Sunday, July 25, 2010

Good Or Bad It’s All Up To You

There is a common saying your attitude, your actions, your thinking, your behavior, and your responsibilities determine your way of living. You have a choice to live with a positive outlook or with a negative pessimism. A positive outlook is someone who takes responsibility for their actions and thinks, “There is always tomorrow.” A negative pessimism person complains and blames others.

I have attended anime conventions since 1997. I have experienced good cons and bad cons. Most con attendees judge a good anime con or a bad anime con by how the con is ran. Did all the main events start on time? How good was the exhibition hall? Were there plenty of anime to watch and how good was the variety? Did the staff do a good job? Obviously there are some factors out of their control such as the quality of masquerade skits and hall cosplayers.

My anime cons have been consistently good since 2008. The reason isn’t how the staff ran the con. They have done a good job. The reason is me. It’s what I do at the cons that determine whether I have a good con or a bad con. If an event started on time, then great. If an event started late, then it started late. (By the way, it’s common for events to start late.) I do my best to experience a good con. I wear costumes, hang out with my friends, meet new people, shop at the exhibit hall, play board games, take pictures, dance, attend concerts, and do anything to stay busy. I keep myself occupied with something to do.

The experience attending anime cons applies to everything in life. It’s what you do that determines whether you have a good time or a bad time. The attitude applies to weddings, vacations, offsite meetings, college semesters and quarters, visiting a museum, concerts, anywhere you go and anything you do. The next time you go outside, do whatever it takes for a good time.

The Personal Side Of MeFinding Raymond Mar

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Make Lemonade Out Of Lemons

Murphy’s law says “If anything can go wrong, it will.” On Sat Jul 17, something went wrong. My PC crashed. I was browsing the internet. My PC was infected with malware. Antivirus is useless against malware. I was able to browse the web to find solutions. There were at least three solutions. I found a solution and followed the instructions. Failed. As a result, my PC couldn’t boot up.

I thought of several solutions to fix my PC. One solution was reinstalling Windows XP. Another solution was buying another hard drive and install Windows 7. I planned to buy another hard drive because the current hard drive memory was low. The timing to buy another hard drive was when Starcraft 2 is released Tue July 27. I talked to my friend. He suggested I install Windows 7. I agreed. The solution was to purchase a 1TB hard drive and to install Windows 7 on it.

I purchased the hard drive later in the day. The installation succeeded. I used the old hard drive for storage. The old hard drive is partitioned. I lost no data. I have three hard drives: 1TB, 640GB that is the first hard drive, and 80GB IDE backup drive. All three drives are Western Digitals. The RAM increased from 4GB to 8GB. The installation process gave me a refresher on working with PC hardware. I must learn new features in Windows 7.

Murphy’s law is correct. Anything can go wrong in our lives. We experience lemons in our lives. When there are lemons, make lemonade. Take the frustrated situation and get something positive in return such as meet new people, learn from a mistake, learn new knowledge, visit somewhere new, or try something new. There are new experiences to experience. Negative experiences included. We say to others, “Yup, that happened to me. Here’s what I did . . . .”

Being frustrated is normal. Remember to be patient, concentrate on the problem, ask for help, and you have a solution.

I'm A Good Guy Growing Up Finding Raymond Mar

Friday, July 16, 2010

Someone Say Something

I like talking and conversations when I'm with people. I like loud and speaking. The people you associate with, the friends you hang out with, the family you spend time with are important. I learn, I observe, I laugh, and I listen.

I hate quiet. I want someone saying something when I'm with people. If nobody says anything, then I say something. I say anything to start a conversation because I learn something from that person, I learn new information, or I gain new knowledge. I enjoy talking and listening.

There are times when quietness is appropriate. There are times when people take a rest from talking. I recognize and approve. Otherwise, my mouth is talking and my ears are listening.

I'm A Good Guy Growing Up Finding Raymond Mar

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Friend Is A Friend

In my youth days, there were family, friends, and acquaintances. Friends were branched out to best friends, close friends, friends with benefits, and pen pals. There were no such things as gym friends, sports friends, phone friends, and Fri night book club friends. Maybe there were such things. I never believed in segregating friends into categories such has hobbies, events, or monthly moments.

Today, I believe in a friend is a friend. If you're not a friend, then you're an acquaintance. I don't believe in MySpace friends, Facebook friends, and online friends in general. I don't believe in anime con friends, dance friends, hiking friends, to name a few of my hobbies. We must earn each other's friendship. It takes time to develop friendship.

Everyone has different definitions of friends. My definition of friends is simple: you're a friend or you're not a friend; however, I believe in the following long-time categories: close friends, best friends, and friends with benefits. If you're not a friend, then you're an acquaintance. In time, acquaintances can be friends.

Friendships come and go. When a friend leaves, another person awaits to be friends. Continue meeting new people and make new friends.

I'm A Good Guy Growing Up Finding Raymond Mar

Friday, July 09, 2010

A Frozen Dinner

I cleaned my room the past three days. I threw away junk, donated used clothes, and rearranged my room for a different look. I also vacuumed and dusted. I'm airing out a comforter bag to protect my blankets. I'm waiting for the vinyl smell to dissipate. And I need to purchase new posters. The posters on my closet are outdated.

I found part of a Swanson frozen dinner cardboard box. The cardboard box reminded me I ate a frozen dinner twice in my life. I was a picky eater when I was a child. Today, I'm happy I'm less picky. Let's be honest. Everyone has some pickiness in regards to food and drink.

Add some excitement in your life, even if it's the little things. The next time you visit a supermarket, buy a frozen food you never ate, buy a drink you never drank, buy a snack you wanted to munch. The next time you visit a BevMo or similar beverage store, go to the soda aisle and try no name sodas. Don't worry about eating healthy. You can say you ate that food or drank the drink once. There are lots of experiences we do once.

Off the top of my head, I tried Spaghetti O's, Andes mint chocolate, frozen pizza rolls, Indian food in a restaurant, PopTarts, and Dr. Pepper once. There are so many foods and drinks to try. I want to eat key lime pie, drink more new sodas at BevMo, and eat a Hot Pocket. The next time you have nothing to do, try a new food and drink and you say, "I tried it once."

I'm A Good Guy Growing Up Finding Raymond Mar