Bits and Pieces

· The day after the call-in sick post came out, I was out sick. Not intentional and has nothing to do with the post, since the post was drafted a while back and was sitting in my draft folder.

· My zumba class took a hit last week. I only managed to go once. It was holy week and I had church duties that coincided with the class schedule.

· Went to see LONDON HAS FALLEN which is a sequel to OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN. I’m one of those whose tastes run into the action genre, both in movies and in books. I like to watch/read about spy escapades. I enjoyed it, but you won’t miss a thing if you don’t see it.

· My sewing skills proved to be beyond rusty. I ventured into my sewing jobs – mostly alterations – the week before last and it took an entire afternoon to alter the length of three pants (1 for the hubby). I grew up watching my mother sew. She would give me small jobs, like unstitching etc. She would make me watch her and learn how to do small alterations. I ended up making a few projects, like doll dresses. But as I grew up, sewing became uncool. None of my friends were into sewing even though their moms would be sewing in the living room while we were there doing what teenage kids do when they are at their friend’s house. So I stopped sewing. Now that I need to be able to mend and alter, I realized my mistake of not keeping this “talent” in my back pocket for future use. Sigh!

· This weekend on Facebook, I shared a meme about greeting the SF Giants’ catcher Buster Posey a very happy birthday. Over dinner at my house on Sunday my friend asked why I would greet Buster and had never made similar greetings to my husband on his birthday. I told him that we agreed no public display of affection, especially on Facebook!

· On Friday after the Good Friday service at church we went to our friend’s (the same one who asked about the Facebook above) house to deliver a cake and present for their youngest son. He turned 8 on Friday and had a wonderful celebration of movies and pizza with his friends. The visit turned out more like chilling with the adults as the birthday boy was busy playing an online game with the same friends he went to the movies and pizza with earlier in the day. So at the dining room table, there we were two couples sipping cab and munching on antipasti (home made) lamenting about the woes of home repair. It was such a mundane topic that I never thought I’d be engaged in, although that says more about my Peter Pan syndrome than anything else. The chatter went on for hours and when it was time to drive away from their place (they live 5 minutes away) I sensed a peaceful feeling. I told my husband what a relaxing 2+ hours it was, just sipping wine and eating cheese and olives and talking to friends. Precious moments, I was blessed to have those moments. And the best way to end a work week.

Random Thoughts

I have a confession to make. Every Sunday night, I toy with the idea of calling in sick on Monday morning. The first thing I think of when I hear my alarm go off on Monday morning is shall I call in sick today?

Don’t get me wrong. I like my job. I like the company I work for. I like my co-workers. There is just something so deflating about Mondays. Must be the constant nagging in my brain that weekends are typically so full of chores that whatever time left for fun and relaxation is never enough to sustain me for another long week of battling with long commutes.

Moreover, there is something magical about taking a day off on weekdays when everyone is either at school or at work and you’re seemingly the only one you know who enjoys the sun while you go about playing hooky for the day. All I am saying is we all have FERRIS BUELLER syndrome inside all of us.

Thus I try to take a day off the right way, by scheduling a day off with my boss. I remember this one particular day where I decided to take the whole day off after an early morning doctor’s appointment. I typically don’t shop on my own, that’s not my thing, but on day’s off when the dear hubs is slaving at his lab at work I cherish these precious moments to stay longer than necessary browsing and trying shoes, trying on clothes I normally don’t like, and since I am confessing here I seem to always eat junk when I am on a day off and my “official” day off food of choice – nachos from Taco Bell. Hah, I know right? No reason at all, the nachos seem to taste better on my day off.

What about you, anything to confess?

Well Hello There

This little niche in the wide wide world of interweb is pretty quiet, isn't it? It has been for a bit now. Lazy again, you'd ask? Naturally I would mentally search for a lame excuse, but you'd know I would be lying through my teeth. Therefore, I am not gonna lie. I'm not going to offer some excuse or thorough well-thought of but still untrue explanation.

