Soundtrack of life: repeat track...

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting...

Soundtrack of life: angry chick music

The latest Dixie Chicks single makes me smile, even though I don't usually dig the Dixie Chicks...and even though it's supposed to be angry. But I'll all for angry chick music. Especially when they say things like "I'm still mad as hell"... ;-)

Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting

I'm through with doubt
There's nothing left for me to figure out
I've paid a price
And I'll keep paying

I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
'Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I know you said
Can't you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don't mind sayin'
It's a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Sayin' that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
'Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
'Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I'm not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I'm still waiting

Asia Tour day 8-9-10?

I've lost track of how many days it's been sine I left home. The last few days were a blur. Not sure if it's due to the smog or just my fatigue. We had really long meetings and managed to squeeze in a couple of bubble tea sessions at rbt (aka the green bunny place--thanks, Jen). We finally ventured out to Houhai last night, but I've gotta say that it wasn't quite the same without the APMM crew.

Now we're sitting at a random restaurant at PEK awaiting our flight. I can't say I'll miss this place much, but at least it's endearing in its own way. That, and I know I'll (have to be) back soon...

And with that, I leave Beijing the way I found it--chaotic, dusty, and smoggy. This was quite the Asian adventure.

The weekend in pics: Beijing

Never thought I'd be back so soon, but that's what keeps life interesting, right? Last time I was here, I remember crazy nights at Houhai and Banana, as well as cold days and the Olympic Friendlies. Here are some different images from this time around...


One of the two giant stone sculptures (it's one solid piece) in the Forbidden City. Back in the day, anyone except the emperor who stepped on it would get executed!









It's an optical illusion--the Forbidden City is never this empty ;-)











It's the Starbucks. Inside the Forbidden City. No joke.

Of course, I had to get the Chairman in a pic

Grilled scorpions and other "delicacies" at the night market

Me showing off the "duck cards" that told us exactly which numbered duck we ate during our meal. We just called them Dan and Ann.

Asia Tour Day 6-7: Beijing (again)

So I'm back in Beijing again. Can't say it's much different from the last time I'm here other than it being not as cold and about three times as dusty due to the recent sandstorms. Spent yesterday showing folks around the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. (Oh yes, we did enjoy the ridiculousness of walking around the 600-year-old forbidden city with our bourgeois Starbucks latte and frappucino's.) Last night was a quick dinner at Yong He (aka my favourite Chinese fast food joint) and we all collapsed after our crazy night in Seoul and travel morning caught up with us.

I slept for 14 hours.

Woke up today and had a surprisingly "normal" Sunday. Had Canto noodles at GL Cafe and then shopped around China World Trade. For dinner we went to the famous Quanjude in Qianmen (the *original* branch) and had some insane amounts of Peking Duck. We even got the official "duck cards" that told us we ate ducks number one-billion something or other and one-billion something or other plus one...we affectionately named our ducks Dan and Ann. (Dan and Ann lived fruitful and purposeful lives.) Duck and duck-happy people pictures below...

The chef carves up our first duck

Sarah and I bask in our post-duck happiness

Not sleeping in Seoul...

As opposed to being sleepless...bus leaves in 4 hours, and I still have get to a Seoul Starbucks so I don't miss my Starbucks travel quota (must hit at least one Starbucks in each city if one exists). But I thought I'd leave you with something equally yummy...

I love football!

Asia Tour Day 6: CJK - "Curry, Japanese-style, in Korea"

Apologies about the dorky "CJK" reference in my blog title--my colleagues will know that it's a reference to how we refer to the three major countries within the APAC region (China/Japan/Korea) when we talk about localizing our products, hence this work trip. Nevertheless, CJK is the name of the game, and tomorrow we hit China, the last leg of the trip.

Today I finally got my fix of curry katsudon (thanks to Sasank for rubbing in the fact that he had good Japanese curry in Mountain View when I'm the one who spent four days in Tokyo without any curry). It was served on a sizzling hot plate with udon and rice on the side. And just to make sure we had the proper Korean touch, there was a tiny dish of kimchee on the side, of course.

I think I'm coming down with something, which is really helpful since the air quality of Beijing isn't exactly stellar. It was freezing last night in Seoul and I think my body must be battling the yuckiness that often comes with drastic weather changes and excessive traveling. (Wow, did I just use "excessive" and "traveling" in one sentence? I really must be sick.)

