Blogroll

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!)

Archives

For posts sorted by date or label, see the links below.

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

To search this blog, type in the field at the top left of the page and hit enter.

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.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

The air out there


... is much cooler than the air in here. And that is why strategically positioned windows are essential to homes that don't have air conditioning.

Even though D and I had an uncomfortably hot morning wandering a few neighborhoods with our realtor yesterday, it was very helpful to see which homes had good ventilation -- and which did not. We tested several places to see whether we could get substantial cross breezes flowing. Sadly, our own apartment isn't very conducive to that, even with its big windows (they're not situated across from one another by any stretch of the imagination). So now this little guy is my new best friend. He kicks up a nice breeze, and each of his fans is independently adjustable for aim and speed. Thank goodness there was one of these left at Target -- they were nearly cleaned out when we arrived.

We watched the Euro Cup final today with some of D's friends from work, which was fun (especially because there were supporters for both Germany and Spain in the group). Since the beginning of the month, D and I have arranged time to get together with several of those friends, so I'm starting to feel more comfortable around them -- they remember my name (or at least that I'm D's wife) and I remember theirs too. An intern even made a point of mentioning that people bring their friends and spouses to the office cafeteria for lunch and that I should join the group some time. I thought that was nice.

Oh, how wonderful it would be to put down roots here for good instead of having to get yanked up again in August ...
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Posts by date

Posts by label

Air travel Airline food Allergic reactions Astoria Awards Bacteremia Bacterial overgrowth Baggage beefs Bed and breakfast Betrayal Blues Body Boston Breastfeeding British Columbia California Canada Cape Spear Clam-digging Colonoscopy Commuter marriage Cooking CT scans Delays Diagnoses Dietitians Doctor-patient relationships Doctors Eating while traveling Editing Endocrine Endoscopy ER False starts Family dynamics Feedback Food anxiety Food sensitivities Gate agent guff GI Halifax Heart Home-making House hunting Hypoglycemia In-laws Intentional happiness Iowa Journaling Kidney stones Knitting Lab tests Little U. on the Prairie Liver function tests Long Beach Making friends in new places Malabsorption Massachusetts Medical records Medication Mentorship MFA programs Miami Monterey Motivation Moving Narrative New York Newark Newfoundland Nova Scotia Olympic Peninsula Ontario Ophthalmology Oregon Oxalates Pancreatic function tests Parenting Parents Paris Pets Photography Portland Prediabetes Pregnancy Process Professors Publishing Reproductive endocrine Research Revision Rewriting Rheumatology San Francisco Scenes from a graduation series Scenes from around the table series Seattle Sisters Skiing St. John's Striped-up paisley Teaching Technological snafus Texas Thesis Toronto Travel Travel fears Traveling while sick Ultrasound Urology Vancouver Victoria Voice Washington Washington D.C. Weight When words won't stick Whidbey Island Why we write Workshops Writers on writing Writing Writing friends Writing in odd places Writing jobs Yakima

Sunday, June 29, 2008

The air out there


... is much cooler than the air in here. And that is why strategically positioned windows are essential to homes that don't have air conditioning.

Even though D and I had an uncomfortably hot morning wandering a few neighborhoods with our realtor yesterday, it was very helpful to see which homes had good ventilation -- and which did not. We tested several places to see whether we could get substantial cross breezes flowing. Sadly, our own apartment isn't very conducive to that, even with its big windows (they're not situated across from one another by any stretch of the imagination). So now this little guy is my new best friend. He kicks up a nice breeze, and each of his fans is independently adjustable for aim and speed. Thank goodness there was one of these left at Target -- they were nearly cleaned out when we arrived.

We watched the Euro Cup final today with some of D's friends from work, which was fun (especially because there were supporters for both Germany and Spain in the group). Since the beginning of the month, D and I have arranged time to get together with several of those friends, so I'm starting to feel more comfortable around them -- they remember my name (or at least that I'm D's wife) and I remember theirs too. An intern even made a point of mentioning that people bring their friends and spouses to the office cafeteria for lunch and that I should join the group some time. I thought that was nice.

Oh, how wonderful it would be to put down roots here for good instead of having to get yanked up again in August ...
Posted by This Ro(a)mantic Life at 8:55 PM
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)