Today I went to the Cal Academy of Sciences for the first time...now I understand why admission tickets are 34 bucks! It's really high quality compared to many science museums I've been to - you get to access a planetarium (with two shows running), a live rainforest enclosure, an aquarium, a natural history museum, live African penguins, a swamp with an alligator, a living green roof and various changing exhibits.
The current exhibits are on colors of life and seismic earthquake, so it was quite interesting to see how the museum designers (or whatever you call them) design each exhibit so it can capture your attention best. For example, they had these huge guitar strings that are colored, and when you play different strings they play different notes and show animals that use corresponding colors in various ways - camouflage, attract prey, deter predators, etc. It's really interactive as the screen is blank unless you strum the colors you are interested in (invoking touch, sight and hearing), and pictures of the animals using those colors appear with small snippets of description, one at a time, and they disappear pretty soon so you have to strum again if you want to read more. Really good for kids (and me) who have short attention span haha.
They also have exhibits where you can dance the courtship dance, and crank a wheel in order to hear different bird calls. Really interactive and they are so smart in their design!
It's also the first time i watch a planetarium show that has nothing to do with astronomy - it's about earth's habitat and how all organisms are connected to each other, to the weather, and how men are connected to them too (impact of ship traffic and airplanes). I really like that they include the human aspect of it and on human intervention to preserve ecosystems. It's more useful than I expected!
Also, it was the first time I volunteered at the homeless shelter today, and I felt quite humbled there. I got to talk to this old lady who lives at the shelter now because she has no living relatives left. Not all the homeless are mentally ill, and it's quite interesting to hear their stories. I really struggle with my belief that there shouldn't be homeless people, and that they should be empowered to do something so they don't have to be homeless and living off donors and taxpayer's money. That's why I chose to volunteer with the homeless today, and learn what it's all about.
I don't think I can accept the way America works, where the homeless is a given part of society. But I can seek to understand how these people came to be homeless, and help them where I can with my time and energy.
I'll be volunteering with intellectually disabled children next week for special olympics, and I think I'll enjoy it more. Somehow working with kids and the elderly usually makes me happier than working with the homeless (understandably, since kids have little worries and elderly have seen it all so they put things in perspective haha). I'm going to try various volunteering gigs out and see which one I feel most passionate about :)
On a side note, someone gave me a catcall today at the grocery store parking lot. Oddly, I'm kindof happy about that ;)
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Chinese manual translation and mum's taste
Yesterday someone from the client asked me for a favor - to do some chinese translation for his son. Apparently his son bought a stepper motor to build a milling machine for metalworking, but this was shipped from China and came with Chinese instructions. So they both have no idea how to put the motor together. They tried to OCR the manual and use google translate on it, but the very first line ended up being something about 37 puppets...where puppets do not exist in the instructions!!
Since I'm one of the few he knows who speaks and understands mandarin, I took on the task and am now faced with reading and translating a language I haven't read or written in 8 years...hopefully it's not too tall an order for me. It's also all technical instructions and would make for very manual translation (haha get the pun?)...but no worries. I'm using google translate to help me translate some words more accurately :)
For those who are interested, this is the manual! I'm happy to outsource a part of it if someone else wants to brush up their mandarin too haha, but it's my personal challenge to see how far my Chinese has deteriorated and how well I can still read and write...
I've already had more than 12 people compliment me on my coat in the past year (almost all female, only two males actually commented - interesting topic for another day), and this lady in line behind me at the airport today asked me where I bought it from. Unfortunately my mum was the one who bought it for me from one of those small shops that goes to hk and buys unique clothes in small batches (hence it's unlikely someone else wears the same clothes as me!)...so I really can't say where other people can buy the coat. It's probably also pretty pricey knowing my mum's tastes, but I'm really happy. If it's up to me, I'd just buy something off the shelf like at Calvin Klein or Forever 21 or Ann Taylor, so I'm so glad I have my mum around to buy clothes for me.
Thank you mummy, please keep buying beautiful new clothes for me!
Overall a very happy day. Cheers!
