Friday

I went to Universal Studios for a company conference.   It was held in the Globe Theater and had a Mardi Gras theme.   I must admit I had a great time.   The food was set up buffet style and there was an open bar.    There was also a small dance floor and a DJ.   I swear it felt like I was at a club.   If you didn't want to dance, they also had two tarot card tables,  two tables of blackjack and a table of craps.   On top of that, everyone was given a small digital camera.     The best part about this was it was all free.   The only drawback was we weren't able to bring anyone with us but it's understandable since ING paid for the entire thing.   At least I got to mingle with my co-workers a little more than usual.

Saturday

Esther and I went to eat at Market Broiler for dinner.  After we ate, we stopped at Best Buy and picked up a copy of Shark Tale.   We met up with Jen, Wayne and Shane at Munchicup around 9:30.   We ended up talking outside for a few hours after Munchicup closed and called it a night.

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I have to work 12-9.   It sucks that I won't get to see Esther but at least we were able to have dinner on Saturday. 

Friday

Esther and I went to Pechanga since we both had Friday off.    On the way there, we stopped at the outlet malls in Lake Elsinore.   We left after a few hours and arrived at Pechanga.    All the slot machines we wanted to play were taken so we spent a good amount of time just walking around.    After walking around for a while, we stopped at a "Let It Ride" table.   Since it was only $5, I gave it a try and ended up winning $70.     I used part of the winnings to treat Esther and I to the buffet they had there (I ended up buying Doyle Bruson's Super System 2 as well).   After we ate, we tried our luck at Let It Ride again but I ended up losing $5.   We left around 8 and met up with Jen, Wayne and Shane at Munchicup.

Saturday

Esther and I decided to eat dinner at Koji's.    While we were there, I ran into Michelle.   Most of you may not know her but she was my best friend in high school.    I haven't seen her since 2002 so it was really good to catch up with her.     After dinner, Esther and I went to Shane's and played cards. Surprisingly,  we didn't play anything related to poker.   

Friday

After work, I picked up Esther and we decided to eat at Gardena Bowl.  Jen and Wayne came by later and we opened up a pool table.    Shane showed up later on.   I really suck at pool.   Not to say that I was good, but I used to be better than how I play now.  

Saturday

Esther came by and we headed over to Hollywood Park for the Click2asia Texas Holdem tournament.    Shane, Jen, Wayne, Mimi, Connie (Mimi's roommate), Charles and myself all entered.    Charles and Shane made it to the second round while the rest of us didn't do so well.    .  

In case you're wondering, this is how my last hand went, I had a queen and six of diamonds.   The flop comes Qc 5d 7d.   I raised all-in and the guy next to me did the same.   Then, the guy two seats down called.    The guy next to me had a king and nine of diamonds and the guy two seats down had a Qh and 10c.    I was pretty much beat on both ends because if the flush came, the guy with king had me beat and if nothing else came, the guy with the queen had a better kicker.   In any case, I was out after a hour.     The highlight of the tournament had to be seeing John Juanda.   This really won't mean much to anyone if they don't know about professional poker players.

Once everyone was eliminated, we went to Denny's and had dinner.    After we all ate, we went to 501 for a night of karaoke.     The first hour was pretty fun but then there was all these technical difficulties afterward.    To make matters worse, they charged us for seven people when there were only five of us singing.   We never had these kinds of problems before but you can guarantee we won't be going back again.   From now on, we should either go to Ju Ju (located just minutes from my work) or Elvis (located in Fountain Valley).  

I finally finished all the training I need to through for the company I work for.   In case I never told any of you, I work at ING Direct.   If you're not familar with the company, you can check the website out here.   Anyway, I'll be working a pretty funky schedule but fortunately it changes every quarter.   Right now, I'll be working Sun-Thurs 12-9.   I really enjoy the work environment at ING.   All the people I come across are really awesome and easy to talk to.   

Friday

Esther and I picked up some food at In and Out before heading over to Shane's for a night of poker.    We ended the night early since everyone was tired.

Saturday

I picked up Esther early in the afternoon and we went to Del Amo mall so she could return some stuff.    After that, we went to Knotts Berry Farm for dinner.   Jen, Wayne and Charles showed up too and the five of us ate dinner at the chicken place.   Once we finished, we decided to head over to Hawaiian Gardens.    Is it me or does that place remind you of a circus tent.   Anyway, we left after a couple hours because Charles, Wayne, and Jen were going to Vegas the next day.

