July 31, 2002 - 6:05PM
Hmm...busy busy busy. What's new...Chris came over for a bit this past weekend. First we played the Big Game (Me: Cal Chris: Stanford). It was an incredibly close game (23 - 14) due to the fact that the Cal recievers actually played like real life with footballs bouncing off of their chests and having to cover every Stanford reciever with at least 3 Cal defenders for the tackle. I was glad that I pulled off the win. Then, we played Florida #5 (Chris) vs Florida St #6 (Me). I think the score there was something like 30 - 7. We then played Miami vs Miami to see if Chris's teams just happened to suck. Unfortunatly for Chris, I schooled him 50-something to 3. I'm sure he'll get better at the game given time just like how he is with SSX Tricky. I left the XBOX with him for a couple hours and come back to find that he's gotten a 600,000+ score in Girabaldi that is just like 12,000 above my high score. Suck suck suck. And I thought that I had played that fricken level to death. Obviously he must have found some other area to explore. I just couldn't believe that Chris could go from 500,000 skill level to 600,000+ in that short of a time. It's good though since it motivates me just like how he was the first to go to 300,000+, which in turn made me push it up to 600,000+ scores. Aargh, good thing he isn't here that often so I don't have to deal with his evil leering face. haha jk. Couple days ago was Joe's B-Day so me, Wai-Lin, Leah, and Joe went into SF to celebrate. Cheesecake Factory took forever for us to get in to so we milled around in Macy's where I bought a pair of jeans since I had rushed out in my comfortable work outfit (ie shorts) and felt incredibly uncomfortable in SF wearing shorts. Plus, I needed another pair of dark jeans. Wait, why is it a pair? I bought 1 pair of jeans...hmm interesting. Joe told us about the Levi's store and how for $90 you could sit in a jacuzzi and get your jeans shrunk exactly to your size. Couldn't you do this at home? I would have thought that you could use a tub and hot water and get the same results. Maybe they don't use water but some other special chemically treated liquid. We had the Avacado Egg Rolls as an appetizer. Leah and I both got the Pork Chops while Joe got a Shepard's Pie look alike and Wai-Lin got a burger sandwich. Afterwards, we drove around looking for something to do but couldn't find anything that Leah could get into. We then headed back to the East Bay to see if we could think of something. It was getting late though and Joe had to work in Concord the following day so Joe left us behind. I ended up just watching Craig Kilbourne at their apartment for a while. It was probably the first time I had actually watched his show from start to finish. I actually think his "celebrity vs celebrity" trivia segment is pretty cool. Saturday, I spent most of it programming but was able to do a 99 Ranch run with Wai-Lin. Got so darn full from the Dim Sum. I bought a lot of stuff I usually don't get such as Buns and Green Onion pancakes. It's more like Adam to get that kind of stuff. Later on, I got pretty tired of looking at the computer monitor and kinda wanted to rest but became restless(trying to sleep at like 11PM is hard now) so I got Wai-Lin and Leah to come with me to North Beach for some tiramisu. Parking was ok but when we got to my usual Italian cafe, they were out of tiramisu. Instead we got a raspberry cheesecake and a chocolate suicide with our drinks (I got a Strawberry Italian soda this time). The cheesecake was pretty darn good but chocolate brownie covered with chocolate didn't win me over as usual. I don't think I've hit my period of high-sugar-intake yet. I'm thinking it'll probably happen in a half-year or so. :-) I actually hadn't eaten dinner yet so we went to Steps of Rome (the big one...not the small one). It was really bumping there with the Italian rap music and all the waiters either clapping or shouting along with the music. The atmosphere in there was definitely cool. These really late nights just keep on coming! Last night, I had the munchies (again, because I didn't have dinner) so I wanted to get something to eat. Went to Mels for the Mel's Pick 4 with the Oxford Gang(that's what I'm going to be calling Leah, Wai-Lin, and Michelle...unless I can think of something cooler :) ) and Leah's friend from UCSC. Felt a little weird, as I was the only one really eating anything but I tried to finish up my food ASAP. Which is pretty hard considering all the food you get with the Pick-4. Actually when we were going to Mels, Leah mentioned that they were watching Mansfield Park (whereupon, I asked if they had finished it, and since they hadn't, I was going to withhold my opinion on the movie...I actually mixed it up with Gosford Park which I felt was one of the biggest let downs ever). After my confusion was cleared up, (they actually rented both Parks, Mansfield and Gosford), I was invited to watch it since I hadn't seen it. I liked Emma and Mansfield was pretty good but I kind of liked the more light-heartedness of Emma compared to the depresssing aspects of Mansfield. The romantic hijinks just weren't there. As a serious drama into 19th century society, though it was an interesting biopic. There, I used a SAT word. biopic...b-i-o-p-i-c...biopic. :-D

July 25, 2002 - 8:39AM
I think that I'm going to be in the mood for some more Shrimp with Scrambled Egg madness. I was just now walking past what used to be Gou Bu Li, and saw this plate filled with bigass shrimp. That made me want some. How the hell do they get those shrimp that big and plump anyways? Do they work out? Do they work out only to discover that their meaning in life was to fulfill my hunger? Today is another day yet just 5 hours ago I was putting the smack down in NCAA Football 2003. By performing well on the field, you get these points which you can redeem for all this cool locked stuff. The Mascot vs Mascot game for instance has become one of my favorite parts of the game. I don't know if the Stanford Tree is in it but I'd love the see a pack of Oski's take down the Tree in a I formation. My Hikaru no Go downloads have stopped...so hard to get Episode 21 and 36...oh well. Maybe one day they will appear to me. I want to go camping again. Now that I have my spiffy KOA Membership card, I feel the urge to impress upon others this need for the outdoors. I'm thinking about going up to the one in Petaluma this weekend. For some reason, jookwarrior.com email and uclink email became very very slow yesterday. As far as I know the problem still continues.

