Traveling with Someone New

This year, my friend S and I decided to travel together to South America. We have been talking about it since college. Over the weekend, I came into a realization that we had a few differences in our ideas of a vacation. So I advise you to ask yourself and anyone who you'll be traveling with, these questions before you decide to do anything. This way, it's clear from the start what both of you want and expect from the trip.

1) What is your idea of a vacation?
2) What do you plan to do and not do?
3) How do you like to travel? Bus, Train, Walk, Hitchhike, etc.
4) How adventurous are you while traveling?
5) What's your budget for food, hotel, etc.?
6) How much recovery time do you need after the trip?
7) How much time will you have to prepare for the trip?
8) What can you help plan for the trip and by when?
9) Will you have time to help plan the trip?
10) Do you prefer to explore on your own or go with a tour group?


Day of Decision Rally, Hollywood, CA.

Do You Have an Expiration Date for Your Friendship?

I can still remember that phone conversation clearly. It must have been about 5-7 years ago since then that I felt completely confused and disappointed about a certain friendship.

After being away in college for a year, I made a phone call that summer to an old friend from high school. I knew that I should have tried to make an effort to keep in touch with her sooner because we were quite close before. But a friendship takes two and that was our first phone call. I remember that I happily shared things with her about my first year in college, but when it came time for her to share, she went quiet. She simply said that she felt like I was now a complete stranger and that it would be too much to explain. So what can you say to something like that? I was speechless. I apologized and told her that I'm sorry that she felt that way and how things turned out. Inside I felt like part of me was crushing. I never thought that her idea of friendship would be so different from my own.

Sure, time can weaken a relationship, but I don't think that it can completely erase the experiences and memories with someone into complete strangers. Or at least this is how it is for me. Life takes you to different places and you get lost sometimes with certain people. But when our paths do cross again, these moments make me happy that we've found one another again no mater how long it may have been. And even if our paths were to never cross, I would never think of them as a complete stranger. I would say that was my friend from .....whatever that is.

Maybe I'm just low maintenance when it comes to friendships. I don't need to constantly hang out or talk to someone on a weekly/monthly/etc. schedule. And if you need this from me then it would probably annoy the hell out of me that you'd even expect this unless you're going through tough times or something then I would of course be there for you. We'll talk and hang out when we can.


Friendship in the middle of the Dessert

A Little Bit of Echo Park

What I saw one Saturday morning in Echo Park, CA.

Office Experiment

One of my co-worker saw this magic show on TV, where a magician brings a frozen fly back to life, so he decided to see if he could do the same. Later, I found this fly in one of our ice trays (I know, ewww!) and told him that he was lucky because I just found a fly for his experiment. It turned out that he put it there, so I thought, why wait...let's see if it's true.

So he took out the fly and tried to warm it in his hands and fingers. That didn't work. He blew some air into his hands. That didn't work. Then I tried my own experiment and put a paper towel over a cup of hot water to see if the steam could heat up the fly. That didn't work. So yeah, if you have ever been curious, now you know. This is a myth. It does not work!


It's Alive!

Abandoned Car

What a sight. Found this car in a parking lot near my work today. Everything that could possibly be taken was gone including the seats and stereo. I feel bad for the unknown owner. As the economy get worse, I feel like the increase in unemployment will drive more people to commit crimes and do other things that they may not normally do just to get by. I'm not saying that you have to be unemployed to be a thief, but I think that you're more likely to steal when you can't afford things...other than that, you're just plain greedy.

Snacks at Work. Good or Bad?

I think that it's great that my work provides snacks and occasional lunch and desserts. To me, it's a way for the company to show their employees that they think of them. These may not be the healthiest things to munch on while you're at work, but they can't cater to everyone's personal diet. Besides, you're not forced to eat them. So if you do gain weight then it's all your own fault for lack of discipline.


Would You Snack on These?

Less Traffic + Jaelyn

Driving to and from work has been so much more enjoyable these past couple of weeks due to the decrease in traffic. It's quite sad actually if you were to really think about it. Less people are driving now because they're out of a place to drive to for work. I also noticed that when I was at the store the other day, most people were only buying the essentials like toothpaste, shampoo and detergent and not so much of things like clothes and books. People are saving more because they're running low on cash. There are now more people holding signs along the streets in clean and dirty clothes. The recent layoff waves is effecting everyone without any discrimination. You can be a top designer or the teacher of the year and it would still doesn't matter. I'm scared for my friends who are without jobs and have bills to pay. I wish I were a billionaire so I could help them out. I feel a little bit guilty sharing ideas of going to places when I know that they can't join me. I'm sure that many friendships must have been broken by now between the haves and have-nots.

On a brighter note, Congratulations to one of my best friend, Mong, who recently gave birth this morning to a healthy baby girl, Jaelyn : ) Welcome to the family. You'll have so much love in your life.


9th Month