Life – Page 120 – This is Another Story

The calm before the storm

Published on March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 by Yinglan6 Comments

Today’s prompt asks: If you could be a “fly on the wall” anywhere and at any time in history, where and when would you choose?

This is a tough choice. I would really like to be a “fly on the wall” in a lot of places in many different points in time. But if I can really choose one, I would choose the roaring 20’s when everything was booming – market, jobs, and people were going out nightly seeking entertainment. I would really like to experience that before the stock market crashed in 1929 and ruined everyone and everything.

The calm before the storm, I call the roaring 20’s.

Speaking of stock market, I’ve decided to invest 1000 dollar of my money into the stocks. I don’t know which one yet. My mom’s giving me a few choices to choose but I really need to do some research on my own before I willy-nilly throw my money away. I am not that bold of a person. $1000 isn’t much to invest but I guess it’s better than sitting in my account. So that’s what I’ll be doing today aside from studying for my cost accounting exam.

I’m also saying goodbye to this little guys today. My mom’s stingy friend has finally ordered a tow service to tow her car back to California along with these guys. I just hope these guys will be able to adapt when they get back home. They’ve been so spoiled since we took them into our home.

Two meals a day plus a snack in between along with a bath almost every single a day. Before, they were only having a teensy meal a day and no bath for days at days a time. They were living in a tank of horrendously dirty water full of pee, poop, and god knows what when we got them.

So goodbye, guys and good luck!

What’s not to like?

Published on March 19, 2015 by Yinglan2 Comments

DSCF9719 I feel like this prompt is very similar to the one on Monday. So I don’t think I need to emphasize again how much I hate living so close to the freeway and the air force base.

The town I am living in. Some people may call it a city while others will call it a town. I call it a town because I have always lived in a city, Los Angeles, Austin, and even China even though my hometown is technically still a town. What’s similar about those three places? The population of those places are all over 100,000. Last time I checked, the population was at about 58,000 in 2000 and 67,311 in 2010. Grown 9,000 in 10 years, not bad but still under 100,000 people to me, is still a town.

One thing I like about Layton is that everything’s all in one place like all the shops, hotels, and restaurants are grouped together while all the municipal like the library, police station, fire station, and the city hall is grouped in another part of town. The other thing I like is this town is the variety of commercial businesses. My mom often jokes that Layton has every major franchises except it doesn’t have a Costco because it already has a Sam’s Club.

The things I don’t like about Layton, well, there’s plenty like the inconvenience of getting around. If you’re trying to get somewhere by walking or public transit, unless you have a lot of time on your hands, otherwise, it is not advised.

There are barely any public transit here except for maybe two, three max bus routes. Walking? It takes about 90 minutes to walk to Walmart and back and it takes about 40 minutes to walk to the nearest Target and back. With all that time, I can do lots of other things like blogging or reading. Why would I spend all that time walking next to pollution and possibly dodging traffic while trying to cross the street.

Oh and let’s not mention the noise. Whenever the day’s beautiful, sunny and cloudless like today, planes would fly and make a ton of noise. That noise comes with other problems as well. If you’re using an antenna to watch TV, the reception would suddenly disappear whenever a plane flies over our heads. It constantly feels like the World War II era without the bombs of course.

If I somehow earned a degree in law and became the mayor of Layton city, I would set up noise ordinances. No flying before 8 am and after 9 pm. Let people sleep and enjoy their weekends for crying out loud.

Of course, that would come with consequences because no flying means no money. So that’d be a problem I can’t fix even as a mayor because the town would go broke without the planes roaming over our heads.

The problem I’d definitely would fix? Trees! You see the picture of my street up above? You see how bare it is? We seriously need some lush green trees around here! Not bushes and spruce trees, we need real trees.

Too many flavors

Published on March 17, 2015 by Yinglan2 Comments

All right, is it me or is today’s prompt incredibly vague? Is it asking us to choose an ice cream flavor? Or is it asking something else entirely different?

First of all, I’d like to say thank you for all the encouraging comments I’ve gotten about this morning’s post. I wrote it mostly to vent my anger and sadness. A person can only take so much. I feel better now that those feelings are no longer bottled inside. So thanks again.

Now, onto this ridiculously vague prompt. Since it mentioned the words, vanilla and chocolate, I am going to assume it’s talking about ice cream flavors. I’d say my favorite flavor is mint with chocolate chip but then this is the only flavor I’ve had whenever I get to choose. Chocolate chip cookie flavor is my runner-up but I really prefer the mint flavor. Personally, I will like any flavor as long as it doesn’t have nuts and coconut. Nuts hurt my gums and coconut is just one of my mom’s annoying obsessions. I don’t care much about it.

