Tasty!

I just had this instant Thai green carry with Jasmine rice. It's really good!

Hmmm...I checked the ingridient...it contains fish sause as I suspected. Sorry, my vegetarian friends. But other Tasty Bite products are vegan, and good, too.

I've finally fully recovered from three day long hangover from the last weekend. Friday night happy hour + two clubs-->6 hours long dinner&drinks (beer plus 3 bottles of wine for 3 people) at Yasuko's place on Saturday night-->Brunch with Steven, Roberto, Darryl and Mike at Beacon Bar (bad bloody mary and lots of mimosa) and two drinks at Halo on Sunday. I didn't drink at all on Monday. I had a dinner with my co-workers at Kaz Sushi Bistro and had some beer yesterday. I ran into Margot there. I'm totally "clean" now. Yey.

My life doesn't look bad

I've got this "word crowd" link from Vuboq.

I. Need. Martini. Now!

I'm pissed. I'm stressed. Can I have a drink at a business lunch? No? Ugh. I haven't prepared enough for the meeting....

Ugh.

I'm exhausted and stressed. What should I do??

 

Let me see if I can find anything at Filine's.

Oscar

Every year I care less about Oscar, but, well.

1. Best Picture:
"Babel"--haven't seen. like the director ("Amores Perros") and Gael!!
"The Departed," ---haven't seen. but please remember it's a remake! the original "Infernal Affairs" was great.
"Letters From Iwo Jima,"--seen it. a little cheesy like other Eastwood movies (yes, Bala Wala Shi), but for the Japanese, it's good to see.
"Little Miss Sunshine,"--loved this movie!
"The Queen."--haven't seen. no interest.

2. Actor:
Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"--haven't seen. i can't stand him.
Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"--haven't seen.
Peter O'Toole, "Venus"--haven't seen, but want to see. i want him to get Oscar.
Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"--haven't seen. i like him:)
Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland."--movie was terrible, but he did a great job.

3. Actress:
Penelope Cruz, "Volver"--she was really great....just like other actresses in the movie.
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"--haven't seen. i like her.
Helen Mirren, "The Queen"--haven't seen. but does an impersonator deserve Oscar? or was she more than that? i don't know.
Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"---she was great, but.....
Kate Winslet, "Little Children."--haven't seen.

Where is the girl from"Little Miss Sunshine"?? I thought she was a main character...

4. Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"--yey.
Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"--haven't seen.
Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"--haven't seen.
Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"--haven't seen.
Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed"--haven't seen, but i love him:) i want him to get Oscar.

5. Supporting Actress:
Adriana Barraza, "Babel"--no comment.
Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"--haven't seen, but i like her.
Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"--Yey!
Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"--no comment. heard she was good.
Rinko Kikuchi,"Babel"---haven't seen. my Japanese friends thought that her character was too eccentric...it's easy to play an eccentric role, isn't it?

6. Directing:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel"--i like his movies.
Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"--never liked his movies.
Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima"--never liked his neither. but this movies was ok.
Stephen Frears, "The Queen"--no comment.
Paul Greengrass, "United 93."---no comment.

7. Foreign Language Film: "After the Wedding," Denmark; "Days
of Glory (Indigenes)," Algeria; "The Lives of Others," Germany;
"Pan's Labyrinth," Mexico; "Water," Canada.

I loved "Pan's Labyrinth"!! Where is "Volver"??

18. Documentary Feature: "Deliver Us From Evil," "An
Inconvenient Truth," "Iraq in Fragments," "Jesus Camp," "My
Country, My Country."

I loved "Jesus Camp."

Snow!

Snow! It's the first snow this winter. I don't like snow anymore (I used to be so excited to see lots of snow since I came from the southern part of Japan where we had little snow), but it's still beautiful.

Friday night, I went to Mike's Game Night gathering. There were Steven, Roberto, Tiger, Darryl, Sven (I'm still not sure of his name) and Mike's roommate. It was fun. I learned a card game called "Garbage." I was totally screwed, but still had fun.

At the party, I asked Mike and Roberto: "Don't I look a little different today?" Roberto: "Did you change your hair?" Me: "Nope." Mike: "Did you have sex?" Me: "YES! Last night!" R&M: "Congratulations!" Me: "Thanx!" R&M: "With who??"........A little later, I told Steven: "Did I tell you I had sex last night?" Steven: "Really? Congratulations! With who??" Ahem. FYI, I'm married.

