I had noticed a plank of wood floating in the waves at Nai Harn Beach, so I decided to pull it out. But once I saw that these mussels had made it a home, I couldn’t let them die! And thus I released them back to the wild ocean currents.
the mussels are aliiive! from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Tonight was my first time going to Spring Sing in Pauley Pavilion and it was a really fun experience. The one thing I love about being indoors is that I won’t get cold! So tonight I could really focus on the performances at hand. Also, I went with Panda and Houdini and some other friends I haven’t seen in a long time, which made it very enjoyable too. Now what really struck me about the night, as I was watching all the great entertainment that Company (the crew that does the comedic skits between all the acts) does, was how much I will miss some of my Bruin moments.
A lot of what they do is inspired by making parodies of what life on campus is like for students and there are more than your fair share of inside jokes. I haven’t been away long enough to really miss college, but hearing about swiping into the dining halls and the crazy squirrels reminded me of the fond memories I’d created along the way. There was one joke about passing out a book called “Wild Animals” on Bruinwalk that I didn’t get because it came about after I left. I’m going to be sad when more and more of those references begin to slip by me as I get outdated. Thankfully, there will always be our staple jokes about Trojans and North vs. South campus and Bruinwalk. I’m starting to miss the good old times, when I was one of those “in” students who understood everything.
It came and went fast! After all the rains this season, it was the only rainbow I’ve seen.
Out on the water enjoying a gorgeous sunset in Hong Kong. There’s something really cool about watching the sun setting while surrounded by water.
Tonight, like many other nights in the past month or so, Panda and I went to the Apple store to play on the iPads. We’ve entered a couple of sweepstakes to try to win one, but in the mean time we’ve been going every week or so to play Flight Control HD on the devices there. It’s fun to play a game we both like that we can work on together, plus it’s nice to get out at night. Share experiences strengthen our bond and give us nice memories to look back on.
And so, week after week, we will go out and play that game together. Today we managed to get 100 planes! On my own I can get over 200, but as a team it’s far harder and it forces us to try harder. 🙂 Now if we do win an iPad, we’ll spend more time playing together at home. Today I tested it and I we can play the game with one person on an iPad and the other on the iPhone, so I’m excited. Just gotta win one now!
This week, Ralph’s has strawberries on sale for only 99 cents a box, so Panda got some for his mom. We had a box and tonight, Panda and I attempted to make chocolate-dipped strawberries. We were optimistic, but soon found ourselves with an unmanageable mess. This is how it all went down…
We had the chocolate -
- we had the strawberries.
The strawberries got washed...
...and the chocolate got melted.
Then the strawberries got dipped.
Even with lots of swirling, the chocolate wouldn't quite stick right.
We had to resort to using chopsticks when it started to get harder.
The very first one! Not too shabby... right?
Mmm, looking good!
Oh no, what happened? It's getting all dried up now.
We give up and decide to try microwaving.
Panda wanted to try salvaging what apparently was burnt chocolate by adding water. Didn't quite work out as we wanted.
Giving up on the milk chocolate, we decide to start using the white chocolate.
Somehow managed to mess this up too... I swear everything went wrong after we started to accidentally get some water in the bowl.
One last chance to try to make it right. Going back to how we did it originally.
The chocolate solidifies quickly when it comes in contact with the cool, moist strawberry, so Panda ended up working on them with his fingers.
And to think, we wanted to dip those pineapples too... Next time, I'm getting fondue chocolate!
Happy Mother’s Day to those who qualify. 😛
As we get bombarded by flower, jewelry, and and plenty of “pamper her” offers, let’s not forget that none of that really means as much as time spent together. The mother who has spent so many years giving her time and energy raising you probably needs no more in return than attention and love given back to her. Though giving things is a popular way of showing affection, I think it’s much nicer if you can take the time to spend the day/weekend with her. After all, how much effort does it take to buy something and have it sent to her?
So year after year, it is a family tradition to celebrate various occasions and holidays just by going out to dinner. Of course I will treat her in this case, and take her to get the moisturizer she said she needed. But flowers? I find those the most unnecessary gift of all. They only last a week or two and especially for my mom, she’s got plenty growing in her backyard. A bouquet looks nice only for a fleeting moment, but the waste of resources to produce it… well, it’s just not very eco-friendly, so I’m opting out. She’d get better use out of a pack of seeds or a little pot of freshly sprouted seedlings.
In the future, I hope my kids would do the same – make an effort to see me and spend time with me (and if not, a fun ecard or homemade video is so much more meaningful than a pile of flowers that thousands of other mothers got). I hope everyone is celebrating happily and enjoying what is a beautiful day out on the west coast. Go for a stroll and grab some dessert or something. I say do something with her and have some quality bonding time. 🙂
These butterflies weren’t shy and didn’t mind us staring as they fed.
butterflies feeding from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
People always talk about LA’s traffic problems, but you know where we don’t have a problem? Foot traffic. In fact, I’m surprised I didn’t notice the notable lack of people walking around the streets. Now I understand why Westwood always felt so much homier and festive – because there are always students walking around! So imagine my surprise when I stopped at a crosswalk to find this many people criss-crossing! It’s probably one of the few places in LA where you’ll find so many people that you can’t even see the other side of the road.
I never really paid attention much, but it seems that my dedication is unusually strong.
One thing I’ve noticed lately is that a lot of blogs fall to the wayside, with people starting off hopeful and then posts end up dwindling to nothing. The same thing goes for journals. For years I’ve been hearing from friends and others I meet that they tried to keep one too, but it never really got anywhere. Meanwhile, I kept daily journal for 13 years, accumulating around 50 volumes of journals before I stopped (I blame meeting Panda :-P). I’ve still got notes for my journal from when I left off and I’ve been considering picking it up again. However, there’s always the battle of “is it worth the time?” or “does this matter enough to me to be recorded?” After all, the time I spend writing is time I’m not spending doing other fun and interesting things worth writing about.
What is it about writing blogs or journals that makes nearly everyone want to do it at some point? I guess there’s a certain human quality that craves documentation and future historical value. There are memories that we’d like to have to look back on. On the other hand, it could really be a more technical issue, with those who want to practice their writing and develop it over the years. Certainly lack of consistent writing will have a detrimental effect on the quality of your pieces, especially years down the road. So professional or not, a blog or journal can at least force you to keep up your writing skills, to some degree.
I’ve also wondered what it is about me that makes me continue writing when others would have stopped. Why do so many people want to write regularly, but don’t? Perhaps it is because I am stubborn. Perhaps it is because I got started at a young age (10). Perhaps it is because my sentimentalism drives me to keep on going so I’ll have a lot to look back on. I’m not quite sure what it is exactly, but many factors have urged me on over the years, as I continuously questioned the value of writing so much. I’ve spent countless hours huddled with the latest journal design I was using, accompanied by a lovely stash of colored pens that I wrote with. Now I’m spending countless hours typing away my thoughts, exploring some of the things that have been on my mind. It certainly is a great outlet, preserved for all posterity.
Ultimately, I guess it just comes down to that fact that I want to keep going. Whatever the reasons for wanting may have changed over the years as my style and even medium of writing transitioned, but that desire has not faded. And so, I will keep on writing and wondering what this is all about, if only because I am dedicated to this part of my life.
