I am super excited to participate in this Flash Fiction Chain hosted by Jithin of PhoTrablogger. The following parts are inspired by the above image. Continue reading “The Tiny Soldier Part 3 (Flash Fiction Chain #5)”
Tag: Humor
Brain Power
Daily Prompt: Let’s assume we do, in fact, use only 10% of our brain. If you could unlock the remaining 90%, what would you do with it?
This is a strange prompt, I have to say, and it was late today. I didn’t see it come up until at the start of my second class.
Do we really use only 10% of our brain? That would be an interesting fact.
If I can unlock the remaining 90%, I would not know what to do with it. It’s just too much brain for me. I would rather it stays locked.
Whoa, scratch that…
Actually, I read this novel a while ago, I can’t remember the title but according to the story, apparently everyone has some kind of supernatural power, they just need to unlock it with their minds.
What if my other 90% was some sort of supernatural power? If that’s true, I would love to use that 90% for mind reading or some kind of cool psychic power. So I can secretly get a glimpse into my mom’s complicated mind, hey maybe it’s not complicated, just to see and double-check her tasks for me before I go do it. Because I’m really tired of the vague instructions and the unappreciative behavior. I mean what exactly do you want me to do?
It’s Crazy…
I just spent almost the entire day doing homework and studying for the two pre-lecture quizzes for tomorrow only to find out one of my teachers had delayed the quiz to Tuesday. I finished my homework though, finally. Continue reading “It’s Crazy…”
It’s Looking Bright
Well, I just had another adventurous day, this time, not on the road but on the sidewalk. Apparently, the university had decided to clean the parking lots but not the walkways. There was like a layer of ice in front of every building. It took me forever to get to my class.
I was surprised that despite the ice and slippery conditions, some people decided to wear their flats and high heels to school. Well, I would like to wish them good luck. Then again, I bet no one is as clumsy as I am.
Anyway, before I left this morning, I opened my browser and had a quick look at the prompt. Honestly, I thought it was worse than yesterday’s. But whatever, I need some inspiration.
My keyword for the google image search is “LANDSCAPE” and here’s the eleventh image.
This is beautiful, isn’t it? According to google, this is a painting of sunset in Montreal, Canada.
“LANDSCAPE” is often my search word in google because when it’s so gloomy and cloudy and the weather’s yucky outside, my inspiration meter would plunge and looking at beautiful painting or photo of somewhere tend to be able to squeeze something out of me.
You know, after going to my new classes today, I think I will look forward to this semester and this year. It’s looking bright.
Bad Weather and a Busy Day
I had such a busy morning and a nerve-wrecking drive JUST to pick up my paycheck. But I’m home now and alright. Whew!
I feel both grateful and angry that the storm chose to ignore the city I’m residing in. It’s completely ridiculous! The moment I left the city on the Freeway this city, rain began pouring harder, much harder.
When I’ve already gone 10 miles, I had this terrifying urge to turn around and go home, to call the office and tell them to forget it, I am not driving in this dangerous condition. But then, my stubbornness kicked in and I hate to do thing halfway. Besides, I kind of need the money to cover my books and credit cards especially with that $3200 tuition, I need it now more than ever.
Finally, about an hour later, I made it to the office. In and out of that office in less than 5 minutes and then it was time to go home. Yikes!
The drive back, that’s scary. I am not sure whether it was the road material or the road was flooded, I couldn’t tell but my car made this funny whooshing noise and it skidded TWICE even with winter tires. Thank god for no traffic, otherwise I’d be in trouble.
It was terrifying. After that, my chest began to pound. I was almost praying, hoping that the story I wrote over the weekend wouldn’t come true. It cannot come true and it better not come true.
I made it home and had to immediately make some lunch, to calm my nerves but I’m just happy I’m okay. I’m just so glad I only have Tuesdays and Thursdays classes this semester and then I don’t have to face so much bad weather.
Amazed…
You know, I’m kind of amazed at myself right now.
I finally finished this month’s work last night. I am so happy I get to relax and decompress during these last few days before the semester officially begins again.
Now I know I’ve complained about my work often because it’s so bored. I just sit at my computers translating stuff. Is that boring or what? So to take away the dullness, I decided to scour through my CD collection and listen to songs I haven’t listened to for at least the past 5 years.
