Something learned:
A discussion arose out of yesterday's post, that reminded me of a lesson I learned after being declared the US Sudoku Champion. The reason people say "May the best man win" is because the best man doesn't always win.
Thomas Snyder and I were both in the finals for the 3rd year in a row. For the 3rd time, he finished before I did, and I could hear the applause through my ear protection. I continued plodding through my own solution, finishing about 4 minutes later. When I took off my earmuffs and went to shake Tom's hand, I found out that I had won because he had made an error in his final solution. For quite a while after that, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that I didn't deserve to win, since I wasn't the fastest solver. But it eventually sunk in that such is the reality of competition. It's a snapshot of a single performance in time, and besides plain skill, so many other factors come into play. There may well be some other competition that I might deserve to win, but won't. I'll take the win now.
Today I was thankful for:
1. Lunch with old teammates who are always fun to be with.
2. I'll never take hot water for granted again. I took the 3rd cold shower of my life and it was MISERABLE.
3. Getting to talk to my parents to wish them a happy new year.
4. Getting the kid to pose for a new year picture.
5. Husband went out at night to get me chocolate ice cream from the store, and I'm not even pregnant.
Looking forward to:
Chinese New Year banquet dinner with Club Singapura on Saturday!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Day 65
Something learned:
For the first 9 or 10 years of my school career, I found school fairly easy, so I coasted through. I excelled at math and science, scraped by in my humanities, but generally things were fine. Things started to get bumpy after that. Subjects like chemistry and biology were difficult because I had a poor working memory and found it hard to recall facts. Eventually, I memorized what I needed to get through the exams and put it behind me.
When it came to college, I encountered truly difficult work for the first time. Just understanding the material was nowhere good enough -- homework was substantial and required a lot of thought and problem solving. I found it fun, but it was exhausting -- I fell asleep over many a problem set trying to untangle it.
I would have had a lot less difficulty had I learned to work hard before then. It's rather amazing to me that I could get all the way to university before needing to work hard. If I hadn't managed to adapt and figure it out, I might have easily failed out.
My parents demanded good grades, but not hard work -- and in my case that was a crucial difference. As such, I consider it important to expose my child to things that challenge her and need her to exert herself. I care more how hard she has worked than how well she does. I hope it works out.
Today I was thankful for:
1. Having the chance to pull out my camera equipment to practice.
2. Finding a decent solution to a thorny code problem at work
3. My singing teacher telling me that I'm making good progress
4. Kiddo being cooperative and practicing hard tonight (The Pleygo Lego works well to motivate her)
5. Getting enough of my todo list done that I can relax and do some singing
Looking forward to:
I love going to open houses (and surprisingly so does the kid). I look forward to house hunting .. maybe in a year or two.
For the first 9 or 10 years of my school career, I found school fairly easy, so I coasted through. I excelled at math and science, scraped by in my humanities, but generally things were fine. Things started to get bumpy after that. Subjects like chemistry and biology were difficult because I had a poor working memory and found it hard to recall facts. Eventually, I memorized what I needed to get through the exams and put it behind me.
When it came to college, I encountered truly difficult work for the first time. Just understanding the material was nowhere good enough -- homework was substantial and required a lot of thought and problem solving. I found it fun, but it was exhausting -- I fell asleep over many a problem set trying to untangle it.
I would have had a lot less difficulty had I learned to work hard before then. It's rather amazing to me that I could get all the way to university before needing to work hard. If I hadn't managed to adapt and figure it out, I might have easily failed out.
My parents demanded good grades, but not hard work -- and in my case that was a crucial difference. As such, I consider it important to expose my child to things that challenge her and need her to exert herself. I care more how hard she has worked than how well she does. I hope it works out.
