Yoga is Not Scam

coming from a soon to be yoga addict, here are many reasons why anyone should give it a try:

yoga enhances balance: when it's rush hour and you have nothing to hold on to while the train is swaying back and forth, you no longer have to knock the person behind you or stab someone with your heels. you will remain steady like a surfer on the waves.

yoga releases tension: think of that one spot in your body that craves for a massage all the time. now imagine someone going into that specific muscle and pulling it for you. that little someone is yoga.

yoga increases sleep: some of the yoga poses directly influence your brain cells. and with your body in total relaxation, your sleep will intensify like no other. you will feel like you just woke up from a shortened version of hibernation and still feel refreshed and energized for the day.

yoga lets you be who you are: there is no need to be self-conscious. the chances are, the person next to you is looking just as goofy doing some of the most extreme, outrageous poses.

yoga lets you sweat: or should i say yoga wants you to sweat. and sweating is the best way to get all the toxins out of your body.

yoga lets you nap: you get at least 5 minutes napping time at some point. does your school or workplace let you do that? i didn't think so.

yoga has perks: if you join a membership, chances are you get free shower, free towels, free shampoo/conditioner/bodysoap, free hair dryer, free moisturizer etc. basically less luggage for you to carry around.

yoga is not sexist: men should not be embarrassed about joining a class where the typical men to women ratio is probably 1:20. actually shouldn't that be a great reason?

yeah i think so.

My Dream

this post is not about my future ambitions nor one of those "i have a dream" speech by martin luther king. it's about my literal dream, the one you fall into as you drift into sleep and let the subconscious take over. today i woke up from one of the strangest dreams in my life and i don't know whether to call it a nightmare because i haven't had one of these in more than ten years...

it was a square house. divided into four rooms (2x2). but for some reason i could overlook the entire room as if the roof of the house did not exist. there was a lot of people, the ones i could recognize being my family and my high school classmate. from the beginning i could tell we were separated accordingly, not just in rooms but in some classification. what classification? i don't know. but my dad and brother were in the front left room while my mom and i were in the back right room. the other two rooms were filled with random people. then i saw these "soldiers" walk into one of the rooms. they were there to chill around, laughing at each other enjoying themselves. but not everyone else. they looked serious. they didn't even look scared. it was an expression beyond fear, as if they had already accepted what was going to happen to them. if anything i was the one in panic. i had no idea what was going on and even if i turned to my mom for support, she would not even look at me in the eyes. everyone looked like zombies, speechless and their eyes focused on one point. i looked over to where my dad and brother were and they looked the same. 

all of a sudden, i see my classmate running across the room, coming towards me with a huge heavy crystal vase. inside it was filled with clear liquid. it wasn't until he poured it all over me that i realized it was gasoline. i swore my heart out and yelled at him "what the fuck do you think you're doing!?" but he just stared back at me with the saddest eyes. as if he had no other choice but to do that. he gave me a heartfelt hug, even a kiss and ran off to fulfill his duty to the rest of the people. and none of them even raised their voice. i could only picture the soldiers laughing at us getting drenched in the puddle of gasoline.

i hid in the most corner possible at the back of the room, recoiled in panic and fear. how do i get myself out of this, i thought. i was instantly jealous of the soldiers. we were like martyrs, standing up for something - i didn't know what. but whatever it was, i wanted to quit. i didn't care if i was forever labeled as a hypocrite. i wanted to surrender, wave the white flag. but i couldn't. in my dream i was so convinced that if i chose to be on the soldier's side, it meant that i betrayed my mom completely. she was right next to me and though she never looked at me in the eyes, never gave me a word of comfort, i couldn't betray her. 

then the moment of truth came. the sparkle of fire followed the traces of gasoline ever so carefully, slowly but surely expanding towards the people in the front two rooms where my dad and brother were. i couldn't believe it was happening, that i was going to watch them die in agony while i waited for the fire to reach me at any moment. i could see the people buried in flames, these people who didn't make a hint of sound were suddenly roaring in excruciating pain. my heart literally stopped. but time didn't. and as seconds passed and the flames drew closer, i shut my eyes ever so tightly thinking to myself, wow this is how i'm going to die. 

and then i woke up. 

never was i so relieved, never was i in so much fear and never have i remembered a dream so clearly. 

