Staying Afloat

Yay! Bruce is going to post a blog entry

So here Bruce and I are working through a sample post together with pictures.

 

Here are sample images:

 

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Who is Martine McCutcheon?

I've been on this face recognition website MyHeritage.com for the past 1/2 hour trying to find out which celebrity I have a resemblance to.  Heehee, this service is like what you get at the Fisherman's Wharf tourist shops where you pay $19.95 for a CG-simulated carpet ride around the Bay Area (not that I actually paid to have one of those videos made of me one fateful winter holiday afternoon in which the videographer mistook my brother and I for a couple and made us do unmentionables.  Ick, I need a mental purging now.). 

Somehow I was hoping for a miracle, or maybe a malfunctioning of the code, so that the "mirror on the wall(or internet in this case)" would tell me that I look like Angelina Jolie or Courtney Cox.  After loading up 4 different pictures of myself, 3 of the results came up with Martine McCutcheon.  I need to google who this person is...  Anyway, here are the results.  I see a better resemblance to Christina Ricci.  Not bad, I guess.  I guess the distinguishing features are full forehead, full cheekbones, and hairstyle.

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Two boobies and a sea of bow ties later

Many have approached me and asked how the Oscars went.  To which I have had to burst their bubbles, no glamorous ladies wearing designer gowns that are worth my annual salary.  The whole setting was more of a cross between a wedding reception and a holiday party that happened to take place at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons, which is also overrated.  So not to be a party-pooper, but it really wasn't all that. 

I was however excited to see Maggie Gyllenhaal and her fiancee, Peter Saarsgard.  More excited by the latter.  I have a lot of respect for both of them because they are actors of high caliber who I assume conscientiously chose challenging roles in independent films.  Of course we saw more of Maggie since she was presenting the awards.  It had to be a challenge to summarize the nature of the sci-tech awards since the descriptions were not only highly technical, but I assume were also of "specialized" technologies or concepts.  During her introduction, they showed 10 minutes of vignettes from many, if not all, of the movies she's been in, including Donnie Darko, Secretary, and some other ones that I now want to see.  I think the introduction was appropriate though - to my surprise, many people do not know who she or P. Saarsgard are.  Maggie looked very much like the girl next door, and amazingly youthful for someone who just had a baby only 4 months ago.  I was immediately aware that she had triangular arms, very un-Hollywood, very much like mine, very human (hehe).

So now a month later, and after the highly publicized Oscar Awards have aired, I'm sure many people are just casually wandering in cyberspace to revisit the details of the event.  And I don't know how they're doing this, but 2 people - my boss and my brother - have told me that they've seen pictures of Max through the Oscars website.  Of course it piqued my curiousity, especially because my boss said that his wife stumbled on this picture when she was looking through some best dressed feature section.  Well, I personally am not surprised because I took part in picking out Max's tux but to find it among the celebrity Oscar's site, well I just don't know how that could have happened.

Anyway, the closest that I've come to what they may have found is through this article titled "Geek Glory - The Technical Oscars: ILM and the Foundry".  But of course, I had to look pretty hard to find it AND it's pretty far removed from the topic best dressed at the Oscars.  And here's the picture which is described by the blog entry title.

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Plant photos

 

Slow

The network has been slow this morning, so has my brain.  I was going to blame things on account of it being a Monday.  But I have reason to believe that it's just me, deterioration resulting from extreme wear and tear.  I can't form a coherent thought or carry on a focused conversation.  I hope the damage is reversible to some degree...

Proud girlfriend I am

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Max and I are heading down to L.A. to collect his Academy Award on the weekend of Feb 9th.  I hear that some hot but respectable female celebrity like Charlize Theron will be presenting the awards.  Although we're not likely to be knocking elbows with the likes of Brad Pitt or Demi Moore.  The celebrity awards are mentioned together with the scientific/engineering/technical awards but the ceremonies are held separately.

Hopeless

My active pursuit of a new job feels a lot like being single.  I felt that I was mentally prepared to find another job.  So just like when I was desperately unattached, I announced to the world my intentions of finding something (more) suitable and enlisted everyone's help.  Then when people call me with potential opportunities, I freak out and ignore their messages.  Fear of the unknown I guess...fear of failure actually is more accurate.

Deep thoughts in the dental chair

I went in for a 3 month overdue routine cleaning dental appointment.  While having my teeth ultrasound cleaned, I came to several realizations:

1) At least 70% of me finds the teeth cleaning to be a welcome and relaxing experience.  Which is what $85/50 minutes of massage is supposed to be as well, so I hear, but that's an entirely different story.  The other 30% of me or 30% of the time, I'm wincing because Dr. Dentist is aggravating or causing some gum or teeth sensitivity.  Nevertheless, it beats my $85 massage from an aesthetician-acting-as-a-masseuse.

2) I am grateful when dentists wear face or mouthgards.  Whether they think they're protecting themselves from infectious diseases or germs, I know I am definitely being spared the full fury of bad dentist's breath.  You would think that someone in the teeth profession would have a handle on halitosis...

3) If I value my dental longevity, I will switch to a different dentist.  The last time I was here, Dr. Dentist dropped several things and triggered a sensitivity in my gums/teeth.  Who knows, maybe the sensitivity was a pre-existing condition.  Today, I heard her oopsing several times during my visit, and she dropped a cup that she dispensed for my mouth rinse.  Insignificant, one might say.  Now imagine if the oopsing occurred while she was cleaning a cavity.

 

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4) It is not okay to have a gap between your upper arch front teeth unless you're a supermodel.  If you're a supermodel, you can brag about how hot and desirable and unique you are with your gap.  In my case, Dr. Dentist advised that if I know what's good for me, I will continue wearing my retainers regularly.  It was a nightly regimen for nearly 3 years post-braces removal.  It may have to be a lifelong routine if I know what's good for me.

 

 

 

QotD: Pizza Preference

How do you eat your pizza:  folded, flat or with a fork and knife?
Submitted by danimass.

Usually I like to eat Round Table chicken garlic gourmet pizza with a fork and knife on a ceramic (or non-plastic/non-paper) plate at a restaurant.  Or sitting on the sofa while watching a horror film.  It's like a relaxing dining experience.  Not as messy, not rushed. 

The reality is though I'm usually eating pizza because I don't have time to sit down and have a real meal, so I'm normally grabbing the pizza and taking large bites.  Rarely, I've folded the pizza because I only had 10 minutes to eat it.  I don't derive much enjoyment out of that method.  I mostly see guys folding their pizza.  I've known 1 guy ever to eat two stacked slices of pizza like sandwich bread.  I think he was afraid that someone else would get to his slice before he did.

Better now.

I left work early today.  My head felt as big and heavy as a pumpkin, remnants of the bug that rendered me bed-ridden

all day Saturday.  Although the drive back up 280 was pleasant, I was grumpy and not looking forward to the evening fog in San Francisco. 

I got home, applied a Bath and Body Works scrub and mango body butter to my hands, lit an aromatherapy candle, and made progress on some seriously overdue work docs.  Then Max came home with sushi and a bento upon my request.  Mmm, we tried a new roll - a variation of a spider roll with avocado, crab, and black fish roe.  The roe was so crunchy but a bit fishy.  Yum nevertheless! 

Well, now I feel sleepy yet stressed out with a headache; slight congestion and runniness (nose); and with a fishy aftertaste in my mouth.  But not grumpy, so that's an improvement from my disposition when I left work.  A bit more work (hopefully no more than an hour), a shower, and I get to rest my still recovering body.