Like The Tomato
Nothing here but my musings about daily life, books, anime, and food.
What am I talking about? Well, today is the start of lab week! Well, technically, it started yesterday but since I did not work yesterday, I will count today as the start of lab week. And you know what else today is? DNA day! And it’s appropriate, since today is also our lab director’s birthday. And I work in a genetics lab.
Normally, I would be complaining right now. I do not have fun at work anymore. It seems like everyday being at work is a chore now. But today is different. Slightly. Well, that’s a lie. I did have fun at work today – at least for an hour.
To kick of lab week, and today being DNA day, we decided to extract DNA from strawberries! We had Teams on, so whoever working remotely who wanted to join can join. There were only a few people onsite but it was still fun. Actually, come to think of it, I do prefer not having that much people in the office so yeah, it was definitely fun.
All you really need are strawberries, water, salt, dish soap, cup, coffee filter, and rubbing alcohol. Here is the link for the instructions. Such a good exercise to be honest. I have done labs in school, I took biology classes in school – high school and college, and I have not seen this done.
Being my true self, as I was filtering the concoction of mashed strawberries, water, salt, and dish soap, I lost my hold of the ziploc bag and the filter. Yeah…mess. No surprise there. The strawberry DNA photo is below. Yes, that white floating thing. That’s the strawberry DNA. I heard you can do it with other fruits as well, but the experiment just works so well with strawberry because of the high DNA content.
I finished Bad Blood: Secret and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou. Yeah, the book annoyed me. Well, not the book. The book was well written and definitely covered all the points that needed to be covered. And I loved it. But my annoyance stems from the actions of the CEO and COO to make this science fiction of a machine to be available commercially. The lies. The cover ups. The embellishment. The exaggeration. It was horrible. And being in healthcare since I started working, I can’t believe how far this company got. They were testing patients for crying out loud! I do have opinions about this of course. But I think I want to make a separate post about it.
I am now in a hunt for my next read. I do have Forrest Gump by my side. I might continue that. But since I do read multiple books at a time, I might start reading My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress by Rachel DeLoache Williams. I am kind of drawn to it right now. I might also give The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood another try. I had to stop reading this one just because of how many times how tall this guy is was mentioned. Yes, I stopped reading at Chapter 3 or 4. We’ll see.
Tomorrow is another day. I think we’re having cupcakes delivered for the onsite team. It’s sports gear day on Wednesday. Wear blue day on Thursday. And a potluck on Friday (which I still have no idea what to bring).
I think that’s it for today. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Sleep in? I wish. Honestly, I do not to get sleep in anymore. I did however woke up a lot later than normal. But then again – I was up super late last night. Super late to the point that I even decided to just not sleep anymore, but I guess I ended up passing out anyway.
What was the first thing I did when I woke up? Yes. Made espresso. And while that was doing its thing, I fed the doggos. I won’t lie, I was definitely dragging the whole morning – well, the whole day. I was feeling a bit off. My eyes were itchy – well still are. I was definitely feeling unmotivated to move. Yeah, one of those days.
I just made some white rice and fried some lumpia. And while doing that – I was also reading. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou. I am finally almost done with the book. The curse of reading multiple books. The book is about Theranos and the fraudulent practices that company did. The book definitely annoys me. Well, not the book itself, but more really on the extent of what the CEO and COO did to get this commercially available to patients despite not having a working machine. It was crazy.
I did spend some more quality time with my hun. We did watch some episodes of Trigun. We are getting more background now about Vash, and the big reveals on those episodes had me at the edge of my seat. Meryl definitely has thing for Vash. I’m calling it now. Do not ever get personally invested in a subject.
Of course, we did watch some Yuri on Ice. And yes, my emotional self cried again. Not my fault! That anime is just sooo good! Showing the journey of this Japanese ice skater name Yuri Katsuki. The improvements on his routine or should I say program every single time he competes…CHEF’S KISS. We are in that episode where they introduced JJ. Or as he calls himself, King JJ. I cannot. I think he is the only character in the anime that I do not really care for. The few times I had watched the anime alone, I skipped his performances to be honest. His inner monologue just kills it for me every single time.
