October 24, 2018 Clean Slate I stepped around the folded red blankets that hung over the tan couch and took a seat across from my father on the other side of room. He sat upright in the tan chair, paging through a copy of Forbes magazine. His eyes didn’t acknowledge my presence. I cleared my throat.
October 21, 2018 In Seconds The slam of my locker was a blessing. It was finally the end of the school day and I could gladly spend my free time tonight with my best friend, Anna. “Hey, stranger,” an angelic voice said from behind me. I jumped when she spoke and she giggled. There stood a girl with a huge smile on her face that made me smile in return.
October 17, 2018 What We All Tend To Forget As a junior in college, I went through a very dark, unexpected twist in my outlook on life. While most people knew me then and know me now as the girl who always finds the bright side of every situation, I did a one hundred and eighty degree turn back then. It wasn’t without reason, but it was a bad move. Yet it is something we do from time to time, whether we admit it out to others or not.
October 14, 2018 Out of the Box As a young girl, I spent the majority of my time dirtying myself up in the woods of Wisconsin. I loved playing make believe, cutting hair off my Barbie dolls, or jumping off the pier and into Lake Geneva. I was not shy to being dirty, nor was I shy to getting rough with the boys. From a baby to age fourteen, the question of love and who we fall in love with never really bothered me much. As far as I knew during my grade school existence, I’d crushed on a few boys. A few boys had crushed on me. And of course, there were one or two girls who seemed to have feelings for me, but as far as I knew, I didn’t seem to like them back the same way. Over all of that, I played on two hockey teams, so the idea of trying to date was totally off my radar. So I placed myself in the first box: straight. Straight as an arrow. Or so I thought.
October 10, 2018 The Key to a Proper Diet The year is 2011. I was seventeen going on finally being a legal adult, preparing for university and collegiate division three ice hockey. In the spring of that year, I’d written my first real full length manuscript (which I never ended up publishing) and I was attempting to get noticed on other smaller websites or journals. As far as my future appeared, things were looking up. Until I glanced around at the other aspects of my life. Then the truth became more than apparent to me: my diet was inadequate.
October 7, 2018 Fall is for Family Of all the seasons, my favorite is autumn. Part of that is due to the beauty I saw growing up around this time of year. In the Midwest, the leaves would change color, turning from vibrant green to rusted colors. The trees would shed themselves of summer’s fragments and everyone would find their way to the orchards, ready to pick out the recent harvest: apples, pumpkins, fruits, vegetables, and then finish off a day in the fields with a drink of apple cider with mitten covered hands.
October 3, 2018 That Time We Hid a Kitten In Our Apartment During university, I’ll admit: I did a lot of weird, out of character things. One time, I stole Santa Claus and hid him on campus. I’d go lay out on Chapel Hill and watch the stars when I couldn’t sleep, sometimes till the wee hours of the night. I often tried new things and much to my dismay, liking them was a hit of a miss. And a lot of the time, it didn’t take too long before I realized how much I really disliked something. But the time my roommate and I adopted a kitten and hid it from residence life for a week was definitely not something I regret doing.
September 30, 2018 兩年: A Year of Habits To be honest, I thought that my second year would mirror a lot of my inaugural year abroad. I really accomplished a lot during the first three hundred and sixty five days. I’d participated in producing a short film, went on a short vacation to Mazu, and not to mention all the little trips around the island exploring. But then I look back now at the end of my second year here and I’m even more surprised.
September 26, 2018 Autumn Update! The end of September has arrived and boy, there have been plenty of recent developments worth mentioning to you all. First and foremost, another long month of teaching has ended. I started a new semester and my little kindergartners, bless their hearts, are so cute. It was Moon Festival here in Taiwan and we had a nice work barbecue, as well as a little three day weekend to relax and take time off from classes.
September 23, 2018 Make the World Your Runway It was a couple of weeks ago. A Monday, just an ordinary Monday. There I was, sick and on some strong cold medication, strutting down YiZhong street with my sunglasses on and my hair pulled back into a sleek braid. Half of me was convinced I was going to fall flat on my face in front of a bunch of high school students outside of Family Mart, because my entire body was shaking from the medication. The other half of me felt like I was on the runway at fashion week or something equally as ridiculous. Thank you, Panadol, for that rush of unwarranted confidence.
