2010: A Retrospective

Sat 08 Jan 2011 at 6:01 pm  ♥  Filed under Cambodia 2010, Kenya 2010, Life, Paris 2010, Peru 2010, Shanghai 2010, Singapore 2010, Taipei 2010, Thailand 2009, Travel, Vietnam 2010

Happy 2011! I’ve been meaning to post this sooner but it looks like the new year decided to bite me in the ass and give me a 103° fever. I suppose that I’m not getting off to a great start with this whole new year spirit, what with me being confined to a bed for the bulk of the day.

Anyway. I’ve got 357 more days to appreciate whatever the year has to throw my way, so no matter. Instead, I’ll talk about 2010, which was actually a pretty good year. Like most years, I did an absolutely shit job at remembering — let alone keeping — my resolutions, and there are still areas in dire need of self-improvement. However, 2010 wasn’t like 2009, which got off to a fantastic start only to fizzle out come September. Nor was it like 2007, which swung to pendulum-esque extremes of highs and lows. Nor was it like 2006, which uh — plain sucked, end of story. The fact that I made it through 2010 alive and enjoyed myself along the duration of the ride is probably a Very Good Thing, because usually during intropsective times like these, I tend to launch into hyper-critical mode where I’m like THIS YEAR COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF I (verb) AND IF I HAD BEEN MORE (adjective). Yeah, my super-deep entries about Life and Other Facets of the Universe are, in fact, glorified Mad Libs games. What about it.

Since pictures do a better job of speaking a thousand words or whatever, and I’m feeling inarticulate at the moment, I’m going to pilfer through my Flickr and present to you my year in pictures. So, let’s do the Time Warp (…AGAIN!) and relive my 2010. It’s picture-heavy and it errs on this side of rambly, so don’t say that I didn’t warn you!

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An American in Paris, Part III

Tue 30 Mar 2010 at 2:46 pm  ♥  Filed under Paris 2010, Travel

First off, thank you so so much for the response on the layout! :) I really appreciate the feedback, so lots of hugs for you lot! Secondly, my immune system decided to go AWOL on me, because suddenly, I’m phlegmy and headache-y like none other. It started out as hay fever from last week and gradually evolved (or devolved?) into me coughing like there’s no tomorrow. Blarg. But no matter! I bring forth the third (out of four) installments of my Parisian adventures!

I started off the day with a trip to the Musée d’Orsay. It’s one of my favourite museums: a former train station filled with works of my favorite artists (Gauguin! Courbet! Renoir!) but sadly, they don’t allow photos. But if you love Impressionist art (or art history in gen) and happen to be in Paris, it’s every bit worth the visit!

Next up, I went to Musée Rodin which had this neat sculpture garden along with the actual museum. The weather was nice enough for me to sit outside and appreciate the famed sculpture below:

The Thinker

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An American in Paris, Part I

Tue 16 Mar 2010 at 9:54 am  ♥  Filed under Paris 2010, Travel

Bonjour, mes amis! It’s spring break, and I’m currently in the city of love and lights — Paris! I had been to the city before, but that was a four-day trip about ten years ago. It’s always an interesting experience to go back to a place that you hadn’t been to in ages! I’m here until Thursday, and the next entries will probably be me blabbing about my trip, coupled with a gazillion photos of food so-delicious-it-should-be-illegal. Exciting!

But before I get started with the photos, let me just say that getting to Paris was an absolute hellish, frustrating nightmare. The original plan was that I had a flight from New York to Paris with a brief layover in Zurich. I would leave at 6pm, arrive at Charles DeGaulle at 1pm. I ended up in Paris at 7:30pm. Here’s what went terribly wrong:

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