it hurts.

ughh.. this is precisely the reason why i choose not to exert myself in strenuous physical activity. especially in public.

as i type, my biceps quiver. as i lift a forkful of tilapia to my mouth to re-stimulate ATP synthesis in my muscles, my arms falter. i turn my head up and down from keyboard to screen and i feel as though my nerves are being pinched in 7 different places down my spine. twelve hours from now, i'm going to be sitting stiff-necked at my desk thinking ::why on earth did you ever think working out was gonna be a good thing?!?:: ..at least when a patient tells me he has pains in his rear, i will be able to sympathize completely (give or take 50 years)

and get this. after the class, miss instructor bounces her way over to me, not to introduce herself (this was my first time attending) but to let me know that she was very amused watching my attempts at vsksasana and shirsasana. dkflgnlskdh.

nevertheless, paul says

you yourselves are god's temple and god's spirit live in you. if anyone destroys god's temple, god will destroy him! 1 cor 3:16

oooh yikes! so what is a girl like me to do when In n Out runs and custard buns strike!? i mean, i can still rely on the vestiges of my fast metabolism but nutrition nerds all know that peaks around the age of 21.... which i am not..... >_< and surely god would not call us to obey a command so biologically unattainable right?? no. he wouldn't. and that is why he created the nintendowii. or at least, created genius japanese men and women to create the wii :D what better way to stay in shape and thwart the settlement of adipose tissue in the nether-regions than doing yoga and playing tennis all in the confines of my own home?? i fully resolve to .work out. at least an hour a week (shut up, i'm taking small steps) and bring my wii age down at least to the 30s. whoo! so exciting. of course, i won't be able to start until after i recover from this horribly excruciating pain....... how glorious the day will be when

the lord jesus christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform [my] lowly body so that it will be like his glorious body! phil 3:20

whoa talk about taking scripture out of context! hehe :D in conclusion, no matter what method you choose, this body that we've been given is holy. both inside and out. i think it's just as important to sculpt the heart mind as it is to maintain a healthy exterior.

thank you for reading this philosophical thought piece by yours truly.

track 8

though i have not seen him
my heart knows him well

i love that! ..but how well does my heart really know him?
that's my prayer tonight. that while he has searched me and knows me, i might do the same for my christ.

the progression of my illness, as told by my medicine cabinet.

since the first bloom of the season and the first cut of newly sprouted grass, these allergens have been attacking my immune system like silent ninjas on the prowl for pokemon (or whatever else they prowl around for..) fortunately, it's never been as bad as what i've observed in some unlucky people. instead of prescriptions, i just make sure i have a roll of toilet paper at bedside to catch my morning flow of snot. lovely picture isn't it? :D

just about three days ago however, something flared up and i went home from work with a sudden onset of fever and other sorts of weird symptoms. since then, i've tried several different remedies but to no avail, my nose has still made itself unavailable to me and i sometimes feel like someone's giving me a really bad head massage. instinct tells me it will eventually go away but i'm starting to consider whether or not i should get myself checked out.

following is a short photojournalism piece i've put together detailing the journey of sickness:

at first, before any sort of real symptoms occured, i had just been taking my normal vitamins (like any good nutrition graduate would...) i've got my one a days for women, a multivitamin, the occasional vitamin e, and of course, vitamin c - as shown in the suspicious looking ziploc bag. every time i go home to visit, my mom always gives me another ziploc bag of vitamins. i do believe this is her way of saying .i love you. too bad vitamin c can only help you so much....

that's when my medicine cabinet really started to grow. over the last few days, i've been taking these items in a variety of combinations. i started out with allergy meds exclusively but after the fever scare, i purchased tylenol cold. seeing that nothing was improving, i found a benedryl that included allergy aNd cold medicine. amazing, right?! no. try taking that at the beginning of an 8-hour shift. oh man. i'm surprised i didn't get any screaming nurse/patient calls for missing meals >_< the worst part of all is sleeping. lying in a supine position completely renders my nose useless, making for very uncomfortable and sleepless nights...

