Monday, December 31, 2007

Another New Year

It is the last night of 2007.
M and CL are watching live broadcast from NYC. I am in front of the computer doing my own thing. We are all in our pj's.

I have been in my pj's all day. My throat is sore and dry, mucus keeps running down my nose, my nose is as red as Rudolph's and bleeds when I rub it, my stomach is slightly hurting from too much coughing... Oh yeah, my coughing. It sounds coarse and long as if I am on the verge of loosing all my voice next. And also, the way my shoulder tensed up for half a minute and then let down when I cough requires so much of my energy that it makes me wonder if I am going to spit out all my guts. I can feel the tenseness coming from every piece of my vertebrates. If you have spent enough time with me before, you perhaps are familiar with what I just told you about me.

It is never fair: M caught the flu from his mom but recovered in 2 days. Then it was my turn. Today is the 3rd day and i am feeling worse.

It seems like it is my annual rituals now to get ill in January. Based on historical data, the flu will last for at least a week and my coughing will probably last for 1 month also. I will be considered lucky if I do not have to obtain Z-Pak from my doctor in 1 week or if my voice do not go away. It also seems like there is an atomic clock inside my body that activates my running nose and my headache due to sinus pressure every 4 hours precisely when Sudafed starts wearing off. As a result, I have to drug myself and let drowsiness take over me periodically.

I do not remember the last time my New Year's Eve was so quietly spent at home.

My New Year's Eve is not fun.
But I hope yours will be much better and exciting than mine.

Happy New Year to you. May all your dreams come true in the next year.


p.s. And I am just told that I have missed the countdown, where the crystal ball was dropped in NYC, since I was busy making a bowl of oatmeal in the kitchen.

- written by CY 1/1/08 00:55 a.m.

Friday, August 17, 2007

August 2007: Basement Construction 8/7-8/9


8/7 Here the footers are being formed to make the foundation for our home.


8/7 Even the locals - fawn, went to inspect the progress of the construction!


8/8 We have concrete! Footers are poured and ready for walls.






8/9 Perimeter drain and pea gravel fill installed.


Thursday, August 16, 2007

July 2007: Digging the Basement 7/31

The house was plotted in a difficult way to stake out. The builder and the foundation engineer spent 4 hours investigating how the plot was supposed to be. Finally they made progress in staking after having the floor engineer add more information to the drawing so that they could properly lay it out.

This was the first scoop of the dirt.

The weather was really hot and it was very dusty everywhere. At the end of the day, six hours to be exact, there were two big pile of dirt on the lot .......

and next to it, there was a big hole in the ground!

Here is the garage floor.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

July 2007: Lot Clearing 7/24

Warning: From now on, the house construction related blog will be very boring.
CY does not know much what to describe since the pictures will be pretty self-explanatory. M knows a lot more about the construction step-by-step process but we think the details will be too boring to most our readers. We are going to try our best to label the pictures.

7/24 12:49 Lot clearing in process.


The yellow equipment, nicknamed by CY as the "tree-eater-monster" was placed on site to "eat the tree". Trees and shrubs were fed into the equipment and was ground into mulch.

July 2007: Breaking Ground 7/16

"You mean the two kids who have 2 houses are homeless now?" asked Uncle John, shocked.

That's right!

We are building a new house, in a newer sub-division about 1 mile away from where we used to live.

Within the same week that we got rid of M's house, we broke ground at the new lot.



The lot from the main street.






7/16 A temporary driveway was put in.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

July 2007: Bye Bye, House!


July 15th, we bid our house goodbye!

M lived in this house for 6 years and 1 month. In the last 1 year, we spent our life together in this house after we got married.

We loved spending time on the deck in the wooded backyard;
In late spring, we liked to sit in the sun near the edge of the deck, doing whatever.
In early summer, we liked to sit in the shade, grilling, eating and drinking away.

Another of our favorite (Gus would agree to this) is the sliding door;
In the winter, Gus will spend all day staring through the glass door watching for signs of other critters. Any slight movements of any sort would not escape his eyes. He would normally growl so ferociously when he sighted any intruders.

I hope the birds in the backyard woods will miss us. M is always very generous about feeding the birds in the winter - we had 3 bird feeders! However, I think the squirrels would miss him more since they are so notorious about stealing birds' feed. In the summer, we normally feed the hummingbirds by the daylilies.

We will miss our yard, back deck, trees, cardinals, squirrels and chipmunks when we move into the little teenie weenie townhome.

At the same time, according to CY's-oh-so-optimistic-mom, "The new thing won't come if the old thing does not go".

I promise you, we are up to something!

Below pictures:
(left) Loading the little red truck to be sent to M's dad for repair.
(right) messy townhome!


