So Indian last Friday night for Gina's b-day... We went to Delhi Dhaba in Arlington. YUM. After that, we left and met Florence at Coldstone. YUM again. Saturday was chill: I got up, went to the gym, went grocery shopping, came home and cleaned the bathroom ---which was both disgusting and gratifying at the same time. Tilex is my new best-friend. It fights soap-scum and mildew like nothing I've ever used before. Thanks, Ate Franny, for suggesting it. After taking almost an hour to clean the bathroom, I decided that I was too lazy to make anything interesting out of the night. No movies, no clubbing, no NOTHING. Plus it was raining. So I stayed-in and embarrassingly caught the premiere of "Stuck in the Suburbs," a new original movie from The Disney Channel. OK, I'm even more embarrassed for admitting that. Before it ended, Jun and Josef came by to visit Alexis, who managed to wake-up for her ninong & uncle. Then the three of us (me, Sef, and Jun) started talking, and next thing you know it's freakin' 4:45AM!! WTH?! It had been a long time since I've gotten to sit and talk with my boyz, so... it was long over-due. I managed to get in 6 hrs. of sleep before getting up Sunday Morning. I went to Mass*, went into G-town to buy a birthday gift, visited Ate Franny and Florence at an open house they were sitting at in NE, picked-up Bojangles, then came home. Tes visited and we were chillen with Lexie before headin' out to the Quitania house for grilled turkey burgers. YUM. That was the perfect end to another gone-too-soon weekend.

As I look towards the coming week, I contemplate heavily on... whatever. I'm just waiting for the weekend to come again. Hurry up already! Oh, and I totally just overheard this woman talking, in the hallway, about how she was in a 5-car accident. It was her fault! It's news like that (from eavesdropping, no less) that makes me realize how blessed I am; ON A DAILY BASIS. Thank you, Lord!

* = OK. Going to Mass Sunday was such a blower. I saw some of the most unbelievable things... Towards the end of the Mass, 4 kids (and i use that term derogatorily) came in all disrespectful. This one girl had a big-ass cup of Starbucks and was sippin' on it like she was hot in the Everglades. Then she kept fidgiting with her cell phone. WTH? And then there was another chic who was came in to church with her mom and friend, and I guess she thought she was cute cause she was wearing this hoochie-mama floral dress with ballerina-strappy white shoes and a flower in her hair. Ummm, the Jasmine Trias look is so like 5 months ago, but I guess she forgot. Her rudeness walked out of the church to sit in the courtyard. And then, some duder came in wearing a barong but I guess he, too, thought he was hot in the Everglades cause his ass had it off hangin' around his neck. Ummm, yeah. I was definitely appalled by the sheer lack of respect kids have for the Church. If they're gonna be trife like that, then they should just NOT go. If I was their momz or popz, there would've been some major bitch-slappin' goin' on. And to make matters worse, this poor girl came in wearing a white/beige/pink floral skirt w/a somewhat matching pink sweater top. But on her feet were a pair of these BLACK platform-ish, clunky (gross) shoes. Black?! Hello, who dressed this girl that morning? I hope and pray that she out-grows this dark time of her life. Kids. They've got a lot to learn.

Thursday, July 15, 2004

THE ULTIMATE LOVE TEST...?! I caught an episode of yet another reality TV show last night called The Ultimate Love Test, or something like that. Talk about whack. I think the whole premise of the show is to have a few couples to be "put to the test," so to speak. In this case, the women are temporarily separated from their current boyfriends, and are paired-up with an ex, or an old friend of sorts. Anyway. One of the couples are from Vermont. The girl is an artist, who is sort of looking for an outlet (both emotionally and financially) to do her art full-time. Her boy is a personal trainer... somewhat of a meat-head, but definitely in-love with the girl. So girlfriend is transplanted, in the meantime, in LA to meet up with an old guy friend who happens to be a doctor. He's educated, well-traveled, etc.-etc.-etc. He's definitely a worldly guy, but also looking for love.

ANYWAY.

