i did it. i changed over to a new blog. i couldn't post at blonde in taiwan forever. especially while i'm in DC.
now you can go see me at coincidenceless.. which isn't feeling very homey at the moment but i'm sure it will warm up once i get writing over there. as a side note.. when i imported the posts/comments from this blog.. i have something like 394 posts and 596 comments. so thank you!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
3 am we fell in love
forgive me but i watched the notebook tonight and you know what that movie does to girls.
i'm literally dreaming about imaginary boyfriends, friends. that's how single i am right now. it's been a whole year and a half since i had a boyfriend who i really considered my boyfriend. people always say 'it's good to be single because then you get really good at being OK with yourself.' ... but i'm lovely with being myself. now i'd like to be with myself with someone else.
it's funny/unfortunate how you always meet people when you're not looking for someone. silly me for thinking it would be so easy in DC with all of these interns running around all over the place.
you don't really talk about real life at work though. everyone's being really polite. that's why i'm planning upcoming happy hours. a little gin won't hurt anything. and i never get to see the people who aren't in the same building as me. it'll be nice just to be around a new group of people for a bit.
from top to bottom, the pictures are of jim and i, circa 2008. i was dating him when i decided to go to taiwan. we had been dating for 5 or 6 months and he was kind of insulted that i was leaving. the middle picture is sean, we dated for a year in college, '06ish. and zach was my first boyfriend. we dated in high school and college, went to both of our proms, '03-04. i made that corsage and boutonniere!
i'm literally dreaming about imaginary boyfriends, friends. that's how single i am right now. it's been a whole year and a half since i had a boyfriend who i really considered my boyfriend. people always say 'it's good to be single because then you get really good at being OK with yourself.' ... but i'm lovely with being myself. now i'd like to be with myself with someone else.
it's funny/unfortunate how you always meet people when you're not looking for someone. silly me for thinking it would be so easy in DC with all of these interns running around all over the place.
you don't really talk about real life at work though. everyone's being really polite. that's why i'm planning upcoming happy hours. a little gin won't hurt anything. and i never get to see the people who aren't in the same building as me. it'll be nice just to be around a new group of people for a bit.
from top to bottom, the pictures are of jim and i, circa 2008. i was dating him when i decided to go to taiwan. we had been dating for 5 or 6 months and he was kind of insulted that i was leaving. the middle picture is sean, we dated for a year in college, '06ish. and zach was my first boyfriend. we dated in high school and college, went to both of our proms, '03-04. i made that corsage and boutonniere!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
short and sweet
well. after 8 hours of cursive every day for a week, i wish i could say my handwriting has improved. i mess up less, but it looks exactly the same.
today i got to take the white house tour. you get to see the blue, red and green rooms, the ballroom, the china room, the christmas tree room (which is the same as the blue room) andd.. the library. what else. i think that's about it.
fun facts:
taft was the first baseball enthusiast president, so he went to lots of games. since he was such a giant man (something like 6'3 and 330 pounds), the seats were really uncomfortable for him. when he stood up in the 7th inning, the entire audience stood up too (as was the protocol for when a president stands.. and still is? right?).. it's rumored that that's how the 7th inning stretch began.
james polk was the tiniest president and he was so short that no one could see when he entered a room. his wife got really mad and she was the one who ordered that 'hail to the chief' was written so that everyone would know when the president entered the room.
i saw the portrait of george washington that dolly madison rolled up and saved during the fire of 1814. the portrait of madison herself is positioned above a doorway so that she can look out and see the portrait of washington, protecting it.
the sitting president can't order new presidential china until all of the existing set is used up, either by people breaking it or pocketing it. laura bush didn't get to pick new china until w's second term. she chose a half inch thick gold band with green lattice and delicate greenery in the middle. hillary clinton's was like mustard yellow floral.
this is my favorite story of all:
john adams and thomas jefferson weren't very good friends when they were figuring out the declaration of independence, but in their later years they became besties. they made a bet for who would live the longest. both men were really sick but they wanted to make it to the fourth of july and BOTH died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence. thomas jefferson died a few hours earlier, though adam's didn't know that he had died since word took so long to travel then.. and so adams last word's were "thomas jefferson survives".
