pork fun

Kick, Kick, jab jab.

I actually got my butt up at 7:30 a.m. I made myself go to my kickboxing class at 9:00 a.m. Dropped off my little porkbun to my moms and off to class I went. I did it. But now I feel tired. Muscle tired. I actually didn't feel too tired during the class amazingly, I think I've actually improved my cardio strength a little bit. One whole hour of kick, jump, jap, uppercut, punch, kick, sit-ups, punch...

I punched hard today, real hard, I gave it all I got. I still wondered how much those punching bags weight. I see men in that class punching the crap out of those bags and they actually moved. I can never get that thing to move even if I hung my entire body onto that thing and tried to move it.

I can already feel my sore arms, I don't want to imagine when I wake up tomorrow morning. Its going to feel like the day after I skied all day. As they say, being sore is good, that means your muscle is working hard... Ha. No pain, no gain. Whine, whine, whine, I know. I'll shut up now and tough it out.

It was a good class though, not too many people on a rainy day. Today I partnered up with a woman and we sat back to back and passed a 6.5 weight ball to each other from one side to the other. Then we did the ball passing with locked feet and doing sit-ups, I felt like I was in boot camp. I'm determined to get toner arms for my upcoming trip. I can't wait. 4 more days to go. Whoo-hoo...!!

Kailua Kona... here I come... the weather better be nice, hot and sunny over there because I'm sick and tired of this cold, rainy weather over here in California. The hotel looks nice in the pictures, I can't wait. At the same time, I'll be traveling with my little porkbun, its going to be a nice little family trip and we're going to spend some quality time together... just us - me, papapork and little porkbun. Ahhh... I can't wait.

Oh and today, my little porkbun and his cousin are on the frontpage of Yahoo! Isn't that so fun? Right near Jessica Simpson too... go boys go! 

Easter.

Spent the weekend with my family outdoors at an Eggstravaganza in Danville on Saturday morning. Had a great time watching my little porkbun and his cousin play together, running around picking up eggs together, running wild on the lawn together (seeing them run like that reminds me of the song "who let the dogs out?"), playing with balloons together, fighting for snacks together, and watching my porkbun hug his little cousin till he got real frustrated. Definitely a little kodak moment. I swear, they have this love and hate relationship. I hope someday when they grow up, they'll still be the bestest buddies and watch out for one another.

Then on Sunday, we had another egg hunt at my brother's backyard. This time, the boys just knew exactly what to do when we let them out to the backyard. It was quite cute. They were just getting busy in the yard. Egg in basket, egg in basket, then dropped the eggs 'cuz they're not quite coordinated to hold the basket and keep the eggs inside just yet. It was a nice little gathering, having lunch together with family and just spending quality time together.

Binky Baby.

My litte porkbun doesn't have a stinky blankie nor a certain stuff animal he can't sleep without. He isn't really attached to any specific toy I can think of either - which I think is a good thing. I read somewhere that kids who don't need a security object such as a blankie or a stuff animal grows up to be more of an extrovert rather than an introvert.

But recently, I've started to realize that he is very attached to one thing though - the binky (or should I say "binkies"). Ever since he was an infant, I've let him use a binky during bedtime so he can soothe himself to sleep. Some mothers are very against the use of them 'cuz they said it'll ruin their teeth as they grow up. Others thinks its all just a myth. I've heard from a friend's friend who's a dentist said its not true. I just think whatever it is that can keep my baby happy and content during bedtime, then its a good thing... a good thing for everyone. He's happy, I'm happy so why not.

My little porkbun has gotten into this habit during bedtime where he would sleep with 4 different binkies at night. He would switch it in and out of his mouth while he puts himself to sleep. Its almost like wine tasting but for binkies.

He has found a new talent the other day, he sucked two binkies at one time, two in the mouth. Maybe in the next month, he'll show me a "three binkie in the mouth" trick. And by age 3, my little porkbun will be able to join the circus.

Arrowhead sucks.

