:: Katnip ::
What's in this section?
The stuff I'm digging at the moment, stuff that makes me happy and stuff that makes my little heart smile. :)
Holiday Talk
Monday, December 24, 2007
I love my family, and the type of conversations we have is one of the many reasons why!
Case in point, last night, my mom, dad and I were sitting around the dinner table, just chatting. I had just gotten back from visiting with Les and Laura, and we were just shootin’ the breeze over a cup of tea. For some odd reason (and by odd reason, i mean my black hole of a stomach), I was still hungry after having dinner. So I grabbed one of my mom’s high fiber granola bars.
Mom: I don’t like those. You had them before, right? Don’t you get really GASSY?
Me: Maybe I do...I guess everyone around me will just have to suffer.
Dad: Mphrrrphggh (spitting up tea, laughing)
How can you not love a family like that? We laughed for a good 5 minutes straight.
And since this is the season for families and love, joy and such, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours, and may your holidays and holiday talk be bright and fun!
Singaporian Update
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
It’s the end of day 2 here in Singapore, and I’m already bursting at the seams!
It’s Wednesday night here, at the end of a rainy sticky day. It was POURING cats and dogs. Or maybe it was raining rambutan and durian. That sounds more like it. So far, it’s been interesting seeing my aunties, uncles and cousins again. I haven’t seen some of them for over 20 years. Wow. That’s a long time. I expect to see more relatives soon.
The first day was beautiful - blue skies and summer hot weather with a bit of humidity. The most beautiful thing about it was going to the hocker centers and getting local food. YUM! I love the food here! And it’s beginning to show on my belly. Oh boy. For that first lunch we got everything under the sum. My dad and I ate until our stomachs hurt. And boy did we sweat! Nothing like hot soup with lots of chilli on a hot day! My dad had a downpour from his forehead! It took us a good bit of time to get cooled off. I think my uncle and aunties were really amused by our intolerance for the assault of 3 types of heat at once - weather, temperature hot food, and spice!
We wandered many malls and ended up at my cousin Lynn and her husband Ron’s place. I got to meet my nephew and niece for the first time in person! Wow! How weird is that? Sometimes we get so used to just seeing photographs that we kind of forget that we haven’t actually interacted with him or her. The funniest part was that the first born, Mark, is still getting used to the arrival of his new sister. So while there’s already some sibling rivalry going on, one should not fear for Eve. She apparently can take care of herself. At some point, Mark made a move that looked like he was about to pester her, and she lunged for him but missed. Instead she ended up fiercely gnawing away at the carpet. I think Mark got lucky that he didn’t lose a finger in that battle!
Today, the torrential rain kept us inside the mega-malls all day. Except the part where I asked to go to a shop that sold goods made by local designers. Little did I know that it was way up a hill in the heart of Chinatown and with no cover from the rain. And us with no umbrellas. Oh boy. So by the time we got there, the entire party of 5 was drenched and more than a little miserable. Talk about pressure to buy something! lol I definitely got 2 of something just for good measure - had to make it feel like it was worth the uphill watery trek!
We also went to the performing arts center - a large building with a spikey exterior so that it reminds you of a durian fruit. I wonder if that was the inspiration. I kept taking photographs of the interior, and kept getting stopped by Kumar, the security guard. I’d take pictures of something and he’d come over and say, “You can’t take pictures of that thing because blah blah blah. But you can take pictures of the exterior,” and he’d point to the thing in question. So I would go there and take pictures of what he had pointed to. Then he would come up to me again and say, “You can’t take pictures of that...” and start all over again. This happened 3 times. By that time, I told him, “You know, you could just say that I can’t take pictures of *anything.* I would have understood that.” He blamed our miscommunication on the fact that he was Indian. Fascinating. So just the mere fact that he’s Indian and we are not lend itself to broken communication? Go figure! Who knew it worked that way? Oh well, at least he was very nice about it every time he told me to stop.
And now we’re back and Lynn and Ron’s place. And once again, I am packed to the gils with food. I’m seriously going to return home weighing 5 kg more! At dinner, Ron was mentioning that there is a species of frog that will gorge itself when the bugs are out in force, so much so that it’ll actually BURST from overeating. I mean, physically explode. Ugh. That’s sort of how I feel at the moment. I really need to walk some more. Uuurg. Why is food here so good?!?
Tomorrow, I’m off to Indonesia. Well, a small resort island of Indonesia. Hopefully it won’t be raining this hard then! Wish us luck! Pray for good weather! And that’s it for now! This is Kat signing off--over and out!
The Apartment is *OFFICIALLY* warmed!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
The move completed, we had our first big event: our Apartment Warming Party!