Since most (if not all) of my readers are my friends and most of them are already aware of (or tired of hearing) my "issue" with my husband, you know it is a news. Well, I haven't told my female friends about this issue.....because most of them are Japanese. Girls usually don't talk about sex in Japan. Conversations like in the Sex and the City are almost taboo. Once I tried to talk to one of my Japanese female friends here about my "issue," but her reaction to my first sentence discouraged me. Anyways, it was not only the first sex this year but also....in more than 6 months. I raised this issue to my husband, and finally we did it last Thursday. Let's see when will be the next one.

How important is sex for you? Well, for me, it's important. I can live without it, but I need it. First, it feels good. Second, it makes me feel alive (somewhat). Third, it makes me believe that I'm still a "woman." On the other hand, sex is not that important for me in a way. I mean, quite frankly, I can have sex with someone who I don't love or care. I didn't like one of my ex-boyfriends as a person at all, but sex was great. I have to admit that I tend to have emotional attachment to the person after having sex with, but not always. I may be OK if I find out my husband has sex with other women. But since I know that my husband can't have sex with someone without any emotional attachment, in reality, I won't be OK. Am I selfish? Oh, BTW, I've never had sex with anyone but my husband since we started dating. I swear. But one point, I thought about it. I still don't know if I can do that. I don't know why not, neither.

Anyways, I didn't do much on Saturday. I and my husband watched DVD "Little Miss Sunshine." We both liked it very much. Sunday afternoon, I went to see the movie "The History Boys" with Steven, but at the theater in Dupont Circle, we found out that the movie was canceled because the projector was broken. How could it happen?? We decided to have some margaritas at Alero. We had a half pitcher and brunch. I also had a liquor coffee which kept me warm until I got home. It started snowing a lot, so I went home and watched DVD "Pirates of Caribbean" with my husband. OMG, Johnny Depp! So hot! Now he is my second most favorite actors in the world....the first is always, and will be forever, Yusaku Matsuda, a Japanese actor.

Me photos

Here are some photos from Mike's party last Saturday.


Me angry with out-of-control husband.






Me sleeping.












Me and Steve:)

Lots of drinks, Greasy Chinese food and movies

What a weekend. I'm sure I've gained at least 10 pounds. I joined Steven and Roberto for Happy Hour at Halo on Friday. I wore my new Manolo. Yey. Did I tell you this Manolo appeared in an episode of Sex and the City? Yes, it's Carrie's "urban myth" mary jane. Anyways, I had Dirty Martini with Ketel One (Steven's suggestion) and Cosmo with the same vodka, one each. Then we headed to Luna Cafe for a dinner where I had a pasta and salad, and 1 1/2 beer. Steven and Roberto introduced me to a new place (for me), Omega. I was the only girl there. I found one woman, but Steven and Roberto said she/he was a man. Hmmm.

I had a slight hangover next morning. I and my husband had a lunch at Pho 75, a Vietnamese noodle restaurant in Rockville. I prepared some dumplings and appetizers and headed for a farewell party for a Japanese banker at 5:00pm. I stayed there until 8:00pm, and then picked up my husband to go to Mike and his roommates' party. It was lots of fun. I met many interesting people. Around 1:00am, I dragged my husband out to go home.

On Sunday, I went to see the movie "Pan's Labyrinth" with Steven. It was a beautiful but sad movie. I was cold-hearted enough to make fun of sobbing Steven. The movie reminded me another Spanish movie "Devil's Backbone." It turns out the both movies were created by the same director. (Don't read the next sentence if you are planning to see Pan's Labyrinth) "This director kills kids in his movies." It may sound cruel, but well, you know, thousands of kids get killed everyday in the real world. They often are the first ones to get killed in wars, famines and abuses at home. After the movie, we met Roberto for some drinks and then strolled around the China town. We had a dinner and Margarita at Austin Grill, then got tired and decided to go home.

On Monday (MLK Day), I and husband had a lunch at all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. OMG, we were about to explode after eating, eating, and eating lots of greasy Chinese food. And we went to see the movie "Letters from Iojima." It was much better than I expected. My husband kept weeping. I wonder why we couldn't make this movie in Japan. I was discussing about this movie with my co-worker this morning. We agreed the movie was very good. He has been to Iojima once. He said the the movie failed to describe the harsh condition of the island and the hardships those Japanese soldiers (and maybe the Americans) really experienced. They fought 40 days with no water, no food. When he visited the island, he and others brought water and poured it on the memorial for those Japanese soldiers who died crying for water. My late grandfather who went to the war in China once told me he had never seen any soldier who shouted "Long Live the Emperor!" before dying like in the movie. Most of them said "I miss you, mother!" I think that's the reality. The thing is, Japan fought the war where they had absolutely no chance to win....The stupid leaders of the Imperial Japan dragged people to the hopeless war.

