on the money

from Guy Kawasaki's blog: I could not agree more.

If you want additional proof that we’re in a bubble, here it is: young people are trying to get into the venture capital business again. I get several emails a week along these lines:

I’m about to graduate from college where I majored in economics. I’ve always been interested [what does “always” mean for a twenty-something year old, but I digress...] in business and entrepreneurship and ran my school’s entrepreneurship club. I’ve been working as an analyst for Goldman, Sachs, and now I’d like to get into the venture capital business to further my understanding of entrepreneurship and to help startups achieve success by tapping into my knowledge base. I am adept with PowerPoint, Excel, and PhotoShop.

They see a wonderful job: going to cocktail parties and networking events, flying in private jets, and getting sucked up to by entrepreneurs while pulling down a base salary of $500,000/year plus a piece of the upside of selling a YouTube for $1.6 billion. Who wouldn’t want such a job? (Frankly, I would too.)

First, a rare moment of Guy-Kawasaki humility: I am by no means “proven” as a venture capitalist. I’ve been in this game for about ten years, but I don’t have the mega-hit that “makes” a fund. Thus, I may not be a source of good advice about getting into this business, but when has the lack of knowledge stopped a blogger?

Regardless, here’s my advice to all the Biffs, Sebastians, Brooks, and Tiffanys who want to be kingmakers:

Venture capital is something to do at the end of your career, not the beginning. It should be your last job, not your first.

My theory is that when you’re young, you should work eighty hours a week to create a product or service that changes the world. You should not sit in board meetings listening to an entrepreneur explaining why she missed her numbers while you read email on a Blackberry and intermittently spew forth gems like, “You should partner with MySpace; I can also introduce you to a few of the losers in our portfolio.”

Furthermore, entrepreneurs should view any young person who opted for venture capital over “real world” experience with contempt. Why would you want advice from someone whose background consists of working in a college bookstore or cranking spreadsheets at an investment bank? Financial models are almost totally irrelevant because there’s no financial wizardry involved in making a good product and selling the heck out of it.

hear hear

From an article i read today in informationweek.com magazine:
(okay, so maybe i'm a geek, a little bit)

"One of the biggest challenges of Web2.0 is how to define and improve the user experience. The challenge is to amaze and delight users, give them what they want, and surprise them with stuff they didn't know they wanted."

So please, stop starting new photosharing communities!

just for me

my alarm is going off, omg, what is that noise?? i roll over, grab blindly for my blackberry and push a button, any button. it's 5:52am. i never set my alarm clock at a multiple of five, it gives me more time to snooze. slowly, my senses start to wake up, i moan and turn and curl up, no, don't ring yet, be silent, stay dark, let me sleep - "do-do-do-do-do-do-do bzzbzzbzzbzz" - damn the vibrate and ring mode. ten minutes have passed already. but it's 6:02 now isn't it? ha, i have four more minutes until 6:05. i am a genius.

but for two weeks now, i've been doing it - Monday through Friday. (i know that's not very long, but hey, i can barely do anything everyday for two whole weeks!) it's still dark outside, i stumble into the bathroom, brush my teeth, change, throw my work clothes in my bag, and don't forget the shoes so i'm not wearing flip flops with workclothes... and off i go. and you know what? i love it. driving to work after practice at 8am, i have plenty of time, i stop in at il fornaio for a 2% latte, one shot - just enough for the health benefits, but not so much that it'll shoot me to the moon. i shower at work and i'm at my desk by quarter to nine. perfect.

but most importantly? it's just for me. this insane routine of waking up before the sun has, getting in a room with 25+ other ppl much more dedicated and much more advanced than i am, completely shutting off my brain, shutting off the outside world, and focusing only on my body and my breath. (do i sound like a junkie yet? ;)

i spend much of my life doing things for other people, consciously or subconsciously. and don't get me wrong, i like most all the things i do, but rarely is it just for me. stanford - best decision of my life - but clearly not just for me. church, religion, piano, music - all building blocks of my life who make me who i am today, but much moreso for my mother. banking, venture, my career, my future - are these for me? perhaps, but i'm not so sure. where i will live, who i will share my life with, choices and more choices - all of those must take into account different people. losing weight, eating, i could go on and on. and like i said, there are parts of everything that i do enjoy and do for myself, but not just for myself. so i have always found little things to fill my life with, to in part create a hodgepodge of twinklings that are simply and sweetly to my fancy.

and yoga every morning? it is just that. two hours of my very own time, in which i'm focused, working, disciplined, and silent. and the reprieve, rush and accomplishment i feel afterwards. it's like buying an expensive handbag, finding a brilliant pair of shoes, exploring the streets of London, baking chocolate bread pudding and spiced cream from scratch, gingerbread lattes and pumpkin pie - but with none of the guilt, and so much more productivity and some pretty good health benefits. so let's see if it lasts. i really hope it does. but damn, am i tired by 10pm.

highway robbery

WARNING: THE ABOVE PRODUCT IS DECEPTIVELY EXPENSIVE. VIEW PRICE TAG BEFORE PURCHASE.