Anyway, I told you about my step-dad and his emotional roller-coaster, right? I know, my life’s been an emotional roller coaster and a never-ending nightmare.

There is one big difference between my step-dad and my mom. When he’s in his good moods, he is the world’s #1 dad. I remember this one time, he surprised me with ice cream from Amy’s Ice Cream, famous in Austin, Texas. He even got the flavors right, a scoop of chocolate chip cookie and a scoop of mint chocolate chip. It was the best ice cream I’ve ever had, way better than Dreyers and Breyers and no icicles from being in the fridge too long. It was silky smooth and delicious.

Or so I thought…

A few months after we moved to Utah, my mom’s friend and her neighbor hosted a neighborhood social. It was about harvest. We were invited even though we weren’t part of the neighborhood. It was all about eating, gathering, and celebrating the harvest. I have never seen so much varieties of the same food all my life.

The vegetables were all home-grown and when it came to dessert time, all the senior ladies and men arrived with large tubs of ice cream and lined them up on the picnic table. At first, I was a bit curious why every single tub was a different shape and color. Then someone told me that it was because they were homemade.

Homemade!

I’ve never had homemade ice cream before. I didn’t even know there’s a recipe for ice cream. “It’s a tasting.” Another told me. They said I’m to grab a small bowl and take a small scoop of each tub. We were even handed out a piece of paper and pencil so we could judge the flavors. I don’t remember which was my favorite. They were all so silky and creamy. It’s so hard.

I had thought I’ve tasted the best ice cream at Amy’s Ice Cream but apparently, the best is when it’s homemade.

I Am Just Me

Published on March 17, 2015June 20, 2023 by Yinglan12 Comments

Most of the time, when I write a piece of flash fiction for a photo prompt, I don’t really think about what to write or how the plot and characters should be developed. Most of the time, I just write.

Continue reading →

Spring Break’s Over

Published on March 16, 2015March 16, 2015 by YinglanLeave a comment

I supposed I could’ve written something yesterday other than the usual Sunday Photo Fiction but I didn’t. Instead, I had spent most of the day yesterday doing homework for the first time since my spring break started. I guess I just want to get back into the groove of doing schoolwork.

Also, I’ve been a little under the weather since Saturday afternoon when I decided to take the afternoon off, lie on the reclining couch catching up on my favorite TV shows on Hulu while writing a little of a short story I’ve writing for a long time as well as napping. Wow, that’s a lot to do at the same time.

I’m almost caught up with my shows but I wound up with a big headache. Apparently, I’m not cut out to watch TV for more than two hours at a time.

Anyway, as of today, spring break is officially over. I guess that’s probably why I’m feeling a whole lot better this morning. It’s Monday and I’m finally home alone again. You know, I don’t get my mom’s schedule. She’s grown more and more confusing lately. Or is it me?

I could’ve sworn she told me last week that she was taking today and Wednesday off. I was dreading it the entire weekend because when she’s home, I cannot accomplish anything. Then it turned out, she’s working today and taking Wednesday off. I asked her when did it change, she told me, it’s always like this. Hmm, weird.

So what have I accomplished this spring break? Absolutely nothing except work which took almost the entire week. I barely did any writing except on here. I thought I could’ve written around 10,000 words but instead I’ve barely written 2,000.

On the bright side, the router crisis has finally been resolved. I no longer have to worry about switching back to the old router. Yesterday afternoon, my mom decided to head to Walmart to see about getting the burner phone recharged. The minutes are expiring in two days. While there, we decided to get a more expensive router; apparently cable internet works best with Netgear router.

When we got home, I plugged it in and voila it’s fixed. Even my old computer in my room has a stable connection. I am still skeptical though because now, the connection on my new computer is very slow. Will things ever be perfect around here?

Just a quick update.

Beautiful spring time flowers, tulips, photography — I hope our tulips will be this beautiful this year.

All picture credits go to pinterest.

Dream Location

Published on March 16, 2015March 16, 2015 by Yinglan13 Comments

Private covered patios, which extend from each wing, offer a transitional spot between indoors and out. The fountains are clad in the same material as the outdoor chimney, and slate tile extends from indoor spaces. Advertisement - Backyard Pictures From HGTV Dream Home 2014 on HGTV If I can choose a place to live, I definitely would not choose where I am living now. It’s loud and boring.

