baker's dozen 2.06

This weekend's Baker's Dozen...

1. where is that thing? I guess I'll just clean my desk...
2. fries well done
3. scattegories and angel food cake... two great tastes that go great together.
4. Cupertino Sakura Matsuri
5. mmm... garlic dips.
6. GIANT RAINBOW POCKY?!
7. gained a whole dollar at poker. hey, it's better than losing it all.
8. thin n' chewy buttermilk pancakes
9. We have our own lost and found area at our house.
10. shopping cart traffic jam at mondo-safeway.
11. Getsuyobi shiken ga arimasu. Sore de, ichinichiju benkyoo shimasu.
12. "You know, Chinese dish and cheese don't go together very well".

baker's dozen 2.05

This weekend's Baker's Dozen follows. For those of you who do not know of this cool meme, here's the skinny: choose twelve thoughts and one picture to describe your weekend. Give it a try! usamedsonline.com

Without further ado...

1. mmm... mangopolitans
2. wildflowers in bloom
3. squirrels versus cat
4. two shots of espresso in a small drink. now that's what I'm talkin' about.
5. there's always mo' at BevMo
6. "we'll go somewhere where there's cheeeeese!"
7. cheese, wine and geeks
8. only 9:30? I'm going back to sleep...
9. "wha'happened?"
10. How many browsers do I hafta design for now?
11. Huh? What do you mean my hard drive is full?
12. honey, I shrunk my shirt...

Baker's Dozen 2.04

Happy (or reasonably content) Monday to you all!

This week's Baker's Dozen:

1. mystery shopping stereo stores is dangerous.
   
2. new shade of lipstick? it wasn't meant to be.
   
3. a Lappert's? HERE?
   
4. Jelly Belly casualties
   
5. blame it on the rain...
   
6. más Tropico
   
7. Eminem vs. Ragtime
   
8. makin' a big pan o' Lasagna
   
9. poker? in daylight?
   
10. torchin' up some creme brulee
    
11. buried in tax forms
    
12. The King of Iron Chefs
    

baker's dozen 2.02

This weekend's baker's dozen:

1. BJ's avocado egg rolls
2. "I can't believe I ate the whole thing"
3. "Faye Faye!"
4. smells like duraflame
5. darkroom rebirth
6. cho's potstickers and HOT SAUCE! (thanks for the tip, mark!)
7. mmm... afternoon naps
8. desperate for a poker crowd
9. a plethora of unique sodas
10. "Bah, stupid farmers."
11. a forgotten bag
12. Leavin' on a Jet Plane

baker's dozen 3.24.03

This weekend's Baker's Dozen:

1. Gotta Getta Gund
   
2. cardboard box mountain for Clean-Up Day
   
3. Warwalking the Castro
   
4. Sprocket and cream cheese
   
5. peculiar car fire
   
6. Eric's housewarming party
   
7. echeng's faboo camera and photography
   
8. Poker in the Sunset
   
9. Andy's crabs
   
10. Pocky, Pocky, Pocky!
    
11. Jing Jing's Orange Peel Chicken
    
12. Far From Heaven
    

Friday Five 2/7/03

Man, I haven't done one of these in ages. I guess they haven't really tickled my fancy lately, but this week's questions we of my interest... FOOD!

And yes, it's still Friday, so it counts! ;)

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn't have breakfast, why not?
I had Life cereal with Lucerne nonfat milk. To wash it down, a hot cuppa Peet's House Blend with two sugars, and for the first time in a while, a little heavy whipping cream, which cooled it down so I could enjoy it without scalding myself on the road this morning.

2. What's your favorite cereal?
Kinda tough choice. Of course, I have thoroughly enjoyed the sugary cereals of my childhood through my early college years (like Fruit Brute and Froot Loops and Pebbles), but now I am choosing more sensibly. I like Crunchy Oat Bran and Kashi these days. I do indulge in the occasional bowl o' Corn Pops, though.

