Five things Friday: Wash off the ramen with Matcha Beer

Five Things Friday is a post where I share five things that either made my week, what I am thinking about, or would like to share with all of you!

1. Matcha Beer

On the menu, it sounds a little weird but why not try it. I drank most of it while I was waiting for my ramen to arrive. I should have waited to drink it because it tasted even better after eating ramen.

This beer is available for a limited time at Honda-Ya in Little Tokyo Los Angeles.

2. “The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow“

I enjoy and appreciate investigative journalism. Meet the people behind the story who finally brought down the powerful film producer, Harvey Weinstein

3. Homemade Gingersnap cookies

I am working on a recipe that requires a gingersnap cookie crust. Instead of buying gingersnap cookies from a store, I thought it would be cheaper to make it. They taste better. I hope this recipe will come together for Sunday’s family get together. Reveal to come soon.

4. Impeachment…but not expressing it on social media

It’s Impeach-mas! DJT is finally impeached and it is incredibly uplifting. But I won’t express it on social media. My social media feed has a lot of ardent DJT supporters making me sick to my stomach. In the last few years, there were many lows and they still stand by him. It is incredibly unbelievable.

5. Survived a week of celebration

This week feels like a week of nonstop eating. It’s a week out with with friends and family. Plus it’s been a week of delivering joy to the patients at the hospital. Of course they are all good, joyous things.

5 things

A quick post on 5 thoughts at the moment. I see this post as opportunity to reflect on the week. I try to make this post a regular on a Friday or Saturday — it depends how tired I am.

The Victorian at Santa Monica

1. I love Jessica Chastain’s call to action to see more authentic female characters on film. What made her call so powerful was you can hear the slight fear in her voice as speaks up thinking to herself “is it ok for me to say this” and carefully crafting her words — something I encounter all the time at work and at life.
2. Using my TAP card to take public transit to work or to other places. Ever since I got back from vacation, I’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to use my car less. Portland and Seattle don’t have perfect public transit either. It took a little bit of research how to get around and the same applies to Los Angeles. So far this week, I have been car free 4 times. I’ll share more details in another post which will include mileage and greenhouse gas emissions.
3. This leads me to the next thing:  Greenhouse emissions fall for another year in California. It’s equivalent to removing 300,000 cars from the road. Way to go! 
4. The Comey Trial on Thursday was exciting to watch (see full transcript here). It started at 7 AM in California; I watched via Facebook Live on my phone and took my time listening to it on my way to work. Man, no wonder why employers canceled their meetings and broke out the popcorn in the employee lounge. Though this is CSPAN’s Superbowl show, it left a lot of questions unanswered and will be answered in the closed session. It was like we got the clean version of a rap song. Closed session version to reveal all the answers.
5. Not having to look at a computer screen of every minute of every hour at work. My job is typically sedentary because it’s an office setting. I need to make an effort to stay away from my desk every once in a while.  Maybe I should step away after every meeting or conference call or when the little voice in my head tells me to do so. I am trying to fight burn out and promote wellbeing every step of the way. I am also coaching my husband to do the same. For examples, yesterday I went to the Bay Area for a business trip for the day. I’m glad my husband works around the corner from the airport so he can pick me up when I land when I come home from these trips. Well, my husband started work at 7 AM and I didn’t expect him to stick around work to pick me up at 7 PM when I landed. In fact,  I recommended him to just do his 8 hours for the day, drive home, take care of the puppies, rest, and come back when I land in the airport. Yes, it’s a little bit of back-and-forth driving albeit our house is not very far from the airport, but I felt it was more important for my husband to get some rest rather than stay until I land. Because who know… what if my plane lands late? Also, I can always find ways to go home whether it is by Lyft, bus, or train.

5 Things…to do to other than social media

I decided to make this week’s “5 Things” thematic and decided to gear it towards things I can do not related to social media. I was inspired by this post on Thrive Global.

I confess, times I’ve been burnt out from social media because there’s so many outlets nowadays. I do a bit of social media on my job and I do get sucked into the numbers games not only at work, but also in my personal social medias. I am not against social media at all for either personal or work life. It’s a wonderful tool to share information and build community within hobbies and industries. But once in a while having a break is the healthy thing to do. Having a list of things to “unsocial media” yourself is a checkpoint on what you can do instead of mindlessly going streams of social media feeds and focus on enjoying life. At the moment, instead of social media I should…

5 things

A quick post on 5 things or thoughts at the moment.

1. Overdrive app

I know this app has been around for a while, but it’s amazing. With your local public library card, you have access to e-books and audiobooks for free! For me, audiobooks help me get through my cleaning and other chores throughout my weekends.

2. Paper planner

I’ve been using a paper planning since the beginning of this year. The time before that, was in college to fill out my school schedule, my work schedule, and my social schedule. After college, I thought I didn’t need to purchase a paper planner and forgot about it since.

What made me decide to purchase a paper planner after years of not having it? I was somewhat frustrated with Google calendar. It was great for scheduling appointments, but it didn’t help work towards goal setting or leave room for me to write out my ideas. Also, I felt somewhat burnt out on technology. I work in an office in front of a computer for a large part of my day or I get home and my husband wants me to view a video on YouTube. Times I feel I am on the edge of resentful. I feel a paper planner has helped me disengaged from technology for a short time to allow me to re-engage. It’s my little piece of Walden.

