Little Stories Of October
You are here, the time is now, there is no ordinary moment. You know exactly how much money you have in your pocket, but you never know just how much time you have…and that makes every event worth remembering. Here are my little stories of October.
It’s all in your head
I’ve lost 20 pounds over the course of one year, it took a lot of patience, self communication, and trial and error. Weight loss is a back and forth process instead of a straight line journey. Being fit is not only healthier, it also boosts confidence and increases your options in life based on my personal experience. I’ve weighed 130 lbs and I’ve weighed 170 lbs, and when I was 170 lbs I experienced a huge difference in the way I was treated when I was skinner and also a discrepancy in my confidence level. I am now 143 lbs and feeling quite comfortable in my own skin, which is why I discovered how being overweight and feeling bad about it can lead to a lot of negative cycles in life.
When I started taking swing dance classes in January this year I always stood at the edge of the classroom because I didn’t like how I looked in the mirror. When we had to pair up I was always the last to pair up and this had bothered me slightly. I thought people didn’t want to pair up with me because of my figure. Now that I’m more comfortable with my physique, I found myself standing at the center of the classroom one class and paired up with someone almost immediately. To test whether pairing up faster had to do with one’s figure, I tried standing at the edge of the classroom again next class and found that I was again the last to pair up. So the conclusion is that no one chose to not pair up with me because of my body shape all along, it was all in my head and it had to do with where you stood instead of how you looked.
We all make mental shortcuts, but these mental shortcuts are based on our beleifs and the things we say to ourselves. This little observation reminded me that I needed to be kinder to myself, and that the world is often ready to welcome you with open arms if you are also willing to embrace it.
The poor want to look rich, the rich want to look poor
In my eight years of private tutoring, almost all of my students come from wealthy or rich families. It makes sense. Only families with spare money can afford to hire private english tutors who charge more than cram schools and online courses.
I was gifted my first ever luxury brand accessory when I was in college. I was 20 years old then, and it was a blue leather Coach bag. When I went to my student’s house to teach her one week, I saw several luxury brand wallets sitting on her desk. There were Prada, Coach, and Kate Spade wallets. The Kate Spade wallet with a Crayon Shin-Chan sticker caught my eye. I asked my student why she would put a silly sticker on a branded wallet. She said, “This is not my wallet, it’s my sister’s. She put a sticker there because she wanted to make the wallet look cheaper. Her money was stolen at school once and she thinks it’s because everyone thinks she’s rich because she has a branded wallet.”
It’s amusing to me how everyday there are people who struggle financially and are willing to make installments or borrow money to purchase luxury goods just to look rich, while the people who are really rich and have luxury goods want to cover them up to stay low key.
Walking into Louis Vuitton, Dior and Gucci
I have never set foot into a high end luxury brand store before in my life until last month. I guess it had something to do with my upbringing. My mother has always been careful with money maybe because we only had one income from my father when we lived abroad. It became a habit and she constantly reminded me to only take my luxury bags to special occasions even when I grew up. A part of me thought I didn’t deserve luxury products, but again, that was all in my head.
My boyfriend on the other hand, earns less than I do but owns more luxury branded goods than me. For the first time in my life, I shopped at Louis Vuitton Dior, and Gucci when we were on a date. We weren’t treated any different than the other customers and to my surprise, there were much more people than I expected shopping in these luxury brand stores.
I saw a blue Louis Vuitton bag that is priced at 130,000 NTD, and told myself that when I earn more than 1 million NTD per year I can purchase it to celebrate.
Ramen Weekend
My boyfriend is obsessed with Ramen. It’s also quite curious how almost every ramen resturant in Taiwan makes you wait for 1–2 hours to get a seat. We went to three ramen resturants over a weekend.
Totto Ramen: I wouldn’t recommend eating here if you are looking for high quality ramen. The soup was not hot enough and the noodles were a bit undercooked. The meat was quite impressive though.
Takaryu Ramen: They have several branches in Taipei. We went to the main resturant which the owner has now closed. As soon as the owner released the news that he was going to close his main resturant, my boyfriend insisted that we had to go. We waited in line for around 90 minutes and got in line one hour before they opened their doors. The ramen was really good and heavy flavored.
Naruto Ramen: This is a themed ramen shop. Its ramen is very ordinary but acceptable. The Naruto decorations are quite adorable.
