Month of May Photo Challenge. Day 20. Something Tiny

I used to play with pill bugs ("rolly-pollies") when I was young. We all have our preferred bugs, I guess--for example, my brother Johnny had an obsession with ants. Not having many toys or game systems, we played outside and formulated our own entertainment. I always admired the pill bug, a creature that came with its own home and armor, yet with more speed and maneuverability than the snail or turtle, which have the same advantages.

My husband used to make his own toys in his childhood; he'd collect scrap matchboxes and rubber bands and build wind-up "cars." We didn't have much, but we had imagination and drive; we played in the sun and learned the finesse of crafting and nurturing things with our hands.

Month of May Photo Challenge. Day 19: Something Red

This is an object I see almost every weekday for the past year-and-a-half. I don't always use it, but it sits in my workplace gym, and every weekday I am there. My weight was in the double-digits well through high school; blessed with a high metabolism and generally too restless and monkey-minded to be sedentary, I never had an issue with my weight, until two winters ago when I had gotten too lax with my eating, too comfortable at my desk job, and too lazy to do much physical activity. I was far from being an unhealthy weight, but I didn't like how my pants fit tighter, or the numbers I saw on the scale.

I made the resolve to do something I turned up my nose at before: work out at the gym, and build up my consistency to 5x/week, making time every day after work, even after those long days when daylight has faded. I know some people prefer to stay away from the scale as muscle weight and other factors could affect the numbers, but I weighed myself every day as a conscious effort to make the numbers go down.

There were days when the numbers went up; I was faced with discouragement, hunger at cutting portions at every meal, laziness to change into my gym clothes, the mind-numbing boredom of exercising alone in an often empty gym. But after 1.5 years of commitment, those numbers went down again, and I had dropped 10 pounds after gaining 8 post-wedding.

Having never had to consciously lose weight, I now appreciate the dedication to stick with something difficult and trudge on. Your mind breaks past the point of resistance, and all you see is the end-goal. Some journeys you have to make on your own. Losing weight is now one of my life analogies for working at something to overcome an obstacle. Those who succeed are the ones who don't give up.

Month of May Photo Challenge. Day 18: The Road

Piedmont Road leading up to Ed Levin dog park, Odin's weekend stomping grounds. Mustard abounds on the hillside, especially after the rain.

We bought our house in 2009 after years of struggling and losing out on bids. Purchasing a home in the Silicon Valley is a trial by fire. I fell in love with my current neighborhood, a house tucked at the foot of the hill, one part suburban and the other part wild hillside with plenty of deer, turkeys, horses, and cows to see.

The streets on which you have lived leave indelible impressions on your memory, from the ones you grew up on, the ones you lived on temporarily, and the ones you decide to stake out for your own house. Every time my car hugs this road, especially after having been away for a while, I feel that I am coming home.

Month of May Photo Challenge Day 17: Your “Morning Brew”

A cup of Genmaicha (roasted rice) green tea.

At work, I brew myself a pot of tea everyday. I usually stick to low-caffeine types like green or herbal. My current selection of teas at my desk include jasmine, chamomile, blueberry, peppermint, and Genmaicha. I'm not a coffee person, and a heavy dose of caffeine gives me the shakes when it leaves my body.

Roasted rice tea is often served at Korean restaurants as it aids in digestion, especially from meat-heavy meals. Tea plays a big role in Asian cultures, from ritualistic tea preparation and tasting ceremonies to wedding tea pours for one's parents. It represents the coming together of friends, family, and business acquaintances. In Chinese, the direct translation for one of the code phrases for inviting someone to dim sum is, "Let's drink tea."

I enjoy a cup of boba milk tea once in a while, but on a daily basis, I drink my tea hot and plain, a habit I picked up from my dad, who also brews himself a pot of jasmine tea everyday, with whole leaves floating straight in the pot. My tea is pretty diluted as I used to add just a splash from his brew to my water to flavor it. Jasmine remains one of my favorite tea flavors today.

Month of May Photo Challenge Day 16: Your Lunch

Oysters from the Tomales Bay region, part of our barbecue lunch at Lake Chabot for our friend Tennyson's birthday. Also on the menu were hot links, hot dogs, chicken wings and drumsticks, squid in Korean sauce, corn, vegetable skewers, and fruits.

Had a fun time, and Odin got to hang with his buddy Bobby again. At gatherings like these, I think of how many of these meals are made more memorable by the company of family and friends.

Month of May Photo Challenge. Day 15: Show Some Action

Long week. I'm about to pass out early, but for today's challenge, I tried to capture the wind in this shot, picking up my hair as I took a work-break stroll. It's an interesting thing, photographing the wind--you have to capture things in motion to convey the idea of an invisible force. This gusty day reminds me of Winnie the Pooh author A. A. Milne's poem, "Wind on the Hill," which also speaks to tracking this unseeable force that nevertheless leaves a visible trail in its wake.

Wind on the Hill
BY A. A. MILNE

No one can tell me,
Nobody knows,
Where the wind comes from,
Where the wind goes.
It’s flying from somewhere
As fast as it can,
I couldn’t keep up with it,
Not if I ran.
But if I stopped holding
The string of my kite,
It would blow with the wind
For a day and a night.
And then when I found it,
Wherever it blew,
I should know that the wind
Had been going there too.
So then I could tell them
Where the wind goes . . .
But where the wind comes from
Nobody knows.

Month of May Photo Challenge. Day 14: Something Blue

"Eye-catching" display in a shop's window.

Today I muse on the gift of sight. In eighth grade Social Studies, I was assigned as a study buddy to a visually-impaired girl named Nancy. She had special stationery with bold rules and brought her head close to the paper when she wrote. I'd read her a few paragraphs out loud and the corresponding study questions, and she'd write down the answers. I was always amazed at her memory as I'd often have to go back and re-read sections to myself before generating a good response.

In high school, one of the teachers had her students pair up, with one wearing a blindfold through lunch breaks, guided by his or her buddy. Clumsy guides as some of them were, and inexperienced with having to give up their sight, I saw quite a few students trip, stall, and walk into objects in their path.

One of the best massages I got was from a blind girl in Viet Nam. Our hotel contracted with an organization that provided jobs for the visually impaired, training you by women to do in-room massages for clientele. I remember how my masseuse would feel the terrain of my back, tickling my skin with soft sensations, before adding pressure to the massage when she had mapped out and memorized my body with her hands.