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 |   Nothing official here; just come chill! |
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Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice:  I'm a bit of a fangirl  My life is very busy I enjoy using emoticons  I don't tend to swear, but stuff happens. |
| Write about something mysterious. Is the mystery ongoing, or has it been resolved? As the title would suggest, I've got a couple unsolved mysteries in my life right now.  Firstly, the thesis. It's at 28 pages. 28! Technically, 27 1/2, but it's on page 28, and that's what counts, right? The usual page count is 30. So why won't the page count just magically get itself to 30?  If anyone wants to help me out and read through the thesis and tell me where I can add more information, I really wouldn't mind.  Just sayin', and just putting it out there.{indent] Also related to the thesis, I can't really bring myself to focus on much these past few days. It's like I hit a plateau at page 28 and I've been stuck there since. I'm also pretty unmotivated to do anything these days, and it's at where I don't even want to watch Netflix/Hulu/Youtube. I take no pleasure in doing so. I don't want to write. I don't want to watch stuff. Yes, I'll read a little every now and then but that's about it. I wouldn't mind just lazing in bed all day. The worst part is probably the fact that I know I'm free once I finish the thesis, but for some reason, it's not finishing itself.  Then, there's my appetite, which has been strangely large for the amount of physical activity I've done these past couple weeks (essentially none). I feel like I've been eating more than I usually do, and more than I do when I went to do aerial stuffs. Oh yeah, I haven't been on aerial stuffs since getting back from Legoland because the thesis needed finishing.  Also, Groupon has a thing for 2 weeks of unlimited classes at The Bar Method, which I kinda wanna try as well and plan on trying once I finish the thesis. But, as you just read, it's "once I finish the thesis" and am I motivated to do it? Nope.  Do I want to try Barre Fitness? yes! One resolved mystery of life right now, though, is the Hello song I've been learning on ukulele for work.... she has the chords all written out for us so we just play/learn/strum and sing, but my finger dexterity isn't that great, so I've kinda adapted it so it's a little simpler. Our boss is a nice lady, I hope she doesn't mind.  Yes, I was also learning guitar, but do note the past tense. I won't say I've given up on it- I just... haven't practiced it in a while  Another soon-to-be resolved mystery would be the name of my giant-bear-whose-name-is-not-James. I have two very close contenders, suggestion-wise, so depending on what else comes in, one of those two names (I won't reveal which  ) may become the winner, unless someone comes in with a name that really blows me away tonight. |
| It’s summer here in the US, the perfect season for a road trip! In your blog today, plan your ideal road trip. Where would you go and who would you go with? Yeah yeah, I've been AWOL for a while. I had 2, new PT- jobs, not including Chinese school- note the past tense, and I was supposed to go to training today for one of them, at which point, the 2nd job became not a job. With that said, though, and after reading Charlie ~'s blog last night, I would probably go do the exact opposite of him.  I would take shadowfanglerz and maybe her boyfriend as well, because why not, and it's fun to have more people in the car when you roadtrip, and we'd make a trip all around the US. I'd also pick up one of my friends from high school who took Chinese with me, because I plan on going to Salt Lake City to visit our Chinese teacher, so she can come along.  To start out, since I'm in SoCal, I'd probably drive down towards to MexiCali border- hit all the beaches as we go down to San Diego and then hit Legoland again- get some park hopper passes, play in the water park, buy their apple fries and then start driving eastwards after that. We'd go hit Las Vegas, and then probably stay a night or two to watch some shows.... Then we'd keep driving east to Utah and Salt Lake City to go see the Chinese teacher. After that, I have a professor who moved to Phoenix, so I'd probably like to go give her a visit, and then I don't know what's to see in New Mexico, but after that, I'd take us to the restaurant in Texas, so we can see my cousin and her parents, and if they permit (though doubtful) we'd take her along too. Only problem is, she gets carsick sometimes. After Texas, we'll drive through to Louisiana, and I'm not sure what there is to do there, either, but once we hit Mississippi, I'll drive up to Tennessee, so we can see Nashville and maybe where they filmed Nashville, because that would be neat. We'll drive down through Georgia, through to Florida, and see Universal Studios and Disney World in Orlando.After that, we'll drive up the East coast.... stay in New York for a few days and do all the gimmicky tourist attractions- Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Empire State building, and keep going up to Maine and eat lots of crustaceans. Then we'll make our way back- I'm really not sure what else there is to see, but I'll bet there's a bunch of WDC people on the East Coast, so if we pass by your town, we'll stop and say hi!  Also, this is getting kinda long, so yeah, I'll abridge it here- We make it through the 48 contiguous states, and end up north around Washington, go down to Oregon, NorCal, where I'll see more friends (this time from uni) and then make our way back to Southern California. The end! |
