Flashback: Last Week After The Pool Game

Sunday, August 17
MT and I were out all the way in the San Gabriel Valley to check out the places he used to hang out in. There, we played pool. I haven't played pool in years and so did he. But that didn't stop him from trouncing, I mean, smearing me like cream onto the wall. He won all nine 8-ball games. He "technically lost" two because he scratched on the 8-ball twice. But he killed me. Just killed me. I think he's a secret pool hall hustler.

Tuesday, August 19
Visual Communications, The Japanese United Church, or East/West Players. Whatever that building is called, MT and I both thought we were talking about some other place in Little Tokyo. It was the same damn place.

When we got there, he said to me, "This was the old churce I went to when I was a kid. You should've told me that instead of saying VC-VC all the time."

"How would I know you were talking about the East/West Players building?" I replied.

We were there for Tuesday Nights at the Cafe. It's something that happens over there every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. It's free. It's outdoors. It's artsy. :) My peeps were there. It was schmooze time for me yet again.

Thursday, August 21
Well, it's the weekend. We all know what that means. It's time to invade MT's house again. I'm really truly amazed he hasn't gotten sick of me yet. I keep asking him if he's sick of me yet and apparently he says he's not. Wanna hear something scary? I'm getting used to and liking the fact that I am invading his bed half the time. He said his body even reacts to my schedule now too. Even when I'm not around, he wakes up at 7:00 AM thinking that I will jump him. When I'm there, it's time to rumble! When I'm not, he's awake anyway, bummed out, and goes back to sleep again.

Saturday, after working a wacked day at Public Storage, I passed by Katherine's house to say hello to people.

"It's Saturday. What the heck are you doing here in the Valley? Why aren't you with your pretend-husband cooking him dinner at your pretend-shared apartment in Westwood?" she asked.

"I'm here to visit my pretend-daughter Kat!" I replied. This, of course, sends squeals of laughter coming out of Kat's mouth. "You know though, I have been feeling kinda nauseous lately. Do you think I might be pretend-pregnant too?"

Kat and her husband then go into a diatribe how hard it was to be parents. Then a few seconds later, they tell me I should have a kid before I turn 35. Then then go into a sigh-filled description of how magical it was to be pregnant. Then, they go into a diatribe at how Kat can be a pain in the butt sometimes and how no one should have kids but they should travel instead. Like what I've been doing lately.

Then, on cue, Kat walks up to her mom and kisses her cheek and tells her she loves her.

Aw c'mon! Make up your mind, people!

So with that, I am more confused than ever, of course. After an hour or so of this schizophrenic conversation, I drove to Westwood for the weekend.

Oh yeah, my sis said out loud why I even bother to come home.

"You should just live there." she said, real snide-like.

"Are you coming home this weekend?" my mom asked.

"Nope. Monday." I replied.

So I guess that means things are good.

UPDATE: Ryan and Nitin didn't run that relay this weekend. My buddy Mike, this girl he's hanging out with, and our Leo went to a comedy club on Saturday.

Paula Feels: Naughty!

The Week in Review

It was Wednesday the 13th when I finally saw Mr.Karmic Payback again. He had come back from Vegas that day and I came straight from work to go to his place. That evening, we had a museum date at LACMA. They were having a free picnic to museum members there. Also, since his elderly godparents were also members, he offered to drive them to the museum too.

But we were running late and when we saw his godparents pull out of their driveway, we decided to follow them instead.

We got to the museum within a few minutes of them. When we all met up, we found a table and ate.

He's just a very nice guy especially with his godparents. This elderly couple was the couple that had taken his mother in back in the 60s while she was a foreign exchange student from Japan.

After the dinner, Mr.Karmic Payback felt bad that we were late. He suggested driving his godparents' car while I followed them in his car. I sat there, freaked at the suggestion that he wanted me to drive his car and then take him home.

Okay, I'm sure this is nothing different than asking my friends to give me their keys when they just had too much to drink. But I'm just surprised at this because I liked the way he totally trusted me with his car. I'm usually the one on the passenger seat and it was nice to think that I would be driving it...

So after he hopped into his godparents' Mercedez, I slipped into Mr.Karmic Payback's black Acura with the GPS, adjusted the mirrors and seats, and took that baby for a spin. I was stylin' driving down Wilshire Blvd., leaning back, listening to KCRW. The thought crossed my mind about stepping hard on the gas but I changed my mind lest he kill me if I crashed it. Bummer.

