Completely partied out from last week. The bf’s Microsoft  party at the W in Buckhead last Wednesday was nice; too bad they only had a Kinect going and not some FPS.

The following day he hosted a small dinner party at his place. I must say I was pretty impressed with his kalbi or marinated ribs. Friday we went to another small get together where a couple of people didn’t know “what” Chairman Mao was.  Ignorance aside, it was a lovely evening where I gained 5 lbs from eating all the dessert.

Saturday I went to my company’s party out on Lake Lanier.  The Festival of Lights thing on the way to the reception was pretty hokey and cheesy, even for a 5-yr-old.  But it was a nice party and everyone won something; I ended up winning a 2 night stay at a Ritz Carlton of my choice; I’m sure it will come in handy some time.

Right after the party, my boyfriend and I booked it to a lounge in Midtown to celebrate Cathy’s birthday. We stayed for only a short while since we were so tired.  Earlier in the day we also visited the Dekalb Farmer’s Market for the first time on Saturday and I have to say  the bread, coffee and fresh pasta there are pretty good and cheap.  (Alas, photography is prohibited there.) Ideally I’d go there often but it is kind of out of the way for me.

Sunday my friends hosted a grab bag/potluck party at their place.  (There was a lot of Publix fried chicken.) I ended up getting a candle, which was perfect for my boyfriend since he loves candles more than I do.

It was a pretty fun but exhausting week.  We ended up getting sick toward the weekend and we’re just about recovered now.   I’m looking forward to getting this work week over with and just rest up.

Time flies. I can’t believe tomorrow is December; been so busy.   I had a great Thanksgiving lunch and dinner at my dad’s last weekend.  Fall as usual, has been about 5ks and seeing foliage. I went to Stone Mountain for the first time where you can see a nice skyline of Atlanta at the top as falcons circle above you.

I also ran a 5k for my boyfriend’s friend’s non-profit called Nepal House.  I was surprised I won since I took a wrong turn but it was really just an informal 5k amongst a small group of friends. If you’d like to support a school for disadvantaged young girls in Nepal who would otherwise be trafficked or forced to work instead of getting an education, you can learn more about the school and donate to it here.

It was nice to visit New York again last weekend.  I went to help my friend go wedding dress shopping, followed by a brunch in Brooklyn with her and her fiance’s friends.  I also finally got to visit my friend’s restaurant, Ngam, where I had pad thai and these delicious fries that were fried Japanese pumpkin pieces.  Afterward my other friend and I went to Laduree where she splurged on $76 for 24 macarons.   After the NYT piece that declared they were the best in the city, you can only imagine how long the line was.

I also had some delicious ramen at Tabata before going to my friend’s wedding in NJ. Well I missed the ceremony due to traffic on the Turnpike. So what should have taken us 45 minutes took us 2 hours to get to the site.  But it was good catching up with Tim and his wife and we got right in time for the reception.

It was nice to see everyone again and I’m happy that I’m building more friendships here. Last Sunday I almost felt like I was hanging out with my old crew, playing flag football and nerdy board games afterward. I was introduced to Puerto Rico which took so long, but at least I won.  You found true friends when you can play a game like that with them.

Still digesting the turkey fry and all the other food that made for a nice pre-Thanksgiving meal. So glad I’m not dealing with the snow in the Northeast right now; that is becoming more of a benefit of being in the South when people are going days without power due to a snowstorm.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been getting to know more people which has been nice.

Last Sunday I went out to a pretty good Cantonese restaurant owned by the parents of a girl who is in the same small group I attend from church.   It’s just awesome to know someone whose parents own a good restaurant.

Coincidentally enough some of the same people at that lunch went to a hockey game with me over the weekend.  It was a fascinating experience going to a minor hockey league game; I never knew it existed but the Gwinnett Gladiators do have a solid fan base I guess.

