one day - we will be friends again.

So, when we're both through...can we be friends again?

Aw, I miss my MOB. Despite going months without seeing each other, we can still have crazy conversations like we used to. Yes, Mark, give me through the summer and we will be friends again. You take care of your shit, and I will take care of mine. We can then take a ride on your bike and hope we do not get pulled over or die. Thank you for understanding and not giving me crap about being a bad friend. I miss you.

By the way, you looked very "yummy" tonight.

a good season ended in tears.

Not many things make me cry. Tonight I added something to that short list of tear jerkers. The sight of guys crying after losing a hard fought game was unbearable. I could not help but wipe my eyes as I walked my way through the bleachers.

60-65. The Plano Varsity Basketball team lost to Berkner in the Regional Quarterfinal Playoff game this evening. After a terrific season and winning the State Championship last year, the boys were out to seek another championship this year. I went to more games this season than I did the two years I was a student, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

My passion for the game and respect for the players has grown over the years. It is amazing to see all the heart that goes into the game - the players are playing because they love the sport and they want to win. As it is widely noted, the professional leagues are flooded with money hungry players. At times, it seems they lose sight of why they throw/shoot/catch the ball day in and day out. But high school and college sports...those are filled with passion and inspiration.

If you were to make a comparison of Roberson to Jordan, then Skinner is Roberson’s Pippen.

Read that statement above one more time, and you will see two high school seniors who played their hearts out for Plano (Roberson and Skinner) being compared to two future NBA Hall of Famers (Jordan and Pippen). How amazing is that? Amazing enough for me to keep up with Tech basketball next year because that is where Roberson will be making his mark.

*Sniff* Good season, you guys.

Dx: Whooping Cough

As you all know, I have been sick for almost all of 2007. I am grateful to say that I am on the road to recovery. All I have to do now is kick this damn sinus problem. During the course of being ill, I was diagnosed with a cold, the flu, bronchitis, a sinus infection, and...whooping cough.


My latest trip to the doctor's resulted in three prescriptions: a Xopenex inhaler to help me breathe, Levaquin to kill the bacteria, and Prednisone (pictured above) to suppress my Whooping Cough. Do I really have Whooping Cough? Of course not - though I have been known to have some deadly sounding coughs. Marissa decided to play doctor by ad libbing to my directions when typing them up. It was the smiley face that made me feel all better.

And now do you see why I do not fill at my own pharmacy?

i'd rather be angry than dead.

As if taking an "Anger Management" class on a day in which love is celebrated was not bad enough...

Because we service the public, my co-workers and I, along with others, were required to take an Anger Management Training Course. Although the title of the class leads you to believe that I may have anger issues and have been advised to resolve them, the goal of the class was designed to help us to better manage the angry public. Now, I say the goal of the class...was the goal achieved? Hardly.

Turns out the class ended up being more of a how-do-you-see-yourself/behavior corrections class. You see, the instructor's main job outside of the training course is to counsel probationers with anger issues. Unfortunately, he forgot to check those reponsibilities at the door before presenting his knowledge to us. Basically, he treated the class as if we were his unlawful citizens who are required to take his class in hopes that it will correct their angry behavior.

By the end of the class, I had walked out extremely agitated. I did not agree with his teaching methods, nor did I agree with how he proposed we resolve an issue. Case in point:

Situation:

You are walking curbside, and a car drives by and splashes mud and water all over you. What do you do? The car pulls to a 7-11 a block away to fill up gas. What do you do?

My Answer:

Yell and curse profusely. Then, go home and change.

Instructor's Answer:

Walk over to 7-11 and confront the driver. The driver has a right to know what he/she did to you. It is your responsibility to manage the situation and any anger that you may have.

What the hell kind of answer is that?! It is the 21st century - you have lost your mind if you think it is safe to go up to a stranger and point out something he/she did wrong. People carry guns around with them nowadays. Why confront someone when you can just go home, change, and get on with your day while staying alive?

I think I best continue managing angry people the way I know how until shown a better way.

Zyrtec-D(on't take before sleeping).

Common side effects may include: Dry Mouth, Fatigue, Insomnia, Sleepiness.

For the first time in a long time, I seem to have fallen under the category of common people experiencing common side effects. It has been a long time since my body actually reacted to an unknown substance. But here I am at four o'clock in the morning - wide awake.

Four hours ago, at 10pm, a Zyrtec-D was taken. Shortly after, I tried going to bed because it had been a long day for me. Little did I know the damn tablet was going to keep me up all night.

