Tag: Daily Post

Come out of the Shell

Published on by Yinglan11 Comments

You know the two questions I hate being asked, especially behind my back because people thinks I’m incapable of answering? Do you have a boyfriend? Are you autistic? (Seriously, I had someone ask that one before, a very rude classmate of my mom’s).

I will get myself a boyfriend when I’m good and ready. When my heart desires love, I will go find it, who know how but I will go find it when I’m ready. I went on Facebook a few days ago, it was the first time I logged in in several months. I changed my profile picture in addition to browse around the newsfeed to see what’s my “friends” (air-quote) are up to.

I had to sigh because it proves so much that I do not have a life. Most of my high school classmates have a husband, a family, and some already have kids. My former middle school bestie, she was considered the quickest of us all. She was married, divorced, and had a son at 20! It seems like I’m the only one that’s remained unchanged with no activities, still living at home, no life.

Just now, I got into a small argument with my mom all because I had to put the almond milk back into the fridge and she’s moving around like crazy. I was just about to close the fridge door and she’s there. She bumped into me. I said oops and she blamed me for bumping into her.

Then the subject went from that to why I don’t go out and social or why am I stuck at home all day. I didn’t answer. There is no good answer to this question. I don’t go out and social because well, I don’t want to; I don’t like to. I prefer to be by myself. Just because you like to social and meet people doesn’t mean I like to. Maybe that’s the problem. I am anti-social. I don’t know how to talk to people.

Someday though, maybe I’ll finally come out of my shell.

Yeah, like that

My Ideal Saturday Morning

Published on by Yinglan2 Comments

Daily Prompt: What’s your ideal Saturday morning? Are you doing those things this morning? Why not?Saturday

My ideal Saturday morning is probably to sit in front of the computer blogging or reading a book while drinking Hot Cocoa and not be bothered by anyone. No homework, just write, read, and relax. Boy, I haven’t had those for a while, not since my mother’s monthly drill in September before my aunt and cousin got here.

I can really use some me time but unfortunately, I can’t do it today. I have to volunteer to file taxes for the low income this morning and then who knows what my mom will drag me to do after. I’m in the computer lab right now, waiting for my first customer, who know when that’s going to be. So I’m taking this chance to answer this insanely trivial daily prompt.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy my short crime-solving story I published this morning. 🙂

No Last Words

Published on by Yinglan8 Comments

Daily Prompt: You have the chance to write one last post on your blog before you stop blogging forever. Write it.

I am going to write it.

There are probably only two reasons in this entire universe why I would ever stop blogging. 1. sudden death and 2. I got a job and am busy as hell. Even then, the end of this blog would be sudden. There wouldn’t be one last post even if I was given the chance.

I wouldn’t even know what to say. I guess the only words I can say are…

A big thank you to all you readers out there who had found the things I write so interesting that you’re compelled to follow me. That I have enjoyed writing and honing my writing skills.

I actually told my mom about my blog last night during dinner with her friend’s daughter (the one we helped to move) and before I could finish my sentence, she cut in and said. “Oh, they’re just silly stories.” I mean, seriously? After that, they just went on with their conversation, ignoring me completely.

Oh well, whatever. I am used to feel invisible.

I am now left with her two pet turtles and have no clue how to take care of them. I don’t even know their names! So far, my mom’s mostly been the one to take care of it. She’s the one to promise someone to turtle-sit, not me.

What Makes a Bad Day

Published on by Yinglan9 Comments

My strongest memory of heart-pounding, belly-twisting nervousness (it’s more anxiety than nervousness) was this morning. Seriously, I am having a bad and weird day.

I was super exhausted last night and I’m not sure whether I didn’t set my alarm last night or my alarm didn’t go off this morning or what. When I open my eyes this morning, it took me a second to register my clock read 8:09. I’ve overslept. Thank god the alarm clock is off by 10 minutes and that it’s actually 7:59 but still I overslept.

My chest was pounding as I almost fell out of bed. “Oh my god,” I kept saying as I dressed, brushed my teeth, and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I stuffed all my things into my backpack, grabbed a pair of socks, and a breakfast shake and I was out of the door.

When I got to the garage, I pressed the button to open the trunk, the trunk didn’t pop. That’s weird, I thought. I pressed again, still, nothing. I was really scared then and it left me with no choice but to do it the old-fashion way, open it with the key. On the way to school, I blamed my mom, blaming her for causing me to oversleep, blaming her that she’d done something to the trunk last night when she was moving all the things we got from her friend’s daughter’s apartment to the garage.

