:(

Last night at around 3:45am, I woke up and started having panic attacks, so I have basically been awake since then seeing as falling back to sleep never really happened. I'm beginning to have those "What am I doing with my life?" thoughts again. I'm sure it was emphasized by my moodiness of late, but I need all of you to send good mojo my way. I feel so out of sorts lately. Maybe I just need a drink...or eight. Baby will be gone for the weekend which should give me more space and time to put my life into perspective. Part of me is upset that he will be gone over the holiday weekend when I specifically asked "we" stay in town, but the other part of me is glad he'll be away as I'm thinking we're at the point where we need some time apart...or at least that I need some time apart. I'm not going to carry on and bitch a whole "woe is me" about how I've been feeling lately any more than I already have. Let's just say that although I put on a great face for the general public, I've been pretty sad lately. Makes me miss Doc living in Houston more than ever!!!

Reminder of why gay men make the best of friends!

I have officially entered the PMS zone. I've been irritable, mood swingy (is that a word?), and down right physically miserable with the swollen body, tender breasts, full-blown cramps, headaches, and massive fatigue. With that said, I am normally a very easy-going person. I usually take a tremendous amount of caca before I blow my top. But of course, once I do, RUN! HIDE! SEEK SHELTER UNDERGROUND!

Lately however, my tolerance level is at an all-time low. Every little thing sends me over the edge in about 15 seconds flat. That doesn't help with me and Baby considering he tends to not pay attention to my initial requests. Therefore, having to repeat myself leads to visions of pushing him down a flight of stairs. Often times I feel guilty for not being as laid back as usual, but then I have Doc right there by my side as my personal PMS cheering section in my near-homicidal tendencies. Short of helping me push Baby down those aforementioned stairs, Doc has been the perfect "Yes Man" in supporting me in my anger management issues lately. "Yes, you should put him in his place!" "No, you did the right thing by saying how you feel!" Even if I'm not right and completely irrational, Doc supports me in my manic behavior. There is something about the unconditional love of a best friend that makes your bad days all better.

Just an example of the ridiculousness between Doc and myself that reminds me how much I love him is the following excerpt from our catty email exchange yesterday when I was kind of feeling low (and, yes, I am a pretty superficial bitch in this email...and yes, I'm okay with that):

*****

Rice: Even these people found love... (attached photo of unattractive couple on their wedding day)

Doc: Who are these people? The boy is kinda cute -- in an ugly way.

Rice: I know the girl. I have no clue who the goober is, but they look so happy in love. I think I'm jealous...

Doc: "Happy in love," huh. See that's the problem. People like you, me, and Beyonce are always trying to be crazy in love. The ugly losers are only trying to be happy in love. Maybe there's something to learn from this picture. Shit, you know (head bobbing), none of us three could handle just being happy in love. It's just not fun and doesn't have a good beat (i.e., doesn't have that good ol' porn rhythm).

*****

Now who can deny such sage advice coming from a licensed psychiatrist?

We have pictures...

Since I have nothing to contribute today for blogging, I decided to post pictures from our trip to Brooksville. There really weren't many pictures, but I thought I'd share a few...

Because our 5pm flight was cancelled, we hopped on over to a completely different terminal to the Fox Sports Grill in Terminal E to watch football, stuff our faces with nachos, and have a couple of frosty beverages until our 9pm departure. That's Baby's sad, "What can you do?" face.

This is Baby giving his dog Morris (aka More Head) kisses

Doggie Butt *hehehe*

*Smiles*

Baby's family with a side of Rice Spice! My head looks HUGE in this picture. Why does my head look 3 times bigger than everyone else's?!?! I don't think it looks like that in real life...or does it? Hmmmm...

Brooksville Trip

***Written yesterday on the plane, but forgot to post it when I got home***

Our trip to Brooksville was a whirlwind. Sadly, our 5pm flight out of Houston on Friday was cancelled. We were unable to get out until 9pm. Seeing as we didn't arrive into Tampa until a little after midnight, there wasn't much we could do but go right to sleep. Arriving 5 hours late ruined our plans to eat at a premier steakhouse in Tampa Baby's parents were planning to take us, and it made the almost hour drive to Brooksville even that much more exhausting. Oh, well.

Saturday was more eventful. Baby and his sister took me on the "grand tour" of Brooksville. For those who grew up with me, let me give you an idea of what Brooksville is like. As my previous suspicions were that it would be a lot like Channelview, I was relatively correct. It is CV, a sprinkle of North Shore, and a lot of Pasadena/Deer Park minus the refineries. Strangely, it may very well have been smaller than CV - amazing, huh? Needless to say, I wasn't taken aback by the "small town" premise his family thought I would find so different from inner loop Houston. Being smaller than CV, everyone literally knew everyone. No joke. Driving down the streets in one day, they recognized at least six cars driving of which they knew the drivers. We even ate at a restaurant of which Baby went to high school with the owner.

