disalarming

I’m taking a leaf out of eemusings‘ book and doing the “7 Deadly Sins” meme. I’m not going to post these consecutively; they’ll pop up every now and then as I please (read: when I have a steady Internet connection).

Day 5: Greed. Seven worldly material desires.

1. HTC Sensation smartphone
Because it’s everything a smartphone should be. Except it has a crazy ridiculous price tag, seeing as I want to buy it unlocked :(

2. Enough frequent flyer miles to fly for “free” forever
Yeah, dream on. I certainly travel enough to rack up some frequent flyer miles, but definitely not enough for the majority of my flights to be purchased with miles! Or even a portion of them, actually. I’d love to achieve Diamond status or something.

3. The Esprit side-zip jacket I saw in stores last winter
I’m all about the side-zip jackets, and I saw the most amazing one in Esprit last winter when I was shopping in Hong Kong. However, it was priced at some absurdly high amount, and I couldn’t justify buying it. I still dream about that jacket :(

4. A Nintendo Wii
My roommate has one and I love playing on it. (Luckily, her having one means I don’t have to shell out for one!) I like how it’s much more interactive than other video game consoles (although the N64 will always have a soft spot in my heart).

5. My favorite green tea frappe recipe
My favorite cafe in Beijing makes this amazing green tea frappe. I wish I knew the recipe, so that when I go back to the States I’ll be able to make it for myself. Alas, I’ll just have to drink it as often as possible before I leave Beijing!

6. A Jamie Oliver cookbook
Jamie Oliver is my favorite chef, hands down. I’d absolutely love to have his collection of cookbooks in my kitchen. I’ve used his recipes before and they’ve always been amazing successes!

7. Plain silver hoop earrings
I lost one of my plain silver hoop earrings when I was in Vietnam, and I haven’t been able to find a pair to replace them with. I hadn’t realized how hard it was to find a pair of silver hoops that aren’t too big or small, too thick or thin, etc. I miss my old hoops!

Full list of days below the cut.

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

Day 4: Sloth. Seven things that I neglect to do.

1. Make my bed
Seriously, there is no point to making your bed because at the end of the day you’re just going to sleep in it and it’ll get all messed up again. The only time I ever made my bed on a semi-regular basis was when I lived in the dorms freshman and sophomore year of college, because there would be people zipping in and out of my room all the time. If there are guests/visitors that are going to see my bed then yes, it should be made. Otherwise, I don’t see a point.

2. Keep track of my expenses
This is something I desperately need to start doing. I’ve half-excused not doing it over the last year as I was studying abroad without a job or regular income, but now that I am preparing to move out into my own apartment I really need to start managing my finances far more stringently than I have been.

3. Use body moisturizer daily
I always forget to moisturize my arms and legs after I’m done showering. Everyone knows water dries out the skin, and it’s especially important to remember to use moisturizer or lotion after shaving (legs!). Still, I’m lazy and I just… forget.

4. Water plants
In my ballerina days, I would get lovely bouquets of flowers from family and friends after each performance. I’d stick the bouquets in vases in my room, and then promptly forget to water them. Each bouquet ended up withering and dying before its time.

5. Floss
I see flossing as a time-consuming (and painful) thing to do. Yes, I get there are long-term benefits (like my teeth not falling out from diseased gums!) but… eh, I’m lazy about it.

6. Clean my room
Organization is not one of my strong points when it comes to my living habits. (I qualified that statement because I am extremely organized when it comes to school or work.) In my defense, my room is never dirty – just messy. It’s very much a case of organized chaos.

7. Eat
Honestly, sometimes I just forget to eat. I’ll be too caught up in whatever I’m doing (whether it be something exciting like going on an adventure or something mundane like running errands) and it isn’t until I start feeling light-headed and dizzy that I realize I’d forgotten to eat!

Full list of days below the cut.

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

Day 3: Wrath. Seven things that piss me off.

1. Being lied to
I have no time for dishonesty in my life. Nor do I want to put up with people who feel that I don’t deserve the truth.

2. Slow walking people
I like a leisurely stroll as much as the next person, but if I’m in a hurry, the last thing I want to be doing is to be stuck behind a slow walking person. It only really annoys me when there is no possible way I can pass them and am stuck ambling along mindlessly when I really am in a rush to get somewhere.

3. Lending money and not getting it back
It happens – you’re out with a group of friends and one is short, so you offer to cover for them. Only the friend forgets about it, and then you’re left in the awkward position of bringing it up and hoping that the person remembers. Or too much time has passed since, and bringing it up is just awkward. Or… or… or… There are a million and one variations of the scenario, but they all bother me just the same. I don’t mind lending money to a friend; I just expect to get it back in a timely manner.

