Pre-Halloween in the Castro

I had a freaky fun time Saturday night for Halloween. Went with James, Stephen, Siu, Ben, Eric and Angel for sushi, partying and the 'unofficial' pre-Halloween Party in the Castro. We were all dressed up in our costumes: James was a nerd; I was a gay reaper in an ominous black robe with no face; Eric was a wanna-be surgeon/doctor; Siu - she was Dorothy (from Wizard of Oz) or something; Angel was a girl scout (she was cute!); Ben was a sailor boy; and Stephen, well, chigga was a preppy pimp cuz his ass was too lazy to put on a costume.:P (But ya looked handsome like always, Sha-ney-ney!).

To start the night of fright, we all dug into some sushi at Nippon Yakuosa on Church Street in SF. And fortunately we weren't the only freaks in the house wearing costumes!:) James did the honors of ordering for our group in the small, vapor-steamy Japanese restaurant where you sat in old hard wooden chairs, often back-to-back with customers from the next table. The sushi was good and a bargain if you weren't snobby about the no-frills ambience. However, I didn't care too much for the alcoholic cider I had with it (think I prefer non-alcoholic fizzy apple juice ;)).

After dinner, we all walked through the Castro to Elizabeth's house. Along the way I had some mischievous fun peering into windows of restaurants and passing cars, forebodingly giving warnings to laughing onlookers. I guess there's some fun to not being able to been seen in your costume and being a 'universally recognized' character (i.e. Death).

At Elizabeth's home, there were a lot of people already there, and I got to meet some new people including a self-proclaimed Miss Chinatown (Sarah), Elizabeth (the owner, dressed in a nice umbrella white dress), a fallen priest, and some others. Even more frightening was the awful "SCAREOKE" singing there that would make William Hung cringe! And Ben and Siu, I'm sorry but you guys made my ears run for cover! ;P
Bernie and his friend Ricardo also managed to join up with us at the party for a bit.

Toward midnight we all headed over to another party at Eric's friend, whose Victorian home of bare wooden floors, unpainted walls, and devoid of any furniture appeared as if it was undergoing renovation. There we drank some more (or the others did at least) and did some dancing. A couple of straight blond girls tried macking on one of our straight-acting friends, clueless that his boyfriend was nearby. They also stamped Siu as a "skanky Dorothy-wanna be", which was the WRONG thing to say cuz Siu juz got all pissed! I mean, those girls brought out the bitch in Dorothy that'd make Toto run for cover. It was funny!!

After the fun and drama at Brian's, we all climaxed the night with some dancing at The Cafe. Lotta people there in the ever-crowded, hot and stuffy club, many dressed in costume. Had fun dancing with the gang and freakin with Angel and getting her girl scout cookie.;p

Tonight I didn't go to the highly publicized, straight-gorilla'd version of Halloween in the Castro (did you know that they televise it now thanks to KRON Channel 4?!). I've been a couple times before, and usually it's sooooooooooo crowded that the fun ends after the first 10 minutes of ogling others' costumes and then trying not to lose your friends in the crushing sea of people.

Anyways, HaPPy HalloWeen everybody!!!

Birthday, Houses, and Votes

Okay, it's been a hella long time since I last updated my blog, so let me catch up on some stuff that's been happening lately...Here'z my updatez...

The Weekend

Enjoyed an intense weekend of clubbing and partying. Went to TD's on Friday night with my buddy James in honor of his bday. We drank to happy times, some kickin' music, and did a little dancing.

