Harder To Make Other People Angry

Most people do a poor job making other people angry. It's unnatural to piss off other people. These people are raised and behave to avoid confrontations. It's better to reason or to negotiate than being angry at each other. Proactive is better than reactive.

There are times the anger emotion is valid. The default "fuck you, asshole" rarely works. The other party is unconvinced. The other party thinks, "do better pissing me off." The other party thinks you're not the person to make me angry. Talking anger smart-ass is an art. Trash talking with malice is an art. Communicating degrading criticism is an art. It's like a master sharpshooter intentionally missing the target which is harder than hitting the target. It's like a professional singer singing offkey which is harder than singing on tune. If you want to make other people angry, don't think. Use intuition. Pretend to behave like a professional bully. Be a Homer Simpson. Don't be a Ned Flanders.

Two simple actions may work. One action is ignoring or keep silent; although, passive aggressiveness rarely succeeds. The second action is counterintuitive. Give a thumbs down instead of the middle finger. The PG movie rated family friendly reaction may be better than the R movie rated mature audiences only reaction.

Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog November 2025

California issued shelter in-place orders on Tue Mar 17, 2020. I have been logging the highlights and lowlights. November continued the slow down. I was a little more happier again. Slow news for the COVID-19 events.

Sat Nov 1. Take out donuts at Dunkin. Shopped at Costco.

Tue Nov 4. I voted. Shopped at Target and Costco. Ran errands at the bank. Visited Gamers Heaven Bay Area.

Sat Nov 8. Watched Indiana Hoosiers at Penn State Nittany Lions from the 11:00 in the 4th quarter.

Mon Nov 10. Shopped at Costco and Lucky. More Costco employees wore masks.

Tue Nov 11. Smog checked my car. Errands at Costco, Chevron, and Books, Inc. Ate a quick lunch at Starbird.

Sat Nov 15. West Valley Library book sale.

Wed Nov 19. Ran errands at Target and AAA.

Costco Oroweat Bread Is Not $7.49

My parents purchased a pack of Oroweat Country Style Buttermilk two loaves of bread at Costco to make stuffing for Thanksgiving Day. I ate a slice of bread. No jellies. No butter. No spreads. The slice tasted terrible compared to the past. Oroweat changed the recipe. Oroweat changed the baking process. Oroweat changed the packaging. No secondary plastic wrap. Either raise prices or lower costs. The answer is obvious. Lower costs. Keep retail prices as low as possible. Inferior ingredients. Inferior materials. Lower workmanship.

I share my experiences. Oreo cookies, spices, some fast food restaurants, fruits, Cheerios, and baked goods. Also, non-edible goods. Shaving gel, toothpaste, soap, clothes, batteries, medical services, and automobile parts.

Be suspicious of no price change since the COVID-19 global pandemic. Question why the price increase is lower than expected during the inflation. Some goods change for the worse. Some services change for the worse. Coke raise prices. The product is the same. People accept the higher Coke prices.

Oroweat made the business decision. Reduce quality to minimize retail price increase. Customers still buy the $7.49 bread at Costco.

There is inflation. There is shrinkflation. There is lower quality. There is lower quantity. There is a combination of any of these.

My First Memories

I share some of my first memories.

*First dream. I fell down from the sky at Meyerholz Elementary School in San Jose, CA. I saw wise old Asian men watching from the mountains. I landed on top of a waterslide made of square wooden pieces like a 1970s playground metal slide supported by wooden posts shaped in squares. I slid down to the main playground. The air dried me immediately. I walked home minutes away from the school.

*Pre-school. I attended Wilson Elementary School in Cupertino, CA. My teacher's name was Miss Sue. She was red haired. One school day I cried myself to the time-out section with my brown paper lunch bag. The time-out section was a wall cordoned by a large red and white color gym mat perpendicular to the floor. My brown paper lunch bag was written with my first name and last name. I read when I was four years old.

*Pre-school parking lot. The end of my school day I walked around the parking lot sidewalk saying goodbye to the school buses.

