The Libertine

how would you like being pistachio?

2007-06-11T19:28:00.000-05:00

so one time we were walking home from the gym and this lady walks past fede and brushes her hand up his crotch. i was walking behind talking on the phone so i didn't notice and get up and slap her across her face.

as we were walking up the stairs i mope about why he ALWAYS gets the attention and no guys ever tickles my behind as i walk by (not that i really want that of course) and he explained it oh so diplomatically using the analogy of ice cream (because i can obviously relate better):

you are like pistachio you know? so good but not everyone likes pistachio.
i am like chocolate. everyone likes chocolate- few people you meet will not like chocolate ice cream.
but pistachio...pistachio is one of those flavours... not as many people may like pistachio, but the ones that do LOVE it.
chocolate is so generic, but pistachio is unique and special.

i guess maybe i like being pistachio then. and i know lynette LOVES it too (pistachio flavour from ciao bella that is). ;)

2007-05-26T18:38:00.000-05:00

i've made up my mind to leave my job in jan next year. for those who have heard this repeatedly, the more i announce it, the more pressure i have to live up to it.
i am no longer challenged and excited by my job and because my account is doing so well, i can pretty much look good without having to bust my ass to do so.
so with the extra time i have i am trying to enrich my life with classes at nyu, gmat, gym etc. i feel like my life has taken a very wholesome turn since the year began and i am finding a renewed energy for what the future holds.
i have mapped out the next year and a half on google calendar so as not to let my "gap" year go to waste. ironic how desperate i am to leave the structure and rigidness of corporate life, yet i struggle for discipline and timeliness outside of it.
in the pipeline is a few weeks in indonesia attending forest management school, internship in amsterdam, community project in ghana or tanzania, marine conservation in madagascar... lots to do and suddenly the 9/10 months i have don't seem so long anymore.

pictures from mexico

2007-05-19T23:12:00.000-05:00

2007-05-19T23:09:00.000-05:00

i've been on a rampage lately for summer dresses so naturally my curious eye spies all these cute dresses on other girls and i think oh now if only i had that...

so yesterday i am walking down broadway towards my house and i see this girl wearing a cute tunic dress with a brown print. i am thinking oh how pretty i wish i had something like that too....until 2 minutes later i turn onto houston and i lo and behold - the same dress, but on a bus-stop poster ad for TARGET- tarjay!! and as i walk by the next bus stop, the same tunic dress! i cannot decide if it is worse to be spotted in the same thing as someone on the street or to be spotted in the same thing as an advertisement. not so bad i guess if the ad is say gucci, but TARJAY... even me, self-proclaimed budget queen would get a little red in the face if i saw my reflection in a busstop ad for a discount retailer.

2007-05-10T22:21:00.001-05:00

messico was amazing. we landed in cancun and went straight to the car rental shop. after half an hour of paperwork etc we finally get into our car, with me in the driver's seat because fede lost his license. i start the engine and move my right hand to the gearbox only to realize that FUCK this car has manual gears.
so exasperatedly fede teaches me clutch/accelerate, clutch/accelerate, enough for me to make it out the gates where i jerkstop on the side of the road and we switch places.
he was determined to make me learn on the trip but i was even more determined to make sure i never left the passenger seat because i LOVE to fall asleep in a moving car. there is something about the soft whirring that is like a lullaby for me.

so we drove from cancun to merida which is a beautiful colonial town. ok, not beautiful, more like quaint. with pretty colonial buildings, squares and churches. we walked into a church where a wedding was going on and we happily joined in the festivities.

next day we went to chichen itza which was beautiful and the photos will speak for themselves.

we then made out way to tulum, a beach town on the caribbean coast. unlike the rest of riviera "disney" maya, tulum was peaceful and tranquil and left to its own. there were eco lodges dotting the beach but each lodge had only a few cabanas so there was no overcrowding. we got a cabana right on the beach and even slept on the beach under the stars one night (the wind actually kept the mosquitoes away)

went cenote (cavern) diving one day and lay on the beach for hours. bliss. i cannot understand how anyone can enjoy a ski vacation after being on a beach holiday. ski trips for me are like fucking torture because you fall again and again down the slope in freezing temperatures, your feet get soaked in your boots, you have to bundle up 24/7, your nose is about to fall off from the cold and you eat like a monster because you're always starving.

last stop before leaving was playa del carmen which reminded me of a phuket or bali. we stayed at hotel basico which was boutique but unpretentious.

pictures to follow.

