whimsically, me

Reading and re-reading and re-re-reading. I love the opening piece “Things Were Eaten” by Peter Meehan and Peter Chang.

All in all, Lucky Peach = fantastic writing, fantastic contributors, and fantastic recipes.

Daddy would be proud.

Made an expense spreadsheet to keep track of my rabid spendings every month. FEELING SO RESPONSIBLE. 

“Recommended for You”

I set my Google Reader homepage to display “Recommended for You” just to see all the ridiculous things the internet has curated for me thanks to my rabid trigger happy “like” finger. So this should not come as a surprise to me (but it did) when a post showed up and the first thing I see is a baby coming out of a woman’s spread eagle legs. 

Okay.

After the initial eye-bulging “WTF” moment,  I took a breathe and read through the blog post. It was actually endearing if you did not count the horrific, but professionally (and tastefully) done, birthing photograph. The father talked about how he was preparing for that moment—mentally as a new parent and artistically as a photographer—for quite some time. 

This led to two conclusions. 

1. Google Reader recommendations suck.

2. Witnessing the miracle of birth even as a completely unrelated third person suck.

Recommendations are highly sought after documents that can secure your self-deserving qualified tush at that X-Y-Z place.  They were the equivalent to the gold stars given out if you can spell out monosyllabic words in grade school. On the contrary, recommendations from Google Reader are a different breed. It should really have a “beware” sign slapped in front of it just to warn the public of how scarring the suggestions will be. Of course as a glutton for punishment, it will still be my homepage and I will still have that trigger happy “like” finger.

So much for maturity. 

Old Delicious Account:

New Delicious Account:

I saved 16 bookmarks from my old account in my new account.

16 out of 1473 links is roughly about 0.01%.

So only 0.01% of the stuff I saved in the last 4 years I still consider relevant.

Current Obsessions

The Sims Medieval

Playing this nonstop for the past two days. I like it much better than the conventional Sims games thanks to the implementation of “Quests”! Plus, I’m a badass monarch with an awesome four-post bed. 

Florrie

This girl’s music is blowing my mind AND she’s the same age as me. Perfect for dancing around in your apartment wearing nothing but your undies. Tres impressed.

Marine Sel

Took a leap of faith and snagged this up a month ago over at Tokyo Milk. Normally I tend to shy away from purchasing perfumes on the internet since I have a very particular sense of smell and absolutely need to sniff the product first before purchasing. With that said, I’m infatuated with this scent since it’s not overpowering and lingers on my skin all day. I can still smell a faint trace of it when I go to bed at night.  

Sometimes the best therapy…

..is simply blasting catchy pop songs and dancing around the apartment in your underwear.

Goals for the immediate future.

1. Move to St. Louis.
2. Give the Midwest a chance and stop moping about not being back in NYC.
3. Start visiting farmer’s markets.
4. Stop making excuses to not buy that damn DSLR.
5. Stress less.
6. Cook more.
7. Smile more. 

Oh yea, find an internship/job should be wedged in there somewhere.

Fare thee well.

I finally stopped listening to your songs. 

终于听不下你的歌了。终于开始放手了。

I tried to do handstands for you but everytime I fell for you. I’m permanently black and blue.

Lucky on a rickshaw

Do you hear me? I’m talking to you…

We were in a cobblestoned maze, crammed into a tiny rickshaw, speeding down towards present day again.

Lucky I’m in love with my best friend…

The exact space and time are long forgotten but the memory is alive and well. Our voices carried through the hutong; so foreign yet so happy. Burst of giggles weaved between the harmonies and native onlookers perplexed by the culture we brought to their derelict doorsteps.

Lucky to have been where I have been…

The ride was only mere minutes long and it was bumpy and dangerous. Our driver was clearly an expert in dodging people as well as cars. In such a crowded space, his skills could be considered a God-given talent.

Lucky to be coming home again…

We sang from the top of our lungs. Though we were singing for different people, at that moment your hand glazed over mine. It was the slightest touch and I looked at you. The face that I grew accustomed to seeing every single day for months, the face I associate with a traveling companion, the face of a master of useless information, puzzles and magic tricks.

As the world keep spinning around, you hold me right here right now…

You ended the verse with a wink and a smile then gave me the nod to let me know it was my turn.

You’ll hear the music fill the air, I’ll put a flower in your hair…

Mooncake thoughts.

This is the first time in my life that I’m away from my family during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Needless to say, I miss everyone back home terribly. This led me to browse through all the “mid-autumn”esque photos on Flickr. I stumbled across this one and it immediately reminded me of Hong Kong. I realized I wasn’t only missing my family and friends back in New York City. I was missing China and the semester abroad as well. 

I remember exploring the streets of Hong Kong with J. She mentioned how no matter what happens after the semester ends, anytime we see a picture we’ll be reminded of that specific time and moment. At the time, I thought she was being over sentimental since it was our last week together. She was absolutely right. The smell, the noise, and the livelihood is incomparable. We ducked and weaved through the crowded streets and poked in every nook and cranny. Normally I’m not the adventurous type but anything was possible. 

DC is where I call home now, possibly for next 5+ years. While I eventually came to love this place and its quirks, it doesn’t compare to NYC. That’s where my parents are, and where all my childhood best friends are. It’s sad when I get invitations to events and I have to decline because I can’t make it back. All the missed opportunities to make more memories. When I see their faces in photos, I wish I could have been there with them. Having the time of our lives in a city we grew up together in. Yet I’m here, in a totally different city, disconnected from all of that. 

So as I walked back to my apartment two nights ago, I looked up at the moon. It was big, bright and yellow. My grandma always tells me during this holiday you think about people who mean the most to you. And I did. 

That cashmere polar bear…

Things get lost with time. This is a fact. Most people do not have picture perfect memory and can recall every moment in their lives. I’m one of those people.

I stumbled across a blog post dated in 2006. It was a long-winded entry that was dedicated to the various important people in my life at the time. One segment that particularly stood out to me was:

Where’d you go?  We used to be inseparable, during the summer that we met, everything clicked and fell into place.  The late night chats, you comforting me when I missed my Chemistry Regents because I overslept (somethings never change do they?)  We confided in one another and it seemed like nothing was going to come between our friendship.  Even though we ventured around the city that Christmas and you bought me that precious polar bear plush doll, that was the last I saw / heard from you in a long time.  Now that we’re back in touch again, why does it feel like a chunk is missing?  No longer is the eagerness to catch up there, all you did was wish me a happy fourth of July.  I miss you.  I really do.

Truth be told, when I re-read this entry I was afraid I won’t be able to connect these short/vague (or not so vague) paragraphs with the actual persons they were dedicated to. Although some took longer than others, I knew exactly who this person was. We don’t talk anymore but I remember that polar bear doll. It’s funny I have totally forgotten about the plush until I read this entry, even though it was one of my absolute favorites. Now I have a burning desire to go back home to New York, or at least call my mother in the morning and ask whatever happened to this particular bear. 

B. I still miss you. I hope where ever you are, you’re leading a fulfilling and happy life.