|
LilChina86
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Name: Jo.C.
Birthday: 6/2/1986
Gender: Female
Interests: piano. tennis. watching wushu boys. art. music. dance. writing. family time. philosophizing. anime. learning. thrift shopping. mornings. philanthropy. reading. keeping busy. then lounging.
Expertise: making outrageous facial expressions, knitting huge gaps in the middle of scarves, pushing the snooze button at least 5 times before waking up, farting on command, stating the obvious, checking my email 30 times a day, being easily amused, not keeping a straight face, being "overly trusting" does not = gullible!, making weird exclamations and noises, multi-multi-tasking, stating opinions as facts, overdosing on caffeine, acting bipolar, being optimistic, being a pedestrian, not holding grudges, loitering, clipping coupons, list-making, impulsive crafting, creative interpretations, engaging in soliloquy, floating out of reality, enjoying simple pleasures, smiling :) being me
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  LilChina86
Member Since:
5/21/2003
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| I'm 23 and still have my baby pillow on my bed. The pillow was given to us by the hospital and the pillow cover was made by my grandmother. I usually sleep with it because it's so physically comfortable and gives my head extra support and leverage. But occasionally, on those really bad days, I'll hug it to sleep because it's been there with me through everything.
There are times when I think it's time to grow up and give it up. But as of now, it's going to accompany me in this next journey in my life to China. It'll be a good pillow to cry on when I'm first adjusting to life there, and a comfortable shoulder to sleep on during the flight there and back. I know a security pillow won't replace the social support you get from strong relationships and interacting with others, but there are also relationships and interactions with people that can't replace one of the first attachments you form with your security pillow when you're just a few days old.
I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too! | | |
| It's amazing how resilient and regulated our bodies are. Did you know that if we were lock ourselves in a room with absolutely no indication of time, our bodies would still naturally follow a 25-hour rhythm? Our hunger and sleep patterns would still be pretty regular and in a more natural form - unaffected by caffeine, deadline-induced all-nighters, stress eating, etc. 
I know all-nighters and midnight study snacks are a common practice in college. I've never pulled a true-blue all-nighter due to homework before. But I've come close with the help of mini-naps and every form of caffeinated beverage available. But boy, do I pay for it the next day. My body is very accustomed to an 8-hour sleep cycle. If I fall asleep at 11:45pm, I can wake up almost on the dot at 7:45am most days of the week. More than 8 makes me restless, less than 8 makes me groggy. But give me a curtainless window and some natural morning sunlight, and that's the only alarm clock I need after a good 8-hour REM.
Another natural alarm clock I've heard people use is water. If you drink a certain amount of water right before you go to sleep, you'll wake up a certain number of hours later needing to empty your wee-wee sack. One girl was able to measure what time she wanted to wake up the next morning using only a water bottle.
I'm one of those people: morning people. And midnight is the latest my fairy-godmother Droopy Eyes will let me stay at the ball. My brother's the same way. My wicked non-stepsisters are Sleeping Beauties that party hardy at the ball, then sleep through their day and chores. Some people can function on 5 hours of sleep everyday! I don't know if 12 hours or 5 hours is the sleep their bodies naturally need. Lots of research says 8-9 hours is the ideal number. So how are people able to sleep that much or that little? Is it natural?
| | |
|  I'm sad. Today I saw my mom playing Dynomite online. Watching my mom play made me itch to play too. I haven't played anything on popcap, miniclips, yahoo!games or addicting games in months. Games like Sushi Go Round, Hot Dog Bush, Dynomite and Bejeweled use to be my go-to activities for a good mindless time. They're good for occupying your mind in a pointless way, but at least it helps take your mind off more stressful things. But this time, I just couldn't find enjoyment or distraction in them. Whether I was completely failing at Dynomite or reaching personal high scores in Bejeweled, I just couldn't let my mind be sucked into the flashy graphics and catchy repetitive motions of these ever-popular games.
I'm leaving for China in 10 days. I'll be teaching English with Aston English Schools at Wuhan for one year. After living at home for the past year, I've become so familiar and adjusted to living with my family again that I it's so hard to leave. It's almost worse than leaving for college because I know I can't go home during the holidays. Not to mention, I feel tighter with my family now than ever. And I'm the biggest mama's and daddy's girl ever. Maybe it's a good thing we went on our family vacation right before this. Getting out of the house helped ease my panic of knowing that I'll be leaving everyone I know and love so soon.
I just returned from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago this morning. I applied for my visa then booked my flight to China. Everything is coming together pretty smoothly for such a late application. I guess I'm pretty lucky in that respect, and that I even have an opportunity to do this. Lots of people have been asking if I'm excited to be going. I think the suddenness of my decision and knowing I'll be homesick is stiffling my enthusiasm. But slowly I'm preparing myself for this next phase of my life and coming to terms with the sacrifices I'll need to make in order to have this experience.
I'm sad that I'll miss everyone and that I can't fully enjoy my online games right now. But in a few weeks, I'm sure I'll have adjusted and be running around the city like a carefree (or careless) explorer. The internet cafes had better reserve a seat for me cuz I'll be wasting more time there than ever before, fervently and utterly entranced by my mindless online games.
| | |
| Well, I haven't done anything amazing like in the movie, but I volunteer as an ESL tutor every week. But I try not to let that action alone give me a sense of accomplishment, or that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Sure it feels good to help someone, but a lot of "volunteer" activities can be called "helping someone". There were many times when I volunteered somewhere, only to end up doing some menial task, or not being prepared enough to effectively carry out my task. In instances like this, even though technically I'm volunteering, I don't feel like I've really done anything to feel good about. On weeks where I have prepared and presented an adequate lesson plan and my ESL student works hard and shows progress, I feel like those are occasions that merit feeling successful.
I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too! | | |
| I recently started volunteering as an ESL tutor through a great organization called Literacy DuPage. **not a paid advertisement** Anyways, I've already had several tutoring sessions with my student and now have something to compare the progress of both my student and my effectiveness as a teacher.
If you had asked me two years ago, how my last tutoring session went, I would have said "Awesome. I feel so good that I'm helping my student learn English. What a good person I am." Maybe I wouldn't have been so arrogant verbally, but I sure would have thought it. But ever since my ASB trip to Community Lodgings last year, I've changed my perception of progress and what it means to be a volunteer. While we were volunteering at Community Lodgings, Bonnie, the program director, asked us whether we were there to "make a difference." I thought, "Duh we're here to make a difference. Why else would we be here." But after further introspection, I realized that I wasn't really there to make a difference - I was there to feel good about myself. It didn't matter how effective my work was, as long as I was "volunteering", I could feel good about being a "good person". I realized that my "noble" actions were really not as noble as I'd imagined.
So now I measure "how did your session go?" by a different standard. My student's progress and my effectiveness as a teacher are what really matter in the end, not how good I feel about myself. It's a struggle to use tough love, because I still want everyone to like me. But real change takes sacrifice sometimes, and more and more, I'm finding out how much of my popularity I'm willing to give up to achieve that change.
**Faded - The Veronicas**
| | |
|
