Mondoyo (10:45:30 AM): did they sing happy birthday
debbiewebbie44 (10:55:21 AM): NO
debbiewebbie44 (10:55:22 AM): 
Mondoyo (10:55:29 AM): aww I'll sing it for you later
debbiewebbie44 (10:55:56 AM): will you?
debbiewebbie44 (10:55:59 AM): 
Mondoyo (10:56:06 AM): of course!

Awwwwww...you're the bestest!

so my check engine light and TRAC OFF light has been flashing for a few days now and i finally decide to take it into the lexus dealership to get it checked out since it was bugging me like crazy.  so i go in there, wait for about 15 minutes while they are putting service numbers on it and it's waiting in a queue to get worked on and stuff and refuse to sit around and wait, since last time, what i thought would be a 20 minutes (max) process, turned out to take an hour.  so anyway, i decide to take advantage of their shuttle service and have them taxi me to the gym!  hahaa.  hector, was the name of my driver and we were cruising along in a lexus LS430.  do you know how sweet this car is?  oOooh let me tell you!!!  the most impressive were the backseats:

-massage chair option for the backseats with butt warmers.  the backseat can also recline back, similar to what you can do on airplane seats.  soooo cool!

-can control your air climate as well as the radio from the back seat arm rest. 

-there is a button that automatically raises the back blinds so as to reduce sunshine.  the back window seats also have that option as well, except it's not automatic.  but still coooool!

-best part about the backseat is that there is a friggin cooler in the middle area that you can access when the arm rest is down. can you believe that??!!! i was fiddling around and thought the massage chair was awesome already and then i find the cooler.  geebus.  i stuck my water bottle in there for the 8 minute ride and by the time we got to our destination, my water was chilled!  how groovy!

-the cruise control on this baby is friggin tight!  it has sensors that can sense when there is a car in near range ahead of you and it automatically slows down.  then when it doesn't sense another car in close proximity, it speeds back up.  all ya gotta do is steer.  is that insane or what?!!!

after being picked up from the gym, i decide to take this car for a test drive while waiting for my car and that was pretty sweet.  the steering wheel is like..sooo smooth.  puts a whole new meaning to power-steering. heh. 

but anyway, enough about cars.  some annoying things of the week:

1.  having no seat coming to s.f. on BART b/c stupid ass BART is having some system failure and trains aren't on time and it displaces a lot of people who are on a friggin schedule!

2.  i have no seat coming back home from s.f. due to the same reason stated above.  oiyeee.  dude, standing there for 45 minutes, twice a day is no fun.  the good thing about it is though, if by chance, a seat is open near me, no guy jumps at the chance.  they all let the ladies have the seat.  for once it pays to be female.  *sigh*

3.  this one dude who keeps clearing his throat like evvery 2 minutes.  and it's like one of those long and loud throat-clearing.  apparently his clearing-throat mechanism isn't working so why can't he find a better solution?!!! ugh.  it really bugs me.  i'm sitting there reading stuff and every 2 minutes..."ahhhh he he hum kha kha he hmmm.  ahhh ke kumm kuuuum kuummm".  my god!  kdjf;alkjdf;akljf;askljf;askdf and we always happen to be in the same train car together too.  why me?!?!

4.  forgot my tshirt at home when i packed my gym bag and so i had to wear my work shirt while working out.  and yes, i just HAD to work out.

some thoughts for the week:

1.  it's nice to get into shape.  i was panting like crazy from walking with my skis (but then again, it was uphill and my skis are damn heavy) and that is just sad.  horray for working out again.  this would be my 3rd day in a row! 

2.  when boarding bart and going towards fremont on a packed train, never stand near the indians or chinese because fremont is full of indians and chinese and you will be assed out when trying to grab a seat b/c you have 1,000,000 other people aiming for the same seat.  supply and demand friends, supply and demand. 

