Tag: Happiness

How I almost went deaf yesterday?

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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:

  1. Never buy batteries at the dollar store. They never last.
  2. If one battery’s out, change all of them instead of just changing one.

Thanks for listening!

Back to Work

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It’s Monday and that means it’s back to work! Continue reading “Back to Work” →

Tips when choosing your college major

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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” →

Last Day of May

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It’s hard to believe May just flew by and it’s June already. May has been an over-productive month for me Continue reading “Last Day of May” →

To buy or not to buy?

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I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep because this land fiasco is scaring the crap out of me. My mom is having second thoughts again about the little piece of land I mentioned in my post and this time, she’s managed to dragged me into it as well. Continue reading “To buy or not to buy?” →

Thank god for the cooler day

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This past week has been so crazy! At the beginning of the week, the temperature suddenly jumped from the 60’s to the 80’s and yesterday, 90’s! Continue reading “Thank god for the cooler day” →

The light at the end of the tunnel

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I just got back from the orthodontist. Continue reading “The light at the end of the tunnel” →

An Epiphany

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Last night, as I tossed and turned, kept awake by the lack of air conditioning and wind, I had an epiphany. Continue reading “An Epiphany” →

Spring Cleaning

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Spring Cleaning, that was how I spent my Memorial Day.  I didn’t do it all at once though.  Like those drawers, I haven’t got to them yet, sadly.  All I did was clean the floors which thankfully, I didn’t have to clean the whole thing.

My mom dragged me out of my room and downstairs so I could begin cleaning the living room while my mom moved everything out of the shoe closet.  The floor was seriously dusty, dust bunnies literally blew across the floor.  I guess that’s what happens when you have to turn on the heat six months out of the year, dust accumulates in the vents and ducts and out it goes onto the floor.

DSCF9583
There’s the living room, sparkly clean

We finally turned off the heat tonight, though.  I feel so relieved to finally be able to open my window ’cause it feels so hot and stuffy with everything closed.  And of course, my mom has zero patience when it comes to slow moving work.  She wants me to clean but she wants it fast.  Well, you can only have one of those, either slow and clean or fast and dirty.

I wasn’t even done with the living room when she took over. Then she almost flew through the house, cleaning at the speed of superman, colliding into every furniture I could think of.

DSCF9580
the Swiffer mop, it has been some tragedies during the times my mom used it

My mother used to be a housekeeper when she first came to the U.S. and a housekeeper needs to clean everyday at a record rate. The house she worked for just so happened to be owned by a family of slop. So I can imagine how she became the clean freak as she is today.  I’ll bet if there’s a Olympic event for cleaning, she’d be the first to win it. 🙂

Anyway, she didn’t let me mess with her cleaning but while she went out to change the water, I took the sweet opportunity to snap some pictures. I know, it’s stupid but she tends to make me watch her while she cleans so I can learn how to do in the future.  I would never get it anyways. Cleaning is cleaning.

She finished the job in half of the time it usually takes me although I am still questioning if her efforts is the same as mine.  I opened the window to blow dry the floor while taking another chance to snap more pictures. Then it was done, it was all the cleaning we can manage, I can at least for today.  It is hard to imagine that before my neighbor introduced me to the Swiffer mop, I actually used a cloth, got down on two knees, and scrubbed the floor clean like Cinderella.

Are Drawers for Organizing or Disorganizing?

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As I sit here at my desk tapping my nails on the desk trying to decide what to write for my next post, my mom is downstairs loudly rummaging through the kitchen drawers looking for the nail clipper.  “Where’s the nail clipper?” She yells.  Immediately, I know that is my queue to go investigate.  I rolled my eyes and sighed.

I take a few steps out of my room and shout back, “It’s in the first drawer.”

“It’s not there!” I groan and drag my feet down 10 steps down into the kitchen and start rummaging through the drawer myself.

Talk about messy. You can't find anything in there!
The topmost drawer

I look down into the drawer and my eyes popped out like Spike the bulldog.  Didn’t I clean this drawer just a few weeks ago? Or was it a few months ago?

I shuffled through the content looking for the nail clipper and I too cannot find it.  “It’s not here! Maybe it’s in your room.” I yell while wondering, could it have accidentally fallen into the garbage? Both of us are a little forgetful these days what with our work and our GMAT exam’s coming up. One of us could have used the nail clipper and attempted to put it back into the drawer but missed it and landed in the garbage.

As my mom finished rummaging her room, she came back down while I went back up to rummage through her room some more.  The second I arrived on the landing upstairs, she shouts triumphantly, “I found it!”