Last night's show was the pre-cursor to the last one, which supposedly comes on next week. What I gathered from last night's episode is that the girl is deeply torn. She's got emotions and wants/needs that she undeniably wishes to be fulfilled. And at one point, the doctor guy actually takes her out for a "pampering" day. He brings her to an art gallery, takes her to a day spa, and while she's getting primmed at the spa he's off to the gallery to help take-down an old exhibit in order to put up the girl's own exhibit as a surprise. Romantic, you call it?! Perhaps. But only cause the doctor has the ducketts to do that, you know?!

So towards the end, she starts crying to the doctor while he's kind of telling her that the choice is hers... In that process, the doctor starts telling her that she can do anything and have what she wants, yada-yada... and then he starts gesturing towards the gallery and all its splendor and glory. At that moment, it reminded me of the devil tempting Christ on the mountain top. AHAHAH. Seriously.

While I am a firm believer in dreams, and in following them, I do not condone the achievement of those dreams at the expense of others. If I were that girl, I would quit the crying act and just be straight-up with the doctor: "look, you're so not for me... the money thing is nice, but seriously... i've gotta get this done on my own." The doctor seemed to be telling her that all of these worldly things could be hers IF she chose him. But her heart should tell her that she can achieve ANY of those things on her own... with her own hard work and initiative.

I just think it's a freakin' croc that the doctor guy had to play that angle in order to tug at this poor girl's heart. He knew that she was at a vulnerable place in her life, wanting so much more from it. So he used his charm and MONEY to kind of play off her vulnerability, hoping to score points for a love that he has created for himself just in the matter of days, perhaps weeks and/or months. WHAT A RETARDO.

If the girl has to make a choice, I honestly think she shouldn't choose either guy. If she's so hell-bent on following her dreams, then she must learn to make some serious sacrifices. Girl needs to get a grip, go home, save some money, then make her way to NYC or LA and do her art. Sittin' on her ass and wah-wah-ing about it isn't gonna do her any good.

OH, and her boy-toy (which is what he looks like; he's like all muscle and no brain) is home in Vermont thinking of ways to better himself for her, which is a GOOD thing. But he's thinking so on-the-surface-ly. He thinks that if they win and take home the money prize, they're gonna drop everything and travel. TRAVEL?! Umm, sure... that's fun. But if he's serious about this girl and helping her to acheive her dreams, then shouldn't they both invest their money on something more long-term?

Personally, the situation this girl is in (not to mention the show itself) is pretty pathetic.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

ASD*)@$)Q*DALHSJA!! The basic mindset that I'm currently in is a definite mixture of thoughts, emotions, ideas, plans, and other things... ALL meshing together to form one big blob of bullsh*t just marinating in my brain. In other words, it's way too early in the AM for me to be awake and supposedly ready to tackle the world... not at work, at least. Work blows, but I'm alive <--- the absolute reason to be utterly hopeful. *sigh*

Many things on my mind right now. Let's take a look, shall we?!

---> Zaytinya is now one of my favorite restaurants in DC. I met up with my "apprentice," Leah, last night and we went to Zaytinya for Mediterranean mezze, or "small dishes..." Sorta like Spanish tapas, but more Turkish/Arabic/Greek in nature. The restaurant is huge, and pretty swank/trendy. I felt like I was actually in Miami...sort of the same feeling I used to get when I would hang out at Dragonfly on Connecticut Avenue. Leah and I shared 4 small dishes of the greatest stuff on Earth. And we were actually stuffed afterwards. We then considered how there are many people in this world who look to restaurants to be filled grossly (ie, The Cheesecake Factory - gross). I think what people don't realize is that restaurants like TCF are the simple reasons why Americans can be easily identified as some of the most obese people in the world. Food shouldn't have to be that overly-plentiful. Small dishes (as well as gourmet restaurant servings) are what we should be involving ourselves with. Sure, my parents would probably kill me for taking them to a tapas restaurant, which - to them - would be nothing less than merienda. But I'm sorry, there's a lesson to be learned in going to places like Zaytinya --- learning to appreciate the taste of specially prepared cuisine. It's not about stuffing your face with meat and potatos, kids. It's about appreciating the tastes of cultures you are basically unfamiliar with.

