Blog

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

Still getting acne

Is it normal for a 33 year old to still be getting fresh pimples on the regular? Asking for a friend. Is Proactiv still a thing? I subscribed to that acne fighting program back in my college days, and it did nothing for me (obviously) other than wrecking my skin further. The chemicals it uses is far too harsh. My advice to teens looking to get rid of their acne problem: head straight for accutane. Benzoyl peroxide is but a bandaid.

Perhaps I shouldn’t complain about having acne well into the 30s. It’s a sign of youth, is it not? It sure beats the other signs that I’ve been seeing amongst cohorts my age: hair loss. Indeed, some of our hair lines are starting their recession, and bald-spots are showing up at the rear of the head. I can honestly say, hair loss is scary as heck to me. I’m not big on vanity, but not having a full head of hair just looks odd, even though all I do for a haircut is an army-style buzz with the 6mm profile on a hair clipper.

Thankfully, I’m not yet afflicted with a loss of hair. When it does happen, I reckon I’ll be one of those people trying all the over-the-counter and clinical remedies to stem the falling tide. There’s a lesson to take from my acne saga: head straight for the only proven solution, which is hair transplantation. I better start saving up for that, because health insurance doesn’t pay for cosmetic procedures.

Of course, I try not to stress about it, because that would only lead to quicker loss of hair. There’s already enough stress in my life, as evident in the fact I’m still getting acne! Face masks hasn’t helped in that regard. Oils and micro dirt get trapped underneath it for the entire work day. I really need unvaccinated people who are other eligible to go get vaccinated.

The M2 it is

It’s always amusing to see whenever the Bay Area experiences a heatwave, San Francisco remains a mild and comfortable mid-60s. Thank the heavens for our marine layer, nature’s air conditioning for our city. This is why we pay the big bucks to live here, despite the fact the same money can go much further elsewhere. Upper 90s every single day during the summer months? That can’t be me.

What I do wonder is how much longer this natural air conditioning of ours will last. Climate change is happening right before our eyes in scary high definition. There’s unprecedentedly massive flooding in parts of Germany, China, and Great Britain. Just last month I traveled to Seattle during its historic, record-shattering heatwave. We are sitting way too comfortably here in San Francisco to not worry when it is our turn to feel the wrath of the climate gods.

Of course it’s rather useless to think about things we have no control over. The best we can do is limit our own burden onto the environment. We use reusable bottles for our drinks, and we bring our own bags to the shops. San Francisco mandates proper garbage sorting. The trucks that comes to collect actually have separate compartments for recycling and compost.

One of the big drivers of climate change is the passenger car. Lately I’ve often contemplated about selling my BMW M2 for something fully electric. The internal conversation stops once I remember that I actually don’t have a commute. I pollute nothing into the atmosphere because I walk. The few weekend trips to the shops isn’t worth buying a brand new car. Keep in mind, automotive production requires lots of material and energy. You can’t discount that when you want to go green by switching to electric.

It’s better for the environment that I keep the M2. Hooray!

No shoes indoors

Pro tip on how to feel refreshed after a long day (physically) at work: wash your feet! You’ve been in socks and shoes the entire day, sweating through it all. No doubt the feet feel incredibly yucky soon as you get home and take off your shoes. I mean, you do take them off before stepping into the home, right? I will never understand the culture of wearing shoes indoors. It’s just… not sanitary.

Anyways, I head straight for the bathroom to wash my feet at the sink with a nice soapy scrub. I can see why people love to get pedicures. Something about washing of the feet really soothes the rest of the body. The feeling afterwards is incredibly relaxing, putting me in a good spot to begin the home portion of my day. It’s one of the few times I wish I had carpet, because hardwood flooring is too cold for barefoot. Freshly washed feet on carpet feels excellent, and I generally prefer going barefoot at home.

But I’d gladly trade that for the easy cleaning of hardwood. Even though I don’t wear shoes inside, I still have to use the Swiffer on the floors once every two days in order to keep it free of dust. Granted, my standards of cleanliness far exceeds the typical person. One thing I dislike about American hotels is the unclean floors, because the typical guest keeps their shoes on! Honestly, the Asians got it right on this one: no shoes inside of living spaces.

Good for Giannis

Congratulations to the Milwaukee Bucks on wining the 2020-2021 NBA championship. 50 years is a bloody long time to wait since the last title. Now, a whole generation of fans get to revel in the joy of finally seeing their team win it all. As a fan of the San Francisco Giants, I knew what that felt like back in 2010. The Giants won the World Series for the first time since the team moved to San Francisco over 50 years earlier. It warms me to see another fan base experiencing that same euphoria.

I am extremely happy for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the superstar and leader of the Bucks. A year ago he could have sign elsewhere as a free agent, to join another team of stars in order to chase a championship. That would be the easy way. Instead, he chose loyalty to (what was) the beleaguered franchise that drafted him, the only team he’s known. Giannis aimed to win a title with Milwaukee, and that goal is now very much achieved.

