Must. Not. Scratch.

i have 5 min while i wait for a file to copy so i thought i'd blog.

i have these three large bug bites along my right arm/shoulder, and they're driving me crazy with their itchiness. i think i got them from being out on a ranch on sat. night. they blew up so big by sunday that it looked like i had a second elbow on my one arm. i'm trying hard not to scratch. its like having chicken pox all over. i must've gotten an allergic reaction to them, because they puffed up and still feel kinda hot. i've put some calamine on it but it still itches like crazy. instead of scratching, i'm slapping them real hard. this is what i did as a kid with chicken pox that couldn't be scratched. you slap them and it doesn't feel as good as a scratch but at least it relieves the itch some what and doesn't puncture the skin. i walked into coworker D's office and he said i smelled good. like vanilla. i told him that it must be my itch cream, which contains oatmeal supposedly. he gave me a funny look. for the bug bites, i said. yup. sexy.

SKIN

I've just discovered something on my own body, and I can't believe it's taken me this long.

Between my neck and my chest, I have a large patch of skin discoloration that looks similar to the UK. For some reason I've never realized this before. I always thought it was a bit darker there, and since sweat tends to collect in that area, maybe it was just a dirty patch and that maybe I just needed to scrub harder. Even when Cole made a comment about the skin discoloration a few years ago I never made the connection. Until today.

Must be all that sun I'm getting this summer. The darker I get, the more noticeable it is. I mean, it's fairly faint, which is why I never thought much about it. But I just saw myself in the mirror and must be the light or something, but it's definitely there! And its rather large too.

It's not a huge deal or anything, and it's not as obvious as the kinds I've seen on other people. But it definitely makes me a bit more self conscious about low cut clothing that shows that part of my body. I just can't believe I've never had this realization before until just now!

California Dreamin'

I've been having a lot of dreams about vacation. People from vacation, going on more vacation. Vacation seems to have had quite the affect on me.

I listen to this podcast called: Stuff Mom Never Told You as I go to bed. It's usually about 20-30 minutes, but I never seem to last through the whole thing. So I end up listening to them over and over and over. They're pretty interesting and informative, I think you all should check it out. Even you, A. Even though they focus on a lot of female centric topics, I think if I was a guy, I'd be interested in it all still.

Also, last night was the first night I tried to manipulate my dreams, ala Inception. I tried to setup the environment that I'd be dreaming in and made a mental note to be conscious should I find myself in a dream, but....since I couldn't even stay awake for the whole podcast, needless to say, I FAILED in my manipulations, and was in deep sleep by the time I got to the middle of my dreams. There were only two that I remembered: the one about taking another week of vacation, and the other about being obviously and awkwardly ignored by D, this guy I dated many moons ago. It's odd how in dreams, your brain still sets up awkward situations for you. Thanks a lot brain. I'm putting you on the list next to weak arms.

Despite the willy nilly-ness of the last post...

The skin on my face is perfect today! Score! Take that, 29!

29

I've been having mini freak outs about being 29 lately. I know, I'm still young. But still. 29. Where did the time go? I used to be youngest of the bunch, and now...now I'm going to a 26 year old's bday party and wishing it was mine.

Relating to an earlier discussion about age, CK sent me an article about how 29 is the year for big ideas. The article then listed a bunch of people and the things they accomplished at 29. That sent me into a deeper spiral.

Before that conversation, I had just read an article about Angelina Jolie and how she like to be the matriarch of this family she is building. Kind of like an empire. And that sounded kinda neat.

And then on the way home from work today, I was stuck behind a bus. Plastered all over the bus was this huge picture of Dudamel. And then I thought, man, how cool (or embarrassing) would it be to have your face plastered all over busses around town? I remembered he was fairly young so I looked it up, and guess what? He is 29!!! His face is plastered all over town while mine is...well, glued to a computer screen most days.

And then tonight H reminded me that I have 6 good years left. And while that wasn't exactly "news," I just haven't thought about it in a while, so it alarmed me a bit to be reminded again.

