Duckling Seat

I’ve been geocaching lately, and to be honest, I’ve been a little disappointed in the items I’ve found. I had always imagined geocaching to be like this scene from Amelie when she discovers the treasures a little boy had hidden in her apartment 40 years previous, and decides to return them to him.

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YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHpzIRKw5N4

In reality, most people leave things that I doubt ever had an real emotional significance, such as mardi gras beads and stickers.

To me, geocaching should be about making a connection to a stranger and sharing with them something that really could be treasured, something with meaning.

As I’ve been pondering this and creating my first item to be geocached, I was inspired to go through some inherited treasures of my own. Over the years, I’ve collected a small trove of clip-on earrings, bracelets, broaches and necklaces from relatives who have passed, and while many are beautiful and interesting, I don’t know what to do with them.

Here are some photos, suggestions most welcome!

This is a jewelery box from my great aunt. I love the hand-painted scene, and it’s filled with the same little keepsakes many of us have — coins, stamps, odd beads, safety pins and so on. It’s sort of profound to see an entire life of tiny treasures left in the world without explanation. After we’re gone the strangest things stay behind as our testimony.

Assorted clip-on earrings.

Unique broaches — there are a few you can’t see of other types of animals.

I love the little suitcase charm, I wonder why she had it.

Clip-on earrings shaped like clocks!

Anyway, I haven’t decided how to best use and honor these little keepsakes. I’m toying with the idea of using some of them to embellish picture frames, but I just can’t decide. If anyone has neat button and bead ideas, send them along!

Lately I’ve gotten back into watching TED videos and I had a few I wanted to share. Despite being a humanities major, I have an unquenchable love of science, and these two lectures do a great job at explaining cutting edge science, and how it informs our human experience.

The first video is a lecture a primatologist gave at Stanford University about what makes humans unique from other animals, and he is both inspiring and entertaining. (skip the intro and start about 5 minutes in).

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YouTube Direkthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrCVu25wQ5s

The second video is from a neurobiologist, who talks about some of the most interesting breakthroughs in the understanding of the human brain, and how the study of the mind is teaching us more and more how connected people really are.

I love both these speakers so much, because they are both humble about how little humanity differs from other animals, but also reverent of the infinite potential we have in that small margin of difference. Their message is that we are all connected, and though we may feel we can’t individually make a difference in the world, we are morally convicted to try. Watch and be inspired!

People who know me well know that I have bizarre and entertaining dreams almost every night, but this one was too funny not to share with the general public. It goes like this:

I was at some sort of large party that my family was throwing, and had a boy problem. I was with my current boyfriend in the dream, and an old flame of mine came to the party. Long story short, they argued over me quite viciously, and I eventually ran outside to cry rather than choose between them. While outside, rapper Lil Wayne and his whole crew came over to me. Lil Wayne gave me a hug, and told me to just cry it out. Then they stuck around while I attempted to do handstands backwards.

Um…. what does THAT mean? In my humble opinion, it just good for the lolz. That, or foul-mouthed, prison-sentenced Lil Wayne is my fairy godmother.

In September I attended my first wedding ever, and it was in Seaside, Oregon, where The Goonies was filmed. Sadly, I didn’t see any pirates, but as a consolation prize, I got to eat a restaurant called Pig N Pancake. It’s like they named it just for me!

We stayed right near the beach in a town of about 30, and we had a rollicking good time.

This is the beach from the last scene of The Goonies, but there wasn’t a ghost pirate ship in real life. There were some tide pools though.

My dad’s birthday was also in September, and unfortunately we had Walmart-quality candles, and some maimed ballerinas and camels for decoration. The candles were extinguished on the way from the kitchen to the dining room. It was pretty pathetic, but I don’t think anyone has laughed that hard through the Birthday Song in the history of birthdays.

Jeff and I have had many a Saturdate, though there aren’t any photos to prove it so you’ll have to trust me on this one. We got to see our all-time favorite singer, Ingrid Michaelson. It was amazing! She’s great in concert, and her music is beautiful to sing along to.