3.  i don't get enough sleep these days.

worked out for the first time in like..over 3 months...and what a sad, sad workout it was.  though i ran for 30 minutes, i didn't exactly get very far in terms of mileage.  also could not lift anything anymore.  HOW SAD!  i was pooped after 3 sets of 10 too.  blah.

so right now, i am currently missing xmen2 because i am at the lexus dealership getting my master key.  yah yah. i know what you are thinking...at the dealership AND i'm still on aim and updating xanga?  what can i say...i'm a multi-tasker!    and plus, the dude said it will take about 20 minutes and so what better else to occupy my time?  so yah...this damn master key is costing me a friggin arm and a leg.  it's my whole month BART commute and more!  ($200)  how sad.  how very sad indeed.

and o.  the BART tickets i won on ebay arrived too.  i don't think i've ever spent so much money on BART tickets.  blah.  i won them at a 15% off discount...which is way better than the 6% discount they give at the station.  bastards.  why is it so damn expensive?!!?!?!?!?

had lunch with ang and dave today at an indian buffet at the embarcadero center.  it was pretty damn scrumptious.  can't wait for the rest of the week.  have so many lunch meetings/dinners to come.  tomorrow, gonna go grub on some great sandwiches with ang and alan.  then wednesday night, the weekly girls dinner is going to be initiated (participants are sarah, ang, and myself).  what's on the menu?  KFC! mauahahha.  and then we gonna watch ourselves some ANTM chez moi.  then friday, gonna have lunch with mar, alan, and julia somewhere in the city.  how fun.  haha.  there goes my monthly budget for food.  *sigh*

hmm...wow...so this entry isn't very exciting at all.  so sorry.  life isn't very interesting once you start working. 

BUT...there shall be some snow this weekend.  and i will be happily skiing in it! whoo hoo!

3rd day of work and drowsiness kicks in.  was dying on the BART.  got here, went straight to the kitchen and brewed myself a cup of green tea, since i don't drink coffee, and grabbed a trail mix bar. 

yay.  i'm assimilating into the working life. 

highlights of today:

1.  my laptop FINALLY came, and at the time it was suppose to arrive too!

2.  got a groovy new, never used, laptop bag!!!  i look so professional now!

3.  snacking on beef jerkey at work

4.  driving my new car!!! (even if it was only for 8 minutes while driving to BART)yipppeeeeeeee so happy!

*edit edit*  laptop as in my work laptop.  i was neglected at work the first day and had to do without a computer/internet for the whole 9 hours....oh lord how miserable was i.  and when i mean new car...i actually just mean "car" cause i haven't had one since h.s.  YAY!

bored...and the AIM TODAY thing that pops up caught my attention. heh.  both are quite the true, quite the very true. hahaha

The Color of Love:  What Your Favorite Hue Says About You:

Aries (March 21 - April 19)
When it comes to courtship, your Aries wants you to be bold and aggressive. Don't ask permission for a kiss – just plant a breathtaking one as soon as the moment seizes you. The more forceful your approach, the better. Rams are also susceptible to compliments. These folks want to hear that they're the sexiest person in the room. If you've just met an Aries, feel free to contradict them. Spirited debates act like aphrodisiacs on this sign.

If you're an Aries, your seduction style is swift, sure, and sweet. You like making the first move, and your direct approach usually yields fabulous results. You know the importance of the first kiss, and you've got this technique down pat.

Head-for-Bed Line: "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"

go here if you want to see your seduction by sign

interesting conversation i had with john today.  we were talking about guys with girlfriends and whether it's wrong to meet other chicks who may be potentials when you are with someone already.  according to john:

johneboy129:  i guess.... just cause you're on a diet doesn't mean you can't look at the menu.

what do YOU think?  girls, do you think it's ok to meet other potential bf material guys when you already have a boyfriend?

competition and anxiety (the good kind...haha you are probably wondering if that's possible but read on homie!).  i think that's what i've needed and lacked throughout my college years.  though, not to say i thought my classes weren't competitive enough, because some courses were hardcore and kicked my ass (stat 134, ieor131, chem1a (oh god, the horror!), physics 7a), but the kind of competition i'm talking about is through sports.  and the kind of anxiety is more of a type of anticipation to compete and not so much of the i'm-so-not-prepared-for-this-final-and-i'm-going-to-flunk-it anxiety...which i often got.