Whew. Now I can finally go back into my room and write that blog post.  Given what had just happened, a light bulb lit up in my head.  However, after seeing that mess in the most used drawer in the entire house, my head begins to pound. Because this means that within the next two weeks during my mom’s time off from work, I’ll have to spend a day reorganizing the drawers.  Throwing away any expired coupons, no longer usable receipts, and other scraps of paper.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Seeing the picture above is just the topmost drawer.  You don’t even want to see the bottom three drawers but here’s just a little sneak peek at the next drawer down…

This is as far as it can open right now.
This is as far as it can open right now.

It is filled with used/unused plastic bags from grocery shopping for storing meats, vegetables, and wonton/dumplings, potentially important invitations and other unimportant mail, and all kinds of junk I don’t even want to know.  Then there’s the two more drawers which I don’t even want to know what kind of mystery is hidden there.

Really makes you think about the purpose drawers serve, doesn’t it?

Aren’t drawers suppose to provide some sort of organization? To help us find things more easily? So we don’t have to run all over the house looking for the thing we need right at the moment?

You snooze, you lose

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You snooze, you lose. That is just the lesson I learned today. Continue reading “You snooze, you lose” →

Fear of snakes or just don’t like the view

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For about three weeks now, I’ve been looking at this piece of land with my mom.  For some reason, she can’t make up her mind about purchasing the land. For me, it doesn’t really matter since I may or may not live there.

In these three weeks, she’s been coming up with excuses after another.

  1. Don’t like the floorplan. My solution for her: Choose another one, after all, it’s a house that’s about to be built, not one that’s already built.  You get to make all the decisions.
  2. That house is blocking the view. Her recent solution: just move the house up the lot.
  3. Too expensive. That none of us has come up with any solution.  It’s a brand-new home, what did you expect?

After once again going out to the piece of land a few days ago as well as looking at a model home, another set of excuses were made.

  1. It’s too small of a house for such a big lot. I have to agree with that.  The model home was even smaller than our current home but it’s not an excuse to not get the land.  Just choose a bigger floorplan.
  2. The latest excuse and this one was the ultimate deal breaker.  Snakes!!!

wpid-dscf9574.jpg

After her colleague/potential neighbor told her that there are snakes in that part of the neighborhood, it scared my mom out of her wits.  She has been terrified of snakes ever since her high school classmates placed a tiny snake in her dresser as a prank.  I don’t know if that’s the true story, although I doubt it, her classmates are way too serious to pull any sort of pranks.

Anyway, I think that’s the silliest excuse I’ve ever heard.  There are snakes everywhere, does that mean you’re not going to live anywhere?

I also don’t believe in snakes just popping out from nowhere.  There has to be something that lures the snake to its destination (i.e backyard, garages, house). I told her, if you see a snake in the house, you would’ve been the luckiest person in the neighborhood.

That turned out to be the ultimate deal breaker, right after she demanded the agent to lower the price.  I think the agent might have a melt down after he tried so hard to negotiate the price.  She doesn’t want it!!!

I feel a little bad for the agent now. 😦 On the other hand, I kind of have a feeling from the get go that this wasn’t going to work out no matter how gorgeous the view is and I have no interest of getting in the middle.  The middle man always gets blamed whenever something goes wrong! I remembered how well that worked out when she purchased our current home.

More or less, I think her latest excuse is just the same as excuse #2.  She just might not like the view no matter how high the house goes.

8 pounds of ham and a whole lot of toothache

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My mom loves ham and all sorts of other meats.  When I first arrived in the United States and was in a car the very next day driving two days to my grandparents in Texas. Continue reading “8 pounds of ham and a whole lot of toothache” →

The Unwinnable War

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This was it! For the past week, just about every other night, my mom and I have fought and fought leading up to last night’s little rounds of slamming doors. Continue reading “The Unwinnable War” →

Tantrums

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Tantrums. In my opinion, a risky thing to have especially around love ones.   Continue reading “Tantrums” →

Most Memorable Nights of a Lifetime

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Close up of a graduation cap and a certificate with a ribbonGraduation is one of the most memorable days or nights in anybody’s life whether you are graduating from high school or college, the ceremony itself just somehow makes you feel like for just this one day, you are the most important person and nothing else matters.   Continue reading “Most Memorable Nights of a Lifetime” →

My Conversations with an indecisive friend

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calvin_arguingOver the years, my mom has turned to her friend, Christina, for advice especially regarding my education since Christina has three successful daughters.   Continue reading “My Conversations with an indecisive friend” →

Moving on

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Every parent dreads the day when their son or daughter is leaving home to find a life for themselves.  They may try every way possible or maybe even give up everything to get their children to stay a little longer but sooner or later, they know they have to move on.  In fact, I believe that is exactly what is happening to me right now. Continue reading “Moving on” →

A world without color

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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” →

A Life of Endless Learning

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Yesterday was officially the last final of my academic career.  I could feel my brain sagged just a little the minute the TA collected the test papers from my hands.  I was like, “Yes! After 20 years, I’m finally done.” Continue reading “A Life of Endless Learning” →

Losing Weight

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My weight has always been a big issue for me but it wasn’t until the recent years when it became the problem of my life, the rock that’s keeping me from being happy.  Over the past several years, I’ve been trying to get back to the normal weight I’ve had when I first moved to where I am about 5 years ago but the weights just kept piling on.

