Exhausted!

I'm so exhausted!

I went for a trip to St Louis during the Thanksgiving holiday last week. Met up with a bunch of friends from Drake. All 15 of us. We rented a humongous 15-seater van. So fun to drive around in such a huge vehicle.

I had a lot of fun last Thursday to Sunday. We went to quite a number of places and ate A LOT of good food. I am NOT going to eat any more meat for the rest of the year.

Came back yesterday around 4 pm. Slept almost right after I got home and didn't wake up till this morning. Still felt very tired today though.

Will be getting photos from the others soon. Maybe I should write a travel journal for St Louis. Then again, I said I would for the last California trip and it's been a year.

An Encounter with Colonel Sanders

I met Colonel Sanders last Thursday! You know, the man behind (and in front of) every KFC.

Ok lah, not the real Colonel Sanders. I googled and found out that the real one passed away in 1980, even before I was born. So unless I can see ghosts...

But seriously ah, this guy looks EXACTLY like the KFC man.

See what I mean? (That drawing is a bit off-looking though.)

Hehe no lah, I didn't get a photo of him. Paiseh to ask. But the one I met looks just like the guy in the photo. Just a bit more friendly and grandfatherly looking. He was wearing the white suit, black bowtie, all white hair and beard and walking with a black cane! If I ever want to mimic someone famous, I'm going to go all out like that too.

I met him when I was walking around downtown towards the bus stop. He was strolling along, other people around him didn't even notice or care. I think I was the only 'suaku' around, stared a bit at first because I seriously wasn't expecting anything like this. I mean people have said sometimes we can see Muhammad Ali walking around downtown. But Colonel Sanders?

So far this is the closest I ever got to anything KFC-related in Kentucky. I've only seen one KFC restaurant since I got here. So enough with the jokes that the best thing to do in Louisville is eat KFC. Hmph.

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I think my vegetarian plan is not going as planned. But I don't care!

I've been eating quite a lot of good food recently. First went to a Chinese buffet with my colleague one day after grocery shopping. It's the typical Chinese buffet with quite a lot of seafood. They had prawn salad, which is one of my favorite ways of eating prawn I don't know why. Mmm.. and the cheese-covered mussels were pretty good too. I couldn't eat too much of it though because the cheese made me feel quite 'jelak'.

Then after that my colleague had a birthday party at her place. She and a few of her friends cooked. So good. The soup was especially nice. White carrot spare ribs soup. Mmmm.. just like the one my mum makes. I miss my mum's soups.

Friday we had a Thanksgiving potluck in the office. Everyone had to bring a dish. And since there's over 60 of us, you can imagine the amount of food we had. I don't normally fancy American food, but this was pretty good. Probably because my colleagues (or their wifes) are good cooks. I think dorm food is a bad way to introduce foreigners to American dishes.

This Sunday I had SiChuan food. Went with 2 friends I met at my colleague's birthday party. It was delicious. I wish it was spicier though, I was so afraid it was going to be super spicy but I ended up not having to drink water at all. But it was still good. Had a lot of leftovers too so I don't have to cook before Thanksgiving trip. :D

And today was the best of all. I had.......... Japanese food! Woohoo! And it was GOOD Japanese food too. Can fight with the restaurants in Chicago. I went out with one of the principals and 2 other colleagues. Actually I wasn't supposed to go, but one of them fell sick so I 'ganti'ed. Hehe so lucky for me.

The first dish was the best, called Fire Roll. They put the sushi on a small plate, which is placed on a bigger plate. Then they started a fire on the big plate, so the flames burn the sides of the small plate which crispifies the sides of the sushi. It was so pretty too, the flames were blue colored. I was going to take a photo with my new phone, but then realized I didn't bring my phone. Haih. What a waste. Next time I'm going back there to eat so I can take a photo. And also because it really is very very very very good loh.

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Lots of things happened since last Wednesday (which was the last time I blogged). Went for another happy hour. Watched Casino Royale. The movie is quite nice, I recommend it. I know Craig Owen doesn't look like the typical James Bond, but in the movie he was very good. Plus he has the bod too. Hehe.