Since I'm one of the few he knows who speaks and understands mandarin, I took on the task and am now faced with reading and translating a language I haven't read or written in 8 years...hopefully it's not too tall an order for me. It's also all technical instructions and would make for very manual translation (haha get the pun?)...but no worries. I'm using google translate to help me translate some words more accurately :)
For those who are interested, this is the manual! I'm happy to outsource a part of it if someone else wants to brush up their mandarin too haha, but it's my personal challenge to see how far my Chinese has deteriorated and how well I can still read and write...
On a side note, i received yet another admiring compliment on my beige coat! I personally love it too, I've never seen any coat like it. It's beige white so stands out from the sea of black and grey coats, it's got this beautiful design with popup circles on it, it's super lightweight while keeping you warm! I bring it on and off planes easily, it acts as a cushion and works well with layers, yet it's super warm and is somewhat waterproof against light rain and snow!
I've already had more than 12 people compliment me on my coat in the past year (almost all female, only two males actually commented - interesting topic for another day), and this lady in line behind me at the airport today asked me where I bought it from. Unfortunately my mum was the one who bought it for me from one of those small shops that goes to hk and buys unique clothes in small batches (hence it's unlikely someone else wears the same clothes as me!)...so I really can't say where other people can buy the coat. It's probably also pretty pricey knowing my mum's tastes, but I'm really happy. If it's up to me, I'd just buy something off the shelf like at Calvin Klein or Forever 21 or Ann Taylor, so I'm so glad I have my mum around to buy clothes for me.
Thank you mummy, please keep buying beautiful new clothes for me!
 |
| Here's how the coat looks like! :D |
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Flight madness - Today I said NO WAY!
So today my brother sent me this article at the same time my coworker sent it out to the firm, that's quite funny haha - http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-madness-of-airline-elite-status
When I read it I was like no way I would spend money for miles!! I would never do that, I'd always use miles instead for free stuff, unless there's more benefit to be gained by spending (which isn't that often). But I realised one day, maybe, what if? I might become GS-MAD too, so I decided to blog here to remind myself of today, the day I once said no way!
People change all the time, so how could I say I would never do that? No one, least of all me, can predict what I would become in the future...
When I read it I was like no way I would spend money for miles!! I would never do that, I'd always use miles instead for free stuff, unless there's more benefit to be gained by spending (which isn't that often). But I realised one day, maybe, what if? I might become GS-MAD too, so I decided to blog here to remind myself of today, the day I once said no way!
People change all the time, so how could I say I would never do that? No one, least of all me, can predict what I would become in the future...
Monday, February 22, 2016
元宵节快乐!
Its the 15th of the first month of the lunar calendar, thus marking the end of a Chinese New Year. It's a time for reunion, and eastern Valentine's Day.
So we made tangyuans on Saturday, and while I've made my fair share of kosong tangyuans with my mum back home, I've never made any with fillings before! Turns out it's a lot more complicated and difficult to make with the fillings (ever had dough stuck to your skin and just falling apart WITH filling spilling out through cracks...and you try hard to patch it just to have more dough sticking to your skin??)
All in all its really fun and eye opening, really grateful that we have people who know how to make the filling (peanut and black sesame paste!) from raw materials - roasting, blending, adding butter and sugar - and people who knew how to wrap the dough round the filling without it breaking apart. We also made peanut soup and ginger soup to go with the tangyuans, so they turned out to be our main dinner entree instead of dessert!
Here are some photos of the venture! Overall a great success :)
On a side note, I'm learning the guitar again. I really like strumming and singing along to the guitar :)
I'm relearning some of the old songs I've learnt, and practicing finger style and various strumming patterns. I think those techniques will really help me in my playing, given that I'm a beginner and I always stick to the same few strumming patterns haha. Anyone has any tips on guitar playing, or good resources or websites online for a beginner self learner? All advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Andd after I master a few songs, maybe I'll try my hand at composing!
