Dim Sum Diaries
OMG! Fired up computer to check the internets and email and I see this!! This gorgeous site redesign is thanks to Berklee!

Sometime last week......

Berk: So how do you want it to look?

Me: Not sure. Maybe clean, simple and elegant. And trendy. And minimalist. And it has to convey the mood...the feeling...of THE DIM SUM DIARIES. Evocative. Like slightly spartan, with a bit of color. You know, no big deal. Yeah?

Berk: *virtual deep sigh* Why don't you send me a pic then?

So I found the pic off of istockphoto and he just ran with it. I absolutely love this, so thanks Berk!!!
Lotsa fun things today, finally went Flikr Pro because I am having too much fun with my mobile phone camera. Hopefully I don't get drunk then start snapping pics of myself, cuz then you know...that would not be cool.

I am up at my parents' house today. No hubby, no kids. Just me, since I had to drive my mom back up from a week of adventures of babysitting for her. I'm a daughter again. So its me, chatting and hanging out and playing the computer. Went to dim sum this morning and had the most delicious dishes. We had jung. The waitress served it to us already unwrapped and cut into several pieces. While eating this dish, Dad discovered a piece of fatty meat (very delicious).

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" he cried as his eyes got wide, a huge grin on his face as his chopsticks suddenly went slow mo in reaching for this piece of meat.

"I don't think so!!!!" Mom glared at him as she slow-mo'd her chopsticks towards aforementioned piece of meat to prevent him to getting it. After a clattering chopstick duel, Dad speared the piece of meat and smacked his lips.

"Mmmmm...I love the meat!" he said.

"That's like committing suicide, eating stuff like that at your age," Mom retorted.

"Oh well, if I'm going to die, might as well die happy."

***

As we got ready to leave, Mom and Dad were very quiet in the end. I was lost in my own thoughts and playing around with the camera phone, so I didn't really pay attention. As soon as we exited the restaurant, they started giggling like school girls.

"And why are you guys laughing?" I asked.

"Because that tiny old Chinese lady sitting next to us was talking very loudly about her lover, and how he couldn't show up today," Mom said.

I had to think for a minute about the 80 year old grandma and the possible logistics of maintaining a lover at her age. "So...she's having affair?"

"No, she's from mainland China, she's old school. Apparently back in the day, they didn't refer to their significant other as "husband" or "boyfriend". There were no such things in Communist China. They were referred to as oye-yun (love person), or lover." she explained.

Who would've ever thought that Communist China was into free love!!

Naughty Rice
Originally uploaded by miriyaparino.
Went to JR last night, a HK style cafe that serves a little bit of everything. Their Chinese ice tea is divine. Anyways, whilst perusing the menu, I happened upon the following and was howling in laughter.

"What's so funny?" Mom wanted to know.

"The flied lice...its...Engrish...spelled funny," I told her.

She peered at it. "That's not funny. It's Fukien fried rice. Fukien is a province in China."

"I know Mom! It's just the way they spelled it!"

"Spell it like what?"

"Like...you know.. *in dramatic whisper* F*cking...tee hee hee..."

"I don't get it," she said after a moment. "Why must you be so ham sup?" (Ham sup being cantonese for pervy)

"What's so funny?" my dad asked, jumping in to the conversation.

Had to retake a picture of this thing like 10-11x as the flash from the camera reflected off the plastic covering on the menu. They also serve borscht, which they decided to spell "horsht".

This morning, as I was trying to upload the pic from my mobile (first time), was able to do it with Blogger. I showed Mom.

"Look Mom, you send it to this email and it creates a new mobile blog for you! It's so cool!"

"So, this is the new ham sup blog you now have in addition you have to that other one?" she asked archly.

*Deep sigh. "Yes, Mother."
Here is random link I'm filing away just in case. If you live in California, Ticket Assassin (via) is a good legal guide for beating tickets, providing

"an arsenal of forms, examples and guidelines assembled to help you fight your ticket via Trial By Written Declaration, a process you can do entirely by mail. This collection includes specific court documents needed to contest your case, dozens of examples, and comprehensive, easy-to-follow directions and guidelines for their proper use."


You never know!
Package of balloons...89 cents.

An orchid flower lei...20 dollars.

Being the only male in the family of marriageable age and having 15 some odd female cousins and aunts eager to humiliate you at your Chinese wedding banquet? Priceless.
I can't believe how fast this summer went by. This Friday I find out who Daughter gets as a 2nd grade teacher. Son will start Pre-K after Labor Day. Then I'll have the mornings free to do whatever I need to do. Have been taking daily walks with the kids to get in shape, and I need to get working on my resume to submit to some gov't database so they don't cut the benefits. Just added resume to db.

