The Things We Do

Here is my top 5:

5) First off, it's just so crazy that because of work, I have to adjust my sleeping times. Because of the adjustment, I now wake up so early, even on weekends! I do get my 6-8 hrs of sleep, which is definitely a good thing (and a healthy thing because apparently people who get 5 hrs or less every night have a significantly higher chance of dying early). However, I find it bizarre because when I was in college and even the one year after college when I was unemployed, I used to stay up crazy late and sleep at around 0400 or even 0500. I do love the early mornings because it's a lot cooler than later in the day, there's something eerily beautiful about the early sunrise, and I feel like I do a lot more things than when I was waking up and sleeping late (but in actuality, not really). For those still in school, it's definitely something I would suggest trying out or even adjusting into after finishing, or at the very least get 7-8 hrs of sleep somehow. Your body will thank you tremendously for it.

4) My sister and I were talking about how when we were kids, we used to dream about making it big and getting rich. Now at our respected ages, we have accepted the fact that it might not happen. I believe we will definitely live a lot more comfortably in our later years, but I doubt we will ever be millionaires. I think this is fine. If getting rich was my ultimate goal in life, I probably would've been in business or finance, but that involves a lot of work to actually accumulate so much. Winning the lottery is also another possibility, but that's an extremely low possibility. On the other hand, I believe that as long as I can be responsible with my finances and not buy expensive, stupid shit, I think I will be fine.

3) I find it hilarious as to how everyone is at an uproar as to how Facebook's privacy settings is not effective enough. Now they have changed the privacy settings to make it more simple for the average user to adjust things accordingly. However, aside from the simple things like not displaying your birthday year (which is a good idea because it helps in protecting against ID theft), refusing access to tagged photos of you, and removing contact information like addresses and phone numbers, I don't understand what the whole uproar is. I understand that ID theft is a big issue, but I'm assuming people are not angry about this because they want to protect their actual identities. I believe they're angry because they want protection from the dumb shit they post on their profiles.

First off, people seriously need to realize that the internet is not a secure place to be in. There really isn't a high degree of privacy that you can expect. Therefore, DON'T POST THINGS THAT YOU REALLY DON'T WANT OTHERS TO KNOW ABOUT! I mean, honestly, is that so hard to follow? Is your only way of venting about things or expressing yourself of the dumb shit that you do is to post about it on Facebook or the internet in general? If you're that much of an idiot to post pictures how drunk you were in the club or create a status comment on who you fucked that night or make a blog of how stupid your boss or teacher is and expect a degree of security or privacy to protect you, you should be hit in the back of the head! If you really need to express this stuff, talk to a real friend OR find real friends, depending on your situation.

Also, yes, I will admit that I post dumb shit on my Facebook or on this blog and I do want some degree of privacy. However, I don't really care who reads about it.

2) I had a recent discussion about taking risks and pursuing what I want to do in life. In my last few posts, I have talked about being happy with what I have, and I still am. However, I still think about if I can do so much more with myself and what exactly is that? Is it getting an ideal job? What exactly is an ideal job for me in the first place? Am I destined to be single for life? Actually, do I really want to raise a family? What exactly is the one thing or multiple things that I should strive for so I can say that I have done something useful for myself/contributed to the world/served God with my all? Perhaps this is the new challenge to ask as a young adult. The possibilities are endless...and that's what makes this so difficult. I think I'm so used to a certain structure or order in my life that it's frustrating to have no direction. Order definitely gives comfort, but I think risk and chaos forces us to mature much faster, to think harder as to what we want, and ultimately give us the most success in our lives. At least that's what's happening to me at the moment.

1) I'm definitely enjoying this Memorial Day weekend. This is technically my last guaranteed holiday weekend (because the airport is a 24-hour place). I love this part of the year because my allergies are starting to die down (however, I should have gotten some allergy medicine earlier), it's getting hot, and I tend to eat a lot less because it's just too hot to eat so much. In fact a majority of my lunches at work have been salads. I'm still aiming to slim down much more because I would like to live past 60, or at the very least avoid diabetes.

Also, Memorial Day is when we remember those that have served this country in the military and have given their time, energy, and sometimes their lives to protect us from harm. For those in the past and in the present who are still serving in the armed forces...

Thank you.

That is all.

It's Still Real To Me

My top five of the moment:

5) I'm very excited to go to SoCal this coming weekend. It's going to be a very awesome and well deserved weekend since I would like to catch up with everyone face-to-face and my entire trip is being funded by my working dollars. Here's to being a grown-up.

