Movie note: The Fourth Kind

ONE STAR

The storytelling "technique" used to make this film seem scary and real is just distracting, confusing and irritating.

Movie note: Broken Embraces

I will not let Netflix silence me! And hence, a series of mildly entertaining, majorly inane "reviews" begins on Chiieew!

FOUR STARS

I was really into this movie until the last 10 minutes. Like, seriously along for the ride, then totally disappointed and ditched on the side of the road! Penelope Cruz is far too pretty for the geezers who play her paramours in this film.

Feline flight

Guess what I'm never doing again. Flying with a pet under the seat in front of me!

Egads, Internets! I just took the red-eye from SFO to BOS last night and I am now working on approximately one hour of sleep. It all started off pretty well yesterday evening when I packed up my belongings, slipped Victor Kiriakis his share of the kitty xanax and called a cab to pick us up!

Victor, who usually meows non-stop in car rides, was relatively calm, so I figured the pill was doing him some good. When we got to airport security, the kind TSA lady suggested we go to a private room so that I didn't have to squeeze Victor as I walked through the metal detector. I was totes grateful for this private screening room and Victor behaved like a champ.

While we waited for our flight, Victor mostly looked out the window and I watched him anxiously, expecting him to erupt into horrible screams at any second. Fortunately, none of that ever happened, so it may have been unnecessary to find the least-populated seating area in the entire United terminal.

We also boarded the plane with little fanfare, and Victor seemed pretty content to squish in his carrier under the seat in front of me. The plane filled up, and we were off!

Actually, we weren't off immediately. It took about 30 minutes for us to slowly make our way to the runway before we were allowed to take off. During this time, Victor was pretty quiet, but as soon as the plane started to accelerate, the meows came fast and furious! And they did. not. stop.

For the next two hours or so, Victor meowed and meowed. It wasn't to the point where it was completely irritating, but it was enough to alarm the passengers who were lucky enough to be near us. But I could tell that people were struggling to fall asleep, so I dug out the other pill and unzipped the carrier just a teensy bit.

Immediately, Victor shoved his head through the unzipped opening with all his might and I grabbed his little face. I pried his mouth open, stuck the pill at the back of his throat, and clamped his face down, forcing him to swallow his meds.

After a few more protests, the pill worked! For about 20 minutes.

With more than three hours left in the flight, Victor renewed his protests at full lung capacity and decided he also wanted to try to claw his way out of the carrier. He struggled and squirmed and scratched and howled for a good two hours, much to the dismay of my fellow passengers. And I'd run out of drugs so I was completely powerless!

I tried gently (and not-so-gently) kicking the carrier, nudging his face through the mesh opening and petting him. Nothing worked. Finally, I took my sweatshirt and wrapped it around the carrier to muffle his screams. It sort of helped, but this was no way to get at the root cause of the problem.

Finally, with 1.5 hours left in the flight, I think Victor finally fell asleep. And he remained silent for about an hour. It was bliss.

But once the captain announced we were descending, the little carrier hopped into motion and the cat started screeching. I just resigned myself to the fact that we had only 30 minutes left and tried to look helpless as people shot me dirty, dirty looks.

New Yahker

My week was completely co-opted by some vendors and agents who came into town from Hong Kong, India, Taiwan and ... New York! I've been preparing for meetings, sitting in meetings, waiting for meetings and getting home late for the last few days.

One of our agent's representatives is a New Yorker who's been described to me as a "slimy pig," "a snake" and a "typical New Yorker" to me. I had the pleasure of meeting this fellow for the first time and all I could think was that his voice and accent sounded exactly like Harvey Fierstein! So, when he started going off and being all belligerent-like, I just closed my eyes and pretended that Edna Turnblad was in the room.

What's your damage, Heather?

I just had one of those "I am SO OLD" moments. A student at my grad school alma mater was interviewing me for a project and asked me what my favorite movie was. The first movie that came to mind was Heathers, so I revealed this little bit about myself.

"How do you spell that?" she asked.

"Heathers? H-E-A-T-H-E-R-S. Have you never seen it?"

"No," she responded, ignorantly, "Who's in it?"

"Um, Winona Ryder, Shannen Doherty, Christian Slater ... Have you really never heard of it? It's from the eighties."

"The eighties? I'm a child of the eighties. The late eighties. I don't go backward in time!"

Kids these days...

