tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66227148234648961022024-03-05T21:31:48.061-08:00irrational as piin which a blog describes how we are all a little crazykatesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-62847411152494765582023-12-31T01:10:00.000-08:002023-12-31T01:10:23.419-08:00biennial poems<div style="text-align: left;">When I was reading Sylvia Plath's <i>The Bell Jar </i>for the first time around June 2021, her poem <i>Mad Girl's Love Song</i> was included in the foreword (or maybe afterword?). Her verses stood out so much to me at the time, that I immediately sent a photo of the poem's text to my friends. Plath's villanelle is as follows:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><i>Mad Girl's Love Song</i></div><div>By Sylvia Plath</div><div><br /></div><div><div>"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;</div><div>I lift my lids and all is born again.</div><div>(I think I made you up inside my head.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,</div><div>And arbitrary blackness gallops in:</div><div>I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.</div><div><br /></div><div>I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed</div><div>And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.</div><div>(I think I made you up inside my head.)</div><div><br /></div><div>God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:</div><div>Exit seraphim and Satan's men:</div><div>I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.</div><div><br /></div><div>I fancied you'd return the way you said,</div><div>But I grow old and I forget your name.</div><div>(I think I made you up inside my head.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I should have loved a thunderbird instead;</div><div>At least when spring comes they roar back again.</div><div>I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.</div><div>(I think I made you up inside my head.)"</div></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now, around two and a half years later, <i>Mad Girl's Love Song </i>has risen from the disk drive to the L1 cache of my brain. It is intriguing to recognize these cyclical patterns of emotion as I get older.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Aside from the catchy repetition of the parenthetical "<span style="text-align: center;">I think I made you up inside my head", and prose reminiscent of 20th century Olivia Rodrigo, one of my favorite lines is "</span><span style="text-align: center;">The stars go waltzing out in blue and red", as it reminds me of the blue and red shift phenomenon of stars, where their perceived color changes depending on whether they are traveling towards or away from us, similar to the Doppler effect for sound. To again state the obvious, such a shift in perspective applies to people as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">The overall celestial imagery (stars, moons, heaven and hell, thunderbirds) is very dramatic and grand, and it delights me to see that Plath wrote the poem around the age of 21, the very age I first encountered her words. Though Plath was subject to mental illness and a tragic ending, at a surface level, her words can echo an embrace of angst that cycles through various mediums in popular culture. In other words, we can all individually wallow as a collective!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">For the overthinkers, those experiencing paralysis by analysis, or those second guessing gut-based decisions, cheers to 2024!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZ4Sn4_G5EIsMHOxngrYjTt6RvUrykqZomDsGJNAwwNaKlz3Iw7KMgUfUznp3Ws9Poj1CBffMcG7slKCBGAWLSGrkwAFDMuoa68x3Oj9JdqARVMDXM0XJYVO8PAC0ReHM7nQUgUBCVpHRtbbvS7lAZHC2X2ulFSYqt2EJoJD6PQWfdLh6HNv_TM0-B1jve" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1124" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiZ4Sn4_G5EIsMHOxngrYjTt6RvUrykqZomDsGJNAwwNaKlz3Iw7KMgUfUznp3Ws9Poj1CBffMcG7slKCBGAWLSGrkwAFDMuoa68x3Oj9JdqARVMDXM0XJYVO8PAC0ReHM7nQUgUBCVpHRtbbvS7lAZHC2X2ulFSYqt2EJoJD6PQWfdLh6HNv_TM0-B1jve=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milo was annoyed at the sound of my typing interrupting his sleep, so now I will sleep.</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-37163754156157262472023-08-25T00:41:00.022-07:002023-08-25T01:16:56.087-07:00"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien" [SAD MOTH CH. 2]*I wrote this in a semi-stream-of-consciousness that emerged from a sense of relief and hollowness somewhat specific to ending approximately 18 years of continuous education and consequently experiencing confusion about what to do with myself. Some light edits have been provided for coherency. Honestly, at some points (now 3 months later), I have no idea what I was trying to say. You are welcome to cringe alongside me.*<div>~~~</div><div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><div>"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien" has been the general theme of my final weeks of college as I submitted a CS project, published my Masters thesis, and order-of-magnitude-estimated through my final physics final.<br /><br />Looking at my goals for 2023 (written back in December 2022), I have thankfully acquired employment. Perhaps I will write a post documenting my process with one of those cool timeline/Gantt charts, but basically I will stay at Apple (though on a different team). I have also practiced "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" to the point where it is recognizable (as in, my parents definitely recognize that a melody exists, though they've never listened to Death Cab for a Cutie before). I've also developed film rolls (the color ones done at a lab, and the black and white ones done at the school's darkroom)! As for functional uncertainty, it is still a work in progress, where I am continuously trying to find the right balance of efficiently coping and still making strides towards tangible ambitions.<br /><br />As for my emotional state, I am mainly grateful, optimistic to try new things (triathlon, keyboard PCB design, some more studying haha), and striving to be a little less selfish/isolated by expanding my capacity to care about others more. <br /><br />Anyways, on to the juicy stuff that y'all came here for. Remember how I said in SAD MOTH Ch. 1 that there wasn't an Austenian ending to this saga, and that "I thought I would be fed up with the foolish human construct of love, but James Baldwin convinced me otherwise that love is a decently difficult, if not respectable, endeavor"? Well yeah —turns out that despite Einstein defining insanity "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results," I tried again! To the same results! :') Kudos to the human condition, we really like to try, don't we?<br /><br />Alright, from here on out, I want to be less flippant and speak respectfully in the off-chance that the people in this story somehow find this blog, as they are all genuinely kind folks who will receive a biased, one-sided portrayal given that this is a monologue and they have no opportunity to share their viewpoints on the events I am about to recount. I simply wish to (somewhat dramatically) document my thoughts at this youthful period of my life as an indulgence. So please enjoy, relate, dismiss, exact judgment, do whatever you desire regarding my thoughts and writing, but please refrain from making assumptions about the people in this story, given that they are all portrayed solely from my perspective. With the disclaimers announced, SAD MOTH Ch. 2 commences!</div><div>~~~</div><div><br /></div><div><span><!--more--></span>We last left off attempting to breach the barrier between <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191001-dunbars-number-why-we-can-only-maintain-150-relationships#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20theory%2C%20the,(people%20you%20can%20recognise).">Dunbar's</a> 5th circle of acquaintances (population: 500) to the slightly more intimate 4th circle of meaningful contacts (population: 150). By "attempt", I really mean <strike>joining </strike>crashing a spring break road trip with a bunch of my colleagues including Hedgehog, despite not knowing the majority of the group outside of a work context. It was honestly quite fun, and I would do it again, despite learning that Hedgehog already has a person of interest who is not the author of the blog you are currently reading. In the typical vein of romantic interests not working out, the result of this trip was a sort of directed, acyclic graph of attraction that I alone was privy to. It is my personal philosophy that for cases of non-life-endangering emotional knowledge, it is best to say nothing, so I've kept this in my head until now.<br /><br />To summarize an aspect of the last 12 months, I essentially broke up twice over the course of my first relationship. Here are some biased, visceral thoughts (as most thoughts are) about the experience.<br /><br />[At this point in writing the blog piece, I had to pause and think "Wow, I really am worrying about all this when so much else (political strife, war, economic uncertainty, human rights violations) is going on in the world. But if I had a therapist, I imagine that they would tell me to compartmentalize and that it is okay to focus on issues of a certain scope while keeping others on the back burner. So let's apply that now.]<br /><br />I won't be as presumptuous as saying hearts were <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ICvaZUKk6puQDxWHyJAom">broken again</a> (or at all), but it genuinely is excruciating to hold someone's vulnerability and not give them the words that they seek to hear, with the end goal of achieving what I personally wanted. During the second (final) break up conversation, I felt myself cringing as I channeled a platonic friend demeanor, proposing a retreat to more familiar grounds. I offered my reflections about feeling happy spending time together in the moment, though I've also felt apprehensive of each time I sensed him wanting more, while being respectful of my boundaries.<br /><br />I ultimately felt unsettled and uncomfortable with the idea of being attached to someone. When well-meaning friends asked about him during catch-ups, I usually replied along the lines of "he's existing". I'm not entirely sure why I react this way. Perhaps I am socially-stunted from putting my guard up throughout college against more than platonic relationships to get through a male-dominated major with minimal drama. On the other hand, as someone (obtusely) told a friend of mine, one's current support network of friends and family won't treat you as their number one priority indefinitely, so partnering with someone is a way to secure mutual security? That seems like an awfully transactional frame of thinking. <br /><br />As to why I agreed to try the relationship again after the first break up (2 months in), I think that I over-compensated on dismissing fictional, contrived romantic narratives. "Sparks" only exist in literature, therefore the lack of a spark is normal, and therefore hard work, empathy, and communication are what build a relationship. Therefore, it was normal to still feel awkward after so many months. Q.E.D. Michelle Obama (our north star) herself talked about a relationship never being 50/50, so I chalked up the emotional imbalance to me still being in student-mode, and not knowing how to shift my mindset and priorities to include another person. But then I finished school, my life felt empty and light, and I still felt unsettled at the thought of continuing what we had.<br /><br />I wondered, "do I not like him, do I not like guys, or do I not like being in a relationship?".<br /><br />My brain was telling me to go for it. He basically let me dictate the pace of the relationship, and made soup for me when I was sick. I should stop nitpicking and finding reasons why this would not work. Can I even pass my own obstacle course of standards and expectations?<br /><br />After expressing that I wanted to go back to being just friends for the second time, I felt the tension in my shoulders dissipate, and I ironically became more physically relaxed and comfortable around him, confusing myself even more. Giving cognitive weight to your heart seems a bit silly, so I'll attribute all these thoughts to my brain (though colloquially they may "feel" more like "heart thoughts").<br /><br />I wish that my thought process around liking someone could be a lot less cerebral? From traditional depictions in the stories I consumed, one is to first feel an inexplicable pull (sometimes referred to as a crush), then put in effort to see if it grows into something. I approached a relationship slightly backwards, in believing that with due diligence and good intentions, and maybe I'll grow to like them? But as someone who literally manifested a crush on Hedgehog from a convoluted line of reasoning that ranked a college relationship higher than an all-nighter on my bucket list, I can see in hindsight where this logic may derail. But in this modern day setting, where I had no need to build good rapport with the other party in order to survive (and be happy), this was not a feasible mindset to approach a relationship with.<br /><br />In past occurrences (not many) in which a friend had confessed to me, I had always asked to stay friends. When they ultimately drifted away, I would second guess our friendship and wonder if there was always an underlying agenda. I do not attribute any blame for this paradox -I myself would prefer a friend-to-lovers route. With one friend in the past, I ultimately regret declining without first giving it a chance -a classic "what if".<br /><br />This time around, I jumped head first and agreed to starting a relationship to see if it would result in a different outcome. Nonetheless, we ended up at this break up conversation, in which I was scared and honest in saying "I don't want a relationship". At one year in, I felt by now that I should be able to confidently say "I like you". But I could not, and when they say they'll wait for you to catch up, that they'll go at your pace, I still perversely construed it as an expectation that I'll eventually catch up, that I'll eventually be happy to do those sorts of things, making my mind resist and backpedal even more.<br /><br />At the moment, I mainly felt sorry and selfish to stop where I wanted to stop, which is probably rooted in people-pleasing tendencies. These are a lot of words (or excuses?) to express that I simply wanted to try a relationship, did not like him, and was too (insert appropriate descriptor -cowardly?) to say so.<br /><br />Sometimes, I want to cope and say "Well, it's not that deep". Localized to this situation, at this point in time, I am not ready and do not want a relationship. I realized that fact too late into a relationship given my inexperience, succumbed to societal expectations to date, and dragged someone along for the ride.<br /><br />I find that "le mieux est l'ennemi du bien" is an air one can pull off with a blasé hair flip when operating within one's own domain for one's own purposes. Once I factor in other human beings, nonchalance gets too murky.<br /><br />If you're reading this, I had fun times, but I want to pause this particular branch of growth for now. Thank you for not saying anything hurtful while my awkward and unfiltered stream-of-consciousness dealt the majority of the emotional damage, and for allowing me to hope that we can remain friends.<br /><br />If this piece sounds pretentious and moody, I had watched <i>Chungking Express</i> right before writing this -what else can you expect?</div><div>~~~</div><div><br /></div><span><!--more--></span><div>Some 35mm film photos. B/W developed at the school's darkroom; color processed by Memphis Labs in Ohio.</div><div><br /><span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="421" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/SJK6LklrFhit6gilXRytapjR_cP5MrXzCKjjJzF74COOTs5L3BuziMwUYcOpNFXrZXs1lIZsW1BDN_8WJZie5NLlBFTYxICIqGCYNdqjgw7Kw39QMNDSLoRAfrgnP_iyg9ra6IgMRNquIk4IXMXek4Y=w640-h421" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GGB</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="411" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/F26BxDJeyHC0bsMM9NUSVPvIdeeqru7rx2ezY7yI_2c3X2BIO79glQGEesXn89XMRRq3ee05om-dRs9PuOxnTpkVxKZW1KgBnBv8cWtsW4gMknF8yEFUXjDwtmYJhKwsO6WnDPhzvgw8O5JnlayKNsQ=w640-h411" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="425" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fqrz401Y589QtEOkTHklkAX9v8Xnh75LVb1z7okXoWY_QSKnFtNOk2Dh-ex3e2jsYN87q08CH6UJtVckBErNUqiBMYwBlq1QUfjm2IeR19_V-VZ9HoBf3eLOCwlsEAmlQ5dVaKVxnDZvyyW50JYiA5g=w640-h425" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fort Funston on New Year's day</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="427" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Lf4EVMQqup9-PUvV0opVRbDXplufes7O-0LAPv3C15UkARoCF-vTlzBoN2Y2QGND95_OlvV2kHc2HoCeN5_YTTlFFL5zh8K7cYJeeV4VKPFKP6AOIeVGDtdkvHCSOqZqIdGXIm_T-CUYCa7G7dV2agU=w640-h427" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="424" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/tF5ZjFpIju19ASU0HECRpwpAnpS9v7R6jTxUcEDo5dLbFfDi3h7tWZjBIJyLOPzbCxnL1QxP0Fwypl2MMpYTi_T4oj_0c_9qajTnKCbhWOuHjBUHygSnSPFg2rsqaIfOzVqN-bqTU8h2tulwZz8jbw4=w640-h424" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cat :3</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-655352ae-7fff-1c30-8679-be6713ad3b97" style="font-weight: normal;"></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-655352ae-7fff-1c30-8679-be6713ad3b97" style="font-weight: normal;"></b></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="418" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/XxNw9oAgACJfwx3qJtR9__cjfDh76QlsoKbXAaSPEvOyWRicICTa9D0Ph5MmY_IQFrknRAWoeTv5MZcUBVTuRVG-i7hMRxlxFWmo6uUlMD-tld1AKgDgatGJ2D_IaUq8-LULBTAKH7yhHIpYFmFofuQ=w640-h418" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bird's-eye view from the Campanile.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></span></div></div>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-90135497851557208302022-12-30T21:51:00.003-08:002023-05-12T00:32:28.211-07:00musicals and books and more stuff<p>I've been catching up on some musicals recently (some bootlegged, some legitimate highlight clips on Youtube), and it's been really entertaining! This realization had popped up not too long ago when I watched a dance choreography showcase at school hosted by the Theater and Performing Arts department, but once again, I was put in awe at the beauty, coordination, and creativity that the human form can achieve. Some musicals I watched included:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Hadestown </i>(in its entirety, I especially loved Amber Gray and the number "Way Down Hadestown", and bits of her dancing reminded me of the Wednesday Addams dance in the recent Netflix adaptation (though of course, <i>Hadestown </i>came first))</li><li>clips from <i>Mamma Mia </i>(before we left for winter break, my normally very quiet apartment-mate was blasting the soundtrack from her room and it was fun to sing it with her)</li><li><i>A Very Potter Musical </i>(*chefs kiss*, I've weirdly listened to entire podcast episodes featuring the StarKid Productions actors without actually watching AVPM, but it was lovely and definitely should replace Cursed Child in canon. Also I never made the connection between Darren Criss -> Glee -> AVPM and it was very enlightening). </li><li>"Cell Block Tango" from <i>Chicago </i>(many, many renditions and all are fantastic with their quirks. I especially enjoyed the Miscast Killer Kids 2016 and Broadway Backwards 2015 renditions.) </li></ol><p></p><p>It was only a few years ago when I learned that <i>Mamma Mia </i>was a jukebox musical, and it got me wondering if someone could write a lofi jukebox musical of Keshi, Joji, khai dreams, etc. But the crisp articulation of musical theater might not blend well with dreamy and half-mumbled bedroom pop? Hm. </p><p>~~~~</p><p>Below is a "Library Wrapped" of books that I read from the library, and other titles that I borrowed from friends. I might be missing a few titles, but that's alright :)</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><i>How Not to Fall in Love</i> (Jacqueline Firkins): enjoyable, light read! I usually will pick up a YA or romance book to ease my brain into reading before trying to parse more dense texts. (This is coded language for: I like reading YA and romance).