this week

Doing squats with weights is killer and makes me realize that at this point non-weighted squats would not be very useful for me. Wearing super-high heels has made my calves super tight, like they get after I get a major cramp. Lawrence got me these raw denim jeans...they started out at a 31" waist and then after 2 nights of wear stretched to 33". They're straight-legged and slightly tapered. It's been a LONG time since I've worn straight-legged jeans. I usually buy baggy boot cut jeans. These are snug in the thighs and butt, are super low rise, and are more feminine and flattering than my old Lucky jeans. Lawrence wants to get them tapered even more in the calves because apparently my 15.5" calves are still too skinny.

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I have issues with throwing things away. I want to try to at least sell them, donate them to Goodwill, or just give them away for free to someone who wants them. The problem is I forget, get distracted, or get overwhelmed by other more urgent things and it never gets done. Lawrence gets frustrated at the piles of stuff I want to get rid of but not throw away. Last night we threw a bunch of stuff away including 2 brand new large but cheap Ikea rugs. There were also a bunch of cardboard moving boxes that could have been recycled. It mentally pains me to be part of the consumerist-centered throwaway economy. Lawrence thinks I'm being ridiculously "all or nothing". That may be true, but how do you cherry-pick when you uphold your ideals and still have respect for your own sense of morality?

sore

My exercising has been sporadic for the past few months because I got sick, then I got super busy moving and attending an expo.

Saturday though, Melody organized a group to go hiking the Sam Merrill trail up Echo Mountain (straight up Lake Ave. in Pasadena/Altadena). The trail was uphill the entire way and follows the side of the mountain. Next time I'm wearing better shoes - I ended up with blisters on both heels.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning we went to the Mitsuwa food fair held at Torrance & Costa Mesa. We tried ramen from some popular chains in Japan (delicious!), ate takoyaki, and tried various other foods.

Sunday afternoon we went with Lawrence's cousins to Tanaka Farms, a farm located smack in the middle of Irvine, for strawberry picking. After that, we all went to try the famous Taiwanese bakery chain, 85C).

NRA

Wow, in Chicago. Just finished a hectic day of pitching at the National Restaurant Association Convention. I suck at selling, but it was a good experience. There's 3 more days, and the busiest days are still to come. We've got a ton of fliers we need to print out cause we're out.

Things I want to do

These are the current things at the top of my mind that I want to do.

Update my Windows OS so that I can install Microsoft's Visual Studio Express.
Write up some web applications in my spare time that I can then put on a server.
Take dance classes at PCC.
Take tai chi classes at PCC (tai chi sword!).
Finish up my current knitting crochet projects.
Use the carpet in my new apartment to block the lace I finished but never blocked.
Get a dog.
Design a lacy crocheted shawl using fingering weight yarn and doily techniques.
Continue crocheting doilies out of the Japanese books I have so I can enter them on Ravelry.
Design a filet crochet chart of a cool, maybe nerdy, image that Lawrence can appreciate.
Take some beginner yoga classes.
Regain physical strength & stamina after being sick for 2 weeks.
Figure out and prepare some knit/crochet entries for the LA County fair.
Cook more things.
Take a class on cooking techniques, like the Chicks with Knives classes.
Go to more new restaurants.
Go hiking in the morning.
Learn Cantonese - Pasadena Language Center?
Eventually learn the violin.
Practice piano & er-hu more often.
Eventually learn Japanese.

grandiose music

I've been on a quest lately to find more of specific types of music to add to my playlist.  One of those types is "grandiose" or "epic" sounding pieces.

Here's a list of what I've accumulated so far:
1) Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man
2) the theme to Star Trek: The Next Generation
3) the theme to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
4) the theme to Star Trek: Voyager
5) the piece He's a Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
6) A Dark Knight from The Dark Knight (actually, pretty much all of the pieces from the soundtrack)
7) Molossus and Eptesicus from Batman Begins
8) Creating Governing Dynamics from A Beautiful Mind
9) a bunch of stuff from E. S. Posthumous that I've listened to way too many times now

Yes, my list is limited to the movies I've actually watched (very few and limited to pretty much the past 10 years or so).  Maybe it's because I grew up watching TNG, or because I'm a big science fiction fan, but I LOVE the feelings that the Star Trek themes evoke in me.  It brings me back to my junior high and high school days when I read about and imagined a world with interstellar travel, advanced civilizations, and a sense of immense vastness.

bollocks

...is a funny British exclamation meaning "testicles" and often used to mean "nonsense".  It also has nothing to do with this post.  I just heard it used in How I Met Your Mother and thought about how I always liked the sound of that word as an exclamation!

So I'm finally getting over my cold.  It started the Monday after the Grilled Cheese Festival, so I'm on my third week now.  Lawrence went up to San Francisco last week for work so I'd been at home by myself, feeling horribly sick.  I didn't take care of myself at all, eating junk and playing Heroes of Might & Magic III until 2:30am.  Saturday I felt well enough to go to the self defense class Melody was hosting, but...I didn't eat anything substantial the entire day.  Since Friday night, pretty much all I had were some Japanese crackers I splurged on (ugh...4 packages of rice crackers, potato chips, puffs, and more rice crackers).  So by Saturday evening I had a killer migraine, I was feeling totally out of it, dehydrated, a little nauseous, and just absolutely horrible all around.

I called Lawrence and he recommended I take a few big gulps of the strawberry kefir we have so that I can quickly get some sugars absorbed into my system, and then take an emergency can of Campbell's chunky chicken noodle soup so I could get some more carbs and some sodium to retain fluids.  It definitely helped and I felt much better by the time I went to sleep.

Today, I felt well enough to go to a workout session.  Melody had me work with kettlebells, so while it was some strength training, there was definitely a cardio component to it.  I was definitely still recovering and couldn't finish the rest of the way.  I got winded with a 2 sets of one-handed swings as well as a set of double swings to go.

I stopped by Gelson's on my way home to use the $5 coupon I got in the mail.  I got a ton of stuff for breakfast (need to stop going to Europane because it's too yummy for my own good) and plenty of veggies to cook with.  I really feel like some wild rice mushroom soup right now too.  I'm planning to go to Whole Foods in a little bit to pick up some wild rice.

Since I've been spending so much time at home, Muffin has gotten more snuggly with me than she has been for the past few weeks.  Right now, she's sleeping on my one leg that's propped up against the other.  :)

There was a Ravelry thread I was reading that really got me riled up though I'm not sure in which direction.  It was about feminism, male empowerment, equality, and the progress of female equality.  I'll save the details for another post.

May the 4th be with you!

Cause it obviously is not with me.  :(  I've been sick for a week and a half now.  My nose is still congested and runny.  My throat still feels funny.  And I think because of dehydration, I spent half of last night coughing with a dry throat.