Are you for real?

This morning, a woman (Caucasian, straight, mid 50′s) approached me and asked for my name.

I replied, “Jessica.”

She hesitated then proceeded to ask for my last name. After I told her it was Pak, she left only to return a minute later asking me if I spoke Korean.

“Conversationally,” I replied.

“Ohhhh okay, I can tell in your voice,” she said, leaving me speechless.

Hmm… that’s funny because last time I checked, I was born in Clarksville, TENNESSEE and was raised in Washington state. I have only been to Korea twice  and majored in Communications at the UW. In other words,  I have no accent whatsoever.

Sadly, this kind of incident is not uncommon to minorities. In fact, there have been tons of studies published about these “perceived accents”. Since these articles take about 53.7 billion hours to read, let me give you the Sparknotes version.

justshutupbc.com

Basically, researchers found that minorities are often perceived to have an accent (when, in fact, they speak perfect English and no accent exists) because of their physical appearance. One article cited a study in which an Asian-American male (a native English speaker with NO accent) had a conversation with a Caucasian female over the phone. Afterward, she was asked to rate the pervasiveness of his accent. She, of course, said he didn’t have one. However, when the same two subjects had a face-to-face conversation, she then rated him as having a “slight accent.” Strange, huh?

As infuriating as this is, I will hold back on ranting on and on about this injustice.

HOWEVER, this incident made me think about the power of the human mind. If we (all people are capable of it) have the ability to make ourselves hear nonexistent accents, what else can we trick ourselves into believing/seeing/hearing? If our minds (even subconsciously) believe something, we make these thoughts turn into reality. What a powerful tool! *Cue the epic music!*

philter48.com

Okay, maybe not heaven-parting, earth-shattering, Beyonce-booty-poppin powerful, but still pretty darn amazing…

“You have powers you never dreamed of. You can do things you never thought you could do. There are no limitations in what you can do except the limitations of your own mind.” – Darwin P. Kingsley

Everyone fakes it

I attended an AWC meeting (Association of Women in Communications) at the UW last night (yes, I know I graduated and yes, I pretended to be a student!) and learned two valuable lessons.

 

betterbloggingforbloggers.com

 

First, everyone fakes it. Have you ever heard the saying, “you have to fake it to make it?” Well, totally true. Now, I’m not saying to pretend to be someone completely different (don’t judge me! I was just a student a few months ago) but in order to advance in your career and in life, you must step out of your comfort zone and stretch your perceived abilities to limits that you don’t yet know you possess. Who knows, you may just discover that you can do much more than you thought. Whether you know it or not, everyone is doing it. A huge recurring lesson to me is when I realize that directors, manager, CEOs, etc. are all doing it and/or have done it.

 

wrn.org

 

And second, follow your heart. Follow your passions, follow your intuition, your dreams, desires… As corny and overused as it sounds, it rarely ever happens. Think about it. When is the last time you made a major decision because you felt it was right? We usually let our head, common sense and “reality” weigh us down and prevent us from living the life we want to live as opposed to a comfortable life we know we can live. If we begin to follow our hearts (no, that doesn’t mean chasing some boy you met three weeks ago to the ends of the earth because you guys are “in love” and think you’re gonna get married and have lots and lots of babies… not that heart, silly) we will start seeing the world and life in new, refreshing ways. Waking up everyday will no longer be a chore but a gift because we will be living our lives according to our plans. If this is the only shot we get at life and if life is so short, why waste it?

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”  -Oprah Winfrey

Back and at it again.

I returned back to Seattle from New York in March but have recently decided to continue updating this blog. I still have thoughts of pursuing a different life in the city but for now am happy dreaming from afar.

Since I’ve been back…

I worked at MWW Group (public relations agency) for a while and am now working at the University of Washington Continuing Education as a Program Assistant. My first day is tomorrow. Yay! Hopefully the bus system here won’t be as crazy as in New York!

Chocolate covered praline figs

It’s my favorite time of year! Oh yes, the holidays are almost here! The festive lights, special holiday flavors that grace us with their delish presence for these few short months, smell of spices, and… the food!

Here’s a holiday recipe I created to kick-start the season. Hope you enjoy!

CHOCOLATE COVERED PRALINE FIGS

What you’ll need:

15 fresh figs (I purchased mine yesterday at a nearby farmer’s market for $2.50)

1/3 cup praline pecans

2.5 tablespoons of orange marmalade

2/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

3 cups of water

2 pots

wax paper or baking paper

skewer or chopstick

mortar and pestle (or heavy duty bowl and the back of a knife)

pastry bag (or ziploc bag)

scissors

Total time: 40 minutes

1. Wash and dry fresh figs.

2.  Using a circular motion with your skewer/chopstick, poke holes in the bottom of the figs and remove a small portion of the flesh to make room for the marmalade.

3. Fill pastry bag/ziploc bag with marmalade and cut a small corner out to allow the marmalade to be squeezed out.

4. Fill figs with marmalade and set aside.

5. Fill smaller pot with water and boil. (You can also use two of the same sized pots).
6. Crush praline pecans using the mortar and pestle or bowl and knife. Be careful! =)

Crush, crush, crush. Chop, chop, chop. And crunch, crunch, crunch, until it looks something like this…

7. When water comes to a rapid boil, place larger pot on top and decrease heat to medium-low.

Make sure it covers the entire top of the bottom pan. This is called a double boiler and allows the chocolate to melt evenly and without burning.