Going to Saint Louis this Thursday for Thanksgiving break!

Best Meal Yet in Louisville

Hi dear colleague! I'm flattered that you are reading my blog. And I'm super curious to know who you are. Mind telling? :)

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I just had one of the best meals since I got to Louisville!

Last night my colleague invited me over to her place for dinner. Her parents-in-law were in town last weekend and they made a lot of yummy dishes. I mean tons.

It was sooooooooo good. We had 卢/炉牛肉 (I still can't figure out which 'lu3' is correct) which is beef cooked in a spice mixture specially brought over from China! We also had 红烧猪肉, pork with a layer of fat boiled with some herbs. And then there was cabbage spicy style and 豆腐干 (dried tofu).

My english translations don't do justice to the food. But rest assured it was delicious! Authentic home-cooked Chinese food! Can't get any more authentic than this.

The beef was most yum-yum. I kept eating and eating it, with all thoughts about me being a vegetarian thrown out the 1st floor window.

I wish I have photos to show. Wanted to take photos of the food but then I didn't have a camera or a camera phone with me. Speaking of phones, I just got my new phone today!! Yay!! Will write more about this next time. :)

After dinner we went to watch our department's softball tournament. We play every Tuesday, but for some reason it rained every Tuesday for the past few weeks. I think maybe God / Kwan Yin doesn't like softball.

You know hor? I think everybody looks younger when they are not wearing work clothes. Last time at Drake, we looked so much more serious in our 'interview attire'. Kinda weird at first to see each other dressed like that. As though seeing a different person. Now it's kinda the same way with seeing colleagues in casual dress.

Breakfast

Guess what's my favorite breakfast right now?

Siu long bao!!! (aka 小笼包 aka mini buns with pork/shrimp inside)

I've been trying out different types of breakfast for the past month.

Started out with bread and jam since it's the easiest and cheapest one. Bad idea. Especially since I don't like bread in the first place. Have to throw out half a loaf of bread each time because I can't finish it before the expiry date.

So because I don't want to waste food (and also because it's yucky), I switched to... waffles!

Waffles are quite nice. Put in the oven for about 8 minutes and they come out hot and crispy. It's not like the big A&W waffles, I'm talking bout the Eggo small waffles at Wal-mart. Add some butter and syrup on it.. yum.

Then after I found out about the humongo asian market, breakfast became... 水饺. I don't know what that's called in English, but it's good stuff. It's still not as good as...

siu long bao!!

Mmmmm.. I steam a few while I wash my face etc. Then when I'm done freshening up, it's ready to eat. Tiny buns with pork filling. You know how there's quite a lot of juice inside. When I bite into one, the juice will flow out and into my mouth. Wah.. so incredibly delicious. Mouth watering now just thinking about my breakfast tomorrow morning. Yum yum.

So far I can't think of any other breakfast that can top this one. Maybe someone will Fedex roti canai to me? *hopeful*

Howl to the Moon

After work today, my department went for Happy Hour in a bar called "Howl to the Moon". It's on a street called "Fourth Street Live!", which is where my office is at too. I've been wanting to post photos of the street but never got around to it. I will show it someday because it's solid proof that Louisville is not, I mean NOT a boring 'suaku' place ok?

Anyway this entry is not to prove that Louisville is all fun and hip, which I have to admit is not true also lah. Most people here are friendly and laidback, they are so helpful when they find out I'm new in the city. It also feels a lot safer than the major big cities. Granted with all this laidback-ness, there's no supermodel wannabes walking around, unlike Los Angeles. But I say: the less competition the better. Heehee. Just kidding lah. You think I very desperate now meh? :P

Back to Happy Hour. My first time to a bar since I came to Louisville. We were celebrating the end of the actuarial exams, well at least the people who took the exams were celebrating. Good thing mine's too far away (Feb '07) so I don't feel the urgency yet. There were a lot of people. The place was packed by 6-6.30 pm.

There were some pretty interesting things going on. They had "The World's Most Dangerous Piano Duel" starting around 6.45 pm. 2 people on the piano playing any song requested. Seriously any song, pop songs, country songs, Beatles, 80s' music, dirty made-up songs (I think it's made up)... it's amazing how they can remember the scores and the lyrics for all those songs. When there are 2 requested songs at the same time, people can bid up the price for the song they want. The song with the highest price wins.