| Name three national holidays that celebrate Veterans (or members of the Military) and write a brief summary of why they are celebrate. Each should not exceed 500 words. Well, the prompt doesn't specify they must be American national holidays, so I've got one from Australia. Anzac Day This is celebrated every year on April 25 in Australia and New Zealand, and according to Wikipedia, it gets its name from the Anzac's (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps), first landing in Gallipoli on that day in World War I. Veterans Day Veterans Day celebrates the end of World War I. An Armistice was signed with Germany on November 11th, and the hostilities ended in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. Therefore, Veterans Day was historically known as Armistice Day until most nations changed it in World War II. Most Commonwealth countries adopted "Remembrance Day" and the US decided on "Veterans Day" Memorial Day Memorial Day honors people who died in the Armed Forces, fighting for the United States. Up until 1970, it was previously celebrated on May 30, but it is now moved to the last Monday of May. The reason for this is Congress's "Uniform Monday Holiday Act" in June 1968, which moved four holidays from their usual date to a Monday so people could have a 3-day weekend. This law went into effect in 1971. Memorial Day is also "considered the unofficial start of summer vacation season".  All my sources: The respective Wikipedia page for each holiday |
| How does your diet affect your mental health? Do things like caffeine, fried foods, or high sugar snacks impact your mental health at all? What do you think the connection is between physical and mental health? I believe the obvious answer here would be, "you are what you eat". Even Taiwanese has a phrase that roughly translates to, "garbage in, garbage out". So going off that, the connection between physical and mental health (theoretically speaking) would be the better you eat, the better you (should) feel. For me, food in general is a pretty large part of my life- when I live alone, I typically eat in between regular mealtimes in order to decrease the number of meals, and potentially calories, I intake. In terms of what I eat, though, I think I'm generally a healthy-ish eater? I stay away from fried foods for the most part- at the most, maybe I'll have a fried egg/sunny-side-up every now and then but I'm actually not big on fries, or fried, oily food in general. The longer you stay away from those foods, I've realized over time, the easier it is to keep staying away. Typically I just eat chips. Yes, those are typically fried, but it's definitely a snack I always have around me but never eat. I'm definitely one of those people who buy unhealthy food on a whim, then leave it to go stale for months before finally deciding to have a nibble. Might as well just not buy it, I know, but *shrug* it happens.Caffeine, though, is actually good for me. I don't say this sarcastically, either. I bought a trial pack of Zest Tea, which is a high-caffeine content tea, and it was REALLY GOOD. I decided to give it a test run during the final week of instruction at school, and on the first day, I got some cool ideas for Chinese School instruction after drinking it. I'm telling myself it was the sudden jolt of caffeine in my body that sent everything, including my brain and imagination, into overdrive, and instead of getting jittery and going through a crash-and-burn, it was more like a  moment/feeling throughout the day. I even lasted through the final night class of the quarter without feeling extra drained.  Needless to say, I drank more throughout the week, and especially on Thursday, when I had silks, Jazz, and Ballet packed into my schedule! High-sugar stuff is, admittedly, probably my biggest problem, because I drink alot of syrup/powder-based drinks. Not necessarily Starbucks, but we have a place by campus called Sharetea and it's a boba/milk tea type of shop, so I started going there once a week to buy myself a milk tea of sorts to use for making microwave oatmeal in the mornings. I definitely think doing silks has improved my mental health- jazz and ballet as well, but also in that order of helpfulness level. I feel challenged in silks, enough to where I want to conquer the skills I struggle with, but not to where I want to give up- it might be a matter of class-size as well, and the fact that it's hard to not smile when you're 8-10 feet in the air and impressing people. Jazz was just fun, in the sense that the instructor's energy was absolutely contagious. He made it to where it's pretty much impossible to not be smiling at the end of class, even if you're sweating, sore, and just burned 400-500 calories (no lie, that's how much I burned during our final  ). It's also so fast-paced that you can't be thinking of anything else outside the studio because then you'll miss the choreography and be behind. Ballet helped, more with posture than anything, and the instructor was super knowledgeable about injuries, alignments, and all that physiology/anatomy stuff I never studied but probably should've. I learned the most in that class, I'd say, because I used to copy what I saw from Angelina Ballerina when I was younger, which got me into trouble not only indirectly with Grandfather, but with my own body, because I wasn't doing it right. Go figure. Sooo yeah. For me, the connection between physical and mental health would be: good physical health (fitness-wise) leads to good mental health. As much as I gripe about food and such sometimes, what I eat isn't as big of a worry for me, as much as what I do with the energy gained after eating. |
