Random Thoughts from a Random Taru

Today is my birthday and to celebrate it I went to the DMV in the morning. My driver’s license expired and my new one didn’t arrive in the mail. The check cleared 3 weeks prior, but I have nothing to show if I get pulled over. Even if the chances of getting pulled over is slim, I don’t want to risk it.

It only took me less than 5 minutes to get my temporary license, but 1 hour and 15 minutes to wait in line for it. I got there 15 minutes after they opened, too. Too bad there isn’t a line for people whose business takes them only all of 3 minutes. I would have been in and out in a flash.

This made me late for work, and my chiropractor appointment. This also meant no time for a free breakfast at Denny’s. Darn.

All the chain restaurants want you to sign up for their mailing list these days. The one restaurant that I did get a birthday coupon to has Friday, Saturday, Sunday blackout dates. Darn you, Benihana! …I’m still going to Benihana because it’s a good coupon! $30 off!

The best I could do on a short notice was a free guacamole coupon for El Torito. Dragged Adamu and Penny with me for lunch.

For dinner, Adamu and I did nothing. Both of us were too full from lunch. Well, we did go to Mousse Fantasy for cake. I had the chocolate cake, and Adamu the chocolate mousse cake.

Best part of my day, I found out in the freezer section of Nijiya were jars and jars of Niijima kusaya! It’s very expensive for $14, but if I ever get the munchies for fermented fish, I know where to go now!

Today was the one year anniversary since I started dating Adamu. We decided to go to the Norton Simon Museum. Well, I decided that because I saw the museum on TV from the Rose Parade. Adamu took a day off.

Since we got there late (drama at home, and stuff), we only got to see the South and Southeast Asian art along with the Hiroshige wood block prints.

After the museum closed, I demanded that we pay a visit to the Apple Store on Colorado Blvd to beg the gods of Apple Computers to grant me a Verizon iPhone. I don’t know if it worked.

Dinner was at the Cheesecake Factory. I haven’t eaten there in years. Lunch was at In-N-Out.

I may have been going crazy at the bookstores and library. Not to mention it’s way too easy to click add to cart on Amazon. I really have more books than time to read.

I got a great deal at the Borders on Westwood, too. Sad, really, because the great deal was due to the store closing. That’s 2 Borders I shopped at now. The other one was on 3rd Street Promenade. As long as the one in Torrance doesn’t close. Maybe I should go buy something there tomorrow. …. Maybe next month.

You know you’re a workaholic when your boss tell you that you’re taking comp time next week, and you’re like, “I am?”

Yes.

So, it turns out I have next week off! I can think of a bunch of things I can do, but I’m most likely going to end up just sleeping and vegging…. And visiting my cutie pie niece.

Gotta hang out with Adamu as well.

My niece was born on Sunday at 2:02 PM. She is looks amazingly like my sister. So cute. Unfortunately, every time I’ve visited she’s been asleep.

My mom has been visiting Laura and baby every day as well. She’s been calling herself mom’s mom because grandmother made her feel too old. She finally conceded to being called grandmother today.

My dad visited Laura on Monday. He said that baby is cute as well. Laura and Steven told me that he looked a little uncomfortable around baby, and that he didn’t want to pick her up until she could be dropped without breaking. Hehe. My dad is funny.

I didn’t visit baby today. I wanted to go do some grocery shopping and buy some flannel pajama pants because it’s been too cold lately. I only got to go grocery shopping. No flannel PJ pants from Gap for me. I didn’t get out from work until 8:30ish.

Maybe I go visit baby tomorrow. Maybe too much Erika? Need rest from people? I want to visit on Saturday or Sunday when baby is awake.

(I’m currently waiting on news about my sister. She’s at the hospital waiting to give birth.)

This year, my mom and I decided to accept Mr and Mrs Wasserman’s invitation to their Thanksgiving dinner. My mom made green beans and sesame seeds as our contribution. They had standard Thanksgiving fare like turkey, corned beef, and ham. I don’t like turkey and corned beef, so I had ham. Well, I’m not a fan of ham either, but it was tasty.

I kept on rubbing Laura’s belly. I also played with Korokke (the nickname I’m going to give for Laura’s newphew from the Wasserman side). A very hyperactive 2 year old. I think he’s going to be left handed. He kept on tossing his lion toy with his left hand.

I was supposed to go see Harry Potter with Adam, but that didn’t work out.

I did finally see Harry Potter last night. It was good and where they split up the last book was good. I walked away very satisfied.

The game I’ve been working on for most of the year was finally released this Tuesday. There weren’t any fanfare for the Wii version, but quite a lot for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 versions.

Monday night I went to the Gamestop midnight launch event in West Hollywood. There were a bunch of my coworkers there as well. We signed a lot of stuff and it felt very surreal. I was the only Wii person there.

Call of Duty: Black Ops. Buy it.

Halloween this year fell on a Sunday, so the party night was the 30th.

A friend of mine threw a party at his new condo near the Hollywood Bowl, so that’s where I headed with Adam. Overall, it was a good party, but not a lot of food. The cohost of the party was baking pigs-in-a-blanket all night, which were good, but way salty. I also helped make punch, but it kinda got ruined when someone kept on poking and playing with the frozen hand in the punch. Hello! That’s not exactly decoration! It’s food! No seconds for me with the punch.

We left around midnight. I didn’t do much the entire day, but I was still tired. Being around people I’m unfamiliar with tires me out as well.

Sunday, I went to Costco to buy candy for the trick or treaters. Afterwards I went to Mitsuwa to eat cake with my mom. I haven’t done that in a really long time, so I thought I’d take her there. I had a cheesecake. My mom had something with a lot of fruit on top. We also had a chestnut and rice bento. I forgot that there was ramen there. No ramen for me. Sadness.

When night fell… The kids came out… Ok, there weren’t a lot of kids, and I knew that my area doesn’t have a lot of kiddies, so for each trick or treater, I gave a nice handful. Some of them must have been in middle school. I don’t think there were any high schoolers tonight. There were a few really shy kids, too. I really liked the small, shy kids. Toddlers, really. They were really cute.