Sunday

After a two week hiatus, Jimmy, Mike and I met up to ball.   We were able to get quite a few games of 5 on 5.   It was a nice three hour cardio workout.   I actually needed it because I really neglected my gym time this past week.   

Week one of my new job was surprisingly good.    The environment I'm surrounded in is so positive that I can't help but be glad that I'm there.   The traffic really sucks though.  

Friday

I met up with Jen, Wayne and Shane at Jen's house.   We ended up watching four episodes of "All In".     

Saturday

I picked up Esther and we went to Irvine for Mimi's house warming party.   When we got there, the guys were playing Texas holdem and the girls were congregating in the kitchen.       After the first round of holdem commenced, they started up another game and I was able to join in.    I hit one big pot with a flush and it went down hill after that.  It's a good thing we weren't playing for money.    

While we were playing holdem,  Dave and some of Mimi's friends were playing Mario Cart and  Mario Party for the Nintendo Gamecube.  They were playing on this huge plasma screen and it looked nice.    

Anyway, so after I lost in holdem, Esther and I planned on going to this Vietnamese sandwich shop that's open 24 hours.    However, we weren't able to get directions so that didn't go through and decided to leave.  I would just like to thank Mimi again for inviting us over to her awesome place.     It's a really nice house.   

Sunday

Not a lot happened today since it poured like crazy.     I stayed in for most of the day but did make it out to the gym for a bit.     My family will be going out for my grandfather's birthday in a short while but that's about it.

First Day

Tomorrow I will start my first day at my new job.    I haven't really talked about it much because I had to have my employment history verified and it took forever.  For those who don't know, I joined a started up company back in August but it dissolved after a month.  Since it was a start up, I was paid under the table with personal checks and had no proof of ever being employed.  So if one was to check my history, it would show me quitting a job back in August and that's it.  I had a hard time getting a hold of my former employer but once I did, he was more than willing to do the verification. 

Ironically, the one problem I had was with Pacific Sales, which I thought would be the easiest of all to verify.   Pacific Sales only verifies by fax so I figured it would be a quick and easy situation.   Fax it, fax it back and we’re good to go.   That wasn't the case.   Three days after they faxed it, I got a call telling me that they are having a hard time getting a hold of them.   I called my old boss on this and it turns out that the guy that supposed to do it just didn't do it.   What a bastard!   Fortunately, my old boss was able to talk to one of the owners and he did it for me in no time at all. 

So now everything is (hopefully) okay and I should be all set to go.   

Before I go into my year in review and New Years Resolutions, I'll start things off with my weekend recap.

Friday

I picked up Esther around 5:30 and met up with my mom, dad, Derek and Richard at Kincaids for dinner.   After dinner, Esther and I went back to my house and we watched television.   Can you believe they actually had an eating competition on ESPN?    After we hung out for a few hours, I dropped her off and went to Giant Village.    I managed to find Charles and later found Dave and Mike.    The countdown consisted of a firework show, which wasn't too bad.    About a hour later, I found Tony, Linh and their friends.    Dave, Mike, Charles and I ended up leaving around 2:30.  

Saturday

My dad woke me up way earlier than I set my alarm for so I could get ready for our family's annual potluck.    I picked up Esther around 1:30 and brought her back so she could meet all the relatives.   It was probably a bit overwhelming but at least she was able to get a feel of who everyone was.    The food was excellent and I probably gained a few pounds eating everything.     Esther and I met up with Charles, Jen and Wayne at Denny's later on in the night.    Once they finished eating, we went to Jen's and played poker.     Esther was the ultimate winner.    Jen wanted to watch a few episodes of "All In" (a Korean drama) afterward but Esther and I left because it was already 2. 

Sunday

I can't believe how much it rained.    Anyway, Esther and I met up with Jen, Wayne, Shane and Heidi at the Loft for dinner.   We were there to celebrate Heidi's birthday.     After dinner, Heidi had to go home so the rest of us went to Jen's and watched a few episodes of "All In".   

My 2004

2004 was definitely a year to remember for me.      Rather than type out some verbose paragraph, I'll just make a list of events that happened during 2004.

