I had a potluck dinner with Lusine, James and Stefan last night. Tons of fun! We enjoyed chatting about things as diverse as regional differences in cabbage and other vegetables, politics and conspiracy theories, and health and nutrition, gender identities, people in science and engineering...

We had salmon pasta salad, fruit salad, potato salad with onions and olives, pasta with broccoli and peppers, and... umm... cabbage with soy sauce. Heh. That's what I get for being the only Asian. Everything worked out well, though! =)

I loved Stefan's fruit salad. Kiwis, bananas, apples and oranges, I think. Yummy!

On Technorati: friends

Random Japanese sentence: 猫はネズミを捕まえました。 The cat caught the rats.

My best friend from Japan is in the Philippines, and I'm glad to hear that my mom and my friends are taking good care of him. Dave Brown made Tokyo worth it for me. He cheered me up when I felt homesick, gave me hugs and chocolate when I felt down, and helped me explore the nooks and crannies of that crazy city.

He's in Manila to take the JITSE, a standard IT examination that'll give him more qualifications for his work in Japan. I appreciate the fact that Jerome managed to take time off from his busy schedule (advocating .NET is a full-time job! =) ) to give Dave JITSE tips and chat about life, and I'm glad that the rest of my friends made him feel welcome. =)

"Dave's a nice guy to talk to. I guess I can imagine why he and Sacha get along," blogged Marcelle. Yeah, Dave's awesome. Always smiling, always warm and open. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing him upset even once. If you read the friends-locked posts on his Livejournal, you'll know he's a Good Guy.

With few exceptions, my friends generally get along very well with each other, and I'm glad he fits right in. Too bad Dominique won't get to meet him, though. They'd get along, too. =) (But then again, Dominique gets along with everyone...)

I hope Dave has fun on the test, and I hope he enjoys Manila!

On Technorati: friends, barkada

Random Japanese sentence: 私は犬のほうが猫より好きです、何故なら犬のほうが猫より忠実ですから。 I like dogs better than cats, because the former are more faithful than the latter. Watashi wa ino no hou ga neko yori suki desu. Nazekara inu no hou ga neko yori choujitsu desu kara.