4. The Great Firewall
Because trying to keep up to date with what’s going on in the world and keep in touch with friends and family has been like jumping through hoops of fire during my year abroad in Beijing. Sometimes, even sending a simple email (with nothing but text in it) would be a headache-inducing endeavor!

5. Crocs
Because they are just a terrible eyesore and extremely unfashionable.

6. People speaking for me
Unless there is a language barrier, I am perfectly capable of articulating what I want to say. There were many cases when I was traveling in SE Asia (and even during my time abroad in China) that people would address my male companions even if I was the one that asked the question. Or someone would ask me something and one of my friends, in an effort to show off (or practice) their language skills, would jump in with an answer for me.

7. Waking up early
I’m a total night owl. I work best at night and love staying up late. Waking up early, on the other hand… totally not for me. I’m such a zombie in the mornings!

Full list of days below the cut.

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

Day 2: Envy. Seven things I lack and covet.

1. More free time
I never seem to have any free time these days. I have always have sixty million things to do and not enough time to do them. It’s not only stressful, but I also can’t do anything to the best of my ability, which is a huge pet peeve of mine.

2. Longer legs
I’m pretty average height, but I’d love to be taller. It’s always been a wish of mine. I wear heels a lot (except not in China), but still… being naturally tall would be wonderful.

3. Musicality
I have zero musical capabilities. When going to KTV with my friends, I’ve been told I can sing, but I’ve always been told that I can’t. That, combined with the fact that my friend told me I sang one song on pitch when another friend didn’t and I didn’t even know how to identify what pitch was all amount to the fact that I am not at all musically inclined. I do wish I were, though.

4. The ability to run (properly)
I always hyperventilate when I run. I’ve never quite figured out why, though. The best I’ve got is that I’m not asthmatic. I guess I just have weak lungs or something when it comes to running. I think that if I were able to run and not feel like death from my lungs panicking, I would really enjoy it.

5. A round-the-world plane ticket
I am an avid traveler. I know I am incredibly fortunate to have been to all the places I have been and to have all the travel opportunities I have had, but there are always more places to go visit, more places to go see. A round-the-world plane ticket would be to die for.

6. Better skin
I don’t necessarily mean this in the sense of acne-prone skin (which I have grown out of since my preteens, thank God). But my skin is extremely sensitive and it’s a huge pain. Shaving irritates my skin, as does ordinary creams and lotions. I can only use one special kind of sunscreen because it makes my skin break out in hives. It sucks, and it’s a huge pain, especially when traveling.

7. More savings
But doesn’t everyone envy those that have this…

Full list of days below the cut.

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

Day 1: Pride. Seven great things about myself.

1. I am multilingual.
English (obviously), Mandarin, Cantonese, and elementary French are languages that I can claim. I’d like to dramatically improve my French and add Italian and Spanish to the list, too. Italian because I think it’s beautiful and I studied it briefly in school, and Spanish because it’s becoming more and more useful in the States.

2. I am a good writer.
While this blog doesn’t always make it evident, particularly in light of my year of intensive Chinese language study, I am a damn good writer. From analytical to creative to everything in between, writing is something I’ve always been good at.

3. I care about people.
Just to clarify: I don’t care about a lot of people. But those that I do care about, I care about fiercely. I will do anything and everything for close friends and family. If I say I will drop anything for you in a second, or run to the ends of the world for you, I actually mean it. There are very few people I’ve said that to, and I will always mean it till the day I die.

4. I am ambitious.
I have hopes and dreams and goals just like the next person, and I work to make them a reality. It’s not always easy figuring out what I want, but once I do, I figure out the best way to go and get it.

5. I am a good student.
I’ve always done well in school and I can’t express how beneficial this has been for my life. It’s not just about getting into good schools and getting excellent educational opportunities because of my good grades, but it’s about being well-rounded for life. If I hadn’t learned how to be organized, manage my time, balance my interests, etc., I wouldn’t have done well in school. I see it all going hand-in-hand.

6. I am an excellent cook and an even more excellent baker.
I think this can speak for itself.

7. I give fantastic hugs.
I have been told this on numerous occasions by different people. Hugs are fantastic. To quote someone who put it far better than I ever could:

Hugging is healthy: It helps the body’s immunity system, it keeps you healthier, it cures depression, it reduces stress, it induces sleep, its invigorating, its rejuvenating, it has no unpleasant side-effects, and hugging is nothing less then a miracle drug.
Hugging is all-natural: It is organic, naturally sweet, no pesticides, no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, and is 100% wholesome.
Hugging is practically perfect: There are no movable parts, no batteries to wear out, no periodic check-ups, low energy consumption, high energy yield, inflation-proof, non-fattening, no monthly payments, no insurance requirements, theft-proof, non-taxable, non-polluting, and of course, fully returnable.
- Anonymous

Full list of days below the cut.