2007-04-21T07:56:00.000-05:00

have you noticed on almost all Singapore Airlines ads, the WHITE business man is as prevalent as the iconic singapore girl? first of all it seems that singapore airlines has not come out of the colonial era- why not the indian techbillionaire or the chinese towkay? second, it perpetuates the shoulda-been-long-gone image of the spg- i mean, what with the beautiful subservient female in a sarong kebaya??!! aiyoh...

a few days ago i signed up for singaporeday and after registering successfully, i tried to sign fede up for it, only to receive an error message saying registration has been closed due to overwhelming response. in the last 30 seconds?? oh well just his luck.

two days later, as singaporeday frenzy broke out again, adele reminded us to register. i told her registration had been closed and i was one of the last people to get in. she said no cannot be, checked with her friend, only to find out that you have to register people as singaporeans! so i did, and it worked!!

i don't know if it was a glitch in the system or the organizers had a powwow and said, eh we got too many people leh how ah? aiyah easy lah- when we get to 500 signups we stop all foreigners and just allow only singaporeans lah. but make sure to put on the website that we welcome people of all races and nationalities hor.

2007-04-01T01:06:00.000-05:00

i went to the annie leibowitz exhibit a few months back and saw demi moore's boobs. naked with nipples included.
the photograph was taken as part of the set of her nude pregnant shots for vanity fair. and maybe because she was preggers, her boobs were droopy and unattractive and not full and perky like you'd expect a celeb to be endowed with.

see, even celebrities are not immune to the cruelties of nature- how much less are we mere mortals???

and the other day i saw a colleague of mine and thought to myself- hmm, she looks like she put on some weight.
two weeks later i thought- wow she really let herself go- look at that tummy!
then i thought- hmm... maybe she's pregnant? i decided to ask someone at work who was close to her.
"hey, is Y pregnant?"
nick: "yeah!? like for four months now!! what- you think she just really PORKED up??"
"haha... erm"

pregnancy is not really beautiful i fear.

2007-04-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

back in action!! woo hoo!!! gone is the lull that was plagueing my life for the past two weeks.
it is back and better than ever before.

2007-03-29T20:59:00.000-05:00

my dress code of late has been my black danskin capri tights with anything comfortable and roomy on top.

what started out as comfy and practical-for-the-fall workout gear soon planted its roots in my wardrobe as my homewear, going-out-to-brunch wear, walking-around-soho wear. basically my so-i-never-have-to-think/never-have-to-get-up-and-change wear. so entrenched in my life are these tights that i decided i had to have 4 identical pairs- and i think i will be adding more to my spring/summer/fall/winter collection very soon.

so now, when i am out and about and have to meet fede at the gym, all i need is for him to bring my shoes and a t-shirt (instructions simple enough that guys won't fuck up hopefully) and i'm all ready to walk at high speed and high incline on those treadles!

on the topic of fashion, i have always been sort of a late follower of trends. like i never really got into the skinny jeans or denim mini minis, and i only got my hair rebonded after everyone was already on the curling bandwagon. so on fede's prompting this week i bought my very first pair of converse sneakers- many years behind everyone else i believe. i had always refused to get a pair because i was convinced they made my already big feet look more ronald mcdonald-ish than they needed to look, and also because i'm not a casual shoes person- if i'm going to wear anything comfortable on my feet, they will be slippers (and of course, consistent with my habits, i have more than 5 pairs of black flipflops). but yes, i have succumbed, even if a bit late, to converse sneakers which i will have to try and carve a new style out of. my only consolation is that they were a product(RED) product so i felt like i HAD to do it for the greater good anyway.

2007-03-25T21:03:00.001-05:00

my crunch gym membership is possibly the best investment i've made this year. i go 2.5 times a week on average because some weeks i feel hard core i go 3 times, then the following week i feel like because i was so damn good the week before, i can take it easier.

the thing i love most about the new crunch gym is that each machine has its own tv so i get my random cable fix each time i work out. depending on the machine (i don't think the machines all have identical channels), day of week and time, i usually either watch rachel ray's 30 minute meals (as motivation to get done with my workout) or some wildlife documentary on natgeo or discovery channel.

this week i watched true life on mtv which featured kids with tourettes syndrome. it was so interesting that i ended up walking about 10 more minutes on the treadles (a groovy machine which is combination of treadmill and elliptical) and made me think for another 10 minutes after that sometimes mtv can be educational-AND actually help me burn an additional 100 calories.

today for some reason the machine i was on did not have the food channel or HGTV and national geographic was featuring crab catchers which just wasn't pushing my buttons. so i flipped between the world figure skating championships in tokyo and the hills on mtv. the moments i was watching these beautiful skaters, each stride i took on a treadle was like a glide on the ice- i was ready to lift my arms and extend my limbs into an arabesque. when i was younger i always dreamt of becoming a world-class figure skater- who would've thought that my dreams would be realized on a fancy gym machine?
then when the ads played on espn , i flipped to the hills on mtv- where i joined the likes of lauren, whitney, heidi and audrina in their glam-slam drama-mama LA lives. not only did those moments remind me of my sisters (they are mtv maniacs and whenever we are on a family vaca, mtv is ALL we watch), but they served as a great motivation that kept me going: come on jia en, don't give up coz we need to get skinny like these hollywood girls!!

