How Selina translates to Sealan is still puzzling to me. What’s also kind of funny is that the server is MAMA on the receipt. And guess what, the restaurant name is Ma & I. Coincidence?

Whenever a customer calls in to place an order, they ask for your phone number, which then directly links your name to that record. I have ordered here several times, so my customer record sits in their system. A simple solution is to have them correct my name the next time I order, but after further thought, it might not be worth the time, unless I feel that my receipt has some value. Or maybe the two-minute interaction with the cashier has some meaning. Maybe not.

I have decided that my name isn’t really that challenging, but it does have some variations. After all, it’s only nine letters in total.

• I launched my personal food blog: Let’s Chow!
• Rob’s company launched their product, RepairPal, and was also featured on TechCrunch
• Brandi and Diana graduated from law school. Congrats!
• Mia LeBlon’s music career is on the rise! Check her out on Myspace and Facebook.

Change is definitely in the air!

I can barely swim and I have a fear of being underwater, but I went scuba diving in Kauai, near Poipu Beach. It was an amazing (and tiring!) experience to get a glimpse of what ocean life is like down under. There is a lot of land on Earth, but the oceans far surpass the surface area of land. It is really another world down there, with an abundance of life that we rarely get to witness. We only went several hundred feet off the shore…
…but it was enough to see some fascinating creatures. The ocean is needless to say, massive. It can also be dark and mysterious. And it’s super salty (with me being a novice, I got to taste ocean salt water by accident). Unfortunately I did not bring an underwater camera with me, but sometimes memories are better!

It’s funny to think about all the steps and equipment needed to begin scuba diving. There’s the wet suit, boots, fins, mask, regulator, air tank, weight belt, and buoyancy compensator. That’s a lot of doohickeys involved for a human to experience the ocean as the fish do! Without all these fancy gadgets though, it would be nearly impossible to learn about aquatic life and capture great footage for shows on Discovery Channel. I certainly appreciate nature shows in that regard. It took me 5+ minutes to even get my wet suit on, and I could barely walk once I got everything else on. The hardest part was training myself to repeatedly breathe in with my mouth and exhale out through my nose. Once that cycle gets off track, water gets in either my nose or mouth — not very pleasant.

We heard whales sing underwater during our first dive, which was very cool. Their sounds were surprisingly loud, even though it was difficult to hear anything underwater. You have to momentarily pause your breathing in order to hear it. We also saw schools of tropical fish, eels, sea urchins, coral, and the best part of all…on our second dive, we saw three sea turtles (called Honu in Hawaiian)! They are amazing creatures that gracefully swim the ocean, coming up for air every 3-4 hours. Supposedly they have existed even before the dinosaur times, over 100 million years ago. One of the female turtles we saw was sleeping, and our instructor gently stroked her front arm and she slowly awakened, not alarmed by our presence at all (but still swam away).

While all these sights were incredible, I couldn’t help but feel like an alien in the ocean. We obviously don’t belong underwater, yet we came up with ways to temporarily immerse ourselves in the ocean’s world in order to see and try to understand the way of life there, an hour at a time. I asked a silly question to our scuba instructor: “Are the fish bothered by us humans exploring their territory? Obviously we can never understand their thoughts or feelings…” She replied that they usually ignore us because we are usually larger. If only we knew their inner thoughts…Pixar was quite creative with that

Dory: “This is the Ocean silly, we’re not the only two in here.”

“Unplug your power: Ten percent of the electricity used in your home is burned by communication devices and appliances when they are turned off! If every U.S. household just unplugged their computers and cell phone chargers when they are not being used, collectively we’d save over $100 million – enough to provide free health care to every low-income child under the age of five in the state of California.”

The little things count.

• Since it was part of our people watching activity before dinner started, it was funny to see the randomness that we can come across in our daily lives
• The sheer sight of a child consuming a 20 fluid ounce coffee beverage was just astounding. Yup, Venti means 20 (similar to veinte en español). For a brief moment I had an optimistic thought that it could have been hot chocolate, but that didn’t make the situation better either. No wonder child obesity is becoming such a problem in the U.S.
• Just like cell phones, consuming so-called trendy drinks like Starbucks is becoming popular in the younger generation. When I was a kid, the only trendy drink around was Coca-Cola or Hi-C. What an update…

Recently I have also been thinking of how taste develops as we age. It is very strange in some ways. The taste curve is almost like a roller coaster. What we have eaten as infants may not have suited our tastes as kids/younger adults, and then may even later be favorable to us as adults. Maybe as adults we have potentially built our palate to be more diverse and experienced over the years. I just find that development unique.

I remember when I was a kid, the only cheese I knew that existed was Kraft Singles…or mozzarella cheese that was on pizza. Culturally and historically, Chinese people do not consume much dairy or cheese compared to others. While my family was somewhat Americanized, Chinese food still dominated and having cheese was rare. I think Kraft Singles really altered my view of cheese in general and it was absolutely disgusting to me! Soon enough college came and I had exposure to more ‘sophisticated’ cheeses like gorgonzola, freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, fresh mozzarella, etc. Then post-college hit and it was all about brie! I did not hit it off with brie cheese at first, and one day it just became yummy. How? I really don’t know, and that is the mystery of taste development!

Foods I also hated as a kid but love now:

• Green onions, aka scallions
• Bell peppers of any color (I picked them off my pizza)
• Eggplant
• Chives
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Avocados
• Cilantro

Foods I hated then and now, still:

• Raw onions (except for in salsa and guacamole), and chunky cooked ones
• Wasabi (anything horseradish)
• Bitter melon
• Durian fruit
• Potato salad
• Sea cucumber

From who knows where, there are assistants waiting to bid on your everyday chores and tasks. From getting the milk at the grocery store, walking the dog, making copies, to anything you can think of, it’s a task that you can pay someone to do. I don’t think I’ve come to the point of being that busy that I need to outsource my chores, but what an interesting concept, huh?

Now of course, with grass always being greener elsewhere, I now have to face the consequences and challenges that the carrot has caused OK, enough metaphor talk.

Yes, I got the gig. Finally.

In the upcoming months I must face making decisions about my current home, transitioning my current role to others and becoming familiar with a totally new role/function, finding another place to live, and moving things across the country.

Life seemed much simpler if I had just stayed put, right? Simple, but not unique. I want to go for the latter and pave a new path. Stay tuned!

2007 is starting to become the year of waiting. Waiting may not be such a bad thing, but it sure gets me antsy because at times, it’s difficult to see some light in this tunnel.

On a lighter note, Meridith lived. Izzy got a bittersweet moment, though more sweet than bitter. I was happy. And life goes on.