Okay, as I start getting the house more together I am going to try to post more pictures. Here is a picture of our dining room. :) I am quite pleased with my little art gallery!

Back in the game

I got a new palm pilot and I feel re-freshed and organized. Now instead of being left to my own devices in this cold, lonely world I have my little computer to tell me what to do... I know this makes me a little like a Stepford Wife in some kind of Orwellian fantasy-tragedy, but c'est la vie.... at least I can remember to get stuff down now. Riiiiiiiiiight?

Also, my commenters have been cracking me up lately. Keep up the good work guys!

Quote of the day-Phone Convo

Amelie - What's up chicken butt? How you doin?
Renee - I'm eating bacon. Obviously, I am awesome.
Amelie - True that my friend, true that!

If you love bacon, and really, who doesn't? I highly suggest going to VooDoo donuts in Portland. There you can get a bacon maple bar. I know it sounds disgusting, but keep an open mind. Maple and bacon are the perfect sweet and salty treat.

Confessions...

I have some bad habits... and even better, I don't have any intention on working on these habits.

1) Watching too much reality TV
2) Swearing. Swearing and swearing. (Arnold says he's going to give me a referral if I don't clean up my act)
3) Picking my nose in public

There you go, take it or leave it. I am a foul-mouthed, nose-picking, Dancing with the stars watching woman! Now you all know the truth. :)

Keeping it short and sweet....

Uhm... how can I say this without sounding too overexcited? SmartWorker rocks! (See, comment to previous entry to get the joke)

Who are you smart worker? I am going to guess Alec, Sage, Vega or RobDogg? It seems wrong that I am guessing like half the people I know read my blog. I am not a good guesser.

Also... number of days since random people have shouted "whore" at me out a window? 6 (v.g.)

Number of days since I've eaten crap food to compensate for a bad day. 0 (not so good)

Number of days till my new palm pilot arrives? 10! Can't wait! Living without my sweet little palmy is so disorienting. (Excellent progress!)

You know you want it...

That's right, I know you all want more GAD stories, so here you go.

My Dad is not into talking on the phone, or really talking in general but he is into me and sometimes he calls me up, mostly because my Mom makes him, but still, I know he wouldn't make the effort for just anyone.... anyways, here is a proto-typical conversation with my GAD...

Phone rings

Me - Hello?
Dad - Who is this?
Me - Dad, YOU called me, what do you mean who is this?
Dad - Oh, ha ha ha ha <---- this joke kills him every time.
Dad - How's it going?
Me - Good, how are you.
Dad - Good... okay, well that's all I got. Here's your Mom...

Total Recall! <--- That's a shout out to my former co-workers

I used to have this job where I had... well... let's just say a lot of freedom and it was awesome, my personal life was never more organized. I distinctly remember making a list of cheese with a certain co-worker (Vega!) to pass the time during a meeting. I mean, seriously the meeting was so boring and useless that we just sat there listing cheeses.

Gorgonzola
Mozzarella
Camberet
And on and on we went...

Alas, now I am reformed, the kind of girl who says things like "I have to go back to work, I can't break for lunch." I am also the kind of girl that says things like "I'm going to the gym" and "No, I can't have that latte, too many calories. I am THAT girl! I have always liked to think of myself as someone who eats foie gras and lolls about on the beach, but alas real life has intervened and I realized that girls who eat foie gras and loll on the beach are either

A) V. wealthy through inheritance
B) Fat, lazy and in debt.

Now I realize how people become THAT GIRL, it's because of necessity. Or is it?

Is there a way to sit around having a fabulous life whilst not working too hard and eating whatever one wants? If so... let me know, I am SO OVER being an adult!

Technology Update

Awhile ago my cell phone went on the fritz, well actually the charger crapped out... more specifically three chargers in a row crapped out on me... it was not good. Well I have that taken care of but now something even more dire has happened... DUM DUM DA DUM! My palm pilot is not well. Now, I'm not sure how many people know this but I am v. dependant on my palm pilot in order to remember to do things like call my Mom, brush my teeth etc. so if you don't hear from me on our birthday... or if I don't show up to see you it's because I no longer have control of my life. My poor little palm is gone and I am left at the whims of my totally fallible memory.

It's not good my friends. I'll keep you posted.

Also, I was walking to a restaurant today and these guys leaned out the window and screamed "Whore" at me. It was really weird, I mean my work clothes are a very boring brown color, what about UPS-like wear says "whore"?. I was more amused then insulted, I mean it was just kind of stupid. There was a gardener near me when this happened. I looked at him like "Did you see that?" and he just sort of shrugged at me. What's the point of a funny moment if no witnesses will share it with you? Then I got to the restaurant and told my friend Sara "Guess what, these guys just called me a whore for no reason. Isn't that funny?" She said "I'd take it as a compliment".

This is why I love Sara, she is always a very positive person.

I now weigh 300 pounds.

Because I spent months whining about celebrating my birthday in St. Louis my co-workers have been shoving cake and cosmos down my gullet at every opportunity... not that I'm complaining, it's been really fun... but I do officially way 3 billion pounds.

