Date a guy who reads

Date a guy who reads. Ever seen a guy spend thousands of bucks at a bookstore. Bookmark him. He is probably the kind of guy you’d like to marry.

Find a guy who loves to read, and I can show you a philosopher, a romantic and a brave-heart. You’ll know him the moment you see him, by the detached look on his face, as if he does not connect with the world except the one that exists in his books. If his eyes light up on seeing a Orhan Pamuk or a Ernest Hemingway, He is the guy.

Ssshhhh !! Just heard a wolf whistle? That’s probably when the guy has found a rare book that he has been searching for days together. Can’t you see that the pages of the book that he carries around are still looking crisp and fresh? He can’t bear to see them soiled. He handles them so carefully, lest they get hurt. It hurts him to see a book without its cover or dog-eared pages and quickly sets about repairing them.

He’s the guy who is having the silently funny conversation with the librarian in the archives. And for a change the librarian is actually talking to him and she is even smiling at him now. Makes you wonder what sort of a charm does he cast. Ask him if he is interested in visiting a used-books stall after the library and he will be taken in.

He is the guy who when sitting in a bus, does not mind the jittery ride and continues to read the book, oblivious to all those beautiful girls around him. He does mind you stepping on his toes as long as you don’t let him take his eyes off his book. No! Don’t disturb him now. You are most likely to get an angry glare. Perhaps you might even be ignored.

Don’t pretend in front of him. He can see through you if you are saying things just to sound intelligent. Buy him a cup of coffee and make him talk on the books he loves. You can listen to his eloquent words for hours together. Don’t be scared if you get lost in Middle Earth. He will guide you through. Faust confuses you? He will explain the metaphor to you. He is the guy who does not realize that his tea has become cold and formed layers once he gets his hand on a book. Offer to buy him a book and he will follow you to the end of the world.

Get him books for his birthday, for New Year and Valentine’s Day as well. He is not going to complain. And of course, don’t forget to get the books listed on his wish list for Christmas. The man lives in his own world. No fault of his if he wants his life to resemble his favorite book. It’s probably the only thing he understands.
Disappoint him. Because a man who reads knows that the ointment for disappointment is books. You need not always be there for him. Gift him a book and he will feel your presence. Don’t be something that you are not, to him. He knows that people are like characters. It takes them time to grow. If you find a man who reads, keep him away from society. He is a prized catch.

If you find him depressed for days together, ask him the title of the book that he read. Understand what the story meant to him and hold him. Yes!! Hold him. He needs it very badly. He may not cry, but his hug will speak a thousand words, and his smile will make your day. Prod him and he will talk. He will speak on how he felt as if he was inside the book, and how the decision of the protagonists changed his view on things.
Propose to him – with a bookmark. He will understand. In case he doesn’t, send him a couple of books with a telegram. And when even that doesn’t give him the clue, Write a book and ask him to proofread.

Don’t be surprised if he names your kids with strange names. That was bound to happen. He will show your children the philosophy of being altruistic. He will show the kids how it feels to stop by woods on a snowy evening. And perhaps someday he will show his kids that there is a greater heaven. Who knows, someday you might just be reciting “Lochinvar” under your breath as you walk with him to the supermarket.

Date a guy who reads because you deserve it. He can make your life colorful and yet make you feel grounded. Don’t tempt him with vices of the material world, they mean nothing to him. Show him the way to the world of books and he will show you the way to his heart.

source

Dreading the home front

Trying hard to extend my stay in Thailand past the 13th, but to no avail. As of this moment, I am home bound in about a week.

Who would've thought I could be this sentimental about leaving Dhaka? My feelings towards this country is one of conflict, ambivalence, and nothing short of complexity that would take far too many words to articulate. But I must leave for the time being. Permanently? That's also another impending option for me.

