Pregame

I gained 20 pounds in college. I don’t think I need to explain the unhealthy eating habits that easily became me. Something that I also noticed within my freshmen and sophomore years is the more and more I studied, the less I went to uhh “party”, and the less I felt the pressure to “look good”. Not to sound vain, but it’s true, less skimpy clothes and more sweat pants gave me a lot more room to uhh… inflate. I think it’s fine that my priorities had shifted from health to education, but now that that’s over with. I’m shifting back!

I used to be so into health and fitness in high school, there were days when I would run 6 miles and then play 4 hours of tennis. Cross country and Hot Yoga were so extreme that what I put into my body directly affected my performance the next day. I think anyone who has exercised daily, or partook in a sport can relate to that direct correlation of the quality of input to output.

So these past few weeks that I’ve had off from school has been pretty darn great! I got an unlimited Hot Yoga Groupon. My mom had 2 weeks of free gym passes, and she’s also a huge health nut. You know, all organic, free range, no added salt, oil, etc. So being around her and eating her food has definitely helped.

With this combination, I’ve already lost at most 7 pounds! I say at most because eating/drinking out with friends causes this to fluctuate. Also due to Hot Yoga, some of this weight loss may just be water weight. But, with every day that I go to the gym, or attend a Hot Yoga session, I find myself being able to run longer, push harder, and get stronger. And I have oh so missed those feelings.

The Juice Cleanse

So now, Jan 18 2015, I have decided to do a juice cleanse. It is more of a challenge, than for weight loss. After a bit of research, I chose to do the Evolution 3 day juice cleanse. They’re having a 20% off deal right now, so it ends up being about $26 a day, which for a person that eats out a lot (like I used to), isn’t too bad! You can sort of choose whatever packs you want for each day, they have an easy pack, which is sweeter and I guess better for beginners, a balanced pack which is supposed to be a better nutrient supplement, and a green pack which is exactly what it sounds like, lots of greens. You can also get organic packs, and customize your own packs. Each pack comes with 6 juices, and you’re supposed to drink those 6 juices per day of the cleanse. I decided to go with 2 green packs (because I always loved the green machine from Naked, and I thought it would have less sugar), and one balanced pack, just to mix it up, or balance it out.

Day One - Green Pack

10 AM

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I started off with the Essential Greens w/ Lime. Pretty arbitrary choice. They had two non-green juices in this pack, and I thought that a green juice may have more substance. Be warned, this tastes nothing like Naked’s Green Machine. These are cold pressed juices, not smoothies, and there are no fruits in this drink. It’s literally got the viscosity of water. It’s only got 6g of sugar, and I can taste the kale quite well. Overall though, tolerable, and I feel healthy already :).

12:30 PM

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A friend from SF was visiting and we went out to lunch at Lot 3… I got a half salad, that may have had way too much blue cheese for a cleanse! I also had a couple of fries (And I really only mean a couple). Over this weekend I also met a bunch of Australian friends that work for Shoes of Prey, and they told me to try an Australian snack, and because it’s the last chance I would be able to do so, I tried it. It was a tim tam cookie. lol. I also drank some green tea in between.

My sister and I wanted to sing together! So we played around with some harmonies. She’s far less tone deaf than I lol.

Carribean Cruise + Florida

The Cruise

My family doesn’t vacation too much these days, however this year, my savvy Momma had found a great deal on a Caribbean cruise, the 7 day cruise from Dec 21-28 itself was only $600! We sailed on the Norwegian Epic, which came fully equipped with 3 water slides (one of them was the infamous toilet bowl), a fitness center better than the gym at Berkeley, a jogging track, over 9 dining options, an ice bar, several rock climbing walls, a buttload of shows, pools, casinos, and a whole bunch of other things that you would find in a Las Vegas resort.

Now this was my first cruise, and people tell you about the abundance of food, but no one really prepares you for the onslaught of food. If you had a functional grhelin (hunger) pathway before, you sure don’t have it anymore. There was free room service. There was 24/7 dining. There were buffets (with very good food). There were gourmet desserts and restaurants, and there was absolutely no self control.

So in FemSex we have had many different projects, all very meaningful, the last one that we had to do was empowerment. Some FemSexies did guided meditation, danced, EFT, and more ;). It was anything that empowers you, or deals with empowerment. So I wrote the little speech below, and performed a song. Because I can’t sing through written words, I recorded a youtube video of the song I chose to sing for my recital, which, was WAY out of my league. So sorry that it’s really pitchy, but NOT sorry for trying :).

Empowerment Project:

I used be one sassy 5 year old. I don’t know where the validation of this cocky brattiness stemmed from, but I wish I still had some of that. I don’t know if it was elementary school bullying, or what occasion, or even when, but I know by middle school, I had become a very scared to shine, or stand out. I saw how a lot of kids, mainly girls who weren’t afraid to show off their skills, got talked a lot about behind their backs. “She’s trying too hard”, “She just wants all the attention”… etc. So I think somewhere along there, I tried not to take the spotlight. That and a series of rejections, from elections, auditions, and heck even boys, made me doubt my self worth. I think we do sort of live in a society where modesty is appreciated, but I realize now that my view of modesty has been skewed.

You see, being modest is not about suppressing your own sense of self worth. Rather, being modest is about uplifting the positive virtues of others with respect to your own. So being able to recognize other people’s talents and abilities as well.

Now let’s consider confidence. I believe that confidence has less to do with how much self worth you have, and more to do with where you derive your self worth.¹

2 summers ago one of my BFF’s Eileen came and visited me in Seattle! So I put together this excel sheet! I still feel like a tourist in The Sound (the equivalent of calling SF area The Bay), so these are just what I do with visiting friends, so if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be in the amazing PNW, these are my suggestions on things to do!

Also, go in the Summer if you can, it’s 9 months of overcast and light precipitation, but 3 months of heaven in the Summer.

And here’s the Google Drive spreadsheet, let me know if you want to edit the file!

View Drive Spreadsheet

Some of the following will be very simple things that you would hear about within 10 minutes of being in Berkeley. Others are not even specific to Berkeley, but I think are very meaningful, and others are small things that I have discovered while at Berkeley and are responsible for some of my favorite memories here.

1. Go to the Marina!

• Checkout Takara Sake and go Sake Tasting!
• Eat brunch at Betty’s Oceanview Cafe or Cafe M
• Get your groceries from grocery outlet SUPER CHEAP

2. Pseudo Illegal things:

Be careful if you attempt some of these… I’ve gotten lucky with a slap on the wrist, but being a short asian girl might have helped.

• Sneak into Memorial Stadium and pretend you’re NFL superstar
• Sneak into Greek Theater and pretend you’re Beyonce/Whitney Houston
• Climb onto the window sills of Doe Library (super dope on 420)
• It’s probably gone, but there used to be a couch on top of one of the clark kerr buildings, it was good for star gazing!
• I still need to be employable so I won’t say any more.

3. Dolla Dolla Sundays Ya’ll

So you can go watch horse racing for a DOLLA. On Sunday’s entry fee is only one dollar, and guess what else is only a dollar… BEER AND HOT DOGS. No joke, for real, it’s all only ONE dollar. And I don’t condone gambling, but betting here and there is fun! The minimum bet is $2, which for a non working student can add up, but who knows you may win, and it’s a fun way to hang out with friends and bet on the horse with the coolest name like Thunder Gulch or Passion Star Arising.