Every now and then, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. I worry that I’m not making enough or not living up to my potential. And I wonder what kind of future I’ll have. But then I think of my mother and I know it’ll all turn out okay. This post today is for my mother. You see, today is her 60th birthday (a major milestone!) and being half a world away, I can’t offer anything else except to tell her…
Goodbye Kuala Lumpur. Hello… ?
I had drafted this a while ago and debated whether to post it or not. It feels too private. But as my tag line is “an honest look at life on the road”, I don’t want to leave out significant developments in my journey. This is the story about why I’m leaving KL after a year of calling it home. When you’re living in a city you’re not from, the #1 question you get is: “What are you doing here?” Sometimes…
A story about rice and home
The 1-year anniversary of my grandpa’s death passed a couple of weeks ago. I had wanted to write this story for a long time, ever since I first heard it, but as per usual, I procrastinated and didn’t get it out on the anniversary. My grandpa was a war veteran, and fought on both sides of the China and Taiwan civil war. He was born and raised in Taiwan, and at the tender age of 17 was drafted into the…
20 experiences and lessons in my 20’s
Woohoooo… first post of the new year! This past year has been such a huge year for me. It’s been quite a heavy year filled with a lot of learning and self discovery. I feel like I should write something to mark the end of year, but I’m still not ready to put it all into words (but you guys know what happened). Instead, when I saw that Jessi put out this post, I knew I had to do it too! I’ve been…
A new decade: on being my own hero
At age 30, one receives strength. – Talmud Today, I woke up in my childhood bedroom in my grandma’s house, which I’ve gotta say is not where I have ever imagined waking up on my 30th birthday. Honestly, I don’t feel much different from being still 29 yesterday, but now I’m officially a 30-something (oh gosh, I hate the sound of that!), which means that I’m expected to have it “together” now. I feel like at the age of 30 is…
On freelancing, blogging, and loss of creativity
In the morning, as soon as I open my eyes, I grab for my phone to look at my notifications. During the night, emails have come into my inbox informing me of my tasks for the day. I go through each one and quickly form some sort of schedule of which tasks I’m going to tackle first and how long I should spend on each one. Once I feel ready to get out of bed, I sit at my desk,…
A parting of ways
There are times in blogging when I wish I didn’t share so much of my personal life. It’s certainly easier to only offer travel tips or restaurant reviews or city guides. But long-time readers will know that while I do write plenty of those on Slightly Astray, those are never my best pieces, and that instead it is the fact that I let you into my life that keeps you coming back. From the very start, all I wanted to do…
Chinese New Year: the first seven days
Happy Travel Tuesday! I’ve been in Beijing for a week already. I don’t think I’ve been this cold for a lonnnng time! I’ve borrowed a coat from my mom’s friend, a sweater from my mom, and wool pants from somewhere, and I’ve literally been wearing these same few pieces of clothes every single day (which you’ll see in the pictures below). But nevermind the weather, I’m loving being back at my birth city with my favorite people. :) And Chinese…
In loving memory
I had another post planned to share but somehow it doesn’t feel right to write about my frivolous travels today. Today is the day my mother and grandma sent my grandpa’s soul to eternal rest. He passed away two days ago on Wednesday. It came very suddenly and the funeral arrangements were made very fast. He had been sick in the hospital for a couple of weeks due to a blockage in his brain. My mother already had plans to go…
Life, purpose, and a new future
I can always tell when I’m going into a slump. I’ll stop reading books, my emails will go ignored, maybe even my hair will go unwashed. Instead, I’ll spend a little more time playing games, too many hours watching mindless shows, and days thinking about writing instead of writing. Lately, I’ve been in a slump. And hence the lack of regular posts. I have so, so many things I want to share, but instead of the beautiful fluid sentences in…