in college, i somewhat just stopped playing sports.  sure, i went to badminton a few times here and there at the RSF but it was never anything that i kept up with b/c (1) school was pretty shitty sometimes...and stupid ass homework, (2) group meetings were held at that time, (3) parties, (4) the times the gym was open for badminton conflicted with something else, or (4) didn't have anyone to play with.    but i guess what suddenly ignited such feelings were caused by the events that occured today.  i know this is retaaaaaaaaarded and stupiiiiiiiiiiid, and honestly, i think mostly its just because i'm a very competitive person...but anyway...its been a while since i've lost a girls' doubles match in badminton against high school kids.  i mean, i know i really have nothing to complain about because really, they've been in practice/season for over a month now, they are seniors (for most, the glory year-the year they are unbeatable), and if they still can't beat old farts like myself then that's REALLY bad....but i'm just so akldfj;alkdsjf;lkasdjf  about it and i want to start really seriously playing again to be good again.  i can't handle losing!!

and i don't only feel this way in badminton, but in ice skating too.  after having not been on the ice for what seems like FOREVER now, and having gone skating in taiwan just brought back so many happy memories for me.  i miss ice skaaaaaaaaaating!!! *special thanks to tiffany who set it up and brought me to the ice rink both days!!!  it's so unfair that you and jeffrey are going w/o me!!!* and though i'm more than a week late, i finally got around to watching the figure skating portion of the 2006 winter olympics today (hey, is it my fault people in taiwan don't give a rats ass about the olympics??? ) and i don't know what it was but i just got this huge urge to grab my skates and go skating.  i don't know why i don't just go.  i do nothing all day but sleep!

and then i think about skiing and how little i've gone in the past 2 years.  sure, i was really anti-skiing for a lil bit b/c there was just so many people at the resort that last time i went and it just drove me insane...but i've been itching to go and i've only gone like 1/2 a day this season b/c the weather was so shitty on xmas.  ugh.

and then i think about how i haven't gone to the gym since school got out and how i probably can't even lift anything anymore and it just makes me sad.  i also need to work on my cardio b/c i probably can't even run a mile now w/o panting.  i need to build up my endurance and strength.  oiyeee.  what has become of me???

and so i've decided.  work starts on wednesday and i'll let that sink in for a bit before it all begins.  how, you ask?  gonna go get me a membership at 24hour and start working out again.  gonna go to open gyms every monday and saturdays and do drills!  there's a nice ass ice skating rink in s.f. that i used to skate at and i'll hit up that place after work sometimes.  who's down for hitting up tahoe on the weekends as well???!!! lemme know cause i need to start doing some aerials.  hahaa.  or come to think of it...let's just keep it at the low jumps for now  . 

it's never too late for some new year's resolutions!

i don't want to leave.  don't make me leave.  i don't want to leave.  =( 

i feel like it's EAP all over again, especially since Mimi and Manly were here and I've also met up with To also.  while i was packing today, felt an akward flashback to when i was packing for home back in Jan. 2005.

met so many new people here this time around again and am just sad that i won't be back for a while and can only keep in touch through msn.  bleh. 

i <3 taiwan. 

What are my thoughts for today?  Well, let’s just say that I had a blast today and it ranks high on my Best Days Ever list.  It really was a Qing Tian (good day). Woke up pretty late today and just chilled at home until I had to meet up with Borkae at Taipei Main Station.  We had drinks at this one tea place in Xin Guang San Yue by Idee and just talked and stuff.  It was good to see him again this time before I leave to go back to the states.  He says that he probably won't see me for another 5 years after this but dude...chillax!  You swear!  After tea, we went walking around Xin Guang San Yue.  I just love the feeling I get walking around the big Bai Huo Gong Shi’s.  I can’t describe why that is but I guess it just brings me back to my childhood when I used to find them full of fun and amazing.  I still do. 