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

About a month ago I invited those who were interested to ask me any question they liked, with the promise of an honest answer. Here are the answers to the questions I received:

Caity asked:

Would you like to live in China for longer than you are planning to now?
As of right now, the plan is to spend a total of one year living in China. Not one academic year, but one full year. A year is a long time; so, right now I don’t plan on extending that time-frame. I have to go back to the US to finish my last year of my degree and graduate, after all! But I am definitely open to the idea of returning to China to live and/or work at some point in the future.
What is your favorite thing about living overseas?
Everything. I had a multinational and multicultural childhood; “home” is not a defined place for me. When I am overseas, I love every single aspect about it. The food, the language, the culture, the new experiences, the travel… I never get homesick because there’s so much to love about living overseas!

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

Seeing as I did one of these ask-and-answer things last year, I figured it was about time to do another one. I’m always fascinated by what other bloggers get asked and how they respond!

You know the drill:

This is an opportunity for you to ask me any question(s) you’d like and receive an open, honest answer. I will answer all questions and make note of who asked what in the entry. Feel free to ask as many questions as you’d like; I will answer them all.

So… ask away! (You can flick through the questions I got asked last year if you’d like.)

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

I took the Which Glee Character Are You? quiz and this was my result:

I agree with the first sentence about being passionate, determined and positive (although maybe not so much with the positive as I am pretty cynical at times). And I do work tirelessly for what I believe in, which sometimes shifts my priorities (I’m a classic workaholic). But helping others unlock their true potential? Sure, I don’t mind helping others, but I imagine it’d be hard to help others unlock potential when I’m still trying to figure out mine!

My one criticism of this quiz is that I wish there were a wider variety of characters that could have been an answer. (I also think the descriptions of the characters are a little dated since the quiz was ostensibly written during the first 13 episodes of the season.) Out of all the characters on the show, I don’t think that I am that much like Will in comparison to, say, Quinn. I quickly skimmed through the quiz comments and judging by what people have said, only a handful of the characters from the show were possible answers. Still, the other Glee quizzes out there are pretty crappy; this was the best one I found!

Question of the Week: Which Glee character are you?

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

Krissy commanded (er, I mean tagged) me to write an entry about where I’d like to be 10 years from now. This prompt was a lot harder than it sounded, and it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to write in this entry. First I came up with a list, which I rewrote into paragraph form because the list sounded awfully stilted. Then I wasn’t happy with what was in my list or paragraphs, so I scraped it all and tried to start again.

I wrote about how I wanted to travel the world. How I wanted to continue moving from country to country, just like I did in my childhood. How I wanted to learn new languages, like Italian and Russian. How I wanted to find a dream job, one that combined my loves of travel, language and communications. How I wanted to be happily together with a man, ideally the love of my life, and maybe even think about starting a family. How I wanted all of my current hard work and dedication to pay dividends in the future.

But no matter what I wrote or how I wrote it, nothing sounded quite right.

Somewhere amidst all of my brainstorming and revising and rewriting, I realized that the problem wasn’t with how I organized or wrote out where I saw myself in 10 years. The reason why I was so dissatisfied with what I came up with was because I felt like my list focused too much on the material, or on tangible evidence that would reflect the progress in my life I hope to make in 10 years. Not to mention the fact that it is impossible for me to even think that far into my future; years of moving around and being uprooted have made it incredibly difficult for me to see things in the long-term.

I ended up putting aside my attempts to answer Krissy’s prompt for a while so that I could have some space and time to think about how I wanted to tackle the question. It took a while, but I think I figured out how to answer it.

In 10 years, I just want to be happy.

I have faith that the rest will work itself out.

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

Inspired by Katy’s post.

If I were an animal, I’d be a panda.

If I were a shoe, I’d be high heeled ankle boots.

If I were a hairstyle, I’d be a pollyanna.

If I were a dessert, I’d be red velvet cupcake.

If I were a Disney character, I’d be the Queen of Hearts.

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

I’ve been run off my feet today even more so than usual. Here’s a breakdown of what I did from 12am February 4 to 12am February 5, calculated in hours:

Sleeping: 9
Working: 5
In class: 3.5
Doing homework/studying: 2
Eating: 1
In meetings: 1
Showering/brushing teeth/washing face: 1
Running errands: 1
On the phone: .25
Writing this entry: .25

Notice what’s missing? Brownie points for you if you guess it!

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

I’ve always been intrigued to see what other bloggers get asked by their readers when they have an “Ask me a question and I’ll answer” type entry. Caity did one, and I know Amanda did one a while back too¹ I don’t get all that personal in this blog, but I have been interviewed by Alice as well as Clem. The questions they asked could possibly be questions that others would like to ask me, or at least in a similar vein. I wouldn’t know what others are curious about – I know everything there is to know about myself, obviously :P

Anyway. This is an opportunity for you to ask me any question(s) you’d like and receive an open, honest answer (within reason, of course – I’m up for answering pretty much anything but I’m not going to go reveal my Social Security number or anything like that!). All questions I get asked will be answered in next Sunday’s post. I’ve never done this before so it might be a bust, but we’ll see how it goes.