It was partly her fault because she knew I have school today and still dragged me to her friend’s daughter’s apartment in Salt Lake City last night. For two hours last night, I spent moving back and forth with pots, pans, and boxes of seasonings from the apartment to the car.

Two boxes full of seasonings

Her friend’s daughter and I’ve known each other since I was five and she was four, so you can technically call her my childhood friend. Four years ago, she moved to Salt Lake City to attend college there. Last December, she graduated with a Bachelor in Business.

Now that she’s graduated, it’s time for her to return her apartment keys to the landlord. Her landlord’s given her two days to move out but the apartment is still piled high with stuff. Seriously, I have never seen so much stuff in my life. I should had secretly taken a picture but I didn’t bring anything with me last night.

We didn’t spend two hours helping her pack last night, if that’s what you’re wondering. She’s rich, she has people for that. No, her mom has requested her to give her stuff away and only keep the essentials. Her mom has also bought so much stuff that her house in California has no more room. Even her brand-new BMW has to park on the street.

Two sets of knives

My mom spent two hours last night digging through through the things like people searching for priceless junk at the thrift store. I stood out of the way, only helping to transfer the things into the car. At the end of two hours, the back-seat of the car plus the trunk was so full that I couldn’t put another thing in there. So we decided to come home and go again tonight.

The best thing I got last night was my friend’s radio with the iPod plugin. My iPod’s battery is getting worse and worse and I’m pretty sure that I have to replace it soon. I mean I can only get through 200 songs now and it needs a recharge. Getting this radio is like the thing I wanted for a long time because if my iPod battery is going bad, I might as well listen to my music on AC power.

My favorite: I’ve been looking for ya!

I’ve had this kind of radio once but it broke within 3 months of purchase. So I had to returned for a refund and since then, I didn’t dare to buy another one. My friend’s radio looked promising since it costed her $200 and I thought, that has to be something if she’s willing to pay $200 for an alarm clock-radio. And it is. The sound from its speaker is magnificent and it can charge my ancient iPod and that is all I want. Just please last this time.

As for the trunk of the car, well, I guess I’ll wait for my mom to fix it. I saw her do something to it last night. So I’m pretty sure she can fix it.

An Unforgettable Sunday

Published on by Yinglan1 Comment

Daily Prompt: Take a subject you’re familiar with and imagine it as three photos in a sequence. Tackle the subject by describing those three shots. Continue reading “An Unforgettable Sunday” →

To Places of Curiosity

Published on by Yinglan1 Comment

Before blogging, I used to spend most of my free time watching television shows on Hulu and one of the show was House Hunter International. I watch this show not because I want to know what fabulous houses people are going to buy. I watch it because it spends a segment of every episode exploring the location, from basic detail like where it’s located to other fun facts like economy and its chief import and export, facts that might just get the viewers curious enough to visit the place as well.

Some of the places I want to visit someday, in general, are South America and Asia (excluding China). Of course, I want to see Europe as well but watching news, travel shows and reading some of the travel blogs got me curious about these places about whether or not the news had been exaggerating about these places or if it’s indeed dangerous to visit. Like Mexico, my mom told me that severed head hung on the highway. Hair sticks out my skin just to hear that. Yet I see people house hunting in Mexico. I know there are good places and dark places and then there are places that are too dangerous to visit but you know what I mean? Curious.

Pailón del Diablo waterfall, Ecuador
Like this waterfall in Ecuador

Like my mom, I am sort of a history buff as well. So I want to go into the heart of South America and explore all the places that only a few tourists are interested to go there. I want to mingle with the locals and learn about the culture instead of doing what tourists do, lay on the beach and go shopping.

Michu Picchu, Peru. The "lost city" of the Incas.
To explore the “lost city” of the Incas

I have to laugh a little because two years ago, before I even graduated with my Bachelor’s, I was already looking for jobs outside the U.S.. At the time, all I was thinking was getting the hell away from my mom because she wasn’t as tolerable as she had been these past months. Anyway, I showed her the list of location I want to apply and she was like, “you can’t go there. It’s too dangerous. No, you can’t go there either, living is too expensive there.”

Basically, the only places she approved were China and U.K. because she’s got a friend there and told me I could bunk with her friend and her husband. Okay, that would be the last thing I want, have another reminder of home. She also urged me to go down under since she’s got a friend whose son goes to college there. Again, no.

