Long Weekend

It's been awhile since I had to go through the painful Monday morning wakeup following a long weekend, but today was the day. The secretary at the department where I work always says "Happy Monday" which is a phrase that doesn't really hold a lot of meaning to me. Neither does "Happy Tuesday" or "Happy Wednesday," but she likes to say that too. It doesn't usually bother me, but today it did. I think it's because I did not get enough sleep.

Oh well, at least she isn't like that lady in Office Space that goes "sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays…" or "JUST a moment."

Anyways, I didn't write anything over Thanksgiving weekend so this will end up being a blog on my weekend. First thing was Thanksgiving day, when the whole Chen clan gathered for a big huge blowout bash. Basically, it was just my mom and dad, my sister, and my grandparents (father's side). Unfortunately, there aren't really many Chens around town. It wasn't really a big bash, either. What did you expect, when everyone (except me and my sister) was getting ready to go to bed at 8:30?

Still, we had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Except, we didn't have turkey, yams, stuffing, or pumpkin pie. No, we did the traditional Chinese thing and fired up the hwo-gwo (hot-pot). All you slanty-eyed readers out there know what I'm talking about, but for the non-Chinkers out there wondering what it is, let me just say that hwo-gwo is only the awesomest way to eat food since Gerber's applesauce.

Basically, all you need for a hwo-gwo is a hot plate in the middle of the dinner table and a big round pot filled with water. You wait for the water to boil, then you start throwing stuff in like crazy. Lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes are pretty standard, but you also gotta have tofu, fish balls, and golden mushrooms. Ah, golden mushrooms are so good. They are a world apart from normal mushrooms, with their long stem and chewy texture. Oh, and besides all this, you have to prepare some sliced raw meat on the side to cook when you feel like having meat.

Sounds like a blast, doesn't it? But wait, I haven't even gotten to the good part yet. Once you cook all the stuff, then what? Well, you COULD just take it out of the pot and eat it, but there are two problems with this. One, it is boiling hot and you will burn your mouth. Two, most of the stuff has no flavor and it will taste bland by itself (even the heavenly golden mushrooms). So, the logical solution, as you may have guessed, is to break open a cold raw egg, put it in a bowl, mix in some sa-tsa-jiang and/or soy sauce, and use it as a dipping sauce for all your goods. Ok, so I have no clue who came up with that weird idea, and why, but it is still essential to the hwo-gwo experience. As long as you can ignore those thoughts of salmonella or whatever else, raw egg with sa-tsa-jiang is clutch.

Oops, I didn't mean to write so much about hwo-gwo. But suffice it to say that it is one of the best things about being Chinese. If you are Chinese and don't like hwo-gwo, you might as well turn in your calculator watch and thick glasses because you have already disgraced your ethnicity beyond repair.

Alright, so after the big Thanksgiving hwo-gwo-fest, the night was surprisingly still young and I actually had time to go watch Die Another Day. I liked the movie, especially because it only cost $5.50 at Loews in Woodridge. That place is highly underrated, by the way, I don't know why I still go to AMC so much and pay 7 bucks like a chump. About the movie though, I don't understand why people complain that the lines are too cheesy. First of all, Bond movies have always been pretty hokey, even with Roger Moore or Sean Connery, so it's not a new thing. At least none of the latest ones have been called "Octopussy" or anything.

But seriously, anybody who cares about the dialogue in a Bond movie is missing out on the sweet cars, the gadgets, and the hot chicks (like Judi Dench as M…. rarrrr). Speaking of chicks, I gotta say that Halle Berry is such a terrible actress and that she needs to be somewhere high up on the Sports Guy's Unintentional Comedy scale (ESPN Page 2). I was dying when the bad guys caught her and asked "who are you working for?" and then her reply was "your momma." That was an awesome moment, you have to see it for myself. I was thinking hey, Halle Berry talks just like my friend from high school!

Like I said though, who cares about the acting? The best girl ever in a Bond movie will always be Michelle Yeoh anyways. Even though she's old, not-hot, and has the personality of a sea sponge, at least she could fight for real (plus she's Chinese). Denise Richards is a close second, but mostly because she is from Downers Grove.

The only real complaint I had with the movie was the blatant disregard for Ferraris shown by the moviemakers. My heart was shattered when I saw the car of my dreams fall out of a plane and end up with its nose buried in the ground. What's up with that? It wasn't even part of the plot. If they don’t want it, give it here. Throw me a frickin bone here, know what I'm sayin?

Friday was mostly uneventful. I helped someone move out of his apartment, then at night I went to Barnes & Noble to read magazines and make fun of Olivia and my sister for studying. Yeah, I don't miss studying for exams at all. Although I do miss the time wasted with my friends when we were supposed to be studying, like playing cards at 2nd floor Grainger, or 40's and Taco Bell with Dave Chan in the 4th floor rooms during finals week.

After that was dinner at Fridays (steak fajitas, I highly recommend them), and another movie. This time it was Solaris, one of those experiences in my life I'd rather forget. I thought it would be a good movie, with people like Steven Soderbergh and James Cameron involved, but maybe I was missing something because I want those 2 hours of my life back.

It's not like I've never sat through a bad movie, but I have never actually seen a significant number of people walk out in the middle of a film. I'd say about a half-hour into the movie, people started to get up and leave, followed every few minutes by another group of people. I didn't pay attention to who was leaving, but I think they were mostly the teenage girls who came to see George Clooney. When it ends up being some boring intellectual film, they couldn't take it and decided to jet. Ironically, those girls missed out on seeing George's fine bare booty (twice) while I didn't. If only me and Olivia had the sense to leave early too… but no such luck.

I had such high expectations for this film too. Or maybe that was the problem. It's just hard for me to imagine that James Cameron would go from creating a masterpiece like Dark Angel to putting out this crap. This movie was even more painful to watch than Titanic.

Ah… Dark Angel, where have you gone?

Saturday was Turkey Bowl, the yearly football tournament with the church peeps. It was fun, but all I can really remember is that it was freezing and that my body was aching sore the next day. It's a good kind of aching sore, though. Hopefully there will be more football playage this winter.

Finally, Sunday was church in the morning as usual and football all afternoon and night. Since I don't feel like re-living misery, I will not write too much about the Bears. They just seem to find new ways to get worse every week. The play before the half, it was like "No, we don't like to score touchdowns! Here, tackle me before I get to the end zone!" while R.W. "what's a block?" McQuarters just watches from the side.

Then came more misery from my arch-nemesis Kurt Warner. I vow never, ever, ever, ever, ever to start him on my team again. And I am begging Mike Martz to bring back Bulger before Warner screws me in this league again.

Thankfully, there was a happy ending to my weekend in the form of my new favorite player, Clinton Portis. I just can't say how much I love this kid right now. 3 months ago when I awarded him the Fantasy Sleeper DBA, I had no idea that he would go from the Bronco bench to becoming a stud running back that is carrying my team. But I'll take it, no complaints here.

So that was my weekend. And now it's back to work for a few weeks before more holidays.

I should also give an honorary DBA to Dennis for being my most prolific blog commentor. Thanks and keep up the good work! Oh yeah, your blog is also much better now with the pimped out design and more frequent posting.