Some Pics of Me

First Night of Italian Class!

I started my Italian class tonight at San Diego City College!!! It was so much fun!!! I was so excited to come to class, meet my professor, make new friends, and have fun learning Italian! I love learning different languages.

Vietnamese was my first language. At the age of 8, I started learning English. At the age of 12, I started learning Spanish. When I was at UCSD, I started learning Japanese at the age of 23. I started learning French at San Diego City College when I was 31. I'm 33 now, and I'm still enjoying learning a new language.

I want to watch Italian films, listen to Italian music, and practice speaking Italian with my best friend Celeste. I think this Italian class is going to be so much fun because I have a cool friend to hang out with, ask questions, study together, and gossip with...lol

So why am I taking Italian? Well, I love the way Italian sounds, and I like the way Italians talk with their hands---they are so expressive. I've been wanting to travel to Italy. I think my experience would be so much more enjoyable if I could speak with the people. I'm planning to visit Rome, Florence , and Venice in 2009!!! Ciao!

The Holidays

Christmas was great! I had dim sum with my family at a Chinese restaurant. Nobody felt like cooking..lol....I don't blame them. My family is huge. I have 8 siblings. Not all my siblings were in town for Christmas, but including my in-laws, my nieces, and nephews, there were 16 of us! Needless to say, we had a great time! It was nice seeing my family. My nieces and nephews are so adoreable! I recently got 2 new awesome little nephews :)

Lately, I've been to a few art museums. I visited the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in La Jolla, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Saw a lot of cool stuff. There was so much to see at LACMA---I was quite overwhelmed!

Here's a list of some of the art museums I have visited so far:

The Louvre, Paris
The Prado, Madrid
The Guggenheim, Bilbao
The Met, New York City
The Guggenheim, Las Vegas
Art Museum, Saigon
Art Museum, Taipei
Art Museum, Seattle
Art Museum, San Francisco
The Getty, Los Angeles
LACMA, Los Angeles
The San Diego Art Museum, San Diego
MOCA, San Diego

I forgot the names of a few of the art museums I visited. My art museums wish list include Italy, Thailand, China, and Japan. Would love to travel to one of these countries next year.

I'm Back!

So good to be back in cyberspace! My computer crashed about a month ago. I have a friend who is computer genius. He comes to the rescue when I have computer problems. Well, he was on vacation in Mexico. Good for him---bad for me. Today he got my computer to work! I was very happy and thanked him profusely.

What did I do with all my time away from my computer? Lots of stuff: I read a novel, I cleaned and decorated my apartment, I went shopping, I did lots of errands, I went to the gym, I watched lots of movies on DVD, I went to dinner with friends, I went clubbing, and I spent a few days with my family.

Today I relaxed at home all day. This evening I worked out my butt and abs. I decided to do abs every other day. I used to do abs once or twice a week, but it's time to get great abs by doing them more often. So I'm focusing on legs, butt, and abs. My chest and arms only need maintenance. They are quite defined.

The Getty Center, Part IV

I'm sitting in a chair that was part of a collection of copies of chairs from Europe around the time of the French Revolution. They were all white leather and white-painted wooden chairs. Quite comfortable. The exhibit was called "Please Be Seated." I sat on 3 of the chairs and saw myself on the TV screen, in an elegantly decorated room. It was interesting and fun.

Linda and I drew for half an hour. There is a room that has statues and paintings for people to sit and draw. All the supplies are provided. We decided to draw the elaborate frame of this one particular painting. Linda is much better at drawing than me. I prefer painting.

This is one of my favorite still-life paintings, so detailed and gorgeous. We stared at and studied this one for quite some time. I noticed a lot of bees and flies on the fruits and flowers....lol....I guess it was the thing to do back then, to paint bugs all over the fruits. We saw other similar still-life paintings with all kinds of insects. I had to wait my turn to take a photo. This guy was taking 20 photos of this painting! "Gorgeous!" That was our word of the day.

"Gorgeous!"

This large painting is absolutely gorgeous! Both Linda and I wished we were present when this painting was done---to tweeze this pretty lady's eyebrows...lol....She's still very lovely.

I call this painting "Strike a Pose!" WOW! Red Pants! I wouldn't want this guy to guard my castle....lol.... But then again, look at his tiny waist! I guess I don't have to feed him much...lol

I call this painting "Strike a Pose, Deux (II)!"

