Hot Hot Hot!

I actually have a post already in place for today and that is to show you pictures of this year's Honolulu City Lights. However after last night, I desparately need to get this out of my head. The movie "Never Been Kissed" was on last night on BRAVO. I have never seen it and I wish I had. It wasn't a great film and some parts were a bit cheesey...ok, VERY cheesey. The other parts didn't make sense at all not to mention the inappropriateness (damn, is that even a word) of teacher-student relationship. But the ending threw me off and I felt warm inside. It was a very romantic ending and I don't think I would have liked it as much if the guy wasn't so HOT! Michael Vartan, a french guy who was in a bunch of other movies, including "Monster-in-law" which I had seen but never really noticed him. Awwwww, he looked so good in the movie. I wish I had a cute teacher to fall in love with...in high school...crap, did I just say that? He is now officially on my list of HOT guys :)

Will Smith
Johnny Depp
Michael Vartan
Orlando Bloom

(Note: The order the names are listed has nothing to do with ranking. I love them all the same.)

Christmas at Work

This is my cubicle at work, where I spend 9 hours of my life everyday, just sitting in that chair and staring at the computer. My cubie looks festive right now because I decorated it for Christmas and New Year's. Even though this is not my first job, this year is the first year I decorated my cubicle to celebrate the holidays. Now I just dread the week after New Year's when I have to take out the decorations, along with the holiday spirit :(

This is the back side of my cubie where I display pictures of my friends and family. It is also where I show my love for greenery. My bamboo and crazy plant (upper right corner) are adapting nicely to the cold air conditioning of the office.

Happy Sicky

I should have noticed that when the weather turns super cold and I am wearing a sweater, T-shirt, and sweat pants to sleep in Hawaii, something must be wrong...with ME. Monday morning, I woke up with a really dry throat so I overdosed myself with Airborne. Tuesday, I felt the same so I continued with the Airborne treatment. Wednesday, I felt better so I stopped the Airborne treatment and drank gallons of water at work so I had to pee every hour. Thursday night after I came back from Christmas shopping, I felt terrible. I was sneezing my head off and my runny nose was getting worse. That night, I had tissue flying around my bed and I couldn't sleep. Lucky I didn't break out with a fever. Friday morning, I worked half day and came back to rest. Today, which is Saturday, I feel GREAT! I still have stuffy nose but I have so much energy that I am cleaning the house to welcome the coming of Christmas and New Year's. Happy Christmas and New Year's my dear blogger friends.

So Cold...

Lately, it has been so cold in Hawaii. For the past week, the weather was rainy and windy. I couldn't go for my daily swim because the rain would come pouring down every 10 minutes. The wind was so strong (around 15-20 miles per hour) that generated waves in the pool. My pink umbrella broke because of the wind. At night, I had to wear a thick sweater to keep myself warm.

Yesterday morning, I saw that the rain had gone but it was super windy. I still went swimming because I needed some exercise from all the Christmas parties the previous week. I jumped in and I have never felt soooooo COLD in Hawaii! The water temperautre was freezing because the sun had not warm up the pool yet. It was so cold my muscles were freezing and my head wasn't functioning. Brrrrrr...maybe I'll stop swimming for awhile.

Not a Clue!

I saw this magazine at Narita Airport on the way back from Hong Kong to Honolulu. I took a picture because of the cover. If I am looking correctly, the rabbit is balancing a teapot with its left foot and the panda is imitating the rabbit's position, but without the teapot. Does anyone know what the title is in English? What is the rabbit trying to say to me!!! I am so confused.

Fart Bag

Along with the last few posts, this one is loooonnnng overdue since I bought this bag 2 months ago while I was vacationing in Hong Kong. I call this the "Fart Bag" for obvious reasons (see design). The mischievous looking creature on the bag has a name as with all other cool Japaneseeeee characters. His name is Suu-paawanpaku. Those of you who are Japanese know that "wanpaku" means naughty and "suu" means boy. In short, Suu-paawanpaku is a naughtly boy (even though I don't think he is human enough to be called a boy). There are lots of reasons why I like him: evil, cute, pointy tail, the crooked smile, bomb-shaped hands, etc... However, the main reason is that I can relate to him and that what he does for fun is definitely, FUN! (See him here).

If you have known me for awhile, you know that I have a serious problem with heartburn. I control it by taking meds and eating slower. In my case, gas often accompanies my heartburn so you guessed right, I get gassy. Nothing to be ashamed of because I am sure some of you are in the same situation when eating beans or spicy foods. So when I said I can relate to Suu-paawanpaku and this FART bag, you now know why :)

Thanksgiving Celebration

I believe we broke our record this year by eating 3 turkeys! The first gobble-time was the day before Thanksgiving. After trying the thanksgiving turkey dinner from Foodland and Starmarket, we still thought the one from Safeway was the best. The turkey was more juicy and tender, and the gravy was a bit saltier. The turkey was 8-10 pounds and we finished it in 3 days. However, after becoming spoiled by Bryan's delicious bacon-filled stuffing, I refused to eat the stuffing that came with the turkey dinner. Bacon makes everything taste good!

