Rain Rain and Snow??

After a week of lovely sunshine, I fall in love with Seattle all over again. Just as I was ready to take out my tennis racket and went out for some outdoor exercise on what-I-thought-would-be perfect Saturday afternoon, sky turned dark and soon started raining. What the heck? I changed back my normal cloth and called my friend to cancel the fun.

Alternatively, we went to a Belle Pastry – a French bakery in Bellevue. We picked a window seat, watched people walking pass by, and talked nonsense for a short while. It is like that scene in Sex and City, Carrie and her friends having a brunch during weekends. (In my case, it is afternoon tea because I woke up late). To my surprise, I am actually very happy to enjoy a heavy-rain Saturday like this. Sitting in a coffee shop with my cake and coffee- I am easy to be pleased.

After years living in Bellevue, I am shameful to admit that I have never been that that part of Bellevue (around 100^th and main street). There are some high-end clothing stores, antique shops and even a bathroom accessory store with a magnified mirror cost more than $300 bucks. Who will need a mirror like that when I can get a set of my own for under 30 bucks in Bed, Bath and Beyond? There is one reason you gotta love those chain stores.

It is not only the rain; temperature must have dropped at least 20 degrees in matter of 24 hours. During my drive home, it even started snowing. Can you believe that? Snow in May!?!

No More Nap?

Sooner or later I have to stop taking this nice 40-min nap inside of my car during lunch hour, or I will get sunburn as it is finally warming up in Seattle. In fact, my cheeks are already burning up. I love Seattle with sunny weather like this, but where will my new napping spot be? Under a tree?

Ahh, screw it, i will wear layers of sunscreens.

My Newfound Artist - Agatsuma

At first i thought his music are refreshing and unique, unfortunately, my good first impression doesn't last long. After downloading three songs from I-tune last night (yes, I paid) and played them back to back, i realized that all his tones are similar; i can barely tell the difference between the songs. (All right, maybe I am a bit tone deaf, too)

There is no doubt that he is a talent artist, but come on, that instrument, shamisen, only has only three strings. What can you expect? There can't possibly be too many variations. Like most of artists, his first CD happens to be the best along the three. I don't even want to comment on his latest CD. *sigh*

Agatsuma's shamisen is slightly different from the typical new age music i listen to, but it is still pretty cool music for both work and exercise. For more info about Agatsuma and to sample his music, click here. My favorite piece is In Memory of NY, that was a 99-cent well spent. hehe

Am I good enough to continue?

After taking one quarter of Spanish without failing, i figured it might be ok to move onto the next level. Unfortunately, three weeks of relaxing spring break is all it takes to push me back to ground zero. This just shows how poor/weak my foundation is. It takes a long time to start out a new language; yet everything can be easily destroyed in matter of weeks.

I have to admit that my first class of Spanish II isn't going well. Not only did I have trouble introducing myself in VERY simple sentences, but also I have forgotten 80% of the vocabularies learned in the previous quarter (there were like only 30 words taught in the introductories level, so you can do the math)

What bothers me is how I seemed to be the only person in class who can't remember or pronounce a thing. However, my philosophy is this: sucking through the rest of classes is still better than not taking the class at all. As long as I am in that environment, I can still pick up something little by little. Since I don't have high expectation for that class, anything is good at this point.

Yes, I will continue sucking through the class. Way to go!