Category: Uncategorized

There was something profoundly sad about Christmas this year, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there are as many COVID cases this year as there were this time last year, but the difference is that business are open, parties are raging, and family gatherings are more accepted. The world moves on. Carolers are back on the streets, Santa’s taking pictures again. Social media is ablaze with holiday festivities, and the people who are forced to quarantine are feeling more lonely than they would have last year.

Maybe it’s sad because the numbers this year are close to the same numbers last year, despite the fact that there are effective vaccines that are being administered for free in the United States. People are getting careless about masking and handwashing.

With each passing day, it creeps closer and closer to my circle. I now know people who have gotten it and others who have passed away from it. I’m a pessimist. I’m counting down the days until I get it, and hopefully I won’t pass it onto my elderly relatives. Knock on wood.

Every year during the holidays I think about the homeless. We get to spend our time with family and friends, and all they have are each other. I can’t empathize with how they must feel, watching society’s celebration while being cast aside, unwanted. We don’t really even see them this time of year. I think some part of them knows people don’t want to see them, and the situation with COVID makes things even worse.

Although maybe it’s sad because we believe in an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent God who seems to be letting all of this happen. He’s got a plan, I guess. Maybe our time is up, and this is where the end begins.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.

P.S. I thought I already made a post on my prediction of the imminent end of civilization, but I must have written it somewhere else. I’ll post it up next month, if we’re still around then.

—

Sources:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailycases

The older I get, the more people I meet who need help.

Maybe it’s arrogant of me even to say it. But in my years, I’ve come to notice patterns in peoples’ behavior and speech that point to some underlying issues, or important turning points in their pasts.

I wish I wasn’t able to spot these clues. I’ve always been the type of person to help others before helping myself. I’d rather starve than let my friend go hungry. It’s also in my personality to endlessly analyze and dissect things until I understand them to their core. These two are dangerous together.

I have taught myself to tone down these two aspects of my personality. Or rather, I have taught myself to stop acting on these urges, because they were harming my relationships and my own health. Still, I find it easier to “diagnose” a complete stranger than a close friend or family member.

Because of that, I get the feeling I shouldn’t take my first impression of a person too seriously. This is especially true if I’m not able to find something “wrong” with that person in the first impression. Some are able to hide it well; others have deeper issues that don’t affect their personalities in a strong way; others yet may just have no issues at all.

When I was younger, an older friend of mine pointed out: “As you get older, you will start to see patterns in people. There are only a small number of the types of people in the world, and you can quickly make accurate judgements about them.” That was 2014. I never thought I’d see the day. It’s also not what I expected to happen while becoming wiser in my age. I’m also not quite sure what to do with these superpowers.

If I’ve met you recently, hello! Also, I may have made some mental judgements about you. I’m sorry.

In other news, I’m finding myself becoming more comfortable in social situations (I guess a year and a half of studying social things in quarantine has been helpful), and thus becoming more confident in myself. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. I still hate small talk, though. Get that away from me.

There aren’t enough hours in the day to do the things I want / need to do. And that’s just part of being an adult. Or so I hear.

This blog post is probably going to be real boring.

Between juggling studying different things, practicing music, catching up with friends, and the numerous projects I’m working on, I have to choose between sacrificing sleep, social life, or relaxing. I’m sure everyone’s seen the Venn diagrams before.

As an adult, a few changes are made: “Good Grades” is replaced with “Performing well at work,” and another circle (“good parenting”) is added if you have kids. Yet another circle is added if you have other projects to work on. And it kinda gets hard to represent it in a 2D image.

It’s difficult to decide what to sacrifice, but it’s imperative that sacrifices be made, because there aren’t enough hours in the day.

Something that can help you decide what to sacrifice is that first Venn diagram–Figure g (for green). If you have something in your life that doesn’t fit into any of those circles, you can cut it out. It’s especially important to consider that top circle–“What I Love,” is not “What I Like.” If it doesn’t bring you immense joy, and doesn’t fit into the other circles, cut it out from your life.

It occurs to me that something like raising children might not fall into any of these circles, but you might not know whether you like raising kids until you have ’em. Use your best judgment.

My problem is that most of the things I do right now fit into these circles, but not the bottom one. And I’m realizing that I can probably cut video gaming out of my life. It only fits into the top circle.

I’m glad this blog post changed from me complaining about not having time… to reassessing my life choices.

Maybe I’ll start drinking coffee.

Y’know, the simplest way to solve humanity’s problems is to end humanity. Although I’m not saying this solution is desirable, nor am I saying this solution should be pursued. It’s there if we need it. I guess.

What’s the cause for all this alarm? Well, where do you want me to start?

