Picture Post

Family get-together

At some light show

Secretly taking pictures with Mickey because it's not allowed O_o 

Meeting with friends~

Fear?

I'm watching Divergent (sci-fi movie--there are five factions in society that you must fit into, one of which is Dauntless. A part of the training to become a full-fledged Dauntless member is to face your fears in some sort of hallucination) and started thinking (as always). 

Something mentioned in the movie was that most people have 10-15 deep fears (i.e. those that are essentially crippling when confronted). Because it's just a movie, I have no idea if this is true. How many fears does each person have? Is it even possible to quantify them, and can something someone has never had to confront or think about be a fear? Fear, then, would be limitless. 

Obviously, we have fear as a survival instinct and it's an emotion imprinted in our brains. The central fear system is the amygdala, which associates fear with whatever stimuli the individual is taught to fear, like snakes, fire, etc. etc. and also is a sort of shortcut of visual processing, which is why sometimes we freak out at snake-shaped twigs before slow visual processing (which goes all the way to the occipital lobe and is milliseconds slower) kicks in to tell us that it is really just a twig. 

But fear has evolved as society has. Clearly our ancestors didn't fear the stock market or car accidents, since they didn't have those back then. How has fear evolved to include social fears like insecurity, and is it still a survival instinct at this point? I'm not downplaying such fears, because social anxiety, insecurity, and others can be very real, very serious, and very crippling. But are they still for survival, and are increases in diagnoses of mental illnesses just speaking toward a greater understanding of the symptoms, are an actual epidemic to society?

Fear is relative. But to what?

What am I even talking about? Do I make sense? 

RL

Being Active For Once

I actually did stuff yesterday! Rode the bus out to Ximending and met with a friend from college I met in our dance crew. She's from China so her parents were there and I ate dinner with them. Didn't have an appetite but of course Asian families don't care and they kept trying to get me to eat haha

Ximending is a shopping district, now mostly for young people--there's movie theaters, stores with cute stuff, "young people fashion" (although I don't think I would ever wear that stuff), etc. I like to wander around there, although it's becoming more and more commercial. 

Anyway so we wandered around after her parents went back to the hotel, got lost a few times, looked for the bathroom a few times. The most English I've spoken this week, and it's totally the best feeling to not have to think about how to say things :P and she made fun of my lack of Chinese reading ability >.<

Today, I rode a bus (number 235) about 15-20 minutes to a big road and walked back for an hour and a half, just for fun :P 

I'm still jetlagged :P

RL

Jet Lag

Today is day 3 here! Aaand so far I have done nothing but lounge around, sleep, go on the occasional walk around the area, and go to 7-11. Nothing wrong with that...but I should really be going out to do something :P

I am definitely feeling the jet lag this time around :P Taiwan is 13 hours different from home, usually it is 12 hours when there's not daylight savings time. So yes, it is literally halfway around the world. I'm not sure which is worse, an exact 12 hours or 8 hours (like when we went to London)--waking up at 7:00 but feeling tired literally all day, or waking up at 4:00 but sleeping again at 5:00. 

So, TL;DR, I will actually post something when I actually do something fun :P peace.

RL

TAIWAN

"We toured the city by BMW! B for Bus. M for Metro. W for Walking."

Oh my aunt....

So now I'm here in Taiwan! One of the longest travels ever, 30 hours from start to finish. The flights were okay, just long like always. 

As soon as I opened my mouth to talk to the first Taiwanese person here, my Chinese accent changed to that cutesy, nasal Taiwanese accent that is so different from the one I use in America and in Chinese class. Help me.

Exams

I am not studying.

Thank you, internet. 

RL

Piece Of the Day.

For your listening pleasure.

RL

How to NOT Make Your Brain Explode with Stuff

Ever since my family and I went to China in 2002 for a semester, I’ve recorded my life in a diary. It all started when mom forced RL and me to write in a journal every single day in China, which we both considered to be the most pointless and un-cool activity in the entire world. However, even after we got back to the States, I continued writing. It was definitely not consistent – I would pick up the journal sometimes after having not written for a year at a time, but nowadays, I still have upwards of about ten diaries since that China trip in ’02!

