Stick a Fork. IN. ME!

I am so done!  Taxes, EERs, Internship, and (what else, what else…) OH, Naomi’s Fitness Challenge, DONE! (And 15 pounds lighter).  I am so ready for the Spring Travel Season J  Lyndsey is going on a field trip this week, to The Yellow Mountain in An Hui Province, for a little bonding with her fellow classmates.  She is not thrilled… But just LOOK at this place!

I, on the other hand, could not be more excited to go camping at the end of the month, with my newfound Consular friends, to the Dong Tai Mountain in the XiaoWuTaiShan range (just south of the 2022 Winter Olympic site in Zhangjiakou).

My Mother flies in for a visit on May 11^th…  We’ll give her about 10 days to catch up with the time zone, and see the local sites, before we whisk her off to Thailand for some valuable beach time, and then on to Hong Kong, to see two of the most awesome cities in Asia! 

I’m finally going to do the Flight of the Gibbon Zipline adventure when we’re in Thailand, and there will be a trip to Macau while we’re in HK. 

Macau is known for all the gambling casinos, but Macau is also a mesmerizing place to just walk around as it is packed with churches, temples, and fortresses… there are also hundreds of narrow alleyways forming a maze in the old part of Macau where the people of Macau carry out businesses and work. 

But, if casinos are your thing, The City of Dreams is a giant casino with high end fashion shops, a free video 'bubble' show, three hotels and the world's most expensive theatre show. The 'House of Dancing Water' cost US$250 million and the stage holds five Olympic swimming pools worth of water.

Mom will depart the day after we return, then back to school and work, where I will be thrust into the bidding season :-D 

Hopefully, there will be many European posts to choose from… Of course, Lyndsey is putting some strong Netherland vibes out into the Universe.  I’m just hoping to land anywhere in the Western European vicinity.

Woman of Leisure

I was going to title it, “Queen of Leisure Sports”, but listening to audiobooks, and staring off into space don’t really qualify as sporty.

I’ve been laying off the boob tube lately, as part of some drunken New Year’s dedication to forming new habits (I don’t recall if I specified “better” habits? …or, just new ones).  So, as I’m staring off into space, wondering if the new season of Nurse Jackie has started yet, I grab my phone and ask Siri how she might be of service to my bored self.  Together, we decide that a game of gin rummy might be a good place to start.  She’s good, y’know… Siri, at gin rummy; really a tough one to read J  …now I am an online, gin rummy addict; thanks, Siri!

Audiobooks, on the other hand, seem like a much better alternative habit; I mean, it’s almost like reading a book, but someone else is reading to you!!  Oh, how I LOVE it when someone else reads to me… it IS a far superior form of entertainment than ol’ nurse Jackie.  

I just listened to a Michael Connelly book about this LAPD detective named Bosch, read by the SUPER Sexy Titus Welliver… and guess what?!  Titus Welliver is now the lead character in a new Amazon Original Series called Bosch… and I can’t watch it!!!  Oh, but you know that I will… I’m not going to completely let go of my old friend, the idiot box, not as long as Titus is alive.

Project Meditation

I’m ringing in the New Year’s without declaring any resolutions this year, but I am determined to establish some better habits, specifically relating to my mental health.  Not that I’m feeling all that crazy, I’m just starting to realize that it might be the most important thing to emphasis for overall health… probably because I had such an amazing vacation over the holiday break, doing nothing but hanging out with people who make me feel good.  I mean, just look at this picture of me with my friend, Mary Young…

I look like I don’t have a care in the world!  It's not that I'm careless, or that I don't care about people... I just don't want to obsess about things, or have an endless train of thought running through my mind all the time.  It's definitely time to consider revisiting the fine art of quieting the mind... aka, meditation.  

I have always considered meditation to be a trendy concept, like hot yoga without all the sweat... I have tried meditation, repeatedly, with little success... it just puts me to sleep.  But, I came across a website called Project Meditation, which provides a source of meditation entertainment… now that is something I can get on board with!

Having said that, I know there are other variables affecting my mental stability, such as alcohol, and mindless distractions like watching TV, Facebook, or anything useless and time-consuming carried out on the Internet. 

So, I’ve started meditating every morning with my “meditation entertainment” and I think it’s having a huge impact on the rest of my day.  Also, alcohol, Facebook and TV time have been replaced with the Xbox; just Rocksmith so far, but I’m sure Just Dance will start making a comeback any day now. 

I know that Life is not one long vacation, but the look and feel of being on vacation... that’s the look I’m going for, built upon a solid foundation of seriously not having a care in the world.