Starbucks, my Savior of Grace.

You wanna go where everyone knows your name. Associate it with the old sitcom, Cheers, if you will. But for me, the catchy tune is referencing Starbucks. That is right - I have become one of those. A Starbucks junkie - someone who pays an inflated price for a green and black crowned mermaid-looking logo. For good reason though...

Today was one of those mornings where everything just does not go your way and is enroute to being a No Good Very Bad Day. Fortunately for me, all the mayhem happened before my Cup 'O Joe. All was right as soon as I pulled into the Starbucks parking lot. I walked through the doors and was greeted by the morning staff. Diana started on my drink, and by the time I walked up to the register it was ready for me at the bar. Megan rang me up for it, less the Vanilla, as she usually does. And just like that my day was better.

Though I may not be able to justify going to Starbucks two to three times a day as I sometimes do, I can say that I do prefer the taste of the Starbucks Americano over other coffees such as Seattle's Best, which gave me diarrhea, and McDonald's, voted cheapest and best by Consumer Reports. I willingly pay $2.40 for my Grande Vanilla Americano simply because I believe it to be the best tasting triple espresso coffee, and because it helps me get through the first few hours of each day.

today is a 7.

Every day at work, I try to read the Quick. It helps me keep up with the worldly news. The death of Anna Nicole Smith. The Maverick's victory over the Rockets. The crazy astronaut's arrest. Sometimes, if I have time, I will attempt the crossword and sudoku and then amuse myself with the horoscopes. Today's horoscope read...

The trouble with your schedule for work is that it's interfering, again, with your schedule for play. Postpone an outing until after the job's done.

Is it saying I work too much?

with a -ph and -ie.

It is a long name, I know. But is it really that hard to spell? Apparently the people at Wingstop think so...


Yet another reason I should just go by my last name.

18 and up.

Last night, I had somewhat of a flashback of freshman year of college. I found myself at an 18+ club.

This was the young crowd. The young Asian Mafia, if you will. Half of the crowd had Xs on their hands. And the other half probably used fake IDs to avoid being marked underage. I think those boys go to my sister's school.


Apparently Uggs are acceptable footwear at a nightclub. Between that and the Abercrombie sweatshirt some boy was wearing, I do not know why I even bothered brushing my hair before going out.


And this, my friend, was my NINE DOLLAR shot. Courvoisier, you say? No. It was a Jagerbomb. I ordered two - one for me and one for David. "That'll be 18 dollars." Good lord. If I did not have a tab open I probably would have told the bartender to take the shots because I was not going to.

The good thing about going to an 18+ club is that there is not a crowd at the bar. The average wait time to be serviced was less than 3 minutes, as compared to 30 minutes at other places. But waiting 3 seconds, let alone 3 minutes, for a nine dollar shot of Jager and Red Bull is outrageous.

cold weather sucks.

There has been more snow/sleet/hail the past few weeks than I have ever witnessed here in Texas. What is going on? It is beginning to be a royal pain in my ass. At least one day out of the week (usually Tuesdays) I go to work at 6 am. I do not mind working that early - in fact, I like it. But when you throw in 20 degree weather and ice, then I hate it!


I have to wake up 10-15 minutes earlier just to defrost my car. It sucks. I would give anything to have a garage to park my car in. Or I could just wait a few more weeks when the Texas heat starts to kick in.

a month into the year.

Tomorrow marks the first day of February, as the past 30 days (31 including today) have crept by. I have been sick for all of 2007, so I cannot say I have accomplished much except cough up a portion of my right lung, but hey - who really needs two full-sized lungs? A shot in the butt and 31 days later, I hope to be on the road to recovery.

What seemed like three weeks later, I finally got my Nip/Tuck Season 3 in the mail. Nip/Tuck has been one of the few seasons I have kept up with. I do not have the FX channel at home so I have resorted to waiting for the seasons to come out on DVD. The "what the fuck?!" story lines are well worth the wait.

I have, yet again, survived one of the toughest months at the pharmacy. "It's the start of the new year, sir, are you sure you did not receive a new insurance card? It's showing that your coverage is terminated..." "TERMINATED? What the hell are you talking about? Nothing has changed! I didn't get a damn card in the mail!"

10,000. I signed up for the Take A Hike program through the city and am to average 10,000 steps a day. I figured surely between my two jobs I could easily take 12,000 steps a day. Boy was I wrong. Either that or I am being cheated out of a lot of my steps. I think it is because I drag my feet, and the pedometer is not catching half of my so-called steps. Now would be a good time to improve on my posture. Maybe I will start marching everywhere I go.

