Bay Area Adventures Part 1

On Thursday Shawn came over and got me all worried about my flight for San Francisco on Friday. The plan was this. I was to bring Aprille's luggage to the airport where she will meet me when she lands in Vegas at 9 am from Hawaii. We check in and go to our gate for our 10:45am flight. He kept telling me she wouldn't make it so I called her to verify that she wasn't landing in the international gate. She tried to reassure me that it'll be fine and she'll make it just as long as her flight doesn't get delayed.

Fast forward to Friday morning at 7am. Aprille calls me and said she is in Utah and her flight is delayed. The airlines told her they'll leave at 8:15 am Utah time (an hour ahead), so she told me she'll still be able to make it.

8:30am rolls around and she said she's still delayed and to check in her bag under me and she'll just pay me back.

9:00am, Aprille calls me and says that she doesn't know when she'll be leaving Utah. They keep delaying their flight because they can't find what's wrong with the plane. And I tell her that I just checked in and our flight is delayed as well. She tells me good! And to try to delay our flight. My response? How the hell do I do that?!

9:15am, Aprille calls and says their plane is leaving and she'll be in Vegas soon. And she'll be able to check in at the gate since she is already in the terminal. Her gate is actually about 5 gates down from us.

Julia and I were trying to patiently wait to see how long our 10:45am flight will be delayed. All we kept thinking of was Aprille and if she'll make it.

11:00am, Aprille calls me and says she just landed in Vegas and wants to know the status of our flight. I told her we're still waiting to see when we'll board, but to hurry up. We see her 10 minutes later and chat for about 5 minutes and we hear on the intercom that we can now board our plane.

How lucky can Aprille have gotten?! It was such a close call but in the end, we were all together and that's the only think that mattered because if she had missed her flight, Julia and I would be stuck at the airport waiting for her to come from the next flight.

Monica and Chandler Syndrome

It's always great when two friends who've known each other for awhile realize that they should become more than just friends. The only problem with that is their whole relationship is put in the spotlight for all their friends to witness. And sometimes their friends are placed in the middle of their relationship. Last week, my friend Daniel called me to see what I was doing. And we planned to meet up at Boulder Station for a drawing they were having. He told me he was having dinner with our friend Anna first then they'll meet up with us. A red flag started waving when he told me he was having dinner, just the two of them. I never knew that Daniel and Anna were good friends and hung out just the two of them. Then yesterday, on Facebook, Anna changed her status to 'in a relationship'. Now that was the biggest red flag. My friend Rambo IMed me on gtalk asking to have lunch and I immediately said yes so I can get some juicy gossip. He confirmed that they are together, and believes that they'll be good for each other. Then we talked about how we hope this will work out because then our friendships will never be the same since everyone is really good friends with each other. Then I got a little mad that Daniel never told me he was seeing Anna. Daniel and I have a unique relationship. We've called each other baby mama and baby daddy. We've had some type of connection and always told each other everything. So I was a bit hurt that I had to figure out on my own that he was in a relationship already. So when he texted me about shopping today, I asked him if he had something to tell me. He was acting stupid like he didn't know what I was talking about. When he called me, he finally told me that yes, he and Anna are together. So we talked about how it happened, and I told him I'm happy for him because I truely am happy. He's been wanting a girlfriend for awhile now and I think Anna will make him happy. Then he told me his concerns with dating Anna. How since they are both close with the same people, there will be no secrets with their friends about their relationship. And I told him that happens when friends date each other. But in the end, it's worth it because you are both happy. And I can tell he is finally happy. So now he can't say I'm cheating on him anymore, cuz he's cheating on me too.

