disalarming

I work in a career advising office and I’m an intern at a prominent non-profit organization. So how is it, exactly, that I’ve managed to live this life without owning a pair of black pants?

I realized this problem when I was getting dressed for work last week. There was a cold snap at the end of the week, which meant I had to trade in my pencil skirt for a pair of pants. While I do have “dress pants” (khakis and a pair of dark brown pinstripes), I don’t have plain, regular black pants. Like, seriously? I’m trained to give conduct a workshop that has a component which talks about appropriate clothing for work and I didn’t have a pair of black pants?

Thank God the business clothing section at H&M is all I can say. I hit it up yesterday and I now have a nice pair of black pants and a fitted black blazer to boot. All I need are a pair of work-appropriate heels (I’m the queen of flats when it comes to work, but I think heels give more of a professional look) and I will actually look the part of my professional roles!

(The fact that I’ve managed to create an entire entry about my lack of black pants shows you just how exciting my life has been lately. Not that I’m not enjoying life at the moment, per se; it’s just that there hasn’t been many eventful things worth sharing on this blog.)

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

First there was an earthquake. Then there was Hurricane Irene. Now there is massive flooding from Tropical Storm Lee. And now, in light of the 10th anniversary of September 11 this Sunday, there is a terror threat.

I guess there’s nothing like starting the academic year off with lots of dramatic events…

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I grew up in a house where every member of my family would gather around the dinner table every night for a hot meal and eat together. My mother would suffer no excuses when it came to eating dinner as a family; it was a constant in her household. The only exceptions I can recall is that if one of us were not at home during dinnertime (frowned upon) or if one of us were sick (excusable).

I think a lot of her insistence on eating dinner together as a family is because it was a part of the day where everyone would gather ’round and eat, talk, and bond. It was her time to catch up with her children and for my brother and I to argue about something stupid. As my mom always cooked dinner, eating dinner together also had something to do with politeness and manners. She cooked the meal; it would have been the height of rudeness if one of us had taken a plate of home-cooked food and eaten it on our lonesome in our bedroom or something.

Now that I’m on my own and have a packed schedule, I find that I’m often eating dinner on my own, and usually on the go. I’ll grab a burrito at Chipotle and eat it once I get home from my internship. I’ll eat a bagel sandwich from Einstein’s Bagels during my afternoon shift at work. I’ll eat a bowl of Special K in the morning before I take off for the day. I’ll cook dinner for myself and eat it in front of the TV, saving leftovers for the next day. My schedule often allows me to get dinners with friends, but we almost always go out to eat.

I love the food and conversation I have with my friends when we go out to eat, but I miss the dinners at my house. I can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up in a house where family dinners didn’t exist. It’s not even the home-cooked factor (although I miss that dearly!), it’s the fact that I can’t understand how families don’t, or can’t, or won’t, come together for dinner. It makes me sad, because I have some great memories of dinners at my house when I was growing up!

Question of the Week: Does your family have family dinners where you all eat together? Or is dinner an individual occasion?

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

On the last day of every month, I take Just a Minute to reflect on what I’m currently up to.

Starting… my classes for the fall semester. So far I’m really excited about them all, which is great because my schedule is overpacked this semester and it would be horrible if I didn’t like my classes!

Loving… my internship. It’s early days, but I have a really good feeling about this. I was already doing hands-on work my first day, which is a very positive sign.

Working… a lot. I love my job (I have a part-time job in addition to my internship and classes) and I look forward to work every day, but having such a thorough schedule impacts my social life a teeny bit. I’m not complaining, though :)

Spending… time with my friends, roommates, and boyfriend. It’s hard to juggle seeing everyone on top of all my other commitments, but I vowed to not let my social life slide in favor of class and work. So far I seem to be balancing everything pretty well, but it is only the first week of the semester.

Buying… daily deals from sites like Groupon and LivingSocial. I only buy them for things I would go to anyway (like discounted museum tickets) or for a restaurant I’ve been wanting to try. It reminds me of those coupon books my mom had when I was a kid and we’d use the deals in the book to try out new restaurants!

