After 3 weeks of intense medical office workout, Tinny and I have nearly caught up with the pace and flow. Although there are a few holes left to patch, for the most part, we are up to date with the day-to-day operations and can safely sit back and breathe.

Tomorrow we will revisit the billing avenue to ensure that payments have been received as well as identifying any anomalies which were overlooked in the past. During the last quarter of 2005, I dissected these remittance advices and tried to figure out why 1 + 1 = 0. Because Rich had worked for the clinic at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, a group of patients were under this panel meandered over to our office without switching the location of the doctor’s office.

Of course, no one caught the glitch until I looked at these reports. So, for months, we’d be billing the insurance company and the clinic gets our money. Great..

Although these monthly payments are generated based on the size of PCP roster (the insurance company pays a set price the doctor per head), the losses of seeing these patients in our office have a significance impact over time. I actually composed a brief analysis of our losses on an excel spreadsheet and calculated that the clinic has feasted on our earnings at least $3K over a 6 month period.

F—k.

And these jerks wouldn’t take Rich’s name off their PCP list because they don’t want patients leaving the clinic and coming to our office.

So off to Billing world I go…and blogging seems like a consistent task for the next week.

I killed Lo Say.

The wee guy was missing and I found him wedged tightly in the back of the filter. One eye was already bleeding and he somehow managed to feed off the random scraps of fish flakes blowing by him.

I panicked and tried to remove the filter. The f--king suction cups were so tight that I ended up killing him. He was probably better off stuck.

WAHHH!! I'm sad. I didn't mean to kill the littlest guy who enjoyed the vibrating motions of the oversized filter a little too much.

Gave him a proper burial and flushed him down the john.

I'm sad.

...my best writing does not come from blogging or humorously crafted emails. It's those colorful emails lashing out whoever or whatever treating my friends or family disrespectfully.

Yes it's those lengthy bitching emails.

Right, Lisa?

I read some of parts of my blog during the last 4-5 months and OMFG...was it DRAB and DRY!!!

Thank you so much for your sweet email regarding this blog. However, if you continue to email and refuse to post comments, I'll have to slap you on the left side of your head when you come to visit next month. You can't fully expect me to be motivated with these nice little offhand comments especially when comments are what bloggers thrive on.

You're such a wonderful booger.

BTW, I still haven't read Sue's book. I'm terrible, aren't I?

Looking back at the episodes happening in the office during the past year, it’s clear how the girls completely figured out Rich. Too easy, too much of pushover, too lenient and man, these are such great traits to exploit.

With me, I play far too many roles for someone to profile in one simple category. I can be fun, serious, strict, lenient, unassuming, competitive, etc. With so many variables, it can be hard to peg me down because I probably don’t fit the mold for many scenarios. Unless, of course, you are one of my close friends, so my weaknesses are as visible as those bed bug bites.

There is one attribute I’m consistent with: sharpness.

When it comes to my job, project or work, I have to be on top of everything because it’s an absolute necessity as a project manager. There are NO excuses for any hiccups, farts, or failures especially within grasp. If external factors are the cause of the problem, then you’ll have to enlist your boss' to participate in the nastiest and messiest political Wrestlemania ever faced mankind. This ensures your ass isn’t going on the grill.

Outside of work, my ‘sharp’ ability gets turned down or off. I don’t really need it except when the cashier rings up a different price on the sale item.

I’ve definitely mellowed out since my grande exit at Fidelity. I’m not so mean or bitter like I once was…another necessary skill when you go to these stupid management meetings.

Back in November, Yuki went on holiday (to Hong Kong) and never realized how covering for her would benefit me greatly. She knew I despised working in the office and would only make sporadic appearances since I preferred to work in my own terms. During my hiatus, it was clear the mice came out to play while the cat was away.

I didn’t mind the occasional slacking off since the job was manually exhaustive and required a certain level of versatility to catch those wacky monkey wrenches tossed your way. However, I did NOT appreciate how condescending they treated the patients (not all of them deserved to be barked at) or how they read the newspaper while the patients were left waiting in anguish.

In December, Yuki crossed the line with me. During office renovations, the idiotic carpenter reviewed our requirements with her and she completely modified my original design. She took it upon herself to create a small outlet on the counter which looked more like a modern-day confessional booth in a Catholic church. When I walked in during Day 1 of the renovations, I was appalled and FURIOUS over the construction. It was fricking hideous.

