Thursday, August 18, 2011

Links! Photos! Stuff!

{In which there is much randomness}

Ugh, I suck at updating now. Sorry. :( I can't believe I once posted every weekday! *is full of nostalgia for those long-ago happy days*

Anyway, I still have thousands of photos to sort through and process and upload, and you'd think that given how much time I've been holing up in my room lately I'd have more to show. But no, I've been taking advantage of my recent bout of anti-socialness to work on other projects. Like Camp NaNoWriMo, except I got stalled because I have this terrible habit of needing to have everything planned and outlined before I can write (left over from my days of writing one-draft English papers the night before they're due). Soooo I've been plotting (and reading about plotting) instead of writing, which is good for my sanity but not so great for my word count.

Since I'm here, I thought I'd share some random photos as well as awesome links I've come across lately and would love to discuss with someone. So go read these articles and tell me what you think!

ONE
My sister is an amazing writer/photographer (yeah, it runs in the family :P) and she has a blog! Well, several, actually. She has a Tumblr and a Blogger blog and she's also blogging at the195.com for her semester abroad in Denmark.

But the post I want to point you to is this one, about family and communication and language. Maybe I only like the post so much because it's about my family, and I LOVE my family. But I still think you should read it. :)

TWO
I totally meant to write a post on "What it's Like to be a Tall Asian Girl" for a Monday Musing post, but never got around to it. And then I ran across Savannah J. Foley's post on What it Feels Like to be Really,  Really Tall, and even though I'm not nearly as tall as she is (she's 6'2"), the whole time I read her post I was like YES YES OMG THAT'S HOW I FEEL TOO!! Especially now that I'm in Taiwan where people are short. And blunt. So yeah, go check it out and you will understand me much better.

THREE
I think I adore Penelope Trunk, but I'm not sure. I have conflicted feelings. Sometimes I read one of her posts and I think, "Dear God this woman is crazy," and I almost unsubscribe, but I don't, because she is so smart and interesting. And she knows it. But anyway I have a bookmark folder just for her posts, because they are that brilliant. Here's her post on Blueprint for a Woman's Life. You should read it because her ideas are fascinating and insane-sounding but backed up by research. Definitely great food for thought, even if you disagree with everything she says.

She embeds tons of awesome links in her posts, and you should read those, too. Like the one about how women should marry first and think about career later, because there is a biological clock for having children but not so much for pursuing your career. Or this one about how being attractive makes a big difference in careers and it might be a good career move to invest in your appearance by buying attractiveness through plastic surgery (crazy, right?). I'm definitely not going under the knife any time soon, but wow, it makes me think I should pay more attention to beauty and skin care and self-presentation!

Now for the photos:

Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace ship in Keelung

Lamp from some restaurant I went to. (So specific, I know.)

Bowl of spoons! I take a lot of photos in restaurants when I'm waiting for the food to arrive, haha.

Flower! (As if you couldn't tell.)

Yeah, this post was thrown together rather haphazardly, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! I'm hoping to have the July Food Post up soon, or at least some more Photo Diary-type posts. No idea if I'll manage to do any of that this weekend, but we'll see.

Have a great day!


with love,
linda

20 comments:

  1.  i think it's time to give up and just call it the August food post...

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  2. thanks for the blog suggestions!

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  3. Oh...this Penelope lady...Ohhhhh. She's very entertaining to read, with some interesting points, but I think I disagree with more of her points than agree with them. I do like her opinion on home schooling, especially with charter schools, online classes, and community college classes (which often have enthusiastic,smart, young professors) so readily available. I definitely don't think I'll make enough money to send my kids to a private school! I don't agree with her point plastic surgery, but only because people often do it so badly. I will, however, make sure that if I have daughters, I will watch their skincare habits like a hawk.

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  4. nooo!! you don't understand. the name of the food post is not based on the month the post is published, but the month the photos are from. i usually try to post photos from the previous month in the first week of each month, but i'm kind of behind...

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  5. hahahaha yeah she has such an interesting outlook on life. i assure you i don't always agree with her points either but they always make me think more deeply about various issues, so that's why i enjoy her blog :) and yes, she's certainly very entertaining! sigh my own skincare habits are AWFUL. need to change that!

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  6. LINDAAA!!! i started reading the Penelope trunk blog and you were so right, i just couldn't stop = =ll i think it would be a bad idea if I subscribed to her blog because i would be reading it all the time!! your opinion of it is spot on btw (about how you might disagree with what she says but you can't stop yourself from reading) :)

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  7. HAHA YES i'm so glad i got someone sucked in to her blog!! it's amazing, right?? so fascinating and crazy and addictive. :) subscribe to her blog so i have someone to discuss her articles with!

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  8. Thanks for all the interesting reads.  I can relate to the "Chinglish" post.  A lot of times, I'd start a conversation in Cantonese with my dad but end up using just English by the end because it takes so much longer for me to find the words to express myself in Chinese.  It doesn't help that sometimes I use the wrong word/phrase and that just makes me look silly. 