Saturday went to SF to celebrate James' birthday at a dinner with his frenz, as well as with Stephen, Siu and Ben. Had an absolute blast. We started off with drinks at Twin Peaks, then a delicious dinner at Chow's, crashed a friend's housewarming party, and then climaxed it with some energetic clubbing at The Cafe. We got all down and dirty with a timid Chanelle and unfortunately his friend Eric's sweater was thieved. I didn't get home until 3:30am Sunday morning and, during the last 10 minutes of my trip home was seemingly followed by some small car. I thought nothing of it, but soon noticed out of the corner of my eye that the car would change lanes whenever I would. After a few times, I decided to speed up and the pursuing car matched my speed. At that point I was a calmly phreeked and tried hard to think where the nearest police station was. However, after about 5 minutes, the car left the freeway behind me. Needless to say I thought it was more than a coincidence and perhaps some sick spat of boredom by some driver who probably shouldn't have been on the road at that late hour. And when I got home, I juz crashed on my bed, hehe..

Home is Where the Wallet Is

Well, I'm back on the market again searching for a home...to live in, that is. (Though I am still lookin out for that special guy too!) And I have begun to feel at a disadvantage here in Silicon Valley becuz everyone else can afford to buy expensive homes that cost $700,000 or more...my family and I are stretching it juz tryin to buy a $500k home...years ago my salary alone could afford an elegant, brand new home..now we are trying to simply get a townhome. I prefer to stay in the Silicon Valley, as for some internal reason I love living south of downtown SJ. The housing prices here in the South Bay are so damn ridiculous that I'm afraid of getting gentrified outa my area juz cuz it's tuff to afford a nice home! If my folks and I had bought 5 months ago, we could've afforded some more decent places. But the agent(s) we had back then didn't give us a good skinny on what we could (and couldn) afford, so we didn feel we could afford anything. Now we know what we can buy but the supply is so much less...*sigh*...maybe one day I'll be writing here from Sacramento or somethin..:P Oh well, I'm still keepin my chin up that somethin nice will come along soon for me. I almost bought my very first home earlier this week -- a 2100 sq. ft townhome in South San Jose. But another buyer was somehow let into it and the agent representing the owner of the home never let us counteroffer. Our agent feels that the 'selling agent' may have unethically colluded with the first buyer and not let the homeowners know of my wish to buy their home. Anyways, I was disappointed for my first homebuying experience, but not discouraged. I know it's a cut-throat market not just for homebuyers but for real estate agents, as it seems everyone including their grandma is in the real estate biz these days.

Vote or Die

I think this year will be one of the biggest turn outs for an American election ever. The competition between George W. Bush and John Kerry has gotten dirty, with lots of name calling and accusations. And I think memories of a supposedly 'stolen' election in 2000 will draw more Democrats to the polls this time. I used to be a Republican (and I'll knock the crap outa anyone who says they'll take my gay card away cuz of this..I was a Repub *fiscally*). But now I'm an Independent cuz I don't like either candidates and their platforms. Some people have been tellin me I'm throwing away my vote if I dunt vote for Bush or Kerry. That's such bullsh*t. Juz cuz I don't vote for YOUR candidate means I'm throwing away my vote?! HeLLO, voting is a right of every American citizen and what's more important than who you vote for is that you vote period. So get over your biased self-serving selves.

Forgotten and Will Not Be Forgotten

Saturday Recap

On Saturday, took my pet birdies to our family vet in Cupertino for nail trims and check ups. My ever-hyper 2-year old cockatiel Whistler checked in at a healthy 82 grams (it's a wonder he doesn't weight less). He's such a kid, flying around and getting into everything that I have to constantly keep after him when he's outa his cage.:) Lucky, the older 'tiel, weighed in at 92 grams (he lost 20 grams since his last check up) but was healthy; we think it's cuz we put him and his buddy on a better, avian-cake diet! So, overall our avian expert doctor Dr. Savant was very pleased with how well we were taking care of our pet birds. After all, they are FAMILY, and we love them very much so naturally we're gonna go all out to take care of them.