Or you will fall into the same mistake I did: going home with a $20.00 jar of fancy peanut butter, aka almond butter. Fine it tastes a lot better, and it's better for you, but not $15 better. I mean, hell, organic peanut butter is already damn expensive.

And let me tell you, I will savor every lick of it. And, no, I'm certainly not sharing.

;)

learning

i haven't been very busy at work recently, so i've been voraciously reading about yoga. iyengar, ashtanga, mysore,desikachar, paris, you name it. it's fascinating.

something i read today: "...for him the practice was about being at the wall. If you take away the wall, or spend your time trying to figure out how to remove the wall, you have completely missed the point. Maybe, maybe hopefully, this is about your mind, and soul, and something a little deeper than how to get your fingers to touch.....And things are meant to happen here, not over days, but over months. That’s what makes them lived and experienced, not told or spoken."

there's something possessive about ashtanga. it's bizarre.

austin

this post is a tribute to my baby brother. who is clearly no longer so little anymore. so i signed up for facebook, bc i was curious to see what the phenomenon really is. and the only person i really knew to invite, was, hmmm, my brother. so he accepts me and suddenly i have access to his profile. and his profile picture? look -->
i knew he'd been working out and taking all these weird protein supplements over the summer, but i didn't realize he was obsessed with his biceps. i mean, the guy is skinny. he has a leaner frame than i do, and is simply naturally thinner - he doesn't keep on weight, and muscle even less so. if only he studied as much as he worked out. but then again, if i studied as much as i did yoga these days, i'd probably get an 800.

now here is a picture of him from high school. note the backdrop - the ocean behind the cliffs, a palm tree in the front yard of his friend clay's house. he grew up with that, friends taking him to wailea every year, posh posh posh.... i only fell into that when i got older. it makes us a little different, in some ways. but he's the youngest, he's allowed to be spoiled and idealistic and clueless.
this last one is him and his best friend. he may look all grown up, but he's still the sweet little softy inside. just look at that smile.

faithfulness

a character trait that i value very much: faithfulness. not so much specifically in the marriage, boy/girl relationship sense (which of course i do as well!), but more so in the religious use of the word, but used in the context of friends. that sounds highly confusing, i know - that's why i'm trying to write it down so i can figure out what i mean.

in dictionary.com, the word is defined as follows:
faith‧ful [feyth-fuhl] –adjective
1. strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker.
2. true to one's word, promises, vows, etc.
3. steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant: faithful friends.
4. reliable, trusted, or believed.
5. adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate: a faithful account; a faithful copy.
6. full of faith; believing.

and so i think my definition of faithful revolves mostly around (3) and (4). to me, being steady in affection and loyal to my close friends is extremely important. and vice versa. i look for reliable people, ppl i can depend on, ppl who will listen to and love me through the ridiculousness of life, and still believe (see def (6)) and know why we are friends. and i look to do the same.

but you know, human nature simply isn't like that, is it? we are too selfish, too judging to actually love and live like that. and so i think it's rare, rare and special just to find a few ppl who you can call faithful - faithful friends and faithful to you. and so i guess i strive for that, but can i ever succeed? those who are true, they will be there for you. but those who are not? in your times of ick, should you hurt their feelings, break their moral codes - *poof* - they go byebye. and those friends? they are not faithful. and in response, i have no desire to be in return. that makes me unfaithful too.

mysore

i went to my first mysore yoga class in CA today. i've only been to two others - one during a yoga weekend in Surrey when i was still living in the UK, and one at the studio i used to go to in Notting Hill. so basically mysore is the ashtanga series (primary, secondary, tertiary etc by however advanced you are) at your own pace. so in essence, it's not even really a class. everyone is doing their own thing, one guy doing a headstand in the corner, another lying on the floor, some other chick trying to balance her legs on her arms. it's silent but for the unified noise of the breath and the occasional jump back and through. classes are meant to be held before dawn, and the instructors watch, modify and adjust your poses as you do them.

