I slept all weekend, recovering from a very unexpected, unplanned stomach bug. Or maybe it was something else, other than upset stomach, because I also had body chills, headaches, overall discomfort. What’s wrong with me?



Stress is probably a huge factor. Not like a “THERE’S A TIGER IN FRONT OF YOU” stress, but more like “traffic is really frustrating everyday, i’m eating junkfood most meals, i can’t sleep, and i have no way to relax” stress. It’s the little things getting pent up.

BUT AS AN ADULT, I will get over this (with the help of my parents and boyfriend and other loved ones… because who am I kidding? I’m still child sized). Right…?

Typing into Google “signs you’re an adults”, gives me 40,300,000 results, and they’re all different, based on Reddit, Lifehack, Business insider, and many others… Anyways, I think I’d like a break now. My cousins always try to give me life advice, but it’s when I remember that they are just under 10 years older than me that I really remind myself there are so many things to learn from them.

1. Save money every month, even if it’s a small amount.
2. Your parents are not always right, but they usually have your back, so let them take care of you.
3. Eat, drink and be merry.

I mean, now that I sleep at 11PM on a Friday night, instead of leave my house, I think I’m really stepping over that line of adulthood…

Also, my phone has failed and cannot dial out. So i have wiped it. It now sort of works.

noun
ɡrēs/

1. A movie that is amazing that was shot in the late 1970s and stars Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.
   
2. To pay off, usually with money
3. Oily or fatty matter, in particular.

 
Post dodgeball fuel… For the others, I forgot my shoes. I still have to eat though, right? We went to YXY (aka Yu Xiang Yuan) at Fraser and 49th, a cute little Chinese family run place. As you walk in, you can see the chef making the noodles and dumplings on the other side of the room…  

M and A’s tan tan noodles looked absolutely greasy and amazing.

Must get dumplings, stuffed with meat and also grease. Dip in the vinegar.

Finale, dragging noodles, fried with BBQ pork. Dragging through oil and grease. Don’t get me wrong though, just because it’s greasy, doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t feel too gross afterwards either, so maybe it wasn’t as greasy as other Chinese places.

But she said, where’d you wanna go?
How much you wanna risk?

-Chainsmokers + Coldplay

P and I wanted to catch up, and I wanted to save some money, so we went out for dessert, instead of dinner. We both wanted to go back to Off the Grid:



It’s busier than the last time I was here. They might’ve switched the light bulbs to brighten up the place. Not too sure what else changed, maybe everybody wanted to come out because the weather cleared up. Instead of the waffles, we had their dessert drinks this time. I had the hot Nutella drink, and P had the mango milkshake. She was a bit upset that they couldn’t do it “half sweet”, but hey, sometimes, you just gotta learn to say no. I liked my drink. It was sweet, and the waffle was fresh. Nothing better for fueling girly gossip and plans.



H is almost at the end of his move, and things are starting to fall into place again. Time for the next big thing. What’s the next big thing…

Got Netflix recently. It’s a bit of an obsession to just easily just click it on and lose myself in hours of scandalous politics. A great friend for an introvert. What an effort it was to drag myself away from it and see real human beings. Coffee usually gets me going out though:

Visited Tuc with the gals. Sorry M, for being an hour late and for making you guys wait in line for us… I had the lavender latte:



That’s it, what else do I need on a rainy Sunday afternoon? Lavender lattes are one of my favorite beverages (I used to sit outside Waves and read with one by my side), and this one did not disappoint. The others had the chicken and waffles, some egg thing with beans, and some other egg and potato thing. Apparently, it was good, but I was still full from breakfast and could really only handle a latte. Too bad the wait times are so horrendous (1 hour today).





OK, back to Scandal. More meaningful posts to come.

At Le Marché St. George, one of my favourite nooks in Vancouver, with a good friend, enjoying the sunshine this weekend before heading off to the Eastside Flea Market. I got a Rose Mocha and a French onion soup, and the croissant is C’s. I can’t wait to come back, every single time. They pay attention to all the details! The only thing we didn’t do was bike; it would’ve been a complete Vancouver-style weekend.



