Tag: inspiration

Following Instructions and Understanding Glamour

Published on by Yinglan7 Comments

So apparently it’s another slow day at VITA, the place I’m volunteering to help other people do their tax returns. I thought I’d be busy since it’s the last week but no, there’s barely anyone here to file their taxes. Right, now, I’m just waiting for the instructor to review my mom’s tax return which I believe it will take a while. My mom’s got what they call a “complex return” but mine’s done and I have to pay some $2,000 back in taxes. 😦 The downside of being self-employed.

Anyway, today’s prompt asks…

Are you good at what you do? What would you like to be better at?

I’ve been told by many that I have confidence. “I like your confidence.” Their words, not mine.

The truth is, I don’t feel like I have a lot of confidence, not in myself. Circumstances in life tend to create a lot of doubt and therefore it takes away my confidence.

What would I like to be better at?

I’d like to be better at a lot of things, listening, writing, understanding instructions, learning, and beautifying my appearance.

I have a hard time understanding and following instructions. Whenever I’m given some instructions, I’ll not want to be the first one to complete the task. I tend to be the follower instead of the leader because of my fear of not being able to follow simple instructions along with my tendency to doubt myself. So if I can be better at understanding exactly what the instruction is asking me to do, I might be a much better me, a smart me even.

The other thing I’d really like to be better at? Beautifying my appearance. I do not know how to do that, not consistently at least. My mom almost always say, “tidy yourself, don’t be so messy.” I know she’s talking about my appearance which I am very random when it come to it but not so random that I step outside in rags. All I am saying is that I like to dressed comfortably, not glamorous. If that’s a fault, then I can’t be fixed.

Oh don’t get me wrong though, I like to dress glamorously, just in a comfortable kind of way.

Okay, my shift’s over, have to head home, eat something, study, and try to take my exam this afternoon. Wish me luck.

The Paintbrushes

Published on by Yinglan10 Comments

Paint-8The mystery I may never solve and I may never forget it… Continue reading “The Paintbrushes” →

Reflecting Current Moment

Published on by Yinglan7 Comments

I was going to do this later but my mom’s been talking so much that I couldn’t concentrate on my studying. I want to take this exam today so I won’t have to worry about it and enjoy my spring break. Apparently either my mom thought I’m just using studying as an excuse or she doesn’t care whether I pass this test or not because there she was, calling me every five seconds, asking me stupid questions. Anyway, she’s gone now but I’m already distracted so I might as well do something that’ll help simmer down my anger.

Today’s prompt reads,

What would you put in this year’s time capsule to channel the essence of our current moment for future generations?

Thank god I’ve been watching television otherwise, I would have no idea what a time capsule is. It won’t matter anyway because I won’t have a clue what to put in it to reflect the current moment. I don’t keep up with the trends and I haven’t watched the news for a long time. There hasn’t been any news worthy to watch, the headlines are always the same. Only my mom watches the news because she claims news anchors are the only people that speaks proper English. They enunciate each word clearly, I give her that but other than that, I doubt there’s such thing as proper English.

I am rambling…

Okay, I’m no expert on this time capsule thing but if I have to put something to “channel the essence of our current moment for future generations”, I would definitely put a phone in there (smartphone or iPhone) and a picture of people texting and tweeting everywhere. Their eyes wouldn’t leave the screen. I think this would be a good picture to reflect on the current moment (cellphone addiction). It’s too bad I don’t do because I don’t have that kind of phone and I hate texting.

Not a good title

Published on by Yinglan6 Comments

Innovation-Is-Not-Imitation
This should answer this creepy and dumb prompt

I have a lot of favorite bloggers, not just one. I won’t imitate someone. It’s both creepy and weird which it’s exactly the words to describe today’s prompt. I remember when my “friend” used to imitate my voice and action when she came to my apartment for tutoring after school. I hated it. It’s like I know I’m childish and immature, you don’t have to let me know like that.

It took all my strength to not get mad and whine (back then I whined). I didn’t know. Apparently, my ears play tricks on me, it sort of tunes my voice to make it sound a little more mature. I recorded my voice once and played it back, I sounded like a baby.

Speaking of ears and voice, my ear-buds decided to quit working today. Right after my last class, I stuck the ear-buds into my ears and the sound was uneven, like one was hogging all the sound. It was a new situation but not good. It was like hearing the music but no one’s singing the lyrics.

 

I got these last May. I don’t know why, I have the worst luck when it comes to buying ear-buds. I go through at least one pair a year, sometimes two. I only got this pair because I didn’t have any other option, these were the cheapest ones other than the $3 ones which I had to return because it didn’t work.

