*1294 - whole

As hard as the heart tries to clutch on desperately, ultimately the mind which can look further than just the immediate guides the way.  Mildly at ease but in great turmoil at the same time.  There will be calm once both halves reconcile.

*1293 - home

SF this past week. New Orleans for a long weekend with the girls. Bentonville for the final stretch: 2.5 weeks. As then home for three!

It's been too long, life has been tumultuous, I'm looking forward to the familiar stability of family and old friends.

*1292 - parsleyed eggs

- I once made a fried egg for a buddy in college some 5 years ago, and put parsley on it
- I typically do not put parsley on my fried eggs, nor do most people (I believe)
- I just found out that he's been putting parsley on his fried eggs ever since

This really cracked me up.

But reminded me of how the tiniest things you encounter in life can change you, or how the tiniest things you may do might affect someone else in a miniscule way--but it can all add up.  Surround ourselves with positive, loving people, and isolate (at least mentally) from negative, harmful ones, because anything can rub off.

*1292 - walls (literally)

There is this one wall in my AR apartment that compells me to do a handstand against it whenever I walk near it.

I was pondering my motivation behind that when I remembered there was this one wall in my Green Meadows room that compelled me to do a scorpion stretch every time I was close to it.

There are worse things to habitually do--in fact, I might have to start training myself feel compelled to do a full body workout routine by the time I walk from one end of the apartment to the other.  Squats by this floor lamp, side splits by that table ...

*1291 - CNY

This year, I did more Chinese New Year-related activities than I have in years.  (I think I plain missed it last year by accident.)

By that, I mean I did two whole things:

Activity 1: Dinner with a table-ful of Chinese people
Honestly felt out of place even though I had a couple of good friends flanking me because the rest of the table was speaking in full out richly accented Chinese and as a result I was understanding 20% of what was going on.  Testament to how you can study Chinese for 12 years but not be able to converse due to lack of real-life application outside of the classroom now and while growing up.  I might have to hire Chinese people to talk to my future babies in Mandarin so they don't get afflicted with this monolingual handicap.  I wish I could re-learn now but I'm too embarrassed; it's a vicious circle because I'm embarrassed that I don't know how to speak Chinese.

Anyway.

Activity 2: Pineapple tarts
I used this recipe: http://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-pineapple-tarts

Most effortful part: cutting up the pineapples.

 

So ugly but delicious:

We made some even uglier open-faced ones--they really do look ugly if you don't use a mould to stamp out the pastry bases!  Homemade pineapple tarts are decadent and delicious but only on Day 2 onwards.  Somehow, they were only just okay freshly baked.

So there you go.  My modest little Chinese New Year!