Tag: random

Five things to realize a great friend

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I woke up an hour ago and looked at the prompt for today. My initial reaction was What the heck? and then my brain basically went blank. Should I even participate?

But then I thought about what if I was the one that got stuck on a desert island, I bet I will only get a big lecture from my mother, no doubt. But my former best friend? Probably a sarcastic don’t know don’t care and telling me to walk it off. So if the situation was reversed, would I do the same? Heck yeah. Why should I care when you didn’t?

Of course, I can’t imagine my mother ever get stranded. She’s had basic training and a bunch monthly drills with the army during the past 6 years. I’m pretty sure she’ll find a clever way to survive. My friend, on the other hand, might be in trouble. She maybe tough but she’s also someone who would shriek if her perfectly manicured nails were ruined. I can imagine her become one of those kids in Lord of the Flies. 😀

Let’s say before her unfortunate journey, I send her off with five things. These things are:

  1. A burner phone that has enough minutes to make one possibly two phone calls. Let’s say, hypothetically, the desert island has cell signal and she uses the phone to call me as most people do when they need help. I pick up and do that evil laugh. Now is my turn to say, “I don’t know what to do either.” Walk it off.
  2. It isn’t all that bad

    A 10-day supply of freeze-dried food. Yep, the kind that astronaut eats. It’s not too bad but 🙂 I can imagine my friend’s face. Oh, and it’s a 10-day supply if you eat according to the servings.

  3. A filter for clean water. I can’t be that evil, can I. I need to at least provide a way for some clean filtered water. Otherwise, my best friend will die before I can tell her of all the horrible humiliating things she’s done to me.

    A water filter
  4. Clean tropical clothes. At least she’ll have some spare clothes to change into.
  5. The photo of us snapped outside my apartment. Before we fell apart, my mother snapped a picture of us just outside the apartment. My friend framed it in a frame that said best friends forever and she gave it to a short time later. I will give her this photo to remind her of the time I’ve been loyal to her and the times when we were friends.

I can’t imagine what the conclusion of this will be. Once my friend gets rescued, there’s a chance she’ll hate me forever or she wants to be friends again. I guess we’ll never find out.

We are all storytellers

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Everyone, in my opinion, fits the category of storyteller. There are stories everywhere we go. Our lives are basically a giant story waiting to be told, by us.

What makes one an awesome storyteller? Personal experience and creativity, I think. That’s a perfect duo for storytelling. We all have many unforgettable experiences in our lives that’s waiting for us to sprinkle a bit of creativity and spin them into wonderful stories to be told at dinner or events.

Another thing is you don’t have to be good at writing to be a storyteller. You can tell the entire story by mouth. I know my mother does that. She has a lot of good stories, you just have to get her to remember it.

I think she is one of the most awesome storyteller I know. She tells all these attention-grasping stories about her adventures in life that I wish she would write it down and tell it to a wider audience.

So what makes an awesome storyteller? Life. The little chaos in life will tend to bring out the storyteller in us.

The Soundtrack to My Life: The Movie

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Everyday and Everything will be Black and White
Everyday and Everything will be Black and White

I often imagined that if my life was a movie, it’d be full of drama and the soundtrack would be some classical music track along with some fun mellow pop rock mix in there for the moments like when I’m having fun on the beach or when I’m walking down the steps to shake hands with the faculties while smiling at the camera because I finally graduated.

Then an orchestra would back me up when I’m angry and frustrated with a fire-heating ensemble. And when I’m sad, a violin would come in and play something that makes every note feels like a teardrop.

However, my life isn’t like that kind of a movie. I don’t have drama happening at every turn. As the matter of fact, my life feels more like a black and white silent movie. It would be about a clumsy girl stumbling through life. Everyday’s the same, wake up, go to school, come home, sleep, and do it all over again except maybe add in an occasional fight or two.

I think it might be a dramedy especially everything tend to move quicker and weirder in silent movies with the cocky piano music that makes the audience’s heads cock left and right. Now that’s a hilarious thing to watch. 😀

Polar Opposites

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Of the many years I’ve been on this earth, I’ve met a lot of people and frankly, I can’t remember them all and I surely do not know who is most unlike me. Everyone I’ve met is so different in their own unique way, almost in a way that I cannot compare them to each other. I mean, how can I?

