At Sentosa Island, you can go to the Underwater World and find this touching pool, which is super fun. Hold your hand still and the fish will come up to you with a quick swipe against your skin. The guy narrating thought there was a close call, but that’s what it looks like when they swipe you. So fast it doesn’t look like it happened!
fish swiping from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
Many months ago, I came across this new company called DefaultCase, selling their iPhone cases for 1 cent + $3.99 processing. For $4 each, it was a steal! You see, rather than spend marketing budget on making all kinds of ads, they put much of it towards offering these cases for super cheap. From there, I believe they were counting on word of mouth to get their brand going.
I thought about it for awhile and decided to get one for fun, even though I don’t even like phone covers. They’re pretty cool, with a perforated design on the iPhone 4 models that allow the signal to get through (it’s even supposed to help with your reception, according to them). I browsed their selection of colors and settled on a blue one. One thing I noticed is that there are never any shots of a phone from the front when you look at a case. I happen to want to know how much the lip may or may not protrude on that side. Nevertheless, I decided it was cheap enough to be worth trying. When it came, I was very excited. They have a quirky sense of humor and included a love letter telling me how much they appreciated me for being an early adopter. Fun times!
When I couldn’t figure out how to get the case off and cracked it trying, I emailed their customer service because part of their mission is to provide excellent support. They were kind enough to mail me a new one, plus give me a free one of my choice. This time I chose white. Awesome, right? Well, I was also interested in a purple and an orange one, so I asked about that and they said since they accidentally made some of the pink ones more of a purple color, they could send me one of those. Orange was yet to be added and when it was, they gave me a sample too. Talk about a deal!
They came through on their promise of great service and it’s something that more companies should strive towards, no matter what product or service they’re providing.
I’ve described “zebra days” before and oftentimes you will find “blossom rain” occurring in such weather, where it’s sunny yet it’s drizzling at the same time. (I only heard this term blossom rain due to meeting the author of the upcoming book, Beneath Blossom Rain – cool, huh?)
sunny rain from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
I spent 40 minutes last night using my Acu hoop and boy am I sore! Actually, it’s borderline sore/in pain, I can’t really tell… there are definitely times that my sides get touched and it hurts, but it’s not constantly there and most of the time I forget it hurts. I shouldn’t have gone so vigorously or so long after not using it for quite awhile now. Next time I will go for an easier pace until I can build up to something more.
I have a 3-lb one that looks just like the image, except mine came pre-installed and wrapped in a sturdy plastic cover that I never took off. I figured it made it easier to clean and less likely to wiggle loose or something. I think that weight is just enough to be challenging without being overwhelming and I’m glad I settled on that (you can get one anywhere from 1 to 6 lbs in weight).
The great thing about this is that you can read a book, watch TV, listen to music, or many other things with your hands and eyes while you do this. Talk about getting a workout while multitasking! Plus, it doesn’t work quite the same as a standard hula hoop you’d have for fun. While those are hard to get going and keep up, this one has enough momentum that makes it easier to manage. Just about everyone I’ve read reviews from said they can’t hula hoop for their life, but they can Acu hoop like a pro! It really is very different when it’s weighted. Just try weighting a normal hula hoop and you’ll see how much easier it is.
This weekend Panda and I spent some time browsing Target stores and I got quite the steal with two jackets for $5 and $4 each! The original prices are something like $20-25, so I’m very pleased. One is a plain black zip-up hoodie with these amazing embellished straps – you know the ones that you tighten the hood with – which are a silky satin kind of look. The tips are even a nice metal piece rather than the cheap plastic ones you’d find normally. The quality of the cloth is great and it feels really good, plus it is very warm! The other is a fleece half-zip in my favorite color: purple! It’s a little large for me, but I don’t mind having some outerwear be a bit loose on me. And really, for less than $4, how could I pass it up?
I also bought myself a yoga mat so I won’t be the only one without one in class (and coincidentally, they went on sale this week). After much back and forth between the 3mm and 5mm ones, I decided to splurge just a bit and go for the thicker one I’d been eying. I mean, it was on sale and Panda had earned a $10 gift card he put towards it, so really it was costing me less than half the original price. It also happened to be in purple, so that was perfect. I did need to get it pretty soon so I wouldn’t have to borrow the instructor’s mat all the time. It was really fortunate that I waited those extra couple of days and caught it on sale. 🙂
Then, today we found a jacket with a fuzzy inside lining, which I’ve been looking for for awhile. I think it’s a men’s, but with jackets like that I don’t think you can really tell and it doesn’t matter too much. I like that the outside is a fleece material – that seems to be my newest obsession. Panda had gotten one of these a few weeks ago and I’d scoured the women’s section looking for one for myself, but they just don’t seem to have them anymore. The one today happened to be small enough to fit just right, plus it was a clearance item, so I decided to get it and check that item off my list.
