Ending 2013

Can't believe it's the end of the year already. I know for sure I created this account before the starting of 2013 but right now, I feel as though it's a one year anniversary for this blog. I didn't really take this blogging seriously until the very beginning of January. Even now, considering the frequency of my entries, I think I still don't take it as seriously as I thought I would but that is okay. I'm still learning how to blog and hope that I will improve this new year. Right now, I like to review back my progress of my 2013.

2013 is (and will always be) one of my life changing years. It is the year I graduated out of college and began my adulthood. It is the year when I started this blog. It is the year I learn about my faults and my strengths. It is definitely a time when I learn I am an individual who can't live under my parents anymore. [Warning: summary of many previous entries ahead]

In the beginning of the year, I thought I would graduate out of college and begin my pharmacy school (or any grad school) application. Not wanting to lose many friends similar to my high school graduation, I tried planning ways to stay in contact with my college friends. I thought everything was planned out beautifully. However, I learned many of my limits. My GPA was not exactly beautiful. As for meeting up with friends, a two-hour drive to meet them was not a very good idea, especially when I am jobless and wish to not spend too much money. I still keep in contact with them via Facebook and texting. Still one can't just wander in life and free load off one's parents. A plan needs to be made. My parents took advantage of my "free time" by taking me to visit my old relatives outside the US. It was an interesting experience to learn about your relatives from an adult's perspective, compared to my previous experience as just a student. Now I returned to my home. I began taking online classes for another license exam. I even started signing up for volunteer hours. And to my luck, my job application was still under reviewing after two weeks (better than having a rejection notice). Through out all that personal drama, I was trying out blogging, forcing myself to think of other stuff besides my current worries. With that said, this is how my 2013 will be ending.

It was a tough year personally. I am pretty sure there are people out there who might think I was useless or I could have done better planning. Honestly, I agree with them. My poor planning has led me to this result and I am still a little upset with it. However, no matter who we are or what troubles we have, we all have to keep moving forward. Why keep crying over spilled milk?  I am thankful that I have parents that are willing to support me even though I am an adult physically and still mentally dependent. They are always slowly teaching me many life lessons. I am thankful I have this blog to force me to think of previous work and remind me to not give up. I am thankful of my friends who supported me even when I changed my career path. I am really a lucky girl.

Is there anything I currently wish for? Well, besides the obvious (getting employed and actually finding a good career), I do wish I can tell the next generation many things.

#1. No matter what we plan for our future, there will always be some failures. That is okay. We learn from them and change accordingly. I believe people become successful not from accomplishing every planned milestone but from adapting one's plan to any situation and obstacle. As we all know, some of the most successful people were college drop-outs.

#2. Understand your priorities. I meant this personally, not priorities thrust upon by seniors (aka parents, teachers, etc.). One always have certain priorities and might need time to learn them. One might think it is a hobby, a certain person, or even a career. How do you know if they really are your priorities? Best way I can think of to answer that is to ask oneself comparison questions. Would you go to a big party with friends or to a family reunion? Would you prefer working longer hours for more money or having more personal time and learning to save? Would you rather work for long hours for only 5 days a week or work for shorter hours for 7 days? Everyone has different priorities, none better than others. Knowing them will help greatly in planning for one's future.

#3. Take a task that ends with learning a new personal skill. (I thank my dad's colleague for this advice) When taking upon a task, it is best to gain a personal skill from it. Whether we like the task or not (ex. an education class when studying to be a doctor, or working in a fast food place when wanting to work in an office), there are always skills to be learned. Some are nice to put on a resume but at the end of the day, those skills are what helps in finishing any jobs.

Okay. I think I said [typed?] enough. That's one long essay to read. Thank you very much if you managed to read all that. Now it is the time to take out a drink (coffee, hot chocolate, beer, wine, soda, etc) and cheers to a new year.

Here is to 2014! Happy New Year!

Holiday #6: No Christmas?

It seems awkward to think of a family who doesn't celebrate Christmas. On the other hand, it shouldn't be awkward since my family don't celebrate other holidays like Easter or July 4th so in a way, I have no right to call anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas awkward. Either way, my family often celebrates Christmas (to a certain extent).  However, due to multiple members' catching the flu, my family had to set out on Christmas this year. No Christmas tree. No decorations. No family dinner. Everyone is too sick to get out of bed. Still, how can one forget Christmas if there are reminders everywhere? Stuck indoors with cough medicine beside, I imagine what I will be missing this Christmas.