This lady on a Greek vase looks like she's on her cell phone. Yes, I know ancient Greeks did not have cell phones...lol...She was probably calling 911 because some guy just stabbed her husband. I should have taken another picture to include her husband, but there were other people trying to see this vase. Darn it! Next time I go to the Getty Center, you bet I'm gonna take another picture of this vase!

"Gorgeous!" "Amazing!" "Magnifique!"

Could I please borrow this to decorate my Thanksgiving dinner table? I promise I will return it...lol...My guests will not even look at the turkey. They will be hypnotised by the beauty and shininess of this fabulous candelabra.

Two beautiful pines trees at the exit of the Getty Center.

A gorgeous sunset to end a wonderful day of exploring art and stimulating conversations with my artist friend Linda. We had such a great time! We will visit the Getty Center again next year. I promise you new pics!

New Workout Program---Focus: Legs and Butt

So I was sitting on a black leather bench at the gym, doing some dumbbell shoulder presses, and staring at myself in the wall-size mirror...lol...when I realized my arms are more developed and defined than my legs! I like my legs. They look good. I work them out regularly, unlike some guys who have nice arms and pecs but skinny chicken legs. I decided to develop my legs more by working them out more often. Just when I thought I had a work-out program that I was happy with and was going to stick to for a while, I changed my mind. But it's for the better.

By the way, I worked out chest last night and arms tonight. Anyways my program used to be Chest, Arms, Abs, Butt, Legs, Cardio. My new program for awesome legs and buns of steel while keeping the rest of my body looking great is as follows: Monday: Legs; Tuesday: Butt; Wednesday: Abs and Cardio; Thursday: Chest; Friday: Arms; Saturday: Legs; Sunday: Butt. That means each 7-day week, I will have 2 days of working out legs and 2 days of working out butt. Ok! Sounds like a plan! I'll start that program next Monday. In the meantime, I'll follow my old program. Tomorrow is Abs Night! YES!

The Getty Center Part III

The Getty Center is famous for its architecture, its art collection, and its beautiful garden.

This is my favorite photo! I really like the composition and the blurry background.

The Getty Center Part II

I edited a few photos tonight after coming home from the gym. I'll work on more photos tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the photos I took. Some are quite beautiful!



Linda and I woke up very early Sunday morning. She came to pick me up at 8:30. We had a pleasant drive to LA. We talked all the way there. We arrived at 10:50. We were some of the first visitors. We started walking around the beautiful Getty Garden. It was such a beautiful day! The sun was bright and there was a nice breeze. We strolled and took pictures of all kinds of things---the architecture, the trees, the flowers, the succulents, and each other....lol. It was so much fun!

Linda is one of my best friends. We met at UCSD. We were in a few Art classes together. We are both painters, so we think alike sometimes. I used to enjoy going to art museums by myself, but after this trip, I realized it's more fun explore art with a good friend who is also an artist!

The Getty Garden

These kids were so cute! They kept rolling down the hilly lawn. Over and over again. I was laughing so hard. I still laugh when I look at this picture....lol...So cute!

Cardio Night

Tonight was cardio night. I ran and walked on the treadmill for an hour. Next week, I'll run on the treadmill and on the streets. I used to run only before a photo shoot. I would run for one whole week right before a photo shoot to lose the tiny bit of fat that is on my tummy. That fat only goes away when I run. I decided recently that I would incorporate running into my workout program. It will help me have a more defined body and stronger heart and lungs. So my workout program is as follows: Chest, Arms (Shoulders and Lats), Abs (and Back), Butt, Legs, and Cardio. Tomorrow is Chest Night---I'm so excited!

The Getty Center

I had the most wonderful day with my friend Linda at the Getty Center in LA. I took lots of cool photos which I will post tomorrow. I walked around and climbed stairs for about 5 hours, so I would consider that my legs workout. Can't wait to share the great photos I took!

Gluteus Maximus Night

Tonight I worked out my gluteus maximus. I did about 8 different kinds of butt exercises. I did most of the ones I did a few days ago, and I added some new ones. I tried the lying butt bridge with an execise ball. That's a fun one!

I Painted Today!!! Very Proud of Myself :)

I woke up this morning and decided that I would paint. I have not painted in a long time. I have been working on an abstract painting titled "Madrid". I started working on that piece 2 years ago. Sometimes I would paint one day and not paint for weeks or months. Well it took me a very long time, but my painting is almost done. Today, I did quite a bit of work on "Madrid". I think it is about 90% done. I can't imagine adding much to it. I'll probably finish and sign it soon. Here are some photos of my unfinished painting "Madrid".

"Madrid" (Unfinished Work) Oil on Canvas