Weekend Plans

I just learned that you get Ultimate Points (redeemable towards Ultimate Prizes) just for playing on Ultimate Bet.  Of course, you earn more points for playing in the real money tables but Brian and I can’t afford that so we just play in the play chip tables.  You get bonus points for playing in tournaments and everything.  I don’t care if it’s just one Ultimate Point per hour of play.  I’m just happy that not only am I getting fun and entertainment value out of sitting my ass in front of the computer for hours on end, I also get to earn points towards prizes.

The only depressing thing is that, after making a few calculations, I’ve determined that in order to earn enough Ultimate Points for the prize that I’m working towards (the Tahiti cruise and Bora Bora stay worth $2,000,000 Ultimate Points) I’d have to play in the play chip tables fulltime for the rest of my natural life.  Unless of course I start playing in the real money tables and start earning bonus points.  Brian’s already put his foot down on that one!

We didn’t get much done today.  We were supposed to clean house before going to the movies (we just went to see CA2: Full Throttle at the new Warren Theater downtown) but Brian and I ended up watching Junkyard Wars instead.  After that Brian decided to play poke on UB (and he said that I can’t whine about it because I’m the one who got him hooked to begin with) and before either of us knew it, we barely had enough time to shower and meet Andy, Ashley, Misty and Sarah.

Before leaving, we said to ourselves that we would clean house when we returned from the movie but that didn’t happen either.  UB struck again.  Brian’s actually still playing as I’m typing this entry.  Hey, at least he’s earning points (hopefully towards that trip I want but I think he will hold out for the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle).  It’s just a shame that we aren’t able to combine our points together so we can get the points we need faster.

By the way, the Kansas Powerball was up to $135 million after no one won the drawing on Wednesday so Brian and I decided to take a chance on it.  We spent four bucks.  He got to pick numbers for one and I got to pick numbers for one and we got two quickpicks.  I ended up nailing the Powerball number on the one that I chose numbers for so I got $3 out of that one.  Not too bad.  I wish we could have won the jackpot but, at least we have three bucks towards more lottery tickets for a shot at $165 million (if no one wins again).  No whammies!  

June 29, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Life, Movies, Poker

Leave a Comment 

I’m a Moron

Okay, I’m a moron.  Boarding House was actually filmed last year.  That’s why it doesn’t coincide with VK’s journal entries.  Everyone knows who wins (Andy Irons won the men’s division and Neridah Falconer for the women).  None of the housemates win.  So what’s the point?  I guess we all just get watch and see if VK and Holly end up killing each other but we know that they don’t because VK is still alive (as evidenced by her diary).  Then again, has anyone seen Holly lately?  LOL!

Other exciting news.  I received a copy of Glee’s first book in the mail last Tuesday.  That was cool.  I’ve always admired her poetry.  Now I’ve got a book of it!  After reading it through, “Anxiety Closet” is still my favorite.  Yes, I really did read it from cover to cover — including the acknowledgements.  I’m probably one of the few people who do that.  It’s a habit that started with CDs.  Everytime I’d buy a CD, I have this habit of reading the acknowledgements.  I mostly do it out of morbid curiousity.  Usually by reading that stuff you can gain insight into the artist’s life, who they’re dating, who they’re friends with, if they’re close to their families, if they’re close to God — that sort of stuff.  This time I actually saw my name amidst the sea of names.  That was pretty neat!

And then this afternoon, after coming home from hanging out and swimming at Ashley’s, we found a wedding invitation in the mailbox.  It’s from Divina.  If she hadn’t told me about their wedding plans prior, it would’ve really come as a shock.  Divina is the last person you’d think to get married!  I’m thrilled that she’s finally getting her life in order.  She’s graduated and now she’s getting married.  All in the same year, too!  That’s quite an accomplishment.  One is challenging enough.  She’s doing both!  That’s really something!  She’s really something!  I’m totally happy for her.  I’m sure Divina will agree, it’s one great, memorable year!

I’m excited too!  Now I’ll have an event to wear one of my bazillion-trazillion dressy dresses.  I have some that I haven’t even taken the tags off.  Now one of them will be called to duty.  Speaking of which, this is the motivation that I need to start working out again.  I’ve quit working out due to my illness and I just haven’t gotten back into it.  I have about a month and a half to get into shape.  Wish me luck!