Whenever I fall off the diary wagon, I feel like my thoughts and feelings get cooped up in my head. At some point, I feel like my diary is screaming at me to write it all down, so I’ll climb out of bed before falling asleep and just write, write, write. It’s therapeutic! It still kind of sounds lame that I write in a diary, but this is definitely not a cutesy “Dear Diary” kind of thing for me. I write everything I’m feeling – anger, love, frustrations, fears – and nobody else (hopefully) will ever read it.

Well, now that I’ve written about my diaries in a blog post, it is no longer a secret that I have diaries all over the place! I’ve always wondered what would happen to my diaries if I suddenly disappeared…would people actually open them and read all of my deepest, darkest thoughts? Umm…can I go on record and say that I need them DESTROYED immediately.

The fun thing about the diaries is that I can go back and read years and years’ worth of learning, maturing, and journeying through life. It is so hilarious to read how angry I used to get at the most senseless things, and how many moments felt like the worst moments of my life at the time. A lot of the diary entries make me so annoyed at myself for being so dramatic! But still, it’s life, and I got through it all, ya know??

Anyway, it’s never too late to start documenting life in a diary. It feels so good to handwrite my thoughts onto paper, and look back at the good, bad, and ugly times!

Toodle doo,

RY

End of Semester = Performances. All the Time.

So, the life of a musician...for me, it's definitely a love-hate relationship. I love music, I love playing music with other people without having to use words, I love we play something really beautiful and it all just clicks for us. 

But I also hate long rehearsals, especially when the performing music ensembles here DON'T COUNT TOWARD THE ARTS DIVISIONAL. (WFU has a certain number of diverse classes each student has to take as a part of the liberal arts education.) Supposedly, performance ensembles don't count because there are no written assignments/exams. Well, I'd say that the time commitment (1-5 hours per week per class) is enough to override that, and even if we don't have exams, we have CONCERTS. Sure, maybe taking just one music class shouldn't count. But, like me and many others at WFU, shouldn't taking 4 a semester count? Or at least taking 1 for 4 or more semesters? For me, playing in 4 ensembles is 7 hours of rehearsal a week, plus individual practice is at least 10, usually more in a good week. I just find it mildly ridiculous that so many of us do so much in the music department and the school doesn't let it count for divisional credit. 

And at this point in the semester, it's even more time-consuming, with a concert for each ensemble, plus dress rehearsals for each concert. Maybe I'm just ranting now, but the arts in general are just under-appreciated, underestimated, and not seen as important or taking as much effort or talent. 

Powering through the rest of the semester. One performance down, four to go. 

RL

7 Thoughts in My Head

1. My shirt is much more wrinkled than I thought.
2. I'm ready for Thanksgiving.
3. There are way too many post-it notes on my desk...do I ever really look at them anyway?
5. This zit on my chin needs to just GO.
6. The France filter on Facebook pictures....it's a great thing but is it indirectly blindsiding other huge issues in the world?
7. I'm ready for lunch. ALWAYS ready for lunch.

This was a short post but it's better than nothing!!

Toodle-doo!

RY

In Case of Deer, Be a Dear

As most of you probably know (because I can't stop whining about it), I hit a deer in my car a couple weeks ago and it is taking a while for my car to get back to its pre-deer, imperfectly perfect state. In the meantime, I've tried to avoid sitting at home and wallowing in self-pity without my own mode of transportation. Instead, I've been reaching out to enlist my friends' help to get me to Taekwondo classes and symphony rehearsals.

This whole situation has helped me realize how important it is to be pleasant, helpful, and approachable in my daily life. I would like to think that I emit a positive vibe that people would be comfortable with in their cars. Not only does it fulfill my self-proclaimed label as a people pleaser, but it also generally gives me a more well-rounded group of people who would be willing to lend a hand when I may need one.

The people who put new parts on my car include my Taekwondo instructor and a guy from the Taekwondo school with whom I train in class. The person who is currently fixing the rest of my car at his body shop is an acquaintance from work. The person who drove me back toward Winston Salem for the weekend is a friend from work, and I've snagged several rides to and from various activities from friends I've met along the way here in my new city. They have all been so gracious and didn't even bat an eye when I reached out for help. I am so thankful!