On Thanksgiving day, we were invited to a friend's house for a gobble potluck. She roasted two turkeys but we only got to taste one of them because we had to save room for a Thanksgiving Chinese buffet that same night. I wish I had 4 stomachs.

Two weeks later, we invited some friends over for a late thanksgiving celebration in addition to watching the UH football game (against Washington Huskies). This time, Bryan roasted the turkey all by himself in addition to preparing all the side dishes (i.e., stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and yam). He did a wonderful job on the turkey, even better than the Safeway turkey. No doubt the stuffing was delicious. I actually prepared the mashed potatoes because it was the easiest task. The yam was a great dessert. After this meal, I don't think I will buy the Safeway turkey dinner next year. Instead, I will help Bryan prepare our own special gobble dinner buffet :)

Koko Head Crater Stairs

This hike was all frakin' stairs...STAIRS! Some parts were scary because it was more like a bridge. I didn't count the number of steps but my legs were definitely shaking on the way down. We saw this fit and healthy asian girl jogging up and down the entire length TWICE! The time it took her to go twice roundtrip, we weren't even at the bottom yet. Her boyfriend (or so we assumed) was dark and buff. Bryan and I joked we would never be like them simply because we exercise to eat whereas they exercise to be healthy, and not to mention the good looking bods.


November 11, 2007. Koko Head Crater hike.

Tasty Plate

The sunday before Thanksgiving, Macy's had an early grand-reopening event when almost everything was on sale. While my friends were busy deciding whether to buy the elegant and festive white plates, Bryan and I went looking for food when we stumbled on these beautiful and traditional Japanese plates. We had seen and wanted these plates before but never bought because they were $39 each. We couldn't believe how reasonably priced they were - $16. I wouldn't go as far as to say they were cheap because anything over $5 is not cheap.

A week later, I cooked a simple lunch with noodles, fish cake, bell peppers, and bak choi. When I plated the food on the Japanese plates, I noticed how much presentation can entice the taste buds. Even though it was just the mind that was fooling me, the food seemed to taste better.

Kahana Valley

Looking back at my photo collection, I discovered two months of my life that I had completely forgotten, probably because I was frantically getting ready for my trip as well as preparing for my first day of work. Before the vacation (early September), we did a hike at Kahana Valley on the North Shore. I died many times on that hike as the frakin' razor grass was relentless in trying to carve out my skin. Every "ouch" was followed by profanity, then threats to kill my friend who convinced me the hike was "moderately easy". Then he tells stories of night marchers in the valley and that he had seen them before. If one of these night marchers see you, you die. Myth or truth, I definitely wasn't thrilled at the idea of bumping into one. I actually thought of hiding in the bamboo grove but then the bugs would get me. Despite the razor cuts and the ghost scare, the hike was fantastic! The forest was calm and filled with sounds of bamboo wavering in the gentle breeze. Bryan wanted a bamboo so he picked up a plant that looked like baby bamboo but was actually a baby razor grass that is now growing in my lanai. The fun part was hiking with poki, my friend's dog that I absolutely adore. I want to thank my friends for inviting me to this hike because it prepared me for the more strenuous hikes at work (to be blogged later).


Giant taro plant...NOT!


One of the river crossings.


Poki :)


Another river crossing.


Sea turtle at Lanikea Beach.

Note of Character

When I came back from swimming this afternoon, I saw this cute note on my desk. Most of you may think this is just an ordinary note. To me, this note says everything about Bryan. Since the handwriting is not as neat as his class/hospital notes, he wrote the note in a hurry (probably in a rush to go play basketball). The drawings resmble those of a little child so he is definitely a kid from within. He drew a TV to "hint" that completing this task TODAY is necessary to keep up our TV schedule. Lastly, the happy face is him :)

Voodoo

My cousin Jenny gave me this Japanese voodoo doll as a souvenir from Japan. This stirred my interest in finding the true meaning of voodoo. Nowadays, many people associate the word "voodoo" with black magic and cult mysticism, in which the doll is commonly used as a torture medium. (This was demonstrated in Indiana Jones.) However, voodoo is actually a religious tradition that originated from West Africa. The word "voodoo" comes from the West African word "Vodun", meaning spirit. Contrary to the modern belief, voodoo is a deeply spiritual process that involves healing and dieties. When the Europeans enslaved Africans of different ethnic groups, they came together as a community and shared a common faith - voodoo - in the misery of slavery. This makes me a little sad :(

Trip to Hong Kong

Hi hi! This post is long overdue. It originally started as a draft and has been sitting on the server for the past month because I haven't had the time to update it. As some of you know, I started my new job on October 1st. I work for the State as a hydrologist. (Oh, I love that title!) So far I have been working on creating GIS-maps. I also created a database that allows the user to search for data (e.g. area, land cover, etc) on specific watersheds.

I never thought I would feel this but I miss Hong Kong. Originally, I had the impression that HK was dirty (open markets commonly know as "gai see"), polluted (smog and smoke), and dangerous (pick-pockets and gangs). Well, all that but to a lesser extent. Besides, my parents made sure not to take me to the "BAD" places so I won't comment further on the subject.

