“Blue Hair, Don’t Care!”

My friend, Natalie, blurted this out when she saw a badass gal with blue hair cross the street like she don’t give a HOOT! And it became our mantra for the summer.

But that’s how I want to feel about this blog, too. I’ve been caring way too much about what this blog should look like, be about, and worse, how the quality of my writing is (like should I end this sentence with “is”?). I can also feel my English slipping away as I spend a third of my day speaking Chinese to family, a third in English to other humans, and a third in Dog to my daycare pups. You might think this would help develop my language skills, but in fact, the opposite is happening.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLH4xasj9JE/?taken-by=sky_in_the_city

(Skyla’s so nonchalant about it) 

I haven’t been posting as often as I’d like, even though there’s so much I’d like to share with you! My idea of what a travel blog “should” be is constricting me from writing what I want, and I hate nothing more than feeling constricted. The silliest part is that I’m the only person who has control over the blog, so why am I getting in my own way? That said, adopting the attitude of “Blue Hair, Don’t Care!” I’m going to carry on with my blog in any way I wish.

Since I’m going to share whatever I want with you now, I’ll share a little anecdote about how my uncle quit smoking.

He was a chain smoker, just like most Chinese men in the 90s (and today). One day, with a cigarette between his fingers, he had a thought: This is just a stick in my hand, but it has so much control over me. He thought that that was ridiculous. How can one little roll of this crinkly crop have so much control over him? A person with a mind? To prove that he still had control over his own life, he quit. Just like that!