G-OGRAPHY: a southeast asian lady travels...

BREAKING NEWS!

G-ography has a new geography. As cliches go: new year, new look. I admit I have not devoted the time and the passion that this blog deserves. But as I go into this new year with very clear goals you are going to see a lot of exciting changes. These changes are part of the original vision I had for G-ography and I am making it happen!

Exciting Change #1:  LAY-OUT (imagine my hands moving around this blog Vanna White style) Notice that I chose a blogger theme that is more travel oriented. It's still a work in progress and I will continue to play around with the lay out. I am also in the process of figuring out how to add an About page on this blog. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this and what to write in it?

Exciting Change # 2: CONTENT This is a big one. One of the challenges I face as a blogger is delivering a focused content. I am a person with eclectic interests so a misconception that I had to dispel was that focusing meant sacrificing self-expression. So not true. I now realize that I can still express my eclectic ideas without being all over the place.

So I brainstormed and came up with a solution that will allow me to have focus yet still be my eclectic self. This effective solution is called creating sections. Yes, moving forward I am launching fun little sections inspired by my NNP: Next New Project one. This will also be an easy way for all of you to hone in on subjects that interest you the most (my posts will be labeled and tagged appropriately).  I have a brief description of each section below so please read on! (P.S. Feel free to give me some feedback on the graphics and the titles. I'm all for making things better.)

Exciting Change # 3: INTERACTION Throughout the years I have mainly blogged for my family and friends. This time around I want to be active within the blog community. I genuinely would love to connect with people who have the same interests and passions. Travelers of the world unite! If you have any suggestions on groups or resources-online and offline- I would love to read it! Drop me a line or two at gographyblog@gmail.com


TADA!!!! That's it. My trifecta of exciting changes ready for roll-out beginning 02/14/11!

You may remember my last NNP post about watercolor painting with local artist John Yato I had my second session last Saturday and I am well on my way to creating my first proper piece of art. It's a beach scene of Point Loma in San Diego. You can take a peek at the photo of my work station below.


It's still a work in progress. I can't wait until I get to choose my own scene to paint. I'll be posting more photos and updates of my progress. If you want to take a stab at watercolor painting here are a few resources you can check out:

Free Watercolor Painting Free Lessons & Tutorials
Watercolor Painting Techniques
Watercolor for the Absolute Beginner

If you are looking for a good travel book to read, I highly recommend Unsuitable for Ladies: An Anthology of Women Travellers. It is the type of book that any self-respecting female traveller should have ready by the bedside or in the suitcase. This excellent collection is composed of snippets of adventures written by women as early as the 1800's.

Longitudebooks.com describes it as:
A who's who of 200 adventurous women travelers, explorers, scientists and writers, organized geographically. Editor Robinson provides a short introduction for each along with a helpful selection of maps. In this anthology ranging over 16 centuries, she includes excerpts from the Victorian-era derring-do of Mary Kingsley, war accounts of Florence Nightingale, Karen Blixen's memoirs and some of modern writer Dervla Murphy's adventures.

It is the kind of book that you must savor. Meaning you don't have to hurriedly read it straight through. The style of words may seem outdated but the characters are modern- so full of wit, sass and guts. Personally, I find it most useful for a quick inspiring read about exotic places or exciting misadventures. I would even dare to suggest that you try randomly picking a page and reading it. The more dated ones with the flowery but proper English text are the best! Every time I read them, I feel as though it is a story from a letter that one my kindred female travelers has sent to me by "post".

It's fascinating to think that back then they had no cellphones, no cameras, no internet and no Facebook to help them update folks back home. You either had to write everything down and wait to get back home after surviving a long trip across the ocean or you wait for the next port of call to post mail. I know! It gives me the chills when I think about not having the modern comforts that we are now used to.

Pity really. We should envy the earlier travelers because they were free from these distractions which allowed them to be purely immersed in their explorations. They were also free to discover everything for the first time- no googling "first female to travel across Papua New Guinea" only to find out that Kristina Dodson had already done it or no naysayer commenting on your blog or status update that base jumping off of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil is no longer an original idea (I checked it has be done: http://thebodhitree.ca/2010/03/base-jump-off-christ-the-redeemer/.)

