Friday, 07 December, 2012
5

50,000 Is Just a Number: NaNoWriMo Wks 3-4

#DailyWings: “The question should be, is it worth trying to do, not can it be done.”
-Allard Lowenstein

Whew! National Novel Writing Month is finally over, my fingers are about to fall off and I can go back to having a real life again. Wonderful. 

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions and dragging plotlines and flying  candy bars. First and foremost, I want to give a very big congratulations to all the NaNoers in Chapel Hill, N.C., and around the country who met their personal goals, whether they were to 5k or 50k or simply write every day. We did it.

For those of you who are curious, I made it to 43,705 words by the stroke of midnight. Unfortunately, I did not reach my goal of 50,000 words, but I was so close! On Nov. 30, the very last day, I wrote more than I ever have before — about 10k in one day. That is crazy.  (The words weren’t exactly fine contributions to the novel, but quantity > quality is the essence of NaNo.) This year’s writing challenge taught me so much about myself and my writing. For one whole month, I showed that I love writing enough to put it above all else, even school work and health — this is no exaggeration, as I was sick during the last week. Still, it was worth every hour spent groveling over word vomit.
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Saturday, 17 November, 2012
5

NaNoWriMo Owns My Soul: Weeks 1-2

#DailyWings: “Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end — if not always in the way we expect.” -Luna Lovegood

The Office of Letters & Light

I used to think seven hours of sleep was a necessity for my brain and body to function, but I have underestimated myself. This month of November, it’s a lucky night when I get five hours of sleep. Sometimes, I’ll pass out at 9 p.m. and then wake up, dizzy and bleary-eyed, at midnight to start working for the next four hours. All thanks to National Novel Writing Month.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. It’s NaNoWriMo, but it’s also my writing classes — including Reporting and Feature Writing — as well as the trillion organizations I’m involved with and The Great Internship Search. What is a college student to do? 

Even with lack of sleep, I’m still behind on my word count. Very, very behind. Like, 10,000 words-behind. We’re supposed to be past the halfway point right now, and here I am still stuck in the first 10k. It’s not that the copy editor in me is trying to take over — although the pesky adverbs and drawn-out descriptions make me shudder once in a while — or that I have writer’s block. In past years, that’s been the case. But this year, it’s something different.  It’s that I’m working on a novel I started four years ago; obviously, my writing style has changed since then.
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Wednesday, 24 October, 2012
14

Halloween House of Horrors Blogfest

#DailyWings: “There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.”
– Joseph Conrad

This past weekend was a very special weekend for the Romantic Friday Writers, as the Halloween House of Horrors challenge took place Oct. 19 – 21. I know, I’m late. But when you’ve got four writing assignments due in less than a week and the flu to battle, your priorities tend to shift around. But hey — better late than never, right? I won’t be winning any awards with this piece (I wrote it in less than two hours, all the while wagging a disapproving finger at my own head for putting myself in such a time crunch), but it was still fun to write and come up with at the last minute.
So what exactly was the challenge all about? 

RFW: “We’re looking for chilling stories of ghosts and haunted locations – and maybe even love from beyond the grave. A romantic element is essential, but we’re looking for stories with a thrilling edge of fear to add to the romantic tension building between our hero/heroine.”

The maximum number of words is 1,000 but I’m afraid I went over quite a bit (it’s hard to stop after you start, you know!).
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Tuesday, 16 October, 2012
8

Never Settle For Mediocrity

I had awesome plans for this weekend — a new recipe to try out, the N.C. State Fair, a Hinder concert, a picnic with my CUSA friends. In the end, none of these things made my agenda. Instead, I holed up in my apartment and pored over career assessments and personality tests. Lame, right? 

Certainly, other factors prevented me from going to these events (relatives and friends visited for a day), but I could’ve chosen to do other fun things during my spare time, like go on Franklin Street. I didn’t, because I felt like I deserved to stay home until I figured out what the heck I’m going to do with my life. 

The Myer’s-Briggs Type Indicator (note: my second time around), Strong Interest Inventory and Focus 2 Career Exploration alone took about an hour to fill out. And then, there I was, having filled out three assessments and then some, still without a single clue. My interests are clear: I love writing, psychology and helping others. I actually know what I want to do, it’s just fitting it all in one career that stumps me.

When the assessments failed to serve as my own personal Magic 8 Ball, I resolved to hash out a “life plan” for the next 30 years: what post-college degrees I would get, the potential publications I’d want to write for, the cities that appealed to my lifestyle. Doing this was supposed to make me feel more grounded, but all it did was make me more frantic. The what-ifs automatically began to form, and the big question mark still hung in the air. I felt like a mess. Surely by junior year of college, people should have an inkling of their future!

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Tuesday, 09 October, 2012
3

Share Your Experiences with “Everyday Ambassador”: a public service and global citizenship movement

#DailyWings: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Tolstoy

Happy October, everyone! Autumn is finally here — bring out the turtlenecks, brew that hot cocoa and jump in a pile of just-raked leaves! With autumn comes so many possibilities for change and surprise.The temperatures here in Chapel Hill are fluctuating daily, and Mother Nature seems to be as undecided as I am when I pick outfits in the morning. This afternoon, I met with a friend over hot chocolate at The Daily Grind, a small espresso cafe by the campus bookstore, watching the rain drizzle outside and chatting about history, movies and books. What could be better? 

Today I want to take this chance to introduce a website that I am a part of. Since this summer, I have had the wonderful opportunity to serve as curriculum developer for Everyday Ambassador, “a movement for responsible global citizenship in a digital world.” At EA, we believe in the importance of cultural understanding, human connectivity and public service, no matter where you are. The Everyday Ambassador team is in the process of organizing workshops, developing a related curriculum and launching the “EA TV” video series. 