One thing I do know, most of the people I’ve met aren’t like me. For one thing, they like to socialize. I like to be alone. Some of the people I’ve met like to study in quiet while I like to listen to music. Appropriate noises (anything beside airplane noises) keep me from going insane. I like to be clean and I like to clean but in my own time and not in the other person’s specified time.

If I just based on these qualities, the person who is most unlike me at the moment would be my mother. Just based on these qualities, we are as completely polar opposite as anything can be.

I mean she likes to be alone too but not unless she has to. I think if there’s a choice for her, she would rather be surrounded by people. She likes to study in an utter quiet environment, an environment that would had driven me to the edge of insanity. Have I mention she’s a clean freak? She’s constantly cleaning and doesn’t care if I’m busy or not, she will bug me with her cleaning.

I don’t know how we managed to survive living together for so many years. I guess by constantly fighting about little things but at the end of the day, whether or not we are completely opposite, we are still mother and daughter.

Life is too short…

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Life is too short to lead an unhealthy life. Yes, life will be short when you’re eating unhealthy food everyday as well as not going to exercise. I learned this the hard way when I moved to Texas. Continue reading “Life is too short…” →

Basic Hygiene and Etiquette

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This is the second maybe third post I’ve done on manners and etiquette. The reason I am writing this post because first of all, my observation around my home in the last couple of weeks has prompted me and it’s been something I’ve been trying to enforce. Continue reading “Basic Hygiene and Etiquette” →

The Fun Route to College

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eDLHCtzRR0yfFtU0BQar_sylwiabartyzel_themapBefore I begin today’s daily prompt, I just like to say that where I live, there aren’t much detour that I know of. Although detours do exist here, they aren’t fun and they tend to get you to the destination in almost the same amount of time as the regular route, sometimes, faster. So enjoy the following dialogue where I tell a stranger (may be my smart-mouth cousin) about the fun route to the only community college in town.

“Good morning, Stranger.” I say. 

“Good morning, do you know the way to the community college?” 

Hmm, the way to the community college, should I give him the fastest route? Then again, the fastest route might involve traffic and that would become the slowest route. Nah, I’ll give the scenic detour. 

“Take I-15 and exit Legacy. Be careful on the Legacy. It’s 55 mph and cops are always hiding beneath the bridges catching people doing 60 or 65. Then take the 4700 S. exit.”

“But ma’am, I don’t have a car. I live down the block and I just walked here. I was hoping you’d give me direction that would involve public transit.”

Public transit, huh. “Alright, you go across the road to the mall and take the 640 bus to the train station. Then take the train to the central station where you will then hop on the trax train to 4500 S. and then take bus route 47 to the college where you will then walk 15 minutes to the heart of the campus where the buildings will be.” 

The stranger’s eyes bulges wide open and his jaw drops. He shakes his head. “I hope that was clear direction, sir.” I say. 

“Yes, ma’am, that was clear. Thank you.” He walks away.

“Have a good day!” I grin and close the door. 

The Adaptation and Imitation of New Styles

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unsplash-kitsune-4Today’s Daily Prompt asks, “From your musical tastes to your political views, were you ever way ahead of the rest of us, adopting the new and the emerging before everyone else?”

Okay, first of all, my work, incredibly tedious. I just sit at my two computers and turn my head back and forth at the screens to make sure each of the article on the website is properly updated and translated from English to Chinese. Of course, sometimes, it requires utter concentration when there’s a long paragraph that is needed to be translated but most of the time, I just need to update the images and proofread to make sure it’s not missing any periods, colons, or comma or misused words.

Why am I telling you this?

Because often, when it’s just me and mom working, I’d get bored listening to mom smacking the keys on the keyboard. I’d put my ear-buds into my ear and listen to my iPod but then I can’t hear whenever mom has a question about the translation. So listening to iPod is out unless I am alone.

So I turned to Pandora, an online radio where I get to choose what I like to listen to. The thing I like about Pandora is its variety. If you choose the stations right and then press shuffle, it’s great. I like to listen to a mix of new and old songs and best of all, it doesn’t just play the most popular songs like the local radio stations does, it plays world music. As long as it’s in English, it’ll play.

