November Goal!

So, the juicing thing only worked slightly. I lost like five pounds. I didn't try to continue that for another ten days because it gets really expensive. Produce is not cheap in Hawaii.

Anyway, I joined 24 Hour Fitness again. With my mom. We are going to Japan in the beginning of November and I want to get in better shape for that. That's a LOT of walking... And with both my dad and mom going, I will have to most likely have to bring a wheelchair and push my mom around. Possibly alternating my dad in the chair, since his knee had been troubling him lately.

I tried to convince my brother to go with us, but he doesn't want to go because he feels he won't enjoy the trip. I can understand where he is coming from because this trip is for two performances, and my dad is causing drama and I don't want to get into the details, but yeah... It's gonna be a little bit stressful. And now, it will be extra stressful for me because I will have to take care of my parents on my own. It would be wrong to ask non-family members to help with them.

Anyway, my goal is to lose some weight and get into better shape in preparation for this trip to Japan. So far I've been to the gym maybe 8 times in the last 2.5 weeks. Negligible weight loss... Maybe 5 pounds. Ish. I'll try to monitor it better from here on out.

I've also cut back on the eating. Eating less and more healthy stuff like salad and less rice/starches. I have had ice cream only once the last 2.5 weeks, and it was for my niece's birthday party.

Trying really hard to push myself for this goal. Japan is so much walking (and eating, though I usually lose weight despite all the eating). Gotta be prepared.

Juicing - Day 10!

Last day! So yesterday I had boiled edamame with salt and pepper and also choi sum with salt and pepper. Separate meals. Usually you eat choi sum with hoisin sauce, but I asked for nothing and then added salt and pepper. It still was good, but not quite as good as with hoisin sauce...

I'm still not really feeling a big change in energy level. But I guess I can say that while I am out of the house, I haven't felt super groggy or tired. I used to feel like taking a nap even when I didn't do anything. Yet, I still wake up late and would rather go back to sleep/hit snooze in the morning. How does that make any sense?

I'm still feeling like having Thai green curry with tofu tomorrow! I can't decide whether to order it from Thai Village or Souvaly. Souvaly is more expensive but you pay for the quality. I'm thinking I will keep up with the juicing after these ten days, but eat one meal a day and juice. I don't think I can take another ten days of not eating regular food... As you can see, edamame became a regular thing, and then even threw in choi sum. Mainly because I eat with friends during the week and it's hard to just sit at the table of a restaurant and not eat something. I did that at Sumo Ramen and it was pretty strange for me. So, last night we were at Anytime Cafe and I ordered choi sum.

When I weighed myself this morning, I lost a total of 6 pounds. That's not a whole lot on my body, and that can easily fluctuate with water weight and such, so I can't really see a huge difference. I'm going to eat healthier and continue juicing with one meal a day and see if I can continue the weight loss or not. We shall see.

Juicing - Day 5, 6, 7, 8 recap

I've never really been good at keeping up with blogs/journals. Procrastinator here!

Day 5 went okay. I took two juices with me to karaoke with friends. And I ended up having two vodkas and a sip of scotch. I didn't see how it would hurt too bad, right? and I also had edamame (soy beans) while I was there. only salt, no sauce or anything.

Day 6 was similar to Day 5. No alcohol, though. I went to my friend's bachelorette party, where I couldn't eat any of the food there (I paid $20 to cover the food and drinks and I couldn't eat any or drink any of it!). We went to Rumfire (bar at the Sheraton Waikiki) and I had some edamame again.

Day 7, I had work in the morning, so I had made extra juice the day before. I actually started feeling hungry during work. it was strange to me, since I hadn't really felt hungry during this juicing. On Friday, I did feel a little hungry, but nothing I couldn't handle. I went to gagaku class at night and I was fine. I bought more produce from Safeway (the Kapahulu Safeway is so wonderful! it has a lot of variety), which included grapes and blueberries (they were on sale).