I don’t really like these. It won’t stay in my ears for very long because the clip makes the wires feel heavier. I always felt like my head is being pulled downward whenever these are in my ears. I guess that’s a design flaw right there. When I got it, it said that the flat wires prevent tangles. I have to give them that but again, the flat wire made it feel way too heavy. So the only time I could actually use the ear-buds was when I’m sitting very still at my desk.

Anyway, I now have to shop for a pair of cheap headphone. I guess this time, I’d be looking for light and for sports. I’m thinking about the ones with the ear-clip. They won’t come cheap, I’ve checked. I guess it’s a good thing it’s a Spring Break which it would give me a week to shop for headphone behind mom’s back. Wish me luck.

Fantastical Dreamscape

Published on by Yinglan7 Comments

Daily Prompt: You’re having a nightmare, and have to choose between three doors. Pick one, and tell us about what you find on the other side.

Believe it or not, I feel like I’m having a nightmare today. My headache’s been alternating on and off and I’m starting to feel cold even though I’m not supposed to.

When I woke up this morning, I thought today would be an easy day. You know, do homework and write but I’ve forgotten I have work. I supposed it’s a good thing but I just don’t feel like working today. My day had just gotten worse when my mom called home mid-morning and said someone scratched the car door. “Why are you telling me?”

This is so her, complaining to me about her problems but I can’t do the same. Anyway, like always, she blamed me for it. I was like I didn’t park near anything yesterday. I’m beginning to think she scratched it this morning at work since her parking skill had become so awful lately. Last week, she almost took the mirror off backing out of the garage.

Plus, she’s in one of her moods again which it might be the cause of my headache. Last night, she came home from school and started complaining how dirty the counter was. I cleaned it, what do you want from me? Then like always, she insulted my generation (people born in the 90’s) saying we are all dirty and lazy. It made me so angry, I was literally clenching my fist while surfing the web. I mean, can you just leave me alone? 

So if I was given three doors, one red, the other green with cool breeze blowing from the gap between the door, the third black. I would definitely choose the green door with cool breeze. I would open it and step into sunshine and a meadow full of flowers and it would be the most relaxing place. I won’t have to think about anything for a while and just lay there, bathe myself in sunlight.

When indigenous flowers and grasses grow freely among native trees and shrubs, they create a self-sustaining environment that supports plants and the resident birds, butterflies, bees, amphibians, and mammals that rely on them in every season. Native plants require less maintenance than exotic (nonnative) species because they are perfectly suited to the soil and climate.

Doesn’t that sound just like a dream? I really need that to get away from my mom’s unpredictable temper. Oh, by the way, I just got word that it was indeed her fault, not mine for scratching the door but she still blamed me for not looking closely to check this morning. It’s dark, how can you see something when it’s so damn dark?

Image credit: Pinterest

Not Today

Published on by Yinglan10 Comments

Okay, so today’s prompt has asked me to write my own obituary. That’s just plain depressing. Is it just me or has the last three prompts (including this one) been sad? I’ve actually seen this one a few months ago while I was shuffling around the prompts, trying to squeeze some sort of inspiration out of me. Then when I saw this prompt, I was like that’s it, no more. That was one of those days I didn’t post at all.

It had something like 20 responses the last time I’d check and I didn’t think it would actually come back. Well, I’m not going to write it. A reason being I have no reason to write an obituary for myself especially not days like today.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mention this, I am horrifically superstitious. I believe that when my right eye twitches, it’s good and when my left eye twitches, uh oh, better watch out.

Well, my left eye’s been twitching since Saturday morning. I was so worried that I might mess up on someone’s tax return. Fortunately, I didn’t. Throughout the entire weekend, my left eye’s been twitching and twitching. Just when I was going crazy worried, my right eye started twitching, which is great news. I relaxed for a second and that was when my left eye would start again.

Believe it or not, my left eye is still twitchy and it’s making me incredibly nervous wondering what the heck is going to happen. My mom said maybe I just need more sleep. If I have more sleep than the amount I’m getting now, I’d be chubby again.

This morning, I woke up to this…

…as compare to this from early February.

What a difference, right? I like snow, we need the water but of all the days to snow, why today? Why does it have to snow when I have to go to school? Also, why couldn’t the weathermen predicted this? I swear, when I watched the weather two days ago, it said there wouldn’t be a storm for days. Either there’s a problem with the weathermen’s machines or this storm was really as unpredictable as it seemed.