</li><li><i>Gallant </i>(Victoria Schwab)</li><li><i>The Anthropocene Reviewed</i> (John Green): saw this in a bookshop in Vermont, read an essay on Green's experience as a chaplain, and checked out the book later from the library</li><li><i>The Nightingale</i> (Kristin Hannah): read this while camping</li><li><i>A Far Wilder Magic (</i>Allison Saft)</li><li><i>Love in the Big City </i>(Sang Young Park): cigarettes, blueberries, friendship</li><li><i>A Darker Shade of Magic </i>(Victoria Schwab): reread</li><li><i>A Gathering of Shadows</i> (Victoria Schwab): reread</li><li><i>People We Meet on Vacation</i> (Emily Henry)</li><li><i>A Conjuring of Light</i> (Victoria Schwab): reread</li><li><i>Nothing Personal</i> (James Baldwin)</li><li><i>Slaughterhouse-Five</i> (Kurt Vonnegut)</li><li><i>Circe </i>(Madeline Miller)</li><li><i>The Midnight Library </i>(Matt Haig)</li><li><i>The Year of Magical Thinking </i>(Joan Didion)</li><li><i>The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of the Heart</i> (Chesil)</li><li><i>Once Upon A Broken Heart </i>(Stephanie Garber)</li><li><i>The Upside of Unrequited</i> (Becky Abertalli)</li><li><i>The Wedding Party </i>(Liu Xinwu)</li><li><i>The Kidney Hypothetical, Or, How to Ruin your Life in Seven Days </i>(Lisa Yee)</li><li><i>All My Rage</i> (Sabaa Tahir): I think I cried, recommend! </li><li><i>Almond </i>(Sohn Won-pyung): reread</li><li><i>The Mirror Visitor Series</i> (Christelle Dabos): my fantastical reread series that has replaced Potter since donating the box set rip</li><li><i>The Ballad of Never After</i> (Stephanie Garber)</li><li><i>Babel - Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution </i>(R.F. Kuang): thoroughly enjoyed, has footnotes, maps, academia, and low fantasy</li><li><i>Magpie Murders</i> (Anthony Horowitz)</li><li><i>Faker </i>(Sarah Smith)</li><li><i>Mother-daughter Book Camp (</i>Heather Vogel Frederick): nostalgic reread</li><li><i>How Not to Kill Yourself</i> (Set Styes)</li><li><i>Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow</i> (Gabrielle Zevin): game dev + love!!!</li><li><i>Everything I Know About Love</i> (Dolly Alderton)</li><li><i>Faust </i>(Goethe)</li><li><i>God Is Not Great</i> (Christopher Hitchens)</li><li><i>S</i> (J.J. Abrams)</li><li><i>Never Let Me Go </i>(Kazuo Ishiguro)</li><li><i>Lost And Found (</i>Orson Scott Card)</li><li><i>Project Hail Mary</i> (Andy Weir): enjoyed!!! robots :D</li><li><i>On The Road </i>(Jack Kerouac)</li><li><i>My Mechanical Romance </i>(Alexene Farol Follmuth): research purposes if I want to write YA romance about a high school robotics team?</li><li><i>How Not to be Afraid of Everything </i>(Jane Wong)</li><li><i>Gender Queer </i>(Maia Kobabe)<i> </i></li></ol><p></p><p>~~~~</p><p>Cheers to 2023! Vague goals for the upcoming year? >:D</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>employment lol</li><li>practice <i>I Will Follow You Into the Dark </i>to the point where it is recognizable</li><li>develop the film rolls</li><li>functional uncertainty</li></ul><div>~~~~~</div><div>Fun pictures from 2022! (December to January)</div><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoK5sZ1p_AvOQvqLWdqgyP_vHYlhrG05_qOArwBvHK07ofy_zDzHOskBRL0z-CEZcQqCBXISNmnE8GqJ1EmWKCfZ9yr8K1W1AOhIvSMmVeLgCDNowLOP2QGUChNGpI60kcVLdhmOgyd1fnApGiNsg-h3dp6lhz4NAfk33bK9nqKDHPghD7-0sj92zCSw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoK5sZ1p_AvOQvqLWdqgyP_vHYlhrG05_qOArwBvHK07ofy_zDzHOskBRL0z-CEZcQqCBXISNmnE8GqJ1EmWKCfZ9yr8K1W1AOhIvSMmVeLgCDNowLOP2QGUChNGpI60kcVLdhmOgyd1fnApGiNsg-h3dp6lhz4NAfk33bK9nqKDHPghD7-0sj92zCSw" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently "Tahoe" is Washo for "lake", so we've been saying Lake Lake this entire time.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxdlRP_j7dhNJfQ2qsAwBZu0pAS8wJMyUeQ9-Jmke8IpLrld9WtzAVxo-dyoyOozjdnMqmHVSqrebpVQmxmTE83XZK3pPtA54GYzm142MfTth_6WxATeXMS7RZqgE4hqs4MgrEyOOEPpR0c8BaFnF-KAC1RiA4TPzVrDpYR2XVEjX9vRDKyebZMLi9hg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxdlRP_j7dhNJfQ2qsAwBZu0pAS8wJMyUeQ9-Jmke8IpLrld9WtzAVxo-dyoyOozjdnMqmHVSqrebpVQmxmTE83XZK3pPtA54GYzm142MfTth_6WxATeXMS7RZqgE4hqs4MgrEyOOEPpR0c8BaFnF-KAC1RiA4TPzVrDpYR2XVEjX9vRDKyebZMLi9hg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First and Last >:D<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVrPvebDlAbXiIr-o088dzw4XzGpHjcmMyOOcZgA4q30pko4WfYoGOJ4g9SelI2-q4RpuL14OxeNLvdiGjTqIiSIylPVRZ-fUxJE7WuaRsFkbonRSy0AQ3J5I59lXOV7XQJzdSFwk8YEeY6tQCiERDUo8YI124WBjkh9Bu4KzGE_1v0W6WmG4aBX46xg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="554" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVrPvebDlAbXiIr-o088dzw4XzGpHjcmMyOOcZgA4q30pko4WfYoGOJ4g9SelI2-q4RpuL14OxeNLvdiGjTqIiSIylPVRZ-fUxJE7WuaRsFkbonRSy0AQ3J5I59lXOV7XQJzdSFwk8YEeY6tQCiERDUo8YI124WBjkh9Bu4KzGE_1v0W6WmG4aBX46xg" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zareen's</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiHYQLCc1nh8kNQKDqu3DgvwA68_d6KE70bELRi_-7bbRbNa_MMvZdpBuXO-Xgwwa0DsNetM0D4vv6fZjcXnR_P7B11bcj7UjKmXLIvxk6v3etMjuezHwNRa3L3-LOysKIpVN8FfQ4IBMFqtH9SF31HsK_QQRZO8MEESt1qzCA0ZbXGEjhXDxXhcKvYQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiHYQLCc1nh8kNQKDqu3DgvwA68_d6KE70bELRi_-7bbRbNa_MMvZdpBuXO-Xgwwa0DsNetM0D4vv6fZjcXnR_P7B11bcj7UjKmXLIvxk6v3etMjuezHwNRa3L3-LOysKIpVN8FfQ4IBMFqtH9SF31HsK_QQRZO8MEESt1qzCA0ZbXGEjhXDxXhcKvYQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">upside down (:</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgg1q7-5SUw2OlKxtAuusEAwpBJLdPGvHLxvS0SVi56fag2LSAWKKuSt-1c3DuLJ2shD2rQiXFqAPm0owPKgyEhHxiq_rzB9WdEcByNy-uaveoAZQmFCxxUY_yeIPeLApcIHUtQvnRi0tg6jzsb3BUsFLlC3VA1vuM5H08VLVlZPgbAt-gbBw7K0mWkTg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="739" data-original-width="554" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgg1q7-5SUw2OlKxtAuusEAwpBJLdPGvHLxvS0SVi56fag2LSAWKKuSt-1c3DuLJ2shD2rQiXFqAPm0owPKgyEhHxiq_rzB9WdEcByNy-uaveoAZQmFCxxUY_yeIPeLApcIHUtQvnRi0tg6jzsb3BUsFLlC3VA1vuM5H08VLVlZPgbAt-gbBw7K0mWkTg=w240-h320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">lol</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGVErhbQCczJrM-ox8qOq-jGCvdt_2aD4tIp_eNeZ9H-IPYcoF1RSrb8QELhbxhdgYqmpjc-ABe4D3xiFF5onHgKC1TdoDjvz5RrqsDOA-VvJMlAmepNmhMKbMzLxgkGc616NIcv-GgbbF8M3brwf3tUIdJfYrSrKTyzVrUPf9OPa8249uuRwZgQC1VQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGVErhbQCczJrM-ox8qOq-jGCvdt_2aD4tIp_eNeZ9H-IPYcoF1RSrb8QELhbxhdgYqmpjc-ABe4D3xiFF5onHgKC1TdoDjvz5RrqsDOA-VvJMlAmepNmhMKbMzLxgkGc616NIcv-GgbbF8M3brwf3tUIdJfYrSrKTyzVrUPf9OPa8249uuRwZgQC1VQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pinnacles</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEie3EK-eC_H0BTVD_bnUN8FEX9hTHbADz_Vsv9qYIWQHuR76dyp1-xeFnGIg9Q_MNacFJgk0QN5z7vCijw6B_l5RDTNgFpf8Jdhy7tYzBNeRZnGx5Ebmqh_8GFkpYPPQ2Z4r4mlXwknFU8bfVs013Jxz3EMnK71RDGt50m8HveBEPeLiM1V9oSg7mS8BA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEie3EK-eC_H0BTVD_bnUN8FEX9hTHbADz_Vsv9qYIWQHuR76dyp1-xeFnGIg9Q_MNacFJgk0QN5z7vCijw6B_l5RDTNgFpf8Jdhy7tYzBNeRZnGx5Ebmqh_8GFkpYPPQ2Z4r4mlXwknFU8bfVs013Jxz3EMnK71RDGt50m8HveBEPeLiM1V9oSg7mS8BA" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">half moon bay</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgS-_RPPGmDCC34VqWaAxHpIjsTXEqIU7WOdLVdrs3AjoMball5y1GKBPq2Ms3UqYVOaK7D15DqZqID1eGOSZtfSYqtqoyI3T4PRYXv_YEm-mmr2X-lRYZ6-EuccHuRM90HtQ6R8aiEX1SyHOWLhNyWsHjAmPQLp0gaA1HrLkJ--HueZtCTYL5srnis2A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgS-_RPPGmDCC34VqWaAxHpIjsTXEqIU7WOdLVdrs3AjoMball5y1GKBPq2Ms3UqYVOaK7D15DqZqID1eGOSZtfSYqtqoyI3T4PRYXv_YEm-mmr2X-lRYZ6-EuccHuRM90HtQ6R8aiEX1SyHOWLhNyWsHjAmPQLp0gaA1HrLkJ--HueZtCTYL5srnis2A" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oslo :o</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVRPqzVNL8OzRkUu8WvrWDmqeva2XPFaF9_Cy-vlB0p1T3FUi7cOxn5nYtva5bcmdBduIc8nMxV0X1s1xmnUl8agYJoEh4xfkWsgaVgjmBKBeFL-8oumE6bF-lA1I4mT62dE_c5MnxBHXLgdxnGD_FH4ZKnLlfiLjitlrRKyGVKlu6aobwlIkynT2O8Q" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="1109" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVRPqzVNL8OzRkUu8WvrWDmqeva2XPFaF9_Cy-vlB0p1T3FUi7cOxn5nYtva5bcmdBduIc8nMxV0X1s1xmnUl8agYJoEh4xfkWsgaVgjmBKBeFL-8oumE6bF-lA1I4mT62dE_c5MnxBHXLgdxnGD_FH4ZKnLlfiLjitlrRKyGVKlu6aobwlIkynT2O8Q" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">strictly lab business</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOH3kx0MFUbsHxoe3cdytqU7IqF6qewsuElCVHtVY12dJUcBdlgNW6vsFzqUx-jkPYMCAdOo-KTpvdhna9wz6N_H1uLea37e_C0ivho5IMmMZWaDacwpU23-U8X_4XuLrzVtv51xT_haqOyy17aPrgXe14P8Fv_TdB0hopiA98T5pBXSbb-DTBrSj0EQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="972" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiOH3kx0MFUbsHxoe3cdytqU7IqF6qewsuElCVHtVY12dJUcBdlgNW6vsFzqUx-jkPYMCAdOo-KTpvdhna9wz6N_H1uLea37e_C0ivho5IMmMZWaDacwpU23-U8X_4XuLrzVtv51xT_haqOyy17aPrgXe14P8Fv_TdB0hopiA98T5pBXSbb-DTBrSj0EQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mickey mouse!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjF-IMfWh1-Ribls8HrjmArkVILSUyZvXO97dUcc4_ZFyqjlIExcHLNKw8nUdCXm9H9sbB5-CwBFB5Jdr60qCZ4BZu1G2at8XFmscrfLljL9R01xJyN8kSgOJbnV0HWJetBED5v0ejcCAFri0tMEi4jarkiKrmeV7uSHV5vjX7x4bF1X1ByTYCAOHhKiA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="554" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjF-IMfWh1-Ribls8HrjmArkVILSUyZvXO97dUcc4_ZFyqjlIExcHLNKw8nUdCXm9H9sbB5-CwBFB5Jdr60qCZ4BZu1G2at8XFmscrfLljL9R01xJyN8kSgOJbnV0HWJetBED5v0ejcCAFri0tMEi4jarkiKrmeV7uSHV5vjX7x4bF1X1ByTYCAOHhKiA" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pancakes</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihTy3j_8j7OM_iVeVRlMkCP1UDfl3kYFuCJntSXeml6JgjblkCwjCzEBKzVSsVHd9iivj7DCiaGCwoufNlCYxyCbPDIS1xfJU7jXjkJcKS0bELTnWLe5sKlAOsRs8u4Sf2CMkcxCFz-DP-YOrJVIKNX2tHhVAmAq6cBw8GELHX52GffT66RC7KBLDsSw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihTy3j_8j7OM_iVeVRlMkCP1UDfl3kYFuCJntSXeml6JgjblkCwjCzEBKzVSsVHd9iivj7DCiaGCwoufNlCYxyCbPDIS1xfJU7jXjkJcKS0bELTnWLe5sKlAOsRs8u4Sf2CMkcxCFz-DP-YOrJVIKNX2tHhVAmAq6cBw8GELHX52GffT66RC7KBLDsSw" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">2022 :3</div><br /></div><p></p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-73094598196692483832022-11-18T21:42:00.004-08:002022-11-18T21:45:03.999-08:00parties<p>In addition to my power electronics and MEMS classes (which would be interesting to write about in a future post), I also happened to enroll in a Cancel Culture seminar run by the Theater, Dance, and Performing Arts Department to fulfill a breadth requirement for my Masters degree. </p><p><br /></p><p>If you wish to read about SOIMumps processes, how to wind an inductor, or wrangling with TPUs, please let me know. As no one has reached out to me about those topics yet, I'll ramble a bit about college parties and why I mildly dislike them despite attending a few with people whose company I enjoy. </p><p><br /></p><p>(Update: someone has asked me to talk about TPUs!)</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="393" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/6ifjfmx6m0wHX1-fEvgCLjENETI2xtYi-2xBGYZrqywpgce6wpNqceXihhmBehy-P6bNp9UUFrjcDSH1XoAsddPW43hgPTCliOgYnZeLdFPv2YSqKWO57UVmvZ3p15SgrMPQ5vbTdPv5Y6-8LUT3Vv1yA8rk2n4g1ebNN6o63_EDtB6-IodtCUbH7HnH_A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="295" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I cannot think of a witty caption for this inductor.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>I mention the Cancel Culture seminar above as we often talk about cancellation as a from of performance. A selection of ideas brought up in class on the nature of cancel culture includes collective movement, fulfillment and subsequent breaking of roles, performance of complicity vs rage, and elements of opportunism.</div><div><br /></div><div>In terms of how this relates to college parties: yes, I am Holden Caulfield. But also, I am explaining to a void why I don't enjoy parties so who's the real phony? </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyways, the following will enumerate a few of my social incompetencies for archival purposes.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Collective movement: </b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A culture necessitates a collective of people, preferably heading towards a common location, such as a house that is hosting a party. Time of arrival varies by commute distance, transportation method, and general mood, but can range between 1-3 hours.</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Fulfillment/Breaking of roles: </b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I prefer to skulk in the corner, annoying the roommate's cats and eavesdropping on conversations. Imagining everyone else at the party fulfilling the same role elicits some shame, so I push myself in baby steps, first reading the labels on all the liquor bottles before settling on 100% juice concentrate, then asking the host if I can help prepare anything or wash their dishes. Eventually, I remind myself I am an adult with thoughts and opinions. Et voila, pleasant conversation. Before long, I flirt with the idea of attempting to <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1KGi9sZVMeszgZOWivFpxs?si=c2ebe284dbc347c9" target="_blank">sing </a>karaoke, but thankfully my senses are recovered and I retreat back into the corner. </li></ul></div><div><b>Complicity vs rage:</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Complicity towards the assumption that I am not a frolicking type of person has permeated my subconscious to the point where I've convinced myself that I am genuinely out of words on some occasion. Rage (or middling motivation) to contradict that would be misplaced, as it seems like I have plenty of words (as evidenced by this blog) but not much faith in people being interested, and thus preemptively choosing silence. Oops. </li></ul></div><div><b>Opportunism:</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>In seminar, we always ask if the timely cancellation of a public figure benefits some power structure in the shadows behind them. Whether feigned or genuine, levity (particularly of the inebriated variety) does provide the opportunity for enlightening tidbits of information to be dropped. </li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>Complaining aside, I appreciate the people who try to pull me out of the shell and take my atypical conversation responses in stride. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="79" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/stZN2N5In6UgNGl-yrxi0_7sfT71yfKBp7ZszMpBovXUs7RZ9j7BXvM1waoyZvSCiZt_isd41bTxiYYqZLASyZ4-r9fj2uUUwdUCKXA7H4KC5eZY39QMeJrboiib4x32xjE9NgbK5STqQb1ngdcS1ZWGzzvL9N0Ltv7s-RIMvYZ6t7_2tykXBgX2uepPmA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="79" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am filled with determination.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Happy Thanksgiving! 😀</div><div><br /></div><div>~~~ Encore ~~~</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're happily anticipating the oncoming season of festivities and group activities -yay! Otherwise, I recently spent a Saturday reading this book, finishing at 1AM, realizing no one was awake for me to talk about the book with, then texting five separate people the same message about my feelings about aforementioned book. </div><div><br /></div><div>While criticisms and ways to find fault with the book is always possible, I really enjoyed it! It had a lot of elements that I cherish in books (world-building maps, dark academia vibes, footnotes!!!, some historical elements, long-winded technical explanations, fictional death). >:D</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="304" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/KSFU8L6plIjIAaLNOeU6pCsiBFVgAQFYq4t7rQGKonykY4b03NfwTvVU5_l37qgezavYcTZqYYchDD5_yUvb19N9MiUStiT0z3z0Dz5CBFblaQe3eg66fzunW68etaDfEPLEvWwtUNDVzTUM_H3Rhug8kenZNEAzJoWc8cNokwSO8fJxa6ficEWIBZPRxw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="414" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who needs Goodreads?<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-77493640612770622952022-10-25T17:28:00.000-07:002022-10-25T17:28:03.061-07:00when you're older :)Apologies in advance for being self-referential. <div><br /></div><div>A lot of the posts on this blog communicate a youthful anxiety about the present and an optimism about eventual clarity in the future. Somewhat subconsciously (or as the master procrastinator I am), I left it to my older and wiser self of the future to sort out my motivations and justify why I am as I am and why others are as they are. </div><div><br /></div><div>Growing older has given me more tasks for daily passage of time. I want to compost to reduce my carbon footprint, forsake single-use plastic, and listen to NPR to avoid living under a rock. I try to grapple with schism between the scope of my daily struggles/pursuit of happiness in context with the larger suffering of the world. I think I am virtue-signaling to myself that I am alright, I suppose. </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fbb5f74b-7fff-d6d3-7f6e-dab155c82419"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 283px; overflow: hidden; width: 313px;"><img height="258" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/icuZZiTeq_VRHwWxluMODHewfgGdgcLSZvhFNE5tromJumwZhpmXBXvomYmKJLEr_NTNDcW1jElNyRZ7pM4W2mXjer4Drc5IEgVobZ82Yo0zOMql0o3Q7p369kl8OSqHPmANEwbn3_5AXchlmQuZNIrGBdRR0Y4vo4_oBWiXvnWSfZ6fjCJU2HJELA=w286-h258" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="286" /></span></span></span></div><div>Taking cues from current discourse on how to navigate a relationship between oneself and the world is one approach. Religion or philosophical theory may offer answers to others. In order to shed self-responsibility for my outcomes I've been tending to go where the wind blows, which while freeing, is also constricting to a certain local landscape. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes it does feel a little bit hmm-inducing to continue down your track, too afraid to step off the track. So you look around at others on nearby tracks, but they are also looking around and convincing themselves that the track is fine. And so it goes (oh no!) </div><div><br /></div><div>To sum it up, I want to live more intentionally but having intentions sometimes seems excessive. [Come back to this in a few years.] </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe that is the nature of <a href="https://feministkilljoys.com/2014/06/14/fragility/" target="_blank">fragility</a>? The context of this piece is different, but I like how it encapsulates a fatalistic trend towards disorder, so you try to hold still to avoid hastening an outcome. "To leave a support system can mean to become more fragile, less protected from the bumps of ordinary life. And though fragility might be a consequence it can be recruited as cause: as if you willfully caused your own damage by leaving the safety of a brightly lit path."</div>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-48693978106279762072022-10-02T21:18:00.001-07:002022-10-02T21:18:09.025-07:00updates IV<p>The neighbor in the apartment next door has been practicing <i>Clair de Lune</i> most evenings for the past week or so.</p><p>They've been gradually improving and it's pleasant to listen to through the intermittent cricket chirps.</p><p>If they take song requests, I think <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/2wB937I0Cr7mjb5plP2Hpj?si=70088cd0aa1a4817" target="_blank">Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor</a> would create an appropriate ambiance for stormily working the nights away.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPuO8nIifwqINdZNRwmd-9-3eLqCjX6WtjdAeeQU9XAN_qjVqS_65aBvu5ORnzSKOx5eav2WKiYB08vm_9OrH90SZVCYSbx1pKJaE6PqDqIt6mSk8VfrMlhaqjyjKpSnd76Hu0GSQKU0_XOQlKGRWzdZe22MSkfjjfG3GQ-xLHMMNa7LCaowhO_B-qiw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="814" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPuO8nIifwqINdZNRwmd-9-3eLqCjX6WtjdAeeQU9XAN_qjVqS_65aBvu5ORnzSKOx5eav2WKiYB08vm_9OrH90SZVCYSbx1pKJaE6PqDqIt6mSk8VfrMlhaqjyjKpSnd76Hu0GSQKU0_XOQlKGRWzdZe22MSkfjjfG3GQ-xLHMMNa7LCaowhO_B-qiw=w240-h320" width="240" /></a></div><br />Monolith, Frogner Park, Oslo, Norway</div><p><br /></p>In any case, they must be Debussy fans since they're playing Golliwogg's Cakewalk now. Or maybe our piano teachers were friends, who knows. <div><br /></div><div>September has been a pretty quiet month, save for external events. As this is yet another procrasti-blog, I was wondering again whether a marker of adulthood is doing things that are not instantly enjoyable, but somehow peaceful because you've trained yourself to enjoy it. A sort of self-inflicted Stockholm situation of habituation. