yes, i felt violated. my roommate ate my orange chicken from trader joe's thinking it was his and thinking that no one else but him shopped at trader joe's. funny thing, i have never ever seen orange chicken in our freezer ever other than my own.
issue resolved. i told him to pay me $5.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The People's Champ
I never would have imagined seeing an African-American president so early in my lifetime. But here we are, history in the making. It's pretty unbelievable. I'd prolly be tearing up like oprah and jesse jackson too if i was in chicago last night.
It seems like recently history has been full of despair--financial crisis, hurricanes, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, 2 terms under the crappiest president ever, etc. But now we have this glimmer of hope for a brighter future--the next david palmer--barack obama. he pretty much represents everyone that has never been represented at this level before--basically anybody not rich and white. You get a sense of connection with barack, like he's just one of us.
This is a good feeling.
on a side note: i'm pretty disappointed that prop 8 didn't pass. c'mon people! you gotta look at it beyond religion or beyond traditionalism. it's all about equality and rights for everyone. it's not gonna have any effect on your own marriage or beliefs. in some ways, this is like the ban on interracial marriage back in the day--so ridiculous, so unconstitutional.
It seems like recently history has been full of despair--financial crisis, hurricanes, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, 2 terms under the crappiest president ever, etc. But now we have this glimmer of hope for a brighter future--the next david palmer--barack obama. he pretty much represents everyone that has never been represented at this level before--basically anybody not rich and white. You get a sense of connection with barack, like he's just one of us.
This is a good feeling.
on a side note: i'm pretty disappointed that prop 8 didn't pass. c'mon people! you gotta look at it beyond religion or beyond traditionalism. it's all about equality and rights for everyone. it's not gonna have any effect on your own marriage or beliefs. in some ways, this is like the ban on interracial marriage back in the day--so ridiculous, so unconstitutional.
Monday, October 20, 2008
BURRRRR
(not to be confused with Aaron Burr who dueled with Alexander Hamilton)
it's freakin cold in Boston! it feels like how the bay would feel like in the winter...and it's only october! i can only imagine how cold it will be during the winter. i've already starting stockpiling on jackets, coats and gloves. i hope all of you are enjoying your 70-80 degree weather while us here are suffering from 40-50 degree weather with wind chills that make it feel like your face is stuck in the freezer. just another reason why i don't want to live in the east coast forever.
it's freakin cold in Boston! it feels like how the bay would feel like in the winter...and it's only october! i can only imagine how cold it will be during the winter. i've already starting stockpiling on jackets, coats and gloves. i hope all of you are enjoying your 70-80 degree weather while us here are suffering from 40-50 degree weather with wind chills that make it feel like your face is stuck in the freezer. just another reason why i don't want to live in the east coast forever.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Welcome Home
"enjoy your stay if you're visiting, otherwise....welcome home." damn, i had a warm and tingly feeling inside (twss) when the flight attendant said that. i really havent been gone for that long, but it feels good to be back home. it's a weird feeling really. it feels like i'm returning to my life in cali that has been on pause for 1+ months after pausing my life in boston. so it's almost like i'm living two lives back and forth. it's kinda hard to explain.
on a side note: i knew the flight to SFO was gonna be pretty full and pretty risky for me to get on as standby. they starting boarding the regular passengers first. and then they announce a couple names who were on standby to give tickets two. a few more minutes went by. they didn't announce any names but at the same time didnt say the flight was checked in full. so still hopeful. and then the person at the counter says there are 3 unchecked seats and there were 6 of us on standby, with me being the youngest (btw, age doesn't matter since it's all about employee seniority). they checked the seats again and there was actually only 1 seat left. so my chanced slimmed down even more. they also said they didn't want anyone with a bag to board, i guess, for space reasons. they announced a name but it was one of the people travelling in a pair and they didn't want to get seperated. and then they announce my name! and i didn't have any bags with me! whoo hooo going home! i kinda felt guilty for taking the last spot and leaving 5 people in the dust. oh well, i've had to pay my dues in the past and had to wait for the next flight(s) or even get stranded for a day or two. luck was on my side!
