baltimore, i'll be visiting you tonight :)

de: what a wonderful idea
fro: please don't tell me you spent the night at work

i've never seen so many working mothers. they're only apparent to me because i see women in suits with babies on the metro. the other day i saw a mom reading to her son on the crowded metro. she leaned down and whispered every line of the story into his ear while he sat in his stroller, and they were in their own world. well, i was kind of in there with them since i was *staring.* i couldn't help it, standing right there and all :) this morning i saw daycare workers taking the tods for a stroll. by that i mean strollers that could fit four to five tods. so cute with their little feet dangling and wearing tiny jackets, babbling in their mini oxen cart (that's what it looked like!). what is it about little things or people that makes you so happy?

ro: hey! let's do al pacinos tonite, yah? (even though i'm probably going there w/ michelle on tuesday too.. when else could you go, know what i mean?)

fro: oh, you make me sad.. (i hope you had a safe trip to the bthrm?)

random jolts

*it's quite chilly outside
*mungry
*JEFF SEARLES AND HIS BAND WILL BE COMING TO CHURCH MONDAY EVENING FOR A FREE CONCERT
*we're getting starpower today

i know why we're missing dottori. it's really hard to maintain one home, let alone two, if you know what i mean.

i raise you, the five hee-haws and a what-the. err.. but no more online fun for me today. like i've been telling ya i've really gotta get back to slaving away, i mean working. i can't believe i spent as much time as i did online today..!

all hail frobob, queen of disaster! i was convulsing with laughter reading your story. i give that one five hee-haws.

one hee haw = perhaps you could have spared us that one
two hee haws = a stifled, "heeeeee"
three hee haws = keke, pretty good crown girl ("crown" is a korean aberration of "clown," one of the many inside jokes floating around our international office)
four hee haws = haha, "you make me lafff"
five hee haws = help me, i'm shaking with laughter in front of my keyboard and i'm going to get yelled at but i don't care because i can't believe you wrote that and i'm also tearing up now someone please help me!

(silence) de, how's about we share some of our embarassing moments to keep the queen company? :)

oh fro...i know. yesterday, maybe an hour before the end of the workday, a near-catastrophe happened, and i promise it wasn't my fault. still, i got involved somehow, and i was sitting in front of my computer, couldn't say much, felt dizzy, wondered how i had become entangled in such a web, wanted to run somewhere like a forrest gump...but i had to suck it up and finish the day.

about the voice raising an octave higher -- that is definitely a female thing. it happens to me, to my mom, my sisters, my friends, almost every woman i know. let me rephrase: every asian woman i know. i don't want to propagate stereotypes, but it's a cultural casualty.

my boss left for texas two days ago. one task she gave me was to water her plants, all ten of them. i asked how often she wanted them watered. oh, when you see them withering. but wouldn't that signify they were already dying?! some of the plants are in very high places which means that i'm lifting up the pitcher of water and just praying very quietly inside that it'll hit the soil and not my head. yes, and the carpet is a bit wet now. there's this one plant that she refuses to throw away, and it's some mutation between two species that she keeps near my desk. every time i look at it i shudder and i have to ask her again, can we please get rid of this little shop of horrors? hmm...maybe now is the time...

It's a scary thing to bring bulk packages of food to work.
At home, you can at least pretend that your roommates pigged out too, but at work it's just you. I was just munching on my sesame peanut crunchies* when i noticed how little was now left in the 1-lb. tub. Not that i worry about getting fat(ter) - maybe i should start worrying just a little more, hm. But just the thought that all those little tan-colored balls are now, in some form, sitting in my body.

*from do&i's lunch outing to the Canton WholeFoods (they're great, they had all kinds of samples out: salmon chowder, seafood sausages, gourmet cheeses.. mmm.)

//fro! i wonder the same thing about lost clothing! my favorite black tee, my great sweatshirt-jacket, an off-white cardigan i loved to death.. all gone. and i miss them dearly.

fro, you just reminded me of my adolescent shopping trips to cvs. i would leave with junk i could eat, junk i would forget about, junk that my mom would inevitably yell at me for buying, junk i could put on my face to look like a ringling brothers circus clown...

i know this is going to freak you out, but i haven't lost a sock in the laundry yet :)

ro: of course, you know you're always welcome. i'll warn my roommates.
fro: insanity has truly returned to this site, thank you. (i love those "studies", they're great. did you get lih**'s pop-tart study? haha)
do: come back to us! we know you're out there..

some things i have concluded about our site:

1) this is a matriarchy
2) the more self-deprecating, the better
3) we enjoy taking tests that confirm we are "insane" or "retarded"
4) if it's not a russian novel, don't write it
5) this is an outlet for all the creative energy that gets wasted at work
...

