sofichan's Xanga

Back to the Motherland

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:01:32 GMT

Before I started at Google, I decided I deserved two months of vacation in between jobs :P That's right...two solid months of sitting around in my PJs all day. Some might say it would get boring...mindless...lonely...etc. I say best two months EVER. My butt left a permanent indent in the couch. Ahh - the memories.

Ok, so I *did* actually leave the house during that time. I decided it was time my Chinese face visit the land where it got it's Chinesey-ness from. That's right...China!! I had never been to China, and my Mom hadn't been back since she was in infant, so the two of us buddied up and took a little trip together. Mother-daughter bonding at its best!

Commence fobbiness at Tienamenn Square --

Forbidden City....looking more overcrowded than forbidden

Temple of Heaven

BIRD'S NEST!!! (P.S. When I told Alice I was visiting "Birds Nest" she laughed cuz she thought I was talking about an actual nest.....apparently, she missed the entire 2008 Olympics )

Water cube. (Dear Alice, this holds the official 2008 Olympic pool. Love, Sophia)

My Mom walked 3 whole chunks/legs/segments (whats the official term?) of the Great Wall. And back! It was NOT a casual hike. We were both proud of her . At one point she asked "how much further till the end??" The guide was like, "Umm..thousands of miles??"

Amaaaazing views.

Flew to Xi'An to see the famous Terracotta soldiers. Pretty mind blowing in real life -- each dude behind me is life size! Well, almost. I could probably beat one in a wrestling match (assuming size determined winner...not amount of clay in body)

...and they are uncovered in this state. Archeologists are still working daily to piece it all together. Crazy! Imagine the patience....I'm pretty sure I'd be rubber cementing horse heads to soldier bodies after like five of them. Be like, "Ehh...close enough".

Then we went to outer space. Otherwise known as The Bund in Shanghai.

We went to a few other cities -- Hangzhou, Suzhou...but my memory is starting to fail me (I am 27 after all). So here's a scenic garden in one of those cities. I loved those floaty plant things in the water. My mom did NOT get the fascination.

Temple #8271823719283. Oh wait, the name of the temple is probably on that rock. Unfortunately for you, I cant read Chinese. You're stuck with the name "Temple #812739813798173" (yah...so what, the number changed. I don't have time to be typing all those numbers in specific order. I have better things to do with my time...like ped-egg my foot).

Sometimes on our tour, we got swindled into factories to encourage us to spend the all mighty dollar. Most of them were snooze-fest 2008, but the silk worm factory was actually AWESOME. Each of these balls is a silk worm cocoon...and the machine is spooling the thread from the cocoons simultationsly. You could watch them unravel. The sad part is that the hard-working worm inside -> dead.

And finally, here's an incriminating photo of my Mom eating street food. Stinky tofu that. And PEEE-YEW did it stink! My dad specfically told us not to eat street food, but we while the cat's away....

We ate all kinds of dirty foods in Shanghai. Let me tell you, Dad was right....it did not end pretty. I'll give you a clue...starts with di- and ends with -arrhea. Flight home was NOT pretty.

On that note, I should end this entry here. In summary, China = awesome. Street food = not smart.

Thanks Mom for traveling with me. Love you

Countdown

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:38:02 GMT

ZOMG - people at work just counted down until Unix epoch time 1234567890.

This is too nerdy....even for me. And that says a lot.

Hello Dead Space, Goodbye EA

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:01:57 GMT

I should have celebrated its release sooner, but better late than never -- in October, another game I worked on came out. HOORAY for Dead Space!!

GO BUY THIS GAME!!! It's honestly a fantastic game -- a third-person, survival horror in outer space. Think Resident Evil/Bioshock/Doom. Yes, blowing limbs off of funky ass aliens...need I say more?? Ok, watch the scary trailer if you still need more convincing:

Awesome, no? But no need to take my biased word on it. Critics are raving:
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/deadspace?q=dead%20space

As proud as I am to be a part of this amazing new game, October also marked my day of resignation from EA. It's hard to leave the gaming industry, but it's harder to say no to the new job...

Goodbye

Hello

I start my new job next Monday!! I'm excited. Wish me luck!!

P.S. Seriously though, buy Dead Space -- I still have a ton of EA stock that needs some lovin'

Update x 5

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:00:50 GMT

Why, HELLO!!! Despite popular belief, I am still updating this thing. It's just that I'm so l-a-z-y. And the longer I wait to update, the more I have to do...and the lazier I feel about it...and then I put it off some more...it's a catch-22 really. But, since recently I sit on my ass all day with nothing to do (more on that later) I have no excuse to not update.

So here we go...here's the past four months in a pistachio shell (I would say nutshell, but I'm anti-walnuts...for obvious reasons)

In July, we head to LA for Thomas and Anna's wedding.

The night before, we saw a man on the streets of LA getting his photo taken by a small crowd. I don't know who he is but with my skillz of deduction: unreasonably tall man + black + getting photo taken = famous athlete.

(Feel free to identify him in the comments section -- I would actually be curious as to who he is)

The next afternoon was the wedding. Congratulations Thomas and Ana!!