I threw a tremendous hissy fit over the design and the carpenters had no choice but to revert back to the original requirements (which was EASIER to build, by the way). Before the construction actually took place, the senior carpenter was doubtful and thought the modified design was ghastly impractical for ANY office.

Since then, I took every opportunity to chew both of their asses out. Unlike corporate America, I reverted into the Chinese-boss-lady-bitch role and barked at them out in front of patients, leaving them humiliated and undignified. This is where the tension began to amount between us.

I didn’t care what Rich thought, I was infuriated over the fact Yuki deemed herself the chief and did as she pleased. The two were constantly late and the idiot, whom everyone came to see, said absolutely nothing. Day by day, the little fat twat and her partner-in-crime felt invincible as her ego was constantly fueled. She was irreplaceable and highly sought after. Yeah, right.

I foresaw this catastrophic event and disruptive behavior - but continued to stay away from the office. I was angry at Rich for taking no action and bitching everyday about their horrendous antics. As far as I was concerned, a person has no right to complain if he or she does nothing about the situation at hand.

After interviewing Tinny on Thursday, he requested the office keys back from them. The girls snottily passed them back - with a big, “HERE you go” attitude - and skipped out of the office. The fools didn’t suspect anything and displayed a thick air of cockiness. Why? 18 months ago, Rich had pulled the same stunt with Yuki where she immediately cowered right back to a corner. This time, little snot assumed this was another harmless attempt to threaten her.

Her head was so far up her ass that she actually believed the practice could not possibly survive without her. SHE called the shots, not us. [*Gasp* *Wheeze* *BARF*]

Hah. I built every one of those processes, remember? I worked there for 5 straight weeks in her shoes, no?

Apparently she overheard some of our scuffles in the back room and was aware of my indignant behavior to try and work with him. What she didn’t fathom was how I waited for the right moment to bitch-slap her on the right side of her head. Do you honestly think that I could be absent from my business for long?

You underestimate me. Greatly.

But that’s the beauty of it. Second-guessing me would take them into dizzying circles.

I cannot begin to tell you how gratifying it felt to see the look on her mortified face. I didn’t need to yell, smack, or body slam them for payback. The look on their defeated faces said it all. She was in utter disbelief to see me rebound so well, so quickly. The little brat never conceived the notion how we wanted her OUT.

Because no one followed up on her whereabouts on Monday, she knew she was no longer needed. I genuinely believe that she waited by her cell phone for us both to frantically call her in and beg her big fat egotistical ass back. Everybody is replaceable at work, so don't think for a minute your ass would be saved. It is so magnificent to know how people usually and completely underestimate me. There's a power in that.

Bottom line: Karmic payback is a beautiful thing.

A long time ago, there was a situation where a supervisor who didn’t really care what happened to his group and allowed a cash proof system run down to the ground. One of his subordinates, a mere fledging, desperately tried to salvage what was left of the cluegy bookkeeping system. It cost the department extra hours of Overtime B which was a big no-no.

So, the assistant had no other choice but to skip the chain of command and reported the grave issue to her manager. Understanding the plight of the situation, her superior had only one response to the situation – “Let it break. You can’t keep up the wall any longer.”

“WHAT!?” cried the young one. “Picking up the pieces will be an arduous task! It will take hours, even days to reconstruct everything!”

“Yes, but there’s only so much you can hold up. In due time, everything will crash down and you’ll have to give up. Remember the story about the little boy who stuck his finger in the wall to keep the water from leaking? Then another leak sprung? Well, this is the same situation. Trust me on this one. You’ll see what happens after the reconstruction phase. The mistake will never ever happen again. You’ll see what I mean.”

Since then, I’ve been thriving on this concept. It has allowed me to overcome great obstacles I’ve come face-to-face in over a decade.

I was tormented for many months and in December, I made a conscious decision to reclaim my sanity and sense of self by abandoning my role at the office. Without going into details regarding the abhorrent clashes with everyone, I decided to take the risk of letting things run to the ground and to wait for the kill.

Okay, that was a bit dramatic, but in the scheme of things, one event, minor or major, could alter the shape of the near future.

I regained my energy, my composure, and best of all, time. I restructured my life, sought quality and simply waited for my day to come. I turned to a deaf ear at the many cries for help, turned a blind eye away from the crumbling brick, and injected psychological anguish whenever possible.