Tonight, our Korean colleagues took us out for some good old fashioned Korean BBQ. We were also introduced to the "Korean car bomb" (okay, it's not called that but that's what I'm calling it), which essentially is a shot of soju that you put in a shot glass which you then drop into the glass of Korean beer of your choice. (Sounds like an Irish car bomb, right? Yah, see?) Nothing but beef, beer, beef, and more beer all around. (see pic below)


It was great to see many of my co-workers half-drunk by 8pm and stumble their way to the karaoke place. A couple hours of what I like to call "white-people karaoking" (ie. when they yell into microphones in groups and don't even attempt to be in tune) ensued, and good times were had by all. I can still see Richard singing "In da Club" and pretty much knowing all the words--this is funny because Richard is a self-proclaimed "the whitest black man you'll ever meet".

In about 4 hours we're headed to the airport for Beijing. (Yes, that means it's 2:30 am here and I have neither packed nor slept.) I'm a little sad that I didn't get to see Seoul, but I guess I've been here before and it's okay. Tomorrow is a new adventure...annyoung, Seoul!

Asia Tour Day 5: Chicken Soup for the "Seoul"

First full day in Seoul was filled with food, food and more food. (Yes, it was filled with work, too, but you know how I don't/shouldn't talk about that.) Almost missed the meeting time this morning since my very high-tech beside dashboard (aka Star Trek-esque command console) failed to execute on my alarm. I quickly stuffed down some hotel buffet breaky and headed through the underground mall to get to our Seoul office. For lunch we had a quick bim bim bap in a restaurant in the food court, before I located a 7-Eleven and found azuki (red) bean Haagen Dazs--yum! More meetings later, it was finally time for dinner and I strongly championed us getting samgyetang, a Korean ginseng chicken soup where they essentially stuff a whole (mini) chicken with sticky rice, ginseng, and other yummy things and stew the darn thing until the meat fell off the bones. (see illustrative pic above) It was definitely what I needed after constant traveling and the windy Seoul weather. A quick pit-stop to BR with Sarah and a mint-chip ice cream cone later, I was a happy camper. So no, I didn't get to see any of Seoul, but I guess I've been here before so that's okay. I'm just happy that my tummy is happy. :-)

Asia Tour Day 3-4: Everyone's a rockstar

(written earlier yesterday at Narita)

So jet lag finally hit yesterday (Tuesday) and I woke up at 4:30-something in the morning and knew there was no hope for me. I ended up doing the only thing that I knew how to do in the wee hours of the morning in Tokyo--go to the Tsukiji Fish Market again for more sushi breakfast. (FYI, it *does* get more expensive if you order a la carte and keep asking for toro.) Ended up also buying some wellies (aka gum boots) there which will come in handy when I head back to the still-supposedly rainy San Francisco.

After breakfast, it was time for work. The rest of the day was pretty much a blur of heavily-caffeinated haziness, to the point where I couldn't even go out for the group dinner. I ended up running out and grabbing a quick bowl of yummy ramen and sleeping off my jet lag. This morning I woke up and had to pack up quickly before grabbing a bowl of piping hot soba down the street. More work, sushi lunch (I know understand why you don't eat sushi on days when the first market is closed. It was closed today.), and a two-hour bus ride later, I'm now hanging out at Narita awaing our flight to Seoul.

Before I leave Tokyo, some more random observations:

- Everyone wears sunglasses all the time. Forget rockstars. In Tokyo, you'd think that everyone's a rockstar judging by how many people wear their sunglasses indoor. Even when it's cloudy.

- The Japanese are obsessively clean, even though there are never garbage cans anywhere. Maybe they are so zen they can make garbage disappear magically.

- The Japanese are obsessively clean. You have to take off your shoes even when going into a dressing room to try on clothes in a store, and not to mention the disposable face masks they give you so you don't smear your makeup on the clothes.

- The Japanese are obsessively clean. You don't eat while walking in public. When you get food to go, that means you're taking it to go home or to the office to eat it, and not to eat it in public. Ever. Ice cream cones are perhaps the only exception..., or at least I like to think so make myself feel less like the dumb foreigner for eating mine while strolling the streets of Shibuya.

