The Master Cleanse

So...today is my 28th birthday and I decided that I would torture myself by starting the 10 day master cleanse, aka the Lemonade Diet. I don't know what i was thinking because it's Day 1 and i'm already regretting it. But I must persevere!

So I started the day making my 2 liters of lemonade mixture, and went to work. Then i find out that i used waaaaay too much cayenne pepper so my lemonade tastes like spicy crap. SO my first day on the cleanse did not go well. Hopefully tomorrow will be better when I actually make the lemonade correctly. It's going to be a looong and hellish 10 days...

Zemantaa> will be giving away $6000 (split) to the five charities who get blogged about the most before June 6. Please help us reblog and spread the word about Wokai!

What is Wokai?

Wokai delivers an internet microfinance platform that allows individuals to provide Chinese microentrepreneurs with loan capital. Our organization acts as an intermediary in this process, transferring funds from contributors abroad to microentrepreneurs in China through our field partners.

Who does Wokai support?

A typical Wokai microentrepeneur is a female rural inhabitant, living on less than $1/day. Her microfinance loan, ranging from $150-$300 dollars, provides her with the capital to start a small business. Her business varies by location, raising sheep in a rural grassland or operating a small fruit stand in a city center.

With her income, she accumulates savings, which allows her to allocate money towards long-term investments like education and health. By the end of her loan cycle, she has experienced increased financial independence, bolstered self-confidence, and a strengthened sense of community.

Learn more and contribute today at http://www.wokai.org.

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had a great 3 day weekend at vegas. saw lion king the stage show for the 2nd time and it's still great.

sad day for california. it's a shame that in the 21st century, certain populations are still fighting for civil rights.

movie roundup:
star trek so far best movie of the summer
terminator was ok. never been a huge fan of the franchise, but it was action packed.

i guess it's been a while since i've posted. let's see...what's been going on...?

work has been pretty crazy for the past few weeks. the senior managers were all freakin out and really creating unnecessary drama and stress at work. ppl need to calm the eff down. now that May 1 has past, everything should be slowing down until we we start work on continuing students. joy.

i am in desperate need of a new job. i'm so done with this place. someone hire me.

in other developments, i went condo shopping the other day. we saw an awesome 3 bedroom 2 bathroom condo right by USC. there's some sort of assistance program that could possibly make it very affordable, but we shall see. i've run into too many hurdles to get my hopes up about this.

movie update:
x-men origins: wolverine - slightly disappointing...could've been better
17 again - drippy cheese
fast and furious - good for what it was

scuz, ry, and i have once again started our summer movie pool. my picks for the top 5 are:

1. Transformers 2
2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
3. Up
4. X-men Origins: Wolverine
5. Star Trek

Now after seeing Wolverine and hearing so much about Star Trek, i might be regretting my choices...

so on Monday...I went to the fancy shmancy restaurant CUT, one of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants. Their specialty is the 100% Japanese Wagyu style steak...so that's what we got...at $160 per steak. I gotta say...it did not live up to expectations. Although, $160 is a lot to live up to. Although it was quite the delicious steak, towards the end, it just got a bit too fatty and greasy for my taste. I definitely won't be paying that much for a steak again. The best part of the meal was the appetizers. We got bone marrow flan and tuna tartare which were amazing. Sadly, I may have to put a temporary end to my fancy dining experiences. They're making quite the big dent in the paycheck.

So, I went camping at Yosemite this weekend for Mr. Jose's birthday. It was quite the adventure. We got there at about 4pm on friday and discovered that the Curry Village tents we stayed at wasn't exactly what some would call "roughing it." The tents were quite spacious and could sleep 4 ppl comfortably. Instead of cots, there beds complete with sheets, pillows, and blankets. And they even provided towels. The tents were also heated which was nice because it got downright cold.

It pretty much rained all of Saturday, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits. We couldn't grill any of the food we brought but we still managed to hike in the very cold rain up to Vernon falls. It was beautiful. It was only a 3 mile hike, but seriously it felt like the longest 3 miles since it was mostly up hill and stairs. I always think hiking is an awesome idea, but when I'm actually on the hike, I'm pretty much dreading every minute of it and wanting it to end. But when it's actually over, I'm glad I did it and feel very accomplished.

We woke up Sunday morning to find the area covered in snow. We had a brief moment of panic when someone told us that all the roads were closed and we would have to stay another night. but turns out that person was wrong and we were able to leave quite easily and without having to spend $70 on chains.

It was a very fun trip. It's been a while since i've seen snow fall and it was pretty darn amazing.

oh and happy birthday jose! :)

No day but today!

