If I woke up one day and realized 10 years have flown by, I think my initial response would be dread and sad because well 10 years have gone by and I didn’t get to experience any of it. Continue reading “The Shock in 10 Years”
Category: Musings
Don’t or Didn’t? A Grammatical Argument
From my experience of learning English and Chinese, I have to admit that even though it has funny sounding words that means exactly like they sound like pompous and ridiculous long words that no one can say it in one breath like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, English is an easy language to master. Way easier than Chinese. Continue reading “Don’t or Didn’t? A Grammatical Argument”
How to write a simple English essay
When I taught English-as-a-second-language (ESL) at the private school, usually, the first thing I asked my students was what aspect of the English language they needed most help on and all of them said Continue reading “How to write a simple English essay”
Thick and Thin Plates
A few years ago, when we moved out of our apartment into our current home, our neighbor downstairs gave us her set of bowls and plates. Continue reading “Thick and Thin Plates”
Writing by Prompt
One of the things I love about blogging is to be able to free-write. I can write about whatever I want. But this is one of the things I don’t like about blogging because if you get so used to free-write, if it comes down writing based on a prompt, there might be trouble. Continue reading “Writing by Prompt”
The Embarrassment of Mispronouncing People’s Names
I love my mom but sometimes she drives me crazy. Not the angry kind like usual but the insane kind. When it comes to mispronouncing names, most people would be embarrassed when they mispronounce people’s name the first time but they will try and try to correct themselves as to never embarrass themselves ever again. Continue reading “The Embarrassment of Mispronouncing People’s Names”
3 Essential Rules that Would Make you a Good Neighbor (For me)
Whether you’re living in an apartment or house, when you’re living next door to somebody, sometimes, you need to consider others first and then yourself. Continue reading “3 Essential Rules that Would Make you a Good Neighbor (For me)”
Lucky Charm
Last year, when my aunt from China came to visit, she brought along a whole boatload of goodies in her luggage from Chinese New Year decorations that are still plastered all over the house to this, just your plain everyday souvenir. I hung it in my car ever since. Continue reading “Lucky Charm”
Want to hear something hilarious?
Hi, everyone, since my day is going nowhere right now, I thought I share something hilarious I heard on the way to my doctor appointment yesterday. I laughed so hard when the radio announcer said this on the radio. Continue reading “Want to hear something hilarious?”
What’s the Point?
Sometimes, I feel like I’m doing all the work in promoting and maintaining my club. “My Club”, that’s how it should be. Continue reading “What’s the Point?”
Morally Degrading Teens and Internet Addicts
For over a decade I’ve lived in the United States, I spoke English, read English, did everything that normal American teens and young adults did. Up until I took the job to be an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) tutor at a private school two years ago, I had no idea just how different Chinese teens were. Continue reading “Morally Degrading Teens and Internet Addicts”
The Problems with Baking
As I sieved through old posts looking for inspiration for today’s post, I came across this one draft that I’ve never managed to finish. But the way, this post was originally started on February 3, 2013. As usual then, it was a spur of moment thing, feeling of anger and annoyance. Continue reading “The Problems with Baking”
Crazy Annual Summer Tradition
Okay, so I just have this really crazy thing I do every summer and just dying to tell somebody. Continue reading “Crazy Annual Summer Tradition”
What is the difference between an astringent and a toner?
I know many people out there’s probably read an article or two about the differences between an astringent and a corrective toner. In fact I think I am probably one of those people who’s been unknowingly using the wrong product for the past 10 years. So maybe this post can help you or maybe you’ll learn nothing out of this other than some laughs because you don’t use either of the products.
Continue reading “What is the difference between an astringent and a toner?”How I almost went deaf yesterday?
I had almost gone deaf yesterday. 😮
It was all because of this incessant beeping coming from somewhere within the house. It beeps every 5 minutes or so and it’s been driving me crazy for the last three days. Of course, as usual, mom had a gut instinct but she did not want to go explore and find out exactly which of the many alarms and detectors in the house was making that sound. She put me in charge.
Well, I had a gut instinct, too. I knew it was coming from basement. So yesterday, after working for 5 hours and listening to that beeping, I went downstairs to explore.
As I made my way down, I began to feel a little like a detective solving a case. I got the very bottom and stared up at the smoke detector even though my gut was telling me it was Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector but we just changed the batteries a few months ago. Anyway, it’s good to make sure.
I stared up at it for what felt like a long time, 5 minutes feels forever when you’re doing nothing but waiting for a sound. As I became unaware, that beeping sounded, louder than it was upstairs but it wasn’t coming from the smoke detector, it was coming from inside that mechanical closet.
It was just as I thought originally. It was the CO detector, not the smoke detector. I picked it up from its place next to the pipe and stared at it. It wasn’t beeping. Then I turned it over and read the fine print.
It said, “Low battery, 1 beep every 4 minutes”. Well there’s my answer.
I began to try to remove the lid standing up and then it happened. It beeped all of the sudden. I jumped back, scaring the heck out of me. Not only that, it was so loud, and for the next few seconds, everything I heard was muffled.
I placed the detector on the desk and removed the lid and saw the batteries. No wonder, three batteries, two same, one different. No wonder it was out of battery.
I took out the first battery and a loud beep once again rang in my ears, making me jump and everything I hear muffle again. After my heart stopped pounding so hard, I continued removing the remaining batteries and put fresh ones in.
Another loud beep sounded after I put the third battery in. “Jeez!” I muttered. At this rate, I’d be deaf. I replaced the lid and pressed the test/reset button. Four loud beeps penetrated my ears and the room making me jump yet again. Looks like it works to me, I thought while the back of my mind was praying. Please please please be a long long time before it beeps again.
I placed it back to its original location and went back upstairs.
Two lessons here:
- Never buy batteries at the dollar store. They never last.
- If one battery’s out, change all of them instead of just changing one.
Thanks for listening!
Tips when choosing your college major
Having just finish my first degree, I think I can say I know a few things about choosing a college major. Continue reading “Tips when choosing your college major”
You snooze, you lose
You snooze, you lose. That is just the lesson I learned today. Continue reading “You snooze, you lose”
Title and Hook – Ways to Capture Readers’ Attention
Everyday, millions if not billions of internet articles, books, journal articles, etc. are waiting to be read. However we don’t have time to read so many while some is just not appealing to us. Therefore, as a writer and an avid reader, the first ten seconds is the most important. Continue reading “Title and Hook – Ways to Capture Readers’ Attention”
Tantrums
Tantrums. In my opinion, a risky thing to have especially around love ones. Continue reading “Tantrums”
A world without color
Sometimes, I wonder, what it would be like to live in a world with no color? Would it make picking clothes out of a department store easier? What about daily outfits? It’s just black and white, right? No need to decide between a rainbow of colors. Continue reading “A world without color”
What have We become?
As I mentioned before in a previous post, my mom visited China in October and one of the places she went to was Nanchang, a city located in the province of Jiangxi.
Continue reading “What have We become?”
Annual Christmas TV Programs: What’s not to Like?
Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there’s always hardly anything to watch on TV. Continue reading “Annual Christmas TV Programs: What’s not to Like?”
Do these people ever care about the price tags?
Do you know someone who buys things without looking or caring about the price tag? Continue reading “Do these people ever care about the price tags?”
This is Another Story 