Because a Friend Said I Don't Blog Anymore...

Let me just say that as I enter my second year as an alumnus, I really don't have a lot to blog about. However, if you were to separate my five points as five individual blog entries, I update more often that what is perceived.

Besides that, here is the top 5:

5) I love Thanksgiving Day. It's the time I get to flex my cooking skills at its max. The only other time I get to do that is Christmas Day. Let me just say that it definitely does take some practice to improve efficiency and gain awesome results. I have a very long list of massive cooking fails from the turkey was still rare (NOT a good thing for poultry) to this sauce lacks taste. However, I've definitely gotten better. I don't consider it stressful at all. Just get a couple of beers and start cooking! I consider Thanksgiving Day as a practice round to Christmas in terms of being in the holiday spirit and cooking some awesome food.

I will definitely post some pictures.

4) Thanksgiving Day is also a personal reflection of what I am thankful for. While I am thankful for many things, I am especially thankful for my parents and for finding a decent job this year. I am thankful for my parents because they have continued to support me despite graduating from college. It has been a rough year trying to find employment. It would've been even more rough if I didn't have the love of my parents to still give me some support. This recession has definitely changed my mindset on how should I live as a person. I do want so many different things. However, I am happy with what I had during the year and I am still happy with my simple lifestyle. Nothing flashy, indeed. I hope I keep that mindset for the future years.

I'm also thankful for finding a job. The numbers do show that less people are being laid off. However, that still doesn't change the fact that the US still faces 10.2% unemployment and about 7% underemployment. I know that there are many people that struggle so hard since being unemployed. People have also lost their homes. I have seen some foreclosed homes in my neighborhood. Perhaps a good chunk of the blame does go to the individual families that have made poor financial choices in the last many years. On the other hand, it still does not change the fact that they don't deserve to suffer this hard. The capitalist society does have winners and losers, but the losers shouldn't lose everything that they have. Perhaps just a "big slap to the face" whatever that means.

3) Being in SoCal for almost a week has been great. It was a good way to spend the time before being a part of the workforce. Also, I have not eaten that good for a very long time. It brings me back to my college years when I didn't really care what I ate, which probably has cut a few years out of my lifespan. However, I still enjoyed the food. The only thing I did not get was the fries. However, there is a reason why I did not get it. It was because I had a massive breakfast burrito in Pasadena. It had the weight and the shape of a brick! It was six to seven links of breakfast sausage, eggs, a hash browns wrapped in a tortilla. It was effin' amazing! However, it definitely does exceed to recommended amount of calories for a day and then some. Getting the fries as well during the week would've been overkill. I love food, but I just rather not die because of it.

If you want a list of where I went, both the old places and the new ones, look at my Yelp account in a couple of days.

2) I always enjoy coming to SoCal for Liwanag events. To be honest, I have now hit the point where I personally am over it. Benefit Concert, Spirit Rally, the meetings themselves...you name it, I'm over it. Perhaps it's because the general overall message has not been as engaging as it was when during my first time as a Logger. However, that doesn't mean that I don't like going to Liwanag events. I will go just to support the community. Though the specific messages don't stick to me anymore, I love, really love, to simply praise God through song and "dance" around, something that I no longer do as a young adult. I also like spending the time with my friends, practically my second family away from home when I was living in Irvine. Perhaps my grades would've been better if I didn't join Liwanag. However, if I had an opportunity to do become an 18 year old freshman at UCI, I would not change anything. Actually, the only thing I would've change was to join in Fall 2004 instead of late Spring 2005. Though I have given up a slightly higher GPA, I have formed close, lifelong friends. It is definitely something that I could not have received by just hitting the books alone. I have gained so much being a college graduate.

1) The second entry has led me to a second question, "Where will I ultimately live in the future? NorCal or SoCal?" I have gotten two interesting response to this question from Melissa and Marites (Something you have to ask them about if you are ever curious). While I can see myself living in either part of the state, I lean more towards NorCal than SoCal. Quite honestly, if it weren't for friends, I would avoid SoCal altogether. The people there are not that great to begin with. They're extremely superficial in general. Also, I feel like it's extremely crowded, which is a fact considering that Los Angeles is the second largest metropolitan area in the country aside from New York City. Even going to SoCal last week for a vacation, I still felt a little tense and stressed. It just feels like everyone is rushing to go somewhere and do something. Also...no green! Everything is covered in buildings and asphalt. Everything else is just one barren desert, with a few exceptions. I do enjoy the weather and the beaches, but is that enough to convince me to convert to living in SoCal in the future? I just feel that in my opinion, the people in NorCal are a lot more chill. Everything is not as crowded. Also, there are still trees and greenery around. It may be cold here at times, but cold is good sometimes. Why can't winter be winter? Simply, I am a lot more comfortable and relaxed in NorCal. Perhaps I have a bias considering I have lived in NorCal my whole life except during college. On the other hand, remember that I really wanted to live in SoCal for a bit longer after college, until it became a massive fail (and I'm still glad it did considering this was before the massive economic collapse).

Despite what I ultimately choose, I still have the power to travel across the state, whether by plane or by car (I love driving across the state by the way. The anticipation for either friends or home home is a lot better when driving than by plane in my opinion). Who knows, perhaps I will move out of the state overall.

That's for my future to determine where I will go.

Since Thanksgiving has ended, here's an homage to the next major holiday, Christmas!



It's the way that it was presented that made it a fail. Otherwise, Jesus is most definitely the Reason for the Season.

Fo shizzle.

That is all.