Best Pseudo-Date Ever

Continuing my streak of great weekends, I had a fantastic Saturday with one of my best friends from college. We set a date (I’m her perpetual pseudo-boyfriend) to have brunch, and I drove to her apartment in LA (we take turns driving to each other’s places for our dates).

After we had brunch at a cute local French bakery cafe, we didn’t really have any plans, so we walked around my friend’s neighborhood admiring all the fancy houses. I love house watching (I really don’t know the proper term for this). I imagine owning and living in some of the houses, sort of like a kid fantasizing about being an adult (not even “sort of,” that’s exactly what I’m doing).

Once we sufficiently walked off our brunch, we relaxed at my friend’s apartment (of which I’m so jealous) for a little while before deciding to go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’ve been waiting to see it, and I knew that my friend is a huge Harry Potter fan (and has been one since before it was cool to be), so it was a perfect time to go (I feel like using a lot of parenthetical phrases today). I thought the movie was great; it sets up the scene for the last two movies. I’m anxious to see them!

By the time the movie was over, it was already the early evening. We walked across the street from the theatre to a nice Italian bar/restaurant. At first I thought we were just stopping in for gelato, but we ended up spending the next three hours having a long, leisurely dinner in the restaurant’s outdoor patio area. We did the date thing all the way (well, except for, you know…): we split a carafe of sangria, a pizza appetizer, and a lasagna entree. We got our own orders of gelato (yum), though, since there was no way that splitting one order of gelato would have been enough dessert for us.

Instead of calling it a night after dinner, my friend and I spread out on her couch and watched Under The Tuscan Sun on DVD. I hadn’t seen the movie in a long time, and I forgot how good it is. I also never knew/realized that Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice), and David Sutcliffe (Gilmore Girls) all made cameos! I love it when I learn new things about old movies (In putting in all those hyperlinks, I found out David Sutcliffe was also on Private Practice with Kate Walsh. Crazy!).

Considering that all we had originally planned was brunch, playing the day by ear ended up being a fantastic day! Best pseudo-date ever!

Big Bear Lake

After work on Friday, I drove nearly 150 miles to visit my best friend from elementary school at his house/cabin in Big Bear Lake (I mean the city; his house isn’t actually in the lake. English is funny sometimes.). The almost three-hour drive is twice as far as the farthest I had ever driven in one sitting before, and driving up a mountain is a little scarier than flat freeway driving, but I challenged myself (after debating all week) and drove it successfully! The drive wasn’t even as scary or as tiring as I thought it would be, but this is still a big step for me. I never would have even contemplated such a trip two years ago.

When I arrived at my friend’s house/cabin (it looks like a one-bedroom vacation home, I’m so jealous), my friend had dinner waiting for me! He’s a pretty good cook (cooking is one of his many hobbies), and he made slow-cooked ribs for me! Over the course of the weekend, he also made me waffles and homemade pizza! Healthy and economical.

Besides just visiting my friend, the other excuse for driving to Big Bear Lake this past weekend was to attend a chili cook-off put on for the city’s Old Miners’ Days. We went around to 25+ booths that each let us sample some of their amazing chili, and we got to vote for our favorite. I loved learning about the Gold Rush and California history back in elementary school, so this kind of event appealed to me. I don’t know what chili has to do with history, but joining in on a small town tradition is always fun. Also, I just love chili.

Of course, we also did some walking around the local shops and took in some views of the lake and the scenery. Basically, I had another amazing weekend (three weekends in a row of hanging out with my best friend from elementary school!). Spending a couple days in a secluded little town up in the mountains really felt like a mini-vacation. It’s so relaxing to escape reality, one weekend at a time.

Trifecta

A couple days ago, my big sister from work messaged me asking if I wanted to see Star Trek with her and her boyfriend. She wanted to see it on IMAX, but I pointed her to this blog about how most theatres that advertise IMAX do not actually offer the “real” IMAX experience (the “IMAX” screen that I went to on Sunday was also not the “real” kind, though that didn’t detract from loving the movie).

Even though I have talking/thinking about seeing Star Trek a second time in theatres, I actually hesitated before saying I would go again. Financially speaking, seeing the same movie twice in theatres is a waste of money, since buying the movie on DVD or Blu-ray is about the same price as two movie tickets (I’m channeling my parents). I don’t often turn down a chance to hang out with my big sister from work, though, so I eventually said yes anyway. We decided to see it at an ArcLight theatre, since ArcLight offers a higher quality movie-going experience over the ordinary movie theatre (they even have assigned seating!).

We met up for all-you-can-eat sushi before the movie. My big sister’s boyfriend ordered way too much food, but I’m never one to let good sushi go to waste (especially since they charge for leftovers). The high quality of the sushi reminded me of the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants I frequented in graduate school, except that this one only offered nigiri (fish on rice) and maki (rolls) sushi and no sashimi (just fish). I ate way too much (more than my big sister’s boyfriend, and he’s a lot bigger than me), but it was amazing.

