Flash Fiction #178 Many years ago, I attended a boarding high school hundreds of miles away from home. My parents didn’t want me to go, but I insisted on it. The school was well known for its bad food, worn out dorms, rigid rules, and indifferent teachers. It would have discouraged any normal people from … Continue reading My First Relationship Heartache (Flash Fiction Part 1)
I read a poetry book and then found out that there are many people online making videos about this book (together with other similar books). Basically people say that books like this one is not really poetry. We are the generation you spent years overprotecting then threw to the wolves. Food is not the enemy. … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Poetry Or Not Poetry
Flash Fiction #172 "I was at the parking lot of Menlo Park Mall. And I couldn't open my car door. Suddenly my key was not working. Can you believe that? How come? It was incredulous." Lulan says. "Probably you got the wrong key. I mean you probably got your husband's car key, mistaking it for … Continue reading If It Were The Right Door, It Would Have Been Opened (Flash Fiction)
Image by Freepik This is the 6th part of the story. The previous parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Ted Hughes and his sister Olwyn Hughes imagined at first that a biography telling their side of the story would be helpful to them in fighting against the ever increasing army of Plath fans, … Continue reading Quote of The Day: Want Everything And Nothing (Part 6)
Image by Freepik This is the 5th part of the story. The previous parts are here: 1, 2, 3, 4. If the after-life of Plath were a movie, Ted Hughes would be the main character who's perpetually plagued by his wife's ghost. There was no escape for him. He moved into the apartment his wife … Continue reading Quote of The Day: Want Everything And Nothing (Part 5)
Image by Freepik This is the 4th part of the story. The previous parts are here: 1, 2, 3. When Assia Wevill and David Wevill became their neighbor, Assia and Ted started an affair quickly and openly, much to Sylvia Plath's anguish and dismay. Ted had up to that point tried to be very respectful … Continue reading Quote of The Day: Want Everything And Nothing (Part 4)
Image by Freepik This is the 3nd part of the story. The previous parts are here: 1 and 2. At Cambridge, Plath was astonished by the women in the university. This was the end of 1950s and it is said the university only started to accept women into their campus several years earlier. And all … Continue reading Quote of The Day: Want Everything And Nothing (Part 3)
As I was doing laundry today, I listened to some news from several Asian channels on YouTube. And I just couldn't believe my ears. This is what I heard. It was about this well known woman--it really didn't matter she was well known or not since it could happen to anybody. She was married in … Continue reading The Sunday Morning News
Image by Freepik This is the 2nd part of the story. The 1st part is here. I finally finished the two books "The Red Comet" and "The Silent Woman". And now let's proceed to continue the book review. In college, Plath got a chance to become an intern at the Mademoiselle magazine headquarter in New … Continue reading Quote of The Day: Want Everything And Nothing (Continued)
Image by Erika Varga from Pixabay The other day, I watched an Asian TV program, in which a young reporter--a girl probably just graduated from college--went around to interview several centenarians in a mountainous subtropical region, which is well known for its clean air, pristine environment, and people who have longer life spans than those … Continue reading Real Life Interviews
Image by Victoria_Watercolor from Pixabay Flash Fiction #158 Alia: "Lulan? I always consider Ivy Training Center (ITC) a place for my daughter's tutoring. I've never considered it a place to help me. Can you believe it that they just lay me off like that? I've been working there for 10 years. Ten long years. One … Continue reading Girl Fight (Flash Fiction)
Image by StockSnap from Pixabay Flash Fiction #152 Lea and I have been acquaintances for years, and then about two years ago, I started to talk with her about narcissism. At first she laughed and brushed my idea aside, but then she started to tell me about her mother-in-law Sandi who's a super sized narcissist … Continue reading The Sacred Myth (Flash Fiction)
Image by Reimund Bertrams from Pixabay Flash Fiction #150 Aila and Nali have been long time friends since their high school days. Nali and her family just come back from a trip to California where they visited places in LA, and drove along the coastal Highway 1 up north until they reached San Francisco. "Oh, … Continue reading The Beautiful Mountain (Flash Fiction)
Image by Capucine from Pixabay I read Pooja's review of "The Housemaid" by Freida Mcfadden and bought the book to read for myself. It's an easy and fun read, which is about a maid Millie who is hired by the Winchester family as a nanny. Soon, Millie finds that things are weird in this Long … Continue reading An Interesting Stretch Of Reality
Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay This is the second half of the story. The first half is here. "Brother Kai and his wife Big Sister Kai are such nice people. I hope you are not picking on them. I mean they are so polite and they always dress so well. I look up to … Continue reading Who’s Coming To The Party? (Flash Fiction Continued)
Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay Quote Of The Day #64 Joe Castleman is flying from New York to Helsinki with his wife Joan to receive the Helsinki Award for literature (imaginary. No such award exists). Joan was an aspiring writer once, and attended Smith College, but she quit and ran away with her professor … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Husband And Wife
Quote Of The Day # 58 "...Recite a text and then the young monks have the job of memorizing them. Simply absorb the teaching while memorizing in the classic Indian sense associated with the oral tradition of teaching throughout the Indian world. And then they have to go out to debate it. That's where the … Continue reading Quote Of The Day: Lively Debate
Image by Quang Nguyen vinh from Pixabay Flash Fiction #134 "It's an interesting phase everybody goes through." Armei, Lulan look at their friend Pammy and reach a consensus. If somebody asks them what "an interesting phase" really means and why everybody has to go through it, neither of them can give a satisfactory answer. But … Continue reading It’s An Interesting Phase Everybody Goes Through (Flash Fiction)
Image by Pexels from Pixabay Remember I have been talking about a friend who refuses to listen or discuss about narcissism? Remember I said that I talked about my own narcissistic parents, and she tried to defend them as normal parental weaknesses or misunderstandings? Remember this friend? Let's just say her name is Aya--a fictitious … Continue reading Can I Take The Heat?
Image by k-e-k-u-l-é from Pixabay Armei has had relatively good relationship with her mother-in-law Nana, who has been living with them in New Jersey for seven months for the purpose of taking care of the grandson. However Nana is about to leave, flying across the Pacific and going back home, where her other son and … Continue reading The Lunar New Year Party (Flash Fiction #102)
Image by cocoparisienne from Pixabay Jan Choi did her best. She sings, dances, recites in varying languages, multiple tones, and diverse styles, but to no avail. Even before the audition is over, she can sense the judges' unconvinced facial expressions and unexpressed disapproval. "Jan, you are very talented indeed." The casting director says after he … Continue reading An Audition Goes Awry (Flash Fiction #88)
Image by Pexels from Pixabay I'm often annoyed when bookworms are mocked or criticized in books. Around the world, little bookworms are often unfairly ostracized and isolated from their relatives or friends due to their choice of entertainment. Being misunderstood by people surrounding you is hard enough, and being misunderstood by authors who write books … Continue reading Ode To Bookworms
Pammy and Lulu come to the little cosmetic shop Armei is running, next to an Asian grocery store in a popular plaza. The three haven't met for a while and they have quite a lot of catch-up to do. The customers are scarce and the cosmetic store is not doing very well these days. People … Continue reading A Wonderful Girl (Flash Fiction #52)
Photo by Susanna Marsiglia on Unsplash "I am so bored." I hear myself saying. Nalan and I have evolved from talking on phone to talking on Zoom. "I am more bored than you are." Nalan says. That's just typical of Nalan. Whenever I say something, she will say she is more than me. If I … Continue reading Energy (Flash Fiction #28)
It's Nov. 9, 2020, a Monday. Every Monday afternoon, Lu, Pammy, and Armei met at Armei's little cosmetic store, specializing in Asian cosmetic brands. It's not really Armei's store. She's just a shop assistant. Monday is slow and a perfect time to meet her friends. If the owner of the store happened to come in, … Continue reading Mini Story: Three Women (Part 1)
I can't remember who told me this--a person has to stand up or walk around for at least four hours a day. If not, the bones will not be healthy and the body will be in decline. Well, if the decline is impossible to stop, at least the four hour rule will help slow it … Continue reading Good And Bad On Standing Up
Click Here For Part 1 One week later, they met again. Pammy looked haggard, her under eye circles darkened, her eyes more guileless and fierce than usual. "My old man (her term of endearment for her husband which sounds more of a term of respect in her native tongue than in English) and my father-in-law … Continue reading Short Story: Trouble With Language (Part 2)
Haoyan Do 