I haven't been feeling all that attractive lately, and the fact that I go out with girls who get more attention from the boys than I doesn't help either. It's been proven that showing more skin helps, but then again, I don't feel comfortable compromising myself for a boy. Because then it feels like false advertising. Like those butt pads that some girls wear. To give themselves more of a booty. What happens when you actually get a man with that fake booty and he's expecting a full booty and all there is is just padding? Booty fail is what.

I know I know. I'm still young and have it a lot better than some people. I don't have a disability, I have all my limbs and senses, I'm fairly normal. I should count my blessings. This isn't a pity party. I just need to repeat the mantra of 2004: thirty and flirty and thriving...thirty and flirty and thriving.

(which was a cute movie, except when they all started doing the thriller. Because not everyone knows thriller well enough to just randomly bust it out at a party. I'm just sayin...)

Fūd.

Nothing of news to post about lately. Jumped back into work after vacation, which pretty much sums up my weekend.

I did, however, find CAFE BUSTELO today at the supermarket. Oh joy! I was introduced to this little gem by natalie on the trip. It just tastes so good! I thought maybe it was an east coast thing, but apparently, it's an everywhere thing. I'm very much looking forward to making my first cup tomorrow. I also bought some condensed milk to make some vietnamese coffee.

OH ALSO! Trader Joes has this frozen chocolate croissant thing in the freezer section. You take the tiny thing out the night before, and in the morning, it has grown into a full blown croissant! You stick it in the oven for 20 min while you get ready in the morning, and voila! Warm chocolate croissant.

Needless to say, I'm very excited about breakfast tomorrow.

AND, I bought five boxes of cereal today. When cereal goes on sale, I stock up. By the time I'm done eating all the boxes, they go on sale again. It's a nice cycle.

Food food food. I love food.

2:57pm

Oh, so in reference to the title from a previous post, and the mysterious news that i couldn't share a month ago, I can now say that a friend of mine is engaged! Me and my violin was suppose to be in on the engagement process but I guess that didn't work out and it happened while I was away on vacay. But hooray! I'm so happy for her. Especially in light of yesterday's events in california.

I still feel like I'm in vacation mode. All i want to do is be at home and watch movies in my bathing suit. I got quite used to living out of my bathing suits. They allow you to be flexible, and you can sweat in them as much as you want. I'm thinking about running in my bathing suit, and I'm wondering why people don't do it. Although, a whole week of inactivity on the beach has my body upset with me. I went for a workout last night but it still wants more.

Ok, so now that vacation is over, I really need to get back in gear and focus on the career. It's time for a life makeover. Annnnnd go.

Vacation!

Prologue:
My neighbors DO have sex after all. This was confirmed when I went to pick up my mail from them and realized she was pregnant! She said 8 months, but it didn't look at all like 8 months so I'm thinking maybe she meant 8 weeks. But it looks more like 4 months. And no, I didn't ask when she was due, which I should have. In any case, the likely hood that they conceived baby #2 during my residence there is very high, which perplexes me even MORE that they don't have curtains up in their bedroom. Or maybe they just enjoy the thrill of me or any one of my guests possibly catching them in action. But they don't seem like the type. OMG, JUST GET SOME CURTAINS ALREADY!


My vacation was AWESOME. I think my best vacation yet. But seeing how I don't take many, it doesn't really say much. There was lots of beach time. Lots of laziness. Lots of game playing. A little bit of drinking on my end, which is practically nothing for everyone else. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except that I had a great time with some great people on the beach.

Now to find the cable for the camera...

Oh also I was noticing some looks in my direction. I was in a very white area of arlington, VA, and the beaches of NC. One guy on the beach even had a confederate flag beach towel, ha. But I just noticed that people were looking at me more than I am used to. And by used to I mean, NOT AT ALL. And not looking in a bad way, or staring really, but just...looks. I guess I'm so used to living in socal where I am the norm. I really need to get out more. I asked the other asian guy in our group if I was imagining things. He said I probably wasn't, but that he's used to it being a rare asian from denver.

That's all about my trip for now. Maybe more later.