A Day in the Life: Wistfully Linda

APA Month continues with Wistfully Linda, 20-something California girl sharing A Day in the Life from her current residence in Taipei, Taiwan.  I can feel the lush air already from her gorgeous pictures!

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9:05ish - Crap, gonna be late. Roll out of bed, toiletries, change clothes as quickly as possible while still barely awake.

9:20ish - I used to take the MRT (Taiwan's metro rail system) but now I grab my breakfast and catch a ride to work on my friend's scooter.

When I first came to Taiwan I'd be so excited to get rides on scooters and motorcycles that I'd do a lot of laughing and screaming in exhilaration during the ride because it was SO AWESOME. And my taiwanese friends would shake their heads and mumble things about crazy Americans.

But now that i've been here a while, I'm as calm and cool as mango shaved ice. So much so, in fact, that my friend doesn't even notice when I almost lose my balance while leaning back to take photos of the back of his head.

 9:30ish - Ok, fine, I might have gotten in SLIGHTLY late, but only because I went to get a photo of the office building for you. The sacrifices I make!

I currently work at biotech startup. I was in R&D as a research assistant for more than a year (I majored in molecular and cell biology in college). But as of March I'm now the company's marketing specialist, which makes me officially the first (and currently only) employee in Business Development/Sales & Marketing -- aka our company's BDSM department. Yes, really. The worst thing is when I mentioned to this to my coworkers and they didn't know that BDSM is, and asked me to explain... in Chinese. SO. AWKWARD.

10ish - By this time I've finished my breakfast, checked email, plugged in my earphones, and am awake and lucid enough to write some fiction for my day job. At least that's what it feels like -- I write descriptions and web copy for products that don't yet exist and draft answers to fabricated FAQs (in English, thankfully).

11:40ish - My friends in R&D come out of the lab and ask if i want to go buy lunch with them. I'm shocked when I look at the clock; they're usually not free for lunch until 12:30 or 1. We walk to the parking lot around the corner where food trucks gather. There's a good variety of food to go for when we plan eat back at the office.

 12ish - I eat my pink guava at my desk, read blogs, and check Twitter.

1ish - One of my coworkers at the other lab texts me to say they're on their lunch break, inviting me to join them. I usually do, a few times a week, but since I already ate, I decline and say maybe tomorrow. Meanwhile, I switch gears and struggle through some QA documents that involve my department. What's worse than having to read a ton of dry, boring procedural documents? Attempting to do it in Chinese!

My reading skill is good enough for me to be able to get through the Chinese version of the hunger games comfortably (probably because I read it in English first, haha), but I can barely make it through a single sentence of this stuff. And not only do I have to read them, I probably have to rewrite them, in case the auditor decides to ask someone from sales and marketing (aka me, the only person in the department) about them. So yeah, Google translator is my new BFF even though its translation is awful. I found the Listen function pretty helpful, though.

2ish-5:30ish - OMG FREAKING LONG MEETING.

6ish - Whoa, within 10 minutes I'm the only one left in the office. Lab people are still around, though.

7ish - Time to go! I say good bye to friends still working on experiments and head out.

7:30ish - I go to the library to check out some books. Sadly, the children's/YA section closes earlier than the rest of the library, so I won't be able to get those YA novels i wanted to read. Instead, I browse the regular English fiction section and pick up several books that look interesting.

8:15ish - Near the library there's an all-day breakfast store. I usually get a red bean pastry there after my visits to the library, but since I haven't eaten dinner, I also get some steamed xiaolongbao.

9:30ish - It's rainy and i'm tired, so I don't go for a run like I've done, oh, twice so far this year (which is already super impressive considering how much I hate running). I should get to work on my blogs or writing, but I'm feeling lazy (as usual) and decide to unwind first by poking around on the internet.

10ish - I occasionally do some productive things between less productive activities. "Productive" mostly this means sorting/processing/resizing photos, making outlines and notes for blog posts and my WIP, and occasionally fleshing out those notes and bullets. Time goes by ridiculously quickly when I have internet access, and I don't get as much done as I should have, but then what else is new?

12ish - I shower, blow my hair, and then check a few more things on my laptop.

1ish - SLEEP!!! Goodnight, Taipei!

 (And yes that's really the view from my balcony!)

APA Bachelor of the Month: Kevin Kim, Rock Star

Ladies, meet your future husband!

Eva Longoria is setting up the Plain White T's frontman for a new NBC dating show - I can do it too.  I've tapped a member of one of my favorite Asian-American bands in the world, The Nehemiah Band, and he's ready to devote himself to a lucky reader.  If you don't fall in love with his message to his future wife below, you have a heart of stone.

For inquires, hit the email button on the right and you've got yourself a date.

