Sanami

Things I learned about myself:

1. I own to many tank tops.

2. I like wearing shirts 2x smaller than me (that’s pretty small).

3. I play a lot of street fighter IV volt.

4. I love going to the gym (and seeing people staring at me, hehe). 

5. I’m prideful and think I know everything… sorry. 

6. I’m a super extravert that enjoys being alone sometimes.

7. I’m an awful speller.

8. I like helping others.

9. I’m funny… sometimes?…uh… once in a while?

10. I definitely need God in my life.

Here’s to a new year of learning and growing! Happy New Years!

I think music videos are cool and sometime tells a great story… but not always.  Once in a while, people come up with a really silly (creepy) storyline and try to make it look cool. But you know if it happens in real life, you’ll think that person is insane or a creeper.

Take for example the song “Give your Heart a Break” by Demi Lovato.  I think it’s a nice song,  with a good story.  But the music video on the other hand is REALLY creepy.

Take this part for example…. She made a giant mural of them on the wall.  Who in their right mind would do something like this, other than a serial killer or someone really creepy? And okay, we’re suppose to believe that she can reach the second floor to post all those pictures?

And what’s up with this dude? Did he give his brain a break? He suddenly just noticed it now as we casually walk by the window.  Where was he the whole day? He conveniently just noticed it as she finished it… Either this girl is really good at making murals fast or this guy is really trapped in his own little world.

And I love how she walks away so confident, like she’s thinking, “I’m going to win him back for sure…” Hahaha 

I think it’s music video like this that makes people socially awkward.  They see something like this and think “Oh I too can make this giant mural for someone that I like. Then they got to like me for sure! Because I’m so creative and not a creeper at all…”

WHOA! First of all calm down! This blog has nothing to do with my faith in God. I’m merely speaking in a situational circumstances of how I grew up.

Let me explain. So as a child, I grew up poor and on food stamp and other welfare programs. You can argue that well you don’t have to be well off to enjoy believing in Santa. That is true, but I grew up in family that was Buddhist and not assimilated to the American culture.

So what does that mean? Well it meant that my parents thought it was silly that I wanted to bring a tree inside the house and leave cookies and milk on the coffee table over night. Oh and by the way, we lived in an apartment so instead of decorating a fireplace I proceeded to decorate the mail box… I remember feeling bad for Santa to make him go through my mail box and/or I thought that’s the reason why he never came to me…

Because every year I tried to be a good boy, but every year he never came. I thought that I was such a bad kid when all my friends at school told me of all the toys and gifts Santa brought them.

I started to hate Santa and/or had low self esteem. It wasn’t till I found out that Santa is only real to rich white kids that I found a sigh of relief. (just kidding about the rich white kids hehe)

But hey I’m not saying that believing in Santa Claus is truly a bad thing. I mean I guess it’s fun and magical to grow up believing in that… Only if your parents played along or at least told you the 411 about Santa Claus and don’t laugh at you for decorating the oak tree branch you chop off of the tree in your front yard to decorate with lights… Sigh

So I got to thinking, what makes a good or even a great status update? After thinking about it for a bit and doing some research I came to these conclusions.  

1. Make it personal.

       If you’re able to make yourself vulnerable and share your struggles, your fears or your doubts, I think people can relate to that and connect with you.  Because we all probably have those same feelings. 

Example: “Sometimes I have such a hard time feeling good about being who I am.  I just need to remember all the blessing I have and be thankful… but it’s so hard do sometime.”

2. Make it clever.

     Try making your status funny and witty.  I remember writing about how I look like a migrant worker while riding my bike… I thought about saying I look like a “Mexican” riding my bike because I live in southern California, but I thought that would be too insensitive and not clever all.

Example: “That awkward moment when you have a conversation with a friend and they say they “already know about what you did,” but didn’t bother to comment or liked your Facebook post.”

3. Know your audience.

     Generally speaking, not everyone is going to agree with what you have to say. But that’s okay.  You should, however, update your status to cater to those people that are important to you.  Make it known to them that they are important by catering your post to connect with them.

Example: “People say YOLO, but I say Let’s Go, Live life for God!”

4. Engage with your audience.

     Ask questions. Ask for advices.  People usually like to help others, especially if they’re your “friend.”  But don’t get all emo about it… “My life sucks, should I live or should I die?” I mean if you feel like that, please contact someone for help. But when you ask question and seek help you make yourself more human, more humble.

