#AtoZChallenge – F for Forgotten Streak


As I lie awake in bed last night, I realized something. My blogging streak started last April and since then I haven’t stopped blogging. So I think this is the real anniversary of this blog, not February of 2013 since I blogged for less than a month before quitting. Okay, so I posted a few times between September and April but it doesn’t count. Less than 10 posts a month does not count as consistent in my books. Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge – F for Forgotten Streak” →

Fantastic Relieving News


Daily Prompt: You get some incredibly, amazingly, wonderfully fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?

What is the fantastic news?

I feel so out of touch doing these daily prompts after not doing them for just a few short days. Anyway, my reaction depends on the news.

Last night, I did get some great news. My instructor had cancelled lecture for today. So I only have one class today. Yay! I was super relieved because so much studying in the last couple of days, I need a break. It looks like I will get one this week.

I peeked at the schedules for all my classes and it looks like my last assignment for my cost accounting class is due tomorrow and then that’s it except for the book report. My other two classes look like it’s winding down as well. That is wonderful for me.

Oh right, what was the first thing I did upon hearing the news? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I spent the night alone curling under two blankets watching TV. It’s freezing in the living room.

My mom’s off to training once again and she won’t be back until this afternoon. So last night was sort of my night off. After finding out this beautiful spring weather was going to turn on me, I went back to my blog and wrote a flash fiction along with reading a few posts to get my head in the groove again before heading off to bed.

I just cannot believe it’s going to get cold again and snow. I thought this warm weather’s going to last but apparently, winter is going to swoop in again.

#AtoZChallenge – E for Excessive Control


Thanks to my mother, I just got home from a crappy exam and oh look, the light on the answering machine is blinking. I pressed play and guess what, it’s mom calling home to check on me. Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge – E for Excessive Control” →

#AtoZChallenge – D for Deadlines


This weekend’s going to be hectic once again. It doesn’t matter that it’s Easter, exams and homework wait for no one. Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge – D for Deadlines” →

#AtoZChallenge – C for Celebration


Two days ago (A), I failed to mention my excitement. I wrote I was absolutely excited. I actually meant today. Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge – C for Celebration” →

#AtoZChallenge – B for Breakfast


I peeked at my fridge this morning for a little breakfast, it’s practically empty except for the overwhelming amount of vegetables my mom bought on Saturday before coming home to hassle me to write her paper on Argentina for her. Essentially, I am out of breakfast. Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge – B for Breakfast” →

#AtoZChallenge – A for Absolutely


Absolutely, what? You ask. I can think of a lot of adjective that can follow that word like annoyed, poofed, tired, exhausted, excited, psyched… Continue reading “#AtoZChallenge – A for Absolutely” →

A Tale of Two Roommates


Head throbbing, throat aching, voice going coarse, and my bottle of anger is full again.

My weekend was crappy, worse than usual but I’m not going to complain. I’m going to let it out another way, a story. I’ve weaved my crappy weekend into a tale between two roommates, Leslie and Sarah. First, I should apologize for this incredibly long post (I can’t help it) but anyway, enjoy the dramatic tale. 🙂

Sunset, Cloud, Clouds, Sky, Red, Cloudscape, Dramatic

Leslie sat before her computer on a Saturday morning, studying for an afternoon exam. After more than 6 months, she still hadn’t adjusted to fact that she had to find her own time to complete the exams for her classes. At least this one’s open-book, open-notes, she thought happily. She wouldn’t had to go through the tedious process of making a half-page note-card.

By noon, her stomach was growling. She often skips breakfast to save time on studying. So she quickly went to the pantry, pulled a ramen from a plastic bag with her name on it, and popped it into a bowl. She dumped the tiny bag of soup mix, added the water, and popped it into the microwave. By the time she finished with her ramen, she heard a click of the locks. Sarah was home.

“Hey, Les, can you help me with these groceries?” Sarah was carrying at least six bags of food.