...

Things at Public Storage are still boring. Training still sucks. In fact, I forsee this job to continue to suck but the money and schedule will be enough to motivate me to stay for a little bit. Long enough for me to buy a laptop again.

August 15 was my cousin Bryan's birthday. I think he's 24. I didn't go because that was a Friday and that meant I was going to mozey on down to MT's place. (I'm getting sick and tired of typing "Mr.Karmic Payback"!) I had been there pretty much half the time since I met him, invading his bed and using up all his condoms.

I called Chris in San Diego before I left for MT's place. I told him I sent a copy of the story I was editing with him in the mail. He said he was looking forward to it so he and I can work together again. This was the plan: after he edits, he makes a photocopy, sends me the original, and when I get the original, we talk on the phone and have a discussion. Sounds feasible to me. He also told me that Psycho Ex Girlfriend got married to her ex-fiance nine days after he moved out of her place in Redlandtucky. I mean, the woman was 36 and all and totally bugging to have kids but that kinda just proves to the world that she indeed belongs in Redlands.

Well, I read Ryan's blog and discovered the sad news that he broke it off with Alex. He said he couldn't deal with having a long distance relationship and the fact that Alex still had lingering issues with her ex-boyfriend of 5.5 years that she still feels she could resolve. He's distraught, yes, but he was also planning on either living in Germany if she decided that she wanted Ryan to be with her over there or have Alex come back here to the US. I guess all those plans are now out the window. However, he bought a house near Pasadena. He, his mom, and brother are moving there at the end of the month. He said he won't be having a housewarming party until the jacuzzi and bar have been set up. He's also running an 11-mile relay with Nitin and Jasmine this Sunday. He does have plans to write like a maniac though. He said he's due for another book of poetry out anyway.

Friday, August 15
I called Ryan to find out how he was doing. He was in the middle of packing more stuff. We talked about life recently and how he hasn't seen a hint of my shadow since I got hooked up with MT. Katherine said the same thing about my "good silence".

While he and I were talking, MT was playing another word game that he and I discovered. He got bored and sidled on over next to me. While I was still talking on the phone, MT started nibbling on the hollow of my shoulder, sending goosebumps down my arms. I started to giggle. Ryan stopped in mid-sentence. I told him MT was bugging instead of playing his stupid word game that he could never beat me in. As I continued to talk, MT unzipped my jeans, slipped them off (I was lying on his bed), and he started kissing my inner thigh. It was very hard to keep a straight conversation at that point.

"Uh... Ryan, I think I'm going to have to get off the phone now. MT over here is bugging and distracting me. *stifled moan*" I said.

"I can see that life is good for you, Turbo. Just watch it, okay?"

"Yes, yes. I will." at this point, it was hard to tell whether I was saying yes to Ryan or to what MT was doing to me.

We went to bed around 3 AM or so.

Saturday, August 16
We woke up around noon. I used MT's computer for a few hours that afternoon while he cleaned. We had a discussion that I need a laptop ASAP. We talked about how unproductive we had been since we had been spending time with each other. At least if I had a laptop, I could jack into his network and share internet access. That night, he had some networking and schmoozing to do at Sawtelle. Giant Robot was having a new store opening and an art show. He knew the owner anyway.

"Visual Communications will be honoring us at the Linda Mabalot Memorial Celebration in October." the owner said.

"I just got an email about that from you guys." MT replied.

"I got an email about that from VC. I go to their film fests and all." I added.

"Well, we donated a lot of money to them throughout the years." the owner concluded.

Ah, Friendster-Real-Life in action.

After that, MT and I walked to the Curry House for some Japanese-style curry. It was yummy!

Sunday, August 17
It seemed like the weekend was MT Schmooze Weekend. After getting up pretty late again, we mozeyed on down to Little Tokyo for the tail end of Nisei Week. There, we checked out the vendors, the cosplayers, and the taiko performers. In JACC, there was an exhibit of watercolors done during the Internment. In the same building was also a bonsai exhibit.

Honestly, I'm learning a lot about the Japanese culture now than I ever did in my whole life. It's kinda interesting because, all of a sudden, he and I are now exchanging cultural stuff with each other...

