On Writing

Writing cover letters is annoying. Not only annoying, but incredibly depressing as well. Unless you have amazing life skills that are hot in-demand AND you are great at sales pitches, constructing a cover letter can be a painful trial-and-error process of learning how to sell yourself. This is especially complicated for those of us who learned English as a second language, because if you are a slow writer like I am, each application can take up to a few of hours to complete, especially if you include research involved for each job. The number of applications I can complete in one day is tiny compared to the number I should be sending out to have a decent chance at finding something suitable, which makes this process even more depressing. As a result, writing and sending out cover letters and resumes can be a long, consistent, and painful reminder of your sad state of unemployedness. Moreover, if you are a recent graduate who finds yourself with a degree that doesn't amount to much employability, it also serves as a depressing reminder of the amount of debt you have put yourself (and perhaps family members) into.

On the bright side, I feel like my writing has been getting marginally better with each job application I send out--which got me to thinking about how my writing had improved in the past. If I hated writing so much, then why am I writing this blog post about writing? After all, isn't this blog mostly photo- and art-focused?

The truth is, I don't actually hate writing. I only dislike one big aspect of it: the slowness. The thing I dislike the most is knowing how slow the process is for me compared with other people. I don't like being aware of how long the thoughts first take to form in my head, and then the length of time for them to get translated and transcribed by my hand. I began learning English at age 6, which delayed my having a proper grasp of more advanced writing abilities until much later -- probably over a decade after my peers had developed them. My mom constantly stressed the importance of reading. I know, now, how right she was -- how important reading books is to the mind's ability to not only build vocabulary and learn about society, but also the ability to synthesize complex ideas -- but when she was saying these words to me throughout grade school, they sounded like a constant nagging at something that I was doing inadequately, and the negativity shunned me away from novels. (I chose, instead, to indulge in graphic novels -- great stories, fewer words, and a burgeoning passion for drawing and art.)

The writing section of the SATs was especially grueling for me. At the end of the 45 minutes -- or however long they gave you -- I was struggling to finish 2 coherent paragraphs to get a score of 4 ("is mostly organized and focused, with a progression of ideas that is mostly coherent" but "demonstrates inconsistent facility with language and uses mostly appropriate vocabulary") while my friends were getting full 6s ("is tightly organized and focused, with a smooth and coherent progression of ideas," "demonstrates a facility with language through the use of descriptive and appropriate vocabulary," and "uses intelligent variation in sentence structure"). (I had a hard time finding a reference to the descriptions, so Sparknotes to what I found.)

On the other hand, I have grown up to be a highly logic-oriented person. I love puzzles and scored 800 on all of the SAT math sections, allowing me to indulge on the things I was good at and neglect those that I wasn't succeeding in. I was afraid of practicing my writing because things written were meant to be read, and the thought of my peers who seemed like they were born with the facility of the English language felt so embarrassing that I didn't do anything. I loved life, art, and ideas, and writing about them gave me a means to formulate more coherent thoughts. Over the years, I had kept up a personal blog, and I noticed that my writing for schoolwork flowed with more ease when I wrote more compared in it. At some point, I realized that writing was not an enemy -- that it was okay to send ugly incoherent drafts to be brutally ripped apart before they can be put back together into a slightly more intelligible package. I'm not sure I learned to get over my embarrassment, but I sure did learn to ignore it. After all, isn't blogging mightier than the sword in this day and age?

Thanks to habit, I am still not a habitual reader -- although I love it whenever I do read. There are quite a few books on my reading list, and it's always exciting to get best-sellers for $1 from second-hand stores. I've discovered that Librivox is a great solution for those of us who 1) never actually read the classics in school or don't remember them, and 2) don't really have the time to do it now, but 3) would still like to catch up with the rest of the edumacated world. I've gotten through most of my high school reading list now by listening to mp3s of really fantastic volunteers, but part of me is still optimistic that I may, some day, actually put in the time to read the actual words myself. Maybe.

Well, if you've made it this far, congratulations; I hope that my writing wasn't too painful to endure. :)

Alice statue in Central Park at night, not inundated with kids.

(Also, feel free to reach out if you know of a job opening in the health field in NYC!!)

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!

2012 was a good year, but one devoid of inspirimint blog posts! So, I'm here to make up for that. Here are some photos of food I had in 2012. Hope you all had a good year, and here is a toast to a prosperous 2013!

Let's start with some homemade goodies. 

Buns!

Homemade banana bread muffins

Homemade ostrich steak, mango chutney, & mango arugula salad

OMG! An unbroken shelled walnut!!

A ridiculously complex bowl of yogurt

Homemade truffle butter!

We also ate out a lot...

Everyone loves brunch.

Had fugu for the first time at Gari.

A delicious macademia nut vegan cheese wheel!

"Jasmine, cucumber, honeydew, chartreuse" at WD~50

A lot of sweets...

Veggie bun & soft serve at Momofuku Milk Bar

Deconstructed s'more at WD~50

Cheesecake at Robert

...and last but not least, delicious macarons from Ladurée!

Hope your 2013 will be delicious as well!! 

Snow

East Coast weather is weird. We've been getting random days of super warm (60-70°F) weather interspersed among the typical 30-40°F winter chilliness. Last week I saw ladies in dresses and guys in flip-flops, but a few days ago, we had hail and snow thunderstorms. Was California weather ever fickle like this? I can't remember anymore...

