I just read my sister's blog... and found out that Chios has given birth! :) Sent her a cute little jumper for her son last month, glad that it's a February baby (Feb babies tend to be extremely smart and talented. Hoho.)!

My sister passed her very important Japanese exam! I'm so proud of her. I remember that she was moping around because she was convinced that she failed it. Good job sis! Sometimes I wish I have the dedication and commitment to grasp a language fully. There's many excuses I make up to feel better, but at the end of the day, you know it just boils down to whether you want to do it, or not.

Like that movie "He's just not that into you". You could make up countless excuses why he's not returning your text, returning your email and stuff, why he's going out with someone else behind your back, but at the end of the day, it just comes to the simple fact: he's just not that into you. In which case, you should just drop it.

I was talking to my sister about this recently, about why there are so many girls out there who are in denial. I guess every girl grows up listening to fairy tales and whatnots, and it's tempting to think that you might just be the one for every guy you fall in love with. So you obsess over it, offer sex or every kind of favor, in the hope that he would just realize one day, that HE's in denial, and has been hopelessly in love with you all this while. Think again.

I think that guys and girls generally have different approaches to the dating game. Guys go after one, maybe a few girls at one go, and whichever hatches, goes. If it doesn't, they move on. Girls can't do that. I don't mean ALL girls, but generally girls who are insecure, and suffer from an obvious lack of confidence. They cling onto the one guy who make their heart melt, and hope for eternal love. Or they cling onto their already cheating partners, in the hope that they only did the cheating out of a moment of folly, and not because of the simple fact that the guys are just not that into them. Let it go! If he really loves you, he will not cheat on you. I don't care if he only goes on dates with them, or if he only makes out with them, or if he fucks around. If he cares, he would never do that. And for you to forgive that, you are truly pathetic.

FIND someone who will not do that to you! I know it's not easy, and you have blah blah blah history together, and you love him so much. But is it worth it? Is it worth you crying every night, or every moment your heart stops when you wonder if he's texting some other girl? Cuz you know what? He prolly IS texting that girl. You were born in the world alone, and before you met him, you were great, if not better.

The guy in the movie who was two-timing Scarlett Johanson makes my blood boil. I think he is the muse of this post. For those who've seen the movie, you'll understand where I'm coming from. I'm glad that he's alone in the end, with the voice-over going " and there are some guys who will never be that happily-ever-after". Yes, that is right. Because if someone is so spineless that he lies to both girls he apparently loves, then that is cowardly, and dishonest, and weak. And you do not need someone like that in your life.

Wow, I wrote a lot considering that I was just going to congratulate my sister. Heh. Oh well. I hope every one of my friends find their happily-ever-after. :)

Mi carro nuevo.

Yay! I got my new car! :) I bought it from a private seller who does furnishing for homes of celebrities including Brad Pitt. :) It has everything I wanted, black exterior with black seats, GPS navigation and Harmon Kardon premium sound system. And it's a bigger engine than I wanted... presenting the SLK350! :) Now Jenn and I have matching cars... except my engine is a leetle bigger. Hoho.
The best thing is it's a hard-top convertible, so you press this button and the top folds in this way automatically. I hate soft-top convertibles, cuz it always leaks when it rains. No more leakage! :)


I love the navigation system! :)

Okay, my life is complete. Amen. :)

My birthday! And V-day! :)

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. :) After last week which sucked so bad, I went on to have a really great week. I feel so loved by my friends and family, and I just feel like I really love my life right now. I live in my dream apt, drive my dream car (more about THAT in the next post), and I'm pursuing my dream education, and I'm surrounded by people who dote on me and make me feel really really loved. I'm just so grateful for my life. :)

So I had a birthday dinner last tuesday, at my fav restaurant at downtown La Jolla called WhiskNLadle. I go there sooo much that the bartender always slips me free drinks, and all the servers and manager knows me by name. I booked the private function room, and got 14 of my closest friends to come. I was a tad worried about the minimum of 500 bucks (excluding tax and gratuity), but the total bill came up to 950, so I guess I had nothing to worry about after all. I guess it makes sense since the cake they made was a frigging 140 dollars (and it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. :( ) Although a few peeps paid short (prolly because everyone was drinking), Deron was so nice to pay for the difference, and to this day, I still don't know how short we are, just that it wasn't a small amount. Ian the bartender stayed to work my party, even though he was down with a very nasty flu. And he gave us a couple of appetizers for free too! Thanks Ian! :)

The private function room, from the outside.
Tom and John!
Mike and Dev!

Jackie and Guang!
Me and Ms. BFF! :)

Brandy and Chanel!

Deron and I!
Yun and I!
Terrell and I!
Jason and Jeff and I! Thanks guys for coming all the way down from L.A!

I had my usual, the seared scallops with fennel risotto. It was pretty good. I'm not a big fan of fennel, but the scallops are amazing, as usual. :)

I got the roasted bone marrow with toast as well. Known as the poor man's caviar, it's melts in your mouth. Mmm mmm! (I forgot to take a pic of that...whoops)

I got the seared lamp chops with salsa verde for my main, but it was just okay, but I was really full at that point. Might have been biased.

Me looking thrilled with my cake. I asked the pastry chef to make a strawberry and blueberry cake with sweet cream, and pink and white flowers on top. And it looked really pretty.

My cake.

I felt that the cake was too firm, but it was good flavor. The cake layers were soaked in honey, and that was nice.

At the end of the night...

In all, it was a blast. :) All the peeps I invited turned up, the food was great, and it was just really nice. :)

Jenn gave me her fav bath and body works products.

