Window in the Skies

Greetings from Longhorn Country!

I know it's the last day of January when I...
1) Turn the page of my calendar and see a different vintage painting of idealized Hawaiian scenery
2) Get my paycheck
3) Flush my contacts down the sink

Since my last entry, I've...
1) Had my darkchocolateoreomintfudge ice cream thrown across a street (and caught) by two acrobatic servers at Amy's Ice Cream - hands down the funnest and most horrifying dessert experience I've ever had.
2) Visited College Station, home of our arch rivals Texas A&M. Despite being a UT Longhorn treading on enemy soil, I didn't really feel the hate until I saw people wearing T-shirts like these:
Yikes.
3) Received a book called 'A Nyonya in Texas' from my ever-thoughtful Uncle Leslie about a Peranakan woman's adventures in Houston.
4) Become a loyal fan of Amazon.com for selling books 8 times cheaper than the evil Co-op.
5) Gone to the gym ONCE. Sorry to disappoint, Munzies!
6) Gotten into the habit of doing the New York Times daily crossword - it all started off yesterday, when I saw the clue 'Island nation east of Fiji' and I was like 'Tonga!' and that inspired me to continue filling in the boxes. It's not easy! Some of the clues are filled with puns. Oh gosh I really am a nerd.

Take care, y'all!

Toozday

This morning I made the brave decision to go to Gregory Gym with Kirsten at 730am after work. I think I'll try to make it a regular thing every Tuesdays and Thursdays, since class only starts at 930am. It might work. Those who truly know me will understand just how big of a deal it is. Me, exercising! It helps that almost the entire UT population is addicted to the gym, especially the Singaporeans. Yay for positive peer pressure.

So I did some very light cycling while watching the 2007 Oscar nominations unfold on the TV screen in front of me. (Ryan Gosling is up for Best Actor! Yeahhh. Though I'll probably never see the obscure indie movie that earned him the nomination.) Then I stretched. Then I went to the bathroom. Then I changed. Then I went for class. Hoorah.

Just kidding. There is a point to this entry. We were in the locker room getting our stuff when the emergency alarm went off, and all these alarm lights started flashing really brightly and a voice ordered us to evacuate the building immediately. So we guai guai walked to the nearest exit. As we joined the mass exodus of students (ok not really) toward the doors, I suddenly felt a chilly blast of wind and remembered that it was something like 5degC outside, and I was only wearing my T-shirt and flimsy little FBT shorts! Thank goodness I had taken my stuff out with me, so I put my sweater on. Still... wearing FBT shorts is like wearing next to nothing. That's the whole point. Shudder. The funniest (or most pitiful) thing was seeing the poor swimmers shuddering out there in the cold, trying to coax every last bit of warmth from their damp towels, or huddling tightly together in an attempt to share body heat. As well as the people who had raced straight out of the shower in their bathrobes and wet hair.

I never did get to find out what happened, because I had to dash to another building in my little shorts, change into jeans and go for class. It probably wasn't anything. A prank or something. Might read about it in the Daily Texan tomorrow. But still. A funny way to start the day.

Five Months

Seems like waaay tooo long a period to be away from home. How do people do it?
It seems like school was delayed a week. It was supposed to start on Tuesday, but it didn't open until Thursday at 11am because of freezing rain and snow, and because my Thursday class was before 11 it got cancelled too. So I had a few classes on Friday but they were all introductory and light.
But soon it's all gonna come rushing toward me like a herd of mad elephants. The work I mean. And I guess I'm a little excited to get back into school mode.
I really wish the cold would go away, though. It should have been like this during Christmas. I would've been in the mood for it then. But not when school's starting and I have to trudge through the sludge.. fudge budge pudge... haha got a little carried away there... every morning. But anyhow. I love my job. Best in the world.
And thanks Becks for bringing me the stuff from my family - a Chinese New Year card actually written in Chinese, with hilarious Chinese messages from Beth and Ching, 2 copies of Life!, Hello Panda (which has become a gift-pack-for-Gill staple)... and more. I appreciate it. I really do.
I have my new printer up and running! It scans and copies too! Yay. Oh and today, I neatly coiled up all the wires for my laptop and other stuff with those little twisty things they use for bread here. Nice. I am on the way to the land of the neat. Just watch me.
I just finished reading "Broken Dreams, Fulfilled Promises" by Carolyn Ros (also an item from my Singapore gift pack) and it is an amazing account of a woman's struggle to keep close to God as her husband loses his memory after awaking from a coma. It really spoke to me because the book wasn't just one big melodramatic, tear-jerking pity-fest, but she had some great stuff to say about how to stay close to God during long periods of hardship and sorrow. I thought it was a really powerful story. Look it up on Amazon.
Okay sleeepy. Gonna visit Kirsten's church tomorrow, and their service starts FRIGHTFULLY early: 9am! Haha kidding, I guess I've gotten used to 11am services. Oh whatever. Take care you all.

'Tis the season for multiple photo updates!

WASHINGTON!

Mt Hood: Treacherous but absolutely breathtaking

Making a snow angel is exhausting. Check out my wing!

(L-R) Justin, Nicholas, Aunty Laura and Uncle Wilson...

... and Ryan!

I was going a lot faster than you think!

With my aunt and the snow-covered fir (?) trees

With my cute cousins at Olive Garden

Their neighborhood: The glorious sight that greeted me upon my arrival

A Christmas Break Photo Scramble

Not in chronological order:

With my Dallas Family on my 20th birthday

Jo's Coffee - our favourite hangout in South Congress St (SoCo)

Midnight on New Year's Eve

Jo's again

Christmasss

Mun living her '70s disco fantasy

Mun, Kim, me, Andrea (my new housemate!)The Chins, Mun (who is also a Chin), me, Thomas and Lynn at Kel's 18th

Licking the soup bowls clean at Medieval Times

Getting my bib tied on at Boiling Pot, a seafood restaurant

Soaking up the (winter) sun outside the Four Seasons

Uncanny resemblance?

Munzy and Me

a tale of 2 drama mamas on a cold winter's day in Austin:

Top: Introducing my baby- a poofy white jacket affectionately named Lafawnduh

Washington (State, not DC)

I am now in my uncle and aunt's beautiful red house in Camas, Washington and it's been snowing! Well, it had been until I got here. But now there's a layer of slightly icy, melting snow on the ground and it looks great. Yesterday I went 'snowboarding' down their driveway (which slopes a little) with my cousins and I felt half my age but it was a ton of fun. You basically lie on this little plastic thingy and just keep pushing off the ground to propel yourself forward.

(I realise I haven't seen this much snow in my life. You should have seen me when we were landing in Denver, Colorado, my stopover on the way here. The entire place was blanketed in snow and I was just gawking like some idiot from my plane window. But Hello... it was all white! That's kinda freaky! It was also -8 degC. Eeee. Not for me, no way.)

Of course the snowboarding wasn't too great for my new pristine white poofy jacket, which I've affectionately christened LaFawnduh (pronounced laFONda - refer to Napolean Dynamite for significance). But I got the stains out soon enough with Aunty Laura's super carpet cleaner which she claims she uses for everything.

Okay, I have a ton of photos I still want to post about Munyuk's visit... Aw babe I miss you!! Always remember the blanket thing! We are all connected! Preserve open spaces! Return to Pure Being! But the photo dump will have to wait til I return to Austin.