While we talked in bed, he mentioned one night how he likes the openness of Filipino culture. Lord knows, he said Filipinos have a ton of reasons to be bitter and resentful of the various cultures/nationalities that invaded or ruled the islands over the centuries (like the Spanish, Americans, and Japanese) but the people are just friendly, open, and forgiving.

I told him it didn't make any sense at all to dwell over the past wrongs done to Filipinos. It would just be best to learn from those mistakes, never do them again, love everyone, and eat. I told him if I carried that kind of resentment around, I wouldn't be friends with Janette (in Philadelphia) who is a direct relative of Ferdinand Marcos, the guy who had my father killed.

Make sense, ne?

On the next episode... How MT is Really a Secret Pool Hall Hustler Beating the Shit Out of Paula

The Company Picnic

One of the little perks that Public Storage gave its' employees at the call center was free food. When you think about it, it's cheaper to give free food ever so often than raises. On Sunday, August 10, Nitin and I went to the PS Call Center Summer Picnic in Agoura Hills. Since I was in training, I was eligible to go to the picnic. I had known a lot of people there anyway and this was a great way to socialize.

Mr.Karmic Payback had fully awakened my competetive nature and it was obvious while we were at the picnic. Nitin and I ended up teamed in the balloon toss contest. Out of the whole call center, we got whittled down to the last two teams. The other team flubbed and broke their balloon. Our orange one sailed in a beautiful arc to only to fall gently into Nitin's arms. We rocked. The whole call center cheered as we were declared the winners. As we high-fived we received the little prizes they were giving away: a little 35mm camera and a car CD case. I asked Nitin to trade with me. I ended up getting the CD case.

At the picnic, Nitin started talking with this cute young woman. After much probing days later, we found out that she was 23 years old, single, and very nice. I was greatly encouraging him to get a hook up with her. He's a nice guy, quite good looking, yet he can't seem to get himself a girlfriend.

But while he was trying to get information on the cute girl at the picnic, one of the managers asked, "But what about Paula?"

Nitin replied, "What about Paula?"

"Well. We thought. I... Uh. Nevermind." the manager answered.

"Oh! Paula and I have been friends since she worked upstairs. We hang out and party on the weekends sometimes. We're just really good friends." Nitin explained.

When Nitin told me this, he was convinced most people didn't believe him. After all, how can people who were this nice to each other be just friends? But we are! If these folks at Public Storage only knew the real deal between me and my lovelife escapades, they would die. They would just truly die.

Playing Catch-Up: August 4-8

This is oh! so very sad. I don't remember being this delinquent at all in updating. But I guess I must be having fun.

Throughout this week, nothing exciting really happened because I spent most of my time training at Public Storage. Answering phones. Doing brainless things.

I had lunch with Nitin and Rob Tuesday the 5th. It was just like old times. I gossiped with them about what had been going on with Chris. He finally moved out of Psycho Bitch Girlfriend's apartment in Redlandtucky and he is now situated in San Diego.

FilmLady also came back from the hospital. She was at St.Joe's for two weeks. I had to break the news to FilmLady's son the Thursday before. He's happy for me but they said they were going to miss me. Ever since I dropped off those flowers at her birthday, she took more of a liking to me.

During the week, Mr.Karmic Payback and I had been talking on the phone or I was staying at his place for the night. This was the week he had to go to Las Vegas to have a family reunion and to help his mom fix their rental home there. Their tenants just moved out and they needed to repair the damage they did. But just as I try to be calm about him talking off for a week, I was noticing that I was missing him.

I mean, all throughout the week, we saw each other every other day.

Sick. Gag.

I remember Ryan doing the same thing with Alex earlier on in their relationship. They decided to have an "Alex-Free Weekend." When the weekend was over, both of them admitted they missed each other greatly.

When Mr.God's Revenge came back this week (August 13), Oh! how we missed each other!

So, I'm going to update everyone some more later on this week!!! Until later!

Paula Feels: Happy!

Rat Versus Monkey: The Battle To Save The World

Background: Despite Paula being born in January 1973, she falls in the Water Rat Year 1972. Mr.Karmic Payback was born in the Earth Monkey Year 1968. Rats, monkeys, and dragons fall in the "Doer Triad" which means rats, monkeys, and dragons should get along perfectly well. Other "doer triad" members in Paula's circle are: Ryan, my cousin Katherine, her kid, and Mr.God's Inside Joke.