Most of humanity’s problems have incredibly complex solutions (other than the aforementioned), and the ones that have simple solutions are difficult to implement. There is no easy solution to global warming, or the evil of capitalism, or the fact that private tech companies have the ability to spy on us. We actually have overwhelming evidence that these things are issues, and it seems like nobody cares about them.

The climate in Seattle has gotten more extreme. The hot days have become unbearable, and it snows every winter. Hurricanes hit the East Coast of the US every year (a phenomenon caused when the Atlantic Ocean heats up in the late summer months, by the way). Large parts of California are on fire all summer. These are not normal things to be happening. Yet climate change deniers and perpetuators prevail. It snowed in Texas last year and people died or something? Yeah. Not normal.

People talk about democratic socialism or communism like they’re legitimate alternatives to capitalism, but these political ideologies are destined to fail because they require the perfect combination of criteria to succeed. The most important of which being: honesty and integrity from everyone involved. Humans are not always so. Any vision of an earthly utopia comes from naivete.

And yes, your mobile devices are always listening to you. You can’t speak to activate your Alexa if it’s not listening to you at all times. But what are you going to do about it? Put on a tin foil hat? No. There’s nothing you can do about it. Nothing. Your phone knows where you are (even without Location turned on) and it’s always listening.

Business practices are getting more malevolent, megacorporations are getting even bigger, and the common person is more than willing to contribute to it. Don’t get me started on Apple and their business policies. Steve Jobs was outspokenly unphilanthropic and is still lauded as one of the greatest humans to walk the earth. His evil lives on through his company.

There are unending wars in southeast Asia. Our president can’t speak and can barely stay awake. Chinese companies now own huge pockets of real estate in the States. Our future is looking fairly Chinese. And on top of all this, AI is expanding at an uncontrollable rate.

I’m going to stop. There are too many issues in the world for me to cover in a few blog posts. All we can do is wait and see what will happen.

Good night, and good luck.

I just got back from a trip to Los Angeles with a handful of my friends, and I wanted to document my thoughts on LA while they’re fresh in my mind. Here are a few assorted rambled thoughts in no particular order.

I don’t think I’d survive living there. I’m not used to the density or the lack of green, but I do like the diversity of options at any given time. The sweltering heat and my pale Seattle skin do not get along, but I’m sure I could get used to it.

People in LA are incredibly nice to strangers, which was a pleasant surprise. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with the person standing in line next to you in the grocery store or at the gym. In Seattle, we just look at you funny. “Why are you talking to me? Leave me alone.” I’m definitely more comfortable with the latter.

Every retail store has a security guard on site, as do many fast food restaurants. I wonder how useful they can be. I assume they’re there just as deterrent, but I didn’t get to witness any of them in action. A good number of the security guards are elderly men with lingering eyes.

Yes, before you ask, the average level of attractiveness in Los Angeles is higher than that in Seattle. Everybody has really nice skin. Must be the sun. I burned very quickly and stayed burnt the whole week. There were many, many people of Latin descent. So many so that they seemed like the majority. Fewer white and black people than I expected to see. Either way, there are tons of gorgeous women around and everybody knows it. The skincare / makeup industry must do very well here. Or maybe it’s the pollution.

LA tap water is filthy, and gave me a strange feeling in my stomach when I tried to drink it filtered. We stuck with bottled water after that, except when drinking water in restaurants. I’m not sure if they serve non-tap water in restaurants or if my body got used to it near the end, but those problems faded about halfway through the week.

The food is either very cheap or incredibly overpriced. I had a pastrami sandwich that costed $20. A normal-sized sandwich, one that you could make with bread from a grocery store. But also, my entire meal at In-n-Out cost less than $10. I’m not sure of the explanation for this discrepancy, other than relative fame of the restaurant. The sandwich was from Langer’s, home to the self-proclaimed best pastrami in the world. The In-n-Out was from In-n-Out.

The homeless run rampant there. Tents are set up in various locations, off to the side of streets. There is garbage everywhere, the streets smell like piss, and you’d be hard-pressed not to go a day without seeing puke on a sidewalk.

But despite this, people flock here, seeing it as the land of opportunity. Many careers require connections. Dense population equals connections. It makes me sad to think about the number of people who move to LA from Nowhere, USA, only to end up on the streets. The bar for talent is incredibly high, and very few people in the world are able to be in the right place at the right time.

Drivers are wishy-washy, if not incredibly willing to let others in. It was surprising. I expected everybody to drive aggressively, and was preparing myself for such. They’re not aggressive, just bold in strange ways. Taking a left across multiple lanes of traffic, not caring about halting oncoming traffic. That sort of thing.

I need to go on a diet.