Saturday night I went with Brian to a birthday party for my buddy Anthony (aka "Super Anthony") at Buca di Beppo's at the Pruneyard in Campbell. A lotta Anthony's 20-something-year old frenz took over a section of the restaurant, and there was a LOT of food. Too much food! No wonder Italian families get big!;)

Sunday Recap

Sunday went to see "The Forgotten" with jE. Very good movie, and surprisingly suspenseful. In fact, we jumped outa our chairs several times! I definitely recommend this Julianne Moore flick. Also gorged on chocolate cherry cheesecake ice cream at Cold Stone Ice Creamery. Good stuff!

Oh, this weekend saw the funniest video by Hitman Sammy Sam called "Step Daddy". It's rap but it's cute and has children in it and is FUNNY! Check it out at this link:
http://launch.yahoo.com/artist/default.asp?artistID=1041063

Monday

I was most shocked to learn of Christopher Reeve passing away after a valiant fight against his paralysis and spinal cord injuries. I know some of you guys probably don't identify with him or even know who he is, but I grew up with him and his "Superman" movies. When I was a kid, he was a symbol to me of strength, of how we wish we all could sometimes be a 'Superman'. My favorite Superman movie ever was Superman II.

In his last years of life, the 52-year old Christopher Reeve spoke out and lobbied Congress to get more funding for stem-cell research and spinal cord injury research, and I admired his courage and determination to hopefully walk and feel through his body again. He will definitely be missed.

It's amazing how celebrities I knew growing up are passing away (Christopher Reeve, Rodney Dangerfield, etc).

Weekend is Here!

Ahh, the weekend is finally here! Thank goodness I need the break and the sleep! Last night kicked it off with watching the Presidential Debate on TV. Wow, did Kerry go after Bush or what? Bush looked like he came back stronger in this 2nd debate from his last one, but still sounded defensive. Overall, I felt Bush was more heartfelt and sincere in his arguments, while Kerry had all but numbers and statistics with little sincerity (after all, he's a lawyer and I never trust liars, I mean lawyers). ;)

Later Friday night went clubbing with j at TD's. There we met up with James and Royce and bumped into some other of my friends. Was pretty lively last night and the music was hype and dance-able compared to the last time I went (when I could swear it was like 'jungle boogie' night). Stayed out til almost 2am and came back exhausted!

Woke up this morning after 9 and went to play dodgeball at Camden Community Center. Only a handful of people were there -- mostly tall/big white guys from the local area -- and a couple of the guys from SBQA. Judging by the speed and force of their throws, the non-SBQA people had been playing a while. I didn't manage to get anyone out except myself, heh, and I think one of the guys from SBQA was scared shitless such that he left after seeing how it was played. Fortunately, James H stayed and took the challenge with me and we had fun. I think next time I'll hold an extreme dodgeball game elsewhere for 'beginners' (including myself).

Weekends Almost Here

Yay, only 2 days until the weekend! Can't wait to catch up on some sleep!
Getting tired each day at work, trying to make my work deadlines! I plan to reward myself with a vacation in November!

I've been spending some time at work talking with a employee assistance counselor to help me weed through some personal issues, including friendships and love. It's slowly helping. Life has been kinda lonely for me lately. I have a very loving and close family. I feel as if I have so many friends and acquaintances, yet being the highly sociable person, I'm always the one to reach out to them. I'm tired of doing all the legwork. It's in my nature to help others and reach out, I suppose. And then there's my dating life...:o) Maybe one day I'll find someone who can appreciate all I got to offer. I feel like a winner, yet feel like I'm losing. =P~

Love the new D-Child song "Lose my Breath". I'm so glad they're back. Also been spinning "Fly" from Hillary Duff. I feel the words in that song quite say what I'm feeling in my life right now. ;)

Lee-Can Meet a Celebrity

Today during lunch I ran across a celebrity! I had stopped in for lunch at Yan Can Restaurant at the Rivermark in Santa Clara where I spied Martin Yan (of "Yan Can Cook"), talking with customers and signing pix and his new book "Quick and Easy". I had to do a double-take to realize it really was him, and he looks pretty good for his middle-age. I wasn't able to talk to him or shake his hand, as he was making the rounds while I was standing in line for my takeout order. Nevertheless, it was cool to see him. When I got back to work, I told my close coworker Linda about it, AND it turns out her husband is a personal friend of Martin Yan (they went to cooking school together)! What a small world!