Looked back on some old photographs, which brought back some good and bad memories. I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learned since (love, work, family), and when the switch was flipped from “child” to “adult”. The past was fun, but I’m more excited to keep moving forward.

Last day, rather early start, wandered into Mazarine Coffee for breakfast around 8AM:

I had found this place just by searching Google for coffee near me at the beginning of this trip, and I had wanted to go since the very first day, but circumstances brought me to Starbucks for efficiency’s sake. Eggs were done perfectly, just cooked, so softly poached with a light layer of sprouts and cracked pepper on top for flavours. I would come back in a heartbeat. Coffee was strong too. I think my barista was in training – the latte art got mushed up a bit. Not sure if that affected the flavour…

After breakfast, I had originally planned to finish watching Harry Potter, which was showing on the television, but after careful consideration and D’s reminder, I booked it to the airport to see if I could get on an earlier flight. Weather was being unpredictable in Vancouver…

Ended up spending about $150USD to switch my seat. There was even enough time to go to the Duty Free to pick up a bottle of Johnny Walker, a box of See’s candy, and this Laneige BB Cushion that has been out of stock EVERYWHERE for the past half year. I am just glad it’s back in my life. Still can’t find it on the Sephora website for Canada.

Laneige medium shade, and Nespresso as I get ready today.

I’m glad I cut my day short in SF because I made it back safe and sound, no delays. Whether it’s business or personal, it is sometimes for the best to just cut your losses, take what you have gained, and make the most of the situation. How do you determine at that you’ve given it your best? At what point do you walk away from the deal or the relationship?

Busy days and tough decisions ahead.

Here are the links to all the days from this trip:
Day 1
Day 2.. and sort of 3
Day 4 - Part 1
Day 4 - Part 2
Day 5 

Woke up late to this view at the JW Marriott, 11th floor, room 1111:

So, instead of walking over to the Viator tour office where I was supposed to pick up my vouchers, I took a cab… Felt like such a waste of money, but made it on time for the ferry to Alcatraz:

It was interesting how we could just casually stroll along the same paths that serial killers, kidnappers, psychopaths, etc. had taken just a few decades ago. The self guided audio tour was interesting and told stories of escapades. I would come back at night to experience the full spookiness of it, although there were no ghost stories.

Had an early lunch at the Fog Harbour, where we had also gone last year for one of the dinners pre-show. I remembered they had really good clam chowder, which I had a craving for after the cold damp ferry ride.

Deeeeelicious. So creamy.

Wanted something boozy to warm me up more. This was something with rum.

And the grand finale, crab roll! It was a bit cold, to be honest, and I didn't quite like the clamminess.

Got a ride to Muir Woods from the tour office again, as part of the tour package:

Mysterious… The “hike” was a 30 to 45 minute walk around a very well groomed dirt/wood path, with huge puddles from the recent rain in the area. Tour guide was pretty cool, he dropped us off at our hotels after and told us stories about his family.
I’m not sure if I would do this tour on my own again. It cost $150USD, and I only did the Alcatraz and Muir woods portion, completely skipping the Dungeon and the complimentary wine tour. It was exhausting to rush around like that, and my legs were shot from all the walking in the past 2 days. Even thinking about it now is making me feel sore.

Trekked across SFO to Twin Peaks! Originally wanted to visit the Sutro Nature Reserve, but it didn’t look like it would be as rewarding as climbing to the top of a hill to see the whole city from above. The clouds cleared up at the top, where I felt like I would literally be blown away if I didn’t try to make myself heavier.

Came back down to the Castro, hungry and ready to chow down on whatever food I could find. It was already past 2PM by the time the food arrived, and it took me a lot of willpower to hold back, and take this picture first:

This was one of the lunch special sets at Thai House, including red curry with chicken, and a shrimp spring roll thingy, which was awesomely crispy. The soup on the bottom right was sorta too salty though. Overall, pretty good food, nice place for a quiet late lunch. I’d want to try out the other restaurants to see what else the Castro district could offer though, so I wouldn’t come back again any time soon.

