Day 16

slowly waking up at 10am is really nice. i will really miss it once school and work begins again. wanted to hit the gym again like the past few days cuz it feels good to start the day at the gym and work gym time into the day later on. did only 30 minutes in the pool because it was a bit busy. went on the bike, but for some reason, i was feeling it so went home after a few minutes. got ready to go home to bellevue cuz i was summoned home for some pho. it was good, but not sure why but it gave me a bout of the 'runs'. went home and waited to go for a run with frontrunners and paul. the run was pretty good, went a bit faster than i usually do, but still made it. tried on my new shoes that was bought yesterday. fit was okay, but got a blister, which i normally do not get from running. not sure if it's the shoe or maybe some pebble in the shoe since it was in an odd spot. walked back with paul and he invited me in for some water. he was feeling a bit awkward, saying he has never seen anybody again that he got naked with. i was feeling a bit horny. i thought maybe something would happen. he asked about dinner, so we decided to go to dinner after going home to take a shower. had japanese and it was fine talking to him. kinda curious about his experience, but not really sure how to ask. he was carrying the conversation at time, bringing up topics to talk about. not good on my part. a bit of my wanted to head back to his place after dinner, but he was feeling tired. kinda want to see him again, but more as a friend with benefit sort of deal. not sure what sort of deal he wants with me if any.

Day 15

had a good sleep, slept in 'til about 10am. earplugs really help me sleep, wonder if that's what wakes me up. decided to go to the gym. had a pretty good, long workout. came home and wasn't sure what to do. decided to go home to bellevue since i haven't been home in awhile. chi ngoc was there making hieu tieu. it was quite good. i also ate a lot from snacking on candies on the dining table. had it around 5pm and had dinner plans too. however, ryon said he couldn't make it until 9pm. wasn't sure if he was actually going to make it, but didn't really care if he couldn't. got home and didn't want to stay home waiting for ryon to possible come over. so, went to downtown, see what i could find. found a running shoe that's actually my size at nordstroms. also got a sweater at american eagle. took the bus to downtown and back again. on the way back saw lawrence. talked to him a bit. he asked for my number and gave it to him. he texted me, but i prolly won't reply. i guess i really don't find him interesting. ryon actually came, at 830 too. the movie i wanted to see starts at 935, so we had time to just hang out. went to dillante for a slice of cake and tea. for a guy who drinks energy drinks, he likes tea. we saw 'the single man' at the harvard exit. it was a pretty good movie, though we didn't like the ending. also, thought everyone and their clothes were quite pretty. i guess that's what you get when the director was a fashion designer.

Day 14

first day of the full week of no work or school. still wanted to sit in front of the computer to take care of a few stuff before going back to work and school. the router frequently would drop and i would have to reset it by unplugging and plugging it back in. called dlink tech support and they had me reset the the router. not sure exactly what he had me do, but so far, it's okay. wanted to reformat my harddrive and upgrade to windows7, but the upgrade kit from dell isn't coming until january. i'll decide later if i want to use the copy from being a uw student.

went to the gym, but didn't do much, probably didn't feel like it from the long run yesterday.

felt kinda bored after the gym with nothing to do. called a couple people. tuan called back and invited me to the casino where he's singing tonight. not why i'm going, but nothing else to do for me. i had not seen him for maybe a month. i was a little upset he cancelled last minute for the reddress thing when it was his idea to go. but anyways, it was fine when go to see him. he went back stage to get ready for the show and i just waited around the casino. it was interesting checking out all the vietnamese there for the show. surpisingly i really didn't find any of the guys i saw attractive. i dunno. after tuan did his show, he and i went to one of the restaurants for a late dinner. the dinner was okay. we talked. he told me how he's making $6000 this month from the singing shows that he and his other friends are putting up. i'm a bit jealous, but i think that's really not me, and also some people just got it easier with money. not me and that's how it is for me. after one more song he need to do, we heading back home. it was good to hang out with tuan. haven't done so for awhile.

