Posts Tagged ‘future’

Ink and paper

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
12 December 2010
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I miss writing.

Not so much writing to express myself, to create something, or to document things.  What I really miss is the physical act of writing.  I’ve been maintaining this blog for about two years now, a few months after I stopped keeping my daily (handwritten) journal.  So all my thoughts and experiences are captured on the keyboard, electronically.  Then at work I spend my typing emails, instant messages, and clicking around the internet.  Hardly a need for pen and paper.  At home, I talk to Panda via instant messenger and communicate with other friends through email and social networks.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had to sit in a class or meeting and take notes.  I haven’t had a need to write a letter to anyone.  I don’t even pass notes to my friends like I did in middle school.  Now it’s all happening through my computer.  And after two years, I’m finding that I want to get back into writing things again.  Sure, it can be a waste of paper, but there’s something so satisfying about watching ink flow onto paper.  I’d like to catch up in my journal (yikes, two and a half year’s worth of stuff to write!) and use my wonderful sets of pens again.

I suppose that’s my inspiration.  I have some fantastic pens that make me itch to use them.  One set is scented, smelling like anything from strawberries to blueberries to grapes or lemons.  The other set Panda got for me and they’re designed to prevent check fraud.  They also happen to write really well.  It’ll be a bit overwhelming to piece together my life since I stopped keeping track of my daily experiences, but I might just start up again and get back into the world of writing.  I’ve always found it a sort of pleasing end when I run out of ink in my pens.  Think of all the things I wrote (and maybe also doodled) with that pen!  The marks that were left behind!  I love preserving memories.

Foreign desire

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
15 November 2010
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I have these dreams, dreams of living abroad.  I’ve mostly done so fleetingly – a few months here, a few months there…  It just hasn’t been enough to satisfy my hunger for immersing myself in another world.  I love the slower pace of life in many European villages.  The land brims with history and meaning and the weather is fantastically real.  None of that 300 days of sunshine per year business.  It’s a charming set of countries, each with a rich culture to share.

Mostly I want to go back to England and live there for another year or two.  There’s something about the quaint village tucked away in a quiet corner of the country that holds an appeal for me.  Actually, it doesn’t even need to be that out of the way.  When I was studying abroad at the University of York, I found the town of York to be a wonderfully refreshing place.  Cobblestone paths meandering throughout the town and twists and turns that left me utterly confused much of the time.  It took a long time to really understand how one road could lead me to a shop that had previously taken me four or five turns to get to.

Though it tended to be colder than I would have preferred in the warmer seasons, the cold seasons were gloriously filled with hot nourishment, scarves, fuzzy socks, and all the trappings of a frigid winter.  It was easy to connect with nature and enjoy life when there was a lake to stroll by (granted, it was man-made), rabbits to spot, a horse in a field who loved carrots and apples…  Beauty was all around me and I was very happy with where I was.  I even had time to cook and try out some dishes I had never made before.  Some Sundays, my flat would get together for a meal of roast meat, steamed veggies, and Yorkshire pudding and gravy.  Oooooh Yorkshire puddings!  How delightfully crisp, yet soft they were, with just the right blend of sweet and savory flavors.

I can imagine a similarly peaceful and satisfying life in Southern France or Switzerland as well.  I could definitely retire to one of those places, but before that, when I’m still young, I want to return and live out a few simple years.  I have shared my desire to live abroad with Panda, who fully supports it.  There’s just one glitch.  This is a life I imagine with him by my side, so I can share these pleasures with him.  Unfortunately, with his chosen career path, he will likely not only be in the U.S. the entire time, but he’ll probably be with the same organization until he retires as well.  Where’s the room for travel and living abroad?  Virtually none, really.

So how do you reconcile that?  Therein lies the dilemma that has been troubling me ever since this desire to live abroad again began to resurface.  And so we shall see what compromises will have to be made over the years.  For now, I have my dream and a stubborn resolve to find a way to satisfy both my wants and his.

Colorful gift

laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: , , ,
14 November 2010
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rainbow maker in clear box, from smithsonian

The Rainbow Maker that Panda got me.

happily holding new gift - rainbow maker from d.c.

