My living room is finished! This past weekend Matt and I went to IKEA and bought a sofa to finish off my living room decor. As much as I hate IKEA, this sofa fit perfectly with my living room and had the added bonus of turning into a bed so I can lounge while I watch Tivo/play video games/snuggle with Matt/pay my bills/harass China. I had a dream the night previous that I had purchased the couch and it fit into a neat little 4x6' package with "IKEA FÅGELBO" written on the outside. Inside was a handy dandy little L-shaped Ikea tool and with that you could have a full sized L-couch assembled in no time following the wordless instructions. Alas, this wasn't the case and the couch weighed about a billion pounds. Thankfully Walt left his dolly from when he helped me move and Matt was able to hoist the couch onto it and roll it up the stairs. Thanks be to dollies.

I am now an official member of 24 hour fitness. Through work I pay about $25/month with no contract to be a member of all 'Active' clubs. There is one right across the freeway, less than 5 minutes of a drive, so I'm hoping to start taking classes there soon and get my butt in shape. I rode Isabella for less than an hour on Saturday and I was reminded of how my legs have turned into noodles over the wintertime.

A gal at my barn invited me to join their quadrille practice. Part of me thinks I should to improve my horsemanship and meet new people at the barn, but the other part of me wants to do my own thing and not be bothered. I'm in a quandry because I told her I'd join them tonight at 6:30. But I don't wanna. poo.

Last night I recieved my first birthday gift! (Thanks, Lizette!) I was just commenting to Matt the other day that I was sad that no one gave me Return of the King : Special Edition for Christmas, and 'lo and behold, there it was yesterday waiting for me at the post office!

It was pretty dark and dreary after work yesterday so I didn't head over to Isabella's but rather took a walk and ran some errands with China. It's so great that I can walk to these places that I had to drive all over town in Berkeley before. China and I walked over to the post office to pick up the package, to Safeway for some batteries, and to the pet store to refill China's dog biscuit supply. I had to tie China up when I went into the stores.. I'm always a bit nervous doing that because I'm afraid she'll get stolen. I wonder what the likelihood of that happening is.

I've been trying to go out to see Isabella 3-4 times a week now. It'll probably end up being more like 3 during this rainy season, but I'm slowly trying to get her back into shape for the upcoming ride season. I had an awesome dream the other night. Usually the dreams I remember are the not-so-nice nightmares, or the really random ones where I wake up going, WTF, but the dream I had made me truely happy and at home. I was at an endurance ride with Isabella and we were getting ready on ride morning to head out on the trail. The atmosphere was so exciting and familiar to me. I felt at home, comfortable, and overjoyed that I was going out on the trail.

I've already planned my 'minimum' ride season for this year. I'll be doing:
May 7th - Diablo's Pistoleros
May 21st - Quicksilver Spring Classic
June 4th - Wine Country
June 11th - Oakland Hills Elevator Ride
June 18th - Cooley Ranch
Oct 15th - Del Valle Vulture Venture (the first LD ride I ever did)

Well, maybe I won't do all of them.. considering there are back to back rides in June. :) Who knows, maybe I will and Isabella and I will be fit enough for a 50 one day! I'm so excited. :)

You scored as Severus Snape. Well you're a tricky one aren't you? Nobody quite has you figured out and you'd probably prefer it stayed that way. That said you are a formidable force by anyone's reckoning, but there is certainly more to you than a frosty exterior and a bitter temper. Severus Snape 70% Draco Malfoy 65% Hermione Granger 65% Ron Weasley 65% Sirius Black 60% Harry Potter 60% Remus Lupin 55% Albus Dumbledore 50% Ginny Weasley 50% Lord Voldemort 40% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

I've been sadly slacking on my blog writing. Work's been crazy busy and I've been busy moving and now unpacking, eek - so many things to do! But now life seems to have slowed down to a pace that I can handle.

Last Saturday was moving day. I couldn't have asked for a prettier day - the sun was shining and everyone was in great spirits. I had more than enough help and we were able to make it from Berkeley to Pacifica in one trip. With my truck, Matt's truck, and Amit/Walt/Laquel/Mark&Jenn's cars, we were able to fit everything with room to spare! Here's where I exhude tons of love and gratitude for them - they made that day so stress-free for me. Everyone seemed to be working hard and having a great time (I hope!). At a relaxed pace, we finished everything up in 4 hours and I managed to get quite a bit of unpacking done as everyone hung out afterwards for some TV (they were watching some athletic fitness pageant - don't ask) and playing Halo. Laquel and Walt had to leave soon afterwards but I treated everyone to Malaysian/Thai food. The restaurant wasn't very good, but was within walking distance. The music was horrible - very bad orchestral elevator music, but the company was fun. Good times.

