Day in NYC

Last Saturday, I went with a few friends from church into the city. It was interesting because I never used to plan a 'day in the city' because I lived there. But it was a fun adventure. We started out in Chinatown - for dim sum of course! I've never gone to dim sum with a group of people who spoke Cantonese before, so it was nice to not have to order anything, especially since I think they're nicer to customers to speak Cantonese. Afterwards, we went for bubble tea. The tapioca balls were the PERFECT texture. It was such a beautiful sunny day, so we walked around for a little while.

I love walking in the city, but I forget that for people who aren't used to it, it could be boring and tiring. So we took the subway to midtown and walked around Rockefeller Center, where we saw a pretty serious accident that had just happened. It was really scary. Which reminds me, you need to be careful when crossing the streets in NYC! I was crossing Park Avenue the other day and there are 3 lanes going in each direction, with a wide divider in the middle (with trees and such). I got to the divider and the light turned red so I stopped and stood on the divider. I usually stand at the edge of the divider but that day, before I could even walk up to the edge, a cab driver was trying to squeeze by another cab driver and drove UP the divider! If I had been two steps ahead of where I was, it would have hit me. SO be alert and stay away from the edge of the sidewalks.

Our group was pretty indecisive so we (the two of us who work in the city) decided on going to the Museum of Natural History. This is where it got embarrassing. I asked if he knew where it was (I always get confused as to whether it's on the east or west side). He said east. So we took the uptown on the east side. Oh, and here is the heroic picture after Joe saved the day by chasing after a woman who left her iphone on the bus and nearly got run over by traffic.

















So we walk into the museum, and I see a PAINTING off in the distance and I said, uh.... this is the MET. LOL. For someone who lived in the city for 4 years, I cannot tell people I am a New Yorker. Oh well, so we ended up spending some time at the MET. There was a very interesting superheros exhibit. Afterwards, we walked through Central Park to get to the west side (where the Museum of Natural History is, haha). And what do you know, we kept getting lost in Central Park. There is no straight path, it winds and curves all over the place!


















After an hour in the park, we made it to the right museum. I was pooped. My co-worker met us at the museum (she waited for me for an hour because we took an unintended detour to the Met).





































The whale still looks the same as he did 10 years ago ....
















Cute pic :)


















After a long day of walking and burning off calories, we earned a Korean BBQ meal in K-town!

















Then we were so full that we decided to walk to Port Authority, haha!

Jackson Heights

A few days ago I was going through my old pictures. I came across a bunch of pictures I took of my apartment in Jackson Heights right before I moved out last year. I realized that I really missed coming home and hanging out in my apartment. Especially watching movies on my plasma TV and laying on my couch.

Today I went to my apartment to sign the lease with my tenants (they are going to stay another year). It's the first time I'd been in the area in a year I think. It felt strange going to my apartment knowing that it's not really mine for the time being. As I walked from the subway stop to the apartment, I realized that the area seems more lively and energetic than I remembered it. Like there's more people out and about, which I really liked. Then I saw it from a distance, what I'd been waiting for since I first moved to Jackson Heights ..... yes, STARBUCKS! It's literally two blocks away from my apartment, and it's brand new, with nice couches and everything! And right next door, there is this restaurant called Novo. When I used to live there, Novo was always either closed or there was no one in there. But tonight, the doors were opened, there were lots of people in there for Happy Hour. I was like, what is going on?! I felt like how people feel when *after* they graduate the school builds new dorms, gymnasiums, grocery stores, movie theaters, you get the point.

I got to the front door of my building, and the super's wife was sitting outside with a few of the tenants in the building. She was surprised to see me, and I ended up chatting with them for a few minutes. In the two years I've lived there, I've never seen people just sitting outside chatting. After ringing the bell and my tenants buzzed me in (which felt really weird), I smiled as I took the familiar elevator up to my floor. My tenants did a great job decorating the apartment, and they kept everything in good condition, at least from what I could see. They're really happy with the apartment and are enjoying the space and having guests stay over. I'm glad they're making good use of the apartment and taking advantage of the area. They're from Canada and know they won't be here forever, so in this past year, they've gone to a lot of summer events, musicals, things that you can only really do in NYC. Sometimes we take for granted the fact that we live here, and forget that we should take the time to enjoy what we have!

I am so excited that Jackson Heights is becoming more popular; I mean, Starbucks opened a store there! I didn't realize how many things I missed about it until I went back today. All the great memories!

Housewarming and Olympics

Our friends Joe and May had their housewarming party last Friday, and it just so happened that it was the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics! SOO amazing. What an awesome way to share the opening ceremony, with lots of great food and friends! Except most of the group were from Hong Kong and they were making fun of Chinese Taipei. Not very nice. Although it is kind of funny (and sad) that they called Taiwan Chinese Taipei. May cooked everything from scratch, it was pretty impressive, cooking for 11 people. And honestly, everything was delicious.


































































































Our wonderful host and hostess. They have the husband-wife face, don't they?
















