the ink on my thanksgiving dinner not yet dry and i found myself at another banquet. it was my parents' doing, they had an invitation for a kuomingtang charity fund raiser, and since i work in the area, it was an easy walk from my office straight to food. it was held at the emperor's garden restaurant, touted to be one of the largest banquet halls in chinatown (it's pretty big), right across the street from penang and a legacy sex shop. besides my parents, my 2nd aunt was there, as well as mister huang (an old family friend) and his family, his wife and daughter. alex huang (no relations), my godmother's son, was there as well, and i actually ran into him on the streets when i was walking down to the restaurant in the freezing cold. i made sure my hair was extra "wild" tonight, because i know it embarasses my mother.

the food was ample, although some of it was hit or miss. i got there at 7pm and they didn't serve us until 8pm, but then for the next 2 hours and a half, it was all about eating. well, not exactly. eating and speeches and talent shows. i can't even begin to explain what was happening. the speeches were by chinese patriots still adhering to the party of chiang kai-shek, spoken in mandarin, taiwanese, cantonese, and english, a mish mash of languages. and during the banquet, there would be live music. not a band mind you, but a karaoke machine, and people somehow connected with the event organizer, people with a little spirit of performance in their blood, people who love the karaoke. it was obvious the talent had more to do with nepotism than actual skills, as a few pieces were cringe-worthy and every so often i'd lose my appetite, only to find it again when the next plate of food came along. it wasn't all singing though. there was also some cultural performances, like fan dancing and sword dancing. oh, broadway show dancing with a top hat. i kid you not, and what this has to do with chinese nationalism, not even sun yat-sen would know. a list of the itinerary was on the table, each musical piece was annotated with what kind of dance it was (rumba, disco, line dancing, once again, i'm not making this up), in case you wanted to get up and get your groove on. however, there was no alcohol being served, so audience dancing was kept to a thankful minimum.

when the evening was over, i got a ride back to my place from my parents. they actually just dropped me on the street corner, i had to go to star market to buy some drinks and some toilet paper. i breathe a sigh of relief now that i have a new supply of toilet paper. i was down to squares, and if my roommate came back to the house (which he didn't, his letters are still out by the foyer) and used the bathroom, he would've found himself in a trap.

monday, work, cold, went to king fung for lunch, got the lamb with scallions on rice, not very good at all (the food lacks imagination, and very salty), but i keep on going to king fung because the food is cheap, usually when i go there's nobody around, it's just two blocks away, and the people there speak mandarin. there was a 10 minute wait, so i wandered around chinatown, visit half a dozen restaurants, collecting take-out menus. there's this one seafood place that boasts 444 different dishes, and you almost need a magnifying glass to read their menu. whether it's a good place to eat or not, who knows. i wanted to go for a run, but nobody in the office wanted to go, so i've postponed it until tomorrow, when people (and by that i mean kristine and alex) might be a little more receptive (even though i think the temperature is going to be obscenely cold). i went to meitung to get some drinks since 1) our kitchen sink is busted (so i can't get any faucet water), and 2) the refrigerator smells like somebody died in it, which turned out to be only a bag of rotten broccoli (thanks god! nobody cares about broccoli). while in the bathroom that we share with the dentistry practice from across the hall, some guy bashed into me with the door when he came in. it hit my elbow (i was in the middle of preening my hair in the mirror, guilty as charged), which was pretty violent and loud, but it didn't hurt at all. he thought he'd had seriously injured me and kept on apologizing, while i quickly slipped back into the office.

oh yeah, and this morning i had to wake up early to walk down to harvard square to buy a t pass, and then i went to fidelity investment to get some forms so i can open up a rolling IRA account. i have to get this done by thursday. that also reminds me, i need to make appointments to see the doctor for a routine checkup, the dentist as well, and also somebody to clean the gutters before it snows.

so that was my monday.