May, why are you so confused?!?!

May.  Your weather is exceedingly strange.  First you're hot, then you're cold, windy, and rainy.  Make up your mind confused weather.  You should change into pleasant spring and summer weather.  Too many conflicting plans coming up, but it'll all work out somehow in a daze.

What are the plans?
May:

• On Sat - Watching a talk by Alton Brown at Monterey Bay Aquarium then poking around the aquarium and driving around. :)
• in a week, I'll be off to to NY for Lora's graduation and Stephy+my birthdays.  Anyone have suggestions on where/what I should be doing?

June:

• Wushu tournament volunteering and hanging out with ppl who will be visiting.

July:

• Super busy. Some mess of whitewater rafting, comiccon, and either 1 or 2 half marathons. :P

Now into the past weekend.  Went to Sent Sovi for a fancy pants tasting menu due to a Bloomspot deal expiring soon.  I love the involvedness of tasting menus.  There was an amuse-bouche and 7 course tasting menu.

1. amuse-bouche of some chicken liver + something paste on crostini with truffle oil
2. porcini mushroom soup with toasted cashews
3. maitake mushroom, frog, citrus and fennel salad
4. scallop with caramelized scallop kombu jus
5. melon sorbet with balsamic
6. lamb confit with wild mushroom ragout and purple potato
7. 3 cheese plate with honeycomb, nuts, dried fruits, and crostini
8. raspberry mousse, whipped single malt honey cream, and steel-cut oat cookie

Oh tasting menus make me happy though they also feel ridiculously indulgent.  Unfortunately it was pouring outside by the time it finished.

I am BAD at regular posts

Cleaned up the template I was using to be simpler.  Yay simple.  And it is already April and I still haven't posted anything since Feb.  I'm glad the weather is warming up since spring and summer clothes are just always so much happier than heavy winter clothes.  Also it means more walking of my cat.  Or rather walking him for about a minute before he gets scared inside.  So what has happened since that long ago post?

1. I bought a new bed!  It is a fancy pants overpriced memory foam mattress, but it's comfortable.  And if I bought a bed, it means I'm a grown up right?  hah.
2. Wise Man's Fear - Read it and was short of sleep due to it.  It's a wonderful book, probably one of the best developed storylines and characters I've read in a while.  I just don't really see how it will wrap up in only one more book and I'm sadly eagerly waiting for the next book out.  I also love the comic for summing up the first book.
3. Running [for reals] starts again with kickoff of marathon training group this week.  And I even managed to con convince a coworker to do it.
4. Went to snowboarding a smattering of times and SF beer festival.

Been wanting to cook lately.  What should I try to make?

Forgetfulness

It's easy to forget things especially parts of yourself.  Everything gets busy and you get caught up in it.  And then one day you look at it all and realize you have just been going and going and not really reflecting on the huge dichotomy between how things are and how you wished they were once.  Those crazy big plans to be brave and free and travel the world and learn new languages and try things.  

Umpteenth Round of New Year's Resolutions 2011

So every year, I decide I'm going to be awesome and make resolutions again.  I guess it means we're getting old when a year seems to have passed by quickly with as much confusion as there ever was.  It was a year full of work and fun.  Things are generally good all in all so here are some new resolutions.

• Do things.  Too much of my time was spent thinking or debating about doing things in 2010 and probably also in prior years.  So this year I will try to debate less and just go for things.  Included in this is helping my sister study for GREs.  Though I suppose the crazy auto-rickshaw ride shall be included in this.  I really would like to surprise myself with something I did.  

• Exercise.  The most cliched of all new year's resolutions, but I would like to get into better shape than I've been in before.  In general it makes me happier and also prepares me for whenever zombies invade.  Along those lines, I would like to actually run a marathon this year if I don't get sidelined by injuries again like last year.

• Be kinder.  Namely to myself.  Through the years, I've had moments of great antagonism to myself so I think a good goal for this year is to just try to let that go.  I can mess up and it is not always the end of the world so I should stop beating myself up pointlessly. 

• Cook more.  Try more new dishes and throw more dinners.  Allows me to keep in touch with people better.

All in all, I think I just want a year where I believe I can do anything and great things happen with serendipitous encounters with friends, delicious food, good times, and the madness of enjoying life.

It's Already Almost December :(

I wonder if this is a sign that we're old or just getting increasingly forgetful since it's already almost December and I have no idea where all the time slipped away to.  Soon, I'll be back home and can properly squash my cat.  My poor stupid cat who managed to close the door of my bedroom and trap himself in until my sister managed to free him.  Sad loud neurotic cat. 

Slew of upcoming movies that I want to see are:

• Black Swan: Anything directed by the guy who did Requiem for a Dream can't be bad. And it's a psychological thriller set in ballet with Natalie Portman.  
• Tron: Vague memories of watching the original a long time ago [was it really 9 years ago in AP CS?] and it's in 3D.

Also ridiculously excited about the mini food processor I bought on Black Friday so now I can make pesto and other sauces much more easily.  It'll be great.

I feel like December will just be tiring overall since stuff will happen all over the place for it. But I guess that's the way I like it. :P  I like being so busy I don't have time to think hah.  And maybe our holiday food experiment will work out if we manage to not be lazy. 

Managed to buy a collection of web comics Grunnerkrigg Court and find it to be really enjoyable.  It is sort of like Harry Potter except it follows this girl through a very British boarding school and there are robots and gods and such. 

It's almost Halloween (sort of)

Am anxiously awaiting my Halloween costume tomorrow and hopefully it works out or I'll desperately be going to stores sometime before next Saturday.  Next weekend will be a busy weekend with Warrior Dash and going out for Halloween but I'm glad things have actually converted this year and we'll be doing SOMETHING as it often requires major effort to stuff.  And fuzzy hat!  How could the day not be awesome?

Vacation plans are already set for end of next year into early 2012.  RICKSHAW RUN!  Basically two weeks in India starting in Rajasthan making our way down into Kerala on an auto (tuktuk).  It will be great adventure.  Kim, Halley, and me are in for sure. 

This weekend though, I think I shall just relax as the weather is getting cooler and I'm tired.  Later, I'll post a Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon recap.

falling into fall

It finally feels like fall with gray skies and colder weather.  Decided to do the social thing with roommates and did a fondue night where we all probably ate entirely too much.  It's very strange how there's always so much time now since I'm gimp-like.  It's also strange how time slips and slides in an unwavering march towards the future which is here and now.  This must be a sign that we're getting old.  I just feel like doing something, anything different at this point sometimes.  It's almost enough to make me look back at carefree days of the past but with memories being mutable they probably weren't that carefree.  Anyways plans for this weekend consist of cake baking and then cal-ucla game watching with people I haven't seen in a while.