OH HOLY HEAVENS. IT'S JUNE 2010.

SO MUCH has changed in the course of a year.
I am finally finishing my thesis!
Robert started taking a couple of courses at the Cabrillo Community College.
We moved into another apartment that has quickly become an awesome home for us.
My brothers and I are CLOSER THAN EVER with our shared secrets.
My godson is attending high school next year.
FaceBook has reconnected me to more people than I could hope for.
My parents are getting older (duh) but it also means that I'm more aware of their health.
I hear my bones crack more often -- but not a deterrent for climbing!
In fact, we're now climbing at 5.10a/b (versus 5.8/5.9 from last year).
And even though we don't have kids on our own, we revel at our friends' babies' developments!
My friends' circumstances are changing as well, and we have to continue working hard to stay close.

There have been days when I cried because so many things are changing. Because I have felt so scared about getting older and losing people. Because I have felt overwhelmed by my future responsibilities. For example, I cried the first time I signed a lease contract. Not in front of the person, of course.

Still, the world rotates and revolves around the sun. And I cannot make time stand still. And the peculiar thing I learned is that the reason why I'm so scared sometimes is because I am very, very aware of life and death. And I like to keep both in mind in order to do both very well. I live well to die well. And to aim to die well means I aim to live well. Does that make sense?

What to eat?

Robert and I love to eat, and we try our best to cook often. Here are some of our attempts!


TACO-RRITO




















We got out of church and didn't want to spend money so in ten minutes, I whipped up: a taco-rrito (taco + burrito). It has eggs, spinach, chicken sausage w/ mango, bell pepper, and lots of cilantro on top of a toasted flour tortilla.



GRILLED BEEF & SWEET POTATOES




















It was not the slowest evening. I must have had a paper due or something, but we wanted to cook something hearty. The beef was tender and well-spiced. (Good job, Robert!) And then I just nuked the sweet potatoes and mashed them well with organic butter.


FILIPINO DISH: PINAKBET
(JIMI & ROBERT'S VERSION)

















I was craving Filipino food, and this was a pretty good try. Pinakbet is something I grew up with: lots of vegetables. So we bought a buttersquash-yam combo from Trader Joe's, along with organic green beans. We sauteed garlic and onion, added the chicken sausage, and then steamed the vegetables with them. Voila! It's not like my grandmother's, but it was good for the time being.

The fuller story of my sprained ankle incident

I usually procrastinate during finals week by blogging! But I technically only had 3 days of "finals week" before Robert and I had to drive down to Southern CA for a wedding so I didn't have time to blog this time around. Thus: I blog during spring break!

First things first. I sprained my ankle 3 days after Christmas in 2009. That was the biggest ordeal this winter quarter. I have the unluckiest winter quarters. Last year, I had a sinus infection for which I had to take 5 or 6 rounds of antibiotics that never worked. Thank you, NETI POT, for saving me from surgery and incompletes in my transcripts.

So, sprained ankle. I told my parents I was "jumping" and tripped on something badly. That wasn't a complete lie. I just didn't want to tell them that I had been bouldering (indoor rock climbing without the safety rope). Why, you ask? Because I KNEW that even though I'm already 27, they will still tell me to stop what I was doing that caused my sprained ankle. So they told me: "Stop jumping around!" (HAHA)

The complete story: Robert and I were in Riverside, visiting the Hangar climbing gym. We were bouldering just fine. We had probably already completed about 6 routes. Then I saw a 14-year old or something who was hanging by two fingers, and I felt the competitive-adrenaline-rush. I went up a pretty mellow (V1) route but it curved at the top (about a 10-ft boulder) so you couldn't see below you. Well, I was getting pretty tired and I couldn't see where to put my feet. I told Robert: "I'm jumping now." No problem there. BUT the landing was horrific. I stepped on the edge of the crash pad and twisted both sides of my left ankle (and also smashed my right elbow). Unbelievable. The crash knocked the wind out of me and all I could gasp was: "Robert, I can't move." He got help from the front desk person who slabbed ice on my ankle after Robert took of my climbing shoes, which felt tighten even more because of my quickly swelling foot.

"Do you want me to call 911?"
"No way, I don't want to pay for ambulance fees."
"Did you break anything?"
"I hope not."
"Let's go to the E.R."
"Okay, call my grad school health insurance people first to see if they will cover this."

Ring, ring, ring. Bureaucracy, hello. How can I help you get your treatment and still worry about how you'll pay for this? Let me put you through so-and-so. Oh, you'll need to call another number for that information.

Robert had to carry me through the E.R. doors the way a groom would carry his new bride (which Robert never got to do with me, anyway, so yay). We were afraid I'd broken something, so we got high priority that evening. After only 3 or 4 hours (to our pleasant surprise and relief), I was back at my in-laws for a lovely post-Christmas dinner. The doctors concluded that I had sprained my ankle.

I only found out days later that it was a terrible, terrible sprain. A grade-3 sprain is when my ligaments are torn and I would need a surgery. I had a 2.75 or something like that. My ankles were capital "S" Swollen. What a way to welcome 2010.

It's March now. Spring, in fact. I'm sorry to say that my ankle is still swollen and I won't have my old groove back. I know because I tried dancing at a wedding party and I couldn't pull off my moves. I also know because I was climbing another bouldering route and I couldn't even start it because it asks me to position my left foot in a way that it can't--right now. The doctors tell me that I won't get "all better" until June or July, but I hear people telling me "your ankle will never be the same." I'm sad, yes. But I have to learn to live with my 'new' ankle. I will love it and cherish it until the day I die. My physical therapist says to never call it my "bad ankle." I can see that.
Some tips/things I learned:
1. Instead of the E.R., if you can help it, go to Urgent Care instead. You will only receive one bill that way. With the E.R., I received up to 5 separate bills -- oh, the headache!

2. R-I-C-E means rest, ice, compression, and elevation -- do it asap after spraining an ankle.

3. Be patient with your body as it heals. It is strong and beautiful, but it needs your TLC.

Thank you, dear friends and in-laws, who helped me and Robert finish our move out of the Koshland Apartments because I was in crutches the whole time. Our cleaning report said: "good job" with most of the credits going to MamaNan (Robert's mom) who did a lot of the grunge work. <3