I have been moving through the different phases of grief regarding my cell phone...

Disbelief "I can't believe it's really gone"
Anger *&*&^&^%$#%&*&* I can't believe I lost it!!!!!
Sadness "My phone was so sweet and little, and had all my important numbers"

A small regression to Anger

"I can't believe it's gonna cost me $100 to replace it!

And now... Acceptance. My phone is happily traveling the world without me. I must accept my loss and move on.

Also Justy's boyfriend generously offered to give me one of his old phones, so not having to pay $100 helped out the process. Thanks Ching! Yup Justy's boyfriend's name is Ching. As Hizuru says He is his own self-contained racial slur!

In other daily news I swam almost half a mile in swim class today. I feel incredibly pleased with myself. Lisa suggested I do a triathalon which sounded like fun until I learned where the triathalon is taking place... in open water... dum, dum, da dah!

Lisa - It might be scary for you. It's open water.
Amelie - I"ll ignore that you are calling me a chicken, since it's true. Open water is disgusting. Where's it gonna be?
Lisa - Rancho Seco.
Amelie - Isn't that a nuclear power plant
Lisa -Yeah, I think I'm going to emerge from the water with a third eye
Amelie - Gills would be better. Like in Harry Potter.

Also if you are a devoted blog reader who goes after comments you'll notice that Mami Maghanoy and Gma have infiltrated the blog and threatened retailatory legal action. Ha ha ha! We'll see about that!

Arnold is back! Yay!

I left my cell phone on a plane! Boo.

Today my phone has traveled to Orange County, Phoenix and Baltimore.

Before I forget, Chhimi, my archives don't work!!! Is that fixable?

And also, Debi and are are shocked, SHOCKED! at the results of "So you think you can Dance' tonight. How could Allison be kicked off? She was the shitz-nit! This shocking reality tv twist required an immediate teleconference with Betty. I'm still traumatized, depressed and strangely a little bit more in love with Allison. ON the upside, we are going to go see the TOUR for my BIRTHDAY! Happy early Birthday to me! Tomorrow I am going to the O.C. for work and Arnold comes back from Minnesooooooootah.

Preview for next post... I"ll tell you about how I got fired... sort of.

I'm in Pomona at Media Spokesperson training. I think my new calling might be as a Public Information Officer. It is so fun, and despite my worries, I've decided that I am great, no.... stellar at being a spokesperson rep., even if the camera does add ten pounds. I aced my first on-camera interview, albeit that assesment was not given by the trainer but by myself. Even if I've only done two hour long interviews, I feel like I'm the road to becoming an expert on spin. Yay!

Warning - Post written without editing or transitions that make sense

I went to Tahoe with my Mom and Gma, which was beautiful, but I think that the heat got to my Gma because halfway through the day she started becoming a conspirancy theorist.

AT the Cal-Neva hotel

"They don't have rooms available" - Mom
"Ohhhhhh, they have rooms availble" - Gma (Knowing tone)
"Why would they do that?" - Amelie
"OHhh, they have their reasons...." - Gma (Mysteriously and impersiously)
"UH, okay Gma" -Amelie
"They have mafia connections" -Gma

The Lake Tahoe mafia? Hmmmm....

So weird.

This week I am totally chicken-headed running around here and there and everywhere to exotic locales such as Pomona and Fresno! But right now I feel totally calm. I got to spend tonight hanging out with some old friends and it reminded me how much easier it is to hang out with people who have absolutely no connection to your work life. And also people who you've known for a long time. To not talk about work, or be concerned with presenting yourself as competent etc. It was really refreshing. Plus I got a fantastic business idea from Hizzy and the opportunity to hang out with my favorite little Wing-a-Wong. All-in-all a fantastic night.

We've been taking Mom and Gma on a tour of the highlights of SacTown, i.e. Arnold's new school, the creme brulee at Lucca's. Obviously we have been to the new house seeing as Gma might pass out at the typical inside temperature of 105 degrees(this number is not enhanced by hyperbole, I read it on our temperature gauge).

