Today I woke up at 7:30, 9:00, 10:05, and finally at 12:00. It's going to be one of those 12:00 days.
I used to time my computer usage so that I wouldn't be on the computer so much. I did this up until the end of last month. Every time I would sit down to use the computer I would put a timer on myself that would count down (from 99:00 minutes at first) until 00:00. When 00:00 would hit the alarm would sound and I would immediately force myself to turn off my computer. Everyday after that I would reduce my computer time privilege by 1:00 minute. I did this all the way until around 55:00 minutes or so. But since then I just sort of forgot about it. Mainly because I only use my computer for studying now. But alas, I sometimes still get sidetracked.
During those days the weather was less disagreeable and my spirits were higher. I was freer to go off and explore nearby cities on foot, by bicycle, or with local transportation. Due to the tundra climate my city has been experiencing this month I've been limited to the confines of my mansion and nearby area. No adventures to report on just yet. Just a lot of studying.
12:00 days never have any sort of agenda, but I'm going to try to do some meaningful things today anyway. I'm going to turn off my computer right now and see what happens.
It's official: I'm going far far away, once again. This time, Japan: an isolated nation filled with cutting edge technology, rich culture, and Pokemon.
As usual, the above video is related. It's the theme song for everything I'm feeling at the moment. I'm going to a foreign land, thousands of miles away, where everyone will look, sound, and perhaps smell different than me. Even the chorus line, "Lordy don't leave me, all by myself" is relevant to how I'm feeling. It reminds me of the fact that I'm going to be away from all my close friends and family for at least a year. And maybe more, depending on where my journey takes me.
A year ago I started looking into opportunities that could take me abroad; teaching English was the most popular way to do this. I began to investigate opportunities located in Korea, Mexico, Spain, China, Costa Rica, Guatemala and of course, Japan. At first I was hesitant about applying to these programs. What if I didn't like it? What if I was wasting my time? What if I don't make enough money to pay off my student loans while I'm teaching? What if something happens to my family while I'm away? What if, what if, what if. After months of careful research I found the ideal program for me in Japan: The JET Program.
I applied to the JET Program along with two of my close friends. After assembling all the application materials and writing our Statements of Purpose we sent out our deliverables and hoped for the best. We knew our chances were slim though, considering how the program had a low acceptance rate of about 15%. After months of waiting the three of us found out together that our days of toiling away at the application process were not going to be awarded. Neither of us were given an interview for the position and it was a dark day for everyone. "How could they not accept me?" was what we all thought to ourselves. Nobody I knew could understand why, after reading my Statement of Purpose, they wouldn't take me in for at least an interview. The universe works in mysterious ways.
After a day of living in remorse I was able to snap myself out of my "the world is ending" pattern of thinking. After all, my next plan of action was to apply to another program in Japan just in case I didn't get into JET (but I won't mention the name of the company here). That company has accepted me for a full-time position beginning in May and it's going to change my life forever. I'll elaborate more on this tomorrow. For now, have a read of the Statement of Purpose that didn't get me into the JET Program. I may not have gotten into my Number 1 Program, but sometimes life throws us a detour and it's up to us to make the most of it. For now, I am happily content.
JET Statement of Purpose
(November 2009)
I walked into an elevator in Japan occupied by a local Japanese couple and wanted to go to the third floor. I faced the Japanese couple and said, “san, onegai shimasu.” They looked at me confused, unsure of what I was requesting. I repeated again, “san, onegai shimasu.” They looked at each other, laughed, and then pressed the number “3” button on the elevator. At the time I couldn’t understand why they were puzzled. The answer came after I woke up.
I have never been to Japan. The story above was a dream I had recently: my first in Japanese. I started learning Japanese this past August from a book called “The Everything Conversational Japanese Book.” For the past three months I have been teaching myself how to speak and listen in Japanese. “San, onegai shimasu” sounded like “three please” to me in the dream. After asking a friend what I did wrong he told me that I forgot to add the word “gai” to my request, which would have indicated the floor of the building. I had only been learning Japanese for a week when this dream occurred and my subconscious brain was already practicing and making mistakes while I was asleep.
Learning about different cultures of the world is just as important as learning about our own. I realized this last year after living in Hong Kong for four months as an exchange student, and also while traveling to nearby countries like Korea and the Philippines. After becoming interested in JET I began teaching myself Japanese in order to prepare myself for another cultural immersion in the near future. As an aspiring JET participant I want to promote cultural exchange on all levels, to facilitate deeper levels of understanding between Japan and America.
