MyLifelines

All you have to do is to accept your incompetence

Yuqian Dawa — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:54:47 +0000

Have you ever have to deal with someone who is obviously either not trying hard or incapable but they do not want to admit it?

Guess what do they love doing? They look for scapegoats. They look for flaws in other people. They convince the rest of the world that the reason for their incompetence is someone else’s fault.

Pathetic, isn’t it?

Politicians’ mentality.

Period.

I am not incapable, you are!

Carolina fall

Yuqian Dawa — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:22:32 +0000

Fall has arrived in North Carolina!

Fireworks at Duke Football Game

Yuqian Dawa — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:39:17 +0000

I am not trying to show off, but I HAVE TO show off this photo of fireworks I took at the Duke vs. FIU football game!

Fireworks at Duke vs. FIU football game

How much is your 5-dollar footlong sub?

Yuqian Dawa — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:11:18 +0000

I am not kidding, I heard a guy behind me asking this question to the cashier in Subway! “It is five dollars!” said the shocked lady cashier. I could see that she was trying very hard not to laugh. Me too.

At first, I thought he was kidding. I turned around and looked at him. No, he was not kidding. He had a very serious look on his face and nodded at the cashier’s answer. That made my day!

Laugh of the day

Happy birthday, to me!

Yuqian Dawa — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:12:11 +0000

Yep, it is my birthday today, September 14th. This is how I used to remember my birthday (and yes, I did have trouble differentiating my birthday from my sisters, and I will tell you why later): four days before the Mid-autumn festival, which is a Chinese traditional holiday. People make moon cakes to celebrate the full moon. It represents family harmony and all other good stuff related to family. And yes, that used to be HOW I remembered MY birthday. Move on to my sister’s birthday. She was born on September 24th, two years after. Growing up, my birthday was never celebrated separately from hers—-my family decided to COMBINE our birthdays and celebrate it on September 24th! Birthdays were not a big deal for people from my part of China back then. We had other things to worry about I guess, such as mid-autumn festival, or the 15th of eighth month of the lunar calendar– I know, I know, it is complicated.

Anyway, today is my birthday. I got birthday wishes from friends on Facebook, QQ, and so forth. I am really excited now! I have started celebrating my birthday properly ever since I came to America more than 5 years ago. I guess I no longer live “under the shadow” of my sister’s birthday ^_^! But wait, I have not heard anything from my family wishing me a happy birthday yet. Apparently, no one remembered that it was my birthday today. I might hear from them on the 24th of September…

No, I am not mad when I am writing this. I just think it is funny.

Mom’s lovely garden

In response to certain types of emails

Yuqian Dawa — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:34:57 +0000

Let me clarify, I am only speaking for myself. You might have a different view, and I respect that.

The email that does not address the recipient (me). I do not get it! Why would someone start writing an email without addressing the other by name, or even “HEY”? To me, it seems so rude to NOT let the other person know that you are writing to her/him. I do not get it!
The email that is written in letters and numbers. Ok, so you are really environmentally friendly— you do not want to waste a WORD, you have to type “U2″ instead of “You too”. It is not a text message, you do not have to go all trendy and saying things like “g2g”. And no, it is not “sent from my iPhone”, so please, do not be this stingy with words.
The email that runs like a novel. Please, get to the point as soon as you can! Some people really like to write, write, and write, and they do not care if others have time to read it or not. I do not like to write long emails and do not like do read them! Delivering your message in fewer words is considered a skill in some places, so please, do not “let me start by saying….” or casually slipping in your life story when you are writing.

Rice Porridge

Yuqian Dawa — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 17:21:09 +0000

Every time I miss my dear grandma, I make rice porridge, like this:

Taste of love

I remember when I was little, I got sick a lot. I would cry every morning because I did not feel well. Grandma would get up at 5 am in the morning and start the stove. As soon as the rice porridge boils, as the fragrance of boiling rice along with all kinds of nuts dominate the house, I would jump out of the bed and start staring at the porridge pot—my was mouth watering, stomach was groaning, and eyes were wide open as I watch the steam slowly goes up into the air and disappears…

It has been a year and half since Grandma left. No matter how hard I try, the rice porridge is never the same.

Traveling far for a dream

Yuqian Dawa — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:38:38 +0000

It is back to school time! I hosted a couple of friends who are in town for the campus move-in. One of the ladies I hosted flew straight from Beijing. So it is not hard to imagine the issues she had to face with the flight delays and even cancellation. But after all that, she made it. I was imaging a stressed out, lost, and crying girl coming out of the terminal. But no, she seemed excited! She was outgoing and loud. I was totally surprised.

5 years ago, I did the same thing as her. I flew all the way from the other side of the earth to North Carolina for school. I was nothing like her though. I do not remember myself being happy. I came from the highest place on earth, the waves of NC heat soon took all my energy away. I could hardly breathe– at least that was how I felt. Surrounded by 18-year-old kids who would not stop talking, I felt so alone because I did not know how to butt into any of their conversations, such as something about Destiny’s Child, and so forth… The rest of my 4 years at Duke University is a long and successful story… I guess.

I am so happy for this girl who has such a positive spirit!

Good luck!

London Olympic Wind

Yuqian Dawa — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:20:50 +0000

Tribute to my little nephew (Age 6, 3rd grade, smartest kid in his class, smartest kid in my family, happily lives in China)

Ok, let me just begin by admitting that I only watched the opening and closing ceremonies of this entire world-class event! My favorite part of every Olympic game (to be fair, 2008 Beijing Olympic was the first Olympic game that I was old enough to remember or care) is the parade of participating countries. A few reasons explain why this is my favorite part: 1, I get to learn about new countries that I have no idea where they are located; 2. I get to see what each country is wearing ( I just simply love seeing what they are wearing); 3. I get to see how many players each country has sent; 4, I LOVE to hear the announcers say the countries’ names in French!

But, I am not making any comments on the opening and closing ceremonies themselves. Let’s just say, it was interesting. But I was surprised to learn one thing: Victoria Beckham WAS a member of Spice Girls? I know, I know, this sounds terrible. I know about her, but nothing about Spice Girls. Apparently they were the most financially successful girl band in the history of mankind. When I heard that comment, I did gasp.

The reason I am making this post is because my nephew (age 6) would not stop talking about how he is sad that he will never be able to see Kobe Bryant play basketball in person when he grows up and comes to the US to watch NBA. He kept asking me if I saw Kobe dunk or whatever the basketball terms people use to describe certain activities. Oh yeah, right, I need to learn these terminologies. I am a Blue Devil! I love NCAA games, I am just not very good at describing games…

Well, Kobe will be gone by then. But I am sure he will have someone else to watch.

Red Hat @ Children’s Day event

A New Start

Yuqian Dawa — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:52:29 +0000

I have been learning about WordPress in the past couple of years, from attending WordCamp conferences, meeting and learning from the most influential people in the WordPress community, such as Michael Torbert, Cory Miller, Andrew Nacin, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Jane Wells, even Matt Mullenweg himself… and simply figuring it myself. I finally joined the WordPress community as a learning professional!

WordPress, here I come!