• gurgly tummy. maybe i swallowed salt water and sand too. :p #
• physically exhausted. feeling sore, but great. not going to hotel room party at the W. i need one night away from alcohol! #
• Reading old blog entries. I never recognize my own writing… #
• champagne for tomorrow. check! #
• Watching Corpse Bride. #
• 2008 – bring it! #
• try making no excuses in 2008, okay? :) #
• working hard today. it’s the last day of the year! #

Dear Friends,

For a number of reasons which interest me, friendships seem to be harder to sustain, connection harder to maintain. I suspect that all human contact is suffering from the stresses of our times. “Catching up” seems almost impossible. Accumulated experiences seem impossible to capture or communicate in a short conversation, email, or visit, which is all we seem to have the time or energy for. Relationships that have heart and meaning slide into the realm of yesterday …

May we heal what is fractured in our lives.
May we take time … make time … for one another.
May we offer each other comfort in a troubled world.
May we create connection where it seems not to exist and to
nurture it where the promise offers itself.

May you and those you love, know peace.
May you and those who love you, know joy.

May you know you are loved.
May you express the love that you are.
May you and your relationships thrive.

With love and my warmest wishes for a soul-satisfying New Year.

Passing along a message that I couldn’t have better put into words. I’m tired of just “catching up.”

• bowling with my new bowling shoes. #
• hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. fort funston! #
• so tired. will i wake up in time to jog tomorrow? #
• 3 miles to start my day. yay. treating myself to tartine! #
• sore! shower! #

In February of this year, I wrote the following:

July 2006 – Maternal Grandfather at age 96. He’s with grandmother now.

November 2006 – Paternal Grandmother at age 83.

February 2007 – Paternal Grandfather is in the ICU after a car accident right across from our house, at age 88. Critical condition. Decisions are being made.

Fuck. All in one year – 4704 on the lunar calendar. Starts with four, ends with four. I should have known. [Four is an unlucky number in Chinese culture.] Three more days until the new year…

I still miss them all.

• not sure about going out tonight… #
• my feet are cold :( #
• oops heading to ramen! #
• thinking about boy with accent last night. haha #

• finally heading to bed. *yawn* :) #
• I’m posting every day in 2008 – woot. #
• to watch donnie darko on new year’s day, that is the question… #

Blogging daily. Think I can handle it? With the help of Twitter, I think I should be fine. It will, however, encourage me to write more anyway. I’ve been slacking off this year since other aspects of my life became busier. My profile page is: here.

I have been coffee shop hopping the last few days. Not drinking coffee, but chai. There are some gems out there. Wish I’d discovered them sooner. Perhaps then I might have pursued a writing career instead – any excuse to hang out in a coffee shop regularly!

Questions: here!

Appetizer: Name 2 things you would like to accomplish in 2008.

I want to pass that awful CPA exam that I have been wanting to pass for the last couple of years. I’m horrible at this! I also want to get in shape. I’m not in bad shape, just would like to be HEALTHY. I’m going to start by running… I have the shoes already.

There is so much more that I could add to the list, but here I am – starting small and slowly. I don’t want to overwhelm myself. My last horoscope read along the lines of getting to know myself and developing the relationship with myself. This week’s says:

Lake Vostok is as big as Lake Ontario, but no one on earth knew about it until 1996. Scientists who had been drilling through Antarctica’s thick sheets of ice discovered it two miles below the surface. Here’s what they were able to find out about the ancient lake: Hermetically sealed off for at least a half million years, it gets no sunlight, has an average temperature below zero, and may harbor life forms as exotic as those on other planets. And yes, it’s in a liquid state, for reasons you can read about at tinyurl.com/2lq79d. All that, Libra, is prelude to the following announcement: Lake Vostok will be one of your Prime Metaphors in 2008. I predict you will dig deep to discover an ancient, pristine mystery at the bottom of your life. In my astrological opinion, you should explore it thoroughly, driven by both an innocent sense of wonder and a robust analytical curiosity.

Same deal – discovering oneself. I’m down for that.

Soup: With which cartoon character do you share personality traits?

Not really sure on this one. Cartoon characters are great in that whatever personality traits they possess, it’s always in some exaggerated form. Entertaining, but not sure which would be most similar to myself.

