17
Sep

How was your summer?

   Posted by: admin   in Daily

With the passing of Labor Day, Summer is gone. Well, actually, this upcoming 22nd of September will the official first day of Autumn. So, we all have four extra days left.

Nevertheless, we often considered Labor Day to be the day that marked the end of summer. Children start school in earnest while parents prepare for warm clothes and an upcoming pile of Holidays. Since the season is changing, I can’t help but reflect on it.

Has anyone ever ask you, “How was your summer?”

I am sure every one has been asked that question many times. Yet, have you ever thought and wondered about it instead of gave an automatic response? In early May of this year, when summer was still edging to enter at the border, I told myself that I will make this summer of 2009 a wonderful summer. It will knock my 2007 Summer off its ‘Best Summer Ever’ status. So, now is the time for the consideration.

Did I have fun this summer? Yes.

Did I want this summer to end as fast as possible like I did in 2008? Definitely no!

But did this summer took the award of “Best Summer” from 2007? Not really.

This summer, I took my first vacations in years. I traveled and enjoyed my time with friends and family. It was not as hot as the previous summers, which I am forever grateful to Mother Nature, Earth Day and Spare the Air Day. While I was spiritually prepare for days of irrepressible heats, I honestly didn’t want to do through it again.

At the beginning of summer, I went to Napa, California’s premiere winery for the weekend. I went with a group of friends to enjoy lounging around in the jacuzzi, sipping on wines and dinning on Italian cuisine. Our main purposes were to do wine testing and relax. I was definitely relax as I was feeling very lax on my 2nd winery. I couldn’t do anything else beside reposed on the lounge chair at the Robert Mondavi’s winery.  With the beautiful winery vista and friends chatted among themselves, I was ready to be lured to sleep. While I didn’t taste any of the wine there, I purchased a bottle of Robert Mondavi’s dessert wine on the recommendation of my friends. The bottle was small but it worth every bit of the $20 plus tax.

In the mid of summer, I took one of my best friends on a four days road trip to Southern California. It was an amusing and exhaustive adventure. It had its up and down but It was something we want to do again.

It does look like I had an amazing summer now that I look back on it. Yet, there was something about 2007 Summer that just can’t be taken down. I didn’t really travel far and wide in that year, but I participated in many activities. I went to the beach where I battled against the frigid waves, donated my favorite sunglasses to Poseidon, the ocean god, went belly dancing and ate out at different restaurant every weekend. I was enjoying life as its finest with people I care about.

Both years were packed with adventures and pictures, but there were something magical and jubilant emotion in the air that even Disneyland couldn’t win against. It could be that I was working everyday of the week except Sunday this summer and every day off from work was an uphill battle. So, to grade this summer, I will give it a 7.5 point while 2007 summer was 9.

There is always the next summer to look forward to, but for now, I want to enjoy the upcoming Autumn and Winter and hope that it will be a time to remember.

28
Oct

What a Monday!

   Posted by: admin   in Daily

Monday is often the worst day of the week for most people. Unless you are a workaholic, dragging yourself through traffic to get to the office wouldn’t be your idea of fun. For me, I hate and love Mondays at the same time. I hate Monday mornings and afternoons, but I can’t wait for Monday night.
Why? Well, TV of course! I haven’t seriously watch any TV shows (beside the news) since September 2000. So, just last year, I decided to start watching again because my knowledge in pop culture is slipping toward non-existence. So the only day that I can manage to sit down was Monday night while I dogsit for my boss…therefore, Monday night officially become my Let-Watch-Some-TV!
I was really looking forward to it because of The Big Bang Theory on CBS at 8 am. Unfortunately it was a rerun…boohoo. Nevertheless, it was still funny.
Sadly, rerun was the least of my trouble because half an hour later, I found myself lock outside. I was planning to leave after I walk the dogs for her while she went out on dinner-date. Imagine my surprise when I returned with the dogs and found that I was unknowingly locked myself out. I remembered testing the knob to make sure it’s unlock. Sadly, whether it is lock or not, the knob inside the house is always loose.
*Sigh*
After borrowing the phone from a neighbor to called my brother to arrange a pickup and to called my boss about the hidden emergency key. She turned her phone to silent and my brother asked me how am I going to go to school if my car without my car?
That was a really good question…and more importantly, what am I going to do with the dogs? I wouldn’t mind bringing them home with me for the night, but what am I going to feed them tomorrow morning? Luckily, I went around to borrow a ladder. I was to ask the guy to climb up for me since height made me nervous…but is it alright to ask a 50-60 years old and overweight man with his right arm in a sling to climb up the ladder?
I was so happy when I saw that the balcony door was unlock. I don’t want to think of the troubles I would have to go through if it wasn’t…because I really don’t know how to get back down from the balcony if it was lock.
What a Monday, right?

