Dim Sum Diaries
Apparently are remaking Pride & Prejudice (2005) with Keira Knightly. Though I think that the original A&E version was the definitive, I'll probably go watch it just to see how they did it. But I ask you, in a head to head of Mr. Darcy (1995-Colin Firth) v. Mr. Darcy (2005-Matthew MacFadyen):

(1995)


(2005)


I tell ya, my man Colin wins every time.

Update: I found an updated picture of Matthew MacFadyen as Darcy, but its still Colin all the way baby!


This looks like something interesting to check out: Writing the Wartime Experience (via).

Lisa Kleypas Finally Updates Her Website


Which Wallflower Are You?

You're most like:

Lillian Bowman

You are high-spirited and stubborn to a fault, but also loyal and extremely loving. You secretly long for a man whose strong will is a match for your own. People tend to tread lightly around you, to avoid provoking your infamous temper. You would rather have a few, very close friends rather than a wide circle of lesser known acquaintances. However, you will go to any length to protect and help the ones you love. And when the right man comes along, you and he will be the most powerful pairing imaginable. Get ready for fireworks!

Best trysting place : outside in a rose-filled garden
Most flattering color : blue


*romantic sigh*
Now I'm not sure what I should do about the aforementioned dentist situation. I rather like the dentist, but the hygenist is a little wacky. Perhaps in retrospect, I should have sprang out of my chair and pointed my finger at her and said, "BEE-YOTCH, don't be disrespecting my people!!!!" But then again she had that sharp hooky thing she was cleaning my teeth with. Not advisable to go ballistic when she had that in her hand and poking around in my mouth.

I'm thinking I should write a letter to the dentist and explain the situation. Not so much that Gigi made the Asian comments, but it was actually a stream of various inappropriate comments...

We moved a piano this past weekend (actually Hubby moved it). My parents gave me their old piano so Daughter could take piano lessons. Its in the living room now and it has made us DIY mad! I bought a couple of paint samples from Restoration Hardware. The cafe creme color, which is an off-white with a barely hint of brown is gorgeous. We used the whole quarter-pint sample painting the wall and it is really pretty. I was able to get the Pottery Barn Design Library, Living Rooms book for a cheapo price at Sam's Club, so it has some pretty neat design ideas. That is the cool thing about watching endless hours of Changing Rooms. It gives you the confidence to try to do things yourself. First project: paint the room. Second project: design a windowseat bench (Hubby to build 3 boxes, cover them in fabric tbd and get a long foam cushion made, upholstered in same fabric, put many pillows in a deep red/burgundy silk and other colors). Oh yeah, and curtains. I'm so excited!
You know I really do try. I am well aware that I am emotionally reactive...for at least 5-7 days (and two weeks beforehand). I don't like being a bitch, but sometimes...I guess I can't help it. Case in point:

So I told myself, Self, since you are emotionally reactive, don't be. Be the epitome of sweetness and light. Don't react to crazy ass situations. But then guess what happens, a crazy ass situation occurs. I go to my dentist office to have my teeth cleaned. The hygenist, Gigi (aka nut job) begins to clean my teeth and tries to make conversation.

"So what nationality are you?" she asked.

"I'm Chinese," I try to mumble.

For some reason, she looks surprised. "Are you sure? No way! You have some American in you don't you?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm Chinese."

"But you have eyelashes!" she exclaimed.

I wasn't sure what to say to that so I just grunted.

"Do you hate Japanese people?" she wanted to know.

"No," I say firmly. "Why would I hate Japanese people? Maybe some of the older generation during the Japanese invasion of China..."

"Oh yeah...all you guys hate each other. Frankly, I can't tell you apart. You all look the same to me. And I can't understand why people always get mad when I say that."

I quieted down and she must have sensed I was mad because she got quiet and was very brusque after that.

After the exam (which I chose not to say anything because she had a giant meat hook she was using to clean my teeth), I asked to speak to the dentist for a moment. I don't know if he thought I was trying to get him alone for a moment because I had some nefarious motive. Finally I told him, "Yeah you know GiGi thinks that all Asians look the same and that I'm not Chinese apparently because I have eyelashes."

He looked blankly at me for a moment.

"I don't need to hear stuff like that about Asians," I continued. "Seriously, its not professional."

After a few minutes, he shook his head. "Is that a direct quote?"

"Uh yes. Remember I've been your patient for five years and I sent you a fruit basket last year? Remember me? Your bread and butter?"

He still didn't seem to believe me. "I'll talk to her."

Yeah I hope he does, cuz I don't feel comfortable with GiGi the nutjob hygenist. I called Hubby and told him...he was laughing so hard for like 5 minutes. Seriously...I try to be calm...and then I get thrust into a situation like this...

Deep sigh...

Mir's Dad Buys Chinese Newspapers. Hilarity Ensues.


I went to to visit my parents this weekend. We went to the same Hong Kong cafe for breakfast. Smelly waiter dyed his hair black again, but now there is a single blonde streak through it. He is very nice, but he still hasn't taken a shower. Still smells. Mom said he's has health problems. So that makes me feel sorry for him.

