Surfing Alone...

I went surfing on my own today... I guess you could count it as a 'bad day' (even though I'm always happy when I can go surfing). My friend overslept and stood me up... I got flipped over tons of times by the scary waves today... it was cold... and I think I got stung by something on my foot... possibly a sea urchin or sting ray. I was in pain for a while and my tummy was also not feeling too good. To comfort myself... I went to my favorite cafe at mission beach on my own... (see www.olivecafe.biz) and got a 'Keep it simple' and a Cafe Mocha. I was still having abdominal pain and nausea after that, so took the bus back to the house.

I felt much better when I got back. The bite on my foot has disappeared so I guess that's the end of it. :D

I still had fun today. Lotsa really good surfers out there today. Tried to keep out of their way (but you know how clumsy I am... on land ... and worse on my board). It was really exciting watching them :) plus... the surf rental I went to today charged me only $15 for renting a board and a wetsuit for 2 hours. The last time I went to them, they charged me $20 and usually I get it at the cheapestm, $18 from another surf shop. hehe I'm not complaining.

sUnSet... All's Well That Ends Well...

this was taken at a spot near my new place last Sunday. I decided to watch the sunset and wait there for a friend to come pick me up, to go see a Shakespeare play at the Old Globe in Balboa Park. I had a book with me (which I ended up reading only 4 pages of), and a Star Bucks Kopi-O (i.e. Black Coffee with Sugar).

鸟石 i.e. Bird Rock (Pictures)

This is my sole form of transport to UCSD. :p And the blue sign says 'Bird Rock'

This is the path that leads to my new home.

Yah... there is a door (thought I showed it since it was not evident in the last photo)

My street. I identify the house when its dark at night, using 'OBAMA' across the street.

I took some pictures when I went jogging this morning. There is no sandy beach here, but there are rocky cliffs and breath-taking views of the ocean. I saw some people bringing their surf boards here... but it look pretty scary to me without a sandy beach to be washed shore on. Maybe I might not surf here.




Do you see the person in the middle of the ocean (little dot on top right quadrant of photo). He/She is on a punt-like thingy. The boat part looks like a surf board and he/she moves him/her-self with a pole/oar. I always see people doing that when I go surfing, but have no idea what it is. I will try and find out.

These pictures are of the street where I wait for my bus. :)

Starbucks across the street

The French Pastry Cafe... mmm mmm.
hmmm will check this place out.

There is actually breakfast at my new place 7 days a week! Cereal, toast, peanut butter, jam, coffee, and a fruit basket with rock melon, bananas, grapefruit, etc. Gosh what more can I ask for. There are even place mats to eat on, and a tray if you would like to bring your breakfast back to the room. There are bowls of 3 different sizes (S, M, L) and the cutlery in the drawers are arranged in perfect order of type and size. I think I'm going to be very happy here.

鸟石 i.e. Bird Rock, La Jolla

I've moved out of my cozy home at La Jolla Village Drive. Irene helped me move out. I felt a little bit of despair at having to leave. I don't know why. It's not as if I've stayed in the same place for more than 9 months in the past few years. I even felt the urge to go home early last night, after testing participants till late, just to go home, sit in the kitchen for a bit, and play the piano...

I've settled myself 3.2 miles away from school :p in BIRD ROCK, LA JOLLA. Right by the beach, near a surf shop, starbucks, a french pastry cafe (oooh hooo!!!) but 30 minutes on the bus to get to school at back. Irene went on and on about how silly I am to move to such a 'faraway' place. She's kindly offered me her place millions of times, but I felt it would not be convenient as she is not living on her own. Plus recent events made me feel like I really needed to find a place on my own.

My new place is like a guesthouse. :) I get towels, bed linen, breakfast and dinner is served Mondays to Thursdays and all utilities are included. There is even a grand piano for me to play, and a big screen tv I can hopefuly catch the season 3 premiere of Heroes next monday (if I come back in time from testing). I am going to enjoy myself here.

I will take more pictures of the area tomorrow, when there is light.

SURFING!!!

The ocean was relatively calm today. It gave me the chance to paddle out from the shore further than I usually would. (sometimes the on coming waves and wind are so strong I could be paddling on the spot for 15 mins, and would still be so near the shore, it's embarrassing.) Being further out in the ocean was pretty cool. The ocean felt so big and vast. I could see flocks of pelicans diving in and out of the water. I would have paddled towards them, but I thought... I had a wave to catch ;p Too bad I can never be able to take a picture of that sight.

