He was much older – 8 years older than me. I found the age difference completely attractive because it meant that he was mature – more mature than any of my peers could ever be in their mid-20s. He also had a slight receding hairline which sends me right over the edge.

He shared wisdoms with me. He seemed to know so much about the real world and because I was still a wide-eyed, bushy-tailed college student, I had so much craving for the knowledge of the beyond, the life I was supposed to know come summer of ‘07 when I actually get to experience it for myself.

We worked together marvelously – the formidable dynamic duo that got things done and ruled over an army of students. Many late nights together led to an inseparable bond, one that lasted, or tried to last for almost five years.

I knew him for a year before I gave in and became his girlfriend. It was a year of bouncing around, not knowing whether to give in or file a sexual harassment complaint. But when I did finally gave in, it felt so right and thus began an exciting new chapter in my life. This was my first ever relationship and I was not about to lose it or ruin it.

He was a gentleman. He held doors open for me, took me out to dates, and whispered sweet nothings in my ear. His career was going great – looking towards a promotion at his current position, looking to quit his second job, and looking to open his own business when the time was right.

We would see places, do things, and eat good food together. When he got tired, he would go home to sleep in his own bed. Late-night romp fests, but he would have to wake up early the next morning for an opening shift so he had to go home. He liked to keep his cell phone off so that he could get a good night’s sleep and no one would bother him. Whenever we went to places, it was more convenient for him to pick me up at my place, not vice versa. A healthy relationship all around, or so I thought.

A person who had this experience would have seen it all. All the signs that I had missed, or rather ignored, and all the signs that screamed at me to leave. He did not want to sleep in his own bed – he wanted to sleep in his bed with his wife. He had to go home, not because he had an early morning shift, but because he had a family that expected him to be there. He kept his cell phone off not so that he could get a good night’s sleep but so that his wife wouldn’t see the suspicious phone calls that came from another girl late at night.

I should have seen it all. Upon retrospect, all the signs were so glaringly obvious that I sometimes question my own judgments even to this very day. A person who was such a good judge of character can falter so miserably when it was right under her nose. Thoroughly disgusted at myself, I was still willing to accept responsibility of the reality of this situation and move on.

How do you move on from this? In an affair, the woman is most often given the chance to make a conscious choice whether to stay in a relationship or not. I was not given that chance to make a decision whether to stay in an unfaithful relationship. I kept trying to salvage our relationship even through its last stages because I thought it was worth something to keep.

I found that he is actually 15 years older than me, has a wife who seems to be very much in love with him still, and possibly oblivious to the fact that he was unfaithful to her for the last five years. I can only walk away from this to live my own life and to learn and grow from this experience. I would seek vengeance from the emotional distress this has caused, but not until a callous formed over the part of my heart that was torn from this lesson. Exactly how, I am not sure, but, mark my words, I will prepare for it.

It’s time to start it out again, realizing that I have more in my life going on than my memory can handle. I realize when I make myself a mental note to do something in the morning and forget it by mid-afternoon, I can safely say that my age has caught up to me and my memory is not as sprightly as it used to be.

I was sitting at work today thinking about everything that’s going on in my life right now and felt inspired to write in my blog again. Why? Because this entire story of my life as a 20 something year old could someday provide me with great laughter later down the road once all this is over. More things have happened to me in the last five years than I can remember happening in my life before college, and how am I to remember it all when I’m 35? 45? 60?

Let’s see. To catch up to date, I can say that I now have a boyfriend, have completed 3 years at my current job and found the best and worst in people. Sounds pretty good, right?