• I got a new dog.
• I celebrated my one year of being together with Esther
• My grandpa Hara died.
• I was finally able to meet a friend I known online for about five or six years.
• I heard DJ Tiesto spin. 
• My grandpa Tani was in the hospital for a few weeks
• I went to Vegas twice
• I was hired by AEB, and later found out the manager who hired me quit
• I quit Pacific Sales and took a chance on a start up company, only to watch it dissolve and left me unemployed.
• I bought a new truck.
• I put in wood flooring in my room.
• I entered a Texas Holdem tournament.

The list could probably go on and on but I'll end here for now.

New Years Resolutions

• Find a church-  It's been a long time since I been to church and I really miss the feeling that I can only get of being in God's house.    I hope I find one.
• Find a job-I think this may come sooner than I thought but I have to see if I can finalize everything.  I'll fill you all in when this is over though.   It's been quite some time now since I had a job so I hope this year will treat me well.
• Lose some weight- I put this up last year and I did lose a few pounds.   My goal for this year is to drop about 5-7 pounds.    It's quite doable and it's not a lot to ask for.  Ideally, I'd like to get down to about 135 which would require me to lose about 20 pounds.  

These are just a few resolutions and I'm sure there will be more to come as the year progresses.    I only wonder what 2005 and has in store for me.  Just in case I didn't say it to any of you before, Happy New Year.

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the New Years eve dinner.

Family picture.

Meet the parents.

Here's a picture we took while waiting for our food.    The guy on the left is a waiter at the restaurant.  Interestingly enough, he wasn't our waiter but just wanted to be in our picture.   Why not?   It's NYE.

Esther and I

Friday

Since it was Christmas Eve, there really wasn't much to do.   I ended up going to Jen's house.   When I got there, Wayne and Jen were trying to assemble a 750 piece puzzle.   Shane came over later on.   We gave up around 10:30 and played spades for about a hour.  

Saturday

My family and I woke up around 7 to have our traditional Christmas breakfast with my grandma.    It was extra important because it would be the first time we had it  without my grandpa.   After we ate, it was time to open the presents.    I was happy with the presents I received but I was hoping for something that couldn't be found under the tree,  but I digress.    We went to my aunt's around 5 for her Christmas potluck.    After dinner was over, it was time for the gift exchange game (if you're curious what the game is about, check out my December 25th entry from last year).    Once the game was over, I hung around until 11 and went home.

Sunday

I went with Mike to the Galleria and it was packed.    We ended up parking in the Ralph's parking lot.  This of course has no meaning to anyone if they have no idea about this area.     Mike bought a few things and I just went along because I had nothing else to do.  I was able to return something for my mom and get the item she wanted.   After the mall, Mike dropped me off and I headed off to ball at Grant park.   Jimmy and Erwin were already there when I arrived.  Mike showed up later and we ran a few games of 5 on 5.  Charles and his brother showed up a few hours later but it started to rain shorly after.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Our "Secret Santa" party was yesterday.   Doug, Esther and I were the last ones to show up, errr, I mean we were fashionably late.    It was a potluck so everyone brought something.   Esther made her eggrolls and noodles.    After we all ate, Shane, Wayne and Charles competed in this contest where they had to down a shot of beer every minute.   The goal was to reach 100.   Wayne ultimately won.    Once that was done, it was time to exchange gifts.    Charles was my secret santa and he got me a fold out poker table.   After all the presents were opened, we put the poker table into use and played some holdem.    I thought it was only going to last for about a hour and half but we ended up playing for about three hours.     By the time we finished playing, it was pretty late so Esther, Doug and I left.

Thursday

I went to my aunt's around 4:30 for our family's tradional potluck dinner.   It was nice as usual but it definitely felt different without my grandfather there.    I left around 9:30 and relaxed.   Esther came over around 11 because we were planning to go to Best Buy for the big sale the next day.   I slept about 20 minutes and then found myself wide awake.   It was pretty pointless to try and sleep anyway since it was about 3 am and we wanted to leave at 4:30.    I ended up watching some poker on FSN.   4:30 finally came and it was time to get ready.