Anyhow, walked around in the Di Xia Shi around Taipei Main Station as well and then waited with Borkae until it was time to board the bus for Xin Chu. 

Had plans with Mimi and To to go to Shi Lin Nightmarket but because it was still lightly sprinkling at that time, I asked if they wanted to go bowling instead. Yes, again.  Ahhaa.  Bowling 2 nights in a row?   It was Tiffany's idea.  She called and asked if I wanted to go watch Jonathon play hockey at the new ice rink.  Because I haven’t been to the new ice rink yet, I decided to go check it out.  We walked around the arena and it was pretty cool.  It was really cold inside the rink and it's weird because I don’t normally get that cold inside ice rinks either.  Odd. 

Anyhow, watched the game, though I can’t say we were paying much attention (Tiffany, Aurelia, Jeffrey and I) and then afterwards, met up with To and Mimi atWang Pai Bowling.  Jonathon didn’t play because he didn’t have any socks (the ones he had were wet from hockey) and so it was us 6.  We had a warm-up game and also to see where people stood as far as score.  After the first round, the rank was Jeffrey, Me, To, Tiffany, Aurelia, and Mimi.  Stupid Jeffrey said his average was like 50 and stupid To said his average was like 180.  Uhhhh...more like Jeffrey's average is like 130 and To's is like <90!!! hahahaa.  After the first game, we couldn’t really decide how to split up the teams because we figured Jeffrey, me, and To were relatively the same and Tiffany, Aurelia and Mimi were the same.  Finally we decided that it would be Tiffany, Jeffrey and Me vs. To, Aurelia, and Mimi.  The bet was that the winning team gets to pick random people that the loser team has to go and try to hit on and boy did it take forever to come up with that bet that everyone can agree on.  We had some pretty crazy ones…walking out of the bowling alley in their underwear, streaking the streets, smelling Jonathon’s toes, licking his feet, kissing his ass…etc.  In the end, we kicked ass.  I scored a 125, Jeffrey scored 135, and Tiffany did pretty well too with a 75.  Too bad we can’t say the same for the other team.  To was a letdown (dead weight to the team) with a score of 74.  Tiffany even had a higher score than To!  Mimi was the leader this time of her team with a score of 90 something I think and Aurelia had 71.  We decided to xnay the bet and make it so that the loser team just treats us to NY Bagel.  So To scoot scooted me to NY Bagel while Jeffrey drove everyone else. 

Had a lot of good stuff to talk about over Xiao Ye (midnight snack/breakfast) and, one in particular was when my chest became the topic of the conversation.  Why??? Don’t ask me.  Anyhow, so how that came about was To asked if my necklace was a B or a D (for Boah or for Deborah I guess) and then I was like oh, D.  Then Aurelia was like…"ooOOoH…I was thinking something completely different."  Then all of us were like wtf?!  Hahaha.  Oiyeee.  Then stupid ass To had to chime in and say, "Those are definitely not B’s."  Oiyeeeee.  Then everyone decided to stare at my chest and I was like omg…

 Driven home by Jeffrey was fun.  He’s such a gentlemen.  When he picked me up earlier, he got out of the car and waited for me and then he opened the car door!!!  Akdfjakdfalfjadf.  I love guys that open the car door. Heh.  And then later on, when I was getting back into the car, I left my bag and scarf on the front seat and before I got in, he moved it out of my way so that I could sit down.  I guess it was just cool because I never really got to talk to Jeffrey much last time I was back when I first met him and like it was just a change from talking to him on msn.  Haha.  He's a lot more talkative then before and apparently, i'm a lot more polite in person than I am on msn.  Hahaha. 