Girl Problems

Let me just warn you, if you're a male, you might feel uncomfortable about the subject. The title says it all...girl problems. Anyways, back to the story. Since the month started, I've been counting the days, and I knew I'd have my monthly visit sometime soon. I'm usually a couple of days late from my cycle these past few months so I didn't think I'd get it today. Low and behold, I got my period a few minutes before I had to leave for the dentist. What's worst was I was wearing khakis and it seeped through my pants. I had an hour to get to the dentist. So I had to think quick on my feet. I called my mom to see if she could meet me at the dentist and bring me a pair of jeans. She didn't know which pair of jeans to bring me, so I just told her to bring me any pair. I don't care. Just as long as I can change into something without any obvious signs I'm on my period. She gave the phone to my dad to give him directions and he asked me why I needed jeans for the dentist. My response? "Don't worry about it! Can you please just take mom to the dentist with the jeans?" With five minutes to spare, my dad came alone to drop the bag of jeans. I get back into my car to change but when I look at the jeans my mom brought, my jaw dropped. She picked the two smallest pairs of jeans I own! I usually wear these jeans when I go out partying because they are really fitted. I have no idea what my mom was thinking giving me my size 0 and 1 jeans when I'm on my period. So I was in the driver's seat trying to squeeze into my jeans and thank God I was able to get into them. This was by far the worst day I've had this year, and it only began. $200 for the 3 fillings, $20 bucks worth of gas, and hoping my khakis aren't ruined are all in a days work.

Meet the Friends

I'm so nervous for Jason. Friday is the day he will meet all my friends. He's met a couple of the important ones already but now he's going to meet everyone at the same time. My friend Shawn has an obsession with an old guy I used to date, so now every guy I date he compares them to the old guy. I told Shawn he is hard to impress. Every guy I bring has to make a good impression on him. Forget trying to impress my dad, they have to impress Shawn to be good enough for me. So I hope they all get along because I can see Jason and I will be together for a little while. Well at least longer than Eric. I hop.

Joint Custody

My weekends have always been pretty hectic. I'm always booked way before the weekend even starts. And this was when I was single. Add in a boyfriend and now I have to try to and squeeze in as much time with different people in so little time because everyone knows I never go out during the week. For the 4 days I'm off for New Years, I already had a schedule of who I was going to hang out with ahead of time. Then Aprille texts me New Years day which was Thursday and her day.

Ape: Hey, can we just hang out on Friday night instead of tonight? These [Guam] people are being party poopers.
me: I can't hang out Friday, I'm seeing Jason.
Ape: Can you see him tonight instead and see me Friday?
me: Let me ask if he is cool with switching days with you.

[Goes and asks Jason if he's ok with switching days with Aprille]

me: Ape, so Jason is ok with it. He has custody of me tonight, and you have custody of me Friday and Saturday.

I'm glad Jason is so understanding. I told him that I don't want to disappear on my friends just because I have a boyfriend like I did in the past. To prevent me from disappearing, I've given Jason my rest days [Fridays] so I can hang out with him since Saturdays is when I see my friends. Sundays will always be for my family.

Starting the Year with a Scare

This new years was the first time I didn't spend the count down with my family. I was with Jason for the count down, but prior to the count down I got a phone call from my mom. She was frantically asking me where I was at. She was at Boulder Station casino gambling for our traditional money throw for the kids. When all of a sudden people started running and yelling "bomb!" A guy claimed that he was wearing a bomb vest and was threatening to detonate it. My mom quickly went outside and was trying to find all the kids. My aunt had left my little cousins at Kids Quest which is a babysitting center in the casino. Since they weren't prepared for situations like this, they had all the kids outside without any shoes and jackets. With everyone running around her, my mom was trying to stay calm and get the kids so they can leave. It's a good thing the man didn't have a bomb on him and I hope he gets maximum punishment.