Let's talk about the positives. Transportation is extremely convenient. Hop on the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) and you can tour the entire HK. Almost every MTR station is directly connected to a mall so you can go shopping in a Category 3 typhoon (because you don't even have to step outside!). All the malls are at least 5 stories high with the escalators strategically placed to enhance the architectural design of the building. I shopped so much that I bought something everyday, even on days that I didn't visit a gigantic mall!

I stayed at my parents condo near the airport. Looking outside the window, I could see planes taking off and landing. Many flight attendents and foreigners live in the complex as well. The complex has a fitness gym with basketball court, tennis court, volleyball court, billards room, swimming pool (indoor and outdoor), kid's play room, and computer room. Everyday, I would swim in the gigantic outdoor pool for at least an hour. Gotta say tho, some people didn't look while swimming so I had a couple near-collisions.

A few days after I arrived, my parents and I left for Fukuoka, Japan. It was an awesome trip because the place was so peaceful (completely opposite of Tokyo). Fukuoka is a rural area where not many people understood English. As I looked outside the window on the tour bus, I saw rice patties and cute little villiage houses everywhere. Fukuoka is sort of like the village in the film "Totoro". We had breakfast and lunch buffet almost everyday. Unlike the sushi buffets in CA and HI, the Japanese buffets had fresh fish and delicious cooked food. Of course, I couldn't stay away from the HUGE tamagos. I remember we had a gigantic sushi boat for dinner one night and I had warm sake to go with it. Oooooooooooo, it was the first time I felt good even when I was 120% full :)

It is impossible to list all the places I visited. Maybe you can look at the pictures below and figure out yourself...ha ha :) Someday, I will put captions...someday.

Spying?

I think someone has been spying on us to get new ideas for Drabble.

Big Island Vacation

The start of my vacation was truly an interesting experience. We originally planned on going to the Big Island on the 13th, the day that my sister and brother-in-law arrived to Honolulu. However, Hurricane Flossie (a category 4 hurricane) was expected to hit the southern portion of Big Island on the 14th. It was pretty exciting yet worrisome to see that Flossie was all over the news with updates every minute. Not knowing what to do, HappyObilvion and I called my friend who called his friend on the Big Island to ask about the situation. His friend said Walmart and Costco were ransacked. She couldn't even get gas because the line was a mile long. I also called my friend who has lived in Hawaii for a long time. She suggested to stay in Oahu because of the unpredictable nature of the hurricane which may wipe out the entire island. Plus, we wouldn't be able to go anywhere with the heavy rain anyway. So, we decided to stay. With only a couple hours of time, we had to make important decisions and reschedule everything. First, we decided to go to the Big Island after the storm, which was the 15th. I called the vacation home owner and requested a refund for two days of rent. Then I arranged with the airline company to change the flight. HappyOblivion was busy getting a rental car for Oahu and the Big Island. After dinner, I called many hotels and finally reserved a room for my sister and brother-in-law. Even though it was a crazy night, I am glad I took control of the situation because I learned so much! My friends (Sue and Dale) were a great help! Mahalo!

We arrived Big Island on the night of the 15th. It was so dark it took us a long time to find the vacation home. The home was very nice even though the pool was a bit dinky. The floor of the shower in the master bedroom was made of rocks, supposedly used for foot massage. It was painful for me!

The next day, our first stop was Mauna Kea. I have been to the Big Island twice and still have not made it up to Mauna Kea (Grrr! That drives me crazy). We took a 4-wheel drive up there because the roads were not paved for the most part. It was a very bumpy and scary ride. We were above the clouds during the ride and we could see a fluffy sheet of cotton balls below as. If they were pink like cotton candy, I would eat them. Near the top, the heavy fog and clouds limited our view to only a hundred feet in front of us. I thought we would drive off the cliff! Finally, we arrived at the Keck Observatory, the largest telecope in the world! I don't know much of telecopes and planets, but these cute domes were neatly situated on the mountain like snow cones. One was very shiny too. On our way back home, we visited Manua Loa Macadema Nut Factory (my dad's favorite) and Akaka Falls which was pretty nice considering the amount the rain the hurricane brought.

On the second day, we started off with Punaluu Bakeshop. Everyone loved the bakeshop because of the soft yummy bread. My sister bought 6 loaves home and I bought two. I can still smell the wonderful freshly baked bread :) The next stop was Punaluu Black Sand Beach Park. Luckily, we saw at least 5 sea turtles swimming and basking in the sun! Then we drove for another 2 hours or so to get to Volcano National Park. We saw the usual stuff - lava rocks, steam vents, caldera. There was no active lava flow because of the recent movements that shifted the lava to flow east instead of into the ocean. Oh, I forgot how much I loved the brownie looking lava rocks!