We also went to the Academy of Sciences, which has been on my list for a while. If you haven’t gone, GO! It was pricey, but we got to see a 3D movie about bugs, get whisked around the universe by Whoopi Goldberg’s voice in the planetarium, walk through a rain forest, get stung by electric eels, watch a shark feeding, stare at the depressed albino alligator and of course watch the pendulum knock over pins using the rotation of the earth. Ah, what a day.

We also got to see the King Tut exhibit at the De Young museum, but in all honesty it wasn’t that cool. They had a lot of jewelery and coffins and such, but we were both expecting and hoping to see some dead mummy. I mean, when you tour a tomb in China, you see a cadaver, so this was a bit underwhelming. Also, the costumes exhibit was closed… bah!

Let’s look at more random pictures!

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make it worth living, like when you get to pin down a dish for an extra good licking.

It was my brother Kieran’s 30th birthday in November, and we all wore party hats for our gourmet dinner — stuffed tomatoes with tofu or tuna, polenta, squash soup with garlic croutons, beet salad and cake. So delish!

My birthday also passed in November, making me a sage old 22. I got some great gifts, including two books on cupcakes. One for making cute decorative cupcakes, and a slightly stuffier Martha Stewart cupcake book. I have to admit that I don’t really enjoy sweets as much since living in China, so I mostly love making cupcakes for the artistry. It’s just as well, I’m already getting chunkier eating US food.

For my birthday, Jeff’s family took me to the CUTEST restaurant. It used to be a stage coach stop in the 1800s, so it looked like this tiny village of cabins in the mountains, and the interior had fireplaces and antiques. Plus the food was rib-sticking mountain food. I spent lots of time watching falling stars in the hot tub and sunsets on the beach, plus I got really good deals at the Nordstrom Rack. It was a great birthday weekend in Santa Barbara.

We had the opportunity to use the cupcake books at Thanksgiving. We actually invited ourselves to Devin and Kate’s house since our oven was full of turkey, and I didn’t want turkey cupcakes. It was lucky too, because we were ill-prepared to make things with marzipan and had to borrow lots of supplies from Kate.

But our little pumpkin-topped cupcakes came out alright in the end.

A few days later we made some chocolate cupcakes with little penguins. In truth, I think that marzipan is gross to eat, so I just threw out my little penguin. I suppose he thought he’d found a sweet little iceberg on top of my cupcake, but soon he discovered how harsh the realities of global warming were — global warming in my tummy!

This weekend Devin, Kate and I went to Malibu Grand Prix for mini golf. It was a significant day for me, because the last time I was there, it was Devin’s birthday, and I was not only an unwelcome guest at his party, but also too young and short to play on any rides. I’m pretty sure I cried.

This time was much happier. I played quite badly at golf — 66 (plus I cheated on one hole, so I actually deserved a 67). We also played arcade games and pooled our tickets for some sweet prizes.

Earlier in the day, I’d noticed that Devin had some rather Edward Cullen-inspired marks on his neck. [See exhibit A below]

So we used our tickets from skeeball to buy Kate some defense equipment:

But we didn’t even come close to this guy and his kid, who won 2500 tickets from a luck shot in a game.

The funny thing was that they didn’t seem too pleased about the big win, while everyone else around them was super excited. The poor kid just looked anxious and distracted while the arcade machine spewed tickets out for ten minutes straight. Perhaps he was thinking about the ruined lives of lottery winners, or the fact that his portion of tickets wouldn’t actually buy him anything worthy of such an unlikely win.

Ok, I haven’t posted in a million years, and I’ll tell you why, in a roundabout way.

I once had a summer internship at a publishing house, and I learned a few very valuable lessons there. Specifically, my job was to read through the unsolicited manuscripts and determine if they would be rejected, and then call the authors with the news.

My first day on the job, I was somewhat awed at the awesome responsibility. I looked at the stack of a dozen or so manuscripts and imagined poring over them for days before making a decision.

But the reality was, it only took about ten minutes to reject a manuscript. The reason being, people are not snowflakes. The vast majority of us have nothing to say that hasn’t been said before, and nobody wants yesterday’s news. [Tell me you noticed the cliche trifecta there.]