Matt and I cleaned up the apartment afterwards. In about 5 hours (with a lunch break), we managed to get that apartment spic and span which is no easy feat when you have a hairy monster of a dog. I am determined to keep my new place as hair-free as I can and have strategically placed my furniture to help me do so. ManyMany thanks to Matt for helping me *mwahmwahmwah*. Thanks, sweetie. :)

The only thing that sucks about the apartment is the high speed internet - apparently they've run out of space at the SBC DSL center office so I'm SOL in that department until they can increase their bandwith capacity. There's an RV park a few blocks away and I've been using their wireless service (TengoInternet, amusing name) for a fee until I can get my DSL up and running. I can only get service in small bursts and I have to hold my laptop in a certain way to get access to it.

Let's end with a gross note, shall we? Tonsil stones. I get them occassionally and all day Sunday my throat had been irritating me. So like a cat, I had been hacking, trying to clear whatever that was causing the irration. Eventually I cleared them out, in the middle of the farmer's market store nearby my house. Of course, I turn to Matt and showed them to him in the palm of my hand. And folks, the following is evidence that this man was meant for me. He ran to grab me a tissue to put them in and announced that he was going to keep them for later to examine more closely with a toothpick. HAHAHA!!! so friggin gross. Yup, that's my guy. ;)

Let's relive this, shall we?

Last night I headed over to Matt's place after riding Isabella. After arriving, I warned him that I was pretty cranky. I was dirty, on my period, and just got done driving through evening traffic in San Francisco. He was so sweet to me.. making me strip of my clothes (oohhh LALA!) and giving me some nice clean, comfy sweats to put on. That instantly made me feel 100% better.

We settled in for an evening of Champions of Norrath and entertained each other with stupid little jokes and basically acting juvenile and playful as per norm. We breaked for dinner and I insisted he read my blog. "Did you read my blog page yet??" "No" "Why not?? Read it! Read it now!" "Ok. Pisshhh.. I already knew that story." "I know but still.. you have to READ IT!" "" He puts up with my childish behavior quite well. Especially noted when I was yelling "LOOK AT ME!! LOOOK AT MEEEEE!! Loookatme, lookatme, lookatme" as he was trying to read his email. When he'd turn around I'd show him a big glob of pudding half-eaten in my mouth. I told him to look multiple times, and he did each time and laughed - a true sign of a boyfriend that loves you. :D

Last night I was working around the apartment, pulling out all the nails and organizing all the stuff that's been stored away. I was on the bed at one point, pulling off my wall tapestry and when I went to step down off the bed, my foot caught the plastic bin usually stored underneath my bed. I felt a pop in my ankle and fell hard to the ground. :( Being a big baby that I am, I cried out and whined for a bit to no one in particular for a while (well, China was there but she was just excited that I was on the floor). For a while my ankle felt tingly and numb.. not a good sign, but eventually I was able to get up and walk around. Thank GOD it wasn't worse than a sprain.. it would've SUCKED having to move if I was incapacitated like that.

Saturday is the big day. I'm soooo looking forward to spending my first night in my new place. This afternoon I'm headed to go see Isabella to go on our first ride out at her new barn. Hooray!

Vernita Green (Copperhead)




You're Vernita Green! You've done a lot of things that you regret, and you're still trying to move on with your life. You won't hesitate, however, to use any means to save your loved ones or yourself.

Kill Bill: Which Deadly Viper Assassin Are You? (Vol. II spoilers... results with pics)

There is no rest for the weary! This weekend was chock full of activities. I moved Isabella to her new pasture on Saturday. As I was loading up the trailer with her stuff, she was romping about in the arena, playing with her tail up in the air like I'd never seen her before. It's like she knew she was moving out of that dank, dark barn into the beautiful open fields in Pacifica. On Sunday Matt and I went to check on her and she was calmly grazing out on the grass in the quarantine pen she's in for a week. When I left her the day before she was a little worried and whinnied to me as I said goodbye, but just a day later when I called her she looked up at me, interested, then went back to grazing. I think she's settling in. I hopped on her bareback and we rode around the stables introducing ourselves to people and exploring. One gal asked if she was pregnant (!). Rude! She just has her winter weight on, people!!