That’s why I choose South America and parts of Asia as my dream destination for if I ever have enough fund to travel. To places of the curious minds and places my mom and her friends would never go.

All images credit goes to pinterest

Don’t Waste Food

Published on by Yinglan4 Comments

The other day, I had to throw the remainder of a pumpkin pie I made more than a week ago down the garbage disposal. All because Continue reading “Don’t Waste Food” →

An alternative to the Water Cooler

Published on by Yinglan4 Comments

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I would love to un-invent the water cooler. It had turned my life upside down ever since my mom bought it a year ago. Every two weeks, I have to go to the local supermarket to pump 5 gallons of water, $0.41 a gallon. Do you have any idea how heavy water is? I almost always end up bumping my bad knee against the shopping cart when I’m trying lift this thing to place inside the cart. Oh and don’t forgot about the possibility of tipping over on the car ride home even after I strapped it onto the backseat.

Having a water cooler also means my drinking water supply had been limited. Before when we’re still buying the filter for the refrigerator, I can fill my bottle water whenever I want. You see, I don’t want to go up and down the stairs to get water. I like to have drinkable water in my room.

However, the filter for the refrigerator is more expensive than what we have now, supermarket drinking water. So that’s all the more reason why this thing needs to un-invented. It had caused me to have to resort to filling my water at the school fountain even now that my aunt and cousin had left.

Trust me, when they’re here, 5-gallons of water would be gone in 2-days without me and mom hardly drinking any of it. They like the hot water function and are so accustomed to drinking hot water since tap water in China is just a big fat joke and everything needs to be boiled before it can be drunk. When they were going to community school here, they’d take 3 large liter-bottles to school each day since the fountain water is too cold for them.

Now that they’ve left, we once again have the water supply to ourselves and so far, it’s been more than a week and only half of bottle has been drunk. I will have to go fill a new bottle on Friday though since the pharmacy’s next door to the market and I don’t want run twice.

As for the consequences of un-inventing the water cooler, perhaps, companies and businesses can put out bottles of water or put a refrigerator with filtered water function in the break room. There problem solved.

Oh by the way, for those of you who are curious why we don’t drink tap water either is because the water here come from snow melt and as it make its way down the mountain, it collect too much mineral and sediment like Calcium. Calcium is good to build strong bones but too much will lead to kidney stones and that’s yikes.

An offer I badly want to refuse

Published on by Yinglan7 Comments

In the fall of 2013, my former-boss, Mr. Li came to town. He, his wife, son, and brother-in-law didn’t know a single word in English. They were to enroll at the school I was employing at the time and since my mom and I were the only ones at the school that spoke Chinese and English, we had to helped them to get their son enrolled.

After that, they came to us for everything and I mean everything. We helped them set up and install everything in their rental home from utilities to phone to TV to internet. They even called us once to ask how to eat a pie. They spent a great deal of time over at our place too. Chatting and just about interrupted every aspect of our daily life.

Then he offered me a job. $15 an hour, just interpretation and running, even reimburse for gas in case of travel. At the sound of it, yeah, it sure sounded great but it was an offer I wanted to refuse, horribly. I knew it would be incredibly demanding and with school and work, I don’t have time for other demands. So I refused.

But my mom went on and on about how Mr. Li was handing money to me and how I was so stupid not to take the job and then she called China and made me talk to both of my aunts who too lectured me on my stupidity. It was a never ending battle and it was one I cannot win. I mean three against one, how can I? I had to surrender and take the job.

So I was working two jobs while completing my last few classes at the University. It was ridiculous. During my work time at the school, Mrs. Li would randomly stroll into my classroom and demand I take her shopping. I mean didn’t she see me working?

After school, I was a tutor for another student and my mom was to provide additional help to Mr. Li’s son but eventually that turned into my job too.

That period, September 2013 to March 2014, was most likely the hardest time of my life. I worked three, sometimes four jobs while squeezing time in between to catch up on my homework. I was barely home except for sleeping. It was a wonder how I passed my classes.

These many hands would’ve been so helpful at the time

The thing is, when I first met Mr. Li, I kind of knew he wasn’t the kind of person I want to associated with. I guess I just have the ability of reading people, to know whether they can be trusted and whether it will be good to be associated with them.

Of course, Mr. Li is trustworthy. Unfortunately, he’s not association-worthy and as usual, my mom ignored my suggestion and as usual, I was completely right.