June 29, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Life

Leave a Comment 

Reality Shows

I found Veronica Kay‘s journal online but I’m wondering if it’s the real VK.  Brian thinks that it’s some writer that Roxy has paid to write stuff into a diary.  I think it’s the real deal but I’m starting to wonder if Brian is right.  Isn’t she supposed to be in Oahu with Boarding House (incidentally my new guilty pleasure — I’m so over Shipmates because it’s the same shit over and over again) for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing or am I seriously slow?  Is the show like six months behind or something because VK’s website says that she’s in Australia right now.  But if it’s behind then what’s the point of watching something when you already know who’s going to win?  This is way too much thinking for me.  Will someone who is knowledgeable in this area straighten me out please?

Anyway, Sunday was super awesome.  [I really need to lay off the surfing shows -- SurfGirls and Boarding House -- because I'm starting to sound like a stoned surfer.]  Brian and I went to see The Hulk, which was great.  You either hate it or you love it, and I loved it.  I told Brian to add it to the “to own” list.  I didn’t let the fact that he looked like, as Brian puts it, Shrek on steroids bother me at all.  Jennifer Connelly is superb, as usual.  Ang Lee, the director, is a creative genius.  Nick Nolte – great.  Eric Bana?  Well, I can’t really say much because he had to share his part with a computer animation.  As much as I loved Josh Lucas, though, they really made him look gay in the some of the scenes.

After the movie, we came home and cleaned house.  The guest bath is spotless!  I am so happy about that.  I also made sure that the cobwebs which were collecting in the front entry (because we never use it — the UPS guy probably thinks we’re the laziest people on the planet) that mom pointed out the last time she was over were gotten rid of for good.  I’m going to make sure we try to keep the front entry cobweb-free if not always sweeped.  LOL!

As we were cleaning, I got to thinking about last week’s Real World Paris episode and how she found the passport hidden in the purse..  I was sure that our marriage certificate (which we realized was missing only a couple of months ago) was in my purse.  I was thinking back and I couldn’t recall ever putting it anywhere else.  So I checked again, in the same way that I checked before and sure enough it was there!  It was right there with my expired passport.  What the hell?  I could’ve sworn it wasn’t in there the last time I checked.

We were so convinced that it was gone that I sent Brian downtown on his day off last Friday to get copies.  Good thing the copies were only $1.25 each but still, he could’ve spent the time more productively instead of running around downtown looking for the office where he can get the copies which, as it turns out, we don’t need anyway because I’ve now found the original.  Sometimes I just feel really flaky!  But now you can’t tell me that nothing has come out of my reality show addiction because if it weren’t for that episode, I don’t think I would’ve found the missing marriage certificate!

After cleaning, we rewarded ourselves with dinner at Sumo because Brian was craving California maki again.  I love that he has started digging it because I love California maki and now I can have it more often because he likes it too!  As we were driving home, Brian was making fun of this girl that sat at the other end of the hibachi table because when Silo (our chef) did the Japanese microwave thing where he sets the shrimps on fire, the girl ducked and covered her head with her hands like she was afraid of catching fire or something.  I told Brian she was probably wearing tons of hairspray and, as we all know, hairspray is extremely flammable so she had good reason to fear.  Personally I don’t think anyone should wear hairspray if they’re going to Sumo.  Actually, I take that back.  I don’t think people should use hairspray period.  I told Ashley about it at work today over Sametime (our work chat thing) and she goes, “Sumo amateurs!”  She might have used the term novice or some word of similar meaning but I can’t remember exactly.

Dinner was great.  The rest of the early evening was spent laying in the hammock.  Brian and I said we would only lay there for an hour but we both fell asleep and it turned into more like two hours.  When we came to it wasn’t completely dark yet but the sun had already set (the sun was still up when we first went outside to lay in the hammock around sevenish).  It was totally wonderful.  The climate was perfect and there was a strong breeze that kept us cool and the leaves were rustling.  I love the sound of rustling leaves.  Laying there reminded me of the slow, leisurely days in the province when people just take naps on the their front porch or veranda.

After our nap we worked on Brian’s website some more because I had promised him I’d help him do a site makeup which his site needed terribly.  It wasn’t anything like the other night, though, when Brian was caught on cam!  LOL!  

