2022-2024 U.S. City Rankings (Southeastern United States & California)

With COVID restrictions lifted and a stable job finally at my helm, I started traveling again: first locally in Virginia, then to further destinations like California and Florida. Here’s how these different cities or areas rank.

1. Roanoke, Virginia

Home is where the heart is. Roanoke is the perfect combination of big time city and small town feel. Although my religious beliefs do not align with those who live here, I can’t say that I’m bored in this city.

2. NOVA/DC 

I don’t want to live in NOVA, but I always have a good time when I return. There’s always something new to try, and I’m never disappointed by the vegan food at Loving Hut. I also really enjoyed my biscuit sandwiches from Preservation Biscuit Company and the Oreo cupcake at the Bakeshop next door during my most recent trip to Falls Church. Each individual city in NOVA is a vacation on its own.

3. Blacksburg, Virginia

As a UVA grad, this is heresy to say, but Blacksburg is a much more enjoyable city to visit as an adult than Charlottesville is. The drive on 81 is scenic, and once you’re in the city, you don’t have to deal with the traffic that Charlottesville has. Located less than an hour from Roanoke, Blacksburg fills in what Roanoke is missing: a tried and true boba shop (Kung Fu Tea), a larger international market (Oasis), authentic Chinese food (Spicity), and an eyebrow threader that doesn’t have bad reviews (Best Eyebrows Threading).

4. Charlotte, North Carolina

I went to Charlotte for a Jesse McCartney concert at The Fillmore, and it was a very easy experience. I thought parking and the post-concert traffic would be a pain, but I easily found parking next to the venue at VBGB Beer Hall and Garden. The signs say you have to make a purchase to get your parking validated, but I walked around the restaurant and stumbled upon the QR code to validate my parking without buying anything. I was able to freely use their bathroom and read my book in my car while waiting for the concert to start. After the concert, I waited for traffic to die down before leaving, and it did not take long at all-10 minutes max-and when I left, it was a straight shot to my Airbnb: I dealt with absolutely no traffic. The highway to Charlotte is a different story, but getting around the city was very easy. I went to Ma Ma Wok for delicious vegan friend rice and BBQ drumsticks and Oh My Soul for an expensive but hydrating Guava Push. Ma Ma Wok had a parking lot, but Oh My Soul had very accessible and plenty of street parking in the quaint NoDa neighborhood, which I was able to walk around while waiting for Oh My Soul to open for dinner. 

Fun Fact: My first time in Charlotte was a field trip to Carowinds where I didn’t ride any rides and sat with my middle school teachers the entire day because I had no friends!

5. Bethesda, Maryland

You could technically put Bethesda in the NOVA/DC category, but I wanted to shout it out because unlike all the other DMV cities, I had never been here before. I love walking around the Bethesda Row area and parking has never been an issue for me despite the lack of lots.

6. Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro would be higher on this list if Boba House, a vegan restaurant, hadn’t shut down. The pho at BaoBao Kitchen, despite having the same chef, just doesn’t hit the same, and while the vegan ribs banh mi is really good, it’s not enough for me to drive two hours for, but in combination with the Cinnaholic, it could be. Greensboro also has the next closest Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods after Charlottesville. It also has plenty of bubble tea options like Moshi Moshi.

7. Harrisonburg, Virginia

Despite UVA being bigger than JMU, Harrisonburg is yet another college town that ranks higher than Charlottesville on this list simply because of its unexpected Asian vegan options. First, you have Vietopia, which I’ve been going to since my Duke Bowl days. They have a flavorful hu tieu chay broth, while Charlottesville still doesn’t have a Vietnamese restaurant. Next, you have Boboko, which is an Indonesian restaurant that is now unfortunately closed. You can’t even find an Indonesian restaurant in NOVA. Lastly, you have Mashita, a Korean restaurant with an entire separate vegan menu. The Korean restaurants in NOVA don’t even do that. Right next to Mashita is Aristocat Cafe, a cat cafe offering a wide selection of delicious teas. Charlottesville doesn’t have a cat cafe! Bonus: Even the Jonas Brothers have been to Harrisonburg, performing at JMU for College Gameday in 2024.