Moral of the story - be nice to people because there is nothing more reassuring than knowing that people have your back!!!!

Toodles,

RY

Road Trip!

Ok so we usually don't post about our activities on here (except I do when I'm in Taiwan! Check out my blogs from Taiwan here and here, I'm fun hehe), but yesterday I went to Concord Mills in Charlotte with my friends and it was funnnn

Actually, the reason I had to go was because my school's Global Programs and Studies (GPS) office offered this trip to my school's international students, and didn't have someone to drive the van there, so I got roped into doing it :P so then my whole suite decided to go so we could hang out and see cool stuff. 

Anyway, I drove the school's very bumpy 12-passenger van an hour and a half to Charlotte, following our friend/coworker, who for some reason took us through some residential areas, which lengthened the drive by at least ten minutes....

First thing we do upon arrival--EAT. Then we walked around the mall and went to all the stores that Hanes Mall does not have (i.e. most of the stores there, like the arcade, Michael Kors, chocolate store, etc.). We were there for FIVE HOURS and almost ran out of time to see everything.

Memorable moments:

1) At the arcade, we were looking at the prizes we could win when an old man randomly ran into the arcade to tell my friend "You look gorgeous," and then just left. 

2) In the same arcade, not 2 minutes later, the person working at the prize desk leans over and says, "want to hear something funny?" 
Me: "Sure...?"
Him: "Guess my age."
Me: "17? 25?"
Him: "Nope, 20, turning 21 in May." 
Me: "Haha really? You don't look it."
Him: "Yeah most people say that. Anyway, enjoy your time here."

Later, when we go to redeem the tickets we won, he pretends to bump into me and then apologizes.
Him: *shakes my hand* "I'm ____ (left out for privacy). What's your name? By the way, you look really familiar."
Me: "I doubt you've seen me before, we're from Winston."
Him: "Well, I was there recently visiting a friend, maybe I saw you in passing."
Me: "Yeah, maybe."
Him: "Haha yeah. Well, my name is _____ and maybe you can come back to visit."

................Okay last time I was hit on, it was also in Charlotte. What is with Charlotte and being hit on?

3) My friends drove separately (in her personal car) because the van I was driving was full. One of my friends and I left first, to get the students back in time, while my other friends went to get ice cream. Right after we pull out of the parking lot in the van, she calls me.

She couldn't find her car...the parking lot we parked in was outside around a corner from an obscure door by the movie theater. My friend helped her find it over the phone, and it took literally 30 minutes. I do not understand....

Overall a long, tiring, but amusing day ;)

Plant Nanny: A RAE-view

Here's a new RAEview, by younger Rae for once! My friends and I have recently gotten into this app called Plant Nanny. It's free on iPhone and Android! and helps you track water intake by watering a cartoon plant (you can choose what species and get more, and they are ALL cute). It also lets you know the suggested amount of water you should drink each day based on your weight and activity level. Of course it doesn't take into account your diet or anything, but it helps you drink the amount of water you should be drinking. If you don't drink enough for a certain number of days in a row, your plant actually dies. And it grows as it levels up! 

So now I stay really well hydrated. It's not super super accurate but it's a fun way to stay healthy :) My friends and I all have different species of plants and we like to compare them when they grow because they're all so adorable :) (Yes we are nerds.)

RL

Leggings as Pants: A RAEview

And here we are on the next installment of my RAEviews on something relatively inconsequential to real life.

Leggings as pants - yay or nay?

If you have ever worn leggings (not the super itchy kind), then you will know that they are the best things since sliced bread. An exaggeration? Maybe. But hear me out. Leggings are basically an extra layer of skin that hugs your legs like a teddy bear.They don't stretch out as the day goes on like many jeans do, and you don't have to adjust them when you sit, stand, and move around because they are stuck to your skin. They tuck nicely into boots and you don't have to worry incessantly about whether or not you need to cuff them or tuck them. You can dress them up with a nice blouse, or you can wear them with a hoodie and tennis shoes.