When my stereo was still in the basement, I used to go down there and sing along to all the song I know. This week, I decided to do the same thing. That’s why I am so amazed. I still remember the words. All of them. It’s like when I want to sing along, the words just flows perfectly out of my lips and I heard these songs forever ago.
I don’t know how I do that because if you ask me to repeat it back to you, I cannot but when the music plays, I can sing the lyrics perfectly.
The Shadow on the Wall Part 10 (Flash Fiction Chain #4)
I am super excited to participate in this Flash Fiction Chain hosted by Jithin of PhoTrablogger. The following nine parts are inspired by the above image.
Character List :
Maggy: 19 year old Granddaughter of the Owner of the House
Robert: 27 year old House Cook
Steve: Fifty-something House Caretaker
Grandpa: Owner of the House (Dead and Bejeweled, Sacrificed as an experiment by Frank Somerset)
Frank Somerset: Mad Scientist and Maggy’s Grandfather
Nita: Narrator
Recommendation:
Read all the other nine parts before venturing this part.
Part 2 : Written by Travelling Hat
Part 4 : Written by Kelvin Moses
Part 8 : Written by Wandering Story Teller
Part 9 : Written at will by Rashmi
Now onto Part 10
“What happen next?” Nita’s cousin asked eagerly as she looked out the window, rain had begun to fall outside. Nita was pausing the story both for dramatic effect and the fact that she had no idea what happened next. She had no clue her hyper cousins would be so into the story.
She cleared her throat loudly, inhaled a deep breath, reached deep into her mind and continued…
Maggy smiled in her sleep. She rolled over and could feel the roughness of the hay. Her eyes burst opened and she bolted up, suddenly remembering everything from the previous night and how she’d come to be nestled among these hay. She glanced around and realized she was in the barn about two miles from the mansion.
Rob’s arms stretched high up in the air, his t-shirt pulled up revealing his lean abdomen. “Good morning.” Maggy said.
Rob turned around, a little startled, and smiled brilliantly. “Good morning to you too.”
“What’s for breakfast?” He blinked. “Oops, forgot.” She covered her mouth and giggled. It didn’t take long before they both burst into laughter.
Snap…
Their laughter ended abruptly when they heard that. Maggy gasped. “What was that?”
Rob pulled her up from the pile of hay they’ve been sleeping on. “Come on.” Quietly, they made their way to the back of the barn and hid themselves behind a thick stack of hay.
Footsteps entered the barn, sets of footsteps, Maggy could differentiate. She was sure she knew who they belonged to but she needed reassurance. She turned to Rob with pleading eyes. Can you see who it is? Her look told him. He nodded and slowly inched forward to get a look at the intruders. When he did, he immediately sprang back. Maggy opened her mouth. Is it them? She was going to ask but Rob threw his hand over her mouth. “Shh,” he whispered quietly and guided her out the back door.
The moment they’re out, Rob pulled his hand from her mouth and they broke off in a sprint. Rob was a quick runner but Maggy, on the other hand, was running out of breath. At the bottom of the hill, Maggy stopped, her hands rested on her knees. She panted. “Rob…wait.”
Ahead, Rob continued running but he soon realized Maggy was no longer behind him. Maggy? He thought, stopped, and looked back. Maggy was at least a hundred yards behind. She was kneeling on the grass, panting. His eyes shifted from her to something in the distance. Two figures stumbling toward her. Good lord, he thought. They’re coming.
Maggy stared at him as his expression quickly shifted to anxious and worried. He waved his arm frantically, motioning her to go toward him quickly.
Maggy turned around and gasped. Frank and Steve were staggering quickly toward her. She turned back to Rob who was already jogging toward her. She was caught in the middle. She picked her up and began jogging toward Rob but her legs were like jelly. Jeez, pick it up, won’t ya. She urged her legs.
Her stomach growled from hunger and her heart pounded in her ears both from panic and exhaustion. She stretched her hand toward him but when they were just a finger away, she felt a triple sting in the small of her back. The remaining strength in her legs suddenly felt completely drained as everything before her swirled. Her knees fell on the grass as her eyelids drooped.
