Busy Saturday. Enjoyed dim sum with my parents and sister’s family, then ran a ton of errands, including a stop at Petsmart, where the kids bought some snails and fish. Meanwhile, I picked up literature on Petsmart’s doggy day camp. Daisy is a friendly enough dog, but she doesn’t socialize with other dogs much. Even though we count several dog owners among our friends, we rarely see each other while with our dogs. Maybe it would be worth 20 bucks to let Daisy enjoy a day among other dogs.

Saturday evening was spent singing ourselves hoarse playing our newest Wii game, American Idol Encore. From left to right, these avatars represent Kevin, Alex, and me. I know the butterfly wings look silly, but the kids like them, so they’re staying put for now. I don’t think we’ll be getting Guitar Hero III or Rock Band anytime soon. I’ll concede that the Rock Band drum set holds some merit because it actually teaches kids how to play a real life musical instrument, but the fake guitars just seem silly, especially since we have two real electric guitars. If Alex ever wants to play, we’ll sign him up for lessons. Or he can just go over to his friend J’s house because J’s older brothers have Guitar Hero III.

This afternoon J invited him over to play. He lives in the same tract we do, a stone’s throw away. A couple of years ago, when Kevin was over there during J’s birthday party, a fellow parent commented on the very bling bling car in the driveway next door, and J’s dad said his neighbor was a member of an extremely well-known hip hop group.

This is not the only person we know of in the entertainment industry that lives in suburbia. There’s the movie producer that lives up the hill on a horse property, the drummer we met at a friend’s dinner party who still calls the suburbs of San Diego home despite using L.A. as his official address, and the notorious rapper who lives about a mile from our babysitter’s house in the next city over.

Not too long ago, the rapper came up in conversation with a friend of ours, who refused to believe that a guy with such an urban musical persona could possibly live in the suburbs. Her doubt was so contagious that we ended up fact-checking ourselves. Since then Kevin has confirmed that not only did this guy coach his son’s football team, he even started his own league. (Plus the police recently came to his house… but we really don’t need to go there.)

Today it occurred to me that perhaps the suburbs might be the best place for famous people to hide live. The public expects celebrities to live in places like the Hollywood Hills or Malibu, and they even take tour buses that drive them around so they can ogle these houses, but I doubt they would make the 40 minute trek out to Walnut to stare at nondescript tract homes, where the only way you could possibly stand out is if you didn’t maintain your front yard according to city code.

As for the neighbors of famous people, what’s their incentive for guarding these celebs’ privacy? Well, I for one wouldn’t want tour buses unloading camera-wielding groupies on to my lawn. I think that’s incentive enough

Categories: famous people, kids and parenting, pets
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Yesterday morning, on the drive to daycare…

Ana: Mommy, can you still call me Ana when I’m big?

Me: Of course, sweetie.

Ana: Can I still play Littlest Pet Shop when I’m big?

Me: You can play with Littlest Pet Shop for as long as you like.

Ana: *beams*

When I got to work, I had to write a report on what I’ve been doing for the past 2 months at the request of a higher up, with time estimates for each project. (It wasn’t targeted at me; all of my coworkers had to do it.)

I have mixed feelings about this kind of thing. Sure, it felt good to see how much I’ve accomplished, but I already spend 2 hours a month writing reports with similar content, and this report just added 2 more hours to that time. I could have spent those 2 hours doing something more productive.

Today was a good day. I stayed home, supposedly to sleep in (2.5 hours), eat all day (20 min) and do nothing (0 min), but I ended up cleaning the kitchen (1.5 hours), filing paperwork (1 hour), stopping by the post office (10 min), going to the credit union (1 hour), and writing a letter to the editor (2 hours) in which I referenced Jay-Z AND Neal Stephenson. Kevin was so highly amused by the letter he ALMOST forgot to remind me about how I should have been taking it easy.

Categories: famous people, kids and parenting, toys
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Last night was Alex’s last piano lesson. During the last 15 minutes he and his classmates performed a mini recital for the parents. It was adorable. I asked Alex if he wanted to sign up for another round of classes, and he said sure.

That picture up there is among the first I’ve taken since Ana’s birthday party. I haven’t been in a picture taking mood lately. In fact, I haven’t been in a mood to do much of anything lately. The third trimester is taking its toll on me. I’m at +20 lbs but it feels like +50 lbs. For the last week and a half I’ve been coming home from work exhausted every evening with my back feeling wretched. The only recent day when I’ve felt good was during my last checkup, when my doctor expressed shock at how well I was doing. As he put it, this is usually when pregnant women feel the most miserable. Ah, the irony!

Meanwhile, the only thing that’s been cheering me up is watching Youtube videos. Check out this hilarious interview with Daniel Radcliffe on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Hee! This interview with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint on French TV is pretty cool too (:

Categories: famous people, harry potter, kids and parenting, music
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Two examples:

Today my sister came over and brought the kids Ratatouille on DVD as a belated Christmas gift. When we got to the scene where the food critic took a bite of his food and experienced the flashback, I started bawling.

Also, I’ve always appreciate opera, but I didn’t LOVE it until a few months ago, when I caught Paul Potts‘s performance on Britain’s Got Talent via Youtube. It turned me into a sobbing mess. Now I listen to the opera channel on Yahoo Radio.

Categories: famous people, food, music, pregnancy
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We rang in the new year quietly this year. Last new year we went to a Flaming Lips/Gnarls Barkley concert, and the year before that we drove down to San Diego to see Matisyahu. This year we had considered going to New York to enjoy the chaos in Times Square, but we changed our minds and opted for a quiet evening at home in our pajamas instead.

The latter actually fits in with one of my new year’s resolutions. (No, it’s not to Be More Boring, harhar.) Last year I dubbed one of my resolutions the PJ Resolution. Here’s how I described it: “I’ve decided to spend as many of my waking hours during 2007 as possible wearing pajamas.” The real goal being to get more sleep, of course.

I want to believe that I got more sleep in 2007 than I did in past years. At the least, wearing pajamas made me painfully aware of when I should have been in bed when I wasn’t, so I’ll count the PJ Resolution a partial success.

In anticipation of needing a lot of rest with baby #3 on the way, I’ve decided to keep this resolution for 2008. This adorable bathrobe Kevin gave me for Christmas should help with my resolve. It’s very cozy, and I was told it’s the same robe Brad Pitt wore in Fight Club. I haven’t seen the movie or read the book though. Does anyone die in it?

Other goals for 2008:

• Parenting
  
• Teach the kids Chinese. I’ve bought the workbooks. Now all I need to do is schedule the time to work with them. Easier said than done.
• Finances
  
• Pay off as much of the bathroom as possible. We didn’t go anywhere near the limit on our HELOC, but it’s going to take a bit of work to pay off what we did spend.
• Home Improvement
• Finish the floors and kitchen. We already have all the flooring, just need to buy the moulding. Also need to buy the rest of the kitchen cabinets and countertops.
• Philosophy
• Strive towards a simpler life.

* Getting Things Done

Categories: chinese, famous people, home improvement, music
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