Inspiration from being the real "YOU"

In this moment, I guess I'm all entertained with the thoughts of being yourself and loving yourself :) Recently, I read an article on NY Times called "The Creative Monopoly" by David Brooks. The article discusses about individual creativity view points of Peter Thiel,  an American venture capitalist.

Some of the main points are:
"we tend to confuse capitalism with competition. We tend to think that whoever competes best comes out ahead."

"We often shouldn’t seek to be really good competitors. We should seek to be really good monopolists. Instead of being slightly better than everybody else in a crowded and established field, it’s often more valuable to create a new market and totally dominate it."

(In politics) "They (politicians) get engulfed in a tit-for-tat competition to win the news cycle. Instead of being new and authentic, they become artificial mirror opposites of their opponents."

 We all know that the U.S. is the country that focuses so much on individualism. I think that's one of the many reasons why creative industries here are very successful, such as film, music and entertainment industries.

People often try so hard to be 'creative' because that is such a great quality to have. Being creative is actually being authentic and original of yourself, not following the crowd and not the same way other people do or think. I think a lot of us struggle with that. The more we know about how other people do things and succeed, the more we want to follow the same suit. But in reality, all the respect and admiration are reserved for those who built their own road and walked that road.

Piccaso said "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up." Children are creative because the whole world is NEW to them and they do not have much knowledge about other people and past memories. So they INVENT the whole world themselves.  That's why sometimes we need to "unlearn" something to learn a new skill.

Somehow, it seems so hard to be original after you learned so much. However, still, I'd rather be 'weird' being myself instead of 'good' imitating someone else.

Inspiration from love of yourself

We hear people say 'be yourself' all the time but I still think that a lot of people struggle to be themselves. There are several reasons for that:
1. a desire to be part of the community such as country, race, ethnicity, group of friends and company
2. the limited understanding of what is being a successful person, a likable person, an influential person etc...
3. lack of knowledge of your own strengths and abilities
4. fear of being judged by others around you
5. not believing in your capabilities
6. unrealistic and unreasonable standards of what you consider a better version of you

Sadly, so many people "try" to be who they ''think" is the best person they can be. Some people have a lot to complain about themselves and find all the reasons to be unhappy. They might hide it well and fake themselves. However, those are really not people you want to be around.

There are people who are confident and comfortable as being who they are. And you can easily see why they are the way they are. Then, there are those rare people who do not apparently seem the best in conventional standards but they still love themselves so much. Those are really the ones that inspire me most and want to know them more.

It is so refreshing to be around those people who really love themselves and are comfortable in their own skins. I know that everyone is not perfect but the best is still to love who you are while understanding that you are still work in process to be a better person each and everyday.

Stress as an Opportunity for Growth

As I'm interested in various kinds of growth, I am currently having lots of thoughts about mental/intellectual growth. Some people are mentally stronger than other people- they can handle zillions of things mentally and physically while other people are struggling just to carry on a few daily basic human routines such as eating and sleeping, assuming all these people have equal opportunities in their lives.

First step for growth is facing a challenge voluntarily or involuntarily. I remember myself being afraid of becoming a first grader after kindergarten. I thought the first grade was much more challenging when browsing the textbooks. It made me stressed for the first time in my life :). I had no choice and became the first grader. So whenever we are challenged intellectually or physically or in a position for potential danger, we become stressed.

When we find ourselves stressed, it is a sign that we are in a dangerous/challenging position that is beyond our normal comfortable zone. It is also the time that we are being tested- how strong we are and how capable we are to handle certain things. Once we have learned something new or resolved a difficult problem or passed an obstacle, we have grown to another level in that area. Therefore, whenever we become stressed, it is great for us to know that we are being challenged and it is our opportunity for further growth as a human being :)

A Trip to remember

 I always love traveling. Well I know very few people who hate traveling anyways. It's always AMAZING to see all new scenes, new experience, new different people and all that! But this recent trip I went was one of the very few that are most memorable for me in so many ways.
One of my best friends, MZ, and I have been really close starting the end of last year. We had instant chemistry since we first met 2 years ago. She is one of the most awesome people I have known- very energetic, almost always happy, being always in the moment. She and I have many things in common including this very infamous behavior, constantly being late for everything. Good thing is that whenever we meet up, we never have any complaint about that because we are both always late:D

So a few months back, she asked me to join this trip to Vegas with a few other girl friends. Of course, I instantly agreed to it although I have been there before. I thought it'd be really fun to go with a group of girl friends. But then she and I started talking like since we would be in the area, we wanted to visit other places nearby. So of course, Grand Canyon was on top of our list. Then she said we should stop by LA on the way too.