Name: Kevin Haneul Kim
Nickname: KEVINKIM! (oneword and exclamatory!)
Age: 26
Height: Five Ten... ok five nine and three quarters
Profession: Musician/Teacher/Bartender
Guys, girls, both, something in between?
Women are the most beautiful creatures ever created and someday one special one will be mine... I do enjoy flirting with guys though...everyone wants some attention - equal opportunity flirt!
Metro or no?
I prefer metro areas over suburban. Speaking of metro, the Los Angeles Metro system needs a lot of work especially compared to other metropolitan cities, but it's still great for specific destinations especially the fun ones that are hard to drive to and park by; we all know what a bitch it is to find parking parking in L.A. ...let's go on a Metro date ;)
Security blanket you sleep with at night: Navy body pillow decorated with faintly glow in the dark stars
Boxers or Briefs: Boxer briefs all the way...contents may appear sexier than they actually are
Immediate turn-on: chemisty, confidence, eyes

killing it with my his manpurse

Dealbreaker: Doesn't want to commit to me.
Karaoke song of choice: I Got You - James Brown
On a Friday night you'd prefer to: Play a show and kill it
Last Friday you actually: I brought a friend coffee and had a good long heart to heart =)...and then couldn't fall asleep because I rarely drink coffee...=(
Random Talents: I can sing and play guitar well enough to make people smile =) I'm also fun to dance with and a decent swimmer.
Level of cooking: Knife skills and cooking experience/jargon aren't stellar, but I can follow a recipe well. I tend to stick to simple few ingredient dishes.
Height restrictions: No restrictions, but would prefer between 5 and 6 feet tall.
Message to your future wife:
We will be madly in love. I will spend my life loving you like you've never been loved or will ever be. When it's grand and when sh!t hits the fan you'll have an "I've got your back no matter what!" kind of love.

Bonus question!
What song must be played at your wedding?
You Are The Best Thing - Ray Lamontagne, Let's Stay Together - Al Green

APA Month Charity Spotlight: Asian Pacific Women's Center

One of the most private things I've ever done is volunteer with children who have survived domestic violence.

The Asian Pacific Women's Center in Los Angeles, CA provides a transitional shelter for women and children escaping domestic violence.  I can't describe how important this is in the Asian, and particularly immigrant community.  Due to culture, language barriers, and lack of resources, Asian immigrant women often have few or no one they can reach out to when they're in a violent situation.

I keep this on my fridge

I ran a biweekly movement and expression class for the children living in the shelter, drawing on my background as a dancer and my graduate training in somatic therapy.  We used art, movement and story-telling to bond, exercise, and dream of the future.  Occasionally a mother would stop by.

Every session, I heard a little more about their backgrounds and little snippets of how they had lived.  I watched the way they interacted - a combination of childlike joy and abandon, with moments of heartbreaking sensitivity and emotional arrest.  Each time, I came home and cried.

I never told anyone I was doing this.  But today I want to tell you because the organization deserves to be recognized and they need support.

Their annual gala is coming up at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  If you are in the area, please consider attending.

If you can't go, please consider donating or volunteering even just a nominal amount of time per month.  The program director, Kristina Rim, gave me a message to share:

Household goods in good condition are always needed and any administrative or direct service volunteers are also needed. People can contact me, krim@apwcla.org, with any questions

I'm going to make a drop-off of goods after APA month and if you live in the L.A. area, I'm happy to collect goods from you to bring to them as well.

A Day in the Life: Kristy and Bryce Shen

APA Month kicks off with my sketchiest Day in the Life yet.  Presenting my favorite Asian couple, the Shens from Toronto, Canada, and their Notabat.

***

Hi everyone. We're Kristy and Bryce, and we're partially insane. Learn more at twonerdsonedream.blogspot.ca before the goddamned Feds shut us down.

So you want to know what a day is like for us, huh?

Riiiight.

A day in the life. A day in the life. Well, to be completely honest with you, I have no idea what each new day is going to be like anymore. Life USED to be simple for us. Normal. Predictable. Uncomplicated. God, we miss those days.

And then this...THING started living with us.

Now? Now, every day is a new surprise. But never a good surprise. Oh Hell no. It's NEVER a good surprise.

Imagine that it's your birthday. Someone hands you a gift box, and eagerly you unwrap it to find SURPRISE, poisonous snakes. And the next day, someone hands you an envelope, and again, eagerly you open it to find SURPRISE, you now have Ebola. And the NEXT day, you find yourself standing underneath a festive, colorful pinata, swinging in a tree. It's moving, it's shrieking, there's smoke pouring out of it. You know that there is a 100% chance that whatever's inside is something you absolutely don't want to set loose. But yet someone hands you a bat and tells you that you have to break that sucker open.

Yeah, that's what our days are like now.

9:30 AM. Eat breakfast.

Ah, breakfast. Everyone loves breakfast. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a good breakfast?

We don't, that's who.

I mean, we used to. We used to eat eggs and cereal and french toast here. But now? Now breakfast only starts when IT gets full.

It never gets full.

We haven't eaten breakfast for days.

