Jujubee’s Blog

Today was dull. I was lazy to begin with, but really, I could have gone up to Sac to hang out with Elaine and her visiting friend. Actually I made plans with Joseph to go with him to SF to support Gay Pride weekend, but he decided not to go after all. I was feeling really gloomy and down, but then I forced myself to have a DDR workout and, thanks to the endorphin rush, I feel much better now! This coming week will be short since we have 4th of July off. I’m heading home to Sanger for that weekend.

Yesterday was fun. During the afternoon, I hung out with Joseph. We had lunch at Jenova’s Deli, bought some snacks at the grocery store, and watched Juno at my house. For dinner, it was just me and Scott. Joseph didn’t feel like going. We went to Pyramid Brewery, and I had this caeser chicken flatbread that was too bready but it was tasty for the most part. After dinner, we came back to my place and watched a little tv. Then, almost immediately, we decided to go see Get Smart at the theatre. I hadn’t realized it was out in theatres already. As we were leaving the house, I did not realize I didn’t have my keys in my purse. It was already too late though since I already locked the front door. We decided to go see the movie first and then try to break into my house or call my landlord to come with keys. The movie was really good and funny. I would recommend it. After the movie we came back to my house and examined the windows to see if we could get in. After a few minutes, I decided to call Charles to bring the keys. Surprisingly, after I already asked Charles to bring keys, Scott found an opening to the house. The livingroom window was not closed all the way so we could’ve gotten in that way. But I figured the landlord would not like the idea of the house being so easily broken into, so we waited for him. Next time I want to secure the house, I will check that window. All in all, it was a fun and simple Saturday night.

Today, I discovered three bug bites on my body! One on my back, one on my side, and one next to my belly button. I think I got them when I was sleeping… but I’m not sure because I discovered the first one during lunch. I guess leaving the windows open during all those humid nights was not a good idea.

I’m low on energy today. Maybe it was because I had less work today. And one of my tasks was very tedious and boring. Tomorrow is Friday already. This week was really fast. After work we played tennis again. I worked up a good sweat.

Today started out kind of slow. Most of the day was spent fixing defects, but we’ve made a lot of progress today. Yippie! As I was running the flow tests, people were gathering around my desk. It was kind of fun with everyone there. It also made me realize how small my cubicle is.. haha. The project I’m on is really fun right now. I have a lot of responsibilities and people come to me for help. Although sometimes I don’t have enough time, I still try to help everybody. Also, I like my team lead. Even though I met him a year ago, I’ve only started to be friendly with him. Looking back, I was really reserved at work. I used to feel that work is all work and I was always serious and always afraid I might mess up. Now, I’ve relaxed more and getting to know everyone on my team. It’s a lot more fulfilling!

Yesterday was Bryant’s (my brother) first day of working as an intern at my same company. He says he gets sleepy and tired at work. It’s probably because he hasn’t gotten used to the long work days. I remember when I started, I thought it was unfair that people have to work so many hours per week. It’s something that just needs getting used to. After work today, we played tennis with some of my tennis-playing coworkers. It was fun.

Also, after getting back from tennis, I gave my old car to Bryant. I’m a little sad to part with the ‘99 camry, since I’ve drove it for 4 years and spent much time researching and fixing the multiple problems it’s had. I hope Bryant takes good care of it. Still I really like my new car! It’s my first new one, so it’s a big deal, right?

That’s right! I got a new car today! It’s a magnetic grey 2009 corolla. Here’s a picture of it sitting in my driveway:

I’m starting to email car dealers with a price I’d like to be offered for the car. I wonder if I’ll get any responses. My emails seem a tad demanding… It’s like I’m saying I want you to sell me this car for this amount. Well, it’s my first time buying a new car so we’ll see how it goes.

Today, work was really fun! It really felt like a friday. This friday will be fun too! We have an organization BBQ at the park. Today I had a good amount of work. We had a Baby Shower surprise party for one of my team members. I’m really going to miss her! In the previous release, she was my App Lead so I really worked with her a lot. I’ll pray for her to have a happy, healthy baby! During the short party, we sat around and talked about interesting things. I’m really grateful for the people I work with. I like them all for their unique characteristics and I wouldn’t be having so much fun at work if it weren’t for them. Yay for great co-workers!

