I started drinking boba drinks sometime in junior year of high school, I think. There was a place at the food court in the mall that sold them and I remember going there to get black tea smoothies with boba. I loved how the iciness of the drink froze them up just so – so they were a little bit chewy, a little bit crunchy. They’re nice and sweet without being overwhelming and they add a fun element to your drink. I try to get them whenever I can and it’s always been a fun time to hang out with friends over boba drinks. Sometimes I go for the milk tea and sometimes I got for the fruity tea. I used to get a wonderfully light white tea but it’s no longer being offered. 🙁 Still, I love just about any boba drink, hot or cold, and I love how they provide a great way to spend time with friends.
365great Day 296: boba
365great Day 295: skinny jeans
For the longest time, I didn’t get into skinny jeans. Then I got my token pair two or three years ago, which I didn’t wear all that often. Somehow I got to the point where I decided to get a bunch more in the past few months and now I’m almost always reaching for a pair. I had always thought that my calves were too thick for this style of jeans, so I generally got ones with flares. No need to worry about whether my legs would be too large for those! After many years, I tried one pair and found that either my calves had shrunk or they weren’t quite as big as I thought. Since then I think my legs have gotten more trim so I can actually pull off skinny jeans now. I really like them because I don’t have pant legs dragging on the ground (though they tend to leave my ankles more exposed and cold) and they fit easily into boots, which I need to wear a lot more of now that I’m in winter weather. It also helps that they make me feel great about my legs again, large as they may be.
365great Day 294: childhood blankets
This blanket has been with me ever since I can remember. Over the years, its pattern has faded and the stuffing is all out of place, but it is oh so soft and comforting. While I’ve tried a multitude of other blankets, they can never replace this one and I hope I have it forever. I remember snuggling up with it when I was sick, playing fortress with it when I wanted to escape into my own world, and falling asleep with it enveloping me. I’ve wondered about the girls on it many a time and come up with stories about what is going on in the scene. Whenever I am home with my parents, I use this blanket and just pile on whatever else on top when it’s not warm enough. I’ve loved the smell of it freshly laundered and buried my face in it to capture my tears and wrapped my cats in it like it was swaddling cloth. It may be worn and old, but that is exactly what makes it great, for it holds a power to make me feel cared for.
365great Day 293: skateboarding
One of my favorite hobbies is skateboarding. I hardly get to go out cruising anymore, but back in my final year at UCLA, I sure did live it up. I’m partial to longboards because you can glide along much easier. In particular, I love the Loaded brand for their super flexible bamboo boards. It is so liberating to go down a street, sidewalk, or boardwalk with a gentle breeze caressing my face and the sun smiling down upon me. It’s also a very rewarding feeling when people gape at me and my awesome board, marveling that a girl just skated by them. I guess not many women decide to learn how to skate, so I feel somewhat accomplished that I can. Plus, it’s improved my balance immensely! 😛 There’s a great freedom in skateboarding that I just don’t feel with anything else and I love it.
365great Day 292: entertainment
Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and be entertained. Whether it’s a TV show, live performance, or otherwise, all you have to do is enjoy. I don’t often partake in these things, but every now and then I want something rather mindless to occupy my time. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing in the hours leading up to the new year – just chilling out letting the TV shows fill my time and living room. I’d gotten worn out from all the reading and typing I was doing online, but didn’t quite want to sit around in silence. It’s been soothing to experience and exactly what I needed. For those times when you want to consume media, it’s great to let the entertainment take over.
365great Day 291: latte art
Between the latte art I got today and the designs I’ve had at Urth Caffe, there have been many a drink that I almost didn’t want to consume so I wouldn’t ruin the cuteness. It’s so much fun when the food you get looks so good you aren’t even sure you should chow down. But of course, you bought them not just to look at, so taking pictures before you dig in is the best way to commemorate them. I had my first 3D art design today, which I enjoyed immensely. The 2D ones are still fabulous too and I’ll continue to get both whenever I get a chance. It makes the experience that much more memorable and noteworthy. I always like to enjoy my food and what better way than to appreciate the taste AND the visual appeal? That makes it great on so many levels.
365great Day 290: shooting ranges
Playing around with guns in a controlled environment is really fun. I love trying out pistols, revolvers, and rifles. They’re powerful enough that you get a thrill, but not so crazy that they’re intimidating, like a semi-automatic. You can make a contest out of it with your friends, seeing who has the best aim, and you can blow off some steam while you’re at it. It’s pretty rewarding when you actually get some great shots off and nobody needs to get hurt. I don’t think I could ever shoot at a living creature, unless my own livelihood depended on it (but maybe not even then). I much prefer the safety of a shooting range, whether indoors or out in the middle of nowhere. I’ve tried shooting at clay pigeons before (those bright orange discs) and I’m not very good, so I think I’ll stick with immobile targets. I mean, it feels great when I can actually get a bullseye so why set myself up for failure with a flying target?
365great Day 289: reunions
Ok, I’m going to break a cardinal rule of mine and post a picture of others (I usually choose ones where you can’t tell who they are or I don’t post them at all – sorry PBs! Hope you don’t mind). I just got back from a mini reunion with my pledge bros for AKPsi and I wanted to share that. While it was only about a third of our class getting together, it was nice to at least see some familiar faces again after all this time. It’s been years since I’ve caught up with many of them and I feel so out of touch with their lives! Here we are 7 years later and so much has changed, yet they pretty much all look the same to me. That’s good, right? It’s nice to be able to reconnect with them briefly and revisit old memories. Oddly enough, we ended up eating at a place with great meaning for us completely unintentionally. What an appropriate setting for us to get together again. It’s great to see how they’re doing in their lives now and I hope to have more reunions for all those friends I’ve lost touch with.
365great Day 288: Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha is a pretty cool computational engine. It’s my go-to whenever I have a factual question about a date, scientific information, data about our world, or things you might look up in an almanac. You can ask mathematical questions, historical questions, scientific questions, and so much more. It’s a powerful source of information if you know what questions to ask. I tend to use it most to learn more about dates, like what day of the week I was born (a Monday, which coincidentally is when it’s occurring again this year – I always thought it was a Tuesday though). I’ll sometimes reference it when I want to find out about moon phases or when sunrise and sunset were on a given day. It’s amazing the wealth of information you can draw from it and I’m glad to have it as a resource. It’s great for enhancing your learning!
365great Day 287: LoveSacs
Back in high school, I first discovered the LoveSac store in the mall with my best friend, Katana. We’d go hang out there on those amazing bags and dream of one day owning one. They’re so cush and fun to lounge around on. In college, they went away and I was so bummed… but then near graduation, I saw a friend wearing their t-shirt and I was SO thrilled to hear they were back in business! When I’d been working for a little while, I decided it was finally time to make that wish come true. I got a PillowSac, which is a square-ish version of the original LoveSacs. Funny enough, I then had a friend lend me his LoveSac (which had been sitting in the office unused). We took this picture the day he came to reclaim his property once he had space for it again. Today I went to check out their Sactionals, which I was considering for our new condo. The price point is beyond what I’m willing to pay at this point, so they shall have to wait. I sure hope I can get them eventually! They’d make a great addition to our home.
