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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 sorted by date or label, see the links below.

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, April 20, 2009

Inching along

Must stop looking at calendar. Must, must, must.

It is exactly 30 days until I leave, and now that I've started the business of getting ready to move, my brain won't stop thinking about it! Unfortunately, the boxes I packed this weekend aren't helping matters. They're stacked in the living room, all ready to go, just looking at me and asking "Is it time yet?" I swear, it's like they have puppy-dog eyes.

I did intend to start packing this early because (a) I need to figure out how many more boxes to order from the moving company since the ones I saved from the move here won't be enough and (b) I just received another 39 student papers last night that will be eating my time for the next week or so. Oh, also (c) I'm going to Seattle in two weeks, so I'll lose a weekend for packing there, and (d) I have a giant research paper due the week before the movers are scheduled to load. Never mind (e) the final exams I'll be grading during that same time period.

So I am completely justified in starting the process now, even if it's upping the anticipation to nearly unbearable levels.

So far, the only things I can pack are books I won't need immediate access to in the next two months -- and there are a ton of them, three bookcases full. Also binders of class notes and the contents of my filing cabinet. Total number of boxes so far: 6. I think I'm going to put the count in the sidebar just to have something to mark progress. Time, as you can tell, still isn't creeping any faster for me than when I last posted.

What is progressing at an amazing rate is my new pet plant from D's parents:


When we brought him home on Easter Sunday, his bud was still halfway concealed within the top of the bulb. Here we are a week later, and he's nearly three bud-lengths tall! How do I know he's a he, you're wondering? Well, he came with a name tag:


I know, I know, it's just some breeder's designation, but I think Ludwig is a great name for an amaryllis.

In other news, the people on Craigslist are driving me slightly nuts, inquiring about my furniture and telling me they want to buy something but ultimately flaking out. Don't say you're coming to check out an item and then change your mind without telling me! Just an e-mail that you're having second thoughts would be nice. As it is, I'm already preoccupied enough with scheduling without needing to think I have to make time for you to drop by only to have you turn incommunicado.

Must stop looking at calendar. Must, must, must.
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2 comments:

French Fancy... said...

Oh I hate that - people saying they are coming (for whatever reason)and then you are left there waiting and waiting, never a word of explanation. Boo to rude people.

39 papers and all the other things - you poor thing; still, 30 days left WOO HOO!!!

April 21, 2009 at 9:51 AM
This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

I know! And it was for the entertainment center too. We could make everything else I have fit in the house, but this item really has no spot -- except in the garage for temporary storage.

Oh well.

April 21, 2009 at 9:10 PM

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Monday, April 20, 2009

Inching along

Must stop looking at calendar. Must, must, must.

It is exactly 30 days until I leave, and now that I've started the business of getting ready to move, my brain won't stop thinking about it! Unfortunately, the boxes I packed this weekend aren't helping matters. They're stacked in the living room, all ready to go, just looking at me and asking "Is it time yet?" I swear, it's like they have puppy-dog eyes.

I did intend to start packing this early because (a) I need to figure out how many more boxes to order from the moving company since the ones I saved from the move here won't be enough and (b) I just received another 39 student papers last night that will be eating my time for the next week or so. Oh, also (c) I'm going to Seattle in two weeks, so I'll lose a weekend for packing there, and (d) I have a giant research paper due the week before the movers are scheduled to load. Never mind (e) the final exams I'll be grading during that same time period.

So I am completely justified in starting the process now, even if it's upping the anticipation to nearly unbearable levels.

So far, the only things I can pack are books I won't need immediate access to in the next two months -- and there are a ton of them, three bookcases full. Also binders of class notes and the contents of my filing cabinet. Total number of boxes so far: 6. I think I'm going to put the count in the sidebar just to have something to mark progress. Time, as you can tell, still isn't creeping any faster for me than when I last posted.

What is progressing at an amazing rate is my new pet plant from D's parents:


When we brought him home on Easter Sunday, his bud was still halfway concealed within the top of the bulb. Here we are a week later, and he's nearly three bud-lengths tall! How do I know he's a he, you're wondering? Well, he came with a name tag:


I know, I know, it's just some breeder's designation, but I think Ludwig is a great name for an amaryllis.

In other news, the people on Craigslist are driving me slightly nuts, inquiring about my furniture and telling me they want to buy something but ultimately flaking out. Don't say you're coming to check out an item and then change your mind without telling me! Just an e-mail that you're having second thoughts would be nice. As it is, I'm already preoccupied enough with scheduling without needing to think I have to make time for you to drop by only to have you turn incommunicado.

Must stop looking at calendar. Must, must, must.
Posted by This Ro(a)mantic Life at 7:54 PM
Labels: , , ,

2 comments:

French Fancy... said...

Oh I hate that - people saying they are coming (for whatever reason)and then you are left there waiting and waiting, never a word of explanation. Boo to rude people.

39 papers and all the other things - you poor thing; still, 30 days left WOO HOO!!!

April 21, 2009 at 9:51 AM
This Ro(a)mantic Life said...

I know! And it was for the entertainment center too. We could make everything else I have fit in the house, but this item really has no spot -- except in the garage for temporary storage.

Oh well.

April 21, 2009 at 9:10 PM

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