The West Coast

Been in California for two weeks now. Will be right back to write some more.

How Fast Can Your Wishes Come True?

How fast can your wishes come true? Do you believe that once you've asked for something, it would eventually be given? I believe. Just like before, somebody gave me a new laptop. When I enrolled last Fall 2012, I didn't have one. But I made use of what resources I had available on campus and I managed to finish two semesters without my personal computer. (I had one, a heavy-duty IBM which I left in the Philippines.) Now, just when I was no longer paying attention to my 'need' of owning a computer, it was the time it arrived.

The angels are jumping-up-and-down- happy. 


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Hibiscus for Mother's Day

 Amid the beautiful roses and tulips I see around me, I still miss the sunny flowers of my homeland. So, for all mothers in the world, this bunch is for you. Happy Mother's
 Day!

Homesickness 101

When you're in America, your husband is in China, and your daughter is in the Philippines, how would you feel? I could say that this has been the longest isolation I've ever had in my life- being away from loved ones too long. Why didn't this happen when I was 20's and very much unattached? May 8th 2013 would be our 3rd wedding anniversary, and I don't know what I'd be doing that time. This universe has a huge sense of humor.

Women I Follow # 2: Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Jungian psychoanalyst, best-selling author, scholar, and a very rich lady (how can you not get rich when your book stayed so MANY weeks at the New York Times List?)

What she's about: I first got a chance to know her when my mother handed me the book entitled, "Women Who Run With the Wolves". Since then, I have had a better understanding of the feminine nature.

Can You Live on $10 a Week?

I just finished packing up 14 boxes of things at the dorm. Good thing my resident educator allowed me to store my stuff at the dorm's storage as I do not have a permanent address here in the US. Now, after the semester is over (and after month-end of April), it is time that I balance my ledger and update my files.

Yes, can you live on $10 a week, as a student? I can. I live on campus, my meal plan is pretty much cared of by my scholarship and  I don't drive or commute. I realize that on an average week when I do not spend on books, etc., I average on $10 a week or less. These are just to buy paper, print, etc. I don't buy snacks - I have a lot in my cupboard from the cafeteria. I don't buy soap, etc. because I have a lot of that too, enough to last for a year. Afterwards, after living up on this, I have a little extra such that I can still afford to buy an Amtrak train ticket from the East Coast to California. With student advantage card, of course. I'm happy, I feel prosperous. :) And that feeling matters. :)

On Assignment

Wrapping up towards the end of the semester is one of the busiest days of a university student. Paper work is unforgiving. So is packing up things at the dorm; stalking the registration officers for the fall admissions. Busy. Busy.

Field Day 2: Ginger Field Day

It wasn't until I joined this field day last fall that I really got to understand many information about ginger. I learned that it is a good source of anti-oxidants and has many other tremendous benefits to health.  Yesterday, as I celebrated my birthday (alone "sob") in a Chinese eat-all-you can, I was looking for something that wasn't there. I was looking for ginger. There wasn't a piece of ginger or a trace of it in the food I ate. Or, there might have been - just very faint it was hardly noticeable.

 

 I went out with some staff from university for this ginger field day. They are teaching farmers to grow ginger  in spite of America's freezing temperatures. Marketing ginger was also discussed; and I think it is so much better to classify ginger in terms of size rather than put a big tuber in the vegetable section and let shoppers snap them to pieces.

 

 A dollar an ounce. I could grow ginger in the province in the Philippines and make a fortune out of it.

 Because they thrive in warmer climates, ginger is best grown in heated sheds for the cold months.

 Really love these farm structures here.

 I'm imagining a ginger plantation.

 Ginger as big as your hand.

Gotta write this down in my potential business venture list. :)

Free Stuff for Happiness

While cleaning my room this morning, I accidentally cut my thumb on a protruding screw that I didn't notice. Good thing we have a dorm clinic downstairs with a nurse on duty. She disinfected the tiny wound and bandaged it. And, I got a little bag of freebies from that basket in the clinic. Yay. Don't you like getting unexpected stuff every now and then? :)

Women I Follow: #1- Elisabeth Badinter

"It's very satisfying to promote science and education and see good results. Setting a good example for young people, being a role model, is very important for me." - Yuan T. Lee

 

Elisabeth Badinter, a French intellectual, author, philosopher, historian- and a very rich lady. 

