I’m keeping record of performances I’ve seen since moving back to the States, so here’s my list:

Kathleen Madigan
Josh Rogan
Judah ?
Cirque Ka
Miss Saigon
Showboat
Annie Get Your Gun
Beauty and the Beast x 2
Little Women
Cirque Kooza
Man of La Mancha
A Thousand Clowns
American Sound
The Odd Couple
Steel Magnolias
Little Women
Little Shop of Horrors
Les Miserables
My Fair Lady
Cabaret x 2
The Kamau Bell Curve
7 Sins
Phantom of the Opera

My buddy Tina and I planned ahead. Big time. We purchased tickets for Phantom of the Opera way back in November for a June 14 show. Yes, that’s how hard core I am about theater. She’d been raving about this particular show, and as life would have it, she had to miss it. Her father had back surgery in Bangkok (that’s where her parents live). So, despite months of anticipation, she wasn’t able to attend. Total bummer. But her hubby joined, so the three of us drove 2+ hours to Sac. Yes, it was too far. The show was quite good, but I have to say, it’s not among my favs. The opera parts are just a tad too cacophonous for me. Lesson learned. Sacramento is reserved for the creme de la creme, i.e. Les Mis or Cabaret. Speaking of Cabaret, I’m going to see it at the SF PLayhouse next month. Love Goldstar, my source for discount event tickets. It’s wonderful for small venue performances.

What else is happening… let’s see. I took my second sick day ever at the District. John was sick last weekend, and he passed the stinging eyes, nasal congestion on to me. Hurray. My method of treatment involved baking myself under the hot summer rays, and now my abdomen is red. I hope to be well enough to work tomorrow though. Love my job, you know. Can’t be away from it for long.

I finally broke my weight barrier by the way. In recent months, I had packed on as much as ten pounds… I’ve shed five now, so things are good. The previous situation was nothing desperate really, but you know me… dancer’s body, that’s the goal. Now that hip hop class is officially over, I’m moving onto advanced yoga and well hip hop in the privacy of my own home (got a hip hop DVD for my b-day). Tonight I’m hitting the pool.

Speaking of the pool, last night we took the dogs with us. Immediately upon entering the gate, they went nuts. Picked up a scent and just went crazy. Turned out, a raccoon had gone up a tree. And it was a big guy too. He was essentially stuck in the tree, and both dogs started scratching and jumping on the trunk. I’ve read that coons can get quite violent with dogs, so I started getting very nervous. I called both dogs, but they totally ignored me. Instinct had kicked in and they were in a total zone. Then the top of the tree started swaying around as the coon repositioned himself. I could have sworn he was about to fall out of the tree and get cornered by the dogs. Let me tell you, the whole incident was but a few minutes but I was stressed. I finally grabbed a hold of the dogs, spanked them for not coming when called, and we left. Stupid fuckers. They are going to get themselves slashed for real. No more pool time for them. Apparently, they never learned their lesson from the skunk and now they’ve moved on to more dangerous critters.

Ok, so my last post was a tad bitchy. And to come clean, I didn’t handle the situation in an optimal way. In fact, I failed miserably at this particular instance of anger management. Our couples therapist Linda surely would have been disappointed. And John is now totally traumatized. When he first saw the live post, he called for doom. And now he says I’ve got him embroiled in a scandal. Such the drama queen.

So first, apologies to my dear friend and her fiance (who definitely thinks I’m loony now). Yes, I should have broached my issues directly and before posting my scathing tirade of an entry. Somehow the visit pushed my Johnny buttons and well, enough said. I’m not proud.

In other, less dramatic news, I turned 32 on Sunday. John and I spent the weekend in Vancouver, BC. Omg, what a beautiful city… I’m in love. Totally reminded me a bit of Seattle, Portland, Hong Kong, and Shanghai all in one. The weather was a cold and misty, but I just loved Vancity: lush and green, peaceful yet bustling, and tons of good food from all over. Gotta love a place with Bubble tea, sushi, and Thai.

Public transportation was pretty good too. The elevated rail (SkyTrain) was somewhat limited, but there were lots of Prius taxis (hurray!) and the electric public buses were ultra clean. And the Canadians are so frickin’ laid back. We didn’t have exact change (coins only) for the bus, and the driver just told us to have it next time. No big deal. In the US, we would’ve gotten kicked to the curb for sure.

This was a mini-vacation, but I was all stressed out. You see, two nights before departure, I discovered that my passport had expired on April 1. Yes, I know. How could I let something like this slip through the cracks? Don’t worry, it’s on the Google calendar now: once every ten years, renew the f-ing passport.

