Silver linings...

This is a silly story, but it makes me laugh enough to share it on here so I don't forget it.

Last Wednesday was just a series of unfortunate events for me. The bf had jury duty, and I was going to give him a ride. To start his day off right, I made some coffee. Well... I was a little too impatient with the French Press and the coffee erupted, making a nice hot (literally) mess all over the counter. After I dropped him off, I decided that a change of scenery would be nice, so I went to Balboa Park to wait for the traffic to die down.

Balboa Park

I took a nice stroll around, people watched and drank some of the coffee that I put in my to go mug. After I got back to my car, I saw a ticket on the windshield. Now... did I read the sign that said "No parking on Wednesdays until after 10am"? Yes... did I comprehend that it was a Wednesday and that I shouldn't park there... apparently not, because I had a fat ticket on my windshield. What an expensive trip to the park! And I didn't even get to ride a ride or get any ice cream! Sigh...

When I got home, still frustrated, I made lunch, and if you haven't already seen the pattern... I ended up dropping part of it too. It seems like the kitchen was begging for a cleaning that day!

only shot I got before heading home

Since the bf was already downtown, he tasked me with finding a place for happy hour since he'd already be downtown. I picked King and Queen Cantina which was pretty close for him. My luck generally got a little better, as I found a parking spot within 2 blocks of the restaurant. I get there and it's a cute open place on the corner. That's all fine and dandy, but it was a FRIGID evening! With the wind, it was easily in the high 40s and 50s. And come on now... I'm a SoCal girl. That is COLD for me! It was more of an "unhappy hour" to me as we were trying to warm up.

We thought about taking a walk after dinner since we were already down there, but after a few minutes, we said SCREW THIS! and headed home.

Ok, so... I know... so far this post has no silver lining. It's coming, I promise! I digress!

So, I didn't pay the ticket right away. After a few days, I looked up the url and saw that they were going to charge a $4 "convenience fee" if I paid via credit card. Come on son! If I paid with a check (remember those things? where you write out how much you want to pay someone in actual words as well as numbers and sign your name?!), it would only cost me a check and postage, so I took that option since I was already basically throwing money down the toilet and didn't want to add a few more $ to it.

The post office near me is close to a somewhat fancy supermarket that gives weekly coupons to get you in the store. This week's coupon was a free tuna handroll. I figured that I could drop it off and get a snack since I was out anyway.

[As a side note, I like to walk as often as I can and during my walks I like to listen to podcasts. My friend told me about The Read and I decided to take it for a spin during this trip. It can be somewhat offensive but it is HYSTERICAL (to me anyway).]

After the drop off, I proceed to the market, listening to the podcast, laughing most of the way. I was listening to a really old episode and they were talking about Scandal and some other random things. I get to the sushi counter and see that they had sample sushi, so naturally, I took a piece, regretting I didn't take one more. haha

My "senior discount" look

I looked at the selection and decided to just get 2 tuna handrolls, not only for cost effectiveness but also because the quantity would be just right.

I take my purchases to the front where there is no line at the registers. I stop the podcast, put my items on the belt and handed her the coupon. She took the coupon, scanned something else that still gave me the discount, and offered me a free piece of chocolate. Feeling generous, she slapped down another so that each of my handrolls had a piece on top. We had some fun banter and then she pointed to where the condiments were. I thanked her and told her to have a wonderful day.

I decided to eat there. My walk home was only 10 min, but why bother when there were inviting empty tables right there?

I got my stuff, resumed the podcast and ate my tuna handrolls. The podcast was cracking me up and at times I was choking in between bites, so I had to be careful! As I was sitting there, chewing on my food and shaking from laughter, I decided to take a look at the receipt. I couldn't believe what I saw! She gave me an extra SENIOR discount of 10%! HAHAHAHA

I didn't take a picture of how I was looking at that moment, but this photo will sum it up.

I had to laugh, because shoot, 10% discount on top of a BOGO sushi deal on top of FREE chocolate! What a great day! Now how's THAT for a silver lining?!

“Which way you ought to go depends on where you want to get to...” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Happy New Year!