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq7rGRtpHUX8YSMiPH5f5p6mnOJeP_VGhPQHeDIoej7LmJyvnLILuG26xbuj8oS9k9qC_uZjqbviXKckWcX2Ub2SLKeYXccoSzqf4uGjGn0yeJTnc956n1S1W4Xiv_eWJbUNmhPHoEHKifBTPYVZ1CKItKGnnzDEePdYU0I8E2vQPDZtk5rKEsYHKedQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="1448" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq7rGRtpHUX8YSMiPH5f5p6mnOJeP_VGhPQHeDIoej7LmJyvnLILuG26xbuj8oS9k9qC_uZjqbviXKckWcX2Ub2SLKeYXccoSzqf4uGjGn0yeJTnc956n1S1W4Xiv_eWJbUNmhPHoEHKifBTPYVZ1CKItKGnnzDEePdYU0I8E2vQPDZtk5rKEsYHKedQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An escalator in Stockholm. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p></div>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-39309234399102629332022-08-30T22:34:00.008-07:002022-10-02T21:30:30.534-07:00sporadic attempts to discuss matters of the heart (SAD MOTH ch 1)<p><i>~~~</i></p><p><i>The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons, places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>TLDR: This is definitely not about me lol</i></p><p> ~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>Act one begins fall semester, October 2021. Manifestation began in quarantine, spawned from idle thoughts in an empty living room. Sitting in my make-shift living-room-turned-bedroom as my roommate isolated, I considered some items left on my college to-do list. I had already done some classes, attempted some research, went on adventures with friends. Pulling an all-nighter was left unchecked, but seemed massively unappealing. SO really, the next thing to attempt was a college relationship, right? Realistically considering the sample space of people I actually interacted with on a semi-regular basis, I honest-to-god flipped a coin and thus manifested a crush. Let's call them the hedgehog since hedgehogs are cute.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhePS1PSSc_XsLxBqiMRTFx8I172ZPbkmYnH6PBmoS6Cc77awUp8aEUZvQs2PMZheUxbwr59mq6gwHLUOrcm5jmdj_tyEQzwmu3KA-hP5R6HNKB9smGiGPXTI-PKMn7W03a560Y5rvnLM6X28CHzT9jH1bEoR_5OOkNBzKOvi8v-Xae4bQBuH_mJFtrpw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1707" data-original-width="2560" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhePS1PSSc_XsLxBqiMRTFx8I172ZPbkmYnH6PBmoS6Cc77awUp8aEUZvQs2PMZheUxbwr59mq6gwHLUOrcm5jmdj_tyEQzwmu3KA-hP5R6HNKB9smGiGPXTI-PKMn7W03a560Y5rvnLM6X28CHzT9jH1bEoR_5OOkNBzKOvi8v-Xae4bQBuH_mJFtrpw" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I told you they were adorable.</td></tr></tbody></table></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>With any decent rom-com, the meet cute is imperative. Some may say it was inevitable, really. If your brain is working hard enough to manifest a crush, it will definitely be able to do the mental gymnastics to construct the cutest of meets from the most innocent situation.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisiveZ1FxYrvE-VdpcskiNFCLd_6CFMNImSHpHo7zYTgescgp8AkC2c6dsfwNH0LteTyZomEx8APWbZMI8EhB5t8UC1TbR3Z4zVHkhOyUcjJ-A2sfliN62QkHIMGvN2yGNSVhNjGYK-tvl1IChwx512ZBVCae-3A7hhUgaPc6bEIoc36HhS8uhlkoMeQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="258" data-original-width="740" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisiveZ1FxYrvE-VdpcskiNFCLd_6CFMNImSHpHo7zYTgescgp8AkC2c6dsfwNH0LteTyZomEx8APWbZMI8EhB5t8UC1TbR3Z4zVHkhOyUcjJ-A2sfliN62QkHIMGvN2yGNSVhNjGYK-tvl1IChwx512ZBVCae-3A7hhUgaPc6bEIoc36HhS8uhlkoMeQ=w640-h223" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"You drink water? <i>I </i>drink water! What a coincidence."<br />Credit: https://xkcd.com/1592/</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><p>There is no Austenian ending to these stories, so there is not much to look forward to aside from a vicarious speed run of emotions and retrospectively funny events. I thought I would be fed up with the foolish human construct of love, but James Baldwin convinced me otherwise that love is a decently difficult, if not respectable, endeavor. I guess this is a self evaluation for future reference.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the initial condition, I was in that peculiar hazy state of awareness, in which you know of a person's existence, but you aren't entirely sure if they know of yours. Normally, that would induce some sense of sneaky superiority within me, but for the purposes of gaining someone's attention, I had to somehow change that. </p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-81132962355570534942022-07-13T00:18:00.000-07:002022-07-13T00:18:27.485-07:00some more angsty musings (but long form!)<p>I've been putting off cleaning my room for <strike>two </strike>four weeks now, and these <strike>two </strike>four weeks were on top of the three weeks I spent graduating, "decompressing", and cavorting around the East Coast and Scandinavia. So currently, per usual, I am procrasti-blogging and about as decompressed as a bag of Lays on a flight en route to Copenhagen. </p><p><br /></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijwYBdV1F9COXZobze6XQpav7npVdncV7HQgoGxXCQhXqjdzSxc-7-2lkU0lykrc5WBjgBnX6fYGI2aYYx5U7t0ZGByESVo45bKnrf4Rs9BLGd2yuPFSTtnkQRgPF5Xr29HXfp3eEXC8zDfuldx6et-G--sbHVrhpExM2-0wD14xJ51CS_ksKX5TkuIw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="888" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijwYBdV1F9COXZobze6XQpav7npVdncV7HQgoGxXCQhXqjdzSxc-7-2lkU0lykrc5WBjgBnX6fYGI2aYYx5U7t0ZGByESVo45bKnrf4Rs9BLGd2yuPFSTtnkQRgPF5Xr29HXfp3eEXC8zDfuldx6et-G--sbHVrhpExM2-0wD14xJ51CS_ksKX5TkuIw" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the Church of Our Savior (Copenhagen)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>Aside from running, reading, working, and avoiding thoughts of the future, I've been feeling a little stagnant in the personality department as of late. Stagnant as in externally functional and acceptably amicable (if a bit on a quiet side), but internally lost, tired, and screaming about what the hell is going on. My hunch is that these are symptoms of living in the Bay Area, existing as a 21-year-old, or both.</p><p><br /></p><p>After acknowledging my set of uncomfy emotions, my immediate reaction is to reflect on all the fortunate people and things that I have experienced in my relatively care-free life, and guiltily convince myself that while acknowledging sad and cynical thoughts is justified, I should move on and try my best to be a good human bean.</p><p><br /></p><p>At least, that is the discount therapy approach I've taken for the past few years. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6FHXftoa5QcQbgewQK99gmYRzDr7AnMRf6ZYRrumy5Uro4TVO3BoM4KFsr30OKtiikinwolLSdT6j4Zx1bBvVOxphu2rCFlkIJfXrfgjU66BRnFtcYaGVtU2EPms0sSvBDSLMplLn4UVsaajzXDwgDuf0y-GUxL8_dRscVLh2GPyaNg4Tvea3LBxt2A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="888" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6FHXftoa5QcQbgewQK99gmYRzDr7AnMRf6ZYRrumy5Uro4TVO3BoM4KFsr30OKtiikinwolLSdT6j4Zx1bBvVOxphu2rCFlkIJfXrfgjU66BRnFtcYaGVtU2EPms0sSvBDSLMplLn4UVsaajzXDwgDuf0y-GUxL8_dRscVLh2GPyaNg4Tvea3LBxt2A" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We interrupt this programming with a view of some farmland witnessed during a train ride from Copenhagen to Stockholm, in which a kind lady sitting diagonal to me (and thus with a forward-facing seat) gave me a heads up when pretty scenery was about to pass by.<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><div>Anyways, a common theme of this blog is to conclude: "Well, I'm not really sure what I am doing, but if I try my best to be a good person, I suppose that's all I can really do."</div><div><br /></div><div>Which is a bit of a cop-out coping mechanism in my own humble opinion about my own humble opinion. So, I will try to address the following questions in an attempt to move on with my life and regain some self-confidence and spunky can-do attitude that college seemed to have stomped out of me. Intermittently, I will add some vacation pics to remind myself that yes, I had fun.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEHxAcjnFTasQXCVmdZcICRAHhDu1juZorgvBnxGWmc0ZWJU800xlWMaShGO5Via08VK7h_D5UIVy-x7wMFeUTFAZgJ39_YMPmGMci7uOtCJjG3omhZwW0UsXqgWnWtkLCt31Ji6zuhPAaPalDCd2a-7qpAE8Z0lHPQCzOVMtRclMoEYpdbTEUxfv2CA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgEHxAcjnFTasQXCVmdZcICRAHhDu1juZorgvBnxGWmc0ZWJU800xlWMaShGO5Via08VK7h_D5UIVy-x7wMFeUTFAZgJ39_YMPmGMci7uOtCJjG3omhZwW0UsXqgWnWtkLCt31Ji6zuhPAaPalDCd2a-7qpAE8Z0lHPQCzOVMtRclMoEYpdbTEUxfv2CA" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i am a little afraid to google the symptoms of depression but this goggle-wearing shark convinced me to do so just now, and the <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression" target="_blank">NIMH </a>tells me that while a few symptoms are there, i think i have good people around me and routines that help keep me energized and appreciative of life :) i also acknowledge that post-grad depression is a widely-experience phenomena, but in the off-chance someone on the internet is reading this, please get help and talk to someone if you are experiencing symptoms (or if you just want to talk to someone, which is a basic human necessity). it was not my intention to self-diagnose in an image caption, but after a quick consultation with a friend, we established that yeah a lot of people experience these feelings in some perverse "new normal", but we try to strike a balance in being open about sad thoughts without making it our personality.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><b>0. Who are you?</b><br />Given a scrap of downtime, I'll turn into an over-thinker, but a self-aware one at least. I've been casually mentioning the topic of how to craft an identity outside of being a student to my post-grad peers, but most answers seem to reduce aptly to "it's a work in progress." Granted, I can probably attain a wider net of answers by reaching out to more people, but I honestly don't know too many older folks aside from my parents and people at my work (in which I feel asking the question "Help IDK what I'm doing in life" may not give the best impression to my manager. I'll have to workshop the wording a bit.)<br />Anyhow, I thereby employed the all-knowing source of how-tos (aka WikiHow), to <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Figure-Out-Who-You-Are" target="_blank">figure out who I am</a>. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I've done the prerequisites for self-actualization, namely writing down my thoughts (obviously) and setting some goals and priorities (see question 2 below). The remainder of the article is less-satisfying, ending on an airy "be patient and curious about yourself", with the latter suggestion clearly being the impetus for this article in the first place. <div><br />Short of resolving to live, laugh, and love, I'll settle for some updated fun facts (!!!) about myself. I'll add a gentle reminder that fun is relative, and that there is already probably too much information about myself on the internet, so as a result these facts will be of the shallower variety. <div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL1OZK-xxTvpRm7wf0JkRyHI9Ztk_TpUgflLhbl6bIL-eB9AEF_PuhruCCDZZPK_MlINggYZ-QHiy0dwG7DdD8sskACjF8d5_p5nsGQbrQEYIS_QIneIgDjQqqRv-E7OXhQ6IwpQThndP9MGeJWbWznzqrqDaSsaM5DRrkSl-F-O0tctL2aB_10kHJIQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL1OZK-xxTvpRm7wf0JkRyHI9Ztk_TpUgflLhbl6bIL-eB9AEF_PuhruCCDZZPK_MlINggYZ-QHiy0dwG7DdD8sskACjF8d5_p5nsGQbrQEYIS_QIneIgDjQqqRv-E7OXhQ6IwpQThndP9MGeJWbWznzqrqDaSsaM5DRrkSl-F-O0tctL2aB_10kHJIQ=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in some garden in Oslo, circa 2022. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Compared to my 16-year-old self in the "About Me" section of this blog, I:</li><ul><li>sadly can no longer read on moving vehicles without incurring nausea</li><li>still see myself 44 years in the future in the companionship of at least one cat</li><li>no longer have access to a bass clarinet</li><li>don't talk about vincent 😶</li></ul><li>I do enjoy reading YA fantasy novels, webtoons, and occasional contemporary/historical fiction.</li><li>My potential places of habitation are inconveniently dependent on access to Chinese vegetables.</li><li>Some hobbies include biking around, visiting libraries, being self-conscious about enjoying playground swings in the presence of small children, and mocking hipster culture as penance for my hipster tendencies.</li><li>As stated in previous blog posts, my favorite form of self-indulgence is writing blog posts about myself for absolutely no one to read. (hi julia!)</li></ul><br /><div><b>1.What are you doing?</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div>It is currently 22:31 PM, and I was thinking about falling asleep to the delightful background commentary of <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1J4YAdz0Ai4vAG1x1ojKF9">Seaweed Brain: A Percy Jackson Podcast</a>, as once does, but I figured I should finish writing this post before having to register for classes for the upcoming semester. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm interning at a company that produces consumer electronics, and I am pleasantly surprised to see synergy between theoretical knowledge and practical skills gained from school, and the technical know-how from teammates who have experience engineering actual stuff. I am also slightly proud at enrolling in dental/vision insurance from my employer and utilizing those benefits, which tips the scale of job satisfaction in the opposite direction to my 35 mile commute.</div><div><br /></div><div>Aside from work, I've been watching a lot of Iron Chef, much to the chagrin of my parents, who would rather watch me cook than watch me watch people cook. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm slowly crafting a post-grad Kaitlyn, and it is not unlike drafting a DnD character sheet. Should I invest in +3 charisma to help me get through daily conversations, with a tradeoff of -2 in dexterity? Or should I shun our human desire to fit into society and pour all my stats into constitution to ride out the impending apocalypse... Someone back in college told me that to converse lightly with coworkers, it is handy to have a hobby to wax poetic on to show you have a life outside of circling back to key learnings.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU8ijVvwhS8BPetiOOmbZYGp_WInGJX8AjL-yUwSI9YGr6brggNY05TXQzoousmjoOBgUrUN7NVrnoTyJKd3NfJjcvCbbzt2u89uMurajvFbt1LAXWYEnlBuTdBQnDS13LJzX8dqPbsX_09OD_PiPFOgARJ5kB-q4GtZvtjC7W0Lz7ofKfc0K5qRQyWg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="888" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU8ijVvwhS8BPetiOOmbZYGp_WInGJX8AjL-yUwSI9YGr6brggNY05TXQzoousmjoOBgUrUN7NVrnoTyJKd3NfJjcvCbbzt2u89uMurajvFbt1LAXWYEnlBuTdBQnDS13LJzX8dqPbsX_09OD_PiPFOgARJ5kB-q4GtZvtjC7W0Lz7ofKfc0K5qRQyWg" width="320" /><br /><br /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've designated biking as my non-shop talk of choice (note: this is not my bike). I was also talking to a friend about the distribution of DnD stats people would select if they could design their child on a character sheet, but then I got called a nerd :c </td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div><b>2. What do you want?</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>As a bit of a late bloomer, I think my sentience as a human being really began around the age of 16, and grew exponentially upon entering college at 18. Prior to my awakening, I lived my life on a day-to-day basis, fulfilling the basic rungs of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I existed innocently and ignorantly, and soaked up all the nutrients that my family and community afforded me without question. Accordingly, I never had to think too far ahead of what I actually wanted, as the subset of potential outcomes was constrained enough (at least in my mind) to the point where I figured I would bump into the opportunity at some point.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then bam, I entered college and the subspace of potential outcomes multiplied, and bam the same thing happened after graduating undergrad. To once again use gaming analogies (as the non-gamer I am), I spent a lot of time investing in my stats and 'leveling up' to unlock new paths. But coupled with my self-inflicted need to justify my existence as a person (with I attribute to either astoundingly high or cripplingly low self-esteem -there is no happy medium), you can see how I was faced with decision anxiety. </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSTWU5ashvNO9VjBTeqG0IGDSem070bh_IzU38x-hZ20_Rra6pgyYelUFQDRjqtfvaXRggzd3DvkpRHqkbdoViaV8l087lcNmX5gHB65RPqjJotT2HkroWEQvjN_RSxIeQRKn8ndL4T37R85cFCww9491lzN13-Lyd2-2JQfROpzO1-TY54AiHq1JXeA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSTWU5ashvNO9VjBTeqG0IGDSem070bh_IzU38x-hZ20_Rra6pgyYelUFQDRjqtfvaXRggzd3DvkpRHqkbdoViaV8l087lcNmX5gHB65RPqjJotT2HkroWEQvjN_RSxIeQRKn8ndL4T37R85cFCww9491lzN13-Lyd2-2JQfROpzO1-TY54AiHq1JXeA" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A subway station in Stockholm. Alt text: where does the escalator of life lead to *whoosh*</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div>So what do I want? I want to be comfortable with myself individually, as well as a part of a larger society. The first 16-18 formative years of my life molded me from a blob of cells to a semi-independent, generally-functioning human being. Years 18-21 expanded the breath of people and paths I saw available, while honing the depth of skills that allow me to be employed. </div><div><br /></div><div>In anticipation of the next few years, I've always felt turmoil about the debate surrounding stability vs adventure, nobility of a cause vs a living wage. Why the two are always framed as diametrically opposed, I am not so sure, but I've another year to once again open up a few more paths in the career department before etching out some grand plans for myself.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I want at least begin to narrow down what I think it means to be a decent human being, where my existence can have a net benefit on the world, while balancing it with the need to live for myself as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>My post is getting a bit ramble-y, but this blog post about '<a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html">Your Life in Weeks</a>', helped put some things into perspective. Our time on Earth is neither infinite nor instantaneous. Faced with my mortality in the form of a grid of blank squares, I feel at the age of 21 that I'm on a decent pace -neither accelerated nor (thankfully) cut short. And there are a lot of future squares to live through as well, with their blankness being both nerve-wracking to my choice paralysis and enticing to my fear of stagnancy. </div><div><br /></div><div>To finally end all this wooshy pondering, I'll just commit some tangible goals down here in no particular order: </div><div><br /></div><div><b>A list of some potential aspirations of varying effort:</b></div><div><b>- </b>record a podcast episode (topic TBD)</div><div>- drive a stick shift car</div><div>- become a teacher</div><div>- get good at being an engineer</div><div>- camp!</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL9B08paQIxdzYHTxnQHwY4yEbdqKEEwAb4J9uRsqy_2PQszdwkZl9nftEvHpeSzHoY5QVN43cjsOzsVVWgkj8z7_-j03nSILG6mRBs3hi8bm01SQloUsew6_G9a5q8QV5dS-pmrea796fg_7w9ccZiW78htXW8T41WXnVYZ_pjW0AxyUqUq0ULIXPxQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="985" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL9B08paQIxdzYHTxnQHwY4yEbdqKEEwAb4J9uRsqy_2PQszdwkZl9nftEvHpeSzHoY5QVN43cjsOzsVVWgkj8z7_-j03nSILG6mRBs3hi8bm01SQloUsew6_G9a5q8QV5dS-pmrea796fg_7w9ccZiW78htXW8T41WXnVYZ_pjW0AxyUqUq0ULIXPxQ" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A clean room is in sight eventually q.q</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div></div></div></div>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-13648602979418706472022-05-03T23:08:00.000-07:002022-05-03T23:08:28.537-07:00updates<p> per usual, procrastination spawns another blog post</p><p><br /></p><p>this time, instead of synthesizing research updates for the professor who allowed me into the Masters program, i will once again attempt to self-actualize and be cool with myself as a human being.