Questionnaire Extraordinaire

in order to get to know somebody you ask questions. you ask them their favorite movie, food, hobby, etc. etc...and after a while, you sort of run out of questions so you have get creative. here's a few more for the next time you're on a third date and need some ammo...and for blog-sake, my answers.

what is your...

...favorite man-made structure?
the escalator at the eagle rock target where your cart rides up next to you on its own escalator

...favorite stuck-in-traffic moment?
spotting people singing to themselves in cars...and having them notice you notice them...and waving at them

...favorite people to make fun of?
people who wear fannypacks and call them toolbelts

...favorite nerds?
click and clack the tappit brothers of car talk radio

...favorite fruit that can also be used as a weapon?
frozen grapes

...favorite list?
my to-do list with "books to read"...that never gets checked off. oh and steph's bday present list so i can't ever buy her the wrong thing

...favorite way to get someone's attention?
throw a frozen grape at them

...favorite random name for sport practice drill?
"peppering" (volleyball) and "superman" (basketball)

...favorite natural phenomenon?
rainbow...wow, that's gay. hmm...volcano.

...favorite most appropriate saying for this moment?
"you have the mondays" (office space)

yupperoo. i do.

Chic

an email excerpt from crystal:

"...i just realized it's almost august...i swear it's like the twilight zone out here. i never know what day or month it is. when's school start up again? i don't know why i thought of this, but do you remember that staples back to school commercial where they're playing "it's the most wonderful time of the year" song? you remind me of the dad...i can see you prancing around in staples getting your school supplies..."

news flash. i've grown up. i shop for my school supplies like this:

Extra Extra

what kind of world do we live in when my top morning news headlines include the fighting in lebanon, the killings in afghanistan...and "lance bass reveals he's gay."

maybe we deserve this heat. it's big g's way of saying, dudes, wtf.

oh, and now, breaking report: lindsay lohan is overcome by heat. um, drink some water, stupid, and stop appearing on my yahoo news. thanks.

Eh

my "haha" entry has sparked a small controversy. afty is offended that he never gets a capital "HAHA." billy wants to know if i'll be changing my response pattern now that i've made this inside knowledge public. now, every time i write back to a message, i have to be careful..."does this person read my blog? does this person know?" and adjust from there. which takes me to another scale that i was telling katie about a few weeks back - the scale of how i feel about you.

i can either 1) love you; 2) like you; 3) dislike you; 4) hate you; or 5) don't care about you.

if i hate you that means i still think about you, which is better than if i don't care about you at all. the last notch means that i don't even want to waste an ounce of energy to even hate you. and honestly, that's pretty sad.

so haha's HAHA's and MU HA HA's aside, be sure to show me some love, tell me a joke, keep me entertained - so that i'm never be "eh" about you. now, get to it! :)

Autobots

all talk on the radio is about this recent, "unprecedented" heat wave. blame the mexican monsoons. blame global warming. blame the urban developments acting as heat sinks. blame canada. blame hasmik. blah blah blah.

i start to tune all this bs out...that is until someone says, "we have had to replace at least 850 transformers. so many transformers are down."

i think...the TRANSSSSSSFORMERS! the transformers! more than meets the eye...

sad. they're down. and fobby me had no idea there were more than 850 of them. wow.

Hot in Herre

duh. everyone knows it's hot. al gore told us so. but really, the irony = i'm so glad to be in an a/c office "working" today. haha.

speaking of "haha's," aly mentioned to me that even over IM and email, i have a very distinctive scale of laughter. here's what it boils down to:

haha = that was funny; most used, especially when i have nothing more interesting to say
hehe = sinister laugh, like i'm about to play an april fool's joke on someone
tee hee = "oh, you embarrass me, " flirt flirt
"that was funny" = one notch below "haha," pretty sad attempt, dude; not good enough for you to actually make me laugh out loud (lol)
lol = i don't use this one...so if i use it, i'm making fun of you for using it
HAHA = you truly made me laugh and the officemate just looked at me like i'm crazy.
MU HA HA = i win. bow down, biatch.