Today, after work, I went to Walnut Creek Toyota and test drove a 2009 Corolla LE. I found out they no longer carry 2008 on their lot. After researching inventories of different dealerships, it seems like most of them don’t carry the 2008 either. I still haven’t decided if I want to get the 2009. It’s a new model, so there will be some bugs. However, there are less 2008 Corolla’s out there so they will be hard to bargain for, I think. Of course I don’t think I really know what I’m talking about so I could be wrong about a lot of these things. :/  Whichever I decide, my plan is to get quotes from dealers in the East Bay area and the Central Valley area. Since I’m going home this weekend anyway, I could get a car then. I’m leaning towards the 2008 model though. With my current knowledge, I feel it’s the better choice. That model has been around for 5 or 6 years so it seems more stable. I’ll have to test drive it to see if I can deal with the comfort level of the driver’s seat and steering wheel. I’ve heard complaints about that. I don’t really care about the exterior look of the car, so the 2009 sportier look means nothing to me, although the bigger size is cool. Well, when it comes down to decision making time, the price of it may be the determining factor.

I decided to go up to Sac this weekend after all since Joseph will be driving. Instead of heading up to Sac on Friday night, we decided to go early Saturday morning. Friday night, Joseph and I had dinner and saw The Hulk movie with Scott. It was nice to hang out together.

Saturday morning, once we got to Elaine’s, we left for the river. I enjoyed the river a lot. We had no paddles (bad idea), so I tried to help steer by swimming. I’m not a strong swimmer so I wonder if I even had any effect. Still, it was fun and a good swimming workout. During this trip, Elaine daringly mud-wrestled some girls on a big muddy rock island that we stopped at. I was worried but I wasn’t alarmed to the point where I felt it should stop. Elaine did well though! I’m proud of her, though I would not recommend doing it again on a muddy rock. After the river trip, we planned on going to the bar, but I was feeling like crap so I backed out and rested at Elaine’s place. I pretty much just went to sleep.

Sunday morning, Joseph and I left from Elaine’s to come back to Walnut Creek. Joseph had plans to meet his parents to have dinner. At home, I did errands (grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning) and also prepared for dinner. Here’s me, armed with 409 :) ~

Elaine was stopping by so I made fried rice dinner. Here’s the chicken marinading and the veggies all cut up.

Elaine left after dinner and I resumed my car research. I still need to do more. I thought I was for sure getting the 2009 Corolla but after more thought and research, I’ve decided to pursue the 2008 Corolla. I’ll research more tomorrow.

Work was good today. One of our main applications kind of broke around 3pm so I actually stayed until 6 to help fix it. My brain was working so hard that it hurt! Even though it was a bit frustrating, most of my team also stayed so it was fun. People gathered around my cube while I was helping to fix the problem. Once we fixed it, I came home. Now I’m waiting for Scott to come pick me up. We’ll pick Joseph up and go have dinner at Nama Sushi. I’m hungry so I’m looking forward to it. Also I haven’t seen them in a long while so I’m excited.

The electricity in Kanako’s and my rooms went out when I was still blow-drying my hair. It’s kind of wavy now, since it dried on it’s own. I called the landlord and it turns out, there was just an overload (using too many appliances) that the circuit board turned one part off. He showed us how to fix it in case it ever happens again. It’s pretty easy too. If the electricity didn’t come back on for tonight, I was planning on reading some manga or an Iris Johansen book. Now that my computer is back on, I don’t see that happening… it kinda makes me realize how dependent I am on my computer. I’ve always known I’m on my computer a lot more than any of my friends, but I feel kind of pathetic knowing that I become uncomfortable when it’s not usable. It wasn’t too bad though. I watched Friends on my ipod for a little bit.

Work was pretty good today. My co-worker gave me a big bag of cherries again! They were very sweet. I ate them all after dinner. I played tennis after work and had a pretty good workout. Even though it’s one of my heavy period days I felt okay today. There were some waves of bloatedness and nausea but not too bad. Drowsiness hit me after I ate lunch today. That usually happens after I have a big and/or fatty lunch, but today I had a simple sandwich and a nectarine. Must be due to my period. Boo you period.