tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43571383905313413822024-02-22T10:29:16.504-08:00.not.who.i.was.yesterday.<img src="http://www.mixmap.com/432012/tracker_strict.jpg" border="0" height="0" width="0">jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-80473670274807291212010-05-22T19:49:00.000-07:002010-05-22T20:15:01.442-07:00to the left, to the left...the most common question i get these days is some version of, "How are you feeling about the move?" to which my most common response is: "Terrified." and it's true. i am. terrified. i'm also incapable of producing the gold-standard blogs i usually churn out so do be patient with my lack of... um, my inability to... uhhh --- i can't write real good right now. my brain is too busy exploding. deal jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-28407654999041520092010-04-01T18:00:00.000-07:002010-04-01T18:03:16.197-07:00Love, Daddyi found this old email from my dad and it was so sweet and unintentionally hilarious that i felt the need to share.Hi Jessica, It is your Daddy speaking. Wondering how you are doing. Have you changed oil in your car ? Is car running OK?. Hope you are having a wonderful day. Talk with you soon. Love, Daddy.*sigh*... it's really hard to think about the fact that i'll be thousands of jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-26541734246533003512010-03-16T00:19:00.000-07:002010-03-16T00:53:31.330-07:00excited to go but so sad to leavei'm guessing that 99% of my blog readers are connected to me by via some other form of social media so i'm just going to assume that you all heard the fantastic news: i got accepted to Teach For America! it's been a week since i officially got the word and i'll be honest, it's still quite surreal. i don't know who's in charge over there at TFA but it was some shmuck's bright idea to put me in jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-79316511787201845002010-01-06T19:09:00.000-08:002010-01-06T19:11:24.586-08:00facebook vigilantei've been picking a lot of fights on facebook lately. i try not to, believe me. i know it's only facebook and i know that my friends (and their friends) mean well and i know that it's entirely too easy to say ignorant things on the internet without meaning any harm -- and yet still i can't help but speak up and pick a fight.today's mini bout went down like this:my friend posts an innocuous statusjHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-52075741232027366872009-11-16T18:48:00.001-08:002009-11-16T18:51:44.938-08:00round and roundi wrote an entire post about how i want to take a break from academia because i feel so trapped in this vicious cycle of self-congratulatory ego-coddling rhetoric and then i realized that the entire blog post i had just written was really freakin self-congratulatory.ugh. i really need to figure out how to blog like a normal person. [ha!]jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-40786450479381780002009-11-10T17:21:00.000-08:002010-06-21T19:25:36.443-07:00something to talk aboutso this is the post that i was going to post last time but didn't because of a flash wave of hyper self-consciousness. not that i've suddenly given up my neurosis (a hallmark of my personality, after all) but several factors have collided this evening and worn down my inhibitions: 1) i feel guilty for my irregular blogging; 2) this blog was already basically done and prolly shouldn't go to waste jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-52722544854143372242009-09-21T17:25:00.000-07:002009-09-21T19:03:17.575-07:00lefty looseyi have trouble letting go of some things. case in point: i have 4 email accounts that i use regularly including (but not limited to) an antiquated hotmail account that is daily inundated by spam mailings and the various email lists i've signed up for over the years. i rarely get any personal correspondence and the format is terribly inefficient, especially compared to the genius of gmail [one of jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-63868256209778327662009-08-30T18:13:00.000-07:002009-08-30T18:55:02.941-07:00self-fulfilling prophesyon my crowded and disorganized bookshelf, i have about a dozen or so mostly empty journals. each was started with the best of intentions and each began more or less the same way -- with an entry apologizing to my future self for discarding yet another journal in the vain hope that this one just might be the one i finally get through, cover to cover. but without fail [or rather, with abundant failjHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-76962128468962981942009-08-26T18:41:00.000-07:002009-08-27T17:49:12.143-07:00too late to 'pologize?okay, so that last entry was probably kind of an a-hole move. the one before it kinda wasn't awesome either. how do i know this? not only were the two comments left apologies [you're forgiven, by the way] but several of my real-life blog reader friends have also made a point of apologizing to my face, not only for not commenting [you're also forgiven] but for the sad state of affairs reported in jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-72974362351872489962009-08-21T01:23:00.000-07:002009-08-21T02:34:37.134-07:00so analyticalbeing the savvy techmological mind that mine is [mmhmm, you heard me] i utilize the most sophisticated modes of analyticalnessiocity to keep track of this here blizzery-blog. according to the great statistical minds over at google analytics, my blog traffic is down 18.6%. needless to say, i found this information to be both disturbing and not awesome. i happen to know that i have 3 blogger jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-14738991195906597832009-08-19T16:32:00.000-07:002009-08-20T17:15:02.425-07:00brain brain grow a wayi've been back in 'merica for exactly two weeks now [almost to the hour] and yet i still haven't been able to collect my thoughts enough to put together any kind of coherent european reflection together. this inability to articulate my travel experience includes but isn't limited to written, verbal and indeed even internal forms of expression. this is largely due to the fact that i managed [in jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-78601923239014487532009-08-02T06:07:00.000-07:002009-08-02T06:39:12.007-07:00reflections on rome, part 4after two solid weeks of moving about through four different countries and attempting to navigate four different languages (only one of which i spoke more than three sentences of), i somehow find myself back in rome. this is the first time that i've spent more than three nights in any one place in over two weeks and truth be told, i'm only really beating my previous record by a night anyway. i jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-76988819030512190112009-07-06T05:40:00.000-07:002009-07-10T06:54:43.497-07:00reflections on rome, pt. 3i can hardly believe i've only got a week left in this creative writing program! would it be cliché to say that time flies? if so, i won't. :) last weekend we had a