breakthesky.net » Online

Moved (Or the Next Chapter of My Online Identity)

Manda — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:23:50 +0000

It’s been a long time coming, but I’m not going to be blogging at breakthesky.net anymore. I’ve decided to cull and combine my online accounts (for lack of better phrasing) for one cohesive online identity.

I could get into the reasons that sparked my decision behind this but it’s the same old story: lack of time, changing interests, etc. It’s not a unique story, nor a particularly interesting one. But here’s where to find me, if you want to stay in touch (and I hope you do, because I definitely do!)

Blog: amandaosborn.com
Twitter: aosborn08
Facbeook: aosborn
Tumblr: meitiankaixin (this is the same)

I’ll be following the people I currently follow on my old Twitter account (eternitycrash) with my new one. Just a head’s up to my current twerps! :D

Giveaway Ideas Needed

Manda — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:13:47 +0000

If I were to offer readers of this blog a prize, what would you want that prize to be? Jewelry, online gift vouchers, books, handicrafts, etc. Those are just some ideas; sky’s the limit for your suggestions.

This is a Very Important Question, as I may or may not be planning a series of giveaways on this blog in the near future and the prizes are yet to be determined… and there’s no point in having a giveaway if no one wants any of the prizes!

人人网：A Leap In Becoming a True Chinese

Manda — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:08:04 +0000

I’ve been in China since late August. Needless to say, I’ve come a long ways in terms of adjusting to Chinese daily life and social norms. Nowadays, I get asked for directions, I drink bubble tea on an almost daily basis, I am spoken to solely in Chinese by everyone around me that isn’t foreign… the list goes on, but essentially, I’m feeling more and more Chinese as the days go by.

Today, I took a major leap in becoming a true Chinese.

I made a 人人网 account.

人人网 (Renren Wang, or just Renren), is China’s version of Facebook. And just like how practically everyone in the US has a Facebook, practically everyone in China has a Renren. It was only a matter of time before I signed up for one.

(Sidenote: My signing up for Renren may or may not have been motivated by an experiment to see if I would be granted “star status.” From what I understand, “star status” is given to active users of Renren. One of my [American] friends uses Renren regularly and has been rejected for this status on the grounds that he has a fake account; that is, his profile picture is not really of him. So I may or may not want to see if I am more successful than he is at becoming a star user… ahem.)

It’s been a struggle trying to navigate the site, as I can’t fully understand how it works. It’s a lot like Facebook in terms of set up and function, but it’s different enough that, combined with the fact that the site is not in English, it has me wondering whether or not I’m ever going to be able to use the site properly. Still, it’s been fun trying to figure it out. Right now, I only have one friend on Renren – but hopefully that number will grow…

Now, all I gotta do is sign up for a QQ account and then I’ll really be able to get new 关系 going!

Tidbits

Manda — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 03:51:32 +0000

I have a little less than a week left of vacation before my spring semester starts and I’m quite enjoying all this free time on my hands. I’ve gotten very accustomed to sleeping in and moving at a nice, leisurely pace – all of which I am savoring because I will not be able to enjoy these luxuries when I return to Beijing!

I’ve been reading a ton, most of which I can attribute to my Kindle and free time. I’ve also debated taking up writing again, although I don’t have any of my working drafts (“working” is used loosely here; I haven’t written anything creatively since the summer of 2009) on hand. One of my friends gave me an idea about a book I could write, though. (Rather, he looked at me point-blank and said, “You should write a book and this is what it will be about. Then, when it’s complete, I get the first copy to read.” While I was taken aback by this as we hadn’t been talking about books or writing, such directness was refreshing.) I’ve been toying with starting that up with some kind of short story or prologue that I could use in the future to expand upon, but I’m hesitant to start writing anything because I won’t have time to even think about writing once the semester starts. Reading and writing tie in quite nicely with the resolutions I’ve made for 2011, though, so I’m pleased with that.

Speaking of resolutions, I’ve added on two more. One is to keep an account of my finances, because it’s about time I keep track of my cash flow (particularly as in China, everything is handled in cash, not plastic). It doesn’t matter how cheap things are in China or Hong Kong; I still need to know what I’m spending my money on! Like the pair of knockoff Uggs I got for $99HKD yesterday. Not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things (particularly when you compare that price to a pair of real Uggs), but it’s still money nonetheless.

The other is to maintain a daily happiness journal, inspired by Krissy. I’ve set up a Tumblr for this project, which can be found here: 每天开心 (Mei Tian Kai Xin). The name translates to “every day happy,” which I think is very fitting. Everyone needs a little bit of happiness each day.

My new Tumblr project hasn’t been the only thing I’ve been busy with online. I’ve been trying to figure out why my WP to Twitter plugin doesn’t work as it should. Every time I publish a post, it only tweets the title of my entry, not the title and URL. Anyone have a plugin to recommend that actually works? Or one that won’t start working and then randomly stop including the URL in tweets, as this plugin did?

Oh, and in celebration of this blog’s 2nd birthday, I’ve put up a new layout.

Best of 2010

Manda — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 02:11:24 +0000

Just like I did last year, I’ve put together a list of my blog’s “best of” entries from the year 2010. I have listed them in chronological order and have linked entries that I felt were either thought-provoking, interesting to write, or shared something useful with the rest of the world. It’s been an awesome 2010, and here’s to 2011! :D

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

December Travels

Music Downloading Spree

Manda — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:33:26 +0000

Fact: Google signed some sort of deal that allows every Internet user in China to download music for free off the Google website.

