These are beautiful times - 10 things I think

What have I got to be happy about?

Everything.

It's absolutely a choice, you know. Circumstances are what they are, the decision on how to react is entirely up to you. I can wake up everyday lamenting the day ahead, dragging with me the negatives of yesterday, or I can wake up, smile, and say to myself that today is going to be awesome. 

Barney Stinson has got it right: If I find myself being negative, I stop being negative, and be awesome instead. 

Perspective is what's important. There's always someone whose got it worse than you. Here's a rather dreadful thought: someone out there is planning something for tomorrow, but he/she will die before it happens. A bit morbid, perhaps, but that's how the laws of life work. Today, then, is all that really matters.

So whatever I need/want to do today, it's imperative I get it done now. You've got something to say? Say it, cause you might not have a chance later. Putting it off, or being scared into silence, cannot be an option. Most of the time, fear is there to inform you that what you're about to do is absolutely worth doing. 

I let go of the small things. Twice yesterday another motorist cut me off, almost to causing a collision. I braked. That was it; no horns, no gestures involving the middle digit. I simply continued trundling along, listening to music, and enjoying a rare sunny day in San Francisco, in a car I adore dearly. 

Getting riled up over ultimately insignificant events is an enormous disservice to yourself. 

10 THINGS I THINK

1. I feel like we've been experiencing lots of "Super Moons" lately, but it still doesn't distract from the sheer beauty of it. I'm lucky to have a window that faces east, so on Sunday evening I practically sat in the dark and admired the moon for a good hour as it climbed out of the horizon. 

2. If you utter the words "Damn, the weather is hot!" yet you're wearing a black t-shirt, I tend to not have much sympathies for you. I know dark colors are flattering if you haven't exactly got the right body type but wearing them in anything beyond 80 degrees weather is absolutely asinine.

3. Rumors has it that Luca Di Montezemolo, the long-time head honcho at Ferrari, will be stepping down from his duties to go do other stuff (he is Italian aristocracy, after all). While it's lamentable that Formula One will lose one of its most potent voices, I must motion that if LDM really does leave, Ferrari must change the name of the LaFerrari hyper-car - a moniker chosen by LDM himself, probably in a heavily drunken state - to something that doesn't suck.

4. Not once during this entire "Share a Coke" campaign has anyone actually shared one with me. To that end, I'm extremely saddened and slightly bitter. It's not too late, though: I'll gladly accept a Diet Coke any day of the week, as long as it's Sunday.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy is a fantastic movie. I'm not the most hardcore of Marvel Cinematic Universe nuts (Iron Man 2 was decidedly terrible) so I'm not just blindly stating this. For those of us pinning for a proper space western since the untimely demise of Firefly (tears), Guardians finally delivered. Here's to hoping for many movies to follow.  

6. It's not a secret: car enthusiasts love fast cars, and when given one, we drive them fast. Problem is, we don't exist in a vacuum: there's other motorists sharing the roads with us. The Jessi Lang story posted earlier last week is a stark reminder to be alert and careful when driving, because it can all be taken away from you so quickly. 

7. Thanks to Vladimir Putin and his power-tripping shenanigans, the European stock market was terrible last week. Compounded by the seemingly endless unrest in the Middle East, my International stock holdings completely wiped out any gains I had in the domestic stock market. Diversity is key in any investment portfolio but what Russia is doing to Europe is simply extraordinary. I'm having serious thoughts about shorting. 

8. America should not be going back into Iraq. Retrieve any citizens still living there abroad and leave the two warring sides to their own device. The U.S. should not be picking sides on what is really a religious civil war. Offer only what is necessary from a humanitarian perspective; if we want to fix countries we need to first fix our own. 

9. I don't see myself as the most ardent of grammar nazis but people not using the Oxford comma is proving to be quite irksome. 

10. Far more people I personally know are participating in The Giants Race than I had thought. Either running for health is very much en vogue these days, or the allure of a plastic bobble-head is simply too enticing to ignore. That and getting drunk with food and booze afterwards is always a very welcomed endgame. 

Happiness - 10 things I think

Last week was quite terrible for the stock market, as the gains I've earned in my investment portfolio this year almost completely withered away. Of course, it shouldn't matter at all because investments are not meant to be touched in the short term, and more likely than not the stock market will steadily keep growing over many years. It's simply too much fun to keep an eye on the daily fluctuations, especially when the market is up. 

