VAIL, BABY!

im going to vail! yay for vacations. my visit to kelly in her home of the last year is way overdue. i just booked a ticket for the end of february for a nice little 5 day vacation. its going to be great. ill get to see what this vail place is all about...do some skiing and whatnot...itll be great.

although ill be honest, the skiing is the not what im most excited about. ive been skiing once in my life - back in high school. it was pretty terrible. or rather, i was pretty terrible. and in my defense i dont think i got a real great lesson on the bunny slopes. mix that with my already lack of coordination and a pinch of clumsiness and it was a real big disaster. i snowed into buildings...continuously fell off the ski lifts bringing other innocent victims down with me...lost all control skiing down to where the lockers where under the lodge place and ended up 'skiing' on some asphalt for a while before colliding into the wall sending my poles and skis in every opposite direction. what topped it off was all the people sitting on the deck above rushing down the stairs to see if i was ok bc they had heard the entire incident happen and then being met by me laying sprawled out on the ground...my poles and skis not anywhere in close proximity. i also had no smart method of braking so when it was necessary to stop i would just fling my body to the left or right and just fall down into the snow. yeah... so needless to say, skiing isnt on the top of my list. but maybe kel and all her experienced snow bunny friends can give me a real lesson and help me overcome my complete lack of ability to ski. dont worry, ill let you know how it goes.

oh and ill get to play in snow! you dont get to do that too often here in texas. i mean, you always hope you'll get some each winter but right now im not sure whether or not to get out my swim suit or my coat. so i should probably put my hopes for a winter blizzard away....

but anyways, im excited and i have less than two months before i go!

great music of '05

here are some albums that you should own if you don't already. i think they all came out this year.
in no particular order:

amos lee - amos lee

james blunt - back to bedlam

buddy guy - bring 'em in

wilco - kicking television: live in chicago

david gray - life in slow motion

coldplay - x&y

ryan adams - cold roses, jacksonville city nights, 29

bright eyes - i'm wide awake, it's morning

the arcade fire - funeral, EP

kanye - late registration

john mayer trio - try!

tracy chapman - where you live

neil young - prairie wind

van morrison - magic time

the week that felt like a year

that pretty much describes my life right now. luckily i had monday off for christmas break so the week was automatically shortened to just 4 days. seems positive right? well, not when each of those four days seems to last a freakin eternity. you see, a lot of our customers are schools, health educators, etc. well, schools arent in business right now = no business for us. im not sure why im here. ive gotten A phone call in a 72 hour span. thats a sign of slow business...which results in me slowly going absolutely crazy. oh and did i mention that my boss is out this week? smart move on her part since there is obviously no reason to be here. so...no business...no boss...no supervision = me...crazy.

back in june time came out with a list of the 50 coolest websites of '05. i decided to go back and check some of them out again. it kept me busy for a little while...

there's the living to 100 life expectancy calculator. basically you answer a bunch of questions and it predicts your death. mine is at age 85. not too shabby. thinking that im going to live for another 60 years is actually a little draining to be quite honest...

there's I-neighbors. here you put in a zip code and start a little online community with people in your neighborhood. from there i guess you can get together and do social activities and such. this is probably more relevant to homeowners and people in cute, quaint neighborhoods. have i told you about my neighbors??? oh they are...special...a neat mix you could say. well, the maintenance man lives below us, and by us i mean my roomie kristi and i. next door is some asian guy that is there like half the time. i have yet to see anyone living across from us or next to them. above us is all the construction workers that do work on the apts. no lie, there are like 6 mexicans living in one place. and thats not meant to be a racist remark - its just true. whats neat is when they turn up the tejano music real loud and start singing along. usually this is after theyve thrown back a few, or many, beers. theyre usually on the balcony to welcome me home everyday. neat. oh, also below us are some he/shes. meaning, theyre a mix of boy and girl characteristics but not all on one person. yeah its just a real close knit community - we all have so much in common. dont be jealous now - im pretty sure there are some vacancies - you could come join the fun!

there are some other interesting websites...48 actually...but ill let you check those out for yourself. for now im going to see if i can manage to do absolutely nothing for another hour until lunchtime..

merry christmas!! well, not anymore..