Living in a part of the world where snow is to be dealt with on a daily basis during the winter is something brand new to me. Apparently, the blizzards this year were especially bad. I've never been in an East Coast winter before, so I have nothing to compare it against. All I know is that the apartments are kept nice and toasty, and that waking up to a fresh layer of powder is absolutely magical. 

Oh, so this is what a "big storm" looks like? Okay, I can deal with that.

Ice skating at the Rockefeller Center during Christmas.

 

I love disrupting virgin powder. When nature lays down a vast blank canvas, what's better to do than to explore it with creativity? One night, I found this blank spot in Central Park. I couldn't believe it hadn't been walked all over yet, so I took it upon myself to trudge out a little design:

Of course, art isn't limited to two-dimensions, when you have such a versatile medium. On my way to the grocery store, I saw a guy hunched over the sidewalk carving out "Paul" from the massive snow pile that was pushed onto the space between where people walked and where cars parked. I asked for and was granted permission to photograph his work.

"Hi I'm Paul." Hi Paul. :)

There are always random pieces of art in NYC. I really like how snow sculptures are ephemeral, so time plays an important role in both its creation and appreciation. I'm glad there are other people out there who like playing with snow too.

Creepy? 

This guy (gal?) in Chinatown/LES was massive and had fruits for features.

Someone went around my hood carving faces in the snow blown on trees.

My first winter in New York is almost over, and spring is just around the corner. It probably didn't feel as bad for me because I knew I didn't like cold, so I stocked up on proper winter gear. I'm not really sure what to expect next, but I guess that's all part of the fun and excitement!

A new year, a new life

Inspirimint has been on such a long hiatus that I feel like now is an appropriate time to take this blog in a new direction.

2010 was a year of change. Since I moved to Manhattan, New York in August, I haven't had any down time to think about writing here. NYC is such a beautiful and inspiring place brimming with culture and creativity, and I want to use this blog as a tool to document my journey as well as to assist my continued exploration of the city.

Inspirimint will probably continue to evolve in the coming months, but for now, it is a photolog that captures curious and capricious moments, my experiences & projects, food, and anything else that tickles me fancy.

View down 42nd St towards Times Sq. from the Hudson River

A Celebration of Things Made

The inner workings of a pinball machine--wow!

I attended Maker Faire last weekend. It's a weekend getaway put together by the creators of MAKE Magazine, which focuses on the do-it-yourself community. Both the magazine and the fair bring together a community of artists, engineers, and designers who love working with their hands, and who wish to spread the value of hand-made goods to others. 

They replaced the typical casing of a pinball machine with clear acrylic plastic.

The fair is a gigantic arts and crafts festival, involving anything made. Since "being made" is a pretty broad criterion, you can expect to see anything from robot duels to fire displays to knitting corners. Much of the fair is dedicated to technology, art, and exploration. 

What's so cool about making things? You can learn a whole lot by deconstructing and then reconstructing an object. Using your hands to figure things out is a key skill in life that is, unfortunately, no longer as emphasized in the classroom anymore. Attenders of Maker Faire value the hands-on experience, our innate curiosity, and the importance of fostering burgeoning creativity. 

This guy pictured above made the most amazing puppet. It's a humanoid skeleton worn on the hand, whose arms, legs, and head can be mechanically controlled by the guy simply moving his fingers. Each body part could be manipulated independently when the fingers pulled on various combinations of wires and string. The skeleton could even hold up its arm, move its fingers, and grab a piece of paper! 

People not only sold knit, crochet, and sewn goods, but also brought materials to teach anyone interested in learning. 

Steampunk enthusiasts display highly ornate creations that replicate the retro-futuristic style, including two fully-functioning mini cannons.

One thing that I love about Maker Faire is walking around and seeing the unique uses of various materials. Inspirational makers make you think about where materials come from, how things are assembled, and why hand-made goods have a much more positive impact on the community. One common theme that makers address is the huge amount of waste generated by society today. Most attendees are much more supportive of locally-made and quality goods that have a lower environmental impact than cheap, mass-produced items. 

An outdoor fire sculpture.

A giant human-powered tricycle.

Broken iPhone? Don't just throw it away! ifixit.com will show you how to fix your belongings.

The most memorable display goes to ArcAttack, a band that performs music using Tesla coils. The coils are connected to a computer or DJ pad that controlled its frequencies, and created lightening arcs of different intensities and pitches. The high beat trance-like music was exciting...

Lightening is so much more intense in person because you can actually see the 3-D space they occupy.

The man isn't hurt by the electricity because he is wearing a Faraday suit.

...until a guy in a Faraday suit jumped in!! Then it got way crazy. This guy was dancing between arcs of lightening. He wore a full-body suit made of chain-mail (ie, a Faraday cage), which deflects the electricity around his body. When we talked to him after the performance, we learned that although he doesn't feel anything from the lightening itself, he feels pressure from the heat that's generated. The sparks were quite loud from about 30 feet away; I can only imagine what it must be like when the lightening hits him in the face! 

I attended Maker Faire to man the Ambidextrous Magazine booth. Ambidextrous is a high-quality publication centered around design produced by students and alumni affiliated with the d.school at Stanford. The magazine just launched its most recent issue, "Cheap," which tackles issues such as the value of the dollar store and repurposing recycled materials. If you are interested in the broad vision of "design," what it means, and connecting with those in the community, Ambidextrous is a fantastic magazine to check out. 

A display of issues, past and present. 

Booth babes are imperative for sales.