Ubbi-dubbi... c'mon y'guys!

Alright, so now I'll reveal what my "errand" was: a second interview at Starbucks. To quote a young slave from Tatooine, "Yipee!"

So, I had a rather long discussion with my friend regarding yesterday's post, but I will not go into it. Instead, I'll just make this one statement: my faith would have me praising all the glory to God, but I think on a humanist psychological level, I don't dare claim glory for myself because it's too easy to get your ego crushed that way. Hell, I was a hotshot in highschool, but Berkeley smashed it outta me. Perhaps the best way to describe this way of thinking is, I won't get anything because I don't deserved it and it's only by the grace of God that I get anything. From the ego's self-preservation POV, it makes sense. Well, this turned out to be more than one statement.

I think the interview at Starbucks went well, though it was with the shift lead instead of the store manager. I did get a free drink, though. A huge thing of chai latte over ice. Mmmmm, good. One of the questions was what I would change about Starbucks. I didn't really have one, but I just replied, well, I really like Thai Ice Tea, so Starbucks should make a drink out of it.

Is it a good sign if the interviewer talks more about himself than me?

Okay, I'll give you guys until the next week to figure out the source of ubbi-dubbi. Besides, I want to give two of my readers a chance to catch up after they get back from their honeymoon. (Hint: c'mon and zoom!)

I'm kinda gonna get a bit gushy here: I can't claim to know God's plan for me, my family, and the Universe, but all I can say is that He's definitely at work in my life. I mean, if God doesn't exist, then I'm too damn lucky.

Without going into detail lest I jinx my "errand" tomorrow, I'm just going to say that somehow, God has led me to the best possible solution for my life right now. I'm sure He didn't like that I wasn't going to church last year, but He did finally kick me in the butt to go, and now I really like my church. And at this church, I signed up to take a Bible study on finances. I didn't want to at first, since it cost money and an evening a week, but God worked His mojo and I was convinced to sign up right before it started. Once there, I learned a lot of good lessons, but one lesson really impacted me this past month. That God puts kings in power and He takes them away from power, meaning, it's all up to God whether or not you get that promotion, or in my case, that job. As you all know, I became unemployed early June and I have been scrounging around for jobs since. Well, I prayed to God about every application, and most of the time He said no. I was disappointed, but the lesson from Crown kept me hopeful knowing that getting a job isn't all up to me. I can turn in the application, attend the interviews, but it's ultimately God that determines whether or not I get the job. So I just did my part, prayed, and just kept the faith that God knew what He was doing.

And He did!!!

My aunts and uncle from Korea leave for the airport in approximately seven hours. It's been a great two weeks with them. And with my "errand" tomorrow, I realize now why God had me be unemployed this summer.

After all, they needed a translater, a local guide, and a local cuisine chef. If I was too busy working, then they wouldn't have gotten a taste of In-N-Out or tacos or homemade frappuccinos (which were somewhat of a failure). They wouldn't have known about GNC (and the really nice guy that gave me a discount). They wouldn't have been able to find the sunglass outlet. Nor been able to talk to the airline about scheduling changes. And I wouldn't have been able to stay up 'til 3 am chatting with my slightly-drunk uncle about the mindset of artists.

So... thank you God. I didn't like that I had no job, but now I'm glad I didn't. And now, God is still faithful. He still remembered my prayers from before. Now, I don't know what the outcome of my "errand" will be, but I have faith that God will put me where I need to be.

I remember one thing that I meant to talk about: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

It was pretty good. A fun movie. You could tell that the director cut out an hour's worth of exposition and character development, though. Like, they really could have put the tease about Mina Harker's mysterious abilities like in the comics. Allan Quartermain's chauvanism clashing with that was way cool, and it's really too bad they couldn't have shown more of it. And Skinner, the Invisible Man, is at his best when he's being a male pig. Anyway, it's a fun romp. There was just so much interaction that had to be cut out for time's sake, I guess.

