Alive

it's been one fun week. my last final was last thursday morning and immediately thereafter, the partying began. after a day of debauchery, we left for whistler, where it was three straight days of boarding, hot tub orgies, and boozin' til wee hours of the night. oh, four hours of hot tub drinking = not good for the head. i think my favorite quote of the weekend was my roomie screaming, "i want my f*&*in vodka!!!!" in the halls of the hotel. it just seems so appropriate.

anyhoo, i am back alive to nice and warm LA and feeling quite behind on xmas shopping. i guess having zero presents bought three days before xmas is not the best show of preparation. but wtf is wrong with all my friends? they're all on top of stuff and sending xmas cards early...makes me feel so retarded. thanks, friends. you poops.

oh, a normal picture from the top of the mountain...

Survival of the Fittest

i'm in the middle of my first quarter finals right now and am down to one more tomorrow morning. as we're sitting around "studying," someone says (with beer in hand), "i've definitely gotten stupider since high school. i think it's because i drank too much since then and killed off my brain cells."

my buddy replies with one of the most fantastic quotes i've heard in a while: "no, you've gotten smarter. you've just gotten rid of the weak brain cells." ahhh, darwin.

In Da Spirit

a few of my classmates and i walked into westwood for an extended lunch today. we spotted dr. phil getting taped in one of those outdoorsy restaurants near cpk. i wanted to yell out, "i love you man!" but then i would be lying and that's no good since it's almost christmas.

Actress Slash Dart Champion

on friday night, i crashed the chanin holiday dinner at buffalo club. okay, maybe "crashed" isn't the exact word since i was actually invited as a guest, but seriously, i felt like one of those sketchy alumni who come back to their old frat to party with the new college kids. despite the initial weirdness, alisa made sure alcohol was a-flowin' to me and i got over it. it was great to see everyone...and for some reason, i was roped into doing an improv skit to make fun of my old boss peter. my memory is a bit foggy on what i actually said, but i remember skip (top dog) extending me an open invitation to chanin dinners for life...

and despite a massive hangover on saturday morning, i got up to go to the usc-ucla football game at the coliseum. of course, even after a tailgate and a broken heart (the trojans destroyed the bruins), i still persevered to the annual mit young alum holiday party at tim and tamra's house. initially, i proclaimed to james and tina that i was breaking up with my old boyfriend, booze, but i made up with him sometime soon thereafter and more fun was had. even though i didn't converse with a single new nerd at the party, i do remember my glorious comeback victory in drunken darts against tim and kevin.

so, ladies and gentlemen, this weekend's lesson: drink lots and you will find your hidden talents.

25th!

today was ellen's 25th anniversary as a comic. she played her first stand-up act on the tonight show with johnny carson. she was 27 at the time and ellen got all teary-eyed watching herself (so did i, but that's a side point). i wonder if in 25 years, i'm going to look back at my stupid blogs and cry at my youthful genius.

Alias Cancelled!

can i tell you how glad i was to hear this news? i mean this show jumped the shark 500 years ago!

i would make this blog entry longer, but i'm about to run to a wine club event. and yes, that counts as an academic club for my resume!

Frozen

after weeks of almost-too-hot weather, LA was hit was some pretty cold winds yesterday. though windy 50-degree weather doesn't seem too low for those of you east-coasters, but hey, it's all relative. we were waiting outside of this new club called mood in hollywood last night, and the little street vender guy was selling flowers per usual...and fake leather gloves! despite the fact i wondered where the heck he busted out such an inventory of gloves, it goes to prove how cold it was here yesterday.

anyhoo, i've been asked to update on few items:
- the latest word i taught my japanese study group mate is "brown-noser"
- bob, though he is battling a left eye infection, is still alive (oh, left is from his point of view)
- food of weekend was: ham, stuffing, gravy sandwiches in semi-sweet rolls
- quote of the weekend (from alice): "banana republic is a victim of obesity" (we were discussing banana's bigger-than-normal / make-people-feel-better sizing scheme)
- and, the answer to the #1 question: yes, i'm still single, but i've narrowed the field down to 20 boys, it's all good.

***oh, for those of you who complained that i changed the comment settings on this blog, it was so that the retard spams won't pop up. but i changed it back so anyone can comment, but you have to do those word verification thingies. i hope that works better!

Seeing Triple

what a crazy weekend. there was lots of bbq-ing, 85 degree weather, dancing...man, i'm pooped. so on friday night, i went to the superdiamond concert in hollywood with some anderson kids and bethie. my school friends were quick to tell me how funny i was the night before at the international beer bust. towards the end of the night, while drunk, i went to play IM flag football. the whole team was pretty drunk, but apparently, there were several plays where i was playing offense when i should be on defense, talked trash to some undergrad, and forgot to put my flags back on. i tried to play off my drunkenness with "i was just running some diagonal routes!" but i think my friends figured me out. needless to say, our team lost.

Mmm...Beer

so i'm sitting in my finance class blogging. we're not allowed to have our computers out, but hey, i'm talented and really bored.

so, this afternoon, we're having the "international beer bust," essentially a festival featuring international foods, music, performances...and of course, beer. there are about seven korean kids in our first year class and we're grillin' up some galbi. but the more interesting thing is that the indian group is doing a dance and was lacking a few girls...so i'm dancing. yes, me and my uncoordinated self is dancing. well, at least beer makes me more limber.

oh, continuing on my sorority love, i just met the nice alumni couple who is funding my anderson education. one of the first things she said to me was, "did you know we're sisters!?!?!? i'm so glad we can offer a fellowship to a fellow alphi phi!" i was speechless.

btw, my finance prof is hilarious. he says "crap" or "shit" every other sentence. i told my classmates that i would buy beer for whoever gets him to say the f-word.