I barely paid attention to the game and we ended up leaving in the third period because one of the guys was falling asleep.  He certainly woke up when we went to karaoke afterward.  Only in Duluth can you go to a minor league hockey game and then eat cheese covered rice cakes and spicy squid at an Egyptian-inspired karaoke place. It was fun but I didn’t sing at all; I hate hearing my voice on the mic.

It was also good to see H’s friends who were in town.  Last time I saw his friend in New York, his wife was pregnant but when we met up with them here this week, they brought their baby who was absolutely adorable and mild-mannered.  It was nice to catch up over cheesecake and coffee; they’re encouraging people without intending to be.

We also met up with H’s other friend who was visiting from Brazil. He brought his wife and his 1 1/2 year-old daughter who was so cute.

Went to the breakfast at church today.  It was my first time and I went up and grabbed coffee and a scone and sat down with two random people and we were later joined by a couple.  Little did  I know that a prayer is said before everyone eats. Oops. I just helped myself. haha. But they actually serve waffles and hot dishes; thankfully they didn’t set those out already.

Also went to a women’s group afterward which was nice.  Hopefully I get more involved…which will require me getting up earlier in the morning.

I think we found our church.  I attended three Sunday services and enjoyed them and liked a community group I visited tonight.  Everyone’s so different from each other but we meshed well. It’s such a relief since I haven’t been plugged into church for awhile but would like to get more involved instead of just attending a service and leaving right away.

Initially I was dreading to go since the discussion was going to be on the second chapter of Joel which I thought was going to be dull.  But it turned out to be a good, thoughtful discussion.  At one point, H cracked up while the chapter was being read aloud because it reminded him of how he had impersonated the pastor reading it on Sunday and we snickered like 5th graders.  Thankfully everyone was gracious to our puerile behavior.  I think overall, everyone found H funny. He’s such a clown.

It was nice that we all got to mingle over a potluck dinner beforehand and to share prayer requests afterward.  I hope to grow with this group and I’m glad I wasn’t dismissive about going.

This weekend was low-key. I went to a Georgia Tech tailgating but my friend and I didn’t go to the game. We just went for the beer and just to catch up with her friend from Maryland.  I have never done so many football-related activities until I moved here; I think I’ll be doing a lot more for better or worse.

I liked this passage I read in Ecclesiastes 7 today.  I’ve always had the problem of falling into extremes and this was a reminder of keeping balance:

 Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise—
why destroy yourself?
¹⁷ Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool—
why die before your time?
¹⁸ It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

People aren’t perfect, but I think there is always room for improvement.

I do not own an Apple product, save the Nano that my boyfriend gave me.

Although I never joined the Apple bandwagon, Steve Jobs’ passing jolted me as it did with the rest of the world today.  I never cared for Apple because everyone who owned an iPod five years ago complained about it –  it didn’t sync, it was freezing, it wasn’t connecting with the iTunes store – so I didn’t buy the hype. It wasn’t just the iPod either, but my friends’ year-old MacBooks were crashing on them too so I avoided Apple.

I can only assume Apple products improved because it became the standard to be copied and it raised the competition in so many products and services.   Jobs’ contributions are practically incalculable with the way we compute, talk on the phone, listen to music, play video games, watch TV,  access our information through apps, and even building businesses and concepts around Apple products.

He’s given us Toy Story for goodness sake.

So thank you Steve for doing what you loved.  By raising the standard and bringing out the best in your competition, you made technology beautiful for everyone; you will be missed.

Sideways is on and just finished a glass Trader’s Joe’s shiraz.  I don’t know if it’s the Lord or the liquor talking but life’s been good to me this weekend.

Finally tried the chicken from Heirloom (above) and it was delicious as expected.  Sweet potato side proved to be an excellent choice, and the mac n’cheese and chili beans were pretty good too.  (Actually the best mac n’ cheese I had in ATL so far has been at Twist at out of all places.)