When I first set foot in the United States 12 years ago, I was 4′ 3″ and weighed 85 pounds.  At the time, I was already considered “fat” by my family and my classmates but to people here, I was considered tiny.  That made me feel a little better because for once, I wasn’t called fat.  However, as the years passed and 6″ later, my weight went up dramatically and it didn’t do me any good.  You see, I was born with small veins  and because of my Albright’s Syndrome, I have to go get my blood checked every 3 months or so.

With the weight gain, so did the difficulty of drawing blood grew.  Last May when I had the surgery in my leg, I was 115 pounds and it took the anesthetist almost 30 minutes to do the IV on me and in the end he still failed.  They gave up and had to use gas to knock me out.  This was just the beginning.  Since then, I gained another 4 or 5 pounds and the last few times I had to do lab work, it took at least 3 technicians before one of them could nail me.

I told my mom about it and she blamed me for not consistently exercising and gain weight.  That made me feel even worse than before I told her.  To be honest, I’ve always wanted to exercise but due to the pain I suffer in my legs and the lack of motivation, I gave up after a week or so.  My mom didn’t motivate me at all.  I mean if she had exercised with me and we did some fun activities together, maybe I wouldn’t get so bored and quit.  No, we both did our own things and before I knew it, I was about 120 pounds and sitting at home all day doing nothing.

About a month, I finally had an epiphany.  I was on my way to my doctor’s appointment, it was 40 degrees out and I had to walk two blocks or so from the bus stop to the clinic.  When I finally arrived at the clinic and climbed the two flights of stairs to the doctor’s office, I not only was sweating and breathless but my heart was beating like a helicopter.  By the time the nurse called me into the little room, my heart was still pounding and she put that little clip on my finger to check my pulse.  It was still 100.

I leaned back in my chair and thought, damn what’s happened to me? I was never so out of breath climbing stairs before.  Then I knew that it was time for me to commit to exercising again, to slip back into the routine I had two years ago when my mom made me go exercising everyday.

But how?

I need motivation, a reason to keep going. Then I thought of one, my future.  I need to be in better shape in order to find a job, work, and even start a family, maybe.  I also thought of writing because writing was the first long-term commitment for me.  So I thought if I can keep writing for this long, why not commit to going to the gym for just as long?

Since the end of March, I’ve been committed to go to gym five days a week while taking a break on the weekends and let my muscles rest.  Since then, I’ve successfully gone back to the weight I was over a year ago and I’m still on my way to lose more.  Now, I’m not only feeling better than before but by exercising, I feel like I’m thinking more clearly and doing better in school.

Graduation

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I can’t believe it.  Today is exactly a month from my graduation.  I am so excited! Also, in three weeks, I’ll be at last done with school.  Wow, how time flies by! I can’t believe it, it’s been 5 years since I first enrolled for my first course, Calculus I.  It has not been an easy journey and that includes preparing for graduation.

I applied for graduation more than two months ago and my adviser asked me if I was planned on walking.  I wasn’t sure at the time.  Then when I asked my mom whether I should attend my graduation ceremony, she was like, “There won’t be anyone attending.  Why don’t you wait for your aunt and walk next year?”

I would’ve thought that confirmed my decision because for one thing, I won’t know anyone.  Most of the people I know had graduated last year.  For another, I cannot beg my mom to go to my graduation ceremony.  I remembered the last time I asked her to go, she blamed me afterward because she missed a meeting and didn’t get her promotion.  So, this time, I’ve learn my lesson.

However my friend, Laura, insisted that I go, that it was once in a lifetime and that she will go as a support.  So now, I have two
voices in my head.  One is telling me to do it and the other one was telling me to wait and see if I have another chance in the future.  For the past two months or so, those two voices have been battling non-stop that is until two days ago.

What happened two days ago?

My friend, Laura, came over to my home to study.  We began talking about the graduation because come on, let’s face it, our brains can get tired and need some time to absorb the knowledge.  She showed me pictures of her graduation ceremony from last year.  Don’t even ask how she’s still in the same class with me after she graduated, the answer is we had a horrible professor last year.