Zero stars

Netflix has done away with the feature where you leave notes about movies for your friends. I am so disappointed in Netflix because that was one of my very favorite features.

I am at such a loss. How else will I let people know what I thought about this weekend's movie-watching: A Serious Man (2 stars; Judaism is much more interesting than the movie let on.), Rabbit-Proof Fence (3 stars; I should have realized a movie about walking would be kind of dull.) or Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (3 stars; Nice power outfits, Christina Applegate!)?

Back to the grind

Yesterday was one of those non-stop days where I arrived in the office around 7:30am and left around 6:30pm. The hours aren't that bad, but I was stuck in back-to-back meetings that went right through lunch. And by the time I had a moment to myself, the cafeteria was closed. Fortunately, my stomach didn't even grumble. I think I'm still full from Hong Kong.

And it's a good thing I have no plans this weekend because I'm spending it doing work. What happened to my life?

And it takes my breath away

It's a gorgeous day in Massachusetts today - 70 degrees, sunny and blue! My boss told me not to come into the office today after my travels, and I decided to follow his orders. I have, however, been awake since 4:30am and I've busied myself with errands, a conference call and some work.

During my errand-running, I heard the following song twice in my car:
Shocker of shocks, I love it!

Selena Gomez is my favorite of the current generation of Mickey Mouse pop princesses, much prettier and infinitely more talented than that Miley Cyrus. And I still don't understand what a Demi Lovato is, really. Plus, she's pretty funny on Wizards of Waverly Place. Yes, I've seen several episodes of that show.

Make up your mind

After my flight out of Hong Kong pushed off from the terminal, we stalled for about 15 minutes before the captain announced that we were returning to the gate. Apparently, one of the passengers changed his mind about going to San Francisco, so the plane returned to the gate and let him off.

Seriously? You can decide after pushing away from the gate that you don't want to be on the plane? And the plane will return to the gate to let you off, inconveniencing everyone else? I'd never heard of such a thing!

Then, we all had to confirm that our carry-on bags were indeed ours to the flight attendants as they walked through the cabin. We were delayed an hour because of this foolishness.

I am so full

This morning I sat down to the final breakfast buffet of my trip and basically forced myself to eat the good foods, even though I wasn't hungry at all. Last night my cousins and I went to an "Italian steak house" where four of us polished off a huge porterhouse, some spaghetti carbonara, really tasty creamed spinach, grilled mushrooms and mashed potatoes, and a bottle of malbec.

It was a nice way to cap off my visit and we chatted about some of the intricacies of Hong Kong speech patterns, our families, work, etc. But seriously, we probably didn't need to eat as much as we did, and furthermore, Cousin Steppynose brought some homemade cookies.

Hong Kong has been fun, busy and interesting, but it's been murder on my waistline.

My fellow travelers

For the past week, I've had many meals alone at my hotel and this has provided me the opportunity for some great people watching. There are a few people I keep seeing and others whom I notice once and never see again. Here are a few characters I've been observing:

Apparel Merchants - There's a group of cute, twenty-something women who meet at the breakfast buffet each morning around the time I'm there. Their conversations (and outfits) lead me to believe they're in town meeting with their sourcing agent on behalf of an American apparel company. They're very stylish, highly accessorized, typically American and clearly here for work.

Chinese Honeymooners - I had dinner next to a couple who seemed to be here for a honeymoon or something similar. They spoke Mandarin, displayed all the trappings of new money and were way into PDA.

Eastern European Vacationers - This morning I sat next to an older couple who seemed to be from Eastern Europe. The lady hummed throughout breakfast. Even when her husband was seated across from her and talking.

Aussie Businessmen - I think this trio also is in the apparel business. It's clear they're here together for work, because it's a mis-matched group. One is an older, portly gentleman, another is a relatively conservative fellow in his thirties and the last sports extremely gelled hair. Two days in a row, he wore a black tank top under a sheer long-sleeved white shirt with black pants adorned with beading.

The American VIP with Her Chinese Business Hosts - One night I sat next to a table of three: two Chinese people and an American woman in her fifties. The woman went on and on about how she had sun poisoning as a silly college youth and now cannot go outside for very long. The Chinese couple clearly were trying to humor her, but it was clear to me that they tired of her company. She reminded me a lot of my realtor.