There are all kinds of leggings that trick people into thinking you are sophisticated and fashionable - leggings with gold zippers and fancy seams that look like office slacks, leggings with pockets and high waistlines...etc. But even the classic black leggings from WalMart are no joke. Who cares if you want to wear them as pants? They cover your legs, don't they? I'd say that's good enough for me!

Toodle loodle,

RY

Rant again, SORRY!

I would like to reiterate my last blog post. If you receive an email and know that you cannot respond in a timely manner because you're sick or busy or you need extra information, then YOU SHOULD TELL THAT PERSON...all you have to do is respond and say that you have received the email and will work on it as soon as possible.

I have sent 7 emails with no response and they have passed 2 deadlines that I have given to them and I have subsequently extended both of those dates.

UGH

Rant over.

Toodlelooo

RY

Butts and Bananas

Yesterday, we had Taekwondo practice. (By "we," I mean the university TKD club.) I don't know what we did that made my butt hurt so bad, but wow am I sore. But it's the greatest feeling! Being sore makes me feel like I actually pushed myself to my limit, although it does make life a little more difficult. Going up stairs now looks like I'm Chewbacca trying to run with a lopsided backpack. Also my knee (the one I broke last year) hurts but that's basically expected after hard exercise, so no worries. 

Bananas--Today I wore my Minion T-shirt with bananas on it, and one of the professors I know but have never had and I had a long conversation about the Minion movie and other kids' movies he should watch. Deep conversation. 

It's Thursday, and I have no homework. I need to get something done...maybe watch a movie haha.

RL

The Art of Making Mistakes

It's never easy to own up to a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes...how many times have we heard that line in our lives, eh? But today, I am talking specifically about in the work world, where one person's mistake can start a snowball of tasks that can't get done simply because no one owned up to it.

In school, if I didn't turn in my homework on time, then only I would feel the consequences. It's like my mistake is at one end of a branch on a tree, and it would really only affect that same branch. However, when I make a mistake at work, then that branch could break off into a flurry of twigs and leaves that get tweaked by it. Most people are so understanding of mistakes - so it's our responsibility to patch it up before it branches off and affects more people.

For instance, I send out an email requesting information about a task that should have gotten done two weeks ago. Two days later, no response. So I send out a second, more stern, email. Again, no response. Finally, I write an email to them with bolded, underlined letters highlighted in yellow, virtually shaking their shoulders to get a reply.

That's what it took to get a peep out of them. The problem is, they had made a small mistake on their end and were trying to fix it without telling me about it first. By the time I knew they were just trying to fix a small problem on their side, the information was needed by three other people halfway across the world who had to postpone an important event because we had no information about what was going on.

I just wish I could have known that someone made a tiny boo-boo before I had to send three follow-up emails, you know?

I can't say that I'm perfect at owning up to my mistakes, but I realize that I'm not working for myself here - there are other people who need me to be transparent and accessible. This post is more of a rant than anything else...shove your pride to the side and please just tell me if there was a typo or if you accidentally forgot about an important task! That way, we can all work on it together!!

Rant over.

Toodle doo,

RY

A Little Brag But Not Really

Hello lads,

Here is an update from an earlier blog post about buying pumpkins. Because I know you are all waiting anxiously to know what happened to the pumpkins I bought.

I bought a bunch of cute little munchkin pumpkins because they are so freaking cute I can't even handle it. And I set some up on a file cabinet next to my desk at work to add some autumn-y flair to my little section of the office. My co-worker sitting near me lives on a farm, and she pinky promised me she would bring in some of her newly-hatched chickens and a bale of hay to add to the collection, but no luck yet. Hopefully soon I'll be running a little petting zoo over here.

Here's a pic of my humble autumn décor. It's already much more festive than the entire rest of the office so pat on the back for me! Hahah

Toodle doo!!

RY

Psychology Blurb

Okay so I read RY's last post about liking music after it becoming a decision she made one her own, and that's totally something called Justification of Effort. There was a Psychology study done where subjects were told to do a horribly boring task, then paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next participant that is was super fun. 

Guess who reported they actually liked doing the boring task more? The people who were paid only $1 said they liked it more--because they had absolutely no other reason to like it (since they didn't get much money).