Going home. Vancouver. I'm always faced with this sense of dread when the time is approaching. It's a combination of bitter/sweet, love/hate, happy/sad. Sure, I'm eager to eat sushi and rollerblade around the sea wall. Have dim sum with my parents and spend a total of 24 hours with them. Certain old faces, re-living nostalgia and pretending like when we were young.

But I've lived a thousand lifetimes since now and then. I see everything in a different light, and probably not all good. I'm so much more distorted because of reality and my thought process is tainted, jaded, and altered because of this time apart. Dont' get me wrong -- I don't think I'm better or worse. It's just harder with every flight away to come back to the little town, to the old life that I don't have and the person I am not anymore.

Anyways, it's hard to articulate this to somebody who's, say, never even left Vancouver in the past few years. Never mind moving and working in Bangladesh or Turkey or god knows where. It'll be an uncomfortable 5 weeks at home. Luckily, I have a nearly-free pass, so maybe I'll just hop on a plane again if it becomes too unbearable!

Wander lust extension

By some unknown miracle in this world, I've been bestowed the privilege of a one-year extension on my wander lust. Whether the stars take me back to New York or if I somehow return to the most foreign land of all [that is Asia], I'll have access to fly to my heart's content. 

• Seoul
• Tokyo
• Atlanta, Miami
• Puerto Rico
• Buenos Aires
• Tel Aviv
• somewhere in Bermuda

Those are just places I've picked out randomly.

Who knows what the future holds. Happy & safe travels!

Expiry date on wander lust

10 days in April. 10 days in May. 2 nights in Bangkok. Then, I'm home.

One year would've come and gone, just like that.

I always remind self that there's no such thing as greener pastures, yet I believe in pushing to dream the impossible and giving it all you've got. If you fail, just remember that those who have achieved the unfathomable were once in your shoes. They picked themselves up, dust it off, and tried again.

All my time spent drifting about, I think I've conquered too many aspects of the road warrior lifestyle. Everytime you step outside your hometown is an opportunity to see thru another pair of lense. There's the tourist type of traveling-- out to see all the sights. The ancient Mayan ruins of Honduras. Climbing the live volcano outside Antigua. Trekking all the way to Macchu Picchu. Marveling at the Louvre. On a limited time frame, you get the most bang for your buck.

Then there's the partying-like-a-drunken-frat-boy-backpacker-style. Hostels for 8 quid, beer for a buck. The seediness of Khao San Road, the spring break type mentality in Cancun and Kuta beach, the influx of drugs and prostitution brought into coastal towns like Bocas del Toro, Panama or even Taganga, Colombia. When you can party like a rockstar in a dirt poor country, why go home?

I did those trips in my early 20's and always knew there'd be more to it than just that. Between homestays, couchsurfing, and counting on the fateful acts of serendipity, this year I got to immerse into more than a handful of cultures that I stumbled upon on purely luck. I spent time in random countries, though sometimes frought with intense frustration and culture shock. But where else would I get the opportunities to eat dinner with a former political activitist in Czech, who sought asylum in Paris as a refuge in the '80s prior the Velvet Revolution? Hearing how Czechoslavakia was like during communism and witnessing how Prague is like today was unbelievable. Where else would I have the chance to stumble along the hillsides of Bosnia and meet a liberal muslim family who fled from persecution in Serbia and lived to feed me beer and candy and tell me about it? Shadowing a con artist in Istanbul and the dirty nature of that thriving economy was a full 5 weeks never to be forgotten. Living in the shock that was Morocco in what was really a political facade masquerading as a volunteering op at an orphanage gave me a good taste of the Muslim religion since, well, I was living in close quarters with them for all that time. Inevitably, this all led to my life in Bangkok and the foot in the UN.

Granted, I still have leaps and bounds to go in terms of conquering the ignorance and bitch that is still inside me. But I've had my fair share of culture education and enough days of waking up to not knowing which country I'll end up in. It's exciting. It trains you to think quick on feet. But it's draining like mad and the toll on my mentality is inexplicable.

