back to my roots

i've been looking backwards at some older posts from when i first started this blog and realized how different the scope and content of the blog has gotten since then. if i think about it, the main reason i started this blog was because i like to read other people's reviews of venues, restaurants, etc. for whenever i google them. it always seems more "real" and relatable when i read some Joe Schmoe's blog about his/her experience at a particular venue than reading the NY Times critic's review.

i guess the change in content couldn't be avoided once i became a poor and extremely frugal law student. once that i happened i became a big fan of the pre-game and started going to the same places a lot (hence the frequent Kenka blog posts). although i am still poor and (attempting) to be frugal, i refuse to be a hermit that stays home all day in order to not spend money. after all, i'm getting old and how will i meet anyone if i never go out? so, for instance, i am going out to drinks and dinner tonight with friends.

however, i will not be spending money will-nilly. for work i am bringing lunch every day and, if i forget breakfast, i buy a toasted cinnamon raisn bagel plain because it's only 85 cents. in my rush this morning, i wasn't able to pack a lunch or bring breakfast from home. because of such, i sought out a cheap lunch deal close to work that i could make stretch into tomorrow's lunch as well.

when i think about portions that can be stretched into 2 meals, i immediately think of chinese food lunch specials. they tend to be $6 (or they used to be $6 at most, but i found out they currently price $6-$9. crazy.) and come with soup and rice. i researched places in Midtown West and found out how expensive even their lunch specials were. all except China Gourmet. their lunch specials top out at $5.40 and come with hot and sour/wonton soup and brown/white/fried rice and are rumored to be GINORMOUS portions. YEAH!
but the cheap price comes with a caveat. reading reviews on-line i noticed a decent number saying the food was extremely greasy or that they felt sick later from an abundance of MSG. i weighed the frugality against the reviews and decided to take the chance anyway. i usually have a stomach of steel, and being chinese, i've eaten my fair share of take-out so i think i can handle it.
sitting down with my beef & broccoli it's immediately obvious that the portions really are GINORMOUS. on top of that the food was very quick. i called from my office and walked the 1 avenue and 1 street block to the restaurant and my food was already waiting for me to pick up. yes, the food was a bit greasy, but no more than the typical chinese take-away. the flavor was just ok, nothing great but not horrible. as for the MSG, so far so good, although it's only been about 2 hrs since i ate it. hmm, i am starting to feel a little uncomfortable but nothing awful and i can liken it to the feeling of having-eaten-a-heavy-meal uncomfortableness. i also wonder if i'm not being overly sensitive e.g. psychological side-effects of reading other ppl's bad reviews.

so for $5.40 and i have an abundant lunch for 2 days. that means i only spent $2.70 for lunch in NYC. but if i wasn't being frugal i don't think i would order from China Gourmet again.

resolutions?

Congrats on making it to 2010! [i got tired of reading happy new year on every blog and website i've gone to in the past 4 days].j

so since my computer crapped out, i only just got it back recently. since then i've been slowly rebuilding my computer by finding all my personal websites and preferences again. but i'm not gonna make the same mistake twice. i've added programs to make it better (or supposedly better) and to do this i've made Lifehacker my go-to bible at the moment. they just recently did a 2009 round-up and so i've come away with a list of programs i've deemed completely necessary (unless they end up causing problems on my comp):

1. CCleaner: completely cleans out your unused files to make your comp faster and removes any lingering viruses you've removed through anti-malware and virus programs.

2.Malwarebytes Anti-Malware: it cleans out malware aka ad-ware, spyware, trojans, etc. i picked this one in particular because it can remove Internet Security 2009 and 2010 which is one of the viruses my comp picked up when it crashed.
3.KLite Codec: i had this program before my comp crashed and i use it to watch certain videos that for some reason Windows Media Player doesn't recognize.
4. HJSplit: i also had this program on my old comp. i only use it to join video files.
5. AVI Trimmer: this one's a new program. i'd been looking for a simple, free, video editor and stumbled upon this one. it allows me to cut and edit videos to the content that i want without including any of the commercials or boring segments. it only edits AVI files.
6. iPodME: this converts my editted videos into mp4 so i can upload them onto my iPod. i chose this program over Videora because it's an independent program and doesn't need to download a whole bunch of dlls and crap onto my computer (which i'm clearly hesitant about now). the only drawback is that it's SUPER SLOW in converting. however, the quality is pretty good.