Another Fashion Buyer - Even though it's plenty hot in Hong Kong, one tall, skinny man felt the need to wrap a very long, very flowy scarf around his neck.

Miss Hot Stuff - This one British lady wore killer heels and sported a hot handbag. She ate a small bowl of fruit and spent her entire breakfast on her BlackBerry.

I'm going to miss seeing all these people and making up stories about their lives when I leave tomorrow.

A day at the races

My uncles love the horse races and they belong to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which allows access to a fancy booth at the race track. I understand that horse races are held every Sunday, and I wouldn't be surprised if my uncles attended each week.

So today we headed to the races and enjoyed the buffet before settling in at our table. My grandmother had wanted to visit Macau to do some gambling, but everyone convinced her to visit the races instead. I'm not sure she really appreciated this turn of events because she seemed pretty bored throughout the day, preferring instead to eat as much as she could.

As for me, I think I have a six-race attention span. The horse races were interesting for a bit, but then it gets pretty tedious.

Today was also the annual Hong Kong Derby, which brought out thousands of betting fans. I was told that it would be more crowded than normal, and when I asked why, I was told it was because of the Derby. When I asked what made the Derby special, people could only answer, "You know, it's the Derby!" So, I didn't really get a satisfactory answer, but learned that derbies are restricted to horses of a certain age: usually three years old, but four years in the case of Hong Kong.

I placed HK$370 worth in bets throughout the day and recovered HK$60, so Lady Luck wasn't on my side. The way I picked my horses was purely based on the English translations of their names. Some of these names were quite humorous and I noted my favorites:

* Noble Zoom
* Optic King
* Leading City
* Bespoke Master
* Cristal Magnum
* Sparkling
* Pizzazz
* Be Grateful
* King Acrylic
* Great Guy
* Mr. Vigorous
* Fat Dragon
* Happy Zero
* Super Pistacio
* My Home Town
* Vigor Delight

Mountain drive

My father is coincidentally in Hong Kong right now, so the weekend is family time. Also coincidentally, my uncle had a meeting in my hotel so we all met there for some afternoon tea yesterday.

Without any concrete plans for the day, we were kind of adrift. In situations like these, my biggest fear is that I will become overwhelmed by familial irritation when I have nothing to do or no one to talk to. But I don't see this side of the fam very often (with their living across the world and all) so I figured it was the least I could do.

So, we picked up some of my dad's childhood friends, went to my grandmother's house, switched to a larger car, loaded her in and drove up a mountain.

Apparently, it's the largest mountain in Hong Kong and I think it would have made for a very nice, vigorous hike. It was super cloudy so we got to the top and enjoyed the fog.

After a few minutes, we came down the other side of the mountain and returned to my grandmother's house. I was mildly irritated because I didn't realize our afternoon tea would lead directly into our dinner plans which led right into drinks with my cousins. Had anyone bothered to let me in on the schedule, I would have brought a jacket and more appropriate dinner shoes.

So we sat around, being unproductive and killing time. We watched a television channel I didn't understand and no one talked to me. One of my uncles fell asleep in a massage chair, snoring away. To pass the time, I emailed myself notes on my BlackBerry. No one cared that I disengaged.

It's neither temple nor wonderland

People here have absolutely no problem commenting on each other's physical appearance. From the subway posters encouraging women to lose weight to little Chinese people blatantly pointing at portly Americans to sizes that simply fit wrong in stores, Hong Kong seems to make foreigners super conscious of their shape and size.

Despite my own feelings of out-of-shape-ness, I don't think anyone here thinks I'm obese. Big, yes, but not terribly overweight. I'm a bit nervous, however, to meet up with my grandmother later today because I have gained approximately 15 pounds since I last saw her. And I remember once when we saw her several years ago, she immediately commented that my brother and sister had become fatter. I, thankfully, had been spared from any commentary. I also was probably in the best shape of my life at that time.

Over the past few days, I've encountered some humorous episodes centered around body image. For example, when introducing their production manager to me yesterday, a vendor representative said, "You will remember Mr. Wei because he's so fat!" And later in the day she commented that she knows when he's not doing his job because he gets fatter and fatter, thanks to being lazy and eating all the time.

This same woman also suggested I become a fit model for my company. I'm not sure how to take that, since the company makes only women's clothing and we had been staring at a size 18 dress form for our plus-size line.

