Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Inflating age

The thing about inflation slowing down of being “over”: will prices of things ever come back down? Or is the reality of $10 meals at McDonalds going to remain forever? Heck, gas prices have been above the five dollars-per-gallon mark for as long as I can remember. I don’t suppose I’ll see the number four or three again unless I venture outside of California. The custom photo calendars that I make every year have gone from $20 per unit to $30. That’s a significant jump when I have to buy 10 for gifting.

Workers of America: unite and get those raises! As high and as soon as possible. Because we know consumer prices are never receding, even if (and when) the Federal Reserve manages to tame down the massive pandemic inflation. The purchasing power of a dollar has forever changed, so get more of those dollars while you still can.

Today is my 36th birthday. I am filled with gratitude for what is, and tremendous happiness for what is to come. Growing older isn’t so scary or fearsome when you are improving bit by bit every single day - at whatever measure you choose. I wake up in the mornings excited to execute and get on with what I am passionate about. At this juncture in my life, I think it’s real key: what gets you out of bed in the morning is something to focus on and cultivate continously. Things you’re so enthused about that you would rather forgo sleep. (Not that you should!)

36 is a fantastic number. And honestly, if we count the three lost years thanks to the pandemic, it’s really more like 33. The COVID years were spent treading water and avoiding death. The grand plans all got put on hold. Now that we (the worldly we) are unequivocally back to business as it were before (I am traveling to China, for the first time since 2019, in two months), I can once again look forward to what’s to come with great anticipation and joy.

It's my birthday

Today is my birthday. For moment I had to do some calculations to remember I am turning 34 years of age. It seems since turning 30, you don’t really keep precise track of how old you are. The entire decade of your 30s is just one giant blob. Only when it’s time for the big 40 will there be another existential crisis and reckoning. Much like how turning 30 was.

No need to lament getting older; it’s part of the natural process. It sure beats the opposite: death. A bit morbid, yes, but that’s how I like to keep things in perspective. I’m immensely grateful for another full turn of the calendar.

10 years ago when I turned 24 I wrote that I would play for the next decade. Once I turn 34, I will settle down and get serious about being an adult. Well, here I am 10 years later, and all I can say is: don’t make goals and predictions that far out into the future. What does “settling down” even mean anyways? Domesticity is definitely not something I want nor ready for. I’ve only barely moved out of my parents’ house last year! I’m enjoying the single and alone life quite well at the moment.

I bought a whole plate of poké from Costco yesterday and ate it all by myself. Tell me if that’s not the dream.

Besides, these last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic definitely put the timeline (so to speak) on pause. It’s partly why I forgot how old I was turning today. What chance is there to properly celebrate birthdays when it isn’t safe to gather together? No matter how much we’ve improved or what skill we learned during these times, the coronavirus era is definitely lost years.

What I’m saying is: that pseudo pledge I made 10 years ago? Doesn’t count! Not yet, anyways: I need at least two years tacked on top. Cheers to many more returns.

Short birthday thoughts

In this most extraordinary of years, I nearly forgot that it is my birthday in two days. I am turning 33, which symbolically doesn’t really mean anything within the social schema of significant birth milestones. It’s just another tick in the box until I hit the big four oh. Not for awhile, thankfully.

Society puts certain demands on you in relations to how old you are, doesn't it? By the time we hit our thirties, we’e suppose to have our careers figured out, with steady amount of money, and the beginnings of family starting. Well, I can honestly say I’ve not achieve any of those things. I’ve only just moved out of my parents’ house this year! Something that, by the socially-accepted standards of American culture, has been overdue for a decade.

I go at my own pace, obviously. And so does my friends: only one couple out of the group is married with kids. The rest are getting there ever so slowly. Not me, of course: I am still on my traveling and spending money on cars phase of life. With 2020 being a sort of lost year due to the global pandemic, there’s much catching up to do once the COVID-19 vaccine is rolled out to the masses. Life seemingly have hit a paused button - while the video is still rolling - and I'm looking forward to resuming my previously scheduled programing.

That will hopefully be what age 33 will be about: a resumption of normalcy. I am as prepared as possible, having finally moved out on my own this year. I feel like I’ve already reached the next stage of life, so therefore 33 will be a time for acclimatizing to this new arrangement and see what other changes it may permeate to. Because as of this writing, we are all still confined to our homes, waiting.

I sincerely thank the higher powers for this gift of another year of life. Let’s get after it and make it count.

Kids these days

The progeny of my generation are so spoiled compared to how we had it. At least from my perspective of having grown up in a working-class family.

But that’s the point, isn’t it? To give the best to our kids. The generation prior suffered so the generation after can have more options.