Because Mr. Li came here on a business visa, he had to gather enough employees to keep his visa. So he dragged my mom down too, made her his employee and handed her a couple of paychecks. Now, it’s tax time and she is in trouble. Because of the extra income from Mr. Li, she now has more taxes to pay. I do too because of Mr. Li’s unethical practices. He claims he’s helping me but in fact he’s hurting me.

And our W-2s still hadn’t arrive and Mr. Li is nowhere to be found. So is it too late to rub it in her face and say I told you so?

Optimism Backfired

Published on by Yinglan5 Comments

Daily Prompt: Tell us how your week went by putting together a playlist of  five songs that represent it.

Five songs? I can’t possibly put together a playlist that represented how my week went. One reason being I do not know a song that truly describes everyday of my week. The other is that I feel terribly embarrassed when it comes to sharing the books I am reading, the baby-oopsshows I watch, and the music I like. I’m afraid that if people know I still watch Disney Channel and listen to Disney Kids music (oops), they would laugh at me. Unfortunately, I’ve been watching the mouse network and listening to its music since I’ve arrived in America and I am not going to stop anytime soon.

Anyway, my week had been a total roller coaster, I think. I can’t remember most of it. I remember yesterday though and boy, was I pissed! My mom was urging me to finish the case briefs (which I’ve been doing all week) on the one hand while whining about her job order on the other. I mean how can I possibly concentrate with someone constant shouting and barging in and out my room?

Early yesterday morning, she went to the school to take the first exam for her class. She didn’t come back until around 2 hours later and the second she stepped through the door, she immediately started complaining about the air force dentist extracting two of her molars.

“I didn’t know you were going to the dentist.” I said to her.

“No!” She answered exasperatedly. It turned out her status had been downgrade the day before.  She’s in military, you see. Apparently when you’re downgraded, it meant your job was in trouble.

So in order for her to keep her job, she had to get two of her molars extracted at the last second. Ouch!

She told me her molars were rotten, that it was blacker than a plum when they pulled it. Her words, not mine.

The entire afternoon, she was complaining about her toothache. I got to the point that I was so darn frustrated at the sound of her and anyone’s voice. I just want to scream.

Then last night, we attended our last instructor-led training for VITA before I’m set to volunteer next week or maybe even the week after. This morning, we finally got certified to file people’s taxes! I’m so excited!

Oh, I think the biggest thing this week would be today, I have decided to drop my Business Law class. I just cannot handle it. There are just too much homework and with work and volunteering, it’s too overwhelming for me. Also, the teacher is kind of ridiculous. It takes him like a month to answer a single email. And I don’t even think he grade any of my homework!

Yesterday, I got my grade back for my last assignment, he gave me a 50! He said it’s because my assignment had 55% similar when it fact it’s only 16% similar. He looked at my first submission instead of my third. So last night, while I was sleeping restlessly, tossing around thinking of the pile of work I have to do today and I decided. I cannot do it any longer. This simply cannot go on any longer. It’s not really like me but I am giving up.

Two weeks ago, my mom had already asked me to drop and get a full refund but I was too darn optimistic that the class will only get better. Now, I can only get 80% of my money back. Oh well, it’s better than nothing. Ugh, sometimes, I really hate my optimistic spirit.

Oh, and since this prompt is about sharing music, I thought I’d this old favorite of mine. Actually, it’s not that old, I just haven’t listen to it for a long while. Embarrassingly, I have to say it’s teen music, Disney, and kind of hip pop but it’s a positive track unlike most of the music nowadays.

I thought to relive a little of my old simple life, back when I still lived in an apartment and something isn’t constantly needing fixing.  As for school, maybe after I dropped my Business Law class, it will free up my time just a little. Then my other classes won’t feel so neglected anymore. I will just have to try again in the fall. I guess just keep moving forward.

The Great Loosening

Published on by Yinglan7 Comments

Home…Soil…Rain…

It reminds me of Fall 2009, just about two months after we moved into our current home. To be honest, I still can’t see why my mom had purchased this house. Of all the houses we looked at, she just had to pick this one.

We spent almost two weeks after moving in painting and cleaning the walls. It was so full of fingerprints and grease that it’s disgusting just to talk about it. We also cleaned every nooks and corners of this house except underneath the range; we didn’t clean that until we replaced the range in 2011. You have no idea what sort of weird objects we found. Currently, the only place remained  uncleaned is the deck outside and I don’t ever want to touch that.