So hungry...

1:30 PM. Mow the lawn

Mowing the lawn actually gets done faster now, so yay, I guess?

7:30 PM. Watch cartoons.

This actually hasn't changed all that much. We still do this, and oddly enough that...thing seems to actually like watching them too. Its favorite seems to be My Little Pony. Although, considering how many ponies it eats on a regular basis, it might think it's some kind of cooking show or something.

11:55 PM. Go to bed.

Well this is where we would NORMALLY go to bed. And TECHNICALLY, we still do. But we just don't get any sleep anymore. I mean, if you had this thing staring at you all night, would you?

Anyone want to trade places?

Anyone?

Happy APA Month!

It's Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month!

my nieces and nephew and your APA cute for the day

The blog turns yellow, brown, and proud for May.  I'm featuring Asian-American musicians, charities, an eligible bachelor, and an all-APA Day in the Life lineup - see what your neighborhood Asian American does all day long!

Coming up first is a very sketchy special Day in the Life from the Shens, the hilarious couple with a (NotA)bat problem...stay tuned!

A Day in the Life: Lupe Fernandez

Our first guy's Day in the Life!  Despite this being the most other-worldly day yet, somehow it's the most relatable to my life...must be a Los Angeles thing.

***

Lupe Fernandez writes YA, Middle Grade, Picture books and contributes to the World Famous The Pen & Ink Blog, where he is currently the Mexican-In-Residence. Named after the most Holy Virgin of Mexico, Lupe admits the reputation is tough to maintain. He studied at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, including a Master Class in memoir. His interests include photography, Latin American history, the space program, Anasazi cliff dwellings and chocolate chip cookies. Lupe lives and writes in Los Angeles, and is a card carrying member of SCBWI.

A Day in a Life

By Lupe Fernandez

7:01 am: Eat breakfast of four eggs. Yeah, that’s right. I eat four eggs for breakfast and my cholesterol is fine.

7:50 am: Go to gym and swim for forty minutes. Prehistoric mollusk interrupts lap swim.

9:15 am: Shower and leave gym.

9:32 am: To get back into apartment, I must battle sword-wielding skeleton.

9:45 am: Listen to the rest of the Kevin & Bean Show on KROQ.

10:00 am: Work on current manuscript about teen defends a girl in a student mock court against charges of moral misconduct – appearing in a porn video.

11:34 am: Cyclops interrupts WIP and requires dispatching beast.

12:00 pm: Listen to Warren Olney moderate To The Point on KCRW.

12:31 pm: Time for lunch. Eat two no-salt turkey sandwiches in wheat bread.

1:02 pm: Watch TV first season of Bones on DVD.

2:03 pm: Shoo giant bee from window

3:11 pm: Go through book collection and chose which ones will go and which ones will be packed for move.

3:23 pm: Check The Pen & Ink Blogspot for comments and new posts by favor bloggers like Sophia The Writer.

4:01 pm: Read YA book Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne.

4:24 pm: Fall asleep in comfy chair.

4:57 pm: Woken by hissing seven-headed Hydra

5:01 pm: Too tired to fight the Hydra, I take a trip to the Moon

6:15 pm: Check TV Guide to see if anything good is on TV tonight.

6:23 pm: Hide from hungry Lunar Calf.

7:00 pm: Overdue for dinner. I fly Professor Cavour’s sphere back to Earth.

7:45 pm: Eat leftover Sloppy Joes, rice and Ready-Washed lettuce. Yum.

8:00 pm: Watch more of Bones, Season One.

8:24 pm: Pause DVD player as sword-wielding statue of Kali interrupts me.

9:01 pm: Talk to girlfriend while avoiding being sliced by Kali.

9:15 pm: Take refuge in the Fountain of Destiny, but Centaur and Griffin make too much noise.

10:02 pm: Finish phone call with girlfriend. Brush teeth and gargle. Go to bed and read another chapter of Harbinger.

11:04 pm: Turn off reading lamp and settle for sleep.

11:56 pm: Flying Saucer attacks, but I’m too sleepy to look. I’m sure LAPD helicopters will take care of the noisy aliens from a dying planet.

That’s my day as a writer. Not too exciting with caring for kids or walking the dog.

I Sign Autographs Too and #TeamAmity

I've had a crush on Tahereh Mafi ever since I joined the Kate Spade club:

my shirt has horses on it

Two weeks ago Krispy, Alz and I went to the Spring Into Future Book Tour and, dream of dreams, my crush found out I was the first iPod silhouette and asked me to sign something for her:

L to R: Marie Lu, me, Tahereh with my autograph, Veronica Rossi

Krispy's got all the photos of how it went down HERE.

***

I've finally chosen a team in the major Divergent promo going on right now.  While Abnegation bribed me muchly with their ginormous giveaway, I stuck with the faction I was sorted into on facebook last year.  THE HIPPIES!

logo takes you to Team HQ