As I listen to it, often times, my ears would tune into the styling of the song. Sometimes I would click on a song I like and will be surprised to learn that it’s been released for 2 or 3 years and most of these kind of songs are from UK and Australia.

This leaves me wonder, does it take this long to reach North America? Because sure enough, a few months later, that same exact song is introduced on the local top hits radio as new music and I’ll be like the styling’s current but the song is 2 or 3 years late.

Have you noticed that the music styles from UK and/or Australia have been two or three years ahead of North America and the artist in North America just listen to those styles and mimic, and adapt to new styles? 

That’s just my opinion because the styles from the pop artists here are very similar and I have basically given up listening to top 40 radio and instead, I turn to station filled with old tunes.

Clutter not Messy

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I started writing the daily prompt yesterday but didn’t know what to write after the chaos that happened this past weekend. Honestly though, an extra hour a day, to me won’t feel any difference these days because I’ve been so darn busy during the weekend. Continue reading “Clutter not Messy” →

Fiction or Non-Fiction

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tkLOe7nnQ7mnMsiuijBy_hmSince I got my kindle reader less than three years ago, I have read close to 100 books. That is a lot by my standards. I can tell you that ALL of them are fiction.

I love reading about history. It makes my imagination go wild but if I’m going to read about history, why not read the dramatic take of a specific event? It would involve love, death, and all that stuff that would make me jealous and sad. Besides, if I want to read about facts, wouldn’t I just turn to a history book?

I also choose to read fiction because many of those literary fictions that were written long ago like pre-20th century, those novels often depict the lifestyle back then and I like to compare then and now. Like the inventions and I also like to marvel at the simplicity of life. No phones, computers, and all the electronic gadgets that have caused us to sit more stand or walk.

Anyway, there may be a lot of great non-fiction books out there that’s crying for my attention but I think I’ll stick to fiction for now.

I know this post is random and all but I hope if I have time, I may post something else later today. For now though, I have to go to school.

Everything has Feelings!

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To me, everything has feelings and a mind of their own. I know what’s like to be used. To notice you when you’re needed and neglected when you’re not. All my life, I am taught to be careful with objects, that I have to treat it gently to prolong use. So since then, I have treated every object as if it’s a person. Sometimes, I even feel sad for those objects.

Like the couch, I feel sad for it especially when guests come. I remember when my mom’s friend from San Francisco came visit, her son would occupy the leather recliner couch in the family room. I watched as he reclined the seat all the way and then lay his head on the reclining side. The reclining side is the vulnerable part of the recliner couch. The metal won’t hold a lot of weight. That’s the part that’s supposed to hold the feet, not the upper part of the body.

I felt awful for the couch, for having to endure all of that but I was afraid to tell the boy to not lay like that but his mom was there and I was equally afraid of his mom as mine.

Computers, on the other hand, have a much more sophisticate mind of my own. Though it doesn’t have feelings, it has a mind of its own. So I guess the most human machine I own would be my two laptops and the external hard-drive.

A voice in my head

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(Yawn) I am so tired today. At least I get to skip my second class at mom’s request. 🙂 She doesn’t want to wait at the airport. So I am rushing over right after my first class to pick her up. Yay me! Anyway, today’s daily prompt is a good one. It read:

Your blog is about to be recorded into an audiobook. If you could choose anyone — from your grandma to Samuel L. Jackson — to narrate your posts, who would it be?

Every post I’ve written, when I was writing, I listened to this narrative voice in my head. It’s almost like it’s talking to me, telling me what to write. It doesn’t sound like me either. I mean, it is me but a much more mature and normal voice than my own. Trust me, if you ever hear my voice on the phone or whatever, you would think it’s a child speaking.

If my blog is ever going to be recorded into an audiobook, I would choose one of those people who does the narratives for the documentaries about deceased authors. What? You ask. I know, you’re confused but that is somewhat what the voice in my head sounds like, the people that does the narratives on those shows. Like a few weeks ago, I watched American Masters on PBS, it was doing a documentary on that author that wrote “Gone with the Wind”, oh, I can’t bring up her name at the moment.