Say Cheese

my morning commute, which takes about 45 minutes, is like a grand tour of LA. i leave glendale to drive through hollywood, right by the hollywood bowl, hollywood / highland area (kodak theatre, jimmy kimmel show location, grauman's chinese theatre...), sunset strip, beverly hills, and then to school. on the days i leave a bit late, i always drive by tourists walking around, looking at the stars on the sidewalk, taking pictures, etc.

this morning, i almost spit out my coffee when i saw this group of asians intensely taking pictures of this asian middle-aged woman posing with someone dressed up as spiderman. after the pictures, "spiderman" picked up the lady just for fun, and the asian group, with this frieghtened looks on their faces, backed away slowly...like this woman had been taken hostage. i don't know. i'm not doing justice to the scene that i witnessed. it was hilarious.

on a side note, isn't it so stupid when people use headsets on cell phones but feel the necessity to hold up the mic right up to their mouths? so much for hands free...

Secret's Out

over the weekend, at a party with bschool friends, i spotted this girl from mit i hadn't seen in four years. carolyn, who lives in nyc, was visiting one of my bschool friends...and they happen to know each other from a past job. small world.

anyhoo, i was hanging out with her for a while, and a few friends came up to us, so i introduced her.

"this is carolyn, a friend from mit. we used to live together and i hadn't seen her in forever. she was actually visiting geoff and i just ran into her!"
"awesome! were you guys roommates?"
"oooh, no. uh...we just lived in the same house."
"oh. how many people were in the house?"
"like 60."
"oh. and you guys knew each other?"
"well, it was...um..."
"...were you in a sorority?!?!?!?!?!"
"uh..."
"HAHAHAHAHA, that's the funniest thing i've ever heard!"

Bladder Situation

on my way home from school today (where everyone looked like zombies after last night's 4-hour open bar halloween party), i stopped at the brewco to hang with jenn and have a beer. then, i realized that i had to get home for dinner with the parental units, so even though i sorta had to pee, i decided to dash to the car and get on my way home.

about 10 minutes into the drive, i realize, oh man, i REALLY have to pee now. but alas, i'm stuck in friday night traffic. so i decide to phone lil sis to check on her...and distract myself. while talking to her, i decide that there's no way i'm making it all the way home in this traffic and try to get off the freeway. i frantically swerve towards the exit and i finally make it off to find that there is no gas station in sight.

after about what seemed like 100 long mofo blocks, within which i have a little sneezing attack...holy crap, sneezing = not friendly to the full bladder...i reach a chevron. i jump out of the car and run in to find the bathroom door that says, "customers only. please bring your purchases to the cashier." i pick up the first thing i see, a vitamin water, and go to the front, only to be greeted by 10 retarded high school punks dressed up for halloween...and each of them paying for their stupid pack of gum or bag of chips with a credit card!

i finally get to the front of the line to ask for the key, and the cashier claims that someone else is in the bathroom and i must wait. i go to the bathroom and knock furiously and some dude answers, "un momento!" Un momento my ass! he's in there for another like five minutes (by this time, i can't even walk straight) and he FINALLY comes out of the bathroom...with a GNASTY stank behind him. but i bear through...

i literally peed for two straight minutes at a constant high volume flow rate. i felt like i lost 30 pounds. i gave a sheepish grin to the cashier and i bounced from the joint.

i get back in my car and call back my sis to tell her about my pee saga.
me: "i thought i was going to die!"
yuj: "what an obituary that would've been: death from bladder poppage."

Boo

so, in the middle of rush hour, on santa monica blvd. in hollywood, i drove past (really really slowly, stupid LA traffic!) a totally random hitchhiker. she was a white, semi-heavy lady, probably in her 50's...very neighborly looking person. i hesitated and thought about giving her a ride, but hey, it's almost halloween...i mean, WHAT IF...WHAT IF!

i wanted to be martha stewart for halloween, but i don't think i have enough time to pick up a poncho, a blond wig, or an ankle bracklet this week...darn. oh well, i'll just have to sluttify some other profession.

Thirsty

the blog-entry frequency has dropped some, but it's due to my retardedly busy schedule ever since school started. i mean, classes, homework, group work, etc, takes a crapload of time and then you add things like IM sports, tailgating, wine club, happy hours...well, that's my excuse.

the most notable thing that happened was in my marketing class few days ago. i brought in a dc (diet coke) without a lid. since i sit in the back row, i was dozin' a little...and then totally tipped my full glass over...all over my friend sitting next to me. the ice splattered against the table made such a loud noise (along with the fact my friend was swapping out her wet chair and i sprinted out of the classroom to get some paper towels), the professor stopped his lecture to ask if everything was alright. then right after, i put the cup on the floor (with about a 1/4 of the dc left) and about 10 minutes later, i accidentally kicked it and spilled the rest on the floor.

the running comments thereafter: "sauj, don't worry, you can sit next to me, i brought my umbrella" or "sauj, where's the cap on that water!?!?!?!" or "sauj, you thirsty?"

Sniff

why is sunday night so good on abc? extreme makeover: home edition, dh, and grey's anatomy? that's a power trio. and yes, i cry at extreme makeover...every time.

Jumbo Sauj

i went to the crazy fun ucla-cal game last night. bruins came back to win in this close game and i lost my voice. they had oversold the student section so they pushed the overflow kids down to the rich people's section...and i ended up on the FIRST row at the 40 yard line right behind our players. i guess i made nice with the the cameraman was right in front of us because he put me on the jumbotron three times! i kept getting calls from friends in other parts of the stand: "dude, lookin' good!" oooh yeah.

speaking of looking good, i went to a brazilian bbq place with some friends on friday night. i decided i want to be a samba dancer...they can mooooove.

Conan for President

my first week of real classes has come to an end. THANK GOD. my brain seems to have rusted over and it's really hard for me to do basic things such as...read. sad.

anyhoo, i hope everyone got to watch conan last night. he had u2 on...how is bono still so sexy? my favorite line from conan's intro, "tonight, we have the ireland's pride. i'm talking about me."

oh, so i got made fun because i watch two and a half men. i really think it's one of the funniest sitcoms on tv. steph told me that shannon's dad likes the show too. i'm glad to have a show buddy like papa spoon.