That day finally came last week.

Rich could no longer handle the pressure of his patients’ constant complaints against reception staff. The rebellion was rising and he could no longer ignore Yuki’s and Kitty’s tirade against the illiterate and crude bunch of illegals who pay our rent. Her bitterness spoilt the flow of energy and made it utterly foul and unclean. The girls had literally taken over our office, helped themselves to our privileges, defied their employer, and began rearranging things to suit themselves.


There’s a huge price to pay. Like with children, if you don’t correct their bad behavior early on, they go on assuming everything is kosher. Rich hates confrontation and his idea of a warning is similar to wacking someone with a 4 ft feather. Meanwhile, he’ll scream and vent at Mikayla or myself based on their actions and how they’ve wronged him.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been going up there and ripping them new assholes for things I saw unfit. Each time Rich would bitch about something, I’d shrug my shoulders and turn away. In reality, I was keeping a mental score and ‘transfer’ his complaints by lashing it right back at 'em. It gave me a sense of vindication like never before.

We’ve discussed the prospect of replacing them, but Rich has always been all talk and no action. I remained under the radar so I could catch up with my soaps and work on my little TFF project. Oddly enough, I sensed something was going to change, drastically. I couldn’t explain this feeling or phenomenon, but I knew for a fact that a life-changing event would occur very shortly.

So, last week, I verbally demolished Yuki out in the open. Feeling lower than pond scum, she rebelled by slamming everything around and acting obnoxiously. I remained unflustered in my cold stance and manually tore Rich a new butthole for overriding my authority again. I gave them a task and he decided to do it for them. Dumb ass. Believe it or not, Rich was more offended by her outburst than I was. He rang up a buddy of his and asked if his niece was still interested in a job. Oooh…are we taking action now? Before anything else, I made Rich sign in blood that he was NOT to take his shit out on me and allow me to run the front desk w/o interference. If my terms were not met, then I’d torch the office.

On Saturday, the new girl, Tinny, came in and did a spanking job. Turns out that she worked a year at physiatrist’s office and knows her way around the business. It was absolutely beneficial for me to able to work with someone who had her head screwed on properly and possessed a quintessential trait: MATURITY.

Although she was good, I was afraid we’d be slammed on Monday (our mega-busy day). Rich requested that either Kitty or Yuki report on Monday, but not both. He was irked that Yuki did not sound distressed and I snootily pointed out how people never admit to defeat quite so easily ‘cuz they gotta have some dignity somehow.

Come Monday, neither of the two vapid twats showed up. Good riddance. Whether you can believe this, I wasn’t angry at all. In fact, I was rather pleased not to see a shit-faced brat in my office. Honestly, I wanted to torture 'em for fun, but I didn’t get that luxury. However, I did get to trash out some of her stupid things like the broken radio (bad feng shui, you know), umbrella, hand lotion, and spat in her jar of Vaseline. I used her scarf to wipe the floor and the area where the wastebasket was sitting. It was a clean break as Rich had already paid them and requested the keys returned last Friday.

Yes, we worked to the bone on Monday, serving over 55 patients. Both Tinny and I worked together as a team and got it done. Who would’ve thunk that 2 semi-new folks could manage such a flow.

Come Tuesday, I informed Tinny to bar any entry if two little bi-otches waltz in pretending that the place is theirs. Tinny didn't think they would have any face nor the nerve to reclaim their useless belongings. No sooner had I mentioned it, in comes two little shits with a large shopping bag to regain their stuff. As Yuki unlocked the half-door, I barked that only one of them was allowed to come in and glared at her with my cold hard stare like a common criminal. She could not look at me and retreated into the waiting area while Kitty waited for me to make copies of her medical reports.

I wanted to chew their asses out but I had to keep a professional demeanor in front of my new receptionist. Nevertheless, seeing their faces gave me enough indication how low they felt. They both knew how they royally f-cked up and lost a lot more than their jobs.

This left me gloating for the rest of this week.

I began the slow process of reorganizing my office and setting the records straight. I tried to make the office a fun place for Tinny to work as I needed her to remain in the role long enough to find another capable body. Because she's overqualified, it's only a matter of time before she hops onto a different business endeavor. The girl's well off and doesn't really need a job like this. She has a degree in Accounting, speaks perfect English, and to my benefit, have similar backgrounds.