Holy cow, how did 2019 get here so darn fast? I remember 2018 like it was just a few weeks ago!... (ha, bad joke!) I swear I say this every year. 

View of Mannheim from Ludwigshafen

Anyway, I've made a personal tradition of making a "Year in Review" post to  remember what happened each year. I'm sure when I'm older and my memory starts to fade, I'll appreciate that I did this for myself. 

Not that long ago, I heard something to the effect that podcasts are people talking to themselves, because no one was listening. In a lot of ways, I feel this is true of my blog as well, but I'm totally ok with that. I am not complaining. I don't advertise anything and on occasion, I will post the link up when I've written something, but heck, even I forget to look at it!

I won't lie and say that life always been amazing and wonderful, especially in this last year, but I CAN say that I feel gratitude for the ups and downs that made me grow and learn more about myself , for better or worse. I'm a perpetual work in progress, what can I say?

Here are some of the highlights of 2018:

Travel: 

1.  A two week sailing adventure on the Atlantic. Ok, so maybe it was more motoring through the ICW, but still... (To read more about it, you can go here). 

2.  Mammoth for snowboarding in brand new gear! (Translation: I'm obligated to continue with that sport for at least another 5 to 10 years, my body willing!) 

3.  Road trip to the Bay area to see old friends, meet new additions to the family, see the coast and a castle

4.  Crossed the pond to explore some of Europe (post will be coming soon-ish) 

Literary journey:

After grad school, I've made a point to read more for enjoyment. It was something I had always done as a kid, and it's still very fulfilling, especially when the storytelling is as good as the story itself. I highly recommend those with a *; those with a + are worth a read as well imho.

Books read:

1.  The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon - David Grann+

2.  The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman

3.  The Color Purple - Alice Walker*

First mate aboard the SV Improvise

4.  A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea - Masaji Ishiakawa, Risa Kobayashi, Martin Brown*

5.  Uglies - Scott Westerfield

6.  Pretties - Scott Westerfield

7.  Specials - Scott Westerfield

8.  Extras - Scott Westerfield

9.  Feast: True Love in and out of the Kitchen - Hannah Howard*

10. A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki

11. Never Stop Walking: A Memoir of Finding Home Across the World - Christina Rickardsson, Tara F. Chace+

12. The Thinnest Air - Minka Kent

13. The Last Black Unicorn - Tiffany Haddish

14. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins+

15. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood - Trevor Noah*

16. China Rich Girlfriend - Kevin Kwan

17. Rich People Problems - Kevin Kwan

18. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood+

19. The Princess Diarist - Carrie Fisher+

20. I Know Who I Am,  But What Are You? - Samantha Bee

As you can tell, I got into a few book series. They were mostly very fast reads, so it was easy to just keep going. Some were young adult series, some were not, but all were entertaining to some degree.

Jason Mraz

Concerts: 

Didn't get to many this year, but I had a blast at the ones I attended. Although I enjoy music, I've never been one to find anything outside of what's on the radio. It's nice to have people around me who can't stand pop and introduce me to other things non-mainstream. (e.g. #1 and #3, though I just saw #3 on SNL!!)

1. St. Vincent

2.  Jason Mraz

3. Courtney Barnett

Theatre: This was more entertaining that I thought it would be. :)

Spamalot

Kreativitee:

I restarted Hump Day Haikus in 2018. This time, I also included "photokus" and "paintingkus" to my "sketchku" repertoire. The first year I did this, back in 2015, I had a ton of ideas and my drawing skills improved. It was a great project, and one that I'll never forget.

I needed less pressure so that it would still be fun. And hopefully not redundant. In any case, to take a look at those, you can go here or here.

Radio shows/ podcasts:
Over the last year, I've discovered some things to listen to while I'm taking walks, hikes or going to the gym. Storytelling is as old as time and man, do these guys do it well! Here are some of my favorite:
1. This American Life
2. Serial
3. Lore
4. Modern Love
5. The Mortified Podcast
6. The Moth

The present:

As for 2019, I'm going to steal a phrase that my good friend often uses... 

I'm "cautiously optimistic" that it will continue to bring with it great opportunities for growth and everything else that life throws at you.