Been a while...

since I've typed on this thing. Just got back from Vancouver yesterday. It was my grandfather's 80th bday. So many relatives that I had not seen since I was a kid. I recognized so many faces but didn't know any names. There was like 240 people and most of them were relatives of some sort. How do chinese end up with so many relatives? Anyways, the food was good and the entertainment could have been put on mute but overall the evening was fun. We even got to go clubbing with our two 19 year old cousins (boy do I feel old) and my (42 year old) uncle. Very interesting. Now I'm back in the Bay Area and need to recoup from the weekend.

Exhausted

I can't wait to go home and crawl into bed. I'm so tired from going out last night. The problem is that I can't even take a nap after work. I'm going to watch my friend's show that she is in after work today. Maybe I can take a 15 minute power nap. It's only 2:30 and my eyes are so heavy. I can't wait to catch up on sleep tomorrow! And to top it all off, I'm a little sore from kickboxing on Wednesday. Why does time go by so slow on Friday afternoons?

Busy

Since being back from Vancouver on Monday, it seems like everything has been going by so fast. I guess that's what happens when you have a 3 day weekend. It's great being back in Vancouver. I got to see many friends and family. I went back for my cousin's wedding reception dinner and it was great. Dishes after dishes. Boy do I miss those Chinese banquets. So glad I'm going back in a little over a week for my grandfather's 80th bday. I got to go to the casino with my great-uncles and watch one of them win $600 in slots and the other win $800 on bacarat. Not like that's a lot of money but I was really impressed with the win on the slot machines. Some people have all the luck. I must say though...I definately do not miss the weather in Vancouver. Coming back to Sunny California was great. Well, need to catch up on work so can't write too much.

Being Canadian

Since I've been in the States, I've never found it an issue to be Canadian. Yes, it's been a hassle at times when I first moved here especially trying to get people to check my canadian credit rating. Now that I've been here for a little over 4 years, I've never had an issue with my work visa. It has always been a little more of a challenge to find companies that were willing to hire a Canadian cause they didn't understand how a TN Visa worked. Of course, like most others, I came to the US as it is the land of opportunities and much better for career advancement than in Canada. Well, yesterday was the first time that I ever had the remote thought of hating the fact that I'm Canadian. I'm currently looking into career opportunities and came across the idea of being a consultant for a company but I would need to start my own LLC. I didn't realize that there is no work visa available for this kind of work. Or maybe there is and I just can't seem to find it and no one I know knows about it. Anyways, consulting would be a great opportunity to gain a lot of experience in my field and I'm very upset that my citizenship limits me from doing something that could potentially a great opportunity for me. Not saying that I would even do this work for sure, but the fact that it limits me to not even be able to explore it further sucks. Does anyone out there know of a way around this? Or if there is a work visa that I don't know about that would allow me to do this type of work? Or do I always have to be an employee of a US company? Is there a way to have a Canadian company and then do consulting work for a company in the US?

Instant Noodle Theory

Remember the days when we were all younger and we'd break up a pack of instant noodles into little crumbles and add the seasoning and just eat it like chips? I don't...but I do remember seeing people do that. Anyways, my friend and I were talking about this and he said that if you ate enough of this you would eventually die cause the instant noodles would expand in your stomach. Who the hell would eat more than a pack of these crushed noodles in the first place and WTF? He then goes on to say that we should give these to pigeons and they will eventually die cause they will keep eating it until they get full and then it will expand and they will die. Anyone want to do this experiment and tell me the results?

Being Gay

I was just having this conversation with my friend about gay guys hitting on straight guys. Don't gay guys have a gaydar? You mean what we see on TV isn't true? So, my friends theory is that it's cause he's so skinny and tall that these gay guys are attracted to them and must think that they are gay too. Could that be it? Or is it that they are really gay and they just haven't come out of the closet yet? J/K.

Straits

On Wednesday night we went to Straits Cafe. It was cool. Very busy. Anyways, we were paying the bill and my friend made a funny comment that it was ok not to leave a great tip cause the service wasn't that good. The hostess was rude and he had to ask for his beer 2 times before he got it. He also goes on to say that the bartenders are rude. He didn't even go to the bar...haha. Anyways, our tip didn't end up being short after we counted all the money, so it didn't matter anyways. While we were sitting there talking, the manager comes by and realizes that I'm cold and turns on the heat lamp for me...how nice. He then comes by 15 minutes later and asks "are you waiting for dessert?" I guess he must have been wondering why we were still sitting there. Anyways, he gave us a free Creme Brulee and my friend goes, "can we trade it in for a free beer?". After talking to the manager for a while, to my dismay, he came back with a beer for my friend. He must be GAY! Then as we're leaving, he came to talk to us again and kept patting my other friend on the back (over 6 times I think). He must be GAY! It was good entertainment though. Oh, and my bartender friend, asked him if he could get a bartending job at Straits - he got shot down...maybe the manager finally realized that he wasn't gay. Thank god we left a decent tip!

Lazy Ass Friend Part III

I've been walking around the last day and a half all sore from Cardio Kickboxing and my friend thinks I'm lame. He doesn't think the class can be that hard. Since my friend lives in our complex, we recruited him to come to the Cardio Kickboxing class next Wednesday with us. I know he's in good shape and works out all the time, but I really think this class is different than just working out. It works muscles that you never thought you had. Anyways, last night, we were over at his place with my dog (Dim Sum), and he was crouched down playing with her for a couple of minutes. He then gets up to say, "Fuck I'm tired". We just look at him and say, "how are you going to do kickboxing then, if you're already tired after a couple of minutes?" I'm really looking forward to Wednesday's class now. I think he'll be able to do the class. It's the soreness from afterwards that I'd like to see since he was laughing at us.

Rent

Rent is a little depressing. I've been thinking about all the rent I've paid since being in the Bay Area and it must add up to $60k or more. That's a lot of money for something that we don't even own. When thinking of moving to NY, it's even more depressing thinking that rent will easily cost around $24k/year. If only we could live rent free for all our lives, you know how much money you would have. It was so great living at home and not having to pay rent. Too bad I wasn't brought up here...that way my parents would be in the area and I could just stay with them and save on rent. $60k would be a great down payment in Vancouver...and that's $60k US. That's it I'm moving home to Vancouver to get free rent...NOT! haha.