I did something real bad today. It was an accident. I spilled an entire 2.5 gallon of water in the trunk of my Acura. I was reminded by Papapork that the car now smells like "wet towel". Isn't that just lovely. Don't you just love it when those frickin' Arrowhead water containers you buy from Safeway just all of a sudden decide to break open its own seal and start pouring water out of the back of your trunk while you're driving?

Worst part of it all, the weather isn't helping, I can't even sun-dry my "wet towel" smelling car outside tomorrow. The blow dryer didn't help too much. I hate the smell. And I feel like an idiot too.

To help or not to help.

A stranger knocked on my door last night at around 10:45p.m. That was a bit late. I was in the kitchen with papapork. I was a bit shocked because there is person standing in my frontdoor in the semi-dark and I can barely see who it was from the inside of my kitchen window. The scary part is that people outside standing there can see us inside nice and clear but I couldn't really see clearly who it was standing in my frontdoor. I got a bit scared. I just didn't know what to say and looked at her. It was totally unexpected. One minute I was having a conversation with papapork, next minute, someone is at my frontdoor looking at us, knocking on our door. This stranger is looking thru my kitchen window gesturing something. Papapork wasn't freaked out at all. He just seemed to know what to respond to, he didn't open the door. It was a girl. She looked like she was in her late twenties.

It was raining outside. She had a black umbrella. She was gesturing something with her hands ... her hand to her ear... "phone?" I guess she was asking. Then she gestured hand to ear and open both hands like a book. "phone + book?" she was asking. We really didn't have a phone book at home. Papapork didn't open the door. I was about to tell him to open it too to find out what she wanted. But soon Papapork shoke his head "No"... and the girl nodded and walked away. I still stood there in the kitchen a bit confused and scared for some reason. I thought that was kinda strange and it was pretty late to be knocking on someone's door at night especially on a week night. I was already in my PJs, ready for bed.

Then I asked Papapork, why didn't you open the door? 'cause I felt bad. What if she was lost. It was raining. What if she really needed help and is alone? Papapork reminded me, what if there was another man behind her we didn't see? what if I opened the door and she had a gun and robbed us or kill us? I know the chance of that might be rare but... who knows. There are strange people out there. Scary thought though. But that didn't cross my mind when I saw that girl.

So then I thought, what if that happened and I was home alone with my little porkbun sound asleep in his room? Should I or would I have opened the door to this girl outside? Knowing me, I would have probably just sneaked up to the door hole and peeked and ignore. But then again, what if she caught me in the kitchen standing there alone. Eeek.

One time an African American mid-age lady tricked me into getting gas money from me on a rainy day. She came and told me a story about how her car is stuck on the freeway and how she doesn't have money to get gas because she doesn't get paid till next week. She then tells me she works at DVC and at that time, that's the junior college I was attending. (stupid me, she noticed my parking permit). I openly helped her out and gave her $20 for gas. She promised me she'll return the money back at the main office at DVC next Monday when she gets her paycheck. She got my name and said she'll put the money in an envelope. I gave her all I had in my wallet. The next week I tried to ask the main office for my money, nothing. I went back day after day, nothing. Then I realized that I was totally tricked into this whole thing. I felt so cheated. I felt like a fool. I felt so betrayed for trying to be nice to help a woman out who seriously looked like she needed help. If she was poor and wanted spare change, she could've just asked me, I would have helped. She didn't have to use such a dirty trick. I learned my lesson and from then on, I have a harder time trusting strangers that tells me stories.

This girl at my front door was a bit suspicious to me last night. But I could be wrong. Maybe she really needed some help. I have no idea. Or maybe she really just wanted something else. I have no idea. She could've been a serial killer of all I know. I still don't know.

As much as I really want to help people out who are in need, when would you really know when a stranger is telling you the truth or is just playing mind games?

I still feel a little bad the girl just walked away. I still wonder what happened to her after all and I wonder why she was wandering around the streets alone at 11pm at night?

I can't help but still feel bad to have driven her away. But maybe that was just the right thing to do after all for the safety of me and my family. Maybe she could have called the cop for help instead. Maybe she'll run into one of our community security officers that drives around our neighborhood at night and ask for help.

