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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.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

To market, to market

... to spy a fat pig!

Okay, not really, but these porkers are all over downtown Seattle. This one in particular watches over Pike Place Market, which we wandered through on Sunday to pick out a "fun ingredient," as D calls it. We decided to do this about once a week for the summer -- going to a local grocery or produce stand to find something interesting to build a meal around (or at the very least a central dish). This expedition landed us some plump little Calimyrna figs. More news to come on what we do with them.


The market was overrun (even more than usual) because it happened to be the weekend of the Pike Place Market Street Festival. We managed to weave through the crowds without stepping on any toes. Maybe next time we come down, we'll bring the cooler and get some seafood from the famous fish counter where the men working the stand juggle orders (literally). The masses were a bit thick -- attracted, no question, to the fish-flinging act -- and getting a good look at the merchandise would have required more elbowing than we were inclined to try.


In other projects of the moment: we drove around Mercer Island for the first time. Mercer Island is the home of the top rated school districts in all of Washington (and thus, some prime real estate), and a random internet search of properties for sale there turned up some scary prices a few months ago. D and I figured we probably had no hope of buying a house in this part of Seattle. But on the off chance that there was a bungalow we might stumble upon, we took a tour around the island on the way back from the market. Believe it or not, we found something. It's not for sale, as far as we can tell, but this is proof that even people of modest means can have their square footage there:


Based on what we've seen for more standard size homes out there, we're estimating the value of this place to be $400,000. (And that is why we'll be looking elsewhere for a home ... )
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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

To market, to market

... to spy a fat pig!

Okay, not really, but these porkers are all over downtown Seattle. This one in particular watches over Pike Place Market, which we wandered through on Sunday to pick out a "fun ingredient," as D calls it. We decided to do this about once a week for the summer -- going to a local grocery or produce stand to find something interesting to build a meal around (or at the very least a central dish). This expedition landed us some plump little Calimyrna figs. More news to come on what we do with them.


The market was overrun (even more than usual) because it happened to be the weekend of the Pike Place Market Street Festival. We managed to weave through the crowds without stepping on any toes. Maybe next time we come down, we'll bring the cooler and get some seafood from the famous fish counter where the men working the stand juggle orders (literally). The masses were a bit thick -- attracted, no question, to the fish-flinging act -- and getting a good look at the merchandise would have required more elbowing than we were inclined to try.


In other projects of the moment: we drove around Mercer Island for the first time. Mercer Island is the home of the top rated school districts in all of Washington (and thus, some prime real estate), and a random internet search of properties for sale there turned up some scary prices a few months ago. D and I figured we probably had no hope of buying a house in this part of Seattle. But on the off chance that there was a bungalow we might stumble upon, we took a tour around the island on the way back from the market. Believe it or not, we found something. It's not for sale, as far as we can tell, but this is proof that even people of modest means can have their square footage there:


Based on what we've seen for more standard size homes out there, we're estimating the value of this place to be $400,000. (And that is why we'll be looking elsewhere for a home ... )
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