Faintly before the darkness gave way, she saw Rob fell to his knees as well, the end of three red darts stuck out of his left shoulder.
Look for the conclusion: James
Master of Words
Daily Prompt: If you could choose to be a master (or mistress) of any skill in the world, which skill would you pick?
If I can pick to be the master of any skill in the world, I would pick the Master of Words. I would always know the right things to say.
Those of you who are frequent readers of my blogs probably notice that I rarely comment on any posts. I usually just click “like” and that’s it. That’s because I’m afraid of saying the wrong words and offending somebody which is what my mom often says when she brings me to meet somebody.
In fact, I think that’s how all my friendship ends, either by my mom’s disapproval or my words.
She often tells me the thing I say embarrasses her, that it’s inappropriate, childish, and whiny. Honestly though, that’s the way I speak. I cannot change my voice. So eventually, I just stopped talking. Just don’t really say much in general. I mean, what’s the point?
So, if I am the Master of Words, I’d know what to say at all times, meeting my mom’s friends, at job interviews, anywhere. Oh, and if this mastering thing can add in some voice and tone adjustments like Donald Duck in Donald’s Dream Voice, make my voice sound less whiny and childish and more adult-like, I’d be all in.
Blogging 101: Write For My Dream Reader
I need to take a breath. I’ve worked 8 hours today and translated over 2000 words. Continue reading “Blogging 101: Write For My Dream Reader”
Sanctuary
Daily Prompt: A sanctuary is a place you can escape to, to catch your breath and remember who you are. Write about the place you go to when everything is a bit too much.
My place of sanction is a small area in the entire house where I can store my personal stuff, blast loud music and sing along, is the place where I finally feel at home after a long day. That place is my room.
It’s like my own little studio. I’ve got food, water, bed, basically everything I need to survive. Not long but you get my point. I basically live in my room. I stay there most of the day, to work, write, whatever.
It’s not the brightest spot of the house though. I keep the blinds shut so the sun won’t hurt my eyes and make me feel sleepy. It tends to do that.
Anyway, I feel like this post is more or less a repeat from a project I recently did for a company called Wework where I share my workspace with everybody. You can check out the article here.
3 Ways to Go Viral
Daily Prompt: Your blog just became a viral sensation. What’s the one post you’d like new readers to see and remember you by? Write that post.
My blog had just became a viral sensation??? How did that happen? I wonder, hmm…
I think there are probably only three ways that this blog can ever go viral.
- I’ve done a crazy stunt and got taken down and uploaded onto Youtube.
- I finally finish a novel and some big name producer read and decided to turn into a TV show or movie and everyone’s flocking to find out who I am.
- All my doctors got my symptoms wrong and misdiagnosed me AGAIN and I really have days to live.
I don’t think any of those situations are very likely though.
- I am not a risk taker so I won’t do dangerous stunts.
- Some big name producer is going to read what I write, yeah right.
- The third way? Ha, I’m healthy as a horse and unless I suddenly come down with something and I don’t get better, that’s not going to happen.
As for the one post I would like readers to see and remember me by? I haven’t written it yet and I don’t think I’m ever going to because if I ever feel the need to write that post, let’s just say it’ll either be the end of me or the end of this blog.
To the Rescue!
Daily Prompt: Tell us about the time you rescued someone else (person or animal) from a dangerous situation. What happened? How did you prevail?
Ha, ha, me rescuing someone? That’s hilarious. It’s more like people rescuing me. I don’t think I’ve been rescued by someone before. I’ve always managed to come around on my own. Even the time when I was squirming crazily on my bed, my body going into full spasm. When I came around, I was shocked to find my step-dad, the one who’s training to be a RN was the one freaking out.
But no, this is a story for another time. This is a story about how my mom prevented a major house fire. I know, the prompt said a person or animal but a house, to me, like most inanimate objects are looked at like a person.
It was September, 2013 (wow that feel a little weird to say), it seems everything happens in September. Anyway, an international student came to stay with us because the school had no host family available. I had just begun my job with my former boss, Mr. Li.
