#26acts #act1

I'm sure many of you have heard of the "26 Acts of Kindness" movement that Ann Curry sparked, but for those that haven't, it's a joint effort to honor those 26 lives that were lost in the Newtown shooting. After the senseless traagedy, many were asking "What can I do?" The answer was to utilize social media to have people commit to 26 acts of kindness in memory of each life lost.

There are lots of examples that you can find online, but here I'll record my own acts of kindness. Here's to hoping that they inspire acts of kindness within others...

Act 1: I paid for and prepared a washer and dryer in my dormitory laundry room. I really wish that whoever was on the receiving end saw the note, looked more into #26acts, shared the experience with friends, and went on to spread some love him/herself.


(1) pay (2) add detergent (3) add fabric softener and clean filter (4) leave a nice note

Get involved! For more info visit http://www.facebook.com/26acts.

Feel free to share your acts of kindness to inspire both ideas and kindness in others.

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle and the life of that candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Eddy

Dorm room Makeover!

So, my roommate doesn't know this yet, but I redid our room this afternoon. I rearranged where all the furniture is, including the location of my bed. Surprise?!

I needed a very real reminder that I am in control of my life and that nothing is set in stone. In a physical manifestation of my internal desire for change, I moved everything around and I am very happy to report that I think the new layout is phenomenal.

Everyone should try it out. Take some aspect of your life that you view as permanent, and subvert it. Who knows? A new perspective might be just the thing you need.

Our phenomenal room!

Be jealous!

Laptop Labyrinth

My computer is a lot like Super Mario Brothers. I remember getting SMB for the Gameboy Advanced in 3rd grade. I was obsessed! Sure, it was fun, but what really made it addicting was the knowledge that there were all kinds of hidden content there that I couldn't access. I just HAD to find all those star coins and secret hidden feathers of magical flight granting ability, etc.

Well, in a much less fun way, my computer is like SMB to me. It's actually palpable how much I do NOT know how to fully utilize it. I mean I only just learned the shortcut keys for enlarging and shrinking text (ctrl+shift+< / >). Actually, let's not even talk about hidden functions, programs, apps, etc. I don't even know how to use the blatantly apparent functions on my computer. For example, I'm sure half the buttons on the top row of my keyboard could be life-changing, but I just can't be bothered to check them out. Home, End, PgUp, PgDn? I'm 100% sure I could greatly improve my life efficiency if I could just learn how to properly utilize them and incorporated them into my technological vernacular.

Bottom line: technology is amazing! but what use is there in constantly upgrading to the next level, if you don't ever use any functions beyond the most cursory Microsoft Office and Internet functions?

Lau

Eyes shut. Door opens.
Scritch. Tap. Cough. Sniffle. Crinkle.

The rebirth of the blog

I haven't written an entry in a while, and part of that is because of this thought that I've become a new, more mature person since coming to college. There was a pseudo-shameful sentiment attached to my old writings wherein a younger, barely post-preteen Anna resided, and I didn't want new friends to see me in that way. To better present my point, it's like admitting that you watched Disney Channel shows growing up. It's so uncool these days to admit that you watched Hannah Montana and co., but everyone did! We all keep our ignominious TV pasts to ourselves, but then when someone finds the courage within themselves to confess their love for say One Direction in public, everyone suddenly unites in their shared likes and it almost becomes cool to say you used to watch the Power Rangers, etc.

Returning to my original point - random tangents not being something I've lost in my questionable maturity - I had a bit of shame in my past blogs and even just the name of this blog (Ordinary Asian?) and didn't see fit to continue on this forum. However, I've recently gotten a bit of an itch for the keyboard and just want to blog blog blog! My first consideration was that I could just tweak my old posts to smooth them out and have them be more reflective of my current person. My old entries are like a public snapshot of an old diary - so embarrassing! Of course, I almost immediately realized how absurd it would be to change my past for fear of what others might think of me. Instead, I'm choosing to openly declare that yes! I was a dorky kid in the past, and that I am a dorky kid now, and that I'd be really upset if I wasn't a future dorky me!

And that was all simply to say, I shall resume this here blog.

As told by...Ray Hou?