For instance, all my projects are short term, consultancy, or freelance. It's the nature of the work. But I do wonder how life is like on the other side, waking up for YEARS on end at a company that I care about. To have routine and normalcy and a home base. When you meet a new person, to not have to give your approximate time frame of residency. Basically, I'm sick of having an expiry date.

I wonder all the time. And I think I'm finally ready. While I've always said that not all those who wander are lost, I do think that this wander lust has finally stopped wandering and has finally been found.

dreams

there are these moments when i feel like this is all just a dream. and nothing bad ever happened. i dream that i never left, that i never walked away, that you never walked away. i dream that i never went around the world all alone without you by my side. i never left vancouver and things remained perfect. these years didn't just fall away from my fingers and we lived this happy little life like we planned. and life happened exactly as we planned.

this dream within a dream that i dream? i wake up in this dream of mine. when i open my eyes, you're beside me just like how it was like all those years ago. i breath a sigh of relief and say, good. that's where you were all along. for a minute there i was going through this terrible dream ...

"no one said it would be this hard ... "

The Korean Herald

From farm to fridge ― truth about livestock

By Emily Chu

The following article was contributed by UNESCO on meat production and consumption in Asia. ― Ed.
Tens of billions of pigs, chickens, turkeys and cattle are eaten globally every year, and about 2 billion people worldwide live on a meat-based diet.

Asia’s population and economic growth has been charted as the fastest annual growth of any region in the world in energy demand. Even though the demand for meat and poultry is steadily increasing, the number of farms providing them has decreased, allowing for corporate consolidation and industrialized intensification agricultural techniques. Traditional farming practices have been given up.

The global production of meat grew fivefold in the latter half of the 20th century and continues to increase. A recent UNESCO publication shows that 4 of the top 10 meat-producing countries in the world are Asian.

Read more here

Toys for chicks

11th month of being on the road, and I'm still relying on the trusty bag of makeup I packed nearly a year ago.

For the makeup-obsessed, this is quite the challenge. Good news? In places like Dhaka, wearing makeup is really redundant. I have no problem walking around looking mangled-face and droopy-eyed. Backpacking called for the same. No point in attracting unwanted attention!

Looking forward/dreading to going home for a variety of reasons, naturally. One of the top things I look forward to (aside from good food and friends/family)? Being able to buy normal makeup again. Blow dry and straighten my hair when necessary. Being able to buy normal makeup again!

1.) Koh Gen Do

I've heard amazing things about this product and foundation is one of the few items I will happilly splurge on. Partly because it lasts me SO long, and also because the difference between a good foundation and a drugstore bought one is astronomical. I usually use Lancome Photogenique and no complaints. But this one is some fancy Japanese formula, paraben-free, 10+ hours, etc etc.

2.) Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes

I've seen this used on certain people and it was AMAZING. Maybe it's because the girls had naturally beautiful eyes or whatever, but I was sold! I've been on the hunt for smokey-eyes, long-lasting, pencils that are relatively removeable. Usually I use MAC Powerpoint but it still smudges like crazy on the bottom lashes.

3.) MAC eyebrow

The difference w/having meticulously groomed eyebows is that it REALLY shapes the face and eyes. I'm really only obsessed about 1.) head shape and 2.) eyes. I'm weird that way. I recently watched some youtube tutorial (it gets boring here in Dhaka) and the chick in the video used a skinny brow pencil and some filler, resulting in killer brows. Hope this one works!

4.) NYX brushes

I discovered NYX at a trade show when I was modeling for a hair company back in New York and stocked up on a few products. It was amazing! For the price and quality? In the past, I've invested in brushes from MAC to Shiseido to Shu Uemura, and nothing compared to NYX. I need a good powder and blush brush for my blusher to skinny up my face!

Not too much, right? Makeup usually lasts me forever and I go for quality, not quantity. Trust me, when you've gone for THIS long with the SAME makeup stash ... a little bit of dreaming goes a long way!