Gma has been hilariously bizarre in her observations, at Lucca's she ordered her chardonnay blackberry sorbet by saying "Oh whatever, I'll have that" as if she were ordering vanilla fro-yo. She might have well added "Since you don't have a better selection". I think the heat is getting to her. To her credit though, right before the server announced that blackberry sorbet was today's special we had been discussing how I broke out in hives instanteously the first time I had blackberry pie as a child. Ewww.

Also Mami Maghanoy is judiciously trying to avoid a blog appearance from this trip by confiscating her camera at every opportunity, but I'm not worried. Technology isn't really her strong point. :)

My mommy is coming tomorrow! Yay! Arnold is getting ready to sit back and watch the drama unfold.

Proof that the females on both sides of my family are unafraid to kick your ass if you don't follow our rules... an excerpt from an invitation to my cousin Eileen's housewarming party...

House Rules

1. PLEASE take off your shoes
2. PLEASE keep an eye on your kids
3. PLEASE respect my home

I know that you will enjoy my home as much as I do
But failure to follow the rules
Will make me hurt you..... JUST KIDDING!!

I don't think she's kidding though, so I'm going to wear slip-ons.

What does dilletante mean? - Debi
A dilletante is a person who is lazy and does nothing, like you in the summer. - Emily D.

So last week two dilletantes and myself set out on road trip down to Santa Barbara. I don't include myself as a dilletante because unlike them I was on a big girl style business trip. To be fair, the both of them did seem tired when they picked me up from work at the end of each day, but I can't consider sunburning yourself due to lazy sunscreen application as "work".

And before I say any more, my apologies to anyone I might have inadvertantly slighted by not visiting them on the way. I seem to be having a lot of trouble with that lately.... it's a downside of a blog that people not only catch all your social faux pas, but also bring them up in the realm of cyberspace... do people still say cyberspace? Anyways, I'm sorry. In advance. For everything. To everybody. OKay, good that's taken care of.

Anywho, the trip was great, Santa Barbara, as expected, was beautiful. Spanish colonial architecture, refreshing ocean breezes and an abundance of fried calamari was enjoyed by all. Having to work and leaving Arnold home alone for a week were drawbacks of course, but I really do love calamari.

Now anybody who knows me, knows that I am not a driver. I am more of a passenger, sit in the back seat of a towncar sort of girl. However since dilletante No.2 Emily D. has been living in China recently, all the driving was left up to me and dilletante No. 1 Debi. After what became an interminable ride down I-5 to Santa Barbara we had finally arrived in downtown SB due to Emily D's stellar map-reading skills. Problem was there were people everywhere, crossing the street, riding their bikes all over the bike lanes etc. , darting back and forth with their stupid Paris Hilton sunglasses and their fake tan skin. Seriously, the whole scene was quite alarming. So my natural reaction of course was to whine with the expectation of support and sympathy from my dilletant groupies.

Inconveniently Emily D has been living in the most pedestrian/bike populated place in the world, China. "Oh three bikers, how overwhelming!" she sarcastized my way, which is why I blame her for what happened the next day...

I was chauffering around my two dilletantes so we could go eat. Emily D is giving directions. I sat there in the middle of the intersection waiting for the traffic to clear for my unprotected left turn. At some point I notice a man in a truck driving slowly through the intersection and gesturing at me quite earnestly. I merely stared at him, trying to decide where I had met him before. In the end I decided I didn't know him, but I thought I'd smile anyways, to be polite. I mean just because he's a weirdo doesn't mean I can't be nice... but he only got more insistent with his hand gestures. Disconcerted I thought "That's my reward for smiling at weirdos?" until I noticed that we were patiently waiting to turn left onto a one way street, the wrong way. Oops. My bad, or rather Emily D's, she's the one who advised me to turn left. I guess it takes two Emily's for a traffic accident.

So there you go, if you don't count the bizarrely blotchy sunburns that the dilletantes acquired on the beach, the trip was almost incident free.

So to close, I leave you with a great story about my cousin Rob, who recently posted some great tips regarding drinking in the W.C. and with whomI have taken many a road trip down I-5. On the way back home we passed through SLO, Rob's alma mater, and I remembered the last trip with him and his friends right after high school. We stopped in SLO on the way down, but since there were 5 of us, we ended up about 3 beds short. I was like "whatever, I don't mind sharing a bed" but I guess no one wanted a night of having me kick them in the back because everyone declined. (I'm sure my parents would be so proud that their teenage daughter offered to share a bed with any of 3 strangers.) To make up for my bed coup my chivalrous cousin Rob however decided to steal all the sheets off my bed in retaliation. What a gentleman! So I settled down for a below 50 degree night without sheets or pillows. SO FUN! However, in the end the Grinch's heart grew one size and Rob gave me back one sheet sometime during the middle of the night.

