Peaceful start to the week

Compared to the action-packed weekend, the first two days of the new week seemed to have passed by slowly and 'peacefully'.

On Monday, after an early morning bubbly tea rendez-vous with Wendy, I crawled back to the sofa, wrapped myself up with the throw, and continued my never-ending affair with Lincoln. It's one of those heavy content books that you are reluctant to pick up; but once you do, you will find it hard to let go. 

I'm at the mid point now, at Lincoln's early days as President, trying to manage both the impending civil war as well as his cabinet of ambitious, capable but egoistic men.

(For those interested: The New York Time's review of the book is here.)



So anyway, this lasted for a while until it was time to attend the French Club gatherings (I really need to improve on my French!). I didn't notice how dark the room had turned, and I kinda liked how the sun casts shadows on the wall as it sets.

I think it's a luxury to be able to stare into space and do nothing.



Then today, at our now 'regular' worship session at Winifred's, Yiru introduced a new song, Beautiful Things by indie band Gungor. I also shared another, To Believe by Jackie Evancho. I absolutely love the prayerful lyrics and her rich voice. Awesome gift for a young girl. 

We also had a chance to talk a little bit more about personal stuff. I really, really thank God for connecting us, allowing us to share comfortably. As we leave, I took home a big goodie bag - jackets and clothes and other stuff that were on their way to the donation bin. Winifred said I could look through them and decide if I want to keep them.

I quite like digging through second hand items, just like at flea markets and vintage stores. And I love stories behind a piece of clothing (e.g. where and when it was bought, was it one of those comfy ones you wear countless times? )

  

I am officially a hoarder!

A steamy affair...

This is going to be a short one... before I collapse on the bed and snore away.

I am bursting at the seams from a really good steamboat dinner at Jo's place. We had SO MUCH food. I was eating non-stop for 2 hours, and I think I consumed enough quail eggs to make my cholesterol level shoot sky high! Luckily, they are not all that bad, according to this article.

 

After we cleared the steamboat stuff, we had 'gourmet coffee' made by Vic the barista, and rich chocolate ganache brought to us by the Leows... oh yum yum. 

 

(Oops. Have I been posting too much about food lately?)

Anyhow, here's a peak at what I had for lunch today. I woke up around 11am, cooked steak and potato hash for lunch, continued with my preparation for Sunday School, then had a nice bubble bath before heading out to meet Jo at the supermarket.

I am really, really diggin' the slow paced life.

Let's go for a movie!

Panda's ecstatic about our movie marathon

We had a movie date at downtown San Mateo today! We've bought vouchers from Red Robin and with it came free tickets for... Wolverine!

Unlike back home, what's interesting about watching movies in US is that there's no pre-selected seats. It's free seating as long as you have a ticket.

That also means you can sneak into other theatres to continue watching after your movie ended. We learnt that it's what the locals do. Just make sure there are plenty of seats and you don't get caught.

So we tried it today. It was pretty funny trying to check what's the next movie on the list nonchalantly. We wanted to watch Despicable Me 2 but the timing wasn't right. In the end, we caught Wolverine and Pacific Rim.

Both were great action packed films but it's probably not a great idea to watch them back to back. By the time we came out of the theatres, our minds were boggled with too much flashy images and loud sound effects.

It also didn't help that both had similar story lines - Asian city backdrop, American heroes working with Japanese female sidekicks, America saves the world or the girl. Hollywood productions are predictable, huh?

That said, we still enjoyed our movie experience. I love the fact that people are encouraged not to call and text in the cinemas here. It's a joy to be able to finish a movie without ringtones, Hellos and bright phone screens.

Wish we had a similar movie culture back home.



Continuing the Japanese theme, my miniscule palm-sized 50ml Choya at dinner.