80s Fun

last night, we marked the end of a long and busy two-week orientation with an 80s party. the international kids were pretty confused at the concept (some dressed as the beach boys), but i had a fun time boozin' with this crowd.

which reminds me...this japanese guy is teaching me japanese phrases with the trade that i teach him "better" english. i have thus far taught him very useful words such as yo, dude, man, boozer, smashed, slammed, and tossed. he takes his lessons seriously...he writes this stuff down!

Leadership-Schmeadership

i am exhausted. the first week of my two-week orientation is a 2-unit class called leadership foundations. we have done various activities with our groups, such as ropes' courses, design project simulations, and even improv lessons. i'm all good with these activities, except the lame debriefing after each session, "what have you learned from this activity?" i keep thinking they're just testing my patience. breathe...breathe...1...2...3.

right now, with only one beer in me, i am writing my "leadership map" (a 3-page paper) . this is why i am a good leader, this is why i am a bad leader, this is what i want to work on, and this is how i'm going to do it. good thing i've had this blog to keep my bs writing skills in check.

Fight Fight Fight

i went to my first ucla football game as a student yesterday and had a fantastic time. i saw two undergrads throw up around me and the bruins whooped the #21 ranked oklahoma sooners 41-24. i learned all the ucla cheers, including some impromtu chants created on-the-spot for the sooner fans by the clever student section: "[clap, clap, clap-clap-clap] oooover-raaaated..."

but you know, no cheer will ever compared to the mit fight song: "...cosine, secant, tangent, sine, 3.14159..."

Johnny Roberts

while driving, i was listening to the confirmation hearing for the chief justice candidate john roberts today on npr. i guess it's understandable, but it was the weirdest thing. senator would question him on his opinion of controversial issues, clearly knowing that he wouldn't answer, and then...surprise, he wouldn't answer. i was thinking how great i would be as a senator on that committee.

"judge roberts, i know you can't really answer this, but the american public really needs to know. who would win on a full-on wrestling match? martha vs. the donald? dr. phil vs. geraldo? billary vs. madonna?"

"yeah, that's what i thought. tsk, tsk. i don't know if i can vote for you, man."

TV Pleasures

the new season of ellen has begun and my lover tivo has done a great job of recording her show. at the beginning of each show, ellen has been pulling audience members up to the stage to dance with her, and i'm quite impressed at the dancing abilities of these older folks. i must say, they are unbelievably nimble. i'm jealous.

another great thing this season is that ellen has been moved to 4 pm so i can tivo the ruler of the free world, oprah, as well now. it's only been a week and i think i've already gone through a box of tissues. dang, she's good.

oh, and i just watched the season finale of tommy lee goes to college. i think i'm the reason that reality shows are still running strong on tv. i apologize to all of you on behalf of my kind.

More Back To School Fun

over the weekend, i attended a "pre-orientation" trip with 15 other incoming students. we went to anapaca island (one of the channel islands) to bond, camp, and kayak. the word ka-yak seemed perfect for the occasion because one camper became pretty seasick and tossed her cookies on the dock. surprisingly, i actually had a great time despite the fact there was no alcohol on the trip. anyhoo, official orientation begins next week and it seems like people are already forming cliques as the "ny crowd" or the "sf crowd" or whatever. i'm not sure if i'm up for this "anderson high school" experience just yet.

on a parallel note, i found one of my mom's t-shirts (from MADD) which says:
front - "did you know..."
back - "...that most glendale high school students have never been drunk before?"

i told my mom that's false advertisement.

Back To School

i went to anderson for the first time today since i decided to be a student there. i forgot how big and pretty the ucla campus was...and that i am a "grad student." it sounds so old! well, at least i now have a "bruin card" for student discounts at movies.

speaking of schools, i went to my mom's classroom (mama yi = high school math teacher) on saturday to help her setup for her new students. she asked me to put up a poster of her classroom rules and here's number 2 and 3:

2) please put away your cd and mp3 players.
3) please turn off your cell phones.

kids these days. i remember when i had to walk barefoot in the snow over the hill to school with only a pager.

Retirement at Age 26

it cost me $67.49 today to fill up my tank on the cheapest grade. my unemployment cannot support such costs of living. therefore, i announce my retirement from driving as of tomorrow. we shall have a retirement party on saturday night and booze up like partying grandmas on the boost mobile commercials. though, someone, please be nice and volunteer to pick me up. thanks.

Technology Hos

i will have a few more pictures soon, but i had to mention something that happened at the yi household today. so i am "temporarily" living at my parents' house, which is a two story place. my cousin lives with us and he occupies a room on the first floor, right below my bedroom. we do not have an intercom system, but since it's a small house, we're gotten really good at yelling, "telephone!" or "dinner!" over the years.

but even the yis have joined the 21st century. so, my cousin picks up a phone call on our house line, which was for me. even though he knew i was in the house, i guess he didn't want to yell, so...he picks up his cellphone to call my cellphone to tell me to pick up the house phone!

later, i applaud my cuz for his genius and lazy move and i guess my dad overheard our conversation. next thing i know, while i'm putzing around in my room, i get a call on my cellphone from my dad on his cellphone: "saujin, come downstairs for dinner."

Casual Wear For Men

maybe this is only funny to me. someone in college told me once that only west coasters call wedgies "murf". oh well.

Whiskey

if you ever visit the jameson distillery in dublin, you should never do this "compare and contrast" irish whiskey tasting at 2 pm. my lesson learned.

Belly Funk Train Evidence

classic picture. this is nora sitting on the floor...on her backpack...at the end of the train...by the bathroom door...for 4.5 hours...on 2 hours of sleep...because of the stupid stanky belly man. doesn't she just look so happy?

Mmm Beer

our guinness dude decorated the foam. impressive irish.

Ceiling Head

this ceiling was in one room of the dublin castle. i was weirdly obsessed with the random head sticking out and it turned out to be apollo...



on a side note, it really bothers me that the word "vacuum" has two u's. steph agrees.