So, she was a great save for us. We reclaimed our office back, kicked the twats out, and started on the right business initiatives because some schmuck realized that there's no one better than me.

Wall came down, now it's going back up again, the right way.

Yeah, sell all shares of Imclone stock and I mean RIGHT now! NO standing orders and dump it while I'm on the phone...you hear ME??!!!!


(MOMMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I'M ON THE PHONE!!!!!)

Teach your kids how to multi-task at an early age. Here we see Mikayla talking on the phone with her cousin Emily and doing her penmanship at the same time. I need to give her busy work or else she'd plaster her eyeballs on the TV set for a couple of more hours.

'Scuse me.

Today, my sink has been completely removed and got a brand new one instead. The pipes had been leaking for a week and after the guy replaced one pipe, the other would break. It was one thing after another. I decided to be brave and request for a new sink...we're talking major cleanup RIGHT now.

So, me will take a mini-break and blog soon.

Thought yesterday was Wednesday. Thought today was Tuesday.

Massive belching episodes...not feeling too great today and tummy didn't like coffee yesterday.

Gonnae sleep on it today.

Whenever we make our runs to Target or to U-Mart (Jessica’s Spanking new supermarket) to stock up shelves, I’m stuck in the backseat listening to either Mikayla’s children’s songs in Chinese or Rich’s 4-CD boxed set of Hong Kong’s Greatest Hits in the past 3 decades.

Ugh. This is as ethnic as it gets. I have to hear Mikayla sing the Chinese version of “Bingo” with modified lyrics spelling out “C-H-E-A-T”. Whatever…and when the alphabet song comes on, Mikayla comments about how the kids “sang the song funny” because they don’t say their R’s properly. Not to mention the letter W is pronounced as, “double oooh”.

Whatever. Sometimes daddy gets sick of her music and pops in his stuff. I groan quietly and roll my eyes because boxed CD set isn’t 100% appealing either. I don’t know which one I despise most!

But I do admit, there are a few songs by a these talented artists which are truly amazing. I’ve come to a conclusion that their best works are usually the ones where the musical compositions are traditionally Chinese sans the bippity pop influences. I realize I sound old-fashioned, but if you heard any of the J-Pop or Cantopop crap, you'd vomit uncontrollably.

Well, in this one particular CD, these 80’s Hong Kong megastars are listed in the same cluster marking their highest achievement in popularity and record sales. Well, whatdya know, three of these popstars are already dead.

I was listening to Leslie Cheung’s (Farewell, My Concubine) voice emanating from the speakers and immediately fell in love with this song. I also realized how wonderful his voice was. In the past, I’ve always hated his music and thought his hit single, “Thanks, Thanks, Thanks Monica” to be the cheesiest piece of sh-t in the mid-80’s. But he was the hottest ticket in town during his heyday, and remember, every Britney has a Christina, right? So his rival was Danny Chan (An Autumn’s Tale – Hollywood’s remaking it in 2006).

Danny held an image of being good-looking, clean-cut, and posh. He was like an Asian version of Harry Connick Jr. with spiky hair possessing the ability to write, direct, and play his own music. Only problem is, he couldn’t dance if his life depended on it. This is how Leslie drop-kicked Danny’s ass into doofus oblivion. Leslie grazed the covers of magazines with his toothy smile and won hearts of every hormonal 14-year-old (adopted “Monica” as their moniker, obviously). Danny, on the other hand, appeared a bit reserved and had a problem posing in front of the cameras.

There were plenty more artists, but only ONE female artist who could single-handedly changed Hong Kong’s pop culture forever…Anita Mui, a.k.a. “Chinese Madonna” (look it up if y’all don’t believe me). Our beloved Madonna Louise Ciccone had an uncanny knack of making friggen underwear appear hip and layering a bunch of torn and ripped vintage clothing into something fashionable. A lot of 80’s clothing wasn’t exactly pleasing to eye nowadays, but back then, it was HOT.

And Anita Mui, did just that. She knew the formula for success by following Madonna’s footsteps while adding a personal flair and a Chinese twist to the whole equation. The only thing Anita couldn’t exploit was wearing lacy underwear on stage, let's not forget, we are talking about a semi-conservative culture here. Plus, undergarments are extremely appealing when one possesses C cups or better. Heck, Victoria’s Secret didn’t pick models with likes of Twiggy, right?

