so the COUNTDOWN begins...

It's been a while since I've had anything to write about. Partly because I've been concerned with finishing my thesis. Partly because my life is (on a whole) pretty boring. In any case, the countdown has begun for Tran's homecoming! 9 days till I'm out of my current residence. 24 days till I'm back in CA, for an indefinite period of time. It's a happy/sad sort of time.

Many things planned for the upcoming weeks. Anni is visiting, and hopefully the rest of her trip will be sans any more mishaps (she missed her connecting flight last night in SLC, and so had to spend the night in the airport). Mani/Pedi at Animare Aveda. One day at Busch Gardens. One day at the BEACH (weather permitting). Colonial Williamsburg (but no outlets - alas.. the poor life of a poor graduate student). Pack/label/ship ALL my stuff. Sell what I don't want to take back. Help Ben move into Jeremy's. DC!!! Date auction (where Karen will be sold off to the highest bidder).

I'm sure lots of other activities will be interspersed between those listed above. It should be an exciting time. I'm excited to be heading home, but also very sad that I'll be leaving Ben and all of my friends. Of course, they'll always be there for me to come back and visit (or perhaps hang out with if I get a job back this way), but the future for me once I get back to CA is so hazy at the moment. And, if I do end up getting a job out here, I'll once again be leaving all my family and friends back home. It's quite a dilemma, knowing people that you enjoy being around who live on opposite sides of the country. I suppose the dilemma will be solved (hopefully) in two months, when I have a job and need to settle somewhere.

For now, I guess I'll just have to not think about it, and remain concerned with completely finishing/defending my thesis and getting all my stuff back home.

Love,
Tran

An Open Letter to a Car

To my dearest Camry,

We had some good times, didn't we? It's always sad to see your first car go off to a new owner, but I know you're in good hands. I may not have always treated you with the respect you deserved (e.g. not keeping you properly clean, always waiting an extra 1000 miles before changing your oil, etc.), but I always loved you more than those other cars. I can only hope that my next car will be as good to me as you have been.

After leaving you, I stepped into a new car, a cousin of yours actually. Gaetano's brand new Toyota Yaris, which I have dubbed as Guiseppe, was not nearly as fun to drive as you. He lacked cruise control, power windows and locks, and didn't give me that wonderful feeling that I had driving you. Sure, Guiseppe has all that extra storage and is a breeze to parallel park, but who wants that when you look like a clown driving him around. No one will ever compare to the way your clear-coat started to peel, or how you stopped letting me listen to CDs. Remember when that idiot of an ex-boyfriend left your tire iron in the grass at his friend's house? Or that one time when we had a huge $700 surgery to revamp your engine? Man, those were some good times.

You will be sorely missed.

Love,
Tran

GRAB BAG TIME!

So, even on a budget, a girl has to take time to buy herself a gift, right? Well, how can any girl pass up a deal like the one from Puella: 10 items packaged in a cute little tote for only $150 (+ S&H). That's only $10 a piece, and there's a chance for cute tops and dresses and whatnots. Anywho.. here's what it came with:

• ivory seersucker shorts
• navy blue tank
• lime green tank
• ivory tank with golden leaves and blue squares
• short-sleeved henley with red checker print
• sailor tank tunic with yellow flowers
• v-tank dress in light green
• v-tank dress in yellow checker print
• elbow sleeved bibbed tee in sky blue
• navy blue tunic

It was a good surprise to see all the things they put together. Can't wait to try everything on, which I will do... NOW!

Love,
Tran

Grandma says, "No food for you!"

I love my grandma to pieces. She's the greatest grandma a girl could ever ask for, and a damn good cook, too. Unfortunately, no one at home is allowed the pleasure of her cooking until I return to California. It's rather sad. She has six other grandchildren living within close proximity to her, and she won't cook anything special for them. Just the usual fish and rice for dinner. Makes me feel kind of special. Now, I'm just counting down the days till I (and everyone else) get to taste grandma's home-cooking. mmMMMmmm.

