Computer trouble

my computer is still having trouble. i had to open it up and talk to the support guy. sorta new, i suppose. learning more about the guts of a pc. i need to switch around some pci cards and add a second hard drive.

Paxton Gate

visited a store yesterda that i read about in a design magazine. the place is called paxton gate. it's filled with "treasures and oddities inspired by the gardens and natural sciences." i didn't find a bday present for my sister there, like i was hoping to. bugs, stuffed animals (and i really mean *stuffed*), garden stuff...some interesting stuff. but nothing for me.

Four hours of movies

watched the virgin suicides on dvd on wed.

In an ordinary suburban house, on a lovely tree-lined street, in the middle of 1970s America, lived the five beautiful, dreamy Lisbon sisters, whose doomed fates indelibly marked the neighborhood boys who to this day continue to obsess over them. What happened to the Lisbon sisters is a tale at once darkly funny and deeply poignant, a story of love and repression, fantasy and terror, sex and death, memory and longing. It is at its core a mystery story: a heart-rending investigation into the impenetrable, life-altering secrets of American adolescence.

it's the directoral debut of sofia coppola, francis ford coppola's daughter. i thought that it was good. interesting story. d didn't like it.

after that, saw shanghai noon on dvd, jackie chan's latest. it was ok...but i thought that the deleted scenes included on the dvd would have really helped the story if it was included.

The annual Christmas movie

every year, i see a movie in the theaters on christmas day with my family. (we also do this on thanksgiving.) miss congeniality was the flik this year. it was actually pretty good and funny. i think that it accurately depicted pagaents. i really had to go to the bathroom bad during the last 45 minutes of the movie. i gotta remember to stop drinking so much water.

Christmas lights

after my family had our christmas dinner at a chinese restautant, i got the fam to go down for a drive to south san francisco to check out the parkway estates. it's a nice neighborhood that really pulls out all the stops decorating the houses and lawns for christmas. it definitely seems magical seeing all of the lights. sorta like seeing a disney parade with lights. maybe b/c a couple of houses had moving mickey's in the window. i think this neighborhood has been doing this for about 13 years. lots of hard work. i read about this hood in a chronicle article a few weeks back and was wanting to check it out. i think this might be the start of an annual tradition for my family, to check out christmas lights on christmas eve.

Tran-Cycle

yesterday went to 330 ritch. we were a bit disappointed to find out that they were just playing trance that night, instead of hip hop, but it was still sorta fun.

Downtown

today i was shopping downtown with ap. bought myself my christmas presents from my folks. =) cool ken cole jacket. after some shopping, we at lunch at lefty o'douls on geary by the theaters. it's like a hof brau, sorta like tommy's joynt on van ness. cheap, hearty food. i think i hesitated going in before, cuz the lightings kinda dim, but it's kinda comfortable inside. pretty fast too, since it's cafeteria style. i had an open faced rb sandwhich, which was ok.

Cityteam

last nite, i vollunteered with lump at cityteam. i think a christian ministry for the homeless. we sang christmas and praise songs, then served food to them. never been before, cuz i always was busy whenever lumps went. afterwards i ate at tu lan on sixth and market. cheap vietnamese food. won some awards for best cheap food in the sfbg a while back.

PJs Oyster Bed

this restaurant has been around for a while, but last nite was the first time that i've been there. i had some sort of seafood roast combo. we also had some oysters to start off. pretty good for a free meal. =)

60 seconds

i had to watch the dvd movie twice, since i fell asleep the first time. it was good, but the first time i was dead tired. pretty cool cars. cool chase scenes. really cool behind the scenes and making of featurettes. i think one day i would like to take a race car/stunt car driving course and really learn how to drive.

my new thing for today will be watching gone in 60 seconds. about to watch it now.

harlem boys choir

yesterday i saw the harlem boys choir at the sf symphony. i think i fell asleep two minutes into the concert, even tho i thought it was pretty good. :P (i think i was still pooped from the long day before.) however, i was more awake after intermission, but my vision did get blurry now and then. :( they sang spirituals, christmas songs, show tunes...did some great dance routines...overall a fantastic show. it was their only tour stop in the bay area i think. they also had a special guest, who was "canty claus" (sp?). some sort of black santa. i took a picture with him afterwards. :)

the rock in union sq

another new thing yesterday was that i attended a city wide christmas praise nite in union sq. it was great. about 400 people were there. organized by the rock. www.therocksf.org. it was great singing praises out there in public, by the christmas lights of union sq. across the street ashley judd and the guy from frequency (not dennis quaid, the other dude) were filming a movie.

musical

today was the musical. first time i performed in any type of performance like that. i was joseph. it was great. i had to weat a robe and some make up.
i also tried a new tapicoa drink at sweet house. red bean coffee. very red-beany. i went between performances for a tapicoa run. i was still wearing my joseph costume.

car parts

first time i really played around with car parts. (maybe it's a bit of a stretch.) i replaced a broken signal light cover on one car. removed my car stereo (after some while trying to figure it out) from my old bmw. also popped off the symbol from the hood for a souvineer. i'm saying good-bye to it tomorrow.

