at Lucky Chances Casino for some Filipino breakfast. Boy there's a lot of Asian ppl at 2am gambling here. Back by 3am.
--Monday: driven to the SFO airport around 9am. Flight at 11am. Seattle by 1pm. Work by 2pm. Spent whole day moving my desk to a new location. Home by 8pm. Asleep by 10pm.

Photos of E3 coming soon. But I didn't take much dued to the lack of booth babes. Maybe I will ask Sze for her photos...