Dat Nguyen concert

All pictures in this entry are taken by Dan Pham.

Last Saturday was the concert of the blind musician, Dat Nguyen. Half of the profit went to the Vietnamese boat people museum and the other half to 20 girls.

Some pictures of the night...

I was asked to write a critique, and I don't want to sound mean but can I just say that I don't feel connected enough to Dat Nguyen, to impaired musicians or to the cause to be able to write something of substance? I wonder if I'm the only one who feels that way. I was pretty much just there out of curiosity.

First class of hot yoga

I woke up this morning at 5 AM to attend my first yoga class. I couldn't sleep the night before because I was so nervous, and I was so scared to faint or something. But after my first class, I didn't think it was that hard...okay well, maybe I didn't push myself hard enough, or maybe I work out regularly already. Also, I thought the room temperature was quite enjoyable (39 degrees), even if I looked like I came out of the swimming pool by the end, but it's not a torture like some would describe it. Oh, and I'm more flexible already and I feel so energetic!

I can't wait until my second class, which is tomorrow!

30 day hot yoga challenge

I just signed up for the one-month hot yoga challenge at Enso. I never did yoga before, but I really want to try it because I'm hoping it can help my sciatica. It's been getting better since I started consulting a chiropractor, but it is still not completely healed. I really don't know if it can be completely healed some day, but I try to remain positive.

Also, I heard you can burn 300-400 calories during one session of hot yoga, which means that I can pretty much eat whatever I want again!...because I just don't think I burn enough calories when I run; my body is so used to it that I could run for hours non-stop with my magic pink shoes. Seriously. As for weight training, I still do it every other day, but it doesn't burn enough calories either, and it's rather boring if you ask me.

Some describe hot yoga as being militant, which sounds perfect for me :)

I don't think I'm exactly into fitness, but I'm looking for ways to make it more fun. You all know how easily I get bored. In high school, I used to be "on my period" for three weeks when we had gym classes...

Mindless Self Indulgence concert

I got out of the office on a wednesday evening, grabbed dinner at school with a friend and then went to see one of the best concerts of my life!

Would you believe me if I said I sometimes miss being a student? Eating lunchbox in a study room, wasting time at school, walking around, sitting around, sleepless nights spent studying....no wait, I never not slept to study. I see those arts students walking around school looking like zombies, those engineering students in their labs with their face burried in the computers...what kind of life, eh. Everything seems so distant now.

I couldn't really take a nice picture, but here's one.

The first time I heard a song from Mindless Self Indulgence was probably when I was in college. I liked them the first time I heard them; I thought there was a something about them. Most songs you hear on the radio these days are forgettable. Although, it's not a group I listen to on a regular basis, I never forgot them because I thought they were quite unique...

Jimmy, the frontman, has such a powerful stage presence and a dark sense of humor. I almost fell in love with him. He put on a interactive, insane and high-energy performance. I felt like I was watching a living cartoon. He came on stage wearing a green plastic bag, and then ripped it off. At times, he would talk on the phone with God, at other times, he would play with his spirit plush.

Every song they played had the entire room bouncing. The show ended with Jimmy lip-singing to an opera song, holding a shiny red mic, with green lights in the background. I don't know why, but he reminded me of a sad clown at that moment.That moment felt nostalgic, I miss them already.

Fantastic moments happen when you don't take yourself too seriously, and these guys are so much fun! I had an amazing time!
 

It's my birthday!

I always thought that I'd be married by 25, but it didn't happen...and I don't see that happening anymore.

Honestly, I only celebrated my birthday when I was in elementary school. I invited my girlfriends to my house, and we'd play little childish games together. It was fun. After elementary school, I didn't celebrate anymore. When I was in University, I had final exams in April. Now that I'm working, it's tax season in April, and I work on most saturdays...how sad!

This year, I went on a mini road trip to Sherbrooke to visit wineries and taste some delicious local wines with the 20 girls and our sponsors!

If you are interested in seeing the video for the fund raising of the museum, you can visit www.20-girls.com.

I love pictures of endless roads...on a sunday. They just look different.

The scenery was amazing. I can't imagine what it would look like during summer or autumn.

Obviously, there is nothing to see now, but we have plans to go back in October :)

Champagne making...

We tasted some very good wines.

I came back with six bottles of wine, and all taste awesome. Two of them were offered by our sponsors, then I won a another one with the whole kit at the first winery. The manager of the second winery offered another one for my birthday. George, a sponsor of ours, bought me two ice wines, which are my favorites! Quebec makes some of the best ice wines, by the way.

Yeah, that's how I ended up with six bottles.

Yummy :D
It was such an awesome day!

I lost 12 pounds in 1 month, finally!

Here's my progress in the past few weeks.

I just want to say that I'm not a skinny girl bragging about losing weight, because I'm not a skinny Asian girl, unfortunately. I weighed almost 9 pounds when I was a newborn; and not a lot of babies are that big. Even now, no matter how much weight I lose, I won't be very skinny, because of my hips and bones. Luckily, the fat doesn't show as much on my type of body. Why I gained weight was because I stopped being so active, and I was pretty sad during that period of time; I stayed home on most days. Also, I love carbs. Food is comforting to me, I eat when I'm bored, I eat when I'm sad, I eat when I'm happy, and I just don't stop until I'm about to puke. Seriously.

Here's my weight gaining process, haha.



After graduating, I attempted losing weight 1-2 times, but was not able to maintain it...

After starving myself for several weeks, 121 pounds.

That was pretty much the heaviest I got to, 142-145 pounds.



What I am doing now is jogging for 20-30 minutes on most days, I do the "30 days shred" a few times a week, and high intensity interval training 2 times a week, eating healthier,I eat homemade food pretty much everyday except when I absolutely need to eat out, which doesn't happen often. Oh, and I can only stuff myself once a week :)

That's now. My butt didn't disappear, haha.

PS. My height is 172 cm.

PSS. I don't go to the gym; it's a waste of time.

Tax return

After working as an auditor/accountant for over 2 years, I did my parent's tax return for the first time today. It put me in their shoes and it made me think of what they have sacrificed so I can live the life that I'm living, and all I'm doing for them is a tax return. What kind of life have they lived? What is happiness for them? I've been thinking about it increasingly lately as I see their health deteriorating...

Quiche

"That quiche you made was so delicious!"

"I don't find it to be that good, that's why I gave you the leftovers"

Here's what I made out of boredom last Saturday. The reason I don't like it that much, although I eat it for breakfast, is because I put in too much spinach. I thought I liked spinach, but I realized I'm not too fond of it anymore, unless it's semi-crispy. Also, I shouldn't have made a crust, because that's like twice as many calories as one without, and I find it unnecessary.

Nonetheless, someone likes it, and it's kinda healthy, and it's so super easy! I might want to make this again but with cheddar cheese, cream, garlic and with broccoli, maybe.

Ingredients *without crust*
1 tbs vegetable oil
1onion chopped
1 package of spinach, chopped
5-6 eggs, depending on size
3 cups of cheese (I used Mozzarella, because that's what I already had)
Some salt and black pepper

Directions
1. Stir onions over medium heat until onions become soft. Add spinach until it looks dry.

2.Mix everything else together, and add the mixture of onions and spinach. Blend well.

3.Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 30-40 minutes. I like it when it looks brownish.

That's all! So simple!
I don't know why, but when I say "so simple", I always think of a Chinese person saying it with an accent. Is this weird?

...

Is it me or is there's a big difference when I wear make-up and when I don't? I always think that people will not recognize me if I wear make-up, ha.

Picture-snapping at the old port