Fact: I am an Internet user in China who is always keen to expand my iTunes collection.

Fact: I am also someone who has been out of the loop in the pop culture scene ever since going abroad.

Fact: I have a wide-ranging taste in music and am willing to give anything a try, except rap.

Question of the Week: What are some of your favorite songs? Recently? All-time? What bands or artists would you recommend for me to check out, new or old?

A Day of Rest (And Catching Up)

Manda — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:07:24 +0000

Well, today is the first day since I left the States that I’ve had time to take a bit of a breather and relax. My days are so busy that I had almost forgotten what free time was like. (I STILL haven’t unpacked yet.) During the week I am on campus/in class from at least seven to nine hours, and during the weekends I’m busy going out with friends and exploring Beijing. I have little to no time to spend on the Internet, which I am surprisingly happy about. As much as I love the Internet, I know that I am far too dependent on it.

I’ve had good times all around in Beijing so far. My classes are intense, but they’re not impossible. My friends, both new and old, are awesome. And Beijing? Uh, hands down it’s a really awesome city. During the day there are always sites to explore, both of the new (Bird’s Nest) and historic (Forbidden City) variety. At night, there’s a pretty happening nightlife that’s been the source of some really good nights so far. Like last night, which involved KTV (karaoke), soju, and lots of dancing.

Even though I’m having a great time in Beijing, I dislike being out of the loop in my circle on the interwebs. I’ve flicked through my feed reader occasionally, but I haven’t really had the time to properly read blogs and comment. I’m hoping to fix that today once I’ve finished my homework, but in the meantime… fill me in on what’s been going on in the interwebs? Or even what’s been going on in the world? (I only JUST found out that Jim Parsons and Jane Lynch won Emmys. That’s how out of touch I am with the rest of the world right now.)

Calling All My WordPress Theme Savvy Friends; Help Needed!

Manda — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:40:35 +0000

I’ve had my current theme up since January 1. It’s a very nice theme and has everything that I want. Lately, though, I’m getting tired of looking at this theme and have been searching for a new theme in which to dress up my blog. The search has been rather difficult though, as I’m not a designer and my skills are pretty much limited to very minimal WordPress theme editing. I keep finding themes that have designs that I like but are limited in theme functions.

Recently, I found the most amazing theme ever. It’s perfect and I know that it is the absolute greatest theme I could use for my blog. However, functions-wise, it’s lacking the following:

Threaded comments
Links to “Previous” and “Next” entries at the bottom of the page
There are also ad links embedded in the footer with some weird coded thing… I don’t know what the technical term is but hopefully this can be solved by viewing the source of the footer

I don’t think adding these functions in the theme is hard; it’s just that I am completely lacking in any sort of HTML/PHP/WordPress theme skills. So… any kind souls out there willing to take a look at the theme and help me out with adding the above functions? If so, please comment or send me an email at disalarming@gmail.com. I will lavish you with my eternal undying love and gratitude, with the promise of buying dinner if you happen to visit my city!

To Tell or Not to Tell, That Is the Question

Manda — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:10:27 +0000

I have always toyed with the idea of making this blog known among my offline friends and acquaintances. While I’ve never kept this blog a secret from my offline counterparts, I’ve never come right out and talked about it, either. I mean, I wouldn’t lie and say I didn’t have a blog and/or I am not the person behind this blog if they somehow discovered it, but blogging has never been part of any of our conversations and I’ve always just left it at that. My strategy was always unless I got outright asked about whether or not I had a blog, there was no need to discuss it.

Recently, this internal debate about whether or not to “reveal” (for lack of better term) this blog to my offline life has become a more timely issue, since I will be going abroad all of next year. Lots of kids have travel blogs they use as a way of keeping friends and family updated about their travels; I’ve been asked whether or not I’ll have a travel blog of my own. The idea of creating a travel blog as well as maintaining this one is more than I’d like to have on my plate when abroad. Since it’s never been an option for me to abandon this blog, abroad or not, I’ve been thinking whether or not I just share this blog with the offline world.

I have always written this blog with the mindset that if someone offline discovered my blog and/or I decided to open up about it by linking to it on my Facebook profile, there’d be nothing for me to hide. I don’t slag off specific people, air dirty laundry or reveal secrets that I wouldn’t reveal offline. When I talk about work, family and friends, I’ve always been guarded. (Hey, I don’t want to get dooced.) With all that in mind, what, really, is keeping me from publicly acknowledging that I have a blog that I regularly update and (I hope) is at least semi-interesting?

I guess it’s the fact that this blog, for all purposes offline, is a relatively private outlet. If I tell people about this blog and they read it when I’m abroad, chances are they aren’t going to stop reading it when I return. I guess that’s where the area of contention is for me. There’s no guarantee that anyone in my offline life will follow my blog at all but once they know about it, they aren’t going to forget my blog exists.

Because Every Country is the Best at Something

Manda — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:18:49 +0000

I came across this map of “International Number Ones” that indicates which country in the world is best at what. The idea behind it is that every country is the best at something; therefore, every country is number one in one thing or another.

Good ol’ USA seems to be number one in serial killers. Somehow, this doesn’t surprise me. And hey, it’s good to know that the USA is good for something, right? ;D

On a completely unrelated note, if the car alarm outside my house that has been going off for the past hour doesn’t get turned off soon, I might resort to doing something completely drastic that I refuse to be held accountable for.