I was stunned to learn from my parents that they really never kept a budget. They simply spent their income on the necessities and saved what was leftover. They've got zero inclination on how much they are spending on a monthly basis. How they ended up saving so much money over the years is baffling to me.

In contrast, I keep rigorous records of my spending and I make sure I save before I spend each month. This method ensures that I don't go around and blow my entire paycheck - because I totally would. I truly admire my parent's tenacity and a sort of innate ability to not overspend each month, without so much as a piece of paper and a calculator. Our generation is spoiled rotten with myriad of tools for us to be fiscally responsible and yet so few of us actually do it. 

10 THINGS I THINK

1. I'm surprised no one has yet did a parody of that Chris Brown song "Loyal". An intrepid female Youtube personality should do a rebuttal version that centers around the line "These bros ain't loyal." 

2. Oakland A's GM Billy Beane is a genius. Crazy, but a genius. It's still shocking to me how he could trade one of his marquee (all) stars on his championship-favorite team simply to improve the already stellar pitching staff. Why hasn't the likes of the Yankees or Dodgers lured him away from the East Bay is befuddling. 

3. I didn't get the hype with "Sharknado 2". My twitter feed was entirely useless during its airing. I had no idea it was so culturally crucial to the people i follow. And for the record, the people I follow aren't exactly of the unintelligent mass. 

4. I'd punch you in the face too if my ex-wife is Miranda Kerr and you slept with her while she and I were still married. Good on you, Orlando Bloom. You don't fuck with Legolas and get away with it. 

5. The bursted water main that flooded much of UCLA wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact California is in the worse drought of our lifetimes. Terrible timing, Moore's law. 

6. What an absolutely horrendous injury Paul George suffered. I couldn't stomach watching the video; the still photographs were terrifying enough. All the best wishes to his quick and full recovery. 

7. The first car at a stoplight has an almost fiduciary responsibility to be alert and go at the first turn of green. Being lethargic here can cost quite a few cars to have to wait for the next light. That's simply not awesome. 

8. 49ers' brand spanking new Levi's Stadium reportedly has got the same traffic and congestion issues that was the hallmark of the old Candlestick. And I thought the entire point of the new facility (other than being able to sell more tickets at a higher price) was to alleviate the usual nightmare involved with actually getting to the stadium. 

9. The problem with having a full can of Altoids is that you absolutely cannot stop eating them. They are indeed the Pringles of the breath-mint world. 

10. Whoever is in charge over at LAY'S potato chips need to stop putting out those fan-suggested specialty flavors. Potato chips should never taste like a cappuccino; ever. 

It's not about you - 10 things I think

It wasn't a good weekend sports-wise, but overall it was plenty decent. Got a chance to see Woody Allen's latest motion picture vehicle (Magic in the Moonlight), which was quite pleasant. Lucky, too, because the movie was released in limited theatres and the one we went to just happened to be one out of only 17 in all of the United States. It definitely pays to live in a relatively artsy metropolitan area. 

I've got five weeks until the SF Giants Run event, in which I'll be attempting the 10k. Exciting stuff being that it will be the first time I will be paying to run. Sure it's all for an excellent cause but the reason I took up running as the exercise of choice this year is because it essentially costs me zero dollars (sans any sunk cost for shoes and various sports clothing). All runners in the Giants Run do receive a nifty commemorative bobble-head, which is just about the only reason I'm participating.

Over the past two months or so I've lost almost 20 pounds, coming down from a high of 178 to now a more slender 159. I wasn't overweight, per se; I merely wanted to slim back down because the body-weight lifting and protein-heavy diet these past years has made me bulkier than I far wanted to be. Every time I put on a black t-shirt I'd feel like Johnny Tran looking for Dom Torreto in "The Fast and the Furious".

So I stopped doing body-weight exercises completely, and in conjunction cut my daily protein intake by two-thirds. The only exercise I do now is the five mile run on the weekends. Because I've stopped working-out everyday, I also am eating much less than before. It's quite simple, really: the law of thermodynamics dictates you will lose weight if your daily intake of food energy is lower than your body's daily energy exertion. 

10 THINGS I THINK

1. I'm happy Chipotle just posted a record quarter. I absolutely love the food there, and would be happy to eat it daily for the rest of my life. Just stop raising the prices, please? Okay?

2. The laughably light suspension the NFL levied on Ray Rice for basically knocking a woman unconscious is completely unacceptable. I hope there's enough social pressure on the NFL to change its mind and increase the severity of the punishment.