This is the view from my bedroom window. You see that thing with the antenna sticking out? That’s my car, temporarily evicted from the garage to house my rich friend’s expensive European “toy” car. There was at least 3 or 4 inches accumulated by the time I went outside this morning. It took me 15 minutes to get the snow from the windows. When I got into the car again, I realized the windows were covered with snow again. Frankly, I was running out of time.

I turned on the heat and melt the snow to the best of my ability while I listened to the traffic on the radio. Everywhere’s stop-n-go traffic, the broadcaster announced and right at the top of my head, I knew I couldn’t take my usual route down Highway 89. I can’t get through the canyons in this weather. I also knew I-15 wouldn’t be an option either. It’s been about two months since the last snow storm and people drive like a maniac here especially with the increased speed.

There’s only one route left to take, the slowest and it involves me driving through 4 or 5 cities at 40 mph. It was a smart decision, I thought even though it’s almost the same as the freeway. With the slick road, I couldn’t really go more than 30 mph. I was stuck in stop-n-traffic for about 30 minutes and didn’t get to school until almost 2 hours later. A normal 15 minutes commute had taken me almost 2 hours, can you believe it? I’m just so glad I didn’t get into an accident or skid off the road, or worse, die. Then my mom will really be the one who’s doing this prompt (writing my obituary).

The Outcome of Having “Friends”

Published on by Yinglan9 Comments

Daily Prompt: A writer once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If this is true, which five people would you like to spend your time with?

Whoever said that is completely full of it. But if this was true, I’ll bet words like introvert and shy will not exist just like I wasn’t so kept to myself when I was in middle school. Oh yes, we are going back to middle school again because it was middle school that made me who I am today, not high school.

In middle school, I surrounded myself with the smartest people in the entire school or the 40% student population that’s Asian. I am talking straight A’s and never took a test that resulted in less than 90%. These guys and gals were great at everything – math, science, language arts, and even PE. I thought if I hung out with them long enough, their smartness and coolness will rub off onto me (that’s obviously not true).

In 6th and 7th grade, I hung out with them almost every minute of everyday, except weekends and when school’s out, you get my point. They stopped hanging out with me after the first several weeks. This tend to happen with people like me – people with not much to offer. I suspect they grew tired of me though because I wasn’t smart enough for their “group”. Too late, you’ve already introduce me to everyone you know.

Soon, I became something of an incessant shadow, always want in on the action. I don’t know why I even both to do that. They don’t even like me. Oh yes I do!

There was this theory I worked out when I was in 2nd grade, I still believe in it partially. The theory is if you shadow someone long enough, you’ll become more like them. And that was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to be smarter, cooler, have more friends, part of the crowd, all of it, just not the being an a** part which is exactly what they were.

It didn’t work. I think as time went on, I became more and more like a virus. Whenever I walked near the group, they immediately moved away like they unconsciously found themselves standing under a beehive and just now hear the buzzing. It made me feel awful and sad and one day, I even heard them call me annoying like I wasn’t even there.

In 8th grade, I decided. Why should I change for this people? They aren’t worth it. From then on, I kept mostly to myself. Eat lunch alone or with whoever’s sitting next to me in the cafeteria. Eventually though, I did have a couple of new students that had just arrived in the U.S. with hardly any knowledge of the English language. They wanted to be follow me around, be in my own little group of one and together, we became friends.

In 2007, when Facebook was in and Myspace was out, the group of smarta** that called me annoying, sent me friend requests. I wanted to deny each and every one of them the privilege to be my friend again. I almost said FU to the computer.

Why should I be your friends when you spent a majority of 7th and 8th grade teasing and bullying me? Am I that friend that exist only when you want something?

Unfortunately, the part of me that really really really want to be part of the “cool Asian group” again took over and I had hit the accept button. Ugh, I hate that part of me.

Oh well, it’s not like I use Facebook much or anyone’s listening to what I say on there anyway.

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.

Five Photos – Five Stories Day 5

Published on by Yinglan3 Comments

I told you we are going back today, didn’t I? This picture was taken on December 21, 2001 and it brings back great memory when I look at it. Continue reading “Five Photos – Five Stories Day 5” →

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.

Five Photos – Five Stories Day 4

Published on by Yinglan2 Comments

We are once again going back in time. Continue reading “Five Photos – Five Stories Day 4” →

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” →

Five Photos – Five Stories Day 3

Published on by Yinglan8 Comments

Okay, I officially feel like I am going back in time with this challenge. The first day, I featured a picture that was taken last year, day 2 (yesterday), a picture from 2012, and now, for day 3, Continue reading “Five Photos – Five Stories Day 3” →

Surrounded

Published on by Yinglan4 Comments

Daily Prompt: When was the last time you felt really, truly lonely?