The Micra

i figure i'll post a "picture of the day" from the trip for a few days. of course, i had to start with our little fugly micra.

Good Ol' LA

though our bodies are thoroughly confused, we are back in LA. i'm sure i'll have more stories soon, but for now, a little tribute to our livers.

Guest Blog by the Travel Partner

Nora:
so for those of you that haven´t met me, i would like to start out by saying that despite my portrayal in this blog i don´t act like a drunken beavis ALL of the time. i mean, yes i did spend most of our visit to the prado museum pointing out the size of the wee wees in all the naked jesus paintings….but really, you would have too.

few days ago, we decided to go to an arab bath to take a vacation from our vacation. the baths are very spa like. The baths are all Moorish looking (see, we learned something on this trip!), with low ceilings, fancy tiling and random arabic writing on the walls although it probably just says “we built this in 1987, you stupid tourist.” everyone hangs out in these pools for 1.5 hours practically meditating. that is, everyone except for saujin yi, who is doing weird acrobatic synchronized swimming in the middle of the pool because she is so bored. she also chased a couple around with her head underwater and her hands above like fins pretending to be jaws. they were not amused.

we are leaving for london in couple of hours and heading home tomorrow. so today we decided to make up for 39 days of non-present buying with a gift shopping spree. i don´t mean a tshirt here, a trinket there kind of spree. i mean a saujin on the last day of an adidas sale kind of spree. oh, and our sauj finally had a breakthrough…she discovered skirts! i´m so proud that my girliness rubbed off on her…

Plea to All Cats

dear all cats of the world,

why do you hate me so? why do you make me feel so crappy in your presence? why do you have potent fur that make my eyes water, my skin itch, and my nose run? why do you glare at me with your itty-bitty eyes and meow at me like you are ready to pounce? what did i ever do to you?!?!?! i never skinned you. i never cooked you. what´s up with that?

please, dear cats, if you´re listening, let´s be friends. i truly believe the world is big enough for both of our species.

your soon-to-be-bff,
sauj

Sign Language

we´re on our way to the eastern coast of spain, the last leg of our trip. i can´t believe we have less than a week left. though i´m having a fantastic time, i can´t wait to dig into some mama yi´s korean cooking when i get back to LA. oh, kimchi, don´t worry, mama´s comin´home soon.

random story of the day:
on a stroll through the park few days ago, a brit chick darted towards me with a broken flipflop in her left hand. in broken, slow, retarded english, she says: ¨do you know...these shoes...where...NEW ONES????¨ with this big wax-on-wax-off hand motion. i stare at her for a split second and say, ¨there were a few shoe stores on the street behind us.¨ she responds quietly: ¨oh, you speak english. thanks.¨ and she walked away.

so, i can give her credit for thinking that i was some asian tourist who spoke a little english (i mean, i was wearing my fobby visor). okay, fine. but how is that stupid hand gesture the universal sign language for anything?

The Don

we´re in hot and dry madrid, but what´s new, i love it here too. last night, i got a chance to meet up with a friend from my little league / high school days. annie moved here about five years ago, and it´s really neat to see how assimilated she is to this country (her spanish is so fluent...our high school teachers would be very proud.). it had been literally nine years since i last saw her. on our way out to the bars, she said to me: ¨wait, do you drink?¨ i think nora snorted. i guess we all have changed a lot since our dorky high school days.

on another side note, mr. clean is ¨don limpio¨on spanish tv. it sounds like he needs a little dose of viagra. nora laughed at this for about 10 minutes.

Restaurant Hos

we have safely arrived in granada, after a few days in sevilla and cordoba. this whole southern spain region is great. unfortunately, our laziness is starting to take over our touristiness. common phrases in our daily conversation include: ¨hey look! big stick.¨ or ¨dude, that looks like something.¨ we´re definitely taking less pictures and more siestas.

the one thing that is good about our laziness is that we are spending more time at restaurants and bars and ¨meeting the locals.¨ in sevilla, we managed to have a 40-year-old restaurant owner and his 20-year-old waiter take us to a local flemenco dive. we never figured out which of these dudes was playing spanish wingman and which one of us was the target, but it turned out to be a fun night anyway.

on a random note, i´ve been called chinese way more than japanese on this trip (whereas in italy, i only heard ¨are you yaponase???¨). just in case you were wondering.

Espana Again

though we had a great time in lagos, we cheered today when we heard spanish on our arrival to sevilla (on a bus). it´s great to understand 5% of a language rather than zero.

though sevilla is where we should see a bullfight, i think we´re going to be girlie girls and skip that touristy event.

Still Traumatized

we are slowly getting over it, but we have avoided train rides like the plague since the belly funk incident. i think we have had this following conversation about ten times.

us, in broken portugese: "where is the long distance bus station to [ ]?"
random informative portugese person: "take the train. it's faster."
us: "um. okay. so, where is the BUS station?"

we are currently in lagos, portugal. it's awesome here, sorta like mexico meets san sebastian. the water is super clear, the views are awesome, and the party scene is raging. as our little tribute to college frat party days, we went on a booze cruise today. naked 2o year old aussies jumping off the side of the boat...i think nora really likes lagos.

Maternal Instinct

in the middle of our daytrip to sintra from lisboa today, i was struck with a thought: "is bob the fish still alive?"

well, i just exchanged emails with mama yi, and she reports he is alive and well despite the low water levels in the bowl. phew.

i can't believe it took me 20 days to check on my fish.