three-day break from our program so me and a couple friends took the train to venice! as soon as we got out of the train station, we were confronted by water, water and then some more water! it was absolutely beautiful. the downside jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-69570900306832607792009-06-30T07:44:00.000-07:002009-06-30T08:03:00.619-07:00reflections on rome, pt. 2so the day after i wrote my angsty last post, i got to go out to an authentic Italian dinner with my mom and roommates. being the experienced traveler that she is (she just filled up all the pages in her passport!), my mom had the know-how to look up this charming little restaurant, located random place in some back corner of some alley (of course). when we got there, there weren't any tables jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-59160649367391674622009-06-25T05:20:00.000-07:002009-06-25T06:16:57.218-07:00reflections on rome, pt. 1i know i totally half-assed that last entry and haven't really offered any real updates on my time here in rome so i'm gonna give it an honest go while i have my brain cells about me (more or less).i can't honestly say that i've fallen in love with rome, not yet anyhow. don't get me wrong, i love travelling! i love feeling immersed in culture, overwhelmed by the unknown and surrounded by natives jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-25113845633701978122009-06-23T08:15:00.000-07:002009-06-23T08:20:27.571-07:00roma is amor spelled backwardsso i'm in rome and though i've been doing a lot of writing, i clearly haven't been doing a lot of blogging. it's been awhile since i've posted any poetry and indeed, awhile since i've written any poetry but since that's sort of what i'm here to do, i thought i'd take a quick minute to share one. (it's about a painting of one of the popes) :)red velvet toesy peeks out from billowing beige jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-7894250257628778502009-04-23T23:41:00.000-07:002009-04-24T16:03:08.395-07:00i apologize for calling miss california a douchebagso in my last blog, i called miss california is a douchebag and i really feel the need to apologize. before you get too excited, know that i'm not apologizing for calling her a douchebag (because truth be told, i'm still kinda standing by that one); i'm apologizing because i didn't explain why i think she's a douchebag.her pageant answer bothered me, sure. for one, it wasn't very intelligent. "jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-26635131195764184222009-04-19T23:15:00.000-07:002009-04-21T13:08:26.397-07:00life, liberty and the pursuit of happinessi know this is a weird time to get all uppity about this, but dang it -- i just twittered about it and now i feel the need to elaborate.miss california is a douchebag. i know some of you thought before now that douchebag was a term to be reserved for the male gender but believe it or not, the term's etymology has its beginnings as a means to demean women and although i'm not really for demeaningjHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-23781694657095726412009-04-02T22:52:00.000-07:002009-04-03T00:48:19.581-07:00much too muchi don't get stressed out very easily or very often for that matter. school doesn't stress me out because i've learned not to stress out about grades -- although i should note that i no longer resent tests and my nerdiness has ballooned to such mind boggling proportions that i've actually started to enjoy tests. i know. frightening. i've learned not to let my friends stress me out because love is jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-12616382299311419212009-03-14T20:49:00.000-07:002009-03-14T22:03:10.685-07:00why i worshipi realize that i don't write very often and then often times when i do write, i begin by saying i don't write very often. this is not to say that i don't think about writing here but i usually stop myself from hitting the 'publish post' button before i subject the world wide web to my self-indulgent rantings. in all honesty, this is more self-preservation than benevolence but whatchugon'do. it jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-16530641969772213782009-03-02T18:07:00.000-08:002009-03-04T21:17:56.400-08:00internet epiphayin an act of boredom, distraction, and in the endless pursuit of useless information, i joined twitter today. to be more accurate, i joined twitter last week but didn't start posting/following/whateveryoucallit until today. in my first few hours of activity, i was confronted by the age-old social networking conundrum: to deny or not to deny?it happens to the best of us: there we are, minding our jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-34928954325017623062009-02-23T16:23:00.000-08:002009-02-23T16:33:49.594-08:00things i'd really like to blog about at length but don't have time for right nowwhy i'm so mad at Miley Cyrusthe most amazing/heartwrenching Oscar speech everone of the most amazing/heartwrenching films everthings that i've been wrong about for most of my life my weird and irrational yet nonetheless overwhelming sense of constant failurewhy i love school so muchwhy i love my church so muchthat one time my heart got bruised real bad and why i'm having so much trouble getting jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-77598044467970296322008-12-31T23:10:00.001-08:002009-01-01T01:51:01.801-08:00obigatory new year's posti started to write a longer, warmer, squishier blog about the specifics of 2008 but it was starting to get too long [even for me -- shocking, i know]. besides, i'm still trying to find the perfect balance between healthy vulnerability and TMI when it comes to the blogosphere. i find that when it comes to my blogging, i either share too much, apologize for sharing too much, or share next to jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-65961407419027896202008-12-23T02:27:00.000-08:002008-12-23T14:11:57.365-08:00i hate to say you told me soso i was wrong about me. actually, i was wrong about you. i said in my last post that your words wouldn't make a difference, but strangely they did. and not to diminish the power of your words but at the risk of i'm tooting my own horn, i'm gonna go ahead and say that my own words might have made even more of a difference [toot toot!].you would think that talking and writing about my hopelessnessjHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357138390531341382.post-35994685166635032712008-12-16T22:01:00.000-08:002008-12-17T02:39:01.400-08:00she ain't got no alibias many of you have noticed in the last few weeks, i'm a little bit kind of almost famous [question mark]. the gentleman on the left is my friend and bandmate and he just so happens to work for the newly infamous FAILblog. he thusly wrangled some other friends and i to participate in a relatively impromtu photoshoot for the blog's new merch. when i first saw the picture, my initial reaction was jHonghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08758338592248084847noreply@blogger.com5