After the driving tour, we headed back into Tampa about 50 miles away to go shopping at the International Mall. You all know my dislike of shopping, but Baby's mom did end up buying me some gloss and lip liner from Chanel as a gift. I argued back and forth about not wanting anything, but I had made the mistake in mentioning that I needed new lipstick that morning, and she remembered. It was extremely sweet of her. I actually ordered them two bottles of wine as a thank you for all their hospitality - an Italian merlot for Baby's dad and an Italian pino grigio for for his mom. Unfotunately, they won't receive it until the end of next week (damn holiday) because it was almost $30 more to expedite it to arrive only 2 business days earlier. Ridiculous, don't you think? I hope they like it regardless.

Anyway, after the mall, we headed to a steakhouse for dinner. Baby got a steak while the rest of us got seafood. It was fabulous by the way. Then, we headed home to watch some of the Tampa Bucs pre-season football game against the Dolphins. That was about it.

This morning, we had a quick breakfast and visited with Baby's grandmother who lives directly next door to Baby's parents. Afterwards we were on our way back to the airport for our 11:35am flight. I wasn't kidding that our quick trip could give someone whiplash. Baby got stopped by security at the airport because he triggered the explosive materials detector. They took him to a secured area to check him and his carryon with special scanners and hand picked through his bag. Crazy. Wonder if his chapstick in his pocket or the new cologne he was wearing that his mom bought him at the mall the day before had anything to do with what the machines picked up. We almost missed the flight!!! It's always something when Baby travels - cancelled flights, delays, missed connections, and NOW... cavity search for explosives!

To much saddness, I got some terrible news while catching up on friends' blog pages on the drive to Tampa airport on my blackberry. Banana had a horrible 30th birthday on Friday. I send her all of the mental hugs I can possible give. Also, I offer a supportive ear and a surprisingly super tear-absorbing shoulder if ever wanted or needed. I need everyone I know to send good thoughts and positive mojo her way!

Happy BIG 3-0 to Ms. Banana!!!

Seeing as I can't be there to help you throw back a couple of cold ones because I'm heading out of town today, I wanted to send you my birthday wishes via the best way I could think of...



Hot, huh?!?! Lots of love to you on your birthday, missy!

I'm officially a hot piece of ass

I'm sure that title caught your attention. Let me explain. You know how people randomly take pictures of or with "hot" people they really don't know or don't even talk to anymore and then love to show them to people to basically brag that they were around "all these hot people"...kind of like, "Check me out! I'm popular! I know all these people...and a lot of them are girls!" Usually that annoys the hell out of me, and I would consider that I would be offended. HOWEVER, it sorta happened, and I am flattered.

Again, let me explain... Many (and I mean MANY) years ago, I went out with this guy we'll call Wanderer because he travels and has lived all over the world. Before he left to live in London, we had already downgraded whatever we had to a friendship so we've stayed in touch from time to time. We've become more like that acquaintance that we only speak to if we've somehow bumped into each other (usually because we had been on the same mass forward email...or when either of us sends out mass email contact updates for when we move). He's a phenomenal guy. Very handsome, fun, exciting, a true goofball, etc. He has the same "settling down issues" that I once had. Although now I'm at a point where I have found someone to be with, Wanderer is still a soul out for having fun and globetrotting to find his next adventure...and his next conquest *wink, wink*.

As I did some stalking on MySpace, I searched him out. Low and behold, he was there! I looked him up. He now lives in Brussels, Belgium. Mind you, I haven't spoken to him since my London trip for work last year, so I was curious to see what his page looked like. As I scanned the pictures, it was the same ole goofy Wanderer in different places with tons of different people. Somewhere buried within pictures of bikini-clad Brazilian hotties was a picture of Wanderer and Rice Spice from the last time he was in Houston. How awesome is that! He has never told me he was on MySpace, so I thought about actually emailing and teasing him about needing to ask my permission to use my likeness or something retarded like that. Looking at his current photos, he's gotten pretty thin for my taste. Last I recall, he became a marathon runner and stopped eating all kinds of unhealthy stuff so he leaned out tremenously - give up fried foods?!?!? The HORROR! I actually preferred him better when he had more meat on his bones. Anyway, I apparently made the cut to be shown on his page. I know it sounds cheap and all, but hey... no one can pretend it doesn't give them an ego boost to know that an ex still keeps pictures of you...AND shows them off!

Tampa Here We Come!