We ate out. A LOT! Friday evening we met up with the gang at Great China. Saturday night we took Mark and Jenn out for dinner at the Chaat Cafe. Little did we know Amit and Walt were just next door at California Sushi.. then saw them on the road where we were all on the way to the theater to meet up with Laquel. We saw Appleseed, an anime movie which spectacular graphics.. but the storyline left much to be desired. Actually, the storyline was pretty good, the delivery was not. It was more geared towards an elementary school audience spelling out every single twist in the plot - which is good for me, but probably not for the anime conossieur.

Sunday Matt helped me move a few more things into my new place and we walked around Pacifica for a bit, checking out the neighborhood. I was happy to see that within a short walking distance there was everything I needed at hand. A post office, a cafe, a farmer's market, a butcher shop, an auto parts store, a pet store (that carries China's brand of food), and a deli that made THE GODFATHER. And, if I couldn't find what I was looking for in those shops, a Safeway and an Ace Hardware were available as well. Perfect!

In the evening we weren't quite ready for bed, so we met up at Walt's place to check out GTA 3: San Andreas. Walt had been touting the glorified violence of the game so we had to take a look. We took turns playing for a bit then we all played a few rounds of Halo2. My Halo skills were sadly lacking.. oh, how I remember the mADsKIllZ I once possessed that I have no longer. Sad.

We finished off our video game playing weekend with Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest, a fun, slow-tempo role-playing PS2 game. You can customize your character and build up their strength and spell intelligence. I play a Dark Elf Shadow Knight. I have blue skin and tattoos and I'm pretty hot. Matt plays a High Elf Cleric who we stripped naked down to his skivvies for fun. He had a pretty big codpiece.. who knew? I thought Elves didn't have privates??

Take the first sentence of the month for each month of 2004 then put them down in one entry. I took more than one cuz some didn't make sense and/or were boring. :)

JANUARY: Happy New Year, everyone!

FEBRUARY: Woohoo, just finished my new workout video! Much fun! It makes me want to take ballet classes again.

MARCH: This weekend went by pretty quickly despite all the days running into each other lately. My poor Isabella has a swollen right front leg from a superficial cut she most likely got from running around like a maniac in pasture.

APRIL: I've decided to quit my job and work as a zoo keeper at the Jamaican National Zoo. Don't try to stop me, I love Jamaican food and people. I leave this weekend.

MAY: Cheerios cereal and I do not mix well in the early mornings.

JUNE: The move went smoothly. I'm glad a lot of people weren't at the barn cuz I would've started crying! Actually I did while I was driving away.. I'm going to miss Creekside.. :(

JULY: A brief conversation with Walter.

Julienne: you know
Julienne: when i have a baby, i'm gonna name her aria after my favorite porn star
Walt: in that case I'm naming mine traci
Julienne: kay

AUGUST: This Friday, I will be heading off to Santa Cruz to ride in The Fireworks 25 Endurance ride.

SEPTEMBER:
As if on cue, China gets in her poopoo hunched position and begins straining. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with the bucket, but just out of instinct I rush towards her and catch the poo mid-air as it drops. China runs away. Okay this wasn't the first sentence, but it was in my first entry and by far is the best part.

OCTOBER: This morning I woke up completely congested and stayed like that for another 4 hours before my Zyrtec kicked in.

NOVEMBER: Hope everyone had a good Halloween!

DECEMBER: Please help me decide which haircut to get.

Frylock in bondage gear. Doesn't get too much better than that.



The storm this past weekend was crazy! Raining hail up in Concord.. wind gusts.. Matt and I were driving on the freeway when my windshield wiper decided to fall off and was hanging off while I was trying to see in the rain. Scary.

I surprised Matt with a mystery trip yesterday which turned out to be an outing to the San Jose Convention Center. They were having a big auto show and a bunch of different car manufacturers came out for the event. We got to touch (hold, lick) a bunch of cars including my favorite, the Infiniti FX. Matt wanted to sit in the Hummer so we both stood in line on both passenger and driver's sides until we got to literally climb into the cab. It was huge! As we sat there, a group of little kids were sitting in the back seats. I turned around and asked enthusiastically, "Okay kids! Are we ready to go??" They looked quite confused and a little scared. One grabbed for his "real" mom. Heh heh.

The show also had a line of pretty cool concept cars on display. Argh, I don't remember the names of them.. I also forgot to bring the digita camera. 'Twas a cool show nonetheless.

Got this from Viv's site.. had to share. SO FRIGGIN CUTE!

