The Ruby Ronin

Battle of the Bloggers! Empress Of Bright Moon Ancient China Trivia Quiz!

April 17, 2016 rubymary Comments 12 comments

Welcome to the Battle of the Bloggers!

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In today’s episode, blogger Autumn Ashbough of West Dates East faces off with me for some Chinese Tang Dynasty Trivia. Who will reign supreme? Mary, a girl who speaks Chinese but knows next to nothing about ancient Chinese history; or Autumn, the witty all-knowing blogger?

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Weina Randel will be hosting today’s game. Randel spent six years researching China’s only female Emperor. She’s got some brutal questions for us about both her books (The Moon in the Palace and The Empress of Bright Moon), as well as Chinese history and culture in general. read more

First Time On a Cruise: The Good, the Bad and Mexico

April 8, 2016 rubymary Comments 13 comments

Cruise

Way back in January, my boyfriend surprised me with a lovely present: a cruise vacation.

Richard loves cruises. Whenever I get my new issue of Travel & Leisure in the mail, he skips all of the articles and looks at the cruise ads. He’s already sailed on dozens of cruises from countless lines on various continents.

So it was no surprise that this cruise fiend was hellbent on taking me on a cruise.

Between his 100 hour work weeks and my limited vacation time, we were only able to go on a three day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. It wasn’t my dream destination, but I was happy to get out of the house, go somewhere new and finally get some nice R&R time with my lovely boyfriend. read more

5 Steps to Hanami (View Cherry Blossoms) in Japan

March 20, 2016 rubymary Comments 12 comments

Ah, March. The prelude to Spring. The light at the end of a long winter tunnel.

Or in Japan, it’s the start of one of the most prized occasions of the year:

Cherry Blossom Season.

Whatever high expectation you have for watching cherry blossoms in Japan (or better known as ‘hanami,‘ which literally means ‘watch flowers’ 花見), Japan will not disappoint on this front. It’s a magical experience.

While many tourists envision their hanami experience like an anime opening (think wind blowing in your hair as sakura petals brush past your skin), the reality may differ somewhat. To get the kind of hanami experience you’re dreaming of, it involves more than hopping on a plane and finding a sakura tree–it will take a whole ‘lotta planning. read more

What I Learned in My 20s… And My Big Announcement

February 28, 2016 rubymary Comments 26 comments

BirthdayinSD

Last Sunday, I turned 30.

I ran away to San Diego for 4 days and enjoyed myself immensely. Despite all the anxiety I felt on the verge of turning 30, on the actual day of and after… well, I felt the same as when I was 29 (and 28 and 27).

I feel good.

I couldn’t think of a better way to turn 30 than in the company of my boyfriend, my best friend and my beloved coworkers… on the beach. In San Diego. In paradise.

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coronado beach surfing

As I look back on my 20s, here’s some valuable life lessons I learned and lived by: read more

Interview with Weina Dai Randel on Her New Book “The Moon in the Palace”

February 25, 2016 rubymary Comments 18 comments

I am very delighted today to post my first book review and interview with talented author, Weina Dai Randel!

The Moon in the Palace is the tale of China’s famous (and only) empress, Wuzetian.

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I first learned about Wuzetian in my Chinese language class at Tsinghua University, where I was forced to learn words such as “decapitate,” “sever” and “jar in a head” in order to read and understand the gruesome tale of China’s empress. While my Chinese language book’s rendition of her history and reign painted her as an ice cold queen who ruled with cunning and fear, a part of me still wondered: Could China’s one and only empress be that ruthless? Is there a back story? read more

My Chinese New Year 2016 Gone Wrong

February 9, 2016 rubymary Comments 18 comments

In America, it’s easy to forget that Chinese New Year is even happening. Akin to Christmas in China, no one in America gives a flying crap about a holiday based on an outdated calendar.

My boyfriend was no exception. Although he’s Chinese, he was way more excited about the super bowl.

