Presents of Love?

I was talking to a friend the other day about gifts. I wonder why is it someone spends so much on their girlfriends, and not as much on their regular friends and family. I found it a bit odd, because I would expect that your family and best friends would mean as much as your girlfriend. Is it some sort of cultural value? I mean who put themselves in debt by spending hundreds on jewelry and exotic trips. And in these cases it wasn’t the love of your life or your fiancé, it was just “the girlfriend at the time.” It’s a good thing the boy has savings. It is sweet, especially if you’re on the receiving end. Now I’ve never had a boyfriend during Christmas or my birthday. Yet I wonder if men expect receiving similar amounts of gifts. I think it would, quite frankly, suck for them if I gave them a $40 gift, when they spent hundreds on me.

I was reading Mars and Venus on a Date, a birthday present from a friend. It interestingly said that men like doing things for women, and that women should just graciously receive these gifts and never feel obligated to give anything back. In actuality, when a woman starts trying to do or give more “things” to the man, it makes the man less happy with the relationship. The man will become complacent with the way things are and less interested in putting any effort in the relationship. But on the hand, the more effort a man puts into doings things for women, the more interested he becomes, because he knows that he can make the woman happy. Well it was interesting to think about.

Btw some good advice for men was: whenever you do something a woman feels is wrong… let her vent it out, apologize to her and say you were a dick* for doing or not doing whatever it was. It doesn’t feel good when a woman tells you everything that’s wrong with you, but if you don’t let her get it out then she’s liable make your life hell for weeks.

Well enjoy the holidays.

* You can replace this word with “nadjectives,” there was a whole list in the book, such as inconsiderate, overactive, insensitive, selfish, defensive. These are key words that will calm a girl down.

Chinese Thanksgiving

Chinese people love to eat. That’s all I can say. My brother and I went to Toronto for Thanksgiving week to visit our aunts, uncles, great aunt, great uncle, and assorted friends of the family….like most Chinese families, ours is pretty large. The first day, or actually first meal(lunch) we were ecstatic to see well made Chinese food. So we gorged ourselves, not realizing that we had only 5 hours to recover before have to gorge again for dinner. And this was day one, only the beginning. Imagine, having your stereotypical thanksgiving dinner nonstop for a week. Yes I gained weight, fortunately I’m scrawny from eating my own cooking, so I actually look better from eating so much.

But other than eating I did get to see Niagara falls, the lighting of the Toronto x-mas tree, and two musicals (Hairspray and Mamma Mia). I love both the musicals, and am planning on picking up the ABBA cd. I’m sure it’ll fit in well with my collection of Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, and Yellowcard. But it’s always nice to have variety.

Now it’s time for Christmas and present shopping. I really do love this season.

Wedding bliss

As I promised here’s my monthly update. I guess I’m at that age where change is inevitable. My friends are getting married, and we’re all wondering where life will lead us. Most of my friends are stilling trying to find their careers….myself included. Good luck to us all, but we’re all smart and I’m sure we’ll turn out well. We’re all in different stages of relationships, between relationships, or still lingering after that last one. ..which is why it’s so nice to know some of us work out.

I just had a friend get married, and it was the most awesome wedding in Tahoe. I won’t bore you with all the details and drama of people you don’t know, but girls if you ever get invited to a bachorlette’s night, don’t miss out. I am definitely getting a stripper for mine, whenever I get married. It’s too much fun and educational to miss. ^_~ I definitely made some great friends that weekend…no not the stripper….people in the wedding party.

My best friend is getting married next summer. I love weddings and was pushing her to get married forever. But then I realized the wedding is in Taiwan and totally in mandarin. Meaning I am not going to understand one word of the entire wedding ceremony or reception. So if you guys know any cute, intelligent, non-flakey guys that can act as a date, translator, and pay his own way to Taipei, let me know. Anyway I think she’s going to hold some sort of after wedding party in LA for us poor English speakers. I can’t wait.

Which Mythological Form Are You?

You are Form 1, Goddess: The Creator.

"And The Goddess planted the acorn of life.
She cried a single tear and shed a single drop
of blood upon the earth where she buried it.
From her blood and tear, the acorn grew into
the world."

Some examples of the Goddess Form are Gaia (Greek),
Jehova (Christian), and Brahma (Indian).
The Goddess is associated with the concept of
creation, the number 1, and the element of
earth.
Her sign is the dawn sun.

As a member of Form 1, you are a charismatic
individual and people are drawn to you.
Although sometimes you may seem emotionally
distant, you are deeply in tune with other
people's feelings and have tremendous empathy.
Sometimes you have a tendency to neglect your
own self. Goddesses are the best friends to
have because they're always willing to help.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

MIA

Yes I know I haven’t updated in a while. I've been out and about. A lot has been happening in terms of friends coming to visit, trips, and work. I'll be busy with these types of activities throughout the rest of the year, so I'm a little too tired to think of something witty to say.

