Tag: postaday2011

Categories
"Other people" Fiction

Maybe she thinks I’m stealing her Fung Wong menus

When our neighbor moved in, I admit that I entertained a little thought that we might become friendly. Not besties – I know I don’t need a bestie living next door – but I thought maybe we would be friendly enough to chat outside, or she might even ask us to water her plants. I don’t know.

She wasn’t very friendly though, and still isn’t. She’s been kind of forced to talk to us because we’ve run into her while she’s walking her corgi a couple times, and the dog has been very curious about us. But instead of taking that opportunity to have a conversation, she’s just acted all uninterested and pulled the dog away.

She recently has lost a lot of weight, and started dressing much nicer. Before it was a lot of long flowy skirts with long flowy tops. Now it’s all fitted vests, although I still don’t think I’ve seen her wear pants. I guess she could just be exercising and dieting, but I’m pretty sure this is the result of gastric bypass surgery.

She has a very specific car, and naturally I notice when it’s not in her spot, or in the prime spots right in front of our building. She’s frequently gone for long weekends. I once wrote a 6-page story about her loading her dog and her JC Penney luggage into her Sebring and driving down to Santa Barbara to visit her mom. In my story, she and the dog stopped for sandwiches, and they got one roast beef and one egg salad, and shared. I think Drew was a little weirded out by the detail in my story, and how I started referring to her sick mom in Southern California in everyday conversation, like it was truth.

Other good hints that she’s gone for a long weekend:

  • the conspicuous absence of the furiously barking dog behind her door, whenever I walk up to my door
  • the take out menus multiplying on the door knob
  • sometimes packages pile up on her door mat as well

Sometimes I think that all these Chinese food menus are just a big neon sign telling strangers, “I haven’t been home for days. Feel free to come in and take anything you want.” Sometimes I take the menus off her door (they’re all repeats anyway) because I think that might discourage prowlers who are scoping out the neighborhood. Then she walks right past me in the parking lot and doesn’t meet my eyes. Oh well.

At least when she’s gone I don’t have to worry about that annoying dog barking at me going into MY OWN APARTMENT. Which I have lived in longer than you have lived in yours, RILEY.

Categories
Beauty Nature

The View

Today’s been a beautiful day, even if it couldn’t figure out what it wanted to be, and rained a couple of times.

When I drove to the gym (down by the ocean) the water was super dark blue with whitecaps. I really wanted to go for a walk there today but the schedule didn’t allow it.

But I can still stand outside on the balcony and admire the view.

I love when they mow the grass, around the patches of ice plants. I wonder if you could mow ice plants. It would probably just make a mess.

It’s hard to update every single day. Hopefully this week I’ll get some good stories and controversial things to write about.

Categories
Awesome Drew

My crazy Saturday night

Today’s just been one wild party. It started with a visit to the Embarcadero farmer’s market, which is gigantic and awesome. We shopped for fruit, bread, and honey. The fruit is mostly for a salad we’re making for tomorrow night, when we’re having dinner with Drew’s parents, brother and sister-in-law. I expect it will be over the top and full of high jinks.

Then we upped the stakes by going to a matinee of Bridesmaids, using a gift card we got at Christmas. Afterwards we felt really revved up so we came home and washed dishes, and then made dinner: angel hair pasta with garlic, shrimp, asparagus, and mushrooms.

While we ate dinner we channel surfed, because we’re too young and unpredictable to commit to just one channel. Afterwards we broke out the board game Ticket to Ride, which is awesome. We played one game, and then decided for the second time through that we would each take twice as many pieces, so the game would last longer.

Now that we’ve cleaned up the game and are settling down from our wild and crazy Saturday, I just mixed up some chocolate milk and I’m stretching out in my snowman pajamas. Good thing we still have tomorrow to recover from today.

It’s been a really great Saturday. I wouldn’t trade a day like this. And I don’t care what that says about me. =P

Categories
Being a girl Dreams Endings Not awesome Self improvement

Getting schooled

Sometimes, you make plans for something in your life – something you really have no control over. Things like hitting the lottery, or getting an unexpected gift from a wealthy family member, or winning a competition that over 1000 other people participated in.

Sometimes, even though people in your life tell you not to count your chickens before they hatch, you still totally count your chickens before they hatch, and you talk about how you just don’t know how you’re going to manage to find time to fly to New York City this summer when there’s so much other stuff going on.

Sometimes, even when you’ve told yourself not to count too much on something, you have still secretly let your hopes creep up until you’re expecting a final specific outcome.

Then, when that outcome doesn’t happen, you may be understandably let down. You may also be a little upset, although it’s hard to say where that should be directed. Probably at yourself for not taking the advice of everyone in the world, and just staying humble and unassuming.

Possibly you should just be grateful for the opportunity to learn a lesson…and a lesson during which no one was harmed or even seriously offended. Also be grateful for the blog post topic, since the only other thing you could think of to post today was (yet another) discussion of Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”

Update: I’m not sad. Don’t worry about me. I’m not super bummed. Just reflecting on what I learned here.

