The whole of last week was dedicated to keeping Su Ling as entertained as possible, a task both tiring and weirdly entertaining; tiring because I work in the day and all I want to do on weekends or when I get home is be brain dead on the couch; and weirdly entertaining because, eventhough I've done the LA tour like a zillion times, it's interesting to see the reaction or non-reaction to LA by someone new to LA. I met up with Su Ling fairly recently when I back in Malaysia last summer but it was nice to see her again so soon. Plus I think a break in work life monotony did me some good.

Hui Chin and I headed for San Diego after dropping Su Ling off at the airport on Saturday. We reached at 2 in the afternoon and headed straight for the ever charming 976 coffee house in Pacific Beach for hot chocolate. Hui Chin and I got into a lengthy discussion about religion and it got dark in a blink of an eye. We dashed over to the Grossmont Mall to get Brian's birthday present; 4 bags of Hershey's Hugs & Kisses stuffed into 10 pairs of white socks. Pick Up Stix, a Nouvelle Chinese food place, served up a pleasant surprise. We had Chow Mein and the House Chicken.

Hui Chin and I made a late entrance at the Other Side where RCR was performing, and missed Brian's birthday drum-off in the process. It was interesting how this one young girl was so taken with the band members and was trying her best to get noticed by Brian.

Oh, Ketty has a new nose ring. Nope, not a stud that goes onto the meat of your nose, but a double-balled hoop that is driven through the center divider that connects your nose with your upper lip. Kids these days. I never thought I'd find myself saying that.

We adjourned to the apartment after the Other Side. The whole gang was there. Dan looked bigger than the last time I saw him. Hui Chin was really exhausted so she retired to the back set of my cramped car after meeting the bunch. There were lots of goodies this year as compared to last year - Sayre's sinful, semi gooey chocolate cake and Jen's lemon crusted pie that just made your eyes pop open with a look that says it all.

Jen did not pour beer on my face this year.

Ketty danced around in Brian's glittery G-string, a birthday gift from Victoria, who wasn't too amused with the fact that someone else was wearing the present she had bought specifically for Brian. I didn't see a reason for her disamusement given that Brian was probably never going to wear that piece of cloth, and that the gift's worth was the shock value that it possessed.

The party was winding down when I met Gavin, a long-haired Filipino guy that works with Brian. He was okay to talk to at first but his mouth was like a train that had lost its brakes. Gavin was proud of the fact that he knew how to say "I love you" in 22 different languages and never hesitated to demonstrate his language skills, over and over and...

Hui Chin rejoined the party at 3 in the morning when it was just about time for bed. Mama Skanky laid out a nice cushy make-shift bed smack in the middle of the living room for us. Duracell mouth Gavin, Carlos and some drunk chick who were still in the apartment obliged us with a loud annoying argument on who would be able to stay up the longest. Brian moved us into the bedroom and it was lights out.

Iron Chef Justin and Iron Chef Brian had breakfast going at noon. Bacon, eggs and cinnamon pancakes as we watched Terminator 2 on DVD. The guys were planning to play football at 3:30. We had planned to pay Thom a visit in his new home but he was at the flower farm in Carlsbad. So we got on the 5 and the compass needle pointed North for the next two and a half hours.

At first I thought someone had stuck a piece of gum on the window until I returned from lunch an hour later and found the piece of gum a foot higher than it originally was. I took a closer look and found that the piece of gum was actually a snail that had been driven out of the ground by the rain. Inject some Windex into its mucus glands, offer the bastard snail minimum wage plus benefits, and we'll have that window cleaned in about two years.

As I write this, I have wet socks.

I think I bitch about rain a little too much, coming from a country where precipitation is both heavy and frequent. But the Brits. I have full admiration for them and their tolerance of prolonged dampness.

I just have no tolerance for damp socks.

Being totally drenched is not a problem. It is being dry and yet damp that irritates the life of me. This is what's going on in my head now, "Should've stuffed packets of silica gel into my shoes before stepping out for lunch."

Right now all I want to do is stretch a line across my desk and clothes peg my socks on it.

The thing I hate most about going to the more popular LA nightclubs is figuring out how to beat the rope. All we knew was that the Garden of Eden had a soft spot for women, so Hui Chin did all the talking when we arrived. After she got the green light from the bouncer to go in, she signalled me over. I sprung from hiding to join her, very similar to what you see in the movies where the sexy hitchhiker babe shows some leg by the side of the road to get Mr. Mustbemyluckyday to stop his vehicle, while her husband, Mr. Toogoodtobetrue, waits behind some bushes.

The Garden of Eden was indeed very impressive, split on several levels with ample seating, a Moroccan-themed interior, several full bars, tasteful lighting, a grand spiral staircase leading to the mezzanine, two garden patios and some of Hollywood's most plastic people. The garden patio was brilliant. The first thing you see as you step out onto the patio is this huge Warholian Marilyn Monroe mural painted along the entire length of the building next door. Once you're actually out on the patio itself, you'll find yourself in an enclosed yard, its walls lined end to end with candles. Cute little sitting booths, that looked like they had been carved out of the wall or lifted off the set of the Flintstones, took up one chunk of the patio. The stone seats were padded with cushions and pillows and the patio was heated by overhead heat lamps and a fireplace. And the people. It was actually a lot of fun watching the people, each trying to dress as differently as the next, so much so that they all looked the same, weird. Here's a snap shot of GOE couture; clunky glasses with freakin' thick rims, furry scarfs, white cowboy boots crowned with sequined tassles and, of course, transparent handphones that ring Britney tunes.

Hui Chin and I spent most of the night sitting by the fire place, keeping our buns toasty, and talking about stuff. My apple martini had a mild effect on me, and that made the night more dreamy and unreal. It then started to drizzle, so Hui Chin and I moved indoors and we called it a night soon afterward. We were both hungry so we stopped by Denny's on the way home. Buffalo wings, eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns, water with ice cubes. Back to the real world. It was nice to be home.