christmas came and went. kinda sad when it went. made me think...there's all this preparation and then its over just like that. kinda like a wedding except on a lower scale obviously since weddings take months and months of preparation and from what i gather, a whole lot more stress. but anyways - back to christmas. in the mccoy household there is a tradition of christmas eve 'goody nite.' the whole fam goes to christmas eve service at church and then comes back home to a delicious spread containing all of our favorite snacky foods. basically its gluttony on a table. theres my all-time fav - 7 layer dip, chips and queso, pigs in a blanket, cookies, candy, etc. etc. its like an edible christmas. so after we stuff ourselves silly, then the kids get to open a christmas eve present - usually preselected by the parents. goody nite is something i will surely incorporate into my family traditions bc its like the greatest thing ever. who cares that youre probably consuming enough calories to last you till new years - its christmas!

so then we spend christmas like probably most families do. we get up earlier than we want, see the presents santa brought, open the stockings, open the wrapped gifts etc. then we have christmas lunch with the ham and all the fixins. then we play with our gifts...people start heading off to bed for naps..and by mid late afternoon christmas is over. and its sad. we had christmas at my sisters house and by about 4 my parents had gone home, my sister was napping, the kiddos were watching a movie with my brother, my brother in law was asleep in the recliner and i didnt really know what to do with myself so i went home too.

but all to say, christmas really was great. its fun to see how excited the kids get when opening their presents. every present ellie opened was accompanied by a gasp and 'oh wow!' and every present berkeley opened was followed by 'just what i always wanted!!!' it was great. ellie is in a stage where she loves anything associated with princesses, pretty girly things like hair clips, and evidently herself. her favorite present was a little handheld mirror - she couldnt get enough of herself. another great part of christmas is the gifts that my brother in law, eric, gives my sister. hes not a big fan of shopping and it shows. but its always worth a lot of laughs. granted he did get my sis an ipod but i think she specifically asked for that so if he come thru with that one then he would be sleeping outside. the highlight this year however was when my sister opened this big box from him and inside was an assortment of various gourds and fruits. there was some sort of a squash..a mango...a papaya...a prickly pear..and another unidentifiable something. you should have seen my sisters face when she started pulling them out - priceless. yep, thats christmas in my family. luckily i didnt get any weird fruits as any of my presents. my two best presents were probably some pure beech sheets for my bed - if you dont know what pure beech sheets are then you havent lived. they are like the most wonderful things you can sandwhich yourself between. oh and my second best present was a photo printer. basically i dont ever have to go anywhere to develop pictures ever again! i have my own little photo lab at home - its great!

so yeah christmas was great. and lets not forget the real reason for the holiday - JESUS was born!! and thats a great reason for celebration.

pics from the weekend!

happy birthday, rie! you feelin that long island?

hey rie, where's your shirt? of thats right..you forgot it...

geez ck...stop strangling jax. hey jax...kindly remove your hand from my back pocket..
asian lovesack anyone? thats a nickname i dont so much miss...
eileen finally came back from chi-town for a visit!
mike loves buckwild - cant you tell?
more fun times with buckwild...
mathematics...school...really straight hair...squinting. should i be offended? nah...it was way too funny to be offensive...
everyone else enjoyed the list as well..
despite all the racial attacks and stereotypes, we were all still friends in the end...and why are there so many boys on one couch??
rie...such a pimp

i finally got to see ruth!!

WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!!!

i went to dallas for the weekend. good times all around. pictures to come...i steal wireless from my neighbor and i think he/she is gone for christmas so ill just have to find someone else to steal it from before i can upload them. the weekend was great though - i got to hang out with so many friends...ck, jax, eileen, meg, ruth, patin, rie, cam, parker, mike...thanks for coming together for 'reunion weekend.' i deem it quite a success!

here are some highlights from the weekend:

dinner at pappasitos for rie's bday. rie downing one and a half strong long islands in a few minutes resulting in tipsy rie. rie not wearing a shirt to dinner...ok fine, he did have on a sweatshirt. rie eagerly telling our waitress that he didnt have a shirt on. rie telling us about some guy named sean 'rolling his dough.' sure, maybe he was a pro masseuse, but did he really need to use oil and whisper in your ear??

