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08
May
Travel | Mos Burger, Taipei, Taiwan
I asked Catherine C to take me to Mos Burger, a Japanese fast food chain, because it is just one of those places you have to try. In addition to regular burgers, Mos Burgers specializes in rice burgers. Instead of a normal hamburger bun, packed rice sandwiches the meat and vegetables.
I got a rice burger with beef, which tasted like a Yoshinoya beef bowl in hamburger form. I enjoyed it.
Travel | Ikki, Taipei, Taiwan
When making this blog, I decided to stay away from food entries, because I would probably have inadvertently turned this blog into a food Tumblr since I love to eat. However, this trip will be an exception, because some amazing food was eaten abroad.
Let me introduce you to my favorite restaurant in Taiwan: Ikki. My first introduction to the restaurant occurred in 2010 when I tagged along with my mom and her friends to dinner. While they talked about their younger days, I ate everything in sight. This trip, I made eating at Ikki again the main goal.
With the equivalent of $26 at Ikki one can get a “New Japanese Cuisine Set,” which includes a seafood soup, appetizer, seafood dish, side dish, mango sorbet, main course, rice bowl, dessert and drink. In addition to a large quantity of food, every dish is well made and beautifully presented. The quality of food is also evident when the sashimi melts in the mouth. Not to mention, the waiters constantly refill the seafood soup and mango sorbet. So, if the amount of food does not make your stomach explode, the amount of liquid will.
07
May
Travel | Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
A museum, library and concert hall surrounds the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, but the main purpose of most my visits to this monument is to feed fish. During lunch at a nearby restaurant, my sister expressed interest in feeding the fish in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall garden, so we obliged to the easy request from an 11 year-old.
After $20NT (less than US $1) worth of fish food had been fed to gigantic Koi, we caught the changing of the guard that happens every hour. The changing of the guard at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is similar to that at Washington DC’s Tomb of the Unknowns -crowded with people and immersed with tradition, but ultimately very boring.
06
May
Concerts | Coldplay
On the Tuesday I returned to work, I discovered that my boss and his daughters had been extremely sick and were now slowly recovering. They bought Coldplay concert tickets at the Hollywood Bowl, and spent months looking forward to it. Due to their illnesses, attendance of the the Wednesday night concert was not plausible. Jokingly, I told my boss I would not mind going if no one bought his tickets. Long story short, two Coldplay tickets were mine at the end of the day.
After work on Wednesday, Alice T and I drove two hours from Irvine to the Hollywood Bowl. We missed part of the opening act, which was okay since the songs we did hear were rather unimpressive.
Coldplay opened their part with a bang. The first song started with an explosion of fireworks, and radio-controlled glow bands on the wrist each concert-goer lit up The Bowl with a sea of colorful lights. At one point, large balloons appeared in the audience. However, due to the wind, most of balls were gathered towards the left side and never really made it to our section.
Before the concert started, some random fan passed out a bunch of yellow glow sticks to our section only. He wanted everyone to wave it around during the song “Yellow.” Due to our lateness, we didn’t get one. When “Yellow” came on, our section lit up with yellow glow sticks, which definitely made an impression on Chris Martin. He gave us a shout out. :)
After the song ended, it started to rain glow sticks. I don’t know why anyone would think it is a good idea to chuck hard plastic objects into crowds of people, but there were definitely a lot of inconsiderate idiots that night. In the end, I got a yellow glow stick, only because I deflected one from hitting Alice’s head.
All in all, it was a fun concert. The lighting was spectacular and the band sounded great. Totally worth the drive and the five cups of coffee I had that day to stay awake.
05
May
After spending a few weeks in Asia, I felt like I saw a lot of things and, at the same time, nothing at all. The trip started off with four days in Taiwan, then ten days in China, and ended with three days in Taiwan. The vacation was a rushed and exhausting one, due to the combination of old people/tour guides waking me up earlier necessary, mosquitoes keeping me awake at night, and never staying in the same place for more than three days.
While frustrating, it was good to see China for the first time and meet up with various friends and family. Here’s to hoping that the good times are accurately recorded in this blog.
Taihu Lake, Wuxi, China
I took the GMAT on the morning of Saturday, April 7. The results were satisfactory, but not as high as I’d like them to be. Going into the exam, I knew I would probably have to retake the test since I only gave myself a month to study and then proceeded to watch 40 episodes of Running Man when I should have studied. I deserved my score.
Attempt two will take place on June 1. I am rushing it once again but the format of the GMAT changes on June 5. Wish me luck!
04
May
HFH | Geneva Build
At the end of April, Tiffany H and Rebecca C dragged ourselves out of bed on an early Saturday morning to volunteer at the Geneva Build for Habitat for Humanity. The last time I volunteered with Jennifer L, the exterior of the houses were being worked on and the interior walls didn’t even exist. Within two months, the housing facades were completed and the insides were almost move-in ready.
This time, the three of us prepped the living room and kitchen for paint rollers by cutting the edges of the walls. Halfway through, Tiffany noticed that the ceiling hadn’t been primed, so the two of us offered to paint the ceiling, which ended up being a work out. I placed the end of the paint roller on the top of my pelvic bone, because my arms weren’t strong enough to lift the roller for too long. Needless to say, the next day my arms and shoulders felt like some raging bitch punched me a thousand times.
I’ve been away for awhile, because I was studying for the GMAT and then went to China & Taiwan for a 2.5 week vacation. Now that I’m back in the country, I’ll start backdating my entries.
01
Apr
Activity | Hydrobiking (Video)
Hydrobikes in Long Beach with Nancy, Tiff, Yorde, and Amina. It gets more interesting around the 30 second mark. This was the part in our adventure where Nancy started LOSING IT. Also, if you look closely at the end, the family on the tandem hydrobikes behind us are mildly disturbed by our antics in the canal. Thanks youtube, for making my video less wobbly (and sort of warped looking)!
Haha. I didn’t know I was being filmed.
27
Mar
Activity | Hydrobiking
While browsing Groupon, I found a $10 for $20 deal for Long Beach Hydrobikes. A group of us bought the deal in preparation for Leslie G’s LA visit. At the time, none of us had any idea exactly what we’d actually be doing.
Apparently, it’s just like riding a tricycle on water. Instead of wheels, kayak-like buoys support the hydrobike, and the pedals turn underwater propellers to drive the contraption forward and backwards. Unlike kayaking, hydrobiking is less taxing on the arms, instead the burning sensation is felt in the thighs.
The last time I went kayaking in Long Beach, Rebecca and Jennifer saw a sea lion while I was busy looking at something else. Moments after I tell Leslie and Tiffany this story, they start yelling at me to “look!!!!!!!” I thought they were talking about a the large pelican I was staring at above me, but they were referring to the sea lion that popped up three feet from me. Once again, I FAILed. Fortunately, after some persistent staring I managed to spot the sea lion when it popped up again in the near distance.
via badwobot