Anson’s Ford Taurus does not like me…I’ve been locked out at least twice, since he’s parked outside and I go to work early, his windshields are frozen over when it is the winter season, it took me forever to get his gas cap off (three other people filled up at the station before I was done), his light switch broke on me…when it was at night, and he leaks…everywhere! So since yesterday was when he got smokey when hubby brought him back to the gym, I think the hubby has had enough of fixing our 1990 car.

I feel like this should probably have happened sooner. Of course, we aren’t going to buy a new car. We’re too cheap for that, and Anson doesn’t like all the electronics in newer cars since they can get complicated when trying to fix up. We’ve been looking online and even subscribed to Consumer Reports for the month. A 10 year old Toyota Corolla sells for around $5k-$6k. We’ll be looking at the dealerships this Saturday, so hopefully we’ll be able take care of this as soon as possible. I don’t really understand about getting it insured and title and the dmv process…our parents gave us our cars, so this’ll be a new experience for the both of us.

I guess I should have seen this coming…I’ve previously had minor cases of heartburn after eating raw garlic and a couple times after overeating…but the last few nights, I’ve been waking up at 3-4am with a pain in my chest. Of course, self-diagnosing always makes you paranoid and I first thought I was having congestive heart failure, hehe…wasn’t really laughing this morning at 3:30…but the symptoms look like what many millions of Americans suffer from…acid reflux.

Acid Reflux: a condition in which acidic gastric fluid is regurgitated into the esophagus, causing heartburn.

There are a good amount of signs that I have this:

1. Every morning, I have to brush my tongue since there is a white film over it (food coming back up in your sleep)
2. Food triggers: caffeine, tomatoes, garlic, carbonated drinks (I bought a lot of sparkling water), chocolate, spicy food, cheese, red meat, fatty foods, etc
3. Wearing tight pants that restrict my stomach and causing discomfort
4. Sleeping on my back which makes the acid travel back up and has been giving me bad chest pains at night
5. Needing to sleep upright to let the pain subside…think I’ll need to adjust my bedding…don’t wanna keep sleeping on the couch
6. Regurgitation/vomit/bloating: this happens every so often after eating a lot and I feel the acid in my throat…makes swallowing hurt

Guess this is just one of the signs of getting older. I guess I’ll be forced to change my diet. I’ve already ordered some apple cider vinegar, turmeric, and antacid pills from Target. I ate oatmeal and a banana today and drank hot ginger water. Honestly, I am thankful. It is quite common and it isn’t the worst thing to deal with (though I wish I could get a good night’s sleep). I should probably eat healthier in the long run…the hubby is secretly jumping for joy…

Anson had a tough mudder event w/ coworkers on Saturday 10/6/18, so I had planned a trip to LA for the long weekend (we get Columbus day off), but my parents called me two weeks before and asked if I could extend my trip till Wednesday and help them permanently move from their house in Reseda to the condo we helped buy for them in San Gabriel. Me, being the dutiful daughter (and I love traveling anyways), said yes.

On Saturday, I ubered to SJC (sad that I don’t have lounge access anymore). I watched a pretty good Netflix Live Action movie Bleach on the plane (thank goodness for Netflix downloads). Junior picked me up and we had lunch in North Hollywood at a pho restaurant. I’ve been a little sick, so I wanted soup. He dropped me off at the Metro Red subway line. I took it all the way down to Union Station (only $1.75!) and caught the Gold line to Chinatown. I was going to meet my parents there for dinner, but we ended up just going back home and had leftovers. Many people give them a lot of food and they go to different occasions in which there is always an excess of food. The rest of the night, we just spent rearranging the furniture in anticipation of the move.

