Words of wisdom

So two phrases I've learned these few months from friends, experiences, work, etc.

1. Cover your ass. So I've always tried to go above and beyond in life where I wouldn't be in situations where I would need to cover my ass. From my job, I've learned that its probably better cover your ass. I don't usually like throw off responsibility or not see things from start to finish, but that's just being naive and idealistic.

2. Milk it. I was always so against this because I never used to like to take advantage of situations. But milking it really isn't taking advantage of anything. If someone offers, just milk it honey. Like is too short not too.

Eat, Pray, Love

So the irony is that this movie teaches about the "happiness of doing nothing," yet I'm watching this movie on my flight to NY, while trying to blog, trying to manage my fantasy basketball team, and trying to watch another movie on netflix. I also keep trying to fast forward through it. I guess my point is, is that I don't really love the movie. I wanted to watch it, looking for answers. Answers about life, about self-discovery, and all that good stuff. I found a movie version of the blog stuff white people like. 

Her charity and giving money to others -  #134, the TED conference
Her whole trip going to Italy, India, and Bali - #120, taking the year off
Her learning Italian - #115, promising to learn a new language
Her trip to exotic places - #71, being the only white person around
Her divorce - #66
Her giving money / gifts to others - #62, knowing what's best for poor people 
Her whole trip - #19, traveling 
Her going to India for meditation - #16, yoga, or the same reason they like yoga
Her going for a spiritual journey in India - #2, religions their parents don't belong to

I guess I watched this film looking for answers. I guess the self-discovery of Elizabeth Gilbert into book or movie form, wouldn't necessarily help me. I should just take it as face value -- one woman's path on self-discovery, as opposed to a step-by-step process and something take notes and learn from. If it were that easy, we would probably all be a lot happier.

2011

So my roommate inspired me to make just 1 goal every year and work towards it. Not so much a resolution, but just a target. This year, I'm going to learn French, Portuguese, and Arabic.

Ok maybe not 1 goal, but 3 :)

How To Be Alone

... is the title of the collection of essays by Jonathan Franzen. I used this book for my expository paper for Writing The Essay (Freshmen Composition class), and remember my paper being horrendous. Jonathan Franzen's essays were related to sociology and critique of culture on "How To Be Alone" in a post-modern society. I guess this entry has more to do with the literal sense of the phrase - an introspection - rather than how Franzen uses it.

Being in NY, I've always had friends / family around me. I thought I was more of an "outgoing introvert", especially when I used to avoid my friends on the subway going home. It's an 1-hour trip back home to queens from school. I figured only introverts / loners would rather sit alone than to spend it in the company of friends. But I realize that I wasn't actually alone. I made the choice to sit by myself and be anti-social. I wasn't actually alone, since my friends were still around me. I could easily hop into the next cart and there would be right there. I was in a city of 8 million people, amongst my friends and family I have known for a lifetime.

So California was supposed to be my experiment on how to be alone, but I realized I haven't really been alone in LA. Not knowing anyone here, I thought I would learn to be independent and embrace alone-ness. I realize that I always have people around me, which is probably a product of my choice in living situation - to live with a roommate rather than in a studio.

Yesterday, was one of the few occasions where my roommate + L weren't home yet before I got home. I was alone in my apartment and didn't really know what to do - no one to complain to about my job and no one to watch a movie with. I decided to put on some deadmau5 and watch Fox Soccer Channel. It's so hard to put into words and describe these blissful ephiphay moments, but that's exactly what I had. It was so simple, yet so beautiful. Being alone, listening to house music while watching soccer highlights gave me such intense joy it was really hard to describe.

During my alone time, I usually feel the need to do something productive. Whether it is studying for a test in the distant future, catching up on the Economist, reading French magazines to learn French, or working out -- these are all things I do to towards something I want to accomplish. I guess during this yesterday, I realize that it's okay to just chill - and not really work towards anything.

I've also gotten better about relaxing on the beach. I used to think going to the beach was the most useless thing ever. I never really wanted to tan much, so the idea of just laying there not accomplishing anything made no sense to me at all. Maybe it's because I'm so burnt out from working, but I realize I can't be productive and doing something -- all the time. Maybe it's the California effect. :)

Things I like right now

Kinda useless post, but trying to stay optimistic and happy, I'm going to list random things right now that make me happy:

• Virgin America, even if they charged me $850 to go back to NY
• Vegas, even if I only stayed for 4 hours
• French films, specifically anything with Vincent Cassel
• The Knicks being so good + Danilo Gallinari (Michelle Trachtenberg, really!? Come on baby you can do better i.e. yours truly)
• The Economist, the only souce of any intellectualism since work started
• 87 degrees sunny weather in the middle of December
• Larchmont Village / West Village
• Thought of being back in NY + being with my family / friends :)
• Parties in NY at nice venues and DJs with legit music + a normal crowd, not like the shit here in LA
• Holiday season + shopping, while listening to Christmas Music
• French Vogue, JAK & JIL blog, The Sartorialist, Garance
• Kaskade, Deadmau5, Sebastien Tellier, Miike Snow, Alex Gaudino, Bruno Mars, Selena Gomez - Year Without Rain