spring internship applications are due october 2nd (or 3rd? i forget)!
if you or anyone you know is in college now or has graduated within the last two years, tell them to apply!
today i got to take the white house tour. you get to see the blue, red and green rooms, the ballroom, the china room, the christmas tree room (which is the same as the blue room) andd.. the library. what else. i think that's about it.
fun facts:
taft was the first baseball enthusiast president, so he went to lots of games. since he was such a giant man (something like 6'3 and 330 pounds), the seats were really uncomfortable for him. when he stood up in the 7th inning, the entire audience stood up too (as was the protocol for when a president stands.. and still is? right?).. it's rumored that that's how the 7th inning stretch began.
james polk was the tiniest president and he was so short that no one could see when he entered a room. his wife got really mad and she was the one who ordered that 'hail to the chief' was written so that everyone would know when the president entered the room.
i saw the portrait of george washington that dolly madison rolled up and saved during the fire of 1814. the portrait of madison herself is positioned above a doorway so that she can look out and see the portrait of washington, protecting it.
the sitting president can't order new presidential china until all of the existing set is used up, either by people breaking it or pocketing it. laura bush didn't get to pick new china until w's second term. she chose a half inch thick gold band with green lattice and delicate greenery in the middle. hillary clinton's was like mustard yellow floral.
this is my favorite story of all:
john adams and thomas jefferson weren't very good friends when they were figuring out the declaration of independence, but in their later years they became besties. they made a bet for who would live the longest. both men were really sick but they wanted to make it to the fourth of july and BOTH died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence. thomas jefferson died a few hours earlier, though adam's didn't know that he had died since word took so long to travel then.. and so adams last word's were "thomas jefferson survives".
spring internship applications are due october 2nd (or 3rd? i forget)!
if you or anyone you know is in college now or has graduated within the last two years, tell them to apply!
Friday, September 25, 2009
take it to the top
there should be a couple requirements in life
1. live abroad
2. work in the service industry
3. answer the phones for some kind of comment line
what do these 3 things have in common? they all remind you that there's life outside yourself. recently i was reminded that everyone has moments or experiences that change their lives forever. for the person giving the talk, it was their experience in the peace corps.
studying abroad in england was a big jump for me and it taught me a lot about different cultures, but taiwan was obviously one of the most influential experiences of my life. you learn what other people think about america, about texans, about people from other places. we all go through the culture shock of trying to make everything fit into a box and compare it to home, until one day we realize that the only way we're going to survive in the place is to accept it for what it is and not try to make it into what we're familiar with. once you do that, you can really appreciate it for what it is.
so 1. learn to look outside yourself and realize that everyone/every place is part of the whole
the service industry one is really important too though. eeeeeveryone should know what it's like to be a hostess or a server or a cashier or a whatever. when i was 18 i was a hostess at old san francisco steak house, my first hostess job, and there was this elderly woman who came in one night 5 minutes before the dinner rush hit. i told her the wait would be 5 or 10 minutes. right after i said 'minutes,' a FLOOD of people came in. we were swamped, we didn't have enough servers, and i was the only hostess on the floor for the next several hours.
this woman could plainly see that there were people everywhere in the foyer and that i was way over my head, by myself, but she kept coming up to my stand and screaming at me until i finally broke down in tears as i tried to calm her down. she didn't stop screaming even once i was crying in front of her.
you would think it would be a basic rule of being a human that you know not to yell at anyone, much less a stranger who's doing a service for you (at probably not much more than minimum wage). but you wouldn't believe how people treat hostesses and servers. it's like they completely forget that those people are real people. not to mention that when someone acts like that, the whole restaurant a) knows about it and b) rallies against you (i won't elaborate but you don't want to know what happens in restaurant kitchens).
i just don't understand why people think that the best way for them to get what they want is to be nasty to you. when someone is nice and says something friendly or makes a joke or compliments me, i'd bend over backwards to do something for them. those people are remembered and appreciated.
it was a long day on the phones for me today. if i could bake cookies and send handmade cards to all of the friendly, nice people, i totally would.