Apparently, the US had recently implemented some new policy (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) requiring passports even for travel to Canada and Mexico. Long story short, after researching all this crap online, I nearly canceled my trip. I had it all planned out with Bubs. If they denied me access, he was to proceed and leave me behind. Birthday or no birthday: after all, the hotel was fully paid via Priceline. Thankfully, I had the nerve to just try to get through at the ticket counter. No one fucking cared. Yeah, I had to get into a separate line for international documents check but whatev: the agents checked my license and birth certificate, I went through additional security, and that was it.

Bottom line? All this urgent expedited same-day passport processing bullshit is a total scam. Well for travel to Canada at least. On the trip back home, the Canadian United airlines agent, Tony Scott (I’m sending him a letter of kudos, btw) was the sweetest gem of a guy. Bumped us up to an earlier flight and even gave us Economy Plus seating… free. Now that is class and service. I’ve fully returned to United’s corner.

Of course, the US Customs and Borders agent was not so pleasant. She chastised me for knowingly traveling with an expired passport. Thankfully, the agent standing next to her tempered her irritation saying, “Well, we can’t keep someone who is a citizen from entering, so just advise her to renew the passport, and off she goes.” Yes, I got lucky. But you know what? The WHTI is so lame. Doesn’t make me feel any safer. And seriously, it’s yet another paperwork hassle. Current processing times for passports is 4 weeks. Rush service is 3 weeks. Either way, my shit is in the mail as we speak. Getting that crap renewed ASAP.

God, sometimes people really are just clueless. A good friend of mine was in town last weekend. She and her dude are moving to SF next month. I’m thrilled, but this last visit just really rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, aside from not being very organized about their schedule and how it affected us (for example, airport pickup/dropoff, overnight stays, city events), I was really disappointed by their general lack of common courtesy. There was no sense that crashing at our place caused any bit of inconvenience. Everything was just whatever: “Grabbing dinner” while they were in town searching for an apartment turned into can you pick us up. Then, can you DVR something. Then, can we stay the first night. Then, we might stay the last night. Then, can we get a ride to the airport.

I mean, hello, some level of prep (for John and me) is involved when people stay over: cleaning, washing, laundry, rolling out the bed, sheets, towels, etc. Flying by the seat of the pants is fine for people who are totally self-sufficient, but hey, it’s our time too. It’s fine to ask for an airport pickup, but what’s the flight info? It’s not ok to just tell me to pick up at 7:30. What if the flight is late? Duh.

And if staying with us, which days exactly? Since there was two of them, I set everything up in the office so they didn’t have to sleep on the living room couch. That meant that I pulled out the memory foam mattress and plopped it right in the middle of our office. Set out clean sheets, pillowcases, blankets, towels. It’s not as if they brought sleeping bags… The point is, the stay over itself is not a big deal. We’re all friends, so it’s fine. But what’s the schedule? Am I supposed to just have the mattress sitting there in the middle of the office waiting in case they do decide to come back?

In the end, they did return and then wanted a ride the next afternoon to the airport. John stuck around the house and made breakfast. They lounged about in a daze all morning. When he dropped them off, it was just “bye.” No “thank you for letting us stay, thank you for breakfast, thank you for shuttling us around.” And the kicker?

When I got home, all the stuff was still everywhere– the towels hung on chairs, sheets, blankets left as is, all as if the heat had come around the corner, and they just got up and left. We’re not a fucking hotel, you know? In the very least they could have folded everything up or put it in a pile or offered to help clean up. It wasn’t even like they were in a hurry that morning and wanted to clean up but didn’t have time.

When other friends of mine visited last month, the day they left, the office was clean: sheets, towels, blankets, pillowcases– all of it was taken apart and folded in a pile. Memory foam was rolled up and put to the side. Common courtesy. I mean leaving everything strewn around…. that’s how my brother would behave if he were visiting. Totally inconsiderate and clueless. And the problem isn’t simply me being my Type A self here. Even Bubs commented (before I even said anything)! People are disappointing.

Whew. Busy, busy, I tell you. BBD is something else. You see, I haven’t been sleeping well again… I’ve been having all kinds of bizarre anxiety dreams. The most disturbing one? I dreamed that I was with my BOSS, and he was cheating on me!! Yes, the boss whom I googled before my first day and I discovered icky stuff about him online. Now, just to be completely clear, I am not attracted to my boss, so I don’t know why I would dream about being his girlfriend, but whatever. Maybe one explanation could be that the night before, a couple gals from work went to happy hour. When the subject of that unflattering online post came up, my coworker said she was relieved that I’d already known. Apparently, everyone else in my department already knew about the post, but they didn’t want to “adulterate” my view of him. Anyway, I told them that scorned women were still coming out of the woodwork– that people were posting comments to the blog even as recent as last month… Anyway, the dream was ultra disturbing. He was cheating on me and then he gave me an STD. I know. Raunchy, right? I’m so so lucky to have Bubbey. BBD is the best.

