One of my friends in LA introduced me to cronuts back when I was visiting him and his girlfriend in DTLA. There’s this one bakery that makes them in Little Tokyo and they are faaabulous. A donut-shaped fried treat with the texture of a croissant, filled with sweetness, rolled in sugar, and topped with fruit/chocolate… I mean, this is just madness. I tried to go get one from the original place in NYC but they’re so popular you have to get up before the crack of dawn to stand in line for hours. The one in LA will set some aside from their next batch if you call in, which is what we did. I had the blueberry one and OMG it was all kinds of amazing. I’m looking forward to getting some more when I return to the area for Thanksgiving. They’re expensive at $4 a pop, but they are oh so great.
365great Day 256: cronuts
365great Day 255: ATVing
I’ve only gone ATVing once and it was in the beautiful hills of Hawaii. That’s hard to beat! We got to zoom around on those things with gorgeous views of the ocean. As a teenager midway through high school, it was basically a dream come true to be hanging out with peers from across the country as we enjoyed an experience like that. I remember grinning so hard that I had a layer of dust on my teeth after all that fun. It was absolutely worth it! Unfortunately, since then I haven’t gotten a chance to ride one again, but I sure hope I do. It’s so freeing to be able to race across all sorts of terrain while enjoying the breeze, the sun, and the bumpiness. I don’t know if I can ever top that memory from when I was sixteen, but I’m sure ATVing anywhere is still great.
365great Day 254: Trism
Trism is a pretty simple game, much like Bejeweled or Tetris. It makes uses of blocks of different colors arranged a certain way – you just manipulate those pieces to make your moves. Rather than swapping pieces or adding blocks to the screen, it makes use of sliding things around until you make matches of three or more. What I like about it is that it’s not just up and down, left and right. That third axis adds a whole new level of challenge, sometimes leaving empty spaces for you to have to work around. Plus, you tilt your device all different ways to make the new pieces “fall” the way you want them to. Triangular pieces are a pretty novel concept in these kinds of games and I’ve yet to see another game make use of it. It’s a great game that gets your mind thinking in a new way.
365great Day 253: jumping
Jumping is generally a lot of fun, especially if you capture that mid-air moment. Sometimes it’s just hopping and skipping along the sidewalk and sometimes it’s as crazy as jumping from a cliff into water below. I love getting a picture right when you’re floating in the air, pure joy on your face, hair flying wild, and limbs all over the place. It’s so fun and carefree! And when you’re jumping around, you can’t help but feel energized. It gets your blood going and puts a pep in your step. I grin every time! I’ve gotten shots on the pier, off a boat, on the beach (spelling out letters), on stairs, on a diving board (not diving in the pool though), and so much more. They’re some of the happiest-looking pictures you’ll find in most people’s albums. There’s just something about jumping that brings out the joy in us and that’s absolutely great!
365great Day 252: music
Music can move us in ways that are much more profound than anything else. Sometimes I hear songs that evoke strong emotions and memories. They take me back to a period in my life when I used to hear those tunes and a whole slew of memories associated with that. Whenever I want to feel a certain way, all I need to do is pick out music that creates that sort of mood for me. I’ve chilled out to more soulful stuff and gotten energized from more upbeat stuff. Even better than that is when I can sit down at a piano and play out something that reflects my feelings. We sold our piano years ago and I missed playing whenever the mood struck, so when I saw this piano on the street, I just had to play around a bit. It was such a moment of pure joy to tap out a few notes and connect with music by creating it. Nowadays I don’t really have access to instruments, other than the Chinese piano that sits at my parents’ place. I’m looking forward to getting a piano again someday and refreshing my memory on songs I learned as a kid. The way I feel when I can play a beautiful melody is so special and truly great.
365great Day 251: fractals
Fractals are absolutely fascinating to me. They can just keep on repeating a pattern in a way that creates beautiful images. You can see them at play around you: in snowflakes, in cauliflower, in blood vessels, in coastlines, in lightning bolts… nature’s got her way of expressing herself in a simple yet complex way by using fractals. I think it’s so cool how you can look at those physical phenomena and see self-similarity as you zoom in or out. Is this something nerdy? Do you get excited about fractals too? Or am I geeking out again? Whatever the case, visual representations of fractals are infinitely beautiful to me; they’re quite artistic and I think they’re great.
365great Day 250: parasailing
When my parents and I were in Cancun, my dad and I went parasailing. It was so amazing to be up in the air like that, floating above the ocean with insane views of the gorgeous waters and coastline. It was very serene, since there wasn’t much to hear except the rustle of the gentle breeze. I hardly felt like we were moving at all and it really just seemed like we were sitting in midair. Everything was so picturesque and perfect that I wouldn’t have wanted to come down were it not for the fact that my feet were getting cold after being still for so long in that harness. It was a lovely experience to share with my dad, whose love of adventure and fun like this shone on his face. I must have gotten that from him, because we were both grinning ear to ear during and after the ride. Not only was it fantastic to try that activity, it was great to share it with my dad.
365great Day 249: praying mantis
I love it whenever I catch a praying mantis. They’re tough cookies, but have an elegance about them in the way they move. Once, I kept one indoors for so long that its eyes went black. It literally went blind on me. I’d put my finger up to its face and get no reaction. I felt horrible, so I took it outside into the grassy area and watched it wander around for awhile. Somehow, miraculously, its eyes recovered and it flinched when I tried to get too near. Soon enough, it scampered away to its natural habitat. Ever since then, I’ve been careful to only play with them for a few minutes before releasing them. They’re surprisingly interested in people and I’ve had more than a few come to me. It’s pretty cool to get that sort of interaction with an insect. I’ve always enjoyed playing with them, so that’s great for me!
365great Day 248: random acts of kindness
My fourth year of college, for Valentine’s Day, I was super surprised when I got a delivery. My fraternity was doing one of those fundraisers where you can send a flower and bear in a cute little package to anyone on campus. When one of them came to me, I was sooo confused. Who in the world would have gotten me something for Valentine’s? I didn’t have a boyfriend or even anyone I was seeing. Baffled, I took to the web and eventually got a message from a random friend who just thought it’d be nice to send me something, so he bought one for me to support the fundraiser. How sweet is that? Then when I was in the UK, I joined LoveSoc, a club that some students put together where they’d prompt you to do random acts of kindness, like giving hugs or leaving change. It’s those little surprises that can be so wonderful, especially when they’re completely out of the blue. I really should do more of those. As a kid I was very generous – probably even too generous – and I miss those days of bringing a smile to people’s faces. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.
365great Day 247: Dinners for 12 Strangers
This is a fun UCLA tradition that I have participated in both as a student and alumna. You basically get alumni to volunteer to host a bunch of students for dinner. Usually this is at an alum’s home, but sometimes it could be at other venues that they have reserved, like one time when I had a meal at one of the restaurants at the Anderson School of Management. On average, it will be two alumni to about ten students, but of course the number will vary depending on how many Bruins sign up. As a student, it was an opportunity to meet some fellow students, enjoy a free meal, and learn from alum. It was nice to see what some of them had been doing since graduating and getting any advice from them regarding school and/or work. On the flip side, as a host, I enjoyed working with co-hosts to put together the meal, learning about what’s been going on at UCLA since graduating, and sharing my apartment for a night of chatting. For hosting, we were given these cute little cutting boards as a thank you. 🙂 It’s a great way to connect with more Bruins over the years!