Ego Surf Result

friiiiiiday! yippee.

so i was "ego surfing" yesterday (i.e. googling yourself) to see what comes up. besides the fact that google thinks i'm a massive nerd, i'm also a piano brand. who knew.

anyhoo, during my search, i came across a picture that made me remember the first time i drank drank. only about a month into my freshman year in college, russ (jenn's bf at the time) convinced me to try out for a musical. yes, you heard right...a MUSICAL. obviously for those of you who have been blessed enough to hear me blech out a tone-deaf tune at karaoke, this was not a pretty sight. but nevertheless, they were short people so they asked me to try out. i didn't know the fully lyrics to any song...but made the cut with my sultry rendition of "take me out to the ball game." okay, it wasn't sultry.

this musical was quite...um...lame. i don't recall the premise except that it was called "robots" and there were in fact, robots. i played the role of some chancellor peon named whimper. i was always nervous and worried, and my big song was called, "what the heck is happening" where i'm running around frantically...okay, stop laughing already.

so the picture of this musical pops up on the web and i start cracking up. not only because i was almost a robot (can you imagine me in that outfit? thank goodness), but because this musical is the reason why i got drunk for the first time. after a friday night show, we had a crew party where i had about seven drinks. since i had no idea what being "drunk" felt like, i thought i was totally fine...that is, until i got back to my dorm, started feeling dizzy, and hurled all over my roomie's bed (she wasn't in it). let's just say my roomie was not a happy camper that night. but i mean, it's really her fault for picking the lower bunk in the first place, right? just kidding.

sigh. how i've grown up. or not.

crap, but now i have "what the heck is happening" in my head. and no, i won't sing it for you.

the picture:

S-M-R-T Convo II

intelligent conversations continue...doesn't this make you wish YOU can IM at work?

saujinator: tardo
jennlong79: stupido
saujinator: meano
jennlong79: lamo
saujinator: weirdo
jennlong79: smelly-o
saujinator: that doesn't work
saujinator: nice try
jennlong79: its close
saujinator: but no cigar
jennlong79: damn

Blame Hasmik-jan

my good friend hasmik is one paranoid armo. she is one of the reasons why i started blogging in the first place - she was seeking entertainment during her boring work day. then recently i asked her why she herself doesn't share her genius thoughts with the internet public and she told me it's due to "privacy issues"...

then i got paranoid. do i have privacy issues? do i need to be telling everyone where i was last weekend? what i will be eating for dinner tonight? hmm.

then i realized...what the heck will people do with my uber sensitive "private" info that i have a fish named bob? or that my friends call me up to figure out the right way to pronounce "economics" -- is it "eeeeconomics" or "eh-conomics"? or that i know the sign language to the word "donuts"?

i won't stop blogging for now. but you can blame hasmik anyway. i always do.

X.

in my junior year, we had a guy named armando as our editor-in-chief of our high school newspaper. he would always sign his articles "armando r. barragan" like he was super important...and steph and i got jealous. we were sans middle names and did not have cool middle initials to add to our bylines. so we made one up. i became saujin x. yi and stephanie z. hsu. then i asked, "what would x stand for?" and steph said, "um...xaviera. saujin xaviera yi." hmm, not sure why i'm writing about this. dang ADD.

on another note, isn't "baboon" such a funny word to say?

ha, i know you just said the word to yourself. loser! :)

lastly, i have to give a little shoutout to tina's yellow dress from saturday. it died during the wedding ceremony. tina had to change into another dress, but she kept getting called out: "did you change?" and "weren't you wearing something different earlier?"

next time you see tina, ask her what happened to her lovely bcbg yellow dress. here's a picture of what was left of it.



hehe, baboon.