Anyway, there’s a female narrator that I assume sounded like the author, read snips of the book. It sounded like an emotional robot sometimes but at the same time, it had this sad sound to it that makes it feel like it’s reading the book like a diary. That is kind of what my blog is, a diary. So if my posts is ever going to be recorded, that’s the kind of voice I want.

Oh gosh, late for school, later! 🙂

Royal Descendant

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Up until now, I don’t really know that much about my roots. Even with an extensive search on the internet, the closest thing I got was what mom told me. She told me once that her mother was a descendant of a princess when China still had empire, empress, etc. So you can say, I am a descendant of a royal. 😛

I am not sure how the story of the princess went. I’ve never did a search on that but from what mom told me, she ended up marrying a commoner and then she was royal no more. To be honest, I am kind of glad that there’s no such thing as “royals” in China anymore because if the princess did not marry a commoner, I would still be royal. And that’s bad? You ask. How?

I probably wouldn’t be able to stand the isolation and publicity. Sure, I would be living in a palace but I would be isolated within the walls. Also, nosy people and photographers would be lined outside eager to get the details of my life. 

So if you ask me if I rather be the heir of the throne or off-the-hook sibling, I would choose neither. Yeah, it’s great and all, getting all this public attention but I would not be able to be myself. Everything I say and do would be judged. Plus, I would have a much hectic life than what I have now and I am not cut out for hectic. So thanks but no thanks. I would rather be an ordinary nobody.

Sticking to the Present

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I woke up this morning, feeling confident and energized. I turned on my computer and took a look at the daily prompt.

You’ve been granted the power to predict the future! The catch — each time you use your power, it costs you one day (as in, you’ll live one day less). How would you use this power, it at all?

I often dreamed of having such powers as predicting the future but what good would this power do if it cost me a day? Also, wouldn’t it be the same as letting everything play out instead of trying to change it before it occurs?

I have learned from many movies, TV shows, and books that trying to change the future would cause devastation and tragic effects. Gee, even the story I’m writing tells exactly just that. Don’t meddle with future.

So even though it would be nice to find out what the future will be like, you know, whether I will get a job, get married, and have kids, etc, I think I’ll stick to the present and let fate plays out.

This is just a quick post to start my morning. I have a club meeting to go to and then who know what. Catch ya later. 🙂

My Own Show

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I hate picking favorites of anything. I guess because I don’t like hurting people’s feelings. But secretly, I enjoy it. I just don’t like pick in front of people. But sometimes, I don’t really have favorites. Like shows and movies, if you’d ask me to pick a favorite, well that’s one question I cannot answer. Gee, I can’t remember what I watched.

Today’s prompt asks,

You’ve just been named the casting director of your favorite television show (or movie franchise). The catch: you must replace the entire cast — with your friends and family. Who gets which role?

I will tell you one thing, my family is out. I don’t care how much they want stardom, they would not in a lifetime be in anything where I am the casting director. Neither would my dad’s family because if I bring either family into a room, there would be arguing with somebody. With both sides of my family in the same, a war of two tribes would instantly brew.

Hey that could be a show. No no no, not when I am running the show!

If I can make up my own little show, the genre would be dramedy and it would feature my former best friend, Cindy, playing somewhat of the popular girl slash frienemy  to a foolish naive girl and then when that girl recovers and gains popularity, she’d dump her and instantly becomes her rival.

Okay, maybe if it’s a dramedy, it might feature my mom playing the annoying nagging ill-temper mother to that naive lonesome girl but that’s it. NO more family. Then the show or movie or whatever would be titled The Life or Diary of… of that naive girl’s name.

Well that’s it of my rambling. Have a great day and later. 🙂

12 Again???

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Today’s Daily Prompt says I’m suddenly trapped in the body of a 12-year-old. Oh no but at the same time, oh yay!

Let’s see, 12, that means 2003, two years after I arrived in the United States. My English had already become slightly fluent, not as good as now but I could understand and keep up a conversation.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind going back to middle school. It would be like a second chance for me. I would be the genius of the class because I’ve already learned everything and this time, I would not shied away. I would actually and go make friends, go to parties, dates, etc.

