Thursday, December 31, 2009

Cousin Xiao Zhen and all the food + shopping we had...

My cousin Xiao Zhen came to visit us during X-mas break. I took days off to go around places with her, but I think we just kinda ended up shopping and eating most of the time....Here is a brief photo collections with things we did....

For the 1st few meals Xiao Zhen forgot to even take her camera out when she was excited eating Chinese food here, so the photos here started from the little Tokyo short trip. We went there to get those red bean cakes....


We also took her to look at those giant ugly X-mas trees at San Marino....

And then we had dim sum....Did I look like I was tired eating so much here?

Went to Santa Monica one day. We were supposed to go sailing but then the weather was bad for several days....so we ended up shopping and walking around Santa Monica....


Went to Griffth Park for night view as well, but her camera couldn't really get any good night shots. So here is a photo of the moon, INSIDE of the observatory....

Went to Rodeo Dr. for window shopping, and went to the famous "pretty woman" hotel for restroom visit...lol


Also took her to Kodak theater....

and took her to Ramen....

For the last day we had whole bunch of xian bing and dumplings plus some side dishes for lunch...and then her last shopping site was the Citadel outlet :)

So I think I just proved myself that her trip was a shopping and eating trip. lol....I had fun with her stay of one week though :)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Is it X-mas yet???

It's almost X-mas, and I have no photos to update really....Hades had kept me quite busy with his shots, messed up eating schedule, and also waking up in the middle of nights. I am hoping one day he can be cured and stop all the shots, but I don't know when the day will come. I guess if he remains this way, then it will virtually be impossible to ask someone to take care of him if we want to go somewhere and travel....This is a very good reminder of how life would be when you have kids who you cannot just get rid of any time you want....

Few days ago I suddenly had this urge to listen to my ancient "tape" recordings from high school and early USC years...I have to say it's hard to deal with past memories, especially when the past was better than the current. I guess it's a blessing to be a talented person, but then it's even better when one stays humble so there is always room to grow....Now listening to the tapes I realize why I get frustrated with my students, and yet when I was younger I never thought I was good enough. I guess I still never think I am good enough even today. I know when I am BETTER than others, but then somehow I can never reach the place where I want to be in life. I wonder if that trait of me makes myself suffer at times. Nothing is good enough, and everything is just not perfect. I sometimes wonder if I really know what I am looking for. One thing I know though, is I am never completely satisfied....There is good, and there is better.....and yet....it's virtually impossible to reach the "best".

For some reason I still think my high school years are the best years of my life. I was trapped in this little town out of nowhere, and the closest supermarket would take us a whole hour to walk there. We had nothing to do since there was snow almost half of the year, but yet we had so much to do cuz school was just fun. That just sounds kinda odd I know. School was fun??? I don't get it either, and I didn't even really pay attention to whatever people were doing. I was so concentrated in what I wanted to do I just enjoyed the challenges and competitions. I must be one weird kid back then....didn't think relationships were imp, didn't think friendships were all that necessary, and yet was able to enjoy those years for no particular reasons. I guess being stimulated by all means was imp to me?

It's odd to write about old memories when it's almost X-mas. I don't remember when was the last time I saw snow during X-mas. I remember those days when the weather was freezing and we made snow angels on the ground for no reason. I remember being trapped in the basement of my violin teacher's house so I could only practice during X-mas break....and then of course there were X-mas that I was working hard and touring in diff. countries with the band. There were the X-mas songs we tried to weave into our programs when we tour at the end of those years. None of those X-mas was really all that relaxing and comfortable, and yet I think I enjoyed those more compared to these boring Christmases for the recent years. I wonder if this comes with age....

Anyway.....it's almost X-mas, and I am heading to finish teaching my worst student of the week. I am pretty sure I should feel a lot by the time I get home again this afternoon.....

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Hades and his diabetes......

Ok...I guess the most dramatic thing that happened for the past few weeks is related to Hades. He started drinking a lot of water, peeing a lot, eating a lot, and then lost weight in a fast speed...So I kinda got worried and suspected that he had diabetes. Finally took him to the vet last Fri, got all kinds of tests on him, only to prove my own diagnosis was right...Hades now needs to get two shots of insulin everyday, with 12 hours interval. We are also trying to see if we can change his diet to canned food so he can stay away from the addictive dry food which probably got him the diabetes to start with.

For the 1st few days, Hades seemed to be ok with the shots. Nevertheless he found out what the needle is all about and then started to run away from the shots last night and tonight. I am hoping this is not gonna get harder and harder since it will probably be too hard to ask anyone to take care of him for us, and then it will be impossible for us to travel with his conditions. The home blood glucose monitoring system is supposed to arrive in the mail next week. I wonder if he will even let us take any blood samples judging from the way he is running away from his shots. I also haven't been sleeping well cuz he wakes me up in the middle of the night wanting to eat his dry food. I had to hide his dry food and get up to feed him canned food 3 or sometimes around 5 in the morning. I guess raising a kid is indeed difficult, especially a sick one....

Anyway....still hoping this expensive cat is going to get better gradually. He has been through a lot in his life, and most of the time I probably caused his emotional stress. I am hoping his old age years will be smooth for him even with the diabetes. Ok...here are various photos collected from summer all the way till Nov. Various people took the photos and I guess I have two cute cats that make people want to take photos of them....

Here are photos of Hades...



Photos of Mintie....





Photos of them together when Hades is in good mood and does not mind Mintie next to him....



Here are some Mintie's "salon" pictures.....My student said it looks like I took her to a photo studio to take these photos....lol