I hope this girl finally went home because I can imagine that her mother would be very worried about her.

I'm addicted.

I'm addicted. I am addicted to the internet, I seriously am. I find myself touching this thing almost every hour or two in my day. Its kinda scary what it can do to me. I feel the urge when I wake up to check my email.  I feel the urge to see who's online after I have dinner. I itch to wanna touch the computer and get online and connect to see who's online and who's not.

I am so addicted I can't stop. I need to stop and I don't know how to cut back. I need to get off this computer, I am turning into a big fat nerd. I get really happy when I get to drive the mouse and search for things on the internet. It doesn't matter what site I'm visiting, I just like to browse, read, look at eyecandy stuff.

I should ground myself from the computer like how parents ground their kids and tell them to "go to your room". I should only allow myself to touch this thing twice a day or something. Its like wanting a cigarette (although I don't know how that really feels since I don't smoke). Gosh, what happened to me. I've become an internet monster. I'm totally addicted to online communication. What has this internet business done to me?? Scary business.

Okay, someone please, take me away from this monitor now. Please pry my fingers off this keyboard immediately.

Does anyone else have the same addiction?

Hit me baby one more time.

So I was taking a shower this morning and all of a sudden - BOING! the shower head knocked me right on the back of my head. OOUUUUCH! I yelled out loud. &@^)&$*#)$*@ Frickin' damn thing. Thank God I wasn't facing it, or I'll get my nose banged up or a bruise on my cheeks. I cursed at that thing.

So later that evening, I shared my little shower incident story with my husband. "Its good luck honey." he tells me. I gave him a crazy look, "Whhhaaatt? Are you kidding me?"... "No really" he says. Then he goes off telling me that in the chinese traditions, being "knocked on the head by something" means good luck to the person. The chinese phrase is pronounced as "Howng One Dong Tau" which literally translates to "Red Luck Hit Head" in English. Doesn't sound like it makes any sense, does it? Yeh, that's what I thought too.

So I questioned him to see whether he was just making this all up and poking fun at me. He said he's not kidding at all and that its especially good luck when you get hit with something related with water because "water" symbolizes "wealth and money". Okay, I believed him a little because I know that "water" does symbolize "wealth" to Chinese folks. Hmmm...could he be right?

So I started to think back about my day. And I actually started to believe him for a second. Why? Well, 'cuz today, I did get some good news from someone and it WAS related to money too. I received a phone call by a company and received an offer within the 2 hours after I got bunked on the head in the shower! Whoooo. Was that just a coincident or should I start to believe in chinese superstitious stuff now?

Hmm... whichever it is... maybe next time when I get hit by a flowerpot in the streets or even a fish tank on my head... I should sit back up and say - "Hit me baby one more time!".

Strange Day.

A few strange things happened today. Strange thing#1 is that I did something today that I've never, ever did before in my life. For the past 29 years of my life, I've never experienced it yet until today. I had many times where I could have done it before but never did end up doing it.

I finally walked into a restaurant to eat all by myself for the first time in my life. Maybe this doesn't sound like anything surprising to alot of people but I've never done it before. I always thought it was so lonely to be eating at a restaurant all by yourself. I rather buy take-out and eat in the car on my way home or eat take-out at home.

But today, I finally did it. I ate at my favorite ramen house in Mountain View all alone. I figured it was an odd hour I was eating at and everyone around must've already had lunch so I walked in to the restaurant alone bravely. I gestured and whispered to the waitress, "One, please". And walked with confidence to the ramen bar and grabbed a seat away from everyone and in front of the TV. One minute later, I knew exactly what I wanted to order, "Butter Corn, please".