Friday

Today was my first time experiencing the infamous "day after Thanksgiving sale".    Esther and I left my house at 4:40, and got to Best Buy around 4:55.   To show you all how much of a noob I am at this shopping deal is, I actually thought Esther and I would be one of the first, if not the first, couple of people in line.   Nope.  There were probably a couple hundred people already there, and some people probably just camped outside with their sleeping bags.   Once the doors finally opened, Esther went into Best Buy and I went into OfficeMax (since it's right next door).   She needed some stuff from there too and we figured it would save time.   After enduring what two the stores had to offer, we finished and were ready to load up.    We ran into Jen and Wayne as we were leaving.    After the car was loaded, Esther and I went to IHOP for breakfast.    Once we ate, we walked to the mall so I could pick up a copy of GTA: SA and so Esther could buy some shoes.    When GTA first came out, I really didn't think about buying it but it was only because I wanted to get the new Smackdown game (which was released a month after GTA) more.      Actually, Esther bought the game for me as a early Christmas present so that was nice of her.   The mall actually wasn't as bad as Bestbuy and OfficeMax.   Maybe it seemed that way because I was a zombie at this point.   Anyway, we went to another Bestbuy so Esther could pick up a few more things and then we finally were able to call it a day.    It was only 11 something by now but it felt like friggin' 4 pm.   Once I got home, Esther left and I knocked out around 1.     I woke up around 5:30 and ate dinner.    Peter, Mike and I hung out around 9 at the 24 hour Starbucks.   We chilled for a bit and then I dropped Peter off at home.   After that, I went to Shane's and broke in Wayne's new poker chips.    They are really nice.   Way better than mine.

Saturday

Esther and I picked up some dinner from Pick Up Stix and took it back home.   Around 9ish, we went to Wayne's and played some Tetris and DDR.   Shane showed up a little later on.     We played poker again with Wayne's bro and his friends.   It was the first time we had an eight player game.    Esther and I left around 1:30.  

Sunday

Bummed at home all day.

After Friday,  I have to give the people who do this every year a lot of respect.   You really have to be on your game, mentally and physically.     If you're too slow and not paying attention, you'll miss out on what you're looking for.

Friday

What a boring day!   Since Jen and Wayne went to a BoyzIIMen concert, everyone else just stayed home.   I did go to the gym though, and it was nice and empty.    Thank goodness the gym has televisions because I was able to catch the Indiana/Detroit game.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read the entry under this one.   Aside from that, I just played some games and went to bed early.

Saturday

I spent the afternoon doing a whole lot of nothing.     Around 5:30, I went to this Japanese restaurant with my family and my grandma.    Esther was at a banquet so I waited at home until she called me.   I ended up picking her up around 10, and we met up with Jen, Wayne and Charles at Munchicup.   We called it a night early but Esther and I weren't ready to go home yet.   So we met up with Charles at Hustler, since he informed he would go there to play some 4-8.     Once we got there, we ran into Erwin, Dave, Eddie, Hilo and Mike.   I guess they went there to get some food, and it was half off.   Well, it's only half off if you're sitting at a table so I'm not exactly sure how they pulled that off since they weren't playing.   Anyway, the food looked pretty good.    Esther and I stayed until about 2 and called it a night.  

Sunday

Esther and I met up with Jen, Wayne and Charles at West High to play tennis.   Well, they were already there and we showed up late.    Despite the fact that I did poorly, I still had a good time.   We went to eat at Steves afterward.   For those who aren't familar with Steves, it's an actual burger place.   We didn't randomly go over to Steve's house to eat.    Once we finished eating, we all went our separated ways but  planned to meet up at Jen's a hour later.    Esther and I went back to my place and chilled until it was time to go.  Once we got to Jen's, we played Mah-Jong for a while before ordering pizza from Papa John's.   Charles came by later on and brought his senior scrapbook.   He brought it because it somehow came up while we were at Steves.   After we finished looking at it, we watched Boogie Nights.   Well, we watched most of it before going back to Mah-Jong.

Friday

Esther and I ate dinner at Pick up Stix and then met up with Jen and Wayne at Munchicup.   Charles and Shane showed up later on.  We played some cards and called it a night. 

Saturday

I went early to Hollywood Park to make sure I was on the 3 pm session of the tournament and not the 1 pm.    I was on the 3 pm, and ended up waiting until it was time.  Jen and Wayne showed up around 2.   I didn't do so well in the tournament and only lasted about 75 minutes.    Anyway, I left around 6 to pick up Esther and we ate dinner at Numero Uno.   We went to Shane's around 9:30 and ending up watching the USC game.   Jen and Wayne came by around 10:30.  After the game, we played some cards.  Charles came by later on and joined in. 