My hun decided to introduce me to another anime called Another. That one I think is a pass for me. I am not a big fan of supernatural stuff to be honest. I even paused in the middle of the second episode just to ask my hun what the heck am I walking into. Two episodes in and I still have no idea what the anime is about, yeah, no. Third episode in and I still did not have the answers I wanted. It’s like me reading a book, if I’m on the third chapter and I still have no idea where the heck the story is going, I will DNF that shit.
However, I am not going to lie, the premise is fine. And the only reason I know of the premise is because my hun decided to just tell me. And after hearing that, it really bothered me that the protagonist, Kouichi, has been looking for answers and no one seems to want to give it to him especially on the fact that his actions has serious consequences. No one had briefed him on what the fuck is going on. He was thrown in this situation without a disclaimer. Can you tell I’m annoyed? Because I am.
We also decided to watch Persona5. And my hun started nerding out since he played the game before. Adorable. So far, I like it. I am enjoying the pacing of the story, the art style and the animation. The premise is also interesting. One of the characters is a talking cat! Which is also my hun’s favorite character. This one is a yes for me.
Hmmm, you know I hate Sundays? Just because I know that tomorrow I would have to be back to work. It’s not a good feeling to be honest. No wonder I’m always so unmotivated on Sundays. It sets the tone for my week, meaning I know that I will be dragging my ass out of bed just to go to a place that I really do not want to be in.
Here’s to tomorrow.
What is the first thing I did when I woke up this morning? I made some espresso. I have been pretty caffeine deprived lately so I decided to just go for it. Added some french vanilla syrup and oat milk creamer – oh yeah, that was heaven. I honestly do not understand why I keep choosing caffeine withdrawals on a daily basis instead of just giving in. I just feel like a human when I get my caffeine fix.
Like a normal Saturday, I did my laundry – or what my boyfriend calls “sexy laundry”. I still do not get it after almost two years but I just go with it. The morning was pretty much spent watching this new show in Netflix, “The Ultimatum”. I watched it with my a friend all morning. Oh boy that show is definitely trashy…But we cannot stop watching it. The only thing that I appreciated about it – damn, youngins can talk about their feelings. They are more open about it and can freely show their emotions. Pretty refreshing to be honest. This new generation can definitely communicate. Wish, my generation is that comfortable.
Afternoon was spent with my love. Our date nights. I recently introduced him to Yuri on Ice. And from what I can see, he seems to be enjoying it. Granted, he has his “OMG”, “Why” moments. But I appreciate it. Yuri on Ice is one of my favorite animes and I am glad that I can enjoy the anime with him. And yes, I cried during Yuri’s free skate event and that first kiss with Victor…Oh yeah, I swooned. I fangirl’d so much.
We also watched some episodes of Trigun. And yes, Vash the Stampede is swoon worthy. The anime is engaging and it’s just so interesting to me. I cannot stop watching it. I normally hate a character in an anime, and I still have to discover that someone in this anime. My hun thought that it would be Milly, but I cannot seem to find it in my heart to hate such a ditsy character. She is just so pure hearted. It seems so wrong to hate her. I just cannot.
We watched the movie Turning Red as well. And oh boy, the pressure of being an Asian kid and always wanting that approval from your parents. I felt that. My parents were not as bad but the expectations were still there. It was instilled in me that I always have to be the good girl, I always have to be good in school. Growing up being compared to your peers, to your cousins, definitely was not a good feeling. It was nice when I broke the mold. And it was satisfying that Meilin was able to that as well.
We did end our date night early. And that was totally fine. Gave me the chance to look at this blog again and figure out what needs to change. My hun has been pretty supportive and gave me a few ideas on how to start over with this blog. See if that formula works. Just free writing you know? I was not sure why I decided to make this blog so restrictive when I like free writing the best. So let’s find out together where this format takes me.
It has been a long month for all of us. I have been working from home closer to two months now. I got lucky that I have a predisposed condition – I never thought I would ever utter these words in my entire life – that got me exempted from working onsite, being an essential working and all. And I can honestly say that I love it.