Saturday, August 2 (continued)
Mr.Asian-Manhood's-Standard Bearer's friend commented about his ability to tie the cherry stem. I needed no socially acceptable proof, you see. I knew. So after we practically closed the churrasscaria, we went next door to the nickel video game place where I completely bombed in DDR. What do you expect from a girl who can't dance? Playing the two-player game, I lowered our team score. We played Tetris and I lost. We played air hockey where I beat him in the first game, but that didn't last too long. You see, Mr.Karmic Payback is very competetive. It's his nature. Paula is very competetive. It's her nature. So what happens when you have two naturally competetive people hanging out with each other? You get friendly shoving in video game arcades and occassional explosions of "Imma gunna gitcha!" from me.

Let me explain.

Begin flashback...

There was a reason why we hadn't had sex for a couple of weeks there despite my invading his bed for days at a stretch. I knew despite that competetive exterior, there lived a little sap in him. He explained that once he started having sex with a girl, he gets emotionally attached to them so he is picky about who he dates. He knows my spotty past with the transient men in my life and that raised red flags everywhere. I really don't blame him. Sometimes, when I review my blog, I wonder about my choice in men too. But he and I get along spectacularly well. That and we play a mean game of Scrabble.

That Sunday night after we got back from Vanessa's barbeque, I asked him to whip out Scrabble. After all, don't writers appreciate word games?

At first I won but after I taught him my tricks, he began to turn them onto me. I kept losing and losing. And no, it's not in his nature to give an inch to the competition even if it was me he was competing with. In fact, he gets some sick pleasure in competing with me. That's okay. I get a sick pleasure in competing with him. After all, he is Who He Is (Mr.Karmic Match) and he is quite a formidable enemy.

So for days, I was getting crushed to a pulp in Scrabble. He has a ton of self-control. We hadn't had sex. So we made a deal: we will schedule The Game where the prize is sex. If I win the game, he will have sex with me. If I don't win The Game but I end up winning two games in a row, he will have sex with me no matter how many days or weeks later it might take. Mind you, the sexual tension had been building for days now and my frustration level was at red-alert levels.

There has also been an inside joke with my family and friends about my love life and The End of The World. Because I had been dating mostly white guys, I even married one, they all expected that I would never date anyone non-white. When I do start to date anyone non-white was when The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse was predicted to come. Since the beginning of this year, I have been able to envoke Horseman 1: War (US vs. Iraq) and Horseman 2: Disease (SARS). Horseman 3: Famine would come if I ever got to have sex with an Asian man. So on Friday, Mr.Karmic Joke was actually trying to save all of humanity.

End flashback.

So Friday night, August 1st, was when we played The Game.

You should've seen it. He's cute when he's frustrated. He smacks his palm against his temple when he has bad letters. He keeps on going online to check the validity his words before he puts them on the board. We have a standing rule of "no proper nouns and acronyms" and we both have an extensive lexicon. But his weakness is he can't spell. He is intelligent, the same caliber as Eric (for those who don't know, Eric is my electrical engineer childhood friend who works for Intel's R&D department), I deduced. So yes, Mr.Karmic Payback is a formidable enemy.

"May I have the envelope please?"

Rat prevails over Monkey!
Paula: 248, Mr.Payback's-A-Bitch: 228

Flabbergasted, he couldn't believe his bad luck and my unusual prowess that night. After losing for many days to him, he couldn't believe I won. I couldn't believe I won myself that I even took a photo of the gameboard.

And with that, we envoked the Third Horseman of The Apocalypse. Asian Men, your standard bearer failed in his mission.

Paula feels: Victorious!

Much To Everyone's Dismay, I'm Still Alive...

The last few days have been long and exciting. Typing quick day-to-day paragraphs won't do justice but I guess I don't have much of a choice.

Almost forgot: Friday. Because I had been hanging out with Mr.Unlikeliest-To-Be-With-Paula a lot lately and I kept on dipping into my messenger bag that contained my extra clothes and sundries, he handed me something I didn't have to dip into my bag for: a toothbrush. I looked at the unwrapped box like it was some alien body part.

"Uh. Um. Er. It's. Uh. Ah."

"A toothbrush." he said. "You're here often enough. Oh! Don't worry! It doesn't mean anything, just something practical you don't have to worry about here. When I was living in the Bay Area, I had so many friends that came and slept over that one time, I had four toothbrushes in my cup."

