Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!! I cannot believe another year has gone by. Isn't it funny when you're younger, you just can't wait to grow up? And now that I'm grown up, I realize I should've enjoyed my youth just a little bit more. Not that I'm that old or anything like that. But it is amazing how fast a year can go by without you even realizing it.

Sean and I circa 2003(he's so drunk he's leaning on me for support hahaha)
This year I am spending New Year's Eve at the Grand Hyatt in DC. I have a very hot date with one of my favorite people. Mr. Quinn and I celebrated New Year's Eve like this a few years ago. It was so much fun then, and should be a lot of fun tonight. And this year neither one of us is working the event, which will be even better cause we can just enjoy it. So Happy New Year everyone! Perhaps tomorrow I can catch up on posting my year in review and my week in pictures.

Quick Update

This week has been hella busy at work and after hours. My girl, Shama, is in town and we have been hitting it up like crazy all over town. It never ends! As soon as I get some free time, will post some X-mas pictures and pics from this week too. And as promised, will post my year in review. When I have some down time at work, I'm slowly working on it.

On a side note, I'm very worried about my dog, Pepper. He's sick and we don't think he'll make it to the New Year. My family and I noticed that he wasn't feeling well during Christmas so after the holiday was over, my Mom took him to the vet and it wasn't good news. My poor little guy. I love him so much and I can't bear to think that I could lose him very soon. My heart aches just thinking about it. I asked my Mom not to do anything until I could head over there to see him, which won't be until this Saturday. We obviously don't want him to suffer, but I need to be able to say goodbye to him, if this is going to be it for him. He has another visit tomorrow with the vet, so we'll see what he says about his prognosis. I just hope that Pepper can hold out until I see him on Saturday. My poor little fat dog. I seriously don't know what I'm going to do. I can't deal with losing him right now. I don't want to lose him.

Merry Commercialization of Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you get to spend this day with your loved ones and remember what Christmas is truly about -- PRESENTS! Hahaha, jk. Seriously I do hope that everyone has a great Christmas filled with lots of love and laughter and merriment. And for those who get to have a White Christmas, enjoy. I can't remember the last time it snowed here for X-mas. Tomorrow will be a balmy 55-60, not quite Christmas weather to me, but will have to do.

A preview: I will write my year in review of 2006. See all of my highlights and lowlights throughout this past year. And what a year its been! Starting off in Thailand, unemployed, to ending the year with a job and hopefully a little wiser from all of my experiences this year. This definitely was a year of looking inside of myself to see what type of person I am and what type of person I look to be.

On a Side Note pt 2 ...

Its such a nice day that I'm letting Weasley out on the balcony wearing his leash and harness so that he won't jump off the balcony. But the little Fucker keeps scaling the screen door with his claws and he's fucking it up! I would take a picture of it, but then he will think I'm promoting it, which I'm not, so use your imagination.

On another side note, I have company staying with me all next week, which means I need to clean and sterlize my apartment before she comes. This should be fun. Blah.

Christmas Eve Eve

Thank God Christmas is just two days away! Finally we can celebrate the Commercialization of Christmas (new phrase that my co-worker and I came up with) and move on with our lives. Cause seriously, isn’t that really all that we are celebrating? Christmas has become another retail holiday like Valentine’s Day, where people are expected to show their love from one another by how much money they spent on that person.

Case in point; the other day I called my Mother and the first thing she asked me, even before she said “Hello” was, “What have you boughten me?” in that sing-song voice of hers. I responded with, “Greedy! What makes you think I have bought you anything?” And then we both giggle over it all. But seriously, my Mom asked me that. Now I know where I get it.

And I seriously hate shopping for presents, especially for my Mom. She is the pickiest woman in the world and will most likely return about 1/3 of the presents I got her. And I can’t just buy her a gift card even though it’s practical because she thinks they are impersonal. So I’m stuck buying her gifts hoping that she will like them, and always making sure to ask for a gift receipt because she will most likely return it. Le Sigh.

Dad is much easier to shop for. Just look in his closet to see what he needs. And viola, you are done. Bogey and his fiancé, even easier, I just gift card them. My friends and I have stopped giving each other gifts except for Best Friend Ever and I since we are family. Now that we aren’t living together it was a little harder to figure out what she wanted. So that took some time and effort, but I know she really liked what I got her.