I live less than a mile from the freeway and about 2 miles from the air force base. Noises from cars and F-16 jets are the last thing I need when I am trying to write or study. If I can choose some place to live, I’d definitely choose a place that’s quiet and serene like the woods or forest. A place like this would be lovely and yes, I have expensive taste, just don’t have the money.

I definitely would not choose the mountain or beach. Of course those places sound like a Yellow leaf road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of North Carolina • photo: Tilman Paulin on 500px dream but let’s let reality take over for a second. It takes forever to get off the mountain and all those twisty roads do not make a fun drive. And there’s always the danger of being stuck at home when I want to go out and not the fun kind of stuck. I’m talking blizzard or snow storm or mud slide and I’m out of food.

The beach? Who doesn’t love the salty air and the sound of crashing waves? I don’t. I would constantly have to worry about danger of earthquakes and tsunami. After watching the dateline special last night on NBC, no thanks. Oh and let’s not mention the damage the salty air can do to the roof and how expensive everything is.

Of course there’s also danger living in a forest. Like my mom says, there is no place on Earth that is absolutely safe to live. Even though I’ve never lived near or in a forest before, I know there are some natural disaster bound to happen like a mud slide, flood, or quick sand? I don’t know, like my mom says, there’s absolutely no place that is safe. Natural disasters are bound to happen anywhere.

So if I have to choose a place to live, I’d choose a place that’s serene like a forest but not enough that I cannot see the sun. I also like a place that’s loosely populated so I won’t feel too stranded or too crowded but at the same time, it is also convenient that I don’t have to drive 100 miles just to get groceries.

My dream location might sound fictional but it might be real. I’ve never been there but I’m imagining Prince Edward Island? From Anne of Green Gables? I mean, just look at this picture. Doesn’t this look like a beautiful place to live in?

Located beside Prince Edward Island Preserve Company just down the road from the Anne of Green Gables House.

Galaxies and Black Holes

Published on March 14, 2015November 24, 2015 by Yinglan7 Comments

I thought about what I’m going to do with this week’s photo challenge. It looks interesting and I enjoy wall art, the messier, the more beautiful and meaningful it is, in my opinion. But when I’m trying to come up with photos of a meaningful wall on my own, I got nothing. Continue reading “Galaxies and Black Holes” →

What is Love?

Published on March 14, 2015December 24, 2016 by Yinglan15 Comments

Today, daily prompt has asked an intriguing question. What is Love? What is Love, by the way?

Here’s the ending to my fiction/non-fiction retell of my first crush. I think it’ll answer the question by itself. Happy Saturday.

We grew closer and closer to each other, in a playful kind of way, of course. In P.E., we jogged together and sometimes, when I was tired, we’d walk. Although neither of us would admit it, I can tell he likes me. If he didn’t, then he’d ditched me long ago, in eighth grade, perhaps.

It was very sweet and I’ve never felt sweet before. I knew it wouldn’t last. Nothing ever lasts with me. I was dead on. Everything came crashing down in a landslide that afternoon when I arrived home to find suitcases lying all over the living room floor.

“What’s going on?” I’d asked.

“We’re going to China!” My step-dad had announced excitedly. He had never been out of the country before.

“What?” I’d shrieked and Cindy had stood beside me, frozen. “When?”

“Next week.” My step-dad’d answered.

“What about school?” He stared at me, surprised. Since when are you so concerned with school? His look had told me. I tried hard not to show that I want to go to school just to see Jaime, it would tell them I have a boyfriend and they’d made it crystal clear I’m not to have a boyfriend. I changed the subject. “Why all of the sudden?”

“Your mom got a great deal a few months ago.”

“And you didn’t bother to tell me this until now?”

He’d shrugged. “We forgot.”

“But if we go, then I’d be way behind in school when we get back.”

“Oh, you won’t be go to school. We’re also moving to Texas.” My jaw had literally dropped. They’ve been talking about moving to Texas all through my middle school years and now when I’ve found my happiness, they decided to do it?

The following week would be brutal and sad. I told Jaime I was moving to Texas, he had replied, “That’s okay, we have plenty of tools we can use to stay in touch.” Who was he kidding? My parents monitored everything, who I call, who I talk to at school. We could never stay in touch.

Then we just drifted apart. He no longer wanted to be near me now that he knew I was moving and I was left to walk the lap alone in P.E., running my fingers along the chain-link fence that separated the school from the outside. At lunch, he’s nowhere to be seen and I was left to eat with Cindy and Anna. I felt alone and betrayed. If he’d liked me, he’d stick by me no matter what. If he’d liked me, he wouldn’t leave me just sitting here or walking laps alone.