i guess that's also why all the girls at gyms bring along an US Weekly or People Magazine- i mean, who isn't motivated by celebs who've dropped 20 pounds and share their secrets to weight-loss with us commonfolk? and who doesn't love to know that stars are JUST LIKE US- they get coffee! they walk their dogs! they wear sweats out and yes- they have cellulite!!

these are?? ourselves with celebrities'

2007-03-22T23:01:00.001-05:00

potty-mouthed me. i'm one of those who only really started saying fuck after i could watch r-rated movies in singapore. now i say fuck for everything and i love the sound of it because it's so succinct and gets the point across.
i even say fuck in front of my parents now because they've used it in front of me.

so my habit of not really watching my mouth wouldn't be so bad if i didn't spout off everything that went through my mind. like the one time i was out at a meeting with my big boss. we were making small talk about stuff and started talking about yoga.
me: i just do yoga for the exercise. i think it's a great workout, but i don't get the bullshit that these yogis talk about like getting to another level and that they feel liberated of their hurt and anger and all this other huff. i think it's just taking it a little too far.
boss: well, actually i've started reading a few books about organic living and spirituality etc.
me: oh really? why?
boss: my wife is really into this alternative lifestyle- she teaches yoga.

FUCK

was at my client's desk and he was telling me about a trip he was planning to china. we chatted about great hotels and places to see etc.
me: i've been very lucky because my parents love to travel and are pretty adventurous in their choice of destinations
client: that's great that you travel with your family so often
me: yes- my mother plans everything all the time- she creates the itinerary and tracks everything on a spreadsheet because she is a NUTCASE and loves being in control.
client: oh- i create spreadsheets too. i just don't trust anyone else. (he then proceeded to open it up and show it to me)

FUCK

at some group dinner one night a not very good looking guy brings his even less good looking gf. the gf was not very stylish either- the type that wears sneakers/tennis shoes with jeans.

someone: our prom queen was quite pretty
me: ok lah. not bad. but tak style leh.
someone: what do you mean?
me: i mean, eeyer, who wears jeans with snea... (catching myself just in time)-- aiyah, she's just ok lah.

FUCK

2007-03-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

my latest addiction is enviga- flavoured, carbonated green tea drink made by COKE! but it is only 5 calories and so yummy i usually have a couple every night. andres is in on it with me and kibum has jumped on the bandwagon too. but these tasty mofos cost 1.99 a can- coke daringly raised the price from 1.79...perhaps because we buy by such a boatload they saw it going somewhere- a real strain on the pauper's pockets.
so andres steals mine and i steal his from the fridge. and we order each other by sms to replenish when we have run out. once kibum moves into the apt the new tripartite will be much more effective at managing inventory i am sure.

2007-03-10T09:29:00.000-05:00

up since 730 on a saturday morning. only because we fell asleep at 1030 last night. we did not even finish what we were doing- it was to be a short break, which turned out to be a whole night's rest.

disneyland- where dreams come true and fat people get fatter

2007-02-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

where some see fashion, others see politics

2007-02-11T12:31:00.000-05:00

kibum now can say "excuse me, i write for them TIMES" ooh. imagine us at tenjun saying to the bouncer at the front, or when we cannot get a reservation at an earthly hour at buddakan. how wonderful!
haha, but more wonderful is his writing. read it by clicking on title link.

hang also has her two seconds of fame (and if she wasn't flying off to vail, she woulda been photgraphed too!!!) everyone go read!

2007-02-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

on a lazy sunday all by myself which hasn't happened much in the last couple of months. hang is snowboarding away in vail, adele and kr are at work, fede is doing another one of his housecleanings and kibum is off in celebrity wonderland (his article was just published in the NY times style section- a must read, link will be in next post) and just saw lynette and karla and winnie yesterday. so after counting down most of my weekend companions, i realize i am all alone. had big plans when i woke this morning to walk around the west village in search of a cute cafe and set up laptop and do some reading. but after some contemplation, i decided it must be easier to sit home and be able to play the music out loud and not have to pay for food when i want to reach for it.

hard-to-kick habits

2007-02-04T22:56:00.000-05:00

when i was younger i thought my snacking habit would go away when i got older because older folks seemed to have their eating habits more in control (less out of impulse, more out of need). but after about 10 years of hoping that age would kick my bad snacking habit out of me, i realize i was naive.