while cruising Lifehacker for all these fun things, i stumbled upon a to-do website they recommended. Joe's Goals allows you to create a chart on-line that you can use to monitor your daily activities and whether you have or haven't attained your goals.

in theory this should work VERY well and it's fun to click on the boxed. i signed up for it today. about half-way through using it i realized 1 important question: do i really care what the chart says?

outsourced

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

my holidays were of the usual sort: eating and drinking TONS with the fam, gift exchange, etc. however, since nothing good ever happens without the bad, of course i also had a technical nightmare of a holiday.

on Christmas Eve, as relatives were arriving for a hotpot lunch, my "trusty" HP Pavilion ze2000 was attacked by a virus. all of a sudden my screen went bonkers and the wallpaper changed from an adorable baby picture of my friend SFM to the words "you're computer is infected", my AVG anti-virus program was going nuts stating i had a million infections, and, although i could get on-line, i couldn't access any websites but instead was redirected to advertisements and other sites every time i clicked a link. it was a nightmare.

in this day and age, a person's computer is akin to their cellphone or iPod. it's something i've learned to not live without-ok, that's false. i could live without it, but would i want to? i doubt it. i brought my laptop to PC Warehouse to be looked at ASAP and luckily for me it was open on Christmas Eve. the guy at PC Warehouse could qualify for being in My Five recently. only in August i brought my comp to be completely re-installed back to factory default settings and then i've probably seem him at least 3-4 more times since them. the most recent visit my comp had been attacked by a virus and had to be cleaned for 2-3 days. and that cost upwards of $75-$100. suffice it to say that although PD is a great guy, i really wish i wasn't seeing him so often.

i prob spent a good hour and a half sitting there while PD manually went through deleting various trojan horses (yes, i know the term but what exactly are they i have no idea, just that they're bad news). i brought it home, relieved the crisis was over. or so i thought. INCORRECT. those nasty viruses were still there, just changing and evolving to evade capture and deletion! that was the end of my laptop for the Christmas holiday since i had to drop it off to be fixed on Saturday and will not see it again until Monday at the earliest.

when did computer use and surfing the Internet become so hazardous? according to PD, some site i went on must've had the virus and it attached itself to my computer just waiting for me to click it's link. and those tricky little buggers make themselves look all official mimicking the Windows insignia and claiming to protection programs (and no, i did NOT click any of them even if it did say that-i'm not completely stupid). what irks me is to get a virus on my comp without even doing anything: yes, i may have been on a site with a virus embedded or attached to it, waiting to pounce, but i didn't click anything that was remotely any advertisement or outside link. so how did it get into my comp? it'll always be a mystery. i remember the days when i was even more reckless with my Internet use, downloading this and that, clicking every link a friend sent to me, without ever seeing a virus enter my comp. now, i go on 1 harmless site and my whole computer's down for the count.

i also spent 141 minutes on the phone talking to Comcast and Linksys about our spotty wireless internet connection. what a nightmare. 1st it was Comcast to make sure the connection was good (which it was) and then it was Linksys phone support for our faulty wireless router. it was clearly outsourced tech support, but my technician, Mary, was very helpful and spoke english with a Canadian accent (which is ironic since she was clearly Indian-i knew this from her side conversations). however, i was seriously skeptical and pissed off when Linksys told me that i had to pay to get phone support!! what a rip! and so i handed the phone to my mom and let her rip them a new one before i ponied up and just let them sucker me (what else was i supposed to do? if i could've fixed it myself, i would've already).

it's times like these that i wish i was more tech savvy.

Quarantined in Sick Bay

for the past 2 weeks, i feel like i've been on a perpetual and never-ending airplane ride. one that just keeps taking off and landing, only those 2 actions. in actuality, i haven't travelled or gone anywhere, but my ears have been constantly plugged up. i keep trying to pop my ears by clicking my jaw, which ends up making me look like fish.

this winter is turning out to be more hazardous than any winter before it that i've experienced in the past. everyone in my household seems to be on rotating shifts of getting sick and being in my house feels like visiting the sick ward of a hospital. i just barely avoided a severe cough and cold (after self-medicating with Robitussin and Zicam for 10 days) and now i feel another itch in my throat that is quickly developing into a cough.

oddly enough, i've never been squeamish about being around sick people (at least when it's people that i know). i possess a completely unfounded confidence that i won't get sick, even when i interact with sick people. however, as soon as i feel even a twinge of illness in my own body, i get into hyper-defense mode and bombard myself with Airborne and Zicam hoping to head off the impending illness.

