A VERY sore scratchy throat, stuffed up nose, pounding-between-the-eyes headache, stiff neck, aching body, feverish chills...

I'm wearing two t-shirts, socks and flannel bottoms. I'm still getting chills.

I just wanna crawl underneath the covers.

No updates anytime soon.

*Update Tuesday Nov 18*

Throat hurt so bad that I woke up at 5.30am, after going to bed around 2am (I know, I practically asked for it). I downed a painkiller and went back to sleep, only to be woken up by the stupid dog across the street that wouldn't stop barking around 7am. As of right now, I'm on the verge of losing my voice now. *le sigh*

I just took a couple painkillers so that I can fall asleep tonight. At this rate, I forsee a visit to the doctor's in the near future.

*Update over*

I have been making some progress with editing and adding to the thesis. I must say I am rather impressed but at the same time I'm still weary about my performance. I just try to keep pushing myself.

Today, GASP OMG VOLUNTARILY I went to the library and spent almost 3 hours there. Yes, 3 FREAKING HOURS. Initially the plan was to go to the library to return some books and borrow a couple that I had already looked up the night before. But in the end I came home with 6 books.

WTH....I think I am turning into a geek. Oh Gaaaaaaawd.

Anyway, at the moment I'm TRYING to read a section of a book and after reading it just about 4-5 times I still get this look on my face.

It's mostly economic mumbo jumbo that I totally forgot about. I took an International Economics class during my Bachelor years but seriously, it's been 4 years since that fateful semester. I don't expect myself to remember that crap!

Allow me to give you an example:

Factor shares in output refer to the portions of the total output that are received, as compensation, by input factors...output elasticity is a technical term, measuring the percentage increase (or decrease) in output as a result of 1% increase (or decrease) in an input factor.

Ummm....whaaaaaaaaaaaat?

So as I sit here with this expression on my face , I am at a lost when it comes to these economic jargons. Anybody out there who's an economics theory whizz of sorts willing to help out a clueless, confused, innocent *COUGH* soul?

Today started out like any other day. I woke up in haze and stumbled to the bathroom to wash up. As I wake up slowly from the cold water in my face, I realised something. Today, twenty six years ago I was brought into this world. I checked my phone and found several unread messages, from friends and family wishing me well. I thank you all.

This past year has been such a test for me. Going through a rollercoaster of emotions, I've learned a few things.

I have said this time and time again but I have no idea why I keep repeating my mistakes. I don't know why I put myself in such a vulnerable position for disappointment and sometimes hurt. I learned (once again) that some people really aren't worth my time or effort. I learned that even though I try not to judge people, they so easily judge me anyway. I learned that being nice doesn't always pay and in my case, it hasn't paid in a while.

I learned that even though my mouth may say the meanest things to and about some people, I know deep in my heart I do not mean it. At times I resent myself because I get so pissed off that I can not be mean or nasty to the people who mistreat me. I'm not saying I'm an angel and I'm oh-so-nice. It's kinda like wanting so bad to run that dumb motorcyclist over because he/she is doing 20km/h in the middle of the road but knowing damn well I wouldn't do it.

I learned failure the hard way. Not graduating this year was one of the hardest things I had to endure. Not only did it affect my confidence, it affected me emotionally and spiritually as a whole. At the same time I learned how to get up on my own. I learned that I can be strong after all. I learned that I am not a quitter.

On a lighter side, I learned that chicken, when steamed, tastes so much better when there are some ginger. It tastes even better with ginger AND garlic.

I learned that no matter what, my love for Rob will never change. I learned that our love grows stronger with each bump we face in our relationship journey. I realized just how much stronger our love is after my return from Chicago. I realized that it doesn't matter where we "end up" one day because what matters most is that we're together. I learned that love conquers all, as cliche as it sounds, it is true, at least for me.

I learned that I have already started my journey down cynicism. I am no longer that interested in celebrating my birthday, not because I fear getting old or anything like that. It's because if you think about it, it's really not at all that important. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the wishes and dinners. It's nice to know that I am in the minds of people. What I'm trying to say is, I no longer take my birthday as a special day that needs celebrating. I don't feel the need to have all my "friends" remember my birthday. I don't feel the need to make a list of who remembered or who forgotten. In other parts of the world, it's just an ordinary day and for those who are unfortunate, it's a day of death.

I am thankful, however, to be able to say that today I lived for 26 years. As I am about to continue my journey to the second quarter century of my life, I have learnt many things with regards to this life.

