01/23 - the shipment of my Sony DSC-U30 digital camera finally arrived @ Sears, & i went to pick it up hours ago. Whoo hoo !! i finally got a digital camera !!  it's what i've been wanting for such a long time, but the price was either too pricey for the camera's features & size. then i saw the Sears ad selling the cute, itty bitty Sony digital cam for $149.99 instead of its orignal price of $199.99.  if you sign up for a Sears credit card, you can get $10 off on the 1st bill...so that'd make the cam $139.99 + tax. that's a pretty good deal ya ??  the camera has 2.0 megapixels, but no internal memory. there's an 8 mb memory stick included, but my mom bought 2  128 mb memory sticks from Circuit City months ago for 'bout $50 (i think if i'm remembering  correctly). so there's lots of space to take many, many pics .  besides that, i wanna tell you 'bout the Korean horror flick i watched this afternoon that scared me (especially since i watched more than 1/2 of it alone).  the movie is called Nightmares (or Gawi), & i think  it's a mix of I Know What You Did Last Summer & Ringu.  Nightmares was a pretty good horror flick--very interesting & entertaining .

 Synopsis: A sinister person is terrorizing a group of friends.  While visiting a college friend after having lived in the U.S. for 2 years, Sun-ae becomes convinced, upon returning to Seoul, someone is following her.  The stalker in question looks like Kyung-ah, someone she once knew but died 2 years earlier plummeting from a 30-story building.  While Sun-ae tries to shake the mysterious figure following her, several other members of her circle of friends from her college days are falling prey to a psychotic murderer.  Hye-Jin, Sun-ae's friend; meanwhile, is having nightmares & sightings of Kyung-ah.  Is it possible a more worldly force is at work? & what's the mysterious tape that everyone is hiding?  (found & altered from blockbuster.com & imdb.com)


01/22 - 


01/19 - yesterday afternoon, my family & i was treated to lunch by my younger sis & her bf.  we ate dim sum @ Wo Fat in Chinatown. the food was very delicious ! thanks to them for the yummy food . later that night, my younger bro came home w/ vcds he borrowed from our cousin.  they're all Chinese movies.  the 1 we watched last night was Full Throttle starring Andy Lau & Gigi Leung.  the movie wasn't that bad.  the storyline was alright...it's just i'm turned off by the racing aspect.  besides that, the drama & acting was pretty good.
 Synopsis: Joe's formerly stellar motorcycle racing career is languishing w/ a suspended license.  His relationship w/ his father is extremely strained & complicated, & he's bored w/ his timid, dull girlfriend Yee.  Then comes the young hotshot David Kwan who has just joined his father's racing team, & is threatening to top him on the racing circuit. W/ his new license in hand, Joe gets into an ugly accident that lands him in the hospital, & has him recovering from the debilitating crash for a very long time.  During that time, Joe re-evaluates his life, & begins to realize what is really important to him.  (found & altered from blockbuster.com & imdb.com)


01/18 - last night i went to Volcanoes w/ my older sis & her friend.  i had a fun  time dancing. it was my 1st time @ that club last night, & it was pretty good & packed.  i even bumped in to Thu Hang (a.k.a. Vivienne) for the 1st time since our high school graduation.  she's apparently been doing well in Cali doing something w/ real estate, & she's in the islands for 2 weeks.  i'm happy  for her.  tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so no school for me--yay !  my older sis invited me to go w/ her to the private party @ Blue Tropix tonight, but i don't think  i can handle going clubbing 2-nights in a row.


01/17 - my family & i went to Chinatown last night for the Chinese New Year celebrations @ the Cultural Plaza. unlike other times we've gone down there to watch the lion dancing, this time we had dinner @ 1 of the restaurants in Chinatown--Mini Garden.  coincidentally, my younger sis & her bf was in Chinatown as well for the celebration, so they joined us for dinner.  yummy...i love Chinese food! after that, we walked to Cultural Plaza to watch a little bit of the stage performances & to check out the booths there.  there i saw my friend Ben working @ his parents' food booth.  however, i didn't say "hi"  to him 'cause i didn't wanna bother him since he looked extremely busy.  i met some other friends who were down there too, & my former pledge bro.  Tim working @ his family's booth selling things.  yesterday was a fun  night.  it was also the 1st time in a long while the family was all together & took a pic.  now on to today.  later on tonight, my family will probably head down to Chinatown again to check out the lion dance stage performance @ Cultural Plaza.  as for earlier today, i watched 1 of the dvds i borrowed from the library, & a dvd my older sis borrowed.  the dvd i borrowed is called Needing You--it's a Hong Kong film.  i thought  the movie was hilarious  & charming--a wonderful romantic comedy w/ all it's quirky Hong Kong film charms.  it was interesting how they used "I need you" to get the couple together instead of "I love you".  i guess the "i love you" can be so over used that it's meaning is no longer as important or worthy. i think having someone say "I need you" can be more powerful than "I love you".  i think  popular Hong Kong film star Andy Lau is getting quite old.  he used to look much cuter when he was younger.
 Synopsis:  Kinki is a high-strung young woman employed by a Hong Kong computer firm, & working alongside straight-laced (& supposed womanizer) sales manager Andy Cheung.  Kinki has just broken up w/ her bf while Andy has recently parted ways with his gf Fiona.  Kinki & Andy initially mixed like oil & water, but then an attraction begins to develop between them.  While Kinki finds herself attracting the attentions of a wealthy Internet mogul, Roger Young; Andy finds his old gf is showing renewed interest in him.  Andy & Kinki begin to wonder if they might be better off putting their differences aside after working hours.  Then Andy is blamed by his firm for the loss of millions of dollars due to piracy of their merchandise.  Andy is being framed by a co-worker.  He gets help from Kinki to find the evidence to shift the blame to the rightful owner, which then leads to romantic entanglements between Andy, Kinki, & Roger.  Will Andy & Kinki finally get together?
(found & altered from blockbuster.com & imdb.com)the 2nd movie i watched today was The Sleeping Dictionary, which had a completely opposite mood from Needing You.  handsome  Hugh Dancy from Daniel Deronda was in it along w/ the beautiful Jessica Alba.  overall, The Sleeping Dictionary was pretty good, but i wasn't too sure 'bout the ending.  it think  it was a bit too sugar-coated & unrealistic due to the storyline & circumstances related to history & society's view.
 Synopsis:  Set in the 1930s in the remote rainforest of Borneo, it's the story of a tempestuous & forbidden love affair between a young Englishman & a beautiful Iban tribeswomen.  When John Truscott take a job in the British colonial outpost of Sarawak, he's given a "sleeping dictionary".  His "sleeping dictionary" is Selima from a local Iban longhouse.  She will teach him the local language, & will also share his bed.  @ 1st John is reluctant, but then accepts her only as his "dictionary".  The accepted tradition is monitored closely by John�s crusty superior Henry Bullard & his wife Aggie to ensure no romantic attachments occur.  When John & Selima fall openly & passionately in love, both the colonial authorities & the native population turn against them unleashing a chain of events that test their resolve to the very limit to be together @ all cost.  (found & altered from finelinefeatures.com)