On Sunday, I walked to MBCLA (30-40 mins since 1.5 miles away). I briefly talked to Caleb, Clara, Jackie, and Auntie Rose and made plans to meet up midweek). I walked back to the condo, took a shower, and drove 40 mins back to the valley to have lunch at 12:45pm with Crescencia at Lulu’s. The sirloin steak pasta was not on the menu, but they were able to make it for me (my favorite from when I was younger). Cres is doing well with her job at a community college, singing for church, etc. I met up with Gina at 2:45pm at Bon Bon Tea House. She’ll be going to Isreal with a bunch of church people…so cool! Had leftover Lulu’s and boba for dinner (probably shouldn’t have had milk tea as I couldn’t sleep till 3am)

On Monday, spent the day with my parents. My mom and I did a morning walk and also went to OneGeneration (their senior center that is close to the park) and had lunch ($2/elderly but $4 for me). Food wasn’t the greatest, but it’s balanced and makes it easier for my parents so that they don’t have to cook. We did more packing and had Yoshinoya for dinner.

On Tuesday, the movers came at 9am. They were pretty efficient in packing our 5 pantry units, 2 bookcases, upright piano, coffee table, A/C unit, a few boxes, and some cabinets with moving blankets, saran wrap, and bubble wrap. We had told them to go from the front, but they went thru the back which became a small ordeal since the truck couldn’t fit at parts of the condo units and had trouble getting out of the complex. No matter, the amount was $109/hr for 5 hours (CA has a policy for double drive time), so was $545 +$60 tips. I bought a bunch of groceries from Mitsuwa and had Japanese for lunch and dinner (sushi! Nigiri! Squid and octopus!). My parents then showed me around their neighborhood (downtown mission district). We walked 2.3 miles…they are so fit.

On Wednesday, I went with my mom to the park to do some Chinese exercise that is held every day at 8am. There were probably +30 older people participating…good to see that they care about their health. Auntie Rose came by to see the condo and we met Uncle Daniel and Caleb at a dim sum restaurant for brunch. Uncle Daniel stopped by to take a look around the condo and we discussed a little about renting out my parents’ old house. I think I am leaning more to doing that since I am hoping to get them and us passive income thru the property. We will pay to fix up the house and deal with all the maintenance/management, and we will give my parents a set amount of income monthly. We’re still in the planning stages, so hopefully if all goes well, we’ll get it fixed up and rented out by mid next year! My parents dropped me off at the Burbank Airport around 6:30pm. I cried a little when they drove off. I should try to appreciate them more and show love to them.

My parents sometimes make me sad. They are going to move to San Gabriel to be closer to their church, but they are very bad at communicating with each other and have been arguing. My mom gets angry and my dad is bad at communicating and then my mom doesn’t talk to him. They sound verbally abusive toward each other. I mean…of course if one attacks the other person, you’d naturally feel defensive…but they constantly do that to each other…how do you think they are going to solve any problems by putting the other person down?  It feels like they are ALWAYS arguing actually, not just about the move. I feel like if they didn’t call themselves Christian, they are no different from marriages that are toxic and falling apart. I don’t know why they can’t just try to be nice to each other. They are both sinful people and they don’t want to compromise. Sometimes, their marriage is a map for how I DON’T want my marriage to turn out. Maybe it’s just cuz they are in an argument that I’m saying this…they have good times too…but sometimes, I think their arguing is just a way of life for them. My mom probably takes comfort in friends and church more than her own husband. My dad has no one except her and has bad health…they frustrate me and I don’t really know how to help them.

Happy 2018! I’m 33 this year…wow, haven’t blogged for over 3 years! It’s been a while, but I’ll just get straight into it.

It’s hard to know what to blog about now since the days seem to bleed in together. I do 10,000 steps a day, I have a fulltime job, we go to church on Sundays, hike on Saturdays (sometimes), watch movies at night, etc. Why did I love blogging so much before? Did I really have so much to say? Do I really have nothing to say now? The hubby blogged about not knowing what he is passionate about, and I feel the same way. I mean, I love traveling.
This year alone, went to LA three times (going another three times…four if you count Irvine), and we also went to Chicago, Seattle, and Nashville (girl’s trip) this year. We helped my parents buy a condo last year, and I’ll be helping them permanently move there next week. It has made me partially think about renovating their house in order to rent it out and seriously start my dream for passive income…maybe that is what I want in life? Rather than having to work hard for money, have money work hard for ME! And honestly…I feel like I am not fit to do full time 40 hours/week work…I would rather do errands or cook or talk with close friends or travel.

