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Image by gene1970 from Pixabay “I am going to kill him. This is too much. I’ve spent all my life trying to please him, coddle him, and chase after him, only to be rewarded with his evasiveness and his pathological lies. Now this plane ticket is the last straw. Where … Continue reading The Battle Of Love (Flash Fiction #51) →

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay Someone sent me a message with “raison d’être” in it. Show off. I actually wondered how he finds “ê” on the keyboard. This is life, isn’t it? Once one can handle English, one realizes that the goal post is moving to a French location. I … Continue reading New Word #46: That Doesn’t Sound Like English →

Image by Frank Winkler from Pixabay “Why is New York City called Big Apple?” Hitan asks “I don’t know.” Ivy replies. “As a tour guide, you really don’t know your stuff.” Hitan jokes good-naturedly. “I’m not a tour guide. I’m the owner of the Ivy Tutoring Center. Since most of … Continue reading A Trip To New York City (Flash Fiction #50) →

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay They grill hamburgers, onions, fish cakes, pineapple slices in the backyard and the food is so good. Mrs. Yee surely knows how to prepare all the ingredients. At first everybody is very interested in what Mr. Yee has to say. He tells one anecdote after … Continue reading The Backyard Party (Flash Fiction #49) →

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay Watching the ongoing Olympic games is great for learning some new words. And suddenly I realize that there are so many sports related words–actually every sports have its own pile of terms that people not interested in it would not understand. Since I am really … Continue reading New Word #45: The Olympic Games →

Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay When I was young, living in the staff quarter of a rural college south of Mongolian steppe, I often heard fruit stories from my mother’s friends who had migrated from the south. My favorite bits were oranges knocking on your shoulder, waking up with … Continue reading Mellow Fruitfulness →

I am not sure how the story goes, what he or she does, how he poses or how she clothes. Only a vague idea grows and grows. Things good or bad or hectic, with an unexpected Asian twist. Relationships possible, and even electric, but something is lacking–what is it? Imaginations … Continue reading Poem Of The Day #17 →

Image by Gabriele M. Reinhardt from Pixabay It’s hard to miss you, it’s impossible not to miss you, it’s delusional to try to get you back, it’s a quiet desperation to live and breathe as if everything is normal. Love has no exit. I will watch a sad movie, binge … Continue reading Poem Of The Day #16 →

Image by Andrey Muzychuk from Pixaba This is only a list of rice dishes I’ve encountered in New Jersey so far. I feel rather embarrassed when I can’t pronounce a dish’s name when ordering it. Living in a multicultural environment but not being able to at least learn an entree’s … Continue reading New Word #44 : Rice Dishes →

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay grill vs barbecue I never know what’s the difference between grill and barbecue. Some people told me barbecue is the sauce while grill is the method; some say grilled meat has less fat than barbecued meat. Still I don’t know the difference. Or probably they … Continue reading New Word #43: Cooking Methods →

“To fight, you have to get yourself dirty.” George Orwell says that, but who wants to be dirty? We all want to be as clean, tidy, and pretty as we can, and often we worry that we are not clean, tidy and pretty enough. There are certain movies which can … Continue reading Girl Fight (Flash Non-Fiction #48) →

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay Every four years when Olympic ads hit the TV screen, I would think of him. Not that he’s an Olympic athlete or anything. He’s not, but he’s the only one among the people I’m familiar with who loves sports and is pretty good at … Continue reading Sports, Grammar, And Love (Flash Non-Fiction #47) →

Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash This morning, as I spent ten minutes to review some Thai phrases from a website, I suddenly remember several strange incidents happened in school when I was learning English as a second language. I can’t remember exactly when this happened, but it could be … Continue reading Language And Custom (Flash Non-Fiction #46) →

Image by Jamie Nakamura from Pixabay Pammy: “I’ve never seen Armei and Arhu quarreling this much before. Almost everything Arhu said, his wife Armei objected. I wonder what has happened to the two. I observed them at the party. Glad the party is over and we are home now.” Pammy’s … Continue reading A Relationship Speculator (Flash Fiction #45) →

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay firenado: a rapidly rotating column of flames above an intense fire, caused when air, dust, etc. is drawn into the fire from the surroundings and rises, creating a vortex. This word is obviously obtained from the word “tornado”, which is referring to air vortex … Continue reading New Word #46: Recently Learned →

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash Pam is going to give a presentation in a conference and she comes to Ivy Training Center to seek help. Since everybody is occupied, Ivy ends up assisting Pam. The Ivy Training Center almost went out of business several months ago–business was slow to … Continue reading The Presentation (Flash Fiction #44) →

Image by justraveling from Pixabay I went to the grocery store this morning. As I was pulling in the parking lot, I saw a woman sitting in the car next to me–she is crying while talking on the phone. I felt the urge to go comfort her, but I knew … Continue reading Sunday’s Story →

I’ve always been fascinated with words ending with “k” and “ky”. There are a lot of them and each is sonorous, spontaneous, slang like, and vivid in the description of what it is supposed to describe. And it is no surprise that I can remember each one of them after … Continue reading New Word #45: The Fascinating “K” And “KY” →

Photo by Jari Hytönen on Unsplash Pammy finally gets her real estate license after taking the real estate test several times. And she helps Mr. Goh Yee and his wife to purchase their house in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. Goh is a businessman from Malaysia and the only reason he … Continue reading The Superstition (Flash Fiction #43) →