There are a lot of garbage underneath that deck. It used to be the previous family’s go to trash can when they did take-out every single night.

Anyway, back to Fall 2009. In our backyard, we have this huge plot of soil.

This wasn’t always like this. Back we moved in, this lied an above ground swimming pool. After the previous owner removed the pool, we were left with this awkward polygon shape plot of soil. My mom thought we’d turn it into a garden except the surface at the time resembled this:

Credit: ritavaags.blogspot.com

The summer was dry that year, I remember. We didn’t get a lot of rain and every commercial on TV was screaming at us, conserve, don’t water your lawn.

In September or October, we finally got a decent storm and when the storm finally ended, I decided to take a shovel, go out into the backyard and start loosening up the soil. The day was wet and damp but the air felt fresh and breathable for the first time in a while. I set my shovel on the soil and effortlessly lifted it. The top layer resembled mud but the soil was drying up quickly, I had to work fast.

Finally, I managed to get the top soil loosened and then I began digging into the next layer and the next and the next. Of course, my mom came out and helped but after a short time, she gave up and went back into the house, leaving me out there to continue digging.

By the time I completed and went back into the house, it was about 4 or 5 hours later. My whole body ached but when I looked out at the plot of land, I couldn’t help to admire the result of my hard work. It no longer looked like a desert, it looked like a garden.

That year, we planted three plum trees (two on this plot of land and one in the front yard) and two blueberry bushes. The tree in the front yard survived but the two in the back along with the blueberry bushes died. We didn’t know why at first but we found out later that too much Chlorine had seeped from the pool water. The soil was toxic to plants.

We had spent the past five years or so neutralizing the soil with topsoil and cow manure. It’s worked so far but the trees and plants are still struggling, I can tell. You can tell too. The apple tree has been there for five years, yet it’s hardly grown. Not enough nutrients in the soil.

We planted cherry trees for the third time two years ago but it died after a few months. So last year, we decided on Asian Pear Trees and it barely survived the year.

The entire yard was covered in frost.  I had to be very careful this morning when I stepped out to marvel at the beautiful blue sky. Not for long though, spring is coming real soon and we’ll have to start planting again.

I wonder what my mom has in mind this year. I know snow peas are a definite yes. I know she’s already given up on corn. We probably won’t have blackberries this year, well maybe. As you can see in the above picture, my aunt’s went overboard with the trimming. I still can’t believe she did that. Hopefully this garden will flourish this year.

Have to get back to my assignment, so ciao for now. 🙂

Blogging 101: Introduction

Published on by Yinglan6 Comments

In less than a month, this blog turns 2! Continue reading “Blogging 101: Introduction” →

A Change of Scenery

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Hello and greetings from Idaho! Continue reading “A Change of Scenery” →

What Happened Next…

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Continued from Breathe in the Fume… Continue reading “What Happened Next…” →

Can I relax now?

Published on by Yinglan2 Comments

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Well, this week has been fun. Not really. Monday was my first day off for my Winter Break and I mean real day off where I have the house to myself for a few hours. I thought I’d write a lot this week, perhaps work on story I noted on my other blog but unfortunately, my week was ruin by my project manager and her stupid concern email. After working for such a long period, my creativity meter’s level fell to zero.

Thankfully, I just finished my work, just a few minutes ago actually. Hmm, I wonder if I can finally let out a breath and enjoy my holidays. In the last 3 days, I have worked 20.5 hours and translated over 5000 words. I woke up at 4 am yesterday and 6 am today to complete this annoying and boring monthly deadline. Yesterday, I’ve check and found out next month, there’s more. The deadline? January 12, the first day of school. I do hope I can complete it.

Anyway, now that I’ve done this month’s work and ran out of “me” time, I think I’d spend the last measly hours today, aside from going to the orthodontist and do the impression for my retainer, I think I’m going to blast the music on my stereo and sing. Ha ha, maybe but I think I have some other matters to take care of first:

  1. My AAA card will expire, got to call and take my mother’s name off it and pay the bill.
  2. I received a gift card two months and I think there’s a problem with it, so got to call and wait and wait.

After that, I hope people would chill for a while and cool it with the deadlines.

Convey Emotions to Get Something

Published on by Yinglan4 Comments

Okay, these prompts are getting more ridiculous and uninspiring by the day. Did something happen? Did the group of people that usually come up with the prompts go home for the holiday, leaving a bunch of substitutes in charge of the prompt?

