GEMMERZZ.com

The Miracle That Is Nyquil

2008-06-26T02:06:44Z

So I managed to snag a flu. Woo hoo, big winner.

After a long night out celebrating Darlene's birthday and watching the Mango Kingz perform at Da Hukilau in San Francisco on Saturday, I woke up on Sunday morning with a feeling beyond worse than a hangover. No, really.

I'm normally one of those "I-don't-like-to-take-medicine" kind of people. In fact, I rarely get sick yet when I do, it's always extremely bad. Walking pneumonia, sinus infection, you name it. But this time, I lucked out. So to speak, anyway. It's just a flu. A good ol' flu.

Of course it comes the week I have so much to do. Tomorrow night we're watching the Mango Kingz perform at the DNA Lounge. Friday, I have to take a stupid test at school -- I won't even go there. Blasted, San Jose State University. My Saturday is booked ALL DAY. I've got a picnic, a graduation party, and a birthday party to go to. OY.

Thank God for Nyquil. Have you guys every tried this stuff? If only it tasted better, I might've given up Jagermeister.

Time For An Update

2008-06-24T02:20:37Z

It's been a while since I've updated on my 101 in 1001 progress. Since my last update, I've purchased a couple more albums, went on a one-on-one date with Alyssa, threw a surprise baby shower for my co-worker, and I've scheduled another Isagenix Cleansebeginning July 7th through July 15th. I felt like the results from the last cleanse were great, so I'm really looking forward to this one. Both my brother and sister-in-law will be doing it with me this time around.

I'm hoping to document this upcoming cleanse a little better than I did last time. I know, you're probably saying "But you didn't document it AT ALL last time!" Well, now that I at least have an idea of what to expect, I think it will be much easier. I'm hoping...

Upon completion of the 9-day cleanse, I'm considering moving right into another cleanse of a sort. Heather has started the same 21-day cleanse that Oprah recently did and I'm quite intrigued. Inspired by the book Quantum Wellness by Kathy Freston, the cleanse eliminates sugar, caffeine, animal products and... gulp... alcohol! Meanwhile, you can still eat -- you just have to make conscious decisions about what you put in your body.

See, my problem isn't really related to exercise. I tend to workout about 5 times a week. My problem is that I make poor decisions about what I eat. If I could go a whole 21 days making conscious decisions about the food I'm consuming, perhaps I'll make a habit out of it.

What do you think? Do I stand a chance? Ha!

Another Death For 2008

2008-06-17T04:35:04Z

Folks, I'm sorry to announce that Sebastian has passed away. He and his wife were just starting to consider having a child, too.

Here's the painful part... my nephew killed him!!

Okay, okay -- Sebastian is one of my Sims characters. Haha. The kids were playing on my laptop yesterday and, when it was returned to me, I noticed that there was a tombstone in front of my Sims house! WTF??? The tombstone read 'Here lies Sebastian Jigs'.

Not so surprisingly, I sort of flipped out on my nephew. (Yes, I'm a poor sport. I know.) Then out of anger, I had Winny (Sebastian's wife) commit suicide by setting the house on fire and burning to death.

Kind of gruesome, no? Now I get to start all over. Clean slate.

A Date Has Been Set -- June 11th

2008-06-16T11:35:47Z

At the request of my 4-year-old niece, Kayla, June 11th has been officially named Auntie Gemma Day!!

Okay, perhaps "officially" isn't the right word yet. Who would I need to call, though? Hallmark?

Last Tuesday, my sister-in-law reminded Kayla that Father's Day was coming up.

"Kayla, are you going to make a card for Daddy since it's Father's Day?"

"Okay, but Mommy... how come there is a Mommy's Day and a Daddy's Day, but no Auntie Gemma day?"

So when Carol was sharing this story with me on Wednesday, I asked Kayla when she thought Auntie Gemma day should be. She responded, "Today!!"... and so began the tradition of Auntie Gemma Day.

I have to admit, I think it ~~would be~~ will be the greatest holiday in the world!

Why I'd Never Make It In Hollywood

2008-06-11T02:15:49Z

I have all sorts of incriminating "things" on my cell phone. Pictures, emails, texts, oh my. John -- are you SURE you didn't find my cell phone at your house? I'm anxiously awaiting some form of blackmail. Paris Hilton, eat your heart out.
I like to say what's on my mind and not have to worry about what person, people, country, or race I may have offended with my mere words. Case in point, The Philippines vs Desperate Housewives and China vs Sharon Stone. (NOTE: I am not by any means implying agreement or disagreement with any particular "sides" to either of these stories.)
I'm not a size 0... or a 2. If Hollywood thinks Jennifer Love Hewitt is fat, they've got another thing coming.
Racy photos. Oh man, if the world went all crazy about American Idol's Ramiele Malubay's "racy photos", they definitely would hate (but secretly love) me. One day soon, I will have to compare her racy photos with some of my own. They're really not bad at all... in my opinion, anyway. Hana, you have to look at them. I know you'll laugh just thinking of our pictures from Blush from that one night...
And well, sex tapes. Enough said. Haha. KIDDING!!

