Author: F C

The Iliad: Saw Troy with P- and her sister on Saturday. Wow, talk about Ishtar on the Aegean! OK, it wasn’t that bad, but paraphrasing the review from The Onion — it turned a 10 year war into a really bad spring break fling. Oftentimes, you just look at Orlando Bloom playing Paris and think that you’re in The Lord of the Rings – Frodo on Growth Hormones. Not value for money unless you’re channelling Brad Pitt.

The Odyssey: walked the length of the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival from 39th to 57th Street– wow, what great food! We had lobsters at Central Fish Market for $7 each. Jerk Chicken: $5 ea. Soft shell crab sandwiches. Tamales. Polish pierogi. Cupcakes from the Cupcake Cafe. Passed up on paella, BB Sandwich Bar’s cheesesteak sandwiches, corn cakes and mozzerella, Greek desserts, and much more because we just didn’t have room to eat them. Definately recommended next year.

Music: GiTS:SAC Theme (MP3)
Rachael Yamagata (Artist Direct.com).

APA Half Hour: between 12:30 and 1 am, Conan O’Brian had Pun Yin, Donald Trump’s feng shui expert, and ballard singer Rachael Yamagata. Afterwards, cartoon King of the Hill featured Connie, Bobby’s Laoian girlfriend in “Aisle 8A“.

Saw a preview of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Fantastic CGI, great music by Yama Kano. The plot didn’t translate so well in English — I wish that they had played the Japanese soundtrack with subtitles.

Going to the 9th Avenue Food Fair — it’s today and tomorrow from 57th Steet down to the 30’s.

APAs in the news: Head of Iraq Inquiry Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba reporting on Geneva Convention violations; NJ Superior Court Judge Randolph Subryan accused of sexual harrassment.; American Idol contestant Jasmine Trias continues on as LaToya is voted out.

Received honorary Filipino status today by going to a board meeting in a Kenneth Cole shirt P- got me. It looks like a baby-blue barong tagalog (unlike the picture, there’s a flap on my shirt that covers the buttons), except it’s done in easy to care for cotton, and not the itchy, have-to-dry-clean-every hour piña cloth .

One stream of unconsciousness and life events:
It’s self evaluation time at work. I’m so beat from doing 3 shift-days followed by being with my parents or P- (or both) that I’d probably give myself a poor evaluation. P- had someone rear-end her while stopped at a light, but she and her sister’s car are both OK; the other driver, with a handicapped license, drove off before numbers could be exchanged. The end of Friends came, but I still have to watch the recording; like Seinfield, I never really got into it because I was going to law school at night and never was home for Must-See TV (The Official Soundtrack). My cousin’s graduating from law school, and I get to give her the diploma. June’s trip to Seattle seems like it will be unofficial. August/September’s trip to Malaysia is still being worked out. AJ’s grandmother passed away in the Phillipines. YC moved to Taiwan. My dad had another in his string of diabetic ulcer surgeries at Columbia/New York/Presbyterian/Cornell/ whatever-they-are-allied-with-nowadays Hospital. Joe, a friend from elementary school (who also went to my high school and college) hooked up with me to talk about real estate closings. He met up with some other people from there recently, including a girl that I had such the crush for in grade school. I wonder what she looks like now. My high school did their 35th annual musical, which was a production of Les Miserables (School Edition). I’ve seen the Broadway version 3 times, and I have to say my high school’s version was better than two of them — more earnest. It was standing room only for 6 performances.

Ones that defy explaination:

– RIAA suing downloaders for taking royalties from starving artists, then on the other hand holding on to royalties saying that they couldn’t find artists such as Dolly Parton, and David Bowie.
– NY Post editorial saying that people tortured by US contractors in Iraq are better off than those being tortured by Saddam.
– A news helicopter crash landing into one building, rolling over onto the roof of another building in Flatbush, and everyone walks away from it (thank God!)
– All of the Japanese Iron Chefs defeated by all of the American Iron Chefs on Iron Chef America (well, at least it was as rich and fast-paced as the original).
– All of the rain on the East Coast; non of the rain on the West Coast: fires there, floods here.

OK, that’s enough of the “One” liners. I guess I’ll have to watch Friends “The Last One” tonight.

The last few days were full of momentious change, decision, intriegue, dilemma, and drama. Everything becomes clearer, more complicated, more concise. The emotion is: Jump! Well, what is below?

For those in the know, my co-worker R– prior to retiring, eloped across the street at the municipal hall and got married to D. He’s now somewhere in Gothenberg, Sweeden. Congrats to the lucky couple!

Iron Chefs from Japan pass the torch to Iron Chef America. And they get trounced! Lots of fun.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Go to Union Square on Sunday for the 25th CAPA fair.

Catch up on my month’s pictures here.

You can’t make this up.

Scene 1:
Singing panhandler croons an a capella version of “Stand By Me”. No money gained. William Hung could have done better.

