Happy Birthday to Moi~

Every year when this day dawns, I remember feeling ever so honored and grateful..to be alive and healthy, kicking and dancing, breathing and living..

I'm so lucky to have a bunch of friends to celebrate with me every year. I have been receiving a lot of birthday greetings and wishes from family and friends these past few days. It's such a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that someone remembers and cares, which could be as tiny a move as sending an e-card.

As usual I was just relaxing in my room after a long day at work. I've just talked to my roommate awhile ago but he got sidetracked by a phone call so our conversation came to an abrupt stop. Then not long after, someone came knocking on my door again..and I thought it was my roommate returning to continue our conversation.

Surprise surprise!!!

A bunch of friends were at my door with a gorgeous strawberry-peach sponge cake in my cousin's hands. They were humming the birthday song while crowding into my seemingly shrinking room. I was profoundly blown away and touched...Thank y'all so much!!

Last Day Being 21

NOOOOOOO!!!!

Where did my year go? How? I didn't even realize how fast time seems to zoom by. In a flicker of an eye, I'm becoming old.

My buncha friends took me out to dinner just now to celebrate my last day of being a resplendent 21-year-old before the needle hits midnight. Gone are the days where I can blame being foolish for being young. Also gone are the days where I can claim being silly for being a kiddo.

What did I bag in return?

A load of responsibility, being a complete grown-up, and basically my body degenerating to being wrinkled, expanding horizontally, and other undesirable qualities.

I think I prefer to stay 21. OK...Yeah..there we go..I'm still young. yeepee!!

Salt, Sun, and Sand

Mmm...I can almost taste the saltiness of the ocean as our car approaches Huntington Beach on a resplendent Los Angeles mid-afternoon.

Since 3 of us are having birthdays this coming week, the whole gang decided to celebrate altogether by throwing a picnic at the beach. After breakfast at Sun Lai To, 17 of us embarked on our unwinding trip.

Huntington Beach is not as packed as Santa Monica beach obviously which gave us sufficient space to build our tent and to run about freely without bumping into people. However the view is not as mersmerizing as S.Monica..



We kept ourselves busy by playing games when we weren't busy stuffing our face with snacks. One of the games we played was called Prisoner, which proved to be exhilarating although the concept was initially kind of hard to grasp.

It was quite challenging to run around in the sand as our feet tended to sink in while attempting to sprint as fast as our feet could carry us. I guess we were pretty out of shape as we only played a few rounds before surrendering to exhaustion and thirst.



Later on, several of us wet our feet in the water. We crashed around in the sea, letting the waves lead us in its mighty wilderness. The sea water was extremely salty though so we had to zip our mouth tight. Once, I forgot and I think I consumed enough sodium to last me for a week!


After calling it a day at the beach, we headed back to one of our friend's place to carry out the birthday ritual. We had a green tea strawberry cake and a mint-chocolate-chip ice-cream cake decorated with chocolate wafers. Best yet, both were home-made! Scrumtious...

How quick a wonderful weekend went by...And it's back to work comes tomorrow..Next week--LONG weekend! Yeepee!!!

Pieces of August...

What a month...It's been full of excitement, disappointment, glee and sadness..

Emotion was especially high today. I got a call from Jade TV 翡翠电台(a popular Hong Kong Television Station under TVB Corporation) early this morning. I've been waiting eagerly for this phone call ever since I applied for a job there. It's one of the few companies that I'm profoundly interested in working at.

So you can imagine the speed at which my heart accelerated when I found out it's THE call I've been aching front, back, left and right for. The director wanted to do a pre-interview over the phone with me.

So after talking over the basic stuff, such as where I'm from, where I went to school, ooh-ing and aah-ing over my language proficiency (^^) we got down to the serious stuff. And here came the major roadblock.

Apparently Jade TV no longer employ people under OPT (optical practical training, which is the authorization for a year of training period for internationals who are US graduates). They require that employees be at least H1-B holders and best yet, green card holders.

My heart literally sank straight into the bottomless pit when he revealed this piece of devastating news. I could picture my hopes and dreams dashed in front of my blurry-teary eyes. I almost couldn't believe this was happening...How could this golden opportunity slide in and disappear into thin air within a short sec??! **sob sob**

The director told me Jade TV only hires the best talents and the company offers very good pay as well as benefits compared to other companies. This was further confirmed by my colleague...I guess I should be glad that they at least called me for an interview.

He suggested some other options for me in the meantime and left his phone number with me. He even told me to give him a call anytime if I have any further questions or when I acquire H-1 status in the future...

It just so happened that H-1 applications are no longer accepted this year since all spots have been filled. So I'll have to wait till March of next year to apply when INS begins the application process again...sigh...Life is so cruel...

Long long day..s...

Workaholic..that's the word to describe my situation right now. Not that I choose to be one, but that choice is a consequence of variables that I can hardly control.

I hitch a ride with my cousin to work as my company is (fortunately) located on the way to his workplace. Nevertheless he starts work at 8:30am while I am supposed to start an hour later. I just leave earlier as it's more convenient for both of us. Fortunately my boss gave me a set of office key so that I won't have to wait outside, meandering about in the parking lot like a suspicious freak.

Workload starts to kick in about the time boss enters the office...Basically I'm supposed to be the editor, but I'm thrusted with other odd jobs as well. I even have to do some accounting jobs as the sales lady doesn't know how to operate a computer(wth?!). Then there's also outlining entry forms, handling ticket sales, brainstorming ideas for shows, taking out the trash and so on..