Discovery Walk

one of my favorite things to do ever since... 8th grade(?) is to go out at night and wander around the streets aimlessly with my ipod. i was never a rebellious kid but when it came to leaving the house for these occasions, it didn't matter if my parents got mad at me for putting myself in "danger" to those creepy stalkers roaming at night. it clears my head and sometimes you find some amazing discoveries... and today was one of those days.

i've been back from japan for over a week and i've been having a lot of chilling time. so you can guess i've been walking aimlessly around my neighborhood late at night despite my mother scolding my twenty two year old self. i live on a hill so as i go down, down, down and walk endlessly along the long path, i decide to cross the bridge and voila, find myself to this:

can you spot the people kayaking at this time of the day?

can you spot the people sketching the scenery at this time of the day?

went for a nice long run along this path that never seemed to end. i had no choice but to turn back at some point. i loved how the wind helped me evaporate my sweat. this may be my new favorite place.    

also found a sports institution along the way and took me a few minutes to realize that i came here to compete for a cross country race many many years ago.... good times good times... not.

but for some odd reason, i was overwhelmed with this motivation to run a marathon. seriously what is wrong with me? maybe i should go for the standard chartered marathon that happens annually. anyone want to join me?

Never Have I Ever

i was never a person with lots of fear. in fact people have told me that i should probably live with more cautiousness. but there is one thing that i've always been scared of my entire twenty two years of precious life. 

the flushing of the airplane toilets. 

i can watch a horror movie and take a shower in the dark, go to a haunted house by myself and walk in the dark alley streets but when it comes to flushing the toilet in the airplane, i cannot help but to flush the toilet by covering one ear with one hand and covering the other by pressing against my shoulder. OR i would cover one ear with one hand and use the other to flush the toilet only to use that scarce millisecond before the toilet actually flushes to immediately cover my other ear. either way, i have never, IN MY LIFE, flushed a toilet in the airplane without covering both my ears. it scares me. even to this day. 

and now i have another "never have i ever" episode to share... :D

神田巡り

day tour with my brother's professor (why they are so tight, that's another story). all i have to say is that he is a character of his own. i have never met anyone like him. he didn't say where we were going, just told us where/when to meet and told us NOT to eat anything to prepare for this "adventure". little did i know, he was going to take us to three restaurants one after another (this is only for lunch) and four temples/shrines all in different locations....

dish #1: soba with sesame dip

dish #2: soba in curry flavored soup

dish #3: soba with normal soysauce dip

dish #4: goose cooked at the right softness

every restaurant had an atmosphere of its own

dish #5: cream anmitsu

dish #6: fried red bean cake (not a red bean fan but this was really good)

dish #7: green tea shaved ice with red bean on bottom

temple #1 

temple #2 

temple #3 

temple #4

all the food, all the walking. good thing i had a spare of flip flops in my bag. the smartest decision of the day. and it was indeed one good day. kanda city is the place to go for any foreigners who want to experience a bit of japanese history.

See

when you've had enough of something and you feel like every part of your body is going against you, just look up. it takes one blink and you may just see a whole new world.

(@ropponggi mori art museum)

Is That Her Cooking?!

so many of you know i am not very fond of cooking. if there was a list of chores, cooking would be last. yes, i would rather clean the toilet, wash the dishes, do laundry. i would rather make myself sweaty and gross cleaning, wiping, mopping, vacuuming the house.

there is one thing i always appreciate about japan. that is, japan makes me naturally health conscious. the easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables at cheap prices, the small aesthetically beautiful dishes in restaurants, abundant seafood fresh off the boat, clean water, fresh air, litter-free city, nature walk paths (though not so much in tokyo), stylishly dressed people roaming around the streets... all of these become detox factors for me when im here. and naturally i am motivated to cook for myself, eat all three meals properly everyday and take in all the necessary nutrients to maintain good skin, healthy mind and disease-free body (i sound like an aging person).

lunch lunch

fermented beans with sour plum (left): my go-to food for healthy skin!

spare ribs with LOTS of veggies

this is obviously for my brother, not me...

with veggie makes anything edible

yeah, not much variation in dishwares...

 japan likes to incorporate a lot of european feel even in the midst of a bustling city