on a side note: i knew the flight to SFO was gonna be pretty full and pretty risky for me to get on as standby. they starting boarding the regular passengers first. and then they announce a couple names who were on standby to give tickets two. a few more minutes went by. they didn't announce any names but at the same time didnt say the flight was checked in full. so still hopeful. and then the person at the counter says there are 3 unchecked seats and there were 6 of us on standby, with me being the youngest (btw, age doesn't matter since it's all about employee seniority). they checked the seats again and there was actually only 1 seat left. so my chanced slimmed down even more. they also said they didn't want anyone with a bag to board, i guess, for space reasons. they announced a name but it was one of the people travelling in a pair and they didn't want to get seperated. and then they announce my name! and i didn't have any bags with me! whoo hooo going home! i kinda felt guilty for taking the last spot and leaving 5 people in the dust. oh well, i've had to pay my dues in the past and had to wait for the next flight(s) or even get stranded for a day or two. luck was on my side!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Fuckin Asian Kid
That's what I was called 40 minutes ago as i was walking towards my apt. There are folks who live on the corner that seem to have gatherings every week on top of some balcony or terrace that leads into an apt and some racist dumb ass from that group starts yelling that with a mocking Asian accent. Obviously it was directed at me cuz I was the only one in the vicinity and I assume there were no "Asian kids" in that group. If you didn't already guess, i was pretty pissed off. But what was I gonna do? Yell back "Fuck you?" I didn't want to risk starting something and have a group of guys beat me up or find out where I live exactly. I wish I had my friends to back me up. So I kept cool and just walked straight to my apt without even looking in their direction. So I have no idea what they look like. BUT I do know where they live. That was a good idea of you to yell that to me from where you or your friend lives, buddy. What should I use to "bless" their hangout spot? Eggs? A can of paint? Patis?
The stigma that Boston is racist is starting to come into the light. I'd never hear this in Vallejo or SF. I hope it doesn't get worse than this.
The stigma that Boston is racist is starting to come into the light. I'd never hear this in Vallejo or SF. I hope it doesn't get worse than this.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
One Reason Why Boston Sucks
don't get me wrong, boston is a great city. but there's a few things that make it less great that it could be
one of them is....
NO HAPPY HOUR ANYWHERE! WTF! pay full price for drinks all day?! that's ridiculous! apparently it's some kind of state or city law saying bars can't discount their drinks for a short period of time or some ish like that. WHACK! That's a reason why I wouldn't want to live here forever. At least there's a place that has $2 Taco Tuesdays and Trader Joe's here has Two Buck Chuck.
one of them is....
NO HAPPY HOUR ANYWHERE! WTF! pay full price for drinks all day?! that's ridiculous! apparently it's some kind of state or city law saying bars can't discount their drinks for a short period of time or some ish like that. WHACK! That's a reason why I wouldn't want to live here forever. At least there's a place that has $2 Taco Tuesdays and Trader Joe's here has Two Buck Chuck.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
1st Week of September
a lot happened in the first week of sept. chiara and madel left =/ and i started my first week in my new office. the school of public health is housed in a mansion looking building...
working on campus is way cooler than working in a lonely satellite office disconnected from the university for many reasons:
(1) younger people my age are around
(2) more people around in general
(3) i get to flash my university ID card whenever i want to:
(4) i get an office labeled with my name:
(5) very relaxed and chill environment
(6) ever so often there are socials in my department and in the school in general. during my first friday at work, we had a going away party for someone in my dept and celebrated with snack and beer! that's right, beer at work, on campus. so i drank it up with staff, doctoral students, my manager, and even professors!
(7) and the best of all is that i get the majority of my tuition paid for!
another plus side about living in boston is that you do not need a car at all to get around most places. destinations are either walkable or public transportationable. no need to worry about gas, traffic, parking, carjacking, etc.
side note: there are hella cal alumni living in boston. every week they get together at some bar near fenway to watch cal football games. we're everywhere!
working on campus is way cooler than working in a lonely satellite office disconnected from the university for many reasons:
(1) younger people my age are around
(2) more people around in general
(3) i get to flash my university ID card whenever i want to:
(4) i get an office labeled with my name:
(5) very relaxed and chill environment
(6) ever so often there are socials in my department and in the school in general. during my first friday at work, we had a going away party for someone in my dept and celebrated with snack and beer! that's right, beer at work, on campus. so i drank it up with staff, doctoral students, my manager, and even professors!
