1. Throughout the entire past winter, everyone – I mean everrrryone – around me was sick. Brian was sick. My mom was sick. Everyone at work was sick. No joke, people that I worked with were dropping like flies; people were calling in sick every other day with fevers, coughs, aches and pains, headaches, stuffy noses, you name it. It was like people were passing around their germy Kleenexes and drinking out of each other’s water bottles or something. It spread like wildfire, from one department to the next. I always took pride in my “superior” immune system – giving credit to years of building my immune system from touching germy things and getting coughed on everyday after years of working in an emergency room.
But earlier this month, despite the hard fought battle, I finally succumbed to my first cold in a long time. I even called into work sick; something that I’ve only done twice the whole year I’ve been there. I laid on the couch with my bag of cough drops, my box of tissues, my bottle of Aleve, my pets keeping me company, along with the TV remote and my Kindle… it was lame.
2. I also had the most out-of-this-world amazing oxtail pho ever. The meat was buttery, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth ridiculous. I mean just look at it. Seriously delish.
3. Earlier this month, Brian got himself a new job that he’ll be starting in a few weeks! After working so hard to get a degree and slowly climbing the ladder, he’ll finally be doing something that he’s wanted for so long, and I couldn’t be any prouder! Even though that means we can no longer carpool together, that I will no longer have my chauffeur to drive me to and from work, and that I will have to pay for a parking contract again, I’m still happy that he’ll be doing something that he loves.
4. Brian and I are probably the least artistic people you’ll ever meet, but somehow I managed to convince him to do one of those “wine + paint” nights with me to paint the iconic Stone Arch Bridge at our local Cheers Pablo. It was actually fun even without the booze!
5. I watched the documentary film Blackfish a few weekends ago and wooooah. LIFE. CHANGING. Have you seen it before? My parents brought me to Sea World when I was young while we lived in Florida and I’ve always loved marine animals, but after watching it, I don’t know if I could ever bring myself to go to Sea World ever again. The film was so powerful and it touched me so much that I was actually bummed out the rest of the afternoon. I felt sad for those giant majestic creatures that should not have to live their lives cooped up in a tank. I felt angry that us humans think that we are entitled to capture such beautiful animals, even separating babies from their mamas, using them for our own profit and entertainment. I could probably write an entire essay about that film, but I’m not going to here. I am, however, going to recommend you to watch the film, because it seriously will leave you with lots to think about.
The funny thing is, the very next day after I watched Blackfish, a Sea World commercial came on while I was watching TV by myself. It had footages of veterinarians and trainers who claim along the lines of “I love working here… the animals here are treated well and they live just as long in captivity as they do in the wild due to the superb veterinary care they receive… we have the highest standard of care in the world and our whales are thriving; I wouldn’t be working here if they weren’t…” Uh huh. Sure.
It was as if the moment I clicked to watch Blackfish on Netflix, it pinned my location and Sea World sent me a commercial to watch on TV the very next day as an attempt to refute everything I just learned. Coincidence? I guess I’ll never know.
(And in case you’re wondering, whales in captivity do NOT live anywhere near as long as they would in the wild)
6. A brand new grocery store opened in our neighborhood last week, which we just had to check out to see what they had compared to the other 8 grocery stores in our city. They had an awesome butcher shop, a bakery, and lots and lots of healthy organic food/snack choices. But what pleased me the most was that every single item on their shelves were neatly organized. Every single box and packet was stacked with great precision with every single label facing the exact same way.
As stupid and sad as it sounds, it made my heart sing with joy, and apparently my life came down to finding happiness in neatly stocked grocery. #findhappinessinthelittlethings
7. We also finally visited the new fro-yo place right across the street. They had tiramisu fro-yo, yo! I’m already a fan.
8. Spring cleaning: Garage Edition finally happened, and in case you didn’t know, apparently I’m a Hoarder with a capital “H”. I found all kinds of crap in bins that I’ve had since high school… things ranging from high school notebooks, shoes that I’ve had but never worn, newspaper clippings of random things, old skate wheels, old cell phones, lots and lots of MCAT prep books, mp3 players, and every single plane ticket stub I’ve ever owned for 4 whole years since 2004. Once again, can you say HOARDER?! Yikes. I was slightly embarrassed.
But remember those Blackberry Pearls? I still remember how cool I felt the day I brought mine home. They were the bomb back then (along with the Motorola Razrs)!