So all the presents are bought and accounted for. Now comes the 2nd hassle of wrapping and God help me cause I’m awful at it. But nothing is better on Christmas morning than giving a present to Bear to have him help open it. He loves it, so I do it for him. Wait till you see the pics. So effing cute.

Whose up for some Asshole?

OMG, can I just say that I forgot how much fun it is to sit around a table with a group of close friends and play a lot of rounds of Asshole?! I haven’t played this game since college! Ms. Jones and her roomies threw a Jammie Jam Holiday party where guests had to show up in their jammies for a fun filled night of Christmas movies and drinking games.

What a great idea! Not only do I not have to get dressed up but I get to chill in my jammies while getting drunk. Playing Asshole brought back so many fun-filled memories - the glory days of college and living at the beach. Sadly I couldn’t remember how to play Asshole, but once we played a round, all the competitive juices came roaring back to me. I was only Asshole once! Granted I was never President, but I was Vice President for numerous rounds and that counts for something, cause when I’m President, forget about it, I’m a Dictator and rule with an iron fist.

Once while playing a tournament of Asshole at the beach, I was the resident asshole for so many rounds that at one point I had to wear a beer case on my head like a mask. Freaking Danny made eyeholes and a mouthpiece so that I could see and drink. He paid dearly for that one!

And the rules that we used to make were perfect rules because everyone would break them when drunk. One of our favorite rules was instead of just lifting your beer off the table, you had to drag it to the edge. Not sure whoever came up with that one, but when you’re wasted, that’s a hard rule to remember. There is also the classic no cussing rule, which is again hard to do when you’re drunk cause you’re dropping the F bomb every other word. Aww, memories, so many drunken nights that I barely remember.

So good times and good call on the whole jammie jam party. We all were drunk and celebrating the spirit of Christmas by screaming, “Drink Bitch” and “Take it Bitch” and Stephen complaining that he was too drunk to drink anymore. That’s just sad, Stephen. Shame on you. I even have like three or four pics (seems to be my standard number of pics from events) from that night, which I’ll post later cause I’m too lazy to download them right now.

On a Side Note ...

Hahahahaha, I'm still laughing. Hahahahaha. Man, I'm in a really good mood. Hahahahaha.

Kitty Play Date

The other night Rachel and I decided to have a kitty play date. We wanted to see if my cat Weasley and her cat Neo would get along. I was very excited for this adventure and Weasley had finally gotten over his cold, so in his kitty crate he went and off to Rachel’s house we go.


BTW, my co-workers teased me incredibly for having a kitty play date. My one co-worker asked if this was a date with a boy, and I responded that Rachel’s boyfriend would be there, so does that count? She just shook her head and said I needed to get out more. Hahaha, if she only knew.



We get there and I let Weasley out and poor Neo just freaks out. He puffs himself up to make himself look bigger and Weasley is whatevs about Neo and just walks around scanning his new surroundings. Weasley could care less that there is another cat in the room with him, and Neo runs under the bed to hide. Pussy.



Instead, Weasley is taking in everything. He goes under the bed at one point to hang out with Neo, gets bored with him, and continues to walk around. Weasley discovers catnip is in the scratch box and proceeds to get high as shit on the box. So freaking hilarious. My poor guy is high as a kite and passed out on the box.



So the cats didn’t exactly get along. I guess they aren’t like dogs where they will play with one another. At least there was no fighting and towards the end of the night, Neo relaxed a little bit around my kitty. He actually came out from under the bed and sorta followed Weasley around with his eyes and made sure Weasley wasn’t trying to take over his casa. The next time they hang out maybe they will have more of some interaction. Weasley had a good time so that made me happy. Next time we are going to switch it up and try it and my place.

Bhahahahbhahahbhaha

A conversation I had with my friend:

We are getting ready to watch the movie Elf and I am eating my salad from Panera. Earlier we were talking about my non-love of the holiday season (reason we were watching Elf to get me back in the holiday spirit) and my attempts to walk my cat (more to come on that).