</p><p><br /></p><p>the daily concern is that i am degrading in quality as a person. are the choices i make solely to benefit myself? where am i to offload my uncertainties and confusion and indirection without the guilt of burdening people?</p><p>is the intrinsic value of trying hard just to spend time well on earth. sdjflkdsjf why is this so cringe-inducing. </p><p><br /></p><p>i think i'm just a bit tired and burnt out. </p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-74786335453891040322022-04-11T22:59:00.000-07:002022-04-11T22:59:34.469-07:00oops<p>rejections on multiple fronts both indirect and quite direct</p><p>the more i want something, am i less likely to attain it</p><p>but if you don't want anything, can you progress</p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-68989486921541250582022-01-10T21:25:00.001-08:002022-01-10T21:28:20.054-08:00farming motivation!<div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="white-space: normal;">In response to my previous haiku, written in the midst of dead week during which stringing together complete sentences takes far too much thought, here is a stretched out piece in which I try to figure out the coming few years of my life in the main way I know how -synthesizing other people's blog posts, cherry picking bits that I like, checking my latest occupational obsession based on the currently airing Kdrama, applying a weighted filter, and tossing it all to the wind.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">My current status is a bit flighty. I feel competent but not confident. I suppose I can carry out tasks adequately (or maybe people are too nice to tell me otherwise), so theoretically I can probably jump off any branch, struggle a bit, and safely land. Nonetheless, this approximation of competency isn't too helpful in deciding which branch to leap off of.</span></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-cbd8449c-7fff-4f2f-39bd-c0a1345ba487"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To roughly quote my roommate and Captain Levi, "choose for yourself whatever you will regret the least, but don't get eaten".</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, I will turn to others who have mused the question of direction and see which suits myself.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-career.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Picking a Career</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What can I enjoy in the "tiny unglamorous folds of the fabric of life"? What is a career I can choose that will mold so many aspects of my life (for better or worse). The author offers the following framework to help guide such a decision. Considering my risk tolerance and personal values, I would proportion my Yearning Octopus to be approximately 20% personal (driven by a fear of deathbed regrets and forgotten dreams), 5% social (I'd like to think I'm immune to the judgment of the broader society, save for a few people who hold my delicate ego intact), 5% lifestyle (a fun Friday for me is buying a new flavor of ice cream from Safeway), 20% moral (please let me believe that the world can get better), and 50% practical (thanks, Mom and Dad). </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unpacking the previous revelations, I think a fear of failure is still the main "scary monster" of my life. Rationally, it isn't a fear of failing society, as I already decided to lower my social tolerance to 5%. I suppose then it is more a fear of practical failure, personal failure, and moral failure. Given my lack of an actual career, surely I cannot have personally or morally failed in those aspects yet. But the practical tentacle isn't exactly quaking yet either given the world's current tech obsession. So really there isn't much for me to fear, and I simply am hesitant to commit to a career that can potentially lead to a path of failure. Which, as I am typing this out, is self-admittedly a bit silly. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So my general conclusion from this current career advice piece is: try something scary but don't do it half-heartedly. Mind the pace I am attempting life, retrospect and wallow in existential crises once in a while, apply a feedback loop, and keep chugging along. Also, try to get over the fear of fearing potential failure. I'd like to think that the added layer of fear abstraction is some character growth from my previous stage of direct fear-to-failure connection. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://206.189.68.253/2014/08/26/keep-friends/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keeping Friends</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Continuing along the theme of figuring out life, the proximity and spontaneity that college provides and friendships thrive on are likely to fade a bit in the coming years. For me, this boils down to putting in the work to reach out to friends and remaining genuine in our interactions :) Appropriate levels of vulnerability and empathy are helpful as well. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying-to-bio-phd/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Higher Education!</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the theme of farming motivation, I read a few blogs by people applying to grad school and was somewhat relieved to learn that they also were slightly clueless and not necessarily dead set from birth to pursue a higher degree. It does not need to be about something I think day and night about, as long as I am sufficiently curious and willing to work on it. The prospect of boosting my confidence with a degree I worked on, as well as the comfort of remaining a student perched above the jaws of corporate America for another year, are my main motivations so far. Year One into the pandemic, I thought that a direct pipeline to industry would feed my practicality yearning. Year Two has also passed, and given the constant state of ~uncertainty~, I think my tolerance to last minute swerves has been increased to the point where I apply to a Masters program two months before the deadline. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that I have sufficiently procrastinated by writing this post and decided to </span><a href="https://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying-to-grad-school/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do The Thing</span></a><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I suppose I should get started. Wish me luck!</span><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> :D</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img height="505" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/vDuebLXrS2hjqyY4qttM-3b5xcBuoJ3z8kOBcU3BYf6qjL-QzzoINYLfiu2KSnvFw1SBf3VI0g9sCP8HFRSi32JFTR3qADmt2YZ8ARr8NLZQYGSSCgMHKeImuxADlBJ_rjrnjAPm=w505-h505" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: -180px;" width="505" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
Yes, I spent the last three days watching four seasons of </span><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attack on Titan</span><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. No, I can't be bothered to properly format this image.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Avenir,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 342px; overflow: hidden; width: 296px;"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><div><span face="Avenir, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-91890655519286802652021-12-07T22:48:00.004-08:002022-01-03T14:39:01.146-08:00updates<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>turned 21 some amount of time ago</li><li>indulgent introspection</li><li>fractured my ulna for misguided reasons</li><ul><li>update: misguided insofar as a little bit cute and very much dumb</li></ul><li>reasonably happy and healthy -the Cheerio bee would be proud</li><li>learned to box! (until aforementioned ulnar fracture)</li><li>been good with life™ but can improve on amicability</li><li>motivational <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/0tnhoHUrHfcLi9hPknUFZ4?si=1a595de2eae04db2" target="_blank">song</a></li></ul><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>more words to send out to the void!</div><div><br /></div><div><i>a few of my favorite things (written at 11:42 pm on Christmas in a Messenger message to myself)</i></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>eggos, coffee, and stand-up</li><li>dense literary text only (as I covertly browse YA)</li><li>538 and lamenting inflation</li><li>rejecting social media but wondering if someone will read this</li><li>dreams of turning in school projects late but not much else</li></ol></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-13272576416561062021-12-07T22:23:00.002-08:002021-12-07T22:23:39.824-08:00hai-kyuu<div style="text-align: left;">i am so tired</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />yes, still in a pandemic</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">job or study more</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTxgyqrzEvz7XtqDbxurEaidMONNJd4RrgVSrqPB7S4qiq1Nx14rL71xRPpnYBZcHUur83l-TX3HG58RnAvVBllosgmZjkuPbpmhsKFOgV008H0eX_PnkUMnn3Pt-8TDe3QRZBKcDpDI_h/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="580" data-original-width="637" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTxgyqrzEvz7XtqDbxurEaidMONNJd4RrgVSrqPB7S4qiq1Nx14rL71xRPpnYBZcHUur83l-TX3HG58RnAvVBllosgmZjkuPbpmhsKFOgV008H0eX_PnkUMnn3Pt-8TDe3QRZBKcDpDI_h/w640-h582/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-47901724933156891072020-12-23T20:52:00.006-08:002020-12-23T20:52:33.857-08:00eye contact in reflections<p>a list of questions to bother my medical-student brother with:</p><p>1. What are the neurological impulses that signify "the meeting of eyes"?</p><p>a. "Eye contact" surely cannot be quantified by a ray of light reflecting off the other party's irises and bouncing into our own optical nerve, right? Otherwise, "eye contact" would be considered valid in scenarios with one-way glass or sunglasses.</p><p>2. There must be some sort of trigger mechanism that registers the realization: "ah that person has met my eyes".</p><p>a.To elaborate, there is a difference between looking at someone's eyes, and meeting someone's eyes. For example, if an optometrist is examining my eyes through an optical instrument, I can sense that their eyes are focused on my eyes. But since I cannot see the optometrist's own eyes, the eye connection is unidirectional and hence the act of "eye contact" did not occur.</p><p>3. To describe my understanding of "eye contact" as succinctly as possible:</p><p>a. Both parties focus their line of sight on each other's eyes.</p><p>b. There is a mutual acknowledgement that the other party knows they are being watched as well.</p><p>4. Eye contact is an essential tool of nonverbal communication among most creatures and I've honestly been pondering this question for a few years now, ever since I've developed the habit of observing strangers through their reflections on the subway windows. </p><p>a. Empirically, I have seen (somewhat awkwardly) that eye contact can occur through a third-party medium such as a window reflection. Somehow, along the rays of light from my eyes to the glass to the stranger's eyes, there is the jolt: "Aha. I've been caught spying".</p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-27124569094530678852020-12-23T20:19:00.000-08:002020-12-23T20:19:41.269-08:00sanguine<p>Sanguine is an interesting word. I am no etymologist, but for some reason (most likely due to a book I have read in the past) I associate "sanguine" with blood. A quick search on the internet confirms that the second listed definition of the word is "blood red", and further down the list of related terms are "bloodthirsty" and "bloodshed". Synonyms for sanguine include "murderous". Sangrias are often red as well, I believe. </p><p>Sanguine is derived from the Latin word "sanguis" for blood. So I do get quite confused when the top-ranked definition for sanguine is "marked by eager hopefulness, confidently optimistic". Does the optimism come from a murderous intent to smile in spite of difficulty? Does a rush of blood promote the flight-or-fight bodily response that affords an eager hopefulness for survival? There is most likely a logical explanation for the discrepancy in meaning behind this word (perhaps it is just anachronistic terminology), but I will always wonder for a moment whether I should smile at or flee from a person feeling sanguine. </p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-11917309624863881212020-12-23T19:59:00.003-08:002020-12-23T20:01:00.570-08:00when you have many things to do but no willpower to get started, you make a bucket list of transportation systems to visit<p> 1. Hong Kong MTR</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="MTR > Network Improvements" height="293" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/DDUM5ii73BH788CwNVIzotxg_jHuX6TGYxlc3ZjGJqETN0vLHMbzAlJL8fd3RQ5o0QGxofUHqFjVk7D-d6bdHiUCSbvWAaUUnzVwnAbJvYNJLpW0SSKDlzRfFVBguwOGKrY2oR6m" style="font-family: Avenir, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;" width="360" /></p><p>2. Eurostar </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Eurostar_d'hiver_arrivant_%C3%A0_Albertville_(2018).JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="800" height="235" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Eurostar_d'hiver_arrivant_%C3%A0_Albertville_(2018).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">3. Shinkansen</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/100_V9_Grand_Hikari_Tokyo_199701.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/100_V9_Grand_Hikari_Tokyo_199701.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">4. Moscow metro (look at this map!)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bridgetomoscow.com/files/200/3928.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="520" src="https://bridgetomoscow.com/files/200/3928.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">5. Stockholm Metro</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.visitstockholm.com/globalassets/inspirationssidor/tunnelbanefonster/stationer/nackrosen-bred.jpg?preset=detail_medium_retina" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://www.visitstockholm.com/globalassets/inspirationssidor/tunnelbanefonster/stationer/nackrosen-bred.jpg?preset=detail_medium_retina" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I've been lately thinking about ways to become more environmentally conscious beyond the usual sorting of recyclables and compost. Driving less and opting for public transit (if the area permits) would be ideal, which leads me to search for places with good urban planning. </div></div></div></div><p></p>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-88402351778414499402020-07-02T17:11:00.000-07:002020-07-02T17:11:22.374-07:00a commitment to being a better human being<div>Ways I will make a sustained effort toward the movement for equality:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>speak up against people who abuse a position of power</li><li>be involved in elections at all government levels</li><li>educate myself on injustice</li><li>work on a cause that improves the community</li></ol></div><div><br /></div>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-35455123311193022702020-05-30T14:37:00.002-07:002020-05-30T14:37:59.129-07:00grocery stores<span id="docs-internal-guid-2c484906-7fff-010a-7b91-429e2cbff78d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Having graduated from high school for two years now, I sometimes find myself in one of these situations at the local grocery store. Granted, these scenarios are not nearly as gripping as the choice between name brand, organic peanut butter versus generic, no-stir peanut-flavored paste, but my mind has been mulling over a few particular grocery store interactions, so I thought I might as well write about it. </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">-----</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A friend is approaching:</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Friend: "Woah hey! How have you been?"</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Me: "Haha pretty good, how about you?"</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">[Proceed to recite the classes and extracurricular activities of the past two semesters of college. Share kindred moments over cooking fiascos, roommate dynamics, and spontaneous late night adventures. Talk about internships and job prospects, and plans for the future. Inevitably circle back to funny and/or awkward high school memories, and collectively pool information about the relationships and whereabouts of our high school peers. Avoid addressing that one scenario from two years ago where you felt slightly out of the loop since everyone else seems to have moved on. Find out that the cashier has been waiting for a while now for you to hand over your grocery basket, so hastily make plans to catch up some more, though you aren't really sure what else there is to talk about. Ultimate fade from that person's mind until you run into them over holiday break at the grocery store again for another trip down memory lane.]</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">------</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">An acquaintance is working the cash register:</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">[an internal stream of consciousness]</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Oh yikes, do I say hi? Do you remember me? I'll try for a slight head nod and faint smile, acknowledging that we spent the past seven years in each other's periphery. But then again, what if I am just another unrecognizable face from the public school system? I believe the only times we've talked were under the instructions of Think, Pair, Share. I don't think you were a mean kid at school, why didn't we ever cross paths? Maybe it is just a quirk of mine to recognize and remember the names of most people, and to not want to expect others to act likewise. Or maybe I'm just awkward.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">"Oh no thanks, I brought my own bag. Have a nice day!"</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Maybe I'll try again next week.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">------</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A parent of an elementary school friend is reaching for the same bag of unsalted, corn tortilla chips:</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">"KAITLYN! IS THAT YOU?"</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I surreptitiously glance over my left and right shoulders, wondering if anyone named Kaitlyn is in the vicinity. As you may have guessed, there is not.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">"Hi Ms. X-! It's nice to see you."</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">"YES IT IS! ARE YOUR PARENTS DOING WELL? I REMEMBER YOU AS A LITTLE GIRL RUNNING ON THE POOL DECK WITH [insert name of her child]."</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">"Ahaha yes, those were fun times. My parents are alright."</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">"HOW ARE YOU? DID YOU PICK A MAJOR IN COLLEGE YET?"</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I answer briefly with my college, major, year, and loose career aspirations (just in case those plans go awry). I preemptively slide in my relationships status and agree that school is hard and I'm lucky to be where I am.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Sure enough, that seems to satisfy her curiosity and the mic is handed back. Ms. X turns on proud parent mode and proceeds to humble brag about the achievements and milestones of her child, while ending with an obligatory (but warm), "of course, [child] can work harder."