so it's very disciplined but totally unstructured at the same time - you have to wake up super early, and you're supposed to practice everyday. the teacher stops you in the series where he thinks you've had enough and you build upon your practice from thereon everyday. it's actually kind of ego bruising for some ppl...ehem, like me. but apparently you get addicted. so we'll see. i'll admit, i didn't love it, and i'm a little tired - but it feels good to work out in the mornings. there's actually only half a dozen or so studios in the entire bay area that offer this type of yoga (it's pretty hard to find yoga instructors who are willing to hold class 6 days a week for 2 hours at 6am), so i'm lucky to live so close to one.

but ultimately, i like it because:
(1) you get more personalized attention, and so i think you learn more. and when you learn more, you learn more quickly.
(2) you have to use your brain - led classes you simply listen to the voice of the teacher, here you forget the pose and you're left looking a bit stupid
(3) i like being touched. i realize that sounds kind of dirty ;P, but really, i'm an affectionate person. and i just really like the concept of having someone physically adjust you to the point where it pushes you outside your comfort zone

so let's see if i can go to bed earlier and wake up at the butt crack of dawn. i doubt it, but hey, stranger things have happened. it helps to set goals for yourself. so mine? i want to be able to do unassisted backbends and headstands without thinking i'm going to die. and then i want to go to india, here.

oh, and here's a picture of my favorite yoga teacher, a quirky french ex-investmt banker/trader turned IT web developer yoga guy. he teaches a super led primary series class on friday and sat mornings.

dry spell

it's been almost two months since i last blogged. crazeee. i don't really have anything interesting to write about, i realized. but i like that. when i don't have anything interesting, it means my life is going nicely along it's nice boring little path. but then again, maybe not. my life is anything but boring. :)

so i went to two venture conferences this week. and i never cease to be amazed at how many white guys there are in this industry. white guys and nothing else. i mean, nothing against them, i actually like them very much myself ;P (that sounds funny) - but i wish i could have taken a picture when i was there. entire roomfuls of men wearing blue jackets, khakis and button down shirts, checking their crackberries and pretending to be real important. i like sticking out like a sore thumb, it makes me feel special. scary thing is, all the women who are there are just plan freaky looking. so what would you choose? to be a freaky woman or to be part of the old boys club???

emails from my mom

classic. this one's from today:
---
Hi:
I was good seeing you over the weekend. Thanks for coming home to see Austin.
I remembered you went to a check up recently. How was the result? Is your blood sugar, cholesterol OK? My family has history of Diabetes. My cousin Sunny has been diagnosed with it after the diving accident. He has since lost about 20 pound to control it. I love you that is why I am bugging you to see a nutritionist. No matter what your size we will always love you. We want to see you happy and healthy. You are our super star and super girl and always in control and super discipline. It certainly does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how to balance your food intake to balance or reduce a little weight. Even Austin could figure that out. You should not deprive yourself of any particular food but just cut down in portion. If you are still hungry munch on things that are low in calories, like cucumber, carrot sticks, celery sticks. OK
Love, Mommy

strange facts about my life

so my windshield wiper fluid is clearly some alcoholic soap concoction. but every time i use it to spray my windshield, i get this small burst windshield fluid smell in my car through the air vents. and you know what's really weird? to me, that smell to me is reminiscent of my father's breath when i was growing up as a kid. i think that's a telltale sign that my dad drinks too much. either that, or he drinks too much audi window wiping fluid.

second thing? i've been flying these cross country flights to nyc a lot recently. and during those trips i've realized that i like to watch movies with no sound. it let's you run your creative juices a little. you should all try it.

milk

on my second glass of milk today. i've been trying to drink a glass of milk everyday. never grew up on it, come on, i'm chinese. we drink soy milk. but i've heard that you stop absorbing calcium in your bones once you hit 30. so, dude, i better get on it. the problem is, one cup of milk is only 35% of your daily calcium need. so somehow, i need to get the other 65% some other way. so i've been on one glass of milk, and one cup of yogurt (25% DV) everyday for a while now, but still that's only 60% of my daily need! it's really hard. so i've just had a brownie. and another glass of milk. and so today, for the first time ever, i'm 95% there. all i need to do is swallow a fish bone tonight, and i'm sure i'll be over 100% DV.

and for those of you who are thinking what i think you might be thinking? i can't take calcium pills. they screw up my tummy.

and on another milk note? i bought homemade soy milk this past weekend from a taiwanese drink store. i bought a gallon of it. and you know what it did over the w/e in our fridge? the entire thing curdled. like curdled into sour tofu, coagulated, gelatinous soy-chunk-solid. it was so fascinating. i almost wanted to eat it to see what it tasted like. it looked so much like sweet tofu - i really don't know how to say it in english - it really looked like dou fu fa. yum.