Today, I turn 26. Today, after all that I learned this year, I am still looking for my purpose.

*Many pictures again. Go grab yourself a snack and come back*

Rockford is about 90 minutes drive from where Rob lives. We spent about 3 days there sightseeing and a *little* shopping. Heh.

The first time I visited Rob I was already interested in visiting the Anderson Japanese Garden (AJG) but they weren't open during the winter time. Since it was on the way back from MOA, we decided to stop by Rockford so I could visit the garden.



Entrance fee was USD7 per person but Rob, again, scored cheap entrance tickets from the radio shopping channel. I think it was USD5 for two. Isn't he DA MAN?


Sticker as proof of purchase of entrance tickets

The first thing that greeted me at AJG was this little squirrel. It was just staring at us while we walked by. I stopped to take a picture but it ran and hid among some bushes.



I suppose the whole reason I wanted to go to this garden (and many other gardens/parks at that) was to take tons and tons of pictures. Not that I'm a pro or anything but I'm pretty sure by now you guys probably know I have a soft spot for some version of photography, whatever you call mine. HEH

There was a gate to go through to enter the main compound of the garden. So what did we do?

Yes, we camwhored.











The weather was almost perfect for a day at AJG. The sun was out and the skies were blue, which really makes a difference when taking pictures.








Camwhoring again

This is the zig-zag bridge. By my calculations there were about 8 segment of bridges which I suspect to be correct since the number 8 has the prosperity meaning to it in Asian culture.


I love the Weeping Willow tree.






Koi swimming towards me for food. Too bad I didn't bring food with me.


Garden of Reflection




South Gate - entrance to the Guest House



This is the Raked Gravel Garden. The sand is actually hand-raked so visitors aren't allowed to walk on it.




Main bridge




Pond Strolling Garden



I saw this cute duck swimming in the pond so I figured I would snap a few pictures of it.



Then it swam away from me.



That BASTARD!!!


Pretty butterfly


Posing at the main bridge




Me bugging Rob while he was trying to snap a picture





The thing I was looking forward to the most at AJG was the waterfall. I had seen pictures of it from their website and it was absolutely beautiful. I wanted to take a picture of it myself!



I quite like this next picture. I got lucky in capturing the koi fishes in the picture, considering the fishes were just swimming around, minding their own business.




Remember I said the sun was out?

Imagine the damage I could've done had I owned an SLR. Always wanted one but it's a bit too expensive for me at the moment, being unemployed and all. But I have vowed to myself that once I get a job that pays well, and I am financially stable, I shall purchased one and go CRAZY.



I end this post with my favourite shot from AJG. I love the colour combination, with the lush greens, orange leaves and just the feeling of serenity I get by just looking at the picture. I close my eyes and I can almost hear the water splashing.

TA DA!



AJG is such a peaceful place. I think it's a great place to unwind and relax, and even meditate if you wish.

I could almost feel the energy and grace that exudes in this tranquil place...

The sounds of trickling water drawing one deeper into relaxation...

The breeze that blows in one's face, calming one's nerves...


..........


..........


..........



That is, until Rob and I come along giggling and laughing, and making fun of each other. Then, all the peace and serenity is just...well...GONE.

It then becomes just another playground for us.

Sorry for the lack of words in this post. I have to go get some work done on the thesis.

Short update from yours truly.

Tomorrow is Halloween, the ang mo version of the Chinese "Hungry Ghost" festival/month, you get my drift lah. And what do these angmo go out and do? They wear costumes and knock door to door asking for candy. Hmmm the Cina version is to stay IN the house, AWAY from all the roaming spirits. So what does that say about the angmo's? Yes, they are insane. I'm just being a smartass, don't take me seriously. (Hi honey )

Speaking of the honey, Rob has a new blog up. Yeah I know, like he updates the one his has now often enough right? Well this new blog has some nice features. I personally like the Yahoo smileys. It's so much easier to blog with, as compared to my where I have to type in the html code of the smileys location blah blah blah. Too much work! But at the same time I like incorporating the Yahoo smileys in my post.

His new blog is on Wordpress which I find very fascinating and have wanted to convert over for the longest time but never had the time to do it because it's going to take quite a lot of work on my part. (Whew, that was a really long sentence. Try reading it with one breath. I did, that took work! Heh ). I've linked his blog and the address is http://www.windycityblogger.com/

I've been busy editing chapters and re-reading them. I try to take the criticism as constructive as possible and try to think light of the situation and ALSO laugh at myself for the mistakes I make.