one of my hard-to-kick habits but also one of my favourite things to do at a supermarket is to buy a nice, crisp-on-the-outside, moist-and -tender-on-the-inside loaf of baguette and snap off the end and chew it as i stroll the aisles for my other needs. once in a while i think that maybe i am too old now to be eating something without first paying, but then i contend with myself that as long as i don't have kids of my own, i'm not old enough yet to stop. and if i were old enough, then i guess my desire/habit for instant gratification would cease to exist in the first place

another supermarket favourite is ripe red cherries. starts off as testing a batch, then once i have made my choice of the best bag in the pile, i tear off an extra vegetable bag to use as my pit receptacle. i munch through about a quarter of the bag by the time i'm done and i have to circle back to grab a new one

all my bags are packed i'm ready to go

2007-01-20T09:48:00.000-05:00

the guys at the transportation security authority (TSA) should be renamed Those Stupid Assholes. they do absolutely nada for homeland security and serve only to frustrate travellers and guzzle tax dollars through their inefficiencies.

being a VERY frequent flyer (ny-chicago every week no?), i feel like i have earned the right to complain and criticize just another part of US society which i simply fail to understand.
first off, everyone employed by tsa to guard and protect homeland security is unqualified and incompetent. to highlight, i will describe my weekly experience at la guardia airport where i depart for chicago every week:

get in line for first check of boarding pass. this is inane because just 10 feet down the line there are two more "agents" now asking for boarding pass and ID.

so now i present my boarding pass and ID to another agent who glosses over the name on my id and my boarding pass, and if there is some semblance of a match they let me through. i guess maybe if i were arab or muslim then they would mark my boarding pass for further checks after the bag scan. in the background another agent sits by a makeshift desk area with a flimsy sign posted to warn passengers that "no liquids, gels and sprays in more than 3 oz containers are allowed on board the aircraft". the agent at the makeshift desk is also instructed to repeat the same warning in his most monotonous and unmotivating voice- "NO LIQUIDS, GELS AND SPRAYS IN MORE THAN 3OZ CONTAINERS ARE ll ALLOWED ON BOARD THE AIRCRAFT". perhaps repeating this out loud in addition to watching that the sign at his desk stays upright ensures his job security somewhat. then as if to mock this desk guy, now a more suave voice over the PA system announces - "this is a reminder for all passengers- all liquids, gels and sprays must be in containers not more than 3 fl oz or they will not be allowed on board the aircraft"

we proceed down the line - and did i mention that i got through with expired ID because the second TSA agent failed to detect it? if this happened once, you could dismiss it as an exception. but i had deliberately used my expired id multiple times because i was too lazy to get in line for another ticket for passengers without valid id, and then have to go through extensive checks.
so i thought fuck that, let me give this a shot. and another. and another.

now we get to the bag scanners. at each station there are about 5-6 incompetent fools, each doing a job that combined, can be done much more effectively by one machine. one person tells you again in the most unfriendly tone to remove your coats, shoes and belts. erm m'aam, should i remove my pants and bra too?
another colleague of hers tells us in the mandatory tsa monotone to please remove your laptop and place it separately in a gray container, and if we have any liquids, gels or sprays, they should be in a one quart ziploc bag and also placed separately.
as our stuff goes through the scanner, there are three more agents bent over the xrays hoping to find something that will give them their break. so they ask authoritatively m'aam we are going to open your bag for further checks. they then use their gloved hands to unzip suspect cosmetic pouches, pull out mascara and my lip gloss and say m'aam - sorry this is not allowed. then they see another little bag worth probing and undrawing the strings, they are greeted by a bunch of tampons and so sheepishly and quickly pull the pouch closed and allow me to proceed. what they did not catch is my tube of hand cream (l'occitane no less my friends!) in my purse that could potentially set off a bomb in the plane!

finally i get through the damned "security" check point and can finally look for a flight was scheduled to leave two hours ago but has been delayed by three so i can get on standby.
oh the mess that is the US aviation industry.

2007-01-15T22:50:00.000-05:00

disney is one big fat wonderland of big fat people. everyone in the happiest place in the world is fucking OBESE. no kidding. coming from the city of drugged-out skinnies, being among these fatties makes me feel like i'm swimming in yellow wiggly fats cells. now when i pick up that lindt truffle or golden wrapped rocher, i think three times, three hundred pounds and three thousand cellulite dimples- then unwrap the chocolate and pop it into my mouth anyway. i will work it off i tell myself.

i haven't seen one decent looking person in this place and fede and i feel like supermodels.

amazing how america is very good at creating economies out of nothing-orlando from swamp to swamped with mid american tourists. vegas from desert to decadence. palm springs literally bare land springing palm. everything is so fake, manicured and deliberate it is painfully unstylish. but you gotta hand it to them for having the creativity and entrepreneurship to create a worldwide attraction of simply land, concrete, some lights and music.

and while i will probably never come back to disney world, i am glad i came because it cemented my desire to not have kids (not for a while) - nuh uh, i am not standing in line for 2 hrs because my little brat wants to sit in the dumbo the flying elephant ride or running to the bathroom and have to unwrap dirty diapers when i could be on my second round of space mountain. not to mention my fear of getting fat and grumpy and my husband not wanting to have sex with a beached whale which will make me grumpier and push him further away. the pains of being a woman sometimes.