Example: “What’s the best way to strengthen your lower back?”

5. Try to be humble.

    I say “try” because by posting something on your status, you’re probably gloating about something or showing off… an award you won, places you’ve been or even how happy you feel.  But if you post it with a hint of humbleness, people will relate to you. 

Example: “Completed my first marathon. Thank you for all the support, I couldn’t have done it without you everyone!”

6. Short and Simple.

    Get to the point.  You are competing for people’s attention, make it worth their read. 

Example: “Signed up for the Gym. Determine. Not Giving Up!”

7. Share your joy and others joy.

    People like hearing good news and milestones.  But be cautious not to over do it and pollute the news feed with mundane status.

Example: “I got accepted to college! Never thought it would happen, but I’m so blessed!”

Well take this posting with a grain of salt… I’m still working on putting out better status as well.  But it’s good to reflect and try improve yourself.  :^)

So this year I turned 30… legally hehe.  And one thing that I realized about myself, is that I have not changed one bit.  I mean I may have grown in my understanding of our world and learned new and exciting (some not so exciting) things about life. But me, myself, personally have not changed.  I’m still goofy, a go getter, and have astrong faith our God. 

Beside from the fact that my height has been the same since 6th grade (I thought I was so big back then), my goofy, easy going, yet (somewhat) responsible characteristic has aways been present in my life.  I am sometime stubborn, and often prideful of my own abilities but at least I know these things and strive to fix it.  

Some people may not like me, some think I’m a little bit of a spazz, some people might not even think I’m a good person.  I’m okay with that, I’m not striving to win their approval.  But at least I know I’ve remain true to myself and have not changed. 

The reason for this post, was because I’ve been noticing people changing all of a sudden. They once felt, thought a certain way and now they’re the total opposite.  People change for many reason or maybe they’ve been the same but often put out a front to project a “self” that people would accept.  It’s sad to know people like that because… well you don’t really know them.  

But, if people are changing for the good, then, I’m all for it.  Like maybe they realized they’ve been too hard on themselves for past mistake or situation.  They are finally able to let go of baggage and become a new person… that is great!!! Good for you! But I’m talking about people who are just trying act a certain way to try to fit in a group of people.  You don’t need to!

Do yourself and all of us a favor, be yourself… I promise, People (most) will accept you just the way you are… well unless you only take showers once a week… grossssss! 

      Have you ever wanted something so badly you would do anything to get it! You’ll go out of your way, sleep less, work harder, strive endlessly and pray, pray and PRAY for it. But you ultimately realized that you have no control over the outcome.  Nothing you can do or say, no matter how persuasive and compelling they might be… it’s useless. 

      You realized you tried everything, EXCEPT for the one thing which is the hardest to do. The one thing that makes you have lack of control and feel helpless.

“Letting Go” 

     But take note, letting go is not giving up.  In fact, letting go is the opposite of giving up. It shows that you are willing to sacrifices control for what you want. You are basically saying “Even though I desire with all my heart to have this, I’m willing to let go and have God take over, to mature, mold and shape it into something amazing!”

And I think Amazing is better than Nothing!

   I want to say first of all, Yes I am a Christian.  I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins.  I believe that Jesus is God, and God is the Holy Spirit that lives inside of me, guiding me and loving me.

  I wanted to write this post because of the recent Bill Nye the Science Guy video saying that teaching creationism is bad for our children. I grew up with Bill Nye, and I always enjoyed learning about science and technology. I believe in evolution, just like I believe that God can change us.  I believe that there were dinosaurs, and monkeys that evolved, and that God had created them all from dust.

   I believe that God created the Earth in 7 days, but that a day was not determined by a rotation of our planet.  Our timing and God’s timing is different.  Our life time here on Earth may seem long to us, but to God, it’s probably a mili-second.  So to God it was 7 days, but for us it was billions of years. I believe that God created the big bang, which is a popular theory among scientist, although no scientist could hypotheses what happened before it. So I conclude that God created everything like the bible says. 

  I believe that gay people should be able to get married if they want to. I mean this is America, land of the free right? I thought that Jesus told us not to become like the Pharisees and be so consumed with the law that we forget to love one another, no matter who they are.  Did not Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for passing by the helpless man on the street because it was the Sabbath? Beside, straight people already make a mockery of marriage with the divorce rate so high. 

