Hodgepodge catch-up post July 28, 2009
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Civics, Gibberish, Healthcare, Life, Media, New Media, Superfluous musings, Technology.add a comment
Life has definitely been a whirlwind in the past few months. After a layoff, several long weeks of semi-disheartened job searching, grandmother traveling back to Europe, sister’s graduation, new job (which was a surprise and has become a great learning experience), and lots of reconnections with friends, one moving wedding, and finally an apartment selection (and one more wedding prep), I have decided I’ll never “find” time to resume blogging. I had even taken to sending myself e-mails from my new smart phone (wow, never had a pocket-sized computer that makes phone calls before; they’re truly come along way, despite all the criticism) during my long commute via ferry – all with subject line “blog” and a sentence or two on a topic that was capitalizing my attention that day. Well, I won’t get around to developing full blog posts out of each e-mail, so here’s a hodgepodge list, just to get it out there and hopefully start blogging somewhat regularly again:
Celebrity deaths – what do they tell us? – I thought about this when news about Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Walter Cronkite (and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone) hit within a few short days of each other. Beyond the stories I was reading about online journalism, mobile technology, etc. and how these worldwide (in case of MJ) news bits profliferated many new technologies, I was thinking that a lot of these folks were fairly young and succumbed to either cancer, heart disease, or drugs (prescrption and otherwise) – worth pondering what these trends say about U.S. healthcare issues in light of the healthcare reform debate currently playing out in government.
The world as a community – I’m not sure what I was thinking exactly here, but in that e-mail I’ve written: “Obama approach – the global community organizer? Will that work?” Pretty cool to think about how global of a community we truly are – global warming, global economic crisis, global flu epidemic (that spread lightning fast), global mourning of Michael Jackson, etc. If anything, the United States is lucky to have so global of a leader again (I think the last to be revered abroad was Bill Clinton).
Why are we so afraid of government meddling – This was a thought brought about by the healthcare reform debates I kept hearing on NPR on my commute to and from work. To quote myself again from that e-mail: “Isn’t that the point of representative government? If they really mean it, why aren’t (Republican) politicians declining their government health plans & buying their own – after all that is the ultimate free market.” No need to elaborate here, I think (except to reiterate how irritated I am by blatant and not unintentional hypocrisy).
Reaction to NPR healthcare story on All Things Considered (July 1) – “Gov $ already going more & more to healthcare & decisions are out of patients’ hands b/c of insurance rules & coverage patterns, not b/c of gov bureucrats… & it’s much costlier often than just treating…” – basically what I always take issue with when Republican (and some Blue Dog Democrats) talk about the danger of having the government make healthcare decisions for you instead of that being up to you and your doctor. Hah! Who makes those decisions now? Insurance companies. They must know better than the government. (And don’t even get me started on the whole argument of whether the government will encroach that much into the decisions anyway.)
Media splinters – As a PR professional, I started in fall 2006 targeting “top tier” publications; today, for the best impact, we target “niche” publications – audiences have splintered into specialized interests thanks to the bloggosphere, other new media on the Internet, a-la-carte news and opinion even on cable news TV networks. It took something like MJ’s death to bring the whole world’s attention to one story, like a lazer beam.
Are we all spoiled consumers? – “Do we expect too much from our technology, too fast? Can’t help but wonder, reading all the new smart phone reviews (partial to Palm Pre – small keyboard actually a + for me, but would like better/more solid hardware & more apps..)”
The return of yard and garage sales – Is this a sign of the (tough economic) times? I can’t remember when was the last time I saw a sign for a garage sale and they were everywhere in the late 1990s when my family first moved to the United States. All of a sudden this summer they’re everywhere again.
Why is customer service so poor? March 17, 2009
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Gibberish, Life, Superfluous musings, Work.add a comment
Why is customer service so poor so often nowadays? I’d imagine that in a time when customers are become a rare breed, any potential buyer would be treated with more deference than ever. But no, it seems that increasingly I run into rude, short, presumptuous people who assume that you are about to damage or steal the goods.
Oh, well, perhaps we are all on edge lately. There is plenty of anger and heavy helpings of blame to go around with the economy tanking, scarce jobs, tight budgets, health care woes, homes in jeopardy, and a worldwide crisis hitting nearly simultaneously all around. Perhaps everyone’s attitude should flip to the positive – and perhaps we can start as customers and maybe it’ll then rub off to the grumpy customer service reps. Finger’s crossed.