Tokyo 101

my days in tokyo have been great. its been about four days but i already feel like ive been here much longer. the thing about me is that wherever i am, i can convince myself to like the city so much as to even consider working and living. but now i am simply enjoying this free time. i am never bored. i call it carefree. so when i felt carefree at 3pm today, i decided to change to my new pair of jeans pants leggings (its really not that complicated), matched it with my complimentary orange shirt and carried my rather hot pink messenger bag and rode aimlessly around the neighborhood with my brother's bicycle listening to my ipod. caught myself in a middle of a parade, had no idea what was going on but snapped a picture of the scene regardless. suddenly felt motivated to cook so went around searching for cheap fresh veggies and unfortunately some meat due to satisfy my brother's cravings as well. made some curry using a saucepan, watched some hilarious japanese shows and at midnight decided to go for a walk with my dear brother talking about some funny incident that happened at his workplace. only our laughter echoed through the dark empty streets. eventually stopped by a convenience store, bought some drinks and walked back home.

did i plan the day? no. did i expect to do all this today? no. did i have fun? yes. i wake up only to hope that when i go to sleep i am satisfied for that day. there's no point worrying about tomorrow. that is something you can worry about when you wake up. though in my case, all that worry is usually gone by the time i wake up from a good night sleep. and i sleep like a rock... 

lunch: earl grey tea flavored bread + veggies

simple but good

feeding my brother before he heads for work. what a nice sister... 

steps involved in making curry: PUT LOTS OF VEGGIES (can you spot how many kind?)

let the veggies simmer in soup water

the final product

view from my brother's apartment

sayonara and oyasumi

Lost in Translation

its times like these when i think english may be the furthest language for japanese people. sure, the japanese part makes absolute sense, the english part makes me wonder if that person was trying to crack a joke or was seriously trying to convey the consequences of cigarette littering. but what makes this whole sign an absolute failure is that even the diagram makes no sense...

sorry my two recent posts are related to smoking. SMOKING KILLS! just putting the word out there

Warning: Smoking Kills

so i've always been told that my dad started smoking at the age of fourteen. well apparently that isn't the case:

no wonder he's having a hard time quitting. lesson learned.

Pictures Speak a Thousand Words

my brother and i found a stash of photos in the attic of my grandpa's house here in japan. instead of going to sleep, we decided to go through every album despite how late it already was. found some old school pictures of my parents, my grandparents, even our dog. it's amazing how young all of them look and to think that i was already born in some of those pictures because i definitely do not remember them looking that young...

i love the last picture with my mom wearing the nerdiest glasses. i have so much childhood memories with that thing because i would try to wear it every time i saw it lying around in the house. i remember it made me dizzy because the degree was so damn high. but i thought they were the coolest looking thing and made me want to wear glasses so badly that i would wear it all the time just to worsen my eyesight. now that i have the worst eyesight in my family, i can't say that was the smartest thing to do but good thing they have something called contacts and have lens that aren't 10 inches thick. anyways, there were so many more pictures but i think i'll save it for another post :D 

No One is Perfect

there is something so refreshing about people who are beyond rich who choose not to flaunt it

there is something so refreshing about people who are beyond naive who believe in everything you say

there is something so refreshing about people who are beyond genius who defer an MIT offer

there is something so refreshing about people who are beyond nerdy who do romantic things

there is something so refreshing about people who are beyond serious who suddenly gives you a simple smile

there is something so refreshing about people who are beyond beautiful who have no sense of style

i don't have to be beyond perfection because that is when i feel most real

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

overalls

patterns

ロアンヌ
long flights
minesweeper

frozen yakult
british accents
sparkling water

deep bass voice
plucking white hair

walking in the dark

cold drinks with no ice
karaoke with my brother

eating one dish at a time
stretching my calves muscle

black and white photography

dumplings, dumplings, dumplings

people who sing and play the piano

tagging photos backward on facebook
grocery shopping without buying anything

little kids with natural curly hair (boys will be a plus)

roadtrips, sitting on the window side listening to good music

Sisterly Love

eleven months after i popped out of my mom, my brother decided to pop out. why the rush on my mom's part? well, maybe someone can ask her for me. time didn't allow me to realize the significance of another addition to our family. chance didn't allow me to adjust because my brother existed before i knew how to even walk and talk. that's how fast it all happened between my brother and i.

