It’s hard to summarize my past year because, quite frankly, a lot has happened over the span of 12 months.  For example, a year ago I would not have guessed that I’ll be sitting where I am right now, in a new house and state working at an organization I’ve been constantly applying for over the past couple of years. 

I also wouldn’t have predicted everything that has happened with me in relation to this blogging website.  I’ll carry with me many memories and stories to tell about my time on Xanga during the year 2010.  This post would be far too long if I attempt to recount everything that has taken place, so I’ll do my best to recall the highlights.

In no real order, here are my top highlights and moments from Xanga for this past year:

Making the XangaSecret series (Link)

Although this technically started in December 2009, the series really blew up in 2010.  I was a big fan of PostSecrets and wanted to do a Xanga version.  It was crazy how much positive feedback I received for this project.  You know you started up a good thing when TheTheologiansCafe tells you this is one of the best runs in a series he has ever seen on Xanga.  Overall, all but two of the XangaSecret posts got featured on the front page (one wasn’t featured because I already had another post featured at the time and the second one wasn’t featured because Xanga had stopped featuring posts for a while).  I’m still debating whether I should continue this, but I may just let it end on this high note.

Organizing and experiencing the New York City Xanga meet (Link)

Unless somebody corrects me, I believe this was the largest gathering of Xangans ever (or at least within the past few years).  Around 50+ Xangans showed up throughout the day as we all hung out in Central Park, sung some karaoke, watched VaneDave‘s comedy show, and partied it up in a stranger’s apartment late into the night.  The best part of this whole thing was the effect it had on those involved.  It seemed like a lot of people got re-energized and became more involved in our community afterward.  It was an honor coordinating this epic event.

Being fortunate enough to be drawn/animated multiples times this year

(Clockwise from top): Aihimeko, Drung888, bfb1131, bfb1131 (again), snapeful, itsayanav, binglebot, MethodElevated

I think it’s pretty awesome whenever somebody takes the time out to create a likeness of you.  Thank you all! 

Getting more than I bargained for on my birthday (Link)

My birthdays in the past have not always been particularly memorable, but I certainly will remember it this year!  The amount of birthday posts/pictures/shout outs given to me by Xangans this year blew my mind.  I’m pretty sure I will be quite content on my birthday for many years to come.

Xangans Supporting One Another (Link)

What a fun post to make!  As a spritual sequel to the Xangan Collaboration Project post I made last year, I was very happy with the results.  I always feel very lucky to be able to get so many Xangans to help me out whenever I come up with some collaboration ideas.  I wonder what type of collaboration post I should do next year?

Being a part of the published Xangans book (Link)

Ahh, something else I can scratch off my bucket list.  I just think it’s cool to say that I’ve been featured in a published book.  Despite what some people have said, I thought it was a major accomplishment to get something like this put out.  Kudos to everyone involved in getting this made!

This entry is getting way to long, so I’m going to quickly give shout outs to my remaining Xanga highlights/moments:

*Meeting the CEO of Xanga
*Telling the next chapter of the famous “I once dated a girl named Christine” story
*Coming across my first impersonator
*Joanna_Said_So’s special cake for me
*Finding out somebody gave me a very flattering definition in Urban Dictionary
*Xangans on Film with VaneDave
*Being voted Favorite Nice Guy Xangan and Favorite Xanga You Met in Real Life in Sonychak’s Favorite Xangan Categories of 2010
*Being one of the judges for Xanga Idol and Mr. and Mrs. Xanga
*Meeting this girl
*Maryland and DC Xanga meets, as well as the unofficial Sacramento/LA meet

Wooo, I think that’s enough Xanga talk in a post for now.  Like I said, it was a busy Xanga year and I definitely have everybody that I’ve ever interacted with on this site to thank for that.  I hope you’ll continue to keep up with my blog and keep on blogging yourself throughout the new year and beyond.  Lets see what great things 2011 has in store for us!  What do you predict will happen next year?

Alright, I’m now off to make final preparations for my NYE house party (which also happens to have some Xangans in attendance).  Time to ring in the new year in style!

***Happy New Year!***

I was planning on writing this out initially, but instead I’m going to tell you this story through a video (it will be a lot funner this way, trust me).  I had some help from another Xangan on this one.  I’ll reveal who she is after you watched the video below.  Don’t scroll all the way down yet!

Thanks to swtaznxtc90 for playing a cameo part in my video!  I now owe her a guest appearance on her blog (which contains pretty awesome modeling pictures, proses, and nerdy stuff), so stay tuned!

 
She doesn’t smell THAT bad, I suppose…

So, what was the dumbest dream you’ve had recently?

