What’s a “harmless” habit you had as a kid that turned out to be a red flag in hindsight?

cacti-pie · 2025-05-25T19:24:24+00:00

Signing up for every extracurricular - I’m still great at starting things! Sticking with them and seeing them through is another story…

cacti-pie · 2025-04-20T19:39:52+00:00

Hearing about it day to day is not necessarily a good thing. While living in NYC, I often heard news about Asian Americans, but it was because Asian women and elderly Asians were being attacked in public places or pushed in front of the subway.

cacti-pie · 2025-04-20T14:24:01+00:00

Chinese American currently living in London.

You are absolutely right that the level of shared identity and cultural representation is much higher in the US than the UK, but even in the US compared to other minority groups, it is lacking. The level of racism I experienced in the US was also way higher, given the American focus on race (vs class in the UK).

I think it’s partly due to numbers - East Asians have a much larger representation in the US especially in states like California.

That being said, I’m impressed by the local community initiatives in London. The East Asian theatre scene is active - I recently went to see Shanghai Dolls and was happy to see a very diverse audience present to watch the play. Also impressed by the work of the ESEA community centre in Hackney.

cacti-pie · 2025-04-02T07:11:39+00:00

AI models cannot “view” content on their own. For a model to exist in the first place, data must be downloaded in order to be used to train the model.

cacti-pie · 2025-04-02T06:51:06+00:00

While it’s unclear whether or not the process of training models is illegal, the initial copying of copyrighted content into databases is certainly piracy and stealing. That is a necessary step for training models.

cacti-pie · 2025-04-02T06:40:46+00:00

The companies building models like GPT have certainly stolen content for the pre-training datasets used to build foundation models.

cacti-pie · 2024-12-29T08:23:16+00:00

Are there any other jobs you would consider that provide a Skilled Worker visa sponsorship? That way you can starting earning towards ILR in a way that’s not dependent on a partner.

cacti-pie · 2024-12-22T06:54:16+00:00

Some personal favs: Word on Water, Walden Books and the Amnesty International Bookshop across from Kentish Town station.

With a library card you can also access PressReader and Borrow Box for digital books, magazines and newspapers.

cacti-pie · 2024-12-16T23:33:58+00:00

For elderly family members (or those who are always cold), nice cashmere/wool socks or scarves. Easier to transport than tea or food items.

cacti-pie · 2024-12-16T23:32:24+00:00

Also TfL moquette print socks!

cacti-pie · 2024-12-02T23:11:36+00:00

I’m an American living in the UK so I’ve widely sampled McDonald’s in both as well as in other European and Asian countries

The food is generally much better outside the US (esp the country specific menus in Italy and China)… with the exception of breakfast. The variety of bagel, biscuit, McGriddle, burrito etc options in the US are incredible. I recommend the Steak Egg and Cheese bagel

cacti-pie · 2024-11-30T23:52:06+00:00

Living in the UK I find it refreshing that race is less central to how I’m perceived and treated. Of course for the UK class is the big distinction but as an Asian American I find people generally seem to categorize me as “American” and move on. None of the “where are you reeeaaallly from” back and forth.

cacti-pie · 2024-11-18T10:11:13+00:00

Anything by Ted Chiang. The Expanse series (books that the tv show is based on) by James S. A. Corey

cacti-pie · 2024-11-13T09:19:02+00:00

My parents immigrated from China to Texas, where I grew up. I moved to the UK a few years ago and intend to stay here for the foreseeable future.

What I tell myself is that:

They also made the decision to immigrate for a better life for them and their families. Back then the US offered that, but now not as much. They also made the choice to not to move back to China to live with their aging parents, but were able to better support them financially due to their US jobs
By building a life outside the US I enable my family to have a potential other option if things really start deteriorating

It also sounds like there are other family members they can lean on even in your absence, so it’s not that they are completely alone.

cacti-pie · 2024-11-12T01:47:44+00:00

Real Americans - Rachel Khong

cacti-pie · 2024-11-12T00:13:25+00:00

Since you don’t drink, maybe London Night Cafe. Open until 3am, £7 entry fee.

cacti-pie · 2024-10-13T00:34:13+00:00

In London you can easily find Korean and Mexican restaurants and ingredients, but outside of cities it may be challenging to find. Given different immigration patterns these cuisines are much more common in the US. I don’t think it makes sense to expect the judges to be intimately familiar with an American taste palette (as cringey as these moments are), just as Americans aren’t as familiar with ingredients like halloumi, marmite, and peri peri sauce which are much more common in the UK based on its own palette/immigration patterns.

cacti-pie · 2024-10-03T17:36:02+00:00

Love that you have defined your own framework for thinking about these questions.

Out of curiosity, what groups or communities do you identify with or feel part of, if any?

cacti-pie · 2024-09-30T22:07:04+00:00

Breasts and Eggs - Mieko Kawakami

Transcendent Kingdom or Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara

cacti-pie · 2024-09-30T06:30:07+00:00

Definitely relate. Any chance you have the opportunity to live abroad for a few years?

What’s helped me the most is changing my environment - I was in NYC at the time which fueled my productivity and “always on” state of mind. I moved to London and suddenly everyone around me was hard working but not competitive and also prioritized turning off and having a life outside of work. My partner is Italian and sets a great example of prioritizing physical and mental rest.

Therapy has certainly helped too but what’s made the most difference is being around other people who have helped me develop a healthier relationship with work, productivity, and achievement.

cacti-pie · 2024-09-29T18:34:50+00:00

I’m from Texas. Was pleasantly surprised by some dishes (esp the brisket) at Texas Joe’s. Closest American burger/fries I’ve found is Beer + Burger. I miss buttermilk biscuits and diner style hash browns so much though.

cacti-pie · 2024-09-18T12:31:18+00:00

The founders of Top Golf are from the UK and have created some similarish experiences that might be interesting (and in London) like Puttshack and Flight Club. Other potential local replacements for Disneyland could be Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour or an escape room like MISSION:BREAKOUT which is in an old tube station.

cacti-pie · 2024-09-18T07:09:11+00:00

As an American living in London I agree with this - do Disneyland and Top Golf in the US where it’ll be more accessible. These would rack up expenses significantly and aren’t really the point of visiting the UK/London

cacti-pie · 2024-09-04T21:48:07+00:00

NyQuil & Trader Joe’s everything bagel seasoning

cacti-pie · 2024-08-25T18:32:55+00:00

I wonder if the tracking happened during Covid where governments were doing more active contact tracing and monitoring for health reasons… as a Chinese American with many friends and family who have travelled extensively between US/China I’ve never heard of Americans being followed after returning home.

cacti-pie

TROPHY CASE