can't have enough of ...(pt.1)

RAISINS! Ever since I ate them couple years ago, it's been my companion during my school days (it's one of my fave besides blueberry bagel+strawberry cream cheese, blueberry muffin, and trail mix energy bar). Recently, I just bought a pack of raisins and brought it to work. It's really good...and I just can't get enough of them :) So what are raisins? Raisins are dried grapes and can be eaten raw or used in cooking and baking. Raisins are very sweet due to the high concentration of their sugars, and if they are stored for a long period the sugar crystallises inside the fruit. This makes the fruit gritty, but does not affect the usability. In the United States, the term 'raisin' refers to any form of dried grape. California raisins – both the sun-dried dark naturals and the goldens – are made by drying Thompson Seedless grapes; dark naturals are sun dried, while goldens are treated with sulphur then flame dried. Another variety of seedless grape, the Black Corinth, is also sun dried to produce Zante currants, mini raisins that are much darker in colour and have a tart, tangy flavour. Derived from the same word used in the French language. In French, raisin means "grape"; a raisin is called a raisin sec, which means "dry grape".
In a 1/4 cup serving of California raisins (40 grams), there is usually quite a bit of sugar (28-32 grams), contributing to around 110-140 calories. Also, a serving of raisins usually has 2 grams of fiber, as well as a very small amounts of protein (often 1 gram), sodium (usually around 10 milligrams), calcium, and iron. Raisins are high in potassium, with 310 milligrams (about 9% of the daily value).
Dentists and Dental hygienists have long recommended not eating raisins as it was believed that the combination of sugars and stickiness in them would promote tooth decay and gum disease. However, research indicates that the stickiness of a food is not an indicator of its effects on oral health. Additionally, raisins have been found to contain several chemical compounds that may assist in fighting oral bacteria. In a laboratory, extracts from raisins were found to slow the growth of Streptococcus mutans, the main bacteria behind tooth decay. Five chemicals in raisins — oleanolic acid, oleanolic aldehyde, betulin, betulinic acid, and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural — seem to be responsible for slowing the bacteria. In addition, oleanic acid prevents S. mutans from sticking to tooth enamel. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raisin) So......after all the information, it turns out that eating raisins is good for you :) maybe as long you don't overdo it. Everything that's too much isn't good for your body, right?

ok...so far that's it for now. I'm going to continue part 2 another time another post. I know what I want to talk about but it's too bloody long. Have to think a way to sum everything up hehehehehe :)

energy + motivation

Motivation. This is what I need right now but how do you motivate yourself? Is it by thinking positive thing or just keep saying to yourself that you can do it over and over? Do days of the week also count? I read somewhere that people got a lot of energy to work usually on either tuesday or wednesday. Thursday, it's going down and by Friday, usually people just want to go home early. I noticed that trends in here, especially on friday. Most floor people usually add couple more hours to their work schedule so that they can go home early on Friday. The same thing goes for me I guess. I don't know what happen to me today but I feel like I just want to go home early today and rest. So tired and sleepy. I almost called-in sick this morning....woke up at 5:30 am and then decided to go back to sleep until 7:00 am. If my roommate didn't leave her room, I would still be sleeping. The tempation was so great today of not going to work but my heart/conscience told me to work instead of sleeping in :p blah.....So got to work on time and did my job but the problem was that my mind was wandering somewhere else.....which is my bed....and when it did that....suddenly I felt tired, my body felt heavy.... yeah.....it's a signal that I need to get enough sleep.

Is there any connection between energy and motivation? I think there is. If you don't get enough sleep you won't have enough energy to do your job and because you don't have enough energy, your body feel tired and when your body feel tired, you don't feel like you want to do anything which results in lack of motivation to do your job. Can I assume like that? I don't know...but it does make sense to me. The only thing that I can do right now is trying to motivate myself back to work again....by listening to music (that sometimes help) or keep saying to myself over and over again that I need to get my act together and work! 1 and 15 more minutes doesn't seem so bad @_@

blaarrgghhh.......

exciting...