Status Change

So as of December 26th, I'm not single anymore. Jason asked me to be his girlfriend and even though I feel like we're moving extremely fast, I told him yes. Mainly because I didn't want to say no. I know that doesn't make any sense, but it does to me. We've only been dating for 2 and a half weeks and he told me that when we're together, he feels like we fit. It was so sweet. I told him that I'll be his girlfriend but we need to slow down. I'm not used to having a boyfriend and he's one of those really attentive boyfriends. He always wants to see me and he calls/texts me all the time. I told him he needs to be less attentive because I'm not used to that. I'll get scared and be turned off. A lot of my friends didn't even know about him since we've only been dating a couple of weeks. So when I told Aprille and Jill, they both had the shocked reaction I was expecting. But they're both happy for me. He did passed the test. He was willing to drive to my house and pick me up. All the guys I've dated hated driving and would refuse to pick me up. He was willing to drive 2 hours in the snow to pick me up. And the other test was some my friends approve of him. Both Lisa and Aprille are still a little iffy. They noticed last night that he was really touchy feely with me. He kept putting his arm around me and he kept kissing my cheek. They both said that PDA was not me and I agree. So if all goes well and he does listen to a few of my demands, then we'll be okay. Damn I'm such a demanding girlfriend. It's no wonder I'm always single.

And last night was so awkward for both Aprille and me because Joe and Paul were with us while we're with our boyfriends. Joe is into me while Paul is into Aprille. So while we're all hanging out with them, Joe was texting me and Paul was texting Aprille. It's funny that even though we're with our boyfriends, these guys will still flirt with us.

Wet Christmas

I wanted a white Christmas and instead I got a wet Christmas. I love the rain but I wish it didn't come with wind. I hate the wind. So last night we celebrated Christmas at my aunt's house. This year, the older cousins decided to do secret santa so the aunts and uncles didn't have to buy presents for everyone. It took forever to distribute the presents. We didn't finish til 2am and by the time we got home, I was exhausted. It's weird coming home that late and it wasn't from partying at the clubs. It was fun watching the younger kids entertain us with their singing and dancing. It used to be a tradition where the cousins and I would do the same thing. We'd do a Christmas performance in front of the aunts and uncles then we'd open presents. It's nice to see the tradition being passed down to the younger generations. The highlight of the performance was my little cousin Zachary singing Chris Brown's 'With You'. He was really into it and I think he'll be the next PJ. I got mainly money from my Godparents but I also got a few good presents from my friends. This year has been a crazy year and I guess I'm ready for 2009. Mainly turning 25 in 09. That part I'm still bracing myself for.

Let It Snow

On Wednesday, Las Vegas had a snow storm. And it's not one of those where we just get snow in some parts of Vegas, it was one where everyone got snow. And it snowed a lot. My friend Angela's flight got canceled because they closed the airport. No one was leaving or coming in. I told her Vegas was preparing her for Michigan weather. I was so excited about the snow that I kept going outside during work to play in it. Eventually my boss sent us home early because he wanted us to get home safe. It took me almost 2 hours to get home where it usually takes me 45 minutes. It was bumper to bumper traffic so I had to go 10 mph the whole way home. Playing in the snow was amazing. I've never seen so much snow in Vegas. The weather people said the last time it snowed like that in Vegas was 30 years ago. And who would have thought that the kids would have a snow day and didn't have to go to school in Vegas.
This was also the day when Jason and I had our first date. He drove 2 hours to my house in the snow and rain to pick me up. I told him we should cancel it since it's snowing and it's dangerous to be driving in such conditions but he refused and came anyways. He was even willing to take me back to his place so we can watch a movie with our friends but I convinced him to just watch a movie in the theaters on my side of town since it'll take forever to get to his side of town. So yea, I'm seeing someone right now and we'll see where this goes.

You Probably Didn't Know

A lot of my friends have been doing a list of things we probably didn't know about them on Facebook. It's fun learning more about my friends. I decided to write some of my own.

1. My first name is actually Monica Anne without the hyphen but on my drivers license and credit cards, its hyphenated. I'm not sure why Americans think two names should always be hyphenated or dropped. And I always say my name in a Filipino accent when I am talking to family or family friends.

2. When I was in junior high school, I shot a commercial for inner city games, which is similar to summer camp but the kids meet for a few hours every Saturday during the summer. I don't even know if it even aired on tv.