And the other night, as I got my second dessert from the buffet (some ice cream to wash down a lovely souffle), my server told me, "You have nice body shape." This was a more humorous variation of the comment, "You take the fitness?" which I hear often from Chinese folks I meet for the first time.

Media harmony

There's a euphemism here for the Chinese government censoring media: harmonizing. I'd never heard that term before, but I kind of like it. Your newspapaer has been harmonized with big black rectangles. Your internet has been harmonized by the Great Firewall of China. Your television has been harmonized by a magical editing elves.

While we watched a television news report at lunch yesterday (I still don't get it, and yesterday they removed a place setting from the table so the television could be viewed properly.), an image of Tiananmen Square flashed across the screen before cutting to an older Chinese gentleman who seemed to be talking about movies. Everyone around the table exclaimed, "Cut! Cut!" and I inquired what set off their alarms.

Apparently, the news (imported from Hong Kong) was about to run a piece regarding the Chinese government, so it quickly was edited to something a little less ... newsworthy. It was a subtle reminder that I wasn't in the land of free press!

Fruitopia

The other day, Cousin Lotus and I were doing the gchat thing while I was doing a bit of work in my hotel. What she was doing up at nearly 3am her local time is beyond me, but I explained to her that I had a large, lovely bowl of fruit in my room.

It was filled with beautiful fruits including an orange, peach, plum, banana, mango, etc. In it was also three fruits I couldn't identify, so Cousin Lotus asked me to describe them.

The most easily described one was a round pink thing with green tentacles growing out of it: a dragon fruit.

I described the second one as a big maroon nose, which we eventually decided is a "wax apple" or something like that.

Finally, the third one - a pale yellow thing that looked like a large mango to me - was a papaya. It looks more like one today, now that it's become riper and deeper in color.

I've really been enjoying the fruits and have had three of the best mangoes in my life!

El presidente

Today's Chinese factory audit was quite an interesting departure from the typical factory visit. It was clear from the very beginning that it would be a different kind of visit when the car pulled up on a very grand marble driveway, to an entrance that befit a five-star hotel more than a garment factory.

The factory's lobby was a huge, spacious atrium with three oversized chandeliers, a stately seating area, an ornate table made of petrified wood, a fountain, a piano, drum kit and ... a Mercedes! Even with all these obviously expensive objects in the lobby, it still felt spacious and airy - that's how big it was.

We were greeted by the factory "president" who was a skinny Chinese fellow with tar-black gums and brown teeth. His fuzzy hair had been recently lightened, creating a nice two-tone effect from his black roots and orange tips. On his wrist was the gaudiest watch I've ever seen. It was completely encrusted in diamonds and blinded me anytime it caught light. And on that same hand was a gold ring, also completely encrusted with little diamonds.

Mr. President was very proud of his factory and eager to show us around. And I'll admit it was a very nice factory. As we walked through the lobby to his office, he explained that the marble floor was Indian red marble - much more expensive than regular marble.

In his office, which was about the size of my San Francisco apartment, was one of the largest televisions I've ever seen, across from a ridiculously giant desk. The office also had a roomy sitting area, a wall of closed-circuit televisions to monitor the factory, a bathroom and built-in shelves that featured photos of his family all over the world.

He also explained that he has four children, brazenly opposing the government's one-child policy. I guess he had enough money to pay the three fines and enough money to send his eldest two children to Australia and Canada for ther educations. The next two were destined to study in the UK and America when they're old enough.

At the obligatory lunch, the president smoked a few cigarettes, but no one seemed to mind, so I concealed my true thoughts. I did, however enjoy my lunch...

I made an offhand comment about the opulence of the lobby to the vendor's representative, a woman who came from Hong Kong to help lead the tour. [On a side note, we realized I met the vendor representative four years ago when I visited another of their factories! I guess it's a small industry, after all.] And she responded, "In China everyone was poor, then in the last two decades some of them got very rich and they feel like they have to show off and be glamorous." I guess she was calling him nouveau-riche!

And that mercedes in the lobby? It turns out that was the first mercedes he bought, once the money started rolling in. For sentimental reasons, he couldn't bear to part with it, so it's now showcased in his factory lobby!

The VIP vendor luncheon

For the past two days, I've been treated to very extravagant lunches in Dongguan, China. I guess since I'm a customer coming all the way from around the world, these factories pull out all the stops. It's a little over-the-top, especially since our opulent lunch typically follows a visit to the bare-bones factory canteen, which I can barely stand because of the strong, um, odors.