So, RY is just trying to justify all the work she put into music by pretending she actually likes music.

Or she actually likes it haha but that's why she liked it more after choosing to pursue it ;)

Okay nerd rant over. See, Psychology is applicable to real life!

RL

Taking CONTROL!!

So we have a Danville Symphony concert coming up very, very soon.

We are still sight-reading a lot of it. At least, I am...having not practiced a single minute for this concert.

Yesterday, at rehearsal, we were playing Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, which is the last of 3 huge Tchaikovsky pieces we are attempting to do for this concert. It was far from sounding perfect. Then, smack-dab in the middle of the piece, our conductor stopped with a very contemplative expression on his face. He asked us if we felt like he was forcing us to embark on too daunting of a task with these 3 massive pieces, and gave us the option to take the Serenade off the program. After several minutes of discussion, we concluded that we should keep the piece, work hard, and prove ourselves worthy of these 3 pieces at the closely looming concert.

When we resumed rehearsing, I instantly felt a change in the music - there was a certain level of focus and determination in the room that was not there before. It must have been the idea that this piece was now our decision to play and our responsibility to perform well.

I went through a similar experience in my own journey with violin and music. I began playing at about 5 years old on my own accord, but by the time I hit puberty, violin became a chore rather than a hobby. I hated it. Finally, after months of tantrums and fights with my mom during violin practice, she gave me the option to quit. I thought about it for a long time and eventually decided to keep going because I knew it was a waste to give it all up. Since then, I've had my ups and downs with music, but now I ultimately know that it is my personal decision to pursue it. I could have quit given the opportunity, but I didn't. Just like our Danville Symphony rehearsal, I've taken charge of my violin/viola playing because I know I am the only one to blame if I give up.

So for anything, if you keep yourself accountable for what you do, then it tends to feel like there is more at stake. If your conductor or your mom is telling you what to do, then it is easy to just do it halfway because you are not personally invested. Am I being preachy?? SORRY!

Toodle-oo!

RY

Brunch: A RAE-view

Maybe I'll make this RAE-view thing a recurring thing. Read my first RAE-view HERE.

Today I rant about my view on the idea of brunch. Breakfast + Lunch = Brunch. Here we go..

If we eat a meal between the flexible hours of 10am and 2pm (mostly on weekends only), then we call it brunch. BUT WHY????!!! If it’s your first meal of the day, then it’s breakfast! Or you can just say you skipped breakfast and call it lunch! WHY MUST WE HAVE ANOTHER NAME FOR IT?

The idea of brunch is nice – you get together with people you hopefully like a lot, drink mimosas, have a meal, and laugh about the tomfoolery from the night before. But the diverse menu ranges from syrup-soaked pancakes to overflowing pastrami sandwiches. I mean, IHOP sells steak at all hours of the day soo…..if you want steak for breakfast, then I would say that it is still breakfast. I’ve had “brunch” at 10am, noon, 3pm…I feel like it’s a word we use to label that random meal on weekends when we’ve woken up too late in the day to feel good about calling it breakfast.

IT’S BREAKFAST, YA’LL. Or lunch. But I’m not judging. I’ve been pulled into quite a few brunches in my day and I can’t complain. It’s fun and delicious. But when I think of the word “brunch,” I just think of sundress-clad ladies with teacup pigs drinking breakfast champagne with their pinkies up. Maybe I pretend to be too avant-garde for that. Or is brunch avant-garde? I dunno.

Toodley doodley,

RY

Growing Up Up and Away

A lot of children can’t wait for the day they get to move out of their parents’ home and live all by themselves. What an independent life, right? They will get to do whatever they want, watch the amount of tv they want, and go to bed whenever they want.

First of all, the usual night for me includes going to bed by 9pm on my own accord. So no issue there.

But also, I’ve found that moving out and being a “real adult” is not all that it is cracked up to be. There lots of bills to pay. Dishes to wash. Floors to sweep.