On the last day, we decided to tour the resort area and do a self-guided tour of the coffee farms in Kailua-Kona. I woke up early so I went for a half-hour run around the resort. When I came back, HappyOblivion wanted me to run with him because he felt bloated from all the eating and sleeping :D I took him to the Mauna Lani Hotel to run along the beach. Then he decided to keep on going to who knows where! I followed him until he stopped and asked, "Where the heck are we?" I looked at him and said, "WHAT!!!!!!" I was so scared because I have no sense of direction and I always rely on him to get me home. If he has no idea where we were, then we were LOST! All around us were lava rocks. I was so scared and on the verge of crying. After half an hour, we finally found our way back to the vacation home. In the end, we took a one hour run and I was exhausted because I ran half an hour before that. We quikly took a shower and packed our stuff. Our first stop (which was 11AM already) was Mauna Lani Hotel. We went to see the baby sea turtles and the juvenile ones that will be release into the ocean on next independence day. Then we went to Ueshima Coffee Company and Kona Coffee Joe to do a self-guided tour. I have never seen a coffee tree in my life, not even a picture of one! How rediculous is that! Our last stop was the Mountain Thunder Coffee Farm which I learned has a pet feral pig. Yup, we drove almost 20 minutes just to satisfy my desire to see a feral pig :D It was worth the drive because we saw geese too!

I had a great time on the Big Island especially with my family. Too bad Frankie, Paul, Ellyse and Elliot were not able to join us. We missed you guys everyday! I want to thank you Vincent and HappyOblivion for driving us around the BIG FAT FAT FAT island. I know it was hard work and drained most of your energy. Mahalo!

Um...

It's been ages since I last posted. What kind of trouble was I in since June? Well let's see. HappyOblivion went to Kaua`i to do locums for two weeks. Feeling a bit lonely, I joined him for the last four days. Since we have been to Kaua`i many times, we visited random places...mostly waterfalls of course. My favorite was chasing the roosters and the chicks (duh, my relatives!).



The entire month of July was the busiest and most stressfull period of my life! I had to finish my research paper which went through 5-6 drafts. On top of that, I had to wrap up a couple of other projects. There was also a last minute project that I had to set up the week before my trip to San Jose. By the way, I passed the oral presentation and the written thesis. Whew, I can finally graduate! It was no vacation in San Jose. My daily schedule was: Day - spend time with family, night (10PM to 3AM) - work on research projects. Oh, and I went to my friend's baby shower. It was nice seeing all my high school friends again. I still cannot believe she is having a baby! HappyOblivion came for the last week to interview in Davis. It was nice having him around because I had an excuse to rest for a couple days to entertain him. Below are some pictures I took of my niece and nephew, and my beautiful turtles. There are also pictures of Davis.



I came back for my graduation ceremony which was on August 12th. I was so happy that my parents came to see me in my oversized Ph.D. gown. So stupid I wore the wrong gown. Well, can't complain because my good friend (Susan) let me borrow hers. Knowing how "pake" (cheap) I am, I ain't gonna pay $35 for something I will wear only once. I was mad paying for the hood and tassel already. We all went dim sum after the ceremony where my parents met some of my friends. My parents really liked the dim sum place. Mahalo HappyOblivion for organizing everything.

Your Love

Happy Oblivion heard this song on Kauai and got the lyrics for me. It is pretty funny and the song has a nice beat too :)

Performed By: Rukkus Entertainment

Intro

Woh yo yoy woh yoy woh yoy It’s a song about your love
Come (follow me 7x) now

Verse 1

Woke up this mornin’
There was a hurricane warnin’
Went to the store to get some supplies
Can goods and wata, but there as not a
Single roll of toilet paper inside
And it made me think that a oooh

Chorus

Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
It never falls apart when the going gets tough I said uh
Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
When its stormin’ outside, I cant get enough
Said uh I can’t get enough

Verse 2

Baby when I think about you
Can’t think of something that I want to
I know I couldn’t live without you in my life ooh-o-o-oh
I gotta have you near me (near me)
Don’t want your love to disappear see (see)
Don’t know what else I can say for this next line
But it makes me think that uh ooh

Chorus

Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
It never falls apart when the going gets tough I said uh
Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
When its stormin’ outside, I cant get enough
Said uh I can’t get enough

Rap

Oh yo oh yoy
Can you hear me now good!
If you ever wonder why I say what I say
Da good toilet paper keep me clean everyday
You stay by my side never ever go away
And never running out is what I hope and I pray
Your lovin’ is so fresh and so clean and so strong
Girl like a roll of charmine girl your lovin’ last long
Your love is so good and you girl are so pretty
With your love behind me girl I never feel shhh LORD!

Chorus

Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
It never falls apart when the going gets tough I said uh
Your love is like a good toilet paper (good toilet paper)
When its stormin’ outside, I cant get enough
(Said uh I can’t get enough 3x)

Source: http://www.tropicalstormhawaii.com/

Aiea Orchid Festival

Hello orchid lovers. I went to the Aiea Orchid Festival on June 16th and took some beautiful pictures to share with you. These are only half of the pictures. I will be uploading more later. Please check back next week!

I passed!!!