It was an awesome night. Great food, great friends, great movie. Trifecta!

As a final note, Star Trek was just as good if not better the second time. The emotional parts still got to me, even though I knew they would happen. One of my high school friends might see it again over the weekend; I wonder if three times is too many?

Star Trek

I had a great day today! I was originally going to attend a BBQ lunch at my big sister from work and her boyfriend’s apartment today, but it was pushed back to dinner. Since I had already made plans to see Star Trek in the evening, we decided to meet up for lunch anyway.

My big sister from work and her boyfriend have very refined tastes, so they always know the best places to eat. We ate at a small Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo. Even though the restaurant is small, the line was very long; around 2pm, we still had to wait half an hour before we got a table. The wait was worth it, though. We each had a specialty ramen and pork bowl combination that was both delicious and enormous.

After lunch, we walked around some of the small shops in Little Tokyo. I love shopping. We eventually found a Yogurtland, so we had very yummy yogurt for dessert (that is much cheaper than Pinkberry). I was pretty full from the ramen and pork bowl, but who am I to refuse dessert?

By the time we headed back to my big sister from work and her boyfriend’s apartment, it was already almost time to meet up with my friends to see Star Trek on IMAX. I drove straight from the apartment to the movie theatre and met my friends in line (they had already bought my ticket to save the hassle). I was still full from lunch, so I ended up skipping dinner.

Star Trek was simply amazing. I’m still thinking about it. After I came home, I spent two hours reading about Star Trek on Wikipedia to compare and contrast the canon with the movie. This movie is definitely a fresh start for the franchise, and it might just turn me into a Trekkie.

Flowers And Dresses

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!

I bought my mom a dozen red roses. She was really surprised to get them. I don’t think she was expecting me to get her anything, and she said that she’s never received flowers besides when my siblings and I were born. She was so happy that she insisted on taking pictures.

My sister and her boyfriend visited us for a Mother’s Day lunch. My sister actually also bought my mom flowers, a small arrangement inside a cute mug-like vase that says “A mother’s love is never ending.” My mom was pretty stunned and happy that she received so many flowers on one day. My dad is definitely not the romantic type, so getting gifts always seems extra special to my mom.

We had lunch at a nearby Japanese BBQ restaurant. In addition to all-you-can-eat Japanese BBQ, there was a sushi and salad bar. The BBQ was really tasty, but the sushi bar was lacking (especially compared to some places I went to in Canada). They did have unagi (freshwater eel) rolls, though, which is a plus.

I tend to eat too much at all-you-can-eat BBQ restaurants, especially now that I can’t eat as much as I used to. I was full for most of the day (my whole family was). We walked around the mall a little bit, and even visited my Target for a short while.

After we returned home, my sister, her boyfriend, and I watched 27 Dresses on DVD. My mom declined to watch with us, though she came back in to watch the last 20 minutes or so, asking a lot of questions. I ended up being the only one to watch the whole movie, since both my sister and her boyfriend fell asleep on the couch! I really liked 27 Dresses. I’m a sucker for chick flicks, and Edward Burns and James Marsden are both very good looking.

My mom placed her flowers on a shelf next to our HDTV so that she could see them while she watches TV. She keeps telling me how beautiful her flowers are as I’m writing this post. I think she had a good Mother’s Day!

The Suit, The Hair, And The Donut

I ran some errands today in preparation for my interview tomorrrow. I recently bought a suit so I would have something to wear when interviewing for jobs, but I didn’t get a chance to get the pants hemmed until today (I didn’t think I would be needing the suit so quickly). I got the suit at a considerable discount because I went with a friend who bought four suits during a special sale. Actually, the deal included a dress shirt, tie, belt, and socks! Even at a discount, I hesitated briefly before buying it; after all, an inexpensive suit is still expensive to someone who makes what I make.

Anyway, I dropped off my pants at a nearby dry cleaners. While I waited for my pants to be hemmed, I went to the bank to deposit my paycheck (yay), and then went to Target to see if the executive team leader would said she would help me prepare for my interview was there. She wasn’t. Instead, I ended up spending three hours at Target, mostly chatting with my work crush while he worked. Most days when I visit and he’s working, I follow him around and talk to him. He doesn’t mind; he likes talking about himself (in a cute and totally narcissistic way).

After I picked up my pants from the dry cleaners, I got a (long overdue) haircut at my usual barber shop. Next to the barber shop is a 24 hour donut shop. I can’t even tell you how much I love donuts. In high school, my classmates would call me Donut King because I would bring donuts to class. I would sell enough donuts to break even and then eat the profits. Even one of my team leaders at Target called me Donut King once because I split a bag of Hostess donuts with him (and inhaled 12 of them in ten minutes).