Taiwan really is the land of fun.  It’s my happy place.  Somehow, I just keep having the time of my life here.  Today was one of the best days here!  It was good to have everyone all together.  I think tomorrow is going to be quite rad as well!  Can’t wait for group ice skating, farewell dinner, and probably some drinking as well.  Whoo hooo!!!  Why can’t I have this much fun at home??? =(

hmm..sorry for not updating.  but before you hate, i have PICTURES! yaaay!  hahaa.  anyway...highlights from the past few days:

1.  for the first time, saw a really pretty pregnant lady.  like.  she wasn't like beautiful or anything, but she had that pregnant glow and she just looked like how pregnant woman should look like.  and her belly wasn't ginormous yet but it was very round and she just seemed like the model pregnant woman.  i think she might have thought i was weird cause i kept staring at her but hey...who cares. haha i shudda snapped a photo when i had the chance.  ehh...that might have been a lil freaky but still!  i mean really, when do you ever see pretty pregnant women?  pregnant women are groooooooooooooooss!  i'm sure calliea would concur.

2.  decided i really do hate kids.  i mean, i knew i hated kids but now, i really do hate them.  this stupid little girl at the MRT station decided to play "stomp on the person behind you's foot", which, btw, would be MINE, while we were waiting for the next train to come.  friggin biaaaaaaatch!  if it was socially acceptable to kick you i would!!!  and i'm sure kathy woudl concur!

3.  ARGH!  i didn't know friggin taiwan guys were like...perverts!  talk about repressed!  is it my fault girls here are so damn skinny and malnurioushed that they have no curves?!!! is it my fault most asian girls have no chest?!!! goodness. hahaha.  like i was walking back home and to get back home, you have to walk through several alley type roads where cars have to drive by slowly since its somewhat narrow.  so anyway, i see this one car, full of guys, driving down the alley towards me, and they roll by hella slow and roll down their window and just stare.  flat out stare.  and i'm just like...ok....and then like a minute later, a different car rolls down by me, again, full of guys, and this time, their window was alredy down and one of the guy puts his arms in front of him and makes a grabbing motion.  WTH!!! akdjlf;laksjf;sdkjf;adsfjk.  i should have kicked the car but i couldn't because i was so shocked and like...astonished.  what ever happened to the nerdy, reserved chinese boys?!!!  and really, i wasn't even wearing anything provocative.  i was wearing a friggin t-shirt! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh aldkfj;aksldfjf.  blah. 

4.  but then on the flip side, taiwan guys are good too.  they hold your bags and purse when you go shopping, hold the umbrella for you when it rains, and open car doors for you all the time.  on top of that, when eating at a restaurant, if anything is ever self serve, the guys always have the girls stay seated while they get up and bring stuff back.  and even if the girl does get up to go get whatever, and even if she asks if anyone needs anything, all the guys always politely say no, never wanting her to exert any extra effort or energy.  what a life!  i can definately get used to this. hahaha

5.  shoe count-on to #6.  only a few more days left.  gotta hoard more!

enough blabbing.  picture time! 

mimi and karen on valentine's day!

wendy and i on the other end

i love mimi's expression in this photo!

heh.  yah, so what i'm making a gross face at is this japanese cold noodle dish that has like a raw egg in it and you are suppose to eat it that way.  yuuuuuuuck

an up close shot

dinner at cafe gracie with teacher and very past, past, and present students

on valentine's day, taipei 101 had a heart on it.  hehe i don't know if you can really see it from this picture, it's that tall building in the middle of the picture.  the round circle thing next to taipei 101 is the moon ;P

close up shot, but blurry.  sorry.  it was hard to focus while taking the picture in middle of the street. hahaa

my inspiration when running my ass off at the gym. ahahha why must computer generated girls look so hot?  saw this outside of guang hua and had to take a picture of it.  Mmmm...so hot. haaha.  yes, i have problems...but you're telling me you don't think she's hot? 

saw this in Idee and thought i was funny.  escape sling.  hahahaha.  so...do we slide down a big yellow rubber slide? hehee

hehehe...ok so i know this is gross...but if you think of it the otherrrrrrrrrr way...hahaa this is a noodle restaurant btw.  saw it while walking back to taipei main station from idee with mimi.

went to dan shui and got the name-cellphone-dangly thing for *someone* and oh was it a lovely day the second time around there.

and then saw this sign.  no this...no that...none of this...none of that.  so really, what CAN you do then?