Today I was thankful for:
1. Having the chance to pull out my camera equipment to practice.
2. Finding a decent solution to a thorny code problem at work
3. My singing teacher telling me that I'm making good progress
4. Kiddo being cooperative and practicing hard tonight (The Pleygo Lego works well to motivate her)
5. Getting enough of my todo list done that I can relax and do some singing
Looking forward to:
I love going to open houses (and surprisingly so does the kid). I look forward to house hunting .. maybe in a year or two.
Day 64
Something learned:
GTD has helped me in recent weeks to reduce my stress levels.
Toward the end of last year, I realized that I was getting overwhelmed with everything I wanted to do -- my to-do list was gargantuan. Since I had just done our 2014 budget, I thought about how a financial budget helps figure out if I'm spending our limited money in the right places, and I figured a time budget might help me make sure that I had time to do all the things I wanted.
Well, I did it and I simply couldn't make it balance. So I knew that I had to cut out things. GTD helped give me an overview of the things I had mentally committed to doing, so I started being a lot more judicious with the number of things I added to the calendar or new projects that I started to take on.
It's been working. I have a better idea of where my time is being spent, and am being a little less spendthrift with my time. I have a little more of it free to enjoy now. If only I could bank time :)
Today I was thankful for:
1. I stopped by Krispy Kreme before work and treated myself to those doughnuts I've been craving.
2. Finished reading my library book
3. Finished my Coursera lectures for the week, and it's only Tuesday
4. Managed to do some quick calculations at the register to split up my purchases correctly in order to use my 3 Old Navy Super Cash coupons. (apparently they only take 1 per transaction) I can still do math!
5. Got to visit a chorus group and they'll let me audition after 3 weeks. I have no idea if I'm good enough, but I'm glad I'm trying!
Looking forward to:
My camera equipment has not gotten much use lately. I've figured out a photography project for myself and am excited to embark on it.
GTD has helped me in recent weeks to reduce my stress levels.
Toward the end of last year, I realized that I was getting overwhelmed with everything I wanted to do -- my to-do list was gargantuan. Since I had just done our 2014 budget, I thought about how a financial budget helps figure out if I'm spending our limited money in the right places, and I figured a time budget might help me make sure that I had time to do all the things I wanted.
Well, I did it and I simply couldn't make it balance. So I knew that I had to cut out things. GTD helped give me an overview of the things I had mentally committed to doing, so I started being a lot more judicious with the number of things I added to the calendar or new projects that I started to take on.
It's been working. I have a better idea of where my time is being spent, and am being a little less spendthrift with my time. I have a little more of it free to enjoy now. If only I could bank time :)
Today I was thankful for:
1. I stopped by Krispy Kreme before work and treated myself to those doughnuts I've been craving.
2. Finished reading my library book
3. Finished my Coursera lectures for the week, and it's only Tuesday
4. Managed to do some quick calculations at the register to split up my purchases correctly in order to use my 3 Old Navy Super Cash coupons. (apparently they only take 1 per transaction) I can still do math!
5. Got to visit a chorus group and they'll let me audition after 3 weeks. I have no idea if I'm good enough, but I'm glad I'm trying!
Looking forward to:
My camera equipment has not gotten much use lately. I've figured out a photography project for myself and am excited to embark on it.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Day 63
Something learned:
Don't worry so much about what strangers think. Most of the time, they're not thinking about you. If they are, their opinions don't actually matter. Your family and friends are the ones who count.
I remember once fighting with an ex, though I can't remember about what. I had started to raise my voice and he was frantically shushing me. At that point, I realized that he was more concerned over what bystanders thought of him, than how hurt I had been over the issue we were discussing.
Today I was thankful for:
1. Getting my annual physical done
2. Getting a massage
3. Husband making dinner
4. Husband's yummy home-made beef jerky from the dehydrator he got at Christmas
5. Kid trying to sneak in some reading after bedtime. I'm so proud :)
Looking forward to:
Husband will be babysitting so that I can go check out a chorus tomorrow night. I'm so excited.
Don't worry so much about what strangers think. Most of the time, they're not thinking about you. If they are, their opinions don't actually matter. Your family and friends are the ones who count.