Then there's the "Word of the Day". Basically the first person to submit the word (or phrase) of the day pays $1 and then one of the pianists writes it on a huge wall mirror. The next person who wants to change it must pay $2 and so on. Our group paid $7 to wish Happy Birthday to one of my colleagues. The pianist had to write it in Chinese too, he was copying what my colleague (different one) wrote on paper, so it was quite funny seeing him write it with the stroke sequence all wrong. But the end result was very good, almost exactly how it should look.

I didn't drink a lot tonight. Not like I do drink a lot anyway. :P It was nice to hang out with my colleagues. I'm starting to know my co-workers better, it takes me soooooo long to feel comfortable and be myself around people I barely know. I know for a fact that I'm a lot quieter and serious at work. Don't like!!

Mailed from Cambodia, Sent from the Heart

Today I got a postcard from my ex-roommate in Singapore.

Just a few short lines written on her trip to Cambodia.

But long enough to warm my heart, knowing that a friend faraway is thinking of me.

*hugs*

Thanks dear.

I

I feel weird.

Yesterday I learned that to understand my emotions, I should only use "emotional" words to express my feelings. I think "weird" is not an emotion. Neither is "blue" I don't think.

I feel a bit upset.

I don't know why exactly I'm upset. I can't think of anything that's going wrong in my life now. In fact, things are going great. Work is picking up, and one of the senior associates even complimented my work yesterday. I'm getting to know my colleagues more. What I planned I have managed to complete thus far. So I shouldn't be upset.

I know I have mood cycles, so maybe it's just at the lower end of the swing now. I know I go through mood swings every 2 weeks. I was very happy for the last 2 weeks. I am feeling down this week. It makes sense. Wait, is "down" an emotion?

I'm not angry though. I don't have the urge to yell at people, I just don't want to talk. Usually during these times, I look back and wonder why I'm doing what I'm doing. All I want to do is take some "me" time, sit down somewhere and be by myself quietly. No instant messaging, no watching movies, no studying for FAP, nobody around me but strangers far away deep in their own world. And I sit there and I watch them go by and I think quietly to myself.

I think I'm falling sick. I feel cold and I already have a sore throat. I think falling sick is part of the reason I'm a bit upset. It certainly doesn't make me feel happy.

I will be fine after a while, maybe even when I wake up tomorrow. Or after I talk to my mum tonight. It always happens. People tell me I shouldn't be moody but this is who I am. After all, if I have episodes when I'm down, then I can really enjoy the periods when I'm esctatic right? What fun is it living life just feeling neutral?

I feel a bit upset now, but I know a few more blog entries from now, I'll be writing about something wondrously joyful. And then I will feel happy.

My Artistic Attempts

Remember that 4-month-long holiday I just had? Since the 2nd month, people have been asking me... aren't you bored at home? What do you do when you are not sleeping/eating/meeting friends? How come you are always too busy to meet up one?

The time has come to reveal what I've been secretly working on during my holiday.

I haven't been busy working on my own TV show like XiaXue.

No hush-hush trip to Korea for plastic surgery either. (Apparently that's the best place to change your face, but now why would I know that?)

But I have, I have been doing.......................... cross-stitch!

you: ??????!!! What the heck is cross-stitch?????!!!

me (meek tone): Erm, erm, it's kind of like embroidery but easier to pick up.

you: Oh.. so sewing lah? Chey.

Hehe, what? Expecting something more exciting izzit?

I picked up cross-stitch from my grandmother about 5 years ago. Did a few small projects then stopped after I went overseas. When I went home this time, I found one half-done so I decided to finish up the whole set. I bought the set of 4 in China (YH do you remember?). Managed to finish 3!

This is my favorite!

Isn't it cute? They are sitting on a tree stump looking at each other while the apples are falling out of the basket. Awwww... it's not very clear in the photo, but the girl is holding a bouquet of flowers and that's a patch on the boy's elbow.

My mum and sister says this one is nicer though.