I officially passed my oral examination on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 12:10PM. Hooray! From Saturday to the very start of my defense, I was super nervous. I kept on practicing my presentation, looking at previous studies, and thinking of possible questions that may come up. I reviewed my slides probably 100 times, checking for errors and making them colorful and easy to understand. On the day of the defense, I woke up at 7:30AM to practice my speech again. Then I spend 30 frakin' minutes dressing myself. For some odd reason, I looked like a dork in every single outfit I tried on. Then my hair was stupid-looking. Grrrr!!!!!!!! During the defense, I was not paying attention to what I was presenting. The entire time I was thinking, "Oh no, these people are looking at me. Great, I am not going to pass. Can they hear me? Some people are sleeping!"

After my defense, the lab had a mini celebration with me and we had lovely cheesecake. Then I went to lunch with HappyOblivion at Asahi Grill (my favorite fast food place) to pig out more. Now I have to work on revising my written thesis so I can finally relax and not have this big fat weight over my shoulders wherever I go.

Orchid in bloom

My baby Nalo orchid finally bloomed! I have been waiting so long for this. I bought her when she was a baby seedling so I didn't know the color of the flowers. Over the past year, a few flower buds appeared but they all died. I guess the plant was still too young to push out any flowers. Look at her now! She has matured and her flowers are beautiful! There are more pictures of this orchid and my other plants in the "Color me life" blog. Check it out :)

Fireworks in the rain

Such a pretty sight. We went up to our top floor to see the beautiful fireworks. I have no idea what the celebration was but the fireworks were more grand than the ones on July 4th!

Noah's Ark

5,000 rare animals found floating off the coast of China

Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Saturday May 26, 2007

Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China.

The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper.

According to conservation groups, the haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of south-east Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China.

The animals were found when local fishermen noticed a strange smell emanating from the vessel, which did not have any registration plates, on Tuesday, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

When coastguard officials boarded the 25-metre craft, it was reportedly deserted and stripped of identification papers. They found more than 200 crates full of animals, many so dehydrated in the tropical sun that they were close to death.

The animals - which weighed 13 tonnes - were taken to port, doused with water and sent to an animal welfare centre. "We have received some animals," said an office worker at the Guangdong Wild Animal Protection Centre. "We are waiting to hear from the authorities what we should do with them."

According to the local media, the cargo included 31 pangolins, 44 leatherback turtles, 2,720 monitor lizards, 1,130 Brazilian turtles as well as the bear paws. Photographs showed other animals, including an Asian giant turtle.

All of these south-east Asian species are critically endangered, banned from international trade and yet openly sold in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is famous for its exotic cuisine.

The accidental discovery highlights the negative impact that the growing power of Chinese consumption is having on global conservation efforts.

According to wildlife groups, China is the main market for illegally traded exotic species, which are eaten or used in traditional medicine. Pangolins are in great demand because their meat is consider a delicacy and their scales are thought to help mothers breastfeed their babies.

As a result of demand, the pangolin populations of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been wiped out. With traders moving further and further south, the animal is declining even in its last habitats in Java, Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. It is a similar story for many species of turtle, tortoise, frog and snake.

Despite China's international commitments to get to grips with this illicit activity, the trade is booming. Border controls are lax, and smugglers know that fines are usually far lower than the potential rewards. As a result, raids and seizures of banned products occur regularly. One recent raid on a restaurant in Guanghzou turned up 118 pangolins, 60kg of snakes and 400kg of toads.

Traffic - an organisation that monitors and tries to prevent the smuggling of endangered species - welcomed the fact that China's authorities had reacted swiftly to rescue the animals but said much more needs to be done to prevent similar cases.

"Unfortunately, this is all too common. This trade is a far bigger threat to these species than habitat destruction," said Chris Shepherd, senior program officer with Traffic Southeast Asia. "The vigilance on the border has to be improved, cooperation with source countries needs to be strengthened, there should be better monitoring of dealers, and the people violating the laws must be penalised severely."

Despite the ban on pangolins, many restaurants offer their meat. The Chaoxing restaurant in Shenzhen said yesterday that pangolin was available but was only suitable for large dining parties.

"The animal is very big - about 10kg," said a waitress contacted by telephone. "We serve it in hotpot. That is the tastiest way."

According to recent reports in the Chinese media, the price of 1kg of pangolin served in Guangdong or Yunnan is between 600 and 800 yuan per kilogram (between £43 and £50).

A Guangdong chef interviewed last year in the Beijing Science and Technology Daily described how to cook a pangolin.

"We keep them alive in cages until the customer makes an order. Then we hammer them unconscious, cut their throats and drain the blood. It is a slow death. We then boil them to remove the scales. We cut the meat into small pieces and use it to make a number of dishes, including braised meat and soup. Usually the customers take the blood home with them afterwards."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

GO SUNS!

I absolutely adore Leandro Barbosa. He is fast, handsome, and Brazilian! His accent is so cute too. Even though I am from CA and I should be rooting for the Warriors, I really want the Suns to advance. I love every single player on that team. Go Suns go!