Categories
Being a girl Friends Nature Self improvement Sports

Giants v Diamondbacks, Tues May 10

For this post, I have officially introduced a new category: sports. (I predict this will be the smallest category in the category cloud.)

Also, pretend I posted this yesterday on May 11th.

On Tuesday Drew and I and 5 other friends went to see the SF Giants play the Arizona Diamondbacks. We got the tickets mainly to support one of the teacher friend’s all-girls science club – of the ticket price, something like half of it went to the club. The teacher friend said she’s going to use the money to buy consumables: meaning containers that need to be replaced, things like vinegar and baking soda, food coloring, etc. A good cause.

We set out early to get to AT&T park, because we were going during rush hour, and the freeways can get crazy. Like, really crazy. Seriously. I’ve seen it. So four of us left around 5:00, to give us enough time for traffic, parking, and then walking up to the park. We intended to meet up with everyone at 6:30 by the Willie Mays statue.

This is what we were trying to do:

It’s also basically what we ended up doing. We found ourselves standing outside AT&T Park at about 5:30. Luckily the other friends are equally as conscious of traffic, and so we were all there at relatively the same time.

We stood outside for awhile, admiring the commentors doing their thing, and the line for the bobbleheads (?).

It was a very nice day, albeit windy. I was wearing my Wicked sweatshirt, as it’s the softest and warmest thing I own, even if it’s slightly embarrassing.

Here’s Willie Mays from another angle.

When we went into the park, we found that we had the BEST SEATS IN THE PARK. Because we were so far up. The higher up your seats are, the better they are, right? Because you can see everything without having to turn your head, plus they bring hot chocolate and churros right up to you.

You also get the best view of the fog rolling in, as it’s wont to do.

Soon the pharmacist friend wanted to go get a crab sandwich. Legend has it Tyler Florence himself comes to AT&T Park and makes them. So we went off in search of crab sandwiches. We found the booth, and Tyler Florence. We also found a place where I could get a Sprite for $5.25…the best kind of Sprite. We were somewhere behind the giant screen.

At the sounds of the National Anthem being played, we headed back to our seats. This is when I discovered that the giant Coke bottle is a slide! Before then, I believed that was just one of the things my dad said to be funny. Imagine my shock and awe when I saw that it’s not only one slide, it’s SEVERAL slides, and children were all up in it. Pharmacist friend asked if I wanted to go down the slide, and I did, but unfortunately I’m nearly 27 years old.

My dad also says that there are places in the park wall where you can watch the game from outside, without having to buy a ticket. Here is proof of that.

See? Little windows for cheap people.

Well, the game went on. Aside from the crab sandwich, among us we also consumed many Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi, smuggled in from outside), something like 5 hot chocolates, my Sprite, parmesan and herb Sun-chips and jalapeno Cheetos (also from outside). I guess that’s all. One thing I learned is, I will bring my own snacks next time.

And the game went on. Eight and a half innings with the score still tied zero to zero. Around the sixth inning I started thinking I would rather lose the game after such a fight, than have to go into extra innings. But you have to understand, it was cold, and getting later, and it was only Tuesday night. Early in the week.

In the bottom of the ninth, everything came up roses when Cody Ross RBI’ed Darren Ford, and the game was over! Thank God! Plus, we won, and Colorado lost, and I think that means we might be number one now? Not sure, because I’m kind of a part-time baseball fan. Someone will correct me, surely.

So then we began the night exodus out of the stadium and back to the car.

Even though I wouldn’t like to go every game (or even every other game), I still had a great time, and it was even sweeter since we won. Nothing like a sense of totally unearned smugness.

Categories
Drew My name Writing

Say My Name

SAY MY NAME

Here’s a fun fact about me: I don’t really like saying my name out loud. Saying it one time is doable, but if I have to keep saying it, things get awkward. I’m sorry to say that when people ask me to repeat my name for clarification, my voice goes up at the end? Like it’s a question? That annoying way of speaking that drives everyone crazy?

I think I am secretly afraid that I’m saying it wrong. Yes, my own first name.

My averseness to saying names sometimes extends to other people’s names. Like Drew. For some reason, I’m always expecting someone to call me on my “totally weird” way of saying his name. Like, am I making the “Dr” sound into too much of a “J” sound? Or am I over-emphasizing the “ooo”? It shouldn’t be a difficult name – that’s one of the reasons his mom picked it for him – but it’s become this occasional mental stumbling block for me.

It’s a similar feeling as when you repeat a single word over and over again (like egg, or hamster) and it starts to lose all meaning. What is a Drew anyway? Although I have always been jealous of people whose names also function as words: like my fifth-grade teacher, whose first name was Star. She could collect all kinds of things with stars on them. What could I collect?