I also met these two girls this past week whom I just hit it off with…the first female friends I made in ATL. It’s kind of nice to have some girls to hang out with now.  For the past couple of months I’ve just been hanging out with H and his guy friends and their wives which is nice but it’s also good to find my own girl friends…and their dogs:

I’ve also been asked to be a bridesmaid for my friend’s wedding next year so I’m pretty happy and excited for her.  It’s been awhile since I was a bridesmaid. I only wonder what the dress requirement will be this time.

Also my bf just ordered these for me today; I’m so psyched to get them on Wed:

I’ve been wanting to try them for a long time now. They look ridiculous but I tried them on at REI and they felt pretty good.  I actually love the separate toes because my toes often feel squished after a long run.  My feet are wide and feel constricted even though I have the right shoe size.

Alas no job offers for me after interviewing last week so I’m back to square one on the job hunt. It’s frustrating but in the bigger picture, life is just good for me; no complaints.  I am reminded right now of this Salon article posted awhile back about this heart-broken girl who is about to break down from four failed relationships.  I’ve been there before so I can relate and I do like Cary’s advice to her, especially the last paragraph:

Also: Know that you are loved. That’s the other part. You might not be loved by every skinny man under 30 with a tattoo and a Mets cap but that’s not what I mean. You are loved. You are part of a great and compassionate universe and you are loved. No matter whom you sleep with, you sleep every night under a canopy of infinite heavens, and by the grace of unseen forces you can often see the stars in these heavens, and are held to the earth and oxygenated by the air and fed by the world of plants and animals and all these miracles — the miracle of gravity, of quantum physics, of photosynthesis and respiration and cell division, all these laws and processes, all these mysteries only faintly described by math, all these things are forms of love. We are held together by all this — all of us, dogs and cats and zebras and you and me. We crazy, arrogant creatures full of illusion and rage and self-pity are held by this stuff in an unshakable embrace; we are in it and of it; we belong to it; its substance is our substance; there is no difference between us and a star.

If I were the sun and I did not love humans, I would burn them out so fast. Wouldn’t you? So it must be love. There can be no other explanation.

So relax. Everything is fine. Get some rest.

 Yes, as God told Elizabeth Gilbert, “Go to bed,” after she feverishly prayed to Him, I think I’ll do the same now.

I'm not raking it in like these hedge fund managers in "Midas".

Hmm it’s almost been two months and still nothing.  Although it’s been kind of stressful, I ultimately feel okay and at peace.  It’s not just wishful or positive thinking, but just a belief (faith?) that I was supposed to move here to ATL; there’s no other way I can look at it so I believe something will come up. When I take a step back I realize how crazy it is to put your whole self worth into getting accepted for a job; it’s not worth it and I’m really glad my bf reminds me of that. I’m truly grateful that he’s so supportive of me.  I often feel like everyone else believes in me more than I do, esp. H. We definitely have our differences but the more time we spend together, I can’t help but to feel he’s so perfect for me.

Some interesting stories of unemployment: Matthew Epstein of googlepleasehireme.com lands a gig at sigfig.com and wins many fans in the process, even if he didn’t get a job at Google: http://bit.ly/rpzG87 & how “Even Harvard Couldn’t Protect Me” by Amy Gutman  http://ht.ly/6u4uq

In the meantime, I’ve just been working out, cooking, and hanging with the bf.  I’ve also created a website, lostinatlanta.com, for fun; it has a long way to go but I like tinkering with it.  I’ve also found a Korean tutor here, the fourth I’ve found from Craig’s List after one in Maryland and two in New York. It makes me smile to think of those kids teaching me Korean.

I also  subject myself to watching Korean dramas to learn Korean, but they’re usually too annoying or cheesy for me to watch.  But I’m in the middle of watching one now that I like called “Midas”.  The drama is about how hedge fund managers make money and although the plot is a bit far flung, it is pretty educational if you ever want to learn how hedge fund managers make astronomical amounts of money. You can watch it on Hulu here:  http://www.hulu.com/midas.