The Great Turtle Race

Sorry I haven't had time to post. Working 70+ hours a week is a pain. All I do is run simulations one after another. In between simulations, I work on writing my thesis. I now have 5 pages of what is to become an 150-page blabber of why I deserve a Master's Degree. At least that's how I see it. Anyway, this is a little late but the The Great Turtle Race has begun! Go to the website below and choose your turtle. Try to avoid peeking at the race standings before you pick the winning turtle because that would be cheating. By the way, my turtle decided to abandon the race...ha ha!

Today is also my daddy's birthday! Let's have a cyber-celebration! I bought him a bunch of stuff here in HI. I hope he likes them. Happy Birthday Babee! Here is a cyber-birthday card for you. Just for the record, I didn't design this one :)

Winning FOOD

I thought the award winning days were over when I finished undergrad. Ah, those days were all about honors and awards that would get you into a reknowned college for a Master's Degree. Well, except for the partying and drinking that also got you into trouble. Until yesterday, that was what I believed to be true.

For the past few weeks, I have been busy preparing for a conference knowing that I would be doing a poster presentation because I love graphic design. (I shoulda' gone into a design school instead). Then my friend in the lab convinced me to do an oral presentation because it was much less time consuming. Since I was scramming to finish my research, I had no choice but to take that option. I am usually very calm for class presentations. I also talk and act very "natural" if I take a shot half an hour before my presentation. By shot I mean alcohol...imagine that! I walk up to the front of the class, look at everyone with a smile, when I start feeling happi, I know the alcohol is doing its thing.

I went through the same routine on the day of my conference presentation. The conference room was quite empty when I arrived. After 10 minutes, it was filled. Then my entire lab came. I said to myself, "These are just people, not monsters. Relax and concentrate on the alcohol." When it was my turn, I could feel myself shaking because I was so nervous. That damn alcohol didn't work! In front of me were over 10 professors and 5 judges. How in the world am I gonna get through this!

Well, I did and I won 2nd place for the best M.S. Oral Presentation at the CTAHR Student Research Symposium. I am not bragging...ok, maybe a little. Give me a break, I haven't won anything since 2003! I deserve to feel a little pride, just a little. Ok, it was just a student presentation, nothing important. Pride gone, but still cofident :) The best part, I get to spend that award money on FOOD. Yup, I'm gonna buy myself a nice sushi dinner, bring it home and eat while watching my favorite TV shows. Ah, what a prize.

Life is NOT full of surprises

It's been a month since I last posted. Amazing I didn't even post my endless complaints of anything and everything that goes wrong in my life. If only I had the TIME! Yup, I have concluded that time is THE problem.

Since college (which was 6 years ago), I have never had a REAL vacation. Spring and summer breaks were all excuses for the professors to dump more work on the us because "Oh, you have the entire break to finish the project" seemed to be a popular phrase among the educators.

Finding a job was the only thing occupying the minds of the recent graduates because no job, no $$$. Ever wonder how stressful and painful it was to write down EVERY single frakin' achievement over a four year period on your resume? YES, really painfull because there were none and I was stressed of my incompetence.

Ah, finally found a job with a decent salary. Let's just chill and relax after work. Yeah right! As a community representative, I was on call almost everyday. Checking emails, working on last minute projects, attending meetings while trying to understand what the meeting was about because my head was screwed from the 50 meetings in the past week.

I needed to get out of this hole so I moved to the land of paradise - Hawaii. Beautiful beaches, handsome lifeguards, just full of life and energy. Oh no, where do I live, how do I support myself, work or school, my head is exploding! So I deceided to go back to school and get a Master's degree in something, anything that made sense to me. Lucky me, I was hired to be a TA and then RA so my tuition is paid for. Now I have to graduate, AGAIN, for the fifth time!

Well, I did have one tiny vacation two days ago when my professor took the laptop for a conference. I had absolutely no work to do from 7PM to 12PM the next day because all my work was on the laptop. I felt so relieved and my muscles were very much relaxed. Now that I have my laptop back, everything is back to normal routine...no surprises.

Childhood snacks

I am so happy today! As you all know already, the only 99 Ranch in HI is closing in 2 days. That means I have no source for my favorite chinese snacks. My sister is so understanding and absolutely fabulous! She neatly packed a box of goodies and mailed it to me across the gigantic ocean. In this box contains my most favorite childhood snacks that are not even sold at the 99 Ranch here in HI. They are only available on the mainland 99 Ranch stores. The first bite of the chocolate fingers was total nostalgia. Before I knew it, I was on to my second choco finger while reminiscing of the good ol' days when I was still a piggishh brat (now I am only piggish baby). I still remember my first time chewing on the regular finger biscuits as if I was smoking. Oh, and my favorite grape FRUTIPS!!! It's like a cylinder shaped jelly belly coated with sugar crystals only that it taste much more fruity without the sugar overload. If you are on the mainland, you must try these snacks. They are so damn good!

Target in Hawai`i???

Now, all I need is an Ikea too and I am set!

Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, February 17, 2007

Target Corp., which is looking to expand to Hawai'i with as many as six new stores, has pulled out of a deal to locate an outlet in 'Ewa Beach.

