December 23, 2008 by Ming Cai
I know I said that I was back, but I probably won’t be updating this blog too often and will instead be focusing my efforts on my fashion blog, THE SWATORIALIST, which is in conjunction with my column of the same name for Swarthmore College’s newspaper, The Phoenix.
I hope you enjoy it, and I’ll try my best to keep it up to date
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December 21, 2008 by Ming Cai
Oh it sure is nice to be home.
Classes ended a couple weeks ago and since then I’ve been caught up in the craziness that is finals period. By Wednesday this past week I felt like I’d done enough work for all my classes, and realized that I still had three out of four to go. By Thursday I was halfway there but wanted to go home, desperately. By Friday, I almost cried when the tri-co shuttle to take me home to Haverford was 20 minutes late. It took a few episodes of Top Chef before I felt at home, and completing my Shakespeare take-home exam to feel some relief and return to normalcy.
The contrast between finals craziness and returning home is astounding–I don’t really know what to do with all of my time. I had lots of plans for break, yes, but so far I’ve been unable to do anything but play Wii, go to the grocery store, watch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Oh, but I am starting to read War and Peace, as it’s on the reading list for a class I’m taking next semester and the professor said we should get ahead. Although I’m enjoying it so far, I guess the work really does never end…
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September 24, 2008 by Ming Cai
So, as you may have noticed, my posts on this blog have been trickling along, mostly due to the fact that I’m really really busy and a little overwhelmed by how many things I have to do and keep track of here, so I’m going to take a little break. I’m not ending this blog, but I am going to wait and start it again when I feel like I have everything together.
In the meantime, I am going to starting my blog for my school’s newspaper, The Phoenix soon. The blog is based off of the column that I write, called The Swatorialist. I will post a link for that later when it’s up soon.
Also, I’m still blogging for quadblogs, but I feel terrible because I haven’t posted in quite a while–maybe if I downsize this I will feel more inclined to post to that.
So adieu for now! But I’ll be back, I promise.
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September 7, 2008 by Ming Cai
I’ve been so MIA lately. The first week of school turned out to be a thousand times more hectic as I now realize that I have class and work ALL the time. I dropped Latin, so now my Tuesdays/Thursdays are really full since I added Greece and the Barbarians as my fourth course. So now my schedule looks like this:
Monday/Wednesday/Friday: Calc class from 10:30-11:20, placement for my Ed class from 12-3 on Monday and SAC meetings Monday night, work/research in the Ed lab from 1:30-4ish on Wednesday/Friday afternoons.
Tuesday/Thursday: power yoga from 9-10:30, Greece and the Barbarians from 11:20-12:35, Shakespeare from 2:40-3:55, plus my Ed. Psych seminar from 7-9:45 at Thursday night.
So, all work all the time. Plus writing for the Phoenix, SAC stuff on the weekends, Olde Club duties, working for the November election hopefully, and just generally trying not to go crazy by making lots of music. So please excuse any lapses in posts from time to time…I don’t mean to, really.
p.s. Broken Social Scene last night was AMAZING, more on that later (and I know I say that a lot and usually don’t follow through, but for this one I have to)
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September 1, 2008 by Ming Cai
Last night I started blogging for a collective group of blogs called quadblogs. It’s meant to help prospective students with the admissions process by offering a view into the lives of students at various colleges. Sorry this is so brief, but I have class fairly soon and need to get ready!
Here’s the link: http://www.quadblogs.com/
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August 26, 2008 by Ming Cai
So I’m typing this from my bright and sunny room at Swat right now. I like the location of our room, but with the window open I hear EVERYTHING outside, which means that I got up at about 8ish even though I went to bed really really late at night because there are already people (freshmen) outside getting ready to move in. Also the walls are terribly thin, so I heard 2 or 3 neglected alarm clocks go on for minutes before they were finally turned off. Basically my room is a mess/one big pile of stuff right now. More to come later (pictures), but for now, just trying to get settled in and organize…
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August 23, 2008 by Ming Cai
Oh dear oh dear I should really consider limiting my time at the computer–it is making me indulge in some serious retail therapy…
So I had been eyeing those vintage-inspired one-piece swimsuits from Urban Outfitters since I first got the early Summer catalog. I especially liked the Lolita-meets-picnic-ness of these Lux gingham swimsuits.