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27
Oct

I’m an addict

   Posted by: admin   in Daily

For the whole two weeks, I was an addict…with SimCity 4! I have been playing it on and off since five years ago. It was introduced to me by my high school math teacher. He made us compete for our grade through computer game in the last two weeks of the school year (when we finished all our lessons). It was a method of learning… and boy, do I agreed! It taught us how to manage our time (anyone remembers The Sims?), manage our money (Railroad Tycoon and SimCity).

Anyway, due to this introduction, I’ve been playing it on and off whenever I am between games. I usually played a few weeks and then stop, but this time, I was so addicted I couldn’t think of anything but.  I would like to blame this on Simtropolis: Online Community. It was because of them that I download so many B.A.T. (Building Architect Tool) into my city. It made my cities so diverse and colorful… I can’t stop playing! Those people over there are so creative and have eyes for detail. I envy them.  But more importantly I am very grateful for them to put their time and efforts to make the game more enjoyable.

For the first time, my friends start to notice of this addiction of mine. They mentioned that maybe I should major in Civil Engineer instead of Business Management. I was a bit dumbfound by it because of all these years, I never considered it. Maybe I should because all my cities are blooming…nevertheless, I won’t. My interest in building cities only taget through video games. It doesn’t require politic-speaking-saviness. Nope, I will stick to management, thankyouverymuch!

Since I couldn’t get the game out of my head and all my free time were devoted to it, I thought to myself, “is this addiction a bad thing?” Of course, being an addict is never a good thing. Too much of anything is bad. But!…What if it doesn’t interfere with my school work and social life, it should be okay right? Sure, when I close my eyes to go sleep, my brain actively thinks of how I should build my next city and what name should I give it, but I still get my sleep! And when in the future, I will introduce it to my children, nieces and nephews. It has no violence like most games (Grand Theft Auto) my brother tried to get me into…well except when I get mad I usually sent some UFO and natural disasters to wreck havoc the city. But they are life lessons, no matter where you live, you shoudl always be prepare.  Most importantly, It’s an educational game…that’s my stand and I am sticking to it. I might go out for a nicotine pad for this addiction if it get any worst, but for now, I like this addiction.

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20
Oct

I am a survivor!

   Posted by: admin   in Daily

My bookcase came…earlier than expected. It was one of the moment when I couldn’t help but love Walmart. Sure, their employees are underpaid, they take jobs away from communities and ruin our economy…But I just can’t help it when they deliver me a bookcase that promises to be sturdy, well-design, cheap and fast!

My room was neatly clean for three weeks! My friends who came over for my birthday party were…surprised at the clean up. But since they all know me pretty well, they couldn’t help themselves and asked me how long will this “neatness” last. I thought it would probably last about one…two weeks max. Fortunately I cleaned it up so well, that it lasted for three weeks. As a matter of fact, it still looks pretty decent now. (If you don’t take in the notice of a box full of laundry that needed to be fold.)

I just got back to San Jose. I can’t believe I am still alive since 48 hours ago, I didn’t think I would be. But the pain radiating from the lower half of my body and hands remind me that if I can feel pain then that mean I must be alive. I participated in the Nike Women Marathon for Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. The moment I arrived at the Hyatt Regency Hotel to the race, I asked myself, why am I torturing myself. Me, entering a running-activity is just crazy!

Why oh why! What’s my purpose, I don’t know anyone who has Leukemia or Hodgin’s Disease… so why am I doing it?

But when I reach the 12th miles sign and the pain in my ankle seemed to go numb (from the pain) on me, I thought, “Well, does anyone need a reason to fight for a good cause? for the future? Maybe I am not running for anyone, but maybe I am running for myself. To prove that I can do a marathon…well half-marathon…but marathon nonetheless. I can prove that if push comes to shove, I can do anything I want, including a marathon; to prove that I am a physically fit person. And if what I am doing help some other causes then that is just an extra bonus.

I might forget most of the details as my pain disappears, but my Tiffany necklace I received from the gorgeous firefighter will always remind me that I survived a marathon.

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8
Sep

Hello world!

   Posted by: admin   in Daily

Ah Yes! I finally managed to get this far in my hope to create a blog. A 5-minutes installation promise from WordPress turned out to be 2 hours instead. I honestly do not blame WordPress for the empty promise…I am sure it is a 5-minutes installation. I’m 99.9% sure it is my fault. After all, I am not very good with web-blog-installation related stuff. I’ve been trying to learn PHP for the last 5 years…and the only thing I learned is that it’s not for me.

I wasn’t able to finish all my to-do list today because 1) This blog installation and 2) I am so lazy.

Therefore my room is still a mess. Hopefully, I will get it nice and neat when my bookcase comes this Friday.

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