Well, not exactly Tampa, but a small town outside of it called Brooksville. That is Baby's home town. Since our plans to Denver for whitewater rafting were nixed because the flights looked terrible and because Baby preferred seeing his family over visiting with friends in Jacksonville, we settled on a mini-vacation back home for him. The impression I get from his description of his hometown is eerily similar to Channelview. It's a small extremely Southern town about 45-minutes outside of a big metropolitan city. Sound familiar? Although CV isn't any more than 20 minutes outside of downtown Houston, the "feel" of the different areas are very evident. I'm guessing that's the same thing I will experience there.

I'm not sure if we'll be staying with his folks or if we'll be staying over at his sister's place. I prefer staying with his sister seeing as I'm still a traditionalist at heart (don't choke, but it's my Filipino upbringing), and I feel strange staying at a boyfriend's parents' house. Although I use to stay at my ex-fiancee's parents' place all the time, I knew them better and saw them almost every month if not more. Basically, it took a while to get to that comfort level. I've met Baby's parents once...and we all remember my lovely projectile vomit at the museum story during the weekend of me first meeting them. So I guess I'm still not at the point of feeling comfortable about staying their house. Is that odd? I can walk into a room full of corporate executives and city officials to present keynote speakers, I can sing karaoke (poorly at that) in front of God and everyone...but I feel strange about spending the night at a boyfriend's parents house.

Regardless, I have never gone to Brooksville with him and feel obligated to do so since he has visited with the bizarro Spice family a handful of times in CV. Even though there is less travel involved to see my family (20-minutes by car versus 2.5 hours by plane), he nevertheless has sat through entire days filled with dealing with a rambunctious toddler niece, a baby who does nothing but spit up, a mother who subtly asks Baby why we're not closer to an alter without actually using those words, and a lecture from my father about how it will take a strong man to deal with his hard-headed and very independent second daughter.

Other than that, there isn't much going on the rest of this week. I have to work at both jobs today and tomorrow though...ugh! However, I can look at the bright side - at least it's not raining a torrential downpour like it had been over the last few months and it's not in the triple digits either...

5 Things About Me

Every so often when I browse through blogs or scan my friends’ MySpace pages, I notice a few people doing filler surveys or “About Me” things that often time are filled out simply out of sheer boredom but sometimes provides interesting information about the person I am reading about that I truly never knew. For example, Single Girl has an aversion to seats pre-heated with butt warmth. She will wait for a seat to cool off rather than sitting in it immediately after someone gets up. I found that, although highly unusual, quirky and a funny fact to know about her. I read another girl that I went to college with (no nickname for her yet) couldn’t stand any types of jelly or anything of the gelatainous nature. She must really hate the movie “The Blob”, I’m thinking…

Instead of doing the standard “10 Things About Me”, I decided to do “5 Things About Me.” It was taking way too long to come up with just five.

1. I can’t stop staring at Tom Cruise’s mouth. It’s like a train wreck I can’t take my eyes off. Have you ever really looked at him? Once I tell you this, you will never be able to watch a movie with him in it without staring at his mouth. His teeth are all shifted to the left where he has this one huge tooth right in the center of his face. Directly in the center! How bizarre is that?!?!? It creeps me out!

2. I fall all the time. Yes, at least 1/8th of my life is spent sprawled out on the floor. I have mastered the art of falling to where I don’t hurt the important parts like my face – very stuntman-esque of me. My lack of depth perception is to blame. This accounts for me bumping into things a lot as well. Door frames are usually not my friend.

3. I love to travel. Some of the domestic destinations I have visited are (west to east): Honolulu, HI; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Scottsdale, AZ; Tulsa, OK; New Orleans, LA; Birmingham, AL; Knoxville, TN; Atlanta, GA; Panama City Beach, FL; Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Miami, FL; New York, NY. Some of my international travels have been to: The Philippines; Peru; Cancun; Cozumel; Playa del Carmen; Acapulco; Nassau, Bahamas; Montego Bay, Jamaica; London; Paris; Berlin, Germany; Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

4. I have a fear of midgets. Mind you, I am barely over the legal limit to qualify as a midget myself. However…there is something about those circus freaks that literally makes me freeze and stop breathing. There is no need for people to be smaller than me unless they are toddlers. They have those little toddler sausage fingers that send chills up my spine. Daresay I could probably be medically diagnosed of having phobia of them if I ever actually went to a therapist and discussed my issues regarding the matter. **Sorry- no photo included. Photos of midgets are not allowed on my blog. I apologize if you are a midget and are offended, but this is my blog...so there!**

5. I’m allergic to most shellfish, but I still eat them because I L-O-V-E them!!! My reactions aren’t severe, but I may swell around the lips or get a rash. Sexy, huh? I keep allergy meds at all times in case I break out, but I refuse to give up on my love of seafood.