I couldn’t resist buying a donut (chocolate twist, yum) from the donut shop. It reminded me of going to Tim Hortons with my friends in graduate school. Donuts are easily one of my favorite foods. It’s unfortunate that they’re so unhealthy.

Tonight, I finally learned how to tie a tie. I followed the steps from Tie-a-Tie.net to make a half Windsor knot (the full one is too complicated for me), and I tied a near perfect tie after only three tries! I highly recommend the website!

Now that I have the suit, the hair, and the donut, I should be presentable for tomorrow’s interview. Wish me luck!

Be Kind Rewind

I hung out with my sister and her boyfriend today. Her birthday is coming up, so my parents and I wanted to take her out for lunch and dinner. My grandfather came with us (mostly because my parents take him out shopping almost every weekend).

 We met up for lunch at a Chinese restaurant and had dim sum. I love dim sum. After lunch, my parents took my grandfather shopping while my sister, her boyfriend, and I went to see Be Kind Rewind. It’s not the best movie I’ve seen, but it was pretty good. For dinner, we went back to the same Chinese restaurant (it’s my parents’ favorite restaurant, and they had a sale on king crab).

My sister is actually my half-sister (on my mom’s side) and is nearly ten years older than me, so we aren’t as close as I would like us to be. I’m glad when we have any opportunity to hang out, even though watching a movie is a little superficial. We’ve had our deeper conversations, but I still don’t feel like a real brother to her yet.

Cheesecake

My parents recently bought a whole cheesecake at Costco. Each slice has 500 calories, most of which is fat (the rest is sugar). My parents and I each had a slice for breakfast. I love cheesecake, but I felt pretty guilty after eating it.

Besides the guilt, my parents really shouldn’t be eating that much cheesecake. I have no idea why my parents bought it (I swear I had nothing to do with it). If I was there when they bought it, I would have tried to dissuade them. My parents are usually pretty good about keeping things healthy, but their indulgences should still be more controlled.

My parents aren’t that young anymore. They should be more careful about what they’re eating, and I should be paying more attention. Next time, I’m going to suggest that we split one slice of cheesecake instead of eating a whole slice each.

Molten Chocolate Cake

I went to Chili’s (“I want my baby back ribs”) tonight with my parents. I used to go all the time in college, and my parents had never been there before, so I wanted to take them.

My parents weren’t so impressed with the ribs (my mom thought the habanero sauce on the ribs wasn’t hot at all), but I got to eat one of my favorite desserts, the molten chocolate cake. I used to get the molten chocolate cake every single time I went to Chili’s, probably one reason why I was 30+ pounds heavier in college.

While the molten chocolate cake was as amazing as ever, I don’t know if I would get it again for a while. I can’t help but think about the insane amount of sugar and number of calories in it. Even though I don’t have to worry about my weight, eating food at that level of unhealthiness just isn’t appealing anymore.

It’s sad, really. Consuming mass amounts of unhealthy food seems like something people do (and are proud of) when they’re younger, or at least it was true for me. Now that I’m getting older (mid-twenties!), I can’t throw caution to the wind and eat whatever I want anymore.

I’ve been 25 for a few months already, yet I’m just starting to realize how incredibly old I feel. The fact that I’m older than most of my fellow team members at Target doesn’t help.

Football And Mini Pizzas

I hung out with some friends from high school today. We met up at a local restaurant that had a pay-per-view football game on. Not only that, but the restaurant also had happy hour discounts on beer and appetizers. They have really good mini deep dish pizzas. I didn’t get to try their chicken wings, though. I’ll have to go back sometime and get some.

The happy hour discount only applied to people in the bar section of the restaurant, so we waited awhile before getting seats. The bar section ended up being packed full of very loud football fans. I really couldn’t care less who was playing or who was winning; I’m not really into sports at all. I was there to hang out with my friends and eat tasty appetizers. My friends like watching football (which is why we met up there), but I don’t think my friends really cared who was playing either. One of my friends said he was rooting for one team because another friend was rooting for the opposite team. It led to some very funny exchanges when either team scored a touchdown.

I was with my friends in the afternoon during part of my usual study time. I only stayed for a couple hours, because I didn’t want my parents  to know that I wasn’t studying. I tried studying at the restaurant but it didn’t go well, so I gave up. I reviewed my formulas (with 100% accuracy) before I got there though, so the day wasn’t completely wasted.

I know shouldn’t be hanging out with friends only two days before my exam, since I should be focused on studying. On the other hand, relaxing a little and seeing friends helps me keep my sanity. I can’t possibly do well on my exam if I’m tense and freaking out (which might happen anyway).