*First stuffed animal. My mom sewed. She made a lamb for me and my brother. My mom named the lambs after my brother's first name and my first name. My lamb was Raymond Lamb. There was a day my brother played with all of the stuffed animals except for Raymond Lamb. I played with Raymond Lamb alone pretending to watch the house for all of our stuffed animals. The house was the glass coffee table in the living room. My brother thank me and Raymond Lamb for watching the house when his lamb and the stuffed animals came home.

My mom made Raymond Lamb with a mean smile :< My mom made my brother's lamb with a happy smile :)

*Living room glass coffee table. I favored clean. I cleaned up the living room by moving all the toys under the glass coffee table. I told everyone the room was cleaned.

*A late afternoon walk. My parents, brother, and I walked to Meyerholz Elementary School to play at the playground. I played on the playground equipment doing everything wrong because nobody taught me how to use the equipment.

Parents Are Salespeople, Too

A common family knowledge is children listen to their parents. Children are taught from their parents. Brush your teeth. Candy is bad for you. Go to sleep. Do your homework. Read books. You're playing too much video games. Eat your vegetables. Include your brother or sister. You don't need *insert unnecessary consumer good*. Say thank you.

Parents are parenting. Parents are also salespeople. Parents interact with salespeople buying a car, buying furniture, and shopping for home improvements. Salespeople must build trust, creditability, and sincerity selling a good or service. Parents must build trust, creditability, and sincerity nurturing and guidance. The children are the parent's customers. Parents adapt the ABC in sales which is Always Be Closing. Or parents practice rough parenting ABP or Always Be Parenting.

Past Lesson Blogs

Today's blog is an update on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

Here are 31 blogs with the word "lesson" in the blog title sorted by date in descending order from Dec 31, 2024 and earlier. Choose any blog to review and/or to relearn past lessons.

1. Grown Up Lessons In Second Grade Completing A Word Search written on Oct 22, 2024. Some assignments can't be completed for whatever reasons. People do cheat. And don't take everything seriously.

2. Reading Books Reinforce Centuries Life Lessons written on May 7, 2024. A pic blog from books Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw, Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, All The President's Men by Carl Berstein and Bob Woodward, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Humans deserve kindness. A person realizes life becomes a joke the longer he or she lives. 99.9% of young people are not going to change the world. The word "rat" can be used in joke, metaphors, and anecdotes. Always verify. Give it time; for instance, it was inevitable Richard Nixon resigned. Every human being has at least one redeeming quality.

3. Throwback Blog: The Lesson To Be Successful Rarely Taught written on Feb 28, 2024. I repost timing, luck, opportunity, and chance blog from Sep 12, 2018.

4. A Lesson From The Rich People written on Jun 27, 2023. Understand the true meaning of work more and play less.

5. Life Lessons And Reminders written on May 21, 2022. A pic blog which includes two pages from the book Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. Remember standard procedures. Narratives can change in minutes.

6. Three Grown-Up Lessons I Didn't Learn When I Was A Child written on Apr 17, 2022. The first lesson is nobody is perfect. The second lesson is actors and actresses don't make one movie and one television show for their entire careers. The third lesson is families change.

7. High School R.O.T.C. Leadership Lesson Another Viewpoint By Rank written on Oct 24, 2020. I rank the leadership attributes and leadership skills by importance.

8. Top Ten Lessons I Learned The Hard Way written on Jun 23, 2019. Never stop meeting new people is number one. Don't take life for granted is number three. Grow up is number four. Earn it is number six. Take care of your body inside and outside equally is number eight. Timing and luck are factors is number ten. These are my favorites.

9. The Lesson To Be Successful Rarely Taught written on Sep 12, 2018. If I can teach timing, luck, opportunity, and chance, then I'm a millionaire.

10. Another Lesson From Never Stop Growing Up Regardless When It Started written on Sep 5, 2018. People come and go in our lives. One reason is we change. People naturally grow apart.

11. Relevant Life Lessons And Trends written on May 23, 2018. Another pic blog. Active parents raise active children.

12. Throwback Blog: Top Ten Life Lessons From The Beatles written on Oct 30, 2017. I repost the Beatles blog from Jul 1, 2015.