While the ocean calmer today, there would be intermittent series of little waves (as a teaser) and then an occasional big wave. For a beginner like me, there were 2 possible outcomes of experiencing such a wave.

1. NOSE DIVE - I do catch the wave beneath my board and I would be elevated with the height of the wave. However, by the time the wave breaks, the distance between my board and the surface of the water would be large enough to cause my board to drop head-down and get tossed into the water, with me tumbling right after it (think washing machine :p)

2. BIG MISS - I would still be paddling out to the ocean and then the big wave would come. I would be caught off guard, and even if I saw it coming, I would be defenseless against that formidable force and get washed back to shore. All my time and effort attempting to paddle out into the open would then be wasted.

Still, I did catch a few decent rides :) I rented a shorter foam board today and did not really have the control to actually stand up, but I was balancing a bit on the board in the knelt down position. It is such an exhilarating feeling when the wave propels your board forward and you feel that stability in your board for you to be in a position other than lying flat on your tummy. Makes me happy :)

anyway... like I said I haven't been taking photos. But I did find some photos my surfing classmate took for us. :) from April. Thank you Y. :D because I don't look very good in most of the ones with the board, I 'give you' a photo of a surf board similar to what I used, along with my 2 instructors :p

And this is one of my and Y. with our hair in a mess after surfing. man... I have lately tried to tie my hair in a manner such that my hair does not get in my view when I catch a wave. It never works. :( My hair still gets messed up so much and the worse thing is that my hair bands come loose and get lost in the ocean. I have lost so many of my hair bands that I only have one left for daily use. Something to add to my list of things to replenish. sigh...

C-O-F-F-E-E :p (a song I learnt in primary school)

C-o-f-f-e-e, coffee is not for me,
It's a drink some people wake up with,
That it makes them nervous is no myth,
Slaves to a coffee cup, they can't give coffee up.

http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/usa/coffee.htm

hmmm I don't know how to tell you the melody.

Chopadi - Culture versus Cruelty

My sister has just given birth to her first daughter 9 days ago. She is now in the comfort of our house, under the care of my mother, observing the traditional chinese custom of confinement after birth, for 1 whole month (zuo yue). She is supposed to have lotsa rest, eat lotsa restorative foods, not do any strenous work. She cannot go out of the house so as to avoid wind/draft and any disease causing sources. Her sole responsibility is to nurse the new-born and besides that most things are taken care of for her. The end of the confinement period will then be marked by a celebration of the first month of the baby with gift distributed to family and friends. The birth of the child is marked with joy and happiness, and the welfare of the mother is of great priority.

What caught my attention when I was listening to the bbc this morning was a report on Chopadi, a traditional practice in Nepal whereby women are expelled from their home for 11 days after childbirth, and for all post-pubescent women, during their monthly periods. The post-natal or menstruating woman is thought to be 'unclean' and is thus ignored by family members during this confinement period. When these women, right after childbirth, should be needing nutritious food, warmth and comfort, many are cooped up in dark damp windowless sheds and exposed to harsh weather elements. Many of these mothers die of pneumonia and conditions that arise from these severe living conditions.

It is inconceivable to me how such a maladaptive custom can survive for so long through the ages. It sounds as if it would be a major cause of mortality in women of child-bearing age and their infants ( who would probably be best cared for by their mothers). If not thinking in terms of the impact on individual women, should not there be devastating effects on the health of the nepalese population as a whole. So should not the society have self-correctted such self-inflicted damage on itself by slowly abolishing this custom? It is also shocking how this difference in culture could mean life or death for women after child-birth.

The Nepalese government has just passed a law banning the custom. So that is definitely good news. But it sounds like this custom is deeply ingrained in the largely patriarchal nepalese society. hopefully time would make a change.

go see
http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/247/GuestColumn/267
(anyone has other sources of information on this?)

A BIG FAT POST!

Dear Blog,

I apologize for being away for so long. I don't know what has come over me. :( I've been thinking of you all the time though. Well the important thing is that I'm here now and I will again try to maintain posting something every one or two weeks :p

I am still in San Diego, and will be till the end of October. Here's a list of happenings in my life since my last post, not in any particular order.