Um, I can’t remember. I actually want to write this post for a while, thanks, wordpress, for giving me this push with a prompt.

If you’d asked me when was the last time I truly felt depressed or angry or annoyed, that I can tell you. Truthfully, I’ve rarely felt loneliness. I am always surrounded by things whether being computers, electronic devices or people. My mom made sure of that.

Even when she left me for six months for basic training, she made sure I’m interacting with people. Every evening, I was told to ride the bus plus walk two blocks to her friend’s house every night for dinner and then wait for her friend’s son to finish his dinner so her friend could take me home. This sometimes took forever because he was like six and he didn’t like to eat unless his mom made him cry.

Anyway, even during those six months of living alone, I didn’t feel alone. I’ve always found something to occupy myself, always busy.  Now, my mom is preparing to go on another training next month, this time, for a month.

I am actually pretty excited because I’ve been surrounded with so many things and people lately that I feel a little overwhelmed and like a chance to be alone. Apparently, my mom doesn’t think so. She’s worried I’d get lonely and keeps asking me whether she should buy a plane ticket for my aunt to fly back here to keep me company. I am like “Hello, I’m almost 24, I don’t need a sitter.”

She’s afraid of something, I can tell, but she won’t say. The other night, I asked her, “Why do you not want me to be alone?”

She replied, “I just don’t want you to feel lonely.”

“Why, are you worried that something might happen to me?”

“Even if it happened, no one will know.” Because even though she’d only be 100 miles away, she’s not allowed to come home or use a phone.

At this point, I knew exactly what she was thinking and I said it. “Ah, you’re afraid I keel over and no one’s here to help me or discover my corpse.”

She laughed, “Maybe but if she’s here, she can call 911.”

“And I can’t?”

She laughed some more. “If you can call 911, then it’s not an emergency.”

I guess she’s got a point there. The thing is though, I’m perfectly healthy. I went to my doctor the other day and he said everything was normal. He didn’t even examine me. He’d sounded so relieved that for the first time after 4 years, I finally have some normal lab results. But I think my mom might be worrying about other things. I think she’s actually worrying about me suddenly dying like my dad. I’ve promised her a dozen times, “This won’t happen to me.” But she wouldn’t believe me. I’m still here, am I not?

“I’ll be fine. I think you should worry about yourself than worry about me.”  I told her but she wasn’t listening anymore. She was already onto other tasks, searching for plane tickets for my aunt on expedia.

Five Photos – Five Stories Day 2

Published on by Yinglan10 Comments

I actually remembered taking this picture. Continue reading “Five Photos – Five Stories Day 2” →

Welcome to My Ever-changing Hometown

Published on by Yinglan11 Comments

Today’s prompt is kind of a tricky one to write. Continue reading “Welcome to My Ever-changing Hometown” →

Five Photos – Five Stories Day 1

Published on by Yinglan8 Comments

I’d like to thank Priceless Joy for nominating me for the Five Photos-Five stories challenge, where I post five photos, five stories, each day for five days. Continue reading “Five Photos – Five Stories Day 1” →

Encore Post: Awards and Announcements

Published on by Yinglan2 Comments

Okay, since today is Sunday, I think this calls for an encore post. This post will be about so many things, a few things I have to announce. Continue reading “Encore Post: Awards and Announcements” →

Free land

Published on by Yinglan3 Comments

Apparently my mom has decided to vacuum at 8:30 in the morning. The house is noisy as hell and you know what noises do to me, it takes away my inspiration. That’s why I don’t listen to music or watch anything during my blogging time. Hopefully, she’ll be done soon and I can hop over to my other blog and create a lovely short story for this beautiful Sunday morning.

Anyway, on daily prompt today, we’ve been given a plot of land and have the financial resources to do what ever we please.

Land just like this, with a nice cozy house and a rescue / rehab / therapy horse ranch. With a cow pasture and godly morals. All I need.It’s funny because I glanced at this prompt at 6:30 this morning when I was still half asleep, I thought it said “we’ve been given a plot of land with financial resources” as in there’s something about the land that will make money. Oil, perhaps? Maybe gold?

Anyway, after I woke up and read a few responses to the prompt, I was more confused than ever. About 5 minutes ago, I finally went to the daily post page and gave the prompt a thorough read-through. It’s all clear to me now. We have the money to do whatever we want with that land.

What would I do with this magnificent piece of land, given to me by wordpress?

It depends on the answers of the following questions.

1. Does it have anything buried underneath, like gold, coal, or oil? Yes? I’ll invest it in the discovery of that substance whether make it an oil derrick or a coal mine.

