The mystery I may never solve and I may never forget it… Continue reading “The Paintbrushes”
Tag: Musings
Five Photos – Five Stories Day 5
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”
Five Photos – Five Stories Day 4
We are once again going back in time. Continue reading “Five Photos – Five Stories Day 4”
An Unforgettable Sunday
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
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”
Five Photos – Five Stories Day 2
I actually remembered taking this picture. Continue reading “Five Photos – Five Stories Day 2”
Five Photos – Five Stories Day 1
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”
Doubt
So I am just now getting home after spending the past 5 hours touring and learning about a CPA firm. I must admit, I had an interesting time. I didn’t think I’d have a good time talking to people. I thought I’d get bored very quickly. But I got to learn about all the different aspects of working in public accounting as well as go into detail of what an accountant actually do. Continue reading “Doubt”
Secretive
Ah, finally, some peace and quiet. Continue reading “Secretive”
These Little Moments…
I don’t like taking pictures, especially of people, with people, eh… Bad experience with my mom on multiple occasions, don’t ask.
Continue reading “These Little Moments…”
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”
A Change of Scenery
Hello and greetings from Idaho! Continue reading “A Change of Scenery”
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!
What Happened Next…
Continued from Breathe in the Fume… Continue reading “What Happened Next…”
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.
Something I learned about blogging…
Today’s prompt says, What’s the most important (or interesting, or unexpected) thing about blogging you know today that you didn’t know a month ago?
This last month, I hardly been following up with blogs. The most I did was writing. Sometimes, if I had time, I would read a few but I spent most of my time doing homework and preparing tests. I probably did a little more yesterday.
Let’s see, I thought it was time for a change so I changed the background to a lovely winter sunrise for this blog. On my other blog, Hidden Stars, I did a complete theme change since I needed some relaxation after the exam yesterday and could only sit rigidly anyway. Apparently the nerves in my shoulder and neck is swollen and that’s why it hurt so much.
I have my four finals this week and then I’d be free!
A quick note to readers that are are also following Hidden Stars, you might have noticed I haven’t been posting the serial fiction in about two weeks. I’ve been procrastinating. I’ll be posting after finals.
So you see, I hardly learned anything new about blogging in the past month. I think if you compared it with the beginning of the year, there might be more to write about.
As you’ve read in my post, Longest Streak in Blogging, this blog was started last February. I didn’t know how to tag my posts then. Let’s just say, at the beginning, I was under-tagging and then I was excessively tagging, and then six months ago, I was finally getting it (15 or less tags per post).
Something important I learned in the recent months, in order to get more eyeballs and likes on your blog, you need to:
- Write based on a prompt
- Have lots and lots of loyal followers, or
- You .need to publish something that everybody wants to read
Let’s just say after I participated in daily prompt on this blog as well as various flash-fiction challenges on Hidden Stars, I’ve seen my viewership double, maybe triple or quadruple in the past few months even if the new follower per post has decreased.
The increase in viewership was what kept me going this past year. That’s the most important thing I learned, the support from readers will keep me from saying goodbye to this blog in 2014. Bring it on, 2015!
The Toughest Decision of a Lifetime
In July of 2007, I ultimately made the toughest decision I’ve ever made in my entire life (at least so far). I was literally involved in a game of tug-of-war between my parents. The decision: to stay with my step-father or to leave with my mother. Continue reading “The Toughest Decision of a Lifetime”
Why couldn’t I just left it alone?
If there is one thing I regret doing, it would be doing that surgery more than a year back and getting braces. Continue reading “Why couldn’t I just left it alone?”
Someone calling my name?
I don’t consider myself to be a listener because somehow I just like to talk about myself as if I haven’t share enough with anyone. Sometimes, though, I like to Continue reading “Someone calling my name?”
First Days
As a kid, I dreaded going to school on the first day. Even now, that dread is still there. Continue reading “First Days”
Maybe just need some inspiration…
I’m kind of surprised I’ve managed to write something each day of last and this week. Ever since I finished my term papers for my classes and began working on this month’s translation update, my head felt completely occupied, like there’s no more room for writing. I’m not sure if this is writer’s block or something else but for some reason, I just can’t feel the motivation to write anymore.
Maybe my life just been busy and boring as heck. With mom gone for two weeks, I’m just stuck at home working 24/7 while have to cook, water the lawn, work, and go to the gym. Ugh, it’s sucks to be grown up sometimes.
Anyway, it seemed like my block is just for life stuff. I don’t think I have any problem writing fictional tales. Hey, maybe it’s not a writer’s block after all, maybe I just have nothing to write about life or maybe I just need some inspiration.
Thick and Thin Plates
A few years ago, when we moved out of our apartment into our current home, our neighbor downstairs gave us her set of bowls and plates. Continue reading “Thick and Thin Plates”
This is Another Story 