Three Days in Vegas

We had LOADS of FUN in Vegas. As always, I don't 'force' myself that I "have to'' have fun. I just let it loose myself and just go with it! But I knew it was gonna be fun. We were all in the same page! Yes, it was that amazing. All six girls together have amazing great energy to just enjoy the moments! We all LOVE food, want to dance away, relax. No one pressured anyone to do anything. We were UP for pretty much everything. No one complained about anything.

During the evenings, we'd all be busy getting ready to go out. It took us a couple of hours to get ready. Six girls had to share bathroom, mirrors etc. We did get a HUGE bathroom in that Bella Suite at the Palazzo hotel. One of us was making drinks for everyone making sure we were ready for the night! :) We'd be helping each other with make-ups, hair, dress etc. We all looked amazing so it was so easy for us everywhere we went.:) We would not be afraid of talking to some random strangers. We always got into one of those clubs and got free drink tickets. 

Last night there, a lot of crazy stories at Marque ;) (I'm gonna keep it pro here) It was a FUN night!!!  MZ got completely drunk and VL had to carry her back to the hotel. Next morning, I woke up at 5:30 and I wanted MZ and VL to get up at 6 so that we can hit the road at 8 for GC. But MZ was hangover. She was completely out of it. She even told us to leave without her. I got worried that it'd not be fun anymore. But VL and I packed her things ourselves, and got her go with us. 

 One Night in Grand Canyon
We got our rental car and hit the road about 10. So I knew that we can't go hiking in GC that day. A couple of hours after driving, VL got motion sickness and threw up. Min was still sick from hangover. At that point, I really thought this trip was ruined. They were not only not excited about GC, they were totally out of shape for hiking up there.

HOWEVER, some kind of MAGIC happened, once after I parked the car at GC and we saw the canyons, both of them got really excited and they didn't look like they were before!! We all got so excited: MZ and I got icecream drumsticks, and really fully enjoyed the moments. The main visitor areas were so crowded with lots of visitors; which was not that fun. But we did a little more walking and found some parts less crowded but still have amazing views of canyons.

Then we checked out our camping equipments and got food for camping at the store. We took a while there that we missed to see the sunset. Well it's a waste of time to be upset so I got over it and got excited about camping instead! So we arrived our camp ground when it was already dark. Once we got there, we tried to set up the fire. Interestingly, setting up the fire is NOT EASY. We threw up papers and all that. We did have those pine circles to start the fire. Then later, I figured out how to USE them to catch the fire. Anyways, we finally had a beautiful campfire!

Then setting up the tent, neither of them knew how to set up the tent. I had very little idea too because previous camping trips, other ppl did those stuff. But I like figuring things out. So I tried hard to figure out. They were just watching me figuring out how to set up the tent. :) But I didn't complain them because they really were clueless about it, so I just found it funny. They were pretty good at cheering me up though! Then the tent was set finally! So it was time to make food. Past two camping trips, I had quesadilla and loved it; they are pretty simple to make and still delicious. Great food for camping! But I'll try something else for next camping trip. I just put ham tubes for the meat, instead of grilled chicken. So it was with tomatoes, cheese, ham, salsa, avocados. Delicious!

Then we started talking by the fire. They both said I'm really like a man, who knows how to fix all those things- did the driving, setting up the fire and the tent and also cooking. But I'm always impatient and forget about everything. MZ was a great planner of the trip. She planned all those in advance. If I were the one to plan things, it would be all screwed up. VL is very patient and she remembers everything. Yeah we were such an awesome team.
At one point, we were talking really loud, laughing out loud about ourselves and all those stories in Vegas. Well we thought it was in the woods so we had no one to care about :) I was talking about some stupid stories in Vegas. We pretty much announced, not intentionally of course :), what we were going to do. At one point, two people suddenly appeared right behind VL and told her to keep the volume down because they could hear everything we say! We got quite embarrassed but we couldn't stop laughing about it. We were giggling in the tent till we fell asleep. Laughter is so contagious! Sharing laughter is such a beautiful thing.

Next day, I woke up at 5 am. It was really really cold when I woke up. I wanted to see the sunrise so I set up my inner biological alarm. True, I have that. If I really want to wake up at this particular time, I do wake up that time without real alarm clock. I woke them up a few mins after. They didn't want to get up but I told them we missed the sunset, we should see the sunrise and it'd be amazing. They did get up and we drove there. We had to wait a few mins over the edge of a canyon. The sunrise was amazing!