3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change?
At a good sit down restaurant? Once a week at most. It's actually a lot less than we used to. I got really lazy for a spell, but then we realized that it was really hurting our pocketbooks and our figures. Oops.

4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that?
We got back from dinner a few hours ago. Thai food at a little local place called Thai Chili... Tom Kha Gai and Drunken Noodles with Prawns... both spicy! Mmmm. I WISH I could have a recipe for that.

5. What's your favorite restaurant? Why?
It depends on where I am. I am really fond of a place called Lucy's in Kailua, HI (their Pork Tenderloin is ONO!), and around these parts, I love Thai Pepper in Santa Clara. For the indulgence, I love La Fondue in Saratoga... their chocolate fondue kicks the arse.

mars probe finds kittens

This is darned specific. But an anime geek such as myself loves memes such as these!

what's your cowboy bebop theme song?

100 things 'bout me

It's taken a lot of time and possibly a lot of thought for me to type out the required (or so it seems) "100" meme. Here's some things you may or may not know about me...

1. I've never had formal graphic design training.
2. My middle name is Lea, pronounced like "Princess Leia".
3. My mom used to do my hair up in braid rings, which only further enforced the "Princess" teasing.
4. I have been in and out of college for 6 years, but have yet to earn a degree.
5. I live in a rented house with my fiancé and his two children.
6. I have been a Macintosh user since 1992.
7. ...Although I was an Apple user when I was a kid.
8. Then I was a DOS geek for the bulk of the preteen and teen years.
9. I have worked in the office of the black turtlenecked one, Steve Jobs.
10. I rarely eat red meat. When I do, it's in sparing amounts, cos it makes me feel sick.
11. ...But I used to eat a steak a week.
12. My toenails are often painted "Gunmetal". Many years ago, I used to live in a house with a bunch of friends who would paint their toes this color, including the men.
13. I've never been overseas.
14. I'm an amateur wine snot.
15. I have always had an affinity for spicy foods, since I was a kid. Apparently, I take after my father, since no one else in the family really does.
16. I smoked cigarettes for almost a week. That was the beginning and the end of my smoking career.
17. I am incredibly allergic to mosquito bites. They often swell to the size of a grapefruit.
18. I don't read women's magazines. I swore them off when I was in my late teens because I realized they were destructive.
19. I love to cook. I have considered a career in the culinary arts at times.
20. I don't like shellfish like clams and mussels. Well, fried clams and clam chowder aren't bad, but that's my limit.
21. I am the only one in my immediate family that does not wear corrective lenses. I guess it's only a matter of time.
22. I have dreams with recurring characters: kids from grade school.
23. I watch less than 3 hours of television a week.
24. Although I have made the exception when I discovered that we had the G4 network on our cable system.
25. I only listen to NPR and college radio stations.
26. I have never met my paternal grandparents.
27. I used to consider 27 my lucky number when I was a kid, only because it was my birthdate and it happened to be my assigned student number in grade school.
28. I've been told that I am "too emotional".
29. I had braces put on my teeth as an adult.
30. I often forget to wear my retainer these days.
31. I love to get personal mail. Hardly anyone sends snail mail anymore.
32. I had my first boyfriend when I was 15.
33. I broke up with my first boyfriend after five months because I didn't want to have sex yet, and he didn't respect that.
34. My brother is 10 years younger than me.
35. There are nine computers in my house.
36. Six of those computers are Macintoshes.
37. I love to play Pinball, and often gravitate towards pinball machines over arcade games.
38. I've only been drunk once.
39. I can hold my alcohol quite well "for someone my size".