That Thursday, the day we’re supposed to go to China, I spent my morning checking out of my classes and the school, returned everything that belonged to the school, and retrieved my belongings from my gym locker. Through that morning, somehow, I felt like a part of me was holding out for Jaime, hoping we’d get a few more minutes together before I leave for good but no, I never saw him again.

Skeptical

Published on March 13, 2015August 5, 2015 by Yinglan5 Comments

Skeptical. I think that’s the word I’ll use to describe my feeling at the moment.

Two days ago, a technician came and “fixed” the internet. Technically, he didn’t really fix the internet. All he did was switching the router. He did fix the speed on the wifi. It turned out the new router was a piece of junk and I may have discovered my room was a blind spot in the whole house. After he swapped the router though, the speed became normal again, for about 5 minutes. After he left, I tested again and would you look at that, it went back to as slow as before but only on my new computer. I don’t know why. My old computer and tablet performed just fine.

For the past two days, I had been holding my breath, waiting for everything to resume to normal, for the internet to go back up but it never did. Switching the routers might be the worst thing I’ve ever done. Now, not only the download speed is still not back up to the speed that I was getting before but the wifi on my old computer won’t stay connected for less than 5 minutes. It is like a time-bomb about to go off any second and it’s completely and utterly frustrating.

A few minutes ago, my mom was complaining again how the phone line went dead after 5 minutes. She was trying to call my aunt in China. I asked if she wanted me to change back to our old G router, it seemed to be the only router that’s ever worked. It only irritated her even more. After the line’s connected again, she immediately told my aunt how unwilling to work I was, that I rather watch TV last night than perform the big switch on the router.

Yes, I do prefer watching TV at night because I don’t perform well at night when the lighting’s not adequate. Working at night would just amplify my frustration when something goes wrong.

So the internet is definitely slow now, there’s not denying it now. She wants me to do the switch tonight when I want to relax after a day of work. I’m very afraid because if something goes wrong, I might be drowning myself in tears in my sleep tonight. Wish me luck.

Daily Prompt – Twenty Five – Didn’t use the letter “z”, my favorite letter.

If I can live somewhere else…

Published on March 12, 2015 by Yinglan6 Comments

Seguret in France. If only I could speak french, I would move to France in a second without thinking twice. — Explore villages like this one. Seguret, France

If I am asked to live in a different location for an entire year, I’d choose somewhere in western Europe, maybe like France or the U.K or Germany. I’d love to explore the quaint villages and places that survived hundreds and thousands of years, even through the two world wars.

I’ve never been to any villages before, the closest to a village I’ve been to involved rubble and dog poop everywhere when I had to spend the summer supervising the construction on my grandpa’s house when I was 9. So it’d be fun to visit an actual village with its twisty streets and maybe spend an afternoon people watching at a Venetian Cafe.

A few days ago, while we were driving home from somewhere, I reminded my mom that her passport was about to expired. She said, “So is yours.”

“No,” I answered. I’ve got mine renewed some time ago.

“It was 2010,” she said.

“No,” I answered. “It was 2011.”

She stuck with her answer of 2010 as she remembered her unit was supposed to be sent to Iraq that year. It was a chaotic year for me too. I’ve just begun my Sophomore year in college and I’d spent most of the semester staring at brochures regarding the school’s exchange program.

Beijing residents watch sunrise on giant commercial screens. The smog has become so thick in Beijing that the city's natural light-starved masses have begun flocking to huge digital commercial television screens across the city to observe virtual sunrises. The screens installed usually advertize tourist destinations. — I remember my teacher showed me this last year.

As my mom got the news that there’s a possibility she might be deployed to Iraq for an entire year, she grew panicked. She didn’t want me to stay home for an entire year though I didn’t know why. I’ve done it before when she went for basic training for six months and D.C. for the remainder of the year. “It’s too dangerous,” that was her excuse.

Instead, she wanted me to go back to China to study abroad for an entire year. I’d rather stay here, I’d told her but she was adamant in her decision.

I would spend the next few months gathering information and applying for my university’s exchange program to go to QingHua University in Beijing, China. At first, I was actually excited to go but after looking at the requirements, I no longer wanted to go.

The air pollution was already awful.
With my grades, I highly doubt they will accept me into the program in the first place.
Even though me and the exchange student would pay the same tuition but I have to pay it in U.S. dollar while he/she gets to pay it in Chinese Yuan. So for me, it was mighty expensive.