Jason gave me a Swarovski bracelet and necklace, and Jeff gave me Versace shades.

I got the Weezer blue album that I wanted, from Deron, which was one of many presents. :)

I got this lucky shit charm from Renee, who thought it was really funny to give me shit for my birthday. :P And she bought tickets for us to go to the "Death Cab for a Cutie" concert in April. :)

On the actual birthday itself, I had lunch with Deron and Lisa and Jason, and they were so sweet to pay for the bill. And during happy hour at the lab, there was a cake waiting for me, and tulips and calla lillies from Danielle. I was sooooo touched. :)

The cake and flowers

Me looking very content.

The whole lab! :)
Then I was whisked away to dinner at Del Mar at the Pamplemousse Grill, where I had the best french food, ever! :) Apparently, they entertain clientele like Princes Charles and celebrities blah blah.

When I walked to the table, there was a Swarovski bag waiting for me at the table, and it turned out to be a really gorgeous amber pendant, to replace the Swarovski star I broke in my car. :)))))

We ordered four appetizers, and two entrees. By the time we were done, I had absolutely no room for dessert. I can't even imagine how much the bill was though...
I had the duo of foie gras, one seared over fresh pumpkin bread, and one of a pate, with homemade apple chutney. It was accompanied by a lightly breaded quail egg, with tomato chutney. The dish was AMAZING. The foie gras melts in your mouth, and the pate was a killer with the chutney. The quail egg just explodes when you bite into it. The best foie gras ever!
We had the pistachio-crusted abalone with lightly breaded lobster tails. It was a disappointment. I think abalones are still better prepared the oriental way, with oyster sauce and all that jazz.
The truffled white asparagus soup was awesome. The chef imports all his truffles straight from Italy and France, so they're really potent. The soup was superb, not too creamy.

The roasted tomato and fennel soup was a disappointment for me, but Deron loved it. I hate licorice, and although I applaud them for adding such a creative ingredient to the soup, I really didn't like it.
I had the chilean sea bass, in a basil pesto sauce, and seriously, it was the best sea bass I've ever had. The fish flesh literally crumples in your mouth, and contrasted wonderfully with the crispy crust. The basil pesto was very savory, and complemented the fish very very well.
The fish... soooooo good.

And they were so nice to bring us home made sugar cookies at the end. Hee. :)

I spent my V-day in L.A finding my car. Jason and Jeff were nice to put me up at their apartment, and it was a really nice day. :)

I got a dozen red roses from Deron in the morning, before I boarded the train to L.A.

Happy! :)

Spent the whole day visiting a few dealerships, and private sellers...

My V-day dinner was at this place called yuan bao chinese restaurant. It was pretty empty, since the rest of the world was prolly at some romantic restaurant celebrating...

I forgot to take pictures until the end of the meal, but...

the beef shank wrap is really good, and according to the two of them, very very authentic Taiwanese flavor.

The golden pumpkin shrimp pork dumplings were reeeaaallly good. The pumpkin was sweet, and it went well with the savory pork. :)

And when I got home to their apartment at the end of the night, they had a gorgeous bouquet waiting for me! :)))))) Thanks Jason for the lovely flowers. :)

Me looking very very happy with the flowers. :)

Apparently the bouquet was 200 USD. Geeez! The wrapping paper was paper with pressed rose petals imported from Italy, and the whole bouquet was adorned with pearls, real seashells, and fake butterflies...

And the calla lillies had real Swarovski crystals stuck in them. You guys know how I feel about crystals... Hee.

I gave each of them a single-stemmed red rose each too!

Jason with his.

Jeff the joker with his. :P

The next day, we had lunch.... taiwanese porridge!!! My fav!!! :DDDDD

The taiwanese porridge with sweet potato....

The spread of small dishes we got! :)


Jason was so funny, on the way to the train station, he wanted to take another pic with the flowers cuz apparently, he had "bad hair" in the ones we took the night before. :P So we took one before we got into his car after lunch.

And then the train ride back to San Diego.... :)

Anyways that's all folks! Imma update with pictures of my new car tomorrow! Wee! :) I'm very excited. ;)

My mustang is gone.

I need to write this out before I forget how traumatic today was.

I was on my way to work on the highway.

It was raining, and the highway had a collection of water building up.

When the car hit the bottom of the highway road, the water level rose, and I started drifting to the next lane.

I swerved to get back on my lane, but the car started spinning.

The car didn't stop spinning until it circled 3-4 times, hitting the guard rail on the last time.

The hood flew off, and the airbags deployed.

The car rebounded from the rail and landed in the middle of the highway, horizontal to oncoming traffic.

All I felt was pain, and I looked out the window on my left, and all I saw was oncoming traffic coming right at me.

And I thought I was going to die.

But none of the cars hit me.

I stepped out of the car, to see concerned drivers sigh in relief.

My nose hurt, and I had a terrible headache, but I was fine.

But the car wasn't. The front was all smashed in, with the front window almost shattered. The hood was half a mile away, and the transmission was on the other side of the highway.

4 cars hit the rail after me, but luckily, no one was hurt badly.

My car was towed off the highway, and that was the last I saw of it...

I could have been dead. People kept saying how lucky I was. And they are right.

I could have been dead. I could have never lived to see my sisters again, or my mum or my dad. I could have never lived to take the flight back in summer to see my family waiting eagerly at the gate for me. I could have never be able to hug them again, or to tell them I love them very much.

I love you mum, I love you sis, and sis. And I love you dad.

I need to let go of the unhappiness, and try to be happy from now on. Otherwise, I'll be an ingrate.