I came home and tackled the job of cleaning my room successfully, even getting into "flow," which is the technical term for getting so absorbed with what you are doing you become amazed at how much you are able to complete with your time.

In July I battled bed bugs. (If you really disdain someone, the curse of all curses is: 'I hope you sleep with a heavy bed bug infestation for the rest of your life.' Really.. I'm making light of this, but in fact from what I can tell the emotional/psychological effects are real.) I took the brunt of it because they were in my bed, but they're now gone.

My job search went on for about a month, and I learned that:

1. a cookie-cutter resume of the Microsoft Word template kind can get you a job (it has gotten me two, now);
2. to not give out references before asking their permission;
3. to not be afraid to ask for more clarity regarding the job description if the information hasn't been provided.

As half of the summer passed by, I celebrated my birthday with a dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was my first time eating there. My rating is a 6.0 out of 10 because the pasta I ordered was too oily and the service was only all right. I would go again if I went with a large party because I think the atmosphere is suited for lively conversation.

I spend the majority of my time when I'm not at work with my parents. My dad and I started talking walks around the neighborhood, a couple of times a week. It's a pleasant surprise when we spend time together because our relationship, in my opinion, isn't built on a lot of history, only sporadic highlights in my life. As for my mom, although I will never see things from her point of view, I'm learning to take less of her speech and actions personally, realizing she is being herself, with no other intentions.

My social networks are primarily online these days (twitter, facebook, xanga, blogs), but that doesn't mean snail mail, phone conversations, or meeting up for a lunch/dinner is out. Now that I'm back in LA, I have thankfully more opportunities to see my grandparents. This summer I saw them twice --when relatives flew in from NY and we had a mini-reunion, and for 8/8, which in Mandarin sounds like, and therefore can pass for "father's day" (it's supposedly a Taiwanese thing), celebrating of course, my grandfather, who turned 80 (or 82, depending on how you count age) recently.

Volunteering...

JOB SEARCH >> ...can be the stand-out on your resume because it tells employers you bring hands-on experience to the workplace, similar to why internships may lead to a full-time job

SOCIAL :: if it's not a one-man task, you will meet people.  they already have similar interests as you so you might become friends.

CAREER || if you don't know your career path yet, it can help clarify what fields you should look into.  volunteer at an after-school program to see how you react in a classroom with dozens of kids.  or try an occupation on for size.  never thought you'd want to be an accountant?  after volunteering, you may find the precision and structured nature of the work intrigues you.

My food blog has come to an end, for now.  <3

       I read Meredith Vieira’s blog at ivillage once in a while and the last time I came across:

"Sean said: It's my birthday on Friday! Do you have any favorite birthday memories?

    My birthday is usually low-key. I think my favorite birthday memory is the kids making me breakfast. Richard did throw me a big surprise birthday party for my fortieth. I met him at a restaurant, and as we were having a drink, a friend of mine showed up. Then about ten minutes later, another friend of mine showed up and so-on and so-on, until there were about 30 people gathered. It was much cooler than walking into a room with the lights out because it was a slow reveal...and I got to savor every individual. That's about all I remember, although Richard claims that by the end of the evening I was introducing people to themselves. But that, as they say, is another story.

    Happy Birthday, Sean!"

I like it.  It sounds like a wonderful idea for a birthday celebration.

Heisenberg uncertainty principle, applied: We either know where we’re headed (planning our goals and future achievements) a.k.a momentum or we know exactly where we are right now (enjoying our present moment) a.k.a. position.

I tend toward the former, but am working on catching glimpses of the latter..

Have an idea to blast music in a grassy park from strategically placed speakers, and have neighbors come out to groove to Billy Joel and Earth, Wind, Fire.. maybe even do the electric slide while we're at it !!

 

Today I was on the bus back from work and had an epiphany that swept me off my feet, well, as much as I could have been while sitting.  I saw a couple of people, young adults I think, and they got out of their car and were heading into a restaurant to eat.  It was a small center with an insurance company, a dry cleaning store, a bakery, a sandwich deli/cafe, and a Chinese restaurant.  But the way the blue of the sky, the trees in the background, the angle of the sun's rays fired my imagination.. and I saw a different state, one where cars are still used, but aren't a focus of one's lifestyle, a state where the blue sky is deliciously present, not marred by smog or hidden by skyscrapers.. where greenery is plentiful..

