Emily Lam

Website           Adventures           Blog  






Sunday, October 21, 2012

Biking to the Arboretum

Yesterday, I biked to the Arnold Arboretum, alone. I had invited five other individuals to join, but for one reason or another, they couldn't come. You see, that just kinds of reaffirms what I was trying to discuss on friday's post, the alone thing. That the things I like to do, spontaneous outings, aren't particularly of interest to other people. People are busy and spontaneous outings are the last things on their minds. I have to remember people have other things to do. Oh well. If they're content with their life, then I am happy for them.

That said, I had a great adventure with my bike. Biking to the arboretum by myself is kind of a thing for me now. This will be my second time doing that. 

Here's a picture from the first time I did it:

My white bike.
And here's a picture from yesterday:

My new black bike.
Both rides were spontaneous. That tree you see in the picture is one of my favorite trees at the arboretum. I spent a while yesterday looking for it so I could take the photo. And then sit and read by the same creek I discovered a year ago. Yesterday was a great ride. Lots of foliage. And the weather was perfect. 

The best part of yesterday had to be the ride back. On the ride bike home, as I was passing Jamaica Pond, I came upon a Spontaneous Celebration – my kind of thing. And it was a lantern festival!



There were hundreds of people from the Jamaica Pond neighborhood there, mostly little kids and their parents. There were tons of lanterns, all made out of 2 liter bottles with a candle inside and decorated with paper tissue. Some people made their own lanterns while others bought the ones sold there. A major activity of the festival was to walk around the pond with their lanterns. It was wonderful! There was even a live band! And fall foods, like apple cider. A nice lady made my day when she offered me her lantern. That was so kind, I am so thankful. She then invited me to walk around the pond with her and her kids. That's so nice! I declined, unfortunately. I had to get home to another adventure. (Biking home in the dark was an adventure. I went through Olmsted Park, which is not lit at night, and for a split second, just a split second, I thought I wasn't going to make home. I usually bike through Riverway Park too. But I decided against it since it really was dark. I took my chances with traffic and took the main roads home.)

Yesterday's bike ride was the kind of adventure I was needing Friday. Here, I'll link to some pictures on my Facebook page . . . 

After the bike ride, my friend and I set off on another adventure: finding food at Coolidge corner. We settle for this Chinese joint that wasn't that great. But whatever, it was food, and it was cheap. Next, once we got back to BU, we spent the night trying to get a glimpse of the Orionid Meteor shower at BU Beach, but to no avail. I don't think it's possible to see them from BU. We're just too city.

Continuing on with my great weekend, I started Sunday off by making a wonderful peppers and scallions omelet. Mmm! I'm hoping to further my great weekend by going to the MIT Museum today, and then by being super productive and getting work done: grading and homework. We will see . . .

Friday, October 19, 2012

Needing Some Change

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell. And for once it might be grand, to have someone understand, I want so much more than they've got planned." -- Belle Reprise from Beauty and the Beast by the wonderful Alan Menken and Howard Ashman

Not exactly how I feel but close. I'm restless, still, very restless. But I'm busy; I have so much to do, but it feels like something is missing. Change, that is. Some people don't like change, but I thrive off change, spontaneity, adventure. Alas, I haven't been getting much of that lately. I kind of just do the same exact things, every week. I like what I do though, but I just need variety. I could never be a hobbit. I want so much to just go out and explore. But everyone I normally hang out with is busy. It's not their fault. We're in college. We're suppose to study. We're suppose to be actively working toward our careers. We're suppose to be tired. We're suppose to be busy. So it's definitely me. My priorities aren't right. Because of that, I feel kind of lonely. I just feel different. Like I don't fit in. I don't study with my friends because I'm super unproductive when I'm studying in groups. So I feel like everyone must think I've become unfriendly, a mean being. My interests are also different than most of my peers, so I haven't really converse much past small talk. But don't get me wrong, my friends are great! I've just been a little too introverted: hanging out with myself. So it's probably my own fault.

Ugh, it is so hard to explain what I'm feeling right now. I'll leave you with a picture I took tonight:

I tried my best to take a nice low light photo. But there's only so much I can do with an iPhone camera.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The Omnivore's Hundred/100 Chinese Foods

So I have an exam tomorrow. A very hard Electromagnetics exam. So instead of studying I decided to look at cooking blogs. HAHA! Well I stumbled upon "The Omnivore's Hundred" challenge. And I thought I give it a try. I also decided to give the "100 Chinese Foods" challenge a try since I am Chinese . . . (If you don't know what something is, just google or wikipedia it.)

See how I did after the break! (It's two long list . . .)