Remnants of the Winter

Be a person like a fallen leaf

in the early morning frost

Amidst the cold and chill

Keep your sparkle until the sun comes out.

I took a quick stroll after dropping my husband off in the morning. I thought that it's already warm enough for morning exercise but I was wrong after one round. It is still cold as evidenced by the frost on the ground which I just noticed as I got to the shady area and saw the frosted leaf.

The leaf is not exactly in its pristine state and there are even holes but it still looked pretty. It managed to keep hold of the sparkle that the winter has left it. It reminded me of people who despite  of "imperfections" in their lives still have the sparkle. There's still something good going for every person. It's just inspiring. 

posted from Bloggeroid

My Vegetarian Fix

My vegetarian fix,
with the song "You Raise Me Up,"
playing in the background as I partake the dish.

It was a sunny but still chilly winter day when I went in the Loving Hut place so I ordered Kalgukso Noodles with Perilla. It was so creamy and I had very generous serving as expected. It's way beyond my capacity not to mention the other side dishes so it took me almost an hour to finish. 

I only managed to clean up the apple cabbage salad while the main noodles had some leftover. Nonetheless, I left the place with a full and satisfied tummy. A good way to start my afternoon walk before heading in for the long weekend!

Bus Thoughts

Been in and out a couple of times today because of split-time classes and yoga which gave a lot of thinking time during the bus rides to and fro. 

On the way to uniqlo: 20, 30. My mind was listing up what I plan to buy and how much is my budget. I thought about limiting it to 20k or 30k at the most. I ended up with less than 20. 

2 pcs. M size extra warm underpants for men (5k each)
2 pairs of low cut socks for P (1,900 each)
1 pc lambs wool blue sweater (5k)

All with layers of red stickers. The sweater was a steal coz it's almost like a thrift store price except that it's still new. I've been eyeing the heat tech bra tops but at almost 18k a piece, I've got to give it a few more thoughts until next week. That will probably put me back big time. 

I'm still eyeing a couple more shirt which still has two red stickers on them. I'll see if they manage to get to the third one or fourth, less than 10k and I might buy. haha! 

That's it for my uniqlo haul this month. :) 

Onto other thoughts: Oh! I totally forgot now. Oh, well. Laters. 

10 minutes later..

I just remembered another thing that caught my eye during one of the bus ride. There was this thin, hunched-old man who was crossing the pedestrian with such agility, almost comical. It totally looked like a comic scene from somewhere as he try to cross with his back bent almost 45 degrees forward, holding his walking stick, furiously trying to beat the blinking pedestrian along the middle of a busy road. 

That was the initial thought but it made me realize that it can be funny on screen but gives a different one in real life. It evokes a different thought --- the bone health during the later years. I sure need a to do a lot of yoga for that. 

Winter Buy: Hot Pack

Winter must-have:

This one really worked for at least 5 hours. I wasn't sure about the remaining one hour as promised coz I was already in bed but yeah...it came to last longer than what I bought last year from Daiso. I also got another one at that time after a quick stop at Kyobo and it was better than the one I got from Daiso. I had never  thought of buying again from Daiso until yesterday.

Good thing, it was t that bad. It didn't need a lot of shaking. It said it will heat up after 5 minutes out of the package. 

I'll keep a couple handy in my pocket and bag these days. I have yet to check how it will "perform" once used outdoors though. 

I'm tempted to use one again indoors now since my hands are a bit cold date using cold water. I'll try it out outside later anyway.

Orchestra Winter Performance

24살설희,..., 외로운, 오빠들, 선톡주세용,~ㅋ-ㅏ툑 45782 썬툑해줘용

Here I am waiting for my son's orchestra performance at 7 o'clock. And I got here at 5 something! Two hours to kill while head is throbbing because of lack of sleep. I had a class today at lunch followed by a language exchange so I decided to just head out straight even though I am way early.

The lengths that parents go through for their children. I was so stressed since last night looking for the bow tie since they just mentioned yesterday that he needed it. I almost panicked coz I only have a few clues on where I can possibly locate it. And I still have to iron his shirt and prepare his pants which were still wet. Goodness! I slept late last night with that bow tie hanging over my head figuring out that I have to try again to look for it in the morning or I may have to resort to buying a new one perhaps. I've searched the most likely places last night yielding nothing. My brain was still mentally searching other possible places: P's drawers, closet and finally my husband's! I found it in my husband's drawer along with the masks. I can finally think of my own class!

One must be cool under pressure and just tough it out! Being a parent is a hard job! An unpaid one at that. Monetary wise, that is. One will truly appreciate their parents only when they become one themselves. Why one still want to have kids can be hard to understand at times. I do understand why most Koreans nowadays opt/prefer not to have any kids at all. The little sacrifices that parents do for their kids are invaluable.

This post is bleeding my sore eyes now so let me go through the lighter side.
It's funny how this last minute rehearsal started earlier. The wind group is pretty weak. They don't have enough players in the first place. They had to import three trumpet players.

They are now on the Pirate's part. There's this part where the drums have to speed up, and it's just funny to see the teacher double playing with the kid, and then she has to rush over to the other two drums as well. It's also pretty interesting to note each group own sound. The oboes, clarinets and flutes each have their own sound and audible at times. 

Winter Accessories

I'm still building up my winter stuff to prepare myself for the cold.

I found some interesting stuff from a short vid from TTMIK Talk series which features a walk in Seoul during a snowy day. After googling for it, it seems to be called as ten-finger mitten or convertible half finger glove with mitten in another page.

And I also found a knitting pattern for it. Unfortunately, I don't know how to knit. Sucks!