There is one observation that I made which is somewhat of a spoiler. So I'm going to write it in ubbi-dubbi for those of you that don't want to read it. (Ubbi-dubbi is pretty easy to figure out. It follows conventional syllable-insertion code.)

Ubbaftubber rubbeaddubbing thubbe cubbomubbic, thubbey ubbobvubbiubbouslubby ubbaddubbed twubbo nubbew chubbarubbactubbers. Ubband ubbit wubbould mubbake subbense tubbo hubbave a bubbetrubbayubbal tubbo kubbeep ubbit frubbom bubbecubbomubbing jubbust a gubbood gubbuys vubbersubbes bubbad gubbuys mubbovubbie. Ubband thubbey cubbant mubbake ubbanubby ubbof thubbe ubborubbigubbinubbal chubbarubbactubbers bubbe thubbe bubbad gubbuy. Bubbut, thubbey ubbarent gubboubbing tubbo mubbake thubbe ubbamubberubbicubban thubbe bubbad gubbuy ubbeithubber. Subbo, thubben thubbere ubbis ubbonlubby ubbone pubbersubbon lubbeft whubbo cubbould bubbe thubbe bubbetrubbayubber. Ubband ubbif yubbou hubbave rubbead thubbe cubbomubbics, thubben yubbou ubbalrubbeadubby knubbow thubbe trubbue ubbidubbentubbitubby ubbof Ubbem.

Anyway, that was a little oberservation I made at the end of the movie that I sorta had realized at the beginning of the it.

(Y'know, I realize you could probably crack this code easy just by copying and pasting to Word, and then using Replace with a blank.)

It sucks that it's almost 5 am and I'm still not asleep....

(Bonus points to anyone that can tell me where I learned Ubbi-dubbi.)

The Servustat is misleading, I think. Just cuz every time I view the blog for comments or whatnot, it counts me as a unique viewer.

I should be like Beno and carry around a PDA cuz I had some interesting thoughts that popped in my head today, and now that I'm all set to blog them, I forgot. :P

As some of you know, for Crown Bible Study I kept track of my finances steadily since February. Heck, I've even driven my sister crazy by suggesting to her she do the same. But I do have to eat my own words here, cuz for the past month I haven't been keeping track. It's sort of depressing, but since I didn't have any income coming in, and being out of school meant I had less expenses going out, I just didn't want to bother. Nothing would fit my budget anyway, since I have no income and there's no way I can estimate my expenses since all I've been doing is boiling at home and hanging out once a week with Robert. I've resolved that I'll start again at the beginning of August since school would be starting soon anyway. And hopefully by then I'll have some sort of an employment situation.

Gotta go, my weh-sam-choon is calling me for scotch-and-cokes.... ;)

So... what have I been doing this past week? Nuthin'. Last weekend was such a high, that I think I crashed back to earth. I did a bit of hanging out with a friend, I had a job interview that I'm praying like mad for, but other than that, I've just been chillin' at home. And it's rather hard to chill in such weather. Well, it hasn't been that bad, actually. Still a bit muggy. I've been playing house since my mom and our Korean relatives went on a 5-day sight-seeing trip. I'm sort of impressed that I can throw together a meal every night. But then, it's not that hard and I knew I could do it. I just don't. I do, however, have new appreciation for my mom. I mean, I forgot to put the trash bins on the curb this week. I just hope we don't have a lot of trash just sittin' there. There's a lot to running a house. Ach, no wonder I don't want to grow up.

So I had a group interview with Starbucks on Monday. I thought I did well, but I'm not a good judge of that. I think the manager said that they'll call for 2nd interviews next Monday. Why does it take a whole week to determine who to call for 2nd interviews??? Whyyyyy??? Whhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy??????

I'm so lazy. Not only have I not check my e-mail in the past four days, but I also haven't fully unpacked from last weekend. I don't even know what to do with my bridesmaid dress. It's stained with sweat, make-up, and gochu-jang (red pepper paste). I mean, I do want to keep it, even though I'll never ever wear it again, but I don't want to pay to have it cleaned. Maybe it's just me being cheap?