Anyway, I’m terrible with conveying emotions with objects. And something I learned over the years, you only mean something to someone when they need something or want something from you. Like would my dear friends from middle school contact me unless they need help with homework or other sort of things? No!

My mother’s friends are the same, they don’t call her unless they need help with something. So in reverse, I really don’t see the need to convey this message unless I’m stuck on a island or something in need of help. Then, I would arrange tiny rocks on the beach that will spell out, “HELP!”

If I’m trying to convey my emotion with my mother, I wouldn’t need 5-10 objects, I would just use a big box of chocolate in the shape of a heart. Doesn’t that says enough?

*****

I guess I jinxed my vacation in yesterday’s post because yesterday afternoon, I received a somewhat urgent email from my project manager asking why aren’t we working. I mean, can’t a girl take a break? After all, finals are just barely over and it’s the holidays!

Apparently not, so today, I have to work. Ugh!!! 😦

A Rebel and A Hero

Published on by Yinglan1 Comment

Unsung heroes, eh? I’m not sure I have any having known so few people in my life. My biggest hero at the current moment is my mother who wakes up and leaves for work at 4 am everyday. Then she’d come home at around 5, cook, browse the internet, sleep, and then do it all over again.

I admire that about her, hard working and willing to sacrifice. I mean I think I’m a hard worker too but I don’t think I will ever be as a hard worker as she is. I don’t think I’d have the courage to go through basic training at the age of 42 or be able to complete 2 miles in 15 minutes.

Also I don’t think I have the guts to rebel against my family whereas my mother went against her parents’ wish by going to school and get a higher education instead of going into the job force right out of high school like her siblings. At the moment, my mother’s the only one in her family with a college degree and just so happens be the least favorite person in not only my grandfather’s mind but everyone else’s mind. I guess that makes her the unsung hero in her family.

*****

I have exactly 20 hours to myself this week and I intend to cherish every bit of it. Yes, I’m the only one who’s off this week. My mother has work and aunt and cousin has school. So now, I need to eat, go to the gym, and work on rewriting the novel I’ve been working for the past year.

See you tomorrow. 🙂

Breathe, Relax, and Smile, Exams are over

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Breathe, relax, smile, exams are over!

To be honest, I didn’t want to write today but my mind kept telling me that today’s prompt’s easy and I should at least write something. Oh well, at least I’ll complete this in 10 minutes.

I woke this morning at 7-something by my mother barging into my room shaking me awake. Today was my last final exam of the semester and it’s the toughest, individual taxation, yikes. Right now, I feel like my brain’s fried and about to explode into a million pieces but I’ve missed my TV show. Oh well.

At 8 am, after I had two pieces of toast, I proceeded to my mother’s room where she went over every single note she’d written down for the course. You see, she took the same exam yesterday and had a few ideas of what I’ll encounter today.  As I sat there and listened to her talk, I felt like my brain was about to explode with new knowledge flowing from my ears and eyes to my brain every single second.

It went on for roughly two hours. After that, I went back to my room and studied everything all over again, twice three maybe five times (I lost count) before I ate lunch and drove to school, to my doom.

The exam was both what I expected and not what I expected. Some questions325420429_ManyQuestions_answer_2_xlarge jumped out while some, I felt lost like I haven’t a single clue what to do. I did alright, I guess, enough to secure me a “B” in this class, if the professor’s nice enough to give me the remaining 0.2% to get me a “B” instead of “B-“.

What I’m worrying the most about is yesterday’s exam. I just hope the professor is nice enough to give me a “B” in that class too. Then I won’t have to live with a “C” in my first semester of my graduate program. A “C” is not too bad though, at least it’s better than an “E”, now that’s devastating to my GPA.

But anyway, the semester’s finally over and I can finally take a breath, yay! 🙂

Pain in the Neck

Published on by Yinglan4 Comments

Today’s prompt is very odd and specific, Today, write a post about the topic of your choice — using only one-syllable words.

I don’t know why but my aunt has been a pain in the neck of late. I find her now and then to speak her thoughts out loud. Like how she comes up the stairs and says, “I need to pee.”

I’m like, I don’t need to know that. Just go!

Then each day, at ’round 2, she will ask me, “What will we eat?”

I’ll be like, “We just ate lunch and you want to know the next meal?” At least let me get some work done first, then I’ll think ’bout food.

