I've been to the movies three more times since my last blog. Friday night, Tara and I saw "Taking Lives." I had never seen the previews for it, but I'm pretty much down for whatever, so that's what we saw. It was alright. Though the ending could have been stronger, I guess.

Then on Saturday night, I agreed to meet with my one of my ;) admirers. We, along with his bro and two other friends, went to see "Dawn of the Dead." Now, I had absolutely no desire to see this movie. I saw a preview once and found a part shown to be scary and thought the rest was gonna be corny. But I have to admit, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Still not the best movie I've seen, but I wasn't mad that I saw it.

Then Monday night, Tara and I went to the movies. This time we saw the only movie I was interested in seeing: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." And I like-did-did it. (That's actually how I would say it if I were speaking to you. :)) It's a movie I wouldn't mind adding to my meager movie collection.

On Saturday during the afternoon, I met up with Tara and Justin at a restaurant for lunch. Then in the evening, I went to go see Tammy. She was celebrating her birthday - same routine: the restaurant where her sister works, then out clubbing. I just stayed at the restaurant a couple hours before heading to the movies.

Hmm... what else? I drove to work a few times last week. Did I already mention the parking garage of my building? Well, one day a couple weeks ago I had my mom's car and drove in to work. I had no idea where I'd park, so I went to see how much it cost at my building. The guy told me ten dollars (although I think it's really just nine max). I was like, "Uhhh... I think I'll park on the street by a meter." I had arrived late and so wouldn't be parked there a full work day and one of my friends had told me how she once chose to park and feed the meter rather than a parking garage and that it resulted in less money. So, when I told the parking attendant that I was gonna look for a spot on the street, he asked me how much I wanted to pay. I was like, I don't know, but not that much. What I really wanted to say was, "5 bucks." But I didn't want him to say, "What? Are you crazy?" So, he continue to ask me and I gave him the same response. Then he says, "How much you wanna pay? Five dollars?" I go, "Yeah, something like that." He replies, "Okay. I give you." Then he's all like, you tell me if you have a problem or anything, you come to me... Or whatever. And then he asks when I'm coming back - tomorrow? I'm like, I don't know when I'll be back since I don't usually drive.

So the next time I do drive, I'm all set to pay whatever this man is gonna tell me the price is. But he just waves me in. Then the next time I drove, it was a different man and I had to pay 9 dollars. So I was like, oh - that's what he meant by let him know if I had a problem and to come to him or whatever. But then, the next few times I drove to work, my man gave me free parking. Woohoo! I think I paid only nine dollars for what was maybe over $50 worth of parking. Go me!

Now I don't feel much like blogging anymore or remembering stuff. But lemme write one more thing: I just discovered games.com and now I been playing Scrabble. And then there's this variation called Scrabble Blitz. And today I just played Boggle for the first time. I'm addicted now. Found me another distraction.

Oh, and one more thing. Thursday night I went to recharge my phone, but the thing wouldn't work. I didn't know if it was my phone or the adapter. So I had my phone turned off all day Friday. Today, I went to the place where I got my phone for them to check it. Basically, the couldn't tell me what was wrong nor could the fix it. So they gave me a brand new phone. I lost any pictures I had or whatever other stuff I had saved in other spots. And I guess I gotta re-download some crap. But at least they were able to transfer my numbers over. But hey - got me a new phone! Kinda cool since I once dropped my old phone and scuffed it up a bit. :-P

Hmm... Two weeks have passed since my last blog and I can't seem to remember what's happened... Umm... did I mention how I went to the movies last month? I saw "Girl with the Pearl Earring" with Tara. And I also saw "The Passion of the Christ" with my mama.

I liked both films, I guess. The latter, it was kinda cool cuz I could understand some of the Aramaic due to my having studied Arabic and Hebrew. And even the parts in Latin, thanks to my knowledge of Spanish. Of course, the subtitles aided me in my comprehension. But I bet that movie woulda had a different affect had I not needed to depend on the subtitles and could understand the actual languages being spoken. There was this one part where the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene were talking and I heard the word I knew to be "Egypt" in Hebrew. But I didn't see the word "Egypt" anywhere in the subtitles... Anyhoo, the movie was different than I "expected". I guess I thought it would be your classic biblical film - chronological and seemingly very historical. But it wasn't so linear and it was slightly artsy in some parts. Like the supernatural elements - totally wasn't expecting them and they were kinda like horror film genre-type stuff. And yes, it was a bit graphic in some parts, but I don't feel it overpowered the movie. Not in such a way that those who are saying it's a violent film are saying. I mean, HELLO!! It's called the "passion." It's about what Christ went through for us! The suffering He went through? (According to my Encyclopedia of Catholicism, the word "passion" comes from the Latin word for "suffering": passio.) That's the point! Sheesh. We seem to forget about the real nitty-gritty of things during this Easter season while people are all thinking about nice little Easter bunnies and pastel-colored eggs and what not. That's the whole purpose of this season of Lent. A time to reflect and repent. And for those who don't know - both Christians and non-Christians alike - Easter is the MOST IMPORTANT holiday in Christianity. NOT Christmas, like some are wont to believe.

