Discover Prompts, Day 24 + 25: Elixir & Magic

Beauty hacks come in all shapes and sizes, but budget beauty hacks that reuse materials you already have in the house are the best. I mean, don’t you just hate waste? For example, I’ve always felt a sense of loss after I’ve clipped my nails, especially my toenails because they’re so big! But did you…

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šŸ‡¹šŸ‡­ Can you cook Thai food?

Upon learning that I am half-Thai, folks want to know, ā€œCan you cook Thai food?ā€ When I was younger, the answer was no. As in why on God’s green and blue earth would I want to? My mom can cook wonderfully though, thank you. As I got older, I became annoyed by my mom’s badgering.

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Pain, struggle, and the stories within us

I’m binge watching Season 24 of America’s Next Top Model (don’t laugh). In fact, I’ve watched every season (not every episode though) because I’m a wannabe model. Funnily, I take really bad photos, but counteract this by making goofy faces, and accepting the fact that I’m not photogenic. But what has struck me, as I…

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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. ā€œA question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?ā€ā€• Albert Einstein I remember…

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Am I a feminist?

(And are there free cookies and punch involved?) Feminism is such a LOADED word jammed-packed with wholesome cynicism, abuse, and misunderstanding.Ā  But the good girls at The Lady Errant and She is Fierce have started a link-up on feminism, so before I knew it, I was contemplating, ā€œAm I a feminist? What does that word…

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I’ve been discontinued.

So, I signed this petition (I’ve been signing petitions lately.). This one is by 18 Million Rising because American GirlĀ® doll cancelled their only Asian American doll. 18MR basically wants American GirlĀ® to create another doll that looks like us.

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What NOT to do on Valentine’s Day

Today is not a good day to confess your love for someone. Actually, no day is really a good day for this kind of thing. I remember when I lived with 3 other very strange people in Eugene Oregon. (I’m deeply scarred from that experience, particularly from catching my landlady pleasuring herself – why did…

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American Football, Family and God.

I like American football. I have fond memories from childhood, when the rest of childhood was more complicated and slippery. People are often surprised to hear that I like American football. I suppose because I don’t announce this, I don’t seem like the type (???) and because after college, I’ve never dated a guy who…

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Shifts (in perception, not flimsy nighties)

While waiting for take-out, I took out my notebook and wrote SHIFTS, as in shifts in perceptions, rites of passage, ah-ha moments . Maybe it’s the anthropologist in me, but I’m interested in this dying tradition. Not because I like tradition, so much as I like the idea that we have to go through something…

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šŸ‡¹šŸ‡­ 7 Strange Thai Beauty Products and Treatments

Thais are obsessed with appearances both physically and socially. As a result, there are some pretty weird beauty products out there. Not all directly from Thailand, but nevertheless, Thailand has adopted them like a plastic surgeon’s knife. But it wasn’t until I was recording Thai Girl Talk’s podcast about the death of Athitiay ā€œKrataeā€ Eiamyai…

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Influences

I was starting to freak out a bit. You see, for my 39th 29th birthday, I decided to cut my long locks short. Students would give me compliments. I went through a series of perm, straight, bangs, transformations and then students started to cut their hair short. A-lai-wah?

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Hair (not the musical)

When I first heard Lady Gaga’s Hair, I thought it was brilliant because women strongly identify with their hair. All you have to do is watch any America’s Next Top Model makeover episode and you’ll see terribly attractive ingĆ©nues weeping for pity’s sake over their cherished locks being cut.

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Oh, don’t be such a pad thai

As an Asian woman I’m pretty much expected to be a good cook, kind of like how Asian men are suppose to be a mathematical geek or Bruce Lee. I loathe the stereotype and relish it at the same time. The kitchen was my mother’s domain. And while I should have followed, could have followed,…

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