Posts Tagged ‘thoughts’

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 notice that I tend to think in analogies. And by that, I mean that I like to draw similarities between two very different things. Somehow, when I’m able to draw a connection that seems to fit perfectly, it’s much more satisfying than being able to clearly define it through descriptive words. I know I probably lost a lot of people in my train of thought here, so I’ll give an example.

This example really isn’t from me, actually…it’s from my cousin. Quite woeful from the breakup of my first serious boyfriend, she told me that relationships were like boats. Sometimes people tend to hold onto a boat because they don’t like jumping into the vast ocean and tread water. They’re afraid that they’ll drown, or they’re afraid that they won’t find another boat. Heck, treading water is just TOUGH.

Trust me, I know. I remember girl scout training where I had to tread water for five minutes with all of my clothes on, including socks and shoes. I think it’s suppose to prove that in a real life-or-death situation, I’d be able to stay afloat because clothing tends to weigh you down. And, of course, if you were to capsize in a boat you’d most likely not be thinking “Oh, the next wise move would be to strip down so I will weigh less.” Anyway, five minutes - I did it, but I was very tired and my shoes would never be the same after the thorough chlorine bath.

Anyway, some people tend to jump from boat to boat. These were the relationship hoppers. Overall, this analogy was pretty good, and really illustrated the point: don’t worry about the hypothetical ocean, treading water may suck but you can do it. Though, I took this a step further and suddenly my friends and I were referring to people as “canoes” (the outdoorsy type) “yachts” (you can guess that one) or “rafts” (sub-par specimens of the opposite or of-interest gender). We even took it a step further, where people who were bruised and battered in prior relationships were “used-boats” or those still inexperienced were “newly-minted.” Sometimes it wasn’t a good thing to have to break in a boat - the steering might be off, or the rudder looks okay but doesn’t respond the way it should.

The analogy soon became very detailed, the equivalent nuances of real relationships and potential people emerging from the depths of our imagination. Why discuss how relationships are in the real world by talking about relationships when you can discuss it in basic nautical ideas? I say it makes the whole discussion much more vivid.

My point? Although it is a little strange to go into such depth about boats and relationships, I find it fascinating how certain analogies seem to uncover truths about something you don’t really think about. You know, those “ohhh, yeah” moments where something suddenly clicks.

Looking back now, I’m not quite sure why thinking in analogies was such an important topic to discuss in a post. But maybe I’ll rationalize “why” with an analogy later on. Isn’t convoluted thinking such a fun thing sometimes?

Ah, Tuesday. It’s still a little hard to get oriented to this new week, especially after a three-day weekend.  After sorting through my “blah” moments during Valentine’s Day and taking it fairly easy on President’s Day, it was actually quite nice to get back to work.  In addition to getting back to the ‘ol 9 to 5 (and many times beyond 9 to 5) job, I decided to finally jump back on my task of reading as many books as possible.

I’m still in the midst of reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but I did get sidetracked by a new library book - A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book.  In fact, one of the reasons I was so keen on reading it was because of the title.  I know the old adage goes: “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but I fail to see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to judge it by its name.

The basic premise is that a neighbor’s dog is killed with a garden fork.  Christopher, the narrator and main character, has decided to get to the bottom of this.

At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised.  Although there were parts that I skimmed over a little bit (the main character is autistic, and a mathematical savant) overall, I love how the story unfolds through his eyes.  The protagonist’s voice is no nonsense, factual, yet human and full of unspoken simple longing.  Although he can’t explain the reasons why the people around him act the way they do, it’s enough for the reader to understand the depth and breadth of the people that love him.  It’s not a sappy happy ending, but it’s still one that makes you feel good.

I think another reason why this book really spoke to me was because I read Born On A Blue Day last year, a rather autobiographical book by a real mathematical savant, Daniel Tammet.  Because my brother is mildly autistic (albeit not a savant) I can in some ways empathize with how the main characters feel.  It’s feels as though I have a little window into understanding what makes my brother tick, especially when it was difficult to fathom when I was growing up with him.