However, in the following decade(s), everything about these 3 lives changed. Drastically.

As the world began to openly discuss sexual orientation, some people began coming of the closets as well. It was still an unbearable topic to discuss in Asia, but it couldn’t be ignored.

In the 90’s, the tragedy began with Danny Chan. His musical popularity dwindled as younger rivals dominated the music scene with their flashy moves and designer suits. He became a recluse, adopted odd mannerisms, and disappeared from the public eye. Soon after, he died.

There is much speculation about the cause of his death - some say it was from alcoholism, while others believed he led a secret double life and died of AIDS. Supposedly he was in a coma for months and no one knows for sure, but he just went – pffffffffftt. Gone, just like that. His death was highly unusual for a young man who lived to be 35.

A decade later, Leslie Cheung, hurled himself off of a 24-story building. It was reported that he was suffering from severe bouts of depression and left a suicide note. Some believe Leslie’s depression revolved around the time he starred in, “Inner Senses” which was a widely acclaimed psychological horror film. He played a psychologist who meets a young girl claiming to see supernatural beings haunting her and helps her gain closure about her past. When the girl is cured (‘cuz there ain’t no such thing as ghosts, the good doctor said), then he begins to see terrifying ghosts chasing after him.

And who would’ve thunk it – Ol’ Leslie was flamingly gay and openly admitted his sexual orientation in his tightwad society. Leslie’s death shocked the Asian community proving that the sociological issues in Hong Kong were very real and prevalent. For someone who appeared to have it all - wealth, fame, and good looks - it was apparent how Leslie was a tormented soul and died a horrible death.

During this timeframe, a slew of Hong Kong megastars (both young and old) had passed on due to disease and depression. It was one magnificent funeral after another.

Then a few months later, Anita died of cervical cancer. Since she was well aware of her critical condition, she made sure she lived her final days to the fullest. Anita dressed to kill - from head to toe in designer labels, hosted parties every day and week, bought gifts for all of her friends, donated huge sums of cash to Buddhist temples, released a final album, threw a farewell concert, and devoted the concert DVD to her fans. Unlike Danny or Leslie, she died nobly and accepted the consequences of her fate.

All the while, it was odd having the press following her footsteps with the knowledge that she would perish before our eyes. You would see stupid headlines about how Anita looking weak and pale or her stomach being a bit round from the ‘swelling’. Man, they’re just as bad as the British paparazzi.

Although Anita didn’t face a horrible death, she suffered internally as well. Anticipation of death must have been excruciating for her. It's almost as though these megastars paid a hefty price for their fame and fortune. All three had never been married or have any children. Their lineages ended with them. Never allowed to be satisfied, ever. Not even in the afterlife.

Based on what I do know about reincarnation, Danny and Anita will have to 'recover' and heal from their diseases before they can be freshly embodied. This could take years, even decades as a wounded soul cannot survive in a human form. Unfortunately for Leslie, he will repeatedly leap off the building every moment of this spiritual limbo until he can find closure to what caused his death in the first place. He may never reincarnate.

Undoubtedly, Leslie’s death is by far the most disturbing. As I pointed out in my earlier blog, what motivates someone to do something? What acts a catalyst to a particular substrate? The questions revolving why will never be answered, but what were his last thoughts? What was it that made it so hopeless?

The Chinese are such pessimists, tragic endings seem to be a societal norm. The culture is so negatively charged because they don’t want to be jinxed by all of the positives. How does one live under the constant negativity? I see and hear news reports about children, as young as 6 (the same age as Mikayla), jumping out of their windows because they can’t face their parents with a mediocre report card. What is it about this society that compels people to act this way?

Suicide is common; you better hope no one lands on you while you’re walking on those streets. I’m assuming that no one wants to die in their own home because they don’t want to leave a spiritual imprint of death, so they’re gonna take a leap from the roof. Knives are too messy, guns are illegal, and drugs may not guarantee death.

So whenever I hear these three artists on the CD back to back, I see morose pictures of death.

I can't sit here for more than 15 minutes without an interruption.

Can people QUIT bugging me?! This has been going on since 1PM. WTF!!!!!??

Occasionally, I would visit a Taoist temple to pray and worship a god by the name of Wong Tai Sin. Honestly, I don't know a whole whopping lot about this god, but I do know he had something to with leading the Taoist movement and that's about it.

