Hollywood & Ice Age

Met Jennifer for an awesome visit to the La Brea Tar Pits & George C. Page Museum.

I went to work early (6am) and left early (3pm) and spending time outdoors and in the museum really made me feel like I was on vacation. Very heartening for the senses and soul!

It remains super fascinating to me how different Los Angeles must be 25,000 years ago - when Sabertoothed cats roamed, and Mammoth elephants trooped. I saw all these amazing Sabertoothed cats skulls and their crazy sharp teeth and was literally spellbound that 1) they exist(ed!) and 2) I could see my Childcraft encyclopedia come to life. I didn't even know it was from these tar pits that inspiration for the ICE AGE movies were drawn! But then again, duh...it's not surprising given that Hollywood's just 5 mins away!

On an aside note, today's special for 2 reasons: 1) It marks the start of my 2-week Organic Detox! and 2) You probably aren't reading this, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EDISON!

Effective listening

Interestingly, as I prepare for a meeting tomorrow to discuss tenets of effective listening...I received a revelation: ironically, in order to listen, to understand the other, you have to listen first to yourself. You have to be attentive to your own life experience, own inner world of feelings, needs and dreams, before you can possibly hear someone else's. You are able to understand only if you have registered your own feelings in a similar situation. :)

Ask anyone what he/she is thinking and you will almost always get an answer. Feelings are in a different realm altogether. Ask most people what they are feeling and they'll look at you as though you've accused them and answer, "Nothing, why?" Yet we have feelings all the time, although we might not be aware of them. Our education has trained us to think and taught us to value our opinions and thoughts. Too often our emotional world has been neglected. Until one learns to listen to one's feelings, to put words on them, they exist outside of our awareness. Learn to listen to your feelings and intuition. :-)

The futile attempt

Really? It must be the influence of my dad's famous pigs. I'm not going to be a tofu over this one.

I don't like tofu

So...Guy in question emailed me today, telling me the following:

"My stomach is in knots with no appetite, my mood is very bland and down, and I can't think straight. Unfortunately, this is how I know my feelings for you are very real. I would not be feeling this way if I did not care deeply for you!"

He asked to meet up, to discuss. I'm a big softie (like tofu!) and I know that a typical me would have crumbled and tried to make the guy feel better. But I think it's a lesson I have to learn (and the same lessons truly keep happening to you until you learn them) that you can't take care of everyone's problems, and you just have to stand firm. As much as I don't believe in making one-party decisions, I think this is a call I have to make and trust that it's the best one for the both of us.

Loving oneself, loving you.

So...I did something totally out of my skin today. Literally. I went to this korean spa - where as the picture below suggests, errr... you literally dress in your birthday suit. First Korean Bath House experience. It was a therapeutic "love oneself" treatment after the crazy CFA exam, but also a personal challenge for me to overcome my shyness. lol I evidently did good and I'm proud of it. :) Maybe this is just one of those things I'll look back on re: Life in the USA and be glad that I did become a lot more open-minded. lol ;)


On an aside note, after my blissful spa treatment, I was supposed to be treated to a nice movie and dinner date. But but but...I ended up paying for the movie (and for the guy too!) and also for dinner (ok, maybe 60% of the dinner bill) ...which to me, was kinda weird. I can totally afford it, don't get me wrong. But but but....if the guy had asked the girl out, and the girl had bought the movie tickets, shouldn't the guy be buying dinner? No???

Anyway, I'm a traditional. Yes, I have the earning capacity and yes, I can pay. I can gladly pay. But I also believe a guy who doesn't even offer to do that has failed to show that he can provide and that to me, is a no-go. No??? ;)

It's over!

It's over, both literally and figuratively. The couple of hundreds of hours of prep time amounted to just 6 hours on the test - hardly representative of the volumes digested. But I guess that's the same with life. You get just one shot at making it good.

Just caught Sex and The City at Universal Studios Citywalk and man, it felt great to be alive. Missed the times I spent in Abu Dhabi, with the Sheikh and princesses, desert moons and soft sand dunes... Felt like I really related to these girls in the show... Their vacation also reminded me it's now time for me to take a good vacation and get fit, eat healthy and just enjoy the blue oceans of Santa Monica. ;)

And... darlings - I miss you all so bad! Now I finally have some context about the SaTC conversation we've had re: who we resemble most! I can't wait for our getaway vacation, just the 4 of us. :) Sworn - ours just 2 people, so cannot do SaTC story la, but I'm looking forward to catching up b4 I leave!

The Good Luck Charm

By some strange deja vu, I actually saw this coming. What are the chances that I'll be out of gas (petrol) with all those road blocks in Korea town, finding Mobil and chancing upon my cellphone (on silent mode) and *the text* while refueling?

Qi gong!

When love endures 30 years, you learn how so much of it is about compromise, commitment and communication. Helps to have a great sense of humor too! This was what Dad drew and pasted on the wall to tickle Mom's funny bones! I'm not sure if it worked the intended magic, but it certainly got me ROFL!

We are all in it together

Brain fried from studying. Called home and it was therapeutic listening to my dad's "domestic woes"! lol Such funny expressions he used, really cracked me up man. He says everyone is 炒塌 now and there's no more “(trip to)台湾，"头湾"就有! " I choked so hard with laughter. He asked me to go back fast to 灭火, "我们顶不了,你快点回来顶激光枪"! and drew pictures of "猪"(朱) that are practising "气" 功 to help tickle mom's funny bones. LOL!!! Funny funny funny! It's at times like this that I feel I might be so far, but it doesn't matter because we are all in it together. ;)

Memorial day weekend

The memorial day weekend is coming- everyone has plans..Jason wants to go to Big Sur, Sworn is going to San Diego sea world...and me?? I'll be at the office preparing for the Last Lap. It didn't feel like too long ago (~1 year ago) when I gave up a long weekend to study for my CFA exam too. Can't wait for 5 June to be over! But ugh...I'm totally not prepared for The Disaster! :(