based purely on my childhood memory, i have to say i was one mean sister. all i can remember are the verbal abuse, physical fights and constant domination. i was always a stronger, healthier child - i just never got sick. my theory is that i pretty much took away all the nutrients from my mom's body and left my brother with nothing. so that makes me a bully even as a fetus in my mom's belly. some horrible things i remember doing off the top of my head: scratching his mole off from the back, breaking his glasses in half, spitting all over his face, dressing him up like a girl, putting make up on his face (couldn't resist his big eyes/long eyelashes), blaming him when i was the one that stole ten bucks from my dad, putting all the toys where my brother couldn't reach, kicking/punching him on a daily basis (though i have to say i was done the same), singing songs about what a crybaby he was. yes, it's horrible. please don't judge me. in my defense, im going to say i was probably jealous of him. it really is unfortunate that it took me ten years to realize how cute he really was.

i really don't know where the tipping point was but somewhere in our lives, we matured and decided to get along. not that we never got along while we were kids. after all, we were so close in age... we pretty much did everything together. just as much i remember the bad times than the good, some of my happiest moments are with him. but it really wasn't until the late teens that we started to appreciate one another. i look up to him for his amazing singing skills, his brutal honesty and his deep care for my family. he has his way of lightening up the mood and he can be quite an entertainer sometimes. i know i suffer a little from having two personalities but i've always felt that i can be myself the most around him.

so in case you were wondering why this post is all about him, it's because he's coming back home tomorrow! it's been way too long since my family has been united under the same roof. 

How Many Wishes?

what you wish to know now, you wish to know before.

but what you wished before, do you wish to know now?

what you wish you wished to know, will that wish ever come true?

do you ever wish you never wished something you wished before?

does wishing for more wish ever come to an end?

does thinking before you wish make a difference in wishing more or less?

and is anyone wishing i would just stop using the word “wish” right about now?

because i’m sort of wishing i never started this whole blog about wishes.
truth is, it's hard to come up with wish structures as you're wishing for something else

this is when i wished i knew something before so that i don’t wish to do something wishful.

anyways, i do want to wish everyone well before i make all your wishes come true.

yes, i will shut up now.

A/B/O/AB

maybe because i’m the oldest. maybe because i’m a girl. maybe because i’m asian. maybe because i’m japanese. maybe because i’m blood type A. i can’t help but to be sensitive about people’s needs. i’m like a prying creature watching out for any cues that may hint at what he or she wants. i have the need to prevent problems before they happen. the last thing i want is for people to feel uncomfortable around me, go out of their way to help me and have awkward moments with me. i see it as a burden when people do something for me when they could easily use that time to do something else. i hate it  when people have to wait for me – exactly why i like to shop alone. i hate it when i take people’s time away - exactly why i never like to call people. i hate it when people have to do something out of their way - exactly why i never ask people to do something for me. but don't get me wrong. i like it when i hang out with people that like to shop. i like it when people call me instead. i like it when people depend on me for help. babies grow by feeding on milk. i grow by feeding on people’s needs. it’s when i feel most human.

when i’m shopping (by myself) and trying on clothes that don’t fit me (which is usually the case), i can’t seem to just throw the handful of clothes to the workers. i have to individually clip it back to the hanger the way it looked, fold everything like fresh laundry and take it back exactly where i first took them. yes, i know workers are paid to do this, but when i see them folding endless amount of clothes waiting to be put back in place, i can’t seem to let myself increase their load.

another thing, when i’m eating at some fast food restaurant/food court, i can’t seem to just leave my finished food on the table and leave. i have to wipe off the table, dump the finished goods and return the tray. i know this is expected in some countries, but in a place like hong kong where people are abrupt about everything, it really is okay to just leave it for the workers to clean up. but then my inner guilt kicks in and i can’t seem to let it happen. 

there's actually a whole theory about personalities based on different blood types. do you know what you are? if not, go donate blood! it's for a good cause :) 

852

back in the eight hundred fifty two. this place i call home.
buildings, towers, skyscrapers. such great heights.
people, people, more people. the city never dies.
oh humidity. how you instantly poof up my hair.
and pollution. how you fuse my lungs with toxin.

but how i miss the bickering of locals. lost in translation.
i'm one happy misfit. stranger than fiction.
food is too good. super size me.
cheapness is a virtue. slumdog millionaire.

when you breathe, live and grow with it.
you become one with it.
and i love it to death.

ngo oi nei, heng gong.