I saw this random note stuck on the window at a coffee shop last month.  I was immediately captivated by it, but at the time I couldn’t quite put into words what it was about it that intrigued me.  I knew that I liked it though, so I snapped this quick picture as I was heading out.  I posted it online soon after, still not sure what to make of it.  The only definite things I could say about it at the time was that it made me smile and ponder. 

There were some interesting responses to this picture after I posted it.  Here’s a sample of some of the comments:

“That is, like, God talking, so awesome.”

“I love this. I bet it made your heart melt for a second ”

“I think you read it wrong. I think someone is gonna kill you. They need to kill you.”

Geez, I sure hope the last comment isn’t correct!

Anyway, I recently rediscovered the above picture on my phone, which is why I’m thinking about this note again.  I asked myself, “What is actually going through my head when I read those two simple sentences?”

I determined that what I was doing was figuring out who in my life really needed me.  Does anybody?  My first thought was my immediate family.  They would surely miss me if I was gone, but do they necessarily rely on me for anything?  Maybe.  I then though about my friends and once more asked myself do any of them really count on me in their lives?  Again, maybe.  Should I be bothered that I have such doubt and uncertainty on this topic?  I don’t know.

However, there is one thing I’m sure of; it would be an honor to be that special somebody that people feel they need in their lives.  Now, I just need to figure out who these people are and where I can find them if they don’t exist in my life yet.  Who would like to point me in the right direction?

You know, I probably thought way more than I should have of this simple note.  Oh well, it is how my mind works.  The picture is currently my phone’s background to remind myself that I have quite a lot I need to understand and discover of myself, those around me, and life in general.  I’m eager and ready to do so!

I’m still curious on how others interpret this note.  What kind of thoughts or feelings does this bring out of you?

I’m just about finished with my semester!  I only got one last paper to do and I’m all set.  However, before I go finish that up I’m going to procrastinate and tell you a quick story about something I did last week.

Most of you are acquainted with one of my professors already (as seen in this entry).  I am actually taking one other class this semester that’s taught by another professor.  He looks a little like this:

Comb over and all.

Unlike the professor I made drawings for, most (if not all) of my fellow classmates do not like this other professor as a person.  It’s probably because he often times comes off as an insensitive elitist that makes a lot of rude comments.  For example, he has insinuated that people that go to public schools are not as good as those that go to private schools.  He also tends to go on tangents by bragging about his accomplishments, which can really cause collective sighs from our class.

As you can see from some of the comments in my psych class FB group (where we can privately complain during class in real time!), my fellow classmates like to write such lovely words about him:

This was regards to teacher evaluations we were filling out (I was being sarcastic):

After he told us a bunch of odd stories:

Remember how I said he can be a little insensitive?  One of the things he likes to do is comment on the boba tea I bring to class every night.  He apparently has never seen such a “weird Asian drink” (as he likes to put it) and would often make a side comment about it during lecture.  Funny enough, my other classmates seem to be more bothered by it than me, although it did annoy me as well.

So with that in mind, I decided to screw with my professor during the last class we had together.  Before class, I went out to buy my usual boba tea drink as well as a bunch of other Asian drinks such as these:

Once I got to class, I distributed the drinks to everybody before he came in.  My fellow classmate, Bengozen, also distributed Pocky sticks to everyone.  Lastly, I told everyone not to start drinking their drinks until our professor came in and to make sure to take a sip whenever he looks their way.

Essentially, I Asian drink-bombed his class

It was quite hilarious to see his confused face throughout lecture that night, with his eyes lingering on people’s drinks everytime he looked around the class.  Surprisingly, he didn’t say anything until after I mentioned it during break.  He was quite puzzled, as planned.  Success!

Yup, I told you I’m the model graduate student.

How is everyone else doing with finals?  Don’t worry, we’re almost done!  Alright, time for me to go finish up my last assignment.

P.S. I did offer him a drink in the end as a kind gesture, but he refused because he said he couldn’t handle the sugar.  Mhmm, sure that’s the reason.

Ahoy-hoy!  So it’s the beginning of December and you know what that means; crunch time for us students!  I will get back to my more regularly scheduled blogging after Dec 15th.  Once I complete a couple more papers and a test, I will only have to get through one last semester before I acquire my masters degree. 

You know, when I’m done I think I will leave a legacy for future students of the program.  My professors will tell them about how I was the most serious, mature, businesslike, focused, sophisticated graduate student that they have ever encountered, especially my one professor below:

Hmm, perhaps those wouldn’t be the exact words he would use…

For most of this semester I’ve been animating him onto our classroom’s whiteboard before he came in.  It started off out of boredom.  I was early, so I decided to first draw a small version of him off to the side where he might not have immediately noticed:

I’m also quite the sneaky photographer.  He didn’t even know I took this!

