I'm coming to you live from the Doe Library as finals week has begun in earnest. Lucky or unlucky me, as the case maybe, I've got finals in the first group, the last group, and the one on Saturday. As a result, the first one was this morning, a deceptively easy one if I may say so. Deceptive since the professor's exams have always been easy but the class always seems to stumble on it.

It's been awhile since my last post that was non-movie related. But honestly, not much has happened since then.

I went to two new-age Asian restaurants. Those Americans trying to run Asian restaurants are the weirdest bunch. We heard they had decent food, so we decided to try it out. The first was P.F. Chang's. It's a Chinese bistro. The first thing that sticks out is the supposedly authentic decor, with statues of Chinese soldiers and lots of artwork. Too bad the waitress was not the same. Her first mistake was not noticing that we were Asian to begin with. Through her talk, you can tell she incorrectly assumed that we've never been to a Chinese restaurant before. She lectured us on their "unique" concept of family-style cuisine, what the dipping sauces were, etc. I'm surprised she didn't tell us how to use chopsticks. (Haha, no worries, there are forks galore.) The food, overpriced as it was, was not half-bad, though I wouldn't have minded going to a cheap dollar place instead.

Then there's the case of the Straits Cafe, located in SF and Santana Row. It's nearby that Asian decor shop where my brother likes to point out that crappy oil paintings that sit collecting dust in my grandfather's garage could probably sell for tens of thousands of dollars here. Straits serves Malaysian food, which is a collection of a whole bunch of cuisines in the Southeast Asian area. One difference between this and P.F. Chang's? The table has a lazy susan. Other than that, it was predictable fare. A combination of Indian and Thai food in my opinion. And a small amount of calamari for $10. In terms of decor, they don't even try to make it authentic. It seems utterly American. The music made it seem like one of Jeanette's online music shows.

In other news, I had the windows replaced on my apartment. My parents were afraid the contractors might come in and steal my credit card numbers or something, but that wasn't the case. The search for a roommate continues as my landlord has slashed the rent offered to $475 from $500 before and the $550 I'm currently paying. Now she calls almost every day wondering if I've found a person to move in. So now I have to make another ad. I sincerely hope no one responds. It's nice having at least a little privacy.

Finally, could someone explain to me how Steve, he of the Oakland bunch, has come to be president of the Berkeley VSA? I can see it now. No fundraising needed...they all should be able to make the money they need through trips to Cache Creek.