Me: I really don't like lettuce. Its just water, you know. I like eating all the extra stuff that comes in the salad, you know, the meat, the egg, the cheese. I like the filler in salad, but not the salad itself.
Friend: You are so backwards!
Me: What!?
Friend: You don't like salad, just all the extra shit in salad. You hate Christmas. And you're trying to walk a cat! I think you're the devil.

At this point I'm laughing hysterically. Probably doesn't seem so funny in print, but if you were there, you'd be laughing too.

Woot, Woot, I went to the Gym

In an effort to raise up my endorphins to battle the holiday blues, and to win the bet I have going with my co-worker on who can lose the most weight before the end of the year (by the way, both of us are losing miserably – I am back to the weight that I started at in the beginning of the bet) I have gone to the gym 2 days in a row. Woot, woot!!! God, I’m picking up Trent-speak.

I need to get myself on a regular schedule of hitting the gym again. Not only am I stressed out about the holidays, but work is extremely busy right now and I’m having my bouts of insomnia cause I can’t shut my mind off at night. I clearly need to go to the gym to work off this excess energy.

And after two days, I can actually feel my mood improving. I’m not as grumpy and while I still wake up throughout the night its more of a restful sleep than the past few nights have been. So let’s see if I can aim to workout 3 days in a row! And can I just say that there are some new hotties at the gym along with some old ones! I love eye-candy, but still haven’t experienced what sweet Jones has. Perhaps if I keep this up I’ll speak with one of them.

I Need a Little Holiday Cheer

I took the day off today to start and hoped to finish all my Christmas shopping. As I’ve mentioned before I’m a bit of a Scrooge. I truly don’t hate Christmas and I don’t hate giving people presents; I just don’t get super excited during this time of year. I don’t feel the holiday cheer and don’t enjoy decorating my place up for the Christmas spirit. I have never seen It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street, and really don’t care to see either one.

Christmas was never a huge event in my family. We don’t celebrate it for religious purposes. My parents are Buddhists and only celebrated Christmas for the kids. They never told my brother and I about Santa Claus. All of our presents came from Mom and Dad. I never knew who the jolly guy was with the rosy cheeks. The first time I had my picture taken with him, I freaked out cause I had no idea why I was sitting on some random guy’s lap.

We did have a tree growing up, and my while my family did not decorate the outside of the house, my Mom did decorate the inside. As a little kid, I loved Christmas. It was my favorite time of the year. Not only were there presents, but I also had winter break, which was awesome. But as I got older and my brother stopped coming home for Christmas, the fun and excitement of that time gradually began to fade. It became another day in our household. I can’t remember the last time we had a Christmas tree in the house.

There will be some years, where the holiday spirit hits me, and I enjoy this time of year. I mean really enjoy. I’ll get a tree for the house and decorate it and really get into the season. But its been awhile since I’ve felt it. This year especially I could care less for Christmas. I’m just not feeling it this year. Try as I might, its just another stress on top of everything else I have to do.

Usually I love buying presents for my family and friends. And I really put a lot of thought into what I’m going to get them because I really want them to like the gift. But today as I’m walking around the mall I just couldn’t find anything that I liked or thought they would like. It felt more like a chore than any real pleasure of finding presents for people. So after an hour I just gave up and figured I would do it another day when I was in a better mood.

I can’t seem to pull myself out of this Scrooge funk and really would like to enjoy this holiday season.

Holiday Fun

This past Friday was my company’s Holiday Party. It was held at the Clarendon Ballroom in Arlington, VA. My company goes pretty all out for their parties. I was actually really excited for this party. Since I’ve been there since June, I’ve only really gotten to interact with my immediate department, so this was a great opportunity to mingle with the other 600 people who work in my corporate office.

It was open bar with a shitload of food. They even had a mashed potato bar, which is the new thing in catering right now. Once I found out about that, I got even more excited. I love food! There was also a sushi bar, Hot Dog Cart, Mini Chinese To-Go Boxes, Soup Sips, Cheese and Chocolate Display, Soft Taco Station, and Dessert. But alas, I did not get to enjoy any of the food.