June 24, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Life, Web

Leave a Comment 

28 Days Later

After watching the six minute preview of 28 Days Later, I’m thinking to myself “This reminds me so much of Sony’s Residen’t Evil.”  I still want to see the film because I’m a sucker for zombie movies.  Some would say that after you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all but zombie movies scare the bejeezus out of me and so they’re so much fun to watch.  I don’t care if every film production company out there releases their own regurgitation of the same story line, I’ll still watch it.  I bet you the movie people are wishing that consumers are all like me.  They probably already assume so.  Let’s hope that they start making movies out of original concepts again (as you know this movie-watching season is wrought with so many sequels that good original films worth watching are hard to come by) for all you folks who are bored with all of the films being released in the movie industry.  But then, how can you release something new and unique to the seen-it-all generation?

June 20, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Movies

Leave a Comment 

Friendster

Did you know that Google now has their own store?  I’m really glad that they’ve picked up selling Blogger apparel because the prices are now almost $10 less than back when I originally got Brian and I our Blogger tees.

With that plug out of the way I have to tell you — these Blogger folks don’t play!  I ran into Ritchie last night on Y!M while I was playing poker on UB.  He busted me for not having read his site because I missed the June 17 post about Friendster.  These folks are so relentless!  I mean, once they know you are an avid reader they expect you visit their site every hour on the hour!  Nevermind that I’ve been sicker than Charles Manson for the past week.  And nevermind that I’ve been totally hooked on online poker, so much so that I spend most of my time there instead of blogging as I used to..

Having felt guilty about missing the post, I got suckered into joining.  For the record, I usually don’t do these things but he assured me that it’s not just for single people.  So far only Brian and Jen have joined but I feel like such a loser only having three friends on my page..  So now I’m trying to sucker — err, beg — you to join on my behalf.  Use ching@alonsofamily.net as the referral email so that they automatically add you to my friends list.

Speaking of sick, it’s true.  I’ve been completely miserable for the past week.  I’ve been miserable and lazy so I haven’t posted the pictures from dinner on Sunday.  Those will be coming..  You’ll see them here as soon as my wellness returns.    

June 19, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Web

Leave a Comment 

Annual Filipino Ball

I’ve got some more pictures for you! This next set are from the annual ball at the Marriott last Saturday. Brian actually danced cha-cha with me. It was pretty cool except he refused to turn. He said I should be happy that he was even dancing! I danced so much that my feet hurt. They still hurt today (along with the rest of my body).

I took a couple of DayQuill gelcaps. I hope that will be enough to get me through the day. Anyway, enough whining. Here are our pics..


















June 16, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Family

Leave a Comment 

Brian’s Birthday Tattoo

Brian and I are both miserable. I don’t know how he caught a cold since he’s notorious for cleaning his hands with antibacterial stuff every ten minutes. “How the hell did you catch a cold?” I asked him. “From shaking someone’s hands,” he speculated. “I thought you were using your antibacterial stuff?” “I am!” he insisted.

You know what I think? I think it’s Bath and Body Works‘ fault. Brian loved the antibacterial spray and used the hell out of it. Now that they don’t carry it anymore, he’s had to switch to the gel stuff and he doesn’t like the way it feels so he’s probably slacked off. As a result, he’s passed his cold to me. It sucks because not only am I totally miserable, I’m totally cranky as well.

Brian was apologetic about infecting me but he goes, “That’s what being married is all about. Whatever I get, you get. Whatever you get, I get. Don’t you remember them saying the phrase in sickness and in health? Or weren’t you paying attention?”

It was a busy weekend for a couple of sick folks, nonetheless. It was Brian’s birthday and, to commemorate his birthday falling on Friday the 13th this year, he decided to get a tattoo. He got it from Body Ink and Steel in Newton, where he got his first tattoo. Here are some pictures..
