8. San Diego, California

San Diego is kind of an outlier on this list in that I don’t really have strong opinions about this city other than that its Downtown is the whitest place I’ve ever visited-that is until I realized Roanoke is pretty white too. I’ve enjoyed my time here but don’t really long for it. I would definitely revisit family but wouldn’t go here on my own volition unless it was to Donna Jean for vegan pizza.

9. Pinellas County, Florida

I can see why people retire in Florida: winter does not exist here. I enjoyed shopping at Countryside Mall and eating at Lotus Vegan restaurant, but I hated the roads getting there. In Florida, if you make one wrong turn, whether it be a late or early turn, the only way back is a u-turn. Because there are beaches in Florida, I can’t say these areas are just roads like in Houston, but I did spend a lot of time driving around trying to get to places I wanted to go.

10a. San Francisco, California

San Francisco is a nice walkable city with many pretty sights, but the vegan food here was sooooooo mid to me. It is also a very white and white-adjacent (Asian) city devoid of any culture.

10b. Richmond, Virginia

All of the same problems I had with Richmond when I lived there still exist: it’s a big sprawling city with lack of public transportation from and to the suburbs, and there’s nothing to do in the suburbs. The food options are good, but is it really worth it to drive 20 minutes for a meal for one? If we could combine the walkability of San Francisco and the vegan food of Richmond, then we’d have the perfect city.

11. Charlottesville, Virginia

What is there to do here besides attend the University of Virginia? I hate Emmett 29-it’s so wide and congested, and the vegan options are so lacking for a big college town. I loved the vegan charcuterie at Botanical Fare, but it is no longer on the menu. Harrisonburg is the better stopping point for NOVA road trips and Greensboro the better Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods option.

12. Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh has four lane roads that lead to nowhere and a good vegan restaurant, The Fiction Kitchen, located in a very empty downtown.

13. Chesapeake, Virginia

Last and very least, the #1 reason why I wanted to make this list, is Chesapeake, Virginia. There’s nothing in Chesapeake except the promise of Virginia Beach, and I’ve had better frozen foods than the one restaurant I tried in Chesapeake.

Fridays

A reminder of how much work it takes to survive
When your meal prep runs out and you have nothing to eat

Your weekend job starts
Racking your brain for recipes and
Treading to the grocery store for groceries that cost way too much

Fridays

A reminder of how lonely you are

How you live thousands of miles away from friends who don’t have time to hang out with you anyways

A reminder that sitcoms lie

Fridays

A break from routine that shatters you

Fridays

An expectation of a reward for working 40 hours that never comes

2017 Year in Review

2020 update: I never finished this because of how much work it was, but I should have quit grad school.

I started the year off with my very first short, "Vegan Dating Problems," based on real life events. It honestly wasn't the best thing ever, but I was proud of myself for putting it together i.e. collaborating with another human being aka my friend Julie. She was such a good actress, and I can't wait to work with her again.

Unfortunately, it won't be for a while, as I quit my job and moved back to Charlottesville for grad school. I didn't plan either of the two when the year started. I talked about my decision to leave my job in a blog post and a video titled "Why I Left Buzzfeed," parodying the ones of actual Buzzfeed employees leaving the media company. 

The initial goal was to find another job, but I couldn't imagine doing anything besides teaching and becoming a Youtube star of course. For a whole month, I actually tried to be a Youtuber. I made some videos and blogged a lot (see my blog archive on the right), but rent money was running out, so I got a job as a hostess for a sushi restaurant. Working at Ichiban Sushi & Ramen was a highlight of my year because of my amazing and super cool coworkers.

I also had to work because I got a cat! He does not look like the screenshot below, but he is pretty obese. My roommate currently has custody while I'm away, but I get to see him from time to time.