Day 13

slept in. was a lazy day. went grocery shopping in the early afternoon. later in the afternoon decided to go running instead of going to the gym. decided to do a long run, to lake washington, along it and back. it was a good run, it's been quite sometime that i did such a long run. tyler stopped by to pick up his ladder and return to charles. met up with glenn for dinner. went to chez gaudi. food was good. even though it was half price wine bottles, we opted not for one. i was still feeling sick, so didn't want to do it. dinner was fine. food was good. talk with glenn was good. he wanted to see a movie after dinner, so we walked down to pacific place. he mentioned he wanted to see avatar, which i had already seen. he didn't mention another movie so i agreed to it. right before the movie, i said that i had already seen it. he didn't want me to see a movie i had already seen. he asked if there was another movie i wanted to see. i mentioned it's complicated. after going back and forth, we watched it's complicated. he said he was touched i would go see a movie i had already seen. the movie we saw was pretty good. felt kinda long at some points. we walked back.

Day 12

it was going to be a busy day again with gym, going to chi ngoc's house for dinner and meeting up with paul from a4a. went to the gym in the morning and made it a fairly quick workout in the pool since i had a long run yesterday. came home and saw simon cleaned the kitchen a bit since i didn't clean much. got some of the sugar cookies from last night to bring to chi ngoc's house. the party was pretty boring for me. didn't feel like playing with the kids or talking to the adults. anh ni's daught is really pretty. chichi's son jeremy is really cute too. so, i left after eating. waiting to meet up with paul from a4a. first impression is that he's older than i thought. not so good, but he seems alright. we went bar hopping since he didn't know the area even though he lives on capitol hill. he's a newbie as he says it in the gay world. 43 and never had a boyfriend or girlfriend. very curious. we met at starbucks, went to the elite then to the lobby and pony. he invited me back to his place.

Day 11

christmas day, and almost every christmas i can remember is quite boring for me with not much to do. wanting to continue my workout everday during the school break, but with the gym closed, i decided to go for an out door run. it was a chilly day, though sunny. still somewhat early, there were still frost on the grass and some side streets. i was surprised how slippery the roads could get with frost - usually don't run on frosted streets. i did a pretty long run. it was a good run though. came home got pretty much bored immediately and no plans for the evening. called up tyler and see what he was up to. tyler had plans to make dinner at either his new place or eriq's place, but since both do not have funiture in their place, it was decided dinner would be at my place. tyler brought almost everything to make pasta and a salad. eriq brought some supplies for making cookies. tyler's new friend, johnson, who's 19yo and a student at the uw. it was kinda fun to make his age a point of conversation at one time. the night was pretty fun, making the cookies was a team effort. it was a good night. eriq seems like a nice guy.

Day 10

the previous day i had went grocery shopping, getting items to make baklava. i wanted to make baklava since we were having a dinner at home and it was my mom's idea. so, woke up and starting to make baklava. the first time i did it, it turned out great. although, i had used butter, a lot of butter, and was a bit sensitive to it. so this time, i tried getting margargine. that wasn't my first mistake, but it was definately the most critical. i didn't thaw the phyllo dough properly and some of it wasn't in complete sheets, minor error. the margarine made the baklava quite salty. since it was kinda bad, i didn't want to bring the whole thing home. coming home, i decided not to bring in any. had gone to the gym between baking the baklava and going home. was running behind, told my grandmother i'd pick her up at a specific time, so i cut my workout short. my grandmother had asked me the other night to pick up some stuff for her, but running behind, i skipped it. in the car she asked me and i told her i was running behind. she was complaining she wanted the stuff, so i got kinda pissy and stopped by the pharmacy to get it for her. got home and it was okay. didn't feel like playing with the kids like i normally do. i helped setting up the table and just hung around upstairs until dinner started. we was a good meal. my sister-in-law made hot pot, the broth was good and also the meats. i stayed around about an hour or so after dinner and headed back to my place. simon, his bf and his friends were having dinner earlier and were playing a board game when i came back. i joined them for the game which was alright. i'm a bit distant to simon and his friends. not sure, why it is. guess i've never felt it with them. however, it evening playing a board game i've never played was fine. turned in once it was all over.

Day 9

officially last day of work before the winter break. i stayed home again. spent the whole day working on montecarlo stuff. i never liked the project. just hoping the client for this project doesn't call over the break.

went to the gym and continued my simulated triathlon, in a different order this time. the pool was full when i arrived and went on the treadmill first. the pool emptied out after the run, so when in the pool followed by the stationary bike. calves where very sore after the workout. wonder if i should cool it down and/or stretch, which i hardly ever do.

went to see 'up in the air' with tom. it had good reviews, and i thoroughly enjoyed the movie. it was a good story that was plainly told and that's what i like. tom is a good movie pal. don't usually see him often, but i believe the past couple times, we went to see a movie.