The fact of the matter is over the time this spot has been asleep, in the background I had drafted several posts that had never seen light. I have not checked my drafts folder but I am almost 100% certain that those essays are no longer relevant. My nature is to write down things that upset me, that rile me, that amaze me or anything that interests me. Not all of these, however, are for public consumption and so has never been posted here.

I have every interest to continue writing here. Managing three other blogs + a full-time job + a full-time life is harder to juggle than I expected. I wonder how others do it - and they even have kids. I don't. Kudos to them.

So what is happening in my neck of the woods you ask?

First we are currently getting a good dousing courtesy of Mr. El Nino. And the rain will continue throughout the weekend we were told by ecstatic meteorologists. The slight discomfort of wet slippery road is nothing compared to the dire consequences of drought and so you will never hear a bad word about the rain from Californians, even though some areas are prone to flooding. It is this that I don't understand. I grew up in a tropical country and I know rain. And I know typhoons and storms and monsoons. This thing that California gets that everyone gets crazy about will not raise an eyebrow in the tropics. This rain is drizzle compared to the ones we get every afternoon during rainy season. But - a little rain is cause for flooding here in California. Why is that? The soil is different? I can't understand. I remember when I first moved here and there was a sign posted on the side of the road cautioning drivers of "flooded areas" in the freeway. As it turned out, the "flooded area" was simply a large puddle of water. Too much hype about nothing I thought. Since then I didn't put too much stock in the warnings like this, although that might not be a wise move on my part.

Anyway, I personally welcome the rain, whether we are in drought or not. I simply like the rain. I just wish I don't have to go to work when it rains so I can sit in my sofa, my legs under a comfy throw, the cat sitting on top of my legs and we are both watching the drops of Jupiter in the backyard through the glass door. Wishful thinking!

Secondly, I went to my first cat show EVER. One of the blogs I maintain is about my cats EMMA AND BUSTER and through their blog they have made kitty friends and one of them is SUMMER SAMBA who blogs here. She is a show kitty. The minute I heard through her blog that she is coming in my neck of the woods I knew I had to see her. Thankfully it was not difficult to convince the husband to drive all the way to San Jose for the show because he was keen on attending the TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE show at nearby Santa Clara Convention Center, which is next doors to Levi's Stadium where the Forty Niners play. So we hit the Cat Show first and we made the rounds, visited the cats that were competing and spent a good time with Summer, watched some judging and fell in love with two or more cats. We made the rounds of the merchandize for sale but nothing in my price range caught my fancy.

The Travel and Adventure Show was another first for us. We went from booth to booth making sure we collected the freebies they offer, mostly reusable bags, signed up for free travels - which I'm sure we will not win. Although we stayed for the drawing of 2 free plane tickets to Taiwan from the Travel Taiwan booth - which went to a lucky woman. In addition, they also had free bobba drink for attendees. Rick Steves was on stage giving a talk, but he was preaching something that every seasoned traveler or backpacker already knows so we just left. But his stage was packed with people wanting to hear what he's got to say. I grabbed one of his travel brochures from his booth, but it's been a week since and I haven't checked the brochures that I got from the show. The only problem with Rick Steves is that his trips are above my price line so I will never be able to be on any of his trips - unless Mr. Mega Million or Mr. California Lottery has anything to say about the matter.

Lastly, on the last post I was telling you about how we just arrived from a 3-week trip to visit family in Bangladesh and a little R&R in Bali. Well not too long after, exactly a week after we arrived we got news that my FIL had passed away. So my husband who was just getting over jet lag had to turn around and go back for the funeral. I stayed behind. We felt blessed that we were able to spend time with him over the Christmas holidays, his last, who knew, right? When I saw him he was more ill than the last time I saw him which was 3 years ago. I was there when I found out that he had COPD and I knew two people that lost their lives on COPD. He was a smoker, a heavy smoker at that when he was younger and so this was the result of it. Still, I didn't realize he didn't have much time. Just a sad way to begin the new year.

Hello 2016

Tomorrow will be a week since we got back from our nearly month-long vacation in Bangladesh and Bali over the Christmas and New Year Holidays. How did it go, you ask? Read this. Another lesson from this trip? Just don't travel during the Holidays. Don't. The fare price is double the regular price, and very crowded too. But the rewards somewhat outweigh all the hassles. We were with family and friends on Christmas day since my nephew had organized a party and invited friends over. So little kids brought their parents too and the house was full of people laughing, talking and eating. So much fun!