watching 40 yr old virgin in mixed company...or maybe that was just awkward. but at least i got to see meg before she heads off to argentina!!

shopping with ck and getting some amazing steals!

going to see family stone - a great movie, i rec it. oh, and i could marry luke wilson.

eileen came back from chi-town!!

playing buckwild. ALWAYS good times. sure, a lot of jokes were made at my expense and the whole asian culture in general, but i can take it. and they were funny so i had to laugh too.

lunch with ruth at corner bakery.

wasting hours away watching the terribly addicting mtv dating show, next, with ck, cam, and jax. really girls, why did we watch so many episodes of that?

well im sure there were more memorable moments, but those stuck out in my mind the most. definitely worth the trip - thanks guys!!

stuff

the christmas season officially began for me last nite. i acquired a beloved christmas popcorn tin. my nite..week...month was made. i love these things. theyre just amazing...3 different flavors of popcorn that you can continuously switch between. you eat some cheese popcorn but then need something sweet...so you switch to the caramel...but then you need something salty again....so you switch to the butter. it should be a food group in itself. oh, and all this goodness for only 5 bucks at heb...you just cant beat that. however, whenever i think of the popcorn tin i am brought back to last christmas when it became the coveted white elephant gift at our little littles christmas party. and then ben 'accidently' dumped the whole thing out onto the living room floor. dont worry, we still ate it off the floor however plenty went to waste and that was just a christmas tragedy.

in other news...i went out to dinner with four boys on monday nite whos names i will keep anonymous for their own sake. i learned the most interesting and absolutely disgusting thing. boys poop their pants. and thats not uncommon. and we're not even talking about when youre 5 - like when youre in college! i mean, i can think of 5 girls off the top of my head that have wet their pants...usually as a result of laughing really hard or something. however, i do not know ANY girls that have ever crapped their pants. and thats how life should be. but with these boys, there were a few stories shared about that certain incident and i was shocked...mortified...scarred for the rest of my life. and the kicker was that it didnt even seem like a big deal to them. boys are just gross.

so im going to dallas this weekend. pretty excited about it. not because its dallas, but because all my friends live there. so that should be pretty great. im sure ill have some stories when i come back.

did you know its only 10 days till christmas? thats pretty sweet.

the 'perks' of my job

another conversation at the sex institute gone bad...

i talked to this guy on the phone..he placed his order yada yada and then this is what followed:

dirty man - "so who's that redhead on your website?"

me - "huh?"

dirty man - "ya know, that staggeringly beautiful redhead on your products page whos smile could take down a jetliner?"

me - "sir, i dunno...she's not affiliate with the medical institute...we probably just bought the picture somewhere to use on the site.."

dirty man - "well i tell you what...if you were to get an std, that would be the way to go"

me - *disgusted face accompanied by silence*

dirty man - "bad joke...bad joke..."


just another day in the life of a "lil asian sexpert" as rie likes to call me :)

what do paris hilton and i have in common?

this weekend i did something that goes against everything i believe and stand for. something that almost pains me to write about. i bought my dog a sweater. dont judge me. and dont put me in a category with people who get professional pictures of their pets taken or leave the tv on for their pets when they leave the house. im better than that i promise...
it was for all practical purposes. my parents take care of my dogs and as a maintenance reduction effort they cut their fur down real short. my dogs are shih tzus which are normally real long haired dogs...theyre kinda a cross between an ewok and a mop. so i was petsitting over the weekend while my parents are off in disneyworld. yeah, thats a whole different story. but anyways, a combination of a lack of fur and the colder weather left my pup, mollie, shaking all the time. so my options were to either wrap her in a blanket and hold her for 30 minutes after every time she went outside, or buy her a doggie sweater. option two makes life easier on my part so thats what i did.

so i go to petco and was just astounded at my options. it was just amazing how many looks you could go for...preppy, sporty, outdoorsy...yeah, you name it - they have it. doggie fashion is just a whole new world.

