Need more...socks

I felt inspired by Aline Kominsky Cumb's autobiographic comic tome Need More Love to embrace my own curvaceous, trunk legs. Style is how you dress your own beauty anyway. These socks are so warm too! When are the days going to warm up already?

Fungus grows on fungus?!!

I remembered too late, apparently, that I had some produce that needed cooking. I though mushrooms were already fungus. What is with the white fuzzy?

Out of the frying pan and into...

I was thinking that I it might be nice to do a little review of the last year, make some markers of growth along the door frame, etc. (All this while still recovering from a pernicious cold I picked up in the subtropics of Houston. The humidity breeds more than mosquitoes, of that I am certain!) Though I must say I had a nice time in Houston seeing my family, which is a huge accomplishment in and of itself! Much less anger and bitterness, though still some lingering frustration with things that I cannot change about home, but hey, marking growth here. Ok, on to the real list.

-- Survived a year of work in child welfare! Huge accomplishment. I actually reached a level of competence where I am not constantly discouraged by what I can't do and am slowing racking up a sense of the things I can do. And with a job that is this crazy, I have to congratulate myself. Of course I haven't check my messages after being off for 2 week. Seriously, I hope all my kids are still alive.

-- Started working out at the gym. Something I never thought I would do. And it actually paid of in me feeling more confident in my appearance and how beautiful I am. Huge for a self deprecating Asian girl! Not that I have necessarily developed any real strength yet, but we're working on that too.

-- Pushed myself to try new things. Tried meditation. Tried oil painting. Tried to improve my Spanish. Tried a book group. Tried dating a bit more actively. We're not counting success right, but effort? I think I'm definitely making strides in getting out into the world. The only way to find winners to stick with is to juggle through some possibilities, and I did a lot more of that this year. And it wasn't all entirely painful. Nice!

Ok, so here is where I think about what I might like to try for the rest of the 2009. So you, my three faithful readers, can prod me along or tease me merciless if you catch me slacking. Um, be gentle, but firm. So let's see...

-- Make some clear career decisions. It's hard to gauge what I want to do with child welfare when the work itself is just a Jabba the Hut that I am trying to get my arms around, but I think this year will put me in a better place to examine what I do, how I do it, and if I would be truly happier doing something else. Ooo, and I guess I would also need to look at what job prospects are even out there. Dude, the economy sucks right now!

-- Do more writing. I think I'm fairly certain now that I process the world through words. And creatively writing is what I like and really gets me excited. And scares the crap out of me. But I really want to get writing into my life in a substantive way. And I have this idea for a kids book...

-- Moisturize. Ok, so that may sound trivial, or obvious, but I don't usually do anything about my face. But I went with a friend for chinatown-spa-day-facial-female-bonding and the lady giving me the facial was like freaked about my skin. She said, "Ni de pi fu hen gan! Dehydrated!" and proceeded to give me many samples of skin products. Hm, maybe not a subtle hint. So if I want to keep getting compliments about my nineteen year-old-looks I guess I need to take care of the skin on my poor beleaguered face. Yeah, the Asianness will preserve me for only so long. Damn it.

-- Take a kickass international trip! Beijing and Xian were super fun this year and I would like to repeat the experience of getting out and seeing things. Spend some of that money I'm earning on myself. And not on my retirement! (Ok, enough of that.)

-- Enjoy life and quit stressing out so much. At least for a year. I would like to really work on not worrying about whether I am going to stay in the Bay Area or not or stay in social work or not or need to figure out a permanent residence. I mean, not more than necessary. It will all probably become really clear after some time and it won't be a matter of making a decision but following the Dao, that not being the path of least resistance necessarily. Ok, this goal isn't making much sense. So this one will play out or not. Amend as needed.