I’m Not Getting Older! I’m Getting Poorer!

 
This is Hugh MacLeod’s Advice based his cartoon:

• I remember when me and my school friends turned THAT corner, a decade or so after graduating from college.
• When we were no longer willing to fall asleep to the noise of trendy, inner-city neighborhood gunshots.
• When we were no longer willing to have roommates.
• When we were no longer willing to live in one-room closets.
• When we started taking on things like spouses, children, car payments and mortgages.
• But all that stuff was expensive. But some of us were more used to winging it hand-to-mouth, month to month, paycheck to paycheck.
• But the worldly pressures to grow up were far greater than our ability to pay for its ever-increasing cost.
• "You don't get richer, your bills get bigger", as they say...
• Some of us figured it out. Some of us didn't. Life is unfair.

I’m one of those who ‘figured it out’ and thought I’m not independently wealthy yet, I’m so grateful of what I have.  I know many people who hasn’t.

Once It’s On the Internet, It’s There Forever

I was listening to our local radio station and one of the DJs was telling a story how she regrets posting a picture of her cleavage and now it’s one of the first things you see when you search her name.   That was a few years ago (Yes, I did Google her name out of curiosity and yes that photo was there)

She learned something:  Once it’s on the Internet, It’s There Forever

Another example: Remember the girl who was fired after posting on Facebook that she was bored at her new job?  You don’t?  Google it, there’s news articles about that incident stating her name and her photos.  Those articles will probably still be there 10 years from now, ready for anyone who is still interested in that story or wants to search for that girl’s name.  I hope this doesn’t haunt that girl in her future endeavours. 

The thing is, anything that you post in the internet is uploaded to a server that you have no control over.  When you post unflattering photos or venting comments on forums, the pages they are on are catalogued by search engines and any photo and videos are archived by web crawlers, then they get backed up.  Anyone who has access to the internet has the ability to view them, a potential employer, a nasty rival, the person you have a crush on.  Anyone.

The Internet remembers everything.

So does this mean you shouldn’t post anything on the internet?  Of course not.  However, you need to be careful of what you say and what you want people to see.   Why do we all try to look and act our best when we are on a first date with a person we really like?   Now, sometimes we all get emotional and forget but just remember this, think twice before you post, it may come back and haunt you.

Cartoon: Review Meeting Inconvenience

Sigh, sometimes I can completely relate to this cartoon! 

I Love My Haw Flakes

Continuing with the theme of trying to make myself happy with food and candy and I don’t have a readily available supply of Sugus, let’s talk about my second favourite candy.  Haw Flakes!

What are Haw Flakes?

Haw flakes is a Asian sweet made from the berry of the hawthorn plant.  They always come in rolls of disks wrapped in paper.  They are plentiful here in Vancouver, BC due to the large Asian population and sometimes taken as a counter balance after taking bitter herbs and medicine.

Okay, I had to Google that.  For some reason I’ve always thought they were made from the lychee fruit.  Anyways, I’m not sure if I like them just due to the taste.  They usually give me a ‘feel good’ tingle when I eat them and at least they are not as fattening as chocolate.

It’s been a very rough couple of weeks, I’ve been eating them like crazy!  Yum! 

 

I Miss My Sugus!

Since lately I’ve been feeling down, I tried thinking of what makes me happy to cheer myself up.  Suddenly I remembered, SUGUS!

When I was small, my family would make weekly grocery trips to Vancouver’s Chinatown.  At that time, that’s the only place you can  buy Asian products and sweets.  If I was good, my dad would often buy Sugus candy by bulk.  My siblings and I would consume them within days.  It was my all time favourite candy. 

What is Sugus?  It’s a Swiss brand of chew fruit candy similar to Starbursts but not as sweet.  I only like the original versions that came in flavours of which I remember were lemon, orange, pineapple, raspberry and cherry.  My favourite is pineapple.  They used to come packaged in squares but often I seen them packaged wrapped and twisted on the ends.

Then all of the sudden those China Town stores stopped carrying this candy!  The parent company no longer sold them directly to Americas.  I didn’t notice that at first but as I grew older, I missed them!

You can still get them in Vancouver but they are completely overpriced for what you get and rarely in the flavours I grew up with.

I just have to sweet-talk someone to buy some for me when they travel overseas.  Any takers? 

What is your all time favourite sweet?

Hugging at Work?

My co-worker (also one of my best friends) just left to work in China.   I tried to find him so we can have a last good chat but being his last  day, he was busy closing things off.  He did come by my office to say good-bye to my team mates and when he came to me I did something I completely regret and will haunt me until we meet again.

