Bunker Hill Monument

Hello everyone!

Awhile back, we had a full house full of boys when David's brothers Jack and Jason came to visit.  In my family, I am the only girl surrounded by my baby bro and my baby cuz, and I realized during this weekend that when David and my family comes together, I will still be the only girl, even more outnumbered by boys!  Le sigh...  haha

Anyway, before gorging ourselves on hotpot, we went for a bit of an unintentional exercise to the Bunker Hill Monument. 'Unintentional' because initially, we just wanted a historical outing, not an exercise one,,, but have you climbed this thing?

We visited the museum, spent some time learning about the Revolutionary War history surrounding this landmark, and then started the long climb.  

guys. it was 294 steps.  Oh. my word.  

It might not have been so bad if we had climbed slower, but I went with three very fit boys, and I wanted to keep up with their pace, ya know?  I wasn't going to be the reason everyone had to slow down, so I kept pushing through the screaming thigh muscles.

I guess one good thing about going quicker is that the climb is over much sooner?  that's about it though..  haha

After spending a few moments at the top to catch our breaths, and to enjoy the view that can only be seen by being higher than anything else for miles, we started the climb down.  That was much easier haha

It was so much fun having them here, and I hope they will get to visit us more often!  =)

Have a safe and fun Halloween everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

What Category are you?

Hello everyone!

I was listening to Invisibilia Podcast, and they ran this 'interactive radio story' that I thought was very interesting.






Here is the story by Simon Rich, and see what kind of a reaction you get to this.


According to Aristophanes, there were originally three sexes - the children of the moon who were half-male and half-female, the children of the sun who were fully male, and the children of the earth, who were fully female. Everyone had four legs, four arms and two heads, and spent their days in blissful contentment. Zeus became jealous of the humans' joy so he decided to split them all in two. Aristophanes called this punishment the origin of love because ever since, the children of the earth, moon and sun have been searching the globe in a desperate bid to find their other halves. Aristophanes' story though is incomplete because there was also a fourth sex - the children of the dirt. Unlike the other three sexes, the children of the dirt consisted of just one half. Some were male and some were female and each had just two arms, two legs and one head. The children of the dirt found the children of the earth, moon and sun to be completely insufferable. Whenever they saw a two-headed creature walking by, talking to itself in baby-talk voices, it made them want to vomit. They hated going to parties and when there was no way to get out of one, they sat in the corner, too bitter and depressed to talk to anybody. The children of the dirt were so miserable that they invented wine and art to dull their pain. It helped a little, but not really. When Zeus went on his rampage he decided to leave the children of the dirt alone. They're already [bleep], he explained.


Happy gay couples descend from the children of the sun. Happy lesbian couples descend from the children of the earth. And happy straight couples descend from the children of the moon. But the vast majority of humans are descendants of the children of the dirt. And no matter how long they search the earth, they'll never find what they're looking for because there's nobody for them, not anybody in the world.



what was your reaction?


Mine was 'aww poor, sad children of the dirt..'

but if yours was anything different, this is how the radio show ended:


RICH: The vast majority of humans are descendants of the children of the dirt.

MILLER: With those two words, Simon Rich does a very kind thing. If you are someone who is alone and thinks yourself a little off in your aloneness, you are suddenly scooped into a box with a whole pile of other lonely people, and you feel better. And that is the strange power of categories because nothing about you is actually changing, but by simply getting a line drawn around you, you get some real relief.

Have you guys heard of Invisibilia? I've only heard a few episodes, but I am really loving the show so far =)

Also, if you identified with children of the dirt, and are unhappy about it, don't worry. even the author Simon Rich (who identified with children of the dirt) later found that he was, in fact, not a child of the dirt ;)


Happy weekend, and thanks for stopping by!
--Janny

100 Happy Days Challenge!

Hello everyone!

Have you guys heard of the '100 Happy Days Challenge'?