3. Street festivals should be banned in San Francisco. There's simply not enough real estate to accommodate the throngs of people that flocks to them. Traffic is bad enough as-is! Last week's ramen festival in Japan-town was an utter disaster.

4. Presidential visits should also be banned in San Francisco. Must you add to the already tragic levels of congestion just to raise a few dollars for your party? Thanks, Obama. 

5. I'd love to upgrade to an iPhone 6 when it releases this fall simply because of the larger screen size, but ultimately I cannot justify ditching my still decently capable 5S and pay almost 300 dollars for the privilege to upgrade. 

6. The new Levis Stadium looks spectacular, as one would expect. I'm keen to try the "Peking duck bao" it's offering in its food menus. It'll probably taste nothing like the authentic stuff I've had at Chinese restaurants. 

7. I'm a huge fan of baseball, but the Baseball Hall of Fame means nothing to me. Not only is the selection process highly draconian, some of the best players to ever play game will never get inducted (example: Rose, Pete)

8. Some days I really tire of getting only a scant 18 miles to the gallon in my STI. A car with only four cylinders shouldn't be that inefficient, but it is. Bloody fun to drive, though. Good trade-off. Sometimes.

9. It feels like everybody and their mothers are opening up boba-tea establishments in the Bay Area. Those tea cafes are like coffee shops for Asians. I personally don't get the appeal, though I wouldn't mind having a cup once in a great while.

10. Great words to live by: "You just have to realize it's not about you." Sometimes, not giving a f*ck is the best way forward.  

Aren't we so lucky - 2013 reflections

So, where to begin? 

2013 was quite mundane compared to previous years. It’s what happens when I’m two years removed from the (probable) end of my educational life and entering workforce as an “adult”. I say probable because I’ve yet to determine whether or not pursuing a graduate degree is worth the considerable time and concentration (doesn’t help that I’ve develop a smidgen of apathy towards being enslaved to the academic machine once more). Anyways, there’s only so much excitement to spread around when week after week you do the exact same thing at work. I don’t think I’ve looked forward to weekends more than I had this year, purely because that’s where all the fun happened.

Ironically, I haven’t exactly left academia at all; my place of employment, after all, is a college campus. No complaints from me though, because while I’m increasingly antagonistic towards going back to school for an advance degree, I must say I enjoy immensely the vibe and lifestyle offered by a college campus. In a way it keeps me young - and young at heart - because the median age of the immediate surroundings at work is always at a constant high teens to low twenties. I turned 26 this year (where it all goes downhill from, right?), but I don’t feel at all that age. Innately I feel just as wet behind the ears as ever. What doesn’t help the situation though, is seeing many friends of a similar age getting on with the business of marriage and procreation. Meanwhile, I’m over here screaming: what on earth is the rush? 

Indeed, it’s gotten to that point, hasn’t it? I’m at the age where acquaintances left and right are settling down (or have settled) to form families of their own. Stable employment does that, I guess (and love, haha). Good for those people, of course: just because I’m nowhere near that point in my own timeline doesn’t mean I throw ninja stars full of question marks every time I see a new engagement announcement or pregnancy press release. Funny thing is, none of my immediate group of friends are even remotely close to that sort of stuff, which gives credence to that whole “you are the company you keep” spiel. Hey, at least I won’t have to hear “yeah… we’re going to stay home tonight.” when hang-out solicitations are sent. 

Of course, countless thanks to the higher spirits that I have gainful employment amidst the turmoil that still is the United States economy (my god I must have been watching FOX news). 2013 is the first year that I’ve ever held a full-time job (well, if you discount much of January), and the stability it has brought to my life is immeasurable. Having a solid sense of purpose everyday when I wake up and actually looking forward to going to work is, as Gollum would say, precious. However, as with any public university job that isn’t management, the pay is what can be best described as mediocre - especially when I live in the third most expensive city in America to live.

It’s enough for me, though. Every time I encounter negative employment news such as the fast-food workers strike or the termination of unemployment benefits, I’m reminded just how lucky I am. Low wages, income uncertainty, and job search futility -  I’ve been there, and it isn’t at all fun. Plus, everything else about my current job is so spectacularly awesome. One of which, is my commute to work doesn’t consist of me being mired in Bay Area’s infamous traffic gridlock. I’d gladly trade a few ten thousands in dollars earned to not have to sit in traffic for hours on end, every single day. Time is money, as they say, and nothing piss away money faster and more miserably than sitting amongst a sea of cars, all going slower than people can walk. 