4) I, and perhaps a lot of my other fellow Catholics, are definitely not happy with the lack of action from the Vatican in regards to this now global priest sex abuse scandal. Actually I am quite pissed off about it. I thought we took care of this back in the early 2000s. I guess not. It's not great that the Church has failed miserably to eliminate all these abusive priests. I'm hoping that especially since the Pope has met with a few of the victims that their efforts will be doubled to eliminate these priests. I'm not asking for priests to be married or to allow women to become priests. This situation is not the time to reform the priesthood. What I want is these priests gone and in a jail cell.

Justice needs to be even swifter this time.

3) I started having a few dreams in this early part of the year. Perhaps it's because I'm getting better sleep? However, I wish I didn't have to remember my dreams. I always end up being teary eyed. Is there something wrong here?

2) I believe a new passion of mine will be cooking. I'm learning how to cook my mom's food. Not easy considering there are no exact measurements. However, I'm getting used to adjusting things for them to taste great. I also bought a few cookbooks (Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, and Isa Moskowitz). In about a year, maybe I'll be ready to cook my own food when I get my own place, and maybe even be proud enough to feed you hungry folks with something as well.

1) My coworkers and I were talking about this video:



It's just hilarious how this middle-age man still believes in wrestling.

That is all.

My Life So Far This Year

My top 5 of the moment:

5) Work has been interesting. I'm learning things that I thought I never had to use like the plants and insect lessons in a general biology class. Otherwise, I like that I get to learn about different food products from other countries. Hopefully, I can catch a few Mandarin phrases to make my job a little easier.

4) In two years, I get the opportunity to do temporary assignments in other parts of the country and even around the world. It would be nice to live in a foreign country for a bit. I love California, but I want to squeeze every moment I have with this job. I would even like to have a different flavor and maybe work in the San Diego area for a while. The land border is most definitely a different feel than the airport. Living in Southern California has been a dream for me since graduating from college. It would be nice to live there even for just a month. At least I'm getting paid to do it.

3) I have been very stagnant about my faith recently. It's hard enough to maintain my connection with God when I feel like my church is starting to go backwards to the pre-Vatican II era. I definitely have a better appreciation for the Latin stuff, but I'm just not feeling it with all the somber sentiment. Sure we are in the Lenten season right now and it's always a somber season. However, it's somber all year long. I wish I could switch parishes, but my family likes going to this church. I've become a little more disillusioned with all the priest child abuse scandals going around as well. I will definitely never trust any priest with my kids, ever. Actually, I probably wouldn't trust the care to my kids to anyone.

2) I've been curious about going vegan for a while. At the very least, go vegetarian. I bought a vegan cookbook and I've been wanting to try it out. I've just been scoping around the various grocery stores around my area for items that I wanted to try. The good news is that Trader Joe's and Whole Foods have a lot of these items. However, they can be pretty pricey. On the other hand, what's a few dollars more for healthier items compare to hundreds or even thousands of dollars of health care fees from being chronically ill?

I need to try to get back to my attempts to lose weight soon. I've noticed that ever since I started working, I've been eating a lot more. Not a good sign. I have been eating healthier items, but I just need to control the amounts. Also, I need to exercise more. I want those muscles to accompany the uniform and also relieve some stress.

1) I believe the someday in the future there will be a few cultures that will die off. Mostly it is because of the globalization. However, in some cases, they will just be knocked out though the evolutionary process. The first I believe will be the Japanese. Why, you ask?





I don't know what's even more funny. The fact that they have pillows for girlfriends or the fact that they have pajamas on while having pillows for girlfriends.

That is all.

What Does Health Care Reform Mean For Me?

There's a lot of buzz about the recently passed Health Care Reform (which I am surprised that it did pass). Kudos to the President and the Congress. However, what does this reform mean to us? How will we receive health care? Is it a government takeover? Does this mean higher taxes? There are definitely a lot of news articles, opinion articles, blogs, and the like. However, I, and probably all of you, just want a straight-up answer as to what will Health Care Reform do to my health care (or even lack thereof)? Here are four pretty good articles that are sort of like FAQs on the big concepts of Health Care Reform. I do recommend these because they have educated me about what we are sort of getting into starting this year.

The first is an NPR article titled "What Health Overhaul Will Mean For You." The title of the article says it all. What will it mean to you, the consumer, since this has now passed?

Next is an article from FactCheck.org called "A Final Weekend of Whoppers?" It talks about the big talking points used by both Democrats and Republicans in the health care debate and if they are actually true.

Another one is from PolitiFact called "Top 10 facts to know about health care reform." It's a similar article from the FactCheck.org one. However, there are a few different questions asked, especially in regards to abortion and the coverage of illegal immigrants.

Finally, this NPR articles called "What Are The Immediate Effects of Health Bill Passing?" It discusses what are the immediate changes to health care starting this year. If you're especially under 26 years old, you may want to take a look at this article carefully.

Hopefully these articles will help answer at least most, if not all, of your questions.

That is all.