Do y'all remember a movie called The Wedding Banquet? Y'know that scene of the wedding night, which I guess is a Chinese tradition or something? (The one involving friends and underwear.)

Well, I got roped into helping out Kaela and Beno's friends do that to them. Eww. Gross. That's why I left off in the middle of my last blog entry. Afterwards, I just hung out with relations while my uncle poured me several bourbon-cokes. It was 3 in the morning before I took a shower and went to bed. I scrubbed off so much make-up. The Hotel laundry's gonna hate me.

Y'know what else is nice? Free coffee and muffin bar in the morning. Though they ran out of muffin quick.

Dagnabit! Lost my post. Here I go again:

I'm soooo tired.

After a year-and-a-half of planning, it all came down to one day. Today. And... well, to say that it went off without a hitch is... impossible. It was a loooong day. I look great, though. Especially my hair. I like up-dos. :)

So I now officially have a new sibling. Beno is no longer the mouthful "my sister's fiance" but "my brother-in-law."

Well, I see that the online version of Blogger for Mac IE is really ghetto.

I'm writing this from the "business center" in the lobby of the Cypress Hotel, where we're staying this weekend. The drive up to San Jose wasn't too bad, actually. It only took us about 6.5 hours, and that included a lot of stops for the old folks. This hotel is really nice. It's so new and filled with modern amenities. I guess we're really going gourmet. Though the mini-bar stuff is way too expensive. The bourbon and coke items were bought at a liquor store. :)

The rehearsal went... fast. Mainly due to half the people being late. The flower girl/boy didn't even get a chance to practice. Oh well, few people will care. Besides, people in Korea have wedding cereomonies without rehearsal all the time. The dinner afterwards was pretty good, but we ate soooo much! Wow, this wedding has been such the focus of our family for the past year. It'll be so weird that it will end all in one day. ONE DAY! Yikes.

I should also try to utilize the fitness room of this hotel. Gotta get our money's worth!

Someone (ahemrobertahemthebastardahem) thinks that I wrote the last two entries while smashed. For the record: I was not smashed. I had a slight buzz that wore off by the time I even started writing the blog entries. Nyah nyah. I would have linked other similarly rambling entries if my archives weren't screwed up right now.

Maybe that someone (ahemwhoneedsagoodkickinthenutsahem) was thrown off because I wasn't whining and complaining as usual. Well... you're in luck! I'm back to whining!

Stupid Academy won't let me sign up for the classes that I want because they're "not at my placement level" which means that they want me to take stupid introductory computer classes where the first few lessons are on how to double-click!!! I hope the counselor will let me skip them. Sheesh.

Actually, I could have started registering for classes on Wednesday, but it was one of those, if you don't check you don't know dealies. Sucks, too, cuz there was this one class that I wanted to sign up for (and actually could) but was full. And they don't have waitlists!!! Yet another stupidity of the school!

This will most likely be my last entry before my sister's wedding this Saturday. I'll try to get a photo of me in my bridesmaid ensemble. Wish me luck!

And one last thing: it is frickin' hot right now. It's cloudy, but because of the humidity, it feels like it's 100. Ugh. Now I can understand the appeal of dry heat.

One more thing: sam-sah-choon!!!

It's surprising how just a couple of shots of it on a full stomach could still whack you over like that. It's also suprising how fast the buzz wears off. Ah well, you drink it for the taste. It's really sweet. Like plum wine. And only 32 proof!

My uncle (weh-sam-choon) and his wife (weh-soong-mo) and my aunt (ee-mo) came from Korea on Tuesday. My uncle is a riot. He was a ship captain way back when and he used to go back and forth from the US. So his english ain't too bad and he loves the chance to use it. He also loves to drink, though he can't too much cuz of his health. Anyway, I wasn't home last night (I was hanging out with Robert and Mike, and we finished out our adventure for Mage, a fun RPG that's completely focused on story-telling and role-playing.) so I didn't get a chance to "have a nightcap." But we did tonight, 'cept that we did it right after dinner. We had dinner kinda late cuz we were swimming, and when there's four in a pool, it takes awhile for everyone to shower afterwards. I went last and ended up a prune. On a side note, the weather's been horribly hot and muggy, but this 100-degree weather has one benefit in that by the evening cool, the pool has been heated nicely.

We watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" last night. Johnny Depp was so over-the-top that it was rather good. Well, the story was corny, but... the movie is based on the ride! Of course it will be corny! It's a comedy, after all. Or if it wasn't meant to be, well, it's one now! They had a lot of references to the ride which made it cool. For example, they had Ruby from the Buy-a-Bride auction, though there wasn't an auction in the movie. And... alas... let's face it, Legolas is hot... Orlando Bloom is not.

Sorry this is jumping all over the place, but here's one thing I learned: when having a drink poured to you from an older person (or at least one deserving of respect) you must hold your glass with both hands. I remember being taught to receive things with both hands as a kid (though it's not so strictly upheld here) but I didn't know it also encompassed drinking ettiquette. I'm not sure if we'll be drinking much tomorrow night since we all have to go to bed early so we can get up at 4 am the next day.

One more thing: at my sister's wedding this Saturday (I can't believe it's already here!) I will be meeting my cousin's kid for the first time. Since I'm like 16 years older than him, he can call me "aunt" though based on the English system he's a first-cousin-once-removed. Funny though that I've got first cousins that are younger than him. But suppose my sister has a kid in a year. (Suppose... ok?) Then that kid and my Uncle Steve's 6-month-old would only be a year-and-a-half apart. But they would be considered first-cousins-once-removed. Yep, it's a complex system. My friend brought her first-cousin-once-removed to church last Sunday. She calls my friend "ee-mo." They are only 8 years apart.

Eh. It's too confusing. Though the main thing here is that this kid will think of me as an "aunt." Trippy.

Oops, I meant to post something this past week, but I just got too lazy.

The camping trip was fun last weekend. It was 15 of us at Hungtington Lake for three days and three nights. Well, two-and-a-half days. And the last day, Sunday, we woke up (that is, Erica woke me up) at 5:45 am to get on the road by 6:30. That's the earliest I've been up in... years. Well, except for when I pulled all-nighters. I've never swam in a lake before. And once you get over the algae-covered rocks the layer of algae floating on top, then it's pretty cool. I do have to admit that I couldn't help adding more algae-food to the water. Hey, once that cold water hits you, you don't have control over your bladder!

The last night we built a huge bonfire using a bug-ridden log. Fun.

This past week was spent in the pits of insecurities as I continued my search for a job. I hate the phrase, "We're not hiring right now, but we're accepting applications." If I was ever in charge of a retail store, I would say instead, "We're not hiring right now, but you can fill one of these applications out and we'll be sure to glance at it as we throw it in the garbage." I thought I had prospects at a newly-opening EB Games, but no. Apparently, being fully-staffed means that you should put up a sign saying "Now Hiring!" I think I impressed the manager at Color-Me-Mine, except that they have no openings. Sigh. If I'm still jobless in two weeks, I'll go in there and see if they really might have something open. (Yeah right.) Then yesterday, I called the Starbucks and pretty much made an ass out of myself talking to the manager lady. Well, not an ass. I came off as desperate, but I doubt that she really even cared. But at least I said my name (said it's spelled weird, which might trigger her memory when finally looking over the applications) and hopefully she's willing to hire the stink of desperation.

I know that God gave me all this free time to do something productive. But so far the only thing that's happened is that my skin got darker as my hair got lighter (I got my hair done yesterday) which is giving me this weird tonal appearance. I actually took a Maya book with me to the salon, but I chose to read their Vanity Fair instead. It's up to God whether or not I get a job. But I think God wants me to have a job. I know I have to do my part in looking for it, but I get so discouraged. Sigh. Perhaps He is telling me to keep working on art while looking for a job. Don't put my entire focus on the job search.