Salad: What time of day (or night) were you born?

I was born at 1:50 in the morning. That would probably explain why I can stay up so late and why I function best late at night. Or it could be a bunch of bullcrap that I use as an excuse not to go to bed on time.

Main Course: Tell us something special about your hometown.

San Francisco is my hometown. I don’t think it needs me to talk about how special it is. Everyone’s already heard stories here and there. I guess one cool thing since it was in the middle of the Gold Rush is that it is sometimes referred to as “Old Gold Mountain” in Chinese!

Dessert: If you could receive a letter from anyone in the world, who would you want to get one from?

Not sure yet. Most likely if I could choose the TYPE of letter, I would want to receive an acceptance letter from somewhere.

• having food stuck in braces is NOT FUN. #
• sore legs sore legs. will i ever not be sore, so that I can run again? #
• we are movie soul mates #
• hahaha #
• exhausted. it’s not like i did much today! #
• oh noes. another nye invite. what to do? #
• eating lunch on her bed. woot! #
• updated gtalk list – hoorah. #
• has some busy weekends ahead. studying included! #
• -singing along to "if you were gay"- #
• Sad for Pakistan. #

I only like some of the lyrics, so I went and struck everything else out.

Baby Baby
When we first met, I never felt something so strong
You were like my lover and my best friend
All wrapped into one with a ribbon on it
And all of a sudden you went and left
I didn’t know how to follow
It’s like a shock that spun me around
And now my heart’s dead
I feel so empty and hollow

And I’ll never give myself to another the way I gave it to ya (to ya)
Don’t even recognize the ways you hurt me, do ya (do ya)?
It’s gonna take a miracle to bring me back
And you are the one to blame
And now I feel like – ooh!

You’re the reason why I’m thinking
I don’t wanna smoke on these cigarettes no more
I guess that’s what i get for wishful thinking
Should’ve never let you enter my door
Next time you wanna go on and leave
I should just let you go on and do it
‘Cause now I’m using like I bleed

It’s like I checked in to rehab
And baby, you’re my disease
It’s like I checked in to rehab
And baby, you’re my disease
I’ve gotta check in to rehab
‘Cause baby you’re my disease
I’ve gotta check in to rehab
‘Cause baby you’re my disease

Damn, ain’t it crazy when you’re loveswept
You’d do anything for the one you love
Cause anytime that you needed me, I’d be there
Its like you were my favorite drug
The only problem was that you was using me
In a different way that I was using you
But now that I know that it’s not meant to be
You gotta go, I gotta wean myself off of you

And I’ll never give myself to another the way I gave it to ya (to ya)
Don’t even recognize the ways you hurt me, do ya?
It’s gonna take a miracle to bring me back
And you are the one to blame
Cause now I feel like – ooh!

You’re the reason why I’m thinking
I don’t wanna smoke on these cigarettes no more
I guess that’s what i get for wishful thinking
Should’ve never let you enter my door
Next time you wanna go on and leave
I should just let you go on and do it
‘Cause now I’m using like I bleed

It’s like I checked in to rehab
And baby, you’re my disease
It’s like I checked in to rehab
And baby, you’re my disease
I’ve gotta check in to rehab
‘Cause baby you’re my disease
I’ve gotta check in to rehab
‘Cause baby you’re my disease

Oh – Oh
Now ladies gimme that..
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh-Oh
Oh Oh Ouh Oh
Now gimme that
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh-Oh
Oh Oh Ouh Oh
Now ladies gimme that..
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh-Oh
Oh Oh Ouh Oh
Now gimme that
Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh-Oh
Oh Oh Ouh Oh

Oh

You’re the reason why I’m thinking
I don’t wanna smoke on these cigarettes no more
I guess that’s what i get for wishful thinking
Should’ve never let you enter my door
Next time you wanna go on and leave
I should just let you go on and do it
‘Cause now I’m using like I bleed

It’s like I checked in to rehab
And baby, you’re my disease
It’s like I checked in to rehab
And baby, you’re my disease
I’ve gotta check in to rehab
‘Cause baby you’re my disease
I’ve gotta check in to rehab
‘Cause baby you’re my disease

Was that more than half the song?