Scene 2:
Black woman with really big poofy hair and bustier as troubadour. Her hispanic boyfriend has the guitar case in tow. Strums a lyric, then asks, “Am I over-analyzing…”.

Scene 3:
Couple playing hand held video games. The girl is singing something unintellible, and then giggles every few minutes.

Scene 4:
Old Chinese woman gets into a Jerry Springer moment with a young black woman. Nobody on the train can figure out what the argument is about, but after four letter words on one side, and the equivilent ones in Cantonese, it degenerates into volleys of “You shut up”…”No, you shut up”.

P– and I went to too many Brooklyn Restaurant Week restaurants. Marty’s restaurant week was an astounding success!

Worth another visit: Cocotte (French bistro cooking): excellent coconut-hinted bouillabaisse. Totally tolerant of having one latecomer to our party. Prix Fixe was a worthwhile value.

Worth waiting a few hours on the cell phone: Blue Ribbon Sushi (5th Av): sushi platter modestly sized, but absolutely satisfying and filling. Salmon had the most outrageous stripes of delicious fat, showing its excellent quality. Tip: get there to be on the waiting list early (no reservations), give them your cell phone number, and then hang out at Ozzie’s coffee across the steet. My friend Kam and her husband were also waiting there.

Not worth it: Baccus (Atlantic Av, French bistro): While the scallop appertizer was skillfully done, and the deserts were heavenly, the main dish (lamb ribs – 3 ribs yielding enough meat to make 2 chicken nuggets) was unimpressive. They also litterally left money on the table by forgetting to make our extra side orders, which would have been an additional 12 dollars.

This is the worst time of the year for me health-wise. The usual MO: two weeks of spring tree pollen and 20 degree fluctuations turns into itchy, stuffy, sneezing hay fever. The hay fever turns into a scratchy throat, then a full-blown cold. This year it hasn’t helped that I’ve spent the last 12 days in ultra-refrigerated server rooms, then emerging into either balmy 80 degree weather or rainy 40 degree weather. I’m in the final rounds of the cold now, so I’m going to sack out on Saturday. I’m still also in the last stage of healing of my elbow, which was sore through the San Diego trip due to too much mouse use.

I’ve been going to sleep at around 3-4 am each night this week because of the irritating allergy/cold tag team. I awoke to the beeping of my cell phone this morning at 8:30. I tried to answer the phone through my phlem filled throat; after listening to the constant beeping through the phone, I realized that the UPS had failed on one of the servers. I threw on some clothes and made a mad dash to the office. 2 hours later, it was resolved, wanting to go home to do my morning routine, which I actually didn’t get to until after 12.

I revisited the college cultural & fashion show that I ran as a student. Now 12 years later, I am in awe of how far they have gone, and yet, how many things are the same. Best of the cultural stuff were the VariAsians — a cappella and asian heritage — two good flavors blended into one. On the fashion end, I remember a lot of the moves the models made were very similar to what we had done 12 years ago. Some innovations we came up with are still practiced on the fashion show end: projecting the name of the next scene (we invented the technique 13 years ago); dancing by the models (before we did it, everyone did straight catwalks). Good DJ music choices, pretty good food for a fashion show bento box. P– won us dinner for 2 in the raffle. The auditorium was completely rebuilt, and it looks very much like the one that it replaces.. I’m proud of them. Photos will be added when I get a chance to download them.

Exciting day: time to crash and cough again tomorrow.

Oh, yeah — it was AJ’s birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday!

On the Q train, a young Chinese woman faints on the train. Everyone rushes to help her up on to the bench seat. As the train enters Pacific street, she revives and manages to get off the train. She waits again on the R side of the platform with a couple of the other riders from the Q train. She turns white as a sheet and slowly slumps to the ground again, wound down. MTA workers are called for – after a few moments being examined by a female worker wearing an orange construction vest, the woman recovers and jumps into the just-arrived R train, against the advice of the platform crew. I hope she’s OK.

Shook hands with Ismail Merchant yesterday at my college’s alumni dinner near Grand Central. He actually was a MBA student, and was exposed to literature and film by osmosis. I have to be honest, I have never watched any of his films (I’m sure P– will fill me in on them and catch me up). However, I know about his Indian food – he’s a great chef and he is such a foodie, it is not funny. That is worthy of honor.

The college president reported publically for the first time that the that arms of the Mars explorers are made from steel taken from the WTC site. The college brokered the arrangement between NASA and the authorities here. I feel a whole array of emotions. Wow, that was am amazing, spectacular deal they pulled off that shows the college’s high guan-xi (connections) quotient. On the other hand, why does everyone want a piece of the wreckage? There is a thin line between memorial and morbidity.

I’m going to meet my friends from Newport Beach that are flying in on a 2 hour layover from London. Let’s see what kind of food I can find for them.