sometimes some people ask me why i work so hard. why do i go to such great lengths to do work when i don’t have to? what drives me to do so? is it because i’m a workaholic? is it because i’m crazy in the head? perhaps a little insane in the membrane?

no. i think the reason why i work so hard is because i take pride in my work. i go the extra mile because i want to differentiate myself from the others. i don’t want to do just the bare minimum to get by. at the end of the day, i’m trying to make my contribution noteworthy. i’m trying to make a difference. i guess what motivates me is that all of this extra work that i do does get noticed, does get appreciated, and does get rewarded.

so yeah, i might work a lot but i think it’s because i get a lot out of it. some people complain about how they are underappreciated or overworked, and i guess it makes me wonder….i guess they feel this way because the level of expectation is different for them. i believe that i’m trying to impress my employer instead of just doing my job. that’s how i believe you get ahead.

i was playing volleyball last night and one of the teams that we were playing against this one all girls team. they were a pretty good team, they have very good form and they have a solid game. they were a pretty young team, i’d say that they were still in high school.

as i was going up to block (yeah, i was blocking because these girls can hit HARD!) the girl opposite me jumped up and went under the net. her foot was under the net and i landed on her foot. as i started to feel my ankle wobble on the unsteady footing, i just let my whole body fall to the ground hoping that i wouldn’t hurt my ankle much.

the other girl then exclaims, “oh! i’m so sorry, sir! are you ok, sir?”

all thoughts of pain disappeared from my mind.

SIR?! did she just call me sir?! man…i mean, i know that i’m older than she is, but really, do i look THAT much older? sheesh.

Some things that hurt…

– trying to hide what you really feel
– loving a person too much
– reminiscing the good times you shared together
– letting go, b/c everytime you see the person, you only fall deeper
– falling in love with someone you didn’t mean to fall in love with
– having to hear “I met someone”
– agreeing to the wish of being “just friends”
– PRETENDING you are OK when inside you are dying

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heartbreak is one of the hardest things to ever go through. some people are lucky enough that they never really have to go through the agony of true heartbreak. others are faced with it time after time.

everyday we go through life and we learn. we learn from our mistakes and we learn from our experiences. sometimes we make mistakes, but we never really feel any of the consequences of those actions. when that happens, we never feel the pain of the consequences so we are never forced to change the way we do things. and since we were never given the opportunity to learn from our mistakes (since we never knew it was a mistake) we just go on our merry way thinking that this is the way that life should be.

sometimes we have to let our loved ones get burned by their mistakes. it’s always painful to see other people suffering, but sometimes it’s the only way that they will learn life’s lessons.

i was at the milpitas qcup the other day and this guy comes up to me and says, “hey, i know you.” here i was thinking to myself…hmmm, i don’t think that i know this guy. i’m pretty sure i don’t know this guy. who is this guy? and he then says, “well, i only know you from the web.”

hmmmm…ok, so he’s seen my web site. now i’m thinking…hmmm, what does this mean? and then he asks, “you’re the guy who has the pearl tea web site, right?” “oh yeah, yeah, that’s me,” i say.

it turns out that this guy was one of the owners of the milpitas store. ahhh, i see. nice to meet you.

weird, i’ve never been approached out of the blue like that before. it’s kind of weird.

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it is legal to make mp3s from songs that you purchased. that is, if you go and buy a CD, you can rip the songs to mp3 and put it on your ipod. it is illegal to download these songs off the internet and not pay for them.

now, the question is, is it illegal to download these songs off the internet if you bought the CD?

does a statute of limitations exist for being mad at someone? after a certain time, do you no longer have the right to be upset at someone for something that they did? if so, how long is that period? when it is time to just let bygones be bygones? or is there such a thing as a bygone?

what if you don’t remember why it is that you are mad at them anymore? what if so much time has passed that you don’t really remember why you were mad, but you know for sure that you are mad at that person? is it invalid to be mad at someone and not remember why? is this a good time to just let it go?

i’ve been in several conversations with several people and a recent topic of conversation has been centered around being nice and being honest and how there are differences between the two.

the question posed was “if a friend of yours who was truly awful at singing wanted to audition for american idol, would you tell them that they are really awful and not to go or would you tell them that they should go and try it out because they are good?”

some people said that they would want to be supportive of the friend and whatever they wanted to do, they would encourage such behavior. other people said that if they were truly awful, they would tell the truth instead of being nice.

it seems to be the dilemma that many people face these days. should i be nice and not hurt someone’s feelings so that i don’t feel bad for telling them the truth? or should i be honest and direct, potentially hurting someone else’s feelings and maybe feel bad about it myself?

it seems that a lot more people than i expected will choose to lie and say things that they are disingenuine about because they don’t want to hurt the other person’s feelings. instead of hurting the other person’s feelings, they decide that it is better to lie and not let the other person feel this pain that you can inflict on them.

personally, i find this to generally be bad practice. why? when you say things that you don’t mean, eventually, it’s going to come back and haunt you.

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