Nowadays, all sorts of information about a destination is already on the internet- from reviews on accommodations, must see lists, itineraries and maps. It makes me think about how we are getting ahead of ourselves. We are already predicting the experience before it even happens. There is such a thing as over planning a trip you know!

In any case, I leave you with an excerpt from Lady Florence Dixie's Across Patagonia, 1880:

" What was the attraction in going to an outlandish place so many miles away?...Precisely because it was an outlandish place and so far away, I chose it. Palled for the moment with civilasation and its surroundings, I wanted to escape somewhere, where I might be as far removed from them as possible. Many of my readers have doubtless felt the dissatisfaction with oneself, and everybody else, that comes over one at times in the midst of the pleasure of life; when one wearies of the shallow artificiality of modern existence; when what was once excitement has become so no longer, and a longing grows up within one to taste a more vigorous emotion than that afforded by the monotonous round of society' so-called "pleasures"."

Do you have any good travel reads you want to share? Leave it on the comments field below.

One of my goals for this year is to eat a healthy and balanced diet. As we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gives you a lot of energy and it helps to jump start your metabolism. Thus, I bring you the oatmeal! This recipe was inspired by my co-worker's packet of instant spice & raisins oatmeal.

Now, I like the convenience of quick flavored oats but lately I have been hankering for home-made food with the "non-cardboard" taste. IMPORTANT: This recipe only takes 10 minutes to make so no excuses! You can cook it on the weekend then pack the rest to bring to work for a breakfast with lots of flavor and nutrients. I took the liberty of counting the calories and a small bowl is only about 140-180 calories (depending on toppings and if you want to help yourself to some more).

RECIPE:

3 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt, optional
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup cranberries
1/2 cup chopped raw nuts (walnuts or mixed)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (for this recipe I boiled a vanilla bean before mixing in the oats and it was AWESOME)
Pinch nutmeg (or more to taste)
2-3 tablespoons raw brown sugar
1 container of small apple sauce
1 cup lowfat milk
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a small pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Stir in the oats and raisins, reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, uncovered, for 5 minutes.


In the meantime, place nuts, if using, in a dry skillet over a medium-high flame, and toast, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes. You can also bake it in the oven at 350 degrees F or 10 minutes. Set aside.

When the oats are cooked remove pan from the flame and stir in the vanilla and nutmeg. Swirl in the brown sugar and apple sauce.

That's it. It is ready to serve (6-8 portions). Just pour milk on your bowl and top with toasted nuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

and that means good things =) Good things come in threes!

1. We had our company meeting the last week and as we were filing into our meeting area we saw packages underneath all of our chairs. Oh what could it be? We were told not to open. At the end of the meeting, before our CEO could even say NOW...a loud rustling sound exploded in the room. It was from people grabbing the blue paper packages and tearing them open. Gosh, now I know how it feels to be on Oprah. Guess what it was?

2. Also that same day, I come home to find a $100 check on my mail. I love getting money in the mail =) Elliot Benson is a Market Research group who randomly contacted me last year on LinkedIn. They had asked me to join a small focus group for Ladders.com where I received a thank you check of $150 which I ended up using for a snowboarding trip to Mammoth. This time around I only had to set aside one hour of my time to join another focus group for Cisco. Easy money, right? Just remember to do it during your personal time.


Now, I don't do this a lot but if you are interested in making a quick buck check out these links. NOTE: exercise your own discretion and common sense to see if they are legit, read the comments, look for reviews online or better yet give them a ring:

Best Paid Focus Groups
Get Paid Cash to Participate in Focus Groups
How to Make Money from Focus Groups

3. I am definitely spinning this one into a positive experience. Folks, I just received my first ever traffic ticket for running a red light on a photo enforced intersection! I knew this was coming and let me tell you when I saw the mail from the police department I was so anxious. When I tore up the envelope, I had a good laugh instead. On the top corner of the citation was the best photo I have ever taken =)






Needless to say, lesson learned. It's a very expensive ticket but nothing that I won't be able to earn or save back (this means no shopping or eating out for some time). Plus, on the bright side I get to 1) contribute to money to the San Diego county and 2) attend a comedy traffic school. FUN =)