Friday, March 23, 2012

Be Yourself Is Good

The common advice to meet new people personally and professionally is be yourself. I agree. Be yourself is good as long as you’re a good person—a good guy. You’re polite. You’re good at conversation and socializing. You’re active in your life such as visiting new places, reading books, keeping up with events, eating favorite foods, listening to your favorite music, and basket weaving. Be open to new experiences and new adventures. Dislikes and pet peeves are okay. We all have them and we respect them.

I followed being myself throughout my life. I was being myself . . . being a jerk, creep, a-hole, naive, and taking life for granted for most of my life. Being a too nice guy was an attribute I should have thrown away years ago. I had problems meeting new people and finding the joy in life. I realized three and a half years ago being too nice was unattractive and deemed weak.

Don’t be a bad guy. A bad personality repels people being with you. Haters are going to hate others. These bad people are irresponsible for their actions, behavior, and mistakes. They blame someone else or the world for their problems. I was one of them blaming others including my parents. I learned I’m responsible for myself. I forgive my parents for their parenting weaknesses. Forgiveness helps becoming a good person.

If you’re a good guy, a good person, then you can be yourself. Attract, don’t chase. Be strong, confident, and improve and innovate your life daily. Live a life with integrity and kindness. If you’re a loser, then stop being yourself and make changes. Be authentic, real, and legitimate; thereby, being yourself comes natural.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

Monday, March 19, 2012

Gas Analysis 2011



I did a chart how much I spent for gas for 2011. The chart above shows the average price per gallon of gas I paid per month. The average price per gallon of gas I paid was $3.83. The highest average was Apr at $4.19 and the lowest was Jan at $3.39. The highest price per gallon was $4.28 on May 2. The lowest price per gallon was $3.36 on Jan 1. I filled up my car 35 times. The total cost I spent on gas was $1,415.

In 2009 and 2010, I spent $1,053 and $1,040, a 26% and 27% increase over 2011, respectively. The average price per gallon in 2009 was $2.77, a 38% increase over 2011. In 2010, the average price per gallon was $3.13, a 22% increase. The 2009-2010 year-over-year average price per gallon increased 13%.

I filled up 367.72 gallons in 2011, 321.50 gallons in 2010, and 377.62 gallons in 2009. The expected almost 370 gallons was from going out more and visiting new places. I anticipate the same amount of gallons because I drive the speed limit, no planned road trips to Southern California, continue visiting new places, and each month passing by being unemployed. If I start working soon, the number of gallons is the highest in four years. The increase in gas prices continues today.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

I prefer to live my life avoiding boredom. I choose to live life open to new adventures and experiencing new experiences. I want to live life something different daily. The boring, same old, same old life is for somebody else. I live life open because I want to know there are many ways to live life happy and exciting. My best example is music.

I listened to pop and rock music when I was a child. My favorite radio station was 1170 AM KLOK. The radio station called itself, “Clock radio 1170 KLOK.” The station played late 70s and 80s pop and rock. I started recording music off the radio stations on cassette from 1986 to 1997.

I started listening to Japanese Anime soundtracks and character vocal music in 1998. I added classical music in late 1998. I considered myself a casual classical music. I hated classical music when I was a child. It sounded boring except Tchaikovsky’s 1812. It was my dad’s only classical music in his record collection. I opened myself to classical music after reading an article children listening to classical music makes them smarter.

I started listening to classic rock and a little Japanese Pop (J-Pop) in 2003. Pop music started to get crappy. I tried classic rock and liked it. From 1998-2008, I listened to pop, anime, classical, and classic rock and J-Pop. I listened to pop and rock only from 1997 and earlier.

My music interests took a huge eye opening as I more types of music in a shorter time frame. I became interested in classic jazz in late 2008. I listened to easy listening music such as Frank Sinatra in February 2009. I received my first Vocaloid CD in April 2010. Vocaloid, in short, is a computer program that plays music when given the lyrics and melody. Hatsune Miku is popularly associated with Vocaloid. The newest music I became interested was big band in January 2011.