Brewery Art Walk, May 2013

3. Breathing new life in old photos

I thought it was strange to post photos that have absolutely no correlation to my posts. At least they correlate to the seasons. I would never post a winter in Tahoe on a summer post. I have thousands of photos through my phone, Facebook, Google Drive, Photobucket that never quite surfaced. For me, it’s nice to look at and there’s no long-winded story required. Plus it gives me an opportunity to clean out all the bad and terrible photos from my files.

4. Giving yourself an hour before going to work

When I was a fresh young professional out of college, my morning routine was wake up, brush my teeth, put on work clothes, polish up, and walk out the door. Nowadays my morning routine is wake up, make and eat breakfast, make coffee, review my planner, listen to the news, then brush my teeth, put on work clothes, polish up, and walk out the door. Though this new routine requires me to wake up a little earlier, it makes a difference. It makes my day enjoyable.

5. Giving positive affirmations

Sometimes I find me punishing myself for giving myself a pat on the back for progress and effort. It’s easy to think i’s frivolous. Maybe because I am around people hearing negative thoughts like “you did not get there” — well…I did not get there yet. When I get there, I know I’ll kick ass several times over.

I do notice when someone says something negative or turns you down, I feel they’re attempting to ooze power to you. Make sure they fail at this attempt. When I do hear the negative criticism, I look right into the root of the issue which leads to the root of the person: they’re insecure. They’re standing in your way and you’re letting them. You can find affirmations by reading inspiring blogs or quotes, or even better, create your own affirmations. You can create your own affirmations by utilizing your talents, your skills, pursue things that make you happy, be around people who make you happy, give compliments, recognize your accomplish, recognize your efforts, the list goes on. There’s a lots of ways to create your own affirmations.

Brewery Art Walk May 2013

Five Things

A quick post on 5 things or thoughts at the moment.

1. I am currently reading The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s disturbingly parallel to the news of today’s world. I’m completely hooked!

2. Bullet Journaling – I love the room for creativity and possibilities in this book. So far I’ve created a page for my books I’ve read so far this year, wardrobe capsuling for the seasons, writing an overview of the month, tracking my hiking, etc

3. Pay Yourself First – Not to brag, but I had an awesome public school experience growing up. In high school economics, I learned the concept of “Pay Yourself First”, a practice I carried well into adulthood. Throughout the years, I’ve been teaching people this concept too.

You don’t know what Pay Yourself First (PYF) is? It means you Pay Yourself First by puting away money from your paycheck to your savings account. The rule of thumb is to pull out a minimum of 10% of your gross pay into savings — it must be the first thing you do when you get paid. So this means before you go shop for groceries, pay bills, fill up your car — put out 10% to your place to your savings account. The savings can be used for certain things such as an emergency fund or a big project. This practice helps make savings a priority, create a plan, and developing good financial habits. On one end, some may say it’s not enough to save for their study abroad trip — but those few dollars do add up. On the other end of the spectrum, some may say “you’re kidding me?” Can it be painful? Yes. Can it be unsexy like paying bills? Yes. But the times we’ve needed it, it’s been a blessing.
4. Thrive Global – I love the mission statement. It’s inspiring going through the blog and learning all these tools and techniques have a wonderful read this week.

It’s been a rough month as far as (work) load goes. I want to focus on finding opportunities to thrive next month in May. I’m going to start fixing the burn out epidemic starting with myself.

Thrive Global’s mission is to end the stress and burnout epidemic by offering companies and individuals sustainable, science-based solutions to enhance both well-being and performance. Recent science has shown that the pervasive belief that burnout is the price we must pay for success is a delusion. We know, instead, that when we prioritize our well-being, our decision-making, creativity, and productivity improve dramatically. Thrive Global is committed to accelerating the culture shift that allows people to reclaim their lives and move from merely surviving to thriving.

5. Let my husband cook some nights – that is something to be grateful for. It’s a bonus that he is good at cooking most of the time.

Koda’s got a haircut!

Five Things

Five things a series of things I’m into and thoughts of the moment

1. 13 Things Why

I wasn’t sure what to think of this show especially since I kept seeing posts EVERYWHERE on my newsfeed but now I’m hooked. I’ll try not to give away anything, but all I can say it’s a wonderful ensemble of young actors. It really makes you think that who are the true antagonists in the story. It disturbingly portrayed high school very well. Psst…I even think the school staff were out-of-touch. Also it’s a nice reminder to be nice to everyone you meet because there may be a battle they’re fighting and you don’t know it.

2. Season 2 of Attack on Titan

Yes, I do watch anime once in a while. My husband and I have been waiting for this new season for what seems like 2 years.

3. Time Budgets

Treat your time as though it’s literally money. Last week I had to interview someone and the person asked me what are my time management tips. I shared with this person about how I treat my time at work like a bank account. I am alotted a budget on time which would be 8 hours at work and I figure out how I want to spend that time. The hours can be broken into minutes and seconds. Every task I do, I ask myself “how much time can I give myself to [reply a quick e-mail, put away papers, scan files, write a report, manage social media, plan an event, etc].”  Some things may need an hour to invest, other things like replying to a yes or no e-mail would take seconds to do. For me, it works and it makes sense. When my hours run out in the bank, I could either tell myself “I’m done for the day” or I can work a little more after hours. But just like the bank, when you pull out of funds you don’t have, you may incur overdraft charges or an overdraft to mind and energy.

4. Boomerang

Koda does his cute moves. I am behind the Boomerang train, but I love how I can make gifs of my own.

5. New book purchases — The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood #oursharedshelf

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

Teddy is my book model.