mollie didnt love the sweater as much as i did putting it on her. in fact, she remained frozen for about 5 minutes after i put it on bc she evidently thought it had paralyzed her from ever walking again. after realizing that i wasnt taking it off again, she decided to give walking a try. she looked real awkward at first but finally got a little more used to it. the best part was when she was rolling around on the floor trying to get it off and then she got her front paw caught in it and was hobbling around on 3 legs. thats probably about the time when youre supposed to be nice and help them out of it. not me. i watched...and laughed...and continued to watch until she got her paw free. im terrible, i know.

all to say...the sweater was a success and kept her quite cozy and shiver free. so for all practical purposes i guess sweaters are fine. but dont expect to see me going back for the matching snow boots.

winter? its about time

fall came...
and went...
winter is finally here...and it is cold!!!!!

i love fall bc its the first tease of colder weather after a hot, hot summer. if you're lucky, the leaves change colors before turning to brown and dead. humidity is gone and you can breathe in without feeling like you're suffocating. i love winter bc you get to drink hot chocolate all the time. you get to wear big warm sweaters and scarves and hats and mittens. you never want to get out of bed in the morning bc its just so nice and warm. nites are filled with christmas lights and holiday 'festiveness' is everywhere. of course, in a month or so ill be tired of the cold and be complaining about it and saying that i wish it were warmer and that summer was closer. but for now, i'll try to be positive.

roommate bonding at its finest

so i just got a new roommate a few weeks ago. we're getting along great and i think its safe to say that we're already good friends which is so fun. we've already had some bonding moments...i got her hooked on felicity so we got to watch some of those together...we've gone kayaking on town lake...last weekend we did karaoke together...all great times. but i think our experience last nite beat all.

as you all know, the weather was crazy, the roads were icy and wrecks were everywhere etc. she called me around 730 saying she was on her way home from the arboretum which is only about 10 minutes away. about 830 she called to say that they closed off mopac so everyone was on 183 and no one was moving. about 930 she calls to say that she was just now exiting but people were hitting patches of ice and so no one was wanting to move again. about 10 she calls to say that she cant cross the bridge to get to our neighborhood and that she was going to have to walk over the over bridge and could i come pick her up on the other side. sure, i say, no problem.

let me first say that i have just gotten out of the shower so i have wet hair and yeah, ive been sick for the past few days. however im not going to make my poor roommate walk all the way home in 20 degree weather! i go down to my car to find it to be a big icicle that will take a real long time to defrost. i call kristi to tell her to not leave yet bc i cant go anywhere but its too late - shes already running my way. i tell her that i cant go anywhere and so she just tells me to do whatever i can. so i think...hmm...i can bring her a coat! so yeah, i go get a coat and a blanket and start running thru my complex out to the street to meet her. as im running i hit a few patches of ice and almost eat it real hard so i decide that maybe walking is a better idea bc its not like we'll be able to drive to the er if i break a leg. so i continue to walk to her and shes running towards me. finally we meet and i give her a coat and gloves and a blanket. her hair had turned into one big icicle as had mine since remember, i had just gotten out of the shower and my hair was already wet. so then we head back home and finally reach our warm, warm apt.

so then she tells me about her running adventure. first off, when she parked, she had to go up a grassy hill to get to the road but it was all icy so she had to crawl up it on her hands and knees!! then when she was walking across the bridge, the whole thing was iced over so she was sliding all over the place. then as she was running home all sorts of cars would pass but none would stop...i felt so bad for her!! but anyways, she got home safely eventually and im just glad i could help even if it was a miniscule amount compared to what she had to go thru. we got back around 1045. yeah...over 3 hours which normally would have taken about 10. what an adventure.

probably the worst karaoke anyone has ever witnessed...

ill just go ahead and apologize to anyone that was in the audience when my roommate kristi and i attempted to do a lil rendition of 'ice ice baby.' you're probably thinking...how hard could that be. its not really singing so you dont have to worry about being off key...theres no real high notes or anything so you dont have to worry about your voice cracking or something like that. well, quickly into the song we realized that we didnt really know the words. and yeah theyre on the little screen and all for ya but singing unfamiliar words at a heightened speed is somewhat challenging. needless to say our performance was a disaster and we tried to make up for it with some dancing during the chorus but im not quite sure it was enough. we had the first 4 lines or so down solid and of course the chorus and random parts here and there...but all the rest - yeah no. i didnt realize there were so many words in that song, geez. ive included the lyrics below so you can peruse them and see how good you might have been.