But in the meantime, I've been really trying to think about what I want to do with my life. I still need to pass two parts of the CMA exam (three parts if I want to get the CFM as well). After that, I'm not sure. There are definitely a lot of opportunities within my company, but I've been thinking of trying to get into the entertainment industry....either through a MBA degree or just moving to LA. Yet I'm not sure if I'm deluding myself in thinking the entertainment business industry will be more interesting than the tech industry for me. I mean I love animation and movies, but finance/accounting may just be the same everywhere. If that's the case, I should just stay with a good company that gives me three weeks of vacation. Even if I continue with this company, I miss the west. I've heard go things about San Jose and Denver, and I can look into finding a job to transfer to. Anyway I'll have to do some research and visit a few areas before I can make a decision...


P.S. For those of you who always ask that infamous question: How's your love life? Yeah....I've stopped dating again. I'm just not into it. I can't seem to meet anyone that I want to truly date, nevermind be just friends with. That's why, I'm suddenly so focused on my career again. *_*

Days in the sun

South Beach Miami, pale sand, blue seas, and the hottest gays guys anywhere… definitely a great place for vacation. I haven’t seen so much flashy clothes full of flowers, ruffles, and glittering beads except on the show girls in Las Vegas. Lying in the sun on the beach. It was absolutely relaxing. Watching people pass by, wondering whether those people were straight or gay, those couples were just friends or dating, those breasts were fake or real. This was the life, no work, no worries; all I needed was a good massage and a drink. The first would have been difficult, the latter was out of my price range….selling at $15 a plastic cup. No one ever said a worry free life was cheap. But I did get my drink ($14 in a martini glass) at the Sky Bar lounge later that night. It was an awesome place I would recommend to anyone. One of the bars was closing down for a private party that night. With the MTV music awards the night after, we had to wonder if it was related. After avidly watching the doorway to see who got in and trying to see anyone famous, we finally found out it was just a vendor party for a magazine….well there went all the excitement. So we wandered outside where there were candle lit couches/beds around a swimming pool. It was beautiful, and a place you’d want to go with your boyfriend. Sorry girl friend, I know you got bored after a while too. Plus. I had that early flight that I had to wake up before dawn for. So we went back to the room and watched MTV and Fashion TV. I didn’t know male models were so young and skinny. Well after spending way too much money, I’m back in NY and life goes on.

Horoscopes of Love

Ok before this becomes Andrea’s consumer guide, I’m going to get off of shopping topics. Sadly shopping seems to be one of the great hobbies of all NY women. It’s too irresistible, but moving on…

Lately I’ve been getting back my interest of supernatural stuff. I might be affected by the increase of in fantasy literature in my library versus the romance novels of the past. So lately I’ve been checking the horoscope compatibility of most of my friends' relationships. Some of them are shockingly true. I inherited, from my mom ,this book, Robin Macnaughton’s Sun Sign Personality Guide. It is accurate about some of the people I know. And assuming both people have the personality outlined in to the book, it would be easy to figure out what the general outcome of the situation will be. In general, all my friends currently happy with their situation seems to be “good” matches, ie virgo man/tarus woman or tarus man/cancer woman. While others….hmmm…well I won’t say anything to jinx them. Especially since I’m going to meet up with guy, who has the same sign as my ex…..actually they have more in common than that, so hopefully we’re not jinxed already. But really this stuff is all for fun, a book could never tell if the relationship is going to work out. But if you’re interested let me know, if you want me to look up your sign compatibility. Sorry no girl and girl or boy and boy compatibility guides in this one.

From cel phone to cel phone...

I have decided that Upstate New York is one of the worst places for phone signal. I just switched my cel phone plan from AT&T to Verizon. After talking to multiple people and checking out all the phones that have passed with my friends through this area, I decided that Verizon was my best choice. I ended getting the same Motorola V60 phone, just because it was free I already have all the accessories for it. The good news is the signal seems better. I can move my head now when I talk, and I don’t have to say, “Can you hear me?” every two minutes. On the other hand my calls seem to drop eight minutes. Well this phone is an improvement, if not the best method of communication. Thank god for the internet.

Boycott J Crew Shoes

Here is a warning to you all. DO NOT BUY J CREW SHOES. They might look cute and fashionable, but if you get them wet they don’t last. In NYC, I went out with a cute new pair of J Crew sandals while it was raining; and they literally fell apart. Like any good Asian shopper, I did check where they were made before I bought them...made in Italy. Yes I bought them from a J Crew store, so they weren’t bootlegs. Just so you don’t think I’m overreacting, my friend was also wearing a pair of J Crew shoes. They bled until the entire soles of her feet were black. Soap, water, and alcohol did not remove the dye, at most it lightened it. It’ll probably take several washings or paint thinner to get her feet clean. So just a warning for you all…. don’t buy J Crew shoes. They’re just not worth it.