So I took a look at the Chinese newspapers my Dad habitually buys, and I see this:



Here is a close up. Apparently Jackee Ma is a hairstylist to the stars. And then I say to myself, is the girl in the pic next to him mad at him because he gave her a bad hairstyle or something?

"No," my mom tells me. "They were popping pills and then the pills made the girl put on pill goggles...so they slept together...or so he claims."

Interesting.

I also see this wedding dress. I am quite horrified, as I wonder if Hong Kong fashions have suddenly become so tasteless. Again my mom has to translate. This girl is appearing in a movie and she's getting married to a vampire. That's why she's wearing the attire. I wonder if it is the same girl who was popping pills, then slept with Jacky Ma. She never came down from that high with the pill goggles and it made her want to wear that bad superhero uniform with the boots and the cape.

[/end snarkiness}

Anyways, I got the results from the writing contest I entered vay back when. I didn't win. Kind of a bummer. It turns out that the women who did win are one with several manuscripts under their belt, have won multiple contests, etc etc etc. I am still a newbie, so it really isn't a surprise, I guess. I did get some good feedback from the judges. There were 3 scores. Out of a possible score of 100, one gave me 87 (yay!), one gave me 74 (semi-yay) and one gave me 67. So it was good, but it still needs much more work. Apparently I love to overuse adverbs. Hmmm...

So its back to the slave pits in term of my manuscript! On the brighter side, I sent an email to the women in my writing group looking for an honest to God real critique partner. One responded. I called her and we hit it off really well. We're meeting next week, so we'll see how it goes.
Meg Cabot has a blog (via)! She wrote Princess Diaries. That is so cool. She also writes as Patricia Cabot, which are romances geared for the likes of me. :)

I'm moving a piano this Sunday (actually Hubby is). Since daughter has Chinese blood coursing through her veins, it is required that she take piano lessons. My parents are giving me their piano (the one I learned on). I am very tempted to break into a show tune about the piano circle of life...like your mother and my mother before me...piano lessons...
1. When you start tearing up when NKOTB's, Please Don't Go Girl comes on your Yahoo! Launchcast station.

2. You really feel this quote applies to you:

You’ve never understood about bottoms, Jane. Having a bottom is like living with the enemy. Not only do they spend their lives slowly inflating, they flirt with men while we’re looking the other way.

--Sally, from Coupling.

3. Eating an entire pizza for lunch sounds like a great idea (accompanied by diet coke, which cancels out all the horrible calories). Oh, and a Fat Darrell too.

4. Watching the Ellie episode of the West Wing (season 2), then crying at all the dramatic father/daughter scenes.

Damn, I've been fucked up for the last few days.

Update:

Here's a little something that I want to get off my chest. I have a chat buddy who I met and we hit it off immediately. Maybe because we have similarly goofy personalities, he's always good for a laugh. He even reads some of my writing and gives me constructive criticism. So everything is cool. The thing is, he is a conservative Christian and is the antithesis of everything I stand for.

We delicately avoid any mention of religion or politics, preferring to concentrate instead on insulting each other.

"Please don't say, "Oh my god," he told me one day. "I find it offensive."

Good enough. I can respect that.

So he's recently started a blog. To talk about his Christian faith, etc etc etc. He linked my blog and requested I link his as well. Which I did. But then began the downward spiral of what I guess used to be an online friendship.

First he decides to put DSD under the category of "May contain objectionable material." Then he decides to delink me altogether because I used the word "fuck".

"Maybe when your content gets a little better, then I'll put you back on my blog," he emails me. "I put up with your questionable humor, but "fuck" is just too much."

Wow Rand, I'm so glad that you've tolerated me all this time.

OMG, should I be scared and not say fuck anymore. And sit beside the computer, hoping and praying that one day...someday soon he will link back to me?

I think not.
This guy takes his job seriously.

I uploaded some of the old pictures from the last DSD skin, drawn by Cyc and one by Berklee. Enjoy!
Blogging has my changed life dramatically over the last year. What started out as a creative outlet has morphed into a daily need to write something. An entry can point to a silly link or serve some cathartic purpose. Or it could be as simple as noting the things that went on in my day. When I look back at my past entries from a year ago, its neat to see where I was at that place in time back then.

Maybe some of the stuff you write is some good shit. Your readership increases and everyone raves about it. Take the case of MY WAR - Fear And Loathing In Iraq, a great milblog who even had people from the Pentagon saying he was writing great stuff. Kind of like turningtables, imo.

This guy, who is in the zone, physically, mentally and emotionally, so to speak, is pushed past the limits of stress and writes to document his experiences in the heat of battle. Probably a cathartic exercise for him. The thing is though, this guy is bounded by the rules of not disclosing key information about his unit, whereabouts, which is understandable. But suddenly the head guys over him know about his blog, have printed the entire thing out on paper. Now it is suggested that he run his entries past the guy above him before he post. Then he gets emails about...why don't you watch your language in your entries...how about this and that...

