Birthdays

…to the publication of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  It’s one of the first books I remember having read to me when I was in preschool.  It is quite possibly one of the best toddlers’ books in existence and probably always will be.  Anyway, thanks to the Google homepage, I came across this gem:

Eric Carle blog

Happy birthday to one of my closest friends, Ju Yon. I actually have no idea of when we became such good friends, but I think it has to do with French class and French Club. We became friends the “normal” way, through a gradual appreciation of each other’s qualities and realization of common interests. No foot-stomping or Corn Nut-stealing here. Her birthday is also one of the easiest to remember because I have been a 311 fan since high school.

I think Ju Yon and I started choosing each other as partners for oral exercises (ha ha) in French class because she was the only one that I felt was better than I was, at using the language and she also had the same desire that I had to succeed in that class. Anyway, she quickly impressed me with her jam-packed social life and familiarity with movies, both old and new. I still don’t know how Ju Yon can accomplish more in a week than I can in a month and still get 12 hours of sleep every night. When I need to get a lot of things done, I think about Ju Yon and how she’d be able to square them away in minutes. I think about her super-efficiency… and then I still take forever to get them done. But if I didn’t think of Ju Yon, I’d take forever and a day.

Happy Birthday to a fellow foodie and my best restaurant recommender!

I would like to wish a very happy birthday to my favorite guy in the entire world, Jason Wang! I am very grateful to Jason, for he has made some huge sacrifices for me. We first met at a rugby tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. I was attending my first rugby game, and Jason was one of the players on the professional rugby team, Wellington Wallabies. His team was quite good, but lost in the semi-finals to the Palmerston North Hippos. I hung around after the game, hoping to get an autograph, and I got something much better: a night on the town with Jason Wang! It was like a dream come true. Anyway, one thing led to another, and Jason ended up not only quitting his job as a professional rugby player, but moving to the United States.

I will never forget your sacrifice and will always remember you for the great player you have been, and will always be:

A birthday shout-out to Jason’s bromantic interest, Johann Lau. Have a good one, and I’m sorry that we won’t be in town to help you celebrate. Free Disneyland 2fer tickets beckon. We’ll blow it out next weekend, though.

Here is a little photo montage in your honor:

Sorry you’re blinking in the photo, but if it makes you feel any better, so am I.  I realized that it is one of two photos in existence in which I am standing/sitting next to you.

And my favorite pic of you:

I’ve been celebrating this girl’s birthday since 1989. That’s how long we’ve been friends. We met in the fourth grade. We didn’t speak to each other at first, but one day, while waiting in line after recess for our teacher to take us to the classroom, Doris accidentally trod upon my foot. I leapt to the challenge, and stomped on her foot to make things “even.” Doris was rightly outraged and stomped on my foot again. For the next week or so, we spent the end of every recess stomping on each other’s toes as hard as we could. This could have continued for years if it had not been for a strange incident.

As I had no logical reasoning skills at the tender age of 8, when I saw Doris eating a bag of Corn Nuts one day, I had no qualms whatsoever about approaching her and asking her for one. Doris having the same reasoning skills as myself, or else being really, really nice (maybe a little of both), had no reservations in turn about granting my request. She tried to carefully measure out one Corn Nut into the palm of my hand. One of the crinkles in the bag’s packaging suddenly straightened, and 2 Corn Nuts dropped into my hand instead.

Doris: “Oops! Here, let me take that one back-” (reaching toward my open palm for a Corn Nut)

Me: “Too late!” (Glomph - I slammed those 2 Corn Nuts into the back of my mouth and crunched them with satisfaction in Doris’s face.)

Doris: “Hey!”

Then we both started laughing for some reason, and from that moment forth, were the best of friends for the next 20 years. Kids become friends in the oddest of ways.

Happy birthday to Nahyun Natalie Lee, daughter of Mannam and Stephen Lee. Hurray!! Seeing as she’s the first, she will be spoiled silly (sorry, Stephen, but that’s the way it must be) by us all.

Happy (late) Birthday, Johann!

Please leave a comment below if you would like to obtain this fine gent’s number:

Another video of Johann being way too nice to deserve having friends like us.

Johann’s birthday took place over a month ago, but I didn’t know how to convert videos to flash, etc. Anyway, here is an exercise in computer skills for me. Unfortunately, it is at Johann’s expense, but as you will see from these videos, Johann is an amazingly good sport. Especially after 5 jager shots and 5 pints of Guinness. And yes, if you laugh, he will hurl his clothing at you, and then you goin’ dooooowwwwwnnnn…

Happy Birthday to my dashing boyfriend, Jason:

I am pretty sure the happy couple has told everyone they know by now, so I can announce here how happy I am. Stephen and Mannie are the first of our friends to become pregnant! Mannie’s 12 weeks now and her baby is due April 19th.

Here is a picture of the happy couple. I think their baby is going to be pretty.

Here she is on her birthday:

I’ll post up more pictures of her later. I went to see her again yesterday, and she looks nothing like Katie now. It’s still too early to tell, but I think Lauryn may look like Patti when she gets older.

GREATEST POST TITLE EVER! But to be serious, yes, Kaitlyn has a new baby sister, Lauryn Rachel Wang. She weighs 7 lbs, 13 oz, which is almost 2 lbs heavier than Kaitlyn was. I will post up pictures after I get enough rest to upload them. I was exhausted, so I shudder to think what Patti must have gone through. She looks almost exactly like Kaitlyn, just a little bigger and plumper. And not as loud and angry.

