Disclaimer: These are my point of views. I'm not imposing them on you!
This year has been a tough year. I've moved twice. I've been traveling nonstop. Dear has been having a hard time consistently. I've been having conflicts with so many people, and I didn't call for that. But that also means I've learned a lot and will be able to cope with these kind of situations easier in 2010.
These are things I've learned both directly and from others in 2009. I have no intention of ranting or attacking anyone, and I'm sure my good friends know that!
1) You can lose somebody you love any time.
2) If everything seems bad, but you have at least one person you can always talk to, then you're life is already good.
3) Don't lose hope when you lose a friend. There are a lot of good people left out there.
4) Don't flirt when you're already in a relationship, and don't flirt with people who already have a relationship. Flirting equals cheating.
5) Don't act like a baby and listen to people who care about you.
6) When something good happens to you, beware of gossip.
7) Stress can change somebody nice to an insensitive person.
8) Don't get in the way of ego-centric people. They're always right.
9) Generous people sometimes aren't nice people.
10) Stay away from cynics. They never see the good in human.
11) Backstabbing is everywhere.
12) Balance carefully between somewhere safe and somewhere cheap.
13) For me, hanging out with a few close friends at a quiet dinner is much more fun than partying with 15 people I don't know.
14) An irresponsible person isn't always a bad person.
15) Don't assume people are talking about you on their Facebook status, IM status, or blog. You're not the only one in his/her world.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Great things about this Christmas
I usually write Christmas things in my Thai blog (http://ashogay.spaces.live.com/), but I have a very good reason why to also update this US blog as well -- I've celebrated Christmas in USA this year.
Although it wasn't the same old Christmas, with the same vibe I get every year when I go to Siam Paragon or Central World or have that family and best friends reunion dinner at home, I still spent my time with my family and my best friend here: Dear.
Things have happened, great ones. I feel so good I had to write my feelings down.
1) The lost letter
First of all, in August, we moved from Michigan back to Los Angeles. Before moving, we filed a form to the US Immigrations, aka USCIS, to renew Dear's greencard. At that point, it was going to expire in September.
We didn't have an address in LA yet, so we used my cousin's. In October, my (other) cousin whose address I recently used, told me that USCIS had approved the greencard renewal application and told us that USCIS would send the new card to Dear in 30 days. The approval date was September 15, so we expected to get the card very soon.
From that point, we checked our mailbox industriously, sometimes even twice a day. The reason we needed that greencard so much was that we were planning to go back to Thailand to visit our parents in January. Not much time was left. We could have got Dear's passport stamped but still would need to go through a lot of hassle again.
We lost hope in December after visiting USPS just to receive an I-don't-care attitude from the staff.
However, about 2-3 days before Christmas, my cousin called me. It was good news! The card has arrived. Somebody had stolen the letter from my cousin's mailbox, probably because he thought it was a credit card, and returned it back. Thattaboy! Be good on Christmas!
To me it was kind of a miracle we got the lost card back, and that made me love Christmas even more.
2) My family and best friend
On Christmas eve, Dear and I made a lot of food together and enjoyed The Polar Express, You've Got Mail, and Ratatouille as a celebration. (They were on TV.) And on Christmas we played and sang a lot of songs together. Although we were here in USA, we felt home. Dear was here with me, and she was both a family and best friend to be with me on Christmas day. That's all I'm asking for.
3) The kid
Just today, we had a chance to visit one of our good friends. We had to meet at an Adventist church, which we've never been to before because I'm Catholic. We received a warm welcome and smile by everybody we met there, and throughout the congregation, a lot of Christmas songs were sung, ones I haven't heard in a while. Plus, there was a performance by a piano teacher and student that played together. All of this brought back my good memories during my childhood. I used to sing all those songs at school, and I used to play the piano with my teacher as well. I felt the child in me, and I love that feeling.
I don't expect these good things to stop, as we will be visiting Thailand in January, and Dear's interviews will pay off in March. So I'll be waiting with an optimistic mind. I hope it's fair to blame Christmas for all these good things happening to us.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Although it wasn't the same old Christmas, with the same vibe I get every year when I go to Siam Paragon or Central World or have that family and best friends reunion dinner at home, I still spent my time with my family and my best friend here: Dear.
Things have happened, great ones. I feel so good I had to write my feelings down.
1) The lost letter
First of all, in August, we moved from Michigan back to Los Angeles. Before moving, we filed a form to the US Immigrations, aka USCIS, to renew Dear's greencard. At that point, it was going to expire in September.
We didn't have an address in LA yet, so we used my cousin's. In October, my (other) cousin whose address I recently used, told me that USCIS had approved the greencard renewal application and told us that USCIS would send the new card to Dear in 30 days. The approval date was September 15, so we expected to get the card very soon.
From that point, we checked our mailbox industriously, sometimes even twice a day. The reason we needed that greencard so much was that we were planning to go back to Thailand to visit our parents in January. Not much time was left. We could have got Dear's passport stamped but still would need to go through a lot of hassle again.
We lost hope in December after visiting USPS just to receive an I-don't-care attitude from the staff.
However, about 2-3 days before Christmas, my cousin called me. It was good news! The card has arrived. Somebody had stolen the letter from my cousin's mailbox, probably because he thought it was a credit card, and returned it back. Thattaboy! Be good on Christmas!
