Panda and I went to Fiesta Hermosa today and boy was it windy and chilly at the beach! Waves were crashing in more violently than normal, sand was getting blown around, my hair and dress got whipped about, and so did a kite some people were flying.
windy beach day from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
blown around from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
kite in wind from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
This past Saturday was UCLA Alumni Day, where alum are invited back to their alma mater to spend a day listening to panels, taking tours, and otherwise enjoying what UCLA has become in the years since graduation. It’s a nice day to go back to campus and find out what the latest is with the university and I was really glad that Panda was able to come with me this time. We haven’t been away from campus long enough to need tours to reintroduce us to the ever-changing landscape, so we signed up for the three panels of the day to learn about advances in healthcare, innovation, and motivation.
The first panel was enlightening and really highlighted the delicate balance between human service and machine assistance that is required in the medical field. While technology allows more and more processes to become semi-automated, the human component becomes increasingly important to maintain. After all, you don’t remember how nice a machine was to you – you remember how kind that nurse, doctor, or other staff were. Parts of the talk were a bit lecture-y and it was hard to stay focused due to the intellectual nature of the topic, but overall I did enjoy and appreciate it.
During the lunch break, Panda and I headed over to the School of Engineering’s open house, where we saw some student exhibits, got some free swag, grabbed some snacks, and got a tour of the plasma lab. It was my first time really exploring Engineering V and IV, and Panda got to show me some cool spots, like the second floor balcony area that I never knew existed.
After wandering around trying to decide on which place to eat lunch (we were given vouchers to choose our own meals this year), we came back for lecture number two on innovation. The entire panel consisted of Disney employees, past and present, and each had prepared some sort of visual to share. Definitely a completely different tone and vibe from the first panel. While the talk itself was fun and lively, I didn’t understand the connection to UCLA or alumni day. Whereas the first panel was addressing an issue that UCLA is deeply involved in and at the forefront of, this one struck me as almost a marketing pitch. I didn’t feel like I learned much, but I guess it was more about being entertained.
Towards the end of the panel, during the question and answer session, the fire alarm went off in Ackerman Union, so we had to clear the space. Panda and I wandered around enjoying strolling around campus and eventually ended up in Wilson Plaza, where breakfast and the opening ceremony had been. Due to the fire alarm, the third panel was actually moved out here, so we were there when it began. The motivation one seemed to pretty much just be about sports, so we decided to catch a tour bus and check out Westwood. Unfortunately, we got in line too late to get a seat on atop the open-air bus, so we were stuck downstairs. It was a pretty quick trip around our campus and the town; I really wish the bus had stopped in certain areas so the student volunteers could explain more about the new buildings and other changes to student life.
Soon enough, it was time for the closing speeches and dinner. While we were eating, a random lady approached me asking if I spoke Chinese. When she found that I did, she began to ask about the university. It turns out she was scouting for her daughter, who will be applying in two years. After a hearty conversation, Panda and I finished up our meals and went over to the registration tent to take a picture with Joe Bruin. I had decided that I wanted to take the buckets used as centerpieces for the tables, so we walked around looking for an empty table so we could take the bucket without having to ask if someone else wanted it.
And that was it, the end to our very first UCLA Alumni Day together! I’m sure we’ll find time back at campus more valuable the more time we spend away from it. Still, not a bad start to what hopefully becomes a tradition for us. Oh yeah, and apparently the world was supposed to end right around the time we were having dinner! So much for that.
If I could have a huge saltwater tank, I’d want a pet ray. Remove the stinger and these guys are amazing – so soft, so graceful, and quite friendly too!
This guy was so eager to be petted he was coming out of the water!
bobbing ray from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
They’re not just soft, they kind of feel… fluffy.
petting spotted ray from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
I quite like the cownose ones, probably because this one was super friendly.
pet cownose ray from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Their little mouths are so cute! They look like a face themselves, but the eyes of course are actually on top. I believe those are the nostrils?
[It’s a bit faint, but look closely or click on the picture to see the full size.]
Hey, I can write upside down too! (It's a Romano's tradition for the waiters to write their name for you so that it's upside down to them and rightside up to you.)
