Stay Focus

I have been losing focus since Jan 1. I’m slightly concern. My focus lost is minor. I forget little things here and there. I drop things. I make a mistake. My concentration has been off at least once a day for most of a week. Moreover, there were a few days I felt tired. I hope my losing focus is not a serious medical condition.

It Has Happened In 2010 and 2011

I remember losing focus when I attended De Anza College in Winter ’10 and Winter ’11 quarters. I remember the campus dreaded Winter ’10 after the 2009 Christmas break. On the other hand, the campus welcomed Winter ’11 after the 2010 Christmas break. Weeks went by in both quarters. Students experienced typical stress from their classes and life outside school. I lost focus. There were days I stressed out.

I have the same feeling currently. I admit I experience some stress from job searching instead of studying for mid-terms. I experience anxiety when I send a resume and cover letter. Is the company going to call me for an interview? The job search is tough.

Optimistically, everything seems to come together and my focus comes back as the year approaches the spring season. I handle my stress very well. My senses are razor sharp. I have full control over my life. My question is why do I lose focus in the early months of the new year?

Consistency Is A Must

My daily life has been inconsistent. The gym workouts, cooking and eating meals, completing errands, and my online activity such as checking emails, social networking, and sending resumes are completed at different hours per day. I admit it is hard living with my aging parents since I help around the house. I’m doing my best to establish a consistent daily routine.

More People Are Like Me

It seems I’m not the only person losing focus. My observation skills tell me some people have difficulty focusing. I see people making mistakes, especially driving. I’ve seen people drive erratically and dangerously such as unsafe lane changes and cutting in. I see people behaving badly in supermarkets. Some people start arguments because they’re impatient. 2012 is the worse beginning of a new year since I don’t know when.

Off The 2011 And New Year’s Eve 2012 High

Let’s not get depressed. Most people had a good 2011 year. I was in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve 2012. There were huge crowds around the bay. Everyone was having a blast and partying. There were people talking, celebrating, and being loud. The happy parties and celebrations are over. 2011 is history. Let’s get back to the present moment. Focus on 2012. Make 2012 a better year than 2011. If 2011 was a bad year, then make 2012 a good year.

Relax And Take It Easy

Do everything one at a time. Relax. Take a deep breath. Concentrate on your present task. There is no need to rush. There are days when a plan is delayed or trashed. Don’t take your frustrations and stress out on other people and on the road. They’re ineffective. Just go with the flow. No matter how bad a day went, remember the world didn’t come to an end.

Side note: Winter ’11 was the worse quarter because I missed an entire week of classes due to sickness and the instructors for my classes were boring.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

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SOMT: Kodak Declares Bankruptcy

Blogger’s Note: SOMT stands for Sign Of My Times, an occasional blog sharing my thoughts how time changes life from when I was young to today.

CNBC reported the 131 year old company Eastman Kodak declared bankruptcy. The company has no cash to continue operations, and bankruptcy provides the company with protection to survive. Kodak is shifting their business plan to printers for home and commercial use.

My dad was a good amateur photographer. He took family pictures when my siblings and I were young. He developed and printed black & white pictures from college to his young parenting years. I remember shopping at LZ Premiums, a local ma & pa discount photo store that sells photography equipment, film, development services, and photo developing equipment. LZ Premiums expanded their store selling televisions and renting VHS movies in the mid 1980s. I’m guessing the store expanded because of competition from bigger stores selling photography equipment and services such as Circuit City and a small chain of camera and video stores known today as Wolf Camera. LZ Premiums went out of business.

I took black & white photography in 1991 while I in 11th grade. I used one of my dad’s Nikon cameras to take pictures for my assignments. I purchased my first film camera in Dec 2002. Digital cameras were too expensive for me. The first time I held a digital camera was on July 2000. A friend owned a Casio digital camera that used 3.5 inch floppy disks.

I purchased my first digital camera in July 2003. The first pics I took with my Olympus were our family vacation in Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, and the Grand Canyon. I purchased my second digital camera in May 2004. It was the Canon Powershot A75. The A75 was a rock I dropped it so many times. I took many pictures at anime conventions and my vacations in 2004-2005.