Anyway, I liked Ebert's review. And here's what the US Conference of Catholic Bishops had to say.

And the other night I went to a cultural show at my undergrad with Jeannie. Tammy and Michelle were performing. Finally got my ao dai back. Haven't seen that thing in three years since the last time I performed in that show! Made a contact with this Cambodian chick there. Saw this guy Rhyne there. Funny how I first met him. Met him several years ago from the internet and when we had exchanged pics, I saw that I had recognized him. He used to attend my undergrad until he transferred. And we did hang out once. We had gone to the ESPN Zone.

Okay, I can't really concentrate cuz I'm on the phone right now. But oh - I talked to "canaryboy" on the phone today for over an hour. Does anyone remember him? :-D Alright... I'm out!

It's been a while since I last blogged. And it's been quite an eventful three weeks. I don't think I very much feel like trying to write about all of it. And I don't know how much I remember. Hmm... A summary will do:

Wednesday, the 11th: after class, my Cambodian and Laos friends scooped me up and then we went to this pan-Asian restaurant, where another of their friends was working and hooked us up (i.e., free meal). Then they brought back home and met my mom. So my mom was talking to them, getting to use her Khmer and Laos skills.

Thursday, the 12th: the main Cambodian guy, the one who is sweatin' me like hell (seriously - I'm being smothered. You should've seen him when he saw me again after not seeing me since we met at the club. Actually, I currently have a break cuz he's out of town for a family emergency. *whoo*). Anyway, we went to this Viet restaurant so that I could eat something. The restaurant had a bar atmosphere for the evening and Vietnamese karaoke. Then we went to this other bar and on this particular night, there's a large Asian clientele. Only stayed briefly. And why was I being introduced as somebody's girlfriend? WTF!

Friday, the 13th: the Laos guy and the guy that worked in the aforementioned restaurant scooped me up from a location, then we went to that Viet bar/restaurant and waited on the gang. Received some Valentine's gifts. Yikes. Then went clubbin' with them fools. Saw Shawn there. Was being introduced as a girlfriend. :-|

Saturday, the 14th: went clubbing once again with this Kampuchean homeboy. Got Claire to meet us there, though she called it a night fairly early. He was forever wanting to cling to me. Not feelin' that. He's a real cool guy; I enjoy talking to him; I want to be his friend... But anything more than that? Nah. Not at this point in time.

Sunday, the 15th: guess what I did. Yup, went out dancing for the umpteenth time! This time with Belinda and her friend Doug to a local spot. A place I'd always heard of or seen, but never been to. It was cool. It was Latin night and it was $6 for ladies, bottomless cup. Didn't dance to salsa, but did some merengue, bachata, reggaeton, and some guy attempted to show me punta. Yo, I can't do that mess. Too fast. An acquaintance of Belinda's, Tony, a Vietnamese guy she met back in the day on the salsa circuit, was there. He asked for my number so we could do lunch some time since we work in the same metro area.

Monday, the 16th: I believe that was a holiday. I think Tara and I went to Border's to read. I think.

Tuesday, the 17th: and I think Tara came to the area where I work, where we then proceeded to a Vietnamese restaurant some blocks away.

Wednesday, the 18th: after class, saw that I had a missed call. Called the number, the guy says my name, talking in Spanish. I'm like, who is this? (in Spanish, of course). I wasn't understanding the name for a minute. Then found out it waas the Latino guy mentioned in the previous blog in paragraph 2. Anyway, ended up that he picked me up at my house once I was home and then we went to the harbor to walk around cuz he'd never been there. When I saw him again I though - oh, he's really not that cute. :-P And just from talking to him, I discovered I wasn't really feelin' him. Too young or whatever. Definitely not an intellect. Nope, can't be havin' that...

