Brian Murray's birthday

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.