Life’s too short.

man, TWO huge blogs in one day…what can i say. im an emotional bear. nothing we all didn’t already know about me. =P

i feel like so many things happened this week to make me appreciate life just a bit more each day. things that seem so certain, that we all take for granted, and then life just throws unpredictable challenges out there to remind you of how lucky you are.

my family…i talk to my mom every day on the phone and it’s usually a rundown on my family stuff. my mom constantly struggles with my brother and his life choices and most of the time, it kills me. it kills me to hear my mom sad. she’s one of those scorpios that puts up a front like she doesn’t care but deep down inside she cares so much that it kills her inside. and she’s all alone at home most of the days and it just drives me crazy. it doesn’t help that my dad is an emotional, menopausal rollercoaster. my mom just worries about jade so much, and loves him so much. and jade thinks my parents don’t support him and don’t love him like they do me. but in reality, my parents worry about jade and love him more than he will ever know. it’s because they love him so much, that they feel helpless and have no choice but to accept it all. i just wished that he would step back and realize that some time.

friends..a few of my close friends have gone through some life changes of their own and apparently, i seem to be taking it in just a tad too much. i hate that about myself. i worry. i sympathize. i get distracted. i get attached. i get all emotional. too emotional. too much everything for my own good. but i guess it allows me to take a step back and realize how much i appreciate these people in my life. how much they’ve done for me to make me happy and how much i wish the same for them always.

one of my professors…he’s completely passionate about what he does. and i love that. he’s the most positive person, loves what he does, loves life and lives it to the fullest. you can tell he’s got a good heart and he’s a good person. he told us once that when he was 25 years old, he was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness and the doctors told him he had a life expectancy of about 5 more years. he’s now 36 and living the good life. what a fighter! makes sense…the whole positivity thing. unfortunately, we just found out that his terminal illness is back, and it’s a severe malfunction in his kidneys. we received a letter in our mailboxes from his friend. it was a final plea for anyone to donate a kidney. he’s currently on a kidney transplant waiting list and the average weight is 7 years. you can kinda tell it’s physically affecting him because he looks skinnier…not so peppy as usual. it just makes me think how unpredictable life is and how anything can happen to change your life so drastically. he’s one of those people that loves living. loves life. and appreciates it all. and life’s just not giving him a fair chance. i just hate seeing good people fall. i told my mom about it and she said that good health is greatest blessing you can have. and most people take it for granted. life’s just too short to do that.

all in the same week, i went to my leadership class and my prof starts the class by telling us that class will be cut short today, only one hour long rather than 3, and we’ll be leaving at the break. SCORE!!! what wonderful words every student wants to hear! he goes on to tell us that he’s ending the lecture early because his wife is suffering from breast cancer and he needs to be at the hospital at her bedside. OMG. wtf. completely unexpected. i felt horrible for being so happy that class was ending early. and you can see it in his eyes. i can’t begin to imagine what he and his family are going through. health is inevitable. what an awakening realization…

FINALLY…dino told me a story about a man at his church that he’s known for a while, but not too close. he’s always super happy, loves life, really positive and spreads that around. dino told me that he was observing him the other day…and it just hit him about how trivial some of our problems can be compared to other things people face in the world. this man that he was observing…was in a coma a while ago. a COMA! like, lifeless in a bed. and he came out of it. and was given another chance at life. and he’s not going to let any moment pass him by. and dino just realized that sometimes we face challenges and problems in our lives that we make out to seem so huge and critical when there’s so much else out there that we don’t have to endure. bigger problems out there that others have to face. made us appreciate things a whole lot more and realize how blessed we are.

on that note: here is the most recent list of appreciatives in my life. i actually meant to post them a LONG time ago and it’s been sitting on my desktop waiting for time to just fly by! my assignment is technically complete now, after 14 days. but ill try and continue this as often as i can.

20 things i appreciate in life (in no particular order): Days 14 & 15

1.    Our PUR water filtration system
2.    Stores with no specific return policy
3.    When my boss let’s me study at work during exam weeks
4.    Comfortable shoes
5.    That jieae trusts me to give her good directions
6.    When the condo is clean
7.    That Angie and I can maintain our long distance bestfriendship of almost 18 years.
8.    Condiments
9.    When I can actually reason with my dad (this is extremely rare)
10.    My ipod
11.    That Montclair gym has television screens on their cardio equipment. (yes, I’m a fat American addicted to TV. Let me be.)
12.     Every type of ethnic market is within driving distance of my parents’ house
13.     When Dino and Jade get along well
14.     Anti-Poof Conditioner
15.     that I can get thai food that tastes almost as good as my dad’s right near school.
16.     Opportunities to attend Buddhist temples with my family
17.     that Pam has a huge wardrobe of clothes =)
18.     that my parents brought me up in America instead of Thailand
19.     that I live in California (as opposed to any other state in the United States)
20.     100 calorie snack pack

and opportunities to appreciate all the things in my life.

In need of a blog!

i think im more sad when i don’t have a chance to blog. i’ve been dying to blog for DAYS now and im WAY behind! so much to blog about and not enough time. what a CRAZY week it’s been: tiring, depressing, emotional, confusing, enlightening, shocking, refreshing, alarming, charming, frustrating, enduring, and endless! how’s THAT for a roller coaster of emotions. i was even thinking about dropping everything and just taking my laptop to the beach and blogging for a couple hours. bah! and now here i am…at work. again. and i can’t really blog cause my boss keeps running in and out of my cubicle. blah. so i decided to BLOG about how i don’t get to BLOG properly. that’s all. boo.

 friday is just taking its sweet time to get here….geez.