Effing Mood Swings

Friday night was blah... Baby's flight delays and cancellations landed him in Houston seven hours later than he was expected. By the time he got home and I was off work from a shift I picked up at Job#2 for a friend, we were both too exhausted to meet up with our friends. We grabbed a late dinner at BW3 in Midtown and called it a night.

We were much more productive on Saturday. We did a little shopping for Baby, went to the gym, and then met up with our friends at Grove's parents place to swim around in the pool and have a few drinks. The day turned out relatively nice.

As for Sunday, that was a whole different story. Do you ever just have those days where everything and anything annoys the eff out of you? From the second you wake up until you finally go to bed. Sunday was that day for me. Poor Baby didn't have a prayer. Everytime he said anything, be it "do you want to go out for lunch?" or "can you hand me the remote?" I just wanted to say, "Shut up! Please stop talking! GAWD you're so annoying!" Hehehe...how horrible, huh? Not that Baby was doing anything wrong because he didn't... I'm sure it would've been directed to anyone in my close proximity. I may have been PPMS-ing (seeing as it's 2 weeks before my "time", that would make it Pre-Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, right?). It got to a point where Baby asked if he did something wrong and why I was so mad at him. I finally told him that I should probably go home and have some alone time because I was irritated for no reason whatsoever and shouldn't take it out on him. He was ok with that, but I'm sure he spent some time yesterday afternoon replaying his actions in his head to double check that he, in fact, did nothing to spark the mood I was in. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading my book Middlesex, and doing laundry. I finally called him this morning to tell him the cloud has passed and I wasn't such a raging biotch today. I'm sure he's extremely relieved.

Poo!

Baby and I were originally scheduled to visit Pocahontas and J.Smith in Denver next weekend. Unfortunately, the return flights look like caca to go on standby, so the trip has been cancelled. We are so disappointed because we were looking forward to seeing the guys as well as seeing Coors Field for a baseball game. Oh, well... What can you do? However, we still have a possibility of seeing Pocahontas and J.Smith next month in Playa del Carmen - cross your fingers that our flights remain in our favor.

As an alternate trip for next weekend, Baby and I are considering going to Jacksonville, FL. He has friends who live in JAX while my good friend Sparky and his family live a little less than an hour outside of JAX. We've both been trying to coordinate seeing these people for months. If all works out, we could kill two birds with one stone. We can fly in Friday night and spend time with Baby's friend and his wife, and the next day Baby can go fishing with his friend out in the Gulf while I rent a car and drive my happy arse to Southern Georgia to spend the day. I'd come back to JAX by dinnertime though. Good idea, huh? Hmmmm....hopefully, Sparky doesn't already have plans. I emailed him, but have yet to get a response. Baby is checking with his friend's schedule as well.

If all else fails and everyone in Florida has prior commitments, we plan on actually...wait for it...staying home on our free weekend! It would come as a welcome turn of events for Baby who has been traveling so much as well as for me to be able to actually clean and do ALL my laundry not just the necessities as I need them. I starting to wonder if my coworkers are noticing that I dress according to the colors that I wash. I'll go through a week of wearing nothing but lights because that's all the laundry I've accomplished doing, and then next string of days I wear nothing but darks. Soon I'll have to come to work in towels because that's the only load I finished over the weekend...teehee!

On a side note, I am meeting Blondie for dinner tonight. We haven't had a chance to truly catch up over the last few months, so it will be nice to see her. She's been dating this mystery dude for a couple of months that only one of our friends has managed to meet because of all our scheduling conflicts. The only thing I hear about him is that he's a big 'ol beefcake - huge muscles...must be nice ;) We have decided to meet at Zake for sushi after work. I LOVE SUSHI!!!

Lastly, I am on the hunt for some new reading material. Any suggestions? I hear the book Middlesex is good, so I think I may pick the book up after dinner tonight since Bookstop is right next door to where I'll be. I figure reading keeps me out of trouble, and it's cheap! If only books came with a side order of Blue Moon and orange wedges...I'd never leave the house! Diana Banana knows what I'm talking about!

MoBay Update

Montego Bay was gorgeous!!! Our resort was a typical all-inclusive with tons of kids running around, but we made the best of it regardless.

I arrived in Jamaica at around 1pm on Friday and waited patiently with my Harry Potter book for Baby's flight to land at 3:45pm. (Sidebar: Yes, Diana Banana, I FINALLY finished "the" book while I was in MoBay!) Baby had a driver take us to the resort, but by the time we got there after taking FOREVER to get out of the airport, it was already getting dark. Mostly it was because of the overcast that it was getting dark relatively early. Baby and I decided to have dinner then laid on some loungers on the beach talking and listening to the waves. I guess both us were pretty beat from our work weeks, so we decided to head back to the room and turn in by 10pm. WOOHOO partay animals! Hehehe.

