Posts Tagged ‘list’
Usually when it’s my birthday, I like to do some self-reflecting. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in the marekting/PR field for all of my young professional life - I can’t help but take a look at the prior goals and aspirations that I had before and benchmark it with the past year’s accomplishments.
Although I am late with my list, as the saying goes - better late than never, right?
In my 25th year of life I ….
- Tried (and, sadly, failed) at learning how to ride a motorcycle
- Had a tour of San Francisco with my friends Lauren and Jon
- Ran another half marathon … and had my photo up on the SF Chronicle because of it!
- Changed jobs and took on new challenges
- Went on an immensely personal trip to Taipei for the FIRST TIME with Gogo and Didi
- Saw my grandfather’s grave
- Visited where my mother grew up
- Ate tons and tons of street food
- Rang in the new year by watching the fireworks at 101
- Soaked in all the sights of Tokyo, Japan
- Went to the public bath for the first time
- Walked around the streets of Tokyo by myself
- Visited the Ghibli museum and saw Totoros everywhere!
- Celebrated 6 years with the BF
- Had an amazing view from the Fairmont Tower from one end of the city to the other
- Went snowboarding again…multiple times
- Had a memorable camping trip with friends
- Moved to a new apartment
I always thought that the idea of random college roommates was an insane idea. Let’s take two strangers who may or may not have anything in common and cram them together in a tiny little space during one of the biggest transitions of their life. Let’s see if they survive or end up driving each other to the brink of insanity.
Okay, sure, a lot of these random pairings do end up working. But then I end up hearing the friends that had to deal with months of torment as their roommate did all sorts of crazy things.
It’s as though someone thought it’d be an interesting social experiment and convinced the rest of us that this was a practical idea.
Kind of like red eye flights. In theory, a flight overnight seems like a fantastic idea. 99% of the time, you end up doing nothing during a flight. Why not sleep and make the time go by faster? An additional bonus is that the airlines are able to ferry more people around, therefore they are able to make more money.
After my recent experience with the red eye, I can name several reasons why taking a flight like this by choice (silly me) is masochistic.
Here are four:
- You are in close quarters with, most likely, a RANDOM STRANGER. Yeah. Imagine sitting on a park bench next to someone, arm to arm, passively aggressively vying for space on your already too small space. Sometimes, if you’re really unfortunate, said person might…”overflow” into your personal space and guess what? There is nothing you can do about it.
- Sleeping in the seated position (even with the 10 degree incline) is just not natural. Helloooo, swollen feet and cankles.
- People do funny things when they sleep. In fact, I would say that sleeping next to someone is one of the most intimate things you can do. I would like to keep this roster of people strictly to my family, significant other and closest friends. On a red eye, you end up doing this next to a stranger (yes, see #1). So now not only are you vying for personal space, you also experience the joys of someone snoring, drooling, twitching and…from unfortunate first hand experience…farting during their sleep. AWESOME.
- Babies love to cry at the most inopportune time. You know, like when you’re trying to sleep. So why, dear God, why do people bring babies on this flight?
Basically, it just costs you more to fly. Oh, I don’t mean price. I mean emotionally, physically, and mentally. And what’s even better is the fact that they play an in-flight movie. That’s nice of them…to the 1% of insomniacs that forgot to bring another source of entertainment. For the other people that may have forgotten their eye mask, I can only say FYL.
I think it is time that I go find some water and food.
I was hanging out at my apartment a random evening this week when I started flipping through the scant amount of public channels that I get on my hulking Trinitron television. Other than the normal re-runs of Friends or gossipy shows like TMZ, there tends to be very little adequate brain-melting programming to my liking. Then, just for kicks, I stopped channel surfing at the Dr. Oz show.
First of all, when did all these doctor shows become so popular? I get the reason WHY they’re popular…they scare the bejeesus out of you. With commercial segues like LIFE THREATENING PLAGUE AND HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF…STAY TUNED! or HOW ARE YOU KILLING YOURSELF SLOWLY WITH YOUR DIET? MORE AFTER THE COMMERCIAL! it’s hard to flip the channel. I mean, whether or not there really is a life threatening plague that will destroy us all…I think I’d rather risk 10 minutes of my life to find out rather than risk ignorance that could have been avoided because of Dr. Oz.
And, that’s when they get you.