After such a long time of not having a car, in the end my parents gave in and decided that it's time for me to get one. It's not that hard to choose what kind of car I should get as Honda Civic was already my first choice and also my parents. So I browsed around for it and I have to say i like the new design of the new civic (as you can see from the pictures). I like the coupe version but after looking and staring at both pictures and in real life, I decided to get the 4-doors silver sedan.

Couple days ago, me and my friend got the chance of test-driving the car for the first time :) It was amazing.....really smooth and easy to drive around. Very nice indeed. But I'm kind of feeling a bit nervous on driving it. This is my first time of really driving a car and owning one. After a while of not driving car, I'm afraid my driving skills become rusty (a while in here means more than 1 year). All i need right now is practice, lots of practice...as we all know that practice makes better, right? Not to forget, there's always a first time for everyone :p

Anyway, this Saturday, me and my other friend are going to the dealer and get the car. Thanks to her, I got a better deal than in any dealer out there (**bow, hug, kisses, applaud to Dea**). She's a really sweet and nice gal.

Here are the side view and the back view (a bit sideway) of the car.

Not bad at all, right? They surely change the design and more of it for this 2006 civic.

a goodbye letter for a ghost

Dear You,

Thank you for all the things that you've showed me. It was all beautiful and nice at first. But after getting to know you more and more, I am grateful that you are now a person in the past, a ghost, a shadow. I'm tired of being what you want me to be. Feeling so faithless lost under the surface and I don't know what you're expecting of me, you put me under the pressure of walking in your shoes. It seems that every step that I take is another mistake to you. I've become so numb I can't feel you there. I've become so tired so much more aware. All I want to do is be more like me and be less like you. Can't you see that you're smothering me, holding too tightly afraid to lose control? Cause everything that you thought I would be has fallen apart right in front of you. And I know, I may end up failing too but I know you were just like me with someone disappointed in you. I'm just too damn tired of being what you want me to be. You accused me of something that I didn't do and not even had my mind on that. I was hurt and sick of you. I hope you can find someone that can stand all your whims, selfishness, and your jealousy.

Truthfully I'm still checking on how you are doing these days. But it seems that you are doing great out there by yourself. Still trying to find the better someone. So I am happy for you....I used to hate you for what you've done to me. If that's what you still think until now, what can i say....be that way. You have your own reason to say that. What I want to say right now is that I forgive you. I know we can't be friends anymore and I am sad to lose one of my good friend. If i knew this would happen, I'd prefer us just being a friend.

So from now on, just be a ghost, a shadow, a past. I don't regret my decision to let you go. Even if we meet again somewhere, I won't say sorry. I don't do something wrong that you've accused me for.

Good Bye.

the pain of waking up at 4 am

It's been 4 days since I have to work at 5:30 am...yeah 5:30 am! since I don't drive, most of the time I take bus or get a ride with my roommate. For this couple days, as I need to time those people on the assembly line, I have to be there before they start (6 am). So, I checked on the website for my bus schedule and I found out that the earliest bus leaves at 4:56 am and the next one is 5:23 am. Since I don't want to take the chance of being late, I take the earliest one....Let me tell you....getting up at 4 am is really a pain in the #$%. There're couple days when I feel like I want to call in sick and just continue with my deep slumber....but so far, I'm still waking up at 4:05 am. Not bad for a night owl like me...yeah....I used to be a night owl....won't go to bed before 12 am. That was during my school year though.....so sad....My ex-roommate when she knew I have to sleep around 9:30-10 pm, she was laughing and teasing me about my old habit. Oh well....we have to change if the situation calls for it :)