Saturday, the 21st: Cambodian dude and a friend came and got me. Then we went to this Japanese restaurant where one of my friends works (also mentioned in the previous blog) and was celebrating her birthday. It was Tammy's sister, Michelle, who was havin' the birthday. It was the Viet posse. We were there for a while. People were already eating or finishing up. We had cake. Then eventually they all headed to this one Korean-owned club. It was kinda wack. Not many people and I just didn't care for it.

Tuesday, the 22nd: had lunch with that Tony guy at that very same Viet restaurant Tara and I had dined at the week before. It was Tony, as a matter of fact, who told me of the existence of this place in the first place. So that was cool. Had some food and convo.

Okay. Enough of me trying to recall all those past events. Now, this past weekend... Friday, Tara came and got me at my job and we were trying to figure out what we were gonna do, where we were gonna eat. We ended up getting in touch with Nadine who was going out to eat with a friend, so we agreed to meet. So, Tara and I went in a couple stores before heading to the restaurant. We made a purchase in the second. Bought identical items. I'll talk about them some other time... So we met up with Nadine and her friend. Then after dinner, Nadine and Izzy were gonna go bowling and invited us along. I've never bowled in my life, mind you. I think there was one time when I was, like, four, and I did one of them numbers where you push the bowl between your legs or something... Anyhoo, met up with a group of other people. Saw a couple familiar faces from school. One was this cute Iraqi guy. I pointed him out to Tara and she agreed that he was eye candy. :)

And after bowling, we ended up at the house of two of the guys and we did a bit of socializing. Had some chai and french toast. Got home around 5 in the morning. Dang.

Then Saturday, went shopping with Tara. Well, she was buying stuff, not I. But the plan was to go out to eat, too. But that never happened 'cause it started to get late and Tara had to meet with Belinda to go dancing. She tried to convince me to go, but, nope. One of the things I gave up for Lent was clubbing. (And for good reason, too! hehe). Trying to convince me that I didn't have to dance or whatever. Anyway, ended up going to a Vietnamese cultural with Justin. That was my plan in the first place cuz Tammy and Michelle were performing in it, and I just wanted to go see my peoples.

After that, Justin and I headed to the city and eventually met up with Tara and Belinda in a pool hall. At one point I left cuz I still hadn't eaten at this point, so I went to get a jumbo slice of pizza. That was fun venturing out alone to the pizza place and back. I was lovin' the attention. :-P And then when Tara was done playing a game of pool with Justin, she wanted to get a pizza and I went with her. And guess what? Got another jumbo slice. I am such a fat ass. I tell ya, I've been such the glutton this past month! I need to cut down on the marathon eating. Especially for this Lenten season...

And yesterday, Sunday, Tara and I headed once again to the city. We went in a couple shops, and were mainly looking for a place to grab a bite or a drink. So there was a point where we were crossing the street to the street corner on the other side and these guys were coming from the opposite direction headed for the same corner and headed in the same direction as us. I smiled at the one guy cuz he looked ethnic or interesting or something. Anyway, they let us go ahead in front. Then I heard them speaking: Arabic. So of course, as is expected of me, I start talking to them, asking where they're from. Found that they were Tunisian and then they invited us to have coffee with them. We went to the Middle Eastern/Pakistani joint around the corner and we had a meal together and sat and talked with them for... some hours, I suppose? They were nice enough. And we somehow kinda got paired off with these guys. We weren't feelin' 'em "like that", but we'd maintain a friendship with them. They were both decent-looking gentleman - both attractive and tall. Then they dropped us off at the bookstore, after a slight detour and mini-joy-riding and them acting silly.

So in the bookstore, Tara and I got a refreshment and a snack and indulged in a game of Scrabble. I won, of course. ;) And I bought a couple of Arabic CDs: one was Nawaal al-Zoghbi and the other, some bellydancin-titled something. :-P And we finally called it a night and then it was back to our regularly schedule programs: work in the morning. As Garfield says: I hate Mondays. I was tired at work again. Not enough sleep, as usual.

Had class this evening. My Arabic teacher is the conversation teacher for the current students in my grad program and so he talked to my old Arabic professor. He told me that my ex-prof said that I was an excellent student and very, very smart. :-D

Well, I wanna try to get ready for bed so I can try and catch up on some sleep. I actually got to work early today. Usually, since I'm such a lazy bum and slow gettin' out the house, I wouldn't get to work 'til after 10 when I mean to get there around 9. This morning, I actually got there before 9. I hadn't done that since when I first started working. I wanna try to start getting there earlier so I won't feel so obligated to stay late.

Oh, and I like Earl Grey tea now. Bye! :)