Minutes later, as I was waiting for my food I noticed an average looking guy walked in. He sat 2 seats away from me near the corner edge. I just minded my own business and used the time to call my mom to check on my porkbun to see what he's up to. My order came, then that guy's order came shortly after mine. I noticed he asked for a cup of ice. I saw him pour ice into his bowl of ramen. What the ... I guess the ramen was just too hot for him or something. Weird but I guess that can be an idea to cool it down faster. Half way done with my ramen, that guy next to me finished and occasionally glanced at me. All of a sudden he asked me, "Which one did you order?"... "Ah.. the butter corn one", I replied. "Oh yeh, that one is one of my favorite" he said. Then he kept talking to me, asking me all kinds of stuff... whether I worked nearby (I said no, just interviewing around here), he asked where, told me what he does, asked if I lived around here, whether I'm japanese or not, what language was I speaking on the phone, tells me he was korean, told me he lived in Hong Kong for a year and studied Medical School there, etc. Honestly, I wasn't interested to chat eventhough I was alone in that restaurant.

As a person who loves to be around people all the time, to my own surprise, I actually thought it was kind of nice to spend some "me time" here, not having to talk to anyone, just enjoying myself. I really didn't wanna chat, I wanted to finish my food and head home before I hit traffic but I figured I won't be a bitch, this guy seems harmless. He was pretty well dressed and looks decent. He kept talking so I didn't want to talk with my mouth full and I had to eat slower. Then I noticed the guy finally got his bill and paid and packed up his left-overs. But he still sat there for a while and haven't left yet. I tried not to make too much eye contact so he'll stop talking to me again and I can enjoy my lunch. Then he asked for my name, so I politely introduced myself and he said "Hi, I'm Howard".

5 minutes later after sitting there doing nothing and me over here just eating, he says to me, "well, I need to run now"... "oh, okay", I said and gave a little smile. Then he goes, "well, maybe if you're around here again, we can meet up for lunch sometimes". Ahh...okay, I felt a bit awkward now, "Ah, okay", I gave a forced smile and was hoping he'll just walk away now. He grabs the restaurant's business card and asked if he can get my phone number. Alright, now, what does a girl say to a guy when she doesn't want to give her digits out?? Think fast. "Ahh.. maybe I can just get yours?" I said, hoping he'll just get the hint... but it didn't stop there, 6 seconds later, he still tries to give me that restaurant business card and was searching for a pen, feeling his shirt pocket and pants pocket, and said "How about just your email then?" he pushes the card to me... I replied more firmly this time "Can I just get yours?" and gave a polite smile. Then he checks around his pockets some more still looking for a pen and asked if I had one. "Sorry I don't have a pen" I lied. Alright, I had 2 pens in my purse but I am not taking it out. Then he says to me "I'll get you my card, its in my car, be right back" and walked out. So I thought, alright... and waited ... maybe I can see what this guy does for a living at least so I know he's really not a weirdo. I continued to finish my yummy corn ramen.

5 minutes later, I looked around to see if he was back... nope. 10 minutes later, I was thinking, "wow, where did this guy park?" 15 minutes past, I finally finished all my food and kimchii and even my drink so I asked for my bill. I figured this guy is either walking REAL far to his car or that he finally got it all figured out - that "she is just not interested". I still wondered, did he really just parked real far or he really got the hint after all? I do feel bad if I've made it a bad day for him. But I still wondered what happened after he walked out of that restaurant? did he get in an accident or got hurt? or did he just felt dumb and rejected? did he change his mind and figured he should probably rush back to work instead? I have no idea. And I still wondered.

So that was the story about my strange thing #1 that happened today. The strange thing #2 for today is that Papapork found "a plastic cereal bowl" inside our laundry basket in my walk-in closet!? And then Papapork ALSO found a seatbelt pad in my study room's trash can. I've finally realized that now as my little porkbun is 18 months old, I really need to start checking all of my trash cans before I permanently throw things away. Who knows, someday I'm going to find my Paul Frank watch in the bathroom trash can or my cell phone inside the toilet bowl or something. I think I probably wouldn't even be surprised. *I better remember to put down that toilet seat cover now* But so far, I'm still trying to figure out where I left my cell phone's headset at home... I know its somewhere at home but I can't find it ANYWHERE...and its starting to drive me nuts. Now I have a strange feeling that some little guy in this house might've hide it somewhere ... it is almost like a "solve the missing piece of item at home for today" game in my house now. Oh, toddlers years, what's not to love?

I wish I was a kid again.