Anyway, as I was saying, I’d been having some restless nights. So Memorial Day weekend was all about sleeping in. Well, new BBD had an entire itinerary planned. He wanted to get to the SF Zoo right at opening time to take pictures with his new camera. Fine. Got me up on Saturday. We were supposed to leave the house at 9. I was being pokey, so we didn’t leave the house until 9:30. Then, Bubbey got all pissy about it; I was delaying his schedule, blah, blah… I know, can you believe that shit? Well turns out, we STILL got there 15 before the gates even opened and the weather was frickin’ cold and drizzly. And half the place was “under construction,” or the animals didn’t come out. So annoying. But as the day progressed, things dried a bit, and we got some cute pics.

The remainder of the weekend was packed. Following the zoo, we went to the College of San Mateo to check out their weekly farmer’s market. I guess in part, we were researching the vendors. I’m still supposed to help Bub design labels for his jars of jam (we now have strawberry, blackberry, and pickles). We’re up to our ears in canned goods, and tomorrow I think he’s making marmalade. Energizer bunny, I tell you. The farmer’s market was good… very extensive. I’m sure we’ll go back next week.

On Sunday, I scored us some awesome, cheapie last minute tickets to Beauty and the Beast in San Jose. Yup, someone posted on Craiglist, saying “something came up” so they had four tickets available. Two hours to showtime, I called Lisa. while trying to arrange an exchange time/place, she said they would be home (“with the black BMW and white Lexus in the driveway”). They were just going to be out back in the pool.

So we drive to Los Altos, and it’s a beautiful $3 million home not far from my work. I go around back, and it’s this gorgeous green lawn: 3 pampered poodles running around and three young couples in the pool. Seriously, it was like land of the beautiful babies. Buff men and slim women in their string bikinis. Sigh. To be young (maybe just a few years older than us), rich, and beautiful. Mind you, these theater tickets were $75 a pop. And they had four. “Something just came up.” Just didn’t feel like going: wanted to chill in the pool instead. Blows my mind. But hey, I scored tickets for 1/3 the price. Mark a win for the frugal, frumpy nerd! Yay!

Bubs and I graduated from couples counseling… well, kind of. You see, since he’s been on leave of absence, we’ve had no problems. Zilch. BBD (Bubbey Belvedere) gets his shit done. He’s like the hobbyist of the century. You have no idea: photography, gardening, reading, canning… yes, the dude went to the library and got books on making jams and shit. Did you know there’s even a book out there on time off in San Francisco? It’s written specifically for people who are taking a break from work, and the guide has all kinds of tips on cutting your budget and finding cheapie deals in the city. You can bet I’ll be reading those chapters– I’m always scouting out ways to improve my game.

Anyway, last week John made four jars of blackberry jam. Today, he made a couple jars of strawberry jam. Our veggie garden out back now consists of strawberries, pumpkin, lemon, romaine lettuce, cilantro, parsley, basil, thyme, cantaloupe, watermelon, spinach… yeah, he’s going nuts with it. Some of it, we’ve been able to harvest but most of the fruit will have to wait until next year. In the meantime, we’re hitting multiple farmer’s markets in the area. Yeah, very hippie, but consider it research for when John launches his collection of jams and jellies. Don’t be surprised if he starts hocking jars at his very own table. I’m supposed to help design the labels… I’m telling you: new Bubs has a lot of energy.

So yeah, our last session with the therapist was totally bizarro. We did “sand play,” which was essentially selecting/placing a bunch of figurines into a litterbox-sized sandbox. The object was to select pieces to represent our relationship. Yeah, after she explained the activity, we looked at each other like, wtf? The exercise was just too weird. But we went along. After we were finished, she asked John to start with the explanations. “Well, this figure of two people in an embrace is us. These are our two dogs… Um this is a tray of cookies and milk…” I couldn’t help but interrupt. She doesn’t want us to identify what the figure is, we’re supposed to explain why we chose it and what it represents about our relationship. So I took over… But it was funny. And very awkward. Afterwards, I asked her what other people do for this exercise. She said she has a child client whose mother is an alcoholic. The child put a person in a bed and placed it in the corner of the box. She put a nurse standing next to the bed; then she took a cup and just kept pouring sand over the bed. Yeah, serious. And then she had a couple where the figures were at opposite corners and one of them was the Incredible Hulk.