40. The first album I owned was Michael Jackson's "Thriller".
41. I played an Italian girl in a school musical when I was ten years old.
42. I can't sing for beans.
43. My favorite band is They Might Be Giants.
44. I first discovered TMBG when I was eleven years old, and was a big fan of the song "She
Was a Hotel Detective".
45. My first term paper, in seventh grade, was on the history of animation.
46. My second term paper, in eigth grade, was about Andy Warhol.
47. The subjects of my writing in junior high pretty much set the tone for the my creative tastes for the rest of my life.
48. I still watch cartoons (who doesn't?).
49. I don't wear name brand clothing.
50. It's taken me twenty minutes to get this far.
51. My favorite cuisine is Thai.
52. I have one credit card, and have had it since I was 18.
53. My hair was once dyed over purple.
54. I make a kick-ass batch of Tiramisu.
55. My fiancé is over a decade older than I am.
56. ...and it has never bothered me a bit in our 6 years together.
57. I cannot speak another language fluently. What can I say, I'm an American.
58. I am a first generation American. My parents came to the states when they were kids.
59. I eat rice with almost everthing, and every meal.
60. I am writing this list in a text editing program called Alpha, and will copy it over to my blog later.
61. I've had to look at a couple of other people's "100" lists to get ideas for some of these questions.
62. I drink of a lot of iced tea.
63. I really have to pee.
64. I was a cheerleader two years of my high school career.
65. I really didn't like being a cheerleader.
66. I would've rather been home playing text based RPGs and mucking around on BBSes.
67. I have a massive student loan to pay off for only 2.5 years of art school that I didn't finish.
68. I was an uncredited Production Assistant (aren't they all) for A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2.
69. I spent a lot of my allowance on comics when I was a kid.
70. I still spend a lot of money on comics.
71. I am a self-taught coding geek.
72. I use Adobe GoLive to lay out a lot of my pages these days for sheer instant gratification, but I still futz with the code.
73. I've only been sunburned once... after snorkeling a whole day, I got burned on my back.
74. I've developed respiratory allergies only within the last few years.
75. I am the only person in my family that doesn't have asthma. It's prolly only a matter of time, like the eyesight thing (see #21)
76. I love the smell and taste of coffee.
77. I love caffeine (I guess this is a geek requirement).
78. The laptop I'm writing this on is the only computer in the house with a wireless card in it. Nyah!
79. Working in a movie theater as a teenager led to my pursuit of a career in filmmaking.
80. Having a fiancé in the movie business (and seeing how dirty it can be) led to my dropping out of the industry.
81. I really like Gorgonzola cheese.
82. Even though I know I shouldn't, I almost always have dessert.
83. I hate being far from the ocean. I can't stand not seeing the ocean for more than a few days.
84. I'm a small percentage Spanish, although I am mostly Filipina.
85. I've been mistaken for Japanese, Hawaiian and Chinese.
86. I lived in Hawaii for two and a half years, after ditching film school, and don't regret it at all.
87. I'm shorter than both my older sister and my younger brother.
88. But I'm still taller than my mom.
89. I had a short stint as a "Perky Goth".
90. I'd rather be an anime girl now.
91. I wore a uniform for all of grade school and junior high.
92. I consider myself lucky now that I did wear uniforms.
93. I skipped kindegarten and went straight into first grade when I was six.
94. I spend way too much time in front of a computer.
95. I play poker almost every weekend with good friends.
96. I've never played the tables in Vegas.
97. I never played team sports as a kid.
98. I was on a springboard diving team for one season.
99. I still have to pee.
100. It's taken me just about an hour to finish this thing!

a meme, it seems

Got this idea from fairvue and many other places.

According to Google, I am the following...

