Professional Jaywalker
Posted: May 15, 2013 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: diy, hermes, outfit, payless, polka dot, target 6 Comments »
I’m not happy with this outfit. It’s kind of boring and the proportions are all wrong. But it was my first day at the new job and even though the dress code is pretty casual, I wanted to look professional without overdressing – so it’s blouses over T-shirts (no matter how nice). I bike to work, and I’m not confident enough to wear a dress or skirt while biking yet, what with the horrible traffic here. And until I can master jaywalking across four lanes of traffic with my bike in tow, I’m not going to wear anything that can make me fall on my face. That means no heels and no wide-leg pants. So taken all of those into consideration, I guess this is the best I could come up with.
As for the job, looks like it’s not going to be that busy at the moment. It’s the end of the school year, so I’ll just have to come in a couple of times a week to make sure everybody turns in their finals and work on some syllabi and stuff like that. I won’t start the real teaching assistant part of the job until the next term starts, in August.
Shirt: Target, Jeans: Hermes, Flats: Payless, Necklace: self-made
P/S: I’m linking up with Work Clothes, I Suppose. Appropriate, no?
Long Break
Posted: April 30, 2013 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: hermes, old navy, outfit, payless, plaid, polka dot, thrift, vintage 5 Comments »
This outfit is like, shamefully matchy, but we’re having a long 5-day break (today and tomorrow are Vietnam’s Labor Day holiday, so there’s no sense in making people come to work on Monday; they’re just going to make it up this Saturday instead) and all I want to do is to read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. I should try to write again too. Only… getting another rejection (I’ve been submitting my stories to online magazines) is not the best source for inspiration. I know I have to look at the rejections as motivations to keep trying and get better, but again, that’s easier said than done. Guess I’ll just make sure to write a little bit every day until I get back into the groove of it.
Oh and, this is my submission for the next color in the Spring Color challenge – the purple is a bit deeper than Pantone’s “African violet”, but it’s close enough.
Shirt: Old Navy (thrifted), Jeans: Hermes, Flats: Payless, Brooch: vintage
On Writing
Posted: April 26, 2013 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: floral, forever21, outfit, payless, target 2 Comments »
I haven’t been writing much lately. After trying and failing to rewrite my American Gods rip-off, I have to face the fact that I can either borrow the concept or the structure, but not both, because it’s going to wind up like a clumsy remake of the original story. So while I’m not abandoning it altogether, I’m setting it aside for the moment.
I’ve got a script I’m trying outline, some short stories I deem good enough for rewrites, and other bits of stories floating around, but I can’t seem to find the determination to sit myself down and actually write anything. It leaves me feeling very unproductive and frustrated. I know the best tip to punch writer’s block in the face (in the words of Cracked) is to just write, even if it’s crap, until you find the inspiration to get better, but it’s easier said than done. I think I have to resort to reading some terrible books (without clawing my eyes out though, so maybe not 50 Shades of Grey) so I can come out thinking, “Heck, I can totally write better than that!” and start working again. Until I can find such books, any tip from my fellow writers out there would be much welcomed.
My writer’s block may have extended to my clothing choice too, because I can’t think of anything more interesting than slapping a belt on a floral dress. Luckily, with clothes, sometimes that is all you need.
Dress: Forever21, Belt: from a Target dress, Flats: Payless
Avocado And Papaya
Posted: April 5, 2013 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: diy, gap, outfit, payless, plaid, thrift, wet seal 4 Comments »
I was going to title this post “Spring, You’re On” because it’s the first spring-like outfit I’ve worn. But then my sister made some avocado smoothie and I realized my shirt was almost that exact color (we usually eat it sweet rather than savory here. Avocado smoothie is just avocado blended with some sweetened condense milk, but it’s so good.) So it’s “avocado and papaya”, to keep with the whole tropical fruit theme. But then I guess the color of my jeans can be categorized as “salmon” too, and salmon and avocado would make a great sushi roll… OK, I’m hungry now.
Shirt: Gap (thrifted), Jeans: Wet Seal (thrifted), Heels: Payless, Necklace: self-made, Belt: no idea
What’s In A Name?
Posted: April 4, 2013 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: amazon, hand-me-down, outfit, payless, thrift 4 Comments »
So this is a rambling post that has nothing to do with anything, because I have nothing to say about the outfit…
My real full name is Minh Duc (pronounced “Ming Duke”) – meaning “bright virtues” in Sino-Vietnamese. It’s a very masculine name, sort of the equivalent of being named, I don’t know, Ryan James (though with all the hipster parents these days, that line is getting blurred.) Man, if I had a dollar every time somebody said “Oh I thought you were a guy”…
Anyway, it led to this straight-out-of-a-sitcom situation after I graduated high school. This military-looking dude stopped by our house and demanded to see my brother. Imagine how baffled I was, because I only have a sister. It turns out, I was being called into the Army Reserve, which is only mandatory for guys, because the census people had written me down as “male.”
It took a while to sort it out, but eventually I was allowed to be a girl again. Only when I went to college in the US, I had a whole new kind of problem as people insisted on pronouncing my name as “duck.”
Still, despite all the troubles it’s caused me, I like my name. It’s timeless, strong, and unique – not a lot of girls named Duc in Vietnam, I can tell you. I stuck with Salazar because it’s been my only online name since high school, but if you guys want to start calling me Duc, that’s totally fine by me 
Shirt: Amazon, Skirt: hand-me-down, Belt: thrifted, Flats: Payless
