i really love this photo. it's for all you cat-lovers out there (comabound, luckykat, nik, dave and the rest). i turned into the driveway today and whereas my eyes normally don't look up on the roof -- it did today and spotted a cat lying on the opposite slope of the roof peering over and watching the street. i pulled the car into the garage and came back to catch this photo of it still stalking me. the expression, the pose, the stealth was so cute. The cat above lives around here and often times plays on my roof and in my yard climbing the tree right outside my computer room window. she has been around for many years now and has lovely markings. i believe she has a home nearby because i've never fed her before and she's unusually plump and robust. She has caused me some grief though by not caring for a kitten i think she gave birth to and leaving it in my garden meowing all day and night. she's also caused my lil white dog to chase her down the driveway and into the street, nearly causing me to have a heartattack and a dislocated knee. :P ah, don't you love them lil furry creatures?

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it's almost 7:30am now, I've been up for 2 hours already because i have insomnia again. i just wake up and can't get back to sleep. it also doesn't help that my back is itching and hurting still. got a long day ahead, so i might as well shake a leg.

will have an update later, so if you wanna check back then...

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The second annual Ammy Awards are coming on Saturday, November 10th in Los Angeles. For those who aren't familiar with the Ammy's, this is what the site has to say about it:

[ The Ammys are the only award ceremony that honors the complete range of Asian and Asian American cinematic and broadcast achievement-the only one that celebrates the full spectrum of foreign, independent, Hollywood, and television, in formats as variant as documentary and animation. They're also the only awards that are voted on by the most important people in the media process: the audience. Nominations for the year's best in Asian and Asian American media were sent in to us by mail, email, and via the web. ]

The master/mistress of ceremonies this year are Sandra Oh and Garrett Wang. The award ceremony is open to the public and you can find out about ticket info here. Actual location of the awards will be held at the:

Orpheum Theatre
842 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA

The nominees for this year look really interesting. Check it out.

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Running on 4 hours of sleep makes me not a very alert gal. I first met up with Fishpimp for our Monday jaunt at South Coast Plaza...also known as what? That's right, AGM, Asian Girl Mecca. I can't even recall when I went there last because it seemed like everything has changed this time around. There were plenty of new stores popping up in places where I thought the old stores were. And all the old stores are either closed or relocated to a new area in the mall. I still believe AGM is one of the best malls there is, with its selection of goods almost always above satisfactory. Service however cannot be guaranteed. :P Surprisingly, I walked out of there almost empty handed, although Fishpimp came out with a shopping bag nearly bigger than her.

We stopped for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, which was a mistake because we should have gone to Nordstrom Cafe instead. The only thing good about Rainforest Cafe is...the Rainforest. The food was not very good and pricey for that matter. And it's definitely a ploy to get moms in there on a Monday with her 10 kids in tow.

So where'd we hit in AGM/SCPlaza today?

Crane and Co. - because nothing quite takes the place of fine stationary in this day and age of emailing. and because i have stationary fetish.

Louis Vuitton - helping Fishpimp check out some wallets and to smell all the leather/canvas in there. And sadly found out that the Epi line has discontinued the blue and the green (as informed by their salesgirl). alright, who am i kidding? i love LV bags.

Nordstrom Makeup Counters - because the the one in South Coast Plaza really rocks and they have Shu Uemura in stock there.

Tiffany & Co. - helping Fishpimp look at jewelry for her sister and got a dose of how stuck up *some* of the people who work there are (until you make a purchase that is, and then they get all chatty with you).

Papyrus - because i still have a stationary fetish.

FAO Schwartz - being an aunt soon changes your shopping habits :P Fishpimp went to purchase a mobile for her niece, the same one my brother and PAUL has too!

Sephora - because I just can't get enough of the sneering looks from *some* of the employees there. unfortunately, their air con was broken (and it felt like being in HK during the summer -ugh-) and i guess it was someone's way of telling me to shove on to other stores and stop wasting more money on makeup that i have enough of.

Gap - the only clothing store we went into today (unbelievably). looking for basic jeans and tees.

Coach - because Fishpimp has a Coach fetish like I have an LV fetish.

Too bad we didn't have enough time to cover it all, but we got to run the errands we needed. There's always another Monday right? ;) And nothing is quite as good as shopping on a Monday without the crowds! Yeah!

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steve (left) survived the wtc attack and he really hates me shoving my cam in his face. The guy to the right side there was really creepy!! he bright his OWN chopsticks (chiseled to a deadly point) to the boba place and took them out from a wooden chopstick box/holder that he carried with him to use. he ate and left and came back again and left. And hung around outside and came back once more -- each time ordering something to eat and drink! =:o he looked disheveled but he most definitely wasn't homeless. He looked kinda terroristic actually.

Got back home from the mall in time to have dinner with my old friends from the online world, Steve and Dennis. Steve came in from NYC just yesterday and so we decided to get together and catch up on old times. Ok, I admit it, I was a chat junkie back in the day on AOL. And if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have gotten to know so many people who've become friends over the years (many of whom you may not know are fellow online journalists). I've kept in touch with the ones I was closest too but there are many who've slipped through the cracks, so it was great to catch up with Steve and Dennis and hear who they still talk to.

We had dinner at Tokyo Lobby for some Japanese food. Tokyo Lobby serves rather Americanized Japanese food but they give big portions for a not all too painful price. Plus, sometimes it's good to dig into that gooey sweet teriyaki glaze and some deep fried tempura. They've been around for a long long time now and I guess that's a good thing. They have two other locations aside from the one in Hacienda Heights in San Gabriel and in Tustin. Go there for some less than authentic but tasty eating.

Tokyo Lobby
1683 S. Azusa Ave.
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 912-0908

examples of the combination platters tokyo lobby offers. mine was on the left, and that's steve's on the right.

Dennis lives in LA now although he's from the Bay Area. Ever since he moved here 4 years ago, I haven't seen the guy. So we spent a good 5 hours last night chatting away about our lives and about the good ole days when online chat was really the highlight of our day. I found it nice that although I haven't seen these guys in years (literally), I feel just as comfortable with them as before. Sometimes I think time changes alot of us and there's gaps and a bit of awkwardness in reuniting, but we just seemed to hit it off as if no time had ever passed. :) And we definitely laughed alot!

Steve, who's a NYCer, wasn't into all this boba-hype. He and Dennis both preferred their milk tea without the addition of the chewy brown circular substance while I had them add it to my hot chocolate milk tea. Check out the guy's *delicate* hands below. :P I think the highlight for the guys was when I ran into my ex-colleague, who's a Lakergirl back then and now still and introduced her to them. But I think they can attest that she's no Asia Carrera or anything. ;)

Anyway, it was great seeing them again. Too bad we can't get together all too often with the distance factor but I'm sure I'll catch up with Dennis in LA soon. And we missed both R and M tonight! Sorry you guys couldn't make it. Yeah, so who says people from the online world don't remain friends after the chat is gone? :P

I'm out.