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Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove
O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out ev'n to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, not no man ever loved.

William Shakespeare 

OVERDUE VACATION POST

Look, ma! I'm finally getting around to posting some photos from my vacation! Granted, I'm too lazy for them to be anything other than Facebook-quality photos but there are some real gems despite the low-quality resizing ;)

First I'm just going to reiterate that it was an amazing trip. The food, the scenery, the people - everything we saw was incredibly different from my norm at home and it made such a huge impression on me in so, so many ways. You never really think about other places in the world until you visit them - of course, you think about them when there are famines and floods and they come up in the news, but is there a real connection there?

As a girl with Chinese blood, despite being several generations removed from "the motherland", there's something inexplicably magical about setting foot on the ground your ancestors lived and loved on; something unspeakably heart-clenching about being surrounded by the people who speak the language of your lineage in a place that isn't quite home but holds a strange power over you to the degree that, if you think hard enough, it could be.

an alleyway in one of the gorgeous old parts of Shanghai; due to modern construction this particular area was a block of tiny houses entirely enclaved by apartment complexes and high-rises

HELLO AGAIN - SORT OF

Hi everyone!

So it's been a week since I returned from vacation and to be honest I'm still not quite up for blogging yet. (I know, I know - I talk about committing to a blog and five posts later I'm already tired of it or something.) But the thing is, after spending three weeks fundamentally wireless it's a little hard for my attention span to focus on writing a blog entry that can even begin to justifiably illustrate all the wonderful things that happened on my vacation! It's hard to write anything, to be honest - even emails!

So I'm giving you a headsup that I'm going to spend a few more days adjusting back to my usual (ridiculous) level of internet usage and web browsing. I'm still gearing back up with some things to talk about including my amazing list of textbooks for school and some great things I've seen lately, but at the moment (sadly... feel free to snicker) all I can bring myself to really do on the internet is watch episodes of How I Met Your Mother (which I quite enjoy - check it out if you like Friends-style sitcoms!) and half-heartedly attempt to keep up with my regular internet activities.

I honestly never thought getting back on the grid would be so exhausting.

So, pictures up soon (I promise!) and more exciting things to come as soon as I get over this hump.

much love,
Kai