It was a Saturday, it was my first day on the job. I reported for work early that morning and my tasks that day were to assist on his trip to the accountants’ office as well as the supermarket. Basically, I was supposed to trail behind him like a puppy while my mom was his wife’s volunteering driver for the day.
When I finally came home that day, my mom said, “She almost burned the house down!”
“What happened?” I asked curiously.
“I just stepped out for a few minutes and she left the toaster oven on! If I didn’t see it, the whole house would have gone up in flames.”
After a few days, weeks, months and even now and then, she was still talking about it, telling about her heroic rescue of the house. Unbelievable! The story became horribly annoying after a while but hey, she did prevent a fire and saved the house.
The First Day
So I wanted to write yesterday but I couldn’t get myself to. First of all, I am home, finally. I was dead tired. I slept 12 hours, from 9 to 9 and I was still tired. I worked 7.5 hours yesterday and went to bed extra early. Continue reading “The First Day”
Out of Place and Stuffed
So we’re waiting for the rest of the house to wake up before we can get a move on. I feel so out of place here like my mom’s friend’s American husband. I wonder Continue reading “Out of Place and Stuffed”
Different Generation, Different Attitude
I hope you all are having a Happy New Year. Continue reading “Different Generation, Different Attitude”
A Quick Reflection on 2014
It’s hard to believe that at this time last year, I was sitting in front of my computer, bored out of my mind and resorted to watch House Hunters on Hulu. My mom had already left for California with my then-boss and his family, leaving me alone at home for the new year.
This blog had already been born then but I was a super duper slow writer. It would had taken me hours to write this entry I am writing now last year because my thoughts are warped and jumbled and I had little confidence that anyone was going to read it since you’re probably getting ready to usher in the new year. Plus the fact that I knew nothing about blogging or tagging posts. So basically, no one was browsing my site and anything I published just felt like I was blabbering to myself.
I managed to squeeze in two posts in January and one in February and March. The first post was really an ad to hopefully get people to come join Toastmasters but I doubt it was doing anything since everyone in the blogging world are so scattered, spread around the world. The second post was really a rant written right after my fight with my grandparents. Yeah, it’s not really a good idea to fight with grandparents. Now my first cousin gets the fortune. Oh well, it’s not like I was going to get anything before.
The biggest thing that happened was in February when I finally got a work at home job with a semi-decent paycheck. It interrupted everything from school to meals, and even blogging. The most annoying thing is, no matter how busy I got, March just wasn’t coming quick enough.
I could finally breathe a little by the time April arrived. I actually published seven posts! That was a record for me then but as I looked back on them today, I felt like all seven posts seemed exaggerated like I was trying too hard.
May first came my graduation. It was easily the best night of my life. I mean how many times does a person get to walk in their graduation? Unless you keep going to school. Anyway, I really really really enjoyed it, strutting proudly in my cap and gown down that long flight of stairs to shake each and every one of instructor’s hands and receiving a blank diploma holder.
A week after graduation, I did something unexpected. I went back to school for my masters. That wasn’t unexpected, it was the degree that was unexpected. I went back to school to get a Masters of Accounting. When I went to meet the firm in September, every one I encounter thought it’s a little odd for an engineering bachelor graduate to get an accounting degree. I’m starting to wonder if that’s the reason I didn’t get hired for that internship.
Over the summer, I enrolled myself in two online economic classes at the community college and during that, I worked as well as prepping for the GMAT. Beside graduation, May and June are easily the worst months of 2014.
July was okay. I began participating in daily prompt and met a lot of blogging friends there and I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s response to the prompt. I am always curious to see what others write for the same topic.
At the end of August, I went back to school. It felt like I was starting over. My old major and cumulative GPA no longer mattered. It’s like I’ve been given a second chance. It was then I made a promise to myself to maintain a good GPA this time, don’t let it fall below a 3.0.
I did well this semester, I took so many mouthful of deep breaths when I saw the two A’s and two B’s and the 3.5 GPA posted in my account. I hope to keep it up next semester. Actually, not hope, I have to keep it up in order to get hired as quick as possible. Employers don’t like low GPAs.
So that’s my year. My goal for 2015?
- Maintain an excellent GPA.
