"Re-arrange with subtle change."

Ohbijou - "New Years"

We move slow, we move slow.
Feel this cold, feel this cold.
Turning heads with our swift retreat
out of the city.

Move these frames, move these legs.
Re-arrange with subtle change.
Make it fit so you won't feel bored of it.
Won't feel bored of it.

I'm coming after you.

Lover come grab your guns.
I know that you want some.
Maps in flames, I'll follow you
While you lead the way.

I'm coming after you.

"You're not large, you're not medium. They have husky."

Oh yeah, I took a trip down south a few weeks ago - didn't take too many photos. Of the few I took, this one's one of my favorites.

I'm drawn to this kind of stuff.

It'll break your heart and make you smile.

I've never met the guy; but I'm sorry for your loss, Jamie.

Happy Birthday Mom!

That's my mom on the left - the one with the huge smile on her face. Seeing her happy on her birthday is what Saturday was all about.

I always have trouble figuring out what to get my mom for her birthday. She is, without a doubt, one of the most selfless, caring, non-materialistic people I know; which is great, because it makes her such an amazing person to have in my life, to look up to, and admire...but not so great when I want to show her I appreciate her.

A little over a month ago, a friend of mine (Matt D.) had a Facebook status about having Indonesian food for lunch with his wife. I left a comment, asking him where they had gone. He commented back, informing me they had gone to Borobudur Restaurant in San Francisco, a few blocks away from Union Square (Post at Jones, to be more specific). We talked about it a little more (through comments on that same status update), they said they really enjoyed the food, I went to the restaurant's website, checked out the menu, got really hyped, and I immediately decided on what I was going to do for my mom's birthday.

My mom never really goes anywhere, and she usually works, well, everyday of the week. She actually had her birthday weekend off this year (she was going to Stanford's Parent Weekend), so I just told her to make sure she was free for dinner either Saturday or Sunday, whichever worked best for her. I was going to "surprise" her by taking her to Borobudur Restaurant in San Francisco. I would organize it so we all got up to San Francisco and I was going to treat everyone.

So I made the reservation for 7:30pm, just to be safe, since I had pick my mom, my aunt, and my dad, around 4:30pm from Stanford, meet up with my sister and Justin, and drive up to The City. It turned out to be a little too safe, as we got there 45 minutes early. The place was packed, they couldn't fit us in earlier, so we had to figure out what to do for 45 minutes.

Justin wanted to check out Niketown, so we walked down Post. But alas, it was not to be. Niketown closed early...

...due to the Chinese New Year Parade, that apparently was going on Saturday as well. We just pretended it was a parade for my mom's birthday. Chinese New Year was a week ago - none of us knew the parade was going to be on that day. It definitely wasn't a bad way to kill some time.

We got back to the restaurant at 7:30pm, and they still had to clear one more table so we could all sit together, so we had some time to take some photos outside. Once we got inside, we got right to point - we perused the menu. Then we ordered, ate, talked, and laughed. A lot. It was actually really, really nice. And the food was good, too. We all approved.

After we ate dinner, we sang Happy Birthday to my mom, the restaurant gave her ice cream ("It's Vanilla."), I paid for dinner, my dad was quite photogenic the whole evening, and we all went home. While we were walking back to my car, my mom said she really appreciated me taking her here. She said she'd been in the U.S. for 30 years, she'd never eaten here before, and she probably would've never gone here if it wasn't for me. That pretty much made this whole month of planning worth it. She seemed happy. My sister said the same thing. My sister also thought our mom looked really happy in the photo I took of her while we all sang Happy Birthday to her and she got "her" ice cream (I ended up eating most of it) - the photo that I started this entry with. So I think I'll end with that one, too.

Happy Birthday Mom!