Which reminds me...a friend of mine tells me stories about one of his own friends who is constantly offensive when it comes to trying other ethnic foods --whether it be home-cooked delicacies or store-bought snack foods. Whenever his friend tries something different, she always makes comments like, "that's gross," or "what's the point of eating that?" or "I hate that stuff." Ignorance is bliss, so it's been said; but in this case, I think ignorance equals a bad case of getting one's foot stuck in their mouth. I hate it when people blatantly share their feelings about being grossed-out about the ethnic palate. Especially people who can't seem to get passed turkey and gravy, hamburgers and hot dogs, or fried chicken as being the sole source of food-nirvana. Down with the manifest destiny bull already! SHEESH! I mean I'm all for people liking what they want & disliking what they don't, but to be ignorant about it is just trife.

So I totally went off on a tangent. EHEHEH. See! Told you my head's totally befuddled...

---> With the Filipinos leaving Iraq, I have mixed emotions. All I know is that there better be other allies pulling out early or else. It's just like our people to take heed and RUN (which these fools probably should've done a long time ago). But damn, once again this can be a blow the world's view of the Philippines: easy to please, and pleased to be easy. *eh* Like I said, other nations better start pulling their troops out... and FAST.

---> I am craving Indian food.

---> I'm currently in-love, again, with the Hillsongs Australia worship CD. "Blessed" is one of their best collections.

---> I miss Alexis... and I just saw her on Sunday... eheheheh. Awww. The duties of uncle-hood is a joy in-of-itself.

Now where's the weekend?!

Friday, July 9, 2004

OH LORD, PLEASE HELP ROSELLE. Roselle-ism #56,352,314...

Phone rings...

W: Hello?!
R: Wattup?!
W: Nada... just working. Any plans this weekend?!
R: Nope. Not that I know of. Are you guys going to AIR?
W: Nah, boo. Probably next weekend. You should come. We had a pretty good time last Friday.
R: Awww. I missed it...

-silence- (for like a good minute)

W: SO... you working today?! R: No, I'm off. I'm really bored. I'm really tired. (as she says this, i am silently mouthing off the same sentence because i've heard this one for years... predictable. ahahah...)
W: Awww. Well, so am I.
R: I really want ice-cream, Wendel. I really want to go to Stone Cold.

At that point, the conversation was over. Many of you don't know my girl, Roselle. Bless the girl's heart. She has a habit of being a lot more blonde than she is dark-haired Asian. Other Roselle-isms of the past: calling those kruller donuts "curlers..." calling Bavarian cream pies "barbarian cream pies..." and now calling Coldstone ice cream "Stone Cold" ice cream. I wanted to break it to her and let her know that Stone Cold was a wrestler, not an ice cream place. But the way she said it (the way she says all her 'isms...') was just full of out-right innocence, I couldn't break it to her without laughing my ass off. So I just didn't say anything. I am used to it. Life must move on.

I love you, Roselle! Keep me laughing, boo. Keep me laughing...

Thursday, July 8, 2004

I REALLY...

--- hate that Paula Cole song, I Don't Wanna Wait. Just like Stacy, it makes me shudder... *eh*

--- love Maker's Mark with vodka and apple pucker. *yum*

Tomorrow is Friday, and coming to that realization elates me to no end.

Wednesday, July 7, 2004

SONGS & THE EMOTIONS THEY EVOKE. That B-line sounds so technical, don't you think? Sorta reminds me of those boring-boring paper titles that I had to make-up for my freshman engineering class... You know, the one class you had to take to fulfill those pre-requisites before going into your actual major?! Well, whatever. The reason I named this post "Songs & the Emotions they Evoke" is because there were so many different emotions evoked in me (grammar police, is that right to say?!) as I was driving home from the gym just now. Corny, I know. But I found myself totally getting into the emotions of the songs that were playing on the radio... It's a normal thing; don't tell me that YOU don't ever do it. If you say you don't, then you're a liar.

So there were several songs playing as I was switching through the channels. I wasn't feelin' the CD in my player, and I didn't want to fumble through my collection in the dark. So I did the usual channel-flip, and I came across several songs... each bearing its own personal emotional factor. There were many songs, so there were many emotions... but one of them was a lot stronger than the others.

