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.