Courtney is clinging to propaganda.
Courtney is doll parts.
Courtney is leaving Ally McBeal.
Courtney is paralyzed from the waist down.
Courtney is a master craftsperson.
Courtney is a most glorious Heavenly Handbag!
Courtney is an attractive 12 year old with green eyes and light brown hair.
Courtney is Laura Palmer.
Courtney is a very intelligent, playful dog and understands a lot of words.
Courtney is a "supah hep cat" and she doesn't look like a rat!
Courtney is situated less than 70 metres from Lake Taupo.
Courtney is a proven winner in barrels and poles.
Courtney is running for class president against Shannon.
Courtney is becoming a player on the international scene.
Courtney is the best sidekick Diaz is ever going to find.
Courtney is an analyst who is preparing a high-profile report on countries and companies that may have shipped weapons to Iraq before 1991.
Courtney is obviously rich and thinks up in herself.
Courtney is now comparing a 2-digit and a 3-digit number.
Courtney is spewing a version of fundamentalist, basic, nobody-else-but-me-is-right religion.
Courtney is a ball-busting, high-powered divorce attorney.
Courtney is an amateur ornithologist.
Courtney is thinking about the exact same thing in this picture.
Courtney is a much better 3-point shooter than last year's numbers indicate.
Courtney is based on the fingerprint of any scanner, including SATAN.

Betcha didn't know that.

Friday Five 28-06-02

Today's Friday Five: When was the last time you...

1. ...sent a handwritten letter?
I dunno about letters, but I send cards and postcards a lot. Want one? . Wanna send me one? See my P.O. Box address on the sidebar.

2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand?
I cook a lot. I dunno if making dinner counts. I made garlic mashed potatoes for last week's GeoPicnic, and before that, I made Tiramisu from scratch for Michelle.

3. ...camped in a tent?
Sadly, I can't recall. It's been that long. Years.

4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community?
Hmm. Not too much lately, since moving and all. I did recently donate some money to Wil for the Breast Cancer Walk-a-thon (which is currently waaaay over goal, a good thing). I think that time is definitely a good thing to donate to people... I just have to make it.

5. ...helped a stranger?
I think that we all should do something small for a stranger every day. It could be as minor as holding a door open, letting someone change lanes in front of you, or picking up something that was dropped. I consciously try to do these random acts of kindness often, albeit minor ones. Just because I know how it feels when someone else does it for me. :)

Friday Five 21-06-02

Today's Friday Five: Living Arrangements.

1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo?
We live in a house. In the middle of our street.
Okay, at the end of a court.

2. Do you rent or own?
Rent. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's time to buy, yadda yadda.
I guess we want to do it right when we do it. We weren't ready yet.

3. Does anyone else live with you?
Fiancé Kevin, 2 kids, 1 spaz cat.

4. How many times have you moved in your life?
Hmm. We moved around a lot, although in the same area, when I was a kid. Add it all up, and I think it must be around 9 or 10 times.

5. What are your plans for this weekend?
The big event for this weekend is the SF Bay Area Geocaching Picnic at Shadow Cliffs Regional Park. Otherwise, I think we'll be fixin' up the house more... we're still not completely settled since moving here.

Wednesday Whimsy 19-06-02

Today's Wednesday Whimsy: Death

1. What do you believe happens after death?
Things get dark. Really dark.
As you may know, although I was raised Catholic, I am not a religious person anymore. Religion has caused too much pain for too many people lately.

2. If, when you died, you were instantly transported to the moment in your life from which you would have done things differently, what would that moment be?
I try not to think that way... no regrets, y'know? I guess the standard answer would be that I always see room for self-improvement... wanting to take more classes, enrich my mind, encourage creative growth. It's not too late for that.

3. Some say that when you die you remain in the place you were most connected to in life. What would that place be for you?
Probably as a young, carefree child, without the modern worries I have today.

4. Describe a recent dream.
I actually haven't remember much of my dreams lately. I do vaguely remember, however, having a dream in which I was mad at Kevin for some reason. In the waking world, he was giving me a hug, and I pushed him away since I was still in the dream state. Funny how these things happen... of course, I apologized when I was fully awake. :)

Friday Five 14-6-02

Sorry, a little late on this Friday Five.