So its Tuesday already, the weekend went by so darn fast I swear. We joined some friends and hit the Oakland Zoo over the weekend. The weather wasn't cooperating at all that morning. It was cloudy and a bit chilly when we got there around 11am.

I've never been to the Oakland Zoo before and I've realized that this place is really made for kids! There is this section of train rides and merry go round. There were all kinds of animals there but it wasn't as much as I expected. We saw camels first...busy chewing on grass (and I wondered why they only had one hump and not two), then the giraffes... one of them was galloping like a horse (I wasn't sure what he was doing, and neither did anyone else around us - looks like he was freaking out about something or just happy), we saw zebras which were really pretty (it brings me the scene of how an Africa Safari would feel like), we saw some sort of weird little animals that looked like a cross of a possum and a raccoon, I still can't recall what the name of that animal was and it sorta gave me the chills. We also saw bats, gorillas, bears, elephants and funny looking baboons. They had red bumpy butts that I wouldn't ever wanna see again if I knew how yucky they looked. I always wondered why God made their behinds look the way they do. With all the animals around, I think my porkbun was a bit confused with why there were so many different creatures everywhere. He was constantly pointing at stuff here and there.

The best part of it all for my little porkbun was the petting area. He got to pet the goats and sheeps. He was a bit frightened by them at first, but then later, we showed him how to brush the goats by using those dirty brushes they  provided which was filled with tons of germs and goat hairs on them. Then he observed other kids doing the same thing and not very long after he was chasing the goats around wanting to brush every one of them one by one. He even used his hands and finally pet the goat himself too. It was quite cute, I couldn't resist myself taking all those pictures and video clips.

Sunday, we went to the nearby park in the morning and spend some family time together playing at the playground and getting messy at the sandbox. I flew down the slides with my porkbun a few times and papapork tried the same and scraped himself up from the narrow slides. (Didn't he realize he was a bit too big for those kids size slides?? Ha). That is one thing I'm glad that I am still kinda small in size, I can still crawl into these tiny tunnels and slides with my porkbun and play together with him. But I know someday, he is going to tell mommy to stop following him around those slides and tunnels and he will want to do it all on his own and that I am embarrasing him. Sometimes I imagine that day will come and it makes me sad. My little porkbun is going to grow out of being a baby someday and I will just have to accept that as part of him growing up.

Being at the park reminds me how wonderful life really is for kids. I wish I was a kid again ... free of stress, free of responsibilities, free of schedules, free of finances, free of duties, free of making decisions, free of knowing when dinner time is, free of doing anything I feel like. If I ran into a genie right now, my wish would be that I want to be a kid again... for about a month (cuz after that, I might get tired of adults telling me what to do and what not to do, what to eat, when to eat, etc...) Oh... how I could just wish...

77 weeks - 18 months + 2 days

So I just got back from the pediatrician office. Oh, was it a horrible one hour we went through. Watching my own little porkbun cry his lungs out and me as a mom just had to sit there and wipe those little tears away. My porkbun hates the nurse. He hates those ladies in funny character uniforms that talks to him in high-pitched voices and tricks him and tells him that everything is going to be okay. He knew those shots are coming anytime. 

He whines and whines when he's in that little office. He sits on the table with that noisy paper cover. He used to like that noisy paper that made noise when he moved on it - but not anymore at 18 months.

So I tried to distract him with this farm animal toy that was from the waiting room that I stole with me into the exam room. The nurse comes in and says the same old phrase every single time I'm there - "I need a naked baby", she says. Alright, so I started to strip my porkbun - pants off, shoes off, jacket off, shirt off, socks off, undershirt off, and finally, the diaper off too. (*apparently, they need to weight him completely naked each time to get an accurate weight measurement) So right before I put my little porkbun onto that scale, guess what lovely surprise we got?! Yup, you got it. Its brown, and sorta mustardy in color, some mushy substance with black seeds mixed in that reminds me of those kiwi seeds he ate the other night - right in that diaper i yanked off.