The boyfriend. Adam. We met through an unconventional and unreliable (usually) source – the internet. A dating site, actually. I had never the intention of starting a profile on this particular dating site after trying another one out and found that the pickings were slim. Through curiosity and convincing a la Melissa, I reopened my profile and gave it a shot. The guys on the site were quick to respond to my profile but with ho-hum messages like, “Hi, I think you’re cute, I’m a buff guy who likes long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners. I am 6′3, I’ve got a muscular build, I…I…I…” Snore. After sifting through dozens of lackluster messages, I found one that caught my attention. This message, from Adam, did not deal with everything about him and how he is a great match for me, but a genuine interest in what I am, aside from the information he can gather from the cursory profile I had put up. It sounds corny, but I remember in my Mastering Sales classes that the only way to hook a client is to be genuinely interested in their company, their mission, their goals, then lastly what the meeting/event means to them. Turns out, it’s the same with dating. I had never been this flattered with the messages I’ve received, or even the compliments I have received in real life. Maybe this is the one? I gave it a shot.

To date, we have been going out for about three months. Sounds very little, and it is, but to think about how much I have grown from this relationship within this short period of time speaks to, what I hope will be, a healthy future.

I will go on to talk about what a stark contract this relationship is to my last. Not because I need to really vent or seek sympathy, but because later on down the road in my successfully fruitful relationship, I can feel vindicated that I turned out just fine despite what I had to go through.
tbc..

1. Start exercising.  Yes.  I finally started going back to the gym after giving 24 hour fitness a free $48 within the past two months I did not go.  For shame!  I am back to my exercise regimen of hamstering it up on the elliptical machine for an hour.  I will eventually include strength training as well because I need to lose a more-than-pesky 30 lbs from my body.  My petite Asian frame does not accommodate rolls very well.  I still enjoy junk food but I am consuming substantially less than I had before.  Okay, maybe with the exception of this weekend during which I gluttoned with a few of my buddies at the kbbq festival and Pink’s and then some.  (so ashamed…)

2. Sign up for a community service/volunteer program.  I’ve decided that a lot too much of my free time spent is in my pajamas watching gilmore girls or playing tetris.  A person who is successful does not waste any time; everyone lives the same 24 hours per day but it is what they do with those hours that makes all the difference.  I signed up for BBBS (Big Brother, Big Sister) program based of out LA but I got rejected due to the program being over-capacity.  Nevertheless, I am undaunted and will re-apply within 6 months and try to get matched again.

3.  Go out more often.  I am blessed with friends who love to have a great time, those who I can count on when I am bored or down.  Kbbq festivals, pink’s, random Hollywood hills adventures have been among my recent experiences.  It’s always important to go out and have fun outside the confinement of an apartment.  I have also been reconnecting with friends from high school and beyond – those I have not seen for over 5-6 years.

The list grows on and on as I live my life and find ways to make it better.  When I was in high school and even in college, I saw my life as if I had already lived it.  The illusion that I would be in class for an indefinite time in my life.  But it isn’t so…and I am only realizing now that my life is completely unwritten and it’s up to me to guide the comings and goings of my daily activities.  It’s far more exciting than I had ever realized.

Work is becoming more and more exciting as we ease into the summer months – summer months usually mean weddings, large families on vacation, crowded breakfast, family reunions (and fights!!) and so much more!  It also marks the middle of the year and a reminder that the end of the year is fast approaching.

Our hotel will be participating in July’s BrideWorld Expo at the LA Convention Center.  This show has almost 100 booths of wedding related services and items.  It sometimes becomes a one-stop-shop for many brides since venues, photographers/videographers, bakeries, dress sellers and etc. all participate in this event.  This event’s colors will be orange and white and pictures are sure to come after this weekend!

In a recent bout of watching fingerstyle guitar, I stumbled upon this little prodigy from S. Korea.  Watch this:

His name is Jung Sungha, an 11 yr old child prodigy who makes magic happen on his guitar.  He has recorded almost every favorite pop song along with a few of his own compositions and classical/soundtrack pieces.  It is absolutely amazing that such a young child can possess such virtuosity.  If he ever came out with a CD, I would totally buy it.  And play it in my car until my ears fall off.  This kid beats Danny Johnson hands down!

