The last 3 days went by pretty fast, spending time with family and celebrating the Christmas holiday. So in return for all that quality time, I'm stuck at home today listening to contractors downstairs cutting a hole in my ceiling. Last week, after taking a shower, I went downstairs to discover an early Christmas present. I had half the second floor covered in water from a leak in the ceiling. I could understand this happening to a townhouse that was at least ten years old but I've barely owned my place for almost four years.

The weird part of the story is that I called the warranty manager the next day, played a bit of phone tag for two days, and finally got a hold of her. She quickly contacted the home builder, who then contacted me and knew exactly what the problem was when I described it. That's a bit odd, I thought to myself. So I knocked next door to see if my neighbors had any issues with water leaks. Amber (my neighbor) told me that the same thing happened to her place two years ago and that they came in to fix it.

If the home builders knew well ahead of time that this could have been a potential issue for all of us, they should have contacted us a long time ago, to avoid any other possible damage. In my case, some of the boards in my hardwood floor have started to buckle due to the water the boards absorbed. BASTARDS!

So today, on my day off, I'm stuck at home listening to all the noise. It gives me a good excuse to clean my room, though, before the new year and to finish up some work.

Never once have I finished Xmas shopping before Xmas until now (err after today). I was supposed to post this yesterday when I was excited to pick up the last gift I needed. (Wrapping is another story.) Then I got a call from the Runt telling me she couldn't find the present we were gonna share for my pops so I still needed to get him something. BLEH. Thanks for ruining it bastard. ha ha

So today, I'm off to find the funniest apron for my pops. Since he sold one of his businesses of to rest up more, he's officially become Mr. Mom at home and cooking up a storm.

I'm still happy this is the first time I've ever finished Xmas shopping before Xmas. Woohoo!

Merry Xmas!!

I've never been a huge holiday person. The closest I got to excitement was maybe my birthday, but that's still all pretty overrated. Until this year. My birthday (personal holiday), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas.

Christmas came early for me this year. To be exact, it was yesterday for Beeker and me because he left early this morning to catch a flight to Maui to visit his parents. Since we wouldn't be together on the actual day, we picked another day for Christmas. He really liked all the gifts I got for him, as each had a special meaning, but no gift I've gotten has ever topped what he made for me.

Previously, I had mentioned that I wanted to learn how to play chess. He joked around about not wanting to show me so I vowed to royally whoop his butt when I learned on my own. I even printed out a manual I found online. No need for that, however. Beeker made me my very own customized chessboard, complete with my favorite people and chessboard piece directions on the back. Along with the present came Beeker, as my personal coach to show me what the basic objective and strategy of the game was. After learning the basics, I was down to try the game out. According to Beeker, I did real good for my first time, but by the 3rd mistake I made, he checkmate'ed me (poor King Takeshi).

Thanks Beeker *mwah*.. I absolutely *heart* my chessboard!



My Allies


Da Boys & Katamari


My cheat sheets

It's been a very long time since I've watched a movie that made me feel like a kid again. I thought Harry Potter would have done it but, it didn't even come close to Finding Neverland. I'd heard good things from friends and coworkers and had told Beeker I really wanted to see it. Every other movie on Peter Pan just plain sucked (mental image of Rufio right about now).

Without giving away too much, there are very few movies that are simply magical and innocent these days. So many times during the movie, I kept thinking to myself, 'thank gawd, they didn't just ruin that scene by adding some sexual innuendo in there.' I walked out of the theater wanting to skip up and down the street.

Every child (including most adults) have their fairy tale, their own Neverland. This movie just made me remember how much fun it was to have the innocence and imagination of a child. *giddy*

Cynicism...

Cynicism... call it my somewhat jaded attitude towards the world but I never thought of myself as a cynical person until now. Usually, I'm the pretty happy go lucky type but as I get older, the more I realize that negative things sometimes happen to good people, including myself.

It's all based on your expectations of the world I suppose. For as long as I can remember, my expectations have always been high, especially of myself. I hate being half @ss. I hate it when people flake. I hate it when people can't take responsibility for their actions. And I hate it most when I'm disappointed based on my expectations.

My independence stems from these notions. I once learned I needed to be happy being on my own. I learned to love myself and enjoy "me" time. So as the new year draws close, it's almost time for my resolutions/expectations of myself for the upcoming year.

* less cynicism
* more "me" time
* self-motivation (GMAT/start thinking about business school)
* learning from the mistakes I made this past year
... and the list goes on ...

Update: As I reread this post, I realized it was a bit too negative for me. Hypocritical of the whole 'less cynicism' portion of my resolutions. Patience is an absolute virtue and something I need to work on this coming year. Hopefully the people I care about are patient enough with me.

Beeker finally got a couple hours of much needed rest time, so we watched House of Flying Daggers. All I can say is that it left me completely cheesed out in the end. Not the type where you've just finished a box of tissue or where you want to hug everyone around you. It was the type that inspired you to do a good deed or follow your heart. Mmm...

Happy Holidays!

The holiday party at work was last Friday so you'd think I would have posted some pictures right? The pictures have been sitting here on my hard drive for the whole week, too. Guess you have to be in a cheery holiday mood to post pictures? Just your luck. I am! Here ya go!


Google Holiday Sand Castle


Blogger Support


Pimpmaster Beeker and his backup dancers singing Copacabana

Heads Up 7 Up

I was staring out the cafeteria windows at work today and it reminded me of grammar school rainy days. During recess, you couldn't go out and play coz it was all yucky and wet so instead, you played games like Heads Up 7 Up.

If i could be anywhere right now, it'd be in middle of my bed, curled up in a ball with my blankie, under my comforter. That's my only place of comfort when I need to hide from the world.

Emotional attachments...

I wrote about TB before... Last night while I was following Kimbalina to the mall, something just felt too weird with my brakes. Something wasn't right and I know all the quirks of my car. I've been suspecting something for the last couple of days.

This morning, I called my mechanic and described what was going on and he knew exactly what was wrong and told me I needed to bring it in ASAP. Something with the brake master cylinder. (That's gibberish to me.) The short- some part will be changed and it'll be done the end of the day.

Again, why I am I even continuing to invest more money in my car? Hell if I know. Actually, I'm attached to my car. She's been everywhere with me... all over California, all through college, out to TX, and back to California...

Bleh.. sucks that I have to say goodbye soon to her...

At least iNfo can relate to me. He went through the same thing towards the end of Sept/beg of Oct, but too bad the fool doesn't have permalinks for me to link to his @ss... =P