Now that they’re on sale for 29.99 + an extra 10% off with coupon code 4488welcome , I couldn’t resist buying one, even though it’s the almost the end of summer now. But I pondered for quite a while: red or blue??? Red is certainly more retro/pin-up/lolita-ish, but blue is more dorothy/prairie-girl-ish. The think I would prefer a darker blue because the blue looks like it could be a little bit see through, but red isn’t really my color.
But then I came across this 1940s photograph from “The Library of Congress” flickr photostream, and my mind was set. I’d rather have red gingham in that (perfect) dress form, but I will settle for it in a swimsuit.

Oh also, despite placing yet another order to Urban Outfitters, I am still quite ticked off that the last order I placed was incomplete. They went ahead and put the order through without even notifying me that one of the floral rompers and the perforated doctor bag were both out of stock. Oh well, at least they only charged me $2 for shipping, and the floral romper I did receive is quite darling.
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August 22, 2008 by Ming Cai

Last night I watched the finale of ABDC 2 on MTV, taking a break from the Olympics. Apparently 39 votes were cast–that’s almost twice as many as the number of votes cast by 18-29 year-olds in the 2004 presidential election! I guess texting in your vote is easier than going to a voting center though…
Anyways, SuperCr3w was determined the winner as expected, so I guess we’ll have to keep seeing that SuperCr3w/superman symbol you make by putting your hands/fingers together. I still think Fanny Pak should’ve won after their Missy Elliott “get ur freak on” performance though.
Watch it here.
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August 21, 2008 by Ming Cai
I really feel like I am doing the good samaritan thing here by posting this. A pair of re-mix vintage shoes just went up for auction on ebay today. They are the same ones that I posted about yesterday, but in a black/white color combination. They just so happen to be my size, but I have wayyy too many shoes already and am practicing some self restraint (unless a pair of brown/tan leather heeled woven sandals shows up, then I won’t be able to help myself).
The starting bid is 9.99, but the buy-it-now price is 49.99!!! They are a re-mix size 8, which is really like a 7-7.5 since they run small. Here’s the link! Good luck, I hope they find a home with some lovely stylish young lady!
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August 20, 2008 by Ming Cai
Because it sure felt like it when I woke up this morning. It was cool and breezy and less than 60 degrees, and even though the high was still 80, I felt like I could throw on some tights, a shirt dress, and my riding boots. Unfortunately, I packed away all of my Fall clothing yesterday for school (I’m moving in next Monday!), so I ended up resorting to the nondescript hipster uniform I’ve been wearing all summer–skinny jeans, a v-neck tee, and cardigan. But still, I didn’t feel like I was sweating through my seat on my drive home from work. Maybe the summer is over already? I don’t want to jinx it though…
Even after feeling a little guilty from posting my lengthy Fall wishlist/things-in-my-closet-list, I made yet another ebay purchase last night. I’ve been wanting a pair of these re-mix vintage shoes for so long, but at $162 they’re still pretty pricey. So I was really excited when I saw a pair of actual vintage 1940s shoes made by Cobbies (a Red Cross shoe brand) that look just like them, only in a solid ivory/off-white/beige color and for much much cheaper. I hope they fit my feet and I can’t wait to to get them in the mail, and I’ll make sure to post a picture of them then.

The best thing about my new macbook is that I can watch Project Runway while typing this–my old laptop could never properly unless it was plugged in to the wall. I hope Leanne puts some new (affordable) pieces in her Etsy store soon. Also–where did the time go this evening? I think it was spent learning Bowie and Elton John songs on the guitar
Edit://ahahahhahah I just had to add that Tim Gunn just said “that looks like a pterodactyl from a gay Jurassic Park”. Between that and Michael Kors’s Jewish witticisms, it’s no wonder I love Project Runway so much.
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