Question of the Week: If you could ask me any question(s) and have it answered, what would it be?

I am sure there are other bloggers who have done this type of post but I can’t recall any others off the top of my head. [↩]

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

In May’s Every Hour on the Hour post, one of my photos was of me filling out an association meme on my LiveJournal. The way the association meme works is that I would ask members of my LJ friends list for five terms/phrases they would associate with me, and then I would have to elaborate on those five things. There were forty terms in total for me to elaborate on (some terms were repeated, though), and here are five of the words that my friends associated with me.

The MTR
Chosen by: Melody
The MTR is Hong Kong’s mass transit railway (hence MTR ). I think it’s the best in the world. It’s fast, efficient, safe, modern, and doesn’t smell like pee (unlike the El in Chicago, ugh). It’s a great way of traveling in Hong Kong as EVERYWHERE is connected to the MTR. They’re also adding new lines to the MTR, and when I found that out I got so excited I Googled for more info and saw the new maps of where the new lines will go as well as what color they’ll be. I’m an MTR nerd

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

A while ago, there was a “25 Things” note going around on Facebook, where you listed 25 things about yourself and tagged 25 people in the note to do the same. Here are 5 things I listed in my own “25 Things” note.

I love the fact that I’ve lived in a bunch of places all over the world. At the time, I hated it, and thought it was the worst thing ever. Looking back though, I wouldn’t want to trade it for the world. Being exposed to so many languages and cultures is pretty amazing, and I definitely want to continue living all around the world in the future.
I have studied classical ballet for eleven years. When I was 15, my kneecap collapsed when I was performing at a gala, and that ended any dreams of continuing ballet. I really miss it and wish I could pick it up again, but truthfully I haven’t danced since that fateful performance.
I see my future in short-term stages. I’ve learned a long time ago to never count on anything long-term, and to always prepare for unexpected changes in plans for life. I hate thinking about things in long-term because every time I count on something in the long-term, I end up moving again and everything changes.
In addition to being clumsy, I fall off of beds a lot. Sometimes I fall onto beds. I’m not really sure how it happens. I’ve gotten stuck when falling off a bed, and I’ve also fallen onto a desk after falling out of a bed. I’ve also gotten stuck between two beds once. I’m not sure why I’m so uncoordinated with beds. It’s not very convenient.
I believe that if you loved someone once, a part of you will always love them no matter how things have changed, and no matter how small that part may be.

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

Olga passed this award along to me this past Tuesday. I was very pleased and flattered to receive it (thanks, Olga!), and as a Kreativ Blogger Award recipient, it is my job to post the award on my blog and link back to the person who gave it to me. Also, I must pass along the award and list seven things I love, and seven blogs I love¹. So, here goes:

Kreativ Blogger Award

Seven things I love:

My fantastic work supervisor. I’ve always known I was lucky to have such a great supervisor, but this week I realized she was there for me not only as a supervisor, but as a friend. That’s an incredible feeling to have in the workplace.
The internet as a tool which allows me to keep in touch with my friends overseas. It’s been a lifesaver lately.
My Embodiment journal. Last month I wasn’t all that dedicated in keeping up with Embodiment, but some recent upheaval and decisions I’ve made in my life has left me needing an outlet to bounce off ideas, and my journal has been fantastic for that.
Etsy! Last weekend I bought some knitting patterns for cupcakes and donuts, and I’m very excited to make them once I am done with school for the semester.
Google Analytics. I’ve only recently started using it, and it provides so much information about any website’s stats.
The third season of The Tudors! I still miss Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn dearly, but season 3 is still as good as ever!
The song “Believe” by The Bravery. I’ve been listening to it on repeat lately; it’s really good.

Seven blogs I love, and pass along the Kreativ Blogger Award to:

Alice; Only Anne
Amanda; Jingwen
Clem; Oh Clementine
Kaylee; Reliquesce
Krissy; Girl Disappearing
Melody; Bittersky
Rose; Life as Rose

I’m abandoning the “five” theme I have for Fridays; I figure an award is as good an excuse as any to bend the rules for a week! [↩]

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

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7 Deadly Sins: Greed

7 Deadly Sins: Sloth

7 Deadly Sins: Wrath

7 Deadly Sins: Envy

7 Deadly Sins: Pride

You Ask and I’ll Answer: The Answers #2

You Ask and I’ll Answer #2

Which Glee Character Are You?

In 10 Years

If I Were…

Breakdown of My Day in Hours

You Ask and I’ll Answer

Association Meme

5 Things

Kreativ Blogger Award

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May 2020

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