Japanese is not the first language I have tried learning on my own. My heritage is Mexican-American but my parents never taught me Spanish; I had to learn it on my own. In college I took Spanish courses that were not required of my major: business. I was shy to speak Spanish and struggled with learning it. However, after making many mistakes and learning from them I was able to pass a third level college Spanish class, attaining a lot of practical usage while living around the greater Los Angeles area. Therefore, I am acquainted with the difficulty and frustrations that accompany learning another language. This will allow me to better relate with my students in Japan as an ALT.
As a member of a renowned speech organization, Toastmasters International, I have learned how to speak properly when delivering speeches. Not only will I be fearless when presenting material to students in class but I will also be able to teach them techniques such as enunciation and how to speak with confidence. Prior to being a Toastmaster I developed an outgoing persona as a student leader with the Latino Business Student Association (LBSA). I spoke at meetings, assisted fellow students with homework, and helped plan events. Engaging in these activities helped me get out of my comfort zone and helped me become a leader.
I enjoy meeting new people everywhere I go, especially while traveling. In Hong Kong I met people from all over the world, including Japan. People from Japan spoke to me in English; however, it wasn’t as easy to communicate with them compared to somebody from China or Korea (where English is also a second language). Based on these interactions I could tell that the Japanese could use more help with their English education. When I found out about the JET Programme and its mission of promoting international exchange I immediately recognized myself to be well suited for it. Compared to other teach abroad programs JET has the best reputation for providing support and memorable experiences to its participants. In today’s global economy the world is becoming smaller and cultural awareness is becoming more important. As an internationally conscious individual I feel it is necessary to embrace this movement.
My desire for wanting to participate in the JET Programme is simple and straightforward: I’m dreaming of Japan, and based on what you first read, I’m not exaggerating.
-Wake up after McDonald's breakfast hours.
-Change your clothes and nobody knows outside the house.
-Eat the same thing at least three times during the day.
-Clean up the files in your computer.
-Wonder what that smell is.
-Lay down but don't fall asleep.
-Get to know your pet better.
-Preplan your next conquest.
-Recover from recovering.
-Get back to something you've been putting off for weeks.
-Listen to the same three songs over and over.
-Wonder if anybody else in the world accomplished anything today.
-Get back to something you've been putting off for months.
-Catch up with an old friend.
-Realize how far you've come with something.
-Count the keys on your keyboard (106 on my Mac keyboard).
-Discover what a "chevron" is.
-Help a friend.
-Don't give a damn.
-Realize how far away you are from accomplishing something.
-Watch 2.7 hours of television.
-Wait for the day to end nine hours ahead of time.
-Refresh your email 28 times too many.
-Wait around for something to happen.
-Wonder if your friends are having as much fun as you.
-See yourself in the mirror twice.
-Wonder what on earth that smell could be.
-Hope that tomorrow is 100% different than today.
Look at all the happy diverse people in the picture above. Equality: it's finally here!
Life is a gamble. Ever since the day you were conceived there were odds being placed on you as to whether or not you would reach your mother's egg. You're probability of being born was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000,000 to 1. How unbelievably improbable! Why did you even bother in the first place? You'd have a better shot at winning the lottery.
Since your arrival into this world you've been faced with other probability affairs as well. Such events have included your likelihood in being picked for a sports team, your acceptance into colleges, your chances of ending up in prison (depending largely on your ethnic background), your adoption into an organization, your candidacy for a job, and your odds of getting into a car accident on a daily basis.
Whoever didn't take statistics in school is missing out. Luck is almost as important as skill and it's why we have so many different superstitions floating around to accommodate for it. The rabbit's foot, wishing wells, and women blowing on our dice are all myths that have no way of ever being proven or disproved. Instead of disqualifying any of these old wives' tales I'd say you'd be better off embracing them. Skill can only get us so far in life and sometimes we need to call upon luck to be on our side.
Fatigue is a problem that plagues us all. It gets in the way of us exercising, completing homework, applying for law school, starting a business, traveling the world, starting a music career, investing capital, going to the beach (to relax), and finishing the many projects we started long ago but can never seem to find the time to complete now. No wonder there's a $10 billion dollar industry revolving around The War on Fatigue. And that' no red bullshit.
Everyone wishes they had more energy. More energy = more time. More time = doing more things. Doing more things = living life more. And who doesn't want that? It's like my friend Josef once said to me about our intramural basketball team: "[We need to] pass more, shoot more, score more, win more." "More" of everything tends to be favored in life. The more the better.