I don't know what Mike is doing here ..... I said act natural ....
















This must be towards the end of the night ... it really was a very long ceremony, hah!
















LOL, Danny fell asleep on the floor. To be fair, he literally just got back from the west coast.

Sisters

So a few days after my last post, I received a couple of emails and comments from awesome friends who are like sisters to me. I had just recently been thinking of my former Rock sisters Victoria and Gina, whom I used to always email or call or ring the door bell if I needed someone a few years older and wiser to talk to, pray with or receive a few encouraging words from. Since they've moved to Florida, it's been a bit difficult during these 'down' times, not knowing who to go to. Obviously I can go to God at anytime, but sometimes it would be nice to have older sisters who 'get' what I'm going through. And God reminded me very quickly that He hasn't forgotten me, because that same day that I was thinking about it, I get a long email from Victoria in response to my last blog post, with words of encouragement! :) Thank you!

In all honesty, I love hanging out with my new friends from church, they're a lot of fun and we've had a few deep discussions at prayer meetings. But I miss being around sisters in the Lord. I'm going to try to be more proactive. But if you remember, please also pray with me that He will bring older and younger sisters into my life!

Standing Still

So it's been a couple of weeks now that I've been feeling like I'm just standing still. A couple of weeks ago the pastor at my church preached on how we need to press on towards the goal in Christ Jesus, and what exactly that means. He used the example of traveling on a highway, we need to keep going in order to get to our destination. And along the way, we see signs that tell us whether we're going in the right direction or not. But a sign is not our destination, sometimes we're so focused on the 'signs' of God that we end up just staring at the sign and stop pursuing God, who is the actual 'destination'.

It's amazing when I think about the fact that less than two months ago, I was in China. And now, two months later, I feel like I've hit a wall in the road. Not that anything is really 'wrong', but I feel like I'm not doing anything 'great' for God. And I don't see anything significant happening. And it's a bit discouraging and I find myself less motivated and I just end up standing there, 'staring at the signs'. I know we all have days like these, and we just need to press forward and keep going, believing and trusting that God is faithful and will carry us through these times.

It doesn't help that I've been extremely distracted by something as insignificant as finding a guest to take to a high school friend's wedding. I've never been put in a position where I have to ask someone (who wasn't my boyfriend) to an event. And it's not like a 'date' or anything, and yet it was still something on my mind for weeks. But through this experience, I realized that I still care too much about what other people think of me AND I realized that perhaps I am too harsh on guys who are passive. It takes guts - even as friends - to ask someone of the opposite sex. One of my guy friends was surprised that I wouldn't feel comfortable asking. He's like, 'Any guy would be lucky to be asked by you, I can't believe you're nervous about asking, no one is going to reject you.' It is strange, I'm usually pretty confident, but I guess I found another of my weaknesses. I've talked to a few girls about this topic, it's been interesting forming theories on what the protocol is, if there is one. It's kind of humorous - I have enough thoughts on it to fill a book.

I'm in a really pensive, mellow, romantic mood, listening to ke ai nu ren.

Let me share some interesting stories from the past couple of weeks. So as you all know, I bought my Jeep in Arizona. It was registered and insured in Arizona. Now that it's in New Jersey, I needed to register and insure it in this state. When I went to the DMV in NJ over a month ago, they said I need to get NJ insurance and ask the bank to release my title because my Jeep is financed. Okay, no problem. I sent a letter to Chase asking them to send my title to the NJ DMV. Then I transfered my insurance from AZ to NJ. A few days later, Chase sent me a letter and said they don't have my title but will ask the Arizona DMV for it and it may take up to 60 days. Weird, but fine. I wait a month and still hadn't heard anything. I was going to continue waiting until I got a letter from the AZ DMV saying that because I am no longer insured in AZ, my registration will expire within 2 weeks. ACK! That means if I don't get my registration done in NJ in 2 weeks, then my Jeep will not be registered anywhere! So I made a bunch of calls to figure out where the heck my title is, and finally, it made its way to the NJ DMV before the two weeks were up. Sigh, what a hassle. Then get this, I was told after I got the registration done that I have to get my Jeep inspected. It's a new car!! Why does it need inspection?! Anyway, instead of taking a day off of work to do this, my dad had me bring it in to a garage near my house to get it inspected. I was SHOCKED when the guy called to tell me that it FAILED inspection! Why?! Because my windows are TINTED! I could not believe it. It's a tiny bit of tint, you can still see inside the car! And it's so sunny and hot in Arizona, of course it's tinted! So we had to pay to get the tint removed. LOL. Lesson learned. Buying a car in one state and moving to another is not as 'simple' as it would seem.