2007-01-08T22:49:00.000-05:00

back from egypt and ready to rock and roll. but first a little about the trip.

thought i might go mad being in close proximity with family for extended period, but i think we've actually all been able to come to a comfortable point of knowing just how to get each other right to the edge, but just careful enough not to push anyone over. so thankfully no horrid fights and crying, only lots of warm egyptian bread, too many lecherous arab men, and three sisters dancing like superstars to all the latest music videos on mtv.

egypt is truly a wonder in many ways. one expects the sphinx and pyramids of giza to be magnificent, and standing at the base, being drawfed by their sheer magnitude, they are nothing but magnificent. but less talked about are the graeco-pharoahnic temples which seem to be monuments of opulence that somehow have sprouted out of nothingness- column after beautiful column after beautiful column and then you start to think erm dudes, i think you're overdoing it- since there are no roofs to support anyway. walls are carved from floor to ceiling by hand and a craftsman dedicated his whole life to one wall (and you thought your job was boring?). what got me thinking the most is the paradox that egypt is- the very same river and resources that bore a great ancient civilization 4000 years ago, now runs through a laggard state no where near its glorious past.

i prepared myself for egypt by buying a lonely planet guide which i saw all over the country- clutched preciously onto by other american tourists trying to take the road less travelled. and i thought i would educate myself with a little egyptian literature so on mr media mogul's recommendation, i also armed myself with the cairo trilogy by naguib mahfouz (nobel prize winner no less) - which turned out to be quite a gem.

most of the time my sisters and i were being harassed by egyptian men who would call out to us as we walked by. when we did stop, they would come up, take our hands and ask how many camels in exchange for each of us. of course they would offer the most for jia wen because she is 19- young and nubile, age of ripeness and unspoiled by time. i was probably way past my prime for them and jun still looks too young and isn't voluptuous enough for their taste. they behaved that way with foreign women and i'm sure they would never take such liberties with their own women. this, and the fact that we hardly saw any women walking around or working, made me realize how true the subjugation of my sex is in the arab culture (which i've always tried to believe was getting better).

we did the whole cruise up the nile and spent a day at the red sea which was beautiful and i regret being sick and not diving, although i cannot think of a better reason to return now.

we then headed to cairo where we spent 3 days mostly stuck in traffic and smog. there is no sense of order, if only that everyone understands the disorder. a city of almost 20mln, there is no space for cars to park. so they literally line themselves up bumper to bumper, and in cairo the convention/rule is to NEVER engage your handbrake because your car WILL get hit on the bumper as someone nudges his way into ANY space he can find between two cars parked parallel to each other. oftentimes, cars will even park perpendicularly in front of another, blocking it from coming out of its lot...but never fear because the owner of the blocked will simply push the obstacle out of his way.

New York Bans Most Trans Fats in Restaurants

2006-12-16T11:43:00.000-05:00

a few weeks ago the NY times reported that restaurants have to ban trans fats in their menus so as to help in the battle against the obesity epidemic!!

how about that sounds fucking ridiculous???!!

how is obesity an epidemic?? getting uncontrollably fat is very much by choice and people who know how to eat trans fats in moderation should not be banned from it. i mean, being the calorie-counting queen that i am i should be rejoicing at this new law because it will help my cause, but i am also pro-choice and this is government intervention to the nth degree. how can we sit back and let lawmakers who cannot do their regular jobs right dictate what we can and cannot eat??

read this or click on the title for the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-restaurants-newyork.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

F's birthday pics

2006-11-29T18:49:00.001-05:00

pictures from miami trip

2006-11-29T18:41:00.000-05:00

2006-11-29T18:29:00.000-05:00

i make Target runs in chicago. not because i need to buy anything to use in chicago, but because i get to expense my cab ride there and back, and because i don't have to lug my purchases from the subway back to my apt since i will just stuff everything into my roller bag, carry it on board the flight, take it off the plane and bring it to the car that takes me to my doorstep. MUCH MUCH MUCH easier than getting on the NR train to atlantic ave. targets in new york suck anyway- far too small, messy, dirty and you know, just lacking that sprawling suburban mall feel i so love about big box retailers.

