But Where Are You Really From?: An Asian-American Struggle

Nothing makes us feel older than not understanding a word that Gen Z or Gen Alpha says because the kids be changing their slang so quick, it's hard to keep up! In this episode, we talk about skibidi toilet, rizz, and more confusing terms the kids are saying nowadays. But in all seriousness, we ponder why slang has developed this way and also the cyclical nature of recycling concepts and trends fro...

Have you ever stopped to think about if you live your life out on the edge? It sounds cliche, but how close to "average" is your life? If you've wondered these things, this week's episode aims to dive into this exact topic. From a young age, your podcast hosts have been pushed to excel in all areas of life. From academic studies to extra-curricular pursuits - all the way to caree...

With all of the technological innovations that we live with everyday, are we already living in the future? From home help robots to invisibility cloaks, so many things we imagined to be impossible are coming to life today. And although not all the promises of technology are here just yet, many advancements promise to revolutionize humanity tomorrow. One area of advancement live today is artificial...

White Lotus Season 3 has come to an end and we have...thoughts. We're discussing the whole season in review of our most WTF moments - the ones that lived rent free in our heads for days after watching it. From the infamous brotherly love incident to the completely unhinged cocktail lounge monologue from Frank, we relive it all. And yes, we do talk about the most ridiculous and unbelievable mom...

If you're an OG listener, you know we started the pod as a hobby during the pandemic. But we weren't the only people following creative pursuits - so many people experimented with baking, cooking, drawing, and many other interesting activities. This week, we're taking a moment to explore why creative passions matter. For Angela, being a creator is what she has pursued since leaving corporate Ameri...

Do you believe in telepathy or ESP-like phenomena? This week we discuss "The Telepathy Tapes," a podcast that explores if non-verbal autistic individuals have the ability to read minds. The ability to look into another's mind is considered a fantastical power, but what would it take to convince you that it is real in certain individuals? In-house "woo woo" Angela and "...

Did you hear about the SUV-sized drones, plasmoids, orbs, and other strange objects in the sky over New Jersey/the East Coast the past few months, or is this the first time you're hearing about it? We discuss this strange phenomena that started around the holidays in 2024 and continued for several months, where folks were claiming these large drones and other unidentified aerial objects were follo...

We're back with a life update where we chat about the most fun recent things we've been up to during our off-season break, Angela being re-energized and doubling down on Real You Mandarin efforts, Jesse enjoying the semi-single (read: open relationship) life, and coming to terms with getting older and potentially wanting plastic surgery?! Let us know what you've been up to during our break in the...

"The Happiness Curve" is a concept that postulates that on average, a person's happiness acts as a U-shaped curve where you are happiest in your youth, happiness starts to decline in your 30s/40s, and picks back up as you get into your 50s and beyond. In this episode, we discuss what we think about this phenomenon. Full disclosure, we did get the decades slightly wrong lol, but we generally discus...

Have you ever spent hours in anticipation of your next escape, only to find that you can't quite see yourself in that narrative? If you're a gamer, you might find that to be common, depending on the category of game you're primarily interested in. This week, we're discussion the issue of representation in big box video games. Video games have to walk a fine line between representing an escape, whi...

Have you ever taken a moment to look back on your actions from a different period of your life? Have you ever wondered why you made certain decisions and whether or not they were wholly yours? This week, we take a walk down memory lane and evaluate the impact some of our decisions in our 20s have on our lives right now. For Angela, the importance of building her own family has been pressing - both...

We've often grappled with reconciling our identities as Asian-Americans, straddling two or more cultures between our family's motherland and the western environment in which we actually grew up. For many of us who did not grow up in Asia, when the time comes to think about trying to pass on that culture - and especially the language - to our children or future children, that task can seem incredib...

We've often talked about how food is one of the most easily accessible ways into a culture, and this episode's guest is a perfect living example of that. Lisa Cheng Smith, founder of Yun Hai Shop in NYC, started Yun Hai as a way to explore her Taiwanese identity. Growing up as a half-Taiwanese/half-American individual, the question of "but where am I really from?" has always been something she was...

"More money, more problems" as they say. But is financial inequality in a relationship a unique problem or does it just exacerbate existing ones? This week, we examine how financial inequality impacts the quality of our relationships. Having both had the New York experience, your hosts understand what it feels like to struggle on a budget. But these days, we're looking at the question of differing...

The 2024 General Election is coming up in a matter of days... thank god because we are over it, lol. No matter which side of the political spectrum you fall on, I think many of us can agree that we are tired of the reality TV show style media coverage around the two candidates, the BS of the general political "machine" behind the two parties, and a frequently missing focus on the needs of the actu...

It's that spooktacular time of year - Halloween! In keeping with the pod tradition, we've gone diving in the deepest, darkest recesses of the internet (Reddit) for more scary stories. And also as usual, we're bringing you horror with an Asian flavor - only stories based in Asia accepted. Jesse brings to the table a terrific story involving public transit. And let's face it, what's scarier than rid...

Jocelyn Chung is a Taiwanese-American graphic designer and writer whose new children's book "When Love Is More Than Words" was just released this week! In this episode we of course discuss the book, including its inspiration being a beautiful real life realization she had with her grandfather, all the fun Taiwanese easter eggs, and more, and also discuss her recent journey of claiming her Taiwanes...

Your besties are back with some new topics for fall! Before we get into a slew of new conversations these next few months, we'd like to update you on where we are. Life keeps moving, especially when we are on break from the pod. For Angela, that means a few months closer to starting her family and moving to Japan. For Jesse, that means a few months of continued exploration around life hobbies and...

You've heard Angela share her struggles with trying to improve her Mandarin, being at a loss knowing simultaneously too much and nothing at all, it seems. She's also explicitly said that there is a clear market for creating a resource for Mandarin speakers born outside of the motherland, but that she wouldn't be the one making it! ...well, she's officially eating her words because recently Angela...

How do you go about seeking inner peace for yourself? We've spent many past episodes diving into mental health and self-growth. But as we strive to improve ourselves, how can we also embrace all that we currently are - the good and the bad? We individually found frameworks that helped us cope with the stresses of everyday life. Jesse found his calming mantra through a session on Calm, while An...

What's it like to not only have an Olympic gold medalist mom but also have the chance to play her in a movie in China alongside the likes of Gong Li?! In this episode, we speak with Lydia Bai, a former Stanford volleyball star turned investment banker, now life coach, who had the rare opportunity to completely shake up her life and fly to China for this rare opportunity. *Her mom is legendary...

As the pandemic recedes, the dream of remote work forever has also shrank. But for those who can still telecommute, the allure of planting roots elsewhere has become "the writing on the wall." Reports of Americans moving abroad have historically centered on an older demographic looking to stretch their retirement savings. However, this new cohort of high paid telecommuters has come into...

Look, we think service and gig workers should be paid a fair wage for their work, but at what point did that responsibility shift to the consumer instead of the employer?! In this episode we talk about how egregious tipping culture has become in the US, regardless of the level of service you actually received. We compare and contrast with tip-less cultures outside of the US, and bemoan how tipping...

Our relationship with grief changes as we get older. The range of loss we learn to absorb over time is so large - so where do we learn how to cope? In evaluating ourselves, we find that most of our responses to loss are unique, individual responses. Growing up with families that did not necessarily express much emotion, we weren't able to learn a model of grief from a young age. And yet when w...

Family structures have changed throughout time and vary depending on which part of the world you're from. Recent surveys done by Pew Research in the US suggest that prevailing attitudes towards the institutions surrounding families have changed. The importance of family and marriage have dramatically transformed over the last few years. Some of these changes are more inclusive and benefit fami...