- They are big into vending machines here. Even for restaurants! For small ramen and soba joints, you literally "buy" your noodles from the machine, and then hand your ticket to the attendant when you sit down at the counter.

- Small is beautiful. Food portions, pastries, flower bouquets--everything is small and delicate and people are okay with that. When's the last time you saw short-sized drinks at Starbucks? (That was so 90's, by the way.) Here, they're the norm.

- Adam Smith was right. Division and specialisation of labour is the way to go. This philosophy extends to food in Japan. Sushi restaurants serve suhi, robata serves robata (grilled) food, tempura serves tempura, and noodle joints serve noodles. None of this multi-food-types silliness! And yes, there are even restaurants dedicated to tonkatsu (deep-fried pork chops).

- You don't eat sushi on the days when the fish market is closed (Sundays plus 2 Wednesdays each month). Period. Don't question it.

Domo arigato, Tokyo. I'll definitely be back.

Sleepless in Tokyo...

Totally having a Lost in Translation moment, only I'm not lost, and no one's speaking to me. Funny how I didn't really have trouble sleeping all weekend and suddenly jetlag is upon me. I woke up at 4:34am and knew there was no going back. This is the view outside my window...

Asia Tour Day 2 - A sea of calm amidst Monday chaos

So Sarah and I courageously charged through the rest of our morning after the fish market visit without a nap. We sadly said goodbye to the Grand Hyatt and checked into our home for the next two nights: the Cerulean Tower Hotel in Shibuya.

We then had our first adventure on the JR line on our way to the Meiji-jingu, the largest Shinto shrine in Tokyo. It was nestled inside a serene park, and we had to walk about 1km on a gravel path marked by giant torii (made from cypress wood from Alishan in Taiwan, of all places) before arriving at the main shrine. I can't really explain the calm that I experienced while I was there--everything from the soft trickle of water in the cleansing station to the overwhelming sense of peace in the courtyard was a wonderful and welcome contrast to the bustling chaos of Tokyo on a Monday morning. We left our wishes on the votive tablets and quietly strolled back outside the park. I can still feel that calm resonate whenever I see my "body and soul" protection charm from the shrine that now dangles happily from my cell phone.

After Meiji-jingu, we ventured down Omote-sando, known as the most fashionable street in Tokyo in the Harajuku district. Unfortunately, I guess Harajuku girls have to go to school/work, too (except maybe the ones that now work for Gwen Stefani), so we didn't actually get to see any of them. Omote-sando was less "trendy" than I thought--I guess that's what happens when they start building big malls and you have stores like Jimmy Choo and Prada instead of street fashion.

And so, our sightseeing/vacation time in Tokyo draws to an end. My co-workers are due into Narita any minute now, and after tonight, the real work begins.

The weekend in pics: Tokyo

Sarah hard at work on grinding the sesame seeds for her tonkatsu sauce












A rainy day at Sensoji












Yummy baumkuchen cakes at Club Harie, Mitsuokoshi department store











Ginza shopping madness

Check out the vanity area in our bathroom (yes, that's a TV)

Oh the glorious tuna at Tsukiji Market

Me at...guess where?

Asia Tour Day 1.5 - Something's fishy

We woke up at 5am this morning. Let me qualify that statement by explaining that we did go to bed at 9:30 last night so it wasn't that bad. We got up nice and early to check out the start of the week (in fishermen's terms anyway) at the Tsukiji Fish Market. It's said that about $2.2 million dollars worth of fishy business is conducted here *daily*--that's over $6 billion per year (and yes, this is dollars and not yen). After almost getting lost on the Oedo line, we made it to the Tsukijishijo station and headed into the chaotic market. There are no words to describe how crazy or overwhelming the vast number of fish and fishmongers were in this market; or in Sarah's words, it was simply "f-ing insane". (I'll show you the uncensored video another day.) We mostly tried not to get run over by the tuna trucks and eventually found the tuna auction happening towards the back of the market. It was crazy! This guy was muttering the tuna lot numbers with buyers making complicated hand signals to signal their bids. One tuna got sold probably ever 5 seconds!