2006-11-02T15:58:00.000-05:00

update on date with media mogul. lupa was all booked up and since i am afterall a mere mortal, i could not get a reservation on a monday night at 7pm for dinner at lupa. he said it's ok, let's keep the day and try for something else in that neighborhood. we ended up going to da silvano which was overpriced italian food that my own italian man could whip up. but of course he picked up the $100 per head tab so i cannot complain.

we talked about his work, his adventures in the amazon, cruising down the nile, snorkeling in the galapagos, safari-jeeping in the serengeti and best of all being
in the same room chatting with FIDEL CASTRO. in fact, fidel even signed his cuban stamps, time magazine covers that featured him, and a few weeks later sent over some cuban cigars and rum. how fucking cool is that.

he told me about how he would buy a trip for any of his grandkids that turned 10. that's when i heaved a sigh of relief because i knew he was not intending to get in my pants- being a grandfather isn't exactly sexy.

so after dessert i asked him how he was getting home. he said he drove and "i will walk you back home and then to my car." yikes. so we walked and commented on what a nice night it was.

we got to the door of my building and stopped. WHAT was to happen next??

"ok, this is me!" i piped
"ok- well, it was nice to see you again"
"yes, thanks so much for dinner"
"you are welcome"

and then he leaned over... and we bisous-ed twice on the cheek a good night.

so unfortunately nothing scandalous to report or lots of money to sue for, but only good company to keep and influential friend to have...no? oh well i guess no sugar daddy-o for now and i will keep the pauper of the italian man i have for now (which isn't all that bad because he is cute and cooks well).

who wants south beach when you got lago maggiore?

2006-11-02T15:56:00.000-05:00

In the last 10 months I have consumed more carbs than I probably have in the last 10 years. How about that to celebrate my devotion to the south beach diet.

I keep telling the italian man that I am not made to eat as much pasta as he eats- My body type will not deal with it the same way. He says bulls and that he has never had as much asian as he has had in the last 10 months either that he is spewing raw fish from his ears.

2006-10-25T17:57:00.000-05:00

the best and worst thing about flying every week to chicago is you never know who you are going to meet.

one time i was at the gate waiting to get on standby since my original flight was delayed yet again. there's a douchebag at the counter getting hasty and sharp with the agent at the counter and i was thinking oh what a jerk. (though i cannot fault him completely- flight service people for domestic flights must have graduated at the absolute bottom of their training class). then turns out this jerk gets a seat right next to me on the plane.
i give him a cool reception as he gets into his seat and i try my best to not bump his elbow on the armrest throughout the flight, but i manage as usual to fall asleep terribly- head-bobbing, drool etc. i wake up when the plane touches down and i call for car service. i had to give my name to the car service company and when i hung up, this jerk turns to me and says:

do you work for bloomberg?
yes in fact i do...*wave of fear comes over me*
hi, i am bill doyle from W asset management *omg...*
oh hi! how are you? funny that i end up meeting you on this flight when we couldn't find the time to meet in chicago! *fake laughter ensues and a wave of shame comes over me because this is my client who saw me head-bobbing and drooling in my sleep!*

thankfully, soon after the embarrassing episode, a new team member took over the account and i would never have to face Bill ever again. however, the takeaway from here is that always be nice to people you meet on planes because you never know who they turn out to be.

Heeding my own advice, on yet another day of delays at o'hare, i get up to the gate for the next flight to la guardia and try once again to get on standby. this time there is a harmless looking old man waiting and i ask him if this is the flight to la guardia and if they are allowing standbys. we start talking about how terrible it is to fly out of ohare and other random things. he tells me he works for fox-the president of fox tv. i thought oh ok, cool, maybe he runs a station. i give him my business card and we spend the next hour running from gate to gate trying to get on the next flight. in the end, i get on the earlier flight and forget about this friendly old man.

three weeks later, i am at my desk and who should call but this friendly old man from the airport. he asks if he can take me to lunch and i oblige. who would refuse a free lunch and who knows maybe this old man who runs a tv station can get me a job. after we get off the phone i get an email from his secretary with the details of the lunch reservations and i start to think wow this guy must be a bigger shot than i thought.

the day of the lunch, i casually mention to my colleague tha i am meeting a president of fox tv for lunch. she asked for his name and lo and behold here's what came up from her google search : http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6276873.html?display=Hall+of+Fame

wtf- i then scramble and print out some articles about him and his work ten minutes before my meeting to not seem like a total fool, the whole time cursing myself for not doing this in advance.

