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Well, it’s been raining fairly hard here where I live. Yesterday, I sat at a cozy corner window seat in the local big box coffee shop down the street from my house, sipping my heavily creamed coffee & nibbling on a too-small-to-satisfy-my-appetite breakfast sandwich. I was feeling inspired while watching the rain pour down outside,& it was warm, dry, & comfortable inside. I originally planned to write this blog post yesterday, but got distracted by Instagram & Spotify, so I ended up wasting my time at the coffee shop creating playlists & liking overly staged/edited glamour photos.
Today we have a break in the wet weather, but it’s quite cloudy & foggy where I live, so that atmosphere is also keeping me inspired to write today. I am now sitting in my kitchen with the electric heater on low, & drinking an unfortunately rapidly cooling cup of home-brewed coffee. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I’ve got my Spotify app playing lovely café jazz music in the background. It’s putting me in a good mood to write some other frivolous & somewhat unimportant things. My blog tends to be filled with fluff posts anyway.
Well, to jump right into things. I recently have been hooked on watching home architecture/design shows about floating water homes, & it got my memories flowing of when I was a young child imagining my dream fantasy home. The one memory that stands out the most is one of myself living in a floating home. Well, I guess they used to be called house boats back in the old days of the 1980s & 90s, but now they’re called floating homes. I’ve always been fascinated by the design & architecture of homes floating on the water, docked like sail boats & yachts. It has been a secret fantasy/dream/desire of mine to live in a floating home. This dream has become more intense after watching all those HGTV-style shows about people custom building their own floating homes.
This is so unusual for me to even consider. I am not really such a big fan of being in or near water. I am not a good swimmer. I took swimming lessons as a kid, but only enough lessons to pass my swimming test & earn my certificate. I now know only enough swimming basics to keep me from drowning if I ever fell into a pool, or fell off a boat. I don’t even really like to swim. I am also not a big fan of beaches or boats (even though I have been on a few cruise ships in my day). I’ve only gone canoeing once in my life, & don’t get much opportunity to do that again. I am also obviously not a jet skier nor water skier. Well, I guess that means I won’t be moving to Hawaii anytime soon. However, I’ve always dreamed of living on a house boat (a.k.a. floating home).
Floating home architecture has always intrigued me, & I’ve always thought it would be amazing to live in a unique home on a quiet strip of water overlooking beautiful outdoor landscapes with only a few neighbors nearby. I don’t know how I would handle severe weather conditions (like turbulent winter waters), but I would still like to live on a house boat. Being able to custom build my own floating home would be so cool & interesting. I don’t think I would want to take on the challenge of retrofitting & remodeling an existing boat or barge, but building an actual home on a floating foundation is probably the architectural route I would take. I saw one episode of a show where this Dutch couple designed an entire wall made of floor-to-ceiling windows, with panoramic doors that fully open to showcase the water landscape. The wife playfully asked the husband, “Who’s going to clean all the windows?”. That brought up a good point in my mind, since I am such a neat freak, I wouldn’t want to spend all of my day washing windows…especially if I have to stand outside, hovering over the open waters (with my extremely limited swimming skills). So, let’s just conclude that I wouldn’t put too many panoramic windows in my design. Also, I would like to have the option to be able to strut around my house in my birthday suit without the prying eyes of any nosy snoops. I’ve compiled a small collection of inspirational photos for reference to what I’m looking for in my fantasy house boat. As you can tell from the photos below, I am kind of a big fan of the minimal, contemporary architecture style.
(All photos courtesy of Pinterest.)
Don’t get me wrong. I love the house I’m living in now. I live in the beautiful Eichler home I was born & raises in, in a wonderfully quiet & tame suburban neighborhood, & I could not imagine planting my roots anywhere else, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to also own a floating house boat one day, maybe use it as a vacation home. I’m just describing a childhood fantasy I once had. Who knows? Maybe this will happen one day… One can dream. Until then, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
2017 has already come & gone. It’s already Day 3 of 2018, & I cant believe it. Time really seems to be whizzing by. This is a look back at some of my biggest highlights of 2017.