So, since coming back from China, the truth is that my life hasn’t been too interesting. I’m eating and watching and doing the same things most of you are, but I suppose there have been a few interesting happenings of late. Read on, in my mundane, Americanized life!

Last night a mosquito bit my left eye lid, now I look really funny. Poof!

Lately there’s been an internet craze over the website fmylife.com, on which users post short stories about terrible things that have happened to them. The stories range from everyday bad to once-in-a-lifetime major suckage. Here’s a sample:

Today, for my birthday, my brother gave me some of those fake ‘Harry Potter’ edible cockroaches. I ate one. It wasn’t fake. FML

Today, my boyfriend told me he couldn’t hang out with me because he felt really sick. I went to his house anyway to surprise him with homemade soup. I walk in to his room only to find him hooking up with my sister. She can’t drive, our mom drove her there. FML

Today, my girlfriend dumped me proclaiming she wanted someone more like her “Edward”. I asked her who Edward was. She held up a copy her “Twilight” book. She was talking about a fictional vampire. FML

A few days ago, I learned of a similar site, mylifeisaverage.com. This website lets users post average things that happen to them every day:

Today, I went to see a movie and when it said to turn my phone off, I only silenced it. Nobody cared. MLIA

Today, I ripped the tag off of my bed’s mattress. I have not yet been arrested. MLIA.

Today, I opened the fridge. There was nothing I wanted to eat in there. After 15 minutes, I opened it again. There still wasn’t anything I wanted to eat in there. MLIA

Even though the stories on there are completely average, for some reason I find it equally as entertaining as fml. It’s oddly comforting to think about all the little things in life that don’t go wrong.

Today, I find out about a new website, mylifeisg.com. People post short stories about things that made them really feel good. Most of the things people post are totally normal things that might happen to us every day — they’re actually mundane usually — but they are taking the time to be grateful for them.

Today I was reading MLIG and I realized how much of a difference kind words can make in people’s lives. I decided to make it my goal to make someone’s day more often than I make someone laugh. If YLIG, MLIG

Today, I found out the results of my SAT Chemistry subject test. I did not fail miserably and my parents are proud. MLIG

Today, I went to Old Navy and they had a flip flop sale. I bought 6 pairs and only paid $6.44. My receipt informed me that I saved $15. MLIG.

It’s nice to think that the things that really make you hate your life seem to often be weird, freak incidents, and in between those rare instances are a lot of mundance things that could make you really love your life if you noticed them more often. mylifeisg!

Beijing has finally shed its winter coat, and it looks gorgeous. The long, sooty winter had almost entirely erased from my memory how pretty it can be even in the heart of the city. Needless to say, I’m ecstatic about spring.

On Monday, which was Tomb Sweeping Day, a national holiday, Jeff and I went to a FREE park. Yuan Da Du Park (元大都公园） spans a long east-west stretch of Beijing along a lovely little canal parallel to the Line 10 Subway. We started from惠新西街南口station and walked west, passing the Olympic stadiums along the way to 牡丹园station.

Living in Beijing, it’s sometimes hard to see the effects of the economic crisis here, but in the past few days I feel there’s been a shift in atmosphere.

As you may have already read, a large part of one of Beijing’s signature architectural complexes burned down on Lantern Festival, the last night of Chinese New Year. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which was part of the CCTV complex housing the famed Underpants Building, was to open in a month’s time, and the entire complex has been a source of Beijing pride for a good year ahead of its completion.

The circumstances of the fire were a little unclear at first. Although fireworks, which are let off hyperbolically even in dense downtown areas, were an obvious suspect, officials were strangely mum for about a day. CCTV, which owns the complex, later took responsibilty for the fire, claiming their own fireworks show from the roof of the unfinished building caused the fire.

But it all seems a little — I don’t know — convenient. As one of my friends pointed out today, they were unlikely to make money on a luxury hotel in these economic conditions, and insurance money can only be recouped in accidents. It was just too poetic for the building to burn down on the last night of Chinese New Year after 15 uneventful days of fireworks all around it. Regardless of the true cause of the fire, it’s a little uncanny how completely expected and unexpected the destruction of the hotel was — after all, something was bound to burn down with so many fireworks set off in the city by amateurs. But it’s still hard to believe that this iconic building was the one that burned down; imagine the Trans-America building burning to the ground and you’ll see what I mean.