during lunch, we talked about travels, his experiences, and although i knew he graduated from the university of illinois, grew up in springfield, gave oprah winfrey her big break, moved from NBC to Fox and was an overall big wig, i pretended to be surprised when he told me he was in the marines, grew up in the midwest and championed the olympic bid for new york last year. we talked about dinner at lupa (the restaurant below my new apt on thompson) and the book the world is flat by thomas friedman that i was reading at that time (and in fact, still reading because i am lazy).

a couple of weeks later, i get a call from this old guy again and he asks if i have moved into my new place. i said, oh yes, i just moved in this past weekend! he then asks if he can take me to lupa for dinner because we talked about it the last time. sure! sounds good i reply, and we set a date for our next rendezvous.

now i am a week away from the lupa dinner with media hotshot and i am getting nervous because everyone including my dad has said all this guy is trying to do is get in my pants. but why, and how can he?? he is about 70 years old and looks a little like santa claus and he has such a high profile, why would he do something stupid like that? my father said being high-profile, rich and old never stopped anna nicole smith's late husband.

like i said, you never know who you are going to meet at the airport, so always be on your best behaviour. i will let you know what comes of my next meeting with mr media man.

everyone likes it a lil' lacy

2006-10-04T19:38:00.000-05:00

the man is back in his village in northern italy where cell phone reception must suck and they are still using 56k modems to connect to the rest of the world.

we were talking on the phone this evening and for some reason talked about buying him new underwear because his are all old and worn and hence a little less sexy.

him: you don't like my underwear?

me: no- i didn't say i don't like them- they're just old. and kinda ratty no? you should get new ones to keep things exciting so i feel like i'm sleeping with a different guy every night!

both: hahahaha.

him: hmm. but your's is not much better either

me: WHAT DO YOU MEAN? mine is old and ratty like yours?

him: no, but you have all these kiddy looking ones with lollipops and animals and all this cute stuff.

me: WHAT- YOU MEAN YOU DON'T LIKE MY UNDERWEAR?

him: no- just that i don't want to feel like i am sleeping with a schoolgirl all the time.

me: in any case, how would you know since you rip them off so quickly.

him: because i did your laundry and trust me i know when i see polkadots and stripes and lollipops and animals

me: hmm.

me: well then, do you like lace?

him: of course i like to get laid. (part bad phone reception in obscure village, part bad english. haha)

me: no LACE.

him: i don't know that brand. i am not gay.

me: LACE! it's a fabric. you know, the flowers with holes.

him: aahh.. ok. yes i like lace. when i get back we will go and settle our underwear.

2006-10-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

today we had a little debate about what the people from guam are called.
guamESE?
guamIAN?

i checked on the CIA factfile and turns out they are GuamANIAN. just like panamANIAN. most guamanians are ethnically Chamorro or of Filipino descent.

"are they guamese or guamian?" is now a great conversation starter, and i have to be the first to admit i think if a guy used that as a pickup line for me, i would be pretty damn knocked off my socks.

another geeky turn for me must be the name-the-capitals-of-the-world game.

2006-10-01T12:11:00.000-05:00

andres hooked up with a girl a couple of weeks ago and he said boy she has big titties man- i LOVE it! but i don't think they're real- they're a little too hard to be.

this past weekend the girl stayed the night and when i introduced myself the next morning in the living room, all i could see were the boobs. they were round and massive for a thin thin girl, and very obviously fake because they looked like they popped right out of her chest. but she had a plain face and without the juggly jugs she would have been completely unattractive (think a red-headed olive oyl with a sharper nose and oval face), but armed with those massive melons she was almost hot.

i could not stop staring because she is the very first person i know by name with fake boobs. i felt a little like austin powers and the mole because all i could not take my mind off them for at least ten minutes and was dying to ask - how many CCs did you fill? so you went up two cup sizes? how much did you pay for them? did it hurt like shit right after? where the heck did you get the money from?? what did you tell people when you went on vacation and came back with a huge chest?

don't worry baby, no judgements- i just need to know for when i go for MY own boob job.

2006-09-30T14:57:00.000-05:00

a headhunter's office reception area is about the most uncomfortable i have ever had to spend ten minutes.

first of all because who knows who you might bump into there- ex classmates, mere acquaintances or worse still perhaps another colleague.you already know what everyone is here for so no pretending or acting will be necessary- and these days, who doesn't put up a show? i guess maybe you could strike up an awkward conversation starting with

oh i guess your job sucks too?

if you're lucky enough not to meet anyone you vaguely remember (or who remembers you), you try to keep you eyes down and not make eye-contact with other people in the waiting area because i mean, what kind of bullshit small talk would you make?

oh i guess your job sucks too?

and of course you are the only over-dressed fools in the office- the recruiters aren't meeting clients today so they are in business casual and it's like oh my god what a fucking pretense this whole corporate bullshit.