</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I smile and make a mental note to reach out to that elementary school friend, or at least look up their profile on social media to see how they're doing. We part amicably. </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">------</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Though it may seem like I'm poking fun with these templated interactions, by no means do I think they are shallow. People float in and out of your life, just as you float in and out of theirs. And I notice that my spirits usually lift after (mustering courage for) a talk with them. And so the grocery trips will continue. </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p></span>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-46767306738400162262020-05-19T14:57:00.002-07:002020-05-19T14:57:26.823-07:00yeet it's May<span id="docs-internal-guid-4a05179d-7fff-1479-12d4-3a47510b6200"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><font face="verdana"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br /></font></p><font face="verdana"><br /></font><div><span> </span>It has been an interesting end to my sophomore year of college. Most of the people I know have been safe and healthy, so that is all I can really ask for. I'll write the rest of this blog post under the guise of normalcy. </div><div><br /></div><div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>~~~ Ahem :^) ~~~</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Despite the slightly terrifying situation of being two years away from the "real world" (whatever that may be), I have to say that each semester of college progressively gets better. We moved into our own apartment, cooked our meals, lugged our groceries from Trader Joe's up a breath-taking hill, wandered around Berkeley too late into the night, and fought off a few ant infestations. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Looking back, I'm proud that I dove into new opportunities each semester, even if I felt severely underprepared and underqualified. I've taken leadership positions in clubs, did a summer of research, quit some other clubs, became a TA, and even exercised regularly (heh). Somehow my grades have improved, I'm less afraid of math, and I like studying even when the material at first glance looks like a foreign language. I also somehow navigated my first recruiting season, in which my friend (I owe her a lot) taught me how to do technical interviews, and I attempted to read Cracking the Coding Interview. Our team even tied for second place in our DSP class's <a href="https://sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/ee123-sp20/project?authuser=0" target="_blank">contest</a> :))) Since my internship is now remote, the first few days have just been submitting paperwork and attending virtual orientation, so I decided to catch up on the blog.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>After rereading the first few paragraphs of my writing, it seems like fear is an underlying theme. I'm not sure when fear became such a prominent emotion in my thought processes, but rationalizing about it some more has led me to think that this emotion is more like a caution sign telling me to take each step with care, rather than a road block. Undoubtedly, fear exists on a sliding scale, and there are scarier <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/world/americas/brazil-rio-police-violence.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">things </a>in this world than a college student failing. But I really really don't want this emotion to limit the things I try in life, even though I still feel hesitant to vocalize a dream for fear of not achieving it.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>On that fun note, here are some summer goals for myself (aside from the usual laundry list of exercising, cooking, and good social/mental health):</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><div>make a lofi song</div></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-4a05179d-7fff-1479-12d4-3a47510b6200"><div>play piano</div></span></li><li><span id="docs-internal-guid-4a05179d-7fff-1479-12d4-3a47510b6200"><div>study some robotics</div></span></li></ol></div><div><span> </span>Hopefully I can replenish my lack of creativity and culture by engaging in the arts before my mind dries out as an engineer. (jk engineering is creative too but I'm not on that level yet)</div><div><br /></div><div>Though I'm pretty sure no one reads these blogs, here are my links :D</div><div><br /></div><div>Donate: <a href="https://www.shfb.org/" target="_blank">https://www.shfb.org/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Listen: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyWOh0EjXts" target="_blank">Kenshi Yonezu + Aimer</a> I will see them over BTS if either one ever comes to America.</div><div><br /></div><div>Watch: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_Playlist" target="_blank">Hospital Playlist</a> Now I want to be a doctor with a merry band (aha) of friends, but honestly who wouldn't. Please note my career aspirations vary wildly with the currently airing Kdrama. </div><div><br /></div><div>Read: The Stranger [Albert Camus]. Why think my own existential thoughts when I can hear them from Meursault? </div><div><br /></div><div>Taste: <a href="https://kimchimari.com/milk-bread-asian/" target="_blank">Milk Bread</a> (My roommate made this and it looked yummy so now I shall try too)</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zsQvRHrr0OPjXMn0LYF4JfIEhYhlwStWlgEfkFHDQKSDzSNo-RzOHnEJMUfXqguODaPDVvMbVrmRl94loJFm0f2jxoSk8eg-9KN1Qv56Yo4sFGn76Md4Tv97CWUlvjFGPM47UAnY=w320-h240" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" title="merry xmas lmao" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">happy holidays lol<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /></span>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-77433482214043678132019-01-21T14:48:00.004-08:002019-01-21T14:48:52.095-08:00it's january.Another break, come and gone.<br />
A reflection of the past year would be appropriate, but enough retrospection goes on in my head that I don't think it warrants a separate blog post.<br />
<br />
Rather, I'll set a goal to attack life at a sustainable pace with a bullet journal (read: glorified to-do list) in hand.<br />
<br />
I suppose my break was semi-productive. I got to finally build a new portfolio site, hike a few trails with my parents, make omurice, and read lots of books.<br />
<br />
During a luscious lapse of doing absolutely nothing, I watched a Korean web-drama, titled "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ0f_g2mQlLfre0PQ7yJZ_PP2UplP5kVM" target="_blank">연애 강요하는 사회</a>", or "A Society Obsessed with Love."<br />
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It was a rather timely dose of chicken soup for a cynical, albeit inexperienced, soul. It basically told the story of a college student, Han Sa-rang (whose name ironically means love), and her appreciation of her life as a single person.<br />
<br />
With friends, co-workers, and general society pressuring her into finding a relationship, she questions whether the life she currently enjoys is not a fulfilled state of being.<br />
<br />
Outwardly, it is clear that the answer is no, a relationship is not a requirement for a complete life. But I appreciated the drama's depiction of Sa-rang's descent into self-doubt, her attempt at having a relationship, and her ultimate return to appreciating the life she led independently.<br />
<br />
Part of the appeal of "A Society Obsessed with Love" was Sa-rang's adamant defense of her lifestyle, which included trying out new recipes, being a cat mom, practicing photography, working part-time, and doing well in her studies. She appears immune to the commentary of her peers, who wonder if her busy life is the reason for the lack of a relationship, yet their judgment still hurts.<br />
<br />
She simply feels more comfortable on her own. Nonetheless, she tries out a relationship for the sake of doing so. Though both her and her boyfriend were respectful and kind, Sa-rang felt as if she were losing the enjoyable aspects of her life.<br />
<br />
As this was a drama, the catalyst for her breakup clearly had to be her cat suffering a serious medical emergency, leading Sa-rang to question her priorities in life. After a mutual end to the relationship, she undeniably felt regret for hurting a person who cared for her. But she was free to resume the life she chose for herself.<br />
<br />
She baked an apology gift for her cat (lol), started working out with her roommate, joined an exchange program to Canada, and thought about what she really wants to do in the future. She had confidence in not dating, and felt fulfillment in cherishing everything around her and living for herself, as herself.<br />
<br />
In all honesty, my thoughts on the matter may change as time passes. But for now, it was a reassuring message that there is no wrong on focusing on a future for oneself, and living happily in independence. So I'll start 2019 from there, working through school, and trying my best to maintain a life with happiness and health. :)<br />
<br />
Music: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F64yFFnZfkI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F64yFFnZfkI</a><br />
Book: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man%27s_Folly">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man%27s_Folly</a><br />
Trail: <a href="https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=517">https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=517</a>katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-56149308846313936112018-09-02T22:49:00.002-07:002018-09-02T22:49:34.533-07:00Reflections on being a week and a half into collegeAfter a long long period of purposeful deprioritization or a general display of apathy towards writing, I've decided to scribble up this quick reflection during the BART ride home for Labor Day weekend. The sweet sounds of screeching rails and the distinctive smell of communal commuter misery will be good companionship as I dig up the memories to this "once in a lifetime" start that is college. Who knows, this may be the beginning of the end of my education before joining the workforce, or, alternatively, only the first steps of a long path ahead in academia. A few other ideas that I attempted to write out previously have been added to this post, but the themes fit in well enough.<br />
<br />
I spoke of introversion, and the difficulty of reaching out meaningfully. The first few days, and honestly even now, was a permutation of parroting "Hey my name is [ ], I'm majoring in [ ], and I'm from [40% Norcal, 30% Socal, 10% some place abroad, 10% a non-Californian state, 10% self-described 'desert in the middle of nowhere']".<br />
<br />
But similar to methodically popping the bubbles on bubble wrap, or whacking the moles in an arcade game, I can see the necessity of making abundant introductions in hopes of stumbling across of group where conversation can be held in an excess of five minutes. Create a group chat, throw in an inside joke and dinner plans, and college feels like a slightly less lonely place.<br />
<br />
I'm lucky in that a few high school friends are here with me, and that I can go home virtually anytime I wish. The transition for others has not been as nearly as convenient as it has been for me. The setting is still foreign, but I take comfort in the routine of making my bunk bed and vacuuming on Sundays. Ideally, a clean space would reflect a slightly less cluttered mind :^)<br />
<br />
Not much has changed about me, despite turning eighteen. It was strange not spending my birthday with my family, but my friends (new and old) helped fill the gap wonderfully <3<br />
<br />
Of course, college hasn't been just a blissful happy bubble. Sometimes the feeling of being lost wells up as I walk through a sea of unrecognizable faces. Hearing about peers taking twice as many classes and securing summer internships further cultivates a sense of being underqualified.<br />
<br />
But I'm trying my best XD<br />
<br />
It's fun to chat with random people I met at lecture to learn about their hobbies back home, or to hear how many miles they travelled to get here. It's reassuring to talk to upperclassmen and learn about the classes and organization they appreciate, and how they still don't know what they will do in life. I'd like to think I've been a generally amiable human being, even venturing out to an EECS social (which my friend pointed out as an oxymoron). I try to comfort people when they feel out of place or that they made a mistake. Life is too vast for me to generalize about, but I figure that it helps and hurts people at different times, so might as well help others through the process. Most of the people I've encountered are friendly and pretty cool to learn from, and if I run into some people who aren't, I suppose the campus is big enough for everyone :)<br />
<br />
A Miyazaki essay I had read over the summer lamented how growing beyond childhood resulted in a loss of clarity. I thought at the age of eight that I would be a panda researcher when I grew up. Ten years later, I have less of a sense of where I would like to be, so I can see some validity in Miyazaki's statement. College advisers tell us to know ourselves, crafting a well-rehearsed elevator pitch that highlights key resume points. A child-like understanding of who I was and what I could be is perhaps being adorned (armored?) with LinkedIn updates.<br />
<br />
Backtracking to the idea of identity, all I know is that my Hogwarts house flipped from Slytherin to Gryffindor at some point in the summer, and that I am not interested in consulting.<br />
<br />
However, I rather enjoy going to class and even studying. College material feels more succinct and applicable, whether it is solving some systems of linear equations, or practicing 한글. PE is cool too, since it forces me for a set amount of time to not be hunched over a laptop or book. I think my favorite hobby so far is exploring the various libraries on campus, in search of the perfect patch of sunlight streaming through a window to settle in.<br />
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I've learned some non academic things as well, such as identifying whether a person has alcohol poisoning, and the best techniques for stashing food from the dining halls to save on meal swipes. I'm ready to struggle and hopefully come out with something worthwhile (besides an EECS degree and chronic sleep deprivation). This post is becoming long-winded now, so I'll wrap up as my stop is coming up.<br />
<br />
To the person I was within the vicinity of during the CS lecture: I truly admire your passion and dedication to the subject, but please take care of yourself, especially in regards to hygiene, for the well-being of yourself and others around you :)<br />
<br />
The memes do not necessarily need to be accurate.<br />
<div>
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katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-23605009246576008012018-06-19T17:39:00.001-07:002018-06-19T17:40:37.228-07:00台灣 :D<b>Day 7 - Wednesday, June 13</b><br />
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Landed in Taiwan #1!!! So much food @.@ After walking a bit around Ximending, or the "Harajuku of Taipei," we ate some 牛肉麵 in a basement and called it a day, after -of course- stopping by a grocery store.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSOI0el2GcQEKZ72HdsXwk90T8QHTGGpavA1ibXEbebt_z13d_r-i9n0mqQxBuTj6ExSGLF8t-LlP3N0yAfIsmF2L5ohMR6_RHFTmjmIHrQCIpZUEbrxAT528VlndtbDfA2HoawidiWcI/s1600/IMG_6959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkSOI0el2GcQEKZ72HdsXwk90T8QHTGGpavA1ibXEbebt_z13d_r-i9n0mqQxBuTj6ExSGLF8t-LlP3N0yAfIsmF2L5ohMR6_RHFTmjmIHrQCIpZUEbrxAT528VlndtbDfA2HoawidiWcI/s320/IMG_6959.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taipei Main Station</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0c2x9x-zI6E7arrziXChD0EFLKrvC9dZE1828VWeR1JsDbTL-azPWot7xj7YO_C3ce5B0UNIayx14huwTyrtzWLeXafXGyibudSXj7zl2mZbQZ4FEpbJ6MZ5UD7oppBYPK1ldBBthyphenhyphen18g/s1600/IMG_6960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0c2x9x-zI6E7arrziXChD0EFLKrvC9dZE1828VWeR1JsDbTL-azPWot7xj7YO_C3ce5B0UNIayx14huwTyrtzWLeXafXGyibudSXj7zl2mZbQZ4FEpbJ6MZ5UD7oppBYPK1ldBBthyphenhyphen18g/s320/IMG_6960.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ximending</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BAnqWQzlKVzXWEaK0oCaMpbZ9D_4NRnDtoBlu9s3W3VNvMTq8qOBd2OUfe2T8m-Sfo2Oe4tRIxqHTtdBTNxHLolkr49XLXvbm-hK6Cr8wpHOhyUQmEY7JQQsfnvw-23a4jzbBoss-nT6/s1600/IMG_6961.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6BAnqWQzlKVzXWEaK0oCaMpbZ9D_4NRnDtoBlu9s3W3VNvMTq8qOBd2OUfe2T8m-Sfo2Oe4tRIxqHTtdBTNxHLolkr49XLXvbm-hK6Cr8wpHOhyUQmEY7JQQsfnvw-23a4jzbBoss-nT6/s320/IMG_6961.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taiwan #1!!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVnb5ZEZVkRLQZSgJFCRoVxVyeBkXN0j-ZjFAE8tZ12UYPkHDZfkvj2NLqUvt3niXh_j2sheVSBdlQPX2DeoQ8aBy1Lt93F20y8EImuzAdO64XZ-tCK0TpEmxxgIO-T2abhbhXKnoJiRF/s1600/IMG_6964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVnb5ZEZVkRLQZSgJFCRoVxVyeBkXN0j-ZjFAE8tZ12UYPkHDZfkvj2NLqUvt3niXh_j2sheVSBdlQPX2DeoQ8aBy1Lt93F20y8EImuzAdO64XZ-tCK0TpEmxxgIO-T2abhbhXKnoJiRF/s320/IMG_6964.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">noodles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiquaN9cXp_U1KtXW3EHO6srBaMzGVSR-8s-ol1-7w1e_ZNxjXqqPI05C1vdYx2-LbAFvvFcir2tf3ESEE6P6BgJJoRmn_L73I87yc1abCGwI4c33-RS1pCc0VPwAs8MagUtoDyjgx4oYTl/s1600/IMG_6965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiquaN9cXp_U1KtXW3EHO6srBaMzGVSR-8s-ol1-7w1e_ZNxjXqqPI05C1vdYx2-LbAFvvFcir2tf3ESEE6P6BgJJoRmn_L73I87yc1abCGwI4c33-RS1pCc0VPwAs8MagUtoDyjgx4oYTl/s320/IMG_6965.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">durian!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>Day 8 - Thursday, June 14</b><br />
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Yup, these blogs are definitely getting shorter. In retrospect, I should've split up the posting of the Korea trip, but meh. Onwards!<br />
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Day 8 consisted of a lot of public-transiting. After a subway and bus ride, we landed at the National Palace Museum, where I learned that no royalty actually live there. Only in Taiwan would the most popular museum relic be a jade bok choy and some-sort-of-mineral hunk of pork.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD7jrCn20ih_3BiTj9iq46bfCw8OoRIPenr8oSx0QqZcQuhndoMfkd1VwqpqSmLqsum32Z6FHHDJxl46r6HqmazazBxFEekkPJ26QbDi5Kr51xHv5eP01DYiENdZiHepqONHeqx9zlv1RZ/s1600/IMG_6974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD7jrCn20ih_3BiTj9iq46bfCw8OoRIPenr8oSx0QqZcQuhndoMfkd1VwqpqSmLqsum32Z6FHHDJxl46r6HqmazazBxFEekkPJ26QbDi5Kr51xHv5eP01DYiENdZiHepqONHeqx9zlv1RZ/s320/IMG_6974.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">no one lives here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOEZoaCGuODfuyrVVNrKz1GlHvc-Fk_cLkD6Kcavjq9M59G1kvzs9uTqiCNM5r1gFJAj0uD1fG8OqrLAAQ_HxnOB5vZxq0FYMWCaFEj5ZOQ7LimP64KmrjmnJX2eoTu-E8OH67V_Zkdd9/s1600/IMG_6977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOEZoaCGuODfuyrVVNrKz1GlHvc-Fk_cLkD6Kcavjq9M59G1kvzs9uTqiCNM5r1gFJAj0uD1fG8OqrLAAQ_HxnOB5vZxq0FYMWCaFEj5ZOQ7LimP64KmrjmnJX2eoTu-E8OH67V_Zkdd9/s320/IMG_6977.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">boy choy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCukkGxZohUVgnzxyfbLu3lsbSOIblQSucs9jzWd7KJTGTHQWFDMMVYCBpa0oPZGDCdfvXu0S5hVy4byisMfr97RB3eNR04vw_o8DjxjPz2dK3PJeeqYZV9S-J0xZmtLGiJ-mfEapg2NA/s1600/IMG_6978.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCukkGxZohUVgnzxyfbLu3lsbSOIblQSucs9jzWd7KJTGTHQWFDMMVYCBpa0oPZGDCdfvXu0S5hVy4byisMfr97RB3eNR04vw_o8DjxjPz2dK3PJeeqYZV9S-J0xZmtLGiJ-mfEapg2NA/s320/IMG_6978.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">meat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Lunch - a Hong Kong style cafe, with reallyyyy good milk tea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOjV5guHRzBXx_hyOQ1tBCQ0RvOd-YI1J8bCkHq8GR3eQBHoTlDuAxcwVsjapqkGEJ44MGOBFFhoIClDbo7nnZGeQgCAPAB_eFhDztaa8z-ksFQ59QONSWtyQZ5gwEPtJxDEQxRJg2aA7/s1600/IMG_6982.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOjV5guHRzBXx_hyOQ1tBCQ0RvOd-YI1J8bCkHq8GR3eQBHoTlDuAxcwVsjapqkGEJ44MGOBFFhoIClDbo7nnZGeQgCAPAB_eFhDztaa8z-ksFQ59QONSWtyQZ5gwEPtJxDEQxRJg2aA7/s320/IMG_6982.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Some more trains and buses later, we arrived at the Beitou Hot Springs. The park had a lovely public foot spa and pleasant entertainment and gentle exercise for senior citizens or those wishing to be.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIaBznox8u6NXv_QAxeNxNkvC02_zyuSCOud1HR5JLlpEJjWp4SyIjEfDQHzglUOvZyzbXmMTLG97pjRJZaAjGtGNJ7fBvdD-MqByCiErAyXSQGqaGHZJo5ayK7a8SWfY2ZCzcuA8HUg8o/s1600/IMG_6983.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIaBznox8u6NXv_QAxeNxNkvC02_zyuSCOud1HR5JLlpEJjWp4SyIjEfDQHzglUOvZyzbXmMTLG97pjRJZaAjGtGNJ7fBvdD-MqByCiErAyXSQGqaGHZJo5ayK7a8SWfY2ZCzcuA8HUg8o/s320/IMG_6983.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the water was REALLY hot</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabyxlikVQ_ysG4t02jTMd2jEb8DIGDpm5MWUU97pUbucgLyIqHdbY48Tc9OoaKAC4Gd1jEWYh5q4n5KfhJoDyGPFxmNMJza3We3vvChVHF9gUCe4pKvoOGsXwJm15QXNEnM_NDli_cbON/s1600/IMG_6984.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabyxlikVQ_ysG4t02jTMd2jEb8DIGDpm5MWUU97pUbucgLyIqHdbY48Tc9OoaKAC4Gd1jEWYh5q4n5KfhJoDyGPFxmNMJza3We3vvChVHF9gUCe4pKvoOGsXwJm15QXNEnM_NDli_cbON/s320/IMG_6984.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">public karaoke</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">exercise!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxExslKadPACJm91GopyPZLHv6AppRroQN7lNmr33J8vz4aMDa92rzDYYLxiSJruuFHtqfpzASNSD4Ey8hYZ9hFGAErHJrgwGaee6tyF7zB0Em14aH7Lkt6AUgI7RNXUNCllDCLXfztOM/s1600/IMG_6991.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxExslKadPACJm91GopyPZLHv6AppRroQN7lNmr33J8vz4aMDa92rzDYYLxiSJruuFHtqfpzASNSD4Ey8hYZ9hFGAErHJrgwGaee6tyF7zB0Em14aH7Lkt6AUgI7RNXUNCllDCLXfztOM/s320/IMG_6991.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">*inhales sulfur*</td></tr>