So we made tangyuans on Saturday, and while I've made my fair share of kosong tangyuans with my mum back home, I've never made any with fillings before! Turns out it's a lot more complicated and difficult to make with the fillings (ever had dough stuck to your skin and just falling apart WITH filling spilling out through cracks...and you try hard to patch it just to have more dough sticking to your skin??)
All in all its really fun and eye opening, really grateful that we have people who know how to make the filling (peanut and black sesame paste!) from raw materials - roasting, blending, adding butter and sugar - and people who knew how to wrap the dough round the filling without it breaking apart. We also made peanut soup and ginger soup to go with the tangyuans, so they turned out to be our main dinner entree instead of dessert!
Here are some photos of the venture! Overall a great success :)
The marbled ones were made of peanut filling which was harder to shape, and we ran out of flour so the dough ended up being too wet/sticky >.>
Delicious tangyuan!!
Peanut soup courtesy of our great cook :D
That's how the filling looks!
Both ginger and peanut soup available for tangyuan nom noms!
On a side note, I'm learning the guitar again. I really like strumming and singing along to the guitar :)
I'm relearning some of the old songs I've learnt, and practicing finger style and various strumming patterns. I think those techniques will really help me in my playing, given that I'm a beginner and I always stick to the same few strumming patterns haha. Anyone has any tips on guitar playing, or good resources or websites online for a beginner self learner? All advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Andd after I master a few songs, maybe I'll try my hand at composing!
Monday, February 15, 2016
home away from home at last
after two weeks away from Denver and the Sheraton hotel, coming back felt like coming home.
I step into the hotel and immediately feel at ease and a sense of familiarity. I greet the same few receptionists who know me by sight, and I go through the same motions I have gone through for the past year and a half.
I step into the hotel room, and immediately a sense of happiness and relief washed over me - a feeling of "I'm home, at last!".
This clearly means that I've been travelling so much (maybe too much?), that the hotel is more like home than anywhere else. How true, I have spent more nights in this place than any other location (DC, Sunnyvale, SF, other places I travelled to), and I've moved around so much that I'm like a nomad. I guess the only place I truly can call home (away from home) is this hotel.
What with all the changes in my life, the one thing that hasn't changed in the past 18 months is this. This Sheraton hotel that I can always rely on, that it will continue to exist with or without me. Perhaps that's why I feel such a sense of relief and home here, I will never need to feel rejected or hurt by this place.
I step into the hotel and immediately feel at ease and a sense of familiarity. I greet the same few receptionists who know me by sight, and I go through the same motions I have gone through for the past year and a half.
I step into the hotel room, and immediately a sense of happiness and relief washed over me - a feeling of "I'm home, at last!".
This clearly means that I've been travelling so much (maybe too much?), that the hotel is more like home than anywhere else. How true, I have spent more nights in this place than any other location (DC, Sunnyvale, SF, other places I travelled to), and I've moved around so much that I'm like a nomad. I guess the only place I truly can call home (away from home) is this hotel.
What with all the changes in my life, the one thing that hasn't changed in the past 18 months is this. This Sheraton hotel that I can always rely on, that it will continue to exist with or without me. Perhaps that's why I feel such a sense of relief and home here, I will never need to feel rejected or hurt by this place.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
This vday...from first love to friends
A friend just forwarded me this article about breaking up on good terms. Seems like staying friends may be the right thing to do? Any thoughts on this would really help, I'm struggling a lot with how to stay friends with an ex, and whether it's even the right thing to do...
http://thoughtcatalog.com/katie-wilhelm/2014/08/what-happens-when-you-break-up-on-good-terms/
And coming across this song today, i thought it's the most apt song to give on Valentine's Day - to my first love.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/katie-wilhelm/2014/08/what-happens-when-you-break-up-on-good-terms/
And coming across this song today, i thought it's the most apt song to give on Valentine's Day - to my first love.
