g5, g5

10. The Quest For Your Heart - Bjorn Kleinhenz
9. Violet Hill - Coldplay
8. Give It 2 Me - Madonna
7. The Worrying Kind - Maia Hirasawa
6. Shut Up And Let Me Go - The Ting Tings
5. Sexual Eruption - Snoop Dogg featuring Robyn
4. Just Like Me - Staphan O'Bell
3. I'm Your - Jason Mraz



2. L.E.S. Artistes - Santogold
1. Leavin' - Jesse McCartney
(yup - my transformation into a teenage girl has been completed)



I really like the part where he sings "G5, G5."

the chemtrails

What I learned this past week:

1. Chemtrails are mysterious substance that conspiracy theorists are alleging the gov't is spraying across the sky.

2. I don't like lemon meringue pies. In fact, I don't really like meringue anything period. So why I went ahead and bought a lemon meringue pie from Safeway just because it's $3.99 is beyond me.

3. I don't worry about anybody else but myself. That's what a coworker said about me. Albeit it was a half-joke, but it was pretty harsh. He said that's what I've always claimed, which is complete bull. I always said you shouldn't trust anybody (at work), not that you shouldn't care about anybody. I hate it when people misinterpret my intentions and twist things around.

4. David Archuleta = New England Patriots. People don't like early frontrunners and tend to root for underdogs instead. The Archuleta actually outperformed the Cook in the finale, but no matter, he lost by a lot.

5. In America, you get discriminated against if you are caucasian, college-educated, religious, and heterosexual (a virile heterosexual). That's what a guy at work claims as his reasons for being terminated. Of course, he left out the part of him being nuts and refusing to take medication. Sometimes, despite what Tom Cruise tells you, drugs are good.

6. Blackberries >>> raspberries.

7. I am really bored with watching dvds. It's become a chore. I think I am going to quit my Netflix subscription when this month is done with.

8. Foxboro Hot Tubs = Green Day.

9. Kristi Yamaguchi != New England Patriots. She won the shebang on DWTS. Anything else would have been a travesty.

10. Crepes are easy to make:

1 cup minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter (brought to room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 cups milk
(milk and egg should be at room temp for mixing)

Place all ingredients except milk in mixing bowl. Gradually add milk while beating with electric mixer. Process until batter has consistency of light cream. Let batter rest in fridge for 2 hours.

To make crepes, butter a 7-in pan. Place over medium heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into pan and rotate and tilt til batter coats pan evenly. Cook crepe until lightly browned on underside, then flip and brown on other side. Remove and stack onto wax paper.

Top crepe with nutella, banana, raspberry and vanilla ice cream and you get this:
It's delicious. Like really delicious!

the king of popping

The new season of So You Think You Can Dance debuted. Yes, this reality show features the most talented people on tv, way more so than American Idol. Check out this amazing guy:

the pending arrival of betty white, hopefully

On Thurs, the CA Supreme Court lifted the ban on gay marriage. The gays rejoiced. It's a historic day, like when back then black people got freed from slavery or women got the right to vote. I think it's great. It sounds like a great idea to let people be and let people love whom they want to love. I really cannot think of any downside to this, or how this would negatively affect me, but that's cuz I am not religious. See, if you are religious, then you start judging how other people should live, and homosexuality is supposedly not provided for in the bible and most other holy text. Oh well, more gay porn and S&M and interior decorating genius for the rest of us...Next week I am getting my furnace replaced by Apollo Heating and then getting my electrical upgrade done by Yick's Electric. And then come August, it's the kitchen remodeling. Things are rolling along, and so is the dough. I hope it all turns out okay...Mandarin class is finito. I am no better for it...I am considering going to Japan this year to hang out at udon stands, chill with Hello Kitty and the harajuku girls (are they passe by now?), and buy a trunkful of Ultraman action figures. I am thinking of two cities. Tokyo being one, but not sure about the other. Maybe Kyoto, Osaka...Jaclyn Smith is going to leave by mid-July. I have a strong suspicion that her replacement, who will be permanent, will, instead of a Charlie's Angel, be a Golden Girl. Hope at least she's more sweet Betty White than tough-as-nail Bea Arthur...I notice I am suddenly allergic to sunlight. The back of my neck and my arms, after being exposed to the sun this week, have suddenly broken out in rashes. Allergic to sunlight? What the hell? Am I like a vampire now?...Kristi Yamaguchi, Jason Taylor, and that icky Cristian are the finalists on Dancing With The Stars, and the two Davids are facing off in to be the next American Idol. I am rooting, if you can call my lackluster enthusiasm that, for Kristi and David Archuletta. Jason Taylor is overrated, Cristian is just plain gross and can't dance, and David Cook is too smug. The good news is, Amazing Race is on CBS' fall schedule, so it is coming back sometime in Sept on Sunday nights at 8pm...My favorite tv show this current tv season is - Gossip Girl. The story is juicy and the people are pretty. I am thoroughly entertained. I don't ask for more than that from a tv show...The earthquake death toll in China has reached 30,000. So freaking messed up. There is one article where the son of a woman who died laments, "We have to value our lives everyday." So true...

death and all his friends

Vocabulary lesson:

CATASTROPHE - There are catastrophic natural disasters everywhere you turn. The 7.8 earthquake that hit Sichuan province, central China has killed at least 12,000 people so far. (In 2006, I was in Chongqing, which is on the outskirt of the majorly affected area.) Another 100,000 are either dead or missing from the cyclone in Myanmar (still Burma to me), while the military regime there are blocking foreign aid from reaching the survivors. On the homefront, we've got tornadoes ripping through the Midwest and the Southeast and wildfires in Florida. Maybe Armageddon is upon us. Is it time to start believing in God yet? (P.S. Despite all the lead in your children's toys, please find your way to donate to the China relief efforts!!!)