We planned to leave there 2 pm the latest since we got 8 hrs of driving to LA. So we had a half day to do hiking there. We chose a 4-6 hrs hike trail called South Kaibab. Hiking into the canyon was a totally different experience. It was not like other trails I did in CO, NY, NJ and ME. It was pretty much bare steep slope all the way going down towards the bottom. But the views were so beautiful! It was all breathtaking! We enjoyed those views and we checked out some random good looking guys along the trail :).  The going down part was much easier. The way up was A LOT harder. I was really impressed with those two girls. They didn't have any complaints at all. I hanged out with them but I didn't think that they could be this tough. We finished the trail in 4 hours! I thought it could be 5 or 6 hours.

Then we said ourselves, 'lets reward ourselves with LOADS of food!'' haha Yes, considering our size and how none of us are nearly fat, we EAT like CRAZY! Not just that, it was all about fries, ice-cream and all that. We didn't care about anything! Since we couldn't wait to eat. MZ and I ran together to restrooms- I was running in front of her. I had been to RR the day before. So MZ just followed me; I ended up going straight to Men's room :D It was hilarious!
We had amazing moments in GC, filled with breathtaking scenery, wonderful experience, shared laughter with friends.

One day in LA

We hit the highway around 3pm. So I knew that we would arrive LA 11ish. I think I was too ambitious or pushing my limits! I woke up 5 am, did quite tough hiking for 4 hours, then 8 hours driving! I was the only driver on the trip. When I drive a road trip, I don't like to stop unless something interesting to check out like amazing views. I wanted to get there as soon as possible. But it was not an easy drive; I was of course tired, so I had moments that I was really sleepy and dull because driving straight all the way for hours is quite boring. So they caffeinated me a couple of times. MZ made really amazing coffee for me. She didn't have to do that. I could just drink regular coffee, she got stuff from the store and made it really flavorful. Then a few hours later, I got a redbull. Still we were ambitious and thought we would go out that night! CRAZY! but of course, we all looked like trash and all we thought about was FOOD.

So we went straight to this Korean restaurant there. It was pretty good Korean food. I ordered two entress yes!, Soon dubu and bibim bab. I was so tired and hungry. I ate most of it. Then we checked in at the hotel. I thought that receptionist guy was pretty good looking with beautiful blue eyes but he wasn't that friendly to us. Then we just took shower and straight to bed.

Next morning, I woke up at 8. They told me that it was the ONLY morning I woke up last and didn't bother to rush them. Yeah I was really tired. We were rested, and fresh. When we checked out, it was the same receptionist guy. But the difference is that he was all friendly and looking smiling with bright beautiful eyes :) He asked me out of the blue 'how was sleeping on the floor?' I got puzzled- well we had a king bed. So maybe he was just trying to make small talk. I said we are all small so we fit quite well on the king bed :) Then MZ and VL wanted me to ask him what to do one day in LA. So I asked him and he got all excited talking about Venice beach in Santa Monica. He said it's his favorite place. It's always fun flirting with good looking random strangers :)

Then we first went to Beverly hills and decided to have dim sum. The waiter there was quite neat looking, he seemed quite excited when we walked in. We messed with him a lot, well not intentionlly. We just had so many questions about food and stuff. He made a mistake on the bill and as an accountant I'm, I caught that right away. He said 'you guys distract me so much!" in a funny teasing way. Then he asked another credit card because after the mistake, he couldn't charge mine. MZ completely messed with him, 'which one do you want?' He didn't really know what to say or do. Finally he asked our ph #s but we didn't give it to him. :D

Santa Monica board walk was ok but the interesting place is Venice beach. The receptionist guy was right. It's pretty nice vibe, with restaurants, beer place with nice outside patio facing the ocean. It was beautiful!

The time was short, we headed out to the LAX, dropping our rental car there and caught the flight to NY. It was such an WONDERFUL trip with lots of great memories!!

Growing Up

Growing up seems such a tough job for someone like me, a child at heart :) It's kind of quite contradictory sometimes. I do want to be very successful with all these ambitions in my life. But I am very bad at dealing with all day-to-day detail matters of life such as cleaning my room, folding my clothes, doing the dishes. I guess I just need to make enough money to hire a personal assistant :)

I do love cooking but especially cooking for other people. Just for myself, I do not like spending too much time for food. Some of my friends are now parents. I don't know how they do it. It seems a lot to me to be responsible for the household and children besides your career and all other things going on in your life. I guess that's why a lot of women give up their career once they become mothers.

I guess I'm just concerned about having too much responsibilities while I could choose to have a life with only the kind of responsibilities I want to take - something I feel important. Haha I sound like child caring is not important at all. I do love kids and I'm really great with them. I'm just not sure I have what it takes to be a fully grown up to be a mom and all that.