Also it seems that sometimes I am a little slow... ... on Monday night we all went to a restaurant that is fantastic! Just... so... very... good! I had foie gras and rabbit for the first time, that's how good it was.... but I digress... I had so much that I wasn't going to have dessert but then I got a second wind and when they brought my cake with a sparkler there was absolutely no connect in my mind... I thought it was part of the normal presentation of the restaurant. I told all my dining companions "Look how fancy! They serve their deserts with sparklers!"

People wonder why I love Bridget Jones so much when I am obviously not a single girl. It is moments like "Wow, they serve their deserts with sparklers!" that make me feel that Bridget is my literary sister.... now, I must get back to developing inner poise.

Live from St. Louis

Okay, well, I tired to take some pics of St. Louis and upload them, but apparently the technology just doesn't want to work for me. It's too bad really, because the weather here in St. Louis is gorgeous and the city itself ain't bad either. Over the past few days I've had lots of blog-centric ideas but now it's late and I'm too tired to be creative, so I thought I would just do a little blog mission statement.

maghanoy.com is about

1) Being silly
2) Making myself feel like an important writer, not important like Salman Rushdie, more like "important" like Carrie Bradshaw... except that
3) I am NOT about the emo rants. For reals. Stop posting all your misery on the Internet peoples. Don't you have friends to talk to? If you want to go Dilbert version of misery that's fine, but no more of this emo malarkey... it gets old.

When I am not feeling well, I complain to Arnold or Justina or whoever the heck I can get on the phone. I do not type it on the Internet for my friends and family to hear on a computer. Seriously? Seriously! Life is not like Grey's Anatomy, so all you little emo whiners can get your "swirly vortexes of misery" and find some other outlet. If any of us wanted to be depressed we'd go watch Schindler's List or some other sad movie not read about how you had a fight with your significant other.

4) Did I mention that maghanoy.com is about me ranting about things that bug me? Watch out wayward landlords and people who cut in line!

Peace out!

Birthday bash!

Well, as everybody at work knows, I am kind of narcissitically into my birthday. Acually that's not true, I used to be all low-key about it, until one year everybody but Arnold forgot abou tmy birthday... seirously, like every single person I know. Needless to say I had a minor breakdown. Sooooooooooo, now I hype it up to avoid such dissapointments. This year more than ever before because I'm marketing my birthday because I'll be celebrating it in St. Louis far from my friends, family and most importantly my best birthday cheerleader Arnold. So I was v. excited this weekend that I got treated to not 1 but 2 birthday meals in one day.

I think I gained 25 lbs.

First Justy i.e. "best friend ever", took me out to some kind of wild meal involving calamari and afternoon martinis. The waiter helpfully pointed out that it was noon when we started with the martinis so that doesn't make us alcolics...

Anyhoo... although in retrospect we didn't actually eat that much food, we were still at the restaurant for something like 3 hours. I also found at that Justy actually reads my blog! I was really excited about that, even if she did make fun of me for posting about my aspriation to be "the one who cooks" and then pointing out that nobody I know really cooks, so it shouldn't be that hard to brand myself that way. Hummpph! Such offenses are easily forgiven though with some apple cobbler.

Then... my Gma really came throug when she took us all out to... DUM DA DUM! DRAGON 2000! As everybody know, I LOVE the DRAGON! With Gma and Justy, it was a PAR-TAY! Plus, finally I had someone on my side since my "South American" realtives Arnold and Gma like to gang up. Justy pointed out that since we are both Asian, we also could be our own ethnic enclave. To that I say H to the Yes! All in all it was a really fun Saturday. Thanks for a great birthday my favorite East Bay ladies!

The "South Americans" - They are cute, but don't be fooled, they'll get you!

My favorite author died today, well actually yesterday. Madeleine L'Engle, she was 88 years old and inspired generations, myself included. She has helped me through quite a few existential crises. According to the New Yorker she drove her family a bit crazy because she was a little confused between what is fiction and what is truth, or rather for her there wasn't any difference. And although I'm sure that would be quite frustrating I totally identify with her. I feel that I am often more interested in making a story interesting than fussing too much about what is truthful. Surely this blog is a testament to that aspect of my personality?

Of course one can get carried away to the point where embeliishments become lies, but strangely although I am an ACCOMPLISHED embellisher I've never been a very good liar. I would like to attribute this to good ethics, but the truth is I'm chicken about being caught. Anyways, I am sad that the world won't get to read any more Madeleine L'engle books but I like to think in heaven one doesn't have to worry any longer about so many details so she is probably quite happy now!

God bless you Madeleine, thank you for everything you left behind!

Back to life. Back to reality.

Well, we are back from Portland, with no pictures... because, well Arnold and I were too busy eating cake and having coffee all over town to take pictures. And after avoiding the CA heat wave and spending the most amazing three days there, I think Arnold and I officially are in love with a city. To put it in a way the Educational Testing Board would understand, I'll use an SAT analogy.

Amelie and Arnold are to Portland

as

Carrie Bradshaw is to NYC

Oh Portland, how we love you so!!!