You just document and share something that makes you happy for 100 days!  It's a really simple idea, but a really wonderful one I think.  =)  

Apparently, 71% of the people who tried to complete the challenge failed, and they said that it was because they simply didn't have time...  While it is really sad that they didn't think they had enough time to appreciate just 1 thing every day and to be happy, I think that often happens to be the reality of today's world for so many people, including myself.  I mean, when you have sooo much work to do, when you have sooo much to practice, the last thing on your mind is to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.  So I thought it would be a perfect challenge to finish off my time at Rice!  =D

I'm going to be posting on Instagram a photo (or more) each day that makes me happy, and I hope you will all join me!
Don't forget to hashtag #100happydays!

Have a fantastic weekend!
--Janny

Playin' Hooky

hello everyone!

sometimes, playing hooky can be good for the soul.
especially if you end up going on an impromptu date with your guy for some udon and ramen at Nippon on a chilly (finally!) autumn night instead.

as mentioned before, my life is pretty regimented here (practice, rehearse, eat, teach, exercise, sleep...) so it was really quite liberating to play hooky from our exercise block and do something spontaneous  =)

and don't worry, we made up for it by exercising later that night.  can't go tooo crazy  haha   =p

have a wonderful weekend!

--Janny

Wonderful Weekend =)

Hello everyone,

Happy Columbus Day and I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

We had a really great weekend (funny how much you enjoy everything more when you're less stressed! haha)  Though we still worked some throughout the weekend, having today and tomorrow off really took a lot of pressure off of my shoulders, and man. this weekend was such a relaxing and happy one  =)

We started off the weened by watching Gravity in 3D.  We tried to go to.. 9:30 pm showing I think? but when we got there, it was all sold out!  Thankfully, we were a little late (per usual) so we only had 25 minutes or so until the next show, which ended up being only about half way full!  And since we were the first ones there, (a phenomenon we have never experienced before.. we usually get there right as the movie starts and we miss most of the previews) we got to pick the best seats in the house!  

And guys, if you haven't seen Gravity, you totally should!  Apparently IMAX 3D is the way to go, but even just watching it in 3D was such a visual feast!  They did an amazing job of creating the piece.  The story line was not something we talked about over and over after the movie, but the visual effects? Man, the visuals were beautiful.  and really quite amazing how they managed to capture outer space and incorporate the CG and the camera work so flawlessly.

Next day, we made our (almost) weekly run to H Mart to get some lunch and groceries.  I was strangely craving the Korean fried chicken, Tong Dak, which is soo sooo good.. well, not very good for you, but such a comfort food for me, so that's what we ended up having for lunch!  =)  I'm obviously so excited haha

And then, as we were shopping, an announcement came over the intercom saying that there's a traditional rice cake making exhibition happening at the prepared-foods corner!  so of course, we had to check it out!

This is how they used to make rice cakes folks!

And then, they asked if anyone in the audience wanted to try, so naturally, I stepped up to the plate to try my hand at swinging the hammer looking contraption.  How hard could it be? right?

well,,, let's just say that the hammer thing was much much heavier than I had anticipated.

me struggling.  especially in the last photo because the about-to-be-rice-cake mixture is super sticky!
but then we got to try the freshly made rice cakes, and that made everything all worth it.  so. good.  yum!

Later that night, we attended Houston chapter of USA Dance's social dance party, Second Saturday dance.  The theme of the night was the Masquerade, so I happily got my hands 'gluey' getting some crafts on  =p

David didn't want any bling on his mask for some reason, so I had to be content with just glueing some decorations on mine  haha

For a $2 and 5 minute project, I was pretty happy with how they turned out  =)

about to dance the night away~

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Hello everyone,

This weekend is promising to be quite a weekend!

Rodeo(!! finally experiencing the real Texas!!  haha), 

dinner date!, lots of cooking, 

practicing (Mr. Lin is coming back next week,, lessons!),

violinist Kovakos playing the Shostakovich Concerto with the Houston Symphony!!!

--it's my piece!!  love this concerto!!--

I'm so excited for all of them, if you can't tell already by the surplus of exclamation points  haha  =)

and I leave you with this photo of these adorable puppies  =)

they are my neighbor's puppies, and I see them almost every week walking to and from school.

(they double in size every time I see them!)

so anyway, in the spirit of the rodeo,

have a great weekend, ya'll!   ;)

--Janny