July 24, 2002 - 9:27AM
Spent some time yesterday running around trying to get my grubby hands on EA's NCAA Football 2003 for the XBOX. Yesterday was the release date so I really had little chance of getting it but I was able to fanagle a deal to take away someone's reserved copy at the Gamestop over in Emeryville. This game is [insert funky asian voice]simply amaaaaazing[end funky asian voice]. Graphics, gameplay...ah so sweet. First time out, I played Cal vs Stanford. Lost 28 - 14. Score seems reminiscent of some Big Games I've been to. BUT on the second time, I followed it up with a 21 - 0 and then a 22 - 0 after that (I totally owned Stanford in that game, running a defensive touchdown, and then a 2 point conversion...hahaha). If only this performance would have been echoed in real life. Cal actually HAD a passing game, rather than no game at all which made playing pretty enjoyable. Unfortunatly, I then tried playing UCLA vs USC, and lost it for the Bruins. :-) I actually returned a punt for a touchdown once too. All I did was have the reciever not move for a little while, then look for an opening to rush through. Haven't tried duplicating it yet but it sure was interesting.

July 22, 2002
Had Soon Doo Boo today with Eddie. I still feel pretty good so it must have been something else that made me feel so bad. Then late night dinner of Shrimp with Scrambled Eggs. Yum yum. Then it got me thinking about the Sweet Mayonnaise Shrimp and how good that tastes over rice as well. Ach...with work and all, I really had keep from playing the XBOX as much as I'd like to. Almost done with the episodes of Hikaru no Go that I have. At some point those Fushigi Yuugi, Kenshin, Inuyasha dvd box sets will come in handy. Dang, this wireless connection is sweet. How did I get by without it? I've thought a lot about what I would like the next website to be like...so many things that I would like to try out but for now I'll probably be making only slight changes over the course of several months. Probably nothing too drastic but just enough for it to be more usable.

July 21, 2002
Had a major bout of a stomach flu 2 days ago. It might have been something to do with the Todai Seafood Buffet experience on Wednesday or something but I seriously felt the shoulders ache and the stomach roll. So last Tuesday, I had dinner with Wei Lin at a Korean place that Eddie had recommended. Really nice stuff and it seemed a bit nicer than that Korean BBQ near Koryu Sushi. Wei Lin's going down to San Diego to see her boyfriend this weekend so there wasn't much piggying out there. Wei Lin kept on mentioning that I wasn't eating enough whereupon I said," Just wait until Todai..." Boy was Todai fun. So we had all talked about eating at Todai (Wei Lin, Eddie, Joe, and me) and I thought it'd be fun if we actually went. So I setup this last Wed for this feast (Wai Lin and Eddie had never been)...I picked Wai Lin, Eddie, and Wei Lin's roommate Michelle (Leah pulled an Eddie on us and said that she already had food...Eddie had did it to me and Wei Lin the night before for Korean BBQ) and all of us went. Joe couldn't come at the last min cause some slackers at AE decided to call in sick so Joe had to pull their shifts. Simon and Adora were going to come as well after Simon's meeting. It was really funny to see Eddie come into Todai cause I had been kind of torturing him with the descriptions of food all along...Eddie came in saying that he would take down the restaurant! hahaha unfortunately that was not to be. In any case, Alex Luna also came along and joined us for the food. I had my 4 plates but surprisingly this time I had enough space for a small plate for desserts, and a uni. hehe everyone else though with the possible exception of Simon, who came in a bit later, really kowtowed to the Todai God. Well Wai Lin's too skinny and all so I really didn't put her past 2 plates but Eddie really looked spent after 2 plates. At the end, he complained of a respiratory problem! Poor Eddie, I feel that he just hasn't gotten the buffet experience that I've gained over the years. We both have a big thing for food though. I have yet to try the Brothers Korean Restaurant in SF which is pretty damn famous (however supposedly not as good as the one that I tried out on Tuesday). Then there's that Japanese place in Roseville that's supposedly amazingly good. I've come to believe that perhaps Eddie is even crazier about food than I am since he went ahead and spend $70 on Yoshi's. Me and Adam went to JapanTown 2 separate times to get manga "Hikaru no Go" and to eat. Especially with late night programming sessions, eating late night food has become more and mroe of a habit. Hope it doesn't affect my waistline too much. Gotta go clubbing with Simon more often to keep those pounds away! I also purchased quite a few more tidbits of stuff since my last post, like an XBOX, a Samsung SyncMaster M LCD monitor, and a wireless router/switch...actually that's pretty much it. Ach...I'm never leaving this apartment...More updates later...its getting way to late and I'm just typing not even watching Hikaru no Go!