Kids nowadays

I am really worried about kids growing up in today's society. It seems like with all the distractions and negative influences around them, kids can catch you by surprise and just turn bad overnight. I am not going to even think who is to blame, or which direction I should point my finger to. The truth is that there are too many of these kids growing up here in America and it's a scary thought. I hate to go discuss my childhood years -- but I just can't seem to understand why there is such a big difference between raising a kid back then and raising a kid today. When I was growing up, our family got by with so little. My parents worked all day and had little quality time with us. No toys, no movies, no cable TV. Nothing. But somehow everyone grew up just being a normal adult and became a positive contributor to society. Kids today have so much. They get toys, trips, help on homework, everything that we never got as kids. But yet, they are still in a situation of bad behavior and lousy grades.

To speak the truth, my fear of having kids stems from seeing how hard it is to raise a kid here. I may be selfish but I'm afraid -- very frightened in fact how I can be a good parent and how I can raise my own kid to be a good kid. I wonder if there is any safe havens in this world that I can move to -- maybe some place far where life can still be simple...where we can still get by with so little.

Fire

The fire is wild! One witness summed this natural disaster as "The whole Southern California is on fire!" I'm sure he's quite right! More than 825 homes have been destroyed and more than a dozen people killed while escaping. It's way too scary! Red, be careful!!

This fire has prompted me to start preparing an emergency get-away luggage too. I am trying to put together all the irreplaceable items and things of importance to me all in one place. I am also going to archive my pictures onto CD-ROMs. I really have to think hard what I really need. This is going to be a huge project.

Went to a friend's wedding this weekend and met up with a lot of old friends and classmates. Some I haven't seen since college, some I haven't seen in 10 years. My, I feel like this month has been my "reunion" month. First, Friendster then this wedding. All these series of events have once again proven to me that this place is a small world afterall.

News

It's ok to be addicted to news. But be sure to shop around for coverage from more angles. Don't just tune into the networks. They tend to skew their vantage points to appeal to advertisers/endorcers whether commercial or political or whatever. Tune into public stations like PBS (TV) or NPR (radio). For world events, tune into news from other countries to see what they have to say. During the war against Afghanistan, I tuned into DW from Germany and I thought their stories were a little different from what our networks talked about. Don't ask me what was different cuz I can't remember anymore. BBC World News is good to tune into as well.

Sometimes I don't understand myself as to why I am so addicted to the news. From 9:00-12:00 at night, I watch 3 hours of non-stop news -- the 9:00 news, the 10:00 news, and the 11:00 news. Yep, three rounds of the same news over and over again. I log on to ABC Local News' website at least 3-4 times throughout the day to get more news. Even subscribe to a "breaking news flash" email alert. Most of the times, the news are bad -- killings, murders, accidents, etc. Nothing good, but I feel like I need to know about them. I don't even know why.

To Red -- Yep, you're hit the bull's eye on your guess. They were both Asians. However, I wouldn't consider only Asians rude. I know of other impolite non-Asians too. Some people think they rule the world and everything evolves around them. Their manners have a lot to do with their upbringings. I forgive them for their lack of social development.

So I just joined Friendster.com, despite warnings from my coworker how scary it might be. She said that a stalker (I say an Ex) from the past hunted her down. Even with 4-friends separating them two, the stalker still managed to find the connection to her. Fate, I tell her...maybe she should give the relationship another try. hahaha. She gave me the eye so I stopped. So far, my experience has been good. I have nothing in my past that I needed to hide. I recognized some high school classmates and was very delighted to email them to say Hi. It's quite interesting to see the same faces after all these years. No one changed much I think. 18 to 28, doesn't do any harm.

Absolutely LOVE the idea that Googi is volunteering to babysit... Good, very good, and very happy. People tell me that having kids is something everyone needs to go through -- kinda like getting married and buying a house. You just have to live through it. But of course, the argument hasn't been persuasive enough for me. I still can't come to terms of being pregnant and being a mother -- maybe because I still like other people to take care of me...and not the other way around, at least not yet. It's a scary thought.

