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Da Vinci Code

Upon Joanne's recommendation, I decided to pick up Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and give it a try. I have to admit -- the book was pretty exciting. No wonder it's New York #1 best-seller.

Though the book is fiction, for a person who is totally oblivious to religions and arts (that would be me!!) -- the book brought up many extremely interesting theories (which did a good job in convincing me!! Hehe). Who knows?! Maybe I did learned some actual facts about the Lourve Museum ... Hehe. But one thing is for sure.... After reading the book, I am dying to visit Paris and Rome again!!

For those who have not read the book... I would definitely recommend it. I am currently reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons now. It is the precursor to Da Vinci Code -- hopefully, it will be just as fun to read!

Side Note:
One of my friends, Frank, noticed that on the leaflet of the Da Vinci Code, there are some scattered bold letters that forms a complete sentence. You gotta look pretty hard (I wasn't able to see it until Patrick pointed it out to me) .... but they are there. Interesting!!!

Happily Ever After...

Who ever said high school sweethearts don't last never met my friend Michael and Mai and Patrick's friend Richard and Binh. Not only are they each other soul's mates but they are also each other best friends. Both couples got married this past Saturday -- with me being a bridemaid at Mai's wedding and Patrick's as the best man for Richard's.

I knew Michael since grammar school and Mai since high school --- and to see them get together and tied the knot was a special moment. They wanted a small personal wedding -- and they sure got it. They even invited their grammar schoool teacher (who did attended and made a touching speech)!! I never been to a wedding in which I cried so many times ... (during the traditional tea ceremony, vows, and all the great toasts/speeches). What made this wedding extra special was the fact that I knew the entire bridal party since high school. We were all able to sit with the Bride and Groom during the reception too (the American seating vs. Chinese seating). That was the personal touch for me -- being able to sit with the couple during their happiest hours.

Though the day was EXHAUSTING (waking up at 5am) .... it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As Frankson said in his speech: "Being able to attend a close friend wedding is a blessing... but to be part of TWO special friends marriage is momentous."

Cheers to the happy couples!!!

PATRICK UPDATE:
I did my exhausting wedding stuff as well. We had our ceremony at NW Baptist church and my legs are still aching from all the standing. You would figure that since my profession requires me to stand this would be easy--- not for me. As I mentioned in my speech, i will have a transcript of the BEST MAN speech in the comments section. Please feel free to leave any comments on it.

Wedding was extremely exhausting, but I am glad that they finally got married. I wish them the best with their life together.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

So here it goes.. My builder is deciding to just sell the land next to me. It is going onto the market next week. Its a 40x125 lot of land in Skokie. Remember, its land for sale... NOT a house.

I would consider buying it for my yard. But I cannot buy it because I got no money.. Esp considering they are asking for 295K. Either I will have rich neighbors or a big plot of dirt for a while.

So... Won't you be---- My Neighbor?

Harry Potter 3

We watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban a few days ago. Fun, but I think the first 2 movies were better. Two problems. Either there was too much story to put into a 2.5 hour movie or the screen play was bad. I think the screen play was bad. It picked poor places for scenes to start and end. The fade-away and fade-in shots were getting annoying and it did not help with the flow of the plot. They used Gary Oldman poorly too. For a great actor, they should have shown him in more shots and made more lines for him. That is another thing, the first 2 movie's dialogue were taken almost verbatim from the book. However, with this one they cut out alot of important dialogue and chopped up some of the speeches that made the story flow better in the book. I know when books become movies, its always for the worst. But I think in this case the first 2 movies were good adaptations-- this one wasnt. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

One other note I'd like to mention. We saw the Spiderman 2 trailer again in the theaters. And its really pissing me off that they are doing this trilogy as a story of Spiderman--- the tragedy. Doesn't everyone remember spiderman as being the witty hero that spins around town, throws sarcasm at villiams, and talks to himself? In the beginning he was a hero brought to be by the loss of his uncle... But tragedy did not follow that closely to this character after this. It did not become "his life" as the movie says. I think they are trying to make another BATMAN out of him. Batman is more this type of character because of his need for vengance while Spiderman is around because he just wants to help. Please Hollywood, don't make him someone else.

Darn Lights and German Cows!!

