i watched this video in the middle of my postpartum workshop...this was essentially the greatest 57 seconds of my life.
apart from the very inspiring nursing convocation (which i almost didn't go to), this made me all the more excited about being a nurse.
oh, and just for kicks, here's the song: do the kegel and the lyrics, complete with annotations
yes, i know, i have a strange fascination with stuffed parts of human anatomy. but really...don't you want your own victoria, the "unusually vocal velvet vulva" puppet?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
apology to anthony...now we're even?
wrote this a while ago, but posting it today, 9/26
to be honest, i had a completely different experience. move-in was so exciting and liberating! i was sad to leave home, but i couldn't wait to start fresh, live the college life, and be on my own. after so much pressure from both family and friends to stay in california, actually getting to seattle with all my crap was like the feeling in your lungs as your face bursts into fresh air after holding your breath under water...adrenaline pumping, relief, exhilaration! as for friends, i think it helped so much that i already knew someone who was going through the same experiences, a familiar face there along for the ride. i've forgotten along the way what a valuable person he was to me then...things were much less lonely, and we were always together.
the most depressing part of it all was when my parents actually left, and as we said goodbye in front of the dorm, both of them cried. i've never seen my parents cry...and it was horrible. they also said i love you, and they didn't really need to; but they said it, out loud, it was tangible at last. (all through high school, i laughed it off whenever i listened to friends say those three words so casually to their parents on a cell phone or on the way out of a car because it was so unfamiliar. my parents never said i love you). right then, i wanted to go back home with them. just the other day, my mom was joking about how she basically just ate all the free food at that whole orientation, and didn't pay any attention to the workshops they had about "letting go" and how to handle the "separation". i had no idea that those workshops even existed! but whatever they managed to take away from those talks, i'm so grateful that i was "let go" of. everything i had worked so hard for had finally come together. i was finally in a college, a legit university, where i felt at home. of course, my dad told me later about how if i hadn't kept my grades up that fall quarter, they would have made me come home. but my parents had trusted me enough to let me leave california, move a thousand miles away, and make my own choices. and that gave me the confidence to plow through the depressing parts, the awkward and anxious parts, and to make the most out of my new environment.
and of course, where would i be without everyone i met along the way? they say that the friends you make in college become your second family, and nothing could be more true with the friends i made in xavier. not to be sappy...but no matter how much time has passed, no matter how long we haven't talked, i'll never forget you, and my thoughts and best wishes go with you always. i love you guys...really. ^___^
i helped my darling friend anna move out of her mother's house today, the house that she's lived in for all the 7, almost 8 years that i've known her. it took about 4 hours, mostly spent driving, to haul anna's bed, a chest of drawers, her drafting table, and some cleaning supplies over to her new place. i met her new roommate, an graduate student in astrophysics (i know!) and her boyfriend, andrew (finally!) helping anna completely reminded me of xavier move-in day, two whole years ago. it seems like fate that anthony just posted about this very subject.
to be honest, i had a completely different experience. move-in was so exciting and liberating! i was sad to leave home, but i couldn't wait to start fresh, live the college life, and be on my own. after so much pressure from both family and friends to stay in california, actually getting to seattle with all my crap was like the feeling in your lungs as your face bursts into fresh air after holding your breath under water...adrenaline pumping, relief, exhilaration! as for friends, i think it helped so much that i already knew someone who was going through the same experiences, a familiar face there along for the ride. i've forgotten along the way what a valuable person he was to me then...things were much less lonely, and we were always together.
the most depressing part of it all was when my parents actually left, and as we said goodbye in front of the dorm, both of them cried. i've never seen my parents cry...and it was horrible. they also said i love you, and they didn't really need to; but they said it, out loud, it was tangible at last. (all through high school, i laughed it off whenever i listened to friends say those three words so casually to their parents on a cell phone or on the way out of a car because it was so unfamiliar. my parents never said i love you). right then, i wanted to go back home with them. just the other day, my mom was joking about how she basically just ate all the free food at that whole orientation, and didn't pay any attention to the workshops they had about "letting go" and how to handle the "separation". i had no idea that those workshops even existed! but whatever they managed to take away from those talks, i'm so grateful that i was "let go" of. everything i had worked so hard for had finally come together. i was finally in a college, a legit university, where i felt at home. of course, my dad told me later about how if i hadn't kept my grades up that fall quarter, they would have made me come home. but my parents had trusted me enough to let me leave california, move a thousand miles away, and make my own choices. and that gave me the confidence to plow through the depressing parts, the awkward and anxious parts, and to make the most out of my new environment.
and of course, where would i be without everyone i met along the way? they say that the friends you make in college become your second family, and nothing could be more true with the friends i made in xavier. not to be sappy...but no matter how much time has passed, no matter how long we haven't talked, i'll never forget you, and my thoughts and best wishes go with you always. i love you guys...really. ^___^
Sunday, September 14, 2008
salsa!
i was supposed to go to a drag show at the queen mary. we ended up going to a salsa party. salsa party you ask? were there enough tortilla chips?
no, no. this was a hardcore, two dance floors, flowing corona and margaritas, hips swaying, people spinning, salsa danceathon. anna is in the salsa club at PCC, and they learn salsa at lunch, do a couple of performances, and also occasionally get invited to cool stuff like this.