    I also liked the Penelope post, although I don't entirely agree with her on some points.  But I think our differences lie in the fact that I am not in a business career and therefore have different ideas of success.  For one, physical appearance matters less in science (or maybe I'm just really naive).  Another thing is that I don't feel pressured to find a spouse who is "equally smart as me."  In fact, I really hope I marry someone who is not scientist; and he certainly need not have a PhD or a Masters.  I think you can find smart, down-to-earth, quality guys who may not necessarily have as high an education as you.  Finally, I'm not totally bought by the whole homeschooling idea.  That might just be because I came from a pretty good public school.  I also think that kids need to learn how to interact with other kids.  How else are they going to appreciate diversity?  I believe that their viewpoints need to be challenged and evolve as they become exposed to ideas from other people; how else would they form a strong sense of self if they never have to fight to understand who they are?  I'm not as concerned about them getting into the the Ivy Leagues.  I just read an article from The Atlantic about how students can get a quality education in lower tier schools and pay less for their education than their private-school counterparts.  http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/the-debt-crisis-at-american-colleges/243777/

    I definitely agree on the "do less homework" part.  Wish I had done that in college.

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  9. No sympathy here sister!  You could be a model, whereas all I got was bitterly teased by all the white people in my awful provincial town growing up. :)  Tall girls really are loved by everyone - for some reason short guys LERV tall girls.  Have you experienced that?

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  10. Glad you liked the links, Joanne! Haha omg I use the wrong phrase in Mandarin all the time too, especially when I try to translate a phrase from English directly into Chinese and it doesn't make any sense post-translation. Lol.

    Hmm interesting thoughts on the Penelope piece. I totally thought of you when I read the "marry first then have a career" one, because of your blog post on fertility. And yeah, I'm sure you can find great guys outside of grad school but for most people proximity is a major factor in who they date and marry, so if you're in grad school it makes sense that the people you meet will be other people also pursuing higher education. I don't think Penelope was saying that you have to marry someone as smart as you are, just that if you care about that then grad school is a good way to meet those people.

    As for homeschooling, my public school was pretty good too. But homeschooling doesn't mean you just stay home all day and never interact with anyone else. Homeschoolers can take classes, participate in various community organizations, and hang out with friends. And honestly, if you're more proactive about the people you introduce your kids to, they can actually be exposed to more diversity than the usual middle class suburbanites they'll encounter in a decent public school. I think if you homeschool you can do a better job of expanding their minds with challenging ideas by selecting their teachers and seeking out mentors for them than if
    you trusted their growth to mirror that of their peers in school. I think
    homeschooling is a great idea if you're willing to put in the work to
    educate your kids in a holistic way. But it is an awful lot of work and I
    get tired just thinking about it, haha. I was homeschooled for a year in
    high school. It was a fun experience but ultimately it didn't work out for
    our family. I think the concerns you mention won't be issues as long as
    you're aware of what you want for your kids and are proactive about
    researching possible resources and providing those experiences for them.

    But yeah, good point that you don't need to go to the Ivy Leagues. Penelope
    had a post where she shared a study in which getting into the Ivies isn't
    the best indicator of success; applying to one is, due to what it says about
    your confidence and self-image. I thought that was interesting. Thanks for
    sharing the link about college! Student loans totally suck.

    Hahaha I definitely did the minimal amount of homework in college, so I have
    no regrets about that, though I do wish I'd used my spare time more wisely
    (I can't even remember what I ended up doing). At least I got the "don't be
    the hardest worker" thing down. :P

    Thanks for the comments! :D It's fun to talk about ideas with people. :)

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  11. Haha thanks Sophia but being a model takes WAY more than being tall, and I'm sure you know all about the mysterious qualities necessary (that I don't have) since you're one. :P

    Why were you bitterly teased? That sucks. :(

    And OMG no, Asian guys usually hate being next to a girl who's taller than they are. They tend to feel emasculated by my very presence. And they all tell me not to wear high heels! (I wear them anyway because they look so much better haha)

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  12. Totally agree with you about the home schooling...I think I benefited from  home schooling, but it is better when parents really pay attention to their kid's learning patterns. Some kids need more structure--I did better with math/science in a class, but I liked learning everything else at my own pace.

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  13. Ohhh . . well then. Maybe you need to stop taking photos for a month =P
    j/k. I do enjoy your food posts! Mmmm . . foood . . 

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  14. Love the photos, and yeah, that woman sounds just a tad off to me. Plastic surgery, really?

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  15. Awesome links...

    COME BACK AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES WITH ME!! =D =D =D

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  16. Thanks, Rebecca! Hahaha I think she says it to be controversial. Her thought process is really interesting, though!

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  17. lol wow that came out of nowhere. i'll be back for christmas/new years! oh wait you're going to HK then... :(

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  18. nono, it was one of the things the penelope lady suggested!!!! I PROMISE!!!! o___O

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  19. haha that's true. i totally forgot about that! boo, i suck at video games... what does that say about my chances of success in life?! :P

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  20. well, it was only one of her many factors... besides, you don't have play video games well... you just have to play! =D

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