Drew and I rarely call each other by our names, when it’s just the two of us. (Maybe he’s also nervous he’s saying it wrong.) Some embarrassing nicknames may or may not come into play. I figure at some point, as the many years of marriage weigh on us, we’ll transition into using each other’s names. Or maybe we won’t. That’s what makes us us, I suppose.

The other day at a work function I had to introduce myself to the group as a whole, and then to four people individually. By the fifth time I said, “Hi, I’m Syche,” even I was thinking, Well, that is just ridiculous. Then there was the inevitable spelling it out – I think people think it will clarify things, but it just muddles them more. That same night I went out with some friends for dinner, and when they asked for a name, I said Drew. Without skipping a beat the hostess said, “You don’t look like a Drew.” Not the first time I’ve heard that. I guess it is true that you embody your name, and some people just couldn’t be anything but what they’re named. What does that say about me? I’m easily misunderstood, and possibly always trying just a little too hard?

You can change your name but I don’t think I would ever want to. It would be too weird to have to figure out what name I do embody, at this late point in my life. And I guess in a sick, Stockholm Syndrome-type of way, I’m proud of my name, and that I’m not just another Jessica in a sea of Jessicas.

Online here for a short time!

Categories
Children

Hurry up and type

Writing under a deadline is fun for me, even helpful sometimes.

However, when the deadline is “I want to go to sleep” and the reason I haven’t written yet today is “I’ve been out at a Giants game” and my computer is situated so I have to sit in the draft coming through the sliding glass door…writing under a deadline is just annoying.

So let it be quick: Today I saw the Giants play the Diamondbacks. I won’t spoil anything because I have a ton of cameraphone pictures (I know right!!) for tomorrow. So get ready.

For now I’ll leave you with some words of wisdom from the adorable (loud) 4-year-old sitting behind us for the first 3 innings.

“Chocolate is VERY BAD for you. But it’s yummy. Because it’s made of basically PURE SUGAR.”

Later: “I saw an eagle! I saw THREE EAGLES!” (After looking up in awe, I realized she was talking about seagulls. A letdown, but also precious.)

Categories
Celebrities Dollars Work

Releasing a single

I like Abigail Breslin. She’s cute and seems low-key. I liked her in The Princess Diaries 2. I liked Little Miss Sunshine. I’m sure I’ve seen her in other things.

I just found out she released a single. Apparently it’s related to a movie she did in 2010. That I never heard of. Making the film festivals circuit? I don’t know how these things work.

When I hear someone say, “She just released a single,” I think of Kim Zolciak, Heidi Montag, or Angelina from Jersey Shore. But this isn’t quite like that. I might even like it? If I had listened to more than 15 seconds of it.

If you listen to all or most of it, let me know what you think. Maybe I’ll listen to it later when I’m not at work.

Categories
Being a girl Family

Happy Mother’s Day!

Dear Mom,

I don’t know when it’s normal for a girl to realize that she’s turning into her mom, but for me it was around age 23 or 24 when I started hearing your words coming out of my mouth. At first I was a little taken aback – who knew it would happen so suddenly and unexpectedly?

As time has gone on though, I’ve come to appreciate the wisdom in the things I hear myself say, and I know it came directly from you. Things like how you shouldn’t read at the dinner table, and you should converse with the rest of your family. Or when Robb and I used to begrudgingly ask what we should do on house-cleaning Saturdays, and you would say, “Just look around and do what needs to be done.” Or when Drew and I left for New York and you told us to take care of each other. 

I guess I really was listening all those years.

I’ve always known I’m very lucky to be blessed with such wonderful parents. I had a great childhood and I still reminisce about it. A couple weeks ago, when we came back from our Lakeport weekend, all the laundry I’d brought back smelled like home and it caused me a great many wandering thoughts. But I’m also happy to say that I don’t feel like I peaked in my teenage years – I feel like I’m still growing all the time. Because you guys gave me an incredible foundation of faith, family, and self-confidence.

What I’ve been especially lucky to have is our evolving mom-daughter relationship. I like the way it has turned into a friendship. Maybe it helps that I don’t call and ask for money anymore. Maybe it also helps that I was so far away for those three years, so now we are both that much more appreciative of being in the same state. Maybe it’s just what happens when a girl becomes an adult – she discovers that she and her mom have so much more in common than she ever realized.

So thanks for being the best mom ever! And thanks for always being happy to hear from me. And thanks for setting the bar so high and being a good role model. I hope that when I have kids, they love me as much as I love you.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Syche

Categories
Dreams Self improvement Technology

Contact lens blues

Finally changed my contacts today. I probably waited too long. The brand I use is super expensive for some reason – I should probably go to an eye doctor and switch to a different brand. One pair of contacts is supposed to last me 3 months. I definitely wear them longer than that though. Four pair come in a box, and I just switched over to the third pair of four. Since moving back to California. In July of 2009. I figure I probably went nine months on these babies. They must be wrecked.

I just looked up the cost of Lasik. Under $5000 for both eyes? I am excited to make this happen one day. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to open my eyes in the morning and see clearly.