In other news, the thesis is coming along slowly, but surely. I'm working on my first round of edits, with one chapter down, hopefully another chapter done today, and a third chapter done by the beginning of next week. Then I'll have two chapters left before having to submit a second draft to my advisor, which will undoubtedly result in a second round of edits. Hopefully, two rounds of edits will suffice. Then I can submit and work on my presentation, and then present in early September. Man, this is passing by really quickly. Before you know it all my west coast friends will be welcoming me home, and all my east coast friends will be mourning my departure (sorry guys!). And then the endless jobhunt can go full-steam, rather than the half-assed, no result effort that I've been giving it lately. ::le sigh::

Hope everyone else is doing GREAT!

Love,
Tran

GO, Speed Racer, GO!

Now...... STOP!!! I couldn't believe I got a ticket this morning. AGAIN!!! I decided to take a different route to work this morning so that I could stop by one of the cheap gas stations (saving $0.10/gallon) since I was running low (Hello, little orange light next to the picture of the gas pump). Anywho.. surprise surprise, there was a "little" police officer on his motorized bike poised and ready to pull me over. Apparently, I was going 46mph in 35mph zone. LAME! So, instead of saving $1.30 on gas by going to this gas station rather than the 7-Eleven by the house, I have to pay this stupid ticket.

In other news.. this week has pretty much sucked. I've been in one of those moods for the last few days, and it really sucks. Hopefully it passes soon, or else heads will roll.. ROLL, I say!

DC and the 4th - not at the same time

So.. I was in DC this past weekend to catch the NSO with Chuck - performing songs from video games. I know what you're thinking... Tran is such a nerd. Well, I am, but not nearly as bad as some of the people who were there. Holy cow, I couldn't stop laughing. It was a good show though. I'm glad I went.

The rest of the weekend, I hung out with my friends up there. Met up for sushi at Singapore Bistro, drinks at Lucky Bar, animals at the zoo, dinner at Mie'n'Yu, Knocked Up with Karen, dim sum at China Garden, took Ceci to the airport for her world tour, and then headed home. Here are the highlights:

• Karen found out the hard way that Wally is an ordained justice of the peace (or something like that). She and Chuck were married at Lucky Bar, I was the best man, Sharon was the maid of honor. Though, I don't think Sharon was paying attention while this was going down. And, apparently, you can get certified online to marry people. Go figure.
• They got rid of the giraffe at the National Zoo. WTF! How do you have a zoo without a giraffe?!?!?!
• Mie'n'Yu is an awesome restaurant! But, the drinks are a bit pricey, and the service wasn't great. The food was good, though not perfect. We had a bunch of tapas (basically): lacquered duck; tuna tartar; seared kobe beef; Thai pupu platter with beef satay, shrimp wontons, vegetable tempura; veal lettuce wraps; lamb shank; and one other thing, but I can't remember what. We also ordered two AMAZING desserts: mocha bombe and pear strudel.
• Knocked Up is one of the most HILARIOUS movies I have ever seen.

Pictures here: click on me!

As for the Fourth of July (known to the British as the celebration of the REBELLION!), it was not one of my more favorite 4ths. Usually, Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays because it is characterized with lots of meat (usually beef) and fireworks - two of my top five favorite things in the world (the others being giraffes, chocolate, and ...). However, I decided to try my hand at smoking ribs this year, and well, I wasn't very successful. Let's just say that I should have had some supervision for the first time. Anywho, we ended up tossing them and grilling steaks instead. It was still a good time, just not the best time. We went out to Fort Monroe for the concert and the fireworks. The concert ended up having a $5 cover, so we just sat out on the grass. The fireworks (which were supposed to start at 9:30pm) didn't happen. We left at 10pm, took us forever to get out of the fort, and as we were leaving the gates, the fireworks started to go. While we were sitting out earlier we could see the fireworks from other parts of the peninsula, but it was rather upsetting that the Fort Monroe fireworks were so delayed. One highlight, we walked pass this father teasing his daughter and calling her a liar. It was so funny, but I felt a little bad because we were laughing out loud, and I think she started crying.

NOLA... and I can't belive she's MARRIED!!!

So.. back from New Orleans (and I officially HATE flying). Here's the lowdown:

Friday: Arrived in NOLA with Ben without a hitch. The flight was short and sweet, and we made it to the hotel without any problems. Julie, Angie, and Andy were already there, and we went to eat at a small nearby joint named Napolean. I had a drink (can't remember what it's called) that was made with juniper berry liqueur, some other stuff, and a slice of cucumber. It was interesting, but I'm not sure if I like it or not. We walked Bourbon street, but didn't drink, and then called it an "early" night.