Day 8 was a holiday! President's Day. I stayed home all day and just watched TV and did some laundry. I felt hungry at night, so I heated up some edamame and lightly salted it.

So far on this diet, I actually dropped 5 pounds, but then it went back up by three pounds. Could the edamame have done that? I can't imagine that it would, considering you only eat the bean and not the pod, it's really not a whole lot of substance. Or the two shots of vodka? it was straight up vodka with ice, no fruit mixers or anything. It kind of baffles me on what could have caused my weight to go back up?

Juicing -Day 5

Yesterday I tried adding jalapeños to my Green. It turned out pretty well. I'm getting bored with the lack of flavor in the juice, so adding jalapeño worked out nicely, as does the ginger to the fruity juice. Mean Green is supposed to have ginger, but I hadn't bought any until recently. I first had Thai ginger, and maybe I didn't use enough? So I bought regular ginger (regular meaning the sort I'm used to using for cooking), and it seems to do a good job of flavoring the juice. I'll need to try using ginger in my next batch of Green.

I still haven't had any noticeable changes in my self. I don't feel a change in energy level (up or down), weight hasn't changed any more than water retention would change it... I haven't done any exercising yet, so maybe that will help? I haven't felt the motivation to go to the gym, though... I was hoping that feeling more energetic would get me going.

Right now, I'm sitting with my mom at Shirokiya. She's eating lunch while I'm sipping on juice. I really miss the different flavors of food. Curry, tempura, takoyaki! Even rice. And then I'm thinking about going karaoke tonight, and that will be so awkward without alcohol! Maybe I should just skip... I don't know. But! If I do go I will be lenient with this diet and have edamame (plain boiled with some salt).

Speaking of salt... I feel as though I miss the taste of salt. I don't know if I just simply miss it or if my body actually needs it? Hmmmm... I've been eating no salt almonds (raw and roasted). Maybe I should get a little bit of salt in my diet?

My coworker friend who did this juicing went for ten days, one day with one meal, then another ten days, etc. until he went on his trip to Vegas. He said he lost 30 lbs!!! I think it was for 26 days. I don't know if I could keep it up for as long though... Like I said, I'm getting a bit bored. He sent me other recipes to try, so maybe I will try to change it up. I just feel like I should be sticking to the Mean Green recipe. But I guess if he had a wide variety and was able to lose weight, so maybe I'm just being too frigid?

Going to do some walking around the mall. That's somewhat exercise, right?

Juicing - Day 3

I made one Green last night to save for today. I made another Green just now, and another fruity juice. I wasn't sure what time I would be leaving the house, which is why I prepped the one last night. I woke up just before my alarm went off... and then went back to sleep. So, my morning went entirely to sleep. It's a good thing I don't have a full-time job yet. I wouldn't know where to make time to juice.

I'm going to have to pick up more apples, kale, chard, and celery. What I have in my kitchen right now: carrots, 3 fuji apples (no green left), parsley, 1 cucumber (probably should pick up more), broccoli, spinach, pineapple, lemons, oranges, ginger (Thai, not sure how different that would make things). The main ingredient in Green is kale and chard, so I definitely need that. Apples have been in every juice I have made, so I also need that for sure.

Today, I'm going to take my mom for some quick shopping and pick up dinner for her. Then, drop her off at grandma's house. From there, I don't know if I'll meet up with Nick for "dinner" or if I'm just going to go to gagaku class straight from grandma's house. I kind of like meeting with Nick for dinner, because it also gets him to go out to the HBH band rehearsal at Niu Valley Middle School.

Let Day 3 begin!

Juicing - Day 2 End

I survived going to Sumo Ramen with friends and only drinking water. I wasn't exactly hungry, but I do miss eating food. I guess the juices are good to satiate my hunger, for the most part. I just miss the chewing and eating of food. I seriously don't know how those guys did it for 60 DAYS. That's totally insane!

