Author: Doris

We drove to Delaware yesterday to see Jeremy’s college friend, Dan and his family.

There was chatting.

There was playing.

And there was boating (OK, you can’t see the boat, but you can see the lifejacket)!

Tonight, Vince and I went to my old high school to see a high school musical called “My Favorite Year”. The last time I was in that auditorium was 18 years ago, and it is exactly the same – I even spied the infamous Mr. Brodsky, who I think did a double take when he saw me. Well, it’s exactly the same except for the fact that the tickets now are twice as expensive.

I’m uploading a picture from my nice camera. This was taken in the afternoon at Choon’s place, back in the day, when I was housesitting. Ah the nostalgia! 😛

Things have been a bit weird lately both work and life.

At work we are in the midst of hiring a new manager. It’s been a long process, and it’s definitely very interesting hearing people’s perspectives on the candidates and what others see as pros and cons. I guess everyone thinks differently.

In life, I’ve been a bit moody lately. I know the reason for it, but I’m not at liberty to post it on the blog for now. Not to worry, but progress is being made in that department. I hope to have things more resolved in a couple days.

Other than that, hanging in there. Trying to have some fun in there. 🙂

We matched with an au pair! She’s from Germany and has experience with special needs kids. We spoke with her on two occasions last weekend and I guess we both had good impressions of each other and so we’ve agreed to live with each other for a year. What an adventure-y adventure we are about to embark on.

During the first phone call, she mentioned that she plays handball 3 times a week and after we got off the phone with her, Jeremy and I debated what exactly handball is. I argued it was like water polo without the water. Jeremy insisted it was like racquetball without the racquet. We mentioned to her on the 2nd phone call that it would be hard to find a local handball team since no one in the US (except for the 14 people that make up the Olympic team) plays handball. She laughed and said it was OK to not play handball for a while.

Our desktop computer died. It was 7 years old. Jeremy discovered that HP has a return program where you can ship your old computer back to them for credit towards your new computer. Jeremy entered the vital information about our kaput computer into the online form. They were willing to give us $4.50 toward the purchase of a new HP. Sigh.

Vince’s best friend K. came over on Saturday and together they made a big flour-y mess.

Well, since I know Doris loves this kind of stuff… Dave and Xiaoli have decided on what stroller to get their soon-to-be addition to their family. Click here for the winner!

Jeremy’s niece, S., turned 4 a few weeks ago and Vince and Edda got invited to her gymnastics themed birthday party. At Vince’s age, I remember being enrolled in gymnastics and trying over and over again to do a back hand spring. I’m still hoping that someday I’ll be able to do it – I can still do a mean cartwheel and each time we get invited somewhere with a sprung floor, I go ahead and try a cartwheel or two just to make sure I’ve still got it in me.

Vince had a fabulous time, but Edda didn’t like it so much. Sometimes I wish she could enjoy these regular kid things a little more, because even though everyone is very sweet and accommodating and everyone wants her to have a good time, Edda just doesn’t like it very much and wants to sit in a quiet corner and watch Dora on the iPod.

Well, it’s been an interesting weekend.

Friday was dinner with Choon and Xin and Shwe. Fine. I stayed over at Choon’s that night for the last time in my “housesitting” adventure.

Saturday, I managed to go out on a ride by myself. It was wonderful really. It’s been such a long time since I’ve had some time to go at my own pace, at my own speed. It’s good to clear out the head. On my way out I had to stop by the bike shop to buy a couple supplies. I found an old coworker was back working there on the weekends, so I was pleasantly surprised. Chatted her up a bit. When I went to the counter to buy something, the guy in line ahead of me wanted to buy something with a gift certificate, and apparently the cashier was a new guy. So I was telling him how to redeem it in the computer system. I think the new employee was pretty confused… 🙂

I managed to get home, pack all my stuff from Choon’s house. Haul it up to SF. I got a great parking spot. unloaded all my stuff. Went out to dinner with Brian, who is back from Singapore. We hung out for a bit, and then Hilda texted me. Apparently she was going out for her birthday at some lounge in North Beach. Of course she didn’t tell me it was her birthday until I got there. But it was fun. She got a good bit drunk. I met my ex’s current bf. He seemed cool. Also Hilda’s friend got pretty smashed and was half flashing people on the way into a restaurant after the club had closed. I also am proud to say that my tolerance is improving by leaps and bounds. I had a drink and 2 shots, and was pretty much fine for the night. Yes. I have a hard life.

of course, I came back, parked my car, and slept in tonight, but when I woke, i decided I would drive somewhere, got in my car, and noticed all this glass all over the passenger seat. Fun. So. Had to take care of that. Nothing was stolen, cause there was nothing in the car. I honestly don’t even think that they opened the door even. Ah well. just some dope wrecking things. I’lll fix it tomorrow.

I can’t believe that there is a movie out about MIT nerds who went to Las Vegas to count cards. And I also can’t believe that it’s the #1 movie in the country. Who knew that it would be popular. I chalk it up to the alluring “winning at gambling” aspect and not that MIT students are sexy or anything. OK, so since the movie was set in the mid-90s when I was a student there, I want to tell my tiny little connection to the MIT blackjack team.

During my first 2 years at MIT, I hung out with a now-defunct fraternity, Delta Pi. This was a strange little fraternity, they had no national organization, but they were a fun bunch of guys. One weekend, I noticed that one of the brothers was concentrating on a deck of cards in the corner. He was trying to cut the deck of cards exactly the same number of cards each time. I watched him for a while and I asked him what the heck was he doing. He mumbled something about blackjack and Las Vegas and I thought he was lying or crazy.

Then, few weeks later, I remember a brief conversation he was having in the hallway with another person about having to “looking the part”. Apparently, he had a whole back story about how he happened to have $50,000 to gamble. I guess maybe he dressed up in expensive suits and watches and said he was some sort of European prince which is hilarious because he, like the rest of us, was an awkward, pimply, nerdy post-pubescent MIT student.

Anyways that’s all I know about the MIT blackjack club, but I guess I have a little claim to fame because I’m only 4 degrees removed from Kevin Spacey which is what I really care about. What a cutie! But I am married and he is perhaps, “playing for the other team”, so I might have to give up on my little fantasy. Is there anything more alluring than playing an MIT math professor?

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