The run.

Hi everyone! I'm still alive and kicking (actually not so much of the kicking since my legs feel like lead.).

So about the run.

I woke up early that day, around 550am, and had froot loops with milk for breakfast. Everyone was very cheery in the car, and I was kinda pumped out too. The baby was adorable, and kept gargling. Jason and I dropped the half-marathoners off at their earlier start point, and went on to find parking near the start point. Sidenote about Jason: Jason and Lisa have an adorable baby named Adeline. They're both runners, and hence decided to take the baby on one of their marathon runs. Therefore, Jason was going to do the 5k run with me, pushing the stroller with baby Adeline in it. For the whole 5k. I felt kinda naked, since they wun allow me to bring my bag or wallet or camera, and hence no pictures. I keep checking the website for my finish line pictures, but as expected, they are taking their own sweet time. Meanos.

Anyways, back to the run. Jason and I parked the car, and as soon as we got off the car and loaded Adeline on the baby pram, he took off, yelling "Let's jog to the front line to warm up!". And I started jogging to keep up with him. And daym, was he fast, even with the pram. -_- By the time we reached the start line (which was 1k away), I was half-dead. And the gun went off. And I started running again.

And I ran, up and down the slopes, And I walked. And I ran. And I kept looking back to make sure I wasn't the last one. Hehe. I finished in 35 min, which wasn't bad, considering that I used up most of my energy in that "warm-up" 1K. But yes, Jason beat me. by 5 min. :/ Oh well.

The run was as bad as I thought it would be. But it was an experience, and it wasn't all bad. Just the running. I felt great after that though, although the euphoria lasted for only an hour, and I spent half of that time trying to find Jason. But the nap and shower after that felt sooooo good though... :)

Which after my legs felt like lead for the next two days, and I can only wobble from side to side to get from point A to B. Maybe by the time Nov comes around, I'll be ready for the next 5 k. Maaaaaybe?

La Jolla marathon

I've gone out of my mind and have signed up for the La Jolla 5K run. Eeeeps. The day before the run. I hope I don't hate myself in the morning at 5am tomorrow! Wish me luck.

Wow. It's been almost a month since my last entry. I've just been so busy with lab work. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. Heh.

As the saying goes: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. It has really been a couple of depressing months for me in lab, but I'm pushing on, just so that there's a hope of walking through all the grey clouds into the sunshine. And I think I'm getting there. Just maybe...

Life has been very stable, but very fulfilling for me. Nothing out of the ordinary, just simple pleasant living. The only blackmark was a speeding ticket last week, but oh well, someone's gotta pay the government for the retard cops they're hiring.

Vegas was really fun. Just party party party. I think imma stop hitting the clubs when I hit 30. I really want to remember the times in clubs where I feel attractive, and feel like I belong there. P.S: XS at the Encore hotel was super sweet, what with all the stripper poles all around the club. :)

Gonna head up to San Francisco in a couple of weeks to visit Wenqi. Jenn's gonna come too, so it'll be fun. I've been to SF a couple of times, but sadly not a memorable experience. Hopefully, it'll be better this time round.

I guess generally, I feel content in my life right now. I think contentment is very important. I've never actually realize it, but it's times like this that you thank all the awesome forces in the universe that might be influencing your life to make it well... amazing.

blah blah blah.

Random updates...

Heard that the tower at People's Association is going to be torn down for some fancy schmancy clubhouse. It kinda upsets me a little, since I've spent almost every Saturday of 10 years between the age of 10 to 20 there. Fond memories that I cherish and keep close to my heart. I made some of my lifelong friends there, together practising music. It was such a simple joy, being in the same room with all my friends, playing music in harmony. Now my most respected conductor has passed away, and the tower where we would pass by every Saturday from our practice room to the canteen will be gone as well. It's just kinda sad.

Went to Missouri for the weekend. It was very hectic, mainly because of the long flights and various delays. It was quite an eye-opener though, despite the fact that the food is incomparable to San Diego.

Went to White Castle though. Hey chi-town girls, remember the time I was wailing for White Castle at 3am, but we never got it? Ha! I got it finally! :P
I know the meat is mostly fat, and it's definitely not gourmet, but the bun was as soft as I remembered, and it's just sooooo good.



Went to have St Louis style pizza too at Imo's, which is pretty much like a flatbread, with Provel cheese which can only be found there. The cheese was drippy and melty, SUPER good. :) It's soooo good. :)


Got to rent the new Mustang! Woot! Although, I have to say, I'm glad I didn't get it, since that was one of my choices. Too cheaply made.


Me and Meghan at BARcelona at St. Louis. The food was pretty good, but after all the not-so-great food, my stomach was highly critical. Too bad. :/

Going to Vegas this weekend. Gonna meet the girls up there. It'll be nice to catch up, especially when we don't really see each other that much anymore...

My work's been kinda crazy, mainly because I feel like my projects aren't progressing forward, or as fast as I would like them to. Been thinking a lot more about my work lately, and stressing out about it. I guess I feel the urgency now, so I try to work harder, and spend my free time thinking about my work. I guess I've always had it easy, and in school, it was way easier. As long as you put in the effort, you get the grades. Getting good grades have never been hard for me, and I appreciate it only now, when effort doesn't equate to good results. I've came to the understanding now, that as long as I ponder more over my experiments, and think about it critically, I can grasp the right experiments and techniques, and that will lead to success.

