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Continue reading →: 🍛 Foods I love from HawaiiFolks from Hawaii talk about SPAM as if we are talking about sex or something better. I’m fairly certain if we replaced SPAM with the word ‘sex’ the giddy teenage excitement in our voices would be the same. SPAM is our bacon, our beacon of light, our bowl of comfort…
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Continue reading →: (An expat reflects) here versus there…Returning home to Hawaii after six years abroad felt as natural as diving into the Pacific Ocean. It was salty, sweet and refreshing. It was exhausting and revealing in ways that I had forgotten. And it confirmed my decision to stay outside the borders of the United States, coloring outside…
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Continue reading →: Chinatown, Hawaii
Visiting Hawaii meant not only visiting memories, but places where those memories are contained. Chinatown is one such place. Honolulu’s is one of the oldest Chinatowns in America and probably is one of the smelliest. So, I find it rather amusing that tourists come here and based on their 3…
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Continue reading →: the urgency of today, going home, gaining perspectiveWhen you go home, regardless how much you think you know a place, there is almost always the unexpected. I was only returning to Hawaii for 2 weeks, what could possibly happen, right?
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Continue reading →: Long layovers in Korea and BangkokWhen I first booked my ticket back home to Hawaii, I was apprehensive about the long layovers I had both in Incheon Airport (Seoul) and Suvarnabhumi (Bangkok). Korean Air is known for 12 hour layovers to Hawaii from Thailand and as a result they have lost some customers along the…
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Continue reading →: 🇹🇭 When the power goes out in ThailandI’m not entirely sure what causes a power line to catch on fire, in the rain, on the first day of a major Thai holiday, but it did right at our apartment.
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Continue reading →: the missing teacher: a manifestoI wrote a manifesto. I know, right? What was I thinking? Well, to be honest, this manifesto comes straight out of my book {the missing teacher}. It was a big deal when the “ah-ha!” hit me the first time, but now I’m so used to this idea, I don’t know…
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Continue reading →: ✍🏼 Do you keep a journal?For a long time, I’ve been keeping a morning journal. Originally, I did it as a necessity and it’s been my constant, true friend. Perhaps it’s self-indulging, as some might say, but as far as I can tell, it has helped me throughout my days and provided an anchor when…
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Continue reading →: Its award season and I have nothing to wear.
The blogging award season occurs between now and later and takes place around the world, where the majority of important blog awards reside. The origins of such socialist awards are relatively unknown, but we do know that a German or a German lover was involved (see Liebster), as well as…
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Continue reading →: Why audiobooks?
I tried speed reading, but I don’t think it really fits my personality. Plus, I like listening. It’s nice break for your eyes. I feel like we use our eyeballs a lot and I fear my vision is going through another one of its annoying changes. Regardless though, there is…
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Continue reading →: Which college courses had the most impact on you?
As some of you already know, I didn’t take high school very seriously, so I had to go to community college first. At the time, I was embarrassed because my friends went off to major state universities all over the country. Looking back, I’m glad I took the cc route.…
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Continue reading →: Has living abroad changed the way you dress?It started off with shoes, but then it became a bigger question. Does where you live change the way you dress? Yes. A resounding yes.
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Continue reading →: What kind of reader are you?https://soundcloud.com/lifetheuniverseandlani/what-kind-of-reader-are-you There are writers who write within a genre and those who write outside of them, too. But what about the readers? How do you read? What do you read? Why do you read?
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Continue reading →: Things I’m liking (sharing the love) #3
I don’t know why I don’t do these posts more often. I need to do these types of posts more often. I’m going to do these posts more often.
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Continue reading →: Why this Asian American never pursued acting.Grace Rowe’s video message to Asian Americans reminded me why I never pursued acting after high school. She pleas for AAs to get into acting and she’s witty about it, too. I liked the video. But even in high school, I knew I wasn’t the right color for Hollywood or…
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Continue reading →: 🇹🇭 12 things I’ve learned from traveling around Thailand*updated 2 Feb 2018 Recently I’ve been traveling around Thailand and it’s driving me batty because I’m such a homebody, but I love seeing new places, too. I know, I’m so complicated. And even though I no longer live in Chiang Mai, I’ve had to return there several times to…
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Continue reading →: ✍🏼 How can I be a better writer?It seems like everyone wants to be a writer these days, but that isn’t going to stop me from writing. When I started to pitch my first book to agents, let me tell you I got mightily discouraged from the lack of interest. I went through phases of wondering if…
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Continue reading →: ✍🏼 How yoga helps my writingI’ve been practicing yoga for about 12 years. I say this not to impress you, but because I want to establish how long yoga and I have enjoyed a healthy relationship. Of course, by now, you’d think I’d be really bendy and flexible, but I am not. I’m not “advanced”.…
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Continue reading →: ✍🏼 Why I like blogging
Blogging is like becoming an expat, you get to meet folks from all around the world, but you don’t have to go anywhere! It’s brilliant. Of course, just like traveling, you meet some great and not-so-great folks on the road. Sometimes the connection last only the strength of the holiday…
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Continue reading →: My Ubon Ratchathani storyHave you ever chased a dream? And if that is too dramatic to say, have you ever chased down something that didn’t hold much of a chance, but you decided to give it a go anyway? Because that is where my Ubon Ratchathani story begins, with a pursuit.