Monday, February 08, 2016
dreams
i still dream about him eurgh. once in a while i will dream where he is my romantic partner and we do things together or talk about something. today i dreamed he and i were on the same ship, we were in a huge group playing puzzle games and i was going around solving some of them. as usual, he was better than me at it and eventually caught up to me and talked a bit. this scene was probably influenced by the boat party i went for two weekends ago (he was there).
then the dream became a shipwreck, though i found a small boat and moved all the important puzzle pieces there, and he somehow made his way onto my boat.
then the dream became one where he (*italics means it's him, not my dad) and i were escaping with my "dad" in a deep forest (and we're all dressed in chinese olden days gear, think 古装戏). my "dad" (who didn't look like my dad at all, but some old man with a long beard) kept throwing out a rope to kill someone or do something bad, and he kept stopping my "dad" by wrapping the rope around his neck. after three times my "dad" got pissed and just pulled hard and his whole head popped off, and the whole forest turned into a red river of blood.
at that moment i screamed (at least in my head, i hope i didn't scream out loud), it was definitely a nightmare to see someone you love/loved/care about die in front of you, especially when it's unexpected and he was totally killed without malicious intent by my freakin dad!!
i think that was a scene based on the hateful eight lol. better not watch so much violent shows, it's getting to my head and really screwing with my feelings. T.T
i wonder how long it will be before i stop dreaming about him.
then the dream became a shipwreck, though i found a small boat and moved all the important puzzle pieces there, and he somehow made his way onto my boat.
then the dream became one where he (*italics means it's him, not my dad) and i were escaping with my "dad" in a deep forest (and we're all dressed in chinese olden days gear, think 古装戏). my "dad" (who didn't look like my dad at all, but some old man with a long beard) kept throwing out a rope to kill someone or do something bad, and he kept stopping my "dad" by wrapping the rope around his neck. after three times my "dad" got pissed and just pulled hard and his whole head popped off, and the whole forest turned into a red river of blood.
at that moment i screamed (at least in my head, i hope i didn't scream out loud), it was definitely a nightmare to see someone you love/loved/care about die in front of you, especially when it's unexpected and he was totally killed without malicious intent by my freakin dad!!
i think that was a scene based on the hateful eight lol. better not watch so much violent shows, it's getting to my head and really screwing with my feelings. T.T
i wonder how long it will be before i stop dreaming about him.
Monday, February 01, 2016
back home when...
home sweet home.
i know i'm home when...
- I'm enjoying cold showers (which is completely out of character for me)!
- I'm struggling to stay awake past 12pm (because of the jetlag...), especially after eating!!
- I get to walk >10k steps everyday without even trying to
- I taste Koi -- original milk tea with pearls, no sugar -- and it blows me away with its heavenly taste and texture! it's a joke that I even thought all the great bubble tea places i've tried in the US tasted as good as Koi -- they can't even compare!
- I can speak in singlish and be completely comfortable. :D
- I meet a random stranger at the Takashimaya foodcourt who sat down across from me because it was empty, and she turns out to be my friend's mother (and she was flying to SF tomorrow to help my friend move for her job!)
- I feel sticky and hot all over but cold when I'm sitting in an air-conditioned indoors for more than 30min. every other time the AC is just not cold enough for me.
- I get to throw my clothes in the laundry basket and they return to me clean, ironed and folded. No questions asked. :D
i know i'm home when...
- I'm enjoying cold showers (which is completely out of character for me)!
- I'm struggling to stay awake past 12pm (because of the jetlag...), especially after eating!!
- I get to walk >10k steps everyday without even trying to
- I taste Koi -- original milk tea with pearls, no sugar -- and it blows me away with its heavenly taste and texture! it's a joke that I even thought all the great bubble tea places i've tried in the US tasted as good as Koi -- they can't even compare!
- I can speak in singlish and be completely comfortable. :D
- I meet a random stranger at the Takashimaya foodcourt who sat down across from me because it was empty, and she turns out to be my friend's mother (and she was flying to SF tomorrow to help my friend move for her job!)
- I feel sticky and hot all over but cold when I'm sitting in an air-conditioned indoors for more than 30min. every other time the AC is just not cold enough for me.
- I get to throw my clothes in the laundry basket and they return to me clean, ironed and folded. No questions asked. :D
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