I’ve never tried Origins before, so I was thrilled to get this free sample. It feels fantastic and has a subtle mint scent to it. Cleansing and refreshing all in one! I also got a small test of the A Perfect World face wash, which feels and smells great too. I’m looking forward to finishing up my current moisturizer so I can try one of theirs. Definitely a convert!
A special edition Earth Day version of Origins face wash! I got it for free that day.
When some people found out that Panda and I will have Skype on as we go about our normal business, they didn’t understand it. They asked me what the point is and they found it to be weird. Obviously they don’t take the same comfort that I do in just having him around (in whatever form required). I don’t believe that conversations should have to be staged for a certain period of time just because you are on a phone or meeting with each other. That works for those you don’t get to see much. But for someone you’re dating, it’s just not enough. Plus, it’s much more natural to have spurts of conversation based on what is happening in real time, rather than condensing everything you want to share into a few minutes a day.
So what better than to sit on Skype, being able to check in on each other and see what the other is doing? I mean, it’s as close to being in the same room as you can possibly get when you’re (thousands of) miles away. And really, the best sort of interaction is in person, so I don’t see why more people wouldn’t want to sit around video chatting their loved ones. I guess part of it is my inability to relate to their need to keep things from their significant other. It’s a common theme among the talk I hear about relationships. Why do people have so many secrets to keep? While I understand you don’t always want to share everything, I certainly never feel the need to hide things and Panda actually errs on the side of sharing too much.
I love being able to look up from what I’m doing and see how he is when I am unable to actually be with him. I like the freedom of being able to come and go and not have to continuously call him back or disrupt his routine. Apparently other people just like to have their lives to themselves, but me? I like to have Panda around as much as possible. That’s why I keep my Skype on.
I was in class today, listening to problem solutions when I began to feel ill. My face flushed and I felt queasy – then before I knew it, I developed a bit of a fever. I was nauseated from not eating, so I quickly began to munch on some crunchy Cheetos. At the break, I rushed to a vending machine and got chips and cookies. It was enough to stave off the illness and stabilize my body. Crazy how it just flared up like that, in part due to being weak from hunger, in part due to the chilly room conditions. Even now as I lay in bed, it’s lingering there and I feel on the verge of getting sick. I guess the wind today affected me more than I expected.
Have you ever experienced a sudden fever like that? One that comes and goes before you fully react to what’s going on? I used to get it every afternoon in high school for awhile, but now I only get flare-ups occasionally. The nice thing is they go away pretty quickly, but they just as quickly and unpredictably come back too. I hope that rest will stave it off and not give it a moment of weakness upon which to pounce!
Ever since visiting Panda two weekends ago, I’ve been able to get up earlier in the morning (in fact, I can’t help but wake up between 6 and 7:30). When I first wake in the morning, I usually take a look at my phone to make sure I still have time and go back to a light sleep until my alarm goes off at 8:30. I then get out of bed in the next 15-20 minutes, shower, and get ready to head out. I’ve been able to make it to work on time or 5-10 minutes early. Fantastic!
Prior to my trip, I’d been getting in a bad habit – snoozing until 9:15, when I’d jump out of bed, throw something on, brush my teeth and hair, wash my face, and rush out only to be 5 minutes late to work. While nobody is watching the clock when we start showing up at work, I always felt a little guilty that I just couldn’t make it on time. Who knows if anybody else noticed. All that mattered was my own conscience, nagging at me silently. I’d been slipping into a funk and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t fix it. I even slept a good 8-9 hours once and I think it actually made matters worse.
I guess getting up at 3:30 AM PST to get to the airport and hop on a flight that would get me to LA by 11:30 AM PST did something to adjust my biological clock setting. Even though I did sleep quite a bit on the plane, none of it was very restful and as soon as I landed I headed back to work that day. By the end of my work day, I was so exhausted I wanted nothing else but to rest. Maybe what I needed was just that one day of extended exhaustion to make me tired by 11 and actually willing to sleep before midnight. Now I get plenty of sleep and while I always want more, it is much easier to get up on time in the mornings (and even sneak a shower in!).