Anyway, I saw what a big deal it was.  By then, that tiny voice that is telling me to go was starting to take over and soon it took over.  I began having visions and daydreams of what my graduation ceremony would be like.  Then in one breath, I’ve decided.  It’s once in a lifetime and I should attend my own graduation.  So, today, I have officially purchased my cap and gown and a stole of gratitude for my mom for all her support over the years.  I don’t know if she’ll keep it since she’s not sentimental like me but I will still give it to her as a thank you.

Preparing for the Big Day

To prepare for my momentous day, there are several things I am going to try to achieve in order to fulfill my picture perfect moments.

1. Lose at least 10 pounds.  At this moment, I’ve already successfully lost 2 pounds and since my mom left for her training
yesterday, I have put myself on a diet where I do a protein shake in the morning, a light lunch (maybe), and a light dinner as well as an average 500 calories loss in exercise daily.  I think if I have an important goal, I can probably stick to it.

2. Buy a dress and new pair of shoes.  I think since I now have paychecks, I can afford to buy myself a more age appropriate dress and a pair of high heels but at the same time, I can’t get something that is over $50 since I’m still saving up to buy a car.

3. Beautify my appearance.  Right now, my face is breaking out for some unknown reason.  I’ve been using astringent every night and it gets better but somewhere else would start breaking out.  I don’t know what to do about it.  I have these white spots that’s popping up all over my nose area.  I guess when the time comes, I’ll just have to cover it with makeup.

Now, a question for my readers, yesterday, an email was sent to me saying Commencement is May 1 and Convocation is May 2.  I’m not sure what it means.  Can anyone tell me what’s the difference between Commencement and Convocation and do I need to go to both?

Thanks for reading!

January’s gone, February’s creeping by, can’t wait for March

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As I sit here at my desk thinking and thinking and I realized, it’s almost the last week of February and I still haven’t written a single post for this blog this whole month.  It’s strange to think I’ve done so much this past week let alone this past month.  Hmm, what to write about? Ding, a light bulb lit up in my head, let’s summarize how 2014 has been for me so far; sort of like a timeline I can look back at the end of the year.

January: 

First of all, 2014 started on a light note. On New Year’s Day, I had the house all to myself as I sat on the couch in my pajamas watching the Rose Parade which I enjoy watching every year.  Then on the second week of January, school started and I was incredibly excited to see my friend Laura, who I haven’t seen since we took the FE back in October.  Speaking of school, it started that same week at Layton Christian but I wasn’t back at work until the last week of January.

Of course, there’s happiness in life but it has to also have some anger and sadness to even it out.  So there wasn’t much sadness during the month of January but there was plenty of anger that went with it.  You probably know this from my post at the end of January, on the eve of Chinese New Year, I called home to China and well, got into a bit of an argument with my grandparents.  Now, I’m betting that they’ll never want to speak to me again.

On to February:

February was and is still a bit of an annoying month for me.  The Winter Olympics seemed to taken all the joy of watching television

Guess it applies to my work. Great quote!
Hey, it does applies to my work. Great quote!

from me.  Everything’s on rerun and there are hardly anything to watch.  Guess that just leaves me more time to do my homework and work on my writing.  The most annoying thing of all is my mother, she got into a little mess at work and she felt she has to tell me not once, not twice, not three times but repeatedly every single night for the past week.

I’m like, I know already.  Just stop talking about it, please. But still, I find her muttering the same thing to herself every night while cooking dinner or just surfing the internet.  Otherwise, February’s been an interesting month for me, a bit slow but good.

On another note…

Earlier this month, I’ve finally decided to just hell with it (pardon me) and posted the entire fantasy novel I’ve written last summer onto booksie and hopefully receive some comments.  You can view it by clicking here.

Also late last month, I’ve posted a supernatural romantic novella I’ve written at the end of last year.  It’s basically the prelude to the fiction series I’ve been doing on this blog working titled “Fiction time.” You can read it by clicking here.

Best news of all, at least for me, I quit my tutoring job and found a so much better substitute, translation/quality control.  I don’t know how long this one will last but it’s so much more stable than my job with the Li’s family.  Hopefully, I can rack up enough hours these few months to buy myself a newer used car.  My current car is almost 20 years old and it’s dying.

As for school, well let’s just say I don’t want to jinx it.  I’m doing so well right now and hopefully I can keep it up and get a good grade. Let’s just say I want to graduate from my program on a high note.

As for this blog, I will try to post more than one post next month or maybe I’ll even start perhaps next week.  Who knows? I’ve been itching to write a post about money or maybe a snippets of a new fiction I’m working on.  We’ll see.