What I really don’t think is that fun is living alone. I have several roommates right now, so that’s not really a problem for me. But sometimes when my roommates are gone for an extended period of time, it starts to get a little too quiet around the place. I’m so used to living with my family and living with roommates in college, so my ears are so accustomed to kitchen pots clanging around and multiple televisions blaring noise all the time. When I have a whole house/apartment to myself, it is so freeing during the first little etchling of time – I can finally wander around with no pants on and eat a whole pizza without fear of judgment.

But then I cross a threshold of time when I begin hearing all the creaking of wood settling and it gets strangely silent. I’m not saying that I get freaked out or afraid, but I guess I just become overly aware of the solitude. It becomes strange that I am the only thing there that makes the background noise that I am so used to. I don’t even know where I am going with this blog post, but it’s just an observation and a conversation topic that I had with a co-worker today during my ROUTINE SNACK BREAK IN THE KITCHEN (refer back to this blog post about that!!).

Toodles!!

RY

Random Things

1) My beta fish is sick :( Well he's not actually sick like my last fish was (my last fish got a parasite infection and I gave him medicine and he kind of healed, but he still wouldn't eat so he died 3 months later)...but he's lethargic and won't eat anything so I think he's cold? But nothing I do helps...

2) The weather lately is cold in the morning but hot in the afternoon so every morning I wake up like "should I wear pants or shorts" and then I have a wardrobe crisis.

3) Fall break is this Friday. Yes, we at WFU only get one day off. Does that really count as a fall break? Anyway, I'm looking forward to it even though I only have two classes on Fridays. I think they should make fall break a Monday because I have 6 classes on Mondays.

4) I have a paper due Friday and a research paper due next week so I'm really just blogging because I'm procrastinating.

5) I broke in 10 new reeds for my clarinet this weekend but they're still pretty hard (because they're new) so the 4 hours of rehearsal I had yesterday really tired me out and I think my mouth is actually sore today...

6) This week we're starting a new study in my research lab, and I trained for it yesterday so I had to be the experimenter and then act as a guinea pig for other experimenters twice and that really exhausted me O_o and my EKG signals flatlined halfway through, so apparently I'm a zombie :P (the wires just got loose)

7) I'm hungry. 

8) I want to drink some coffee so I can focus on writing my papers, but is it too late to have caffeine...? Hm.

RL

Punkins

Went and got some little pumpkins this weekend at Maple Springs in Winston!!! Signs of fall are everywhere!

 
They're EVERYWHERE!!!

 
Don't these pictures make you want to frolic in the pumpkin patch and play the banjo.

 

I think he was happier than this picture conveys!!!

 

Anyway, that is my weekend update. Now it's back to the grind until the weekend rolls around again.

 

Toodles,

 

RY

Washing Dishes...So Stress Relieving?

The other day, my dad sent me a TIME article called “Washing Dishes Is a Really Great Stress Reliever.” What a fantastically passive aggressive way to tell me that I should wash dishes more often, eh? J But really, it wasn’t so much about actually washing grimy old dishes, but more about the importance of doing things mindfully.

I’m not the best person at practicing mindfulness and focusing solely on the tasks at hand, but I can understand how it works. On the rare occasion that I actually set aside time to clean my room, I actually find it quite relaxing and satisfying. I pop in some good music, and all I really think about is organizing my room and making things more visually bearable than the usual wreckage.

Another task that I actually enjoy doing is mowing the lawn…strange, right? Mowing the lawn means that no one bothers me for the 40 minutes when the engine is whirring loudly and it looks like I’m too busy for anyone’s business.  Again, I put on my headphones and tune everything out. It’s pretty satisfying to walk back and forth along the grass and see the leveled grass behind me as I mow. I give myself time to do a thorough job and not rush it. I think that’s probably part of the mindfulness – taking simple tasks, doing it with intention, and allowing myself to feel the satisfaction of completing it.

It’s a nice thing to try to do sometimes, if not every day. Life can feel like such a blur if we let all of our responsibilities zoom by. We have to take things one at a time and allow ourselves to be consumed with them as we check things off our to-do lists. Similarly, we have to embrace the leisure moments as well – when we go out with friends and family, focus on having a good time with them instead of checking Twitter to see what we COULD be doing instead. There is a time for everything!

Better said than done, eh? One step at a time. J

Toodle doodle,

RY.