I am always planning on when my next day off is and I try to take at least 2-3 days off a month. I know that is a customary want to have full time work, but…why do we have to be most people if we have been given the resources to survive and thrive? If we only have one life to live, you should glorify God in anything that you do. He never said that working full time IS necessary…if you do it, do it to the best of your ability…but what if full time work is just eating away at you? My back does not like sitting for so long and I don’t always like my work duties. I went into accounting because it’s stable…and another word for that is BORING. Not sure what God has in store for me, but I should probably try to be more active in making a change before my life just passes before my eyes.

since mid july, i have been using a fitbit charge hr. the device is worn like a watch. it show the time, steps taken a day, miles walked, heart rate, calories burned, flights of stairs, and alarms. there is also an app you can download on your phone/ipad that can track your food intake, your workouts and how effective they are, monitor your sleep, and tells you when you need to charge your fitbit’s battery. all in all, it’s amazzzzing!

i have been trying to set a goal for myself of 10,000 steps per day which roughly translates to 5 miles a day. if i do this for one month, anson will take me up to sf and we’ll get to go to the exploratorium! we’ll probably also splurge on a nice dinner since we’re saving $30/person since we’ll be using james and char’s free museum tickets hope to set a goal every month, but the prize doesn’t always have to be going somewhere grand. sometimes, it can be a weekend trip, but others, maybe just a day thing in san jose. anyways, it’s been working for the last 3 weeks. keep it up, pris!

i think i’m one of the last peoples to finally switch to having a smartphone. what do i think? i like it that i can finally participate in line messages not just when i’m at phone, but at real time. i won’t miss people’s app messages that have important info on it. i’ll have a gps, music player, calculator, easy texting, unlimited calling…all on one device. yes, battery life is less than 2 days. getting another charger to put at work, but so far, 5 stars!!!

I’m in a funk. I think I’ve been in a funk for a while now…I mean, yes, I always knew that I like mindless entertainment, and it is okay in small doses…but I don’t know what else I do with my time that is productive when it is not cooking, cleaning, or working out with Anson. I’m able to get organized at work, but that’s cuz I’m being paid for this. When it comes to book club stuff, I kinda wait till the last minute to finish it. I accumulate all my scrap book stuff in a compartment in the closet, but it just keeps building up. I haven’t used my desktop computer regularly since we’ve moved (partly cuz it couldn’t connect to the WIFI and the printer went wonky when Ubuntu was upgraded), but that also dissuaded me to blog more since it’s harder to blog on the iPad. Okay…problems written out…resolution time!

1. Computer is back online. I’ll try to use it more in blogging. It’ll also conserve the battery life of my iPad. And since I’ll be in the room, it’ll give Anson some space for some alone time.
2. Regularly update my scrapbook/blog (look at it once a month. I’ve already set up as a recurring thing on my google calendar…jia yo!)
3. Learn a new skill? I’m iffy about this one…I hate languages, and I’m already getting stumped on the 2^nd lesson in German ;/ maybe take a class at the Santa Clara Adult Education Center? I downloaded the Coursera app (what Uncle Kenway uses to learn new things), but the classes just sound so dry…) Write a short story? It’s so hard for me to even blog…that just sound improbable…there are many things I can learn. I think I need to keep my options open.
4. Of course, be better at devotions and prayer. I only get as much as I try to put into it. Develop my relationships with my book club members. Hang out with them. Be better at sending out the prayer requests. Sing worship songs and play guitar/piano more. Prepare in the study more….even though it is hard to understand!
5. Help in researching some household projects that we’ve been meaning to get to: new dual pane windows in our room, new driveway so that people don’t scrape their cars using it, new backyard that will be less maintenance.
6. Just bought a FitBit. I’ll see how it is, but a goal most people set is to do 10,000 steps per day…not sure how much I do now, but I think it’ll make me more aware of how my health and fitness is day in and day out.