Day 8

i stayed at home for work today. mostly spent the time working on montecarlo stuff. think i found the solution to the problem, though there's still something that's off. i'm hoping it's not from my end, but from the other end of the application that i'm not responible for. we shall see...

also, did treasurer work for the condo association. i'm also behind with that. i'm definately not wanting to do this again.

went to the gym and had a pretty good workout. did my simulated triathlon again. the run always seems the most difficult part of it.

met up with leland and jerry for happy hour at the metropolitain grill. it was pretty busy there so we had to wait for a table. once we got a table the food, service was good. unusual happy hour experience was that they did not have drink specials, just food and a drink purchase was required. the burger was good and big, split that with jerry. i think that was the best item that was ordered. wasn't sure, but thought it might be just leland and i because that had happen before. it was good to have jerry there, though i know jerry through leland and him it's a bit easier. maybe because leland is more the social type than jerry. since the two were heading to capitol hill, they gave me a ride back. they came up to my place where leland and i had a glass of cognac. their dog yugi also came along and was in my place. i normally don't like dogs, but i guess they're always nice to me, letting their dog roam my place for a short while can't be too bad. afterall the place really hasn't been cleaned for quite some time. they left and i was quite bored and a bit buzzed from the cognac. ended up just cleaning my room, watched something on hulu.com and went to bed.

Day 7

it was a monday and every monday morning i have a 7:30 am meeting which i absolutely hate being it so early on a monday after the weekend. it was canceled for this monday and got to sleep in. felt so nice. had lunch with phong at work, i may have ate too much and asked for too many stars at the thai restaurant. i could eat it, but it left a lingering feeling in my stomach all afternoon. i had forgotten my gym bag, so i drove straight home after work. i was thinking about going to the lynnwood gym after work since it's on the way. probably best i did not since the exits to the gym and alderwood mall was pretty congested. so came home and was debating weather to go to the gym right away or eat and go later in the evening. since my stomach was feeling full from lunch, i didn't need to eat, so went to the gym. surprisingly i had a lane to myself in the pool for the time i was there. this was typical gym rush hour, after work. so, it was a good work out with swim, bike and run. came home and saw that ryon had messaged me to hang out. i was sure if i wanted to hang out with him because i wanted to get some of the treasury work done for the condo since i'm a bit behind and maybe do some work work. i think him being so young and not know many gay people, he could use a friend to hang out with. after all, he's just in town for a couple weeks and back to school he goes. so, he come by my place and we have no idea what to do. simon mentions gay skate in bellevue. it was perfect, i insisted everyone went. simon was probably a bit hesitant thinking he might be the third wheel, but ryan and i aren't a pair. so, we all went and everyone had fun. we stayed until the last song.

Day 6

yesterday was quite productive, accomplist most of what i wanted (didn't visit dad was the only thing). today was not very productive. i don't think i was aiming too high but it probably started to fall when i got out of bed late. though i did wanted to sleep in. seems i sleep better and able to sleep in with ear plugs. i don't consider my place as particularly loud, but i guess the cars driving by does affect my sleep.

anyways, got out of bed and went to the gym. not very accomplished there with a total of about 35 minutes of actual exercise when the past week it's been over an hour for each work out, at least. we'll try back to over an hour next time.

came home, dinked around on the computer and took my time taking a shower and get my day started. i was thinking i would leave my place around 1pm, when i didn't leave until 2pm. went out to my alki townhouse to check it out and see if nancy still wanted her furnance filter changed. i did that for her. on the way there, i called zaide to talk to her since i didn't have time to see her this weekend. i was thinking about seeing her once school was over, but her being in tacoma makes it difficult when i don't want to drive down there. so, we have tenative plans to hang out new years' eve during the day. also called tom to make movie plans, tenative plans for wednesday to see up in the air. later on called leland to for happy hour plans on tuesday. that's pretty much most of the week filled with thursday/friday being christmas eve and christmas day. i did miss jeff fuke's call. i had called him last thursday and left a message. i was starting to think he wasn't going to call back, but it i was glad he at least called back, but does suck that i missed his call. tried calling back but got his voice mail again. oh well. walked to downtown to return 2 of the 3 pair of shoes i bought a few weeks earlier from aldo online. came home and did some work to release code to production. was thinking i would look into montecarlo stuff for work and treasury stuff for the condo but never got around to it. i did put up the orange lights around the bay window, looks good; and cleaned u the kitchen a bit. the other work stuff will have to do later this week, hopefully no one will notice, especially montecarlo stuff for boeing work. also talked to glenn, haven't talked or chatted online with him since finishing my final. did talk to ryon a bit too. almost met up with him in downtown. he was planning on taking the bus to downtown on a sunday night. didn't seem like a good idea, good thing he didn't follow through with it. i would have driving him home if he actually did make out to downtown.