 What she's about:

.... Badinter freely concedes she was a “mediocre” mother to her own daughter and two sons. The Conflict blasts the return to all things natural that Badinter argues is rolling back hard-won freedoms for women. She thrashes “ayatollahs of breast-feeding” who she says magnify “the tyranny of maternal duty.” She bashes cloth-diaper zealots, cosleeping, and epidural-free deliveries. She trashes the dogma of maternal perfection, arguing it ultimately deters would-be mothers. Instead, Badinter suggests fostering “part-time motherhood” is key to boosting fertility. An 18th-century-history buff, she credits a heritage of nonchalant mothers for France’s curiously high birthrate today.

References: 
Here
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Bucket List 2.0

Realizing that, a lot of my dreams come true all the time (yes... I should write about this), I think it is about time again to calibrate my bucket list. I notice that as I grow older, there's this tendency to be complacent about achievements and the real world that I tend to forget that childlike dreaminess that is always so beautiful. It's midweek, and I am feeling in-love and  dreamy. And since I did all my homework today, I should give myself a little reward: daydream.

So, the following are my new entries in the bucket list. First five:

1. To establish a Barbara Cartland collection library. Yes. Really. Been reading this since I was a teenager and they never fail to sweep me off my feet. I must be really romantic at heart. I'm writing down a few titles to order at Abebooks... :) Excited.

2. This one I love. Entry number two: To kiss under the Aurora Borealis.

 

3.  To see the catacombs in Paris.

4. To pick grapes in a vineyard. I'm such in a romantic mood today that Keanu Reeves moves in my head.

5. To own 200+ or more pairs of shoes. (Seriously. My size is 7.5 to 8...just in case donors are paying attention :) who knows :)

Thank you for the photos:
 Cartland
Aurora 
Paris 
Shoes 
Keanu

I. Pick. Them. Up.

Yes, I do. I pick up usable objects around campus. These are the 'stuff' that we see lying on the grass, waiting to be smashed at the parking lot, pavement, half-buried under the snow. I pick them up. I actually have fun doing it. Pens, pencils, sometimes dime or shiny pennies... finding one every so often brings me to a giggly mood, a smile upon my face, "I got a find!" 

I've been doing this since February, and that's a part of my collection- there in the photo. I forgot to photograph the ones in my drawer and in my pen case. So if I started it last February, I could only imagine how many I could manage to have in a year's time. And the pens are still working! I got blue, black, red, green colors, a Sharpie... pencils are still A+ good. I wash them and disinfect with alcohol, and they're ready for use! I think I don't need to buy these things for an entire year.

The Day I Stopped Eating Meat

 It just happened one day that I practically stopped eating meat. It has nothing to do with a personality or spiritual or whatever belief change. I'm not trying to become a vegetarian. I think becoming a 'vegetarian' is an intimidating commitment= it has a title: I'm a vegetarian. I wouldn't think I'd have enough discipline or self-control to fully uphold that title. I'm just a person who does not eat meat any longer. I think this is the most notable last meat I've ever eaten - the lamb chops here. And that was like, many forevers ago. It was true a celebration to the meat-eating life.

 But when I stopped eating meat, I actually felt better. I lost 12 pounds. Yes, twelve pounds. I wasn't dieting; I just stopped eating meat. Every time I line up at the cafeteria, I always look for those meatless dishes, and really, they are quite good.I'm not the type who denies myself - especially food or coffee or relaxation. So if I enjoy food without meat, it's because I really do.

 

 When I stopped eating meat, I felt lighter, like I have enough energy to do things. My sleep has become better and I wake up feeling refreshed. My skin also became clearer; I often go out without make-up as I felt there was no need to cover up. I feel fantastic.