2017 was a big year for Asian Americans. Kevin Kwan's bestselling book, Crazy Rich Asians was adapted into a feature film set to release later this year. I actually auditioned, as you can see below. Hasan Minhaj released his standup special on Netflix; Ali Wong went on tour again-I was lucky enough to see her in DC; Master of None Season 2 was a hit, and so much more. This success was what made me regret my decision to go back to grad school instead of moving to LA with my savings. I seriously thought about quitting grad school, but somehow made it through with help from new friends.

sometimes all i see are imperfections

hair: badly in need of a haircut

makeup: lipstick not fully able to cover my peeled and bleeding lip

outfit: cut from a dress but i'm always bloated so crop tops don't look good on me so i tucked in the shirt, but it doesn't hide my protruding stomach because i'm always slouching

We Can't Trust Robots

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

In this edition of I can't write a review for this place on Yelp:

As a child of the 21st century, I have a blind trust in computers, so I never understood why my mom would calculate her bank deposits with blank ink on her hand before turning her checks in with the teller. Machines are supposed to be smarter than us, more precise and error-free. That is until one betrays you.

Last weekend, I had $300 cash to deposit, and the ATM repeatedly counted it as $280. This was not the first time this particular ATM had counted my money wrong. On one occasion, it counted my total wrong the first time but corrected itself the second time around. I believe it counted it wrong on one other occasion, but I was not aware of it because of my blind trust: I had not counted the money myself to cross-reference with the machine, so I believed what the machine said even though the total did not make sense with the amount I was paid for my job. With the knowledge I've since learned, I realized I was gypped $20 by this ATM. However, at the time I blamed it on human error: my boss had counted wrong and not given me the correct amount of money. I couldn't believe a machine designed to make our lives easier had actually made it harder, as I repeatedly entered my money trusting the machine would fix its mistake.

After the machine counted my money wrong three times, I switched to another one. It counted my money correctly on the first try. There's hope for the robot race after all. I on the other hand will not let a machine have the upper hand again. I can't become a mindless human who allows technology to make my decisions for me. Otherwise, the robots will take over or those controlling the robots will.

Editor's note: I truly did not know it was possible for an ATM to miscount cash and that it was common for them to do so, hence my shock.

I stumbled across my best friend in elementary school’s Facebook again and learned she’s going to be a teacher too. I discovered how she also suffers from anxiety and has an entrepreneurial spirit like me. It’s amazing how our lives have diverged—she’s super “conservative” while I’m super “liberal” for lack of better words—yet converge towards the same goals. This brought me back to something I wrote after the 2016 Presidential Election:

The aftermath of this election has made me realized how disconnected my privileged friends are from a large portion of the population-the rural working class. I grew up in a small town (technically a city) in Southern Virginia, while the rest of my peers grew up in suburbia, Northern Virginia, some of the richest counties in Virginia, etc. The differences in our lives can be looked at through many different lenses, but today I’m going to focus on friendships.

My first best friend was a white girl, but she’s unlike any white girl at UVA. We became friends because my dad knew her parents. Her dad and my dad both worked in the same textile company. We were also two of the smartest students in our grade—the two shortest too. We lost contact after I transferred schools. I went on to go to UVA, while she never made it to a four-year college. We reconnected on Facebook a couple years ago, and by perusing our timelines, you can see how different we are. She’s deactivated her Facebook since then, but I could definitely tell she was voting for Trump.

My next best friend was a Chinese girl. She fits in with most of the UVA demographic: pre-med, college-educated parents, etc., which in retrospect is probably why our friendship didn’t last long. I told her I used to live in a trailer, and that was probably one of the first times I was judged for my socioeconomic status.

The Chinese girl and I were also friends with a Mexican. I didn’t realize it until now, but I was actually part of a clique in 6th grade that included two other white girls. Anyways, this Mexican girl and Chinese girl connected through Spanish. The Chinese girl actually has roots in Peru, but she eventually shunned this Mexican girl too. This Mexican girl eventually got pregnant in 8th grade, like a lot of girls in my middle and high school, and moved away. I don’t know where she is now. She also never made it to college as far as I know.

After our clique dissolved (the Chinese girl started ignoring me, and the rest were assigned different 7th grade classes), I had difficulties finding friends until sophomore year of high school.