Leslie took four bags and hurried to the kitchen. “What are you trying to do? Feed an army?” She dropped the bags on the counter.

“They’re for both of us, duh.” Even then, it would be too much. Leslie went to the sink and clean up while Sarah put her purse on the chair. “Listen, I need your help with something.”

“What?” Leslie asked as she wiped her hands dry.

“I have this paper due Monday and I’m wondering if you can help me since, well, your writing is better mine.”

“What is it on?” Leslie asked quickly.

“It’s a research paper, 6-9 pages. I don’t know what’s on yet. The instructor wasn’t clear.”

“Well, you’ll have to wait. I have to go take the exam.”

“Then go,” Sarah replied. “We can talk about it when you get home.”

Three hours later, Leslie finally came home. The exam took much longer than she had thought. It was 24 questions on 30 pages and each question took forever to complete. Tired but still full of energy, she knocked on Sarah’s door and almost instantly, Sarah wrenched the door open, shoving a paper in Leslie’s face.

“You see this?” Sarah shrieked. Leslie grabbed the paper and looked at it carefully. It was the rubric for the assignment. “It makes completely no sense! He doesn’t explain anything. He just gives the assignment and expects us to understand it at a snap of a finger.”

“The paper said to pick four or more variables affecting the operating environment. What kind of operating environment?” Sarah led her to her laptop sitting on the desk and showed her a PowerPoint presentation on Argentina. “What does Argentina have to do with anything?”

“He assigns us each a country and we’re supposed to apply the variables.”

Leslie frowned. “I don’t know. What do you want me to do exactly?” Sarah handed her an index card. On it are the words, “political, military, economics, social, information, infrastructure.”

Image2

“These are the things I need you to research and write about. I will write the rest.” She switched the screen to a word document. “It’s all formatted. All you have to do is fill in the information.”

By then, Leslie only vaguely understood the assignment. “And why can’t you do this yourself?”

“Do I look like I have the time to do both?” Sarah snapped and Leslie threw her hands up and retreated to her room. “I want this done by tomorrow.” Sarah called as Leslie shut the door to her bedroom, she leaned against the door for a minute and sighed.

Sarah always does this, wait until the last minute and just snaps her fingers. Just like that, Leslie to the rescue. She was like one of those nerds that does bully’s homework. Leslie went to her computer and opened the file Sarah had just sent her over dropbox.

That night, to decompress from the long exam, Leslie decided to watch a few shows on TV. She’s already had two pages completed. Lounging on the living room couch, Sarah joined her. “So, roomie, have you completed my paper yet?”

“Not yet, almost though.” Leslie replied.

“May I make some suggestions though?” Leslie nodded. “Focus more on how each variable affect the environment.” Leslie wasn’t exactly listening but Sarah kept blathering on. If you want me to do your assignment, don’t tell me what to write. I have my own methods. She thought.

Leslie screamed when she opened her eyes the next morning to find Sarah hovering above her. “What are you doing?”

“It’s 8, time to get up.” Leslie glanced over at her alarm clock, it was only 7:30. She moaned and sank her head back on her pillow. “Come on, Les, I want it done by 10 am. You do want to have time to do you own thing, don’t you?”

She went to the window and opened the blinds, the light streaming into the room made Leslie shrank and curled. Leslie groaned. “Fine, I’m up!” Leslie stumbled out of bed over to her computer. She yawned and clicked open the file. It looked like Sarah had updated it, she added a few more sections and miraculously, it was completed.

Groggily, she made her way to the kitchen to scour the fridge for breakfast. She settled with a yogurt and ate it over the sink, her head was still throbbing from the blast of sunlight. She stumbled back into her room and sat before the computer, the words blurred and the more she read, the more it was becoming more puzzling.

“Is it done yet?” Leslie jumped, suddenly realizing Sarah was behind her. Had she been watching me this whole time? Leslie wondered. This was beginning to feel like Sarah’s got a gun to her head forcing her to write.