my first perm...

block my histamines!

so i had an allergic reaction to a sunscreen this weekend. at first i thought it was just my skin's normal over-reaction to too much sun, but as my face became more and more like an android's from star trek - i realized that it was the ultra expensive, supposedly posh sunscreen that was making me break out into hives that is making me look like a pre-pubescent pimply faced alien/teenager. and not only is it on my face, but all over my arms and leg and tummy - and you know where the only place i'm allergy free? my back. that's how i know it's the sunscreen. because i'm incapable of rubbing myself down, and don't have a hot guy to do it for me - but you know what? it's a good thing too! otherwise i would have had these hive-ies everywhere, and couldn't have pinned it down to the sunscreen.

so for those of you with sensitive skin? don't ever buy fresh's SPF 30 sunscreen. i'm going to spot test my skin after i get better to figure out exactly if that was what it was. and i'm also comparing all the active ingredients with the current sunscreens i have. heehee.

and on a totally random note, why are ppl who water office plants always complete weirdos? i guess i have a sample set of three, but all office-plant-water-guys i've ever come across are just really s-t-r-a-n-g-e. like the one at db in SF? he consistently had his hair in braids. and not only in braids, but pigtail braids. AND he SMELLED. like, really smelled. seriously, i don't think the guy showered for months. it was impressive. office-plant-water-guy in london, just a bizarre old english man who liked to talk to everyone. office-plant-water-guy in menlo park? he looks (and acts) like the hunchback of notre dame. but gay. can you imagine the hunchback of notre dame seeming gay and acting very interested in the growth of your household plants? it's bizarre, i tell you.

my unassisted video post

so we took a roadtrip up to clearlake, ca this weekend. now that i think about it, the lake wasn't so clear, but it was so much fun nonetheless. i had several firsts, more than i've had in a while - fishing, grilling, setting off fireworks, swimming in a lake. i think that's it. and now this is my first unassisted videoegg post. i'm proud.

so to make a long story short, between the four of us, we caught one fish. we saw fish jumping out of the lake, we saw a six year old girl catch fish. two, actually. we saw old men catch around a dozen. but we caught one. at two in the morning, nonetheless. and then gutting it and cooking it. now that's another story altogether.

but this is our fish. our very own crappie.

I heart Barney(s)

Barneys plans to dress up Union Square

Enough said.

Yay!

it's hot

OMG. It's freaking 100 degrees out there. My car thermometer says it's 107 to be precise, but I think my car is like me - we overheat easily.

So as I was walking to my favorite PA boutique (god, how yuppy is that?) I stumbled upon this totally shishi gym VIVRE - it looked really nice and they have all these cool classes, like Funky Cardio Grooves, Abs&Arms, Pilates etc - so I let them take me on a tour so I could get free passes. And while I was checking out their posh bathroom, I saw a postcard for their florist. As I had walked into the gym, I thought to myself, "Wow, those flowers in the lobby are gorgeous" -- and as I picked up the postcard advertising wedding flowers and event planning, I realized that the florist was the same florist I'd worked for in college! Check it out. Now that is the life. This woman, her father funded her intial fower and wine shop in downtown menlo park. I worked there for about two years while I was still at Stanford, and a few years after I graduated, I wanted to see if it was still around. Turns out that Amanda had shut the store down to have babies - she didn't really need the money anyways. And now that she's had her kids, she's back at it - but this time from home, and only weddings and special events. There's no address on her postcard, just a P.O. Box - and her husband, I remember meeting him, clearly didn't care what she did with her time. What a life. She makes beautiful arrangements though, I tell you. Just the way I do. ;)

Another thing: the boutique I ended up at? They expanded upstairs. The upstairs room? An entire room of $50 t-shirts. Seriously, every t-shirt in there is at least $50. Super soft, but super ridiculous. That's California for you.

After I went shopping through the sale rack and found nothing to my liking, I decided to walk to Whole Foods and get a smoothie. Walking over there, I realized that I was literally mosying down the sidewalk. Funny thing is, when I first moved back from London, my roomie was telling me how fast I walked. And here I am, basking in the sun, window-shopping, mosying down the sidewalk to pick up a smoothie, blueberries and an acidophilus drink at Whole Foods during my lunch break. This is home, as I know it.

I'm wearing spectacular shoes today. Sergio Rossi ruby red patent leather platforms. That may sound trashy, but let me tell you, they're beautiful. I'm so glad I went against my mother's advice and bought them last Christmas.

