Category Archives: Me

Ringing in the New Year

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Reversion

Is it possible to experience a quarter-life crisis? Does that even exist?

I think I am experiencing a reversion. I have a strong desire to get my youth back. Not necessarily in the same exact way, but can I rewind and do it all over again? Correcting the parts that I didn’t particularly like, reliving the parts I thoroughly enjoyed, and creating new memories from experiences I wish I had?

My writing has apparently also reverted, seeing as the above contains incomplete sentences and fragments galore.

How did I succumb to such corporate media, branding, and labels? I don’t understand myself.

Givenchy and rag & bone

So I finally sucked up my fears of damaging the bag and made the switch to my Givenchy Nightingale. Took it out on its first play day! I absolutely love it and its large size. I love it so much, I think I want to invest in one of the smaller sizes, maybe in another color other than black… but not now. That can wait until I deem myself worthy of another overly expensive self-gifting splurge.

Per usual, traffic on the 405 S was stop and go after work, so I decided to stop by the Nordstrom Rack at the Howard Hughes Center. I wasn’t really expecting to find anything good, and I wasn’t on the prowl to spend more money. This stop was more of an impulsive I’m-right-by-the-freeway-exit-and-traffic-sucks-so-I-might-as-well-take-a-gander-and-hope-traffic-has-died-down-by-the-time-I’m-done type of stop. I wasn’t even planning on sifting through any of the clothing, really. I had planned to browse quickly through the jewelry, purses, and shoes. On the way from the purses to the shoes, however, are the clothes. I couldn’t help but look, just a little bit. To my delight, my little bit of looking resulted in spotting a pair of leather-looking shorts. Leather shorts have been on my shopping list for quite some time. I had been tempted to cave and buy a faux leather pair from Forever 21, but the feel of the faux leather just couldn’t cut it, even if the price was quite easy on the wallet. This random spotting of the leather shorts turned out to be even better. They’re rag & bone and real leather. Unfortunately, the tag read, “Size 29″; I’m typically a 25. It was a good idea that I decided to cross my fingers and try them on anyway because they ended up fitting marvelously! I’d personally like to thank my unproportionally large rear for that. I walked out of the store happy as a clam — the proud owner of a pair of rag & bone leather shorts! To top things off, I found that traffic had dissipated by the time I hit the road again!

 

The above photos are from my Instagram. Follow me: @thisgunforhire

Biking Adventures: Bixby Knolls to Shoreline Village, Long Beach

One of the benefits of living near Bixby Knolls is that there is an entrance to the Los Angeles River bike path deep inside the Virginia Country Club, located in Bixby Knolls!

Today, Allan and I decided to make use of this. We got our bikes ready and decided to bike over to Shoreline Village, located in Downtown Long Beach.


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The route is roughly five miles one way, so we did about ten miles of biking today, altogether.

Los Angeles River bike path

Shoreline Village, Long Beach

Shoreline Village, Long Beach, Allan Chiou

Shoreline Village, Long Beach, Denise Ngai

As usual, please ignore my tired panda eyes. :) The ride was relatively easy, but tiring nonetheless. It was great to be rewarded (thanks, Allan!) in the form of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream upon arrival at Shoreline Village!

The return commute felt a lot faster and shorter, although it was a bit tougher on the legs since it was slightly uphill. I’m expecting to be a bit sore tomorrow, but hopefully my wushu training will help ease the effects of the cycling.

I definitely preferred our Sunset Beach to Huntington Beach bike route better (I mean, seriously, biking by the beach/ocean is absolutely unbeatable), but I wouldn’t mind doing this route again.

The Big Two

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We fell in love at the seaside.