A moment please!

I wasn’t feeling very well today. It had nothing to do with the so-called snow storm (barely 2” of snow accumulated. Bummer!) I guess my vision is not quite adapted to the new pair glasses and triggered a migraine. After I got home, I soaked myself into a bath bubbled with Origin’s Ginger Float. I lit a few supposedly aromatherapy-scented candles and had other lights off. I had a very relaxing moment listening to Diana Krall’s jazz when I was in the bath. I realized it is important for me to stop thinking about everything else and allow my mind to settle in a tranquil moment like this. The pain from migraine slowing diminished as time goes by. I started to recapture life after moved to Virginia. I realized a few things have deviated from what I wanted. It is, however, never too late to fix a few errors in life. I believe everyone needs a moment off to look back. Blindingly work-and-live is the biggest ignorance one would have. I feel a lot better now. Who say aromatherapy doesn’t work?

Yet another snow storm

It’s a sunny Sunday. Most snow melted away since yesterday. Weather forecast, however, predicts a major snow storm on its way tomorrow. Washington DC is a weather wimp and I’d expect the city to be shut down once the storm landed. It is rather weird for me, who spent 4 years at Iowa, to learn 3-4 inches of snow would cause school to be shut down and government to dismiss federal employees two hours early. I guess me also getting Washingtonian’s influence and became quite moody lately. To be fair, my mood swing is also partly due to my life becoming quite a routine lately (except a trip to Iowa) and to me, it is a nuisance. Of course, I have planned something to break this boring routine life. I plan to visit a few museums in DC after the snow storm is over. I do missed taking the Metro train and watching how other passengers behave. Another fun thing to do in the Metro train is to pay attention on the announcement by the Metro train operator. If I lucky enough, I’ll be in one of the trains with a Metro train operator who has so much passion for his/her work. He/she would make announcement (“You have arrived at the Pentagon City station”) as if a TV program host introduces the honorable guest of the night with joyful and vibrant voice. That is very motivating if one going to work in the early morning. However, most of the time, the Metro train operators would just mumble like a one year olds kid trying to utter the first word. Like it or not, that is what you would get. I bet Metro train operators have no clue their emotion would affect thousands of passenger who rely on the Metro train to commute to work everyday. But, perhaps, this is part of the fun living in a city.

Chinese New Year

Today is the first day in many years I've had the mood to celebrate Chinese New Year. Although I didn’t get a day off, I celebrated it with my colleagues (sort of). To follow the tradition, I wore a red (stripe) shirt to work. I brought some typical Chinese New Year treats (candies and cookies) to share with my colleagues. Just for the heck of it, I gave away red envelope with lottery ticket in it to my colleagues (Shhh…!! don’t tell my mom! I am not supposed to give away red envelope before I get married). Later on, we had Chinese carry-out for lunch. It was really fun to be able to share this tradition with them. I felt it was a nice celebration especially a few of them were able to mumble “Kong See Far Chai” (in Mandarin means congratulations and be prosperous).

Happy Chinese New Year !!

The Perfect Gift for Valentine’s Day

Four little Cheetah cubs are now on exhibit at Washington’s National Zoo. I should visit them this weekend. While browsing Washington National Zoo’s website, I found: The Perfect gift for Valentine’s Day: Adopt a Nile Hippo. At first glance, I thought it implies that I have to adopt my valentine who is a Hippo (my valentine is indeed a pretty Hippo ;-P).

Snow ?

It was uneventful for the last two weeks. Other than work, I have been staying in my apartment trying to work on an acrylic painting. Of course, there were too many distractions stopping me from finishing the painting. One of them was the snow storm hitting DC area two weeks ago. And, it was the first snow in this winter. Unlike at Iowa, the winter here is very mild. However, it still has some reasonable snowfall to fulfill my desire to grab some fluffy snow. This is definitely an advantage for living in Virginia because all four seasons are equally mild. At this point, I can’t wait for the spring to come (I was told that the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC is very attractive). So far, I have found almost everything I want and need (except EC :-( ) in Virginia.

P/S: Out of nowhere, an old friend contacted me. We lost contact for about 8 years and finally we started to correspond again (Thanks to Lawrence). It was nice to learn that she is doing well and getting married soon. Maybe I shouldn’t write about this. Otherwise, my mom will point out to me that how many of my high school friends were married in last 3 months, that neighbor’s son, who's same age with me, is getting engaged and the son of who knows whom is also planning to get married.