3. I can't drink cold water in the winter because it'll give me a sore throat.

4. My friend Laura and I have the exact same birth date. We were both born near LA and both around 8am. We have yet to celebrate our birthdays together.

5. I've self diagnosed myself to having ADD. I have an attention span of a 5 year old and I sometimes can't keep still for too long. Some coworkers have pointed out that I'll just stare off into space during meetings.

6. I used to have a mole on my chin but on one of my many visits to the doctors for being sick, the doctor saw it and thought the color is a little off and suggested i should get it removed. It wasn't cancerous, and I don't miss it.

7. I always grow my nails out to where its so long that I have a hard time taking off my contacts and then I'll cut them. I like having long nails cuz it makes my hands look bigger.

8. It takes me forever to tell a story because I'll tell you every detail even if it has nothing to do with the story. Or sometimes it'll take me forever to tell a story that I'll forget where I was going at and I get irritated when people tell me to hurry up. Just listen or tune me out Rei! hahahah.

9. I used to be able to run a mile in 6~7 min when I was in junior high. I think my best time was 5 min and something seconds. Now I can barely run half a mile in 6 min. It sucks being out of shape!

10. I used to hate getting my picture taken cuz I hated my smile but now I'm a camerawhore and always have to get my picture taken. But I still hate my smile.

11. I have a low tolerance for pain. One time, I had to get two permanent teeth pulled out because of overcrowding. While the dentist was giving me my first shot in my gums my mom had to hold me down because I smacked her arm to stop giving me a shot. It also took her about 5 shots for me to finally not feel anything. My mouth was numb for the rest of the day.

12. When trying to figure out my nationality, everyone guesses Chinese or white and some other Asian country but never Filipino. It's cuz I'm light skinned huh?

13. I used to believe I should have been born a lefty. I do everything with my left had. I even tried writing with my left hand when I was younger. I still want to be left handed.

14. My dad chose my major in college and I guess chose my career since they are related. I didn't want to work with computers. But I think if he didn't make me take computer science, I'd still be in college trying to find my way.

15. The first time I rode on a plane was when I was 21 years old and it was to Seattle to look for a job. A couple months later, I was on a plane to Chicago for a job interview. I was so scared to fly alone that I brought my dad with me.

16. My favorite holiday is Halloween because I like to dress up. I'm sure my future husband will love that about me.

Sports Injury

I will know tomorrow if there is really something wrong with my thumb. I hurt my thumb back in March playing tennis. I'm not a tennis player but I know that it's a bad idea to hit myself with a tennis racket. But for some reason when I swung the racket, my other hand decided to move towards the oncoming racket and smack right into it. It's been hurting since March, but now that work isn't too busy, I think it's a good time to get it checked out now. Hopefully nothing is really wrong with it and that a brace will suffice.

100+ miles and 8 hours of sleep in 3 days

How many of you can say you drove over 100 miles in 3 days, slept only 8 hours, and stayed in your city? I'm really disappointed as to how much I drove over the weekend because I'm supposed to be frugal with gas nowadays.

Friday: jmarck. Holiday Party at Rei's house. I looked on my odometer and it was 30 miles one way! After his house, went to Green Valley Ranch for a suite party. At least it was on the way home.

Saturday: Planet Hollywood to go clubbing with some people from the Bay area.

Sunday: Every Sunday drive to the aunt's house for lunch and Boulder Station casino to drop off my mom to gamble. Then after picking my mom up and dropping her home, off to dinner at Mandalay Bay with some friends. Then a bar at MGM to hang out with the Bay area friends.

So yes, it was a lot of driving and of course a lot of drinking and barely any sleep. Being sleep deprived at work on a Monday is not the best feeling ever. I hate not being able to sleep after a night of drinking. How is it that everyone else passes out after they drink and I can't? I don't drink red bull anymore. So now I'm going to get ready for bed and sleep right after Gossip Girl.