So how is it possible that I can live in the great expensive city of San Francisco when I’m getting paid less than a BART train operator? (There’s a joke in there somewhere). Fortunately, because I’m decidedly Asian (last I checked), there is no social stigma in my culture for living with your parents pass the age of 18. So, instead of using a significant chunk of my monthly paycheck towards renting a place, I get to put most of it towards investment accounts. Which, speaking of, 2013 was a solid year for stocks and mutual funds, and I must humbly brag that my investment portfolio is looking very nice indeed. Anyways, I’m not saying moving out on your own and doing for yourself is a terrible thing (we all have to do it eventually), I’m just glad I have that option to choose, instead of getting unceremoniously kicked out of the house at a predetermined age. 

Because if there is one important lesson I take away from 2013, it’s that spending time with your family is incredibly important, especially when you’re still young and single. Perhaps it’s all too easy to get caught up in being independent and experiencing the world, but you - and your parents - are only as young as you’ll ever be, today. I certainly don’t want to be that person who regrets not having spent more time with the parents only when said parents are sick in a hospital bed, or gone to the heavens. We need to spend time with our family while we are still able, healthy, and on our end, not tied down with spouses and kids of our own.

There will come a day when I’m only going to see my parents during the scant few holidays we get in America (meanwhile, most of Europe gets the entire month of August, off), because real life will certainly get in the way. In the meantime, I’ve made it a point to allocate a portion of all my weekends to hang-out with the father and mother. While I still can.

Portions of the weekend not spent with family, I’ve mainly dedicated it to my beloved car, the Subaru Impreza WRX STI. The joke is the car has become a substitute for a girlfriend, and it really isn’t far from the truth (haha!). There’s not much better on a weekend day than spending a few hours cleaning up the STI, and then taking it out for a spirited drive on one of the numerous mountain roads the Bay Area is so blessedly endowed with. It’s horrendous on gas, sure, but what car isn’t that can go from zero-to-sixty miles-per-hour in under five seconds. Besides, the car’s significant running costs (lost the windshield to a rogue traveling rock this year, which was quite the ouch to the wallet) escapes the mind as soon as I mash the throttle. Driving the STI brings a smile to my face each and every time I get in it,, and having a daily driven car that can do that for you is one of the core tenets of being a car enthusiasts.

With the STI in tow, I made a few ventures southwards this year, utilizing the blissful stretch of tarmac that is the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). The first time was back in July, when I took the weekend to traverse the entire length from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It was an arduous 12 hour affair, and most of the time I was stuck behind slow-driving SUVs that refused to let faster cars behind them go past. However, the spectacular views (the skies cooperated very nicely) and the winding road was as advertised, and more. I highly recommended those traveling to LA and have got the time to spare, take the PCH instead of Highway 5 - twist and turns with a view beats driving in a straight line looking at cow manure any day. The STI’s seats proved their worth as my back didn’t complain at all after the 12 hours, though my feet had a completely different opinion. I guess Chuck Taylors aren’t the best driving shoes for trips of considerable distances. 

I love the PCH so much I went back a second time early October, this time along with other car enthusiasts (there was nearly 20 of us). Good times are best shared, right? At least it made slow cars more willing to move over, because having 20 loud sports cars in a train behind you is a frightening scene indeed (ah, the power in numbers). Driving in a group also meant being with people with more knowledge of landmarks and places of interest. This second drive on the PCH was definitely more scenic than the first. I certainly wouldn’t have gone on a tour of Hearst’s Castle in San Simeon had I gone by lonesome.

Speaking of cars, I started new blog this year dedicated to them. Since my personal life hasn’t been nearly as exciting as previous years, I decided to exclusively write about one of my greatest interests. Povertyspec.com is chock full of random editorials about all facets of the automobile, from individual models, the technologies, to the greater industry as a whole. Having written nearly 90 posts in a span of five months is pretty prodigious, if I do say so myself (and I do). Blogging has continued to be is a good excuse for me to hone my non-college educated journalism skills. I shuttered my separate photography blog (pun intended), and this blog with under my namesake has largely become its replacement. 