01/10 - last night i had dinner w/ my friends @ The Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki.  the wait for a table of 13 was long, but definately worth it 'cause the food was very delicious ! it was the 1st time i've been there, & i'd definately love to go back there to eat again. lol ...while i was waiting outside of The Cheesecake Factory waiting for my older sis to pick me up, i spotted a guy who is a part of the very popular Korean singing group G.O.D--it was Joon (the guy w/ the bleach blonde hair).  i know everyone who reads this will think , "um, okay Loan.  whatevers," but i think  it's pretty cool.  he & his bandmates' popularity in their homeland of Korea & in neighboring Asian countries are huge like *N Sync & the Backstreet Boys in the U.S..  well, i wasn't expecting to see a guy i've seen on the Korean channel w/ girls screaming @ the sight of him & his bandmates to be standing a few feet from me in Waikiki.  anyways, i just thought  it was an extremely cool celeb.  sighting for me though it's completely worthless to peeps i know.


01/07 - last night my friends & i had the last get-together w/ Jodi 'cause she's flying back to Oregon today. we met @ Ward's Starbucks to think of things to do.  lots of people were down there, but we ended up staying there just chilling.  lol ...we had our own little corner to hang out @ over there. the night was filled w/ laughters  & mob stories. the get-together felt like a little reunion of people we knew & met during our high school days.  it's kinda interesting to see how much we've grown since then.  ugh , i'm beginning to feel the aging process is happening quicker & quicker even though i'm only 20.  well, chilling in front of Starbucks & talkin' story was enjoyable & interesting. when i went home later on, i found myself unable to sleep , so i turned on the t.v. to entertain myself.  i caught an interesting & amusing movie called If You Only Knew on the Lifetime channel.  the storyline was intriguing but quite predictable.  nonetheless, it was still entertaining.  i flipped back & forth from that movie & the Harry Potter movie that was playing on HBO family.
 Synopsis:  20-something New Yorker Parker Concord accidentally burns down his own apartment, & has to crash @ his womanizing buddy Jack's apartment.  Then Parker is forced to hide his heterosexuality & pretend to be gay in order to get a really cool apartment he'll be sharing w/ attractive Samantha--an artist whom only rents to gay men.  As much as Parker would like to be Sam, she's constantly setting him up w/ her gay male friends.  Later, circumstances bring the 2 together, but will Sam stay w/ Parker after she finds out the truth about his homosexuality?  (found & altered from blockbuster.com & imdb.com)


01/03 - the rain finally went away today .  today's weather was completely opposite from yesterday's weather, which was rain pour from morning to evening. i didn't do anything productive today...just chilling in my room in front of the t.v..  i woke up w/ a sore neck today 'cause i kept looking up @ my bedroom's ceiling yesterday while i was sticking my 100 glow stars.  my room looks absolutely fabulous w/ the colorful glow stars on my ceiling & my star-print curtains .  damn all those Trading Spaces, While You Were Out, Surprise By Design, & other interior decorating shows that have dirtied  my mind w/ home decorating ideas...lol !  besides that, i just caught 2nd half of 1 of my most fav. movies of all time on the PBS channel--Meet Me In St. Louis starring the wonderful Judy Garland.  gosh, i just love  that movie !!  i haven't seen Meet Me In St. Louis in ages, & i'm so happy i got to watch it again.  that movie always brought back memories of my childhood, & made me feel like a kid again for some odd reason.  i love  the scene where Judy Garland's character, Esther, beats up her love interest/neighbor due to a misunderstanding & when she sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".
 Synopsis:  The story is set in 1903 about a happy St. Louis family, the Smiths, who are shaken to their roots by the prospect of moving to New York, where the father has a better job pending.  The well-off Smith family has 1 son & 4 beautiful daughters.  The 2 oldest girls, Rose & Esther, fret about boys & love.  17-year old Esther has fallen in love w/ the boy next door who has just moved in, John Truett.  He however, barely notices her @ 1st.  Then a darker, more serious cloud appears on the horizon: their father will be transfered to a nice position in New York City just as the World's Fair of 1904 is coming to town & making St. Louis the "center of the world".  Will the family have to leave the home & town they love?  (found & altered from blockbuster.com & imdb.com)


01/01 -