Ola You Totos

after a night in salamanca, another crazy spanish party town, we made it to our first stop in portugal. well, barely. we found out at salamanca, the only train to portugal leaves at 4:50 am. in our delirous state, we board the train, only to find out that it is one of those old ghetto trains that have 8-person cabins. we open our compartment - lucky number 7 - and are greeted by the nastiest funk ever (way way worse than the guinness farts), one no-shirted-belly-hanging-out man, and five miserable-looking people. we both cry, "f no" and decide to ride out the 3.5 hour train ride parked on the floor at the end of the train, hanging our heads out out of the window like refugees. then about 1.5 hours into this ridiculous situation, we remember that portugal is one hour behind spain and that this is a 4.5 hour ride. nice. but we toughed it out, and somehow, we still made the bus transfer to porto, and that is where we are now.

as you can guess, porto is the home of port wine, and we spent most of today doing port tasting at the different "wineries." sometime during the day, we also visited the post office. as the lady was finding some stamps for us, we spotted one of those yellow "for dummies" books in portugese. it said, "internet for totos"...and i just started to crack up.

portugese is a very hard language. to me, it looks like spanish, but sounds like french. i already gave up trying to learn it and am sticking to sign language. but i do know two words now - ola and toto.

Chuck and Coke

we´re at an internet cafe in bilbao trying to change our plans around. the london events in the last few weeks have weirded us out so much that we´re thinking of not going there at all. we´ll see.

so, even after four continuous nights of tapas /pintxos, we´re still not sick of it quite yet. every tapas bar seems to have its own unique style, and it gives us a good way to practice our spanish with the bartenders. today, on the recommendation of one of them, i ventured away from the vinos, sidres, and txacolis we´ve been downing to try this drink called calimocho, which is just red wine and coke. it´s actually pretty good (you can´t taste the alcohol...oh so deadly).

so, i think i found my cheap / i´m a student and unemployed again drink. trader joe´s two buck chucks and coke. genius.

No Comprendo

it´s siesta time in good ol´spain. we´re in san sebastian today, and after a day in the sun, i think i look pretty filipino. we left barcelona yesterday morning, and even between tapas, paellas, and sangrias, we managed to fit in visits to the touristy attractions, including gaudi and miro museums. i´m no art buff, and since i´m far from eloquent, i have a hard time describing the artwork of these famous men. i guess, gaudi architecture makes you feel like you´re stuck with alice in her wonderland. and miro...well, abstract art. i really have a hard time with art that consists of a squiggly line across a huge canvas. i stood in front of the piece trying to understand its title called ¨solitary,¨ but really, i couldn´t help to think that maybe miro was trying to play some practical joke. i know, i´m also far from classy.

well, tomorrow, we´re off to bilbao to see the guggenheim and then portugal. it´s been funny trying to recall our high school spanish. i haven´t used the oh-s0-useful phrase we learned in spanish 1, ¨que barbaridad!¨yet, but i´ll try to work it in during some conversation mas tarde. i promise.

My Travel Partner

we arrived in barcelona last night and we proceeded to get a pitcher of sangria in our bellies pronto. and this morning, we hit up the picasso museum like good little tourists that we pretend to be. while in the museum (it is a pretty badass place actually), i was trying to take in the intricacies of picasso´s style development. key word = trying. i really know nothing about art history.

and then, nora, my travel partner for this 40-day excursion, comes up behind me and says, "dude! did you see that random dirty artwork that he did? hehehe." yup, that´s s-nora for you. after we left the museum, we went to get another pitcher of sangria and now, we´re just siesta-ing before we hit up the town for the night. i really can´t believe we´re still alive.

No More Micra

so we're sitting at the shannon airport waiting for our flight to depart. contrary to expectations (or not), shannon is a small craphole outside of limerick. it only has an airport and some ghetto mall. sorry, shannon, i was hoping to get you some good "shannon" trinkets, but you may be out of luck. but i guess we should have all figured shannon sucks. :)

we have also returned our fugly purple micra. but within the five days, we've really developed a fond love for this little vehicle. it's really held up well, despite all the beatings it has taken. i shed a tear when we had to say goodbye.

i may have to get a micra in the states. i think it actually may fit in the trunk on my durango.

Stanky

after another rockstar night in galway, i'm trying to revive what's left of my liver and brain with loads of caffeine. tonight will be our last night in ireland, and among the many things i've learned about the irish culture, i think the most significant one is this phenomenon we've named the "guinness farts." every pub we've been to, we have been honored with this potent and deadly whiff. the thing is, it's the same smell all over ireland -- whether in dublin, killarney, or galway. i first thought that we were getting stalked by the same smelly dude, but no, we've concluded that these wonderful odors can only be caused by the ridiculous amount guinness that all irish drink religiously. ireland is great but i'm pretty glad to leave this stank behind.

Old Men Plan Backfires

it's been a few days since we stopped to check our emails, mainly because we left dublin for the westsiiide of ireland. first of all, i'd like to report that we are all still alive, even with driving on the wrong side of the road. we have a little nissan micra, which looks like a retarded version of herbie. we even made it through scenic drives like the ring of kerry and the dingle peninsula, where the little micra is even too big to fit on one side of the road. but the views were awesome. i don't think the pictures do justice for what we saw, but we'll have a bunch to share later.

so we've done a lot of touristy stuff, but were also able to fit in rowing a boat and golfing. i concluded that our days include about two functional hours because we spend the morning nursing our hangovers and afternoons in a food coma from the fried food and nights drunk. ireland has been good to us so far.

so the old men plan. the plan was working wonderfully until few nights ago in killarney. we did a little pub crawl through the town (little = katie had eight guinnesses), and all i can remember from that night was that i talked to some old men, and i had to proclaim "big strong boyfriend" twice and literally grab some random young dude to rescue me from the others. after being summoned to a hotel about five times by the drunken sketchy old men, i decided against the plan. so i told nora that she can stop calling me "anna nicole yi" now.

We're Okay

for all of you who were worried about the crazy terriorists blowing up london and us...thanks. we're in dublin so we're okay. however, we're totally weirded out because we were supposed to be traveling from london to dublin yesterday morning when all the bombings went down. thanks goodness we had changed our plans.

anyhoo, thanks for all the emails and don't worry too much, we're going to try to stay away from the big cities and stay safe.

in addition, to ensure our safety in every arena, we're sticking to old men at the bar scenes. last night was with couple of grandpa brits. they're much easier to understand than the grandpa aussies from the night before.