So last night I went over to Matt's parents house to do my laundry. I successfully sold my washer dryer combo (for $1000!) on craigslist but that left me with no laundry machines until I move into my new place. Fortunately Matt's parents informed him they'd be out to dinner and back late so I could come over and have clean undies for next week. After 4 days (!) of not seeing each other we were feeling quite amorous and began fooling around. (Actually, getting around to doing it wasn't all that lackadaisical. Matt basically said, "I'm gonna do you" and I said "Okay!") We had a lovely time and afterwards, we got up, flushed and happy. We opened the door to head over to the bathroom. I let out a healthy burp to which Matt expressed his approval - "NICE." I giggled and said (in boisterous, loud voice), "Soooo.. it probably wouldn't be good if I went out there naked and finished up my laundry, eh?" We had joked about his parents coming home early. I was headed out the bedroom door about to do the naked deed when we both froze in our tracks.

The TV was on.

I looked at Matt with startled, wide eyes. His parent's condo has *very* thin walls. Matt peeked around the corner and greeted his dad. CRIMINY! After we get dressed and do the walk of shame out into the living room, his dad sees me and with a smirk on his face says, "Oh, I didn't know you were even here, Julienne. The laundry machine was so loud." Yeah, nice try.

Soo.. yeah. We did it while his dad was home. His dad most likely spread the juicy news to his mom. I can't help but feel the wanton sex mistress that corrupted their little boy. Ok, so he's 29, but still! UGH, SO EMBARRASSING!

Later we decided it was a good night to get a little tipsy and eat at Mycanos, a yummy greek restaurant on Polk. Mm. Highly recommended. The restaurant, not the getting caught having sex by your boyfriend's dad part.

Crime in Berkeley (2002):
7 murders (6.6 per 100,000)
28 rapes (26.3 per 100,000)
407 robberies (382.1 per 100,000)
287 assaults (269.4 per 100,000)
1,514 burglaries (1421.4 per 100,000)
6,687 larceny counts (6277.8 per 100,000)
1,341 auto thefts (1258.9 per 100,000)
City-data.com crime index = 660.3 (higher means more crime, US average = 330.6)

vs.

Crime in Pacifica (2002):
0 murders (0.0 per 100,000)
5 rapes (12.6 per 100,000)
15 robberies (37.7 per 100,000)
70 assaults (175.9 per 100,000)
133 burglaries (334.2 per 100,000)
498 larceny counts (1251.3 per 100,000)
97 auto thefts (243.7 per 100,000)
City-data.com crime index = 149.8 (higher means more crime, US average = 330.6)

Ha, I love it.

So, I'm selling of a buttload of stuff in preparation for my move to Pacifica. The couch that fared me well for 2 years (which I got off of ebay for $50!) is going to Mark, and I've already sold my washer dryer combo machine for a nice chunk of money. Next comes my microwave (the new place already has an over the counter machine), my 2 nightstands, and my computer desk - which is too large for my new bedroom. I've gotten an offer to trade computer desks with a guy that has a cute little workstation that may fit my new room.

Last week I put up an ad looking for moving boxes on Craigslist. A gal replied who lived in Oakland and I bopped over to her place to pick them up. Wierd thing was - she had the same last name as me! How strange is that?? I mean, my last name really isn't all that common in Korean society.. so maybe we're related somehow? Anyways, we chatted for a few minutes and that was that. "Hey, maybe we're long lost cousins or something? Well, thanks for the boxes, later." haha.

I rode Isabella for a little bit on Monday night. I started her up the muddy trail, but soon decided it was too treachorous and turned around back towards the barn. Isabella thought this was FANTASTIC and rushed down the muddy slope. Little did she know we were going to school in the arena for a bit. She found something scary to spook at numerous times near the side of the fence, and I spent most of the time circling her until she was tired of spooking and finally began listening to me. I was riding bareback and as a result my thighs are totally sore 2 days later from gripping.

I'm going to miss my friends when I move. :( Pacifica seems so far away and it makes sense for me to be there, but last night just reiterated to me how important my friends are to me and how in times of need I can always count on them as they can me. Now there is 45 minutes and a bridge between us.. poop.

Top 5 memories of 2004! Okay, there are 6. I couldn't think of 4 more to make it a Top 10 List, so you get 6.

6. New York trip. I'll never forget how crazy Times Square is - even at 3am in the morning, it's still bustling. I could never live here.

5. Getting my job. +2 increase in job satisfation.

4. Getting hit by fat nasty ghetto lady. Big reason why I'm moving outta the ghetto.

3. Returning to NATRC competitions with Isabella and winning 1st horse, 1st rider on our first competition back in 3 years! Yeehaw! That was awesome.

2. Tahoe trip - one of the best time I've ever had in 3 days! Memories to last a lifetime.

1. Meeting Matt. The past 6 1/2 months have been the best of my life, love you baby. *mwah*