(7) and the best of all is that i get the majority of my tuition paid for!
another plus side about living in boston is that you do not need a car at all to get around most places. destinations are either walkable or public transportationable. no need to worry about gas, traffic, parking, carjacking, etc.
side note: there are hella cal alumni living in boston. every week they get together at some bar near fenway to watch cal football games. we're everywhere!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
From Fenway to Cannoli
(sunday of labor day weekend)
boston natives are extremely die hard sports fans, especially of the red sox. wear anything yankee or new york and you're bound to get jumped by a 5 year old bostonian. ok, that's an exaggeration, but yaddadamean. and it's almost impossible to score tix to the game unless you fork up hella $$, got connections, school field trip, or just get lucky with standby tix. kat and madel failed to get some, but it's ok. the green monster will be there next year.
here's the outside fenway park (not my pic):
here's a place to go nearby if you failed to score tix. it's called cask and flagon and apparently it's ranked by espn as the #2 baseball bar in the nation:
before going to the above locations, we went to church. here's the church just a minute walk from my apt:
and here's a view of boston from the church:
following lunch at cask and flagon was a trip to north end (little italy). you can't leave there without a stop at mike's pastries. mmmmmmm cannoli.
boston natives are extremely die hard sports fans, especially of the red sox. wear anything yankee or new york and you're bound to get jumped by a 5 year old bostonian. ok, that's an exaggeration, but yaddadamean. and it's almost impossible to score tix to the game unless you fork up hella $$, got connections, school field trip, or just get lucky with standby tix. kat and madel failed to get some, but it's ok. the green monster will be there next year.
here's the outside fenway park (not my pic):
here's a place to go nearby if you failed to score tix. it's called cask and flagon and apparently it's ranked by espn as the #2 baseball bar in the nation:
before going to the above locations, we went to church. here's the church just a minute walk from my apt:
and here's a view of boston from the church:
following lunch at cask and flagon was a trip to north end (little italy). you can't leave there without a stop at mike's pastries. mmmmmmm cannoli.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Settling In
the next couple of days involved going to ikea, target, etc. I even dropped by my work to get my ID, talk with my staff, and even to use the comp to look up and print out stuff. at this point, even though I was moving into my new place, it felt like I was starting a long vacation. Homesickness did not settle in yet.
that Friday of labor day weekend, Chiara came into town, yay! She came in late that night since it's a long way from Philly (~7 hours ride). We were gonna go out with Kat and her roommate, but it ended up being too late and us being too tired. The next morning we ate at a popular cafe in Jamaica Plains called Center St Cafe. it's one of those organicy, fresh, pricey cafes. and then we pretty much spent the rest of the day organizing and cleaning up my room until we had to drive to Providence to pick up Madel. my second visitor in 24 hours! yay!
we really didn't spend too much time in Providence. a lot of people were out and about cuz of their annual fire river thingy or whatever it's called. we headed back to Boston and ate in Chinatown at a place called Gourmet Dumpling House. not bad. the only weird thing was the sauce for their sesame chicken. it had the consistency of snot (yeah, not a very nice image). but it wasn't bad nor did it taste like snot.
we walked a bit around town to find a bar to hangout in. we didn't have much luck until we came across this place called Rattlesnake bar. not much colored folk in the crowd i'd say. the place also had a rooftop but for some reason, the bouncer didn't let us up. the reason is prolly cuz we're 'Asian.' cuz a moment later we see him let other people in. later on we ask why we couldn't go up there, and his reason was that there were too many people up there. BS. but he finally let us up there. as we were going up the stairs i swore i heard him say a phrase that ended in the word 'Asian.' some say Boston is pretty racist. fortunately, i have yet to experience any sort of racism or discrimination aside from this incident. Boston is actually a colorful city with so many ethnic groups. the only thing is that it just needs a lil bit more filipinos.
that Friday of labor day weekend, Chiara came into town, yay! She came in late that night since it's a long way from Philly (~7 hours ride). We were gonna go out with Kat and her roommate, but it ended up being too late and us being too tired. The next morning we ate at a popular cafe in Jamaica Plains called Center St Cafe. it's one of those organicy, fresh, pricey cafes. and then we pretty much spent the rest of the day organizing and cleaning up my room until we had to drive to Providence to pick up Madel. my second visitor in 24 hours! yay!
we really didn't spend too much time in Providence. a lot of people were out and about cuz of their annual fire river thingy or whatever it's called. we headed back to Boston and ate in Chinatown at a place called Gourmet Dumpling House. not bad. the only weird thing was the sauce for their sesame chicken. it had the consistency of snot (yeah, not a very nice image). but it wasn't bad nor did it taste like snot.