Would YOU make it in Hollywood and, if not, why not?

I'm in shape! Well, round...

2008-06-11T01:03:32Z

One of my new blog reads wrote a great post entitled How do you measure your fitness level? Well, to answer that question, I don't.

Okay, that's not entirely true. First, it is my womanly duty to measure my fitness level on the scale of all the women who hate me (and there are a lot). Thankfully, my "fitness level" -- as well as my "intelligence level" -- is higher than all these broads.

I also use my scale to "measure"... except when the number is higher than it was the last time I was on it. At that point, something is either wrong with the scale or "I'm building muscle".

I've actually been really good since I did the Isagenix cleanse almost three months ago. I've been working out an average of 4-5 days a week with my brother. You think having a trainer is hard? Try doing push-ups next to someone yelling, "Timmy can do better push-ups than you!! And he's 12!!!" Timmy's my nephew. Good times. (Note: This is the point where all the women mentioned above who hate me start boasting about how many push-ups they can do. Well, if my arms were that big...)

So I've finally got back into the rhythm of working out regularly. My brother also helped me create a workout schedule so that I get a full body workout by the end of each week which has helped tremendously. Women, the majority of us go about exercise in the wrong way, I tell ya! I've learned so much.

There is one setback to the idea of working out 4-5 days a week.. and that is simply that there are 7 days in a week. I've been trying to figure out how to manage those 2-3 days away from the gym so that I don't spend those 4-5 days working off all the crap I put on during the 2-3 days. Did you follow that?

So YES -- I ordered this new Nintendo DS "game" called My Weight Loss Coach. It's scheduled for release at the end of the month and is pretty unique. The actual cartridge that plugs into the DS also serves as a pedometer, so the "game" is really a means of keeping track of your daily activity, both exercise-related and food-related:

We'll see how it plays out. Hopefully this purchase isn't just evidence that I'm addicted to my DS. Ha!

Happy Anniversary, Boss.

2008-06-10T03:23:22Z

Our company just celebrated its 10-year-anniversary and, amidst several milestones and celebrations, each employee was given a Green iPod Shuffle. Ironically, my somewhat outdated iPod Nano was also a gift from a previous employer, so I've been very lucky to never have to purchase an iPod for myself.

I was very excited when our CEO came around the building to hand these out personally. He's very good at that sort of thing. It was a very pleasant surprise and was definitely a great way to kick off the week.

For me personally, the iPod Shuffle was sort of an answered prayer. I've been having a hard time working out with my bulky iPod Nano. I know what you're thinking -- the Nano isn't all that big. Well, maybe if you have proportionate biceps!! Ha! As petite as I am, the iPod Nano really gets in the way of my workouts.

I've also begun to download all my mp3s via Amazon.com. The songs are cheaper than iTunes and the files are downloaded as true mp3s, so you can easily burn them as a CD or manipulate them for ring tones or whatever. I can't comprehend why iTunes would make you purchase mp3s and then not let you "have" them. Annoying.

So yes, probably one of the best Mondays I've had in a while! Hope your weeks have kicked off on a good note as well.

Hip Hop Dance Championship

2008-06-07T05:53:16Z

(Click image for larger flyer.)

Stranded.

2008-06-07T05:45:57Z

No, not stranded in real life.

I may as well be, though. Is it so sad that I've been playing The Sims 2: Castaway all night?

I figured I would take a break... well, actually my battery died. Sigh.

Oh what it feels like to be a kid again.

Am I Being Punk'd?

2008-06-07T00:49:47Z

Wow. This has got to be a joke.

I know, who on earth would really devote any time or energy into joking about my Alexa rank, but still.

I think I'm obsessed.

Well, I'd throw myself an ice cream social to celebrate my petty victory, but I scarfed down a king-size Drumstick last night and, as I popped the last bit into my mouth, I looked at the nutritional facts. Big mistake. 430 calories?!?! Oh, and of those 430 calories, 230 of them are fat calories.

Ugh.

I've Reached A Milestone!

2008-06-04T12:59:52Z

Okay -- this isn't going to be nearly as exciting to you as this is to me, but I'm sharing it anyway. I know there are people out there (like Fashion Paramedic) who understand and can relate!