P.S. Here is the link to the article.

http://time.com/4056280/washing-dishes-stress-relief-mindfulness/?xid=newsletter-brief

"Femininity" Does NOT Mean "Weak"

One of my subjects for lab a few days ago (I won't tell you which day for his confidentiality) threw me for a loop. And then I thought back on it, and I wondered, why should it have? He walked in, he was tall but had a softer, higher voice and feminine handwriting. And so I wondered if maybe he was female to male transgender and couldn't quite place his gender. 

But since when is it my place to place someone's gender? Gender is such a socially constructed idea that, especially in Western cultures, places emphasis on the biological characteristics of the sexes. And yes, there is a difference between sex and gender. Here in America, people are forced to choose between 100% male and 100% female starting at a young age. Children are shoved into gender roles that are enforced through media and positive and negative reinforcement (i.e. being rewarded for trying on parents' makeup as a girl, and being punished for it as a boy, even if the two sexes' bodies are fundamentally the same before puberty). 

In reality, most people fall within a spectrum between the two genders, and that's something that a lot of people fail to recognize, including me when I was considering my subject. Why should I care if he has feminine characteristics? That's the type of judgment that leads to stereotypes and bullying.

Google synonyms for "masculine," and you will find words such as "strong," "vigorous," "courage," and "independence." But do the same for "feminine," and you find words such as "delicate," "sensitive," and "weak." Weak??? Really?? Even "How To" articles say becoming masculine requires commanding authority, getting physical, and taking risks. The same article teaches femininity as wearing the correct clothing for body type, wearing makeup and perfume, and being polite and eloquent. 

"Females Accessorize"

"Males Command Authority"

But this assigned role is also harmful to males. Boys are always taught to be strong and not show emotion, which has a huge impact on the psyche, and studies show that even though males appear to not get stressed out as much as females, they recover more slowly because of not having an outlet or even being able to acknowledge their emotions. Males are emotional people too. 

There is something seriously wrong with society when a whole half of its population is constantly oppressed, even if gender equality appears to be fine. Just the other day, the President of Planned Parenthood went to Congress to talk about funding, and the (primarily male) Republican Congressmen interrupted her constantly and rarely let her finish a sentence. Regardless of where you stand on the matter of Planned Parenthood, this is extremely disrespectful and demonstrates gender inequality perfectly. 

RL

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Eight little ways I find myself being exactly like my mom:

 

1.       I slather myself in lotion after I shower in the evening, to the point where I can’t touch anything for 10 minutes. Including my hands and feet. TMI? IDC.

2.       I have pretty much the exact same haircut as my mom, minus the bangs. But I imagine one day I will go for the bangs too.

3.       I really really like yogurt. (she liked Yoplait, but I like Greek yogurt… Yoplait is sooo 1990s).

4.       I enjoy public speaking and I like to think I’m sort of decent at it. Maybe I just like to know people are listening to me blab.

5.       I love wearing super bright colors. I don’t care if I look like I’m ready for the disco.

6.       I plan my adventures around the awesome restaurants that I meticulously research beforehand.

7.       I like singing loudly and badly no matter who is around, and I pretend to know the words to all the ABBA songs.

8.       I guzzle a ton of water in one sitting, wait a few hours, and guzzle more. I rarely ever sip water.

 I have yet to copy her with the super-wide flare pants that she was known to wear all the time. And the Thai-style baggy tshirts. I’m not at that level of hip yet. One day I'll be rocking those styles, I don't doubt it for a second.

 

Toodle oo!

RY

Bathroom Girl, WHO ARE YOU?

I don’t know about everyone else, but I have a very specific routine that fits in even the most mundane of tasks, such as filling up my water bottle at work or going to the kitchen to get my yogurt/fruit bowl snack. And this is even more exacerbated by the repetitiveness of an 8am-5pm job schedule.

I never REALLY notice how much we are all stuck in a routine until I start running into the same people whenever I do anything. I have a few examples of such encounters:

1.       I’ve started to notice that approx. 80% of the time I use the bathroom at work, there is someone in the far right stall. And I have YET to identify the person because all I ever see are her shoes! Same shoes, same stall, every single day. She’s usually in there when I get to the bathroom, and she’s always still there after I leave. Bathroom girl, WHO ARE YOU?

