Day trips from NYC: Kaaterskill Falls hike
I have a confession to make. I don’t do many outdoorsy things in New York. Besides playing ultimate, I spend most of my leisure time doing things indoors. Sometimes I’ll go to the park, especially if it is with my niece, but for the most part I stay inside.
That means I haven’t even begun to do much hiking in my home state. But luckily, my sister’s friend drove us up to the Catskills a few weekends ago and we did a short hike to the tallest two tiered waterfall in the area. This is the Kaaterskill Falls hike!
That’s my sister gazing up at the waterfall
Inside the Meow Parlour cat cafe in New York City
Back in December, I wrote about going to the first official cat cafe in New York City as being one of the things on my to do list when I visited home. This past May, I finally made it there…for about half an hour.
I thought I would want to stay for hours. But I didn’t. The cats were beautiful and cute enough, but it just didn’t feel like the cat cafe that I’ve been waiting for. (And maybe this cat feels the same way). Continue Reading
Sure I’m a little racist, but am I THAT racist?
Everyone’s a little bit racist, it’s just the way things happen to turn out in this world. But how little is that bit of me that is racist? Is it bigger than I like to think it is? Am I kidding myself that it is as small as I want others to think it is?
This came up when a few weeks ago I saw a childhood friend in New York City post something about her boyfriend who had passed away a year ago. My first thought was maybe he was shot.
Nope. It was cancer and an infection.
This thought came up so quickly and naturally, that it caught me by surprise. I felt ashamed that my immediate and uncensored thought was that he was involved with gangs or crime somehow and was shot. Am I really that racist? It’s a weird and scary realization to come to. What if I’m not as open minded as I think I am? What if I’m really not as good a person as I want to be?
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Ultimate is my passion
A disc and a shot glass. Just another normal day at a tournament.
Ultimate (frisbee) is my passion. It’s the ultimate sport in my mind, and many will agree. It is the one thing that I know I will be passionate about for the rest of my life. It is how I’ve met many of my closest friends, and how I’ve met every guy that I’ve ever dated. Why am I so passionate? Let me explain!
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“The Walking Dead” perspective on life
I was down with a sickness last week, so I stayed home a few days and watched the first three seasons of The Walking Dead. This is how I think the Walking Dead perspective on life would go.
It’s a TV show adapted from a graphic novel about a group of people during a zombie apocalypse. Although I know it is gory and not real, it has been an interesting experience to watch it while my own head is feeling a little foggy. But coming out of the fog, I thought about how the show really gets down to the point and distills some interesting philosophical ideas and perspectives on life.
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New food habits and food shopping in the city
When it comes to food, I’ve been shifting towards a whole-food, plant-based diet over the past 3 or 4 years. The first few changes were to stop forcing myself to eat mean (or animal protein) when I didn’t feel like it, and to start eating more different types of greens than the ones I grew up with. Now that I’m in New York City for a few months, I’m also really excited to try local products like Granola Lab. There are so many cool things coming out of New York, Brooklyn especially!
What I have trouble with is how to balance all of the possible adjectives: seasonal, local, sustainably harvested, whole, unprocessed, unrefined, fresh aka not frozen or canned, non-GMO (genetically modified organism, usually corn and other plant products), no preservatives, organic, raw, natural
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[Photo Journal] A walk in the snow through parks in New York
On Sunday, I went on a walk with 2 good friends and their dog in Fort Tyron Park and Inwood Hill Park in New York. The weather was great, and it was so quiet!
Yesterday was my first day “back” in the routine of living and working in New York City. New York is my hometown, which decided to welcome me back from the tropics with snow and freezing temperatures. Awesome! Haha, but really, I’m glad to be back!
Tips for moving to the USA from Singapore
Considering moving to USA? Here are some general tips and thoughts.
Since a lot of traffic has come to my blog from searches for moving to USA from Singapore, I thought I’d actually do a post on this topic. For reference, I grew up in New York City, so a lot of what I know is what I’ve experienced there. I don’t know much about the middle of the country except that it is very flat and there is a lot more space with less people. Though I have spent some time on the West Coast, I mostly know New York City and the East Coast. I moved to Singapore from the US in January 2013.
#bleedinghearts street art in Freemans alley in Manhattan New York
Moving to Singapore from USA: general tips and best/worst
Moving to Singapore from USA was a big deal for me, since the climate is so tropical and it is really far from home! Here are some general tips and my list of best/worst decisions I made when making the move. Hopefully they’ll be helpful for your move if you are planning one! You can find more resources on this page. (Updated 09 November 2016)
If you are instead interested in moving to the USA, check out my other post on that topic. You’ll also find more general tips on my resources page for moving to Singapore. Continue Reading
Twitter in NYC by language interactive graphic
This is an incredible interactive map showing Twitter updates by language in New York City, my hometown! I miss it a lot, especially my family, so it was nice to find out about this cool graphic. See the screenshot below for a sneak peak.
Twitter NYC A Multilingual City
They also have a version for London!
Hey, I'm Chewy! I'm a science journalist currently living in New York. I'm an introvert who likes to see new things and learn. Here I write about my travels and musings about food, places and cultures. Check out my photos, reviews, and random thoughts!