Not My Cup of Rich

Last night, my friend Daniel randomly called me and invited me to a suite party. I was already at my own party I threw with JMARCK at Rei's house but he sold me on the idea of going to the party with two words, rich men. Daniel hangs around a lot of guys who have really high paying careers. So of course I told him I'd go and I'll bring my fellow wannabe gold digger friend Aprille along for the ride. We're just wannabe gold diggers because we just say we want a rich husband but it really isn't a criterea for a husband. By the time we got to the suite, it's was already late and almost everyone had left because security broke up the party. Daniel introduced me to his good friend George who was the richest guy there and was the one who got the suite. George was already trashed and Aprille and I were starving ever since the holiday party at Rei's house started. After a few shots of jager, we decided to eat at Fatburger. The whole time we were eating, George kept talking about how much he paid for that room and how he's going to get someone fired for breaking up the party. He also kept mentioning how the night before, a bartender wouldn't give him a straw so he offered her 5 grand as a tip if she'd only give him a straw. The whole night, all I could think of was this guy was flaunting his money and it's so tasteless. I have a lot of rich friends and they NEVER talk about how they just throw money away like George kept talking about last night. Aprille and I went to the bathroom and we were both ready to go home because we were tired and bored of this rich guy. He may be the richest guy I've met based on his stories of how much he spends, but by the way he flaunts his money, the only woman he'll ever attract are gold diggers. And rich guys complain why they always attract gold diggers right? I want to meet a secret rich man where I don't know he's rich until the 3rd date.

Just Cause I'm Nice Doesn't Mean It's a Crush

My coworker at work is going through a divorce after 13 years of marriage. I feel really bad for the guy so the past couple of months, I've been talking to him to make sure he's ok. Once in awhile, I'll compliment him on how he's a good catch just to boost his ego. On Monday, we were talking about relationships and he told me that I was a good catch. How I'm smart and beautiful and he even told me that a few guys around the office do notice me for my wonderful qualities. Later on in the conversation, he said we should have lunch sometime and I said I was free on Friday. His response? "Ok! It's a date!" I tried to not be too obvious that I didn't want it to be a date by saying, "uhhh, we can invite the guys. I'm sure they'd like to join us." Then he says that it won't be a date anymore. How can I be completely oblivious?! I tend to flirt on accident because when I talk to people, I'll touch them once in awhile. I even do it to girls. And clearly I do not like girls. It's just my way of showing the person that I'm really listening to them. So now it's awkward whenever I see him because I don't feel the same way. I once told my other coworker that I would never date a coworker, but lately I've been noticing this other coworker of mines. He's pretty cute and I'd break my rule for him.

Peace Out

I like to live life without any regrets because once something is done, there is no way to change the past. But these past couple of months, I feel like maybe I did make a mistake and that history is repeating itself. You got what you wanted and in the end you are still an asshole just like before. I seem to never learn I guess. But it's okay because I don't need you in my life. I'm tired of trying and we don't need to be friends anymore. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. If there ever is a time in the distant future that we start talking again, I'll keep you at arms length because there will not be a third time. Til then, peace out.

Just My Luck!

For the past month, I've been working 12+ hours everyday even on weekends, getting free dinner, and barely sleeping to prepare for my first G2E show as a game developer. And at the same time, I've been sick for 2 weeks. This cold lasted so long because I haven't had a chance to rest. Yes, I did take two days off when I first got sick but it wasn't enough. I started to feel better yesterday until the end of my shift and the beginning of my overtime shift. I got home around 9pm and rushed into bed because I couldn't get warm. I realized that I was running a fever and my whole body was aching. Just my luck! One day before G2E and I catch a fever. So today, I had to call in sick which today is probably the most I'm needed. I called my boss to see if my game loaded correctly last night but I felt awful for not being able to go to the show. I'm just glad my boss is very understanding especially since I've been working so much. My plans after G2E? Sleep, shop, and see people I havn't seen since I was too busy working.