Both days, our party has been sequestered into a VIP room of a ginormous hotel restaurant. The restaurants are clearly the fanciest, most expensive establishments in the area and it's definitely a special treat for all the staff who come along.

The VIP rooms both had large circular tables, private bathrooms, couches, lounge chairs and flat-screen televisions built into the wall. Apparently, the seat of honor is the one opposite the television and this seat was offered to me both days. Why they turn on the television during lunch is sort of beyond me. I guess it gives us something to talk about.

For example, yesterday the conversation centered around soccer, terrorism and Thailand, thanks to the news program we watched. Today, we discussed Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the stock market, also influenced by the television.

Upon sitting at the table, servers come around and tuck one corner of a square cloth napkin under your plate and let the rest of it fall on your lap. I thought it was sort of strange, but I just went with it. And I used my napkin throughout lunch yesterday, until I realized that no one else was doing this. I guess the cloth is just a sort of extension of the tablecloth? A decoration for under the charger? Everyone else at the table used little tiny cocktail napkins to wipe their mouths, but the American ruined the mini tablecloth!

It's also at this point during the day when everyone marvels at how much Cantonese I understand. Before lunch, everyone strains to speak English to me and I respond in English, never trying to speak in Chinese. But at lunch, it's pretty apparent that I understand what's going on and where the conversation is going. I insist it's because my Cantonese vocabulary is 98% food words and that we've simply entered my element. A few minutes pass and they realize this is the truth.

Both yesterday and today I've left the lunch banquet super-stuffed and uncomfortable for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow's goal? Skip the breakfast buffet in anticipation of the vendor lunch.

Factory tour

It's been a long day that's felt only moderately productive. I work with two different companies that conduct social and environmental audits of factories, and there are a lot of trust issues between all three parties. To help remedy this, we decided that we needed to conduct joint visits of factories while I'm in town.

So, we got up early, crossed the border into China, and went to a sweater factory. One of the audit firms already visited this factory in Janurary, so we were following up to make sure any issues have been remediated. So, the seven of us met with some factory managers in a conference room to discuss the day's objectives.

After a presentation by factory management about their commitment to social and environmental compliance, it was time for lunch! Since all the workers would be eating, we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant and had awkward business lunch conversation, only in Chinese. So, basically I ate and sat silently.

We returned to the factory after lunch and started our tour by visiting the dormitories. Walking slowly through the dorm facilities, we poked into a few rooms and the lead auditor tested a bunch of the emergency lighting. Meanwhile, I was getting antsy because I wanted to get onto the factory floor, where the real action happens!

After our belabored tour of the dormitories, we went to some weird training facility where there were no people, no production, and no issues. We came to a huge bulletin board of photos from a 20th anniversary celebration and everyone took their time to ooh and aah over the photos. Again, I was ready to visit the actual factory.

Next up was the water treatment facility, which I simply refused to indulge. While my party stared at water flowing out of a tube, I went for a little walk and started peeking at the factory workers. Finally, once the group realized I had strayed, they quickly caught up and the real work began!

Fortunately for the company, this was a stellar factory and there really was very little to worry about. Aisles were clear, everything was clean, emergency exits and fire extinguishers were clearly marked.

Workers were hard at work and interviews revealed that things were hunky-dory. We walked through the flat knitting machines, the pressing area, the sample room, the quality check area and the packaging area. All as it should be.

The auditors took time to review all the payroll and hours logs, we informed factory management of the minor citations that need to be fixed, then we began on our journey home, which took 2 hours and 45 minutes.

So, it was a long day, but not very eventful. And since I need to do the same tomorrow and Friday, let's hope the factories are a bit more interesting...

I hear "baby," "crazy," "bad boy, "butterfly" and "elastic"

Whenever I travel to other countries, I like to spend some time with local pop culture, by way of MTV.

MTV China has been playing the video below over and over again and I find it pretty irritating for several million reasons. I love that the song is punctuated by English phrases and words like "so elastic" and "butterfly." It's also nice to see that the auto-tune has made it to Asia!I may also adorn a blazer with ruffles and/or feathers when I return to the states.

Doling out advice

In need of some Hong Kong dollars, I withdrew some cash from an ATM yesterday. After putting in my card, entering my pin and requesting an amount of money, the screen asked "Do you want a free coupon?"