Our view from our balcony facing the wedding gazebo and the ocean on Saturday morning

The next morning, we were up and out the door by 8:00am. We had breakfast and sat outside one of the restaurants watching the extremely calm water. We were very fascinated that there were absolutely no waves breaking on the shoreline. It was almost as if we were staring at a never-ending lake versus an ocean. We made our way to these very awesome floating rings that were anchored a bit offshore. These things were amazing. In the center of the floating rings, there was a trampoline-like bed which, when you sat/laid in it, the lining would sink into the water letting enough water in while you floated around staying cool but still getting sun - not that I need any more of a tan, but it was still refreshing for me and perfect for Baby's pale self ;)

These are those floatie rings with the trampoline beds in the center - we laid on the one in the far left. I've been trying to find them on Google, but have had no luck whatsoever

Another floatie ring thing with a woman about to get inside one - what the hell are these things actually called?!?!

Sun-drenched and sweaty after floating in the ring for about an hour

After lunch, we decided to do some kayaking. The resort offered free non-motorized sports such as the kayaking (one- and two-person kayaks), snorkeling, and paddle boats. We took a two-man out to the furthest buoy and realized after looking down into the crystal clear greenish-blue water, we should have grabbed some snorkeling gear and done some exploring while we were out there. Sadly, we decided we were too lazy to paddle all the way back to shore then paddle all the way back out and tie the kayak to the buoy and snorkel. We decided to just chalk the snorkeling to a loss. Once we got back to shore, we grabbed a few pina coladas and walked around the property. We did some over-priced souvenir shopping at the resort gift shop, and even stopped by the resort casino. Yes, there was a casino on the property. Albeit, it was the size of my living room and was strictly electronic slot machines, but we had fun there anyway. We played with $5 in quarters and got up to over $25, but since Baby doesn't know how to cut his losses, we walked out of there with nada. It was entertaining for about 30 minutes regardless.

The paddleboats and kayaks along the beach

We eventually headed back to the room and took a brief nap. It appears Baby and I have had the first vacation in a long time where we were just absolutely lazy. We usually have all kinds of sights to see and places to go, but this time we just hung out at the resort being leisurely. Later that evening after having dinner, we headed to the English Pub located at the resort. This Pub was really neither English nor a Pub, but I suppose since they had pictures of soccer players and horse races, they can call the place whatever they wanted. All they served beer-wise was Red Stripe and Red Stripe Light - what kind of English pub doesn't serve Guinness?!?

Here we are on the watching the sunset and some incoming storms slowly making their way from offshore

No make-up and all shiney...why does he not tell me I look like that before we leave the hotel room? I think I had too many pina coladas

Baby had this "bright" idea to buy the local's very popular Overproof Rum (126-proof - EEKS!) to mix in our frozen drinks ourselves - dangerous!

Yep...too much Overproof Rum. They were setting up the stage for the outdoor nightly performance. I decided to jump up on stage for a picture. Baby convinced me not to start an impromptu karaoke sing-along. He can be such a killjoy sometimes ;)

Baby and I headed back to our room thinking we'd take it easy for a little bit (and come down from our rum high) and then head out for more drinks at one of the resort bars later that evening. It started to rain pretty heavily and Baby fell asleep. I decided not to wake him, pulled some covers over him, got myself ready for bed, and turned in myself.

Sunday morning, we got up early. We packed up our things, had breakfast, checked out and spent our early afternoon at the airport. Baby's Air Jamaica flight back to Kingston left a little after 12pm, and my flight was scheduled for 1:30pm.

It was really nice taking a quick getaway weekend to meet up with Baby. I wish it could've been longer and that we could've enjoyed the city a more. But, what can you do? We both had to get back to reality. Work is so overrated, don't you think?

Ya Mon!

As I mentioned before, Baby is working out of Kingston, Jamaica until next Friday. Meaning he will be there through the weekend - our only time we get to really see each other due to our work schedules. He has called me everyday watching the flights into Montego Bay like a hawk since Job# 2 flies there. In a perfect world, the flights would remain open enough for me to fly standby tomorrow and return on Sunday. He would take a local carrier and meet me in MoBay - as the Jamaicans call it. The flights have remained relatively open (more than we expected), and Baby has been pushing me to meet him there.