We were invited for a NY eve dinner across town and we encountered the famous Dhaka traffic jam. I was trying to hold my pee.

In between Christmas and NY, we traveled by train to seaport city of Khulna for 11 hours to board a 3-night cruise of the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans (national forest, half belongs to India and the other Bangladesh). The cruise ship carried 36 passengers, including this lady whose blog I read. Small world isn't it? Before leaving Bangladesh, I paid a visit to another blogger who now lives in Bangladesh permanently.

Now Bali is the part of the vacation that solely for us. WE always do this when we go to Bangladesh, we set aside a few days in a different location just for the two of us to recharge our batteries. Being with family can be too overwhelming as well you know. However, Bali is too HOT!

I'll tell you more about Bali later on. I'm still not fully over my jet lag.

Reasons Why I Don't Read

Oh my goodness, this blog is truly neglected. And I will show you why, in addition to why I no longer get to read fiction.













With the exception of the first image, all the images were printed from the internet. I was intrigued with the coloring fad but I didn't do anything about it. However, on a trip to Walmart, I found a coloring book that was within my price range. So I bought it and some color pencils. The first few designs I did were horrible. At least these ones I think are not so bad. My eye for artistic beauty seem to be lacking. I am continually second guessing my choices of color scheme.

But this is why I have been doing little else in my free time. Have you joined the coloring trend yet?

It's All Good, Baby. All Good.

Since I haven’t been around these parts lately, I want to share what’s been happening with life around my neck of the woods.

VERY GOOD:

Had a birthday (Thursday), took 2 days off giving me and the husband 4-day weekend. He treated me well for my birthday, exceeded all expectations. We don’t normally do a “big” thing for our birthdays. Dinner is the norm. However, for this birthday he pulled out all the stops. Flowers, cake, a sunset dinner Hornblower cruise around the bay, a beautiful sapphire ring, mani-pedi, massage, lunch at a Filipino restaurant in the Mission Distrit, a short road trip to Occidental, Bodega Bay, Tomales Bay, Olema, Pt. Reyes.

ALSO SO GOOD:

Friends came over the next day to share dinner at home. Got the very best scribbled b/day greeting from my favorite 7-year-old boy who we babysit. He decorated the drawing with kitty heads. He knows I’m a big cat person. His folks on the other hand gave me a wonderful set of jewelry. The mom knew I adore fashion jewelry and had asked me before where I shop for them. I really adored the gift. My other friend got me a wrap-around skirt, which would need a little bit of alteration, but I got the sewing machine for that. The night was wonderful. Filled with adult conversation and discussions from politics to culture to fashion and everything in between. It was as satisfying as the pesto pasta we had for dinner. The party broke at midnight.

On Saturday, we went to dinner with my two brothers, mom, and one sis-in-law at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Chinese place in El Cerrito. We ordered up a storm, got two dishes to go and only added up to $80. I chose the place because that’s my mom’s favorite spot and also wanted the family to know about this place. I think my sis-in-law is already making plans to bring people there. It’s a nice place to eat, if you don’t mind the nonexistent decor. Always I find my table the only non-Chinese when dining there. Talk about authentic dishes. They have for that day snails in black bean sauce that my brother adored. I scored big time there. It impressed him, because in restaurants like this you don’t want to see sweet and sour pork in the menu (although they have it).

On Sunday, we went to a friends’ wedding. We met the groom through church. We’ve been around them awhile, through the ups and downs, and we’re elated when they told us they are finally getting married. I didn’t do a church wedding because I am the type to shy away from spotlight. I don’t want the attention, but I enjoy going to parties like a wedding reception. The ceremony was casual, fun, and the priest was on top of his game and very funny. Honestly though, it was too casual for my liking.