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The Tamsui (淡水) District is similar to Fisherman's Wharf in SF, but 50% cheaper. My passion fruit green tea (freshly blended without any fruit syrup) was less than $2 T-T. Some spicy cats and dogs also lived among the food and accessory stalls, guarding the wares with sharp eyes and bushy tails.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6I4t59sC99-TZ_QMW31GPcXIDFXSbWPbydNLQNLfZfIkO3U_E8RG9MyFTc_1wtibADIUBwdOS4GBhbISylT_8mCi1sXKuG9EXjBmwLKdQruDkZE-GOZQT6lIIwlxhFt_W9K9X6DkvPNH1/s1600/IMG_6994.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6I4t59sC99-TZ_QMW31GPcXIDFXSbWPbydNLQNLfZfIkO3U_E8RG9MyFTc_1wtibADIUBwdOS4GBhbISylT_8mCi1sXKuG9EXjBmwLKdQruDkZE-GOZQT6lIIwlxhFt_W9K9X6DkvPNH1/s320/IMG_6994.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">that is NOT a statue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqCIv8ngR9fcIH5JeRiRlSKmqbGQBzNjiDOstg3MvDJY3osu-A8uLCxmW-sf6D8GN7s2RQBhNBXjaJAeWqYZUEQ9sJiwQuay_cYobyZ3hkJNL-2acZqSqdEkAHcjTVsj8OS0Yjyo86SZs/s1600/IMG_6995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqCIv8ngR9fcIH5JeRiRlSKmqbGQBzNjiDOstg3MvDJY3osu-A8uLCxmW-sf6D8GN7s2RQBhNBXjaJAeWqYZUEQ9sJiwQuay_cYobyZ3hkJNL-2acZqSqdEkAHcjTVsj8OS0Yjyo86SZs/s320/IMG_6995.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">passion fruit green tea!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">meow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">it's todoroki shoto >.></td></tr>
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<b>Day 9 - Friday, June 15</b><br />
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Another train ride brought us to Hualien, a quiet vacation town with no discernable industry aside from moped racing and fruit selling. Biking along the streets, racing with taxis and mopeds carrying grandmothers, infants, and dogs without any stop signs at intersections was quite the adventure.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">found a totoro!</td></tr>
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After eating at the night market, we ate more food! Goose + boba. Gosh, there is so much boba in Taiwan T_T. Buying milk tea for twice the price will surely hurt when we return :P<br />
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<b>Day 10 - Saturday, June 16</b><br />
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Happy to announce that I have officially adventured into a grim grotto (heh, get the reference?). We did some more bus riding to Taroko National Park, where the aboriginal Truku reside. Aside from scenic gorges and monkeys clinging to cliffs, the fluttering butterflies and comforting hum of the cicadas made me really want to fall asleep on the mountain.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">monkey</td></tr>
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Learning about the history of indigenous tribes in Taiwan before the influx of Han Chinese, made me curious about how their native people have similar customs and living practices as Native Americans, and how both groups (and probably indigenous groups all over the world) experienced the same invasion of their home. In that respect, what does "civilization" really mean, and who is to set the standard of mainstream living.<br />
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We also had dinner at this fancy Italian pasta/buffet place with Alice in Wonderland vibes (a weird mix in Hualien) which tasted good nonetheless!<br />
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Side note: I was watching the anime movie Summer Wars and it nicely restores faith in humanity and a prescient view of the future :D<br />
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<b>Day 11 - Sunday, June 17</b><br />
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Took yet another train back to Taipei, and had more boba! Yay! (We really don't change our ways much, even when abroad). Then we finished up the day wandering around Ximending's market for more food O_O<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYm1HgOmqBMi-KzwDlrXB6faV6grjWSa4wyJSfc_RWqEh6yBd_OAsWDyC2rDfUHm-KD2mPpt-Odas7Zk46WvZsXwf8k5Qc8wxBV-gNhlgv-nPF-67x5ef3RGyxQEFdmYm4RFVYUXJ3Z2X/s1600/IMG_7043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYm1HgOmqBMi-KzwDlrXB6faV6grjWSa4wyJSfc_RWqEh6yBd_OAsWDyC2rDfUHm-KD2mPpt-Odas7Zk46WvZsXwf8k5Qc8wxBV-gNhlgv-nPF-67x5ef3RGyxQEFdmYm4RFVYUXJ3Z2X/s320/IMG_7043.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"frog egg" milk tea (best boba ever)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwOJp4sXzmr0Fkctj-dpfBGgUUOoNQ7sLTgZMViAf312feK9CvxIKnKmBCBdWpEeLFXKQeyTb-TVBGpnLDK01Wa61TuFtk2gnglnxITp9pQZ1amcyQ9IJCTgTkk-cznqSlWekTHeuo2nwe/s1600/IMG_7044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwOJp4sXzmr0Fkctj-dpfBGgUUOoNQ7sLTgZMViAf312feK9CvxIKnKmBCBdWpEeLFXKQeyTb-TVBGpnLDK01Wa61TuFtk2gnglnxITp9pQZ1amcyQ9IJCTgTkk-cznqSlWekTHeuo2nwe/s320/IMG_7044.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">doggo on a moped</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pork bun</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglblkibn6smawyF33fKgfEjHJzi1qiIy5wame3a1mjNZthqqKoD5nhr3Imp2Z5aAIY5ry5ipvCFqU1ggnFNOfVTgQDI0mVC6beR-pNvaunb1IjFqpfZrNTx_SGFkcSuK-KdLBB-djCBHuS/s1600/IMG_7046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglblkibn6smawyF33fKgfEjHJzi1qiIy5wame3a1mjNZthqqKoD5nhr3Imp2Z5aAIY5ry5ipvCFqU1ggnFNOfVTgQDI0mVC6beR-pNvaunb1IjFqpfZrNTx_SGFkcSuK-KdLBB-djCBHuS/s320/IMG_7046.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our mascot is waifu</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjyCMxOv-M82WvyzBGA8GKUCjP9Jgk9ozxIrwC7UUjZ80Lh6YXr0iseaUsMBkhhMwM0fzFkoAN3IVBGY6cv3IHXsfw7zgxOzVeVz3MEAwh0EP7uGA-zv6u-SbYoPaMZKgooCFvfnKKufVR/s1600/IMG_7047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjyCMxOv-M82WvyzBGA8GKUCjP9Jgk9ozxIrwC7UUjZ80Lh6YXr0iseaUsMBkhhMwM0fzFkoAN3IVBGY6cv3IHXsfw7zgxOzVeVz3MEAwh0EP7uGA-zv6u-SbYoPaMZKgooCFvfnKKufVR/s320/IMG_7047.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">is "milk ice cream" redundant?</td></tr>
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<b><br />Day 12 - Monday, June 18</b><br />
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The morning consisted of exploration around the Daan (大安) District for a breakfast of soymilk and youtiao (油條). After wandering around a forest-like park to avoid the rain, we took the subway to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to watch the changing of the guards. Just watching the performance made me sympathize for the guards, who had to stand for an hour in hot and humid weather without twitching a muscle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAffvRHrw_9ceNu0Cm7MpvlxKnY0UwghfBvZH3LRqXOVa7CJfm2hyphenhyphenJNjL1lg0XMboH_yZHllKz3ZKWlcBeYp_OBEmaFHGdl3M756rHilO92u9LzE-rjRPkeHun6AAWvKixoHWjx6uPBTE/s1600/IMG_7049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAffvRHrw_9ceNu0Cm7MpvlxKnY0UwghfBvZH3LRqXOVa7CJfm2hyphenhyphenJNjL1lg0XMboH_yZHllKz3ZKWlcBeYp_OBEmaFHGdl3M756rHilO92u9LzE-rjRPkeHun6AAWvKixoHWjx6uPBTE/s320/IMG_7049.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">breakfast</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BeDo363B6u5_2hmJLierpEtYDvhbmNACk9su8ZIyKvR53VfXBtoYYTjmEqWogqLZ5zmXAFHFbQZESid9jdQFauPKhUq9acpUgAMjTceVqoH789oVA-Z-JX65PpWZV5o0o4xO5WrCD5Vp/s1600/IMG_7051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BeDo363B6u5_2hmJLierpEtYDvhbmNACk9su8ZIyKvR53VfXBtoYYTjmEqWogqLZ5zmXAFHFbQZESid9jdQFauPKhUq9acpUgAMjTceVqoH789oVA-Z-JX65PpWZV5o0o4xO5WrCD5Vp/s320/IMG_7051.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">it's raining in a park -someone trace my foot pls</td></tr>
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Xiaolongbao are good for any meal, and we had three baskets for lunch :3<br />
We finished the day with a lot of shopping in the underground station markets. There are so many cute things in Taiwan >-<<br />
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<b>Day 13 - Tuesday, June 19</b><br />
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For our last full day in Taiwan, we took the Maokong gondola ride over the hills and up to some tea plantations. A bumpy bus ride down brought us to the Taipei Zoo, where the rest of the afternoon was spent watching the animals roll around and sleep in the heat.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioH-x6qQBwde8zV2N-Yn5WDyuvWI1gNZNYUzkoK92t4sY3LS638_nP33V4M5rTf0pwvAlFgLLdr53-x4FvTISvGoo7ArC9BI4vN76ZGI-gUqPC3aZxhrXS-ed4OXDYOx8ZK81Y5fa2N14P/s1600/IMG_7075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioH-x6qQBwde8zV2N-Yn5WDyuvWI1gNZNYUzkoK92t4sY3LS638_nP33V4M5rTf0pwvAlFgLLdr53-x4FvTISvGoo7ArC9BI4vN76ZGI-gUqPC3aZxhrXS-ed4OXDYOx8ZK81Y5fa2N14P/s320/IMG_7075.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fun</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipi3xpIcKUjCPKQtUuth_cuTUbl9u6gmyoPMmFOO_wPT5M89DhT3hSPNLJNxM36COIwB852NIh9UV5QR4oPadChrrE9Tyz3f7EFxWwk5daAl4pxmU8wMstvGKekCiAFjBSTvl1omcKIyPX/s1600/IMG_7082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipi3xpIcKUjCPKQtUuth_cuTUbl9u6gmyoPMmFOO_wPT5M89DhT3hSPNLJNxM36COIwB852NIh9UV5QR4oPadChrrE9Tyz3f7EFxWwk5daAl4pxmU8wMstvGKekCiAFjBSTvl1omcKIyPX/s320/IMG_7082.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">find the tea harvester</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgur015nzZJbbSRLsS0S9XSbKWyIbtgqtBpJfnPeW76WeW8RuvQ_VqQ2ZMpgUQ24VIn5u-5fY18diWpg0w60MakYH5m2pbIRxiET3mx2C_uceNrfnrwybXLN5Ax2WWge01bJxsN7DuQvLvR/s1600/IMG_7084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgur015nzZJbbSRLsS0S9XSbKWyIbtgqtBpJfnPeW76WeW8RuvQ_VqQ2ZMpgUQ24VIn5u-5fY18diWpg0w60MakYH5m2pbIRxiET3mx2C_uceNrfnrwybXLN5Ax2WWge01bJxsN7DuQvLvR/s320/IMG_7084.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hello, panda</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXJAmCgwq7ZWaNAu1jvwFRAVinYuTS_mhtt53Ja7_ggRvuYQ_20JWx3TwilDF9RB2ePpcTWQWpe3CW_JSo2WV8UO06ongJ8Vs00UmE5YxfuPC8j5JS0ewDrLC9jgNrVAsALEig_AGOQ2l/s1600/IMG_7086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHXJAmCgwq7ZWaNAu1jvwFRAVinYuTS_mhtt53Ja7_ggRvuYQ_20JWx3TwilDF9RB2ePpcTWQWpe3CW_JSo2WV8UO06ongJ8Vs00UmE5YxfuPC8j5JS0ewDrLC9jgNrVAsALEig_AGOQ2l/s320/IMG_7086.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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More food exploration in Daan rounded out the day, and with that, our trip to Taiwan wrapped up :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgiR1wq6rKlEW5OrgoXzAoHJB3UDsa_0XsAkGc8eDEIZmb07Y-eXViAW9uzm8h3VkTXjm8rxLnsSoB5dnRYmjJv_jEk7X3tabOMKO_Hyb1-EIKpFt1S5Gz0PNMjtq_R5gqdpMCfNZAt1f/s1600/IMG_7090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgiR1wq6rKlEW5OrgoXzAoHJB3UDsa_0XsAkGc8eDEIZmb07Y-eXViAW9uzm8h3VkTXjm8rxLnsSoB5dnRYmjJv_jEk7X3tabOMKO_Hyb1-EIKpFt1S5Gz0PNMjtq_R5gqdpMCfNZAt1f/s320/IMG_7090.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we ate this-</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJZAYxDRtDl8ZvK-Qr6DAs3iFBxkxBAKlC5qZe5yniONAoLv1Vlwvg7AGY49RyQHyRIYJxxRF1YpdffBg_D74tWz2i4RcHg50YlmORhYCpl-s2Rgays2Wn3yaeDyeJtFxcf1JZ4slrEh1/s1600/IMG_7091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJZAYxDRtDl8ZvK-Qr6DAs3iFBxkxBAKlC5qZe5yniONAoLv1Vlwvg7AGY49RyQHyRIYJxxRF1YpdffBg_D74tWz2i4RcHg50YlmORhYCpl-s2Rgays2Wn3yaeDyeJtFxcf1JZ4slrEh1/s320/IMG_7091.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">-then this</td></tr>
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<b>Day 14 - Wednesday, June 20</b><br />
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Time to fly home! Ahhh I start work on Monday….<br />
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katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-42764897469404838692018-06-13T04:46:00.001-07:002018-06-13T05:28:20.093-07:00heart & seoul<div>
<i><b>Seoul Summer 2018 Blogs</b></i></div>
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<b>Attempted Itinerary: </b><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j8ppjUoOV_NRCejYrx8WMqoMtrAoqo9hBxgPvPDaGyA/edit?usp=sharing">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j8ppjUoOV_NRCejYrx8WMqoMtrAoqo9hBxgPvPDaGyA/edit?usp=sharing</a></div>
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<b>Day 1 - Thursday, June 7</b></div>
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After landing in Incheon, South Korea, I absolutely could not wait to spot the crowds of K-pop and K-drama stars milling about the land of my media consumption. Needless to say, I had to temper my expectations a bit, but it was still satisfying to be able to identify the celebrities on product advertisements and billboards -an ability I unfortunately lack in America. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
Song Joong-ki is the face of Incheon Airport's Terminal 2!!</div>
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The transportation system proved to be intuitive and easy to navigate, with the added bonus of an extremely cute transportation card that doubles as a payment card for many convenience stores. A metroride from the airport to Seoul Station brought us to our AirBnb in Yongsan-gu (a district in Seoul).</div>
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<img height="178" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/DdAWzigedwRa4rxDnJNxhBg4kBEn_QXJlqo4g49RrOM_N-rY5_Tn_dQvqBDotWcZ5_ONZp0rPdwWJSvzIxnFLztU1WUzTT8I4-cNsMp1vOdOXCo6IxQDPAChNwsb9UlpcgK4TIiZ" style="border: none; font-family: Spectral; font-size: 11pt; transform: rotate(0rad); white-space: pre-wrap;" width="212" /> vs <img height="192" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ss5JBA1ry4sWLDK5oWOKJVtEDOJcMV9oqPDNr37i85jUlwIEJZR2E0D44hyeBSkz_G2smKpqmRQnrwHUeYFViY3aqZkVIM5OYV9Lwf41UlNn2pDqCSbV9bc9WbTI1OwWkseYBHrl" style="border: none; font-family: Spectral; font-size: 11pt; transform: rotate(0rad); white-space: pre-wrap;" width="231" /></div>
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It was already late evening by the time we were settling in, yet the streets were still bustling with people going out to eat after work or slipping in some night time shopping. After a quick dinner at a small mom-and-pop store, we did what we always did when arriving in foreign territory -explore the supermarket.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvwdUk_8-kw4fVELoBu6a7lWLSH5naR7G_632nDN_SBLPOaN2zLOM8hiTkz4UcfU-nwUaiu_Z3ex1FHZZiN0nMz5l380ElWPHiMJrlCo9xcyzvvR3xyNoB-jAYADB0dokrFIAXF2mreUj/s1600/IMG_6595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcvwdUk_8-kw4fVELoBu6a7lWLSH5naR7G_632nDN_SBLPOaN2zLOM8hiTkz4UcfU-nwUaiu_Z3ex1FHZZiN0nMz5l380ElWPHiMJrlCo9xcyzvvR3xyNoB-jAYADB0dokrFIAXF2mreUj/s320/IMG_6595.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">seoul station</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW2Bi4NEC3wgwVb_NUq7tGjE_Ih05PADzZdn3cI9CZHv5Pj3__VWoEqNRbP4y70NIsUtj0IZkKxTUQh5V4xunGlqWMBVYTO2WoWB-Khud-NbQPPn-WL7zmqbIWvsYnmshXi2TlUNuifDG/s1600/IMG_6596.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW2Bi4NEC3wgwVb_NUq7tGjE_Ih05PADzZdn3cI9CZHv5Pj3__VWoEqNRbP4y70NIsUtj0IZkKxTUQh5V4xunGlqWMBVYTO2WoWB-Khud-NbQPPn-WL7zmqbIWvsYnmshXi2TlUNuifDG/s320/IMG_6596.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">naengmyeon noodles with ice!</td></tr>
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A quick trip to LotteMart -a store similar to Target, Costco, and WholeFoods all in one- yielded us a box full of breakfast and snacks! I was amazed to see the sheer variety of milk options available, with three full refrigerator cases packed full of different kinds of milk (soy milk was an entirely different case of options).<br />
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And of course, in lieu of American tabloids, there were BTS albums and Kpop entertainment magazines available at the checkout line :D Self-packing stations supplied with boxes and tape were even provided for visitors to send home cases of Korean ramen.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-6Z2sSRB7c9f5EanG_tlkNEupE3J8ioQE99R3JP3Hx01eu_X3Hp2kA6lbfbzIEws-cVbez4-QnSKxP-NApkk8Z3eTMdnosSFeyP1wxl06D64FODHftdehkIj7AtSSihZNfL55Zdy50Cw/s1600/IMG_6598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_-6Z2sSRB7c9f5EanG_tlkNEupE3J8ioQE99R3JP3Hx01eu_X3Hp2kA6lbfbzIEws-cVbez4-QnSKxP-NApkk8Z3eTMdnosSFeyP1wxl06D64FODHftdehkIj7AtSSihZNfL55Zdy50Cw/s320/IMG_6598.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">tabloids ;)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGb7kD8D2DLoNHddIm4pe-1s29r0DpG5ejnjcR8eUZ-2NMTnAUs_HaJFH0S90C5DI-F5o1LNSH2rgfcelp34Pt433aq3bdOKzXP6fvkQ7KrZuXRu6xreIdV6FLmhGP7RSllkLUluB_6v7s/s1600/IMG_6599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGb7kD8D2DLoNHddIm4pe-1s29r0DpG5ejnjcR8eUZ-2NMTnAUs_HaJFH0S90C5DI-F5o1LNSH2rgfcelp34Pt433aq3bdOKzXP6fvkQ7KrZuXRu6xreIdV6FLmhGP7RSllkLUluB_6v7s/s320/IMG_6599.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">albums :O</td></tr>
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<b>Day 2 - Friday, June 8</b></div>
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Since this is the second day, these blogs will probably become a lot shorter. Oops.</div>
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Stop 1: A trip to Bukhansan National Park. We actually got on the bus and rode in the wrong direction south through Gangnam, rather than north to where the mountains actually are. However, I like to think of that detour as a nice excursion through the neighborhoods of Seoul that we otherwise wouldn't have visited. Another fascinating tidbit is how it was the midst of election season, so every few minutes a truck would roll past, blaring campaign speeches and flying huge banners of officials running for office. Of course, I don't understand any Korean at all, so those trucks may have been screaming "Wanted: Korea's Number 1 Criminal" for all I knew.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkiv3tlpIhIgllEuZNrIX3A48cPQ03HxRWzTeQaXVma2Rc8feIL4A5MjgaMNCT207EdDAK_J4-agWKwxcdq1TNSw_wO3_dwF6YUZ7ScB829GfpFZ8sQyNdD42BcfxudiZOqsGKXF4Oru2/s1600/IMG_1667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkiv3tlpIhIgllEuZNrIX3A48cPQ03HxRWzTeQaXVma2Rc8feIL4A5MjgaMNCT207EdDAK_J4-agWKwxcdq1TNSw_wO3_dwF6YUZ7ScB829GfpFZ8sQyNdD42BcfxudiZOqsGKXF4Oru2/s320/IMG_1667.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">elderly korean hotspot</td></tr>
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Anyways, after hopping of the wrong bus and taking the metro back north, we finally arrived at the park. There were a ton of mosquitos and elderly Koreans with intense hiking gear, but the experience of trekking up rocks through a forest to the tune of Buddhist chants coming from somewhere up the mountain was pleasant. The shoe cleaning station with pressurized air was also very handy.</div>
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Tip: Google Maps is kinda wonky in Korea, and I read online that it is because South Korea is still technically at war with North Korea, so locations cannot be publicly disclosed on the internet. Despite the 1-star rating on the App Store, Naver Map is a lot more useful at providing accurate transportation routes, and the presence of ample WiFi hotspots make going online even in the mountains possible.</div>
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<div>