“Almost.” Leslie answered.

“Almost?!” Sarah shrieked. “It’s been two hours!”

Leslie rubbed her temples and said tiredly. “I’m doing the best I can. It’s not that easy, you know.”

“Hurry up,” Sarah snapped. “I’ve been waiting on you all morning and you can’t even write two paragraphs? I am way faster than that.”

Leslie bolted up, “Fine, then write it yourself. I’m tired of your bossing around. My head hurts, I’m not in the mood.”

“Fine!” Sarah screamed. “I don’t need your help. I will write it myself.”

“Fine!” Leslie shouted back and pushed Sarah from her room and locked her room. They didn’t exchange a single word the remainder of the day. Leslie worked on her own homework. Now and then, she could hear Sarah rehearsing in her room, always the same line and this is how their story ends (for now) because do stories ever end?

I Will Try


Remember these guys?

That’s right, I’m writing another post on them.

When my “rich friend” had asked me to “take care” of them last month, I knew it wasn’t temporary. My mom had asked her if it will be okay to ship them back to California along with the car. Well early yesterday morning at 7-something, the shipping company finally came to pick up the car and when I asked him if he could take the turtle too, he said no.

He told me anything alive would not pass inspection when entering California. So I’m stuck with these guys until who knows when. My “rich friend” had called me shortly after and I told her the driver would not take her turtle. She had said, “That’s okay.”

Well, that’s easy for you to say. I would have to take care of it and I still know nothing about turtles. I googled how to take care of aquatic turtle and all the results only pointed to how turtles survive in the ocean. Is my friend the only person raising turtle?

Anyway, I have no clue how much to feed them so at the moment, I’m just giving them pellets twice a day and a protein treatment whenever they’re restless. I’m just trying to keep them alive until my friend comes back. I just hope I don’t kill it but I think if I do, I’d be doing these guys a favor because they seem miserable stuck in that tank all day. If my friend asks, I might tell her, “Everyone makes mistake.” But I will try not to kill them in the meantime. 😉

Who would I choose?


Today’s Prompt: If you could have any author –living or dead – write your biography, who would you choose?biography1

I don’t think I will choose any author to write my biography. I want to write it myself because I really don’t think anyone can truly portray me as a person except me. Well, except if something like body switching exist, I think I will write it myself because anyone can capture an event perfectly but can they capture an individual person’s thoughts and feelings?

I’ve actually had a classmate write my biography before. It was for a class assignment. She actually did pretty well, so well that my instructor felt sorry for me which is a little embarrassing to talk about. I was going through a bad time. I was stressed both at school and home and my mom was way way way worse than how she is now. My classmate focused on that part and my genetic disorder more than anything else. She kind of made my life sound like a soap opera.

If I wrote my biography myself, I would’ve tuned it down or something. I don’t think I like my life to be so dramatized. I mean look where that landed me, 5 sessions with a psychiatrist.

So thanks for the kind thought of having the author I wish to write my biography, WP but no thanks, I would rather to write it myself.

The calm before the storm


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?


DSCF9719I 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


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


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 “I Am Just Me” →

Spring Break’s Over


They told me the big black Lab’s name was Reggie, as I looked at him lying in his pen. The shelter was clean, no-kill, and the people really friendly. I’d only been in the area for six months, but everywhere I went in the small college town, people were welcoming and open. Everyone waves when you pass them on the street.  But something was still missing as I attempted to settle in to my new life here, and I thought a dog couldn’t hurt. Give me someone to talk to.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.

What is Love?


Love-Means-That-You1-Inspirational-Life-QuotesToday, 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. 

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Skeptical


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…


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.

  1. The air pollution was already awful.
  2. With my grades, I highly doubt they will accept me into the program in the first place.
  3. 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.

Things happen for a reason


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” →

Following Instructions and Understanding Glamour


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.

Not Today


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).

My Ideal Saturday Morning


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


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.