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Friday, September 30, 2005 ( 8:22 AM ) teahouse Lost in Translation I went to a string quartet recital with the Boy the other night, where some of his friends were performing. During intermission, the Boy introduced me to his friend H, a man in his 70s who is a retired English teacher. The Boy said to H, "This is my girlfriend, THB." H shook my hand, smiled at me indulgently and said, "So, THB, are you in school here in the City?" I was surprised by his question. But I smiled and said, "Well, no..I'm done with school. But I'm so flattered that you think I look so young!" We talked some more, and 5 minutes later it came up that I'm a lawyer, and it also came up in conversation how the Boy and I met. The next day, the Boy forwarded an email to me that H had sent him. H had written, "I'm so embarrassed about last night..I could have sworn that you introduced THB as your DAUGHTER. That's why I asked her whether she was in school. No wonder she looked so surprised...I figured out later when you told me how you guys met that she was actually your girlfriend...how embarrassing for me..." I had a good laugh over that one, at the Boy's expense. I knew I looked younger than 30, but sheesh! Hooray for the infomercial-inspired Asian youthful appearance! The ironic thing is, I'm a couple of months older than the Boy. # 0 comments Thursday, September 29, 2005 ( 8:35 AM ) teahouse Some Women are Dripping With Diamonds The time is fast approaching for the closing on my new apartment. This week I bought homeowners insurance. The agent had to ask me some routine questions. The conversation went something like this. Agent: "Do you have any fine artwork, heirloom jewelry or rare China?" THB: No, nothing like that. Agent: "Do you have any furs?" THB: Uh, no. Agent: "Do you plan to store any unattached car engines in your apartment?" THB: What? Agent: Sometimes we have people who refurbish old cars, store the engines in their houses, and then try to get homeowners insurance to cover them when their car insurance policies won't. THB: Oh, I see. Well, no, I have nothing like that. Agent: Do you have anything else of unusual value? THB: My most valuable possession is probably my flute. Agent: Your what? THB: My flute. You know, like the musical instrument. Agent: Uh, ok. Do I need to itemize that? That's unusual. THB: And you were asking about unattached car engines?!? Agent: You have a point. I'll include it. # 0 comments Tuesday, September 27, 2005 ( 8:56 AM ) teahouse Weekend Getaway I'm back from my long weekend. I visited the Sister. We ate a lot - we went to this restaurant and this restaurant. We went to mass at a Carmelite monastery with a friend, and afterwards the monks cooked us breakfast. It was terrific. And for part of the weekend, we hung out and played video games. The Sister just bought one of these and one of these on Ebay. We had so much fun..it was a throwback to childhood. I swear, adults have more fun with video games than kids do... # 0 comments Friday, September 23, 2005 ( 8:42 AM ) teahouse Evacuation Plan A few of my friends have safely evacuated Houston and gotten out of the path of Hurricane Rita. Among them were people who'd previously evacuated New Orleans, and were now on the road again. They were stuck on the Interstate for 12 hours. One of them called me from the road, I got onto Mapquest from my office computer and helped them navigate backroads through the state of Texas. It was a caravan, and I was Command Central. I'm leaving town myself, heading out for a few days to visit the Sister. I need to get away! Everyone have a lovely September weekend, and I'll be back next week. # 0 comments Wednesday, September 21, 2005 ( 9:19 AM ) teahouse Atticus Finch So the Boy gave me a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for my birthday. The special edition DVD, which came out earlier this month. Atticus Finch was my hero from the time I first read the book and saw the movie. He represented everything good and wise and just about being a lawyer. I think that many of us went to law school because of that character. We had an idea that becoming lawyers was a way for us to bring justice and equality to the world. Sometimes when I'm working late, getting berated by a client, getting yelled at by partners, working on minutiae of documents concerning big corporations and big litigations whose end results are nothing more than the transfer of money back and forth to each other, I think of Atticus. I still harbor the hope that after I pay off my student loans, I'll do something worthy with this wonderful degree that I have. # 0 comments Tuesday, September 20, 2005 ( 7:51 AM ) teahouse Passing on the Blame You know what I love? I love when I'm on an elevator with a bunch of people, and I fart - one of those silent-but-deadly farts. And then I get off, and someone else gets on and gives everyone a dirty look. I love it. Teeheehee. # 0 comments Monday, September 19, 2005 ( 8:28 AM ) teahouse Priorities in Order Over the weekend, I sat around and enjoyed the weather. On Saturday I met my friend D to play tennis in Central Park. D and I work at the same firm, she's a year