2.       I go to the kitchen at work pretty much at the same time every single day to cut up some fruit to put in the yogurt that I bring every morning. I do this every single day. While I’m in the kitchen, I usually see the same 4-5 people who are in there at the same time refilling their water bottles or their coffee mugs. They have the same routine as me, apparently.

3.       Whenever I leave my apartment for symphony rehearsal once a week, I always drive past a lady sitting on the second step of a flight of stairs across the street. She is always on the phone and having a cigarette. Same time, same sitting position, every week.

4.       When I go to conditioning class at the TaeKwonDo school, I park in the same place beside the same car every week. As I’m pulling up, the parent is always sitting in the car playing games on her IPad and her kid almost always has just finished class and is walking toward the car. So I have to wait before I can get all the way into the parking spot. Same parking spot, same parent, every week.

Those are just a few of the things I’ve been noticing as I go through the days. Obviously, no days are exactly the same, but little encounters like the ones above show that mostly all of us have some sort of routine ingrained in us that spans from big responsibilities such as waking up and going to work, to little tasks such as refilling our water bottles at the same time every day.

Whaddaya think?

Tooooodlez!

RY

MY Seven Little Happy Things

Fine, RY, I'll do it.

1. I got a 92 on my Psych test! It's decent, I'll take it.

2. Today for breakfast, I had leftover CHINESE FOOD. HECK YES.

3. I'm in lab right now, and our second stopwatch started working again :) I like this one better than the other one because it's red, not silver. Red is more poppy.

4. It was only misting when I walked to class, but apparently as soon as I got to class, it poured. Made it just in time :)

5. My roommate's bed hair this morning was really amusing.

6. My Psych professor imitated road rage and road sarcasm during class today, and it was the best thing I've seen today.

7. I get free food tonight at a meeting for the Office of Multicultural Affairs Exec board. 

I just really like food. 

RL

Seven Little Things That Happened Today So Far

1. Today at work, a colleague commented on how awesome the colors in my excel spreadsheet are (I made it tropical-island themed and you could see it from a mile away).

2. A parking spot right in front of my apartment was vacant this morning when it was rainy outside so I didn’t get rained on.

3. There was a pile of Asian candy in the kitchen in my office. So, naturally, I hung out there for a little bit.

4. Someone cleaned the dust off my computer screen and I can see cleaaaaaarly now, the RAIN HAS GONE…I can see all obstaaaacles in my way..

5. I ate pumpkin pie for breakfast.

6. I got a free pen from an insurance rep. And it has blue ink, not black!! How rambunctious!

7. One of my bosses told me about Pod City in Taiwan and now I can’t stop looking at pictures of it. It's so creepy and cool.

 

What are seven little happy things that happened to you today?

Toodle doo!!!

 

RY

Embarrassment or NAH

There was a time when I was afraid of attracting sideways glances and bemused looks from strangers in public. I would get embarrassed if I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk or if my parents said something really loudly in Chinese at the grocery store. Whether or not people do it on purpose, they tend to spin their heads around to see anything that happens out of their “ordinary.” I do it too, so I can’t judge!

It takes a certain level of comfort to NOT get embarrassed about things – or at least, it takes a level of acceptance that life is awkward, clumsy, and loud. I think I’ve finally gotten to that point. People can look all they want…I’m still going to run around and scream with the kids I babysit, do the chicken dance at a bluegrass concert by myself, or take super ridiculous pictures with my sister like a mega-tourist. It is still a work in progress, but I’ve basically resigned to the idea that people are going to look no matter what…so might as well give them something more entertaining to look at!

Plus, if you think about it, when people crane their necks to see what the commotion is about, they most likely are not judging you. More than likely, they already made some sort of snap judgment about you before you even did anything. Instead, they may be genuinely entertained by you, or just want to put a face to the sounds they are hearing.

They probably wish they were as comfortable with being themselves in public…but maybe that’s just what I would like to think.

Life is too short to let potentially hilarious and memorable moments get weighed down by focusing on what other people may think of you!

Toodle dee,

RY