VINDICATED - The Boston Herald apologizes to the Patriots for a false story accusing the Patriots for taping the St Louis Rams Superbowl walkthrough. No such tape ever existed. But the damage is done. How much to bet that this apology won't catch media fire as the original accusation did? Such bullshit!

INJUSTICE - Amanda loses to Pavarti 3-5 on Survivor Micronesia finale. So freaking wrong. It's okay, Amanda. I love you, baby.

TRIPTYCH - Triptych means a lot of money. Francis Bacon's "Triptych, 1976" went for $86 million today at an auction - that's a whopping $28.7M a panel. Who buys this stuff? I mean, investing in a Heath Ledger Joker action figure would be so much cheaper.

POLYGAMY - All the rage in Eldorado, Texas. Polygamy is when a man has multiple wives. I mean, technically, it can mean any person having more than one spouse, but come on, when have you ever heard of a woman having more than one husband? Anyways, this Texas polygamy sect has been raided due to allegations of pedophilia and abuse. All of this under the guise of religion - this sect practices the teachings under The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Again I ask, is it time to start believing in God yet? Really though, why the hell would anybody want more than one wife?

OPTIMISM - Looks like Obama is gonna win the Democratic nomination, since all the superdelegates are jumping ship and getting all up in the momentum that is Obama. People think when Obama wins, their shit will start spelling like roses, Amy Winehouse will stop smoking crack, their friends will stop talking on the cell phone while having lunch with them, black people will stop being so angry and white people will stop pretending to be black people, ice cream won't melt all over your fingers and get them all sticky when you don't have a wet-nap to clean yourself up, and Barbara Walters will stop talking about her extramarital sex affairs (eeks!). Yeah, we are all dreamers. (P.S. Superdelegates are like these superheroes, or like the Rebecca Romjin mutant in X-Men. They can shape-shift: One minute I am a Hillary supporter, the next minute Obama. You can't tell who I really am. Catch me if you can.)

the iron is hot

Iron Man rawks!!! And yes, just like everyone says, Robert Downey Jr totally makes the movie. His Tony Stark is as charismatic as Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne is enigmatic. I think Iron Man ranks right behind Batman Begins as my favorite comic book superhero movie. The only complaint probably is the third act where the movie sort of becomes a typical superhero battling supervillain movie, but that's just quibbling. The first two acts are terrific and thrilling. Now bring on Indiana Jones, The Dark Knight and X-Files!!!

BTW - The official X-Files: I Want To Believe trailer just got released today:

don't give up on me yet

Mummie Dearest: Happy Mother's day. I've made it thru another year of disappointing you. And you've made it thru another year of being disappointed. Was it good for you too? Ah, I kid, I kid. It wasn't all that bad. I mean, remember that time when I took you to Costco and we didn't say a word to each other the entire ride there and back? Or the time when I took you to the doctor and we didn't say a word to each other the entire ride there and back? Yeah, good times. But you know, as Madonna says in Bedtime Story, words are useless, words lose their meaning. I don't believe in words as a form of communication. You know I love my mum. It's telepathic love, baby. More magical than your typical white-people, in-your-face, oh-look-I-sent-my-mommy-a-big-fancy-bouquet love.

In all seriousness, I honestly am sorry that none of your attempts to force a village-accented, mainland-Chinese girl on me has so far yield a happy ending. I am sorry that I am so damn westernized that I want a girl who appreciates Vonnegut and Dostoevsky and Godard. Actually I am sorry that I am such a pretentious prick. And superficial too. I am sorry that ironically, for my being such a fancy dreamer, my life has turned out to be so modest. I haven't given you much to work with; it's rather difficult to brag to your friends at the coffee shop in Chinatown or to our relatives about a son who has so little. Hey, at least I am not some drug addict who steals your Social Security checks or some pimp who runs a Southeast Asian prostitution ring (actually know someone from middle school who did this). I will never be a disgrace for what I do; I'll probably just be a disgrace for what I don't do. I go to the office, do my job, come home, watch tv, surf the web. Yeah, good times.

Yet, despite grumpy appearances, despite the rough exterior, please know that I am trying, in my very own way and my very own pace. I really do want to be a good human being, a good husband and a good father. I know it's hard to package this for the relatives, but I really have good morals and good ethics. And I really do appreciate your raising me and coming all the way to America just to give me an education and doing it all without a husband and working fourteen hours a day at the sewing factory. The depth of appreciation for all that I can never tie up all pretty with a bow, but if you are getting this telepathically, please know some of that effort did do some good. It's a mountain I am climbing, slowly and surely. I don't know how to do it another way. I only know how to follow my heart and love my art and daydream about big things. If the expectations are too lofty and the dreams too silly, it's not coming from a bad place. Misguided, maybe, but never bad. So don't give up on me yet. There is more to this fictional story. Stick around for the rest. With many happy Mother's Day to come.