I don't know where I will end up in the future.  I've lived in New York, but now that I've spent four years in California, I think I've become more mellow and the anxiety and tense-ness of NYC would only stress me out.  I thought about Washington before, like in Seattle or Portland where everyone bikes.. but the constant rain and gloomy fog might bring me down.  Washington D.C. sounds like a nice city, and particularly suited for those who are in politics or involved in government.. it's appealing, but I also wonder if I could ever come to love another famous city as much as I loved, and love, NYC.  I don't like Boston because it's gotta be even colder up in Mass., and it feels like a city whose roots lie firmly planted in the past -- unlike cities that are ever evolving while retaining an energy at its core that is all its own..  I do have a soft spot in my heart for Los Angeles.. the truth is, it's growing on me.  Although I hate its car culture, one of the reasons being environmental--I support mass transit that is efficient and safe, doesn't need bells and whistles beyond that--another is because it's a tiring sight and drains me.. the whoosh whoosh of the cars never seem to stop.. they slow down at 4 a.m. but start up again at 5.  Despite its cars, Los Angeles has pockets of interesting neighborhoods to explore, eateries to experience hopefully with friends, interesting nooks for the animal lover, the vintage clothing lover, the vegan, the person still living in the 80s, the health juice enthusiast, the architectural major, the one on the look out for film/TV work and more.  Despite the cars, I can't complain about the mountains in the distance, knowing the ocean isn't far either.  Of course, you can't ignore the fact that an income gap exists here as elsewhere.. or that our state deficit is bringing Arnold many gray hairs..

I’m sweating underneath my cap and sunscreen lathered on every few hours in keeping with the directions on the squeeze tube.  Muscles are tightening as I lift two studs (in layman’s terms, an upright used in house framing) over to where my partner and I are working.  My arms feel like dead weight by the end of our first day of construction.

I banged a few nails at the Home Depot’s Kids Workshop when I was younger.  That was fun.  Turns out getting the framing of a house done is much harder work.

Our site supervisor, Mr. R, a California native, went to Cal Poly SLO and moved out to Louisiana to work with Habitat for Humanity.  When my partner and I, frustrated, made faces at our imperfect nailing, Mr. R would come over to fix a wayward nail or hit a board into place.

On one of our last days at the site, he told us a high school group was slated to come in after us.  I think he meant to say groups of high school students don’t get as much done.  Thank goodness we were college students on spring break.

Mid-week was the wall-raising ceremony.  Businesspeople came out for the special day.  Each grabbed a tool belt and a hammer and set to work nailing.  As the ceremony drew near, Mr. R wove expertly in and out of the crowd of workers with a can of Liquid Nails.  The important people posed with the beaming soon-to-be homeowner in his not-yet living room as I wondered how to make sense of one new home in an area filled with poverty.

Our ancestors worked with their hands long before the Internet, iPhones, and the Digital Age.  I could argue that working with your hands like an auto mechanic or a carpenter fulfills a basic need in human beings:

Physical labor.

(Possibly) working outdoors.

Seeing your immediate product.

Doing something you really know how to do, losing yourself in work that is genuinely useful and has a certain integrity to it, all the while seeming to have a lot of fun (1) means no more fabric upholstered partition walls.

No more paper shuffling.

No more Excel spreadsheets.

Just you, left to the mercy of the elements and the constraints of your physical body.

Traffic?  Well... you might still have that.

--
(1) See NY Times' article, The Case for Working With Your Hands, by Matthew B. Crawford.  Here is the link: Link.

Let’s keep it short this week:

In film, is it a good thing to have minority representation even if the portrayal is possibly offensive or plays on stereotypes?  Is it worth it to have diversity at the expense of accuracy?  How would you feel if you were an actor/actress playing such a character?  One example is the Indian janitor in The Terminal.  His character's back story hints at corruption in the Indian police force.  I don't know if there is widespread corruption or this was the case of one individual, but the emotional context of Gupta Rajan's (the character) story informs my knowledge of India from that point on.  To this end, do filmmakers have a responsibility for making sure what they present is in line with reality -- creative license and all?

The word “sublime” brings to my mind Caspar D. Friedrich’s Wanderer Above a Sea of Mist (1818).  That which is sublime contains obscurity; immensity; even fear.  For instance, the man in Wanderer stands precariously on a mountaintop while observing the clouds below him—as viewers, we feel the deafening, eerie silence, the solemn uncertainty of the man’s stance, and the palpable feeling of not having a safe space to stand.  Sublimity necessitates elements such as obscurity, vastness, infinity, and ruggedness, invoking awe operating in a manner analogous to terror (Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry).

Although I’ve been to places that are beautiful, breathtaking, and containing spectacular views, the Grand Canyon is a different experience: it is not like a marvelous sunset, a hilltop view of the city below, the mountains and the clouds after the sun comes out on a rainy day, or the ocean waves.  Instead, it is an immense chasm whose size can scarcely be accurately imagined.  It is not waiting for someone to go explore it, but it is not exactly antagonistic (say, Mt. Everest).  It knows it will be there for a while.  The Grand Canyon is sublime, and its sublimity is attractive.

I don’t dare say I can conquer it because I’d be the first one needing to be rescued, nor do I really want to think I can conquer it because there are some things that should be accorded the respect that nature deserves, the Grand Canyon included.  Yet, there is this desire in me to at least grow close to it--to draw close to the heart of the Grand Canyon.  Even though I know it is a dead thing, or at least not live in the way people have emotions, there’s something kindred that I long to connect myself to anyway.