So after that, we kind of realized that we were doing ok, you know? And after we finished explaining our relationship, the therapist busted out the POLAROID camera to take a picture of our sand play. Yeah, can you fucking believe? A Polaroid?? Hello? So we have the experience captured.

Later I offered to take the sand play apart and put all the figurines back on the shelf, but she insisted that we leave it. She would disassemble after we left. Weird, right? I mean, I get the karma thing but still.

Anyhow, the following week, I called to cancel our appointment. It was our last one anyway. Therapy definitely helped us by showing us alternative ways of communicating or working through conflicts but the sand play was just too much, so we graduated early. 🙂

Hi folks. Lots going on over here. First, I gotta say: Bubbey Belvedere rocks. Nothing like coming home to a hot home-cooked meal. And I always have leftovers for lunch the next day. I might have to start watching my intake actually, because as my friend Fonda exclaimed, I’ve “gain a lot of weight. A LOT.”

Mind you, she tells me this practically every single time I see her, and it is sort of an Asian ideal to be wafer thin… Seriously, I’m about 5 lbs. heavier than when I first arrived two years ago. Wup dee doo. I mean, sure, after watching all these damn dance shows on tv, I suppose sacrifices could be made if I really want to attain the “dancer’s body,” as Bubs and I term it. Whatever though. I’m not losing sleep over it, because at this point, with hip hop, rollerblading (at lunch now), AND swimming (the pools is finally heated now), it’s all good.

In other news, Bubs and I had a fun little project in the kitchen recently. I was reading the May issue of Ladies Home Journal (Yes, totally a magazine for someone three decades my senior but hey, it’s free so I read it). Anyway, there was this crazy article about creature cupcakes, with recipes to make cupcakes that look like penguins and horses and pandas and shit. It was so insane. And just to prove my point, I showed Bubbey. Next thing I know, we’re at the supermarket getting all the ingredients to make these things. Needless to say, it was an entertaining evening. Of course, in typical fashion, I made some substitutions here and there. Specifically, I opted for milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate frosting. And well, I went without food coloring. Budget cuts, you know. We had fun, but it was still a bit frustrating. As my hip hop class has taught me, I hate sucking at stuff. To make matters worse, the next day my artistic, former-landscape architect of a friend Tina came over to show us up. Just to give you an idea of the craziness we’re dealing with here, I included shots of cupcakes made by the pros. You can also guess which creations are Tina’s. Enjoy.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, holy shit there’s some crazy natural disasters going down. First cyclones in Burma, then tornadoes in the US, now a massive quake in China. Please consider supporting relief efforts through donations. A few of my favs:
Oxfam America
Care
Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres)

John and I had our first official visitors this past weekend. Pamela and Joey came up from the OC. Four days– chock full of activities. Well, I tried hard to restrain myself– I didn’t want to turn into a total vacation taskmaster (like my father), so I just focused on the essentials. I think I covered them adequately.

I really enjoyed having them in town. It was just so comfortable to be amongst dear friends. We went to a comedy show, did Alcatraz, hiked through Muir Woods, checked out some wineries in Santa Cruz– yeah, we went up and down the peninsula. All the while, we stuffed our faces with good food and delicious nougat (my newest love). And like me, Pamela loves the hot tub. Oh, it was terrific having a buddy around. Not that Bubbey isn’t a good companion; it’s just that he sometimes prefers to do other things…

We didn’t take enough pics (I’m still averse to photographs) but here are a few anyhow.

Damn. Mid May already. Well, a lot of drama over here… despite Bubbey and I seeing the therapist together and fleshing out the todo list details, things earlier this month just were not going well. The migraines and panic attacks were returning, and he was back in front of the tv all night every night. Once again, I was at wit’s end.

Then, he bit the bullet. May 5: Bubbey took an indefinite leave of absence. And let me tell you, it’s been a world of difference ever since. Seriously, in the days immediately following, he is like I have never seen him before.

While I’m at work, he’s reading, gardening, working out, shooting pictures, making dinner… he’s actually giving me a pretty good run for my money. (After all, I’m supposed to be the OCD busy bee!)

The first few days, when I got home from work, he had dinner ready plus he showed me a list of tasks he’d completed that day. At night, he sleeps very soundly– exhausted from all his activities. But I’m really thrilled that he is getting back to basics, doing things he enjoys, learning new hobbies, etc. He seems so much happier. And of course, I really like having my very own Mr. Belvedere. He even researches activities for the upcoming weekend… Now he’s MY personal assistant.

Last but not least, I’m now the breadwinner! Hurray, my feminist dream finally comes true! Gotta love it.