liaos are genetically predisposed to getting obsessed with stuff. this explains my sister's purse collection, my mom's overflowing china cabinets and my large stores of (in roughly chronological order) pads of paper, beads, doc martens, and trade paperback books.

i have recently become enamored with seeing broadway shows at discounted prices. it started when i discovered this site: and opted to try the wicked lottery. i arrived at the theater promptly at 5:30 to see about 200 other people eagerly waiting for the chance to sit in the front row for $25. the guy standing next to me told me this was his tenth try.

had fate not smiled on me that day, my interest may not have snowballed into an addiction, but someone up there was looking out for me.

i've always loved theater. i am especially fond of musicals and the emotions elicited by cheesy scores and pitch-perfect voices. why this has become an all-encompassing obsession though is because of the lottery, which combines my two favorite pasttimes: gambling and bargain-hunting. as evidence of my broadway death spiral, i have seen a show every day since wednesday and now routinely turn down social engagements with friends if they coincide with matinees or evening performances. i spend the last ten minutes of each workday plotting a viable timetable, then trek from lottery to lottery until i hit the jackpot, keeping student rush and tkts as alternative ways to get my fix. since i don't have an official school id yet, i keep a printed copy of my financial aid letter to prove that i'm a student. once the box office people see the amount i will be in the hole next year, they generally laugh/take pity then give me the cheaper rate.

am i insane? maybe. but at least no one can say that the liaos do things half-assed.

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i fell in love with paul rudd after watching clueless during high school. in addition to preppy cute looks, he had the added bonus of a terrific personality--or at least the character he played did.

today i was lucky enough to get his autograph. the only reaction i had upon meeting my teen idol (besides the tremendous excitement that washes over me whenever i am near anyone who has been in us weekly) was the thought that he was way shorter than he appears in movies.

it probably wouldn't have worked out anyway since since we're both married now. oh well.

recently consumed:
- m&m burger flambeed in whiskey, topped with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese and apple-smoked bacon; cottage and shoestring french fries, rare
- "menchanko": thick ramen cooked in a cast-iron bowl; salmon onigiri, menchanko-tei
- basil chicken, shrimp fritters, spice
- salad, french onion soup, creme caramel, le bonne soupe
- more salmon balls, chicken and beef yakitori sticks, some place near w. 4th
- chicken enchiladas con suiza, guacamole made table-side, rosa mexicana
- chicken fingers, peanut butter pie, hard rock cafe
- eggs benedict over english muffins with smoked salmon, the coffee shop bar
- caribbean passion, jamba juice
- crab and salmon sandwich, yucca fries, collard green wontons, chicken skewers, negril caribbean restaurant
- avenue q
- wicked
- something borrowed, emily giffin

with all this eating out, my stomach is about to go on strike. luckily, a care package from wingerz arrived today. it contained my cell phone charger and a ziploc bag full of vitamins.

still haven't watched oprah, but have eaten the following:

- hot lobster served in a buttery toasted brioche roll, rachel's kitchen
- various thin-crust pizzas, cambridge 1
- sake-miso marinated alaskan butterfish; wok stirred seafood paella with garlic-black bean chorizo, blue ginger
- lots of bbq meat and red jello, green field churrascaria
- nachos, fajitas & 'ritas
- mocha chocolate lace ice cream, lizzy's ice cream
- thyme and sweet onion quiche, white chocolate bread pudding, olive oil ice cream, gardner museum cafe
- potato skins, grendel's den

currently reading: anne of green gables, l.m. montgomery

my first day of unemployment began as i thought it would: i woke up at 11, lounged around the house in my pajamas until 2, and then mustered the energy to change and brush my teeth since i was leaving the house. i will generally revert to my slothful self when left to my own devices. no wonder i'm so afraid of free time.

faced with the looming reality of many weeks with no responsibilities, i applied to a few opportunities that seemed both interesting and cost-effective. unfortunately, the only jobs that fulfill these criteria are ones i've never done before, so i usually wind up woefully unqualified. hence i will have to spend the summer watching seasons of tv on dvd instead.

goal for tomorrow: watch oprah for the first time and see what all the hype is about.

