December 2011
1 post
Oxford
Being abroad was a breath of fresh air, at least most days. There were some moments I don’t need pictures for: watching the sun rise from a boat on the Isis, walking in the Magdalen deer park as sun beams flowed over the gates, and standing on the roof of the Lafayette taking in a view of Paris that literally took my breath away.
Oxford itself was small (maybe a bit too small, as I felt in the...
July 2011
7 posts
The mother tongue, sort of
“Typewriter” was one of the answers (or rather, questions) on Jeopardy today, prompting my dad to reminisce about my mom’s old typewriter in Shanghai. “She was typing in English 20 years before you were born,” my dad joked to me.
“Yet I still think in Chinese,” she replied.
I never consciously thought about which language my parents think in, but of...
I met up with an old friend today. We reminisced over bonding in high school about what we thought was real and significant - today we tried to remember what it was and couldn’t. I realized how she’d grown in the past two years in ways that I don’t think I could have imagined in high school, and it made me happy. I think maybe it gave me hope for myself, too.
Though I feel like...
The Good Short Life →
I don’t know if it’s because I keep reading that my childhood is over in Facebook statuses and Tumblr posts, but I really feel like it’s true this time. It seems like this is one of the last things I had to hold on to - I graduated from high school, I went to college, I’ve been “encouraged” to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life - and now...
OMGRYFFINDOR →
This is effing AWESOME. If you don’t have time to re-read in the next week (omg! 1 week), this should do just fine.
*Thanks, Sam :)
Basking in Russia's Love Long After a Musical... →
I think for some Russians, the Tchaikovsky Competition might be the equivalent of the Super Bowl.
June 2011
3 posts
Shanghai's Susan Boyle →
For you Chinese speakers out there! Watch this video, it made my mom and me cry from laughter. A 50-something year-old market woman (with an awesome voice, btw) transformed the lyrics of “O Sole Mio” into a ballad about her vegetables.
It's official, I'm old.
Yesterday at Souplantation, a little boy couldn’t reach over the counter to get a straw, so I got one for him as he turned away asking his dad to get one. His dad told him, “Look, turn around, the nice lady over there got you one.”
Lady? I was mildly mortified. Granted, I don’t really know what else he would have called me. I think “girl” works fine, but maybe...
Brahms Double →
Came across the website of a lawyer/classical music enthusiast - love the idea of the violin and cello combining to form a “super instrument” that transcends the limits of a single instrument.
April 2011
3 posts
Crying →
“There is something beautiful about a disarmed stranger.”
March 2011
1 post
Tweenbots →
The journey the Tweenbots take each time they are released in the city becomes a story of people’s willingness to engage with a creature that mirrors human characteristics of vulnerability, of being lost, and of having intention without the means of achieving its goal alone. As each encounter with a helpful pedestrian takes the robot one step closer to attaining its destination, the...
February 2011
1 post
Condoleezza Rice spoke about her musical past at the Sophomore Dinner I attended today. She mentioned her serendipitous collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, and I remembered my mom showing me a newspaper clipping of the photo of the two of them playing together. I think when I saw the picture back then, I wanted to be like Yo-Yo Ma. Now I think I want to be like Condi, so I can play with him instead.
December 2010
10 posts
Party Down: Katy Perry on America’s Glorious Past,... →
I would totally rather party with Ke$ha than Katy, just sayin’.
In Camouflage or Veil, a Fragile Bond →
“Do you ever fast?” one Afghan woman asked Captain Naslund in the northern Helmand village of Soorkano, apparently speaking of the custom during the Muslim festival of Ramadan.
“Sometimes, when I think I’m getting fat,” Captain Naslund replied, to a curious look. “American men like skinny girls.”
Catching up on news I missed this year - 2010: The Year in Pictures
Zimbabwe Health Care, Paid With Peanuts →
Another reason why I don't want to grow up
I got my wisdom teeth out today, so I’ve been enviously watching my parents eat delicious foods that require chewing while I slurp on chicken soup and tofu. But I love chicken soup and tofu, so it’s okay.
My dad planned what he’s going to make for me for the next three days, and my mom was treating me like I personally accomplished something by getting my teeth out. I love being...
Mark Zuckerberg seems cool
“He didn’t build Facebook so he could have a social life like the rest of us. He built it because he wanted the rest of us to have his.”