But the nation's second-largest discount retailer is still interested in opening a store in the fast-growing Leeward O'ahu area, said Art Howard, president of Hawaiian Asset Management & Investment Corp.

Howard's company and San Francisco-based Bristol Group Inc. are developing the 260,000-square-foot Laulani Village retail complex in 'Ewa Beach. Howard said a deal to sell the 20-acre property to Target fell through last month.

He said his company is now in talks with other potential buyers, which he declined to identify.

Roger Lyons, a local real estate broker who represents Target, declined comment.

Target, a popular shopping destination for local residents traveling on the Mainland, announced last year that it was interested in expanding to Hawai'i.

Target told city lawmakers and local real estate executives that it was interested in as many as six locations in Hawai'i.

Opihi Pickers

As always, my Saturdays are full of fun and exciting activities. At 11am, we hopped over to the Punahou Carnival to chow down on some crunchy malasadas and juicy teri burgers. Since this year was Greek theme, I thought I should try Gyro for the first time in my life. I wasn't disappointed :) In the afternoon, we played soccer. I was so happy because I scored on HappyOblivion! In the second half, I made a couple good passes that led to many more goals. HappyOblivion was mad because everyone scored on him :( At night, we visited the carnival again but this time wasn't as pleasant because there were so many people! We managed to make our way to the Hawaiian Plate area where the entertainment was held. We enjoyed the performance by Opihi Pickers. I even bought a CD, got their signatures, and took a picture with the cutest guy on the band. Oh my gosh! I like have a crush on a totally hot dude from like the most popular band. I feel like a teenager again. This is totally awesome! (How am I doing on the teenage/valley girl impersonation?)

Honolulu Design Center

I went to the Grand Opening of Honolulu Design Center a few days ago. Of course I was looking for free stuff - food, coffee, chairs, sofas! Well, turns out they only had this stinkin' magazine for you to take home that makes you wonder why you bought that cheapo functional futon from Walmart instead of a $10,000 white Italian leather couch that only sits you and your fat orange stains after you junk on Cheetos. Despite the big price tag and the fact that 70% of Oahu residents cannot afford such luxury, I did find some things quite interesting. The Cow Chair is for my cow-loving sister xP

Cloud Fight!

This picture is taken right outside my lanai.
The Hawaiian phrase "You like beef?" means "You wanna fight?"

Wine or Beer?

I am never really much of a wine person though I like it more than beer. Beer taste disgusting except for Honu Beer and Corona (definitely with lime). I remember going to the Napa wine tasting tour and I didn't like the taste of red or white wine. The cheese and chocolate brownies were excellent! I did find one wine that I LOVE and it was Robert Mondavi's Moscato, a dessert wine. It was so sweet, like chinese dessert but with alcohol! Unfortunately, Moscato is only available in Napa so I can only dream of the taste here in Honolulu. Then my friend introduced me to Beringer's White Zinfandel which is available in Costco at 2 for $10. Cheap ey??? One taste and it brought me back to Moscato...it was great!!! I absolutely love it - the price, the taste, the color, the smell, everything! I urge all of you to try this if you haven't already.

Let's call it a night

It was yesterday that I finally felt the fresh start of new year 2007...with a little sacrifice, of course. At mid-day around 2PM, I made a smashing discovery in my own research coupled with a new model that I re-created. After 2 hours of fiddling with my newly discovered theory, I went to Kapiolani Park to play European Football (Soccer). It was intense, fun, and painfull. I was battling to gain possession of the ball but got pushed down. I landed really hard on my left wrist and now I could barely type or move my hand. Two hours of kicking and screaming did wonders on my legs which are now sore btw (ouchy). So what do you think came next on the agenda after burning all those calories? FOOD of course, gotta replenish those precious fat calories! I ordered the Chicken Tan Tan Ramen at Goma Tei Ramen Restaurant. It was delicious, especially the chicken which was cooked in sake. I also tried the Chicken Tatsutage (so tender and juicy) and the Gyoza (normal). After dinner, my friends and I went to see the chinese movie, Curse of the Golden Flower. I knew it would be graphic, sad, and lots of blood. However, I didn't expect it to be weird. The design of the palace was unreal. The exterior was gorgeous but the interior was RETRO! The colors clashed and the palace was glowing with all the colors on the color wheel. Yes, lots of gold but come on, hot pink, retro green, MSN blue??? Aiyaaa, not good! Then there was the ambiguous ending. I wanted to see everyone go coo coo but NO, they showed the stupid but beautiful dinner table with all the delicious chinese food. If only I could smell them, Doh! What else? The youngest brother who suddenly went crazy at the end and tried to kill his dad. He was happy throughout the movie, or maybe too happy... Anyway, everyone was coo coo from beginning to the end. My friend got sad after the movie (because of the blood) so we had to eat desserts to cheer her up, which was fun. I guess we can call it a night yeah?

This morning, I woke up with a purple hand. My left hand is really messed up x(
PS. Mame and babee, don't worry. I am OK :)

Testing Testing

I have been testing the new camera by taking random pictures. This picture of cutie oranges is very nice. They also taste super sweet and easy to peel. Snack sized fruits are the best when you are trying to avoid junk food.