On a related (or not) tangent, I noticed tonight – when chatting with a friend I hadn’t seen in nearly 10 years – there were two things I didn’t consciously recognize before: 1) people grow apart, in just a few years, and really don’t have much in common, making any run-ins somewhat mildly uncomfortable, as you try to feel out each other for new character traits… shouldn’t be that way; that was probably more me than the other person’s approach; 2) I’ve been very stealthily avoiding to mention that I’ve been laid off – in any circumstances, really – from a career networking casual event, to job fairs, to catching-up encounters with friends. I am not sure how to analyze that exactly… I feel ashamed a bit, as though I wasn’t strong enough of a link in a company to be kept on… I know that’s not the case, but I can’t help the subconscious voice in my head. Maybe that’s the key to the full-force “recovery” we all need – a collective attitude change and a resurgence of self-confidence, power and determination.
The tangential frustrations of unemployment March 11, 2009
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Family, Gibberish, Life, Superfluous musings, Work.add a comment
When you are unemployed and feel you’ve taken all the right steps, but the right opportunities just aren’t aligning yet, you begin to get frustrated. You try to catch yourself and take a deep breath every time exasperation creeps in, but it’s tough. Especially when loved ones – who only mean to help – begin suggesting the leadership phrases you should include in your resume, and where you could look for jobs, etc. You want to take it out on them for not giving you enough credit that you’ve done all of that legwork already, all of the preparation, all of the networking, all of the job application submissions with customized cover letters each… But you can’t, because it’s not fair. They mean well. And they themsevles have a good job … in this economy. It’s not a derision on your accomplishments, it’s a good-intentioned helpful hand. Take a deep breath. Pause. Think about that. And it’s probably better that you say nothing if all you can muster to say is either a knee-jerk overreaction or a sarcastic comment that would offend the helpful, sympathetic friend or relative.
I guess the tougher challenge is to keep up your own good spirits. But the answer is definitely not taking out frustration on those around you who are genunitely supportive, even if their way of demonstrating support frustrates you.
The whirlwind of inactivity March 9, 2009
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Gibberish, Life, Psyche, Work.add a comment
Lay offs are part of life, and a very common one of late. It has affected me in strange ways. At first, friends of mine were impacted. It was surreal and I wanted to help them, but I knew the workforce would be struggling for a while. When it was my turn, I had so much in terms of foreshadowing and forewarning that I had been wringing my hands for long enough to actually feel relieved when I finally knew the certainty. Then, the first reaction was guilt at that feeling. The second reaction, very strangely, has been complacency. Anecdotal this could be a blessing in disguise – giving the type of time one always wish they had to catch up on reading for fun, to research graduate school programs, to volunteer, to examine in-depth where to take the career track next. But that’s just anecdotal. After only a short while, one begins to feel restless, anxious to move on to the next productive phase of life and all of a sudden, even though one’s out of a job, the rat race feeling descends back almost mysteriously.
After a beautifully relaxing weekend, Monday morning started off with snow falling in such big rags the the wind was actually picking it up and raising it up before it sank lower than my third-floor window.
There are things that one does find time for that are useful – joining a massive social networking site that has been on the back burner for years and reconnecting with long-lost friends; actually catching up on for-fun reading; organizing the home abode, shifting furniture around, and resurrecting board games; re-energizing the gym membership with regular classes; cooking more; spending more quality time with family and friends, etc.
There is just one thing that appears to be on the back burner now – job and grad school research. Strange, isn’t it! And definitely very guilt-inducing. But for some reason, the most effort I have to put in is for this seemingly natural activity. I worry, most days, that I let the news cycle, Twitter, the blogosphere, overwhelm me with “there is no hope and there will not be hope for economic recovery for a long time to come” and find that it is futile to look. How sad that the deterrent is actually getting to me. Or perhaps it is an excuse? How awful would that be.
27 January 26, 2009
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Family, Gibberish, Grad school, International Relations, Life, Media, New Media, Reminiscing, Superfluous musings.add a comment
I turn 27 on the 27th. I used to look ahead to this distant date and wonder what exciting things I would be up to. Turns out – not much. I do love my life – I have a wonderful family that isn’t too scattered. I live in a nice town. I have beautiful memories – recent and old. I feel peaceful and happy at home. But there are also many things I’ve yet to reach for – graduate school and the pursuit of more knowledge being the primary star.
But then I look around the world and realize that I don’t deserve to complain and whine about the things I’ve yet to achieve. I just have to do them. And what’s a better time than now – when the world is so involved, so open and yet mysterious. There is an international economic crisis. There are the persistent hunger, disease, violence and suppression problems with the difference that nowadays they are as familiar and proximate as the Internet and all of its media ancesorts can make them, ushering them into our living rooms continuously. There is so much impact to have. It’s definitely overwhelming, but it is also urgent and inviting at the same time.
Perhaps that is the significance of 27 – the year I will take the ultimate tangable action towards those abstract dreams. Amen.
This is not one of those age-related crises. At least I don’t htink it is. If anything it is an interesting fascination with the number. Besides the fact that it is 27 on the 27th, it has also been sort of dear number. The favorite of mine is 3, 2+7=9=3^3.