After 4 days, it's not really that bad. The hardest time is around 7-9 am before break because during that time, I've counted myself almost falling asleep while taking the data. The nicest part about working early is that I can go home early :) Usually I go home around 2:15 pm and get home around 3:30 pm....which is really nice. But I don't think I want to wake up this early again...no thanks...4 times are enough for me... Oh for people living in seattle area, this website is pretty useful. I check that website for information regarding what bus to take and also the bus schedule. 3 more hours to go before i go home.....blah still a long time to go :(

beauty, death and immortality

I've been watching 2 movies, amadeus and before sunrise, during this weekend and the thought of immortality just popped out of my mind when i watched both of them. In amadeus, it's sad to see how Salieri trying so hard to outdo Mozart. During his last few years, he asked a priest whether the priest was familiar with certain tunes that he composed. Sadly, the priest didn't know any of his tunes but when Salieri played one piece of music, the priest suddenly smiled and hummed to the tunes. The priest asked whether that was composed by Salieri but too bad, it wasn't. It was composed by Mozart. Salieri trying so hard to make his music became famous and be played for many generations to come. But no. His music died after a few years. No one played what he wrote anymore...slowly fading away into nothing. On the other hand, the music prodigy, even after his young death (he was only 35 years old when he died), his music become so popular and people respect him for his works. Mozart is immortal. Even after 3 centuries later, you can still hear people play his works.

We know that human can't live forever. It's finite. We will all die and turn into dust. But who aren't afraid of death? I think everyone does, well maybe there's some who is not afraid. If we turn on TV or read magazines, we can fine so many ads for beauty products that promote anti-wrinkle, anti-aging stuff. Turn your old skins into young again. Believe it or not, so many people fall for it. Well what can we say...we all want to look young again. It's not only beauty products. Nowadays, plastic surgeries also become so famous thanks to TV (again)shows like the swan or extreme makeover. If you dont' like your face, you can always operate some parts to make it beautiful, like nose job, eye job, or lip job to name a few. For me, I'm happy with what I have. Off course sometime i wish i had an oval face instead of a square one, a higher nose instead of my small one, a perfect eyebrows instead of my messy one, and so on..... Granted i can always do some nose job or eye job but thinking about all the knives and needles that will pierce my body, it makes my skin crawl. what's the use of make ups then? Beauty comes with pain. Yes... it's so true. But when we are old, let's say 60-70 years old, we won't have all that anymore. Think about it...are you still going to do plastic surgery to lift up your saggy skins when you are that old? You won't be bringing your beauty to the grave, will you? yeah let's say you do all the operations to make you beautiful but then you died the next day and burried with your beautiful self but after a few months, only your bones will remain. Where's beauty then? It's all eaten by worms and other animals. I believe beauty should come from inside. If you are beautiful from the outside but your inner self is rotten, you are going to be marked bad from others and people will soon stay away from you.

On the other hand, take a look at all the dead composers, artists, activists. Eventhough they were all dead but until now, we are still appreciating their works. Isn't it interesting how their works weren't appreciated when they were still alive? Mozart: his famous operas Don Giovanni and the marriage of Figarro were only played 5 and 9 times total in vienna compare to now....hmmm talking about classical music, it makes me think about pop music nowadays. There's no doubt that classical music will still be played for a long time. It has withstand so many centuries and it won't died out that easily. I think that all the dead composers and artists are all immortal. Not their bodies but their works. Pop music is different. What we consider now as hits and new, in couple years to come they will be consider as old songs in new generations dictionary and eventually it will fade away into extinction. So many examples: ant & dec, the moffats, backstreet boys (soon), n-sync (soon), even green day will be lost forever. A new generation will soon take over them. It's kind of like shedding skins. the old skins will die and replace by newer skins.

just a thought...i wrote immortality only based on dead composers, artists but what about the famous criminals? eventhough it''s been a long time ago, but people can still remember what they did. Can we still call the criminals immortal just because of their reputation and what they did?

yeah...anyhow...all i wrote was kind of abstract...nothing really related to one another except maybe for beauty and death. hmm or maybe there's some other thing? well i'm not going to think about that now.

wow....

