Sleeping: Better and Faster

All my life, I have trouble in sleeping. It's not insomniac, though - I just think a lot. I’ll lie in bed thinking about what I want to do tomorrow or what I should have done today or how much I love eating cold pizza or how absurdly messy my desk is…. do you get the idea? 

When I say I have trouble going to sleep, I’m not talking 20 or 30 minutes but 2 or 3 hours. Because what will happen is after about 45
minutes to an hour of trying to go to sleep, I start thinking about how I’m not asleep but I should be and that starts the cycle.

Now, I may be a bit of an extreme case here. But, I know, for a fact, that there are people out there who got the same problem as mine. So, I’ve pieced together various bits of advice, I’ve received over the past few months that have not only helps me get to sleep faster, but helps me get a better sleep nights.

  1. Don’t watch TV or even look so much at a computer screen at least 30 minutes before you lying down. The light from both a television as well as a computer monitor mimic the same intensity of light as sunlight. This fools your body and brain into thinking it’s nowhere near time for sleep.
  2. Drink milk. Milk has an amino acid in it called Tryptophanthat increase the levels of serotonin and/or melatonin in the brain which slow down brain activity. It’s science folks.
  3. Go to bed when you are tired. Different strokes for different folks here. Just because your wife goes to bed at 9PM doesn’t mean you are ready. You might only require seven and half hours of sleep while she might require ten. If you aren’t tired, do something low-key until you are, like read a book, play solitaire (NOT on your computer), or play with some legos.
  4. Reserve the bed for bed things(ex. sleeping and resting). I, for one, don’t strictly follow this rule as I’ll read some before I go to sleep, but for some people this is a must.
  5. Meditate. No, don’t cross your legs and hum, but focus on relaxing…if that makes sense. Take deep, long breaths. Tense each muscle one at a time from head to toe. Focusing on doing this takes your mind off of other things and you’ll be in lala land in no time.
  6. Exercise during the day. I emphasize during the day. Excercising at night just gets everything going instead of shutting down for sleep. But excercising during the day tires the muscles out and makes for a solid nights sleep.


love, now and always, 

Noddle Madness


I never talked about you in the past, though I know in the future you’ll be by my side. You kept the cold breeze of December warm and filled every summer heat, hotter. You drown me with every single sip. You load my heart with gladness, I always want to keep. You never fail to turn my sorrow into joy. You the noodle I always want and need even more.


Yeah. Noodles. Sounds like what? Some kind of TOE(term of endearment)? Huh! Nope. Literally, it means a thin strip of unleavened dough that has been rolled, dried and cooked in boiling water… I love eating noodles. It’s actually the only food (well, I call it a food) that I can eat repetitively. For the love of noodles, let me share you guys the different types of noodles enjoyed, ate and yet to be tasted!

Noodle madness… bowls and chopsticks ready?

Beef noodle soup. Noodles in beef soup, sometimes with a chunk of stewed beef.

Ban mian. Hokkien-style egg flat shape noodle soup.
 


Over the Bridge Noodles. A noodle that is served as a bowl of chicken stock with uncooked rice noodles, meat, raw eggs, and vegetables and flowers on the side that get added and cooked when one is ready to eat. Stock stays warm because of a layer of oil on top of the bowl.




Saimin. Soft wheat egg noodles in dashi broth. Toppings include baby bok choy, nori seaweed, fish cakes, Chinese roast pork, Portuguese sausage or SPAM.

Traditional Japanese noodles. Soup is served in a hot soy-dashi broth and garnished with chopped scallions. Popular toppings include tempura, tempura batter deep fried tofu.

Soba. Noodles with thin brown buckwheat noodles.

Udon. A thick wheat noodle served with various toppings, usually in a hot soy-dashi broth, or in a Japanese curry soup. A wheat noodles, served in a meat or chicken broth.

Ramen. A thin light yellow noodle served in hot chicken or pork broth, flavoured with soy or miso, with various toppings such as slices of pork, pickled bamboo shoots, seaweed, or boiled egg.