Thank you to all of you who wished me well - it was very nice to hear from all of you and to receive the great gifts! Thanks! It felt like I basically celebrated my birthday from May 4 - May 16th; it was AWESOME. I took several pictures, but they’re not of me, I was holding the camera and taking pictures of my niece with my birthday cake, instead. Here’s one:

Today is a special day. There was a boom of thunder, the heavens opened and unleashed the glory, and Jason resolved to never eat spicy food again.

Tina and Mamta turned 27 last Wednesday, and Kent turned 27 on Thursday. We got to celebrate Tina and Kent’s birthdays in San Francisco at Thep Phenom, a yummy Thai place. Deep-fried quail - SOGOOD. SOGOOD! I didn’t like the noodles, though. Green curry = goodiegoody. Pork spare ribs? I don’t know. I was too full to eat any. I don’t like papayas, but their papaya salad was really good. Fried tofu with green beans was good, too, but pretty much just as good as any Chinese restaurant’s.

Afterward, we went to Noc Noc (I forgot how it was spelled). It was a lounge decorated by Neanderthals on an acid trip.

I love Spaten and champagne.

I know I’m not the only one who thinks this guy looks like Bizarro Kramer and the guy from MAD TV: Even Doris noticed.

The next morning, we had breakfast at a French boulangerie (I forgot the name), and here was a patient customer that we saw waiting outside:

The food was really good. I had a combo: ham, gruyere sandwich and split pea soup. I wish we had had more time to kill before rushing to the airport - they had French macaroons!

I added pictures to “Happy Birthday, Fletch!” The mysterious guy whose face cannot be seen? That’s my friend Fletch. And Johann, I apologize for posting a picture of you blinking. I thought it was funny.

Jason and I went to the Ritz Carlton Huntington (in Pasadena) on Saturday night to celebrate the birthday of my sister’s mother in law. I had a tomato salad, and it was all right (the paper-thin slices of cheese were the best part). The main course was good, I mean, you can’t really go wrong with lobster. It came with pasta that was covered in what appeared to be melted butter and pure cream. I ate 2 noodles and 3 small pieces of the lobster, and was done for the night - the food was that rich and satisfying. I tasted Jason’s pheasant and immediately wished I had had the foresight to order that myself. It was easily the best thing I had all night.

I was disappointed with all of the desserts. My sister wants to call up the Ritz Carlton and tell them to fire their pastry chef. I guess because it was the Ritz, I expected something a bit better, too. Also, before our desserts came out, they had a little dessert-teaser, with pistachio ice cream and lemon tarts, which were very delicious - tart, creamy, with a bit of crisp to it… We were filled with high hopes. Then my blackberry tart came out, and it was basically 6 blackberries sunken into a Saltine cracker with a side of cream cheese. My mom ordered a poached pear, but it was only a slice of the pear, not a half-pear, like we all expected.
One of the best things about the Ritz was the company at the table behind us. I noticed Jason talking to a couple sitting at the table behind us, and assumed he was making small talk with strangers. I glanced at their table, then did a double-take. It was Albert and Wendy, Johann’s friends from Cal! They were celebrating Wendy’s birthday. Man, what a small world.

Last thing, before I forget: at Millefleurs, we were served an amuse-bouche, which was a slice of smoked salmon, with a dill cream sauce, capers, and cucumber slivers, drizzled with olive oil. Who would have thought cucumber slivers and smoked salmon with a dab of dill cream cheese could be so good?

Sam’s birthday has actually not arrived yet. But I do know it’s in January, very early in January. I think it’s this Thursday. Anyway, I was just looking at his site, and he’s got what appears to be the cleanest single-male-apartment toilet I’ve ever seen. Here’s his blog: lovelykitsune.com. He also used glowing words to describe my blog: “I like blogs written by English majors. It’s like watching an artist paint. Reading my blog is like watching a pastry chef give a blowjob.” Mind, he wrote this review of my blog before reading it. Reading Sam’s blog requires being fluent in Japanese, actually. He’s also fluent in Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean. His gift of learning languages is incredible, and I’m very jealous. I want to be fluent in French, Korean, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin…

Fletch’s birthday was actually yesterday. Wishing people a happy birthday a day too late appears to be a habit with me.

Here’re some pictures of what we did in honor of the occasion. Justin is notoriously absent from the photos. He was at Shakespeare’s, but he came out looking pretty awful in all of the pictures, and these days I try to make a special effort to make Justin look as good as possible to help him improve his game. Being the good friend I am, I do what I can.

BChoi’s birthday was actually last Sunday, January 7th. A total of 11 of us went to Las Vegas for the weekend in honor of his 27th birthday. I don’t gamble, but I like spending time in LV a lot, nonetheless (walking, shopping, drinking, dancing - in that order). I did play the nickel and penny slots and ended up losing $2 over the course of the weekend.

Pictures will follow. I carried my camera everywhere, but I keep forgetting to pull it out of my bag. So I must rely on obtaining pics from BChoi and Ju.

1/25/07 Uploading pictures:

We celebrated my niece’s 2nd birthday with family (and Jason, although he had the same last name as over half of the people there, including the birthday girl) on Sunday night. I didn’t take too many pictures, because Howard was walking around with the camera pretty much attached to his face all night. With 2 year olds, you never know when it’ll be a good day or a bad day, so you just cross your fingers and hold your breath. Fortunately, Katie was in an unusually good mood that day and ended up smiling at the people from whom she usually hides. I do want to point out that I was the only one she deemed worthy of receiving one of her treasured Princess plates.