1. live abroad
2. work in the service industry
3. answer the phones for some kind of comment line
what do these 3 things have in common? they all remind you that there's life outside yourself. recently i was reminded that everyone has moments or experiences that change their lives forever. for the person giving the talk, it was their experience in the peace corps.
studying abroad in england was a big jump for me and it taught me a lot about different cultures, but taiwan was obviously one of the most influential experiences of my life. you learn what other people think about america, about texans, about people from other places. we all go through the culture shock of trying to make everything fit into a box and compare it to home, until one day we realize that the only way we're going to survive in the place is to accept it for what it is and not try to make it into what we're familiar with. once you do that, you can really appreciate it for what it is.
so 1. learn to look outside yourself and realize that everyone/every place is part of the whole
the service industry one is really important too though. eeeeeveryone should know what it's like to be a hostess or a server or a cashier or a whatever. when i was 18 i was a hostess at old san francisco steak house, my first hostess job, and there was this elderly woman who came in one night 5 minutes before the dinner rush hit. i told her the wait would be 5 or 10 minutes. right after i said 'minutes,' a FLOOD of people came in. we were swamped, we didn't have enough servers, and i was the only hostess on the floor for the next several hours.
this woman could plainly see that there were people everywhere in the foyer and that i was way over my head, by myself, but she kept coming up to my stand and screaming at me until i finally broke down in tears as i tried to calm her down. she didn't stop screaming even once i was crying in front of her.
you would think it would be a basic rule of being a human that you know not to yell at anyone, much less a stranger who's doing a service for you (at probably not much more than minimum wage). but you wouldn't believe how people treat hostesses and servers. it's like they completely forget that those people are real people. not to mention that when someone acts like that, the whole restaurant a) knows about it and b) rallies against you (i won't elaborate but you don't want to know what happens in restaurant kitchens).
i just don't understand why people think that the best way for them to get what they want is to be nasty to you. when someone is nice and says something friendly or makes a joke or compliments me, i'd bend over backwards to do something for them. those people are remembered and appreciated.
it was a long day on the phones for me today. if i could bake cookies and send handmade cards to all of the friendly, nice people, i totally would.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
the people you meet
so we've discussed the gloom factor of washington, but i believe the light, the vibrancy, the fun! in this city is all thanks to the current college kids/recent college grads in this town. we're wearing the bright clothes. we have the silver shoes on. we smile at everyone on the street.
(first day).
it's probably because we know we're hanging by a thread and we need to do everything well in order to stick around here, but everyone is always friendly and helpful. we're trying to make friends and "connections" and no one is too low to talk to or not important enough for our time.
my very fav is jamil, in the middle. we sit next to each other every day, he knows all the good lunch places, we work as a team and sharpen each other's pencil without asking. it feels like we've been friends forever. i am so thankful to have him around.
and that's filippo. he's from italy and everything he says sounds so dramatic. he wasn't sure if 'cheryl, paula and denise' were men or women's names.
my laundry is done! i got to do laundry! we finally have the laundry card. the washers and driers are way in the basement and you have to go through a creepy door to get there. if the laundry room wasn't filled with super friendly grandma's, i probably wouldn't like going down there at all.
(first day).it's probably because we know we're hanging by a thread and we need to do everything well in order to stick around here, but everyone is always friendly and helpful. we're trying to make friends and "connections" and no one is too low to talk to or not important enough for our time.
my very fav is jamil, in the middle. we sit next to each other every day, he knows all the good lunch places, we work as a team and sharpen each other's pencil without asking. it feels like we've been friends forever. i am so thankful to have him around.
and that's filippo. he's from italy and everything he says sounds so dramatic. he wasn't sure if 'cheryl, paula and denise' were men or women's names.
my laundry is done! i got to do laundry! we finally have the laundry card. the washers and driers are way in the basement and you have to go through a creepy door to get there. if the laundry room wasn't filled with super friendly grandma's, i probably wouldn't like going down there at all.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
to hell with it, i'm gonna have a party
lesley and i are going to go to dinner every week. this week we went to teaism in dupont circle. they have really tasty variations on asian food. i had grilled chicken, ginger cucumbers, some kind of yummy sauced sweet potatoes and brown rice in a bento box. deeeelicious.