Unfortunately, I would have to call in sick to Job# 1 (*cough*cough*) to pull it off. (Thus I will probably remove this post after today just to cover my tracks but still keep it on file to repost at a much later time for memory's sake...not that I think anyone at my office has my blog address, but you never know). The reason for this is that one of our HR people kind of screwed me over. Seeing as I have been with the company for 3 years as of this year, I was told I would be upgrading to 3 weeks vacation. Thus, I had already spread out a week earlier in the year and then took that whole week off last month to help my sister post-birth while my mom was out of town and her husband was off job-hunting or whatever...which left me with one full week at my disposal until the end of the year. Sadly, I was notified by the head honcho HR person that my intel was incorrect and that my 3 weeks doesn't start until January 2008. 2008?!?!? That meant I had already exhausted ALL my vacation for the year. YIKES! Me with no vacation time?!?! Had I known I only had 2 weeks, I would've only taken 2, maybe 3, days off to help my sister rather than the whole week in order to at least save a couple vacation days. However, I still have a week left of sick days. Therefore, I will all of the sudden become miserably ill tomorrow - granted, I've been building up looking like crap all week and barely wearing make-up (courtesy of Doc's suggestion to pull off said plan).

So with a lot of convincing and planning, I am heading to Jamaica tomorrow. Woohoo - although a nervous woohoo - a woohoo nonetheless! Baby has already booked his Air Jamaica flight to MoBay and made our reservations at Sunset Beach Resort & Spa for two nights - at the suggestion of some of his Kingston office coworkers. It looks amazing! Nothing like an all-inclusive resort where we can sit on the beach or by the pool and do nothing but stuff our faces and drink to our hearts delight.

Wish me luck that the flight home stays open so that I can make it home without having to call in again on Monday. That would be a bit more difficult to pull off, so I need all your fingers crossed for me!!! I feel a bit guilty about having to lie at work, but I consider this my good karma payback for helping my sister for a week. Even Sis says it's (1) a well-deserved break since I have been working my arse off, (2) I blew my weeks' worth of vacation not doing anything relatively relaxing but instead nursed her post-Cesarean self and played nanny to a 2-year-old and 2-week-old, and (3) I shouldn't pass up on an opportunity if the free flights were in my favor to meet up in the Caribbean to a hotel Baby already booked when all I have to do is show up - it's rare that the stars align that well. Probably why I'm so nervous that something is bound to go wrong. However, that conversation with my sister last night was the deciding factor that pushed me over the line of indecisiveness and into the "what the hell" side of the fence.

Again WISH ME LUCK!!!

A couple of things

Seeing it's been a while since I've posted anything of tangible value on here, I've decided that I will give a recap of a few things that have been happened in the last couple of weeks.

Two weekends ago, Baby's sister came into town. She was coming out of a pretty sad break-up, so Baby and I decided to fly her down. She visited for the weekend, and it was my first time meeting her. The meeting went well, and I had a lot of fun with her. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself, so we're hoping she will return for another visit.

The work weeks are boring so I will move onto this past weekend. Baby and I had a tame Friday night. We bought the movie 300 and snuggled on the couch while watching the Spartans kick some Persian arse. When the movie started, I was fascinated with the special effects, but it was pretty slow. Then as it progressed, it turned out to be a fantastic movie. I highly recommend it. Saturday, I had to work but met up with Baby and Grove for drinks at Molina's in The Heights after I got off. We later ended at Dark Horse. Let's just say that margaritas should never be your "starter drinks" for the evening. Yesterday, we had lunch with our friends and lounged at Grove's pool at his new apartment. We ended the evening stuffing our faces with wings at BW3 in Rice Village. The day was so full of activity, but it was leisure activity - the best kind.

Baby left today for 10 days in Kingston, Jamaica again for work. Sadly, the flights to Jamaica don't really look in our favor for me to meet him there for the weekend, so I guess I'm a single woman for the next 10 days...hehehe. Seriously though, I realized something yesterday. That after a few really nasty bumps in the road, Baby and I are getting to a good place in our relationship. A lot of changes were made on both parts (mainly his), and things are getting better every day. Of course now that I've typed that, the whole bottom will fall out. But honestly, I think I've fallen even more in love with him in the last couple of weeks which I didn't think was really possible. For the first time in a long time, I'm more than content in a relationship. I'm actually happy.

On a completely different note, I'm slowly chipping away at the last Harry Potter novel. I'm about halfway through with it. I know that I'm a bit slow compared to all my other friends, but the ONLY time I get to read is at bedtime. By that time, I only make it through a handful of pages before I wake up in the middle of the night having fallen asleep with the book on my chest or next to my head. So far, it's excellent! I wish I wasn't so damn tired in the evenings that I could stay awake long enough to read a good chunk of it.

Proposition for Diana Banana & Single Girl

I think I've come up with a way for us to still chime in our witty thoughts when we have no inspirations to blog on our own. How many times have you wanted to post something for the day but just can't think of anything blogworthy? I've been coming across that a lot more than usual lately.