Plus he took his family to the Harry Potter theme park for Thanksgiving. Omg. Person of the Year 2010
When my mom attends Chinese events, she usually drags me along with her, and I always go very reluctantly. Today it was a concert (called “China Tour 2010,” I think). I love the refined atmosphere of classical concerts - the tuxes, the silence that the audience tries so hard to maintain - so when I attend Chinese concerts, I’m sometimes a little appalled at how rude Chinese...
November 2010
4 posts
National Geographic's Photography Contest 2010 →
First home quote
Admiring my parents’ new digital picture frame, I flipped through some photos from when I was in middle school.
Me: Wow, I was unattractive. But I guess everyone doesn’t look that great in middle school. Mom: No, I don’t think so. I know I still looked good.
I’m so glad to be home! Even though it’s raining and cold (epic fail, San Diego), I actually don’t mind...
October 2010
2 posts
September 2010
1 post
05mm:
床前明月光，疑是地上霜。 举头望明月，低头思故乡。
李白 《静夜思》
——————————————-
It’s Mid-Autumn Festival.
My mom made sure I brought plenty of mooncakes to school so I wouldn’t be missing out. I don’t really celebrate at home - besides stocking up on mooncakes and enjoying the full moon. We memorized this poem in Chinese school a couple years ago, but today I think I understand it a bit more.
...
August 2010
6 posts
I love Shanghai
I think I’m a bit too excited to go to Shanghai because today I started brainstorming things I want to do when I get there. One site I came across detailed the ordeal of crossing streets in the city - with incredible accuracy:
“Walking is fine, until you have to cross the road. I can’t decide which is more terrifying, a Shanghai taxi ride or jaywalking with my 80-yr old aunt....
Wise words from Mrs. Bastien
I’ve literally known Mrs. Bastien since I was born (or rather, she’s known me). According to the story, my mom carried me into the Bastien house in a baby carrier the first time my sister met with her to begin lessons. That was the first of many, many hours I spent in her waiting room.
I loved that room! I read all of Mrs. B’s books on the different composers (those books had...
10 years
I just got my new passport and glanced at the expiration date - August 5, 2020. Somehow it never occurred to me that I’ll actually be living in a decade beyond the 2010’s. And I realized that in 2020, I’ll be pretty old.
The last ten years have encompassed over half my life, so I feel like they’ve lasted a good while. I skimmed an old journal to see what I was up to ten...
(Literally) running through my past
My run today took me past 12855 Rife Way, the house we lived in two houses ago, the first house I actually remember living in.
Feeling a little nostalgic, I strayed from my planned route and turned onto Twin Trails, which took me past Sundance Elementary (now painted brick red and beige - what happened to the sky blue and cream? and the mural of a white fence intertwined with vines and flowers...
July 2010
12 posts
143
I really hate that song “143”. Even when I’m driving home in the early afternoon and the three lanes on the 56 are beautifully empty, when the radio starts playing “143 I la la la love you,” I feel, momentarily, the same feeling I get when I’m stuck in 5:00 traffic.
Anyway, I was just wikipedia’ing a disease and glanced at its ICD-9 code (code used to...
Turning right
(For those of you I haven’t already proudly told), for the past week I’ve been waking up at 6:30 to go running (although I probably run at the pace of an average person’s power walk, so you can judge for yourself how grand of an accomplishment this is). I decided to try it partly out of necessity because I have to leave for class at 8:00, partly to see if I could do it because...
Morning bonding
I’ve always loved breakfast (most important meal of the day!), but these days, the 20 minutes I spend eating breakfast before going to UCSD are sometimes the best part of my day. My mom still wakes up in the morning to cook or prepare something for my breakfast or lunch - even if I tell her not to because I’m just going to eat Cheerios, she insists of scrambling up some...
Finding The Jeans
In my search for a pair of jeans to back-up/replace my current favorite pair, I tried on every single pair of jeans (minus the extreme skinny’s - can’t pull them off) at Express. Exasperated, I announced defeat, cursing Express for updating their line. Why bother to update perfection?
Absent-mindedly browsing through the sales rack, I stumbled upon a decent-looking pair - nice wash,...
Something I miss about Ruslan
For the last two years of high school, I had my cello lessons on the second floor of the violin shop Hammond Ashley. Designated as a small performance hall for student recitals, the room consisted of a wooden platform (the stage) where I would play as my teacher Ruslan looked on from the first row of chairs (the audience).
The wooden floor of the platform was littered with small holes where...