Some pics of FunBuns and the Cho sisters when they visited Memorial Day.

schmilicon valley

sometimes i hate the bay area. no, i take that back. sometimes i hate downtown palo alto. take lunch today, for example. i had lunch with the guy running DFJ's new late stage fund. at lunch, we run into his ex-boss, head of broadview investment banking. at the table around the corner, CEO of analog devices. table next to us? someone mouthing off about summit partners. i drive out of the parking lot, and who do i see in the bmw next to me on hamilton ave? an associate from NEA. and to top it all off? the plant watering guy for our offices is crossing the street to water the plants at some other venture firm.

welcome to the all incestuous white boys club.

back home

So I've been gone for two weeks. Actually, more than two weeks - two weeks and a day. Back in Europe, some for work, most for pleasure. At first, it was a bit weird, walking around my neighborhood, seeing friends, going to the old office - but after day one, it's just as if i were living there all over again. Bizarre how adaptable your mind is, isn't it?

It was fab weather almost the whole time I was there. My goal? To run in Hyde Park. In my almost two years there, I never once even attempted to run anywhere, let alone Hyde Park. So this time around, staying at a hotel directly across the street from the park... success! I did a little jog one afternoon, wearing my Stanford butt-shorts and listening to Wicked. I feel so accomplished.

A few park pictures, one of them is from a park in Paris - can you tell which one? And by the way, all of these photos were taken from my cell phone. Amazing how advanced technology is. And apparently, we're invested in a company that makes camera module chips for cellphones. Like super high quality stuff. I want one of those.

So this picture is horrible, but on my way to the bathroom at Heathrow, I came across the multi-faith prayer room. It's great. In Europe, they're so liberal, everywhere. At the airport? Smoking room. Non-smoking room. Internet room. Multi-faith prayer room. Duty free whisky buying room. Bath room. It's awesome.

money money money

Dude, there is a lot of money out there. And it's going to some freaking weird places. Look at NEA's most recent investment in China. Baihe.com. I want to be like that couple, so so much - don't you?

Now check this out. Tutorvista.com: a startup that screens Indian tutors and then offers their services online to Americans and Brits. Pricing? $19.99 per hour or $99.99 per month for unlimited tutor access. Sequoia invested in their Series A yesterday. So much for extra spending money from tutoring off Craigslist.

And now, one last gadget that got $7m of financing this week as well. An outdoor sink/garden house winder. The company has 88% market share of the US automatic hose rewinding market. Sweet.



Ohohoh! One more thing. I feel super Web1.0 for opting for Wine Spectator Online, when I found corkd today. Oh well. Now we can use both. Audrey is better at documenting our wines than I am anyhow. But their traffic? Corkd is outgrowing Wine Spectator by leaps and bounds.

No more talking shop for a while. Back to my typical ditzy girl stuff.
---

So I just went and browsed around corkd. They don't have nearly the database that WS has. So now I don't feel so bad for being suckered into paying my yearly subscription.

memorial day wkend

haven't posted much recently... been busy, lots of ppl visiting, seeing friends, catching up on life. it's beautiful weather in calfornia, isn't it?

shopping

i spend too much money. i used to have this automatic savings mechanism on my savings acct, and a few months ago i had to turn it off. and now, not only do i not save, i usually need to dip into my savings bc my credit card bills are too high.

bad. i need to learn fiscal responsibility.

i also found a new boutique in PA today. it's cute. i got a pair of black 'skinny' jeans. i think they're a bit 80s and fashion forward (or backwards) even for me ;) - but the salesgirl convinced me. you need a certain body type to wear skinny jeans, and i figure hey, i'm not going to have it forever, so i better take advantage of it now, while i can. so now i just have to wear them.

oh, and my dressing style? i've fully reverted back to california attire. i dressed up lots more when i was living in london, weekends were always my time to wear trendy, cute, funky, ridiculous clothing. but now, that stuff just doesn't fly. instead i buy $50 cotton tees and wear those. with skinny jeans. strange how much your environment affects you.

"white flight"

This article is fascinating.

I don't think I'd send my children to a school with tons of first generation asians. Generally, I think it's true that they come from families that are excessively competitive and driven, and hence, a little bit unbalanced. But at the same time, those are probably the same things that drive you to succeed, when you're a naive youngling with no idea about life and what to do. Well, I doubt I'll ever live in a city with a >40%+ asian population, so I'm not worried. And per my own experience, I support private school education. The granola-y, liberal, horse-riding, potsmoking kind. Not the Harvard-Westlake kind.

But then again I also agree with the quote I just pulled. White ppl aren't afraid of competing against themselves. Just if someone else is squeezing them out.