looks like i've been slipping behind blogging! but don't worry...i havn't given up on my new daily thing resolution yet! it's been tougher, cuz my usual pc is kaputt temporarily.

wednesday (today)

lots of new stuff...i went to to Tainan, a taiwanese restaurant in cupertino with ds. i had some noodles and some chitterling, which is pork intestine. it was fried and i think it was a little fatty.i wouldn't have ordered it, but since i never tried, i thought, what the heck!...
another new meal.i went to la vie for dinner. great nice, vietnamese food. d and i had some beef and prawns that was cooked at the table flambe style in a bowl. we also had some good chicken in a coconut curry...also found a new radio station. i think it's the jungle, 104.9. it was playing some 80s/90s alternative. kewl stuff.

tuesday

ate lunch with my po po at the rendezvous cafe. (yet another breakfast spot!) polk/washington. it was ok. i think the pork store was probably better. i had the french toast. altho, this place was probably a little cleaner.
also saw the family man. i thought nick cage was good in it. very much like a modern day "it's a wonderful life." i got hooked up with a preview at the metreon! =)

monday

i had breakfast with my bud r at the pork store. it''s in the haight. i had the chicken apple sausage. good hearty portions.

sunday

played "true colors" at a friend's potluck birthday party. fun group game, in which you learn about people's opinions about yourself...also the first time that i had pretzel jello! odd ingredient combo, but mighty tasty.

saturday

went to lee hou for dim sum for the first time. been there before, but never had dim sum there. i also started watching the insider on dvd.

friday

dang. i knew i did something new...but i can't remember what!

thursday

visited the cartoon art museum. been there before, but never saw their latest exhibit...50 years of wacky cartoon costumes.
it was the "pay what you want" day at the museum. i gave a $1. (hey, i'm not working right now!)

Between the Thunder and the Rain

i visited the asian art museum, since today it was the monthly free day at the asian art museum. the new exhibit was "Between the Thunder and the Rain: Chinese Paintings from the Opium War to the Cultural Revolution it featured traditional chinese paintings and calligraphies created between the end of opium wars and the
cultural revolution. darn cool stuff. i liked this a lot. my favorite painting was Fang Yi's Dragon - a monochromatic, goggle-eyed dragon, emerging from vaporous clouds, breathing out a stream of water that becomes the waves of the sea.
at the museum, my friends and i also met a chinese new zealander backpacking thru the us and passing thru sf. he was pretty chatty.

radio thing

yesterday, i sorta did a new thing. i tried listening to another radio station. kfog. 104.5 FM. however i think i only listened to it for like 20 minutes, when i was reading right before bed, then i got too tired. it was pretty much a last-ditch effort new thing. earlier in the day, i tried listening to am news radio (something i never do), but i got caught up doing something else.

monday

two new things yesterday. i went to hahn's hibachi on polk. cheap korean food. i thought it was pretty good. $6 for bul-go-gi. nice portions.

at night i went to 24 hour and took an afro funk class. it's a combination of hip hop, salsa, and some other fast paced dancing. at times i had trouble keeping up, but i wasn't the only one. i must have looked ridiculous if you were to look in the window by the room. it sure got me sweating. i'll try it again and maybe even stick with it. good cardio work out, and i'll also be able to bust a few better moves in the clubs. =)

sunday

i got a chance to chat with and get to know j, who's in the church musical with me. it was also an experience doing dress rehearsal on stage at my old high school.

today

i got a chance to chat with and get to know j, who's in the church musical with me. it was also an experience doing dress rehearsal on stage at my old high school.

yesterday

i came back from tahoe yesterday. i got a ride back from t. since we were the only ones awake most of the time in the car for the 3+hour ride, i spent a lot of time chatting with him...something which was a first for me. another new thing was that we went to an itallian restaurant in vacaville. (some place around the outlet mall, can't really the name of it...but i really did go there!) i'm glad we didnt' go to kfc, like the other person riding with us wanted to go. =)

i went for a run today. i ran along vicente/wawona up to 19th ave. went thru the park and along the north edge of stern grove. never went there before. not too much traffic. some hills. pretty nice. lots of trees.

the hawaiian new thing

went to a new restaurant (for me) called Tita's Hale 'Aina. 3870 17th St. If you can't tell...it's hawaiian. i liked it a lot. the food was quaint.somewhat small and cozy. they played hawaiian christmas music, which was pretty cool. (i love christmas music.)

my group shared The Big Kahuna, an appetizer platter of Coco mac prawns, Tita's drumettes, BBQ sticks, and poki. good stuff. i had kalua pig and cabbage (pork slow cooked in ti leaves), which was great. i also tried a drink called Mary's Tropical Breeze, made up of oj, guava juice, and lemonade. not too bad.i was stuffed at the end. i was hoping to have room for dessert, but we didn't have room and ended up going to a friend's house instead.