But having only bedroom and not enough space in the apartment to set up two stations, our dining table has been transformed to one big mess. My work laptop, my gaming laptop and extra monitor and all the extras took over one side of the dining table. Chris’ setup took over the other side. So our dining table does not exist at the moment.
Dining Table Mess
Being an introvert with social anxiety, I don’t really mind not being around people. Honestly, I prefer it. I don’t like being in crowds and getting to work and being at work tend to be very exhausting at times. And unnecessary conversations is something that I don’t really like. So this working from home setup is a dream for me. But oddly enough, as introvert as I am, I find myself having very slight issues with it.
It gets too quiet. I am alone for almost throughout the day with only the dogs for company. And it is such a surprise to realize that other people’s voices ground me in some way. My anxiety gets triggered when it’s too quiet. Isn’t that crazy? I didn’t realize that hearing conversations around me, regardless if I partake in them or not, relaxes me I guess. This is normally alleviated by music. But lately, it’s been a struggle. So I have been watching live streams all throughout my shift just so I hear a different voice.
Cabin Fever. Well not necessarily. But since Chris and I have been limiting our going out – meaning going to the store for necessities, I am pretty much in the apartment 24/7. And it’s slowly driving me insane that I have been s staring at the same walls for the past month or so. I know that I can walk outside. Fuck no. I am working from home for a reason. And I am not subjecting myself to a risk that I don’t need to be dealing with. So my quick solution? Going out the balcony and staying under the sun for a few minutes and breathing in some nice fresh cool air.
I have not been able to read. I personally find that really disappointing. I personally thought that I would be able to read more since I am just home and I should be able to just pick up a book. But I was definitely wrong. The commute to work is my reading time. And that is not part of my weekdays for now. Sure I can listen to audiobooks while working but I find it hard to focus with work sometimes when I’m listening to a book. Especially since I am dealing with some really sensitive materials, I try to give it the focus that it deserves. And books tend to divide my attention. And now that school started for me, it’s been a little difficult to insert some leisure reading in my packed schedule.
I forget to eat and drink water. Yeah – not good at keeping track of time. At least when I am working onsite, I have my coworker remind me that it’s time to eat and all of that. But since I started working at home, I often find myself skipping a meals. And if do remember to eat, it’s the not-Roma-proof variety. And I have been been having so many issues about this. My allergies are all over the place right now. The moment that I started working from home, my discipline about food went out the window and I am suffering from it.
Well I still have a month of working from home. And I still have how many days to keep my sanity at home. And I am just taking it one day at a time. One movie at a time? One Episode at a time? One stream at a time? Yeah – we shall see how this little self discipline project pans out.
So…what the hell happened in 2019?
Our parents decided to say hello to us this year. My parents decided to visit and welcome 2019 in Washington. Chris’ parents decided to visit during Halloween. Well we showed them the usual tourist trappings Seattle has to offer. A lot of walking, a lot of food, and a lot of sights. Hope they had fun. And hopefully they consider coming back to visit us again.
Our first winter. Well, this was not the first time we’ve seen snow but this was the first time that we experienced snow in the city that we lived in. First time driving in the snow too. Which was interesting. My car was definitely not up to the task but Chris’ car was. So thank goodness for Subarus.
Chris and I enjoyed the little bit of snow, the dogs however was a different story. We wanted to let them experience playing in the snow but they had other plans. The moment they went outside, they ran for a few seconds and decided snow was not for them. Ran back towards the door to let them in the building. Adorable.
I quit my job with the company that I’ve been with for about 10 years. Not going to lie, leaving was bittersweet and definitely emotional. Not as emotional when I left the San Diego branch but definitely still emotional. But I was burned out and tired of the nightshift/overnight job so when the opportunity rose, I took it. But of course like any other big decisions, there are bit more reasons why I chose to leave the comfort and the security of a very well known established company for a start up.
Regardless, I believe this to be one of the best decisions I made this 2019. There was nothing more gratifying and satisfying to me than the feeling of working with a company instead of the ten years of working for a company.
