puppy shopping

I'd like this puppy in the window, please. (also available in desktop)

I've been dog shopping lately, and I was so excited all week to see a Westie this weekend (see extremely heart-melting puppy above), except somewhere along the way, I thought about buying from a breeder vs. adopting from the shelter, and the shelter won out. (btw, what do you think about the whole adopt vs. buy thing? Animals at the shelter obviously need a good home so much more, but if no one buys the puppies, don't they end up there too? ) 

So today, we went to the SPCA and I met the cutest little standard poodle mix - and we can take her home on Tuesday if we want her. She's the most charming little Benji-looking pup with a slight shagginess about her. The slightly ruffled-looking ones always get me... so cross your fingers that I'll be updating my blog with a new companion on Tuesday! 

I'm going green(er)!

From the Threadless Earth Day T-Shirt Challenge

How do you celebrate Earth Day? In honor of the holiday I'm evaluating my non-green habits and pledging to improve on them this year. So, to observe this year, I will:

1. Make a habit of taking my reusable grocery bags to the grocery store. They're in the car anyway, I need to stop being lazy/forgetting and go back to get them!

2. Carpool to work with dad whenever possible. Built-in pro: I won't oversleep my alarm.

3. Plant more vegetables in the garden this weekend. Flowers are nice and all, but since I've discovered that our garden is capable of growing monster zucchini, why not put that soil to work?

4. Start a compost pile. I've been meaning to do this -- now is the time!

5. Support more small and local businesses. I've been trying to do this more since Christmas shopping last year, but it's tricky sometimes with all those big box stores everywhere!

I've already started on #s 2, 3 and 5. Now it's time to establish these all as habits!!

EARTH, I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU! (hey, everyone only has to do their part - how are you saving Earth this year?)

something to remember

From The Great Chase by Natasha Noveski

The latter, I've found, is the story of life after college. Why wait for an adventure to come find you when you can embark on one yourself? Sometimes, you just have to close your eyes and jump in. (and hope for the best)

roses

Guess who got a surprise delivery at work yesterday? 

that's right, me!! 

What is it about red roses that spell out love and romance? Pink, yellow or white roses are just not the same. Counting down the days until I visit Wilson-- 3 more days! Thanks for the wonderful surprise, can't wait to see you!! 

one day...

I will see the Aurora Borealis. 

Photo from National Geographic, taken in Norway

Imagine looking up and seeing the northern lights above you-- just staring at the picture puts me in awe.    

(By the way, there is nothing more awe-inspiring than looking at NatGeo photos. It makes me want to drop everything i'm doing and go see the world. LIFE magazine issues, too.)

wanderlust

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

- St. Augustine

Photo source

Hong Kong

Seeing as I was 12 the last time I visited, I wasn't sure what to expect this time (don't even get me started on Macau). I remember a blur of lights, noise (mostly unintelligible cantonese), good food and good shopping, but nothing specific. Gosh what a waste, remind me never to take my kids traveling until they're in high school. This time around though, it was almost an overwhelming of the senses, where every experience is sharpened because it is familiar, but at the same time not.

This is how they deliver vegetables?

Bartholomew in front of Victoria Park (equivalent of NYC's Central Park)

First off, I don't speak cantonese. And I certainly don't read chinese, which puts me at a huge disadvantage when it comes to bargaining at night markets (very important), communicating with my aunts and uncles (so I can tell them about my exciting life back home and how much I have grown - and NOT physically- since they last saw me), and finding my way around the maze-like roads (when i'm not risking my life looking lef-right-left). Unlike Europe, where life is like a pretty picture and things just seem to fit into the landscape (maybe I'm just used to westernized culture?), Hong Kong is full of interruptions. It's colorful, bright, and loud-- not just the language. Buildings are so tall you can't see the end of them, and people live in such close quarters its really quite claustrophobic. People are everywhere, ants moving from place to place, just like in those fast-forward clips of Times Square in Tokyo.

Hong Kong at night

And the food-- it's like the chinese food you find in LA, except hyped up on steriods, better than you thought your dimsum/chow mein/roast duck experience could ever get! Flavors and textures of foods I grew up with are more refined - and also foreign, in a way, to what I know. I've discovered that there really are gourmet chinese restaurants, not the hole-in-the-wall places in LA that seem to have questionable preparation methods (eat, don't question). Don't get me wrong, still still have that in Hong Kong, but at the same time you can buy lunch for less than $3 USD. Clean, elegant restaurants with fishing boats hanging from the ceiling, better soup dumplings than din tai fung (not to mention the people in the window making them are actually Chinese), and tastefully hung paintings. Who woulda thunk?

  The best duck I have ever had!!

dim sum-- it looks the same as the stuff here, but it certainly doesn't taste like it.

Shop selling lots of dried goods that I would never eat.