Oh, was I soo.. embarrased. I felt like a mom that brought her dirty son in that hasn't been changed the whole morning. My porkbun already pooped once this morning, how on earth would I have guessed that he have pooped again the same morning. Gee, thanks babycakes. I felt like a lazy and dirty mommy who lets their son sit in their poop. So I apologized to the nurse, "Oh, I'm so sorry"... and wiped those little buns clean before we sat him on that clean scale.

"22lbs and 1oz", she announced. *Oh boy, what a skinny little boy I got there*. What happened? I was a bit worried. Then the nurse come over with this measuring tape around my porkbun's head, I giggled, while my porkbun was totally balling. I thought he actually looked kinda cute - like a little red indian with a bandana around his forehead. He's crying and I'm laughing - what a mean mom, huh? Then we measured his height and whola! the nurse said "33 and 1/2 inches". Hmm,that sounds a bit better.

Finally, the doctor comes in to confirm what all those numbers meant for his age. My porkbun is in the whole whooping 5% percentile in weight among all other kids at his age. *Gosh, does mom not feed him or something the doctor must be thinking.* But then my confidence came back when the doctor told me my porkbun was in the 80% in height. wow, 80% I thought. Whew! At least he was growing alot in height. For the past months I was a bit concern about my porkbun not gaining much weight ever since he got sick some months ago. Thank God he was growing other ways. I guess I was worrying too much. I must have been watching too many of those odd stories on TV about kids who stopped growing all of a sudden at a certain age... so that made me worried. The doctor was done with all the banging on his knee to see if he'll reflect to it, ouch. She gleamed a light into his eye, aiiyee. She pressed onto his stomach till it looked like something I never usually see at home, ouch. Gosh, I understand why kids hate the doctors office, I would too.

Then comes the nurse, 2 shots. One went on leg, ouch, she poked it real fast, then goes the Snoopy circle bandage right after. There goes the river of tears. It was like a leaking faucet, those tears just kept coming, wipe, its there again, wipe, again. Oh boy, we weren't even done yet. Then goes the other one that hurts even more, the arm shot. The nurse told me its the MMR shot, (whatever that means, I guess I trust them to know exactly what all those are). She said it'll sting and hurt, ouch. Poke! *wow, that was quick* Then another Snoopy circle bandage and I swear, she must've not even sticked it onto that right spot. And there goes Niagara Falls again.

I can't imagine how nurses can poke those little fat thighs and chubby arms of cute babies... I would hate to do their job. Maybe that's why I'm not a nurse, huh. The tears continue, the nurse leaves the room, my porkbun sniffles. And sniffles and sniffles and catches his breathe. Then as we leave, something that'll always make everything ALL better. We walked towards the counter. We see that bucket, "Go ahead, take one", I said. In goes those little fingers, and out goes 2 round truck stickers and a smile. All of a sudden, all those bad memories of those needles poking were erased and my little porkbun was happy again. So we head out the door, back in the car we go, buckled in, porkbun showing off his 2 stickers to me, he sticks one on my hair and giggles as I tried to buckle him. "We're going home", I said. On the freeway we go, I turned around, and my little porkbun is fast asleep in his carseat already.

Its amazing what wonders stickers can do. No wonder, I still love stickers so much myself.

I caught the bug.

The blog bug that is... yup, I've started a blog too... yeh I'm a nerd, just like everyone else on my friends' list. I guess this would be a good place for me to talk to others when other people don't want to sit there to listen to me. You can learn about my crazy life as a mamapork and hear about my little babypork all here on one link, how exciting huh? I tend to babble alot when i'm writing in these things... sometimes i write boring stuff... sometimes i might even write some exciting stuff in here.

I found out Friendster have blogs on their site now so I wanted to try out their system and see the difference between them and blogspot.

Its only Day 1 of my blog, we'll see how long this will last. Hopefully I'll find time away from my babypork to spill my thoughts onto here from time to time. Perhaps, maybe I'll just end up making this a photo blog instead... we'll see.

Thanks for even reading this new blog of mine and welcome to my Porky Life.

Everyone out there... I've finally joined this blog cult with the rest of you guys too!! Go ahead, leave me comments anytime (so at least I know someone is reading my babbling out there).