Life in NY

OK, due to the hinting of a certain friend, I am posting something. Actually I thought I would have more to post this week, because a few friends visited me this past weekend. We all know each other from NC. Two are still living in Raleigh and one in Tennessee. But other than experiencing NYC rush hour traffic and other odd transportation issues (cancelled trains, missing subway stops because we were distracted) there isn’t really an exciting event I could post about. We did all the tourist stuff: central park, the met, Chinatown, Statue of Liberty, Little Italy, clubbing, dining, etc. (I was surprised that they were body searching people at the dance club).

What is interesting is how much you pick up from your friends. I didn’t notice it that much until my Tennessee friend pointed it out. For example, Joanna, a girl normally into girly stuff, is totally into checking out cars now. (Note: Steve is obsessed with luxury cars). Joanna needed to get a fake Kate Spade purse for her sister. Steve ended up getting a fake Gucci purse for his girlfriend. After about 3 hours of purse shopping, I had a driving need to buy my own fake purse. Hopefully the urge will fade now that I’m away from NYC, and I was able to dig up a fake Luis Vuitton purse out of my closet. I’m not sure if my friends picked up any weird habits from me. I had a cold the entire time…so they may have picked that up from me. *_*

Well now all my friends are gone, even the one here for the summer internship. I have laryngitis now, so it’s not like I can talk to anyone. I’ll need to think of something else to fill up my time though in the future. I’ll let you know if something interesting happens.

To be or not to be single...

So I’ve been thinking…maybe I should start dating again. The grass could very well be greener on the other side. Plus since the relationship with Mike, I’ve been pretty cynical about boyfriends and romantic relationships in general. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in love. I have just started to believe that guys have a bad tendency to lie when they try to make good impressions. While this phase only lasts around a month and even after the girl sees the guy’s true nature and has serious doubts about the relationship, she already likes him… and it’s all down hill from there, because just liking and being attracted to someone isn’t enough in the long term. I'm hoping I'll be more optimistic about the whole relationship thing, once I start dating again.

But trying to find dates is going to take a lot of effort. Westchester NY isn’t exactly the best area to find singles, it's a very family orientated area. Between the bar and the gym, I’m not sure which one would be the last resort, since I don’t drink or exercise. There’s on-line dating, but it doesn’t hold much appeal anymore. Speed dating and singles clubs are usually for an older age group. At church, I met generations of families, with no singles in my age group. Oh yeah, and to all my friends who tell me that guys pick you up in book stores, it doesn’t happen to me. So what are my options?

Ah heck maybe I’ll go back to sitting on my butt, and hoping some cute, intelligent, dependable , caring guy picks me up. Now I remember why I’m single. I’ll have to give this some thought. Let me know if you have any ideas.

The day he left me.

I’ve probably talked about him a lot…the one guy in my life. The cute, 50 lb, fat ass, black and white dog named Smokey Joe. Sunday morning, he slipped into the bushes under the guise of just using the bathroom, and decided to go exploring as well. OK I thought no big deal, because I figured he’d be back, he always returns within half an hour. But then 2 hours passed by, and I was worried. I drove around town and talked to neighbors, who hadn’t seen him. He didn’t have his collar on, so I figured someone picked him up, thinking he was a stray. I started making “lost dog” fliers and even filed a police report. I was actually surprised that the police took a lost dog report… don’t you have to wait at least 24 hours before you can report a missing person? Anyway I called a couple people to let them know he was missing. It didn’t help that after I told my parents, they started calling me every 3 hours to see if I found him. Then my mom had to tell me stories about the time her dog got hit by a car...twice. Also a dog down the street went missing 2 weeks ago and was ended up as road kill on the highway nearby. But I was able to stay calm, because I felt the same feeling that I always felt with my ex, when he didn't meet me like he was supposed to...that he was fine, but he just wasn’t letting me know that. And he was always healthy and fine. Yet this situation was freaky. That night, I could listen to break-up songs and actually relate it to my dog. Fortunately for my sanity, I found him the next night. Luckily, I live in a small village with only two vets, two grocery stores, one police, and almost everyone knows each other. Plus the neighborhood is upper middle class, so the kids have cel phones and can call my long distance cel number. So someone, who saw a flier at a vet, knew that her friend had a stray dog at her home. I then received a phone call from a girl, who told me Smokey was looking for a new home at her place. Unfortunately for him, her family already had a dog. But they fed him and, like any stray cat, he probably felt that this place was as good as any to hang out. Anyway he doesn’t seem traumatized and is back home. He still gets spoiled here, but no more off-leash bathroom trips for him.

Cooking shows

I'm watching Iron Chef. I couldn't look away, right now it's on commercial. Now I truly understand why there are so many cooking shows in Japan. It just sucks you in. Japanese TV is on a totally different level than American TV. I never have problems walking away from American cooking shows. Luckily this American TV, because like many Americans, I'd probably be enthralled with Japanese commercials too. Uh oh here it starts again.....can't type need to watch....

The beginning.

For the same reasons I tried on-line dating, I now have an on-line diary ...
A couple of my other friends seem to enjoy it. I already spend a ton of time on the net, so why not. And who knows what will come out of this experience.
Hopefully, this will last longer than the relationship.