Definitely an easy read and highly recommended to someone who enjoys fiction or has a personal connection with autism.

A day or two ago, as I was perusing around the Internet, I came to the realization that I do not fit into any sort of niche.  Sure, there are things that I am interested in and I do have quite a few hobbies.  Despite this, I find it difficult to devote 110% of my efforts, time, and energy into writing about one thing on a blog.

Image from barnoid

I love food, and I usually write my thoughts and reviews about bay area restaurants on Yelp.  I enjoy snowboarding, but I can’t tell you the latest hot gear to get from Burton or Rossignol.  Social media and online engagement is a part of my job and I love it, but not really something I can discuss all the time, every time.  Occasionally, of course, I love pointing out some of my favorite programs online.

In either case, the only ‘niche’ I seem to fill is the occasional snarky 20-something year old, which I’m told is overdone.  That got me thinking: is being in a niche something really necessary to succeed with an online presence, or can you still be just yourself?

A part of me thinks … no.  After all, that’s why a lot of people visit food blogs, movie blogs, etc.  These cater to a specific interest, and usually offer a rich plethora of information.  On the other hand, there are also those random Internet personalities that tend to generate a lot of traffic.

In either case, niche or not, I suppose the only thing I can really do is to continue to write about things I’m interested in and things I WANT to write about…even if it is focused on absolutely nothing.  After all, isn’t it better to read that as opposed to some blog that focuses solely on garnering traffic?

Or am I just justifying the fact that I have absolutely no type of focus on this blog?

Hum.  Either way, I’m having some serious thoughts on some web re-design.  Stay tuned!

I promised myself that I would write more once NaNoWriMo was over.  Then again, I tend to promise a lot of things to myself.  If I managed to fulfill any of the promises that I actually make, I would be fluent in Mandarin and Japanese by now and have a puppy.  Ah, well.  Anyway, I started thinking lately about a lot of things.

And by a lot of things I mean…two things.

One thing that has been on my mind lately is how different this holiday feels compared to the other ones that I’ve had in the past 25 years of my life.  I’m not going home to Dallas this year to spend a few blissful days at home with family and friends.  I didn’t have a tree in my apartment, I didn’t go super crazy with Christmas shopping and cards all over the place.  In fact, there wasn’t much holiday going on this December other than my insistence that I listen to Christmas music whenever I had the chance in the car.

Another thought I had was about my blog.  Since I’ve been perusing around lately at other blogs from friends and 20-something year olds such as myself, I started to wonder why I didn’t blog as much anymore.  Sure, I could attribute it to how much I’ve been working lately.  Other times, it’s because I just don’t have anything interesting to share.  But then, I remembered how I used to write all the time in my old “blog.”  My incessant ramblings of my college life came to me easily, and I had no qualms about sharing it with the little digital slice of my world…those few friends and family that felt like reading my thoughts.

All of a sudden, in the working world, blogging didn’t seem to be so easy anymore.  I admit that I’m sometimes envious of those people who have their wordpress blogs and can say whatever they want.  I sort of miss that bit of freedom.  But now, much like any other public forum, a lot more care goes into my posts.  (I wish I could say a lot more care goes into the grammatical structure of my posts as well, but c’mon…who am I kidding here?)

So now, here I am.  Pondering about my holiday season, and wondering why I even bother to blog anymore.  After all, as publications such as Wired and online influencers have said before — blogging is sooooooo passe.

I think there are a few fundamental reasons why people blog:

1. To inform - these are the people that actually know their stuff, and want to share it with other people.  Whether its sharing news, giving tips, or providing insight, I find a lot of these blogs are quite niche.  Given that I can’t claim true expertise on…well…much, a niche blog just doesn’t feel right to me.