Sunday

Not much happened today.   Mike and I met up to ball around 4:30 but found ourselves only able to shoot around for 40 minutes since the park lights don't work.   I went over to the Evangelista's around 8ish to watch the guys play Halo 2.  This was my first time checking this game out and I must say that I'm impressed with all the changes.    That's about it.  

Friday

My day started up with picking up a copy of Shrek 2 for Esther and I.    The special features are lacking, especially compared to the first one but it's still worth it.   Around 6ish, my family went to Bubba Gump for dinner since it was my grandmother's birthday.    It was my first time there and I must say it's not bad.  One interesting feature is that there are two signs that tells the waiter/waitress if you need something.  If you're fine, you display a sign that says "run forrest, run".  However if you need anything, then you display a sign that says "stop forrest, stop".    They also embarrass the heck out of you on your birthday.   Anyway, the food was good but it wasn't worth the price.   I didn't pay though so I can't complain.    After dinner, I went to Shane's and waited for Jen, Esther and her friend to show up.   Esther was already in Torrance and took her friend to King's Hawaiian since she had never been there before.    The five of us played Pai-Gow for fun.

Saturday

Esther and I ate dinner at Pizza Hut since I was craving their breadsticks.    After dinner, we went to National Sports Grill since Jen, Wayne, Shane and Mike were there watching the USC game.   Dave showed up later on.   I really wasn't watching the game but could tell when USC did something great since the room was filled with Trojan fans.   After the game, we all went to Shane's and played some Holdem.   Well, Charles, Shane, Wayne and I did.   Esther sat with me while Jen and Dave watched different episodes of Friends.   We ended pretty late.  

Sunday

This day has proved to be quite uneventful thus far.   Basketball was canceled because the lights didn't work so now I find myself sitting here, watching some re-runs of the WSOP. 

Esther and I spent the weekend watching television and playing pai-gow.   The only difference between Friday and Saturday is that it rained on Saturday.    Actually, I take that back.   I do have a little story to tell you all.  

Around 1 a.m, there was heavy traffic on the 110.   Apparently there was an accident that was major enough to stop all lanes from going anywhere.   So after about 10 mintues of not going anywhere, some idiots started honking.    This of course led to a chain reaction of others honking.  Honestly, what makes people think honking will help clear up the traffic, especially if there's been an accident?   Do they think that the driver will go and say, "yeah you're right.   My car isn't that banged up.   I'll be out of your way in a minute folks."    IDIOTS!   On top of that, it was right under the tunnel so of course the sound reverberated throughout the entire underpass.   But I digress. 

Anyway, traffic was so bad that a taxi driver actually backed his car up all the way off the freeway entrance.   Two more cars would do this in the next 20 minutes.   At this point, I figured since everyone else is doing it, what harm could it do?    So I backed my truck off like everyone did.  I tell you, it may sound stupid now but it felt great to get off the freeway after sitting in traffic that wasn't moving for 20 minutes.   What a great weekend huh? 

In case you're wondering how my job hunt is going, I had a few interviews last week and I might have a few this coming week.  However, one is with a company I applied with a few months back so I only wonder if they'll actually take me this time.    I need to call this one company back because I really want to work there but the interview didn't go as well as I had hoped.   In all honesty, it felt like I was doing most of the talking.   The interviewers didn't seem all that interested.  

Escalators cannot break.   They just become stairs.

LOL.   Best line ever.

Yesterday was a nice change from my normal weekdays.   Esther and I went to the KTLA studio (most know it as the WB) to watch a taping of the Steve Harvey shows, which air Sundays at 7 p.m.    We got there around 5 but didn't get seated until almost 7.    Once the show got going, it was actually pretty entertaining.    One interesting note I just wanted to point out is that Steve Harvey has an asian female deejay (who goes by K-Sly) on the show who plays all the music during breaks and what not.   She's also on 100.3 the Beat  between 7-10 pm.   Even though it doesn't really show it in the picture, she looks like she's Japanese in person.   Anyway, the show featured a woman Ironman winner, four Jamaican dancers/tumblers, street performers and a musical performance by Ryan Cabrera (On the Way Down). No wonder 1/3 of the audience was under 17.

Overall, the show was great but it didn't make up for the long wait in line.   However, since tickets are free, I would recommend anyone to go check it out at least once.   It's quite an experience.