we walked a bit around town to find a bar to hangout in. we didn't have much luck until we came across this place called Rattlesnake bar. not much colored folk in the crowd i'd say. the place also had a rooftop but for some reason, the bouncer didn't let us up. the reason is prolly cuz we're 'Asian.' cuz a moment later we see him let other people in. later on we ask why we couldn't go up there, and his reason was that there were too many people up there. BS. but he finally let us up there. as we were going up the stairs i swore i heard him say a phrase that ended in the word 'Asian.' some say Boston is pretty racist. fortunately, i have yet to experience any sort of racism or discrimination aside from this incident. Boston is actually a colorful city with so many ethnic groups. the only thing is that it just needs a lil bit more filipinos.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Start of a New Blog and Journey
yes folks, i've started a blog for the first time in my life. i think this would be a good time to do so.
it's day 11, but let's recap and go back to day 1. A LOT has happened since the first day i got here.
DAY 1 (WED. AUG 27)
arrived at around 330pm at Logan International. i had no idea how i was going to get to my place. taxi? shuttle? bus? subway? limo? went with the taxi + zipcar (which is the coolest thing btw) option. i got dropped a few blocks near the BU medical campus (where i work), which is also near kat's place, where a zipcar was located.
before i hopped into the car i called my landlord to give her a heads up. i told her i just came into town and that i am ready to move in. but she tells me that the room i am supposed to stay in is still occupied by the current tenant and is not leaving until the weekend. she told me before that i had the whole month of august free, so i can move in whenever. wtf?! i just got into boston and have no place to stay!
i then hopped into the zipcar and went to meet up with kat at some bar 10-15 minutes away. it is so crazy driving in boston! only driving for a few seconds, i had already driven the wrong way on a one way street. drivers here are crazy cuz they run red lights and don't wait for pedestrians to cross. in retaliation, pedestrians cross whenever and wherever they wish. you also have to often avoid double parkers cuz apparently it's pretty common to do so here.
after picking up kat, i dropped off my stuff at her place and head over to my place to see what the situation is with the current tenant. i ended up meeting my future roommate, Andrew, who tells me that the person who was staying in my future room had already moved out. WOO HOO! i actually have a place to stay! side note: Kat thinks that my roommate is attracted to me cuz of how he was friendly and enthusiastic towards me.
sooo afterwards we had on to target to buy a bunch of apartment crap. on the way back i ended up driving on the wrong side of the road AGAIN! it was night time and i SWEAR i did not see any 'do not enter signs' or signs saying to turn right. for dinner, kat and i decided to eat at this venezuelan restaurant called orinoco. pretty chill place i'd say. small, quaint, good food, and relatively cheap prices! i even had dominican beer.
alrite. that's enough for now. stay tuned for scenes of the next days in boston.
it's day 11, but let's recap and go back to day 1. A LOT has happened since the first day i got here.
DAY 1 (WED. AUG 27)
arrived at around 330pm at Logan International. i had no idea how i was going to get to my place. taxi? shuttle? bus? subway? limo? went with the taxi + zipcar (which is the coolest thing btw) option. i got dropped a few blocks near the BU medical campus (where i work), which is also near kat's place, where a zipcar was located.
before i hopped into the car i called my landlord to give her a heads up. i told her i just came into town and that i am ready to move in. but she tells me that the room i am supposed to stay in is still occupied by the current tenant and is not leaving until the weekend. she told me before that i had the whole month of august free, so i can move in whenever. wtf?! i just got into boston and have no place to stay!
i then hopped into the zipcar and went to meet up with kat at some bar 10-15 minutes away. it is so crazy driving in boston! only driving for a few seconds, i had already driven the wrong way on a one way street. drivers here are crazy cuz they run red lights and don't wait for pedestrians to cross. in retaliation, pedestrians cross whenever and wherever they wish. you also have to often avoid double parkers cuz apparently it's pretty common to do so here.
after picking up kat, i dropped off my stuff at her place and head over to my place to see what the situation is with the current tenant. i ended up meeting my future roommate, Andrew, who tells me that the person who was staying in my future room had already moved out. WOO HOO! i actually have a place to stay! side note: Kat thinks that my roommate is attracted to me cuz of how he was friendly and enthusiastic towards me.
sooo afterwards we had on to target to buy a bunch of apartment crap. on the way back i ended up driving on the wrong side of the road AGAIN! it was night time and i SWEAR i did not see any 'do not enter signs' or signs saying to turn right. for dinner, kat and i decided to eat at this venezuelan restaurant called orinoco. pretty chill place i'd say. small, quaint, good food, and relatively cheap prices! i even had dominican beer.
alrite. that's enough for now. stay tuned for scenes of the next days in boston.
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