5

Top five albums, start to finish

• Bedtime Stories :: Madonna
• Little Earthquakes :: Tori Amos, this album saved me in high school
• The Carpenters :: The Avett Brothers
• Some Mad Hope :: Matt Nathanson
• Between the Days :: Merril Bainbridge

Top five international destinations

• Australia/New Zealand, i know two completely different countries but same area
• Ireland/Scotland
• Belgium
• Morocco
• Russia

Top five dishes

• Tomato sandwich
• Pho
• Sardines + Avocado on toast
• any version of hainese chicken
• fried egg + soy sauce on french baguette

Top five words

• Guffaw
• Chortle
• Petulant
• Penance
• Banal

Top five songs

• Into the Groove :: Madonna
• Come on Get Higher :: Matt Nathanson
• One :: U2
• All I Want :: Toad the Wet Sprocket
• Tear in Your Hand :: Tori Amos

Top five books

• To Kill A Mockingbird :: Harper Lee
• Vanishing Acts :: Jodi Picoult
• The Smoke Jumper :: Nicolas Evans
• Island of the Blue Dolphin : Scott O’Dell
• Jacob Have I Loved :: Katherine Patterson

Top five movies

• The Lord of the Rings – all 3
• The Boy Who Could Fly
• Charlie & the Chocolate Factory – the original
• Pride & Prejudice
• The Last of the Mohicans

Top five current things that make me happy

• the lion the beast the beat :: grace potter & the nocturnals
• the show Lost
• One Day by David Nicholls
• packages from Lululemon
• the show Parenthood

Top 5 things i’m looking forward to in the next 3 months

• elbow patch cardigans
• knee high socks
• corduroys
• 3 vietnamese soup dishes to attempt
• baking

 

 

 

stars

you guys. this song makes me weep, violently inside.

interviewing

questions from a recent interview:

Q: food eating contest, what would you eat?
A: there’s a vietnamese dish that my gma used to make for me, they’re like little pancakes. she would make me stop eating after i finished a bag of flour. i would kick your ass in this eating contest.

Q: let’s say there was an error and you doubled booked two clients to do a presentation and they show up, both needing A/V equipment that you don’t have and only one can present, what do you do?
A: i would make them fight to the death to see who can stay & present, and for audio & visual, i would do a song/dance routine to go with their presentation. just kidding. these people are obviously human too, and i’m sure they’re professional and aware enough to know that errors happen. i would diffuse the situation, be the professional face for ABC Company and offer up one to stay and the other to be rescheduled for another date……… blah blah blah.

Q: {none. we were at lunch and talking about the tv show Walking Dead}
A: …i mean really, it’s the end of the world and you let your child wander around in the woods by himself, eat a fat … (i almost said DI CK but i caught myself and said) ONE!

Q: why shouldn’t we hire you?
A: because honestly, as you can see on my resume, i’m a job hopper. if i’m unhappy in a situation, i have no issue getting up and leaving to find a place i can be happy at. having said, please make sure that this situation you’re interviewing me for is a happy one.

a political education

oh the humanity

i despair sometimes when i think about the reading/writing level of our fellow citizens.

my AP english teacher would’ve failed me if i had told him to google any points i made in a thesis. (not to mention the assclown argument that was made originally.)

average

i was always an average student. people are surprised when i tell them that i’ve never had straight As, or that it was rare for me to be on the high honor roll. i could say that i was disinterested, not fulfilling my potential, all the things that school counselors are supposed to say to parents when report cards are not what they expect of their eldest child, to soften the blow that their child is not a genius, not even close.

one of the things that i have learned about myself is that i enjoy learning, i just don’t like showing up. my freshman year of college was spent out of the classroom and my grades reflected that. but if you looked closely at my papers and exams, they were not bad. but deductions were made for missing class. it boggled my mind that i would be penalized for attendance when i clearly was doing the work and acing exams. but one professor put it in perspective: you have to show up for work in order to get paid, you need to show for class in order to get graded. (one would think i’d work in a contracting/consulting environment but that is too abstract for me.)

dw says often that i’m an introverted reader. my speech sometimes reflects this. my everyday speaking has no accent, in fact, it’s very much like a journalist’s, no regional accent to give away where i’m from. on the phone you would not be able to tell that i’m asian, that english is my 2nd language. i tend to stick to simple words, rarely branching out to $5words. not because i don’t know any, or what they mean, but because sometimes i’m not sure of their proper pronunciation. it’s a quiet shame quirk, one that i hid but with him, i say them out loud, then i follow up with “did i say that right? how do you pronounce it? you say it.” and he always, patiently, teaches me.

being with dw is like that. he teaches me something new all the time. and he doesn’t make me feel stupid or inadequate or lesser or that i’m not fulfilling my potential. with him, learning is fun, it’s exciting and i show up everyday ready for more. i seriously ace this Life right now.