Saturday: Went to River's Edge for breakfast. I had a Jambalaya Omelet with a side of grits. Ben had a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. It was a nice, across the street from Cafe du Monde, which was way too crowded. After breakfast, Ben and I walked around a little bit, and stopped into the St. Louis Cathedral. We headed back to the hotel room and got ready for the wedding. We were a couple minutes late to the wedding because the taxis decided that they weren't going to come to the hotel anymore because so many had come and left (since people weren't ready by the time they got there). So the bellhop had to hail us a cab, and it took forever for one to drive by. We made it to the wedding just in time to see Adrianna and Ben, the groom, walking up the stairs. It was a nice, short wedding (lasting 20 minutes, tops), and a small one as well (50 people, tops).

The reception was nice. I didn't eat much, since we had just had a big breakfast an hour before, but the spread looked good. At least, I know Ben enjoyed the hors d'oeuvres. The wedding was a lot of fun. We danced, we drank, we took lots of pictures. It was great! I hadn't seen Adrianna in over a year, so it was great seeing her so happy and beautiful. seeing everyone else was fun too. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and napped for a few hours (after Julie and Angie were done hitting on the bellhop and getting his number). Then we got up and headed to Cafe du Monde for a snack.

We stopped into the Old Absinthe House for a round of "absinthe", at least what's considered absinthe in the U.S. I've decided that I don't like it, too much like licorice. We needed to get some real food, so we stopped by some restaurant for dinner. I had BBQ shrimp and Ben had a burger. It was nice, but the service took FOREVER. We walked around a bit and met up with the others at this little lounge bar off Bourbon St. Angie was dying to meet up with the bellhop on Frenchman Street (which is apparently where the locals hang out), but I didn't really feel like taking a taxi anywhere. I got a bit upset because we stepped in Razoo, and Julie and Angie diappeared. Apparently, the couldn't "find us" so they left. They headed up to Frenchman Street to meet up with the bellhop. Andy had an early flight in the morning, so we headed back and just hung out at the hotel. Julie and Angie (and the bellhop) got in around 6am (after Andy had left already).

Sunday: Ben and I got up and went to church at the St. Louis Cathedral at 9am. Then headed back, only to find everyone still asleep. So we headed off to brunch at Emeril's Delmonico without them. It was really nice. We were the first one's there. I had slow-cooked pork topped with two sunny-side up quail eggs over a bed of arugula. Ben had poached eggs over stone-ground grits and other things. It was really good. We finished off breakfast with some fresh baked cookies and ice-milk (which is, basically, frozen milk with vanilla).

We decided to walk back to the French Quarter, rather than spend the money for a cab. It wasn't too incredibly hot outside, but we didn't realize that the distance and the humidity was not good for us. By the time we got back to the hotel, they were up, checked out, and Angie had to head to the airport. So we said good-bye, and Ben and I attempted to kill a few hours. We walked along the river. We stopped into the Calbido (the Louisiana State Museum). We walked around a lot. We had coffee. Then we went to the airport. We were there pretty early, so we sat around and read and just waited.

When we arrived in Atlanta, we still had an hour and a half to kill. We ate at Chili's Too, and just sat around. Our flight was a bit delayed because we needed to wait for the flight crew to come in from another flight. We took off only five minutes late, BUT a sensor went off while we were in the air, something about the de-icing mechanism. Anywho, we were in the air for about 30-45 minutes, and they had to turn around and land back in ATL. So, we landed in ATL at about the time we should have been landing in PHF. The quickly moved us to a different plane and we took off shortly after that. We landed in PHF around 2:30 am, but it took forever for our luggage to get to the baggage claim. I think because there weren't enough workers there at that time in the morning. People were complaining like crazy, and getting on my last nerve. They were mad that we had to turn around to ATL rather than just landing in PHF close to on time. What they didnt' take into consideration is that if something were to happen to us on that flight, then everyone would have been asking "Why didn't they do something about that sensor when it went off during flight?"I with people would be more patient and less stupid. Oh, and that they would just shut up too.

Pictures from the trip can be found here (in no particular order). Enjoy!

Love, Tran

P.S. Here's a picture of a cake that I made last weekend for Chris' birthday: Three-layer chocolate cake with strawberries and blueberries.