 It's fun, eating no meat. After some time, I realize that even if roast beef is there, I really don't miss it. I get vegetable omelet instead of bacon; vegetable quiche in place of pork roast. Plus. I've lessened eating deep-fried foods.
It's all good. But if we go out and you feel like eating shawarma, sure, I'll join you. I'm not a vegetarian. I'm just a person who no longer eats meat- but still reserves room for a few cheats now and then. :)

Post-Dinner Walks

 Let me tour you around the campus. Maybe it's no longer strange if I tell you that my life here is so far the most solitary life I've ever had. I call it my "One Hundred Years of Solitude". There are days where I don't literally talk to anyone, except people at the cafeteria when I order my food; the cashier at Walgreens to say thank you, have a nice day, after my purchase. But most of the time, it's all quiet. I also have to wrestle with the incessant chatters in my head. To make the most of my self-talking, I try to learn French and Mandarin, talking to the squirrels, "Ni jiao shenme mingzi?" "Wo jiao Enrisa Marie. Wo shi xuesheng!". That. Is. Life. Here.
Solitude is far from loneliness. I do feel lonely sometimes, homesick, and all that, so I believe that going back to blogging and reaching out into the world is a probable cure. Let me take you out for a walk.

This is my favorite path, this tree-lined avenue. I love looking up at the foliage and flowers. Isn't it lovely, the shadows of the trees in the evening sun? 

 There's a football game, over there at the stadium.

 Rounding the bend from the parking lot.

I love brick buildings.

Tres romantique: setting sun, lawn, brick structures.

 I love this bridge too. Like the Bridges of Madison County.

 View from the slope of the hill.

One of my favorite spots- this area overlooking the old town of Petersburg. I didn't visit this site during the winter, but I'm glad it's spring now. There's an acorn tree here on the right side, and on some mornings after breakfast, I'd sit down under the shade. I also find that brick tower surreal, like Rapunzel living somewhere. What a long hair she might have had.

Good evening! 

Total blog time: 21 minutes

Field Day 1: Randolph Farm

I realize that a great deal of my life here looks like some repetition of my business school days many years ago. There are a lot of paper work to do, business conceptualization to think about, professional development plans to make and various academic-related deadlines to beat. I actually find it invigorating (if this is the perfect term) to go back to blogging again after many, many months of hibernation. At least, while resting from all these brain-drain work, I have another outlet for my thoughts.

I try to spend only 3 hours every day in front of the computer - everything I needed to type are already pre-written long hand and the maximum minutes spent on school-work is an hour. Letters to loved ones average to 30 minutes... hence, not much time for staring on Facebook except when I want to see pictures of my daughter from my sister's album.

So, quick! This blog post must be finished in 15 minutes. 

I decided to feature here my visit to VSU's Randolph Farm. Since I am majoring in Organizational Leadership, much of my work here is related to business leadership as well. Say, for example, as a project manager of my company's food service program back home, I was inclined to design yet another support program that would further enhance and sustain it in the future. I tagged along with some key staff of the university's agriculture department and they guided me to the farm. 

 I love farms. As a former culinary professional, I'm used to visiting farms before and I admit that they do fascinate me. But Randolph Farm is really impressive.

Wouldn't it be inspiring if our food service department grow its own produce? If it uses hundreds of kilos of vegetables a week, doesn't it make perfect sense that they'd save money on their raw materials by growing everything in their backyard? I recall that the available resources we have back home are: land, labor, capital. It only needs some detailed planning and collaborative work with all those involved. 

Peppers! As far as the eyes could see... 

More peppers for the school children's pasta primavera, pizza, salads... 

Some vegetable varieties in heated greenhouses. This is to bring the "temperature" of the tropics ideal for growing certain vegetable species. 

 Grapes! When are we gonna make some wine? :)

 Raspberries. I actually felt like a kid when I saw these raspberries. I stared and stared. :)

Don't you just love farms? I even saw a papaya growing in one of those sheds. Back in the Philippines, papaya trees grow in everyone's backyard. You have to watch out, though, because sometimes, you wouldn't know that your friendly neighbor has taken a fruit and cooked it. The next thing that would surprise you is that your neighbor is handing you a bowl of cooked papaya (which you'd think was given to you out of your neighbor's goodness), which in fact, came from your own tree.

Total time of writing this post: 20 minutes