I had a ice blended cappucino during dinner so I will be up for a while. Might as well use this caffeine buzz on the thesis. Til then, have a great weekend all.

The night before we left MOA, we decided to try a restaurant that I have been quite curious about ever since Rob told me about it years ago. Since I didn't try it the first time I was in the US, I thought it would be nice to buy Rob a good dinner, like a VERY early or late birthday dinner, depending on how you see it. Heh (His birthday is in January by the way).



The restaurant is called Rainforest Cafe.

What's so special about this place is the decor. Everything is based on the rainforest. They even have fake rain and thunder while you dine, with added sound effects of animals like monkeys, lions, birds etc. They have aquariums...



They have huge parrots...



Heck, they even have an alligator swamp.



UNFORTUNATELY, Rob and I had a terrible waitress. I think her name is Jessie. Her service was disgustingly bad. It almost ranks right up there with MFM. The place was packed that night but we got a table in about 15 minutes, which was not that bad.


Before the food disaster


He's just so adorable!

We ordered fried calamari as an appetizer. Rob went to the bathroom while I waited for our food. Fifteen minutes or so later, some guy came with the calamari. I sat and stared at the calamari because no one had given us any eating silverware (fork & knife). When Rob came back from the bathroom (about a few minutes later), we still had no silverware. The calamari looked dry and didn't seem warm at all.



Eventually Jessie came over to check on our food, and we requested silverware and then she FINALLY brought us some. That took almost five minutes itself. I mean, how long can it take for you to go to the working station, grabbed a couple sets of silverware and bring it to the customers? I decided to let it go. I took a bit at the calamari and it was COLD and soggy. Rob disliked it too. We waved to Jessie and told her about it.

Guess what she did? She stands next to me, one hand on her hip, the other on the back of my chair, looking down at us like we did something wrong and said "So what do you want me to do about it?" Rob and I looked at each other, shocked. Then Rob said "This is cold, how do you expect us to eat this?" Her response was "Well it's cold because it's been sitting there so long to which I looked at her in disbelief and said "Yeah, cause we had NO SILVERWARE to eat it". Rob then proceeded to tell her we would like a new batch of calamari.

She takes the lousy calamari and comes back in less than 5 minutes and say "Here, there just came out of the fryer". How is that possible? One, it doesn't take 2 minutes to fry calamari and two, even if it was "just out of the fryer" it would've burnt my tongue when I ate it. We presumed that what she did was throw the plate in the microwave and heated it up, which explained why the calamari was so tough to bite on.

That wasn't the only thing that pissed us off. Rob ordered a hamburger and asked for fries as opposed to the potato chips. But it came with potato chips. We let her know of her mistake and she went off, came back with a plate of french fries that were again "fresh from the fryer". Funny, it was just warm, not burning hot, NOT just out of the fryer.



I ordered some form of pasta which Michelle highly recommended because "it's SO GOOD". I was disappointed. It wasn't that good at all. More spicy and oily than anything as you can see.



The meal costed about USD60, with tax and tip and all. Nonetheless I was really unhappy, not because it was pricey but because the service sucked and the food was just borderline "ok". It wasn't great food, it wasn't tongue-twisting delicious. It was just edible, for the lack of other terms. Rainforest Cafe at MOA really isn't as good after all. (Note: Found out Michelle "no longer works" there when the manager of that location called to apologize for the lousy service and food after Rob emailed and blasted them. We got the money refunded! HAHAHA)

The next morning, we went back to MOA for one last run. Actually, my last run. Heh

Ahhhhhhhhhhh...pure satisfaction as I left MOA but at the same time...



Sad to be leaving because I still could not get enough of MOA.




At the parking bay

Then I asked to camwhore outside MOA, so Rob drove us to the front entrance of MOA.


MOA at the palm of my hand

It was really windy outside the mall. Here's how windy it was.



Then what followed was Rob and I trying to camwhore together. After many attempts, this was probably the best picture we could take, with the sun glaring on our eyes, and the wind blowing in our face, which explains our hair and Rob's squinting eyes. I was wearing shades.





And we were off on our journey to Rockford. We spent a couple nights there and visited the Anderson Japanese Garden (which I probably will blog about next).

We didn't take the scenic route on the way back because it looked as if it was going to rain. As you can see from the picture below, we were driving towards the gray clouds.