2. Will it make me money? Yes? This question is sort of tied to the previous one. Investment in oil, gold, coal, etc.

3. Or will it be a useless piece of earth that cannot be used for anything except build houses on top of it? In this case, I can do nothing but build a gorgeous custom home designed by your truly along with a beautiful farm or garden, depending on the size of the land.

There is one thing I will never do and that is make it commercial. Don’t ask me why.

Image credited to google and pinterest

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

The Wedding Bells Part 15 (Flash Fiction Chain #6)

Published on by Yinglan29 Comments

Flash fiction chain #6

Jithin, PhoTrablogger, the host of Flash Fiction Chain, had decided to continue the previous flash fiction chain due to an inconclusive ending. The following parts are inspired by the above image. Due to her busy schedule, Priceless Joy has asked me to write Part 15 of the chain and since she had asked so kindly, I couldn’t refuse.

Character List :

  • Anna Brighton- 32 year old CEO who owns and runs a publishing company
  • Alex Burns – well established author, Anna’s ex, Toby Blackwell’s cousin
  • Toby Blackwell – co-owns the Blackwell estate, Alex’s cousin

Other characters:

  • Jenny- Anna’s secretary
  • Melissa Doyle –the bride, Anna’s dear friend
  • Harrison – Melissa’s fiance.

Recommendation:

If you’re not caught up, may I recommend you to read the previous part before venturing this part.

  1. Sona
  2. Click here
  3. Priceless Joy
  4. Frenesthetist
  5. Dr. KO
  6. Sweety
  7. Itchy Quill
  8. I-Read
  9. First Draft
  10. Soul n Spirit
  11. Phaena Says
  12. The Stardust Elephant
  13. Sona
  14. Click Here

Now onto #15

“H-hi,” Anna stammered at the sight of the man on the other side of the door. It took a second for her to notice his bruised lip and cheek and all of a sudden, she was speechless. She cleared her throat. “Alex, wh-what are you doing here?”

Alex shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and shrugged and then followed by a light chuckle. “I just want to check to see if you’re okay and I’m sorry for what happened yesterday what with…”

“Oh, no yesterday wasn’t your fault.”

“But how are you? I’ve been worrying about you all night.”

Really, Anna wanted to ask but instead, she replied. “Oh, I’m fine, just fine.” His eyes wandered while she stared awkwardly at the wooden floor and wondered. Can Alex be it? Is he the person I’d been wanting to fall for all along? 

“So, you want some breakfast?” He nodded in the direction of the kitchen and smiled. “The caterers’ gone which means I can finally show you what I can do.”

Anna laughed. “I’ll be the judge of that.” She shut the bedroom door behind her and followed Alex down the hallway to the kitchen.

The caterers had managed to pack up and leave within minutes after the wedding. Upon her arrival in the kitchen, Anna was amazed at the transformation. She remembered when she arrived three days ago, the kitchen was a complete mess, flour and egg shell were all over the beautiful granite counter-tops and even the beautiful porcelain tile floor was dusted with flour and powder sugar. Alex pulled a skillet from the rack above the range. “So what would you like?”

Anna sat down on the other side of the counter and rested her hands under her chin. “Hmm, what can you cook?” Alex went to the fridge and grabbed the carton of eggs. He transferred it to the counter when they heard a blood-curdling scream. Alex froze and Anna jumped off the stool. “What’s that?”

Alex swallowed. “I think it’s coming from upstairs.”

At the landing, a maid rushed to them. “What’s wrong?” Anna asked.

The maid shrieked frightfully, “He’s dead!” She cried.

Chills crawled up Anna’s spine as her heart hammered. “Who’s dead?”

The maid led them down the corridor and pointed at the library. The door stood ajar. Anna slowly pushed the door open and gasped. Lying face-down in the middle of the room was Toby. She covered her mouth, shocked. Was this after the fight? She pondered as she entered the room.

Moving closer like she wasn’t afraid, she clenched her fists and bent over his bodies. Who would do this to him?  She skimmed over his ruffled blond hair and slightly ripped jacket. Something caught her sight. In the middle of his back was a small hole. This wasn’t not a bullet hole, she was sure for she’d seen an actual bullet hole before. It was from something thinner but thicker than a needle. She scanned the room, hoping for a clue and there it was, lying on the other side of Toby’s lifeless body was a thin arrow. Its feather tip red and the pointy end was in the shape of a heart.

Uh oh, who could be Toby’s killer? Stay tune for the next part written by whoever it is. 

16. Itchy Quill
17. Dr. KO