It’s been too long.

I keep telling myself I’ll get back to you and I run through so many drafts in my head, but I never seem to be able to bring myself to pull out the laptop to start typing the thoughts in my head. I’m hoping to finally pull out of this rut and return to you bit by bit.

I figure Leap Day is a fun way to start, no? After all, it’s a day meant to help restore balance by keeping us on track — for a somewhat more accurate measure of rotations around the sun. And so I use that intention and energy to rub off on my habits, to restore some balance to you. At my best I blogged daily and at my worst, I think it was only a handful of times a year. I can ease back into with a few times a month until I can reach a weekly pace.

Brace yourself! It’s time to dust off the covers and oil those rusted gears. I’ve got a fresh new look and you’ll get attention again. 🙂

Today I’m 34. It’s weird because it seems old for how I feel. My 30s have been a strange time. It’s sort of like I unwittingly hit a reset button as I approached this decade of life and now I’m getting jockeyed around through various life stages. For now I can only hang on for dear life and try to set myself straight.

In the mean time, I did have a really nice birthday – I always take the day off: I’ve never gone to school or worked on my birthday and I never will. It’s not that I care about my birthday that much, but growing up it always got bundled with the holidays and lost in the shuffle before New Year’s, so I like to carve out a little something to preserve for myself. I’m happy to work through any holiday, but my birthday is the one time I need to be able to completely disconnect guilt-free.

This time around I was up casually playing games past midnight. When I saw it was technically today, I ate a birthday cake flavored macaron as a treat. Zephyr was snuggling with me cute as can be and I felt peaceful as I lay there.

Eventually I went to sleep and slept in until 10. I woke up ever so briefly in the morning when Bestie was heading to work and fed Zeph. I usually can’t sleep in past 7:30 anymore so this was truly a treat. I then lounged around playing my games, looking things up online, and ultimately putting on some TV. My original plan was to go on a hike, get a dessert, and journal, but the day was dreary and Zeph was a snuggle bug so I went with the flow of a lazy day.

Just as I was turning off the TV to go get something to eat, Bestie came back and surprised me with a cupcake and song. It was super sweet of him! I snacked on that and then took a brief bubble bath to pamper myself. By then, Beezmo had arrived and we watched some Avatar Last Air Bender while he worked. I had made reservations for dinner at 6:30 and we hung around until it was time to leave.

We met up with Terminator at the restaurant and I gorged on way too many dishes. It was just the four of us but it was perfect. I’m not into large groups or fanfare, just good times with good friends. I’m really glad they could all make it out. Cupcake was in Thailand and Ceeburticus was in Seattle so they couldn’t make it, but that was quite alright. We’ll do something next year!

While I didn’t do any work, I couldn’t entirely escape talking about work given that I work with both Bestie and Beezmo. We kept it to a minimum and I appreciate their respect for that. I’ll be back on tomorrow but I like the freedom of today, not a worry in the world.

A year ago, the Class of 2018 graduated from the Marshall School of Business. It feels like a lifetime ago. Since then…

I learned how to make amazing vegan pancakes.

The Squad (minus one) went to Disneyland to celebrate one of us working for Disney.

The company office moved from Temecula to Mission Viejo.

We moved my Bestie from Rancho Palos Verdes to Costa Mesa. I swear, next time he’s got to hire professionals.

I vacationed in Scandinavia with Panda and visited Ceeburticus in Copenhagen, where we discovered Joe & The Juice.

I attended my classmates’ wedding on a yacht in Marina Del Rey!

We had a housewarming for Cupcake – she finally got to move back in to her house that she’d been renting out.

I started painting my nails again. After accumulating all those Julep polishes, I need to put them to use!

I helped save a hummingbird that Bestie found in the road.

I learned how to throw axes and tried riding a Bird for the first time!

I flew back to VA and moved the fam out to Long Beach.

We sold our condo in VA and closed that chapter in our lives.

I set up my Aquafarm after owning it for a good 5 years and never opening it. I also got some cacti, succulents, air plants, snails, and a betta fish.

Went to Cyclavia through downtown LA with Cupcake and tried out the Boosted Board. We ran into Trini, our other roommate during school!

My grandpa died.

The Squad drove up to SF to visit Ceeburticus at her new place.

The cats got fleas and we had to put them in cones for a few weeks. Smokey had to get her back shaved and it was red all over.

I tried out a VR game. It was terrifying.

With the right side shave growing back, I shaved the left side this time.

We had a Friendsgiving at Cupcake’s place. 🙂

The Squad went out to watch the MDR Boat Parade with some of our classmate friends.

I had geese and koi eat right out of my hand!!

The company had a holiday party where Bestie brought Terminator as his “date” and everyone wondered if they were gay.

I stalked peacocks for my birthday, then got dinner with the Squad. Just the way I like it.

At the beginning of the year, I went to China with my mom to visit our vacation home in Hainan, see my grandma, and attend my grandpa’s 100 day funeral ceremony.

I went with some coworkers to support one of them in his body building competition at Fit Expo.

I started going to trivia nights with Bestie and Terminator. Sometimes coworkers would join and sometimes we met new friends.

The Squad watched Captain Marvel to gear up for Avengers.