"To many of Cupertino's Asians, some of the assumptions made by white parents -- that Asians are excessively competitive and single-minded -- play into stereotypes. Top schools in nearby, whiter Palo Alto, which also have very high test scores, also feature heavy course loads, long hours of homework and overly stressed students, says Denise Pope, director of Stressed Out Students, a Stanford University program that has worked with schools in both Palo Alto and Cupertino. But whites don't seem to be avoiding those institutions, or making the same negative generalizations, Asian families note, suggesting that it's not academic competition that makes white parents uncomfortable but academic competition with Asian-Americans."

sun

i got sunburnt at lunch today. my job is pretty cool. but then again, it's 8pm and i'm still here. i'm going home.

byebye.

bizarre morning incidents

as a child i listened to the classical music radio station everyday on the way to school. and so now, as i drive to work, i naturally go to the classical music station as a faint reminder of those days. and i think i just like listening to classical in the mornings. but you know what? everyday now for almost a month, whenever i go to 102.1, they're playing freaking commercials. commercials commercials and more commercials. it makes me so angry. anyone who knows me knows that i hate commercials. i hate excess noise, and commercials are excess noise. it's incredible how media companies make money.

i also realized that i'm very sensitive to little things. aka - i think i'm a control freak. when things don't go my way, i get very upset. today, as i was driving from a breakfast meeting to work i just randomly started crying. frustrated that i have no control over my life, that there's so much uncertainty, that even when i try so hard to make things the way i want it other things and other ppl just go and f*ck it all up. and then i got a grip.

ran into an ex- on the street today. i haven't seen him in almost five years. he's married now, and things btw us didn't end well, to say the least. so there i was, walking down the street in downtown PA - i see him and i do this doubletake. i'd always wondered why i haven't run into him yet since i've moved back, and there he was, walking with some other random guy, maybe an interview, maybe not. he looked the same, wearing the same bright blue shirt, khaki cargo pants and new fobby glasses. we made brief eye contact, i opened my mouth to say hello and raised my hand to wave at him when i realized that he was simply going to walk by as if he had NEVER SEEN ME BEFORE in his life. And that's exactly what he did. shocked as i was, it didn't really surprise me. now my coworker just thinks i have turrets. but i saw him. that's pretty cool. he's thinner now. shorter than i remembered. i'm glad i looked cute today. and i'm glad he's happy. and that's life.

sunshine!

summer has come. here in california, we've gone straight from winter to summer. this weekend it was 95 degrees. 95 degrees! and so i had a lovely time soaking up the sun and making the most of this bay area suburban life.

saturday: went to the gym. made breakfast burritos at home. went hiking by sanborne creek. 6 miles - aren't you proud of me? i'm proud of me. napped after our hike. decided we were too lazy to go to kfog party in sf. instead had porridge in cupertino and watched canton pop videos while eating fobby milk pudding and drinking weird chinese herbal teas until past midnight. watched good night, and good luck.

sunday: made brunch with the roomies. fire roasted tomato basil and garlic sausages. spinach, mushroom and cheese scramble. blueberry pancakes. watermelon, grapes, and strawberries. and fresh squeezed orange juice. yep, we eat a lot. went car shopping with the roommate. picked a car. went swimming with ian - see below. washed cars outside our house. had dinner at ian's house, where he cooked yummy chinese food. got happily drunk on 2004 vinoci sauvignon blanc and 2001 grgich chardonnay. both daddy's picks. yum.

didn't you want to know what i did this weekend? :)

googles @ the pool

just in case anyone cares, we saw a child poop in the pool yesterday. maybe not poop in the pool, but somewhere near the pool. all i know is, when a naked child runs over to his mother, bends over, has her wipe his poopy butt, put on his poop shorts again and gets back in the pool, i am afraid. very very afraid.

classic

from my lunch yesterday:

CEO: i get calls from 3-4 VCs a week
me: wow
CEO: yeah, we're being pretty picky about who we meet with
me: well, thanks for taking the meeting. i'm flattered
CEO: it always helps if you're a cute girl

stuff like that annoys you when you're my age. but i'm aware of the fact that when i hit my mid-30s, i'll just be pleased if someone says that at all. better work it while i can...

watch my ear get pierced!