“Am I allowed to watch super bowl?” he pleaded.

“What about Chinese New Year?” I frowned. “I thought we could make jiao zi (dumplings) together and watch a Chinese movie or something. You know, get in the spirit.” read more

My First (and only) Blind Date in Japan

January 29, 2016 rubymary Comments 27 comments

blinddate

When I first moved to Japan as a young and naive new graduate, I had just undergone a horrific break up. It involved boyfriends, best friends and backstabbing. You know, the usual college drama.

At the same time, I was also ready to hit the dating scene. I hadn’t been single in five years. I was ready to paint the town red, party, go wild… and most of all: date.

Problem was: I lived in a very remote village. There were no bars. No restaurants. No place to mingle and meet people. Aside from 7-11. read more

What it’s Like Dating a Doctor

January 17, 2016 rubymary Comments 21 comments

I remember being at some random party in university, holding a beer and looking at the throngs of people around me who were drunk and stumbling.

I walked over to a table of women and eavesdropped on their conversation.

“I always study at the medicine library, but I still haven’t gotten lucky yet!”

“Oh yeah? Still trying to get a doctor?”

“I went on a few dates with some, but none of them seem serious about me.”

“You gotta get them while you can! Once they’re a full-fledged doctor, they will be harder to snag!” read more

How the Japanese Celebrate New Year

January 4, 2016 rubymary Comments 8 comments

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The most important day of the year for the Japanese is New Year, and with it comes certain traditions and ceremonies.

Why don’t the Japanese celebrate Lunar New Year like the rest of Asia?

Unlike the Chinese (and the rest of Asia), Japan does not celebrate the lunar new year. Japan’s new year holiday is every January 1st in alignment with western calendars. In fact, Chinese New Year is known as 旧正月, or “old/former new year.”

The Japanese switched to the Gregorian calendar in the Meiji era, when the entire country was modernized due to western influences. This is the era of the last samurai, of kimonos being traded for western dresses and suits, of guns and cannons in the battlefield. Since then, the western calendar has stuck. read more

Reflections on 2015, Goals for 2016 and Favorite Posts

December 30, 2015 rubymary Comments 11 comments

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Happy New Year!

Every new year I look at the goals I set for myself the previous year and see how many of them I actually accomplished.

I wasn’t going to do it this year, but since I crossed off more than half the list I felt kinda proud of myself. Plus, making goals for oneself is never a bad thing (even if we never reach them all).

What I accomplished in 2015:

~~Learn Advanced CSS, HTML, and Javascript; as well as Photoshop,~~ Illustrator and In-Design. I took a web design course and made a pretty impressive website. I also spruced up Ruby Ronin’s layout. I still need to learn Illustrator and In-Design, but I’m using more photoshop!
Become an Irish Citizen. Yup. Did it.
~~Pay Off My Student Loans.~~ Aaaand they’re gone.
~~Visit at Least One National Park.~~ Went to Joshua Tree, although it’s definitely not Yosemite.
~~Run a 5k.~~ I participated in a color run and I actually thought 5k was too easy. Time to upgrade to a 10k.

What I need to work on:

Update this Blog Once a Week and Really Commit to The Ruby Ronin. Again, fail. I think in June 2015 I didn’t even post once. That’s horrible. I need to make this priority #1!
Learn Italian and Sign up for an Italian Class. Again, didn’t happen. I tried to look for Italian classes in the LA area, but they were all 1.5 hours (by car) from my house. Looks like Italian gets put back on the back burner…
Lose 20 pounds–and more importantly, ~~lead a healthier life.~~ I didn’t lose 20 pounds, but I do lead a healthier life. I exercise 4-5 times a week and cook almost all of my meals–now I just gotta figure out how to lose weight…

Tour De Fat San Diego — Tour De Fat in San Diego: All this beer is probably why I can’t shake off the pounds…

So basically, I rocked all the short term goals but really failed on the long term ones. Worrisome!

A Look Back at 2015 read more