Update (6/17/04):
We are finally done with all our light fixtures!! =D What seem like a month-worth of going to Home Depot, Home Expo, Great Indoors, Ikea, and etc .... it was merely just 4 exhausting day of going back and forth for the perfect light. We end up buying most of our lights from Great Indoor --- and the only ONE purchase we got from Ikea, we going to return!! Haha. We found better closets lighting at Home Depot -- though it cost a little more, the material felt A LOT more sturdy.

Next Stop: Shades!! (Ooooh! I get the feeling this is going to really empty out what is left of my bank account!! *sniff sniff*)
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Over the the past 2 days, we been shopping around for light fixtures and some furniture for our home. The house will be closing soon ... so we figure it is time to start buying some stuff. We went to Great Indoors and got our dining room chandelier and light fixtures for all the bedrooms. The total price of the lights were outrage. I didn't know lights can cost soooo much!! But, I guess unless I want to live like a vampire in total darkness ... I would have to just suck it up and buy the darn lights!! (sigh)

Today, we stopped by Home Depot and got our outdoor lights for the garage and patio. We decided to go with the color black with frosted glass panels. The only worry we had was that it may not be too bright ... since it is a max of 75 watts per latern. But, hopefully, I will be able to see and not crash into the house when I try to park. Hehe.

And finally our last big purchase was some German cows!! Haha. Marshall Fields had their Fields Days sale ... so we decided to look around. We finally decided on a leather sofa for the family room. It will take about 4 months for the sofa to be custom-made and shipped from Europe. I hope it turns out right (especially since we got to wait so long for it!).

Next purchase: Bathroom lights!!

Strike Three!!

Does J. Lo ever learn?? I can't believe she got married AGAIN!! What ever happened to the good old-fashioned "let's take our time and see where this go" or "...'till death do us part" ??

Busy Weekend

Had a busy weekend -- hosted a bridal shower and attended a wedding
(all on the SAME day!! Different brides, of course!).

The morning started with a trip to Berwyn for the chocolate bridal shower cake at Turano . I ordered the cake early on the week... but arrived only to find out they have NO cake or RECORD of my order!! Had a slight panic attack in the bakery -- but luckily, they had 2 chocolate cakes in stock... so I just grab what I could and went on. Never understoond what happened to my order though?!

Arrived at the bridal shower a bit earlier to help with decorations and food preparation. Had another panic attack when the bride and others thought the shower starts at 2pm .. .when the invitation stated 1pm!!! So we all quickly jumped into action and started cooking (or heating up the frozen foods!! Hehe). Mee Wai made her chicken quesadillas and vietnamese spring roll... Hue Ying made spinach fruit salad and salmoon/veggie appetizers. Ming? What did Ming do?! Ah.. yes.. She volunteer to "taste" all the food for us! Haha..

Shower continued with various games...It was fun! I won the best toilet bridal dress (Thanks to my team-mates!! Yeh!) Click here for the pics!

Left the shower early to rush home, shower and attend a friend's wedding at Phoenix Resturant. Congrats to Wai See and Jessie! Patrick checked the wrong box on the RSVP (sigh) ... so we were seated at a table in which we knew nobody! But... it all turned out good. Met new people (mostly all co-workers at Walgreens). The food was good but not exceptional (never did expect great food at a Chinese wedding banquet anyway). Sat with a bunch of people who didn't really enjoy the food too much -- which meant, MORE FOR US!! =) The wedding ended with a dance to one of Frank Sinatra's classic.

To fill or not to fill...

This is an interesting story

This reminds me of the moral dilemma that some pharamists undergo dispensing Plan B or Preven. These medicines stop the implantation of the egg onto the uterine wall and are often prescribed after an "accident" or an "incident". I knew of a few stories where pharmacists didn't dispense these. The moral issue being that if one took these medicines after implantation the drug may cause the embryo to detach from the uterus and die. Therefore, making it an abortion and making the pharmacist an accessory to it. It's a fine line at what is consider "alive."

But in this cause, the Kmart pharmacist should have just transferred the prescription and be done with it. Not filling the script due to personal belief/religion is one thing, but not allowing it to be transferred out is another. Then again, this patient is an IDIOT. She should have just had the MD call it into another pharmacy! But instead she waited a week before getting it (probably after calling the local news cast). Fifteen minutes of fame...