Champon. Yellow noodles of medium thickness served with a great variety of seafood and vegetable toppings in a hot chicken broth which originated in

Okinawa soba. A thick wheat-flour noodle served in Okinawa, often served in a hot broth with steamed pork, fish cake slice, pickled ginger and koregusu. Akin to a cross between udon and ramen.

Janchi guksu. Noodles in a light seaweed broth, served with fresh condiments (usually kimchi, thinly sliced egg, green onions, and cucumbers)
 


Jjamppong. Spicy noodle soup of Chinese origin

 


Kalguksu. Hand-cut wheat noodles served in a seafood broth

Makguksu. Buckwheat noodles with chilled broth

Naengmyeon. Stretchy buckwheat noodles in cold beef broth, with onions, julienned cucumber, boiled egg sliced in half, and slices of pears.

Ramyeon. Served in food stalls, made of instant noodles with toppings added by stalls. It is typically spicy with chilli and kimchi added, amongst other ingredients.
 

Soto ayam. Spicy chicken soup with rice vermicelli. Served with hard-boiled eggs, slices of fried potatoes, celery leaves, and fried shallots. Sometimes, slices of Lontong (compressed rice roll) or "poya", a powder of mixed fried garlic with shrimp crackers or bitter Sambal (orange colored) are added.
 

Hae mee or "prawn noodles". Egg noodles served in richly flavored dark soup stock with prawns, pork slices, fish cake slices and bean sprouts topped with fried shallots and spring onion. The stock is made using dried shrimps, plucked heads of prawns, white pepper, garlic and other spices. Traditionally, small cubes of fried pork fat are added to the soup, but this is now less common due to health concerns.
 

Curry laksa. Rice noodles in a coconut curry soup. Topped with prawns or chicken, cockles, bean sprouts, tofu puffs and sliced fish cakes. Boiled egg may be added. Served with a dollop of sambal chilli paste and Vietnamese coriander.

Assam laksa. Rice noodles in a sour fish soup. Various toppings including shredded fish, cucumber, raw onion, pineapple, chilli and mint. There are regional variations throughout Malaysia.

Mohinga. Essentially rice noodles in a rich, spicy fish soup. Typical ingredients include fish or prawn sauce, salted fish, lemon grass, tender banana stems, ginger, garlic, pepper, onion, turmeric powder, rice flour, chickpea flour, chilli and cooking oil.
 

Oun no hkauk swè. Wheat noodles in a chicken and coconut broth . Garnished for added flavour with finely sliced shallots , crispy fried rice cracker, fish sauce , roasted chilli powder and a squeeze of lemon or lime.
 

Kya zan hinga. Glass noodles in a chicken consommé with mushrooms, bean curd skin, lily stems , shrimp, garlic , pepper and sometimes fish balls. For the addition of texture and flavour it can be garnished with coriander, sliced shallots , fish sauce , chilli powder and a squeeze of lime.

La Paz Batchoy. A noodle soup from Iloilo garnished with pork innards, crushed pork cracklings, chopped vegetables, and topped with a raw egg.
 

Mami. A noodle s oup similar to the Chinese variety, with either a beef, pork, chicken, or wanton garnish and topped with chives. Usually thin egg noodles are used, but there are versions using flat rice noodles (ho fan). Introduced in the Philippines by Ma Mon Luk.
 

Thai noodle soups. The noodles are served in chicken stock, often topped with meat or fish balls and coriander leaves. The diner then adjusts the flavour by themselves using sugar, nam pla (fish sauce), dried chilli and chilli in vinegar provided at the table.
 

Ba mii naam. Egg wheat noodles in soup, often with minced pork.
 

Khao soi. Tice or wheat noodles in soup; a northern Thai dish
 

Kuitiaw naam. Rice noodles in soup
 

Gaeng Jued Wunsen. Glass noodles in soup

Phở. White rice noodles in clear beef broth with thin cuts of beef, garnished with ingredients such as green onions, white onions, coriander leaves, ngo gai ("saw leaf herb"), and mint. Basil, lemon or lime, bean sprouts, and chilli peppers are usually provided on a separate plate, which allows customers to adjust the soup's flavor as they like. Some sauces such as hoisin sauce and fish sauce are also sometimes added.
 