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Wednesday, 26 September, 2012
4

Crack The Shutters

#DailyWings: “Peace again! – The exquisite hour before dawn, here at my old desk–seldom have I realized so keenly, appreciated so fully, these still, dark hours.” – Edward Weston

I have always seen this blog as a window into my thoughts and my life, but lately I’ve kept that window closed. It’s been nearly two weeks since my last post, and clicking on “New Post” today was like getting my teeth cleaned and realizing I needed a filling. I finally had to face the neglect my blog has received, but now that I am typing away again, I find myself sighing with relief. Starting is always the hardest part. 

In general, I haven’t been writing lately. It’s weird how you can love something so much that you’re scared to touch or even go near it. Even after two years of blogging, it still takes effort to open this window into who I am, to set aside my fears and actually write stuff that means something to me. 

I sometimes tell people that I can’t live without writing, and before it seemed to come out as an exaggerated joke – but I’m beginning to think it’s true. These last few weeks have been tough. Lonely. Chock-full of mistakes and regrets. And busy… so terribly busy. I’m surprised I actually survived last week, when every hour was filled with this meeting or that class, and food and sleep were only distant things that existed outside my bubble. My journal was MIA, and the only writing I did consisted of interview transcriptions and class notes and feature stories. Looking back now, not doing any writing for myself was a mistake. 

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Saturday, 08 September, 2012
2

Junior Year Jitters

#DailyWings: “Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual.” -Ernet Hemingway

Better late than never. That’s what I have been telling myself lately with everything that I do. Apparently, I just finished my third week of junior year without really knowing it. It feels like a 5k race just started without me or something. But even though junior year has already kicked off and I am officially over halfway through college, I thought I’d take some time today to pat myself on the back for completing sophomore year. For maintaining a solid GPA, making some incredible new friends and building a stronger heart. I realize I am much stronger than I was a year ago. 

At the end of every year since the beginning of college, I have written a letter to my older self. After freshman year was over, I wrote a note to my sophomore self highlighting some guidelines for having a successful semester. Here are a just a few lines I scribbled down as reminders to myself:
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Friday, 17 August, 2012
3

5 Tips on How to Make Going to the Dentist Less Awful

#DailyWings: “My mom says some days are like that. Even in Australia.” -Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Fluorescent light burning in your eyes. The taste of rubber gloves in your mouth. The strange vacuum sensation on your tongue when a resident holds the suction tube too close. 

Okay, so I won’t lie and pretend that I don’t shed a couple tears at the dentist’s. Because I do. I don’t even realize how incredibly uncomfortable I am until there’s a tiny, metallic engine drilling against my teeth. At that point, acting my age is the least of my worries and I am holding on to the rail for dear life, praying to the gods that it will be over soon. 

Today, I got three fillings – one on the bottom, two on top. (Not exactly a welcoming event after a dream trip to Boston.) Ever since I was little, my teeth have been prone to cavities. I brush twice a day, floss nightly and don’t eat a lot of sugar. I don’t drink coffee or soda or tea (only on occasion). I do everything a responsible tooth-owner should do. Unfortunately, my dentists have said I can attribute my soft teeth to genetics. Not even drinking milk will help. 

The thing is, I haven’t been to the dentist in years. This time around, I knew there would be a degree of, er, unpleasantness, but I didn’t really prepare myself for just how much it sucked. The worst part was having my gums injected–like, using a needle–with anesthesia. It really, really hurt. The only good thing is, that was the first step they did so I got it over with pretty quickly.
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Saturday, 28 July, 2012
4

A 12-Hour Airplane Flight Leads to Epic Movie Marathon!

#DailyWings: “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
-George Orwell

After a whole month of traveling through Shandong and interning at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and eating juicy dumplings, I am finally back from China! Since I blogged (or rather, my friend published my posts for me) at the the TRA: Overseas Chronicles during my time away, I won’t go into detail about my travels. You can read my final blog post in the When in China series here: One month later. Here is a sneak peek of my contemplations about returning home to the States:

“The feeling of change always creeps up on you when you least expect it. But it’s always such a pleasant surprise. 

Last year when I came back from China, I felt the change when I got my first slice of *real* pizza in a month. The texture of oily, stretchy cheese and the tangy tomato sauce on my tongue was beyond satisfying. Pizza-gasm-worthy. Never had I ever truly appreciated the taste of pizza until then.

This year, the change came on a visit to the ladies’ bathroom in the airport. Soap and toilets and toilet paper, oh my! Not all bathrooms in China are dirty holes dug up underground, but they aren’t the cleanest either. One time while I was traveling through the countryside in Shenyang, I ended up going to the bathroom in an outhouse. I will never forget the smell. Or the flies….”
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Wednesday, 27 June, 2012
9

Meet Me at the TRA Overseas Chronicles

#DailyWings: “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you – it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you…hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
-Anthony Bourdain

Almost every summer ever since I can remember, I have made a month-long trip to China to visit family, travel across the country and embrace the culture and heritage of my ancestors. You could say that China (particularly Shanghai, where I am based) is my second home.

Early tomorrow morning, I will be taking a 15-hour flight from NC to Detroit, and then from Detroit to China. I’ve had barely enough time to recover from my busy weekend to and from Ohio, but I couldn’t be more excited. You would think that after years of traveling to the same country I’d get used to it, even tired of it – the same old city with steamed pork buns. And to a certain extent you’d be right. I am afraid that half-growing up in China has led me to take these trips, and thus my own unique culture, for granted. It is deeply ingrained in my daily lifestyle and my values, whether or not I fully realize it. I don’t experience the same marvel and wonder and culture shock that another American college student would while traveling abroad in Asia.
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