i learned the basics of salsa from anna and her friends eric and alexis on the emptier floor. but for most of the party, i watched wistfully as most everyone, including anna, partner up and dance like they were pros. i loved watching people who, if i ever saw them in any other circumstance, i would have never guessed them to be such amazing dancers! i was also surprised at the mix of people there, there were mexican, cuban, chinese, filipino, white, black, all sorts of people. and everyone was there to dance. but my real salsa lesson came when this middle aged guy, jaime, asked me to dance. i said yes, but i warned him that i sucked, and he laughed and said he would take his chances. he took my hand, led me out to the dance floor, and proceeded to laugh as i tried to keep up to the thundering beat, stepped on his toes, and repeatedly turned the wrong way (you're only supposed to make right turns, like zoolander). after the song finished, i was about to flee, when he pulled me back and informed me he was keeping me out for another couple of dances, and sooner or later, he was going to get me to turn the right way. i also learned a little merengue, and bachata.
and so with more explicit directions and a lot more coaching, i was able to salsa kind of decent. and had SO much fun! this was by far one of the coolest parties i've ever been to; everyone was completely gracious, and so nice, and they were all there to dance and have fun. and salsa, as a whole...it's so subtle and precise, but so sensual at the same time...i want to learn more! and not just salsa, but i've always wanted to learn proper dance styles, like tango, rumba, swing, waltz, etc. at least the basics! i'm putting it on my to do list. :)
no, no. this was a hardcore, two dance floors, flowing corona and margaritas, hips swaying, people spinning, salsa danceathon. anna is in the salsa club at PCC, and they learn salsa at lunch, do a couple of performances, and also occasionally get invited to cool stuff like this.
i learned the basics of salsa from anna and her friends eric and alexis on the emptier floor. but for most of the party, i watched wistfully as most everyone, including anna, partner up and dance like they were pros. i loved watching people who, if i ever saw them in any other circumstance, i would have never guessed them to be such amazing dancers! i was also surprised at the mix of people there, there were mexican, cuban, chinese, filipino, white, black, all sorts of people. and everyone was there to dance. but my real salsa lesson came when this middle aged guy, jaime, asked me to dance. i said yes, but i warned him that i sucked, and he laughed and said he would take his chances. he took my hand, led me out to the dance floor, and proceeded to laugh as i tried to keep up to the thundering beat, stepped on his toes, and repeatedly turned the wrong way (you're only supposed to make right turns, like zoolander). after the song finished, i was about to flee, when he pulled me back and informed me he was keeping me out for another couple of dances, and sooner or later, he was going to get me to turn the right way. i also learned a little merengue, and bachata.
and so with more explicit directions and a lot more coaching, i was able to salsa kind of decent. and had SO much fun! this was by far one of the coolest parties i've ever been to; everyone was completely gracious, and so nice, and they were all there to dance and have fun. and salsa, as a whole...it's so subtle and precise, but so sensual at the same time...i want to learn more! and not just salsa, but i've always wanted to learn proper dance styles, like tango, rumba, swing, waltz, etc. at least the basics! i'm putting it on my to do list. :)
Friday, September 12, 2008
this is why i can never be vegetarian.
today, i went to a ridiculously good (and so cheap!) vietnamese restaurant with my dad and my brother for dinner. i was kind of feeling like pho, but i decided to flip through the whole menu and see what they had. i was so excited when i saw that they had the 7 courses of beef for $12, i slammed the menu shut and ordered it right away! the waiter was like, whoa, can you finish that? and i was like, HELL yes!
since i am camera-less, i couldn't fulfill the asian/blogger duty of taking pictures of my food, but it was absolutely delicious! the first course was raw slices of beef to cook in broth, and then there were little meatballs, grilled beef and ginger rolls, beef wrapped with grape leaves, and this enormous meatball that had peas in it. then came beef salad, and finally, beef soup. and of course, spring roll fixins with everything. i really did finish it all...while my dad and brother sat and watched and refused to help. oh, except for the giant meatball, which had whole peppercorns in it...eating it was like trying to navigate a minefield.
did you know that the 7 courses of beef is supposed to be just for weddings? oh well...
since i am camera-less, i couldn't fulfill the asian/blogger duty of taking pictures of my food, but it was absolutely delicious! the first course was raw slices of beef to cook in broth, and then there were little meatballs, grilled beef and ginger rolls, beef wrapped with grape leaves, and this enormous meatball that had peas in it. then came beef salad, and finally, beef soup. and of course, spring roll fixins with everything. i really did finish it all...while my dad and brother sat and watched and refused to help. oh, except for the giant meatball, which had whole peppercorns in it...eating it was like trying to navigate a minefield.
did you know that the 7 courses of beef is supposed to be just for weddings? oh well...
Monday, September 8, 2008
there's just too little of.
i went to church today, it's been a while. i felt more heathen-ish than usual, saying all those familiar things that i don't quite mean.
i think i did mean them at some point. maybe i didn't mean them ever. maybe i do mean them... or want to mean them, somewhere deep down.
anyways, the homily had just started, and i was preparing to zone out when the priest (our new pastor) said something so profound that i was instantly snapped forward to the moment i was in, and frantically eyed the pews for one of those stubby, dull-ended pencils meant for writing on the offertory envelopes (you know, the kind you used to draw with on those offertory envelopes when you were bored out of your skull at mass) to write what he said down. i managed to remember it, i hope i always will.
he said, "where love reigns, law becomes unnecessary."
i think i did mean them at some point. maybe i didn't mean them ever. maybe i do mean them... or want to mean them, somewhere deep down.
anyways, the homily had just started, and i was preparing to zone out when the priest (our new pastor) said something so profound that i was instantly snapped forward to the moment i was in, and frantically eyed the pews for one of those stubby, dull-ended pencils meant for writing on the offertory envelopes (you know, the kind you used to draw with on those offertory envelopes when you were bored out of your skull at mass) to write what he said down. i managed to remember it, i hope i always will.
he said, "where love reigns, law becomes unnecessary."
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