So last night, I made a Green with green chard instead of kale. I also put more lemon in it, so this one was more tart and citrusy. It tasted fine, though I only finished about 3/4 of it (again).

I'm already planning out what my first real meal will be! I should think healthy, because this is the whole goal of it all... but I'm thinking I want Thai food. Thai green curry with tofu. If I want to be healthy, I should eat a salad or maybe pho. I still have 7 more days to go.

Juicing -Day 2, Part 2

So I packed my two juices and was heading out. As I'm driving, I had to make a sudden stop, and my lunch bag toppled over from atop the passenger seat to the floor! I didn't think much of it, but in my head I wondered if that would be enough to open up the containers?

Yes. Yes, that was enough to open one of the containers. And of course it was the Green juice, so I only have my fruity juice. Sigh.

At Down to Earth now. My mom is eating my favorite item: avocado wrap.

I'm having "The Real V8 Juice." beets, tomatoes, carrots, ginger, garlic, celery, ummmm can't remember now what else. It's pretty tasty. But definitely not the same as the Green.

Juicing - Day 2

Started off Day 2 with the 1/4 left of the Green I didn't finish last night. I made another Green with kale, spinach, celery, 1 carrot, green apples, lemon and 2 oranges. Maybe the kale I have is too dry, but it doesn't create much juice, so that's why I threw in the oranges. and I think the oranges are a little on the dry side, too... so I need better stuff. I'm out of kale, so I'll be picking up more today.

I also made a juicier juice last night, to save for today. Oranges, apples, carrots, pineapple. I'm going to be taking that and the Green with me today. I have band rehearsal at 7pm, but before that I will take my mom to my grandma's house (probably stop at Down to Earth on the way, to pick up more veggies). Let's see how I fair today.

Juicing - Day 1

So, I decided to try out the juicing diet that they show on the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

I sort of followed the "Mean Green" juice recipe. it's not exact, since I don't remember the exact number of leaves or cups or whatnot.

6 kale leaves
4 celery stalks
2 green apples
1 cucumber
1/2 lemon
ginger (don't have ginger right now)

so it's basically like that, except I used half a cucumber since the one I got was pretty big. I used lime on the first try since I didn't have lemon. tossed in some spinach on the second and third juice.

So anyway, this is actually the start of Day 2, but I didn't write anything for Day 1. Day 1 I had two of the mean green and one plain apple juice (from the juicer). I went to work at 2:30pm, and I did feel a bit hungry toward the end of the shift (probably around 9-ish), but I did okay. Oh, I had about 20 almonds. According to the documentary you can include nuts in the diet, so I got some no salt almonds.

ADD IN: I forgot to mention that I started feeling a headache coming on at night. I'm thinking might be lack of caffeine? I don't drink coffee regularly, but I do drink green tea. It may not have as much caffeine, but it does have it. and an occasional diet soda (which has lots of caffeine). the headache was only on the left side of my head? not sure. Really not sure what to expect with this juicing thing. I'm betting people experience different things.

When I got home, I made another Green and drank 3/4 of it.

Back from Japan

And all I got is this lousy t-shirt. No. Wait. I didn't even BUY a shirt! I feel a little unfulfilled because the one, ULTIMATE gift I was going to bring back for everyone (omiyage) was this awesomest handmade green tea chocolate. I found out, while in Japan, after walking up and down to Kiyomizu Temple, TWICE, they don't make it during the summer because it's too hot and the chocolate melts.

So, after that failure, my brain kind of gave up on finding yummy snack gifts. I feel stupid and lame and a failure. I go all the way to Japan, land of the best candies and snacks and etc., and I didn't bring back much of anything. What a waste!

At least the performance went well, and we all enjoyed ourselves. We kept busy with all sorts of things (visiting temples, a castle, swordmaking town, ceramic shop, Kobe steak! etc.), so all in all, it was a successful trip.

I don't have my trip pics on this computer (at work... shhhh), but I do have pics off of my iPhone from my trip.