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check out this incredibly boring video of when the three of us all got our ears pierced, like i wrote about earlier. it is actually a really boring video, but seriously, videoegg is really cool. great product - it's on my list of companies to watch. may ultimately be a very cool feature, but it's a pretty damn good player.

and so yes, as children - ppl used to go around flaunting their broken heart best friend necklaces, friendship bracelets, BFF songs. i'm a little bit late in my coming of age. but it sure is fun still. it makes you feel young at heart, taking pleasure in these little delights, remembering that there are things to still believe in, that maybe, just maybe, you can trust in a little bit of magic.

bella cella

so we finished our phones yesterday! for those of you who thought the first picture was ours - that was simply a demo picture i took when i was down in LA at the crystal kiosk trying to get the feel for what they should look like. so this one is my roomies. for mine, go check out her blog. they're pretty freaking awesome.

spring has sprung

i found this CD that bev had sent me when i moved back from london. they're all pictures from before i moved. my going away party, my first time to golden gate park (that's where the blossoms are from).

i uploaded them to flickr so i have more pics on my flickr now. i look younger then. life was simpler.

and now my flickr thing on the right should rotate btw more pictures!

google

From siliconbeat today:

"Google sent out a team of 15 people to Olive's Israeli offices (much of the company is over there) for over a week (staying at an expensive hotel), and interviewed each Olive person several times both in person and by phone interviews.

Google also sent a few Olive people abroad (England and US) for interviews because the Google people who needed to interview them hadn't gone to Israel."

Google sent 15 people to Israel to see Olive. Olive has 100 employees in total, so you'd imagine that their Israel offices can't have more than 75 ppl max. Google sent a team of ppl 20% the size of the team they were going to interview - and then still sent Olive employees abroad to interview with Googlers! Incredible. Well, at least they're consistent in company their company culture. As many of us can personally tell you, they'll take you through 15 rounds of interviews and then reject you. Looks like they do the same with their M&A strategy.

Oh, and ipaud and i put swarovski crystals on our cell phones yesterday! They look sooo much cooler than the pic of the ones i took in LA. Once we finish them, I'll post a picture. They are F-O-B-U-L-O-U-S. Okay, maybe just mine is fobulous, audder's is just cool.

First belly dancing class tonight!

forgetful

there was something i wanted to post last week, but never got around to it bc i was too busy. and now i forget. how horrible.

i got a double piercing on my left ear this wkend. my roomie's took a video of the entire experience, but i haven't seen it yet. needles and blood frighten me, and i was pretty nervous. but i really like it. and all three of us got one. so now we're blood brothers. teehee.

and note to self? don't ever work out my calves again. reasons: (1) i don't want big calves, (2) i'm sore for days after, (3) i could spend that time doing other muscles, (4) i don't want big calves.

that was a stupid entry. hopefully i'll remember what i wanted to write and i'll get back.

for ipaud and me...

Present!

i just got a package in the mail! i never get packages in the mail. my friend hannah from hk just sent me the following random stuff. she's the best. she also gave me a present and baked me a gingerbread cake for thanksgiving that said "HAPPY THANKSGIVING, SAM" when i was living in the UK, bc she thought that thanksgiving in the US was just like christmas.

that totally proves my point (see below) on the whole giving thing. that made my day. that's going on my list of things that makes me happy. surprises.

what should i do with a pillow of the US flag? i think i'll put it on my bed. i like pillows.

wkend hodgepodge

last week one of our CEOs told me that the world is my oyster. i understand the gist of what he's saying, but what exactly does that analogy refer to? i guess i don't really understand how oysters function, i just really like to eat them. i'll look it up on wikipedia today.

i was at home in LA this wkend. my papa has always told me that i should find someone 'tender and true' to be with for the rest of my life. he says he's not tender, but he's true. ha. funny enough, it seems near impossible to find both. i also think i'm going to make a list of what is truly important to me/what makes me happy this week. i've been having the dawning suspicion that what makes me happy now may very well not be what makes me happy forever. i think that's the case with everyone, but ultimately, it changes the way you look at the type of person you want to end up with forever. inevitably, i won't be exactly the same person in ten years as i am now - but will a person who says he loves me now still be able to love me as much then as he does now? that, to me is commitment. an ability to do your best to work through difficulties together and preserve this precious thing that you claim to believe in and are willing to work for.

the problem is that i suddenly find myself doubting my ability to judge anyone's true nature. i'm a good judge of character, that, i believe - but we're all self-deceived, and part of the quest of life is figuring out when you are, and learning from it. and so, actions speak louder than words, and maybe even louder than my own intuition. you can't just deny past evidence bc most of the time it speaks from the heart. everytime i've hurt someone, even if i did it unintentionally, i did it bc i simply didn't care enough for that person. and somehow, i think that theory is universal. and that's sad.