Stop 2: The Itaewon area definitely had a more international atmosphere, with Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, and other ethnic restaurants lining the streets. Quynh was a very good Vietnamese restaurant we ate at, and the prices for the quality of food was really uncomparable to the Bay Area (oof =.=). One of the owners, an ex-pat from New Zealand, was really nice in explaining the menu (all in Korean and Vietnamese), and probably was as excited to converse in English as we were. Apparently, the daytime is when Itaewon is relatively tame, as the streets become packed with clubbing once night hits (as we could see from the numerous bars).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi14SJpqL85IT9iqLYodFOvXJLpRxKfRfg2ZS5tXcs7HO65tCG59I0m2FQpc_rD3p2vWc_JcJf1itBOsUVehsgOGR0rl08R9lYHxSqfJoy1aNokG74Tu6eqjG1gfqiXNSPmx_5jNFsWamkG/s1600/IMG_6603.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi14SJpqL85IT9iqLYodFOvXJLpRxKfRfg2ZS5tXcs7HO65tCG59I0m2FQpc_rD3p2vWc_JcJf1itBOsUVehsgOGR0rl08R9lYHxSqfJoy1aNokG74Tu6eqjG1gfqiXNSPmx_5jNFsWamkG/s320/IMG_6603.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">quynh</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKAyIUFka0g1b_1DNIOI4MbKTUGKHnWdZ8GFwuKnEjRU9CtVP5FRqT3vND3yk3QJasbaTZ7O2QxD0peuNL_vkxCCbHUJJ7SmML6npvsDIIB4KFDzTnzinehjbtzx3aMIJG2Jq2dUW2nbW/s1600/IMG_6608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKAyIUFka0g1b_1DNIOI4MbKTUGKHnWdZ8GFwuKnEjRU9CtVP5FRqT3vND3yk3QJasbaTZ7O2QxD0peuNL_vkxCCbHUJJ7SmML6npvsDIIB4KFDzTnzinehjbtzx3aMIJG2Jq2dUW2nbW/s320/IMG_6608.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">world food street</td></tr>
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Stop 3: I can't really describe the LINE flagship store at Itaewon as anything but CUTE CAPITALISM. The branding was extremely on point, and the concept of purchasing merchandise on the first floor, fangirling over a collab with BTS on the second [BT21 characters], and settling down for ample photo ops and cute cafe snacks on the third was well executed (and CUTE). Also, I TOUCHED RM'S SIGNATURE :DDDD</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLzstVWoVHvtfliqYwsRfnmYRKuAhRfDL9QDK1cvfExqcztRm767DhL9fdsboXhlqQ2BMSDiNVvOvI32VD5ArpoQzFFiEvkEEm9-A8-gAjOmr6ppteFP-JUyXKncun4EvqEebD9EvBkwR/s1600/IMG_6602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLzstVWoVHvtfliqYwsRfnmYRKuAhRfDL9QDK1cvfExqcztRm767DhL9fdsboXhlqQ2BMSDiNVvOvI32VD5ArpoQzFFiEvkEEm9-A8-gAjOmr6ppteFP-JUyXKncun4EvqEebD9EvBkwR/s320/IMG_6602.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">flagship</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Q_RnyWrsuknuyNa_SP28iCFRtSfU2d3VshZ8S_eQiQk5NKjyOTbWbI5AyGjurMr5E7Mbkb7u_zTNLMoTDxBPqmnrZFCXV80e996ya4Qh2qjeoUSwSyu2bxSC4F6CWeH58vmduLkXL5sr/s1600/IMG_6612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Q_RnyWrsuknuyNa_SP28iCFRtSfU2d3VshZ8S_eQiQk5NKjyOTbWbI5AyGjurMr5E7Mbkb7u_zTNLMoTDxBPqmnrZFCXV80e996ya4Qh2qjeoUSwSyu2bxSC4F6CWeH58vmduLkXL5sr/s320/IMG_6612.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ahhh</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_OT8mJz12dNkzrYilJguoZtCtQsLyXGnAf4R4DY0GgcL3RBMZvgiIXEMQBWSSV-E0sjV5kx6WRHVfNLBkGBR3edH5GJinWUmX7NX71u8mqDrtiBD5UuInbN1Omffe_1f4Pvcu7dAzxso-/s1600/IMG_6615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_OT8mJz12dNkzrYilJguoZtCtQsLyXGnAf4R4DY0GgcL3RBMZvgiIXEMQBWSSV-E0sjV5kx6WRHVfNLBkGBR3edH5GJinWUmX7NX71u8mqDrtiBD5UuInbN1Omffe_1f4Pvcu7dAzxso-/s320/IMG_6615.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ahhhhhhh</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLi6mgnb7h61nIi_Bha-RoB7-YqnpAKDuuGgTEQ6HpP75MQoCDQMeWYZw99gw58N8AVCCzjbGD72DLcnIdUGUSYRdpAhqC8K56xuSssfiA9n7imwR_lbsAxm9XN5HYZF7yyX0_LUaGhc9i/s1600/IMG_6617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLi6mgnb7h61nIi_Bha-RoB7-YqnpAKDuuGgTEQ6HpP75MQoCDQMeWYZw99gw58N8AVCCzjbGD72DLcnIdUGUSYRdpAhqC8K56xuSssfiA9n7imwR_lbsAxm9XN5HYZF7yyX0_LUaGhc9i/s320/IMG_6617.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i eat the body first</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">alskdjfslkdjf</td></tr>
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Stop 3: The Yongsan Garrison is the current headquarters from the US Military in South Korea, though it is set for relocation to a place outside of Seoul in 2019. The base will then be demolished and rebuilt into a Central Park-like area.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">clearly not the most welcome</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3o6M3VN4LDjhB8YfeqfNPlT1ThpY-SViXpYAuxa5Tb7V_47kq3aQWvNsVST1HtzoKb0yM3q6DTZXyk5FFXLApMNUlSAJob8po32PAI1-oJJmQCkI5MSdpyfnlwIHTelYn7E8BcZ1MYZn_/s1600/IMG_6630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3o6M3VN4LDjhB8YfeqfNPlT1ThpY-SViXpYAuxa5Tb7V_47kq3aQWvNsVST1HtzoKb0yM3q6DTZXyk5FFXLApMNUlSAJob8po32PAI1-oJJmQCkI5MSdpyfnlwIHTelYn7E8BcZ1MYZn_/s320/IMG_6630.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">itaewon welcome gate</td></tr>
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A visit to the War Memorial of Korea was also a necessity, and the sheer presence of military planes, tanks, and ships set into an open park for visitors to read about was startling.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">b 52</td></tr>
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The museum says something along the lines of "To achieve peace, remember war." I can feel the lasting effects of the nation embedded in war, from the endless list of casualty names engraved on smooth black monument stones (including UN forces) with fresh flowers from family members laid at their bases, to the troop of young Korean soldiers posing for a picture in front of the memorial. It's pretty common to see young Koreans in military uniform wandering about the metro and Seoul as they serve their mandatory duty, and I supposed it is a normalized walk of life for them. I do not pretend to understand the full mechanisms of war as a tool of foreign policy, but for a nation so intent on remembering war in order to establish peace that they build a children's museum next to a bullet-riddled war ship and tanks parked in the manner of a used-car dealership, the juxtaposition is just perplexing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">red paint emphasizes bullet holes from a skirmish with north korean forces in 2002</td></tr>
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Stop 4: I've always wanted to build a PC, and we knew we were walking the right direction to the Yongsan Electronics Market when people hefting computer towers on their shoulders began popping up. Stalls filled with powerstrips, hard drives, cameras, and cable connectors of every kind imaginable certainly made the electronics market live up to its name. Beyond the gaming chairs and possibly bootlegged copies of Gundam Battle Operation, one has to wonder to whom the battle for customers between these side stalls and large department stores will go to.<br />
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Stop 5: Quick dinner at Seoul Station!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">yum</td></tr>
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<b>Day 3 - Saturday, June 8</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(y)</td></tr>
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Stop 1: A trip to Naksan Park and the Ihwa Mural Village entailed a trek through hilly terrain complete with signs asking the obnoxious tourist to respect the residents of the area. Brightly painted murals adorned the alley walls of cobblestone streets, though there were sadly some erased artwork as a result of contentious relationships between residents and unwanted visitors. Nonetheless, the hike was a fun little treasure hunt, looking for aesthetic paintings and photoshoot spots. A lunch break with a panoramic view of Seoul from the hillside was nicely accompanied by the asthmatic wheezing of a poor dog.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8yCYtT3B1avvhQwZ382M14VZZyMBl0C4FowtHfPxCm5Zyo0OWuD-5oThp5HadW7VD_UCoVEsP4avPRz2u1EFIlCJp2nd6IzYRzaIZxmImvjSwlFK6HkGmEM44RLAuurO4sYuRH8Ys0gN/s1600/IMG_6682.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8yCYtT3B1avvhQwZ382M14VZZyMBl0C4FowtHfPxCm5Zyo0OWuD-5oThp5HadW7VD_UCoVEsP4avPRz2u1EFIlCJp2nd6IzYRzaIZxmImvjSwlFK6HkGmEM44RLAuurO4sYuRH8Ys0gN/s320/IMG_6682.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">poor doggo</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8RKMQFvHIvr9jKdd3W7lDRFnrrj6MgROJnuECjQWBiJEtChX1Lcwqf_BYYeIwhNMWJqcf-NaUA7kGwQ3K9T4OoDUwKTLrE_PQdSLMFHG4MIfvXYwQpPIvYJbkFTsFSD_M1aRc0jMxJ6F/s1600/IMG_6689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8RKMQFvHIvr9jKdd3W7lDRFnrrj6MgROJnuECjQWBiJEtChX1Lcwqf_BYYeIwhNMWJqcf-NaUA7kGwQ3K9T4OoDUwKTLrE_PQdSLMFHG4MIfvXYwQpPIvYJbkFTsFSD_M1aRc0jMxJ6F/s320/IMG_6689.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">self-serve cookies :P</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWBLYm68JOIJk3CBXdmy-mRNI5TxooP10wfQT4PH4c7aso-w9yXPKZs9mxjMGjKE3tlncvxjr0dc9qPwgsrr01RR26OfsqU5newQdUF7GX9t7YEDwZa47DAWMJ3DBrEh9CColThM-Bz68/s1600/IMG_6690.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWBLYm68JOIJk3CBXdmy-mRNI5TxooP10wfQT4PH4c7aso-w9yXPKZs9mxjMGjKE3tlncvxjr0dc9qPwgsrr01RR26OfsqU5newQdUF7GX9t7YEDwZa47DAWMJ3DBrEh9CColThM-Bz68/s320/IMG_6690.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hot, red, chilli peppers</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6KlGIGMUpRmaB6YaNYFun7UCeTkU0_25lj-h4DO91BbFqCUjtE6ZygpJ0KGB0XXtiVF0F7ySP0tD8SK33W_Oy97ST6jwc3JP89VgpInjyb2mFE1dQpN-0eW5sJeXD6gB9DPpcAPGH6QF4/s1600/IMG_6691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6KlGIGMUpRmaB6YaNYFun7UCeTkU0_25lj-h4DO91BbFqCUjtE6ZygpJ0KGB0XXtiVF0F7ySP0tD8SK33W_Oy97ST6jwc3JP89VgpInjyb2mFE1dQpN-0eW5sJeXD6gB9DPpcAPGH6QF4/s320/IMG_6691.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">~jazz cafe~</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjYlO039gGFJdOW38ONQ2XZ-qehbzwGB-LJMeES54VJNOjHGF0jREa4GNAso8imsQ4Yb3m0oLVNdvDo94j9L04ckXsXfHm0cbNyo7o7AV44S4904T-3RSf33c5OfcUb0gRJSeKDtBgO1R/s1600/IMG_6692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMjYlO039gGFJdOW38ONQ2XZ-qehbzwGB-LJMeES54VJNOjHGF0jREa4GNAso8imsQ4Yb3m0oLVNdvDo94j9L04ckXsXfHm0cbNyo7o7AV44S4904T-3RSf33c5OfcUb0gRJSeKDtBgO1R/s320/IMG_6692.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cafe about cats =.=<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqk5oDQra4fjdh2oRUKrA1hlMaWlTvoG5q5U6-DPXTsdlbPiVnwFFoo_xu17ZAozB5pNP_QNGx71XwOu5c_heSxYa-yPM85pn4O5n8IRckDVirzq4WPQ6C3DgoqOqH9X2WEQNtKQDWJl3/s1600/IMG_6695.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqk5oDQra4fjdh2oRUKrA1hlMaWlTvoG5q5U6-DPXTsdlbPiVnwFFoo_xu17ZAozB5pNP_QNGx71XwOu5c_heSxYa-yPM85pn4O5n8IRckDVirzq4WPQ6C3DgoqOqH9X2WEQNtKQDWJl3/s320/IMG_6695.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Area at the below Naksan Park was actually Seoul National University, during which some sort of feminism rally was taking place :D </td></tr>
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The number of cute cafes with cat decor and soft jazz music floating out the windows exuded a pleasant, calming vibe. As usual, Seoul was a place with the juxtaposition of the old and new, where skyscapes are visible from the doorway of an old, traditional building. </div>
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Stop 1.5: Being the koreaboo I am, I cannot help but take pictures of spots were famous K-drama scenes were filmed, such as the "Before I die" wall in Ihwa Village or the rooftop cafe near Changdeokgung Palace. It's always fun to see branding with celebrities and even posters with their signatures.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCloN6DTzGmpKD2nX0U433XXsIGavF4jbytj5Oinl67cijB3vO7iKAWadwGF9QIxtQ84fpSPoKy1cwuRKIMY_6SjLBK9VKNai5NukZk73rHuq3MltkMNEZ7LQJ-IYrJ8yUCk_2L7N_EQ4c/s1600/IMG_6694.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCloN6DTzGmpKD2nX0U433XXsIGavF4jbytj5Oinl67cijB3vO7iKAWadwGF9QIxtQ84fpSPoKy1cwuRKIMY_6SjLBK9VKNai5NukZk73rHuq3MltkMNEZ7LQJ-IYrJ8yUCk_2L7N_EQ4c/s320/IMG_6694.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ohohoh</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3QiBYPST__DxpsuRzFvu6OTG2WZsGLcZZF8IYA7lRzq3oRDSVZtvZt8kQBd7C964iNzhwJObwUefIGo23nYdw4N2tNY8As-Nrpd6ku1ReeTvW0LJ2yZ1493luXkay6cTgh9ncShI66Xc/s1600/IMG_6688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3QiBYPST__DxpsuRzFvu6OTG2WZsGLcZZF8IYA7lRzq3oRDSVZtvZt8kQBd7C964iNzhwJObwUefIGo23nYdw4N2tNY8As-Nrpd6ku1ReeTvW0LJ2yZ1493luXkay6cTgh9ncShI66Xc/s320/IMG_6688.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>do something?</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYe2SjiJGqcx9GDJzbyJWIvy7Ob3y541Cfh_Z9oarmBXuAWTwtedzMauA6qA9PrjTMMD9eSGAkzs9GfHEpF4ym9Hd_iJKP5Bvaw6KmTeqMlRNMrkxXzp4l6vy3OR-G17UCrM1sY_aY-bdO/s1600/IMG_6746.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYe2SjiJGqcx9GDJzbyJWIvy7Ob3y541Cfh_Z9oarmBXuAWTwtedzMauA6qA9PrjTMMD9eSGAkzs9GfHEpF4ym9Hd_iJKP5Bvaw6KmTeqMlRNMrkxXzp4l6vy3OR-G17UCrM1sY_aY-bdO/s320/IMG_6746.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">aHHHH it's THE CAFE</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">temp of love <3</td></tr>
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Stop 2: Changdeokgung Palace, the secondary home of the royal family, and Bukchon Hanok Village. The palace was reminiscent of Chinese royal homes, and a lot of the decor and calligraphy were Chinese-influenced. In addition to foreign tourists, a lot of Korean families meet up to dress their children in hanbok and teach them about their history. Similar to Ihwa Mural Village, the Bukchon Hanok Village had posters asking visitors to be quiet and respectful of the residents. Some flyers even went as far as asking tourists to stop visiting, though the souvenir shops and hanbok rental stores seem to speak otherwise. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">:/</td></tr>
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Stop 3: Insadong. An artsy area with handmade crafts and traditional art. Prices vary, with the good stuff costing more accordingly, but I did get a nice backpack :D The printed stationery and headbands were extremely tempting to buy as well :)<br />
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<b>Day 4 - Sunday, June 10</b></div>
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Stop 1: SMTown Museum at the COEX Artium! With six floors of life sized images of K-pop stars and fan merchandise, the building dedicated to the SM entertainment company is the place for #noshame photoshoots. In real life, it would honestly feel a bit awkward making the finger hearts and striking poses, but hey, might as well do it standing next to some nice looking people B)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">KAI</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i'm</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNa6Jg7cGh1hyphenhyphen_tSf_N_-uueAbHHGLlxZvtRBYiOA4B13dQ-HxBrVfMGP57Qa17NN4o9-h2kvkahsDkFuW6pf0XCS_Fm7MC3cFLVtpkWi0S-MPrsqTwqmD6B4ojXujjMRi0nAi-adfDQkM/s1600/IMG_6767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1551" data-original-width="1600" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNa6Jg7cGh1hyphenhyphen_tSf_N_-uueAbHHGLlxZvtRBYiOA4B13dQ-HxBrVfMGP57Qa17NN4o9-h2kvkahsDkFuW6pf0XCS_Fm7MC3cFLVtpkWi0S-MPrsqTwqmD6B4ojXujjMRi0nAi-adfDQkM/s320/IMG_6767.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">not</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6a8PZZ-jkIasG6f6DjwpkGkEBOfSpjN6hkvTZllgQ-UqOc3PchtAV3ne5yLZe6hPY8o86W_r-4DMRBNtWxgrvXXTEElWPXTxevCnyMK2Nl84V6PvLbneSP8bamzgQ4fWGkX7krxmYS7Pf/s1600/IMG_6771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6a8PZZ-jkIasG6f6DjwpkGkEBOfSpjN6hkvTZllgQ-UqOc3PchtAV3ne5yLZe6hPY8o86W_r-4DMRBNtWxgrvXXTEElWPXTxevCnyMK2Nl84V6PvLbneSP8bamzgQ4fWGkX7krxmYS7Pf/s320/IMG_6771.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">trashy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuNqpj0npo7HsgNn8gk4pNcfdjHhyphenhyphenAydnMG3g-2gc9snwcYzhpcx0iKXVf8OWs4YR8aPmt5w_va-WiAiNQ0oD4dNgE1Zdo6Ep-5HaFhrZixclTvymf0WnafW4UNTXuIsnhYiu8wPvPIH-X/s1600/IMG_6772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuNqpj0npo7HsgNn8gk4pNcfdjHhyphenhyphenAydnMG3g-2gc9snwcYzhpcx0iKXVf8OWs4YR8aPmt5w_va-WiAiNQ0oD4dNgE1Zdo6Ep-5HaFhrZixclTvymf0WnafW4UNTXuIsnhYiu8wPvPIH-X/s320/IMG_6772.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">i swear =.="</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPrM2z4q1oga_KxbyY0oFOqk8NKCOHoSU4cmVghS3Jq3dljHY6cZvGg2Yr_H_rhtbeqZBRTo1lAzhX1CEMyFEUErfqsYQyzZgTK3XGvxDx5kxvT1b7D9QuwLjS8TFK6pYLkYXHbzaMRTV/s1600/IMG_6781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgPrM2z4q1oga_KxbyY0oFOqk8NKCOHoSU4cmVghS3Jq3dljHY6cZvGg2Yr_H_rhtbeqZBRTo1lAzhX1CEMyFEUErfqsYQyzZgTK3XGvxDx5kxvT1b7D9QuwLjS8TFK6pYLkYXHbzaMRTV/s320/IMG_6781.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bookshop</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUPlZgVkVsjSAhG47cvG1gT9F3rdyNVbiKUvdeqT20WUrkeYjDBrm8OWaubGZTw5zSS3xNF1fTiO2SA-RCBkRT09aeAzlImq28a-kKazRLS83V9r3RPl9kOBiH8cEg3HdbWGn-ZVHdGL7O/s1600/IMG_6765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUPlZgVkVsjSAhG47cvG1gT9F3rdyNVbiKUvdeqT20WUrkeYjDBrm8OWaubGZTw5zSS3xNF1fTiO2SA-RCBkRT09aeAzlImq28a-kKazRLS83V9r3RPl9kOBiH8cEg3HdbWGn-ZVHdGL7O/s320/IMG_6765.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">clever B)</td></tr>
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Stop 2: Continuing with the theme of my Hallyu fandom, next was a trek down the K Star Road. Various GangnamDols represented Kpop groups and singers, and my dad had a particularly good time posing with the bear-like statues. Must've been the Gangnam-fever.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3Y-l-DeXcWTGV-WlPVZjZY4be72bu1hsc5m_E9Vsa6CQb72JXjvK7iW0OUx413sYgTE0rxhc2Psknj16ftSCTfyU487xJBsqh9c_0ONPr_9Rn3C_c0r7ILusDXe19ElYoUt2uT0fRDNP/s1600/IMG_6810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3Y-l-DeXcWTGV-WlPVZjZY4be72bu1hsc5m_E9Vsa6CQb72JXjvK7iW0OUx413sYgTE0rxhc2Psknj16ftSCTfyU487xJBsqh9c_0ONPr_9Rn3C_c0r7ILusDXe19ElYoUt2uT0fRDNP/s320/IMG_6810.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">are we doing this right?</td></tr>
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Stop 3: Gangnam Station Underground Shopping. Koreans really appreciate their cute socks, and so do I. Most of the shops sell similar items such as the seasonal clothing, socks, and shoes, but for decently cheaper prices than department stores. The clothing is usually one size, which makes shopping less of a hassle digging through smalls, mediums, and larges, as long as one fits the clothes, which I suppose says something about the ideal beauty and size standard. After picking up some gudetama socks for friends (who wouldn't want an existential egg), I got to pick up a cool yellow Snoopy shirt :)<br />
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Dinner: Heated-up packet of ginseng chicken soup from the supermarket :P</div>
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<b>Day 5 - Monday, June 11</b></div>
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Stop 1: A picturesque train and ferry ride to Nami Island, a popular destination for both tour groups and locals looking to relax at a resort. The small island on the North Han River declared its cultural independence from South Korea and named itself the Naminara Republic, complete with visas and currency. Various pine, gingko, maple and other kinds of tree lined paths cross the island for ample photo taking or nature appreciating opportunities. The Kdrama Winter Sonata was also filmed on the island, resulting in the iconic statue of Lee Min-hyeong and Jeong Yoo-jin forever gazing at each other.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">immigration here is a lot more fun</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">you can zipline to the island as well</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">idk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4Z3RABOG8foDBbNsmDNmEj1dsKg2W29NyDdOtfGAuRz_ttzFgdiHM_L2WyimKeOk2KT1oae0gcLNMsU5pRxLzj5n45gYUoiBlMeFaB6pZY27xus8htCLuLeFyS9ME62AoKrDJmwGYFNh/s1600/IMG_6888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4Z3RABOG8foDBbNsmDNmEj1dsKg2W29NyDdOtfGAuRz_ttzFgdiHM_L2WyimKeOk2KT1oae0gcLNMsU5pRxLzj5n45gYUoiBlMeFaB6pZY27xus8htCLuLeFyS9ME62AoKrDJmwGYFNh/s320/IMG_6888.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bird!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRsclQsQugZ5goBpL4a0jl9CB9su2cKNKS5_DY-4dGAhl0amzGNasvkT-sQz3pU4_BIV-huOgFhd8q4lh76O5lpGmYcB4Yi-Z6Q-drhVZgTzYdzMUGYJvXAUt9RdJFnD5ldF7gcMQw3gM/s1600/IMG_6895.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRsclQsQugZ5goBpL4a0jl9CB9su2cKNKS5_DY-4dGAhl0amzGNasvkT-sQz3pU4_BIV-huOgFhd8q4lh76O5lpGmYcB4Yi-Z6Q-drhVZgTzYdzMUGYJvXAUt9RdJFnD5ldF7gcMQw3gM/s320/IMG_6895.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">steamed buns</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this isn't creepy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJSKwjZm_pEUnNzUbatm3vvnLhRCQjTXRLipUEVGNDb5Ae_qYzZ-s_pX-aUUz1_pgM8dG_iSPOK9xdgiJeH1G3KZ7NNAnUmh3p2MVTkBD4tgMmlEws52PnxuPpSFiF0lPgzgRa8p4IAta/s1600/IMG_6899.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivJSKwjZm_pEUnNzUbatm3vvnLhRCQjTXRLipUEVGNDb5Ae_qYzZ-s_pX-aUUz1_pgM8dG_iSPOK9xdgiJeH1G3KZ7NNAnUmh3p2MVTkBD4tgMmlEws52PnxuPpSFiF0lPgzgRa8p4IAta/s320/IMG_6899.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ferry ride</td></tr>
