Happy Lunar New Year 2023!

Greetings! Today is Chinese New Year (aka Lunar New Year). Being Chinese-American myself, I'm celebrating the new year with my family with good food and good company. I passed the time with a simple, but nice lunch with my extended relatives at home and then also out to eat this weekend. May the Year of …

Astra Lumina: A Light Show Experience REVIEW

A couple of weeks ago, I attended Astra Lumina, a temporary light exhibition in Los Angeles. I'd first seen the ads for it on Instagram, and I was keen to go. That said, I bought the $38 USD ticket and, along with my sister and partner, we headed out for the first slot of the …

12 Months, 12 Photos (2022 Edition)

Hello! Happy New Year. 🙂 2023 is off to a good start, and as we usher in another year of change and growth, I'd also like to reflect on what had occurred in the past 12 months. Overall, 2022 was a more-eventful year for me compared to 2021 (which had been sleepier in comparison), with …

Happy New Year 2023!

Greetings! Happy 2023! Wow, what a wild ride it's been. As we're continuing full-steam ahead through the 2020's, there's still a lot to be said about COVID and the end(?) of the pandemic. Honestly, it hasn't ended, but now it's become more-or-less the new normal as we continue to see new variants and spikes throughout …

9 Years of Blogging! (and Ending my Blog?)

Hey, folks! Today marks the ninth anniversary of this blog: I published my first post on this day nine years ago, and as I say every year, it's incredible how far I've come. It's also incredible that I'm almost at 10 years of blogging here (a whole decade!), which will be an incredible feat (how …

Happy Holidays 2022!

Hello, hello! Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or some other holiday, I hope you have a superb time and great festive cheer. Seasons greetings! 🙂 Christmas lights -- The Finicky Cynic Check me out on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/thefinickycynic

A Weekend in Los Angeles (December 2022)

Hello! This past weekend, I spent some time close to home. I met up with a friend for lunch and then did a hike/got lunch with my dad. Despite the winter chill, the weekend was mostly sunny and beautiful blue skies. Here are some photos from my weekend-- enjoy and happy holidays! 🙂 Palmy day …

A Weekend in Los Angeles (Food Edition– December 2022)

Hello, folks! This past weekend, I had another food-filled time celebrating my sister's birthday. We ate to our heart's content with all sorts of noodles and desserts. I wanted to share the deliciousness of them all. Enjoy, and have a wonderful day! 🙂 Chinese noodles Ang butter and blueberry croffles Karaage Udon with shrimp tempura …

How I Met My Girlfriend <3

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com Yes, I'm in a relationship. Her name is "J," and she's awesome. It's been over seven months since we've met-- crazy how time flies! I wouldn't have expected for things to turn out the way it is, but I'm very glad with it all. 🙂 We first met via …

Back From Vacation (and happy December)!

Greetings! I'm back from my long trip! I've been home for about a week now, and in that time, I've been resting at home (to recover from COVID, which sadly I got during my vacation) and otherwise returning to work. Despite getting COVID, the symptoms weren't too bad, and I've since recovered. I had a …