So.... I've decided to try something if you ladies are willing to help. I was thinking since the three of us are blogger regulars, we could ocassionally combine our savviness in one blog. I'm not sure what the absolute direction of it would be, but we can start off by taking a current event of the day and going from there. Whether the topic is from the local/national/world news, entertainment/gossip pages, or separate notes of interest that have come up...or just something we want to bitch about. We can each take turns starting the topic and then the other two post within. Doesn't have to be a daily thing, but an "every-one-in-awhile-sure-why-not" kind of thing.

I have already started setting it up, and will forward you both the passwords to get in. What do you think??? Are you in?

I'm Not Getting It

I love the picture I found for the profile, don't you?

Another Harry Potter Funny Video

So SILLY... teehee

What do you think of it?

A few years ago, I started writing little mini-stories about my dating life - almost a diary of sorts so that I would never forget the bizarre experiences that I once endured. It was absolutely hilarious. It was kind of a combination of a few friends dating experiences, but mainly my disasters. I found the intro I wrote in a computer file I completely forgot existed. After reading it and some of the proceeding entries, it reminded me of how funny some of my experiences were. Something to make Single Girl not feel so alone in her dating mishaps. Here is just the intro. I won't really include the actual mini-stories as this post would go on FOREVER. Each chapter of my unfinished book was dedicated to an "interesting" character I came across in my single years. I only covered two or three guys, and sadly, that's when I stopped writing and forgot all about it.

I never really proofed it with a fine-tooth comb so I know that it can use some cleaning up, but it was just a free-flowing writing session... What do you think?

(the following italicized paragraphs are Copyrighted by Rice Spice ©)

MY INTRO

You should write a book. I think at some point or another, everyone hears that line from a friend or acquaintance who hears you recap an entertaining story from your life. Strangely enough, I hear that statement just about every time I discuss my dating experiences. Could it be because I’m completely hapless when it comes to attracting members of the opposite sex? Could it just be that I give off the pheromone that screams, “Unemployed men, come to me!”? Regardless of the case, I’ve done my share of meeting Mr. Right Now(s), Mr. Absolutely Wrong(s), and just plain psycho paths. So here I am chronicling some of the funnier points of my dating mishaps as well as some borrowed material from other 20- and 30-somethings trying to find love in all the wrong places.

I grew up in a small, suburban town outside of the energy capitol of America. After a virtually non-existent love life throughout high school due to strict Asian parent ideals, I moved on to college and entered the dating world relatively new to what it had to offer –the connection, the chemistry, the sexual liberation, and of course the heartache.

After my first semester of college, I met the man who was to be a pivotal part of my emotional growth. We dated off and on throughout my many years at the university, and eventually got engaged the year I was graduating. Life sadly took its toll on us, and the wedding was called off four months before my sashay down the aisle. Although I look at it now as one of the best things that ever happened to me, I felt my life had ended the day I handed back my diamond ring, packed the clothes I had in my closet, and walked away from a man I thought was suppose to be with me until the day we died…or at least until one of us got hit by a bus or something dramatic like that.

Eventually, this little lady bounced back from that devastating experience and re-entered the dating field as a heartless force to be reckoned with. I look back at the first five months of my break up and laugh at some of the things I did to cope with my misery. However other times, I’m mortified and baffled as to how I never end up groggily awakening in a bathtub of ice missing a kidney, as that was my mother’s biggest fear at the time. You’ve got to love a woman who watches way too much television!

After all of the experiences I had with men, I realized something about myself. I was not a woman looking for a man who could take care of her. I wasn’t a woman looking for a man who could protect her. Those were things I was already doing on my own. I was looking for someone I could share my life with. Not someone I needed, but someone I wanted. Most independent, professional, single women of our day and age relate to such epiphanies, and then there are those who think what I just wrote was obviously something written in jest. I don’t frown upon women who view differently than myself because, honestly, who am I to judge? But, I at least learned more about myself through all my experiences. With age comes wisdom, right? At least that’s the cliché.

Now I will tell you this much. Having that point of view often times makes it damn hard to find someone. You either face his insecurities of feeling that he isn’t needed – a role ingrained in some men at birth as proof of his manhood and his ability to be the head of the household – and not understanding that the desire to “want” them is a much better payoff than needing them to take care of you. Or, you face a problem with yourself. Sometimes you end up being so detached that you make yourself emotionally unavailable. Thus becoming what you hated in the men you dated prior as you become this person who’s dead inside.

The following excerpts of my downward spiral of dating are not given in any specific timeline of significance. Not that I think that putting my experiences down on paper will simplify someone else’s dating woes, but at least I can put a smile on your face.

Trying to Understand the Harry Potter Phenomenon

It's a bit long, but too funny!