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Stop 2: Nearby to Nami Island is the Gapyeong Rail Park, which has the feel of a Disneyland ride with more trees and less safety. Old railroad tracks that cross the river and circle the surrounding area are repurposed for two or four-seater carts, for visitors to pedal along. Smaller resorts and many corn and rice paddies are visible along the ride. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQ2SJ-nzjQ8VyJLFixYqriopPCcSyoG_h9ZyizW4lE8G0ub9Cf1S0hta4N7tl9MWUKSSqwrDwn9aXttMQuhVO37J6eNlV-owVzBIL0h6pY04qgdYCQVPbsZqICcOmYf4tNKUg7XLihKFW/s1600/IMG_6901.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiQ2SJ-nzjQ8VyJLFixYqriopPCcSyoG_h9ZyizW4lE8G0ub9Cf1S0hta4N7tl9MWUKSSqwrDwn9aXttMQuhVO37J6eNlV-owVzBIL0h6pY04qgdYCQVPbsZqICcOmYf4tNKUg7XLihKFW/s320/IMG_6901.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">milk! the dude behind this bus is literally running in front of cars to get them to park in his parking lot</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">couple outfits on point</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fields of food</td></tr>
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Stop 3: After a dinner of KBBQ in Itaewon, a hike to Namsan Seoul Tower finished our day. Seoul looked tiny, but vibrant from the view atop the hill, kind of like a LED metropolis lego set. Visitors also seem inclined to "lock their love" with physical locks on the rails of the tower.</div>
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Bonus Fun Story: After I accidentally tripped and yelped outside our Airbnb (darn ledge), our neighbor poked his head out to see what was going on. He was a very nice guy and open about telling his life story to some people other than the elderly grandmothers and grandfathers sitting in the alley outside. After hearing that we were from the Bay Area, he mentioned how he lived in SF for about a year, until complications with his work visa made him come back home to Korea. Currently a software engineer at Hyundai, he's waiting to marry his girlfriend in Berkeley and move to the US. He even brought us snacks later that day! Small world :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">snackssss</td></tr>
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<b>Day 6 - Tuesday, June 12</b></div>
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It's our last full day in Seoul! Tomorrow, we'll be leaving in the morning to catch a flight to Taiwan. </div>
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Stop 1: A stroll along Cheonggyecheon Stream, with the added decor of campaign advertisements and even a rally(?) or protest (?) chanting in sync to a gong. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">vote vote vote</td></tr>
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Stop 2: Myeongdong!! Walking along the endless streets of skincare stores, streetwear stands, and fried chicken shops, Myeongdong can really make my wallet hurt. One of the underground shops at the metro station even had stickers, postcards, playing cards, and all kinds of merch with the images of Kpop and Kdrama stars <3 </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bts brand cosmetics :D</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">supreme(?)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ahhhhhhhhh</td></tr>
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Stop 3: Gyeongbokgung palace. We just walked around the perimeter to digest a lot of chicken eaten, but the palace was nicely backlit and an interesting fossil of tradition among city lights and cars. </div>
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Food: We ate a lot :') The lunch place in Myeongdong was the most efficient restaurant I have ever been to, and it was able to shuttle in tourists and office workers alike with a speed twice that of In N Out Burger. Dinner at Tosokchon for samgyetang, or chicken ginseng soup, was extremely fulfilling and conclusive of my belief that all food tastes better when eaten cross-legged and on the ground. Because we didn't eat enough already (*notes sarcasm*) we stopped by an extremely aesthetic cafe for dessert :P With soft Jpop floating in the background and some raspberry-ade and tiramisu in front, I can understand the appeal of running a small, hole-in-the-wall cafe in the middle of Seoul. But for now, it's off to Taiwan.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">noodles!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ginseng is somewhere in there >.></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cafe!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">buy the food for the ig pics B)</td></tr>
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katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-48251033753218657322018-05-25T20:36:00.001-07:002018-05-25T20:36:43.177-07:00wRItiNg iS My pAsSioNIf an average human life span were to be condensed into a twenty-four hour day, a bunch of seventeen year olds would be analogous to around five o'clock in the morning.<br />
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And I know that most of us don't get up until noon.<br />
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So before high school seniors start strolling down memory lane, gasping at how Obama was elected almost a decade ago, take this seventeen year old teenager's reflection on life with a grain of salt.<br />
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We've experienced our adolescence at a tumultuous time to be growing up. During a stage in which we're trying to explore and develop our identity, external events have also been shaping the environment we've grown up in.<br />
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Though the view may have been from afar, we've seen epidemics sweep regions, been in a nation at war for almost our entire lifetime, witnessed the devastating effects of natural disasters, and felt fear at the growing list of Parklands, Santa Fes, and Sandy Hooks, wondering where would be next.<br />
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Nonetheless, an impact is here. Growing up in a charged climate where daily events catalyze the formation of our beliefs has resulted in a generation that I would deem resilient.<br />
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We are resilient.<br />
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For every hit humanity takes, a movement springs up resisting gun violence, racial inequality, and sexual discrimination. And change is uncertain—a fact that the activists, many of whom I've seen at Mills, know best.<br />
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Through journalism, I've learned to observe and analyze these changes, using words to make sense of the world, and maybe even sneaking in an opinion or two for whoever listens. Through conversation with my classmates and teachers, in the open environment that Mills is, I expanded my perspectives as we were encouraged to debate and seek another side to the multifaceted issue.<br />
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A challenge lies in digesting the scope of news beyond our community and experiences. It turns out that looking inwards towards myself is just as hard.<br />
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So where am I now?<br />
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I'm trying to figure out where I'm headed in life, and where its meaning is. Sometimes nostalgia longs for the time when a good day meant not letting my oxen drown in the river on the Oregon Trail, or getting a high score on Type to Learn.<br />
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Nowadays, meaning is a little more aloof and elusive.<br />
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I've had a good time in high school, definitely learning how to get this "life" thing going. Bonds were forged and hobbies pursued. Challenges faced and elation experienced. Mills has been kind to me in that it allowed me to dip my fingers in a bunch of different things, until I realized the unsustainability of such an action, helping me to narrow my focus and give my all to a few activities. I've had time to figure out some of my strengths and weaknesses, and find a general direction heading out into the future.<br />
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But throughout the journey, there was always a nagging feeling of the absurdity of the situation. Throw us all in a maze, let us blunder around for a bit within reasonable bounds of risk, then set us free :)<br />
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Taking the data accumulated from my time as a short, awkward freshman kid with braces to me now (arguably still short, awkward, and in possession of braces), and parsing it into a neural network would probably come up with a more definitive analysis of how I'm doing in life. At times, school feels like a test of how well one can follow directions, so I'm sure there is an algorithm out there to calculate predictors of epic success.<br />
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Because right now? Right now I feel as if I've done a lot, but still know nothing. And I kind of like that. I don't see limits to the opportunities to reach for or the experiences to gain.<br />
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My parents moved to this country to provide me that luxury of choice. I was recently joking around with them about moving away from America and living in Canada or Sweden, where the temptations of free health care lurk. Yet they were surprised at the notion I might want to leave this country. Though I don't have to be doctor (thanks, brother), they nonetheless carry the immigrant ideal of America being the launch pad of meritocracy for their children, after the first generation takes the hit of coming over and building up from very little.<br />
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Navigating the balance between their dream and mine has also been an experience through high school. I try to understand the freedom to build one's own life they see in America, while they try to figure out why I like Japanese cartoons of fighting robots so much.<br />
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Throughout the hunt to establish meaning in my life, my parents taught me to view people through a lense of compassion. Everyone is trying to create their path as well, so there is no point in making it any harder by dragging them down or withholding a hand of help. Sometimes a struggle may seem too remote to empathize with, but just being there to talk gives a person release at the very least.<br />
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And I'm lucky that the people around me have treated me the same, as I wandered around the maze that is high school and relied on the reassuring high fives and hitched a ride on the momentum of drive to do something right.<br />
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So that's why, in a world where conflicts persist and arbitrary circumstances feel like a laugh at hard work, I can still hold firm to the belief that in spite of everything, people are really good at heart. People out there, whether they know you or not, genuinely empathize with your struggles and want to help you succeed. And I'm grateful for that.<br />
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So yes, I don't really know where I'm going, but I know how I'll will act along the way. Finding meaning in life is a personal choice that is collectively sought after, so take comfort in the thought that everyone else is wondering what to do next too.<br />
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Though we may just be at 5:00 am in the time of our lives, the clock is ticking, and it's about time to wake up.<br />
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katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6622714823464896102.post-49616819419626711982018-04-15T20:57:00.000-07:002018-04-15T20:59:26.747-07:00OOF pt. 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Spring break!!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A wild time of anime marathons, cat cafe explorations, rolled-ice cream eating, and general tomfoolery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My friends found the utmost hilarity in how my obsession with cats is cursed by my allergies to them. Unforbidden love, YIKES!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some other thoughts:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-S. enlisted in the Navy, and is currently at bootcamp. We should probably get started on writing some letters to her :D</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-High school is feeling like a really tricky time where I don't want it to end, yet I can't wait to leave. It feels as if we're straining to run into our futures, while knowing that it will be difficult and nerve wracking. FUN!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Italian food is yummy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Rereading the book Lean In (yes, amidst all the Facebook scandal), and finding it ten times more relatable than when I read it a while back. Hooray?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Currently reading: more Murakami</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">-Currently watching: A Poem a Day (Korean dramaaaa)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/b_8B9mntEElHjTuffcF2EdyoQ922qG2qzyAoZS3it-88eYXKwli5lyvnH362lesW6T662-mEVMQjupmW9qSIdY7642bh-aBovwaTw7xL2sRhLKUJ6tfYJL3ATFdbmC4XtC2hTrupbjCOOzkPeGKPoNRL4mp0pVHb10CGuC_HhoAOxYgPjG6A-C8Lei96FHnwSaWiOjXQEACiccz9c-EBc__b9n0-Jkz67OkHt9-cTGkNwVKuu7Pbhpigk1jrruu-3AVdkZY9NDSbE2sXLNC_X4z1buibIJJnYYt88Axel7NGRtBZ89V7LjB7e7KAda9yzz3eHeFSpTrtWaUlSS6hvFPIf52-xWIW5jsyfuESj70_7tP1cxFw0SM3HYG8bXpp7NytXk1uAsU9UGjpdTPZIXVag1v2Pe401MTvkdYdH3tqJHx9XAnq3QXqLnim1VefNw8LsDru-AjjUmsOQOsvupUoBmQlCVwj60XJLmbGxhmHwFt0gpMwxQ0jHDTz-Llw8cJqgNjh2UUt_j8egVSpwb_wW1HbxKFKWMhXg0ZyR1PdCit45J8mWpsayf3QcOe33z8YYMTJOc0Lfsm6ILHf_N8QujQr5aPb4vpXV8Q=w508-h677-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="508" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/b_8B9mntEElHjTuffcF2EdyoQ922qG2qzyAoZS3it-88eYXKwli5lyvnH362lesW6T662-mEVMQjupmW9qSIdY7642bh-aBovwaTw7xL2sRhLKUJ6tfYJL3ATFdbmC4XtC2hTrupbjCOOzkPeGKPoNRL4mp0pVHb10CGuC_HhoAOxYgPjG6A-C8Lei96FHnwSaWiOjXQEACiccz9c-EBc__b9n0-Jkz67OkHt9-cTGkNwVKuu7Pbhpigk1jrruu-3AVdkZY9NDSbE2sXLNC_X4z1buibIJJnYYt88Axel7NGRtBZ89V7LjB7e7KAda9yzz3eHeFSpTrtWaUlSS6hvFPIf52-xWIW5jsyfuESj70_7tP1cxFw0SM3HYG8bXpp7NytXk1uAsU9UGjpdTPZIXVag1v2Pe401MTvkdYdH3tqJHx9XAnq3QXqLnim1VefNw8LsDru-AjjUmsOQOsvupUoBmQlCVwj60XJLmbGxhmHwFt0gpMwxQ0jHDTz-Llw8cJqgNjh2UUt_j8egVSpwb_wW1HbxKFKWMhXg0ZyR1PdCit45J8mWpsayf3QcOe33z8YYMTJOc0Lfsm6ILHf_N8QujQr5aPb4vpXV8Q=w508-h677-no" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">finishes only 50% of goals in reality </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/tdArWEpnndK8HSQs5WyZuaR1phOqEPBjgca2QMQ7Kp0kTB69M8wsFGq2SDeDpzCRcJgNp7brtHs52dTv9-6AZuE1PX9Q27r7B9dDeMU0vFy6HGupm0-8knBRPSq5USrNxxLf3jbTALCObJ5wXFIRxDfUJvcYQfd1NVxlpkcy-mv1AirFNn6iHAFEVah8J4T7YuWYxygfM0O9tZ1er8Bnlg6tTeTrmQ9X1n2OFC27FCBR3znVg5ipZCZP24-kHaYI80sj6rNDiHWKuYo0xsB32JKaeCmWnmF4df8Q8BJgGjxTr9pHk3-2R5WI4pBA4c-2TyEYVYG09RhiTBE8ng34lJY9qJjmFDe81Hc7wML1uqB0XIcgZ1w8qJ-9va1bzvQ2Pn3tlYeEXH52BTqkww_tk0ZlQdyXN8XD2DKdKi5XTvaNsSjT_4etIWAGF4WpyhxE5BpEqzsuzzfMCn1dUtbIsgy5KlUfmofz6DhkifCex0eTbUqoak2H4KqRTi3Vxjgxnn2LJBSwsrWTg1KZSB1-N0oUOxpOg-80RP7WQqHNgzhWLcfy05XmytC8jTqSQkfAKrF3EzUN9_6-YBfBhw1wr7Jz5_Wn3Upwl-klmyg=w508-h677-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="508" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/tdArWEpnndK8HSQs5WyZuaR1phOqEPBjgca2QMQ7Kp0kTB69M8wsFGq2SDeDpzCRcJgNp7brtHs52dTv9-6AZuE1PX9Q27r7B9dDeMU0vFy6HGupm0-8knBRPSq5USrNxxLf3jbTALCObJ5wXFIRxDfUJvcYQfd1NVxlpkcy-mv1AirFNn6iHAFEVah8J4T7YuWYxygfM0O9tZ1er8Bnlg6tTeTrmQ9X1n2OFC27FCBR3znVg5ipZCZP24-kHaYI80sj6rNDiHWKuYo0xsB32JKaeCmWnmF4df8Q8BJgGjxTr9pHk3-2R5WI4pBA4c-2TyEYVYG09RhiTBE8ng34lJY9qJjmFDe81Hc7wML1uqB0XIcgZ1w8qJ-9va1bzvQ2Pn3tlYeEXH52BTqkww_tk0ZlQdyXN8XD2DKdKi5XTvaNsSjT_4etIWAGF4WpyhxE5BpEqzsuzzfMCn1dUtbIsgy5KlUfmofz6DhkifCex0eTbUqoak2H4KqRTi3Vxjgxnn2LJBSwsrWTg1KZSB1-N0oUOxpOg-80RP7WQqHNgzhWLcfy05XmytC8jTqSQkfAKrF3EzUN9_6-YBfBhw1wr7Jz5_Wn3Upwl-klmyg=w508-h677-no" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">yum yum captions are hard</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-GAaLzGrHFjoHyp0BWbr8xXek17OoMoJmHRSNP8cN175YxQ1X0tUVJ4gFCrayKz28k9TLR060L82oSVGeFaDns-7zHwflUsQowJHKXA4VpEK9RYr8bGAdFFCVRojwEo85iX-rCxIX_s4/w382-h677-no/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-GAaLzGrHFjoHyp0BWbr8xXek17OoMoJmHRSNP8cN175YxQ1X0tUVJ4gFCrayKz28k9TLR060L82oSVGeFaDns-7zHwflUsQowJHKXA4VpEK9RYr8bGAdFFCVRojwEo85iX-rCxIX_s4/w382-h677-no/" width="180" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">we lured them with food</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYb59L-8LBBa7L2JY_ZrL0tqWK8iX_Q6gtrJEtz0RSKYN82-mUIleWbpkvpkipCdF3JIlxNa_JZATmJC5SOFObi3fRtWfZZbaDquE0MliooN674is2mTSv4H822c49M8YHTkUPzuCMhNGw/w903-h677-no/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="903" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYb59L-8LBBa7L2JY_ZrL0tqWK8iX_Q6gtrJEtz0RSKYN82-mUIleWbpkvpkipCdF3JIlxNa_JZATmJC5SOFObi3fRtWfZZbaDquE0MliooN674is2mTSv4H822c49M8YHTkUPzuCMhNGw/w903-h677-no/" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">where are the cats?</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wgpihGBtGM2sknnnHe4Z1ylx1XbET2az2JeYmUsi28shgO-o8ca4ZJDB8zitEXrZcNFEDvzLngJ5sdovFu4_zgFJ7WdSdvj5e40gXa3UtxpLuJIcZmnd8LGBHXZBts2ku0k8c7co2Dk0/w508-h677-no/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="508" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wgpihGBtGM2sknnnHe4Z1ylx1XbET2az2JeYmUsi28shgO-o8ca4ZJDB8zitEXrZcNFEDvzLngJ5sdovFu4_zgFJ7WdSdvj5e40gXa3UtxpLuJIcZmnd8LGBHXZBts2ku0k8c7co2Dk0/w508-h677-no/" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Lunch boo <3</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/SEnFp9YK0N0ksIqmI-oOR0kJylEb8Cwwj6p8NS5ZX_o3wgoIdWsnR06auWRPXIkpuwAhSDur1M27HolZX1G6d4_pCVM9sq70ZnAYqEcFpCjgycxXbawCRs0K5tleZMUC7UaOb5kVneOdTSIQfHIz1sbq8c3j3uhBcTd8erEEQmWjq8uHEVYu_yjVLjEbkQzN2-v9hsLEG9cRwqFmedS4ptYf0epRFUiCAgA_qQm48Ddj7YF1T5rruMzDJhTBuGjT3Zob1CUihvTfYhAZb6DUEKeS4A7rGLcg4dAp0N-iKyBGRJhonOYoj5lFvSppnuO3KwYA1r26kPxc_hGTWrzpp9JKWLIqjdPVhnUDwVtx96k07XQq-FTk3KqgHd-SJge3_BgNpXkW_KwW8xH8J2BpEiVwfyMRFO67oPOR3YgMpLDHU2JaIp548JGFX_3fCEx7xRkl2G5wFh6qA_6WmhMMfz4fLAdvgHyRPg3myBNuogEOhXqXBe3JOnmpauRYZLGnk1oMSD68pfAhFNeKhWptkWZ9qH7__ZiWeWH-hSampKoYlpTamR4L_3rJSdLU1eNVgAiyP-xQnCOpLkEwPdZWGUQWBuC-jbdwnk1Kd94=w903-h677-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="903" height="239" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/SEnFp9YK0N0ksIqmI-oOR0kJylEb8Cwwj6p8NS5ZX_o3wgoIdWsnR06auWRPXIkpuwAhSDur1M27HolZX1G6d4_pCVM9sq70ZnAYqEcFpCjgycxXbawCRs0K5tleZMUC7UaOb5kVneOdTSIQfHIz1sbq8c3j3uhBcTd8erEEQmWjq8uHEVYu_yjVLjEbkQzN2-v9hsLEG9cRwqFmedS4ptYf0epRFUiCAgA_qQm48Ddj7YF1T5rruMzDJhTBuGjT3Zob1CUihvTfYhAZb6DUEKeS4A7rGLcg4dAp0N-iKyBGRJhonOYoj5lFvSppnuO3KwYA1r26kPxc_hGTWrzpp9JKWLIqjdPVhnUDwVtx96k07XQq-FTk3KqgHd-SJge3_BgNpXkW_KwW8xH8J2BpEiVwfyMRFO67oPOR3YgMpLDHU2JaIp548JGFX_3fCEx7xRkl2G5wFh6qA_6WmhMMfz4fLAdvgHyRPg3myBNuogEOhXqXBe3JOnmpauRYZLGnk1oMSD68pfAhFNeKhWptkWZ9qH7__ZiWeWH-hSampKoYlpTamR4L_3rJSdLU1eNVgAiyP-xQnCOpLkEwPdZWGUQWBuC-jbdwnk1Kd94=w903-h677-no" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">squid ink pasta</span><br />
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katesnemesishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01771532095828171107noreply@blogger.com0