then there are blackbirds

1. USians who celebrated, I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I've been enjoying mine! As always, I am grateful for all of you. ♥

2. Thanks to my dad, I have unexpectedly and fairly reluctantly achieved smartphonelandia at last. Any iPhone apps you guys find particularly handy?

3. On a completely random note/for my non-twitter folks, I would wear boring white button-downs EVERY DAY if they had cats embroidered on them.

4. I found this article on Productive Stretching for Dancers via one of my dance friends and thought it was worth passing on. Obviously, not everybody dances and ymmv on the utility of the specific exercises mentioned, but the concept of productive stretching is a useful one.

(because this is what I do when the flail/scream is OVERWHELMING okay)

♣ Via angryasianman: Experiences of Asian-American Women survey. One of the things that caught my eye about this research study blurb is that the sponsor is Derald Wing Sue, who is one of my heroes for his academic publications about racial microaggressions! Not that that means that this study is necessarily related, but still. *geeks*

♣ Via littlebutfierce: Bao Phi, Yellowbrown Babies for the Revolution. There are many punch-in-the-gut lines, but for me what hit hardest was this:

I will never ask you to change your name
I will never ask you to change your name
your name is at home on my tongue

do you hear me

♣ deepad and amazeface compatriots ♥: Nice White Lady Authors Take a Hike: 'Vacations from Hell' made me laugh and laugh.

♣ Via vi: Taymiya Zaman: Not Talking About Pakistan - another glorious gut-punch. For some reason it made me think of Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai's line about kindness over genius.

+ Came across this article on Chiune Sugihara on Sunday- another piece of history I never learned. Of course, I also live in the US.

+ So... there's going to be a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sequel?! (The title of that article makes me lol forever, though. Potential for returning cast members? 2 out of 4 lead characters are dead/ish? HMM, I WONDER IF WE'LL GET ANY MICHELLE YEOH. *facepalm*)
** eta; more info via zuky on tumblr. Wait a second, a JOHN FUSCO is the scriptwriter for a wuxia movie based on a Chinese novel? >:| I MIGHT HAVE TO TAKE BACK THAT GLEEFACE.

+ oyceter's kicking off a non-western fandom friending meme!

+ I think this is my favorite UpGoerFive entry so far, purely for reasons of this sentence: "In cells there are tiny hair-like things which DO THE WAVE very fast." xD

+ dingsi is hosting another love meme! Thanks for my thread; I plan to spend the next couple of planned procrastination sessions throwing sparkly hearts. ♥

1. I remember linking Miyoko Ihara's adorable grandma & cat pictures ages ago, but now they're apparently available in photo book format! *_____*

2. Sriracha lip balm! Who thinks up this stuff. Also, I totally said I'd get this for a friend but forgot until just now, oops.

3. You know it's finals season when you get into conversations like this:
"What's the most popular risk factor for death, you guys? LIFE!!"
"But... that's 100% exposure and no non-exposure, doesn't that make it a necessary pre-condition?"

4. I made the mistake of buying an entire head of cabbage something like 3 weeks ago. I've been trying and failing to finish it since I bought it, and now have to finish it before I go home (in 3 days), enforced pre-holiday detox style. WHAT DO I DO WITH CABBAGE, GUYS, TELL ME.

Day Two: Nine things about yourself

1. I am a magpie! I like shiny things and am fairly easily distracted.

2. Hot weather tends to make me cranky and uncomfortable, but only if it's sticky. Dry heat is okay. (My reference point is forever Taiwan, though.)

3. Successfully following other people's leads in various partner dances is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world! I keep telling people it's like reading a book, except physically. ^^;

4. I miss doing math. (Watch this statement come back to bite me next semester!)

5. I'm at my most productive when I have a ton of things to do.

6. Guava, mangoes, and lian wu make me exceedingly happy.

7. Summer is my favorite season in NYC.

8. I like building things! Someday I want to get together with old friends and come up with another Rube Goldberg machine out of scrap parts. :D

9. I've been in a watching-things rather than reading-things frame of mind for a very long time now, but it still feels kinda weird.

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

I have been all over the city these last few days, so my brain is in a similarly scrambled state! Have some random things:

+ SFW definition of bukkake, via littlebutfierce, I think?

+ ( cut for JLin macro )
This guy is the reason I went to a bar after brunch on Sunday and sat through most of a basketball game for the first time in my life, and it was great. :D Jenny Hyun, otoh, was the polar opposite of great. Anti-black racism needs to GTFO of everything, including our East Asian communities. This is unacceptable. >:|

+ ( music vid! )
So I'm pretty sure I'd like this song without the video, but the footage makes it even better, heh.

+ Seems like George Takei's got a great project in the works: the Allegiance musical follows the story of a Japanese-American family after Pearl Harbor as they are relocated to the internment camps. I'm linking the video segment because of George Takei's personal story, but the rest of the website is really worth checking out. (Frex, the foreword- In the Heights is an incredible show, and this is just one illustration of the richness I find in being a diasporian.) Also of interest to you guys? LEA SALONGA AND GEORGE TAKEI IN THE CAST HOMG!!! The premiere will be in San Diego, but Takei says they're aiming for Broadway, and I for one plan to be there.

Oh internet, I am having a terrible time with life decisions and the making thereof! Which is naturally why I present to you a completely unrelated dilemma instead:

( haircut! )

( Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Martín Espada, eta for Emmanuel Ortiz; possibly triggering; feel free to skip! )

Am in the midst of homework that I should get back to once my eyes stop crossing, especially if afternoon/evening plans & possibly shenanigans for moon festival tomorrow are still a go! (Dear self, please let's not to get behind on everything already.) Birds, as you say, fly forward*.

*&Li-Young Lee;;;;

TOO MANY IDEAS

NOT ENOUGH WORDS

~4 HOURS UNTIL SISTER COMES HOME AND DERAILS ALL WRITING PLANS

FUCKING TYPICAL, SELF. REALLY FUCKING TYPICAL.

Am home! And finally awake, after the first nap I've taken in... um. Years? *g* Very effective after a weekend of headless-chickening/zombie-ing around, let me tell you. Also fabulous? Coming home to discover ( this: )

(Thanks for linking, starlady! :D)

... yeah, I am clearly not going to be productive in the few hours I have left of today. Tell me something shiny?