So, what's the difference between Buddhism and Taoism?

Other than some of the philosophical angles that I have no understanding of, the main difference is Buddhists do not consume anything with a face. The religion dictates how all life forms have a place in this world and to kill another animal for your personal consumption is a sin.

In Taoism, it's okay to chow down on a lambchop. But that's not really the reason why I'm a pseudo Taoist.

When mum emigrated from Communist China to Hong Kong back in the 60's, she possessed no real religious beliefs because Mao condemned any and all practices that would poison the human mind, which in turn, posed threats to the government. Her friends, however, were brought up in a strict religious household in China and highly appreciated the freedom to once again to worship their beloved gods in Hong Kong. One day, mum tagged along with them on a trip to the largest Taoist temple in Hong Kong.

While her friends lit up a bunch of incense for their prayer, she rolled her eyes in disbelief and scoffed at their mechanically ritualistic behavior. In a split second, she felt a sharp slap across her face. With no one standing beside her in broad daylight, she was badly shakened up. It was this very moment when she realized that these almighty beings from above existed and this god had read her disrespectful thoughts in his own temple. She immediately dropped down on the floor and begged for his forgiveness. Since then, mum raised us as Taoists.

During her second pregnancy, she wanted to find out the sex of her child. Inside the temple, were these numbered bamboo sticks located by the altar and are intended for the worshipper to have his/her query answered. The sticks are individually numbered and shaken out of a bamboo cup during the prayer. When a stick falls out, the individual will approach a fortune teller with this number (who has a board with little pieces of paper numbered from 1-100) to retrieve an answer from the god himself. For those who cannot decipher the cryptic meanings of these fortunes, the fortune teller will explain / summarize and suggest next steps of what the contents reveal for an additional charge. Usually the sayings on these fortunes are derived from ancient folk tales, quotes from historical masterpieces and the lot. So you better know your history and literature.

Not only did mum get a girl, Wong Tai Sin also accepted her offer to have the child become one of his many godchildren.

Here, in the States, I usually visit a local Wong Tai Sin temple whenever I have a chance. Over the years, the temple has been run by corrupted managers who extort contributions in the most heinous way. There used to be a Guang Yin temple on the lower level managed by a Buddhist priestess that my family has grown fond of. These nasty people would treat her horribly by forcing her to use piss pot instead of the bathroom.

So, I stopped going except on major lunar holidays. The nice thing about our religion is that thoughtfulness does hold weight.

Whenever I enter the temple, I would occasionally purchase an English fortune which is rolled up in a little piece of paper. For the most part, it has definitely held immeasurable significance at a personal level. This isn't those little white strips of paper with a red typeset found in fortune cookies.

Last year, I was tremendously agitated and angry with Grace. I went into the temple to calm myself down by praying for all the good things to come and the usual whatnot. I walked by the fortune bin and figured, what the heck, it's been a long while since I grabbed one of these. I thought about my query and popped in a dollar bill.

I wanted to know how the business would progress or something along those lines. This is what I got:

No. 53 Probability of Success: Poor
You must keep everything in mind.
Many a time you may have been blind.
You befriended someone and now you find
That he is a thief of the worst kind.

Back then, Grace seriously burned a hole in my stomach. No matter what, the wackadoo occupied my thoughts in my waking moment because her imprint was far too strong to ignore. It's not a coincidence I received this fortune and no matter how many people sympathized with her, she was doing me plenty of injustice at the office and in my personal life.

I kept this fortune only because it confirmed my worst nightmare. For the past 10+ years I've received these fortunes, I've never received anything quite this negative, not in even in the worst times of my life. This was startling moment for me.

The betrayal of friendship and the lack of trust aren't the reasons behind my anger. It's the fact how she tries to lay on my nerves and play me for a fool.

Got the most heinous part of the bookkeeping job DONE. Accomplished a year's worth of crap in 9.5 hours...not my best time, but you know, it wasn't as bad as the previous year's.

It makes a difference when an accountant or a brother could tell you exactly what you can or cannot deduct. Now that we can afford a proper accountant, the tables have turned and the guy makes bookkeeping a job that even a monkey could do.

Although I know how to reconcile, I never quite knew know what was deductible. The previous accountant was a sheer idiot, who could never shoot straight with us and beat those bushes to death. So, this is a step up when you know what you have to do. The god awful tedious task has some MEANING to it.