Hey guys! So I'm in college now and it's a blast! It's also lots of stressful days and sleepless nights but overall I'd say I'm loving it! Anyhow, this post will be a guest entry by the phenomenal Ray Hou. Enjoy!

September 15, 2011

Hi everyone! Anna said that if I wrote something she’d put it up on her blog. I’m a bit too lazy to actually blog for myself—in fact, I told Anna I’d write something sometime in June. Oops.

So who am I? I’m Ray! I’m still stuck in high school, though since Anna hasn’t really posted since she’s gone to college I suppose this blog is technically still a senior blog. I’m a huge science geek, though I suppose anyone who finds calculus entertaining is probably a bit of a math geek too.

Over the last summer, I participated in a volunteer teaching program in Taiwan called AID Summer. Out of all the summer programs I had wanted to attend, it was actually lower down on my list; I had unsuccessfully applied for several science-oriented programs. That’s not to say it wasn’t completely and utterly awesome.

…Maybe not completely awesome. The first week was rather boring. It was essentially an orientation week for the teachers-to-be, except they insisted on teaching us in English…when none of our teachers could actually speak English. Quite frankly they could’ve taught it in Chinese and it would’ve been more efficient. Then again, all the useful material they taught us could’ve been condensed into 30 minutes. Anyhow, it was a good opportunity to make friends and just chill.

The two weeks teaching were pretty intense. Each day we’d have to prepare lesson plans and material for class—not as easy as it sounds. Realize that we were trying to teach English literally from ABC’s, except they were already in at least 3^rd grade. Singing your ABC’s might be fun for kindergarteners, but these kids are a bit too old for that. On the other hand, they don’t have the patience to straight up learn it lecture style either, and that’s boring anyways. The kids were predictably rowdy—summer is still summer in Taiwan—but they grow on you. I had 20 in my class, which took the ones who knew the most English, so we were able to read some Dr. Seuss and stuff. The teachers at the school had all the students mob us on our last day; cute, but they nearly buried me. I had a good time messing around with my group whenever we had off-time; mostly spent playing Contact.

One of the things that bothered me was the reporters though. I always got picked because I was one of two people who had fluent speaking Chinese, but you feel like a tool doing it; you can’t really bash on the program, even though its management could use some improvement. Oh well, part of the job.

Anyhow it was exhausting, but pretty fun. Met a lot of Asians in the program (as if I didn’t know enough already) who I’ll be keeping in touch with; they’re all really funny, and there are plenty of sketchy/hilarious stories to go around.

Oh, and school (still) sucks >.<

Almost graduated

Graduation is almost here! It's strange thinking that by this time tomorrow, I will have had my diploma in hand and will no longer be lying on all those job applications, saying I'm a high school graduate (I'm banking on the fact that by the time they process my application, I will already have graduated. shh) I feel as though I know what I should be feeling, but it honestly hasn't sunk in yet. It's kind of like when I turned 18. You know it marks a significant turn in your life, but you can't quite grasp the full implications.

So, what is this nearly graduated 18 year old doing with herself these days? Why roommate hunting of course! Georgetown offers this program known as CHARMS wherein you get to eharmony style online date for a freshman roomie. Sounds great right? Well, only mostly.

The pro is the obvious: you get to choose your own roommate. You get a say in who you have to brave the upcoming transition with. At the very least, you know you'll be rooming with someone who will be giving you a chance. You both chose each other, so you know they at a minimum would like to be friends with you (unless you both previously reached an agreement to not be friends...to each their own?).

The con: you get to choose your own roommate. It's an exhausting process and at the end of the day, you know that if this doesn't work out, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

In the meantime, I'm having a great time meeting new people and it's been great getting to know everyone even if they won't all be my roommate. It's reassuring knowing that these people who up until now were just a far off sentiment are now becoming real to me. I know that they're having just as awkward a time of this as I am, and that we're all starting on some sort of common ground. See, it's interesting that although we come from all parts of the country - from places where ShopRite doesn't mean anything and New Jersey is just that little state below New York - we all have things in common. For one, everyone watches the same television shows, listens to the same music, and reads the same books. Alright, so we don't all watch and listen to the same stuff, but we could. So there.