The proud new owner of a Rainbow Maker, direct from the Smithsonian, I believe.

I can’t wait until one day I have a cat again – this will be great entertainment for it! And it would be great in some sort of a sun room…

Pickups don’t pick me up

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
13 September 2010
1

I have found that I’m not a big fan of pickup trucks.  Most of the ones on the road are a waste of space, since the owners rarely make sure of the truck bed.  Meanwhile, over half the length is the truck bed, so you might as well be driving a raised Smartcar for all the seating space you get.  Plus, a lot of them are open air, which is not aerodynamic and definitely doesn’t help with gas mileage.  Trucks aren’t that fuel efficient to begin with anyway, so it’s certainly not helping the case.

Of course, for certain professions, they are the perfect vehicle and can be very useful.  However, I see far more personal ones than commercial ones.  It’s not even like you can put people back there when you have a big group.  That truck bed is not a very versatile space – all it can really be is a trunk and people don’t need that much space in their daily routine.  I feel it would be much more sensible to drive a car that can fit at least 7 people if you’re going to be taking up that much space.  Perhaps they should make that part detachable!  Think of how much clearer the highways would be if all trucks without loads could just get rid of that tail portion.

Then again, the type of people who buy pickups probably aren’t the type who would want to drive around a tiny head portion of the car when they’re not transporting large items.  In the land of excess, it’s hard to get people to think more conservatively (in the environmental sense).  Oh well, it’s a thought, isn’t it?  I think either that or only having pickups sold for commercial use would be a good solution.  People who want to use one for moving can then rent them from a local leaser.  Now that would be a nice thing to see.

Soreness and aches

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
04 September 2010
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I’ve been driving a lot more lately and my legs have been really sore from it all. My right butt cheek has gotten quite the workout from pushing the gas and brake pedals all day long, since much of the time I’m stuck in traffic. I try to use cruise control where I can, but it’s hard to find patches of freed-up traffic appropriate for it. I’ve even begun to stretch more so my muscles can feel better, but it’s hard to stretch just the right spot. I wish there was a left-footed driving option, so I could give the right leg a break and use my left leg more. I hate being uneven!

Also, something about the way I sit in my seat makes my back sore as well. I guess sitting for so long just isn’t a good feeling and I often need to stretch, but don’t want to stop to get out of the car. Instead I tough it out and by the time I reach my destination, I am so relieved to be done that I forget to give my back a good stretch until I’m back in the car, aching again. I really need to find the optimal position to sit at! With much more driving on the horizon, I just hope my right leg won’t get much larger than my left. 😛

Commuting

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
31 August 2010
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I don’t think commuting and I will get along too well.  I’ve got about 3-4 hours to drive each day to get to and from work now that I’m back at home and I don’t know how long I can keep it up.  The past two days I’ve already felt like an oldie because both nights I had to retire “early” and cut the festivities short.  Granted, I was still getting to bed around 1, but those still in college and summer mode were still going strong at that time.  Meanwhile, I’ve been exhausted at night once it gets close to midnight.  At least my body is forcing me to sleep so that I’m not too tired for work.

Now that I’ll be spending even more time driving, I’m only going to be more tired.  I’m going to have to go to bed before midnight (gasp!) just to get enough rest to make it through the day.  Even then I get tired driving and will need to test out a variety of techniques I’ve been pondering.  Today I tried the first one – getting a Jamba Juice for my drive.  It worked pretty well in the beginning as I had something to sip on that also kept me quite cold, but once it was gone, I still had a good 45 minutes to go.  And that was getting it already 45 minutes into the drive!  Perhaps I’ll have to find one that’s an hour into the drive and stop by there.

Other options are to drive to a certain point, then find a nice spot to park the car for a quick snooze.  That also allows the traffic to clear up a bit and the sun to set more so it’s not glaring in my eyes or heating up my car and making me tired.  I can also see if I can find a tea that actually keeps me awake.  Or maybe I can do what I do when I study – drink so much water that I’m either drinking water or going to the bathroom the entire time.  Of course, that would mean I’d probably have to make at least one pit stop along the way and find a bathroom to use.  I’ve also contemplated resting before even leaving, so we’ll see if that makes it any better.