01. This past year, I really feel like I’ve stepped up my writing, & put more focus & effort into my blog. I think I’m improving in making my own graphic images & site banners, but I’m not a trained graphic artist, nor do I have any artistic drawing abilities whatsoever. So, I’m hoping I’m improving as an amateur graphic artist. I can definitely see an improvement in my writing, & I’ve managed not to get too wordy on the unnecessary details. I’m definitely going to keep writing on my blog, & hope you all follow me on my journey.
02. When I was a teenager, I had all sorts of lofty dreams of going to music concerts & festivals. I envisioned my friends & I hopping in to my little car, & we’d travel around town looking for hip music venues & clubs. Well, that never happened, & even in my early adulthood I didn’t get many chances to go to any concerts…mostly because my group of friends at the time all had different tastes in music, & I could never find a partner to go with me to concerts or live shows.
Fast forward to today, f I can’t believe my good fortune. Jian & I have each introduced the other person to new music genres, bands, & artists. Through our mutual love of music, we’ve been able to attend many concerts & pop culture festivals in 2017. Our list of events include: Anderson.Paak in London, SAVE FERRIS, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats with Kings of Leon, as well as Lord Huron, Carseat Headrest & other bands we didn’t recognize at Chris Hardwick’s ID10T Conival. We saw WEEZER twice last year. Once at the ID10T Conival, & a second time at our local Alt-Rock radio station’s winter concert called Not So Silent Night. We attended on the night Alice Merton (of “No Roots” fame), Walk The Moon, Foster The People, WEEZER, &………The KILLERS performed. Yes, we got to see our favorite rock band of all time (The KILLERS) perform alongside WEEZER!!!! It was a great way to end our year in concerts. Also, I’m going to see The KILLERS in concert again next month at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles for their Wonderful, Wonderful U.S. arena tour. I can just feel all of my teenage concert fantasies coming true.
03. I got to check off an item on my travel bucket list this past year. After all of my intense wishing, it finally came true. I got to visit London, England for my very first time. It took me a long time to convince Jian to go with me, since Jian prefers to visit Asia on his vacations, but I finally wore him down & convinced him to travel with me to Europe/the UK. I was getting a little tired of always sticking to our routine of visiting Japan or China (or Hong Kong) every time we plan an overseas vacation. I’ve been wanting to switch things up & visit Europe/the UK for a long time. Also, visiting London has been a big ticket bucket list item for me, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit my new favorite city & stay at a hotel that has completely changed my life.
04. After immigrating to the U.S. from Taiwan (she was not born there), my mom said goodbye & had not given any thought to going back until recently. A lot of my mom’s friends have either permanently moved back to Taiwan, or split their time living there 6 months out of the year. This encouraged my mom to finally want to visit Taiwan. She invited her favorite travel companion (me) her sister, & together they made plans to go back & visit the city they grew up in & left behind over 30+ years ago. Of course, my mom feeling insecure about traveling to a place she hardly remembers, she invited Jian & I to join them as chaperones who could help them navigate the subway system & help them at the airports. We had so much fun eating & drinking our way through Taipei, & making the best of our trip even though it rained nearly every day.
05. Christmas is a big deal in my family. My dad had always emphasized family togetherness during this time of the year, & as a family we took his words very seriously. All of the kids make sure to come home for the holidays no matter what, & my mom throws a huge annual party on Christmas Eve. We usually tend to keep the guest list to family & close family friends only, but this year we broke tradition, & I was able to invite my closest friends & their families to our party. We had the most memorable evening I’ll never forget. This recently past Christmas party was truly outstanding & unforgettable.
06. This past year marked the 5th anniversary of my dad’s passing. I can’t believe it’s already been 5 YEARS. I think about my dad everyday, & I still think about him as though he’s still alive. I try hard not to dwell on the negative, & only focus on the positive memories of my dad. It’s hard to go through life without one parent, especially when you are still relatively young & feel like you still need your parents’ guidance. Another year will pass, & I will continue to think about my dad every day.
Those are my best highlights of 2017. I don’t have any resolutions for 2018. I want to live my life & be happy. Cheers.
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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