it seems i've become a hypochondriac in my old age (but only when i start to feel ill.).

i have to add a caveat to the above statement about not getting squeamish around sick people. i get COMPLETELY squeamish around sick strangers or people i don't care about. hence, flu and cold season on a NYC subway is not exactly a fun situation for me. however, MOST new yorkers maintain a level of etiquette while out in public. then there was the Cougher i met last week.

i was on the platform waiting for the E train to arrive on my usual morning commute to work. the train arrived and it was packed like a sardine. of course we all tried to squeeze our way onto the train but it was definitely impossible just as i got to the front of the crowd. i let the doors close and waited for the next one. i realized i was dangerously close to the edge of the platform and tried to back up and realized a woman behind me who was staunchly standing in her spot, refusing to move and refusing to let me back away from the edge of the platform. it took more effort and a blatant shove to get myself even 2 centimeters back from the edge. clearly, the woman was not happy with what i'd done. so she proceeded to cough violently all over me. although she had nothing in her hands, she did not cover her mouth. so while being all pressed up on me, she proceeded to cough all over me for a good minute. GROSS. that is just not acceptable behavior, particularly in NY (or anywhere else really).

Followers vs. Leaders

every paper and news feed has been discussing either the global warming/climate change issue in Copenhagen or else it's Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. usually i just read these things and shrug in a "hmm, so now i know what's going on in the world" kind of way, but not today.

really?! as if we didn't know we've screwed over the earth completely? are we really that surprised? or did we just assume that 80 degree weather in September is just a natural phenomenon? and there's all this hoopla about how the meeting in Copenhagen is to create standards and limitations for countries to try and combat the damage we've already done. ppshhaww. i'll believe it when i see it. in the scope of things that occur in each individual country, the last thing on a nation's mind is the climate. and honestly, we're the ones that did this to the environment, so to make a big hoopla now seems a bit hypocritical. i'm sure this will all be forgotten once the talks in Copenhagen end.

more interesting is Obama's Nobel Peace Prize Award. seriously?! they've awarded an acting President, in the midst of war, who just determined to deploy more troops to Afghanistan, the Nobel Peace Prize? gimme a break. because of this decision the Committee that determined the award had to come out publicly and defend their decision for the 1st time in history (or so says the NY Times). during the awarding of the prize, it was said Obama is the realization of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. perhaps that's true. but that doesn't qualify Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize. shouldn't the American ppl be receiving the Nobel Peace Prize then? they elected Obama into office, he didn't appoint himself. of course, i'm trivializing the effort and courage and perseverance the Obama camp had to have in order to get to where they are, and that's not fair. and maybe that does merit the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize. however, for some reason, it just doesn't sit right with me. i just can't accept that, based on Obama's current achievements, he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. i don't think so.

it's really unlike me to rant on about real-world issues. if you've noticed, i rant about idiotic personal things usually. i'm chocking it up to my shortened amount of patience and tolerance for idiocy that commuting to NYC from NJ for work has created in me.

who's the culprit?

someone in my house keeps pouring a dose cup of Robitussin in the morning and then not drinking it. every morning i wake up between 10 AM-11 AM and on the kitchen table are the signs of a rushed breakfast consisting of cereal bowls and crumbs, the remnants of Dad's sandwich-making-lunch for the kids, and a lone cup of Robitussin or Dyslam. this has been going on consistently for the past week.

and it's slowly driving me mad.

i finally broke down tonight when i was doing the dishes and wiping down the table and asked everyone if it was them but nobody admitted to it. everyone just kept blaming each other as the likely culprits.

so what could it be? is there a ghost who has a sore throat? or is it a subtle sign that somebody thinks I'M getting sick and should be taking medicine?

if you've never seen a girl running in heels...