June 15, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Life

Leave a Comment 

Sarah’s Birthday

I’ve spent the last few nights at work creating dozens of origami tulips in preparation for Sarah’s birthday. I wanted to do something special for her and I didn’t have any money. After bills, the $15 contribution I gave to Ashley (I gotta hand it to her, she’s an amazing fundraiser — she got nine people to go in on it and collected $110 altogether) toward an Express giftcard (our group gift to Sarah), a new string bikini (the placed bandana print in fresco) from J.Crew, the money that I’d reserved for Sarah’s birthday cake and my hair appointment on Monday I didn’t have any left to spend on decorations. This is not me, by the way.. I wish! Brian got me these streamers but I knew I needed something more. So I made a whole bunch of tulips. I had everyone write birthday greetings to Sarah on the excess paper so we could decorate her walls with them. The end result? Decorations that don’t burn a hole in your wallet.
Katie helped me decorate Sarah’s desk after she left on Thursday night. We didn’t have a lot of time so instead of actually decorating, it was more like we toilet-papered her whole cubicle. I was afraid that she would get mad because it was extremely messy after we were done. Katie, Joni and Wade had this great idea of printing and enlarging Sarah’s work ID picture. They made a whole bunch of copies and posted it everywhere, including the bathrooms! I made a bunch of “Happy Birthday, Sarah!!!” signs so that she would them as she came in to work. If some people didn’t know Sarah before, they were sure to recognize her after all of the signs and posters.
























June 8, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Life

Leave a Comment 

Lake Afton Car Show

Brian and I had a lot of fun driving to the annual car show at Lake Afton.  It was even more fun when we finally got there.  I don’t know what Brian was thinking.  I mean, it’s not like it’s his first time driving out there.  It is an annual event after all.  He must have had titties on the brain or something because we ended up at Pleasures (a local nudy bar).  Of course, he vehemently denies even knowing where Pleasures is located.  We called his father and eventually got ourselves on the right street.

There’s really not much to do at the car show but walk around gawk at cars and take pictures.  That’s exactly what we did for a couple of hours.  I’m going to post some of our pictures here (probably not all of them because I took almost a hundred) once I get them resized.

After the car show we took Brian’s mom home, bought some candy (for Brian’s work) at Wal-Mart, grubbed at KFC and then headed on to Rigodon practice.  It was so much fun today because we got to stay for the whole thing.  Usually we only stay for the first part because we’re always running off to do other plans.  Sometimes it’s dinner, sometimes it’s a movie..  But there’s always something.  Tonight we were there for three hours (from five to eight).

Brian endured the whole ordeal while I, on the other hand, had a blast.  We learned a couple of line dances (not country line dancing more like ballroom line dancing, if there is such a thing) during break.  I like learning new dances.  So I had a lot of fun.

When Brian and I arrived home (after dropping off his parents’ tickets to the gala next week) we soaked in the tub together, took a quick shower and had even more fun!  I guess you could say he was rewarded for being such a good boy today!

June 8, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Life

Leave a Comment 

Human Guniea Pig

I have truly become a human guinea pig!

I’ve been doing surveys online for at least a couple of months now.  Yesterday I received a stick of deodorant to use for the next three weeks.  Then I will be taking a survey about it online.  I’ve always like participating in product testing.  Several years ago, I participated in a product test for gel pens.  Obviously, their tests were successful and the products were well-received because now you see gel pens everywhere.  I gives me great pride to know that I tried them first!

I guess deodorants are another story.  Brian thinks it’s a bad idea.  He goes, “I’ll laugh if you start walking around with your arms in the air because you can’t put them down due to an armpit irritation.”  I doubt that will really happen.  But then, I don’t know what I’m trying (other than it’s a deodorant stick).  Being that I have voluntarily subjected myself to this, I doubt that I could sue should anything bad happen.  But that’s being pessimistic.  I’m sure it’s just like any old deodorant stick.  It can’t possibly kill me!

I told Brian about it last night while we were laying in bed, watching tv.  I mentioned the paragraph in the instruction letter that came with it which states:

If you experience a medical emergency related to this product, discontinue use and call 651-632-6180.

I suppose so they can do a cover up.  They’ll mop up everyone who knows that you took this product so they can’t get sued.  After which they will disavow any knowledge of your being a part of the program.  Just kidding!

Brian, paranoid freak that he is, goes “Fuck that!  I think you should send it back to them and highlight all of the things that you disagree with.”

He’s just being paranoid.  Those disclaimers come standard on everything.  And I mean, EVERYTHING!  This is the US after all.

June 4, 2003 | Posted by Ching under Life

Leave a Comment 

Next Page →