When I visited Seattle a few years ago, I wondered why everyone wears a backpack. And one year in Seattle, I finally caved and invested in a backpack of my own. A lot of young professionals working this city prefers to commute by bus instead of driving. And I found myself embracing that life once I started my new job. And there I understood the efficiency of just carrying a backpack compared to carrying around a huge shoulder bag or tote bag. My EDC backpack holds an umbrella, my lunch, my water bottle, my bujo, a book, my emergency kit, and a jacket, sometimes I carry a laptop in there too depending on the day. And it has secret pockets. and since I commute to work, I liked the fact that the zippers are hidden. And one of the most important detail, this backpack is waterproof and that detail definitely came in handy during the wetter Seattle days.
My reading game was on this year. 2019 was my best reading year so far. Clocking in with 139 books read. Impressive right? Well, for me at least, this was an accomplishment. I normally just read about 20 books a year at the most the past years, so 139 books was impressive to me. How did I accomplish that? Reading apps. The commute to work gave me ample amount of reading time. Not to mention I was able to listen to audiobooks while working. And with my new job, I didn’t have to do overtime, which gave me more reading time at home. And I loved it. I took advantage. Hence 139 books read this year.
The Libby app and library cards (I have 2 – from the Seattle Public Library and the King County Public Library). This app made so many ebooks and audiobooks available to me the latter half of the year. With my phone, I was able to read on the bus comfortably without having to carry a book all the time or my nook or my tablet.
I’ve also been a fan of Audible this year. I borrow a book on the Libby app, loved and enjoyed that audiobook, I would purchase it on Audible. Making the book available to me to reread the books whenever I want. And reread I did!
And I’ve also used my Kindle app so much this year. The ebooks I borrowed from the Libby app are compatible with Kindle. So whatever ebooks I borrowed from that app, I am able to read on the Kindle app giving me the power to customize the reading to my liking. Same thing goes for this one too, if I loved the ebook enough, I would buy it on my Kindle so I can reread the book to my heart’s content. Again, reread I did!
So what is in store for me in 2020? I don’t really believe in resolutions, so goals would be a bit more accurate in my case. Read more for sure. At least continue on my reading streak from 2019. Cook more – since with my allergies, I would be able to control the ingredients more if cook at home. Go back to school and finally get my master’s degree, god knows I’ve procrastinated enough. These are the only planned goals I made myself for 2020. Being a planner, I don’t like winging things out. But this year, I’d like to be a bit more carefree. I just want to loosen the reins a bit. You know, go with the flow, so 2020 is a go with the flow year for me. Well, maybe.
Well, Thanksgiving came and went. This was our second Thanksgiving in Washington. Much like last year, Chris and I decided to celebrate the holiday with the just each other. But we agreed that we would lessen the food that we make – we went overboard last year, definitely prepared food for more that two people, to say we got carried away was an understatement.
So for this year, we decided to skip on the ham and turkey, we chose ribeye steaks. And that meat was beautiful… We had some asparagus, stuffing, and green bean casserole. Normally, I would be the one in the kitchen cooking but this year, Chris decided that she wanted to cook all the dishes. And so she did. She slaved in the kitchen while I lost myself in Christmas romance movies – because why not?
We both preferred our steaks rare, and she made a damn good job cooking those ribeyes to perfection. I’d like to share her process but I honestly don’t know how, grilling and cooking meat is her forte not mine. So I was more than happy to let her rule the kitchen for Thanksgiving.
We didn’t decorate – we are not decorators and we believe that we can celebrate without the trappings of the holiday. So we just laid the dishes as simple as we liked. And dug in. Pretty simple Thanksgiving dinner for the both of us. It was a pretty relaxed dinner for sure. And my introverted loner heart sang.
There are things that I need to be thankful for. A new job. A promotion. My family who has been supportive with every decisions I made and continue to make. Friends that regardless the distance are still there when I need to reach out and talk. My dogs who give me cuddles and I can always count on to make me feel better after a stressful day. And of course, Chris. For loving me for who I am and being patient with me always. Four years together and she still chooses to stay with me even though I can be the most difficult person in the world. And for choosing to slave in the kitchen to cook us a bomb Thanksgiving dinner though she had been awake all night because she had to work.