I've been tired physically and work-wise the last few days. I wake up in the morning, roll over and tell myself "I have to go to work again today?" Hehe..I need a vacation badly. Maybe I'll head down to LA next month to reward myself after working so hard this month!

Looking to get a new mattress...Navy Exchange has got a Sealy for $350! Like that price!

Looks like I'm getting one step closer to being able to buy a home. My family and I met with our loan agent today (right before the Martin Yan thing above) to informally get a loan going! Wish me luck!

No More "Respect"

So sad that Rodney Dangerfield passed away today! I was shocked, as I thought he had been doing well from recovering in the hospital. I grew up a little with him, especially with his funny famous line "I don't get no respect", which become a household buzz phrase during the 1980s. He will definitely be missed...

Watched the Vice Presidential debate on TV. Gosh, were they at each other's throats or what?

Now driving Lee's CD player: Destiny Child's new song "Lose my Breath". LOVE this song!!!

A Day in SF

Went to the Castro Street Fair today with Timmy. Same stuff as they have every year -- food booths, arts booths, crafts booths, volunteer org booths. No big whoop to me. Bumped in2 a few other frenz there as well.

Afterward, we scouted out UCSF cuz T wanted to check out the campus. Then we landed in Union Square and went shopping at Macy's, where I got myself a bottle of Gendarme cologne. I love the smell of this new scent -- it's clean and completely different from anything else I've smelled. We also hit up Ross and Old Navy.

Lastly dinner for the first time at House of Nanking. Excellent restaurant. Though heavily patronized by non-Asian clientele, with a line constantly out the door, the food was superb and the service good. One of the owners was extra 'helpful' and changed one of our dish orders slightly when she felt we ordered two too-similar dishes. Seems as if she wanted us to really sample what they had to offer. I think this is the 2nd time in a month where I've had a waitress mother me in a restaurant! (The last one was the Korean waittress in LA!) Lol! Nevertheless, we payed the same as the original order and the I definitely recommend this restaurant to others.

Rolling and Homing

Started off my day with a bike and rollerblade with SBQA through Coyote Hellyer Park in South San Jose. I was the only "blader" of a convoy of six guys and we rolled for 10 miles round trip! My legs were tight and my feet shouted "what the hell were you thinking" at the end.

The route was rather desolate and rolled through dried brush and trees and under freeway overpasses, except for a small lake near the beginning. I can't believe how exhausted I was and that I even managed to keep up with the mikes on bikes! The trail wasn't even difficult. Maybe I simply need some more leg and aerobic strengthening before the next time I rollerblade with them. (Or I need to buy a bike!)


Afterward went househunting with my mom through Evergreen and Blossom Hill. My family's lease ends in 4 months, and so we're hoping to buy a new home soon. One place that tops our list is Shapell's Montage Collection, a collection of old-world Spain, Mediterranean and Monterey style townhomes. The next release of 15 homes is October 16, but unfortunately it's all going to be done by a lottery (in other words, you get a number and a copy of it is put in a bag. If your number is called, you get to choose the home you want to buy). I don't think this practice is really fair as if you had seen these homes first and really wanted one, you had no better chance of buying one than if you just walked off the street today and checked them out for the first time! But we like the houses so much, we gotta play the game. We also checked out homes at Tuscany Hills in Blossom Valley. These hilltop townhomes and flats offer an awesome view of the South San Jose valley and are in the running for the next home we buy.

My First Newborn Blog

It's my first Blogger blog! Ribbit ribbit!! Ok, after years of manually publishing my daily thoughts and blogs, I've decided to start automating so I can focus more on the design and layout of my site. So hope you enjoy my new home online! I will still keep older versions of my web site at http://www.geocities.com/leeward_98a