And what did I do?  The standard workplace male to female hug, one arm over the shoulder. To one of my best friends.  Why?  Because we are at the workplace and because we are friends, I didn’t want to convey a message that we were more then that because he’s male.  That, I might have gotten emotional.

That was silly.  All our co-workers knows we are good friends.  It wouldn’t have been weird for them to see that and they know I’m a softy.  It still felt weird for me.   He deserved the full heart to heart hug to say goodbye.  The great thing was he understood and hopefully we’ll socialize with some friends when he comes back for a visit.  This whole incident got thing got me thinking,

When is a hug appropriate in the workplace?

It’s a grey area.  Hugging at the workplace depends on the culture of that specific workplace.  Also not everyone think it’s appropriate and  when it becomes uncomfortable for one person, there’s a risk of harassment complaints.   My particular workplace, it’s a source of companionship and friendly interaction.  Coupled with the relaxed but yet hard working culture, we get comfortable with one another over time.  Lots of long lasting friendships grew from this environment.

What are the boundaries?  I worked in a few offices but never really thought of this until now.  Probably because I’m female and up until a few years ago, I avoided getting too close to my work peers for the very reason that I’m really a softy at heart.  Still, I try to be conscious of my actions. 

Best is not to Initiate

This way, you don’t cause that awkward moment if that recipient party is not the hugging type and you are not conveying the wrong message.  By the way, I had to learn this the hard way a few years back when green I was just getting my feet wet.  I was mortified.

Watch for height differences!

I’m just over 5 feet tall, one of my team mates is over 6 feet tall.  We haven’t seen each other for a month as we had overlapping vacations and he initiated the hug sequence and I had to tip toe to do it.  Couldn’t do the one arm hug on that one.  It was awkward!  Lucky for me, he’s not really the ‘huggy’ type. Personally, I think he only hugged because he wants to show he likes us, but really it’s not necessary.

If a Hug is Unavoidable, Sometimes You Just Have to Suck It Up

There is a vendor sales representative who likes to hug and only see him once every few weeks or maybe even months.  It was never creepy but we known each other for 10 years but I never figured out how to back off without offending the guy.  I always try the handshake but he leans on for the hug.  Now, I know this really is an innocent gesture and he only first hugged me when I first got pregnant 5 years ago. 

Don’t Hug Your Boss

A few of my co-worker friends are also managers.  Technically, they are my superiors.  I’d never hug any of them at work.  Perception and imagination can run wild. The same goes for subordinate staff.

These are just a few that came to mind today.  If you have any other tips, let me know.  Now I’m off to give my children hugs and kisses.

If You Are Not Happy, Then Life Isn’t Really Worth Living

The past two weeks has been one of the most emotional weeks I had in a long time.  A few weeks ago my friend was offered to work in China.  It’s a unique and wonderful opportunity and I’m very excited for him.   He’s leaving very soon and I’m actually having a hard time with it.  Emotionally, I feel I’m losing my best friend.  I know I’ll be fine, he’ll always be there in my heart and spirit. 

Lately I’ve been burning the candle at both ends both at home and at work and was upset most of the time.  As a result of my sadness of missing my friend?  I realized that what’s really important is to surround yourself with those who love and care about you.  The past two weeks:

• I’ve been hugging and kissing my children more. 
• trying to connect with my husband more
• working hard to spend any time with my friend left before he leaves
• leave work at work and do the best I can and feel good that I tried my best

Today, I actually felt good, and I know tomorrow I will feel better and soon I’ll feel great.  My only regret that it took my friend leaving to remember something I already knew.  Life gets hectic but don’t let it get in the way to live happy.  If you are not happy, then life isn’t really worth living.

What Important Life Lesson Did You Remember?

On Ebay? Rare StormTrooper Potato Chip for $50

Recently we purchased Disney exclusive Mr. Potato Head parts from Disneyland.   I wrote about it here: Back from Disneyland – My Mr. Potato Head Story.  We quickly realized that there were sets of parts to make a Storm Trooper (and other char actors).  I only got the Stormtrooper helmet.  I didn’t want to buy another body (we have 5 already!!) so I thought to see if I can just get the parts off Ebay.

And this is what I stumbled on:  Someone auctioning a potato chip shaped like a Storm Trooper, for $50. 

I personally don’t see it the resemblance to a real Storm Trooper but let me know if you do!

What Odd Thing Did You Find On Ebay?