I came across Michael W. Smith's You Are Holy (Prince of Peace) on the "Family-Friendly station" and all of a sudden I found myself in the heart of worship: standing with the worship band, singing and praising with the rest of the vocalists of the music ministry. I could actually feel the energy from the music, from the worship, from the people... from GOD. It was weird; almost like an out-of-body experience. It reminded me of what I used to love about being one of the worship leaders... leading masses of people into praise and worship. And the most empowering part of that was NOT being able to sing, but listening and singing with all the people in the congregation who were singing twice as loud, with twice as much heart, and with twice the energy than any of the lead vocalists combined. I miss being part of a worship band. It was one of the things I did that I loved most, and one of the things where I never failed to truly feel God's presence.

When that song was over, I switched to another station and heard Paula Cole's I Don't Wanna Wait from Dawson's Creek. All of a sudden, I thought about that sad woman's armpit hair. Yuck. That song ALWAYS makes me think of that... Gross. Thinking of Paula Cole's armpit hair is hardly an emotion (at least not to me), but it definitely evokes an air of trauma... for me, at least.

There were other songs, and other emotions, like I said before. But I just wanted to point out to you two extreme emotions that can shift through a person as he/she goes from one song to another. There you have it.

SLEEPY TIME!

Monday, July 5, 2004

POST-JULY 4th-ISMS. So yesterday was the big fourth. I was totally imbued with feelings of patriotism. I listened to "God Bless the USA" on the loop for hours, and I had to take time for myself and just think about what it means to be an American...

Yeah, whatever. Like that bullshit ever crossed my mind. Actually, yesterday was one of the suckiest 4ths ever in my 29 years of breathing. It was rainy, hot/muggy, and to top it all off I got reprimanded by a guy in church because I happened to take out my phone and reply to a text message. My fault, I guess... AHAHAAH. But still. What happened to people actually sitting there and minding their own business?! I think this guy was just upset because he wore loafers with NO SOCKS. I really hate when I see grown men commit that very stank mistake of wearing old-school-lookin' penny loafers with NO SOCKS. Gross.

To make matters worse, I was blue-balled at lunch time. Roselle scooped me up after she got out of Mass. We headed over to Phillip's in DC to satisfy our cravings for all-you-can-eat king crab legs. So we drove through this deluge that made us drive like 5 MPH on the highway at times, and when we finally got to the restaurant we were told that it was closed for private parties until 6PM. WTH?! Blown, we left and somehow headed into VA. We ended up at Bamboo Buffet in Falls Church and had a very mediocre meal. In fact, we hardly ate enough to satisfy the $10.99 per person fee. After a few bites we were done, and ready to go home.

The monsoon began to pour again just as I got out of Roselle's car, so I had to sprint to the front door of the house like I was some Olympic track star. Luckily, I came home to find that my neice, Alexis, was there. So the next few hours were spent playing with her, watching Spiderman cartoons (everyone was on there including Dare Devil, the Punisher, and Blade), and chattin' on the phone with Le Fre'. The fireworks even passed, and I was still into the cartoons. My parents nearly freaked out when I told them that Clay Aiken was in DC for the concert. What is this relationship between parental units and geeky Clay Aiken?! Before 10PM, Roselle came by to get me and we went into VA to watch White Chicks.

Earlier that day, Ebert & Roper named White Chicks the absolute worst movie of 2004. Well, that just goes to show you what tasteless old white men know about entertainment. While they gushed over Da Lovely and some Robert Redford flick, Roselle and I laughed out our lungs watching White Chicks. I mean, sure, it had its dumb moments... Some of the jokes were lame in the beginning and the end, but all the banter and craziness that happened in-between had us (and the whole theater) laughing out of our seats. White Chicks, a perfect ending to a pretty much dull July 4th holiday.

Today the feds are off, so I'm home enjoying my time away from the forsaken office. About to head into G-town, though, and see what's up at Club Monaco, Energie, and Zara. Then I guess I'll head over to the gym. *eh* The holiday is over.

Post-Happy 4th!

Friday, July 2, 2004

WEN'S "IN/OUT" LIST. The INs & OUTs of Wen's DC...

