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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, August 4, 2008

I have house lust


So we may have found the house that we want to buy!

But it's too soon, and now we have to stall!

!!!

My parents were interested in seeing some homes with us during their visit, so on their first morning in town, we went out with our realtor to take a second look at a few places. One of these was a house that D and I immediately loved on our first viewing, but we kept our sentiments under wraps. No sense giving our realtor more reasons to prod us about getting pre-approved for a loan.

Mom and Dad had already previewed the pictures of the house and looked it up on Zillow.com (a very useful website for previous sale information among other details the realtors are loath to disclose), so we had a pretty good idea about how reasonable the listing price was. The current owners are definitely asking way more than any smart buyer in this market should pay, so we've been watching the listing closely for any changes. Yesterday, our realtor forwarded us a notice that the owners have dropped the price. Not by much, but it might be enough for overeager buyers to jump on it.

The house isn't perfect -- there are little things that we made sure to mention in front of the realtor to sort of throw her off how much we like the place -- but I have a feeling she may have seen through some of it. There's no tub in the master bathroom (not an issue for us since we're not tub people, but future buyers may find that to be one), and the furnace is in the attic with a questionably sized crawlspace for access. If that furnace breaks, it'll be a major operation to get it out of there (not to mention putting a new one in its place). Then there's the lot across from the house that looks like it's being reclaimed as a protected wetland, but the clearing that's going on also suggests new construction(?). And let's not forget the problem of the greenbelt overgrowth behind the house. Right now, the plants back there are young, but we're not sure what the law says about trimming all that stuff back when it gets higher than the fence. Are we allowed to touch it? Some sources say no. And that would mean a raggedy mess to try to market when it's our turn to sell ...

But how can we not love this house when D and my parents and I can envision our children sleeping in the bedrooms?!? Dad was so funny -- because of the depth of the greenbelt, he was concerned that mountain lions might be able to make off with his future grandchildren while they were playing in the backyard. The fact that he was even thinking about grandchildren was just too cute, but the fact that he was serious about the mountain lions was even cuter.

(It is highly unlikely that mountain lions would prowl the neighborhood we're looking at. There's more of a chance that they'd appear around our current apartment complex, which is not far from the foothills of the Cascades.)

This post has to stop here for now -- I am on my way to wedding #4 for the summer. The next installment on my parents' visit when I get to my next internet connection! And if anyone has ideas on how to prevent someone else from buying this house, we're all ears ...

1 comment:

Bev said...

AAHH amazing!!! You have to show me the listing this weekend :)...and so cute, btw, about Dad worrying about grandchildren. <3 mountain lions.

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Monday, August 4, 2008

I have house lust


So we may have found the house that we want to buy!

But it's too soon, and now we have to stall!

!!!

My parents were interested in seeing some homes with us during their visit, so on their first morning in town, we went out with our realtor to take a second look at a few places. One of these was a house that D and I immediately loved on our first viewing, but we kept our sentiments under wraps. No sense giving our realtor more reasons to prod us about getting pre-approved for a loan.

Mom and Dad had already previewed the pictures of the house and looked it up on Zillow.com (a very useful website for previous sale information among other details the realtors are loath to disclose), so we had a pretty good idea about how reasonable the listing price was. The current owners are definitely asking way more than any smart buyer in this market should pay, so we've been watching the listing closely for any changes. Yesterday, our realtor forwarded us a notice that the owners have dropped the price. Not by much, but it might be enough for overeager buyers to jump on it.

The house isn't perfect -- there are little things that we made sure to mention in front of the realtor to sort of throw her off how much we like the place -- but I have a feeling she may have seen through some of it. There's no tub in the master bathroom (not an issue for us since we're not tub people, but future buyers may find that to be one), and the furnace is in the attic with a questionably sized crawlspace for access. If that furnace breaks, it'll be a major operation to get it out of there (not to mention putting a new one in its place). Then there's the lot across from the house that looks like it's being reclaimed as a protected wetland, but the clearing that's going on also suggests new construction(?). And let's not forget the problem of the greenbelt overgrowth behind the house. Right now, the plants back there are young, but we're not sure what the law says about trimming all that stuff back when it gets higher than the fence. Are we allowed to touch it? Some sources say no. And that would mean a raggedy mess to try to market when it's our turn to sell ...

But how can we not love this house when D and my parents and I can envision our children sleeping in the bedrooms?!? Dad was so funny -- because of the depth of the greenbelt, he was concerned that mountain lions might be able to make off with his future grandchildren while they were playing in the backyard. The fact that he was even thinking about grandchildren was just too cute, but the fact that he was serious about the mountain lions was even cuter.

(It is highly unlikely that mountain lions would prowl the neighborhood we're looking at. There's more of a chance that they'd appear around our current apartment complex, which is not far from the foothills of the Cascades.)

This post has to stop here for now -- I am on my way to wedding #4 for the summer. The next installment on my parents' visit when I get to my next internet connection! And if anyone has ideas on how to prevent someone else from buying this house, we're all ears ...

1 comment:

Bev said...

AAHH amazing!!! You have to show me the listing this weekend :)...and so cute, btw, about Dad worrying about grandchildren. <3 mountain lions.