To be fair to Rob, I did invite myself along on his guys only post-grad road trip. And in honor of him I'll wrap this up with a proper PEACE OUT! to R-O-Double B you see Diggety Dogg.

New Book

Eat Love Pray - By Elizabeth Gilbert

I love this book so much, I think I am going to finish it in less than a week, which is, unusual for me. This week I am traveling, everywhere and too much.

So last weekend we went to visit my Grandma. Arnold and I try to go at least once a month to visit. Usually we always do the same thing. We eat out one night, walk around a little, talk a lot, eat too much chocolate and watch t.v. It's basically our favorite way to spend a weekend. Anyways, so on Saturday night Grandma suggested that we try out a new Cuban restaurant called Havana. Although I was torn between something new and Dragon 2000 our classic standby, I agreed...

We get to the restaurant where my Gma(this is how she refers to herself, as if she was a hip-hop star) is really excited because plantains are on the menu. When our poor innocent waitress starts explaining about plantains to my Gma, I see something rising up behind her eyes. She points toherself and Arnold and says:

"We're from South America" i.e. I am a plantain EXPERT.

Uhm, hullo, what about me? Not to mention my Gma is from Panama which is part of CENTRAL America. Seriously! This only confirms that Gma likes Arnold more than me. Of course my outburst was only a source of enjoyment for my Gma and Arnold who spent the rest of the night ganging up against me and making pitying remarks about the minorities who are not from South America. Come to think of it, I think Arnold likes visiting my family because they can't handle me one on one and need to gang up against me to win an argument. Sample conversation:

Gma: Isn't Amelie dificult and stubborn.

ARnold: Yeah, she's the worse.

Then they hug and giggle while Gma serves Arnold more cookies and coffee. Like and addict and an enabler they sit around discussing the merits of caffeine and sugar. Ah, the joys of family.

Ever been to a really awesome party? You know the kind you sit around reminsicing about later with your friends?

I finally finished "Living to tell the tale" and in the end I've decided it was good, not easy, but good. And my mind was changed by the following quote

"We celebrated with the entire group until dawn, for German Vargas, who was the guardian of the saints' calenar, let it be known that on March 6 I would be twenty-seven years old. In the midst of the good wishes of my great friends, I felt ready to devour raw the seventy-three I still had left before I celebrated the first hundred."

"Living to tell the Tale" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez


I wish I could write like that, or at least translate that well....

I think I've found my calling... Beginning Swimming class.

At the suggestion of a co-worker I signed myself and Arnold up for swimming classes at our local community college. And it turns out I love it! I have finally found a way to do cardio in a way that doesn't involve sweating! Seriously, now that I am not swallowing gallons of water every class I am really getting into it, getting very competitive about treading water as long as I can and being the first across the pool. Plus I am good at it, and anyone who knows me, knows that I only love doing things that I am relatively good at. I am probably only better at it, since the class is full of people who have never swimmed at all. Considering I took swimming lessons two different times as a child I probably have an unfair advantage, but still, it feels good not to suck at a sport.

Arnold has more of a love-hate relationship with the class, but at least conceeds that it was a good idea. Not too shabby considering that I forced him to sign up.

Also if you decide to embark on something like this with co-workers, make sure that you make the rule that Milan and I vowed to "What happens in the pool, stays in the pool."

Happy Independence Day!

It's Tuesday
There is no work
The weather is in the high 90s, not the 100s
Last night we had a great party and my sweet husband did nearly all the clean-up before I even woke up.
People came from China to attend our party!!!

Life seems peaceful. :)

Today it's still only 9:00 am here, it hasn't gotten hot yet. It is one of those quiet, perfect mornings that you miss during the work week.

Rental Recomendation: Elizabethtown... I kind of didn't understand the movie, but I liked it. It is an odd sort of romantic comedy.