I'm somewhat of a purist when it comes to substances entering my body. Generally, I try to stay as far away as I can from products overwhelmed with caffein, ginseng, and sugar. Diabetes is rampant in my family and I don't intend on encouraging Type 1 or 2 to become a part of my daily routine anytime soon. Whenever I need more energy in my day all I need to do is one simple activity: dancing. It'll snap you right out of whatever funk, slump, or chump mood you're in. Just get up, put some music on, and dance like your on the stage of Soul Train! Do this for about five minutes (if you're physically able to). By about the third minute you'll be telling yourself, "Man, I wish I was doing something sedentary like writing a paper or drawing a cartoon." When the fifth minute comes you'll be gasping for air; five minutes of straight dancing can do this to you. Benefits from dancing include:
Trying out all your latest dance moves
Getting to know one of your favorite songs better
Working up a sweat
Feeling rejuvenated
The first three benefits are more like convenient side effects. The real benefit you should be after though is the last one: "Feeling rejuvenated." It seems counterintuitive, but using up energy to dance will actually create more energy in your body and will zap your brain into becoming more alert. Think of all those beats you just hit! Your mind was really working at full capacity, that is, assuming you were trying to dance on beat.
You can use this fresh burst of energy towards whatever you like. Just don't get sucked into thinking that you're tired again. Then you're going to have to get up and dance to The Backstreet Boys all over again.
Problem solved. Don't buy energy. Create your own.
Red Bull. 5 hour energy. Monster. Full Throttle. NOS.
Energy drinks have invaded our blood streams and drink manufacturers around the world are cashing in on it. Prior to Red Bull's debut in 1997 the world got by just fine without energy supplements: they just used coffee every morning. Well, it was either coffee or cocaine. Both tend to have overlapping ingredients as some energy drinks – the Red Bull in Germany – have shown us in the recent past.
When did everyone get so busy all of a sudden? Perhaps this point of view is biased, as I myself am not so busy at the moment. Nonetheless, today everyone seems to need a 5 Hour Energy fix or Monster hit before they can undertake any task, which might include physical and/or mental duties. Writing a paper, working a night shift, working a day shift, driving in traffic, paying attention in class, and working out. Doesn't anybody just smack themselves awake anymore? Or how about doing a few pushups? If you're strong willed and determined, you can overcome an addiction to any substance that companies are shoving down your throat.
Remember when cocaine and heroin were legal? Boy, those were the days. I certainly hope that energy supplements don't follow the same path and become outlawed. Although I don't use energy supplements myself, I sure do like what they do to other people. They keep them wired and exciting. I like being around those kinds of people.
I have a solution to solving The War on Fatigue. I'll explore it in detail tomorrow.
Even while in remote locations like Las Vegas and Los Angeles, I still found the time and energy to blog 46 posts in a row this year. I consider this to be one of my greater feats in life as it has helped me immensely with other things. I did not write anything in the last two days and I have a good excuse, too. I'm not lazy, I'm just taking a much needed hiatus. Last week took A LOT out of me; you could say I gave it my all. I'll be back on the daily grind again though, starting tomorrow. Read ya then.
Plan B will always be preferred to Plan C, and Plan C will always be preferred to Plan D, and so on and so forth.
Plan A, as most of us soon discover, does not always work out. This is when Plan B surfaces. However, after you've been working towards putting your Plan B into effect for a while you'll notice that your Plan C starts to turn into your Plan B and that your Plan B starts to feel like your Plan A. Assuming you've gotten over it by now, your Plan A should feel like a distant memory. It is but a mere fact: let it be. Plan B should be your new Plan A.
Currently I'm in disbelief. It's not denial; it's my inabilty to accept a positive turn of events after a long drought. None of my plan A's have been working out within the last year. And because of this, any good news that comes my way seems to be out of the ordinary. My new Plan A (previously known as Plan B) might actually work itself out.
Your Plan B should never be resorted to unless you've tried everything in your power to carry out your Plan A first. The only way a Plan B can truly be called a Plan B is if you never try to live out your Plan A. Otherwise, B is the new A, C is the new B, and so on and so forth.
Life is one big party, or at least it should be. Our lifespan on this Earth is finite and we only have so much time to blah blah blah... (insert everything you've ever heard about living life to the fullest here). Today I'm not writing to promote any of the usual Nike "Just Do It" ideology but rather to explore a concept I like to call "Party Points," or PP's.