Budgeting… more stringently from now on, thanks to the help of BudgetPulse. (Funny how “budgeting” comes right after my bullet about “buying”!) My goal is to use BudgetPulse as a tool for me to not only manage my money better but also to figure out where it all goes.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I’m finally 21!!!!!!!!

And that is pretty much all I have to say about that.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Even though my 21st birthday is only a few days away, I’ve never been so upset that I’m not yet 21. All my friends are out at the bars and clubs and I’m stuck home alone on a Saturday night because I can’t get into the places they’re at. Thank GOD this is my last weekend as a 20-year-old because this seriously blows.

Oh 21st birthday, please hurry up and arrive before I have no social life to speak of…! (I kid. Well, kind of. I miss being able to go out and have wild nights, dammit! I never had this age problem in China!)

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

This morning was the third time I’ve been caught in a torrential downpour without an umbrella or any form of rain protection whatsoever in the last two weeks. This leads me to believe I either need to live in a place that is not prone to torrential downpours (unlikely to happen) or invest in an umbrella (much more likely to happen).

Seriously though, who else has this kind of luck? At least the first time I was running in the streets with the boy (which made me feel like I was in The Notebook). But the last two times I’ve been caught in the rain on my walk home. I guess I should consider it lucky that I was only going home and not leaving home because then it didn’t really matter if I got soaked to the bone, but still. It’s kind of depressing to have the heavens open on you as you’re trudging home.

Thing is, I don’t like umbrellas. Actually, I hate them. When it gets really rainy, more often than not it’s incredibly windy, and then an umbrella is pretty much useless because the raindrops are flinging at you in all directions and it’s just a hot mess. A rain jacket is much more practical, but far more expensive.

…basically, I just need to be more prepared for rain. Gotta go shopping for a rain jacket, rain boots, and possibly even an umbrella. It rained so rarely in Beijing that I’m really not used to how prone DC is to rainy weather!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve moved.

Last week was “Moving Week,” hence my disappearance from the Internet for the first week of August. I packed up all my worldly possessions and moved from Chicago to D.C. I do miss Chicago already, but it’s a strange way of missing a city. I’ve really only lived in Chicago for two years (my last two years of high school), since then I’ve been only going home for relatively short visits. Still, two years is a long enough time to call a place home, and I’ll miss that Chicago skyline.

But! D.C. is one of my favorite cities in the US, and I’m now living in an apartment with two of my best friends. This is a vast improvement over living in the dorms, which is what I did my freshman and sophomore years of college. I’m super excited to have my own kitchen with a working oven. The first things I want to make are cheesecake-stuffed strawberries and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. YUM :D

As my school year doesn’t start until the last week of August, I’ve got all month to settle into my new digs, see friends, and hopefully land an internship for the semester. Oh, and hang out with my (new) boyfriend…!!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Yesterday¹ was one of those days when all the stars aligned and everything fell into place effortlessly.

I had bubble milk tea with taro, one of my favorite drinks. I had a delicious home-cooked Chinese lunch. I saw Chinglish, an absolutely fantastic play. I went to KTV and, for an evening, could pretend that I was back in my beloved China. And I finally heard something I’ve been waiting to hear for far, far too long.

Oh, and I made these coconut-grapefruit cupcakes with matcha (green tea) frosting:

1. Yes, the title of this entry is ripped off the Taylor Swift song, but “Yesterday Was a Fairytale” doesn’t quite have the same ring. Ah, well. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Tagline: Ska2oosh!

Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu

Summary: Po, the new Dragon Warrior, joins forces with his kung fu master friends to defeat an old enemy with a deadly weapon that could spell the end of kung fu

5 Words/Phrases: Great animation; witty script; good development between characters; interesting developments with Po’s backstory; all-around enjoyable movie

Most Impressed By: Jack Black is a great voice actor, he is superb as the voice of Po

Least Impressed By: …nothing!

Comments: It’s a solid movie but I’m skeptical of the ending – it leaves the movie wide-open for Kung Fu Panda 3, which isn’t something I’m positive is a good idea…

Overall Rating: 9/10

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.