Off to bed. Will be refreshed and not so jittery for a good while.

WTF are these kind of fish???

I took this 3 weeks ago so things have changed drastically. The water's dirty (you can't see my fish anymore!) and there are 4 new ones. These fish have grown tremendously so I know I'm something right...

I have names for 5 out of 8 fish:

1) Dai Lo or Lo Dao - means #1 or can also mean "Big Brother" in Chinese triads
2) Lo Nay - means #2
3) Lo San - means #3
4) Lo Say - means #4 (still dwarfish 'cuz everyone else is hogging up the food)

This is how parents nickname their sons in large Chinese families. All of these names are translated from Fukienese so I can converse to my mom about them.

The newest batch look exactly the same in shape and size, so I couldn't figured which one is which. I have yet to come up with names, but one of them stands out 'cuz its face is deformed. Therefore, its name is "Dentures". Reminds me of my mum when she takes her teeth out at night!

Interestingly enough, they love the oversized filter my brother purchased for them. Methinks it's the soothing vibrating motion the gizmo emits and they're happily masturbating against it. Three of them literally hide underneath the thing and won't come out unless it's feeding time!

In order to get my daughter to respond, sometimes it's necessary to pitch forth a completely farfetched idea to solicit some sort of response. It'll eventually lead to a few more responses and finally, the point has been made.

It's what you have to do as a parent to get your kid thinking and finishing up those stupid homework assignments.

So, I decided not to let Mikayla go on a school trip because she suffers from motion sickness and both mum and I could not accompany her on Wednesday. Miki was extremely upset because she didn't like to be left behind. But mum's eye appointment is far more important than a trip to the damn MTA Transit Museum.

The last time Mikayla went to a trip unaccompanied, she barfed all over herself in the dead of winter and stank up the entire school bus. Fortunately, one of the moms carried an extra set of clothing for her to change (even though they were boy's clothing) and one of the teachers did a great job in cleaning up the vomit. The pitiful thing was the bus ride went from Chinatown to Lincoln Center which isn't exactly far. It was unfortunate to have a student driver that day...OY!!!!

While she spent her time in the Pre-K class, she made a large Valentine with multiple lines of the letter written across the cutout. On the back, she drew a mass congregation of birds flying about. Oh wait, they're not just birds...they're VULTURES. Instead of cutesy kitties or puppies or even girlies, we have VULTURES drawn on the back of the Valentine with "I LOVE YOU" written sideways.

Really makes you wonder what inspired her, huh?

Anyhoo, when I picked her up later that day, I saw the artwork. She gave me an entire synopsis of what her vultures were doing. I asked her about the "I LOVE YOU" part, just to elicit some Mikayla-isms - haven't had those in a long while.

Mom: So, Mikayla, you wrote I love you here. Who is this for?

Miki: It's for you, mommy. I love YOU. It's a Valentine I made in Teacher Luisa's class.

Mom: I love you too, sweetie. Now, are you going to give this daddy?

Miki: No.

Mom: Why not?

Miki: Because he's a bad boy. He makes frun of me. I don't like that.

Mom: Um, how about grandma?

Miki: Um, I don't know.

Mom: You don't know?

Miki: [Shrugs] I dunno.

Mom: So who else would you give it to? I mean, someone else...how about Joyce?

Miki: NO! I DON'T LOVE HER! THAT'S SILLY! She's my best friend!

Mom: Hmmm...how about Chie?

Miki: No. She's not even here.

Mom: Okay, then, how about Curt?

Miki: [Gives me a dirty look] NO! That's too embarrassing!

Mom: What about Roland?

Miki: NO!!! [Really exasperated now] I can't give him the Valentine because we're not allowed to go up on the stage mommy!! Aiyah!

Okay, now she's aware there are boundaries at this age. When we went to the Today Show nearly 2 years ago, she couldn't understand why we stood behind these rails and why Roland couldn't come off the stage to say hi to her. So of course, I didn't expect this answer at all. I thought she'd get annoyed enough to tell me to bugger off. Her idea of love has something to do with hugging and kissing, so it's okay for her to kiss mommy, but not with anyone else. Hmm...except Roland, maybe?

See? See? This is what I mean about little snots who should be caned - and their parents as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_fe_st/gummed_up_art