Yahoo! Notepad - jenyim

My weekend started on Friday at around 3pm. Our company holiday event was at City Beach this year. I have no idea how much it costs to rent the place, but hopefully it's a big bargain because I don't think the place is all-that. For our company, it's probably the perfect place for an indoor event, since most of most of the people here are casual and unsophisticated, as opposed to hip and fancy-schmancy, are family-centric and don't drink alcohol or eat meat, and love table tennis and volleyball and not much else, it seems. I got stuck entertaining Shruti, who is a handful and a headful, the whole afternoon, and I held back from having any alcohol, though beer and wine were free.

One of these days I may blow up from all the denial of alcohol I've been putting myself through for months and months. Going without alcohol for long periods of time sometimes leaves me feeling uncomfortably dehydrated. We're talking about a girl who was thinking about drunkenness and who was writing silly stories about characters who were attracted to the bottle and unquestioned about it, when she was an 8th-grader. I had no idea, then, that a prevailing interest in alcohol and getting drunk was not just due to The Great Depression that were my collective teenage years. I didn't taste any alcohol until I was in college, but the taste was in me since I was born. It's coded within my genes. If only everyone could use that excuse for becoming an alcoholic.

At night, we went over to a friend's house for a poker tournament. About 19 of us played in the tourney. Crazy 88 (what I call two 8's) saved me twice from an early elimination. I got to the 5th seat, so didn't win anything cash. But I had a lot of fun. I talked loud and laughed loud. Sometimes I feel bad when I swear... 'cuz right after I say 'shit' or 'fuck', I realize that no one else has said 'shit' or 'fuck' during the whole time we've been gathered together, and I imagine they're all cringing on the inside or thinking "what a crass girl this is"... now that they're all in their mid-to-late-20s and are more mature and refined and we-drink-wine-now and shit. Whatever.

Saturday, we went to the Gilroy Premium Outlets to check out the Corningware store. Who shops and buys at these kinds of places and feels good about themselves at the end of the day? I always thought and I still think that outlet stores suck, and I rarely check them out. I simply won't buy out-of-style/season or clearance clothing (though I will do sale clothing), even at regular stores. It does bother me when I buy something full-price, and months later it's still available at the same store, full-price or discounted. I feel insulted when something I own makes the clearance racks. But to me that's a small price in pride to pay compared to the price in pride of wearing ugly outlet clothing.

That night, we went out with some friends to see the movie Stuck on You. I don't think it's as bad as some others might think. It wasn't overly funny, but it wasn't off color either. We had a late night snack at Jujubi's in Milpitas afterwards. I hadn't been there in so long... probably not since I worked at Everyone.nuts. I ate there more than once, but can only really remember the time I was there with Nikki. She was flirting with me, and I was more or less oblivious to it. That girl was Trouble (note the capital T). Sometimes I'm bowled over by how naive I was, even just three years ago.

Sunday, I tried to do my final Christmas shopping online. When I came to a roadblock, and realized I had to get off my comfy chair in front of the computer and get myself into a physical store to get what I needed, I was pretty pissed. I hate shopping. Hate it, hate it, hate it! It's aggravating on so many levels. Whenever I'm in a line watching other people buy things, I wonder if they can really afford to buy all the junk they're buying. It's depressing watching people being inefficient with money. And spending my own money makes me feel poor and extravagant and guilty. I am going to have to learn to like spending money, or else becoming a philanthropic demigod by way of becoming insanely rich would be an insanely stupid idea.

We had dinner at PPQ Dungeness Island on Clement in SF for Wayne T's birthday. I'd never eaten there before. The food, especially the peppercorn crab, was really delicious. Go try it... but only if you're brave enough to deal with the awful, awful parking situation you will inevitably find yourself in. If it weren't for how hellish it is to find parking in these areas of SF, these types of restaurants would become exceedingly and wildly popular, and would be more likely to open up other restaurants outside of the city to accomodate the demand. But I suppose easier access to these restaurants is an advantage of living in SF that is best kept among those living in SF, so that the benefits balance out the inconveniences.

From my past experience living in a busy area in Berkeley, I've found that a better way to find parking sooner in these areas faster is to drive aggressively at regular speed or faster, not slowly. Some people think crawling down the streets will help them spot open spots or increase their chances of nabbing spots opening close to them. However, in my experience, the more streets I drive down, the more spots I pass in a given time period, the greater the chances are of encountering an open one or one about to open up. You gotta stay mobile, and you gotta cover a lot of ground. Plus, you should stay keep on moving and quickly because I hate having to wait behind slowpokers and campers. Yes, I road rage. So much anger, so little time...