Bestie and I discovered an incredible sushi and ramen joint in Long Beach that had literally the best sushi roll I ever ate, which happens to be vegan. Amazing.

We went to Disneyland again (?!) for Ceeburticus’s birthday. This time all 5 of the Squad made it! And I got a cute Star Wars backpack for the design. I’m not a fan of Disney but if it looks good then they did it right.

I joined Equinox and began working out intensely with Bestie. I’m a lot more motivated when I have a companion or a class.

The Squad watched Avengers: End Game. We’ve each seen it at least twice now. I don’t really care for it, but hey I’m down to do whatever we do as a group.

And finally, the Squad went on a vacation to Oahu not long before Bestie’s birthday yesterday. What a way to wrap up our first year since graduating! Here’s to a strong squad that puts in the effort to stay connected. They are a key part of my social life and I’m so happy that we built the relationships that we have.

It’s spring break and after a tough week I just wanted to vegetate last night while cat sitting. I decided to pull up a movie and at first I tried to find Hero (??) on a streaming service for free, but discovered it was only for rent. I think is one of the best I’ve ever seen, with its gorgeous use of colors in storytelling. I was reminded of it because I started watching Avatar the Last Airbender and they take a similar approach for their use of elements.

My next choice was Mao’s Last Dancer, which I’d seen over winter break and loved for the cultural components that I could relate to. Again, I couldn’t find it on the services for free, so then I decided to browse available international titles. I don’t know why, but I was in a foreign film kind of mood. While I meant to find something in Chinese, I eventually came across The Beauty Inside and thought it had an intriguing plot.

How strange it turned out to be to listen to Korean, read English, yet hear some familiar phrases that sounded like Chinese. I’ve never really known much about Korean, so I was surprised at the multiple times I knew some of the words even as I was reading the translated subtitles. I can’t remember all the ones I encountered but I know that 15 was one of the examples.

In contrast to that, I have some experience with Japanese where I can read some of their characters and understand the general meaning, but their words sound nothing like Chinese. What a juxtaposition, to have one language that has similar pronunciation yet completely foreign characters while the other has similar use of characters yet completely foreign pronunciation.

I wonder then what, if any overlap occurs between Korean and Japanese?

I’m getting worse with this blogging thing. How did the entire month of November go by without a single post?! Somehow since midterm season, I’ve managed to not post at all. Well, now I’m done with finals and on a vacation so I should have more time over break!

There’s only one more semester left in my MBA and before I know it I’ll be back to the working world, no longer insulated from the realities of life. I’ve existed in this delightful bubble happily and I’m not looking forward to the uncertainties of leaving, but I’m making the most of my time left. It’s bittersweet in so many ways.

For now I’m just gonna enjoy my winter break and the rest of 2017. Here’s to more blogging in 2018! 🙂

Sometimes you meet someone and you’re instantly drawn to them. This has been happening to me a lot lately and I can think of many people over the course of my life like that.

Today I was volunteering at a Special Olympics Volleyball Tournament and met a nice man named Jim. He was helping with ref work because his daughter was volunteering as part of her volleyball team. At first it was a few quick exchanges that were friendly. After a few of those, we found ourselves having a conversation around our involvement in the event and our minimal knowledge of volleyball. We exchanged nice to meet yous and continued with our day, only saying bye when things were wrapping up.

There was a certain sweetenness and beauty to the ephemeral interaction we had. I will always think fondly of it and maybe we’ll encounter each other at another event, but there was no need to stay in touch beyond this. Strange how much peace that brings me.

On the other hand, I met a woman in another graduate program a few weeks ago and we hit it off immediately, after only talking for 2 minutes. We got in touch with each other and grabbed lunch together recently. Somehow I knew just 30 seconds into meeting her that I wanted to be friends and I could tell she felt similarly. How do we make these snap judgments? It’s fascinating to me.

In the microcosm of school, we’re able to get in touch without feeling like it’s creepy, but in the greater world it’s often a lot harder. Somehow people aren’t as comfortable and get spooked if you come on strong. It’s an interesting dynamic to contend with. I’m not sure how I would have reacted if Jim had asked to stay in touch. I certainly would have been open to it, but it may have been too much.

Have you had these kinds of encounters too? What do you think about them?

It's my 3-year wedding anniversary and my summer internship is nearly over. Soon I'll be back in LA to start my second year at Marshall and earn that MBA.

Swoosh.

It's a feeling of loss and confusion. I've dreamt of going to b-school since I was 13 and now here I am, staring at the precipice of my goals. Some may call me foolish. "An MBA is a means to an end, not the end itself," they'd say.

Maybe.

But to me, it was a dream, a goal, an end. And it certainly marks a very treasured stage of my life. I've always been about doing things for the experience and this one is half over. I'll never get it again.

Sure, I'll go do great things with my career. I'll find joy in other experiences. Yet there's a melancholy that haunts me. Have I had a dream longer than this one? I held it for 17 long years, never wavering.

What's my new north star? What will guide me for the next two decades?? A career goal? A personal goal?

I'm excited to get back to school and my classmates. I'll cherish this year, yet every day may hurt just a little as it brings us closer to the end of this era. I hope to make the most of it, so I have the best memories to keep.

Sometimes I wish I could rewind life. Do I have to keep marching on?