Sam's Blog

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth

A coworker complimented on my handwashing skills yesterday. I thought it was kinda odd, but this led to a whole discussion about how some people would just run their hands under the sink for a second and think that it was enough to clean it. Though our bathroom at work is impressively clean a majority of the time, I still find it hard to believe that running your hands through water with no soap would make it even remotely clean. I commented on the fact that I used to work at a cancer center and all of the nurses had to wash their hands for 2 minutes at least to ensure that their hands were germ free. I don't think that I wash my hands for that long, but really, it does take a while to lather the soap and rinse off. I mean, it's kinda gross if you don't. And there's others that you hear flush and walk out without even washing their hands. That's just awful. Anyhow, I have dry hands because of this clean habit but I have lotion at my desk to relieve the dryness.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone

So life is great right now. Little bit of hindrances here and there, but nothing too crazy. I have been feeling good lately and have had a lot more energy. I attribute this to the fact that I am keeping a regular work out schedule, eating better, and am actually getting about 8 hours of sleep at night on the weekdays. Who is this girl? It's the new and improved Sam. I don't know how this happened, but this is my life right now. It's weird sleeping before midnight, but it has helped so much. I needed to chill out a bit as far as social activities. I had been stretching myself out too thin and I had been sleep deprived since before the holidays and well, never caught up until now. It also helps that Josh is back to a normal schedule so he actually sleeps at the same time as me. I just hope that I am able to keep this up, especially the cooking part of it because I have been making dinner most nights and saving a lot of money. Yay! Especially since I am going to have to get a new car soon.

This past weekend was awesome. We found out that a bar near my apartment (walking distance) was reopening and it was supposed to be super chic. The old bar that was there was such a dive with biker guys and their chicks. It's now called Saints and Sinners and it attracts crowds from all over. It's a cute little bar with cool bartenders and an awesome fireplace. I took some interesting pictures from that night.

The next day, I had brunch with Lisa and Aussie. They are always a lot of fun. I love hanging out with them. We then saw Capote, which was such an excellent movie. Please check it out if you guys can. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was fantastic. Fantastic I say! Marvelous film and though we wanted to find something uplifting, we settled for it and it made us a bit depressed. But really though, everyone kinda knows how it ends when going into the movie, so I wasn't too sad. Later that night, Roni came up from San Diego and we had a great time hanging out with her friends at The Standard on Sunset. I usually stay away from places like that because it's super trendy and way too Hollywood for me. But it wasn't too bad and the music was decent and it wasn't too crowded. The inside decor was fabulous and I had a great time and took some pictures, of course. It was good to see Roni again. She is always up for anything and really energetic.

Tuesday night was dinner with M as usual and everything was fine and dandy. She just got back from a business trip in DC and had a blast. I am glad she is finally finding happiness.

I started writing again on Sunday night. I hope I keep up this habit too. It's a good release for me and I love it. I just wish that I had more time, but I am sure that I will make time.

Oh, and I know it's a day late, but happy birthday Bret!

Link: http://www.deathcabforcutie.com

Argh! I hate Internet Explorer! I just had a nice little post and now it's gone! Boo. Too bad we don't have Firefox at work. It would be awesome if we did and little things like that won't happen as often.

Anyway, if you are a Death Cab for Cutie fan, (you probably already know this already) they will be releasing music videos for all of their 11 songs on their most recent album, [u]Plans[/u]. Release date is January 23rd and I believe they will air exclusively on their website. But the most exciting thing is that one of Josh's friends and colleagues from his animation program, Liz, will be directing the song, "Your Heart is an Empty Room." Josh just saw it this morning and he says that it looks really cool. I can't wait to see them!

In other news, a big congrats to Tara!! Her and Hal got married last weekend and surprised us all. They will be having a formal reception in June in Santa Cruz and I am way excited to go!! She's so crazy and spontaneous and that's why I love her.

Photos from this past weekend are here. I started up the monthly brunches after a month hiatus. It was really good to see everybody again. Kurt was in town as well, so he chose Hugo's, a cute corner restaurant that had many vegan friendly items and meat items as well. It was yummy.