It seems like so far he doesn't care about the liberal sprinkling of cuss words in his entries, because that's how he writes. This is the point that struck me. At what point should your curtail/ignore the impulses of what to write about because you are afraid that it might come back to bite you in the ass? Obviously, for a deployed soldier there are some boundaries you shoudn't cross. But for me...sometimes pushing the boundaries is what gets you to the next level, pushing into new territories of creativity that you never thought you would cross into. By shedding blood, sweat and tears...and ignoring the critics around you...listening to the creative impulses that fueled you in the first place...if you keep at something then you never know what you'll attain creatively. It could be something that turns out wonderfully in the end.
Okay, this is my third and final time messing around with the template. I added the photo and tweaked the CSS (first serious attempt to change a style sheet), and I am very pleased with the result.

Now the theme of the blog actually matches the title. Amazing.

:)
Okay, so I tweaked the colors again. I hope that it is more visually pleasing. Some people were being blinded by the whiteness of it all, apparently. Sam called it the white rice and green tea look. Note to self: If self feels need to tweak colors again, this is a good guide.

Also just downloaded the Firefox browser. It seems pretty cool so far for Windows. Mayhap I'll do the same thing on my Mac at home. Mac has come out with so many new O/S's in the last year. I was planning on getting Panther, but now I hear they have the new Mac Bobcat O/S coming out at some point. So I guess I'll wait for that.

In domestic related matters, Son has now triumphed over the challenge we call potty training (#2). For two days in a row he has done it in the potty and not his Spiderman underoos. Hopefully he can keep up the good work. Daughter starts first grade at the end of August. Sometimes I wish I had a shrink ray to keep them from growing up so fast.
Surprise!

Yes, you have reached The Dim Sum Diaries!

I know the look is completely different from the old layout, but bear with me. Its very clean and minimalist (Hubby's take: "Sterile"). But I like it.

Work has been crazy, so I've been messing around with the blog template during my breaks. I should be writing I know, but its so much more fun to play with the template color scheme!

Anyways, here it is. :)

Update: still tweaking. Dipping toe in the deep, treacherous pond that is CSS. I'm expecting that it will blow up any minute now... o_O

*crosses fingers*

Bag Borrow or Steal is like Netflix for designer handbags (via).

I am seriously thinking about joining this!
When injured soldiers come home...

But Briseno isn't a soldier anymore. He is a veteran, facing a lifetime of excruciating disability. The efficient war-fighting machine he was a part of has moved on. His care is left to his parents and sisters, who, bent over his bed day and night, are struggling to adjust...
Well, my Mom and sis and various relatives went camping at Yosemite this week. Mom had been staying at chez moi for a few weeks babysitting my kids. And now that she's gone, I have to admit that I miss my mommy my daughter misses her Pou Pou (chinese for maternal grandmother).

:p

There was an arts & crafts fair downtown today, so we strolled around after lunch. It was mostly crafty things by local artists. And as tempted as I was to get the homemade wooden animal that could fit a tissue box so that the kleenex is pointing out of said animal's ass thingy, I resisted the temptation. Also intriguing was the full blown Native American headress with accompanying dead pheasant stuck on it. I kid you not. It was a headless dead pheasant. I should've took pictures, but my Dad cruelly took his digital camera back with him back home. C'est triste. :(

Also whilst walking through the faire, my cell phone began to ring. As I had been playing around with the multiphonic ringtones earlier, I forgot that I had left it set to Britney Spear's Oops I Did It Again. Hubby gave me this whithering look, as if to say....Oh my god...you so did not download that ringtone. I defiantly flipped my phone open and gave him a look that said, Oh yes, I did. So deal with it. Your wife loves Britney Spears.

Not much writing done this weekend as have been quite brain dead from stressful week last week.
A tongue-in-cheek look at romance novels. And that trilogy series from the '80s? They still totally do that! :p
Oh my god! Who is the latest sexy bitch to release a pop album (in France, no less)? Why, its Steven Segal, of course. He hoarsely sings his way through some rockin tunes, adopting Justin Timberlake affectations and channeling a bit of Macy Gray.

I just listened to one of his songs.

*Imagines Steven striking a pose and declaring, "Guuuuuuuurrrrrlllll...." with that ponytail swinging around sexily*

Luckily he isn't here...luckily...or I'd be all over his fine pony-tailed self like white on rice (not!). Heh heh. (via)


I am a jan-use in the kitchen! My mom is staying with us, she brought down two Cornish game hens for dinner. Got this recipe off the internet: Made a stuffing from sausage (50% less fat), fresh parmesean cheese, bread crumbs, green onions and sage. After stuffing the bird with it, brushed a rasberry glaze (olive oil, cider vinegar and rasberry jam) over it and roasted aforementioned Cornish game hens. The results were DELICIOUS! Served with rice, of course.
It's good to remind oneself periodically on how to be creative (via).

Writing is going very well (didn't I just say that last week?). Though again I notice that when my head is in the zone, I tend to get very distracted (coworker notes that I'm a horrible driver)...and have very vivid dreams...and their not always good dreams either. :(

Oh and forgot to mention...if I ever get my ass in gear, my new writing website should be up and running very soon.