new job

I started my job on December 12, 2007. We are very lucky to have found each other. my employer and my boss rocks, and so do i.

I like my job very much. Be careful of what you wish for. I asked for more challenging work and it is just that - challenging. I'm certainly not bored like I was at my last job. The day zips by. It's only been 3 months. I'm still adjusting. Lots more to learn. A couple of weeks ago, my boss got a big promotion. You all know what that means. Self explanatory what happens to me...Like I said, I'm adjusting.

I think adapting to change is a must in life. After all, change is the one constant in life. NOTHING ever stays the same.

Being at my new job reminded me of living in SF. I like living in SF but I'm homesick every single day. This is a great city but it doesn't feel like home to me. It's not something that can be taught or forced. I wait for the feeling of being home here all the time. I'm still waiting. I think one day, miraculously, I will adjust. Whatever is missing, whatever I am looking for will just start to exist. It will feel right and I will not feel so empty.

I like my new job very much. But I don't love it, yet. And the place does not yet feel like home. I can't complain about modern, renovated, high tech environment, all with the free drinks, cheap parking and other ammenities. The people I work with are super smart, respectful, fun, kind. They work hard and I love that they play hard. Then why don't I love it yet? Well, for one thing, I still feel like an outsider. It's kind of like high school. I still feel like the new kid during the first semester. Everyone has history with one another. They all went to grade school, junior high together. They've been with each other for years.

No one will believe me when I confess I am shy in nature. If you are part of my life, you would doubt me, too. But this is how I feel at the core, a bit shy, just as I did as a kid. I'm blessed with major social skills and can totally be 'on' Monday through Friday 9-6+ and beyond; and whenever necessary; but really, I think what feels second nature now was learned and practiced. I never feel all that comfortable around a large group, or even a small group of people I am not close to. Hard to explain...

I've heard home is where you make it. Maybe some, like me, will never feel at home anywhere, no matter where we are.

good sf eats

In no particular order:

1. the front porch
2. boulevard
3. range
4. kiss
5. pescheria
6. absinthe
7. slanted door
8. salt house
9. turtle tower restaurant
10. universal cafe
11. ame

things that irk me

1. not being in the same time zone as my friends
2. eating lunch at my desk
3. not wanting to write anymore

February 14, 2008

my special breakfast.

i'm loved. and spoiled.

work, work, work

all i've been doing is working. finally we will get a little break!

[B] celebrity siting @ sfmoma

...this is a silly and ridicous photo of me pretending to pose in the SFMOMA store while biting on the straw of my lemonade. i spotted johnny knoxville browsing in the books section with some hot young chick and alerted hak, who then took this photo with johnny in the background as evidence (see johnny's tiny head in the left corner?). i think johnny saw us taking this and knew exactly what we were doing. he looks kind of pissed doesn't he? as soon as we took this photo, johnny put his shades on while he hurried to the counter to pay for his purchase. dude - you should be happy you were recognized. no one else even gave you a second look. besides 'jackass, the movie' in 2002 and the latest movie that i can remember you being in: the dukes of hazzard, what else have you done? apparently a lot, but none mainstream or that successful. (i checked him out on imbd.)

tamasei sushi

i lived in noe valley for a year and routinely went to the main strip of 24th street between dolores and castro. this sushi place is en route to calfoods and starbucks so i passed it a lot. i noticed that it was rarely open for business. in fact, hak had never seen it open between the months of feb 06 to aug 06 after he moved back and lived with me.

we still go to noe routinely for our drycleaning, weekend banking and occasional stroll of the local stores. on sat, i was in ladybug, ladybug when hak parked across the street. it was 4pm and neither one of us was hungry but because this mom and pop sushi place was (finally) open, we had to take advantage and live in the moment.

they were play bob marley raggae music as we entered. (one heart...one love...let's get together and feel alright!) and there is a giant painting of what looked like bob marley on the wall. we asked about why they were closed so often and the waitress said that they've been open for business for a year but the owner is a dancer (pointing to the bob m. painting) and that he goes on tour a lot - and when he goes on tour, the restaurant is closed.

even though we love hamachi, we were told that maguro was especially delish on this day and was highly recommended. we had a bottle of chilled sake (at happy hour deal of 1/2 price) and a few orders of various nigiri. while we were eating, some young white guy came in with a GIANT abalone he had just caught somewhere in Sonoma (?). we thought he was trying to sell it to the sushi chef but after the chef cut the giant abalone into smaller sections of 4, he simply wrapped them and handed back to the young guy with the only request of keeping a small section = a few pieces of it for himself. i guess the sushi chef did this guy a big favor of cutting and cleaning it. the guy said he had caught 3 of them that day. 3 giant abalone. the sushi chef was kind enough to offer hak and i each a small piece saying it was our lucky day. he also gave the two waitresses a piece. we all dipped it in soy sauce and a little sesame seed. it was really fresh and not as crunchy as i have tasted before. my mom would have loved it.