Dublin

we've made it to ireland. our hotel is in front of the guiness distillery. the best view ever.

internet cafes are really popular at 11 am. there are at least 20 people in here. i'm assuming they're all big geeks like nora and me, who were told by the parental units to "email every two days to tell us you're safe or else." i can't imagine what the "or else" would be, but i know not to mess with mama and papa yi, even at age 26.

off to check out cathedrals. well, off to get rid of this annoying sober action. and i'm assuming that won't be at cathedrals, but hey, i don't know about the irish.

Travel Checklist

i'm off to europe later today. my quick checklist...

- laundry: check
- packing: will be a check
- bills: check
- bob the fish: alive!

Roadtrip Thought

i took a solo roadtrip up to norcal this weekend for a wedding for two college buddies, vicki and klint. very cute wedding but a ridiculous college reunion where i spent most of my time congratulating people on their new baby, engagement, marriage, advanced degrees, etc.

anyhoo, while driving back and entertaining myself with all the random colors of dead bug guts on my windshield (i.e. bug cemetary), i had one random question. so, these "slow truck" signs. are they warning you that there are slow trucks ahead or are they commands to the trucks as in, "slow, you trucks!" these signs aren't as clear as other road signs like, "pedestrians crossing," "yield," or "stop"...you know which ones are warnings or commands.

not that the answer would make a big difference in my life, but i was just wondering. english is a hard language, man.

Vaccum Sealer

my mom recently purchased one of those foodsaver vaccum sealer thingies. i know jenn was uber excited a year ago or so when she got a hand-me-down one from her dad. but i just didn't grasp how fun vaccum sealing was until last night.

i literally vaccum sealed everything from an avocado to a leftover piece of meat...and then proceeded to things that really didn't need vaccum sealing, such as my flipflops, cellphone, and my right foot. granted i had a few beers in me, but it was a good time. i recommend this activity to anyone who is bored, easily entertained, or drunk.

Age Issue, One More Time

i know i'll appreciate my asianness (i.e. looking younger than i am) some day. today, i hit the links for a round of golf with papa yi. as my dad was paying for the round at the starter, i was standing next to him. the starter dude pointed at me and said to my dad, "so, one regular and one junior?" my dad (not sure if he understood the discount and was downplaying it or if didn't understand the english) but said, "yes" and paid.

at the turn, i looked at the fee listing. it said, "junior = ages 12-17"...

and no, the starter guy wasn't a blind old man. this dude was like in his 30s. i really hope he was just giving me a discount cause he wanted to hit on me. optimist sauj.

Travel Plans

i figured i will use the blog for something useful. everyone's been asking about my big european trip itinerary so below is the play-by-play of where i will be in july-august. please feel free to meet up with nora and me if you have some vacay time...

7/6 - 7/9: Dublin, Ireland
7/10 - 7/11: Killarney, Ireland
7/12 - 7/14: Tralee, Ireland
7/15: Shannon, Ireland

7/16 - 7/19: Barcelona, Spain
7/20 - 7/21: San Sebastian, Spain
7/22: Bilbao, Spain

7/23 - 7/25: Porto, Portugal
7/26: Avero, Portugal
7/27 - 7/29: Lisbon, Portugal
7/30: Lagos, Portugal

7/31 - 8/1: Seville, Spain
8/2 - 8/3: Cordoba, Spain
8/4: Granada, Spain
8/5 - 8/9: Madrid, Spain

8/10 - 8/13: London, England

Total Trip: 7/5 - 8/14

Duck

i was just driving home and a plastic bag was flying at my windshield...and i ducked. i find it funny that i consciously know that the plastic bag won't go through the glass, yet it's my instinct to duck. it's like the days when i used to play super marios (i stopped playing video games after my super nintendo nba jam "he's heating up...he's on fire!"/ street figher ii / mariokart days) and motion with the characters. mario jumps, i jump. luigi crawls underneath a boulder, i duck.

i thought i was just an intense video game kid. but really, sauj = dense.

My MBA Mantra

per yuj:

"networking, one letter away from not-working."

so true.

Out of Shape

i think i've hit a new low in my out-of-shapeness. i decided to "exercise" today and went out to play a round of golf. by the time i got to the seventh hole and was walking up to the green, i got really winded. so at the turn, i decided to just make it a nine-holer today and come home.

oh, i forgot to mention -- i was driving a golf cart for those nine holes.

ID Me

i haven't decided how i feel about getting carded. when i'm out and bouncers / waiters / bartenders request my id, i act all annoyed at the hassle. i mean, i sigh and hand the dudes my id like i'm ready to make a scene. i'm all hollywood and expect these people to just know me or something. it's me! sauj. c'mon dudes.

yes, retardation.

but the ironic thing is, when i don't get carded, i get all super sad. i get that pouting look because i miss the attention. i even start to wonder if i'm looking older. winkles? grey hair? hmm.

yes, double retardation.

maybe i'm not such a low maintenance girl after all.

Big Shot Bob

okay, so i said i was going to ban the nba finals, but hey, i also said i'm going to stop drinking. about a million times. so i really don't like either team, but tonight's game was great. my favorite player from the laker championship days, robert horry (aka will smith), was the man of the game. i've seen him once at a club a while ago, and he literally had six blond, big-boobed women around him. i was like, what a stud. and then i got to meet him once at this charity event, and he said that basketball is secondary because he has this daughter with celebral-palsy, who needed him more. i was like, what a classy dude. well, i'm glad he did well today. i like bob. both the non-dead fish and robert horry.

but just to be clear, i'm still not a fan of either finals teams -- the pistons are still punks, tim duncan is still boring, and bruce bowen still looks like an anchovy.

