A Dream of Two Days and Two Nights

I had a dream.

I dreamed that I met this girl. We got along very well. We hit it off
great.

I could tell you the places we went, the things we did, the food we
ate, but I won't. The dream isn't about what we did or where we went.
It's about someone who walked into my life briefly and now seems to be
waltzing out.

I remember some fragments of the dream better than others.

She peeled my glasses off my face, laughing, while she wiped the
lenses clean. She was peeling the crab meat out of the shell. That
was my birthday present from her. She was scratching the back of my
neck gently while I was driving. She was sitting at the edge of the
window, looking out over the San Francisco skyline. She gave me a
kiss for taking nice photos.

And I remember giving her a last hug before she went back to her
hotel, before she leaves, before I wake up from my dream.

I had a dream, and it was great.

Fall

The leaves started falling all of a sudden
It wasn't raining leaves yesterday
The ground is blanketed in red and gold
The trees have shed their summer coat
Bare branches reach to the sky
Bracing for winter's cold embrace
Yearning for spring's kiss
'Tis the time of change
Life moves on

Update on my life

After the past few stormy months, I think I am very happy that my life has stabilized a lot. Hey, don't get me wrong. Change is great. I love change (usually). But when too much change comes too fast too soon and too close together, it can be quite a task to handle all that is changing in your life and still keep some semblance of sanity.

Trust me, it's not all easy.

Now the storm waters have receeded. So what am I doing with my somewhat-more-placid life?

For starters, I am studying for my CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst). Yes, I'm a software engineer by vocation and by training. Which is why I feel the need to round out my education by tackling a topic that I feel I know nothing about, yet could have a very large impact in my future.

Socially, I'm hanging out a lot with Bruce and Karen lately. Karen is leaving for Japan in a few months. I'm going to miss her. Just when I start to really get to know her, she has to leave. Bruce is applying to various MBA programs across the country, and he also intends to return to Taiwan to teach English or something. So I guess he won't be in the bay area for too much longer.

Change. More change blowing in the wind.

Physically, I'm going to the gym every week. I don't do much weights though. I spend anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes stretching, maybe 10 or 15 minutes doing an upper body workout (bicep curls, crunches, lateral pulls, butterfly), another 15 minutes on the bike and about 30 minutes of kicks/punches.

I feel like my kicks have improved so much over the last few months. I can really feel the difference in power, speed and focus when I kick now versus when I first restarted my TKD a few months back. I'm feeling my kicks "explode" out from my ready stance, instead of just extending out towards the target. My balance and flexibility has also improved. I'm kicking higher without losing balance. My turning kick has gotten a lot faster. My back thrust kick is sharper; the snapping motion is more defined during execution and retraction. My back hook is kicking higher and connecting more powerfully. All in all, my kicks are improving. Not quite where I used to be when I trained regularly, but hey, I'm getting there!

My punching seems a little off still. My punching still feels stiff, like I'm tensing wrongly. I know I'm also hitting wrongly. Twice, I've hit the bag and my wrist would sting. Hmm... I'll need to work more on my punches.

Well, that's my update for now...