Dear Mr. Jones,

There is a limit to practicing your right to free speech and at some point, it is better to shut up and keep it to yourself. Such an example is Mr. Jones, the pastor in Florida that wants to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of September 11. I think that this man is an absolute idiot, and it makes me shake with anger and frustration that he would endanger the lives of others in order to prove his own point. Watching the news last night, I wished that I could have the ability and power to prevent him from what he’s about to do- talk sense into him, shake him, whatever.


At this point, embassies around the world are on the alert for any violent activity that might occur as a result of this Koran-burning. So are our troops. I’m perfectly fine with people expressing their opinions, but it is when other people are at the risk of getting hurt at that expense when a line needs to be drawn. Mr. Jones, our troops and overseas representatives cannot die to prove your little point- they are already risking their lives to fight this war. Burning Korans will do more harm than good-- terrorists are already blowing up people and buildings without you aggravating the situation even more! There are so many people still hurting from September 11, but outright disrespect for another religion is not going to help solve anything. Unless you are willing to stand at the forefront of your opinions, burning the Korans yourself in front of a mosque in Afghanistan surrounded by Islamic extremists, don’t do it. And don’t you dare make our troops and overseas representatives pay for the consequences of your foolish actions.

emerging adult, or overgrown adolescent? neither.

The New York Times recently published this article discussing the recent emergence of a new category of quasi-adulthood, or "emerging adulthood," which puts the whole (unemployed) college-graduated 20-somethings living at home status under examination. It explains research about how the mind is still developing into its 20s, and how the embodiment of our age group has transformed drastically in the last decade or so. For example, the article states that today's 20-somethings


"reach the milestones [marks of adulthood] completely out of order, advancing professionally before committing to a monogamous relationship, having children young and marrying later, leaving school to go to work and returning to school long after becoming financially secure." 


So we aren't becoming the cookie-cutter adults we're supposed to be as quickly as in the past. (Minus the fact that I didn't need to read 10 pages to find out) But does this really merit a completely new category of psychological development as discussed in the Times? Is the 20-something group so different from the 'real adults' that we need a category of 'emerging adulthood,' which is really just another way of saying an 'overgrown adolescence'? 


I don't think so. 


Yes, there may be proof of continuing brain development in the prefrontal cortex that change as we move closer to achieving or deciding on life paths, but those who endorse a new category of adulthood don't have their bases completely covered. 20-somethings today who choose to move home, marry later, return to school, or do whatever they want as opposed to join the real world, do so because they choose to. Choose is the key word. If necessary, they would have to settle on a path that would lead them to a more stable 'journey' to adulthood. The fact is that today many college graduates don't have to, so they put it off. 


For example, if my parents kicked me out of the house today, forget the castle in the air idea I have of becoming an editor... any odd job that will pay my way will have to do. Maybe I sound like a hypocrite, stating there's no "emerging adulthood" stage when i'm possibly in it, but my point is that in the appropriate situation, I would face reality and grow up. 20-somethings are not incapable of getting a grip on reality and dealing with it. We're old enough to make decisions and deal with the consequences, as people our age have been doing for centuries. 


This "emerging adulthood" (that is emerging primarily in developed nations, by the way) is the product of culture. Its happening whether we like it or not, but my point is that this new 'milestone' in life doesn't necessarily merit its own clinical psychological category. We're programmed to respond to our culture and environment, and here's where it has brought us. Take away any security blanket and see how the normal human reacts-- get a job and move on with life, right? No new brain connection developments needed.

books or ebooks?

photo credits

The first thing I see when you walk into Barnes & Noble is a booth selling the Nook or Kindle. Reading ebooks has become extremely popular, especially since you can access them on your ipod, itouch, phone, or whatever portable electronic device you carry around, but I don't think convenience can ever replace the real thing. Similar to how the music industry suffered from illegal downloading and mp3s, the print industry is now suffering from digitalized access, and I personally think its a shame. Staring at my laptop screen as I eat Sunday brunch with my family (in a restaurant, no less) seems ridiculous, whereas reading them in paper form is our weekend ritual. I spent a large portion of my childhood reading at the dinner table and reading as I walked home from school (no joke)-- I don't think the habit would have been as easily acceptable if my eyes were glued to a screen of some sort (I was deprived video games as a kid on the premise that it would ruin my eyes. How futile-- I probably ruined them anyway by reading in bed.). 

But really, a kindle that is stuffed to the terabytes with books can't be the same as browsing shelves of books, smelling the old-bookish smell, and reading them on the swing in the backyard. I don't think convenience is the reason that kids camp out each year for the newest Harry Potter book. What's a little electronic file to the cracked spines of some well-loved books? The thickness and weight of a good book in your hands is completely separate from the device that you use daily to schedule appointments or check your emails. Its the ticket to an adventure you can choose for yourself, separate from the daily clutter in life. It's the reason I continue to tuck books in my purse and fill my bookshelf to its double-stacked edges, and I don't plan on stopping.