I fear that the fire is a powerful metaphor for the chaotic times China is facing, and unsettling omen of Beijing’s future. Last year we saw a boom for China in many ways. National pride was soaring, construction around Beijing was racing to keep up with Olympic demand for hotels, restaurants and attractions, old buildings were being torn down to make room for luxury condos for the new generation of business owners and expatriats. Although there were concerns about a world economic downturn, many felt as if China was invincible.

Especially during the Olympics, it was impossible to imagine China tumbling down off of its pedestal along with the rest of the world. Beijing was in a dream world, and we, as witnesses to the Olympics, were privy to a view of China’s future. It was modern, clean, polite and above all, luxurious. The Olympic venues were without blemish, and the Olympics had spurred a flurry of new buildings, including one of the world’s few seven-star hotels.

Six months later, I’m wondering if “one world, one dream” was just a lie, and Beijing will soon discover the cruelty of reality after enjoying such a sweet reverie. The Olympic venues, which symbolized so much, have even fallen into disrepair a scant four months after the games’ closing. When I visited the Olympic Green recently, I tried hard to ignore the fact that the Bird’s Nest stadium was covered in dirt, that the water cube bubbles were wrinkled, that lamps were falling off of lampposts. However, recent events have brought the scene of desolation at the Olympic Green to my mind.

Last week Citigroup announced that in order to finance the maintenance of  the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium — a cost of $8.82 million USD annually — it would turn the complex into a shopping plaza in the next few years. It’s sad to see a symbol that really meant something to so many people seemingly get thrown aside by its owners and the Chinese government. Initially, the stadium was to house Beijing’s soccer team, but they have pulled out of the deal. Currently, the Olympic Green is open to tourists, an alleged average of 20,000 to 30,000 per day according to the tourist authorities. Take this figure with a heaping truckload of salt — Beijing authorities release misleading numbers often, and the two separate times I’ve visited the Olympic Green since the Olympics I may have seen 100 tourists, combined.

Strolling through the empty Olympic Green, it was somehow impossible to recapture the feeling of harmony and hope I felt while I was attending the games. Now, bereft of the crowds that it was meant for, the green feels like an empty mockery of China’s hopes. It speaks only to an excess of ambition and a disregard for pragmatism. How could they tear down homes and businesses to build this gigantic park without a fool-proof plan for its preservation and continued usefulness? How could something once so great now be so empty, falling apart and covered in dirt?

I suppose time will tell if this is truly the beginning of the end, if the destruction of these iconic Beijing landmarks really is an omen. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it feels like the paralyzingly fast destruction of the Olympic Green and Mandarin Oriental Hotel buildings are inextricably intertwined the the economic problems China is facing — or not facing, depending on how you look at it.

The government continues to deny and downplay the economic situation here, but there are signs if you look for them. Construction, which was buzzing all about the city before the Olympics has come to a standstill — many buildings stand as empty shells, paralyzed now for months. Estimates put unemployment at about 20 million people nationally right now, but estimates are usually low. In addition, the government puts growth at about 6.8 percent, while independent analysts from other countries put it at zero to 1 percent. I’ve seen a lot of people on the streets recently with “seeking employment” signs, and friends have commented on a distinct tenseness in the atmosphere. One friend has seen several fistfights break out over nothing, and recent shutdowns of stalls at the horrid Silk Market have caused near riots by sellers. In the South, which depends more on exports and manufacturing, riots have become increasingly common.

It’s going to be an interesting year, that’s for sure. As always in China, this could be a time of incredible social unrest, unlike anything China has seen in many years — or, it could be nothing. Only time will tell.

Today I discovered that another wisdom tooth is growing in and starting to poke out. This time it’s the bottom left. So far, my righties aren’t showing any signs. When I told Jeff, all he said was,

Oh, you’re so smug.

I think he’s just jealous his wisdom teeth were removed, and he’ll never get to watch a new body part grow again!