Joya with Soya

There's a coffee at Starbucks called Joya del Dia and because I'm lactose intolerant (or at least I'm supposed to be), I get it with room for soy milk.

As of late, coffee has been powering me in the morning. For my [second] job at the major-chain Fitness Club, I have to open the club 3-4 days a week. That means waking up at 3am to get there on time to open the doors for the already waiting half-dozen members tapping their feet with anticipation or anxiety, or whatever. The first week was sooo hard! At least the construction workers, bus drivers, maintenance people, and teachers will have their work out and get to their respective jobs on time. :)

Now sleep has more meaning. I used to think that oversleep was for depressed people who need help. But it's sooo blissful. Last Sunday I took a 4-hour nap, which I haven't really done since maybe high school. I have officially joined the ranks of sleep lovers everywhere.

epilogue:
As soon as my credit card debt is paid off, I'm flying the coop. Hand over the job for who is was meant for... some poor college student to earn some spending cash before heading to class.

New Developments

Wow. August was crazy.

I flew to San Jose and New York. Attended a wedding. Bought a car. Got a second job.

And that was just the bare bones. The meat of is what really makes it crazy. I wish I had Labor Day weekend to unwind. Alas, when it rains in this life of mine, it pours.

Soooo... time for a party. How about the beach? AND Double time on the destressing effort: TV, jacuzzi, shopping, arts and crafts. To do: haircut, massage, movies, more air conditioning, getting out of the city and into nature.

Let's decompress.

Taking Care of Baby

T's brother and sister in law have a dog named Beemer.

We are taking care of him for the week:
1. He must stay on a room all day until someone turns off the house alarm and lets him into a non-sensored area. Beemer does not have his own outdoor yard.
2. Beemer eats like a Hoover. Sometimes you can't hear him chew the kibble because he eats so fast. His bottomless stomach is also the reason why we can't leave food out for the day, and must feed him at meal times only.
3. The dog craps 2 minutes after he eats so someone has to take him out or else he'll leave a gift in the living room.
4. Attention hog!
5. Constant play during the waking hours is mandatory or else he probably won't able to sleep. And he like sleeping in bed with you.
6. All is forgiven and we don't mind, especially when he gives us the puppy dog eyes.

BTW, Cats are so much easier. Unless, of course, they are cry babies.

The Wish List

I love this dress. Claire Danes (as Mirabelle) was wearing it in the movie Shopgirl. Glad I'm not shopping.

So why is it so easy for me to give up beef, but not shopping?

Le sigh.

The Last Hoorah

Another potential hash mark on my list of things to do is to follow a budget. This starts tomorrow. Today I went on a shopping spree... spent about $250 on a combination of boots, shirts, pair of socks, and gift. In one day.

My last hoorah I must call it. This cannot continue.

I finally figured out a way to curb my shopping habit. I've been trying to for several years. This one's a three-pronged approach. First, I will be budgeting all of my income and setting aside a modest $50 per month for personal-items shopping, which includes clothes, shoes, accessories, electronics, and miscellaneous and not-absolutely-necessary items. Second, I will not carry around my credit card. Third, (and here is where I will need help) I will need 2-3 volunteers to serve as my approval board for these so-called personal items. I should be setting this $50 aside to go toward my laptop, so I will need an approval board (a.k.a. nagging reminder people) to help me remember how much I want this laptop. I'd nominate my mother, but I think that will be so effective it will hurt. I would also like to nominate the BF. But he hates nagging and thus hates to nag. I guess I will have to ask my brothers...

If that does not work, I guess I have to try it the old-fashioned way.

With willpower.

BTW, I passed up multiple offers to help eat people's kalbi today. Though it was tough, it felt good to say no. Let's see how this anti-shopaholism system pans out.

Goodbye Kalbi

so one of the items on the list is to re-become a vegetarian. i had been a vegetarian for a couple of years for 3 reasons, not really all the same importance and not the always the same priority at any given moment: religion, environment and health. on one day my health could have trumped the environment and on another, being a good Buddhist could have taken priority over my health and countering global warming, and so on, so forth, etc... at least it all resulted in the same outcome-- i didn't eat meat or seafood.

TODAY marks the day i start making active baby-steps toward attacking this goal on the list. no more red meat. i could have squeezed in one more shaken beef or Korean bbq dish, but if i did that i would end up giving myself extensions for years. the time is now... and it is a baby step after all.

wish me luck.

When is enough enough?

From Associated Press reports

Congress has appropriated $610 billion in war-related money since Sept. 11, 2001. That's roughly the same amount that was spent on the war in Vietnam, taking inflation into account.

Iraq alone has cost $450 billion.

---
Vietnam cost $531 billion over 9 years. (1964-1972)

Iraq War started March 2003 = 4 years already.

Is the administration going to let the costs reach WWII levels (in the trillions) before withdrawing from Iraq?

Of course, this commentary does not include other monetary costs like veterans benefits and medical care AND the human costs, military and civilian casualties, the stress of families waiting at home, etc.


I love NPR, but sometimes it stresses me out.