Autumn

Autumn is what I look forward to every year in Las Vegas. You can't beat the 80 degree weather with a light breeze. I love wearing sweaters and the 80 degree weather will be enough to get me to wear a light sweater. The only thing Las Vegas lacks is the changing of leaves that signifies Autumn. I've always wanted to experience a true Autumn season by walking through an accumulation of red, yellow, orange, and brown leaves. I will one day go to New York and run through Central Park with the deep autumn colored leaves crunching at my feet.

People say smell is the best sense to vividly trigger a memory. The smell of pumpkin spices and apple pie stimulates my memory of past holidays with my family which leaves me excited for the upcoming holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the holidays where my family is big on traditions. This may sound corny but my family loves to have a color-themed holiday. A couple of years ago girls had to wear pink, and the guys had to wear brown. I can't remember what our theme was last year, but I'm looking forward to what it will be this year. Although, this year will be different now that both my grandparents are gone. We were worried that when my grandmother passed away earlier this year that this family will rarely see each other. But we've proven that traditions will still live on even if the matriarch is no longer with us. We just have two angels watching over us now. Making sure we keep the traditions we grew up with through the years.

Sugar Daddies

Every woman says they want one, but it's mostly in a joking matter. I always playfully ask for a sugar daddy. But of course I don't need one because I don't really want to be financially dependent on someone. To me, nothing lasts forever. If I am financially dependent on a man and that relationship ends, I'll be screwed.

After work today, I went to an electronic store waiting for time to pass before my friend went on her lunch break. We met at the cafe and stood in line so she could pay for her lunch. We were talking when we were interrupted by a man who was paying for his food in front of us. He looked our way and apologized to the cashier by saying he was being distracted by a beautiful girl. At first I didn't think he was talking about us. So I tried to confirm it wasn't us by looking behind us only to find that no one was there. He finished paying for his food then came up to me.

"Hi I'm Robert. What are you studying?"

Turning red from embarrassment, I was able to answer him with "I'm finished with school."

"Oh, what do you do?"

Trying to get my hand back from the hand shake, I said, "I'm an engineer."

"I studied engineering as an undergrad then I did business because no company can afford me. I love to travel and I'm looking for my princess to spoil."

My facial expression screamed 'help me!' as he continued to speak. He handed me his card and asked me to call him so he can spoil me. He walked away and my friend asked me if we've spoken before meeting in the cafe. I told her I've never seen him in my life. It was so random! My friend said he reminds her of a recruiter for the porn industry. I reassured her that I'm not going to call him because he totally creeped me out for being that forward. When I said I wanted a sugar daddy, I didn't mean a creepy cocky sugar daddy who looks like he could be a child molester.

I guess the lesson here is always be prepared for what you ask for because you might just get it even if it's not exactly what you expected it to be.

Oh, My Aching Back

Aching back and not being able to bend over to pick up something are symptoms of what older people experience right? Unfortunately for me, at 23, I'm experiencing these symptoms. A little worried, I had my chiropractor cousin take a look at my back and see if he can align my back so I didn't have to live with the pain. He tells me to stand with my back to him so he can examine my posture. Apparently my left shoulder is higher then my right and my right hip is higher then my left. What a great combination I have. He told me that by touching certain problem points will turn the muscle on and off. He explained how he turned some of my muscles on and off but there was one point where he couldn't turn it back on. All I kept saying was, "turn it back on! I don't want it to be off!" I never thought I would ever say turn on my muscle. Such an awkward sentence. He said that my back is unusual where sometimes the muscles will be turned on and other times it'll be off. He was able to find the exact spot where I was having the majority of my pain and he even found a problem spot I didn't realize I had pain until he touched it. He told me what he did will temporarily fix me until he is able to work with me more. At least I'm able to bend over without any pain. Yes, I realize I just wrote that sentence and you probably have dirty thoughts right now. If not, then I'm the only one with dirty thoughts at the moment.

I'm Tired!

September is such a popular month for birthdays! Every week since the beginning of the month there have been at least two people I know who has a birthday to celebrate. And guess what, I'm exhausted! It's been fun, but I'm ready to hibernate for awhile. I know, I know, my twenties are suppose to be the most exciting time of my life where I push my body to its limits and go out and party all the time and waking up the next day in pain from the choices I made from the night before signifies that I had an awesome night. I guess this is why a lot of people don't finish college until they are in their mid 20s since their education takes a back seat to the indulgence of alcohol. I guess I’ve reached my body’s limit and I’ve been feeling exhausted lately. All last week, I was excited to go home to do nothing but watch tv and sleep at 9:30. I guess everyone goes through a homebody phase and just wants to do nothing but hangout at home and watch movies on the couch snuggled up under a warm blanket. My friends say it’s the changing weather, but I know my body. It’s exhausted and I need a break. So for now, after this weekend*, I’m taking a break. If I do go out I'll want to be home by midnight. Something I haven't done in years, but I think it's needed. And it will also help me cut back on my alcohol consumption. I'm trying to decrease my tolerance so I don't need to have 5 drinks just to get a buzz. Shocking how a tiny Asian chick can drink so much huh? Alright nightlife, see you later until my body rejuvenates itself!