Tuesdays with M tonight. Yay for normalcy!!

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I forgot to mention that I was surprised this morning when I woke up and Josh was up. That wasn't really the surprising part because he's been working through most nights lately, but he had actually made me breakfast. That was very sweet and he is such an awesome boyfriend!

Link: http://www.coheedandcambria.com/

Nate introduced me to the band Coheed and Cambria. They are an interesting band, I haven't formed an opinion about them yet. Lately, I have been weary about new bands because a lot of them are horrible and not worth my time. But I think that they have a few good songs, but they walk the thin line of what I hate: Emo. Yikes! A bit of emo here and there is good for the soul, but an entire album? I don't know. There are a few good songs so I will give them a chance. Even if they are whiny.

I am at home now. I haven't been back in a few months. We don't celebrate the holidays, so I usually go to Ventura in December and then try to visit my family sometime after that. I miss my dad and my grandma, even though they are not that great in holding back their comments about all of the kids (it's just the way my family is). My cousin was in town from Texas this weekend as well and they call him the equivalent of "fatty" in Cambodian and they chuckle while saying it. They always comment on me gaining weight, even if I didn't since the last time I saw them because they are used to me weighing 100 pounds like I did in high school. They still try to force me to eat 4 or 5 meals a day regardless. They still refer to Josh as "my friend" even though they know that we are dating and living together. Well, sometimes they use the equivalent to "sweetheart" but still. Apparently if Josh and I go to Cambodia to visit my relatives, I have to go after we're married because it is considered disrespectful for me to introduce him to them if we were just "dating." I am not sure if that is a cultural thing or if it's just one of my grandma's rules. She has a lot of them. And also, up until last year, my relatives in Cambodia didn't even know that I existed. When my dad and sister visited in March, they were under the impression that my dad had only two daughters and one son. Interesting. Though I know that I was born after the war while we were rerouted to Thailand (separated from all of our distant relatives) so there was no way of them knowing at that time, but it has been 25 years and you would think that my parents would have mentioned me at some point during that time. Maybe they did know at one point and then forgot. Who knows. But they were really surprised to know that I had already graduated college and was working full time. I spoke to a few of them on the phone and they were very pleasant and nice and happy to hear from me. I feel bad that I don't know most of them. I know their names and how we're related, but I've never met them before. I really want to go to Cambodia soon, within the next 5 years at least. But apparently I either have to go with my family or go with Josh after we're married. Either way, I am dying to go.

Link: http://www.simonandgarfunkel.com/

I was walking to a nearby sushi place with coworkers for lunch today and it hit us: it was [u]cold[/u] outside. The sky was a bit gloomy with some slight sunshine. Winter is now upon LA. It still wasn't TOO cold or anything like that, but I have a feeling that it is the beginning of colder weather. I mean its so weird, it's January and just last week I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and sweating from the heat during brunch. I guess we are slowly trying to catch up with the rest of the country. I still can't imagine someone ever leaving Southern California. It has the best weather and that alone is an easy sell for me. But alas, I hear that it may rain sometime this weekend. I hope not, but we could use more rain this year.

Well two more ways that my life is starting to normalize again: finally having dinner with Angela and one of my new favorite shows, Lost, is back on the air with new episodes. Both are good and I am glad that they are a part of my life. I hadn't seen Angela since before Christmas and I missed her so much. She's in school still (and will be for forever it seems) so I have limited time to hang out with her. It's nt as bad as it sounds. It's just that we will have to be more organized and put more effort into seeing each other in the future. But Lost is great and dependable in that Tivo will record it for me if I am not home and I can watch it anytime. I like that feeling.

My Best of Tears for Fears CD came in the mail today. I was ecstatic. Josh always makes fun of me about them, insisting that they do not have enough songs to fill a "best of" compilation. But they do!! I think that I love them more for nostalgic reasons than anything. I grew up listening to them and really, their songs are great. They're not my favorite, but they are awesome to listen to in the car. (Not that I am justifying them or anything, but it is great music, better than most music out there right now.) I can't wait until my other part of my order comes in. I got a whole bunch of books and cookbooks. Hooray for nonfiction and cooking!

