April 14, 2008
Me biked to Victoria over the weekend. Me liked it very much. Me discovered just how cute baby goats and kids are. Me just fell in love with their unguarded view of a joyful world.
Victoria has always seem so … well, English. But having spent the weekend there, I’d have to say I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it! Blissful charm.
April 6, 2008
so we just hold on fast, acknowledge the past
as lessons exquisitely crafted
painstakingly drafted
to carve us as instruments that play the music of life
for we don’t realize, our faith in the prize
unless it’s somehow been elusive
how swiftly we choose it
this sacred simplicity of you at my side
— vienna teng
March 26, 2008
I love storms. Having spent a large part of my youth in the big flat prairies, I especially love watching storm clouds. Anywhere with an open road and me inside the warmth and dry of a car, and rain coming down like brush painting across the plains.
I miss those days when that big sky was forever.
March 21, 2008
To explain the dearth of posting activity lately, let me just say that yours truly have just survived the infamous norovirus. And because I want to keep my friends and not turn off strangers, let me not go into the graphic details of this battle. Look instead at this CDC link for more information on this nasty little bugger.
I will say however, that it came very suddenly and quickly. For the last 3 days, I have been confined to the living room and bathroom and have ingested for the most part, only Gatorade. Gatorade provides the electrolytes so crucial in rehydrating oneself after …
Oh, and E is sick with the same nasty little bugger.
We’re finally feeling a little better today and to celebrate, I made chicken congee! Yay, solid food! Simple and tasty! No more orange, red and green Gatorade!
This one is made in the slow cooker (yay, no need to watch!) with jasmine rice, organic chicken broth, lean organic chicken meat, fresh ginger and sesame oil. Added a bit of Marmite to it too, it’s a trick my mom uses which E reminded me to do. Yumm.
For the last 3 days, I have been soooooo hungry. I’ve been craving deep-fried chili chicken wings and sushi, knowing fully I can’t have either. It sucked big time.
Now, fortified with this chicken congee for the soul, we can feel life again, yarrrrgggggghhhhh!
March 13, 2008
too far is next spring and her jubilant shout
so angels, inside
is the only way out
- vienna teng
March 10, 2008
My cat really likes dairy. Anything with milk, she’ll go for. Tea with milk, coffee with milk, yogurt, ice-cream, you name it. And this is one of her favourites: Papaya milk slushie with pearls, from Dragon Ball, the best place in Vancouver for bubble juices and teas.
March 7, 2008
Sweet is the day when all on the list is crossed off. For better or for worse, I am a multi-tasking demon. Burn rubber as I go. I slice and dice and walk and talk as the heavens fall.
This week -
Number 1 lesson: how to roll with the punches.
Number 2 lesson: how to fight fires with tenacity and humour. Simultaneously.
Number 3 lesson: how to be gentle and compassionate when picking up the pieces.
Number 4 lesson: no matter the difficulties of the day, one or more all-butter pecan chocolate chip cookie always fixes the pain.
No joke. It’s true. The cookie always fixes the pain.
March 3, 2008
clear open road
high alpine
pastel flowering crocuses
hoary marmots and pikas
oh, for the joy of busting out. what did joplin say, freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose … nothing, ain’t nothing if it ain’t free, oh yeah.
February 29, 2008
At 16, I wanted to be an airline hostess and travel the world. It seemed very glam.
At 17, I really wanted to be a journalist and travel the world. It seemed way more adventurous and I was already doing a lot of writing in high school. I wanted to tell stories, real stories as they happen.
At 18, I signed up for engineering. Mostly due to responsibility, imagined or otherwise. I was good in math and science and it was a good thing to fall back on.
At 21, I did travel for work. It wasn’t glam nor all that adventurous, but I did work on cool things like submarine detection software and military communication devices. It was a great fun life with little responsibility. I played softball after work, went on pub crawls, and generally did a lot of priviledged 21-year-old out-for-fun things with other priviledged twenty-somethings.
At 24, I travelled for work again. This time, to work on image processing control software for a prime European satellite. Life was good and the location was fantastic even though the trip was short. I had some of the best food in my life.
Meanwhile, my brother travelled the world a couple times over. Among many things, he doved in the Red Sea, camped in the Serengeti and saw Angkor Wat before the rest of the world even heard about it. Hey, what happened? Why wasn’t I doing that?
The answer was actually pretty simple. I couldn’t let go of the call to be a good Chinese daughter. I couldn’t bring myself to abandon what I didn’t love doing in the first place.
It took a few good years to let that go.
Now, it feels like I’ve come full circle. With the help of my loving better half, I’ve dropped the hi-tech jobs and managed to squeeze in the kind of travelling that I’d always wanted to do, on less money. Food has become a huge part of my life and work. Photography is training my brain again to think of stories in a way a journalist might.
Sadly, I’m now too old to be an airlines hostess. Then again, motion sickness would get in the way. So in god’s will and in the end, I supposed it all worked out. 
February 28, 2008
Come to think of it, the grief is even more potent once the conflict within is resolved. Life, shi*ty as it can be at times. Yet I promise to find the zen to a homemade peace. You and I, we do well considering. This Saturday night, let’s drink to what has passed and pass our cheers to the next ride. What do they say? Let go and let god. So we do. We will.
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