Today a very sweet, elderly lady at church asked me if I was in college. I smiled and said that I was working. She knows my parents. I know she means well, and she's very grandmotherly, so I didn't take offense at any of this, but it's kind of humorous. She asked me if I had a boyfriend. I said no. She asked how old I was. I told her 27. She said it's time that I start thinking about finding someone, and that I should keep my eyes open at church. THEN she proceeds to point someone out to me and tell me that he's a really good guy. I laughed and nodded, and said that we'll see what God has planned. I thanked her for her concern, and as I walked away I laughed to myself. EVEN IF I had my eyes wide open, and EVEN IF I thought someone had potential, do people expect me to start chasing after him?! I know other moms have similar conversations with my mom, asking about my relationship status and telling my mom that there are good guys in the church. I've had more moms and grandmas tell me how cute and adorable I am in the past six months than ever in my entire life I think. I mean, I appreciate it, but sometimes I think, that's great but it'd be nice if my future husband would also notice. And it's just so funny because we can talk all we want about how great the guys are and how I'm a great girl, but that doesn't mean anything is supposed to or going to happen. I don't know if this is my pessimism or practicality kicking in, but sometimes I think that we can develop feelings for anyone if we spend enough time around them. So does that mean the default is just the person you happen to be around the most?

Baby Shower with 'The Adults'

My parents hosted a baby shower for the church choir last Sunday, and since I've been to more baby showers than I can recall, I said I would host the games portion of the party. The 'adults' are so much fun, they totally took the games to a whole new level - cracking jokes and making fun of everything and everyone. Seriously, my abs hurt from laughing so much.

Potluck style - food was great!

















Mother-to-be opening gift






















This was so funny - 30+ adults sitting with paper plates on their heads trying to draw a baby

















Deciding on the winners and losers of the drawing contest

















Teams trying to guess how big the mother-to-be's tummy is

















I always find it funny when teams decide to use a male's waist as a proxy





























































Guessing the flavors of baby food. The best part is seeing the facial expressions of people as they taste the baby food. Good thing I host these games. I do NOT want to try the food. The consensus is that it tastes horrible.


































Summer birthdays! The person who bought the candles accidentally bought 'trick candles', so they re-lit after they blew them out, and we just thought they didn't blow hard enough so they kept blowing, LOL.

















This couple celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. It was very sweet.

Long Beach - Sunny and Deserted ....

Last Saturday, a bunch of us girls went to Long Beach, despite the weather forecast of 80% chance of thunderstorms. We were determined to go and get a tan. My legs were pale compared to my arms. I decided that days where scattered thunderstorms are predicted are the best days to go to the beach. The trains were empty. There was hardly anyone at the beach. We got there around 11am, went straight to the beach and had about an hour of sun before we started seeing the dark clouds coming toward us and thunder in the distance. We decided it was best to go grab lunch before it started pouring. And pour it did. But by then, we had already ordered and were stuffing our faces with the amazing food. Their sweet potato fries were sooooo great, we ordered 3 plates of it! By the time we were done eating, the rain had stopped. We weren't sure if the beach would be soaked, but thought that perhaps only the top layer of sand would be wet, and that maybe we can dig away the wet sand and get to some dry sand below and lay on that. LOL. It was a bit damp, but the sun came back out and we got another good two hours of tanning in! Such a relaxing day.





















































I love this picture. And the blanket, hahaha, it's practically an ancient family treasure that has passed through the generations.

Restaurant Week 2008

I can't believe much I ate out last week. I ended up getting home late and staying up late and not getting enough sleep. Hence I think the reason that I walked into work this week and immediately started sneezing and blowing my nose. Now I have a bottle of hand sanitizer at my desk and bring a box (literally a box) of tissues with me around the office. My co-workers laugh at me.

But the food was soooo yummy. I went to Aquavit (Scandinavian) with co-workers during lunch, Delmonico's (steakhouse) with friends, Peacock Alley in the Waldorf Astoria with my cousin-in-law and Riingo with a friend. All of the meals were wonderful. Riingo gave us gift certificates to use the next time we come back, how cool is that?! Here are some pictures from Riingo.

I love the bread basket presentation - the thin crackers beneath the rolls were so good. Kind of spicy, and you dip them in guacamole!

















Okay. This is the ribs, we were like how is this ribs?! But apparently they blacken the outside so it's extra crispy but the inside is really tender and juicy. Yum.....

















Salmon avocado roll - pretty standard but tasty

















Steak .... it was spectacular ....

















Chicken - I wasn't too crazy about it, kind of dry

















Ohmygosh, this is the best part. As you can tell we ordered different things on the menu so we could try more dishes. This is the 'warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream'. I expected warm chocolate cake. But as soon as my fork went through the cake, and I felt the molten chocolate inside the cake, I smiled and said, 'oh my gosh, this is going to be good, it's MOLTEN chocolate cake!' This was one of the best chocolate desserts I've ever had.

















Donuts with green tea ice cream. So simple. And yet so delicious. We (by we, I mean mostly I) devoured the desserts. My friend was done at some point and I was still using the donuts and cakes to soak up the ice cream. He's like, do you want to lick the plates too?! Hey, I am not ashamed of devouring a good dessert ....

















The apple in the apple pomegranate drink is not very good ... one of these days I'll need to start acting like an adult