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Continue reading →: ✈️ The traveler and expat pecking orderI was at the Maejo Lantern release (aka Yee Ping Festival) when a colleague of mine loudly stated, “My god, there are so many foreigners here. This is insane. I bet they don’t even know what this event is all about. Why are they even here?”
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Continue reading →: Happy New Year from Chiang Rai, Thailand.I have been waiting in anticipation for the unveiling of Chiang Rai’s Flower Festival at the Flag and Lamp Park (which is located downtown on Thanalai Rd). For about a month, I want to say, they have blocked it off, surrounded it with a high green wall of tarp and…
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Continue reading →: ✈️ The unbridled joy of travelYou know you’re having an adventure when you wish you were safe at home in bed. Travel is tiring. They never talk about the unglamorous bits: the waiting, the sweat-inducing delays, prepackaged foods, high airport prices, the discomfort, the bloating, and the thirst. Travel bloggers, books and TV series…
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Continue reading →: Was it really stealing? Stealing is wrong.https://soundcloud.com/lifetheuniverseandlani/was-it-really-stealing-stealing-is-wrong First of all, let me say that I’ve never stolen anything before. Well, that was what I truly thought until I started to write and then I began to remember my dishonest and theiving past. I was astonished, really. It’s funny what we forget and what we remember once…
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Continue reading →: You catch my eye Chiang Rai (bugs and stuff)
I love it when bugs show up conveniently.
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Continue reading →: You catch my eye Chiang RaiThere is nothing particularly beautiful about these pictures. They are merely what catches my eye while I am walking. I’m afraid I’m drawn to the mundane. Although, I think it’s a mistake to think something is boring.
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Continue reading →: Things I’m liking (sharing the love) #2
I have to admit. I’m not in the best form. And what I mean by this is I’m overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done.
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Continue reading →: Cimelo: Antique shop and coffeeOne could argue that Thailand’s coffee culture started in Chiang Rai with the original Doi Chaang Coffee shop and restaurant opening here. It certainly helps that coffee is grown locally. Lee’s Akha Ama Coffee is grown nearby, as is his apprentice’s – Tu’s from Nangnon Coffee. So it’s little wonder…
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Continue reading →: 🍛 What’s your relationship with food?Eating as a kid – in the beginning, there was sugar. My brother and I pretty much had free range over the foods we wanted. But not in a “Do you want sushi or beef wellies?” kind of way, more like we rode the shopping cart down commissary food aisles…
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Continue reading →: Why do guys like crazy girls?Being called crazy is usually considered positive and fun. Rarely is crazy what it really is – insanity. Blame it on slang, youth culture, or pop music – crazy, these days, seems to be crazier than ever. “A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others…
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Continue reading →: Celebrating 5 years of blogging (and livin’) overseasWoohoo! Hot diggity damn. Has it been five years already? Now, I might have mistakenly said it’s been four years in August, but as everyone knows, I can’t do math – and yes, it’s embarrassing.
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Continue reading →: Things I’m liking (sharing the love)1) Ever since we moved to Chiang Rai, I was concerned about the lack of access to English books, as there are not as many expats here as there is in Chiang Mai. So, I decided to buy a Kindle. They are more expensive in Thailand, so I had a…
Hello,
I’m Lani
Welcome to Life, the Universe, and Lani. I’ve been blogging about my experiences living abroad since 2009.
At this point, this site serves as an archive as I’m mostly active at No Girl is an Island 👉https://lanivcox.substack.com/ 🏝️where I have been both newslettering and continuing to craft personal essays on finding freedom in the fringes.
Thanks for stopping by, have a look around, and hope to see you over at No Girl is an Island.
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