This is a picture of Don Pens, the mascot for Don Quijote. I refer to it as Daiei because it was Daiei before it was bought. Since the one and only 99 Ranch in Hawaii is closing soon, this will become my major source of Asian foods. ~sigh.

Simple is Best

Last night after we bought the camera, we went to Walmart to look for a small and compact camera case that didn't cost $30 like the original Canon camera case. There wasn't any that was "perfect" so we decided to wait. Today I went to a cute Korean/Japanese store inside Daiei and I found the perfect case for our camera. It is actually a pouch for Kleenex but who cares! Simple is Best right? This is the MonoKoro Boo's moto. I am thinking of buying another one xP

We did it!

We finally did it! Since our old camera kinda went coo coo, we have been looking for a replacement. Our old camera was the Canon A70 that takes 4 AA batteries (Yeah, kind of a HUGE camera but we love it). It went lots of places with us and had a great life until one day, it bonked its head on the ground and went coo coo. If you are lucky, you may be able to get its lazy butt to work for 5 minutes. So we found a camera that we (or the whole world) love and that's the Canon SD800. It has wide angle, 3.8 optical zoom, a huge price tag, and NEVER in stock. It came out around December and the price never went down. There is even a shortage for this thing, can you believe it? Yesterday, we stumbled on a $40 off coupon at Circuit City. Since they told me on the phone that the SD800 was out of stock, we had to go there and reserve it. When we were at the store, the lady told me they had the camera in stock and I can pick it up immediately. I wanted to hug her and kiss her because after 2 months of taking fussy pictures with the coo coo camera, I went coo coo too myself! It was the best day of my life...maybe one of the best days x)

Blazy

Blazy - a new word created by ME. It means busy being lazy. That's what I have been doing lately. I am still in the vacation mode so all I want to do is to go shopping or eat out. However, we have to save money for a new camera so we went to Daiei and bought groceries instead. I can't believe school started and I have HOMEWORK due next week. Good thing I still have one more day to goof off, thanks to the three day weekend xP

The CW network is finally available in Hawaii's DIGITAL CABLE!!! For those who live in apartments that have regular cable supplied with the apt complex will NOT have that channel. So this news is actually not GREAT to us! On the contrary, this makes us (or only me) super mad. We deserve to have all our favorite channels because we are passionate TV addicts! Oceanic Cable owes us!!!

A weekend of eating and shopping

A weekend of eating and shopping, what a life! Just yesterday we were invited to a Turtle art show in Chinatown with FREE chinese pupus! They were definitely oily but how can you resist free food x) Then afterwards we went to Farrell's for ice cream and more oily foods. The ice cream was great and I think I would enjoy it more if I didn't eat so much at the farewell party at my school prior to the art show. Today we are going to the grand opening of Satura Cakes where they serve FREE samples! I think if you do a research of all the places that offer free food, you can live without ever having to cook. Itsn't that great?

The Waikele Outlets on Oahu is similar to the Gilroy Outlets in CA. There was Coach, LeSportsac, Osh Kosh, Clarks, etc... Anywho, I went to the hugest Sports Authority there and bought 2 freakin pairs of shoes. I bought a pair of really cool New Balance running shoes because I suddenly fell in love with running. They had the buy one get the second 50% off so I had to choose a second pair (like any normal shopping freak would do). So I bought a pair of Privo sandles that were only $20!!! I love my Privos!

Satura Cake Feast of Sweets

As I mentioned in the previous post, today is the grand opening of Satura Cake in Ward Shopping Center. We just came back from there and we ate soooo much desserts. We had a 20% off coupon so we went crazy buying cakes and pastries. Here is a list of what we bought:

Kona Coffee Blancmange - light and creamy, semi-sweet and bitter.
Mille Crepe - 14 layers of light and fluffy crepes with custard in between.
Lilikoi Cream Puff - citrusy and creamy lilikoi enclosed in flaky crunchy puff.
Mango Tiramisu - speechless, very delicious.
Mango Corone - the cream is so light and mangoey!!!
Mini Almond Chocolate Croissant - still in box, have yet to try.
Berry Danish - still in box, have yet to try.

All of them were to die for! We are planning to go back and use our 10% coupon for another batch of heavenly desserts.

Still in La La Land

I am back from vacation x( Yeah, I don't sound too happy because 1) I miss my family at home - the lovely yummy food and the cozy atmosphere with a beautiful christmas tree, 2) I am still lazy from all those days of doing nada in San Jose, 3) I contracted a cold from HappyOblivion so I couldn't play with my niece and nephew for the last two days, grrrrr, 4) I finished all the yummy chocolate almond cookies my sister made for me, and 5) SCHOOL. On the good side, I bought a bunch of crap from CA and I had a fun time unpacking and redecorating my apartment xP.


A set ot Le Creuset spatulas my sister got me for Christmas.


New quilt cover from Ikea that only cost $25.


A set of mini-hampers for my many many private-wear (sorry, no details)


A cube set to stick in the corner for all my stuffed animals.