To me it was kind of a miracle we got the lost card back, and that made me love Christmas even more.
2) My family and best friend
On Christmas eve, Dear and I made a lot of food together and enjoyed The Polar Express, You've Got Mail, and Ratatouille as a celebration. (They were on TV.) And on Christmas we played and sang a lot of songs together. Although we were here in USA, we felt home. Dear was here with me, and she was both a family and best friend to be with me on Christmas day. That's all I'm asking for.
3) The kid
Just today, we had a chance to visit one of our good friends. We had to meet at an Adventist church, which we've never been to before because I'm Catholic. We received a warm welcome and smile by everybody we met there, and throughout the congregation, a lot of Christmas songs were sung, ones I haven't heard in a while. Plus, there was a performance by a piano teacher and student that played together. All of this brought back my good memories during my childhood. I used to sing all those songs at school, and I used to play the piano with my teacher as well. I felt the child in me, and I love that feeling.
I don't expect these good things to stop, as we will be visiting Thailand in January, and Dear's interviews will pay off in March. So I'll be waiting with an optimistic mind. I hope it's fair to blame Christmas for all these good things happening to us.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Friday, December 4, 2009
The road trip (continued): The Grand Canyon
In case you don't remember, I blogged about our trip to Las Vegas several months ago. (http://ok-cool.blogspot.com/2009/09/road-trip-continued-las-vegas.html)
As I remember, we left Las Vegas around 2pm due to the problem of getting stuff into the car. (As a reminder, we're on a road trip.)
According to Google Maps, it's about 5-6 hours from Las Vegas, and of course it's even more when I drive because I like to stop and rest (and make a pee pee) every somewhat 100 miles.
Despite the summer climate, it was already dark when we reached there. It was around 8-9pm and thank God there's a McDonald's around entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park. We (I) bought some nuggets, filet-o-fish, and fries to survive the night.
The deeper we went into the park, the darker it got, and because it's a park, there's not much artificial light. In fact, I remember seeing a moose or the like.
We reached our lodging place about an hour later. It wasn't far, but we were kind of lost and couldn't find the exact place we were staying. After several phone calls and driving around the same one-way paths, we finally checked in.
Now remember that we were moving. Each destination we go, we need to get our essential stuff out of the car. By essential, I meant instant noodles, the water boiler, precious items, and clothes. Thanks to Dear, we bought a couple of flash lights back in Vegas. Otherwise, we would never be able to find all our stuff.
Once we got everything ready, we walked to our room. We noticed we were walking along some sort of canyon but it was dark and we couldn't see anything. Once we got to the room, we were starving. Turtle and Dear made instant noodles using the coffee maker while I had my McDonald's. That concluded our day.
The next day we woke up and was impressed by the amazing view outside our windows. It was the canyon!
After checking out and spending about another half hour to pack our stuff back into the car, we figured maybe we should ship more of our stuff to Michigan. We visited the post office and did some "weight lifting", i.e. shipping a guitar amplifier, a DVD player, and a lamp to Ann Arbor.
We rested a little bit when we were done.
Then we headed to the hot spots.
The view was just amazing!
Even the dogs liked the Grand Canyon.
Our next stop was Utah, so we decided to leave before it's late. I don't like driving when it's dark.
As I remember, we left Las Vegas around 2pm due to the problem of getting stuff into the car. (As a reminder, we're on a road trip.)
According to Google Maps, it's about 5-6 hours from Las Vegas, and of course it's even more when I drive because I like to stop and rest (and make a pee pee) every somewhat 100 miles.
Despite the summer climate, it was already dark when we reached there. It was around 8-9pm and thank God there's a McDonald's around entrance of the Grand Canyon National Park. We (I) bought some nuggets, filet-o-fish, and fries to survive the night.
The deeper we went into the park, the darker it got, and because it's a park, there's not much artificial light. In fact, I remember seeing a moose or the like.
We reached our lodging place about an hour later. It wasn't far, but we were kind of lost and couldn't find the exact place we were staying. After several phone calls and driving around the same one-way paths, we finally checked in.
Now remember that we were moving. Each destination we go, we need to get our essential stuff out of the car. By essential, I meant instant noodles, the water boiler, precious items, and clothes. Thanks to Dear, we bought a couple of flash lights back in Vegas. Otherwise, we would never be able to find all our stuff.
Once we got everything ready, we walked to our room. We noticed we were walking along some sort of canyon but it was dark and we couldn't see anything. Once we got to the room, we were starving. Turtle and Dear made instant noodles using the coffee maker while I had my McDonald's. That concluded our day.
The next day we woke up and was impressed by the amazing view outside our windows. It was the canyon!
After checking out and spending about another half hour to pack our stuff back into the car, we figured maybe we should ship more of our stuff to Michigan. We visited the post office and did some "weight lifting", i.e. shipping a guitar amplifier, a DVD player, and a lamp to Ann Arbor.
We rested a little bit when we were done.
Then we headed to the hot spots.
The view was just amazing!
Even the dogs liked the Grand Canyon.
Our next stop was Utah, so we decided to leave before it's late. I don't like driving when it's dark.
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