• I lost my enthusiasm for photography (and my camera case). The last photo I took was in June when I went to Los Angeles. I'll put some photos up at the end of this post. Most of the photos are with A (a new friend I met and a fantastic travel companion/ house-mate for 6 weeks). I went to LA and San Francisco with her.
• A and I went to 3 beaches in LA and SF over the Independence Day (July 4th) weekend. I watched a community parade at Palisades and watched the fireworks at Venice Beach, in LA.
• I stopped eating rice almost for 1 month because I do not have my rice cooker with me and I got tired of boiling rice on the hob.
• I went to Hotel Coronado, Coronado Island, San Diego, where Marilyn Monroe shot the classic movie 'Some like it hot'.
• I was so angry that I was ready to knock someone's eyes out of their sockets
• I was so upset that I was drinking coffee everyday as my very odd way of dealing with the emotion. (I have since become a hardcore coffee addict. Thank goodness for the coffee machine in the lab, the coffee cart on my way from the bus stop to the lab, and for the past 2 days the $5 starbuck giftcard my labmate M shared with me, that she got from a nice man at the side of the road when he saw our car go by)
• I have found surfing buddies in my labmates K, M and M :D (I am still with my big blue foam board, but I'm standing up on my board longer each week ;>)
• I have been a part of the most number of friendly discussions about sex, these few months, compared to what I have ever had in my entire life. It's mostly me listening and others talking :p
• We had a bon fire by the beach, and I had a 'SMORE'. It was during a send-off for 2 of our endearing labmates who left the lab for greener pastures. A SMORE is melted marshmallows sandwiched by 2 chocolate-coated biscuits.
• I went to an Autism support group meeting one evening. I was so undecided about whether to go or not (as taking public transport meant I had to travel 1.5 hours to get there) that by the time I decided to go, I did not have time to take with me a map or a bus time-table. I could not find the venue at first and was lost walking up and down hills and valleys for 1 hour. I got there eventually and listened to an inspiring talk by a parent. But when it was time to go home I realized I had missed the last bus. Irene had to come rescue me. She drove down to get me. I had my first Carl's Junior burger (for 99cents ooo-hooo! and I need to try the one in Singapore) while I waited.
• I have decided that while asking 'why?' is essential for pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge, it is a waste of time for matters of the heart.
• I appreciated the beauty of the flora and fauna, and learnt about how life was like for a prisoner on ALCATRAZ, SF :p
• K made me get a 'tramp stamp' i.e. a lower back tattoo when K, E, M and I went to Wild Animal Park, San Diego. Don't worry it was a stick on, not a permanent one.
• I learnt a more authentic and efficient way of saying 'Vietnamnese Beef Noodles' -Phở (pronounced 'foa', sort of)
• I bought a hard rock cafe (SF) T-shirt because I was running out of clothes to wear :p
• I have not worn my glasses for 4 months after my housemate accidentally broke the frame when she stepped on it
• I really really need a hair cut but I only want to do it when I go back to Singapore
• I played chinese chess after not having done so for a long time. I won one game against W but lost to the arrogant Doctor :p
• 2 guys younger than me caught my attention everytime they appeared :p (The Chinese Gymnast Captain Chen Yibing and Michael Phelps).
• I watched 'The Dark Knight' at 12am on the opening day!!! I was well impressed with the script despite being half asleep
• I made egg fried rice :p
• I had freshly caught yellowfin tuna sashimi with Irene. Her dad caught them when he went on a fishing trip :p

and LAST but the MOST MOST MOST IMPORTANT!!!!

my dear sister gave birth to little Kai Xuan on the 31st of August (Father's Birthday too)! CONGRATULATIONS!

might post some pictures of her when my sister and brother in law sends them to me.

oki dok, I'll now leave you with some photos I took in LA and SF.

The La Brea Tar Pits; An amazing archaelogical site smack in the middle of LA. Holds asphalt/tar/oil residue that preserves animal remains from the ice age :p

Sabre tooth Cat Skulls

HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD!!!

The Grauman's Chinese Theatre (where lotsa hollywood movie premieres are held)

Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive (where the rich and famous live)

There was a car show on that day. :p