i haven't yet, but i'm considering if it'd swim well with the benedry that's currently coursing through my veins. soo tempting... i'm also wondering what's more potent: one sleep-inducing gel cap, or a swig of keystone light. hrmm. just kidding. this was also a parting gift from my mom. except the six-pack was intended for cooking chicken. i can't stand the taste of beer.

i remember the last time i took these pills, i went straight to sleep. unlike dr. house, it doesn't make me irritable, cynical, genius, and hot - that already comes naturally. kidding.

meh i hate being sick. i hardly ever get sick, but when i do it's like pirates taking over the ship. wait.. too soon? hehee anyways, i hope you'll join me in cheering for my immunoglobins for a successful win. here's probably a good place for me to insert an analogy to the recent rockets defeat but then i'd just be kidding myself in thinking i know anything about basketball >_<

does anyone know of a good general practice doctor in sacramento? ..and while i'm at it, i'm also looking for a dentist, an eye doctor, and a good chinese take-out restaurant. thanks!

an evening bike ride in east sac.

this evening, i braved my seasonal allergies and nasal congestion and ventured for a bike ride down M street. after finding out about the death of 2 rats in the bike room of my house, i hadn't gone near my bike in months. luckily the rats were disposed of and i had someone else sanitize my bike before hopping on = ]

biking down M street is one of my favorite routes. M street happens to bisect the fabulous forties right through the middle, allowing me to create elaborate stories of the type of people who live in the houses and the kind of magical creatures they keep in their basements as i bike through. mm.. just kidding about the magical creatures. i thought it might add more to the storybook feel of my vignette...

starting at 36th street, i turn the corner onto the street that i frequently walk through on my way to work (that is, weather permitting. or rather, when i feel ambitious enough to save the earth 0.3 miles at a time) past 40th street is when things start to get exciting. on one corner on the right lies my absolute favorite house. watching disney movies and reading fairytales growing up, i've never envisioned myself living as a princess in a castle. i mean.. for one, my bunny would get lost in a second! as expansive and elaborate as it may seem, i think there's just something flat and rigid about them. don't get me wrong though.. if you were to give me a castle at your expense, i'd take it! hahaa i think i like the faraway cottages tucked within birch trees and rose gardens the best. that's exactly what this house on the corner reminds me of. even before i reach the front of the house, i can hear a bubbling water fountain behind the rustic wooden fence that guards the maze of vines. in the front, there's a turret type structure with a rusty weathervane on top and a rounded doorway leading into the foyer. sO cute! to make things even more whimsical, the house is a subtle shade of rose with dark wooden trims and shutters. i love it!

as i bike further, i see neighbors crossing the street to greet each other on perfectly manicured lawns. this is what i love in a neighborhood.. friendly people, kids kicking their balls out of bounds into the street, little puppies running too close to the spokes of my tires.. i especially love smiling and saying hi to the little grandmas and grandpas standing in their garden watering the same plant for what seems like hours.

two blocks down, there's another house on the corner where i swear, quasimodo must be hiding out in the attic. its tall slabs of grayness and melting window panes remind me of old byzantine cathedrals. hrmm.. come to think of it, did they even have cathedrals during the byzantine empire? i may very well be screwing up historical fact.. ehh that's what it looks like to me = ]

another block, another amazing house. this one in particular looks like it's thomas kinkade reincarnate. completely nestled in delicate trees and flower sprays, it's tOtally cute. amazingly, its next door neighbor seems too have been plucked from a hilltop in tuscany. not that i've ever been there before, but it totally seems like a house you'd see in a barilla pasta sauce commercial. in fact, i think andrea bocelli is singing in the backyard. wait, no. someone's just trying to pass me on their roller blades.

impressively, i finally made my way home without a single mosquito bite.. but a mind swirling with thoughts of the lives that go on behind those stained glass windows and wrought-iron fences. are the kiddies building a 3d puzzle in the living room? the parents sharing a glass of wine and the day's activities together? i'm definitely a little too idyllic for my own good, dreaming about the making of a princess in the upstairs room.. oh well >_<

i wonder, does having fairytale dreams just set someone up for disappointment? there's a fine line between optimism and idealistic expectations. obviously reality strikes and cinderella finds herself back in her disheveled rags, but the moral of the story is that patience and goodwill beats the striking clock and prince charming returns afterall! ; ]