That’s the laugh! Shoulders go up and down

The thing that drives me nuts is the way she laughs. I don’t know how to tell you. If you look to your left, it says a lot. It’s quite weird and now and then, I get mad ’cause come on, I have a lot of work here and what you do does not help me.

The third and last thing is that she speaks so darn loud. When I sit next to herand she turns to me to talk, I feel like she talks through a bull-horn. Now and then, I’d tell her, “please bring your voice down.” Still, she keeps her voice loud as a mic. Ugh, I feel like I will go deaf if she goes on this loud.

I took my first final exam to-day and got 100%. Yay! One down, three to go. 🙂

Something I learned about blogging…

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Today’s prompt says, What’s the most important (or interesting, or unexpected) thing about blogging you know today that you didn’t know a month ago?

This last month, I hardly been following up with blogs. The most I did was writing. Sometimes, if I had time, I would read a few but I spent most of my time doing homework and preparing tests. I probably did a little more yesterday.

Let’s see, I thought it was time for a change so I changed the background to a lovely winter sunrise for this blog. On my other blog, Hidden Stars, I did a complete theme change since I needed some relaxation after the exam yesterday and could only sit rigidly anyway. Apparently the nerves in my shoulder and neck is swollen and that’s why it hurt so much.

I have my four finals this week and then I’d be free!

A quick note to readers that are are also following Hidden Stars, you might have noticed I haven’t been posting the serial fiction in about two weeks. I’ve been procrastinating. I’ll be posting after finals.

So you see, I hardly learned anything new about blogging in the past month. I think if you compared it with the beginning of the year, there might be more to write about.

As you’ve read in my post, Longest Streak in Blogging, this blog was started last February. I didn’t know how to tag my posts then. Let’s just say, at the beginning, I was under-tagging and then I was excessively tagging, and then six months ago, I was finally getting it (15 or less tags per post).

Something important I learned in the recent months, in order to get more eyeballs and likes on your blog, you need to:

  • Write based on a prompt
  • Have lots and lots of loyal followers, or
  • You .need to publish something that everybody wants to read

Let’s just say after I participated in daily prompt on this blog as well as various flash-fiction challenges on Hidden Stars, I’ve seen my viewership double, maybe triple or quadruple in the past few months even if the new follower per post has decreased.

The increase in viewership was what kept me going this past year. That’s the most important thing I learned, the support from readers will keep me from saying goodbye to this blog in 2014. Bring it on, 2015!

The Toughest Decision of a Lifetime

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In July of 2007, I ultimately made the toughest decision I’ve ever made in my entire life (at least so far). I was literally involved in a game of tug-of-war between my parents. The decision: to stay with my step-father or to leave with my mother. Continue reading “The Toughest Decision of a Lifetime” →

The Fall When Everything Changed

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Sometimes, I wondered, if we stayed in California, would I be successful with going to college early? Would I still be friends with the people I’ve known since the 5th grade? Or would the result still be the same? Continue reading “The Fall When Everything Changed” →

A Golden Key

Published on by Yinglan8 Comments

I didn’t post yesterday and I am procrastinating on the one I am writing today. I don’t know why but with three exams this week and I haven’t really studied for any of them (I guess I just don’t feel like it), I am not really feeling inspired.

Besides if I was given a golden key, the place I want it to open isn’t really a place, it’s just a figment of my imagination. That place is my aunt’s brain.

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My aunt has three stuffed tigers, a large one that’s currently occupying a seat on the reclining couch in the living room and two little ones that’s resting on her bed. She treats them like a real person which is creepy to some people. She doesn’t want anyone touching it and she’s always fears it might be cold so she’s always covering it with a blanket.

DSCN0018 1I remember the first time she came to visit us, she came out of the airport carrying a tiger backpack. At first I was like what???  I felt a bit weird walking the street with someone that’s eighteen years older than me, yet smaller than me and carrying such a childish backpack.

After she left, my mother called home to her sister and asked what was the deal with the tiger backpack. It turned out because her long-time boyfriend who passed away a few years back was born in the year of the tiger. So carrying that backpack was her way of being with him.

After that, I felt sad for my aunt but at the same time, a little creep out. I felt sad because the family was making fun of her when they should be supporting her. Some people just don’t know what’s like to lose someone they love. My aunt buying stuffed tigers is her way to cope.

So if there’s a key (figuratively speaking) that can unlock my aunt’s mind, I can enter that tall forbidden tower and help my aunt to possibly cope with the loss of her love.