Then we were off in search of Daiwa, one of the most well-known old-school sushi restaurants adjacent to the market. We almost tricked by another line that had formed in a restaurant two doors down, but luckily we read the signs and finally ended up in the right line. We squeezed into these two tiny seats at the sushi bar (there were two bars and about 20 seats total in this place) and said hi to our hunky sushi chef who almost immediately started to make us sushi in rapid-fire motion. One piece after another of insanely-fresh sushi were placed in front of us: toro, uni, ika (squid), half-rolls of ikura and tuna, anago (freshwater eel), hamachi, more toro, and tamago. Top it off with green tea and miso soup and we had ourselves a perfect Japanese breakfast. It was by far the freshest sushi I've ever had in my life. And this was all eaten before 7:30am. Craaazy.

We headed back on the Hibiya line to our hotel and decided to stop in one of the 3 or 4 Starbucks in Roppongi Hills. First they made Sarah's chai the wrong size, then they made the espresso shot in my drink too short, and then they remade Sarah's drink wrong. *sigh* Maybe those bad fortunes from Sensoji hadn't been completely blown away by the wind yet! We decided to give up and buy new drinks at SBC (I know...it's a heresy for me), and now we're back in our hotel room enjoying them as we download our pictures from this morning's adventures. And it's only 8:30am.

Asia Tour Day 1 - If it's good enough for Bill...

First full day in Tokyo! Woohoo! After passing out for 11 hours (me, 9 for Sarah), we got up and started our day right with some Seattle's Best Coffee (yes, it was all for Sarah since she's hails from Seattle). Then we went to Nadai Katsukura, this restaurant that specialized in Tonkatsu--yes, they only serve deep-fried pork chops. After trying to figure out the difference between regular and 'special' pork (the latter costs more--duh), and sirloin versus fillet (the later also costs more, but sirloin has more fat), we were handed a mortar and pestle with some seasame seeds to ground the base for our tonkatsu sauce. Needless to say, it was super yummy (and fun!), and it was a great start to our day.

Then we were off on our first Tokyo subway adventure to Asakusa where the Sensoji (largest Buddhist temple in Tokyo) is located. Just like the first time I was at Sensoji, many many years ago, it was rainy in a calm, zen-like way. We went to get our fortunes from the fortune sticks, but both Sarah and I got the worst fortunes possible. (The little slip of paper was like: "Your wish will not come true. Sick patient will not recover. Lost item will not be found. Marriage and career are both bad...and on and on.) Of course, we didn't believe it and did it again a second time, when we got the exact same fortunes. We chalk it up to not actually being Buddhist, and so we tied our fortunes to the rack (no tree here) and waited for the wind to blow them all away.

On our way back from Asakusa (where we randomly bumped into Sunny in the subway station), we headed to the original Mitsuokoshi store where we explored the crazy food court floor, including Club Harie--this insane spongecake maker that had a 10-minute line for its baked-on-a-giant-toilet-paper-roll shaped spongecakes (aka "baumkuchen"). After some more browsing and eating, we went back to the hotel to prepare for our outing to Ginza and tempura dinner.

Ginza was...well, Ginza. Rampant consumerism reigns supreme here. Everything from the 6-story Mikimoto flagship to the multiple Louis Vuitton stores within a 3-block radius reminds you just how fashion- and brand-conscious the Japanese really are. (The average markup at Louis Vuitton is about 30% more than US prices.) After window shopping for a couple of hours (Sarah: "Prada makes some fabulous loafers!"), we almost got lost but made it to Ten-ichi, a famous tempura restaurant in Tokyo. They have 10 locations, but the one we went to in Ginza is the original and once frequented by Bill Clinton *and* Nelson Mandela. (We chose tempura because we were sternly warned by our concierge that no one eats sushi on Sundays because the fish market is closed...that made way too much sense. Who eats day-old fish?) Needless to say, the tempura was ridiculously yummy (we even got a bonus piece of shrimp + scallop cake), and our perfect meal was topped off by deliciously sweet mango halves that definitely made our day.

Blogger's misbehaving so I'll have to upload the pictures another time, but it was definitely a fabulous day.

P.S. It's 10pm and I'm going to sleep now. We're waking up at 5am to go to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Wish us luck.