June 2007: Asheville, NC Part II




M was tasked to be the activity planner for this trip since CY was taking on the same task for the next big trip. Yes, this household is all about 'equality' and 'partnership'.

We spent the first day at Chimney Rock Park. It is a privately owned park south Asheville, NC. The highlights of this location is the Chimney Rock, a big rock (monolith) standing by itself due to errosion. It stands 315-ft and the views from there is breathtaking.

We spent all day hiking all the trails. The ones at the higher elevations, namely the Skyline-Cliff Trail Loop were quite rugged and it took us about 2 hours to make the loop. At the end of the Skyline Trail is the view of the upstream of the Hickory Nuts Waterfall on open rocks. Then we returned to the Chimney Rock on the Cliff Trails where the Last of the Mohicans was filmed (the chasing scene at the end of the film). The coolest but also the most tiring trail is the Outcropping Trail which actually consists of multiple short trails that are around and below the Chimney Rock such as Needles Eye, Subway and Spiral Stairs. These trails are mostly wooden steps running through the cracks of the rocks, either straigh up or down or encircling some cool rock formation. Along these trails, there are overlook points that offer nice panaromic views of the area and also interesting natural phenomenon. The easiest trail was the Hickory Nut Falls trail. At the end of the 30-minutes hike is the rewarding spectacular view of the Falls.

Half way between Asheville and Chimney Rock Park lies the Eastern Continental Divide. M is working towards a goal to take a picture of himself in front of every of these signs that he could possibly find.

There is more pictures at our multiply site: (somehow the link icon does not work - does anyone know how to insert a hot link?)

http://angcy.multiply.com/photos/album/4/June_2007_Asheville_NC_Chimney_Rock_Park

Sunday, August 5, 2007

June 2007: Asheville, NC Part I

We were looking for a place to spend our first vacation together sometime early Spring. We wanted somewhere within driving distance, somewhere that offers short hiking trails and mountain bike trails. While looking up the directory, we decided on Asheville, North Carolina.

Mid May, on a pleasant Sunday morning, with our luggages and m-bikes, we headed south east towards Asheville.

The drive from Indy to Knoxville through Louisville was uneventful. After Knoxville, the scenery became more scenic. We passed by a place called "Stinky Creek". At this time, we were driving along part of the Smokies Mountain Range. It was surrounded by hills, and actually quite homey - very similar to Karak highway from KL to CY's home town.

We stayed at Crowne Plaza Golf Resorts just off the Interstate one exit away from the Asheville Downtown exit. It is on top of a small hills and surrounded by its own golf course. Our unit is a cute round hut-looking chalet and is tucked even further away from the traffic.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Lazy or Busy - Which Is a Better Excuse?

It is July 21 at 1:33 a.m.
I just got back from B&N, with the very last book of the Harry Potter series still in the bag, together with all the freebies I got tonight, including a graduation tassel that supposedly meant "Congratulations, you've made it to the seventh book!".

I must say I am quite impressed with the way these book store giants are running these events. We were there at 6:30 p.m. to pick up a number that enabled us to be at the beginning of (another) queue starting at 11 p.m. But at 7p.m. the party began where there were plenty of activitiy booths around. The ideas were pretty creative, such as at Transfiguration booth, you could get a free face paints. I only took a guess at the amount of jelly beans in the jar. Trust me.

My goal was to read this book tonight and finish it by Sunday.

But I am writing my blog - and loading pictures to our multiply site, and trying to re-label some of the pictures, and kind of feeling sleepy at the same time ... M's probably sound asleep and probably did not even know that I'd made it home.

Looking back, the last posting was right after Easter on April 10.

In the last 3 months and 11 days and 2 hours and 46 seconds, a lot had happened to the us. But we did not blog about it. Some of my friends began to wonder if we were still alive; some of them were curious if we had decided to quit blogging. As usual, I just casually used "we have been extremely busy" as our excuse - the same reason I used for most everything.

I took it for granted that it is more forgiving to the others if I used "busy" as my reason. Everyone understands what busy means and has first hand experience themselves. On the contrary, if I used "lazy", my parents would be the first person on earth to give me a hard time and possibly nag me for being so. Or they would think that we care too little about the others to share our lifes with them. The impression is that "lazy" is a bad habit and we are not supposed to be "lazy".

This is my take on this: if I am lazy but it is not affecting the others, then lazy is not a bad thing after all. In fact, it is an enjoyment at times. Just like how I sometimes like to laze around in bed on Saturday mornings, take a 3-hour-nap on Sunday afternoon, bum around in the house in jammies all day...

So will you excuse me if I tell you that I was, in fact for a while, too lazy to blog?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Easter Egg Hunt




Easter Sunday 2007
Chilly, Cloudy, 30's
Aren't they just too adorable?