The reception was held in Pleasant Hill and has an open bar. Truth be told I was hungry like a horse but threw caution to the wind and drank while munching on apps. I had three drinks (2 margaritas and a mojito) and didn’t feel buzzed at all. I guess the drinks were weak. The affair was catered but the bride and groom had requested that my husband make his famous cauliflower biryani and chicken kebab to supplement the food. The couple loved my husband’s cooking and so we both “slaved” at the kitchen Saturday evening and Sunday morning. It was all worth it when the caterer asked my husband after the dinner was served how he cooked his biryani and if he has a restaurant. High compliments, wow! My husband can really cook!

We were at the table with good friends of ours, a couple with their two kids, the younger one was one of the flower girls. She devoured every dessert and like any 5-year-olds has learned to manipulate people to get what she wants. She’s so adorable. I came to the table with my plate full of apps when she saw I had desserts. The girl immediately asked me where the dessert table was. She had more servings than I can ever count. Later her mom must have put out the stop sign on her dessert table trek so she asked me if she could go ahead and grab some dessert for me. Wise eh? I said go ahead, get me one and you can go and grab one for you too. She did. I let mine sit at my plate. I never intended to eat it. It was for her all along because I knew she would ask for it later on. And she did!!!!! I love that adorable girl.

Later, the mom texted me a picture of her and the brother all asleep in the car on the drive home. I’m glad she didn’t crash from sugar high that night and gave her folks a quiet Sunday night.

NOT SO GOOD

My reading has been derailed. First by a renewed attraction to Bejewelled Blitz and second by a new addiction to coloring these wonderful designs that are like zentangles. I have 2 books that I was reading simultaneously, but both are now waiting for whatever free time I’m going to have after all these hobbies.

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Two weeks ago was my last post here. There’s not much to tell about the past 2 weeks except that we went to get the bookshelves from Ikea (finally!). Well, the whole set required 2 trips since one component of the set was out of stock on the first trip. Actually, the lady upstairs told us there are 4 in the inventory and would likely be gone by the time we reached downstairs to the warehouse. She called it alright. Anyway, we came back the following weekend and completed our set. The husband and I we’ve been talking about putting a bookshelf (actually a built in was what we wanted initially) in the family room on both sides of the fireplace. We’ve been talking about that for years. On August 1st, we will be in this house for 6 years and we have just bought the bookshelves. Boxes and boxes are sitting in the garage right now waiting for us to find time to do the assembly. Too much to do with a house, isn’t it? The back splash in the kitchen is still a dream until now. Too many things to do with the house and the yard that needs to be done in stages because money is not available.

Anyway, I have completely ignored by backyard. With the drought, I let the plants die, if they die. What can you do? We water them 2x a week sometimes, most times once a week. We have been collecting water in buckets, like rinse water from kitchen or the cold water from the bathroom shower to water the plants long before the water agency told us to save water. Still the plants need more water than we can provide. Such a shame.

My birthday is coming up in two weeks and the husband doesn’t know what to do. He’s waiting for me to tell him what I want to do on my birthday. I don’t do much celebrating on my birthdays and I don’t see the pattern being broken this year, although I might do the usual dinner and something else. Hubs is thinking we should at least go out for an overnight somewhere. Reno, Tahoe, Monterey – these names are being thrown in the mix of potential destination. But I don’t know. I’m not sure I wanna go.

Although today I suddenly thought of Point Reyes as a perfect overnight getaway spot. I always wanted to stay in one of the B&Bs near the park whenever we drive there and maybe we will consider it. But I really don’t know.

A day in the city is not ruled out. I haven’t been to California Academy of Sciences yet, so probably that’s a good place to spend one’s birthday. Closer to home as well. I also was looking for places to eat and with my love for tapas and Spanish cuisine I might consider going to Zarzuela. Lolindo in SF also sounds good. Yelpers are happy with the food there. We shall see.

In other news, I have met a blog pal recently. She is visiting the States with her daughter and with SF as part of her itinerary I met with her. She’s so charming. Her daughter is adorable and quite mature for her age. I adore them. It was like I’ve known them my whole life, that’s how comfortable I was with them and I hope they share the same sentiment.

That’s 2 blog pals I’ve met eye to eye since I began blogging a whole lifetime ago.