GEMMERZZ.com is my new blog. I had pulled my last blog, EyesOfMine.com, entirely because my boyfriend (at the time) hadn't told his 'ex' (for lack of a better word) that he had moved on. Thanks to Friendster, she had found my blog and was stalking me for the entire span of our relationship which was almost four years since my blog was deleted. (To this day, I still argue that she was also the "anonymous source" that led me to end our relationship.)

Anyway, I was blogging privately to select readers on Xanga after I took the site down, but since I kicked his ass (pardon the French) to the curb, I've decided to get back on track. After being gone from the scene for a while, it's hard to come back with a bang. I've really had to start from scratch, so please bear with me while I soak up the excitement that comes with getting a higher Alexa rank. I know how petty it must seem, but just last week, my rank was almost 6,000,000. This is a huge step up for me. Yay!

Real Women Love Football

2008-06-03T13:35:06Z

... and I mean LOVE. There are certainly gals out there who like to wear thongs with the Oakland Raiders logo on them... that doesn't count!!

So have you made your football picks for the upcoming season yet?? Do you think Tom Brady will have yet another amazing season? Do you think my Broncos will suck... again? Haha. What can I say, I'm a die-hard fan. Win or lose, I still got love for my teams!

My favorite pick for the last two seasons has always been the Eagles' Brian Westbrook. I swear, despite injury after injury, that fool still manages to run that ball better than a lot of people. Football experts seem to have pretty high hopes for Tony Romo this season. Eh. We all know how he plays when he has a girlfriend... remember this?

Enough said.

Okay, okay -- I'm being a little hard on him. But c'mon... Jessica Simpson? Seriously???

Anyway, if you're planning on playing Fantasy Football, be sure to make your picks soon!

Guitar Hero... on DS?!

2008-06-03T00:33:45Z

If you don't know, now you know!

(Video courtesy of GameVideos.com)

The game does not officially come out until June 22, 2008, but I've already pre-ordered one for myself and one for Alyssa via Amazon.com. (Note: Alyssa doesn't know this yet.) I can't wait!!

I should probably confess that I'm not really good at playing Guitar Hero, especially in comparison to all the kids in my family. However, I am now at "Medium" and both my brothers suck more than me. If that is not an accomplishment to be proud of, I really don't know what is.

Click here if you're interested in reserving your copy and joining in on the fun... or frustration. That would depend on whether or not you suck. Like me.

For Ty

2008-06-01T17:40:25Z

This is for Ty:

This is an actual coaster I have at my desk at work and is posted in reference to this post.

Chippendale's in Detail

2008-06-01T16:30:01Z

Yes, I'm afraid it's true -- I didn't fall off the planet. Although I haven't blogged in a few days, it's only because I've been working on a simple redesign of the site. Well, as much as I'd like to keep the site simple and easy on the eyes, I also want to make sure I haven't forgotten how to code. I figure it'll be good to put my knowledge to use once in a while. I'm clearly very rusty.

I thought I should explain my last post in a little bit of detail. Unfortunately I can only post a limited amount of characters via my cell phone. Anyway, my mom's best friend's daughter got married last Saturday and we were seated at a table with this other Filipino couple. (The bride is Ecuadorian and the groom is Polish-Canadian, so we were clearly labeled as the brown table.)

They reminded me of a more Americanized version of the ex's parents. He was a former military man who was very loud and outspoken and she was very much the "stand behind my man" kind of gal. He began telling us story after story of when he was in the service. The four years of experience with the ex's family really helped me listen attentively despite the burning desire in me to tell him enough was enough. (I've learned that everyone has a subject that they overdo -- my subject is my nieces and nephews.) In between stories, he'd throw in random tidbits about how his son lived in New York at the time of 9/11, how one of his teeth was loose, and how he wished more places would sell Polaroid film.

At one point as we were enjoying the buffet dinner, he points at my dad and says...

"Are you a Chippendale's dancer?"

I almost spit champagne right in this guy's face. (I was sitting right next to him.) My dad, on the other hand, looked totally clueless.

My mom asks, "I'm sorry??"

I bet she regretted that.

He responds, "I asked if he's a Chippendale's dancer. Isn't that the kind of tie (shown left) that they wear?"

My dad's a little red in the face at this point for a few reasons. First, he didn't know if he was being insulted -- he clearly doesn't have the body of a Chippendale's dancer. Was this guy being sarcastic and would it have been more appropriate for my dad to sock him in the face? Second, how many Chippendale's dancers have you seen that would have been seated at the brown table? Let's be realistic. Or could he have been embarrassed because my mom and I jumped in to explain that the ties Chippendale's dancers wear are bow ties? Yes, dad -- mom and I know what's up!

So yes, that's the Chippendale's story. Maybe not as bad as it could have been, but still tacky nonetheless.