I contemplated this question for a second. Was this a poor translation of something else? What type of coupon would it give me? Hastily, I pressed the "NO" button, figuring it would be better to just decline anything.

And as it processed my request and spat out cash, the screen said, "Please take advice" as the slot for my receipt lit up. Does advice mean receipt? If so, why does everyone else use the word "receipt"?

If I go back, I should accept the free coupon offer.

(200) pounds of Panda!!!!

I made the mistake of stepping on a scale yesterday. I wonder why I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my entire life???

Table for one, tempura for twenty-two

You guys, I cannot resist a good hotel buffet! I had two feedings today: a breakfast buffet in the morning and a dinner buffet at night.

In the past, when I've stayed at hotels where the breakfast buffet is included in the room fee, I've indulged in the morning, skipped dinner and had a sensible(ish) dinner. And that was my plan today, so I gorged myself in the morning, took the noontime meal off and went downstairs to have a nice dinner off the menu.

But that all changed when I saw the buffet: lobster tails, sushi, Peking duck, shark's fin soup, Indian-type curries, some dim sum and ... tempura! Internets, I enjoy my tempura. After all, it's way deep fried stuff.

So, the menu was promptly abandoned and I proceeded to stuff myself for the second time today. I am so full.

Claypot cuisine

One of the things I most look forward to when visiting Hong Kong is the food! This city has some of the most amazing food in the world, and you can be sure to get an outstanding meal, no matter what your budget.

After landing yesterday, I met up with Cousin Steppynose and her boyfriend for a little dinner. To tell the truth, I was not hungry at all, since I had been eating constantly on my flight over here, but I was looking forward to seeing them and forcing myself to stay awake to ward off jet lag.

They took me to a little restaurant that serves different varieties of claypot rice, in a no-frills environment. It apparently is a restaurant that was featured on Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations, and promised an authentic Hong Kong dining experience.

We were seated at a comunal table under blinding fluorescent lights in a bare-bones room whose decor could be described as "high-school cafeteria chic." Well, "chic" would have been pushing it. There were faded sheets of paper with scribbled chinese characters taped to all the walls, a whiteboard that announced what appeared to be daily specials and row after row of customer, hunched over his/her meal, devouring dinner.

The restaurant didn't serve up anything unnecessary, including napkins or water, but we were able to get a very good meal for less than US$10 total!

Films in flight

During my 12+ hour flight to Hong Kong yesterday, I managed to sleep through approximately 1 hour of it. The rest of the time was spent enjoying my business class pod where I stuffed my face with the multiple meal and snack services and caught up on media: five movies, two episodes of Austrailan television show Kath & Kim, four episodes of The Simpsons and one episode of Hung.

One of the movies I watched was New Moon, the horrible vampire movie that has foolishly made a high-paid star of Kristen Stewart, master of the sighs and gasps. I was pretty embarrassed to be watching it, so I made sure not to pause my film when any vampires or werewolves were on screen, but throughout the flight, I noticed that the majority of my business-class brethren also watched it! I wonder if anyone else felt the absolute shame I did.

Up in the air

Sadly, my little trip in San Francisco is coming to an end. Yesterday I did a little work and got to see more of my friends, but now the work part beckons and I'm about to board a plane to Hong Kong. So, it'll be 12 or so hours cooped up, up in the air.

Home sweet home

I've been back in San Francisco for the last 44 hours or so, and it's so nice to be back! I'm in town for meetings, but I've been able to squeeze in some time to see friends, also. Some highlights of my visit thus far:

* Running into Gerbil on the muni randomly
* Taking the bus up the hill to get home last night, after too many drinks and realizing that I didn't have a muni pass anymore
* Spending time with Puppy and the kitties
* Returning to my old office for a meeting and being greeted by security as if I'd never left
* Having the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf folks remember my name and my drink
* Getting free drinks at the local watering hole with Roommates A&J, Mahogany Sparkle and Lucy Ricardo

I miss my San Francisco life!

Label maker

I attended a meeting today that was all about care labels. Care labels! I've never had to participate in discussions about care labels before and I can't say that the topic gets me going at all...

On the bright side, my new job is exposing me to areas of the business I've never considered before.

I'll be your teacher, I'll show you the ropes

There's something super catchy and poppy about this song that I love!