“When are you coming back home?”
It’s a question I get every time I return home.
What’s different about it now is that I get it from two different places when I return.
Continue readingDelight 18: Sojourning
Delight
Delight 17: Problems, printers, and pandas
Everything changed when the third grade attacked.
Okay, I’m being dramatic and just like to channel Avatar: The Last Air Bender at any and every given moment. But the last few weeks have flown by in the slowest way possible – yes, somehow it is true to blink and a month has gone by, but every day feels like a week long.
Continue readingDelight 16: Introversion vs. Isolation
Some people are surprised to find out that I’m an introvert. And granted, I’m a little surprised at how much I’ve changed too.
I used to be much more outwardly visible as an introvert – didn’t speak up much, was shy around strangers, vanished at parties after a while.
Lately, I’m much more likely to speak up and meet new people (though inwardly a lot of the time I’m still cringing about how much I don’t like doing these kinds of things). But honestly, I am getting better at it. I’m not quite the awkward turtleduck in conversation that I used to be – I even, dare I say it, enjoy it sometimes?
Continue readingDelight 15: “Noise”
![Stray Kids brew up a storm in Thunderous new music video [WATCH]](https://i.zoomtventertainment.com/story/Stray_Kids_Thunderous_NOEASY_0.png?tr=w-1200,h-900)
Warning: Nerd Post Alert.
With that out of the way, to no one’s great surprise, I love music (I mean, don’t we all love some form of music?). But more than that, I like “noisy” music. And I like learning about the writing/producing process behind albums.
So you can imagine my delight when my favorite kpop group, Stray Kids (yes, they’ve replaced BTS), came out with a new album named Noi(ea)sy. Even better when I found out they made it as a response to criticism that their music was “noise.”
Continue readingDelight 13: Scarcity
I don’t why I always end up circling back to food when I write, but I do.
I really love food and it is one of my great delights to try lots of new foods. I can’t always say that these ventures are successful – sometimes I end up like Dean Winchester in the image above where a lizard is a lizard and cannot be improved upon – but I will at least try everything once. If I don’t like it, sorry, I probably won’t eat it again.
Continue readingDelight 11: Hope in Grief
I used to be top dog priority in my house before I went overseas.
I don’t mean in a “I was more important than everyone else in the household.” I was just literally my dogs’ top priority. Any time I went upstairs, there was a scramble of paws on the staircase behind me as my dogs raced me to the top to join me in taking a nap, working on homework, reading a book; really whatever it was, they just wanted to be a part of it. To sit at the foot of my bed and maybe get in a belly rub while they were at it.
Continue readingDelight 9: Steadfast Love Endures
Delight 8: Cultural Exchange of Nom Noms
“It’s mango season. Can get so many for little!” This explanation accompanied my friend giving me a bag of three ripe mangos.
Continue readingDelight 7: A Peanut Sadness
We are fast approaching the end of our school year. We have exactly seven days of school left and the flight to visit home is becoming more real. (I’ll be back, Lord willing, Malaysian friends, just gotta go home this summer and get some well-needed hugs from the fam!).
Continue readingDelight 6: Eight-Legged Goodbyes
I love to crochet.
When I was 11 or 12, one of my babysitters taught me how to do a simple single-stitch – easy enough to duplicate and use to make blankets and scarves. I was hooked (crochet pun for the win!) and over the next few years, I made enough blankets and scarves to drown in.
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ali oleary 