Party Points, although intangible, are something that we all accumulate. They can be accrued through exercise, studying, doing taxes, working on a project, or any other activity that we should be doing. Every task you complete and every goal you accomplish should be rewarded with PP's. Some tasks are easier to accomplish than others and they will earn less PP's than a task that requires more time and energy. When we have accumulated enough PP's we can redeem them for something we enjoy. Perhaps it could be for a party, the bowling alley, or maybe just a trip to the beach. The choice is yours; they're your PP's.
You'll know how many PP's you've accumulated based on your gut feeling alone. It's that feeling we keep bottled up, ready to explode at any moment after preparing for 2 weeks straight for some meaningless final exam or job interview. That feeling of near implosion is your body telling you that you need to go Buck Wild and redeem your hard earned PP's! The outcome of whatever you have spent 2 weeks preparing for does not always have to be positive, i.e. you don't always have to win the job, do well on the exam, or win the game. As long as you gave your best effort, the PP's you gained during those intense two weeks can be redeemed towards any of your favorite activities. I personally like to apply PP's towards their namesake: parties!
If I haven't earned enough PP's to go to a party then my body will tell me so. Everything going through my head as I think about getting ready for the party will "not feel right." You've had this feeling before I'm sure. It's a feeling of unworthiness. It's a feeling of guilt that we should be doing something more productive. It's an indicator that we have not earned enough PP's to let ourselves enjoy a night out. Continue to work steadfastly towards your goals and you will soon accumulate enough PP's.
If we allow ourselves to party or go out without the sufficient amount of PP's then the effect of guilt and unworthiness will have a double whammy effect on our body and mind. However enjoyable the night was before, the next morning will bring back old feelings of responsibility, deadlines, and commitments. The time and energy spent on a night out could have been applied towards earning more PP's for yourself. This will work against your health (physical, mental, etc.) You'll tell yourself that you should not have gone out the previous night and then you will realize that you're more behind than ever with all of your projects and tasks.
Regret and unworthiness: nobody wants to feel these. So why do it to yourself? Don't go out unless you have earned enough PP's for yourself. Work hard, play hard. There is a universal balance in everything in life. Try to find the balance in your life by applying the quantization of PP's to your current situation. Have you put in enough work to go out and have a good time? Yes? Great! Go out and enjoy yourself. No? Then stay focused on the task at hand and stop wasting your time on YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Myspace, Skype, AIM, StumbleUpon, and my blog!
I like how iTunes has a play count tab. My current top song is The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds at 90 plays. I've had my computer for almost a year but Lucy wasn't added to my library until 11/7/2009. Do the math.
If I could I'd make all lights come with a dimmer function.
The middle scroll on my Apple Might Mouse sends me on a roller coaster of emotions. 50% of the time the little ball works and the other 89% it won't respond to my caresses!
Whoever drew the above drawing had one hell of an imagination. Speaking of hell, I'm reading Dante's The Divine Comedy. Video games usually have a strong influence over me. "Aint no sunshine when she's gone."
I've been accumulating a lot of Party Points (PP's). I can't wait to redeem some next week. I think they're going to expire soon. I'll explain how one can accumulate PP's tomorrow.
I've been reading some interesting blogs. Apparently other people like doing this, too. The good ones are hard to find though. I'd appreciate it if someone pointed me to one that is engrossing.
I always like it when a song builds you up and then..... it breaks it down! It's like in Ke$ha's song, Tik Tok, "...you bring me up, you break me down."
I feel like I'm throwing away a lot of ideas by typing a storm of unrelated thoughts. I'll stop myself here before I get too carried away.
I was going to write about how easy it can be to give up and how I was going to quit the night but then I came across the picture above. Giving up is easy, and nothing achieved that easily is ever that promising.
Music is ubiquitous: it surrounds us everywhere. How and when it enters the ears is not always in our control. You may be at home relaxing to jazz heard from your media player on your computer or you might be at a dance club doing the boogaloo to the latest Lady Gaga song the DJ is playing. I like to think of these contrasting scenarios as Preplanned Music and Unexpected Music.
Preplanned Music is music that you have complete control over. It's the songs that you program onto your iPod, play from your Windows Media Player, and request from your local radio station. The outcome is predictable in these situations and you know exactly what you'll be hearing. Boring!
