With the holidays comes the season for reflection and back-tracking. It comes with it the aroma of rich hot chocolate, peppermint-scented candles, and red and green candy canes.

This Christmas, I styled with a flair. Christmas shopping started way before Thanksgiving and Black Friday lasted an entire week. Mom – check. Dad – check. Sister – check. Niece – check. and not in any order or seniority, my brother-in-law – check.

Thought about replacing the old 32-inch black fiber optic tree with a 6-feet alpine-smelling. note: Thought

The season for rejoicing, the celebration of Jesus’ birth, and Mass. A season of giving to the poor, volunteering at the food bank, and canned food drives.

For as long as I can remember – Christmas has always been a season of wonderfulness. Knowing that there are wrapped presents underneath the tree, Santa Claus’ elves for the kids, and eggnog for the adults.

Warm hugs & kisses, the chocolate ones and the physical ones. Bear hugs and kissing under the mistletoe.

What is your Christmas like this year?

Eureka! I might have stumbled across a gem today.

It looks like things are heading towards a better place these days.

Realized what my dream apartment would look like: no frills~ nothing fancy. It’s a quaint little housing complex 10 minutes away from where I live right now

The concept of home has always eluded me. 

I’ve learned in random situations ( that most of you would never guess )

I’ve lived in a nice house, a quaint apartment, a homeless shelter, and the list goes on …

The lesson that I’ve learned from each situation is to be grateful for who I am.

There is no shame from taking a day off to save money

There is no shame from sleeping with bed bugs because your sheets are dirty

There is no shame for getting a free meal from a public mess hall

And most importantly, there is no shame in being true to who you are whatever it may be

So when life gives you lemons what are you do?  Make some lemonade and add some sugar

Hello world.

It’s been 3 weeks since Arthur and I broke up and I don’t have much to say about it.  So you know the thing is that it needs to be over.  It needs to end.

this beating myself up,  feeling self-pity, crying …  it needs to stop

no more sad songs

no more thousand years.  no more memories. No more

Raised in a privileged household growing up I did not come across racism. My high school was about 50% asian, 30% white, and 20% of everything else. There was of course a bit of tension between the asians who were born in the US versus the asians who who were fresh off the boat per se, however things never went out of hand

It wasn’t until I moved up north to the bay area that I realized how ignorant I was. Yes, the college I went to was 50% asian however there are many different kinds of asians. There were Vietnamese, Burman, Thai, Chinese, Taiwanese and the list goes on …

There were also blacks, whites, and mexicans …

For me, the protesting and people bringing to light the “racism” that takes place day in and day out for these people made me feel like something needs to be done. That there must change.

It is evident that George Floyld was innocent, that his death was a symbol of all that goes wrong in the country and beyond. It is NOT RIGHT that he had to die from police brutality.  It is NOT RIGHT that he was calling out for his mom with his last breath.  It is NOT RIGHT that all he did wrong was to carry fake cash.

And went things are NOT right, things must be wrong. 

So my plea to you is to be kind, compassionate, and forgiving.  There is nobody to blame, to fingers to point.  Racism is not what ONE person does or says, but rather than the machine/the system.  Racism comes in the form of “Institutionalized Racism”.  There is clearly something wrong with the justice system. And there must be change. Because at the end of the day,  we are all just human

A dog owner, a major in Psychology, a dutiful daughter, a good friend all describe who I am. Gary, of whom I’ve owned for about 2 years now, is an active dog. As a chihuahua mix, he is very hyper and loves walks at the park. Naturally inquisitive, I find the human mind to be amazing. A daughter of two parents in their 70s, I have the unusual dynamic of taking care of my parents at a young age. A good friend who always priorities her friends first.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.