Link: http://www.flaminglips.com/main.php

The comforts of a new bra. It's indescribable and makes me feel as though all of my old bras are not as good, perhaps even subpar now, despite how much I love them. It is quite excellent though. I guess it was worth me paying full price. When did bras become so expensive?

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I think that my life has become very "normal" again. Thank goodness. I thrive in stable conditions, but I am spontaneous every so often. I went happy hour-ing and shopping with Lisa yesterday. I hadn't seen her since last year! Heh. But seriously though, she had been sick all last week and was barely starting to feel better. I am gald that we are able to see each other as often as we do despite the fact that we're not roommates anymore. She's doing better overall in life and I am happy for her. We went on the bra escapade together and I broke down and got 3 of them. Ouch, not very good for my wallet.

I am now back to "Tuesdays with M and I love it. The Monday night dinners last semester just weren't doing it for me. Thankfully she doesn't have class on Tuesdays this semester so we can meet up on our normal day now. It's her last semester and she will finally be done with her second graduate program. She will have 2 masters degrees from top schools in her field and she is only 26. Amazing!! She already has a great job working for the city so she's on her way. I am so proud of her...going up against all odds and finishing in a very timely manner. She's such a smart Indian girl! But her choice in Indian restaurants wasn't so hot tonight. We went to Nawab of India on Wilshire (a new restauarnt to us) and the food was mediocre and the service was horrible. I don't think that we will ever go back there, unfortunately for them. It was just an awful experience. I think this will put a damper on the "let's try new restaurants" idea. Ah well. At least I know what's good at all of our regular restaurants.

Work has been super good. It's still fairly busy and such, but it feels like I am getting a good handle on everything. If only I can get more sleep...I would be a happier camper! I have next Monday off for good old Martin Luther King and I am excited for the extra sleep.

Link: http://www.beatles.com/

This past week, I had to say goodbye to two very dear friends. Andrea has gone and went to Denver for a few years now, so I am used to it. She will be done with her PhD come summertime and will be back in LA, so that's something to look forward to. The other person, Kurt, will be gone indefinitely and it saddens me to know that he may never come back and live in LA. I guess it's just a part of life that I have to get used to. Though I know that Kurt will probably come down and visit pretty frequently (especially since he left some stuff at his old place still) and I will probably go up to NorCal more frequently (feels like everyone is moving up there) because it's really not THAT far away from here. My friend Alison just bought a house up there in Sacramento and Kristy and her new fiance just bought a house in the city, so yes, I will be going up there not only for housewarming parties, but also for Kristy's wedding in October. She just told me that they will be having their ceremony in Napa and I am way excited. She is one of my very first high school friends (that I know very well) that is getting married. Weird, yet not all too unusual. We are all in our mid-twenties now and I was kinda expecting it, especially after Josh's brother's wedding and Greg and Negin's wedding these past few years. We are now officially grown up I suppose.

For Kurt's going away party, we were throwing around some ideas, but he finally decided on dinner and then drinks at his place. I think we went there instead of a bar because we were tired and also because his friend Charley was only 20. It's weird for me to even think about because I haven't even dealt with underage people in so long. Even Josh's younger sister is 21 now. It brought back memories of trying to think of restaurants that will allow you to stay there for dinner and then allow underage people to stay when the official bar opened up. More like Miyagi's or Saddle Ranch type places and I haven't been to them in years. I can't believe that it's been 4 years since I was able to drink. It's such an afterthought now. I forget to take out my license ahead of time at the grocery store because I am so much older than their required age now. Most restaurants don't even card me and Josh when we order wine or beer. Anyhow, I forgot how limiting it can be for people that are younger than 21 and it must really suck when everyone else around you can drink. Poor Charley. But we did have a nice and quiet celebration at Kurt's place, so it doesn't matter. Also, Rachael just moved into town and she will be taking Kurt's place in the apartment (kinda) so it's nice to know that we're gaining someone in LA as well. It's the first time her and Tripp will live together and though I know that it may be scary at first, I am sure once they get used to it, they will love it soon enough. And I just realized that it's been over a year since Josh and I have been living together and it's still wonderful. He has been going back to his nocturnal schedule now that he is officially on a "leave of absence" to work on his thesis. It's a bit hard to adjust to his schedule, but I do like the fact that he's still awake when I get up in the morning to go to work. It's weird sometimes, but nice. Thonce they get used to itough it makes the weekends a bit tricky. I am sure he will find a healthy balance soon because his sleep schedule is totally off. Ah, to be a MFA student...

