five random things

one. I might have a small obsession developing... for dragons. every time I walk past a temple or shrine I get the urge to whip out my camera. some [like these I spotted in Nanliou] have long teeth and claws, some have warriors riding on their backs, some are emerald green or blue or turquoise or green with accents in every color of the rainbow. one of my favorite things about living in Taiwan is that these dragons seem to pop up everywhere.

two. I have been trying my best to start using bloglovin, but it's hard to break my google reader habit. yes yes yes I understand that bloglovin lets you click from viewing one blog post to the next while still actually visiting blogs [and giving them page views.] but as much as I like seeing everyone's cute blog designs, I hate all the ads and other clutter and miss the simplicity and seamlessness of gr. google reader has less than two weeks left though, so I better get used to it. hmph. in other news, you can follow me on bloglovin here [reluctantly or not.]

three. ok. so I was at Costco today and got in line to check out behind a mom and her young daughter. the girl spotted me, dropped her jaw, turned to tug on her mom's arm, and then pointed and laughed at me while jabbering in Chinese. the mother did not stop the child or act embarrassed. she eyed me warily like I was some exotic creature that might give her fleas if she got too close. and then she ignored me and paid and pushed her giant cart away all while the girl was still staring. [this situation, though not always this extreme, happens to me at least once a week while grocery shopping.]

four. I am now in my third week of training, and to be honest, it's been a little rough. it's beyond humid here, which makes my knees angry to begin with. [yes I am like one of those old people who can predict when it will rain by their aching joints. and yes I take glucosamine but it is a weaker version derived from plants since most comes from... shellfish. hello, allergy. oh, and yes it is currently the rainy season in Taiwan.] the area where I live is densely populated but also very hilly. if I want to run somewhere away from traffic lights and scooter smog it means a 130 meter climb over less than a mile. so most mornings I can be found running along a sea of scooters in rush hour on their way to work, feeling a little bit like a circus animal on parade. let's not even start about how many stares I get because I am a) white and b) a woman running and c) not wearing jean or cargo shorts and converse while exercising. and I think I have developed a runner's toe as the nail on my right big toe is bruised and starting to lift on one side. gross. and slightly painful.

four-and-a-half. that was two  three-ish rants in a row, sorry.

five. go read this post about the futility of comparing yourself to others. it will make you feel better about the next time you check facebook. I know sometimes it's hard for me to remember that some things in life [like trying to bake cookies] are infinitely more difficult because of the life I live. I try to remember that I have some things others lust after: the freedom to not work and the ability to travel to exotic places. and I try to remember that we are all on different paths, that comparison is the thief of joy, and to love what's yours.

even if what's yours today is an ouchy toe and an embarrassing expat moment...

earthquakes, gatsby, pizza, and other things

welcome to this week's edition of rambling long list of seven things, accompanied today by some recent shots from a mini-hike in Hsinchu's botanical gardens [which are mostly trails through a hilly forest.]

1. I subbed for 10th and 12th grade English last week, and I was actually quite excited that the 10th graders are reading The Great Gatsby. it was one of my favorite pieces I have ever been required to read, and one of the very few I have gone back and read again voluntarily. part of me wishes I still had my old notes and could see what my thoughts were on the story at 16. the novel definitely has a different meaning for me now, though that's one of the best things about great literature... you can read it over and over and still discover something new about the story and yourself.

2. I am also really pumped for the movie coming out in a few months- I think Leo will make a perfect Gatsby. absolutely perfect. [side note- the generational gap becomes obvious to me when the kids in class refer to him as "that guy from Inception" and all I can think is "never let go, Jack!" it's probably also telling that watching the older Gatsby was my first exposure to Robert Redford. oh, the formative teenage years...] I really hope they release this one to Taiwan because after reading the book I am dying to see the new movie.

3. another note on teaching... I know that it's not a career I want to pursue full-time, but subbing really isn't that bad. yes, waking up early sucks. yes, sometimes I feel like a glorified babysitter. but some of the kids are starting to interact with me, say hello, ask me questions. and that's a good feeling. plus, it melts my heart every time those 3rd grade girls yell "Mrs Walker!" and run over to hug me when they see me walk by.

4. we had an earthquake the other day, and I didn't notice. it was a 6.1 [not exactly small] and the school enacted their earthquake protocol and announced that everyone should evacuate. well, except for the students taking the national standardized test. apparently the quake hit just before the start of 3rd period, but I didn't notice anything. thankfully they made an announcement. and my students knew what they were doing. maybe there's something wrong with my internal balance... or maybe I just didn't have enough coffee that morning?

5. even though I haven't been posting about it, I've been keeping up with my happiness project. I've decided to make it more of a journey and less of a to-do list. this month I am focusing on photography: trying new things, finally sharing the 52 weeks project I've been working on, and shooting + posting a daily instagram [or #dailygram as I've started calling it] I think it will be good to have a little fun with my photography, especially given the mountain of vacation photos still waiting to be edited. I do promise that eventually you will see the rest of Thailand and the Philippines.... eventually.

6. I've been trying out the different blog readers I posted about here to determine a google reader replacement. and I find that feedly is the closest to a google reader setup, though it takes a while to figure out which views make the most sense. [hint: "latest" looks most like the standard reader feed.] I also found it easy to sort my blogs into different categories, based on what I read most or food vs beauty etc. I have to say I really love the idea of hellocotton. it's great for discovering new blogs you might be interested in. but they just announced they are shutting down. wah, wah. bloglovin? it's just not for me. I'm probably going to use google reader until it dies, and then switch to feedly full-time.

7. today I bought yeast, and this coming weekend I am going to attempt a gluten-free pizza dough. ambitious, but I'm excited to try. pizza seems to be the one glutinous thing I just can't resist. back in the states, there was a great pizza place that offered gf [Buddy's!] and Whole Foods offered a decent frozen go-to we could always keep on hand [against the grain] but here in Taiwan I have not seen any gluten-free alternative. so I am going to try a dough, and if it works then when Husband says "pizza?" it won't mean my choices are salad or stomachache.

goodbye, google reader

// hilarious yet accurate image via thewonderforest.com

yesterday, Google announced that it would be discontinuing it's reader service starting July 1st. wah, wah. I've been using reader for a few years now and I'm really sad to see it go. it made it so easy to follow all my blogs and tumblrs and keep everything in one spot ND connected to to gmail account. I'm not sure how this will affect users who follow using blogger or friend connect... hopefully followers won't just dissappear! it also makes me nervous... what other services will Google take the axe to? gah. but I suppose there's nothing I can do but find a new reader service. so what else is out there?

one option is hellocotton, though I haven't figured out how to import a reader list. they are big into supporting women bloggers, and feature posts from a variety of different categories daily so you can discover new favorites. hey look... one of my readers + blogs I follow, Yelle, is the personal post today!

bloglovin' is one of the services that hopped right on the opportunity created by the end of reader. in a few clicks you can import your entire google reader list. I signed up for an account and now you can follow my blog with bloglovin. they also have pages that list "top blogs" and "popular posts", though it seems to be mostly fashion/style blogs.

feedly is another option I've seen a lot of talk about. I haven't played around with it yet, but it's another service that can import your google reader list. it seems to be similar to reader, and less of a community-type site like hellocotton and bloglovin.

I'm not sure yet which service I'll be switching to, but at the very least I'm going to take this opportunity to clean out my reading list. [which inevitably results in finding new blogs to follow. oh well] this feels like buying a new car... have to test drive all the models before making an investment. what about you- do you use and love any of these readers? or is there something else out there I'm missing?