Reunited with high school friends Sue and Jennie. Yes, I understand I'm a giant in this photo. Stop judging me. Maybe I'm standing on a footstool. Actually, it's rollerskates...yah...rollerskates.

After the weekend in LA, one of my best friends, Sue, head to the Bay Area to spend some time with me! (and her brother, but more importantly, me : P)

We met up with my cute college friend, Owen, for brunch in Sausalito.

And then spent the rest of the afternoon getting cultured at SF MoMA.

Come back, Sue!! And Owen! You both need to move here and spend more time with me ASAP : )

And then comes August...

As mentioned in my last post, my sister Jennifer had a beautiful baby girl.

It was a shockingly fast delivery (100% natural too!) And Jennifer was so upbeat and energetic afterward. Very unusual....very amazing..and yet, very unusual.

Here's her site for updated photos of her baby: http://www.xanga.com/yellowhead. Yes, she got even cuter! (Both Jennifer and the baby)

My Mom flew out to California to help out with the newborn.

Then, Alice and I smuggled my Mom to the Bay Area to treat her to some of the best food this area has to offer -- Koi Palace seafood hotpot.

At the end of August, Eddie and I head to LA again for another wedding. This wedding was GORGEOUS. So elegant and classy.

Congratulations Phil and Jane!! Jane is an absolutely stunning bride.

I love their cake. Perfect design and taste. I honored its design with this photo. I honored its taste by eating two slices.

Finally in September, another one of my best friends, Denise, and her husband Dave moved to the Bay Area. They are currently living in our house while their own house is getting built nearby : )

Ta-daaaa! Welcome Denise and Dave!! (this photo seemed appropriate for their introduction)

For Eddie's birthday, the four of us took a flying trapeze class. Luckily, Eddie's old, crickity 31yo bones made it through the class.

And my trapeze video debut!!

And to cinch the birtrhday celebration, I spoiled Eddie with a novelty FOUR FOOT BURRITO.

Although I still have a lot to update, I want to end this entry with a bang...so this entry shall end here. BANG!! BIG BURRITO! BANG BANG!!

Till next time!

New Niece!

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:13:39 GMT

My sister Jennifer just gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl :) I could not be more excited!!! Introducing Calista Han Graeber:

Please go congratulate her HERE.

Patty's Wedding

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:42:48 GMT

Two weekends ago, Eddie and I head down to Newport Beach to attend Patty's wedding. The wedding was beautiful!

Group shot of school friends. Patty and her new husband, Alan Pat.

The real Alan could not hold in his sadness with Patty off the market. Not even two hot girls could keep his spirits up.

Cat takes a stereotypical, angled "engagement shot"

Cheers to the new couple!!! :)

Gorgeous cake. It was huge. I wanted to ram my head into it.

Chocolate covered strawberries injected with liquor. SUCH a good idea.

...and one last shot with the bride in her traditional Chinese qi pao.

CONGRATULATIONS PATTY & PAT!!!!

Papercraft

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:55:39 GMT

Recently, my friend Tracy told me about a papercraft club she joined at work. I was like "Huh? Wtf is papercraft? And how can I join this awesome-sounding club??" Turns out, papercrafting is the art of cutting things out of paper, and then folding and gluing it together so they form 3D models of things. Sounded like something fun and craftsy, so I tagged along like a lost puppy.

Since this activity is of the arts-and-crafts nature, I expected this club be full of girls -- the type that folds origami stars and writes in mixed caps. I was a little shocked to find the room chock-full of grown men, folding cardboard cats and discussing last week's Battlestar Galactica.

So...apparently papercraft is a nerd activity.

Well....perfect. I fit right in :P So I sat down and crafted a Link papercraft.

With a little help from Tracy, and two tries of getting that massive head to stay on that little body, I'm proud to present my first completed papercraft:

I encourage all to embrace your inner nerds, and venture forth in the adventure of papercrafting!! Print out your Link templates here:
www.siliconera.com/news/0604/linkpc01.jpg
www.siliconera.com/news/0604/linkpc02.jpg

Enjoy, nerdwads. Knock your fracking socks off :)

2nd (and last?) down

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:08:43 GMT

Getting the MySpace imposter down was an ordeal. Basically, the process is:

1). Create a handwritten sign with the word "MySpace.com" and your Friend ID
2). Pose like an ass holding this sign
3). Send this photo of yourself to MySpace Administrators, so they can have a good laugh at you.

Suddenly, I imagined a collage of smiling "users" holding up MySpace signs. The last thing I wanted was to see myself in some "I love MySpace" promo in the furture.

So...FINE. You win, MySpace. I'll take the stupid photo. If this is what it takes, I'll do it....but not without a tall order of bitch face.

One Down...

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:23:34 GMT

Hooray! Facebook annihilated that phoney! Which is pretty much the equivalent of a SuperPoke Atom Bomb.

And this is reason #39182910239182357 why Facebook is better than MySpace. I didn't need to jump through hoops to report impersonation. Thanks Facebook!

Another One!

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:51:22 GMT

Looks like there are more imposters out there . Someone else found another one (thanks Joe):

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=708294991

Now...I *am* on facebook, so I requested to be her friend. Let's see if the real me gets along with the fake me.

...this could be interesting. Commence SuperPoke World War I!!!