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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.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

First sale!

Well, almost. Someone is coming to pick up our futon tomorrow. Hopefully the buyer won't change her mind once she gets here. She sounded quite enthusiastic in her response to the post I put on Craigslist (the beginning of our attempts to make more space at our place), but these things can fall through. There was another person who replied to the ad, asking to see the futon first before deciding whether she wanted it. Guess we'll see what happens! I have a good feeling about this. Prospective Buyer No. 1 e-mailed me at 6 a.m. on Friday to put her offer in. By 7, we had decided on a price and pick-up time (I was up early because D had to leave for a 6:30 bus). Prospective Buyer No. 2 may not have a chance if
No. 1 is as gung-ho in person as she is online.

We signed our lease renewal today, which means we have at least one more year to pare down our overflow of stuff. I'm relieved that we're staying and I think D is also pretty glad we're not moving. We'll have to remind each other about that when we pay next month's rent. Sigh. Incidentally, the New York Times ran this article today, which confirms the market news we were given by the apartment office on why the rates went up so drastically.

On a happier note, one of my former roommates from college sent me a belated birthday gift! Look at what she made:


Needless to say, I'm very impressed. The glaze has a watercolor-like quality to it, especially the gradations of pink on the inside. I need to find some kind of hands-on art classes or projects -- not necessarily pottery, but something that will give the creative part of my brain new ground to explore. Maybe that will stimulate the essay writing neurons again; of late they've been burned out. Or whenever I get some thoughts going, they peter out again when I start to jot things down. Frustrating.
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Saturday, June 21, 2008

First sale!

Well, almost. Someone is coming to pick up our futon tomorrow. Hopefully the buyer won't change her mind once she gets here. She sounded quite enthusiastic in her response to the post I put on Craigslist (the beginning of our attempts to make more space at our place), but these things can fall through. There was another person who replied to the ad, asking to see the futon first before deciding whether she wanted it. Guess we'll see what happens! I have a good feeling about this. Prospective Buyer No. 1 e-mailed me at 6 a.m. on Friday to put her offer in. By 7, we had decided on a price and pick-up time (I was up early because D had to leave for a 6:30 bus). Prospective Buyer No. 2 may not have a chance if
No. 1 is as gung-ho in person as she is online.

We signed our lease renewal today, which means we have at least one more year to pare down our overflow of stuff. I'm relieved that we're staying and I think D is also pretty glad we're not moving. We'll have to remind each other about that when we pay next month's rent. Sigh. Incidentally, the New York Times ran this article today, which confirms the market news we were given by the apartment office on why the rates went up so drastically.

On a happier note, one of my former roommates from college sent me a belated birthday gift! Look at what she made:


Needless to say, I'm very impressed. The glaze has a watercolor-like quality to it, especially the gradations of pink on the inside. I need to find some kind of hands-on art classes or projects -- not necessarily pottery, but something that will give the creative part of my brain new ground to explore. Maybe that will stimulate the essay writing neurons again; of late they've been burned out. Or whenever I get some thoughts going, they peter out again when I start to jot things down. Frustrating.
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