Unexpected Music on the other hand is music that you didn't plan on encountering. Who knows what types of songs you'll hear with Unexpected Music! It could be Sting, Akon, Deamau5, Squeeze, Keith Sweat, Bob Marley, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Ashley Simpson, Bill Withers, The Notorious BIG, or Heidi Montag. Wow, what a lottery! I love Unexpected music, especially when they are songs that sound tolerable. These types of songs aid as catalysts in providing the most memorable memories. Remember that time you got pantsed in 7th grade gym class in front of everyone during country line dancing? Brooks & Dunn - Boot Scootin' Boogie will always remind of you that once glorifying instance when everyone found out you still wore tighty whitees and weren't in with the boxer crowd yet. Brooks & Dunn provided the soundtrack for this character building moment in your life and you'll be reminded of it every time you hear Boot Scootin' Boogie. The same goes for prom dances, first kisses, proud victories, tremendous losses, dark struggles, and successful recoveries.
On a related note, I'm pretty sure that a lot of groups of friends have their own theme songs. Britney Spears - Womanizer and Ke$ha - Tik Tok are pretty popular among groups of guys right now. They most likely heard their anthem from an unexpected source. Perhaps it was at a regional chess tournament. Who knows. But can you imagine trying to force a theme song onto your possy? It wouldn't fly. Possy theme songs, along with nicknames, should never be preplanned.
Unexpected Music comes in other forms as well. The most common medium is the radio. If I hear a song on the radio that I especially like I make sure not to download it at home. The reason why I do this is because I want to preserve the special feelings associated with the song. The Black Eyed Peas - Meet me Halfway was a song I fell in love with the moment I heard it. Most songs that I hear and like usually compel me to want to go home and download them. This results in the song being immediately added to my current playlist on my computer. The consequence of this compulsive "I have to have it now!" attitude results in a high frequency repetition of the song and it will slowly start to lose its appeal. Meet Me Halfway was so dear to me that I did not put it on my playlist at home. Because of this, every time I hear it on the radio now, it's still special. The same goes for Ya Boy - We Run LA, Bob feat. Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You, and New Boys - Tie Me Down. If you haven't heard these songs yet, don't go looking for them. Just turn on the radio and wait to hear them. You'll appreciate it more. I always do. Sometimes good Unexpected Music comes your way.
I'm the tallest, lankiest, and oddest shaped person in all of my family. My known extended family includes aunts, uncles, grandparents, distant cousins, and bastard fathers. None of them are above 6 feet tall. It begs me to ask the question: where did my 77 inches manifest from? The only answer I could come up with was milk.
I've been drinking milk since I was a child and the effects have been astonishing. I have so much height – I'd rent some of it out if I could. If you saw me get out of my small car you'd think I'd attended clown college; you'd be waiting around all day for 9 other Bozo's to come through the sunroof. I've got so much height that my Mom had to tell the principal to install clearance signs all over campus, just so I could know which classes I could take. My height has never done me any good. Anybody I meet whose smaller than me always manages to find a way to look down on me.
Buttons: I love pushing 'em. We all do. Humans are fascinated with pushing buttons. I'm pushing on buttons as I type these words right now. We push buttons on our phones, in our cars, and even on the piano. That's all the piano really is: a long arrangement of buttons to push. Life is full of buttons. Even people have buttons. I'm sure you've heard somebody say, "I'm going to cut your fucking head off if you keep pushing my buttons." Of course you have. Buttons mean a lot to us. They mean so much to us that developers like Apple create devices like the stupid iPad and equip them with the capability of having an unlimited amount of buttons! See, buttons are everywhere.
Levers and switches are another hot commodity in our daily routine. The parking break, the light switch in your nook, and slot machines in Lost Wages are just a few that come to mind. I feel empowered whenever I can bring light into and out of a room. Sometimes I point or snap my fingers at the bulb as I flick the light switch. It gives you a sense of entitlement. Let's see your cat do that while snapping its paws.
Knobs and dials are another significant motif of society. If you have a car that hasn't had it's radio stolen twice before in front of your house then you probably work with a dial everyday. We have the power to control the volume on our car stereos. It's magical. Knobs and dials also tend to control mood lights, tape decks, and the settings on your favorite vibrator. The dial can be a very useful apparatus. Have you ever been listening to "urban" music in a rundown neighborhood and suddenly your car was surrounded by amiable locals? You then suddenly realized that the music you were playing was in fact the same music of the regional sea of faces around you and not music of your own heritage. Volume knob control comes in handy at a time like this. Instead of muting the music or turning off your engine you could simply fade the music down with a twist of your volume knob. It makes it sound smoother to the keen ear. This diffuses the situation of getting into any unwanted cultural exchanges. And then you tell yourself after, "that's the last time I'm going through that locality without doors on my car."