Opening your life is important to live with variety. Everyone should try listening to different varieties of music. Each of my favorite music type brings different feelings and thoughts. Each of my favorite music type is appropriate for different moments. I switch to a different music type when I feel tired and needed something different. Variety can apply to the foods we eat, the board games we play, the different gym workout schedule, or a different work commute. People can have an interesting life and non-boring life by living a life with variety.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Me Versus My Sinus Infection III

I was sick on the third week of Feb. The timing was bad because I started a consistent lifestyle including job searching and going back to the gym. I thought I had the common cold, a rare sickness because the past years I either got the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) or the stomach flu. Fortunately, this sickness was minor and recovery was faster than last October. I remained focused, read my past sinus infection blogs to remind myself how I recovered, and remained calm. Here’s the timeline:

Mon Feb 13. I woke up with a dry throat. I drank water and the dry throat disappeared. The dry throat reappeared in the late morning. I drank water and the dry throat remained. I took a throat lozenge. No improvement. I applied salt inside my throat before I went to sleep. I slept well. I thought whether I got the common cold or a mild RSV before I fell asleep. The symptoms matched RSV throughout the day.

Tue Feb 14. I felt worse. I had stuffy nose one minute and runny nose the next minute. I drank water throughout the day and drank Coke for lunch and dinner. I ate an orange and apple for breakfast. I ate two kiwi at night. I made jello after dinner.

I had trouble sleeping because I had breathing problems. I turned on the humidifier. My sleeping was off and on. I turned off the humidifier late night and fully fell asleep.

Wed Feb 15. I felt a little better. The stuffy nose continued while the runny nose ceased. Light cough started. I coughed out phlegm which was 99% white color. I took a nap at 5:30pm without the humidifier. I turned on the humidifier at night time. I turned off the humidifier before I went to bed.

I ate frozen yogurt from a local frozen yogurt store. I drank Coke for lunch and dinner. The jello was good.

Thur Feb 16. I slept for 11 hours last night. Best sleep of the week. Coughs were productive. I had congestion. No runny nose and stuffy nose. I asked myself, “Mild case of RSV?”

Fri Feb 17. Best day of the week. I could use more rest throughout the day. Coughing continued to be productive. I bent down and blew my nose that allowed me to blow out more mucus. I’m not sure that was healthy or advised for sick people. Coke, jello, and yogurt helped.

I was sad I couldn’t workout at the gym all this week. I spent less time searching for a job. I took no medications and vitamin C supplements.

How Did I Get Sick?

I always think about the most likely cause I got sick. Here are the probabilities:

My cousin and aunt were sick. My family celebrated Chinese New Year in my cousin’s restaurant. My cousin and aunt were sick. My cousin didn’t work in the kitchen that day. Probability is 25%.

It’s simply in the air. It was the time of the year for people to get sick. Probability is 20%.

Sat Feb 11 dinner. I ate Hello Kitty sushi for dinner. Probability is 15%.

Sun Feb 12 lunch. My dad, uncle, and I ate Chinese for lunch. Probability is 10%.

Sun Feb 12 dinner. My mom did a poor job cooking pork from the freezer. The pork was dried like beef jerky. Probability is 10%.

Too little, too late? I ate the Chinese for lunch and my mom’s dried pork dinner both late. Probability is 20%.

One of my body weaknesses is a large difference in daily temperature range. The temperature range varied day by day significantly. Probability is 20%.

Bacterial. I could have gotten a bacterial infection somewhere and somehow. Probability is 20%.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Dear People, Take A Break

I’m writing an open letter to the billions of people. Dear people of the world, take a break. Take a time out. Stop what you’re doing, pause, and take a breath. The world is going too fast. We adjust our clocks one hour forward this weekend. It’s like we just adjusted our clocks one hour backwards yesterday. March Madness starts next week for those who follow sports.

There is so much events, so much stimulation, so much information exchanged in today’s information age and technology dependent world. Be patient. Slow down. Everything is going to be okay. Let’s do everything one at a time. We want to avoid careless mistakes. We want to keep our focus. There is no need to stress out everything happening everyday and every minute. Relax.

Let’s stop and do something different to distract ourselves from the everyday. It’s a great opportunity to take a break. Watch a movie you haven’t seen from you DVD collection. Listen to music. Lie down on your bed and daydream. Cook. Clean the bathroom. Do household chores. Do something that involves anything except a personal computer, laptop, smart phone . . . nothing involving a keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Moreover, don’t take a vacation. I want you to slow down from your daily life for a while.

The world continues tomorrow. Take a break to refocus, reset, refresh, review, and renew your life. If you’re fatigued, losing focus, making mistakes, forgetting information, being clumsy, then it’s time to take a break.

The Personal Side Of Me Finding Raymond Mar