Asia Tour Day 0.5 - Tokyo Tranquility

Yesterday we got into Tokyo in the early afternoon. After surviving a two-hour bus ride from Narita, we got into the Grand Hyatt Tokyo at Roppongi Hills--which I must say, was absolutely gorgeous. (Sarah says that I did well in my hotel choices...haha.) We were pretty pooped and decided to all out in our first night in Tokyo: sushi dinner and 90-minute massages in our hotel. We went to Sushi Seizan, one of the 5 million restaurants in the Roppongi Hills complex connected to our hotel. The sushi spread that we had was INCREDIBLE!! (Well, that and we were really hungry. Then it was off to the Nagomi Spa (my new favourite spa in the world) in our hotel for Japanese baths, steam room / chilling, and our 90-minute "Tranquility massages". After that, we were set for bed at a comfortable 10:30pm bedtime -- jet lag be damned! I didn't even get to use the rain shower in our bathroom!!

Random Tokyo observations: there's a lot of bowing. Bring your own kleenex. They love their Cold Stone Creamery. And their Starbucks.

The world through rosy-coloured...uh, contacts

(written earlier yesterday during UA 837 from SFO to Narita)

I like to think that I've always been jaded about the world. Spending your formulative years in, okay, near the mean streets of West Philadelphia can do that to you. So can watching someone get shot right in front of your house in said neighbourhood. And how about watching not one, but two women get mugged across the street during your friend's housewarming party? Okay, enough dramatic scenarios, that's not what this post is about. My point is, in reality, I think I've always viewed the world through rosy-coloured contacts. We may have been through tough times in my family, but for the most part, the part of the world I was exposed to was pretty sanitized. People around me growing up had nannies and summer homes, and "trouble" at school was if you wore nail polish by accident (or on purpose) or if your uniform skirt was hiked up too high, not guns or kids killing each other. As for the people in my life, I never realized this, but they were all really really nice. And of course, I mean people just beyond my immediate family (who really have no choice but to be nice to me), but friends, teachers, co-workers, bosses, acquaintances. Hell, even the baristas at Starbucks are pretty darn nice. All this had led me to come to understanding that I'm really just naive, and not jaded about the world.

Not too long ago, I had my first experience with disappointment in humanity. No, not like in Crash where you felt sickened by the racism or ignorance, but more like in a "wow-I-can't-believe-people-really-can-be-mean-in-certain-aspects-
and-still-look-pretty-normal-and-nice-on-a-day-to-day basis" kind of way. I guess I've just been lucky that I've never been exposed to any real "mean-ness", let alone someone who can rationalize that there was nothing wrong with it. It sort of just hits you like a brick, and then you realize that you've been watching yourself in a slow-motion trainwreck the whole time---you just had no power to stop it. Many would say that I brought this onto myself and let it continue longer than it should have, but in retrospect, I don't think I could have prevented any of it, except not to have started it at all. It's funny how your view can go from a most amazing experience to realizing that there never was a relationship to begin with. It's like someone once said, a relationship is like magic--all it takes is one person to stop believing, and it's as if it never existed at all. No, I don't have any regrets, just a lot of great experiences; regrets aren't really my style anyway.

But I did make one change to my life: I'm wearing glasses today.

From my album: Beijing

I've always had a love-hate relationship with Beijing. My fellow ISBers who went to Beijing with me would argue that it weighed more heavily on the hate side, but nevertheless, it seems that I can't ever really escape the place. Next week, I'll be back in Beijing again (for work this time, and the second time in 6 months). I thought I'd dig out a pic from my old albums that I really liked from waaaay back when. Maybe this will be a start of a nice little regular "feature" on my blog ;-)

This is from a side street in a hutong off Houhai. Many of you may know this area today as the trendy lakeside party hotspot, but many moons ago, it was just a quiet Beijing neighbourhood...and that's the way I like to remember it. - Beijing, October 2001

The weekend in *food*

I'm kinda surprised that I don't do that many posts about food anymore. It seems like I'm always eating (yes, it's not helping the figure), you'd think that I'd find time to tell people about how much I actually eat! :-) I think I was inspired by one of Alex's post about all his activities one weekend, so here's my food-focused version I'd like to call 'The weekend in food' (as opposed to the usual 'weekend in pics').