13. Never Stop Learning Lesson Emphasized Because One Of The Shermans Past Away written on May 5, 2017. A lesson I repeat. Never stop learning. Innovate infinitely.

14. Top Ten Life Lessons I Learned Watching Sports written on Nov 5, 2016. Support, good coaching, consistency, be professional, and a strong core are some of the lessons.

15. A Lesson From My Bad Years written on Nov 1, 2016. I share a lesson from my bad years in 2002, 2007, 2008, 2013, and 2014.

16. Life Lessons Learned Playing Mahjong Riichi written on Mar 18, 2016. Skip all the lessons except the last lesson which is luck is part of the game. I'm an advanced mahjong player. My luck is terrible.

17. Life Lessons From Space Brothers written on Aug 17, 2015. My number two all-time favorite anime series. The lessons are part of my Inspiration Cheer Up life wisdom.

18. Top Ten Life Lessons From The Beatles written on Jul 1, 2015. Ten Beatles song titles are life lessons: Let It Be, Get Back, I've Got A Feeling, The Long And Winding Road, We Can Work It Out, Carry That Weight, Something, Here Comes The Sun, You're Going to Lose That Girl, and Getting Better.

19. Top Ten Lessons I Learned Working At My Last Job written on Nov 16, 2014. I worked at a retail startup selling wine. Shipping and receiving require training. There is no such thing as 100% customer service.

20. Top Ten Lessons I Learned Incorrectly written on Jul 28, 2014. I'm happy I corrected these lessons. They're no longer part of my life.

21. Top Ten Lessons My Parents Failed To Teach Me written on May 2, 2013. Parents raising children existed for centuries. Parents raising children exist in today's modern world. Unfortunately, some parents make the same mistakes my parents made when they raised me.

New parents remember some of these lessons from my top ten: communicate with your children, don't take life for granted, be mature, learn how to cook, read, and don't ignore problems hoping they disappear.

22. A Life Lesson I Learned Gangnam Style written on Aug 29, 2012. Ignore the lesson. I communicated incorrectly.

23. Lessons From My Office Space written on Jun 17, 2012. The first mistake was I didn't talk and socialize with my co-workers. The second mistake was I didn't realize people supported me in my second company. I believed I was lonely. I believed I was on my own. I had to be strong. I was a coward.

24. Life Lessons I Learned From Alex Smith written on Feb 15, 2012. The fifth lesson summarized Alex Smith's NFL career. Smith experienced bad luck and bad timing. I add a seventh lesson which is grit. Continue grinding. There was no reason to quit.

25. Another Lesson I Learned From My Grandparents written on Oct 15, 2010. My grandparents failed to meet new people and make new friends. People come and go. It's important to be surrounded with people. Make sure the people are good.

26. Derek Paravicini Teaches A Lesson On Life written on Apr 2, 2010. Begin in a friendly way.

27. A Lesson Learned Tonight written on Feb 2, 2010. There are no guarantees in life.

28. A Lesson From The Ants written on Dec 19, 2009. Don't make the same mistake twice.

29. A Lesson On Life Yesterday written on May 5, 2007. It was a reality check. Times have changed in the workplace from my parent's generation and the years before the Great Recession. Workers were on their own to solve problems. Everyone was too busy.

30. One Lesson Of Life Cosplaying written on Aug 28, 2006. The one lesson was don't rush. Take it slow. I add a second lesson of life cosplaying worth repeating is never stop meeting new people.

31. $100.00 Lesson written on Jan 24, 2006. Read the expiration dates for all rebates.

Do Everything One At A Time Is A Strength

Slow down. Relax. Take a breath. Forget multi-tasking. Do everything one at a time. Multi-task one at a time. Be productive rationally. Haste makes waste. Quiet down everyone. Stop panicking. Everything is going to be completed one at a time. Hang on for a second. All tasks are completed in time. Be patient.

Update On A Past Blog

The blog Connecting My Dots Backwards written on Oct 13, 2011 the title is misleading. The blog detailed the immediate changes when I realized I must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008. Any previous blogs on growing up should reference the Connecting My Dots Backwards blog.