I remember once fighting with an ex, though I can't remember about what. I had started to raise my voice and he was frantically shushing me. At that point, I realized that he was more concerned over what bystanders thought of him, than how hurt I had been over the issue we were discussing.
Today I was thankful for:
1. Getting my annual physical done
2. Getting a massage
3. Husband making dinner
4. Husband's yummy home-made beef jerky from the dehydrator he got at Christmas
5. Kid trying to sneak in some reading after bedtime. I'm so proud :)
Looking forward to:
Husband will be babysitting so that I can go check out a chorus tomorrow night. I'm so excited.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Day 62
Something learned:
When I was young I was so afraid of doing anything that wasn't prescribed behavior. It wasn't something I had seen done, and perhaps just not common in the culture I grew up in.
Attending college in the US, a friend's mother taught me "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" and I also learned that if you walk around like you're supposed to be there, few people will question you. Remembering these 2 things gives me a lot more confidence to get what I need done when interacting with people, and it has rarely failed.
Today I was thankful for:
1. Getting to the Boiling Crab early enough to make their first seating
2. Amoeba Records buying about a hundred of our CDs.
3. Husband letting me nap
4. Successfully making dinner and dip
5. Cleaned off my desk, cleared my todo list, finished my to-read stack, and being free enough to wonder what I should do next.
Looking forward to:
Now that I've got some headroom, maybe I can start writing again!
When I was young I was so afraid of doing anything that wasn't prescribed behavior. It wasn't something I had seen done, and perhaps just not common in the culture I grew up in.
Attending college in the US, a friend's mother taught me "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" and I also learned that if you walk around like you're supposed to be there, few people will question you. Remembering these 2 things gives me a lot more confidence to get what I need done when interacting with people, and it has rarely failed.
Today I was thankful for:
1. Getting to the Boiling Crab early enough to make their first seating
2. Amoeba Records buying about a hundred of our CDs.
3. Husband letting me nap
4. Successfully making dinner and dip
5. Cleaned off my desk, cleared my todo list, finished my to-read stack, and being free enough to wonder what I should do next.
Looking forward to:
Now that I've got some headroom, maybe I can start writing again!
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Day 61
Something learned:
The kid had a bottle of bubbles and was happily blowing bubbles. She noticed a table nearby where people were selling bubble-blowing guns. She started sulking that her bubble bottle was "nothing" compared to the bubble guns.
What I really wanted to explain, (but didn't have the language to put in terms that she could understand) was that there is always going to be someone with something better than what you have, but that you shouldn't let it diminish the value that it brings to you, or you'll forever be unhappy.
I think if more people understood it, people would care so much less about "keeping up with the Joneses."
Today I was thankful for:
1. The patience of all my kid's teachers - I continue to marvel at their gentle yet persistent way of developing her skills and knowledge.
2. Meeting my cousin P today. I love hanging out with her!
3. Getting a Chinese New Year lantern decoration to hang up in the house
4. Finding roasted chestnuts at the Chinese New Year Festival
5. Reading Escape from Camp 14. It's a powerful book.
Looking forward to:
Going to the Frozen Sing-a-long with my kid in a couple of weeks!
Day 60
Something learned:
A little kind feeling in one heart makes it a lot easier to prevent fights. It helps you remember that you're both human and vulnerable to fatigue, frustration and resentment. Understand that it's a matter of finding a human solution, not settling a moral or philosophical debate.
And always precede negative feedback with something positive.
Today I was thankful for:
1. My awesome new microphone for recording singing
2. Overcast sky for the lovely light for the picture I had planned to make
3. Finally realizing that the parameter to the equals method that I was overriding needed to be of type object and fixing the bug that has plagued me for a week.
4. My damaged phone being covered under my MasterCard insurance! For once those benefits paid off.
5. The kid doing a great job at her first TKD belt test
Looking forward to:
My next trip home to Singapore. It's about that time again.
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