[..so the other day when i picked up my purse, it sounded like an entire piggy bank was inside it, jingling around.]
you know the kind of tired you feel when you've been at a fair or a theme park all day? when your legs are sore and your whole body feels tired to the bone? that's usually how i feel at the end of the night. i try to get as much done as work as i can. i've been playing a game of trying to beat myself every day. so far it's been working, but i think i'm hitting the wall a little bit.
and just the amount of walking is crazy. this walking for half an hour or more a day in questionable walking shoes is whipping my legs in to shape quickly.
who knows where i can get comfy/cute flats?
[turns out, the lining of my inside pocket had a HOLE that i didn't know about, and all of my change had fallen and was now in the space between the actual leather and the lining. and not a little change. it was all of the american and taiwanese change i emptied out of my wallet at various times.]
booked a ticket to new hampshire at the end of october! it seems like forever since i've seen gram and spanky, when it's really only been a yearish.
[so now my purse is significantly lighter and i think i gained a few dollars in quarters and pennies, as well as several hundred NT.]
[..so the other day when i picked up my purse, it sounded like an entire piggy bank was inside it, jingling around.]you know the kind of tired you feel when you've been at a fair or a theme park all day? when your legs are sore and your whole body feels tired to the bone? that's usually how i feel at the end of the night. i try to get as much done as work as i can. i've been playing a game of trying to beat myself every day. so far it's been working, but i think i'm hitting the wall a little bit.
and just the amount of walking is crazy. this walking for half an hour or more a day in questionable walking shoes is whipping my legs in to shape quickly.who knows where i can get comfy/cute flats?
[turns out, the lining of my inside pocket had a HOLE that i didn't know about, and all of my change had fallen and was now in the space between the actual leather and the lining. and not a little change. it was all of the american and taiwanese change i emptied out of my wallet at various times.]booked a ticket to new hampshire at the end of october! it seems like forever since i've seen gram and spanky, when it's really only been a yearish.
[so now my purse is significantly lighter and i think i gained a few dollars in quarters and pennies, as well as several hundred NT.]
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
lights up the world from inside
let's talk DC office fashion. imagine your closet. if you're like me, you have a couple things in every color with lots of brights. now delete everything that isn't black, gray, navy or white. add 2 jewel tones. you can choose from royal blue, burgundy, emerald green or really bright pink. it's crazy! i don't know how these women do it.
the uniform is generally black or gray pants, black heels or boots, frilly white button up shirt or ruffly shirt with a vest or a sweater or a jacket. or a black suit dress with a sweater or jacket. and some giant earrings or necklace or pin or scarf, also monotone.
by contrast though, i feel like a circus act. today i wore a bright blue dress and i felt like i might as well have been dressed like carmen miranda. it's weird. i'm telling myself that since i'm in my early 20's i can wear something other than gray and just not care that i don't look like everyone else. plus i have to work with what i have, so there's just no choice but to suck it up.
i had lunch with a guy i met while i was apartment searching who wanted to practice mandarin with me. it was a little awkward but we got by. the waitress caught on and took our order in chinese which was kind of cute. we were at a chinese restaurant downtown.
the uniform is generally black or gray pants, black heels or boots, frilly white button up shirt or ruffly shirt with a vest or a sweater or a jacket. or a black suit dress with a sweater or jacket. and some giant earrings or necklace or pin or scarf, also monotone.
by contrast though, i feel like a circus act. today i wore a bright blue dress and i felt like i might as well have been dressed like carmen miranda. it's weird. i'm telling myself that since i'm in my early 20's i can wear something other than gray and just not care that i don't look like everyone else. plus i have to work with what i have, so there's just no choice but to suck it up.
i had lunch with a guy i met while i was apartment searching who wanted to practice mandarin with me. it was a little awkward but we got by. the waitress caught on and took our order in chinese which was kind of cute. we were at a chinese restaurant downtown.
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