Basketball fans root for Giannis because he’s also - by all accounts - a genuinely nice guy. Full of caring and a lack of ego. Just look at this exchange with a fan during a signing event. Unless you’re fans of the opposing team, how can you not root for Giannis?

On the other side of the coin, basketball fans are delighted that Chris Paul - point guard for the losing Phoenix Suns - did not win what would be his first championship. Known as one of the dirtiest players in the league, Paul is a petulant flopper. Nobody likes how he plays the game, except I guess if you’e a fan of his team. Sad thing is, Paul has all the talent in the world; he doesn’t need all this extracurricular stuff to be great. Instead, it rather taints his legacy.

You love to see good things happen to good people. Congrats again to Giannis, and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Travel is back, baby

A coworker just returned from vacationing in Greece. He said there are no quarantine requirements, provided you have proof that of full vaccination, and a recent negative COVID test. I don’t suppose other European countries are any different. Hell, Britain is opening back up fully from the pandemic today. Travel is back, baby!

Too bad I have no desire to go to Europe. At least not right now. I yearn to go back to Asia, but sadly quarantine restrictions are still in place in places like Japan and South Korea. The athletes and surrounding cottage industry of people flying to Tokyo right now for the Olympics? They have to quarantine before being let out into the general population.

A population with low vaccination rates. It’s not good at all when Olympic athletes are already catching COVID, even whilst fully vaccinated. The delta variant is no joke, and it is rather shocking to see Japan going forward with the games, despite all the signs pointing to at the very least another prolonged postponement. Remember: the grandstands are going to be empty!

Stubborn pride of Japanese, perhaps? Having the entire world come to your doorsteps, while a global pandemic is still very much happening, can’t be a good thing.

It will certainly delay any relaxation of quarantine requirements for foreign travelers. Good thing I’m not pining for Japan as much as South Korea and Taiwan. Hopefully I will be able to visit either of the latter two countries during Thanksgiving week. More likely it’ll be South Korea as the vaccination program there seems to be going well. Fingers crossed!

Chad driver

A few weeks ago in Portland, my friend and I hailed a LYFT car to take us to the airport. The name of the driver who accepted our ride request was Chad. Immediately I thought to myself: this can’t be good! The name Chad carries all sorts of negative connotation these days, and we waited to find out what kind of douchebag is going to show up.

Turns out my gut feeling was correct. Soon as we enter the car we notice Chad was unmasked. While indeed the States have largely opened up completely from pandemic restrictions, federal law still dictates a mask requirement when traveling on public transportation, including taxis and ride-share. Of course, we were ready and masked up.

A small sticker on the window claims masks are not required inside the car, which is rather false. Nevertheless, we didn’t mind that Chad lacked facial covering because we were both vaccinated (with the best vaccine Pfizer has to offer). Chat did asked whether we would like for him to put on a mask, to which we declined, not wanting to risk any anti-mask tirade coming back our way.

Right on cue, Chad then started ranting about the sorry state of Portland and how the mayor has been doing such a shitty job of it. He’s not wrong: we stayed in the Chinatown area of Portland, and practically every block was littered with homeless tents. A stark contrast to the bougie apartments in the area, and the long line at Voodoo doughnuts. No wonder Portland Chinatown has a somewhat deserted feel. Who would want to come here to hangout amongst so many homeless on the streets?

To this point, we agreed with Chad. The ride to the airport was uneventful after that. He realized we were not hostile to his believed ideologies. I’m sick of mask wearing as much as Chad is, though he probably was so from the very beginning.

Just the iPhone

When I travel to places I usually bring along the “big” photo kit. It consists of a Sony A7R2 camera and a few lenses, plus a tripod. The obvious downside is that the kit adds a bit of weight to the whole luggage situation. That’s the price to pay in order to capture the beautiful scenes. You do the best you can to mitigate things, of course: my travel tripod is made of carbon fiber and weights only two pounds.

Thankfully, smartphone photographic technology have improved leaps and bounds in recent years. Pictures from a modern smartphone can look just as good as a big-sensor digital camera. Computational photography is a wonderful thing. In the past two years I’ve use almost exclusively my iPhone for photos. It suffices for simple snapshots and the semi-serious stuff like producing a photo calendar. The A7R2 has sat on the shelf, doing nothing but drain the battery.

No surprise then that during my two week vacation at the end of June, I took just the iPhone with me. It’s incredibly freeing to not have to lug around the big camera kit. And honestly, I didn’t miss it that much. The only time I wish I had the Sony with me was in Seattle. We were hanging out by the waterfront area during golden hour, and Mount Rainier was visible at the distant background. Great as the iPhone is at taking photos, it simply does not have physical resolution to do that scene justice.

Other than that, it’s amazing I can use just the phone as the main camera on my travels. No doubt things will only continue to improve as the years roll on. Might I actually sell the A7R2 and go solely smartphone? Possible!