  Look before you get all worked up about this post, consider this.  Who of you can say you live a pure and sinless life? No one can say that except for Jesus Christ. So why not work on getting our life together and gain more wisdom of what God has in plan for us, rather than getting so heated up about people marrying each other or that science is threatening your faith.

I know I have plenty, PLENTY to work on to be right with God.  I admit I am a sinful man, but that’s the beauty of knowing that Jesus Christ died for me!   For those of you who don’t believe in Jesus, you probably think I’m dumb and weak to believe. But that’s okay, I admit I’m not the brightest and I am weak, that’s why I need God. And for those conservative Christians, you probably think I need a lot of prayer,  I do. Thanks!

I know the saying is “Guys are from Mars and Girls are from Venus,” but I had to change it up for this post.  In relationship to how fast the planets orbits the Sun and how fast guys and girls make decisions, I would have to argue that girls are from Mars and guys are from venus. 

It takes Venus 225 days to orbit around the Sun while Mars takes 685 days to orbit the Sun.  I think understanding that somethings in this universe are wired a certain way will help us live in a more harmonious world. Guys makes choices right away, some times  without even thinking about the consequences.  Girls on the other hands, take time to evaluate and even put emotions and feelings into their decision making.  Both side would argue that they are the more rational gender when it comes to decision making.  

Guys would say “well if given choice A and B or even C, think about which one I want more and choose it, and move on to bigger and better things!”

Girls would say “well if choice A makes me feel good, but choice B makes me feel more secured, then I would have to probably think about it some more to make sure I make the right choice!”

Both are valid in making decisions.

I’m not saying either girls or guys have a better ability to make decisions, but I must say that learning these traits of each gender is definitely making me more understanding of how to deal with girls. I still have a lot more to learn however…

I’m definitely not a needy guy.  I get by on my own pretty easily.  Maybe that’s being prideful or maybe that’s just me having a life experiences to know what I want and go after it. I’ve been told I’m aggressive (not passive aggressive mind you).  Something on my mind, I’ll tell you.  I’m not afraid to asked and I’m not afraid to tell what’s on my mind.  I’m not jerk, I like to encourage people. But I just don’t like beating around the bushes.  I just have high expectation from people.

This applies to my friendships.  You either fall into the acquaintances (strictly facebook friends), causal friends and if you’re lucky my close friends hehe.  I value good friendship with those who want to hangout, call me on phone randomly to talk or even once in awhile write me a card.   Friends should not flake out on you. That is my biggest pet peeve.  When you say you’re going to do something do it. If can’t, well just say that you can’t. Don’t tell me “maybe” if you know you can’t.

The point of this rant is that I plenty of facebook friends, I prefer to have face to face friends!

Have you ever wish you were taller?

Or maybe you wish you were a baller?

Maybe you even wanted to be a shot caller?

I’m pretty sure we all have wanted to be something or have something that we lack.  It’s even more agonizing to bare without when you see someone else being taller, or have more money or even being in a relationship.  We asked ourselves, why can’t we have what they have? We get Jealous :(

But how do you live life without being jealous of other people? It’s easier said than done of course. But what I’ve come to concluded with my years of experience of lacking (hehe), that you just need live life confident of who you are and how God made you!

I noticed that when I interact with people, I often avoid putting them down.  I find ways to compliment them, encourage them and make them feel good about themselves. What I think that does is two things: I make more friends and people will open up to you and tell you about their insecurities.  You’ll be surprised that most people that you find very attractive and being well off have confidence issues or don’t feel really fulfilled.  You’ll start to notice that everybody has their own “lacking” that they wish they have.

I think knowing that everyone have their own insecurities and longing-forness, makes me realized that we will always want something that we don’t have.  And thats not a way to live life.  Why not want what you have, and cherish it.  Take ownership of who you are and what you have.  You’ll begin to notice that you really don’t want what other people have. And you’ll start enjoying what you have more. 

I’m short, but you know what I fit into almost anything in the boys department at Target.  Plus I bench 240 lbs., so I’m really not that intimidated by most guys that are taller than me hehehe. 

I like who I am, and the way that God made me.  I’m not jealous of anyone, you shouldn’t be either :D