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When I'm not here, you may find me wandering the pages below. (If I'm a regular visitor to your site and I've left your link off or mislinked to you, please let me know! And likewise, if you've blogrolled me, please check that my link is updated: thisroamanticlife.blogspot.com. The extra (a) makes all the difference!)

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For posts on frequently referenced topics, click the buttons to the right.

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Body: in sickness and in health

I won't lie; this body and I have had our issues with each other for many years. Body image -- sure. Physical and mental overextension -- comes with being a Type A kind of girl. I still struggle with these things, so they show up from time to time in my writing.

More recently, illness, pure but not simple, has added itself to the mix in a multi-system sort of way. And the challenges in figuring out exactly what's gone wrong are many. As problems have revealed themselves in the last few years, beginning with reactive hypoglycemia in late 2008, I've documented them here, partly to gain a little clarity on managing complex conditions but mostly to give voice to vulnerabilities I feel but don't normally share with anyone face to face. Better out than in, they say, right? (Oh yes, humor is one way I deal.)

The links below cover the different angles I've examined (and from which I've been examined) within that experience.

Travel: neither here nor there

When the person you're married to lives two time zones away, you log a fair number of frequent flier miles. And if you blog about commuter relationships, you log quite a few posts en route too.

Since we're no longer in separate places, I blog less often from airports. But we do travel -- together now! -- which is much more fun to write about. So in addition to thoughts on our years of commuting, the links below cover the places we've been as a pair and, in some cases, the adventures that have happened on the way.

Writing: the long and short of it

Why do I do it? Good question. Maybe it's not so much that I like to write but that I have to write, even when the words refuse to stick to the page. Believe me, I've tried doing other things like majoring in biochemistry (freshman fall, many semesters ago). Within a year, I'd switched to English with a concentration in creative writing and wasn't looking back.

After graduating, I taught English for a few years and then worked as an editor, which I still do freelance. In 2007, I applied and got into an MFA program at a place I like to call Little U. on the Prairie. I finished my degree in 2011 and have been balancing tutoring and writing on my own ever since.

The following links cover the writing I've done about writing: process, content, obstacles, you name it. It's not always pretty. But some part of me loves it, even when it's hard. And this is the result.

Heart: family and friends

I'd have a hard time explaining who I am without being able to talk about the family I grew up in as well as the people I've met beyond its bounds. But even with such context, it's not easy! In the simplest terms, I'm a first-generation Asian-American who has spent most of this life caught between cultures. That, of course, doesn't even begin to describe what I mean to, but there's my first stab at the heart of it all.

That's what this group of posts is reserved for -- heart. The essential parts of my life whose influences I carry with me, for better or worse. The links below cover what I've written as I've learned how these forces work within me, for me, against me, in spite of me. They anchor me even as they change me, and they keep life interesting.

Recommended reading

What do I do when there's too much on my mind and my words won't stick to the page? I escape into someone else's thoughts. Below is a collection of books and articles that have been sources of information, inspiration, and occasional insight for my own work.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Say the magic words ...

Schedule irregularity.

This is what American is calling Friday's flight fluke, and supposedly, if we repeat those same words to the people in customer service, we can get a refund for the leg that D never ended up connecting to in O'Hare -- even though it's technically a nonrefundable ticket. This wisdom comes courtesy of a nice lady on the AA reservations hotline whom I spoke with after D called to say his plane had been diverted to Moline to refuel. Hey, if it's true, we'll take the deal.

D did manage to make it to Iowa on Friday, thanks to a last-minute car rental. Reports say there were thunderheads stacked up from near ground level to altitudes of 50,000 feet over Chicago, hence the complete air traffic freeze. What a storm ...

We had a relatively uneventful rest of the weekend, even with term paper stress hanging over me. While I was working, D caught up on TV (as I predicted). I had recorded War Games off AMC to watch while exercising (even this many weeks after the end of the WGA strike, some of my usual staples still aren't back on the air yet), so we started watching that too. How a computer geek like D escaped watching this film during childhood I don't know. We'll finish it when he comes back in two weeks.

And now, back to the paper ... I have to say, as sad as it might sound, that it was nice to be able to complain to someone out loud while D was here. It's something I never thought I'd consider a luxury.
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Monday, April 28, 2008

Say the magic words ...

Schedule irregularity.

This is what American is calling Friday's flight fluke, and supposedly, if we repeat those same words to the people in customer service, we can get a refund for the leg that D never ended up connecting to in O'Hare -- even though it's technically a nonrefundable ticket. This wisdom comes courtesy of a nice lady on the AA reservations hotline whom I spoke with after D called to say his plane had been diverted to Moline to refuel. Hey, if it's true, we'll take the deal.

D did manage to make it to Iowa on Friday, thanks to a last-minute car rental. Reports say there were thunderheads stacked up from near ground level to altitudes of 50,000 feet over Chicago, hence the complete air traffic freeze. What a storm ...

We had a relatively uneventful rest of the weekend, even with term paper stress hanging over me. While I was working, D caught up on TV (as I predicted). I had recorded War Games off AMC to watch while exercising (even this many weeks after the end of the WGA strike, some of my usual staples still aren't back on the air yet), so we started watching that too. How a computer geek like D escaped watching this film during childhood I don't know. We'll finish it when he comes back in two weeks.

And now, back to the paper ... I have to say, as sad as it might sound, that it was nice to be able to complain to someone out loud while D was here. It's something I never thought I'd consider a luxury.
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