Why you should talk to strangers when you travel
I met Jason in December 2013 while traveling in Bangkok with my cousin and her friend. We were eating pad thai from a street vendor when I heard him converse with somebody in English...
Rants, raves, and everything in between
How (not) to do a blind taste test
It all started with my first visit to Eataly at Valley Fair, when I wandered the groceries section in search of truffle chips. Well, I found the Urbani chips my friend posted about on...
How to get friends to visit Hermosa Beach
“Who’s coming?” Kyle asked. “Right now just Malik, but we’ll see.” I was planning a weekend trip to Hermosa Beach to watch beach volleyball, and didn’t know who else would want to come. I...
Is this a complaint?
One of the upsides of the pandemic has been my group chat with Charlene and Karen. They’re both friends from church, and I’ve known Karen since college. The chat started as a way to...
The Complaint Criteria
“How was Orchard City Kitchen?” I asked Claire. “It was ok,” she said. “What happened?” Her response told me everything I needed to know, but I wanted details. Her boyfriend Erwan jumped in, “It...
Dim Sum and Everything Bagels
“I’m going to get some dim sum, do you want to come?” I asked Divya. “Food sounds good, but what is dim sum?” Divya asked. “It’s Chinese food…you can come and see it.” “Can...
random life update #2
Needless to say, it’s been a while, and I need to work on being more disciplined. Not just in writing, but also in other areas of life, like (as an example) working out regularly....
The Benefits of Not Complaining
For Lent this year, I decided to give up complaining, playing online chess, and watching chess videos. (Spoiler alert: I failed miserably.) In the beginning, the no complaining bit felt easier than when I...
No substitutions allowed?
A few weeks ago I was having a team lunch at Dish Dash, and my coworker (let’s call her Ashley) asked the waiter, “Can I get the tabsi falafel, but substitute the eggplant for...
Back to Normal
On Saturday I went to watch Stanford Men’s Volleyball play at Maples Pavilion for the first time since the pandemic began, and it was awesome. It felt so good to be at a live...
Your risk tolerance is also not low. Just saying ;)