Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Toddddaaaiii!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...... been so long... WAYYY too long

The food was pretty good. There were sea snails today - no one at the table liked it, but I thought it was pretty interesting. Had crab, sushi and a bunch of other stuff. Felt pretty good after the meal.

The only downside was that the last serving was at 9pm. I was hoping it'd close later than that. Especially since I drove alllll the way into the city for it!

The highlight was the tako sashimi (octopus). Since they were closing, I went to grab one last helping of sushi, only to find out they were out of tako sushi. So I asked them if they have more and they told me they had to make it. Being ever so kind, I offered to save them time by volunteering to just take all the sashimi (so they didn't have to make sushi out of it). And the result, all the octopus sashimi they had left that was thawed... wuhahaha... looovely!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Phantom of the Opera

So today I went to watch the Phantom of the Opera. Just as I remembered it when I was young, it was an amazing show. From the beginning to the end, just liked it all around! Looking forward to the next musical/broadway that I get a chance to see.

Really like the song Point of No Return... The different voices overlapping one another was really cool.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Wild Water Theme Park

It was free admission day so we ended up heading to a water park. Haven't been to one since I was really small so I was pretty excited.

The place was interesting. It felt like a mini-Wonderland. But if I were to choose, I'd probably be scared to take my own kids to it... lol.

Firstly, there was this ride where the landing area was really shallow. Even though it was a tube ride, the landing area should really be deeper. Saw quite a few heads bang when the tube flipped over at the end...

Then there was the non padded floor situation. The water park had no padding whatsoever! No turf, no mats. So what ended up happening was we walked on asphalt, and because there's debris and pieces falling off it, it felt like I was walking on pins. It's good if you are into acupuncture, but not so good if you just wanted to walk! Combined with seeing some slide connections leaking... that just doesn't promote a safe envt overall.

After the water park, went on a few rides. Here the attendants seemed very lazy and carefree. The lights weren't turned on, and they were just very inattentive overall. I wonder if it's me getting old or if the park just wasn't safe! I guess it's ok if its older kids going, but ya, definitely not a place where I'd take a little kid.

Speaking of little kids, as I was lining up for a ride, I had an adult with his two little kids behind me, and two little Asian kids behind him waiting. Forgot how the conversation got started, but all I remember is that adult asking if those were my kids! I was like... err.. no. How old do I look?... I found that funny, but also weird...

Just how old do I look!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

White Water Rafting

It was a beautiful day for outdoor activities today... worked out perfectly since today was White Water Rafting day.

The place, being pretty far away, took awhile to get to. Woke up at 9-ish and we only got there towards 1:30! On the way, seeing 4 cop cars and having a slightly longer lunch than expected, we got lost because of Gthe PS pointing us to some random place (note to self: never listen to GPS when you going to the wilderness), so we had to backtrack not once, but TWICE to figure out where we were headed. Even with Initial-D-ing down these hills, we were late by 20 minutes. Luckily, we only missed out on the boring spheel part of the briefing so we were still able to go rafting.

The white water rafting experience was not as intense as I thought it'd be. The rapids weren't really that dangerous it seems and it felt more like a float down the river more than anything. It was pretty nice though because the weather was great.

On the way back, had an interesting discussion
1. On what qualities a person has...
...A person that matches you may have the qualities you desire, but it does not necessarily mean that you will need to have those same qualities to match them. They may not be looking for what you urself desire... so if that person really matches you, you should look to see if you can perform the qualities the other person wants to be with...
Makes soooo much sense! Why didn't I think of that?!?!?!

2. For ladies, who would you pick between the two given everything is the same? A person who had half the salary but has motivation to succeed in what they are doing... or a person with higher salary also having that same motivation?
...This one was an interesting one. If by having a higher salary then the person would not be able to spend more time with you, then they would choose the one with half the salary. Also, another thought was if the salary difference is too large, then that may also not be good since there's a chance that you'd feel inferior...
Very intriguing answer...

Pretty fun and enlightening trip I would say!

Friday, September 12, 2008

The Concept of BETA K explained...

I come to work and find the term BETA K bastardized...

To avoid further misuse, I immediately created the below...


heh heh heh!

Another day, another wise lesson taught

Monday, September 01, 2008

Los Angeles Part IV - The Cali Life!

Getty Museum was the goal today... but unfortunately, they apparently are closed on Labor Day... Noooooooooooooooo!!! Guess I will have to make another trip to LA... to surf and go to both the Villa and the Museum next time...

Making new plans, we ended up in West LA and after some hunting around, finally found a restaurant open. It seems like many places are closed in on Labor Day in LA (maybe that's why the plane tickets were so cheap :P ).

Anyway, after food, we walked around the area, ending up in a bookstore. Since evveerryone was buying a book, I decided to pick up Tues w/ Morrie, since it was highly recommended by quite a few people. Ended up finishing the bulk of it by the time I landed back in Seattle. Personally think the Alchemist is a more interesting read - but maybe I would think differently if I had read Tues w/ Morrie first. I think I will start building a collection of 'reading books' though. These books are actually pretty interesting. They are not too 'heavy', but they do hit a few points in life...

With the rest of the day, we chilled at an outdoor patio at a coffee shop. Sun shining down... but not too hot, and even a slight breeze ever so often. What a perfect Cali life!

What I realize in this vacation is that I am thinking wayyyy too much about money, and think too much subconsciously an object's monetary value. To some degree, having money is important. You need a certain amount to cater to your desired lifestyle - and because of this, you would start thinking how to get to this desired level... It is almost a death spiral though don't you think? You want a certain life, so you think how you can squeeze everything where you can to get to this state; ending up thinking more and more about it until it starts consuming you.
It's true that at the end of the day, money can buy alot of things and solve alot of problems, but what's the point if you have all the money in the world, but nothing to spend it on?...

Note to self: Do not forget... Money is a tool... not an end.