thank goodness i've managed to avoid/not have the bad luck to come across yet the above-mentioned awkward situations in the headhunter's office reception (other than the part where i'm thinking to myself that this is all corporate bullshit but still participate anyway).

so on to the next reception area which is a space just as awkward but allows room for more imagination. This is the reception area of The NY Dermatology Group with its celeb/celeb-like clientele and swanky facilities.

the best/worst thing about meeting someone here is that you know they are getting treated for something aesthetic/cosmetic and you really want to find out so you can tell everyone that she got a nose job. but should you be rude enough to ask "oh so what are you here for?" or just pretend all is swell and ask oh how was your weekend? even though it's already thursday and you already know she was probably partying it up at pink elephant or cain.

my last visit there to get the stitches out of my newly removed cyst, i saw the french girl my friend had dated for a couple of months. she was pointing to parts of her face as she talked to the doctor and waited for her medication to be brought out and my mind was racing through the possibilities- botox to the creaselines on her forehead, laser to smooth out her complexion... doctor can you reshape my nose?
however, being the chicken that i am, i pretended not to see her and spied her through the corner of my eye from behind the magazine so i could avoid the awkward small talk that would ensue if i had gone up to say hello.

i went back to my friend the next day though and told him i saw her at THE NY DERMATOLOGY GROUP *hint hint* and he told me- oh yeah, she gets her lips injected with collagen. AHA! I JUST KNEW IT!!! NO WOMAN IS PERFECT. HAHAHA. she might have slender legs and a great sense of style- BUT WAIT- her lips are thin!

the other woman

2006-09-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

the other woman is just that. she is the one who makes you feel inadequate once in a while or perhaps even a bit more than that; the one who makes you wonder how? and why? the one who makes your imagination run wild with the words he might have whispered in the ears that should have been yours. perhaps the other woman had a perkier butt and fuller breasts or maybe she was a fox in bed-but you mean i wasn't a vixen enough?

he says he chooses you and you choose to believe him- but how much can you trust?

i thought the other woman was a non-issue and for the most part that's what she has been-but just about once a day i see a blonde girl i don't know walking in the office and my heart skips a beat in fear that she might be the other woman.

2006-09-12T19:34:00.000-05:00

on my first visit to the dermatologist a couple of weeks ago to check out the cysts on my leg, i smiled at the lady who was there waiting to get her weekly/monthly botox shot. she smiled back without a wrinkle on her face.

other than getting my cysts diagnosed as being pretty innocuous, the dermatologist also checked out the zit on my face and asked if i wanted some steroids to make it go away. who would refuse so i said sure. he then proceeded to fill a syringe up and i was slightly in shock because i expected him to hand me a pot of topical cream. he said "don't worry it won't hurt at all and it will make it go away much faster- all the celebrities do this right before big events and interviews." ooh now did i feel like a star!!

on my second visit i had to get a skin cancer screening which involved me being naked (save the knickers) on the examination table while the doc looked all over for moles and the like. felt very strange to say the least.

my third visit was to finally get the darn bump taken out and get taken out it did. it was my first surgical procedure ever (i have never even had stitches done before) and i am quite proud that i lived through it. the bummer is that i can't wear heels for the next week and i have to figure out work outfits for flats. :(

certain facts of life

2006-09-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

i go to the tailor across my apt building on 14th st to get my stuff altered all the time. today i am getting a dress which is way too big for me taken in on the sides. my korean seamstress looks at my chest as she is pinning the sides in and comments "ah ...you are very flat eh!"

erm yeah, thanks for the reminder.

2006-09-05T19:13:00.000-05:00

he bought me a book called la bella figura- a field guide to the italian mind, so that i can better understand his culture and why he is the way he is.
halfway through the book now i realize the guy i am seeing embodies every fucking stereotype of being italian. suddenly he is not as special anymore is he? he is just a TYPICAL italian man!
from his massive disorganization but obsession with cleaning and fixing his room, his justification and self-rationalization of his sins and non-sins, his hoarding habits, to the great actor that he is.

i now can literally read him like a book so everything i thought was amazing about him is simply the italian effect. booh.

it is a funny book though, and if you have italian friends, even funnier.

2006-08-31T13:17:00.000-05:00

i don't want to have kids because i fear getting fat and not being able to lose it. then my husband will not want to have sex with me because i am now not only less sexy but also grouchy from breast feeding at 3am.

the big 150

2006-08-23T00:28:00.000-05:00

italian man and i have been seeing each other for about 4 months, sleeping together for about 8, probably done it about a 125 times since we started. not bad considering i am out of town almost every week for 3 days.
i said we are going to celebrate the 150th because we don't have an anniversary and i don't remember those sappy things anyway. i asked when he thinks we will hit that and we just laughed.