As a child, I always look forward to Christmas. There was the long winter break, the festive decorations, the festive music, and, last but not least, the presents. When I was a kid, Christmas time was the only time when I can get anything I want (besides birthdays but that always occurs on either STAR testing days or AP testing days :( ). My parents would spoil me, allowing me to get any one gift within budget. Usually the gifts were toys but soon it transformed into video games (because toys are a hassle to clean up). Those were fun times. As a grew older, Christmas time reminds me more of family gatherings - the awful times when one meets with other relatives and they ask constant questions regarding school grades, boyfriends, and (just recently) employment. Who doesn't love family gatherings? I was not looking forward to such gatherings this year. However, now that I [miraculously] avoided it, I tend to miss it. Without the decorations, music, and events, Christmas end up like... any other boring day.

Christmas is a special event whether it is a day for religious people to celebrate their religion or a time for people to spoil themselves with not rational excuse. It is a holiday to cheer people up. And if one does not celebrate Christmas for reasons mentioned above, at least it is a time for breaking boring daily routines, exhilarating one's life [momentarily], and counting one's earnings for the year. A wonderful holiday even for Mr. Scrooge.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody!

2013 New Years Resolution

Hello everybody. How is everyone doing? I'm doing okay for now. Many things had happened in the last three weeks leading to irregular entries. I had a huge exam that I can't risk failing and the two crazy holidays kept me booked full.  All that is in the past and became another set of memories to remember. (Isn't that nice?) Anyways, I'm back to having an organized schedule so that means a steady flow of posts. I do apologize if you are a regular to my blog and you had to deal with my unsteady posts. I'll try my best to keep it weekly. With that said, this leads to this week's topic. (Even though I think I'm a week late.)

Oh the topic: New Years Resolution. How we love to make big goals but always end up giving up or lowering the standards halfway through. I especially am one of those people. Sorry to disappoint you if you were hoping I'm different. I used to make a list of goals to accomplish each year. However, due to my laziness, procrastination, and school work, I always ended up accomplishing close to none of my goals. It even came to a point when I don't even bother with it each new year. As much as I love to keep talking about my past, it's time we talk about the future. We remember things from the past to appreciate challenges that comes in our way. That was the whole point right? Now how did I come to this point where I force myself to keep working instead of procrastinating? Simple, I'm graduating soon! I have to prepare to get a job or apply to higher education. It only shows that one can procrastinate so long before life comes back and hit you in the face. (Ouch.) So here are my New Years Resolution of 2013.

1) Be more patient.

    I think being patient is not to be confused with procrastinating. While procrastinating means putting off work (thus delaying progress), patience involve constantly making progress but not expecting fast results. Sometimes I believe it is because we lack patience that we tend to procrastinate. We expect fast results from our work which unfortunately does not happen always. Being patient helps keep us motivated to work. In another situation, patience can also help deal with arguments or obstacles. Staying patient help maintain focus and analyze the situation, allowing us to make a more effective and sufficient solution. Everyone can use patience. One can never be too patient. Overall, I hope to be more patient so I can solve problems while maintaining a steady stress level. 

2) Keeping this blog alive.

    As stupid as it sounds, I want to keep this blog alive. I don't really mind if people don't find this blog interesting or important. However, my goal is to (hopefully) bring up topics that people don't often think about. We all are so focus on our work life that we sometimes easily get depress or feel unmotivated. I hope that my blog will temporarily distract my readers from their stressful life and just cheer them up. (Because we all need relieve stress sometimes.) Who knows? Maybe someone really needs this type of blog.

3) Exercise.

     I can see you laughing. If not out loud, then in your mind. I understand how many people say their goal is to exercise more. Many times we just give up. Sadly, my exercise only consist of walking to lecture every day and that exercise will disappear once I graduate out of college. I don't really know how I manage to maintain my weight (~115 lb) this whole time with just walking but I have to start forcing myself to exercise regularly to keep my fitness. My current motivation is keeping myself healthy and preparing for life outside college. And for those of you who can't find a motivation to keep exercise, here's a video that might help. Reality sucks but what can we do.