Digital cameras and photography are everywhere. Cell phones can take pictures. People can take as many pictures as they want—even an ant on the sidewalk. There is no need to be picky taking pictures with film. I started my digital photography with point & shoot cameras. I use a SLR today. I consider myself an amateur below my dad’s skills. Regardless, anyone can take good pictures with today’s digital cameras.

Stubborn Is Another Bad S Word

Going back to Kodak, the company was stubborn to enter the digital market. It stayed in the film business years after digital photography started becoming mainstream. Kodak lost money staying in the film photography. They were too late entering the digital market.

George Eastman founded Kodak from his photography hobby. He found ways to make photography easy for common people including the photography paper and easily transporting camera film. Eastman debuted Kodachrome film in 1935.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

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A Brief Talk On Communicating

Good communicating or conversation skills are important to meet new people and make new friends. Socializing is simply a conversation with people. Sometimes, there is an activity before or after the conversation. Listening and talking with people are good as long as you’re not boring and have something to say. It can be current events you follow, an article worth sharing, a place you recently visited, a fun activity, or a personal story. A joke is good as long as the timing and audience are appropriate.

Here are my personal tips on communicating and conversation:

*Avoid talking and talking all the time.
*Avoid Q&A conversation as if you’re asking questions and the other person is answering your questions. It’s not an interview.
*Listening is good, too.
*You have no problems being with people and being an interesting person with stories. Observation skills are a plus.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

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You’re Not Alone Feeling Lonely

Everyone experience feeling lonely living a life with people. Never deny feeling lonely. We experience it. I experience it. You’re never alone when you spend time with family and friends. Never take your family and friends for granted.

What is my solution when I experience the lonely feeling? I do something, anything to take my mind away from the negative, depressing, and time wasting feeling. I read a book, hike, shop or run errands, catch up with my emails, write a blog, go to the gym, watch an episode from my TV DVDs, visit a new place . . . I do something, anything.

The secondary affect doing something, anything is I’m not bored. I hate being bored. Boring is a pet peeve. It wastes my time. There is always something to do. I’m being active.

I create a story and gain new experience doing something, anything. I want a life. I must earn it. I do it. I want to be a person with a life telling stories to people. I don’t want to be a boring person. I want to be a person who done this and done that. You meet new people living your life.

In my next blog, I share a little bit about communication is important to meet new people and make new friends. You may master the art of communication and conversation; however, if you’re a boring person, communication means nothing because you have nothing to say.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

Don’t Blink 2013 Is Coming Fast

2011 was a fast year. It was the fastest year for me, and the years have been getting faster and faster since 2008. One common thought on my first week of the new year is reset. The beginning of the new year means we do it again. Everything comes faster than last year as if the event, moment, incident, activity happened yesterday. My best example is the Super Bowl is coming soon, and it feels like it’s coming fast.

My annual activities are coming up, and it feels like they’re coming fast. I have the Nor Cal Spring Cosplay picnic in March, the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Parade in April and Fanime in May for my anime activities. I have my car maintenance including oil changes, alignment check, and tire rotation two times a year. I also check the first aid kit, smoke alarms, and flashlight batteries two times a year when we change clocks an hour forward and backward. I have my dentist and orthodontist routine appointments. I have my birthday celebration. Finally, the 2012 holidays with my family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions. It was like yesterday I had family from SoCal visiting.

There are more books to read, new hiking trails to hike, new restaurants to eat, more games to play, new movies to watch, new anime to watch, new people to meet, new places to visit, and my favorite sports to watch including March Madness and the World Series.

Two of the most important events taking place are the United States elect a new President and the Summer Olympics in Great Britain. Didn’t we just elect President Obama?

My unknown of 2012 is what and where am I going to work? I continue to find a job since I finished my accounting at De Anza. The question excludes if. The question includes when.

2012 is going to be another fast year. Keep your eyes open, ears listening, hands feeling, nose smelling for good food, and mouth speaking your thoughts. Go with the flow.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

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No More Complaining, No More Wining

Don’t sweat the small stuff or just forget it is another way of living a positive life. I used to be a person who complained, whined, and made a big deal out of everything. I used to be a person who criticized, condemn, and compared myself with others, especially weaker people to feel stronger and smarter. I used to be a person who was an expert at everything, and I expected people to appreciate and respect me. I criticized and condemn people who were an expert at everything they do when they made a mistake.