I don’t think he knew that was him at first.  The class (well, mostly I) told him that it was there before class and it was just a strange coincidence that cartoon looked a lot like him.  He seemed to have bought that and went on teaching.

I took it up a notch the following class, where I drew him again but this time a bit larger and much closer to where he was standing:

 

Once again, I told him it was there before we got in and that it was probably someone drawing Albert Einstein (somebody he bears quite the resemblance to).  He didn’t really dwell on it, although I can tell he was becoming suspicious.

The next class, I figured the hell with being subtle: 

That’s him driving me to Abilene, TX in reference to the Abilene Paradox (something he LOVES to talk about).  By this point he definitely figured it out it was me.  Fortunately for me, he really enjoyed it!  He even requested that I send him a picture of it, which I obliged. 

I was going to stop with the drawings at this point, but by now my colleagues were expecting something on the board each class so I couldn’t disappoint them!  I continued to find ways to make my drawings academically related so my professor would be okay with them.

I did these two drawings based on images in our textbook (ignore the strange greenish blots):

A few weeks ago the class topic was power, hence this reference:

He’s our hero!  Btw, I was THIS close to making a Kanye West reference instead.

Here’s my most recent drawing from last week’s class.  Take a guess what the topic was:

My professor later remarked that he happens to be an umpire in real life, so extra points for me!

This Wednesday will be the final class I’ll have with him and I could use some suggestions for my concluding drawing.  What should it be?  FYI, the topic for this week is “The Future” and the class is called Group Decision Making.  Any creative ideas?

Oh yeah, I’m such the model student of higher education!

***UPDATED DEC 8TH***

By popular demand, this was the last drawing I did of my professor: 

 

Time to go back…TO THE FUTURE!

Last week, I was interviewed by Linh_L (above) for her research study on how Asian-Americans conceive and portray their identity through social networks (like this site!).  I surprised myself with how much I was able to say on this subject.  Asian-American issues has always been something that interested me, yet for whatever reason it’s not something I often express on here.  I think I’m going to start writing a few posts about it now that these thoughts are in my head again.

I guess I can start with something I said during my interview that apparently caught Linh_L’s attention.  I can’t remember exactly what question by her led me to say this, but I told her I would sometimes jokingly mess with people when they ask me where I’m from.  She was curious about that statement, so I clarified it.

Basically, there’s this particular scenario I have found myself in many times, especially when I make small talk with older people I’ve recently met.  We would be having a light-hearted conversation when all of a sudden the person would ask me, “So, where are you from?”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with someone asking me that question.  I would usually reply by saying, “I’m from Maryland” and leave it at that.

Right after I tell them this, I can guess pretty soon whether or not that person will accept that answer and move on.  If instead they react as if I said something totally ridiculous, I know what follow-up question is coming next:

For the most part I know the person isn’t meaning to be rude or offensive by asking me that.  I know some people are just interested in my “motherland” because they want to share that they really enjoy the food there, that they enjoy the culture, or that they know how to say a few words in that language (what actually is the proper response to that?).  I understand that for some people that’s how they casually ask what ethnicity someone is and they truly don’t see anything wrong with phrasing it that way.  For them I would just say my family came from Hong Kong, but I was born in the US.  However, there are others that seem to be implying I’m an immigrant or that I’m not actually fully American.  It’s with those people I have some fun messing with:

“My hometown is Severn, MD.  Oh, you mean originally?  Sorry, I actually came from Laurel, MD before I moved.  I suppose more specifically I came from my mother’s womb at the local hospital in that area.  I could look up the particular address for you if you want.  Just a second!”

Ah, gotta love their reactions when I do that.

All kidding aside, I do admit there’s a part of me that feels a bit annoyed with being asked that follow-up question.  I almost want to ask them some of my own follow-up questions.  “Why was my first answer not sufficient enough for you?  Is it so hard to accept that I identify the US, the place I was born in and grew up all my life, as the place I’m from?  If I was, say Caucasian instead, would you have kept on questioning me on my origins?  If you were just wondering about my ethnicity, why not just asked me that instead?”  For the sake of keeping the conversation light-hearted though I choose to refrain from asking all that.

For better or worse, I’m so used to this that it doesn’t really faze me anymore.  Still, it’s something worth pondering about.  Don’t get me wrong, as an Asian-American I am quite proud of my Asian heritage and don’t mind talking with people about it.  I just want those people to not disregard what’s on the other side of the hyphen.