* I say after this weekend because I already agreed to have a girl’s night out with my girlfriends. I couldn't say no to free tickets to Beacher’s Madhouse. And plus, I have to end my partying month on a high note, it’s only fair for my body.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Me: Hi sweetie, what's your name?
Kid: Carla. What's your name?
Me: I'm Monica.
Kid: Where's your hunnie?
Me: Whaaat? I don't have a hunnie.

It's so cute hearing a 5 year old girl ask me where my hunnie is. You don't realize how much kids can pick up just by hearing you talk to your friends in front of them until they use it against you.

You Got Caked!

My sister and I celebrated our birthdays together on Saturday. It was a nice afternoon with lots of food, family, and close friends. What I didn't expect was getting caked. My friends used my own weakness against me, taking pictures. I love getting my picture taken and so my friend JenJen said that she wanted to take a picture of the two birthday girls. She had the camera ready but she paused for a second. Then the countdown began. Oooooone. Twwoooooo. Threeeeee. Then Bam! My sister and I both got cake in our faces and it was all captured on camera. My mom was already use to our friends caking each other that all she did was get the dust pan and cleaned up the cake on the floor like it was nothing. I have to admit, it was a good plan. All the years I've known them, they finally got me. Good job! Just watch out on your birthdays because you know how the saying goes. "Paybacks a bitch!"

Are You Interested?

Sinn: You remember my friend Moses?
Me: Vaguely. Why?
Sinn: He has the hots for you. You interested?
Me: No
Sinn: He's really nice.
Me: No
Sinn: He's really sweet and can treat you really nice, but he kinda has extra baggage.
Me: Hell no

I will never ask my friend to set me up if he thinks I want a guy with extra baggage. I'm not that desperate!

Immature Boys

Ok so maybe not all boys suck, but I think just the boys I seem to attract that suck. As you can tell I didn’t use ‘men’ because it seems that only immature boys do this. If we didn't have sex, don't tell everyone we did! I was not that drunk that I don't remember us having sex. It was actually me sobering up that stopped us from continuing to what would have lead to sex. This isn’t high school where you have to lie about what happened. Eventually everyone will know the truth and now everyone thinks you’re a jackass. Thanks for showing me your true colors and that I can do better then you no matter how hot you are.

Birthday Weekend

Last night a couple of my friends and I decided to celebrate my birthday once more. We went to melting pot and ate some chocolate fondue. It was good but too sweet for me. I drank about 3 glasses of water to cut down the sweetness. Then we went to a nearby bar and we literally went around the building looking for the entrance. We parked right near the entrance but for some reason we missed the gigantic door. I guess we were too busy talking that we weren't paying attention. Or maybe we were distracted by the lamest pick up line. This guy was driving by and yelled 'ay bay bay' at us. We pretty much just walked away and laughed while he kept trying to get our attention. Seriously, are we still in high school? Think before opening your mouth.

Then we were off to a house party for my friend Bailey's 22nd birthday. At first I didn't want to go to the party because I don't know that many people there and I was with my friend Angela and she doesn't know anyone there. I didn't want her to feel awkward with a bunch of strangers. When I walked in, a lot of people looked familiar. I've met a lot of them at least once but I just didn't know their names which was funny because they knew my name. But last night, lots of juicy gossip was being spread around about Andrew, the last guy I dated. That punk ass is a little bitch. He's so whooped that it's amusing to us. He's such a gold digger that he doesn't realize that he's sacrificing his manhood for money. But I guess that works both ways. When women are gold diggers, they do whatever it takes to keep the man happy in order to get whatever she wants. Where are all the decent people in the world nowadays?

Third Times a Charm

Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday I celebrated my 21st birthday for the 3rd time. I can't believe I'm 23 already. And guess what! This time I didn't throw up and I remember everything. 3rd times a charm! I told everyone I wanted to remember this birthday so they helped me get that nice buzz and kept me hydrated. They knew when I had hit my limit and made sure I didn't drink anymore until I started sobering up and then gave me another drink. The only thing I don't remember is how much I drank. My friend Angela said when she saw me, I had about 5 drinks and I know I had a few more before I saw her. My friends are so awesome. And their birthday present for me? They had this guy I was crushing on make out with me. Thanks guys. Planning things behind my back. Buuuuut I'm not complaining.

