Seasonal

Lame… but here we go… New Year Resolution

by J

It is time of the year to set the new year resolution!

I know that I will most likely fail on day 3 of the year but I still make it anyways… Why? It is because I just feel like I am getting another chance, and I hope I do better next year. I will not share my resolutions but I will share what I do. Actually, my process is not only coming up with goals but there are other miscellaneous activities around it.

Step 1:

List things I did this year. Happy things, sad things, new things I learned, and so on. This year, I made the list with my wife. One of the things this year was that we moved to a new house but we did not have internet for 3 months!!! My wife went crazy and I took so much effort trying to calm her down, and calling the internet provider for the earliest service… I do not want to go through that again but it was an experience…

Step 2:

Go through my financials… I am not crazy about earning or saving pennies but I just want to make sure I did not spend too much on dumbest junks… like cheap drone that flew only 5 min after charging the battery for hours… (I know some of you have experienced that!) Then, I prepare budget for the next year.

One thing that I have started including in my budget since a few years ago is purchase of the new tech gadgets. When my grandfather was still alive, I was teaching him how to download, edit and save photos that he has taken with his beloved camera. It took forever to teach him!!! In a few decades, I can be left behind technology, and I may become just like my grandfather. The only way to keep up would be to continue learning about it. This is just what I do but my point here would be that it is important to know what matters to you, and put aside some money for those things. During this budget process, if I figure what I want to buy cost more than I anticipated, then I plan how much to cut down other expenses, and/or plan longer term saving.

Step 3:

This is the fun but probably the most difficult part – reviewing your life goals and coming up with next year’s goals. Until last year, I just came up with a list of things I want to do but many failed miserably… like waking up early to have productive mornings…. (yes, I am a type of person who can sleep until afternoon!)

This year, I am still making the list of resolutions but what I am doing differently is adding categorization. By doing so, I was able to think about the bigger goals beyond next year’s resolutions.

In the books that I read in 2021, different goal setting approaches were introduced but many turned out to be very theoretical and not practical for me. I have decided to set the following three categories, and make a list.

The first one is “rice work” resolutions. They are the goals for the job that I have now for paying my bills. Even though I do not like my current job so much, I still need to do better to get paid. The second is “life work” resolutions. They are the goals for my non-paid work or projects that I enjoy doing or that I feel useful for other people. These are the things that define who I am in the future when I retire so it is important for me. The last is give-back resolutions. They are the goals for what I would give back to the society. They are not simply donations but they are the things that I would actively be doing.

Extra Things

I take above steps before the end of the year. Then, the first thing I do on January 1 is checking my fortune for the year. I do not believe in it but usually the new year fortune say all kinds of good things that happens in the year, which makes me feel excited.

By the way, if the fortune says anything bad, I ignore them, and look at the bright side. If you cannot do that and tend to be pessimistic, I strongly suggest you not checking the fortune telling.

I hope my new year resolution steps give you some ideas.

I wish you a happy new year!!!

Cold Christmas Eve in Chicago

by J

It was the first Christmas together with my wife… well back then, we were still dating. We drove up to Chicago in my ’92 red Ford Taurus, which broken down on the way back, in the middle of nowhere, but that’s a story for some other time.

After we checked in the hotel, we headed to the Sears Tower (renamed to Willis Tower in 2009), a 1,450-foot (440m) skyscraper built in the 1974s. Considering the age of it, he is like my big brother. Maybe that is why I have so much affection to it… Whenever I go to Chicago, I always go up there to see the view especially at night because it is one of a kind. The city is so organized that the night view looks like a shiny living organism; between blocks of buildings, the streets and the highways carry millions of cars that shine in yellowish orange. The view goes far out in the horizon especially to the south. I think it is much prettier than the view from the Empire State Building in NY, and my wife, who lived there, agrees with it.

After we “descended on the earth,” we started looking for food. I think it was passed 8pm when we started walking. The walk from the Sears Tower made us feel miserable. We were hungry but we found no restaurant that is open. My naïve Gaijin expectation was that many people celebrate Christmas eve so all the restaurants are open for celebrations on Christmas eve. What I did not realize is that those waiters / waitress and cooks also celebrate at home or in church, but not in their workplace for other people, which makes it difficult for customers like us to have nice dinner outside.

On top of our hunger, the wind in the “Windy City” was freezing. Plus, the streets under the Loop were dark with almost all the business on holiday. Occasionally, train made massive mechanical noise above our head, and cars passed by fast, as if they are chased by time. On the ground, lonely torn piece of newspaper blown by the cold wind seeking warmth of human. At the entrance of some buildings, we passed by shivering people with plastic cups asking for changes.

Originally, I wanted to take my wife to a nice warm restaurant and have a nice dinner after seeing the spectacular view from the Sears Tower but look at us now, we were hungry and tired in the dark cold Christmas eve. We just wanted to eat anything to fill our stomach in anywhere that is warmer than out on the street.

I do not remember which street it was but maybe it was Wabash… We saw Dunkin’ Donut that was open. It was far from what I expected to have for the first Christmas eve with my wife but what the heck!

We opened the glass door with cold aluminum frame. What a relief! On top of the warmth of the air inside the store, we felt the warmth of the people. It is funny I say that because nobody smiled at us or anything. In fact, the waitress just seemed busy, trying to forget she is working on Christmas eve. She was somewhat hyper, and trying to be friendly. Yet I felt warm inside. Maybe I was feeling grateful. I felt grateful for the warm place. I felt grateful for the food. I felt grateful for the people working when everyone else is enjoying their holiday. I felt grateful for being with my wife on a Christmas eve.

We left the store with hot chocolate in our hand. It was still the same freezing windy city but I was filled with warm feeling of grace for the fact that things did not go the way I planned.

By the way, in my opinion, we can experience grace in Christmas season because it is in cold winter…