Friday the 13th was a regular day at work. I did get a facial. I hadn’t gotten one in almost a year. Luckily Michelle was my person. The owner or the daughter give me a hard time for not coming more. I like her alot. My fave part is the massage and the least fave is the extraction. I always get a nice rest though. This time I came with my pal TK. Afterwards we went to dinner at Pho Hua as our usual Xinh Xinh was packed to the gils next door. We wanted to do something different and decided to go to Redline for a mixer. Ended up that the people were at the front and by the time we realized it, we were not interested.

VDAY-Woke up at 5am to volunteer at a local Chinatown food pantry. I have gone here a few times and this time beyond the usual packing, assembling I got to talk to the participants and use my Cantonese/Mandarin to good use. Fueled by a delicious  SB expresso truffle, I was able to power through the session. One kind man asked if I was Cantonese. Upon hearing yes, he noted that my mandarin was good. Awww, very kind of him but I know I only can get by in Mandarin.

Since I was in Back Bay, I was able to accomplish a few longstanding tasks. One to pay off my friend TN and I headed to Bank of America.I got some stuff at FBasement and browsed Borders. (I had to kill some time before meeting up with my friend for lunch.) With a little time, I headed to the ICA to see the new big exhibit. Fairey has a big one and has recently been arrested for his previous outstanding warrants for his arrest for his graffiti. I think the man is very talented.

Grabbed lunch with AO and then went to see Black and White at the CitiWang Theater. I can see the economic slump as upper areas of the theater were empty! Afterwards we headed to Chinatown and my friend wanted to get some Chinese medicine and ended up seeing a Chinese doctor and having acupuncture done. Dinner was vietnamese again, I didn’t mind as I like it.

I ended up staying up til 7am doing odds and ends. What I am not sure of.

Sunday 2/16-Got a text at 10am so my 11am dimsum was happening afterall. UGGGH. With 3 hours sleep I scrambled to meet up with my friend HS 현숙 in Chinatown. While waiting at the Boylston T station I met up with SLan who I had met at a mixer earlier in the week. (Such a small world eh?) We shared a table and had many different things as I wanted HS 현숙 to try stuff as she won’t be able to have it in Pusan. Afterwards we went to Eldos and I got her some stuff I love to eat there. But most importantly we got freshly made egg custard tarts still yummy and warm from the oven!

After dropping her off, I had to rush over to meet up with Tomo for lunch/tea. No tea was served but it was lunch. We had a lovely nice nice meal to celebrate her bday and graduation from grad school. So proud of her. After a leisurely meal, we head over to Washington Square to hang out before I head to meet MPK for Indian at Tamarind Bay. We had an interesting conversation and this was the most about his opinions and thoughts I have heard from MPK in a long time. Still I am glad we are good friends.

Sunday was such a food day that I needed some bitter melon tea. I have gotten used to drinking it when I need it.This weekend was very packed and busy. You work all week for the weekend to end up not having much time at home. But I had fun doing it and meeting up with friends.

Friday the 13th was a regular day at work. I did get a facial. I hadn’t gotten one in almost a year. Luckily Michelle was my person. The owner or the daughter give me a hard time for not coming more. I like her alot. My fave part is the massage and the least fave is the extraction. I always get a nice rest though. This time I came with my pal TK. Afterwards we went to dinner at Pho Hua as our usual Xinh Xinh was packed to the gils next door. We wanted to do something different and decided to go to Redline for a mixer. Ended up that the people were at the front and by the time we realized it, we were not interested.

VDAY-Woke up at 5am to volunteer at a local Chinatown food pantry. I have gone here a few times and this time beyond the usual packing, assembling I got to talk to the participants and use my Cantonese/Mandarin to good use. Fueled by a delicious  SB expresso truffle, I was able to power through the session. One kind man asked if I was Cantonese. Upon hearing yes, he noted that my mandarin was good. Awww, very kind of him but I know I only can get by in Mandarin.