So you see people, jetlag isn’t always a bad thing! Maybe it’s even that restart or jump start that your body has been waiting for.
I feel like I’ve become more sensitive to smells more recently. I keep catching whiffs of things that have a stronger effect on how I feel, more so than ever before. Usually it’s a sudden attraction or repulsion, depending on whether I like the scent, and for the most part I react to perfumed things and food. Last night I kept waking up to the smell of my hair due to my new highlights. A week ago, I got overwhelmed by the smell of the person sitting behind me in the airplane. It isn’t so much that these smells are strong, but when enough wafts towards me, my nose overreacts and I feel slightly nauseous. Meanwhile, I love to sniff my lotions before and after using them, and I always smell my food before taking a bite. I can’t seem to get enough of those smells and it’s quite comforting and soothing to smell them.
Why are my olfactory glands working overtime these days? They have taken charge of my perception and experience of the world. I would think it would be due to some sort of hormonal change, but I can’t think of any trigger that would have caused it. Perhaps this is just a normal part of growing up and all adults have a more sensitive palate. I wish I knew how to control it more, so I wouldn’t get nauseated so easily, usually at night when I get hungry. Or actually, maybe it’s my stomach that has gotten more sensitive and heightens the effect of the smells around me… I do find myself needing to eat more frequently and if I don’t, I start to feel a little unwell pretty quickly. Hmm, now there’s a thought to consider!
Wow, I was in such a food coma last night that I totally collapsed on my bed and fell asleep soon after getting back from dinner. Next thing I knew, I woke up sometime around 5 in the morning with the light still on!
I guess the Ethiopian food we had earlier in the night weighed pretty heavily on me. Then again, it was a lot! If you’ve never tried Ethiopian before (at least the Americanized version that is available in the states – who knows what real Ethiopian is out there), you should really give it a shot. One of my friends who went last night – I’ll call her Duchess – had eaten it once before (like me) and we both enjoyed our experiences. So there we were, many moons later, taking some others out for their first experience.
The place we went to was decided by a Tippr coupon that I bought a couple days ago, for a place called Little Ethiopia located in Little Ethiopia (hah!). That’s a small strip out on Fairfax not too far from downtown LA. It was a nice little place, though they had an entire room on the side that lay empty. I guess when business was better they’d use both sides. We ordered a veggie platter, tibs, and Little Ethiopian tibs. The veggie platter had a variety of vegetables cooked in different sauces. The tibs was chunks of beef and the Little Ethiopian tibs was those chunks of beef with potatoes and some other veggies mixed in. Everything came out on a fantastically large tray lined with their special bread.
In the center is the Little Ethiopian tibs, the meat on either side is the tibs, and all those colorful splotches are part of the veggie platter!
The bread - spongy and slightly sour and very soft and supple!
Oh that bread! When Duchess and I were trying to describe it on the drive over, the closest thing we could come up with was a sourdough pancake. It’s a dense, spongy thing with a hint of sour and there’s something wonderful about it. You use the bread to grab some of the veggies or meat and then eat it in a little morsel (at least we think that’s the right way to do it). Oh yeah, the thing about Ethiopian food is that it’s eaten with your hands, much like Indian food is supposed to be. And so we ate, getting basket after basket of bread until we were stuffed. The waitress then came and offered us some second helpings for free, since they had a lot of excess in the kitchen. We couldn’t resist and spent another half hour trying to finish it all. By the time we left, I was so full I could hardly stand.
But our adventure wasn’t over! We decided to go for dessert and ended up choosing Persian ice cream. The first time I went, I got the orange blossom. This time I was too full to get a serving myself, but I shared a white rose with Apprentice. Yes, their ice cream flavors are very flower-oriented. I feel like I’m eating a garden and it is the strangest sensation. It turned out to be a nice complement to the food we had earlier and both were awesome cultural experiences for the newbies. When I finally got home, it’s no wonder I lay on the bed to recover and ended up sleeping for the night. Next time I want to deep sleep, I’ll make sure to get Ethiopian again. 🙂