On Friday night for Mark’s graduation, we went to Ford’s Filling Station which is a pretty fancy restaurant situated in downtown Culver City.  Beautiful area, surprised to be living so close to it and I never really scoped it out.  Here’s what I ate:

Bread with garlic butter slathered all over it *drool*

Cured Meats

The braised rabbit was all out for the night so I had to settle for this badboy:

Bacon-wrapped quail with mashed potatoes and roasted corn succotash

And then as if that wasn’t enough, I got to spend an evening with Anna the future nurse and the-one-and-only Ming for Anna’s graduation.  More photos “after the jump”: (I think I’m getting the hang of this..)

gnocchi with sun-dried tomatoes, chicken, parmesan cheese, fresh basil

spaghetti with tomato sauce, onions, black pepper, italian bacon

We were disappointed to find that the Torta de la Nona was all out for the night (dammit!) but Ming always has a back-up plan.  Alcove, which is a small pastry cafe right down the street, had THE most amazing cakes I’ve ever tasted in my life.

Revisiting the pictures, now I know why I have so much trouble losing weight.  Because I LOVE FOOD TOO MUCH.

But great food, great company, and great conversation is what makes life so sweet.  It’s definitely priceless to have friends that make you smile.

Cheers!  and congratulations to class of 2009!

I’ll get the hang of this photoblogging – it’s decidedly awkward right now but I’m sure I’ll get better as time goes.

I met up with long-time friends Sue and Marnita.  To give a bit of background on these two gals, we met back in jr high school at Buena Park Jr. High.  Sue was the uber beeyatch second-in-command of the pseudo popular “Asian Group” who terrified the bejeezus out of me.  Marnita was a friend of mine in the clique I belonged to.  As years progressed and we ‘grew’ up towards high school, Sue and I became friends and Marnita dropped off the face of my planet.  After so many years of no contact, we decided to act upon the nostalgic feelings of reminiscing about the good ol’ years.

We went to Red Robin for lunch then headed over to Sue’s workplace where she works as an afterschool program director.  The kids were super cute, but due to my lack of experience in photologging, I didn’t think to take any pictures of them.. :/

We did go to The Block at Orange afterwards and I remembered to take photos.  Nothing exciting but here they are after the jump BAHAHA:

Me & Marnita

Me & Sue

Now onto my purchases:

Ralph Lauren pumps

Tahari pumps

I’m not sure how appropriate this is but here are the pictures with me wearing them:

Hehe, I feel so girly <3

I bought their second album!  The Ken Oak Band has officially changed their name to Oak & Gorski to acknowledge the two members of this dynamic duo.  Their first album was so good that I’ve been a fangirl since, and I love seeing them perform at third street.  He signed this copy as well!

Super cute earrings I found at urban outfitters.  I found gold rose earrings but I thought these were cuter and more unique.  It’s silver so it goes with anything I wear!

I would post more pictures of the rest of my purchases but that would overdo this post…Vince said a shopping trip might’ve been good but I didn’t need to fix the economy all by myself. Haha!

Here is Google’s logo for today commemorating this milestone:

We had an excellent week with the interviews and things went so well that I believe they will be back again for their next event.  It’s nice to see that our hotel is doing the best out of the hotels in the area.  Just yesterday, when we thought that we were going to have an empty weekend, I received a call from a Scott Johnson, who was staying at our hotel this weekend,  looking for meeting space.  Turns out, he is the father of the Guitar Hero phenom Danny Johnson who holds the current record for the highest score in the game.  Below is the video of him playing:

Takes incredible manual dexterity to even play that fast – I wonder if Danny plays an instrument at all.  He’d have amazing fingers for the piano.

They will be hosting a gathering for people who want to come and watch him play Guitar Hero today at the hotel at 11am.  When I went up to their room to get the contract signed, I asked his mom, Lemon, what they were here for.  That was when she told me that her son was the record holder for the game Guitar Hero.  Their hotel room was strewn with game consuls, game cds and computers.  She proudly took out a plaque which read something to the effect of “Danny Johnson, World Record Holder for Highest Score” something or other.

Funny thing is I told the F&B Director about his and he replied, if that were my kid I’d smack him and tell him to go study.  HAHA.  GG.