Actually, let’s go back to 9th grade for a bit. My best friend in 9th grade gym was a girl people made fun of because they thought she was a lesbian. What’s funny is a lot of people I went to school with have now come out as gay. Kids can be so mean. I always wish I had done more and stood up for those who were made fun of in school. One of the kids who was made fun of actually died from an infection stemming from cancer treatments. Everyone was super nice to her posthumously.

Back to 10th grade: in 10th grade, my crew (i.e. the people I ate lunch with) included three Mexicans and a black girl. One Mexican girl I had met earlier in middle school, but I can’t remember exactly the moment we became friends. She went on to college and majored in psychology like me, so we get each other. She even defended me recently in one of my “controversial” Facebook posts. She was raped as a child. The other Mexican girl has two kids now. I don’t remember when she got pregnant—I think it was after high school. Her sister, who also joined us for lunch sometimes, had a baby while in school though. I think the first Mexican girl’s younger sister had a baby too. The last Mexican in our group was a boy. He was a good student but didn’t take the traditional route post-graduation. I think he has his own photography business now. I wasn’t friends with any of the white boys, but I was friends with him. Last but not least, the black girl—she was one of the first people to get me to come out of my shell. She helped a lot of people but she didn’t go to college either. I recently found out she had a baby too.

Junior to senior year, I went to a magnet school for half of the school day, so the people I was surrounded by were more like the people I eventually met in college. We developed a bond over the hardships of school, but I didn’t really make any lifelong friends among this group.

Outside of school, I had a group of Vietnamese friends. We know each other because of our parents—none of whom are college educated. The majority of us have gone on to college, but one of them now lives on a chicken farm in Arkansas. She followed the father of her two children there. She had her first child when she was 16. A lot of these childhood friends moved away when the recession hit. When my sister recently visited this friend in Texas, where her family had moved, she told her my major: she didn’t know what it was.

One of these childhood friends now shares a studio with me. She is college educated as well, and like a lot of college-educated students, she was anti-Hilary but very anti-Trump, which is a shame. I’ve always been with Her, but I was too ashamed to admit it because of my roommate. Hilary honestly lost touch with the working-class voters, which she was so close to earlier in her career. My roommate’s dad voted for Trump because of Catholic values like pro-life. My dad voted for Hilary because of women’s rights. Who knew my dad would the most woke dad in Martinsville?

These were my friends before college. They’re a lot different than the friends my privileged college friends had.

The Prophecy

*Spoiler alert for those who have never read or watched the last Harry Potter*

I feel like Harry Potter. Why? Because my life is being controlled by a prophecy. Based on my birth date in the lunar calendar, I'm supposed to be a teacher. This is according to some random Vietnamese fortune that I've never actually seen. The fortune doesn't even explicitly say "teacher!" It just says dân sư, which doesn't even have a translation in Google Translate. The closest definition I could find is for dân sự, meaning civil. Yet, I believe this shit. Why do I believe this shit? Because my mom, grandma, and oldest uncle (Voldermort) keep reinforcing it in my head. My grandma even told me a story about how when she was working as a vendor in Vietnam, she prayed no one would come because she wasn't good at selling things. The only thing she could do and liked to do was teach, which she was forced to give up as a result of the war. Except, I'm not like you, grandma: I have other passions besides teaching. I am good at and enjoy doing other things. I tell my mom I want to drop out of grad school, and she keeps insisting that she never forced me to be a teacher, but what do you call all this divination talk?! I told you what I really wanted to do, and you told me to "quit dreaming." I am a Vietnamese American, which means that while I like to think I'm an independent American, I still feel obligated to do what my elders tell me to do. My more Americanized cousin doesn't get why I feel so tied to this prophecy (easy for her to say: her prophecy says she can do whatever the fuck she wants). She thinks it's stupid, but I can't help wondering if it's true: what if I try following my dreams and fail drastically and end up getting my Master's in Teaching anyways? Why should I delay the inevitable? I honestly don't know what to do right now except pray Neville Longbottom shows up as soon as possible and puts me and all my Snapchat friends who are tired of my complaining, out of our miseries.

Edit: My dad is pushing me more than my mom right now. Mom also told me I need to take responsibility for my own actions i.e. not blame her for my current situation, but she won't let me quit?! *confused*