If I was stuck in the body of a 12 year old, by the time I am my age now, I probably won’t be still living at home. I will probably be roaming the world or living somewhere else. I wouldn’t have made such a mistake as to listen to mom’s friend to choose an engineering major in college. I would have chosen some other major that dealt more with money and math like what I’m on my way to do now, accounting. With that said, if I’ve chosen the correct major for my undergraduate, I would not be still stuck in a classroom now.

So being granted such an awesome second chance would be fabulous even if I have to stuck inside someone else’s body. Not only do I get a second chance but I also get to make a difference.

Well, it’s time for school. I’m especially excited today because I am planning to join Beta Alpha Psi, a club for accountant professional. It said it would be able to help me find a job. Today’s the introductory meeting. I hope I can get in what with my dismal GPA from my undergraduate. I wish I was granted a second chance in this area. Wipe my GPA clean and let me start over. 🙂

Wish me luck in getting into this club. 🙂

Don’t want to get up!

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I live in Northern Utah. So I don’t get to see sunrise because well, the mountains are in the way. But I still think the sun is very annoying. Sure sunshine’s nice but when you’re driving eastbound at 8 o’clock in the morning and that sun has reach high enough over the mountain to shine in your eyes, it’s not so great. Continue reading “Don’t want to get up!” →

How is taking supplements good?

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Popping pills is one of those things I am absolutely against. If there’s no need, why take it? Taking pills or overdosing on pills is what killed so many, isn’t it? Why do people take such dumb risks? Continue reading “How is taking supplements good?” →

The book I want to re-read

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71A4KWHZm8LPhew, I’m swamped with novels to read thanks to all the wonderful recommendation from the various blogs I’ve visit. I recently read “The Visibles” by Sara Shepard. It was a great novel that I couldn’t put down once I got started. Now, I’m reading “Everything We Ever Wanted” also by Sara Shepard. I don’t know what to think yet seeing that I’m only on chapter 3.

However, if I have enough free time and I have read all the popular novels, the book that I would definitely like to re-read is The Ends of the Earth by Robert Kaplan. I bought this book I think three years ago when I took Middle East Geography, interesting but difficult course, by the way. It was our required textbook but I never read it because it was during my “I hate reading days” and it was so boring.

I still have no idea how I passed that class. But I eventually did read the ending and I thought it was okay. So I like to read it from the beginning.

Another reason I want to re-read this book is because it has something to do with travel and traveling is somehow my current obsession. I remember reading the summary and it said it’s about the author traveling from the Middle East to Asia. I just read the part where he talked about the scary journey riding on a bus from Pakistan entering China. There, he had to go through that horrifying narrow and rickety highway which I have forgotten the name.

Anyway, if I have the time, I would definitely read this book from the beginning just to read about the adventure through Africa, Middle East, and Asia. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be anytime soon seeing that school’s starting again in 8 days 😦 and that’s the end of my summer.

Well, that’s it for now! Have a great day! 🙂

The Car’s Simple Name

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I don’t think a lot of people would go through the trouble of naming things that don’t move and don’t talk but here I am, six years later and still trying to name my elderly car. Continue reading “The Car’s Simple Name” →

A Simple Choice

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If a literary-minded witch gave me a choice that at a flick of her wand, I would either become an obscure novelist whose work will be admired and studied by a select few for decades, or a popular paperback author whose books give pleasure to millions. Continue reading “A Simple Choice” →

Double the Holidays, Festivities, and Fireworks!

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In the U.S. or probably the world, most people knows that only one holiday exist in July for the U.S., the 4th of July or Independence Day. What most people also didn’t know is that in Utah, there is also Pioneer Day, which is July 24th. It commemorates the settlement of the first Mormon pioneer.

So while everyone else in the U.S. is only allowed fireworks three days before and after the 4th of July, in Utah, it is also allowed three days before and after the 24th of July. My neighbors from two streets over have already been shooting fireworks into the sky two nights ago which makes the view outside my bedroom window spectacular.

So be safe playing with fireworks and have a festive 4th of July.

As I leave you to enjoy the holiday, I want to show you this video that me and mom watched this morning at breakfast.

Want to hear something hilarious?

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Hi, everyone, since my day is going nowhere right now, I thought I share something hilarious I heard on the way to my doctor appointment yesterday. I laughed so hard when the radio announcer said this on the radio. Continue reading “Want to hear something hilarious?” →