8. Melt chocolate chips and butter on the top pan. Stir with a wooden spoon.
9. Dip stuffed figs into the melted chocolate and roll in the crushed pecans.
10. Place figs on the wax paper/baking paper and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Enjoy immediately or wait until the chocolate hardens. Both are mm-mm-good! The cinnamon smell really reminds me of the holidays and makes this a perfect autumn treat!

*If you have leftover melted chocolate, mix in a little marmalade, let it harden and you have some scrumptious orange-chocolate!

Creative Valentine’s Day Gifts

It’s that time of year again… birds are chirping… love seems to fill the air… prices for flowers are skyrocketing… yes, it’s Valentine’s Day! This year, spice things up with a creative gift for your honey that will remind him of you every time he looks at it!

Custom Profile Mugs for You and Your Lovebug 

 $65 + shipping

Beautiful pieces made from a New York artist’s loving hands. Purchase online at: Etsy

Who Could Resist Chocolate AND Cookies?

$59.95 + shipping

I just discovered David’s Cookies a few weeks ago and am completely in love. With just the perfect combination of a chewy soft middle and crunchy edges, I can never stop after one, or two, okay okay, sometimes even three… Purchase online at: David’s Cookies

Sweet Pillow Talk

$37 + shipping (for a set of two)

 

Now you can whisper sweet nothings into your love’s ear while laying your heads on these adorable pillowcases. Purchase online at: Links 2 Love

Hope you all have a wonderful, love-filled Valentine’s Day! And remember, Valentine’s Day isn’t just a time for lovers, it’s a time to remember all those in your life that you are thankful for whether that be family, friends, mentors, co-workers and even pets!

NYC Amuses Me

I think I could dedicate this entire blog to posting pictures of the amusing shops I see. Weird decor, funny names, nifty products… It seems like every time I go out, I see something that makes me giggle. Anyway- here are a few pictures from my conquests today.

Looking for a job? Search no further! (Rice to Riches, Rice Pudding Shop, Nolita in Manhattan)

Can't get enough of Rice to Riches!

And some pictures for your enjoyment from our escapades.

The famous Lombardi’s Pizza in Nolita

The city is gorgeous at night.

Korea Town in NYC, whaaat?

Bryant Park is so romantic!

Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes

Two words: Crumbs Cupcakes.

Ahhh-mazing. $3.75 for a huge mondo cupcake. They have tonsss of appetizing flavors like Boston Creme Pie, Half Baked, Grasshopper, one that looks like a Ding-Dong (the Hostess kind!), etc. I couldn’t even finish the whole thing, I got a sugar overload.

These pictures were taken around 7pm so a lot of the cupcakes were gone =(

Day 2 > Day 1

I heard once that, “if you change the way you view the world, the world around you will change.” (or something along those lines, haha).

Going back today with an open mind and heart made me see opportunities that I missed yesterday. Being positive is a great feeling and brings happiness to people around you as well. It made the day go by faster and I didn’t come home with a fatty headache! (Even though I got lost on the subway, AGAIN!)

Today I finished the press kit mailing. A press kit is basically a press release and little sneak peak of the show that will be premiering. It contains information about the show so the person or organization you are sending it to can write a story or article about it (which in turn will help generate publicity and buzz about it.)

I’m getting better at clipping articles.

It’s very motivating to see the publicity senior VP and VP’s in their offices. They’re large and in charge! They always seem cool, confidant and collected.

*By the way, my little sister got a job interview at Crumbs Cupcakes on Thursday! Yay for her! She’s super excited so wish her luck!*

First Day of Work at MTV Networks

Stressful. Tiring. Draining.

But I’m coming back tomorrow full force! Gotta keep thinking optimistic and get out of this negative nancy rut.

So let’s see.. I got to the MTV Networks headquarters at 8:50 am (almost an hour early! I didn’t know how long the subway would take and didn’t wana be late. haha) so I stood around and pretended like I belonged there for a while before I was directed to go to VH1 Press.

After introductions, I jumped right into mailing press kits. I was taught how to clip articles and had to look through the biggest stack of newspapers I’ve ever seen in my life (didn’t even get to the magazines!) to look for mentions about VH1. I would then clip and organize them.

Got information overload on the two new reality shows airing tonight on VH1 about Fantasia and Pepa (from Salt n Pepa). Let me know if you guys watch it and what you think

Didn’t leave until around 5:45pm. It took me foreverrrrr to get through the clippings. Gotta work on that. lol.

I missed my stop on the subway and didn’t realize it until I got all the way to the end of the subway line in Flushing, Queens (dangit!), which is 8 stops past mine.. ugh.. so instead of a one hour commute it was more like a two hour commute today. booey.

Some cool highlights of my day:

There are (free!) soda machines everywhere at MTV Networks.

$2 hotdogs are sold on every street corner in Times Square. They even come with sauerkraut (YUMMY!!!) Hotdogs taste way better when eaten outside.

My bus stop is on street 69 and EVERYTHING in that area incorporates “69″ into it somehow… For example, “69 Smiley Grocery,” “69 Bar”… hehe.. makes me laugh every time.

I thought my sister burned the house that we are living at down while I was at work… but it turned out it was just the countertop =)

She made me a wonderful delicious dinner and bought me a Red Velvet cupcake from a bakery to cheer me up. (So sweet!!!)

Thanks everyone for all your support and love! I really appreciate it! It means a lot to me and makes me feel not as lonely all the way over here! Muah! Hugs!