...and when i say running, i mean RUNNING.

have moved back home to the Jersey, living at home with the parents. i thought i'd be going mad, and i definitely did for a little bit, but now i've grown used to it and like it (for the most part). however, i haven't resigned myself to being at home forever. every time i go to the City, especially during the latter part of the summer, i remember all the great things about NYC. i miss the ease of the subway, the closeness of everything, being outdoors (instead of in a car-in Jersey you can't get anywhere without a car which essentially means you're outside in the fresh air for all of 2 mins it takes to travel from your house to your car and your car to your destination). i get calls from friends in the City telling me to meet them in an hour at some place in the City and i have to inform them it'll take me at least 2 hours to get there: 30-40 mins to get ready and then travel time via public transportation. it kind of dissipates any feeling of spontaneity and also makes going to the City feel like a chore vs. when i lived in Brooklyn and could just hop onto the subway or take a $15 cab ride.

i've been going on a few job interviews and had one in midtown east last week at 10 AM. i woke up at 7:15 AM to get ready and hopped on the 8:25 AM bus estimated to arrive at Port Authority by 9:35 AM. of course the bus was late and i didn't get into Port Authority until 9:45 AM. i had to sprint to the "S" which is the farthest train from the station and then took the 1st exit to Grand Central which is right outside the Hot and Crusty. there's a handicap ramp across from the Hot and Crusty that is the steepest and longest handicap ramp i've ever seen. i sprinted up that ramp like my life depended on it. in 3-inch heels. in a business dress. i'm sure i looked completely ridiculous but nobody seemed to bat an eyelash to the scene.

i was a few minutes late to the interview (i know, i know, not good). the whole thing took about 30 minutes and i was back on the street at 10:35 AM. i sprinted back to Port Authority to make the 11 AM bus back home and arrived back in front of my house by 12:00 PM.

if you think about it, i spent a total of 4 hours prep and travel time just to spend 30 minutes in the city. it took me all morning to spend 30 mins in the city.

these are the times i particularly miss living in NYC.

also as a side note, for the korean fangirl in me, Yoo JaeSuk and Infinity Challenge is in NYC as 10/26 and reportedly they'll be there for 10 days. just hang out around K-town i'm pretty sure that's where they'll be. ::sigh:: if i still lived in the City i would totes be a stalker right now. if only...

Generation Gap

i'm confronted with exactly how old i've become whenever i look at my younger sister, Poopy (yes, it's a nickname, and ironically, that's her real nickname. I gave that nickname to her when I was about 14). i'm not going to reveal the means, but i somehow discovered my sister was sneaking out to meet up w/a college boy. and not a hello-i'm-a-college-freshman college boy but an i'm-older-than-a-college freshman college boy. and did i mention my sister is only sixteen?

not that i haven't done my fair share of hijinxes and shenanigans when i was her age, but regardless, it's completely different when it's your baby sister that's doing it. because of our age difference, my sister and i straddle the sibling relationship and the mother-daughter relationship (we're 11 yrs apart). we've never been able to cross that hurdle to being full-disclosure siblings who talk about boys we like and etc. so instead we've stayed in limbo where we spend most of our time teasing and goofing off with each other. just yesterday she hopped on my back for a piggy-back while we were in the supermarket. however, since my mom and dad work all day, whenever i'm home i make the meals for my sister, take her to her tennis lessons, set up dentist and doctor's appointments, etc.

this weird gray area made it really hard to determine what is the proper response to finding out she had snuck out to meet up/hook up with a college boy. my skin still crawls at the idea of her hooking up with that boy. and what does hooking up even mean now-a-days? it usually means something different to everyone, and since i have no intention of asking Poopy what it means to her my mind is just going to make up the worst possible scenarios. NOOOO.....

and then my head exploded.

ok, so it didn't. but i kind of wished it did. this whole situation's made me uber-confused. i'm obviously being very hypocritical since i probably did all the things she's doing now, so why does it bother me? i'm not her actual mom so why can't i be the cool-older-sister type instead of getting all worked up about it? should i confront her about it? do i have to give the talk?

the whole idea of the talk is also totally foreign. my family's never given the talk, ever. the way we deal with it is just hope that you'll learn everything you need to in college, when you're out of the house. back when i was a kid, that wasn't the smartest thing to do. however, in this day and age, i truly believe having the talk for informational purposes is completely unnecessary. in this day and age of television and movies, sex and all that accompanies it has become taboo-less. there isn't anything that you need to know that you didn't learn from Dawson's Creek, the O.C., Laguna Beach, and etc. And since these are reality shows, sex definitely isn't romanticized and most of the practicalities have also been explained. every show has an STD or abortion episode. look at True Blood. Jessica's a virgin forever and she explained that every time she has sex it's "gonna hurt like hell". hmm, that's not something that even the talk usually touches upon.

ultimately i had a mini-version of the talk with Poopy which was ultra-awkward but, according to most of my friends, necessary just to let her know that I knew something was up and that she had someone to talk to. I'm not so sure that the message came across that way but what's done is done. but it made me feel really really old doing it.