And she's baaaaaack! Well..sorta

It feels like it's been forever. I can't believe that the last time I posted a real blog - not some half-hearted attempt to promote a film festival that I was working on - was last year, literally, since it was December. Things have been crazy for me since December and I just haven't had the time to stop and breath. This is the FIRST WEEKEND of 2006 where I actually have time to sleep in and sit down with a cup of coffee and blog, sigh...

I had an amazing time in Malaysia - one of my best trips ever. People have changed, places and things have changed, yet it still feels like home. I love the feeling of returning to what foreigners perceive as chaos, but what we true Malaysians perceive as life. Albeit my constant complaints about crazy Penang drivers (man, they drive waaaaaaaay too close to me!) and people who rather sell their kids than pay RM2 for a parking space in a garage, I liked being home. I loved the fact that I got to hang out and seriously bitch with Wei and Yassie - still my best girls; went clubbing and got my bear hugs from Mark, shared a couple of beers with Joe, finally met up with Koobz (whom I'm totally convinced is a clone who was reprogrammed to be a real adult complete with a job, girlfriend AND car - gasp!) and Zahir (who still brings a smile to my face, regardless of whether or not his butt is exposed). And along the way, someone bumped into some totally random friends that I haven't seen in almost a decade! Yet at the same time, I wish I had ALL THAT, not in Penang, but right here in San Francisco. It's a lonely city, and it's lonelier still when you don't even have time to stop and have lunch with friends.

I'm also glad that I went to Thailand this time round. The beaches were amazing and as usual, I was the ONLY Asian who was actually suntanning under the sun, not the shade. Zhuang tried his best to accompany me, but after an hour the sun got too hot for the poor boy. The food was good, I had some fried crickets, maggots and funny looking insects. I found ONE thing that I would never put in my mouth - a fermented fish dish from Northern Thailand, some Esan dish which smelt like a trash. No offense to anyone, but man, it smelt so bad that if it was on Fear Factor, no one would want to be on the set.

Relunctantly went back to San Francisco on January 16, endured a reaaaaaaally long flight with no good movies to watch. It was so bad that I ended up watching Fantastic Four and Proof just so I had something to do. Shared my studio apartment with my sis for two weeks, which was bearable until Zhuang returned at the end of January. Can you imagine a studio apartment with three people? Well, I don't have to, because I know first hand how a refugee camp feels like. Visualize this - 2 large suitcases and one hand carry per person, a billion boxes, 1 bathroom and 1 closet - living like that would drive anyone nuts. We tried like crazy to look for a new place, spent every weekend and almost every weekday looking at houses. When we find one that's suitable, the application required proof of income, which was totally ridiculous because Zhuang and I had NONE. Finally moved back to a 2-bedroom townhouse next to my old university, sigh, so much for graduating and never going back to school. Hah.

As for my job situation, I haven't even had the time to sit down and write a cover letter to apply for a real full-time job. WHY? Because I'm juggling two part time jobs! I'm not complaining or anything, I love my jobs and the money definitely helps, but you know your body's telling you you're pushing too hard when an empty seat in a train means you finally get to nap! Half the time, I'm Special Events Assistant for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival [www.asianamericanfilm.org], which means, I'm part of a 2-person team that handles more than 6 events throughout 10 days of the festival. Sound easy? HAH. That means figuring out how to feed and house more than 900 people for two events, and on top of that, it means convincing restaurants and liquor distributors to provide their products to us for FREE. Yuppers, sounds impossible? Apparently not so. I just managed to convince a dessert vendor to give us 400-600 cheesecakes for three receptions. Heh. :) I still can't believe the festival starts in less than 2 weeks, it's craaaaazy. The other my week is spent working as Project Management Coordintor for my old employer, the Public Affairs & Publications Office at my university. Which is kinda fun, working on several projects with the director, rebranding my university and creating web sites.

Oooo....officially the weirdest thing to happen to me since I last blogged (drumroll please!) -- someone DIED on me. Well, not on me, on me. But I was at a club in San Francisco, it's called 1015 and Zhuang and I was trying to get our coats from coat check and ready to leave the club at 3:30am, when we suddenly hear what we thought was balloons popping. Before I knew it, some Vietnamese dude was stumbling backwards and fell on my leg. When something like that happens, it's only normal to back up and let the dude fall on the floor coz I thought he was drunk. Then when security starting flashing their flashlight at the dude, I saw 3 bullet holes on his chest! Daaaaaaamn, the strangest part was, I didn't scream, I didn't panic, I was calm. Which is soooo not me. I've always thought that if I was at a scene of a shooting, I would be the crazy woman screaming her head off, but apparently, death, blood and bullets don't traumatize me. Weird, huh? Zhuang and I went back up to the main floor and we couldn't do anything but wait. Cops rushed in and security sealed the exits. So sigh, as tired and cold as we were, we were stuck at the club till 6am! Found out the next morning in the news that the dude died at the scene and someone else was shot in the elbow, apparently some gang-related deal.

So that's me. That's what I've been up to for the past 3 months. Love. Peace. Hugs.