purty...

omg i'm planning to do this in 2 weeks...that's possibly the scariest bridge i've ever seen..

http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_visitorsguide&task=attractions&id=64&Itemid=73

Stress Relief

My stress relieving activities pre-banking:

swimming

playing piano

drawing

[fencing and sailing, though these needed more planning]

My stress relieving activities post-banking:

watching tv

getting drunk

hmm...

You can't tell but I tried changing the format of this blog...

And failed

.

So I changed it back.  Google's pretty good at color schemes it seems

look upon the abyss without flinching

"Those who take delight in their own might are merely pretenders to power.  The true warrior of fate needs no adoration or fear, no tricks or overwhelming effort; he need not be stronger or smarter or innately more capable than everyone else; he need not even admit it to himself.  All he needs to do is to stand there, at that moment when all hope is dead, and look upon the abyss without flinching."
        -- Shinji and Warhammer40k

hmm...

I was talking to this guy today about how to fix our internal systems bc no one else in my group is around today. Turned out he was teaching an mba class tonight abt data systems. so now i'm at his class... and going to dinner after? hmm... kinda bored... kinda wanna leave...

ok, last one bf going to bed

The britney of taiwan...haha

I like more Taiwanese music!

There we go!

okay, this one is a bit on the sappy side...but kev has mad skills singing the girl part.

I like taiwanese music!

Mah Jong. So relevant.

Mah jong as an analogy for relationships.  What do you think?

I feel like most people are in the position of "ting", which is akin to check, where they're just waiting for the right piece to come along.  Everything's in order and set.  

I think I'm a step behind.  Still figuring out my pieces... and trying to figure out if i should go for the extra pretty hand with all the same suit for extra points or work with what I have for an easy win.  I think it's pretty early in the game though... so extra pretty hand it is...  

(not sure this analogy actually works...)

So, where are you from?

The best of part plane rides recently (after my period of constant sleep deprivation) is that they allow me some time to think and reflect.  Invariably, I make some type of resolution out of it, the most recent one being to start a blog :) 

Where are you from?  That's the most common question I seem to be asked these days, but surprisingly, it's also the hardest to answer.  I was just in Taiwan for a long weekend and a conversation while I was trying to purchase a SIM card went something like this:

Girl: [Noticing my accent]  Are you from the mainland?

me: Um, sure.  I was born in Beijing

Girl: Oh cool.  Can I have your Identification card for the SIM card?

me: Sure.  [hands her american passport]

Girl:  ?  But you're american?

me:  Oh yes, I haven't lived in China since I was six.  I've been living in the US most my life.

Girl:  That's cool.  whereabouts?

me: San Francisco area

Girl: Can I have your address?

me:  Sure...  xxx xxx xxx, Singapore

Girl: ...

The conversation is worse when people are actually from China or the US.  Then they find out that I'm really lying when I say that I'm from Beijing [note that i don't say i'm from there, just born there]  since I have no family or any other ties to Beijing anymore.   They also find out that while I have most recently lived in the bay area, I definitely don't associate with the california mentality.

So that leads me to ask... what would be the correct response?  I don't want to lie but this is a much more complicated question than people realize.  "I'm international" should be my response.  Or perhaps to make it simple, "je viens de Paris"

There are plenty of prejudices associated with any of the answers I could give and I don't feel like I fit into any of them.   I know that they're just trying to apply an easy heuristic but I feel like I want to be taken as just me, not someone associated with a location, a school, a social group... I think being migratory is going to give me the chance to do that :)  

 

Blogging!

Like many others living abroad... I've decided to start a blog to keep track of thoughts...communicate indirectly with friends and family back home...  5 brownie points if you can guess that the title stands for!