"Okay." I said, still flabbergasted.

"Freak out when I give you a key." he added.

I almost died.

Saturday, July 26
Vended at the last Fil-Am Farmer's Market by Belmont High. There, I saw Joel, Noel A, Vanessa, and a few others I haven't seen in ages. Sold two books. But the night before, I barely got any sleep so I groggily drove home on the 405 and missed Moonie's beach party. But Mr.God's Payback called me on my cell and gave me a reason to turn onto the southside of the 405. So much for going home again. There's a new addition to our aquarium here at home. Mr.God's Payback invited me to the Obon Festival happening at a temple in Little Tokyo and in the Sawtelle area. No matter what, he and I end up talking about culture while we watched dancers dance around a beating Japanese drum. There were game and food booths at the temple. Elbowing kids out of the way, I shamelessly and unathletically tried to pitch ping-pong balls into fish bowls. I didn't get any in but apparently everyone wins a fish. The open space in the temple grounds was festooned with paper lanterns. We then went back to his place where he cooked Creme Brulé for Vanessa's BBQ the next day.

Sunday, July 27
Ryan couldn't make it to Vanessa's BBQ. Instead he went to see a movie with his brother. Understandable, since Alex left on Thursday. :( Toting alcohol and creme brulé, Mr.Fate's Balance and I ate well at Vanessa's place. Her folks rock. :) There, I saw a lot of folks in the Fil-Am arts community: Allan A, Agnes, Alfie, Elvin, Jilly and Laya, Cristabelle, Caine and his daughter, Johann, Carlo M., Wendell, and a few others. By the end of the night, my guest and I were definitely doing very cozy-type things: biting off the same piece of pastry, sharing drinks/plates, and being caught alone in corners talking quietly. One time, I don't know how it happened but we ended up poking each other's ribs. Gag. That was so cutesy, my teeth hurt just thinking about it. We then went back to his place and I didn't go home until Monday afternoon. No, we didn't have sex. This "road to sex" is a whole entry by itself... ;) It has something to do with Scrabble. Yes, Scrabble. The word game.

Caught up with sleep Monday.

Tuesday, July 28
Had and interview at Kaiser in Pasadena.

Wednesday, July 29
Had an interview at Kaiser in Woodland Hills. I really think Amirah should get this job instead. After the interview, I went over to Mr.Payback Time and we messed around AND played Scrabble.

Thursday, July 30
Had my second interview at Public Storage. Yes, Public Storage. By this time, I already knew I got the job at Countrywide. But I didn't want that job. That was the job where I felt like I was Mr.Anderson, Keanu Reeves' character in The Matrix. If you ever have that feeling when you step into a workplace, run the other way. At PS, I was told I got the job. I told my mother I wasn't going to come home all weekend since Monday, I'll be starting at PS. She just shrugged and let me do whatever I wanted. She's really cool that way. I stopped over at Porto's Bakery in Glendale to bring back some cheese rolls so we can have desserts at Mr.Payback Time's place. There, he was slaving over a stove making me some Japanese-style chicken curry. You gotta give it to a man who cooks. :)

Friday, August 1
... I think we woke up at noon again... Oh yeah, around Friday night we got word that one of his friends from the Bay Area was coming down to discuss some business and he needed a place to crash on Saturday night.

We played high-stakes Scrabble. Oh! This is SO an entry by itself...

Saturday, August 2
Mr.Asian-Manhood's-Standard-Bearer's friend came that night and all of us schlepped all the way to West Covina to a churrasscaria. Mind you, this is Paula, resident Rio de Janeiro food connoisseur being taken to an Americanized churrassca and I was leery. My test was to have a taste of the feijoada. They had it but my feijoada tasted better. However, I went and had the maracuja (passion fruit) mousse. Oh! It tasted almost like the ones I had in Rio! This one was a little too sweet and I was half expecting to crunch on some passion fruit seeds. Upon my mousse was a cherry with a stem. He took it, popped the stem into his mouth, and proceeded to do my party trick. In a few seconds, he spat the stem onto his hand. It was tied into a knot. I gave him a knowing glance, with raised eyebrows at his ability to do the same thing I could do with cherry stems (ask Ryan. He's seen me tie cherry stems before.). With twinking eyes, he just smiled back. *ahem*

To be continued...

Paula feels: Cheerful