Chi Speak

Orchids and Honesty: Found in New York City

Posted on March 22, 2012 | 4 Comments

New York City is known as (dare I say it?) the cultural epicenter, a destination spot for those seeking excitement, a ‘big break’, and its glittering lights. I never liked the rough, crowded lifestyle as a teenager, but college transformed me into a defected suburbanite who bit into The Big Apple’s allure and has not looked back (much).

This wonderful, grimy, fast-paced place offers so much by way of entertainment, diversity, opportunity, and numerous parks (with free Wi-Fi, by the way), but ‘tropical oasis’ isn’t a descriptor the average tourist or New Yorker would use. However, the New York Botanical Garden‘s current effort in Patrick Blanc’s Orchid Show exhibition will convince you otherwise:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture and Society, Good Days

Tagged #orchidshow, bloghop, city life, flowers, garden, impressionism, lilies, Monet, Monet's Garden, nature, New York Botanical Garden, New York City, NYBG, orchid, Orchid Show, papyrus, Patrick Blanc, reflection, scenic, Wordless Wednesday

Fitting a Week into a Carry-On

Posted on March 20, 2012 | 3 Comments

Do you want to help me prepare for a week-long trip on the West Coast? Good (regardless of your answer) because I need help deciding what and how to pack efficiently without a checked bag. I want to take early precautions due to several layovers and ensure the smoothest round-trip possible.

Here’s the carry-on:

I like this particular piece because it’s TSA carry-on compliant. However, the optional strap only lasted a single domestic flight. Scrabbling through the airport at breakneck speeds caused the strap hooks to fall open without much force or provocation.

Vera Bradley customer service helped by replacing the strap without question...twice! The first strap never arrived, but the second one did and it's perfect. Thank you for your understanding and resolving this issue, VB.

The bag is functional again, but I also have a slightly larger rolling luggage if you believe this one is too small.

Here is what I need to pack:

5-6 outfits (combination of pants, skirts, dresses, blouses, undergarments, socks)
Sleepwear
Extra pair of shoes, flip-flops
Toiletries (quart-sized bag of travel-sized supplies)
Notebook, pens, business cards, and slim binder
iPod, Apple keyboard dock, recharger
Canon point-and-shoot, recharger
Cellphone recharger
Small purse with wallet, sunglasses, make-up, cellphone
Reading material: 1-2 pending review book(s)

Rolled clothes use less space, but do you have any other ideas or secrets that help you pack light for a trip? Tell me about them, draw scaled illustrations, blueprints on how you would pack a bag- get creative.

I’ll show you the finished job and write about the best recommendations you send in. Feel welcome to submit your travel tips via contact form or tweet if you do not want to leave a comment here.

Thanks all! I can’t wait to read and try out your ideas!

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Posted in Practical Advice

Tagged carry-on, luggage, packing, travel, Vera Bradley

Cat Nap

Posted on March 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Exposed

Hidden

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Posted in Family and Friendship

Tagged cat, junk, nap, Wordless Wednesday

Goodbye, Blogger

Posted on March 14, 2012 | Leave a comment

Blogger, I’m sorry, but we can’t be friends.

I’m refocusing my Internet-based activities in a more direct, content-rich way. Chi Speak is all over the social media scene right now, dangling a bit in Digg‘s vastness with pinches of Pinterest and this set-up won’t work for the long-term. If you don’t believe me, ask my inbox; it gets clogged with password reset reminders all the time. My multiple e-mail accounts get tangled and I really hate signing in and out through another user any time I feel like dropping in for a quick chat.

We’re drifting apart, Blogger. I appreciate your streamlined sensibilities, but that last upgrade you pulled really threw me off. I don’t know you anymore; we don’t talk to each other for weeks, sometimes months at a time now. You dyed yourself orange and got really pale too, like you decided to hide away from the sun all winter. I’m all for design overhauls, but I used to read you easily. It’s not your fault that I spend the majority of my day staring at a computer screen and have weakened vision, but I am loath to mess with my Chrome browser view settings (shortcuts included) all the time in order to talk to you.

You also exclude yourself from our other friends, or your potential friends, rather. Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Facebook, Formspring, etc. know how to share and syndicate content across platforms, but your aloofness gets tiresome. Don’t try to bring Google+ into this, please. I like Google+ well enough, but you even hesitate to share there as well, which does not make sense since I’m with you through Chrome all the time. Aren’t you three inextricably linked? My computer software is up-to-date and I clear out the cache regularly.

AdSense has nothing to do with this either, Blogger. True, I never made a dime from advertising with you, but remember, I never was after your money. Our friendship was genuine and to hear you suggest otherwise stings in an insulting, deep way. I am not a gold digger and you know it.

Truly, the final straw was Picasa; you two are together all the time (which is fine, I want you to have friends other than me), but I upload files to write about later and you know what you do? You share it with Picasa. I could not even figure out how to delete an uploaded Google+ profile picture from Picasa easily without consulting Quora. Communicating between the three of us should be easy, but it’s not. Why so secretive? It’s creepy for you to hang on to mementos like that, Blogger.

You deserve a more attentive blogger, someone who will utilize those gadgets with passion and purpose. Someone who will forgive your quirks. I can’t give you that anymore. Things between me and WordPress are getting serious, and I really need to let go before you get the wrong idea.

Don’t worry, the old posts will get transferred out soon, Blogger. I’ll see you around.

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Posted in Future Aspirations, Review, Technology

Tagged blogger, review, technology

the wonder of children, pt III

Posted on March 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Two years ago, I wrote about a little boy who made my mornings bright. His family’s early routine changed somewhere along the way because we did not see one another after a few more months.