This past weekend, my cousin threw a one year birthday party for his son, renting out a private room in a sort of fancy restaurant. Admittedly, it was great time spent with family, and the food was pretty damn delicious. All of that could not have been cheap, and yet I don’t think my nephew would ever remember the experience. I surely don’t remember my first birthday party - if there even was one.

The advantage my kid nephew has if he’s so inclined to revisit his first birthday party later on is that there’s plenty of pictures and videos of the event. The babies these days have their lives so well documented, thanks to everyone around them having a smartphone. Literally every single day since his birth, there’s photos of my nephew on my cousin’s phone. In fact, his wife specifically purchased the larger storage capacity of iPhone for this very purpose.

Talk about embarrassing photos of youth resurfacing later on in life: the kids of today have no idea what’s going to hit them when their parents can dig out photographic evidence from any particular time from their entire existence.

But are we too busy documenting our babies’ every moment that we are forgetting to be in the moment? I think the potential pitfall is certainly there. It’s rather like how some people attending concerts seem to be more preoccupied with capturing the performance on their phones than actually listening to the music live as is.

I guess I’ll find out for myself. Eventually.

I don't know about you...

I turn 32 years old today, which is a thing. I plan to celebrate as I’ve always celebrated my birthdays: working. Having had an evening shift at the university for nearly 10 years now, there was never an opportunity for me to go out and have a party with friends. Guess where I’ll be later on this afternoon and night? At work. I’m not the type of person who calls in sick on his birthday or take the day off, and don’t get me started on the “birth month’ phenomenon. I’m happy others can have such a fantastical sense of occasion in regards to their birthdays; for me, it’s just another day, honestly.

Even when I turned the big 30 two years ago: there were no parties or celebration (again, I was working), though there were plenty of internal anxiety. After turning 30, the norm is that you sort of forget about your age as the years pass along, right up until the next milestone: 40. It’s true in my case: birthdays after 30 is so insignificant that I only remembered mine was today when my friends wished me a happy birthday after midnight. Honestly, I’m more looking forward towards the week and a half of time-off we get between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

32 years of age means I’ve only got two more years to play, because I pseudo promised myself when I turned 24 that I will live life frivolously for the next decade more before settling down and do the proper adult stuff. Two more years left to continue traveling to world cities, and spending ridiculous amounts of money to keep a Porsche 911 around. After that, it’ll be time to trade it all in for the next big transition on the life journey. It may sound like I’m being facetious here, but as of this moment in time, I think the plan set way back in 2011 is still on schedule.

I’m not yet ready to transition, but I feel that it’ll have to happen soon enough. The thing to do now is start the glide-path down towards that big change, and make the preparations necessary. Whatever those are, I’m not sure, though the obvious move is to refill the savings coffers after having written a six-figure check for a car this year.

So it’s business as usual as I add another ring to my tree stump. I’m massively grateful to be alive for another year, and for everything that has happened to me - good or bad - thus far. It’s an absolute privilege.

It's my birthday

You know, once you’ve crossed the line pass 30 years of age, it’s not so bad. All the anxiety and dread that came before that, however artificially drummed up they may be, simply goes away.

At least it did for me.

I am turning 31 today, and honestly I nearly forgotten about it if not for kind relatives wishing me a good one on the messaging apps. I’ve been so focused on my learning and tasks that it was too easy to forget about milestones like this, especially when its significance is far from that of the 30th birthday.

Today is just another day, really.

Indeed I am supremely grateful for yet another year on this earth, and I think this coming one will be the best yet, mostly because the fourth Avengers movie will be released. Isn’t that the whole point: to improve and get better year by year? For sure there are downs to go with the ups but as long as it’s a net positive at the end, then it’s a good year.

It’s about the long game, and the powers of compounding.

I can say I’m truly at a good place right now, though I did spend a large portion of 30 trying to find the right groove to fit into. I wouldn’t categorize it as anything tumultuous; I merely wanted to find something to latch onto in the coming few years. Steady as I was in my studies and work (and immensely gratefully so), I needed some sort of grand project to put my time and creativity into (not to mention, money).

And I found it in one of my very first loves: cars. Earlier this year I sold my Miata and went car-less, and somewhat paradoxically it rekindled my interesting in the automobile. Something about taking things for granted and having it stripped from you to realize it. These days I really miss having a car to mess around with, to go places and indulge in my other hobby of photography.

So I spent the latter half of 30 implementing severe austerity in order to save money for an 911, and I’m oh so very close to pulling the trigger. The calendar will have to turn over to 2019 before that happens, though.

In the meantime it’s simply day by day. It’s great to be alive, and I’m thankfully to have done it for 31 years. Cheers to many more to come.

People watching is one of my favorite sports.