Lately, I have been inspired in different areas. Hopefully I can get at least one of the things going...

political science 101.

Forget Survival of the Fittest. What they should be teaching kids in biology is the Survival of the Smartest - the politically smart, that is. Biology is the study of life, and politics play a large role in life.

Let us start with grade school. Everyone knows there is the popular crowd. This would be the group that wins all the votes - always gets chosen as line leader and later always gets voted class president. It is about who you know and what you wear. Come on, you know you wore your No Fear and Yaga shirts twice in one week to make sure Lindsey Gardener, captain of the volleyball and basketball team, saw it.

Then there is college. Coming from a highly populated greek school, politics took precedence over my chosen major. Affiliations were the main means of networking. The Alphas are good with the Betas, but only because the Gammas are their sisters. The Gammas host events with the Deltas to try to take numbers from the Epsilons, who are absolute rivals with the Alphas.

At the end of four years, a diploma graduates you to the next level of politics. Now, instead of making sure people see you with certain clothes on, you are making sure people see you with clothes off as you sex your way up the corporate ladder. Okay, maybe that is a bit corrupt. The real world brings new meaning to "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Be careful what you say - there are eyes and ears everywhere. Everyday you have to play your cards carefully; you never know if someone else has a better hand.

blog spam.

Damn you, Lee-Ting. If I had "labels" for my posts, this one would fall under "spam."

1.What is in the back seat of your car right now?
Boxes. My car smells like cardboard boxes and will continue to smell like that for at least 5 more months.

2. What was the last thing you threw up?
Beef pan fried noodles. Looked like poo.

3. What's your favorite curse word?
Fuck. Use in variations of, mother-fucker, fucking-shit, fuck, fucker. You get the point.

4. What's your favorite breakfast food?
Anything with potatoes.

5. What's your favorite episode of Friends?
If I had the money, I would own the $100+ complete DVD boxed set.

6. Is there anything red within 10 feet of you?
The Ozarka label. Yes, believe it or not there is a bottle of water next to me - It is a new years resolution thing.

7. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Water. Like I said, a new years resolution thing.

8. Last food you ate?
Peking duck.

9. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?
Do socks count?

10. When is the last time you ran?
Friday morning. I attempted to play basketball with the housewives.

11. What's the last sporting event you watched?
Does basketball on Gamecast count?

12. Last movie you saw?
Inside Man. Movie was okay. Denzel was good looking, as always.

15. Were you an honor roll student?
I am Chinese, of course.

13. Do you like sushi?
No. I love sushi. I do not care if my father tells me one day worms will grow inside me. I love my hamachi.

14. How old do you want to be when you have kids?
Ideally, I wanted kids by the time I was 25.

15. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
I do not drink soda. Unless it is with liquor, in which case yes, I drink from a straw.

16. What's your age?
Twenty fuckin' Five. And no, I do not have any kids.

17. What are your siblings' middle names?
Lauren. Damnit - why could I not have an English middle name?

18. What do you think of when you think of Australia?
Crocodile Dundee.

19. Ever ridden on a roller coaster?
Yes.

20. What is your birthstone?
Sapphire? I do not know. Something blue. Light blue, I think.

21. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
I avoid drive thrus at all cost.

22. What is your favorite number?
Thirteen.

23. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
Illness. I have been sick for all of 2007.

24. Are you allergic to anything?
Yes. I hate it when I go eat dim sum and forget my claritin. Damn my allergy to shrimp!

25. Favorite shoes that you wear all the time?
All my Nikes.

26. What is one thing you've learned about life recently?
Recently? I have not learned anything that I did not already know.

27. Are you jealous of anyone?
"Jealousy involves three parties, the subject, the rival, and the beloved; and the jealous person's real locus of concern is the beloved - the person whose affection he is losing or fears losing - not his rival." I do not currently have a so-called "beloved," so no, I not not jealous of anyone at the moment.

28. Do you do your own dishes?
Yes. But I hardly ever have any dishes to do.

29. How old will you be on your next birthday?
Twenty fucking six.

30. How did you get one of your scars?
Chicken pox. It would not stop itching, so I scratched it.

Magic Mouthwash - shaken, not stirred.

Prior to working at a pharmacy, I had never heard of Magic Mouthwash. A liquid compound used to treat sore throat? What nonsense. Growing up, I was just told to gargle with warm salt water.