Friday
-Dinner- home cooked meal: pesto cream fettucine with chicken, broccoli, and mushrooms, and my secret-recipe garlic bread. To drink: some random bottle of pinot grigio I found in my pantry.

Saturday
-Lunch- oven-roasted turkey baguette sandwich with brie and cranberry sauce from Mocca. Yes, the lines are long and they only take cash, but this Maiden Lane gem is solid.

-Dinner- aformentioned dinner with Sasank. We ended up going to Chow and scoring a table in minutes thanks to Sasank's brilliant "No Wait List" call-ahead manoeuvre. Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic toast, and topped off with coconut cream pie (me) and pecan pie a la mode (him). Brilliant!

-Post-dinner- Mini bottles of champagne at S.N.O.B., big ass drinks at Vertigo after. Good times had by all. (As per Nina when meeting up with people you don't really like but unfortunately went to college with: "OH MY GOD! I haven't seen you in *so* long! You look GREAT!")

Sunday
-Lunch- zaru soba and ikura-with-quail-egg sushi at my favourite Japanese diner Dojima-Ann

-Dinner- home cooked meal: pan fried fresh-but-still-unidentified-type of fish, tomato & egg, yummy-but-I-don't-know-the-English-name green veggies with garlic, all courtesy of Wayne. To drink: soy bean milk (not that Soy Dream silliness--the real Chinese kind...yah, that's right.)

"It's the sense of touch..."

"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

Just watched Crash last night. What a great movie...

It's a brunette!

4 hours later, my locks are darker (but chocolate brown in the light) and my previously-blonde highlight/panels are now a lovely shade of caramel-brown--this one's for you, Regina! Okay, enough about my damn hair. Nobody really wants to know that much detail...

Just finished my delayed date with Turbo Tax, and damn do I hate taxes. It's just waaaaay too much money to be giving to the government...let alone someone else's government!

Doing dinner with Sasank tonight...given that we both just filed our taxes, I'm thinking we need to eat something cheap. LOL ;-)

To blonde or not to blonde...

It's the infamous DOM tomorrow...well, that and a bunch of other pre-trip errands that need to be performed before I leave for Tokyo/Seoul/Beijing next Friday. The big question this time is: do I stay blonde (okay, fine blonde highlights), or go brunette / jet black? Summer's coming up so it seems silly to go dark since it will "clash with yourself when you get tanned" in one wise sage's words. But I am clamouring for a change and I may just pull the trigger this time around.  *sigh*

Okay, this is by far the flakiest-sounding post I've ever written.  Oh well.  It's Friday and my brain's starting to shut off, so bite me.

P.S. I have a hot date tonight. With Turbo Tax. I hate the IRS.

"It's a good thing."

Things I'm a fan of right now: Arielle's earrings (check out her website: shopgarnish.com), Shutterfly DIY calendars, white chocolate mocha fraps from Starbucks, Creed Imperiale perfume, angel food cake, anything in Goyard burgundy or white, ikura sushi with the quail egg on top, and the rain--it reminds me of home. :-)

Soundtrack of life: kinda, but not really

Okay, not really having a bad day, per se, but I've always loved this Daniel Powter song. And yes, sometimes, I really do feel like this...

Bad Day - Daniel Powter

Where is the moment we need at the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime
And I don't need no carryin' on

Chorus:
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on

(Repeat Chorus)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

(Repeat Chorus)

"Nobody falls in love with fun..."

...so says Linda Cardellini's character, Cassie, in Brokeback Mountain when Heath Ledger tries to blow her off by saying that he's not much fun. It just got me thinking since I often wonder what's the right trade-off between fun and "everything else" that you're supposed to look for in a significant other. Does being fun automatically exclude that person from being long-term S.O. material?

Anyway, watching Brokeback was one of the many things I did this busy weekend. I didn't end up doing anything I had planned to finish (taxes anyone?), but did manage to grab brunch on Saturday, do some shopping, and check out the Calder exhibit at MOMA today. Tonight's Sopranos was good but not great, and my Tivo decided to not record Desperate Housewives so maybe I'll have to suck it up and buy it on iTunes. Did anyone noticed that they stopped replaying it on Monday nights after they started selling the episodes on iTunes? Freaking evil...

P.S. 11 more days until I fly again. Jeez.