Half sunny, half cloudy

Even though we didn't take the scenic route, there were some nice views along the way to Rockford. I know I've said this a gazillion times (maybe less ) but I love seeing the countryside, with the farms, fields and lushes trees. Something about them gives me this feeling of serenity. It was a plus that I got to see some sheep grazing.









As nightfall approached and my contant whining drove Rob insane we stopped at a town (which I totally forgot the name) for dinner. We ate at Perkins Restaurant! If you remembered from my previous post, I did take a picture of a Perkins Restaurant in Winona but the one we ate at was another location.

As we were seated in our booth, I noticed a man in a blue shirt and long hair. He looked up at me and smiled. I politely smiled back. We were seated a few feet from where he was standing. It looked as if he was shaping a balloon animal. Curious, I stalked continued to watch what he was doing. Then our waitress told us that it was Kids' Nights at Perkins and that there was an entertainer in the restaurant.

He glanced up and saw me watching him, while I shyly looked away. LOL I didn't want to seem rude from staring at him. Then I looked at him again, while he was shaping a long red balloon into a heart. I thought it was cute and told Rob to look. He turned around and this guy was just going crazy with the balloon. Within a minute, he had finished his task.

He walked over to us and presented me with the balloon. I was pleasantly surprised!


By the way, that's Apricot salmon with mash potatoes, corn, and bread

So cute right? Rob later on commented that it was weird that the guy knew to make a PINK flower with a HEART, of which I both love.


Don't quite remember his name

Anyway, this guy proceeded to give us a personal magic show. I didn't mange to take a video of it because I was still in awe over the balloon thing. Heh

I remembered inspecting the rubber bands, and they were perfectly normal rubber bands. He somehow looped them together into a chain. (Rob had a rubberband too.) He also did some other magic tricks, which got Rob and myself dumbfounded! All that came outta our mouths were "What the!" or "How did you do that!?!?" or "Holy crap!" etc etc (you get the gist). Essentially we both looked like this:


Magic rubberbands

This is me satisfied after a great meal with great entertainment. The apricot salmon was DELICIOUS!!!! Don't worry guys, I will do the food post in due time. Patience my little minions.



And of course, a must after every meal. We camwhore at least once.


Love you baby!

*This will just be more of a photo post lah. Busy with my thesis.*

As I have said a few entries ago, MOA is so big it has its own theme park. Nickelodeon Universe @ MOA is also the largest indoor theme park in the US.





It has tons of cool rides but of course, very overpriced. So what did cheapo me do? I just walked around the theme park and snapped pictures. Lol






LOVE the pink shorts Spongebob is wearing. HEH


Wishing I was a kid again so I can justify going on the pretty carousel


Dora Ferris Wheel

For as how much I love going on ferris wheels, I didn't go on this one because I knew I would be going on the one at Navy Pier, which is like 5 times bigger! (Will blog about that soon enough, bear with me.)

This next ride looked really cool. The SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge. This roller coaster does spirals and intense loops by the looks of it. I happened to caught the rollercoaster doing some rounds around the theme park.




The 90-degree turn


Spiral loop





Then from afar I saw something very familiar. A pineapple. Not just any pineapple but the pineapple from "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"



SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!!


Stupid Kid in the way

Spongebob was having pictures taken with kids. To be honest I would have loved to get a picture with Spongebob but I know, I know. I'm too "old" for that kinda stuff. So I stalked Spongbob from afar, trying to get a good shot of him. There were lots of kids queueing up to get their pictures taken so in the end, I zoomed in and got this picture.


Still more stupid kids in the way

Spongebob staring at me with those huge eyes and long lashes. (Just ignore the kids' arms/hands/partial body and I think it's a pretty good shot.)

Nickelodeon Universe also has a on-site store and is the largest Nickelodeon Store in the world.



You can get just about anything Nickelodeon in this store but of course, again, it's all overpriced to high hell.


When it gets darker outside, the theme park is lit up with colourful lights. (Pictures taken the night before I took the day pictures above.)





There are tons more rides that I probably didn't snap pictures of because we were getting ready to leave that afternoon, so time was limited. Plus I had wanted to shop a *little* bit more before leaving the shopping heaven. LOL I'm glad I did though cause I scored a couple good bargains at Nordstrom.

I SHOPPING!

P/S I get the feeling this post is so boring. Er...hopefully I'll have more time to work on the next post.