Have sent pic to Berk, who has kindly offered to redesign this site. I'm sure it will turn out wonderfully.
Dear Lord, don't post for a week and guess what happens...you get really really interesting people searching for interesting things on your blog...

vaginas full of poop

why is my belly button turning red

alcoholic chickens

Seriously, I'm like the top search for two of these.

And yes Berk, I'm looking for the pic, I will send it to you shortly.

*grumbles* did not know that my site was that pervy...

I'm Just Blogging A Bit o Everything Today


Mother's Grief-Fueled Vigil Becomes Nexus for Antiwar Protesters. I find this fascinating because I've been strongly anti-war from the beginning, am a mother and would love to see Bush come face to face with this woman.

The Family That Mocks Each Other Stays Together


My cousin R got married and the huge Chinese banquet was held tonight. As my fam was getting ready (formal dress), Mom came downstairs, respendent in a beautiful black silk top embroidered with jet black beads and black silk pants.

"Ooh, Mum is trying to impress the males with her bosom!" my sister N said loudly.

"Well your mom always had the biggest pair out of all the sisters," Aunt G said.

Mom only rolled her eyes. "Well what do you think? Should I wear any jewelery?" She gestured vaguely toward her torso and I'm pretty sure she jutted her chest out right before she said, "Oh never mind, I have THIS."

A moment of silence followed.

"I meant the black beading on my top," she said.

Sure mom!!!!

Labels:

I'm getting uber bored with this layout so if any kind soul wants to redesign the site (for free), email me or leave a comment. Thanks in advance.

Yes, I Have Triumphed Over Bureaucracy!


Hmm, was supposed to file for unemployment when I first got laid off. Tried over the internets, never got a response. When I called the EDD hotline, could not even get into the queue to get on hold for a live person to talk to. After calling 2000x (I kid you not) and not getting through to GET INTO THE QUEUE TO BE PUT ON HOLD for 3 days in a row, I sort of gave up. Ha ha ha. Now however, after being bitch slapped by my ex-colleagues numerous times and the growing need for money, I have finally managed to get everything straightened out. Will start receiving checks soon.

Which means that finding that stupid retail part time job at the mall so I can be at home with the kids is put off until next year. Apparently, no part-time, set my own hours, high end computer job is available at the moment. :p

So yes! How to blow my first bucks? Possibly this. Or maybe milk and new shoes for the kids would be a good thing too...

Dessert
Originally uploaded by EliBev.
Trying to think of something good, funny, witty to blog about. But nay, there is nothing in my cluttered brain to share...other then trying to get things organized for kids starting school soon.
Grumpy cuz I'm surfing the crimson wave (tmi?). Instead, I shall post this pic of one of the desserts we had at lunch whilst at Reno. Very divine, I'm sure that's why my ass so fat and bloated now... :p

PS there seems to be a surge in site traffic so if you found your way to the site somehow, leave a comment and shout out...I'd appreciate it! :)

The Top Ten Things I Learned About Reno


10. Asian beers are much weaker-assed then Mexican beers.

9. What do I do when I get drunk on one beer (Mexican), it's the last night before we leave for home and I am let loose in the hotel? Why, I tell my conservative Christian roomate that I really dig lesbian porn and dildos, then pass out in the hotel room.

8. At RWA Idol, which is a parody of American Idol, where the first two pages of real submissions from the audience are read and a panel of editors and agents give their gut reaction, the panel is strangely cynical. Snarky even. Only one or two were actually liked. The rest were torn apart, and after each one was read, a woman would leave the room of her own accord, tight-lipped and with a mad look on her face. Presumably that was her submission that had been just read. A bit off-putting.

7. It is possible to spend your entire time in the hotel and never see the light of day (except from your hotel room window).

6. Resolve to start writing again strong, with several new ideas to explore.

5. I still get very self-conscious when sitting at the table at lunch. Everyone asks what type of book the other is writing. Some people talk confidently about their next book, especially if they've been published already. I vaguely wave people off by saying I'm writing a contemporary novel. Somehow I can't not watch with a vague sense of horror as someone enthusiastically explains their latest romantic suspense with vampire and werewolves...

4. I'm a snobby, elitist Californian, and if you tell me If I was in a room full of horse shit, I'd look for the pony then confidently pinpoint the various areas of the nouveau riche v. the middle middle class in Georgia, I will get totally snarky about you on my blog.

3. There were a suprising number of men at this conference, my roomate and I breakfasted with an older man who was in the Air Force reserves (mil all his life) and wanted to write a sweet love story and submit it to Harlequin. Though they must have found the high number of for women only bathrooms off-setting.

2. It really is a small world. Whilst sitting at a random table for lunch, turns out one of the girls works with my sister at a major company. "Oh we called her Minnie Mouse girl because she dresses like a teenybopper." Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully at my Paul Frank tshirt and jeans. "You have her taste in clothes..."

1. There really is no place like home.