Day 5

it was a pretty packed day. woke up, went to the gym with a good, long workout. i was able to do my simulated triathlon at the gym with a swim in the pool, stationary bike and treadmill all in about an hour and 20 mins. i'll have to work in increase that time to build up my endurance.

i skipped visiting my dad at the nursing home because i got out of the gym a little later than i thought, so i just went home to bellevue to visit my mom. i think i was being particularly difficult at home, i was complaining about a lot of stuff. there was no heat and i, in a raised voice, why she doesn't do anything but let the house get cold. she called my brother but he said he wouldn't come the next day. my mom really doesn't mind a cold house, she normally keeps in the mid 60s. i fixed it since it was just a battery change in the thermostat. also complained about a couple other stuff and changed them to how i though it would be. took her to target to buy some boxed chocolates and cookies for the staff at the nursing home. i was complaining a bit about her too. i dunno why...

went to redmond town center to see avatar at gold class cinemas with tyler and his posse which included sean and eriq. i had only met eriq once before and i dunno. i thought he's attractive and seems like a nice guy. i might have held back a bit, maybe a bit nervous. the movie and the experience at gold class cinemas was excellent. once you get checked in, they seat you in a lobby area with couches and with menus to look over. after a short while, they escort you to the movie theater where everyone gets a recliner seat. i ordered a glass of neat cognac and a chicken picata sandwhich. pillows were also provided on request, which i did. this was all treated by tyler as a holiday gift. fabulous.

afterwards, i had made plans with pan. i wanted to check out a play in fremont where it was performing british panto style of aladdin. had never seen or heard of panto style, so i wanted to check it out. panto seems to be a play where the audience interacts with the stage actors. the show was alright, but we really didn't get into so we left during intermission and went to cedars in the u. district for dinner. cedars is good food, but the service felt a bit rushed when they had other empty tables. PW and i went back to my place to wait a bit to head out to the bars/clubs. we went to purr first, there weren't many people in there, not the crowd we expected. after a drink, i had another cognac, we checked out the lobby, a new gay bar in town. it seemed a nice cozy place to hang out with drinks. no dance floor. we turned in early since i really wasn't feeling going to the cuff and stay late. i probably should be going to places like that just for the slim chance i may meet someone instead of going online, but still wanted to turn in early. maybe next weekend.

Day 4

being a friday, i worked from home like all fridays. with some work done, i started on a doing some treasury work. sheryl, the previous treasurer had offered some help and it turned out to be good assistance. didn't get to finish everything i wanted to do since i also wanted to go to the gym. it was nice not to have to share a lane with someone in the pool, and i was in it for quite some time too. cut the workout short a bit cuz had to meet up with jennifer at the brooklyn for happy hour. it was a good long swim even though the workout was short. happy hour at the brooklyn with JD was fun. i was a bit nervous because we don't hang out often and i had just seen her during thanksgiving break so was worried we wouldn't have much to talk about. however, JD was great and very engaging. so yeah, the food at the brooklyn was good, but having JD there was even better. i mentioned that i should do happy hour more often since i work at home on fridays and she said we should do it every month. i would enjoying hanging out with her again, but again i'm nervous because our friendship is more based on my friendship with her sister. but i said i would contact her after the new year and i'm pretty sure i will. came home and got ready to meet up with sam who i had been chatting with on a4a. unfortunately, i was not attracted to him and the time with him at dillante was just okay for me. he was quite inquisitive and at times it bugged me a bit. it may be possible that if i was a bit more attracted to him i would have been more easy going. afterwards, i went home, went online and got ready for bed.