K Overload

the big event for this weekend for me was alice and scott's wedding. for those of you who don't know alice, she was my mit bud (even though i knew her in high school) and my summer roomie during my stint at san jose. the wedding was such a contrast to aly and matt's wedding a few weekends ago because...well, it was very korean yet so alice.

i think i only spotted two whities in the sea of koreans, yet alice and scott entered the reception to beyonce's crazy in love and alice did the boob pump in her white gown. there was this fantastic chocolate fountain fondue table that tina went crazy over but next to it was the set up for this traditional korean ceremony. alice and scott changed into traditional "hanbok" and did this "paebaek," which is this wedding ritual where the new couple bows into the groom's family. the groom's fam throws dates across the table and the amount of dates you catch represents the number of kids you will have...hey, your korean lesson of the day.



anyhoo, this last part reminded me of the cermony you do on "dol," which is a kid's 100th day after birth. you stick the kid in traditional garb, put him/her behind the table with bunch random goodies, such as a bundle of thread, a pencil, a book, and money. the item the kid grabs is supposed to predict the child's future. we'll have to ask all the korean peeps we know about what they grabbed, but here are the ones i know:

my sis = bundle of thread, represents a long life
tina = a pencil, representing her big nerd life
me = money and a pencil...

supposedly, my mom kept yelling, "grab the money!" so i did, but then got greedy and starting grabbing everything else, starting with the pencil.

Woo

baby yi has put her foot down. she just told me that i'm not allowed to blog everyday and suddenly drop off for a few days...it's like training a monkey to eat bananas every day at 9 am and...hmm...i was going somewhere with that. well, before the weekend, i'll leave you with a few more random thoughts. woo woo (that's supposed to be a monkey sound.)

- mama yi came home from korea this week bearing gifts from the motherland. among my pile of gift items was a cd of korean pop music that my cuz sent me. i was playing it at work yesterday and my office neighbors did not quite know what to do with themselves. oh, have i told you that i sit with a jazz record label company?
- few days ago in an IM conversation, aly mentions, "where did 'close but no cigar' come from anyway?" google says it's from the 1800's slot machines that gave out free cigars as prizes. yay, trivia.
- on my morning drive to work every day, i pass a vietnamese noodle house called, "what the pho."
- yesterday morning on npr, this fire chief was getting interviewed about the recent inland wildfires. he says, "i believe these houses will be safe because as you can see, we have the retardation line set. do you see the retardation line?"

have a great weekend homies. woo woo.

Super Thoughts Lotto Mega Millions

my mind is like a lottery ball machine (i think it was rappy who coined this phrase in college). there are a ton of random thoughts bouncing around in my head, and voila, one random thought after another just comes out of my mouth. so, here are this morning's very random thoughts.

- hasmik told me about the 7-11 free slurpies yesterday (july 11th! ha). i drove by one on the way home yesterday and they were out of coke and cherry flavors. i say conspiracy.
- i hate ant invasions, but feel so bad spraying or squishing them dead. i mean, what a way to go...sad.
- oh, a few of you have asked...bob the fish is STILL alive! and eating more than his share of fish food like a true yi.
- crystal and i have been talking about how entertaining it would be if we implemented soccer's red card / yellow card system to bar scenes or any social gathering. you do something stupid, or some sleezeball hits on your friend, you bust out a whistle, red-card him, and kick him out of the venue.
- my boss's assistant brought in her little puppy that's literally the size of my coffee mug. i was just playing with him and he ran around in circles chasing a little toy that i had in my hand and right after, he ran straight into the wall. no, i didn't laugh. okay, maybe a little.
- a law firm that we're "dealing" with is called morrison and foerster. they can be found at mofo.com.
- lastly, i've been wondering, who the heck is bored enough to read my random thoughts on my blog? if you are reading this, please email and entertain me. i'm bored too.

Table for One

on my way home last night, i stopped at ralphs. with extra mushrooms and zucchinis at home, i decided to whip up a little pasta for dinner. i wasn't in grocery shopping mode though, so i only picked up a bag of pasta and a bottle of prego with meat. that's it. so with exactly two items, i got in a regular checkout line because the express line was uber packed. the lady in front of me (with 18 items...don't ask. i was bored and counted) looks back at me and says, "you must be single. that seems like a single person's meal. why don't you go ahead of me?" i said, "thanks"...but really, couldn't she just have offered to let me go without asserting her assumptions? didn't she learn in school that to "assume" makes a "ass" out of "u" and "me"?!?!?! oh well, at least i got to eat my pasta 18 items ahead. she was nice lady.

on a side note, i just enjoyed this drunken jackie chan story on the news. i love how official it sounds

Report: Drunken Jackie Chan disrupts show

HONG KONG - Jackie Chan disrupted a concert by Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jonathan Lee and exchanged insults with the audience, a news report said Tuesday.