Miến. Thin glass noodle made from powdered dzong (canna) leaves. It can be cooked with chicken and bamboo shoots (mien ga), eel (mien luon), or crab (mien cua).
 

Bun.Thin rice noodles that are used in many of the most popular noodle dishes in Vietnam. If the bun thread is thicker than the diameter of a chopstick, it should be called banh canh.
 

Bún bò Huế. Rice vermicelli with beef, lemon grass, and other ingredients

Bún riêu. Medium-thickness rice noodles with crab
 

Banh canh. A round, thick noodle, similar to Japanese Udon. However, it could be made of rice or tapioca starch. Banh canh ca is famous for its fish-based thread.

Mì. A wheat noodle and could be either white or yellow. It could be thick and short as in the case of Mi quang or thin and long such as Mi xa xiu


Hu tieu. Thin rice noodle.




love, now and always, 


Aethan_Rafael's Top 3 Ragnarok Moments

Waukster Online, a blog that gives you an inside scoop in Ragnarok Online 2, is giving away rare Ragnarok merchandise like Goblin Figurines and Merchant Saving Boxes! To enter, you just have to write your top 3 Ragnarok moments and this is my entry.


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RAGNAROK TOP MOMENT 3: Sa Kanya 

(http://youtube.com/watch?v=pBEKUaXpR0k <<

    When I played Ragnarok, I never thought I’ll fall in love. It’s just a game for me. I’ll play now then, log out later. It’s like for fun, nothing serious… just to escape the boredom of reality.

    After choosing my in-game name that sounds like a chixilog and turning down a lot of guys, there’s this guy that had the key to my heart. He is my ultimate love team in RO. We met inOdin(now Tyr) and started most of our love story there. When the URDR server came, he migrated there but that never stopped our story. He still logs in to Odin to visit me and I also created a novice to visit him at his new server. He even asked me to create a character next to his name (his name isVam.Pira). I created an acolyte and named it, Vam.Pira’s Angel. BTW, our love story wasn’t just online we also had our reality. Hmm, he went to my debut and after the party, we walk all over the resort holding hands… One of the most romantic days of my life! I’ll never forget him… Too bad there was never an “US”. But even if we never had the courage to fight for each other, we are still each other’s ultimate love teams… and whenever I think of a my romatic RO moments… bumabalik balik parin toh… SA KANYA!!!! 
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We are still friends now, we still exchange txt and fyi, we will be having our date(again) soon!
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RAGNAROK TOP MOMENT 2: Stay
    Quitting RO is a very hard decision especially when you will be leaving people that are close to you. It’s hard to leave a guild, say goodbye to friends and quit a game that gives you what reality cannot provide.


    Last year, I thought I’ll be quitting ragnarok. I already announced it to all of my friends and guildmates. I even posted it on friendster, boards, etc. I even made pots with my name using my alchemist to give to my friends as souvenirs. I am READY TO QUIT. But one guy, my suitor during that time, asked me if there’s anything he can do to make me stay. I challenged him to break 8 emps for me in one siege to make me stay. It’s a hard challenge but I’m so glad he did… and up to this date whenever I am in the verge of quitting, I just look at his 8 emps screenshot and tells myself, It’s worth staying for this.

RAGNAROK TOP MOMENT 1: Basagulera

    During sieges, I always make pasaway to my guild. I transfer different agits just to touch the emperium myself. I am a priestess and will never be able to break an emp. But being able to make it to that shining emp, I feel so strong. It’s where I felt ragnarok’s quote, "where gamers, become legend." It’s my most unforgettable moment in RO. It’s something that I think I wouldn’t be able to do in real life. Would you survive in a room full of people chasing you? and all of them wants to kill you? You won't and that's RO can give that reality can never provide!!! ^_^



 



Thanks for allowing me to share my top 3 RO moments. I'm not so active in RO anymore now but my RO moments with all of you will never fade. I'll keep it in my heart just exactly how I keep my beautiful memories in reality. Thanks again for reading up to here. I hope you enjoyed...




Much love,

Aethan_Rafael


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xxoo




BONUS: MY BOARD SIGS


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love, now and always,