2013 marked the first time I’ve made the prerequisite pilgrimage to that small town in the desert, Paradise, Nevada. Some might say the age of 25 is much too old to be making the first (adult) trip to Las Vegas, but honestly the timing just hasn’t gotten right until this year. Never known to be the life of the party or a compulsive gambler, I think this year was as good as any to see Vegas for myself. It’s really all one huge, never-ending party, isn’t it? The awesome food, the great shows, and the overflow of drinks simply doesn’t stop for the entire duration. I can definitely see the allure of Vegas for many of my peers, because compressed down to it, it’s an escape. 

As for me, it’s merely a ticked check-box on the bucket list. I don’t think I will be making another trip to Vegas again anytime soon. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I had an awesome three days with my friends. (I found out exactly how long a Las Vegas block (off the strip) is, and I will never venture to walk one ever again.) It’s just that there is so much to see and do in this world that it’d be a personal disservice to visit a place more than once within a short time-frame (says the guy that drove on the PCH twice this year). A trip to Vegas isn’t particularly cheap (and I didn’t even gamble!), and I much rather allocate that money next time to go visit another awesome place.

Midway through the year, I started the 16/8 intermittent fasting program. It dictates that I must eat my daily required intake of food within an eight hour period (three big meals, in my case), after which I mustn’t eat for the next 16 hours. The fasting is suppose to significantly increase the body’s growth and repair hormones, something it can’t normally do if you keep stuffing it with food. I haven’t stop doing it since, because it has been, and continues to be, wonderful for me. Not having to worry about the old “eat every three hours” routine has been liberating, and I’ve ceased to have the typical hunger pangs. In fact, I seldom get the “hungry” feeling anymore, even when it’s the end of the 16 hour fast and my stomach cannot be more empty. Combined with my usual regiment of healthy eating and regular exercise, I feel awesome and full of energy ever day. 

When it comes to sports, now that I thought about it, 2013 was bad. Bad, because expectations were so high. Not for me to complain after winning two championships in the past three years, but the San Francisco Giants stunk up the joint during the 2013 season. I do wish the team doesn’t get the World Series hangover the season immediately after (same thing happened in 2011), but it appears to be inevitable with the men in orange. Of course, it’s always an good time (as Carly Rae Jepsen and that Owl City guy would say) to go see games live at the cathedral that is AT&T park. That’s the beauty of baseball: even when your team isn’t going particularly well, there’s enough games in a season that many, many, good things can still happen. Losing season as it may, I won’t soon forget epic-ness that happened like the Tim Lincecum no-hitter in San Diego, Pagan’s walk-off, Pablo’s three home-runs in one game, and many other heroics, that’s for sure. 

As for the 49ers, I didn’t think I can be more heartbroken than back in 2012’s NFC championship game when Kyle Williams fumbled that punt. Well, what happened in the Super Bowl back in February proved me wrong. Granted, as whole it’s awesome to see the 49ers get back to being perennial Super Bowl contenders, but being a scant six yards away from winning it all, that’s a heartbreaker if there ever is one. Perhaps it’s just too much to ask the sports gods to grant two teams from one city winning their respective championships in the same season. Now that the baseball Giants have failed to defend their championship this season, perhaps it’s good sign for the 49ers heading into the playoffs early next year. One step at a time, right? Lose NFC championship last year, this year win NFC championship. Lose Super Bowl this year, so next up is surely: win Super Bowl. 

So, that’s pretty much 2013. Just your typical twenty-something adult life: work for five days, and then play on the weekends. I do wish I’d travel more, and I took the least amount of photographs this year since starting the hobby many moons ago. I hope to rectify these two things in 2014, but other than that, hopefully much of the same as this year. As long as we have our health, family and friends, a roof over our heads, and a steady job, we’re all so very lucky, indeed. 

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The top 10 most played songs on my iTunes, 2013:

• 1. Girls’ Generation - I Got A Boy
• 2. G-Dragon - Missing You (feat. 김윤아 of 자우림)
• 3. f(x) - Goodbye Summer (Amber+Luna+Krystal) (Feat. D.O. of EXO)
• 4. Taylor Swift - 22
• 5. Owl City - Gold
• 6. EXO - 으르렁 (Growl)
• 7. 周杰倫 Jay Chou – 手語 (Sign Language)
• 8. Taylor Swift- Stay Stay Stay
• 9. KARA - Secret Love (Goo Hara Solo)
• 10. 周杰倫 Jay Chou – 大笨鐘 (Big Ben)