The Shoes

I'm too old to be a party girl

Saturday night was my husband's birthday party. About
30 people came (I think), danced and drank. It was
fun. Maybe I was the one who had fun the most....a bad
hostess. But I was glad to see that my friends were
making friends with my other friends. My friends left
around 1:00am (I guess), but my husband told me some
of his friends stayed until 5:00am after I went to
bed.

Unfortunately, I can't throw a big party at home
anymore....I rented a party room in my apartment
building for $50. The building manager informed me
that the fee would be increased to $100. I can't
afford it. Or I just should move to a bigger apartment
which I can have more people. So, for my birthday in
May, I'm thinking of a small gathering with my close
friends at home, or Saturday Afternoon Margarita
Tomokito's Birthday Edition at Alero, or happy hour at
Halo.....

In addition, I'm thinking of having a small gathering
of 5-6 people just to watch everyone's pick of
favorite Sex and the City episodes drinking Cosmos.
Must be fun.

I had a little hangover Sunday morning. My husband's
mother invited us for a lunch at her place. After
lunch, we played Argentinean dice game. It was fun to
hear my usually-refined-mother-in-law cursing a lot in
Spanish during the game. It's Argentinean thing.

At night, I and my husband watched a DVD "Queens
(Reinas)." When this movie was released last year, it
didn't get very good reviews. But actually I liked the
movie. It's not a great movie, but good. I'm still
waiting for "Little Miss Sunshine" to arrive.

The sky is getting clear! Woo hoo! I'm wearing my new
Manolo which is my Christmas present to myself
today....I had to be so careful to walk in the rain
this morning.

I'll have a lunch with my friends at Cafe Asia. Yum.

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Eat mochi!

According to Japanese newspapers, two elderlies were suffocated by rice cake in Japan...so far. The news is almost Japan's New Year ritual....It's a Japanese tradition to eat rice cake (mochi) on New Year's Day. Since mochi is very sticky, several old people die from suffocation every year. This year is not an exception. I haven't eaten mochi yet this year....I bought some, though. I may eat them tonight trying not to make a headline on a Japanese newspaper.

 

Another news from Japan:

TOKYO (Reuters) - A troupe of dancers in skin-coloured body suits had Japanese national broadcaster NHK apologising to viewers of its New Year's Eve music special for what seemed to be a full-scale Janet Jackson-style wardrobe malfunction.

The dancers, who all appeared to be topless and wore skimpy bikini-style bottoms and feathered head-dresses, covered the stage during a performance by singer DJ OZMA, prompting about 250 viewers to phone in and complain.

"The dancers were wearing body suits, but we apologise for any misunderstanding," a presenter announced towards the end of the 57th annual "Red and White Song Contest".

"I guess it looked a bit too real," local media quoted the singer as telling reporters after the show, which regularly tops viewer ratings on New Year's Eve in Japan.

You can watch the video on YouTube, if you are interested. You can seach the word "DJ OZMA."

Here are my New Year's resolutions....In 2007, I will......

 

1. Learn how to dance Argentine Tango. The class will start on Thursday. I'm so excited.

2. Read more books.

 

And I will TRY to.....

3. Be a better person. Be a better friend to my friends and be a better daughter to my parents.

4. Move.

5: Have a baby (!)

 

I'm in the office, but not really working....

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year 2007!

Happy New Year! Akemashite Omedeto! Feliz Ano Nuevo!

I wish you all another happy, groovy and smashing year!

Well, I have some hangover....my new year's resolution? Try to have less hangover....

I went to Roberto's New Year's Eve party last night. It was so lovely. Nothing is better than celebrating with your friends. Today I'll go to Steven's place for non-traditional Japanese New Year's party. I'll prepare some Inari-zushi (a kind of sushi wrapped with seasoned bean-curd) and vegetarian Nabe (kind of hot-pot). Japanese beer and sake should ease my hangover...

Oh, another new year's resolution....update this blog more often.