To help me with my new commitment, I am participating on Post a Week by WordPress. I have tons of backlogged posts to publish. I’m excited.

More to come!

As the cashier rang up my groceries, he noticed that I bought a crate of eggs. The cashier then asked me with sincere concern, “Did you check your eggs?”

I was startled by his question, but I answered lightheartedly, “Of course, I did. (Don’t want to be bringing home any cracked eggs!) “

But, his question piqued my curiosity, which led  me to ask him, “So, when you ask that question to others, how many do you usually find that do check their eggs?”

He responded, “About 50%.” But, he immediately changed his mind and said, “Actually, no, about 30%.”

“…Oh…well, that’s interesting….”

“And you actually got [the question] when I asked it the first time. Usually, when I ask people that, they say, ‘Huh?’ or ‘Check what?’ Then, I’d usually have to repeat myself or say it louder. For someone to get my question right away was quite a pleasure.”

“….Well….” I didn’t know what to say to that. ” I’m glad I made your day.”

I never knew that checking my eggs can make someone else’s day.

But, there we were the other day in Solon, IA.

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We were in a red paddle boat in a middle of Lake Macbride, a real lake created by Nature.

And then, it suddenly started to rain. There were pedals by our feet.

There’s also this metal circle – a steering wheel of sorts.

Must pedal to land or else, we will melt. We should’ve checked the weather before we left. Ingrained So. Cal. habits sure die hard.

Thankfully, the rain was only drizzle. We enjoyed the rest of our time in the middle of a real lake. With the sight of the paddle boats at the dock, it was land ho! We safely made it back from our $10/hour paddle boat lake adventure.

Much thanks to Jane, an Iowa City native in SF, who recommended Lake Macbride Boat Rentals!

Me: “So, we’re finally going to get a Costco around where I’m at. (At least, I think we are.) “

Friend 1: “Signs of civilization? (Poor you. So deprived)”

Friend 2: “Yay for getting items in bulk?”

Me: “Well, at least maybe I can get Costco pizza. Or a churro. I hope they’ll have churros anyway.”

I know that with places like The Wedge and Pagliai’s, I shouldn’t be craving a cheap Costco pizza. But, nothing beats nostalgia when I grew up eating them Costco pizzas and churros. #itiswhatitis

After we bought our admission and our Cajun Cash tickets, we headed straight to the good eats.

Me: Two trays of crawfish, please.

Vendor: Ah, a tray of crawfish.

Me: No, that’s two trays of crawfish.

Vendor: Two? *raises eyebrow*

Me: Yes, two. (one each for the two of us)

Vendor: ….

I didn’t think that eating a tray of crawfish per person was a big deal at all…until we walked around and saw that most small groups usually just ordered one bowl of crawfish per person or 1 tray of crawfish per small family. But, forget Cajun Fest. norms! I wanted to eat my tray of crawfish. Discerning looks from those passing by didn’t stop this petite L.A. girl from eating a tray of crawfish.

After eating our trays of crawfish, we still had room for alligator bites.

It was crispy. It tasted like….chicken. Deep fried chicken nuggets, to be exact. The good eats at the Cajun Fest. was a great way to satisfy my crawfish craving. Now, if I only had the-whole-she-bang sauce…..

Other tips

• Stop by the ATM before you go. It’s cash only.
• Wear shoes suitable for getting dirty in the mud, in case of a rainy day.
• Like making a lemon + salt + pepper dipping sauce for your crawfish? Ask for slices of lemon at the lemonade stand.

“Do you know what this is?” She said. “It’s a trough. It’s used for cows.”

I looked at the size and shape of the container. Then, I asked her, “Is it a cow bathtub?”  I then thought, How would a cow even fit in there? Is that even big enough? How big are cows?

My supervisor chuckled and told me, “Cows drink water out of it.”

“Oh.” A total L.A. County Fair moment by yours truly. I guess there’s no such thing as a cow bathtub.

My latest guilty pleasure: watching videos of SNSD (aka Girls’ Generation) on Youtube. They are a super cute and popular girl group who also recently infiltrated the  Japanese market. SNSD first caught me at Gee. I then moved on to Genie and checked out Chocolate Love, which features a product placement for LG. When I was done with that, I clicked onto Oh and I was caught off guard with what I saw:

<img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1328" title="SNSD

Uhhh…how did a Hawkeye football helmet get into an SNSD music video?

Even Yoona’s rocking the black and gold:

Alright, I know this is old news, but it makes me wonder what the university trademark folks thought of this video when it came out. Just something fun to think about!

Several stops later, an elderly woman sat next to me. We sat there in silence for several moments. She couldn’t help but notice my open notepad.

“Are you studying?” She asked casually yet politely, waking me up from my contemplative stupor.

“Oh, not at all.” Her question threw me off guard. I’m still not used to people randomly conversing with me, but I continued the conversation, “I see people do that all the time in the bus and I don’t know how they can do that. I’d get dizzy! I just had my notepad open since I forgot to close it.” That prompted me to close my notepad.

She understood, yet she was still curious about me. “Are you a student?”

It’s a common question that I’ve gotten used to. Even when I’m wearing my work clothes and the glasses that I thought would make me look older, my youthful looks fool others to thinking that I am still a student. I have mixed feelings about my youthful looks, but I know I should enjoy it while I can.

She did not seem threatening, so I explained to her the nature of my work. She was intrigued by what I do and she inquired about my educational background. I explained to her how my job now deviates from what I originally intended to do when I chose my major in college. I told her that I’m from Los Angeles and that I’m still getting used to winters. She listened with much interest. She expressed that I must be happy with what I’m doing now and that my move from L.A. must have been a big change.

Before I knew it, I had to pull the cord to my bus stop. She told me that it was nice talking to me. I somewhat felt a little bit guilty since I didn’t get much information about her at all, but I cut myself some slack. I’m still getting used to small talk with random people in town anyway. It’s kind’ve like chat roulette. Only in real life. Huh.

I sat on a bench at the Ped. Mall and watched people mingling, chatting, eating, exploring. A sense of excitement radiated from the college students who just started the new semester. Teenagers played pop music tunes on one of the public pianos and a guy near the stage area sang a song as he played his guitar. Children at the playground were running around, delighting in what is left of the summer.

I normally would’ve taken a day like yesterday for granted, but I appreciated the time I sat there as I watched the world go by.

Me: “Ah! That does sound neat….” *nods in agreement* “…too bad I missed it…”

Native Iowan Co-worker: “…..”

Native Iowan Co-worker: *chuckles* “…do you even know what 4-H is? (you’re such a city girl and all; you don’t even know what a barn is)”

Me: “Of course I know what 4-H is! I was watching the Millionaire’s Club and…”

Other co-worker: *raises eyebrow* “You mean, the Millionaire Matchmaker??”

Me: “Yea! That! Well, anyway, there’s this one conservative Midwest guy who owned a farm and they were trying to set him up with someone. So, he went to L.A. and one of the girls they picked out was involved in 4-H. I had to look up what 4-H was then. So, yes – I do know what a 4-H is.”

Native Iowan Co-worker: “….”