I don't know what they just buried. In my story, they found a small blue bird (like the one stealing food from the boy's back pocket) who was injured. They tried to heal it but being pretend doctors they weren't very good. So the bird died and they gave it a proper burial with prayers and all.

This one is pretty cute too. What a way to pick up girls. There's supposed to be a quote at the bottom saying "the Lord must have brought us together" but since I'm not a Christian I didn't stitch it in.

The girl was speeding (on a tricycle!) so the traffic policeboy wrote her a ticket. Hehe, he has a gun some more. I'm guessing water pistol.

I finally framed them up today. They are now hanging in my apartment's "memory corner". It's where I put all my memories, e.g. photos, cards, misc memorabilia. Oh, and shoes too. To YY: Check out the right-most photo frame on the table. Look familiar? ;)

My Old Lady Hands

With the "privilege" of cooking my own meals in my own kitchen, comes the "luxury" of washing my own dishes.

Actually I'm ok with washing dishes, as long as they are not especially greasy. But what I cannot tahan is... how my dainty soft hands become OLD LADY hands after that! You know how your hands become a bit wrinkly after they have been soaked in water for a while? I don't like that!

Recently it always happens after I wash the dishes. No, my dishes are not especially dirty now. As a matter of fact, my dishes are quite clean after I finish eating ok? My dad used to joke that I don't have to wash my own plate after dinner because the plate looks cleaner than before. Drake people will know what I'm talking about hehe.

Anyway, I really don't like it when my hands become wrinkly. So ugly. Why does it become wrinkly in the first place? Who decided that when man's extremities (I notice toes do the same thing too) gets soaked in water, they will become wrinkly? Some kind of defense mechanism meh?

Hmm.. I don't know how to solve this wrinkly-hand problem. Cannot not wash dishes because I don't have a dishwasher. And anyway if I have a dishwasher I still want to wash some stuff. Save water you know. Maybe I should start wearing gloves, but then I'm very clumsy when I wear gloves. Might break a few plates.

Should get a very very good hand cream. Hehe, I know who to ask about hand creams! And it's a guy too.. hahaha.

A STAT 132-like report

Hmm.. I really don't know what to write. Promised myself I'll post new blog entries at least twice a week, but having a serious case of writer's block here. Actually I have some things to tell, but then I can't write it out because I don't want some people to read it.

Isn't it a bit ironic? I know some people have talked about it before. You blog because you want other people to know what's going on in your life, but then sooner or later you are forced to not blog about some stuff because you don't want certain people to know. So mah fan. Then in the end all you do is write NICE stuff only, or write bad stuff about people using codenames, which backfires in the end because people will start guessing who is that person and then make things worse when they guess wrongly.

Hehe, I just wrote a whole paragraph about nothing. Just a few more paragraphs about nothing and I'll be done. Wait, why am I making this into a chore like that stupid report I'm doing for FAP?

I finally finished the first module for the Fundamentals of Actuarial Practice (FAP) course. It's one of the actuarial science 'exams' that I need to pass to become a fully-qualified actuary (read: more money). It's actually not so much an exam, but rather like an online course with A LOT of offline readings and end of module exercises. The first module is ok, boring at times because it's ALL history. Learnt a lot though, like how the actuarial organization in London was established because there were too many insurance fraud incidents and insurance companies were sprouting left right and failing right left. I think.

And then I get through the end of the first module and read the instructions for the first exercise. After all those reading and quizzes, the exercise......... has nothing to do with the readings! Argh! Actually I don't know what can they put as an exercise that relates to the first module either. Maybe...

"Draw a timeline that shows the important events pertaining to the actuarial profession as mentioned in this module". Can die.

"Research a new and developing industry and explain in a report how actuarial expertise can benefit that industry." Eew. I don't like research.

"Provide a summary of the important contributions made by a significant person associated with the actuarial profession. Include a brief biography of that person as well". This is the worst. I know when I was in Grinnell taking Calculus, the other class got a similar assignment. Torturous or not? Instead of doing integration by parts, have to write paper.

Ah.. now I feel so much better about the exercise they gave us. If only I can just sit down long enough to finish it...