Now I feel very well-equipped for cool nights and the chilly days at the office, when I’m sitting at my desk all day freezing. There was one more jacket I saw today that I really wanted – a white polar fleece zip-up, but it wasn’t so cheap that I just had to get it. However, I do want to keep checking on the price of it over the next couple of days/weeks so I can grab it when it gets to a low enough price. Panda has started to teach me and share with me the way that he shops: lots of browsing and finding awesome deals before buying! It feels really rewarding when you get something for a unbelievably low price, so for things I can wait on, I definitely want to wait for them to go on sale or into clearance.
Today Panda and I went to a birthday brunch for a friend up at Castaway Restaurant in Burbank. It was fun times with good friends!
Click to see full images.
It has been a busy two weeks for me, with plenty to do as we make some changes in the company. I’ve found that the holiday break right before it feels such a distant memory because of all that has occupied my time since. Time seems to be going by slowly as I plow away, yet it seems to go by faster than I realize. I was so out of it I thought it was Tuesday for a brief time today. It’s really strange how time can be so fast and so slow at the same time.
At times while working, I’d look at the time and be surprised that it wasn’t later in the day. It was a good thing, because it meant things weren’t taking as long as I felt they were, but it was also very tiring. At the same time, looking back on the past few hours, it was hard to remember what I had been doing. I’ve just been working working working on so much stuff that it all started to blend in to each other. Had I already looked at this? Did I already edit that? Thank goodness for my spreadsheet, or else everything would have taken twice as long as I forgot if I had done it yet or not.
Somehow looking back on this week, I can’t quite discern that there were five days. In fact, it’s almost incomprehensible at this point that that many days went by when it only felt like two or three. It’s nice that the week is over, but there’s still quite a bit of work to be done! I did finish the most important set of tasks and that’s a relief. However, I do still have a report to compile, which I didn’t have time to do last week either. Yikes!
I need to let my brain refresh a bit though, so I think I will do that on Sunday after I’ve recovered some of my mental capacity. Sleep is so not overrated.
December 29th, 10 PM. My dad and have been waiting at JFK for two hours, wondering if we can get on the last flight to LA that night. The recent blizzard that swept through the area left many passengers stuck in the airport for days. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to get seats so I wouldn’t have to spend my birthday in the airport!
JFK has a lounge sort of area with lots of iPads for people to play games on. Pretty nifty.
With tons of people stranded in the airport, there were some cots laid out for people to use.
The snow was piling a good 10 feet high as they cleared the runways!
It snowed at least two feet right there. I sort of miss this weather.
This is as far south as you can get in the US! Cuba's just beyond the horizon.
Just chillin' with my new friend, the pelican. 🙂
At my apartment complex, there are free yoga classes each Tuesday and Thursday night. This was one of the reasons I really wanted to live here – so I can finally try out yoga! I went to both sessions this week, which are taught by different instructors. On Tuesday, the instructor took us through a nice, invigorating set. It was a good intro and she took it slow and easy. Then on Thursday, the other instructor went through much more challenging moves that left me quite sore afterwards. I’m having trouble lifting my arms without slowing down a bit, but it’s a good kind of sore.
My overall impression of yoga is somewhat neutral. While I like the idea of taking yoga and the instructors were both great, I find that there is a lot of strain on my body, like in the wrists. I have bad shoulders that also didn’t handle the moves too well. I think I’d gain a lot in strength and flexibility if I stick with it though, so I absolutely plan on attending every class that I am free for. However, I don’t find myself getting extremely passionate about it and the whole yogi lifestyle, but maybe that’s something that will grow on me.
I’ve found that I’m not that great at doing yoga. I can’t breathe as deeply as I feel I should be. I get so wrapped up in the moves that I forget to take deep breaths – I often catch myself taking shallow breaths. Both times I have had trouble staying on the mat (but maybe that’s normal?). I wonder if there are weighted ones or if I’d have to use weights to keep the mat in place. I also suck at a few of the poses because my back bends backwards too far, my right shoulder shifts in its socket, and my hips click out of their sockets.
I do feel like part of the discomfort is because I am just weak in my back and arms, which is exactly why I wanted to start yoga in the first place. I also feel like I’ll feel better when the weather warms up and the room is not so cold. So, while I feel it’s definitely worth it to continue the classes for this year, I’m not sure that I would pay for classes in the future. Maybe I’ll try pilates or that yoga class that is done in the pool! It’s nice to have a class to attend, someone to lead you through moves and keep you going, so I’d love to find a class that I’m passionate about.