Museum stuff. The Tenri Sankokan Museum's current special exhibit is of Mexico. Big head they found in the forest.


Big selection of Coco Ichiban-ya Curry House. They have LEVELS of spiciness.


Kobe Steak! My friend Frank moved to Japan with his wife (who is from Japan), and I told him to take us to a really good steak place. It was so good... and I don't even care for steak!


Drinks with friends. This was at a Turkish bar in Kobe. My first (and probably only) Young Turk (Turkish cherry juice and vodka).


Vending machines of all sorts.
Beer, cigarettes, pastries... and the usual soft drinks (no picture). In the past, I have also seen eggs, batteries, toiletries.

I'm adamant about going back to Japan in March/April in an attempt to see the cherry blossoms... the lady at the shop with the chocolates said they should still have the chocolates at that time. :)

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this one to Jen Thomas. She's hard at work!

Yesterday's End of Day

Yesterday was quiet. Here's how it ended:



After I posted it all around (FB, Vox, etc.), that's when I realized his left arm is gimpy. Oh well!

Sometimes I think too much

There are a lot of What-ifs in my life. Some of them would put me in a completely different place than where I am in my life right now. It's hard not to let it come up in my mind, no matter how I feel. I guess that's just another part of life we have to deal with.

Not a Furlough Friday

Having to work on Friday just seems... wrong. Sure, everyone had complained about the state employees furloughs, but you know what? Most everyone is now well adapted to having four-day work weeks. It just doesn't feel right having to be here at work on a Friday.

Here's what I did to pass the time.


I even signed it!

Newest doodle, also posted on Allie's forum

Here's another doodle I posted on Allie's forum. One day, she will pause from being incredibly popular and say, "Hey, thanks for posting that neat-o ninja!" Yeah, right.


I did this one last week. I had thought about doing one today, but not sure if I'll get around to it (just over an hour left of office time).

UPDATE: Yeah, not enough time. I spent most of it reading some blogs (I read really slow), and then cleaning out some of my e-mails collecting in my Gmail Inbox. I got rid of about 2,000 e-mails, mostly ads (Victoria's Secret, Amazon, etc.) and Facebook notifications (___ posted a comment). Time to get out of here!

This was drawn for Allie

I have recently accepted Allie Brosh into my life. She is the author of Hyperbole and a Half. I went to her forum and decided to post a dinosaur drawing. Here's what I posted:

Bunch of old doodles

Self portrait. I was bored at work.


Aqua Teen Hunger Force! Do you remember when people would submit art and some of them would get selected and showed during the [adult swim] bumps? Well, they are lame and didn't choose mine.


This is a portrait of my friend Mandy.


Here's my first Paintified request: Temporary Lovers (I miss you guys!), a local underground rock band in Hawai'i.

Science Guy

I doodled this guy after I discovered the blog Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh. Her visual aids had reminded me how fun MS Paint is.



This guy is set up above my desk. I got him at a vendor show for scientific supplies from a company called Stratagene, and he's one of those stress relief squeeze things.

If I had a choice, I would choose to NOT go to Japan in July

July is the second worst time to ever go to Japan. August is the worst. Summers are HELL in Japan. The first three times I went there were all in the summertime - 1986, 1996 and 1997. The '96 and '97 trips were both for church-related seminars, where we had to do pilgrimage walks. I'm not in good shape, in fact, I'm in horrible shape. It was painful to go through those walks.

This year, we are going to Japan in July because our group was invited to perform for the 1300th anniversary celebration of the first capitol city in Japan (Nara). You can't really turn down an invitation like that, right? It's a once in a lifetime event (milestone anniversaries are a once in an any time event), so we are going to perform.

why here, now?

I actually just joined here to be able to openly comment on a writer's blog site. I've got too many different places to write, and I don't write in them enough as it is... to add another place? pure insanity.

but that's normal for me. bring on the insanity.