Fantasy aquarium

laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: , ,
19 August 2010
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I would love to have a nice, large, fancy aquarium like this one. 🙂

my dream aquarium from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

The good life

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
11 August 2010
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I really enjoy the way my life is going right now.  At this moment, I’m saving the most money I ever will – I don’t need to pay rent (staying at Panda’s for free), don’t need to pay for my brand new car or this year’s insurance for it (present from parents), don’t need to pay for parking (Westwood streets aren’t crazy crowded over the summer so street parking gets me by), don’t need to pay for my phone bill (covered with the company plan), and now I don’t even need to pay for health insurance anymore (payment was lowered to be completely covered by the company)!  Now how great is that?  All I need to worry about is food and gas.

Plus, Panda is still here and hasn’t left to work far away so I get to see him.  I am independent and don’t have any kids or pets to think about and take care of.  It’s pretty great, this sort of freedom that allows me to save up money in my 401k and still have plenty to spend each month.  Now if I could just get an intern to help me alleviate some of my workload, I could be pretty stress-free too!

I’m not looking forward to next month, when things will change as Panda moves back home and so do I.  We’ll get to see each other less and my commute time will double and can nearly triple.  So while it’s still August, I will enjoy it as best I can.  Work has been making me tired though!  However, I do at least quite enjoy what I do and want to go in each day.  In fact, I haven’t taken a vacation day (and I’m the only one in this time period not to take time off).  Next month I’d like to attend the Opportunity Green conference, so maybe I’ll my first days off for that.  Until then, I’ll be making the best of the good life I’m living.  🙂

The trap of logins

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
08 August 2010
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There are so many sites that require signing up for an account and creating a login that I have a spreadsheet just to keep track of them all.  It kind of sucks to get stuck in this trap of login after login, especially when you’re not on your personal computer and can’t always remember the usernames and passwords you use.  It’s hard to create a standard set to use too, since each site has different requirements on length and complexity of the username and/or password.  Plus, if you always use the same one, if someone hacks into one, that could compromise all your accounts.  It’s a bit of a lose-lose situation.

I’ve also found that people are very averse to creating accounts, which is why it often comes with an enticing prize, like a chance to win a cool gadget.  I suppose the nice thing is that many tap into Facebook, so you can sign in using that account, but then comes the issue of compromised privacy.  Now the company knows your Facebook account and can find out more information about you, since you have to agree to share some of your personal information with them to connect using Facebook.  It’s a battle of convenience vs. privacy.

It can get overwhelming because SO MANY sites want you to sign up with them and unfortunately, it’s often unavoidable if you want their service.  Can’t they just use that fingerprint scanner some computers have and send the scan to the site so I can be let in without typing out all possible passwords I use?  In the future, I expect someone to invent a faster way for our identity to be confirmed and access to be granted to these sites (in a quick, painless, electronic way).  For now, I guess we’ll all just have to put up with creating a slew of usernames and passwords.

Outdated: receipts

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , ,
05 August 2010
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I hate receipts.  They take up space in my purse, clutter up my wallet, and rarely get looked at afterward.  I have more than I’d ever like of ones I’ll never use and never can find the one I need when I want it.  Why bother?  I mean, initially they were a good idea, but now that technology has developed so far, it’s time for an electronic receipt to automatically send to your credit card and/or email account.  No waste of paper, still keeps a record, and it’s so quick and easy to keep them on file electronically!

Plus, the benefit of being able to organize them better and make them searchable will make retrieving that receipt you wanted so much more convenient.  You can file by company name, by price, by date, by category… the possibilities are aplenty!  I can’t believe we’re still relying on paper sheets that get lost, turn black with heat, and generally are never put to the good use they were designed for.  It’s time to update this habit and digitize the entire process.  So one of these days I am going to start a company to take care of just that.  Until then, don’t steal my idea!  😛

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