Promotions Are For Losers

Today was my yearly review at work. Last year I didn't do so well only because I was new to the company and they didn't have much to base the review on. So a year has passed and my boss had a lot to say about me. He believes that even though I'm still a junior engineer, he considers me the leader of our department of 4 people. He says that my personality is really laid back but also professional when I need to be. I'm always calm and I can explain issues thoroughly so everyone can understand how to fix them.

So how did my review go? My average was a 4.05/5 which was pretty good compared to last year, but not good enough for a promotion. My boss said that since there's only 3 of us, he can only promote one person and it's not my year. He assured me that next year will be my year and that he'll fight for a big promotion. Riiiight. I'll believe that when I see my paycheck. He was calculating some random numbers on his calculator and according to his calculations, next year I'll be making 12k more. That doesn't sound right does it? I think he miscalculated from the pressure of doing simple math in front of me. But I better get a raise next year or else I'm quiting! It makes sense though right? You can't be at a company for 3 years and not get promoted. Especially when your boss says you're doing an excellent job. He constantly praises me yet no promotion. So if next year is not my year, I'm sure I can find different job where I can climb the ladder within a year. And if I make 12k more, that would be awesome.

Anonymity

I've decided to remove my picture for now just in case my work finds my blog. I don't want to make my blog private, for that one reader I have out there. But I don't want my work to see that I've been writing during work hours. Hey, I've read that most Americans pretty much slack at work and surf the net during work hours. They were able to find my myspace when I first started work so that's now private. There's no privacy anymore!

A Bad Side of Town

You know you're in the ghetto when you're in the parking lot saying bye to your friends when a helicopter above you is circling the building right next to you with a spotlight focused on God only knows what. My friends and I were leaving a bar and we were just hanging out in the parking lot. You know how it is. Saying goodbye takes a good 30 minutes when you’re with good friends. And those goodbyes also include taking pictures. In the middle of our picture taking session, we hear a helicopter come and we think it’s just passing by. Nope, it stayed near us and started circling Crystal Palace, an indoor skating rink. We hurry up and take our pictures together and said our goodbyes because if there was any type of criminal activity going on, we don’t want to get caught in the middle. The only upside of a criminal activity is we can have our 5 minutes of fame and get on the local news. Other then that, the thought of any crime at night in the middle of the ghetto is not too appealing. When half of my friends leave, the other half and I tried to decide what to do for the rest of the night. Come on, it’s 1:30am and it’s too early to head home. As we’re discussing where to go, a cop in a SUV pulls into the parking lot. To me, a helicopter and a cop in a SUV pretty much means that everyone should leave right away and that’s what we did.

My First Country Bar

My friend Monica celebrated her birthday a few days early last night at Dylan’s, a country bar. Yea we have the same name, and our birthdays are pretty close together. But anyways, when she told me we were going there, I automatically said, ‘I’ve never been to a country bar.’ In her evil voice she said, ‘Nice. We’re going to make you line dance!’ It might be the Asian in me, or I might just be deprived from the country scene, but I asked, ‘What’s line dancing?’ But then I realized that I might know what line dancing was. I confirmed with her that the electric slide is indeed line dancing and that is the only one I know (which they didn’t play!)

We’re sitting at the bar listening to country music and watching people line dance when Monica kept looking at her watch. I asked if she’s checking what time it is so she can leave soon. And she said she’s waiting for midnight because they play hip hop. HIP HOP?! Yea don’t get too excited. They played two hip hop songs which were a few years old. Apparently, if they play hip hop, the DJ gets charged 100 bucks each song he plays. So we head to the dance floor dancing when after the second song, they go back to country with a ‘simple’ line dance. Monica’s friend Judith was teaching me and after awhile I got the hang of it. Off the dance floor Monica felt accomplished to have the Asian girl who’s never stepped in a country bar line dance. Then this one song came on where they tell you what to do. I think it’s like a new version of the electric slide. That was my favorite because I just had to listen to the song. Seeing people try not to pull a muscle while trying to stay on that mechanical bull was quite amusing. Overall, it was a nice experience but I don’t think I’ll be visiting anytime soon. At least I can say I’ve been to a country bar and I've line danced.

The Other Side of Me

It’s funny how everyone will only show certain sides of their personalities to certain people. Last night I was at E-bar with some friends when we were talking about what I do for a living.

Esther: What do you actually do for a living?
Me: I’m a software release engineer, also known as being in cubicle hell.
Esther: I can’t picture you as an engineer. The Monica I know is a drinker and a partier.
Me: I do other things besides drinking and partying, you know!
Esther: I know, but to me, engineering and Monica do not mix.

I guess it’s because a lot of my friends are still in college that it’s hard to believe that I actually have a grown up job. Well, a job that I can probably call a career but I don’t. A career just sounds too grown up for me and I’m everything but that, a grown up. I’m not ready to leave behind my childhood just yet.