How would you react if you're trying to be nice to a complete stranger, but he/she doesn't appreciate it? How do you deal with rude people like this? Say you noticed that someone's car has a missing nut bolt from his tires and alert him. He not only doesn't thank you, but doesn't give any reaction to your comments. He just takes a look at his tires and just gives you a blank stare. What's up with that? Has there been no mannerism teaching in the household lately? Another instance occurred on the bus, when a nanny tendering her school age child sat next to us. The bus made an unexpected stop and the little kid's water bottle fell out of a bag and rolled onto the floor. We picked up and handed it to her. She grabbed the bottle and apparently was too rude to say anything back. No Thank you, no Thanks, not even a nod nor a smile. What kind of example is she showing the young child next to her? What has happened to the basic morals of being kind, polite, appreciative and helpful to others? I would hate to use these 2 rude people to generalize the entire population -- but it hurts the inner spirit when people have gotten so rude overnight. *sigh*

A friend of mine just sent me this link. Absolutely unthinkable how much $87 billion is in reality. Amazing.
Bush's $87Billion

Bon Voyage

A lot of juicy news being shared this weekend. I'm happy because they're all good news. Farewell to WTW, who is embarking another journey back East. May he find what he is truly looking for. Or maybe he found it already.

So if school kids get Yom Kippur off, they mind as well get Columbus Day off too today. The streets in downtown are noticeably quieter. No complaints here! I'm glad that I can get to work in less than 30 minutes instead of the usual 45. Just wished that I could be one of those lucky people who can avoid going to work altogether.

Because we're on the topic of holidays, this coming Thursday is National Boss Day... because we all LOVE our bosses.

Ok, this is it. My business "niche" is to be a power seller on Ebay. Today, while browsing through Ebay, I stumbled into an absolutely unbelievable auction listing. Somebody is putting a "Join Arnold" campaign sign up for auction. Yeah, those annoying political signs that each candidate begs you to take and hang up on your window?! Well, it's up for bid on Ebay right now. However, that's NOT the most unbelievable thing. There are close to 20 bids for this campaign sign!!! The price is now at $16 and rising. CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?? Can you believe that there are actually 20 wackos out there? Ok, from now on, I'm taking all free junk I can get my hands on.

I am really disappointed at the election results. I can not believe now we have another clueless person sitting on the top of an elected seat. I thought having one at the federal level is already bad enough, but now we have one at the state level. By golly, what has this world come to?

I seriously believe that California should separate into 2 states. NorCal and SoCal people are so different anyways. The success of the recall and Mr. S as the governor has been fueled by Southern Californians. They have just ruined it for the rest of us in NorCal. From Bad to Worse. Great, Thanks a lot! *sigh*

Today I swallowed an entire bag of chips in 15 minutes. I hate myself whenever I do this. I KNOW that everytime I eat anything fried or oily, my face explodes with those pesky little red dots called pimples. Without fail, they come right out of my face 1-2 days after the fried food intake, usually on my chin area. BUT yet, I still eat them. They are my biggest weakness. Have you done something that you KNOW is not good for you, but you do it anyways? Why can't I just control myself? I spend hundreds of dollars on monthly facials and then suffer through pain of pore extraction just so I can eat more chips and get more pimples? Aaaagh! Someone help me! Someone please call CA (Chips Anonymous) for me!!!

I am beginning to feel like my work is all dictated by senior management or by the vendor. I feel like I do not truly own any part of work I've done. Have you ever felt that way before? The sale results on report are quite impressive lately, but I don't think I did anything to deserve the accomplishment. Honestly, most of the forecasting, ordering and buying that I do on a regularly basis have been given to me. They have been pre-determined beforehand. When I do sales projections, the numbers can be easily revised or changed. Then I become merely a data-entry person filling in someone else's numbers. It's really beginning to bother me lately. Maybe it's also time for me to do something about it.

Lately, I've been trying to find a "niche" that I can take on and make a business out of it. If you really know me, you will find that thought rather surprising.. because I never wanted to be a boss. But just until recently, I find it more necessary to become one. As mentioned earlier, I don't want to "just listen" to people. I want to make the decisions myself and accept the outcome, whatever it may be.

One year of salary in reserve? I don't think so. At least in my case that's impossible. I'll just have to bite the bullet when it comes.

Centralizing? Why does this all sound so familar? Googi, your news does come as a shocker to me. I really thought your job was quite stable. But then again, anything can happen. That is why we all should save at least 1 year of salary in our bank accounts. It used to be 3 months, but with the job market so bad nowadays, 1 year seems to be more realistic. Our company is expecting another layoff round at the end of the year. Business has been a lot better now than the SARS months, but it's also the idea of centralizing job functions so no job is viewed as being repetitive or redundant. And of course, it's outsourcing too.

On to a different topic, has anyone noticed that the sky is turning darker faster now? Daylight Savings Time ends this month. I think on Sunday, Oct 26 specifically. I have a wedding to go to, but now, I'm confused when to show up. I don't want to end up being an hour early (or late?) to the events. Does the time change on Saturday night or Sunday night? Please enlighten....