2. To share - These are the free floating blogs around the Internet that I sometimes envy.  You know the ones I’m talking about.  They seem to blather on about the little things in life, and yet they do so in such a manner that people are INTERESTED in what they have to write about.  Babies, I find, are an endless source of entertaining information for a lot of people.

3. To entertain - I think this goes without much explanation.

4. To feed their own self-aggrandizing agenda - Well…yeah.

Of course, I know that this isn’t a comprehensive list.  But since I only have a limited time on this free Wi-Fi in the airport (props, Google!) I thought I’d throw out some of those general buckets.

So why do I blog?  Well, in a way, it’s a little bit of 1 to 4.  I like entertaining my reader(s), I like sharing news, and I can’t help but share my bit of personal news for all to read.  Why?  I don’t know.  I think some people would say that it’s because I enjoy writing, and others would point to the fact that I’m a bit of an attention whore.  At any rate, a bit of a revelation hit me while I was daydreaming on the MUNI recently.

I was pondering both thoughts earlier about the holidays and blogging.  And I realized that there are a lot of reasons to blog, but this holiday season, maybe I should spread a little cheer through the things I write.  Sure, maybe nobody will read my post.  And overall, I’m sure nobody really reads my blog anyway.  But if I’m able to share just one warm fuzzy happy thought for the season, then that’s all the reason in the world to keep writing.  I’m happy knowing that somehow, I’m able to make someone smile.

Of course, I hope you reader(s) out there enjoy my upcoming posts about my trip to Asia.  Woo hoo!

Oh, but, as I was saying: a friend of mine (hi Weber) sent me this link from Reddit today, and I felt like it was perfect for this post.  Happy reading, everybody.  May you all be blessed with happiness and joy this season with your loved ones.

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I was day tripping to Vancouver from Seattle and stopped in for lunch at a little cafe. From my window I saw a young teenage girl out in the cold, squatted down in a closed up businesses doorway, holding a small bundle in her arms. She was panhandling, people were mostly walking by ignoring her. She looked just broken.

I finished up my meal and went outside, went through my wallet and thought I’d give her $5 for some food. I got up to her and she was sobbing, she looked like she was 14-15. And that bundle in her arms was a baby wrapped up. I felt like I just got punched in the chest. She looked up putting on a game face and asked for any change, I asked her if she’s like some lunch. Right next door was a small quick-Trip type grocery store, I got a can of formula for the baby (very young, maybe 2-3 months old.), and took her back to the cafe though I’d just eaten. She was very thankful, got a burger and just inhaled it. Got her some pie and ice cream. She opened up and we talked. She was 15, got pregnant, parents were angry and she was fighting with them. She ran away. She’s been gone almost 1 full year.

I asked her if she’s like to go home and she got silent. I coaxed her, she said her parents wouldn’t want her back. I coaxed further, she admitted she stole 5k in cash from her Dad. Turns out 5k doesn’t last long at all and the streets are tough on a 15 year old. Very tough. She did want to go back, but she was afraid no one wanted her back after what she did.

We talked more, I wanted her to use my phone to call home but she wouldn’t. I told her I’d call and see if her folks wanted to talk to her, she hesitated and gave bad excuses but eventually agreed. She dialed the number and I took the phone, her Mom picked up and I said hello. Awkwardly introduced myself and said her daughter would like to speak to her, silence, and I heard crying. Gave the phone to the girl and she was just quiet listening to her Mom cry, and then said hello. And she cried. They talked, she gave the phone back to me, I talked to her Mom some more.

I drove her down to the bus station and bought her a bus ticket home. Gave her $100 cash for incidentals, and some formula, diapers, wipes, snacks for the road.

Got to the bus, and she just cried saying thank you over and over. I gave her a kiss on the forehead and a hug, kissed her baby, and she got on the bus.

I get a chistmas card every year from her. She’s 21 now and in college.

Her name is Makayla and her baby was Joe.

I’ve never really told anyone about this. I just feel good knowing I did something good in this world. Maybe it’ll make up for the things I’ve f-ed up.

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