currently reading: lullaby, chuck palahniuk
recently read: the sisterhood of the traveling pants, the second summer of the sisterhood, girls in pants (the third summer of the sisterhood), ann brashares

i've started noticing gaping holes in my education lately--for instance, in domestic tasks and map reading. i think my goals of "learning to cook" and "learning to navigate" were destined for failure by the triple threat of my laziness, the fact that they're too general (e.g. "world peace" - where are the action steps??), and wingerz, the biggest impediment of all. marriage should mean that only one of us needs to excel at each skill; it's far more efficient that way.

currently reading: jane eyre, charlotte bronte

we’ve been debating whether to see the 40-year old virgin or red eye this evening. the fact that i’m advocating for the latter makes me think that i prefer being scared to laughing.

currently reading: garlic and sapphires: the secret life of a critic in disguise, ruth reichl

in the hopes of shutting him up, i promised wing a pet if he could keep the house clean for 3 months. he's cleaned up for the past two nights, all the while chattering about whether he should get a gerbil, a kitten or a rabbit, and finally wrapping up with "is this clean enough for a pet?"

i am starting to get scared.

currently reading: blink, malcolm gladwell

i wonder sometimes what my life would look like if i lived by myself. if i use tonight as a proxy (wingerz is on a business trip), i would be a homebody lounging on the couch, reading celebrity blogs and bopping to acapella cds on repeat play. this is a vast improvement over the last time i was left alone, when i ate nothing but pretzels for two days and practiced hygiene sporadically.

been wrestling with the questions of what to do with my life yet again. i'm starting to consider them dark, shadowy, extremely faithful friends.

my sis came to visit for her birthday last weekend. as a result, i got to meet the cutest male alive - ethan, her friends' son (so charming, and not even two years old). there's something both bittersweet and beautiful about young families. especially in watching the parents, steeped in the blush of youth, awash in equal parts exhaustion, pride and happiness, as they lovingly dote on their kids who are still too young to remember.

currently reading: naked, by david sedaris

when i was ten, my sister's friend once jokingly told me that she felt sorry for my future spouse. it was a warm summer night, and we had been sitting around the kitchen table with a bowl of freshly-washed strawberries; i'd been unwittingly picking through the bunch, popping only the reddest, ripest, unmarked ones in my eager little mouth. although i hadn't noticed the behavior until she called me out, i was pretty chagrined when she announced "whoever marries jen will be stuck eating a lot of unripe fruit."

*
married life has been good so far. post-wedding, i felt slightly empty and depressed, the feeling i get after a party when everyone goes home, but an order of magnitude higher. it was especially a downer compared with the euphoria of the actual day, when i married an incredible person surrounded by loved ones, some of whom i hadn't seen in years. what a relief though to be finished with the planning, out of the spotlight, and allowed to again eat ice cream and candy with wild abandon.

it's been a whirlwind of travel the past few weekends. a few highlights:

- went to dc for the fourth of july and got to see vchou, yayu and tadajulia. saw a dress rehearsal of the concert in front of the capitol building, biked around the monuments, encountered a freak rainstorm, ate a lot (as always), and witnessed vicki and yayu lift wingerz several feet off the ground.

- met wing's maternal grandparents and relatives in toronto. wanting to wow my man with my driving abilities, i gleefully put on my lead foot and watched as our little civic ate up the 1100 miles of road. wing, too engrossed in his psp, was not impressed; neither was the cop who pulled me over a few miles later for going 85. despite wing's urging to "act cute, act cute," i glumly accepted my speeding ticket in silence, figuring that 10 years of bad driving had finally caught up with me.

- went to wing's cousin's wedding in nyc. it was very touching and beautiful. this was pretty much the best one ever since i won an ipod (almost better than what i got at the last wedding i went to ;)).

- found out that a pic of me will be in next month's boston magazine, but it's of the back of my head. wing assured me that this is because i'm a butterface so i punched him.

we're back at home for awhile, getting settled. it feels good.

*
a few weeks ago i commented to wing about how we'd gotten lucky in the selection of strawberries i'd eaten for lunch, which had all been deliciously sweet. he told me that that was because he'd gone through and eaten all the bad ones so i wouldn't have to. and i silently thanked my lucky stars for giving me this person as my life's companion, who somehow knew to fulfill a silly childhood desire without my ever having to ask.