10 Places I've Been Kissed (Places not Body Parts)

To continue being unoriginal, I'm "borrowing" this from Babbling Brooke. It's pretty interesting when I started to actually think of cool places I have been while kissing. Here are a few in no particular order:

1. Atop the The Space Needle in Gatlinburg, TN
2. In a hotel elevator in Amsterdam
3. In front of The Clock Tower/Big Ben in London
4. Dancing on top of a box in an awesome dance club in NYC - wish I could remember the name...
5. On Paradise Cove Beach at sunset after ditching the lame luau in Hawaii- I took this picture!
6. A Parisian cafe with a view of the Eiffel Tower outside the window - cheesy, I know!
7. In front of a warm fireplace in a cozy house with windows facing the Andes Mountains in Peru
8. Underwater while snorkeling in Cozumel
9. At the Embarcadero in San Francisco while fireworks went off to ring in the new year
10. In an infinity pool overlooking Acapulco Beach

Where are some cool places you've had kisses?

History of ME

Seeing I'm still boring with nothing to report other than that I'm still tempted to spork my oculars, I've decided to steal a MySpace survey to fill the void. Lame? Check. Dull? Check. But what can you do? Maybe you'll learn something about me you already didn't know...

HISTORY:
01. Raised in: CV, TX
02. Planned baby: Yes, I was
03. Birth date: April 25th
04. Any siblings: 1 sister and 1 brother
05. Younger or older: Middle child. It explains a lot, huh?
06. Hair color: Black (currently with reddish/brown peek-a-boo panel highlights)
07. Hair length: Too long
**Where's "08"?**
09. Eye color: dark brown
10. Shoe size: 5-5.5 depending on the shoe style
11. Mood: bored, but content
12. Smell: Romeo Gigli perfume
13. Height: 5'0" on a good day (i.e., early in the morning after having been laying down all night. ha!)
14. Lefty/righty: righty

LOVE LIFE:
01. Do you remember your first real relationship: of course
02. Do you believe in love: I did, but then I didn't for a long time, but I do again
03. Why did your last relationship fail: he was a dumbass
04. Shortest relationship: does a one-night stand count?
05. Have you ever been heartbroken: yes
**Now where is "06"??**
07. Have you ever fallen for a friend: yes, that's how Baby and I started
08. Have you ever told them: yes, see previous answer
09. Are you afraid of commitment: EXTREMELY
10. You ever had a secret admirer: yes, I knew but pretended I didn't
11. Do you believe in love at first sight: I believe in chemistry-at-first-sight. Sometimes you can build from there.
12. Ever been in love: Very much so with Baby

THIS OR THAT:
01.Love or money: Love doesn't pay off debt, but if it's strong enough it makes being poor less depressing
02. Hard liquor or beer: liquor
03. One night stands or relationships: Teehee...I suppose relationship *I kid, I kid*
04. Television or internet: internet - you can watch tv on the internet now
05. Pepsi or coke: Not big fan of either, but Coke if I HAD to choose
06. Wild night out or romantic night in: Why can't I have a wild, romantic night?
**"07"??? I guess people are just deleting questions they don't want to answer**
08. Phone or in person: Depends on who I'm speaking to. Friends and family, I say in person. Bill collectors...not so much.
09. Aim or myspace im? I only IM at work with other coworkers so we don't have to keep calling each other

HAVE YOU EVER:
01. Have you ever been caught sneaking out?: yes, almost got sent to convent school in the Philippines for that one...eeks!
02. Have you ever skinny dipped?: yes
03. Have you ever done something you regret?: Who hasn't?
04. Have you ever bungee jumped?: yes
05. Have you ever been on a house boat? yes
06. Have you ever finished an entire jaw breaker? yes...why in the world is this question relevant?!?!
**Again with the missing "07"??**
08. Have you ever been streaking?: yes
09. Have you ever ran away? no
10. Have you ever caught your parents doing it? Never actually walked in on it...THANK GAWD! I would've vomitted all over myself!

Blah, blah, blah, words, words, words

Today, I am bored out of my mind. I am actually caught up with everything at the office from when I took last week off and don't have much to do today. At the beginning of next month, a few new guys will be starting in the office and my world will be hectic and disheveled all over again. The calm before the storm, so to speak. So until then, I think I will be fighting the urge to spork my eyeballs out simply out of sheer boredom. I've been giving myself senseless, busy work of reorganizing...but I fear I'm running out of that, too. One can only restructure files and play on the internet for so long, right?

Outside of chomping at the bit awaiting the unveiling of the new Harry Potter novel (Diana Banana and I are the President and VP of the Dumbledork Army), I have nothing else major to report. I may have to go back to London for the week next week, but that's not confirmed...and of course, if it's for work, then there won't be much to report on my blog while I'm there. I'm officially boring.