escapades of the elusive kat

Started the day with a nice hike with Frankie. I'm actually pretty impressed by the hiking trail system implemented by the local government. Every trail rest stop is numbered and with a map. Though, today I noticed that the C5 location didn't really start where the map is showing C5, it actually started near the u-bend that's next the the C6 on the map, but, whatever. I decided to go on the Blue trail so had to start at either C5 or C6, then pass through C3andr C4 (depending on direction taken).

I misread the map and also due to some faulty memory (this area is near my Dad's restaurant from 30 years ago, I used to hang around and play in the "jungle"), I actually went to an area that I think was "illegally acquired land" and I guess (I reiterate, I GUESS only) due to some similar law in Hong Kong, they sort of got squatter's rights or something.

After finding the right way, we started at C6 had to go up quite a bit of steps. Three wild dogs joined us for a bit and they came really near, but they were actually more afraid than I was. At around the C4 point, they disappeared.

Short video clip on how near they come. I see one of them got a cherry eye. Told my Sis about it. Now whether her shelter will do anything about it is up to them. Most probably not as they dogs are usually hiding, they only came out because of Frankie. Amazingly, Frankie didn't get crazy and just walked with me when I asked him to move.



Twenty years ago when we had 4 dogs, our Sunday dog walks with Dad and Sis would be out in these areas, and we actually took the longer trails. But, Frankie's a Frenchie, I can't take him more more arduous walks.

The dog's destroyed lol sorry.

Today was the last class of the "Introduction to the Korean alphabet and reading" course I took. I could very slowly read the Korean alphabet now! Doesn't mean I'd understand a word lol. But now with a basic understanding on the writing, I'm able to type Korean, and when I can type Korean, I can also use the translate function. YES I KNOW THERE'S GOOGLE LENS, BUT I AM OLD SCHOOL. I'm now ready to take an actual Intro to Korean 1 class. I wanted to apply for the one that had the same schedule, Sunday afternoons, but apparently, no one is interested in having classes on Sunday afternoons. I'll have to wait until 21 March to see if there are enough intakes for the Sunday class that starts 22 March. If, 22 March Sunday classes can't make it, then my only choice is the 31 March Tuesday classes. I find it funny I'm using all the languages I know to write notes, like the Japanese half-beat （ッ）becuase I can't think of an equivalent way to express that in English. Sometimes Chinese because many Korean words are loaned from Chinese, too.

I've been trying out new things in my pottery workshop. That diamond/square box thing didn't come out exactly as I wanted... I think I need a pentagon or a hexagon to achieve the effect I want but... I'm lazy... lol! I also decided to combine my love for reading with this new pottery hobby and am making a bunch of these "page holders". I'm still thinking about how to final glaze these pieces. But first let me just bisque these and see how they come out. Might make another batch to test different glazes.

We had some leftover stone-pot glutinous rice 煲仔飯 (very Chinese) from a dinner the other day and had that as take-away. Dad added more preserved meats, made some Chinese style veggie, and then... a Caldo Verde (Portuguese potato puree and vegetable soup). Each dish tasted great, but my mind just can't accept mixing things up like that. It's not simply a mix of Portuguese and Chinese cuisine, it's more... we're already having a very starchy carb dinner, the rice... paired with a potato puree soup.... lol I think I'd be more accepting if it were a clear base soup.
Someone gifted me a bottle of white wine with a cat on it haha!

It was time for a manicure!

I'm mostly well by now, thanks for all the well wishes!

Now is just shaking that last bit of a cough and the easily aggravated nose where every little makes me sneeze now. Change of smell? Sneeze. Then cough. Change in temperature? Sneeze and cough. Someone smoking nearby and the wind brought the smoke over? You guessed it, sneeze and cough.

And despite being plagued by this sensitive nose, I did some dusting around my plants shelf. I water the plants every now and then but I hardly ever dust and clean so there was quite a bit of dust on the shelf and on most of the leaves too. Today's big project was cleaning all that up and re-arranging the wiring.


I'm just hoping the ceramics workshop get their kiln fixed then I can finish my doggie planters... and make the kitty planters then I have a complete set :-D Oh I also bought that nifty tissue box that I can hang upside down, and works with tissue boxes of various sizes and packing. Very good for my now constant sneezing and running nose.

Also apparently those growth lights were a little too heavy for the acrylic sticks so I had to take a bit of a strong double sided tape and fix it to the wall. I hate gluing things to the wall like that, but well, I don't think I'm changing anything with the actual set up anytime soon, so, there's no need to relocating them.

Yesterday I decided to sit down and do my nails and it's those sticker nails again. I sort of failed the little finger sticker, when I was filing the first one I filed too much so I had to remove it and use the other half... and had to open a new sticker sheet for the left hand little finger. And then for the right middle finger, I trimmed too much on the side so the sticker was a lot smaller than the nail, but I didn't want to waste another sticker sheet, so I just went with it.

And geeze my hands look so swollen.