Celebrity Status

last night, jenn and i joined tina for a steak dinner to celebrate tina's graduation. on the way to getting seated, we passed by the bar area and there was this girl who starred at me with a look of familiarity. so i said hi and she said, "how do i know you?" i said that i had no idea and rattled off my resume of places i've lived and worked to see if any of it sounded familiar to her. blank stare.

so, we sat down and about 10 minutes later, she came by and said, "ohmigosh, i remember now. few years ago, you used to order take out from the restaurant i used to waitress at. how are you?"

hmm. not sure what to think of this, but either i have to 1) stop eating out so much; or 2) stop talking to strangers.

Bad Precedent

blue II died last night. i came home and i saw it taking its last breath. i cried "noooooooooo!" but it left me anyway. we had a quick ceremony this morning and he's buried next to o.g. blue. sigh.

this whole fish-killin' experience has me questioning my future "mom" abilities. i mean, will i be cooling my hot feet on a kid's playpen and frightening the kid? will i constantly check to see if the kid is alive by violently shaking its crib and waking the kid up from his lovely slumber? will i feed the kid whenever i remember? sometimes once a day cause i'm partying with friends or numerous times cause i'm in a jolly food mood?

hmm. i'm thinking that i give up hopes of parenting one day now and trade my wanna-be-soccer-mom durango for a convertible.

Abby Keeps Farting

another tribute to my friend abby, who came from bumblepoop, maryland to visit me here in dc. (you rule too, crystal.)

abby is the whitest person i know. we took her to an asian place for dinner and she had raw fish for the first time. since dinner, she's been um...stinking it up. she attributes her ridiculous amount of farting to the raw fish she had and we can't shut her up. i guess it's just funny cause we've been drinking some. anyhoo, she been wanting to write in my blog all night so without further ado, here she is.

abby: raw fish is mushy, i like the peanut sauce, thank you, saujin, crystal and soojin for thermo help.

yes, we really discussed thermodynamics and heat transfer today. nerdfest, i know.

The Best Coffee Ever

i fully admit that i'm a coffee addict. you know when the starbucks and coffee bean dudes yell out "sam! soy latte?" or "sam! where were you yesterday?", you know you've crossed the addiction (and yuppie) threshold (yes, sam. that's my jamba juice / starbucks / coffee bean / restaurant reservation / bar pickup scene name).

anyhoo, i'm not sure why there's such a discrepancy between the number of dunkin' donuts in the east coast vs. the west coast. i mean, the west coast has gotten everything else right - better weather, better weather, and better weather - but why aren't there dunkin' donuts on every corner like the (l)east coast?

well, i love and miss dunkin. donuts and great coffee = a winning combo to my heart (through my stomach, of course).

Sistah Bonding

blame it on the margarita, but i decided to show my lil' sis yuj some love during dinner tonight.

me: "hey, i'm glad you're my sister."
yuj: "definitely. i think our personalities are converging as we get older. i know you've definitely influenced me."
me: "yeah, i try to eat slower because of you."
yuj: "yeah, and i eat a heck lot more because of you."

awww. that's fam love, man.

Oh Abigail

for those of you who don't know my college buddy abby, here's a small taste from last night.

1) she proclaimed somewhere during the night that a "butt stick" had to be invented in order to get rid of her ass sweat. she proceeded to describe this innovation to several strangers, including a random wedding party.

2) she was on a hunt for a lawyer last night. while "sniffing for a lawyer," she got caught by the random dude she was literally sniffing. i forget how she played that one off.

3) when i told her i hadn't done any dc touristy stuff yet, she pointed to a random homeless person sitting on a bench and said, "there's the lincoln memorial". we proceeded to the next bar.

ahhhh. willets. move to la already. and you even can bring your work buddy greg!

DC's AC

i'm hanging in my sister's place in dc. it's pretty dang hot and humid out (though not as bad as dallas last weekend). i'm waiting for my sister to finish "working" so we can go chill out in georgetown. my sister's version of "working from home" is sitting on top of the a/c vent, messaging her friends with her work laptop. i'm quite proud of the blood relation right now.

Dodger Dog Has Crack

i've always loved going to dodger games, but this year, we have this korean dude - the first position player from korea - who i like to go support. he's not very good (yet, hopefully), but he has had enough memorable hits so far that draw the "hee-sop-choi" chant from the crowd.

but really, i think hee-sop is just an excuse. i actually have a dodger dog addiction. i don't what they put in those suckers, but geez, i can down about 3 before the 5th inning while craving a 4th and 5th. i'm convinced that they drug those dogs, and when combined with beer, they make you hallucinate that the dodgers are a fantastic team. genius.

Hot Feet

i occasionally imbibe an alcoholic beverage or two. or three. in all drinking fests, i can measure my level of buzzed-/ drunkenness by the reaction of my body parts. first, my toes go numb. then, my feet become really hot. subsequently, my lips lose feeling, my eyes de-focus, my hearing deafens (which usually causes my random yelling), and of course, i just say too much. and this is all before, i lose my balance and pass out.

at level 2, when my feet become really hot, i usually find some metal (e.g. file cabinet) in my surroundings to cool off my feet. tonight, i found a different solution - fish bowl. i'm really sitting here with my feet wrapped around blue II's bowl. blue II is darting around like a fish out of water due to the shock of my feet.

i really am the worst fish owner ever. but at least my feet are cooler now. phew.

Choking Under Pressure

per willets' request, i had this brilliantly funny - no, downright hilarious - blog entry teed up to be composed. but just as the heat unraveled in the last four minutes of today's game 7 against the pistons, my brain just went blank and i cannot remember wtf i was going to write. it may be the shock of having the most boring nba finals matchup ever (how fun would have suns vs. heat been!). or the thought of stupid kobe celebrating shaq's loss.

all i'm doing right now is staring blankly at espn and thinking: wow, manu ginobili really does look like balki from perfect strangers.

The Irrelevant Fish

i forgot to mention when i was getting blue II, i actually got another backup blue betta. his name is bob.

Hail the Pet

similar to the pope replacement process, i decided that blue had gotten enough of a mourning period, and a conclave was in order to elect a new fish as "saujin's pet". in my mind, i had slated a red betta as the replacement, and following tradition, i was going to change his pet name to "red". however, upon meeting this red betta, i immediately saw his flaws. he was too traditional and rigid in his ways. he was too controversial for the fish world of the new millennium.

so i decided on another blue betta. please say hello to blue II.