more senior than I am. We get together regularly to play, dish about stuff at work, complain, talk about what we want out of our careers. Frankly, I've realized that the two of us are both more interested in our rankings on the firm's tennis team, and in working on our backhands, than our partnership prospects. And I don't think that's a bad thing. # 0 comments Wednesday, September 14, 2005 ( 9:02 AM ) teahouse In Good Company Last week, I convinced the Boy to go to a neighborhood nail salon with me to get a pedicure. I did it because he's constantly begging me to rub his callusy feet after a long day. I thought that if we got pedicures together, he could get some of those calluses rubbed off. He was anxious throughout the entire trip to the nail salon. "Will people think I'm gay?" he kept asking me. I informed him that getting a pedicure is metrosexual activity, and that if he were with his girlfriend, everyone would know he was a straight male. When we were shown to the pedicure chairs, he insisted on sitting on the inside, and making me sit by the window, so that, in his words, no men walking by would see him and make fun of him. I indulged him. I even paid for the pedicures. Afterwards, he made me swear to secrecy. I was never to tell any of his buddies about our pedicure outing. This week, he was walking home with a guy from his softball team, and they walked past the nail salon where we'd been. "Hey, I heard this is a good nail place," remarked his friend. "Did you know that A-Rod gets pedicures here? Apparently they do really good ones." All of a sudden, the Boy is now telling everybody that he had a pedicure at that spa. He and A-Rod have the same taste!! So NOW it's suddenly cool. # 0 comments Tuesday, September 13, 2005 ( 8:33 AM ) teahouse Low Standards My plans for today are simple: To go and vote in the primary, to make it to work despite the traffic gridlock from the U.N. activities, and to make it through the day without getting in trouble with the client again. Oh, and my mortgage broker called yesterday...guess who just got herself a mortgage approval?? Bow wow wow yippie yay yippie yay. (THB does the happy dance). I guess these are the things that excite us after we hit old age. # 0 comments Monday, September 12, 2005 ( 8:42 AM ) teahouse thirtysomething Remember that show from the late 80s? Yeah, well here I am. I had a wonderful birthday. The Boy threw me a huge party. We got a bar to open up just for us, and it had an outdoor space with a barbecue. Around 40 people showed up. I felt like a celebrity! I don't feel any different. But I am now officially in my 30s. Time to bust out the Sex and the City DVDs to remind myself that the best is yet to come. # 0 comments Friday, September 09, 2005 ( 9:12 AM ) teahouse Countdown My birthday is this coming weekend. It's a major one - the Big 3-0. That means I'll have to change the description of my blog from "20-something-year-old Asian American New Yorker..." I'm having a major crisis about turning 30. I didn't think I would, but I've been having periodic panic attacks at work. And random thoughts. "If I die next week, I won't be described as 'the rising young starlet in the world of law' - and people won't say, 'what a pity she died so young..only in her 20s'." "All but one of the Bronte sisters died before 30. And they all wrote brilliant novels. What have you done with your life, THB, except incur debt, go through a series of failed relationships and piss off clients?" My friend B, who turned 30 six months ago, told me, "I was really anxious in the weeks leading up to it, but once it was upon me I felt a strange sense of calm, and lay back and accepted it." I replied, "So it's basically like death?" # 0 comments Wednesday, September 07, 2005 ( 9:33 AM ) teahouse It's the Little Things I have a friend who got engaged last year, but who, to everyone's chagrin, recently broke off her engagement. "What happened?" everyone asked her. He seemed like such a wonderful guy, and they seemed to be so well-matched and so happy together. Her explanation was, "Well, he was really selfish. When we cuddled, he never let me be the little spoon." I think we all understood. That's a pretty big deal. # 0 comments Tuesday, September 06, 2005 ( 9:06 AM ) teahouse Water, Water Everywhere! Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. At last - some photos from my recent trip. # 0 comments Friday, September 02, 2005 ( 11:28 AM ) teahouse Left to Die It's starting to piss me off. Where are the politicians? Where is the governor? Where is the President? So he's going down there today, 5 days later? Is he bringing food and water, or is he just going to fly around it and look at it? If I had a helicopter, I'd fly down there and start dropping food. Haven't we sent aid to other countries that way in the past? Just something to tide them over. This report paints a picture of the conditions at the Convention Center. You have to sit through a couple of ads, but it's worth it. Listen to Tony Zumbado's entire account. There is NOTHING there - no food, no water, nobody in charge. It's truly frightening. I feel so helpless. # 0 comments |
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