Josh and I saw Match Point last night. It's not your typical infidelity movie. It is what Josh and I describe as Woody Allen's European film. It had many of his trademark elements in the movie, but opera replaced jazz, London replaced New York and so on. His style was a bit different and the main character did not pretend to be him for once. The cinematography was great and I found it thrilling and dramatic moreso than anything. I say check it out if you can.

Also, the weather here has been fantastic...it hit 80 degrees earlier this week and now it's in the 70s...in January. I heart LA.

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Happy Birthday Kate and James!

Link: http://www.alkalinetrio.com/

I'm back in LA. Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. I slept in and went to lunch with Josh (yum, Baja Fresh) and then met up with Andrea and Nate. Andrea is going back to Colorado in a few days already. Her visits are never long enough. Though I did find out that it is her last year of her program and she will be returning this summer with a PhD and never looking back. Though born and raised in LA, she loves this place and I don't blame her - from what I hear about Denver, I wouldn't want to live there either. We shopped and hung out for a bit but that was pretty much the exciting part of my day. Also, the new episode of Arrested Development was on and it was one of the BEST that I have ever seen. I am going to miss it if it doesn't get picked up. Fox is losing its best show.

San Francisco was an excellent trip. I was finally able to hang out with Alexis, Monica, and Kate all at the same time! It has been alomst 2 years since we all met up and we literally still haven't skipped a beat! Just like old times except we're in San Francisco. Monica has a gorgeous apartment in the Upper Sunset area with tons of space and we totally invaded. Much dancing in PJs and playing card games and lounging was had. We did go out a lot and had some great eats and shopping, but it was nice to stay in while it was raining. Luckily, it didn't rain on the night of New Years Eve. We met up with Aja, one of Kate's friends from college and Monica's boyfriend and went to the club early because they were serving dinner. The food was yummy and we were disappointed because we were under the impression that it was an open bar, but we did get champagne. We danced and hung out and it was really crowded, but fun. We left around 2am and stayed up playing a charades/taboo/fill-in-the-blank game that was quite amazing. Who knew that people can guess Shar Jackson by me dancing like Britney Spears? And who knew the Woomba would be so popular? And how come we couldn't think of Karl Rove? It was on the tip of my tongue and all I can see is a picture of him in my head, but no name. So sad. But it was awesome and it just reminds me that they are really good company. My favorite part of the weekend was on New Years day when Alexis got up at 9am and took a shower, ironed her clothes, packed up and then realized that no one was up because we went to sleep around 5am and then decided to hop back into bed with me and sleep in her neatly pressed clothing. I woke up to a very well-dressed but slightly wrinkled Alexis and it cracked me up. We made plans to meet up at least once a year in a foreign city and I hope we are able to do so! Woohoo!!

Today was long and tiresome, but it was very mellow. The new assistant is back and we have a new intern/temp working for us as well in preparation for our event coming up and our move to the other side of the floor. Yay work! But I am not complaining, because it could've been worse after taking off all of those days.

As I look back on 2005, I realize that I have been fortunate enough to be around those that I love - my friends, family, and even coworkers (new and old). I am simply hoping that this year will be just as great or even better than last year. I have some personal things that I want to try to accomplish like cutting back on soda, alcohol, and red meat (and most meats in general, though I know that I can never become a full-blown vegetarian) and working out more and trying to keep in touch with family and friends better. Nothing too drastic as far as "resolutions" or anything. I think resolutions were made to be broken from the very nature of their existence, so why bother?