5:02 PM 5/7/2006

pictures from last week:

keri, me and lynn from the flower fields in carlsbad

keri

keri and lynn

my friend's (old) work car

shot in the chest AFTER i ran out of paintballs and stood up!

so last saturday i ended up going paintballing with my coworkers, which turned out to be a lot of fun. thankfully, i only ended up with two minor bruises near my left knee. i don't even think i really felt the other shot in the chest, mostly because i was busy fumbling with my gun and waving my hands in the air yelling, "i'm out, i'm out!" i've come to the conclusion that i can shoot, and i can run, but i really can't do both at the same time, especially when my mask is fogged up and i can't see sh*t. next time i'm just gonna tie pillows to my arms and legs and blindly charge at people. that would be so cool.

went to south coast on sunday morning to exchange my ferragamo purse for a black suede one...almost got suckered into buying one that cost $250 more (those salesladies can be freakin' persuasive) but i resisted after much internal debate. worked a little bit afterwards, and then went to see united 93. it was a good movie, but i was seriously messed up for a good two to three hours afterwards. the entire movie theater trickled out in complete silence when it ended - it was probably the closest thing to re-living 9/11 all over again.

also hit up the flower fields in carlsbad with lynn and keri - it was absolutely gorgeous. drove back up to work after a minor detour to the outlets and el paso cantina for lunch...finished up the rest of the week, and then headed to some 30th anniversary gala for JABA (japanese-american bar association) on friday night - don't ask me how i ended up there, it's a long story. it was at the dorothy chandler pavilion, so i got there a little bit early to change...came downstairs in a Anne Klein red silk cocktail dress and stilettos, and then realized that 95% of the women were dressed in dark, conservative suits. oops. MAYBE, just maybe, JABA's invitation next time should specify that business attire is recommended. because, for the love of god, if you use the words "anniversary gala" and "cocktails at 6pm," non-attorney idiots like me WILL show up in a dress and open-toed shoes. now if this were an event planned by Taiwanese accountants, i guarantee there would be absolutely no confusion as to the function's appropriate dress code. seriously. i'd write something like, "non-slutty cocktail dresses and/or suits recommended for ladies, coat and tie required for men, and no animal print clothes/shoes/bags please for either sex."

anyway, i'd love to write more, but there's not much to report (unfortunately). hope everybody has a fabulous week! i'll try to come up with more entertaining posts for the rest of may.

4:47 PM 5/14/2006
happy mother's day! i love my mom. one day if i'm lucky, i'll turn out to be half as good of a mother as she is. and if i'm really, really lucky, i'll end up with a daughter who is twice as good as i was when i was growing up. so after much careful consideration (okay, more like five minutes of contemplation while driving back from work the other day), i went and bought myself a pair of 1 carat diamond stud earrings on friday afternoon. i had the following conversation with the salesperson:

me: can i see those over there, the ones set in platinum?
salesguy: of course. are these a present for your mom?
me: no.
salesguy: oh, a present for somebody else? a special occasion, perhaps?
me: no, not really.
salesguy: for yourself, i see! an early mother's day treat for you??
me: (flatly) no. i'm not a mom.
salesguy: (hastily) oh, oh. i see. well these are quite spectacular, especially for a young lady like you.
me: uh huh. i'll take them.

hey, way to make me feel like a selfish/frivolous jerk of a person. anyways, the earrings really are fabulous, although i'm sure i will be close to tears when it comes time to pay for them in 20-something days. "hi, american express? i think somebody jacked my credit card, because there's no way in hell i spent over 3K on a dumb pair of diamond earrings. what do you mean, you don't believe me? all right fine, i bought them, but can't you at least give me a break, just this once? no? ok seriously, somebody stole my credit card."

in an unrelated acquisition, i am now also the slightly shocked owner of a springfield armory XD-9, which is probably hands down the coolest/scariest gift a guy has ever given me. and uh, since i couldn't think of a better way to break it to my family/friends than through a casual reference on this page, there you have it. i will write something better once i actually get the gun (it's in utah with the deputy right now). i have approximately two weeks to figure out a way to tell my loved ones without giving them a heart attack on the spot. maybe i will distribute drawings of a stick figure of me with a gun in my hand and a huge happy face next to the gun - next to the stick figure i'll write "connie = owner."

so i went out with keri, lynn, and lynn's coworker to the LAX shooting range in inglehood friday night - the employees there were inexcusably rude, so i doubt we'll ever be going back. plus the location sort of freaked us out - keri asked if we were gonna be practicing real drive by shootings. i saw a funny sign there though: "martial arts, my ass - try to karate chop a bullet." saturday morning i drove up to meet jenny and tom for lunch in rosemead, and then dropped by iris' place in south pasadena to catch up on gossip. made a minor detour to work afterwards to leave some files at the office, and then went to a birthday party in fullerton at night. i went to buy a card at rite-aid beforehand, and found two horrible greeting cards: one said, "i love having sex with you..." and the inside was filled with a horribly sappy poem about why having sex with the recipient of the card was so wonderful (no joke). the other card had a picture of a chocolate cake on the front with the word "moist" printed underneath, and the inside said, "thinking of you." i was totally grossed out. some sentiments were NOT meant to be expressed through greeting cards. eww. anyway, i've gotta get some work done now, so i'm cutting this post short. a few more pictures below:

keri's shot of me and lynn @ the flower fields!




another gorgeous shot, courtesy of keri...




me and jenny.

You Are Most Like Carrie!

You're quirky, flirty, and every guy's perfect first date. But can the guy in question live up to your romantic ideal? It's tough for you to find the right match - you're more than a little picky. Never fear... You've got a great group of friends and a great closet of clothes, no matter what! Romantic prediction: You'll fall for someone this year... Totally different from any guy you've dated.