The person above no longer exists in me. I imagine if I’m the same person today, then I have no friends. I could have been fired from my last jobs for wining and creating misery. The person above shows signs of insecurity, unconfident, being naive, and lacking life experience. The person is afraid to make mistakes and learn from them.

Let me take the person above and add another thought. This is experience talking. The person who complains and wines daily is alone. The person complains and wines just to get attention--negative attention. I had a very small amount of friends. I took that small amount of friends for granted such that I didn’t need to make new friends. I complained and wined daily a long time ago. Anyone who met me for the first time didn’t want to be my friend thereafter.

Avoid being a miserable person. Chances are the miserable person stresses himself or herself unnecessarily. Chances are nobody else caused the stress. Avoid complaining and wining chronically. These are the people nobody wants to associate with. We are human. We make mistakes. A miserable person is making a mistake being miserable, complaining, and wining. Stop those. Learn from those mistakes. Be confident. Life is really not that bad. I believe the more friends a person has, the less likely the person becomes miserable.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

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2004 Was A Good Year

I wrote about how wisdom can change what we thing about our past in my last blog. I continue the blog topic to talk about my 2004 and the specific moment. I talk about the specific moment first.

Fanime Con 2004 Was Actually A Good Anime Convention

I have thought about Fanime Con 2004 being a bad con for me. The reasons were, um, were--I can’t think of any legitimate bad reasons. Thinking now, there were either illegitimate or stupid. The following were the good moments: There were no lines in the dealer’s room. I watched many anime in the video rooms. I caught up a friend’s brother I hadn’t seen in four years. I stayed awake for 26 hours including watching 17 episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) during the midnight marathon. The best moment was after episode eight in FMA, I said to myself, “I’m going to cosplay (the main character) Edward Elric.”

I don’t know what I had been thinking. There were a few bad moments here and there. Those bad moments were small compared to the many good moments at Fanime Con 2004. I shouldn’t let those small moments ruin the convention. I shouldn’t make a big deal over those small moments that bothered me. Wisdom changed my thoughts on a past moment. I’m happy to change my thoughts that Fanime Con 2004 was a good convention.

2004 Was Actually A Good Year

Here are the good moments:

*Las Vegas. Bellagio, Paris Las Vegas, played $4/$2 low-limit Texas Hold ‘Em at Binion’s Casino, rode a bus on Las Vegas Blvd. from Fremont St. to the strip, and won $80 playing craps and the camel races game both at Luxor.

*My website Innovate Infinitely went online on May 1.

*My first anime costume was Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. Thank you FMA midnight marathon at Fanime Con 2004. Thank you mom for making the costume.

*As a result of wearing a costume, I didn’t quit anime. I thought about quitting after Fanime Con 2004.

*Played online poker for fun at PartyPoker.net.

*Purchased the Nintendo GameCube.

*Curses are meant to be broken. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series. The last time the team won was in 1918.

*New look. I started to buzz cut my hair.

*I marathon the anime series Rurouni Kenshin TV series a few nights in Dec. Thank you fireflywishes for lending me the DVDs.

What were the bad moments? Was it work? Kinda. Thinking back, it actually got better in the second half of 2004. I created new reports and learned Photoshop in the Graphics Department. Then what happened that was bad? It must be something small, childish, stupid, and/or being immature I can’t remember now. Wisdom changed my thoughts. I’m happy to change my thoughts that 2004 was a good year.

Side note 1: I update my Top 30 Most Memorable Moments stating Fanime Con 2004 is my number one moment on my webpage. The Top 30 consists of top moments during my first 30 years in my life.

Side note 2: Three of the top ten most memorable moments 10 years after I graduated San Jose State took place in 2004. There were Las Vegas, my webpage, and JapanTown Anime Faire. Click here to view.

Side note 3: I wrote a blog changing 2007 from a good year to a bad year. Read the blog clicking here.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

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