Sleeping Through History

Yesterday was when America found out the next president will be Barack Obama. So where where you when history was in the making? Yea I was sleeping. I've been sick for the past two days and been sleeping my illness away. I don't even know how I got sick. I wasn't near anyone that was sick the past few weeks. The only thing that I think can cause this was the flu shot I got a few weeks ago. Regardless on how I got sick, this is just bad timing. I haven't been at work in two days and the show is in two weeks. I'm just thankful that I have a very understanding boss who is capable of filling my position when I cannot. I just hope I am well enough to function tomorrow because I can't miss 3 days in a row. I've been so bored here at home that all I've been doing is sleeping, watching tv, and eating soup. I hate being sick.

50 Dollar Chicken Wings and Pizza

For Julia's birthday weekend, she got a room at the Venetian so we can party at Tao without having to worry about driving home. Ever since the cruise, we've been missing that lifestyle of partying in the club and just walk downstairs into our room. We decided we were on 'vacation' and not worry about anything. We even came up with fake names and places we were from. We wanted to use ugly names so Julia's friend said she'll be Olga, without realizing that it was her friend Chris' mom's name. After eating at the Grand Lux, we pregamed in the room where we finally finished the coffee patron and the hennessy Aprille and I bought for my birthday. We got into Tao and kept drinking until 2am. Well technically it was 3am, but the clocks changed on us. We were starving but no place to eat so we decided to order room service. We were so desperate for food that we didn't care it cost 50 bucks for a medium pizza and 6 pieces of chicken wings. We tried to wake up Julia to get her to eat since she wanted chicken wings but she was too tired and said I could eat them. So we ate them, but left her 3. Next thing we know, she woke up and got mad for a brief second that we ate them. We ate almost all the food because it was 50 bucks. We never waste food when it's that expensive. Even though we spent so much this weekend, it was worth it. I can't complain since they spent about 500 bucks to go to my birthday. What's a hundred bucks for Julia's birthday right? Besides, with good friends, money doesn't matter. And this weekend was like the cruise, partied all weekend with barely any sleep. And unfortunately, we don't have a day off to recover, but it was worth it.

How Do I?

How do you comfort a friend who is doubting her marriage? How do you comfort a friend who thinks her husband is cheating on her? How do you comfort a friend who believes her husband will never change and is an awful father? Today Carrie and I caught up over donuts because she's moving in a few weeks to San Pedro with her husband. We were catching up on what was going on in our lives when she told me everything going on with her marriage. She confessed that her husband told her that while in Iraq he was contemplating a divorce. They aren't happy and they fight a lot. She told me he flirts a lot and that doesn't bother her but when she found picture text messages from random girls, that made her wake up. She wants to talk to him but whenever they do, they fight and he doesn't admit to his mistakes. All I could say was, I'm sorry and asked how long has this been going on. I feel bad because their marriage is on the rocks but I didn't know what to say to make her feel better. I told her that hopefully it'll get better when they settle in California. I asked if she'd leave him if he is cheating on her and she said she doesn't know. Even though she doesn't want to think about it, I told her that she needs to have a back up plan just in case it ever leads to that. It's so hard to see someone who is such a good person go through hell and you can't do anything about it. Pray that everything goes well.

Just a Waste of My Time

Last weekend was our JMARCK. Academy party and at the end of the party, everyone knew I liked Leon. He's the first Asian guy I liked in a long time. Julia's whole goal of the night was to get me 'pizza' from Leon. So everyone got the hint that I liked him. The next day, Eddie asked if anything will happen with me and him and I said of course not. I tried to get his attention the whole night and it didn't go anywhere. Towards the end of the night, I was bored with him. He wasn't catching the bait I was using and I know why. He doens't like Asian bait. He's into white girls and that sucks. I feel like a black woman when the black man she likes only likes white women. What's wrong with us Asian women huh? Anyways, everyone keeps telling me you never know. He might go for me even if I'm Asian. Well all I gotta say is he lost his chance, and it's just a waste of time trying to convince him Asian women are just as beautiful as white women. And plus, he's two years younger than me. I need someone who's either almost finished with school, or is already finished. I don't need to babysit a guy. That's what marriage is for right?