This is a long one.

You habitually make disgustingly ugly LiveJournal
icons. No. No, don't try to deny it! We've all
seen them, and they are fucking ugly as sin,
and for this you have damned yourself to an
eternity of suffering. It is justice! After
all, you've probably blinded dozens of
people.

STOP THIS NOW AND REPENT!
Perhaps you will be saved.


Why Will You Go To Hell?
brought to you by Quizilla

There are too many online quizzes out there and too many people posting their results on their blog. (You know who you are!) But... well, I thought this one was funny. I guess I'm going to Purgatory the above reason, even though I don't know what LiveJournal is.

Thanks for your comments, everybody! I figure I should respond to some of them in an entry instead of in the pop-up. Cat, I am Mike's friend Erica's friend and former roommate at Cal. Wow, such degrees of separation. You-know-who, how the heck do you turn off windows messenger? (They look like a windows box instead of a pop-up ad from a website.) DrWhateley, you keep posting your comments twice! It makes me think I'm more popular than I am. Gettin' my hopes up and then dashin' them to the ground in a pool of congealed blood. Um... yeah.

This past weekend was fun as well as exhausting. Sure, I could have exercised more to be prepared, but what's the point? Just the walk up from the campfire to my tent made me breathe hard. Perhaps I can blame it on the elevation? 7000 feet. That's high enough to make everything hard, right?

(BTW, I learned why it was important to stretch every muscle, including your groin muscles, if you're planning on hiking. And also, it is really important to put on lip protection as well as sunblock.) (I'll elaborate on my vacation weekend happenings in a later entry.)

Observation: A lot of people view "saving money on a product" as "earning money."

"B-b-but... it's on sale!" Well, in the end, did you come out of it with more money than you started with?

Sigh. I have to remind myself that it's none of my business. They are adults. They should be able to figure out if they can afford something or not.

Except that millions of Americans are living in debt. Credit card debt is the worst. Y'know how if you can find an 18% investment, it's really good? Well, if you're not paying off your credit cards at the end of the month, the credit card company is making 18% "investment" off of you. And you provided the principal to boot. It's like you walk into Charles Schwab, sit down, and right away they tell you, we're giving you $1000, you're earning $100 a month in interest, and next month we'll add another $500 to your account, which will earn you another $50 a month in interest. Incredulous, no?

I need a job. This living-off-my-savings suck. But if you look hard enough, there are cheap ways of having fun. Especially if you've got a friend with lots of DVDs. I've watched the first two seasons of Farscape. The show is really good. (There's a reason why I put the "Save Farscape" link on the left side, beyond my friend Robert yelling at me to do so.) What's hilarious is what they do with standard sci-fi plots. Like the standard sci-fi body-switching episode. But when Crichton's (a man) mind goes into the body of Aeryn (a woman), in one moment, he realizes something, looks down, opens his shirt, and starts feeling himself up and watching them shake. Now... most guys, when placed in the body of a woman, would do this. But in other sci-fi shows, they're more concerned with making things right and acting all serious. That is what makes Farscape unique. (Like how Firefly was unique. Sigh. Stupid network execs.)

I gotta say, Kate Mulgrew looks a lot like Katharyn Hepburn. I only mention that because Voyager's on right now (yep, in LA they run them at 3 am weeknights) and because Katharyn Hepburn died days ago.

You know what's worse than crack?
You know what's worse than... Magic: the Gathering?

Rollercoaster Tycoon

It's toooo addicting. More fun than The Sims. It's challenging designing rollercoasters. You have to know what will help you accelerate, what will keep the G-forces down, and what will keep your car from flying off the track. That's a bit of physics and mechanical engineering. So far, my efforts have been... marginal. People are puking left and right.

Anyway, if I plan on getting any sleep this week, I will have to take a break from Rollercoaster Tycoon. It's too bad I can't use the expansion pack. Something about it not being compatible with Windows XP.

More job prospects. Wish me luck! (Pray for me, if you will.)