1. How often do you do laundry?
Once or twice a week, depending on how dirty we got, and how lazy I am.

2. What's in a typical wash load? Clothes. A lot of 'em. We have a separate load just for black items, 'cause we're dark like that. I guess it means we're truly products of the San Francisco Bay Area. ^_^

3. Front or top loader? Powder or liquid detergent?
Hey, that's two questions.
We have a top loading washer... just recently bought our own. Sears rocks.
I have both powder and liquid detergent right now. We normally use powder, but I decided to try out this Trader Joe's brand for the next batch. We always use a perfume-free, dye-free detergent, regardless of the medium.

4. Do you use fabric softener in the rinse cycle?
Hell yes. Sometimes I think too much. It really does make a difference, to me... softer clothes for my sensitive skin, and longer lasting, too.
I have been complimented on my lovely fragrance of Downy by my co-workers. :)

5. Dryer or clothesline?
Dryer. I hate the stiffness of line-dried clothes. Plus the Dryer is faster... we bought an accompanying dryer with our washer, which has the greatest thing invented... moisture sensing. Oooo.

eye aye

Okay, I *had* to post this one.

Take the test here! Made by Jenna and Robbie

Me, Old Fashioned?

Couple Kissing in Train Station
I'm probably an old-fashioned romantic if I'm Couple. Even if I'm not, I still have a flair for older things in life, while enjoying the new. Safety and tradition are old standbys for me, as well as taking things slowly. Beauty, in my eyes, is in the eye of the beholder.

What piece of photography are you?

Find out at The Stock Photo Quiz.

Aww.

Heh, this one's a pretty silly one. Stock Photos, what quiz will they think of next?

Mondays are usually not the high point of most people's weeks. I am no exception. I really have nothing to say (type?) today. Just winging it for the moment...

I got a Pyro Firewire Webcam off of eBay to use at the office, but I'm not sure how well it'll go over. Some people are paranoid about things like that. Or maybe they'll just think I'm a phr33k for recording selected moments of my life on the internet. *shrug*

Webcams are interesting things. People use them for different purposes, family, business, or pr0n (I hope those are mutually exclusive). I do get a strange IM every once in a while, but I shrug it off. Not like I'm flashing the camera or anything. Just parading my geekiness. :D

No one's commenting on this Blog. Ah well. I blab for blabbing's sake. Aloha.

Bleep Bleep

I am an Asteroid. I am a drifter. I go where life leads, which makes me usually a very calm and content sort of person. That or thoroughly apathetic. Usually I keep on doing whatever I'm doing, and it takes something special to make me change my mind. What Video Game Character Are You?

I am an Asteroid. Sweet. I'm not really a character, then.

I thought I'd take today's entry and link you to a bunch of good online comics. If you don't read webcomics already, I highly suggest you do. Either that, or I'll beat you over the head.

MegaTokyo has great artwork, and it's one of my favorites. They may not be daily, but it's worth it.

Don't hate me for liking Little Gamers. They've had a few really good jokes, and at least they *admit* they're kind of a South Park ripoff.

Penny Arcade is a long time favorite of webcomic readers and gamers. For good reason... check it out.

Anyone that knows Albert Wu has seen him mention Sluggy Freelance at least a dozen times. Good stories in this one.

Player vs. Player is another good gamer comic. Maybe the fact that there's a main female character that's a gamer is a bonus... ;)

I also like Diesel Sweeties because of its retro feel. I haven't read too much of it yet, though.

That. is. all.

Life in a Kevin Smith Movie

You are passionate about what you want out of life, and some have even described you as coarse. But deep down inside you have a good heart and that's all that matters. Actually...all that really matters is that your boyfriend is Brodie! Take The "Which Kevin Smith Female Are You?" Quiz!!

Nooo, I'm not Shannen Doherty! ;) Ah well. If you're a guy, take this test instead.

Monday... I stayed home today. Lingering illness, lack of sleep, deadlines at work and overall stress has taken its toll. Maybe I slept too much. The television sucked me in for a few hours, too. Thank [diety] it wasn't talk shows or "Daytime TV". Mostly Food Network, Discovery and Animal Planet. Oh, and laundry. Weeeee.

Back to regular life tomorrow. Whatever that is.