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

First Catch of The Year



Well, that's 3 meals for the family!!
Gus: Fish. Yum. Meow.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Grocery Shopping This Weekend


We went grocery shopping as usual.
We did not get a cart which was unusual.
CY hopped on and drove this scooter around @ Kroger.
It was really cool - zero-turn-radius but only going at 2-3 mi/hr!
Check out CY's left foot and the Converse-All-Star-looking-denim sneaker!
Got it from ER after she sprained her foot on Thursday.
The walking cane is M's collections - he's just planning ahead :)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

QLC: Episode II

QLC: You don't really have all the emotion handicaps that fit into my category.

MLC: Nay... you are not that old enough to experience what this is all about...!

Is there a new definition perhaps that is called "1/3-LC" (or OTLC)?

(Yah, it is made up.)

Written by CY - not 0E yet.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

A Procrastinator's Confession

I learned that it was National Procrastination Week 2 weeks ago.
So I procrastinated for 1 week before I tell you about the celebration.
Then I procratinated for 2 days before I finished writing this up.

National Procrastination Week is the 2nd week of March.

The purpose,
>some says, it is so that you can procrastinate without any guilt
>some says, to raise awareness about procrastination and use this as an opportunity to correct one's bad habit.
Which one do you think it is?

Depending on one's personality, the reason/s for procrastination varies.

I know some who procrastinate because they are perfectionist, afraid of failing, lazy, least of their interests, lowest on their priority list, idealistic etc. Whatever their reasons might be, it is a very very difficult habit to break.

A procrastinator's confession:
>Why do it now while you still have tomorrow?
>I perform better under pressure.
>I need to take a nap first so that I can focus later.
>This is so boooh-ring...
>Is this good enuff?!
>Double underline, or thicker singe line - which one looked better?
>Which choice of words is better?
>I will do it later la..

Maybe you have some to share with us - later, of course, I mean :)

Written by CY (who else in this household will be more qualified to write about this than her?)

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

QLC: Episode I

How do you know if your current job is what you do the best?
How do you know if there might be some other jobs that suit you even better?
If you still like your job, would you still try to explore other opportunities?
If you still like your job, how would you know when is the right time to explore other opportunities?
If you still like your job, how would you know when is the right time to change your job?
If you still like your job, what would it take for you to change your job?
If you change your job, how do you know if you have done the right decision?
If you don't like your new job, would you return to your previous job?
If you don't like your new job, and if you want to return to your previous job, how would you know if your previous employer would still want you back?

These are the questions that have been swirling in my mind lately.

Written by CY. confused.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

To Blog or Not To Blog

It seems so easy and effortless, for most everyone else that I know, to make a decision about writing a blog. Counting with my fingers one by one, beginning with my sister & youngest sister, my brother, my cousin/s, my uncle, my college friends, my friend's second cousin's son et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

It took me half a year to catch on to the idea of exposing myself nakedly on the world wide web to some strangers across the ocean or maybe even next door. Nakedly, in the sense of emotion.
Then, on several occasions, a friend told me that this could be the most convenient way to keep in touch with friends & family without having to find much time to email everyone individually, or flooding everyone's email accounts with terabytes of pictures that take forever to upload. Not to mention the torture deep within myself from the expectations that built up towards friends & family to sympathetically respond to my emails. Half of the time, it is followed by another dissapointment, which, actually becomes a super-excitement when a reply does show up in the vast junk mails that I do get nowadays.

My friend's theory was proven lately with a cousin leaving home to pursue her dream to study abroad. So I gave blogging some more thoughts.

My hesitance mainly lies in the fact that I just simply can't find any time and patience to put my thoughts on paper as I used to be anymore. I have always liked to keep a journal but I don't remember when the last time I consistently wrote for 3 days in a row. Contradictingly, I can organize my thoughts and express it flawlessly (well, most of the time) in words through typing - thanks to the nature of my job where I spend two-third of my time organizing my facts/arguments/angers/suggestions/opinions and express them in emails. It is so bad that I no longer can do the same if I were to write down any thoughts with a piece of paper and a pen. Worst still, my handwriting is just like .... according to my (retired) teacher/school-principle-mother, a 3rd grader!! (To comfort myself, mother did say my brother's handwriting is like a 1st grader.) Haha!

After more thoughts and discussions with my beloved hubby, we thought (yes, it is a 'we' thing) with all that is going on and more to come in our lifes, this could be very well the 'least complicated' (?) way to share our lifes with our friends & family, nearby or far-away.

Pardon us for we don't write like neither a novelist nor a poet
Pardon us for we don't take pictures like Ansel Adams
But our intention is pure,
is to share our lifes with you,
is to keep us close to you..
For all we have in this life time is to love and to share.


So, to blog or not to blog? We chose 'to blog'.

Written by CY @ cool breezy pseudo-spring night while M is traveling for business & Gus is locked out from the office room