Anyway, I was close to changing the channel when they had a segment about a woman who was just, and I quote, a “Debbie downer.” She admitted that she tended to be negative and cynical about EVERYTHING, and as most of us have learned via heresy and the Internet, optimistic people tend to do better in life. They make more money, have more friends…probably because they don’t suck to be around. At any rate, they were going on about a 28-day plan to become happier, instead of letting things get you down.
My ears perked up at this. Who doesn’t want to be happier? I sure do. It’s like asking if someone wants free stuff. Who can refuse? Of course people want free stuff and happiness, unless free stuff means free diseases and happiness means a lobotomy. Either way, I still say people universally like both things.
They were going to outline a four step program to more happiness. And, of course, by the time I was settling down on my less than stellar IKEA couch amidst the laundry I had strewn about, my ride had arrived. But I did manage to catch the FIRST step, which is to keep a journal.
Apparently, people who aren’t that happy don’t really know what MAKES them happy. Is it a donut? Is it the joy of a child’s laughter? Perhaps in the hustle and bustle of life, they tend to shove the silver lining in exchange for a rain cloud. So the psychologist doctor person (yes, I’m being very technical here) said that it’s good to try to keep a journal and make a note of what makes you HAPPY.
Well, since I don’t really carry a journal and this little slice of Internet randomness will have to do, I figured I’d pull out some of the things that make me happy. Just because I can.
In no particular order:
- Making lists
- Sleeping in
- Being with family
- Being with friends
- A productive afternoon on the computer in a coffee shop
- Re-watching a good movie
- Visiting theme parks
- A full day of activities like picnics
- Christmas decorations and cold weather in December
- Playing with puppies
- Having time to exercise
- Realizing it’s 8pm and not that late
- Icee at a movie theater
- Thinking up a witty comeback
- Eating home cooked comfort food
- Cider on a cold day
- Warm socks
- Contributing to a meeting
- Puns
- Nerdy humor
- Completing a video game
- Dancing
- Sleeping and waking up next to a cute fuzzy animal
- Singing in the shower and the car
- Getting a random compliment
- Receiving snail mail
- Beautiful libraries
- Bookstores and a brand new book
- Crossing things off a “to do” list
- Planning a surprise birthday party
- Random glass of wine with a friend during the weekday
- Writing a new blog post
- Snowboarding
- Trips with friends
- Street food
I realize that I have been posting a TON lately about Asia due to my recent trip. Unfortunately, I begin this post with my previous sentence because I just want to acknowledge that fact, but do nothing to change it.
Anyway, one of the first things that people ask me when they talk to me about the trip is, “Is it really different?” Well, yes. It is very different. It’s different because there is an abundance of Asians, they speak a different language and they have a different sense of humor (and commercial style on TV). And, you know, the food is different.
I could really continue on, but I think that when you really boil it down to the very core, however - a city is really just like any other city in the world (or so I think and heard). People basically go about their day-to-day routine. Usually this means commuting to work, working, then sometimes taking a moment to relax with friends whether at a bar, karaoke place or going home to veg in front of the television. Of course, I do realize that it doesn’t apply to tourists there for a vacation or foreigner taking a bit of funemployment.
Regardless of the similarities and differences, there are a few things that I started to see after I returned to the US that I really wish we’d learn to adopt here from Asia…and I’m not just talking about the abundance of video games and anime (which would be sch-weeeeet).
I’m sure, dear reader, that you’re wondering what sorts of things I’m referring to. Well, I’m glad you asked. Okay, I was going to write it anyway, and I’d like to think that somebody out there is interested…especially when it’s in list form!
1. Cleanliness EVERYWHERE
Everybody I talked to who went to Japan raved about how clean the city is, and I remember wondering: just exactly how clean could a city be? The answer is very, very, VERY clean. Everything seems to look the same at first glance, until you start to take a closer look. I don’t recall seeing tons of garbage, spilled drinks and graffiti on the subway - in fact, I don’t think I saw any at all. This evening’s MUNI ride, on the other hand, was filled with shady spots on the seats and litter all over the place. Oh, and you know that rancid city smell of sewage and fecal matter? Nope - I don’t remember smelling that in Tokyo at ALL. Even the convenience store bathrooms were sparkling clean. I could have dropped my purse and jacket on the floor, danced on it and felt okay about it.
2. Night markets
I had always heard so much about night markets before, but it didn’t live up to the actual thing. And I’ve come to realize that night markets are AWESOME. They’re always bustling - every night - and filled with food and shopping. It’s like a boardwalk carnival every. Single. Night. What better place for street cart vendors to share their wares or to have a cheap date?