I watched Rent for the 3rd time this weekend at the Pantages, and i LOVED it. It was awesome being able to see it with two of the original cast members. The whole cast (with the exception of Maureen) was amazing and we had awesome seats so we were able to see every detail. season tix to the pantages has definitely been worth it so far.

Sooo....the Teng household FINALLY has a working dryer. For years, I have lived with only a washer, one that we have had for at least 20 years. But we made do. However, my sister and I were tired of having to use a barely working dryer and then having to hang dry our clothes. It would take DAYS to finish a load of laundry.

So last November, Black Friday, we took advantage of the sales and bought a washer/dryer combo. But, since it was dirt cheap, it was back ordered and wouldn't be available until February. Fine. We lived without it for this long, what's another 2 months. So February 1 rolls around, and we get the machines. Washer works fine, but the dryer doesn't work. It doesn't heat up and the cycle stops after a few minutes. So we call Sears to have them come fix it. They couldn't fix it and said we needed to order a part or get a replacement. Order the part was faster so we went that route. Got the part, repairman came and said he still couldn't fix it and that we needed to get a replacement machine...which would take another 2 weeks. Ugh..so fine...we got a replacement. STILL didn't work. Repairman came again and said it's because the electric outlet was faulty and needed to fix that. Sooo we called the electrician and he fixed the outlet and FINALLY on Feb 28, we have a working dryer. FINALLY!!

If you haven't taken advantage of DineLA's restaurant week (www.dinela.com/restaurantweek), i HIGHLY recommend it. It's a great way to go to a usually too expensive restaurant at a somewhat reasonable price. Sure, 35-45 bucks is still a lot of money, but the amount of food you get and the quality is way worth the occasional splurge.

So far, I have dined at Ruth's Chris in Pasadena, The Restaurant at the Standard, and Katsuya in Glendale. Ruth's Chris definitely gives a lot of food in the 3 course meal. I was stuffed by the end of it. The Restaurant at the Standard was ...standard. It wasn't anything too special, but still good. Katsuya was amazingly surprising. I tend to not find Japanese food very satisfying, but Katsuya gave quite a bit of food and it was delicious.

Tomorrow night I will be going to Zucca, an Italian restaurant in downtown LA, and on Friday I will be going to Ruth's Chris again, but this time in Beverly Hills. Can't wait!

karma.

i had an interview on friday. right before my interview, i spilled coffee on my white shirt.

so...the dean mentioned in the previous post spilled coffee on herself while in my office. i'm not gonna lie...i kinda enjoyed it.

so...i've made some progress on my new years resolutions. i have officially stopped hiding. next on my agenday...find a new job. i'm making some progress on this front too. i have an interview on friday for a job that's pretty similar to what i'm doing now, but pays more which will be nice.

now for a brief rant. i found out from my boss today that the dean wants him to write me up for a small little mistake i made. the ONLY reason the dean is mad is because it made her look bad. i'm not just angry about being written up. i'm all for owning up to my mistakes, but really...this is so not a big deal. she is being very petty and her methods at reprimanding her staff does nothing for morale. even my boss thinks it's overboard, but he can't not write me up. this incident happened 3 weeks ago, and he hasn't written me up yet because he's hoping she'll just get over it. LAME....just another reason to find a new job sooner.

So it's that season where all the movie studios are pushing their oscar worthy movies. so here's a brief rundown of the ones i've seen.

the curious case of benjamin button - very long but a good story and well acted.
slumdog millionaire - kept me awake even though i was half asleep by the end of the previews. it was surpisingly good.
milk - very interesting to learn the story about the first elected gay official. it's kinda sad that the same arguments were used for prop 8 as were used for prop 6. except prop 8 actually passed. so i guess we took a step back in the fight for equality.
seven pounds - interesting plot but a bit too slow
the spirit - i know this isn't one of the award movies, but i did watch it and it sucked.

Happy New Year all! It's hard to believe it's already 2009. 2008 was a pretty eventful year. Some highlights:

- finally completing my masters degree
- the untimely passing of my uncle
- May 16
- NASPA conference at Boston
- FSA conference in Vegas
- visiting Farouk at Washington DC
- November 22
- Hawaii for Claudia's Wedding

I don't think I've ever visited so many places in a single year. I'm hoping 2009 will be just as eventful if not more so. For the first time, I'm actually going to set some concrete resolutions that I will make a genuine effort at trying to complete.

1. Find a new job
2. Move out
3. Stop hiding

I'm very much looking forward to 2009, especially if I am able to stick to my resolutions.