Little did I know, it was actually quite common for someone to be prescribed something that numbs your throat like 'magic.' Shortly after being taught how to compound progesterone suppositories, I was given the recipe for basic Magic Mouthwash. (There are several variations to the mouthwash.)

Viscous Lidocaine
Maalox
Benadryl

Evenly dispensed, the three ingredients are mixed together - shaken until the Lidocaine is all broken up. And then, wa-lah, Magic Mouthwash.

We had so many prescriptions brought in for the mouthwash tonight that I can now make it in my sleep. Maybe the next time we are slow, I will make some to sell on the streets.

when i don't make money, i spend money.

I had a so-called half-day of work today. "Half-day" being classified as only working one of two jobs. Whenever I have the morning or afternoon off, I try to utilize it to the fullest. Nine times out of ten, what gets utilized the most is my wallet.

8:15 am - $25 co-pay for doctor's appointment

9:00 am - $43 drugs ($8 Amoxicillin / $35 Zyrtec)

9:45 am - $20 tank of gas

In an hour and a half I managed to spend almost $100. Thank goodness for generics and a small gas tank.

i could never live in Seattle.

Between the ice storms and rain storms, this past week has been absolute Texas weather hell.

"The sky is falling, the sky is falling." Troy Dungan must have been the leader of all the Chicken Littles in Texas because he sure did have everyone scared. The slightest hint of cold rain and everyone goes into hiding. It was like Y2K all over again - people going to the grocery store for water and canned goods; people running to their pharmacy and stocking up on whatever medications they can refill. Or, one of my favorites, one of my yoga instructors cancelling classes because, "...the temperature is going to drop below 0 degrees tonight..." Well shit, do some yoga to keep warm then!

Truth be told, I could just be bitching because I hate cold and rainy weather; I do not own warm clothing, and I am too damn lazy to use an umbrella.

keep Mr. Wal-Mart in your prayers.

Usually it is Mr. Wal-Mart that helps put me to sleep. But soon, I may be putting him to sleep. Though there will never be a replacement for it, SlickDeals has helped to ease me with the inevitable.


Buy one SET, and get one SET free. FOUR chenille pillows for $8! ($8.65, to be exact.) How could I say no to that. I swear, SlickDeals will be the death of me and my wallet. I have not been able to find another dark blue chenille pillow, like Mr. Wal-Mart, but that is probably because there is and always will be only one Mr. Wal-Mart. My new pillows are red, and have yet to be named. I am thinking LT (for Linen and Things), but I am going to have to run that one by Lee-Ting, first.

The four pillows are still in the bag, as I plan to spend a few more nights with my one and only. So keep Mr. Wal-Mart in your prayers for the next few nights.

so much for writing on my hand.

Now I know why people watch infomercials. The acting is atrocious, and the products are borderline worse than the acting.


And here I was writing on my hand every day.

If you have not been fortunate enough to catch the infomercial on TV, search YouTube for it. You will also want to catch the Lil Reminder Rant video, as well. The guy in the video, who is clearly high or heavily medicated, expresses it best. Remember, "No nodding to the Lil Reminder."

i am a rock star!

Before I met MOB, noone had ever called me by my last name. It has always been characterized as a guy-thing - I guess it comes with the slapping of asses after a touchdown is scored. I love it when he calls me King. Being called King feels empowering. And you have to admit, it sure does beat Chen, Chang, Wang, or Lee.

"You have a rock star name!" said the Sprint representative. I was on the phone confirming my account information the other day when the representative pointed out that my name was that of a rock star. All I am missing are tattoos and a drug addiction.

Just call me King. But, please, do not touch my ass.

pictures paint words, or something.

Not many people know of my love for art. I used to love to draw; the pencil being my favorite medium. Yeah, yeah, everyone doodles, you say. But I drew, I promise. I used to pick a wall in my house and draw it and everything on it from one end to another. Still life, they call it. I would take commonplace objects and arrange them accordingly. Later, in high school, I discovered photography and began appreciating everyday shadows and use of light and dark in photos.

Now that I have left you thinking, do I know the person writing this blog? I share with you this collage...

No, I did not take all of these pictures. I grabbed most of them from Flickr, which I have found several noteable photos. I absolutely love the one of the beanie baby-like toy on the railroad track and the Nike Shox, though I may just be partial to the brand.

If I was more html-savvy I would try to integrate this collage into my layout, but as I mentioned in my previous post, I am not. It will just have to stand alone in this post as it reflects some of my -aholics. Okay, maybe the pictures have no meaning what so ever, and I am just trying to justify my nerdy appreciation for art.