3. Seven-story arcades
Sure, there are bars, lounges, karaokes, clubs. But arcades in Japan are downtown office building sized monstrosities of awesomeness. There’s every type of game you can imagine, machines to get try your hand at nabbing toys, fancy picture booths and different floors for adults to gamble…and play more video games. I don’t think I need to delve into it in further detail to explain how great this would be.
4. Hot drinks in vending machines
This probably doesn’t really apply to people in places with perpetual hot weather, but for places that have Jack Frost gnawing at their nose more than nipping at it, hot drinks in vending machines are a great on-the-go bit of warm happiness. Of course, this would NOT be as enjoyable if people don’t adopt #1 above … cleanliness. Apparently, in Japan, it’s rude to eat and walk at the same time. Why? Because you’d most likely be tossing your trash somewhere it doesn’t belong.
5. Convenient stores that are actually convenient
Everywhere you go it seems that there is a form of 7-11 lurking around the corner. Whereas the 7-11 here in the US is mostly a place to buy snacks for a road trip, use the disease infested bathroom or get gas, the 7-11 in Japan has everything you actually need. You can send out letters, packages (imagine no more disgruntled postal workers and ridiculous lines), get money, buy tasty food and also purchase tickets. Yup, tickets. We purchased our tickets to the Ghibli museum at the Lawson’s, another convenience store chain. Convenience stores that are convenient. Who knew?
Of course, there is still a whole slew of other things that I would LOVE for the US to adopt here - but then, a good portion of that is specific foods.
I think I’d be one happy clam if we just start with these five. Someone help spread the word to the right people, thanks!
Who am I kidding? I love these things. Taken from Facebook:
1. I was considered for a documentary/reality tv show about college freshman…but alas, was not chosen.
2. I made up a story about this rock named Jillian as an analogy for the frivolity of life. This was in middle school. Angst, much?
3. I used to ask my brother to play video games so I could fall asleep on the couch.
4. I have a bad habit of making snap judgments about people.
5. I think that the small things matter. For example, it irritates me when people don’t open doors for others or show any sort of common courtesy. ESPECIALLY when people at stores don’t give change for a dollar… just because they don’t want to. Jerkfaces.
6. I like making lists, which is why I’m spending so much time doing this (thanks, Kristy!)
7. I like my food on the lukewarm side because I have a tendency to burn my tongue.
8. I (not so) secretly hope excessively arrogant people will get a rude awakening one day.
9. Idealistically, I want be fluent in Chinese and Japanese and be somewhat conversational in Italian and French.
10. I like lemon in my water because sometimes I think water is too bland.
11. I write terrible haikus and other forms of poetry.
12. Sometimes I listen to Christmas music in July when I need a pick me up.
13. I wish I could take better photos - I’m quite picky about which ones I can look at without cringing
14. I have a lot of creative things I wish I could do, but could never nail down what I wanted to focus on. I love music, writing, art, film, design, you name it. So I’m pretty sure I’ll be haunted by the phrase “Jack (or Jane) of all trades, master of none.” I think the book Outliers proves this….
15. It’s a not so secret dream of mine (thanks to this list) to be in a real movie on the silver screen.
16. If I could be in a movie, I’d want to be in an action flick. Preferably not as a helpless victim, but as a badass - heck, even a villain. I think I could tap into my not-so-superficial evil side.
17. If I have kids, I will never put my toddler in a onesie - I remember it being the most miserable experience ever. Socks all the way.
18. My favorite foods include canned spaghetti-os and seared foie gras
19. I was placed in LEAP (Gifted/Talented class) in 6th grade, and a part of me still thinks it’s because I convinced the lady who was interviewing me to let me in. Regardless of the reason, that was the best academic year of my life.
20. I belt out songs even though I can’t sing in the car, shower, and admittedly at karaoke.
21. Ok, yes, I am a bit of an attention-whore.
22. The strangest comparison I’ve had to celebrities are: Jennifer Connelly and Katie Holms. No, seriously. I didn’t get it either.
23. I never played favorites with my stuffed animals as a child - I thought they’d get mad at me.
24. As a kid, my mom convinced me that my right foot looked like my dad’s and my left foot looked like hers.
25. I always pray and hope that I will leave something lasting and positive in the world before I die, whether it is a book or a business - just something tangible.
