Things fall apart, Don’t wanna restart. Has it been weeks? Waiting for this starter to peak...

Bready

I don’t know my Grandpa. That’s what I realized as tears blurred my eyes. He was sitting right…

Gramps

6 when I started cutting my mom’s white hairs. 16 when I started coloring my mom’s hair…

Greying

Off on and on and on you go again. Oops, I didn't catch that, oh say again. Baby yes keep…

I’ve never dated. Well, this might be a partial lie. I’ve been on dates, but never dated, dated…

Never Dated

I just learned that my dad was into photography. No, I don’t mean like taking family selfies…

Dad’s Camera

Every once in a blue moon I remember about the Myer Briggs personality test. The topic…

INFPT

Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name…

Family Trees

To be somebody and nobody. To have everything and nothing. To be full and empty. To be…

We Aren’t Strangers

If I let you in will you let me out? If I let you in will docs still say there’s no pain, no wrong…

Shields

I think this photo of Jude from A Little Life sums up my 2025. It was a painful blur…

Goodbye 2025 

I came across this video by SpicyNonna and immediately went down a rabbit hole to…

Forget About it

As a twenty something year old I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I just learned what…

The Nutcracker

Person: “You don’t have an Instagram??” Me: “Uhh, nope. I’m not on anything…”

1 Year No Social Media

Holidays. It’s that time of year when families gather to celebrate and share good food. But…

Gobble Gobble

Does anyone remember what Black Friday chaos used to look like? To when people would…

Broke Friday

I did it! I finished reading all seven Harry Potter books! I’m glad to call myself a…

Sorting Hat

The first time I watched a Studio Ghibli movie was in high school. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a lie…

Thank You, Joe

Hi, that’s little me. And that me has antimetropia. “Antimetropia occurs in about 0.1% of...”

Antimetropia

Mornings for me usually start with hitting the snooze button again and again…

Why We Sleep

The water rises up above my head
as I take one last deep breath.
My feet chained I sink…

Inception

Patrick was a security guard at the Met Museum for 10 years and describes his life before…

All The Beauty

It’s human nature to want to build and create together. It’s a beautiful thing…

Shall We Dance?

She was born with a flower, fragile and quiet. They said it would be easy. A little…

Her Bloom

Earthy, sweet, savory, umami. None of those words correctly describe the smell of…

Herbal Soup

Here's another piece about touching grass. I saw potatoes in person for the first time…

Potatoes

Today I drew for the first time in years. I was in someone else’s art studio, a space I had longed…

Drawing a Dream

I spy something with my little eyes. I spy a taxi’s bright headlight, and a sparrow…

I Spy NYC

So today I made some homemade Lucky Charms because I was hungry…

Tradwife

Camping with Girl Scout alums taught me that I can do it. That I am a girl boss and so can you.

Girl Boss

Moo, moo, moo. Cow watching and seeing cows being milked for the first time was surreal.

Got Milk

So your family is, like, rich? We're comfortable. That is exactly what a super rich person would say.

Crazy Rich People

Thinking a lot about closing a chapter in my life, school.

There is something wrong with me. Something wrong about my blood tests. I gotta change.

I went from city girl to farm girl. This experience changed me in ways I can’t explain.

Wwoofing

I don’t want it to be like this, never, but sometimes it feels like forever. The silence…

Why, Why, Why

Japanese contemporary book review. Keiko may be the most normal not normal person…

Convenience Store Woman

I was able to go inside the White House and see the president. A painting of the president!

White House Visit

My two decades of mastery have allowed me to reflect on what it means to be ninja…

How To Be Ninja

I found this box under my bed today. It’s my old painting stuff.
I used to paint all the time…

My 23rd Sad Year

Book review. This book was a challenge but made me think about the road not taken…

The Remains of the Day

I searched my name online. It started as curiosity. But it didn’t stay that way…

Doppelgangers

I used to think love was loud.
Big gestures. Bold declarations.
Something that announced itself.
But you?

Love, Mom

"On the flip side, my alter ego would scrunch my brows and think for moment. Quite honesty, who am I? Who am I really?…

Personas

I went to China for the first time in my life. I met extended family, saw the house my dad grew up in. Here is how it went…

Banana

Fictional book review. I was all over the place laughing, cheering, screaming, and crying…

Sunrise on the Reaping

Why, why, why. I had to do it. I had to get rid of you…

Extraction of a Traitor

Fiction retelling book review. So good and entertaining. Kept me on my toes!

James

What if I told you Picasso painted this?
What if I told you he painted this quiet, moving, realist painting at age 15?
Shocked?
I was too.

Picasso Misunderstood

"Welcome to The Legacy Castle. Coat check is on your right," the doorman greeted, his…

Just Keep Sewing

John is an interesting fella. He is a DJ, producer, label owner and someone who finds comfort in chaos… 

John Summit

You spoke sweetly. You didn’t hiss, you whispered. Didn’t bite, just smiled. You said, Are you sure you want this life?…

The Snake

"Ew." That’s the first thing I remember. I was five years old, sitting at a round table in kindergarten. I had just opened…

Growing Up Chinese American

Darkness stirs
yanks the blanket off my breath.
Eyes snap open,
mind racing ahead of the heart…

Eggshells

63 days. 33 cities. 14 countries. 90 trains. 5279 miles traveled. Solo. But why? Well, why the hell not?

Backpacking Europe Solo

Cartwheeling

Historical fiction book review. Set in the 1920s in Pottstown, Pennsylvania…

Heaven ; Earth Grocery Store 

On March 24, 2020, I launched a blog called Unfiltered. After two years, I decided to archive it (sorry, Mom), but who knows some of those old posts might…