..i believe this is what they call a hopeless romantic -___-"

ninja bear.

i honestly don't think i'd ever purchase a minivan with dual tv screens in the back seat. the new 2010 lexus rx is boasting double screens that can be set to different programs so as to minimize the amount of fighting amongst the kiddies. granted, i'm not so sure i'd ever be driving such a vehicle, but i honestly think that these cutting edge technological innovations are what's screwing up our entire social conduct these days!

growing up in new york, my family used to make the 5 hour drive down to new york city to visit my grandparents and relatives. it was a long drive. in a time before seat belts were considered necessary under the law, my parents would take out the middle seats in our caravan so that us kiddies could take naps on the bed of the car. yet however long and tiresome the trip, i can still picture driving alongside the rocky ledges of the delaware water gap and whenever time wasn't a factor, my dad would take the scenic route home.. passing through upstate new york country where the tree leaves tell you exactly when the autumn season had arrived. we'd sing along with old taiwanese cassette tapes and make a card table out of the center seat.

there really wasn't anything unbelievably incredible about our little van.. i think we had automatic power seats up front but definitely nothing like dvd screens for the back seats. and for this, i'm glad. what a waste of scenery and lively experiences when your eyes are glued to an LCD projected hannah montana concert or another viewing of the incredibles?! (btw, i loved that movie) i guess if you're driving through rush hour traffic on I-80 there's not much to look at.. but the point is, so much is missed when your attention is fixed on something static.

the aforementioned lexus came out with a commercial featuring 2 kids sitting in the backseat arguing about everything under the sun. "keep your foot on your own side!" "pizza's better than hamburgers" "dinosaurs can't flyyyy" yeah. totally reminds me of my brother and i in the backseat.. even to this day. the commercial closes by implying that dual screens with separate controls will eliminate such triffles between siblings. right. let's numb the kiddies into a stupor, impairing all their physical and mental capabilities so that i can drive in silence up front. what the heck?!

i can't say that i have any experience with kids as i have none of my own, but observation tells me that kids can be a pain. i know i've purposely made it my mission to be one on several occasions throughout my childhood.. regardless, i think it's a tragedy when kids become the ones dictating what happens in a household. rather than inspiring them to appreciate what's going on outside the car or just having a silly conversation inside, it seems so much easier to pop in a movie. and also, regarding sibling rivalry, i really believe that supervised arguements can build relationships.. me and my brother used to fight in the car all the time. especially in the summer when the middle seat directly in front of the air conditioning vent becomes a hot commodity. but with my mom's mediation, we all learned to take turns. (all together now, "awwwww") no just in the car, but discipline at home should completely eliminate the need for separately controlled tvs in the car.

now before you think i'm going to turn into a sadistically irrational mother in my old age, let me just clarify that i have nothing against watching tv and playful hyperactivity. among other things, i follow way too many tv shows to mention truthfully, and i love love love video games, esp. ones where you get to slice off your opponent's appendages woohooo. my qualms with all these new gadgets is that it's hurting face time between parents and kids. and with that, pandora's box is unhinged.

..and that is why i think the toyota camry is the most awesome car ever. hahaaa ^_<

egad!

it's an amazing feeling to be completely humbled by the awesomeness of God's blessings :D

another reason to love work.

"good morning mr. williams! i'm from nutrition, just checking to see how your breakfast was this morning."

"well i've been passing a lot of gas since before you came and i'm afraid the next one isn't gonna be gas."

"oh dear!! should i call in your nurse??"

"wait, you're not my nurse?"

"(thank goodness) no sir!"

(btw, mr. williams is a super cute old guy well into his 60s :D )


after the rain comes flowers like this one, completely saturating the trees with fuschiascity. yes.