- Maintain my health. I’m still waiting for my welcome package from the health insurance company that contains my insurance card. Then I can make an appointment with a doctor to renew my prescription and see what can be done with my inability to lose weight and my acne-filled face.
Something I learned about blogging this year?
I don’t need to be funny and informative in order to get people to read what I published. I just need to be myself and write what I know.
One last thing…
I want to thank you all for visiting my site and reading as well as commenting all that I’ve published. Without you, I might had quit months ago. You’re the inspiration and motivation that kept this blog alive.
Thanks to all the nominations as well:
- Artfullyadelie, for nominating this blog in June for the Liebster Award
- Vik Tory Arch for One Lovely Blog in September
- Sueju Takeshi for Sisterhood of the World Bloggers in September
- Sugar for Very Inspiring Blogger Award yesterday 😀
Thanks for all the nominations. It’s hard to think that this blog began this year with a little over 50 followers and ended with just over 500. Let’s shoot for 1000!
Wrapping up 2014: Very Inspiring Blogger Award
I would like to thank Prakash Hegade for nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. It’s my first time to be nominated for this award and this would make it my second award nomination for this blog just this year alone. That is amazing!
I would like to thank everybody for visiting this site as well as reading the stories and tales I have written and giving me feedback.
The rules for accepting this award nomination are:
- Thank the person who nominated you by linking his/her blog and display the award logo.
- Nominate at least 15 other blogs (more or less). Link their blogs and inform them about the nomination.
- Mention three things that inspired you the most this week (you can talk about last week’s inspiration too).
Nominations:
- I’m a Writer, Yes I Am
- Blog Blogger Bloggest
- In a small compass
- Sugar-coating since ’91
- The Moving Quill
- Raven Apotheosis
- Funny Dog Moments
- The Excessive Gardener
- Ivy Mosquito
- teleportingweena
I didn’t think I can name this many wonderful blogs but these are as many as I can think of at this moment. Congratulations. Go check them out!
Three things that had been inspirational this week and the last:
- The weather. The first ever “real” snow storm hit on Christmas but the real storm was really Sunday. It delivered about 3 or 4 inches of fresh powder snow and made the whole neighborhood look like a winter wonderland. It’s inspirational because I can finally sit down at home to read and write.
- My second inspiration is definitely to be able to sit down and finally finish reading two novels. My inspiration was running low and reading just help charge me back up.
- Of course reading other people’s blogs. I am always curious about what other people writes on their blogs and that often gives me an idea or two to help me write.
My Hero
My hero? Who else? Continue reading “My Hero”
Can I relax now?
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:
- My AAA card will expire, got to call and take my mother’s name off it and pay the bill.
- 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.
Why A Simple Life…
I was updating the About page and noticed it’s been about six months since I changed my blog name and I never bothered to introduce how it came to be A Simple Life.
So since I’m done for the semester and have few short days alone by myself, I thought I’d take the chance and do this late introduction to my blog. Oh and you’ll notice I’m playing with colors here, that’s how bored I am. 😀
F.Y.I, the underlines are links to ancient ancient posts, I thought I’d let you re-live them as part of looking back this year.
My blog is call A Simple Life. I changed it recently from My Simple Life after realizing I don’t have a simple life anymore. So now, this is A Simple Life and it reads in the heading, Tales and Life of a Simple Girl.
That tells a lot, doesn’t it? This blog is a tiny bit more stable now than a year ago. You see, this started out a nameless blog and then I went, “Oh, heck with it.” and named it The Random Blog.
Then I forgot about it, from February to September. How do you forget you have a blog? Shrug. I don’t know.
How did I come back?
I got an email one day last September saying someone likes my post. It was this post like that somehow inspired me to come back. After I came back, I didn’t know what to write at first but then I working three jobs and my boss was driving me insane. Also I had no one to complain to. So I wrote this post and several others.
Quickly, I took out the in the title and this became just Random Blog. It didn’t attract a lot of attention though 😦 no matter how many post I published. Hmm, I wonder why.
I didn’t find out until about six months ago. I was tagging too happily. 🙂
I still didn’t like the name though because I thought it was too misleading, perhaps make the readers think maybe I just re-blog other people’s material or maybe just post some random stuff. Nah uh, that’s not me. I’m a storyteller.
