Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
My mom had a rich and successful life. A high achieving student in Manila, she graduated from medical school with high marks. She moved to America in her 20s, worked as a doctor in several states, then settled down in the SF Bay Area. She traveled all over the world, from Hong Kong to Paris…
The year 2022 was a return to “normal” post-Pandemic life, which was wonderful. There were no major life changes, but there were a lot of wonderful moments to remember. Health I feel blessed to be in my 50s and able to do all that I do, from skating to dancing to biking everywhere. The biggest…
My favorite books I read in 2023: Light from Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki: This book broke me completely. I can’t imagine a more perfect scifi novel for me, combining music, aliens, demons, food, and Amer-Asian cultures so perfectly. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman: Just a perfect fable for our times. Indescribably beautiful and sweet and…
We celebrated a milestone birthday for our mom this weekend. So for the occasion, I decided to try to make my first sponge layer cake. Mom wanted a mango cake, so made one based on this recipe from Tatyana. The cake came together pretty easily in my stand mixer. I let them cool for several…
Just for funsies, I got together with my dear friend Liz to shoot a freestyle lindy hop dance video this weekend. We agreed on a chill, bouncy song to dance to, a mashup of ”Lovely Day” by Bill Withers and ”Good as Hell” by Lizzo, performed by the band Pomplamoose. And we found three gorgeous…
I have chronic and life long asthma. And it’s getting worse. I can’t leave the house without my rescue inhaler, in case I get a wheezing fit, which are becoming more and more frequent. Any physical activity can trigger it — walking up a couple flights of steps, rushing to catch a train, anything beyond…
I have always had a really hard time watching myself dance. All I see are the mistakes, the awkwardness, the flaws. I have so many videos of me dancing on my computer that I have never looked at. I’m trying to get better at being kind and compassionate with myself, including my own artistic expression….
I’ve gotten to the age as a lindy hopper where I feel empowered to be a “swing snob.” You know the person — they only dance with certain people, maybe their regular partner and a couple of their friends. That’s a label I’m willing to bear. At this point, I’m lindy hopping maybe once or…
A couple of years ago, I put together a TRON costume for $60 that I was pretty proud of. I decided to enhance it for 2022, which happens to be the 40th anniversary of the original TRON movie. The most visible addition to this rebooted costume was an LED visor that definitely turned a lot…
I can’t believe I just did a dance gig at a freaking fashion show where I threw down solo jazz, charleston and hat tricks?!? And I managed not to drop the hat??? It all started when Sarah Bush, a dancer / choreographer / dance troupe founder I know, contacted me about a possible gig about…