As soon as we got there, my friend Minnie and I hit up the bar. And boy did we hit it up. We got there late, so we needed to catch up with all the other drunk people that were out there. And once I found out that top shelf liquor was available through the open bar that was it for me. From there on out I was drinking gray goose and sprite. At one point I think I was double fisting. So bad. And then towards the end of the night my co-workers egged me to take a shot with them. I was so drunk. And all I had to eat was two finger food appetizers. By the time I went to the mashed potato bar it was all done. So upset cause I was so looking forward to it.

And of course I did the biggest sin that night and drunk dialed a certain someone. And of course that certain someone picked up his phone. Aww geez is all I have to say. Stoopid alcohol. At least I didn’t throw up at all that night! But I woke up the next day hungover as shit, regretting what I did. Le sigh. I love open bar and holiday parties.

Here are some pics from that night. Of course I only took like 4 since I was drunk and forgot to bring my camera out towards the end of the night.

Keila and I

Lena and I

Me and Melissa

Minnie and I

To the Left, to the left ...

Too be honest, I wasn't too thrilled with Beyonce's new album when it first came out. Deja Vu was a bad knockoff of Crazy in Love. And in Ring the Alarm, all you hear is Beyonce screaming. And can I just say that I hate that video. Beyonce over-acts in all of her videos, but this one was the worst. But then I heard Irreplaceable, and at first, all I really noticed was the beginning and chorus of "To the Left, to the left." And I would find myself humming that part, not realizing what she was referring to, but then I started to really listen to the words, and I was like, shit, this song is hot! And damn, what the hell has Jay-Z been doing to piss her off so much. Either way, I love this song now. "To the left, to the left...."

Enjoy

Here's a treat for all the ladies out there. Thanks Best Friend Ever for showing me this (Only in the Navy). What's really funny is that our friends who were in the Naval Academy used to make videos (not quite like this one) all the time, but that was before Youtube came out. Man, where can I find men with bodies like that?

Book Report pt 2

Here is my mini-bookreport of the recent books I just read.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon was a very good read. The book is told through the eyes of an autistic child named Christopher. His neighbor’s dog is found murdered and against his father’s wishes he tries to track down the killer. It was so interesting to see how the mind of an autistic person works and the thoughts that go through their head on a regular basis. It’s so intricate and so honest. While Christopher is investigating the mystery he learns some awful truths about his family. Very good book, I highly recommend it.

From Baghdad With Love by Lt Col Jay Kopelman is a memoir of Kopelman’s tour of duty in Iraq. While over there he finds a puppy in an abandoned building and going against military rules decides to keep the little puppy as a pet and tries to find a way to bring the little guy home. It’s a really touching story of a man finding hope in such appalling circumstances. You get a glimpse into the war in Iraq and see firsthand how devasating and terrifying it is over there. And this little puppy was one of the only things that helped this Marine keep his humanity and his hope alive. I’m a sucker for animal stories and know a lot of people in the armed services so when I saw this book I had to pick it up. It opened my eyes and gave me a better understanding of what is going on over there. Its definitely not a full blown war story, but it does give you some perspective of what goes through a person’s mind in that situation.

My Boyfriend's in Town!

OMG!!!! I am super-dooper excited that JC Chasez of NSYNC fame will be at The Barking Dog this Friday!!! He was my favorite NSYNCER. Damnit, but of course I have my stoopid Company Holiday Party this Friday too. I’m trying to figure out if I can make it to both cause I have to post for a little bit at my Holiday Party and its open bar (dangerous combination – Kim & open bar) so hopefully I’ll be sober enough to drive back up to Bethesda in time to see JC. God, I’m lame.

Speaking of my Holiday Party, can I just say that I love my outfit! And let's hope at this Holiday Party, I won't need anyone to carry me out of the bathroom into their hotel room. Thank God there are no pictures of that one.

Its Finally Here!!!

Can I just say how excited I am about the new Thomas Harris book about Hannibal Lector?!!!!! This is a prequel to how Hannibal became the evil monster that he is today. I have been waiting for this book to come out ever since I heard he was going to write about Lector. Hannibal Lector is maybe one of most favorite characters in literature. He's so complex and Harris always writes him as as evil soul and yet you really enjoy his character and feel empathy for him. Lector is the anti-hero that you root for. I cannot wait to read this!!!!!!