You Have a Phlegmatic Temperament

Mild mannered and laid back, you take life at a slow pace. You are very consistent - both in emotions and actions. You tend to absorb set backs easily. You are cool and collected. It is difficult to offend you. You can remain composed and unemotional. You are a great friend and lover. You don't demand much of others. While you are quiet, you have a subtle wit that your friends know well. At your worst, you are lazy and unwilling to work at anything. You often get stuck in a rut, without aspirations or dreams. You can get too dependent on others, setting yourself up for abandonment.

What Temperment Are You?

LOL.. this is kinda describe my self :D I kinda like this website. It has pretty fun stuff in there... jeezz 1.5 more hr before i start my timing again.....

Coincidence?

Your Birthdate: February 7

You are an island. You don't need anyone else to make you happy.And though you see yourself as a loner, people are drawn to you.Deep and sensitive, you tend to impress others with your insights.You also tend to be psychic - so listen to that inner voice! Your strength: Your self sufficiency Your weakness: You despise authority Your power color: Maroon Your power symbol: Hammer Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I was just updating my profile and wrote the section that I hate most....the about me section....After i wrote all what I know about myself (not all but the one that i notice most), I did a quiz on what your birth date means. Interestingly enough, it matches my profile...Coincidence? I don't know....I mean how many people in this world has the same birth date as me? Does that mean that we all share the same characteristic? that's scary isn't it? and i'm wondering how can people find out about the meaning of every birth date? do they do a research on that? or do they make it based on stars and other numerology stuff that i don't really understand? hmm this is just interesting....

it's new year!!!

welcome to the year of dog....why the year of dog? it's because this year according to chinese calendar is the y ear of dog. Speaking of chinese calendar, Jan 29, 2006 is the chinese new year!! I have decided that starting from now, I'm going to be a pig instead of dog.... my mom also told me before that I'm more into a pig zodiac than dog....because couple days after i was born, it was the changing of year from dog to pig.... i dont really know what my parents will give us for this chinese new year hehehehe.....

by the way...this is also already 2006! Can't believe that.....time sure moves so fast...the next thing you know you've graduated from school, have to find job, and get more responsibilities as you are becoming more adult than you use to be. Granted 18 years old is already considered adult in many countries but emotionally you might not be a one...I've noticed how high school students in States act differently than college students...They are all tall and look so mature, wearing makeups, latest fashion, but it's just the way they talk and move indicate that they are actually not. Maybe age and real life experience also count. I have to say that when i came to States, I was awkward, nervous, timid (i still do in some situation), fashion wreck, almost nerd/geek :) (some of my friends still have our pictures back in freshman year...and they told me that i looked so different than my current self), and i feel that i was still acting childish (i'm not saying that i dont act that right now...but i hope it's getting less and less). After 4 years and more, i realized that i do change....all the experiences that i've gained in here and at home sure help me develop myself. So many ups and downs happened in my life and there are things that i regret but I feel blessed...God sure help me in a way. Life hasn't been easy on me for this couple months but this will make it more interesting, right? I mean if you have the same life, without anything happen...just the same old routine, I don't think you will grow. it will be a plain boring life.

anyway....2005 hasn't been an easy year....the first half was ok...but the second half was like a living nightmare....a hell...I feel like i've been bounced around like a ball, not knowing where to go. I won't really go into too much detail in here...but maybe someday i'll write about it. I intend this blog just for my work blog....something that keep me awake and kill time....I'm not saying that what i'm doing is boring (it does sometimes but it's still fun) but there are times when you've done all the things that you need to do and there's not much left....I guess i'm not a person who can sit idle not doing anything like this past few days.....i was soo sleepy and bored. luckily i still have my mp3 + ipod to keep me company....and also the internet :).

I hope that this year 2006 will bring me all the best and luck for myself and also to my family.