*it's a beautiful morning* (do you know the rest of the lyrics?)

i was running late this morning, but when i got on the metro, it was pretty crowded. i have always wondered about all those other people. i want to lean over and quietly ask the person next to me, "are you late too?" and since this is dc and not ny, i won't get a beat-down.

someone suggested i purchase a Kevlar Helmet and Flak Vest during these uncertain times. so first the goof inside me said: "yeh, i'll be the most stylin' commuter," and then the logical side of me said, "no, because i'm actually safer here. ironically, the suburbs have become more dangerous," and then the little voice in the middle said, oh d_ve, don't be so silly!

*fro, that was quite an odyssey you shared. it's gonna be hard to top that, but we'll try...
*de, i'm thinking about sleeping over on friday night. would that be ok with you?

*you girls tickle me pink* and please don't get me started on embarassing, mortifying, most humbling events as they happen to me everyday.

is it just me or are you thinking about thanksgiving already? i'm wondering what the family, i mean what i'll end up cooking this year. last year my mom made me responsible for the turkey, which was so big that i needed my sister's help to flip. also, i left the packaged gizzard inside the turkey while it roasted happily in the oven. my sister was like, "OMG VERN, you left that in?!" i think i was already eating the meat by then. it was good though! ok, shhhh, don't share this with anyone, you know, besides everyone on the world wide web. sometimes you forget that, don't you? that this is out there, for all the people to read. dooroorooroo dooroorooroo...

*aww de, i know what you mean. just keep your chin up carrying lunch to your boss or reshelving books. ehh...hehe, that's what i do.
*fro, if you are a pork bun, i'm going to eat you :) again, we've missed you so.

on Pain-in-the-Buns.
I'm sure almost all of you have this: at your job you've got your actual job tasks, and then you've got those random Pain-in-the-Buns tasks. The sad, tragic thing is... today it really hit me how much more of the latter type of work is going to get DUMPED on me. Sorry if i'm complaining but just to give you some idea, we have a consultant working full-time on just this THING, and it's supposed to all get transferred over to me, as a "SIDE" thing, on top of my regular job? {{boohoo}}
...I need a crew of smart, hard-working interns ASAP..

on Refrigerator Art.
sigh, only a mom would do this. i just got off the phone with mine, and she informed me that there was new 'decoration' in the house. She had gone out and bought frames for all my embarrassingly bad, half-finished paintings from middle school and high school. Can I say, Embarrassing! She hung them all over the house, she said, and "they look really good". I guess that's what moms are for, even to the point of blurring judgement..
Aww, i really ought to go visit her.

Il fait trop froid. Sauvez-moi !!
Je veut aller a reposer ou il fait chaud et beau,
Peut-etre dans un champ des fleurs,
Et regarder les nuages dans la ciel,
Et jouer avec des papillons..

(s'il vous plait, excusez ma horrible francais.)
(that was just french for it's frijjin cold in here & it's makin me delirious)

//Ro, you scare me for real, you groupie you -- always threatening to run off with this band or that band! tsk, tsk.

oh fro, i missed you so :) welcome back. (what?! you have a car now? pick me up baby)

so i didn't follow jeff searles and the band back to cali. but i have a pic with him (top of my head with his torso) as a memento. it's funny how someone even slightly famous can turn you into a giggling idiot-child (pride & prejudice!). what a rich blessing for "everybody" to lead us and teach us on worship. "jesus savior" is playing through my head -- so lovely...

just a note: only God could use me in front of a mic. let it be a true thank offering to you tonight. and fro, i know exactly what you mean about your daddy.

// WeLcOmE BaCk Fro!

// How AWESOME was hangin with Jeff Searles and the band!! :-) ..can't stop humming...

// Everyone go see Jonah!

// Ok. sorry for the random list here, but a heads up on November 9th => Apple picking, or Something else..
(more info to come)