It was great to have a deadline to have everything cleaned and put away. If we didn’t, I’m sure that my stuff would still be in boxes...cuz I’m *that* person who would get used to living out of boxes until it felt totally normal. Susan and I have made a real effort to make this new apartment a home instead of just another living space. Thinking back, the last place that I could have really called a home was the great house in Grand Terrace, the Bachelorette Pad. Since then, it’s been a move from one transitional space to the next. Even the last apartment, though I lived there for more than a year and a half, had nothing on the walls and felt more like a blank box than a home.
So the night before the Apartment Warming Party, Suz and I put together a huge collage of photographs that we’ve both taken. Things that we thought were compositionally interesting or colorful or something. We really had no idea *what* we were gonna come up with, but in the end, we pieced it together. At 3 o’clock in the morning. I’m sure the fumes from the spray mount was part of the creative process… You can see it in the background of this pic:
We were both completely tired when people started coming over, but it was totally worth it! And it was so much fun to have so many people over. The highlight was when we had a huge circle of CatchPhrase going on. It really felt like home!
Thanks to everyone to came and brought stuff (especially the box of 45 rolls of toilet paper) and ate haystacks (aka “taco salad")! It was a blast! It was such a great beginning for a new home. I can’t wait til the next big event: my birthday photo scavenger hunt! Stay tuned for pictures from that event!
"And now for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT"
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
I gotta spread the word that I’m moving to a new position within my job!
For the past 1.25 years, I’ve been working as a trainer. I teach doctors and nurses how to do their jobs and actually do the billing right so they can get paid. Being a trainer, sometimes it feels very different from being a teacher. Teaching someone how to use a computer with a user-unfriendly application is not always the bed of roses that it may seem to be! Sometimes being a trainer means:
1. Training Pavlov’s Dog--It seems sometimes that my only job is to put the electric shocks in the right place so people do the correct action - not because it makes sense but because they’ll get shocked if they do otherwise. And sometimes, there’s a reward at the end...but most times not.
2. Training Lions--I would put “taming lions” but really if you have to make them do tricks, it’s more than just taming! Sometimes I feel like I’m in a ring of angry and scared captive creatures who would just as soon have me for lunch than learn anything from me.
3. Training Wheels--Ah, this is a nice image instead of the 2 scary ones above. I get to be the support (or in teacher speak, the Scaffolding) that people need to be able to learn the system. I support their learning up until the point that they can do it on their own.
So that’s what it’s been, and after over a year, you can stick a fork in me! I’m done! So now I’m moving on to the position of Instructional Designer. W00t! Something that *actually* relates to my degree! It’s not quite the focus I was hoping for, but they promised that things were eventually moving to e-learning and simulations to make training more accessible to all hospital staff. So, starting October 18, I’m working at the regional center and starting a brand new adventure.
HI-HO! I’m ready to go! Wish me luck and away we go!
Puzzling: I'm hooked on Puzzle Quest
Sunday, May 20, 2007
I can’t put this Nintendo DS game DOWN!
Slim got the game for me this weekend, claiming that all his cow-orkers and their wives/girlfriends were totally addicted to this game. It’s very much like Bejeweled, a game i play casually every now and again. You basically switch jewels on a grid to form patterns of 3+ in a row. Those jewels disappear and more fall from the heavens, and you repeat the same pattern search over and over again. It’s quite mindless and entertaining.
The difference between Bejeweled and Puzzle Quest is that there is a story and you have to “fight” enemies. And by fight, i mean you play a game of jewels with them. Penny-Arcade explained it best in this comic:
The game play changes depending on who you are “fighting,” so that keeps the same ol’ pattern search game from getting too boring. Add in there a couple spells and abilities and conquering other nations, and you got a complete game! I’ve stayed up until 3 am already playing this and i only got it yesterday. It’s times like now that i wish i didn’t have that obsessive tendency…
So i thought i’d share my addiction with you! Here is a free demo, but only if you’re on a PC. Sorry Mac users!
Adventures in Eating in LA
Sunday, May 13, 2007
I’ve been exploring the fine eats in LA, and i would like to share my findings with YOU!
I’m so glad that Nathan and Jannine (from now on referred to as N8+J9) came out to visit. The forced Susan, Slim and me to scoure the LA area in search of food worthy of comparison with New York cuisine. We found a great brunch place called The Kitchen in Silver Lake.
From the outside, it looks like a dive. But you walk in, and it’s cute, airy and nice. The food was delicious! I especially liked my Onion Frittata. Mmmmmm.
Jannine just has a way of making her food look soooo yummy - always makes me want to have what she ordered instead of what i ordered. Darn it! I wish i had that power!
Suz went for it that morning - yummy creamy smothery eggs. Sweeeeeeet.
Then we took a walk down the street to Pazzo Gelato. They hand make their gelato and have really interesting flavors! I had European Vanilla with Lemon. Or something like that. There was raspberry with dark chocolate chips, a wonderful orange sorbet and a lot more.
We fully enjoyed our dessert - and the hours embarrassing stories and scandalous secrets!
If you’re in the Silver Lake neighborhood, DO go check these places out. They’re totally worth it!