Yo VIP let's kick it Ice ice baby (x2) All right stop collaborate and listen Ice is back with my brand new invention Something grabs a hold of me tightly Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly Will it ever stop yo I don't know Turn off the lights and I'll glow To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle Dance go rush to the speaker that booms I'm killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom Deadly when I play a dope melody Anything less than the best is a felony Love it or leave it you better gain weight You better hit bull's eye the kid don't play If there was a problem yo I'll solve it Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it CHORUS Ice ice baby vanillla (x4) Now that the party is jumping With the bass kicked in and the vegas are pumpin' Quick to the point to the point no faking I'm cooking MC's like a pound of bacon Burning them if you ain't quick and nimble I go crazy when I hear a cymbal And a hi-hat with a souped up tempo I'm on a roll and it's time to go solo Rollin' in my 5.0 With my rag-top down so my hair can blow The girlies on standby waving just to say hi Did you stop no I just drove by Kept on pursuing to the next stop I busted a left and I'm heading to the next block The block was dead Yo so I continued to A1A Beachfront Avenue Girls were hot wearing less than bikinis Rockman lovers driving Lamborghinis Jealous 'cause I'm out getting mine Shay with a guage and Vanilla with a nine Reading for the chumps on the wall The chumps acting ill because they're so full of eight balls Gunshots rang out like a bell I grabbed my nine all I heard were shells Falling on the concrete real fast Jumped in my car slammed on the gas Bumpet to bumper the avenue's packed I'm trying to get away before the jackers jack Police on the scene you know what I mean They passed me up confronted all the dope fiends If there was a problem yo I'll solve it Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it REPEAT CHORUS Take heed 'cause I'm a lyrical poet Miami's on the scene just in case you didn't know it My town that created all the bass sound Enough to shake and kick holes in the ground 'Cause my style's like a chemical spill Feasible rhymes that you can vision and feel Conducted and formed This is a hell of a concept We make it hype and you want to step with this Shay plays on the fade slice like a ninja Cut like a razor blade so fast other DJs say damn If my rhyme was a drug I'd sell it by the gram Keep my composure when it's time to get loose Magnetized by the mic while I kick my juice If there was a problem yo I'll solve it Check out the hook while Shay revolves it Ice ice baby vanilla Ice ice baby (oh-oh) vanilla Ice ice baby vanilla Ice ice baby vanilla ice Yo man let's get out of here Word to your mother Ice ice baby too cold Ice ice baby too cold too cold (x2) Ice ice baby

too good to pass up

as i was checking the scores from tonites games, i stumbled across some pictures that are up on the nba.com website. i just couldnt go without sharing this one bc i thought it was real funny. maybe its just me but i never would think steve nash to be the GQ type....but here is his best effort... i dont know what i find to be the best part. maybe its the hair....or what looks to be leather pants...the flowy jacket...the studded belt...or the fact that he's leaning oh so seductively against a pile of stacked pieces of plywood or something. if you want to see more from the photo shoot, and i know you do, you can go here and read the article and everything.

things you might not know about me

dont worry, im not going to get super personal here and tell you weird awkward things that will forever make conversations between us uncomfortable.. i was at a retreat where you had to go around and say something weird or interesting about yourself. im terrible at thinking of things like that on the spot so since then ive been trying to think of things that would fall into that category. these are some that i have come up with so far...
i went to asian camp for 5 summers straight

i hate, hate, hate asking people for help

it bothers me if my closet door is open when i go to bed

im intimidated by people my own age...especially pretty girls and attractive guys

i hate wearing makeup but do for the sake of others

i dont really like chocolate and rarely crave sweets

for most of my childhood i wanted blonde, curly hair...or maybe i just didnt want to be asian bc i got picked on so much for it

i get somewhat uncomfortable when there are groups of asians nearby

i have not so great night vision

i have never seen braveheart, gladiator, or any of the lord of the rings movies...i know... *insert dramatic gasp here*

i hate the smell of aiport terminals

my ultimate dream job would be to put together the soundtracks for tv shows and movies

well thats all i got for now...