my old company declared bankruptcy today. i don't know how sad i am about it, but i can definitely chalk it up to experience. i went to a party on saturday nite that for ex-Deltagen people, and i heard quite a few interesting stories about the ongoings of the company during its last days... i wish i can divluge them online, but i do not think i should. people were not as angry as i expected, besides the couple that i expected to be (the chinese ones of course). the party was called the "deltagen bankruptcy booze binge," where everyone brought really cheap beer and drank as much as they could. while it was the first time i drank 5 different brands of beer in one night, it was also the first time i felt a little sad about leaving the bay area (btw, you know what really annoys me? how i can drink 7 beers and not even get a buzz going... i mean, what a waste... all those calories for nothing...) i guess i just came to realize that i probably won't be seeing most of these people ever again. with the people i usually hang out with, mostly high school friends, i've been with them all my life and we just know that we will always be seeing each other no matter what parts of the country we are in. but with people you are not as close with, it's different i guess. so it's not like i was really really sad, but just a little sad. but again, all these things happening just confirms and perpetually re-confirms my dogma: 2003 is the year of change.

last friday, i was at work till 130 AM with my manager. with the amount of hours i have been working, i really felt like i was living the life of a consultant or i-banker even. for goodness sakes, i was woken up by my work calling my cell phone saturday morning. i almost had to come into work on saturday, but thankfully, they figured out the problem without me.

on saturday, there was a mini-wwp reunion. kathie, jason, steve and i all went to ann hsueh's apartment where we just caught up with everyone and talked. everyone is still the same - and kathie ran home because she didnt' want to drive in the dark. jason said that was the "lamest excuse he has ever heard" and you know, i'd have to agree with him. yet, she wasn't making excuses - she just has a slight case of OCD. people with OCD tend to be really smart, and kathie is no exception - she's in stanford med. afterwards, we played monopoly and jason tried to implement the strategies he just learned by reading the book, "rich dad poor dad" which basically teaches that buying property is the fastest way to become wealthy. #1 new york times bestseller. ironically, he was the first one to lose. he even had hotels on every single propery on one side of the board (the cheap side). but all it took was for him to land on my ventnor ave. with 2 houses that slaughtered him - and the rest of the opponents.