Jr. HIGH Construction Dude

i live in front of wilson jr. high. because the jr. high kids don't drive yet, our street only gets clogged up during school day drop off and pick up hours. but as of late, they started doing some major construction at the jr. high, and now there are a ton of cars parked during school hours on our street. these cars mostly belong to the construction workers and during their numerous breaks, these dudes hang by their cars. i always thought they were just getting snacks and catching a quick snooze. but boy, was i wrong.

this morning, as i strolled outside of my house, i saw this one construction guy stumble out of his car. he walked right past me, and i got a good whiff of his distinctive scent -- a crapload of pot. now i'm just curious how often this guy smokes out. like a stalker, i'm perched by the window looking out for this guy. so far, he's come back to the car once more...to grab his lunch and spend five minutes in the car (i wish i had some binoculars, but i think i saw a smoke cloud).

hmm, maybe i should be worried for the safety of the school, but really, this is weirdly entertaining.

In the Name of Biggie

after two consecutive poker nights with friends, i decided this morning to follow my mom to church to say what's up to my homeboy, big G. since college, i can probably count on one hand how many times i've been to church. and yes, that's including the easters and christmases.

after this morning's mass, i figured out the reason that people go to church every week -- the power of the last song. more sticky than the last song you hear on the radio, there's something about the last song at church that gets glued to your brain like no other. perhaps it is the the simplicity of the songs intermixed with the number of times (usually a bazillion) the song gets repeated before you exit the church.

for me, it's the first few lines of the chorus that sticks with me - and nothing more. it's usually a line that makes no sense in any other part of everyday life. for example, after mass today, i met bethie up for a short mountain bike ride. the whole ride, i'm humming to myself, "...i am the bread of liiiiiife..." wtf.

but really, it's so calming. i can just hum it forever...but it usually fades after about a week. and that's exactly why there is weekly attendance at mass. it is for the weekly drug refill we know as the "last song"-- so cleverly prescribed by big G.

Random Old Golfing Buddy

i usually take about 45 minutes at the driving range. i'm too ADD for more and i feel like it's a waste of a trip if i stay less.

this morning, i went to the driving range and got a small bucket of balls. after about 15 minutes, this really cute old granpa walks up to me and says:
"you have a great swing. you have to be patient with yourself."

me: "oh, thanks."
old dude: "no, you don't understand, when you don't hit well, you grimace like this." (and he does my face)
me: "haha, okay, i'll be patient"
old dude: "okay, before you hit each ball, i want you to say 'i have a great swing. it doesn't matter where the ball goes.'"
me: "um, okay."
old dude: "c'mon say it with me"
me: "i have a great swing and it doesn't matter where the ball goes."
old dude: "now swing!"
me: "thanks." (i shank that one, but smile to him)

and then, i realize he's just continuing to watch me. i'm thinking to myself, "CRAP! do i have to keep saying this before EVERY ball?" and apparently yes, since the old dude is smiling like, "go on, let's hear it."

so i keep doing that - cause he's just a really cute old man. but thank god i only had like 10 balls left. even though it was only a 25 minute session, i was really okay with making an exception today.

He Said Yes

perhaps it was love at first sight. i mean, i've really been contemplating our engagement since the first day i met him. i dreamt every night of our casual yet classy beach wedding with family and friends. everyone else saw his charm from years ago but i held out because i thought the ideal man for me would be a hot korean catholic with a charming sense of humor, uber intelligence, and a ridiculous athletic prowess*. but i was wrong.

tonight, a casual gathering with my friends - ellen, jon (stewart), and conan - convinced me that he really was the one. so i asked him to marry me. and he said yes. please congratulate us - future mr. and mrs. tivo.


*if you exist, please contact me. i'm willing to renegotiate my current love.

Foiled by Baby Yi

i should've figured 23 years is long enough for anyone to get to know your games. my conversation with my little sister today at 7 pm pacific time.

yuj (in dc): "hi unni, what's up?"
me (in la, of course): "nothing. long time no talk. how are you?"
yuj: "okay. how are you?"
me: "cool. so...how's work?"
yuj: "not bad. everything cool?"
me: "yup yup. so...um...who won american idol?"
yuj: "UNNI! are you just using me cause i'm three hours ahead of you???"
me: "no no, i was just making conversation."
yuj: "it was carrie. you're the worst."

or maybe i'm just not that sly.

Maturity of a Nine-Year-Old

on saturday, the so cal mit young alum group went to a wine-making session. as the resident wine expert was explaining the delicate chemical process of wine-making (i didn't hear a single word she said), i noticed a shelf full of "bungs". these bungs came in various sizes - up to a monstrous size of 13! that's one big bung.

Blue's Funeral

a moment of silence for blue. he was a good fish. he kept mostly to himself but his love for the world exuded from every scale of his body.

as shown below, the popicle stick marks the spot of blue's grave (i forgot to write "RIP" before i stuck it in the ground). as will farrell would say, "blue, you're my boy."

The Blog Debut

i lie. i've posted a blog once before (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=saujpauj). i couldn't figure out how to post a picture of my fish. so i'm here now.

as my title indicates, i'm going through a quarter-life crisis. after four years, i couldn't handle my job as a finance monkey anymore and quit. it's been a month, and upon my last day, i was firmly told by other past quitters that i had to fulfill my duties as an unemployed bum with certain "approved" activities.

attempt #1: YOGA. sadly, i couldn't balance, relax, or hum.
attempt #2: PET FISH. i got blue betta named...blue...but it died today. i changed the water yesterday and had to think back: i filled it with water, not vodka, right? in any case, RIP, my friend.
attempt #3: EBAY. after my credit card company called about potentially suspicious activities, i got the hint. no more income, no more ebay.

now, attempt #4: BLOG. welcome to the world of my random thoughts. hope you enjoy the ride.