| It’s National Poetry Writing Month! Write a poem of any structure related to your experience with mental illness. If you’re not a poetry writer, write a 10-minute free flow stream of conscience about your experience with mental illness. A girl in kindergarten called me "fat"- honestly, I don't remember, but Mom told me that. I was born a large baby, with lots of fat, maybe, but this girl, "Haley," (pronounced Halle) just thought I should be ashamed of my body. Like any good child would after that day, I went home and asked: "Mommy, am I fat?" Her answer was "No! Of course not," but as a Mom, isn't that her job? Flash forward to second grade, and I remember Hannah, talking about her weight. Nearly 100 pounds, I heard someone say, and I realized I, too, was headed that way. She always seemed so dark and gloomy, and just the slightest bit.... unhealthy. I may have been misinformed at 8, but better now, I figured, before it's too late. It lasted through freshman year of college, where the "freshman 15" turned into almost fainting because I hadn't eaten, for... a week? Now I'm more careful. While my body isn't a temple, every pound I gain is a sign to train. And now, I wonder if the number will ever be small enough. |
So I got Lyn's a Witchy Woman  's challenge at "a very Wodehouse challenge"  about blogging. Which means, here I am, writing about blogging, before my Jazz final- it's 9:42 am and I'm probably a little hyped up on caffeine and nerves (Zest tea is amazing, people, just saying!) so here goes nothing....Do I like blogging? Yes and no. I like the idea of blogging. Do I actually like blogging? Sometimes? I never quite know what to write. I like reading other people's blogs. I don't do that often enough, I'll admit right now. I see people posting "Hey I have a new post in my blog" and I'll be like "oh okay, I should read it" but I never actually do. Also, I started a blog about the 100 Baby Challenge I'm doing on Sims but I haven't updated that in a while. Because again, I don't really know what to write. I think I'm close to being at 20 kids, which is quite the achievement, apparently, but then again, that's also nowhere close to 100. And I'm starting to wonder if my town will be run over by Sims from my family- which I think at this point, will be highly likely. With that said, hats off to people who manage to blog on a consistent basis, because that is not me, and I don't think that ever will be me. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] When I was younger, in middle/high school, I was pretty big on following people and trends. It was a thing... I knew I was different, in the sense that I definitely didn't fit in, and I mean, I was smart, but not extremely smart to where it was "cool", but enough to where I definitely stuck out. I didn't care too much about it, but at the same time, it wasn't like I cared about being in the popular crowd, because they weren't smart. I liked being smart, in a way, because unlike popularity, it was something I could control- and use in life. Even when I first joined WdC, I definitely wasn't myself- I acted super scholarly, just to disguise my age. Naturally, I'm okay with it now, 5+ years later, but at the same time, 5+ years ago, the internet probably wasn't as safe back then? Plus, I think when you enter a new space, it's a good idea to sit back and observe what's going on before you completely immerse yourself into it. Now that I have, though, and I've determined what it's like here, I can be myself. And that's kinda what this song is about. I also chose this version of it because the performance is super cool. I loved the choreography in the performance. The chairs were awesome, and I love the ripple effect they use throughout the choreography. To be honest, I'm not sure how to interpret the performance, but I do like the use of the chair props. And that reminds me, I need to get back to writing my reflection on the dance show so I can turn it in next week or the week after. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Another Sheppard song, because they're good. Ummm I really liked the music video for this song. They're in the clouds and jumping around from cloud to cloud. Granted, I'm aware that it's highly unlikely that it would actually work that way. If you jumped onto a cloud, I think you'd probably fall through it. Assuming the world in this video was accurate, though, that is totally something I would do. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I have a thing for activities where my feet aren't touching the ground- climbing, dancing, flying (silks), trampolines.... There's something about the feeling of being in the air that I really like . Possibly, it's because I'm a dragon and dragons fly, but I think I like the feeling of weightlessness you get from being in the air. That moment when you're aware your body is just levitating in the air and nothing is holding it up, before gravity pulls it back down to the ground. I remember the other day, we were doing a jump of sorts and somehow I managed to get really high, because I felt myself at the top of that moment where I wasn't touching anything for a second, and was all "whoa" Granted this is kinda more of a love song than anything and I'm not one for love songs, but I like this one because of how it's presented, I guess. Also, lots of love songs are all "let's go to bed together because I love you" but this one is more like, "I love the time we spend together and I want to spend more time with you doing things," and that's a message I like. Plus, their lyrics for this song, is more like the "storm" aspect of "the calm before the storm"- which is definitely something I can relate to with everything that's been happening in life recently. I think I'm more of a storm at this point as well, with my fury frustration at not getting the job I wanted. They said they'd keep my file there and definitely let me know if anything opened up in or after April, but I'm honestly not holding my breath for it. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I like this song- it's day 3 of who I am.... Yeah, this is pretty me. You want to impress me? Work hard, be smart. Actually, you don't even have to be smart. You just have to work hard. I find it annoying in dance class when there's students who hardly make an effort. There's some people who are on their phones in class. I mean, seriously, we're moving around and doing exercises and you're standing there, texting someone on your phone?  If you want to be on your phone, go somewhere else. Go to a normal class where everyone's on their devices and you'll fit right in. The syllabus specifically says that phones aren't allowed, and if you're on your phone all the time, I mean, really, no wonder that you're not getting the steps. You're not watching everyone else and trying to figure out how to do things correctly. I think this song is great at showing who I am because, contrary to my previous post, I do enjoy learning. I just don't like how learning gets in the way of me doing what I want and/or need to do. Granted I don't need to be a yard supervisor, but it's a step in the right direction of me being in the district. I'd be employed by the district and it'd give me a foot in the door for being a substitute teacher in the district, which would let me (potentially) be a kindergarten teacher there. Mom is actually still asking me when I plan to move over to Australia to teach, and honestly, I'm not sure. Granted, I don't necessarily want to stay here in the US, but I'm also not sure I want to be in Australia at this point. It's too close to everyone, I guess, and seeing that I don't think people know about my aunt and how serious her condition was, it'd be hard to be so close to the org. At the same time, I'm not keen on staying in this area, just because... eh. I love the area of the district, but I'm also not sure I'd want to stay there- life is a little slowly paced there, in a way. I do love teaching in Chinese School, and I think it'd be fun to teach kindergarten here, but I'm thinking still, after the experience I had at the Baby and Toddler Show all those years ago with Hi-5, I'd like to work with their production team, in terms of how kids learn, and perhaps be a consultant on the show of sorts, and help them figure out what's best for kids to learn from the screen. Alternatively, I'd also love to work at the Hi--5 House of Learning, but those are in Southeast Asia and that's also not somewhere I'd totally like to live. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I guess right now my feelings are kinda the opposite of "Longer"... I want everything to be shorter, to be over. I'm done sitting in classes for school because I don't want to be in class anymore. I just want to be done. I got rejected from the yard supervisor position today because I'm still in school and they needed someone right away, and it kinda stings, honestly.  I mean, I would've been perfect for the job. I went to the school where they need the yard supervisor, firstly, and secondly, I know all of the other yard supervisors already. A couple of them are Mom's friends because Sis was friends with their kids. The rest of them, I met while working in the kindergarten classroom. I'm legit a familiar face at the school, and I'm friendly with everyone. I know the kids. Some of the first graders there recognize me from when I helped out in their kindergarten classroom last year and would run up and hug me on the playground during their recess or lunch. On a daily basis.  We're in Week 8 with school, and a quarter is 10 weeks long. I technically have 2 more weeks of school and a week of finals, so 3 total weeks, but yeah, I don't want to go through all that time. Also, I still have that thesis I need to write, which is giving me all sorts of anxiety-like, "nope I don't want to do it" feelings. My thesis advisor is supposed to be a really good person for feedback and such, but what she gave me wasn't that specific so I don't know what she wants out of me and what I'm writing. I'm just so done with school in general that I don't want to do anything. Maybe this is what senioritis feels like, though it could very well also be burnout. Regardless, it's not a fun feeling and I do wish it'd go away.In a sense, I guess this "longer" is also... I wish the school could hold out a little longer. I mean, they've gone without a yard supervisor for what, 5 months, now? What's another month or two in comparison? Mom keeps saying that her friends complain about how the school doesn't want to hire another yard supervisor, even though they definitely need one. And honestly, I mean, they've had this issue since at least last year, so really, a year and 5 months, and you can't wait a month or so? What's up with that? Seriously. |
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