*
Hot Morning Mess (99.5) MORNING SHOW (RADIO) Elliott in the Morning (101.1)
NBC's TODAY Show MORNING SHOW (TV) ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA
News 7/WJLA LOCAL NEWS News 4/WEDN
North Shore CURRENT SEASON TV SHOW The OC
The Simple Life 2 FUNNY REALITY TV Newlyweds
Presidential Elections POLITICAL WAR Fight Against Terrorism (what happened?)
DC United DC SPORTS TEAM Wizards
Joe Gibbs (Washington Redskins) DC AREA SPORTS COACH Gary Williams (UMd Terps B-Ball)
*

Georgetown DIVERSITY IN SHOPPING Fashion Centre @ Pentagon City
Bloomingdale's DEPARTMENT STORE Hecht's
Zara AFFORDABLE TRENDY WEAR H&M
Miss Sixty/Energie PRICEY TRENDY WEAR Diesel
Kenneth Cole TRENDY FOOTWEAR Steve Madden
Finish Line SPORTY FOOTWEAR Athlete's Foot
Joie COMFORTABLE PREMIUM DENIM Von Dutch
American Eagle COMFORTABLE "CHEAP" DENIM Gap
Banana Republic CHIC BUSINESS WEAR Brooks Brothers
Bally/LV LEATHER WEAR Coach
Marc Jacobs TREND VISIONARY Todd Oldham
*
Mantis BAR Modern
Maker's Mark/Apple Pucker/Vodka MIXED POTION Rum & Coke
Poste Brasserie FINE DINING Red Sage
Champp's CASUAL DINING T.G.I. Friday's
Ben's Chili Bowl GREASY CHEAP EATS Ollie's Trolley
The Oceanaire Seafood Room SEAFOOD Legal Seafoods
Matuba SUSHI Cafe Asia
Oodles Noodles PASTA PLACE Noodle & Co.
Zaytinya (Mediterranean) TRENDY ETHNIC RESTAURANT Penang (Malaysian)
Baja Fresh/California Tortilla (tie) BANGIN' BURRITO Chipotle
Red Robin BURGER & FRIES 5 GUYS
Coldstone ICE CREAM Maggie-Moo's
Starbuck's COFFEE FIX Au Bon Pain
*

Thursday, July 1, 2004

RANDOM THOUGHTS. So I was walking to my building after parking the car, not too long ago, when I caught a totally random incident that had me silently laughing to myself. A bunch of cars were driving along 4th Street, here in NW. One of them, a red Honda, was kinda lagging in the front; sorta hangin' off the right side of the road, but annoyingly ---and confusingly*--- attempting to slide onto the left. Well, the cars that were driving like 10-times faster than her were cruisin' past her on the left. As her mind waivered back and forth on whether or not to switch lanes, a sound came out loud and clear: BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

So that's when I noticed the geeky black female driver in the red Honda. At that instant, I completely felt sorry for her simply because she totally embarrassed herself by her poor display of knowledge (or the lack thereof) of the area streets (or of driving, PERIOD). All the other drivers seemed to be city-dwellers. Poor girl. She looked like a totally incapable lame-o. But soon after I noticed her, and as she finally made her way to the left, as all the faster-moving cars halted behind her, I noticed the car that honked at her: a silver VW Passat. Not that the car was amazing or anything (i mean, it IS a great car and all), BUT the driver was none other than a geeky black male. Though I could tell he was trying to seem pissed off at the little situation, his dorkiness definitely shone through. He seriously could've passed off as a Steve Urkel wanna-be toiling through DC traffic. Allowing his dorky lack-of-self-esteem take over, he -- the one who beeped at the geeky female, mind you -- let the girl pass.

When all that mess finally fizzled before my eyes, I thankfully found the road clear enough to cross. And as I crossed the street, I couldn't help but think WHAT IF the two geekazoids actually had a physical confrontation about the girl's dumb driving, and how it potentially created a dangerous driving situation for the guy and the drivers behind him? Would they actually look past the heated situation and fall deeply (or geekly, in this appropriate case) in love?!

LOL. (gross.)

Countdown to the weekend begins NOW.

* = not sure if "confusingly" is a word or not. so much for my degree, huh? ahahah...