I completed a ginseng ad that I can call mine today! It took me a lot of effort and time as the original copy of shots wasn't in good condition. But I'm happy with the result =)

One of the coolest jobs that my company took on recently is one by the Taiwanese Tourism Board. In fact, we completed the final report today to be submitted to the Board for review. If they pass it and request our service, the videographer as well as myself will be jetting off to Taiwan for a couple of weeks to shoot several 30-seconds commercials for the Board!!!

Then while we're there, we'll be shooting other stuff as well for future use of the company. Basically there are 3 main categories that we're focusing on: 1) Taiwan tourism top spots 2) Fun hot spots including shopping, Taipei 101, beauty parlors, etc. 3) Health spots such as great hospital facilities, hot springs, etc.

Sounds like a fabulous trip..I mean task...But nothing is set in stone yet as we need a definite YES from the Board before we can go ahead with any plans. But if miraculously they agree to our price and plan, we'll have to leave in September to make air in October!! How exciting!! It's nice to dream about it even if it may not work out =)

So anyways, by the time I get home, it's already 8pm. That's about half the day gone. Then it's finally dinner time..I hate eating so late but got no choice as of yet..sigh..After that, I'm about to crash and call it a day~

A Full Belly

Oh wow...have been eating out a lot this week. Pretty much everyday really since we don't have any pots and pans at home. The ones available in the kitchen are kinda disgusting. But we're planning to invest in a few cooking tools next week so that we can save some on food.

Come to think about it, it's really not too expensive eating out, IF we went to the $3.50 zap-fan(i.e mixed rice) place. The portion is very big and I can take it for lunch again the next again. But then I feel kind of bloated after eating out so much. Too much oil, salt and all that jazz...

It's been quite awhile since I've eaten rice everyday, TWICE at that...argh..gotta get back to my wheat bread days =) I love me some good carbs.

Woke up early in the morning today to go jogging with some friends. It was definitely nice to relief the body of some sweat and toxins especially since I practically sit in the office all day long staring at the computer screen...The park was packed with folks playing basketball, soccer, taichi, qigong, martial arts, and of course jogging.

Ate too much at dinner. We had an 8-course dinner complete with artery-clogging dishes such as fried tofu, fried longli fish, fried cod fish, mui-choi-kao-yuk (sour vegie pork), lobster yee-mein, beef tenderloin, and 2 other relatively healthy vegie dishes--stir-fry gai-lan and water spinach. Everything was very well prepared and we finished everything amazingly.

My wallet is slowly drying out as well...especially if I continue to indulge like that..oh no...

Weekend...Really?

Wow it's been a hectic week. Let's see, went back to Athens to visit some dear friends on Tuesday. It was so much fun hanging out like old times, bowling and rambling about nothing in particular, just plain-old catching up...

Then came Wednesday..Hauled my two seriously heavy huge luggages plus two equally back-breaking carry-ons to the airport, boarded my flight and jet off to L.A. I surprise myself sometimes..Just a Saturday before, I moved to Atlanta. Then less than a week later, I'm set on making another move, this time a rather major one...

So fast forward to 2 days later..Here I am at my new house, new job, new friends and a whole new place to get used to.

The new house needs some getting used to. It's pretty pricey but at least I'll have my own privacy and bathroom. Just need to live a little cheaply these few months till I find a new place to call home.

I have been working from 9am-7:30pm these past 2 days..Gosh..just trying to get used to the new surrounding and relearn forgotten materials =) It's going well. I guess the brain just needs a little kick to cough out old stuff..

Fortunately after 2 days, my boss informed me that they might as well hire me as a full-time since I'm basically the only one who knows how to use FCP software...hehe..Well well, we'll see. I'm still secretly hoping other television stations would call back so that I can have more open options...

Things Change in a Matter of Time...

Doesn't it?

Come this wednesday, I'll be bidding farewell to the lovely state that I've spent 3 precious years of my life in...

Yes...the day has finally come..I landed a job in sunny Los Angeles! The almost-ridiculous pay is nothing to shout about, but at least it's a start to possibly something larger than life =)

It has been quite a frustrating weekend, despite the fact that I went shopping and movie (Batman, which was absolutely intriguing I must say), but that's not the point. The point is I had a phone interview on Friday and the company actually wanted me to start on Monday!

Whoa, I was like..I need some time to figure out some stuff first..I still have some unfinished business back in Athens. Then there's the mind-boggling decision of whether driving or flying to L.A is a wise one.

See, if I fly it'll eliminate all the hassle of driving (my car is not in the greatest condition to say the least..I'd think twice if it was a Japanese car), breaking down halfway in the middle of nowhere, heatstroke (in the wild scorching Arizona desert), time saver (the company emphasized that they wanted me to start as soon as possible)...

On the contrary, if I drove, it'd be nice to lug along all my 3 years' worth of beloved possessions. My pots and pans, my cool radio-CD-alarm clock, my darling heels, my warm comforter and fluffy pillows...

After careful considerations, I deemed flying to be a wiser decision. As it so happened, as I was browsing for flight tickets, I found a cheap ticket..Ok, so it's not that cheap really, but under such circumstances, it was a lucky find indeed! I have my lucky stars to thank..

The next step is more horrific as it's another round of elimination. Obviously I can't bring too much stuff along. It's so hard to let go > . <

Anyhow I'm psyched about the job. Hopefully I'll be able to master the tasks that the company asks of me and deliver them with splendid results. Then I can ask timidly for a higher pay...just maybe?

Thank goodness my cousin brother is there to help me out or I'll be in a state of kelam-kabut(ness)--chaos. He'll be introducing me to a whole buncha new friends as well so that I won't feel so outta place. Can't wait!