Resolutions December 31, 2008
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Gibberish, Superfluous musings.add a comment
At dinner the innevitable question came – what will my resolutions be for 2009… Hmm, I think 2008 was all-in-all a pretty good year. I thought I’d just keep the ones from that year, scratch off the 8 and pen-in a 9 on the sheet that’s hanging over my desk at home.
After all, the presidential election was historic, filled the country with hope and pride again. We got through a GRE class and took the test. Everyone in my immediate family still has their health and jobs. I did well on most of my new year’s resolutions. Not to say that it was a tremendous year – not by any stretch. The economic “collapse” comes to mind first and foremost. Friends have lost loved ones, jobs… but friends have also become engaged, married (not the same couple), found jobs, purchased first homes, etc.
It has been a very eventful year. I’d like to think it has been an overall good one. And I also hope the upcoming one will be full of promising successes and new adventures, even if things do continue to get tougher. I know we’ll all re-learn a lot of basics – discipline with our pocketbooks, appreciation for the small things and for the people and animals in our lives first.
I don’t want to get too mushy. So, here’s my 2008 resolutions list and I think I’m translating it all to 2009.
read more – check (even joined goodreads.com this month)
blog more – well… this one needs some more work
apply to grad school – semi-check (got a pretty good step in the right direction – GRE done!)
workout more/be more active/join a STEP class – sort-of-check (we did hit the gym, though we need to do so more often; did go to a couple of STEP classes, but need to do it a regular thing; we played tennis once! it was so much fun! we’ve been to parks and on walks a lot this past summer)
shop less – check-ish (still working on it, but I think there has been a measurable improvement)
save more $ – check (gotta keep up the work, but have dropped the ball on retirement contributions; also should probably get rid of the student loans sometime soon)
visit friends and family more often – can never get too much of this one
live in the moment – needs work, but I’m getting there
get into counseling – would be nice… but there’s a reason it’s towards the end of the list
volunteer – tiny-check (did a bit of gardening through work and a few times with my significant half at a candidate’s table for the ‘08 election at a local market; would love to do a lot more)
start a book club – baby steps (see the note about goodreads.com above!)
world map for visitors – idea came from one of Portland’s famous beer festivals, this one was on the river shore… you had to be there; it’s an inside joke/goal
cocktail parties – yeah… we’ll see; we need to move first and may pair these with the book club… so I guess they won’t be so much cocktail parties as informal get-togethers with friends that we host once we are back in the Puget Sound (fingers crossed); call ‘em what you will; we want more friends’ time
All of these need a ton of work. But I’m motivated. Two weeks off at the end of the year really helped put me at ease and put everything in perspective. I’ll tackle them all. For now, I am going to turn to an unofficial New Year’s Eve tradition of mine – playing Sims2. And later I am going to read “Atlas Shrugged.” Please don’t spoil it for me. It’s such a good book and one of those I’ve meant to read for a while!
Happy New Year! Cheers!
Wordle – fun, fun, fun! November 4, 2008
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Gibberish, Media, New Media, Superfluous musings, Technology, Writing.add a comment
Check out this fun toy. I played with this blog and created a pretty fun image of words in random colors/fonts/directions that sizes each word according to how frequently it appears in the particular text sample. You’ll see what I meant!
It’s a cool little applet that I stumbled upon while reading an RSS feed from an Intel blog and it’s really quite a fun way to visualize your text. I like that they’re described as clouds and also the fact that they show just what’s been most prominent in your writing, whether you like it or not, whether you expected it or not. 
Are there just so many prototypes? November 20, 2007
Posted by midnightzimadreams in Gibberish, Life, Psyche, Science, Superfluous musings.2 comments
Living in cities that are populous enough that I see new faces every day, I’ve observed something interesting all my life. It’s probably a phenomenon others’ share as well. The experience is something like this: you notice that everyone around you – all the strangers – map quite well onto other people you know. I am talking about appearances only, here, not personality or anything deeper than that. But almost anyone I see and meet looks like someone else and has similar mannerisms… you can sort of see what “kind” of person you are resting your gaze upon. It’s rather odd. I’ve met my share of “doubles” – someone who looks exactly like your best friend but lives half a world around and doesn’t speak the same language.
So, lately, I’ve been wondering if there are only a limited number of human prototypes, so to speak. And if everyone is essentially a print that belongs to a particular “kind” of person, then could you line up all the people in the world, according to similarities in features, body type and mannerisms? And if so, could you observe a continuance? And maybe you would see that people, all people, are alike because you’ll have an endless string of people who look similar to each other and the features gradually blend in with next string of prototypes and so on until all people around the world could be connected in a blend of sorts. I’m having a hard time explaining this. Let’s see… it’s like that Michael Jackson video (5:27). There.