So on that hot summer night, while I was lying on my warm bed, kept awake by the F-16s and the heat, out of nowhere, a name hit me, Diary of An Optimist. For that short month (June and July), this blog was known as the Diary of An Optimist. I thought I liked it but then I was like, “Nah, too thought provoking.” I’m not into that.
So I changed it again. I kept thinking and thinking. What to name this darn blog? You see, I’m terrible with naming things.
What is the thing that simply described me and what this blog entailed. Life! That’s one word to put it. It’s about real life, my life, full of ups and downs, happiness and sadness, troubles and chaos. That still doesn’t give me a name though.
Simple! My aunt and cousin were coming soon and once they arrived, I would have to cook for them, teach them, help them. Even the months before they came, it was becoming complicated, with me stuck at home daily waiting for the man to come everyday to work on the basement. Meanwhile, my mother’s temper flared every time she spoke of their arrival. Not to mention my life will no longer be two-some but four-some. I just wish that life could be as simple as what I have now.
That was it! Simple Life that’s the name for the blog!
A Simple Life is about my life as it is. I am a person who strive for simplicity in life. I’m sure I’m not the only one. As you can see, everything about the design of this blog promotes peace, tranquility, and simplicity.
I’ve always wanted to become a graphic or web designer, either one, no preference there. So making my desktop backgrounds look good as well as playing with web design is kind of like my second hobby aside from jigsaw puzzles.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this how my blog came to be post and I do hope that I will still make it a habit to blog everyday in 2015. That’ll be my goal and hopefully, I’ll have some juicy stories to share. Oh and please follow, follow, follow!
Gotta get back to work. So ciao for now. 😉
A Rebel and A Hero
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. 🙂
Proving my Generosity
I thought about doing the daily prompt today. Then again, I’m only in my early 20’s. And because of the wonderful doctors who somewhat cured me of my genetic disorder, okay, not cured specifically, more like prolonged my livelihood past my 30’s. My point, it’s a little too soon for me to have a bucket list let alone an anti-bucket list, if I even decide to have one.
Anyway, I got into a small argument with my mother on Friday because my aunt was whining her clothes got ruined from painting the rental home. My mom said it’s because I wouldn’t spare some of my clothes. Well, I’m sorry but I never said to buy this house, my aunt did and I’ve got plenty of clothes ruined from painting houses. Does it mean now that she doesn’t get to sacrifice some of her clothes?
I lost my temper and screamed at my mom because she kept calling me selfish. What made me lose my temper wasn’t what she called me but how she said it, in that mocking tone, like a tease. I don’t like to be teased or mocked.
I kept telling her I don’t have any clothes to spare. It’s not because I’m sentimental and selfish either, it’s because I really don’t have any. Most of my clothes are brand-new, purchased in the recent months, less than a year old. Besides, most of my clothes are short-sleeved and twice as big as what my aunt owned and my aunt’s like a Quaker, I’ve never seen her in anything less than a long-sleeves turtleneck, long pants, and childishly colorful socks.
So my aunt wore one of her turtlenecks and jeans that day and she and my mom spent the whole day Friday painting the rental home while I spent the day running around town on my own. Her turtleneck and jeans were slightly ruined (splattered by paint) but she was reluctant to throw it away unlike my mother. So it’s currently soaking in a large bucket of water downstairs in the laundry room.
It was completely wrong of my mom to call me selfish. I am not a selfish person, if anything, I’m unselfish. If I’m selfish, I would’ve kept all my food to myself instead of sharing it with everyone else. I wouldn’t have allowed anyone else to watch TV or use my internet.
So I spent the entire day yesterday proving to everybody I’m not selfish. We went out for dim sum and morning tea for the first time in months and I paid for it with my own money. I even threw in a generous 20% tip because we occupied the table for so long.
Then when we went to the Chinese supermarket and bought enough grocery to hopefully last more than a week this time, I once again paid for it out of my own money. I felt kind of gut-wrenching when I swiped that card because I’ve never spent more than $100 a day except when I get my course material for school and tuition payment due date. But it proved my point. I am not a selfish person. End of discussion.
Breathe, Relax, and 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 questions
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! 🙂