Finally a Grad Student…

so, i decided to take this intensive course during my spring break that i’ve been bitching about forever and i have to say, half way through, it’s probably one of the best decisions i’ve made in my grad school career! this is the third class i’ve had with this particular professor (she’s the marketing chair so i need to milk out as many marketing classes i can) and it’s cool cause she finally remembers my name now without my damn name tag. all through grad school i’ve been the BEST wallflower, managed to get away with MINIMAL class participation, and was lucky enough to be part of the best teams for group work. for the first time, i finally feel like i “belong” in this class, i’m not afraid to answer discussion questions and represent my group and speak up in class. i know this seems pretty lame and blah blah but it’s such an amazing feeling for me. i’ve always been intimidated in class and now i look forward to it! and the best part is that after one week, it’s OVER! 17 weeks of class rolled into 6 days and it’s done! and the prof is so cool she lets us out super early cause 6 straight hours of class is just “too much,” even for her. i love it! it’s a shame that i finally became a grad student during my last grad school class ever. but it feels awesome.

twenty things i appreciate in life (in no particular order):

1 – When professors are passionate about what they teach

2 – My roommates’ blogs (ditto from Jeymi’s list)

3 – Fabric softener

4 – When Dino tells me the good and bad stuff about his day

5 – Lunch hour

6 – Calculators

7 – News radio

8 – Sigalert.com

9 – Cold drinking water

10 – Antibacterial soap

11 – Apple brand products

12 – Midweek date nights

13 – Weather between 65 and 75 degrees

14 – People that don’t litter

15 – Carpool lanes

16 – that Dino and I both love sports

17 – Hugs

18 – Chapstick

19 – Air conditioning

20 – Teamwork

Wonderful Tonight

last night i got to hang out with dino at D&Bs. we usually do the dinner thing, and catch a movie or shoot some hoops and call it a night. turns out, we ended up talking in the car for almost 3 hours and it was the best date ever. i love that we don’t really have to be doing anything for me to be reminded of how much i love the guy. he makes me happy. i kinda like it.

finally finished my first set of hope notes to play my part in the HopeRevolution. i left my first one today at lucille’s restaurant after dinner. i realized that restaurants MIGHT not be the best place to put hope notes cause i think our waiter might have been a bit discouraged if not offended….ill probably hit up the bookstore or something. maybe schools or hospitals. lately i’ve depended a lot on hope to get me by. time for me to give some back….

10 things i appreciate in life (in no particular order) – Day 2

1 – good memories with my friends

2 – my understanding bosses

3 – childhood memories with my brother

4 – photographs

5 – my family in thailand. my ENTIRE family minus me, my parents, and my brother.

6 – my irreplaceable neighbors who watched me grow up. we’re a pretty close neighborhood.

7 -my own mode of transportation

8 – family trips

9 – sleep.

10 – weekends.

“Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.” - Bill Cosby

Appreciative Inquiry

First of all, i’d like to start off by mentioning how disturbing it is to me how excited i was to submit my midterm to my professor so i could finally have some time to blog. it’s ridiculous. i blame gloria completely. =P

anyway….moving on…

i’m currently taking this self-management class and one of our assignments for the upcoming weeks is to keep a log of things we appreciate in our lives. we’re supposed to write down 10 things every day for two weeks and we can’t repeat anything. seems simple enough, right? apparently it gets harder each day and you start writing stupid things down like, “i appreciate the green grass and my middle toe..” but i’m going to try it anyway. i decided my log would be on my blog…it’ll give me a chance to reflect on the things i appreciate anyway.

on a different note: i spoke with my aunt the other day over the phone and she told me she likes talking to me because i make her laugh. what an awesome compliment. i realized that i love making people laugh; seems like there’s nothing to lose. my aunt told me that as you grow older, laughing is what gets you through the day. and if you are able to share the gift of laughter with someone, consider that a good deed for the day. i love seeing people laugh..it’s as if for that brief moment, they are able to forget all their troubles. and i played a part in that?? awesome! my favorite memories of my family and friends, old and new, are all about laughter. i remember the day my friends and i met up for lunch to celebrate gloria’s engagement and we were all laughing about old times and good times (kinda like a scene from sex in the city). an old man came up to us and asked in a gentle voice, “excuse me ladies. can i ask you…what are you ladies laughing about?” and we told him that our friend just got engaged and we’re excited. the old man replied “well, congratulations! sounds like you ladies are having a great time! i wish i could laugh like that…” and we all pausedfor a moment, and realized what a great feeling it was to be able to share moments like that with loved ones.

10 things i appreciate in my life (in no particular order):

1- my family. my amazing family.

2- my friends, old and new. everything about them.

3- roommates. who all know just way too much about me, and still love me.

4- the boyfriend.

5- my senses. often taken for granted.

6- my education. and the opportunity to continuously learn and grow.

7- the essentials: roof over my head, food on the table, clean water to drink, clean air to breathe, clothes on my back, etc.
8- good health

9- my faith: provides some sort of direction in life.

10- the time i spend with my parents: which ive realized is not infinite, and have grown a new appreciation for, even if i get annoyed at times. i know that it won’t be readily available forever…

well, now that ive included every aspect of my boring life in that list, i guess this two week assignment is going to be harder than i thought. =\ …but im glad i can take some time out of each day to really think about what i appreciate in life. i don’t seem to do that enough.

“If every word I said could make you laugh, I’d talk forever…”