Last week I saw a vaguely familiar woman, this time without a stroller. She held the hand of the little boy, older and still smiling. He wore glasses in the same style as when young, but these frames were a little bigger. In the style of so many young urbanites this winter, he also had a warm hat knit in an animal pattern, a cartoonish bear.

He walked well beside her, not running ahead or attempting to tug his hand from hers. His family taught him wonderful manners. The best part? He tilted his head as they passed me and cheered merrily, “Good morning!”

It was a nice start to the day.

Also read the earlier posts about how children are precious and wonderful here: Pt I, Pt II (as linked above).

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Posted in Good Days

Tagged children, neighbor, wonder of children

Moving Forward, One Step First, Then Another

Posted on March 9, 2012 | 6 Comments

Writers’ Post Thursday BlogHop: Energy

Sometimes, life presents challenges that can pile up into an intimidating mountain. The climb is not easy, but you are the one who decides whether it is possible. Sometimes, knowing you have a hand in the outcome is the most frightening and difficult thing to recognize, admit, and accept, but it’s what you do after the realization that counts the most.

Some look down at their accumulated height and frighten themselves into inaction. They cannot believe how they ended up in their predicament and dwell on what already occurred. Others may acknowledge the distance covered, but stay focused on the tasks at hand and the attainable prize, the mountaintop for motivation.

Nobody says the feat or goal on your to-do list needs to be accomplished in a day, so don’t apply this common, but misguided and unfair standard to yourself. S.M.A.R.T. goals will help you reach the summit through steady determination, a little creativity, and foresight to bring and accept support along the way.

When will you take the first needed step? Your effort will be worth the work and the wait.

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Posted in Practical Advice, Psychology

Tagged baggage, bloghop, growth, mountains, patience, persistence, psychology, resilience, self-confidence, strength, Writers' Post

Writer, Use Your Chisel

Posted on March 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

I believe writing is a craft one acquires progressively. You must challenge yourself, read every bit and scrap fluttering in your line of vision and seek out words when none pass, take risks, outline though it might feel like your soul is screaming against the practice, refine your drafts, use spell check without trusting the results, get your masterpiece in the making critiqued and edit others’ work in kind, engage in life fully even when it wears you out, write when you do not want to, observe everything and everyone around you, and take a breath every once in a while to think.

courtesy: wikia.com

I believe it’s important to recognize and “find” your personal writing style. I am accomplishing this by making mistakes and learning from them in a conscious, persistent effort to grow, but you can (and will) develop a customized path. Moreover, this writing style can change, so loosen up your habitual rigidity and stay flexible. Regardless of what you may hear, there is no “right way” or correct end goal; you decide that for yourself, but you need to keep an open mind along the way, pick up the guidelines, high-five the masters before you, and keep at it to reinvigorate the game.

Words are powerful, sure, but you need to learn how to wield them with careful weight and effectiveness or else they will flail weakly on the ground. You are not alone in this painful lesson. Many struggle like you, including me.

Gather your courage and chisel away at the rough marble slabs before you. Your hand will hesitate in making the first few chips, but your true creation (the one it deserves to be) will show itself soon. Now, get swinging. No more excuses. No more delays. You already deprived yourself long enough, and who are you to make yourself wait?

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Posted in DIY, Practical Advice, Writing/Language

Tagged growing, learning, writers, writing

Jumping City Puddles on Leap Year Day

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 4 Comments

Rain fell over the city gradually, a fine misting that became heavier as the minutes passed. The wind picked up and swept over a well-known avenue: Broadway. It pushed insistently on tourists’ backs and elbowed commuters in the face, howling as a school of umbrellas tried to navigate its way helplessly across the busy streets. Nylon material turned inside out here and there, the metal frames glistening like light gleaming off shimmering trout pulled from the water.

Small rivers, dark and polluted ran along the curbs, dragging reluctant garbage: gutted cigar innards, a crushed soda can, innumerable lost receipts, and tattered debris down deep into the sewer system. Steam rose from the vented subway grates and manholes, mingling with the chilled exhalations of the shivering crowds.

Rain fell over the city, trapping grit, car exhaust fumes, contagious microbes, and deadlier things that murmur to vulnerable masses in dark, recurring dreams. The rain fell with purpose, pulling it all into the waiting, gaping pipe-lined belly below.

I paused for less than a moment, coughed out my urban despair in desperation, and felt gratitude, unexpected relief.

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Posted in Life in the Big City, Writing/Language

Tagged city frogs, city life, happy leap day, leap year, rain, urban

Germy Love

Posted on February 26, 2012 | 2 Comments

Give me sallow skin
and shallow breaths.
Give me clammy hands
and a fevered head.

Let me take on
his ills and aches,
while we rest
in shifts.

We heal faster
than single blankets
and emptied tea mugs
ever fix alone.

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Posted in Health, Writing/Language

Tagged health, love, poem, relationship, sickness

‘Is it Spring yet?’ Lamb Stew

Posted on February 23, 2012 | 1 Comment

Man, that cold almost KO’ed me over this past week. Today’s unseasonably warm weather (almost 60°F) caved to a chilly evening. The cold set deep in my bones, whispered against my lungs, and caressed my flimsy spring jacket in derision.

I also lost about seven pounds since last posting. Apparently, subsisting on a small apple, yogurt spoonfuls, plain chamomile tea, and a lonely chicken noodle soup cup per day does not do much for weight maintenance (P.S. I do not recommend this as a magic weight loss formula and advise those seeking crash diet plans to look at healthy alternatives for gradual results).

My stomach wanted to eat a warm meal for a change, something not too greasy and light, yet hearty. If you’re against eating lamb (which I understand), then switch it out for beef and dig in- this is a tasty, low carb, and economical meal.