Day 3

it was a work day and i'm just counting down to the winter break boeing has. it's difficult to get much done when you're waiting for that time off, but patient i'll have to be. being a thursday, i went home to visit my mom after work. had dinner there also. also went to the nursing home to visit my dad after my mom. it's been my thursday routine for quite some time. on the way home from the nursing home, makena called and since i was about to pass his place, i stopped by. initially thought i would have a drink of wine with him but remembered that i wanted to go to the gym later that evening and had to opt for just water at his place. he baked some cookies and even though i didn't want any, i took some home for later enjoyment. it was nice to talk to makena since we haven't really hung out and talked for sometime since for school and what not. it's too bad he's going to be busy the following weekend and off to east coast. wont' be able to hang out with him during the weekend until after the new year. but it was good to hang out with him talk to him. came home afterwards and headed to the gym.

Day 2

went to work today, and was somewhat productive. there was a bug that shows up now and then that i couldn't figure out what was going on, but was able to finish a couple task for another client on another project. went to lynnwood 24hour gym after work. came home and got ready for dinner with ryon, andrew and andrew's friend keith at blue c sushi at the university village. ryon came to my place and we went together. i had not seen him since he left for college in september. i thought he looked pretty good, little bit better than how i remembered him. andrew thought he looked the same. it was my first time meeting andrew's friend keith, that's why i don't know his last initial. keith seemed pretty quiet and ryon is always pretty quite, so andrew and i were the most vocal which is a bit odd. i'm usually the quiet on in the group. it was a good dinner though. after dinner RP and i went to b&o for a piece of cake and he had some tea. as mentioned, ryon is very quiet, so i have to step up to keep the conversation going which wasn't so bad. he just needs a bit of a prompt and he talks. ryon is back home from school on his winter break and i told him i'll also be on winterbreak from work and i'll have some time to hang out. we may hang out before he heads back to school. we'll see...

Day 1

This, December 15, feel like the beginning of my winter break this year. The pressure of school is off and that's what has been weighing me down these past few months, at least that's how I feel. Being a Tuesday, I worked at home. It's always nice to work at home since I don't have to wake up as early to drive to the office. In fact, I slept in later than I usually do on a work at home day. tyler contacted me and wanted to get together since I've been avoiding hanging out with him (and many others) due to school. I had the evening free, so I suggested we go that night. We went to a Thai place on Broadway that he likes, I was feeling picky that evening. He did seem a bit sad since he had broken up with his boyfriend of about 4 years just a week or two ago. He didn't bring up the situation of the break-up and I didn't ask. I think if it had came up, I probably would ask a few stuff, but I didn't want to be nosey. Afterwards, I kinda felt like having a glass of wine, so he suggested we go into the wine shop next to my building. He picked out a German Riesling. Back to my place, we chilled it in the freezer and drank some of my cognac while the wine was chilling. I had opened my last bottle, cuz he kept bringing it up. The last bottle of cognac I have is a bottle of Courvoisier. I think the other one I had previously was a Remy Martin. I think the Remy Martin was better. The Courvoisier was a bit sweeter, but didn't go down as smooth as the Remy Martin. The German Riesling was quite sweet and pretty smooth going down. It was quite smooth and with the sweetness almost felt like it was juice. Although, I thought it was really good, surprised me a bit, the juice like factor was a bit curious to me. So, it was nice to hang out with tyler, but it was a bit uneasy for me at times because he strongly suggest we should travel somewhere. The thought of travelling with someone makes me quite nervous because it really test the relationship, which I am usually do not want to do.

Day 0

I wasn't going to count this day. Since it was the day of my final and I didn't think I would do anything but go home after my final and just chill out. On my way home I called a couple people and one of them was troy. I knew he also had finals and should be finishing up and would have some free time afterwards. We talked on the phone while I was driving home and I was about to ask him to dinner sometime during the week until he beat me to it. He actually asked me to get something to eat that night. Even though I had already eaten and don't really like last minute plans, I said yes. We tried to go to Samurai Ramen next to Uwajimaya, but it had just closed being 8pm. We ended up going to Tutta Bella in Georgetown. The pizza was good, but overall I was a bit thought it was just pretty good. I guess its reputation is very difficult to live up to. Hanging out with troy was good, it never difficult to get along with him. He usually has something to say. A bit of me wanted to go back to his apartment with him, but he didn't invite me in. I probably could have if I had hinted or said something, but I did not. Not that I wanted to start something again, but I just wanted to. It was a good evening after the final non-the-less.