Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large. 

It's cozy season!

It’s gotten properly cold in the mornings around here, well into the 40s. It makes getting out of the warm and toasty bed incredibly difficult. I wake up well before I actually have to go to work, so the impetus of leaving the bed is totally up to me. There are indeed days I succumb to hedonistic incentives and simply stay in bed until I actually do have to get ready for work. Especially so during the winter months.

But not today! Because here I am typing this out this morning, with a hot cup of coffee as fuel. A woman walking her dog just passed by outside my window. She was reading a book while doing so, which is kind of weird because shouldn’t you be focused on the actual task? I guess it’s slightly better than staring at a smartphone that everybody else does. It’s a cool and crisp morning! Look up and take in the fresh air instead.

Having a pet dog does keep you honest about keeping a consistent schedule of going outside. That bit of exercise - three times a day - benefits the dog and the owner. I think if you’re stressed or otherwise in need of some movement in your life, adopting a dog from a shelter is as much of a win-win situation as there is. You can never have a bad day when you see the incessant joy a dog has when you come home.

Sadly for me, I’m more of a cat person. Nor do I have space in my studio for a pet.

But shoutout to the morning dog walkers! It cannot be easy leaving the warm cocoon of home and having to put on thick layers. People without pets like myself struggle to even get out of bed. I do love this winter weather though. As the kids say these days, it’s cozy SZN!

Cozy dinner.

The cold is back

Tuesday morning I woke up with a strong head cold. Obviously, the first thing that came to mind is: oh my god, it’s COVID! However, I didn’t immediately do a rapid test because I felt bad enough that I emailed in sick to work. No point in wasting a test just yet if I weren’t feeling well to even leave the house. Besides, it was a only a head cold, nothing more.

On Wednesday I woke up feeling immensely better. I would put it as about 80 percent of normal. Much of the head congestion is gone, no doubt thanks to the heavy hydration routine the day before. I certainly felt good enough to go to work. But first things first: a rapid COVID test. No way I would go to campus with a positive result.

It was actually my first time doing a antigen test of the nasal swabbing type. The procedure is simple enough: swab each nose canal five full turns, then dip the swab onto a solution. The solution gets poured onto a result pad - not unlike a pregnancy test. 15 minutes after that you’ll know the result, provided you’ve done the steps correctly.

I luckily tested negative. It was indeed just a severe head cold. I guess as we head into the waning days of the pandemic that’s turning endemic, we are once again experiencing common respiratory ailments. Say what you want about mask wearing and hygiene theater, but they’ve really saved our butts from the cold and flu. As we relax those preventative measures, it’s only natural those ailments make a triumphant return.

It was kind of nice to stay home for the day, honestly.

Hey, buddy!

That's not sushi

Jesus Christ is it cold. The weather app on my iPhone says it’s currently 40 degrees outside, though I bet it is actually colder still. Looks like for the rest of today the mercury won’t rise above 50 degrees. Just last week I was talking about a string of unseasonably warm weather here in San Francisco. Well, guess what: winter is back, baby! It even hailed last evening. My poor BMW M2 that’s parked outside…

I would like to switch gears completely and talk about sushi. Ever since I came back from Japan back in 2019, I’ve seldom had sushi here in the States. After I’ve tasted the real quality stuff in Japan, the sushi we get here is just depressing. There are some good spots here in the city, but man do you have to pay a lot for it. In Tokyo, any old neighborhood sushi place is better than most of the Japanese restaurants here.

Hopefully Japan - and rest of Asia - opens back up soon without quarantine restrictions.

When I say sushi, I am speaking of the type where it’s just a slice of raw fish on top of a piece of rice. Sometimes it’s wrapped in a piece of fried seaweed. That’s it. I would not classify the fancy rolls we get here in the States as sushi. Too many ingredients, too complicated to make. The California roll and its similar brethren are more of a fusion-style burrito with ingredients from Japanese cuisine. Not to say those rolls aren’t delicious, but it’s not what I’m getting when I’m craving sushi.

Obviously today would not be a good day for cold pieces of fish. Tonight’s dinner call for fresh rice, piping hot soup, and Chinese barbecue pork. Now to get through the work day to get there…

It’s heated seats and steering wheel season!

Everything is colder in Texas

A historic and unprecedented winter storm has hit Texas, causing below-freezing temperatures and massive amounts of snow. The power grid utterly failed, and millions are left without power for many consecutive hours into the night. Extremely cold weather with no way to heat the house is a potentially lethal combination indeed. Thankfully, my lone friend in the Lone Star State - in a suburb of Austin - is doing fine and has power.

My thoughts are with the millions who aren’t so lucky. I hope everyone can stay safe and get through this.

It’s not without some schadenfreude to see Texas politicians, who have mocked the misfortunes of California in regards to our own weather nightmares, now having to eat massive crow. Goes to show that one, no single area is immune from extreme climate patterns, and two, karma is an absolute bitch. If California’s trouble with wildfires and the electric grid can be blamed on the government run by Democrats, then logically we can blame Texas’ Republicans on their current predicament.

Not so good when the shoe is in the other foot, is it?

It’s best to be kind and considerate at the misfortune of others. The pendulum of luck won’t always be on your side. Some day you too will need help, and the grace - or lack thereof - you’ve shown others previously will be remembered. We’re all in this together; we should be able to debate infrastructure policies without viciousness. More importantly, when others are suffering, we offer a helping hand and words of encouragement, not snark and mockery.

Extreme climates are here to stay, and I’m reminded to be prepare for it. I really should get that emergency kit together…

It’s a bird!

I probably should have rested

For the longest time when I got hurt or sick I'd still power through that stuff and did what needed to be done - like exercising. I took it as a badge of honor to do a workout whilst say carrying a cold. Pain is just weakness leaving the body, right?

Actually it isn't: pain is the body telling you to give it a rest until it stops hurting. Ignoring it isn't awesome or cool, rather it is completely stupid, and usually exacerbates the problem. I found that out this past weekend.

Last Friday I developed the beginnings of a cold which blossomed fully on Saturday. I was in no energy to do much of anything but the chores and errands I'd planned for the weekend was constantly in mind. I detested that I got sick because it was putting me behind my self-defined schedule. 

So on Sunday, feeling marginally better, no more lounging around: I washed the car, went grocery shopping, vacuumed the house, did some studying, and played GT Sport (see picture below). Due to the cold I was feeling hotter than normal so I sweated a ton through it all. 

Sunday night rolled around and I wasn't feeling any worse, so I thought I was home free as usual. How wrong was I because I woke up this morning feeling not as good as the third day of a simple cold should be. I totally should have rested on Sunday like I did Saturday, but hubris and responsibilities (more former than the latter) told me I had to get a move on.  

I don't plan to be sick often but next time I will for sure take it as easiest as possible. Normalcy like errands and activities will truly have to wait until I get back to 100%. This aging 30 year old body demands it.  

A personal-best Nordschleife lap driving the Ferrari 458 Italia (sports medium tyre) in GT Sport. 

A personal-best Nordschleife lap driving the Ferrari 458 Italia (sports medium tyre) in GT Sport.