Since I was in Back Bay, I was able to accomplish a few longstanding tasks. One to pay off my friend TN and I headed to Bank of America.I got some stuff at FBasement and browsed Borders. (I had to kill some time before meeting up with my friend for lunch.) With a little time, I headed to the ICA to see the new big exhibit. Fairey has a big one and has recently been arrested for his previous outstanding warrants for his arrest for his graffiti. I think the man is very talented.

Grabbed lunch with AO and then went to see Black and White at the CitiWang Theater. I can see the economic slump as upper areas of the theater were empty! Afterwards we headed to Chinatown and my friend wanted to get some Chinese medicine and ended up seeing a Chinese doctor and having acupuncture done. Dinner was vietnamese again, I didn’t mind as I like it.

I ended up staying up til 7am doing odds and ends. What I am not sure of.

Sunday 2/16-Got a text at 10am so my 11am dimsum was happening afterall. UGGGH. With 3 hours sleep I scrambled to meet up with my friend HS 현숙 in Chinatown. While waiting at the Boylston T station I met up with SLan who I had met at a mixer earlier in the week. (Such a small world eh?) We shared a table and had many different things as I wanted HS 현숙 to try stuff as she won’t be able to have it in Pusan. Afterwards we went to Eldos and I got her some stuff I love to eat there. But most importantly we got freshly made egg custard tarts still yummy and warm from the oven!

After dropping her off, I had to rush over to meet up with Tomo for lunch/tea. No tea was served but it was lunch. We had a lovely nice nice meal to celebrate her bday and graduation from grad school. So proud of her. After a leisurely meal, we head over to Washington Square to hang out before I head to meet MPK for Indian at Tamarind Bay. We had an interesting conversation and this was the most about his opinions and thoughts I have heard from MPK in a long time. Still I am glad we are good friends.

Sunday was such a food day that I needed some bitter melon tea. I have gotten used to drinking it when I need it.This weekend was very packed and busy. You work all week for the weekend to end up not having much time at home. But I had fun doing it and meeting up with friends.

Swarovski Circle Pendant

Just now, my boss’ wife came by the office. She is on maternity leave and in a hour reorganized my desk. In order to make order, you have to make a mess first. Everything from the drawers was taken out and put on the floor. We quickly made piles and decided 1) to keep 2) put in supply desk 3) recycle 4) trash 5) find a new home. My desk looks great and we shall see how long this system lasts.

But it was nice to see her and catch up!

This weekend I showed some tough love to a good friend. She is getting hitched soon and needs to prep her digs for her new soon to be hubby to move his stuff over into her place. She is a packrat! One thing she admits is not being organized with paper. (You would never know it that her house has lots of stuff as she is uber organized. But on the homefront, that is another matter. She has her bro’s stuff still at her place -though they both long moved out of the place.) I found documents and magazines from 1999 during my efforts. So since we are kindred spirits, I noticed she made some headway with her place since I was last there but this was all thanks to her fiance.

But I wanted to help her too. Yet, in order to do it, I had to dedicate a good amount of time to do it. Boy, did I ever dedicate alot of time! Even though we weren’t around Saturday, I got alot done (for Saturday/Sunday/Monday morning and Sunday afternoon and night). Since I have weird sleep patterns, I was able to get up early on Saturday morning and tackled the breakfast nook table for about 3 hours. The next time I was able to do anything was Sunday morning at 5:30am! (UGGH I wanted to sleep in more but I couldn’t.) I even read up on bridal stuff and looked at all the earmarked information the bride liked from the magazines and books too.

So I had a good 4 hour stretch before dim sum. After dim sum, I was able to shred and started on some piles downstairs in the outer room by the stairs. (I finished the breakfast nook table!) I admit I got bleary eyed after awhile as sorting stuff –to shred, to ask my friend, to recycle was a tad bit boring. It helped my friend was around for me to chat with her.

By dinner time, I had created piles of recycling and trash for her next trash/recycle pick up day! I shredded another 4 full bins until it went kaput and the shredder forbade me to shred anything else. Well I did conk out by 10pm. Plus I had to get up by 4am (I had a 7am flight this morning to catch). Before heading out, I even shredded another binful of stuff.