but i guess that's where proof of love comes in. we're human, and taking a leap of faith is difficult. you can only reach that pinnacle of belief when you have enough tangible evidence to make that jump. anyone who thinks they are doing it on their own is only being oblivious to the gifts of love all around them. the opposite is true as well. you can only believe for so long without ample proof of love (that threshold of proof, how much you need, is mutually determined within any relationship) - you fall below that threshold and everything goes to hell.

but one thing i do know, i really don't want to wake up when i'm 45, look at the man in my bed next to me and say, "my life sucks. and you've got everything in the world to do with it." i wonder what i'll look like when i'm 45.

that takes me to the subject of giving. i strongly believe that relationships thrive off this concept of giving of yourself. giving love, giving affection, giving time, whatever. that's what makes people feel loved. and wherever there is an imbalance there, a relationship is flawed. i think that if you are able to feel that you've received just as much as you've given - you won't wake up next to someone one day and blame him for any opportunity costs you may have paid along the way. and if you do, then either a) you're totally selfish and neurotic, or b) you were ignorant of your own needs and his ability to meet them. which takes me back to my fervent belief that every choice has it's consequences. and seriously, take responsibility and DEAL WITH IT. it will always be easier to blame circumstances. but i sure as hell am not going to end up with someone who does that by nature.

Carl Jung said that "Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering." I think that's bullsh*t. My neurosis is legitimate suffering. I have a real problem spelling the word legitimate, for some reason. legitamite. legitimite...legitimate. my english real good.

Moblog!!!

Just one more...

this is a "we're slightly hungover, sammy's sick" breakfast at curbside. oh, how delicious is their bourbon-french toast.

and oh, how angelic do my roommates look, as if the heavens were opening up right behind them.

no more pictures

okay, so I am officially retarded at posting photos on my blog, BUT i now figured out how to moblog from my phone and it posts the right size, so until i can figure out how to post photos that are the right size, i'm just going to use my cell phone. yayyayyay. i'm such a dork. but this is so exciting.

on another note, i actually had something meaninful to write this morning, but now i forgot. it had something to do with the dinner i had last night though. i had dinner with one of our ceo's. he thought i was 32-35. can you believe that? in my mid-thirties. i'll chalk it up to my downright maturity. he did. or at least he tried to, to get himself out of the hole he had dug himself into.

but all in all, there are so many things i want to do with my life. but at the same time, i tried to make a list of 50 things i wanted to do for myself in my life - and i couldn't even come up with 50. but they're big things, i guess. things i know i can accomplish, and things i know i could be good at. they are also things i am willing to share with someone, but perhaps not necessarily things i am willing to sacrifice for someone. no, i take that back. things i am willing to change, form and share - sacrifice in a sense - as long as someone else is willing to do the same. but the problem is, all of us are selfish.

i've yet to meet someone who meets that criteria, someone who can put aside himself for a relationship. the funny thing is just how conditional we are though. you might - you even want to - to be able to put aside things, change things to make it work. but once you realize the person you thought you'd be willing to do all that for simply cannot, you take it back. you end up hurt, angry, and vulnerable. but you have to take it back. you can't give of yourself to someone who doesn't want a present. that's a recipe for disaster. it sucks, yes, but then suddenly, before you know it, the door has swung the other way, and maybe it's time to move on. or maybe it's not, but either way, something has to change.

Teehee!

I just moblogged!!! Those are my parents! :)

picture?

did it post? the way i wanted it to?

accomplished

i'm proud of myself. not only did i drink three litres of water today, i did at least half of what i set out to do for mah blog. that makes me happy. now all i have to do is actually write a review on yelp so that the badge works.

but now is time to go home and jim with roomie.

photoblogging

this is fascinating. i'm blogging a photo on flickr. so i actually don't know if there's a point for me to have a flickrstream, bc 1) all my photos on flickr are private, and 2) most my fun pics are on kodakgallery. oh the dilemma. but this flickr thing is way cool.

i like this photo of me. i look like i'm twelve.

things to change

now that I've seen what my blog looks like, these are the things I want to change:

1. add a profile
2. flickrstream
3. yelp sidebar
4. change the pink color
5. change the picture
6. blogbuddies

i think that's it for now. i hope i didn't forget anything. this template is not really representative of who i am, but i have no stinking clue as to how to change it so it does. but it's close enough. and the pictures are all reminiscent of london. good enough for now.

rebirth

Almost a year since I've blogged, no? Ipaud inspired me. But I want to learn to do cool things like put my flickr photos and yelp reviews and stuff like that on the side... But, now we have internet at home, so she can teach me! I'm just going to post this now to see if it works, and how it looks. Here we go...