Beautiful view of the city of Edinburgh | 19 Reasons Why Scotland Must Be on Your Bucket List. Amazing no. #12 — You see why Edinburgh is a better option? Just look at it, it’s gorgeous!

I asked her why she so badly wanted to send me back. She said it was good for me. How is that good for me? Everything about it is bad, awful.

I tried to find another place I could go that was a bit more reasonably priced, if I was to go. The only place there was was Edinburgh. That’s not bad. But no, my mom thought it was too rural. She wanted me in a big city, a big polluted city like Beijing.

In the end though, I didn’t have to go anywhere. My mom didn’t get deployed to Iraq. In 2011, she’d give me that same piece of news again but again, it didn’t happen. I guess she’s lucky.

The thing I want to do…

Published on March 10, 2015November 24, 2015 by Yinglan6 Comments

During my workout at the gym today, I gave my response to today’s prompt some thought and I want a redo. Continue reading “The thing I want to do…” →

Things happen for a reason

Published on March 10, 2015November 22, 2015 by Yinglan6 Comments

So yesterday, I swapped my G router for a N router because I was tired of the internet signal always just barely reaching my room. Continue reading “Things happen for a reason” →

What makes a teacher great?

Published on March 8, 2015 by Yinglan21 Comments

What makes a teacher great? That’s what’s asking on today’s prompt.

I’ve had a lot of teachers and I mean a lot because unlike the university I’m attending now, my previous university had a lot of professors. During my five years at the university, I’ve never once had the same professor twice even when I was repeating a course. I guess either the university hires a lot of professors or I was just lucky not to have the same instructor twice.

At my current university, there aren’t a lot of instructors in the program. So far this semester, I have two instructors I had courses with last semester. I think they are both very great teachers. Better than the ones I had at my previous university? Hell yeah! So what if they are lacking a PhD? It doesn’t matter to me, as long as they know their stuff, that’s fine by me.

The most horrible instructor I’ve ever had was in one of my undergraduate courses two years ago. He was very unforgiving and tough, just two of the most important elements to make a horrible instructor.

In January of 2013, we had an ice storm here. It’s a rare weather phenomenon where the rain freezes the moment it hits the ground. Everywhere that day, the ground was shiny and slick was like an ice-skating rink, even my special shoes couldn’t help me stay on my feet. I slipped like six-times that day, just to get to bus stop. I was actually surprised I didn’t break anything internally.

I was in pain that night and there was a quiz in one of my classes the next day. I emailed the instructor early and told him…

I fell and hurt myself today. I don’t think I can come to class tomorrow. Is it okay if I make up the quiz some other time?

Nope, that was his answer. I’d be missing the first quiz of the semester and I couldn’t make it up. I went to talk to him again face-to-face and this time, it was like he didn’t understand my English at all. It was unbelievable.

About a week later, when he posted the grades onto the site, I saw I got a big fat zero on the quiz and his quizzes made up of 40% of the grade. In the end, because of that missing quiz, I didn’t pass the grade. I got a D+ instead of a C-, which was what I needed to pass the course. When I retook the class in my last semester of the undergraduate program, I discovered that he failed more than half of the class. Don’t you think that’s a horrible teacher?

So what makes a teacher great?

A great teacher cares. Last Tuesday, there was a snow storm. I was late after nearly two hours of driving but I still made it to class. At the end of the class, the teacher told us. “If there’s a snow storm and you can’t come to class, please just tell me. I don’t want you guys to have any trouble trying to get to class.” She even posted all her notes online for those people that couldn’t make it that day.
A great teacher is forgiving and sympathetic. If a clumsy student (like me) falls and hurts themselves and cannot come to class, a forgiving teacher would offer them sympathy and let them make up whatever work they missed another time.
Last but not least, a great teacher is understanding. They understand the student’s need to pass the class and will help them in whatever way they can to help that student.

great-teachers-quotes-1 — Couldn’t had said it better myself

Following Instructions and Understanding Glamour

Published on March 7, 2015 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 March 6, 2015November 24, 2015 by Yinglan10 Comments

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

Reflecting Current Moment

Published on March 6, 2015August 5, 2015 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 March 5, 2015April 28, 2019 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 March 4, 2015 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 March 3, 2015October 14, 2015 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 March 2, 2015 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 March 1, 2015 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.

My Ideal Saturday Morning

Published on February 28, 2015February 6, 2016 by Yinglan2 Comments

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

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 February 27, 2015 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.