Ming Pao Daily News quoted the 52-year-old action star as saying onstage that he was drunk.
Chan suddenly jumped on the stage Monday night and demanded a duet with Lee. He then tried to conduct the band but stopped and restarted the music several times, the newspaper reported.

As the awkward interruption dragged on, audience members started to heckle Chan, who replied with an insult, according to the report.

G' Morning Sunshine! Sorta.

i'm not sure if you can see this (click on the picture to see a bigger version)...but this is my yahoo screen this morning when i went to look at my monday weather. wtf.

Intelligent Conversations

yay friday.

i love having deep conversations about philosophy, history, politics...life in general. instant messaging provides me with the intellectual stimulation that i so desire from my well-versed friends. recent example...

jennlong79: stupid
saujinator: stupider
jennlong79: stupidest
saujinator: stupidest to the infinity
jennlong79: stupidest to the infinity to the infinity power
saujinator: wow
saujinator: that's pretty stupid
jennlong79: yeah

Multi-Taskah

i usually pack myself a little bento box for lunch (along with my many other emergency snacks), and it usually lasts until about...oh, 10 am max before it's devoured by the hungry hungry hippo that is me. so i end up getting a real lunch thereafter. oh, and an afternoon snack after that. sean warned me yesterday, "you're so going to be fat."

but today, i even surprised myself of how barbaric i can be. even after a hearty breakfast before leaving the house, i got ridiculously hungry about 20 minutes into my trafficy drive on the 10. i couldn't find my usual ritz crackers or beef jerky within arm's reach...so...i took out my bento box from my bag and a spoon...and started eating...yes, while driving. your friend sauj is quite talented.

on another note, i was just on this conference call with a bunch of ny guys. one dude made a not-so-pc comment on the phone and promptly caught himself, "sorry, i forgot scott's summer intern was on the phone." i didn't even catch what he said, but his after-throught weirdly made me annoyed.

now i need a hot dog on a stick.

Fami-Haha

hope you all had a lovely 4th. back to the grind...

i just went to this high-end convenient store called famima to grab a quick bite for lunch. according to laura, these stores, which were huge successes in japan, came the la first in west hollywood and now on 3rd street. it was actually quite busy at lunch time, where they're busy heating up little asian pork buns, ringing up customers, etc. etc.

there was mostly asians in the store when i got there, and while i'm in line to ring up my order, i hear, "GINA DAVIS? order for gina davis!" and this fobby little asian girl goes up to get the order. then i hear, "order's ready for kevin! kevin bacon!?!?!"

yeah, asians. we got humor, yes we do. we got humor, how 'bout you?

Mazal Tov!

hope you are all having a lovely july fourth weekend. sorry for you suckers who have to work today.

on saturday, i attended my first jewish wedding. aly and matt's wedding was seriously one of the best planned weddings i've ever been to. one of my favorite parts (of course, besides the food) was aly's entrance. the wedding was at the skirball center in its round courtyard. while the audience is looking back in anticipation of her entrance, aly (with the hugest smile ever) appears in front of us on the balcony! i am not eloquent so i'm not doing this justice, but believe me, i was wowed and she looked gorgeous. here's a picture of the "marketing girls" on the reception dance floor...



speaking of weddings, i was able to meet up with heidi and neeli who were la for a wedding as well. we all met up with crystal in long beach for quick lunch yesterday. we were talking about how college reunions only really happen when there is a wedding, and seeing how crystal and i are holding down the tailend of the really truly single fort, i don't think we'll be seeing any mit 6-west kids anytime soon. it was nice to know you all. :)