I joked with my friend that all she needs to do is to “maintain”. It is all I ask. But I agree with her fiance, everything needs a home. Then it will be easier to take care to sort and organize. She admits to disliking to shred things. I joked too bad I lived far away, I could loan out my sis. She inexplicably loves to shred things. (Comes in handy for me though when I have tons of shredding to do!)

Before I left early this morning, I looked over my handiwork and was very proud. I joked, isn’t lovely to see “space” and also be able to “see” your kitchen nook table? Luckily she has her dad in town to help her move all her recycling to the curb for Thursday morning. I look forward to seeing her place in May again when I have to be in town for her Bridal Shower.

For the first time recently, I boarded a plane without ID. I always though you could not. The airline rep said you can and she helped a few people in the same boat just yesterday. For all her 20 years of experience, this was not the first time. (I believe her, I just never thought I would put myself in this position.) But when I realized I had nothing-driver’s license or passport. I was thinking I am going to be stuck here 1) very late for work 2) paying extra fees to change my flight time. Plus I had woken up very early. My friend was driving en route with my ID but it was a good 40 -45 minute drive one way (without traffic) or 30 minutes if you are really flying down the highway.

So I walk over to the check in/full service counter. I had already checked in on the kiosks as you only need your credit card or other information to check in. I gave my boarding pass and told the rep my situation. Turns out I could make my flight (time was 6:20am—boarding time was 6:30am for a 7am departure) but she told me I would be thoroughly screened without ID. The gate was in another terminal so I was tight on time. Luckily I make it quickly and get to the guy who asks for the boarding pass and ID. Immediately someone takes me to fill out some forms They ask for another form of ID, I only have my credit card, otherwise nothing else on me.

Then the TSA person calls somewhere and answers some questions. I am asked what states I have lived, what is the name of the county I live in and that is pretty much it. After less than 5 minutes, I am cleared. Then this young man personally walks me to the security line (bypassing alot of people). I am thoroughly patted down. I have to wait in this glass enclosure. All my stuff is then taken and patted down and opened up. This took all of 10 minutes. I race to the shuttle van to go to the other terminal. It is 6:52am as I get to the terminal. I run right out of the shuttle to my gate. I am told that I just missed the last call before the final door closing and flight take off.

I recognized the flight attendants from the other night, I really liked them. One of them tells me to call down and take a deep breathe. I am glad I made my flight. So you can board a plane without ID but you just have a few more hassles.

Recently I was in SE Asia and I have gotten stuff while away-glasses, hair cut etc.  This time the hair cut was not as awesome as the one I got in Seoul. Though it cost only $15 USD, I was mortified. I am not usually an overly critical person over my hair, but this time was really ridiculous. I liked the salon from the outside and the lady who washed my hair did a great job. I love the head massage. The haircut itself took over an hour (or it felt like it) and he was careful with snips here and there. I had alot of hair. I basically told him I am willing to try something new.

Well when he unveiled the look, my heart plummeted. I had bangs (ugggh) and a do that echoed a mullet. The excessive cuts on the top and I had a “tail” in the back (or it looked like one). I was not happy. I was nice and said thank you. Luckily,  you do not have to tip in Asia.

Once I got back home, my sis was a harsh critic. Let’s just say she said I looked like a certain comedienne, not very flattering at all! Originally I was going to go ANYWHERE to get it cut. Then after talking to my boss, he recommended someone his sister has been going to for years. I just went to her last night. She is great! In under an hour, she fixed my hair (not much she can do on the top but she made the back look less of a tail and more shaggy and contoured to my face) and I got a color with some brown highlights. All for an affordable price! She is a Newbury St stylist too with 14 years of industry experience. I loved how she worked with my face shape and considered my lifestyle and habits. I definitely will be going back to her!

Never again will I go to a hairstylist in Asia without a friend who speaks the language (ie in Korea) or if I can speak the language.