Then, I walked all the way back to the hotel, drank wine, and watched movies Netflix. Being alone is definitely an art.

Back to present times… Feeling physically bad because it’s been a while since I’ve had time to exercise. Heart’s been racing these days… Not in the I’m happy to see you way either.

Day 3 was sorta the same as Day 2, ie. work. Day 4 though. Everything changed because I was on my own again. D, M, and I went for breakfast at Honey Honey Cafe and Crepery:

I had the one with the crab cakes and cheese. AND IT WAS MAGNIFICENT. D seemed to really enjoy the nutella crepe. The only thing was that the sausage that M ordered was deceptive – he expected 2 sausages, but got ONE that was cut in half! Oh well, he seemed happy with it.



I’m slightly buzzed off Icelandic beer right now (see the photo of Garun Iclandic Stout here, definitely one of my favourite beers… it’s a bit difficult to type accurately right now just because it’s 11.5% alcohol and WONDERFUL), and just thinking about how bad things just happen and plans don’t always work out. For example, I ended up traveling around San Francisco alone last weekend; car accidents; being forced to move, snow storms, feelings and what not. D gives great pep talks , and I really appreciate having him around sometimes, because he’s right – bad things happen and you just deal with it.

“i love louisa ng” H said through all these troubles we’re having.

Another day went by at the Moscone center, with more handshaking and smiling. As our reward:

Tadich Grill. I found it on Zagat actually, as P sounded like he really wanted seafood and I love shrimp. This place has been around for over 168 years, according to their menu, and their servers look like they’ve been around for at least three quarters of that time:

Our server was great fun, so full of personality, probably hidden in his hair. He gave off that feeling of being somebody’s feisty uncle. It probably helped that the food was delicious (or the other way around – maybe the awesome service sparked something in our brains that made the food taste better). I had the seafood cioppino that was on special (see photo above). Some places just inspire good conversation, no matter who you’re with.

Not saying that the people I was with weren’t cool, sales people are generally fun to be around.

I don’t know if anybody is really made for this type of lifestyle of standing 8 hours a day, going for huge meals with optional side of alcohol, then going back “home” to your hotel. It did help me appreciate having a regular office job a bit, but now that I’m back in the office for the 2nd day already, I’m getting a bit frustrated again. The snow really isn’t helping much either right now and the long commute is a pain, especially with angry drivers all over the road.

Start rant.

Today, a well put together Caucasian male with white hair driving a red Audi sedan, possibly a coupe, rolled down his window to yell at me, as I tried to get into the southbound lanes first and then try to quickly change into the other lane that would take me to the north bound lane. He angrily requested that I stay in the “real” merge lane, instead of making my own. Frankly, I “made my own lane” to clear up space for him to get back to his big house in the south sooner, because I was trying to head north, and if he didn’t keep his head stuck in his self entitlement, he would have seen that. I rolled my window down to reply him that I was trying to get into the far lane, and I could hear him crawling back into that hole… Those who rage first are rarely in the right. Stop embarrassing yourself. I’m sure there are moments when I’ve honked for no reason, or when I’ve been honked at for good reason. However, there’s no reason to get out of your car or roll down your window to shout.

End rant. TLDR: rich man road raged at me because his time is precious.

I haven’t been home since last Monday morning of January. Feels so relaxing to come back to home base, it feels like I can breathe again. Last week, I was in San Francisco for a tradeshow with work, talking about our new products, meeting new people, learning and connecting… People always look so surprised when I reach out for that first hand shake. Apparently, I look extremely young still, but I didn’t get carded at one of the restaurants…

Team building at Puccini and Pinetti:

Conveniently at the bottom of the hotel, we came here for a quick bite after day 1. Deliciously fluffy and chewy pizza, with melt off the crust toppings. The cheeeeeeese… I also tried my first gluten free beer, and was not too impressed. I'd go back if somebody paid for me, but not really a first choice. The Yelp and Tripadvisor and Zomato reviews are pretty accurate for this place - average.

This first day was so busy, I went back to the hotel and just crashed into bed. Just like tonight.