Maybe if I set up these kinds of goals, Anson would be more willing to go out with me at other times. My goal should be to be able to go to the Exploratorium if I get my blog organized, do my bookclub stuff regularly, report my research on windows, and do 10k steps for two weeks…fine, maybe a month. I’ll refine that, but this is a good start! Thanks for letting me organize my thoughts, blog! You really are a big help!

A few things have happened the last few weeks. Last, last weekend (Friday, May 29 to Monday, June 10, 2015), Anson and I went up to Portland for a mini vacation. I had planned this before my parents wanted to go to Hawaii. We used our weekend pretty well. It was actually hotter than expected and only rained on the last day (which we mostly avoided). In a nut shell, on Friday, Jo-Ann brought us to SJ Airport, the flight was about 1 ½ hours, we hiked Forest Park, ate lunch at The Waffle Window, went to Costco for salads, and checked in to the hotel. On Saturday, we did a free 2 hour walking tour: Secrets of Portlandia, ate at some local food carts, explored Powell’s City of Books, drank coffee at Public Domain, explored the International Rose Test Garden, ate dinner at Nicolas Restaurant, and watched the Starlight Parade at the hotel. On Sunday, we hiked Wakeenah Falls and Multnomah Falls…and then went to the gym at the hotel. On Monday, we checked out of the hotel, ate lunch at Shut up and Eat, bought Voodoo Donuts for people back home, explored The Grotto (La Pieta), and flew back home on Southwest where Christine picked us up.

Aaron is now engaged to Lauren. They’ve been dating for a year more or less. I guess it is going well, but I don’t really know her that well. I hope that they’re job situation is good since they both work at the same company. That just makes it scary if their workplace ever doesn’t do well. I think they work to produce a cancer drug, but it has yet to be approved by the FDA. They’ll be getting married at the end of the year on 12/19, so we’ll be coming down that weekend since we’ll probably help out at the wedding.

My dad has been getting older. Last week, someone went into his computer, so he wanted to buy a software from Microsoft to clean it up. That night, he totally forgot about this. He had told my mom and me in different conversations, but he acted like nothing ever happened, and that he didn’t buy the software. We were pretty freaked out at that. They prayed about it, and the next morning, he was starting to have some recollection of it. It makes me a little sad that my dad might be losing his memory, but I guess that is just what happens as we age. I might be like that when I’m older since I sometimes forget things that I was about to do.

Our roommate, Jo-Ann, who has been with us the longest (since last September…so nine-ten months!) just received two job offers! I’m so happy for her since it has been maybe a few months of searching. She will either work in the Mountain View school district or a staffing agency (?) for schools up in the East bay. She has by tomorrow to decide, so she’ll have a lot of research to do tonight. I’m biased and hope that she’ll take the MV job since then, she’ll stay with us. She has been a really nice roommate and friend for the time that we have known her. However, I know that East Bay is where her church and friends are and it’ll be less of a drive to go hang out with them (she’ll have to move if she takes the East Bay job), but it is her decision, and I’m just happy that God has been able to answer her prayers. Woohoo!

Alrighty…fulfill your vow! Blog time!

I just turned 30 on 5/25/15…did I do anything fun? Ehh, I went to work J Whaaa? Why? That day is Memorial Day. Isn’t it a holiday? Yep. I still wanted to go in order to finish up some stuff. For dinner, we went to Little Sheep right when it opened at 5:30. Glad we went then cuz by the time we left, there was a pretty long line. I just ordered whatever looked good, and we definitely paid for it While and after dinner, we watched game 4 of the Warriors vs Rockets in the Conference Finals. Too bad Warriors lost, but the good thing was the Steph Curry was still okay after a nasty fall he had in the second quarter. And it was good that they came back to Oakland for Game 5 in order to win and celebrate at home on Wednesday. After the game, Aaron and Lauren called to wish me a happy bday and Christine surprised me and came over and brought me a scarf and homemade green tea and butter red bean macaroons. One of her finest works! She helped make my day!

So…what do I think about turning 30? Ehh, it isn’t that big a deal. 20’s are young peoples. 30…sounds more sophisticated, but really, age is just a number. Seems like the years just keep going by. I should really try to cherish the time more. Wishing for another 30…plus 30 more years!!!