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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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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.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

See how it pours

Spring is officially here at last, I think. We had a couple weeks of fluctuating temperatures (70 degrees one day, 35 the next), but now it's consistently around the upper 60s if not a little warmer. Also consistently rainy on the days I go out to meet people for meals or tea, which I've been doing quite a bit of lately.

I finally received my teaching assignment for the fall from my university (which henceforth shall be called Little U. on the Prairie): Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-4:45 p.m. It was my last choice in the list of time slots I requested, but I think it will work out better than teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at least for day-to-day purposes. I'm disappointed that I'll have to shorten my Seattle trips (or maybe leave most of the travel to D for another semester), but teaching on Thursday was going to mean being on campus potentially from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. every week. And yes, I checked to see whether I could get back here in time to make that Monday section if I were to fly out from Seattle on the same day, but there are no connecting flights out of Chicago, DFW or St. Louis that will get me here soon enough. So be it.

New TA orientation is Saturday morning, and D arrives late tomorrow night. I'm excited to find out what I'll be handling next year, but I wish the meeting were the following Saturday. As it is, I'll be working on that history term paper all weekend, so with this extra obligation, it looks like we'll be having a staying-in sort of visit again. But there is so much I want to take D to! There's a festival in town only this weekend, showcasing the wares of professional artists and artisans -- sounds similar to the Sunday markets we like to go to in Seattle (instrumental to our Christmas shopping last year). There will also be music and other performances. Maybe I'll send D on his own if he feels like checking everything out; it seems a shame to have him cooped up in the apartment. Though I do have cable, which he does not. We decided it was too expensive to pay for it in two locations, so he opted to get Netflix instead. I imagine he might enjoy actually getting to flip through channels for once while they're at his disposal ...

I sense a Planet Earth binge on the horizon.
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Thursday, April 24, 2008

See how it pours

Spring is officially here at last, I think. We had a couple weeks of fluctuating temperatures (70 degrees one day, 35 the next), but now it's consistently around the upper 60s if not a little warmer. Also consistently rainy on the days I go out to meet people for meals or tea, which I've been doing quite a bit of lately.

I finally received my teaching assignment for the fall from my university (which henceforth shall be called Little U. on the Prairie): Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-4:45 p.m. It was my last choice in the list of time slots I requested, but I think it will work out better than teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at least for day-to-day purposes. I'm disappointed that I'll have to shorten my Seattle trips (or maybe leave most of the travel to D for another semester), but teaching on Thursday was going to mean being on campus potentially from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. every week. And yes, I checked to see whether I could get back here in time to make that Monday section if I were to fly out from Seattle on the same day, but there are no connecting flights out of Chicago, DFW or St. Louis that will get me here soon enough. So be it.

New TA orientation is Saturday morning, and D arrives late tomorrow night. I'm excited to find out what I'll be handling next year, but I wish the meeting were the following Saturday. As it is, I'll be working on that history term paper all weekend, so with this extra obligation, it looks like we'll be having a staying-in sort of visit again. But there is so much I want to take D to! There's a festival in town only this weekend, showcasing the wares of professional artists and artisans -- sounds similar to the Sunday markets we like to go to in Seattle (instrumental to our Christmas shopping last year). There will also be music and other performances. Maybe I'll send D on his own if he feels like checking everything out; it seems a shame to have him cooped up in the apartment. Though I do have cable, which he does not. We decided it was too expensive to pay for it in two locations, so he opted to get Netflix instead. I imagine he might enjoy actually getting to flip through channels for once while they're at his disposal ...

I sense a Planet Earth binge on the horizon.
Posted by This Ro(a)mantic Life at 7:35 PM
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