Did my nails. Kinda like the nail art I did. So am showing it here. Hoho.

Been cooking a lot more too...

My attempt at recapitulating my dad's steamed cod fish. I did it! Yalta! Very happy with the taste and texture. And the right is eggplant in dark sauce with tofu.

Went to Kensington Grill at some point too... everything was forgettable... like

the salad...

the scallops (Whisk N Ladle has better ones)

BUT

the truffled macaroni n cheese was amazing. They used some kind of white cheese, and truffle oil. SOOOOO good. :) Best Mac N Cheese of ALL time.

Okay I'm tired. Laters!

Boys and girls.

It's funny how we have stereotypes about boys and girls, and how true they actually might be in real life. Everytime we think about a group of guys congregating, we'd think that they revolve strictly around topics like girls, cars and work. In the case of girls, it'd be around guys, makeup and bags.

I never really gave those stereotypes much thought until recently.

When I posted my post about the two new bags I bought late last year, I get emails and comments from my good girl friends, telling me how awesome those bags are, what kind of bags they're going to get next etc.

When I told friends about my accident, guys and girls have decidedly different responses. Girls, being the empathy bunch, would ask about my health, about the insurance, and how traumatic it must have been. Not saying that guys are heartless. They do offer their own words of comfort... for the whole of 5 min's worth. Which after, they suddenly become your advisor for your next car purchase. What kind of model you should get, what color is best, what year etc etc. All of a sudden, they are more concerned than YOU are about getting exactly the right car for the right price.

Now that I've gotten my car, I get guy friends msging me on facebook, on msn and gchat telling me how nice the car is. Predominantly guys. And recently, I have suddenly became the topic of discussion within the animal room guys. I don't know them very well, but they manage my mice that I need for experiments. One guy came up to ask me if that was my car, and from that moment onwards, random acquaintances from the animal room would see me, and you can see their minds click in position, and they'd go: Nice car! Or stuff like that. It's almost like when they see me, they don't see me anymore. They just see my car. Chris, the guy who takes care of the lab mice from my lab, would ask me about my car every single time I walk into the mouse room. Not that it's annoying or anything, more like amusing.

SO that answers my question. Guys really do talk about cars MORE than I give them credit for. Waaaay more. I wonder why I took so long to realize this. Heh.

Okay I know this is really random, but it really does amuse me more than I give credit for. Went to Vegas last weekend on a whim, will blog about it after my next Vegas trip two weeks from now. Woohoo girls! Can't wait to partay with you darlings again! :)

给我一首歌的时间

Heard this song... and it just brought me back to how it was... Jay's songs always do not make much sense to me, until something happens that you can relate to, and you're like "OH."

雨淋湿了天空
毁得很讲究
你说你不懂
为何在这时牵手
我晒干了沉默
悔得很冲动
就算这是做错
也只是怕错过

在一起叫梦
分开了叫痛
是不是说
没有做完的梦最痛
迷路的后果
我能承受
这最后的出口
在爱过了才有

Renee's bday (Return of Edwards 40 hands)

Suddenly developed a craving for Korean food, so I asked Chang where his fav korean place is (he's Korean), and he pointed me to this family restaurant called Chon Ju Jip on Convoy St. It's suuuuper good.


The small dishes are awesome. Home-made kimchi.... yum!


We had the spicy rice cake. The whole restaurant menu was in Korean, so we just picked by picture. Haw haw. It was soooo good. The rice cake was tender, yet chewy, and the sauce was sweet and spicy. Love the ramen noodles!


The spicy pork bulgogi has to be the star of this restaurant. Instead of small peasy chunks of fatty pork that's served usually, this bulgogi comprises of generous large chunks of lean pork, in a yummy spicy sauce. A definite must-try.

Went to this place called Buga too, cuz apparently it has one of the better Korean foods.

The small dishes were good, but not amazing.


The lunch bento set I had was satisfying, but the beef bulgogi was a little tough....

I asked Ji Woong later on why he never lets in on his fav Korean restaurant (I bumped into him at Chon Ju Jip), and he just replied coolly "You never asked". -__-

Anyways...

Renee's bday party! It was Edwards 40 hands themed. Wee! For those who don't know, it's a drinking game where you duct-tape freezing cold 40 oz of beer to your hands, and nobody gets to be.. well.. functional until they finish their beers, after which they are allowed to liberate themselves. It's really bad cuz the beers always freeze our hands off, and also, we don't get to pee until we finish 80 oz of beer. -_-


Renee and her choc and peanut butter muffin bday cake!
The housemates sporting Guang-themed shirts, and gnarly knuckle tattoos.
Getting strapped onto the beer...
Yay! Eh hem.

We had temporary tattoos made of Guang's face and pictures, and stuck them on to everyone of us. Hehe. Guang was very amused.

Guang peeking out from my back.

Guang peeking out from my leg. Ha.

Cheers! :)

Deron looking drunk. Ha.


Renee and Jenn kissing! Why do girls always kiss each other when they're drunk.....


Renee and I kissing! See what I mean? :P


Us chugging down shots of Grey Goose after.


Nasty!

That's all folks. I had a good time. :)